John 15 verses 1 through 7, and I would encourage you to read along. I'm reading from the English Standard Version, which is a literal translation of the scriptures. Rise, Jesus says, let us go from here. I am the true vine, and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you, abide in me and I end you, as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I end him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he has thrown away like a branch and withers. And the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. The Lord bless the reading of his word and the hearing of his people. With the last verse of chapter 14 suggesting that our Lord was on the move with the disciples now, many feel certain, although we can't say for certain, but many feel certain that as they were journeying through Jerusalem to go through the gates and to leave the city, that their travels most likely would take them past the temple. And there as they were passing the temple, as was often the habit of Jesus, he would look at what was around him and then draw a spiritual truth by telling the story based upon what he was able to see. On the temple, there would be in an ornamental type of structure a golden vine sculpted on the temple gates. Whether it was the gate or otherwise, vines grew everywhere in Jerusalem. So it may have been just as Jesus is walking past houses or abodes or whatever it might be that he saw a vine. It didn't have to be the one that was on the temple, but we do know that the vine represented the people of God, the Israel of God, and that it was very frequently found to be placed or sculpted onto something to communicate that this was representative of the people of God. In fact, on the Maccabeean coin, Israel is represented on the reverse side of it by a vine. And so it was a common understanding that the Israel of God was represented by a vine. We also find it in the scripture, Psalm 80, verse 8, you brought a vine out of Egypt, you brought a people out of Egypt and he calls them a vine. It's frequently used in the Old Testament to represent Israel as a people that are separated from the world. A people who are a testimony of God bearing fruit for his glory. You see, that's the purpose of a vine is to bear fruit. A vine really is of no other use. If it's not to bear fruit, it won't provide shade. It can't be used for construction. It's really good for nothing else but to bear fruit. And so God's people are called a vine and their purpose is to bear fruit for God's glory. Unfortunately, we find in the Old Testament, however, that is never the case that they would bear fruit. A song in Isaiah 5 tells of God's love for his people in calling them a vine and establishing it. It's a wonderful place to kind of begin to enter into the whole idea of a vineyard and of God's relation to that vineyard and it forms the background and the disciples' minds as Jesus teaches them about the vine. In Isaiah 5, the prophet says, let me sing for my beloved, my love song for his vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it. Who is he? God. God himself prepared the place for his people. He dug it and cleared it of stones and planted it with choice vines. Where is he talking about? He brought his people into the promised land and it was by his hand that the walls of Jericho fell. It was by his hand that he sanctified the land through the people Israel and established them and created a place that can be described as a land of milk and honey. A wonderful place to plant his vineyard to grow luscious fruit. He built a watch tower in the midst of it and he looked for it to yield grapes. What's this represent? God's presence. He is watching out for his people and in this watch tower he is now observing his field. He's never apart. He's never away. He's always watching his people, watching the fruit of their lives, watching what it is that they produce. He built a watch tower in the midst of it. He looked for it to yield grapes but it yielded wild grapes. In other words the vineyard which was given the most beautiful circumstances had the greatest opportunity to grow of all the lands and of all the peoples. God himself cleared until the land and planted the vines and cared for them and yet even then the vineyard produced sour grapes or no fruit at all. God's preparation and planning of the vineyard of his people only resulted in a yield of corrupted fruit. The same is reported by Jeremiah in chapter 221. I planted you a choice vine wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine? While a vine was well established as a symbol for Israel even today grapes on a vine symbolize the nation of Israel but whenever the scriptures mentioned the vine it's a symbol of Israel's failure and degeneracy rather than their fruitfulness. It's a wonder they retained the image of a vine for they had never fulfilled God's design for yielding a fruit from that vine. It had turned wild in Israel producing only sour grapes and Jeremiah. Israel turned degenerate and strange in Hosea which we hadn't read. The vine is described as empty and producing no fruit at all. And so as we begin to understand Jesus's teaching on the vine we need to understand when he says I am the vine he's saying I am the true vine and this vine which we have been calling Israel has not produced the fruit which God has called Israel to produce. Augustine of Hippo, one of our ancient church fathers sees the teaching of this similitude to be that the mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus is the head of the church and we are his members. He became man that in him human nature might be the vine and we who are also men might become the branches in other words. The incarnation itself was so that Jesus would become the vine and that we could be grafted into that to become the branches. Otherwise no vine of man could reach to God only and through the incarnation was man made able to be in unity with the Lord Jesus Christ. So we have a people of God established and prepared by God to be fruitful but they are producing nothing because a vine is not used for building it's not used for anything except to bear fruit and so without fruit it's good for nothing it's called an empty vine and this is our starting point. We have to know this really before we can even begin to unfold and untangle the similitude which Jesus has presented. It's a picture of life without the spirit of God when we see a vine that produces no fruit. A picture of a life without the spirit of God you remember we've talked at length now about the fruit of the spirit when we say that the spirit indwells us and the evidence of that is fruit and we described what the fruit of the spirit is as it's revealed to us in Galatians and now Jesus is going to say to his people I am the true vine. He's the vine that will be all God wants his people to be. That very night it passed over. That very night as Jesus was instituting the Lord's supper they had bred and the fruit of the vine before them and why? It was the fruit of the vine and they shared in that together and Jesus said there this is my body this is my blood and in other words this bread and this cup of the drink of the vine has no significance unless it is found in me. No longer would the meal mean anything to them unless it was done in remembrance of him the bread and the cup are empty unless they have their meaning in Christ and so it is with the vine that is Israel unless it has meaning in Christ it bears no fruit at all and it is empty because Jesus is the one that will bring forth good fruit not only will Jesus supersede the temple with its sacrifices the feast of the Jews and Moses himself but he will supersede Israel as God's vine as his chosen people the true vine is not an apostate people but Jesus himself who alone is righteous and faithful and so our turning point as it were and this first unfolding is that where Israel has been unfaithful and has not produced fruit and has not brought people into unity with God but instead has brought people under God's judgment Christ is faithful and Christ will fulfill the idea and the hope and the prophecy of the vine bearing spiritual fruit and so Jesus then says I am the true vine the true vine I'm not a false I'm not an apostate I'm not anything but the true vine there's only one true vine there is only one place where we find ourselves unified with anything that would truly give us hope and that is with the true vine so Jesus who is the true vine we would ask do branches have unity anywhere except in the vine do any of us have any relation with one another except in the vine when we bow our heads and we pray together do we have anything in common or any reason to join together in prayer except as we are found to be brothers and sisters in Christ and Christ alone is life given and sustained outside of the vine can we have any hope for spiritual life except as it is found in Christ can any fruit be born on the branch without the vine truly not in a higher degree and I would emphasize that in a higher degree because all examples and similitudes and metaphors and parables have a weakness as they seek to use those things which are earthly to describe those things which are heavenly so in a higher degree the church like the branch finds its unity its life and its fertility in Jesus I would repeat that because often I know these terms can slip by us so we find our unity together as brothers sisters in Christ we find our life that is life and a hope which is eternal and we find our fertility that is the fruits which we produce that is those things in life which bear testimony of the spirit dwells in us we only find those as we are in Christ they cannot be faked they cannot be made in any other way they simply are in Christ and find them or we have them not at all amazing and true as an organic union of vine and branches how much more amazing is it to find the oneness of believers united to Christ bearing spiritual fruit in the body from Christ as the head because a vine can only sustain a branch for a time the true vine the living Christ sustains his people in eternity giving them love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness itself control the fruit of the spirit so Jesus concludes this portion this first lesson on the vine that teaches disciples what their position is their position is that they are in him they are unified in him and on the basis of that they will accomplish their mission the mission that he gives to the church they will be in him so when Jesus says I am the true vine he is here saying to them you will find no blessings that you have anticipated from the nation of Israel except as you are found in me there is no people of God except as you are found in me because it is not Israel that is the vine except as Israel is the people of God and they are only the people of God as they are found to be unified to Christ then Jesus turns to the second lesson that we can see in verses