The Necessity of Fruit Bearing Part 1

Pastor Mike will be speaking on The Necessity of Fruit Bearing. He will be in John 15: 1-11.

The assurance of your salvation is the fruit that you bear. It is the endurance of your faith. It is the Spirit of God bearing witness with your spirit that you truly are a child of God. Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders from The Open Door Church, and this is Hope Worth Having.

We’re delighted that you could join us today as we continue to learn God’s word. Today we’re going to be in the Gospel of John chapter 15 verses 1 through 11, and we’re going to be learning about the necessity of fruit bearing.

You know, Jesus said he wanted to have the fruit that remains, and that should be our heart as well, that we desire to bear fruit that remains. Not just something that sprouts up quickly and dies off, but something that remains and is consistent before the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so that’s our goal. That’s what we’re going to study about today. So grab your Bibles and let’s start learning together. I want you to take your Bible this morning to join me in the Gospel of John chapter 15.

If you’re visiting with us, I want to remind you, or at least let you know, that we have been studying the Gospel of John for quite some time in our church, and we have finally made it to chapter 15.

We’re very excited. And perhaps Mike is more excited than others, but we are glad to go through the Scriptures and the way we kind of teach here at the open doors, just kind of go through chapters and verses, and we just kind of work our way through that and how God speaks to us in these passages.

And we’ve been studying the book of John, and we are now in chapter 15. And today we’re going to cover verse 1 through 11 to the best of our ability, and I want to talk to you this morning about the necessity of fruit -bearing.

As we study the words of Jesus this morning, I want you to know… that He is walking with His disciples, and that as He is walking with His disciples, He is teaching them how to remain faithful and fruitful in their walk for God.

What is interesting is that as we come to chapter 15, this is the last of what we call the I AM statements in the Gospel. So in the Gospel of John, Jesus makes seven I AM declarations. We will review those in our study, not today, but it’s important for you to note that.

These I AM statements in the Gospel of John were designed to show that Christ was equal with the I AM the Old Testament, that Jesus, the Son of God, and God the Father are equal. that they are one, one person, God the Father, God the Son, equal, equal, and this is important as we study the life of our Savior.

In this passage today, we’re going to learn about the importance of fruitfulness in the Christian life, the importance, the necessity of fruit -bearing in the Christian life. And so as we look at this word picture that Jesus gives us, it sometimes can be a difficult metaphor and hard for us to understand because we’re not mostly, at least most of us are not agricultural people, we’re not out there working in vineyards.

And so when Jesus gives these different pictures of the relationship that we have with Him in these terms, we may not always grasp it. But I hope to bring a little bit of clarity this morning. I often, when I read this passage, think about perhaps Jesus walking with His disciples to the Mount of Olives and that as they are going their way to prepare for eventually the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross,

they pass many vineyards. And that perhaps at one of these vineyards, Jesus stops and He points at the vineyards. And He begins to share with His disciples these words in verse 1, chapter 15, I am the true vine and my father is the husbandman.

Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, He taketh away. And every branch that beareth fruit, He purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken.

unto you. Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine. No more can you accept you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me you can do nothing.

If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and he is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.

Herein is my father glorified, that you bear much fruit. So shall you be my disciples. As the father has loved me, so have I loved you. Continue in my love. If you can keep my commandments you shall abide in my love even as I have kept my father’s commandments and you abide in his love.

These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full.” So as we examine this text this morning I first want you to see the analogy. The analogy that Jesus lays out for us, the analogy of simply when he states in verse 1 that I am the true vine and my father is the husband man and he goes on to say in verse 5 I am the vine and you are the branches.

So right out of the gate I just want you to know this that Jesus is the vine and that we are the branches and when we say that Jesus is the vine we are saying he is the source. He is the source of all that is fruitful in our life.

That’s why Jesus said in verse 5 you cannot do anything without me. You can do nothing without me. We are the branches. When the Bible teaches us that we are the branches of the vine the vine provides the source for us to bear fruit as branches that we are one with Christ that we are connected as believers we are connected to the vine and as we are abiding connected to the vine we bear fruit we are one with Christ and that gives us the great possibility of having a deep fellowship with Jesus Christ that we are deeply connected with him.

