Remain, Restore, Return Series

Remain, Restore, Return (Pew Bible p. 848-854)

GRACE VIDEO

Happy Resurrection Sunday! He is risen! Please open your Bible to John 15.

Several years ago, I baptized a boy on Easter Sunday morning. The next week I asked him if he was reading his Bible that the church had given him. And he said, “Yes—and I have a question. How did Jesus die the second time?”

I said, “What do you mean?” He said, “Well, I mean I know he rose from the grave three days after he was crucified. But what happened after that? Did he get married? Did he have kids?

Most people, whether they believe in Jesus or not, have a pretty good handle on the Easter Story. They know about Palm Sunday, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey while people waved palm branches and cried out Hosanna. They know about the last supper, and the garden of gethsemane, and Jesus praying, and Judas’ kiss, and Jesus arrest and trial. They know about the scourging and the crown of thorns and Simon carrying the cross and the crucifixion.

And they know about Resurrection morning. They know about the women coming to the tomb, and the stone being rolled away, and the soldiers, and John outrunning Peter, and all of that. what happened then.

But the funny thing is most people, even those who have been in church they’re whole life, know very little about what happened after the resurrection.

From Easter to Christ leaving there are 40 days of things He did. On our calendar this year, with Easter today, March 31, that would mean the day Jesus left earth to go to heaven would be May 10th. That’s more than a whole month away!

So think about it for a second, do you know what Jesus did after Easter? We’ve been in the book of John this season as we’ve studied Jesus’ I am statements. And twice, John said that Jesus did a whole lot of things that aren’t recorded in his gospel. At the end of John 20 he said,

30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God,[f] and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Did you catch that? We don’t have a record of everything Jesus said and did. In the very last verse of John, the gospel writer tells us the world wouldn’t be big enough to contain all the books it would take to tell everything.

But the Bible tells us everything we need to know in order to believe in Jesus and have life in his name.

So this morning, we are going to look at one of those events that happened during the forty days between Jesus’ resurrection and the day he ascended back to heaven. But before we get to it we are going to look at the last I AM statement of Jesus—I am the True Vine. Because here is the truth: What Jesus did with His disciples after Easter doesn’t mean anything if we don’t do anything with Jesus after Easter.

Jesus wants his followers to remain with Him like grapes on a vine. He wants us to remain with him so much that he went to the cross in order for it to happen. He wants the same thing for us as well.

That’s what we are going to talk about this morning. Please look at John 15:1-8 with me. Let’s stand to honor the reading of God’s Word.

The Call to Remain (John 15:1-8)

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be[a] my disciples.