That We Might Be Fruitful | Susan Heck

Well, several years ago, a really good friend of mine that I was discipling gave me a book that really remained on my coffee table for a while. It was called My Father's Vineyard. And this was a man who owned a vineyard. And so he was comparing uh the vineyard to what it was like as far as in his world compared to John 15:1-6. And I remember I finally picked up the book and read it. And there was a phrase that hit me right between the eyes. And I loved it so much that I had my friend who gave me the book because she also calligraphied very well. I had her calligraphy it so that I could put it in my office and it still hangs in my office as a reminder of what I am to be about. And the quote is this. Fruitfulness not busyness is the co is the goal of a conscientious believer. Let me repeat that. Fruitfulness, not busyness, is the goal of a conscientious believer. And the writer goes on to say more that's very profound. Listen to this. The life that listens to God is not a whirlwind of activity, but a focused life. God's pruning results in simplicity, power, and joy. It brings fulfillment and fruitfulness. Don't resist it. It's the key to your fulfillment and fruitfulness. End of quote. Ladies, we can get busy in a lot of things, can't we? We as women know how to busy our life. But is it fruitful? Does it have eternal value? Ladies, life is short, eternity is long. It is only what is done for Christ that will last. And so, in this session, we are going to be looking at fruitbearing. What is it? What does the Lord use in our life so that we might bear more fruit for his kingdom? Now, we are in John 15 and yesterday we looked at abiding in Christ, which is the the portion of scripture after this. But remember, Jesus is with his 11 disciples. Judas has gone out to betray him and they are going to be left behind after Jesus goes to the cross and then ascends into heaven. and he is committing them to go out and make disciples after he goes into heaven. But they're still in the upper room. He's just said, "Arise, let us go from here." More most people believe that they're gotten up now from the table there where they've been having the last supper. And perhaps they are uh heading to where Jesus is going to be meeted by the Sanhedrin and Judas with the kiss to betray him. And so they could be just lingering there uh in the upper room, but they're heading out. And so it's about midnight now. Most scholars believe it's about midnight now. And notice what Jesus says in John 15:1-6. He says these words to his disciple. 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 that it may bring forth more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I've spoken unto you. Abide in me and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me. I'm the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. For without me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he's cast out as a branch and is withered and they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned. Now you have an outline there in your notebook. We're going to look at this parable, the persons involved, the pruning tool, the point of the parable, the purpose of abiding, and then the punishment of the pretenders. So ladies, as we consider this beautiful parable of the vine and the branches, let's look at the persons involved. Who are the people involved in this parable? Well, they're mentioned in verses 1 and two. Jesus says,"I am the true vine, but my father is the vine dresser." Now, Christ begins by telling them, "I am the true vine." And if you've ever read the Gospel of John, which I hope you have, it is a beautiful, beautiful gospel. Jesus has already said several things about himself. He has said he's the bread of life. He's the light of the world. He's the door. He's the shepherd. He's the resurrection and the life. He's the way, the truth, the life, and the way. He he has already mentioned several things about himself. And now he says, "I'm the vine." And he's not just a vine. Did you notice what he says? He says, "I am the true vine. I'm the genuine thing. I'm the real thing." In fact, when he says he's the bread, he says he's the true bread. I am the real vine. Now, what does he mean when he's talking about the vine here? Well, the audience would understand this. the readers of that day because they understood the Old Testament. They would understand often that Israel was referred to as what? A vine. But it's interesting most times that the nation of Israel is referred to as a vine. They're under God's judgment. If you'll look at it, you know, God intended for the nation of Israel, the people that he loved ever so much to produce fruit. But she did not. Israel did not produce fruit. In fact, Hosea calls Israel an empty vine, an empty vine. And God wanted the nation of Israel to bring forth fruit for his glory and for his kingdom. But they rejected, they rebelled against him. And even