In the Word

Pastor Mike Warren: They are pithy and they are powerful, and they have a great truth that I want it to settle in on our hearts, especially in the times that we're living in with so many distractions and so many people just being religious, not having a relationship with the Lord. There's a great truth woven through the fabric, the DNA of those eight verses that is spoken in other places. I've been debating: do I just do Chapter 15 and just let that settle in on us and we leave thinking about that until we gather again on Sunday, or do I move on into Chapter 16?

Chapter 16 is probably one of the longest chapters in the book of Ezekiel, and I was thinking maybe I should take that as just the single setting next Wednesday. But we'll just see what the Lord has. You never know with me. We'll get started and we'll see where we end. I'm not making any promises so I don't have to repent after the service because I lied to you about how far we're going to go. So, let's just pray real quickly and dive into God's Word.

Father, we thank you for Chapter 15. It's for me, I think it's one of the most important, applicable chapters in all of Ezekiel. I know we're waiting to get to the end of the book where all the prophecies are and all of that, but Chapter 15, along with Chapter 15 of John in the Gospel, along with Chapter 5 of Isaiah, as we're going to look at tonight, they speak about our relationship with you and how necessary it is and what you expect of us.

Lord, I would just pray tonight that you would give us ears to hear, hearts that are open and receptive, and then through the work of your Spirit, give us the strength to perform, to do those things that you've asked us to do because we don't want to just be hearers of your Word. Lord, we don't come here just to come to a Bible study. Lord, we come to hear your voice through your Word speak to our hearts and to change us. We want to grow in grace and knowledge. We want to grow in you, Father. So, help us tonight we pray in the mighty name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

Again, when I come to Ezekiel Chapter 15, and this is one of those chapters that in my own private devotion that I go to often. It's one of those chapters that can calibrate your compass, it refocuses your priorities. Along with, like I said—and you might want to get your pad and pen out and write this down—there are two other passages that go along with this. We're going to look at those two in Isaiah Chapter 5 and again in the New Testament as John is writing concerning that relationship with Christ in John Chapter 15.

One of the things you need to know is that when God speaks of Israel in the Old Testament, there are two analogies that flow through the Old Testament on into the New Testament that God uses for his people, the nation of Israel. One is that they are a vineyard and, secondly, they are a fig tree. In both cases, he expects his vineyard and his fig trees to bear fruit. In fact, you know the scene as Jesus is coming into Jerusalem to present himself for five days as the sacrificial lamb. As he passes by a fig tree looking for fruit on it and he finds no fruit, which represents Israel, he curses it and it withers and dies.

Later in an epistle that never made it into the canonization of Scripture, Peter discusses with Jesus—it's called the Revelation of Peter—it's been authenticated, it just didn't make it in. Peter actually records a conversation that he had with Jesus about that event. Jesus said, "Do you not understand, Peter, that the fig tree represents Israel? Just like in Matthew Chapter 24, when you see the fig tree bud again, you know the generation that sees that will not pass away," speaking prophetically that all things would be fulfilled.

Well, we know that Israel was birthed as a nation again in 1948. But there's a second part to that prophecy: that they would control the city of Jerusalem, that they'd have control of the city of Jerusalem. We know that that happened in 1967 when Moshe Dayan on June 7th stood at the Wailing Wall and said, "For the first time in 2,000 years, we're home."

So Jesus used that analogy of the fig tree to say, "When you see those two things happen, mark it down, note it in your mind, that the genos or generation that sees that will not come to an end until Jesus returns for his church." It's interesting, the first time "generation" is used in the Bible, it's used in Matthew Chapter 1 and it's associated with dates and times and periods. Sir Robert Anderson was knighted to bring those things to the fore, and we know a generation is about 54 years.

So, we're getting close to the return of Jesus. But what is before us, I think, is even more important than the fig tree application and the warnings and the prophetic things that come with it. As we're going to see as we move through Ezekiel to the prophetic parts, it is about who we are in Christ. I don't know about you, because I know that time is short and I sense it in my spirit. How many have sensed that? You look around, Ray Charles in his current condition can tell you we're living in the last days. This stuff can't continue to go on like it is.

We're moving into a period of time and, when I was in secular college before I left to go to Bible college, my minor was agriculture and my major was world history. I don't know if you know this, but all of the prognosticators are saying that we're moving into a food shortage and we're just a few weeks away from it. It's one of the signs of the times. We're going to see—we won't see it tonight because we probably won't get into Chapter 16—but one of the things that God's going to say because he blessed us and we didn't learn from the blessing, he pulls the blessing away. One of the things he does is he pulls away the bread, the blessing on the bread or the food, the staples that we need. That's one of the things he's going to do.

Listen, we're living in the last days. Jesus is coming for the church very soon. So that's why I think Chapter 15 is so applicable. I want you to hear and understand tonight what God requires of you because he doesn't require of you a mechanism or a religious spirit. He's not as concerned about what you do for him. He's more interested in the servant than he is your service. He's more interested in your heart than your hands. Because he knows that if he owns your heart, then your hands and your head will be in a right place. What we need to know tonight, what we want to learn—and it's very singular, the thought is very singular—as we move through this section is what God wants from us, what he looks for is fruit.

