Prepared | Abiding In Christ | Neil Crouse | August 30, 2026

You're dismissed.

And now will everyone please stand as one of our elders reads today's scripture from the book of John.

Good morning.

I'll be reading from uh John fifteen, verses one through eleven.

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 does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.

Abide in me and I in you.

As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

I am the vine, you are the branches.

Whoever abides in me and I in him, he is that bears much fruit.

For apart from me you can do nothing.

If any one does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned.

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.

Abide in my love.

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love.

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

This is the word of the Lord.

May you add his blessing to the reading and hearing of his word.

May be seated.

Thank you, Clark.

As always, I appreciate you reading our scripture for the day.

We love to have our elders come up and and um read the main text for the day so that one, you get to see the elders and know who they are, and uh they get to proclaim God's word over our church family.

Well, good morning and welcome to Forward.

Um, so good to see everyone here today.

If you're new with us, we are in John chapter 15 and at Forward Church.

John 15 · chapter mention

We walk verse by verse through books of the Bible, and um we are in John 15.

Jesus is only hours away from the cross at this point.

He knows what is coming, but the disciples still don't fully know or understand what is about to happen.

So we have spent several weeks looking at the chapters leading up to um this point, and they have been in the upper room, and um John has spent a lot of time explaining what Jesus is teaching in the upper room.

So pretty soon his disciples are going to experience fear, confusion, grief, and uncertainty when everything begins to unfold.

And in the middle of all that, Jesus gives them an image that will change their lives.

So he's been telling them that they can have peace, and he's he's explaining how they can find peace, and then now he uses a spiritual metaphor to tell them how they should live once he's gone to be with the Father.

And the image that he gives is a vine and its branches.

So this is something that everyone would be familiar with, and we are pretty familiar with as well today.

But in that culture, they definitely would have been familiar with a vineyard and a grapevine and the branches on a grapevine.

So as we open up to chapter 15, the context is this Jesus has just finished teaching them in the upper room, and at the end of chapter 14, he said, Arise, let's go from here.

So that means that they arose and they left the upper room.

Now, where are they going?

Well, they are headed to the Garden of Gethsemane, and that's where Jesus will spend the night praying, and that's where he will ultimately be arrested.

So he says, Arise, let's go from here, and then chapter 15 begins.

So we can assume that chapter 15 begins as they are going from there, as they are on their journey.

Chapter 15, verse 1, he says, 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 does bear fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

So Jesus speaks these words on the road as they're journeying towards the Garden of Gethsemane.

And as they walk along the path from the upper room towards the Kidron Valley and then on to the Garden of Gethsemane, what they would have seen would be olive orchards around them, and they would have seen vineyards all along the way.

So they would see these grapevines, and those grapevines would be in view.

So Jesus, just like he always did, he looks around him and he uses what is nearby as a teaching metaphor.

Jesus would regularly use something that they could see and relate to in order to make a spiritual point.

And here he uses the grapevine, and he begins to talk about its branches and bearing fruit.

And this is something that also connects directly with the Old Testament.

When we read through the Old Testament, we see many passages that would speak of the nation of Israel being described as God's vineyard.

So the nation of Israel and the Old Testament described as God's vineyard, and the intention of the nation of Israel, God's intention for them, is that they would remain connected to God, be faithful to God, and therefore bear good fruit, not bitter fruit.

So as God's people, chosen people, the Jewish nation, they were to be connected to Him.

They were to be set apart as looking different, so their lives were connected to God, and then they were to bear fruit from that, so that other nations would see them and see how good it is to follow God and his ways.

You see, there is a scripture that says, taste and see that the Lord is good.

And that's kind of explaining that.

You know, if you taste from a vine and you taste it and the grape tastes really good, you know, well, that's a healthy grape vine.

But if you taste it and it's bitter and terrible and sour, you're like, oh, that's not good.

It's not healthy.

So what God wanted people to do is to taste and see from the nation of Israel that his vineyard is good.

Isaiah chapter 5 describes Israel, though, as becoming like wild grapes.

Isaiah 5 · chapter mention

And because of their rebellion, because Israel failed to stay connected to God, they would be judged.

And now here in John chapter 15, Jesus is continuing that thought, and he's explaining that he is now the vine that everyone must abide in.

John 15 · chapter mention

It's through him that we bear good fruit.

