Abiding in the Vine, Part 1
John 15:4, 8-10
Let's bow together in prayer and ask God to bless as we enter the Word.
Father, we thank You this morning for the Word of God. We rejoice because we are not left without a chart and a compass to map the pattern of our life, but that You've given us Your precious divine truth. O Father, as we come this morning to this blessed fifteenth chapter of John, we ask that You would give us wisdom. We ask that You would give us concentration, that You would blot out of our minds the things that would distract us. Father, these are great concepts, great truths and practical. And, Lord God, we just need Satan to be rebuked and put aside so that we can concentrate on what You have to say to us this morning.
Father, we do not want a human voice, but we want a divine voice to ring in our hearts and minds and to nail down these truths that they may be life changing to the glory of Jesus Christ in whose name we pray. Amen.
Turn in your Bibles to the fifteenth chapter of John and we're going to just look this morning very briefly at the first part of one message. We won't get anywhere near through this particular message but we'll go as far as the Spirit of God permits. John chapter 15, last Sunday we considered verses 1, 2 and 3 and this morning we will begin a message that will run from verse 4 through 11 and we'll only probably consider verse 4...or maybe even the first three words of verse 4.
The question that comes to my mind as we approach this particular important passage is the question that has perhaps plagued more Christians than any other question and that is the question: what is really involved in a living vital relationship with Jesus Christ? And I'm sure it has not only been a question that Christians have asked in moments of sinfulness or in those times when you become discouraged and aren't too sure what really is your connection to Christ. But it is also a very common question on the lips of the unbeliever, what is all this about a relationship to Jesus Christ? What is that relationship all about? How can we describe the union that a believer experiences between himself and Christ?
We talk about knowing Christ. We talk about being in Christ. We talk about walking with Christ, about loving Him and He loving us. We talk about this union all the time, how best can we explain it? What does it really involve? What is it really? We could say it's like two people in love, experiencing each other. Or we could say it's like a father and a son relationship where there's give and take and love and respect. Or we could say it's like two friends with a deep, deep friendship. Or we could say perhaps it's like two brothers who share things and who defend each other. We could say many, many more things by way of analogy. But I believe Jesus has chosen for us what has to be the most graphic analogy showing us our relationship to Jesus Christ and His to us and the analogy that He uses which is undoubtedly the best is that of a vine and branches. There are so many truths in the analogy of a vine and a branch that can be brought into the context of the Christian life that it has to stand as the greatest analogy.
We talk about the fact that we grow together with Christ, which is perfectly illustrated by a vine and a branch. We talk about the fact that we are nothing in ourselves but gather all of our strength from Him, which is again perfectly illustrated in the vine and the branch. We talk about the fact that as believers our lives are filled with His energy, His power, His resources and again perfectly illustrated by a vine and a branch. A branch has no energy of its own, only that which is sent into it by the energy in the vine. We talk about the fact that we of ourselves can't produce fruit, but it must come from His power through us. Exactly illustrated again in a vine and a branch.
And so, Jesus here in portraying to us the relationship of a believer to himself uses the analogy of a vine and a branch. He also reflects on that one who is apparently a branch who is apparently in Christ but who in fact is not legitimate and thus is cut off, thrown away and burned in the fire. And last week, you'll remember, we saw that there were two types of branches. We met the vine, verse 1, Jesus Christ. We met the vine dresser, the one who cares for the vine and the branches, the Father God. Then we met the two kinds of branches in verse 2, those that do not bear fruit which the Father takes away. And remember, we told you those are non‑believers. Those are people who are apparently in Christ. Those are Judas branches. They hang around a while, they gave all of the basic outward signs of belonging but the fact is they aren't for real. And sooner or later that is determined. It's obvious because they don't bear fruit that they can't be Christians.
Now some people have said, as I told you last week, just review for a moment, that these are Christians who lose their salvation. They aren't Christians. They never have been Christians. And the reason is because they never bear fruit. Jesus said every good branch, every good tree bringeth forth good...what?...fruit. Jesus said by their fruit you shall know them. If somebody doesn't have fruit, then somebody's not a good tree or a branch. There is no such thing as a believer who doesn't have fruit. Now we went into all of that last week.
