The Abiding Life of Christ | John 15:1-11 | Pastor Dale Cunningham

See the sermon study guide: https://myrealchurch.org/teaching/stand-alone/the-abiding-life-of-christ-acts-2811-31/

John 15:1-11

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Transcript

Welcome And Opening Prayer

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, good morning, and it is truly absolutely a delight to be with you again. Thank you for the opportunity. I hope you have an outline. Take your Bible and turn to John chapter 15. John chapter 15. Grateful for the opportunity, Denise and I had to be with you back in, I believe it was February, I believe, or first part of March. And then it's unusual to be able to come back this quick, but I'm grateful for the privilege of kind of really adding some more to what we studied. I'm not here for any other reason, but two things to exalt Christ and to come alongside you and hopefully be a blessing to you and to help you. That's my heart. And uh it's true that while we're here, Jesus may come. And uh looking forward to his return. So let's pray together, shall we? Open up our eyes, Lord, that we may behold wondrous things out of your law. We're reminded right now that it is not who and what we are, but who and what Christ is. And to realize that Jesus Christ, you are the altogether lovely one. You are the very Son of God, you are our life. And grateful that the entrance of your word gives light and it gives understanding to the simple. That we may hear, thus saith the Lord. May all eyes be moved from this platform and may we only see Jesus Christ. Teach us, teach me as I'm preaching. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, because you are our strength and you are our redeemer. Thank you for the word of God. Thank you that we hold in our hands that which is alive. And so we open up our hearts to you, instruct us and teach us in the way that we should go, and we'll thank you and praise you because you alone are worthy. In Jesus' name. Amen. Follow along as I read in John chapter 15, please. I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I've spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you, and as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, and you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. And if any one does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered and thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. And by this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I've kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I've spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends, and you are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I've called you friends, for all that I've heard from my father, I've made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you, and these things I command you, so that you will love one another. You've just heard the most important words you're gonna hear in the next 40 minutes. It's the word of God. And I'm grateful that it's forever settled in heaven. You have an outline. I want to ask you to take it and follow along with me. And I want to ask you to do something for me, please. Would you resist the urge to read ahead? Okay. Now, uh if if things get a little boring, whatever, go ahead and make an airplane, fly it. What no, don't do that. But uh please do just stay with me. I I've done this on purpose so that you can take this and meditate and chew on it later. Because I'm not interested in any time that you would gather here and you'd hear whoever stands here, Pastor Chris, whoever, that that was a good talk. No, we want to hear from heaven. I want to chew on it afterwards. So I want to begin by asking you this question. And I want you to walk with me a little bit, and I want you to think and the answer. Who or what right now is controlling your life? Who or what motivates your life right now? What's the subject of your life? What is it? What's the subject you like to talk about a lot? Which leads to the next question. What is your conversation of life? Is it children? Your job, your health, your psychological label, your future, your next task, your busyness, your fear, your phobia, your grief, lack of acceptance, need of acceptance, and an inability to control things, pride, spouse. Is it your non-biblical thinking? About doubt, unbelief, guilt. Uh gossip, pornography, lust, laziness, your past, your phone, Facebook, Instagram, social media, ChatGPT, AI. Do I need to go any further? I watched a lot of you go. You see, your marriage, your life, your family, your job, every facet of your life this morning is motivated, controlled by something or someone. Every second of your life. And the abiding life of Christ, or shall I just say it this way, the abiding life, what is consuming you, what your life is all about, and it may be one or it may be all of those, that's what controls you. And may I say to you, it is either Jesus Christ alone, or it is one or more of the things I've mentioned, and others. And is it any, isn't it any wonder that our life is all over the place because we're abiding or consumed with so much rather than a person, and his name is Jesus Christ. And I think it's interesting that this person is the very name of your church, real life. Because he is only life. So as we walk through this this morning, I want to begin by sharing with you and on your outline three truths that John brings out in John 15. Number one, Jesus is saying in this passage some truths that I've come to be what you're not, and I've come to do what you can't. He said, without me, you can do nothing. And I'm picking up some things that I said to you a couple months ago and putting them kind of into some truths here for you. And you can follow along with me. You see, Christ, not the Christian, is the center of God's universe. And the simple reason is because he came to do or to be what I'm not, and to do what I can't. I cannot be a Christian and I cannot save myself. But he came to rescue me from me. Remember that statement? And from himself, so that he might come to live in me, a life out of me that I can never live. And one day he's coming to take me so that I can enjoy him forever. Number two, in theological terms, we speak about the substitutionary death of Christ, and we took communion a while ago to remind us of that. He died in my place. But how much do we talk about the substitutionary life of Christ? He not only died in my place, he lives in my place. So the whole of the Christian life, that second sentence under number two, is based upon the principle and the truth as a substitute. He died for me, but he also lives for me. Both are true, and you cannot preach one without the other. Number three, the whole gospel is really the offer of life. It's not just the offer of a lifestyle. I just side note, I grimace and my heartaches because we have for so long said that Christianity is you do this, you don't do that, and it's a lifestyle. I want to tell you it is a life. His name is Jesus. And that takes care of everything else. John 3 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have heaven. Is that what that verse says? No, shall have what?

