from back to John 15. The title of this message is The
True Vine. The True Vine. The greatest blessings that a believer can have while
walking through this life is a continual, continual communion
with the Lord Jesus Christ and His people. That's the greatest
of blessings. If I can have that, if you can
have that, we really don't need anything else. The Lord will
give us what we need. He says, seek ye first the kingdom
of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be
added to you to give us what we need. He's our Father, and
a Father will always take care of His children. The Heavenly
Father will. But to have this, and to have
a sense of His love for us, a real sense of it, an abiding sense
of it, and to have a real sense, an
understanding of our dependence upon Him, I need Him daily. I need Him. He said, without me, you can
do nothing. I'll tell you this, without Christ,
you and I are nothing. Really, we're not. We may think
we are, but we're not. Don't ever get to the place where
you think That you don't need anyone. That you're strong enough
to go it alone. Don't ever get to that place.
We need Christ and we need one another. We need one another. God said, it is not good that
the man should be alone. So he created him and helped
me. Our Lord is telling us here in
this chapter and in these verses. He's telling us that we are to
abide in Him. And that word abide means stay.
Stay. You stay in me. You stay with
me. What happened after our Lord,
he was buried, he died and buried, and he was gone for three days? Well, Peter said, I go fishing.
I mean, just in three days. He said, I'm going to go fishing.
I'm gone. I don't know where he's at. And he says to them,
now you stay with me. You abide in me. And my words
abide in you. Don't you leave. You stay with
me. And when he tells us here that
we are to love one another, even as he has loved us, and that we are to continue in
the faith. He gives us words of warning
and words of promises now through these scriptures. Now he starts
out and then he says, I am, I am. I want you to look in Exodus
three. Let's just look at this again.
It's very familiar, but it's the first mention of it in the
scriptures. In Exodus 3, verse 13, and Moses
said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the
children of Israel, now he's speaking here to Almighty God,
the God of Israel, the God of creation. And they shall say, and shall
say unto them, let me read this over, and Moses said unto God,
behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall
say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you,
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they shall say to
me, What is his name?" What's his name? What shall I say to
them? And God, God, in the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth. said unto Moses, I am
that I am. And he said, Thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you. And he starts out this verse.
You see, he's been giving them words of comfort in chapter 14. And he's continuing here. And
he says, first of all, I am. I am. The God of your fathers. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. He's identified himself to his
disciples and to us that I am God. I am that I am. This is the same one speaking
in the flesh. In the flesh. If we do not get
this straight, the rest of it fails. It fails. God is the true vine. Abraham said to his son Isaac,
God will provide himself the lamb. God provided the lamb and
God provided himself as the lamb. God himself is the lamb. And
God himself is the true vine. And God is Christ, Jesus. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. He is the real of which all others
were types. Israel was spoken of as a vine
in the Old Testament. He said, I brought a vine out
of Egypt. And look over at Psalm 80. Psalm
80. In verse 7, turn us again, O
God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. Thou hast brought a vine out
of Egypt. Thou hast cast out the heathen, and you planted
it. You see, Israel was called a vine. There's two or three
other places in the Scriptures where Israel is spoken of as
a vine, but Israel is spoken of here as a vine, being a type
of Christ. But Christ is saying, I'm the
true vine. God, he is God in the flesh,
and he's the true vine. He's the true vine. All others
were just tapes. In the scriptures he says that
he's the true bread. I'm the true vine. He says I'm
the true bread. I'm the true tabernacle. All
others were just tapes. The real is standing in front
of you. The real is speaking to you. He is the fulfilling of all things.
He was on the cross. The last thing he cried was,
or the last things he cried is, it is finished. It's finished. All the types, all the pictures,
redemption, it's all finished. It's finished. He is the true
vine through which all spiritual blessings flow. No blessing, no blessing from
above will ever come to anyone except through this vine. He's
divine. He's divine. And all the blessings
flow through this vine. If you have a grape vine and
there's grapes, if it's going to be loaded with grapes this
season, everything that those grapes are going to be, I mean
the fruit of it, it's going to have to come through that vine.
