His Word Today

“By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” (John 15:8).

How may God be glorified? What does it mean for God to be glorified? Today, we continue our examination of the biblical doctrine of Soli deo Gloria or giving God all the praise and honor for who He is and what He has accomplished.

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals’ 1996 Cambridge Declaration states: We affirm that because salvation is of God and has been accomplished by God, it is for God’s glory and that we must glorify him always. We must live our entire lives before the face of God, under the authority of God and for his glory alone. We deny that we can properly glorify God if our worship is confused with entertainment, if we neglect either Law or Gospel in our preaching, or if self-improvement, self-esteem or self-fulfillment is allowed to become alternatives to the gospel.

Of the vast sum of passages throughout Scripture that emphasize the glory of God, one of the most striking is Ephesians 1:3-14. In this extensive paragraph, the glory of God is the believer’s response because of the specific work of the Father (vs. 3-6), the work of the Son (vs. 7-12), and the work of the Holy Spirit (vs. 13-14) in the unfolding drama of salvation.

In Ephesians 1:3, the Apostle Paul prefaces this entire section by declaring that God has “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” The response by the believer to those blessings is to give God glory.

The believer gives God glory because of the work of the Father. First, the Father chose us (vs. 4). This election, according to God’s sovereign and independent will, happened before the creation of the world. The purpose and result of this was so that believers would be holy and blameless before Him. This means the unrighteous are declared righteous and the sinner is forgiven of all sin (Colossians 2:8-13).

Second, the Father in His love predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ (vs. 5). He marked out beforehand whom He would select as His children. He has given believers not only His name, but also His nature (John 15:15; Romans 8:15).

The ultimate purpose of the Father’s work was so that the believer would give God the glory for salvation. Paul describes this in vs. 6, as “to the praise of the glory of His grace.” This grace, of which the believer gives God glory, was freely given by God. This was a kindness that God was under no pressure or compulsion to give by any authority greater than Himself because there is no authority greater than Himself. This grace was provided through the person and work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Therefore, the believer also gives God glory because of the work of the Son.

Paul declares that the Son has provided redemption (vs. 7). Redemption means to be released from captivity and slavery by a price that is paid. For the sinner, this captivity and slavery is to sin. This redemption is solely through the substitutionary atonement on the cross. It is only through the blood of Christ. I Peter 1:18-20 states, “knowing that you (believers) were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

The redemption Christ provides results in the sinner being forgiven of all trespasses. The penalty and guilt of sin has been released or dismissed. Forgiveness is the remission of a punishment that is deserved. God releases the debt, obligation, and penalty the sinner has earned. He does so not because the sinner has earned God’s love, but rather because of the boundless riches of God’s grace. This grace was lavished upon us because of the kind intentions of God (vs. 9-10).

Secondly, Christ provides an inheritance to all believing sinners. The inheritance is the promise of future glory in heaven with God. The promise of this inheritance is so certain that Paul speaks of it, in vs. 11, as if it has already been given. This future destiny is according to the sovereign purpose of God who does everything according to His perfect will. The Apostle Peter describes this inheritance as imperishable, undefiled, and one that will not fade away ( I Peter 1:4).

Accordingly, the ultimate purpose of redemption and the believer’s eternal inheritance in Jesus Christ is to give God glory. Vs. 12 states, “to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.”

The believer also gives God glory because of the work of the Holy Spirit. Paul does not comprehensively focus on everything the Holy Spirit does in the believer’s soul in this text, but rather on the mark of identification the Spirit accomplishes. The Holy Spirit seals the believing sinner. Most specifically, the Holy Spirit is the seal. The seal describes a guarantee, a proof of authenticity, ownership, and authority by the One who not only is the seal but Who also does the sealing. Ephesians 1:13-14 states, “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of the truth, the gospel of your salvation – having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.”

As one commentator has written, God’s own Spirit comes to indwell the believer and secures and preserves his eternal salvation. The sealing of which Paul speaks refers to an official mark of identification placed on a letter, contract, or other document. That document was thereby officially under the authority of the person whose stamp was on the seal.” Four primary truths are signified by the seal: (1) Security. Daniel 6:17; Matthew 27:62-66; (2) Authenticity. I Kings 21:6-16; (3) Ownership. Jeremiah 32:10; (4) Authority. Esther 8:8-12.