He wants fruit in our lives. We're told in the New Testament when Paul puts pen to paper under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and he writes to the churches in Galatia, which three years ago I had the wonderful privilege of visiting those churches. Up through Cappadocia, Pontus, Galatia, we traveled through those regions on a bus. I was shocked at what it looked like. I'm thinking desert, I'm thinking like Israel. I was thinking it looked like what it would look like when we went to Israel, but it's like going to South Lake Tahoe when you leave Tarsus and you go up in the Taurus Mountains and you begin to travel through that area. It's mountain, it's just beautiful.

In fact, one of the options was when we were on the tour there is to take a balloon ride over Cappadocia, which is all of these big dirt mounds with they've carved houses into. Early in the morning, we got to take this balloon ride. I'm going to tell you, I don't like heights. I'm afraid of heights, actually. So that big giant basket with like 15 people, I got in the middle because I figured that all these people if we crash will be padding for me. Then I was so disgusted with myself for allowing fear to take us, and then I'm trying to scoot over to the edge and the people say, "Hey, hey, you took the middle, you stay in the middle," because I wanted to see the beauty of it.

But he writes to that area and he says, "The fruit of the Spirit..." You see, it's a fruit. It's a byproduct. It's a byproduct of abiding in Christ. You've never gone to an apple orchard and heard an apple tree squeezing out a blossom going, "Ugh, if I could just try a little harder, pop!" and out comes a blossom. No, if that tree is well-watered and well-fertilized, if it is in the sun, it will produce fruit.

So the question I want you to ask as we look at this section tonight—and listen, we're just settle down, we're just going to do Chapter 15 because I really want to make this point home—I want you to do some self-examination and ask, "Am I bearing fruit? Am I growing in grace and the knowledge of the Lord? Is there fruit in my life? Is there love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, kindness, meekness, self-control? Against such there are no laws." Laws can't do that. Only the Spirit of God can do that because it's a fruit, it's not a labor.

Then he says, "Those that are the Lord's," speaking of a fruit, "have crucified this flesh." In other words, they're living for the Lord like we sang tonight. In Chapter 14, he talks about these elders, the leaders, the spiritual leaders of Israel coming to inquire of the Lord before the prophet Ezekiel with idols in their hearts. Wickedness, sin, unrepentant sin. In fact, practicing sin. The Lord says, "Should I be willing to listen to them? Should they be willing to come and inquire of me when they have idols in their hearts?" Of course, it's a rhetorical question; the answer is no.

How many need God's blessing in your life? How many need strength? How many need that peace that only God can bring? Then you have to get rid of the things in your life that don't bear fruit. Repentance is an interesting word in the Greek in the New Testament. It's metanoia, and it means to turn 180 degrees. We're not just called to turn from sin, because you'll never be able to turn and stay turned from sin until you turn toward Jesus. That work of the Spirit gets a hold of your heart.

Because you are being fed, fertilized as it were, the Word of God, because you're basking in the Son, the S-O-N, that relationship with Jesus Christ, and because you're well-watered of the Holy Spirit, you will bear fruit. It will be a natural response to where you're planted. You're like Psalm 1, you're a tree planted by the rivers of water and you will bear fruit in your season. That's the idea of Chapter 15. Listen carefully, and we'll go through Chapter 15 and then we'll bring the other verses in to add to this.

Ezekiel is saying in Chapter 15, verse 1, "And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man," and remember what he's saying is "I understand you're just a human being. You're a son of Adam, you're a son of man. So, I understand that you have all of these flaws and all of these inconsistencies, that you were conceived in sin, born in transgression. All of us have that, we come into this world broken." I'm glad that God reminds Ezekiel, although he's a prophet, although he's a man of God, that he still has human tendencies, and he still needs to bring those human tendencies under the control of the Holy Spirit.

So he says, "Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any other tree," the idea is, "and the branches among it more than the trees of the forest?" He's putting a comparison before them. He's saying, "When you see the cedars of Lebanon," and they were instructed to go up to Lebanon and cut down those huge cedars to bring them for the beams of the temple. There were forests in Israel. You go there today and there are no forests, and people say, "Well, how come the Bible talks about these great forests that used to be in Israel?" What you don't understand is when the wars—how many remember the Crusades? All of the wars when the Turks took over, Suleiman the Great and all those guys took over the Holy Land and King Edward and all those guys had their crusades. Well, one of the things that the Turks did when they controlled Jerusalem to make it undesirable is they cut down all of the trees. They made it a desert place.

But Israel used, now you go there and they've got bananas and they've got oranges and they've got grapefruits and they've got vineyards. It's beautiful, but all of the trees, the great trees, the great cedar trees, the great pine trees, for the most part, are gone. God says to Ezekiel, "When those great trees were in the forests and people went and cut those trees down, they would use them for firewood, they would build their homes out of them," he's going to tell us about that, "they would make furniture out of them. But what is that in comparison to the grapevine?"

He's going to tell us that the grapevine is good for nothing as far as wood goes. How many are woodworkers? How many have ever tried to fashion anything out of a grapevine? How many would even try to fashion anything out of a grapevine? Cedar, yes. Pine, of course. Oak, yes. Cherry wood, of course. Mahogany, absolutely. But watch the comparison here. He says, "Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work?" Is the grapevine, the wood that it produces when it grows, can you use it to do any work with it? Can you build your house out of it? Can you build furniture out of it? Hey, in fact, can you heat your home or cook your food on it? It's a rhetorical question because the answer is no. Or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon? The wood is so soft you can't even fashion a peg out of it to drive into your wall to hang something on it because it has no temper, no strength to it. It's actually, as wood goes, it's useless.

