Sermons
September 29th, 2024 by Pastor Solley091524AM Vine, Branches and Fruit
Sub. Parables
Theme: Parable of the vine and the branches.
Text: John 15:1-11
“Vine, Branches and Fruit” John 15:1-11
Introduction
I want to speak to you this morning about one of the better known parables of our Lord. Most people will know of at least two parables given by Jesus, the seed and the sower, the vine and the branches. A parable is an earthy illustration of a heavenly truth and Jesus taught the people who would hear using parables many times. Here is a parable of a vine, a husbandman, branches and fruit.
John 15:1-11 In this parable the husbandman is God the Father, the vine is Jesus Christ and the branches are those who have placed faith and trust in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone for forgiveness of sin and eternal salvation. – John 15:1-5 – Those in the parable are clearly identified and there will be one later on that will be identified as well that is not one in the vine.
I. One thing that stands out about this parable is when it was given: Jesus has been in the upper room with His disciples observing the Passover and has just left that place and started to the Garden of Gethsemane. – John 14:31 – Up until Jesus entered into that upper room with His disciples he had been using many parables. There are several parables given by Jesus after He entered into Jerusalem on that we call Palm Sunday until they entered the upper room.
A. As Jesus called apart His disciples from the multitude to observe the Passover the tone changes: Jesus no longer speaking to the multitudes, about to go to the cross, a new dispensation about to begin, imparts some special truths to those men set apart for Him.
1. Jesus teaches them a lesson in humility as He washes their feet in John 13: Jesus teaching them to be servants to all.
2. Jesus also teaches them the need for a daily cleansing from sin in John 13: A daily spiritual washing and cleansing.
3. Jesus tells of His betrayal by one close to Him in John 13: And that time it began to hit home if you would.
4. Jesus gives them the cure for troubled hearts in John 14: “Let not your heat be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me”.
5. Jesus tells them of a mansion in heaven that will be waiting for them In john 14: “In my Father’s house are many mansions”.
6. Jesus promises to answer prayer in John 14: “If ye shall ask any thing in My name, I will do it”.
7. Jesus promises a comforter will come to them, the Holy Spirit, in John 14: “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you”.
8. Jesus promises them an indwelling teacher in John 14: That again the Holy Spirit of God.
9. Jesus promises them a peace that passes all human understanding in John 14: “My peace I give unto you”. More things follow in John chapters sixteen and seventeen that we will not take the time to mention right now, but important things.
B. The tone changed when they entered that upper room: None of those things are parables, they are eternal truths that they needed then and that we need today as born again believers in Jesus Christ. The tone changed when they entered that upper room.
II. But then a parable is given, the last one that would be given by Jesus: The parable of the vine and the branches and when it was given and to whom it was given make it very important. Many of the parables given before to lost people to help lead them to Jesus.
A. But this one given specifically to His disciples, eleven of them who would become apostles: That also makes it very important and while there are no apostles today we can be His disciples just as they were and this parable then becomes one for us today.
1. We will see it is a parable of instruction: How to bear fruit for our Lord.
2. We will see it is a parable of encouragement: Another promise of answered prayer for His fruit bearers.
3. And we will also see it is a parable of warning: And the warnings in this parable are often overlooked.
B. But all three truths presented in this parable are for us today: The instruction, the encouragement, and the warning.
PROP: Let us consider the last parable given by Jesus and the instruction, the encouragement and the warning it has for us today.
Body
I. The warning for the lost: John 15:6 We begin here because the most important thing in this world is having a true and genuine relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, one where we know Him and Him alone as our personal savior from sin and hell. Some look at this verse as one having been saved and then losing his or her salvation. They have been with Jesus, they know who Jesus is, they know all about Jesus and they have been following Jesus and now something happened, some sin committed by them, and Jesus cast them away to eternal fire in hell. – John 15:6 – Isolate the verse and one can be led to that false interpretation.
A. Jesus is not speaking here of one who has lost salvation, but of one who has never been saved: Several things prove that to be true.
