R283 A Direct Understanding of the Church

We all could use some encouragement, and we'll find it together today in the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton and this message from the book of John. That's right, we're headed to John chapter 15 about this message, a direct understanding of the Church. And as we study the Word, know that we're here for you 24 hours a day at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. And now, Dr. Don Wilton. John chapter 15, one of the most intriguing of all of the passages in all of Scripture. One of the most intriguing statements that the Lord Jesus Christ made to His disciples. Indeed, I'm sure that you would agree with me that the disciples had now become the embryonic Church. And right here at this juncture, Jesus was saying something to them as it is applied to each one of us.

And so our subject today, a direct understanding of the Church. Now for the sake of time this morning, I'm only going to read to you the first seven verses. I beg your pardon, the first eight verses. I'm only going to read the first eight verses, but I am going to be preaching from almost the entire chapter.

So if you would follow along with me in God's Word. John chapter 15, Jesus said, I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener or the husbandman. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit. While every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

You already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine and you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. But apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers.

Such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. May the Lord write His Word upon our hearts. I'm going to share just a few minutes with you some thoughts with regard to what Jesus was trying to do here in John chapter 15. And so I want you to bear with me because I'm going to be talking about some very important issues related to each one of us in God's church. This is a staggering proportion of Scripture, my beloved friends. What Jesus says here in John 15 is applicable to us and would require us to spend literally months upon months of study to try and come to an understanding what Jesus was saying. Why would Jesus talk about the vine and the branches? Well, there are three prominent viewpoints with regard to the reasoning behind that.

I'm going to give them to you very quickly. First of all, some people believe Jesus used this imagery because of the prune burnings that took place in the Kidron Valley right outside of Jerusalem. Historians tell us that you could literally see the fires taking place all over the place as the seven branches that had been pruned from the vines were burned in the Kidron Valley.

That's a very plausible thought. The second most prominent thought is that Jesus used this language because of the golden vines that embellished the temple courts. Again, I think that that has a high level of plausibility to it because everybody could see these vines, these golden vines that embellished the courts.

They were there for public consumption. But I believe that it is the third theory that I believe to be the most accurate personally as your pastor. Many people, including myself, believe that Jesus talked about the vine as one of the three trees in Scripture that came to symbolize the nation of Israel. Now, if you want to go back and do your homework, you can read about this not only in Psalm 80, but also in Isaiah chapter 5 verses 1 through 7. The prophet and the psalmist very clearly talk about Israel as the vine. And so we come up to this I am saying of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Why did Jesus say in verse 5, I am the vine and you are the branches? Well, consider Israel for just a moment. Israel went into bondage, did they not? They were brought out of bondage. They were led through the Sinai desert. They were delivered to the promised land. What did God Jehovah do for Israel?

He repeatedly hedged her about and protected her with a series of divinely appointed leaders. And if you go back into the Old Testament with me, if we had time this morning, and you began to read about how these leaders were treated, you're going to discover that God repeatedly came to look for a return on his investment. And yet what happened? They murdered some of those leaders. They beat some of them up.

They abused others. They disobeyed the divinely appointed leaders of God. And now, here in the New Testament, at the embryonic stage of the New Testament church, God is sending his only son and what are they doing to him? Israel is about to kick him out. Israel is about to abuse him. Israel is about to execute the son of the living God. Keep your finger in John chapter 15 and turn back with me to Matthew chapter 21.

Quickly do that. Turn to Matthew chapter 21. I believe that here Jesus talks about this very thing. Matthew 21, I'm going to read to you from verse 33. A very provocative parable. An extremely provocative parable for the church today. But directly related to Israel's favored nation status with God. And we're going to read what happens when someone who is under the favor of God ruptures that relationship and becomes a severed branch, if you please.

Listen. Matthew 21 verse 33. Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put up a wall around it. He dug a wine press in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers. And he went away on a journey.

Think of Israel. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. The tenants seized his servants. They beat one, they killed another, and they stoned a third.

Then he sent other servants to them more than the first time and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, here it is. You ready for this?

Here it is, folks. We're going to find ourselves right at the outset of the gospel story. Last of all, verse 37. He sent his son to them.

They will respect my son, he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, this is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance. So they took him and they threw him out of the vineyard and they killed him.

And what was the result? Look at verse 43. Verse 43 is a very key passage in trying to understand John chapter 15. Therefore, I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and will be given to a people who will produce its fruit. Now go back to John chapter 15. That's exactly what Israel had done.

That is exactly what Israel was doing. They were rejecting the son of the living God. There were three consequences that the Bible teaches us about. Number one, there was the unmitigated visitation of the anger of God upon God's chosen people. Number two, there was the removal of God's favored nation status from Israel.

And number three, there was the approval of God transferred and placed on another people, the Gentiles. And so we have here the institution of the New Testament church. Therefore, it seems to me, my beloved friends, in this age, God's purpose centers in the Lord Jesus Christ and in his church. In the Old Testament, the vine symbolized Israel corporately. In the New Testament, the vine symbolizes the Lord Jesus Christ and his church corporately. Therefore, God has a new instrument and a new nation for carrying out his purpose, the Lord Jesus Christ and his church.

