Sermon - John 15:1-17 - Thomas Slager

[Music] [Music] John 15 verses 1 through 17 is where we're at this morning John 15 1 through 17 it starts with this it says I am The True Vine and my father is the vine dresser 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 already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you 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 I am the vine you are the branches whoever abides in me and I in him he it is that there is much fruit for apart for me you can do nothing if anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers and the branches are gathered thrown into the fire and burned if you abide in me and my words abide in you ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you by this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples as the father has loved me so if I loved you abide in my love 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 these things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full this is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you greater love has no one than this that someone lay down his life for his friends you are my friends if you do what I command you no longer do I call you servants for the servant does not know what his master is doing but I have called you friends for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you you did not choose me but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give it to you these things I commend you so that you will love one another let's pray God though it's my voice that's hard we recognize this morning it's your word that's been spoken God we believe your word is powerful we believe your word is applicable and today God we ask that you would apply your word to our heart so our lives align with the life of your son Jesus Christ God today would you be glorified honored and praised with everything said and done in this place Holy Spirit would you soften our hearts open our eyes so we can see know understand and believe the things of the Lord in John chapter 15 verses 1 through 17 this morning God all at this time is yours and all God's people said Amen hey let's go through this verse by verse and then we'll make a couple applications at the end let's start with verse 1 Jesus says I am The True Vine now you should be familiar with Jesus's teaching style at this point because seven times in the Gospel of John Jesus has said this he said I am blank right he uses a physical terminology to describe and teach a spiritual reality here's what he's taught us so far he said I am the bread of life I'm the light of the world I'm the door for the Sheep I'm the Good Shepherd I'm the resurrection and the life I'm the way the truth and the life and here in John 15 Jesus says I am the true vine now we start thinking true vine what is he talking about that's kind of a weird thing to call yourself if we go through the Old Testament we see that when the word vine and vineyard and God's vineyard is talked about God's talking about Israel and here Jesus is saying I am the true vine I want to show you a passage in Isaiah chapter 5 verses 1 through 7 to see how God talks about his vineyard let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard my beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile Hill now notice how he tends to his vineyard he dug it and cleared it of stones and planted it with choice vines he built the watchtower in the midst of it and he hewed out a vine a wine VAT in it and he looks for it to yield grapes he did everything right so this vine was set up to produce the fruit it was supposed to produce but what happened but a yielded wild grapes grapes that are good for nothing and now all inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah judge between me and my vineyard 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 and now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard I will remove its hedge and it shall be devoured I will break down a small and shall be trampled down I will make it a waste it shall not be pruned or hoed and briars and thorns shall grow up I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it for the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah are his Pleasant planting and he looked for justice but behold bloodshed he looked for righteousness but behold in outcry this is the picture we get of God's people God did everything the right way and then what did God's people do it messed it all up everything was set up perfectly he tended to them perfectly he cared for them he watered them he took out he took out all their rock so they could succeed and they became a nation in a kingdom and everything was going great and what happened they can't messing it up time and time and time and time again no fruit was produced so here is the Old Testament Israel being the vitamin you have Jesus in John 15 saying I'm not just any vine I'm the true vine okay the first vine did not produce the way it was supposed to everything went the right way divine and messed it up Jesus the vine the one who will actually produce the fruit through God's people that's supposed to be produced okay Jesus says Old Testament vine I'm the real one I'm the real deal I'm the true vine and God is going to produce the righteousness and his people that's supposed to be produced and he's going to do it through me he's the true vine and he says my father is the vine dresser in verse 2 things get a bit complicated there's a couple of verses in this passage we're going to break down this morning and it's going to take some time because things get a little hairy verse chiverses 2 it says this 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 now first thing we need to notice every branch in me we're talking about people who believe in Jesus we're talking about people who are connected to the vine we're talking about people who know in and trust the Lord okay in in in Jesus now there's two types of branches we see the first branch is this the first branch does not bear fruit how does the Lord treat the first Brinks that does not bear fruit he takes it away that sound a little scary to anyone let me ask you a question