[0:00] John 15 is where we're going to go. John 15 if you've got your Bibles there. First few verses of John 15. Abide in the vine. I was just 17 years old when I first gave an address on this text. So I had to look back on my notes and repeat a sermon.
[0:17] But we're going to look at abiding in the vine. And the Lord calls us to that, doesn't he? To abide in him. And these words were spoken. It was the very night prior to the crucifixion. The night before the cross. And it was at the upper room. Our Lord utters these precious words. Before him, here are the 11 disciples. Judas having departed.
[0:46] And they've shared together the Lord's Supper. The Lord Jesus humbly washing their feet in love. And our Lord Jesus says, I am the true vine. And the vine, it's interesting, it was a symbol, a national symbol of Israel. A vine featured on their coins. A sculpture of a golden grapevine adorned the four columns at the entrance to the temple.
[1:12] And after these words, they would shortly leave for the garden of Gethsemane. Perhaps along the way, they would pass by vineyards in the moonlight.
[1:26] And our Lord invites here each one to that life-giving relationship with him. I am the true vine. He warns about fruitlessness and he promises blessings.
[1:42] I am the true vine. And my father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away.
[1:54] 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.
[2:07] 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 accept ye abide in me.
[2:19] I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.
[2:31] For without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered. And men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burnt.
[2:46] If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.
[3:02] So shall ye be my disciples. There's a lot of truths here about relationship, about dependence, purpose, and consequence. Look at, firstly, the vine.
[3:16] I am the true vine, and my father is the husbandman. Husbandman speaks of farmer, the gardener.
[3:27] Our Lord Jesus is the true life-giving vine. God the father, the husbandman. We, the believers, are the branches. In the context of the time, the vineyards covered the hillsides all around Jerusalem.
[3:42] Israel was meant to be a vine, bringing forth righteous fruit. But it had become a degenerate plant. Jesus declares himself the true vine.
[3:56] And he is real, he's true, in contrast to any other counterfeits. And there's lots of counterfeits around these days. Other supposed sources of spiritual life and sustenance that are false.
[4:10] Our father is the husbandman, the farmer, the vine dresser, the divine caretaker. And we are the branches.
[4:21] What a picture. It all pictures that intimate, life-giving union. This connection that we have. I am the vine, ye are the branches. This connection between Christ and his followers.
[4:34] And our father takes great care. He tends, he cultivates, the vine dresser. He affects our spiritual growth. And he wants a harvest.
[4:45] He expects a harvest. Jesus is the true vine. In other words, we could think he's the only source of life. We draw our life and strength from him.
[4:57] It comes from him as the source. Salvation. It's Christ alone. It's found in Christ alone. Not in human pride or religion. Not in nationality.
[5:08] Not in works. Christ. Christ alone. The one source. The one and only source of true spiritual life. When we're talking to folk at the doors, when we're witnessing in whatever context, it boils down to this.
[5:26] Christ alone. As the saviour. We get some from other religions and they have this argument and that argument. But do they have the saviour?
[5:36] The saviour. They don't. Without Christ, they have no saviour. And our Lord tells us in his word, Acts 4.12, Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
[5:52] One name. Only one. One source. One vine. One source of true spiritual life. Salvation is found in Christ alone. The vine.
[6:03] Hear our Lord's command. Further, he says, abide. He says, abide. He says, verse 4. 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 in me.
[6:18] I am the vine. Ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him. The same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me ye can do nothing.
[6:29] Our Lord says abide. Abide. It means stay connected. Stay connected. Have that connection. Abide. It goes to this continuous, intimate, dependent relationship with Christ.
[6:43] Abide. Abide. When we come to Christ, he comes and he abides, doesn't he? He abides. It's like you might get a visitor to your house that just comes and stays a little while, but Christ comes and he abides.
[7:00] And we abide in him. He wants that continuous, intimate, dependent relationship. And abiding, it speaks about communion, about fellowship. Of course, our union with Christ, our salvation, our position in Christ is assured.
[7:15] It's permanent. That's our position, our union, our position in Christ. We're one in Christ. We're one with Christ. But then not only is there this union, but there's this communion.
[7:28] That's the abiding part. The abiding. It talks about our daily fellowship, our daily connection through prayer, through study of his word, obeying, yielding to the spirit.
[7:39] A branch cannot bear fruit, it says, apart from the vine. To be an effective Christian, to be effective, we must abide. Abide. And the branch utterly depends on connection.
