{"id":18466,"date":"2017-12-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-10T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/ecclesiology-007\/"},"modified":"2017-12-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-12-10T06:00:00","slug":"ecclesiology-007","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/ecclesiology-007\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecclesiology 007"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[88],"series_event":[484],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18466","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-john","series_event-ecclesiology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Ecclesiology 007","sermon_date":"20171210","sermon_month":"12","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":5239,"sermon_slides":5240,"sermon_mp3":5243,"sermon_id":"1210179595910","series_or_event":484,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":88,"chapter_and_verse":"15:1-17","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nEcclesiology 007\n\n12-10-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 7\n\nGood to see you all; I hope you enjoyed the snow or the global warming.\u00a0 If you need a handout just put your hand up.\u00a0 And let me invite your attention to John\u2019s Gospel, John chapter 15 and verse 1. \u00a0If you have been tracking along with us in this study, we started a few weeks back a study called Ecclesiology, which is the doctrine of the church.\u00a0 It\u2019s the area of systematic theology or biblical, topical type of study, trying to figure out what has God revealed about this church that we\u2019re a part of, this\u00a0 new man, the body of Christ.\u00a0\u00a0 We started off with a definition of the church, the church literally means called out ones.\u00a0 So the church would consist of all people, Jew and Gentile, on equal footing, who have trusted in the Messiah that was rejected by the leadership of first century Israel.\u00a0 They become part of this new man or body called the body of Christ.\n\nAnd from there we spent some time looking at the distinction between the universal church and the local church.\u00a0\u00a0 And we worked through that chart.\u00a0 And from there we move into, or have moved into Roman numeral III here, the word pictures of the church.\u00a0 \u00a0You know, as the saying goes a picture paints a thousand words.\u00a0 And so what God has given us is about seven pictures of what the church looks like, word pictures of metaphors.\n\nThe first six of these we\u2019ve already talked about which just leaves today number 7, which I think we can finish today.\u00a0 There was the shepherd\/sheep imagery, we talked about that.\u00a0 The head\/body imagery, also the bride\/groom imagery and everything that entails.\u00a0 The temple imagery, the imagery of high priest\/priesthood, which we talked about last time.\u00a0 And also the imagery of the church as the pillar of truth.\u00a0 That just leaves one more, right?\u00a0 So one of the images, the seventh image that God has given us in the New Testament concerning the church, is the image of the vine and the branches. \u00a0\u00a0And if you were with us when we were going through John\u2019s Gospel we\u2019ve done extensive teaching on it and I don\u2019t want to reteach everything we did there but I do want to kind of bring, as Peter the Apostle said, bring some things to your remembrance concerning this seventh word picture, the vine and the branches.\n\nThe vine and the branches discourse, or information takes place in what is called the Upper Room Discourse.\u00a0 It\u2019s called the Upper Room because Jesus taught these things where?\u00a0 In the Upper Room.\u00a0 And the things that He taught here are very, very different than what He taught on the Olivet Discourse, also delivered on the same week, the Passion Week, the final week of Christ\u2019s life on earth prior to His crucifixion.\u00a0 The Olivet Discourse, given on the Mount of Olives, is in Matthew 24 and 25, and there He is basically outlining information about the nation of Israel and her future.\u00a0\u00a0 The Upper Room Discourse is completely different, He is in a different location, it\u2019s a different day although it\u2019s the same week.\u00a0 And He is with the apostles (then disciples) in the Upper Room.\u00a0 The audience consists of just twelve people.\n\nAnd very early on in this discourse Judas, the only unbeliever, leaves.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see a record of that in John 13:19-21. So when Jesus starts to speak from that point on, including what He\u2019s saying here about John 15, about the vine and the branches, He\u2019s talking to eleven believers.\u00a0 And that becomes a big deal because that largely controls how you interpret this because what He\u2019s going to deal with are branches in the vine and branches out of the vine.\u00a0 And people say\u00a0 that\u2019s the difference between a believer and\u00a0 unbeliever, right?\u00a0\u00a0 The branch in the vine is the believer; the branch out of the vine is the unbeliever and it gets tricky because he talks about a branch being thrown into the fire, verse 6, so people say well, the branch out of the vine must be an unbeliever that goes to hell.\u00a0 And to interject all of that into the Upper Room Discourse here in John 15 is to completely ignore the\u00a0 audience.\u00a0 \u00a0He\u2019s speaking to a specific audience of eleven saved people.\u00a0 The only disciple whose salvation is in doubt is Judas, who\u2019s already left (in John 13).\n\nSo what I largely believe is happening here is in the Olivet Discourse He says farewell to Israel and outlines her future.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not what he\u2019s doing here in the Upper Room Discourse.\u00a0 He\u2019s saying hello to the church.\u00a0 What triggered the Olivet Discourse, when you go back to the beginning of Matthew 24, were questions about the destruction of the temple.\u00a0 Jesus made a statement about the temple and He said all these stones will be left unturned.\u00a0 And they said tell us when these things will be and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age.\u00a0 [Matthew 24:3, \u201cAs He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, \u2018Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?\u2019\u201d]\n\nSo Jesus says okay, let\u2019s talk about that.\u00a0 And He talks about the tribulation period, the coming kingdom, the conversion of Israel in the tribulation period.\u00a0 So the conversation there\u2026 and I kind of struggle even with the term \u201cOlivet Discourse\u201d and \u201cUpper Room Discourse,\u201d we get the idea that it\u2019s like the Sermon on the Mount where He\u2019s standing in front of a bunch of people giving a sermon.