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That's connectwithskip.com. Now, let's get started with today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. The Holy Spirit, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things I said to you.
And then he tells this bewildered, troubled, confused bunch we gave you all the reasons for that last week. He says, Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. If you go to Israel today and you meet anyone, they're going to say peace to you. That's how they greet you. Shalom. Peace. It can mean hello, goodbye, but it literally means peace. It's that common greeting that embraces and wishes that a person will experience the peace of God.
It's a beautiful, beautiful introduction, salutation. So Jesus says to these disciples, peace I give to you. But then he says, my peace. Literally my own peace. It's my peace and I'm giving it to you. The peace that I experienced myself. I'm the manufacturer of it and the distributor of it. It is mine. I enjoy it and I'm conveying that to you.
That's the idea of it. It's my own personal peace and I'm giving that to you. Can you picture Jesus as frenzied and fretful and worried and biting his nails and flipping out?
No, you picture him, you read about him as calm and in control and predicting all things, even his own death. He says, no man takes my life from me. I lay it down and I take it again. Total control, absolute power, never worried, never worked up, never fretful, never frenzied, peaceful. And he's saying now, that's available to my followers. My own peace of which I manufacture, I also distribute it and I'm giving it to you. The peace that I experienced. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Now again, he is addressing the disciples who were troubled because of the announcement that he has made at the Last Supper, that he is leaving them, he's going to die, that Peter is going to deny him, that Judas is going to betray him.
And they're worked up and worried. He says, I'm giving you my peace. I've always loved the illustration that seafarers, sailors give to us about what they call the cushion of the sea.
It seems that in the ocean, no matter what is going on on top of the ocean, the wind, the waves can be a huge storm, you can get to a depth in the ocean where it's absolutely calm. If you go deep enough, it's the cushion of the sea, it's calm. No matter what's going around you on the surface, let me take you down to the cushion, my peace. I'll give it to you.
I'll convey it for you. You have heard me say to you, I am going away and coming back to you. If you loved me, you would rejoice because I said, I'm going to the father for my father is greater than I.
And now I have told you before it comes that when it does come to pass, you may believe. Now be careful how you interpret verse 28. That has been a favorite verse of cultists who want to deny the deity of Jesus Christ.
They love to pull this out. And what they aim to do is to show you why Jesus never claimed to be God, never claimed to be deity because he goes, look, he said, my father is greater than I. Of course he is. In terms of position at this point in the incarnation where Jesus has left heaven, come to the earth and voluntarily submitted himself to the father, the position of the father as calling the shots and the son submitting to the father as a servant, the father is greater. Does not say, however, my father is better than I am. My father is superior to me, but my father in terms of his position and in terms of my position with the incarnation becoming man, Philippians tells us, abdicating the outward manifestation of my glory, I've submitted myself to the will of the father.
In that case, my father is greater than I. And that makes perfect sense because he did submit himself to the perfect will of the father. And then he says, closing out the chapter, I will no longer talk much with you for the ruler of this world is coming and he has nothing in me, but that the world may know that I love the father and as the father gave me commandments, so I do. Arise, let us go from here. Jesus said, I'm not going to talk much longer with you.
And it's true. There's only two chapters left of the red letters. Can you see it? Do you have a red letter Bible? So boys, we got two chapters left. He's telling them, I'm not going to, I'm not going to talk much with you.
And after 15 and 16, he's done in this final discourse to his disciples. And here's why I will no longer talk much with you for the ruler of this world is coming and has nothing in me. Now, who is the ruler of this world? It's Satan. That's a reference to the devil. Second Corinthians chapter four, Paul calls him Satan, the god of this age or the god of this world. Now why is the devil spoken of by Jesus and by Paul with these terms? The ruler of this world, the prince of this world, the god of this age, the god of this world. Why is he called that? He is called that because way back in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve listened to the suggestion of Satan, they abdicated the control, their control over to the devil. They surrendered.
They listened to what he had to say. And he forfeited, Adam forfeited that authority over to him. So here when he says the prince of this world is coming, I believe it's a reference to his betrayal by Judas Iscariot. Judas has already gone out. He has already prearranged the betrayal of Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. So he knows that it's dark and the powers of darkness are against him and the Roman government and the chief priests have conspired along with Judas.
But what's interesting is Jesus doesn't say and Judas is coming or my human betrayer is coming. What he does is he takes you behind the veil, behind the curtain backstage and shows you the real spiritual power behind the human plot. This is the power behind the plot. There is a human plot, that's Judas. The human plot, that's the chief priests. The human plot, that'll be the Romans and the temple police.
But the power behind the plot is the ruler of this world. Satan is backing it. Satan is thinking, I've got to get rid of the seed, the promised seed. I've got to destroy the seed lest these promises that God made will come true.
Of course, he didn't read the fine print, did he? He didn't know that it was the plan of the father that he goes to the cross. But the ruler of this world is behind this horrible betrayal and plot. What Jesus says though is, and he has nothing in me. In other words, no demonic power, no human plot can manipulate me into this.
I'm doing it voluntarily. Again, John chapter 10, no one takes my life from me. I lay it down of myself.
