March 8, 2015
Scripture:
Hymn 332 - Christ the Saviour of Sinners Came
Prayer
Today we have a new “I am” phrase: “I am the True Vine.” A vine usually bears fruit and grows in a vineyard.
John 15:1-9
Why does He say I am the TRUE Vine? Is there an untrue vine? The untrue vine was Israel. They had been chosen, but they hadn’t been fruitful. God had to cast them off and send His only Son.
He is the true Vine, but He doesn’t bear the fruit. We bear fruit by abiding in Him. Here, He uses another figure of speech. Jesus is the Vine, and He says we are the branches. There are different branches: those that bear fruit and those that don’t bear fruit. There are those that abide in Him, and those that don’t abide in Him. He takes away the branches that don’t bear fruit. There are some people who claim to be Christians, but really aren’t. They may go to a Christian church, but they don’t have the Lord as their Saviour. They make out as if they’re Christians without ever being attached to Jesus. They don’t abide in Him. Some who don’t bear fruit are truly the Lord’s, but don’t live for Him.
This passage says that some bear fruit, some bear more fruit, and some bear much fruit. If you plant tomatoes in the garden you will notice some of the plants will bear little fruit, some will bear more fruit, and others will bear a lot of fruit. The secret to bearing much fruit is purging. When He purges the plant, it will bring forth much fruit. To bring forth fruit there is work the husbandman had to do. He has to purge, and deal with bugs, and pests. This is similar to when we are cleansed by God’s Word.
Galatians 5:22 & 23
We can bear the fruit of the Spirit when we are connected to the Lord by the Holy Spirit. The Christian path is contrary to our nature, but when we are born again we are given a new nature. But we have to abide in Him.
Jesus wants to be our friend. He is our secret friend to whom we can talk all the time, and He understands. If we talk to Him as we go along during the day, and have constant communion with Him, we will grow in the fruit of the Spirit. Just abiding in Him allows the fruit to grow.
He says here “without Me ye can do nothing.” I had a friend who used to print a tract called “How much is nothing?” Nothing means absolutely nothing. The Lord wants us to be dependent on Him. He wants to work through us. We know if we abide in Him we can bear much fruit. If we abide, we can ask Him anything in prayer. We can know His love toward us all the time.
To bring forth fruit, the Lord works in us. But we are responsible for abiding in Him. By this we will bring forth much fruit.
Acts 26
This is the third record of Paul’s salvation, and this time he addressed it to the Gentiles. He told his story to the Jews a few chapters ago. Paul was in chains, and yet he was happy as he talked to those that still had their liberty. He was a demonstration of what he had taught. Many of those listening might not have understood the issues at stake, but he was still anxious for their salvation, and that they would find joy also.
Paul separated himself from the Gentiles he was speaking to by calling Israel “my nation”. He told them of his youth, and how all the Jews who knew him knew that he was a Pharisee; a law keeper. Now he was being judged for believing in the hope of his fathers: Christ. Christ’s kingdom was the Hope of the Jews, but He now is our Hope for salvation.
Paul then challenged King Agrippa with a question: why did he think it would be hard for God to raise the dead? As a former Pharisee, Paul believed in the resurrection. Jesus’ resurrection was obviously the most important, but he believed others would be raised as well.
Originally, Paul thought that he should help stamp out Christianity. He didn’t stone Stephen, but he watched and agreed to it. He made Christians blaspheme, and persecuted them to strange cities. This didn’t make Festus think that Paul was mad, but speaking of being a Christian did!
As Paul went to Damascus to persecute Christians, a light brighter than the sun blinded him. God is love and God is light; but he doesn’t keep that light to himself. His light reveals the truth: that humanity is depraved and sinful. It shows what God hates in our lives; it shows what we are in comparison to what He is.
The truth is the light of God, and God reveals it to people in different ways. On that Damascus road, the Lord showed Paul that what he did against God’s people, he did against God Himself. Festus was right; Paul had been mad: mad against the Christians. God showed him that he was mad against the Lord, too.
“Who are you, Lord?” Paul asked. He acknowledged Christ as Lord, which means Master. It meant he was owned, and sought to serve his owner.
God had a purpose in choosing Paul as minister and a witness. Even while captive, he was able to write many letters to the churches that we still benefit from today. Some of those epistles deal with our “conversation” or manner of life. It shouldn’t be like Paul in his youth, but rather what Paul became!
Hymn 309 – I think when I read that sweet story of old
Prayer