It's only good for one thing we're going to discover in the Word this morning and, by the way, guess what you are as the church? You're a grapevine. We're going to see that. You are good for nothing but one thing. We're going to see that tonight. Keep that thought in the back of your mind. He says in verse 4, "Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; and the fire devours both ends of it, and the midst of it is burned." What he's trying to say is anybody who's tried to burn grapevine for wood, it's useless.

The first time my son and I decided—he was like 10 years old—we were going to go out to High Rock Canyon camping. So, we get out there to the Black Rock Desert and it got dark, and so I said, "We'll camp here tonight." There's nothing. We didn't bring any wood with us because we normally go camp where there is wood. All there was was sagebrush, and it's kind of like a grapevine. We tried to burn it. It would just go poof and die down, and that was it. We must have cleared an acre because it was cold that night of sagebrush to try to stay warm. It's not good for fuel.

Grapevines are the same thing. It burns quick, it doesn't produce a lot of BTUs, it doesn't produce a lot of heat. So he says, "Is it fit for any work?" It's not good to burn, but what else can you do? You can't fashion a peg out of it, you can't make furniture, can't build your house out of it. Behold, here's the truth: "When it was whole, it was fit for no work: how much less shall it be fit yet for any work, when the fire hath devoured it, and it is burned up?" Because actually, grapevines are good for nothing if they're not producing fruit but to be thrown in the fire, because you can't use them for anything. Then how much less are they worth when they've got to be burned up? Because dead branches, we're going to see in a few moments, can only be thrown into the fire.

Jesus is going to tell us about that in a few moments. So he says this, "Therefore thus saith the Lord God; As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem," because they've sinned against me and they're not producing any fruit, because they've set up idols in their heart and they're doing gross abominations. They're offering their children to Moloch and they're sinning against me constantly. They're like a grapevine that has no fruit, and if it doesn't bear fruit, it's of no use but to be thrown into the fire and it's not even good for that.

"And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire to another; and the fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have set my face against them. And I will make the land desolate, because they have committed," and again, this section from back in Chapter 12 all the way through 24 is God giving reason to Ezekiel for his discipline, his judgment that's coming upon his people. It's because of their sin. Again, in the beginning of the book, God says to Ezekiel, "I'm sending you to a stiff-necked people. I'm sending you to a people that aren't going to listen. I'm sending you to a people that are firm of face and hard of heart. But whether they hear or don't hear, Ezekiel, I'm sending you to speak the truth. Don't be rebellious like them because I want them to know, when I have to discipline them, that there has been a prophet in the land, somebody that represents me."

I'm going to tell you again, we're living in a time—this is why it's applicable to us—that there needs to be a voice of reason. Listen, religion is not something we want to pursue. That's a mechanism, it's like the vine. What we want to pursue is fruit. We want to bear fruit to the Lord. We want relationship. We want—listen—we want to bask in the Son, we want to be watered by the Holy Spirit. Listen, we want to be well-fed from the Word. We want to produce fruit. God is looking for fruit in our lives and if he finds none, then you're not fit for anything else. You're only fit as the body of Christ to bear fruit that is well-pleasing to the Father. If he doesn't find fruit in your life and you're just religious and not have a relationship with him, then you become fit for nothing but to be thrown into the fire is what he's saying.

Listen to what he says in verse 8, it kind of ties a knot in it: "And I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, saith the Lord." Again, he gives the reason for this. All he was looking for all along, as we're going to see as we move through Ezekiel—we're going to come to that section where the Lord says to Ezekiel—"Say to the people, Turn ye, turn ye; why will you perish? saith the Lord of hosts. I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked should turn from their wicked ways, turn back to me."

When we get into Chapter 16 next week, it's amazing what he's going to say. It breaks my heart. It causes me to do introspection and realize, "Lord, are there things in my life that break my heart? Is my heart still full of gratitude toward You and am I filled with thankfulness toward You? Do I worship you for the things you've done for me? Am I still excited after 46 years since my salvation as I was the day I got saved? Do I still appreciate all that You do in my life?"

We'll get to that next week, but this week, I just want to look at this thing called the grapevine. If you'll take a hard left and go back to Isaiah, go through Jeremiah back to Isaiah, the left of your Bible, you'll come to Chapter 5. I want to look at this this evening. Chapter 5 again in Isaiah is almost a contemporary with Ezekiel and Jeremiah. He's been warning the people of Israel for 100 years before them. God sent Isaiah to warn the people because already they were entering into idolatry.

I want you to see how patient God has been when he's dealing with the blatant sin in his people's lives. For 100 years before Ezekiel, Isaiah was warning them. When they didn't listen, God raised up Jeremiah to warn them, and Ezekiel, and Daniel and Daniel's three companions. So, listen, God is longsuffering. I would say to you tonight, he is longsuffering. But please, do not take the longsuffering of God and the things in your life he's trying to deal with as though he's accepting of those things. Because although he suffers long, the Bible says his Spirit will not always strive with men. If you don't turn at his correction, then he just has to continue to amp up, as it were, that correction until he gets your complete and undivided attention.

Because if you're his kids, listen, if you are his kids—and we are, are we his sons and daughters here tonight?—then he disciplines us because we belong to him and because he loves us. He's not punishing us; he's disciplining us. I know old King James uses that word, but really it's correction. Because all along, he said at the moment that you turn and you surrender and you say, "Lord, you're right, I'm wrong," that's what the word for confession means, homologeo in the Greek, it means to confess that God is right and you've been wrong. The moment you do that, the need for that correction, that discipline, those tough times just goes away, and what comes is the blessing of the Lord.

