John's Gospel, chapter 15, and we're just
dealing with the first eight verses this evening.
John 15, and we're going right through from
one to eight, and I think it would
be good for us to read it through,
just eight verses.
I am the true vine, and my Father
is the husbandman.
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit
he taketh away, and every branch that beareth
fruit he purges it, that it may bring
forth more fruit.
Now ye are clean through the word which
I have spoken unto you.
Abide in me, and I in you.
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
except it abide in the vine, no more
can ye except ye abide in me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches.
He that abideth in me, and I in
him, me is him bringeth forth much fruit,
for without me ye can do nothing.
If a man abide not in me, he
is cast forth as a branch, and is
withered, and men gather them, and cast them
into the fire, and they are burned.
If ye abide in me, and my words
abide in you, ye shall ask what ye
will, and it shall be done unto you.
Hearing is my Father glorified, that ye bear
much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples.
Now, I want you, first of all, to
get to the setting of where our Lord
gave this wonderful discourse in John 15.
You remember, for the past weeks we have
been in the upper room with the Master.
What a wonderful time it has been.
In John 13, as he talked from the
great lesson of seat washing, and then into
John 14, as he proclaims his going away
and coming again, as he talked to Thomas
and put out some points for Philip, and
then right down through that difficult portion of
last week.
And when we came to the end of
John 14, last week, the last verse, the
Master said this, But that the world may
know that I love the Father, and as
the Father gave me commandment, even so I
shall arise, let us go hence.
And at the end of John 14, he's
leaving the upper room.
And somewhere along the pathway that led from
the upper room to Gethsemane, somewhere along the
pathway, he uttered these never-to-be-forgotten
words of John 15.
Someone has said it may well have been
as he passed the beautiful gates of the
temple.
And I believe that coming from the upper
room, he would most surely pass the beautiful
gates of the temple going to Gethsemane.
Someone has said he may have noticed the
vine engraved on the gates and took this
for the subject.
One can't be sure, but somewhere on the
pathway from the upper room to Gethsemane, as
they walked along, the Master gave this great
message, I am the true vine, and ye
are the branches.
Now, having set the scene where the message
was proclaimed, we must be very careful about
who he's talking to.
That's also very important.
When you're going to examine a subject, try
to find the place, the person who's preaching,
and then do, for any fix, find who
he's preaching to.
That's very important.
And he's preaching to the eleven apostles.
Judas is gone.
Judas went out in John 13, and the
eleven followers, eleven believers, eleven
apostles, is getting his message onto the earth.
That is very important, and unless you see
that, you're going to get difficulties.
So, you see where the stage is being
set on the way to Gethsemane?
The Master is a preacher, and the eleven
followers, believers, apostles, are the foundations of the
Church, are the congregation that he's preaching to.
And in these eight wonderful verses, I want
to point out five things for you this
evening.
First of all, I want to deal with
the picture our Lord painted.
I want to have a look at the
vine, and then I want to have a
look at the husband man, then I want
to have a look at the branches, and
I want to have a good look at
the fruit.
You see, we are going to deal first
of all with the picture the Master painted—the
two vines, the husband man, the branches, the
fruit.
Then I shall take time to underline for
the meeting the precepts our Lord teaches, because
he said something here that every believer must
learn afresh every morning.
Why, I would say the first thing to
learn when you open your eyes in the
morning is this, that without Christ you can
do nothing.
That's the precept, the masterpiece.
You don't only need to learn it first
thing in the morning, you need to remember
it at every moment of the day.
And the mystical preacher would need to remember
it now.
I'm old-fashioned enough, you know, I can
pray and preach at the same time.
I've been trained to do that.
And as I preach, I pray.
As I expound, I hold on.
I know right well it's not I, you
know, but Christ's account.
You learn this lesson without me, you can
do nothing.
So that we shall take time to underline
the precepts our Lord preached, and then we
shall come to the principle our Lord proclaimed.
I shall point out to you tonight that
in seven and eight verses, in eight short,
simple verses, you've got the word abide seven
times.
That's the perfect number, so that there would
be no trouble finding the principle subject this
evening.
The principle subject of the eight verses is
this abiding life.
And so we'll get into the abiding life
this evening.
And then having touched the principle our Lord
proclaimed, I shall take time with the possibility
our Lord presented.
Because he said in verse six, if a
man abide not in me, he is cast
forth as a branch and is withered, and
men gather them and cast them into the
fire, and they are burned.
