Fruit Of The Branches Iii Series

FRUIT OF THE BRANCHES III

Series on John 15 pt. 12

John 15:4

3/11/07

Does anyone know what kind of tree this is? It is kind of hard to tell. Does anyone know what kind of tree this is? It is an apple tree. How did you know it was an apple tree? Because it had apples on it.

Let me ask you this, how many of you claim to be Christians? One more question, how do others know you are a Christian? Our Lord Jesus gives us a simple test.

He states Mt 7:16 "You will know them by their fruits.” Also John 15:8; "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”

Jesus states that we will be known by our fruits and it is by our fruits that the Father is glorified and folks will know that we are disciples of Christ.

So fruit in our life is very important thing to have.

Today we continue our look into what the Bible means when it speaks of the fruit that we as Christians ought to have in our lives. This goes along with the bigger study we have are engaged in and this is John 15. I want us to keep in mind that we must have an understanding of what Jesus means by fruit, what the Bible means by fruit if we are to have a proper understanding of John 15.

Please turn with me to John 15:2-5. This will be our starting out passage;

“"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every [branch] that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. "I am the vine, you [are] the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

What I want to point is that if you don’t understand what the Bible means by the term fruit in this passage, you cannot understand what the passage means. We must have an understand of what Jesus means when he uses the term fruit. That is why we have spent the last couple weeks looking at some truths regarding biblical fruit. If you are interested in what we have looked at up until this point those sermons are available on CDs please let me know and we can get those for you.

Let us now turn our attention to the specific fruit that the Bible mentions. Just as there are specific fruit in the natural world, bananas apples, oranges, etc. There are also specific fruits that are listed in the Bible.

The first fruit I want to point out to is the fruit of evangelism.

There are two passages I want us to look at. First Rom. 1:13,15 Here Paul writes; “Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles… So, as much as is in me, [I am] ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.”

Here Paul is saying that he really wanted to visit Rome. He had planned on doing so but was unable until just prior to writing the epistle to the Romans. Paul also gives the reason that he desired to go to Rome and that we he might have fruit among you. He goes on to say that he was ready to go to preach the gospel to those who are in Rome.

From the context of the passage it is clear that the fruit that Paul is referring to is those who would come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour through the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. His desire was to see the fruit of evangelism, the fruit of proclaiming the gospel that Jesus Christ died for our sins, that He was buried and that He rose again on the third day.

We also see the fruit of evangelism in 1 Cor. 16:15. Once more this comes from an epistle of Paul; “I urge you, brethren––you know the household of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and [that] they have devoted themselves to the ministry of the saints––”

Here Paul mentions that the family was Stephanas were the firstfruits of the Achaia. In other words they were the first folks to come to know the Lord through the proclamation of the gospel in that region. They were the fruit of evangelism..