So, we have then‑‑first of all‑‑the would‑be superficial Judas branch, superficially attached to Jesus, finally cut off and cast into the fire. Then we have the other branch in verse 2, the branch that bears fruit and the Father simply purges that. That is He brings things into our lives to clip off sin, clip off the succor roots that drain away the energy of our Christian experience. He tends us as a vine dresser tends the branches.
Now in our study for today, Jesus continues this analogy. And He does so by making a heart‑stirring plea in verse 3. Notice the first three words...pardon me, verse 4. Verse 3 we saw last week, was the tool of cleansing, the Word. Verse 4, first three words, "Abide in Me." Now this is the plea of Jesus. He is looking at branches and in His mind He sees these superficially attached branches, that is people who attach themselves to Jesus Christ. Maybe they go to church, maybe they even claim to be devout in more than just going to church, they may show up at Bible study once in a while. They talk about their relationship to Jesus but they aren't for real. And Jesus is basically saying to them, "Abide in Me." In other words, be a for real branch. He is basically speaking to that fruitless branch, that branch that really isn't for real and saying, "By all means, abide in Me." In other words, be for real. And I told you last week that the first way you can tell a true branch is a true branch bears fruit.
I'll tell you a second way you can tell a true branch in this verse, a true branch abides in Christ. What do I mean? The word "abide" means to remain or to stay. A true branch stays in Christ. And we're going to talk about that as we examine carefully this verse. Jesus then, and I'm giving a kind of a little summary at the beginning because it's going to be difficult to understand some of the things I'm going to say, I hope you'll get it but it may be difficult...Jesus then is pleading with those superficial branches to be for real branches. He is saying, "Branches, don't be just apparently in Me, but abide, show the legitimacy and the absoluteness of your faith by remaining in Me." Not that you have to remain to stay saved, but that if you are, you will. And He's saying be for real so that you remain. Abide in Me.
He gave a solemn warning, you remember, in verse 6 to the branch that doesn't. He says in verse 6, if a man abide not in Me. In other words, if there is an apparent attachment and all of a sudden that man ceases to be attached, he is removed, cast forth as a branch. And you'll notice that the man removes himself. There are some people who apparently are attached to Christ. Then all of a sudden they are gone and we ask ourselves the question: what happened? The answer is simple. They never were real to begin with. If they had of been real they never would have left. The false branch does not abide, it is taken and cast forth. Men gather them into the fire and they are burned. So, Jesus is giving a basic plea to that superficial branch.
Now I want us to see three basic features in verses 4 through 11 and we'll only really consider the first one this morning. I want us to see the basic meaning of "abiding." And this is going to be deep stuff, so get on your thinking cap and get ready. The basic meaning of abiding...then next week we'll see the blessings of abiding branches and the burning of non abiding branches. The basic meaning of what it is to abide, then what happens to the abiding branches and what happens to the non abiding branches.
First of all, then, the basic meaning of abiding. And we'll see this in verses 4, 8, 9 and 10. We're going to have to skip around a little bit because in this analogy we need to do that to get it together. All right, the basic meaning of abiding. Now here we see the call of Jesus in verse 4 and He is saying to men like Judas, "Don't be like that, be for real, abide in Me, show that your faith is real." It's just another way of saying be saved, you superficial branches, be saved genuinely, honestly, real in Christ.
And it's absolutely tragic, as you must know by now, when men superficially line up with Jesus Christ but are never true Christians. There are some wives who bring their husbands to church and their husbands outwardly appear to be Christians and perhaps we don't really know but maybe in their heart they're not. Maybe the reverse is true. Maybe there are some young people who come to church because they want to be involved in a youth program and in their hearts they know they don't know Jesus Christ and they're superficially attached to Jesus but it isn't real.
And so, Jesus calls to all who have made a statement or an apparent identification and says be for real. Notice it in verse 4 and I'll read the whole verse. "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."
Now the word "abide" simply means to remain, stick around, Jesus says, be for real and give evidence that you're for real by remaining. Now it's not that remaining in Christ saves you, that would be ridiculous. That would put your whole salvation on your ability to hang in there. It's not that remaining in Christ saves you, it's that remaining in Christ is...now watch this...the evidence that you are saved. You see that? People say so many times, "Well, you know, I know Mr. So‑and‑so, and, you know, he used to come to church all the time. Boy, he was here and in Sunday School class and he ran over there and did this and why we just thought he was something. And then all of a sudden boom, he was long gone. I mean, it was over with. And he's never been back and years have gone by and what happened to him?" I'll tell you what happened to him, he proved that he never was real because he didn't abide, do you see? He never was real to begin with. If a man really knows Jesus Christ, it is the character of that salvation experience for that man to abide in Christ. And the false will always leave sooner or later. Jesus said when the seed falls sometimes the thorns will choke what apparently looks like a legitimate conversion and that's the end of it. And it never was real to begin with.
