Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

We are completely and totally dependent upon God.

To put it further, we are completely and totally dependent upon Jesus, God’s Son, the Second Person of the Trinity.

Apart from Christ we are lost.

Apart from Christ we could never be saved from sin, remain saved or one day in the future be saved.

Our salvation, beginning to end is completely and totally in Jesus.

Our salvation, beginning to end is completely and totally in Jesus.

God chose to save us, reveal His Son to us, convict us of sin and draw us to Himself.

He chose to give us an opportunity to choose salvation but even that choice was a choice He made.

Revelation, conviction and choice are all contingent upon Christ.

God chose to reveal His Son to us, convict us of sin and draw us to Himself.

He chose to give us an opportunity to choose salvation but even that choice was a decision He made, a gift He gave.

Revelation, conviction and choice are all contingent upon Christ.

So it should come as no surprise, as those who have chosen to follow Christ, our life is still completely and totally dependent upon Him.

This passage of scripture is an allegory in which Jesus explains this dependency and the kind of life available to believers who embrace it.

And herein is a great tragedy, many believers, actual Christians, people who have come to faith in Christ for their salvation, fail to depend upon Christ for their life on earth the way they have for their life in eternity.

These people know their salvation is by grace through faith but their life, the practical living of their life, demonstrates an adulterated theology which mixes law and grace.

Many Christians live as though their salvation is dependent upon Christ but their continued life in Christ is dependent upon themselves.

Slide of dirigible here

During the 1930s, 250 men were holding the ropes to a dirigible (an airship similar to a blimp) to keep it from floating away.

Suddenly a gust of wind caught one end of the dirigible, lifting it high off the ground.

Some of the men immediately let go of their ropes and fell safely to the ground.

Others panicked, clinging firmly to the end of their ropes as the nose of the dirigible arose to greater heights.

Several men who couldn’t keep holding on fell and were seriously injured.

One man, however, continued to dangle high in the air for forty-five minutes until he was rescued.

Reporters later asked him how he was able to hold on to the rope for so long.

“I didn’t hold on to the rope,” he replied.

“I just tied it around my waist, and the rope held on to me.”

Instead of trying to hold on to God, let God hold on to you.

Some of the men immediately let go of their ropes and fell safely to the ground.

Others panicked, clinging firmly to the end of their ropes as the nose of the dirigible arose to greater heights.

Several men who couldn’t keep holding on fell and were seriously injured.

One man, however, continued to dangle high in the air for forty-five minutes until he was rescued.

Reporters later asked him how he was able to hold on to the rope for so long.

“I didn’t hold on to the rope,” he replied.

“I just tied it around my waist, and the rope held on to me.”

Instead of trying to hold on to God, let God hold on to you.

Stop trying to hold on to God and let Him hold on to you!

Too many believe their obedience, good works and faithfulness are the means by which God remains pleased with them rather than the cross and our faith in the finished work of Jesus.

Jesus makes abundantly clear that the whole of our life, the change in character, good works…what Scripture terms “fruit” in the life of a believer, is totally dependent upon the work of Christ and His Spirit in and through us.

Before you brush off such an idea as an obvious known in your own life…Ask the question…Is it possible that I have allowed the law and self effort to infiltrate my life and relationship with God?

If the answer could be yes, and for most believers it is yes at one time or another in their life…you are wearing yourself out trying to do the impossible.

There is only one way to follow Christ and that is to abide in Christ while enjoying the fact He is abiding in you.

We are talking about a mystical union and relationship which produces a changed life.

The True Vine

Israel is often portrayed in the Old Testament as a vine.

However, this metaphor is used in the negative.

Israel is often seen as an unruly, faithless vine.

Over and against this imagery Jesus refers to Himself as the “True Vine.”

The Israelites were connected to God through the old Mosaic covenant.

You were born a Jew and if a male you were circumcised.

You went to the temple, obeyed God’s laws and He in turn blessed you.

But, try as they may, they could never be true to their end of the deal.

They were never faithful to the covenant.

Jesus says, I am the vine.

In order to be the people of God, you must be connected to me.

And I am the true vine, a faithful vine and in me you too will be faithful.

Do you catch what He is saying in this first verse?

Faithfulness was never found in the fellowship of the people of God…faithfulness can only be found in and through fellowship with God Himself.

We don’t just participate in life with the people of God.

We are now living life in and with God Himself.

This is a HUGE transition point from old to new covenant.

The old covenant of Moses and the new one in Christ.

Our life and relationship with God is not dependent upon our activity but relationship.

You are only a child of God if you are in Christ.

He is the source from which one becomes a child of God, a part of the family…a part of the life of God.

The Gardener

Upon entering life through Jesus, the Father begins the work of sanctifying us…making us more like Jesus; more fruitful in our new, spiritually resurrected life. he does this two ways...

Cuts off unproductive branches — This is a tough word that has been interpreted several ways.

Some believe John is talking about apostate Christians.

People who were once believers and then denied the faith and chose to leave it.

They made a conscious choice to cease a relationship with Christ.

Others believe he is referring to people who never receive the vital link to God found in Christ.

All humanity is offered salvation…It is ass though God take us out of the life of Adam and places us in the vine of Christ.

However, those who reject the Son and refuse to place faith in Him never partake of His life.

These are broken off and cast out into the fire.

A second idea here is that John is talking about those who entered the church and were never saved in the first place.

God removes them from the people of God because they were never genuine believers and their unfruitfulness proves it.

Unfruitful branches are cast out.

They will not remain a part of the church.

The key to understanding this passage is this…a Christian will produce fruit.

It is impossible to be a follower of Christ, in the life of Christ, and your life not bear fruit.

Prunes — Those who are genuine believers and living life in Christ will be pruned by the Father.

Pruning involves cutting wild and unproductive growth off of a branch so that it does not rob the branch of life for its purpose…production of fruit.

The thought of being cut hurts doesn’t it.

It is a very painful thing but it bears great results.

The thought of being cut hurts doesn’t it.

It is a very painful thing but it bears great results.

When I was a child, I often had a toothache, and I knew that if I went to my mother, she would give me something which would deaden the pain for that night and let me get to sleep.

But I did not go to my mother--at least not till the pain became very bad.

And the reason I did not go was this: I did not doubt she would give me the aspirin; but I knew she would also do something else.

I knew she would take me to the dentist the next morning.

I could not get what I wanted out of her without getting something more, which I did not want.

I wanted immediate relief from my pain; but I could not get it without having my teeth set permanently right.

And I knew those dentists; I knew they would start fiddling about with all sorts of other teeth which had not yet begun to ache.

Our Lord is like the dentists.

Dozens of people go to him to be cured of some particular sin.

Well, he will cure it all right, but he will not stop there.

That may be all you asked; but if you once call him in, he will give you the full treatment.

Anyone who told you the Christian life was a life of love, joy, peace, blah blah blah without telling you it was a life of pain, persecution, hardship, deprivation and sacrifice…failed to give you the full and real picture of what it means to be a disciple of Christ.