The Parable of the Vine - pt.4
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Review
Jesus is the vine.
His followers are the branches.
This metaphor extends to all ages, but it answers the more immediate question of Judas.
The Father in heaven is the farmer/vine dresser.
The idea here is that the Father is the One who is working on the Vine for the Vine to be fruitful, productive.
Therefore, as any farmer, the Father is keenly interested in guaranteeing that the Vine is fruitful.
In order to make the Vine the most productive it can be, the Father identifies dead branches and removes them from the Vine.
What does He do with the dead branches?
That is the point of the message today.
“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος, ὑμεῖς τὰ κλήματα. ὁ μένων ἐν ἐμοὶ κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτῷ οὗτος φέρει καρπὸν πολύν, ὅτι χωρὶς ἐμοῦ οὐ δύνασθε ποιεῖν οὐδέν.
Jesus summarizes His point here.
Jesus Christ, the Branch, is the Vine.
He is the source of the life for the branches.
Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
In this case, because He is the source of eternal life those who have eternal life will produce eternal life fruit.
Mark what Jesus says here.
The only ones who produce eternal-life fruit are those who are in Him AND HE IN THEM!
They can be in Him, and be dead!
They can be in Him, and be dead!
He must be in them!
If He is not in them, they will burn in the Lake of Fire (vv.2,6).
Judas.
“So also he bears much fruit…”
“So also he bears much fruit…”
Much fruit = just what it sounds like.
Jesus’ words makes disciples who make fruit, much fruit.
Paul was one such man who bore much fruit.
For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established;
that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.
I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.
But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose.
We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints;
because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel
which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth;
just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf,
and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.
The point is, these men would need to simply concentrate on the ministry of the Word of Christ, which constantly produces fruit.
“…Apart from Me you can make/do nothing…”
“…Apart from Me you can make/do nothing…”
Christ works through them as they abide in Him.
Further, in preaching and shepherding, if they do not do so while abiding in Christ, they will not produce fruit at all and it will only serve to demonstrate their true nature: unregenerate.
The structure of John 15:6-7
The structure of John 15:6-7
The Father’s Activity
The Angel’s Obedience
The Branch’s Eternity
“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.
ἐὰν μή τις μένῃ ἐν ἐμοί, ἐβλήθη ἔξω ὡς τὸ κλῆμα καὶ ἐξηράνθη καὶ συνάγουσιν αὐτὰ καὶ εἰς τὸ πῦρ βάλλουσιν καὶ καίεται.
The Father’s Activity
The Father’s Activity
ἐὰν μή” = unless, except. Almost every use.
Sets up the observation for the disciples.
Jesus states that this is the case.
Unless they witness/observe a man or woman abiding in Christ, and He in them, with the observable fruit, that person has been…
These men need to learn ministry in their respective responsibilities.
The fact is, people will identify with Jesus Christ, but they will not be regenerate.
Then, if it is the case that people will not bear fruit, although being “in (Him),” what will happen to them?
Is their a consequence?
Yes.
Jesus is clear here on this point and we must understand it as well.
Three verbs will tell us what happens:
For those who do not abide in Christ:
1) Thrown away/dried up
2) Gathered up
3) Burned up
“..they are thrown away as a branch and they dry up…”
“..they are thrown away as a branch and they dry up…”
What does this mean?
It means that the Vinedresser has decided to cut away the branch and let it fall to the ground and be severed from the Vine.
How?
What does this look like?
Relationship with v.2:
“every branch in Me that does not bear fruit…”
“If anyone does not abide in Me…”
A branch that is still attached to the Vine that does not bear fruit means that that person does not abide in Christ.
But remember, people abide in Christ all the time.
The issue is, does He abide in them (vv.4-5)?
Jesus told them disciples that if He is in a disciple, that particular disciple cannot help BUT bear fruit.
There will be no guess work.
What is the Vinedresser looking for?
Fruit = discipleship leading to His own glory (v.8)!
The context seems to give us the key:
V. 7 - remain in the Words of Christ.
Vv.7, 16 = prayer
Vv.9-10 = abide in the love of Christ by means of obedience to His commandments.