God gives the Holy Spirit as a pledge so that what He has promised regarding eternal life in Christ will be completely fulfilled. There is nowhere in Scripture where believers are exhorted to be sealed. The sealing takes place when God brings the sinner to saving faith in Christ. The believer’s response to the work of the Holy Spirit, by the sovereign plan of the Father carried out by the Son, is to give God the glory.

Believers glorify God by rejoicing in the salvation of the gospel of Jesus Christ that the Lord has given by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. The Reformers may have rekindled the fires of God’s people glorifying Him because of salvation’s worth, but the New Testament writers spoke clearly and often concerning this primary purpose of man.

But how does the believer go about giving God glory? Is giving God glory only through singing and praising Him with music? Or does giving God glory involve much more?

Soli deo Gloria!

 

“By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” (John 15:8).

How may God be glorified? What does it mean for God to be glorified?

One of the Sola’s of the 16^th century Protestant Reformation was the phrase Soli deo Gloria. You have obviously noticed that I conclude each devotional with that phrase.

In April 1996, the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals held its first major meeting of evangelical scholars. The Cambridge Declaration, first presented at this meeting, was/is a call to the evangelical church to turn away from the worldly methods it has come to embrace, and to recover the Biblical doctrines of the Reformation. The Cambridge Declaration explains the importance of regaining adherence to the five “solas” of the Reformation.

Thesis One: Sola Scriptura. We reaffirm the inerrant Scripture to be the sole source of written divine revelation, which alone can bind the conscience. The Bible alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured. We deny that any creed, council or individual may bind a Christian’s conscience, that the Holy Spirit speaks independently of or contrary to what is set forth in the Bible, or that personal spiritual experience can ever be a vehicle of revelation.

Thesis Two: Solus Christus. We reaffirm that our salvation is accomplished by the mediatorial work of the historical Christ alone. His sinless life and substitutionary atonement alone are sufficient for our justification and reconciliation to the Father.
We deny that the gospel is preached if Christ’s substitutionary work is not declared and faith in Christ and his work is not solicited.

Thesis Three: Sola Gratia. We reaffirm that in salvation we are rescued from God’s wrath by his grace alone. It is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit that brings us to Christ by releasing us from our bondage to sin and raising us from spiritual death to spiritual life. We deny that salvation is in any sense a human work. Human methods, techniques or strategies by themselves cannot accomplish this transformation. Faith is not produced by our unregenerate human nature.

Thesis Four: Sola Fide. We reaffirm that justification is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone. In justification Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us as the only possible satisfaction of God’s perfect justice. We deny that justification rests on any merit to be found in us, or upon the grounds of an infusion of Christ’s righteousness in us, or that an institution claiming to be a church that denies or condemns sola fide can be recognized as a legitimate church.

Thesis Five: Soli deo Gloria. We reaffirm that because salvation is of God and has been accomplished by God, it is for God’s glory and that we must glorify him always. We must live our entire lives before the face of God, under the authority of God and for his glory alone. We deny that we can properly glorify God if our worship is confused with entertainment, if we neglect either Law or Gospel in our preaching, or if self-improvement, self-esteem or self-fulfillment are allowed to become alternatives to the gospel.

The Reformation was not only a break from the apostate system of the Roman Catholic Church, but also a return and recommitment to the essential biblical truths of the nature of salvation that Jesus Christ and the apostles taught in the New Testament Scriptures. The true nature of salvation, based upon the authority of Scripture alone, is that salvation from the penalty, power, and eventual presence of sin is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Grace alone is the operative word of God wherein He sets His love, mercy, and unmerited favor upon the fallen sinner. This is initiated upon the sinner by the monergistic work of the Holy Spirit in regenerating the sinner through the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. (John 3:1-8; I John 3:9).

