Branch Life Comes Through Jesus, The Vine.

John 15:1-12

The Vine and the Branches

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

I hope you have enjoyed your week of Thanksgiving with your family, with your friends…eating lots of good food, and enjoying good fellowship. We all so much to be thankful for, we need to extend this time of Thanksgiving and turn it into an attitude of gratitude that stays with us all year long..amen?

This morning I want to start you out with a picture…this is a picture of my pile of branches, tree tops that I have lost off the trees in my yard in the last two months or so….It’s a pretty good pile, I’m sure some of you have the same thing with the storms we all have had come through this fall. Looking at that pile of dead wood, adding to it on Thanksgiving day as we were all busy working in the yard, trying to get some work in before the eating started…brought today’s passage to mind… Let’s read our passage this morning, John 15:1-12…. Please Stand

1. Jesus describes his relationship with the Father and declares who He is….

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful.”

Jesus just a little bit earlier in Chapter 14:6 reminded his disciples… “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. ”

Jesus is proclaiming that He is the Messiah, He is the one who has come to save His people, that God the Father has sent Him to be our Savior…and it will be only through Him that we will be saved.

Have you noticed that there are lots of false prophets running around our world today? Have you noticed that there is lots of deception and false teaching going on right inside many of our main line Protestant churches?

A major movement that I encourage all of you to be aware of is the Immergent Church movement, it’s affecting every denomination…it’s this teaching of Hyper Grace… In other words, because of God’s Grace…everyone will be saved…Universalism…so there is no Hell, and there is no sin…God’s Grace covers it all.

I have read where the Pope has said the same thing, not that we follow what He says, but He influences millions upon millions of people.

This false teaching takes one of the great doctrines of the Bible and perverts it to mean something that it doesn’t…so friends, it’s important to know God’s Word and what it teaches for yourself, make sure what is being preached is the whole truth and not half truths.

So what is Jesus telling us this morning?

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful.”

A branch gets its life from the vine, we are the branches…we have been grafted into the True Vine when we repented of our sins and asked for forgiveness….at that moment, God the Father forgave us and grafted us into His Son, the True Vine so that we would live and thrive.