when God sent his only son into the world, John says over and over again, he came into his own, but his own did not receive him. They hated him. In fact, how many times we read in the Gospel of John, you come to the end of many chapters in John and it says they take up stones to cast at him. They want to kill him. They rejected God. They rejected his son. And so the the people reading this would understand about the vine. Even in the time of of Jesus's uh life here on earth, Herod's temple had a vine on it. In fact, it was a gold vine. And they say uh today it would be worth about $12 million of genuine gold. So the nation of Israel understood what the vine is. And so Jesus says, "I'm the true vine. I'm the real vine. I am the opposite of the nation of Israel who is a false vine. They're not genuine. They're not true." And so the vine grew all over Palestine. In fact, Palestine, in fact, it still does and to this day. So, what does a vine do? Since Jesus says he's a vine, what does a vine do? Well, a vine yields proper juice and nourishment to all the branches, whether they're large or small. I have several plants in my my home. And some of the branches are tiny, some are big. But a vine puts nourishment and juice into all the branches. In fact, all the nourishment of each branch and tendril passes through the main stock, the vine, so that it is rooted in the ground. So when Jesus says he's the vine, he's saying, "I am the source of your strength. I am the source of your nourishment." Ladies, without him, we can do nothing. So keep that in mind as we study this parable. I'm the vine. I'm the source of all your nourishment. But someone else is the vine dresser. Who's that? Notice what Jesus says. My father is the vine dresser. Now, what's a vine dresser? A vine dresser is a land worker, a farmer, a husbandman. He has the care of the vineyard. He nurtures it. He defends it. He trims it. He has a deep interest and in their growth and welfare. He also protects the vine. He watches over it. He faithfully attends to it. He's responsible also to prune branches that do not bear fruit. So speaking of fruit, the Lord now gives us in verse two the third person involved in this parable, the branches. Now ladies, wake up if you're asleep because it's very important that you look at verse two very carefully because there's been many interpretations when we get down to verse six. But if you look at verse two carefully and then we get to verse six carefully, you're going to see it's very clear. There shouldn't be any uh puzzlement of what's going on. So the Lord mentions two kinds of branches in verse two. Those that bear fruit and those that don't. Notice what he says. Every branch in me, that's an important word. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it that it may bear more fruit. So first of all, notice that both branches are in him. That's very important, especially we get down to verse six. Both branches are in him. That in the Greek is a fixed position. Ladies, no one can pluck us out of the father's hand. We are sealed to the day of redemption. You cannot lose your salvation if you're genuinely saved. So every branch in me in me in a fixed position that does not bear fruit he takes away. Now this phrase has been understood by some that uh the purging away of dead branches is precisely the same that is said in verse six the ones that are burned. But that interpretation presents a lot of problems because the verse here says they're in me. They're in me. They're attached to me. ladies. And remember, Christ is addressing true believers. Judas has gone out to betray him. So, the 11 that are left are in him. They're genuine disciples. Now, notice Jesus doesn't say these branches never bore fruit, but for some reason, right now, they are not bearing fruit. In fact, the tense in the Greek here reads like this. Every branch in me not bearing fruit, he takes away. Now in the physical realm, in the physical realm, if you have plants at home or trees or bushes outside, there are three things which cause branches to quit bearing fruit. Did you know that? Disease, old age, and running to leaf, which means they don't produce fruit, but only leaves because of lack of nutrients and uh minerals. But you know, that's true in the spiritual sense. You know what causes us as Christians to stop bearing fruit? Disease, right? Sickness, false doctrine, weak doctrine, old age. Even though I'm praying that that verse in Psalm, Lord, help me to bear fruit in my old age. And running to leaf would be what? Listening to false teaching, not having the proper nourishment, the nutrients, the minerals that you need, sound doctrine. But ladies, there's also things in our life that cause us to become unfruitful. We don't have time to look at all of scripture, but Peter talks about the importance of having certain things in our life. And if we don't, we'll become unfruitful. You know what I'm referring to? 2 Peter 1:5 