When regeneration, or the new birth occurs (John 3:1-8), the sinner is given the ability to commit to, trust in, depend upon, and worship the God of salvation and in turn be saved. This is the instrument of faith alone. Along with grace, faith is a sovereign gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9; Philippians 1:29; 2 Peter 1:1; Acts 13:48). The sinner exercises this God given faith into the only object sufficient to save the sinner: Jesus Christ.

What must the sinner believe about Jesus Christ? The sinner must place faith in Jesus’ eternal sinless existence as God, His incarnation as the eternal God-Man, His sinless life, His substitutionary death for sinners on the cross, His bodily resurrection, His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and His soon return in power, might, and glory. These are the indispensable truths that must be believed for the fallen sinner to become a child of God.

At this moment of trust, the sinner is declared by God to be righteous in His sight. This righteous standing is not on the basis of anything the believer has done, including believing, but completely on the merit of Jesus Christ and the grace of God the Father. This imputed righteousness is known as justification.

What must be the believer’s response to such a change of standing between him and God? The sinner, who once was condemned before God, is now a justified child of God. Where hell and eternal damnation was the destination of such an individual, now heaven and eternal life is the confident expectation based upon the promises of God. What must the response be to such graciousness and mercy? Soli Deo Gloria! To God be the glory!

We will take the next several days to comprehensively explain this biblical doctrine. Let us all pray and consider how we may truly glorify the Lord in our lives.

Soli deo Gloria!

 

 

 

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (John 15:7)

Prayer is a conversation between God and believers in Jesus Christ. I recently read that two things must be continually considered when we go to the Lord in prayer. First, when we pray we must remember who God is. Secondly, we must also remember who we are. God is not to be perceived as some sort of cosmic Santa Claus who is available in order to satisfy our every whim and want.

Consider this when engaging in prayer. God is the creator; we are the created. God is the redeemer; we are the redeemed. God is the justifier; we are the justified. God is holy; we are unholy. God is the shepherd; we are the sheep.

Jesus said to His disciples that biblical prayer is the result of a right relationship with Him and the Father. If believers continue to remain in Christ by being obedient to the Word of God, and displaying such obedience by evidencing the resulting fruit of the Spirit, then believers can be bold to ask God whatever they wish and it will be done for them. The reason why their request will be answered is because the request has been saturated by, and reflects obedience to, the Word and will of God.

This in essence is the idea behind Psalm 37:3-4 which says, “Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” To trust means to be confident and to rely upon God. To delight means to take pleasure in God: who He is and what He does. Such a person will have desires reflective of their trust and their delight in the Lord. Therefore, their prayers will be granted because those prayers will reflect their desire to trust and delight in the Lord.

Dr. Burk Parsons explains that, “John 15:7 records Jesus’ words that when we abide in Christ and He abides in us, our prayers will be effective. In other words, when we lean only on Christ and seek to have His teaching shape our lives, God will grant us fruitfulness when we pray for it. This is not a guarantee that obeying Christ means we will receive everything we could ever want; rather, as Christ’s words abide in us, we will come more and more to pray for what He wants, and therefore we will see results.

This is the understanding behind I John 5:14-15 which says, “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”

Let me encourage you to always saturate your whole heart with the Word of God prior to going to the Lord in prayer for the will of God. The will of God will always reflect a proper understanding of the Word of God.

Soli deo Gloria!

 

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.” (John 15:5-6)  

When doctrinal truths, or even particular words, are repeated in Scripture they are done so for emphasis. Such is the case in John 15:5-6 when Jesus repeated what He had previously stated to His disciples in vs. 1-4. What truths were restated and reconsidered by the Lord?

First, Jesus stated that He was the vine and His disciples were the branches. As such, disciples of the Lord are joined to Him and responsible to bear fruit for His glory and honor. The fruit disciples are to evidence are those qualities and characteristics which best exemplify the qualities and characteristics of the Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 5:22-23 describes this so-called fruit of the Spirit as follows: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” This type of fruitful living best exemplifies a disciple and follower of Jesus Christ.

Second, disciples of Jesus are to abide in Him. This means they are to remain, stay and reside in Christ by obedience to display the fruits of the Spirit. This speaks of the perseverance of the saints. All true believers in Christ will abide in Christ. Those who do not abide in Christ are not true believers of Christ (I John 2:19).

