Sermon Transcript

0:00:14.0

We’re looking at John 15, and I want to read just verses 1-5 this morning.  These are the words of Jesus to His disciples in the upper room on the night before He was crucified.  He says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  3Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.  4Abide in me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.  5I am the vine; you are the branches.  Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”  Well, before the Joneses moved to Virginia, many, many years ago we lived in the Lone Star State, the great state of Texas.  And lived for many years in my wife’s hometown of Dallas/Ft. Worth.  And we lived near a city in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area called Grapevine, Texas.  You ever heard of Grapevine, Texas?  Probably not.  Well, maybe a few people have.  If we had stayed there, our kids would have gone to Grapevine High School.  This may be as much of a surprise to you as it was to me, but Texas is the fifth largest wine-producing state in the country, largely because in a place like Grapevine, there are many, many wild mustang grapes from which it got its name.  Back in the early 1800s the settlers came there and saw all the grapes and the vineyards dotting the landscape there.  And they decided to call it Grapevine.  It’s a wonderful place.  It’s the fifth largest behind California, Washington, New York—that was a surprise to me—and Oregon.  The pride and joy of Grapevine, Texas, is GrapeFest.  It’s the largest wine festival in the southwest. And, again, you’re probably saying, “Who cares?  I don’t live anywhere near there.”  Grapevine is not Napa Valley.  Some of you have visited Napa Valley.  It’s a beautiful place in northern California.  But it does produce some of these large, Texas-sized grapes.  And Grapevine, though it’s a half a world away from Jerusalem, Grapevine would be a perfect place for Jesus to communicate to His disciples what He said to them on the night before He was crucified here in the upper room.  And here we find the seventh of seven “I AM” statements.  It’s the one where Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.”

0:03:03.4

Now, we’ve come a long way in our study of the “I AM” statements of Jesus.  And you may have noticed four of them Jesus spoke to a large crowd.  When He said, “I am the bread of life,” and, “I am the light of the world,” “I am the door of the sheep,” “I am the good shepherd,” large, large crowds of people heard that.  There was one that He spoke to somebody privately, to a lady named Martha.  He said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life.”  And some of the family members there who were gathered for Lazarus’s funeral also heard Him say that.  But there were two of the “I AM” statements that Jesus spoke in the upper room during the final week of His life just hours before the crucifixion.  The one that we looked at last time was the one where He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by Me.”  And then in the context of John’s Gospel, just one chapter later in chapter 15, Jesus says these words, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.”  And He uses this powerful imagery, this imagery of a branch that is intimately connected to the vine, to communicate something to His disciples and to us that is vitally important to understand in the Christian life.  And that is that the Christian life is a supernatural life.  And if you want to live the Christian life successfully, fruitfully, we might say, then you have to learn what it means to be intimately connected to Jesus every moment of every day, just like the branch is connected to the vine.  If the branch disconnects from the vine, it has no life in itself.  Any life that the branch has, any fruit that it might produce, is all about the vine because it draws its nutrients and its life from the vine itself.  And this is why Jesus says, “I am the true vine.”  I think it’s noteworthy to point out that Jesus says, “I am the true vine.”  The suggestion is that there are some false vines out there, some false vines to which you can connect yourself.  He’s not one of many vines to which we can connect.  No, he is thetrue vine.  And the narrowness of His statement here reminds us of the narrowness of the sixth “I AM” statement where He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by Me.”

0:05:25.9

Now, the imagery that He uses here of the vine and the branch, He didn’t find this imagery just out of thin air somewhere.  In fact, the idea of God’s people being the Lord’s vineyard was well-established in the Old Testament.  The nation of Israel, the chosen people of God, were called the vineyard of the Lord.  In fact, the prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 5:7, “For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel.”  And all throughout the Old Testament the people of God, the chosen people of God, the Hebrew people, were known as the vineyard of the Lord.  Now, there’s only one purpose for a vineyard, and that’s to produce vines and to produce grapes.  There’s no other purpose for a branch or for a vine other than to produce fruit, to produce grapes.  But, unfortunately, using the analogy there, Israel did not always produce fruit for the vinedresser, who was the Lord Himself.  In fact, earlier in Isaiah’s prophecy there, chapter 5 and verse 4, the Lord says, “What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it?  When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes,” unruly grapes, is the idea.  Jeremiah the prophet in chapter 2 and verse 21 says, “Yet I planted you a choice vine,” the Lord says, “wholly of pure seed.  How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?”  Again, there’s only one purpose for a vine, and that is to produce grapes.  There was only one purpose for Israel to be the chosen people of God, and that was to produce spiritual fruit for the owner of the vineyard.  But the history of Israel in the Old Testament is that they were a corrupt, degenerate, unruly, wild vine that never produced what God wanted them to produce.  And so when Jesus comes along and He declares Himself as the true vine, in the context of His Jewish audience what He was saying was, “What you as the people of God were never able to produce, I alone produce.  I am the true vine.  You are the branches.”  And He declares that in a very direct and powerful way there.

