Abiding in Christ: the Only Source of Life

John 15:1–6 ESV

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 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. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 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. 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. 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.

We never stop growing in our faith, do we?

This is the first Sunday in our sermon series called “Abide” where we will study to understand what it means to “abide in Christ.”

I gave the definition of Abide in the video, and it’s there

Throughout this series we will be hearing more stories on video and in person about what it looks like for different people to “abide” in Christ… people in different stages of life… people who have different day to day experiences…

Because this whole idea of “abiding” can be kind of hard to wrap our head around… it can seem kind of mystical and mysterious...

And I hope these stories help to make abiding in Christ intensely practical…

What does it look like… what does it mean to “abide in Christ?”

“Abide” isn’t even a word we really use very often anymore… you may not even know the definition of the word itself...

At the foundational level, to abide is to remain…

in fact if you have an NIV, you don’t even have the English word “abide” in your Bible… you have the word “remain...”

And "remain” is a helpful word… I think Bruce is a good example of the word “remain” because he’s shown us what it means to REMAIN faithful to Jesus into the latter years of life…

There is a sense of longevity and perseverence in the word remaining or abiding...

But there is also the sense of moment by moment remaining… step by step… thought by thought…

We remain in Jesus over the long haul by remaining in him through moments and hours and days that make up our existence.

Now by this, we do not mean “remaining in Christ” as if we could lose our salvation if we don’t hold on tight enough…

We mean remaining in a relationship of faith in him… that he is the one holding us fast…

We mean remaining in a relationship of faith in him…

Some of the other biblical writers called it “living by faith...” or “walking by the Spirit,” or being “in Christ” or “united with Christ.”

These may shine light on different ways to look at this, but they are not fundamentally different things....

Really, abiding is the essence of what it means to live the Christian life.

We are going to see that this pursuit of abiding is the thing… and the only thing that you were created for… it’s the only thing that can give you the life and purpose and identity that will last for all eternity.

The definition that we are going to use in this series for abiding in Christ is this:

Abide definition: To remain in constant awareness of, connection to, and dependence on the power and presence of our loving savior.

Abiding is constant… it’s not so much an activity that we do as a posture we maintain… it’s a moment by moment posture of the heart...

It involves remaining constantly aware of the power and presence of Jesus…

we will not abide in him if we constantly forget that he is with us and he is the one we need...

Abiding involves remaining constantly connected to him…

it’s not just that I am aware of him and indifferent to his presence and power with me…

I’m connected to him through exercising faith in his power and presence with me… faith is the fiber that connects us as the branches to the vine...

And that constant connection of faith is one of constant dependence...

To abide, I must constantly remember that apart from Jesus I can do NOTHING.

This is why this word “abide” is better than the translation, “remain...”

Because Abide, like the original Greek word, reflects this idea that… in abiding… we are receiving our life source…

Our vitality… our power for living the Christian life… our sustenance and nourishment for growth…

And without that sustenance, we are dead.

We are going to see that this pursuit of “abiding” is THE thing… and the ONLY thing... for which you were created…

it’s the only thing that can give you the life and purpose and identity… it’s the only way you can bring God glory…

And it is the thing that God wants to consume your thoughts and desires and motivations...

That’s what we want to focus on today as we start into this series:

Big Idea: Abide in Jesus as the only source of life who can produce the fruit the Father seeks.

Your Bibles are open to … we will be in over the course of the next month and a half…

I hope you are working through the “Abide” reading plan as well… that will set you up to see these same principles from other parts of the scriptures…

But we will be primarily working our way through in the sermons on Sunday mornings... because it is where we get the clearest... most in-depth treatment of what it means to abide in Christ in all of the scriptures.

is part of what is called the “Farewell Discourse” in the book of John...

It’s called that because it is the last teaching Jesus gives to his disciples before he is crucified, and it is consumed with what will happen when he goes away…

Jesus is preparing his disciples for how to live when he is no longer physically present with them.

