In his sermon 'Jesus the True Vine,' Jason Dohm explores John 15:1-8, focusing on the imagery of the vine and branches. He positions Jesus as the true vine, contrasting with the Old Testament depiction of Israel as God's vine. Dohm examines four significant Old Testament texts (Psalm 80, Isaiah 5, Jeremiah 2, and Ezekiel 19), showing how Israel often failed to bear good fruit, leading to judgment. Jesus, however, fulfills and perfects this imagery, offering a new covenant that ensures fruitfulness through abiding in Him. The sermon highlights Jesus' role as the source and sustainer of life, while the Father, as the vine dresser, prunes believers for increased fruitfulness. Dohm emphasizes that abiding in Jesus—likened to continuously eating His flesh and drinking His blood—leads to bearing fruit, which glorifies God. He warns against self-righteousness and underscores the necessity of genuine faith. The sermon concludes by asserting the inseparability of abiding in Christ, bearing fruit, and being His disciple.

Our sermon text for this morning was John chapter 15 verses 1 through 8. That does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me I am the vine you are the branches he who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit for without me you can do nothing if anyone does not abide in me he is cast out as a branch and is withered and they gathered them and throw them into the fire and they are burned If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. By this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit so you will be my disciples.

Let's pray. Oh gracious heavenly father we do thank you and praise you for your word. We thank you for this call to abide in you the one true vine. Oh lord god as the text is preached today lord god I pray that any any bit of works righteousness within us, Father, that it would be cast aside, be thrown away. Lord God, that we be seeking out to abide in you the only way that we could bear fruit Lord God show us the ways in our hearts help us to repent Lord God out there those that are in this room today Father that do not know you.

Lord God I pray that this text would make them throw off all confidence in themselves to seek to abide in you to repent of sins to trust in you fully. We pray for Mr. Dome that you would give him wisdom as he preaches. Help our ears to hear. Your son's name we pray, Amen.

The title of the sermon this morning is Jesus the true vine. As we just sang, If I do it anywhere close to right, God will reveal His glory through the preaching of His Word today. There really is a glorious Jesus set forth in the text today. So I hope I can do it just a fraction of the justice that it deserves. This is about Jesus, the true vine.

If you have Jesus, you have life that will sustain you to the end and make you fruitful. So we should rejoice in that. Just as a reminder, we're midstream in the middle of a single discourse. There are five chapters of continuous teaching that we're in the midst of. It starts in chapter 13.

It ends at the end of chapter 17. We just ended a portion of this teaching and the last words that Jesus said before chapter 15 begins is, arise, let us go from here. So it's possible that they're actually in transit, they're walking to Gethsemane, as Jesus says that. I think that's a strong possibility. Here's a roadmap for our time.

Number one, we're going to look at the Old Testament backdrop of the vine and the vine dresser imagery, it has a rich history in the Old Testament. If you just start in 15, you really can get the central truths of what Jesus is teaching. But if you go back and look at the Old Testament backdrop you get so much more depth and richness to it. So we're going to start there. Number two, I'll speak briefly about this being the seventh and final I Am statements.

Jesus in the Gospel of John, this is unique to the Gospel of John, says, I Am, fill in the blank, seven times, sets himself forward as seven different things. And this is the final one of those statements in the Gospel of John. Three, I'm going to give you a word about parables. I'm going to say again some of the things that I've said previously about how to handle parables responsibly so that the fact that it's a parable doesn't get you in trouble. Really important with this text.

And then fourth, and finally, I'll lay out what I believe are the key truths of the parable. So as we go to the text, let's go to the text in prayer. Oh God, teach us to be present by your Spirit moving in our hearts and giving us the help that you promised us to teach us all things and to bring to remembrance all things that Jesus taught when He was on earth. Thank you for this powerful, powerful Word picture. I pray that we wouldn't come and go unchanged.

We would come to it and you would move us forward. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Number one, the Old Testament backdrop. A backdrop is a historical context.

If you come to a teaching that has a historical context, but you're not aware of that backdrop, then at best, you miss the depth and richness of what's being taught. And at worst you actually misunderstand it. You actually come to the new teaching that has a historical backdrop and you miss it all together because you didn't understand the foundation that the person using the imagery is actually building on. I think that's definitely true here. A historical backdrop is a baseline of understanding from history.

Why is this important? Well, it's important because the eleven men who are hearing these words out of Jesus' mouth would have thoroughly understood the backdrop, the historical context, their minds, the well-trained Jewish minds, and after three and a half years with Jesus, you cannot believe anything other than these are eleven well-trained Jewish minds. Jesus has been instructing them in the Scriptures and at that time that only means the Old Testament Scriptures in addition to the preaching that he's been doing. So I want to take us to four texts of Scripture which provide the historical context for the backdrop. The first is Psalm 80.