Third, those who do not abide in Christ are thrown away like a branch which has been cut off from the vine and/or the tree. I recently removed a branch from my peach tree located in my back yard. Soon after I discarded the removed branch, the leaves on the branch began to wither and die. It was because the branch was no longer joined to the tree. I removed the branch from the life giving sap of the tree.

In light of this statement by Jesus, is our Lord teaching that true believers can and do lose their salvation? This is often argued in light of John 15:5-6. I do not believe this is the case.

Dr. R. C. Sproul provides some wonderful insight when he writes, “His (Jesus) warnings about what will happen to those who are unfruitful is not a declaration about whether one can lose one’s salvation; they are an encouragement to believers to test the genuineness of their faith by examining their fruit and asking God to do what is necessary to make them more fruitful.”

Dr. Sproul concludes, “We do not want to be among those who make a false profession and end up in the fire. Thus, we seek to know that we possess genuine faith, and one way we do that is by looking to our lives for evidence of spiritual fruit. We will invariably be disappointed by what we see, given the abiding presence of sin, but even meager fruit is better than none. And we will also ask the Father to prune us, to do what it takes to make us more fruitful, so that our harvest increases.”

Are you willing to ask your heavenly Father to prune you in order for Him to produce more, and much more, spiritual fruit in your life? What areas in your life need to be pruned by the Lord?

Soli deo Gloria!

 

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” (John 15:1-4).

What does it mean to “abide in Christ?” The word “abide” (μείνατε; meinate) means to remain, to reside and to stay. Jesus commands His disciples to remain, reside and stay in Him. Fundamental in our understanding of remaining in Christ is the truth that we can only abide in Christ if we have first been joined to Christ by grace alone, through faith alone in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone. To remain in Christ means that salvation has already occurred in Christ.

I John 2:19 says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”

Therefore, it stands to reason that those who do not remain in Christ never belonged to Christ in the first place. They professed a love for Christ but they did not possess a love for Christ. They may have joined a church but they were not joined to Christ. They may have sung psalms, hymns and spiritual songs extolling Christ but they did not know the One about whom they sang. They may have partaken of the Lord’s Supper but they did not partake of the Lord of the Supper. The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is taught in today’s text.

Dr. John MacArthur explains that, “The ones who persevere are the same ones who are saved—not the ones whose love grows cold (Matthew 24:12). This does not suggest that our perseverance secures our salvation. Scripture everywhere teaches precisely the opposite: God, as part of his saving work, secures our perseverance. True believers “are being guarded through faith for a salvation” (I Peter 1:5). The guarantee of our perseverance is built into the New Covenant promise. God says: “I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me” (Jeremiah 32:40). Those who do fall away from Christ give conclusive proof that they were never truly believers to begin with (I John 2:19).”

Dr. MacArthur continues by stating, “To say that God secures our perseverance is not to say that we are passive in the process, however. He keeps us “through faith” (I Peter 1:5)—our faith. Scripture sometimes calls us to hold fast to our faith (Hebrews 10:23; Revelation 3:11) or warns us against falling away (Hebrews 10:26-29). Such admonitions do not negate the many promises that true believers will persevere (John 10:28-29; Romans 8:38-39; I Corinthians 1:8-9; Philippians 1:6). Rather, the warnings and pleas are among the means God uses to secure our perseverance in the faith. Notice that the warnings and the promises often appear side by side. For example, when Jude urges believers, “keep yourselves in the love of God” (Jude 21), he immediately points them to God, “who is able to keep you from stumbling” (Jude 24).”

We abide in Christ by remaining obedient to Christ. We remain obedient to Christ because God’s love has been poured into our hearts.

Romans 5:1-5 says, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

The believer can abide in Christ because Christ abides with the believer. Meditate upon the lyrics from Matt Redman’s song Abide With Me.