four and five and you trace your finger down there read along again abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me I am the vine you were the branches whoever abides in me and I in him he it is that bears much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing did you pick up the key word which very clearly would make for us the second point that Jesus is making abiding abiding in Christ he is here saying it is the duty of their position as they are now united as branches to the vine the true vine they must abide in Christ remain in him I am the unhappy owner of a very healthy wisteria vine a wisteria vine that produces a purple flower that frankly smells wonderful but a wisteria vine grows and takes over everything it takes over the trees that are nearby it takes over the fences that it grows near it has even begun to take over the lawn itself as it begins to creep and to crawl across the lawn we've taken machetes and chainsaws and we've hacked and we've sawed and we've cut and just when we believe we have found success by leaving shreds and shards of vine all over the place we return in the next season only to find that it has begun to grow again it is as close to immortal as anything I have ever seen in this life no amount of destructive force seems to be able to destroy this vine a branch left attached to the vine will reestablish it again even though the ones we cut quickly die and stop producing any that is left takes over and multiplies because it still has life flowing from the vine to the branch so however much we do destruction however much we make it look unsightly if there is but one that remains just one the strength of the life that flows through the vine to the branch is enough to reestablish it and calls it to grow again and there I think we have a picture of Christ church how many times and how many persecutions have been brought against the church how often has it been hacked how often has it been persecuted how often has it been drug and how often has it been beaten how often have the saints been carried out and crucified or burned or persecuted for their testimony and Christ but if there is one that remains if there is one then from the vine flows the living word of life to the branch and that branch continues to produce fruit and the fruit continue to multiply and the church continues to grow verse 7 then teaches how we abide in Christ if we go down from four from four and five to seven if you abide in me and my words abide in you ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you the fundamental means of our abiding in Christ is by his word not by a hyper spiritual approach not by some sort of an imaginary approach of abiding and remaining in him simply as a matter of the will but through his word any other way may give us a feeling of abiding but it's artificial it's not truly the life of Christ flowing from the vine to the branch it's in his word as we abide in him and his word abides in us the Christian continually not just once but continually set aside all things that would draw us away from that narrow gate that is set before us that we would stay in his word whatever strength we may imagine that we have on our inner own wisdom whatever we believe we draw from our relationships our education our own charisma perhaps our influence by position or simply by power all of those will prove to be empty and leave us longing for the life giving power of Christ verse seven gives us the only condition that then gives us Christ to abide in us if you abide in me and my word abides in you without this abiding in his word there will be unfruitfulness and we will be cut off from the root we have to abide in his word of Christ is to abide in us for where else will the life of Christ flow if we do not abide in his word will it flow simply by our saying and demanding that it flow where will we connect with Christ except by the means of grace which God has provided did he provide them only for those who desire to take part of them only those who are studious and desire to study his word only those who have a higher church sense of the sacraments and so they feel that we ought to observe the sacraments regularly no he gave them that his church might be unified with Christ and that the love and the life of Christ would flow to his people through the living words so the second teaching is our duty to abide in Christ our duty so first of all we have our position which is in Christ we're unified in Christ who is the true vine and by that we have life and we produce fruit and then we remain in that estate as we abide in him and then is our duty to abide in him it's not our option it is our duty otherwise we will cease to bear fruit and we'll be cut off from the vine the third point Jesus teaches him is the consequences of all of this what does all this mean then how are we to draw this together and make something practical of it most translations that you'll read would indicate that the vines producing no fruit or cut gathered burned cast off and burned maybe it is as John Lang an ancient commentator suggests and Jesus is instead of passing by the temple maybe he's on a hill on the outside of Jerusalem and there being that season where the vineyards are being worked and indeed dead vines are being cut off and carried and there would be fires all around the hillside from the growers who were clearing out those unproductive vines and burning them maybe Jesus is looking and he's seeing these