John 14:27-15:8

[0:00] and we're going to pick it up in verse 27 this morning, John 14. And Christ is still in the room with His disciples, but this is coming to an end.

[0:18] You can see at the end of the chapter, the last five words, He says, Arise, let us go hence. And so that's where they depart that room and head off toward the Garden of Gethsemane. So the last words He speaks to them in the room with the 11, verse 27, Peace I leave with you.

[0:39] My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Those are the words He started the chapter with, let not your heart be troubled.

[0:51] And He continues with it in verse 27, kind of brings it back to that almost, if you will, as we studied in the chapter, as He was speaking on going away, coming back, and then He gets interrupted by Thomas saying, We don't know what you're talking about, we don't know the way.

[1:06] And then Philip says, Show us the Father, and it kind of takes off to another turn. And so He comes back to this, Let not your heart be troubled, and I'm going to leave my peace with you.

[1:17] My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth. I consider that the world, if you want to contrast, and I can only suppose here what He's saying is that the world doesn't give a permanent peace.

[1:33] The world can only give a temporary feeling of peace, a false feeling of peace. The world, you might even say, is not capable of giving without taking something in return.

[1:44] But the Lord Jesus Christ has just given it to them. It's free. If they'll trust Him and abide in Him, He gives peace. I give, my peace I give unto you.

[1:56] And for such a time as this, this is just some verses you ought to know on the peace of God. Turn back to Isaiah 26. The peace of God has a place in, it has so many angles that it helps us.

[2:25] It's not just like, well, I need comfort, and therefore peace, although that's absolutely a big one. But it has a lot to do with, it's always in the mind.

[2:38] It's the mind that needs the peace. And that mind can be stirred up about trouble. It can be stirred up about just not knowing what to do, and need an answer.

[2:52] And so you want peace. You want God to give peace. This is something we talked about with the men's prayer the other night, where Joseph told Pharaoh that God will give you an answer of peace, when he was troubled. Isaiah 26, notice verse number 3.

[3:06] This is something you ought to underline, have memorized, or have a few of these down. Thou wilt keep him. Notice that word keep. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee.

[3:24] Trust ye in the Lord forever. For in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. So there's a promise. If you trust in God, if your mind is stayed upon the Lord, then he'll keep you in peace.

[3:41] If your mind goes into the other areas of life, into the tragedy, and into the hardships, and into the confusions, then there won't be peace. And peace and confusion are the opposite.

[3:53] What's that verse that Paul said about the churches? God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. And so those two things are opposites.

[4:05] Come to Philippians chapter 4 now. So Jesus Christ gives peace.

[4:19] And if you don't have Jesus Christ, then you're just going to get the peace that the world giveth. And the world will take something from you, and the world won't give it to you for too long.

[4:31] Philippians chapter 4, and pick up verse number 6 and 7. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.

[4:45] And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep, there's the same word, shall keep your hearts, and there's the same word, minds, through Christ Jesus.

[4:59] The peace of God, it goes beyond, it surpasses all understanding. It doesn't make any sense, humanly speaking. But there's something that God can give.

[5:11] If we'll trust in Him, if we'll stay upon Him, if we'll put our requests, and our supplications, and our prayers to Him, and not fear for it, not be careful, or full of care, or anxiety over it, which is easy to say, it's not easy to do, when your heart gets rocked, it's not easy to see clearly.

[5:36] It's not. Like you and I, we are just considering our brother and sister this morning, and their pain, and they're just, I guarantee they're still in shock.

[5:47] And they can't see clearly. They can't. The Word of God, we know it's effective, we know it's what they need, we know it's the only source of stability, for them to grab a hold of today, and yet in the moment, it's probably not going to help them yet.

[6:02] It's probably not going to help them, until they can come down, and get settled, and kind of get their minds, and their hearts opened up, toward where they need something. And so they need prayer then, in the meantime.

[6:16] But the peace of God is offered, and it's promised. And it doesn't make sense. In verse 7, it just doesn't make sense to us. It's something that God does supernaturally.

[6:28] Now there's just two verses to throw at you, in association to the peace of God. Back in John, Christ said, I'm leaving my peace with you. So Christ is going away.