What are they going to do now, because they’ve been following him around Israel for the last 3 years of their lives?!?!

And they’ve given up everything… and he’s become everything to them… and so what will this look like once he has returned to the Father in heaven?

As we get into chapter 15, they are now walking as they are talking… they have just left the upper room in Jerusalem where they shared the last supper whee we know Jesus instituted the ordinance of the Lord’s Table that we just celebrated… John emphasizes another event: that Jesus washed his disciples feet…

Judas has already left them to go get the religious leaders and betray Jesus...

And now they are walking to the Mt. of Olives… to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus will have some time of intense prayer in connection to his heavenly father…

and where he will ultimately betrayed… this is his darkest hour...

As they walk through the Valley of Kidron, they probably would have likely looked up and seen a large golden vine decorating the exterior of the temple walls…

It was a symbol of the nation of Israel...

And they may have even passed some vineyards on their way up the mountain as they were a common crop in Israel…

And it’s in this context that Jesus says this in [Read ]

There could not be a more perfectly suited illustration of our relationship to Christ than this illustration of the vine and the branches… and this word, “Abide.”

The analogy or parable itself is straightforward and easy to understand… it has three main parts:

Verse 1 establishes that Jesus is the vine…

I

And he specifically calls himself the TRUE VINE...

Israel was described in the Old Testament as a vine too… but every time they are called that, they are being judged for bearing bad fruit… or not bearing fruit at all…

Jesus is the TRUE vine… the only source of life that will produce the fruit the father seeks....

You can’t find life and produce fruit by living by the law of Moses...

You can’t find life and produce fruit by living by the traditions of men...

You can’t find life and produce fruit by being something or doing something FOR God like all of the other religious of the world try to do...

You can only fine life and produce fruit when you are attached to the TRUE vine.

That’s why Jesus is exclusive… that’s why not all roads lead to heaven… because Jesus claimed to be the only source of eternal… true life.

Jesus is the vine… and Verse 5 then clarifies that Jesus’ disciples are the branches

The branches only have life in relationship to the vine… to Jesus.

The branches bear fruit...

They are united to him by faith…

We will discuss what the fruit represents…

You have the vine and the branches… and those two parts usually become our focus when we read this passage… we sometimes title this section “The Vine and the Branches...”

But then there is this character we often forget about in the analogy… The Father is the vinedresser...

He’s the gardener… the vine is there for his benefit… the fruit is there for his use…

That’s important… and it’s where Jesus starts:

I think it’s important to see in this analogy that the Father is the one who is up close and personal with the vine and the branches…

He has

1) The Father is actively tending the vine seeking fruit. (15:1-3)

Explain: It’s interesting… the word for vinedresser is often used of peasants and servants…

It’s the word for a farmer who does all his own work… not one who has hired managers or servants to do the work...

In other words, the Father has not outsourced this job of tending to the vine… he is actively working the whole process from planting to harvest… and he is deeply concerned about the outcome… God cares how you spend your life.

I think that’s so important: this analogy is so much about the type of personal relationship we have with God...

He has

Everyone says, “I don’t believe in religion… I believe in having a relationship with God....”

And that’s great… but what’s that relationship like?

Is it a relationship like you have with a distant relative that you see at family gatherings once a year…

Or a relationship like you have with the people who live in your own house?

In this analogy, the branches are vitally connected to the vine… it doesn’t get more personal than that...

And the Father is the one who is actively and personally tending to the vine and the branches…

Part of what I hope you realize in this Abide series is that we have a real and living and personal and active God in our lives...

He’s not just a topic of theological discussions…

He’s not just the subject of some children’s stories… or some distant force that we can’t know…

He is present and active in his creation… and he personally tends to the branches of his True Vine…

And as he does… he’s looking for something…

Look at verse 2: “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.” (, ESV)

What is the Father looking for? [The Father is looking for fruit.]

Fruit is the produce of the vine… and it’s the whole reason you plant a vineyard.

