I Am The True Vine Series

2. The Father sees to it that we are pruned.

3. “Left to itself a vine will produce a good deal of unproductive growth. For maximum fruitfulness extensive pruning is essential.” (Morris). Do you have a fruit tree?

4. This illustrates: affliction contributes to our sanctification. Trials make us stronger – or should.

5. The Son takes a position of subservience to the Father. Much of what the Father and Son do here is via the Spirit, who was just mentioned in the previous chapter; the Holy Spirit is the completer of what the Father and Son do.

6. Note here the cleansing power of the Word. The Word is the app through which God communicates to us and cleanses us. As water washes the body, the Word the soul.

7. Jesus is addressing 11 of the 12 apostles, a special training time. Who or what are the branches broken off and burned?

8. 11 of them would abide in Christ, one would not. His destiny was to be burned.

In John’s epistles –heavily influenced by these teachings – to abide or remain means to stay faithful to Christ as opposed to apostasy, deserting Him, denying His deity, refuting His teachings.

I John 2:19-20, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.”

9. Here it means more; the issue is not faithfulness alone, but fruit in general, of which faithfulness is just one example.

B. Believers draw their strength and NOURISHMENT from their connection to Christ (4-5).

1. Many Christians depend totally on self-help sermons and books. We need to take initiative and responsibility for ourselves, but we also need to remember that we cannot live the Christian life in our own power.

2. Just previously, in John 14:16, Jesus promised the Spirit to help us accomplish His will in light of His absence: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”

3. Much of what the Father and Son are doing in our lives today is through the agency of the Spirit. [Explained to Marylu what doctor said, but didn’t talk to him]

III. We Relate to Jesus as FRUITFUL Branches (6–11).

• Fruit is what a plant produces on the outside that otther people can see and benefit from. It is the visible evidence of an inner working power.

A. Fruit is not just a product; the PROCESS counts, too.

• Lost people can replicate some of the fruit of the Christian; but such fruit does not come from being nurtured through a walk with Jesus Christ.

• Romans 8:9, “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

1. Fruit is what a plant produces on the outside that other people can see and benefit from. It is the visible evidence of an inner working power.

2. “When our Lord says: Abide in me he is talking about the will, about the choices, the decisions we make. We must decide to do things which expose ourselves to him and keep ourselves in contact with him. This is what it means to abide in him.” (Boice)