Bearing fruit

Turn with me please to John chapter 15, John's gospel in chapter 15. It's in the 15th chapter of John that we have this statement here, my friends and hence forth I call you not servants for the servant knoweth not what the Lord doeth I have called you friends. And so when our brother William Lavery gave out that hymn I was encouraged to get up and give something that's been on my heart concerning fruit in this chapter.

Recently we've been studying the gospel of John and in my own meditation on in preparing for this subject, chapter 15 seemed to start to divide for me into certain parts. In verses 1 to 6 you have the question of fruit. In verses 7 to 11 you have the quantity of fruit.

In verses 12 through 17 you have the quality of fruit. And finally the end of the chapter verses 18 through 27 you have the quarantine effect of fruit. So I'd like very simply if we could to read together in John chapter 15 a few verses.

Reading at verse 1, I am the true vine and my father is the husband man. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you're clean through the word that I have spoken unto you.

Please notice in verses 2 every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth away and you're clean are the same word. So the word has a cleansing effect on our life doesn't it? Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except you abide in me.

I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me you can do nothing. And we'll continue to read a few verses in this chapter but I want to just bring out a few things that we find in this in this chapter.

First of all if you do a little study on the words you'll find that there are ten times mentioned the word abide and there are nine times mentioned the word love and finally there are eight times mentioned the word fruit. That's very significant in this chapter if we think about it. I'm not a student of numbers but my father was and he impressed on me very early in life that it was an interesting subject and so I learned a little bit from him.

But I've enjoyed in looking at this chapter that ten is the thought of divine order isn't it? And here you have things that should abide and God has ordered that we should abide in Christ and that our works should abide and that they might they might remain. That word remain is the same word as abide. But you know there's also the thought of love and the word love occurs nine times and that's the thought of the judgment of man.

And it's very significant to me that the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew's Gospel chapter 22 when he was asked what is the greatest commandment he said this that you shall love the Lord with all your heart and all your soul and the second which is like unto it you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And so just a little thought to the side that all behavior that will ever be judged will be judged according to this standard. How does it measure up against my love for God and my love for fellow man? Everything that we do will be judged according to that standard.

And so it's interesting that in this chapter the word love appears nine times but it's the word fruit and eight times and eight is a number of a new beginning really speaks to my heart. About a new beginning that God has created in us that we should bring forth fruit. And so I'd like to think with you for a few moments on some examples in Scripture where we find a vine or where we find fruit that speak to us in these in these terms.

The question of fruit please turn with me to Genesis chapter 40. Genesis chapter 40 reading at verse 9 and the chief butler told his dream to Joseph and he said to him in my dream behold a vine was before me and in the vine were three branches and it was though it budded and her blossoms shot forth and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes and Pharaoh's cup was in my hand and I took the grapes and pressed them into the Pharaoh's cup and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. And Joseph said unto him this is the interpretation of it the three branches are three days and within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head and restore thee unto thy place and thou shall deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand after the former manner when thou wast his butler.

You know I look at this and I see my salvation I don't know if you see it as well I see a man in prison a man who was the chief butler to Pharaoh he had a position with God a position of responsibility and he lost that position and that takes me right back to the Garden of Eden where man was given a position of responsibility and he lost that position and finding himself the chief butler finding himself in the dungeon together with Joseph a picture of Christ and here's a proclamation he's going to be restored he's going to be restored because he saw a vine in his dream and the natural response to that dream was to do what was his responsibility as a chief butler to do to serve Pharaoh. You know that takes me back to the first part of this chapter chapter 15. Abide in me and you shall bear forth fruit.

