The True Vine

You know a tree by its fruit. This is one of the clear and simple teachings from Scripture. Our actions, words, behavior, it reveals what's taking place in our heart. We act upon what we desire. We say what we think. Our actions reveal a great amount about us. And our passage this morning helps us see that if Christ abides in us and we abide in Christ, there's fruit. That's one of the main themes we're going to see this morning. If Christ abides in us and we abide in Christ, there's fruit. Now, it's interesting, as I've been reflecting this week upon what we've been hearing over the last two weeks, if you weren't here, I highly suggest listening to last week's message. But two weeks ago, we looked at chapter 14 of John and we saw the promise of the Holy Spirit and that Jesus commanded that you keep his commandments. In the midst of promising that we would, or telling us, commanding that we would keep his commandments, he promises the Holy Spirit. He gives us the ability to keep his commandments by giving us the Holy Spirit. Then last week we talked about walking in the Spirit. There's a real fight to walk in the Spirit because we're fighting against the flesh. There's a faith in Christ that we need to walk in the Spirit. There's freedom now because Christ is victorious. We now have fellowship with God and one another. So we heard about the Holy Spirit, then how to walk in the Spirit. Well, this morning we're going to hear more about fruit. There's fruit of the Spirit and fruit of the flesh. This morning we're going to look at this image that Jesus provides in John 15, the vine and the branches. And we're going to see that we are called to bear fruit in Christ. You can turn with me in John chapter 15. If you are using a pew Bible, that's on page 901. If you do not have a Bible, we ask that you please take that home. Let that be our gift to you that the Bible contains the words of the Living God that will give you the new life you need. Please take it if you don't have a Bible. We read in chapter 15 verses 1 through 17. Listen for a couple repeated words. As you study the Bible, look for repetition. That's how you know what the author is emphasizing. The word fruit, the preposition in, That is repeated throughout this entire passage. That's what contains and unites this entire passage. The end language in me abide in me. Then there's a fruit and then the latter part, the words love and command are repeated. Chapter 15, beginning of verse one. I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that is not bare fruit, he takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him. He it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers. And the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. By this, my father is glorified. that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, that your joy may be full. This is my commandment. that you love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go. and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another." Hearing their petition helps us get to the point of this fairly complicated passage where Jesus gives us a number of teachings. The main point is that we need to be in Christ. Our position in him is our life source. It's the only way we can do anything that brings God any glory. Life and love and glory are only in Christ. Abiding in him means we trust him, we have confidence in him. So there's the truth that we need to be in Christ, abiding in Christ, trusting Christ, and then the clear It's not an application, it's just a pure implication. If you abide in Christ, there's fruit. Yes, there's an imperative, obey my commandments, but it's not as if you believe and then you have fruit, it's by believing you have fruit. When you abide, you have fruit. It's just the way it is. Our passage this morning focuses on our call to be united with Christ, and if we are united with Christ, We bear fruit. It's a very simple passage, but it's very challenging. I want to also point out, if you've been with us for some time and John, he isn't saying anything new here. If you've been with us as a series of John, he is not saying anything he hasn't already said. It's it's repetitious and redundant. Those are good pedagogical tools. Because we're slow to learn and forgetful. So we see here Jesus reminding his disciples he's about to die. He's preparing them to become the foundation of the church with their teaching and pointing to him. And he's reminding them, it's in me that you have life, love, joy, and glorify God. If you're in me, you will bear fruit. I first want to walk through the passage and then we'll come to the three clear theological truths that are mixed within the passage. First, verse one, it really tells us all the theology of the passage. This is this is the theological heavy lifting of the passage. I am the true bond and my father is the vine dresser. This is rich in theological truth here. We learn about the identity of Jesus. If we're going to be united with Christ and be in Christ and have faith in Christ, we've got to know who he is. And this tells us pretty much everything we need to know about Jesus. I am. There's a number of I am statements in the Gospel of John. And when Jesus says I am, he is identifying himself with the covenant name Yahweh. When God gave his name, it was I am, Exodus 3, 14. Jesus is identifying himself as the covenant God of Israel. He is the creator of all that exists in the earth. He is the one