Before we turn to scripture. I just want to mention something that happened this past week Jenny Neal's mother passed away So I wanted to make sure that we remember that I'll pray for the family Kind of the rationale for singing that particular hymn. She now sees the king of glory in all of his grace So let us pray Our gracious God and Holy Father, we know that precious in the sight of our God is the death of your holy ones. And Lord, we know that it's a great blessing and a boon for us to pass from this present evil age into the presence of the King of glory. Just pray for your blessing upon Jenny and upon her father and her family at this time. We pray that though they grieve, would not grieve like the world, that their sorrow would not be that of despair, that they would know that pain for sure, but they would know the joy. that she is in the presence of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. I pray for your blessing upon the extended family that you'd watch over each one of them, encourage them at this difficult time, and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, you can turn with me in your Bibles to the book of John, John chapter 15, as we move our way through the gospel according to John. John 15, I'll read verses 1 to 8, and then our focus this morning will be most likely just on verses 1 to 4. I promise you we will get through the end of this section, and I will show you the practicality of abiding in Christ. But there are some things that I think are very important in the first few verses of John 15. Again, as we ask the question, who is the true vine, we've tried to answer He fulfills all that old covenant Israel failed to do. And then if we ask, who are the people of God? It's not the ethnic Jews. It is rather the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Israel of God are those who believe the gospel. They are sons of Abraham, according to the apostle in Galatians 3. There's another question I think is assumed or at least somewhat drives from a modern rather contemporary application of verse 2 I want to deal with as well. So I'll just read the section and then we'll get to it. Beginning in verse 1, 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 our blessed God and Holy Father We thank you for this beautiful day. Certainly. We see your power your wisdom your goodness manifested in the created order We see the same perfections revealed and in Providence we see that in redemption as well specifically your grace your mercy your loving-kindness to hell-deserving sinners We thank you for the gospel of our salvation. We thank you that the Lord Jesus is in fact the true vine, that we are united to him by grace through faith in him, and we rejoice in your mercy to us. We ask that you would guide us now by the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, that you would cause us to reflect upon passages like these, and may they inform us much concerning the mission of our Savior. and as well the blessedness of being found in him. We ask that you would save sinners and sanctify the saints and forgive us all for all of our sins now. And we pray through Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen. Well, we are in the upper room discourse, Jesus' last discourse before he dies and is raised and then ascends on high and participates in what we call the current session of our blessed Savior. So notice specifically in 14.1, He wants to encourage his disciples, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. He continues that specific emphasis here in chapter 15 as well. He wants to show them the relationship between the branches and the vine. They abide in him. He abides in them. And this again, to steady, to encourage, and to help them. as they face the various troubles they're going to face. He's going to deal with the world's hatred against them in this particular chapter. He wants to encourage them. He wants to steady them. He wants to help them and enable them and prepare them to carry out the greater works that he speaks of in 14 too. 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. So as a result of the ascension on high, the giving of the Holy Spirit in accordance with Joel 2, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ will do those greater works, not in competition with the Savior, but as an extension of the Savior's power from the right hand of God Almighty. Well, as we come to this particular passage, we're dealing with the vine, the vinedresser, and the branches, which I think is pretty simple to understand. The vine, the true vine, is our Lord Jesus Christ, the vinedresser is his father, and then the branches are those who are connected to him. So I want to look first at the explanation of the metaphor that Jesus uses in verses 1 to 4, and then secondly, the exhortation to the disciples in verses 5 to 8. Now there is some overlap, certainly. It's not the case that 5 to 8 isn't connected to 1 to 4, but I think 1 to 4 gives us the explanation of what he is doing, and again presents us with an answer to who are the people of God. So we'll look at the explanation of the metaphor under three heads. First, the