Tonight we come to the final message in our series on The Great I AM statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John.

Transcription

1 Message for THE LORD'S DAY EVENING, March 8, 2015 Christian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, North Carolina by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister MESSAGE 9 in The Great I AM Sermon Series (final message in series) I AM THE TRUE VINE John 15:1-8 (NKJV) Tonight we come to the final message in our series on The Great I AM statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John. Please turn with me to John chapter fifteen. And let's read the first eight verses. JOHN 15:1-8 (NKJV) 1 I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

2 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. ********************************************************************************* I N T R O D U C T I O N According to many Bible historians, it was late Thursday night, April 2 nd, 33 A.D. Luke's gospel tells us that earlier that day Jesus had sent Peter and John into Jerusalem to find a place where they could observe The Passover. Jesus told them precisely what to look for. He said, Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters. Then you shall say to the master of the house, The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples? Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready. (Luke 22:10-12) In the Upper Room that evening, Jesus had washed the feet of His disciples. He delivered most of His Upper Room Discourse which is recorded in John He also ate the Passover Meal with His disciples; He revealed Judas Iscariot as the one who would betray Him; and He instituted the LORD'S SUPPER. So this had been a very eventful evening.

3 We learn in John 14 verse 31 that Jesus and remaining eleven disciples then left the Upper Room. It is dark now, except for the lighted torches on the outsides of some of the homes. Jesus and His disciples are making their way through the dark streets of Jerusalem towards the Garden of Gethsemene just a stone's throw beyond the outer wall of the city. As they are walking along, Jesus makes this Great I AM statement: I AM the True Vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. What was it that prompted Jesus to make this statement? There are several possibilities: (1) Remember Jesus had just instituted the Lord's Supper using The Fruit of the Vine and the Bread. (2) Another possibility is that the route Jesus and His disciples took to get to the Garden of Gethsemene would have taken them near the Temple which had beautiful vines handcarved into the Temple doors. (3) Another possibility is that because it was April, the grape vines were beginning to blossom with the promise of a new harvest. Perhaps Jesus even grabbed hold of a grapevine to use as an object lesson to illustrate His point.

4 So this Great I AM statement could have been prompted by a number of visible reminders. But pay close attention to what Jesus says: I am the TRUE VINE. I am the TRUE TRUE VINE. This implies there must be a a false vine, a vine that is NOT true. What could Jesus be talking about? In the Old Testament, the symbol for the nation of Israel was a vine. Psalm 80:8-10 (NKJV) You have brought A VINE out of Egypt; You have cast out the nations, and planted it. You prepared room for it, and caused it to take deep root, and it filled the land. The hills were covered with its shadow, and the mighty cedars with its boughs. But this vine didn't live up to its Godly purpose did it? Israel was God's chosen people, they were His vine. They were to be uniquely different from all the other nations of the world. They were to be a people who worshiped God and served God and honored God; but instead they turned their backs on GOD. They worshiped heathen idols. They disobeyed God's commands. And they brought shame and dishonor upon the Holy Name of God. Therefore, GOD sent His Son Jesus Christ into the world as The True Vine. What Israel failed to do, JESUS would accomplish. Everything Israel failed to be, JESUS would be. And so Jesus says, I AM THE TRUE VINE.

5 Think about it this way. Two thousand years ago GOD planted His TRUE VINE in this world when Christ came here to become a man. And for over two thousand years now branches have been growing from The True Vine starting with Jesus' apostles and early disciples. And for the past two thousand years, everyone who has come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior has been grafted into the True Vine. You are one of those branches and so am I. There are three very important lessons we need to learn from this passage. First of all it is... I. A Lesson About Our RELATIONSHIPS (vs.1,2) v.1 I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser. v.2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes that it may bear more fruit. 1. Jesus is speaking to people who are in a life-giving relationship to Himself. He is speaking to those who are saved. Naturally those who are NOT saved do not have a relationship with Jesus.

