I AM the True Vine (Jn 15:1-17) Intro: Two Misunderstandings about Discipleship 1. Neglecting the emphasis on the Vine and the Vinedresser's Activity 2. Neglecting the emphasis on Fruitfulness in the Christian life Many people, whether they realize it or not, think that the Christian life is chiefly a negative one. But Jesus says, "I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain" (15:16).
Exposition 1. The Father's and the Son's Activity (v1-3)
(a) Purging "We are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation" (Heb 6:6-8)
Application: A warning to fruitless Christians. Spurgeon's experience in Marseilles, "O Lord, may that not be me."
(b) Pruning God sometimes places men on their backs that they might learn to look up to him. (T. Watson)
Application: An encouragement to afflicted Christians. "Rid me, good Lord, of every diverting thing.. What prodigal waste it appears to be to see scattered on the floor the bright green leaves and the bare stem blessing in a hundred places from the sharp steel, but with a tried and trusted husbandman, there is not a random stroke in it all-nothing cut away which it would not have been loss to keep and gain to lose" (A. Carmichael).
2. Our Activity: Abide in Jesus (v4-6) (a) Having His Word within us and Praying Accordingly (v8) (b) Keeping His Commandments (v9-10) (c) Loving one another as He loved us (v12-13, 17)
3. The Fruit (a) There is joy! (v11) (b) There is a life of friendship with Christ (v15) (c) There is extraordinary significance of life (v16) See Jn 4:36.
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