\u00a0 And these things are probably better said the \u201cUpper Room Conversation\u201d or the \u201cOlivet Conversation,\u201d because He\u2019s talking to a small group.\n\nSo the question was about the destruction of the temple and the end of the age and Jesus explains all of that in conversation form, in Matthew 24 and 25.\u00a0 And here, delivered a different day, same week, different location, is the Upper Room Discourse, which generally starts in chapter 13 and goes through chapter 17.\u00a0 And the question that triggered the whole thing is He is announcing His departure, and these disciples had been with Him for over three years and they were very troubled by the idea that He was leaving.\u00a0 And this is where He begins to explain, \u201cDo not let\u00a0 your heart be troubled,\u201d He begins to explain it\u2019s actually to your advantage that I go away because when I go away, He, the Helper, or the Paraclete in Greek, or the one who comes alongside to assist (the Holy Spirit) will come to you and be in you for how long?\u00a0 Forever!\n\nSo it\u2019s actually to your advantage that I\u2019m leaving and in the process He starts to unveil the resources that are going to come upon the church, beginning in Acts 2, resources that they knew a little bit about but not really much.\u00a0 They knew about the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is active in the Old Testament.\u00a0 What they didn\u2019t know is the Holy Spirit was going to live in them forever. \u00a0So it\u2019s actually to your advantage that I\u2019m leaving, He says, because once I go the paraclete will come.\n\nAnd in this whole conversation He starts to outline great truths of the church in seed form, yet to be born.\u00a0 And I think He says in this discourse three times, rough paraphrase here, I\u2019ve got many things to tell\u00a0 you but you cannot bear it now.\u00a0 [John 16:12, \u201c\u2018I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.\u00a0 [13] \u00a0But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 So what He is doing is He is revealing in seed form truths about the church yet to be birthed, and it will be the responsibility of the apostles, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, to amplify these truths, to build on these truths, which they do in their 27 letters, particularly the epistles (or the letters) and particularly John is going to write five books.\u00a0 1 John is, I believe an unpacking, or an amplification of what Jesus says here in John 15 concerning the vine and the branches.\n\nSo Lewis Sperry Chafer, in his systematic theology makes this statement which I agree with, he says: \u201cThe Upper Room Discourse, in which the above passage is found, is the seed-plot of that form of doctrine which is later developed in the Epistles.\u00a0 Is it not strange, therefore, that the Apostle Paul takes up this great theme further in elucidation.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s not just Paul that did it (and Paul, of course, wasn\u2019t here when these things were said, but the Spirit came upon Paul that came upon all the others.\u00a0 So Paul is going to elucidate these truths; John is going to elucidate these truths, Peter is going to greater amplify and elucidate these truths. \u00a0\u00a0And so that\u2019s why it\u2019s completely valid, to my mind, to see the divine branches imagery as a portrait, a picture, a caricature in infant form of the coming church, explaining our relationship with the Lord.\n\nSo I have this list here and I\u2019m not going to talk through the whole list, there\u2019s four slides, but I just want you to be aware as you look at this how many doctrines we have in the New Testament epistles, letters, which owe their origin to this conversation here, called the Upper Room Discourse.\u00a0 And with each of these I have verses from the Upper Room Discourse and where that truth is later picked up in the epistles and developed further.\u00a0 So I won\u2019t refer to all the passages, you can look up those on your own.\n\nWhat are some of seed truths you find in the Upper Room Discourse that are later amplified in the epistles?\n
    \n \t
  1. The believer\u2019s oneness in Christ. [John 17:20-23, Ephesians 2:11-22].<\/li>\n \t
  2. The Spirit\u2019s permanent residence in the believer. [John 14:16; Ephesians 4:30]<\/li>\n \t
  3. The believer\u2019s union with Christ, [John 14:20, Galatians 2:20, Romans6:1-14]<\/li>\n \t
  4. The believer\u2019s opposition to the world. [John 15:18-19; James 4:4; 1 John 2:15-17]<\/li>\n \t
  5. The necessity of the believer to stay in fellowship with Christ, that\u2019s going to come out here \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0in in the vine and the branches.\u00a0 [John 13:10; 15:1-7; 1 John 1:5-7, 9]<\/li>\n \t
  6. Abiding in Christ, as a prerequisite for fruit bearing, we\u2019re going to see that this morning, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[John 13:1-20, Philippians 2:5-11]<\/li>\n \t
  7. The believer\u2019s election, [John 15:16, Ephesians 1:4]<\/li>\n \t
  8. Christ as the ultimate model of sacrificial living and service, [John 3:1-20; Philippians 2:5-11]<\/li>\n \t
  9. The necessity of divine discipline in the believer\u2019s life, [John 15:2; Hebrews 12:5-11]<\/li>\n \t
  10. Satan as the god of this age, [John 12:31; 14:30; 61:11, 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2]<\/li>\n \t
  11. The defeat of Satan at the cross [John 12:31; 16:11; Colossians 2:15; Hebrews 2:14]<\/li>\n \t
  12. The Spirit as the inspirer of New Testament Scripture [John 14:26; 16:13, 2 Timothy 3:16;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02 Peter 1:20- 21<\/li>\n \t
  13. The Spirit as the illuminator of all Scripture, [John 14:26; 16:13; 1 Cor. 2:14; 1 John 2:20, 27.]<\/li>\n \t
  14. Christ\u2019s provision of peace in the midst of adversity, [John 14:27; Philippians 4:7] You know, we think of Paul talking about that in Philippians but Paul is just building on what Christ said in John 14:27..<\/li>\n \t
  15. The necessity of the Spirit\u2019s convicting ministry as a prerequisite for salvation John 16:7- 11, 1 Corinthians 2:14; 2 Corinthians 4:4.<\/li>\n \t
  16. The normalcy of trials and tribulations in the present age (John 16:33.<\/li>\n \t
  17. The believer as the ultimate overcomer [John 16:33; 1 John 4:4; 5:4-5]<\/li>\n \t
  18. Christ\u2019s present session at Father\u2019s right hand [John 14:12-14; 17:15, Hebrews 7:3b, 25.<\/li>\n \t
  19. The power of prayer [John 14:12-14; Ephesians 6:18-20; James 5:16.<\/li>\n \t
  20. The inerrancy of Scripture, [John 17:20; 2 Timothy 3:16]<\/li>\n \t
