CHAPTER 15

(A.D. 33)

THE TRUE VINE

¹I A m the True Vine (the True Israel, as He is the True Church, and the True Man; more specifically, He Alone is the Source of Life), and My Father is the Husbandman (refers to God the Father not simply as the Vinedresser, but also the Owner so to speak).

²Every branch (Believer) in Me (to have Salvation, we must be in Christ which refers to trusting in what He did at the Cross) that bears not fruit (the Holy Spirit Alone can bring forth fruit within our lives, and He does such through the Finished Work of Christ, which demands that the Cross ever be the Object of our Faith) He takes away (if the Believer refuses the Cross, ultimately, he will be taken out of the Body of Christ): and every branch that bears fruit (has some understanding of Christ and the Cross), He purges it (uses whatever means necessary to make the Cross the total Object of ones Faith), that it may bring forth more fruit (only when the Cross becomes the total Object of ones Faith can the Holy Spirit perform His Work of bringing forth proper fruit [Rom. 8:1-2, 11]).

³Now you are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you (the answer, as always, is found in the Word of God; the Story of the Bible is Jesus Christ and Him Crucified).

⁴Abide in Me (look to Him exclusively, and what He has done for us at the Cross), and I in you (if we properly abide in Him, which we can only do by ever making the Cross the Object of our Faith, then He will abide in us without fail). As the branch (Believer) cannot bear fruit of itself (one cannot Sanctify ones self! it is impossible!), except it abide in the Vine (abiding in Him refers to the fact that we understand that every solution we seek, for whatever the need might be, is found only in Christ and the Cross; we must never separate Christ from the Cross [I Cor. 1:23; 2:2]); no more can you, except you abide in Me.

⁵I am the Vine (not the Church, not a particular Preacher, not even a particular Doctrine, but Christ Alone), you are the branches (Believers): he who abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit (let us say it again; the Believer must understand that everything we receive from God comes to us exclusively through Christ and the Cross; that being the case, the Cross must ever be the Object of our Faith; then the Holy Spirit can develop fruit within our lives; it can be done no other way!): for without Me (what He did for us at the Cross) you can do nothing (the Believer should read that phrase over and over).

⁶If a man abide not in Me (refuses to accept the Cross, which means he is serving another Jesus [II Cor. 11:4]), he is cast forth as a branch (is removed from the Source of Life), and is withered (without proper Faith in Christ and the Cross, the Believer ultimately withers); and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned (the implication is striking! if proper Faith in Christ and the Cross is not maintained, the ultimate result is eternal Hell).

⁷If you abide in Me (keep your Faith anchored in Christ and the Cross), and My Words abide in you (in fact, the entirety of the Word of God is the Story of Christ and the Cross), you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you (proper Faith in Christ and the Cross desires only the Will of God, which Will is guaranteed now to be carried forth).

⁸Herein is My Father Glorified (that Believers totally and completely place their Faith exclusively in Christ and the Cross), that you bear much fruit (meaning that Jesus did not die in vain, but that His Death on the Cross will result in much fruit); so shall you be My Disciples (Lk. 9:23-24).

⁹As the Father has loved Me (the Heavenly Father loves us accordingly, as we abide in Christ), so have I loved you (the Good Shepherd gives His Life for the sheep): continue ye in My Love (we can continue in His Love, only as we continue in our Faith, which must ever have the Cross as its Object).

¹⁰If you keep My Commandments (this can be done only by the Holy Spirit working within us, which He does according to our Faith in Christ and the Cross), you shall abide in My Love (this can be doneonlyin the manner stated); even as I have kept My Fathers Commandments, and abide in His Love (the Fathers Commandment regarding Christ was that He was to go to the Cross [Mat. 16:21-24]; His Commandment to us is that we ever make Christ and the Cross Alone the Object of our Faith [Jn. 6:53]).

¹¹These things have I spoken unto you, that My Joy might remain in you (His Joy remains in us, only as our Faith is properly placed in Him and the Cross), and that your joy might be full (the Christian cannot know full joy until He properly understands the Cross, which means that he then properly understands Christ).

