Jesus Christ is the True Vine
Introduction
Luke, in Acts 16:16-18, wrote, ‘“And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.” And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.”’
The scary thing concerning this demon-possessed lady was that what she proclaimed was absolutely true.
Paul and those with him were “servants of the highest God,” and they were “showing the way of salvation.”
The reason why events like these are included in the Scriptures is to show us that anyone can produce fruit.
Anyone can say, “Yes, I believe Jesus is the only Way; Yes, He’s Lord”.
Paul, in 2 Corinthians 11:14-15, said “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”
What we must understand today is that it takes a Christian to live the Christian life.
Anyone can “look” like a Christian; even Satan can; but, the question is, are we connected to the True Vine?
My purpose is clear, for Christians to be doubly sure of your salvation; and for those who aren’t connected to Christ, to leave here depending on Him alone!
I. In the True Vine we Produce Fruit
Jesus Christ is the True Vine because in Him we produce true fruit.
Verse 5, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”
Jesus is the true vine, and his disciples are the true branches. Those who abide Him, He also abides in, and they WILL produce much fruit. Just like a branch that is connected to a tree, it is dependent upon the tree for all its fruit and well-being.
Christians, we must realize our dependence on Christ. Our fruit is produced by Him! “Without me ye can do nothing,” Jesus clearly stated! Christians must always remind themselves that Christ is the One producing the fruit in us. There is no boasting for Christians because Jesus is the One who produces the fruit. This means that those who are separated from Christ, those who reject the “True Vine”, do not produce true fruit. If Christ isn’t producing the fruit, then the fruit is false.
Also, this means that apart from Jesus, man cannot produce anything acceptable to God. The Bible teaches that we are “Totally Depraved”. God explained this in Romans 3:10-31. Notice here in verse 11 that Paul says there are none who seek after God. How many of you believe this?
There’s a radio show called “The White Horse Inn” that’s out of Southern California. It’s a panel of Christian pastors, headed by Michael Horton, a professor at Westminster Seminary. For one of their radio shows, they went to a Christian conference, and they asked people who were coming out if they believed people seek after God. Most believed man does seek after God. This verse was even read to some of the people, and one man said, “Well, in his heart of hearts, man seeks after God.” Church, God is clear, there are none who seek after God; it is God who seeks after man! If He was to leave us to ourselves, we would never seek after Him or find Him!
Jesus said in John 6:44, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” So, God deserves all the glory for our salvation!
Also, because there is none righteous, and we can “do nothing” pleasing to God outside of Christ. The prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah 64:6, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
So, left to ourselves, we are a branch, but aren’t attached to the True Vine, and thus we are incapable of pleasing God. So, “Is there any hope?”-OF COURSE, IN CHRIST! The prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
II. In the True Vine we will Occupy Heaven
Jesus Christ is the True Vine because in Him we will certainly go to heaven. Look verse 6, “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.”
Those that profess Christ, but don’t continue in Him, they are eventually shown as false branches. Those who pursue every other avenue to get to God or pursue every other way to produce God-honoring fruit, apart from Christ, they simply wither before Him. You can’t live the Christian life without being changed by Christ!
Just like when men take dead branches that aren’t connected to trees, and burn them in a brush fire; God will take these dead branches and burn them as well. If you are a false branch, then you will be punished by He who knows whether or not Christ produced your fruit. We must understand today that if we claim to be in Christ, and we have no fruit produced by Him, then we’re not in danger of “losing reward”, we’re in danger of HELL!
On the flip side Christians, if Christ is producing fruit in us, then we are assured of the fact that when we leave this world, we’re going to be in heaven with Christ, the one producing fruit in us!
As long as you’re on earth and have a job, what’s one thing you’re guaranteed?
The answer is TAXES! Likewise, those who Christ is producing fruit in are GUARANTEED HEAVEN! It’s even more-sure than taxes because taxes are only temporary; Heaven is forever!
III. In the True Vine we have Results from our Prayers
Jesus Christ is the True Vine because in Him we have guaranteed results from our prayers.