  21. Disclosure of what we would call Eschatology or things to come\u00a0 [John 16:13; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nAnd that\u2019s just a list that I created, I found at least 21 ideas and\u00a0 you could probably go through here and find more.\u00a0 But there are, as Lewis Sperry Chafer said, \u201cSeed Truths\u201d which would be later watered and amplified the apostles.\u00a0 And one of those seed truths is this imagery of the vine and the branches.\u00a0 So with that introduction in mind we\u2019re just going to kind of move today, verses 1-17 of John 15 and I can\u2019t comment on every little concept here but I\u2019ll bring up things as they are appropriate.\n\nNotice, if you will, John 15and verse 1, \u201cI am the true vine, my Father is the vinedresser.\u201d\u00a0 So we have two characters here, we have the vine.\u00a0 The vine would be who?\u00a0 Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Now the Father is the caretaker of the branches that come from the vine, so who would those branches be?\u00a0 That would be us, believers in Christ.\u00a0 So who is He speaking to here?\u00a0 He\u2019s speaking to eleven saved people.\u00a0 So the eleven saved people, and us by way of extension or the branches, the vine is Jesus Christ and the caretaker of the branches emanating from the vine is the Father.\n\nAnd then notice, if you will, verse 2, it says, \u201cEvery branch in Me,\u201d now that prepositional phrase \u201cin Me\u201d is a big deal because when you study this out in John\u2019s Gospel what you\u2019ll discover is that the same prepositional phrase is used to describe members of the Trinity.\u00a0 Jesus, all of the tiime, talked about the Father in Me, I in the Father.\u00a0 Now would you say that the Son is pretty safe in His position in the Trinity?\u00a0 I mean, is the Son going to lose His place in the Trinity?\u00a0 I don\u2019t think so!\u00a0 That\u2019s an eternal relationship.\u00a0 So when Christ here takes the exact same prepositional phrase \u201cin Me\u201d and applies it to the Christian even though these verses talk about pruning and fire and all kinds of things, what He\u2019s saying here is you\u2019re eternally secure.\u00a0 The eleven that he\u2019s talking about are just as eternally secure as is the Son in the relationship to the Father.\u00a0 See that?\n\nAnd if\u00a0 you\u2019re a student of John\u2019s Gospel it doesn\u2019t come as any front page news does it because back in John 10:27-29 Jesus makes a statement there that\u2019s one of the strongest verses on eternal security in the whole Bible.\u00a0 He says in John 10:27, \u201cMy sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; [28] and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish;\u201d that\u2019s a double negative in Greek, a double negative is this can never happen, they can \u201cnever perish,\u201d it\u2019s the strongest negation you can have.\u00a0 It\u2019s like no with five exclamation points after it.\u00a0 The Spanish version is no way Jose.\u00a0 \u201cI give them eternal life, they shall never perish, neither shall anyone\u201d now what would \u201canyone\u201d include?\u00a0 It would include the devil, it would include the world system, it would include unbelievers, it would even include yourself.\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t \u201canyone\u201d include \u201canyone\u201d?\u00a0 \u00a0\u201c\u2026they shall never perish, neither shall any one snatch them out of My hand.\u00a0 [29] \u201cMy Father, who has given them<\/em> to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them<\/em> out of the Father\u2019s hand.\u201d And we\u2019ve done strong teachings on John 10 in our series on soteriology, going into the Greek and all of that kind of stuff.\n\nSo by the time you get to John 15 there shouldn\u2019t be any doubt in anybody\u2019s mind that if\u00a0 you\u2019ve trusted in Christ you\u2019re eternally secure.\u00a0 And this prepositional phrase \u201cin Me\u201d that\u2019s used to describe members of the Trinity in their relationship with one another, cements the deal, seals the deal.\u00a0 So he says, \u201cEvery branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away.\u201d\u00a0 Now the better translation is not \u201ctakes away\u201d but \u201craises up.\u201d\u00a0 And when we were in John we talked about the Greek there and that\u2019s a better translation, \u201craises up\u201d meaning that\u2019s what you did with these branches in the ancient world.\u00a0 You raised them up if they weren\u2019t fruitful so that they could become fruitful; you\u2019d adjust their position so that they can become fruitful.\u00a0 And this is what the vinedresser, the Father, is doing in all of our lives.\u00a0 He is at work all of the time raising us up, rearranging things so that we can be more dependent on Him, not for purposes of salvation but for purposes of fellowship and fruit bearing, so that fruitless vines can become more fruitful.\n\nAnd he says, \u201cEvery branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away and every branch in me that bears fruit He\u201d what? \u201cprunes,\u201d now what would that be?\u00a0 A lot of things; that could be problems, it could be divine discipline, it could be any number of things that the vinedresser, the Father, is at work in our lives, the branches.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 To make us miserable?\u00a0 No, \u201cso that it may bear more fruit.\u201d\u00a0 So you might be saying to yourself well Lord, I\u2019m already bearing fruit for You, how come all of these problems have occurred in my life?\u00a0 Well, maybe God wants you to bear even more fruit so He\u2019s got to bring\u00a0 you to even a greater place of dependency upon Him.\n\nSo this is the normal activity of the Father in the life of the children of God.\u00a0 And as you go down to verse 3 it\u2019s very clear that the branches are saved because the eleven He is addressing are saved.\u00a0 He said, \u201cYou are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.\u201d\u00a0 Now when you go back to John 13, which comes before John 15 and you look at John 13:10, this is before Judas left the picture, \u201cJesus said to him, \u2018He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean;\u201d see, this is imagery that goes back to the Greco-Roman bath house, where what happened is you put your robe on or your toga or whatever it is and you go down to this communal kind of bathhouse and\u00a0 you get washed and that\u2019s what\u2019s meant by you become clean.\u00a0 The problem is you\u2019ve got to walk home, don\u2019t you, in the dirt, and by the time you get home what\u2019s happened to your feet?\u00a0 They got dirty.\n\nSo this is used as a picture of a Christian who is already saved, they\u2019ve been \u201cwashed\u201d but what has happened is their feet got dirty and their feet need to be washed as well.