who's made the covenant promises. At the same time, because he's a true vine, he's a fulfillment of those promises. So we're hearing the words of God. God is speaking. He's telling us how to live. I am the true vine and my father. We know something more specific about him being God. We we know he's the son of the father. We see this beautiful relationship and that he is the second person of the Trinity. We see this important. The importance of the father has sent his son to lay down his life for those who he is calling out to be friends. There's something else that's extremely important in this passage to understand who Jesus Christ is and to understand the entire big picture of scripture. It's right here. I am the true vine and my father is divine dresser. He's helping us see how all of scripture is coming together right here at this point, but declaring that he is the true vine. He's already told us he's the good shepherd. That that was him declaring that there's been a number of kings in the past, a number of shepherds, and they were never the good shepherd, never the perfect shepherd. But he and saying he's a good shepherd is revealing I am fulfilling Exodus 34. I am the fulfillment of God's promise to provide a right good king that will lead you into righteousness here. He's saying I'm the true vine. There's been a vine that failed before. It was Israel. The vine language is applied to Israel throughout the Old Testament, and it's never a positive thing. When Israel is called a vine, it usually is related to their judgment of failing to be the light to the nations that God designed them to be. You could go back and look more at Psalm 80. Another passage is Isaiah 5 7. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel. Very clear. The vineyard of the of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting. And he looked for justice. But behold. Bloodshed. For righteousness, but behold, an outcry. They're the vine, they're supposed to be the fruit of God that the other nations could come and see God's beauty and glory and love. But whenever you look, you see bloodshed. You see outcry. Israel failed to be the vine that God called them to be. God knew they would fail. So why did God call them to be that vine? It's so that when the true vine shows up, you already have this category and you can say, oh, this one, he's the source of life. It's to get the expectation ready so that when you see that vine failed, the true vine, when he shows up, you glory. Because the real source of life, the one who is successful in bringing life, he's arrived in the same way that Jesus is the new Adam. He that where Adam failed, Jesus succeeded, where Israel failed, Jesus has replaced them, and he is now God's means of creating a people for himself through Jesus. Now, Israel was called to a mission. It was to make Yahweh known to the nations, and this is the same we're called to. That vine has branches, and we're supposed to be the light to the nations. The final thing we see here in this first verse, Jesus is divine. The Father is divine dresser. The Father is divine. He is the one who's pruning. He is the one who's cutting. He is the one who's overseeing the growth of the church that Jesus Christ has purchased with his precious blood. Jesus is the source of life, and the Father is the one caring for it. He is the one promoting virtue and removing the vice. See, this passage is all about that promoting of virtue and removing vice. It's all about the fruit of the vine. And something we have to see here is the Father is the loving, caring vine dresser that prunes. That cuts away so that that vine and those branches will grow to have the most fruit for the most glory of Jesus Christ. Now let's look at verses 2 through 8. I'm not going to spend as much time on these other verses as verse 1. Verses 2 through 8 move to the unique relationship between the Father and the Son to us. I am the true vine, my father's divine dresser. That's a theological truth we have to uphold. Now we're inserted. The branches. I am the vine, you are the branches, every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit, he proves that it may bear more fruit. There's two kinds of pruning and there's two kinds of cutting. Some branches are removed because they're not fruitful. They're dead. And they're taking energy from the vine. They're taking energy from the vine that could be going elsewhere. They're, they're, they're hanging on the fruit unsightly. They're hanging on the vine unsightly. God cuts them off. This is, this is scary. Because I believe, as we've read through John, there's a number of people that keep coming and they keep becoming attracted to Jesus and they want to hang around Jesus, but they don't ever abide in Jesus. There's a way to be around Jesus your entire life and not abide in Him, and the Father ultimately cuts you off because there's no fruit. That should be terrifying for us to think about. Are we just hanging around Jesus? with no fruit, so that our ultimate end is that we're going to hell. Are we abiding in Him? Trusting Him? And the fruit is the demonstration and the proof of our discipleship. John actually addresses this in 1 John. They were among you, but they were not of you. There's many people who are attracted to Jesus and attracted to the church because it's God. Jesus Christ is God. How are people not going to be attracted to Him? The church, where the work of God is taking place, how are they not going to