VERSE
I have a home
Eternal home
But for now I walk this broken world
You walked it first
You know our pain
But You show hope can rise again up from the grave

CHORUS
Abide with me
Abide with me
Don’t let me fall
And don’t let go
Walk with me
And never leave
Ever close God abide with me

VERSE
There in the night
Gethsemane
Before the cross
Before the nails
Overwhelmed
Alone You prayed
You met us in our suffering and bore our shame

BRIDGE
O love that will not ever let me go
Love that will not ever let me go
You never let me go
Love that will not ever let me go

VERSE
And up ahead
Eternity
We’ll weep no more and sing for joy
Abide with me
We’ll weep no more and sing for joy
Abide with me

Soli deo Gloria!

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” (John 15:1-4).

When my family and I lived in West Michigan for nine years, our home was surrounded by fruit orchards and farms. Apples, peaches, strawberries, cherries and a number of other fruit trees and vines adorned the landscape for miles. We often went strawberry, blueberry and apple picking for example during their respective harvests. These are precious memories which I will always cherish.

I remember one particularly cold, winter’s day when I left my house to travel 30 miles to Grand Rapids. I always passed by the home of my neighbor. He owned one of the fruit farms I just spoke of. His property bordered my own.

What I noticed that day intrigued me. Here was my neighbor in the middle of his apple grove on a winter’s day pruning his apple trees. As he did so, he also began burning a pile of dead branches he had previously pruned and gathered. He knew what branches to prune, even when there was no fruit on the trees, because he knew the trees he was pruning.  He not only owned them but he spent nearly every day of every season of the year in the midst of that orchard.

This pruning was not for the purpose of hurting the trees, but rather to make the trees more productive. The winter pruning was so that the trees would bear more fruit and yield a greater harvest the following autumn.

What I observed that day in a grove of pruned apple trees is the truth Jesus illustrated in John 15:1-4. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” (John 15:1-4).

As believers are joined to Christ, who is the vine, God the Father, the gardener, accomplishes a two-fold work. First, branches which do not produce fruit He takes away. What does this mean? The phrase “takes away” (αἴρω; airo) is a forceful and strong term. It means to destroy, to execute and to remove. Do true believers then, who do not produce spiritual fruit (Galatians 5:22-23), lose their salvation?

Dr. John MacArthur explains that, “The branches that do not bear fruit are those who profess to believe, but their lack of fruit indicates genuine salvation has never taken place and they have no life from the vine. Especially in the immediate context, Judas was in view, but the imagery extends from him to all those who make a profession of faith in Christ but do not actually possess salvation. The image of non-fruit-bearing branches being burned pictures eschatological judgment and eternal rejection (see Ezek. 15:6–8).The picture is of the vinedresser (i.e., the Father) getting rid of dead wood while preserving the living, fruit-bearing branches. The dead branches picture apostate Christians who never genuinely believed and will be taken away in judgment (v. 6; Matt. 7:16; Eph. 2:10). They have never truly experienced the life of Christ within them (John 8:31–32; cf. Matt. 13:18–23; 24:12; Heb. 3:14–19; 6:4–8; 10:27–31; 1 John 2:19; 2 John 9).”

Secondly, those branches which do bear fruit, illustrative of genuine believers joined to Christ, God the Father prunes in order for them to bear more spiritual fruit. Dr. MacArthur continues by saying, “God removes all things in the believer’s life that would hinder fruit bearing, i.e., he chastises to cut away sin and hindrances that would drain spiritual life just as the farmer removes anything on the branches that keep them from bearing maximum fruit (Heb. 12:3–11).  

This is what my neighbor was doing on that cold winter’s day. He was removing dead branches and pruning the live branches. God does the same thing in the life of the believer.

John Calvin writes, “He (God) speaks of pruning, or cleansing, because our flesh abounds in superfluities and destructive vices, and is too fertile in producing them, and because they grow and multiply without end if we are not cleansed or pruned by the hand of God. When He says that vines are pruned, that they may yield more abound fruit, He shows what ought to be the progress of believers in the course of true religion.”

Take time to thank God for His pruning in your life.

Soli deo Gloria!

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” (John 15:1-4).