[6:40] He is not promising, that He's going to make their life easy. He's telling them, I'm giving you my peace, because you're not going to have it easy. Before we get back to there, look at chapter 16, and look at verse 33.

[6:58] He's not pledging, that they have an easy road ahead at all. Verse 33, 16, 33 says, These things have I spoken unto you, that in me, ye might have peace.

[7:10] In the world, ye shall have tribulation. That's coming for you boys, you eleven. The tribulation's on, it's coming, you're just going to step right into it.

[7:23] And you can't avoid it, but I'll give you my peace through the whole thing. You're going to have to stay on me. Neither let, let not your heart be troubled.

[7:33] I'm back in John 14, verse 27. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. So there's fear, but peace can cast out fear.

[7:45] And there's confusion, and peace can overcome the confusion. And there's carefulness, or there's anxiety, and those inner turmoils, and the peace of God can overcome those as well.

[8:00] Verse 28, Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said I go unto the Father, for my Father is greater than I.

[8:13] And now I have told you before it come to pass, that when it is come to pass, ye might believe. And so this is material we've already covered, things he's already said. And now verse 30, Hereafter I will not talk much with you, for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.

[8:33] Now a reference here to the devil, and him coming on the scene, and that's shown in a couple of different places here, in the book of John, where he calls him the prince of this world.

[8:44] I'm not going to run to those references now, we'll get to them some other time. But he's on the way, and so Christ is saying, I'm on my way out, I'm going to go to the Father, I'm not going to talk with you much more, like this is kind of coming to the close of our time together.

[9:00] The prince of this world cometh, and he hath nothing in me. I don't know exactly what that phrase means, but I just imagine he's saying, he's not on my side at all.

[9:10] He's coming, and we're polar opposites. The prince of this world, I come to give you peace, he's going to be violent and destructive. I've come to do the will of the Father, and I'm holy and harmless and undefiled, and he's a liar from the beginning, he's a murderer.

[9:28] And so, the prince of this world cometh, and he hath nothing in me. But that the world may know that I love the Father. Verse 31, But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do.

[9:45] And what do you think he's talking about there? He's talking about a specific commandment that the Father gave to him. And the world's going to know that I love him, because I'm going to do this.

[9:56] I'm going to follow through. Look back at chapter 10. John chapter 10. And look at verses 17 and 18.

[10:15] John 10, 17. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.

[10:25] I have power to lay it down, and power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. What's that? To lay down my life. That's what I was commanded to do.

[10:36] And so in chapter 14, he says, The world's going to know I love the Father, because as he gave me commandment, I'm about to go do it. Now I'll show you this command a little bit differently.

[10:47] Look back into the prophets. Go back to Isaiah chapter 50. Isaiah 50.

[10:57] And when you get there, then get, let's see, we'll start in verse 4.

[11:20] The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning.

[11:30] He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord hath opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.

[11:46] I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.

[12:00] So here's prophetic voice of Christ here, by the pen of Isaiah, telling us of Christ and his sufferings. And the first I point out here is verse 5, that the Lord hath opened mine ear.

[12:13] So I heard him speak, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I obeyed. I've obeyed the commandment of God.

[12:23] What he told me to do, I went forward and gave my back to the smiters. And they did tear his back up. And they did pluck his hair from his face and buffet him, and spit on him, and hang him up on a cross.

[12:40] And so, he laid down his life like he said he would, like the Father told him to. Now come back to John. And the Lord Jesus Christ says, that the world may know that I love the Father, as the Father hath given me commandment, even so I do.

[12:57] So the obedience of Jesus Christ is a testimony to the world that he loves the Father, that he loves God. And Paul said in Colossians, that a man loved God, the same as note, that might be Corinthians, the same as note of him.

[13:10] And so the question then becomes, does anybody in this world know that you love God? Do you love God? I trust you do. I'm not attacking you on that. I'm trusting you love God.

[13:21] I think inside of you is a love for God. You show up to church Sunday morning, have the Word of God in your lap. I trust that there is a love inside of you for God.

[13:32] But the question then is, does the world know that there's a love for God inside of you? Well, how would they know? Well, as the Lord Jesus Christ said, as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do.

[13:48] Look back at chapter 14 and verse 15. If you love me, keep my commandments. Verse 23, Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man love me, he will keep my words.