Now, how does this work out for us today? I'm going to submit to you today that amongst many other things that we need to contemplate, my friend, is that what Jesus is teaching at this point is that any local gathering is the average of its members. What we need to understand about the understanding of the church is that the corporate spiritual life of a church is a direct reflection of the spirituality or the colonnality of its people and in particular of its leaders. That's what Jesus was trying to teach. And so our question this morning is how then does the husband-man God relate to his church? Why would Jesus say this? After all, the disciples were the embryonic church.

Jesus was about to be crucified, was he not? And here was the markings or the beginnings of the churches we know it today as instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ. What was it that God was trying to say? How does the husband-man relate to the New Testament church? Well, I want to share with you four things that God does in relation to his church. Number one, he cuts off the useless.

He cuts off the useless. Now you can look with me at verse 2 of chapter 15 and then again at verse 6. Listen to what the Bible says. Jesus, God, cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit. Look at verse 6, rather a staggering statement. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers.

Such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. Now friends, I want to show you something very interesting here and some of you are going to say, well preacher, I'm not an English teacher. You don't have to be. There is a very subtle shift in the grammatical construction here in John chapter 15 strictly from verse 6. Prior to this, Jesus refers in the first and second personal pronouns. He talks about I, me and ye. But here in verse 6, all of a sudden he changes into the third person.

He talks about you, he talks about he, he talks about them and he talks about they. What Jesus perhaps was trying to teach his disciples is that when you and I belong to him and we are connected to him, that we come into a personal relationship with him and that the blood flows directly from him. He was talking perhaps about Judas. Who was Judas? Judas was a severed branch. Judas was a severed branch. What about Judas? I think we can all agree a couple of things about Judas. Judas had an attachment to the cause, but he didn't have an attachment to the Christ. Judas was the one man who epitomized someone who had an attachment to a program, but he certainly had no attachment to the person behind the program. Judas, there is no doubt, my friend, he had an attachment to the momentum of the action, but he had no attachment whatsoever to the man behind the momentum and the action. And so what happened when the cause collapsed? He sold out to the Christ because he was never connected to the Christ.

What a tragedy, beloved friends. We read about it in Revelation chapter 3 and verse 16 with the church at Laodicea where God's word says, I will spew you out of my mouth. To the church at Ephesus in Revelation chapter 2 and verses 4 and 5, God's word says, Repent or I will come quickly and I will remove thy candlestick out of his place. What was Jesus trying to teach the disciples?

Perhaps three things at this point. He is saying, first of all, that the Lord Jesus Christ has no use for useless churches and no use for useless people. Number two, he was saying that despite all of their activity and their zeal, they had become fruitless branches.

And number three, he was saying that their lack of spirituality was a direct reflection of the carnality and the worldliness, not only of its people, but of those who led them. You see, my beloved friends, it seems remarkably significant here in John chapter 15 that we must conclude that what Jesus was saying is first of all that the husbandman relates to his church and that he will cut off those who are unproductive. But I'm going to say to you, my beloved friends, that Jesus was telling his church that if you are a severed branch, you will be cut off.

You will be cut off. But there's a second thing that God does for his church. He not only cuts off the useless, but he cultivates the committed. He cultivates the committed.

Now I like this one because there are so many thousands of people here in Spartanburg who are so deeply committed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse two. He says it right there in chapter 15 and verse two. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit.

Here it is. While on the other hand, every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes. Why? In order that it will become what? More fruitful.

I like that, don't you? He's just simply saying here, listen, I'm going to cultivate the committed. What Jesus was saying to his disciples is that when you trust Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, you are not set free unto a license within yourself. You are set free unto a life of committed discipleship.

And because you belong to me, I'm going to do whatever it takes to make you everything that I know that you can be because of who I am in and through you. All of us here today can testify to the pruning shares of Almighty God in our own lives. And you might say to me today, pastor, how exactly does God cultivate the committed? How does he prune us? Two ways. Number one, he prunes us severely with a knife.

Yes, sir. Number two, he prunes us gently with his word. That's what the Bible says. He prunes us severely with his knife. The Bible says that the husbandman, as those of us who have worked in these areas in agriculture will tell you is so true that the husbandman takes that surgical knife and by his grace and in his wisdom, he snips here and he cuts there and he severs this off and he changes that so that we find ourselves in a better position, stronger than ever before to be the recipients of the on flowing grace that is given to us by God in Christ Jesus. And the consequence of that is that the fruit we bear is far tastier, far more delicious and far more meaningful, but he not only prunes us severely with a knife, he cultivates us gently by means of his word.

He tells us in verse three, you are already clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you. Please forgive the interruption. We'll be back with the rest of today's message, A Direct Understanding of the Church with Dr. Don Wilton, but he insists I remind you we're here for you. We'd love to talk with you, pray with you, connect with great resources, both online at www.tewonline.org but also with this phone number. Jot it down, store it in your cell, 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. We'd love to connect with you. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. What does the word of God do for us? Well, it does many things, doesn't it? But there are three predominant things that the word of God does. Number one, it is a source of continual cleansing. God's word is a source of continual cleansing. That's where the word clean comes from.