[7:52] Separate that branch from the vine and the sap stops flowing, it dies. Likewise, we can produce nothing of eternal value without Christ.
[8:04] Apart from Christ. He says, without me. Without me. You can do nothing. This word nothing is a very absolute nothing. Absolutely nothing.
[8:16] It means that there's really nothing of eternal value. Nothing of spiritual value. Nothing. Without Christ. Without me. Without Christ, he says. Without me.
[8:27] You can do nothing. Nothing. Nothing at all. Absolutely nothing. We can be busy in human effort, human standards. We might be busy and occupied.
[8:39] But if it's without Christ. If it's apart from Christ. If it's without his enabling life flowing through us. We can do nothing that pleases God.
[8:50] Or counts for eternity. Nothing of religion. Nothing of any religion. Nothing of all the counterfeits of the false. Without the true vine, we can do nothing.
[9:01] Nothing that really counts. And this should humble us, brothers and sisters, to have that dependence, that abiding. To humble us, to drive us to constant dependence upon our Lord as the vine.
[9:15] And fruit is not produced by effort. It flows from union with Christ. As we've got that connection with Christ, the fruit will flow. It's talking this abiding of an absolute dependence, of our trust.
[9:28] We must. We must abide. Must. We must depend on him. Rely upon him for our strength, for our guidance. There's no amount of religious service, of church attendance, of activity, of moral effort that can substitute for this.
[9:46] Than that living connection with the Christ. Abiding in Christ. And our Lord wants you. He wants you to abide. Abide in me. Abide.
[9:57] It means to dwell, to stay in a close relationship with him. How is your closeness to the Saviour? It's a good question to reckon, to address to yourself.
[10:09] How is your closeness to the Saviour? Abide. Speaks of that intimate communion with our Lord through faith. And our Lord calls us to abide. There's other references to this same word or like words, abide.
[10:23] Abide. Abide in his love. Abide in his word. Abide in fellowship. Walk as he walked. Abide. It's by his spirit that we abide.
[10:36] It's the comforter. The Holy Spirit will abide with you. He is that abiding. The presence of Jesus is effectively the presence of his comforter, the spirit, that he sends on his behalf.
[10:50] And we can have an abiding joy, an abiding fruit. So it's a truth that's over and over repeated. Abiding. How can we abide? How can we have abiding joy, abiding fruit?
[11:03] Because really the result of abiding is much fruit. It's Christ-like character. It's Christ in you. The fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5. The fruit of good works.
[11:15] The fruit of souls that we might point to the Lord. To win to Christ. How about you? Are you abiding? How is it, brother, sister, in that abiding that you have?
[11:26] Are you abiding in Christ daily? Abiding. Seeking his word. Seeking his face in prayer. Keeping that connection. He wants to work in us.
[11:39] And we must abide. So that we can bear fruit. It's his will. To do this to bear fruit, we must abide. Abide. In our own strength, we're going to fall short.
[11:51] We fail. Our efforts fail. We must abide. Apart from him, we can do nothing. Abide. Abide.
[12:02] Keep that moment-by-moment connection with the Saviour. The vine. The vine. Abide. Next, the pruning. Think of the pruning. The Father prunes.
[12:15] This is something that, oh, I don't really like being pruned. It's not always comfortable, is it? You get a little bit of pruning going on. Ooch. You get a bit chopped off here and there.
[12:26] I know Julie and I had some tree loppers in the backyard, and they did a lot of pruning. A lot of pruning. But the trees will be better for it.
[12:37] Amen? The trees will flourish for that. The Father wants to prune. In other words, he takes active care. It reads of his work here in John 15 too.
[12:48] Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. And every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it. In other words, he prunes it. He cleans it up.
[12:59] He purges it. He prunes it. That it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean, full purged, pruned, through the word which I have spoken unto you.
[13:11] This is the pruning that God works. It says the Father purgeth. He prunes the fruitful branches, the true believers. In his love, he works in us. He gets the shears out, and he does some work.
[13:24] It's a removing of things, hindrances, sin. He's working in us. That pruning is good. Even though it doesn't feel like it at the time, that we can have a greater fruitfulness.
[13:41] And God prunes us up, doesn't he? God helping us. We need it. I need it. My selfish ways. My carnal selfishness. My flesh. God's pruning.
[13:53] God's pruning process can be painful. Pruning is God's ongoing work. Brother, sister, don't shy away. When the pruning happens, he's shaping you.