Turn to Psalm 80. My comments on these are going to be very brief because I don't have time to do anything other than that. The careful exposition hopefully will be about John 15, not about these other texts. But I at least want to familiarize you with them. Psalm 80 is actually a Psalm of Asaph and I'll be reading verses 8-16.

Psalm 80 verses 8-16. Here's what the Psalmist writes. You, God, have brought a vine out of Egypt. You have cast out the nations and planted it. You prepared room for it and caused it to take deep root.

And it filled the land. The hills were covered with its shadow and the mighty cedars with its boughs. She sent out her boughs to the sea and her branches to the river. Why have you broken down her hedges so that all who pass by the way pluck her fruit. The boar out of the woods uproots it, and the wild beast of the field devours it.

Return, we beseech you, O God of hosts. Look down from heaven and see, and visit this vine, and the vineyard which your right hand has planted, and the branch that you made strong for yourself. It is burned with fire. It is cut down. They perish at the rebuke of your countenance.

The last two verses talk about God actually renewing his care for the vine. I suspect that there are very messianic things there, but I can't prove that I'm not prepared to do that today. It doesn't matter. The basic points from Psalm 80 are that Israel is the vine. You have brought a vine out of Egypt.

God brought Israel, Jacob, the descendants of Abraham out of their bondage in Egypt. Israel is the vine, and God is the vineyard owner and the vinedresser. And he came out. He gave them a land. He planted them in that land, He planted their roots down deep, it went down to the river, He planted it so that it had an abundant source of all that it needed.

We'll find when we finally get to John 15 that Jesus uses almost identical language to what Asaph has used in Psalm 80 about the cutting down of the vine, the burning with fire of an unfruitful vine that was given every advantage but didn't bear good fruit and then was judged by the Lord. This language that Jesus is using has precedent. There is a backdrop. Turn to Isaiah 5, this is the second text. I think I picked the four best, but not the four only from the Old Testament.

There's more, but I'm giving you a fair amount. Isaiah chapter 5 verses 1-7. Isaiah 5, 1-7. Isaiah writes this, Now Let me, Isaiah, sing to my well-beloved, capitalized, to God, my well-beloved, a song of my beloved regarding his vineyard. My well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.

He dug it up and cleared out his stones and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst and also made a wine press in it. So he expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge please between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done to my vineyard that I have not done in it?

Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? And now please let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned, and break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will lay it waste, it shall not be pruned or dug, but there shall come up briars and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.

For the vineyard of The Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold oppression, for righteousness, but behold a cry for help." What are the basic points? By the way, did you notice it's almost exactly the same as Psalm 80. Asaph and Isaiah are saying essentially the same thing. Israel and the men of Judah are the vine.

God is the vineyard owner and the vine dresser. He gave this vine every advantage. He planted it on a fruitful hill. He took away the stones so that its roots could go deep. He planted a watch tower in the middle of it for its care and defense.

He gave the vine every advantage. And because of his care, he had expectations of good fruit. It's one of the key points here. Because of the care of the vineyard owner and the vinedresser, he had a rightful expectation of good fruit. All he got was wild grapes.

Verse 5, it shall be burned. Verse 6, it shall not be pruned or dug. I'm done pruning this unfruitful vine." Turn to Jeremiah chapter 2. The third Old Testament text which forms the historical backdrop for Jesus is Jeremiah chapter 2 verses 20-22. Jeremiah 2, 20-22.

Jeremiah writes, Jeremiah 2, 20-22. Jeremiah writes, For of old I have broken your yoke, and burst your bonds. This is the voice of God through the prophet. For of old I have broken your yoke and burst your bonds. And you said, I will not transgress when on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down playing the harlot.

Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality. How then have you turned before me into the degenerate plant of an alien vine? For though you wash yourself with lie and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me, says the Lord God." Obviously, this is a pronouncement of judgment. This last verse talks about their self-righteousness. You wash yourself again and again with soap and lye.

Your iniquity is marked before me. Your efforts of self-righteousness are nothing before me. What are the basic points here in Jeremiah 2? Israel is divine. If you look back at verse 4, you see, Here the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob and all the families of the house of Israel.

So here again in Jeremiah 2, Israel is divine. God is the vineyard owner and the vinedresser, just like Psalm 80, just like Isaiah 5. God is the vineyard owner and the vine dresser and again God has been good has given the vine every advantage Israel has been unfaithful and so God deals with them accordingly. Ezekiel 19, finally and fourthly, have I ever covered so much ground so fast? I think not.