\u00a0 So the feet getting dirty is not loss of salvation; the feet getting dirty is the believer, because of sin, not losing salvation but falling out of fellowship with Christ.\u00a0 At that point the branch becomes disconnected from the vine and is not disqualified from salvation, which can never be taken away, but is disqualified from discipleship or abiding in Christ or fellowship, or fruit bearing.\u00a0\u00a0 So \u201cclean\u201d in this imagery is used to describe a Christian who\u2019s been justified before God.\n\n\u201cJesus said to him, \u2018He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet.\u201d So what happens when your feet get dirty?\u00a0 You need 1 John 1:9.\u00a0 1 John 1:9 basically restores, not salvation, not position, but broken fellowship.\u00a0 [1 John 1:9, \u201cIf we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.\u201d]\n\nSo it\u2019s like getting into a disagreement or some kind of tension happens in your marriage, someone says something that\u2019s insensitive to the other or does something that\u2019s insensitive to the other and what got broken there is not the marriage, you\u2019re still positionally married.\u00a0 What got broken there is moment by moment fellowship.\u00a0 So you need to, assuming it\u2019s you that\u2019s the bad person, which in my marriage it usually is, I need to apologize, I need to say I\u2019m sorry I said this or did this and I\u2019m repentant, I\u2019m not going to, under God\u2019s\u00a0 power, not going to do that anymore.\u00a0 So what does that do?\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t make me more married than I already was; what it does is it restores broken fellowship and my moment by moment enjoyment with my spouse.\n\nSo that\u2019s what happens when our feet get dirty and that\u2019s the significance of 1 John 1:9 in our lives.\u00a0 1 John 1:9 to the Christian says, \u201cIf we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.\u201d\u00a0 When John wrote that he\u2019s writing to saved people in 1 John.\u00a0 And it\u2019s not a big surprise, is it, that John would write that because he was sitting here 60 years earlier in the Upper Room when Christ began to explain these things.\u00a0 And the Spirit did come upon John and he did become the Apostle John and he did write 1 John to elucidate a seed truth that\u2019s been planted here in the Upper Room Discourse.\n\nJohn 13:10, \u201cHe who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are already clean, but not all of you.\u201d\u00a0 So \u201cclean\u201d is salvation which they already had; \u201cnot all of you\u201d because who hasn\u2019t left the room yet?\u00a0 Judas, he doesn\u2019t leave\u00a0 until around John 13:29-31.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[John 13:29, \u201cFor some were supposing, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, \u201cBuy the things we have need of for the feast\u201d; or else, that he should give something to the poor. [30] So after receiving the morsel he went out immediately; and it was night.\u00a0 [31] Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus said, \u201cNow is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him;\u201d]\n\nSo when Jesus makes this statement in John 15:3 , you are already clean, he is rehearsing what he already said back in John 13:10, that these eleven are justified before God.\u00a0 Whether they go to heaven is not an issue any more is what I\u2019m trying to get at.\u00a0 What is an issue is their moment by moment fellowship with Christ.\u00a0 Their discipleship is an issue and their fruit bearing is an issue.\u00a0 That\u2019s what\u2019s at stake here.\u00a0 It has nothing to do with heaven or hell.\n\nAnd that\u2019s how it is with you as a Christian; your salvation, once you trust in Christ is never again an issue because that was given to you by grace faith.\u00a0 What is an issue is whether you\u2019re going to become a disciple of Christ, whether you\u2019re going to bear fruit that lasts or not.\u00a0 And Jesus had to talk this way with these guys because He\u2019s leaving and they\u2019re all He\u2019s got.\u00a0 I mean, if these guys don\u2019t bear fruit the whole, what we call Christianity, dissolves.\u00a0 That\u2019s why He was very clear when He said at another point, do not leave Jerusalem until you are what?\u00a0 Clothed with power from on high, speaking of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 [Luke 24:49, \u201cAnd behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.\u201d]\u00a0 You need to have the Holy Spirit in you and you need to be walking with Me moment by moment or this new movement that we call Christianity will never get anywhere, even though these guys could have all died and gone to heaven.\u00a0\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 That\u2019s the significance of this pivotal time in Christ\u2019s life.\n\nAnd then He says, John 15:3, \u201cYou are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.\u201d\u00a0 Now He gives them a command.\u00a0 What does He say?\u00a0 Get saved you guys?\u00a0\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t say that, they already have been saved.\u00a0 What He says is [John 15:4]\u201cAbide\u201d that\u2019s the Greek verb men<\/em>\u014d<\/em>, \u201cAbide in\u201d what?\u00a0 Abide in your denomination?\u00a0 Abide in your favorite understanding of your favorite end times chart.\u00a0 Abide in your title.\u00a0 Abide in your gifting.\u00a0 He never says that.\u00a0 He says, \u201cAbide in Me, and I in you.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, the fellowship that I want with you is the same kind of fellowship that I have with the Father, who is also in Me.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 Moment by moment.\u00a0 \u201cAbide in Me.\u00a0 As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.\u201d\u00a0 So you cannot expect a branch disconnected from the vine to produce anything, can you?\u00a0\u00a0 How can an orange branch disconnected from an orange tree produce oranges?\u00a0 That branch could have all of the self-control and self-will in the world, self-discipline but there can\u2019t be any oranges unless the orange branch is connected with the orange tree.\n\nSo this is sort of the plight of a lot of Christians; they\u2019re out there trying to do all this stuff for Jesus and their efforts really aren\u2019t going anywhere.\u00a0 They\u2019re expending a lot of energy and the reason is because we\u2019ve ignored the fundamental command He\u2019s given, which is to abide in Him.\u00a0 If fellowship is regular with Christ then the oranges on an orange branch come automatically.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0They come spontaneously.