The Gospel of John - The Fruit of Our Salvation - Part 5 - Remain, producing fruit is the proof
The Gospel of John - The Fruit of our Salvation • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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GREET EVERYONE-
Good Morning Loved Ones
If I have not had a chance to meet you; My name is Scott and I am a follower of Jesus and have the privilege of serving Him as the Lead Pastor among the people of Stonewater Fellowship.
INVITES
ADVENT
LETS GRAB OUR BIBLES IF YOU HAVE ONE AND
Open it to the Gospel of John and Chapter 15 as we continue in our series called “The Fruit of our salvation” which is ONE part of our walking through the Gospel of John together verse by verse.
PRAYER OVER SERIES
My prayer over this series is that the Holy Spirit of God, through the scriptures, will being us all in to a deeper understanding of what the fruit of our salvation is.
AN understanding of what our salvation is to produce in our life -
OF what Salvation is to produce in the life of someone who is saved
and what fruit can be produced in the life of someone is needs to be saved
Fruit is what something is produced-
and a reality of this world that we live in - an objective truth that we all can observe is
Fruit is always after its own Kind - Apples equal apples - Avocados equal avocados
and so what is the clear implication of that when I aske the question “what do Jesus followers Produce?” Jesus followers
And for us to do that Jesus is producing in us HIS loving nature and HIs character of truth!
And my prayer is as we come to a deeper understanding in what the fruit of our salvation is supposed to be.
AND - We would ask ourselves if we can see and feel and experience the transforming fruit that Jesus is supposed to be producing in our life?
and Loved ones - what I pray will happen to all of us is that we will all find ourselves wanting more and more of of Jesus - more and more of what Jesus and his saving work is to be producing in our lives and in the lives of everyone around us.
So that we will be more and more like Him in every way.
PRAYER OVER MESSAGE
My prayer over this mornings message is that as we have come to understand that all of the fruit of our salvation is Interconnected to Jesus himself.
that the fruit of being sent - This “We are sent to serve” impulse that moves into purposeful intent of serving others with eternal purposes.
The fruit of Love -this supernatural ability to - “to Love Anyway” because He loves us - when we experience hurt or Betrayal in this world.
The fruit of proclamation - this impulse in our lives and in our heart to Proclaim “the Way” to the a world around us that has lost its way
This fruit of an impulse - to purposeful intentionality obey with a “Spirit Filled Obedience” Because we love Him and He loves us, and He Gives us the Spirit of truth the helper to indwell is as we are intentionally obedient to keep his commands.
My Prayer over this mornings message is that we would come to understand how all of these fruits are all inextricably tied together
So much so that we must - Abide in Him for all things -
And in our Abiding in Him, Obedience to Him, Proclamation of Him, Service for Him and Love from him and the father and to them - these are all tied together.
That in this message that we would know that the fruit of our salvation is a supernatural desire - an impulse to Remain in Him, Bear fruit for Him and His kingdom, and in that there is proof that we indeed are His.
ENGAGEMENT –
Independence -
What a phenomenal word -
Webster's dictionary define the word:
not dependent:
not subject to control by others : self-governing
not affiliated with a larger controlling unit
not requiring or relying on something else
not contingent
not looking to others for one's opinions or for guidance in conduct
not bound by or committed to a political party
not requiring or relying on others
being enough to free one from the necessity of working for a living person of independent means
showing a desire for freedom an independent manner has an independent mind/spirit
It is a PHENOMINAL word.
It is a word that gave us independence It is a word that we wrote a declaration of Independence upon It is a word that gave us a great amount of freedom from tyranny in this country about 250 years ago!
It is also a word that we train our children with -
We train them to be independent -
We desire Them to be self governing
we desire them to not rely on someone or something else
We want them to be able to make their own decisions and think independently
We all were raised to be independent in fact we measure our success as the more independent we become if we are not financially dependent upon the state or anyone else.
We are raised to financially independent meaning we can pay our own bills and pay our own way then we measure that as a measurement of maturity and of success here in our culture
In fact at some level we define success in the ultimate pursuit of comfort convenient safety and security as being totally financially independent!