We're setting a record. Israel 19 verses 10 through 14. That probably means I'm dealing with it too superficially, but here we go. Ezekiel 19 verses 10 through 14. Your mother was like a vine in your bloodline, planted by the waters, fruitful, full of branches, because of many waters.

She had strong branches for sceptres of rulers. She towered in stature above the thick branches, and was seen in her height amid the dense foliage. But she was plucked up in fury. She was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried her fruit. Her strong branches were broken and withered.

This is Jesus' language. Her strong branches were broken and withered. The fire consumed them. And now she is planted in the wilderness in a dry and thirsty land. Fire has come down from a rod of her branches and devoured her fruit, so that She has no strong branch, a scepter for ruling.

This is a lamentation, and has become a lamentation. What are the basic points? Israel is the vine. Sound familiar? God is the vineyard owner and the vine dresser.

Again, we have the similar language in verse 12. Just what Jesus is going to talk about, about the withering of a vine, and being consumed by fire. These would have been known texts. Would the eleven have known Psalm 80? You bet.

Would the eleven have known Isaiah 5? You bet. Would the eleven have known Jeremiah 2? You bet. Would the eleven have known Ezekiel 19?

You bet, when Jesus started talking about himself as divine and his father as the divine dresser, the eleven would have been tracking right with him. This has a historical context that gives it depth, richness. Now, back to our text in John 15. Look closely at verse Verse 1, does Jesus say, I am the vine? No.

Well, yes and no. Jesus says, I am the true vine. What does that mean? Consider John 6, 32. Listen to this.

Jesus said this in John 6, 32. Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, But my Father gives you the true bread from heaven." So what's he saying? That manna was fake bread? No. He's saying that manna was a type that pointed forward to a reality and that he is the reality.

So yeah, Moses gave you physical bread. You needed it. It sustained you in the wilderness. Guess what? It's just a picture of something greater coming and I am the fulfillment of the picture.

So you needed the bread, praise the Lord for 40 years of bread, it's not the true bread, I'm the true bread, I'm the fulfillment of the picture. It is exactly the same Greek word and exactly the same use of that word by Jesus here. I am the true vine. Israel was a picture and real. I'm the fulfillment of that picture.

I'm the substance of what Israel was foreshadowing. I normally think of Israel as the Old Testament picture, so far so good, and New Testament believers as the reality of the picture. And that's true, but this text teaches us that that is incomplete. So that's true. The New Testament people of God, real believers, true believers, are the fulfillment of Old Testament Israel.

The picture of Old Testament Israel, but that is incomplete. Consider Matthew 2, 15. This has actually been a wonderful revelation to me this week. Consider Matthew 2, verse 15, where Matthew the Gospel writer quotes Hosea 11, 1, out of Egypt I called my son. Matthew the gospel writer quotes Hosea 11.1, Old Testament prophet, out of Egypt I called my son.

Now Matthew the Gospel writer is making a point about Herod and the annihilation of the infants in and around Bethlehem in the attempt to stamp out the king of Israel because he wanted to be the king of Israel and Joseph and Mary taking Jesus and fleeing to Egypt and then Jesus returning from Egypt. He quotes 11.1. I wonder if Hosea for one second thought that verse was about the Messiah. When you read it in context, when you study Hosea and read Hosea 11.1 in context, and then you look at Matthew 2 verse 15 and the gospel writers usage of that verse, one of two things has to be true. Either Matthew misquoted, misrepresented Hosea 11.1, which cannot be true if you believe in the inerrancy of scripture, or Jesus is the fulfillment of the picture of Israel.

So I'll take option two there. Matthew the Gospel writer actually did understand, rightly, Hosea 11.1, that Israel was just a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and Jesus is the fulfillment of Israel. Israel, the professing people of God in the Old Testament, some of whom were saved by faith and some of many of whom were not saved by faith. Many Old Testament Israelites will not be with you in heaven and many will and how will those be in heaven? By faith, just like you're in heaven.

Is God's vine, Israel the professing people of God, some saved, some not saved, is God's vine, but they often didn't bear fruit. And they were judged for it when they didn't bear fruit. Then comes Jesus who purchases a people with his own blood and makes them one with himself. So it's not just the New Testament people of God as a fulfillment of Israel is the picture. It is Jesus united by his own blood with his people that is the fulfillment of Israel.

So the New Testament people of God, yes, joined with Christ, because of Christ, owing it all to Christ, that makes us the fulfillment of the Old Testament picture. He is our source of life. He sustains our life. The Father prunes us in Him so that we would bear fruit and then bear more fruit, bear an abundance of fruit. This is what we have in John 15.

Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament backdrop that I gave you a sampling of, a portion of, Jesus is the fulfillment of that. Only without Jesus, they couldn't sustain good fruit bearing. And they didn't. There were times when they did. God did plant them in good soil.

They were His people. He did give them every advantage. And there were periods of time where the people of God did bear good fruit, but it never lasted. But Now, in Christ, joined with the head of the body, things are new, things are different. It's a new covenant founded on better promises.

So that was number one, the Old Testament backdrop. And you see how they are joined together. Jesus is the fulfillment of that backdrop, and the perfecting of that backdrop. Number two, the seventh and final I AM statement. So if you're taking notes on the handout, seventh and I AM fills in your blanks.

The seventh and final I AM statement. This is unique to the Gospel of John. Jesus has a series of sayings. I am blank to communicate all the things that He is to His people. Together, taken together, you have a full-orbed picture, A complete picture of what Jesus is to his people.

It started in John chapter 6 verse 35. I am the bread of life. Then I am the light of the world. Then I am the door of the sheep, then I am the good shepherd, then I am the resurrection and the life, then I am the way, the truth and the life. Now I am the true vine.

By the way, next week we're going to take an opportunity to collect all those up together and just revel, rejoice in all the things that Jesus is to his people. So we'll just pull all the I AM statements together. It will be super fun to preach that because it will just be about the beauty of Jesus and all he is to us. It definitely is a claim to deity. It is a subtle reference to Jesus being the I Am of the burning bush in Exodus 3.

There are actually less subtle claims to that outside of these seven statements in the Gospel of John. I'm sure I'll touch on that next week also. But even if you say, well that's pretty subtle and indirect. No prophet ever spoke like this. I keep saying this.

No prophet ever said, I am the bread of life. No prophet ever said, I am the light of the world. No prophet ever said, I am the door of the sheep. No prophet ever said, I am the good shepherd. I am the resurrection and the life.

I am the way, the truth and the life. A prophet should be stoned for saying those things. The Son of God can say those things. The prophets pointed to Jesus. Jesus points to himself and his father.

Jesus is God. The analogy is this. As a vine is to its fruit bearing branches, so Jesus is to his people. That's What's at the heart of this I AM statement? I am the true vine.

As the vine is to its fruit bearing branch, branches sow Jesus is to his people. The vine is the source of life. A branch doesn't start as a branch, a branch starts as a... Is that a little... A little something on the vine.

And then, yeah, unmistakably, there's something there. And then it's growing. And then it has leaves. And then it has fruit. It is the source of life.

It sustains the life. It makes fruitful. The branch is nothing. The vine is everything. Life flows through the vine.

At the beginning, at the end, in between, you can't have fruitfulness without the vine. Jesus is all of that to us. He is the source of life, the beginning of it, He sustains it. He is our only hope for fruitfulness. Think of the unity between a vine and a branch.

There's a point where you can't tell which is vine and which is branch. This is beautiful. This is how Jesus is communicating, our union with him is unified, together, joined like a vine and a branch. These are not arm's length transactions where he hands over stuff that we need. It flows through him to us at the place where we are joined, forever joined.

Not an arm's length transaction where he lets go of it and then it falls to you. It flows through him to you at the place where you are joined. Jesus is intending to communicate the closest union and communion and unity between himself and every member of his people. He's the head of the body. Not a disembodied head that barks orders.

He's us in a sense. That analogy breaks down. Be careful with that one. But he's the head of the body. We have that on Scripture authority.

He is one with us. That's two, the seventh and final I Am statement. Number three, a word about parables. A few things that I've said several times before about parables and handling them carefully to keep us out of trouble. First, parables are an extra powerful, extra memorable way to communicate truth.

So why did Jesus use parables? Well sometimes he was actually hiding truth from unbelievers so that they didn't trample the pearls of truth that he had. But there aren't any of those here. There aren't any swine to trample the pearls in John 15. He's talking to the faithful eleven disciples.

So that's not the reason here. He's not trying to hide them, hide truth from them. He's trying to communicate truth in an extra powerful, extra memorable way. They can never forget this now. Jesus didn't want the eleven to ever forget that he is the true vine and they are the branches that life flows through him like life flows to a branch through the vine.

He wants to sear it on their minds. He doesn't want us to forget. That's why we have it in the Gospel of John. Don't you forget Jesus told a parable. Why did he use a parable?

Because it's an extra powerful, extra memorable way to communicate truth. Jesus is giving you truth and trying to sear it on your mind. Sear it into your thought pattern so you never forget and you never lose sight. So that's first. Parables are an extra powerful, extra memorable way to communicate truth.

