The Living Union Between
Christ And His Children
John 15:1-8
I. Living Unity Between Jesus And His Children Is A Oneness Which Also Results In A Oneness of:
A. Relationship of God --- Romans 8:16-17. "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together."
B. Relationship To Man --- 1 Corinthians 1:10, "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment."
C. Oneness of Character:
1. With His Righteousness we are Clothed.
Romans 3:22, "Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:"
2. By His Righteousness we are Justified.
Galatians 2:21, "I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain."
Titus 3:5, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;"
3. By His Righteousness we are Sanctified.
Hebrews 10:10, "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
D. Oneness of Destiny.
John 14:1-3, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."
II. The Husband And The Dressing of The Vine.
A. Who is the Vine? --- V. 1, "I am the true vine, ..."
B. Who is the Husbandman? --- V. 1, "... my Father is the husbandman."
C. Who are the Fruitless Branches --- V. 6, "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."
1. If there were Any Real Union, there would be some Life.
2. If there were Any Life, there would be some Fruit.
3. Therefore, the branch that has No Fruit, has No Life, because there is No Real Union.
4. Luke 13:25-28, "When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: 26 Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. 27 But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. 28 There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out."
5. Matthew 7:21-23, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
D. Who are the Fruitful Branches? --- The Saved ...
1. We as Christians have Two Natures ...
2. It is the Husbandman's Merciful, though Painful Duty, to cut back unsparingly the rank shoots that comes from Self.
III. Union With Christ Is The Condition of All Fruitfulness.
A. V. 4, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me."
B. Works are not always fruit.
We can bring forth a great deal of ourselves, and because it is of oursleves, it is naught.
C. Christ gives the power to live soberly, righteously, and Godly, and In Him Alone Is That Power To Be Found.
D. Empty the Hear of Worldliness and Christ Will Come In.
IV. Union With Christ Is Sure To Produce Fruitfulness.
A. Christ was talking to the person sitting next to you, but rather He said, "Ye are the branches."
B. Get More of The Sap Into The Branch and there will be More Fruit.
Get More of The Life of Christ in the Heart, and the Conduct and Speech will be More Christ Like.
C. A Little Fruit is Better than No Fruit.
Matthew 7:16, "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?"
D. First of all, Be and the Do.
V. The Union With Christ Is The Condition of Satisfied Desires.
A. V. 7, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."
B. We not only must abide in Christ, but His Word Must Abide In Us.
C. We Must Ask for our desires.
James 4:2, "Ye ... have not, because ye ask not."
VI. This Union And Fruitfulness Leads To The Noble Ends of Glorifying God And Increasing Discipleship.
A. Christ life was All for the Glorifying of God.
John 6:38, "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me."
B. How Many of Us are there about whom People Will Say:
"There must be something in the religion that makes a man like that."
VII. The Withering And Destruction of The Unfruitful.
A. If there was any Real Union, there will be Some Life ---
If there is Any Life, there will be Some Fruit ---
Therefore, the branch that has No Fruit ... has No Life ... because it has No Real Union.
B. Separation is withering and All Men By Nature Are Separated From God.
Ephesians 2:3, "Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."
Romans 3:10, "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:" --- V. 23, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"
Psalm 51:5, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me."
Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
Ecclesiastes 7:20, "For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not."
C. Withering means Destruction.
D. One of two thing must befall the branch.
--- either it is In The Vine, or
--- it gets Into The Fire.
V. 6, "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."
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Truth
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