V.11 = joy
Vv. 12-13 = love for other disciples.
Therefore, the apostles will need to be identifying those who are bearing fruit as to who they should continue to shepherd.
This principle is very important to the Lord:
So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus *said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He *said to him, “Tend My lambs.”
Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed,
shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness;
In the group that identifies with Jesus Christ, the apostles must continue to care for those in the flock who are bearing fruit, even meager fruit (“some thirty-fold…”).
Those who are not are in the category of being cut off the Vine.
Notice what Jesus says in v.6 = “they cast out and they dry up…”
The verbs =
“he is thrown as a branch” = aorist passive indicative = has been thrown…
Or..
John 15:6 (John 12–21 (NAC)): The verbs here are in the aorist indicative. These aorists here are not primarily used in a chronological sense but as Newman and Nida have indicated, they are either used to indicate certainty of action or customary action (the gnomic sense). It is almost as though the evangelist is treating unfruitfulness, either present or future, as already resolved.
= To throw
Matthew 4:18 = a net into the water.
Matthew 17:27 = a hook to catch a fish into the water.
Mark 4:26 = seed that is broadcasted onto the ground for planting.
This verb in this form is used 9 times in the NT.
Revelation 8:7, 8;12:9,10,13; 20:10, 15.
It can also have the lighter translation of simply placing something somewhere.
Each time outside of John 15:6 = translated as past time passive and in the context is seen as an event that is happening, or has happened, in that vision as historical.
If, we translate that here in that fashion, what we hear is what the disciples have heard: if you identify someone in the assembly who is not bearing fruit, you are witnessing someone who “…has already been cast out (historic)/or is sure to be cast out (gnomic)…” by the Vinedresser.
The following is very important:
Further, if you see the other verbs in this sentence, you find present tense verbs describing something that is future (“they gather…it is burned”).
This would indicate that in order for the branch to be gathered and burned, it must first be detached and cast away.
So, in order to describe this scene, Jesus seems to be really emphasizing that once a man or woman is evidently not bearing fruit, that person is evidencing a work of the Father to cut them off from the Vine.
He either does it once He also has seen that a branch is not producing, or He has already done it and the result is that he/she is not producing.
I favor the latter as it seems best to understand that a branch that is attached to a vine and does not bear fruit does so because he has already been cut off.
It only remains to remove it from the vine and drop it to the ground, a ground of futility and uselessness to the Vinedresser SEPARATED FROM THE VINE.
So, the picture that Jesus is painting for these men as they are heading into the world to continue His ministry is that they will have to identify those in the assembly of God’s children those who are being cleansed, or pruned, by the Father and those who are simply being cut off and dropped to the ground fit only to be gathered and burned.
“…Have (been made to be) dried up…” = same Aorist Passive Indicative.
“…Have (been made to be) dried up…” = same Aorist Passive Indicative.
As a result of being completely cut off from the Vine, first vitally and then physically, the branch “withers.”
That is, it completely dies.
Once, like the fig tree, there might have been some hope for fruit on it because it may have born some leaves.
However, once it has been cursed by God, cut off and dropped, it withers.
It is this way in His church as well.
In the body of Jesus Christ, there will be those who are not producing fruit, essentially likeness to Jesus Christ and His righteousness.
Those men and women and children who are like this, evidenced by being withered, have a fate ahead of them that is described here and is not to be envied.
The Angel’s Obedience
The Angel’s Obedience
“…and they gather them…”
“…and they gather them…”
This verb, as mentioned before, is Present Active Indicative, but it is obviously a future action, when compared with other passages.
But Jesus wants to highlight this in the understanding of these men.
Who is doing the gathering here?
Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”
And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,
and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one;
and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.
“So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.
“The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness,
and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
“Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
“And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
The gathering here is that of assembling them into a mass.
Notice, however, that this reference is only to those who identified with Jesus Christ.
But, how will this happen in the future?
First, realize that as time goes on, the world will have to deal more and more with Jesus Christ.
To illustrate this, realize that men will increasingly attempt to make themselves “Christs”/saviors/messiahs.
So that, in the end, people will align themselves with “a” christ, but one who is a false messiah and not the true one.