Second, precision is not the strength of parables. Right to the point, if you want to teach the ins and outs of the preservation of the saints, and eternal security of the Lord's people. Don't use a parable. It's not, parables aren't for nuance. Parables aren't for the nooks and crannies.

Parables are to communicate truth in an extra powerful, extra memorable way. That's its strength. Its weakness is you give up precision to do that. You don't exegete a parable like you exegete one of Paul's letters. He says, now I'm going to teach you about salvation.

A, B, C, 1, 2, 3, Paul Preaches and outlines too, or writes letters and outlines. So you don't come to a parable and try to mine the gold out of that in the same way that you do Paul's letters. Because that's not the intent of a parable. Core doctrines are not built on parables. Core doctrines are powerfully communicated through parables, memorably communicated through parables, but not built on parables.

They are built on precise, targeted teaching passages of Scripture. Like Paul's letters, like Deuteronomy for instance. Core doctrines are built on precise, targeted teaching passages of scripture. Not word pictures. Word pictures are wonderful and have their strengths.

Precision is not one of them. Not nuance. Do not build your doctrine of the security of your salvation or lack thereof on any parable. There are precise targeted teaching passages about whether your salvation is secure or not. You go to those passages, you learn what's to be learned, and then you import that thinking into the parable, not the other way around.

Think of the madness of taking what you think is an implication from a word picture that Jesus gave, and then taking that implication and have that govern a targeted, specific teaching passage in another part of scripture. No, it's exactly the wrong way to handle scripture. So that's a word on parables. Number four, the key truths of the parable. I think there are four key truths.

And I cheat by having a lot of sub-truths. But I can keep it at four if you let me have sub-truths. Let me read it again. So it's been our recitation text. We read it together and it was read for us.

But let me read again the parable. All the better. Repetition. All the better. John 15, 1-8.

Jesus says, I am the true vine, and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit. For without me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. And they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. By this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit. So you will be my disciples. Key truth number one, as the vine, Jesus gives life to his disciples, sustains the life of his disciples, and makes his disciples fruitful. As divine, Jesus gives life to his disciples, sustains the life of his disciples, and makes his disciples fruitful.

Listen to Paul in Colossians 1.18 Paul in Colossians 1.18 He's just said all things were created by Jesus, through Jesus, and for Jesus. And then he says this, he, Jesus, is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have the preeminence. I think there is a sense in which Jesus in John 15 is ascribing to himself all that Paul is ascribing to him in Colossians 1. All things were made by him and through him and for him. Jesus is the head of the body, the church, that in all things he may have the preeminence, the place of honor, first place.

Again the analogy is, as the vine is to its fruit bearing branches, so Jesus is to his people. What is the vine to its fruit bearing branches? Everything! He's everything! He gives the life, he sustains the life, he makes fruitful, There's nothing without the vine.

You separate the branch from the vine, you have nothing. He's everything. Joined to Jesus, in union with Jesus. I have all that I need to be spiritually alive, to keep going, to thrive, to be fruitful. Nothing is missing.

Nothing is lacking. Nothing is scarce. He plants the vine next to the river of water. He plants the vine next to the river of water, water flowing out to the branches. Nothing is missing, nothing is lacking, nothing is scarce, Everything is in abundance.

Look at verse 3. He says to the faithful eleven disciples, you are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. I think your mind should go to two places when you read that.

One is back in John 6 verse 68 when Peter says, Where would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We sang that this morning. Are you all leading me to? Where can we go?

You have the words of eternal life. We've embraced those words. We have life in you. There's nowhere else for us to go. There's nowhere else where we would want to go.

Why would a vine move away from the river? You have the words of eternal life. The second place I think our minds should go to is in this discourse in 13 verse 10. Flip that back to 13 verse 10. Remember Jesus is washing their feet.

Peter says, you do not wash my feet. Jesus says, if I don't wash your feet, you have no part in me. Peter says, wash my whole body. Peter, Did he ever tire of Peter? Are you Peter?

Look at verse 10, 13 verse 10. Jesus said to Peter, He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean. You are clean, but not all of you. So in this same discourse, maybe an hour earlier, Jesus has just said exactly the same thing. You're already clean.

All you need is foot washing. You do need ongoing cleansing from current defilements, but you are clean. But not all of you. What does he mean by not all of you? Judas.

Judas isn't clean. Judas actually needs to be bathed. That is exactly what he is saying here. You are already clean. You still need to be pruned.

