Abide In Christ

Transcript

GR 396
4/5/1981
Abide in Christ
John 15:4-8
Gil Rugh

John chapter 15 in your Bibles this morning. John’s gospel and the 15th chapter. We're in the midst of a discussion that Jesus is having with the disciples, using the analogy of a vine and the branches. Remember that Jesus is preparing the disciples for His impending departure from the earth and for the ministry they will have after He is gone. And part of their preparation is that they should be aware of the fact that there will be those who are genuine and those who are artificial or counterfeit. In John chapter 15, Jesus is making a distinction between those who profess to belong to Him and those who really have a relationship with Him. Those who have life and produce fruit and those who have no life and so produce no fruit.

He began by proclaiming "I am the true vine." We noted that this analogy goes back to the Old Testament where Israel is repeatedly identified as the vine of God, planted and cultivated by God to produce fruit for Him. But consistently Israel is viewed as a degenerate vine, a plant that did not produce the fruit that God intended it to produce. So Jesus says, "I am the true, the genuine vine.” I am the one who is accomplishing what God intended to accomplish, the one in whom His character, His righteousness, His holiness is being truly and accurately presented and revealed.

”My Father is the vinedresser.” Again, consistent with the analogy of the Old Testament. Then He talks about the branches. "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away." And we noted here, the "branch in Me that does not bear fruit" refers to an unbeliever. Judas would be an example of this kind of branch. Externally he appeared to belong to Jesus Christ. Even the disciples were fooled into thinking Judas had life and belonged to Christ, but he had no real life. He produced none of the character of Christ in his life and so he is removed. We noted the expression "in Me" here is similar to the expression "in the kingdom" used in the gospels. And that expression often includes believers and unbelievers alike. Example in Matthew 13, the parable of the wheat and the tares. The wheat and the tares grow together in the kingdom, and then the tares are rooted out. It’s not used in the more technical sense that Paul will use it later, but the broader sense in the kingdom as is used in the gospel.

"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away." Again, not talking about believers here because believers are never taken away or removed from Jesus Christ. Even at physical death. Even at physical death of a believer under the chastening hand of God does not remove him from his relationship to the vine. We have an eternal relationship with Jesus Christ, and even death itself does not affect that relationship.

The branches that do bear fruit are pruned to bear more fruit, and remember that the sole purpose of a vine and branches is the production of fruit. The wood of the vine is not good for anything else. The sole purpose of this plant is the production of fruit. And we noted that the fruit being talked about is the character of God—His righteousness, His holiness, His love, His joy, His peace. His character is being produced in the life of the one who has a relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ. The pruning process, those things which would hinder or detract from the production of fruit must be pruned away. They must be trimmed back. We compared this to Hebrews chapter 12 where we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we might partake of His holiness, that we may produce the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Sometimes a painful process as God disciplines and chastens us, but always so that more of His character can be seen in our lives. And we have to evaluate our lives in this light. Are we centered on the production of fruit? Are we tolerating things in our lives which we call neutral, but they are not neutral because they sap away energy and strength which should go into the production of fruit? And anything which hinders the production of the character of God in my life is wrong and must be pruned away. Some branches need more pruning than others. For some the pruning is more severe than others. But God is the vinedresser. He’s the husbandman, and He always knows exactly what must be done for me to produce maximum fruit.

Verse 3. "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you." Makes clear here that the disciples that He is now addressing are those who are clean. So there need be no fear that there any other Judases among the eleven remaining. You are the ones that are clean. Similar we noted to the context of chapter 13 where at the foot washing Jesus said, "You are already clean through the Word which I have spoken to you, but not all of you" because Judas is still defiled. But you are clean. So the pruning is what you need. But you are a branch who has life in Me.

