Grace Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Wednesday,
July 3, 2019
- “True Vine” = The Doctrine of the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ with emphasis on the deity that our Lord possesses.
- “True Vine” = The Hypostatic Union and the fact that our Lord is the God-man, undiminished deity and true humanity in Him forever.
“True Vine” = a reference to the fact that our Lord is the “Great I Am” which is what He said in JOH 15:1 “I am the true vine.” Or He keeps on being the Great I Am.
- The third principle of doctrine where our Lord says at the end of verse 1, “My Father is the vinedresser” refers to the Doctrine of logistical grace.
- “In Christ,” as New creatures or as New Spiritual Species = “Every branch in Me” which is a reference to Baptism of the Spirit not WATER!
- JOH 15:2b, our Lord goes on to say; “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away, which refers to the Doctrine of Divine Discipline.
- The third principle found in Joh 15:2c, where it says; “and every branch that bears fruit” referring to the fruit of the Spirit manifested by the believer who abides in Christ.
- JOH 15:2d, “and every {branch} that bears fruit. He prunes it [suffering for blessing], that it may bear more fruit [the doctrine of divine good].
This is also when the “wall of fire” is placed around us by the invisible allies that we all have in the angelic realm along with our very own guardian angel.
HEB 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?”
Divine good: GEN 50:20 “And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.
Exo 14:13 “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.
Moses and all the Jews realized that they would never see the Egyptians forever which meant separation at death carried over to eternity.
EXO 14:14 “The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.”
Added to that, the Elect Angels and the Old Testament believers revealed that no weapon that is formed against us will prosper; ISA 54:17.
ISA 54:17 “No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn.
Then the next part of the verse is to the heritage of the servants of the Lord, “And their vindication is from Me,” declares the Lord.”
In the New Testament, we are told in 2CO 13:8 For we can do nothing against the truth, but {only} for the truth.
No matter how much we try or someone else tries, we are told that “We can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth.”
As our Lord warned His disciples in MAR 9:40 “For he who is not against us is for us.
Mat 12:30 “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
Our Lord warned His disciples in MAR 9:40 “He who is not against us is for us.
Mar 9:40 “He who is not against us is for us.
Mat 12:30 “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
MAR 9:40 “For he who is not against us is for us.
Mat 12:30 “He who is not with Me is against Me;”
Mat 12:30 He who does not gather with Me scatters.
All three of these principles can apply, first, to believers who are not against us but for us.
Phi 2:1 Since therefore there is encouragement in Christ, since there is comfort from virtue-love, since there is fellowship of the Spirit, since there is tendernesses and compassions,
PHI 2:2 Bring to completion my inner happiness [in your life] by thinking the same things, maintaining the same virtue-love, united in soul, concentrating on the same objective.
PHI 2:3 Do nothing motivated by contentiousness or ambitious pride, but with humility of mind [by means of grace orientation] let each of you keep on considering one another as more important than himself;
PHI 2:4 do not merely be regarding your own personal interests, but also for the personal interests of others.
PHI 2:5 “Keep on thinking this [doctrine] within yourselves which was also resident in Christ Jesus,”
If we are not against our Lord we are for Him and His people; Mar 9:40 “For he who is not against us is for us.
MAT 12:30, He tells us with His disciples that if we are not with Him, we are against Him.
We cannot just standby and do nothing especially when our Lord has bought us and set us free.
Do you believe 1CO 3:16-17, which says “Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and {that} the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
1CO 3:17 If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.
Then finally in Mat 12:30, if we do not gather with Him then we will automatically scatter.
Our Lord says the same thing but in a different way and if we are not with Him that means that we are against Him.
You cannot just sit back and do nothing because if you keep on doing nothing then you will eventually live in the sins of Omission.
Sins of omission are failure to do something one can and ought to do.
The sins of omission are sins that result from not doing something God’s Word teaches that we should do.
Prin: We cannot just standby and do nothing.
Prin: To do nothing is to be against Him.
Joh 15:3 speaks of salvation through the accurate interpretation of this passage.
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither {can} you, unless you abide in Me [and that will bring us to the doctrine of Positional Truth].
JOH 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches [Union with Christ]; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.
JOH 15:6 “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up [Discipline]; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. [Wood, hay, and straw; 1Co 3:11-15].
JOH 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you [the Doctrine of Prayer].
It’s impersonal because it does not love because of the person being loved but it’s impersonal because it depends upon the one doing the loving, and therefore, the believer.
It’s unconditional love because it does not require that the one being loved meets all the conditions of the one doing the loving.
JOH 15:10 “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love. = [The fulfillment of the PPOG and the PDS].
JOH 15:11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and {that} your joy may be made full = [The doctrine of Happiness or Contentment].
This passage is the end of the upper room discourse and the beginning of our Lord’s (lonely) walk to the Garden of Gethsemane.
We now go from the Gethsemane, or from the upper room into the Garden of Gethsemane.
Just outside of the Garden He spoke, Joh 15 and 16, both of which chapters we will note in some detail.
In verses 1‑8 we have the production of phase 2, living the spiritual life in time.
Then in Joh 15, verses 9‑17, we have a dissertation on true biblical meaning of love.
Finally, in verses 18‑27, we have the hostility of the cosmos or the world system.
We have the production of phase 2, we have the dissertation on the doctrine of impersonal love, and we have the hostility of the cosmos or the cosmic system towards believers.
Our Lord teaches us to perform divine good through the “Vine and Branch” metaphor of John 15.
The “vinedresser” metaphor portrays God the Father as the author of the predesigned plan of God.
The “vine” metaphor portrays the humanity of Jesus Christ during the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union.
The Vine is also the basis for the production of divine good or “fruit bearing.”
The vine metaphor emphasizes the fact that all precedence and all production of divine good in the Church-age comes from the Vine, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Fruit from the branch is a metaphor for the Church-age believer.
However, no fruit (or production) can be any better than the vine that produces it.
Because of positional sanctification (our union with Christ) and the grace provision of the filling of the Spirit, it is possible for the believer to produce divine good.
The phrase “in Me” is a reference to the believer in union with Christ — If you do not know or understand the doctrine of positional truth and the doctrine of union with Christ, you have been wasting a lot of time!!
We are the branches in union with the Vine, Jesus Christ.
- Dead branches representing dead works, or production skills without spiritual skills.
- Live branches representing divine good, with spiritual skills as the basis for production skills.
The branch in Christ that does not bear fruit represents the believer who does not produce divine good.
God the Father removes all dead wood and dead branches, branches that produce dead works.
He removes the dead works through punitive suffering in two categories:
a. The law of volitional responsibility;
b. Divine discipline.
“Every healthy tree produces good fruit. And every diseased tree produces worthless [degenerate, or evil] fruit.
Pruning is necessary for properly redistributing the “energy” for production.
The branch that bears fruit must be pruned occasionally so that the spiritual skills will increase and maximize.
Principle: Just as God provides divine discipline and punitive action for the one who bears no fruit, He also provides suffering for blessing for the fruit bearer.