identification of the parties, verse 1. Secondly, the function of the vine dresser in verse 2. And then thirdly, the description of the branches in verses 3 and 4. But with reference to the identification of the parties in verse 1, Jesus says very clearly, I am the true vine. We took the last two weeks to show that that was language applied by Yahweh to the nation of Israel. And just as Adam was created by God and then put into a covenant of works, So was Israel. And what Adam forfeit by his transgression and rebellion, so does Israel. So Christ is the last Adam, and Christ is the true Israel. And all those who by grace believe in him are called the Israel of God. It's not ethnic Jews. It is rather the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is not by race. It's by grace, and the people of God in the New Covenant are called the Israel of God. In fact, the Apostle in Galatians 3 tells us who truly is a child of Abraham. Remember in that discourse in John 8, the Jews said, we're the sons of Abraham, and Jesus rebuked them. If you were the sons of Abraham, you wouldn't be trying to kill me. In Romans 9, 16, the Apostle says, not all Israel is Israel. In other words, amongst old covenant Israel, you had the remnant or the true people of God within. And so, Paul in Galatians 3 says, For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither slave nor free, there's neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. So an ethnic Jew today that rejects Jesus as the Messiah is not a son of Abraham. But an ethnic Gentile, who by God's grace confesses faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Israel, is in fact a son of Abraham. It is very clear. And so we need to understand that this passage is diametrically opposed from what we call in ecclesiastical or theological settings, dispensationalism, and what we refer to in the political realm as Zionism, which is basically Jewish supremacy. So we then have Jesus identify his father as the vine dresser. Notice in verse 1, I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Just like we saw last time when we looked at Isaiah chapter 5. Yahweh comes to the nation of Israel, who is his vineyard, and Yahweh looks for fruit. And because there's no fruit, he promises judgment upon them. In Matthew chapter 21, when Jesus is teaching, Jesus uses the same sort of a language or application. He points to Old Covenant Israel, and then he basically shows us a history of Israel in the spaces of verses 33 to about 46, and it culminates with him saying, therefore, the kingdom of God is being taken from you, and it's going to be given to a nation that is bearing the fruits consistent of it. And that nation is the church. It is the people of our blessed Savior. The blessedness of this in verse 1, as well, again, this is going to get real practical, especially when we come to the exhortation of the disciples. Notice that it says, and my father is the vine dresser. Why does the father in Old Covenant Israel come to the vineyard? To make sure there's fruit. What does God do now as the vine dresser in this New Covenant arena? He makes sure that we produce fruit. And as one commentator says, now to cultivate something is to devote one's interest to it. So practically, the fact that the Father is the vine dresser, that He has a vested interest in pruning us, a vested interest in, you know, paring off our rough edges and getting rid of our sins and our wretchedness, that's an encouragement. That's a blessing. We're in this together, to use an old COVID reference, but us with our blessed God. We abide in Jesus. The Father is the vinedresser. Jesus gives us another helper, the Holy Spirit. So we have that blessed union with our triune God through faith in our Lord Jesus, wherein the Father is cultivating. He's a vine dresser. He's about our progress in grace and growth. He's about our advancement. He's about our holiness. He's about our moving forward in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Now, in terms of the theology involved, before we proceed, Jesus is the true vine, and my father is the vine dresser. The Lord Jesus, as the Israel of God, is such according to his humanity, his mediatorial function. Not as the divine word, though not divorced from the divine word, but as Thomas says, there are two natures in Christ, the divine and the human. Because of his human nature, he is like us and is less than the Father. Because of his divine nature, he is like God and above us. Thus, he is the true vine insofar as he is the head of the church, the man Christ Jesus. So that's the identification of the parties. Verse 1, true vine, Jesus. Verse 1, true vine dresser, the Father. And of course the branches are the people of God, to which we now turn. The function of the vine dresser. Notice in verse 2. This is where we're gonna get a little sidetracked this morning. Again, pick up the question, who are the people of God? Notice 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. I wanna deal, I actually don't want to deal, but I think it's necessary because of our context, because of exposure. because of the internet, and because there's