to8. Listen to this. He says, "For this reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue, virtue, knowledge, knowledge, self-control, self-control, persons, perseverance, godliness, and to godliness brotherly love." And then he says, "If you do these things, you will never be barren or unfruitful. Ladies, we're to be growing in our relationship with Christ. And if these things are not in your life that Peter mentions in second Peter, he says you become barren. You become unfruitful if you don't have self-control. If you're not loving the brethren as you should. We've heard m much of this taught this weekend. You become unfruitful. If you don't do the one and others, you'll become unfruitful. And you know, there's a lot of things that cause us to become unfruitful. laziness, lack of discipline, idols we refuse to put off, not knowing and using your spiritual gifts, things or people that you love more than God. I remember when uh Andrea's first born was came around, Jackson, he's 21 now, but uh Charles was the associate pastor at our church at that time, and I thought, if I don't see Jackson Ryan Hec every day, I think I'll die. And uh and I saw Jackson as much as I could. He was my firstborn grandson. But you know, after a while, I thought ees uh Jackson could become a little idol if I'm not careful, right? So even even family members, even people we love can become more loyal to us than our God. And so ladies, we have to be very careful. So if Jesus is saying that those in verse two are genuine believers, which they are, now what does it mean that the vine dresser takes away? What is he taking away? Well, take away in the Greek is very interesting. The Greek word is arrow, which we get our English word airplane. And the Greek word arrow means to pick up or to lift up. And uh this afternoon or this evening at 6:00, Lord willing, I will be lifting up hopefully to go back home. I I never know because you know they they like to delay and cancel planes these days. But uh the airplane, the arrow means to just lift up. So what is Jesus saying here? Every branch of me that bears not fruit, the vine dresser lifts up to keep it from trailing on the ground. He inspects it. Is there a disease here? Is there an insect here? Insect here? What is causing this branch not to bear fruit? Is it getting enough sun? Is it getting enough nutrients? So ladies, the branches have to be sometimes picked up to see why they're not bearing fruit. Maybe there's a parasite. What's hindering its growth? Now, what does this mean in the spiritual sense? In the spiritual sense, it would mean that God would lift up the believer carefully inspecting for reasons that were not bearing fruit. Why are we not bearing fruit? What's hindering our fruit bearing? In fact, the word for branch is interesting itself as it means offshoots of the vine tender, those that might be easily broken, including the smallest tendrils that shoot out from the parent stock. So ladies, this makes sense in the spiritual sense because sometimes there are weak Christians. Sometimes some Christians are new and they're not bearing fruit as they should for some reason or another. And so the father tenderly lifts them up and he cares for them. What is causing you not to bear fruit? Let me inspect. Let me see. And sometimes he has to prune us, which we'll talk about in just a minute. Now, before we go on to the second part of this verse, I want to make it clear that the scriptures teach that a Christian will bear fruit. By their fruit, you will know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? We will know people by their fruits. Some people bear more fruit than others. But ladies, to live your entire life as a quotech Christian and not bear fruit is totally contrary to scripture. In fact, let me just say this very simply. If you don't have the fruit of the spirit in your life right now, you might examine why. It might not be perfect, but you should have love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith, self-control. Now, it's not perfect, but if you don't have these things in your life, and if you're not growing, if you don't love people more today than last year, something's wrong. If you have uh if you don't have more self-control today than you did last year, something is wrong. If you're not meaker and more humble today than you were a year ago, something's wrong. And don't be surprised if the father has to prune you. As Andrea was saying in her lesson yesterday, uh she's had to, you know, when you go through the suffering and trials that she's gone through, it humbles you, right? And so sometimes the Lord uses uh difficult times on our life to humble us, to prune us, to make us more fruitful. But ladies, we all should be bearing fruit. But what you have here in this verse is some believers who for some reason or another have stopped bearing fruit for a period of time. And the father gently leaves lifts them up to encourage them to be