And that's the possibility our Lord presented.
And then I shall finish with the production
our Lord praised.
He said, Herein is my Father glorified, that
ye bear much fruit.
You see, the life that bears much fruit
is the life that glorifies God.
And remember, redeem man's deep end is to
glorify God.
And unless you're bearing much fruit, you just
haven't got there, that's all.
And so we have a revengeous theme in
our hands just now.
Let's have a look at this picture our
Lord painted.
Our chapter opens with those remarkable words, I
am.
I wonder how many of you could go
back in memory through John's gospel and pick
out all the I am's.
I could do it without any trouble at
all.
You remember that when in John chapter six,
the great cloud came round and he tested
Philip, when shall we buy bread?
You remember that he came out with this
tremendous statement, I am the bread of life.
Do you remember in John chapter nine, when
the man who was blind from birth was
before him, that he came out with this
tremendous statement, I am the light of the
world.
Do you remember in John chapter 11, when
he stood before the grave of Lazarus, that
he said, I am the resurrection and the
light.
Do you remember that in John chapter 14,
when Thomas is trying to find his way
out of the fog, that he said that
Christ said, I am the way.
You just go through this book very carefully,
and you find the deep, dire, desperate need
of any man or any cloud, and you'll
find out the psychological moment Christ re-answers.
And here's his disciples, there's 11 of them,
and they've given their hearts to him, and
they long to live for God.
Well, Christ re-answers still.
He said, I am the true vine.
He's just placing before them this super-sufficiency
that's in him to meet every need.
Of course, you are bound to know that
the great I am can meet all needs.
The bread is your hunger.
I am the light of your blind.
I am the life of your dead.
Oh, friend, whatever the need, and if we
need to live a spiritual life for the
glory of God, I think that many of
you will remember where we found the word
true in his gospel.
You see, I am the truth.
Oh, many could quote that without me turning
to it.
Well, you remember that when John the Baptist
appeared, you remember that he came as a
witness of the light, capital L.
He was not that light.
That was the true light, yes.
When it speaks of John the Baptist, it
says he was a burning and a shining,
and the Greek word there should be lamp.
Now, he was the burning and the shining
lamp.
But Christ was the true light.
That's the balance, let's say it.
You remember that Moses gave all fathers bread
from heaven?
They ate manna in the wilderness.
That was wonderful.
But Christ said, I am the true bread.
That's the balance, let's say it.
True life.
Do you remember when God called Ishmael out
of Egypt?
My, he brought them through the Red Sea
and through the wilderness, and he brought them
into the promised land, and the book says
in the book of Psalms that he planted
them in the land of Ein, something to
bring glory to his name.
But they failed.
Christ said, I am the true light.
So that you're getting a picture of the
super sufficiency that's in Christ to meet the
need of saints and sinners for time and
for eternity.
I am the true vine.
Then he went on to say, my father
is the husband man.
You know, we mustn't buy that very quickly.
You know, if the vine brings forth the
picture of the super sufficiency of Christ, why,
the husband man touches the expectancy, the expectancy
of the Father.
You know, when we look at the true
vine of the Father as the husband man,
you know, God expected great things of Christ.
Oh, he did, and Christ didn't fail him
either.
No, he finished the work that the Father
gave him to do.
But you know, God also expects great things
of the branches.
Oh yes, he's the husband man of the
whole tree, because there's a sufficiency
provided to produce this ring, and so there's
an expectancy here.
When we touch the branches, well, that brings
in the possibility of the believer.
Are you following me?
The vine speaks of the sufficiency of Christ,
the husband man speaks of the expectancy of
the Father, the branches speak of the possibility
of the believer.
Ye are the branches.
If you go down this wonderful discourse and
have a look at the branches, it will
teach you something.
Watch this one, verse two.
Every branch in me that dareth not fruity
taketh away.
And again, many of the scholars have come
in to reopen, and they believe that this
would be a better rendering.
Every branch in me that no longer dareth
fruit.
I think that's dead on the Greek.
Kenneth West says so.
Dr. Schiffer says so.
Dr. Ironside says so.
Arthur Pink says so.
Dr. Brunger says so.
That actually the phrase should be, every branch
in me that no longer dareth fruit, he
taketh away.
You know, that's the branch that has become
barren.
You know, we're not talking, there are no
unbelievers here in this passage, you know, that
he's talking to.
He's talking to these branches that are around
him.