fires around and he's using that as an illustration the commentator in the pastor Dr. James Montgomery Boyce prefers to translate this cast away or remove as a concept of lifting up as a way of lifting up which is part of the translations there's about four senses that you can that you can take this word to mean three of them are fairly consistent with the idea of carrying off and disposing but there is one which remains that has the idea of lifting up in fact it's the primary use of this word it's the idea of lifting up as into repair and here Boyce gives us the picture of a vineyard owner who comes and he sees his vineyards as when I lived in Germany I noticed they were all very neat perhaps you haven't seen a vineyard just very briefly a vine can't grow on the ground and produce fruit it has to be suspended and so you'll find poles sometimes with net sometimes with wires and a and a gardener who keeps a vineyard will very carefully attach the vines to those poles and to those lines that are strong across them and in Germany and I love the way the German mind works everything is as we would say dress right dress everything is in line and in proper order in the grass around it is all cut nice and neat and the vineyards are beautiful we crossed over into Italy and the countryside looked more like a five o'clock shadow the vineyards were there but what was the order and why were they placed there I could never figure out they were unkempt and yet the Italians are known for producing wonderful wine and so there must be enough fruit that's produced to be able to produce a crop to produce then wine in Germany it was such a beautiful scene what made it so beautiful the vineyard keepers would go and take those vines which are on the ground and they would lift them up and they would clean them off and then they would reattach them so once again they're exposed to sunlight so once again they are able to receive those nutrients that are required that it could again produce fruit no vine laying on the ground is going to produce fruit and so voice prefers the idea of a vineyard owner going through and lifting up and placing a vine where it can once again or a branch where it can once again be nourished and produce fruit certainly restoration and strengthening or vital themes and Christian teaching in fact it's the objective of church discipline is restoration in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 12 we read these verses of encouragement actually therefore lift up your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed and so it's a perfectly legitimate theme in the scripture to say we are about the business of restoring those who have drifted those who were struggling those who are crippled in the faith but is that what the sense of the context contains for us here it's important that we not become focused on being an arbiter of justice discerning the heart of men because only God can do that voice does avoid that but because of his concern of unfruitful Christians being lost but I don't feel that's really the proper interpretation here I think Dr. voice has decided but what most have traditionally decided is the one that I've settled on myself it's not a reference to restoration in this context it's not a reference to judgment in this context where we would judge the hearts of men and decide who the Lord is dwelling in and who he is not it's not a reference necessarily even to backsliding and then followed by restoration it's a reference to sanctification it's a reference to the life here of the disciples and what they are to expect as they are in dwell by the spirit in united Christ to undertake the mission that he's giving them Jesus is addressing the purification of the branches there's a corporate as well as an individual application let's deal with the corporate first Christ's talking about purification and sanctification of individual lives we also know that the church is also purified and strengthened we should remember well the passage from Ephesians 5 verses 26 27 where Jesus and talking about the church says that he has loved her he's given himself for her that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word here again we see this emphasis on the spirit and the word and the work of the word in sanctification so that he might present the church to himself and splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish there is a purification and a cleansing of the church a making holy of the whole church Martin Luther with his pastoral expressions which I've grown to love so much says this he shows that there are false Christians some are called suckers or wild branches and I couldn't help but chuckle at that I think when he means by suckers are those who suck the life out of the church without producing any fruit but in our modern parlance it simply was entertaining they bear no fruit but only consume sap which the truly faithful branches should have so here Luther is saying that there are those in the body of the church who instead of producing fruit and strengthening the church are sucking the life and the energy of the church out so that those who ought to be producing fruit can't produce because so much of the energy of the church is being sucked out by these unproductive branches to our sorrow we see that in Christendom Luther continues there are always wild and useless branches that bear nothing but immature fruit which must be rejected they develop into large branches and they