What did Jesus mean when He compared Himself to a vine and for that matter, a true vine? The word “true” (ἀληθινός; alethinos) means genuine or real along with not being imaginary. The word “vine” (ἄμπελος; ampelos) specifically refers to a grapevine. Jesus spoke of a fruit bearing vine. Coupled together these two words, Jesus was expressing the inward and intimate fellowship He has with each of His disciples: then and now.

When Jesus said He was the “true vine” this presumes that there are those who pretend they are either true vines, or connected to such. But in reality are liars and deceivers. This would mean Satan who is the father of lies (Genesis 3; John 8:44) along with those who follow him (I John 2:26).

Jesus then said that “and my Father is the vinedresser.” The noun Father, from the Greek word πατήρ (pater) in which we derive our English word “paternal” meaning fatherly or a male parent, is a specific reference to God the Father. Jesus refers to Him as “my” Father. Jesus also made this reference to the Father in John 5:18 wherein the Jews rightly concluded that Jesus was making Himself equal with God.

Jesus said the Father “is the vinedresser.” The little word “is” means the Father presently, actively and singularly exists as something or someone. That someone God the Father is compared to is a vinedresser.

A vinedresser is a tenant farmer, a share-cropper or even a gardener. He is a person who works the land by digging into the ground for agricultural or gardening purposes. Where I live in Indiana, there are multiple  farms owned and tended to by dedicated farmers. In a more modest way, one of my favorite hobbies is working outside my house during the spring, summer and autumn seasons. I thoroughly enjoy working in my flower beds and landscaping my front and backyard.

A background commentary to Jewish history indicates that “The Old Testament and Jewish literature sometimes portrayed Israel as a vineyard (e.g., Isaiah 5:7), or less frequently as a vine (e.g., Psalm 80:8; Hosea 10:1), and God as the vine grower. A golden vine in the temple symbolized Israel’s power, and Jesus may here portray the disciples as the remnant of Israel (see comment on 15:16). The most basic point of the imagery is the obvious dependence of branches on the vine for their continued life.”

Isaiah 5:1-7 says. “Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.  I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!”

God the Father is characterized as one who carefully protects the vine and the fruit of the vine. In the Old Testament, Israel was known as the vineyard of God. However, it failed to produce the fruit of righteousness. Rather, it produced the wild grapes of sinfulness.

However, by being the true vine Jesus Christ is the true Israel of God. Jesus is the fruitful servant who will accomplish God’s purposes for salvation and glorification of God’s people. God the Father’s people are those joined to the true vine, Jesus Christ, by the sovereign grace of God alone, through the sovereign gift of faith alone, in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone. This is ultimately for the glory of God alone.

How does God the Father protect the fruit of the vine, which are those joined to the true vine, Jesus Christ? The answer Jesus gave may surprise you. Take time today to thank God for joining you to the vine, Jesus Christ. May the fruit of righteousness be seen in you today.

More to come.

Soli deo Gloria!

 

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” (John 15:1-4).

John 15 begins with the seventh, but not the final “I Am” statement by Jesus. The first was “I am the Bread of Life” (John 6:35). The second was “I am the Light of the World” (John 8:12). The third was “I am the door of the sheep” (John 10:7-9). The fourth was “I am the good Shepherd (John 10:11-16). The fifth was “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25-26. The sixth was “I am the way, the truth and the life (John 14:1-6). Again, Jesus used the significant phrase “I Am” (ἐγώ εἰμί; ego eimi) to indicate that He presently and actively exists as Yahweh Incarnate.

What did Jesus mean when He compared Himself to a vine and for that matter, a true vine? The word “true” (ἀληθινός; alethinos) means genuine or real along with not being imaginary. The word “vine” (ἄμπελος; ampelos) specifically refers to a grapevine. Jesus spoke of a fruit bearing vine. Coupled together these two words, Jesus was expressing the inward and intimate fellowship He has with each of His disciples: then and now.

As one commentator explains, ““Vine,” is applied metaphorically by Jesus to Himself in the NT (Jn. 15:1). The allegory of the vine tended by the gardener, from which the sap flows into the branches, denotes in the first instance the inner fellowship of the disciples with Jesus, which rests on their utter dependence and in which they must abide and bring forth fruit (v. 4ff.). It then denotes the intensive nurture of the community of disciples by God (v. 1ff.).”