So we have to be a part of a healthy vineyard of God, and we do that through faith in Jesus, which he's been explaining, that's the gospel, and then we bear his good fruit.

And his father in heaven, he says, is the vine dresser.

So what does that mean?

Well, that means that our father in heaven is the one that takes care of us so that we can bear good fruit.

Now, I've never worked on a vineyard, but I did grow up on a farm, and I know how much work it takes to care for a crop and how meticulous it is.

But vineyards are even in need of much more meticulous care to take care of the grapes and the vines and make sure they're healthy.

And a vine dresser will inspect the branches and prune away what is not healthy, because an unhealthy branch will drain the healthy parts of the branch and the vine.

It will drain it of the nutrients that it needs to produce good groups.

So you cut away what's not healthy.

So a vine dresser would also even prune away some healthy branches so that the fruit that is bearing the good or that is on the good branches would be even healthier.

So sometimes you prune always you prune away the bad, but sometimes you even prune away the good so that what is there becomes even better.

And Jesus is using that example to give us a metaphor of our spiritual life connected to God through Him.

Because as believers in Jesus, you have a Father in heaven who cares meticulously for you.

You are his child.

Therefore, he cares about us and the fruit that we will bear.

So, like a grape farmer, a vine dresser, he would prune us to make good fruit come from us.

So he works with you.

And God prunes you when needed, pruning away the dead stuff from your life.

When the Holy Spirit lives inside of us, it begins to reveal things in our life that are actually bringing death and prunes those away as we repent of that.

So we're pruned when needed, and sometimes pruning things that are good.

Sometimes God will prune away good things so that we can produce even better fruit.

And Jesus describes what will happen to those bearing good fruit and to those who do not bear fruit.

He addresses those who do not bear fruit first, and he says, the Father will take them away.

And the word that he uses here for take away is to lift up and remove.

So the image here is that God the Father will inspect his vineyard and he will lift up and he will remove those who are not truly abiding in Jesus.

However, we see that those who are bearing good fruit will get pruned as well.

So he removes those that are not abiding, but those that are and are bearing some fruit, he will prune as well.

And pruning is that part of cutting away something that is good so that something even better comes.

God the Father will cut away from a believer's life things that are not good for us.

And sometimes it's pruning, the process is painful, but it's ultimately good for us.

Other times he prunes away things that are actually good, but they're not necessarily fruitful in our life, in our walk with Him.

So God will prune it away.

You know, about 20 years ago, I was serving in an area of ministry that I thought I would retire doing.

I loved the ministry I was serving in.

It was fruitful.

I enjoyed it.

It honored God, and I was excited about it, and I thought, I'm just gonna do this for the rest of my life.

It's what I was passionate about and excited about.

However, through a variety of ways, God began pruning even that out of my life.

I couldn't understand it at the time.

It was hurtful.

Um, it it was a process that at times was very painful, but God was pruning that out of my life because he had something far more fruitful in store for me.

You see, God wanted me to step into a leadership role.

He wanted me to pastor a local church and preach for a living.

I was kind of battling that and fighting that because I didn't feel confident to do this.

I didn't feel gifted enough to do this, I didn't feel like I could succeed in doing this, and and and so God had to prune away what I was comfortable in so that he could make me even more fruitful and use me where he wants me.

Sometimes the process of pruning is painful, but I can look back in hindsight and I'm so thankful that God pruned me during that season and he brought me to where I am now.

So, what I can tell you is that if you're in the middle of a pruning season, I want you to know it may be uncomfortable.

It might hurt.

However, if God is pruning you, what that means is that he loves you and he wants you to bear good and better fruit for him.

And that's what we see here in this text.

The word used here is also the word used for cleansing.

Once we place our faith in the saving grace of Jesus, his spirit makes his home inside of us.

We talked about that last week, and begins the process of pruning away things that do not abide in the Lord.

And last week I mentioned that some of us need to do some house cleaning so that we have a good place for God to make his home.

And that is true because we need to do that and make sure we are a clean vessel for him to use to his glory.

Um, but the reality too is that even more important than us doing work to clean our house is that reality that the Holy Spirit moves into us and begins to clean up our residence as well, our house, his residence.

You see, you don't have to have your house in order to come to him.

Far too often people think, I've got to get everything cleaned up, I've got to figure things out, I can't even enter the doors of the church because I've sinned too much.

