We'll begin three services here in this auditorium.
We're moving back to an 8 .30 service, so that
will give relief to some of you who are sitting
on the harder chairs instead of those soft benches.
Keep that in mind, please, and if you can, join
us at 8 .30 on Easter Sunday morning for that
worship service. And then Easter Sunday night,
the Worthy is the Lamb. presentation by our choir
and orchestra is going to be an exciting time.
I would like to make it very clear that you do
not have to have a ticket to come, okay? The
tickets are printed as a means of promoting it
to remind people that we invited the place and
the time and the occasion. And we want you to
use those tickets, but the tickets don't guarantee
seats, and nor do you have to have one to get
in. Okay, is that clear? If it's not, please
see somebody afterward. Don't see me about it.
Just ask your neighbor next to you. Maybe he
can explain it. I think that's got it, though.
Romans chapter 7, please. Romans chapter 7. We're
going to look today at the three verses that
we have examined in some detail the last time
we met together. I'm going to pick out a thought
that I'd like for us to focus on a little more
deeply. In Romans 7, beginning in verse 4, it
reads, Therefore, my brethren, you also were
made to die to the law through the body of Christ,
that you might be joined to another, to him who
was raised from the dead, that we might bear
fruit for God. For while we were in the flesh,
the sinful passions which were aroused by the
law were at work in the members of our body to
bear fruit for death. But now we have been released
from the law, having died to that by which we
were bound, so that we serve in newness of the
Spirit, not in oldness of the letter. The particular
phrase I'm interested in is the last few words
of verse 4 where it says, that we might bear
fruit for God. We have been freed from the law,
its demands and its condemnation, so that we
might bear fruit for God. We are free to be fruitful.
This past week, one of Minnesota's most notorious
criminals, was released from prison, T. Eugene
Thompson. Mr. Thompson was condemned by the law,
and according to the laws of this state, paid
the price that was demanded. And after paying
that price of the state, he was released from
incarceration in the state penitentiary. You
and I We're at one time lawbreakers. We were
criminals in God's universe. We were sinners.
We did not meet the standards, the righteous
standards of God's law. Therefore, the law condemned
us, and our condemnation was death. The Bible
says the soul that sins, it shall what? It shall
die. The wages of sin is death. And it goes on
to say, for all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God. Every one of us were criminals
in God's universe. The law condemned us to death,
not just physical death, but eternal death, which
is separation from God for all of eternity in
the fire of hell. That was our just due for our
sin, our crime against God's holiness. But those
of us who have been saved one day heard about
Jesus Christ. And we understood that the Lord
Jesus Christ took upon himself at the cross the
penalty for our sin. He suffered our hell for
us. He took our place on the cross of Calvary.
So that as Paul says in Galatians 3 .13, Christ
has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having
become a curse for us. For it is written, cursed
is everyone that hangs on a tree. The curse,
the condemnation of the law was placed upon Jesus
Christ so that he paid for your sin and for mine.
And then he was raised from the dead. alive forevermore
to enforce the salvation and the victory that
he had died to purchase. When you and I came
to that point of trusting the Lord Jesus Christ,
we at that moment were identified or united with
Christ. As we saw earlier in our study in Romans
7, before we were married, as it were, to the
law which condemned us. But when we trusted Christ,
we died to that old mate, and we were resurrected
that we might be joined in a new union with Jesus
Christ. And the reason that we have been freed
from the law, therefore, is that we might now
bear fruit for God. That we might serve God in
the new way of the Spirit, not in the old way
of the law with its minute rituals and its commandments.
