ETERNAL KINDLING
Series on John 15 pt. 16
John 15:6
4/28/07
One of the ways in which we deal with unpleasant realities in life is that we joke about them. We make fun of them. And in doing so it somehow dampens the offensiveness of the situation. A good example of this is how we feel about hell or the lake of fire as mentioned in the Bible. We all have heard jokes about hell, seen comics about hell. We even portray Satan as having hell as his home where he kind of runs the place. There is no torment there for him, in fact he is the one in charge of dishing it out.
I believe that we have made fun of hell to the point where it is no longer taken seriously. There is little concern about going there. After all when you look at the cartoons and so forth, it does not look all that bad.
But I want us to understand that the reality of hell or the lake of fire as it would be more properly called, is a serious thing. It is worst then physical death, it is in fact eternal death, but a death that does not end. It is no doubt an unpleasant topic. We don’t like to talk about seriously, we would rather make fun of it so that the reality of it does not make us feel too uncomfortable.
For the most part preachers don’t like to preach it, and congregations don’t like to hear it. But it is a reality that we must deal with, and we must deal with it because Jesus deals with it.
Our Lord does not joke about it, he does not dummy it down, he faces it head on, portraying it as something that should be avoided at all cost.
We only have two options when it comes to eternal separation from God in the lake of fire. It is something that is real and must be avoided, or Jesus our Lord was mistaken.
Either we take all of Jesus says in John 15 as truth, or we are left to pick and chose what is truth and what is not. If that is the case then we are left with faith that will not save us from that which we deny. IN other words either we believe in Jesus’ teaching on hell and take it seriously, or we might as well reject it all because the very point of the gospel of Christ is to save us from hell, save us from the wrath of God.
You see the denial of something does not in fact change the reality of that of it. Denying the reality of hell does not in fact cause hell not to exist.
I point all that out to you this morning because if we are going to be talking about the blessings of John 15:1-5 we must deal with the unpleasantness of John 15:6. So let us continue our look into John 15 by looking that the next verse in our study John 15:6.
Please turn with me to John 15:6 I am going to read to you John 15:5 as well, because it shows us something important; “"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.”
If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”
Notice the positive statement of John 15:5, “He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit…” As we pointed out last week, those who abide in Christ and have Christ abiding in them, produce through God, not just fruit, but much fruit. We are told what happens by abiding in Christ.
In verse 6 we have a negative statement. “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered…” In verse 6 Jesus tells us what happens when we do not abide in Christ and it is not pretty. Those not abiding in Christ, those who do not have a saving relationship with Christ, those who are unregenerate, they are cast out and withered, to be gathered up and cast into the fire.
In general terms what we see is that rejection produces rejection. Those who reject the way of Christ, those who reject Him as Lord and Saviour, they themselves will be rejected by Christ. Keep in mind that it is possible to not reject Christ with your mouth, yet reject Him through actions.
Jesus speaks of these people in Matt. 15:8-9 “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’"” They claim to know Christ but their hearts are far away from Him. They claim to know Christ but their lives are fruitless. And why is there live fruitless, because they are not connected to the true vine.
So rejection produces rejection. The opposite is stated in verse 5. by Abiding in Christ we have Christ abiding in us. Again we see the positive against the negative.
As we look at verse 6 I want us to understand that Jesus here is not speaking of just confessing unbelievers. I believe, and I believe that the Scripture bears this out, that Jesus is speaking of those who claim to know Christ, those who claim to be Christians, but are in fact counterfeit Christians.
Back in December when we began this study into John 15 we talked about the fact that the branches that Jesus mentions in verse 2 were He states, “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away;…” That these branches are those who profess to be Christians yet are not. They are counterfeit Christians. I pointed out eight reasons why we should hold to the view that they are in fact counterfeit Christians. We are not going to review all that here.
But these are people like Judas who experiences a union with Christ, but on superficial lever. Not truly born again, not regenerate. Simple professing that they are Christians yet they do not continue with Christ, nor are their any true fruits in their live. No fruit because they neither truly abide in Christ nor does Christ abide in them.