Verse 7 states, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”
Those men and women who continue in Christ, and are saturated in His Word, they can ask what they want, and Christ will do it. We must understand that to be connected to Christ, and to be “full of His Word” is to pray according to His will. Also, if His Word is in us, then His Word will “wash” us. David said it this way in Psalm 119:11, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” The answer to our holiness of life is knowing the truth of God, and applying it!
David also said in Psalm 37:30-31, “The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment. The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.” The answer to right-living is knowing the truth of God.
The question then is this, “Do the words of Christ live in us?”; “Are we full of Christ’s word?” We must understand that to love Christ is to love truth. Christ wrote it all; therefore, we should love and apply it all. If our requests and prayers to God aren’t being answered by God with a “Yes”, then we’re not praying according to His will. One reason we may not be praying according to His will because we don’t know enough of His Word to know what His will is.
Paul told young Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16, 17, “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.” Notice here that the apostle Paul says that the way to be perfect is through the Word of God. It’s not through experience; our experience must bow down to God’s Word. The Word of God should be the boss of our experiences instead of our experiences bossing around the Word of God. Are you under the authority of God’s Word, or is God’s Word under your authority? And, if you don’t submit to Jesus’ words, how can you possibly belong to Jesus? We must understand that to submit to Jesus, is to submit to His Word, that to love Jesus is to love His Word, that to be saved by Jesus is to be saved by His Word, and to KNOW Jesus is to KNOW HIS WORD.
Also, those who are connected to Christ and full of His Word will pray according to His Will. David said in Psalm 37:4, “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” Whenever we delight in Christ, His desires become our desires; so, we pray for what we know He wants.
One guaranteed reality about life, is death. If Christ doesn’t return, one out of every one person dies. This is guaranteed! Likewise, every prayer we pray according to God’s will is guaranteed to come to fruition! One out of every one prayer we pray according to God’s will; will certainly happen! Only those connected to the vine can say this!
IV. In the True Vine we Bring Glory to God
Jesus Christ is the True Vine because in Him we can bring glory to God.
Look at Verse 8, “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.”
Notice here that the purpose of God fulfilling our prayers is to glorify Himself. Because of this truth, God’s glory should be our goal every time we pray. Remember Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane before He was crucified. Jesus said in Matthew 26:39, “And He went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”
The purpose of our salvation is so we will bring glory and honor to God. So, those who are in Christ and are known as Christians, thus wearing the name of Christ, God will produce fruit in us.
I’ve talked a lot about fruit the past couple of weeks; and so, the question comes up, “What examples are there of this fruit?”
The apostle Paul speaks of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Understand that these results of salvation aren’t individual fruits, but this is the FRUIT of God the Holy Spirit. If we’re saved, and thus connected to Christ, we WILL have all of this fruit of the Spirit, at least at a foundational level.
Jesus said it this way in Matthew 7:16-18, “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.”
God will produce fruit in the true branches because they are connected to Jesus. The question we must ask ourselves is, “Are we connected to Jesus?” And the correct answer is, “If we are, then Jesus will be producing fruit in us; and we can’t help but produce His fruit in our lives.” “We can’t help but love what He loves and hate what He hates because He is connected to us, and producing fruit in us.”
God is the One who produces the fruit, the One who prunes us to produce more fruit, and the One who makes us disciples of Christ. God makes us disciples, we don’t make ourselves His disciples.
Lastly, if Judas could walk and talk with Jesus for 3 and ½ years; and during that time, he looked and acted like the other disciples; if Judas could do this, if he could look like the disciples, dress like the disciples, and everything on the outside said he was a disciple, is it possible that other professed Christians can as well?
Do you realize that anyone on earth can make a profession of faith? It takes a Christian to be a disciple. So, have you made only a profession, or do you bear the fruit of Christ?
Conclusion
We’ve come to the time of invitation. I want to encourage everyone to examine yourselves, making sure that Christ has saved you; making sure you are connected to Him and He is producing fruit in you. If you have your doubts, you can know that you know; come to Jesus and depend on Him today!