0:07:43.9

Now, there’s a principle in this “I AM” statement that’s important for us to understand, and it really sets the tone for the rest of the message here this morning.  And the principle is this—you might want to write this down.  You and I were created for abundance.  You and I were redeemed.  We were created.  We were redeemed.  We were saved.  Jesus went to the cross and all that to produce in us the kind of spiritual fruit that the owner of the vineyard expects.  Here’s what Jesus says in John 10:10.  He says, “I have come that they might have life, and they might have it abundantly.”  And we talked a little bit about this in our last time together, the difference between eternal life…yes, Jesus came to purchase our redemption on the cross and to give us the free gift of eternal life, but He also came that we might have abundant life, a fruitful life, we might say.  So you and I were created, you and I were redeemed, you and I were saved, Jesus went to the cross so that we would produce an abundant life.  And Jesus talks about how this happens in John 15 in this discourse here.  I like to call them the secrets of the fruitful life.  Not secrets in that God is trying to hide something from us, not secrets in the sense that you have to be part of a secret society to understand what Jesus is saying here, but secrets in the sense that these are vitally important principles to understand if you want to life the Christian life successfully.  I had a professor in seminary who used to say the Christian life is not just difficult to live, it’s impossible to live.  Impossible to live apart from the enabling resources of the Holy Spirit, apart from the enabling resources of Jesus, who is the true vine.  And this is why Jesus says something rather startling.  He says, “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.  For apart from me, you can do nothing,” He says.  You can do nothing.

0:09:51.3

Now, you probably already get this.  I’ve alluded to it, but just so there’s no mistaking the imagery and the analogy, let’s just lay it out.  Jesus is the vine.  He’s the true vine.  The Father is the vinedresser.  Disciples or followers of Jesus are the branches.  And like a branch that remains intimately connected to the vine and draws its life sustenance from the vine, so branches are to abide in the vine.  And then there’s this other principle.  Where there is life, there’s fruit. Again, the only purpose for a vine or for a branch is to produce fruit.  Now, this raises a question that a lot of Bible scholars have wrestled with.  And that is, what’s the fruit in the analogy here?  What kind of fruit is God looking for in your life and in my life?  Well, some says it’s the fruit of soul-winning.  And that’s certainly within the realm of possibility.  As followers of Jesus, as disciples, we’re to go and make disciples as a church that, in turn, make disciples.  You understand the multiplying affect in that?  Our mission as a church, according to Jesus, is to go and make disciples who, in turn, go and make disciples.  And there’s a multiplying affect to all that, and there’s a soul-winning aspect to that. Proverbs tells us that he who wins souls is wise.  Certainly, the fruit of soul-winning could be in view here when Jesus says, “I created you to produce fruit.”  But that might be a little bit too narrow in our understanding of the analogy here.  It could also be the fruit of good works.  The apostle Paul in his letter to Titus talks about how it’s important for those who are believers in Jesus Christ to produce the fruit of good works.  But even as we say that, it’s important for us to remember that we’re not saved by good works.  Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that.  “For by grace we are saved through faith, and that, not of ourselves.  It’s the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.”  We’re not saved by good works, but we are saved for good works.  Because verse 10 goes on to say, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.”  So, yes, we can say that part of the fruit that God wants to produce in us as followers of Jesus Christ is the fruit of ever-increasing and abundant good works that glorify God and that point others to Jesus Christ.

