Dwelling Place

Guest (Male): Today on the Dwelling Place.

Al Pittman: And then when we talk about the great atoning work of Christ, the sufficiency of Christ in atonement—that is, in saving us—that we realize that it is by grace that we're saved, not of works. It's by faith in Jesus Christ, not of works, lest any man should boast and say somehow I saved myself.

Guest (Male): The sufficiency is totally of Jesus Christ. We cannot add anything to the work of salvation or take anything from it.

Thank you for listening to the Dwelling Place, a radio ministry from Pastor Al Pittman of Al Pittman Ministries. The purpose of this radio program is to encourage you, strengthen your walk with the Lord, and grow. To support this program financially or learn more about the ministry, visit us online at alpittmanministries.com. That's alpittmanministries.com. Thank you for partnering with us. Now, here is Pastor Al.

Al Pittman: I’ve entitled this message, "Abide in Me." It is actually part two of a series of messages that we are taking from John chapter 14 all the way to chapter 17. The theme of this message today is "Abide in Me." We’ll be looking at verses one to 11.

Jesus continues his message for the night seasons. We talked about that last week, providing essential truths for his disciples just hours before his crucifixion. Important words that we need to consider today as well. In chapter 15 all the way to chapter 16, verse four, Jesus addresses the believer's relationship on three levels. He talks about our relationship with him, our relationship with one another—the church—and thirdly, our relationship with the world.

Chapter 15 all the way to chapter 16, verse two, he covers those three relationships. Today, we're going to focus on the most important of the three, and that is our relationship with Jesus. We begin here at verse one of John chapter 15. Read along with me.

Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you."

Verse four: "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you." Let’s stop there.

The Lord makes it clear that we are nothing as believers. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are nothing and we can do nothing apart from Jesus. Some of us are yet to be convinced of that. We think that we can actually make it on our own. But in Christ, we can do nothing apart from him, and we are nothing apart from Jesus.

The Lord Jesus refers to himself—our Lord refers to himself—as the true vine, the first part of verse one, as we see there. He says, "I am the true vine." Why would he say "true vine"? Well, God had chosen Israel as his own vineyard. But due to their rebellion against the Lord, they produced degenerate and rotten fruit because they rebelled against God. And yet, despite all of their rebellion, Israel is still a part of God's prophetic plan even today. God is faithful.

In declaring himself the true vine, Jesus is basically declaring that the law—and he's speaking again to his disciples and they are Jews—and he's basically saying to them that the law and your Jewish heritage is not the true vine. Many thought they were saved or they were secure in the fact that they were of Jewish lineage. Many of them thought the Pharisees, for instance, thought they had salvation through keeping the law. Jesus says that is not the true vine. I am the true vine. Neither religion or what your daddy did is enough to save you. But I am the true vine, fulfilling God's divine plan of reconciliation for all of mankind.

Jesus also declared his Father to be the vinedresser. "And my Father is the vinedresser," verse one, the latter part. Vinedresser, what is a vinedresser? Well, basically, it's a farmer. Vinedressers were a major occupation in ancient times. The vinedresser was responsible for plowing and planting and tending and pruning and harvesting the vineyard.

Jesus is saying here that his Father is the caretaker of his vineyard, the vineyard being representative of the church. Our Father is the caretaker over his church. That's why Jesus said, "And the gates of hell will not prevail against it." Why? Because the Father is the caretaker of the church, and there's nothing the devil can do about it.

In verse two, he says that if every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, he—the Father—prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Which tells me that there's a lot of branches in the church, but not all branches bear fruit. Now, is Jesus saying here that the Father takes them away if they don't bear fruit? Is he saying you can lose your salvation? I don't believe that he's saying that at all. In fact, that contradicts Scripture because of John 3:16: God so loved the world that whosoever believes in him shall not perish—shall not perish—but have everlasting life.

Romans 8:1: there is now—not later on, but now; not when you earn it, but now—no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And yet, a greater proof text is Hebrews chapter 6, verses 17 and 18, where the writer of Hebrews says, "Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation," confidence, comfort, "who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us."

We have strong consolation, comfort in the fact and assurance in the fact that God's word is true and that our salvation is secure. Now, a lot of people think they can lose their salvation. I was in a denomination many years ago that taught that—that you could lose your salvation—and I got saved every week. I was down at the altar getting born again again, and again, and again, and again, and again, until I began to study the word of God and see that that's not true. Father, those that have placed in your hand, no one is able to pluck them out.

Some people think they can lose their salvation, and they can lose their salvation if it's salvation based on some evangelical definition of salvation—your interpretation of what salvation is—rather than what the Bible says. The reason I say that is this: true salvation cannot be lost. When you're truly born again, you can't be born again again. You're born again once, and your salvation cannot be lost. Why? Because salvation is not yours to keep. It is God's salvation, and God doesn't lose his stuff.