and if you feel comfortable answering you can if you don't feel comfortable then you don't have to answer can someone who places their faith and trust in Jesus Christ someone who God has given salvation to can that person lose their salvation no no they can't John's fournier Jesus talking to his sheep he says my sheep know me they hear my voice and he says no one will snatch them out of my hand no one no one can take them out of my hand or Romans 8 verse 1 says there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus so what is going on here let me tell you this word takes away here is the greek word Iero which also is interpreted lift it up and here's why that's important because when we think vine and in vineyard how many of you think Napa right some of you are like not me I would never partake in the vineyard right whatever dude whatever here's the deal we take our understanding of vineyard and press it upon John chapter 15 and we think about these vines lifted forth that's not the way these vines grew these vines actually grew on the ground on the ground so when the branch that does not bear fruit is not taken away it's it's lifted up here's what they would do if the ground was too moist but oftentimes the branch would not produce fruit because it became soggy maybe it became moldy or maybe one part of the ground was infested with bugs so fruit would not grow because the bugs kept eating the fruit the vine dresser he would come over which here is the father and he made you put a big boulder or a stick or a trellis or something he'd take the vine and then he would lift it up so we could produce fruit the picture we get here is not of an angry vine good dresser just lop and stuff off we we actually get the sensitive vine dresser who cares for his branches says this branch isn't producing fruit let me help him let me help let me lift them up let me remove this thing that that's that's inhibiting him from living the life that he's supposed to look this is the picture we get of the father not someone who's just slopping people off of the vine but but a father who comes and lifts up who nurtures who cares for who helps us produce the fruit we're supposed to produce so that's the first branch here's the second branch every branch that does bear fruit he prunes okay wait a minute so the branches that are doing things the way they're supposed to do you're telling me the vine dresser comes along and inflict some pain that that's that's what happens I don't know a whole lot about vine dressing or gardening in fact if you come to my house I have two Gardens both of them are dead okay I'm not good at this but here's what I know about pruning pruning is when you take the scissors and you cut the dead stuff off pruning is when you take the scissors and you remove the things that are keeping your plants from growing the way they're supposed to grow pruning is when part of your flank it's just too infested with bugs and they're all over the place and you don't want them to spread so you cut cut that piece off that's what's happening here the branches that produce fruit God removes things that inhibits you from producing fruit I think there's two ways that God does this the first way he does it we read about in Hebrews chapter 12 verses 4 through 11 we can think of it as the discipline of the Lord let's pick it up in verse 5 and have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons my son did not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord nor be weary when reproved by him for the Lord disciplines who that was a question who does the Lord discipline the ones he loves the ones he loved and he chastises every son whom he receives it is for discipline that you have to endure God is treating you as sons for what son is there whom his father does not discipline if you are left without discipline in which all have participated then you are illegitimate children enough son's besides this we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them you have a dad who disciplined you in a positive way and you're thankful for it now my dad good disciplinarian he helped remove the things in my life that should not have been there this is what the father does shall we not much more be subject to the father of spirits and live for they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them but he disciplines us for our good that we may share his holiness for the moment all discipline seems painful rather than than Pleasant last night we spanked in our house because we think it's right last night we had to do the spanking thing with our son Elijah and he always asked small one or medium run right and I say you don't move your hand it's going to be a huge one right just kidding I'd never say that some a good father now he doesn't like discipline why because discipline is not pleasant it's painful and it's the same thing with us we don't like discipline because it's not pleasant it's painful but here's the thing but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it one of the ways the way one of the ways God prunes us is he disciplines us and I don't know what this has looked like for you in your life I've had some things my life just like straight just removed like I got robbed one time and in the moment I was placing way too much of my Worth and value in the stuff that I had and guess what God said that's not the way it's supposed to be that stuff is gone discipline removal maybe it's not disciplined maybe it looks more like James chapter 1 verses 2 through 4 it says this count it all joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds counted joy really joy so when you find yourself in the hospital for two weeks just hanging out in ICU with your sick daughter that's joy for you know the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may perfect be perfect and complete lacking and nothing can I tell you real quick what I learned over the course of the last few weeks with my daughter being sick I've always trusted in the Lord over the course of the last few weeks I realized just how much I can trust in the Lord that one of the things I love the most more than anything in the world I can take her and