[Barry Korthuis] Well, good afternoon, everyone. Good to see you this Sabbath day. Wanted to welcome all of those that might be on the webcast as well. Certainly appreciate Ms. Dawkins, Drury, and Porter for laying the words that they shared here. God so loved the world, didn't He? That He gave it all, gave it all for us. Also heard those threads in the sermon as well. Well, by way of introduction to the sermon here today, the Bible includes all sorts of examples, of vineyards, roots, branches, vines, and bearing fruit, and they're used as a means to teach us. And we find in John 15 an example where Jesus is doing just that, teaching us while using something from the very world He created, a vine.

Now, here He speaks of himself as the true vine and the relationship the true vine has with its branches, a physical illustration that is symbolic of something spiritual, but He also talks of God the Father as the vinedresser, the one who works this vineyard, grows the vineyard, cares for the vineyard, protects it, and the one that removes what is unfruitful. And He speaks here of you and me as branches attached to the vine, all to the honor of the vinedresser. And He also shares how the evidence of that relationship is measured in what is referred to as bearing fruit, becoming more and more Christ-like in character, and in mind, and in heart, and the fruit of that is referred to here. The fruit referred to here points to what we read about in places like Galatians 5. The fruit of the Spirit is what? It's love. It's joy. It's peace. It's forbearance. It's kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

As Scripture speaks about vines, about a vinedresser, about branches, it speaks about bearing fruit. And, in today's sermon, we're going to touch on all of these with this understanding. There is a true vine, a true vine, Jesus Christ. There's a vinedresser, God the Father. And there's a place for us to abide, a place for us to live spiritually. And that there is an attachment, an attachment that must take place of the branch to the vine in order for us to bear this good fruit that God is talking about here, an attachment that if made can be so strong that nothing will ultimately compromise it or the fruit that it's intended to bring. Let's go ahead and begin by turning to John 15. It's part of the Passover service, the annual Passover service, just a little over a week from today, a week and...three weeks, excuse me, and a day. It's common to include among the Scriptures read at that time the words memorialized here in John 15, words that Jesus spoke to His disciples.

And we're going to take a look, a closer look shall I say it, at verses 1 through 6 here today. Now, John 15 begins at a time that likely occurred soon after the completion of the Passover meal when Jesus and the disciples were thereafter going to the Mount of Olives, that is 11 of the disciples as Judas Iscariot who had betrayed Jesus had already departed. And perhaps it was also suggested by some of the vines seen along the way or maybe by the wine in which they had just shared, but Jesus makes this powerful statement.

John 15:1 He says, "I am the true vine," the true vine.

Jesus begins this chapter with yet another, "I am," statement. And we find a lot of these in the book of John where Jesus declares that I am the bread of life, it's in John 6, something also emphasized during the days of unleavened bread. He declares, "I am the light of the world. I am the gate. I am the good shepherd. I am the resurrection and the life."

John 14:6 He tells us, "I am the way and the truth and the life."

Where He also emphasized that no one can come to the Father except through Him. And here in John 15:1, He declares, "I am the true vine." The statement alone is profound. Jesus is not just any vine. He's not just any vine. He is the true vine, and there is no other, which also implies that there are other vines out there, what we might think of as false vines. And if we were to go back in Israel's history in places like Isaiah 5, we would read things like this, "The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel." And when Israel obeyed, when they honored God as He asked them to, that worked out very well for them. But we also know from what Scripture and history teaches us how Israel didn't always do that, did they? Remember, perhaps, for example, how the Israelites after being delivered from Egypt kept making overtures that they wanted to go back, want to go back, want to go back to slavery, which, of course, is symbolic of a return to a life of sin. It's also symbolic of just returning to the world, the very thing that they and we all are to come out of. Sadly, honoring God was more rare than common. So what did they do? God attached to them. They then detached from God and then attached themselves to something else or reattached themselves to something different.