Now. It’s still in this discussion that we flow along to verse 4. "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me." Abide—one of the favorite words of the Apostle John. He uses it more times than any other New Testament writer. I went down and counted up the times and my count may not be exactly precise, but this word "abide", the word "meno" is used 42 times by John in his gospel. Used 23 times by John in his first epistle. Then three more times in his second epistle. Sixty-eight times in those works. One more time in Revelation, so 69 times altogether John uses the word "abide." Central concept to dwell, to remain to live and we'll note that there is a mutuality here. Verse 4, "Abide in Me, and I in you." When we talk about the disciples abiding in Christ, it also entails Christ’s abiding in them. There is a mutuality to the abiding. We're going to be stressing this somewhat today because there are a couple of opinions that I think don't fit the context of how this word is used. One, there are people who believe you lose your salvation. So you quit abiding and you lose your salvation. That's out of the context not only of John 15 but all of Scripture. Scripture is clear—once you have trusted Christ, you are saved for eternity. You have eternal life. This is life for eternity.

Then there are also those who are Christians who believe—and many good commentators and expositors would hold this—that there are two kinds of Christians. There are Christians who abide and there are Christians who do not abide. Abide used of walking in a consistent way in obedience to the Scripture. But I think the word "abide" is used in a more limited sense in that every Christian abides all the time. And anyone who does not abide is not a child of God at all and never has been. One of the emphases is that this abiding is mutual. "Abide in Me, and I in you." There is a consistency in many passages that the abiding is seen as mutual.

Look back in John chapter 6 to see how you abide and when you come to abide. In John chapter 6, Jesus is using the analogy of His body being food and His blood being drink, and what He is stressing in this analogy is you must come to partake of Him if you are to have life. Partaking of Him, eating His flesh and drinking His blood is symbolic of believing in Him whom you come to believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God as the One who died in your place on the cross, you partake of Him. You have eaten of His body and drank of His blood. Verse 56. "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him." Note first here the mutuality involved. Abides in Me and I in him. Everyone in whom Christ abides also abides in Christ. Everyone who abides in Christ also has Christ abiding in them. You cannot disassociate the two. Now who abides in Christ and has Christ abiding in them? The one who partakes of Him. The one who eats His flesh and drinks His blood. In other words, if you believe in Me, the Son of God, the Savior of the world, you abide in Me and I abide in you. It is a result of partaking of Christ, of believing in Him.

Go over to First John, to the epistles of John. I find the epistles of John a great help in understanding the Gospel of John. Because John takes many of the ideas, concepts, and words that he uses in his gospel and gives further insights, sheds further light on them. This is true of the word abiding. First John chapter 3. I would encourage you, we’re only going to be picking up a couple of examples, to trace through the use of the word abide in John's writing. Take your concordance and look up the word abide. And see how John uses it through his gospel and through his epistles to get some flavor of the word. At the end of chapter 3 of First John, verse 22, "Whatever we ask we receive from Him." This is going to come up again several times in chapter 15. Now we’ll note it as we go along. The subject of prayer. "Whatever we ask we receive of Him because we keep His commandments, and do the things that are pleasing in His sight." What are His commandments? Verse 23. "This is His commandment that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another just as He commanded us. And the one who keeps His commandments—which are, believe in Him and love one another—abides in Him and He in Him." Note there is a mutuality again. The believer abides in Christ, Christ abides in the believer. Who abides in Him? The one who believes and loves other believers.
In other words, every Christian abides. And we know by this that He abides in us by the spirit which He has given us. The evidence that we abide and He abides is the presence of the Spirit of God in our lives. And if a Christian ceases to abide which would mean He would have to cease to have the Spirit of God would mean He wasn’t a child of God at all because Romans chapter 8 says "If any man has not the Spirit of Christ, He does not belong to Him."

Look over in chapter 4 of First John, verse 13. "By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us because He has given us of His Spirit." The Spirit is a permanent possession of every believer. He is God's guarantee, down payment, that we shall reach glory in His presence and the Spirit's presence is the evidence that we abide in Christ and Christ abides in us.

Jump down to verse 15. "Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God." Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God. That word "confess" means to believe, to agree with God, and you have to agree with God about His Son Jesus Christ or you cannot be saved. A person who denies the person of Christ cannot be saved. A person who rejects the deity of Jesus Christ is not saved. You must believe in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Salvation is a result of the eternal Son of God who became a man dying on a cross to pay the penalty for sin. So whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God abides in Him and he in God. Both. God abides in him and he in God. The mutuality again for those who are believers in Jesus Christ.