fruitful. Ladies, a Christian who continues to be stagnant in their walk and stops producing fruit is setting them up for serious judgment from the Lord or possible death. According to first John, he says there is a sin unto death. I do not say you shall pray for it, but there is a sin unto death. And so if you are a genuine believer and you decide to stop using your spiritual gifts, to stop walking in the spirit, there are some that God takes home by sudden death. There is a sin unto death. Now next, Jesus mentions a second type of branch. Those that bear fruit. What does the vine dresser do to them? Notice what he says. He prunes them that they may bear more fruit. What does pruning involve? cleaning, purifying it. Ladies, God purifies or prunes all true Christians so that they can be more useful. Ladies, God doesn't want you to just get by in your Christian walk. We don't just get by. We don't just read a chapter a day to keep the devil away. You know, uh we don't just go to church on Sunday morning for our one hour and put come home and put our Bible on the coffee table and not pick it up all week. He wants you to bear much fruit and he wants you to continue to bear fruit in your old age. In fact, Jay Adams has a great book called Wrinkle but Not Ruined. Wrinkled but Not Ruined. So, for those of you that are gray-haired like me and those of you that are gray-haired like me, but you cover your hair uh with some some kind of dye, uh you need to get that book. It's a great book on how to keep on producing fruit even in your old age. Ladies, we are to be bearing fruit. It was a joy to me. My dad lived to be 96 years of age and at 96 he was still sharing the gospel. He was a he was a minister of the gospel and daddy was still serving at the age of 96 until the Lord took him home. And one of my mentors is 95 now. The other one is 85. I've had him for 40 years. They're both still producing fruit for the Lord, for the kingdom. Uh that's how I want to be. I just want to continue uh to bear fruit until I uh go to glory. In fact, you know what Jesus said in verse 16 of John 15? You did not choose me, but I chose you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth much fruit. That's why he chose you, so that you would bear fruit. That's why he saved you. Now, how does the vine dresser prune the branches? Well, one man helps us here. He says, "He takes away that which hinders our usefulness. He teaches us. He quickens us. He revives us. And he makes us more pure in motive and in life. He purifies our motives. He does this by taking away things that are useful but may be painful. As a vine dresser will often feel himself compelled to lop off a branch that is large, apparently doing well and handsome, but it's not bearing any fruit. So God often takes away the property of his people, their children or other idols. He removes the objects which bind their affection and which renders them inactive. Ladies, if you have ever been pruned by the vine dresser, you understand what this man is saying. It's sometimes very painful. Very painful. But maybe it's a needed process. Maybe you have an idol in your heart that needs pruned or maybe a friendship that is pulling you away from your devotion to God. Trials are often times of pruning in our life so that we might be more fruitful. I remember I w when my husband graduated from the master seminary in the 80s and we moved back to Oklahoma and I was involved in a church and I was leading a small group in ladies ministry and I was uh under the leadership of uh the lady there she who became my mentor and uh so every year I would join up and to you know be a small group leader for two or three years until my husband began a second church and um but I wasn't crazy about the teacher and I knew that she wasn't really teaching accurately. But I was so enamored and loved my mentor that I kept signing up. And so finally one year I came to her and I said, you know, I need to ask your forgiveness because every year I've signed up to be a small group leader because I want to be involved, but I know the teaching here is not right. And that's idolatry. I have loved you and wanted to be under your leadership more than I realized that I was sitting in an audience where the word of God was not being accurately taught. And I realized that that was more important to me than anything else was being under her leadership. And so even sometimes things that appear to be good uh can become idols. Now ladies, even though pruning is painful at times, we can often look back and thank God because now our lives are lived more for his glory. Jesus put it well in John 12:24. He says, "I say to you this, assuredly I say to you that this unless of green a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it brings forth what? More fruit." Much fruit. Well, what is the instrument of pruning that our father, the vine dresser, uses to prune us? What is the pruning tool? Jesus answers that in verse