ABIDING IN THE VINE VI
Series on John 15 pt. 15
John 15:5
4/22/07
Those of you who attend Pastor Baker’s SS class are familiar with the following information. We learn;
10% of What We Read
20% of What We Hear
30% of What We See
50% of What We See & Hear
70% of What is Discussed w/Others
80% of What We Experience Personally
95% of What We Teach to Someone Else
That information was gleaned from the Police Field training officer course. Spiritually speaking it demonstrates for us that we ought to be first reading the Bible. We ought to be listening to the Word of God preached. We ought to see it demonstrated in our own lives as well as others. (This is also a reason why I use the PPT because some of us our visual). We ought to see Christ in our lives. We ought to discuss spiritual things with one another. We ought to experience Christ personally in our lives, abide in Him and He in us. We ought to witness to others, we ought to share our faith. Teaching others about Christ.
So we see that these principals that are used in the secular world they are very relevant in our walk with Christ.
It is also stated that if not reviewed we tend to forget
40% After 20 Minutes
55% After 60 Minutes
65% After 24 Hours
85% After 6 Days
99% After 1 Month
This is one reason I believe that the Bible is continually repeating itself. Because God knows that we need to be constantly reminded of the truths that He desires for us to know and understand. We see many of these principals in the passage the we have been studying, that is John 15.
We see there Jesus preaching His word. He used illustrations that a person might “see” the truth He is trying to communicate, thus He uses a type of visualization. Jesus also commands that we discuss these things with others, that we teach others. The past verse in John 15 states vs. 27 "And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.
Of course throughout John 15 Jesus is telling His disciples, He is telling us, to experience Him, dwell with Him, have the personal relationship with Him, abide in Him. As we are told no less then fives times to “Abide”. We are to abide in Him as He abides in us.
Also as we see Jesus reiterates this abiding in Him and He in us over and over again.
I point that out to you because as we get back to our study on John 15 today, we once more are confronted with this concept of abiding in Christ. Of the results of abiding in Christ, and of Christ abiding in us.
Please turn with me to our passage this morning. It is going to be John 15:5.
“"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.”
Notice the first part of the verse, “I am the vine, you are branches”. Christ repeats what He states in verse one, when He states; “I am the true vine…” He stresses the fact that He is the true vine, He is the source of life, He is were we get our spiritual nourishment that enables us to grow. He is the source of life.
He goes on to say that “you” are the branches. Looking at the context I believe we can answer the question “who is you?”. We see in verse 3 that the “you” Christ is speaking to is “clean”. They have justified, regenerated. The “you” the Christ is referring to here are true Christians. We can also see from verse 4, that the you that is being referred to here are those who are abiding in Christ, and have Christ abiding them.
So the first part of verse 5 repeats what is said in verse 1, and it also reinforces and clarifies what our Lord stated in verse 4 regarding the branches abiding in the life giving vine.
In the next sentence Christ opens up to us a little more understanding about what the results of this abiding are; “He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit;”
Notice again the connecting of us abiding in Christ and Christ abiding in us. These two “abidings” are inseparable. It is clear from this passage that this abiding WILL bear fruit. It is a statement of fact. It is a resounding, emphatic, statement. When one abides in Christ, and Christ abides in them, there will be fruit in their lives. It can be no other way.
Listen to this quote from John MacArthur, He states, “You don’t bear fruit by trying, you bear it by abiding.” That is what we are told in John 15. My friends it does not do any good for you to try to produce good fruit in your lives. If you are not abiding in Christ, and Christ is not abiding in you, guess what? No Fruit! It is that simple.
We must abide in Christ. Think of it in these terms (use branch). It does not matter if a branch is 1/100 of an inch from the vine or 1 mile from the vine if it is not connected to the vine it will not produce fruit.
The same is true with us. It does not how far away we are from Christ, if we are not abiding in Christ we will not bear fruit. We must be connected to the true vine.
You can attend church, do good works, give all your money to the poor, whatever, but if you do not have a relationship with Christ, if you are not abiding in Christ, not connected to the vine. NO FRUIT!
You see there is no different between a atheistic dictator who does not abide in Christ or a little old lady who is kind to a the little children who does not abide in Christ neither will produce good fruit. Fruit that is glorifying to God. One may be seen as being miles away from Christ, the other inches, but without Christ there is no fruit!
Fruit is produce in Christ, fruit produces outside of Christ is useless.
This branch I am holding is useless in producing in fruit because of its separation from the vine. It does not matter how hard it tries to produce fruit it cannot. This same is true for us. Everyone one us is powerless to produce good fruit apart from Christ. We simple do it not have it in us.
We do well to learn the truth of Rom. 7:18; “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.” We must understand that there is nothing good in us, that is in our flesh that can produce good fruit. That is why we must abide in Christ, and Christ must abide in us.
I want you to understand something. John 15’s main focus is not about producing fruit, it is about abiding in Christ.
Again look at what vs. 5 is saying “He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit…” Fruit is the consequence of abiding. It is not about trying to bring forth fruit in our lives it is about abiding in Christ, because that is the only thing that produces fruit in our lives.
Two passage I want to give to you;
Gal. 2:20 “"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Phil 2:13 “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
These verse speak of the live we have in Christ. Use abiding in Christ and Christ abiding in us. Us see the indwelling Christ does not HELP us bear fruit, He bears the fruit by working in us and through us. Christ does not need our help.
