in your Bibles to the Gospel of John, John chapter 15. John 15, our focus will be verses 3 to 8, but I'll read from verse 1 to verse 8. Remember, we're in the Upper Room Discourse, the Passion Week of our Lord Jesus Christ, where He encourages and seeks to strengthen His disciples. So after His departure on high, they will be equipped by the Spirit. They'll know the peace of Christ that surpasses all understanding. and they are called upon to engage in greater works, not in competition with our Lord, but as an extension of his ministry at the right hand of the Father, where he must reign till all of his enemies are made his footstool. So the discourse is calculated to encourage them. It's calculated to stabilize them. It's calculated as well to instruct them. And one of the things that looms large is the nature of God, the fact that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the Christian tradition, we call this the doctrine of the Trinity. Jesus was certainly a Trinitarian, and Jesus, as the word of God, the second person of the Trinity, took on our humanity, dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So beginning in John 15 at verse one, 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, 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, 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, bears much fruit. For without me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. And they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit, so you will be my disciples. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, thank you for your Word. Thank you that the Spirit of God gave it to us. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. We acknowledge its profitability in doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness, that we may be thoroughly equipped unto every good work. We ask that you would again forgive us of all of our sins, guide us by the Spirit who illumines and who teaches and who directs us into all truth. May the Spirit who gave the word guide us now in our study of it. And we pray through Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen. Well, this is a brief section, but we've done a few sermons on it. First, with reference to verse 1a, where Jesus says, I am the true vine. Tried to show that this is indeed the fulfillment of Old Testament scriptures. Israel was likened to the vine. Israel was likened to God's vineyard. But of course, Israel in the Old Covenant, failed to carry out their task. So Jesus is the true vine in contrast to that particular Old Covenant people. The text is clear. There ought to be no thing called Zionism, whether political or ecclesiastical. The Israel of God today is the people of God, the children of God, those who by God's grace believe the gospel. Paul makes that evidently clear in Galatians 3, 26 to 29. Who are the sons of Abraham? Paul writing to a Gentile church, it is those who believe in Jesus Christ the Lord. At the end of Galatians in chapter 6, he pronounces peace upon the Israel of God. So it's not a geopolitical entity that is the ultimate target of God's promises. It is rather the target of God's promises, or rather the fulfillment. All the promises of God are yea and amen in our Lord Jesus Christ and in His church by virtue of their union with Him. We also noted in verse 2 the branches. There has been a recent strand of paedo-baptist thought that takes John 15-2 and Romans chapter 11 and tries to make a third category in the New Covenant. But that's not what's happening. Jesus is talking about Old Covenant and New Covenant. He is not suggesting that you can be externally connected to the Lord Jesus via your paedo-baptism, but not genuinely be a Christian. That is to turn the passage on its head. So having hopefully disavowed the text of what it doesn't say, we can now pursue what it does say. So I explained it in two parts. First, the explanation of the metaphor, the true vine, verses 1 to 4. And then secondly, the exhortation to the disciples in verses 5 to 8. So let's pick up first at the explanation of the metaphor in verses one to four. So two weeks ago, we considered the identification of the parties. In verse one, Jesus as the true vine, the fulfillment of old covenant Israel is the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. just like the father was in Isaiah the prophet, chapter five, verses one to seven, when he comes to old covenant Israel to see if they've been fruitful. As Jesus rehearses in Matthew 21, when he gives that sort of redemptive history of old covenant Israel, he uses the same analogy, the vineyard and they have not been fruitful. And as a result, the father is going to cut them off. They themselves understand the interpretation that he provides them in Matthew chapter 21. So the parties, true vine, Jesus, the son of God, father is the vine dresser. And then in verse two, every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Again, not covenantally pedobaptist categories, but those in the old covenant, the ones to whom he came, his own, they did not receive him. They were dead weight. They were dead branches. They'll be cut off. The life of the vine gives that necessary sap to the branches that are united to him by faith alone. Those are the branches. It's the people of God, the church of God, the Israel of God, whatever you want to call it specifically. But then notice he describes the branches, this is new now, in verses three to four. He speaks of the fact of regeneration and justification, and then the subsequent reality of sanctification. Now, if you're new to theology, I know that's probably a mouthful, but when we talk about theology