be attracted to it? But it's a matter of abiding in Christ, trusting him. Notice that they're they're thrown away, they're gathered and they're burned in verse six because they did not abide in Christ. Friends, let that terrify you, not just a little bit. Let that truly cause some introspection and thoughtfulness about your belief in Christ and the fruit that comes from it. Now, the other half of that verse is encouraging. The other branches are pruned. If you were a branch and you were in the vine, it's simple and clear. There's fruit. It's just stated, it's clear, it's an absolute truth that if you are a branch in the vine, you will bear fruit. Believers bear fruit. How could they not if they're united in Christ? We bear fruit by speaking to the Father in the name of Jesus, verses 7 and 16. We abide in the love of the Father and the Son, verse 9. We see here that we are called to bear fruit, which we'll talk about more in a moment. Verses 9 through 10, they really focused in, they stop, they move away from the vine and branch imagery. It is very clear. As the Father has loved me, I love you. Abide in my love. Keep my commandments. Here the focus is on the love and the commandments. If you love me, you will obey me. This is Jesus, he's God, he can say this. We see here that the pruning brings about a love and an obedience. Verse 11 really stands out. These things are spoken to you. This is an encouraging promise here that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. We're all longing for the full joy. We're all longing for that greatest and best life. Jesus just told us what it looks like. Abiding in him. Bearing fruit. Verses 12 to 17, after he says, keep my commandments, he's zeros in on one specific commandment twice. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you for 17. These things I command you so that you will love. one another. He's already said this. John 1334. This is how they will know that you're my disciples already commanding love one another as I have loved you. Picture this. Israel was the vine that was supposed to be the light to the nations based upon how they live. They failed. Now, Jesus is the vine and the church is the branches gathered together, and the nations see how we are reflecting the glory of God because we love one another. As Israel was supposed to be a reflection of God's order, design, and love by the way they treated one another and reflected and related to one another, now the world is supposed to look at the church, which is the branches of the true vine, and see that we love one another. That's our evangelism tool. The first and best evangelism tool is a church that's not biting or envying. A church that is loving one another as Christ loved the church. This has a powerful punch in that there's a great declaration, verse 13. He sets the standard of love so that you know what he means by as I have loved you, there is no greater love. I have laid down my life for you. And then he gives a fantastic theological truth and that our our status is moved from servants to friends. It's a new way of relating to God. And then you see again, verse 16, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide. We see three truths here that we're now going to walk through in more detail. First, we must be united with Christ. We must be united with Christ. Second, we bear fruit when we are united with Christ. We bear fruit when we are united with Christ. And thirdly, we must love one another in Christ. You want a summary of the entire message or the passage? I believe it's abiding in Christ bears fruit of love and obedience. Abiding in Christ bears fruit of obedience and love. First, we must be united with Christ. It's pretty simple and clear. Abide in me and me and you. There's a union that has to take place between the believer, the sinner and Christ, the Savior. The picture of the vine and branches shows that we must abide in Christ. There's only two ways to live. There are only two ways to live. You either abide in Christ and bear fruit or you abide in sin and continue to live a life of rebellion and destruction. He abides in us because he came and laid down his life for us, and as we read from First John, he then sends his spirit to indwell us. We abide in him and we trust him, love him, obey him. It's a state, but not a stagnant state. It's an ever increasing, growing one. Abiding is active faith that grows and changes. The big picture of theology that is essential for you to enjoy the Christian life is union with Christ. You can go to Ephesians 1 and see the Father has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ, which we prayed from. It's adoption, election, forgiveness, deliverance. Here in Christ is our life source. Now, look specifically. Verse seven, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish we've done for you. I want to focus here. If you abide in me, my words abide in you. Look at verse three. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Now, Jesus is the word of God. He has come and declared a truth and it cleanses us. Where did it cleanse us from? Our sin. The stain that marked us because of our rebellion against God. He is the lamb who washes away the sins of the world. He dies so that the guilt that we have, the stain on our souls from our sin rebellion, He dies in our place so that when God looks upon His death, He's judged. So when God looks to us, even though we have the stain, we're not counted as a sinner. We're no longer counted as guilty. His Word washes us because He says, Father, I died for Him. His Word is one of a declaration, He's innocent. His guilt has been paid in full. Bring him home. That is the word that washes us. If you're here and you know you're not a Christian, that's the only thing you'd be thinking about this morning. Have you lived a life that's ignored God? Have you worshipped him as he is worthy of being worshipped? Is there fruit of a life that that in any way enjoys God or loves God? But by ignoring him, you've not given him the worship he deserves. You've not submitted to him. And now there's anyone else in this building. No one in this building has worshiped him the way he is worthy of worship. But your life is still marked with that stain of unrighteousness. Only Christ can remove it with his precious blood that was poured out for everyone who believes in him. You must believe you are guilty before God. That Jesus Christ died to remove that guilt that only he can take away that guilt. And trust him to free you from the guilt in the life of sin you've been living. If you have questions about that, I would love to talk to you about it after the service. Second thing we see here and that we are united with Christ is that we receive love from Christ. Look at verse nine. As the father had loved me, So have I loved you. Abide in my love. Jesus just asked us and invited us in to the holy, perfect, eternal love that he has shared with the Father. How do we not rush in? How do we get so distracted by everything else we love in this world when Jesus just said, my father, The perfect Father who has perfect love. He loves me. And now, just as He loves me, I am offering you to share in this love. I got moved thinking about the fact that it was my sins that nailed Jesus to the cross. Now I'm just amazed. How in the world is it that I love anything else? How is it that we can love anything else when we're invited into the eternal, divine love of Almighty God? See, that love is effective. That love changes. The Father didn't send His Son to die for us just so we could be free of the guilt. He sent His Son to die for us so we would be changed, transformed, a different direction, a different desire, a different behavior. If we believe in Christ, if we abide in Christ, it's a love that changes us and transforms us. The third thing we see about being united with Christ That Jesus calls us his friend. This is in verses 14 to 15, no longer servants. You are my friends. If you do it, I command you no longer do I call you servants for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I've called you friends for all that I have heard from my father. I have made known to you. I have a pastor friend in Atlanta and I called to say we're going to conference. Can we spend some time together? I'd really love to catch up and be encouraged. You're always encouraging me. My friend is kind of awkward, so he says, Keith, do you want to be my friend? That's kind of an odd question, but I thought how encouraging it is. He wants to define the relationship. I said, yes, I want to be your friend. It was encouraging to have somebody say, you know, very explicit, very intentional. If friendship matters. It's not casual. Let's make this friendship secure. Jesus even does it better. He simply says, I am your friend. It doesn't say, do you want to be friends? He says, I am your friend. I laid down my life for you. Now, most people that come up to me, they say, hey, I'm your friend, I'm thinking, what do you want to sell me? You're suspicious of somebody who presents themselves too friendly, but they're not Jesus. If someone's going to be your friend, you want to see that they really have your best interest and your care and your love intended. You can't question Jesus on that. He laid down his life for you. When he says, I am your friend, you know it's true because he's the best friend, because he gives the best love in the best way. It's a new kind of love. No one's ever seen this before. He gives us this new status. We're no longer servants like Israel was. They were servants. That new status that Jesus gives us when he lays down his life for us. When Conrad and Bewe came this past Christmas, he and his son stayed with us, and they're foreigners from another nation. And his son, Munduli, had never been to the States. So we sense the awkwardness. It's Christmas. They're away. And so we sat down for our first meal, and I looked at Mundula, and I said, all right, Mundula, I need you to do something. I need you to go to the fridge. And he looked at me like, I don't know you yet. Why are you already being crazy? So then he looked at his father, and you could tell he got to give his father the look like, do I do it, Dad? Like, what's going on? So Conrad gives the nod. He gets up. He opens the fridge, still confused, like am I asking him to get something? And I said, you need to know. You belong here. This is your home. You can open the fridge. It was a symbol just to make sure he knew that this is your home, that you're a friend here. Because you see, when a servant goes to the fridge, he's wondering, what do I get for my master? I want him to know he's a friend of the home. You go get what you want. Jesus has made his friends. Our home is with God. It's a place of comfort and peace and rest. Our home is with God because Jesus has brought us in to be friends that make ourselves home there. Now, we can't miss verse 14. You are my friends