It's got to come through the vine first, the branches, and
then you see the results of it in fruit. And so all spiritual
blessings flow through the Lord Jesus Christ. They're channeled
through Him. The Father works no other way. He never works
independently of the vine. Because He is the vine. God is
the vine. And He is the true vine through
which spiritual life is given and sustained. It's through Him. And it's through the blood from
this vine that we are washed from our sins. And the father, he says, is the
husbandman. He's the cultivator. He's the
farmer. He's the one who's at work. He's
active, what he's saying here. He's active in salvation. He's
not sitting by inactively watching what's going on. He's active
in it. My father is the one who's working here. Not just the son,
but the father, he said, is at work here. He's the husbandman. He's the one taking care of this
vine. When Christ became incarnate,
it says over in Isaiah 53, he shall
grow up before him as a tender plant. Who really took care of this
tender plant? The father. The father took care
of it. He watched over him like a tender
plant. He guided his path. When he would
have been, his life would have been taken prematurely. You remember
Herod wanted to kill him? When he found out there was a
king, he said he went out and had all those children killed. Two
years old, those male. And he was sent down to Egypt.
That's the Father taking care of the vine. He's taking care
of the vine. And in taking care of the vine,
He has taken care of the branches. Because you see, everything,
every branch, every branch that will ever exist on that vine
is already in that vine. You know, when the Lord, back
in the Garden of Eden, He said the seed of the woman will bruise
the serpent's head. Well, the seed of the woman is
Christ. Everything that, every branch in that seed is in that
seed. And He's taking care of it. The
Father is taking care of it. You go out here and you look
at a tree. You look at all those branches and all those leaves,
that was in the seed. All that was in the seed. And in taking care of this vine,
He is taking care of us. He's taking care of us. And every branch, in verse 2,
and verse 2 is not an easy verse to explain or handle. Every branch that bears not fruit,
he says, he takes away. Every branch in me, every branch in me that bears
not fruit, he taketh away. That word taketh means he lifteth
up. He lifteth up and he takes it away. And every
branch that bears fruit, he purges it that it may bring forth more
fruit. Among those who preach the gospel,
there's two different opinions here. I have read three or four
different commentaries. I listened to four different
messages on this chapter here this past week. And they have
different opinions on this. Verse two, on every branch in
me that bears not fruit, he takes it away. One of them is this. And A.W. Pink holds to this. He says the original rendering
of this is that it used to bear fruit. It bears no more fruit. At one time it used to. And it
bears no more fruit. And so the father comes, the
husband comes, and he takes it away. He takes it away. But then there's others that
say that this verse means that these are false professors. These
are people who made a profession. They are in the visible church,
but there's no fruit. And that fruit is the fruit of
the spirit, love, joy, peace, hope, suffering, faith, gentleness. And he takes them away. I kind of feel like there's a
little bit of both here. There may be just a little bit
of both. I have seen in nature. I lived on a farm, we had apple
trees and cherry trees. I have seen, on the apple tree,
a branch. Something happened to that branch,
and it'd be broken. And no fruit would be on that
branch, but the rest of the tree would be bearing fruit. And you
might as well just cut that branch off. So I don't know. I'll just tell
you the truth, I don't know which one it is. I kind of hold to
both of them. I think there's both in this.
I think there's a bit of both in it. But let's not get hung
up on that and miss the message. That's not the message. Every
branch that bears not fruit, he says he takes away. But now
every branch that bears fruit. That bears fruit. The father
purges it. He prunes it and also has this
meaning, he cleanses. washes away the dirt, the filth,
the grime. He cleanses it, and He purges
it. He prunes it, and the reason
for it is that it may bear more fruit, that it would be more
fruitful, that the love would be even stronger and more evident,
that faith would be stronger and more evident, that the fruit
of the Spirit would be more evident. And the fruit of the Spirit,
look over here in Galatians chapter 5, where we're talking about
this. Read it here a minute. In Galatians chapter 5, in verse 22, and this is the fruit
he's talking about. But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance. Against us there is no law. That's
the fruit of the Spirit. And that's the fruit he's talking
about here. The Father never leaves the true branches alone. He never leaves the fruit bearing
branches alone. You see, he's the vine dresser.
He's the vine. The branches are his and the
fruits his. And that bearing fruit, he never
leaves those branches that bear fruit. He never leaves them alone.
It's not like He goes away and comes back next year to see if
there's going to be fruit on it. No, He makes sure. He said,
I've ordained you. I've ordained you that your fruit
shall remain. I've ordained you that you shall
bear fruit and your fruit shall remain. He's going to see to
it. He's going to see to it. He's
not leaving this up to us. He's always working on them by
teaching them out of His Word. This is what's happening this
morning. Teaching you out of His Word,
trials, afflictions, whatever it is, whatever it is He needs
to use, He'll use. He'll prune. And when you prune
something, you cut it back. You cut it back. And in doing so, He's actually
enabling that plant to bear more fruit. You wouldn't think so,
would you? Not if you ever looked at a grapevine
that's been pruned by someone that knows what they're doing.