In time, a false “christianity” will dominate the world which is why they say this as the judgment:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’
“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
Consider:
2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 = the period of the end of time just prior to the Second Coming.
The true Jesus Christ will be hated, condemned, and His followers will be retaliated against by those who say they know the true messiah and the true god.
They will call the Lawless One “messiah” and worship him as god:
“Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done.
There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him.
And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven.
It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.
The reality is that the world will increasingly want a savior and will manufacture one.
It only has one request: keep the real, true God out of the picture.
Why are the nations in an uproar
And the peoples devising a vain thing?
The kings of the earth take their stand
And the rulers take counsel together
Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
“Let us tear their fetters apart
And cast away their cords from us!”
This will increase the likelihood of imposters and fakers who want to infiltrate the church and transform it from the inside out.
Paul wrote:
But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,
by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,
However, these men need to have the confidence to keep on speaking in the name of the true God, Jesus Christ.
Illustration: 2/3 John = a fully-developed ministry in light of apostasy.
These men and women in the church will come in and lead the saints to another god, another faith, another truth.
The only way to do this is to exalt a man or woman in the church who contradicts the truth, subtly, and the teachers of the truth, subtly, all the while having the appearance of being in Christ.
But, when they are held up to the light of truth and compared to the expectation of fruit, they will be found fruitless which is an indication of:
1) the Father has cut them off.
2) they are withered
3) they are only fit to be gathered up by the angels at the end time.
The Branch’s Eternity
The Branch’s Eternity
And….
“…and cast them into the fire and they are burned…”
“…and cast them into the fire and they are burned…”
This is the consequence of hypocrisy.
Jesus speaks of immeasurable torment in this clause.
The description here is poetic but accurately describes the true fate of all who pretend to be connected to the Vine but He is not in them.
They are what Jesus calls “hypocrites.”
These are men and women who pretend outwardly to have a nature that they don’t actually have.
Let me give you a list of men known to be hypocrites:
Judas = quiet, internally upset, covetous, and went along with the disciple crowd, Satan-friendly
John 6:66; 13:27
Pharisees = money-loving, angry, outwardly righteous, lover of the applause of men, evil in heart, burdening to people.
Matthew 23
Demas = lover of the world, traitorous (Colossians 4:14; Philemon 24; 2 Timothy 4:10) 10 for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica;
Diotrophes = preeminence among the brethren
3 John 9–10
9 I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say.
10 For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church.
Further descriptions are:
Romans 16:17–18
17 Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.
18 For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.
Galatians 1:8–9
8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!
9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!
1 Timothy 1:3–7
3 As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines,
4 nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith.
5 But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
6 For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion,
7 wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.
2 Thessalonians 3:6
6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us.
1 Corinthians 5:11–13
11 But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one.
12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church?
13 But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.
Beloved, this is not to say that true Christians don’t sin.
Of course they do.
However, there is a big difference between committing sins you hate before Jesus Christ and doing wrong things that make you feel bad.
Or, transgressing against Jesus Christ…again, and pretending to not have to deal with sin at all trying to demonstrate that only those weak Christians have to deal with sin.
There are always those in the church who try to convince you of a higher knowledge about the Christian life.
They are the “have’s” and we are the “have-not’s.”
Where will these people go?
“…He/it is burned…”
“…He/it is burned…”
John 15:6 (John 12–21 (NAC)): Failure to produce fruit brings a severe warning concerning the certain end of unfruitfulness. Employing the indefinite pronoun tis (“anyone, someone”), the evangelist separates any unfruitful person from the faithful, persevering, fruitful disciples/branches and indicates that such a person is thrown away and withers.
John 15:6 (TNTC Jn): The allusion is to the autumn pruning, when branches which cannot bear fruit any longer are cut off, thrown into the fire and burned. The implication is that those who do not obey Jesus will experience judgment (cf. 3:18; 8:21, 24; 12:25, 48; 17:12).
“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
“He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.
The Eternal Fire:
In Matthew 25:41 and Jude 7 it is called the “eternal fire.”
Jesus called it a “fiery hell” (Matthew 5:22), an “unquenchable fire (Mark 9:43), and a place that, by fire, is able to destroy both body and soul (Matthew 10:28).
Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians 1:7–9
and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire,
dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,
Peter wrote that the angels are kept there in bondage (2 Peter 2:4) (which means a hypocrite will be cast into the same pot of torment as the angels who sinned forever).
There is no relief, escape, or decrease from the pain.
The torment is from an eternal God for eternity since as long as God lives those will be punished for sinning against Him.
Remember, the words of John the Baptist:
“His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Historically, the church has always had its dead branches. Consider the following passages:
Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.
Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand,
by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?
but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.
For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.
Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;
for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.
V.7 “If ever you abide in Me!, and My Words it abides in you all, if ever you have asked, that which you might wish/will (to be done), and it will become to you all.”
What is this?
First, again a condition.
What are the conditions in this section?
V. 4
V. 6
V. 7
V. 10
Does this teach “pastoral prayer”?
Is this a teaching from Christ to these men concerning prayer?
Obviously.
“If ever you abide in Me…” = ἐὰν μείνητε ἐν ἐμοὶ
This is the first part of the condition.
He has already told them that abiding in Him produces fruit ONLY WHEN He abides in them.
“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
Thus, truly abiding in Christ includes Him abiding in the disciple.
Notice that throughout this section, he has been speaking about those who abide in Him.
However, that group of people does not include the hypocrites, although at first it appeared that it did.
A clearer way to say it is that there are those who identify with Jesus Christ, but do not abide in Him nor He in them.
Because, if they did abide in Him, He would abide in them and they would bear fruit, especially the fruit of prayer (v. 8).
Other side of the condition:
“My Words (it) abides in you…”
What does this mean?
Apparent conditions to prayer: abide in Him; His words abide in you.
What does this mean?
How are these men to have the Words of Christ abiding in them?
NOTE: this verse precludes the idea of “abiding” as “believing.”
You cannot have equate “abide” with “believe” as many do because the same kind of abiding that the disciples are supposed to do in Christ is the same kind of abiding that Christ is to do with them and the word with them.
Therefore, this “abiding” must mean exactly what it appears: to be inside something and remaining there.
Jesus is telling these men not to leave Him, His Words, and, by extension, His purpose.
This opens up the entire parable!
In fact, it opens up so much of the NT!
The idea is to remain with Christ and that He would remain with the disciples.
How could one leave Christ?
Well, if the vinedresser removes them, they would leave.
The connotation is that the disciples are to insure that they remain with Christ, where He is, and in Him by continuing with Him such that the vinedresser would not remove him and throw him away.
The act is simultaneous.
To remove yourself from Christ is to be removed from Christ by God.
Disinterest, habitual transgression, believing a lie, a false Messiah, all indicate leaving Christ.
One like this is evident by the lack of fruit = the Vinedresser is no longer pruning but has cut the branch off and has caused it to wither.
A branch that abides in Christ produces fruit and does not/has not been cut off and caused to wither.
Again, you will know this because that branch is bearing fruit.
Fruit-bearing = abiding in Christ/remainig with Him/remaining in His Word.
Think of those who are dead branches in the NT:
Judas - John 13
Ananias and Sapphira - Acts 5
Simon the Magician - Acts 8
The erring bother - 1 Corinthians 6
The lazy brother - 2 Thessalonians 3
Demas - 2 Timothy 4
The churches Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Laodicea - Revelation 2-3
Diotrophes
Etc…
All these represent disciples who were dead branches whom the Father removed.
They were not producing fruit because they had been removed by the Father’s judgment and, in time, were being removed historically, or before men.
Consider those who remained:
The eleven and Matthias
Paul
Barnabas
Priscilla and Aquila
Epaphroditus
The faithful few in Smyrna and Philadelphia
Demetrius (3 John 12).
These and many others in the NT, all bear the testimony of disciples who remained identifying with Jesus Christ on HIS TERMS and His Word.
Hebrews 6:3-8
Hebrews 10:26-39
Now this makes sense.
Those who identify with all the blessings and powers that come with Christ and then, in time, leave Him, are in a position to have sealed their condition.
They are fit to be burned.
They are those who cannot repent again.
This is called “apostasy.”