Let's turn to Hosea 9. Hosea 9, and here we find beautiful imagery of a relationship that was great at one point but then fell short. And it starts with God looking at Israel as symbolic of grapes in the desert, something not often found in the wilderness and, well, something very special if you do. Let's go and pick up in Hosea 9:10.

Hosea 9:10 "I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the first fruits on the fig tree in its first season, but they went to Baal Peor and separated themselves to that shame. They became an abomination like the thing they loved."

Israel detached from God. They in effect detached from the true vine, but then they attached themselves to a different one. Let's go ahead and turn over just a chapter, Hosea 10:1, and read it there, "Israel..." Excuse me.

Hosea 10:1 "Israel empties his vine. He brings forth fruit for himself. According to the multitude of his fruit, he has increased the altars. According to the bounty of his land, they have embellished his sacred pillars."

So God's replaced. God's rejected, and He's replaced with something else. Something self-serving, and idolatry is at work here. And at the time, they are shown to be very prosperous, but Israel became idolatrous in proportion to their prosperity. So they're very prosperous and very idolatrous. They detached themselves from God but then attached themselves to a different vine, a false vine, a false worship. And notice how it reads here, "He brings forth fruit for himself." The multitude of his fruit, the bounty of his land when all of it should be to the honor of God, for God and to the honor of God.

Let's look at another notable example in Deuteronomy 32. Let's turn there. Much of the chapter is devoted to the wonderful blessings of God and, again, of, sadly, the improper actions of the nation of Israel, actions provoking God to wrath and judgment. And here we find a reference to the vine of Sodom. The vine of Sodom. Let's look at Deuteronomy 32 and read verses 32 to 33.

Deuteronomy 32:32-33 "For their vine is the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are grapes of gall. Their clusters are bitter. Their wine is the poison of serpents and the cruel venom of cobras."

Perhaps it goes without saying here, but the nation, the people of Israel, they're very serious trouble here as a people and as a nation. Things are so bad that they're compared to the inhabitants of Sodom who as we know in Genesis 19 were destroyed from their sins. That's the vine they chose over God, this is what they attached to, and because of that what happened? Their fruits are compared to gall, likened to poison. Their clusters are described as bitter. Grapes are typically found in clusters.

So what's being described here is that they have an individual moral conduct problem that's depraved, but generally speaking so is their collective behaviors. Their wine, the system of doctrines, the way that they teach what they believed is also poison, symbolically fatal of all who follow it. You know, there's an interesting observation in Clarke's Bible Commentary about this. I'm paraphrasing here, but it's very likely that the grapes produced near the Dead Sea where Sodom and Gomorrah formerly stood, that the grapes produced were not only bitter, disagreeable taste, have a disagreeable taste, but they literally had toxic qualities. This helps show how a physical example can portend this spiritual reality, that literally these are toxic grapes, literally.

Little sidebar here on this term bitter that we find in here, symbolic of bitterness and the sin that it represents. You know, bitterness cannot come from the true vine. Why? Because the root of the true vine is holy, something we're going to get into later in the sermon. So it's impossible that God would be the source of bitterness. But I also wanted to emphasize that any root of bitterness does not just affect those who have it, it has a way of spreading to others if unchecked. I'll just refer to it here, but we read in…

Hebrews 12:14-15 Where it says, "Pursue peace with all people and holiness without which no one will see the Lord, looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by this, many become defiled."

Bitterness does not just affect those who have it. It has a way of spreading. It has a way of affecting others. And part of the point here is that what we attach to is very important. And what we don't attach to is also very important, very important. Let's go and turn to Jeremiah 2 where the question is asked, "How then have you Israel turned and attached yourself to a different vine?" The degenerate vine. Let's go and pick it up in Jeremiah 2:21.

Jeremiah 2:21 It says, "Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality. How then have you turned before me into the degenerate plant of an alien vine?"

