I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman.
Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit, He taketh it away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit.
Already ye are clean because of 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; so neither can ye, except ye abide in Me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for apart from Me ye can do nothing.
If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; and so shall ye be My disciples.
Our Lord, we thank You and praise You. You are most merciful; You are most gracious. You have brought us thus far, and we thank You that, whenever we gather, we gather in Your name.
Lord, we submit under Your authority. Speak to our hearts. We look to the Holy Spirit, using Your Word, to do a deep work in our hearts.
We want to apprehend that for which You have apprehended us, that You may be praised. In the name of the Lord Jesus, amen.
In these morning sessions, we have shared on this matter of spiritual communion. We discovered that God longs to commune with us, and His call is for us to commune with Him. Therefore, in the depths of our being, we ought to respond to His longing.
Like the psalmist wrote, there is one thing that I ask for, and that I will seek after:
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple.
This should be the prayer of all our hearts, because He desires to commune with us. Therefore, He has provided the way for us to commune with Him.
Today, because of the blood of the Lord Jesus, and because He inaugurated for us this new and living way, we can go through the veil—and that veil is Christ. We have a great Priest who is interceding for us.
Because the Lord has already provided this way for us, we can enter into communion with Him. Because He desires to commune with us, He was willing to pay that great cost.
From this, we discover the urgency in His heart for fellowship. Therefore, we need to dwell in the secret place of the Most High. He promised that we will dwell in the shadow of the Almighty.
Even today, while we are still living on this earth, our hearts and spirits may already be dwelling in the secret place of the Most High, where we are face to face with God. As we draw near to Him, we have strength and wisdom for how to spend our days on the earth.
Then each day will count for Him. We are not simply occupying space and wasting our time down here. In every circumstance, we may learn something of the Lord, and the Holy Spirit can do His transforming work in our lives.
The Holy Spirit is forming Christ in us. He uses the environment which He has arranged for this purpose, so that we may be transformed and conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If we do this, our days on earth will not be wasted. He will deliver us from the troubles that we face in this life. He will put us in a high place and send His angels to minister to us.
The one who dwells in the secret place of the Most High receives great blessings.
This morning, we would like to share from John 15 and discover what the Lord is telling us through this chapter.
The night before He was betrayed, the Lord Jesus and His disciples met in the upper room in Jerusalem. They spent the Passover feast together.
Strictly speaking, the Lamb of the Passover is our Lord Jesus Christ. At the end of that celebration, He took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to the disciples.
He said, “This is My body. I lay it down for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” Then He took the cup, blessed it, and gave it to His disciples to drink.
He said, “This is the new covenant in My blood, so that your sins may be forgiven. Do this in remembrance of Me.”
In other words, at the Passover feast, the Lord gave Himself to His disciples. As they drank the cup, they came into communion with His blood. As they ate the bread, they partook of the Lord’s body. The Lord communicated Himself to His disciples.
At the end of the breaking of bread and the drinking of the cup, they sang a hymn, rose up, went downstairs, left the city of Jerusalem, and went toward the garden of Gethsemane.
It is possible that, on the way to Gethsemane, they saw vines along the road. The Lord used the grapevines as an instruction to His disciples, saying, “I am the true vine.”
There are many vines on this earth, but all these grapevines are only shadows. The reality of the true vine is the Lord Jesus.
All material things that we see are temporal. They are nothing but shadows, because nothing material can last forever. Only that which lasts forever is reality, not shadow.
So the Lord used the grapevine to speak of Himself: “I am the true vine.”
In eternity past, our Lord Jesus Christ was God’s only begotten Son. He was equal with God and did not grasp at His equality with God. There is no one higher or lower between the Son and the Father; in the Spirit, the Father and the Son are in perfect unity.
But one day, according to God’s will and purpose, God’s Son was sent into this world. The Word became flesh.
When our Lord came to this earth to be a man, He became the true vine. The husbandman of this vine is the Father.