It is the farmer’s right to expect fruit from his vineyard… it would be crazy if he planted a vineyard NOT expecting fruit…

He has planted the choices of vines… he sent his own Son into the world that we might be united to him through faith…

And he did that so that he would receive more glory from the salvation of sinners by his son...

So that humanity would be brought from death to life through Jesus Christ and we would be restored to the perfect relationship with God that he intended before the fall...

One in which the beauty of his grace and love and truth and holiness would be magnified and he would be glorified as we were satisfied in him forever.

The Father is looking for fruit…

Now what type of fruit is he looking for?

Well, Jesus doesn’t get specific… so we shouldn’t be too specific either...

I think too often we think about God looking for Fruit and we think, “I can’t produce the fruit you want God! What do you want from me?!?!

However, our tendency is to just think about one type of fruit… the fruit that we feel we are doing best at… or the fruit that we were trained to think about most…

We think about the Fruit of the Spirit… or the fruit of conversions… or the fruit of our lips… or the fruit of obedience...

And we come to a passage like this, and we think, “Which one is it?!?!”

Well, it’s any and all… the father wants “more fruit” and “much fruit.”

So because we often tend to think about only one type of fruit… I want us to instead think about…

3 [BROAD] Categories of Fruit

1) Inward Fruit of Character ()

God gets glory when our character is transformed… because he is the only one who can do that work…

2) Verbal Fruit ()

3) Obedience Fruit ()

says “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (, ESV)

4) Understanding Fruit

When we experience Christ-like love for our brother or sister in the faith…

or supernatural joy in a trial…

or kindness and compassion for those who have sinned against God and others.... we can know it is a fruit that only he produced.

And when we don’t see those things, we can know that we are not abiding in him the way that we need to be.

And the inward fruit of character will always show itself in this second category of fruit...

2) Outward Fruit of Obedience (Col 1:10)

Paul prayed for the church at Collosae, that they would, “... walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;” (, ESV)

Their walk with the Lord… their good works… you could say their “obedience to God”… was the fruit of their knowing God through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Inward fruit… outward fruit… and then this third category...

3) Multiplying Fruit of Ministry ()

This is when we are so abiding in Christ that the fruit of Christ produced IN us produces growth THROUGH us in someone else…

This is the essence of spiritual gifts… the Lord using his people as tools of helping others be united to Christ by faith.

The Apostle Paul said this to the Philippian church…

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.... Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith...” (, ESV)

Because Paul was so wrapped up in Christ… because Christ was his whole life… not just part of his life… but everything he lived for…

Everything that he did was for the sake of helping others enjoy and progress in an abiding relationship with Jesus…

Listen: this whole “abide” thing is not just between you and the Lord… it will have a multiplying affect on the people around you.

The Father is actively tending the vine seeking fruit… the inward fruit of character… the outward fruit of obedience… and the multiplying fruit of ministry...

And he’s not just looking for one kind… he wants it all.

So often we think about fruit like, “‘I’ll work on this character trait and then I’ll work on that area of obedience and then maybe down the road I’ll get to the type of fruit were I’m serving others…

But that’s not the way it works…

Those three fruits all rise and fall together because they all come from the same source: abiding in Christ.

You can’t have one of these fruits without the other…

You can’t have genuine obedience fruit that doesn’t come from a heart that is transformed by the power of Christ...

You can’t have a heart of character that doesn’t show itself in serving other people or obeying God…

These are three categories… but we must understand that the Father is seeking all three… and they all flow from abiding in Christ.

Because Jesus is clear in the analogy:

Two Types of Branches:

Look at verse 2 again: “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.” (, ESV)

1) Non-Fruit-bearing Branches = Taken away [and there are fruit bearing branches who are pruned]

The non-fruit-bearing branches are the ones that are not attached to the vine… they are not receiving their life-source from the vine through faith…

We know this because later he says that if we abide in him, we WILL bear much fruit… It’s a guaranteed outcome for those who are united to Christ by faith…

And so branches that do not bear fruit are the ones not attached to the vine.