It is a “falling away” from
Christ - Hebrews 3:12–14
12 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.
13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,
His Words - 1 Timothy 4:1
1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,
His people - Matthew 24:10
10 “At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another.
His Law (of love) - 1 Timothy 4:2–5
2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,
3 men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth.
4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude;
5 for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.
Therefore, those who remain with Christ, Christ remains with them, will remain in His Word.
John 8:30–32
30 As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him.
31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
“…ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
How is this related to the above truths?
Simple.
Jesus is telling these men what He has been telling them all along: ask God for requests and He will grant them.
Matthew 7:7–11
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
8 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
9 “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone?
10 “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?
11 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!
This reality of prayer becomes a dominant theme in the upper-room discourse:
John 14:13–14
13 “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.
John 15:16
16 “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.
John 16:23–24
23 “In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you.
24 “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.
This is why Peter said that it was crucial for him to remain in “prayer and teh ministry of the Word” (Acts 6:4-5).
This is why James said that prayer has conditions:
James 1:5–8 = the double-minded man is a the man who always backpedals what he says.
The prayer of that kind of man will never be answered since it is not of faith, but a man like this is unstable in all his ways.
James 4:1-4
A man who prays selfishly, temporally, and for his personal gain will not receive that for which he was asking.
The purpose of his prayers is not for the things concerning the kingdom of Christ, but things concerning the kingdom of his pleasures.
James 5:14-18
It is the prayer of a “righteous” man that produces much!
The prayer of the unrighteous, selfishly motivated man does nothing.
Proverbs 15:8–9
8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
But the prayer of the upright is His delight.
9 The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
But He loves one who pursues righteousness.
Proverbs 15:29
29 The Lord is far from the wicked,
But He hears the prayer of the righteous.
Psalm 145:18–21
18 The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He will also hear their cry and will save them.
20 The Lord keeps all who love Him,
But all the wicked He will destroy.
21 My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.
In fact, it might just be that a marriage that is bad is the result of a husband who is not praying, or is praying but not with pure motives:
1 Peter 3:7
7 You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.
1 Peter 3:8–12
8 To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit;
9 not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.
10 For,
“The one who desires life, to love and see good days,
Must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.
11 “He must turn away from evil and do good;
He must seek peace and pursue it.
12 “For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous,
And His ears attend to their prayer,
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
Prayer is like wisdom.
Proverbs 1:20-33
Luke 11:5–13
5 Then He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves;
6 for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;
7 and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’
8 “I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
10 “For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.
11 “Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?
12 “Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he?
13 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
Christ cannot be separated from His Words.
“My Father has been glorified in this in order that you bear much fruit, and you become disciple to me.”
“…In this…” emphatic position.
This refers back to v.7 = remaining in Christ and His Word.
It has been in this that the Father has been glorified.
This goes on to chapter 17 = 14, 20
These men are characterized as those who held onto Christ by means of His Words (cf. John 6:66).
Judas abandoned Christ and His Word.
Thus, the “by this” reality, that they have remained, the Father is glorified.
And, by this fact, that the Father has been glorified by their abiding in Christ and His Word, they would bear fruit.
The Father is therefore glorified by the disciples who remain and in that glory, the Father, by “cleansing” the remaining disciples, gives proof positive of the true nature of those who remain: disciples.
Again, remember,
Hebrews 10:38–39
38 But My righteous one shall live by faith;
And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.
39 But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.
The Father is not glorified in “shrinking back” disciples.
Cf. Acts 20:18-20, 26-27 = Paul did not lower his sails in order to stop going the direction that was intended.
This is why it says further:
Hebrews 10:23–25
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;
24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,
25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
It is precisely those who abandon the local assembly who are evidencing leaving Christ, His Word, and His people.
God is not glorified in this and the fruit of prayer is hindered, and they, in God’s estimation are fit for destruction.
If the vinedresser is glorified, then you will bear much fruit.
The fruit of prayer, answered prayer, glorifies the Father thus producing fruit and therefore confirms discipleship.
Answered prayer, abiding in Christ, remaining in Him, having His Word remaining in you, all evidence the glory of the Father.
The sure result, then, is the fruit of discipleship.