Ye are the branches, and every branch in
me that no longer dareth fruit, my father
taketh away.
Because the very words that in me would
tell you that it's believers that he's talking
to.
My, that's a wonderful thing, you know, to
be in Christ.
But you know, there's a difference between being
in Christ and abiding in Christ.
I hope you know that.
Because there's a vast difference.
There are thousands in Christ, but there are
quite a number out of the thousands not
abiding in Christ.
That's exactly what he's teaching on the page
just now.
But you know, this is a very serious
thing, because this is a branch that has
become barren.
This is a barren branch.
Now, scholars after which end about this word,
he taketh away.
Actually, it could be translated by another phrase,
he lifteth up from the earth, or he
lifteth away from the earth, or he taketh
away from the earth.
Mind you, I believe this.
I believe that we're at something that's taught
in another part of the book, that for
a believer there is a sin unto death.
A serious one.
You know, I saw this once in life.
I'm saved twenty-seven years ago, just a
tramp on the roadside.
And in the very week that I was
saved, another young fellow was saved in Queen's
University.
Oh, nobody would know him here, so I'll
tell you his name.
His name was James Kerr.
And however James Kerr and I got together,
I just couldn't tell you.
He became paralyzed.
And after a few months, we would go
to the open-air meetings, and James Kerr
could teach the gospel in those days like
nobody I've ever heard since.
And he was only a student.
And we piled up, and he used to
try to coach me to preach, but I
wouldn't venture up.
And we would sit in the prayer meeting,
and he could pray.
And he used to hit me with his
elbow and say, pray, my.
But I never prayed, you know.
But he was a great fellow.
And I believe that he was one of
God's really, truly gifted men, and would have
done a great job for God.
And we grew up spiritually together, and we
walked the roads together, and we went out
at nights together, and we turned over things
together, and we were baptized together, and all
the rest of it.
And then after about nine months, maybe twelve
months, when I was beginning to preach, and
he was a real preacher, a young worldly
woman set her eyes on James Kerr, and
she got him.
And I knew our old elders at the
meeting, and they were godly men, and I'm
proud of them.
I knew they went round and begged him
not to go through with this.
This will wreck your spiritual life.
And they brought God's word, be not unequally
yoked with unbelievers.
But he got his teeth into something unlike
Samson.
He wasn't turning back.
And he married her.
And three months after he married her, he
was laid on the broad of his back
with TB of a certain kind.
It was called commonly galloping consumption, which actually
means in the medical term, from the day
you get the germ until the day you
die, it's just exactly twelve weeks, and there
can't be any more.
And when ten weeks had gone, I went
to see him.
I can remember going into the room.
He's just bones now.
There he is in the bed.
I can see his white fingers over the
end of the blanket.
And he looked at me and he said,
well, he said, you know why
I'm going to die?
He said, I've thrown my back in God,
and he's taken me home.
And God took him home.
He was taken away from the earth.
He had become a barren branch.
You young folk, you'll not forget that.
If you become a barren branch, God will
take you away.
It's all full about with God, you know.
Dr. Ryan said this to me once.
He said, did you ever see that lad
who's playing in the street?
One wee fellow's rougher than the other, and
he hits the wee fellow, and he comes
to his mother's door and says, Mrs. Johnny
Hexley.
What did Johnny Hexley for?
Nothing.
She looked out and she said, Johnny, if
you do that again, I'll bring you in.
She shut the door and went in.
You know, Johnny's not playing ten minutes till
he hits another one.
And he comes to the door.
Johnny Hexley.
He said, Johnny, now I've warned you.
Bring me in.
Shut the door.
And he's at it again.
John Mora brings him in.
And God will convict you.
And God will speak to you.
And God will shout at you.
When you go home, keep the bits between
your teeth.
You've become no use to God.
Let's get on with this.
Now that's the barren branch.
Did you see that?
That to every branch in me that beareth
fruit no longer, he taketh away.
And every branch that beareth fruit, that's not
the barren branch.
That's a bearing branch, isn't it?
He purges it.
Now watch what for, that it may bring
forth more fruit.
Now remember that neither fruit nor more fruit
is what is after.
You remember how the passage ended?
Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear
much.
We're just looking at a branch that's bearing
fruit.
And the Father wants it to bear more
fruit.
But the idea is, it must bear much
fruit.
But it's only bearing fruit now.
And every branch that beareth fruit, he purges
it.
Yes?
