The Meticulous Grower’s Skills

The Lord’s people, please take
your Bibles once again and turn to the Gospel of John. The Gospel
of John and to chapter 15. This morning, John chapter 15. Well, we began last week in a
consideration of this passage, which has been called a parable
or biblical allegory. The occasion is Jesus really
wanting to encourage his own apostles. He has many times told
them that they are literally within hours of Jesus being taken,
arrested, and drawn ultimately to the cross and to his death
and away from them. And they are bewildered. They
are in a sense stunned. and speechless, and Jesus wants
to encourage them, and He’s encouraged them in many ways already, even
with the promise of the Holy Spirit, but He even still desires
to encourage them, and He does so in this biblical allegory. It’s a picture. As I painted
it last week, it’s a picture of, if you will, a beautiful
orchard, a beautiful vineyard, owned by the wealthiest man in
the kingdom. And because of that, the finest
orchard of all, planted with the finest vines and cared for
with the greatest care and the most productive of all the orchards
of the land. This is a vineyard beyond all
others because it’s God’s vineyard. I refer to it as divine acres. This is an opportunity that we
have as Christians, as it were, to come up to the hedge and to
pull our heads up above the wall and to glance into God’s beautiful
vineyard and to see not only the vine, but the operation itself
and the careful laborer there in the vineyard caring for his
vine. for his produce. We come again to chapter 15 in
verses 1 through 8, where Jesus said, 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 bears fruit,
he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean
because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me and
I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it
abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in me and I in
him, he bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do
nothing. If anyone does not abide in me,
he is thrown away as a branch and dries up and they gather
them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide
in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish. It will
be done for you. My Father is glorified by this,
that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. It’s a beautiful allegory. It’s
an engaging allegory. It’s somewhat of a stunning allegory. Jesus is seeking not only to
encourage his disciples, but to also challenge them. As we saw last week, This beautiful
allegory has a series of lessons woven through it. Not only is
there this choice vine, the best that money can buy, the best
in all the land, but there is also this meticulous grower who
is applying adept skill to every square inch of this vine. There is also a fully functioning
vineyard. This is not just for show. This
is not just basic decorative vine growing that is taking place.
This is a functional vineyard designed to produce fruit. And
it is there for a glorious purpose. J.C. Ryle, in characterizing,
I thought just presented such a beautiful picture of this entire
passage. When he said the union between
Christ and believers is very close. We can’t even think of
a more appropriate metaphor than what Christ came up with here.
The vine and the branches and that’s because Christ being eternal
is the image that is being illustrated by the vine and the branches.
The union between Christ and believers is very close, the
closest that can be conceived. It is the whole secret of the
branch’s life, strength, vigor, beauty, and fertility. Separate
from the parent stem, it has no life of its own. The sap and
juice that flow from the stem are the origin and maintaining
power of all its leaves, buds, blossoms, and fruit. cut off
from the stem, it must soon wither and die. The union between Christ
and believers is just as close and just as real. In themselves,
believers have no life or strength or spiritual power. All they
have comes from Christ. And we began last week by looking
at that choice vine. This is not just, you know, your
run-of-the-mill catalog order, pick one, they’re one as good
as another kind of vine. This is the choicest vine. This
is what we would call an heirloom vine, passed down from generation
to generation, carefully maintained, carefully preserved and passed
down because this is the best vine. And we saw We saw what
Jesus is referring to there. It’s not just that He is a vine. It’s not just that He is an help
for believers. He is everything to us. He is
the Lamb of God. He is our Savior. He’s our Redeemer
and great physician. He is our sufficiency in all
things. He is our peace, our peace with
the Holy God. He is the spiritual foundation
on which we rest. He is our friend. He is our guide. He is our example. He is our
mediator between God. But there is not only a choice
vine, and I would love to stay there for weeks on end. He is
not only a choice vine, but in this vineyard, as we peer over
the wall, we see that there is another. There is a caretaker. There is one tending to this
choice vine. The vine isn’t just planted and
left alone, expected to produce. The vine is cared for. The vine
is tended. The vine is cultivated and fed
and nourished and watered and pruned. If God’s people would
look again at verse 1. We want to look not only at the
feature of the choice vine, but I want to look at the second
feature, that of the meticulous grower’s skills. There’s always going to be, in
any vineyard, a varied crop production. But in a vineyard where there
is a choice vine and a meticulous grower, the fruit is multiplied. Jesus says not only I am the
true vine, but he says my father is the vine dresser. The word
is a rare one and it’s variously translated in the scriptures.