Again John 15’s main focus is not about producing fruit, it is about abiding in Christ.
I want to once more quote MacArthur, “God wants your life to be fruitful even more than you do.” That is a good observation. We don’t produce fruit, He does. He produces it through us. We abide. How? Through His word, through obedience, through loving Him and others.
I want us to make note of the last part of that sentence. “He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit;”
As we have seen in previous messages that true Christian abide in Christ and Christ abides in them, so therefore there is no such creature as a truly fruitless Christian.
There may be periods in our live where fruit is not produced as it should be, because we are not abiding in Christ as we should be, but there will be some fruit in every believers lives.
That is not what I say that is what Jesus says, and to say that a true Christian can live a fruitless life is to call Jesus a liar.
I want to point out that it is God’s plan that His people bear fruit not mans. This is the way it has always been. From the OT to the NT to today.
Listen to Psalm 1:1-3; “Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight [is] in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.”
We see there that the godly man or women is equated with bearing fruit.
Another OT passage Hosea 14:8 “"Ephraim shall say, ‘What have I to do anymore with idols?’ I have heard and observed him. I am like a green cypress tree; Your fruit is found in Me."”
Notice whose fruit is found in Ephraim. It is God’s. We once more see that God is the fruit producer for His people.
The point is that fruit in God’s people has always been a God thing. It has always been God working in and through them. Because it is a God thing there can be no such thing as a child of God who as no fruit in their lives.
I also want to point out briefly that when we abide in Christ and He in us it not only produces fruit, but Jesus here states “much” fruit. What He is saying is that it is a normal thing for the Christian’s life to produce much fruit.
This ties in with what BJ talked about last week. I kind of hit me as I was listening to BJ preach. One of his main points was the all we do should produce fruit, because all we do ought to be done for the glory of God.
One of the verses that BJ pointed out was, 1 Cor. 10:31; “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
All we do we ought to do to God’s glory and when we do something that brings God glory that is called fruit.
As John 15:8 states; "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit;”
What I am saying, and what I believe that Scripture is sayings is that when we abide in Christ as we should, and Christ abide in us, then all we do brings God glory, and that is the “much fruit” we see here. Because of you are bring God glory in EVERYTHING you do, that is a lot of glory, a lot of fruit.
Let us move on to the next phrase of our passage in John 15:5; “… for without Me you can do nothing.”
The Greek work translated “without” here is “CHORIS” It means to be “separate” or “apart”.
It is the same word used in John 20:7 in speaking the sight inside Jesus tomb after the resurrection; “and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.”
“By itself” is the Greek word “CHORIS”.
So the sense of John 15:5 is that apart from Christ, that is by ourselves, we can not produce fruit. We in fact can do nothing.
Some my say now wait a minute. The Lord doesn’t know what He is talking about here. People do all kinds of things without Christ. You can raise a family without Christ. You be a dad or a mom without Christ. You can give without Christ, you can do all kinds of things without Christ. So what is Christ saying? What does He mean when He says you can do nothing without me?
What He means is this. Without Christ all we do is nothing to God. Without Christ God is not impressed with ability as a father, or mother, or daughter or son. Without Christ God is not impress with your good works, your generosity. Without Christ these are nothing to God.
This is what Isa 64:6 tells us when it states that “…all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;”. All we do apart from Christ is nothing to God.
Why is that? Because anything done apart from Christ cannot and does not, bring glory to God. Remember where good fruit comes from, it comes from Christ abiding in us.
I also want to point out that this verse stresses the fact that we can do nothing apart from Christ, it does by using a double negative. While in English when we use a double negative we usually end up with a positive statement, in the Greek double negatives are used to stress the impossibility of something.
The literal reading of the last part of 15:5 is; “apart from me you cannot to do no anything.”
It stresses the fact that apart from Christ we are helpless.
This points back to the illustration Jesus is using regarding branches and vines. You take the branch away from the vines and it becomes useless because it cannot do anything apart from that vine.
I also want you to see that we can get encouragement from this passage. Because just as we can nothing apart from Christ, neither can the enemies of Christ. The enemies of Christ can do nothing that will thwart the will and work of God. So if you are abiding in Christ and serving Christ, those who oppose God will not be able to stop you in that service to God. God will be glorified.
As we come to a close today, I am going to ask you to think about this verse over the next week. That about that simply statement made by our Lord.
“… for without Me you can do nothing.”
You see a disciple is nothing without His master. I servant is nothing without His Lord. A Soldier is nothing without his commander. The body cannot exist without it’s head. A Christian is NOTHING without Christ.
Just as electric device is nothing without a power source. It can be an inch away from that source but if is not connected, nothing.
You see my friend we must be absolutely dependant upon Christ, it is the only way we can accomplish anything for God’s glory.
You see without His teaching and example where would we be? Where would be without His love, His Holy Spirit? We would be lost. Where would be without His Word? We would be confused.
Just mediate on that statement this week, “… for without Me you can do nothing.” Realize that apart from Him there is no salvation, no eternal life.
As Peter states in Act 4:12; “"Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."”
Because Jesus alone died for our sins, Jesus alone rose from the dead to conquer death.
I pray that each one here has placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. Each one here has looked to Him for the forgiveness of sin. That each one here is abiding in Christ and Christ is abiding in you.
LET US PRAY