Now the Bible says the father is the gardener he is the farmer he is is the one who tends to it. This unique relationship that we have with the Savior, that we are the branches, Jesus is the vine, and the Father is the husbandman.

He is watching over this relationship and that the Father and the Son are one, and He has given all authority to the Son, and the Son has worked effectively in our hearts, drawing us to Him in that we bear fruit in our lives because of this relationship and this fellowship that we have with Jesus Christ.

Now, Jesus uses this analogy and He teaches us, and that’s what I want you to see. He’s teaching us some important truths this morning. And so we look at verse two. He says every branch in me bears not fruit.

He takes away. and every branch that bears fruit, He purges it, that it might bring forth more fruit.” So here’s what I want you to know. The unfruitful are cut off. The unfruitful are cut off. That is, that those who bear no fruit, they are taken away.

They are cut off of the vine. Look at verse 6 again in this chapter. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned.

Jesus is teaching us that the branches are cut off from the vine. And why are they cut off? Simply because they do not believe. They do not have faith in Christ. The fruitless branches represent counterfeit disciples.

If ever there was a message that needed to be preached to the people who think they are followers of Christ, that they have true salvation, but they have never truly repented and believed in Christ, but they are counterfeit, that they appear to be connected, but they are not connected to the vine.

And the reason that they are not connected to the vine is because they do not have faith in Jesus Christ. And how do we know that they are fake? We know by their fruit. You know, every once in a while people will say to me, Mike, don’t judge me.

They’ll say, don’t preach to me. Don’t judge me, Mike. and I remind them that they’re taking Matthew chapter 7 out of context and that God is not telling us to abandon discernment. He is not telling us that we are not allowed to make judgments and that there are times that we do have to make judgments friends for our own safety, for our own life.

And I cannot believe that God would tell us that we just go through life recklessly and that we’re not allowed to have any knowledge of understanding the differences of what is right and what is wrong.

But that’s just the opposite. God just tells us how to judge. Matthew 7 is not about not judging, it’s about the principles of how to judge and how to have discernment. And again, we rush into passages, we pull out phrases, we build our own theologies.

and we excuse our disobedience to God through our own fake false theology that does not line up with the Word of God. But these branches can be judged, and these branches can be judged because they do not bear fruit.

And the fruitless branches are a reflection that their faith is not real. Because true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ always manifests fruitful obedience to God. Did you hear me? I know you’re shocked.

You thought that you could just pray a prayer, live like the devil, go on with life, tell people you’re a Christian, and that you’re good. But see, friends, you’re just pulling out certain parts of the Bible.

You’re not getting the whole counsel of God’s Word. The Bible is very clear that true faith always bears fruit. It always bears fruit to God. Even in our scripture reading, John is very bold to say that those who truly believe in Jesus Christ do not practice sin.

He is not saying believers don’t ever sin because we do, but we don’t practice it. We don’t practice a lifestyle of sin. And because we do not practice a lifestyle sin, that when we do sin, we are very sensitive because of the Spirit of God working in us, and that our conscience is trained, and that it is shaped and taught by God’s Word, that we are repentive, we are humble, and we come to God and say,

Lord, I have failed you, I have sinned against you, and I confess my sin to you. That is the manifestation. a true believer. In 1 John 2 .19 we are reminded that John says they went out from us, that there were those who claimed to be Christians and they left the fellowship, they left the body of Christ, but they were not of us.

For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest that none of them were of us. I’m not trying to make everybody here skeptical of each other, but I am saying to you this, that the Bible tells all of us that we are called to examine our lives spiritually, and that even as parents one of the great things you can do is challenge your children to examine their spiritual life,

to challenge them to say what fruit are you bearing? You claim to be a Christian, you claim to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. You claim that you have repented and believed in Him, and yet what fruit do you bear that manifests itself that you are a true child of God?

Now hear me, the evidence of your faith and the assurance of your faith is not that you prayed a prayer, that you signed a card, that you went to a class, that you were baptized. These are not the assurances of your salvation.

