Abiding in Christ (5)

That Ye Bear Much Fruit

Main Truth:

God did not save you to sit — He saved you to bear fruit. And He will work on you until you do.

Last week we stood at the altar of surrender. We asked the hard question:

What is Christ worth to you?

Paul said,

“What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.” (Philippians 3:7)

Remember: Surrender is not the finish line — it is the starting line.

Jesus does not want to be part of your life — He wants to be Lord of your life. That means ruler. Owner. The One whose will governs yours.

Surrender is about becoming more like Him in all that we say and do.

But now that we have surrendered to Him so that we may abide as He commands — we must move forward.

Because Jesus did not say: “Abide in Me so you can feel spiritual.” Or “Abide in Me so you can look religious.”

He said:

“Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit…” (John 15:8)

If last week was about letting go of the things that hinder abiding, this week must be about the growth that comes from truly abiding in the Vine.

Because when you truly surrender — to the Vine for your life supply — and to the Husbandman for your growth

Something will grow. Something will flourish.

So here is the question that confronts us today:

If you have surrendered to abide — what fruit is coming from your life?

Because Jesus said, (John 15:5 “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.”

John 15:8 “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.”

So Christ lays out three things about fruit bearing

First :

I. THE EXPECTATION

— God Requires Fruit (v.2)

“Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away…”

Remember Jesus is not describing Salvation here

He is describing the difference between:

Professed connection that is just there

Living connection that producing

In the illustration, every branch is externally attached to the vine — but not every branch is internally drawing life from it.

That is the difference between:

Someone who is around Christ and someone who is abiding in Christ

So the first thing we see is that

1. Fruit Is Not Optional

In verse 2 we see that the branches that are not producing fruit He taketh away.

This lets us know that, Fruit is not a spiritual upgrade

Fruit is the evidence of spiritual life

We do not look for fruit because fruit proves salvation — we look for fruit because fruit proves there is life in the branch.

Jesus did not say:

You will know them by their church attendance

their intentions

or their emotional experiences

He said:

“Ye shall know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:16)

Because faith that receives Christ by grace through faith and abides in Him, (relying on Him day by Day to supply their daily nutriants) will inevitably begin to resemble the Vine that it is attached to.

An apple tree branch wont produce oranges and vice versa.

That’s why:

(James said in his second chapter verses 17–18 “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.”

Now understand this clearly:

There are seasons in the Christian life where fruit may appear small:

Times of grief

Spiritual depression

Intense trial

Even discipline from the Lord

There are winters in the believer’s life.

But even in winter — the branch is still alive.

You cant walk up to a fruit tree in the winter and just snap off a branch. life is still there even though there is no fruit at the moment.

Paul says to work out your own salvation

That means judge yourself wither you are in the faith or not

Because even a branch that is not producing fruit at the moment

Will still have:

Conviction

Desire for God

Hunger for righteousness

Grief over sin

Movement toward obedience

But when a person can examine their life and see:

No repentance No spiritual growth No obedience No love for Christ No burden for sin No concern for souls

Then the issue is not:

“I need to try harder.”

The issue is with your abiding.

You need to ask yourself, “Am I out of the will of God and just living for me.

Or, am I even a branch to begin with?

This is where you need the Holy Ghost to do His work

Because where there is genuine abiding, there will eventually be genuine fruit.

If there has never been fruit, then the issue may not be that you once abided and lost it — but that you have never truly abided at all.

But if you are a branch and you use to produce but now you are not and have not for quite some time, Jesus says that the husbandman will take you away (lift up, to remove from)

So this not only shows that…

1. Fruit Is Not Optional

2. Fruitlessness Is Serious

Jesus says:

“Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away…”

This is the language of intervention.

The word picture here is a husbandman who refuses to allow anything that would hinder the branch’s ability to receive and bear the life supplied by the vine.

And so the Father acts.

Sometimes that action is:

Lifting (exposure and correction)

Discipline (Hebrews 12:6)

Rebuke (Revelation 3:19)

Because a husbandman that loves His Vine will not permit permanent barrenness.

Persistent fruitlessness invites divine attention.

Which means:

If God begins cutting into your life, it is not proof that He has abandoned you —

It is proof that He refuses to leave you barren.

So the examination question becomes:

What spiritual fruit is visible in your life right now?

If the answer is none

Examine your attachment.

Because the branch that abides will not remain barren forever.

It hurts alot less when you examine before the husbandman comes into the Vineyard.

I. The Examination

II. THE PRUNING

— God Removes for More Fruit (v.2)

“Every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”

When Jesus speaks here of pruning, He reminds us that the Father Himself is tending the vine. (V.1)

The vinedresser or husbandman is in charge of caring for the vines, and he would not be a good husbandman if he did not prune the branches.

He does this in two ways:

he cuts away dead wood that can breed disease and insects, (those that beareth not fruit)

and he cuts away living tissue so that the life of the vine will not be so drained that the quality of the crop will be jeopardized.

