WESTSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH
PASTOR: TERRY VAUGHAN
SERMON TITLE: CHRISTIANS THAT PRODUCE CHRIST -LIKE FRUIT
“For God so Loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth in Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:16-18
TEXT VERSE: JOHN 15:1-11 “I AM THE TRUE VINE, AND MY FATHER IS THE HUSBANDMAN. EVERY BRANCH IN ME THAT BEARETH NOT FRUIT HE TAKETH AWAY: AND EVERY BRANCH THAT BEARETH FRUIT, HE PURGETH IT, THAT IT MAY BRING FORTH MORE FRUIT. NOW YE ARE CLEAN THROUGH THE WORD WHICH I HAVE SPOKEN UNTO YOU. ABIDE IN ME AND I IN YOU. AS THE BRANCH CANOT BEAR FRUIT OF ITSELF, EXCEPT IT ABIDE IN THE VINE; NO MORE CAN YE, EXCEPT YE ABIDE IN ME: I AM THE VINE, YE ARE THE BRANCHES. HE THAT ABIDETH IN ME, AND I IN HIM, THE SAME BRINGETH FORTH MUCH FRUIT: FOR WITHOUT ME YE CAN DO NOTHING. IF A MAN ABIDE NOT IN ME, HE IS CAST FORTH AS A BRANCH, AND IS WITHERED; AND MEN GATHER THEM, AND CAST THEM INTO THE FIRE, AND THEY ARE BURNED. IF YE ABIDE IN ME, AND MY WORDS ABIDE IN YOU, YE SHALL ASK WHAT YE WILL, AND IT SHALL BE DONE UNTO YOU. HEREIN IS MY FATHER GLORIFIED, THAT YE BEAR MUCH FRUIT, SO SHALL YE BE MY DISCIPLES. AS THE FATHER HATH LOVED ME, SO HAVE I LOVED YOU: CONTINUE YE IN MY LOVE. IF YE KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS, YE SHALL ABIDE IN MY LOVE; EVEN AS I HAVE KEPT MY FATHERS COMMANDMENTS, AND ABIDE IN HIS LOVE. THESE THINGS HAVE I SPOKEN UNTO YOU. THAT MY JOY MIGHT REMAIN IN YOU, AND THAT YOUR JOY MIGHT BE FULL.”
There’s several things I thought about in this chapter. I studied it out and the Lord laid it on my heart and I want to share two verses with you. First Corinthians 15:9-10 For I am the least of the Apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the Grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” We cannot be anything else but what the Lord wants us to be. Jesus said in his word: which of you by taking thought can add one cubit to your stature. We can’t add to what God’s trying to do for us. We can’t be somebody that God doesn’t want us to be. We cannot go where God does not want us to go. We cannot say the things that God does not want us to say. Paul said by the grace of God I am what I am. I wonder are you satisfied with who you are in the Lord tonight? I wonder are you satisfied with what God’s made you and what’s God’s given you. I wonder are you satisfied in the Lord Jesus Christ saying I am what I am by the Grace of God. There’s a lot of Christians who aren’t satisfied with who they are. If you’re a child of God you ought to be satisfied with the Lord Jesus Christ. There’s some things in these verses we want to share with you tonight. In verse 2 it says that every tree that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. Now sometimes God has to do some pruning. Pruning means to cut down. If we’re not bearing fruit as a Christian, God will cut us down. We cannot just live any type of life we want to live. I don’t choose what kind of life I want to live. I try to live my life the way Jesus wants me to live. But listen to this: Every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it. He’ll clean us up and cause us to bring forth more fruit. I thought about those two words. Bear fruit and bringeth forth fruit.
Number one: We have to bear fruit. To bear fruit means to support what the Lord’s doing in you. Bearing fruit is being the Christian that God has made you. There’s a lot of Christians that’s not doing that. I know a lot of them that’s out of church. They’re claiming to be saved and they’ve quit going to church. When they quit fellowshipping with their brothers and sisters in Christ and quit going to the house of prayer, there’s something wrong with them. If you love the Lord; you ought to love His house and you ought to love his people and you ought to love what he’s doing.
