I would like for everyone here
to listen to the message that God has laid upon my heart. With
great care today, I want every one of us, pastor included, to
examine ourselves, whether we be in the faith. I want us to
give diligence to make our calling and election sure. In John chapter
15, our Lord said, I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth
not fruit he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit
he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Verse 5, I
am the vine ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me ye
can do nothing." Now these are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Unto you who believe, he's precious. And every word that he speaks
is precious. We'll let every word that our
Master speaks fall on our souls with great meaning. We will receive
every precious word that our precious Lord reveals unto us. These are the words of Christ. These are not my words, they're
His words. I am the true vine, ye are the
branches. Abide in me, for without me ye
can do nothing. These are the words of Christ.
We're not examining my words today, we're examining his words.
We're not listening to my words, we're listening to his words.
Now another thing, these are the words of Christ just before
his death. These are the words of the Master
just before his great Gethsemane trial. Just before he went into
the garden and there wrestled and cried out and sweat great
drops of blood. These are the words that he spoke
to his disciples just before his death on Calvary. These are
final words. These are final orders. This
is a summary of his works, his words, and his teaching right
here. This is a summary. He's talking to his disciples.
Let not your heart be troubled You believe in God, believe also
in me. I go to prepare a place for you.
If I go and prepare a place, I'll come again and receive you
unto myself. He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. I am the true vine, ye are the
branches. Abide in me. If any man abide
not in me, he is taken away. He is cast forth as a branch,
he is withered and burned. These are the words of Christ
just before his death. These are his last words to his
disciples just before their great trial, and before their great
suffering, and before their separation from their Lord for a time. And
then, last of all, by way of introducing the message, these
are the words of our Lord. And these are his words to his
disciples just before he died on Calvary, just before the Gethsemane
wrestling, the trial, pallets hauled, and the high priest examination,
and then the cross. And these are words about us.
These are words about ourselves. Now, most everyone is in Christ,
in one sense of the word. Everybody here this morning,
in one way or another, is in Christ. That's what we're talking
about. Look at verse 2. Every branch
in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. every branch
that beareth fruit, he purgeth it. Those in me that bear not
fruit can expect to be taken away. Those in me, savingly,
will bear fruit. Now, every person here, in one
way or another, is in Christ, because practically every one
of us professed to be a Christian. We professed to be saved. When
Christ speaks about anything, it's important, but this is really
important to me right here, because he speaks about our relationship
to him. Am I savingly in Christ? But you're a minister. Of course
you're saved. I'm a minister, but not, of course,
I'm saved. That doesn't mean I'm saved.
There were many ministers in the days of Christ who were not
saved. The majority of the ministers in his day were not saved. Christ
called them a generation of hypocrites. He called them a generation of
vipers. He said in their temple that
they didn't know God. He cried out in their synagogues
that they didn't know God. My question this morning to myself
is, am I savingly in Christ? I'm in Christ by profession.
I'm in Christ by doctrine. I'm in Christ theologically,
I'm in Christ in all of these morally, in the eyes of others
I'm in Christ, am I in Christ savingly? We'll find out about
that as we look into the word. It's doubly important, this scripture
here, because these are the words of our Lord. And these are the
words of our Lord before his great suffering, before he left
his disciples, and these are words about our relationship
with him. There's some branches that are
going to be purged. Am I deceived? Will I be among
those who say at the judgment, Lord, I preached in your name,
I cast out devils in your name, I did many wonderful works in
your name, and only to hear him say, depart from me, I never
knew you. I don't want to hear that. I
don't want to be a leader of others and be cast out myself. I don't want to preach to others
and become a castaway. I don't want to be a professor
of religion and not know the Savior, do you? I want to examine
myself, that's scriptural, whether I am in the faith. I do not want
to be deceived. And the words are given right
here, words by which we can examine our profession. First of all,
our Lord says in verse 1, I'm the true vine. I am the true
vine. I am the water of life. I am
the bread of life, that's what he said. I am the way, the truth,
and the life. I am the door, by me if any man
enter in, he shall be saved. Christ is the true vine, Christ
is the only saviour, Christ is the precious cornerstone, Christ
is the pearl of great price, Christ is the rock of ages, Christ
is the lamb of God, Christ is the rose of Sharon, Christ is
the lily of the valley, Christ is the vine, Christ is the only
redeemer. That's what he's saying here,
I am the true vine. I am the true vine. Now man has
tried to present other saviors. Man has tried to find salvation
through the law. It's not there. Christ said,
I am the true vine. Man has tried to find salvation
in his religious works. It's not there. Christ said,
I am the true vine. Man has tried to find salvation,
eternal life, in the church. It's not there. There is no life
in the church. Man has tried to find salvation
in the ordinances. It's not there. The Savior said,
I am the true vine. I am the door. There is but one
Savior. Turn to the book of Acts, chapter
4, and listen to the apostle. There is but one Savior. There
is but one Redeemer. Somebody says, well, it doesn't
matter what you believe religiously, just so you're sincere it does
matter. Christ said, I am the true vine.