In the Gospel of Luke, we see this seed planted into the ground, and then it sprouts. Our Lord Jesus, as a child, grew and was full of wisdom. He grew in wisdom and in favor with God and men.
While He was growing on this earth, God was the husbandman. God not only planted Him on this earth; God also cultivated Him. At the age of thirty, He began His ministry.
During those three and a half years of ministry, we see the grapevine fully grown. The Bible says that He was full of grace and truth.
We must praise God, because on this earth we have never witnessed such a perfect Man. He expressed the full glory of God. He could say, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.”
No one has ever seen God; only the One who is from the bosom of the Father has manifested Him. This grapevine was indeed full, and all its fruit was beautiful.
But one day all these grapes were crushed. Just as grapes are put into the vat and crushed so that juice flows out, so the perfect Man went to the cross.
He went there not for Himself. He went there for us sinners. He was crushed on the cross, and blood flowed from Him like wine.
For those who drink it, there is forgiveness and joy. This is our Lord Jesus Christ. Because He shed His blood and sacrificed His life, we may have His joy, and our lives may be satisfied.
The Lord said, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman.”
In John 15, the Lord does not simply want us to pay attention to Himself. When He says, “I am the true vine,” He wants to speak about the relationship He desires to have with His disciples.
He says, “I am the true vine; ye are the branches.” Originally, our Lord Jesus was the true vine, cultivated by the Father. But after the Lord went to death and rose again, this vine no longer refers only to the Lord Himself. It speaks of Himself together with His disciples.
Originally, this grapevine was Himself. Now it has become a corporate man. Through redemption, He has brought us to Himself.
The Lord wants us to see the relationship between Himself and His disciples. When He spoke these words, He was about to be parted from them, and there was sorrow in their hearts.
For three and a half years, they had always been together. Whenever they had questions, they could go to the Lord. The Lord was always with them. Wherever the Lord went, they went with Him.
This life of togetherness was most pleasant and satisfying. But now the Lord was about to depart, and their hearts were sorrowful.
The Lord comforted them: “Because I am leaving you, you will not become orphans. The reason I go away is that I want to be more intimate with you in a new way.”
When He was in the flesh, He could be only by their side. Sometimes He was with them, and at other times He was not, as when He sent His disciples out. In the flesh, sometimes we are together and sometimes we must depart.
But the Lord said that from this point onward, His relationship with them would be on a more intimate level. This would be the relationship of the mystery: not merely being together, but being one in life.
Branches come from the vine. You cannot tie a branch onto a vine. Branches are the outgrowth of the vine.
The relationship between the branches and the vine is a relationship of life. It is not external; it is something inward. It is not merely an outward relationship, but a living relationship.
Because the Lord has accomplished full redemption for us, once we believe in Him, we are born again. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
John 1:12 tells us that those who believe in Him and receive Him are given the right to become children of God. They are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Praise God: our relationship with the Lord is an inward relationship. It is not merely external, as though we are simply with Him; it is that we have grown within Him.
There is a relationship in life. Here we have a union, and this union can never be separated.
We are identified with Him and united with Him in His death. He died to sin, and we died to sin. When He arose from the dead, we arose with Him. As He lives unto God, we also live unto God.
There is a union in life with Him, and this union can never be separated. Today we can be justified because we are one with Him. Today we can be sanctified because we are in union with Him.
This union with Him is an objective fact. More than union, there is oneness.
The Lord does not say, “I am the root of the vine,” or merely, “I am the trunk of the vine.” He says, “I am the vine, and you are the branches.”
If He were only the root or trunk, branches could be cut off while the vine continued living. But the Lord says, “I am the vine.” The whole vine is one. You are part of the vine; you are part of Him.
If you are cut off, then something is cut off from Him, because you and He are one.