And the reality is that we just have to turn to God and place our faith in Jesus, then his Holy Spirit takes up residence in our heart and begins to clean house for us because he begins to convict us of the sins in our life as we read the scriptures, and the word begins to speak to us and teach us and inform us, and the Holy Spirit then begins to clean house.

So there's a little bit of both.

The Holy Spirit is convicting and cleaning house, but we are also making sure that we have this clean place for God to reside.

So you remain connected to Him and He does the cleaning work.

I think of it like this: it's kind of like that old commercial for scrubbing bubbles where you just sprayed it, and then you know the bubbles would go all around and they would find all the dirt and they would clean everything up, and they're like, you don't even have to do the work.

The scrubbing bubbles does it for you.

Listen, when the Holy Spirit moves into your heart through faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit goes to all the little dark recesses of your heart and he begins to show you there's something dirty over here, and this needs to be cleaned up.

You need to kill that, you need to put that away, you need to crucify that.

And that's what the Holy Spirit does is begins to clean us from the inside out.

So don't think you have to have it all together.

The Holy Spirit's gonna be the one that that gets you right, that cleans you up and does the work inside of you.

He does that convicting work.

So the Holy Spirit does all the work for us, and even the things that need to be thrown away so that you can walk in obedience with God.

And Jesus continues in verse 3, and he says, Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.

So there it is right there.

He says, You are made clean by Jesus and his word.

So it's not by any work that you can do, it's not by being as moral as you can be, trying to be the best person.

Now, those things are good.

We should have morals and we should be good people, but we're not made clean before God by any of that.

We are made clean by Jesus and his word.

And this is the idea of justification by faith in Jesus.

By faith in Jesus, we are made clean before our holy God.

But we live in a dirty and tainted world.

So what happens is we place our faith in Jesus and then we walk out into the world and we get dirty due to sin.

Therefore, we need to continue to be cleansed by his word.

We need to continue to be in his word so that it's cleansing us and washing us clean each and every day.

Ephesians chapter 5 speaks of the washing of water with the word of God.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

And it's that speaking of how that's the word of God washes over us and cleanses us because it convicts us of our sin in our life.

So when we abide in him through his holy word, he continues to cleanse us from the inside out, he cleanses us of unrighteousness, convicting us of our sins, and it's up to us then to repent of those sins and walk in righteousness.

And that's what it means to abide.

That word abide is used several times in these 11 verses.

Verse 4 says, Abide in me and I in you.

As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.

So the metaphor that Jesus is using is that he is the vine.

And then we are the branches connected to the vine.

So we are the branches, we have to be connected to him, the vine, in order to be healthy and to produce good fruit.

A branch does not bring life to the vine.

A branch just receives life from the vine.

So you and I are receivers of life from the vine, who is Jesus.

Apart from Jesus, we can bear no fruit.

No fruit that's lasting, at least.

Your productivity comes in you being connected to the vine.

So the word abide, it means to have a close, intimate, constant communion with Jesus.

It means to remain with him, to stay with him, to dwell with him, to continue with him, to make your home in Christ, so that his Holy Spirit is at home in you.

So Jesus is explaining that while we are saved by faith in him, we believe in him and we are saved, then we produce fruit and we reflect him and we have proof on display in our life that we are saved by staying connected to him.

And when we are connected to him, then we naturally produce fruit.

So you think of a grapevine, the branch doesn't have to do anything to produce grapes.

The branch isn't doing any work, the branch isn't um, it isn't really doing anything, but just remaining there, connected to the vine.

Then the vine feeds it the nourishment that it needs, and the vine then produces the fruit that's coming off of the branch.

So when the branch is connected, life flows from the vine to the branch.

Fruits produced.

I think that's pretty important for us to understand.

Because far too many people claim to follow Jesus without actually following Jesus, without actually being connected to Jesus.

They will just claim with their lips, yeah, I believe in Jesus.

Yes, I follow Jesus, but if there's no connection there, if there's no abiding there, then do you truly?

Or is it just something coming off of your lips?

If you're not connected to him, how can you produce his fruit?

I think there are many who are associated with Jesus claiming his name that will never enter his kingdom.

That frightens me as a pastor to know that the Bible speaks of that, that there are many people that will claim Jesus, they will even do good works, and yet they will not enter his kingdom.

