Abiding in the Vine

 Temple Baptist Church - 4-10-2024

John 15:1-11

 

Introduction:

 

A.  Last week, we saw the Prophecy of the True Vine.  Jesus Christ is the Root of the Vine and the Vine itself along with being the Branch.  This tells us several things about Christ: He was before all things, He made all things, He sustains all things, and He will be after all things.

 

B.  Tonight, we will look at the Purpose of the True Vine.  God does everything both Perfectly and with Purpose.

 

1.  verse 1.  The Personality of the True vine.

 

a)  As the Root, Christ is the Anchor that holds the Vine.  He is the Chief Cornerstone of salvation.  He is the Rock of the believer.  As the Vine, Christ sustains the believer.  The Root supplies the nutrients along with the water necessary for spiritual growth and productivity through the Vine to the branches.

 

b)  As the Vine, Christ is Attributer that feeds the branches.  The sap flows through the vine to the branches.  The vines do not produce anything other than branches.  It is the branches that are responsible for bearing fruit.

 

c)  As the Branch, Christ is our Example of both life and fruit bearing.

 

2.  Verse 2.  The Purpose of the True Vine.  Fruit!  Without fruit, the True Vine would have no reason to exist.  Jesus Christ has a reason for His being and we are that reason.

 

a) The Vine gives birth to the branches.  We are born again through the finished work of Jesus Christ.

 

b) The vine gives the necessities of fruit bearing to the branches.

 

c)  The Lord has and is doing His part because we are both saved and capable, as long as we abide in Him, of producing fruit.

 

C.  The Priority of the True Vine.

 

1.  The Importance of Abiding in the Vine. 

 

a)  These verses do not speak of being Attached to the True Vine.  Each of God’s children get their live through Christ Jesus and are a part of the True Vine.  If you are saved, you are and always will be a branch.

 

b)  But not all branches continue to draw life from the vine for various reasons.  After a storm, we all find a lot of dead branches in our yards.  God uses storms and strong winds to prune trees and other plants.  Gardeners prune their plants to help the plant to produce maximum fruit.

 

2.  How do we Abide in the True Vine. 

 

a)  By drawing all that we need for life and godliness from the sap that flows from God to usward.  I use these verses often because of their importance to all of us that are saved.

 

2 Peter 1:2-3  Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,  (3)  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

 

b)  God gives us everything that we need so it is Available.

 

2 Peter 1:2-3  Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,  (3)  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

 

c)  There are two aspects of our spiritual drawing from God.  To ignore either of these will cause the believer to become unproductive.

 

1)  The Word of God.  I cannot over emphasize the importance of our Bible!  I do not “major on a minor” as it is the “MAJOR!”  It is the “sap” that we draw from reading, studying, listening to, and rightly applying the Word of God.  God’s people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

 

2)  The Spirit of God.  The second way that we draw “sap” from the True Vine is through the presence of and obedience to the Holy Spirit which indwells us.  He is our Teacher, Comforter, Guide, and Friend.

 

3.  The branch that does not produce fruit is broken off by men and cast into the fire. 

 

John 15:6  If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.  (Notice that it is still a branch and the men who break them off and burn them shows the chastening rod of God.  “And many sleep!”

 

D.  Verses 2-11.  The Product of the Abiding Branches.  We now understand that failure to abide in Christ causes lack of fruit and possibly physical death. 

 

John 15:5  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.

 

1.  Verse 2, 4-5.  The Qualification of the Fruit.  The branch must be attached to the Vine!  If you are not in the Vine, then there is no way for you to share in the Vine's life. This is all about a vital union between the believer and the Lord Jesus Christ, the True Vine.

 

a.  The Purging of the Vine.

 

John 15:2-3  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.  (3)  Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

 

b.  We must have a close relationship with the Vine.  Prayer, Bible reading and study, self-denial.

 

c.  We must be available for use by the Vine.  Availability and dependability are the greatest abilities.  This in all God needs.

 

2.  The Quality of the Fruit.  Fruit!  The grace extended is all the same.  The faith exercised is all the same.  The salvation given is all the same.

 

a.  The quality of the fruit is not necessarily the responsibility of the branch.  The quality of fruit depends upon the quality of the Vine. 

 

b.  God reproduces His life through our lives.  As salt and light, the world sees our good works and glorify the Father in heaven.

 

c.  This has been called a “Liberating Truth!”  We are free from the consequences of their personal choice.  We cannot save, we can only give savor and light.

 

3.  The Quantity Of Our Fruit. 

 

a.  So many people whip themselves because of a lack of visible results but there are those who plant, those who water, and only God can give the increase. This is not the responsibility of the branch. Some will produce much; some will produce little.

 

b.  The fruit, more fruit, and much fruit depend upon the will of the Vine. I have known some of the godliest, best missionaries and pastor who have spent their lives with little seeable fruit. 

 

4.  The Quandary of the Branches. 

 

John 15:5  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.

 

a.  Not every branch is what God intended for it to be.  Our relationship to the Vine is what we make of it.

 

b.  This branch is still attached to the Vine but is not abiding in the Vine.  Let me explain. 

 

1)  It is the Husbandman who Purges the branches: to wash them through the Word of God.

 

2)  It is the Husbandman who Prunes the branches by breaking the branches OFF from the Vine.

 

c.  Our duty is to abide in God and allow God to abide in us!

 

Conclusion:  Not abide in Christ:

 

a.  Loss of Fellowship – “cast out”

 

b.  Loss of Living – “withered”

 

c.  Loss of Reward – “burned’