I Am The True Vine John 15:1-8 Pastor Keone

John 15:1-3 1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener John 15:1-3 1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

God as the Gardener: Desires fruitful branches Cuts off unfruitful branches Prunes fruitful branches to bear even more fruit

Desires the branches to produce fruit God as the Gardener: Desires the branches to produce fruit Loving obedience, Justice and Righteousness Isaiah 5:-2,7 1 I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. 2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit…7 The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

Desires the branches to produce fruit God as the Gardener: Desires the branches to produce fruit Loving obedience, Justice and Righteousness Fruit of the Spirit Galatians 5:22-23 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Cuts off unfruitful branches God as the Gardener: Cuts off unfruitful branches Not speaking of Christians who have lost their salvation. Rather professing Christians who are not genuinely saved. John 10:28-29 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. As seen in verse 5. There will be fruit in the life of a genuine believer

Prunes fruitful branches to bear even more fruit God as the Gardener: Prunes fruitful branches to bear even more fruit to purify” – to purify in motive or life “to cleanse” – to remove things that prevent or obstruct fruitfulness Pruning is painful

John 15:4-5 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. You need to remain in Jesus in order to produce fruit. If you remain in Jesus you will produce fruit.

John 15:6 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. Those that did not remain in Jesus (professed faith, but produced no fruit) will face eternal punishment (vs 6)

John 15:7, 9-10 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you… 9 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.

Remaining in Jesus means: To believe in Him as your Savior (vs 4) To continue or persevere in believing (vs 7) To follow God’s commandments in loving obedience (vs 9-10)

John 15:8 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. It brings glory to God if you are fruitful.