For Jesus to say that He is the “true vine” presumes that there are those who pretend they are either true vines, or connected to such, but in reality are liars and deceivers. This would include Satan who is the father of lies (Genesis 3; John 8:44) along with those who follow him (I John 2:26).

The Epistle of Jude describes those who are described as united to an untrue vine and are also within the church. Jude 10-13 says, “But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.”

Dr. John MacArthur provides an insightful explanation of this significant metaphor of the vine and the branches. He says, “Through this extended metaphor of the vine and branches, Jesus set forth the basis of Christian living. Jesus used the imagery of agricultural life at the time; i.e., vines and vine crops (see also Matt. 20:1–16; 21:23–41; Mark 12:1–9; Luke 13:6–9; 20:9–16). In the OT, the vine is used commonly as a symbol for Israel (Ps. 80:9–16; Isa. 5:1–7; 27:2–6; Jer. 2:21; 12:10; Ezek. 15:1–8; 17:1–21; 19:10–14; Hos. 10:1–2). He specifically identified himself as the “true vine” and the Father as the “vinedresser” or caretaker of the vine. The vine has two types of branches: 1) branches that bear fruit (John 15:2, 8), and 2) branches that do not (vv. 2, 6). The branches that bear fruit are genuine believers. Though in immediate context the focus is upon the 11 faithful disciples, the imagery also encompasses all believers down through the ages.”

We have much more to glean from this text but we will conclude today with this thought: Are you joined to the true vine, Jesus Christ, by grace alone, through faith alone? If not, then you are not joined to the true vine. If you are, then what kind of fruit is Jesus producing through you for His glory and honor?

More to come!

Soli deo Gloria!

 

“And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.” (John 14:29-31)

I am writing this article during mid-October. The leaves are changing, the temperature is cooling and the harvesting of soy beans is occurring in many Indiana fields. It is one of the final harvesting’s which occur at this time of year. Soy bean harvesting occurs approximately 85 days after planting. Depending on the crop and the condition of the field, there have been times I have witnessed farmer’s working their field well into November.

One of the characteristics I have also observed is the amount of dust that fills the air when a late harvest occurs. Whether it is dry corn, or the aforementioned soy bean field, the air is often filled with the resulting dust from the harvested crop. Depending on wind conditions, the dust may be carried for miles.

What does this illustration have to do with Jesus’ words to His disciples? It may appear to the casual reader that what Jesus said is like dust in the wind; indiscriminate without any rhyme or reason.

John Calvin writes, “Although for a time He (Jesus) seemed to speak to the deaf, yet it afterwards appeared that His words were not scattered in vain, or, as we may say, in the air, like it was a seed thrown into the earth. Now as Christ speaks here about His word and the accomplishment of events, so His death and resurrection and ascension to heaven are combined with doctrine, that they may produce faith in us.”

Jesus spoke of His death and resurrection beforehand to His disciples in the upper room so that they would be thoroughly convinced, following these events, that He was who He said He was: God in the flesh and One who was in sovereign control.

Jesus told them that His conversations with them were coming to a quick conclusion, at that immediate time, because the events He spoke of were about to occur. However, He wanted them, and us, to know that in spite of the circumstances, Jesus was in sovereign control.

Jesus said, “for the ruler of this world is coming.” This is Jesus’ reference to Satan. Dr. R. C. Sproul explains that, “Jesus spoke these words because He knew that as He was arrested and crucified, the disciples might begin to think that someone else, namely, the devil, was sovereign over what was transpiring. We see evidence of this in John 14:30. Jesus said He would not be talking much longer with them because “the ruler of the world” was coming. He was referring to Satan, the evil one under whose power the world was bound (I John 5:19). Satan had tempted Judas to betray Jesus (John 13:27), and soon more men, under the devil’s thrall, would arrive to take Jesus captive (18:1–11). The time for His teaching was growing short, so our Savior said there was not much time left to speak to His disciples.”