\u00a0 They come naturally.\u00a0 And if you as a Christian make fellowship with Christ your life\u2019s priority then guess what?\u00a0 Everything God wants to do in your life will naturally come about.\u00a0 And we\u2019re very confused about this and I think it\u2019s related to our pride and our works orientation, where our focus becomes activity.\n\nIf you abide in Christ the activity, or inactivity, or whatever is supposed to happen in\u00a0 your life is automatically going to be produced.\u00a0 Don\u2019t worry about the works.\u00a0 We\u2019re never told to worry about the works.\u00a0 Worry about your relationship with Him, not in terms of salvation but in terms of moment by moment fellowship.\n\nVerse 4, \u201cAbide Me, as I in you.\u00a0 As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.\u201d\u00a0 Now you see this expression, \u201cbear fruit\u201d?\u00a0 He says this all the way through, bear fruit, bear fruit, bear fruit.\u00a0 Now notice it doesn\u2019t say produce fruit; there is no single verse in the Bible where the Christian is told to produce fruit.\u00a0 And this is sort of a big deal for me because I was confused about this for years.\u00a0 I thought I was supposed to get out there and produce fruit.\u00a0 Well, show me a single verse that tells us to produce fruit.\u00a0 What it says is to \u201cbear fruit\u201d which is very different than producing fruit.\u00a0 Producing fruit is nothing I engineer through the fleshy activity; bearing fruit is fruit that comes automatically because I\u2019m walking in fellowship with Him.\u00a0 See that?\n\nVerse 4, I think we read.\u00a0 Verse 5, just to rehearse the right relationship, \u201cI am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears\u201d a few shriveled grapes\u2026 it doesn\u2019t say that!\u00a0 \u201c\u2026 bears much fruit,\u201d so what does God want to do through your life?\u00a0 He wants you to bear much fruit, not to prove you\u2019re a Christian but to prove you\u2019re an abiding disciple.\u00a0 So what is your life verse?\u00a0 It\u2019s John 15:5, that\u2019s your goal. God wants to, in\u00a0 your life, bear\u2026 not a few shriveled grapes but \u201cmuch fruit,\u201d but He\u2019s very clear \u201cwithout Me you can do\u201d what? \u201cnothing.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cNothing\u201d is translated \u201cno thing you can do.\u201d\n\nNow the first time I read this it kind of bothered me because I said well, I can do a lot without Christ.\u00a0 I mean, think of all of these unsaved people that start businesses and start charitable foundations and Jesus is coming along and saying I can\u2019t do anything without Him.\u00a0 Well, you have to interpret \u201cnothing\u201d based on how the term is defined or the idea is defined in verse 16.\u00a0 He\u2019s not saying you can\u2019t do anything at a human level.\u00a0 What He\u2019s saying is you can\u2019t do anything at an eternal level without men<\/em>\u014d<\/em> or moment by moment abiding.\n\nLook at verse 16, \u201cYou did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit,\u201d see the repetition of \u201cbear fruit\u201d there?\u00a0 Not produce fruit, \u201cbear fruit and that your fruit would\u201d what? \u201cremain,\u201d aha, that\u2019s the difference.\u00a0 An unsaved person or an out of fellowship Christian can produce a lot of activity \u00a0but the reality of the situation is the fruit they produce won\u2019t remain.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 What does it say in Genesis 1:21, the creation account?\u00a0 Each produced \u201cafter its own kind.\u00a0 [Genesis 1:21, \u201cGod created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good.\u201d]\n\nSo we would expect monkeys to produce humans\u2026 right?\u00a0 NO!\u00a0 Monkeys produce monkeys because monkeys are a different species than humans. \u00a0Humans produce humans; elephants produce elephants, rhinoceros produce rhinoceros, Mr. and Mrs. Giraffe produce baby giraffes.\u00a0 And this is where evolution, I don\u2019t want to go too far that direction, has it all confused because they say one species can produce a completely different species over billions of years.\u00a0 Well I\u2019m sorry, the Bible contradicts that on page 1\u2014each produced \u201cafter its own kind.\u201d\n\nSo if each thing produces after its own kind, how can you in your life produce anything eternal that \u00a0will last, that will eternally impact other people unless you are connected to Jesus Christ by way of fellowship and Jesus Christ is what?\u00a0 Eternal, see the connection there?\u00a0 Only if we are connected\u00a0\u00a0 to eternal Christ by way of fellowship can I produce anything in my life which has eternal signifi\u00adcance.\u00a0 George Soros and all of these extremely rich, effective, successful people who have no connection to God at all, they\u2019re producing a lot of stuff but it\u2019s not fruit that remains.\u00a0 In fact, the Bible is very clear that all that stuff is going to be put through a fire.\u00a0 2 Peter 3:10.\u00a0 [2 Peter 3:10, \u201cBut the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.\u201d]\n\nYou say well, do you believe in global warming?\u00a0 Yes I do, it\u2019s in 2 Peter 3:10, it\u2019s God\u2019s global warming.\u00a0 Everything is going to go through a fire and it will be consumed in the fire.\u00a0 Only the things that are produced via a connection to eternal Christ, only those things will survive the fire.\u00a0 So when he says you can\u2019t do anything he\u2019s not talking about nothing ever; he\u2019s talking about the capacity to produce fruit which has an eternal consequence.\n\nJohn 15:6, \u201cIf anyone does not abide in Me,\u201d oh-oh, \u201che is cast out as a branch and is withered \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned.\u201d\u00a0 Now your systematic theologian who wants to quote that verse to prove their theology and doesn\u2019t want to give you the background that I gave you concerning who he\u2019s talking to, and the preposition \u201cin Me\u201d, doesn\u2019t want to do that background verse, just wants to quote a verse to prove his theology, that either you can lose salvation or if you don\u2019t have any fruit you never had salvation (Calvinism versus Arminianism).\u00a0 They quote this verse all the time.\n\nBut a text without a context is a pretext for someone\u2019s preexisting theological system.\u00a0 If you look at this in context\u2026 and people say well why do you teach the Bible verse by verse, verse by verse and it gets worse and worse people say.\u00a0 Because only verse by verse teaching is going to give you the context.\u00a0 You can\u2019t get the context cherry-picking verses.\u00a0 And it\u2019s very clear as you look at this in context that he\u2019s not dealing with unsaved people.