Second Timothy 2 has the same word, the hard-working farmer,
the vine dresser, the one who goes in and takes care of the
vineyard. James 5-7 has the same Translation,
be patient brethren until the coming of the Lord. The farmer
waits for the precious produce of the soil. The vine dresser
is there laboring and waiting for produce. Mark 12 has it literally,
vine dressers. But the vine dresser played an
important role in the vineyard, the most important role as he
cared for these choice vines. His was to prepare the vineyard. As we talked about last week,
it was a very costly and labor-intensive endeavor. It wasn’t just something
that people casually entered into. I think I’ll decide to
have a vineyard today. This was something that they
invested great amount, not only of time and resources, but money. And so the vine dresser would
come along as a very crucial individual caring for these vines,
caring for the vineyards, tilling the soil, ridding the soil of
weeds, watering the vineyard as was needed. Because of the
expense of the vineyard, the operation was often You couldn’t
entrust it to just anyone. And because of that, it was often
conducted or very carefully overseen by the owner of the vineyard
himself. Cultivation of the vines, it
required an almost constant care daily. Otherwise, the fruit would
soon go bad. It would become rotten literally
on the vine, over-ripened. So the ground had to be constantly
plowed and furrowed and weeds had to be pulled and cleared
and ultimately there was a pruning. The pruning of the vine is familiar
to all of us, all of us who are gardeners or if you own property,
you have trees. Pruning is necessary to cut back
either dead growth or unproductive growth. In this case, in the
vineyards of the day. Vineyards were often pruned as
many as three times a year, constantly attended, daily looking for dead
branches, broken branches, branches where the fruit had already been
harvested. And so literally every gardener
knows this illustration one of the fundamental principles of
gardening is pruning. Part of what you do when you
prune, if you’ve ever planted a tree, you know the root ball,
the root structure below ground is going to die off, at least
in part, and so you trim the upper portion of the tree. Maybe
this is educational for some. You trim the upper portion of
the tree so as not to stress the already compromised root
ball. In the process of pruning, you
also remove diseased or injured branches, dead wood. All of this
is designed, especially if it’s a fruit tree, to increase the
growth, to control the habit of the tree, to make it produce
even more fruit. There’s an old saying that without
the pruning knife, a fruit tree is apt to go all to wood. In
other words, Without pruning, without paring back the tree,
without cultivating the tree, the tree ends up being unproductive. And the sap of the tree, which
is meant to ultimately produce fruit, produces only more branches,
sticks, and nothing more. Well, we can hardly imagine that
if this vinedresser, this meticulously caring craftsman is there in
his vineyard, we can hardly imagine sloth or foolishness, but the
scriptures paint an amazing picture of just that. not of this vine
dresser because this vine dresser is none other than the father
himself but it paints an incredible picture on what a vineyard would
look like if a sluggard took care of it. Would you turn to
Proverbs 24? It’s such a beautiful picture and instructive that
for our purposes today I want you to at least look at Proverbs
24 Proverbs 24 and verse 30, I passed by the field of the
sluggard and by the vineyard of the man lacking sense. And behold, it was completely
overgrown with thistles. Its surface was covered with
nettles. Its stone wall was broken down. When I saw it, I reflected upon
it. I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest. then your poverty will
come as a robber and you’ll want like an armed man. It’s a lesson
to the slothful. It’s a lesson to the lazy, to
the sluggard. And I love that word. That’s
what the vineyard, that’s what any vineyard, no matter how choice
divine, that’s what any vineyard would look like if it weren’t
tended and cared for. So the care of the father for
this particular choice vine, back, if you would, to the Gospel
of John, the Father’s care is crucial. And the Father shows
excellent care for this beautiful and choice vine. And in doing so, He looks to
cut off and trim carefully. There’s a particular way that
we even exercise the craft of pruning, right? There’s a right
way and a wrong way to prune a branch. So not only is every dead branch
cut off, but we even go about pruning branches that are fruitful
so that they might bear more fruit. Both of those illustrations
are given to us in verse two Both of them are part of the
process of pruning a fruit-bearing tree. Dead, the dead part is
cut away, broken limbs are cut off, and even damaged limbs or
diseased limbs are removed from the plant entirely. See, the
whole process, the whole purpose of this parable, the whole process
and purpose of life is bearing fruit. What he brought to us
here and that’s why I argued for the fact that this was not
just any vine. It certainly isn’t Virginia creeper
with almost no purpose at all other than color in the fall.