It doesn't matter what you believe, just so you live a good life,
it does matter. Christ said, I am the true vine,
I'm the only vine, the only door. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. In Acts chapter 4 verse 10, listen
to the apostle, Be it known unto you all, and to all the people
of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom
you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth
this man stand before you whole, this is the stone, Christ is
the cornerstone, Christ is the foundation which was set at naught
of you religious builders. You're trying to build eternal
life on another stone, on another foundation, on a foundation of
sand. You have resisted God's cornerstone,
you have set at naught God's cornerstone, and He has become
the head of the corner, and neither is there salvation in any other. There is no salvation in any
other. There's no salvation in the law. There's no salvation
in the works of religion, no matter how zealous we are, how
diligent we are. Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no longer know,
no respite know? These, for sin, can never atone. Can never atone. Christ must
say, neither is there salvation in any other. Listen. There is
none other name under heaven. Doesn't matter whether the name
is Baptist, or the name is Catholic, or the name is Methodist, or
the name is Calvin, or the name is Wesley, or the name is Spurgeon,
or the name is Buddha, or the name is Mohammed, or the name
is Confucius, or the name is society, or the name is social
work, there's none other name under heaven. given among men,
whereby we must be saved." No other name. That's clear, isn't
it? Christ said, I am the true thine. There is none other name. There is no other way in the
book of Hebrews. I want you to turn over there
with me to the book of Hebrews, and I think it's chapter 4 or
5, but I want to find it here because I'd like to read you
this about the sacrifices. In chapter 10 it is, Hebrews
10. Now, the people of Israel had
great confidence in their priesthood and in their sacrifices and in
their tabernacle. Once every year they brought
the blood atonement once every Sabbath day they brought different
sacrifices, and then every day there was the morning sacrifice
and the evening sacrifice. There was much bloodshed and
there were many animals slain. But now listen to what Paul says
even about these sacrifices. In verse 4 of Hebrews 10, For
it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take
away sin. It is not possible. It is not
possible even that these sacrifices which typified Christ, it is
not possible that these sacrifices about which the Jews were so
particular and so careful It is not possible that these sacrifices
which the Father gave himself through his servant Moses and
instructed the Israelites about how to offer them, it's not even
possible that they can take away sin. Much less our little ordinances
that we go through, our little rituals, our little ceremonies,
our little works of religion. If those sacrifices It is not
possible for them to take away sin, and the world we expect
our plain church to put away sin. We don't even have any sacrifices. We don't even have any blood
to share. We don't have any God-given rituals
through which to go in the name of religion to put away sin. Now turn to 1 Peter 1. Listen
to this, 1 Peter 1, the apostles said over there in the book of
Acts, there is none other name under heaven. There is none other
name. Neither is there salvation in
any other. Just put it away. There is none
other name under heaven except the name of Christ. Now in 1
Peter 1 verse 18, Peter says, for as much as you know, You
were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but you were redeemed, how? I wish everybody in the United
States who makes a profession of religion could read this next
verse in unison, in one voice, a cappella altogether, but with
the precious blood of Christ. As a man saved, with the precious
blood of Christ. How is the man redeemed? We're
not redeemed with corruptible things. How are we redeemed?
How are we brought back? How are we forgiven? How are
we pardoned? How? Well, preach to do the best
you can. That's not what it says. Well,
keep the law. That's not what it says. We'll
go to church every Sunday and make a decision and say you believe
some doctrine. It says we're redeemed with the
precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot. He's the seed of woman. God came
down to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3.15 and announced redemption.