Matthew chapter 7, verse 21 says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 7:21

Terrifying words.

That should shock all of us, right?

But the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do mighty works in your name?

And then I will declare to them, Jesus says, I never knew you.

Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.

Now we see people that had good fruit on display.

This text is talking about people that are doing these great works.

So why does he reject them?

I think verse 21 tells us.

In verse 21, he says, It is the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

The one who does the will of my father.

So if you claim him, but you don't remain in him and abide in him and obey him and do his will, Jesus might say of you, I never knew you.

However, if you abide in him, allowing his Holy Spirit to guide you and you and cleanse you of your sin, and you're living according to his word and it's according to his ways, allowing him to develop the fruit inside of you, then he assures you of heaven.

I want to be clear, this is not about doing more.

This is not about that we have to do works to be in heaven.

You can't earn your way to heaven.

We are saved by faith alone, in Christ alone.

But Jesus, he's the one that paved the way for you.

This is about living rightly once you are saved, as evidence that you are truly saved.

Jesus is saying, if we are truly saved and we're truly connected to him, then his Holy Spirit will be in us, and his Holy Spirit will do that cleaning work inside of us, making us look more like him.

He's saying, if you're truly saved, you will want every area of your life to be guided by him, under his authority.

And you will check every single area of your life and say, is this under submission to Jesus, my Lord?

And when we abide in him in that way, the beauty is he produces the fruit.

I don't have to work to try to be more loving.

I don't have to work to try to be more patient.

I can't discipline myself enough to have kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control.

No, it's the spirit that produces that in me.

What my job is, is to abide in him, to remain in him, to seek his word, to seek his way, to seek his will, and to stay close to Jesus, and then by his Holy Spirit in me, he produces the fruit.

So if you're producing good fruit, then the people around you, they don't have to guess, they don't have to wonder, is that person really a believer?

You can look at a grapevine and tell if it has a lot of plump, juicy grapes on it, that it's a healthy grapevine.

If you look at a grapevine and they're all withered up and it's kind of dry and cracking, then you know it's not a healthy grapevine.

The same is true of someone who claims to follow Jesus.

If there's no fruit on display in their life, you have to ask, are they really abiding in Him and connected to Him and following Jesus, or is it just a profession with their lips?

Do they believe it in their heart?

But when we truly believe, God will produce that fruit in our lives and he will change us from the inside out.

It doesn't always happen immediately.

Some things happen immediately upon placing your faith in Jesus.

Um, but it's a it's a process throughout our life of growing, abiding, staying in him, remaining in him, letting him point out the dark areas of our heart that need to be cleaned, and then we repent of those.

So it is a process, but he's the one that produces the fruit.

Jesus says, You stick close to me, you stay attached to me, and you will bear much fruit.

Verse 5, I am the vine, you are the branches.

Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.

For apart from me, you can do nothing.

So Jesus here says, I am the true vine.

You connect to me, you're going to bear good fruit.

But apart from me, he says, You can do nothing.

So I think we need to underline that part.

What does he mean?

Apart from me, you can do nothing.

Well, here's what we know to be true.

Even people that do not follow Jesus can still do good things.

Things that look like good fruit.

Just like Jesus said in that passage in Matthew 7, it tells us that those people were doing mighty works.

Yet those things didn't save them.

Those good things had no eternal value to them.

So this statement, apart from me, you can do nothing, means this.

Things, but it doesn't have eternal value.

You can sing songs about Him, but if you're not abiding in Him, the words you sing are empty.

You can serve the church, you can serve your community, but if you aren't surrendered to Jesus, those acts of service, they're just temporary.

I've had people ask me before, you know, what about the person that lives a really good moral life and they love others and they serve others and they're just selfless?

They start charities to help others, yet they don't live a life completely surrendered to Jesus.

What will happen to them?

Well, the Bible tells us those things may be doing earthly good, they might look good to others, might even be loving.

But if they're apart from Jesus, they have no eternal value.

Therefore, those things not connected to Jesus will be taken away and they will be burned.

Verse 6 If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned.

So Jesus here is referencing another Old Testament passage that speaks of Jerusalem being as useless to God as a withered vine.

In Ezekiel 15, 6, God says, Therefore, thus says the Lord God, like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

And he goes on to say that he will set his face against them.

Why?

Because they have acted faithlessly.

People that are called the chosen ones of God, God's people.