want to be honored and acclaimed as the best of Christians and they put it on display out doing the rest but it is a sham and they will be exposed for what they are it's all make believe we call them schismatic spirits in false brethren so even though they may grow because of age into large branches if there's not the fruit to bear evidence of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit then they're simply there sucking the life out of the church that the church itself would be handicapped in producing its fruit all farmers who have any crop won't every branch to produce and to produce more and more fruit if a branch is to produce fruit a farmer is not going to cut it off my grandfather used to prune peach trees after his retirement and he would not go out and cut off branches that had the potential for producing good fruit he would only cut those which were clearly dead it would never produce fruit and so in the lives of individual believers just like the church do we think that God will cast off those who have the potential to produce fruit because they are truly in dwell with the spirit or will he sanctify them so that they might be able to produce fruit in the future another great commentator Frederick Godet sees the purification in the life of every believer a natural consequence of abiding in Christ is the mortification of sin if you abide in Christ and his word richly dwells within you then sin will die in your life it will not grow and prosper it will die Godet says it is intended to cut off all the shoots of their own life which may manifest themselves in them and will paralyze the power of the spirit and it's the word that is sharper than a two-edged sword that cuts to the very marrow that will prune the shoots so with the mouse we confess that Jesus is Lord with the heart we believe is Christ and God is not satisfied until not only with mouth and with heart but with our whole bodies we offer ourselves a spiritual sacrifice unto him only then will our whole person be given to producing spiritual fruit verse 3 Jesus tells them that they already abide in him and it is a pruning that they will now expect as a consequence we already heard this at the footwashing as your clean already he's telling them you already abide in me and yet you will experience the effect of this pruning that I'm telling you of the old man has received a mortal strike and he's even now withering away they are no longer on the vine of the world we are grafted into Christ and will show his fruit let me let me wrap up here by and I want to say wrap up it's not 30 seconds could give me just a moment let me wrap up by answering two questions how is it that this happens and then what fruit is it that we are to produce how how is it that we will be made to produce fruit how is it that the sin in our life will be pushed out and pushed away again good day by the moral education which they have received from Jesus the principle of perfect purity has been deposited in them for the word of Christ is the instrument of a daily judgment of a constant and all-steered discipline which God exercises on the soul which remains attached to him here we see this working of the word as the teaching of Christ is deposited within us joined there with the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit to cause life we see lives changed we see sin instead of cherished we see sin released and hated and we see people being transformed more and more into the character of Christ imitators of God what fruit what fruit is it that we would be required to produce they're worth repeating again I think love joy peace patience kindness goodness faith meekness and self-control H.A.R.N. so I'd said if you profess you've been saved through faith in the Lord Jesus as the fruit of the spirit in your life it will be if you are living in fellowship with him he continues if the contrary to these is manifest then you may be sure of this that even though you have trusted Christ for salvation you are not living in fellowship with God and here is why everything this quote if instead of love there is bitterness malice unkindness if instead of joy there is gloom if instead of peace there is unrest if instead of long suffering there is impatience if instead of gentleness there is harshness if instead of goodness there is a moral evil beginning to be manifested if instead of faith worry and a lack of confidence if instead of meekness pride and haughtiness if instead of temperance or self-control you are subject to the lust of the flesh then that tells the story that no matter what you profess you are not living in fellowship with God shouldn't we stop and examine not only our hearts but our lives am I biting in Christ or they're the evidences of the fruit of the spirit being manifest in my own life am I united as a branch to a vine and am I filled with his word and is it having a pruning effect in my life can I see sin dying daily in my life as I learn to cherish Christ more and as I grow and knowledge and understanding of his word or do I resist the very means by which Christ would accomplish these things does my life show more and more the fruits of the spirit to assure me that the spirit of Christ dwells in me because apart from him we can do nothing if so then all of our hearts will be blessed and encouraged and if not then may God do with us what we cannot do on our own may indeed repair us and restore us and remove from us those things which would keep us from him