John 15:
1. I am the true vine and my Father is the farmer.
2. Every branch in me not bearing fruit He takes it, and every branch bearing fruit He prunes that it may bear more fruit.
3. Now you are clean because of the words which I have spoken to you; remain in me and I in you.
4. As the branch cannot bear fruit from itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you, unless in me you remain.
5. I am the vine, you are the branches. The one remaining in me and I in him, this one bears much fruit, because apart from me ye cannot do anything.
6. Unless anyone remains in me he is thrown outside, as a branch and dries up; and, they are gathered up and cast into the fire, and they are burned.
7. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, whatever you wish, ask and it shall happen to you.

The seed of God is His love for mankind. Jesus is the vine that has grown out from that seed. We can become the sin-free grafts of His righteousness implanted upon that true vine. Praise the Lord! This is a major announcement of King Jesus to the world. Come and be implanted upon the vine and bear the fruit of God. However, if the graft does not bear fruit a warning is given. The Lord God will cut it off and cast it into the heap to be burned. This is not the wrath of God but the testimony of His love for the branches that bear fruit. The fruit bearing branches He will prune to aid them in bearing more fruit. God is the vine keeper and He will be just in His duty. He alone has first shown His love, given His love to His son, who now is giving this love to us if we will only accept it.

Please note that He has said that He will prune the fruit bearing branches. So many today instruct us in the blessings of a walk in the spirit. They tell us of only the promises of blessing and prosperity. They leave us to believe that if we are truly walking after the Lord’s way we will not encounter the world’s adversity; (sickness, tribulation, violence, etc.) however, what about pruning? I find that a problem of severe magnitude may come from this instruction. It may become possible for the child of God to blaspheme the spirit of God for pruning while attempting to blame the situation upon Satan just because it was not comfortable. Have you ever wondered why the body of Christ does not seem to grow? Can the vine progress without pruning? Is there not more to the walk in the spirit than the tingling of blessings and comfortableness? Are we not also admonished to suffer with Him? Look to the record of the Apostles as an example. Did anyone of them rebuke their adverse position? Or, did they count it as blessing as they realized the hand of God in pruning. Let us be wise in this matter. Let us be pruned of false doctrine and go forward.

Allegorically, let us look to our lives as that of a garden. When we were born that plot of ground was nurtured and cultivated by our mother and father. As we grew the world began to plant it’s seeds in our soil. In school, at play, watching television the world’s seeds were planted and nourished. Jesus is asking us to give him complete control of our garden as the chief vine-keeper. To uproot the weeds of the world and let the Holy Spirit rotor-till the soil for the transplanting of our vine as a graft on the vine from His garden.

These words alone have the power to make us clean. Have we been looking for true power? Here is power expressed in word, now let us remain in Jesus and He in us. Apart from the Lord we can do nothing. Be careful, for deeds of intimate kindness may be performed but if they are apart from the vine – they are nothing (1 Cor. 13:1-3). Remain with the vine and bear fruit of righteousness to the glory of God. Amen.

Jesus warns us that if we refuse to remain with the vine or are bare of fruit, we will be cut off, casting us into the fire to be burned. This is the word of God and it bears the mark of His power and judgement.

Remaining with the vine and having the vine, Jesus, in us allows us to be able to ask and receive. Jesus, praise you! Here is the power we need. It becomes available to us to use to the glory of God. (To be grafted upon a vine means to become as the vine to which you are attached. This implies that whatever fruit is born, is of the vine’s likeness and not of the grafted branch. The vine gives the branch life which flows into the very center of the branch and feeds it’s very being.) Do we want to be like Jesus? Then we must have Him in us to do so.

John 15:
8. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and you
will be my disciples.
9. As the Father loved me, I also loved you; remain in my love.
10. If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love, as I have kept the commandments of my Father and remain in His love.
11. These things I have spoken to you that you might be in my joy and that your joy may be filled.
12. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
13. Greater love than this no man has, that anyone should lay down his life for his friends.

If we remain in Jesus and let Him remain in us, He will do whatever we ask in His name. This is how the Father is glorified, that whatever Jesus does for us through His presence in us is glory to the Father. Our glorious deeds then become the fruit of God, His glory in us and around us and through Jesus our Lord. Then and only then can one be a disciple of Christ if fruit is born through His name (by His will) to the glory of God. It is not our willful right to question these things taught that good deeds are only performed in the name of Jesus. This is what God has said and in this alone can we find what is true, just, and the way to Him. Faith becomes obedience, performed according to the will of God in our hearts. Fruit can only be glory if done in the name of Jesus; thus says the Lord God.