[14:04] He's making you into Christ's image. And really, this pruning of the Father is a lifelong process, isn't it? It's a growth in our holiness. So we can be more like him.
[14:16] And he uses trials, conviction, loss, tests. It's his pruning.
[14:27] Brother, sister, hang on to God when that happens. Hang on to God. God uses discipline. We know it reads of the Lord's work.
[14:39] For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. There's a discipline there. It's loving discipline. And he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. There's a discipline here.
[14:50] And who does he discipline? Every son whom he receiveth. Who does he discipline? The one whom the Lord loveth. So hey, bring it on, Lord.
[15:02] It shows your love for me. Bring it on, Lord. Chasten me for my good. For our good. He's producing more fruit. More fruit. That's his doing. And he uses his word.
[15:15] He says, you're clean through my word. He uses his word, doesn't he? To reflect that cleansing. To affect this pruning. He uses his word.
[15:27] It's the word of God. He gets those shears out. And it's the sword of the spirit. The double-edged sword, isn't it? Piercing. Even to the dividing asunder.
[15:39] Talks about them. And cuts to the heart. Ouch. It's sharp. It's sharp. Isn't it? Sharp. Powerful.
[15:53] The word of God. And it's a cleanse. It's like the surgeon's scalpel. That's the good thing about it, isn't it? When you think about it. We need that scalpel sometimes.
[16:05] To cut things out. To do that cutting. And his word affects the cleansing. This pruning. Purging. And of course, he uses his word to bring that cleansing of justification.
[16:21] Initial salvation. We get pricked in the heart. We get that conviction that, oh, God stirs us. And he provokes us. And he penetrates us. And it penetrates to our very conscience.
[16:32] That we can trust Christ. That's salvation. That justification. And then there's a continuing snipping away. As in the sanctification.
[16:43] He gets the, maybe he gets just the suck of tears out. Just trims a few little dead bits off. But he gets the snipping away. And that's the sanctification.
[16:56] It's the ongoing growth. It's so we're going to be more fruitful. All right. Think about it. He says, now you are clean or purged or pruned, same thing, through the word. Through the word which I have spoken unto you.
[17:09] Here's the pruning of the saved. He says, every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. Now, there's various ways people see this. Of course, we know assuredly that it does not mean true believers lose their salvation.
[17:23] But it can be that a believer can be unfruitful. Have you had unfruitful times? Unfruitful years?
[17:35] Unfruitful days? True believers can be unfruitful. It doesn't mean they've lost their salvation. They're carnal, disobedient. They lose their usefulness.
[17:46] Their testimony gets damaged. There's a loss of potential rewards. There's a facing of divine chastisement. Even physical death.
[17:56] 1 Corinthians 11.30. It tells us some they're saved, but there's going to be some maybe premature physical death. There's a discipline in God. And their salvation remains secure, but their fruitfulness is affected.
[18:11] What a shame it would be that we didn't achieve our potential fruitfulness. How tragic to miss out. How will we respond to the pruning? I urge you, brother, sister, embrace God's pruning.
[18:23] Embrace it. Embrace the pruning of God. Pruning, it's painful, but it's necessary for growth. There's things that happen to us, even in our Christian walk, and we think, oh, that wasn't very nice.
[18:35] It wasn't how I wanted it to be. Hey, God's pruning. He's shaping. He's making you stronger, more fruitful. You're learning. You're growing. If you're facing trials, it could be financial struggles, health issues, a broken relationship.
[18:50] Trust the Father's hand. Trust His pruning. Trust He's shaping you for a greater fruitfulness. Brother, sister, it could be the making of you. And we need the pruning for greater fruitfulness.
[19:02] So if we can let His word cleanse our heart, renew our mind, align our life to His will. The pruning. Next one, we think about the consequences of not abiding.
[19:15] Our Lord delivers a sobering warning here. He says, If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is with it. And men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burnt.
[19:27] You know, our tree loppers have got a whole heap of branches that they've put in piles around our garden. And we live in a place where we're allowed to burn it off, and we're allowed to burn off the piles of prunings.
[19:41] And in coming days, we'll be doing just that. Those branches that they pruned are going to be burned. And this verse is talking about a consequence of not abiding.
[19:57] Now, this verse does not teach that true believers can lose salvation. But again, believers can be unfruitful. And believers, we can fall short. We can fail to abide.