if you do what I command you. This needs an explanation. He's declared he is his friend because he laid down his life for us. And now he declares, you are my friend. If let me first say this is God. It's not a reciprocal mutual if clause in the friendship. He declares me friends and explains how we're friends. Also, I want to make sure that this is clear. This is not a prerequisite for friendship with God. You do not obey him enough for him to finally say you're my friend. No, he dies for you. He washes you. He cleanses you. He cleanses you. And then you demonstrate your discipleship and your friendship with obedience. Look at verse eight. By this, my father is glorified that you bear much fruit so that prove to be my disciples. The thing about this, we have to realize that we're called to friendship. This is in the midst of the call to love one another as I have loved you. And he's just given the supreme example of love laid on your life. So, Jesus is our best friend. He's called us to friendship. Now, he's told us what the fruit of friendship is. It's obedience. And now we're supposed to be friends with one another. The church is supposed to be friendly. This doesn't mean we have a time where we're just going to shake hands and greet and then nothing. No. Being friends is a real commitment. Being friends is a real urgency and a love to seek others' interests as more important than ourselves and to consider others as more important than ourselves. Being a friend within the body of Christ is a great call to intentional love. This is what Christ calls us to. Children, I want to give you just a very precise application. You need to know first, wake up all the children. Children. You need to know that the only way to have real friendship is to be a man or a young man or a young lady of virtue who trust Christ. If you want good friends, you first have to be a good friend. If you want good friends, you have to first be a good friend. If you want real friendship, commit your way to Christ and only unite yourself, unite yourself with those who have a similar commitment. If you want real friendship, be committed to Christ and only allow those who have the same commitment to be your friend. Bad company corrupts good character. Now, if you're a teenager, I want to say something to you. If you want real friendship, then you must be a person of virtue who trust Christ. If you want good friends, you have to first be a good friend. If you want real friendship, commit your way to Christ and then unite yourself only with those who have the same commitment. Bad company corrupts good character. Teenagers, I didn't want to treat you like children, but also knew you needed to hear it twice. If you want real friendship that builds you up in Christ, be a friend who's committed to virtue in Christ. The second main truth we see in our passage is that we bear fruit when we are in Christ. Fruit is indispensable for the believer. It doesn't come in an imperative form here. There are imperatives. You must obey commandments. But it's just it's an absolute truth. It's an essential property of a believer that they have fruit. It's assumed if we abide in Christ, we will bear fruit. If we're claiming to be Christians and there is no fruit, we're liars. Are you a liar? If you're claiming to be a Christian and there is no fruit, you're lying. If you claim to be a Christian and you're not being pruned to bear more fruit, you're a liar. For instance, I could walk around and I could say I'm a cowboy. I could get a lasso, a belt buckle and a big hat. I could get jeans that don't fit. And I could walk around and I could say I'm a cowboy, but I don't do anything a cowboy does. And the more people know me, the more they're going to question anything about me is cowboyish. Those who know me best know there's no way I'm a cowboy. I can have a business card that says the Most Holy Reverend Cowboy Keith. Cowboy even spelled with a K. No one will believe me because I don't do anything a cowboy does. In the same way, you cannot be a Christian. You cannot claim and you should not claim to be a Christian if you're not doing what Christ commands us to do. And that doesn't mean that you pick out the most convenient things that Christ says. He says, teach them to obey all my truth and my commandments. We believe in Christ, it changes us. We have to also see we can do nothing apart from him. We can't glorify God apart from Christ. We will either be bearing fruit of the flesh or fruit of the spirit. We must hear and see that as Mike already said, walking down an aisle and praying a prayer once and doing a little small tokens of Christianity, that doesn't make you a Christian. It's the ever ongoing, increasing fruit that comes from being a branch in the vine. Now, if we bear fruit, this is actually the hard teaching here. If we bear fruit, the Father prunes us so we bear more. It's kind of something obvious. If you're a branch in the vine, you're bearing more fruit and more fruit and you're getting more and more pruned. All growing Christians are pruned Christians. I love the early spring or the late spring, early summer growth. The new growth on a rose bush, it's clean. The blossoms are powerful. That first blossoming and the first growth, it's pretty. But the flowers fade. They turn brown and die. The leaves get black spot on them and then eventually they become unsightly. You have to cut the death off. You have to cut back the roses that have died so that new