You know, Israel had this choice before them, always had, what are they going to attach to? Including the time of the Exodus that occurred so long ago during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and it remains a choice for us because there is a true vine, a noble vine. And then there are alien vines and their various forms. Alien here means foreign, it means strange, but it also means adulterous, as in being unfaithful in a relationship with God by choosing to attach to something different, to something different. God planted the noble vine, the true vine, the only way of life and the only way to have it. And we know that from the beginning God has done what? He's given pure instruction. He tells us how to live, what to do, what not to do. We have the highest of privileges, the highest of blessings, all reason enough that God should expect His people to live consistent with all the things that He gives, all the advantages. But instead, they chose differently. They chose a different vine, an alien vine. So the plant became degenerate and the fruit as well. And why is that? Because branches take on the likeness of the vine they're attached to. They became like the vine they attach to.

Let's go ahead and return to John 15. As we read earlier in verse 1, Jesus states, "I am the true vine." He's the noble vine, the perfect vine. When we think about horticulture, what is it? It's basically intensive plant cultivation for human use. And one of the basic and essential principles in horticulture is to plant the right kind and quality of vine or tree in order to assure the proper kind and quality of fruit. And why is that? Because the fruit can, again, be no better than the vine or tree that produces it. It cannot be. It's created that way. It's the law of God. There may be many branches, but even God's creation teaches us that, if they're going to bear the right kind of fruit, they must be part of a tree or a vine that supports that function. They must be to support it. And we cannot bear this good fruit that God talks about, this fruit of the Spirit, if we don't have the Holy Spirit working in us and if we are not attached as we need to be to the true vine. Let's go ahead and continue with the latter part of verse 1 and then verse 2 of John 15.

John 15:1-2 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser," He's the vinedresser. "Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes that it may bear more fruit."

You know, God the Father is the vinedresser. Other versions of the Bible refer to this as the gardener. The Greek term here for vinedresser is georgos, which means the land worker or the farmer. So the analogy or symbolism here is that God's people are branches. They're attached to Jesus Christ, the true vine, and the relationship here is God the Father working that vineyard. He tends it, waters it, grows it. He protects it, cultivates it so that it will produce its maximum yield.

And in the process of this, He also prunes the branches. You know, branches in God's vineyard are not left alone, they're not left unattended to do what they just want to do, not in this vineyard, not in this one. And verse 2 mentions two things that God the Father does to promote the growth of fruit. One is the removal of deadwood, and the second is the trimming of the livewood. You know, deadwood can do a lot of things, and one of the things they do is harbor disease and decay. And an untrimmed vine will develop long rambling branches that produce little fruit because most of the strength of the vine would then be used to grow wood, you know, put in another way, the best results are when the branches remain close to the vine and therefore closer to the trunk or the root system. You know, God removes the deadwood and disciplines His children so that they can be directed in a way that promotes the right kind of fruit, and that is part of what He does. It's part of what He does.

If memory serves around here, grapes are typically pruned February or March, sometimes even as late as early April. The idea being if they're pruned too early, a hard frost in winter can cause damage, but just to give some perspective on this, around 90% of last year's growth is typically cut back in that process, 90%. I'm going to ask a question. Do you ever feel like you've really grown an area of your life, kind of brought to a new perspective that there's a lot more to go? This is part of how this process works physically, and it should be no surprise how God works with us to refine us all the more in all areas of life and in all things that will help us adapt to this character and heart of His son. There's always opportunities to grow with God's help. But when we think about pruning of actual grapevines, it's typical that the keeper of that vineyard will prune off every superficial branch, every branch that is sickly or feeble, and that is done so that the sap, which carries the nutrients for the life and growth of the plant, can then flow to the healthy branches that will bear fruit. I'm going to get a little more technical here, but when we consider viticulture, viticulture is a term that describes the science, and the production, and the study of grapes, part of growing grapes in vineyards today is this concept called training, training the vines, and by extension, the branches, and the methods that are employed are very important.