It's a question of salvation isn't it? I can't bring forth fruit if I'm not saved and if you're in this meeting and you're wondering whether or not you're saved a good question to ask is do I have fruit and if you are saved but your life isn't what it ought to be the question you should be asking to yourself is is it not natural for me to be bringing forth fruit if I'm truly saved and so here we have this statement by the Lord every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh it away and every branch that beareth fruit he purchased it that may bring forth more fruit and so the idea is this there is a question of fruit are you saved and if you are then fruit should be the result this butler did what was his responsibility to do and Pharaoh put him in at that position that he was able to do it we've been saved we've been rescued out of the dungeon of sin the Lord came down and met us in that deep and awful place and as a result we've been able to serve the king is it not fitting then that our lives should reflect that which he has put in with it within us that new life that we might be able to bring forth fruit in verse 4 or verse 5 rather I am the vine year the branches he that abides in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit now we're thinking not only of the question of fruit we're thinking of the quantity of fruit I would like to turn with you please to Psalm 128 please someone 128 forgive me for a second I confess my mouth is a lot drier than I expected it would be someone 28 in verse 3 thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the size of thy house here's another vine here's a relationship in view it's not it's a relationship that brings to mind Ephesians chapter 5 doesn't it the relationship of Christ in this church as a husband and wife as a bride and a bridegroom and here's a wife who's being fruitful in the home now dear brethren as a married man I have to confess to you that I don't appreciate the fruitfulness of my wife as I ought to and I dare say that there are many in the audience that feel the same way I do we expect our wives to be fruitful vines don't we we expect them to have responsibility in the home and to and to maintain that and there are so many things that they do that quite frankly I don't feel capable of doing and in chapter 15 we have that brought to us that we ought to be responsible and to be fruitful because of the relationship that we've been brought into we've been brought into a relationship with the heavenly bridegroom we are we are engaged to him as a bride to her husband to be and brethren and sisters we have an obligation to be fruitful just as this woman in Psalm 128 was appraised to her husband because of her fruitfulness and her responsibility we in like manner ought to be responsible and to be fruitful and to bring forth that which brings honor and glory to God what a tremendous thing what a tremendous privilege to be able to bring glory to God in fact that that is something that the Lord Jesus mentions in in John 15 herein is my father glorified that you bear much fruit so shall ye be my disciples this is the hallmark of being a disciple of God isn't it to bring forth much fruit there's a there's a question of the quantity of fruit and we can think about whether or not a little bit of fruit in my life is is enough is that not selfish behavior is that not selfish to say to myself I will obey God this far and then that's enough and the rest is for me I have to confess that I have been very very challenged by that thought that I can be God's disciple to this point but there's a certain part of me that's off-limits to him that's not right that's not right either we are wholly his or we're not his at all aren't we that's the way it ought to be we all belong to God and we belong wholly to God and so there ought to be a desire in my life to bring forth much fruit not just simply some fruit not just simply here or there to please this Christian or the other or to maintain a certain level of behavior but in order that God might be glorified how much does God deserve to be glorified well I think we all know the answer to that he deserves to be glorified far more than my feeble efforts can can bring him and yet it is a miracle that God is glorified in the things that we do for God through the power of the Holy Spirit in bringing forth much fruit it's a wonderful thing look with me please to Isaiah chapter 5 because I want to think about the quality of fruit now Isaiah chapter 5 in verse 1 now I will sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard my well-beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill he fenced it and gathered out the stones thereof and planted it with the choicest vine and built a tower in the midst of it and also made a winepress therein and he looked that it should bring forth grapes and it brought forth wild grapes and now on inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah judge I pray you betwixt me in my vineyard what could I have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done to it wherefore when I look that it should bring forth grapes brought it forth wild grapes and now go to I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard I will take the way the hedge thereof and it shall be eaten up and I'll break down the wall thereof and it shall be trodden down and I will lay it waste it shall not be pruned or dig but there shall come up briars and thorns I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah is pleasant plant now here we have a scene of judgment and it's not that thought that I want to have in my head but it's the thought of what God has done that we might bring forth quality fruit and I can think of events in my life that have brought me to the point where I'm at now I can think