Look over in 2 John, verse 9. "Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son." The fact that dwell, remain, live in this realm—and you note—in accord with the teaching the Scripture gives concerning God and His Son Jesus Christ, that's the evidence you belong to Jesus Christ. If you don’t dwell here, you don't belong to God. You don't have God. So that's the negative side. What about a person who claims to abide but no longer abides? What about a Judas? What about him? He's the son of perdition, destined to destruction. He was that way from birth and never changed. So abiding is the evidence of a relationship.

Now this is crucial here for our walk and our conduct. We are talking about abiding in Christ and Christ abiding in us. Back in John 15. "Abide in Me and I in you." This has serious ramifications for the way we live our lives. We who have believed in Jesus Christ the Son of God as the one who died to pay the penalty for our sins, exists in a permanent relationship of abiding. In other words, Jesus Christ dwells in me permanently and I dwell in Him. There is a oneness established. Now this is true in all that I do 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Paul picks up this concept in a little different analogy but the same idea when writing to the Corinthians. And he says we have become members of the body of Christ so we cannot conceive of committing immorality because when you commit immorality, you take the parts of Christ and join them to a whore, and Paul says that’s repulsive. Because you see, even when I sin I do not cease to abide in Jesus Christ and He does not cease to abide in me. So He is present in all that I do. I dwell in Him and I do not cease to dwell in Him no matter what I do. That ought to condition my thinking and my activity. Some things are totally off balance, off base, out of line. I am one who dwells in Christ and Christ in me. Certain activity would be all but blasphemous for me to become involved in as one who dwells in a permanent bond of relationship with God Himself.

So when Jesus says in John 15:4, "Abide in Me, and I in you" that's a permanent relationship that every believer enjoys all the time. "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him..." Note continual emphasis. If I cease to abide in Christ, He would have to cease to abide in me, which would mean that I was never a believer in the first place. "Without Me, apart from Me, you can do nothing." Now that is logical in the analogy. That life flows from the vine into the branches, and if the branch is not connected to the vine, there is no life. If there is no life, the branch has no power to produce fruit so it is worthless. It is without redeeming value. It is non-productive. Life flows from the vine into the branches. So Jesus says, "I in Him, He in Me" and he bears much fruit, in verse 5. You note. If you abide in Christ or are a believer, you do bear fruit. You know why? The life of the vine guarantees it. The life flows from the vine into the branch and fruit is produced. That happens. Now it's not the same amount for every believer. Remember in the analogy of the soils in Matthew 13 some of the soil produced 30-fold, some 60-fold and some 100-fold! That’s why the pruning process to bring about the production of more fruit, but the very fact that you are connected to the vine means life flows from the vine into the branch and fruit is the result.

Apart from Christ—nothing! You say, ‘Wait, I know people who do good works. I know people who are good people.’ They produce nothing of the genuine, true character of God in their life. They have no life from the vine. In spite of the fact that Judas did some humanly speaking good things during his life, was involved in a ministry that was good, did not change the character of Judas one bit. There was no genuine good fruit, the character of God, being produced within him.

Apart from Me you can do nothing. What Paul talks about in Philippians chapter 4, verse 13, when he says "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." That’s where the power comes from. That's where the life comes from, the ability to produce fruit. Now what about the branches that do not abide, that do not produce? Verse 6. "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch..." I take it we have the same thing as up in verse 2. "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away." Another way to say that is down in verse 6, "Every branch that does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." Now, again, I take it abiding equals believing.

Now some take this verse to parallel the idea in 1 Corinthians 3, where the believer stands before the Bema Seat of Christ, has his works tried by fire and the unprofitable works are burned up. But note here. Verse 6. "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch." You note, it is not the fruit that is thrown away. It is not the fruit that is burned up-the works—it is the branch itself that is consumed here. It is the individual himself that is discarded and eventually consumed by fire! Not talking about the fruit or the works as we have in 1 Corinthians 3. We're talking about the person himself in verse 6. I think if you’ll trace through them, and we're going to look at a few verses in a moment, this analogy of fire, description of fire in the New Testament. It is consistently viewed as the end of the unbeliever. The unbeliever is destined to destruction. The unbeliever is destined to torment of hell fire. So in verse 6, "If anyone does not abide in Me," another way to say that is "If anyone does not believe in Me, he is thrown away as a branch; dries up and they gather them..." Then we're going to see that the angels are involved in this harvest. They—the angels, in all probability. The angels gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned.

