John 15 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams — Transcript

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1. 0:00This is John chapter 15
2. 0:03and it's important that we understand
3. 0:05that this also is a message that Jesus
4. 0:09is preaching in the last hours before he
5. 0:13is arrested. Judas has already left to
6. 0:17betray him to chief priests. The
7. 0:20communion service has just taken place.
8. 0:23He's just held up the cup and said,
9. 0:26"This is the blood of the new covenant."
10. 0:28they've just partaken of the bread. And
11. 0:31so in this
12. 0:34we we sometimes read this passage as if
13. 0:37it doesn't happen in that context. But
14. 0:39we need to understand the tension in the
15. 0:42disciples is that he keeps saying he's
16. 0:45going away and that he's going to come
17. 0:47back and that they're going to be able
18. 0:49to follow him. And he's talking about
19. 0:52them being able to follow and
20. 0:54participate in the union he has with the
21. 0:56father through the Holy Spirit. Okay?
22. 0:59And that's that's the the broader
23. 1:02picture here. Okay? So John 15:1 I am
24. 1:07the true vine and my father is the vine
25. 1:11dresser. Every branch in me that does
26. 1:13not bear fruit, he takes away. And every
27. 1:17branch that bears fruit, he prunes it so
28. 1:20that it may bear more fruit.
29. 1:23You are already clean because of the
30. 1:26word which I have spoken to you. John's
31. 1:30entire emphasis of incarnation is to
32. 1:34show us that there is a voice, a word, a
33. 1:38truth, a logos that has entered time and
34. 1:41space. And that is God. That logos, that
35. 1:45word, that is the father.
36. 1:49And Jesus says here, you are already
37. 1:51clean because of the word I have spoken
38. 1:53to you. Now this echoes exactly what he
39. 1:56says to Peter two chapters earlier in
40. 1:58this same night when Peter says wash my
41. 2:02head and my hands and Jesus says you are
42. 2:05already clean. The word he uses here
43. 2:08when he says you are already clean the
44. 2:10literal word is pruned. You are already
45. 2:13pruned because of the word I spoke to
46. 2:15you. So look at this carefully. He says
47. 2:18I am the vine. My father is the vine
48. 2:22dresser.
49. 2:23The vine dresser is the pruner. It's the
50. 2:27husbandman. Okay? Every branch in me
51. 2:30that does not bear fruit, he cuts away.
52. 2:34He gets rid of it. Every branch that
53. 2:37bears fruit, he prunes.
54. 2:41But then he says, "You are already clean
55. 2:44because of the word I spoke to you." So
56. 2:48he says, "You are already pruned because
57. 2:50of the word I spoke to you." So who is
58. 2:53the vine dresser? Jesus. As Jesus moves
59. 2:58in the voice of the father, the the word
60. 3:02he speaks to us, that is the father
61. 3:04pruning us. So there's no distinction
62. 3:07between Jesus in the spirit and the
63. 3:10father. You are already clean because of
64. 3:12the word I spoke to you. He is the
65. 3:15father. abide in me and I in you.
66. 3:20As the branch cannot bear fruit of
67. 3:22itself unless it abides in the vine, so
68. 3:27neither can you unless you abide or
69. 3:30remain in me.
70. 3:33I am the vine, you are the branches.
71. 3:38He who abides in me and I in him, he
72. 3:41bears much fruit.
73. 3:44For apart from me, you can do nothing.
74. 3:49Now, apart from me also takes us back to
75. 3:52John 13 when he tells Peter, I need to
76. 3:56wash your feet or else you have no part
77. 3:59in me. And in that story,
78. 4:03Judas leaves the company. He leaves the
79. 4:06vine and he's no longer part of the
80. 4:09vine. Okay? So here again he's saying
81. 4:13apart from me you can do nothing. If
82. 4:16anyone does not abide in me he is thrown
83. 4:19away as a branch and dries up and they
84. 4:23gather them and cast them into the fire
85. 4:26and they are burned.