First John chapter 2 and verse 19, listen to it. "They went out from us," do you know they had the same problem back then? John's saying they left, they...they were a part of us, apparently they belonged. "They went out from us...now watch the next statement...but they were not of us." How do you know that, John? I mean, that's pretty easy for you to say, the guy was never saved. Listen to what John says, "For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us, but they went out that they might be manifest that they were not of us."
If they had been real they would have stayed. And when they went, John said, "Aha, they never were real or they wouldn't have done that." The true believer stays.
Now in the same chapter, 1 John 2, in verse 24, listen to this, "Let that therefore abide in you which you have heard from the beginning. If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father and this is the promise that He hath promised us even eternal life."
In other words, in contrast to that, John says, you that are for real will remain and continue and inherit eternal life. The abiding believer is the only legitimate believer. When somebody leaves, they give evidence that they never were real to begin with. So Jesus calls to every apparent disciple to show the truth and the reality of his discipleship by remaining in Christ, not to be a Judas disciple.
And I want you to hang on to this because I'm going to expand it in a minute. You may think, "Boy, it's awful black and white, it's awful...you're either in or you're out. You haven't talked about exceptions." No, and I won't for...oh, I don't know, a long time. But I'll get there. But I want to show you the black and white distinction that Christ is making. A true believer abides. A nonbeliever sooner or later departs and that's how you can tell whether somebody's for real or not.
Now Paul gave similar warnings not to be a Judas branch. This is not just this passage, let me show you Colossians 1:21, it's the same thing right there. You can tell a true believer because he abides. Listen to it. "And you...Colossians 1:21...that were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight." Paul says you Colossians used to be sinners apart from God, Christ by His death reconciled you to God. All right, now watch this, verse 23, "He brought you to God to present you holy, unblameable, unreprovable in His sight," now watch the next word in verse 23, "if ye continue in the faith."
Now, is he saying you can stay saved if you hang on? No. He is saying the legitimacy of your salvation will be determined by your continuance in it. If you continue in the faith, grounded, settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye have heard. In other words, the evidence of salvation will be that you abide in Christ.
Let me show you another passage. The writer of Hebrews, chapter 3, listen to this one, verse 6, "But Christ as a Son over His own house...watch it...whose house are we." We are Christ's house. "If we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." He's not saying hang on to your salvation and don't lose it, he's saying the evidence that you're really His house will be your continuance in Christ.
Listen to this in verse 14, same chapter. "For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end." True believers start and end their life in a relationship that is living and vital to Jesus Christ. And the same thing is in Hebrews 10:38 and 39, you can write it down and look it up yourself.
Let me give you one more verse. Chapter 4 verse 14, "Seeing then that we have a great high priest that has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God...listen to this, here it comes, you ready?...let us hold fast our profession." In other words, let's hang on from the standpoint of the profession that we make. If you're making a profession, be sure that you continue. In other words, be sure that you are legitimate. Hold fast your profession. That's the evidence of salvation.
So when somebody comes along and all of a sudden they leave, I have a name on the top of my ordination certificate of a pastor of a church. He was at my ordination council, he questioned me and some of the council. Shook hands with me, greeted me, so forth and so on. His name is right at the top. He is now one of the most perverted individuals I have ever met. He is now an instructor in the most godless situation imaginable. He has forsaken totally any relationship that he ever claimed to have with Christ or with God. He has been involved sexually in so many unbelievable things that it's hard to even fathom it. And people have said to me, "What about it? What about it?" And all I can say is it's obvious that if he were for real ever he would still be for real for that is the character of salvation. It is eternal. And he went out from us because he never belonged in the beginning.