0:12:26.9

But there is another kind of fruit that might be in view here.  And this takes us to Galatians 5.  This is what we call the fruit of the Spirit.  Paul identifies nine Christ-like characteristics.  This is internal fruit, we might say.  This is fruit that’s produced from within in a supernatural kind of way as we remain connected and intimately abiding in Christ.  This is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.  And I think in one sense, the fruit that Jesus has in mind here encompasses all of that.  It’s the fruit of soul-winning.  It’s the fruit of good works that glorify God.  It’s the fruit of internal character that looks a lot like Jesus relative to those nine Christ-like characteristics mentioned as the fruit of the Spirit.  Now, what’s interesting in Jesus’ dialogue here with the disciples back in John 15, He talks about four different kinds of branches and the productivity that comes out of those branches.  Anybody who owns a vineyard…it would be great if every vine and every branch produced the same amount of fruit.  But that’s not reality in the natural world.  And, unfortunately, it’s not the reality in the spiritual world either.  Jesus talks about some who produce no fruit, others who produce some fruit, then more fruit, and then much fruit.  Picture four baskets of fruit- one that’s empty, one that has a couple of shriveled grapes in it, another that has a little bit more fruit, and one that is an abundant harvest that’s just overflowing the edges of the basket.  Jesus’ highest aspiration for you and for me is that we produce much fruit.  Yes, the fruit of soul-winning, the fruit of godly character, the fruit of good works that glorify God.  But it’s possible to be a Christian—it’s possible to be a follower of Jesus Christ, it’s possible to be secure in your eternal home in heaven—and have an empty basket of fruit.  Why?  Because you don’t understand the secrets of fruit-bearing that we’re gonna talk about in just a moment.  And these are simple and they’re rather progressive, but they’re, oh, so profound.  And for some of you who may live the Christian life in a way, and you says, “This is the most frustrating thing in the world for me.  I just can’t seem to live the Christian life successfully.  I try and I try, and it just doesn't work very well.”  Well, you may find some answers in this passage of scripture, because, remember, Jesus is just hours from the cross.  And He’s huddled up with His disciples on the night before He was crucified.  And in this section of the upper room discourse He’s saying, “Guys, I want to tell you how this thing works, okay?  I’m the vine.  You are the branches.  Apart from me, you can do nothing.  So abide in me, and let my words abide in you.  Remain intimately connected to me, just like a branch is intimately connected to the vine.”

0:15:29.4

So let’s talk a little bit about this.  Let’s talk about some of these secrets.  And I encourage you to take some notes this morning so you can ponder these and pray over these and apply these into your life every day.  The first secret is this.  The secret to abundance—and, remember, we were created for abundance.  There’s that expectation.  The highest aspiration Jesus has for us is a fruit basket that’s overflowing with an abundant harvest—but the secret to abundance is abiding.  That’s what Jesus says.  Look at it in verse 4.  He says, “Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine.  Neither can you unless you abide in me.”  And then a little bit later He says, “Apart from me, you can do nothing.”  Now, those are hard words for a guy like me to swallow, because I’m kind of a Type A guy.  I can list my accomplishments and my experience and my education and get a little puffed up, just like you can.  I can pull myself up by my bootstraps, just like we like to do as Americans, and say, “I can do it.  I’ve got that can-do spirit, right?  I’m an Ameri-CAN, not an Ameri-CAN’T.  And you’re telling me, Jesus, that, as the branch, I cannot bear fruit by myself?  Wait a minute.  I was told all my life I can do this or I can do that.”  No, if you want to live the Christian life successfully, you can’t do it independent of the vine.  The branch has to remain intimately connected to the vine.  It’s not about trying harder; it’s about remaining intimately connected to the vine.  There’s a rental car company called Avis.  And they used to have an advertising slogan called, “We try harder.”  And that’s the way a lot of people, you know, try to live the Christian life.  It’s about trying harder.  It’s about, you know, pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps and just bringing everything you have to bear to this thing and just trying harder.  You approach the Christian life that way, you’re gonna be one of the most frustrated people in the world.  Because the harder you try, the more you fail, because the flesh will always fail you.  Remember, this is a supernatural life.  And it’s not about trying harder and drawing upon all your fleshly gift and talents and abilities and experience and education and know-how.  It’s about living a spiritual life that remains connected to this One who declared Himself to be the true vine.  And the branch apart from the vine will wither up and die.

