The Parable, vv. 1-11, Our Relationship to Christ
A. The Heavenly Father is the Owner
B. Christ is the Vine
C. Believers are the Branches
- To be fruitful, Christians must abide in Christ.
- Abide in Christ by living in His Word and pray, v. 7.
- Abide in Christ means obey His commands, v. 10.
- Abide in Christ means to keep ourselves clean through His Word, v. 3-4.
D. Fruitful branches are pruned to produce more fruit: from producing fruit to “more fruit” (v. 2) to “much fruit” (v. 8) glorifies the Father. The fruitless branches are cast aside and burned.
E. Evidence of abiding in Christ is
- a sense of the Savior’s love, v. 9
- obedience to His Word, v. 10
- answered prayer, v. 7
- joy, v. 11
The Precept, vv. 12-17, Our Relationship to Each Other
A. Love one another, vv. 12, 17
B. Disciples are the Lord’s friends, v. 14
C. Friends know each other and share their plans.
The Prediction, vv. 19-27, Our Relationship to the World
A. The World (kosmos) will hate you because they hate the Lord, v. 18. Why?
- Because they hated Christ and we belong to Him, 1 John 3:13.
- We no longer belong to the world, 1 John 4:5 and John 17:4.
- The world rejected His Word, John 15:20.
- The world does not know the Father, John 16:1-3.
- Because Christ exposes the world’s sin.
B. The World is a system, whose prince is Satan, John 14:30.
C. Christians are in the world physically, but not of the world spiritually. The old illustration of the ship and the water still applies: there is nothing wrong with the ship being in the water; but when the water gets into the ship, watch out!
D. Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to guide them.