Let me expand the explanation. The very fact of using the name of Jesus is not a brand upon a deed. We cannot exercise our own wills and place His brand upon them to make them His will. Have you ever wondered why some times things seem to work with exceeding accuracy and blessing and other times seem to turn and come upon us? Look as to who’s will is branded upon the action. The just desire of the heart is good but not necessarily the condoned will of God. We must always first seek the Lord for understanding as to His desire lest we fall short of walking under the blessing of the King. Let me also state that this is not to subtract from the petition of prayer as a tool of the believer in making a request before the throne for the blessing of God and His confirmation of our desires. Allowing that what we request is in accordance to the plan of God in our walk. Please note the three prayers of Jesus in the garden before His crucifixion as an example of whatever you ask shall be given to you and the tool of petition according to the will of the Father. This relationship with the king is different. This king seeks to be directly involved with each of His followers. There is no hierarchy to being involved with Jesus. The contact is intimate and personal. There is no intermediary in a relationship with the king of the kingdom of heaven.

God showed His love to Jesus, and Jesus is showing His love toward us. Remain in the love of Jesus. Remain in this love and in the lover. To remain allows the burden of obedience to become a blessing from within the heart that has been filled with the love of God. To obey is now not to take a deep breath of self-righteousness and puff up the glory of I, but to release the river of power that is bursting from the heart laden over with the love of Jesus that has been given through belief. Accept this in faith and allow God to move freely and He will show you His power that never ends. Jesus obeyed God and remained in His love. Let this glory happen to us. Remain in Jesus through the blessing of obedience; and then, the things that He has said will bring joy to you and your joy will be filled.

In pagan philosophy to receive a moments joy is a real accomplishment. But in Jesus this moment is eternal and the joy is real, not just a fleeting moment or sparkle. Praise the Lord! He is here to remain in us to bring us joy that we may become vessels of fruit bearers to be given to God for His glory.

John 15:
14. You are my friends, if you do what I command you.
15. No longer can I call you slaves, because the slave does not know what his Lord does, but you I have called friends, because all of the things I have heard from the Father I have made known to you.
16. You have not chosen me, I have chosen you, and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should endure, that whatsoever you may ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you.
17. These things I command you that you love one another.

Jesus commands us to love one another. This can only be done if we have the giver of that love within us to aid our very breath in each and every moment. Without him we are nothing, just as the evil one has become, exposed and void as a consequence of sin – exposed by the light. Jesus has shown us this love by the testimony of His dying for us. But, before He died He announced to us His friendship! His presence within us is not that of slavery ( a lord over the servant) but that of glorified obedience out of the pure joy of who our master is. This bond of friendship is tied together in the fact that these things come from God. They are not of man. Let us not forget one vital thing about this love; it is not a request but a commandment; repeated twice as the Lord spoke.

Praise the Lord God! These wonderful things are not our own choice; as we fight one another, lying, cheating, slitting our throats for a great eternal package. Jesus has chosen us and we have not chosen him. But, you say I chose him as my saviour. This is true but He said we did not choose him – He chose us. What did He mean? When He chose us, it was not a decision of His own making. But rather God made the actual choice and Jesus then became the announcement of His eternal plan for each one of us. So when the Lord said He chose us, He meant that He was disclosing God’s choice. Jesus chose us that we may go instantly and bear the fruit of God, a fruit that remains. A fruit that becomes our invitation to ask of God the wishes of the heart to be given to Him as His glory. The conclusive evidence of this is, that only when we love one another can the power of God become available; making us into the fruit bearers of glory. If we love one another the fruit we bear and give to God is the power that God returns to us, to renew our hearts from within; becoming His glory. For Jesus is that power, the power of God working within the heart of the believer to the glory of God. Amen.

Does the world hate you? If the world does not hate us then we know that we are not of the believers. We cannot know Jesus. We cannot feel His love, we don’t have the fruit to be hated for. If Jesus Christ be within us, the world hates us. We know that the world hated him. If we are of the world, the proof is before us; and, we know that the world loves it’s own. Praise the Lord, we are of the world, but chosen out of it by the precious love of Jesus. Because Jesus has chosen us, the world now hates us. We are no longer of the world’s loved number, but redeemed and chosen of God. Jesus asked us to remember these words – how can we but not choose to remember the words of our redemption.