It's not simply a job of keeping these vines from dangling onto the ground or... Various training techniques are used to assist in controlling vigorous vines and branches that produce too much foliage, that is too much leaves and not enough fruit. And the techniques also serve to increase exposure, exposure of the foliage to light, to improve air movement through the leaf canopy, and reduce the risk of rot. Many of these concerns are part of what is referred to as canopy management, which is basically really about managing, well, all parts of the vine that sit above the ground if you want to put it that way. They even focus on how the architecture of the leaf canopy is trained and changed in order to beneficially alter the microclimate around the vines and the branches. The training process also recognizes that branches have a significant impact or they can have on one another, good or bad.

As members of the Vitis family, grapevines are climbing plants, they don't have their natural support, like trees. While grapevines have woody trunks, the weight of the vines' leafy canopy and grape clusters will often bring down the vines' cordons or the arms down to the ground unless they receive some kind of support, which is why we would typically see vineyards having some sort of a trellis system to hold them up. But in viticulture, growers want to avoid any part of that cordon, this is important, any part of that cordon, which, again, is the arms extending from the vine, from touching the ground. You know why? Because of that plant's natural inclination. It wants to send out suckers or basal shoots that would take root in the area where the cordon is touching the ground, and what happens is that, when these offshoots do that, they'll leach water and other nutrients from the main vine, and it will diminish the quality of both vines' grape production.

The spiritual analogy here is a very powerful one. Anything that tries to grow outside the true vine or attempts to be a vine of its own, even though in appearance it may seem that it's still attached to the true vine, it will compromise the production of fruit. And part of what a vinedresser does is to prune back those branches so they're trained to go in the way that increases the production of fruit. It's also pruned to protect the branch from itself, from doing something that won't ultimately be beneficial to itself or to the vine, and that's part of what God the Father does. It's part of what He does, and that's how intimate this training is, and God's creation helps to teach us about this as well. Let's go ahead and turn to Isaiah 5. Isaiah 5, we're going to read here the lyrics of a song. It's one that starts very happily, very happily, but by the end of the second verse, it turns, and it turns quickly to something different. But it's about the owner of a vineyard who withheld nothing for the benefit of that vineyard, and it's about the expectation that the vinedresser has of the vineyard he attends to. Let's go ahead and read..

Isaiah 5:1-7 "Now, let me sing of my well-beloved, a song of my well-beloved regarding his vineyard. My well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up and cleared out its stones and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst and also made a winepress in it. He expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes. And, now, oh, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, please, between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why then? Why? When I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? And, now, please let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned, and break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will lay it waste. It shall not be pruned or dug, but there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no more on it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold oppression, for righteousness, but behold, a cry for help."

And so what began is this beautiful tribute to the planter of a vineyard, a planter who removed all the barriers to make it work, planted the choicest fine, who provided all the protection needed for it to thrive and be safe, who cultivated it so it could grow, produce wonderful crop, and a means to enjoy those blessings began beautifully but ended in disappointment. You know, that owner withheld nothing, nothing, but the owner did expect something in return. The vineyard did have the responsibility to live up to the privilege that had been given to it, and because it didn't produce, all the abandonment of such a non-profitable venture should be expected. I mean, after all, who would want to waste further time, energy, and other resources on something that just, well, refuses to do what it's supposed to do? And here it also shows the removal of its hedge and its wall, which speaks of the removal of protection. They decided to detach from God, and now they're alone. And then God removed the rain, without which there can be any fruit at all, and the key point of this is that God does everything and will do everything to make this work, but He expects His people to bear fruit. He has that expectation. He expects a return on His efforts.