three. You're already clean because of the word which I've spoken to you. Now, what does Jesus mean when he says you're already clean? Well, this is an emphatic pronoun which means already. You are clean. The word clean here means purity in a spiritual sense. You're clean from pollution. You're you're clean from the guilt of sin, as Andrea just put it beautifully in our previous lesson. Now, how is this done? How are we clean? Notice what Jesus says. Because of the word I've spoken to you. Because of the word I've spoken to you. Ladies, if you're taking notes, the divining pruning instrument is God's word. The blessed knife which cuts deep into our soul. In fact, the word for word here is logos. the entire body of God's truth, the whole teaching of Christ. Ladies, listen very carefully what the writer to the Hebrews says. For the word, the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces even to the dividing of sunder of soul and spirit and your joints and marrow. It's a discerner of your thoughts and the intents of your heart. Ladies, God's word is the pruning tool that he uses to prune us. The word of God is powerful. It's sharper than a twoedged sword. In fact, the psalmist says, "How can a young man clear his way? By keeping heed to your word, ladies, the word of God condemns sin. It inspires holiness. It promotes growth." I like what Spurgeon says. Spurgeon says this, "It is the word that prunes the Christian. It is the truth that purges him. The scripture made living and powerful by the Holy Spirit effectually cleanses the Christian. Affliction is the handle of the knife. Affliction is the grindstoneone that sharpens the word. Affliction is the dresser that removes our soft garments and lays bare our diseased flesh so the surgeon's knife can get in and it makes us ready to feel the word. But the true pruner is the word in the hand of the great vine dresser. End of quote by Spurgeon, Charles Spurgeon. Great quote, ladies. There's nothing like the truth of God's word to prune the believer and make them more fruitful. That's how you're going to be pruned is by God's word. Ladies, that's why it's so imperative you are in the word of God every single day. We should be reading massive amounts of scripture. We should be saturating our heart and mind with the word of God. That is the instrument that the vine dresser uses to prune us, to make us more fruitful. You know, often we we read our scripture casually. We don't really take time to thoughtfully think through it. But ladies, if you'll do that every single day, you'll say, "Whoa, I I need to shore up here, right? I've got some things in my life I need to take care of. I've got to get rid of this sin. I've got to get rid of this attitude so that I can bear more fruit, be more fruitful in my home, in my marriage, with my children, with my grandchildren, in my church." Ladies, we need to be more fruitful and we do that through the study and teaching and reading of God's word. Well, the Lord then reminds them of the importance of abiding in him. And ladies, this is the point of the parable. By the way, when you read a parable in scripture, don't analyze it to death. Some do that. There's usually one main truth, one main truth that the spirit is trying to convey. And in this parable, the main point is to abide in Christ so that you can bring forth fruit. Look at verse four. abide in me and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me. So ladies, the condition of a fruitful life is abiding in Christ. And we had a whole lesson on that yesterday. We had a whole lesson on that. What does it mean to abide in Christ? As we saw yesterday, it means to remain, to dwell. Remain. To dwell. Ladies, you might be wondering, how is this done? Well, there are several ways this is done. a believer who's abiding in Christ, let me remind you, we should be continually in contact with him in prayer. We're to pray without ceasing. Secondly, we should be thinking on him throughout the day, staying in his presence, meditating on the word. Ladies, when you think about it, you and I have many relationships with other people. We spend a lot of time cultivating those relationships. But how much time do you spend cultivating the most important relationship you have which I hope is with your father in heaven? How much time how are you abiding in him? Is his word abiding in you? Ladies, we must maintain a vital spiritual connection with Christ. Oswald Chambers says this, get a move on. I like that. Get a move on. Begin to abide now. He says in the initial stages, it's an effort until it becomes so much the law of your life that you abide in him unconsciously. Ladies, that's the way as we walk through life, we talk to God. You know, as we walk through life, we're thinking about scripture. Ladies, not only must we abide in him, but Jesus adds an I adds an I in you. He's already told them of this great mystery, this I in him and he he in us. But ladies, what a