[14:04] Verse 24, he that loveth me not, keepeth not my sayings. So it's pretty simple then, I think. How will the world know that you love God? It'd be by your obedience to what God said.

[14:16] By your personal obedience to His Word. Do you have a relationship with God through the Word of God? If you don't, that love for God that's inside of you is probably pretty small.

[14:29] And it's probably covered up with, or overtaken by your love for other things. For yourself, for your flesh, for your fantasies, for your whatever you want this life to be.

[14:43] But if you love God, you'll obey His commandments, and the world will know that. So you'll obey the Word of God, Jesus Christ being the example here. It's not just giving Himself.

[14:55] We're going to see next chapter, in chapter 15, verse 13, that greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. It's not just a love for God that He's laying his life down in obedience to the commandment, but it's also for the others.

[15:10] He's doing it for others. And that's a whole other aspect to Christ and to what He's accomplished. So we'll move into chapter 15 now, and it's going to take a real big turn. He said at the end, Arise, let us go hence.

[15:24] And so you can picture in your mind, these men are getting up. They've just heard the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to them through chapters 13 and 14. He did this foot washing thing.

[15:35] They had a meal before that. And He even, in this time, instituted the New Testament with the breaking of the bread and the cup they drank. And now they're getting up and they're stretching and they're getting ready to go for a walk.

[15:50] Now these men don't know. He's made the comment already, but they don't realize or understand where they're going or what purpose this is. It's at nighttime.

[16:02] They're heading out of the city. They're going to descend from Jerusalem and cross over a brook and then go back up and find this place where, well, they're familiar with being here. Christ comes here all the time.

[16:14] To this garden. He loves to come here. He loves to pray here. And so it's a quiet place, a common place for them to go. And they're heading that way. Everybody got your stuff? Everybody ready? Let's go. And out the door they go.

[16:25] And then Christ starts a whole new line of teaching. It's not about I'm going away. It's not about love or peace or don't be troubled.

[16:40] But he starts in a whole new vein of thought in chapter 15, verse 1. I am the true vine. I am the true vine. And my father is the husbandman. There's no real connection that's off the top of my head to what he's spoken of before this.

[16:56] But what do you think he means when he says he's the true vine? Why couldn't he just say, I am the vine? He says that in verse 5. I am the vine. Ye are the branches. But he starts with being the true vine.

[17:07] Like the truth, the very, the actual, the vine. There must be another vine. And one vine, one vine I'll point out to you.

[17:18] This is worth studying because it's going to kind of open up some things I think on this, the doctrine of this passage. Come back to Isaiah chapter 5. I'm just going to lay a little bit of groundwork here so that I think this passage in its literal context is clear.

[17:51] Isaiah 5, verse 1. This is a prophecy. It's a parable, I guess. Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard.

[18:02] My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill. He fenced it, gathered stones thereof, planted with the choicest vine. And built a tower in the midst of it. And also made a winepress therein.

[18:13] He looked that it should bring forth grapes. And it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O habitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge, I pray you betwixt me and my vineyard. What could I have done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it?

[18:26] Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes. And now go to, I'll tell you what I'll do, to my vineyard. I'll take away the hedge thereof. Notice those words. I'll take away the hedge thereof.

[18:37] And it shall be eaten up and break down the wall thereof. And it shall be trodden down. I'll lay it waste. And it shall not be pruned nor digged. But there shall come up briars and thorns. And I'll command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

[18:50] For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel. And the men of Judah, his pleasant plant. And he looked for something. What would that be?

[19:00] That would be fruit. He looked for judgment. But behold, oppression. He looked for righteousness. He looked for these fruits to come forth from this vine.

[19:12] For Israel to bring forth judgment and righteousness in the earth. But that wasn't what he got. Now turn to Hosea chapter 10. Just one quick little verse here.

[19:25] Hosea. Right after Daniel. Hosea. And Hosea is very close to Isaiah in the timing of his prophecies and his preaching toward those northern tribes specifically.

[19:51] Verse number 1. Hosea 10 verse 1. He says this. Israel is an empty vine. He bringeth forth fruit unto himself.

[20:03] So what's God looking for that he's not seeing in Israel? Well, look back at chapter 6. Here's one verse that comes up in the Gospels.