But bringing forth fruit means you’re sharing with someone else what Christ is doing through you. See Christ does things for us and he does things through us. If you don’t know what God’s doing in you, how are you going to share what God is doing through you? You’ll be able to bear some fruit and you’ll be able to bring forth some fruit. I refer back to that scripture that says if man can’t take care of his own house, how can he take care of the house of God? If we’re not the true Christian we need to be, how can we be a blessing to somebody else. If we can’t feel the blessings of God, how can we expect someone else to feel them? Then when we’re bearing fruit and bringing forth fruit and God is purging us, we can expect more fruit. I know when I started out as a young preacher I preached a couple of messages and I thought I was God’s gift to the preaching world. I thought it was the best message I had ever preached and when it came time for the altar call, nobody came. I thought, God what’s wrong with me. But it’s not what I do, but what God does. I learned I had to keep my life in line with Christ. When you do that he’ll purge you and you’ll bring forth more fruit.
Look at verse 4. Jesus said abide in me and I in you. Notice it’s a two way street. There’s a lot of people that want Christ to abide in them but they don’t want to abide in Christ. They want Christ to do everything for them but they don’t want to do anything for Christ. They want Christ to give them everything but they don’t want to give him anything. If you’re going to bring forth some fruit, it’s got to be a two way street.
If you want to live a good Christian fruitful life there’s two things that has to happen. Two ways you have to live your life.
Number one: You’ve got to live a crucified life. Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” What I want you to notice in that verse is that Christ liveth in me. That’s living a crucified life. That means you’re dead to sin. You’re dead to the world. You’re dead to Jesus Christ but alive unto God. Christ has to be abiding in us. You have to live a changed life. You’ll see a lot of Christians who will stand up and say they’re saved but you won’t see them bearing any fruit. It’s not a one way street. So we have to live a changed life. Look at Second Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature. Old things have passed away, behold all things have become new.”
Now I want to recap so you don’t miss this. Galatians 2:20 “I’m crucified with Christ nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me.” Christ has to live in you. Then we have to live in him. 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature.” Christ has to be in us and we have to be in him. It’s a two way street. Christ is working in us and we’re working in him and you get those two things together and you’ll not only bear some fruit, you’ll bring forth some fruit. You’ll live a Godly and Christian life and it’ll be fruitful. So we’ve got to live a crucified life and we’ve got to live a changed life. Romans 6:22 says this “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” We aren’t supposed to live in sin. We’re supposed to live as servants to God. That’s how we live that changed life. Because Christ knows what we need tonight. Ephesians 5:9-10 “For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth; Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.” It doesn’t have to be acceptable to me. It has to be acceptable to God. God is not always pleased with what we do. If we’re going to live a life for Christ we better be sure Christ in it and that God is pleased with it. So three things I want to share with you tonight that will help you to live a more fruitful Christian life.
Look at verse 7. Jesus said if ye abide in me and my words abide in you.
Number one: His words have to abide in us. His words must abide in us. I’m not talking about being able to stand up and quote a verse of scripture. I’m not talking about being able to stand up and read out of the word of God. I’m not talking about opening the Bible and being able to share it with someone in your family. I’m talking about the words of Christ must abide in us. That’s means you’ve studied the word of God, you’ve heard the preached word of God, you’ve applied it to your life and you’re living the word of God. There’s a lot of people that knows this book but they don’t know how to live what’s in it. A lot of people have faltered because of their lack of knowledge in the Lord Jesus Christ. You get more knowledge about this book and you’ll get more knowledge about how to live more like Christ. That’s why I like to study it. It helps me to walk right. We’ve got to have the words of Christ dwelling in us.