Turn back to Matthew chapter 3. Let's look at several passages through the New Testament, to look at the end of unbelievers. Keep in mind the importance of this section because Jesus is talking here about those who profess to have a relationship with Him, those who have been growing among true believers. Who have been functioning with true believers but have no true life. And note the awful end that awaits them.

Matthew chapter 3. John the Baptist is speaking, and he talks about fruit in verse 8. Bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance. In other words, have you really changed your mind about your sin, about God, about Jesus Christ?
That will be evident in your life and conduct. Down to verse 10, "The axe is already laid at the root of the tree. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." Contrast here between good fruit and bad fruit. The tree that does not produce good fruit, an unbeliever, is cut down and cast into the fire.

Verse 12, "His winnowing fork is in His hand"—referring to the Messiah— "He will thorough clean His threshing floor. He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." The chaff, the wheat? They get mixed together, but they are destined to be sorted out and the chaff is going to be consumed with unquenchable fire.

Look over in chapter 7 of Matthew. Again, some of these passages we looked at in connection with our study of fruit and now we want to zero in on and emphasize the culmination, the destiny, of bad fruit or fruitless branches. Matthew 7, verse 19, "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits." Note here there is an experiential aspect to our Christianity. We have been lulled into thinking that because people have the right doctrinal statement that we are obligated to accept that as a testimony that they are believers. Oh I believe in Jesus Christ and His death on the cross—therefore they’ve got to be believers. Jesus doesn't say that. He could have simplified things a great deal. You know what He said? Their life is an evidence and a testimony, and no matter what they say, if there is not good fruit produced in their life, they are not a good true but they are unbelievers destined to hell.

Now it's true that sound doctrine is the foundation, but in my life, my experience, the fruit must be there. Holiness, righteousness, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, meekness, kindness—the character of God must be there or I am not a child of God regardless of my doctrinal statement. Now you'll note it's not in spite of, because without the teaching of the truth of the Word of God which is doctrine, the person cannot be saved. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, but we have sometimes lulled ourselves into thinking, especially where we have a strong doctrinal emphasis, because someone can run around and mouth the right words that means they are believers. Jesus said you must look at their life and see if His character is evident in their life.

Look over in Matthew chapter 13. The wheat and the tares—they look alike but they are destined to be sorted out. Verse 40 of Matthew 13, "Therefore just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom..." Remember that expression in verse 2 of John 15? "Every branch in ME that does not bear fruit"? Every branch in the kingdom? Every tare here in Matthew...the angels gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, those who commit lawlessness and "will cast them into the furnace of fire. And in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Down to verse 49, the good fish and the bad fish are all gathered into the net, the kingdom, but they have to be sorted out. Verse 49, "So it will be at the end of the age. The angels shall come forth..." That’s why I said in our verse at the end of verse 6 of John 15 where it says "they shall take them" that that is probably a reference to the angels. "The angels shall come forth, take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will cast them into the furnace of fire.
There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Look over in Hebrews chapter 6, a chapter that is often misunderstood. My understanding is that Hebrews chapter 6 is drawing the same kind of distinction as John 15 is—between those who really belong to Christ and those who do not belong to Christ. And you’ll note the analogy again of the fruitfulness of the ground as an evidence. Verse 7 of Hebrews 6, "For ground that drinks the rain that often falls upon it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also filled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned. But we are persuaded of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way." Verse 8 is dealing with those who do not have salvation. Their destiny is the destruction of fire. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 26. "For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins." That is never true of a believer. The sacrifice of Christ is sufficient for all of my sins for eternity. The value of that sacrifice never runs out for me as a child of God. The sinning willfully here is talking about a person who persists in unbelief, who persists in refusing to believe in Jesus Christ. There is no other sacrifice. Where can a person who refuses to believe in Jesus Christ go for salvation? To his baptism? To his church? To his good works? The writer of Hebrews has made abundantly clear there is salvation in no one else except Jesus Christ. So if you go on sinning willfully by rejecting Jesus Christ, there is no sacrifice that can take care of your sin. But what awaits you? Not salvation, but verse 27—"A certain terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. What is the destiny of the one who does not believe in Jesus Christ? The fury of a fire that will consume the adversary, quoting from Isaiah 26. Because Old Testament as well as New Testament stresses the fact that the unbeliever is destined to the destruction of eternal fire.

