Many of you know the words of this chapter by heart; you could repeat them without a mistake. May the savor of them abide in your hearts even as the letter of them abides in your memory!
John 15:1. I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
We thank thee, O Saviour, for this blessed answer to the oft-repeated question, «Which is the true Church?»Are you one with Christ? Then are you a part of the true vine. If we have but real, vital personal, having connection with Christ, to whatever section of the visible Church we may belong, we are part of «the true vine.» And we are told, in the next sentence, who is the great Caretaker of the Church? Some of us are much occupied in Christ's service, and there is a tendency with all of us to get, like Martha, «numbered» even in serving for him. We are apt to fancy that the burden of all the churches lies upon our shoulders, but, beloved, this is a great mistake. Jesus said, «I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman,» or vine-dresser. He will take the utmost possible care of it, for it is very dear to him. There is not a branch in that vine which the Father does not love with infinite affection; and as for the majestic stem, even Jesus, he loves him beyond measure.
John 15:2. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away:
This operation is always going on. God is continually taking away from the Church, in some way or other, non-fruit-bearers. We know that these do not truly belong to Christ, for fruit must come from vital union to him but it is a trial to the Church to have non-fruit-bearing branches. These are taken away, sometimes by death, sometimes by judgment, sometimes by the open discovery of their secret sin, the culmination of their backslides in overt acts of transgression. «Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away:» but side by side with this action another process is constantly going on:
John 15:2. And every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Is this, then, dear friend, one reason why you are being chastened, because you are a fruit-bearing branch? If you bore no fruit, you would be left unpruned, because the knife would do its sterner work upon you by taking you altogether away. If you really do bring forth fruit to God, you must expect to have trial, trouble, affliction, and that full often.
John 15:3. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
That was a «word» which had sorely grieved them, and cut them to the quick, so that the Saviour had to say to them, more than once, «Let not your heart be troubled.» (See the 1 st, and the 27 th, verses of the preceding chapter.) They had felt the sharp edge of the pruning-knife, so Jesus said to them, «Now ye are clean (purged or pruned) through the word which I have spoken unto you.»
John 15:4. Abide in me, and I in you.
The main thing is not restless activity, running here and there, and doing this, and that, and the other thing; it is abiding in Christ, persevering, constant cleaving to Christ, by virtue of a vital union with him: «Abide in me, and I in you.»
John 15:4. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
You may hurry, and flurry, and worry; but you will lose by it. Keep close to Christ. Never let your heart be dissociated from intimate communion with him. So shall you bring forth fruit, but not else.
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 is of use for nothing but fruit-bearing; and if it does not bear fruit, it is good for nothing except to be burned. In the social economy of life, a man may be of some use however bad he may be; but a man who is in the nominal Church of Christ, and yet does not bring forth fruit unto God, is of no use whatsoever. There is nothing to be done with him but to gather him up with the sere autumn leaves, and the decaying stalks of vegetation, to be burned in the corner outside the wall. How trying is the smoke that comes from such a burning as that! We pastors sometimes get it into our eyes, and it fills them with bitter tears. I know of nothing that is more grievous to us than this putting out of the unworthy, this casting the fruitless vine branches into the fire that they may be burned.
John 15:7. Ye abide in me, and my words abide in you,
You see that doctrinal vitality is necessary to true union to Christ. Some, in these days, talk about a spiritual attachment to the person of Christ, while they shoot their envenomed darts against the dogmas of Christ; but that will not do. «If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you,» my words of doctrine, precept, or promise, then
John 15:7. Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
This is the secret of successful prayer. Christ listens to your words because you listen to his words. If you are conformed to his will, he will grant you your will. Disobedient children, when they pray, may expect to get the rod for an answer. In true kindness, God may refuse to listen to them until they are willing to listen to him.
John 15:8. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit;
What a wonderful vine that must be whose branches glorify God! Who ever heard of such a thing? The very branches do this, and they do it by bearing fruit. How this ought to excite us to desire to bear Christian graces, and to do Christian service, and to endure with resignation the Lord's will, for those are the clusters that hang upon this vine.
John 15:8. So shall ye be my disciples.