You know, this is a wonderful word, and
it has got two senses to it.
I know that many people run to the
pruning idea, that purging in a sense, of
course.
But actually, you know, this is actual cleansing,
this here.
It's purging.
You know, all the germs that would gather
on the branch, they have to be washed
off.
It has to be purged.
And there's only one way for purging a
believer, and that's through God's Word.
When you talk about being cleansed again in
the blood, has it lost its power?
I wonder what you're talking about.
You would think the blood of Christ had
lost its power to heal you.
My, you really let the power of the
blood down, don't you?
Why, dear friends, the blood that was shed
on rugged blood-stained palm-tree will never
lose its power.
It's education for all eternity.
But what you need when you don't do
what you should do, is to get brought
face to face with God's words, because that's
where you're going wrong.
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way,
listen to, by taking heed thereto according to
his words?
And you folk that talk about sanctification so
much, let me tell you what you'll be
finding in John 17 when you come to
it.
You'll find our Lord looking towards heaven and
saying, sanctify them through thy truth, thy Word
as truth.
Remember our Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for
a tax, that he might sanctify and cleanse
it by the washing of water by the
Word, by the Word.
Oh, lover, you sanctified folk are afraid of
your life, of getting baptized.
Well, it's your Lord's command, and it's the
truth of this book, and if you would
like to take me up on it, I'll
lift on red butter in the late 13th
with the Word of God, because I can
just quote every verse in the book on
believer's baptism without opening the Bible at all.
You test me, you see.
But some of you don't want God's truth.
You want to play about in the back
room, shutting your eyes and talking about sanctification,
when you're afraid to obey God's Word.
You weren't brought here for me to fiddle
around with you.
Now listen, if you start to obey God
and to bring forth fruit, money will teach
you a whole lot more, that you may
bring forth more fruit.
And to prove that I'm right, here's what
Jesus said in the next verse, now ye
are clean through the Word.
Am I right?
That's just what purges you.
Now ye are clean through the Word which
I have spoken unto you.
It's the Word of God that cleanses the
bearing branch, that it may bring forth more
fruit.
And then, just let's pass on, you see,
there is that blighted branch in verse 6,
if a man abide not in me, he
is cast forth as a branch and is
withered.
That's a blighted branch.
I'll keep that to expound it in a
moment.
I'm only showing you the branches.
You see, there is the barren branch that's
taken away, there is the bearing branch that
is purged, there is the blighted branch that
is burned.
But when you come to verse 8, you
get the blighted branch.
Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear
much fruit.
What branch art thou?
Are you no longer bearing fruit?
And your testimony being blighted, are you just
a bearing branch?
You've got no further.
God wants you to be a blessed branch.
These are much fruit.
These are the branches.
Now, remember this, that the vine brings forth
the super-sufficiency of Christ, and the husband
-man speaks of the expectancy of the Father,
and the branches speak of the possibility of
the believer, and the fruit speaks of the
glory of life.
That's life indeed.
You know, there is a life that's more
abundant.
And, you know, when you're living, let your
whole character glorify God.
Then, indeed, you're bearing fruit that's glorious.
We'll get into that in a moment.
Now, that's the picture of the Lord's angels.
Let's have a look at this precept.
Verse 4, Abide in me, and I in
you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of
itself, except it abide in the vine.
No more can ye except ye abide in
me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches.
He that abideth in me and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.
For without me ye can do nothing.
Now, let's take more time here.
When our Lord Jesus Christ looked at these
eleven disciples and said, Without me ye can
do nothing.
Is that nothing in the absolute sense?
You know, I can go over two or
three pages backward to Matthew chapter 7, and
I'll get you this.
When the door is shut, many shall stand
without knocking, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us,
for in thy name we have eaten and
drunk, and in thy name we have done
many wonderful works.
In thy name we have cast out devils.
Is that nothing?
That's a whole lot, you know, of religious
activity, but in God's sight, I'm unto nothing.
And you want to be careful.
You see, you can do so much in
the flesh that looks like real service for
God, but at the end of the day,
why Christ will say to so many, Depart
ye, for he even knew you.
They were without Christ, and they were doing
a whole lot.
You know, on that very street not so
long ago, I met a fellow when some
of these great healing campaigns were going on,
and he was all excited.
He said to me, Mr. Mullins, I submit
to you.
Tell me this.
When a man's casting out devils every night,
is he at the peak of his spiritual
power?