Jesus said, in reference to the devil, that “He has no claim on me.” Jesus meant that Satan does not possess Him or own Him. Dr. John Walvoord writes, “And yet Satan had no hold on Jesus. Sin leads to death (Rom. 5:12, 21a; 6:16), and sin and death give Satan a hold over people (cf. Heb. 2:14–15; Rev. 12:10). But since Jesus is sinless, Satan cannot claim Him for his kingdom of darkness. Satan thought Jesus’ death was a victory for him, but actually it was Jesus’ victory over Satan (John 16:11; Col. 2:15).”

Augustine said, “The whole world therefore, from the highest heavens to the lowest earth, is subject to the Creator, not to the deserter; to the Redeemer, not to the destroyer; to the Deliverer, not to the enslaver; to the Teacher, not to the deceiver.”

“But I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.” Jesus reiterated to His disciples that all which He had done, and would do, was in obedience to His Father’s will. What He had told them at the Well of Sychar (John 4:34) remained true in the upper room and as they would depart for the Garden of Gethsemane.

Regardless of what you and I face in our lives, we can be sure that God remains in sovereign control, as He was in the events leading up to and including Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. Whether it be a soy bean or you and me, God is in control. Whether it be 85 days or 85 years, God remains sovereign. Hallelujah!

Soli deo Gloria!

 

 

 

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” (John 14:27-28)

The Tyndale Bible Dictionary defines “peace” as follows: “Total well-being, prosperity, and security associated with God’s presence among his people. Linked in the OT with the covenant, the presence of peace was conditional, based on Israel’s obedience. In the prophetic writings, true peace is part of the end-time hope of God’s salvation. In the NT, this longed-for peace is understood as having come in Christ and can be experienced by the believers.”

In the Old Testament, the word Shalom, the most prominent OT word for “peace,” possessed a variety of meanings. These include wholeness, health, security, well-being, and salvation. Peace could also apply to an equally wide range of situations. This includes the individual (Psalm 37:37; Proverbs 3:2; Isaiah 32:17), the relationship between people (Genesis 34:21; Jos 9:15) nations (e.g., absence of conflict—Deuteronomy 2:26; Joshua 10:21; 1 Kings 5:12; Psalm 122:6–7), and the relationship of God and people (Psalm 85:8; Jeremiah 16:5).

The Scriptures contain several references to the doctrine of peace. Here is but a brief sampling.

• Isaiah 32:16-17 – “Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.”
• Jeremiah 16:5 – “For thus says the LORD: Do not enter the house of mourning, or go to lament or grieve for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, my steadfast love and mercy, declares the LORD.”
• Romans 5:1 – “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
• Philippians 4:7-9 – “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

It is this peace that Jesus gives. It is a freedom from worry and to possess a mind, emotions and a will which is filled with tranquility. It is the result of a covenant relationship with God, through the person and work of Jesus Christ by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone.

This truth was especially important for the disciples to realize hours before Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. It is also a truth which disciples of Jesus today must realize.

One Bible scholar writes, “The word “peace” reflects the Hebrew “Shalom,” which became a greeting to his disciples after the resurrection (John 20:19-26). On a personal level this peace, unknown to the unsaved, provides supernatural calm and comfort in the midst of trials (Philippians 4:7), and enables God’s people to respond to others in harmony (Colossians 3:15). The greatest reality of this peace will be in the messianic kingdom (Numbers 6:26; Psalm 29:11; Isaiah 9:6-7; 52:7; 54:13; 57:19; Ezekiel 37:26; Haggai 2:9; Acts 10:36; Romans 1:7; 5:1; 14:17).”

Believers in Christ have this peace from God because Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven (Ephesians 2:21-23). We must always remember this truth in our times of trouble.

Dr. R. C. Sproul explains, “Jesus has secured peace between His people and the Father, so we can have peace in this world. It is not that we will not face difficulties but that our difficulties will not crush us, for we know that we are at perfect peace with God. Let the peace Christ gives you grant you confidence this day that He is with you, that He loves you, and that He is working for your good and His glory.”

Soli deo Gloria!