What fruit do you expect on the branches of a vine? If you can answer that question correctly, then it will be easy for me to explain to you something very important about yourself!
The Lord Jesus said, “I am the True Vine ... and My Father is the Gardener. (verse 1.)
Any good gardener will carefully examine the fruit on his trees; and so does God the Father. He said of Jesus, the Vine, “This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17.) Jesus ALWAYS produced in His life the beautiful and satisfying “fruit” of true love and obedience for the Father’s will.
Jesus told His followers, “I am the Vine; YOU are the branches”! (verse 5.) So God, the Gardener, will of course want the same pleasing fruit on the “branches” as He found in His Son, the Vine!
Just as a branch that is producing apples or plums clearly does NOT belong to a vine, so you can identify peoples’ lives that do not belong to Jesus. You don’t have to be an expert to know that a person whose life produces cursing in God's Holy name, or stealing, or lies, or deceit, or idolatry, or adultery, or drunkenness etc. is NOT producing the fruit God is looking for! Clearly such people ARE NOT “branches” belonging to the True Vine, Jesus Christ, even though they may claim to be!
What does Jesus’ Father, the Gardener, do with such “branches”? “He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit,” Jesus said. (verse 2.) And He went on to say, “such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.” (verse 6.)
Some people want us to believe today that God will reject no-one in the end, and that there is no fire - no Hell! (Matthew 25:41. Revelation 21:11-15) People who say such things obviously want you to believe that Jesus Christ is a liar! Any person who rejects Jesus’ teachings shows clearly that he or she is not a “branch” belonging to Jesus Christ, the Vine, and nothing he or she does can be pleasing God. (John 5:22-27. 1st John 5:10-12.)
If you know that a branch of a vine only produces grapes, then it should be clear to you whether you belong to Jesus Christ or not! Someone who really belongs to Jesus Christ, the Vine, will trust and obey Jesus and be interested in producing in their lives those things that are Christlike. (2ndCorinthians 5:17. Titus 2:1-14.)
Just as the branches of a vine need constant attention and pruning by the gardener, so the true Christians will want God to cut away those things from their lives that are not helpful to them becoming more like Jesus. (verse 2. Ephesians 4:17 to 5:21.)
Examine the fruit your life is producing! If today you realise that your life is not pleasing and acceptable to God, but you would like it to be, then I have good news for you! Right now you can put your trust in Jesus to forgive your every sin, and to make you a “branch” of the True Vine. Then you will want to produce in your life Christlike fruit pleasing to God. (2nd Corinthians 5:17. & Ephesians 1:8-10.)
Read about these branches in John's gospel chapter 15, verses 1-6.
John Nixon, Cork, Ireland. P31HD98. Contact: jnixonj@gmail.com
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