and how does God save sinners, well, regeneration. That simply means that God, with reference to the dead sinner, regenerates them. He makes them born again. He makes them alive. He makes them new. The idea being is that dead sinners have no ability to reach out to the living God. The dead sinner stands in absolute dependence upon the living God if that dead sinner is going to know life and light eternal in the presence of our blessed Father. So, regeneration and then justification. So when God awakens or regenerates or causes one to be born again, God gives the graces of faith and repentance. Faith receives the promises of God. Faith is the instrument that draws us into union with our Lord Jesus Christ. We're saved by grace through faith. And that, not of ourselves, but it is the gift of God, as Paul says in Ephesians 2 and verse 8. So then after regeneration and justification, what happens? Well, we're adopted as sons and daughters of the living God. And as adopted sons and daughters of the living God, what then happens? We're supposed to live in a manner that is consistent with our status as the adopted sons and daughters of God. In other words, we're supposed to walk in love. We're supposed to walk in light. We're supposed to walk in wisdom. Jesus previously in the discourse in 1415 says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. This is not, keep my commandments so that you may be saved. No, you love me because you've been justified freely by my grace, and as a result of that, you're going to keep my commandments. We need to keep our theology proper in our head so that we don't make mistakes with reference to what our Lord is teaching. So note first the fact of regeneration and justification. Verse 3, he's talking about the branches in verse 2, specifically the branch that bears fruit, verse 2b, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. Verse 3, you are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Notice, he doesn't say you are already clean because of the grit and determination that you have shown. The grit and determination to put off sin and to follow righteousness. No, that's not what he says. In fact, he says something very similar in 1310 prior in this upper room discourse. Notice in verse 10, at chapter 13, Jesus said to him, he who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not all of you. They're clean by the grace of God, through the power and ministry of the Holy Spirit, but not all of you. Judas, the betrayer, Judas Iscariot, Judas, the one that is going to sell Jesus into the hands of his enemies for 30 pieces of silver. We see regeneration or being born again taught by Jesus to Nicodemus in John chapter 3. Remember when Nicodemus comes to him by night? He's not coming there because he's embarrassed by the Sanhedrin. He's coming there by virtue of his place in the Sanhedrin. They sent him to sort of vet Jesus. Figure out what kind of a man that he was. And as soon as Jesus has any interaction with him, he says, unless a man is born again, he shall not see the kingdom of God. So he lays down the gauntlet. He basically says, man is dead in their sin. Man has no ability to reach out to God. It must be God from above that comes down to save his people from their sins. So regeneration is absolutely crucial. And that's what Jesus highlights here. in 15.3, you are already clean. And then notice the instrumentality of God's truth or God's gospel because of the word which I have spoken to you. This indicates justification by faith alone. You're not already clean because of your good works. You're not already clean because of your resolve to do better, but you're clean regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit and that you've believed the word of the living and true God. He's talking to his disciples. He's talking to fruit bearers. He is talking to those branches that the Father either graciously with the bonnet and the nippers kind of gets away the dead growth or with a chainsaw and the afflictions and the heartaches and the trials comes to pair off those dead branches or those things that would stop the sap flow into the branches. The Father prunes believers. The Father is for His people. The Father chastens us, as is good for us. The Apostle uses this argument in Hebrews chapter 12. How many of you had earthly fathers that disciplined you for a time? They did the best that they could. Did they make mistakes? Sure they did. But their end game, their intention was for your good. It's your father when he chastens you, your father when he disciplines you, the various afflictions and trials that you undergo in this present evil age. The fact that as the prophet describes it, we live in a veil of tears, that indicates that the father's at work in our lives. And so Jesus speaks concerning regeneration. He speaks concerning the reality of justification by faith alone, just here in verse three. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. And then note the subsequent reality of sanctification in verse four. You've been born again. By grace, you believed in Jesus. When you believed in Jesus, your sins are forgiven. You're given the righteousness of Christ so that you can enter in to that holy tabernacle of the Most High. So in time now, we've been regenerate, we're born again, we're justified freely by His grace, we're adopted sons and daughters to the Most High. Now what? Well, that's verse 4. He says, abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. Now, I'm not a botanist, but I know this much, that when you pull a plant out of the ground, you've got problems. When you break branches off of the main stem, is that the proper language here? You've got problems. You've got to have that connection for the interplay or the conveyance of that sap to the branch. So what is Jesus saying? As God's born-again children, adopted into his family, justified freely by his grace, actually justified and adopted into his family, what now? You need to abide in Jesus. You want to live the Christian life, not so that you may be saved, but because by God's grace you have been saved. That's the focal point in this particular section, with a specific reference to these apostles that are tasked to go out and to do greater works. And that means to go out and make disciples, to plant churches, and to extend the kingdom of God Most High, visibly represented through the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the uttermost parts of the earth. Christ is preparing His disciples for mission. Christ is preparing His disciples for ministry. And what does Christ say is absolutely crucial for mission and ministry? It is connection to Christ. It isn't simply this, that, or the other. It is a vital union with our Lord Jesus, being born again, believing the gospel, having that good confession of faith. That's what is absolutely crucial. So when we look at a passage like this, there's a few things that I think we glean. He says, abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I would suggest first that sanctification, your life of holiness, your pursuit of those things which are God-glorifying and God-honoring, is grounded in justification. In other words, it's a gospel sanctification. If you notice in Romans 6, Well, something Paul does in Romans 3, 6, and 9 is he asks questions as he's writing. I wonder why he asked questions when he was writing. Probably because when he was preaching and he walked to the back of a synagogue, there was a whole host of questions for him. So he thought, well, I'm going to go ahead and incorporate those nuggets when I write Romans, because probably lots of other people have those questions. Romans 9, for instance, when he's dealing with sovereignty and predestination, the absolute glory of God Almighty, he says, what shall we say then? Shall we say that there is unrighteousness in God? May it never be! But in Romans 6, after having discoursed on justification by faith alone, what do you think might have been a response in the back of a Jewish synagogue? Paul says, in a Jewish synagogue, the way of salvation, the way of acceptance with Yahweh, is to believe on Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. What do you think their response would be? What about Torah? What about mitzvot? What about the law? What about obedience? What about all the things that Yahweh has commanded in the Old Covenant? So in Romans 6.1, Paul says, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? He probably heard that. Justification by faith alone elicits the devil's logic, which is simple. Well, if you're justified by faith alone, then it really doesn't matter how you live. So Paul probably heard that. So what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? May it never be. Later in the chapter, he's gonna say, no longer present your members as instruments of unrighteousness. In other words, practical sanctification. Don't look at porn. Don't smoke that whatever. Don't drink that whatever. You've got to resist those temptations and tendencies. But before he gets to the do-nots, the imperatives in terms of sanctification, he first starts with a remembrance of justification. You were dead and you've been buried and you've been raised again with our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, sanctification is dependent upon a proper understanding of justification. If you think in the life of holiness you're earning favor with God, you've got a wrong approach. Sanctification is the consequence of God's having justified us freely by His grace and receiving us into His favor. It's not mercenary, I've got to do this or I'm going to be cut off. No, it's grace, it's mercy, it's kindness, it's goodness. In other words, the motivation in terms of sanctification is not that sort of reward of salvation, but it's the recognition that we've already been saved. And we want to please our Heavenly Father, and we want conformity to our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. So don't miss that. Sanctification is necessarily grounded in justification by faith alone. I would suggest, secondly, that it is by virtue of union with Christ. In other words, you don't... There is a sense, brethren, this question comes up in theology. We talk about salvation, justification specifically is what's called monergistic. That means one working. God is mono in terms of his salvation of sinners. Sanctification, we know that God is at work in us, Philippians 2.13, both to will and to do according to his good pleasure. But God doesn't not look at porn for us. God does not not drink those things for us. God does not engage in, you know, white collar crime for us. There is a sense where we have to do those things, right? You got a problem and you don't get up on time, it's not a bad thing to move your clock onto the other side of the room. That's a good help. God's not going to magically cause you to arise at the moment that you're supposed to. So when it comes to sanctification, God is over it. God is at work, both to will and to do according to His good pleasure. But we have to cut off the offending members. We have to pursue the things that are good. And Jesus says it must be in union with Him. In other words, there's no sanctification apart from Jesus Christ. It's not on the other side that just discipline