Now we serve God in the new way of the Spirit,
he says in verse 6. We have been freed that we
might bear fruit. And today I'd like for us to
consider this matter of fruit bearing. And to
do that, would you turn in your Bible to what
I think is the key passage in the Bible regarding
this subject, John chapter 15. We're going to
spend the rest of our time today in the 15th
chapter of John. Our Lord speaks to his disciples
and to us, and he says, I am the true vine, and
my Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in
me that does not bear fruit he takes away. And
every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it,
that it may bear more fruit. You are already
clean because of the word which I have spoken
to you. Abide 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. I am the vine. You are the branches. He
who abides in me and I in him, he bears much
fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown
away as a branch and dries up, and they gather
them and cast them into the fire, and they are
burned. If you abide in me and my words abide
in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be
done for you. By this my Father is glorified,
that you bear much fruit. and so proved to be
my disciples. I'd like for you to think with
me regarding the background of this matter of
fruit bearing. Viticulture was quite common in
Palestine, still is today to some extent. The
climate there is particularly suitable for the
growing of grapes, with its abundance of warm
sunshine and its cool late summer nights producing
heavy dew. When Joshua led the children of Israel
into the land of Canaan, vineyards were already
well established there. Those vineyards through
the centuries have been grown on the gently sloping
hillsides of Palestine as well as in the valleys.
Viticulture was a part of the way of life of
the people of Israel. Partly for that reason,
God had the Old Testament prophets use vineyards
as a symbol of Israel on a number of occasions.
For example, Isaiah, in the fifth chapter of
his book, says, speaking for God, that God had
planted a vineyard and had dug well around it.
He had expected that his vineyard would bring
forth good produce, good grapes. But instead,
the grapes were bitter. They were bad grapes.
In verse 7 of Isaiah 5, he says, Israel is my
vine. In other words, he was giving a picture
of what had happened to Israel. God had established
them in the land expecting that they would bring
forth fruit, but they didn't. The psalmist in
Psalm 80 uses the same picture. Jeremiah repeats
it. And even our Lord Jesus used this picture
of the vineyard in his teaching. For example,
in Matthew chapter 21, he gives what is called
the parable of the vineyard. And there again,
the vineyard is a picture, a metaphor of the
nation of Israel in his day. This discourse that
we are reading in John 15 about the vineyard,
the vine, the branches, the vine dresser, was
given as the Lord Jesus walked with the eleven
disciples, remember Judas had already gone out,
as they walked together to the Mount of Olives,
to the Garden of Gethsemane where he prayed.
They had been in the upper room where they observed
the Passover feast and now were on their way
to that place of prayer and waiting. As they
walked, they perhaps passed through the temple
area, perhaps going through the outer gates of
the temple. Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells
us that the outer gates to the temple in those
days had a vine of gold. on them. And on that
vine of gold were large clusters of grapes made
out of gold, those clusters perhaps as tall as
a man. In the Passover season, those gates were
left open all night long so the people could
come into the temple area and pray. And it may
be that Jesus chose that pathway as he went to
the mountain to pray, and as they went through
the gates, pointed up and He said, I am the vine,
the true, and you are the branches. Or it may
be that as he walked down the gentle, sloping
hillside to the brook of Kidron to pass over
it on up into the Mount of Olives, that he passed
by one of the many vineyards that were located
on that hillside. And he reached out and touched
one of the vines and said, I am the vine, the
true. and you are the branches. The Lord Jesus
is giving here a significant teaching about fruit
bearing. What is the significance of this discourse?
What does he mean when he says, I am the vine,
you are the branches? Well, think with me about
that picture for a moment. The purpose of a branch,
is to extend the life of the vine, is it not?
A vine grows its branches so that it can extend
itself and thus produce its fruit. That's what
a vine and branches are all about. In the previous
two chapters in John, Jesus has been saying to
his disciples, I am going away. He said that
while he was away, he was going to keep them
in communion with himself, John 13. He was going
to prepare a place for them that they would have
a home in the Father's mansions. He said that
he was going to send the Comforter, the Holy
Spirit, and through the Holy Spirit, he would
be with them to meet their needs. So that's what
he was going to be doing while he was away. But
what were they going to be doing while he was
away? The answer to that is found in John 15,
where he says, Now I am the vine, but you are
the branches. In other words, very shortly, the
vine is going to disappear. The vine, me, is
going to become invisible to the world. But you,
the branches, will still be in the world. And
I will evidence my life. I will extend myself
through you, the branches. That's what he is
saying here. That is the significance of this
teaching. The purpose of branches is to bear
fruit, not just leaves. What is the fruit that
Jesus is talking about? I think we could summarize
it by saying this very simply. The fruit of the
branch is supernatural life. That's what it is.