I point that out simple so we can understand that the branches that Jesus is speaking of here are not just people who reject Christ wholesale, but people who claim to have a relationship with Christ, yet Christ does not know them.
These are those who Jesus speaks of Matt. 7:21; 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”
Peter describes these folks very graphically in 2 Peter 2:20-22; “For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known [it], to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: "A dog returns to his own vomit," and, "a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire."”
Peter is speaking of those folks who are not genuinely saved, yet have had fellowship with Christ’s church. They have been shown the way of righteousness, they have some knowledge of Jesus Christ. Yet they have turned from all of that like a dog returns to his own vomit and like a pig that was washed yet it now returns to the mire.
I could go into reason why these are not genuine Christians who have lost their salvation, but we have already covered that. But these are those who a phony Christian who have not continued with Christ.
Peter points out here that it would have been better if they had rejected Christ outright, rather then experience some kind of fellowship with Him. I am not at all sure why that would be, perhaps they will have greater sense of what was lost having been closer to it.
At any rate, these branches mentioned in verse 6 are those who profess to know Christ, yet in the day of judgment it will be revealed as to their true state.
As we look verse 6 I was us to take notice of three details of this verse.
The first detail is I want you to notice the image of destruction that Jesus uses here.
Let us keep in mind that Scripture ultimately has but one author and that is God. I therefore believe that Jesus use of this imagery of useless branches come from Ezekiel 15:1-8. As I read that to you I want you to make note of the same theme there as in John 15:6;
“Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: "Son of man, how is the wood of the vine better than any other wood, the vine branch which is among the trees of the forest? "Is wood taken from it to make any object? Or can men make a peg from it to hang any vessel on? "Instead, it is thrown into the fire for fuel; the fire devours both ends of it, and its middle is burned. Is it useful for any work? "Indeed, when it was whole, no object could be made from it. How much less will it be useful for any work when the fire has devoured it, and it is burned? "Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give up the inhabitants of Jerusalem; ‘and I will set My face against them. They will go out from one fire, but another fire shall devour them. Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I set My face against them. ‘Thus I will make the land desolate, because they have persisted in unfaithfulness,’ says the Lord GOD."”
Notice what we have here. We have a group of people which make the claim to be God’s people. However because of their rebellion, because of their rejection of God, these branches were useless to God. They are not good for anything but to be cast into the fire and burned.
This is what Jesus is saying in John 15. Remember in verse 5 Jesus makes the statement that apart from us abiding in Christ and Christ abiding in us we can do “nothing”. I spoke last week how all that we do apart from Christ is useless to God, it is nothing to God.
So what verse 6 is saying is that those who do nothing and can do nothing because they are not abiding in Christ. In that useless state, as Ezek. points out, they are good for nothing but to be cast into the fire.
That may not set well with you. To be honest it does not set real well with me. But that is the reality of the situation. Those not abiding in Christ and those who do not have Christ abiding in them are good for nothing but to kindle the fires of hell. Good for nothing but to demonstrate the wrath of God.
I know that that offends the pride of man. We don’t like to hear stuff like that. But how else can we interpret the words of Scripture? They words of our Lord Jesus. These words may sound harsh but they are in the Bible to warm us. They are there so that we might turn from sin and turn to Christ.
Let us realize as well as that the wrath of God as seen in the destruction of those who reject Christ does ultimately have a purpose. Listen to Rom. 9:22-23; “What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory,”
Through His wrath we who know Christ can realize and see the measure of the mercy that God has given to us. We may ask what purpose has God in gathering up these fruitless branches and burning them. Ultimately His purpose is His glory. But that is a sermon for another time.
The point I am making is the imagery of destruction that Jesus our Lord uses here is found through out Scripture and should be taken seriously. I should be taken as a warning of the wrath of a Holy God.
The second detail is I want you to notice is the five elements of judgment we see in verse 6. Let me read that passage again; “"If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”
First we see that if anyone does not abide in Christ they are “cast out as a branch”. Condemnation comes to the one who rejects Christ.