0:18:30.3

The apostle Paul understood this.  Nobody had a more impressive resume than the apostle Paul.  Do you know that?  He was intellectual’s intellectual.  I mean, he graduated from the best of schools.  He had risen in the religious world to become a Pharisee of Pharisees, a leader of leaders.  He came from the right tribe of Israel.  He writes in his letter to the Philippians about all the things that he could brag about if he wanted to brag about it in the flesh.  He had a resume (0:19:00.1) that topped every other resume out here.  But he figured out that he couldn’t life the Christian life in his own strength and in the flesh.  And he says, “I took everything that the world would say is of gain to me, and I counted it loss.”  He took it from the credit column and put it in the debit column.  He took it from everything that was supposed to be of value to him from the worldly perspective, and he says, “I’m just gonna march it down here and set it on top of Mt. Trashmore.  That’s all it’s worth in the spiritual realm.”  And that was the apostle Paul.  And he went on to understand that the life that he lives is a life that Christ lives in him.  So the secret to abundance, to this fruit basket that is overflowing in the abundance of fruit, the secret to that is abiding in Christ.  What does it mean to abide in Him?  Very simply, it means to remain in fellowship (0:20:00.0) with Him.  And here again, we need to put the cookies on the lower shelf here for me.  The difference between a relationship with Jesus and fellowship with Him is night and day.  You enter into a relationship with Jesus by faith, by grace and through faith.  That’s how you’re born into the family of God.  It’s not by works.  It’s none of that.  But you can be in relationship with Him, and you can have a security about your eternal destiny.  And you’re a part of the family of God, and you’re going to heaven.  But you can be living on a daily basis out of fellowship with Him.

0:20:37.3

And what breaks our fellowship with Jesus?  What makes the branch disconnect from the vine?  It’s sin and disobedience.  In fact, Jesus talks about some of the dangers of not abiding, of not remaining connected to Him.  He says in verse 6, “If anyone does not abide in me,” listen to this, “he is thrown away like a branch and withers.  And the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.”  Now, that’ll make you take a couple of steps back and say, “Wow, what’s that all about?”  And some people have moved too quickly to say, “Well, this is talking about losing your salvation.”  No, I don’t think it’s about losing your salvation.  I think it’s talking about losing your rewards in heaven, because there are two judgments that are mentioned in the Bible.  One is called the Great White Throne Judgment, and this happens at the end of the age, Revelation 20.  It’s when all the believers of all the nations, tribes and tongues and ethnicities are standing before the throne of God.  And they’re being judged for their unbelief and cast into the lake of fire.  Believers in Jesus Christ are not there.  Now, there’s another judgment called the judgment seat of Christ mentioned several times in the New Testament.  And this not about judging a follower of Jesus as to whether or not you’re in or you’re out or whether you're a true believer or not a true believer.  No, it’s assumed you’re a believer in Christ.  This is a reward ceremony, okay.  This is all about looking into the fruit basket and seeing what kind of fruit you’ve produced in your life.  And the apostle Paul uses a little bit different analogy in his letter to the Corinthians.  He says all of our works will be tested at the judgment seat of Christ, and some will be found to be gold, silver, and precious stone.  They will last forever, and we will be rewarded in heaven for…others will be burned up like wood, hay, and stubble.  And I think the reference here in verse 6 in John 15 to the branches being gathered and thrown into the fire and burned is more about the judgment seat of Christ and the loss of rewards than it is a loss of salvation.  In other words, if you show up—I’m switching the analogy again—you show up with a basket, an empty basket or a basket of dried and withered up fruit, oh, you get into heaven.  There’s no question about that.  You’re a member of the family of God.  But as far as eternal rewards, they’re lost.  They’re lost.

0:23:22.6

So the secret to this abundance is abiding.  And the secret to abiding—this is the next principle—the secret to abiding is obeying.  You were created for abundance.  The secret to abundance is abiding, remaining intimately connected with Jesus and in fellowship with Him so that He produces the fruit through you.  But the secret to that abiding is obeying.  Look at it in John 15:10.  Jesus says, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”  No, keeping the commandments of God will not birth you into the family of God.  That’s not how you’re saved.  That’s not how you become part of the family of God.  But once you’re part of the family of God, yes, keeping His commandments and obeying Him and walking in obedience to Him is vitally important.  Jesus says, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.”  Now, you remember King Saul in the Old Testament?  King Saul learned, kind of, the hard way, the importance of obedience.  He went with his armies, and he defeated the Amalekites, just as the Lord told him to do.  But the Lord gave him very specific instructions about not just defeating the Amalekites, but wiping them out entirely.  “Don’t take any plunder to yourself,” the Lord said to Saul.  But Saul thought better than the Lord, and he decided to take some of the plunder, including some of the sheep and the livestock.  And that’s when the prophet Samuel showed up.  And Samuel says, “What is that sound of bleating and the sound of the sheep in the background there?”  And Saul says, “Well, you know, we went and defeated the Amalekites, and this is some of the plunder that we brought back.  But I sacrificed some of these on an altar to the Lord.”  And that’s when Samuel just looked at Saul and said, “Listen, to obey is better than sacrifice.”  Do you remember singing the old hymn in church, “Trust and obey, for there’s no better way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey”?  Let me just tweak that a little bit.  Trust and obey, for there is no better way to be fruitful in Jesus but to trust and obey.  The secret to abundance is abiding.  The secret to abiding is obeying.