Look over to Revelation chapter 20. This is the culmination, the fulfillment, the ultimate realization of the destruction by fire of every unbeliever. We are at the last judgment where unbelievers are sentenced to hell, and in verse 15 of Revelation 20, "If any one's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." Whose name is in the Book of Life? The one who has believed that Jesus is the Son of God. Everyone else is destined to destruction of fire.

Down to verse 8 of Revelation 21. "The cowardly, unbelieving..." and I take it cowardly here would tie to those who have not believed out of fear, out of fear of family, out of fear of pressure, out of fear of one kind or another "...the unbelieving, the abominable, murderers, immoral persons..." Says something about people who are immoral yet claim to belong to Jesus Christ. The Scripture is clear, the immoral are destined to hell. Many who are claiming to be believers who are involved in immorality are not believers at all. Revelation 21:8 says that immoral persons are destined to hell. How dare people just say, I believe in Christ I just lead an immoral life. Hm-m. They'd better read Revelation 21:8. Immoral persons are going to hell. They don't produce the fruit of God's character in their life.

"Sorcerers, idolaters, all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death." Know what that is? Look back in verse 10 of Revelation 20. "The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever, into the ages of the ages." There is no stronger way to speak of eternity in the Greek language. So it is a fire that burns unquenchable, burns with unbelievable torment but does not consume! So the torment goes on day and night, for ever and ever. Now keep in mind back in John chapter 15, when Jesus says that these branches that do not abide in Him are gathered to be burned we are talking about people who grow among believers, who live among believers, who perhaps give indication externally that they do belong as Judas did, but their destiny is the torment of hell for ever and ever. That's awesome! People in this body right here this morning, who give appearance and make profession of belonging to Jesus Christ but have no life from Him, destined to eternal torment in fire forever and ever! That's awesome! Jesus wanted the disciples to know the importance of the issues! If there is no fruit in your life, you do not abide in Christ! If you do not abide in Christ, you do not abide in Him. You have no life from Him. You are destined to an eternity in hell. No matter if you come here for 50 years, that's just an external connection. It puts you among branches that are real, genuine and have life, but it does not give you life. I go out and cut off a piece of the garden hose and go out and stick it in the vine, it's among branches that have life but that doesn't make it a life-producing fruit branch. Why? It has no connection with the vine. That's the same with unbelievers who are part of this group, who sit here and sit here and listen to these wonderful gorgeous sermons! Doesn't produce life because life comes from Jesus Christ. That's where it's from. Now you hear the Word, but you must believe what the Scripture says concerning Jesus Christ, concerning your sin. And when you believe, then you are brought into a vital relationship with Him which brings life, which produces fruit, which guarantees your destiny for eternity.

John 15. The contrast couldn't be any greater between those who abide in Christ and those who do not. Verse 7. "If you abide in Me and My words abide in you..." Now important to note here. He makes a change. He's talked about you abiding in Me and I abiding in you, and now He says 'If you abide in Me and My words abide in you...' There is no difference. One of you put an article in my box this week which is very interesting. The writer of the article was trying to make a distinction between the person of Christ and the written Word, and some people have a commitment to the written Word but their commitment really ought to be to Jesus Christ. Now there is an element in which that is true. We study this book to learn more about Jesus Christ as a person, but all we know about the person of Jesus Christ is what is revealed in this book. And to have Christ abiding in me is to have His Word abiding in me. So "If you abide in Me and My words abide in you," it's another way of saying you'll be producing fruit.