God is saying, Listen, if you're not faithful, if you're not remaining in me, then you will just be burned up.

And he describes a terrible judgment on the faithless, that they will burn in fire, yet the fire will not consume them.

He's describing hell.

It's a continual burning, but not yet being burned up, and it goes on for eternity.

And Jesus is making the same statement here, claiming that those who do not abide in him, that aren't remaining in him, that aren't sitting in his word and trusting in him will be gathered up like useless branches from a fruitless vine and will be burned.

And his disciples would have made the connection to Israel, being described as a vine, and because of their faithlessness, they were being burned in the fire for eternity.

And now he's applying this to them.

And he's saying, You need to abide in me.

So he describes the terrible fate of those that don't abide in him.

But just like Scripture, just like God, he turns around in the next verse and says, But there's hope.

There is a great hope.

Verse 7, if you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

Now, I circle that word if in my Bible.

That word if, abiding in Jesus, means that there's a choice that we make.

If he's saying, if you abide in me, that means it's possible to not abide in him, right?

So he's allowing us the choice.

We get to choose.

Do I want to abide in Christ or do I want to abide in the things of the world?

And then he repeats again what he said in chapter 14, where he says, Whatever you wish, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you.

Now I believe Jesus can make that promise because when you abide in his word, here's what happens: you ask for things that are according to his will.

When you're abiding in his word, your Holy Spirit is guiding you, you're prayerful, you're fasting, you're allowing his scriptures to inform everything that you do, then what you're going to ask is going to be according to his will.

So when you come before him, you're going to be praying for his will, not your will.

You're going to be praying according to his character, not your character.

You're going to be praying according to the name of Jesus, not for your personal benefit.

So he says, you can ask whatever you want, because now you're praying for the right thing.

And I think we just look to the prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, and it gives us a great example of that.

He is praying honestly before his father.

And in Luke chapter 22, verse 42, says, he says, This, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.

Luke 22:42

So Jesus is wanting God to remove the cup, but look what comes next.

Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.

And these are appeared to him.

And then there appeared to him an angel from heaven strengthening him.

So I want to look at his abiding prayer there.

He says, Father, if you're willing, so he what he knows is God, this depends on your will.

This is all according to your will.

Then he makes the request.

He's like, Remove this cup from me, that I don't have to go through this.

But then he follows it up quickly.

Not my will, yours be done.

And then God answers the prayer with this: He gives him the strength to continue according to God's will and God's plan.

He sends an angel and encourages him and strengthens him.

God gives him what he asked for, for God's will to be done.

And that's the key there.

Often what you and I want is not according to God's good, pleasing, and perfect will because we are asking selfishly.

Are we asking according to our needs, our wants, our desires, and what we would love to see?

But what we have to understand is we can ask for those things, but say, But you know what, God, your will be done.

I trust you in it.

I believe that you have the best in store here.

So we must learn to pray according to God's will.

And when we do, he says, You'll bear much fruit because you're praying according to his will, and he will strengthen us by his spirit.

Verse 8 says this.

I want you to see that throughout this passage there's a progression.

We see that the vine is bearing fruit, and then the vine is bearing more fruit, and now he's saying you will bear much fruit.

Every Christian should be maturing as we are connected to the Father through Jesus.

The longer we're connected to the vine and abiding in the vine, the more we mature, and the more fruit we put on display.

So we are growing in the characteristics of the fruit of the spirit the longer we're a Christian.

Galatians chapter 5 lists the characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

They're not the fruits of the Spirit, they are the characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit.

And they are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

And God is saying that as a believer, as a follower of Jesus, abiding in him, you should be growing in every single one of those.

And that is a process that you bear much more fruit the longer you're connected to the vine.

So it's this overflow of being connected to Christ and His Word.

I can't just follow three simple steps and all of a sudden have total self-control.

It just doesn't work that way.

You can try, but you're gonna lose control.

The way we gain self-control is by abiding in Christ, abiding in his word, abiding in him, and he develops that fruit, that characteristic of that fruit inside of us.

Spending time with Jesus, spending time in prayer, spending time in his word, and relationship is how we develop fruit.

So Jesus continues, verse 9.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.

Abide in my love.

Now Jesus describes his love for you as a supernatural kind of love.

He doesn't say as a husband loves a wife.

He doesn't say as a parent loves a child.