86. 4:28This is a illusion of hell if you will
87. 4:31not abide in Christ. If you will not
88. 4:34remain in his word, in his light,
89. 4:38in the network of branches of human
90. 4:41relationships that are him, then you are
91. 4:45going to be withering. You're going to
92. 4:47dry up and you're going to be burned.
93. 4:51If you abide in me and my words abide,
94. 4:54live, thrive,
95. 4:56persist in you, ask whatever you wish
96. 5:00and it will be done for you.
97. 5:03So you don't ask because it's your
98. 5:05initiative. Jesus did nothing of his own
99. 5:07initiative. But when his word is in you,
100. 5:10then whatever you ask on earth will be
101. 5:13something that is already happening in
102. 5:16heaven. You will bind on earth what has
103. 5:18been bound in heaven. You will loose on
104. 5:20earth what has been loosed in heaven.
105. 5:22You will become an expression of what
106. 5:25he's doing. He's not saying you can just
107. 5:27willy-nilly ask whatever you wish and
108. 5:29he'll come like your Aaron boy to do it
109. 5:31for you. His word has to live in you
110. 5:34first. It's got to be his will. But when
111. 5:37you're asking according to his will, he
112. 5:40hears us. As John would later say, if
113. 5:43you abide in me and my words live in
114. 5:46you, ask whatever you wish and it will
115. 5:48be done for you. My father is glorified
116. 5:51by this that you bear much fruit and so
117. 5:55prove to be my disciples. Now what did
118. 5:58he say in John 13 was proof that we
119. 6:01would be his disciples by our love for
120. 6:03one another. So what is the fruit?
121. 6:07It's the fruit of loving and caring and
122. 6:10providing for one another.
123. 6:13The fruit is never ornamental. The fruit
124. 6:16that we bear is to be eaten, to be
125. 6:21consumed.
126. 6:22So the idea that I would bear fruit
127. 6:25means somebody's hungry and they need to
128. 6:28eat from the grace and love and care of
129. 6:32my life. And so that is exactly what
130. 6:35he's saying two chapters earlier when he
131. 6:37says, "Love one another and so prove to
132. 6:40be my disciples." Here he says, "My
133. 6:42father is glorified
134. 6:45in this that you bear much fruit
135. 6:51uh for one another and so prove to be my
136. 6:54disciples. Just as the Father has loved
137. 6:57me,
138. 6:58I have also loved you. Abide in my love.
139. 7:04If you keep my commandments, you will
140. 7:06abide in my love." What is his
141. 7:08commandment? that we love one another.
142. 7:12If you keep my commandments, you will
143. 7:14abide in my love, just as I have kept my
144. 7:16father's commandments and abide in his
145. 7:18love. These things I have spoken to you
146. 7:22so that my joy may be in you and that
147. 7:25your joy may be made full.
148. 7:30This is my commandment
149. 7:34that you love one another just as I have
150. 7:39loved you. Do you see it? He says in
151. 7:43John 13, if you love one another, then
152. 7:46you are truly my disciples. The world
153. 7:48will know that you are my disciples.
154. 7:51Okay? And now he says, "My father is
155. 7:54glorified by this, that you bear much
156. 7:56fruit, and so prove to be my disciples."
157. 8:00So if this is what proves we're his
158. 8:02disciples, it has to be the same thing
159. 8:04as the love that proves to the world
160. 8:06that we're his disciples, are we right?
161. 8:09Yes, we are. Because he says, "If you
162. 8:11keep my commandments, you abide in my
163. 8:13love, just as I have kept my father's
164. 8:15commandment and abide in his love. These
165. 8:18things I have spoken to you so that my
166. 8:20joy may be in you and your joy may be
167. 8:21made full. This is my commandment that
168. 8:24you love one another. So when we stay in
169. 8:28his voice in his commandment, we start
170. 8:31producing something that others can eat
171. 8:34and that is love. Greater love has no
172. 8:38one than this that one lay down his life
173. 8:42for his friends.
174. 8:44So, he's asking us to lay down our lives
175. 8:46for one another, but he's the one who's
176. 8:48about to lay down his life for us. And
177. 8:51he says, "You are my friends
178. 8:54if you do what I command you."