Something for the birds to nibble on occasionally. This vine is
a grape vine. This vine is a fruit bearing
vine and the whole purpose of the parable is bearing fruit. So the pruning is done ultimately
for the bearing of the fruit. There is not only the purification
of the vine and removing dead branches, but there’s the purification
of the branches bringing forth more fruit. And so we see the
meticulous growers skills. Now we see them applied. We actually
see the vine dresser at work. This is a beautiful process.
Look, if you would, at verse two, where he first takes us
to the barren branch, the dead branch, the damaged branch, or
perhaps the, diseased branch. Every branch in me that does
not bear fruit, He takes away. And saints, this should sober
us. If we’re riding the wave, if
we’re just kinda floating down the river, if we’re just kinda
going with the flow as Christians, if we plateaued in some sense,
This verse should be a caution to us. John, quoting Jesus here,
uses this word fruit eight times in this short little section,
verses 1 through 16, and only two times in the entire rest
of his gospel. This word branch occurs only
here in verses 2 through 6 and throughout the rest of the New
Testament only occasionally. Here, this word is used specially,
not just of a vine and of the branches that come from a vine,
but specifically from a grape vine, a fruit-producing vine. There’s a similar word that is
used, kleidos, used of the branches of smaller trees, the mustard
tree, the palm tree, the fig tree in scripture. But here,
He’s talking about a particular kind of branch. He’s talking
about a fruit-bearing branch, a fruit-bearing vine stemming
from the vine. And I want you to notice this.
We have to acknowledge it. We’re not going to ignore it.
He says, every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes
away. Well, obviously, for centuries,
this has caused much consternation, argument, confusion, There are
some that have said that because these branches are in Christ,
as Paul would say it, they are in me as Christ said it, that
this is a true Christian that ultimately loses his salvation
because he’s cut off. Well, that’s heresy. We don’t
believe that. In what sense then is this branch
said to be in Christ, in me, to quote Jesus. Is this a reference
to Christians or not? There are historically three
primary views here, and really quickly, I’m not gonna spend
a lot of time on this, even as important as it is, there are
three views. One said that this is referring
to Christians who ultimately perish. In other words, these
are Christians that they’re not fruit-bearing Christians. You
can’t see any real proof of the fact that they claim to be Christians
in their life, but they live their lives, 50, 80 years, whatever
it is, on the earth. Ultimately, they’re taken and
they go to heaven. One described them in these terms. He said,
even the fruit-bearing Branch pardon me even the unfruitful
branches are true branches They are in Christ though. They draw
their life from him only to bear leaves Really He goes on and
says how can a man be in Christ and yet afterwards separate himself
from him It is a mystery not greater nor less than involved
in a in the fall of the creature of created innocent. Well, what
he’s pointing to is Adam and Eve and that’s his argumentation
that if Adam and Eve fell, then certainly a man can go through
life without bearing even one degree of proof that he’s in
Christ and ultimately he goes to heaven. Well, I would disagree
with that argument in the strongest terms. Secondly, there’s another
way of looking at this. These are true Christians who
are taken up to heaven. They’re snatched out of the earth
by physical death as a discipline. Now, we’re all going to die.