and a formal life and stoic approach to things, that's sanctification. I would imagine, and I don't want to offend anybody here unnecessarily, but there's probably far more disciplined people out in the world than some of God's believers. You ever see Navy Buds training and SEAL training? Those guys are hardcore, right? I'm sure they don't struggle at getting up at O-Dark 30. Oh, well, you know, it's just the remaining sin. They just do what they're supposed to do. Discipline and order and structure and the putting off and the putting on sort of a issue or situation and sanctification, those are realities, but not devoid of union with Christ. You have to abide in me, is what he says. And then I would suggest thirdly, with reference to sanctification practically, it is dependent upon ultimately the person of Christ. Notice what he says, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. He's telling them at the outset. You've been born again. You've been justified freely by grace. You've been adopted as sons into the very family of God Almighty. And in terms of your life, and ministry, and mission, and conduct, and wives, and children, and society, and civil polity, and grocery stores, and everything, if you want to be holy and you want to be like Jesus, you have to live in dependence upon Jesus. You have to abide in Him. So yes, the discipline. Yes, the self-control. Which self-control, by the way, is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. All those things are necessary, but not devoid of the Savior. We have to find that balance. We have to be in Christ, abiding in Him, and then putting off the deeds of the body to make no provision for the lust of the flesh. And so that we may pursue those things which are pleasing in the sight of a holy God. I guess in summary, everything we do, everything we have, everything we are as God's people is by virtue of our union with Jesus. So let's not forget that in the life of sanctification. Let's not forget that when it comes to being who God calls us to be as adopted sons and daughters. So that's kind of the explanation of the metaphor that he uses there in verses 1 to 4. That brings us then to the exhortation to the disciples in verses 5 to 8. gives a metaphor, explains who's involved, the function of the vine dresser, description of the branches, and now he comes real practically to these disciples to give them an exhortation. And I think he does three things here. First, we see the power of Christ in verse 5, then the promise of Christ in verses 6 and 7, and then the purpose of Christ in verse 8. Notice first the power of Christ in verse 5. I am the vine. You are the branches. He reiterates that when he comes to exhort them and encourage them on how to live. You can't forget this. I'm the vine. You're the branches. The rest of the New Testament does something similar. The apostle uses the head and the body metaphor. Jesus is the head of the church, which is his body. What does that suggest? It suggests dependence. It suggests abiding. It suggests proximity. It suggests union and closeness to the Savior. When Paul comes to deal with marriage in Ephesians chapter 5, he uses the analogy of Jesus and the church. So the way that husband and wife relate, in fact, in a husband and wife relationship, what happens to them? The two become one flesh. So Jesus is laying down this metaphor, bringing it to them specifically in a practical way, and wanting to remind them, I am the vine, you are the branches. Notice he then goes on to say, he who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. So Jesus says, I am the vine, you are the branches. Because of that arrangement, because of that virtue, or that union rather, but because all that obtains, you have the potential. Not, you know, Johnny at two to be the president. That's not the potential I'm talking about. You can be whatever you want, Johnny. Not if he's a moron. He can't. I'm sorry. The potential is there because of Christ's life, death, resurrection, because of God's grace coming upon needy sinners, such that we've been born again, such that we believe the gospel, such that we are now new men and new women in Christ Jesus, belonging to the very family of God himself, called upon to follow the Savior wherever he bids us. The potential is there. I would argue that this particular passage is going to probably bother us if we're living in known sin. This passage is going to bother us if we're not actively pursuing those things that are pleasing to Jesus Christ. This passage is going to probably bother us if we become lazy in our approach to sanctification. Just want to get all that out on the table right now, because what Jesus says is that we have the potential to do great things. And again, not astronauts, not being a cowboy at the county fair, but rather to do the greater works in the context. And I would argue specifically it's the apostles. The apostles' greater works are going to be obvious in the book of Acts when some of them engage in miracles. All of them engage in preaching. All of them see conversions, and church planting, and disciple making, and all that sort of thing. But by extension, for the people and children of God, the Lord Jesus Christ says that we are the branches related to the vine. And because of that sap flow, or that conveyance of that sap to us, we have the strength and the ability to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. to make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts, pursue peace with all men, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." Hebrews 12, 14. How do we imbibe that? How do we accept that? How do we appropriate that? By virtue of our union with Jesus Christ. It's not by virtue of our good decision-making or our lawfulness or our merit-seeking ability. So Jesus speaks of his presence and power here specifically in verse 5. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. Again, that does lay upon us that reality of dependence. And notice, without me you can do nothing. That doesn't mean you can't get out of bed and brush your teeth. Greater works, gotta think of the greater works in 1412. These men are called to go and turn the world upside down for Jesus. with reference to an extension in terms of application to us, living the Christian life, being faithful before God. See, we're all saved, those who are, by grace as individuals, but we maintain various relationships in life. Most, not all, and this is not to denigrate the not all, most are married. We have a relationship between husband and wife. Most have children. We have a fair relationship between parent and child. Most of us work. We have a relationship between an earthly employer and ourselves. Most of us, well, all of us are in a civil polity. We have a relationship to the civil state. Well, how do we navigate that? How do we engage in those various things? As the blood-bought children of God, those who now are the family of God, are we supposed to live just like everybody else? No. We're supposed to be Christians in the midst of a godless generation. We're supposed to love our wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. Wives are to submit to their own husbands as to the Lord in everything. The parent-child relationship is one of authority, one of discipline, one of correction, one of reproof. Oh, horrors, pastor, you can't say that, it'll take your kids away. I'm not saying announce it on Facebook that you corrected your child, but I am suggesting that, not suggesting, saying that Solomon speaks to this very frequently in the book of Proverbs, as does the apostle Paul. Fathers, do not exasperate your children. But bring them up in the training and the admonition of the Lord. The two terms used mean act and word. What do you think act means? You just keep doing that and I'm going to just keep waving my finger. No, that's not it. We have relationships. How do we engage those relationships? But by virtue of our union with the Savior. If the sap isn't conveyed, if the sap isn't flowing to the branch, the branch is gonna be a pretty lousy individual, husband, wife, father, whatever the rest of the relations are. You get the point. This is what Jesus is saying. I am present with you. Every justified by faith in Jesus person has Jesus. Isn't that great? We have him. He has us. He comes to us in the language of 1418 by the spirit, the helper, the another comforter that he sends to us. And so here in five, at chapter 15, I am the vine, you are the branches. He abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. Without me in the context, without me in terms of spiritual life. There's a lot of without-me people out there that do brush their teeth. They do hold down good jobs. They complete Navy Buds training. They engage in those sorts of things. Obviously, the context is regulating here. Just like when Paul says in Philippians 4, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That doesn't mean you're going to beat Michael Jordan on the basketball court. That's what we do to techs. We throw them on the torture rack and we make them say things they were never intended to say. I can do all things through Christ who strengthened me. That means I'm going to own a Fortune 500 company. That's not what it means. It means that in Christ, as branch connected to the vine, you have all the resources, all of the ability, the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit conveyed in that Holy sap so that you can live the way that God has called you to live. So there's no excuse. Well, you just don't know my situation. You just don't know how difficult it is. You just, no, I know that in Christ, we have all the resources, everything that a needy redeemed sinner has to have Christ is there with open arms, giving us sap. So verse five, power. Notice verses six and seven, he makes two promises. First, the promise of judgment, and then secondly, the promise of answered prayer. Notice in verse six, if anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and thrown into the fire, and they are burned. Again, brethren, to see covenantal pedobaptist in this text is to import it from your theology book and put it there. This, Romans 11, is not talking about a third class in terms of covenant or a second class within new covenant. It's not just an internal and external new covenant. The old covenant functioned that way. In the old covenant, you had everybody connected to Yahweh through circumcision and Torah and all those things. But within that old covenant, you had actual believers in Jesus Christ. But through the announcement of the prophet Jeremiah, essential features of the New Covenant are that you know the Lord, that you've been forgiven of your sins, that you have the law written on your heart. He's not creating an additional category. He's talking about Old Covenant Israel and its specific application. The old vine rejected the true vine, hence they are dead branches and they are going to be decimated when the Roman army surround Jerusalem in AD 70 and bring the judgment of God to bear upon them. So the branches that are dead, that are cut off and thrown into the fire, it isn't some extra class in the New Covenant that were paedo-baptized but didn't fulfill their covenantal obligations. Covenantal obligations, in terms of New