wonderful truth. As we abide in him, he's in us. What a beautiful relationship. Just a side note here for you that like to dig a little deeper. Did you notice all three of the godhead play a part in the parable of the vine and the branches? Christ is the vine, the father is the vine dresser, and I in you is a reference to who? The Holy Spirit, right? He's in us. Well, and then he adds, as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. Ladies, a branch that you take off and you lie it down on the ground is not going to do anything. Uh I I before I left home, I went to the front porch and I have a huge aloe plant and I like to always travel with aloe because you never know when something's going to happen, you might need a little aloe. And uh so one time I remember teaching with my hand in aloe because uh I instead of grabbing one end of the curling iron in the hotel, I grabbed the wrong end. And so I was teaching and I had my hand in aloe while I was teaching with one hand. And so I've done a lot of stupid things in my life. And so that was one of them. But anyway, so I always travel with aloe. Well, before I left home, I went to my aloe plant on the front porch and I tore off a piece and it's in a baggie in my carry-on bag. But let me tell you, when I get home, uh, there's not going to be any growth in that. It's going to die eventually, right? So when you take a branch off and you pull it away from the main stock, it is going to die. That's what Jesus says here. A branch cannot bear fruit unless it abides in the vine. They have to be connected to a ma a main vine to survive. Christ is saying, listen very carefully. We cannot produce fruit without a vital connection to the vine. You can't. Impossible. that aloe leaf that I have is going to die eventually. If you're not abiding in the vine, then I guarantee that you are barren and unfruitful. Well, just what is the purpose of this abiding? Jesus gives the answer in verse 5. The purpose of abiding, the purpose is that we might bear more fruit. I'm the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him bears much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. For without me, you can do nothing. For without him you can do nothing. Ladies, Jesus repeats again what he's already said and that is he is the vine. And then he reminds them you are the branches. You know sometimes I'm afraid we like to think in our culture which is really becoming even in the Christian world more and more platform oriented Christian celebrities. Sometimes afraid I'm afraid we like to think we're the vine and he's the branch. But ladies, we are not. We are not. Despite our narcissistic world, even in the Christian world, that tells us otherwise. I've heard from more than one source that a lot of the men that are graduating from seminary these days, they feel entitled. They want a platform. They want followers. They want a certain amount of money. We've forgotten just who we are, right? As Andrea put it well, we're slaves. We're servants, right? Uh we're not Christian divas. Well, next he gives a wonderful promise. If we're abiding in him and he in us, then we bear much fruit. And n ladies, notice it's much fruit. An abundance of fruit. I don't know about you, but I desire to bring forth much fruit for the Lord. Not just a little, but much. So the question we might ask is, well, what is fruit? Well, we talked about it a little bit already this weekend. We mentioned the fruit of the spirit. But ladies, as I mentioned yesterday, you know, there's 106 mentionings of fruit. Fruit of our lips, fruit of the gospel. Jeremiah talks about something very scary, the fruit of your thoughts. This morning, this was really scary. This is not in my notes, but Debbie and I were praying as we usually always do before I speak. And we were in my hotel praying uh or not hotel or Airbnb. And we were praying and uh as we were praying, my phone starts coming on and talking to me. I hear from what you're saying right now that you are weary and I didn't even say the word weary in my prayer and all of a sudden he's the guy is whatever it is the creepy thing is uh talking about what Debbie and I are praying about. So you know sometimes I I think yeah Jeremiah says God knows the fruit of our thoughts but sometimes I wonder about Google and AI. Uh because sometimes I will be thinking something and it comes up on my phone. I haven't told the person anything about it. So uh ladies, we we think you know you fear Google, you should be fear God more than you fear Google because God knows our thoughts and he gets them correct. So but uh you know there there's so many fruits. Fruit of repentance, fruit of our actions, fruit of our thoughts, fruit of our lips and we talked about fruit yesterday that women should be producing. Now my friend, you cannot bear fruit on your own. If you've ever tried it doesn't work. It doesn't work. Jesus says, "For without me you can do nothing. Without him you can