First Thessalonians 2:13 “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.” The word of God has to be effected in us. It has to effectively work in us and through us. It cannot be just the words of God that we read. It has to be the words of God implanted in our lives and we’re doing our very best to live by them. So in order for us to be fruitful his words must abide in us. Let me tell you what Job 23 says. Job said I have esteemed his word more than my necessary food. Job was saying that his words were more important to him than the very food he put in his mouth. The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword. Jesus said that heaven and earth will pass away but my words will never pass away. His words ought to be the very desire of our heart. We ought to desire the word of God more than we do anything. Let me tell you how holy the people think the word of God is overseas. They used to do it in the United States. A preacher would get up to read out of the Bible and everyone would stand to their feet. They begin the word of God by Praising Him. You know why? Because God is Holy. His words ought to abide in us. Proverbs 4:4 “...Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments and live.” Now a days a man of God can preach a message and two days later he can be talking to someone on the phone and they’ll say, “What was that you preached on Sunday?” You better start asking God to implant it in you. If you expect me to implant it in you, it will never happen. If God don’t give it to you, you won’t get it from me. We need to realize the word of God is Holy.
Number two: I want you to notice verse 9. “As the Father hath loved me so have I loved you, continue you ye in my love.” If we want to be fruitful, his love must abide in us. You can’t do anything without the blessed word but we must have the love of God abiding in us. That means it don’t matter who you’re around or where they come from, what color they are, what nationality they are, how old or how young or what they’ve done wrong....as Christians we’re supposed to love them. Jesus said to love your enemies. There’s a lot of Christians that can’t even love one another. We don’t have enough of God’s love abiding in us. Let me share these verses. Ephesians 3:17-19 “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length, and depth and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.” You want to get filled up in Christ? Let the Lords love abide in you. It’ll fill you up. Nothing makes me feel any better than the love of Christ. Have you ever knelt down in the altar with someone you didn’t know...that’s love. Now listen to this. First John 4:8 “0He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” If you don’t love somebody, you don’t love God because God is love. Colossians 3:14 “and above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.” Charity is love in a spiritual form. If we don’t have love nothing else matters. Now think about this....Christians that try to have the love of Christ but they don’t know the words of Christ and their not living the life of Christ, how can that be? You’ve got to have his words first, then you can have his love.
Number three: Look at verse 11 “These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full. First his words must abide in us. Second his love must abide in us and third his joy must abide in us. Let me say this. You saw these children get up here and sing. Everyone of them had a smile on their face. They didn’t care how they sounded. They didn’t care if you said Amen or not. They didn’t care if you were watching or listening. They just knew they were doing it for the Lord and they were happy doing it for him. There’s too many Christians walking around with frowns on their faces. God isn’t going to bless them. God’s joy has to abide in you. Theirs joy in being saved. Rejoice because your names are written in heaven. You don’t see too many Baptist folks shouting anymore. A lot of people think you’re crazy if you shout anymore. I’ve been shouting since I was fifteen years old and I’ll keep shouting till the Lord calls me home. I’ll be shouting on my way home. I’m not ashamed of the gospel. You know what makes me happy? I know I’m saved by the Grace of God. I know you can’t take it away from me. I know when I go home, I’m going home to be with him and that makes me happy. There’s nothing to be happy about in this world. Jesus said in the world, ye shall have tribulation. But he said be of good cheer for I have overcome the world. Look at Romans 15:13 “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing , that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” If the Holy ghost can’t make you happy then nothing can make you happy. Isaiah 12:3 “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.” You can get a whole lot more work done when you’re happy in the Lord then when you’re sad in the devil. How can we be fruitful with a big frown on our face? Nehemiah 8:10 “Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” There ain’t nothing to be sad about if you’re a Christian.
His words must abide in us. His love must abide in us and his Joy must abide in us in order for us to be fruitful.
Colossians 1:10 “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.” How many of you believe you are walking worthy of the Lord? That’s about how that verse reads? I’d have to say no. I’m just an old sinner saved by the Grace of God. I’m not worthy of him to keep me out of hell. We may not be worthy but because he saved us we need to walk worthy. We ought to do everything to try and please him. We need to be fruitful Christians.
Let us pray: Father, I pray that you would give me the desire to read and study your word daily and to apply it to my life that I might be a more fruitful Christian. I pray Lord that by having your words abiding in my life and that by living like you would have me to live, your love would abide in me so that others might want what I have and I pray that your joy would abide in me and fill me up that I might go around with a smile on my face and a prayer on my lips. I want to be a good and faithful servant. I want to share the gospel to those that don’t know you. I want others to receive what you have give me. I ask this in Jesus name. Amen