179. 8:58He laid down his life for those who will
180. 9:01allow themselves to be bought by that
181. 9:03love and to come into that command, that
182. 9:06requirement.
183. 9:08No longer do I call you slaves.
184. 9:12He just says, "You are my friends.
185. 9:14You're the ones I'm going to lay down my
186. 9:16life for." He says, "No longer do I call
187. 9:18you slaves, for the slave does not know
188. 9:21what his master is doing, but I have
189. 9:24called you friends.
190. 9:26For all things that I have heard from my
191. 9:28father, I have made known to you.
192. 9:32You hear,
193. 9:34you know, you understand the will of my
194. 9:38father." So, you're not a slave.
195. 9:41You did not choose me, but I chose you
196. 9:44and appointed you that you would go and
197. 9:46bear fruit. That you would go and give
198. 9:49each other lifegiving love, grace, truth
199. 9:53from me. That's what that fruit is.
200. 9:57And that your fruit would remain, not
201. 10:00stick there and hang on the branch, but
202. 10:02that the tree would keep bearing it.
203. 10:06So that whatever you ask of the father
204. 10:08in my name he may give to you. This I
205. 10:12command you that you love one another.
206. 10:16What is the fruit?
207. 10:19>> Loving one another.
208. 10:20>> Loving one another in all the
209. 10:23manifestations
210. 10:25by which God would feed and meet the
211. 10:28needs of our brothers and sisters. That
212. 10:30is the fruit.
213. 10:33If the world hates you, you know that it
214. 10:36hated me before it hated you.
215. 10:40If you were of the world, the world
216. 10:44would love its own.
217. 10:47But because you are not of the world,
218. 10:50but I chose you out of the world,
219. 10:53because of this, the world hates you.
220. 10:58That's the hatred.
221. 11:00We don't belong to the things that they
222. 11:02are ins snared by.
223. 11:05We're not controlled. We're not owned by
224. 11:08the idols that control their lives. And
225. 11:11if we belonged to the world, they would
226. 11:14love us.
227. 11:16But somebody else has purchased and
228. 11:18taken possession.
229. 11:20Remember the word that I said to you, a
230. 11:22slave is not greater than his master. If
231. 11:26they persecuted me, they will persecute
232. 11:28you.
233. 11:30If they kept my word, they will keep
234. 11:32yours also.
235. 11:35See how it's going to be the same voice
236. 11:37just taking on the form of the whole
237. 11:40body of Christ instead of one man.
238. 11:43But all these things they will do to you
239. 11:46for my name's sake because they do not
240. 11:49know the one who sent me. They're going
241. 11:52to do it to you because he's going to be
242. 11:54in you too and they don't know him. If I
243. 11:58had not come and spoken to them, they
244. 12:00would have no sin. But now they have no
245. 12:03excuse for their sin. They heard the
246. 12:06voice, the logos, the rama, the
247. 12:09utterance, the ala of God. He who hates
248. 12:13me hates my father also.
249. 12:17You can't hate Jesus and not hate his
250. 12:19father because what you hate is what
251. 12:21he's doing through the spirit, which is
252. 12:23to say what the father is doing in him.
253. 12:26If I had not done among them the works
254. 12:28which no one else did, they would not
255. 12:32have sinned. But now they have both seen
256. 12:35and hated me and my father as well. They
257. 12:39have both seen and hated my father
258. 12:43because Jesus is the image of the
259. 12:46father.
260. 12:48But they have done this to fulfill the
261. 12:49word that is written in their law. They
262. 12:52hated me without cause.
263. 12:57When the helper, the advocate comes whom
264. 13:01I will send to you from the father, that
265. 13:03is the spirit of truth who proceeds from
266. 13:06the father. He will testify
267. 13:10about me
268. 13:12and you will testify also because you
269. 13:15have been with me from the beginning.
270. 13:18But remember, he says, "The one who's
271. 13:21coming has been with you, but he will be
272. 13:23in you." So, they've been with Jesus,
273. 13:26but Jesus is going to be inside of them.