Grace Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Wednesday,
November 6, 2019
Joh 15 – expecting the Lord to reveal some of the principles that are often ignored or rejected because of believers who have no desire to know the Real Truth,
It is Truth that is so vital for all of us to cherish and to honor and to obey as our Lord said throughout the Word of God.
There are some real biblical analogies between what our Lord said to Joshua and the Jewish people and what He said to His disciples and the future church-age believers.
The nation of Israel is a picture of the soul and human spirit of believers in the Church-age.
There are lots of typology that goes into certain passages and subjects and give us a much clearer vision of what the Lord is saying to all of us as believers of the Church-age.
Some of the spiritual principles that existed in the past when our Lord challenged Joshua and the Jewish people to go forward to the promise land just as our Lord challengers and promises us to do the same.
Look at the truth behind all these passages in the “Word of God” concerning the calling of God and His guidance and direction to Joshua and the Jews; JOS 1:5-9.
One of the first promises that our Lord made to His people; “No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life.”
All those who attack us will not be able to stand before us if we respond back to their pettiness and do not react against them at all.
JOS 1:5 – our Lord reminds Joshua and the Jews that the divine protection that Moses had from Jehovah is the same divine protection that our Lord has for all of us; Act 10:34.
This divine protection that they have was not “because of them” but “in spite” of them; Rom 11:5-6.
Believers like the Corinthians, fail to take advantage of their relationship with our Lord.
One of my favorite verses in the book of Joshua (Yehowshuwa`) which means “Jehovah is our help”, or “Jehovah is the Savior, the deliverer.
Tamiym — We must serve the Lord with honesty and integrity with no strings attached and without any hypocrisy, and not for personal gain as the apostle Peter wrote; 1PE 5:2.
1PE 5:2 shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to {the will of} God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness;
The command to honor and respect the Lord; JOS 24:14; Psa 56:4-10.- The importance of submitting to the Divine Authority that our Lord promised us and also to serve our Lord in sincerity and truth or proper motivation.
Believers in the Church-age, this refers to our Lord delivering us from the cosmic system and its citizens.
JOS 24:15 – our Lord brings up the importance of our free will decisions and our ability to choose the choices that the Lord has set before us.
One of the reasons why it is so important for the Apostles to learn about Truth is that Truth was the main issue when our Lord was sent to Pilate.
Pilate was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, and he was known for being an honest and upright politician, even though it is an oxymoron.
Stay in the Gospel of John as much as possible and listen to our Mentor, God the Holy Spirit, and what He has to say as He leads us and guide us on the road to spiritual victories.
JOH 18:38 Pilate said to our Lord Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no guilt in Him.
- What was the main difference between our Lord’s ministry and Moses’ ministry?
- The difference is found and answered in JOH 1:17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
One of the most vital passages on the subject of Truth is found in JOH 4:24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
JOH 8:32 and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. “
Written Word = Bible
Living Word = The Spiritual Life
”Will they follow the Word of God or will they be deceived by the god of this world, known as Satan or the Devil, who has been a liar from the beginning; JOH 8:44.
- “You are of your father the devil”
2. “You want to do the desires of your father” - He was a murderer from the beginning;
4. He does not stand in truth;
5. He has no truth in him; - He speaks lies from his own demonic nature;
7. He is a liar;
8. He is the father of lies.
Whether or not you believe that the passage in Joh 15 is a true story or a parable, it doesn’t really matter, what really matters is the message.
Vinedresser = God the Father
Vine = The Lord Jesus Christ.
Branches = believers of the Church-age.
“in me” = Indwelling of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The first one deals with the doctrine of Divine Discipline when our Lord said “Every branch [believer] in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away;
This “taken away” is done by our Lord because He loves us and because He does, Divine Discipline is one of the only ways that God can get our attention at certain times.
He starts us out with what is called “Warning Discipline” every now and then to get our attention before we dig a hole to deep even for us to get out of.
- Warning Discipline
b. Intensive Discipline
c. Dying Discipline.
He disciplines the carnal believer just as much as He disciplines the mature believer.
He loves the carnal believer just as much as He loves the mature believer.
One of the main principles that our Lord is emphasizing to His Apostles the importance of relationships and intimacy.
Relationships with intimacy = know that Christ indwells us and because He does we should treat one another as we would want others to treat us; MAT 25:40; Luk 6:31.
If we are ever going to have any godly relationships in this life or godly friendships, then we must truly believe and apply passages like; 2Co 5:16.
2Co 5:16 Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.
JOH 15:2 “Every branch [referring to every believer] in Me [The Lord Jesus Christ] that does not bear fruit, He [God the Father] takes away; and every branch [believer] that bears fruit, He [God the Father] prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.
Throughout this passage the apostle John uses the vine, the vinedresser and the branches as a metaphor to represent the relationship of the believer with the Lord Jesus Christ.
We have the vine and the branches used as a metaphor to represent the unity between the Lord Jesus Christ and the Church-age believer.
Vine = the Lord Jesus Christ.
Branch = believers of the Church-age.
Vinedresser = God the Father.
Vinedresser metaphor – refers to God the Father as the author of the Predesigned Plan of God = with emphasis on the plan that God the Father created for every Church-age believer.
Vine Metaphor = refers to the humanity of Jesus Christ during the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union with focus in on the servant-hood of our Lord.
As a branch, the branch metaphor refers to the believer who is the basis for the production of divine good or fruit-bearing.
Greek martures — someone who is willing to give their life to something or for someone.
Vine metaphor also emphasizes the fact that all precedence and all production of divine good in the Church-age comes from the vine – our Lord Jesus Christ.
“in me” is a reference to the believer in Union with the Lord Jesus Christ; Col 1:27; Joh 14:20.
“Dead branches” representing dead works on the part of the believer or the production skills minus spiritual skills.
“Production skills minus spiritual skills” — we know what we should be doing as far as our production skills are concerned, but the average believer lacks the spiritual skills needed to fulfill the production skills.
These Doctrines Are:
1. The Two Power Options.
2. The Three Spiritual Skills.
3. The Four Spiritual Mechanics.
The first one mentioned are the Two Power Options.
The “Two Power Options” are being filled with the Spirit and the power of the word of God; Eph 5:18; Heb 4:12.
The filling of the Holy Spirit is the first power option and the first spiritual skill in the spiritual life; Eph 5:18.
Without the filling of the Spirit we do not have the power to live the Christian way of life.
Don’t forget that the filling of the Spirit converts human I.Q. into spiritual I.Q., so that we have equality to learn spiritual phenomena as taught in 1Co 2.
The third spiritual skill is the problem-solving devices deployed on the FLOT line of the soul also known as the Forward line of troops which is a military acronym.
Four Spiritual Mechanics – the filling of the Holy Spirit (PSD#1 & 2), metabolized Bible doctrine (MD) circulating in the soul (10 PSD), the execution of the PPOG.
“dead branches” — dead works on the part of the believer or the production skills minus spiritual skills which means that we produce human good with human power.
The branches that are called “live branches” represent the ability of the believer who knows that divine good only results from living by using the spiritual skills.
Question: What are the spiritual skills?
The spiritual skills refer to what the branch “in me” that does not bear fruit refers to the believer who does not produce divine good.
Two categories of branches referred to as “dead” branches” or “alive branches” or better yet, loser believers and winner believers.
1JO 2:28 “To shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.”
It is this phrase “do not shrink away from Him in shame or embarrassment” – aischunomai which means to be embarrassed; to feel shame; to be ashamed.
It means guilty because of one’s actions, characteristics, or associations — saying things like “you should be ashamed of yourself.”