They are intertwined among the branches, but they are not receiving the nourishment of the vine…

Think about the context again… like what type of person might this be?

Jesus has just washed the disciples feet… all twelve of them… they all LOOK like they belong there…

And in that scene in , Jesus says, All of you are clean except for one of you…

And then one of them named Judas gets up and walks out the door to betray Jesus...

Obviously he did not believe Jesus was who he claimed to be or he would never have done that.

Obviously he was more in love with the world than he was with Jesus.... he was seeking life and satisfaction from someone or something other than Jesus…

Here’s the hard reality: there are people who LOOK like they are followers of Jesus who will prove by their lack of fruit that they were never truly followers of Jesus…

There are people who think that by their proximity to Jesus and his people, they are good to go…

They think that if they attend church and learn the lingo and go through the right motions, they can kind of just sneak their way into the vine…

And they are there for different reasons… maybe they want friendships… and they think the church is their social club...

Maybe they want to feel good about being a part of something bigger than themselves...

Maybe they think the church is a way of earning a buck… we know Judas used to steal from the collective moneybag of the disciples…

Whatever it is… they LOOK like they are in the vine… they are claiming a connection to Jesus… but they prove to have none.

In one of John’s letters to the churches of Asia Minor, he talked about a group like this saying,

“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. ( ESV)

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. (ESV)

There are those who will be taken away… they will prove to not have a vital relationship of faith to the vine who is Jesus Christ… but the disciples are different…

2) Fruit-bearing = Pruned

Again back to :2, “...every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.”

That word for clean that Jesus used both in during the footwashing and here in this analogy… the word for clean and prunes comes from the same root word… if you look at the Greek words, they are almost identical…

Jesus is saying, “You have already been cleaned… pruned… you’ve already had the world removed from you... and NOW the Father is going to continue pruning you to maximize fruit production.

There is an initial cleaning that happens at the moment of salvation…

Jesus says it’s because of the word that he has spoken to them...

The word… the good news that he is Savior and Lord… very God of very God who came down from heaven to save them from their sin by dying on a cross and rising again…

Because that word was spoken to them and they believed it… they are clean… they are attached to the vine through faith in his word...

And now there is going to be a continual pruning that happens in their lives so that they would bear more fruit.

It should be the expectation of every follower of Jesus Christ that they will be pruned throughout their life…

because the Father is actively tending the vine seeking fruit.

Now think about pruning: pruning is not exactly fun for the branch… Pruning means something is getting cut off...

Pruning means something is getting cut off...

The branch was channeling nourishment and resources that it was given for the sake of bearing fruit to a part of the branch that’s not bearing fruit…

Maybe a cluster of leaves or something…

And those places that the branch WANTED to channel resources naturally are now being cut off so that all of the nourishment can go toward where the vinedresser knows it needs to go for maximum fruit.

So what does this look like… for the Father to PRUNE the vine? Let’s take a moment to think about...

5 Ways the Father Prunes Abiding Branches

1) The Removal of Dependencies

Sometimes there are things in our lives that we are dependent upon that are keeping us from being dependent upon Christ.

This could be an experience or an identity we have pursued.... this could be a substance or an addiction… this could be a person…

because he wanted us to not rely on them as much as we were to rely on him.

The Father wants Jesus to be our only source of life… because he is the only one who can sustain us… and he is the only one worthy of our devotion and adoration...

so he prunes through the removal of dependencies…

2) The Addition of Affliction

In , the Psalmist says, “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.... I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.” (, ).

I know we don’t often like to think about God being the source of our affliction, but sometimes he is.

And yet here’s the good news: when he DOES afflict us… it is for our GOOD… it is GOOD for us that we might learn his statutes.

Affliction in the life of the believer is not for the sake of penance… you did something wrong, now you must pay…

Affliction is for the sake of pruning… of producing something new and beautiful and something God wants to use…

The third way God prunes is through...