I have the power to lay it down and take it up. So he's saying, I'm not being manipulated. He has nothing in me, has no power, no control, no authority over me, but that the world may know that I love the father. They're going to know by the crucifixion that I will submit myself to the will of the father even to that point, Philippians tells us.
That's the very language he uses. Humbling himself and become obedient to death, even the death of the cross. The world may know that I love the father.
And as the father gave me commandments, so I do. Then notice this, arise, let us go from here. That's the last phrase of chapter 14.
Arise, let us go from here. Where's here? The upper room, somewhere in Jerusalem. If we go to Jerusalem together, I can show you where traditionally has been the area of the upper room.
Maybe that's the spot, maybe not. But it's been that tradition for hundreds of years, even a thousand years or so. So in that area of Jerusalem, somewhere in an upper room, they were having Passover. When the meal was done, Jesus said, okay, let's get up and go. Now where are they going? Garden of Gethsemane. That's where Jesus will be arrested. So he says, arise, let us go from here. So since chapter 15 begins by saying, I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser, every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, every branch that bears fruit he prunes it that it may bear more fruit. I can only guess that these words beginning in chapter 15 verse 1 were not given in the upper room, but on the road to the Garden of Gethsemane, on the way.
They probably got up and started walking. Now I love when I go to Jerusalem, the first night I'm there, I love to take a walk out of one of the gates of the city by the Western Wall, the upper city and walk down toward the Kidron Valley and cross it and go over to the Garden of Gethsemane, sort of take the same route that Jesus took. I love doing that. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we get back to Skip's teaching, starting the year with a structured Bible study can shape your spiritual journey for the months ahead and help align your life with God's truth. We want to help you do that with Pastor Skip's book, The Bible from 30,000 Feet and Companion Workbook. Journey through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, gaining a deep panoramic understanding of God's word that helps you understand the big picture of scripture with greater clarity. These resources are our thanks for your gift of at least $50 today to help share biblical teaching with more people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copies when you give at least $50 today to reach people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Let's continue with today's teaching with Pastor Skip. So as they were walking, Jesus begins by telling them a metaphor of vine and branches.
Why? I believe that probably he was using something that was familiar to them spiritually as well as physically, visibly. I think probably when you, in fact, I know that if you go down today, you can see terraced hillsides around Jerusalem with olive trees and vineyards. You see grapes growing. You see trees growing. Those plantings were very familiar. So as they were walking from the upper room down toward the Kidron Valley, maybe just brushing up against the vineyards, some of the grape plants, the grape leaves, the vines, that perhaps using that, Jesus launched into something they were familiar with spiritually. I'll describe that in a moment. So he used something they could see to launch into a spiritual metaphor of what it means to have a relationship with God, a connection with God.
Something else. Perhaps it wasn't the grape vines around the city which were visible, but as they would go around that area of the Temple Mount, they could look up and see the big, huge, massive bronze doors that had been built in Greece and sent over to Jerusalem to divide one of the courts of the temple. And on the bronze gate, embossed, embedded and embossed on the bronze, was gold, and it was a vine. Beautiful, ornate vine, Josephus tells us. Why a vine? Because in the Old Testament, several passages refer to Israel as God's vineyard, God's vine, to bear forth fruit to God.
That was the intention of the nation. Perhaps the most famous is Isaiah chapter 5. In Isaiah chapter 5, the prophet says, Now let me sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up. He cleared out its stones. He planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in it.
He also made a winepress in it. And he expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes. The prophet continues, What shall the Lord of the vineyard do? And he says he's going to decimate it. He's going to take away its hedge, take away its tower. He's going to let others come in and take over that vineyard.
It's going to be destroyed. And then he explains the parable. This is all in Isaiah chapter 5. For the vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant plant. Israel had become unfruitful.
Israel as a nation had become unprofitable. They rejected their Messiah, prophesied by the prophets, predicted in the Old Testament. They were to bring forth fruit to God. They were to be a light to the Gentiles.
They didn't do that. They become very close-minded. Their embrace was very narrow and tight, and they excluded so many people. And it wasn't what God intended. So yes, they're the vineyard of God, but an unprofitable vine. And so in contrast to Israel the vine, Jesus said, I'm the true vine. I'm the real deal. I'm the fruitful one.
I'm the one that the Father has entrusted this mission to, and I'm fulfilling it to the end as your Messiah and as his Son. I am the true vine. And my Father is the vine dresser, or the viticulturist, if you were in modern scientific terms.
A viticulturist is somebody who walks through a vineyard and clips and cuts and grows and takes care of a vineyard, takes care of grapes. Every branch in me, he says, that does not bear fruit, he takes it away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken unto you. It's a staggering truth that God cares so much for his people that it's like somebody who's really into grapes, man, and he's just out there and he cuts and he spends his time and he's into it and he reads Grape Grower magazine and his bumper sticker is, I heart grapes.
I mean, he's just into it. You have a Father in heaven who cares meticulously for you, his child, like a grape farmer would to bring forth good fruit. But notice, every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. Now what these viticulturists do is they do two things, and this is the main job of the grower during one season, is to go find the dead wood that's on the grapevine, that there's no sap in it.