[20:13] Several, I think two different times, Christ quotes this verse. It's an important one from what the Lord's looking for in regards to fruit. Hosea 6 verse 6.

[20:24] For I desired mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. But they, like men, have transgressed the covenant. They've dealt treacherously against me.

[20:35] And we go on. So when God's looking to this people to see them bring forth fruits of judgment and righteousness, obedience to his word, he's not seeing that at all. He's seeing they're bringing forth fruits unto themselves.

[20:48] What he sees is just empty vine. There's no goodness in them. No fruit in them. So now come back to, come to Luke chapter 3. Let's go there.

[21:00] So then he sends John the Baptist. And John shows up preaching. And he's preparing the way for the Lord Jesus Christ. And in his ministry, he's supposed to fill the valleys up and bring the mountains and hills low.

[21:18] Make the crooked ways straight. And just the whole thing's going to get leveled. And verse number 7, He said to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

[21:36] Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance. And begin not to say within yourselves, long story short, we're Jews. We're God's children.

[21:46] We're fine. Because that's not true. In verse 9, Now also the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.

[21:59] And so the people say, Well, what should we do? And he just begins telling them, This is what you ought to do. You ought to be showing righteous works in your life. And you can see through the passage, look at verse 13.

[22:11] He said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you. That's honesty. That's righteousness. That's the fruit of honesty. The soldiers ask him, What should they do?

[22:21] At the end of verse 14, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely, which is one of the commands we've studied. And be content with your wages. And so just a few thoughts. There's honesty and the resisting violence and contentment and giving to others earlier.

[22:42] These are fruits that are considered mercy upon their brother, loving their neighbor. And these are fruits that he's not seeing anywhere in this nation. So then turn ahead to Romans chapter 11.

[23:02] Romans chapter 11. And this nation is called a branch.

[23:17] A branch that gets cast away. Oh, there's too much to cover here. It's just... I'll start in verse 13.

[23:29] I speak to you Gentiles and much as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office. If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, that be Israel, and might save some of them.

[23:42] For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, which shall be the receiving of them be, but life from the dead. For if the first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy. And if the root be holy, so are the branches.

[23:55] And if some of the branches be broken off, that's Israel, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted among them. So, the olive tree, or the wild one, is the church here in this case.

[24:09] Paul's teaching them to be not high-minded, but fear. Because God broke his own natural branches off of his tree there. Verse 19.

[24:21] Thou wilt say then, the branches were broken off that I might be grafted in? Well, you're saying it true, but because of unbelief, they were broken off. And thou standest by faith.

[24:32] Be not high-minded, but fear. For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed, lest he also spare not thee. And that's enough of that. So, come back to John. He's going to continue on and say that he's going to fix that tree, and he's going to restore Israel in their place.

[24:49] But now, come back to John 15, and understand, when Christ is the true vine, his fathers, the husbandmen, Israel can't bring forth fruit unto God unless it abide in the vine.

[25:03] So, Jesus Christ, like, Israel had a chance, and they didn't do it. They couldn't do it. They just, they fell flat on their face. They brought fruit unto themselves. So, the Lord Jesus Christ comes on the scene as a true vine.

[25:18] And now, if that nation, if those people will abide in him, will come to him, they'll be able to bring forth fruit unto God. And there's a practical thought that's just as relevant to you and I as we're going to have to abide in Christ and bring forth fruits that he's interested in for us today.

[25:34] Now, verse 2 says, Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. And every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now, we're going to come through a passage here.

[25:46] It doesn't match the previous, but it's a true teaching and it's something that's necessary. A passage on discipleship and on emphasizing a relationship with Jesus Christ.

[26:00] Now, the doctrine to it, and there's doctrine that applies to Israel and to them being broken off, but the practical side that we want to glean from it is that God's desire just as much as he was with them to bring forth fruit unto him, to show to the world righteousness and judgment on the earth.

[26:17] He's looking for his believers, his disciples today, if you will, to bring forth fruit that is pleasing to the Father. Now, it's a strange word in a sense to think about fruit.

[26:28] It's probably just best to know it as an analogy of works, of outward, something that can be observed and seen that other people can say, that guy's a Christian, that guy loves God, he's obeying the Word of God.