He doesn't say as a dog loves its master.

Those are all great loves.

They're beautiful expressions of love, but they pale in comparison to the love that Jesus describes.

He says, as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.

We have to consider how great his love is and what kind of love he has for us.

You see, his love is eternal, it has no beginning, it has no end.

His love is close and personal.

He came in our form, in our image, to be like one of us, to give his life for us.

His love is sacrificial, his love is unchanging, his love is unconditional, his love protects, his love provides, his love sacrificed for us.

And again, his love is eternal.

No beginning, no end to it.

He's always loved us.

We are his creation.

And Jesus says, you abide in that kind of love.

So how do we abide in that?

Verse 10.

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.

Just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love.

So we see that two-letter word again.

It makes all the difference in the world, if I circled it in my Bible because it's so important.

That little two-letter word has major consequences.

Because that word if means there's an option to either abide in his love or to not abide in his love.

And he says very clearly, if you keep my commandments, so if you live according to his word, if you allow his Holy Spirit to prune you, if you are sensitive to his convictions that come through his word as you read it and study it, if you live a repentant life, repenting of your sin, confessing of your sin, then he says, You are abiding in my love.

Then he says, As I have kept my Father's commandments.

I think that's important because you see, Jesus did very difficult things for the Father.

Yet he remained obedient.

He didn't force his own will.

He came to him and said, If it's your will, take this from me, but your will be done.

Jesus lived and he died according to his father's will.

And that's what we're called to do.

To surrender our wants and our desires to the Father and say, God, I would like this, but not my will, yours be done.

I trust you.

Surrendering our life to the Father's plan, saying, I've got some plans, but you know what?

I'm holding them loosely because God, I know you might, or you not don't, you do have specific plans for me, and I trust you in them.

It's in living in obedience to his holy word, reading his scriptures.

And when we read through the scriptures and we come to a point that we go, oh man, that kind of steps on my toes.

We recognize I've got a sin in my life and I need to repent of it.

I'm gonna let the scriptures inform me instead of the world.

I'm not gonna go to the world and try to find a way to get out of this or a loophole for the sin that I enjoy.

I'm going to look at God's word and say, here's what his word says, therefore my life needs to change.

I'm gonna let the Holy Spirit convict me and clean that up.

That's what it means to be abiding in him and following in him, is that we allow his word and his spirit to change us from the inside out.

And then he says, you do that, you'll enjoy the love of my Father, and you'll bear much fruit.

But that comes if you abide in him.

The result?

You will have the joy of the Lord, because now you're experiencing him to the full.

Verse 11.

These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Listen, that's an incredible promise.

Jesus is promising his disciples that are not feeling very joyful at the moment.

They don't see any reason to be joyful.

Instead, they're frustrated, they're anxious, they're worried, they're agitated, they're scared, they're troubled about what's about to happen, what Jesus is telling them is about to happen.

And he's already said, Hey, I'm gonna give you my peace.

And he's telling them how to find peace.

And now he says, and I will fill you with joy.

You see, when you experience the love of the Father and you abide in Jesus, so that you're consistently obedient to his word, the result is that you're gonna have a fruitful life, you'll be displaying much fruit, and now you'll have the peace of the Lord that he's in control, and you will have this fullness of joy no matter the circumstance.

Listen, I think everyone craves to have more peace and more joy.

And Jesus has been explaining just how we can have it and have it in abundance.

He says you stay connected to Him who's connected to the Father, and He will give you fullness of joy.

And that gospel picture is so simple that a child can understand it, but it's profound enough to transform the way we live our lives and the peace and the joy that we have in every circumstance.

The Christian life isn't about occasionally coming to Jesus when we need something, it's about remaining in him.

It's about abiding in him.

So when life is great and exciting and awesome, we're abiding in him.

When you're struggling, facing fears, you abide in him.

When God answers your prayers, you abide in him.

When you feel like he's silent and you can't hear him, you abide in him all the more.

You go to him.

When you're walking through suffering, you abide in him.

When you're being tempted by the enemy, you abide in him.

You run to him, abide in him, cling to him, and he will give you peace and he will give you fullness of joy.

When you're exhausted and you feel like I just don't have the strength to do anything anymore, you abide in him.

And you'll find that he strengthens you and he walks you through the valley.

So we stay connected to the vine and let him produce the fruit.