unknown 11:28

Everlasting life.

Identity And Position In Christ

Fruit Pruning And The Father’s Care

Abiding In The Word And Prayer

Dependence By Faith In Real Life

Invitation To Receive Christ

SPEAKER_00 11:29

Everlasting life. You see, eternal life is not a place that I enter after I die. Eternal life is a person who enters me before I die. And when the person of Christ enters me before I die, then I have an eternal home with him after I die. The offer of the gospel is death, burial, and resurrection, death and life. And I'm not gonna have heaven if I don't have Jesus. And the word of God and the life of a believer is all about a person, a life. God gave us eternal life, 1 John 5. And this life is in his son, and he who hath the Son hath life, and whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. So I want you to see four words that help us really come to grasp with the Christ's life, who is our life, and what is real Christianity in our homes, in our marriages, in our everyday life. I've given them to you here. I'm gonna walk through these quickly. Number one is identification. And I didn't give you a bunch of fill-in-the-blanks because I just want you to walk through this with me. He says, I am the true vine in verse one. And as the true vine our Lord is the source of life and strength and fruit, there is a relationship of complete dependence between the branch and the vine. The vine supplies life-giving nourishment to the branches, and apart from it, the branches neither have life nor fruit. You just take a branch and lay it out there, it'll do nothing. It has to be connected to the vine to produce. And Jesus said, I am the true vine. In other words, I am connecting him with the fact of deity that he is the Son of God, he is very God, and that he is truth, and that being that he's truth, then he absolutely exposes everything else that's false. May I tell you, if you are walking through this world without looking at it through the lens of who Jesus Christ is, then you are consumed with all of those things that I mentioned a while ago instead of what is truth. I'm seeing it all the time. I have to deal with my own life. See, I like to believe I'm omniscient. The way I see things is the way you all see things. Because you know what? If you see things the way I see them, we get along all right. You know? But you know, the truth of the matter is, there's only two people in the world that's perfect, and that's me and Jack, and I'm doubtful about Jack. Jesus said, I am the true vine. Friends, I want to tell you today, as you walk through your life in your marriage, whatever, it is not who, as I prayed even a while ago, it's not who and what we are, it's who and what Christ is. He is always truth, and he will always lead you in right paths. And your identification is Him. In verse 1, we find not only Jesus, but we find in verse 1 that God the Father is the vine dresser, he's the husbandman, he's the farmer, and his task is to cultivate each branch so that it will bear as much fruit as possible. God the Father, right now, if you're a born-again believer, is working in your life through various means to help you produce his fruit, his life, his results, not mine. Hallelujah for that. And we're gonna break that down a little bit more in a moment. And then notice in verse 2 and 5 that we've already read, he says in verse 2, every branch in me, and then in verse 5, I'm the vine, you are the branches. As the as a branch, we're the visible manifestation of the life in the vine. I have a friend of mine I love to hike with, and he he knows wildflowers and trees and whatever, unlike, I mean, it's unbelievable. And he will look at a trunk of a tree, or he can look at a branch, especially a branch, and he'll say, That's an oak tree, or that's a maple tree, or whatever. He knows what it is by looking even at the leaf, because he knows that it came from the root, the vine. You and I are the manifestation of Jesus Christ. Day in and day out. That's our identity. Uh I think I told you this before. This is me personal. I don't have a problem not having the name pastor in front of my name anymore. Because that's not my identity. My identity is Jesus Christ. It makes no difference whether I even listen, I love being married, but that's not our identity. Our life is Christ. And what a delight that is to know. Because of the security and the joy that you have in He who is the true vine, who is real life. Everything else is a substitute. Friends, you can have the greatest spouse, you can have the greatest kids, you can have the greatest job in the world, but if you don't have Jesus Christ, you are empty. And if you don't have Jesus Christ, worst of all, because you've rejected him, you'll spend an eternity in hell because you rejected the person of Jesus Christ who went to the cross to be your substitute. Number two, that leads us into the word position. In verse, and you will have to go home and read through this a little more. And I've even given a little help there in a QR code. But but notice every branch in me, he says in verse 2, every branch in me. That's where I want you to just stop right there. In me. It's what we call positional truth. It's our standing in union with Christ, Romans chapter 6. And Christ is speaking to believers here in John 15, because Judas isn't part of this crowd. He's already left. And positional truth, the