[20:09] And what does it bring? There's bits that need chopping off. There's a spiritual barrenness. There's a loss of our testimony. It's talking about a uselessness and a judgment on the believer's works.
[20:22] We know in 1 Corinthians it talks about our works. At times, they're going to be burnt. And it tells that there of the burning of works, not a burning of their soul, a loss of rewards, but not of salvation.
[20:36] We read there 1 Corinthians 3, as we could understand it. At the judgment seat of Christ, every man's work shall be made manifest. So, it's believers here that works are going to be revealed for what they are, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire.
[20:52] And the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. That's a telling thought, isn't it? What works that I do? My works, every work, is going to be tested.
[21:04] It's going to be tried by the fire. It's going to be revealed of what sort it is. Of course, in the context it talks about, some are going to be, word, hay, stubble, a pile of ashes, poof, burnt up.
[21:18] On the other side, gold, silver, precious stones. Our works are going to be tested. So, it ought to make us think, when we do something for the Lord, have we got the right motive? Is our heart right?
[21:31] Are we doing it for the glory of God? That our works are going to be tested. We want those works to be glorifying our God and not vain or fleshly in any capacity. And it reads on verse 14, If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, talking about the foundation, Christ the foundation, he shall receive a reward.
[21:50] So, hey, there's something, there's some reward factor here. There's going to be, hey, there's something that you're going to, Jeddah keeps telling me, don't say hey, but, you know, hey, there's going to, not the word hey, stubble, but, hey, we ought to get attention here.
[22:05] There's going to be a rewarding time. There's going to be an acknowledgement. If any man's work shall be burnt, he shall suffer loss. But he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. So even the ones who've got wood, hay, stubble, they're still saved, saved, yet so as by fire.
[22:22] They're not going to have the reward. Yet for some it says their work is going to abide, they're going to receive a reward. It's going to be gold, silver, precious stones. It's built on the foundation. In ancient Palestine, the dead branches were gathered and burnt as fuel.
[22:37] It's a picture of uselessness. Brother, sister, don't fall for that trap, that your works will be useless. For believers, if we fail to abide, it can lead to a withered spiritual life, a lack of joy, of peace, of impact.
[22:53] Of course, if you are an unbeliever, you're not in Christ yet. Fire tells of hell, of forever separation from God. I urge you today, abide in Christ.
[23:04] Find your trust. Find your rest in Christ. Find Christ today. Abide in him. Trust in him for your salvation. And then, as a saved man or woman, examine your life.
[23:15] Are you bearing fruit? Will you see love, joy, peace? Souls won for the saviour. Are you born again? That's really critical to get that right. And then as born again people, let's guard against spiritual dryness.
[23:29] We want that abiding, our nourishment, our effectiveness as a believer, our strength. The abiding. Think of the abiding. It's our nourishment, our effectiveness as a believer.
[23:41] It's our strength. A life disconnected from Christ becomes barren, powerless and unfruitful. It's back to that first point, abide. If we're disconnected from our Lord, we're going to be unfruitful.
[23:56] There's going to be a barrenness there, a dryness. And all of us can have those moments when our walk falters, our walk withers.
[24:07] You know, we drop out of things. Something drops off. Our spiritual life weakens. Don't let your walk wither.
[24:19] Abide, abide. Stay connected to the vine. And consider lastly the blessings of abiding. Our Lord promises blessings here.
[24:30] For those who abide. It reads verse 5, He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.
[24:41] And then verse 7, If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. The believer who abides. It says much fruit is going to happen and it says of the power of prayer.
[24:56] Condition 1 is if ye abide in me. That constant living communion. And secondly, and my words abide in you. The key is abiding.
[25:08] Abide in him and let his word abide in you. The word of Christ dwells in us richly. It says in Colossians 3, 16. The word of Christ dwells in you richly.
[25:21] It's a good one to take heart to that. And I know we could reflect, how can we hide the word of God in our heart? That it will dwell in us. That it will abide in us. Same word. Abide in us.
[25:32] The word of Christ abides in us richly. It manifests. It impacts our heart, our mind, our living. It shapes our thoughts, our desires, our affections, our will.
[25:46] When his word saturates, when it dwells in us richly, our will begins to align with his will. And then there's a promise here. You shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.
[26:00] Of course, when our will is in accord with his will, then we will be asking accordingly to his will. Think of it, friends, as we think about the blessings of abiding.