1. The parable itself: John 15:1-5 Notice these branches are in Him. – John 15:2 – These branches are in Christ. Part of the meaning of the word abide is to be in. These branches are in Him, are in Christ.
a. Then we come to a branch that is not in Christ. – John 15:6 – This branch is not taken out of Christ and cast away.
b. This branch was never in Christ.
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2. Then we have the evidence of the very words of Jesus before the parable was given: John 10:27-28 If the one in verse 6 of our text loses salvation he had then one of two things are going on in John 10, Jesus didn’t fully understand salvation or Jesus was lying.
3. Then we have Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus: John 11:26 That word die speaks not of a physical death, but a spiritual death that leaves on in hell for all eternity. If the one in our text loses salvation then Jesus does not fully understand salvation or is lying.
4. My Bible tells me it is impossible for God to lie in Heb 6:18 and that Jesus knows all things in 1 John 3:20: I believe Jesus knows exactly what He is talking about, knows all things, that it is impossible for Jesus to lie and I know what the words eternal and never mean. That one in the parable did not lose salvation, he was never saved. – John 15:6
B. This hits home to those men because there had been a pretender with them for a little over three years: By the time this parable was given Judas had left them and went to the Pharisees and the High Priest and betrayed Jesus.
1. But Judas had been with them for three years, pretending to be one of them: Judas heard the preaching and followed Jesus. Judas saw the miracles and gave glory to Jesus. Judas acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah, God in the flesh. Judas was with them.
2. Everyone of the eleven thought Judas was truly saved, was one of them: They trusted Judas so much they made him the treasurer of the group. They trusted Judas so much that when Jesus told that one of them would betray Him none of them thought of Judas.
3. But Judas was a pretender, Judas was never truly born again: Judas went along with the program, Judas had the language down pat, Judas gave up all to follow along, Judas served, Judas even endured the persecution with the others. But Judas was a pretender and was never truly born again.
4. Many wonder why Jesus chose Judas to be one of the twelve knowing all things as Jesus did and does: I believe to show the apostles this very truth, that there will be goats among the sheep, there will be tares among the wheat, there will be wolves in sheep’s clothing, there will be those who creep in and they are just pretenders, they have never been truly born again.
C. That warning should continue to hit home today: There are still pretenders today, still those who profess and not possess Christ.
1. An individual can know about Jesus, believe all that the Bible says about Jesus, have all the language of salvation, profess to know Jesus as their savior, give a testimony of salvation, and not be saved: The demons cast out of Legion knew about Jesus, believed what the Bible said about Jesus, knew the language of salvation and acknowledge who Jesus is and they will spend eternity in hell.
2. An individual can go along with the program and even serve and not be saved: My Father was saved when I was five years old and people had thought he had been saved for years. He was serving as a deacon in a Baptist church and was not saved. You can be a pretender and not be saved. You can serve and not be saved. You can profess Jesus and not possess Jesus Christ.
D. This warning needs to hit home today: John 15:6 I don’t know your heart this morning just like you don’t know mine, but Jesus does and Jesus knows who is a pretender, Jesus knows who professes and does not possess Him today just as He did then. Are you a branch in Him or are you a branch that just pretends to be in Him? When I began to study for this message none of it was going to be about salvation. I ask almost weekly if one needs to be saved and no hands go up. But the more I prayed about this message, the more I read the passage, the more the Holy Spirit moved me first to the warnings and not the instruction and encouragement.
1. Everyone in this room this morning knows what the Bible says about Jesus Christ: If you don’t I can tell you. (1) Jesus Christ is God in the flesh and He took upon Himself the form of man so He could come into this world and save you. (2) Jesus loves you, gave His life and shed His blood on the cross so you could be saved from sin and hell. (3) Jesus died and then arose from the grave three days later a victor over sin and death. (4) Jesus stands before you this morning inviting you to repent and receive Him as your savior.
2. Everyone in this room knows the language of salvation: If not I can tell you. Rom 10:9-10 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
3. Everyone in this room knows that only Jesus can save: If not I can tell you. Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
4. Everyone in this room knows you cannot work for salvation, cannot work your way to heaven: If not I can tell you. Eph 2:8-9
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
5. But is everyone in this room saved and on their way to haven? That I don’t know but God does.
E. There is a warning for the lost so I ask, is this warning for you today? John 15:6 Is God warning you that it is time to stop being a pretender? We are going to have an invitation right now and I don’t want to know anything other than this, is the Holy Spirit speaking to you, is it time for you to stop being a pretender and come to Jesus Christ today?