I said, he might be on his road
to hell.
Oh, that shook the lace of him, you
know.
It was nearly sacrilege, wasn't it, as far
as he was concerned.
He said, you know, this is shocking.
I said, well, have a look at this
book in my pocket.
So I got it out, turned it over,
made him read it.
Casting out devils.
Christ said, I never knew you.
Depart ye.
He nearly fainted on the street.
He was very careful.
There's so much religion.
They're torturing us, singing in the choir, and
all the rituals of the day, and yet
without Christ.
And you'll be damned at the end.
Damned for all eternity.
Damned at the end.
But he's talking to his own, and he's
saying to them, without me, ye can do
nothing for the glory of God.
Without Christ, ye can do nothing for the
glory of God.
Christ must direct your giving.
Christ must direct your praying.
Christ must direct your preaching.
Christ must direct your fellow's singing.
As if you do it in the flesh.
Only when Christ has got absolute control, and
is flowing through the branch, will there be
fruit produced at the other end for the
glory of God.
And without Christ flowing through, there'll be nothing
for God.
F.
B.
Mayer said this, it's not what I do
for Christ that counts, it's what Christ done
through me for himself that counts.
There's so much doing in the young folk,
but is it Christ that doing the doing?
And if it's not, all your activity amounts
to nothing for the glory of God.
No wonder we need to learn the precept,
without me ye can do nothing for the
glory of God.
But let's come to the principle.
Not resurviving is the whole subject this evening.
I've already pointed out to you that there
is a difference between being in Christ and
abiding in Christ.
You see, in Christ, that means union.
The day that I trusted the Lord Jesus,
I became united with him, and that's for
all eternity, that's union.
But abiding in Christ is communion.
And unless I'm in full communion with him,
he can't flow through to produce that which
will glorify God.
So we're not touching the union, we're just
after the communion, it's this word abiding.
Now, he took a very wonderful illustration here,
didn't he?
He took the branches and the vine.
I think that even the smallest boy here
this evening would know this, that in spring,
summer, autumn, winter, the branch has to depend
entirely and completely for all its sustenance on
the vine.
And that brings in the word dependence.
You see, that's just trust, that's all that
is.
You know, here's something I think that the
young people ought to know, that the day
that I stood in my rags and I
trusted Christ, that was a net of faith,
and it brought me union with Christ forever.
That was a net of faith.
But when I talk about the branch depending
on the vine, that is a multitude of
faith, and the act becomes a continual multitude.
Oh, I'm trusting the Lord now, yes, of
course, and I'm trusting him to guide me
through this message, right down to the last
detail, and I'm trusting him for so many
things.
I need words, I need wisdom, I need
guidance, I need grace, I need power, I
need blessing, I need action, and I'm altogether
depending on him.
And that's how I live every day, too.
That's a matter to the faith.
Doesn't the Bible say that we believe as
walk?
By faith do we.
I hope you do.
Don't always talk about the act the way
back yonder, you know.
There's a multitude tonight.
I'm trusting him now.
Now, wait a minute, we need to get
this disentangled a little bit more.
You see that word abide?
It's a lovely one.
It's a Greek word, and it's translated by
our English word abide.
But, you know, that same Greek word is
translated by many other English words.
Here's one, for instance.
Look at 1 John.
1 John chapter 3.
1 John 3, and the way down the
chapter there, at verse 24.
1 John chapter 3, verse 24.
And he that keepeth Christ's commandments dwelleth in
him.
See, the word dwelleth.
Well, it's the very same Greek word as
the word that's rendered abide in John 15.
But any small boy would know that to
abide and to dwell is just the same
thing, isn't it?
Well, wherever you're abiding, you're dwelling, you know
that.
Or just the same thing.
But here's the difference here, that you've got
to keep his commandments to dwell in him
or abide in him.
And when I have examined the Greek subject
of abiding that makes your life produced to
the glory of God, I bring it down
in its simplicity to this.
It amounts to trust and obey.
And the hymn writer was right when he
said, there's no other way.
I've searched the Scripture through.
I've come to it again and again.
Don't tell me you can close your eyes
in the bathroom and forevermore just be everything.
You've got to obey God's word.
The man who tells you, you know, that
he can trample God's work under his feet
and be holy is a liar.
How could you be in fellowship with a
God you're disobeying?
There are two wings here, and one is
trust.
But I'll tell you this, there needs to
be more said about it than much.