David talked about this. David talked about this in Psalms Chapter 42 and again in 44. You remember when he had sinned against Bathsheba and he held the thing within and he wouldn't confess his sin? He said, "I was like on a hinge on my bed day and night just going back and forth." He said, "I was like a fruit in the summer sun, I had dried up. There were no more tears in my eyes, there was just nothing in my heart and I was miserable until I confessed my sin." Then he talks about the joy of the Lord coming back.

Listen, you can never go back to the world. Listen, guys and gals, if you're a believer, you can never go back to the world and be happy. God will pull his hand of blessing away from you until you dry up. In his presence, the Psalmist says, is fullness of joy; at his right hand are pleasures evermore. I've learned, I came out of the hippie movement and you know my testimony. It grieves me that I wasted the first almost 20 years of my life in drugs and alcohol and immorality, looking for something to satisfy, something to bring peace and purpose into my life and not finding it, and wanting to end my life. On a very night, the Lord, just through a series of events, had me in a Bible study with 30 other hippie kids that I had partied with, and I got saved. God rescued me.

I knew that night that I was ever ruined for this world because there was something different, something God put in me. There was a peace. The cloud went away and the sun began to shine and there was hope. I'd never experienced peace or hope before. Oh, I'd been wasted, I'd been drunk, I've taken a few trips and never left the farm, but you always come back and there's no peace because the Prince of Peace is Jesus.

Listen to what he says in Isaiah, Isaiah's warning. Isaiah says, "Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard." Isaiah says, "Listen, I'm going to put this to song so you can sing it. I'm going to sing a song, I'm going to sing a song unto the Lord, I'm going to sing a song about my beloved's vineyard, the vineyard that he has." He says this: "My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill."

Listen, we're planted in the most fertile of grounds. We are his vineyard. I want you to make note of this as we go through this section, the analogy: we are his vineyard. We'll see that when we get to John 15. As the Old Testament people of Israel were his vineyard in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, the same allegory and analogy follows suit in the New Testament for you and me. God's people are always his vineyard. Now, listen to what he says because there are two questions he's going to ask.

I personally—I was having a conversation with one of the elders, Don, this week and I said, "You know, the tragic thing is every one of us, every person born of woman, at one time is going to stand before Almighty God. Either at the judgment seat of Christ or at the Bema seat or at the Great White Throne judgment of God the Father, but every one of us are going to answer two questions as we pass through this life." Two questions are going to be asked of us if we're saved and we're before the Bema seat judgment for how we lived our lives—not for our sin, because the sin is forgiven—but for those that end up at the Great White Throne, not having been forgiven by Jesus, are still going to have these two questions. They're going to be asked and they're going to be answered.

So settle this in your mind, God Almighty, even for us saved, one day at the Bema seat judgment, these two questions are going to be posed to us and we are going to have to give an answer. So think about that for a moment. He says, "My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill." He planted us as his vineyard in the Word. The Word is quick, it's living, it's sharp, it's powerful, it goes right down into the very inside of us. The Word of God doesn't return void. The Word of God trains us and teaches us and how we ought to live and how we ought to walk. The Holy Spirit aids the Word of God.

Listen, we're planted in a very fruitful place. He says, "And he fenced it in." He protected us. He not only planted us as his vineyard in a very fruitful place, a very fertile field, but he put a fence around it to protect us from those things that would come in and try to destroy us. We're protected. He gathered out the stones. The obstacles of our life as we walk in the Spirit have been removed. Therefore, he planted in it the choicest of vines. In Ephesians, we just went through that epistle, we just finished it Sunday, we're going to be starting Philippians next Sunday, but in the very first part of it, we found out that we are chosen.

We were chosen before the foundation of the world that one day we would stand before God in love. He would love us and we would be loving him back. He chose the choicest of vines. He built a tower in the midst of it and also made a winepress therein. Listen to this: "and he looked that it should bring forth grapes." God is expecting. There's a sense of expectation. God presupposes that if we as his vineyard are planted in a fruitful place, if we are protected with the fence, if we are well-watered and nurtured and taken care of—because we are the choicest, we're the best of vines planted in this—and he put a tower in the midst of it and built a winepress because there is an expectation that it is going to bear fruit.

I want you to know tonight, God has an expectation in our lives that from glory to glory he can change us, that we would leave the foolish things of a child and grow into a mature adult, that we would grow into the image of Christ, that we would bear fruit and that our fruit would remain. So there is an expectation even in this verse. We'll see it again when we get to John 15 in a few moments, but there's an expectation. He said he looked, and the idea is to look with expectation. That's what it is in the Hebrew: to look and to expect something to happen. So he looked with expectation that it should bring forth grapes.

The idea is good grapes, luscious grapes. How many ever go to a store and you buy grapes and you bring them home and you take a bite and, oh my gosh, you want to spit it out. Didn't you check it out before you bought it? And then have you had those grapes? My favorite are the purple, the big giant purple seedless ones. Let me tell you about those big giant purples, the big ones. You put them in the freezer and you freeze them. Oh my gosh! It's almost as good as ice cream and they pop in your mouth and because they're frozen, they linger just a little longer and they put a smile on Pastor Mikey's face.