We’re already in the process of dying. We’re already aging. Ultimately, we have been promised,
you know, by scripture, 70 to 80 years. And even that is relative, not
a hard and fast number. One person said of this group
of people, They may be truly in Christ and yet may not bear
fruit. This severe warning was probably
an allusion to the failure and doom of Judas. Now did you grasp
that? His suggestion is that Judas
was just, he was actually saved but just unfruitful and so God
killed him off because of his sinful betrayal and took him
to heaven. Is that what we think this means? That’s unthinkable.
Unthinkable. There’s a third option. Every
branch in me that does not bear fruit. The third option to me
is the only option that we have. That one who is merely a professing
believer, they say they believe occasionally, you know, they
come to church, even a lifelong routine of attending church. But there’s no fruit in their
lives at all. There’s no reason to believe
that their profession. There’s no reason to see that
they have any fruit whatsoever in their lives. This is the mere
professing believer who ultimately is severed from this superficial
connection with Christ. We’ll talk more about that in
a moment. They are united to Christ in
profession only. They say that they believe in
Christ, and in reality, there’s no proof to it at all. Now, the
ultimate treatment of barren branches is discussed further
in verse 6, and we’ll get there in days and weeks to come. But
it seems definitive here that these are not only not fruitful
Christians, they’re not Christians at all. To be a Christian is
to bear fruit. To be a Christian is to grow
in Christ. And that’s why Jesus goes on to say that every branch
in me that does not bear fruit, what is the fruit? Well, it’s a cultivation of the
spiritual life, which we were discussing this the other night.
The same God that initiates the work of salvation in an individual’s
life is the same God that begins the work of sanctification. So
if God has saved an individual, that same God who did the saving
will be doing the sanctification. He will be bringing to light
sins. He will be bringing the individual
to confession. He will be building up those
character qualities in his life. humility, righteousness, joy. And so, it’s the spiritual life. Is the individual alive at all
in Christ? Now, all of us have room to grow.
All of us would say that we are not as fruitful as we ought to
be. That’s the purpose of this passage. That was the purpose
to the apostles. Look, you haven’t arrived yet. It’s the fruit of the spirit.
Love. Love not only for God, but love
for one another. Love for the lost. Love for the
unlovely. Joy. A deep-seated joy that goes
beyond just happiness. It exudes from us because we
know that our sin is forgiven. Peace. Peace with God. Peace with others. peace within
our own hearts, love, joy, peace, patience, something we all lack, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things,
there is no law. That’s exactly the argument that
we just heard read from Galatians. You can’t legalize these things.
You can’t make us. And even if we do begin to obey,
that’s self-righteousness, which is as filthy rags. Nevertheless,
Jesus did admonish believers in the strongest terms, bring
forth fruit in keeping with repentance. You say that you believe in Christ.
You say that you’ve turned your back on sin. Live it. Be it. bring forth fruit in keeping
with repentance. One of the strongest admonitions
in all of Scripture is in Matthew chapter 7. Would God’s people
just turn there for a moment? This illustration of fruitfulness
is throughout the Scriptures. In every corner, you would be
amazed at how many times it pops up, this idea, this metaphor
of bearing fruit being and becoming what we ought to be by God’s
grace. Matthew chapter 7 is one of the
most sobering of all. Matthew 7 and verse 16, you will
know them by their fruits. You will know Christians by their
fruits. Grapes are not gathered from
thorn bushes or figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree
bears good fruit and the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good
tree cannot produce bad fruit nor can a bad tree produce good
fruit. Every tree that does not bear
good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire so then you will
know them by their fruits. If your life is absent of fruit. If you see no sign of growth
in grace, if you don’t love God more and hate sin more now than
you did when you first placed your faith in Christ, as the
Puritans say, repent of your repentance and go again in faith
to Christ. Stay in Matthew just for a second.
