The True Vine
Our Bible passage, introduction to Sunday 30th March service and hymns are below.
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Our principal verses are:
Jhn 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
Jhn 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.
Jhn 15:3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Jhn 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.
Jhn 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.
Jhn 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.
Jhn 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.
Jhn 15:8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
The True Vine
It seems likely this sermon in John 15 and 16 was spoken by the Lord as He reclined with His disciples after their Passover meal and following the institution of the Lord’s supper. The cup containing the fruit of the vine may have suggested this comparison of the true vine and its branches. The Lord uses this symbolism to describe His union with His Church. Allusions to God’s vine, the plant of Renown and the Branch are common in the writings of the Old Testament prophets where they are applied to the Messiah. Here they are claimed by the Lord Himself.
A powerful picture
The analogy of the true vine, its branches, their fruitfulness and the labour of the husbandman is full of beautiful and suitable imagery. A husbandman plants and nurtures a vine, discarding some branches and pruning others to improve fruit yield and increase the harvest. Just so, God the Father sent into the world and sustained the God-man for the purpose of gathering a harvest of men and women into His kingdom. Jehovah-God is the first cause of all spiritual life and fruitfulness; the Lord Jesus its sole root-stock. Without Christ, spiritually speaking, we can do nothing.
Barren branches
The reference to fruitless branches cannot refer to true believers since all believers united to Christ by faith abide in Him and are fruitful. The reference is rather to false professors who have outwardly joined themselves to Christ’s church for their own reasons, yet possess no spiritual life. Their true spiritual condition is revealed first in their bearing no fruit and then by their removal. When barren branches are discarded men gather them up for burning. Collections of barren branches often persist in calling themselves churches despite having no connection to Christ.
Fruitful branches
The Lord Jesus enables those who abide in Him, and those in whom He abides, to bring forth much fruit. All believers truly abide in Him and He in them. Bringing forth fruit should not therefore be thought of as a duty or a demand imposed by Christ. Fruitfulness is a blessing derived from Him. God the Father is glorified when Christ’s people bear fruit. In order to glorify the Father, the Son ensures all His people are fruitful. He conveys and disperses spiritual grace and blessing to each one.
Active management
Yet there remains the need for pruning. Pruning is a useful depiction of trial and trouble in a believer’s life. That it is work undertaken by God the Father as husbandman is reassuring. A master gardener prunes branches to encourage abundance, just so the Lord God clips, crops and cuts away all that hinders our spiritual development. His pruning is sparing. He sends no more trial and trouble into our lives than best suits our case. He will have the most fruit in us and greatest honour to Himself.
Clean in God’s sight
The Lord tells His disciples, ‘Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you’. This state of cleanliness may be considered either as the result of purging of the fruitless branches, of which Judas Iscariot, now absent, is an example. Or it may signify the purifying effect of pruning by the trial and testing of our faith. We are also clean through the Spirit’s work of regeneration. By this the hearts of believers are purified by the blood of Jesus Christ, and wholesome principles of grace are formed in our souls.
The Vine and its branches
The Lord’s lesson to His followers is the happy and fruitful union we have by abiding in Him. He is the source of all our spiritual grace, growth and fruitfulness. Outside of Christ we can do nothing for every breath, natural and spiritual, comes from Him. All spiritual life is His and we are without strength except we are joined to the Vine who enables and empowers His branches.
Not totally passive
Nevertheless, we are not totally passive in this matter for the Lord teaches His church to seek such blessings and mercies as will tend to our fruitfulness and contribute to God’s glory. ‘Ask what ye will’, He says to His disciples. ‘Ask anything.’ Without Christ’s strength we can do nothing, yet in Him and by Him we can do all things. Ask what we will, in Him, and it shall be done unto us.
For what shall we ask?
When believers abide in Christ we desire the glory of God and seek the will of God. Faith asks no more than that the will of God be done. We seek whatever is for the glory of God and for the benefit of His people, the church. We seek whatever is agreeable to the words and doctrines of Christ, which abide in us as we abide in Him. Everything of this kind that is asked in faith, and with a submission to the divine will, we may expect to receive.
Amen
Our hymns are below.
Hymn 1
Gadsby Selection 670
“Without me ye can do nothing.” John 15. 5
W. Gadsby 8s
1
United to Jesus, the Vine,
We’ve life, strength, and righteousness too,
But this he will teach us in time,
Without him we nothing can do.
Our hope of performing what’s right,
And strictly obeying our God,
If not wholly built on his might,
Will leave us exposed to his rod.
2
Unless he uphold by his grace,
We sink under Satan and sin,
And plunge into shame and disgrace,
Nor can we deliverance obtain;
We neither can hope nor believe,
Nor pray in a time of distress,
But as we from Jesus receive
The fruits of his own righteousness.
Hymn 2
Gadsby Selection 939
“The same bringeth forth much fruit.” John 15. 5
A. M. Toplady C.M.
1
Jesus, immutably the same,
Thou true and living Vine!
Around thy all-supporting stem,
My feeble arms I’d twine.
2
I can do nothing without thee;
My strength is wholly thine;
Withered and barren should I be,
If severed from the Vine.
3
Quickened by thee, and kept alive,
I’d flourish and bear fruit;
My life I’d from thy sap derive,
My vigour from thy root.
4
Each moment watered by thy care,
And fenced with power divine;
Fruit to eternal life would bear,
The feeblest branch of thine.
The Lord Jesus is the True Vine. All our spiritual life, grace and blessing comes as we abide in Him. Believers do abide in Him and He promises to freely supply all we need to make our lives fruitful for His Father’s glory.