I'll tell you, don't put them in your ice machine and they get dumped out because your wife will get mad because when she starts getting ice, grapes start falling out with the ice. But he looked for sweet grapes, ripe grapes, delicious grapes. That's what he expected. Listen carefully: "and it brought forth wild grapes." Bitter grapes, grapes that weren't pleasant to eat.

Listen now to verses 3 and 4: "And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge." God's saying, "Judge me." You know, there's so much going on today with people judging God. "Well, God's a God of love, why is there war?" Because of our wicked hearts. So often we challenge God about the things going on in the world. So he's saying right here, "You can challenge me on this one. Judge." He says this, "you men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard. Judge me. Hold me accountable. Examine if I were a good husbandman or not."

Then two questions, and here they are, verse 4: "What could have been done more to my vineyard, than I have not done in it?" Let me ask you tonight, what more could God have done for you and for your salvation and for your growth than he hasn't already done? Name one thing that he has not given you.

Well, let's talk about it for a moment as the church. Has he given you grace, favor against merit? Has he given you grace? Did he put faith in you, the measure of faith, when you were still out in the world? Did he put the measure of faith in you? Bible says he did. And then did he send the Holy Spirit out into the world to woo you? He's with you in the world wooing you, bringing you to Christ, convicting you of sin and of righteousness and of the judgment to come. When you got saved, did he not forgive you of all of your sins, past, present, and future? Did he not wash you clean? Did he not write your name in the Lamb's book of life?

Did he not put his Spirit in you? Did he not give you his Word? He put the Spirit in you to lead and guide you in all truth. He gave you the written Word so you'd have it in writing, and then he gave you the Holy Spirit to give you strength to live the Word, that you would have the capacity and the capability of putting off that old man, that man that almost killed me 46 years ago. That old man that lived a life of debauchery and none of those things ever satisfied me.

But now he gives me the power to put off that old man and put on the new man, to walk in newness of life. I've run into some of my old friends over the years and they said, "You still get drunk?" and I said, "Absolutely, man, but it's on new wine." Not illegal. You can get pulled over, they can do a Breathalyzer test and nothing shows up. The joy of the Lord is my strength.

So he gave you all of those things. He gave you eternal life. He gave you promises, 3,000 of them in the Bible. One of the greatest is "I'll never leave you nor forsake you. I'm an ever-present help in a time of need." Another one is "My door is open, that you can come right into my presence, receive help and mercy in a time of need." In the moment of failure, you can come in and what you'll find me to be is not judgmental but merciful. So what more—think about it with me tonight—in your own life, what more could the Lord have done for you than he hasn't done? Did he give the best of heaven, his Son, to come and bleed and die for our sins? Did not Jesus send the Holy Spirit? Did he not give us his Word, all the promises contained in it? Did he not give us his name and the authority of his name? Is he not protecting us? "No weapon formed against you will prosper. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world."

Oh, what about finances? "I will minister to all of your needs according to my riches in heavenly places through Christ Jesus." 3,000 promises, yours. So the question has to be posed and it has to be asked tonight, what more could God have done for us than he hasn't already done? Think about that for a moment. And what would be the answer? Nothing. Not a thing. Not a thing. Not a thing. In fact, Lord, even when I'm unfaithful—how many have been unfaithful?—you remain what? Faithful.

So God asks a question of his people: "What more could I have done than I have not done?" Here's the second one. This is the one that searches my heart: "Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, it brought forth wild grapes." Why? Why? If the first answer is "Nothing, Lord. You've provided everything that was necessary for me to be born again, to grow in my faith, to grow in relationship with You, to grow in intimacy with You, to walk with You, to be obedient to You. You provided everything that is necessary for that."

If the first is answered, "Lord, there's nothing more You could have done," then is not the second question penetrating? Isn't it like a light that goes on? Then why? Why are you still doing drugs? Why are you still getting drunk? Why are you still fornicating? Why are you still committing adultery? Why are you still loving this world if I've done everything for you that is necessary to bring you close to me?

You see, religion is the vine, and there are a lot of religious people. God could care very little for the vine if when he looks at the vine he doesn't see fruit. That's why I personally believe that the greatest and most damning thing in the world today is religion because religion makes a man think or a woman think they're okay when they're not because, "Oh, look at the vine. Look how big the vine is. Look how far the vine goes. Aren't there lots of vines? I'm in a vineyard, there's vines everywhere."

God is saying, "Vines don't matter. I'm not looking for vines. In fact, your vine is useless to me. You can't build furniture out of it, you can't build houses, you can't even make a peg to put in a wall out of it. It is useless unless it is bearing fruit." That's the only purpose of the vine is to bear fruit. Now, I have a question: "What more could I have done than I have not already done in the aid of you bearing fruit, and why have you not borne fruit?"

Those are the two questions and I think when we stand before the Lord, even at the Bema seat, us Christians, we're going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. He's going to say, "Hey, great news, man! You see these scars? Paid for your sin. You're not here to answer for your sin because your sin has already been answered for. But let's talk about your life. Let's talk about the currency of your life. Let's talk about your time, your talent, your energy, your resources that I gave you." We'll get into that next chapter because it segues right into that. "How did you spend it? What did it produce? What did it produce in your life? What did it produce in the lives around you?"