But listen to how often this occurs. Matthew 13, 8. The parable of the soil. Some bore a hundredfold, some
60, some 30. And the whole point of that is
that parable is fruit bearing in the life of the Christian.
Matthew 13, 23. The one on whom seed was sown
on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word, understand
it, who bears fruit and brings forth some hundredfold, some
60, and some 30. Colossians 1.6, bearing fruit
and increasing. Hebrews 12.11, the peaceful fruit
of righteousness. Hebrews 13.5, the fruit of lips
that give thanks to his name. James 3.18, whose fruit is righteousness. Fruit bearing is in every corner
of the scriptures. Back, if you would, to the gospel
of John. In John 15, every branch in me that does not bear fruit,
he takes away. So then it’s no longer in Christ. It was appended in some way,
shape or form, much like Israel was appended. And yet for a season
has been cut off and the Gentiles grafted in, Romans 11. But when it says every branch
in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. The word there,
it’s fascinating. The same word there, 1 Corinthians
5.2 is used of excommunication. It’s taken completely away. And
as I said, we’ll get to that passage in verse six that talks
specifically and explicitly about dealing with these branches.
But here’s the vine grower coming to the choice vine, a very expensive
vine and a very expensive proposition. And he comes to the vine one
day and there is an absolutely dead unproductive branch. that
just is drawing the sap off the vine for absolutely no good purpose. And he’s born with it, he’s bandaged
it up, he’s cultivated, he’s staked it, he’s cared for it,
he’s watered it, he’s given it nutrients, and it has produced
nothing. God does the same thing. Maybe there’s a temptation that
comes into the individual’s heart and life and he’s taken away. Maybe it’s some other means where
he just wakes up one morning and decides to stop coming to
church. No, he didn’t. He was taken away. Maybe it’s even death itself.
Scriptures talk about that and as we come to the Lord’s table,
there is no more severe admonition in scripture when you come to
the Lord’s table than this Whoever eats The bread or drinks
the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the
body and blood of the Lord We don’t come to this table Flippantly,
we don’t come to this table casually. We don’t come to this table unless
we have decided to by God’s grace to turn our back on sin and turn
our face to Christ and to plead for him for grace to be and become
who we’re called to be. That’s the purpose of the Lord’s
table. And if we don’t, the scripture’s clear. A man must examine himself
and in so doing, eat the bread and drink the cup. For he who
eats and drinks, drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge
the body rightly. We don’t play with the Lord’s
table. It’s fruitfulness. There’s another operation in
place as the vine grower is coursing through the vineyard. Not only
is he trimming away all these dead branches, but then he comes
to another branch. Look at it if you would in verse
two. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it. so that it may bear more fruit. We’ve already seen the nature
of the fruit, love, joy, peace. And the vine grower comes to
this particular branch, this little shoot off the main vine
that is flourishing, really. And it is producing those things,
love and joy and patience, kindness, Paul says to the Ephesians, the
fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness
and truth. And the vine grower sees that fruit, the vine grower
sees that richness. The vine grower sees this potential
of even greater fruit. So he prunes it. What? Here’s a branch that is growing
and flourishing. It has a large cluster of grapes
already growing on it. Why on earth would we prune that
branch? It doesn’t make any sense to
us as we peer over the wall. We’ve borne fruit. We are fruitful Christians. We’ve
obeyed and we’ve grown and we’ve produced. Why this pruning? Why this painful procedure by
the Father? Why trials? It’s interesting, and I’ll tell
you already, this same word is used in the next verse. And it
creates a lot of confusion among people who read it only in a
casual fashion. In the next verse it says, you
are already clean. It’s the same verse that he says
here, pruned. He comes along and He cleans
us. He prunes that vine. He cleans
off that vine. He cleans it from unnecessary
twigs. He cleans it from excessive shoots
which are just draining on the branch. He wants the fruit to
grow. He wants the fruit to be maximized. And so the word cleanse is used
here in the sense of cleansing by way of pruning. So the great vine dresser comes
and he does this cleansing. He prunes these branches. He
prunes these fruit bearing branches for the purpose of producing
in them maximum fruitfulness. And these 11 apostles specifically, as these other little shoots,
little nodules begin to grow, the Father comes along. and nips
away at them. And that pruning points in very clear terms to the process
that God uses in our life called trials, right? That’s the pruning. That when God allows those trials
into our lives, He has a purpose in them, and the purpose is making
us bear more fruit. Turn, if you would, to 1 Peter. In 1 Peter you have a fascinating