"As whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you." We saw this context of prayer in 1 John 3. It will come up in verse 16 in our future study. It was touched upon back in chapter 14, verses 12,13,14. "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." Believers, those abiding in Christ, are privileged to have their requests from God. "If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will." Now keep in mind. We're talking about branches here whose sole purpose is to produce fruit, so I ask for a lot of things and I don't get them. But keep in mind—the husbandman, the vinedresser, is pruning me because the goal is for me to produce fruit. Sometimes I forget my purpose as a branch and I may ask for things not consistent with being a fruit-bearing branch. Well, the vinedresser takes that into consideration. But within those confines, which are basically limitless as regards my ultimate purpose as a child of God, I can have whatever I want. We’ll talk more about this when we come to verse 16 as well.

Note. Verse 8, "By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit..." We as Christians talk about wanting to glorify God, that this is the goal of man, all humanity. But especially and particularly those who are believers. How is that accomplished? Bear much fruit! Tragedy that sometimes we as Christians measure ourselves against one another, and you're only producing ten-fold and I'm producing twelve-fold, so I'm not really so bad. But that's not the measure. The measure is, what is my potential as a vine branch in the production of fruit. Why should I be satisfied with thirty-fold when God intends for me to produce sixty-fold, a hundred-fold? I realize and am aware that in this life I will never produce 100% 24 hours of every day. Tragic as it is, I am not reaching my potential—to produce the character of God all the time. But that is the goal. That's what the pruning process is for. That's what self-discipline entails. Everything is seen in light of would this be an asset in the production of the character of God in my life? Will this aid the production of the character of God in my life? Because it is the production of much fruit that glorifies God, and that's the goal of my life. And you'll note the end of the verse, "...and so prove to be My disciples" or just be My disciples. I take it believers are disciples and disciples are believers. I see no distinction in the New Testament. A believer is a disciple and a disciple is a believer. And the evidence of a disciple is fruit. So the Father is glorified in the production of much fruit and that is also the evidence that you are My disciple. Judas was a disciple but he wasn't really a disciple—there was no fruit. He had no life from the vine. So we've come almost full circle.

Note verse 16, to jump ahead of ourselves. "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you." The doctrine of election. And God's purpose in choosing us, ordaining us, is that we should go and bear fruit! We'll look at verse 16 in detail when we get there. But inseparable from God’s electing purposes is the sovereign determination that all those He has elected will bear fruit. That’s why there are no fruitless branches. It's inconsistent with the eternal purpose of God. "That your fruit should remain..." There is a permanency about this fruit that is produced by God in the life. And then that issue of prayer. That "whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give it to you."

We've come full circle. The fruit—back to Matthew 7:20, what is the evidence? What is the testimony that we are genuine? The production of fruit. "By their fruits you shall know them." Doctrine is important, doctrine is foundational. That is one-half of the testimony or the evidence. I declare to you that I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died on a cross to pay the penalty for my sins. That may indicate that I am a child of God. You know how you know? Look at my life. Is the character of God being produced in me? If not, that doctrinal statement is a counterfeit. It is so many empty words. They had no impact on my life. So, the two go together.

Do you believe that Jesus Christ the Son of God died to pay the penalty for your sin? Have you come to trust Him alone as your Savior? Secondly, is His character being produced in your life? Is there evidence of God's holiness, of God's righteousness being produced in you? If not, it is so crucial that you grapple with this issue. Eternity hinges on this fact. Do you have a relationship with the One who is life? Is there any evidence? Not, have you fooled your husband, have you fooled your wife, have you fooled others? You haven't fooled God and He's the One who is going to do the sifting to remove those who have not really believed. The exciting fact is that you can believe, you can have life if you but believe that the Son of God died for you. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the glories of our salvation. Father, its completeness in Jesus Christ, that He has finished it all. Lord, by virtue of relationship with Him, faith in Him, we have life. Lord that this life produces fruit in us and results in your character being seen in us in so many ways. What a glorious privilege is ours to be branches that produce fruit to the glory of the eternal God. Lord, our desire is that we might be a people who bear much fruit. Lord, keep us from being satisfied, complacent, Lord that we may rejoice in what we are in