It looks like it wouldn't bear anything the next year. But he
said that it will bear more fruit. Now you are clean through the
word that is the gospel. You're clean through the gospel.
The Word of God is used as a cleansing agent in the sense that it reveals
the sin within, and it reveals how that sin is
washed away. I tell you what, when the Gospel
comes in power, when God's Word comes in power, it has a real
effect on your whole life. I mean, you'll never be the same. You'll never be the same. It has a real cleansing effect.
The person who believes on Christ through the hearing of the gospel
is cleansed from all his sins. Now you are clean. Peter said,
you're not going to wash my feet. He said, if I don't wash you,
if I don't wash you, Peter, then you have no part with me. He
said, oh, then wash my head and my hands and feet and wash me
all over. He said, Peter, he that's been washed needs not
to wash again, except his feet. Because you're clean everywhere.
You're clean. Now are you clean through the
gospel? You've been clean through the blood of the Lamb, which
has come to you through the gospel. Now abide in me, stay in me, close to me, because you cannot bear fruit
except you abide in me. Stay with me, he's saying. Stay
with me. You know, the Word of God warns us of drawing back
after having begun. These are awesome warnings here
He's given to the disciples now. Abide in me. Stay in me. Keep up this communion. Now,
we know that these things depend on Christ. But now He tells us
that you stay with me. You abide in me. Don't you leave
me. Paul said in one place, they
went out from us because they were not of us. If they had been
of us, they no doubt would have continued with us. And that happens. But he's saying to his disciples,
which are believers, you stay with me. Don't you leave me. Don't you go cold and indifferent.
Let me show you something. Let me show you something here.
Over in Revelations chapter 1, no, chapter 2. There is no way to walk in love
and in faith and in joy except we abide in Him. Stay with Him.
Stay in Him. Stay with Him. Stay in Him. Unto
the angel of the church of Ephesus write, These things saith he
that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh
in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, I know thy works,
and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them
which are evil. And thou hast tried them which
say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars,
and hast borne, and hast patience. And for my name's sake hast labored,
and hast not fainted, ye have continued in the faith, but nevertheless
I have something against thee." You've lost your first love.
It's like they got so busy fighting the battle that they left off
communion with him. I don't know if I can get this
across this morning, but I can see it. You know, we come to
the service and we preach and we read and study and we get
busy doing things, but we leave off that intimate communion with
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the best place I can show
you that one is this, over in Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon. Look in chapter 5. Song of Solomon chapter 5. Now the Lord says, now look in
verse 1, I am God. God has come into His garden.
We are His garden. We are His garden. My sister,
my spouse, I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten
my honeycomb with my honey. I have drunk my wine with my
milk. Eat, O friend, drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.
And then look in verse 2, I sleep. Now, I want you to notice what's
going on here. I sleep, but my heart waketh.
It's the voice of my beloved that knocketh. I hear it. I hear
Him. You know the gospel when you
hear it. You know it. But it doesn't take you long
to go out that door and forget it. I'm telling you the truth. It does
take you long to go out that door and get something else going
on that you forget what you heard. You don't keep it up. Go home
and meditate on it. Think about it. It is the voice of my beloved
that knocketh, saying, open to me. This is not talking about
here the Lord trying to save someone. This is the Lord talking
about fellowship, communion with His wife. He said, saying, Open
to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled, for my head
is filled with dew and my locks with the drops of the night.
I have put off my coat, honey. I'm tired. Worked all day, taking care of
the kids, cleaning the house. I'm tired. This is what she's saying to
her beloved, her husband. I have put off my coat. Shall
I put it on? I have washed my feet. I'm not going to get them dirty
again. She's thinking about herself
here. But she's his. She belongs to
him. That's her husband. But she's
saying here, I've washed my feet, how shall I defile them? My beloved
put in his hand by the hole of the door. He's merciful, he's
gracious, this is his beloved, this is his wife. He's not going
to just get mad and walk off. And he says, and my vows, and
she says, and my vows were moved for him. So I rose up to open
my beloved, and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with
sweet-smelling myrrh upon the handles of the lock. I opened
to my beloved, but my beloved withdrew himself." That's because
he's the sovereign. He's the sovereign. He's the
head. You see, he's not at our beck
and call. We are at his. My soul fainted when he spake.