Whatever else it may mean by way of application,
what Jesus is referring to here is his own life.
You are the branches. You have been chosen to
bear fruit, and that fruit is the evidence of
his own life. In other words, Jesus is saying
that those of us who are Christians should have
evidence in our lives that we are at one with
God. There should be proof in our lives that
we have supernatural life. Now specifically,
what is that supernatural life? How does it manifest
itself? How can we tie this down to tangible
terms? Well, I believe that there are six evidences
of supernatural life that Jesus gives to us in
this chapter. And that is, by way of application,
the fruit that he's talking about. Are you a
fruitful Christian? Let's take a look today and
see what the fruit is that the Lord expects to
see in our lives. The first evidence of supernatural
life is prayer that is answered. Look at verse
7. If you abide in me, and my words abide in
you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done
for you. Look again at 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 remain that whatever you ask of
the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
The first evidence of supernatural life is prayer
that is answered. The language that our Lord
chooses to use here is very strong. G. Campbell
Morgan, an expositor of the last generation,
put it this way. Demand as you do whatever you
are inclined to. That seems rather broad, doesn't
it? It's not quite as broad as it seems there.
The Lord is not saying that he will grant our
every whim. Thank God he doesn't. But what does
it mean when he says, whatever you ask in my
name, that will be done? I believe what he's
saying is this. When you pray, if you're going
to pray in my name, ask the Father what I, the
Son, would ask for. To pray in Jesus' name does
not mean to rattle off your prayer request and
then say, in Jesus' name, amen. I'm not opposed
to that, but it means far more than that. To
pray in Jesus' name means that I am putting myself
in the position of Jesus Christ in prayer. And
I am asking of the Father. What Jesus Christ
the Son would ask for himself. And so as you
go to prayer, and you pray for somebody, or you
lift up a petition of need in your own life,
as you ask the Father, ask the Father for what
Jesus would want. You say, but wait a minute.
How do I know what Jesus would want? There's
only one answer to that question, and here it
is. You find out in the Bible how you ought to
pray, so that you pray and ask for what Jesus
would want. That's why Bible study and prayer
have to go together. Because if I'm going to
have an effective prayer life, I need to pray
and ask the Father for those things that Jesus
would want. And the way I find out how Jesus
would pray, what Jesus would want in a given
situation, is to read the word and get to know
him, see what he's like. Are you doing that?
When was the last time you had a prayer answered?
Sometimes I think that we talk too much in our
prayers. You know what I mean? We have our prayer
lists all made out. And we rattle those things
off like an evangelical rosary. And somehow we
think that that's praying. My friend, that's
saying prayers. I had a pastor friend who is
now with the Lord, was considerably older than
I when I knew him, told me about a prayer meeting
he was in one time with a prayer giant. And I
have forgotten, unfortunately, the name of the
man that he was praying with. But he said that
that man of God said two words during a whole
45 minutes of prayer. You know what those two
words were? Oh, God. That's all he said. Every
few minutes, those two words would be uttered.
There was some kind of a powerful, deep intercession
going on there that was beyond verbal words.
It would do a lot of us good just to wait on
God in prayer to see what he wants to say with
an open Bible before us as we're on our knees.
Do you know how to pray? Or is your prayer life
consumed with asking for what you would like
and what you want? Isn't that the way we're so
often caught up in our praying? When in fact
what I should be concerned about is maybe covering
less things every day, slowing up the pace a
little bit, spending some time in the Word and
finding out how I should ask God for that particular
need so that I can pray in Jesus' name. Jesus
said that one of the proofs of supernatural life
in the branch is prayer that's answered. There's
a second evidence that he points out. That's
in verse 11. It's joy that is full. He says,
these things I have spoken to you that my joy
may be in you and that your joy may be full.
In other words, our joy is his joy that he's
given to us. And I remind you that he talks about
his joy here at the time when he was facing his
greatest sorrow, humanly speaking. The garden
of Gethsemane was right up there before them.