no shortage of misapplication of this particular section relative to what we call paedo-baptism. Now, for those of you who haven't heard that term, paedo simply means infant or baby. It's the practice outside of a Baptist context where paedos, namely infants or babies, are baptized. Typically, they're sprinkled, and they are welcomed into the new covenant. Well, in the last little while, this particular scheme of paedo-baptism has utilized John 15 in their search for a theology. It's a practice that's always been in search of a theology. Now, it's interesting because Cyril of Alexandria in the 5th century mentions nothing about paedo-baptism when he comments on John 15. Thomas in the 13th century mentions nothing about paedo-baptism when he comments in the 13th century. Again, I think it's a recent development. I think it's sort of a new kid on the block. I'm not a historical theologian. I don't have the particulars or the facts or the data. But I know that it's used by federal vision. I know that they employ this and Romans 11, the grafting of the branches into the olive tree, which we see there. I just want to try to disavow the notion that this teaches what Paedobaptists teach. Again, I think it's relatively recent use of this passage, and I think there's an unjustified assumption that is forced into the text, namely, that there are externally connected branches in the New Covenant. that there are externally connected branches in the New Covenant. They have to maintain that because when you baptize a paedo, you are basically saying that that paedo is now a part of the Covenant. And if you ask the question, the only possible answer could ever be the New Covenant. Why? Because the old has been fulfilled by our Lord Jesus. We see the blessedness of the superiority of the new covenant in Hebrews 8. It's a better covenant founded on better promises that affords a better hope. So what we find then is this idea that we've got to bring in some old covenant-ish stuff into this new covenant setting. So again, if you're not thoroughly confused, just stick with me. You'll probably be screaming for mercy in about 10 minutes. So the unjustified assumption that the New Covenant has externally connected branches. And I want to turn you to Jeremiah 31. It's going to come up a couple of times. By the way, this isn't the only passage that Credo Baptists, that means believer Baptists, used to justify their covenant theology. But it's certainly a very strong one in terms of what I'm going to argue for this morning. Notice in Jeremiah 31, specifically at verse 31, you have a promise of the new covenant from an old covenant prophet. And there are certain things that you need to observe in this promise of the new covenant that comes through an old covenant prophet. Notice in 31, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, with the house of Judah. And then notice the negative statement, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. There's something different about the new covenant that God is going to make. He announces it through Jeremiah. And we ought to expect that when Christ comes, fulfills the obligations placed upon him, ushers in that new covenant blessing and situation. We ought to expect some discontinuity with the old covenant. Why? Because the old covenant prophet announced discontinuity with the new covenant. So notice, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers. That doesn't mean it's completely, you know, brand new, there's no connection whatsoever. That's not the argument. There is some discontinuity that we need to observe. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. Now here's the first discontinuity, which they broke. My covenant which they broke. That's heavy in paedo-baptist theology. You've got a paedo or a baby or an infant baptized into the covenant. And at some point, if they don't own a profession of faith in Jesus, if they don't carry on to the very end with Jesus, what's the argument? They broke the covenant. But wait a minute, the new covenant says you can't break me. If you're in the new covenant, it's not like the one that God made previously at Sinai and then ratified or renewed at Moab. It's one that you cannot break. Then notice, he goes on, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. Now these are essential features that have to obtain in the New Covenant. They're there in the Old Covenant, brethren. David knew all this. David enjoyed all this. So did, you know, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They weren't essential features of Old Covenant religion. It was not the case that every one that was a good and faithful Old Covenant member had this experiential salvation with God. Notice what we see, but this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they shall be my people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother saying, know the Lord. For they all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin. I will remember no more. That's descriptive of the new covenant community. So the admission of pedos to the baptistry admits something that is abnormal. We have no sure inclination to believe that all these things are true of them. Now, conversely, we don't know that they're not true of them. But who is the sign and the seal for? It is for those who profess faith in Jesus, for those who have repented of their sins. You see that pattern laid down in the book of Acts. They believed and were baptized. They believed, they were baptized. They believed, they were baptized, over and over and again. Why? Because it's consistent with an old covenant announcement of new covenant blessing, Jeremiah 31, and our Lord's insistence in the Great Commission. Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations, baptize those disciples, and then teach those disciples. The argument is not that children can't be saved. That's not the argument. The argument is that to willy-nilly include our infants into the new covenant seems to proceed along the same lines as dispensationalism. Not race, necessarily, but familial connection. But as we've seen, it's not salvation by race, but by grace. It's not salvation by connection to believing parents. It's salvation by grace. And so the paedo-baptist with John 15 has a playground, as it were. Well, there's these branches that are not fruitful, and then they're cut off. The same thing obtains in Romans chapter 11. So, back to the argument. I would suggest that the general interpretation of this text The general interpretation of verse 2, every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away and every branch that bears more fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit. I would suggest the general on the face of it interpretation is simple. There are those who fake being Christians. They make a profession of faith, But they're fake. They're not legit. They're not real. They're not born again. When they come to James chapter 2, they're found wanting. Because remember, the faith that justifies is faith alone. It is the instrument, the alone instrument of justification. But it doesn't remain alone, but it's always accompanied by all other saving graces and is no dead faith. So there's those who fake it. They profess for a time. They make a show. They make a signification. They come to the church. They do their thing. They get a Bible. But it's not really true. I would suggest that general interpretation is all over the Bible, the parable of the soils, Matthew chapter 13. There's different types of ways that people receive the word. Some receive it and say, I don't want that, it's wicked, it's horrible, I don't want it. Others make a show for a time. The cares of the world, the anxieties, the difficulties that come, choke it out. There's others that receive it and they produce good growth. So I think the general interpretation of the text is very simple, that those who fake it are not real, and God is going to cast them away. Again, Matthew 13, look at John 8, 31. John 8, 31, then Jesus said to those Jews who believed him, if you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed. I guess we could finagle paedo-baptism out of that, but I don't think so. Hebrews 3, verses 14 to 19, why doesn't Israel find blessing? Because they went into the land without faith. Hebrews 6 and Hebrews 10, those are the apostasy passages. And again, to read infant baptism into that as the justification for infant baptism is to try to construct an external connection to the vine that the New Testament or New Covenant rather knows nothing of. As well, you've got 1 John 2.19, they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they were of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that they might be exposed. Notice that John doesn't lament, we shouldn't have baptized them when they were babies. No, the problem is, is they faked it. They professed faith, they reneged on that, and they weren't converted. Not a hint of paedobaptism. I would suggest then the specific interpretation of this text in its context. You've got general, there's fakes that will profess to be real. They're not, so the father casts them away on the day of judgment. But specifically in this context, you've got the relationship between old covenant apostates and the true vine. That's what he's talking about. 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. I would suggest that we understand this primarily with reference to what Cyril says. By the branch that is separated from fellowship with Christ by being cut off by the Father, I think he means the people of the Jews who are not capable of bearing good fruit. It's not a paedo-baptism text. It's an Old Covenant apostate relation to the New Covenant true vine text, and I would suggest Romans 11 is the same. The Paedo-Baptists, instead of seeing rightly Old Covenant apostates relative to the New Covenant Messiah, create a third category. That within the New Covenant, you've got two subsets. You've got the branches that produce and then the branches that don't produce. That's not the categories that John or Jesus is dealing with here in John. And it's certainly not what Paul's dealing with in Romans. It's not dealing with a subset. You've got the New Covenant. And in the New Covenant, you've got believing parents. And