It needs to be a continual trust, and
it needs to be prompt obedience.
And you'll never know what it means to
us if there's not a prompt obedience
to his words.
You'll never experience it.
You'll be in Christ all right, but you'll
not be abiding in Christ.
That's the principle.
You see, that's the practice of the abiding
life.
That's trust and obey.
Now, here's the promise.
Let's get back to John 15.
Here's the promise of the abiding life.
This is the bit that thrills me.
Watch this.
We're down in the chapter where the Lord
Jesus Christ is speaking, and here's what he
said down there at verse five.
I am the vine, ye are the branches.
He that abideth in me, and I in
him, thee is him.
It's a lovely one.
Bring forth much fruit.
It doesn't make a matter what your age
is.
It doesn't make a matter what your academic
standards are.
It doesn't make a matter what school you
went to.
It doesn't make a matter whether you know
Greek or not.
It doesn't make a matter where you are
or where you come from or what you
may be.
Here's the Lord's word, and it was good
enough for me twenty-five years ago.
I can remember when I sat up in
a little attic, and I reasoned all this
out, and I chiseled it out, and I
pulled it asunder, and I heard the Lord
saying, women, if you trust me continually and
you obey me promptly, you'll bring forth much
fruit.
He's not asking you what college you went
to.
No, he's not asking you what degrees you've
got.
God put me some of the edu-rabbles
that I see with a degree.
He's not asking you what your academic standard
is, or did you even pass the 11th
muster?
He won't let them worry.
Listen to your Lord, man, and if you
obey, and that means if you depend on
him continually for everything, for everything in him,
and if you obey him promptly, and my
son, O young preacher here, my son, you'll
bring forth much fruit.
That's the promise.
You've got the practice, haven't you?
Did you get the promise?
Well, the promise is a good one.
Now, have a look at the power.
See this one, verse 7.
If ye abide in me, and my words
abide in you, ye shall ask what ye
will, and it shall be done unto you.
I say there's some power enough.
That's the power.
Did you hear it right, did you?
Ye shall ask what ye will.
Many of you are living there.
Many of you in the prayer meeting are
living there.
That's living in the place where God answers
prayer.
That's what that is.
So much so, to be honest, I've prayed
for things that never happened.
Maybe you're not abiding, son.
I think the best thing I can do
with the tax is to do what I
once did with it.
I owe so much to him, I have
to refer after him.
But he told of this.
He said, you know, when I went through
the Moody Memorial, he said, I found a
young girl there, and she was a flame
for God.
He said, I saw a young woman filled
with the Holy Ghost, and who was living
for the Lord Jesus twenty-four hours every
day.
And after watching her life for nearly a
couple of years, I began to see her
easing off.
She didn't come to the meetings so much
now.
It wasn't at the prayer meeting, her voice
wasn't heard.
And then I heard little stories about her.
I heard she was going to a certain
dance hall, and I heard that she had
been to the picture house once or twice,
and I thought it was time that I
went round and put my arm round her
and had a wee chat to her.
So I said, I dropped in one afternoon
and I found her in the drawing room
all alone.
I said, Mary, you're not as bright as
you used to be.
She hung her head.
He said, I've been hearing about you being
to this dance hall which belongs to the
world, and I hear you go to these
worldly sexual pictures.
I didn't used to know that.
And he said she gathered some courage from
somewhere.
She said, Pastor, I'm living my own life,
my own way, and I don't want you
to interfere.
He said, well, you'll remember that I came
round to talk to you.
You know, my dear, if you belong to
the Lord, he'll deal with you.
Good afternoon.
She said just a few months later, her
dear old father, whom she loved, was laid
on a deathbed.
And as she saw him suffer excruciating pain,
she came to her senses.
And then she went away and looked for
her Bible that she hadn't had for so
long, and she opened it in the dark
there.
And then she came to this verse, Ye
shall ask what you will.
And she got down on her knees, and
she held up her hands, and she prayed
the whole night through, pleading his promise, for
hour after hour after hour after hour, and
pleaded and pleaded and pleaded.
And when the morning came, her father was
dead.
She said, I went round and took the
funeral, and then after the funeral, a few
days, I went to see her.
I said, Mary, I've come to have another
shot with you.
She said, you needn't, you needn't trouble.
I'm finished with God.
Why?
Because she opened her Bible.
Said, do you see that promise?
Well, I just held on to that.
And I knelt, and she told him this
whole story.