3) The Allowance of Persecution

The Apostle Paul talked about the many ways he experienced persecution, and he concluded in this way,

“For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. ( ESV)

For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. (ESV)

When we experience persecution for our faith, we are driven to a point of greater reliance on Jesus as the only source of life, which then produces greater fruit for God.

A fourth way the Father prunes is through…

4) Conviction of Sin

Sometimes I wish that I didn’t have to see sin as such a big deal… there are people who seem to think that a little sin is nothing… I kind of wish I was like that...

Sometimes I’m like, “Man, I wonder what it would be like to just not care...”

But the Psalmist shows us the value of God’s pruning through the conviction of sin:

“For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah… You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah” (3-5,7 ESV)

“You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah” (, ESV)

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. (ESV)

That inward conviction of sin… while uncomfortable for a moment… leads us back to the place of security and refuge… the place of abiding… where God can receive more glory from our praise and shouts of deliverance…

5 ways the Father prunes abiding branches: The conviction of sin… the allowance of persecution… the addition of affliction… the removal of dependencies.... one last way that I will mention:

5) The Prevention of Obtaining Desires

Often he does this so that he doesn’t need to remove a dependency later..

God is not all about giving you things that you are going to seek as a false source of life.

Garth Brooks said it well when he said, “Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.”

James put it this way: You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. ( ESV)

You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. (ESV)

God is like, “I know you want this trial to be over… I know you want that new job or new house… I know you want that relationship with that person… I know that you just want everything to be OK… but it’s not going to be what produces the most fruit in your life.

“What’s going to produce more fruit is if you have to wait…

what’s going to produce more fruit is if you learn to depend upon the Lord first…

What’s going to produce more fruit is if you learn contentment in him alone…”

The Father is actively seeking Fruit by PRUNING branches that are abiding in Christ… Have you seen God use any of these 5 pruning methods in your life? I hope you have… because it means you are a part of the vine...

Remember… God prunes those who are true branches who bear fruit and are already clean through faith in Jesus Christ...

He doesn’t bother pruning branches who are dead… he just waits for a time of his choosing to gather them up and throw them out…

If you are just receiving all of your desires that help you live a happy life now but won’t last for eternity… watch out…

That’s when you know

And so if you HAVE experienced his pruning… which can be difficult… I want you to know this: He is not looking for fruit because he wants to TAKE something from you.. he’s looking for fruit because he wants to produce life to you.

I think too often we go through seasons of pruning and think, "What do you want from me, God?!?! This really hurts… can’t we be done now!”

“Why are you testing me so hard… don’t you know it’s hard to produce fruit when I feel so weak?!?!?”

But your heavenly Father knows that in your sin and weakness, you are prone to misdirect and waste the life that he has provided for you in Jesus Christ.

He knows that you will seek life in places that provide immediate, but fleeting power and satisfaction…

And ultimately he knows that you cannot produce fruit without his watchful care of pruning.

The Father is actively seeking fruit...

And if you are like most people, you will read those first two verses and get worried... well which one am I!!!

How do I know if I’m producing enough fruit… what if I feel like I can’t produce any MORE fruit…

what if God just gets fed up with me and I become one of the branches he throws away???

Our natural tendency is to get all focused on the fruit… as if God has commanded us to produce fruit apart from the vine...

But I want you to notice… so far in these first three verses that Jesus has not given one command.

How do I produce fruit!!! What if I'm not producing enough!!!

He tells them what the Father is looking for… he tells them who he is as the vine… he tells them ABOUT branches that produce fruit and those that do not… and he gives them a word of assurance… “Already you are clean because of the word I have spoken to you.”

In other words, “You are not the branches that are going to be taken away… that was Judas… he has already gone… you are clean… the Father will continue pruning you, but you are those who have a connection to me by faith… so here’s my command to you…”

“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.” (, ESV)

Our one job is to... Abide in Jesus as the only source of life who can produce the fruit the Father seeks.