The time when he would cry out to God and would
sweat, as it were, drops of blood. And yet he
speaks about his joy. It ties together with what
the writer of Hebrews says, doesn't it, when
it says, who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross. And he says to his disciples,
I'm giving you my joy, and I want your joy then
to be fulfilled. The way some people live their
Christian lives, it's no wonder people around
them say, if that's what a Christian is, forget
it. They're depressing to be around. Do you ever
find yourself avoiding some Christians? I mean,
we're speaking honestly now. I like what Merrill
Tenney said. Jesus intended that the disciples'
lives should be both spontaneous and happy. rather
than burdensome and boring. Where does your life
fit into that? What is your joy today? Do you
have a fullness of joy that surpasses circumstances?
Jesus' joy did that that night. It still does
today. One of the evidences of supernatural living,
my friend, is that there is a joy about you Not
a frivolity, but there is a joy about you that
shines through when the going's tough. And the
people in the office, at the factory, in the
neighborhood, they see that. That's fruit. The
third evidence of supernatural living is found
in verses 12 and 13, again in verse 17. It's
love that is sacrificial. He says, this is my
commandment, that you love one another just as
I have loved you. Greater love has no one than
this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
And, of course, he did that. You say, but I don't
have very many people to lay down my life for.
In fact, I don't have anybody right now where
my life is required. How can I show love? Well,
let's talk about some other ways then. When was
the last time you gave up some luxury or some
comfort that someone else's need could be met?
You know, it's not enough to say, God bless you,
or I love you in the Lord, and I'll be praying
for you, and to go away when we have the capacity
to meet the need in the life of that person,
even at our own sacrifice. John said, let's not
love in word, but in deed and in truth. When's
the last time you sacrificed something for somebody
else? For your wife, your husband? One of the
reasons there's tension in homes is the fact
that husbands and wives are trying to guard their
borders rather than opening the gates and sacrifice
for the other. Have you sacrificed time to listen
to somebody else without sermonizing back? Love
produces unity, not rivalry, submission, not
self -assertion. One of the evidences of love
in your life, or fruit in your life, rather,
is love that sacrifices. How many people in your
office know that kind of love? Can you think
of anybody in your office that really sacrifices
for other people? What about you? Will you bear
that fruit this week? A fourth evidence of supernatural
living, verses 14 and 15, understanding that
is intimate. You're my friends, says Jesus, if
you do what I command you. No longer do I call
you slaves, for the slave does not know what
his master is doing. But I have called you friends
for all things that I have known, have heard,
for my Father I have made known to you. Do you
realize that as you spend time in the Word, and
as you bear fruit as a branch, that you will
gain insights into people and circumstances and
world situations that will be an intimate kind
of insight, a special insight? The people around
you will say, how in the world does she know
that? But he is so young. How could he have that
kind of wisdom? The answer is very simple. If
you're bearing fruit as a branch, you will have
understanding that the Lord will give you that
will be very intimate. The kind of understanding
and insight that a friend shares with a friend.
We gain that insight through the word in our
fellowship with the Lord. We're going to know
what God is up to in this age. And instead of
being scared and panicky and anxious about some
of the things in the world seen, we can rejoice
that our God is in control. And we can help others
see the way things are heading. Show them their
need for Jesus Christ to be delivered from the
world system that's literally going to hell.
A fifth evidence of supernatural living is persecution
that's unjustified. Verses 18 to 25 talks about
that. We'll just read verses 18 and 19. Jesus
says, If the world hates you, you know that it
has hated me before it hated you. If you were
of the world, the world would love its own, but
because you are not of the world, but I chose
you out of the world, therefore the world hates
you. Some people have the mistaken idea that
if you're a nice guy as a Christian, if you really
live the spirit -filled life before people, that
they're going to applaud when you come into the
room. As you walk down the hall, they're going
to hail you as one highly favored. My friend,
that's a mistake to think that way. If you live
the kind of life that we're talking about here,
the world system is going to hate you. And Jesus
tells us why here. It's because that that kind
of living exposes the world system for what it
is. It doesn't like to be exposed. It likes to
remain secret in darkness to do its evil. But
a Christian who's bearing fruit will throw light
on the world and thereby create an enmity toward
himself. Jesus said, if any man will come after
me, let him what? Deny himself. Take up his cross
daily and follow me. That runs counter to the
world's advice because the world says that we
should be concerned about self -esteem and self
-fulfillment and self -realization and self -assertion.