rose blooms will come. You have to cut off the black spots so that it doesn't destroy the plant. There's pruning that is required. Notice the father, he's the vine dresser. He's on his pruning. He's the master gardener who cares for the plant. year after year. He knows it. He knows it intimately. He knows the plant. He's been changing it and cutting it over the years. He knows what needs to grow, where it needs to grow, where it needs to be pruned. It's an intense loving care. What it shows us here is what Hebrews tells us. He disciplines those he loves. That's what pruning is. It's cutting off where we once had growth or where we still have sin and now it's dead so that we can have more fruit. One of the most frustrating parts of gardening is the hard work is never really observed in its fruit. A good garden or a good tree has things removed that makes it beautiful and no one will ever say, wow, you have no weeds. Most people, they're never going to praise you for getting all the weeds out of your garden. But see, when you have the weeds, they're unsightly and that's all people see. It shows the ugliness and their eyes are taken off the bush, the plant, the flower. It's a frustrating part of gardening because all the work that you put in actually keeps what's ugly out. So the people's eyes are drawn to that which is good. This is very similar to Christian life. Repentance. Cutting out sin is the hard work of the Christian life that allows growth. And no one will ever say, wow, way to not be a jerk. But by not being a jerk, they see your fruit. By not being full of sin, by not acting out in the fruits of the flesh, they get to see the fruit of the Spirit revealed. Pruning is cutting back the flesh. There's a quantity and a quality. Let me explain this. There's different kinds of pruning. When I first became a Christian, there was a clear pruning away. It was actions that God said, you have to stop acting this way. He told me I had to stop these interperipheral relationships I had. He had to tell me no more fighting, no more drunkenness. He said, stop doing these things, because if you keep doing them, you're going to go to hell. Believe in me and stop living this way. And I said, OK, I can stop doing these things if that is what it means for me to believe in you and not go to hell. But then afterwards, God kept pruning and it got harder and harder because it wasn't just actions he was putting away. It was heart desires, which are so much harder to have pruned. He was revealing that it was anger and bitterness that was causing me to get into fights. He was revealing that it was lust that led to the relationships. It was the desire to numb pain that led to drunkenness. And I had to start dealing with the heart desires. It isn't just stopping immoral actions. It's having the heart pruned so those desires are purified so that the actions that come forth are truly from desires that God has pruned away and purified. The fruit from abiding in Christ is twofold. Removing vice, growing virtue. That's what a father does in a child. That's what the vinedresser is doing to his church. We try to remove the vice. We try to promote and grow virtue. Friend, you need to realize that pruning is necessary. And it is worth losing your eyes so that you do not go to hell for continuing to look at pornography. You need to realize that it's worth losing your hand if it means you have to be you're going to hell for continue to use it in anger. It's worth losing your tongue because you're going to hell because you continue to tear down and grumble and complain. Pruning is good. Something that's scary. If there is no fruit, there is no pruning. The branch is destroyed. Again, you can be attracted to Christ. You could be hanging on the church your entire life because it's a friendly place to be. But if you're not abiding in Christ, you'll say, depart from me. I never knew you. And our fruit is one of the clear ways we should have confidence in Christ and are abiding in Him. Now, the Father, He cuts it away. They gather together and they burn it. This is discipline and the severe case here of God removing from the vine, the branches, that which does not truly belong there. This is why we as a church take church discipline very seriously, just as the body is called to be loving one another as Christ loves us and calls us to love and be that those branches are together. We act on behalf of God and we remove people from the fellowship. This is clear from First Corinthians five and Matthew 18. We have to realize there will always be wolves masquerading in sheep's clothing. There will always be those who profess faith, but do not have abiding trust, and they're fruitless. Churches, sadly, are full of non-Christians, and that's why people don't like the church. If you've been bitten in a church, if you look at the church and think it's just a bunch of hypocrites, it's probably because you read a church full of non-Christians. This is why we take regenerate church membership very seriously. Church discipline is pruning, and there should be pruning all day, every day at Jefferson Park. We should be constantly challenging and correcting one another. Excommunication is what takes place when a professing believer says, I've had enough. I don't want to hear it. When someone resists the pruning, when someone rejects the correction, you start to see the true heart. We want you to hear that we all need pruning and God calls us as a body together to