Jesus calls you to abide in him because he wants you to experience full joy.

And it's the kind of joy that's not dependent upon everything going right.

Because when your life is connected to Jesus, your circumstances don't have to determine your joy.

Let me say that again.

Your circumstances don't have to determine whether you have joy or not.

So that's the question.

What are you connected to?

Or who are you connected to?

Because whatever you are connected to will influence what your life produces.

So if you want to display the fruit of the Spirit, you have to be connected to the vine, to Jesus.

If you're connected to the world, the world's going to shape you and the fruit you you put on display.

If you're connected to your emotions, your emotions will control you.

If you're connected to success, success is going to determine your worth.

If you are connected to relationships, then people will determine your identity.

If we're connected to Jesus, he determines all of that.

He's the one that determines your identity, that you are a child of God, that you are restored, redeemed, made new.

You are beloved because God loves you so much that He wants this for you.

When you're connected to Jesus, Jesus will shape you, Jesus will sustain you, Jesus will transform you, Jesus will produce fruit in you.

That's the invitation he gives today.

You abide in him, you stay close, you remain, you make his word a part of your daily life, you make prayer a priority, you spend time in God's presence, you obey what he is telling you.

When you fall, you repent of it, you come back to him.

When you struggle, you lean into him all the more.

When you don't know what to do, you seek him and you ask him from his word to guide you.

Listen, you can't just visit the vine on Sunday.

Live connected to the vine.

It's a 24-7 thing.

It's every moment of every day.

We have to remain in him.

That's what it means to abide.

And maybe you're here today and you've never surrendered your life to Jesus.

Jesus is inviting you into relationship with him.

You can receive forgiveness.

You can receive new life.

You can be connected to him.

And he says all you have to do is confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you will be saved.

And then from that point on, you just abide in him.

You read his word, you study his word, you learn from his word, you allow him by his Holy Spirit to change you and clean you up.

Maybe you're a believer, but you realize today you've been trying to live the Christian life in your own strength.

You've been disconnected from the vine and you find yourself running on empty.

Jesus says, just come connect to him.

Abide in him, and he will develop that fruit in you that you desire.

Jesus says, abide in me.

So as we close, I want to invite you to respond.

If you need to surrender your life to Jesus, come to the altar and just pray.

Receive Jesus today.

If you need to reconnect with Jesus, come to the altar and just pray.

God, I want to be close to you.

I want to abide in you.

I can't do this without you.

We're going to stand together and then we're going to close in prayer.

We're going to have a time of a time of response.

Because we believe when God's word is preached, that God's Holy Spirit works in our hearts.

And maybe today God's been working on your heart and you're realizing that you need to surrender your life to the saving grace of Jesus, that you need to be saved.

Again, it's as simple as saying, Jesus, I believe.

I believe that you are the Son of God.

I accept what you've done for me, and I want salvation.

And He says it's there for you.

He offers it to you.

It's free.

Maybe you just need to come and say, God, I just need to abide in you.

I need your strength.

I need your comfort.

I need peace.

I need joy.

You'll find that in him.

Things of this world they fall so short, they don't give you any of that.

Only Jesus can.

Let's pray.

Father in heaven, we are grateful for your word.

We're thankful that your scriptures teach us the importance of abiding in you.

And Lord, we just confess today that often we go to physical things or things of this world that we turn to for comfort or peace or joy.

We recognize that those things just come up empty.

That they don't bring us what we're searching for.

But God, you offer it.

And you tell it, tell us that true peace and fullness of joy are found in you.

So, Father, as we worship you now, we just want to come before you and lay our hearts before you.

And we just want to proclaim some of us that we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and we desire to accept Him as our Lord and Savior.

And Father, for those that need to do that today, I pray they have the boldness to come and take a knee at the altar and then tell someone about it.

Let us know so we can be on the journey with them.

Father, others of us just need to come and lay something before you that we've been holding on to, something that's keeping us from connection with you.

Father, your Holy Spirit has revealed some dirtiness in some of our hearts and our lives today.

We ask you to do the cleaning.

By the power of your Spirit, as we repent of that sin, Lord, we know that you cleanse us, and we thank you for that.

We thank you for your word that cleanses us as we study it and as we learn about your good grace.

May every one of us leave here today confident and saying, I'm abiding in Christ, thankful for his grace.