He said the seed of woman shall bruise the serpent's head. Christ
is that seed. He's the virgin-born son of woman. Christ is that Passover lamb
in Exodus 12, when Israel was in bondage and slavery in Egypt,
and God said He would pass through at midnight and slay the firstborn
in every home, that the Israelites were to put blood on the doorpost
and on the sidepost, on the lintel, and that they would go in the
house and stay there. At midnight, God came over and
slew the firstborn in every home where there was no blood on the
door. And the Israelites remembered
that Passover every year, and the Scripture says Christ is
our Passover. That sets forth Christ, that
teaches Christ, who shed his blood, that we might not be slain
under the wrath of God, under the judgment of God. In Exodus
17 verse 6, when Israel was in the wilderness, dying of thirst,
God told Moses to smite the rock, and out of the rock would come
water. And Moses smote the rock, and the water came out. And the
Scripture says Christ is that rock. He's the one that quenches
the thirst caused by sin. When the Israelites were bitten
by the fiery serpents, God said, Moses, take a brazen serpent
and lift it up on a pole, and whosoever look it will live.
Christ said, as Moses lifted up the serpent, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him.
Christ is that brazen serpent. When the high priest went into
the Holy of Holies every year with the blood atonement, Christ
is that atonement. When the scapegoat had sins confessed
on his head and was turned loose in the wilderness to wander until
he died, Christ is that scapegoat. Christ is our high priest. Christ
is the Bible. Christ is the gospel. Christ
is salvation. Christ is eternal life. He is
the true vine. All nourishment, all life, is
received from Him. And if the Son shall make you
free, you shall be free indeed. I am the vine. Look back at John
15. Our life is in the vine. There's
no life in the branch except that life which it derives from
the vine. You go out here to a tree and
you cut that branch off and lay it aside. I guarantee you in
just a short while, even in a matter of minutes, the leaves will begin
to wither. And after an hour or so, the
leaves are all withered. In a day or so, it's so dried
up it's fit for burning. Because there's no life in the
branch, the life is in the vine. The branch is a what? It's a
parasite that lives on the vine. It gets all of its nourishment,
all of its strength, all of its food, all of its life, everything
from the vine. That's the reason Christ said
in verse 5, I am divine, you are the branches. Don't forget
it. You are not divine, you're the
branch. You're the parasite. You are the one dependent on
him. You get everything, your shelter, your life, your hope,
you get it all from him. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. Without me, you can
do nothing. You can't even exist spiritually. You can't even breathe spiritually. We are loved in Christ. We are
pardoned in Christ. We are accepted in Christ. Listen
to me. Even our repentance comes from
Christ. Even our faith comes from Christ. He is our wisdom, our righteousness,
our sanctification, and our redemption. We repent because of our relationship
with Him. We believe because of our relationship
with Him. Our vital union with Him brings
forth even the fruits of repentance and faith. We live by the faith
of the Son of God, not by our faith, by His faith. has all the life and the strength,
the branch has none in itself except that which it derives
from the vine." Now notice the second thing quickly. Christ
said, I'm the true vine. I'm the vine. Just discard all
other vines, all other sources of life. There is no other source.
Neither is there salvation in any other. There's none other
name under heaven. Just forget it. Whatever purpose
the law serves, it's not to save. Whatever purpose the works of
religion serve, it's not to save. Whatever purpose morality and
righteousness serves, it's certainly not to save. Christ is divine. He is the true divine. Now, secondly,
my father is the husbandman. What do we mean by that? Well,
number one, he's the owner of the land. He owns the land. He's the husband. I'm divine,
but my father's the husband. He owns the land. Turn to Deuteronomy
chapter 10. Now let's look at this, and I
hope I get a little frightened about the day in which I live. I get a little bit frightened
because of the careless way in which men deal with God and the
things of God. I get a little frightened. In
Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse 14, Behold the heaven, and the
heaven of heavens is the Lord, is the Lord thy God, the earth
also, and all that therein is, is His. He's the owner of the
land. Turn to Psalms 24. In Psalms
24, verse 1 and 2, the earth is the Lord's, it's His. He's the husbandman. The earth
is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof, the world and they that
dwell therein. He hath founded it upon the seas,
and he hath established it upon the floods. It's his. He's the
husbandman. That is, he owns the land. It's
all his. Every star that twinkles, every
planet that moves, the sun, the moon, the earth, The cattle on
a thousand hills, the silver and gold in the mines that hasn't
even been mined, the earth is the Lord's, the world and they
that dwell therein. He is the husbandman, it's His. He said, Shall not I do with
my own what I will? Shall the potter say, shall the
clay say to the potter, Why hast thou made me thus? It's the Lord's. That's what Eli said. It's the
Lord. Let him do what he will. That's
what Job said. The Lord gave and the Lord was
pleased to take away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
It's his. It's his. Now secondly, he planted the
vine. My father's the husband. Christ said, I'm the vine. I'm
the true vine. My father's the husband. He owns the earth. It's his. He owns the universe.