little section that lets us in on this procedure. It tells you
of the careful precision that is used by Almighty God in the
life of believers for the purpose of making them bear maximum fruit. I’m not going to spend time in
the entire passage, but I want you to go immediately to verse
6. In this, you greatly rejoice,
even though now, for a little while, if necessary. You have
been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith
being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though
tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory
and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. I just want you
to note four things. These trials, when they come
along, they’re temporary. even though now for a little
while, if necessary, they’re necessary. They’re not only temporary,
but they’re necessary. They have a plan in God’s economy. They have a purpose, and they
are greatly varied. You have been distressed by various
trials. God has an arsenal, an infinite
arsenal. He can bring a trial into each
one of our lives that is so different and so varied. Some will be health,
some will be business, some will be their own personal affections,
what they fall into. Not only are they temporary and
necessary, greatly varied, but look at this, they’re purposeful.
In this you greatly rejoice even Though now for a little while,
if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that the proof
of your faith, the fruit, may be found to result in praise
and glory and honor. There’s a purpose to trials.
They have the effect of purifying us, burning off the dross, as
it were, and making us more and more every day like Christ. May I take you to another Hebrews,
the book of Hebrews in chapter 12. We want to be cleansed by the vine
dresser himself. We want to be purified for maximum
fruitfulness, but that’s going to mean painful trials because
those are typically the only way that we learn the lessons
that we need to learn. start in Hebrews chapter 12,
look at verse 4. He gives them perspective in
the midst of trials. You have not yet resisted to
the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin. In
other words, this is a commendatory statement. He says, look, you’re
doing well, you’re growing in grace, you are Christians, you’re
living like Christians as you ought, but let’s be real for
a moment. Let’s not think that you have
given maximum resistance to sin by shedding your own blood by
dying. You’ve not yet resisted to the
point of shedding blood and you’re striving against sin and you
have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as
sons. I get the sense that these people were muttering around,
murmuring, where do I get this image from us, wandering around
lamenting at the trouble, the trial, the difficulty that they
were enduring. And he says, look, you’ve forgotten
all about God’s plan. He’s a vinedresser. He’s pruning
you. My son, do not regard lightly
the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved. pruned, disciplined by Him. For those whom the Lord loves,
He disciplines. Those whom the Lord loves, He
prunes. And He scourges every son whom
He receives. Then He gives them the purpose.
Why discipline? It’s no different than we’ve
already seen. It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with
you as sons. For what son is there whom his
father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline,
of which you have all become partakers, then you are illegitimate
children and not sons. In other words, you’re just like
so many orphans running the streets, unloved by anyone. But if you
are in the Father’s hands, if you’re in the Father’s vineyard,
if He is attending to you, if He’s pruning you through trials,
that’s proof of His love for you. Furthermore, Verse 9, we
had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall
we not much more rather subject to the father of spirits and
live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best
to them, but he disciplines us for our good so that we may share
in his holiness. And then the writer here of Hebrews
gives us this perfection in discipline. That’s what we want to be, right?
We want to grow in grace. We ultimately want to be glorified
in Christ. We want to be what God wants
us to be. All discipline for the moment
seems not to be joyful but sorrowful. Now, have you ever met anybody
who really rejoiced and was thankful for the trial? That’s hypocrisy. We’re not called to be thankful
for the trial. We’re called to be joyful in
it. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful but sorrowful.
Yet those who have been trained by it, those who have been attended
to by the great vine dresser, those who have been pruned by
God’s loving hand, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit
of righteousness. There’s the image again. God
is working on us. God is bringing to us exactly
what we need for maximum fruitfulness. But there’s a very careful clarification
that Jesus provides. Look, if you would, at verse
3. You are already clean because
of the word which I have spoken to you. Jesus has already said to the
disciples this same truth recently in John 13 10. You are clean,
but not all of you. in the context of Judas’s departure.