prune one another. So who is it that God is using in the body of Christ to prune you? Who is it that comes to you and tells you one of the best things anybody could tell you? You're being a jerk. Who corrects you? Those are some of the nicest, greatest, loving words anyone could tell you. Hey, cut it out. You're not portraying Christ's likeness. You've got a blind spot. We're all deceived in our sin. We're all deceived in our flesh. We need the brothers and sisters to come alongside us and provide that discipline that says, hey, there's pruning that needs to take place. If you have a friend like that, praise God for that friend, pray for that friend and make sure you're around that friend as much as possible. If you don't have that friend, you need to find them. If you don't have words of correction, you're only clinging to your sin. And if you're only surrounding yourself with people who tell you you're doing well. Stay away from those folks. The third and final truth, we must love one another in Christ. It's actually quite fascinating as we're on the heels of Galatians 5. Because Galatians 5 was bookended with do not bite and devour one another. And then do not provoke one another and envy one another. So the fruit of the Spirit is bookended with this declaration of what not to do to one another. Do not bite, devour, provoke, envy. Here we have bookends. That's a denial. Now we have an affirmation. Love one another. That is where the fruit takes place. We see that there's a supreme call to love in scripture is to love God more than anything else, because he's the most lovely. We see there's a love for neighbor, which is universal because we're all made in God's image. We all have dignity and worth. We're all supposed to give each other the same kind of love we would give to what we would expect of ourselves. There's a different kind of love, a love for the brothers, a love for the one another of the church among the branches and the vine. It's a different kind of love. Because Jesus loves us better than we love ourselves. The love for the church, love for the brotherhood is a different kind of love. It's a self-sacrificing love. If you think about our relationship to one another, how we relate to one another reveals the way we think God's love works for us. If you only love those who you think is worthy of love, you think you've earned God's love. If you only love those who you think have earned your love, you have a self-righteous problem in your doctrine of God's love. Are you devouring and biting other brothers? Are you lifting them up and encouraging? We need one another. We need one another to point us to Christ. As we've already studied the love one and other passages, I want to focus in on a particular kind of love, and that is, there is one other passage in scripture that has a very similar sound. In Ephesians, Paul says, husbands love your wife as Christ loved the church. It's Father's Day. Here's your Father's Day application. The most important thing you can do for this church The most important thing you could do for your children, husbands, is to love your wife as Christ loved the church. If you want to be a healthy, faithful father, love your wife as Christ loved the church. The most important member in this church for me is my wife. She's my first responsibility, and I praise God I've got elders all around me and other members who are constantly reminding me of that. My first responsibility is my wife, because she's the member of this body who God has united me with in the closest way. That is the most intentional love. The same goes for every other man and his wife. Your spouse must be the focus. Now, if you're single. God calls you to be faithful, God calls you to invest and love others. You can experience the love of Christ. I'm just wanting to focus in that in the midst of all the one and others, it's the husband and wife that have that most intentional love. Do not get distracted. Husbands and wives do not make your children more important than your own marriage. The best way to love your children is by loving one another. As we conclude, it's a rich passage. I am the true vine, and my Father is a vinedresser. It is only in Christ that we can have the life. It is only by the Father's pruning that we will grow in our fruitfulness. If you do not have fruit, please do not leave here without talking to an elder. If you are afraid because of the fruit you see lacking, we want to talk to you. We want to share with you what it means to abide in Christ, because merely being present doesn't make you a Christian. One of the great fruits of the Christian life is a thankfulness. Are you thankful? Are you thankful for God and his gift of Christ, that Christ has laid down his life for you? Are you thankful for what God is doing? As we conclude, we need to be praising God, thankful for what he has done for us in his great love. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you that you have given life to us. Who are once dead. You have given fruit. Of righteousness, where we once were only sons of disobedience following the ways of this world. Lord, if someone here does not know you and they are walking in the way of the world, will you call them out this morning? Do not let them leave without being called to abide in you. We thank you for your love for us while we were unlovely. May you help us to see that great love and to praise you for it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.