0:25:48.0

There is another phrase that makes us think a little bit.  Maybe a warning that Jesus gives us found in verses 2 and 3.  Jesus says, “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”  And then He says to His disciples, “Already you are clean because of the word I have spoken to you.”  What does He mean by this?  Well, there’s a rather unfortunate translation where it says, “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away.”  Again, that phrase “takes away”…unfortunate translation.  It really should be “He lifts up.”  That’s a better translation.  But the taking away leads some to think we’re talking about taking, you know, your salvation away and losing your salvation.  This is where it helps to dive into the world of horticulture a little bit and understand what a vineyard owner or a vinedresser understands.  Bruce Wilkinson has written many, many books.  And he wrote one that was related to John 15.  And he talks about a conversation he had a with a vineyard owner in northern California in the Napa Valley.  And they were talking about this very portion of Jesus’ dialogue here and what happens when you have a branch that is producing no fruit.  And, in the course of that conversation, the vineyard owner said, “New branches,” listen to this, “new branches have a tendency to trail down and grow along the ground, but they don’t bear fruit down there.  When the branches grow along the ground, the leaves get coated in dust.  When it rains, they get muddy and mildewed, and the branch becomes sick and useless.”  And that’s when Wilkinson said to the vineyard owner, he says, “Oh, is that when you cut it off and throw it away?”  And the vineyard owner said, “No, not at all.  The branches are too valuable for that.”  He says, “We go through the vineyard,” listen to this, “with a bucket of water, looking for those branches.  And we lift them up, and then we wash them off.  We wash the dirt off the leaves and off the branches.”  And he says, “That’s how we bring a branch that is not producing any fruit into a healthier state.”  And so Wilkinson, reflecting on that dialogue and that conversation with the vineyard owner, says this, “For the Christian, sin is like dirt covering grape leaves.  Air and light can’t get in.  The branch languishes and no fruit develops.  How does our vinedresser lift us from mud and misery?  How does He move our branch from barren to beautiful so we can start filling up our basket?”  He says, “If necessary, He will use painful measures to bring you to repentance.  His purpose is to cleanse you and free you of your sin so you can live a more abundant life for His glory.”  And part of that painful process might be the pruning of the branch and of the vine there.  Isn’t that what Jesus says here when He says, “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he lifts up, and every branch that does not bear fruit he prunes.”  He prunes it.  You may be going through a time of pruning right now because He wants to produce more fruit in you, and, one day, much fruit.  And then Jesus says, “Already,” He says to His disciples, “you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.”  It’s a beautiful picture of how the vinedresser comes along and lifts these dirty, dusty leaves and branches and washes them with the Word of God that cleanses us from all sin.  Do you see the picture there?

0:29:43.5

So you were created for abundance.  The secret to abundance is abiding.  The secret to abiding is obeying.  Finally, the secret to obeying is loving.  And Jesus said in verse 9, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”  Verse 15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”  Verse 10, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.”  Hey, do you love Jesus this morning?  Do you love Him enough to do what He tells you to do, to obey His commandments?  Because Jesus says, “If you love me, you’ll keep my commandments.”  And the opposite is true as well.  “If you’re not keeping my commandments, then you don’t love Me.”  We need to work on the love thing, because the secret to abundance is abiding.  The secret to abiding is obeying.  The secret to obeying is loving, is falling in love with Jesus so you do what He asks you to do.  Because if you love Him, you’ll obey Him.  If you obey Him, you’ll abide in Him.  If you abide in Him, you’ll fulfill the abundance for which you were created.  Pretty simple stuff, isn’t it?  At least the progression of it.

