John 15:1. I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
If you want to know where the true Church is, Christ here tells you: «I am the true vine.» All who are in Christ are in the true Church. If you want to know who is the Father of the Church, its Keeper and Guardian, Christ here tells you: «My Father is the husbandman.» Hence, I feel persuaded that the true vine, the Church, will never die, for it is Christ; and I am also persuaded that it will never be uprooted, for Jesus says, «My Father is the husbandman;» and that fact is a guarantee that he will take care of it.
John 15:2. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away:
In some sense, men and women may be in Christ by a mete outward profession; but if they have no evidence of a real union to Christ, if they produce no fruit, they will be taken away, some by death, and others by apostasy; but they will be taken away.
John 15:2. And every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit!.
From these words, it is clear that, many of the afflictions which we have to endure are not brought upon us because we are unfruitful, but because we are bearing fruit.
John 15:3-4. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 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.
Dear friends, beware of a Christless Christianity. Beware of trying to be Christians without living daily upon Christ. The branch may just as well try to bear fruit apart from the vine as for you to hope to maintain the reality of Christian life without continual fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
John 15:5-6. 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. 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.
The vine must either bear fruit or be good for nothing; and you, believer, must be vitally united to Christ, and bear fruit in consequence of that union or else you will be like those fruitless vine-branches, of which our Lord said that «men gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned,»
John 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.
Do not take that verse as a promise of unlimited answers to prayer, for it is nothing of the kind. Remember the «if» that qualifies it: «If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you,» for a man who is truly in Christ, as the branch is in the vine, and who is feeding upon Christ's words, will be so influenced by the Holy Spirit that he will not ask anything which is contrary to the mind of God. Consequently, his prayers, though in one sense unrestricted, are really restricted by the tenderness of his conscience, and the sensitiveness of his spirit to the influence of the mind of God. There are some Christians who do not get their prayers answered, and who never will as long as they do not comply with this condition, «If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you.» If you do not take notice of Christ's words, he will not take notice of your words. He is not going to open his door to every stranger who chooses to give a runaway knock at it, but he will pay attention to his own children who pay attention to him.
John 15:8. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
«Ye shall be known to be my disciples.» Everybody will perceive that you must be branches of that fruitful vine, Christ Jesus, if ye bear much fruit.
John 15:9. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
How wondrously Jesus loves those who are truly, his! As the Father loved him, so does he love us: that is, without beginning, without measure, without variation, without end. «Continue ye in my love;» that is, live in it, enjoy it, drink it in, be influenced by it.
John 15:10. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love;
«You shall live in the realization of my love if you live in obedience to me.»
John 15:10-11. Even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
For, when Christ is not pleased with us, we are not likely to have joy in ourselves, Oh, that we may so live as to please Christ!