And then look at John 15, it says, "Abide in Me," and here comes a marvelous promise to the abiding branch. It says this, "And I in you." And I might add in there, "I‑‑parenthesis‑‑(will remain) in you." Abide in Me and I'll abide in you. In other words, if you're for real, I'm for real in you. Everybody in the world can claim that promise? No. The only person that could claim the promise of the constant abiding presence of Jesus Christ is the one who is constantly abiding in Christ. Abide in Me and I'll abide in you. And the Bible talks about us in the New Testament being in Christ and Christ being in us. "Christ in you the hope of glory," Colossians 1:27.
And so, we have a relationship with Jesus Christ, the true branch. He abides and Christ abides in him. When by real faith we are truly saved we will always abide and Christ will always abide in us. That's not a threat to Christians. That's not saying, "Oh, Christian, watch it, watch it. If you don't hang in there Christ won't hang in there either." And you live your whole Christian life in apoplexy. That's a warning to the professing Christian that if he isn't for real, then Christ isn't there either.
Boy, you know, so many people come to church and they sit in their sanctified pew and they think that because they're here the Lord is with them. No way. Being here doesn't make the Lord with you. He doesn't even live here. He lives in the Spirit of God within the bodies of true disciples. And you may be sitting right next to a true disciples, you may be squashed in by a whole gob of them and you're not nearer to Jesus Christ than the native in a loin cloth down in the middle of New Guinea because an abiding relationship of Jesus Christ in your life comes only from real salvation, genuine faith in Christ. And that's a permanent, eternal relationship. And so the true believer abides and so does Jesus.
Now notice verse 8 because I want you to see that He repeats the same concept in different words. Here's the same idea again. Verse 8, "In this is My Father glorified that ye bear much fruit." Now why is He saying that? He's saying bear much fruit in the sense that again He is saying be a for real disciple...be a for real disciple.
How do you know He's saying that? Look at the end of verse 8, "So shall ye be...what?...My disciple." In other words, My disciples bear fruit. He's looking at that fruitless branch that superficially is attached to the vine and saying, "Why don't you be a for‑real one and bear fruit?" It's just another way of saying abide, it's another way of saying remain. It's another way of saying be a true believer. It's another way of saying be a real disciple because only the real disciple bears fruit. It's the only one that bears fruit is the real disciple. The unbeliever bears no fruit. The one superficially connected to Jesus bears no fruit.
He says it another way in verse 9. Listen to this, "As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you." Now watch this, "Continue ye in My love." Be a for‑real disciple. A for‑real disciple doesn't come into the love of Christ and then leave it again. He continues. Be for real. Be for real. Abide. Remain.
So, you see, whether He says abide, bear fruit, or continue in My love, it's all the same thing. He's saying be for real.
Now watch the key in verse 10 and I'm going to expand this in a minute. "If you keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love even as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love." Now watch it. In verse 10, you know what He's saying? Abide...the word is simple. If you keep My commandments ye shall...what?...abide. So He says to them abide, bear fruit, continue in My love, obey My commandments. Those are all saying basically the same thing. A true disciple obeys the commandments of Jesus Christ. Did you know that? That's right. A true disciple continues in His love. A true disciple bears fruit. A true disciple abides in Christ, remains there all his life from the moment of salvation till his death. A true disciple is what Jesus wants. And His heart has been broken and shattered by Judas. And in effect He is saying no more Judas branches, be for real.
And I love it, the end of verse 10, Christ portrays Himself as the perfect example of abiding. He says, "Even as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love..." You know what Jesus wants? He wants the kind of relationship with us that He has with God. In John 17, remember in His great high priestly prayer, how He prays that He may be one with us as He is one with the Father? He abides in the Father. Tremendous thought. You think He's ever going to depart from that? No. And He wants us to abide in Him in the same way.
So, basically and generally then, Christ in this passage is saying the same thing. He is still on the contrast between the true and the false disciple, the real one, the apparent one and the artificial one. He is contrasting the one who really is abiding and the one who is temporarily connected but is going to remove himself and thus show that he never was real to begin with. And so he is pleading with that branch, that superficial branch, he's pleading with you who attach yourself to Jesus only on the superficial end and He's saying abide, bear fruit, continue in My love, keep My commandments...this will show you're real, be for real, is what He is saying.
And that's a perfect portrait of a true Christian, you know that? The true Christian remains in Jesus Christ, never leaves. A true Christian bears fruit, did you know that? A true Christian stays in His love. A true Christian, not only that, a true Christian obeys His commandments. Remember how we talked about that? A couple of weeks ago or maybe a month ago, whenever it was, I don't know, we talked about the fact that true believers obey. John 8, what did Jesus say? "If you continue in My Word, then are you My disciples alethos for real." A true disciple obeys. A true disciple continues in His love. A true disciple bears fruit. A true disciple abides.