\u00a0 He\u2019s not dealing with people that lost their salvation.\u00a0 He\u2019s not dealing with people that never had salvation.\u00a0 All that stuff is imported and is completely foreign to what Christ is communicating here.\n\nWhat He\u2019s dealing with is in fellowship\/out of fellowship believers.\u00a0 So everything I do as a Christian rooted in human effort or pride while I\u2019m out of fellowship with Him, no matter how hard I try, and how much energy I expend, will be put into the fire and the fire will test its quality.\u00a0\u00a0 You say well, where are you getting this from?\u00a0 I\u2019m getting it from 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, a doctrine of the Bema Seat Judgment that Jesus is unfolding here for the first time, that the Apostle Paul explains with greater clarity later on.\n\n[1 Corinthians 3:10-15, \u201cAccording to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. [11] For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. [12] Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, [13] Each man\u2019s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be<\/em> revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man\u2019s work. [14] If any man\u2019s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. [15] If any man\u2019s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.\u201d]\n\nPaul is very clear that the Christian in heaven following the rapture at the Bema Seat Judgment of Christ will have their works, NOT them, their works put through a fire to ascertain their quality.\u00a0 And everything that\u2019s wood, hay and stubble\u2026 by the way, what do hay and stubble have in common?\u00a0 They\u2019re combustible.\u00a0 Everything that\u2019s wood, hay and stubble goes into the fire and is destroyed.\u00a0 Everything that is represented by gold, silver and costly stones, what do those have in common?\u00a0 Non-combustible, the only thing the fire can do is refine metal, it can\u2019t destroy it, will go into the fire and will survive the fire.\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s why he talks here in verse 16, \u201cyour fruit that should remain,\u201d remain what?\u00a0 Remain after the fire finishes its work.\u00a0 [John 15:16, \u201cYou did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.\u201d]\n\nSo everything that I do as a Christian, while I\u2019m out of fellowship with Christ, is going to be burned is what He is saying.\u00a0 I\u2019m not going to be burned, my works are going to be burned.\u00a0 And He talks about people suffering loss, 1 Corinthians 3:15 is very clear on this, and He talks about some that are saved but it\u2019s as though they are escaping a burning building.\u00a0 He\u2019s talking about people that are in heaven by the grace of God yet they smell the smoke on their garments.\u00a0 They\u2019re there by the grace of God and they\u2019re eternally secure but they look back on their life, which was done or executed independently of Christ\u2019s instructions in John 15, where they never really stayed in fellowship with Christ, they just did a bunch of stuff in Christ\u2019s name.\n\nAnd He talks about those people suffering loss.\u00a0 So it\u2019s sort of like man, I\u2019m glad I\u2019m in heaven, but what could have happened in my life had I followed the instructions in John 15?\u00a0 What could have been?\u00a0 And there\u2019s sort of a moment of regret as you look back.\u00a0 You say well, Lord, I was busy for You, and Jesus says very sweetly, well, I never called you to be busy for Me, what I called you to do was to abide in Me.\u00a0\u00a0 [John 15:4, \u201cAbide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.\u201d]\u00a0 Your business, that\u2019s going to take care of itself as you follow the command of abiding.\n\nAnd here\u2019s the reality of the situation, folks; I don\u2019t like it any more than you do but the fact of the matter is God does NOT recognize works that we do for Him through human power alone.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t recognize it.\u00a0 And that\u2019s a principle that\u2019s about as old as the patriarch Abraham because remember Abraham was called to sacrifice Isaac around 2000 B.C. on what today is the city of Jerusalem.\u00a0 Genesis 22:2 says, \u201cHe said,\u201d\u00a0 God to Abraham, \u201c\u2018Take now your son,\u201d now who would that son be?\u00a0 Isaac.\u00a0 Look at this: \u201cTake now your son, your only son,\u201d Isaac, wait a minute, only son Isaac, I mean, I thought Abraham had another son whose name was Ishmael.\n\nWell why in the world would God recognize Isaac but he didn\u2019t recognize Ishmael in this statement \u201cyour only son.\u201d\u00a0 Because as you know the story in Genesis, Ishmael was produced through human manipulation and scheming, wasn\u2019t he!\u00a0 I mean, Abraham and Sarah were a bit past child birthing age and didn\u2019t want to rest in the promise of God that God was going to give life through Sarah\u2019s womb and they would have this child, Isaac, that doesn\u2019t occur until Genesis 21.\u00a0 So all those years of waiting what do they do?\u00a0 Well, we\u2019re going to have to help God out, poor God, poor God is senile, He\u2019s forgotten what He promised to do; here\u2019s what we\u2019ll do.\u00a0 And they hatched up this scheme where Abraham would impregnate Hagar, Hagar being the bondservant there in the household, and through that transaction, that relationship, came forth Ishmael.\u00a0 And Abraham in Genesis 17 stands before the Lord and says Lord, look what I did for You.\u00a0 Let me break my arm patting myself on the back, look at how I\u2019ve executed Your plans.\n\nAnd God is very clear that NO, Ishmael is not the chosen, the chosen is going to come through Isaac, not the child of works but the child of faith or promise, and you have to wait on Me.\u00a0 So you see, we do a lot of Ishmael type stuff as Christians and what God is saying is forget all that stuff, it\u2019s not going to amount to a hill of beans.\u00a0 In fact, a hill of beans isn\u2019t even left when the fire finishes, it\u2019s reduced to nothing.\u00a0 What you\u2019re going to have to do is you\u2019re going to have to walk with Me by faith, men<\/em>\u014d<\/em>, abide, and then the eternal things that I produce through your life as a consequence of the fact that you are in fellowship with the eternal Christ, that\u2019s what\u2019s rewarded.\u00a0 See that!\u00a0 So this is the significance of things being put into the fire.\n\nVerse 7, \u201cIf<\/u> you abide in Me,\u201d see the \u201cif\u201d there?\u00a0 Maybe you\u2019re going to do it, maybe you\u2019re not.\u00a0 Maybe you\u2019re going to be My disciple and become a fruit bearer, maybe you\u2019re not.