The assurance of your salvation is the fruit that you bear. It is the endurance of your faith. It is the Spirit of God bearing witness with your spirit that you truly are a child of God. When we say to you that the Spirit bears witness, how does the Spirit bear witness?

I’ve taught you this, but I must remind you this morning again. How does the Spirit bear witness to you? Remember these, they’re three C’s, and if you remember these, they will help you in not only developing your own spiritual walk with God, but helping others, perhaps even your own family, to know whether they are truly saved, whether they are truly assured of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

How does the Spirit bear witness? Number one, through conviction. The Spirit of God convicts us of sin. If the Spirit of God lives inside of us, that every time we sin against God, that we fail God, that we are disobedient to God, my friends, the Spirit will convict you.

You see the most miserable people, I know you’re gonna disagree with me, but it’s okay. but the most miserable people are not sinners. Because sinners are out there having a time of their life. The most miserable people are believers who are living disobedient to God.

Because the Spirit of God is working on them, convicting them. And so how do you know that you are a believer? You don’t even get to enjoy sin. Then, you are convicted immediately. The Spirit of God lives in you, and He bears witness that you are His through conviction.

He bears witness to you that you are His by changing you. By changing you. You see, you look back at your life and you see that you are changed. Your desires are changed. Your motives are changed. Your actions are changed, your behaviors are changed.

I’ve told you before, and I’ll tell you again, that when I was a little boy and came to Christ at the age of 11, it wasn’t that I was just strung out on drugs and living a reckless life. There were many things in my life that were wrong, but at the heart of it, I was a sinner who had a sinful nature.

Part of that manifestation of that sinful nature was that I spoke very dishonorably to God by cursing and cussing and using foul language. But when I came to Jesus Christ, my friends, I want you to know that my desire to curse and my desire to speak filthy language left me, that the Spirit of God convicted me, that before that, I did it just aimlessly.

It just was what I had always heard as a little boy, as I grew up in my home, as I went to school, as I rode the school bus. No matter what, all this language was all around me. I just thought it was normal, and everybody should do it.

But when Christ came into my life, I was convicted, and God changed me, and old things began to pass away, and behold, all things began new. Now, before I came to Christ, I have to tell you, I had no knowledge or understanding of the Bible or Jesus.

I know this is hard to believe, but in America, I had no knowledge of the Bible or Jesus. I didn’t even know, nor did I pay attention, that there were these buildings on different places throughout the community called churches, and that people gathered.

And I tell you that before I knew Christ, I had no desire to gather with God’s people. people. But after I came to Christ, even as an 11 -year -old boy, I couldn’t wait to get to church. Now, why is this?

What is this change in Mike? That my mother would say, Mike, you are weird. That you have changed. Now, I did not fully recognize this change. I was just following the desires of my heart that God had put in me by the Spirit of God as He had planted a new heart within me.

And I not only desired to get with God’s people, but when my bus driver said, hey, Mike, you want to come Sunday night? We get together on Sunday night and do it all over again. I said, amen. I want to come.

You guys do this twice a day. I’m all in. And they said, guess what? We do it on Wednesday too. I couldn’t believe it. The church gathered three times a week. I was so ecstatic and so excited. I mean, it was like, you know, I loved sports growing up, and I loved to practice.

I loved to work on whatever sport I was playing, and I couldn’t wait to get with the team and to work together and enjoy, and getting better and trying to make it better. You never had to beg Mike to go to practice, and you didn’t know the church never had to give me a Twinkie or a toy or a bicycle to come to church, because in my heart, God had changed me, and the Spirit of God lived in me, and I couldn’t wait to be at church Sunday morning,

Sunday night, and Wednesday night. I know, some of you are squirming, it’s okay. I know you’re contemporary, you’re modern. You’re smarter than Mike, and I get it. And you don’t need to be here Sunday night and Wednesday night.

You get enough Jesus on Sunday morning, because Pastor Mike preaches 40, 45 minutes, that’s enough to keep us all busy, amen? I tell you that when I came to Christ, I could not put the Bible down. Before, I didn’t even know there was a Bible.

I tell you that I opened my Bible, my mother would say to me, Mike, what are you doing in your room? I mean, back then, we didn’t have cell phones, I know. There was a world, young people, before cell phones.