6 2. Six times in these eight verses Jesus uses the phrase in Me. (once in v.2, twice in v.4, and once in vs. 5,6, and 7) 3. One can be decent and moral and yet not be IN CHRIST. One can be generous and charitable and not be IN CHRIST. One can be IN RELIGION and not be IN CHRIST. One can be IN CHURCH and not be IN CHRIST. 4. You see, its all about THE RELATIONSHIP...THE RELATIONSHIP. If we have no relationship with Christ. If we have no connection' to the True Vine we cannot bear spiritual fruit for the glory and honor of GOD. Secondly, it is... II. A Lesson About REPRODUCTION (vs. 2 and 8) v. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. v. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, so you will be My disciples. 1. If you will look at those verses very carefully, you will notice a spiritual progression that is to take place in our life when we are truly IN CHRIST.

7 2. We go from bearing no fruit (v.2) to bearing fruit (v.2) to bearing more fruit (v.2) to bearing much fruit. (v.8) ILLUSTRATION: If you have ever planted fruit trees or nut trees you have seen this process. Perhaps for 2 or 3 years after you planted your trees there were leaves on the trees but no fruit. Then in time the trees bore some fruit. And through careful pruning, eventually your trees bore more fruit. Then over the course of time your trees began to bear much fruit. 3. FRUITFULNESS is the goal in our spiritual life. The LORD wants us to bear spiritual fruit. When we first became a Christian there may not have been any fruit but then as we began to grow and mature we started to bear some fruit. And as God pruned us through His word and through the trials of life, we started to bear even more fruit. And all through our Christian life GOD doesn't stop pruning us. He prunes dead, unproductive stalks from our lives like sinful attitudes, sinful habits, or sinful behaviors so that we might bear much spiritual fruit. You see, the more fruit we bear the more God is honored and glorified through our lives.

8 4. As you reflect on your own life, where would you say you are in this growth process? Are you bearing NO FRUIT. Are you bearing SOME FRUIT? Are you bearing MORE FRUIT than you were say ten or fifteen years ago? Or are you in the season of life where you are bearing MUCH SPIRITUAL FRUIT? This Great I AM statement is A LESSON ON RELATIONSHIPS. A LESSON ON REPRODUCTION. And finally it is... III. A Lesson On RESPONSIBILITY (v. 4) v. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 1. When we think of bearing spiritual fruit we think it is hard and it takes a whole lot of effort on our part. And many are under the impression that the only ones who bear a lot of spiritual fruit are the super saints. 2. But this is NOT true! The secret to bearing much spiritual fruit is not self-effort or being a super saint. The secret is to ABIDE IN CHRIST.

9 3. Six times in this short passage of scripture Jesus stresses the importance of ABIDING in HIM. 4. This means each and every one of us has a great responsibility. If we are NOT bearing any or very little spiritual fruit it is because we are NOT abiding in Christ as we should. ANALOGY: Think of a dead tree branch in your yard. That branch is NOT producing any new leaves nor is that branch bearing any fruit. WHY? Because it is NO LONGER ABIDING IN THE TREE. It has become severed from the source of life. Its fruitfulness is dependent upon remaining attached to the tree. 5. The same thing is true in our spiritual life. If we do not abide in Christ...if we do not maintain a close relationship with Christ...our lives become unfruitful. 6. If we are to bear much spiritual fruit we have a responsibility to abide in a close relationship with Jesus. We do that by yielding to His will and allowing Him to live His life through us. We must abide in His word and let His word abide in us. 7. And when we abide in Christ fruitfulness will be a natural outgrowth of our life-giving relationship with Jesus!

10 8. Just like AN APPLE TREE BEARS APPLES and A CHERRY TREE BEARS CHERRIES, our lives will bear the fruit of Christ-likeness that will be evident to all. ************************************************************************ C O N C L U S I O N In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter twenty one, Jesus was returning from Bethany to Jerusalem one morning, when He spotted a fig tree along the road. By that time of morning Jesus was hungry, so He searched the fig tree to see if He could find any figs to eat. Though the tree was loaded with beautiful leaves, not a single fig was to be found. Jesus said to the tree, Let no fruit grow on you ever again. And immediately the fig tree withered and died. (Matthew 21:18,19) Can I ask you a soul-searching question? Is your spiritual life just a bunch of pretty leaves or are you bearing the fruit of Christlikeness? May it be our aim to ABIDE IN CHRIST THE TRUE VINE so we may bear FRUIT...MORE FRUIT...AND EVEN MUCH FRUIT!