Success is where we can choose to go to work or not go to work if we decide that is what we want to do
We want to get there so that we can make that decision independent of any other causation in our lives
TENSION
And the problem that this mindset creates when we take this into our relationship with Jesus is that it collides head on with the Mindset of Jesus.
In relationship to God - through His son Jesus - there is no independence from God - That results in anything good.
And what can so very easily happen to us is we look at the commands of Scripture and we think to ourselves we can do these things
We can do all that is required we can follow the commands of Jesus and we can do it well because we are just that good.
And when that happens to us we can then begin to try to serve Jesus independent of Jesus.
We can then begin to try to have an eternal impact Without the head of the kingdom.
We can try to add to our life and to our purpose the things of God without the one who is the God with us.
And what that will do to us is exhaust us and frustrate us and cause us to give up because We will be actually doing things independent of Jesus
and we will then come off the playing field of the mission that Jesus has given us and we will sit on the bench and watch others.
what Jesus will address in this passage of text is that our service for him - Our loving others through him - our proclamation of Him and our obedience to Him that are all the fruit of our salvation
What Jesus will address is that they are all directly tied to our constant and continual abiding in Him
BACKGROUND
Jesus has had the Last Supper with his disciples
He is in midst of preparing them for what they will do for the rest of their lives
The rest of their lives is about to begin just hours from this very moment where we are in the timeline of Jesus
As we are mere moments maybe even hours away a few short hours away from his arrest where he will be taken and he will be ultimately crucified
This is Thursday of the Week here in first century Jerusalem
And he has laid down for them and for us and for every reader over the last 2000 years of this beautiful gospel what obedience to him indicates what obedience to him facilitates and what obedience to him Authenticates in those who claim to follow him
UNPACKING
VVS1
What Jesus does in here in verse one is he begins with a word picture this assimilation of persons and a picture where Jesus says:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
And this is an important cultural word picture to be used that Jesus would be using with his disciples because wine in that culture was A very important product.
It was item that was produced in that culture and there were vineyards everywhere and people would have known exactly what Jesus meant when he said:
my father is the vine dresser and I am the vine
It is by implication to mean that those that are attached to Jesus would then be the branches and they would have understood this in first century Palestine when Jesus was walking around because vines and agriculture and growing things was a cultural framework by which people lived and supported themselves and their families
And what Jesus is doing in this word picture is he is connecting the word pictures to a person in this case Jesus being the vine and God the Father being the fine dresser
This is what we call anthropomorphizing
VSS2
Jesus continues with this word picture and says:
Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
And what Jesus does in verse two is He takes this picture and and gives now the activity of the vine dresser and of the branches that are connected to the vine
The fine dresser is the one who takes care of the vine And the branches And will harvest the fruit when the fruit is ready to be harvested
The fine dresser also has the responsibility of making sure that the vine and the branches are healthy that they are maximally productive because as the vine dresser is the owner of the vine his responsibility is to maximize the fruit production from that very vine
And So what a vine dresser will do on a vineyard is he will go through just like you do in your garden and in your flower bed you will go and remove the things that are not producing fruit
the things that have died
the things that are not receiving life or have broken or disconnected themselves from the vine
they will be removed and when they are removed they are discarded and thrown away - Taken Away
But also here is something interesting that The vine dresser does
The bind dresser prunes the branches that do bear fruit
Pruning is this process by which they are removing what appears to be healthy parts but in reality are parts that will eventually not bear fruit or prevent or limit the amount of fruit that the branch will make
And a good vine dresser knows how to identify these things and remove these things so that the branch will provide will produce a significant amount of fruit
VSS3
Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
And what Jesus is saying here is he takes a pause from this word picture and he turns to his disciples and he says you are already clean because of the word I’ve spoken to you and what that means to his disciples what he is saying is you are already in the right condition to produce fruit you have already been pruned
Well that somewhat leaves us the question: what are the words that Jesus has said he said?
“because of the word I spoke to you”
Well what what is the word that Jesus has spoken to them?
