|
|
John 15
Joh 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
Joh 15:2 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.
Joh 15:3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Joh 15:4 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 ye abide in me.
Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Joh 15:6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is
withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
I don't know how the gospel of Jesus Christ could not be any plainer than this.
No matter what denomination, church of affiliation we belong to the message is
the same. The word when we first believe cleanses us from sin and makes us
clean. We are a new creature in Christ Jesus. Nothing man can do will change
that and no one person on the face of the earth can remove us out of the safety
of the Father's hand. There is a big if that we don't like to talk of in this
day of once saved always saved and predestination.
IF we abide in Christ, If we stay the course. If we continue in the faith once
delivered to the saints. The saints being all who believe and turn to Jesus as
savior, no man can pluck us out of the Father's hand. No one can cause us to
lose our salvation if we are determined to continue in the faith and not deny
the Lord or turn back from Him. However, we can lose this is we stop abiding in
Christ and stop living for Him. This chapter proves it as well as the letters to
the churches in Revelation. I would love to believe that once I come to Christ,
I could never be lost no matter what I did, but there are more scriptures that
state conditions and ifs than there are that state unconditional eternal
security.
If those that teach the Augustinian and Calvinistic doctrines of predestination
teach eternal security for the elect then how would they know whether or not
they were part of the elect? That would make me insecure in my faith, not
secure. For who would know? I feel more secure believing that Jesus saves me
because I believe in Him and want to live for Him and His word says that if I
believe I have eternal life. That is more secure than hoping I happen to be one
of the "elect" that is predestined from creation. My thoughts on predestination
is that God predestined all who believe and trust in His Son for remission of
sins, will be saved. I never will believe that God ordains anyone or predestines
anyone to go to hell. I believe He has predestined all to go to heaven and
receive eternal life but some will refuse to believe, choosing rather to abide
in sin or in their false religions. However, I believe they are predestined to
go to Heaven if they turn to Christ and believe.
Every branch that abides in Christ will bring forth fruit. Every branch that
does not abide in Christ is cast forth or removed from the vine. The Jews were
broken off because of unbelief but will be grafted in again in the future. I
read that thousands of Jews already have believed in Christ and have been
grafted back into the vine they were once broken off from. Hallelujah.
Joh 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye
will, and it shall be done unto you.
Whatever glorifies the Father and furthers the cause of the gospel, whatever is
good, perfect, pure and in the Father's will, will be done if we abide in Christ
and His words abide in us. If we depart from the sound doctrine of the word, we
are not guaranteed anything or any answer to prayer unless it is a prayer of
repentance and a returning to the faith we once departed from.
Joh 15:8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye
be my disciples.
God is glorified when He answers our prayers and when we bear fruit unto life
eternal.
The fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Strive for these things and look for
these things. When any Christian religious group forgets these things and began
to smite their fellow servants instead of exercising love and patience, they
stop following Christ. If we read church history, we will mourn and grieve over
those who did horrible things to their own fellow Christians in the name of
Christ representing His church so-called. We can't just blame the Catholics here
because Protestants also put to death and persecuted dissenters from their
faith. A lot of this can be traced clear back to the teachings of Augustine. He
influenced a church-state type of control over the people. If one is not born
again by the spirit of God, there is no way he or she could ever over come sin
in the flesh. We can't force faith on anyone by government control. The kingdom
of God is not of this world. It is within each believer. We can't set up the
kingdom of God until Jesus Himself returns in person. Lets not make the same
mistake the church in the Middle Ages made. They saw that the Lord delayed His
coming and started to teach that the 1000 year reign of Christ was already
happening through the church. They began to smite their fellow servants and
suppress all who disagreed with this erroneous doctrine. The reign of Christ
will not begin until Jesus comes Himself. There is a present day revival of the
dominion and kingdom now doctrine. It is deadly. Replacement theology which
teaches that the church replaces Israel as God's chosen people is also deadly.
Stay away from these doctrines because they are not the doctrine of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Love is the main theme of His doctrine and from there we can
preach the gospel of repentance and being born again by the spirit. This cannot
be forced on anyone by any laws of man. Jesus loved the lost and so should we.
Jesus loved the rich man who held onto his riches and had to reject the savior's
teachings. Jesus wept over what was coming in the future for the Jewish
people. He didn't gloat. He wept and so should we. If one is
lost we should weep. If our one is hurting we should hurt.
Joh 15:9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my
love.
Joh 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have
kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
If we don't keep the commandments of Jesus, we do not love Him. His first
commandment is to love God with all our hearts and the second is to love thy
neighbor as thyself. I doubt very much that we would burn ourselves at the
stake, steal from ourselves or harm ourselves if we are in our right minds.
Joh 15:11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in
you, and that your joy might be full.
Obedience to the gospel and walking in the love of God shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Spirit, will cause joy. The unhappiest Christians are those that do
not love one another.
Love does not mean going around complimenting everyone even if they are deep in
sin and in error. Love is telling the truth but in the spirit of meekness. There
is nothing more disgusting than arrogance and being high minded, thinking we are
better than someone because we think we are part of God's elect and everyone
else is not. If we are part of God's elect because we have come to Jesus for
salvation, let us be humble about it. We have nothing that we didn't receive by
His mercy.
Joh 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved
you.
Joh 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for
his friends.
Joh 15:14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Joh 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what
his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard
of my Father I have made known unto you.
Joh 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that
ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that
whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
Joh 15:17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
Joh 15:18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
Joh 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye
are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the
world hateth you.
Joh 15:20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater
than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they
have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
If we are the ones doing the persecuting rather than the ones being persecuted
that is a good sign that we are not the elect or in the faith.
Jesus did not command us to go around putting people to death who are apostates
or who we think are apostates. He never gave us that authority. In fact when two
of the disciples wanted Jesus to call fire down from heaven to destroy those
opposing Jesus, Jesus rebuked them saying He came to save not destroy men's
lives.
A day of judgment will come upon those that persecute God's people but we are
still living under grace and are in the days of mercy. Jesus has not returned
yet in person so its still the days of mercy and the days for preaching the
gospel. We must occupy until He comes doing what He calls us to do. We are not
to think He delays His coming so we have to set up the kingdom for Him and began
to cast out and persecute those that disagree with us.
The gospel is a spiritual change that comes only by the power of the Holy
Spirit. We can tell of this power and preach this gospel but we can't do the
saving and the changing. Only God can make one who is dead in sin, alive in the
spirit.
We can baptize all the people we want in any name we want but if they are not
born again by the spirit, they are not saved and we can't save them no matter
what they do or what church they join.
Joh 15:21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake,
because they know not him that sent me.
Joh 15:22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now
they have no cloak for their sin.
Joh 15:23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also.
Hate is not a trait of a true believer. Does this sound like what some of our
church fathers have done?
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and
persecute you;
Its better to be the persecuted than to be among the persecutors.
Joh 15:24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did,
they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my
Father.
Joh 15:25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is
written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
Joh 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the
Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall
testify of me:
We do well to remember the need for the continual presence of the Holy Spirit in
our individual lives as well as in the church.
Joh 15:27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from
the beginning.
Because of these faithful witnesses, we also in 2006 can believe on Jesus Christ
and be saved from sin. Amen.
|
|