I want you to see the opposite side of this.
Listen to what John 6:37 states, “"All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.”
Those who abide in Christ, those given to the Son by the Father, will not be cast out. So we have two assurances given in Scripture. First those who reject the Son will be cast out. Will be rejected.
Second, those who come to Christ, abide in Christ will by no means be cast out. They will not be rejected. They will be welcomes forever into the Kingdom of heaven. They will be granted eternal life.
This also shows us why John 15:6 cannot be speaking about genuine Christians.
The second element of Judgment we see is these branches are withered. While they appeared to have life, (remember we are talking of counterfeit Christians here), while they may have appeared to have life, their true state will show. They will not continue with Christ they will go back to the world. Remember what 2 Peter 2:20-22 told us.
Also listen to 1 John 2:19 “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 they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”
They are made manifest in that the live they claimed to have Christ has withered, it is shown to be false. They did not continue in the Lord.
The third element of Judgment we see is they are “gathered”. We see this element of judgment in Matt. 13:30 speaking of the end times; Mt 13:30 “Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”
Those who reject Christ are the tares (again the imagery of uselessness), and those who accept Christ are the wheat.
The point being is that there will be judgment. There will be those who will be spared the wrath of God, and those who will not. There will be gathered at the end of time when we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
As 2 Cor. 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ…”
The Forth element of Judgment we see is “thrown into the fire”. I do not want to belabor the point that fire is seen as judgment in the Scripture. In the gospels fire is mentioned 32 times, 20 of them deal with judgment. Over and over again our Lord point to the eternal flames of judgment. We will be judge for our sins.
Those who have trusted in the blood of Christ for forgiveness of your sins, the judgment of your sins has passed. The sins of God’s people where judged on the cross of Calvary. Paid for by the precious blood of the Lamb of God, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Those who have rejected Christ, their judgment is in the future. Their judgment will consist of being cast into the lake of fire.
Rev. 15:20 “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
The last element of Judgment we see in John 15:6 is “they are burned.” Here is the most serious part of what Jesus is telling us. Hell my friends is not a joke. It is a place of suffering. It is a place of torment. The lake of fire is not just about being burned up, no, the burning does not stop.
Two passages I want to point out; Matt 13:49-50 “"So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, "and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth."”
Rev. 20:10 “The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
This is the same place that whose names were not found in the book of life where cast.
You see hell is not a place where we hang out with our friends who also went to hell. It is not a place were Satan is walking around with pitch fork poking people. It is a place of torment for every being that is there. No laughing. No joking. Just wailing and the gnashing of teeth. A place eternal torment.
The warning Jesus gives here through these elements of Judgment are their to be taken seriously. Jesus is not be cute here, he speaks these words, these words we see in John 15:6 as a warning. A warning that we might heed.
The last detail is I want you to notice very briefly here is the change from singular to the plural. Again look at our passage
“"If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”
I believe that what this does is stresses the responsibility of the individual. Each person is given the call to respond positively to the gospel of Christ. Each person is given the call to abide in Christ. And each person will be personally responsible for the rejecting of that gospel. Rejection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
In closing I want to say that it is not pleasant to have to preach this type of sermon, but if I am to be faithful to God’s word, then it must be preached. These words of Christ here in 15:6 are important. And they cannot be ignored for the sake of fear of offending people. In fact they cannot be ignore for any reason. The reality of eternal damnation must be discussed. It must be shared. For without people do not realize what it is they need to be saved from. They cannot understand to the purpose of the gospel. The power of the gospel.
Jesus stated in John 11:25 “…I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.”
So I am calling on you to believe in Him. Believe the Jesus Christ died for your sins, and that He rose again on the third day. Believe in Christ for it is through Him and Him alone that we may escape the wrath of God. That wrath that we have talked about today.
I Pray that God would open your heart that you may understand the weight of the words of Roman 5:9 “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”
Don’t be kindling for the for lake of fire, trust in Christ.
LET US PRAY