John 15:
18. If the world hates you , you know that before it hated you, it hated me.
19. If you were of the world, the world would have loved it’s own; but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world;therefore, the world hates you.
20. Remember the words that I have said to you: A slave is not greater than his lord. If they persecuted me, you will they also persecute; if they have kept my word, also your words they will keep.
21. But all things they will do to you is because of my name, because they do not know the one who has sent me.

A slave is no greater than his lord. These are the words of knowledge given to us at the moment of our belief. Here lies the key to the understandings of the workings of God within our hearts. Jesus is our living example implanted within our hearts. Whatever the king did we now are doing. We do this not from the manual of a written record; but, from a river of living love pouring out of us, giving us the knowledge and joy necessary to make our workings glorious and holy fruit. Jesus is. This king did the will of God to our future hope of glory founded in God. Jesus was persecuted (the fact is not one of question even in the mind of the unbeliever). If we know Jesus, then we know why He was and is persecuted. Because He was persecuted, we shall be also. If we are not the object of the world’s persecution then we are not of Christ. Happy are those who have known the world’s wrath because of the name of Jesus! If the world had kept the word of Jesus they would now keep the words we give them in His name. But everything they do to us is the result of the name of Jesus our Lord upon our actions. If what we do is not in the name of Jesus our Lord, and we suffer persecution, it is not the persecution unto righteousness but only the suffering for the name of self. These are not my words, the Lord God said these things. The world persecutes us because we are not of their loved number and they do not know God.

John 15:
22. Unless I came and spoke to them, they did not have sin; but, now they do not have a pretence for their sins.
23. The one who hates me also hates my Father.
24. If I had not done works among them that no other man has done, they had not had sin; but, now they both have seen and hated both me and my Father.
25. But this happened that the word that is written in their law may be fulfilled, they hated me without just cause.

Before the word of God was made manifested in Jesus Christ, the world was without sin? No, the world did not comprehend what sin really was (‘have sin known’). Now that Jesus has spoken, sin has become it’s own and in essence has been eternally uncovered. The world is exposed of it’s content and now we can comprehend the reason behind it’s hatred. If one hates Jesus, He also hates God, for Jesus is God spoken. Jesus’ testimony was by the facts of His deeds issued according to the will of the Father. The mighty workings of God through Jesus Christ have ripped open the eyes of the world to sin. Because of sight, the world hates; because of sight, we repent. This is the plan of God made manifest in our hearts daily; and, is why the world now hates us.

All of this understanding was foretold in the writing of the Jewish prophets; and, now to the Jews, to whom Jesus was speaking, it was lain opened and completed. To us these things are only testimony of fact and not matters of faith. They are there to give the heart hope and fresh understanding that God is moving; and, what He says will happen.

John 15:
26. But when the comforter arrives, whom I send to you from the Father; the spirit of truth which proceeds from the Father, he will witness concerning me;
27. and also you will witness; because, you are with me from the beginning.

The king, Jesus now says a truly amazing thing to us. He tells us that when the comforter comes to us, that the comforter will witness concerning Him. (An interesting note: Jesus also indicates that the comforter comes from the same truth that the Father proceeds from; see verse 26.) The witness is not only of the comforter concerning the saviour; but, we too shall witness because we have been chosen from the beginning. In simple terms, God will witness in us by His spirit concerning His will! Think on these things. The Holy Spirit will assist us in focusing upon the reality of Jesus in us. He will aid us in understanding the will of God in our daily lives. He will enable us to perform the will of God, as if Christ himself were standing next to us. Only if we but understand what we are seeing. Remember He said, “My sheep know my voice”. (John 10:27)

John 16:
1. These things I have said to you that you should not be offended [stumble and fall].
2. They will put you out of the synagogues, and the hour is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering God a service.
3. And, they will do these things; because, they have neither known the Father nor me.

This is my simple prayer: Father come to us that we may know you and glorify you in the name of Jesus. Amen. Give to the Father the glory of His presence.

Everything that Jesus tells us is not to bring us to offense, but unto repentance and knowledge. An interesting thing to understand. The word repentance is often taught as meaning we are to stop doing something bad. The actual meaning is to change the way we think. We take this unique property given to humans, the gift of choice and make a decision based upon a new understanding that changes how we think about the matter under consideration. The true wonder of it all is that instead of trying to improve ourselves by our own power we now have within us the abiding comforter of the Holy Spirit to give us an partner in the changes of how we think. This is explained in Eph. 4:20-24.