of the mercy of God I can think of his blessings in so many different ways and all of it has been for this purpose in this purpose alone that my fruit might be of quality for him not only that there should be much fruit but it should that it should be good fruit we see in this chapter in Isaiah that Israel similarly had so many blessings brought into it and they ought to have been for bringing forth quality fruit but there was a concern by God because it was wild grapes and what God looked for for an increase that was pleasant and useful was instead shriveled and not fit for any kind of consumption I wonder and there have been times in my life that I have been this way and I wonder if there's anyone here that feels similarly as I have that the quality of the fruit in my life is falling short there are things in my life that are hindering me there are issues in my life that quite frankly keep me from bringing quality fruit to God the Lord Jesus said in verse 11 these things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you or abide in you that your joy might be full in another part of the chapter that I'm struggling to put my finger on now is that here it is in verse 16 you have not chosen me but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain or abide that whatsoever you ask of the Father in my name he may give it you God has ordained us for the purpose of bringing forth fruit that should abide fruit that should have a long-term shelf life fruit that should show evidence that people are we would be longing to go back to in our lives and to say now there was times that there was fruit for God we do that sometimes don't we and sometimes the younger people listen to older people talk about old times and how things were so much better back then and and that's just simply going back to the mercy of God when God has shown fruit fruit that should abide but it should be that way today as well shouldn't it we should also be seeking for fruit that should abide we should be looking at opportunities to bring the gospel to others and seeing souls saved perhaps if there's a lack of fruit in our lives it's because we're not adhering to his commandments the way that we ought to be perhaps if we're not finding answers to our prayers it's because our fruit isn't abiding because that's a promise that's been given in this verse your fruit should remain that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name he may give it you I would like us to search our hearts and ask ourselves if the fruit that we are producing if it's truly something that abides or is it something that's forgotten tomorrow when God never forgets God has everything written down but at the same time we know there have been times in our lives that God has moved mightily and do we long for those times again I hope we do and so the vine wishes to bring forth fruit in the branches but the degree to which I allow that vine sap to flow in it that's the degree to which it's going to happen you know in verse in verse 2 he talks about every branch that bears fruit he purges it that it may bring forth more fruit now I come from East Coast Canada so I hadn't seen a vine until I went to visit my grandparents over in Eastern Europe and they had a cottage and there was a vine and they asked me to go and prune it I had no idea how to do that and so they taught me and you know the interesting thing is that when you prune a vine you're not cutting off branches now we prune trees that way I have a ton of them in my yard and believe me that's it's a it's a lot of work but we don't prune vines by pruning back the wood you prune vines by taking off a leaf you see every time a leaf comes out of a vine there are two and in Slovak the the the latter of the two is called the letter rust the summer growth and that that leaf that extra leaf needs to be plucked off because if you don't pluck off that extra leaf the vine won't bring forth the same quantity and quality of fruit that it would if you let it just lie and that was a lesson to me because immediately my mind went to John chapter 15 even as a young man and I realized that God's pruning effect in my life is to remove that which is unnecessary oh there are some leaves that are necessary there are some things in my life that are necessary but there are a lot of things that aren't and he had to pluck off those leaves so that there might be more fruit I wonder if there are things in my life and there are but I wonder if there are things in your life as well that you would readily acknowledge that they simply don't need to be there and if they weren't there I might be bringing forth more fruit and so that leaf needs to be plucked off so that there might be more fruit and that the quality of the fruit might be better come with me please last of all to Genesis chapter 13 I want to talk about the quarantine of fruit Genesis chapter 13 and verse 11 then lot chose him all the plain of Jordan and lot journeyed east and they separated themselves the one from the other Abraham dwelt in the land of Canaan and lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent towards Sodom and but the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly Deuteronomy chapter 32 please Deuteronomy chapter 32 Moses is speaking to the nation of Israel verse 31 for their rock is not as our rock even our enemies themselves being judges for their vine is of the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah their grapes are grapes of gall their clusters are bitter their wine is the poison of dragons and the cruel venom of asps in John chapter 15 the Lord says these words if the world hate you you know that it hated me before and hated you if you were of the world the world would love his own but because you're not of the world but