You need ongoing pruning. There is still dead wood in your life that needs to be dealt with, but at a fundamental level you're clean. That's what he said in 13. That's what he's saying again in 15. By the way, there's a play on words between verses 2 and 3 in our text, in verses 2 and 3 that we miss because we're English speakers.

The Greek word underneath pruned and the Greek word underneath clean. If you look at the Greek transliteration of them, they look almost exactly the same. They're just different forms of speech, but the same root. So he's saying, you're already pruned at a fundamental level, but you need the ongoing pruning of the vine dresser. Or to reverse it, The Father keeps cleaning you, but you are already clean, like Jesus is saying.

I guess you could do it in either direction. So there is a play on words. Verse 3 seems strange. If we were Greek speakers it wouldn't seem as strange. You are already clean.

What's that about? He's just been talking about the ongoing pruning of the Father. And he uses the same root to say you're already clean at a fundamental level. You men are born again but you need ongoing pruning. That's exactly what he said in 13.

That's exactly what he's saying here again in our text. Now, Jesus just said that he's the source of life for his disciples, he sustains the life of his disciples, he makes his disciples fruitful, but he said it in a different way in chapter 14. Look back in chapter 14 starting about the halfway point of verse 19 and verse 20. Because I live, you will live also. Your life is rooted in me.

Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you. Closest union. Closest communion. Unbroken unity.

Not an arms length transaction where Jesus drops the things that you need. You never touch. But what He said in verse 14 is what He is saying again in verse 15. I am in you, you in me. He goes actually further in verse 14.

And the Father, I am in the Father. That is number one. As the vine Jesus gives life to his disciples, sustains the life of his disciples, and makes his disciples fruitful. Two, as the vine dresser, Jesus' Father casts out the fruitless branches. There's a final link to a chain in verse 8.

Verse 8 is all the way at the end of our text, but look at it again. I'm saying Verse 8 is the final link in the chain. By this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit. So you will be my disciples. In bearing this fruit you will be my disciples.

Here's the argument I'm making. Here's the chain that Jesus is linking up. Those who abide in Jesus bear fruit. It's definitional by nature. He's defining fruit bearers.

Abiding in Christ leads unbreakably to bearing fruit. It is impossible to abide in Christ and not bear fruit. He is defining a fruit bearer. It's one who abides in Christ. Period.

There's not another kind of fruit bearer. Fruit bearers always abide in Christ. Those who abide in Christ always bear fruit. Linking links to the chain together. Then, those who bear fruit are Jesus' disciples.

So you will be my disciples verse 8. Some hear this and say in their minds, where is my kind of branch? I'm not sure I fit either category. One who abides in Christ, who bears fruit, and so is a disciple. Or one that has no fruit, broken off, cast away, burnt in the fire.

I don't fit into either category. I don't think I have a lot of fruit. I'm not sure what kind of fruit it is, but I don't think I should be broken off and thrown into the fire. The parable is screaming at you. You fit in one of the categories.

The parable is screaming that at you. Yes, you do fit in one of the categories. There are only two categories. There is not a third category. You abide in Christ, and if you abide in Christ, then you bear fruit.

And if you bear fruit, you are His disciple. Or you don't abide in Christ and so you don't bear fruit and so you're not his disciple. If you think where's my category, I want a third category, either you're thinking wrongly about abiding in the vine and bearing fruit, and defining those things in ways that don't match Scripture, or you're deceiving yourself. Those are the only two options. You're either better off than you think you are, or worse off than you think you are.

Verse 2, Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away. Verse 6, if anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. And they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned. Now If you aren't thinking about this as a parable, this is where the lack of precision can be confusing. This is so two-dimensional.

You have a word picture of a vine. There's a vine dresser. Here he comes. He snaps off some branches, throws them off into the fire, other branches he prunes for more fruitfulness. It's a snapshot, not a movie.

There's no motion across time. It's powerful, it's memorable, but it's not precise. It's not what you would build your doctrine of eternal security on. There are many other permutations that you can think of that would happen over time. In some ways, it's the end.

It's the end for a branch that gets broken off, cast away, burned in the fire, that doesn't get more ending than that, but it's midstream for a branch that's being pruned in an ongoing fashion for more fruit in the future. Are we at the end or are we in the middle? It's not the point. Power and memorability are why Jesus is teaching this way, not precision or nuance. The point is Jesus is forcing you to skip to the end and to ask, which am I?

Granting that there are only two kinds of branches, there is no third kind of branch. Go to the end, Which am I? Now we haven't even defined fruit yet, which is very, very important. You know nothing about John 15, 1-8 until you understand what fruit is and isn't. That's what abiding people have.