It's his. He made it. Shall he not do with
his own what he will? He was pleased to plant this
vine, this true vine. He planted the vine. The Scripture
says the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. The Scripture
says for God so loved the world that he gave this vine. For God so loved the world he
gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should
not perish but have everlasting life. We emphasize the whosoever
believeth on him, we forget the scripture says God gave his son. It pleased him to do it. It pleased
the Lord to bruise him. Our God is in the heavens," David
said. The heathen said, David, where's
your God? We know where our God is. He's down in our heathen
temple. We made him out of stone and
wood and marble, and we set him up on a pedestal, and there we
fall before him. We know where our God is. He's
safely arranged where we put him. Where's your God, David?
David said, my God's in the heavens. My God's in the heavens. And
he hath done whatsoever he pleased. That's where my God is. It's
his. And he planted the vine. It pleased
the Lord to bruise him. Pilate said, why, don't you answer
me? Don't you know I have the power
to crucify you or let you go? Christ said, Pilate, you couldn't
have any power over me at all except be given you from above.
My father's the husbandman, Christ said. I'm the true vine. Here
is hope in me. Here is life in me. Here is strength
in me. Here is pardon in me. But my
father is the husbandman, and he planted the vine." And I'll tell you something else.
He in grass the branches, too. You see a man, a husbandman,
go out here, and here's a vine. It's got life in It's established. It's permanent. And he takes
it and he cuts a certain way and he gets a twig and he puts
it on, cuts it a certain way and he puts it on that vine and
he wraps it. And then the life in that vine
begins to go into that branch and after a while that branch
is just a part of that vine. You look at it and you say, you
don't say there's a vine and a branch, you say there's a tree.
There's a tree. And the fruit borne by that branch
is the result of that vine's life and nourishment and self
and strength. And my Father in grass these
branches. Turn to 1 Corinthians. Let me
show you that. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Listen to this. You say you're
in Christ savingly. You say you're in Christ In a
living way, you say you're in Christ in a vital union? Let's
see how you got there. In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus. Of whom? Of God. The husband. He put you there,
if you're there. You didn't put yourself. I don't
see any branches running around here sticking themselves on the
vine and growing. Of him are you in Christ Jesus. who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. That according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Of
him are you in Christ Jesus. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 1. Jeremiah
chapter 1, I want you to read verse 5 with me. Here God is
speaking to the prophet Jeremiah. And he says in verse 5 of Jeremiah
1, Before I formed thee, in the belly, I knew thee." Who
formed him? God formed him. God knew him. And before you came out of the
womb, I sanctified thee, I set thee apart, and I ordained thee
a prophet unto the nations. In the book of James he says,
of his own will begat he us, of his own will begat he us,
through the word of truth. John said in John 1 verse 11,
as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons
of God, which were born not of the will of the flesh, not of
the will of man, but of God. Everyone born into the family
of God is born into that family by God's sovereign will. That's
right. He planted the vine. He ingrassed
the branches. And watch this now. It says here
that he is the one who prunes the branches. Look at verse 2.
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, well, he takes it
away. You see, I am the vine. The life
is in me. My father is the husband. He
owns the land. He planted the vine. He engrafted
the branches. And every branch that doesn't
bear fruit, he personally is going to take it away. Somebody
said, God doesn't send anybody to hell. Sinners send themselves
to hell. Well, that sounds pretty, but
it's not so. Most of what that which we believe in the flesh
is not true. God sends men to hell. That's
what it says here. It says He takes them away. He
takes them away. I don't believe sinners could
send themselves to hell. In the first place, they don't
know where it is. God knows where it is. And it says, Every branch
in me that beareth not fruit, he will take it away. He will
take it away. And every branch in me that beareth
fruit, he'll prune it. He'll prune it. We are his workmanship. created in Christ Jesus, God
is the one who engrafts the branches, God is the one that takes away
the false branches, and God is the one that prunes the living
branches. You ever watch a man prune a
tree? I tell you, you'll think he's ruined it. You'll think,
my goodness, that that thing never will do any good. He cuts
it back so severely, so sharply, it looks like nothing's left.