II. There is also a warning for the saved: John 15:1-4 I would rather get to the instruction and encouragement, but there is also a warning here for the redeemed in Christ, for those who are saved.
A. Notice the branch here is in the vine: John 15:2 That is why the branch is not cast into the fire, it is in the vine. But there is a part of the branch that needs to be taken away. – John 15:2 This is a warning for the redeemed, for those in the vine.
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1. What is keeping you, what is keeping me, from making a full commitment, from giving our all to Jesus Christ? Jesus not only wants us to come to Him for salvation, Jesus also wants us to give ourselves fully to Him. – 1 Cor 6:19-20 – Jesus want us to know that we have been bought with a price, that we are His purchased possession. – 1 Cor 6:19-20 – As His purchased possession Jesus wants all of us. A down payment has not been paid, the price of our salvation has been paid in full by the life and shed blood of Jesus Christ.
2. Not only does Jesus desire our full commitment, He deserves it: Rom 12:1-2 It is only reasonable that when a price has been paid in full that one takes full possession of that which has been purchased.
a. We are not a time share, Jesus paid the full price for our soul.
b. We are not a lay away possession that us older ones understand, Jesus paid the full price for our soul.
3. Jesus not only desires but deserves our full commitment: But how many are willing to make that full commitment? Very few are willing to make that full commitment that Jesus Christ desires and deserves. The evidence of that is the life we choose to live.
4. We need be careful not to allow things into our lives, branches, that hinder our commitment to the Lord: Jesus says that he can remove those things from our lives. – John 15:2 – What Jesus says Jesus means and there my be things in our lives that God gives us time to remove and we may think that they do not matter to God but that is not what the Bible teaches. In fact the Bible teaches that we are to lay aside, to remove anything that hinders our walk with the Lord because those things become sin in our lives. – Heb 12:1 – In time those things will catch up with us and God has every right to remove them. – Gal 6:7-8 – And God often allows us to reap what we sow before taking those things out of our lives, before God interveners and removes that branch from us.
ILL. This is an illustration but it is also a true account of a series of events I remember from my teen years. In a church service that I was in a man went forward and publicly presented his life for service for the Lord. By his own words he revealed that God had called him into the pastoral ministry and he vowed he would do any and all things to see that call through. He revealed those things with his own words and asked the church for help in fulfilling that call as he was married and had children. The church took him on for support, helped send him off to Practical Bible College in New York, paid for many of his expenses. In just a few months the man returned home with his family, quitting school, and saying he could not leave his father and mother and after they had passed he would return to school. On a return trip to NY to pack up he demolished his car. He returned home and within six months both his mother and father had passed. He did not return to school, be blamed God for the trials, be became bitter and destroyed his life… and the lives of his wife and children as well. I have often thought of him through the years and John 15:2.
4. It is the desire of Jesus that we make a full commitment and that is only reasonable: Luke 9:59-62 The problems here being that with the first man his parents were not dead and with the second he would not come back if he returned home. Both had branches that needed to be removed if they were going to make that full commitment that Jesus desired and deserved.
B. We need to look within our lives to acknowledge and confess what branches are there that need to be removed: John 15:1-2 The husbandman knows and the vine knows what branches need to be removed and we need to acknowledge them and be rid of them.
1. There is no one in this room sanctuary this morning that does not have some branches that need to be removed: That includes the pastor as none of us are perfect, none of us are without a few branches that need to be removed.
2. The branches that are there may not be evil in and of themselves until we allow them to hinder our walk and commitment to Jesus Christ: I know there are things in my life I need keep a check on, not evil things but things that can become evil.
a. I like sports as most here know. I played sports and I like sports and they are not evil. But they can become a branch in my life.
(1) There was a revival service on Monday night I had opportunity to attend. There was also a football game. What to do, go to church or allow that to become a branch that hinders me?