then you have, you're not sure whether they're believing or not, but they're baptized. They're part of the covenant, externally connected to the true faith. That's not Paul's point. I realize that's not a death knell to paedo-baptism, but it isn't Paul's point. What we find here is the general reference that there are fakes who aren't the real deal. They'll be cut off by God. but as well in the context, Jesus as the true vine. Remember, why does he say true vine? He is contrasting himself with the false vine, Old Covenant Israel. We've seen that. Old Covenant apostates announced in 111 in John's gospel, he comes to his own, his own do not receive him. The connection made or rather contrast made by Jesus, he's the true vine. Connection, vine, but contrast, he's the true one. And then as we look through our New Testament last week, we saw that what Jesus does here when he uses true is to distinguish himself from the deformed or spoiled vine, which is the Jewish people. As well, we saw the illustration, Matthew 21, 33 to 46. Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom is being taken from you and it's given to a nation bearing the fruits consistent with it. Why do we think that God's going to take the kingdom back from the church and re-hand it over to ethnic Jews? Because our eschatology drives us that way, and our eschatology, unfortunately, is incorrect at that point. It is a backward movement in redemptive history. And then if we create further sorts of groups within the New Covenant, we're trying to bring Old Covenant stuff into the New Covenant. Now, you may not, this may be as clear as mud for you, but it's crystal clear in my mind, and that's all that matters. I'm kidding. That's a joke. Please don't put that on Twitter and denigrate me and all that sort of a thing. But I think we need to appreciate that paedo-baptism, in the words of Gary Crampton, I think he's right. It's a practice in search of a theology. Do you think that the early fathers baptized infants because of the Abrahamic covenant? No, they did not. That was a Reformation gift to the church in terms of trying to justify paedo-baptism. Do you think that the reformers, again, I didn't have extensive time to do great historical research, but I'm guessing that the reformers didn't see necessarily that John 15 and Romans 11 were the linchpin arguments with reference to paedo-baptism because it talks about the branches externally connected to the vine. That's a recent innovation. Why? Because we've got to justify the practice of including our infants in the new covenant. Brethren, as Baptists, bring them to church. Shlep them dutifully each and every Sunday morning and evening to the house of God. If it's a gospel preaching church, you are putting them in the right place. As well, open the Bibles with them each and every day. Catechize them. sing with them, pray for them, point them to the Savior King. I'm not suggesting they're heathen and they're wretched and we just cut them off, but to suggest that they're somehow participants in the new covenant based on their parentage flies against everything we know. Grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Why create a third category? Why try to botch up the New Covenant by putting in a feature of the Old Covenant that God remediates with the New Covenant? Don't you want to be in a covenant that you can't break? Don't you want to be in a covenant that you can't dissolve? Don't you want to be in a covenant wherein we learn that he who begins a good work in us will complete it unto the day of Christ? Don't you want to be in the covenant where Paul says there's nothing, height, depth, nothing, nor any created thing that shall ever separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord? So if you think that not sprinkling your paydos is somehow detrimental to their soul, I would suggest you need to get a good dose of John 15 in your head and the general overarching theme that we find in the New Covenant. People fake it. They come in for a time. They buy study Bibles. They listen to R.C. Sproul. They put pencils in their pockets. 25 years ago, they had a cassette tape of Albert N. Martin in their pocket. They look like the real deal. Do you know what? They're fakes! Irrespective of paedo-baptism. Irrespective of creating a tertian quid, a third thing. In John 15 and in Romans 11, the obvious, and again, maybe not, the obvious application is we've got apostate, old covenant, ethnic Israel. How do they relate to the true vine? Well, in John 15, they're being cut off. Again, we saw that last week, the buildup to the Olivet Discourse. Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 is the grand indictment. They're going to be cut off. That's what Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26 promised for those who are unfaithful and broke the covenant with God that they swore at the base of Sinai, all that Yahweh has commanded, we will obey. Brethren, this is the Bible. It's a consistent book. It's foolproof in the sense that we don't have to create categories to justify a practice. And again, the argument isn't treat your children like little heathen baboons and have nothing to do with them. Shlep them to church, read them scripture, teach them the catechism, point them to the Savior. You can do all that without having sprinkled them. And you need to find warrant for sprinkling them, which, again, it's an argument largely built on implication. And I've got to suggest, and I know this is going to sound mean-spirited, but OK, it's bad implication. It's faulty. I'm all for good and necessary consequences. I live by that. That's a great way to interpret Scripture, what is explicitly laid down or what can be deduced by good and necessary inferences or consequences. We construct much of the doctrine of the Trinity on that whole concept of good and necessary consequences. We don't have a verse that says, in this divine and infinite being, there are three subsistences, the Father, the Word, or Son, and the Holy Spirit, each having the same substance, and power, and eternity, or each having the whole divine essence. But it's built from good passages in scripture. When we ask the question, who's Jesus talking about in verse 2? Well, he's talking about apostate Israel. It's not an old covenant Israel. He comes to his own and his own receive him not. They had the scriptures. They had the announcement. They knew. Yahweh said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. They had Isaiah 9, 6, and 7. They had Micah 5, 2, whose goings forth are from of old, even from everlasting. They had the Psalter. They had the testimony of Moses. They had it all, brethren. And then he comes to them, and what do they do? As Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians, they crucified the Lord of glory. So when we look at the question and we ask the question, what's he talking about in verse 2? He's talking about the apostate, you know, nation of Israel that he's condemning. But as well, just to add further confirmation to the general interpretation of the text, Remember who's sitting there or was sitting there just a little while ago? Judas Iscariot, that covenant-breaking wretch that sold our blessed Savior for 30 pieces of silver. So there is the general-ness of it. You fake it, you're gonna be cast away by God. And may I say right here, don't fake it. There's every reason why you and I should come to the Lord Jesus Christ. In the language of the bride, she says, because he's altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. That language can sound a bit effeminate to, you know, the masculine rugged men among us, altogether lovely. It's talking about the spiritual realm and the fact that he brings to us the forgiveness of sins. that he brings to us a righteousness, clothes us so that we can stand in the presence of God. Imagine getting a wedding invitation. The king, well, let's not use. Let's say the king and queen of a fictional wonderful place invite you to come to their wedding reception. But you just have jeans with holes. And you know that when you get to the door, they're going to say, nah, no bueno for you. You're out. What if somebody in his graciousness and in his kindness gave you the best suit of clothes ever so that you can appear in the presence of the king and the queen? That's precisely the language of the wedding feast in Matthew's gospel. You need to be clothed. You need to be ready. You need to meet the God who's absolutely, positively holy, whose eye is too pure to approve any evil. How do we gain that? We're cleansed in his blood and clothed in his righteousness. This is why the bride says, altogether lovely, chief among 10,000, the one in whom is my salvation, the one in whom is my redemption, the one in whom is my reconciliation, the one in whom is all, My all in all, my standing with God. So don't fake it. Don't pretend. You don't go in your backyard, cut the apples off of an apple tree and tie oranges to it and say, look at my orange tree. There's no reason to fake. There's every reason to come, every reason to believe, every reason to go to Him whose will is to do the will of the Father who sent Him, and that to secure the salvation of sinners. So there are fakes. Judas was one of them. Jesus announces it in John 13, and now he's gone. He's one of those branches that did not bear fruit, so God takes away. But then notice the pruning of the living branches in verse 2b. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, that means there's no saving faith. That's the relation. No faith, no fruit. No faith, no fruit. You can fake the fruit. You can tie oranges to an apple tree, but it ain't real. And anybody who reflects for a moment realizes it ain't real. Lots of modern applications to that in our degenerate culture presently. It ain't real. You got a beard. It ain't real. The bottom line is, there is that every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. But notice, in every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. This morning I was thinking about this text, and I remembered when I preached it. I think I went through John in probably 2000, thereabouts. And I was still fresh on having moved here from California, which was in 1997. This isn't a history lesson, by the way, but there's