"I know I placed your salvation around here somewhere, Al. I think I had it. I just saw it a few moments ago." He doesn't lose his salvation. It is his salvation. And that salvation, my friend, is anchored, as we see in Hebrews chapter six, verses 17 and 18. It's anchored by two immutable—that means irresistible or irreversible; I say irresistible and irreversible—facts. And that is number one: God cannot lie. And he will never break his oath, number two. God is not a man that he should lie to us.

How many of us husbands in here have insurance policies? Amen. Some of you are afraid to raise your hands, afraid your wives will find out or something. We have insurance policies. We pay that premium or whatever, and we're trusting by—it's an oath. That insurance policy is an oath that when you die, your wife will get a lump sum amount so she can go cruising. Now you laugh, but I was on a cruise one time and met a whole group of women cruising together on their husbands' insurance money. We know what you're going to do when we leave.

If we trust the oath of an insurance policy, how much more should we trust the oath and the word of God who has promised you salvation, anchored by two immutable truths of his word? We have strong consolation in what God has done for us. And thus, Jesus says to his disciples in verse three, "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you." Salvation is by his word, what he has done for us, not what we can do for him. Salvation is according to his word and not our works.

Guest (Male): Amen. We hope you're enjoying today's message so far. We wanted to take a quick break to thank you for supporting the Dwelling Place. Because of you, this message and many more will reach the whole world. If you'd like to support this ministry, please visit us at alpittmanministries.com or mail a check to PO Box 50584, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80949. That's PO Box 50584, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80949. Again, thank you for supporting the Dwelling Place. Now, let's get back into the message.

Al Pittman: Jesus is not saying that you could lose your salvation when he says they are taken away. So is he talking about we could lose some of our reward as Christians? According to 1 Corinthians chapter three, verse 15, the Bible says that our works as a believer will be tested by fire. We will not appear before the judgment seat of God, but before the Bema seat of Christ, whereby Jesus Christ will judge our works. And our works will be judged by fire to see if they are of precious metal, precious stones, the genuine article, or if they were done out of selfishness and ego.

If our works are done out of precious metals or done out of the right motivation that we want to glorify God, then our works will endure the fire and we will be rewarded. But if our works—and churches were built and ministries started because of our ego and for my own sake and for my own glory—it will burn up. The Bible calls them works of wood, hay, and stubble. So our works will be judged, but we will not be judged ourselves.

Is he talking about losing our works? I don't believe so because of verse six. He says, "If anyone," which tells me that the branches here, the fruitless branches he's speaking of, are individuals. "If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned," which speaks of judgment. Judgment.

So we must conclude that the fruitless branches that Jesus speaks of are actually people because there are people who are in the church, but they're not of the church. And every branch in the church is not bearing fruit. In fact, they are posers, these dead branches. They are posers just like Judas, who will sooner or later be exposed.

I want you to look at 1 John, the same author here—John of the Gospel of John—John in 1 John writes in 1 John chapter two, verse 18. He says, "Little children, it is the last hour." He calls them little children at this particular point in his ministry because of his age, but also because we are the children of God. There are no adults of God. We're children of God. He says, "Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour." Man, if it was the last hour back then, what time is it now?

He says, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest that none of them were of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things." People can come in and partake of the things of the church and look like branches and not be connected to Jesus at all. Never been born again.

The Lord calls us to abide in him for those who belong to him. We are to abide in him. We look here at verse seven, back here at John chapter 15, and Jesus goes on to say, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this," verse eight, "My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples."

Abide. What does the word "abide" mean? It literally means to continue or to remain in him. Fruitfulness is a natural part of abiding in Jesus. Now, springtime is coming. It can't get here quick enough for me. I mean, I was born in Panama City, Florida. I just got Florida blood in me. I like warm weather. So I'm looking forward to the spring. And in the spring, you can take out your stethoscope and you can go and put it up against an apple tree or some other fruit tree, and you can listen in the springtime. You’ll never hear a tree going, "Ugh," struggling. You’ll never hear the branches, "Ugh, gotta get that fruit out, man."

It naturally bears fruit because it's connected to the trunk, that branch of that tree. And in the same way, a Christian should naturally bear fruit to the glory of God. In fact, I would submit to you that to be a Christian and to not bear fruit in your life is to call God a liar. Because if we're connected to the vine, to Jesus, the source of life, then we will naturally bear fruit to the glory of God. It's not something we've got to strain at or work at. If we just abide, we will naturally bear fruit.

One thing Jesus shows us here, what it means to abide in him, is not only to continue and to remain, but also to abide means to obey his word. In verse seven, he says, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you." That's obedience, if my words abide in you. One of the things that he makes very clear is that the Father expects fruit from his vineyard. The Father expects fruit from his vineyard.