place her in the hands of the Father and say God she's yours there is nothing I can do about this and guess what he came through I've always loved y'all but guess what I'm after how much love you showed me in my family it reinforced how much I love my church this place has been home for me since I was in fifth grade over the course of the last four weeks I realized how much I love home trials consider a joy because when you go through and dark prunes you in produces more fruit in you verse 3 already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you Jesus reinforces his disciples he says look you're clean you've been pruned that means your your in me your part of the saying it's it's good we're good here let me show you the second heading the second heading in our outline this morning is bearing fruit verse 4 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 now he kind of gives away the illustration he says I'm the vine you're the branches so if they didn't get it before which we've seen the disciples they don't get a lot of things Jesus says so maybe this is the aha I 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 this reminds me of a verse in Philippians 4:13 and where the Apostle Paul says this he says I can do all things through him who gives me strength so they kind of see two sides of this here here you have Jesus saying you can't do anything without me you can't do anything without me and then you get tall over here saying you can do all things with Jesus you can do all things with Jesus you can't do anything without Jesus you can do all things with Jesus you can't do anything without Jesus here's the tragedy too many Christians choose to live their life right here they believe they trust and that's it and yet we wonder why does it my life to look like the life of the people in the New Testament well you're you're trying to live your life without Jesus how does fruit happen fruit happens because you abide in the vine so if you do not abide in the vine you cannot produce fruit man the Christian life is just exhausting I got to try to give this and I got to try to do this and I've got to go to church again and God expects me to just give them my money and and this is hard and this is hard and this is hard the picture that Jesus is painting here is you connect to me I produce the fruit you connect to Jesus he produces the fruit the fruits not on you the fruits on Jesus the command here is abide in the vine because without the vine you can't do anything and with the vine you can you get the picture what's the fruit I can't help but think of Galatians 5:22 through 23 you know that fruit of the Spirit passage especially in light of chapter 14 last week where Jesus says hey I'm sending the helper the helper is the Holy Spirit right he's gonna he's going to come with you and he's going to he's going to help you and then in John 15 he says I'm going to produce fruit in you well you look at Galatians 5 that's pretty much what what Paul says the role of the Holy Spirit is the fruit of the Spirit what's the fruit of the Spirit is one of the things you memorize when you're in children's school and then forget later in life right Galatians 5:22 through 23 the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control against such things there is no law when you abide in Christ these are the things that God produces through you fruits of the spirit we're not just supposed to fake it we're not just supposed to add these things to our life we're supposed to connect to Christ so that he's the one who bears fruit in our life that brings us to verse 7 we're going to look at abiding I'm sorry I'd bring this to verse 6 but that's a big one verse 6 let's look at verse 6 again we have that one on the screen because this one too is complicated than we need to look at it real quick 15 6 says this if anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers and the branches are gathered thrown into the fire and burned let me ask you when you read the Bible and the Bible says things like fire and burned what do you think of Hell right then when else your mind just goes straight straight there that's where mind tends to go here but that might not be the case because here's the question who is anyone we're talking about anyone does anyone apply to verse 2 where it's those who are in Jesus and therefore believers or does anyone apply to those who are outside of Jesus who do not abide in Christ and therefore are not saved if anyone applies to believers then we have one option on how to interpret fire and being burned that option we find in 1st Corinthians chapter 3 verses 11 through 14 which say this for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ now if anyone builds in the foundation with gold silver precious stones wood hay straw each one's work will become manifest for the day that's the day of judgment will disclose it because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done if the work that anyone was built in the foundation survives he will receive a reward so if God looks at your life and says I see fruit I see righteousness I see that you live the way I see that you you abided in the vine you abided in need and those fruits were produced if that's the case here's the response you receive a reward if anyone's work is burned up he will suffer loss not loss of salvation but loss of reward in heaven though he himself will be saved but only a screw fire see the common teaching we all like to think is that works don't matter right your works aren't going to get you in haven't I completely but by grace were saved through faith not by works and no one can boast right but here's what Paul staying here your works kind of do matter here's why because someday you will stand before Jesus your whole life is going to be laid out everything is going to be burned up the good things that are left determine the reward you receive in heaven reward is not salvation reward as the thing is God's going to bless you with in heaven if you've got nothing to show for it guess what you don't have extra rewards but this is still pretty good you still get saved and you're still F having you still got to live with Jesus