I Am The True Vine
Notes
Transcript
I Am
I Am
Read John 15 1-11
looking at another I Am statement of John
Bread of life
Light of the world
The door of the sheep
The Good Shepherd
The Resurrection and the life
The way the truth and the life
I am the true vine
all of these statements the Israelites knew from their past, but they have been shadows of who was to come
The Name I Am comes from Moses at the burning bush
But Moses said to God, “Look, if I go to the Israelites and I say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is his name?’ then what shall I say to them?” And God said to Moses, “I am that I am.” And he said, “So you must say to the Israelites, ‘I am sent me to you.’ ”
I Am is the name of God, and every time Jesus used that name, He was claiming to be God
we are looking this morning at the True Vine
The Vine
The Vine
The Vine in Israel is a very common plant
they are every where and every body knew how to take care of them
but the vine is also Israel
Yet I planted you as a choice vine, all of it a seed of trustworthiness. How then have you altered before me into something that is degenerate, the foreign vine?
God has called His chosen people a vine
uprooted it from Egypt where they were in bondage
to The promised land
Your mother was like the vine in your vineyard; planted fruitfully beside water, and it was full of branches from many waters. And she produced branches of strength to scepters of rulers; its height became tall between thick foliage, and it was seen because of its tallness among the abundance of its branches. But it was uprooted in rage; it was thrown to the earth, and the east wind dried up its fruit; they were stripped off, and its strong branch dried up; fire consumed it. And now it is planted in the desert, in a dry and thirsty land. And so fire has gone out from the stem of its branches; its fruit it has consumed, and there was not in it a strong branch, a scepter for ruling.’ ” This is a lament, and it will be used as a lament.
Isaiah 5, Psalm 80, Isaiah 72, Ezekiel 15, Hosea 10,
turn to Matt 21 33,
the Israel knows that they are they are the vine
and the vine has not given good fruit
the leaders of Israel are the ones who are keeping Israel from doing right
Israel’s mission was to bring Godliness to the world
but instead the world brought godlessness to Israel
so Jesus comes as the True Vine
The true vine
The true vine
the Israel people think that because they are the vine that God planted, that everything is copacetic
The also claimed that they are the sons of Abraham
So Jesus is now saying that
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
The claims that the Jewish people have are not valid
Their vine is corrupt, sour grapes,
They are under the old covenant
the deal that they will obey all of the commandments
Jesus came to fulfill the law, and be the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world
He came to produce good fruit
He obeyed the law , and became the sacrifice for those who believe
The Father is the vine dresser/ The Gardiner
the one who plants, nurtures, prunes, fertilize,
The one who brings a new life
the one who is in control
The one who sanctifies/ to make us Christ like
Jesus is the source of life
The Father is the Caretaker
Pruning And Removing
Pruning And Removing
What is the Father doing? lets look
The Disciples here are reeling from the news about a betrayer.
Judas has gone to the Sanhedrin to do the deal
Judas has been one of them for the last 3 years
Judas has been trusted with the money box
none Knew that Judas was the betrayer
Judas was not going to be long for this world, suicide
Judas was a very good secret disciple
The washing of the feet
Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed only needs to wash his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not all of you.”
The parable of the soils
rocky ground, weedy thorny ground, hard path ground
only one soil produced fruit
parable of the planted field
wheat and the tares growing together
all of these spoke of false Christians/ believers
James speaks of a faith that can be evidenced by its works
Every branch that does not bear fruit in me, he removes it, and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it in order that it may bear more fruit.
2 types of branches fruit branches, and no fruit branches
God removes the suckers the deadwood
God removed Judas
Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the season of the harvest I will tell the reapers, “First gather the darnel and tie it into bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my storehouse.” ’ ”
some He wont remove until the Judgement
Now when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them from one another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right and the goats on the left.
Then he will also say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed ones, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels!
The same is here in John 15
If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and dries up, and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
Lets go back and look at the fruit bearing branch
Every branch that does not bear fruit in me, he removes it, and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it in order that it may bear more fruit.
The fruit branch
You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed only needs to wash his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not all of you.”
Remain in me, and I in you. Just as the branch is not able to bear fruit from itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.
Next week we will be looking at remaining
the fruit bearing branches are clean because of Gods word
the power of the gospel
but still need to be pruned
the fruit branch wants to be about 36” beyond the fruit
the excess leaves will take away from giving good fruit
in the spring the tiny grapes will form, then fall off if the branch is overloaded, self pruning of grapes
but that is not what we want
That is not what the Father wants
we need some loving pruning in our lives
God takes things from our lives because its preventing us from being fruitful
ministries, habits, people, health, whatever God deems necessary
The Fruit
The Fruit
What is the fruit that a genuine believer has?
this fruit is not something that we on our own can produce
the fruit that separated the sheep and the goats
Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world! For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me as a guest, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you cared for me, I was in prison and you came to me.’
and the sheep said when did we do this?
Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you as a guest, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ And the king will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, in as much as you did it to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.’
these things were natural to them it was a part of their new way of life
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such things there is no law.
all of these inputted qualities are given to us. cultivated to grow in size
our branch is pruned so that these will grow to its fullness
a fullness without end
The Two Branches
The Two Branches
we have the fruit bearing branch whose fruit is love and joy peace
a faith that has an evidence of fruit
there is another branch who looks like the fruit bearing branch but has only leaves
this is the description of this life
Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are sexual immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, things which I am telling you in advance, just as I said before, that the ones who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
they have a faith that does not produce good fruit
What is the benefit, my brothers, if someone says that he has faith but does not have works? That faith is not able to save him, is it?
Faith without repentance is a dead faith
Examine your faith. what has it produced?
Are you like Judas who looked good but was not
This is a question every one of us needs to ask our selves
real or phony
There is a Judgement coming
The Father has provided a way. through Jesus perfect sacrifice on the cross.
For in this way God loved the world, so that he gave his one and only Son, in order that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life.