It's connected, but it's dead. They take that away, and they take that away because dead wood breeds disease. It harbors disease, so you cut it off. But they even go into the live tissue and cut it because they want to make sure that the sap is not spent extraneously for no good reason.
It needs to be concentrated to bear the right kind of fruit. So that's the kind of care that your Father has for you. Now what does he do? He prunes you.
You go, I don't like the sound of that. Now when he says that he prunes you, this is a loving Father. It doesn't say he'll make you into a pruney person or a prune-faced person or a prune-like person.
Oh, look at that prune-like person. He must be a Christian. No, he'll cleanse you. The Greek word is katharizo, to clean, to cleanse you. He'll cleanse you. He'll cut away the dead wood. He'll manicure you. Yes, he'll cut away some tissue, but he does it for fruitfulness. How does he cleanse you?
Two ways. By Scripture, that's one way. You're already claimed by the word I've spoken to you. Remember what it says in Hebrews 4? The word of God is alive and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and of the intents of the heart. So he uses his word. And have you ever had the word of God confront you?
Oh, daily I hope you would say. I'll read certain passages of Scripture and I'm comforted by them. Others I'm not. Others I read them and I go, uh-oh. I'm not comforted, I'm confronted. And I've discovered the word of God is given to comfort the afflicted but also to afflict the comfortable. We need stuff cut out of our lives.
And the word of God powerfully does that. And that's the value of slowing down when you read and mulling over the text and thinking about it more than just getting through a chapter in the morning but just contemplating on it because you're letting it have its full effect. Let it confront you. Don't close the book. Don't walk away.
Don't run away. Let it cut. That's one way he cleanses.
That's one way he prunes. Another way we all know is by trials. And you're going, oh yeah, I knew you were going to say that. And if you're honest, you're going, I hate trials. I hate them.
I think we all do. Let's not try to be over spiritual. If we could take a vote and end trials today, we'd all vote affirmative. Get rid of them. They hurt.
We don't like them. But Jesus prunes us by Scripture and by suffering. Scripture and by suffering if you want to keep the S's in it. David in Psalm 119 said, before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word. I love how C.S.
Lewis used to put it. He said, God through pain, he said, pain plants the flag of truth in the fortress of a rebel soul. God will get your attention with suffering.
More people that I've met because of some tragedy, some painful circumstance, that's when they look up. Okay, God, what do you want? Now, it's better not to live that way. It's better to give God your full attention every day and let him cleanse you through the word. But if the Scripture won't get your attention, maybe suffering will. But, but please, I don't want you to think of, oh, no, I don't ever want to be fruitful because if I'm fruitful, then he's going to prune me so I get more fruitful.
That doesn't sound good. Maybe if I don't bear any fruit at all, oh, no, he loves you too much to leave you that way. He's the hound of heaven. He's committed to your growth. He's the vine dresser, man. He's going to be walking past your plant going, deadwood. Ooh, fruit.
If I clip there, though, it's going to hurt, but if I clip there, better grapes. So here's what I want to warn you. Be careful that you don't call something bad that is really sent by God for good. So we have to be careful. We go, oh, why would God let bad things happen to good people? First of all, you need to get a better definition of good people when you are pointing to yourself because Jesus said no one's good but God.
So that leaves you and I out of it. Also, be careful what you call bad. Joseph was sold into slavery by jealous brothers. He was put in prison for years. He suffered as a slave, but then he became prime minister of Egypt. All that bad stuff was used by God to bring him to a different kind of a place so that when his brothers finally met him again and they were all panicked that Joseph was going to come after him, he goes, don't worry, you guys. What you intended for evil, God meant for good.
So be careful that when you start assigning something as, I don't know why that happened to me. It's bad. Feels that way. It hurts when the pruning shears come. But wait, just wait till you see the grapes.
Just wait till the fruit starts popping out because you've got a viticulturalist, a vine dresser, a husbandman who's after your best interest. That's why all things work together for good to those who love God. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope you've been strengthened in your walk with Jesus by today's program.
Before we let you go, we want to remind you about this month's resources that will help you gain a deeper understanding of the sweeping story of scripture. Pastor Skip's book, The Bible from 30,000 Feet, and the companion workbook are our thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig today. Request your copies when you give $50 or more. Call 800-922-1888.
That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. And did you know that you can get a weekly devotional and other resources from Pastor Skip sent right to your email inbox?
Simply visit connectwithskip.com and sign up for emails from Skip. Come back next time for more verse by verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross.
Cast your burdens on His Word. Make a connection, a connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times. Now we want to let you know about an exciting opportunity coming up soon in Southern California.
Hi, Pastor Skip here. I'm heading to Menifee, California to teach at Revival Christian Fellowships Nuts and Bolts of Expository Preaching Conference in January. I'll be teaching alongside my very good friend and fellow expositor, Pastor John Miller. Join us to deepen your knowledge and ignite or reignite a lasting passion to teach the Bible expositionally.
I hope to see you there. So check out the link and claim your spot. To learn more about the nuts and bolts and to register, visit expositorypreaching.org. That's expositorypreaching.org.