When Saul was on the way to Damascus, the Lord appeared to him and said, “Why persecutest thou Me?” Saul could have said, “Lord, who are You? I have never met You. You are in heaven, and I am on earth. How can I persecute You?”
But when Saul asked, “Lord, who art Thou?” the Lord said, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” When you touch one of His members, you are touching Him, because His members and He are one.
We fail to see the greatness of our redemption. The Lord says, “I am the true vine.” He does not say, “In the future I will be the true vine.” He says, “I am the true vine.” This is an eternal reality that cannot be changed.
He also says, “You are the branches.” Not in the future, hoping that you may become a branch. You are the branch. You are what you are.
Indeed, the Lord has accomplished something wonderful. We have done nothing. It is all His work. He has accomplished this great salvation, and those who believe become part of Him and become one with Him forever.
This is an objective truth. It is what the Lord Jesus has done for us. We have made no contribution and can do nothing. In Christ, God has done it all. We only come by faith and appropriate it.
This truth is eternal and can never be changed. Do you realize that you are a branch in the true vine? Do you know that your union with Him is a living union?
This union is a union of oneness. You cannot change it. The enemy cannot change it. Nothing in this world can change it. It is an eternal reality.
We need to lay hold of this truth. By faith, we take our stand on this reality. If that is the case, transformation will take place in our lives.
At the end of the nineteenth century, an Englishman named Hudson Taylor came to China to preach the gospel. He felt that the Lord had called him to China for this purpose.
In those days, missionaries from other countries usually came to the coast of China and lived in foreign concessions, where foreigners had special privileges.
When Hudson Taylor first came, he came to Shanghai and stayed in the concession. But he realized, “Unless I live with the Chinese, I can never share the gospel with them.”
So he left the foreign concession and went into the Chinese quarters. He wore his hair in a Chinese queue and wore a long Chinese gown because he wanted to be with the Chinese people and share the gospel with them.
After laboring for several years in China, he had fellow workers laboring with him. The China Inland Mission was established, and its purpose was to bring the gospel into the interior of China.
In those days, those who shared the gospel paid a great cost. We need to praise and thank God for them.
Hudson Taylor loved the Lord. Yet, after preaching in China for several years, there was something within him that was not satisfied.
He felt that his life was not perfect before God. He felt that he could not fully manifest and express Christ. He wanted the Lord to gain him more completely.
He wanted to be filled with the Lord Himself and to overcome sin and temptation in his life, so that the Lord could fully express Himself through him before the Chinese people.
In spite of his fasting and praying, there seemed to be no positive result. He realized his own weakness and asked, “How can I introduce Christ to the Chinese people?”
He thought, “If I can truly be one with the Lord, if I can be united with Him and appropriate His strength, then I can live an overcoming life. Then I can glorify my Lord.”
So he prayed, “I want to be united with You, that I may receive the fullness that is in You.” He wanted to appropriate the fullness that was in Christ by faith, and so he prayed for faith.
But the more he prayed, the less faith he seemed to have. Then one day, he came to John 15.
The Lord said, “I am the true vine; ye are the branches.” The Lord enlightened his eyes, and he discovered something.
He said, “I was praying that I could enter into the vine. I was praying that I could appropriate the strength of the vine. I was praying for faith so that I could be united with Him.”
“But God’s Word tells me that I am a branch. I am already in Him, and He is already in me. I prayed that I might come into Him, but I am already in Him.”
He realized that the Lord is not only the root of the vine and the trunk of the vine; He is also the branches. He is the sun, the rain, and the soil. He is everything. We are in Him; we simply rest.
When he received this revelation, he was transformed. He was no longer struggling over how to get into Christ or how to get Christ into himself. By faith, he found his rest.
Each one of us needs to see this for ourselves. Because we fail to see fully what God has done for us in His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, we struggle from the outside.
We think, “The Lord is there, and I am here. I want to get close to Him. I want to appropriate His strength. I want to be united with Him.”