(2) Same thing on Thursday night. What to so, go to church or allow that to become a branch that hinders me?
(3) Door to door soul winning yesterday at 1:30 but a good college football game was on. What to do, go door to door or allow that to become a branch that hinders me?
b. I enjoy hunting and nothing wrong with hunting. Now there is Sunday hunting in PA.
(1) Go hunting on Sunday or be in church. I need be careful not to allow that branch to hinder me.
(2) But I can hunt between services. What if something happened while I was hunting that caused me to miss church.
c. The smart phone can become a branch in our lives. I have one but I need be sure I do not spend more time on that phone, playing games, getting on social media, than I spend in my Bible and in prayer. It can be a problem, a branch that needs to be removed.
3. I need to keep the branches that hinder me out of my life: I shouldn’t wait for God to remove them, I need to remove them. I have a warning given to me that God can take those things out of my life against my will and when God removes them it most likely will not be an enjoyable experience. – John 15:2 – When something is cut out it is not an enjoyable experience and I have had some things in my life that God had to cut out.
4. I need be sure there is nothing I allow in my life to hinder the race I am running: Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
C. There is a warning here for the redeemed in Christ: John 15:1-2
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III. An additional purging for those who have had those branches removed: John 15:1-2 The branches that hindered have been removed, the things that hinder the Christian walk and service for the Lord Jesus Christ have been removed, but then there is an additional purging that takes place. – John 15:2 – Fruit bearing trees need the dead branches removed but they also need purging, a continual purging if they are going to continue to produce fruit.
A. We as born again believers in Christ also need a continual purging: Why? Because of three things, the enemy we face, the flesh we have, and the world we live in. All three work together to ruin the branches in our lives that are producing fruit. – John 15:2
1. Satan knows what hindered us in the past, what needed to be removed, and Satan will continually try and bring those things back to us over and over again: Whatever it is, Satan will bring it back to us.
a. I saw that big buck on Saturday, why not hunt it on Sunday? I might not miss church, why not hunt it on Sunday?
b. My favorite football team made the Super Bowl, why not have an all day service on Sunday so I can see the game? Why not cancel church Sunday night so I can watch the game?
c. Whatever branch has been in your life in the past Satan will bring to you time and time again. Satan is an enemy I face.
2. Our flesh always desires pleasure and pleasures that are not Godly: 2 Peter 2:9-10 Notice again verse ten. – 2 Peter 2:10 – There are times when I know my flesh is moving towards uncleanness, to sin and I need help. My flesh is an enemy I face.
3. There is the constant pull of the world: 1 John 2:16-17 Always something of the world we want to move toward. If the world has no pull on your life, on your affections, on things that turn to lust you are unique.
B. This preacher needs a continual purging for those things of the past keep trying to come back and it seems new things daily: I am waiting for the day that I need no to help from above to keep the branches out, to keep the branches bearing fruit purged.
1. That day will come when I stand complete with Jesus Christ:
2. That day will come when I hear the shout and the trumpet sound:
Conclusion
I was my desire when I began to study for this message to focus on the instruction and encouragement that is found in the parable of the vine and the branches. The Holy Spirit would not allow that and I had to speak of the warnings this morning.
I. The warning for the lost: John 15:6 We begin here because the most important thing in this world is having a true and genuine relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, one where we know Him and Him alone as our personal savior from sin and hell. Some look at this verse as one having been saved and then losing his or her salvation. They have been with Jesus, they know who Jesus is, they know all about Jesus and they have been following Jesus and now something happened, some sin committed by them, and Jesus cast them away to eternal fire in hell. – John 15:6 – Isolate the verse and one can be led to that false interpretation.
II. There is also a warning for the saved: John 15:1-4 I would rather get to the instruction and encouragement, but there is also a warning here for the redeemed in Christ, for those who are saved.
III. An additional purging for those who have had those branches removed: John 15:1-2 The branches that hindered have been removed, the tings that hinder the Christian walk and service for the Lord Jesus Christ have been removed, but then there is an additional purging that takes place. – John 15:2 – Fruit bearing trees need the dead branches removed but they also need purging, a continual purging if they are going to continue to produce fruit.