Covenant, are all laid upon Jesus. He is the yea and amen of God. He lived, He died, He was raised again, such that all those who look to Him in faith will have everlasting life. Now, when it comes to this passage, though, He is threatening judgment. And a pretty vicious and, you know, What can I say? Metaphorically sensitive judgment here. But what happens when you pull those branches out of the ground or off the vine that aren't productive? They aren't fruitful. Well, presently in our garage, we have those big Home Depot bags and we put them in there. That's not too scary. But I would imagine they'll eventually end up in a fire somewhere. Jesus is speaking in terms of the metaphor. I'm the true vine, you're the branches. The branches that are Old Covenant, I would argue in this context, that are the people of God and yet have no faith in Messiah, those are going to be cut off. Those branches are then going to be thrown into the fire. So what Jesus is talking about here, I think at least it's consistent with his prophecy on all of it in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. And what John records in detail in what we call the book of Revelation. Old Covenant Israel, those who rejected and resisted the Messiah, who have all but become dead branches, are fit for nothing other than to be cut off, hacked away, and thrown into the fire. Jesus makes that promise. And again, working with the metaphor that he's already conveyed to us. But notice this promise of answered prayer. Verse 7, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. And again, I want to make sure the asking what I desire is regulated or controlled by the context. You know, I asked God for a million dollars and he didn't answer. He didn't like me. He may not like you, but that's not the way you arrive at that particular conclusion. Isn't that how we pray sometimes? Isn't that how we live sometimes? I asked the Lord for something and he hasn't granted it unto me. There's two problematic assumptions there. First, that God's on our timeframe versus us on his timeframe. And two, that no isn't a sufficiently good answer to prayer. Maybe God doesn't think you should have a million dollars, because he knows you better than, I realize a million anymore. When I was a kid, a million dollars, that's with inflation. Millions kind of chump change. So I've not adjusted my figures over the years. I'll be 60 and still saying a million. By then it'll be, you know, that's what you'll need to buy a loaf of bread probably. But at this point, this is what Jesus is saying. He's talking about answered prayer, in a context. Look at 1412 again. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also. And greater works than these he will do because I go to my father. Verse 13, and whatever you ask in my name, be odd if he's thinking Lamborghinis or summer homes, or he's thinking private jets. I want you to do these greater works. I want you to do them in my name. So verse 13, and whatever you ask in my name, is connected to the greater works that they're supposed to do in his name. So in whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. Same emphasis here in the whole metaphor concerning the vine, the vine dresser and the branches. So in verse seven of chapter 15, if you abide in me, which we've already established, and my words abide in you. Another argument for justification by faith alone. The word of Christ, which is the revelation of the gospel of Christ, abides in us. Kind of a synonymous use. You believe the word of Christ, you have Christ abiding in you. It is the gospel that we desperately need by grace to believe such that we may be forgiven and receive that righteousness that avails with God. So if you abide in me and my words abide in you, and I think that as well helps control the context. If my word abides in you, Doesn't that seem to indicate that that will have some effect upon the things that we ask? I think so. If my words abide in you, then you've got the revelation of the mind of God, which should affect or impact the things that you ask for. Right? It's not a bad implication. If the Word of Christ dwells in our hearts, it's the Word of Christ that serves as the content for our prayers. It's the Word of Christ and the revelation of the mind of God that informs the whatever we ask in His name. It's not, well, you know, I'd like a bag of money. I'm not saying asking God for more money or promotion at work or a raise is a bad thing. Don't hear that, but don't assume that the whatever you ask in my names are connected to our temporal pleasure or our temporal comforts or our temporal stability. The primary emphasis in terms of New Covenant religion is to be faithful to our blessed Savior in whatever hardships or trials or afflictions that we have. Remember, Paul says, I know how to abound and I know how to be abased. Interesting. You look at the life of the Apostle Paul, you might conclude, man, what a miserable situation. But he says, I know how to abound. Everything wasn't always, you know, bad for the Apostle Paul. But what was the take-home lesson? I know how to abound. I know how to be abased. But in all things, I've learned what? Contentment. Contentedness. Brethren, I argue that all these passages that the Charismatics and the Pentecostals flip on their heads are, well, you could be whatever you want, be an astronaut, drive a Lamborghini, have summer homes all over the house, all over the world, because Jesus says, and whatever you ask in my name. That's probably not fair to the Charismatics and the Pentecostals, the word-faith movement, the word-faith branch of that particular movement, the health, wealth, prosperity