do nothing. Not one thing." The words without me means separate from me. Separate from me you can do nothing. Ladies, we as the branches are absolutely dependent on Jesus the vine. Modern day Christianity would like to reward we reward this phrase to say this. Without us he can do nothing. Not true. Without us he can do nothing. That's not true ladies. We've come to the delusion that Christ can't carry out his work without us and that we're something special. But the truth of the matter is this. Without him, we can do nothing. Today, you are sitting there breathing because he's allowed it. He's allowed it. Ladies, have you ever tried to serve the Lord in your own flesh? I have. Doesn't work. It doesn't work. I usually know when I uh try and minister in my own strength, it is fruitless. But when I am totally dependent on the strength of the Lord and I know that I can do nothing of myself, that's when he's the strongest. I remember after my husband died and we buried him on a Wednesday and I went out Saturday to speak and they said, "What are you doing here?" I said, "Where else would I be?" Uh there have been times even after Charles passed and and times where I've had one hour of sleep and I've gotten up to speak and I was like, "Lord, I can't do this. I cannot do this." And you know what? I don't. He does it. And those times are wonderful when you know that you're utterly dependent on him for bearing that fruit. Or sometimes women will come with me with their problems. I go, "Lord, I don't I don't really know what to say. Give me give me your words. What do I say to this woman who's in despair right now?" Ladies, without him, we can do nothing. We are vessels that he chooses to use for his service. And ladies, that is a humble honor to be able to serve the Lord. Well, we end on a sobering note found in verse six. And here we find the punishment of the pretenders. If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered and they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned. Ladies, the key to understanding what Jesus is saying here is in the word not. If a man abide not in me, in other words, he never has been genuinely connected to the vine. If a man is not truly united to Christ by faith, he is not abiding in him and never has. Ladies, these individuals are those who are professors of Christianity, but they do not possess any true connection with Christ. And let me say this, our churches are filled with them. They're filled with him. Pew sitters, professors of Christ, but not possessors. If a man does not truly abide in Christ, then he is cast forth as a branch and is withered. Ladies, note very carefully, he is not a branch, but he is cast forth as a branch. The word withered here means to shrivel or pine away. Souls who are not truly connected with the vine are like that, aren't they? Ladies, we often meet professing Christians and you wonder where's the life, where's the joy, where's the peace, where's the fruit. I've discipled and counseledled women. Jay Adams says if there's not change in six weeks and you probably aren't going to uh have much change, but I'm much more patient. Some women I've worked with for years and years and years, no change at all. And after a while, it's like, you know, I'm not the person. I guess it's me, but there is no change in your life. And after you wonder, after a while, you go, are they really truly connected to the vine? Because my Bible says we we change from glory to glory by the spirit of the Lord. We're to be constantly growing, right? Three steps forward, two steps back, three steps forward, two steps back. But I'm growing more more into the image of Christ. Ladies, genuine saving faith does not lie dormant without any spiritual life. Where there is no fruit, there is no life. And let me say that again. Where there is no fruit, there's no life. No spiritual life. And then Jesus ends with these sobering words. And they gather them and throw them into the fire. and they are burned. Is it's very interesting. This is to prove my point. Interesting that up until now now Christ has been using the pronouns you, me, you, me. And now he says them, them, referring to a different class of people, a class of people who are of the mindset of Judas. Maybe the disciples will remember this vivid parable after the soon betrayal of Judas. says, Jesus said, "It would have been better for that man if he'd never been born." Would have been better for Judas if he had never been born. Now, maybe you're wondering, "What is Christ referring to here when he says they're thrown into the fire?" What's he referring to? Well, turn your Bibles back to Matthew, the first gospel, Matthew chapter 13. This will help explain as we end this parable. Matthew 13:4 it says this, "Another parable he put forth to them, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is like a man who swed good seed in his field. But while men slept, his enemy came and swed tears among the