Brothers and sisters, do you not see that this is something already accomplished? You cannot do this work. Only God can do it. This work is already done.
All you can do is, by faith, stand in Christ. That is enough.
The Lord says, “I am the true vine; ye are the branches.” All the fullness that belongs to the vine belongs to the branches.
God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. They are all ours. We simply come by faith and receive them. Think of the grace of God.
But the main emphasis is not merely this. John 15 now speaks about our relationship with the Lord.
The main emphasis in John 15 is fruitfulness. The Lord says that if a branch does not bear fruit, He takes it away; but the branch that bears fruit, He prunes so that it may bear more fruit.
The main emphasis in John 15 is fruit-bearing. When we speak of fruit-bearing, we must turn from objective truth to subjective experience.
Objective truth is what God has done for us in Christ Jesus. It is eternal and totally unchanging. Nothing can change it.
Subjective experience is when the Holy Spirit takes what the Lord Jesus has accomplished for us and works it into us. Then transformation takes place.
The emphasis here is not on salvation. Some people interpret Scripture out of context. They do not see what comes before or what follows after.
When they come to John 15:2 and read that branches may be taken away, they say that once a person is saved, he may become unsaved. No, this is not about salvation.
The question of salvation is already settled, because the Lord says, “I am the true vine, and you are the branches.” That issue has already been settled.
The problem we face now is the matter of fruitfulness. We thank God that our union with Christ is a union of oneness.
This objective truth is forever established. What, then, does it mean for a branch to be taken away? We know that it concerns fruitfulness.
There is cutting off, and there is also pruning, in relation to fruit-bearing. Let me put it this way: the union is eternally unchanging.
Even unbelief cannot change that fact. We are united with Him in His death, and we are united with Him in His resurrection. Some may not believe it, but their unbelief cannot change the fact.
However, because of unbelief, they cannot receive the benefit of that united reality. They cannot alter the fact, but they need to believe so that this united life may be manifested.
Why do we have this union in life? Union is for communion. If there is no communion, why is there such a united relationship?
The result of union is fellowship. Without union, there can be no fellowship. Fellowship is the evidence that we are indeed united, and union is the foundation of fellowship.
This union can never be changed; it is objective truth. But fellowship is changeable. Sometimes we enjoy fellowship with Him, and sometimes our fellowship with Him is broken.
When our fellowship is interrupted, the result is an unfruitful life.
All branches in a natural vine should be fruit-bearing branches. There is only one purpose for being a branch: to bear fruit.
You cannot use a branch of a vine to build a house. There is only one purpose for the branch on the vine: fruit. If it is united with the vine and there is fellowship, fruit-bearing will naturally result.
Therefore, every branch ought to be a fruitful branch. If you belong to the Lord, you ought to be a fruit-bearing branch.
How can you bear fruit? You bear fruit because you are united with Him in fellowship.
But today, even though you are united with Him, if you do not enjoy that fellowship, how can you bear fruit? The branch cannot bear fruit by itself.
The branch is nothing but a vessel. It receives all the riches from the vine. All the fullness and riches of the vine flow into the branch.
Because of the riches of the vine, the branches are able to bear fruit. It is not that the branch can bear fruit by itself.
The fruit is the result of a life of fellowship. That is our Christian life.
What does the Lord mean by fruit? The fruit refers to the fruit of the Spirit. Turn to Galatians 5:22.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
There are many aspects to this fruit, but actually the fruit is one fruit, because the fruit of the Spirit is Christ.
The work of the Holy Spirit is to reproduce Christ in us, so that Christ may be incorporated into us and manifested through us. This fruit is the fruit of life.
This is not something that you can manufacture. It is not something that you can work out by yourself. This fruit is produced unconsciously.
Because there is fellowship between the branch and the vine, the riches flow into the branch. Then clusters of grapes appear, though the branch itself is unconscious of it.
Because of the many clusters of fruit, the branch bends downward. Strictly speaking, all branches should be fruit-bearing.