gospel, which, interestingly, is not a gospel at all. So Jesus, when he says, whatever you ask, Conditioned, of course, by the word that you have. So if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. I think this speaks as well to the desires of God's people. What ought to be our chief desire? Well, to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. How do we best achieve that? By Lamborghinis? And I'm not picking on Lamborghinis. If you get one, get one. Get me right. But the bottom line is the glory of God comes through what? Conformity unto Jesus. So if we were to look into our own hearts and say, what is it that I desire? I think a good litmus test would be your prayer closet. If your prayer room could talk, what would it tell us? Not that I think we have a right to know that. I believe in an absolute right to privacy. You come here, you tell me things, privacy, unless you commit a crime. Then I call the cops. I'm not a Roman Catholic priest. But if your prayer room could talk, what would be the desires of the heart? Are they spiritual in nature? Are they God glorifying in their aim? Well, I guess indirectly, a Lamborghini would really free me up to serve God more. Okay, that's probably not where I'd go with that argument, but you get the point. We know the content through the written word that abides in us, that informs us concerning the will of God, which should shape and impact and affect how we pray to God. And as well, the desires of our heart ought not to be governed by the world. The desires of our heart ought not to be dictated or defined by the world. The desires of our heart ought to be dictated and governed by that word that abides in our hearts. So Jesus promises answered prayer. And then notice finally, as we close this section, he speaks of the purpose of Christ. Verse eight, twofold glory of God and the good of his disciples. Notice in verse eight, by this, this asking, according to my word, those things that you desire, understanding the fact that we have a union together, knowing that without me, you can do nothing, knowing that the larger sort of context is to go out and do great works for the Lord Jesus Christ, or by extension, to live the life that God has called us to in terms of the various relations that we sustain. He says, I want you to do this because in this, my Father's glorified. See, for Jesus, it's always theology first. When he teaches us to pray in Matthew chapter five, or Matthew chapter six, he doesn't start with our food, he doesn't start with our forgiveness, and he doesn't start with our protection. He ends up there, but he starts with his father's name, his father's kingdom, and his father's will. Right? Priority. When you look at the Ten Commandments, it regulates earthly conduct in terms of our relationship one to another in the 5th through the 10th Commandments. But where's the priority? Where does it begin? With God. Commandments 1 to 4. So Jesus wants our happiness. Jesus wants our stability. Jesus wants our security. Jesus wants everlasting blessedness for us. But remember, Jesus in the temporal mission is on a purpose and a plan to bring glory to his father. And that's what he says in verse eight. By this, my father is glorified that you bear much fruit. The Father is glorified in the Son, according to John 12, 28, and John 14, 13. We'll see it later in the High Priestly Prayer. But the Father is glorified in the Church when the Church is functioning according to Jesus. When we are regulated by His Word, when we are having desires that are in jive with His Word, when the church functions as church is specified to function, we have the guarantee that the Father is glorified in the midst of His congregation. Matthew Poole says it this way, and I think it's nice. He says, and look, as it tends to the honor of the husbandmen, that's the vine dresser, sort of the older King James language with reference to the vine dresser. My father is the vine dresser, 15.1. So Poole says, and look, as it tends to the honor of the husbandmen, when the ground by him plowed and manured. I quite liked that. We're manured. We're being tended to. We're being utilized, being capitalized on. God wants fruitfulness. And sometimes it's snippers, and other times it's a chainsaw. So he says, so it tendeth to the honor and glory of God when the souls renewed, manured, and influenced by him bring forth much of the fruit of righteousness and holiness. By this, my father is glorified that you bear much fruit. Not a little bit of fruit, an apple here or there once a month, but bearing much fruit is the plan and purpose of the vine dresser relative to his vineyard. And then that last bit does not undo all of the theology I took some time to explain previous when he says, so you will be my disciples. I don't believe he's saying in order to be my disciples, you have to bear much fruit. He's already acknowledged regeneration. He's already acknowledged justification by faith. He's already assumed adoption in the family of God, and he's already acknowledged sanctification relative to our virtue or our union, virtue of union with him, or in virtue of our union with him. He's acknowledged all that. So it'd be very odd for him to say, go out and bear much fruit, and then you'll get to be my disciples. Now, I think the language suggests that if you do what I'm calling you to do, If you're living in the way that I'm telling you to live, that's what indicates that you are indeed my disciples. James picks up on this in James 2, 14-26. He's not teaching justification by faith plus works. He's teaching justification by faith alone, which is demonstrated or declared or