an illustration here. We had a house that we lived in when we were in Southern California. It was a rental. And I say that with such derogatoriness. It was a rental. It just was. We used to go to laundromat and everything. Man, we were just, you know. Anyways, in the backyard were a whole host of rosebushes. And they were quite untamed. I mean, they were a sore sight. So of course, probably at the behest of my beloved, I went out there to prune the rosebushes. Now, when I say prune rosebushes, what's the image that typically suggests itself to you? For me, it's a middle-aged woman. with a sundress and a big bonnet with snippers. She's got snippers, and she's snipping away the dead growth on her rose bushes so that it can promote new growth. Now, let me tell you, that was not me. I had access to a chainsaw and went out there and went hog wild. There was nothing bonnet-y about it. There were no snippers involved. There might have been pain and suffering from all the debris that was flying around. Probably didn't wear goggles, hats. Come on, who needs that? God prunes his people that way, usually with snippers, in an indiscernible way. They come to church. They read their Bibles. They pray. And lo and behold, they get more like Jesus. He does that, doesn't he? You've got to admit, at times he takes the chainsaw out. Not violently, not with misdeeds in mind, but some of us got some thorns and some growth that needs some paring away. See, the fact that the father is the vine dresser and he loves us means that he's going to prune us. That pruning doesn't always feel good, but that pruning is necessary. Now I'm speaking like a botanist. You got to get rid of the dead wood, the dead growth, got to get rid of all the stuff that gets in the way of the transfer of the sap from the vine to the branch. And sometimes in our lives, that means affliction. It means hardship. It means suffering and agony. I wish it didn't. Again, the calmly or calm ideal of the snippers and the bonnet is far more interesting to me than the chainsaw. You see, our father's about our good. Our father's about our conformity unto his son. Our father's about paring away the dead so that life and vibrancy and goodness and all things conducive to his glory will flow. You see, that's the end game in verse eight. What's the end game? When you do good works, everybody on Facebook is going to praise you. I think that's how Christians operate to some degree today, unfortunately. If you do good works, then everybody's going to know you're a real apple on an apple tree. If you do good works, then the church that you're a part of might give you an award because you're so wonderful. Look at Jesus' end game in verse 8. By this, my father is glorified, that you bear much fruit. When he says, so you will be my disciples, we'll get to that theology. He's not talking about be fruitful and be my disciples. You are fruitful because you are my disciples. You're rightly connected to the vine. through faith in me. So we've got the blessedness in the particular passage of the removal of the dead branches, every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, but the promise of the pruning of the living branches. And every branch that bears fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit. We've used Judas for the former, apostate Israel for the former. Think about a new covenant illustration of the latter. Remember when Peter denies Jesus after denying that he's going to deny him? And doing so, he kind of throws all his buddies on him. You know, everybody else may deny you, Lord, but not me. All these degenerate slobs, they may deny, but not me. He denies that he's going to deny Jesus. So what happens? He denies Jesus. Couldn't imagine that coming after the Lord announced it prophetically and said that it was going to happen. Remember when Jesus walks out, and Peter sees him, and then Peter weeps bitterly? I heard a sermon many, many, many years ago, and the fellow explained the look of Jesus. Did Jesus mean mug him? I can't believe you denied him. He just looked at him. He looked at him, and Peter wept bitterly. You see, Peter needed some pruning. But he wasn't converted. Sometimes converted people can do some kind of miserable, well, some very miserable things. The snippers came out. Jesus didn't wield a chainsaw at him. Jesus looked at him. It was a snipper. What happens? That's enough to convict Peter. He goes out and he weeps bitterly. Peter stands up on the day of Pentecost as the first among equals to proclaim Christ and Him crucified and Him resurrected and that we've entered into the Joel prophetic phase of the Spirit. Peter needed pruning. We all need pruning. God, in his grace, prunes. So we've got the true vine, which is our Lord Jesus. We've got the vine dresser, which is our Father. We've got the specific purpose to cut off apostate Israel, Old Covenant Israel, to cut off anybody who fakes it, but as well to prune the living branches such that they may be more and more conformed unto the image of his beloved son. And I think that's a good place to stop. We'll pick up the next section, God willing, in two weeks. Again, just so