Jesus Christ Is The True Vine - Part 1
Introduction
This morning we’re going to be examining Jesus’ claim to be the True Vine. There are many other religions; many other “vines” out there in our culture and the rest of the world, but Jesus here makes an exclusive claim. He claims here to be the only vine! Or the True Vine!
“Hold your place in John 15, and turn in your Bibles to Matthew 23:23-28, and lets examine how Christ corrected the Pharisees for believing that salvation was through another vine…” “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.”
Church, this passage describes everyone who isn’t “connected to the true vine”, Jesus Christ. Every other supposed “way of salvation” is just “cleaning the outside of cup”; or it’s like a “beautiful casket that contains a dead body on the inside”. My purpose today is for everyone in here to ask ourselves, “Are we plugged into the True Vine”; or “have we fooled ourselves?” True Christians, I hope you leave here today doubly sure of your salvation. To those who don’t know Christ today, I hope you leave here “plugged into Him”.
I. Jesus Is Declared To Be The True Vine
Jesus Christ is the True Vine because God the Father declares Him to be.
Verse 1, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.”
Jesus is the only “vine” that has eternal life in it and through it. He is the only Way to bear true spiritual fruit. There are no other vines that give eternal life. If you connect yourself to money, popularity, being liked, being politically correct, to family, friends, or yourself, then none of these things are capable of giving us eternal life. Jesus is the true vine; not man or any other created thing.
God the Father is the gardener. He owns the vineyard. He sees to it that all the blessings and fruit produced through the branches, comes through the vine.
A. God The Father Loves The Vine
Jesus said in John 10:17, “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.”
B. God The Father Loves The Branches Of The Vine
Jesus in John 14:23 said, “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” God the Father loves those who are in Christ.
The prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah 45:18, “For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.” So, God is Creator God; He owns it all, everything; He’s the owner of this world, of all created “space”; He owns the vineyard, where there are many “false vines” and only one “True Vine”.
II. Dead Branches Are Destroyed
Jesus Christ is the True Vine because God the Father destroys the “dead” branches.
III. True Branches Are Pruned
Jesus Christ is the True Vine because God the Father prunes the “true” branches. Note verse 2, “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” Then read, “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away:” All the branches who claim to be hooked to Christ that do not bear any fruit, God the Father takes them away.
We see an example of this in Judas Iscariot. Judas walked with Jesus for three years, sitting under His teaching, witnessing His miracles, claiming to be His disciple, but his fruit eventually showed itself; He Was A Church Member! At this point, he has gone to betray Christ, showing himself as a “false branch”.
Jesus, concerning true and false branches, said this in Matthew 7:16
20, “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”
The bad news is this friends, if we have no Christ-like fruit, a hatred for what God hates, and a love for what He loves, then we aren’t in the vine. We may profess to be in the vine, but our fruit tells the truth.
Also, Christians, you can know that you’re saved. Do you love what God loves, and hate what He hates? “…and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” All the branches that are in Christ are pruned by God so they will bear more fruit. God does this through various trials, tribulations, discipline, etc.
We really don’t know what it’s going to take in our lives for God to bring about Christ-likeness in our lives. Russell Moore is presently a professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. Years ago, he and his wife were trying to have children. One day, after his wife had found out she had her second miscarriage, he left the house to go to the store; and she remained crying upstairs. When he got in his car, and the radio came on, the announcer said, “Madonna is pregnant again.” Russell then thought to himself, “What kind of a God would give Madonna a child, and not my godly, precious wife?” Later on that evening his friend came over to encourage them, and Russell told him about it, and his friend rebuked him. He told Russell that, “You don’t know what it’s going to take for God to conform you to the image of Christ.”
Bottom line, pruning hurts, but it’s how God gets our attention to make us grow more and more into the likeness of Christ.
A Biblical example of this is found in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”
The apostle Paul was “pruned” by God by some sort of “thorn in his flesh”, either a physical illness or the people he served, but in verse 7 the apostle Paul said it was given to him to “buffet” him, to humble him. Our various trials and tribulations remind us who God is, and in our weakness, then He can use us the most!
Ms. Young gave me a poem titled, “It’s in the Valleys I grow”. Isn’t that so true? In the valleys, you have to focus on Christ! When you’re on your knees, you have no choice but to look up.
IV. When Jesus Speaks, God The Father Speaks
Jesus Christ is the True Vine because when He speaks God the Father speaks. Read verse 3, “ Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.”
Jesus here is speaking to His eleven disciples. It’s through His Word that He cleansed His disciples. The church today too is cleansed through the words of Christ. These disciples had been “pruned” through God’s Word.
Paul, in 2 Timothy 3:16 – 17 said, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”
God also prunes and purifies His church through His Word. The reality is that when the Scripture speaks, when the Bible speaks, God speaks!
V. Jesus Is The Fruit Producer
Jesus Christ is the True Vine because He is the fruit producer. Look at Verse 4, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.”
He commands them to “stay” in Him, and He’ll continue to stay in them. The disciples must continue to serve Christ after He physically leaves this world because this is the proof of their repentance. We too must abide in Christ in all things. Our lives must be constantly joined to Him.
Notice here that those who abide in Christ know that He also abides in them. Just like a leopard can’t help but be a leopard, so a Christian can’t help but be a Christian. Christians can’t help but be obedient to Christ.
Jesus indwells us! He indwells us! As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, so we cannot bear fruit without His indwelling. Just like any limb or branch cannot produce fruit apart from the vine or tree, Christians who try to bear fruit apart from Christ cannot truly produce any. By ourselves we can’t do anything because of Christ.
If we’re not living in response to Christ, then we’re doing good works to earn something. This is what I want you to ask yourself; every one look in the mirror right now, and ask, “Do I do good works such as 1) come to church, 2) read my Bible, 3) pray, 4) don’t murder, steal, kill, commit adultery, etc. because I’m trying to earn my salvation; or, do I do these good works because Christ has saved me?”
See, when Jesus saves you, He “attaches” you to Himself, and He produces the good works in you. Now, the good works you do; does Christ do them, or are you doing them? I ask you this because of what Jesus said in Matthew 7:21
23, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
Jesus says here that one day many will tell Him of their good works, but He will tell them to leave Him because they weren’t plugged into the vine. In other words, He wasn’t the One producing the good works.
Let me read you another verse; Paul in Philippians 2:12 said, “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Here Paul says we’re to work out our own salvation, but look at the next verse. Philippians 2:13 reads, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” If we’ll repent and submit to Christ, He will “work in us”. He will change us from the inside out, instead of us only cleaning up the outside, and thus going to hell for all eternity because we produced the fruit instead of Him.
The only way to bear true, lasting fruit is to continually pursue Christ, and He will produce fruit in us. We can produce Christ-like fruit, but we must abide in Christ; and He will be the One producing the fruit in us. If we’re “plugged into the vine”, we can’t help but produce fruit.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we live in a community where probably 99% of the people believe they’re saved. The question isn’t, “Do you know Christ?” The question is, “Does Christ know you?” Examine yourselves today - you can know today!