definition of it is that in Christ mean God, what God views me as partaking in all that Christ has done is and shall be, treating them with the same acceptance as his son. Every believer needs to get a hold of positional truth. And that QR code, don't do it right now, okay? I know you want to so badly. But if you'll check that out, there's there's there's like 33, 35 things that become yours at the point of salvation. I'm convinced of this. We're living beneath our privilege. We don't understand all that was given to us by the crosswork of Jesus Christ and his resurrection. And that's what the definition means. And the unchanging nature is unlike one's personal condition, one's position is eternal and cannot be altered by sin or failure. Hallelujah. We're justified. Here's one of them, just quickly. When God sees me right now, he doesn't see me first, he sees his son, and I'm always accepted in Christ. Now that doesn't give me a license to sin because the truth of the matter is, if I'm truly born again, now I'm not living my life anymore, and I want to deal decisively with sin. I want to enjoy all that I have in Christ. Because I'm standing here before you living still in my heart the consequences of some of my sin in the past. And I know I have the victory, I know that I'm free in Christ, I know how God the Father sees me, but friends, I'm telling you that sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to pay, stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. Flee sin because of he who died for your sin on the cross. There's a retroactive reality that positional truth looks back to the cross and his death, burial, and resurrection and identifies me with Christ's finished work in the past. I'm secure in Christ this morning. Hallelujah. That leads me then to understand production in this Christian life. Look at verse 2 through 5. We've read it. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit. Now let me ask you, letter A, who or what does the vine produce? You know, I I went through this a little bit a couple months ago, but a cherry tree produces an orange tree produces, and a grapefruit tree produces what does the vine produce? I'm just trying to make a point here. If the vine is Christ, is it? So then what does the vine produce? Christ, but that's almost like saying God. Right? I I listen. If the other Thursday night, our small group had a dinner, and a lady stopped on her way, picked up fresh strawberries that had been brought in from South Carolina. And I want you to know something, friends. That first I picked the biggest one out of the bucket, and I took a bite of it, and guess what? It was a strawberry that tasted like a strawberry because I could identify it as a strawberry. Friends, we, if we're going to be living the Christ life, we need to know who Jesus is. And a good example of that is Galatians chapter 5, the fruit of the Spirit. What is the Spirit going to produce? John 14. Jesus said, the Spirit will not speak of himself, but he'll only say what I tell him to say. And what is the fruit of the Spirit? Number one, his number one job is to magnify Jesus Christ. Christ. So what is going to come out of if we're walking in the Spirit? What are people going to see? If we're the manifestation of the vine, they're going to see who? They're going to see who? Or me. Better be Christ, right? Because the Holy Spirit is what is the one who is doing the work in our life. And there's levels of, and are given to you here the communicable characteristics. See, the non-communical, communicable characteristics of Christ are omniscience, omnipresent. That's not us. But love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and so on, attentiveness, compassion, that's Jesus. Those are communicable. That's who he is in us. But there's levels of this Christ life of production, of producing the fruit. And it's given to us in verse 2. He bears no fruit, he bears fruit, he bears more fruit, or he bears much fruit. Let's look at the vine dresser for a moment now. Notice that phrase, he bears no fruit in verse 2. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. Let's just stop right there. This means he lifts it up off of the ground. One of the the I'm trying to recall his name, Arnold Frutenbaum, I believe. Maybe some of you have heard of him. He has written some great stuff. He's a Jew, and he's written some great stuff about vineyards in Israel. And he said, there are certain vineyards that the vines, if they get to the ground and they begin to rot, and the gardener comes along and lifts them up off the ground. He said, as a matter of fact, you can even see where some vineyards that the vines are propped up by a bunch of rocks to keep them from falling and getting into the ground. The word here means he lifts it up. Let me tell you what your heavenly father does in your life because he wants you to produce his fruit. He wants to lift you up. He wants to help you in bearing your burdens. He wants to help you take care of your wife that's struggling. He wants you to help you take care of your husband who needs encouragement. He wants to help you walk through this sinful world. He doesn't want you to rot. He wants you to enjoy all that he is. That's what verse 2 is teaching here. But not only that, notice, he says, that it does not bear fruit. He lifts it up, he takes it away from the ground, and every branch