Yet it is possible for a branch not to bear fruit, even though it is united with the vine. There may be a lack of fellowship.
It is as though there is a blockage between the branch and the vine, so that the riches of the vine cannot flow into the branch.
Sin can hinder fellowship. What hinders fellowship? Sin does. Adam lost fellowship with God in the garden because of sin.
Those who belong to the Lord may allow sin to remain in their lives and may be unwilling to deal with it. Then they lose fellowship. Righteousness and unrighteousness have no fellowship.
When there is no fellowship, His life cannot flow through us. Then we are not fruitful, and we cannot manifest the beauty of Christ to the world.
If we allow the riches of this world and the temptations of the world to block our fruitful life and hinder our fellowship with the Lord, we cannot live a fruitful life.
All sin needs to be confessed and forgiven. We should not allow sin to remain overnight, because we do not know whether, during that night, the Lord may come.
We need to ask for enlightenment and deliverance from the deception of this world. If we love the world, the love of the Father is not in us. These things prevent us from living a fruit-bearing life.
If we allow sin to rule our lives and allow the world to put us in bondage, we become unfruitful branches.
Then the Father will say, “There is a name, but no reality. I have to cut it off.”
But the branches that bear fruit, God will prune so that there will be much more fruit.
If branches remain in fellowship with the vine and receive all the nutrients from it, fruit-bearing comes naturally. But sometimes branches grow too many shoots and too many leaves.
Then all the nutrients from the vine are consumed by the extra branches and leaves, and there is very little fruit. We may have this condition.
When the Lord went to Jerusalem, He saw a fig tree full of leaves but without fruit. What does this represent?
It represents those who may have fellowship with the Lord but misuse His grace to develop and manifest their self-life, their flesh, and their ego.
God’s grace is wasted when we develop ourselves rather than using His grace for the manifestation of Christ. We may have many leaves and appear full and impressive, but we cannot satisfy people.
Many believers may be like that: very good-looking, but with no fruit. They cannot minister to anyone, and they cannot satisfy others.
Because He loves us, the Father prunes us. He cuts off our self-life. He wants to reduce us until we are nothing but a bare branch.
Sometimes we think that He does not love us or care for us. But because He loves us, He prunes us, because He wants us to bear much fruit for Him.
We must submit under the discipline of God and allow Him to prune.
Of course, when He prunes us, we feel uncomfortable. It may seem as though He removes our beauty and even takes away our gifts. We may feel sorry for these things, but we do not know God’s will for us.
The Holy Spirit uses God’s Word to prune us. God’s Word is sharper than any two-edged sword, and it penetrates to divide soul and spirit. Our inner condition is exposed.
He also uses the cross to crucify our self-life. It is for the purpose of bearing much fruit.
How can we bear fruit? What is the secret of fruit-bearing? The Lord says, “I am the vine; ye are the branches.” This is objective truth.
The order is important: “I am the vine,” and then, “You are the branches.” He is ahead of us. If He is not the vine, there is no possibility for us to be branches.
But then He says, “He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit.” Here the order is reversed. We move from objective truth to subjective experience.
To enter into subjective experience, we need to take responsibility. With objective truth, all we need to do is believe and receive.
But in subjective experience, we need to make a move. What does it mean to abide in Him? It means to dwell in Him and make Him our home.
Do not treat Him as a hotel. When you stay in a hotel, you come for a few days and then leave. You do not consider the hotel your home.
Many believers treat the Lord as though He were a hotel. When they need Him, they go to Him; when they do not need Him, they go away.
But we have to see that He is our home. We make our home in Him.
We should not be like the prodigal, going away from home. We need to return to our home. We need to abide and remain in the home.
We need to be face to face with the Lord. We need to talk to Him every day. We need to be continually in communion with Him.
This abiding means that we behold His face continually. We remain in fellowship with Him, submit to Him, receive His discipline, and allow Him to do His transforming work.