[26:11] Our Lord promises, it says here, much fruit. Much fruit. We could think of all manner of fruits of the fruit of the spirit, good works, evangelism. And notice here there's a progression here.
[26:24] It starts off with no fruit, fruit, more fruit, much fruit. See how it's a continuum here? A scale here.
[26:36] No fruit, much fruit. And in between. And in a way, it pictures here spiritual growth, doesn't it? When you reflect on this truth, the greater the abiding, the greater the fruit.
[26:56] The more we abide, the more we have fruit. The less we abide, the less fruit. It's about spiritual growth. The greater the abiding, the greater the fruitfulness.
[27:07] It's about progressive sanctification really, isn't it? It's about God's will for every believer that we glorify him through our life. And this answered prayer, it tells us how we abide in Christ.
[27:21] His word abides in us. Our prayers are going to line up with his will. And they're going to be more powerful prayer, more effective. Now, this isn't a blank check for selfish desires, that everything we ask God to give to us, we're going to get.
[27:36] But prayers will be led by his spirit in accordance with his will. Shaped by his word, they will be answered. A fruitful prayer life, as we abide more, the prayers are going to be more effective.
[27:49] As we abide more, as we love his word, we're going to know his will and do it. We're going to see results. As we abide, there'll be greater joy. In the trials even, despite them, there'll be joy.
[28:03] Can I urge you this morning, abide. Abide. Simply abide. It's almost a very simple elementary truth, but a foundational one.
[28:14] Abide. Abide with him in prayer. Abide. Let his word abide in you. Let his word shape your desires. Abide. Trust in him. Believe God. Trusting his will will produce a harvest of fruitfulness unto him that glorifies him.
[28:31] Learn to live in dependence upon Christ. And abide. It means keep that connection. Hey, sometimes the connection, you get a bit faulty, a bit failing.
[28:42] Keep that connection through the word, through prayer, worship. Keep spiritually fed and fresh. And brother, sister, again, embrace God's pruning.
[28:53] But it hurts, pastor. I know. Tell me about it. When trials come. When financial struggles come.
[29:04] When health issues come. Broken relationships. People having a go at you. Embrace God's pruning. Thank you, Lord. You're teaching me something.
[29:17] Maybe I'll understand one day. The Father's loving discipline. Amen. Trust him. Embrace the pruning. He's going to make you more fruitful for it.
[29:28] Brother, sister, trust him. And yield to his grace. He's working that dependence upon him. Embrace the pruning. If God is purging, pruning you through trials or discipline, recognize it as his loving hand.
[29:46] Seeking to make him more fruitful. Brother, sister, we'll know by and by, won't we? Sometimes we don't understand. But don't resist it. Oh, God, that's too painful.
[29:58] Stop it. Yield to it. Ask him, what do you want to cut away? What is it you want to cut away today from me? Ask him what he wants to cut away.
[30:11] And let him, yield to him. Fruit will be the result. You can bear fruit for the glory of God. And it glorifies God. John 15, 8, the fruitfulness is going to bear fruit.
[30:23] So think of it. Share the gospel. Live with integrity. Keep pressing on the upward way. Live with integrity.
[30:35] Ask, is my life pointing others to Christ? Lord, cut away the carnality. Cut it. Cut away the reactivity, the fleshliness, the wanting to defend myself.
[30:49] Cut it away. Cut it away, Lord. And pray with faith. Let God's word shape your prayers. As you abide, as his word abides in you, your prayers are going to be more in accordance with his will.
[31:03] Your prayers are therefore going to be more effective. Your prayers are going to be bearing fruit. As you abide, your desires are going to line up with his will so that there'll be a fruit. There'll be a confidence that he's hearing you.
[31:15] He's answering. Guard against the dryness. It's abiding. Keep the connection. Hey, the branch isn't going to bear fruit. It's not even going to be sustained without the life of the vine.
[31:27] And we think about the dryness that can happen of a withered spiritual life, spiritual neglect. Avoid that. Brother, sister, see it for what it is.
[31:39] The dryness. And ask God to help you not to stay there. Today, our fast-paced culture is self-reliant.
[31:50] It tempts us to disconnect, doesn't it? Thank God for drinks of water when you need them. Thank God for the one who supplied it.
[32:03] The dryness. Oh, yeah, I need a bit. Spiritual dryness. Don't we need the connection with the life-giving, the sustaining, the sap that flows out of the vine and into you?