And so with the rest of our time today, I want us to just focus and land on this one fact… because it is the most important thing to understand when it comes to living the Christian life:

2) Jesus is the only source of life who can produce the fruit the Father seeks. (15:4-6)

Explain: These 6 verses have only one command, and it is not "bear fruit"... the only command is "Abide."

-These 6 verses have only one command, and it is not "bear fruit"... it is "Abide."

Remember our definition: To remain in constant awareness of, connection to, and dependence on the power and presence of our loving savior.

So if you are looking at your life saying, “I’m not sure if I see fruit… or if I see enough fruit… maybe God isn’t pleased with me because I’m experiencing this pruning...

The answer ISN’T “Go produce more fruit.” It’s not “try harder… do better… or else...”

The answer is: return to a place of constant awareness of, connection to and dependence on the power and presence of our loving savior.

The answer is: go back to the source of life.

For every one look at fruit, take ten looks at Jesus.

Cry out to him as the one who hears and admit your total need for him.

Allow his word to flood your mind as the Holy Spirit brings it to your recollection…

Remember the benefits of his gospel in which he has freed you from the power of sin and raised you to new life in Christ…

Receive the encouragement of his Church and the ordinances he’s given…

Realize the personal presence of the Holy Spirit who indwells you…

And then walk forward in faith that HE is able to do everything in you and through you that he wants to accomplish as you simply surrender in this next moment to him.

Notice that there is this back and forth reciprocal nature to Abiding in verse 4: abide in me and I in you…

As we come to him in faith and dependence, he fills us afresh with his loving power and presence to produce the fruit that only he can produce.

Jesus makes this explicitly clear in v. 5 - “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.” (, ESV)

He is so clear, and yet we so often miss this truth: the branch cannot bear fruit by itself.

There is no internal change of character… no external work of genuine obedience… no multiplying work of ministry... that you can perform FOR God...

in the sense that he is giving you a command… expecting you to perform… and then showing him the results… without providing everything for you that you need.

No he gives the command… kills the sin nature in you through the cross of Jesus Christ… gives you new life and new desires through him… gives you his Holy Spirit to empower you… and performs the results in you.

The Christian life is all one of faith in Christ that yields to his power and presence.

And yet we all can feel the gap that the Father is seeking fruit… and we don’t have what it takes to produce it… and we know that we could produce more fruit…

And it makes us feel like we are falling short... and it makes us feel like we will never measure up…

And God is saying, “I KNOW you CAN’T produce the fruit I’m seeking… that’s why I have attached you to the Vine!”

I put this quote in your reading guide this week from Andrew Murray, a 19th century pastor in the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa… he says this: “When you think how utterly, in times past, you have failed in keeping the most sacred vows, the consciousness of present weakness makes you tremble at the very idea of answering the Saviour's command with the promise, "Lord, from henceforth I will abide in Thee. " And when you set before yourself the life of love and joy, of holiness and fruitfulness, which in the future are to flow from abiding in Him, it is as if it only serves to make you still more hopeless: you, at least, can never attain to it. You know yourself too well. It is no use expecting it, only to be disappointed; a life fully and wholly abiding in Jesus is not for you. Oh that you would learn a lesson from the time of your first coming to the Saviour! Remember, dear soul, how you then were led, contrary to all that your experience, and your feelings, and even your sober judgment said, to take Jesus at His word, and how you were not disappointed. He did receive you, and pardon you; He did love you, and save you-you know it. And if He did this for you when you were an enemy and a stranger, what think you, now that you are His own, will He not much more fulfil His promise? Oh that you would come and begin simply to listen to His word, and to ask only the one question: Does He really mean that I should abide in him? The answer His word gives is so simple and so sure: By His almighty grace you now are in Him; that same almighty grace will indeed enable you to abide in Him. By faith you became partakers of the initial grace; by that same faith you can enjoy the continuous grace of abiding in Him.” (chapter 5)

Jesus knows this better than you do: apart from me you can do nothing. And so he gives the simple command and invitation: abide in me.