\u00a0 \u201cIf you abide in Me and My Words abide in you, ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.\u201d\u00a0 So part of this abiding process is allowing the Word of God to richly dwell within us so we understand His will.\n\nWe have a lot of people at Sugar Land Bible Church that are very busy people and I guess praise \u00a0the Lord, we need busy people or nothing would ever get done here, but they use service projects, whatever they may be, to kind of get out of going to Bible study.\u00a0\u00a0 You know, I\u2019m too busy with \u00a0this over here to go to Sunday School, to attend the main service because I\u2019m tired.\u00a0 Well, the reality of the situation is you\u2019re not making\u00a0 yourself available to the words of God which God desires to dwell richly within you so that you know the revealed will of God, so that you start to obey the revealed will of God through His power and you start to abide in Him.\u00a0 And then you disqualify yourself; if you won\u2019t submit to that process you disqualify yourself from eternal fruit bearing.\n\n\u201cIf you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.\u201d\u00a0 You wonder why your\/our prayers are never answered?\u00a0 Because we pray for things amiss James says.\u00a0 [James 4:3, \u201cYe ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it<\/em> upon your lusts.\u201d]\u00a0 We pray for things outside of the will of God.\u00a0 1 John says, \u201cIf we ask according to His will, He hears us.\u201d\u00a0 [John 5:14, \u201cThis is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.\u201d] So a sign of an abiding Christian is they\u2019re praying for things within God\u2019s will because they know God\u2019s Word, God\u2019s Word is important to them and as they pray within the will of God as revealed in the Word of God what starts to happen?\u00a0\u00a0 Prayer requests start getting answered.\n\nLook at this, \u201cBy this my Father is\u201d what? \u201cglorified.\u201d\u00a0 Now if it\u2019s not me producing the good works but my works come as a consequence of my abiding relationship with Him who gets the credit here?\u00a0 God does; I don\u2019t get any credit at all.\u00a0 All I did was hang around Jesus and works that He wanted to produce came forth spontaneously and natural.\u00a0 This is why we don\u2019t like this teaching, if we\u2019re completely honest with ourselves, because I <\/strong>want a little credit, I mean, look at the hard work I <\/strong>put in. I hear a lot of I<\/strong> there, I, I, I, I, <\/strong>look at what I <\/strong>did, look at what I <\/strong>did for the Lord.\u00a0 And human pride is such that we think we can pull it off on our own and you might be able to execute something, depending on your level of talent, but it\u2019s nothing that remains.\n\n\u201cBy this My Father is glorified that you bear\u201d a few shriveled grapes\u2026 NO, \u201cthat you bear\u201d what? \u201cmuch fruit.\u201d\u00a0 Why is God glorified in my \u201cmuch fruit\u201d?\u00a0 Because it\u2019s not my fruit.\u00a0 See that? I\u2019m just a vessel.\u00a0 Now notice what this says, \u201cBy this My Father is glorified that you bear much fruit so that you will be My disciples.\u201d\u00a0 Now Calvinism and Arminianism wants this verse to read: By this My Father is glorified that you bear much fruit proving that you\u2019re believers.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t say that.\n\nWhen you \u201cbear much fruit\u201d it doesn\u2019t prove you\u2019re a believer, it proves you\u2019re a disciple.\u00a0 You say what\u2019s the difference?\u00a0 Plenty, all disciples are believers but not all believers are necessarily disciples.\u00a0 What\u2019s the difference.\u00a0 A disciple is not someone who has simply trusted in Christ\u2019s (singular) command for salvation but a disciple is someone who under His power, we don\u2019t do this through human effort, is availing themselves to Christ\u2019s, not command but what? Commands.\u00a0 A lot of people are saved because they believed or they executed the command for salvation which is faith alone but then Jesus says okay, now that you\u2019ve executed that command here are some commands, plural.\n\nWe\u2019ve just gone from \u201ccommand\u201d to \u201ccommands.\u201d\u00a0 Wipe that gossipy tongue that you have\u2026 boy, I\u2019m really going to the jugular today aren\u2019t I? You read James 3 and say wow, I\u2019ve been saying a lot of nasty things about a lot of people, I guess God doesn\u2019t like that..\u00a0 I guess He doesn\u2019t like all this sarcasm and short-temperedness.\u00a0 God, can You help me with this?\u00a0 So you\u2019re submitting now to a command, commands plural, under His divine resources.\n\nWell guess what?\u00a0 You\u2019re not just a disciple, a believer, but you\u2019ve not migrated into that inner circle where you\u2019re a disciple.\u00a0 And God is not going to bear fruit just through the believer, He\u2019s going to bear fruit through the who?\u00a0 The disciple.\n\nVerse 9, \u201cJust as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you;\u201d see how He keeps coming back to this, \u201cabide in My love.\u201d\u00a0 Verse 10, \u201cIf you keep My commandments,\u201d is that singular or plural?\u00a0 Plural, they already fulfilled the command \u201cbelieve,\u201d now it\u2019s \u201cfulfill\u201d the commandments, plural, and \u201cyou will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.\u201d\u00a0 So love is more than a euphoria, it\u2019s more than a feeling, it\u2019s an active obedience to the things of God.\n\nNow you\u2019ll be looking at all of these things that God asks you to do and you say to yourself there is no way I<\/strong> can do this and you would be correct because you can\u2019t do it and I <\/strong>can\u2019t do it but under His provision of the Spirit suddenly it becomes possible.\u00a0 See that?\n\nThese things I have spoken to you that my\u201d what? happiness\u2026 it doesn\u2019t say that, does it.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be\u201d 85%... NO, \u201cmight be full.\u201d\u00a0 What is joy?\u00a0 Joy is an internal satisfaction that God is at work in your life, \u201cthe peace of God which transcends all understanding when all hell is breaking loose in your life.\u00a0 That\u2019s joy. \u00a0[Philippians 4:7, \u201cAnd the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.\u201d] Joy is being asleep in the boat as the storm is raging, which is what Jesus did.\u00a0 Now He lives in you and wants to do it through you.\u00a0 Happiness is I can feel good about things as long as circumstances are lining up.\u00a0 Happiness comes from the word happenstance which means luck or circumstance.\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s the only thing the world can offer.