Well right before this what Jesus has spoken to them is if you love me you’ll obey me!
Whoever keeps my commandments loves me and the Father will love him!
you see it is this intersection this interconnectedness between loving Jesus obedience to him the presence of the Spirit and and producing fruit for Him and for His kingdom that are all connected and tied together
VVS4
Jesus begins verse four with a word that is both theologically important but also objectively true
He begins verse four with the word abide
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
In the objective truth that Jesus is speaking of here we can observe in creation itself there is not a single branch of any tree or any vine that can produce fruit by itself
oak branches cannot produce acorns without being connected to the trunk
grape vines cannot produce grape without being connected to the Grapevine That is just the objective truth of reality
The theological truth that Jesus is bringing in here is unless we remain connected to him unless we are abiding remaining in Him we cannot produce kingdom fruit either and that is a theological truth
VSS5
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
In verse five Jesus now identifies the disciples - The people who are following him he identifies them as the branches
and then Jesus opens this reality up to anyone and everyone for any time whoever abides in me and I in him he it is that bears much fruit
And then Jesus closes this verse with the objective reality the objective truth of grape branches connected to grapevines, oak branches being connected to oak trunks
disciples being connected to and remaining in Jesus
If they are not connected they cannot produce fruit
VVS6
If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
In verse six Jesus then comes back to explain and give a deeper insight to what he was saying in verse 2
And in this he’s talking about branches that have disconnected branches that are no longer remaining in him branches that have separated and are no longer able to produce fruit
And justice like we clean our garden
Just like removing branches from your trees and from your vines and from your plants that are disconnected and no longer producing fruit
Those things are gathered up and they are thrown into the fire and they are consumed they are burned - For us we just have to wait for the burn ban
Now by implication there are some pretty scary things that Jesus is saying here but it is by implication it is not by direct reference
This picture that he gives about being thrown into the fire and burned the branches that do not abide in him It is a theological truth
The truth is that those that are not connected to Jesus that those are not redeemed that those who are not been saved by grace through faith that have not been regenerated by the Holy Spirit...
there is hell waiting for them as they have sinned against the one true and Holy God
Those who do not love Him - Those who do not remain - Those who do not produce fruit - Those that have no fruit.
God who requires the righteousness of Christ to be with Him and be an object of His grace and recipient of his love and affection.
But Jesus is not speaking directly about that here in this verse it is by implication only.
VVS7
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
In verse seven Jesus turns to his disciples and tells them that their remaining with him and the remaining in him has a benefit but it is an if then proposition if you abide in me and my words abide in you then ask whatever you wish and it would be done for you
Remember the words that Jesus spoke have to abide in them and those words were those who love me will keep my commands Whoever has my commands and keeps them whoever is obedient loves me and will be loved by my Father
VVS8
By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
Jesus is referring to is that you bear much fruit US bearing fruit his disciples bearing fruit and again fruit is after its own kind
This idea of disciples of Jesus producing more disciples of Jesus and so forth and so on
The activity it’s the intentionality it is the methodology it is the mechanism that has brought the gospel to New Braunfels Texas some 21 hundred years later and 17,000 miles away from Pentecost
The father is glorified in that!
Jesus adds a caveat “and so prove to be my disciples”
Loved ones I want to be clear we don’t produce fruit to prove that we are Jesus disciples.
We produce fruit and that fruit is proof that we belong to him
Our fruit is not our evidence Our fruit is the result that proves
VSS9
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.
And what Jesus says here in verse 9 is that we are to remain in that place
Jesus says as the Father has loved me so I have loved you
The Father loves Jesus the Father sent Jesus The Father loved Jesus loves Jesus with a complete and everlasting and eternal love jesus loves that way
Jesus says remain in that love and in verse he re articulates the mechanism by which we remain in his love
VVS10
If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
Watch what he says - it is an if then environment
If you keep my commandments and abide in my love - what is apply implied in the text the word “then”
then you will abide in my love
And then Jesus gives us a vision of obedient because of love.