Cathario in the Greek New Testament. It means to be made thoroughly clean from beginning to end. It means to be set free from any kind of obstruction. It means to be set free from any obstacles so that we can flow by the grace and with the grace of God in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a source of continual cleansing. But note in the second place, the word of God keeps us from evil.

Yes, sir, it does. We are about the business of sharing the word. What does the Bible say? The Bible says, hide God's word in your heart.

Why? Because the word of God will keep you from evil. The word of God will keep you from evil.

It is a source of continual cleansing. It keeps us from evil, but there's a third byproduct of the word of God. It drives away pretenders. The word of God drives away pretenders. In other words, beloved friends, may I submit to you today that what Jesus was saying was simply this, that people will not stay where his principles, his precepts, and his practices are the rule of life unless they themselves have a vital connection with the one who's the only one we can be connected to, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the word of God, my friend, drives away pretenders.

I'm going to say to you the word of God teaches us many times that there will always be those who cannot tolerate, they cannot put up with, they cannot accept the unapologetic preaching and teaching of the word of God, and they will scatter to the four winds, and they will find anything else to go to other than subject themselves to the word of God. God, the husband, he cuts off the useless. He cultivates the committed. But there's a third thing that he does for us. He connects all the components together.

I love this one now, choir. He connects all the components together. Jesus was saying, you don't worry about that, son.

You know why? Because God the husbandman connects all the components together. He is the great connector. What was he trying to teach us? Maybe what he was saying, my friend, is that there is no life and there is no fruit by itself.

He tells us in John chapter 15. He was telling us that the fibers of the vine run from its organic connection, from the root to the very fatherless branch. What he was telling us is that we, as a church, must be attached. We must be connected to the vine.

Why? Because severed we will die. He was telling us that the life-giving sap of the Lord Jesus Christ rises up from the roots and enables the branches to bear green leaves and to bring forth delicious fruit.

What an incredible picture God gives to us of his church. Remain in me, he said. Remain in me, why?

Because I am the one who connects all the components. And so there are two questions. How does this apply to the life of the individual believer? And number two, how does this apply to the New Testament church if he connects all the components? Well, friend, as far as the individual believer is concerned, we must remain close to one another. That's what Jesus was saying. Oh, if there's one thing, my friend, that I have so much prayed about and so much bragged about and so much appreciated about the 150-year history of First Baptist Spartanburg, it is the spiritual unity among its members. What Jesus was saying, my friends, is that we must remain connected together.

We must. He was saying the life of Christ is the life of the believer and that apart from him, there can be no fruit. You cannot live the Christ life apart from Christ himself.

He was saying that we must end moment by moment and situation by situation and issue by issue. We need to be connected into the only one who is the connection, the one and only, the God, the Father of our fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. What was Jesus saying about the church? Just the same as he was saying about the believer, that as the church today, God the husbandman connects all the components together.

Why? Because he alone is God. He alone is God. What a tremendous privilege.

What a tremendous privilege. But I want you to note in the fourth place, my friends, that God cares enough to grant us his blessings. Number one, God cuts off the useless. Number two, God cultivates the committed.

Number three, God connects all the components together. And number four, God cares so much, he grants to us his manifold blessings. That's what John 15 is all about, the manifold blessings of God. Jesus simply saying to his disciples, listen, you abide in me and I in you, this is the blessings that I'm going to give to you. Now there are so many blessings, we'd never get through them.

But there are three that he talks about right here in this passage. Number one, we will receive from God. Verse seven and verse 16, we will receive from God.

What a blessing. Number two, we will bear fruit that remains. We will bear fruit that remains.

Look at verse 16, fruit that lasts, not stuff that's going to fall and rot on the ground. But there's a third manifold blessing because God cares for us so much. And it's simply this, that we will be called the friends of God. It is indeed a great blessing as we come to know God, not just know about him, but know him personally. You've heard great teaching from Dr. Wilton, great preaching from Dr. Wilton.

And now as he steps into the studio, I pray you just let him share his heart. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today, I repent of my sin and by faith, I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. Welcome to the family of God or welcome back. I'm convinced some of you just prayed along with Dr. Wilton or some of you are ready to call us at 866-899-WORD and have a conversation about giving your life to Jesus.

Our phone number again is 866-899-9673 and we stand ready right now. As a matter of fact, any time, day or night, we want to talk with you, pray with you, and watch God work to encourage you with the power of his word. We also connect online at our website, www.tewonline.org and while you're there, you'll discover a great new book coming from Dr. Don Wilton.

Here are the details. On our new website, you can reserve a copy of Dr. Wilton's brand new book, Saturdays with Billy. In Saturdays with Billy, Pastor Don shares heartwarming stories of his times with Mr. Graham. Just as Billy's words change Don's life, they can change our lives today, a testament to a man who leaned on God's grace into eternity. Discover their powerful friendship at www.tewonline.org It's been a great week of teaching, but as Dr. Don often reminds us, make sure you're in church this weekend. Now sometimes that can only be virtually at this particular time of year, but no, we'd also love to have you worship with us virtually with our television ministry, you can find the details on our website at www.tewonline.org That's www.tewonline.org