weed and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tears also appeared. So the servant of the owner came and said to him, "Sir, did you not sew good seed in your field? How then does it have tears?" He said to them, "An enemy has done this. The servant said to him, "Do you want us then to go and gather them up?" But he said, 'N no, least while you gather up the tears, you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together till the harvest, and at the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, first gather the tears and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn." And then in verse 36, he explains the parable. Look, let your eyes fall down there. Then Jesus sent the multitude away and he went into the house. And his disciples came to him saying, "Explain to us this parable of the tears of the field." He answered and said to them, "He who sws the good seed is the son of man. The field is the world. The good seeds are the son of the kingdom, but the tears are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who swed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age. And the reapers are the angels. Therefore, as the tears are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, they'll gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and nashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as a son in the kingdom of their father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Ladies, I hope you have ears to hear. It appears from these passages that the angels will do the gathering. They'll come from all four corners of the world. The hypocrites will be gathered for fuel to be burned in everlasting punishment. Ladies, these are pretenders. These are the tears. These are professors of the vine. But they're not connected. They're not connected. And they're going to be burned forever. Burned forever. Ladies, these are very sobering words to end on, but ones which should cause us to examine ourselves. Listen very carefully. You are either vitally connected to the vine and bringing forth fruit, or you are one who has spuriously attached yourself and in the end you will be discovered to be a hypocrite. So what is the summary of this? The parable is the vine and the branches. The persons involved, the vine, the vine dresser of the branches. The pruning tool is the word. The point of the parable is abide in Christ and bear fruit. The purpose of abiding is to bear fruit and the punishment of the pretenders is eternal fire. As we close, let's evaluate our personal lives by asking some questions that I trust you will answer honestly. Don't play spiritual gymnastics in your heart. Answer them honestly. Are you bearing fruit for the Lord? Would others look at your life and say, "There's a woman who's abiding in Christ, and she's bringing forth fruit." If you're not bearing fruit, why not? Is the Lord trying to prune you so that you can bring forth much fruit for his glory? Are you allowing the pruning process even though it might be painful? If you have never produ produced fruit, have you ever asked yourself why? Are you genuinely connected to the vine? I beg you, if you're not connected to the vine, don't leave this place without talking to one of us. I beg you, don't put it off. Be reconciled to God. Behold, now is the day of salvation. For those of you that are connected to the vine and bearing fruit, praise God. Are you endeavoring to bring forth more fruit, much fruit? Well, in closing up the entire weekend, let me ask you, are you rooted and grounded? Are you rooted and grounded? Are you filled with the fullness of God or are you fed up with God? Are you loving others or do you loathe others? Are you abiding in Christ or are you avoiding him? Are you serving others or are you slothful in your service? Are we are you rejoicing in your trials or do you resist your trials? Are you forgiving others or are you fighting with others? Are you following Christ's example or are you fleeing from his example? Are you fruitful or are you fruitless? My friend, let us be known as women who are rooted and grounded till the end of our life. Let's pray. Our father in heaven, holy is your name. Holy, holy, holy is your name. And we know that we must be holy as you are holy. We know that we must be bearing fruit. You don't want us to be barren and unfruitful as Peter says. So, Father, I do pray there has been so much information given this weekend. so much teaching, so much knowledge that we are going to be accountable for to whom much is given, much is required. And so Lord, I do pray earnestly, compassionately for each one of us, including myself, that we will take the words which have spoken been spoken this weekend. We will think about them, meditate on them, do self-examination, and repent Lord of anything that needs to be rooted out of our life so that we can be rooted and grounded from this day forward. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.