There, it is clearly an allusion to spiritual purity, to this
process of sanctification. They now stand before God in
the righteousness of Christ. We get that. We understand that.
But here, when he says, you are all clean, he’s using the same
word that he just used to talk about pruning. The word clean
in this context refers to branches that have been pruned for even
greater fruitfulness. Do you hear what he says to these
men? This can only mean that the disciples
had already produced fruit because they’d already been saved. They’ve
already responded to Christ’s word of salvation. They’ve already
begun to serve Christ. They’ve already produced fruit. And along comes the father, the
owner of the vineyard, the skilled craftsman who examines these
branches and gathers the fruit. And now he has come to prune
them for even greater use and fruitfulness. He says, you’re
clean. It doesn’t refer to the removal
of sin here. It doesn’t refer to washing or
cleansing or baptism. None of that can do any of that
spiritually speaking. Nor does it refer to some kind
of cleaning justification by faith. There’s a place for that,
but not here. The illustration is much more
straightforward. The illustration comes from that
previous verse. You are all clean. You’re pruned. You’re ready for greater usefulness. And perhaps you’ve been sitting
there this morning almost in horror. at the early part of
verse 2, maybe you even raced ahead to verse 6, and you wonder,
which branch am I? Am I a dead branch? Is it just a matter of time before
the Father comes and removes me from the vine, this outward
profession only? Or am I a real branch. The fruit is not yet ripened.
And admittedly, it is pretty sparse. Only a few grapes on
this vine. Even after so many years of walking
with Christ, the great lament in most people’s lives is, I’ve
done so little. I’m such a poor copy of Christ. How do you know what branch you
are? Turn to 2 Peter. This is one of the occupational
hazards of having men share our time in the discipleship time
afterwards. And I knew as soon as Dan shared
this verse last Lord’s Day that he was stealing good material.
But this is the answer. This is the answer. Look at verse 5, now for this
very reason also applying all diligence in your faith, supply
moral excellence. And in your moral excellence,
knowledge. And in your knowledge, self-control.
And in your self-control, perseverance. And in your perseverance, godliness. And in your godliness, brotherly
kindness. And in your brotherly kindness,
love. For if these qualities, are yours and they are increasing.
If you have any fruit on the vine at all, they render you neither useless
nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. In
other words, Peter says there, who was there for this very presentation
in John’s Gospel, we want to be a fruit bearing
vine. And if you have these unripened, imperfect fruits at work in your
life, you’re far from perfect, and
you never will be in this life. But if God has begun a work in
you, yield to Him, look to His Word,
grow in His Word, lest He apply some more severe measure of trial. to prune you or even remove that
branch from the vine. Would you humble yourselves as
we prepare for the Lord’s table? Our gracious God, we thank you
and praise you for this rich and powerful illustration that
Jesus provides, an illustration of a beautiful vineyard with
a choice vine that would produce the best grapes in all the land
and a meticulous grower attending to that vine for that very purpose. Lord, we submit ourselves to
you as Christians. We know that our lives are not
perfect. Lord, if there is any doubt, as we’ve already said,
let us repent of our repentance. The question is not when we were
saved, but have we been saved? If we sense from our life that
because of the lack of fruit, we are not saved, then let us
repent all over again and place our faith in Christ and turn
to Him and yield ourselves to Him and to His Father’s loving
hand to cultivate Father, if we are not in Christ,
if we know that we bear no fruit at all, if we don’t even know
that we’re on the vine, grant us the grace to examine our condition. Grant us the grace to open our
eyes and to see that Jesus Christ is everything. He’s everything. And we long for his forgiveness.
We long for his redemption. We long for His restoration of
peace between us and a holy God. Lord God, we thank you for this
illustration. We turn our hearts now to the
Lord’s table. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray.
Amen.