forever so that is option 1 when looking at John 15:6 anyone we're talking about Christians fire and burned is judgment yet still you will get into heaven but you will lose rewards here's option number 2 if anyone does not abide in me so now maybe we're talking about those who are not in Jesus to begin with he is thrown away remember verse 2 where it says that the father takes away that was that Greek word Iroh thrown away here is the word iqbal Oh which means cast out expelled gotten rid of which is a little bit harsher than just lifted up right so possibly here Jesus is talking about those who don't believe they'll be thrown away like a branch and what's the dead branch ful good for nothing other than firewood and in that case we're talking about hell if you don't believe in Jesus if you don't trust in Jesus and therefore do not abide John 15:6 says your eternal destiny is not a good place it's a place called hell let's go to verse 7 and the second the third section we're looking at we're looking at abiding in the vine of verse 7 if you abide in me and my words abide in you ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you there's two conditions Jesus gives here for having your prayers answered the first one is this abiding in Jesus and secondly his words abiding in you Psalm 37:4 says this delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desire of your heart here's how prayer works when your heart's desires match the desires of God's heart you get prayers answered what does Jesus pray for and when they say Jesus how should we pray he says your will be done on earth as it is in heaven right accomplish your plan accomplish your desires accomplish your goals so when you pray the heart of God when your desires become or when God's desires become your desires when God does the things that he wants to do when you ask for him those things get done what I love about our to pray request video as we see receive prayer requests often like this we say that that God will give me a healthy marriage how many of you believe God wants you to have a healthy marriage yeah yep abide in Christ and God will bless you with the happy marriage a healthy marriage that's the way that's supposed to work we don't pray for things like God give me that big pay raise so I can have that house of my dreams right now I don't I don't know if that aligns with with the will of God God you said ask whatever I want in the name of Jesus so could I have a Ferrari in the name of Jesus no you can't that's not the way this works when your heart aligns with God's heart Jesus says your prayers get answered verse 8 by this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples how do you bear fruit abide in Christ fruit is produced and Jesus says if you produce fruit because you abide in Christ God will be glorified and then guess what you prove that you actually believe in Jesus okay so this passage is not about how do I know that I've done enough but here's what this says this says if you live a fruitful abundant life a life that glorifies the Lord then it's proof that you are in fact abiding in Christ verse 9 is the father has loved me so if I loved you abide in my love ask the question how how are we supposed to abide and you love verse 10 he answers the question 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 John 14:15 we saw this last week it says this if you love me if you love me you will keep my Commandments it was one of those if-then statements we looked at last week obedience to Jesus is a natural outpouring of the belief you have in him if you love him then you will do what he says verse 11 he says these things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full I love this Jesus why why all these Commandments cuz sometimes like this just exhausting and I am following Jesus is so hard sometimes but then Jesus says things like my yoke is easy and my burden is light but it's now supposed to be so hard just just plug in just connects just abide follow Jesus love Jesus listen to Jesus obey Jesus trust Jesus fruit will be produced and then he says what's the result I've spoken these things to you so that you will have joy the commandments of the Lord aren't just for him the commandments of the Lord are actually for you there so you can actually abide ahead and find the joy that Jesus has for you so here's the deal if your life this morning lacks joy it's likely because your life lacks Jesus let me say it again if your life is lacking joy it's because your life is lacking Jesus if you abide in Christ you will find joy that brings us to the fourth heading loving God's people verse 12 this is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you greater love has no one than this that someone lay down his life for his friends the commander's love people like Jesus loves a pretty high bar that's been set by him selfishly sacrificially understandably forgiving me all of those English that you could say about the love of Christ is the way he expects you to love his people verse 14 you are my friends if we're going to do it again you are my friends if you do what I command okay so saying you love Jesus you know Jesus you follow Jesus but don't listen to what Jesus says that does not make sense so you can't say you're a friend of Jesus but you completely disregard us teach you can't say you're a friend of Jesus but you want nothing to do with this word you can't say you're a friend of Jesus but then align your life line your life up with the Scriptures and see just how far off you are you are my friend if you do what I command you verse fifteen no longer do I call you servants for the servant does not know what his master is doing but I've called you friends for all that I have heard from My Father I've made known to you and I love this part you didn't choose me but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give it to you what what is Jesus saying you're not Friends of Jesus because if your own doing he chose you he initiated a relationship with you and then those good works the good deeds the fruit that you produce you have no right we have no right to look at her own life and be like look at me you see what I did