She said, Mary, you were pleading a promise
you had your right to.
It was like taking a check to the
bank that wasn't in your name.
He said, do you mean to tell me
that you were abiding in Christ at the
downfall?
Do you mean to tell me that his
words were abiding in you at the picture
house?
The whole word is this, you know.
If ye abide in me, and my words
abide in you, ye shall ask what you
will.
This check is made out to a certain
crowd of people.
I don't know whether he or not, it's
made out to a certain crowd of people.
If ye abide in me, my words abide
in you, ye shall ask what you will.
Then Mary, Mary started to weep.
She said, oh dear, if I'd only lived
on, if I'd only lived on, I could
have saved my father's life.
The old pastor was wise, you know.
He said, you know, you're swinging the pendulum
to the other side now.
If you'd been living where you were when
I first saw you, dear, you would have
known the Lord's will in the dark hour.
You know, the Lord just lays upon your
heart the things, and when you hold the
box, he readily answers prayer.
I've seen it a thousand times.
You know, I would be afraid to tell
you tonight how God has answered prayer for
me.
I'd be afraid to doubt it, but I
pray a lot more than I preach.
It's a wonderful promise, isn't it?
It's a wonderful power, a wonderful practice.
If trust and obey is the practice, you'll
bring forth fruit is the promise.
You'll get what you ask is the power.
Now, I couldn't leave this subject without showing
you two more things.
Come to 1 John, chapter 2.
1 John, chapter 2, you see verse 6.
He that saith he abideth in him ought
himself also so to walk even as Jesus
walked, is the right wording.
You know, that's the proof of it.
No use in talking about abiding in him,
you know.
That's only chat with a lot of folk.
But when you're really trusting him continually, and
you're obeying him promptly, and all the sufficiency
that's in him is flowing through you, then
you'll walk.
It's getting on to high ground, isn't it?
I preached that at a conference, and an
old fellow came up at the end of
the meeting.
He said, Mr., that was high ground.
I said, Sir, that was scriptural ground.
Some of these old carnal Christians in some
of the meetings don't like high ground, you
know.
Oh, no, they don't.
And I'll tell you this.
There are three times this word without is
in the Bible, in your New Testament at
least.
And it's without Christ, you can do nothing.
Without faith, it's impossible to please God.
And faith without works is dead.
Now, watch.
If you have real faith, and it stretches
out its hand continually to get the fullness
that's in Christ, and it embraces that fullness,
you can't tell me that you have that
fullness without a production in your walk, can
you?
No, you'll walk as he walks.
And when you're doing it all the time,
you'll know it's not I, but Christ that
lives within me.
That's the proof of the abiding life.
Did you see the promise?
Did you see the practice?
Did you see the power?
You're seeing the proof.
Here's the prospect.
Look at verse twenty-eight of this chapter,
1 John 2.
And now, little children, abide in him that
when he shall appear, we may have confidence
and not be ashamed before him that is
coming.
You know, that's the prospect.
You know, if you're really abiding in him,
if you're continually trusting him, and if you're
promptly obeying him, it doesn't matter when he
comes.
My, you'll not be ashamed before him that
is coming.
You know, Lot wasn't abiding down in Sodom.
And when the Lord came, he was caught
on.
Yes, and the great Elijah wasn't abiding when
he was in the old, dark, damp cave
where there was never light nor food nor
light.
And he was caught on.
God said, What doest thou hear, Elijah?
And if you trust God continually and obey
God promptly, you'll be in the place where
you'll not be ashamed.
Have you got this abiding life?
Did you see the practice of just trust
and obey?
Did you see the promise, that shame bringeth
forth much fruit?
Did you see the power?
Ask and it'll be done.
Did you see the proof?
You'll walk as he walks.
Did you see the prospect?
You'll not be ashamed before him that is
coming.
Now, let's have a look at this other
dreadful verse that's in the scripture.
John 15, verse 6.
If a man abide not in me, and
remember he's talking to believers.
I know that there are some of the
ultra-Calvinists who try to get out of
facing this verse by saying, this is not
a believer here.
My dear friend, he's not talking to anybody
else.
There are eleven believers before him.
In fact, those words, if a man are
not in the original scripture, actually it's the
branch he's still on.
Of course, the very fact that the word
abide in me is there will prove that
he's still talking to the branches about the
abiding.
If a branch abide not in me, he
is cast forth of the branch and is
willed.
Does this mean that he's lost again?