that does not bear fruit, he prunes. He trims, he cleanses. The other day, my wife and I went to our backyard and we clipped a bunch of our rose bushes. Why? You know as well as I do, a lot of plants have to be trimmed back, even trees, so that they can produce even more vibrantly. I want to mention this because I mentioned it the last time. Be careful that when we're going through trials, that we do not attribute the trial to Satan and give him the glory. Everything the devil does can only come through the hands of a sovereign God. Be careful. Does Satan hate me? You better believe it. Does he come after me? You better believe it. But God is sovereign ask Job. God is pruning us that we will bear more fruit, much fruit. The life of Christ. And it's in verse 2 that it may bear more fruit. But then notice the branches in verse 2. Every every branch, you see that word? Every branch that does not bear fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does not bear fruit, he prunes. Guess what? We're all going to go through this. We're all going to go through pruning. We're all going to be lifted up if you're a born-again believer. And then notice verse 4: abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I'm the vine, you're the branches, and whoever abides in me and I in him, it is he that bears much fruit. From apart from me you can do nothing. All inclusive truth, it's all the branches, and it involves all production, all different levels. Now notice the word abiding. Participation. As branches, we have the privilege, look at your outline, of sharing Christ's life. It's more than imitation, it's participation. And the responsibility of abiding. Christ gave himself for you in order to give himself to you that by the Holy Spirit He might live his life through you. The words I and you are emphatic. We can't confuse Jesus' role with ours. The word you is an emphatic pronouncement demonstrating two absolute alternatives. When branches abide, they bear fruit. When branches don't abide, they don't bear, and they wither. Look at verse 6. If anyone does not abide in me, he's thrown away like a branch and withers. It's called loss of vitality of life. We're living our life. And he says, the branches are gathered and thrown into the fire and burned. Now watch this. He's the vine, I'm the branch. What does the branch? The vine produces the fruit, the branch bears the fruit. Are you with me? Let me ask you a question. Can you cause an orange to be produced on an orange tree? You can plant that tree in the ground, you can water it, but who puts the orange at the end of that? Who does that? Is that you? No? That's God, right? He's the vine, you're the branch, he produces his life through you, and you bear his fruit, and that fruit is to be given away. Look with me at 1 Corinthians. We need to look at this. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, please, quickly. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. I want you to note, verse 11. We'll start with 10. According to the grace of God given to me like a skilled master builder, I've laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if anyone builds on that foundation, gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, straw, or stubble, each one's work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it, it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. This connects back to John 15, where he says in verse 6, he is thrown like a branch and is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered and thrown into the fire and burn. There will be a day when you and I will stand before Jesus Christ all by ourselves, and we will be judged, even as 2 Corinthians chapter 5 also mentions about whether our works are good or bad. That which Christ produced through us, his fruit, that's gold, silver, precious stone. The works we produced, that's good. That's hay and stubble, and that is gonna wood, it's gonna be burnt up. That's what he's talking about in verse 6. And hallelujah for that. See, you don't want to be withering. Because the farmer's gonna come along and send trials in your life to say, hey, I got a fruit of one, I want to show Christ through your life. And so it takes you through the valley. Because one day he wants to say to every one of us as believers, Well done, good and faithful servant. And can I tell you this? The only thing that's gonna bring glory to honoring God at the Bima, the judgment seat of Christ, will be his works, not ours. That's why we need to know Christ. Go back to your outline. Notice to abide in Christ is to have no known, and go back to John 15. No known sin, unconfessed, no interest into which he was not brought, no life which he cannot share, to take all burdens to him, to draw all wisdom, life, and strength from him. To abide in Christ is not unceasing consciousness of these things, but that nothing is allowed in the life which separates from him. And so notice, abiding in verse seven, he says, Now, if you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. How do we participate with Christ? It's more than imitation. Verse 7 tells you, Abide in me, and my words abide in you. I make no bones about this. The most needful and greatest thing that you and I can do every day of our life is to sit at the feet of Jesus and let him teach us his word. When Jesus said, and he's an it's absolute, man does not live