I Am the Vine - John 15:1-11

Introduction

John 15:1–11 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. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Jesus is the True Vine/True Israel - Every promise God made to His people is fulfilled in Christ and can be ours if we are found in Him.

2 Sam. 7:10 “And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly,”

Psalm 80:8 “You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.”

Isaiah 5:1–7 (ESV)

Let me sing for my beloved

my love song concerning his vineyard:

My beloved had a vineyard

on a very fertile hill.

He dug it and cleared it of stones,

and planted it with choice vines;

he built a watchtower in the midst of it,

and hewed out a wine vat in it;

and he looked for it to yield grapes,

but it yielded wild grapes.

And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem

and men of Judah,

judge between me and my vineyard.

What more was there to do for my vineyard,

that I have not done in it?

When I looked for it to yield grapes,

why did it yield wild grapes?

And now I will tell you

what I will do to my vineyard.

I will remove its hedge,

and it shall be devoured;

I will break down its wall,

and it shall be trampled down.

I will make it a waste;

it shall not be pruned or hoed,

and briers and thorns shall grow up;

I will also command the clouds

that they rain no rain upon it.

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts

is the house of Israel,

and the men of Judah

are his pleasant planting;

and he looked for justice,

but behold, bloodshed;

for righteousness,

but behold, an outcry!

Israel was the vine God had planted for His own glory and enjoyment, however, Israel never lived up to being what God desired for it to be. He was not surprised by this, however, as the vine of Israel was meant to point forward to the true vine, which is Jesus.

As Jesus is approaching His death on the cross, He is giving His disciples the assurance that there will also be life and strength found in Him and that His death on the cross will not invalidate that promise, but will only serve to actually fulfill that promise. So He is inviting them to come to Him and find their lives within Himself.

Jesus calls us to abide (live) in Him. It is only by being found in union with Christ through His death, burial, and resurrection that we can have the life and joy that is promised to God’s people. The invitation for all, Jews and Gentiles alike, is to be grafted into Christ, the true vine, to share in His joy.

I. Life is Found in Christ alone (vv. 2, 6)

If Jesus is the True Israel, and Israel is God’s Covenant people, then the only way we can become part of God’s people is to experience life within Christ.

So the warning here is that anyone who does not abide in Christ is not a part of God’s Covenant people. Jesus tells us that every branch that does not bear fruit will be taken away, and later in verse 6 Jesus makes the claim that if anyone does not abide in Him He is thrown away like a branch and withers and thrown into the fire and burned.

When you have a tree with dead branches on it, for the sake of the tree and the other branches, those dead branches need to be removed and disposed.

This should give us cause for concern reading these words, because Jesus is saying it is possible for someone to claim to be a part of Jesus and yet to be dead because they really are not abiding in Him. Simply making a profession of faith and walking down the aisle to pray a prayer does not necessarily mean you have eternal life. It is not about saying some magic words, but truly living life in faith and obedience to Christ and as a result, we will see fruit being produced. We will talk in a bit about what that fruit is, but know, if there is no fruit that can be seen in your life, it might be a sign hat we are not truly believers in Christ and today is a day to make that change.

Jesus is talking with His disciples, most of whom Jesus confirms they are clean. However, one of His disciples were found not to truly be a part of Christ. Judas Iscariot, while he spent his time with Jesus and heard the words Jesus taught and saw the miracles Jesus performed, never truly abided with Christ and found life in Him. Out of the twelve, he was one of the branches that claimed to be a part of Jesus, but was dead and was thrown into the fire. This is imagery that is once again pointing to the reality of hell for all those who refuse to truly come to Jesus, but simply try to get to God through their own religious efforts. Do not allow your religion to keep you from finding life in a personal relationship with Jesus through faith and repentance!

My prayer is that no one here would get to the end of life and say they simply claimed to be a follower of Jesus, but never truly lived in Christ.

II. The Father Desires to Produce Fruit (v. 2-8)

A. The Fruit of the Spirit

So when we hear Jesus speak of bearing fruit, what fruit is He talking about? This is not the fruit of moral legalistic behaviors. While our behavior will change as we grow in Christ, we are not simply looking at the outward behaviors to determine if we are truly bearing fruit.

The fruit Jesus is talking about is the fruit that comes from a changed heart. Paul tells us what this fruit is in Galatians 5:22-23

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

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

If we are abiding in Christ, our hearts will begin to produce the fruit of the Spirit. Notice he says “fruit” and not “fruits”. We do not pick and choose which fruits we like, but all of these descriptions are part of the one fruit God desires to produce within us. You cannot really have love without patience or goodness without faithfulness or self-control. These all go together.

I’ve heard someone say, I don’t really have the gift of love, to excuse why they were always so contrary to others. The scary thing about that statement is, if we are abiding in Christ, these all should be produced within us, however imperfectly and if we cannot see them, then again, we have to ask ourselves, are we really abiding in Christ?

B. The Fruit cannot be self-produced, but only produced by the Holy Spirit in Christ

C. We experience pruning so we can bear more fruit

III. We Abide in Christ by Resting in His Love

A. We experience the love of Christ as we are

B. We repent (turn from) how we have disobeyed God

C. We believe in Christ’s love for us, growing in our love for Him and leading us into obedience to His commands

D. As we grow in Christ’s love for us and our love for Him we experience joy and satisfaction of life that we cannot experience anywhere else