¹²This is My Commandment, That you love one another (we can only do so through a proper understanding of the Cross), as I have loved you (He loved us enough to give His Life for us).

¹³Greater love has no man than this (the epitome of love), that a man lay down his life for his friends (this portrays the Cross, as is obvious).

¹⁴You are My friends (consequently, I lay down My Life for you), if you do whatsoever I Command you (as stated, we can only do what He Commands, as we allow the Holy Spirit latitude within our lives, which is done by ever making the Cross the Object of our Faith).

¹⁵Henceforth I call you not servants (Faith in Christ and the Cross Alone can lift the Believer to a new status); for the servant knows not what his lord does (with faith improperly placed, the Lord cannot confide in us): but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you (therefore, we have no excuse!).

¹⁶You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you (it is not really that we find the Lord; the truth is, He finds us), and ordained you (has chosen us for a purpose), that you should go and bring forth fruit (as stated, we can only do this by ever looking to the Cross [Gal. 6:14]), and that your fruit should remain (as our Faith remains in the Cross, the fruit will remain): that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in My Name (using His Name always refers to the victory He won at the Cross), He may give it you.

¹⁷These things I Command you, that you love one another (if Faith is improperly placed, there is no love, even as there can be no love).

HATRED

¹⁸If the world hate you (as it definitely will, if you make Christ and the Cross the Object of your Faith), you know that it hated Me before it hated you. (Why? The world refuses to admit it is so evil that God would have to become man and die on a Cross in order that men might be Saved. Therefore, Christ bears the brunt of that animosity.)

¹⁹If you were of the world (looking to a way other than Christ and the Cross), the world would love his own (the world loves its own, and its own love the world): but because you are not of the world (refuse to accept the proposed solutions presented by the world), but I have chosen you out of the world (brought us out of the system of the world, into the way of the Lord), therefore the world hates you (the world hates us because we deny its proposed solutions, and claim that Christ is the only answer; this impacts the pride of man).

²⁰Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord ([Jn. 13:16], there it was used concerning humility; here it is used respecting opposition). If they have persecuted Me (and they definitely did), they will also persecute you (most of the persecution will come from the world of religion); if they have kept My saying (they didnt), they will keep yours also (meaning that the world, as the world, will not accept our solution of Christ and Him Crucified).

²¹But all these things will they do unto you for My Names sake (the Name that is held with more love, and at the same time more contention, is the Name of Jesus), because they know not Him Who sent Me (despite the claims of the religions of the world, if they reject Christ, it means they do not know God).

²²If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin (the sin of rejecting Christ, which is the greatest sin of all): but now they have no cloak for their sin (means that since the Cross, the world is without excuse).

²³He who hates Me hates My Father also (in every way possible, Jesus repeatedly stated that it was impossible to separate Him from the Father or the Father from Him).

²⁴If I had not done among them the Works which none other man did, they had not had sin (proclaims that His Preaching, Teaching, and Miracles all plainly revealed Who He was): but now have they Both seen and hated Both Me and My Father (the most awful condemnation that can be pronounced on mortal beings).

²⁵But this comes to pass, that the Word might be fulfilled that is written in their Law (doesnt mean that they were forced to do this thing, but that it was predicted they would), They hated Me without a cause (Ps. 35:19; 69:4).

²⁶But when the Comforter (Helper) is come (the Holy Spirit), Whom I will send unto you from the Father (presents Jesus as the Baptizer with the Holy Spirit [Mat. 3:11; Jn. 1:31-33]), even the Spirit of Truth (concerns the veracity of the Word of God; the Holy Spirit superintended its writing all the way from Moses, who began with Genesis, to the closing as given to John on the Isle of Patmos), which proceeds from the Father (proclaims the Father sending the Holy Spirit in the Name of Jesus and by the Authority of Jesus), He shall testify of Me (Who Christ is [God] and What Christ has done the Cross):

²⁷And you also shall bear witness (the Apostles), because you have been with Me from the beginning (speaks of them observing all He did and all He said [Eph. 2:20]).