CHAPTER 15

1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 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.

More than likely, these verses (Chapters 15-16) were spoken to the disciples while on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane from the upper room where they had eaten supper.
As was His usual manner, Jesus uses an earthly example to teach a spiritual truth.

Sap flows through a vine and gives strength and nurture to all the branches.
Jesus is the "true vine."
Through surrender to Jesus, a person receives His Holy Spirit, Who gives strength and nurture to each Christian.
Without the nurturing strength, no "fruit" can be produced.

ONLY through surrender to Jesus as Lord can a person become part of the True Vine and produce "fruit" for God.
Each Christian, then, is a "member in particular" of Christ, the True Vine. (See 1Corinthians 12:27)
A person truly surrendered to Christ begins to have a genuine unity with Christ.
The Christian's desire (brought by His indwelling Holy Spirit) is to love, honor and please Jesus.
As such, we are "branches" of the Vine, and should produce fruit.

Note the word "husbandman."
This indicates the "Keeper" of the Vineyard.
It is His duty to till around the vine, dress the vine and reap the fruit.

If a "branch" does not produce fruit, God the Father REMOVES the branch!
However, for each branch that is producing fruit, God the Father "purgeth" (or prunes) it so that it will produce MORE fruit!

If producing "fruit" is this important, someone may well ask: "What is FRUIT?"
(See Paul's discussion of this in Galatians 5:22-25)

A person will exhibit his/her love for Christ by continually putting Christ FIRST in his/her life.
Daily actions will demonstrate the "fruit" of His Holy Spirit in and through us.

3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

In the upper room, at supper, Jesus had already spoken of this.
He had said they were "clean," except they needed to have their feet washed...or, to have daily cleansing.
(Daily, we need to be in repentant prayer to Christ!)

The WAY in which the disciples had become "clean," was they had received the "Word" Jesus had spoken to them.
They had received His statement of being: Messiah, Creator, Savior and Judge.
They had received HIM as LORD!
(See John 1:12)

Have YOU received Jesus as LORD of who you are?
If you have, then you have received forgiveness, which is cleansing.

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.
5 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 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 burned.
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.
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

Still using the example of the vine and branches, Jesus says "Abide in me...."
A branch cannot LIVE if it doesn't ABIDE (continue, dwell, remain) in the vine!
By living daily for Christ as Lord, Christians "bring(eth) forth MUCH fruit." (vs 5)

The manner of abiding includes studying and learning the "Word" (Bible). (vs 7)
I cannot express strongly enough the importance of being in daily prayer and Bible study. (Vs 6)

Only when we KNOW the will of God can we PRAY the will of God.
And, THEN "ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." (vs 7)

And, only when we KNOW His commandments, can we "abide in" His LOVE. (Vs 10)

The way Christians "glorify God" is by daily BEING what God wants of us. (vs 8)

11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

Jesus had just spoken to them the genuine key to having God's "JOY!"
That joy is to "abide in my love!" (vs 10 above)
There is no greater JOY in a Christian's soul than to know that he/she is fully immersed in the love of God!

12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

This commandment was discussed earlier in the commentary on John 13:34.
It is the identifying mark of Christianity that Christians love one another as Christ has loved us!

How did Jesus "love" them?
By GIVING HIS LIFE for them!
By being what they NEEDED!

My friend, many "traitors" have been in the church because they have REFUSED loving one another as Christ loved us!
If we truly love Jesus enough to "keep" His commandments, we will love one another as He loved us.

Strive, as a member of your church, to bring the whole church to loving one another as Christ loved us!
THEN, the world will KNOW that we are really Christ's disciples!

14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

A "friend" is someone who is genuinely attached to another.
A "friend" is someone to whom you will reveal your inner heart.

A "friend" of Jesus is one who will learn His Word, and follow His Word.
His Word (Bible) is His inner heart!

Yes, we are "servants" because we willingly serve Christ as Lord of our lives.
Yet, we are "friends" because He has revealed His will to us in the Bible.

16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

Normally, a Jew in that day chose his own Rabbi.
But in this case, EACH of them were "chosen" by Christ!

He found them and called them to be His "disciples."
A "disciple" is a student to whom truth is deposited and expected to be used.

Not only did Jesus choose them, He also "ordained" them.
The word means: appointed, placed, put.
They were placed in the "Vine" that they might LIVE and produce FRUIT!

Each Christian should realize this is the way in which he/she became saved.
We did not first seek Jesus, He first sought us!
Through His church, ministers, teachers, evangelists, and other members....He SOUGHT us!
He CALLED us through His Word accompanied by His Holy Spirit.

And each Christian should realize that Jesus has "ordained" (placed, put, appointed) us to PRODUCE FRUIT!

Without being IN Christ, OF Christ, and FOR Christ, we cannot "ask of the Father" in Jesus' Name!

17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.

No, it is not redundant.
It is IMPORTANT!

More churches have been "split" because of failure in this ONE respect than for any other reason!
More churches have failed to bring the lost to Christ because of failure in this one respect than in any other!

In most churches in the USA today, fewer than 40% of the membership can even be FOUND!
The church doesn't even know their present address!
WHY?
Because members do not LOVE one another to KEEP UP with one another!

Let us see by the repetitive nature of this statement how IMPORTANT it is!

18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.

Some people just "don't get it!"
[[ILLUSTRATION: A church with older people called a new and young preacher.
He was very conscientious and tried to inspire the people to visit and evangelize the community.

One old man just never got the point.
So the preacher tried to "tailor" his sermons to reach this man.

The first time, the man came to the preacher after the sermon and said, "Preacher, you sure told 'em this morning!"

The next Sunday, the man said, "Preacher, you sure told 'em this morning."

The next Sunday, there was a terrible storm.
No one came but the preacher and the same man.
The preacher thought he really had him this time.
But after the sermon, the man said,
"Preacher, if they'd a been here, you sure woulda got 'em this morning!"]]

When Jesus came to tell of God's love, and die for sinners, the world "HATED" Him!
And, CRUCIFIED Him!

Why should we, who are His servant's, think the world will treat us any different?
Why do Christians get all upset when things don't go like they think they should?

It is NORMAL for the world to persecute a genuine Christian!
It's GONNA happen!
Be READY!!

Be schooled in, and steeped in God's love so that you can respond with God's meekness and kindness!
Remember, "off" the Vine, you are just a "dead" branch!

The reason people despise Christ and Christians is beause they "know NOT Him that sent" Jesus!
Without experiencing His love, they despise His truth!

People despise holiness, righteousness and morality that are without compromise,
because they do not know God Who IS holy, righteous and moral without compromise!

Let us bring them to KNOW Him.
Then, they will "keep" His "saying(s)"!

22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.
23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also.
24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.

When the Word of God is spoken, His Holy Spirit uses the Word to expose and convict of "sin." (Vs 22)
There is NO HIDING from inner conviction of sin by God's Holy Word and Spirit!

All Jesus ever did was GOODNESS!
He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, made the lame walk, cleansed lepers, and even raised the dead to life.
Yet, when He spoke of TRUTH....men were convicted of sin and hated Him because they hated God Who IS Truth!
Thus they hated Him "without a cause" (See Psalm 35:19)

There is "no cause" to despise morality, righteousness, or goodness!

26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.

The Spirit of God testifies to man's inner being that Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior of God for mankind.
When Christians "bear witness" to that truth, God's Holy Spirit JOINS that witness and makes it very effective.

Christians DO "bear witness" to Christ because they are "WITH" Him!
They "abide" in Him!

Are you abiding in Christ?