I can re-confuse everybody, we won't cover the same ground, but I want to show you the exhortation to the disciples. And I think 3 and 4 fit there as well, because 3 is similar to something Jesus already said in 13 in terms of their status before Him. They've been regenerated by the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. That means they believe the gospel. They've heard His words. They are saved by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and now thus begins or continues the sanctification process wherein they abide in Him and He abides in them. As I've mentioned, the endgame isn't their parading through the streets as the wonderful doers of God's works, but the fact that God is glorified in the works of His people. So I want to end with two quick applications. First, if you've not believed the gospel, believe the gospel. It's a very simple application in the text. Who are the branches? Those who are connected to Jesus by faith. Those who look to Him. And when you look to Him, it means you're looking away from yourself. See, it's kind of always in us to try to fix things. Well, I can be better. I can do more. I can try harder. I can engage in some reform. I can stop going here. I can stop going there. I can stop doing that. And then I'll be okay. No, you won't. The only way to be okay, spiritually speaking, is to look outside of yourself to the Lord of Glory, to Jesus. Think back to John 3 when Jesus says, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. When that brazen serpent was lifted in the wilderness, the argument was not, suck the venom out of your wound, drag yourself to the base of that bronze serpent, kiss it, fawn over it, and then you will be saved. No. It's very simple. I got bit. What's the remedy? Look and live. Well, wait a minute. Don't I have to do anything? Look and live. I don't have to drag myself. Look and live. I don't have to suck the venom. Pretty simple. We call it the simple gospel. Good news. Christ lived, Christ died, Christ was raised again, so that everyone who looks to Christ in faith will have everlasting life. That's good news to unbelievers. The second thought is on sanctification for the believer. Brethren, the chainsaw smarts. No training for the present is pleasant, according to the apostle in Hebrews chapter 12, but what happens? It yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Don't balk at God's chastening. Don't balk at the way God deals with his people. I hope you parents are training your children that way. When I discipline you, it's because I love you. When I discipline you, it's because I care for you. When I discipline you, it's because I don't want you to go astray. so that when you exercise the discipline and they lose their ever-loving minds and they say, oh, it's because you hate me, it's because you despise me, you're right there with the wagging finger saying, no, son, no, daughter, I do it because I love you. Brethren, never miss that with our God and Father. Sometimes the lessons, the pairing, the pruning process, can, at least humanly speaking, feel a bit much. But that is to suggest, or rather call into question, I'm preaching to myself here, you can all go to sleep, the infinite wisdom of God most high. For, whom he foreknew, these he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. How does the son, according to his humanity, learn obedience? through suffering, through heartache. Listen to the prophet. He was a man of sorrows. He was acquainted with grief. He was stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. The Lord was pleased to bruise him. Brethren, is it going to be any different for us? As Jesus continues in this upper room, he says, if the world hates me, They're gonna hate you, too. Do you ever get that? You're looking at the news, you're hearing about the reports, and, wow, I can't believe that Christian people are being treated so poorly. Really? You can't believe that? Christ was treated so poorly. If we're gonna be like Him, that's gonna invite the same enmity and aggression and oppression and persecution from the enemies of Jesus. So for unbelievers, look to the Lord Jesus and believe. For believers, thank God most high that he wants to cultivate, that he's in the business of pruning, and that he wants to keep that vital connection open wherein the sap flows from the vine to the branches to promote and produce and to sustain good growth so that we may honor our great God. Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for what we see to be just a gracious and a wonderful Father, a blessed and a glorious Lord Jesus, and a wonderful Holy Spirit. Yet not three gods, one God, one glorious being who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We praise you for your mercy. We praise you for your glory. We praise you for the fact that you are in the business of saving sinners. to sanctify them and to prune them and to promote in them growth so that you may be glorified. I pray that you would go with each one of us now, that you would watch over us, that you would keep us and protect us and bless us. And we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.