He modeled it for us
and he says it right here “just as I have kept my father’s commandments and I abide in his love”
Jesus was obedient to the Father’s commandments because of the love that the father had for Jesus and the love Jesus has for the Father
This was the compelling factor of why Jesus was obedient to the Father
This was the only environment that Jesus and the Father could have interacted with was the basis of love
VVS11
These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
Jesus then concludes this overarching area of thought about abiding in him remaining in his love keeping his commandments and he He gives his disciples the reason why he said these things to them in verse 15
And the reason why Jesus wants us to abide in him the reason why Jesus wants us to produce fruit the reason why Jesus wants us to remain in him and He in US and the Word in so that we and in his love so that we will have his joy constantly and continually in US and that our joy will be full the word full that he is using there is the word for the same word we use for abundant
The Old testament writer put it this way - The Joy of the Lord will be our strength!
THE GOSPEL CONNECTION - AS OUR MUSICAL WORSHIP TEAM COMES TO LEAD US BACK INTO SINGING.
Loved ones
The commandments that Jesus kept from the Father are certainly the fulfillment of the Law of the Ten Commandments of Moses but it is oh so much more than that
Loved ones the ultimate commandment that the Father gave Jesus the Son was to go into the world and live as a man
To give up your glory in heaven and to go into the earth and to live among a sinful people and loved them
And loved ones this is good news of great joy that God loved us so much that he sent his Son into the world to live among us as Emmanuel God among us God with us
And after living an absolutely morally perfect life in all ways he freely and joyfully accepted the sentence of Roman execution on the cross of Calvary
And loved ones when he died on that cross and his blood was leaving his physical body being poured out it was being poured out to cleanse those who believe in him and his finished work on that old rugged cross to cleanse them from all their sins
The fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s vein was opened that day oh so long ago
And as he was taking his last breath he was absorbing the wrath of God that was due you and I for our sin against a holy God
And loved ones this is good news of great joy that the gates of forgiveness have been opened the law has been fulfilled and the invitation of God is to abide follow his commands produce fruit And in that there will be proof in our lives that we are His disciples we are His followers and that we love Him and we are loved by the Father And when that great day comes and our last breath on this earth happens we will be ushered into eternity with Jesus abiding in him and becoming recipients of God’s love and affection forever and ever and ever
And loved ones this is good news of great joy that Jesus has done all the work necessary to secure our forgiveness from the Father
And to validate that he had the position the authority and the divinity to wash away the sins of all mankind he was raised on the 3rd day and he’s to day sits down at the right hand of the Father waiting to come back for his bride
And so loved ones be reminded if you have been saved by grace through faith be reminded the day of the finished work of Jesus on the cross of Calvary and cause the love of God to motivate you and to move you to abide in him
And loved ones if for some reason or another you have never turned your life over to Jesus in an act the Bible calls repentance you have never realized your desperate need to be saved by God to be forgiven by God to have relationship with God to know that Jesus is the way the truth and the life loved ones today is your day now is the moment the imitation of God is open Come to Jesus repent surrender your life to Him begin the process of abiding and remaining in Him following His commandments being loved by Him and loving Him and being loved by the Father
APPLICATION
And So what is it to abide in Jesus ?
What is it to remain in him ?
Are our eyes focused on him ?
Are our calendars arranged around his purposes ?
Are our agendas set to produce fruit for His kingdom and for his glory because we are compelled by the love of Him ?
Do we sit at his feet every day absorbing his word listening to his voice through the Scripture ?
Do we spend time with him as a lover of our souls ?
Do we sit in quiet moments contemplating His majesty His glory the beauty of His cross and resurrection the power of His resurrection do we sit with Jesus ?
Loved ones we must arrange our lives the busyness of our lives causes us to be so easily wooed away from Jesus
The voice of God the one that we call Savior is telling us to remain in Him moment by moment day by day week after week month after month
It is the power of God to compel us to motivate us to keep us in following His commandments and loving Him the way that He deserves and desires to be loved and worshiped and served
BAPTISM
PRAYER TEAM