by bread alone, but by what? Every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. I'll just put it to you this way: if you're not spending time at the feet of Jesus and you're truly a born-again believer, you're living on the husks of this world. You're living by human viewpoint, and we don't know Christ. Notice what he says here. He says, if it's third class, maybe you will, maybe you won't, and the you is very personal. If you will abide in me and my words, the words, the very words that Jesus taught. And the meta-narrative of the Bible is the Lord Jesus Christ. It's his redemptive story. It's all about him. He says, if you abide in me and my words, make take up residence. And by the way, I want to say this to you lovingly. You don't get it reading a one-minute Bible devotional. I want to tell you right now, if my wife fixes a meal, I'm going to stay there more than a minute. He says, they abide in you. And I want to want you to see in your outline, and you can fill in. I think you got some blanks you can finally fill in. All right? You ready? Here we go. Got your pen? All right. Number one, if we abide in the word, what's it going to produce? A life of prayer. May I announce to you that he says, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. Now, this is, oh, let's get this. Notice the word ask. It's an active decision of the will. It's a conscious willing, it's an active resolution that we are going to talk to the Lord, but it calls for dependence because this air's imperative says you need the Holy Spirit to not only help you live this Christ life, but the Holy Spirit is the one who helps you pray. Jesus is not giving us this carte blanche thing that we can just ask Jesus anything we want. He says, I want you to abide in the word, and the word abide in you. Because our God is not a divine genie in a bottle that if I if I if I pray hard enough or whatever, I'll I'll twist his arm to do what I want him to do. Friends, the more you're in the word, the more you'll know how to pray the word and line up in the will of God in prayer. And listen, tell God anything, but when it comes to really coming to know the heart of God, you need to know the word of God. And when you come to know the word of God, then you'll come to know how to pray. I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, and I say this lovingly, it's not always God's will for us to be healed. There's examples of that in this congregation today. Is God less than a loving God? No. But as for God, his way is perfect. And it's through those trials and it's through those, the pruning that may last for a while that he's producing his life through you. He's not interested in us living our life. He wants to live his life through you. Study the prayers of Paul. Let me just say this. Why did Jesus pray? Why did he go to the mountain and pray all night? On his human side, I can't explain this, but on his human side, it was, as we see in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said, Lord, not my will, but thy will. Can this cup be passed from me? No, not my will, Lord, but thy will be done. And that's where you come to know the heart of God, in that when you're praying, your heart is synced with the heart of God, and you're praying in line with his sovereign will and what he desires to do because you long to say, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And you will not come to understand the depth of that and the joy of that until you have set at Jesus' feet and you've come to know his heart. That's why I'm saying the most important thing you do is to know the truth, to study the truth. You know, just let me let me just mention this before I move to the next one. How many of you would have prayed for Judas to be one of the disciples? I promise you, not one of you. Right? I mean, how many, how many of you like to, yeah, okay, you're you're getting ready to have a business meeting, and you're gonna you're gonna bring in a whole new group of leaders at real life community, and somebody stands up and says, Let's pray for a Judas. What are you gonna do? Well, if you study scripture and don't you can write this reference down, Luke 6, 12 to 16, Jesus went to the mountain to pray, and it was before he made the decision to choose his disciples, and in that list of disciples is Judas. I don't know there's many of us in here who would pray for a Judas to be the answer to our prayer. Because here's what I want. Lord, help us have a good day. Have everything go okay. Don't let my car battery blow up. Let me ask you a question. What is the heart of God for your prayer needs? And do you know that heart in your marriage? Are you just wanting to have a happy, you know, that that that lie? And we talked about this. Happy, happy wife, happy life, that's a lie. That's a lie. My happiness is not dependent upon people around me. My happiness is in he who is joy, who is Christ, and his way is right always, and I can trust him even when I don't understand. I know that because he sent his son for me, he has his best, my best interest in his heart, that he wants to accomplish his will for his glory through me today. And so, okay, Lord, it's your life, not mine. Such humanism. And where do I learn the heart about all that is happening on earth? I learn, as 15 7 says, abide in me and my words abide in you. Ask whatever you wish, and it'll be done. You want