Jesus said, if you're going to follow me, deny
yourself. That's extremist to the world. That's
radical Christianity. No, the world doesn't mind
Christianity that's moderate. Christianity that
makes them comfortable. But the world despises
Christianity that exposes its wickedness. A sixth
evidence of supernatural living is witness that
is empowered. Spirit empowered. Verses 26 and
27. When the Helper comes, whom I will send to
you from the Father, that is, the Spirit of truth
who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness
of me, and you will bear witness also, because
you have been with me from the beginning. And
so the sixth evidence of supernatural living
is the fact that we have a witness that is Spirit
-empowered. Even in the face of rejection and
hatred, that witness will be effective. Question.
Are you a fruit -bearing branch? There are several
stages of fruit bearing. Let me just review them.
In verse 2, there's the stage of no fruit. Oh,
you see, that person's not a Christian. My friend,
John 15 has nothing to do with the doctrine of
salvation. Well, people have gotten all messed
up in their theology because they try to read
in salvation, John 15. Jesus is nowhere talking
here about salvation. He's talking about fellowship
and fruit bearing. He says, every branch in me
that does not bear fruit, the Father, the vine
dresser, takes away. It's possible for a Christian
to have no fruit in his life. He can't go that
way indefinitely. But he can know periods of
no fruit. And the vine dresser, the Father in
heaven, is very concerned about that. So what
does he do? He says he removes that branch. That
word remove there can mean take away, and it's
possible that the Father can take away a person
by an early death, 1 Corinthians 11 .30. But
the word also means to lift up, and I think personally
that's the emphasis here. The vine dresser reaches
down to that branch that is bearing no fruit,
and he lifts it up, trying to get it into the
sunlight so that it will bear fruit. He works
with that branch, in other words. He goes on
to say, and every branch that bears fruit. So
that's the second stage. Bearing some fruit,
some answered prayer, some witness that is Spirit
-empowered, some understanding, and so on. Then
he says that those who bear fruit, the Father
prunes. That is, he clips, he snips, he cleanses.
So that it might bear more fruit. That's the
third stage, but that's not the end. In verse
8 he says, By this is my Father glorified that
you bear much fruit. That's the stage that God
wants us to get to. How do we get there? Verse
5 says, I am the vine, you are the branches.
He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much
fruit. What does it mean to abide? 1 John 3 .24
tells us that to abide is to obey. To obey him.
Are you obeying the Lord? The state of Minnesota
demands that I take care of my kids. Can you
imagine anything more unreasonable than that?
The state of Minnesota says, if I don't take
care of my kids, they will try me for child abuse
or child neglect and punish me. And therefore,
I take care of my kids. Right? No. I don't take
care of my kids because of the law. I take care
of my kids because I love them. Why should you
obey Jesus Christ? You say, because if I don't,
he'll clobber me. You don't know him very well,
my friend, if that's the way you look at him.
The reason that we obey Jesus Christ and abide
in him and fellowship is because we love him.
The secret to abiding is obeying. The secret
to obeying is loving. And the secret to loving
is knowing. If we know Him, we'll love Him. And
if we love Him, we'll obey Him. If we obey, we'll
abide. And if we abide, we'll bear fruit. How
are you doing? Is there the evidence of the supernatural
in your life? Heavenly Father, I pray that you
will search out the heart of every one of us.
Surely you've spoken this morning. Where in there
are attitudes that need to be repented of or
actions that have to be confessed so that we
can get into that place of obedience? I pray
that we'll have the courage to do it. In this
invitation time, deal with us. I pray that we'll
not be fruitless. And face the prospect of standing
before you empty -handed, only to have our lives
go up in smoke with nothing to present to you
at the judgment. In Jesus' name, amen.