[26:42] To just say fruit, what kind of fruit and what do you mean by fruit? The Bible uses it several times as just carrying forward an illustration that started back in the Old Testament that God's looking for fruit or for some substance to come out and I'll give you some more scripture in a moment.

[26:59] Let's read verse 3. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in a vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me.

[27:15] I am the vine, ye are the branches. Now there's levels if you want to call it to the fruit bearing.

[27:25] There's the one thought that one is not bearing fruit at all and that's in verse 2, beareth not fruit. And then there's one that bears fruit and then he purges it so it could bring forth more fruit.

[27:37] So there's fruit and more fruit and then in verse 5 I stopped, he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit. And so there's three if you want to call it degrees or levels to fruit bearing and there's there's a branch that won't bear fruit at all and it's a branch that's not abiding in the vine.

[27:59] It's a branch that is just taking up space and he taketh it away. It's no point to that branch. There's a branch that's going to bear fruit and the Lord loves to see that because that's what he's after.

[28:10] And when he sees a branch that's able and capable and abiding in the vine to bear fruit then he's going to work on that branch. Yesterday we were out walking through some of these neighborhoods I saw this little tree it just stood out among all the trees I saw all day because it was a short tree but it was cropped and thick and this tree I could probably I could have probably reached to the top of it and almost hugged it.

[28:33] It was not that big at all but the fruit on that tree there was I'd say at least a dozen grapefruit size just massive balls of fruit coming off of that tree and it all the other trees you've seen fruit trees everywhere but that one stood out to me and I thought that's a small tree and that's got a lot of fruit.

[28:54] Now that tells me a few things that tree is getting nourishment and it must be abiding in the vine it's getting the nourishment it needs it's getting taken care of somebody purged that tree or somebody cut that tree trimmed that tree back to keep it small so that where the fruit is that was starting to show the vine could put all of its efforts into that.

[29:16] Could you imagine that your life you've got these branches you've got these areas in your life you do this you do this you do this you do this you're into that you're kind of like this a little bit every now and then could you imagine all these different things as branches and in there one of them or two of them is something you do for Christ and when God sees that branch he's like now that's the one I want I didn't say there's anything wrong with some of these other ones maybe maybe there is some branches that are just dead and there's no life in them and they're not right and they ought to go but he sees that branch that's starting to bring forth some fruit and he says now so I'm focusing there God is not looking at your hobbies and saying oh this is the one I want to bless you with and I just want to give you and give you so that you can just keep doing that and build that up and be better and better and better at your hobbies he didn't say they're raw but I'm showing you that where God sees fruit when he sees something right coming out of you that's good that's righteous then he starts to work with that branch and trim back the areas that are and maybe cut some of these other ones off as well so that the branch can now really pump its efforts so that the vine rather the Lord Jesus can focus in on that area so maybe you've got some things in your life that aren't so bad but if the

[30:36] Lord took them away so that he could get your focus to go into those areas that are unto life eternal the ones that are going to get through the judgment he'd be doing it for your good he'd be doing it so that you could have something for him and that you won't regret wasting your life on things that just didn't matter and so the Lord can purge a branch and he can trim it back and he can take some things out of your life that you say well what's wrong with that what did I do you may not understand it but maybe just refocus and say if God's doing this if God's allowing this if this is the hand of God in my life maybe I should turn my efforts toward things that are eternal toward things that are going to stand the judgment and so the Lord purges branches and he's the husband man he knows what he's doing he's been dealing with vines as it were and branches for thousands of years he knows when to take one away and in Israel's case when he took them away and he wanted them to see this other branch getting grafted in and bringing forth blessings he wanted to provoke them to jealousy and say hey

[31:43] I'm the one that's supposed to be bringing forth all this fruit unto God and the Gentiles are doing it and the Lord's going to use us to provoke them now back in chapter 15 I want to look at some verses here that I think that just they excite me about these things and fruit bearing fruit what would that look like look at Colossians chapter 1 and get Philippians chapter 1 and while we're going we might as well get Galatians 5 this one you all think of probably quickly we'll get Galatians 5 first now we'll do Colossians first sorry Colossians chapter 1 and I'll begin in I'll begin in verse 3 we give thanks to God and the