See, those questions are going to be asked: "What more could I have done than I have not done for you to bear fruit, and why didn't you bear fruit?" and we're all going to have to say, "Lord, absolutely nothing. Man, you were all and you were everything. We lacked nothing from you that was necessary for anything that you called us to do. Lord, no, You provided everything." We're all in agreement with that. I think we'll all stand around the Bema seat: "Yeah, we're all in agreement with that. Yes, Lord, You gave us everything, we didn't lack anything—skill, time, energy, talent. Lord, You gave it all to us. Holy Spirit, the Word, man, You washed us in the blood of Your Son, You cleansed us from our sin. Yeah, we got it all."

Well, here's the second one: "Then why didn't you bear fruit?" I'm not talking about salvation because that's a gift. Eternal life is a gift. That's where you get plugged into the trunk. But as a vine, where is the fruit? Oh, and the Bible says on that day that our life's work is going to be tried even as by fire. Did you know that? Because this foundation of salvation, he says you get to build on it. And by the way, the building materials are gold, silver, precious stones, hay, wood, and stubble. He says, "I'm going to put a fire to that, I'm going to test it on that day."

He said a lot of people, when the fire is put to their life and the wood, hay, and stubble burns away, they're still going to have gold and silver, things that are eternal, things that don't rust or rot, things that can't be consumed by fire. It's going to remain and they're going to have their reward. And then some people, everything's going to be burned away and there'll be no reward, yet they will be saved because that's all they got.

You know what? My dad used to tell me, my dad drove into me a work ethic. It's a great work ethic. It borders on the edge of being a workaholic. I have to be—I know why God commanded, "Six days a man can work and the seventh he has to rest," because I wouldn't rest on the seventh, I'd work. I like to work. But more importantly, I like to work for the Lord. Amen. Nobody has to tell me to study. I love studying. Nobody has to tell me to pray, I love to pray. Just the things of the Lord are exciting to me.

But he's going to ask that question. "Okay then, when I looked for fruit, why wasn't there any?" Some of us will say, "Lord, You gave me one talent, here's two." Some will say, "Well, Lord, You gave me three, here's five." And some will say, "You gave me one and I buried it because I knew you were a tough taskmaster looking for fruit where you had not invested." Those things to me, this chapter is examining. Chapter 15 of Ezekiel, Chapter 5.

Let's just read a few more verses and then we'll look over in John. I told you this would consume our entire time tonight, but I think it's well worth it. Verse 5 says, "And now go to; I will tell you what I will do with my vineyard." Because there's only the vine and no fruit. Religion only has the vine; relationship bears the fruit. You see, we're going to see in a few moments when we get to Chapter 15 the secret to bearing fruit. Here we're just getting the imagery.

He said, "I will tell you what I will do with the vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof," I'm going to take the protection from it, "and it shall be eaten up," the wild animals will come in and they're going to eat it up. They'll break down the wall thereof and it shall be trodden down. And I will lay it waste, it shall not be pruned nor digged, but there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no more rain upon it. I'm going to dry it up.

"For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts," you see, now he said that was my vineyard, "the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment," the idea is he looked for justice, he looked for righteousness, he looked for godliness, "but what he found was oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry." Then he pronounces a woe on it.

Go all the way to the New Testament with me to the book of John, Chapter 15. I think this is so important tonight because I've often said—you know, we just found out we have another satellite church, we have 19 satellite churches now. We have a Ron Branson there in Las Vegas tuning in, probably tuning in tonight. We got them from Grand Kamloops, British Columbia, all the way to Upstate New York, to Florida, to Grand Marsh, Wisconsin. Don't look it up on Google, you won't find it because it's a wide spot in the road. It's where all the farmers come. We got several in Washington State.

Got a guy from Ottawa, Ontario, that just texted me, found me on Bring Call and said, "Is there a church like yours up here?" I don't know. "I just want to go to some church that teaches me the Word and challenges me to live the true authentic Christian life. Not this watered-down, compromised 'I'm okay, you're okay, God loves me, I can live any way I want' kind of—I want to hear God's Word." Listen, we're told in the last days there's going to be a famine in the land, not for food or drink but for the hearing of the Word of the Lord.

Listen, I want God's Word to cut me and to touch me, to heal me, to challenge me. Now, I'm going to ask a question and then I'm going to answer it from God's Word. How many as God's vine want to bear fruit? I want to see a raise of hands because I want to hold you accountable. How many want to bear fruit? How many don't want just the mechanism, not the religion but the relationship? How many want to be sweet grapes, not sour grapes? Well, here's the secret. It's found in John Chapter 15.

Jesus said, "I am the true vine." Now, I want you to hear some things here because you just said, "Pastor, we're the vine." This is the trunk. We'll see it in a few moments. He's going to use the term—Old King James uses the term "vine" for the trunk and the "branches" for the vines. The trunk is the main part where the roots go down and where the nutrients are supplied to the branches from. Here the Lord is saying, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman." How many know what husbandman is? It's the vinedresser, it's the farmer, it's the one who tends the vineyard.

"Every branch"—now we're branches, but you can think of vines, we're the branches that are plugged into the root, we're the vines that are plugged into the root. Listen to what he says: "Every vine in me that beareth not fruit." If there's something going on in your life, you're plugged into the source, you're plugged into Jesus, you're abiding in Jesus, and for some reason you're not bearing fruit, he says he taketh it away. The word is airo in the Greek. It's interesting. You go to Israel today and, when we were in Israel, I was waiting for a vineyard to go by and we never saw one because the tour bus went to places that are commercial and we didn't get out into the farming area.