In fact, Matthew 25, Jesus has told a story of the parable of the talents. How the wicked servant was the one who was given a talent, and yet he took his talent and he buried it. And the master came looking for a return on his investment, and he had buried it. And he called that servant a wicked servant because he did nothing with what God had invested in him. So God calls us to be fruitful believers. To be fruitful.

When the Father, through the agency of the Holy Spirit, comes through his vineyard to prune, he comes bearing his pruning hook and his shears. And when he's coming toward me, that's when my reaction is, "God, I'm good." But if I'm going to bear more fruit, he must come and prune. But my reaction is, "Lord, I'm good. You don't need to—I was really good last week, so I've got some fruit out here. Look at this apple. Look what I can do." Look at these things, Lord. Look at these things in my life. I'm okay.

But he comes to prune anyway. There are times sometimes he comes to prune things that have grown back that he's cut off before. He comes to prune in his vineyard, and he's pruning right now, going in between these rows of the vineyard, his church, right now. Whether you're watching online or you're up in the overflow areas, he's going through and he's pruning because it's his vineyard. And I know some of us are saying, "Lord, I'm good." And yet he comes toward you. He’s got the pruning hook. You think it's your wife, but it's him. And he's coming that you might bear more fruit.

Now, there are some folks who think that longevity excludes them from pruning. "I've been in the church 20 years. I have a degree. I've been to seminary. I have an M.Div," master of divinity, "so I know a lot of things, Pastor. That's for those other people. Get those young people straightened out." No, longevity does not exclude you from pruning. God's pruning hook will reach you too. It’ll reach you, I don't care how old you are. He comes to prune. Even Paul the apostle knew that. He said, "I have not arrived." And neither have we. He comes to prune you whether you're 60, 70, 80, 90 years old. You're still his vineyard.

Now, there are two reasons why the Lord prunes us. Jesus gives us here in our text. Number one, pruning is necessary. Verse two: he says he prunes us that we might bear more fruit. You know, there should be maybe in our new believer's packet some information to help them grow in the Lord, and we should probably put a sheet on there that says, "There will be pruning." Because there will be pruning. The Lord prunes us, and by definition, pruning is, of course, the removal of selective parts of a tree or a plant to ensure—listen—healthier growth.

God wants healthier growth for us. And so the Holy Spirit comes and, through the work of sanctification, he removes those things we think we want to produce what we need. I’ll say it again: he removes those things that we think we want that we might produce that which we need. And what do we need? Well, Galatians 5:22 and 23 says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is..." We need love. "The fruit of the Spirit is joy." We need peace. We need longsuffering. Some of us need kindness. We need goodness. We need faithfulness. We need gentleness, and we need self-control.

Against such there is no law. What does that mean? That means that you can't produce the fruit of the Spirit by keeping a set of rules. It's by abiding in Jesus Christ. It's a natural growth process. Even David knew that he had to yield to the pruning hook—that is, King David—yield to the pruning hook of the Lord, that it was essential in his relationship with God. In Psalm 119, verse 71, it says, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes," your word, your principles, your precepts.

God comes and sometimes cuts us and he prunes us that we may learn his word, that we may know his word, put our confidence in his word. Now, sometimes people will come up and say, "How are you doing?" and maybe I have this sad look on my face or something. "Pastor, are you okay?" It's like, yeah, but sometimes you don't know, maybe I've been through a pruning process. You come into church on Sunday, and maybe you've gone through a pruning process. When you leave here, God's cut off a few things.

But he does it that we might bear more fruit. It is necessary in our walk with him. David understood that: I must yield to his pruning. Here is the second reason why he prunes us, and that is for the Father's glory. We're pruned for the glory of God. Verse eight says, "By this My Father," Jesus said, "is glorified, that you bear..." a little fruit. Just a little. It's okay. A little dab'll do ya. No. "That you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples." We are pruned that we might bear fruit to the glory of God.

How is the Lord glorified? Through our numbers? How is he glorified? Through my education? How is he glorified? That we bear fruit to his glory. And not just a little, but much fruit. Now, in order to diminish the glory of God, this is what the devil has done: he's convinced a lot of believers that it's not necessary for you to bear fruit. "That's Pastor Al's job. We pay him to bear fruit. That's somebody else's job. Let that person do it. I don't need to bear any fruit." And he whispers to you, "You don't need the word of God. Come on, you read it last week. You don't need fellowship. You went to church already this month. You don't need to pray." What we end up doing is settling for what I call the new normal, spiritually speaking.

Guest (Male): Learn more about Pastor Al and his ministry by visiting alpittmanministries.com. Also consider supporting us financially. You can send a check to Al Pittman Ministries at PO Box 50584, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80949. Or visit us online. Thank you for your prayers and your support. Your generosity keeps this radio ministry going. Lastly, we would love to hear from you. You can contact us by emailing info@alpittmanministries.com. That's info@alpittmanministries.com. We look forward to hearing from you. Again, thank you for joining us and we'll see you next time on the Dwelling Place. God bless.