[32:19] It's Jesus' life, isn't it? It's his life. That spiritual vitality. It's Christ. It's Christ. Otherwise, we're going to be choking like weeds in a vineyard.
[32:31] The connection, the distraction is going to be hindering that, that yielding to the spirit. But what is it that we put the priority on? The priority.
[32:42] Focus on that. And know that he will work his work in you. As you have that mind, Lord, just flow through me.
[32:54] Lord, be that supply that I need. Help me to reach others so they can grow as I grow. Keep the word central, front and centre of your thinking, the word.
[33:10] It talks about the washing of water by the word, doesn't it? Ephesians 5. And the Lord claims to be the true vine. It's a striking claim, isn't it?
[33:21] It tells us that God's people are those who are branches of the vine. United, abiding, sustained by Christ, by faith.
[33:34] Not nationality or ritual, but by that relationship. That's what we must prioritise with him above all. And as believers, we call to bear fruit, bear fruit, fruit, more fruit, much fruit.
[33:50] Picture yourself as a branch. Are you clinging to the vine, drawing strength from him through prayer, through his word? Could it be that we're weighed down by sin or distractions?
[34:04] Bring out the shears, Lord, and do something to sort that out. Cut away the comforts that I might have a greater conviction. Convict my heart.
[34:14] It's painful, but it's your love. You're shaping me for greater fruitfulness. Now, if this morning you're not in Christ, I urge you, trust Christ.
[34:26] It's simple. It's simple to trust Christ. Simply trust him. To be your saviour, to pay for your sin.
[34:37] To bring your forgiveness for time and for eternity. To make you his child by faith. If you're not in Christ, you're in great peril.
[34:51] You're spiritually dead and headed for judgement. There's warning here. Yet, there's a wonderful invitation, there's hope. Come to Christ today.
[35:02] To the unsaved, he says, come to me, the true vine. Be grafted in by faith for eternal life. To believe, as he says, abide in me. Draw my strength.
[35:13] Let my word shape you. Stay close. Our salvation is secure in Christ. But our fruitfulness depends on our communion with him. We can let it slip.
[35:24] The communion with him can slip. The abiding can slip. Our father lovingly tends us. He prunes us for greater fruitfulness that we may glorify him.
[35:36] To wrap it up, friends, this morning, are you abiding? Are you bearing fruit? Where are you on the scale here? He wants you to progress. He wants you to grow.
[35:47] He wants you to flourish. Are you withered, dry and distant? Apart from Christ, we can do nothing. That's where we are without him. But abiding in him says we're going to bear fruit, more fruit, much fruit.
[36:02] As we glorify him, abide. Cultivate the connection. Cultivate it. Lord, maybe I need to get a rejig here.
[36:13] A refresh. A reboot. To cultivate that connection. Lord, to strengthen it. To stay connected to the vine. To re-engage. There's life. There's purpose.
[36:24] There's security. Our Lord says unto you, abide in me. Abide in me. May our Lord draw us ever closer to that place.
[36:36] And prune us where we need it. Let him prune you. Let him prune you. Receive it from his hand. That you will bear much fruit. Much fruit. For his glory.
[36:47] Trust the saviour today. Friends, today it tells us that we can trust him. We can abide in him. Let us pray. Lord, we thank you that your word urges us to abide.
[36:58] Lord, we can put our trust in you. We pray each one might have that heart's trust that saves the soul from sin. Lord, that gives eternal peace and life within.
[37:11] Lord, that gives an assurance we're made children of the living God by faith. Pray each one might have that heart's trust today simply to say, Jesus, you died for my sin.
[37:22] And I trust you as my Lord and saviour to pay for my sin, to forgive me my sin, to cleanse me and make me your own. Lord, we pray each one might have that knowledge today by faith.
[37:35] And that assurance, that promise from you. As they receive Christ, they will know eternal life, forever eternal life. Lord, and for believers here, Lord, there's pruning at times, there's tests, there's trials.
[37:51] We know our connectivity to you can sometimes falter. Lord, help us to be mindful of that relationship, that communion, that fellowship with you, Lord, to strengthen it.
[38:06] Strengthen it, Lord, as we abide in you, abide in your word. Your word abides in us, Lord, that we can grow stronger, that our prayers can bear fruit, and our lives will be fruitful, Lord, all for your glory and honour.
[38:20] In Jesus' name, amen. Just that last scripture there, 1 John 2, 28. And now, little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
[38:34] Abide in him. Amen.