We allow the cross to work, and we remove all that hinders us. Our prayer should be that there is no barrier between us and the Lord.
Then we remain in Him always. This is our responsibility. Are we fulfilling our responsibility?
Often we are very passive. We wait until He has to carry us back into Himself. Sometimes He allows us to reach a remote place so that we begin to think about home.
But we should not be passive. We cannot merely wait until somehow we are forced into Him. To remain in Him, we must make that move.
“Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. You are my home. Apart from You, I have no rest.”
Apart from You in heaven, whom do I have? Apart from You, I have nothing on this earth. I want to be in You. I do not want to allow anything to come between You and me. I want to see Your face.
Do we have this passion and longing within us? Abide in Him, and He will abide in you. Then you will bear much fruit—not merely more fruit, but much fruit.
How can we abide in Him? Sometimes I ask young believers, “How can we continually abide in Him?”
Some say, “I read the Bible. When I read the Bible, I know I am abiding.” Others say, “I pray. When I pray, I am abiding.” It is true that we need to pray and read God’s Word; these things help us in our abiding.
But there is one real secret. First John 2:27 says:
And as for you, the anointing which ye received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any one teach you; but as His anointing teacheth you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, ye abide in Him.
How can we continually abide in Him? God has already provided the way. See how completely He loves us.
The moment we believe in Him, He puts the Holy Spirit into our hearts. The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are God’s children, and we can call God, “Abba, Father.”
The Holy Spirit abides in us. When the Comforter comes, He will not leave us. Thank God.
When the Holy Spirit comes into our spirit, He makes our spirit His home. He comes in, and you cannot chase Him out. He abides there forever.
How often we grieve the Spirit. How often we quench His prompting. How often we rebel against Him. Yet He stays for good; He will never leave us.
If He were to leave us, we would be finished. But He dwells within us.
What does He do within us? He has one mission: He teaches us.
He teaches us in all things—in great things and small things. His teaching is true; there is no lie in it.
But sometimes we are not good listeners. The anointing is already working within us.
Scripture uses the picture of anointing oil. Ointment is applied to soothe wounds. In the same way, the Holy Spirit speaks to us with His gentle voice, soothing us within.
The Holy Spirit is also like light, enlightening us within. When we do something, He enlightens us and enables us to see darkness.
Sometimes, while we are speaking, the anointing within tells us to stop. The Holy Spirit teaches us in all things.
If we abide and submit to the teaching of the anointing, the result is that we remain in Him. He teaches us because He wants to keep us remaining in Christ.
The Holy Spirit does not draw attention to Himself. His purpose within us is to glorify the Lord and bring us into all spiritual reality.
Brothers and sisters, if we are to remain and abide in Christ, we must obey the anointing in everything. Then we abide in Him.
Fruit-bearing is not for ourselves. Fruit-bearing is for the owner of the vine—the Father.
What can glorify God? It is not merely what you can do for Him. It is not all the activities you try to accomplish. It is not how much you achieve down here.
What glorifies God is the measure in which Christ is manifested through you. That is the reality.
You cannot glorify God by yourself. I cannot glorify Him. No matter how much I do or how great I may feel, I cannot glorify Him.
What glorifies the Father is when the Holy Spirit produces fruit in us and manifests Christ Himself.
When the Father sees the Son, He is delighted. He says, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” In this way, God is glorified.
If we bear much fruit, we prove to be His disciples. A disciple is measured by how much he is like his master.
It is not how much you do for Him. Rather, it is how much Christ is expressed through you.
Therefore, we need to abide in Him, and He will abide in us. We belong to Him. Thank God.
Lord, we thank You. We praise You. You not only give us life; by Your Holy Spirit, You desire to work in us.
Lord, our cry to You is: may You increase, and may we decrease, that the Father may be glorified. In the name of the Lord Jesus, amen.