But that's the best thing for it. The next year is full of
fruit. But now the last thing. I want
you to notice something here now. He says, Every branch in
me that beareth not fruit. Every branch in me that beareth
not fruit. Every branch in me that beareth
fruit. Now here are two types of branches
said to be indivine. Both of them are said to be indivine.
One does not bring forth fruit, and one does. Now those that
are said to be in Christ, who are fruitless, therefore lifeless,
are those whose names are on the church roll. They're in Christ
in that they're identified with the people of God. They are said
here to be in Christ in that they're identified with the things
of Christ. They're identified with the church
of the Lord Jesus. They're identified with the house
of worship and the house of prayer. They're identified with other
people in that they're on the rolls of the church. That is,
they're in Christ in that way. Secondly, they're professed to
be in Christ. They have publicly made a profession
that they are in Christ. And then thirdly, they are said
to be in Christ by others, others judged by their conduct and by
their behavior and by their profession that they are in Christ. And
then they attend to the ordinances of the church. They have been
baptized, they come to the Lord's table, they are even officiated
these things. They teach Sunday school, there
are offices in the church, they are said to be in Christ in this
way, that they attend to religious duties and religious doctrines
and religious ceremonies. And even their outward conduct. often deceive people, because
by their outward conduct men judge them to be in Christ. But
do you know that a man can wear the uniform of his country's
army and still not be in the army? That's right, all you have
to do is go down to the army store and purchase a uniform.
And you can walk around and everybody says, well, he's in the army.
And he says, I'm in the army. And people judge by his clothing
and by his conduct and by his words that he's in the army.
But run to the rolls of the army and look it up. He's not in the
army. He just says he is. And then a coin may bear the
stamp and image of the king. Take out a coin and there it
bears the image of the king. But the fellow made it in his
basement, and it's a counterfeit coin. And when you go and try
to spend it, when you go and try to use it, you find out that
it never was a real genuine coin, that it just bore the image,
but it was not a real coin. And Christ said, there are those
branches in me by profession, there are those branches in me
by other people's judgment, there are those branches that are in
me by duties and religious ordinances and doctrines, that bear no fruit. And consequently, he says, my
Father is going to take them away. My Father is going to take
them away. Now then, here is the real test.
Look at verse 2. Every branch that beareth fruit. Every branch that beareth fruit.
Verse 5 says, I am the vine, ye are the branches, he that
abideth in me, and I in him the same, bringeth forth fruit. It will. It doesn't say it ought
to. Should, might, says it does. And here's the real test. The
branch that does not bring forth fruit. Christ said, My Father's
going to take it away. He's going to take it away. The
branch that beareth fruit is the branch that my Father is
going to prune and purge and try that it might bring forth
more fruit. If a man abides in me, he will
bring forth fruit. Now, what is the fruit we're
talking about here? All right, turn to Galatians
5. And there can be no other answer
but this one right here that I'm about to give you in Galatians
chapter 5. Here it is. The vine, the branch
that is in the vine, the true vine, put there by the husband,
the branch that will not be taken away, the branch that will not
be burned, the branch that will not be destroyed is the branch
that's bringing forth this fruit right here. In Galatians 5.22,
the fruit of the Spirit is love. Love for God, love for Christ,
love for the Holy Spirit, love for his word, love for his people,
love for even our enemies. If a branch is in the vine, it
will bring forth love. If any man love not our Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. That's what Scripture said. Let
him be under the wrath of God. Christ said, how can you love
me and not love your brothers? If any man say he love his brother,
loves God and hates his brother, he's a liar. That's not possible. And then joy. Joy in the Lord. Joy in the people of the Lord.
Joy in the blessings of the Lord. His life is a life of rejoicing
in God. Sure he has great heaviness.
Sure he has great sorrow, sure he weeps over his own sins and
the sins of others, but basically in his heart there is a joy in
the Lord, a rejoicing in Christ the Savior. That's the joy of
the believer. And then there's peace. Peace
with God and peace with men. He lives in peace. He is a man
who cultivates peace. He is a man who seeks peace.