okay you can even go on Facebook today or Instagram or whatever and you'll see someone doing their good deed like feeding the homeless guy and their phones right here taking a picture of it so they can snap and show all their friends like look at my deed look what I did see my good fruit I said that guy oh you won't believe the lesson I taught my kid yesterday it was just so fruitful like why are we doing this give the glory to God gives the glory to the one who who actually is producing the fruit in your life all we're supposed to do is abide in the vine all we're supposed to do is trust Jesus and obey Jesus and the fruit will be produced and that fruit God guest in it for you to happen so we can't take credit for the things that God does with our life the things that God does with their life is through our life like the chapter says is meant for his glory and not around verse 17 these things I command you so that you will love one another this is the second so dot the first these things I've told you abide so you have full joy these things I've told you abide so you will love one another two of the biggest marks of the Christian life joy and love both are the natural response to truly abiding and cry so by way of application this morning let me ask you one question are you abiding in Christ are you abiding in Christ are you trusting him and are you obeying him you can't do the second one without the first one so if you're here this morning and you don't trust in Jesus okay you don't believe that is his death in resurrection that this saves you from yourself that's not trust okay Jesus came and lived the perfect life that you could not live Jesus died the death you deserved to die Jesus rose from the dead to defeat the death you deserve to possess if you trust in that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead then and only then shall you be saved if you trust in Jesus then yes you are abiding in Christ if you do not trust in Jesus then you cannot abide in him and you will not produce fruit fruit comes through trust in Jesus only secondly are you or are you being obedient are you being obedient I love in this passage there's five different markers we can look at this because we read this passage and we wonder like am i abiding how many of you are wondering that right now like am i abiding do I abide do I buy it well if we look at this that gives us five things if you're producing fruit it means you're abiding in Christ if you're producing fruit it means you're abiding in Christ secondly if you're experiencing some pruning in your life the discipline of the Lord and trials that lead to more character that means you're abiding in Christ God is working in your life thirdly if you find that your prayers get answered that means you're abiding in Christ because you're praying for the right things that align with God's will which means you're abiding in Christ okay so that too is a good thing if you have a genuine love for Christ and His people yes you are abiding in Christ and fist if you are experienced if you experience any immense joy not just a situational happiness caused by the good things in our life but this rock-solid disposition of the heart that says I find my joy in the Lord and the Lord alone then absolutely you abide in Christ but here's the temptation for looking at this passage we start asking ourselves the question how much fruits enough fruit okay if that's the question you're asking yourself this morning you're asking the wrong question this passage isn't about fruit it's not about doing the right thing it's not about the fruit this passage is all about the true vine and if you want fruit that's only going to come one way by trusting in the Lord and obeying his commandments if you do that and friends you will abide and you will produce fruit and the Lord will be glorified by your life and people will see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven do you want to produce works that point people to Jesus I hope you do that only comes from abiding in the true vine Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God let me pray for us and then worship team is going to come out and we're going to close in a song called comes out found there's a part in that line that my heart relates to you I think your heart will probably relate to it a little bit too it says prone to wander lord I feel it prone to leave the god I love but then it says take my heart Lord hears my heart Lord take and seal it seal it for thy courts above that is the prayer of my heart for myself this morning and that is my prayer for your heart this morning that regardless of how prone to wander you are you recognized this morning that the fruit of your life is only going to come from attaching your heart to the vine and that is Jesus Christ let me pray for us and then we'll sing God thank you for your son Jesus Christ God thank you for making a way for us to know you God we could not do it on our own God for those in here this morning who do not trust in you God I ask that you would continue to work on their heart that they would trust in you very very soon God for the rest of us I ask that you continue to help us to abide God we are grateful that you prune us were grateful that you lift us up when we need it most God if anyone's in here feeling dry and withered and the weary Lord would you come to them this morning would you nourish their heart would you speak to them speak to their soul build them up lift them up and care for them God thank you for your son Jesus Christ the only way we have salvation God this morning is for your glory and your glory alone would you use our life to bring glory to your name and all God's people said you know [Music]

Channel: Highlands Church

Views: 47,014

Rating: 4.7169461 out of 5

Keywords: sermon, church, highlands church, bible, scottsdale, arizona, jesus, god, religion, christian, non-denominational, evangelical, christianity, theology, christ, pastor, john, gospel, gospel of john, series, book, vine, true vine, thomas slager, jesus is, jesus is the true vine

Id: 6kaMrTcZVzw

Length: 34min 4sec (2044 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 13 2017