Well, what is it? That's what people who don't abide don't have. And you're either broken off and thrown into the fire, or you're pruned and a part of the living body. We should know what it is. Fruit is whatever the triune God produces in you and through you.

It's fruit. It's the result. The result of what? The result of God working. The result of life giving sap flowing from vine through branch.

Whatever the triune God produces in you and through you, what you're like is what He's producing in you. Is it changing? Is it starting to look a little more like Jesus? If so, you have the fruit of God in your life. If what you're like is starting to look a little more like Jesus over time.

It's because of the work of God in your life. What He does through you. What are you doing? What are you doing? And not doing?

Are your words and deeds conforming more to the way Jesus talked, the way Jesus walked? And it is so true that this is the work of God in your life. Verse 5, without me you can do nothing. So if there is any question in your mind, is this the work of God in my life? Jesus answers it in verse 5, without me you can do nothing.

At this point we are tempted to say a lot of people do a lot of things without Jesus. Yes, and all of those things are nothing. Nothing! All the things about who you are and what you do that don't come out of the work of God are nothing. They are what the author of Hebrews calls dead works.

But there are works outside of God, yes they are dead works. You should repent of them. That's what Hebrews 6, I think verse 1 says. Yes, there are many, many works. The world is working.

I know that. Jesus knew that. They're dead works. They are nothing outside of what God is accomplishing in you, outside of what God is accomplishing through you. Those are dead works.

Those are to be repented of. Listen. Hell will be filled to the brim with people that we found to be very, very nice, who did things that were very helpful to others. If you don't believe that, you don't believe the Bible. Hell will be overflowing with people that we found to be very, very nice, and that were busy doing things that were helpful to others.

They served humanity but they would not yield to Jesus. They would not own their sin and flee to Jesus for peace. So they gave away billions of dollars and they got up early and they stayed up late helping, helping, working, working to hell with you! To hell with you! You will go to hell for eternity!

Because we are not saved by works! It's not the people that we found very, very nice who will be in heaven. It's people who threw themselves upon the mercy of God in Christ who will be in heaven. Only them. It will not be people who served humanity tirelessly who will be in heaven.

It is people who God worked in and through because they had spiritual life. I'm not saying you shouldn't be very very nice. I think Christians should be the nicest of all. I get that. I'm not saying you shouldn't do things to help other people.

Of course, Jesus is teaching we should do things to help other people. I'm trying to attack the self-righteous spirit that wants to put Christ dishonoring people in heaven because they were nicer, because they did something to serve other people, they will not be there. I don't know how to make it more clear than Revelation 3 verse 1. Listen to this. Revelation 3 verse 1.

This is Jesus writing a letter to a church. To the angel of the church in Sardis write, These things says he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your works that you have a name that you are alive but you are dead. I know your works. I know you work.

I know you have a profession in the church at Sardis that you're alive, You're dead. Your works are dead works. Your reputation is only reputation. There's no substance behind it. There's no life behind it.

People think you're alive, You're dead! You're dead! You'll be broken off, cast aside, thrown into the fire. That's two. As a bindresser, Jesus' father casts out the fruitless branches.

A superficial reading of our text, you would think would tend towards works righteousness. All this about fruit bearing, fruit bearing. Sounds like works righteousness. The minute you're thoughtful for one second about this text, It is an attack on works righteousness. Apart from me, you can do nothing.

Your life starts with me, your life sustains, is sustained by me. Your ability to produce any fruit comes from me. Apart from me, you can do nothing. Number three, as the vine dresser, the Father carefully cares for the fruitful branches. Number three, as the vinedresser, the Father carefully cares for the fruitful branches.

The thought is careful tending of a vine. A man at men's Bible study said pruning is not hedge trimming. You know modern hedge trimming. It might even be gas powered. Indiscriminate carnage.

I had a pinky get caught up in the indiscriminate carnage. That is not pruning. That is hedge trimming. It all gets treated the same. Pruning is done with a minute tool, one snip at a time.

You have a squinting, picture a squinting vine dresser. Looking at each branch, knowing each branch. This branch has been here long enough, off comes the branch. This branch just needs a little here and a little there. It's bearing fruit but it could bear so much more fruit taking off just what's needed to be removed.

This actually explains many of our difficulties in life. Just as we sang, we're being weaned off of self in the world. God wants to use things in our life. He's pruning, He's cutting away dead wood, he's cutting away the obstacles to our increased fruitfulness and it hurts. Turn to Hebrews chapter 12.

Hebrews chapter 12. It's not called pruning in Hebrews chapter 12, it's called discipline. I think many of the same things are in view. Just listen to Hebrews chapter 12 verses 5 through 12. You have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons.