I sought him, but I couldn't find him. Well, let's see, back in verse
three or verse two, he came and he knocked and he said, open
to me, my sister, my love. You said, well, I'm just too
tired, too tired. I've taken a bath and I'm ready
to retire. Don't bother me. And so he's going to teach her
a lesson. The Lord is going to teach her
a lesson. My soul fainted when he spake. I sought him, but I
couldn't find him. I called him, but he gave me
no answer. Let us never, let us never take
the Lord, take fellowship. And this is the message. This
is the message, right? You know, my outlines are a lot
longer than the message is. The message is going to be given
in five minutes. But the message is this. He's
saying here, you abide, you stay with me. And you cherish this
fellowship. You cherish this communion that's
between me and you. You abide in my love. You stay
in my love. And my words will stay in you
and you'll bear fruit. There'll be evidence of it. There'll
be evidence of it. Except we abide in the vine,
he says, you cannot bear any fruit.
You see, the vine is where we draw our strength from. It's
where we draw our strength from. A branch can only bear fruit
in proportion, now listen, in proportion to its connection
to the vine. Isn't that so? It can only bear fruit in proportion
to its connection to that vine. I've never seen a branch laying
on the ground bear fruit. You won't see it. I am the vine. Once again, he says, I am the
vine. And he expresses this because
he wants him to understand that all spiritual life and nourishment
comes through him. And don't you get caught up with
all these other things that are going to go on. And all these
things that go on in life, you know, the things that can take
our attention. And especially with him at this time, he's going
to go to the cross, he's going to be buried and die, but he's
going to come back. I'll be with you, he said. I'll
be with you, with you in spirit. I'll be in you. You stay with
me. I'm the vine, all spiritual life
and nourishment comes through him. If you want to grow in faith
and love and joy and peace, abide in the vine. Stay close to that
vine. Cultivate fellowship and communion
with the vine. Him. Him. It's one thing to come
here. And as believers, we do come
here to hear the gospel. But now as individuals, we go to Him. And we fellowship with Him. We study His Word. Not just here.
Go home and study His Word. We call upon Him individually.
We commune and fellowship with Him individually. So if you want to grow in these
things, He says abide in Me. Get in My Word, call upon Me,
be where I'm preached, and you'll bear much fruit. You will bear
much fruit. Without me, you can do nothing. And what he's saying here, without
me, without me, without abiding in the vine, this communion,
this fellowship, this union that's between the believer and Christ,
without me, you cannot produce love, joy, not real, peace, long-suffering,
meekness, temperance, faith, Those things come through the
vine to the branches, and they are evidenced by fruit, which
is all those fruit of the Spirit. Without me, you can do nothing.
If a man does not abide in Christ, he cannot produce any of these
things. And he says here in verse 6, now verse 6 here says, if
a man abide not in me, he's cast forth as a branch. and is withered,
and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they
are burned." So I know He's not talking about believers there.
Because no believer is going to be cast forth and burned.
Perish. I do believe this here is, speaking
of false professors, those who make a profession and they last
a little while, then they go away. Go away from the gospel. He said they will be cast into
the fire. But if you abide in Me, and My words abide in you,
you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done. It shall be done. If we abide in the Lord Jesus
Christ by regeneration, by faith, by love, and His words, His teachings
abide in us, if we walk by faith, taking Him at His Word, He will
do for us. He will do for us what we ask
Him in a spiritual sense. Now we know this, if we need
something, if I need something to eat today, my Father is going
to provide it, my Heavenly Father. But when we abide in Him, and
His words abide in us, He says, go ahead and ask what you will.
Go ahead. Because if we have that close
communion, we are going to pray and seek His will. Our prayers
will be will be, thy will be done. And I mean it, we will
ask it seriously. Thy will be done. If that kind
of fellowship is between me and Christ, abide in me. Abide in me. And herein is my Father glorified.
And I'll close with this. Herein is my Father glorified,
that you bear much fruit, so shall you be my disciples, as
evident. It's evident you're my disciples.
The Father is glorified when we love one another. When we
love one another. He's glorified. He's glorified
when we walk by faith. When we take Him at His Word and we walk by faith. We continue
right on by faith. Come what may. He's glorified
when we preach the gospel. He's glorified when we send the
gospel out. He said, My Father is glorified
in your conduct. He's glorified. And when these
things are present, it's evident that we are His disciples. It's your mind. It's evident
when love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, kindness, when that
is the rule, when that is evident, It's evident you're my disciples. Abide in me. And I don't know
how else to say it, but let's work on that. Work on that. Work
on that fellowship. Work on that communion. Seek
it. That may be the best way to say
it. Seek it. Continually seek it. At home, in private, here, Well, work on
it. Work on it. Seek it. Stay with
me. And you will bear much fruit. It will be evident.