\u00a0 Only the disciple experiences joy and complete joy.\n\n\u201cThis is My commandment, that you\u2026\u201d oh my goodness, how do I know if I\u2019m walking in fellowship with God?\u00a0 Because I love others the way God loves them. [John 5:12, \u201cThis is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.\u201d]\n\n1 John 4:8, \u201cGod is\u201d what? \u201clove.\u201d\u00a0 Well, if I am in moment by moment abiding fellowship with Him I start to love people that I didn\u2019t love before.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 In fact, John, who is going to amplify this truth 60 years later in Asia Minor says things like well if you hate your brother who you can see how can the love of God be abiding in you.\u00a0 I\u2019m not giving the verse exactly right, this is a paraphrase, that you cannot see.\u00a0\u00a0 [1 John 4:20, \u201cIf someone says, \"I love God,\" and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.\u201d]\n\nAll John is doing is giving greater clarity to what he heard 60 years earlier in the Upper Room.\u00a0 \u201cThis is My commandment,\u201d notice it\u2019s not a suggestion, hey, try this out and see if it works.\u00a0 NO, this is something that automatically comes if you\u2019re abiding with the God of love.\u00a0 \u201cThis is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.\u201d\u00a0 [John 13:19-21]\u00a0\u00a0 So someone cuts you off on the way here and you\u2019re just so mad you\u2019re going to confront that person, give that person a piece of my mind, how dare they take my parking space.\u00a0 Then the Holy Spirit says just let it go\u2026just let it go, look at all the things I\u2019ve forgiven you of God says; can\u2019t you let someone else off the hook from a minor infraction?\u00a0 You\u2019re no longer a believer, just a believer, when you respond to that,\u00a0 you\u2019re now walking out discipleship.\u00a0 And as you walk that out what begins to manifest itself is fruit begins to take place naturally.\n\nAnd then He explains what love is, since most of us get our theology from the Love Boat<\/em> and we don\u2019t really even know what love is.\u00a0 \u201cThis is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.\u201d\u00a0 Aha, so love is sacrificial.\u00a0 Verse 13, \u201cGreater love has no one than this, than he that is willing to lay down his life for his friends.\u201d\u00a0 You start becoming a disciple under God\u2019s power and you find yourself sacrificing for the benefit of other people.\u00a0 You say I can\u2019t do that.\u00a0 You\u2019re right, you can\u2019t!\u00a0 But if you respond to the promptings of the Spirit who is prompting you to do this and empowering you to do this suddenly you can start doing it.\u00a0 Does that make me a believer?\u00a0 No,\u00a0 you already are a believer.\u00a0 Does that make me a candidate for heaven?\u00a0 No, that\u2019s already guaranteed.\u00a0 What it makes you a candidate for is discipleship, abiding, men<\/em>\u014d<\/em>, and now you become a candidate for fruit bearing, not human activity but fruit that will last.\n\nVerse 14, \u201cYou are My\u201d oh my goodness, \u201cfriends if<\/u> you do whatever I command.\u201d\u00a0 So are we saying here that not all believers are necessarily friends with God?\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying it; it\u2019s what Jesus is saying.\u00a0 All believers are no longer enemies of God but friendship is a little different, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Do you remember what Jesus said back in John 2:23?\u00a0 \u201cNow when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He did.\u00a0 [24] But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men<\/em>, [25] And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.\u201d\n\nThere\u2019s a lot of people that trusted in Christ but Jesus never entrusted Himself to.\u00a0 And people say well, those people weren\u2019t saved.\u00a0 Yes they were!\u00a0 How do I know that?\u00a0 Because it says, \u201cbelieved in,\u201d pisteu\u014d eis<\/em>, believed in His miracles, \u00a0pisteu\u014d eis<\/em> which is the exact construction that\u2019s used all the way through John\u2019s Gospel to describe saved people.\u00a0 In fact, John\u2019s Gospel is written to convince people of who Christ is based on His miracles.\u00a0 So these were saved people if words mean anything.\n\nWell why does it say that He didn\u2019t entrust Himself to them?\u00a0 Because they did not graduate into friendship yet.\u00a0 They were believers, they were saved, they were going to heaven but they were not yet disciples.\u00a0 They had salvation secure, praise God for that; they weren\u2019t candidates for fruit-bearing because they were holding onto a bunch of stuff in their lives that they wouldn\u2019t give over to God even though they were saved.\n\nVerse 14, \u201cYou are My friends,\u201d a friend is a disciple, \u201cif you do whatever I command.\u201d\u00a0 Verse 15, \u201cNo longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his Master is doing, but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.\u201d\u00a0 What is a friend of Christ qualified for that a mere believer is not qualified for?\u00a0 Insight into things.\u00a0 You know, there are some Christians that just don\u2019t have the foggiest idea what\u2019s going on\u2026 bless their hearts!\u00a0 They\u2019ve been saved for years and they just don\u2019t have the foggiest idea of anything.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 It is not related to a lack of intelligence; it\u2019s related to a lack of submission in terms of abiding and discipleship and fellowship.\u00a0 You start to abide in Christ and suddenly your mind is filled with ideas and insights into the things of God that you never even thought about before.\n\nVerse 16, \u201cYou did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.\u201d\u00a0 Verse 17, These things I suggest to you\u2026. NO, \u201cThese things I command you, that you love one another.\u201d\u00a0 So look at that; look at all the imagery that\u2019s unpacked there just from this very simple metaphor or word picture in the vine and the branches.\u00a0 And I\u2019m sorry, once again I talked too long but we\u2019ll try to do some question and answer next time.\u00a0 And after we do that we\u2019re going to be moving into the origin of the church.\u00a0 When did the church start exactly?\u00a0 Can we figure that out?\n\nLet\u2019s pray. Father, we\u2019re grateful for Sunday School class this morning, grateful for everything that is revealed in this ancient metaphor.\u00a0 And help us to remain in these things this week as we seek to walk in fellowship with You.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t