There was no social media, there was no Facebook, there was no Instagram, and there was no Stappy Chappy, none of that stuff. I’m just telling you that I went to my room to read my Bible. Most kids go to their room to play video games, to do social media, to text and whatever, but when I came to Christ, I could not get enough of his word.

You say, Mike, you’re just one of those unusual people. No, my friends, see, God does not save me different than you. to not save you different than me. And I know that I have a different role and responsibility, but I’m just telling you that when the Spirit of God came in me, he started to change me.

The third evidence that the Spirit of God bears witness to you that you are his is the word comfort. It’s first conviction, it’s second change, it’s third comfort. It is that when you are hurting, when you are grieving, the Spirit of God comforts you, is there to help you, is to help you to walk through the valley, through the trial.

And there are many of you that you have walked in deep waters and the world has said how. And your testimony only is simply this, that Christ is with me and that he helps me bear the burden of my sorrow.

that he helps me to walk through this season of grief in my heart They have looked at you and they have seen peace and they have seen joy in your life This is the manifestation that the Spirit of God lives in you you have walked through divorce You have walked through death you have walked through diseases and health issues and Your burdens have been so heavy that you finish your nights Weeping to God and it is the Spirit of God that has embraced you Appelled you that has empowered you to keep moving forward for Christ While others may have quit and given up the Spirit of God lives in you so vibrantly That even though you could not articulate the depths of your heart’s grief the Spirit of God has taken your heart and Taken your prayers and your requests to the throne of grace and you have found help and you have found grace and mercy in the time of need My friends if you’ve been there and many of you have That is your assurance that you are his That you are a child of God and this is why I say to you That I do not want you to walk away first Thinking you’re a child of God just because you signed a card.

I Do not want you to walk away with lacking assurance Not understanding how God works in your life Even as a 14 year old boy. I struggled with the assurance of my salvation and wondered was I truly a believer And it was my pastor who taught me and helped me to understand how we know that we are truly His.

And so those who are not truly His, they are unfruitful, and they are cut off. But I also want you to learn this morning that the fruitful are pruned. The fruitful are pruned. Look at our text again and notice what he says in verse 2, that he purges, he purges it that it may bring forth more fruit.

You see what God does is He purges us, is He prunes us, if you will. He cuts back. Some of you have flowers, some of you have bushes, some of you have more landscaping than you want. Amen? I tell you that I do not want any more bushes in my yard.

Okay, I need a little maintenance life, okay? And I do not want to have to go out there and fight the beast of a bush that’s overgrown, okay? But thankfully, God has not given up on us, and that He recognized that there are times that we might bear much fruit that He needs to prune us.

He needs to cut back. And so, we would go in there and tackle those bushes and we’d cut them, and then finally I just said to Cherokee, come cut all these trees. Get rid of them. Cut them down. Cut them back.

It doesn’t matter what you charge me. Just cut them back. And I don’t want to tell you, He gave me the pastor’s discount, which is an extra 10%. No, just kidding. And what I found is that these trees, every time they’re cut back, they keep growing.

And they get bigger and bigger, and they keep bearing more fruit. Today, God may be pruning you. God may put you in a season of purging. You don’t like that purging, and you don’t like that pruning, and you are frustrated and questioning and doubting.

But I assure you that as you and I receive by faith this pruning in our life, that God is doing something special that we might bear more fruit in our life. John 15 is a transitional chapter because it’s transitioning us into the preparation of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and His eventual crucifixion and resurrection and ascension into heaven.

And so as we come to John chapter 15, the disciples are learning some basic truths. that are going to equip them to be able to be more faithful to God and understanding the necessity of bearing fruit for Christ is important and that God is calling all of us to be fruit bearers, to manifest the fruit in our life that brings glory to the name of Christ.

We hope this message has been a great blessing to you. I want to make sure that you don’t forget that we’re on Facebook. Make sure you go to your Facebook page and type in Hope Worth Having and you’ll see us like us on Facebook.

Learn more about our ministry. You’ll be able to keep up with not only daily posts, but you’ll be able to learn more about what’s going on in the ministry and things we’re trying to accomplish and to share the gospel out.

So this is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.