Sermon Tone Analysis

John 15:1–5 (ESV)

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.

2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you.

As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches.

Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

These are the words of our Lord Jesus just before his departure from the world.

We reckon the words of dying men to be worth storing, and especially of such a matchless man as our Lord and Master.

It may be said of him, “you kept the best wine until now;” for, in this chapter, and in that which follows, we have some of the choicest, deepest, and richest words that the Master ever uttered.

Our calling as Christians is the highest calling there is, and

the idea of being productive is not the invention of capitalism, it is the mandate of Christ.

R.C. Sproul

He saves us in our futility and calls us to be fruitful.

He makes it clear that if He were to leave us to ourselves, we would be completely impotent.

We would produce nothing worthwhile, because, as our Lord says in this passage,

“without Me you can do nothing” (v.

5).

1.

Our text mentions two characters who are in some respects exceedingly alike; they are both branches, they are both branches in the vine: “Every branch in me.”

How much alike persons may be apparently, who in God’s sight stand at opposite poles of character!

John (The Work of the Vinedresser)

2. The Work of the Vinedresser

Keep in mind that this metaphor is based on the production of grapes through the cultivation of grapevines.

To make the vineyard rich in its productivity, the husbandman went along the rows of vines, and

when he saw branches that were producing no fruit but were taking sap and strength away from the vine, he cut them off.

1.

Then the husbandman gathered those dead sticks and threw them in the fire to get rid of them

2. But the ones that were bearing fruit he cut back, clipped, and pruned so that their fruit would increase.

Isn’t that a wonderful metaphor for the Christian life?

3. Once we’re converted, God does not say: “I have now put My stamp of approval on you, so ‘Let go and let God.’ I’ll take care of the rest of your life.

You don’t have to worry about anything.”

No, He loves us so much that He cleanses us.

In other words, He chastens us.

He brings his hand on us heavily from time to time.

That is part of the process we must go through to be made pure

4. Can a man who yields no fruit of righteousness really be a Christian?

Yet they were in Christ in some sense or other; that is to say, the two characters were equally considered to be Christians;

their names were enrolled in the same church register;

in the common judgment of men they were equally Christian; according to their own profession, they were so; in many other respects,

They were both in Christ his disciples, as soldiers professedly fighting under his banner, as his servants.

There will often be found two who publicly pray alike, have an equal gift in prayer—and what is worse,

preach with equal earnestness and zeal, to all appearance,

who have family devotions

and yet for all this,

the end of the one shall be to be cast away as a branch to be burned, while the end of the other shall be to bring forth fruit unto perfection, with everlasting life as the reward.

We tend to think that no one can be in the vine unless he or she is truly converted.

That is true—if being in the vine represents being in a state of salvation.

However, it may have reference to being in the visible church.

A person can have a relationship with Christ that is merely external.

I believe this was the kind of relationship Jesus had in mind in His parable of the sower, when

He spoke of the seed that fell on the rock.

It sprouted up quickly but soon withered.

Jesus said this seed represented “those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away” (Luke 8:13).

Such people may seem to be truly saved, but they are not in Christ and ultimately fall away.

5.

There is a distinction between the branches—the great and serious difference.

The first branch brought forth no fruit; the second branch bore some fruit.

Matthew 7:16–20 (ESV)

16 You will recognize them by their fruits.

Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.

18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

John (Saved to Be Fruitful)

This is the fruit of a changed life, a changed character, a character that is strengthened and nurtured by the source of holiness, Christ Himself

6.

We have no right to judge the motives and thoughts of others, except so far as they may be clearly discoverable by their actions and words.

The interior we must leave with God, but the exterior we may judge, and must judge.

There is a sense in which we are not to judge men; but there is another sense in which we need to constantly exercise his judgment upon men.

7. “By their fruits ye shall know them,” is our Lord’s own method of sacred criticism.

If you would judge men and judge yourselves, this is the one test—“by their fruit.”

Will you now search yourselves, to see whether you have any fruit?

That you may be helped in such an investigation,

Galatians 5:22–23 (ESV)

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Do I love God’s poor?

Do I love the persecuted church and despised ones?

What about our love for the souls of unsaved?

Can I sit still and be satisfied with being saved while my neighbors are being damned by thousands?

Are your eyes ever wet with tears for those who resist the gospel?

Do the terrors of the Lord never get hold upon thee, when i think of men plunging themselves into utter destruction in hell?

1 John 4:20 (NIV)

20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar.

For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

Do you have this fruit?

for if not, “every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away

8.

The absence of positive fruit was that which condemned the lost.

“Every tree,” says John, “that does not bear fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire.”

He does not say, “Every tree that bears bitter fruit, or sour grapes,” but “Every tree that brings forth no fruit.”

Fruitless professors, tremble!

9.

The weighty business of self-examination

There are many ways in which the Lord takes away barren branches.

These were respectable people; these were people like you, decent, good people, who attended a place of worship, and put money in the offering, and were very moral, but still they had not grace in their souls.

They had nominal Christianity, but not the fruit of the Spirit; and what was done with them?

“Lord, can’t you do something less severe?

How sad to see these branches cut off!” “No,” he says, “if they don’t bear fruit, they must be taken away.”

What is done with that which is taken away?

10.

The fruit-bearing branches are not perfect.

If they were perfect, they would not need pruning; but the fact is there is much of original inbred sin remaining in the best of God’s people, so that whenever the sap within them is strong for the production of fruit, there is a tendency for that strength to turn into evil, and instead of good fruit evil is produced.

It is the strength of the tree, and the richness of the sap which makes the branch produce too much wood, so that it needs pruning.

The gardener desires to see that strength in clusters, but alas! instead it runs into wood.

The pruning is the lot of all the fruitful saints.

You may escape it if you are not fruitful, you will be cut off, you will not be pruned, but all the fruit-bearing saints must feel the knife.

C. H. Spurgeon