And so, Jesus is calling to those branches who are superficial and saying be for real.
Just to show you this, look back at John 14, it comes to my mind, verse 15. John 14:15, "If you love Me...and the tense of the verb indicates it should be this way....If you love Me you will...what?..keep My commandments." Watch verse 21, "He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me." Verse 23, "If a man love Me, he will keep My words."
You see, every true disciple loves and obeys. Those are the two keys to the Christian life...love and obedience. That's it. People say, "Oh, the Christian life is so complicated...do this, do that, sit down, stand up....wave." No. Two things...love and obey, that's all. And obedience is the thing that springs out of what? Out of love.
All right, so He's talking about the true and the false disciple. The same contrast is here again. He has been speaking in general terms, believers abide...watch it...unbelievers don't abide, that's clear cut, that's it. Now you must understand this. Jesus is saying all Christians abide. All Christians bear fruit. All Christians continue in His love. All Christians obey. If someone stops doing that, forsakes Christ, he never was saved to begin with. That's 1 John 2:19, that's exactly what we saw.
Now John couldn't draw the line any more clearly than that. But that's John's way. He does that all through his gospel. I tried to find someplace in John's gospel where he contrasts one type of believer from another and there isn't any. He just says believer/unbeliever...boom...that's it...black/white, that's it. Clear cut. John is a kind of idealist and he picked up on everything that just drew that line right down the middle. Believers do this, unbelievers do that. Believers have eternal life, they drink the eternal water, they never thirst. Unbelievers always thirst. Now sometimes, you're a believer, you get a little thirsty, right? Sure, but John doesn't deal with that. Believers don't thirst...unbelievers thirst.
Then he talked about the bread of life in chapter 6. Believers never hunger, unbelievers always hunger. You're a believer, do you ever get a little bit hungry for the Word, for spiritual truth? Sure you do. But John isn't messing with exceptions. That's it, just clear cut. John always presents the ideal pattern designed by God, never messes with the exception.
Now I want to illustrate that to you by picking up another book that John wrote, 1 John, and I'll show you how he does this over there. And a lot of people have been baffled by this verse, or this series of verses because they can't figure out how anything could be that clear cut.
Listen to what John says. And if you understand the mind of John, you get it. If you don't, it's confusing. First John 1:8, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His Word is not in us." Now there he says one thing: believers confess, unbelievers deny their sin...contrast. And we've talked about that passage before. But it's clear cut. Believers always confess, unbelievers always deny. Now there are occasions when believers also don't confess as they should...sure, but John doesn't fool with those. Just, boom, that's it. Always the ideal.
Chapter 2 verse 3, "And by this we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments." Now watch..."He that saith, I know Him‑‑that is you claim salvation‑‑and keepeth not His commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. But whosoever keepeth His Word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. By this know we that we are in Him." John says...watch it...unbelievers disobey, believers obey...period. Now do believer ever disobey? Sure, but John doesn't worry about the exception. He again is drawing the line clear cut.
All right chapter 2 verse 9, look at this, "He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light and there is no occasion of stumbling in him." Hmmm...you mean a believer never has an occasion of stumbling? John says don't fool around with the exceptions, I'm just drawing the lines.
Verse 11, "But he that hateth his brother is in darkness," is there anybody in this world that you don't love and you're a Christian? Again you have an exception. "And walketh in darkness and knoweth not where he goeth because darkness hath blinded his eyes." See, here John says believers always love their brother, unbelievers never do. And you say, "Wait a minute, John, I know some believers who don't love their brother." Don't fool with the exceptions, I'm just drawing the line clear.
You have the same thing in chapter 3 verse 14 and 15. All through here you have it. "We know that we have passed from death unto life," verse 14, "because we love the brethren." Now watch this, "He that loveth not his brother‑‑singularly‑‑abides in death." Do you ever know a believer who didn't love some other believer? Well, I know a lot of them. He says they abide in death. You say, "Well, wait a minute now..." I'm not talking about the exceptions. I'm talking about the pattern.
Now watch verse 15, "Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." Oh ho, John, that is too clear...you can't say that. You can't say that if you just hate some guy