My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him. For whom the Lord loves, He chastens and scourges every son whom He receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chasten? If you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.

Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but he for our profit that we may be partakers of His holiness." Now, no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful. Nevertheless, outwardly, afterward, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Can't you see pruning there?

It hurts, but it's actually God dealing with us as with sons. And the result, if you look at verse 10, that we may be partakers of His holiness. If He doesn't prune us, if He doesn't bring discipline into our lives, often through circumstances, You don't partake of His holiness. You don't bear more fruit. And then right here at the end, nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

God says, I know it's painful. It yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. God is pruning with fruitfulness in mind. He works so that fruit bearers increasingly bear more fruit. So he's pruning actually fruit bearers.

What does he have in mind? More fruit. More fruit. And the end point is the glorification of the Father. Here is what Jesus said in Matthew 5.16.

Matthew 5.16, Jesus said, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. So Jesus has actually been saying this for a long time at this point in his ministry. The good works, they are fruits of righteousness that actually bring glory to God in heaven. Number four, abiding in Jesus is the heart and soul of being a disciple. You say, I thought fruit bearing is the heart and soul of what this text is about.

Nope, read it again. It's abiding in Jesus. Fruit bearing is the last link on the chain. Abiding in Jesus causes you to bear fruit. What does it mean to abide in Jesus?

John 6 verse 56, Jesus tells us right out of his own mouth, John 6 56, he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him." How do you abide in Jesus? Eat his flesh, drink his blood. But that's in the present tense. It's not one time only. Oh yeah, I was saved.

Now I don't need Jesus for the sustenance of my life. Heaven, help us. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me. And I in him. Looking at the verb tense it would be appropriate to say, he who keeps eating my flesh and keeps drinking my blood.

So how often do you need to eat and drink? That's a question that informs us. One time only. I ate and I drank, now I'm good till I die. Well you're going to die soon.

This is a continuous action of throwing ourselves upon Jesus. Eating of the flesh of Jesus Christ and the drinking of the blood of Jesus Christ is a continuous action of throwing yourself upon him for all that you need. Isaiah says, ho everyone who thirsts come to the waters and you who have no money come buy and eat. You without money come buy. Yes come buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Jesus says, come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11. Abiding in Jesus is simply persevering faith, which is actual genuine fruit bearing faith. They are all the same thing.

Abiding in Jesus is persevering faith. It's continually entrusting yourself to him. Abide is sometimes rendered remain in some of the other translations. Remain. Stay.

Occupy the same ground continuously. It means to stay in the same place in the same state. I'm looking to you Jesus for life, to sustain my life, for fruit bearing and I'm not moving. And When I find my eyes going to something else, I'm bringing my eyes back to you. Abide in the vine.

An element of abiding in Jesus given here is that His words abide in you. In that state you're ready to pray. When you're abiding in Jesus, now think of abiding in Jesus, a continual eating of his body and drinking of his blood. So abiding in Jesus with his words abiding in you, you're informed by his words, you're honoring his words, you're ready to pray now. You're ready to pray now.

He's going to give you what you ask for. Okay, application. So much more to say. By the way, in my defense, John MacArthur did six sermons on this. James told me that earlier this week.

I thought I'm going to keep that in my hip pocket for when I go over time. One application. Skip to the end. Skip to the end. Am I abiding?

Am I bearing fruit? If you're abiding, you're bearing fruit. If you're bearing fruit, you're a disciple of Jesus. You might think, I'm being broken off when he's just pruning you. That happens to people with very sensitive consciences.

Be careful. You might actually be in better, you might come to this text and discover that you're in a better position than you thought you were. Many come to this text and are actually worse than they thought, but some are better than they thought. God's been pruning you and you've taken that as evidence that you're not a branch. Actually God's treating you as a son or a daughter.

You might share in His holiness. There's no category for disciples who don't abide and bear fruit. Just say that again. There is no category in all of scripture and certainly not in our text for disciples who don't abide in Christ and bear fruit. This is an unbreakable chain.

To abide in Christ is to eat His body and drink His blood and keep it, keep going. And to do that is to bear fruit. And in bearing fruit you are His disciple. There's one other category, a branch that gets broken off and thrown into the fire. Thank you for your word, God.

Thank you for bringing us here and giving us the beauty of a vine that is everything to the branch, the source of life, one who sustains life, the one who makes fruit bearing possible, with a vine dresser that comes with a very precise instrument to cut away all the things that are holding us back from more fruitfulness, from more joy. Thank you for the goodness that's before us in this text. Pray in Jesus' name, amen.