externalized in the lives of God's people. Where do you think James got that? He got it from Jesus. The branches bear fruit. Why? Because they're connected to the vine. So you will be my disciples when you live in the manner that is consistent with your calling as God's children through grace, through faith in Jesus. Well, in conclusion, just want to highlight the nature of the people of God. I'm going to do this quick. The people of God are branches of the vine by God's grace through faith in Jesus. Don't forget that. You're not seeking to earn that status as a branch through faith plus your works. You're not seeking to earn status as a branch connected to the vine through your labors or through your so-called righteousness. You're a branch connected to the vine by God's grace, revealed in the works of regeneration, justification, adoption, and then magnified or evidenced or declared in sanctification. The people of God are branches of the vine who abide in the vine. Let's not miss this. I know we dealt with some Zionism, I know we dealt with some paedo-baptism, but let's not take the focus off the main thing here. Jesus, in preparing his disciples in this upper room, is going to dispatch them into the known world. What's going to sustain that? The knowledge of the triune God. the reality of justification by faith alone. The fact that they're connected as branch to vine to the Lord Jesus Christ. The fact that from that vine flows the life-giving sap or the life-sustaining sap that they'll need. Brethren, what is it that gets them through the prison cell? What is it that gets them through the lash? What is it that gets them through the martyrdom? It's not their strength. It's not their vitality. It's the strength of the vine. It's the sap that's been given to them. So Jesus is preparing these men for battle, for combat, for warfare. Not physical and literal, but metaphorical. He does want us to do what he calls us to do in a manner that is consistent with his revealed word. I would suggest the people of God are branches of the vine that are inextricably connected to the vine. The ones being cut off and thrown out, they don't bear fruit, they're dead. The old covenant Israel, the one to whom their Messiah came, but they received him not, they delivered him up and said, away with him, away with him, crucify him. I would suggest that the people of God are branches of the vine that are, note this, cared for by God. Cared for by God. I'm new to this botany thing. I've taken over the watering within the last two days. And I'm out there yesterday, I'm watering, and Rebecca's like, oh, that's a weed. Pull that out. Okay, I got that imagery. It's kind of helping with the sermon illustration and all that sort of thing. But do you notice what's happened? After two short sessions, I have a vested interest. I don't like them brown and wilting. I want them to be vibrant and beautiful. The vine dresser cares about you and I. Isn't that the prophet Isaiah in chapter 5? Yahweh comes to the vineyard to see if there's fruit. Isn't that what Jesus says in Matthew 21 when he rehearses the history of Israel? Oh, they'll respect my son. And when he sends his son to Old Covenant Israel, instead of receiving him and honoring him and glorifying him and believing in him, they kill him, they crucify him. The father has a vested interest in his church. If he's glorified in the son and he's glorified in the church, he has an interest in us. In fact, one commentator makes the observation, to cultivate something is to devote one's interest to it. Paul picks up the metaphor in 1 Corinthians 3. He says, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. Means necessary, to be sure, watering and planting. But the increase comes from the one who has the vested interest in it. I would suggest as well the people of God are branches of the vine that are called to be fruitful by virtue of their abiding in the vine, bearing much fruit, doing what God calls us to do, being faithful men, being faithful husbands, being faithful fathers, grandfathers, being faithful workers, being faithful citizens of the body politic, and all that is pertinent to a woman, individually before God, wife to your husband, mother to your children. All of these things we do by virtue of our union with Jesus Christ. And I want to end by saying what we saw in Mark 2, that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. Hopefully, if you've heard this, you'd say, wow, I want to be a branch connected to that vine. I want to know something of abiding in Jesus. I want to know something of answered prayer. I want to know something of the Word of God abiding in me. What's the pathway? to know that Jesus has authority to forgive sins, to know that Jesus in the gospel calls sinners to himself, such that when they believe on him, they're forgiven and they receive a righteousness that avails with God. And such being the case, once you are then connected to that vine, live in a manner that is consistent, bear much fruit by God's grace and for God's glory. Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for our Lord Jesus and the wonderful I am statements, and this one in particular, I am the vine. I pray that you would bless and strengthen your people here, cause us to bear much fruit as well, Lord God. We pray that you would indeed bless those who are in their sins, that you would call them into life eternal to our Lord Jesus Christ. And we pray in his most blessed name. Amen. We'll stand and close by singing 570. 570. hallelujah The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Well, we'll be seated for a brief time of meditation. and then be dismissed.