Now, with that in mind, let's kind of take some time, though, here and further consider the concept of who it is that God brings into His vineyard and, metaphorically, how it's done. And we're going to do that through another example of horticulture. Let's go ahead and turn to Romans 11. A relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ is introduced and offered to all whom God the Father calls. In Romans 11, it speaks of the concept of grafting, using an example of an olive tree. And here the Apostle Paul addresses how many of the Israelites had rejected God's invitation and His guidance and how God in time rejected them. He also speaks of how God extended the hope of salvation to other nations and peoples, the Gentiles. But as we'll see here and read here, Israel's rejection is not total, and it is not final, it's not. Let's go ahead and pick it up…

Romans 11:16 "For if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy. If the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in and among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree."

So, for Israel, many rejected God and were like branches cut off, but it also says here that God is the basis of the root system, or symbolically the basis of the root system, and He allows a grafting to take place. Okay, we're going to go back into horticulture here. Okay, grafting, it's a horticultural technique where the tissues of one plant are inserted into those of another so that the two sets of vascular tissues can join together. But let's also consider what He's grafting here. He's grafting a wild olive tree. Now, wild olive trees, not so much described as a tree truly, they're much more like a shrub. And they have small leaves and with a stem more or less prickly and a small hard droop with a little or no oil. Droop being sort of the meat, the outer part of the olive that surrounds the pit. So olive trees in this way, wild olive trees, they really weren't looked upon very favorably as producing plants, especially in that way. That a wild olive tree branch, though, be grafted into a fruitful tree would be thought of something useless, contrary to nature. But God was using the grafting process to make a very important point here, instead of grafting a good branch onto a wild tree, which was not so uncommon in the first century as wild trees tended to have strong root systems, instead of that, God took a wild branch and grafted it onto a good tree. And Paul's illustration here demonstrates the absolute overwhelming kindness of God who would do what no human farmer would see the benefit of doing, to graft in wild branches. You know, God does not confine us to who we were before, what we were attached to before before He attaches us to the true vine. He doesn't confine us to that. Incredible display of His love, and it's a display of His love that will be extended to Israel for those who were unfaithful before, they'll have that chance, and consider, again, the eventuality of this as He brings His kingdom here as all humanity will have an opportunity at some point to be grafted in. But let's go ahead and continue in verse 22 here of Romans 11.

Romans 11:22-24 "Therefore, consider the goodness and severity of God on those who fell severity but towards you goodness if you continue in His goodness, otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?"

When we think about how God the Father brings people into His vineyard, there are several things going on because, by nature, we were or we are branches of a wild vine. Satan as well as many aspects of human nature can represent that wild vine, but we have to somehow be severed, severed from Satan's influence, severed from his domination in our life, have to detach, detach from a life of sin or, as Scripture shows us, leave spiritual Egypt, come out of the world, and be grafted, not just come out, be grafted to the Father through His Son. Paul also helps us understand the grafting process by pointing out that we need to be, well, cut away from old connections in order for this to happen. Now, if we were to start to spend some time considering, say, what a surgeon does, for example, in grafting human tissue and what a horticulturist does with, well, plant grafting, there are several principles that are common to both fields because, first, the graft must be severed from its original area.

Next, the recipient site must be wounded, must be cut into so that the deeper tissues can be exposed and the appropriate layers of graft and host can be permitted to make this vital contact that's being described here, and here a sacrificial cutting of the vine takes place, and the vine oozes or bleeds sap, you know, symbolically. And then that graft must be held in the exact position to prevent further movement while the cells, the graft cells, are allowed to grow into the substance of the graft and the host, I would say, and the graft grows and expands its place then as a functioning part of the host. And as these connections are made, the graft's nourished, there is a union and a healing that takes place, much as similar in a spiritual sense because we must consent to be severed from the influences of Satan and from inappropriate connections to the world to no longer conform in it, we are to live in it, but not be of it. That part must be severed. And then we have to allow ourselves to be joined in this close and loving relationship with God the Father, the vinedresser, through His Son as the vine, and to do that, there's a wounding, a sacrifice that must be made. Again, heard about that in the sermonette and in the special music.