For Christ is not merely a fruit-bearer, but a bearer of much fruit. If we are to be Christ's disciples indeed, we must not be content with doing something for him, but we must do everything that is possible to us; and God can strengthen us till we shall get beyond our natural possibilities into a still loftier realm.
John 15:9. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
As truly as the Father loves the Son, so truly does Jesus love us; nay, more than that, in the same manner as the Father loved the Son, that is, without beginning, without cessation, without change, without end, without measure, so does Jesus love us. There are many vast texts in the Bible, but I have often questioned whether there is a bigger text than this, a vaster abyss of meaning shall not be found in these few words, «As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you.» «Continue ye in my love.» Recognize it, enjoy it, walk in consistency with it, reflect it: «Continue ye in my love.»
John 15:10. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
I said just now that the doctrinal words of Christ were to be regarded by us. So, dearly-beloved, the precepts or commands of God must ever be regarded. It is an idle tale for men to talk of a mythical visionary love to Christ which does not result in obedience to his will. We must keep his commandments, or we cannot truly say to him, «Thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee.»
John 15:11. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
Good children are truly happy when their parents are happy in them. When they, through the good teaching and example of their parents, bring honour and joy to their parents, then they are sure to be themselves joyful. Oh, that we might so live that Christ's joy might abide in us, for then our joy would be full.
John 15:12. This is my commandment, That ye love one another as I have loved you.
Are you doing this, brethren and sisters in Christ, really loving one another? Do you never pick holes in each other's character? Do you never judge a fellow-Christian harshly? If you do these things, chide yourself, and cease from this evil habit at once, for your Lord says to you, «This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.»
John 15:13. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
«Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.» I lift you above the rank of servant, and make you my table companions, privileged to sit at the table with me in communion. I put you down on my list of associates and familiars, with whom I take sweet counsel, and in company with whom I walk to the house of God. «Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.» This condition applies to the whole range of Christ's commands. We are not to omit any one of them, nor to make a little nick in our conscience as some do, nor to neglect what seems to be a comparatively small duty; for neglected duties, even of the lesser kind, often set upon us as little stones in a boot do upon a traveler. They lame him, they may not prevent him from traveling, but they mar his comfort on the road. Be scrupulous, brethren, lest, through the neglect of what some regard as scruples, you should bring upon yourselves great sorrows.
John 15:14-16. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,
«That is where the love began, not with you, but with me.»
John 15:16. And ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain:
There are some people who are very fond of quoting the first part of this verse, they are very glad to hear a sermon upon the free, sovereign grace of God. They cannot too often repeat the words, «Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you;» but they do not talk so much about the next clause: «and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.» Let us accept all God's words as he has given them to us, and keep up the due proportion of the whole. Note that Christ is not speaking here of spasmodic piety, the religion that can only be kept up by popular preaching, and great meetings, and much excitement, and all that sort of thing; but of the religion of principle that bears its clusters tomorrow as well as today, and even months and years hence, the religion that bears its fruit every month, and the leaf whereof doth not wither. May we be such branches in the true vine that our fruit shall thus remain.
John 15:16. That whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
For, where the fruit remains, power in prayer will remain. If we are constantly living unto God, we shall find ourselves privileged to have the ear of God; and when we pray to him, he will grant us the desire of our hearts.
John 15:17. These things I command you, that ye love one another.
Our Lord repeated the command, for he knew how prone even his disciples would be to disobey it.
John 15:18. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
It is no new thing for the ungodly to hate the godly, so let us not be surprised if that is our portion.
John 15:19-20. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
It ought to be quite sufficient for the servant if he is treated as his Lord was; what higher honour than that could he wish to have?
John 15:21. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sale, because they know not him that sent me.
They professed to know God, and some of them even thought that they were rendering acceptable service to God when they rejected his Son, whom he had sent unto them.
John 15:22-24. lf I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father.
Our Lord did not mean that they would have been sinless if he had not come to them, but that his coming, and their rejection of him, had enormously increased and intensified their sinfulness.
John 15:25. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
They fulfilled what had been written long before, even as they afterwards did when they put Christ to death.
John 15:26-27. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.
The witness of the Spirit of truth still continues, and Christ's disciples are still privileged to be co-witnesses, even wilt the Holy Spirit himself; let us take care to avail ourselves of this privilege whenever we can.