But today in Israel, they don't grow grapes like we do; they don't put them up on poles and run them across wires off of the ground. They grow out on the ground. Every once in a while, one of those vines will get mired in the mud. The vinedresser comes along and the word airo doesn't mean take it away like cut it off and throw it away, it means to lift it up. This is an interesting thing they do. They will lift that vine up, they will wash the mire and the mud off of it, and they'll do one of two things. I so wanted to go by one of those vineyards. They'll either place it on a rock so it doesn't get mired in the mud again, or they'll take two sticks and make a cross and they'll place it on that.

The Lord is saying in those times in our life—and we do as Christians, loving the Lord, wanting to bear fruit—there are times. Have you ever been mired down? You got caught up in something, overtaken in a fault, overtaken in a sin, something's happened, it's caused distance between you and the Lord, and you're stuck in the mud. Ever been there? Come on! Ever been there? I got both hands up, man! Been mired down a few times. Not fun.

But he will come and wash you, cleanse you, put you on a rock, put you on the cross, get you up out of that. He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit—okay, now you're bearing fruit, man, you're doing good—guess what he does? He prunes, and he does it with a chainsaw. You might say, "That was my favorite branch! You mean I got to give up that?" No, no, no, you don't got to give it up, I'm taking it from you. No problem. Just let me get my chainsaw on that. When you bear fruit, he prunes you that you might bring forth more fruit.

How many have experienced, as we talked about the men on Monday night, the fire, the anvil, the hammer, and then dunked in oil? How many have seen "Forged in Fire"? Great analogy for a Christian! Because when God wants to beat you out of you and beat something of him in you, he heats you up in a trial, like Peter said, "Don't think it's strange when these fiery trials come to test your faith." Then he puts you on the anvil and he forges you to what he wants you to be because you're the clay, he's the potter. He beats you out of you and beats something of himself. Then he dunks you in the oil, and every molecule just cringes because he's putting temper in you.

Then if you know anything about making knives and working forges—I was a kid, my grandfather was a blacksmith, he was a wheelwright, and I got the wonderful privilege of turning the forge because he would not come into the 20th century and buy an electric motor to do that. No, he said, "Why? I got you." Ten years old out there turning the forge. After he would make something, he would test it with a file. And if the file dug into the metal, then it didn't have temper and you started the process all over. God will put you through that and if sin still digs in, he'll keep going until it doesn't bite anymore, that you're impervious to that.

So he says, "When you bear fruit, I'll prune you." It's not that I'm not well-pleased; I am well-pleased with you, but I'll prune you that you might bear more fruit. Now, listen carefully: we haven't got to the secret yet. But he reminds us in verse 3: "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." This is not a salvation issue; this is a sanctification issue is what Jesus is saying. You're already saved. I'm just wanting you to bear fruit.

Then he says this in verse 4—and herein is the secret, please. I've said everything I've said tonight to get to this point because I think, as I view the church today, presently, currently, there is a lost discipline, there is a lost art. I don't think the church knows where to get their strength. I think that's why there's so much psychology in the church today. I think that's why people are finding their peace in a pill instead of the person of Jesus, in a bottle instead of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, in the ways of the world instead of the Word of God.

Because there's a secret that I have found and it's in a secret place. I found it last weekend. Got the wonderful privilege my wife gave me, the wonderful privilege said, "You need to go away and be with Jesus." Got to go for all Thursday night, Friday, Friday night, came home Saturday morning. One of you guys passed me on the way home. Man, I was looking for the devil. I'd have kicked his tail all over the place because I had been abiding in Jesus. Praying, going for prayer walks, seeking his face and not his hand. Not asking for what he can do for me, but, "Lord, change my heart. Put something of yourself in me. I want to know that peace that you promised that you would give me, that assurance, that comfort that only comes from you."

And I know that, Lord. I know I sought it in everything else before. I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed that I sought that fulfillment in all other things, but those were idols. But I found the true and living God. You want peace in your life that passes all understanding? You want the joy of the Lord where no matter what trial you're going through, no matter if you're going through the valley of the shadow of death, they can't slap a smile off your face? You can't even get depressed if you want to. I've been so full, Lord, I can't even get depressed if I want to get depressed. I say, "I ought to be depressed about that," but I can't get depressed about it. Why can't I get depressed about it? Because the joy of the Lord is my strength.

I ought to be depressed about that. Am I losing my mind? No, I'm in my right mind. Here it is. In Jude, there's only one chapter, but in verse 20 it says, "Build yourselves up in the most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, and keeping yourselves in the love of God, looking for his return." Four things: in the Word, prayer is what brings that presence you're abiding in him, and putting away anything that would detract from this relationship with you and him, keeping yourselves in the love of God.

Listen here, we're almost done tonight. Listen carefully. I know I'm probably going over, but listen. "Abide in me." This is Jesus speaking; it's red-letter. "Abide in me. Stay plugged into the source." How many you guys know, how many ladies know, when you're vacuuming and the plug comes out of the socket, the motor stops? How many know that? And if you've got one of those vacuums that doesn't stop, please, now you've got perfect energy, we need to market and sell it so the church never has to take another offering again. Or how many you guys working for a power tool and you go a little too far or you trip over the cord and you unplug it? What happens? It doesn't run.

It might be a nice shiny brand-new tool, brand-new vacuum cleaner, but it won't run, won't work. Oh, it's nice to hold, it's good to look at. I heard a joke a long time ago about this guy that went to a shop. He used to cut trees with an axe and with a big giant handsaw, and he heard about this new invention called a chainsaw. One of his neighbors said, "Yeah, I bought one of those chainsaws and, man, I could cut like four times the amount of wood in a day than I could cut with my axe and my regular saw."