He is a peacemaker. Because that's the furthest spirit.
He's not a man that goes about seeking a quarrel and seeking
an argument. He is a man who goes about seeking
peace. Not peace at any price, but the
peace of God, which passeth understanding. Peace based on the sacrifice
of Christ. Long-suffering. Patience. Patience. Patience with God. We've got
to learn that God doesn't do everything just exactly when
we expect him to do it. God doesn't do everything exactly
like we expect Him to do it. God doesn't do everything when
we expect Him to do it. We wait upon the Lord. Wait upon
the Lord. Be of good courage. He'll strengthen
your heart. Wait on the Lord. And then patience
with one another. Long-suffering patience. You know, love covers a multitude
of infirmities. It covers a multitude of sins.
And it'll be patient with one another. And then gentleness.
gentleness. That means exactly what it says.
Gentle with others. Be ye kind one to another, tender
hearted, forgiving one another. God for Christ's sake has forgiven
you. Be gentle with one another. Be
gentle with a man's character. Be gentle with his reputation.
Be gentle with his sin. Be gentle with his failure. Be
gentle with him. Treat him like Christ treats
you. and then goodness, and faith, and humility, and temperance. These are the fruits of the Spirit. And Christ said, if a branch
abides in the vine, it will bring forth these fruits. And if it
does not bring forth fruit, my Father will take it away. My Father will take. But I profess
to be a Christian. Are the fruits of the Spirit
being manifest in your heart? Now they're not perfect. Let
me show you something here. These branches are not perfect.
You know why I know they're not perfect? Because if they were
perfect, he wouldn't have to prune them. You don't prune a perfect branch.
You see, Christ said, Abide in me. Every branch that bears fruit,
my Father is going to prune it. Why? Here's the second reason
why I know it's not perfect. that it may bring forth more
fruit. If it were perfect, it wouldn't be possible to bring
forth any more fruit. I don't have perfect love. I
don't have perfect faith. I don't have perfect neatness.
You don't either. You won't have on this earth,
but you will have love and joy and peace and longsuffering and
neatness and gentleness and kindness and faith. These fruits of the
Spirit will be there. And they will be maturing, and
they will be growing, and they will be developing, and they
will be more and more each day as we walk with our Lord. But
the branches are not perfect. If they were perfect, the Father
wouldn't have to prune them. But the Father does prune them,
and God visits his people with power not to punish them. He prunes them that they may
bring forth more fruit. That's why he does it. You don't
say here, if the branch doesn't bring forth perfect fruit, my
father will punish it. My father will cut the tree down. No, my father is not going to
cut the tree down. My father is going to prune the tree. In
his own wise way, in his own holy way, in his own gentle way,
not more than I can bear, not enough to destroy it, not enough
to kill it, my father is going to prune the branch. And he does
it not because he's angry with it, not because he's punishing
the branch, he's doing it that the branch might bring forth
more fruit. That's the heart of the whole
thing. Now Christ is the true vine. We are the branches. Let's never lose sight of the
fact that the Father is the husbandman. The Father's in charge of things. God's boss. I like that. That's
just plain. People say God is sovereign.
All right. Maybe some folks don't know what
that word means, but they know what this means. God's boss.
And he owns the land, and he planted the vine, and he's the
one that ingrests the branch, and he's the one that'll take
away the ones that do not bear fruit, and he's the one who'll
do the pruning and the purging. And I'll say it's the Lord, let
him do what he will. And he does it that that branch,
and here's the key of the whole thing, may bring forth more fruit. It's got to. If the fruit's not
there, the life's not there. I don't care what we profess
to be, it's not there if it doesn't bring forth fruit. Our Father,
bless the word to our hearts and to our prophet, to thy glory. We would not wound a branch. We would not ourselves try to
purge it or prune it. That's the Father's business.
But we believe that he does prune the branches through his word.
Sanctify them through thy word. Thy word is truth. Wherewithal
shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed to the word
of God. Desire the sincere milk of the
word that you may grow thereby. The Word of God is sharp like
a two-edged sword. The Word of God is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and
righteousness. So we are to take the Word that
has been read and spoken and use it to prune the branches. Use it, O Lord, to reveal our
relationship with Thee. Are we in Christ? Are we savingly
in the Lord? Are we deceived? This we ask
for His glory and in His name. Amen.