to know what your whatever you wish, it's gonna line up with what God desires. Not what I want, because I'm not omniscient, I'm not omnipotent, I'm not God. So number two, not only number one, does in the word do I find myself in prayer, but number two, abiding in the word glorifies God. Verse eight, and by this, connecting back up to verse seven, abiding and being in the in prayer, God's glorified in this. And that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. Number three, abiding in the word produces fruit. Much fruit. Obviously. Because who's the fruit producer? Who's living his life out of you? Number three, abiding in the word validates who you are. Validates who you are, and you prove to be my disciples. So I walk in today. Let me just let me can I just illustrate it this way without I won't draw attention to me, but it just came to my mind. So I walk in today, and people go, well, he's got a tie and a suit. He must be the preacher today. He's the reverend. All right, preacher, have at it, let's go. Let me ask you a question. This is for all of us that know Christ. In our marriages, in our parenting. If we're abiding in the vine, abiding in the word and in prayer, can somebody look at us and say, that's Christ? Because they don't see us. They see Christ in us, living his life out of us. An orange tree produces, and the vine produces Christ. And number four, abiding in the word reveals joy and produces joy. These things I've spoken to you, that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. The letter B, abiding in Christ's love, number one, is security. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. And we talked about this last time. That God the Father loves you and me as much as he loves his own dear son. And I can't get over that, friend. I don't want to get over it. And that leads verse 10 to obedience. I don't obey God because I owe him something. I obey God because he loves me. If I live my life as a believer thinking that I'm constantly needing to be dedicated to him and owing him something, that's gonna be frustrating because I'll never match up. But when I operate out of his love for me, oh, what sweet joy that is. So I know you're looking at this going, oh, there's probably another 30 minutes here. No. So what does Christ, and because I wanted to connect to the last time I was here, what does the Christ life look like in my marriage? So I've given to you Ephesians 5, wives submit your own husbands as to the Lord. 525, husbands love your wives as Christ. That's participation. Christ living his life through us. And may I say to you, number one, that you need to, I beg you, to learn the Christ that lives in you. So I've given you an example from is it there, John 11 and Matthew 20 is in your notes. Did I make sure that was there? Are you with me? Okay. Let me tell you where that came from. Right here. This is my journal. And last fall, I wrote down as I went through the four gospels every characteristic and attribute of every passage that I read each day about Jesus Christ. Because you know what? I wanted to learn what I became at the point of salvation. Yes. And I've given them here to you to show you. You can go, you can study them. The Christ in me, we went through this a little bit, never worries, never fears, never frets. This is the bulleted points. He's never in a hurry. He's never anxious, never stressed, never proud. Friends, the moment you get stressed about something, you've automatically stepped over into the false, you into your into your flesh life. That's not Christ. His life is love, joy, peace, and I've given you that. The characteristics of love in 1 Corinthians 13, that's Christ. Ephesians 6, the armor of God. That's Christ, every piece. And so what do you do? Okay, so I'm gonna wrap it up. Number two, surrender to him each morning. Moment by faith. These two paragraphs are so crucial. You ready? Hunker down. You ready? We're going to finish strong here. If Christ is the vine and I'm the branch, and he calls me to be the means by which he reproduces his life in this world, the great privilege of every Christian is to live in total dependence upon Christ so that he can take total responsibility for me. I want to announce to you. Hallelujah for that. If back in my paragraph, if Christ calls me to be dependent upon him, what he is saying at the same time is I'm willing to take responsibility for you. And as long as I live in dependence upon him and live obediently working out what he works in, then he is willing to take over responsibility for me. And what a privilege to live on those terms. One of the greatest privileges that I can know is increasing dependence upon Jesus. Discipleship is very simply learning how to depend upon Jesus no matter what happens. In the kingdom of God, growth takes place in the exact opposite direction as it does in natural life. In natural life, we enter into this world very dependent. We grow towards increasing independence. In the kingdom of God, we grow from a position of independence, and the older we get, the more dependent we are on Christ. It's exactly the opposite direction. The branch is totally completely dependent upon the vine. And so what do you do? You live by faith every second of your life. Jesus, it's your life, not mine. Now I read that fast and I realized it may went. Let's wrap it up this way. What's the when the origin is