So he goes down to the chainsaw store, he says, "I'd like me one of those new chainsaws. One of my neighbors has got one and he says, man, you could really cut wood with this thing." So he bought the chainsaw. He went home. A couple days later, he comes back to the shop and he said, "This thing must not work because I'm not cutting any more wood with this chainsaw than I did with my saw and my axe."

He goes, "Well, let me take it in the back and have the mechanic look at it." He brought it back out and said, "No, it's working fine. Go home and try it again." He said, "I went home and tried it again." Couple days later, he brought it back. He said, "This thing, I'm telling you, doesn't cut any wood any faster than my axe and my regular saw." He goes, "Well, we had it looked at... well, let's just try it right here in front of you just to make sure it works." And he fired it up and goes, "Ring, ring, ring!" He goes, "What's that noise?"

Can you imagine a guy out there not with the motor running trying to saw wood? That's you and me when we're not plugged into Jesus. That's religion. You got to turn the motor on. Oh, and by the way, the motor doesn't turn on unless there's gas in the tank. Amen. Listen to him. "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide"—watch how many times he uses the word "abide"—"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," because they're good for nothing. Remember, the grapevine is good for nothing, you can't use it for anything else. It's only meant to bear fruit. And if it doesn't bear fruit, then they gather it up and they cast it into the fire that they should be burned. "But 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, abide in me."

I'm going to tell you that's the secret, gang. Listen, guys and gals. This is not a religion. Religious people crucified Jesus. I don't care when you walk in this store, I'm glad we're a non-denominational church. They'd never let me be a pastor. In fact, I taught in a denominational Bible college. I was the class valedictorian; they invited me back to teach. And I pastored in this denomination, and one guy came up to me and said to me one day, "You need to quit. You have no anointing." I go, "I have no anointing?" He said, "No, all you know how to do is teach the Bible. You don't know how to preach."

I said, "Well, what do you mean?" "You don't know how to preach!" Well, are you coming to see me dance like a monkey, or are you coming to hear God's Word? I'm not here for your entertainment. I'm not here to preach sermonettes to Christianettes. I'm here to feed God's sheep because I'm an undershepherd and one day I've got to give an account to the chief shepherd if you were fed or not.

And I'm telling you right now as your shepherd, the undershepherd, you are going to have nothing but problems in your life as a believer until you learn that what God is after is fruit. And the only way—read this section this week—the only way you can bear fruit is you have to abide in him. What does that look like? In his Word, in prayer, having those private times, that secret place, coming to the pavilion and waiting.

You know, there's an old hymn—and I'll end with this. I'll get the worship team coming on up right now so we can—come on up, guys. Move, move, move! I'm already over time. I don't want people complaining in the nursery. They got the wild banshees back there and I will be in trouble because they're going to say, "You went over." But there's a song we used to sing. You know, I'm a hippie. I'm coming out of the rock and roll. I'm coming into a very conservative church. You know, the first Sunday I went there, I got saved in a Bible study was sponsored by this church. The first Sunday I went there, I put on my Sunday best. I had a pair of loafers, I had corduroy bell-bottoms, not my jeans with the split and the psychedelic, and I had a dress shirt on. It was a green t-shirt with a pocket. Brown corduroys, not my old jeans and tie-dye. I wore shoes, not flip-flops or Birkenstocks. I thought I was dressed up.

And I walked in that place, and the first man I met in a three-piece suit said to me, "If you can't dress any better than that, you ought not to be here." And I looked him in the face and I said, "Listen," because I was saved but not quite sanctified, "back off, bud. I've come to see if Jesus is in this place. I don't know if he can be found or not, but I'm coming and looking for him."

Years and years later, that guy wanted me to marry his daughter. Are you kidding me? Because you think it's about the outside and I never have. Jesus changed my heart. He took darkness out and put light in. He took hopelessness away and put life. And all I want is Jesus. And we used to sing this song, and I want them to learn it. "I come to the garden alone when the dew is still on the roses, and he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his own, and the joy we share none other has known." Because there's something about walking with Jesus. There's something about that intimacy that you have in Jesus. And I will tell you, the times I have failed, it's the times that I have not nurtured that. And I got too busy in the work of the Lord and I forgot the Lord of the work. I learned a hard lesson. And now I ask every day, "Lord, keep me on a short leash. When you say heel, I want to be right there. Don't let me get ahead, don't let me lag behind." Because the secret, gang, listen, guys and gals, is abiding in him. Amen. Fruit comes naturally when the branch is plugged into the source. Let's stand.

Father, thank you for just reminding me again of this today. You remind me often of it, Lord. And thank you for giving me the opportunity tonight to share that with the body of Christ, that the secret is not found in religion, it's never found in going to church or doing things for you, Lord. The secret to victorious Christian living, the secret to walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh, the secret to being well-pleasing to you and glorifying the Father is found in a very simple principle: we have to stay plugged into Jesus. We have to keep ourselves in the love of God, and we do that by building our lives on the foundation of your Word and praying in the Holy Spirit. Just stay plugged in, stay plugged in because he is the source of all power. You don't have to have power in you. You can be weak, you can be frail, but when you plug into the source of all power, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. So help us to do that, Lord, we pray in Jesus' name. Let's sing one last song.