Look, friend, nowhere from your first verse down
to the eighth verse are we talking about
salvation.
No, what the Lord's talking about salvation is
defined as follows.
The whole subject is fruit bearing.
That is not salvation, and don't be reading
it into it either.
You see, friends, the difference between an unsaved
man and a saved man is just this.
So, watch.
The unsaved man has no life to lose.
He never had life.
He has only an existence.
He that hath the son hath life.
This man hasn't got the son, therefore he
hasn't got life.
He has only an existence.
He has no life to lose.
He's dead, the first part of the sentence.
But he's got a soul to save.
He's got a soul to save.
Now, the saved man has got no soul
to lose.
By the blood of the cross, he was
perfected forever.
Would you like to come round and tell
me what perfected forever means?
Because I would tell you it means perfected
forever.
He's got no soul to lose.
But watch, he's got a life to be
perfected.
This man's got no life to lose, but
a soul to save.
This man's got no soul to save, but
he's got a life that can be forfeited.
And you can forfeit your life, you know.
You can become no use to God.
You can just go on down a carnal
path after you're in Christ.
Were those Corinthians in Christ?
Do you remember the first verse of 1
Corinthians chapter 1, Paul writing to the church
at Corinth?
He said, For them that are sanctified in
Christ Jesus called saints, were the saved, the
saved.
Come to the third chapter, find how they're
living.
I could not speak unto you as the
ritual butters unto carnal.
They were living carnal lives.
You see, they were losing out.
Their whole life of service and fruit-bearing
was being lost.
Why?
Because they were not obeying and trusting.
Now here we're at it now.
If a branch abide not, that is, if
a believer does not continually trust and will
not promptly obey, he is cast forth as
a branch and as work.
Now, what's your next three words?
Men follow them.
Does that say that God's going to pitch
him into the fire?
The very fact that it says men would
teach you what's happening.
You know, when a fellow doesn't really live
for God, the boys in the factory knew
all about it.
And when he goes in the back of
the machine to have a smoke, and he
does this and that and the other, they
know it all.
And when he comes out to preach, they
just say, shut up.
Men follow them, and men pitch them into
the fire, and they push the money no
good to men.
It's the test, the money is blanketed and
blasted because they'll neither trust nor obey.
It's men that are doing it.
It's not God.
Then we end this powerful passage this evening
with this word.
Jesus said, Herein is my Father glorified, that
ye bear much fruit.
What is this fruit?
I think you know this, don't you?
You know the fruit of the Spirit is
what?
Love, joy, peace.
Long-suffering, gentleness, goodness.
Faith, meekness, temperance.
You know, if ever you want to paint
a picture of Christ, well, I don't know
whether I should tell you this or not.
You see, I've painted many pictures in my
day.
I've painted pictures all around the country.
But I'm painting one at present, at least
I've sketched it out.
And it's one of these modern paintings of
Christ.
Some day when you go to the museum,
go and see some of the modern paintings,
and you'll wonder whether you should stand on
your head or your hands to see what
way it goes.
I took Mr. Orr in the other day
to see this, and he stood back and
he says, My God, is that painting me,
sirs?
I said, yes, that's modern painting.
This is not desperate.
He'll think that through of the thing at
the screen.
And in his own country way, he just
went on raving about it, and raged and
ramped.
This was nonsense.
But you know, I'm going to paint one,
and it's going to begin with love.
And then I'm putting a certain thing in
for joy.
And I'm putting another thing in for peace.
And then I'm putting a bit in for
long-suffering.
And I'm putting a wee bit down for
gentleness.
And another thing for goodness.
And then there's meekness and temperance of Christ.
Wherever Christ went in this world, inside him
was love, joy.
And out towards the world was long-suffering
and gentleness.
And upward towards God was faith and meekness.
And when you continually trust and promptly obey,
then the very life of Christ flows through
you until the production is much richer.
Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, which is Christ.
Because it's only when the world is seeing
something of Jesus in you that God is
glorified.
And after all the teasing out tonight, the
whole thing for you, dearies, go home and
trust him for everything and obey him.
I will not sing any more.
I've kept you longer than I should have
kept you.
Lord, take us home and get us down
to listen to the Master.
Make us all to sit at his feet
this night before the night goes by and
look at these wonderful things again.
And so reveal this great mighty truth of
abiding through young lives and old lives until
we are brought to the place where the
world will see Jesus in us, part of
us in thy fear and with thy touch
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.