You know, we read in Isaiah 53:5 that Jesus was wounded for our transgressions, and God the Father willingly allowed Jesus Christ to be sacrificed so that this grafting and this attachment could be made possible. And from the earliest stages of being grafted, there's a need to be carefully kept from being bruised or torn away. Sometimes human or plant grafts, they fail, they fail to take. There may be many reasons for that, but a common one is that the graft tissue was moved out of position in some way. Spiritually speaking, the graft may fail because of factors that someone who was called into this relationship then allows something in their life that overtakes this in such a way that this vital connection is compromised, and without intervention, the graft can then weaken and die or simply not take. You know, what's interesting, though, in the natural world, a graft retains its character, qualities and does not necessarily gain all of the characteristics of the rootstock or the vine that it might be attached to. For example, a red apple branch graft placed on yellow apple rootstock will still produce red apples, still will. But, spiritually, what's being described here, a life that's grafted to Christ, will in time lose his or her natural character and gradually take on the character of the vine and the rootstock and be like Christ, showing the fruit of the Spirit and bear this good fruit that we're talking about here.

And when that happens, the vinedresser is honored, the vinedresser is glorified. But in order for that to happen, the connection must hold and the connection must grow. The branch must be attached, and the branch must stay attached to that true vine. Again, God calls people, God the Father calls, brings people into the vineyard, grafts them to His son, and in that vineyard, He'll protect, He'll work with us, remove what doesn't belong, He'll prune us for our spiritual health, and develop us so we can bear fruit. But let's now return to John 15 and read verse 2 again, include verse 3 where Jesus makes a very comforting statement to the disciples in the context of, well, their pruned status. John 15, again, we'll read verses 2 and 3.

John 15:2-3 "Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit He prunes that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word that which I have spoken to you."

In verse 3 here, Jesus recalls the statement made to the disciples at the foot washing again around the time of the Passover meal just prior to this, part of the symbolism included in the foot washing and in the taking of the bread and the wine. I'll just mention it here, but in the latter part of John 13:10, it reads, "And you are clean, though not every one of you." And here Jesus singles out Judas, who, again, was consciously and deliberately planning to betray Him. But Jesus is not equating clean with perfect, but He is recognizing that the remaining disciples were devoted to Him as branches attached to the vine. When the disciples later received the gift of the Holy Spirit, they would have greater clarity on what this meant. About the same time, Judas is an example of a branch cut off. Let's go ahead and continue now with verse 4 though.

John 15:4 "Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me."

You know, Jesus said, "Abide in me," and He affirms that bearing fruit can only occur if our spiritual lives are held in place by this connection, and He uses the example of a branch. You know, how long can a branch live? It's severed, and it's left on its own. Not very long, it'll just dry up and die. Well, this word abide in the Greek is meno, and it means to stay, it means to remain, it means to endure, and it means to stand in a given place. And earlier we talked about the importance of the grafting process of taking hold and how important it is to stay in place, do not move. Abiding is about attaching, and never giving up, and never letting go. And if we abide in this way, God the Father and Jesus Christ will abide in each of us, and they will live in us and make a home in us.

John 14:23 Reads, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him."

And so they promise to live in us, to attach to us, and never let go. That's part of how the Holy Spirit, the power and the essence of God works in us. Let's go ahead and continue now on verse 5, though.

John 15:5 "I am the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me, you can do nothing."

You know, with Passover just three weeks away, I would imagine we've given thought to this statement already, "For without me, you can do nothing." Very important to have self-examination prior to the Passover and certainly important to do it all year long too. As part of the days of the unleavened bread, one of the things we look at more deeply is how far have we come out and have we come out of Egypt, have we come out of the world, which is also symbolic of detaching from the wrong things. But what are we attached to? Whom are we attached to, really attached to? Because the way it's described here, if we're not attached in the way that we should, if we're not abiding in this way, we are told we can't do anything, we can't do anything. We can't have ourselves do anything that will bear the fruit that God desires in us nor can we have our own power to protect ourselves from, well, frankly, the elements, the conditions, the influence that seek to ruin this vital connection, this attachment.