[32:43] Father of our Lord Jesus Christ praying always for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which ye have to all the saints for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel which is come unto you as it is in all the world and bring forth fruit as it doth also in you since the day we heard of it and knew the grace of God and truth what is that fruit that's the fruit of the gospel that is salvation there's people being saved the gospel the word of the truth of the gospel has come as far as them is preached to them and that word is bringing forth fruit as souls are being saved there so there's that but then come a little bit later in verse number 9 good works those are the fruits that are coming out of the believer salvation fruit or the fruit of the gospel is salvation the saving of a soul it's the power of

[34:06] God unto salvation the preaching of the cross is the power of God now after that salvation abiding in Christ some fruits start to show up if you're not abiding in Christ there's no fruit there's fruit unto yourself maybe like Israel but there's no fruit unto Jesus Christ there's no evidence of good works when you have an opportunity to do good works and you do them it's evidence it's what Paul's praying you're walking worthy of the Lord you're being fruitful in every good work now I want to go back to Galatians and read these this list here here's some things that'll start showing up in your life and what it'll do it's fruit that'll be replacing the works of the flesh or the old man and those works are in verses 19 20 and 21 but if a man walk in the spirit and if he doesn't fulfill the lust of the flesh then in verse 22 some things start showing up in that man and the first one is love the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long suffering that is a man or woman is long suffering instead of exploding he's got patience verse 22 gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance these nine virtues or fruits are fruit of the spirit evidence that you're walking in God look back now at

[35:45] Philippians chapter 1 it's the last verse I want to turn to on this Ephesians 5 says the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth and now in Philippians chapter 1 this one I love this verse I'll start in verse 9 and this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment that you may approve things that are excellent that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ being filled with the fruits of righteousness notice which are by Jesus Christ because Christ said without me you can do nothing you have to abide in the vine being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God now that last verse there in verse 11 just matches the entirety of John 15 that we're pleasing God here in his

[36:56] God the Father glorified that you bear much fruit back in John 15 in verse 8 the fruit that you bring forth is going to be by Jesus Christ and it's called the fruits of righteousness it's a life of doing right doing right in the morning doing right at work doing right in your conversations doing right to have a time with God as he calls you to each day these are all right decisions and a man that knows to do right and doeth it not to him it is sin and a life of righteousness or being filled with the fruits of righteousness brings glory to God and this is the whole point of him bringing you into his family is to bring glory to himself and for you to bear fruit now in John 15 I'm going to read the passage here and we're going to close here shortly in verse 1 again I am the true vine and my father is the husband men every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine no more can ye except ye abide!

[38:15] are the branches and I'll probably have to pause here because it's going to take a little turn with the teaching let me go ahead to verse number 7 if ye abide in me and my words abide in you ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you herein is my father glorified that ye bear much fruit so shall ye be my disciples now there's a verse in verse 7 where he tells them that you'll have it done just like we read earlier a connection for these 11 a promise to these 11 we've covered that last week it's not something that we just jump on and say well if I just claim it in Jesus name it'll happen but we have to understand the context and there's something that's maybe a little more involved that I want to jump into we're out of time in verse 5 I'll just mention what I see here and you can study it out this week or you can wait till next Sunday and so far he says he's saying ye are clean and abide in me except ye abide in me ye are the branches and then in verse 5 he just turns to not the ye of the 11 disciples but he says more

[39:26] I don't want to say hypothetically but he says he he he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit and then in verse 6 the important thought here is that if a man abide not in me he's cast forth as a branch and withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned and then he goes back in verse 7 if ye abide in me and he's addressing it right back directly to those men the reason I point this out is because there is a shift in verses 5 and 6 to he or a man verses ye ye ye ye and the reason I point it out is because people have been confused by this passage for a long time saying oh you can lose your salvation if you don't keep doing right then you're going to be thrown into the fire if you say that you're saved and go to church for four Sundays in a row but then you stop going you're a branch that's going to be withered and cast into the fire you're going to go to hell if you don't keep doing it that's the idea men have mistaken a works based salvation and applied it to this age and I want to show you

[40:31] I want to try to divide and discern here that there's one major change there from Christ talking to the eleven ye ye ye and then just kind of going now if a man if you see that difference then I'll help you understand the figurative illustration here of the branches and what's being done so let's take a break there and come back in ten minutes so we'll pick it up next week right there thank you