I love you. I am with you. I am sufficient to complete the work in you that I started. Come to me and find the life that you need.

Many of us feel the gap that the Father is seeking fruit… and we don’t have what it takes to produce it… but I wonder if we feel it enough???

Do we really believe these words, “apart from me you can do nothing.”

Like “nothing.”

Not a little bit of fruit that will be enough to get us by and satisfy the basic requirements of God.

No, we can do nothing.

Oh, we can do some little things that are not what the Father is seeking… we can do things that have no eternal value at all apart from Christ…

But the things that God is seeking… the things that are truly life… apart from him we can do nothing.

Think about the internal fruit of Character:

Do you seek to produce character by reading self-improvement books or doing humanistic programs?

It’s not the fruit God is seeking.

When you think about growing in character, do you seek to just “try harder next time” when you get angry or impatient.... that’s not what Go wants.

He wants you to cast yourself before Jesus and admit that you are helpless without him.

And then through prayer and the word do battle in HIS power.

Think about the external fruit of obedience...

Do you obey God as a way of performing for him or others… as if he is the audience and you are the main actor… and he’s just going to be so impressed with you...

Do you go through the motions

That’s not the fruit God is seeking.

Apart from Christ, our greatest acts of obedience are tainted with the sin of self-sufficiency and self-righteousness and self-gratification…

And that’s not to say you stop seeking to obey him… it’s instead that you go to him in dependence for the true heart of obedience that only comes from Christ.

Think about the multiplying fruit of ministry...

If you are teaching a kids class or greeting on Sunday morning to show the love of Christ or serving others as part of AROMA or whatever your ministry is…

We can do nothing of lasting value apart from the life source of Jesus in us…

We can do nothing to multiply heart change in the lives of the people around us…

It is only him at work through us… his spiritual gifts… his working in their hearts… his shaping our words… that can produce the fruit God is seeking.

Ultimately, God is seeking the fruit of his true Vine, his Son, not the fruit of dead branches who try to produce life on their own…

This is the reality of verse 6 - “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.”

-Abiding is the nature of saving faith.

You see, without Jesus we are dead… dead in our sin… destined for eternal death in fire and conscious torment in Hell.

-What to do if I don't see the fruit I think I should have: Abide. What to do if I see the fruit: Abide.

Without Jesus we are dead… dead in our sin… destined for fire and eternal conscious torment in Hell.

We have to remember that we start out dead… and then any life is life provided by Jesus Christ himself.

To abide is to come into a genuine union with Christ through faith… and then to live out of that faith every moment of every day.

It means that our old dead sin nature has been crucified with CHrist… and the life of our risen Savior is now the source of our lives in him.

And so if you have never come to that place of believing Jesus is Savior and Lord…

That he lived the perfect life that you could never live...

That he died the death that you deserve to die...

And that he rose again to conquer the enemy you could not conquer… Satan, sin and death...

If you have never put your trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord, abiding in Christ starts there… he has to make you clean…

And if you have put your faith and trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord… abiding is then living out that faith in constant awareness of, connection to, dependence on the power and presence of your loving Savior…

It is fully resting in the truth that he HAS done all for you… that you cannot make God love you more… that you cannot add to the payment for your sin because it has already been sufficiently paid for...

It is fully relying on the fact that he IS all for you… that he is right now interceding… that he is with you and imparting to you everything you need in this moment to live the life he has called you to live… and in the moment after that… and in the moment after that…

It is fully trusting that he WILL do all for you… as you come to him in prayer and take him at his word, and as you pursue him with his people… he will produce the fruit that the Father is seeking…

We have to be convinced that we can do nothing without him before we can come to abide in him.

So as the worship team comes, I want you to spend some time with the Lord right now admitting your total need to him… and believing his total provision for you.

We will talk more about the practicalities of abiding next week… but it is basically this: receiving the truth that is in Jesus through his word… believing it… and then seeking him for the life only he can provide.

And so here’s what we need to believe and receive and confess back to him today: apart from you I can do nothing.