Weiersbe gives a great illustration:

This pruning process is the most important part of the whole enterprise, and the people who do it must be carefully trained or they can destroy an entire crop. Some vineyards invest two or three years in training the “pruners” so they know where to cut, how much to cut, and even at what angle to make the cut.

What a mess if the vinedresser allowed the branches to grow however they wanted to.

The greatest judgment God could bring to a believer would be to let him alone, let him have his own way.

So the first reason why He prunes is:

1.He Prunes Because He loves us

He “prunes” us and encourages us to bear more fruit for His glory.

If the branches could speak, they would confess that the pruning process hurts; but they would also rejoice that they will be able to produce more and better fruit.

Understand that Your Heavenly Father is never nearer to you than when He is pruning you.

Sometimes He cuts away the dead wood that might cause trouble; (those little sprangs coming off the branch)

but often He cuts off the living tissue that is robbing you of spiritual vigor.

Pruning does not simply mean spiritual surgery that removes what is bad.

It is surgery that helps remove that which the husbandman knows is slowing your growth.

Yes, pruning hurts, but it also helps.

We may not enjoy it, but we need it.

Many Christians pray that God will make them more fruitful, but they do not enjoy the pruning process that follows!

1.He Prunes Because He loves us

2. He Prunes Because He wants the Increase

Now a vinedresser may also cut away the good or even the better so that the best might come through.

During the growing season the vinedresser will cut away whole bunches of grapes so that the rest of the crop will be of higher quality.

Just like a husbandman, God prunes for quantity and quality.

the higher the quality fruit, the better nourishment the recipients of the fruit receives

Why do we plant fruit trees or grape vines?

Is it for the branch or the vine?

No, Its it is for the benefit of those that eat from it.

The things that God may be removing from your life, you may feel like they are benefiting others when in all reality they may be stunting their growth

Therefore God will remove:

Pride that repels others

Distractions that ignore souls

Secret sins that will eventually be made public and could hinder souls being saved

Comforts that avoids sacrifice

The more we abide in Christ, the more fruit we bear; the more the Father has to prune us so that the quality keeps up with the quantity.

So Christ lays out for us,

I. The Examination - fruit is required

II. The Pruning - needed to produce better fruit

So that He can show us the importance of a strong connection

III. THE CONNECTION

—Produces Fruit for His Glory ( 8)

“I am the vine, ye are the branches… without me ye can do nothing.”

Abiding Produces Much Fruit (v,5 and 8)

“He that abideth in me… bringeth forth much fruit.”

“that ye bear much fruit”

Remember Abiding means:

Continual dependence

Daily fellowship

Obedient surrender

Some of you may be asking, “I want to bear fruit, I think I am bearing fruit, so how do I know?”

I think Gal 5 22-23 gives us the best decription of what our fruit should be.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

John 15:10 — Abiding is connected to obedience

You don’t force fruit. You remain connected — fruit follows.

Now We glanced at why a fruit tree is planted:

It is the planted so that others are refreshed and nourished.

Because Fruit is never for the branch.

The fruit is for those who come and carry it away.

So A fruit-bearing tree lives not for itself — but for those to whom its fruit brings refreshment and life.

And so the branch exists entirely to produce fruit.

And so it is with the believer.

When you abide in Christ, His Spirit of love and compassion toward sinners flows into you.

You begin to feel the burden of souls. You begin to grieve over sin that once did not trouble you. You begin to love what He loves — and hate what He hates

You begin to see people not as people, but souls and when we can do that, we will no longer lift our nose to the drug addict, drunk, the adultuer or the one that wants nothing to do with us.

You will weep for them, strive to reach them, pray for them, love on them even when they are unloveable.

Becasue a branch produces fruit that resembles the Vine

1. Abiding Produces Much Fruit

2. Fruit is For His Glory (v.8)

“Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit…”

Your fruit is about His glory.

A branch does not say look how great I can produce fruit

A branch says look at how well the husbandman took care of me so that I could bear fruit.

Matthew 5:16 — “Let your light so shine… glorify your Father…”

1 Corinthians 10:31 — “Do all to the glory of God.”

So how do you make sure your glorifying the Father? the answer is not try harder — It is abide deeper

Because the great secret of abiding in Christ is the deep conviction that apart from Him we are nothing, and in Him He is everything we need.

Conclusion

God did not save you to sit — He saved you to bear fruit.

Surrender was never meant to be the end — it was meant to lead to abiding.

Jesus said: “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit…” (John 15:8)

So if you are truly abiding, something ought to be growing.

Because fruit is never for the branch — it’s for the weary, the broken, and the lost. And when your life produces love, joy, peace, and obedience, they won’t see a great branch — they’ll see a glorious Vine.

Salvation Invitation

If you are here this morning and have never been not connected to the Vine — I beg you, repent of your sin and trust in Jesus Christ today. Be joined to Him by faith where real life begins.

Abiding Invitation

And Christian, if you know you are saved but not abiding — return to the Vine.

Don’t try harder — Abide deeper.

Because without Him you can do nothing… But abiding in Him,

You will bear fruit. and Much it will be

So He will get the glory.