right, the content will always be right. And we are so consumed with the content of our Christian life, the programs of our churches or our marriages or whatever, that we're forgetting the origin. And I'm not saying that those the content is wrong, but oh, that we would know the vine. I'm not I'm just not a passive blob. I'm going through life and just going, okay, Jesus. No. Faith cometh by you gotta be willfully saying, okay, Jesus, not me, but you by faith. You take responsibility for this. I you live your life through me. That's where the will comes in play. My wife and I will be flying in a couple weekends to New Jersey. And when we land in Philadelphia, I hope we land in Philadelphia. On all the wheels, right? I'm not gonna walk up to somebody and say, we flew to Philadelphia. But the abiding life is like getting in an airplane. Willfully, by faith, I walk into that plane by the strength that God even gives, and I rest in the pilot and the creator of the plane to get me to the destination. That's the abiding life. Because if I say, you know what? I'm tired of being in this plane at whatever altitude it is, I think I'm going to exit out the emergency door. Well, the fall isn't gonna hurt me. It's that sudden stop. Every time that I go my way, it's like stepping outside of the plane of Jesus Christ. I want to fly on my terms. But I want you to know something. Jesus came to live his life through you to fly his terms, his plane, your life, to give you his joy, that you might be able to show forth the praises of his glory. Because whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, you do to give the right opinion of who God is. Amen. Not what I want, not what I think is right. And when I sin, I confess my sin because I realize I have an advocate with Jesus Christ the righteous, because we will sin, but we have victory over sin, even to the point that I can say, I don't need to sin. I can, I don't have to sin. Jesus, I'm yours. Hallelujah for that. So notice that little section, I am what you want. When you desire the light more than what he reveals, you'll see what you haven't understood. When you desire the bread more than being satisfied, you'll enjoy the inner satisfaction you crave. When you desire the door more than the pasture he exposes, you'll enter spiritual reality. And when you desire the shepherd more than his voice, you'll hear him speak to you by name. And when you desire the resurrection more than being raised, you'll start doing the impossible. And when you desire the way more than the direction he gives, you'll know where to go. And when you desire the truth more than acquiring knowledge, you'll search the depths of God. And when you desire the life more than the Christian life, you'll experience Christ as your life. And when you desire the vine more than the fruit he produces, you'll bear fruit that will remain. Would you bow your heads with me for a moment? Would you put into a sentence what God has said to you? He is standing as your substitute, desiring that you would receive him. I asked a man on the elevator this morning in the motel. I said, Is Christ your life? He said, I'm good. I don't want to talk about that. Friends, Christ needs to be your life because there is no life outside of him, and there's no heaven without him, there's no righteous living without him, and you're lost in your sin and on your way to hell because you're rejecting the person of Jesus Christ who took your place. And as many as received him, to them, he gives the power to become the sons of God, even to them that call upon his name. And if you're in such a condition, you are here having never received Jesus, right where you are, he says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Would you cry out to him right now? You may want to speak with me. You want to speak with Pastor Chris, one of these other, one of the other elders here, Ron or Jerry or whoever, and ask, how do I get saved? How do I know I'm saved? How do how do I come to know Christ to receive him? We don't want you to leave this building today without Jesus. Christians, I'm gonna end where I began. Who or what is controlling your life right now? Motivating your life. The conversation of your life. Perhaps you need to repent, confess sin. And quite frankly, as believers, we're daily repenters, constantly turning away from ourselves, away from our sin, our ways to Jesus. So whatever your sentence is, whatever God has said to you, if I were to walk up to you and say, What did God say to you today? I want you to be able to say it back to God. This is God, this is what you've said to me. And by your grace, I want to be able to live that out. By your grace, your strength for your glory. Father, thank you for the joy of magnifying the person of Jesus Christ. Lord, we've put so much trust in our leaders. We've put so much trust in ourselves. May we find you to be our all-in-all. In our marriages, in our families, may our kids come to know Jesus, to really know him, not know about him, but know him. May real life community church live real life. And I want to thank you for how they are doing that and how souls have come to Christ and what you've been doing through this congregation. But oh Lord, may all eyes be always turned from here to Jesus, the altogether lovely one. May we say, as Paul, for me to live, is Christ, and to die his gain. All the believers said,