I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hateth you lot made a choice that made tremendous economic sense for his family he looked at all of what Abraham said that he could take a look at and choose from and he chose the well-watered plains of memory of Zohar because they were like unto the Garden of Eden it says he took the best of what was available only made sense he was a shepherd had tremendous flocks but there was a problem in the middle of it and that problem was a city of Sodom and Gomorrah I wonder how many times in my life that I've made decisions that bring me closer to the world that I have justified them with good justification I know as a younger man and I want to be careful here because I know that this is a topic that's difficult but I made decisions I'm just going to tell you my own personal experience to work on Wednesday nights or to work late shifts on Saturday evenings I was a security guard at a local community center upholding the law but you know sometimes Saturday nights there might be a wedding and with that wedding was a party and it meant working till 2 in the morning and then of course coming in on Sunday and not being ready to remember the Lord I remember after a while that working Wednesday nights became a comfort because I didn't want to go face the Saints on at the Bible reading and the reason was because my heart was becoming more like the world and I wanted to be with them rather than with the people of God lot had that problem didn't a lot wanted to be more like the world Oh first Peter tells us that he vexed his righteous soul daily at the acts that were going on the men of Sodom condemned him and said oh yeah you came here to sojourn and now you're going to be a judge so they recognize the fact that he had some moral standing among them it wasn't that he plunged himself into their wickedness but he came to he became too close to it didn't the Lord says in James chapter 4 and verse 4 that friendship with the world is enmity with God and so the quarantine effect of fruit that setting aside that that that isolation ward effect that will happen if you bring fruit for God that's the perfect way that you'll be saved or are kept rather from the world's effects because the world hates fruit for God the world hates it when when we stand up for what is right when we display love joy peace long-suffering and the rest goes on as you can read for yourself in Galatians these fruits for God are going to keep us from the world or rather they're going to keep the world at arm's length from us because they're going to force us away they're going to say we don't want this among us amongst us if lot went to the city of Sodom and started telling them that what they were doing was wrong how long do you think he would be there instead lot did the unthinkable and trying to protect his guests actually offered his daughters as a substitute for what those men wanted to do terrible a lot compromised it didn't start that way it just started with wanting the best possible place to raise his flocks and made a terrible choice the quarantine effect of fruit is that if I'm producing fruit for God it's going to keep me isolated from the world it's going to keep me in perfect harmony with the one who was hated by the world and therefore I will be hated by Association how's that hatred happening for you I work with professional individuals and we don't have a lot of course language amongst us when we talk we don't we don't engage in in in filthy jokes for the most part it's pretty easy but there are times there are times when after a convention there is that temptation to spend some time with them and to do the things that they want to do when they want to unwind that ought not to be I'm speaking in conviction of my own heart now I hope I'm speaking in conviction of others when I'm at school and there's conversations that are happening and we're discussing perhaps the opposite gender and there are things being said that ought not to be these are things that will ally us with the world or find us condemned by the world don't marvel if you become a pariah if someone marks you out as odd or strange or or or or nerdy because you want to respect what the Word of God says because if they see fruit in your life they are going to hate you but you know what you're loved of God and the hatred of the world is nothing compared to the fact that God loves us and will love us forever and the hatred of the world is just but for a moment may I encourage you if you're in that position and you and you feel like you want to compromise you want to give a little ground because you just want to be friends after all I do want to be able to witness it can't do it on compromise ground you can't witness to your friends and and and do the things that they do and just be one of them because then you're no different and there's no reason why they should consider what you have as something that they should want for themselves is there it's important that the quarantine effect of fruit be seen in our lives that that we be seen as set apart for God that that what we bring forth for God might be a testimony to those around us so that when they have stopped pointing the finger and when they have stopped saying this person's strange when they're in trouble and genuinely seeking help you can be that person that might be able to draw alongside them because you have credibility because you are different I hope these few thoughts stumbling as they were have been a help we really need to bring forth fruit for God we've been ordained by God to do that Ephesians 2 20 tells us that God is for ordained good works that we should walk in them and so I hope our lives are a testimony for God and I hope that there is much fruit for him because God through that is glorified may God bless his work.