Now, earlier, in Romans 11:16, we read, "If the root is holy, so are the branches." You know, God's root system is not going to fail, true vines are not going to fail, and nor will the branches if they stay attached and are pruned as God needs them to be. But there's a reality here. If someone attaches to anything outside that vine, outside of God's root system, then harm and compromise are inevitable, or maybe just put this another way, if we abide with God the Father and Jesus Christ, they will make a home in us. If we abide somewhere else, then something else will make its home in us, something else will. John 15:6 tells us what will ultimately happen if we abide in the wrong place.

John 15:6 "If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast as a branch and is withered, and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned."

Obviously, a very sobering result if this happened to anyone. But as we read in verse 5, though, it shows that if we do, if we abide in Christ, then we will produce results from that relationship, and we're either attached to the true vine or we're not, and the fruit will be the evidence of the attachment.

You know, there were times when Israel understood that they fell short of what God asked of them, and in reality, if we are honest with ourselves, we too may have done or have been capable of doing things that are not mindful of the true vine, the vinedresser, not mindful of the sacrifice made for us, not mindful of the wound to graft us in, the sacrifice that allows us to be attached to the true vine, to be part of God's vineyard, to have a home with God the Father and Jesus Christ and sharing the love that God has for us as they live in us too. And that means we should continually evaluate our attachments, knowing that we must be severed from anything that would interfere with a total attachment to Jesus Christ and to the Father in this way. And keeping ancient Israel in mind, I would like to read a portion of the 80th chapter of Psalms, Psalms 80, as it shows a people who petitioned God to return to them. After they had forsaken Him, they asked that He return and take care of them.

Psalm 80:7-19 "Restore us, oh, God of hosts. Cause your face to shine, and we shall be saved. You have brought a vine out of Egypt. You have cast out the nations and planted it. You prepared room for it and caused it to take deep root and it filled the land. The hills were covered with its shadow and the mighty cedars with its boughs. She sent out her boughs to the sea and her branches to the river. Why? Why have you broken down her hedges so that all who pass by the way pluck her fruit? The boar of the woods uproots it, and the wild beasts of the field devours it. Return, we beseech you, oh, God of hosts. Look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vine and the vineyard which your right hand has planted and the branch that you made strong for yourself. It is burned with fire. It is cut down. They perish at the rebuke of your countenance. Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand, upon the son of man whom you made strong for yourself, then we will not turn back from you. Revive us, and we will call upon your name. Restore us, oh, Lord God of hosts. Cause your face to shine, and we shall be saved."

And as we review today, there are so many beautiful examples that teach us in Scripture, vines, vineyards, roots, branches, bearing fruit, that there is a true vine, a true vine, and a vinedresser, a vinedresser that prunes us, cares for us, develop us as we should be. And there's only one place to live, one place to abide, and like this grafting of plants, there's an attachment that must be made, and there's an attachment that must take place of that branch to the vine in order for us to bear this good fruit. And it's an attachment that binds us to God. It's one that we should never let go of, and it's one that God the Father and Jesus Christ do not let go of. And it's an attachment that if made as so strong, that nothing will ultimately compromise it or the fruit that it's intended to bring. But if circumstances are such that we have somehow compromised that attachment, perhaps attaching to something we should not, let us humbly repent and ask God to take us back, "Take me back. Graft me to your son. Graft me to your son." Let's continue, brethren, to take a deep and heartfelt look at the attachment, the attachment we're to have, the attachment we're to hold these remaining days up to and certainly including this coming spring holiday season, but in any event, let's endeavor to stay, to remain, to endure, and to stand in a given place to abide with and forever be attached in our relationship with God.