He gave His disciples warning of their coming persecution. Do we have the faith to believe that He will do the same for us today? He has made the promise to be with us. Is He? I pray it is so.

A hidden warning is given. It is indirect but very important. Some would deliver up disciples for persecution believing they were doing the desires of God. Not to dwell long, but please reflect on this thought; we must notice the importance of knowing the will of God lest we do something much the same.

The warnings Jesus gives us today from within our hearts are to bring a work of faith into belief. In our hour of trial we will remember His words and they will bring us comfort. For if He knows what is before us He will not abandon us!

John 16:
4. But I have told you of these things; that, when the hour comes you will remember that I have spoken to you of them. From the beginning I did not tell you of these things; because, I was with you.
5. But now I am going to the one who has sent me, and not one of you asks me; Where are you going?
6. But because I have spoken of these things to you, grief has filled your hearts,

Jesus held certain things from His disciples because they would not be able to bear them. They needed the presence of the holy spirit within their hearts to bear the message. Jesus was nearing the time of His departure to the Father, and when He had left the spirit could be sent to them. Yet their hearts were saddened by the knowledge of His departure. The problem for us to evaluate is that our uncomfortable feelings may become necessary to allow God to perform expedient action; to bring us something we drastically need. We must remain aware that feelings are not a tool to evaluate the action of God in our behalf. Plainly, just because it does not seem to feel good or is not going your way does not mean God has forgotten you. God still is moving forward to your greatest advantage. The disciples felt a few days of confusion and grief. Then the disciples received the holy spirit.

John 16:
7. but I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I should go away. For if I did not go away, the comforter, by no means, could come to you; but, if I go away, I will send him to you.
8. And in his coming he will reprove the world concerning sin and concerning righteousness and concerning judgement;
9. concerning sin; because they do not believe in me;
10. concerning righteousness; because to the Father I am going, and you will look upon me no longer:
11. concerning judgement; because the ruler of this world has been judged.
12. Yet there are many things I have to tell you, you cannot bear them now;
13. but when the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth; for, he cannot speak from himself, but what things he hears, he will speak; and, the coming things, he will announce to you.
14. He will glorify me; because, he will receive the things that are mine, and will announce them to you.
15. All things which the Father has are mine; therefore, I said that of the things which are mine he receives and will announce them to you.

Jesus had to leave, for God alone could send the comforter to us. The presence of the comforter would mean reproof to the world.

1. Sin — exposed because of the denial of Jesus
2. Righteousness — Jesus is now in glory with the Father
3. Judgement — the evil one has been judged

The holy spirit was given power to do these things, because He did not do one thing of himself. Rather what the holy spirit heard He spoke of, what He saw He tells of. All things coming from the Father through the glory given to His son. All things will be announced to you! Please reflect upon this selfless role of the spirit in action and look at His way of reflecting the spirit of God in action — Jesus Christ the king.

Can we not now see the role of the spirit. We were created in the image of God. That image has become spoiled by sin. The spirit is a mirror given to us by God for which we may look into and receive the clear picture of God – King Jesus His son. The spirit aids in the holy restoration of our lost inheritance destroyed by sin. The blood of the lamb washes clean the mirror of our souls and we then can see and become heirs. Thus, when God looks at us, He sees a reflection of His son. A reflection prepared by the spirit; and, washed clean in the blood of sacrifice by the king.

The disciples had no understanding, they had no vision of the ordeal in front of Jesus as He faced the cross and His death. However, He assured them that He was to return. They had envisioned a worldly kingdom with Jesus as their Lord and they as His immediate aids. The truth would but bring them grief and disappointment. Do we often face such trials because we also are not in tune with the spirit and with the understanding available to us? Let our grief be turned into joy. A joy that is present only with the indwelling of the spirit of the Lord. A joy never to be taken away by the world.

In the day of our joy, love will reign; and, our joy will also bring the death of doubt and the fear of asking in our hearts. Jesus has promised this to us; and, we but must only accept it to receive. Ask; ask the Lord God for what your hearts need and He will answer you. My telling you is nothing, but only if you do what you must do, for your own soul, is this truth of any meaning. This is the gospel for us, to grow according to His will.

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Kenneth D. Davis

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