Remaining
Notes
Transcript
The Branches
The Branches
Read John 15 1-11
Jesus is the true vine
fruit bearing branch we associated with being a true believer
You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
bearing the fruit of the Spirit
Love ,Joy ,Peace, Patience, Gentleness, Goodness, Kindness, Faithfulness, and Self control
More than last week
having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.
(for the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth),
Leaves only branch we associated with the church go-er, or non church go-er who claims that they are believers in Jesus.
but their ultimate fruit is
Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are sexual immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, things which I am telling you in advance, just as I said before, that the ones who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
What is the benefit, my brothers, if someone says that he has faith but does not have works? That faith is not able to save him, is it?
They are like Judas who look very much like a disciple but are not
so the rest of the time this morning we will be speaking about the christian, the fruit bearing branch.
Not Remaining
Not Remaining
Jesus then speaks about remaining, and not remaining
Here in V 6 Jesus is saying something controversial
If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and dries up, and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
sounds to me like Jesus is saying that someone can lose their salvation
but if that is the case. then a lot of verses here in John are false
For in this way God loved the world, so that he gave his one and only Son, in order that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life.
For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks at the Son and believes in him would have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
No one is able to come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.
Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes has eternal life.
My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give them eternal life, and they will never perish forever, and no one will seize them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can seize them from the Father’s hand.
this is not counting
Romans 8, Philippians 1, and others
some have given this verse to mean our fruit will be burned up
When we get to Heaven our works go through the fire and what comes out is our reward
but lets look at this verse again
“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him—this one bears much fruit, for apart from me you are not able to do anything. If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and dries up, and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
once a fruit bearing, but not now
thrown out, dries up, cast into hell
I believe this is a warning
turn to Acts 28,
here we have Paul on a ship going to Rome
there is a violent storm, they threw everything overboard
things are at their worst
V 22- 25
Paul tells with confidence that every one will be saved physically through the storm
V 27-30, the sailors were escaping the ship
V 31 now there was a condition for all to be saved
the sailors have to stay in the ship
in verse 25 all would be saved
in verse 31 there was a condition for all to be saved
but now you have been reconciled by his physical body through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you remain in the faith, established and steadfast and not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.
this is a warning against shifting / remaining away from the faith
these warnings are the means that we kept
we will heed the warnings
why Because Jesus will ensure that you will
he has prayed that out faith will hold
If it was up to us to preserve our selves we would fail
God is the one preserving our faith
God is the one who ensures that we remain
God is the one holding us
God is the one giving us the faith
God is the one giving us the repentance
SOO if you fail to remain, your faith fails then it is your self will
now lets look at remaining
Remaining
Remaining
But what was sown on the good soil—this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces, this one a hundred times as much, and this one sixty, and this one thirty.”
we all don't bear the same amount of fruit, WHY?
it has to do with how close are we remaining / abiding
Remain in me, and I in you. Just as the branch is not able to bear fruit from itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.
a lot of Christians are trying to do things for God in their own power
If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
How to remain is Basic Christianity.
Sanctifying
Defined in the New Hampshire Baptist Confessional
We believe that Sanctification is the process by which, according to the will of God, we are made partakers of His holiness; that it is a progressive work; that it is begun in regeneration; and that it is carried on in the hearts of believers by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, the Sealer and Comforter, in the continual use of the appointed means—especially the Word of God, self-examination, self-denial, watchfulness, and prayer”
Sanctification is progressive in nature
The Holy Spirit prompts us to be holy, then changes us to be more Christlike
little by little we are changed
Thus we bear more fruit
but we can also grieve the Holy Spirit, and not take his prompting
How big our fruit gets, a lot depends on us
One part of the fruit that we have is Joy
Joy Be Made Full
Joy Be Made Full
Jesus said that He is leaving us His shalom/ peace
and satan wants to take away your peace by making you believe the lie
I have spoken these things to you in order that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be made complete.
Here Jesus is leaving them His Joy
and He wants our joy to be complete
how is our joy complete? by the fruit in us
The basis of joy Jesus had was in correlation to His obedience to the Father
The cross was joy to Jesus
Our being in obedience to the Father will bring more fruit
thus it will bring more peace, and shalom