0:30:54.8

I don’t have a lot of time to talk about two other things that come to the person who abides in Christ, but let me just touch on two promises that Jesus gives in this little discourse.  The promise of abiding is answered prayer.  Listen to this in verse 7.  “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”  Wow!  Could that be the secret to answered prayer?  Has something to do with us abiding as branches in the vine.  And then another promise is that of greater joy.  He says in verse 11, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be filled.”  Have you lost the joy of your salvation?  The joy of the Lord is our strength, the Bible says.  Have you lost that?  And you’re going into this season of the year where we sing “Joy to the World” and all that, but it’s just kind of mouthing the words and the joy is gone.  Well, maybe it has something to do with you were created for abundance, and the secret to abundance is abiding.  And the secret to abiding is obeying.  And the secret to obeying is loving.  If you love Him, you’ll obey Him.  If you obey Him, you’ll abide in Him.  If you abide in Him, you’ll produce much fruit.  And this thing called the Christian life becomes so much easier because we’re just in step and in stride with the One who said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.  And you are the branches, and apart from me, you can do nothing.”

0:32:32.2

You see, I don’t know about you, but I want to be that basket full of an overflowing harvest of spiritual fruit.  And I’ve tried.  I’ve tried to, you know, rely upon my experience and my education and my know-how and pull myself up from my own boot straps and my can-do attitude.  And every time I just get frustrated and tired and worn out trying to live the Christian life.  And it’s really supposed to be much easier than that, because, as a branch, all you have to do is remain intimately connected to the vine.  And the vine does the rest of it.  It’s not about trying harder.  It’s about abiding more, more and more every day.  And what I have found, friends, is that’s a day-by-day, moment-by-moment experience whereby I have to say yes to the Spirit of God and no to the flesh.  Because the flesh keeps pulling me in a direction that says, “Come on, you’re gifted.  You’re capable.  You’re experienced.  You’ve got all these resources.  You can do it.”  No, Jesus says, “Apart from me—if you want to produce anything of eternal value—apart from Me you can do nothing.  So just rest in Me.  Abide in Me as a branch remains connected to the vine.”  You say, “Pastor, how do I do that?”  Well, the secret to abundance in abiding.  The secret to abiding is obeying.  The secret to obeying is loving.  And maybe you just need to come back to that place where you first fell in love with Jesus and just revisit some of that.  Remember in the book of Revelation Jesus wrote some letters to several churches.  One of them was the church at Ephesus.  And this was a church that fell out of love with Jesus.  And He told them to do three things.  Repent…“Remember from where you have fallen,” He says, “then repent, and then go redo what you did at first.”  Remember how far you have fallen out of love with Jesus.  Get a grasp of that.  Go back to that place and repent.  Turn around.  Do a 180.  And then redo those things that you first did when you fell in love with Jesus.  Because if you love Him, you’ll obey Him.  If you obey Him, you’ll abide in Him.  And if you abide in Him, He’ll produce an abundance of fruit.  Not only in you individually and in me, but across this church as well.  And He’s looking inside the walls of this church, and He’s wanting to see a bountiful, fruitful basket of soul-winning and good works that glorify God and spiritual character that transforms us from the inside out.  That’s the kind of fruit that glorifies God.  It’s the kind of fruit that never goes out of season or out of style or spoils in any kind of way.  And it’s the kind of fruit when you one day stand before Him with your basket, He’s gonna say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.  Enter into the joy of your Lord.”  Let’s pray together.

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Father, thank You so much for Your Word.  Thank You for this truth from the words of Jesus found in John 15.  And, Lord, there’s so much here.  So much that it’s sometimes difficult to grasp just the simplicity of the Christian life, and yet the complexity of it at the same time.  Would You rescue us from any effort that any of us have to just try harder and to do better next time?  And to learn the simplicity of trusting You and abiding in You and resting in You and saying yes to You.  Father, there are some here in this room where that phrase “every branch in me” does not describe them because they are not in Christ.  They’re not in a relationship with Him by faith in Christ.  I pray that the first step they would take this morning is to come to the cross of Christ as a sinner who needs a Savior, and, by faith, to receive the free gift of eternal life offered to anybody who wants to reach out by faith and take it.  Thank You for what Jesus did on the cross for us.  Thank You that He is still the One and Only because He’s the resurrection and the life.  He died on the cross for our sins, but He rose triumphantly from the grave.  And because that grave is empty, He can lay claim to every statement that He made.  “I am the bread of life; and the light of the world; and the door of the sheep; and the good shepherd; and the resurrection and the life; and the way, the truth, and the life; and, yes, even the true vine.”  He is still the One and Only, Father.  And we want to declare that today, not only as a church and as the body of Christ in this place, but every person individually.  Father, bring us to that place where we say yes to Jesus.  And we pray this in His name, amen.

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