Temple Baptist Church - 2-15-2026
John 15:1-5
Introduction:
A. Are we “Thriving or Surviving?” God wants us to thrive in these last days! To thrive, we must abide.
B. John 15 mentions both pruning and purging of the branches. The commentators make these two words virtually the same. THEY are different! If they had the same meaning, they would be spelled alike!
1. By pruning, God breaks off the unfruitful branches. Bad branches! Over the years, we have had families and individuals who just never got into the church. I call them “Out lyers.” You either abideth (notice the eth ending: present perfect tense. Faithful to God.) in Christ or you do not. If you never get faithful, you will eventually get out! Do not make God break your branch off, as Satan and the world will devour you, that the spirit might be saved.
1 Corinthians 5:5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
2. By purging, God trims the branch. Good branches! Though the branch has brought forth fruit, God trims off that which is not productive, allowing more of the sap that comes from the Vine to invigorate and grow more and much fruit.
a) By purging the branches, removing the shoots and suckers that are not fruit-bearing, thus directing the sap to the part of the branches that bear. It not only increases the quantity of the fruit, but it also increases the quality of the fruit.
b) In our humanity, we often have things in our lives that hinder spiritual fruit-bearing that must be removed.
C. I want to look at two pairs of verses that will explain what purging is. Here are two of the most quoted verses that explain our abiding and flourishing.
1. Purging has to do with removing weights (anything that hinders us from loving and serving the Lord) and besetting sins (sins that we constantly have to avoid that are particular to us individually).
Hebrews 12:1-2 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, (2) Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
2. When we put those two verses to work in our lives, we can fulfill these two by presenting our bodies to Christ, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service.
Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (2) And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
D. Now, how does God purge His branches? With the Word of God. Dive into the Word of God, the Truth of God that makes us free. Free from sin, discouragement, disappointment, doctrinal confusion, failure, and falling.
Ephesians 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
E. Here we find the importance of God’s Word in our lives.
1. Reading the Word of God.
2. Studying the Word of God.
3. Hearing the Word of God.
4. Applying the Word of God.
F. The Word of God is essential for the spiritual welfare of the believer. We all tend to get “a little out of sorts” at times. This is because, though saved, we are still human. The problem is not the condition; the problem is to remain in that condition.
G. Physical growth is something God does, and we can help. Spiritual growth is something we do, and God helps with! Two of the things that will stunt both physical and spiritual growth:
1. A lack of appetite. Healthy children and adults will have a healthy appetite. When a person becomes sick or old, they will often lose their appetite, and it is virtually impossible to get them to eat. They do not eat because they do not feel like eating. How often, at the end of a loved one's life, do people tell them they have to eat for strength, but they refuse food? Thus, the physical man and the spiritual man will lose strength.
2. An appetite for the wrong things. I love buying cakes at Walmart. You know, the ones with an inch of icing and all the flowers and designs, all made of pure sugar. I love ice cream, which I am sure is not the healthiest of foods. Meat, bread, and vegetables build strong bones and muscles. Cake and ice cream build big bellies and fat. Physically and spiritually, we must eat a proper diet.
H. Abiding in Christ finds the Word of God an imperative. Therefore:
1. The Bible Teaches me. The importance of the teaching of God’s Word. Taught by the Spirit of God; taught by personal reading and study; taught by being faithful to the house of God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
A believer will never spiritually grow as they should until they become learners. A person can go to college, spend a fortune, goof off and party, and never get an education. One must apply themselves to learn properly.
Isaiah 54:13 And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.
John 6:45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.
2. The Bible Enlightens me. Help me to understand God’s Word. Learning can be a set of facts memorized, but enlightenment gives the learner the wisdom and knowledge it takes to excel. The Enlightener is the precious Holy Spirit
Proverbs 4:7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
Psalms 36:9 For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.
3. The Bible Leads me. To follow God’s lead, we need to learn to trust the Lord in His guidance. “Make me go!” Asking the Lord to remove all our ways and force us to do His will.
Psalms 23:2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
Give me no options! Believers are free moral agents. God has given to each of us the right of choice, but the serious child of God does not want to unknowingly make the wrong choice.
I often ask God to close all other doors so that I have only the right door to choose. I personally wanted out of the Bible Belt. My desire was to go to New Hampshire and start a church but each night I would say, “Dear Lord, if New Hampshire is not your will for my life, close the door.” He did and I am here!
James 1:22-25 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. (23) For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: (24) For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. (25) But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
4. The Bible Draws me. Draw us near in heart through the Scriptures. That we may spend quality time with the Lord. Relationships are established with conversion. You speak to God in prayer and allow God to speak to you through the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. One of the greatest enemies of the believer in these days of plenty is the sin of covetousness. Can’t help it and got to have it. Through the lure of the world, so many believers have lost their excitement and desire for God’s Word.
Romans 8:6-8 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (7) Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (8) So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
1 John 2:15-17 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (16) For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. (17) And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
5. The Bible Turns me. One of the three areas of sin concerns the eyes. Eve saw and took; Lot vexed his righteous soul by hearing and seeing. In today’s society, we see more by accident than people in years gone by saw on purpose.
Turn my eyes from: Things that are not good, things that are temporal instead of eternal, things that tear down instead of buildup, things that are ungodly or worthless.
We cannot help what we see but we need the help of the Lord to turn our eyes from the sinful sights. Ask God for “spiritual blinders.”
Proverbs 4:25 Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
2 Peter 2:8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
6. The Bible Stabilizes me. Establishment in the unshakable Word. Help us to be stable-minded instead of double-minded. The world and churches are full of unstable people.
One of the most important aspects of spiritual growth, stability, and having a firm foundation is found in the Word of God.
James 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
1 Peter 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
John 8:31-32 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; (32) And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
7. The Bible Encourages me. In the Word, in the Lord, and in the church. Every child of God needs encouragement. This is why the Bible commands us to faithfully assemble. Faithfulness and communion bring about encouragement.
Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
8. The Bible Quickens me. Biblical spiritual growth makes the child alive in righteousness.
Psalms 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
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