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The True Vine

MOODY PUBLISHERS

Contents

Preface.................................................................9Introduction............................................................111. The Vine John 15:1.......................232. The Husbandman John 15:1.......................273. The Branch John 15:2.......................314. The Fruit John 15:2.......................355. More Fruit John 15:2.......................396. The Cleansing John 15:2.......................437. The Pruning Knife John 15:3.......................478. Abide John 15:4.......................519. Except Ye Abide John 15:4.......................5510. I the Vine John 15:5......................5911. Ye the Branches John 15:5......................6312. Much Fruit John 15:5......................6713. Ye Can Do Nothing John 15:5......................7114. Withered Branches John 15:6......................7515. What Ye Will John 15:7......................7916. If Ye Abide John 15:7......................8317. The Father Glorified John 15:8......................8718. True Disciples John 15:8......................9119. The Wonderful Love John 15:9......................9520. Abide in My Love John 15:9......................9921. Obey and Abide John 15:10.....................10322. Ye, Even As I John 15:10.....................10723. Joy John 15:11.....................11124. Love One Another John 15:12.....................11525. As I Have Loved You John 15:12.....................11926. Christ's Friendship: Its Origin John 15:13.....................12327. Christ's Friendship: Its Evidence John 15:14.....................12728. Christ's Friendship: Its Intimacy John 15:15.....................13129. Election John 15:16.....................13530. Abiding Fruit John 15:16.....................13931. Prevailing Prayer John 15:16.....................143To Think About..........................................................147

Chapter One

I am the true vine. -John 15:1

All earthly things are the shadows of heavenly realities-the expression, in created, visible forms, of the invisible glory of God. The life and the truth are in heaven; on earth we have figures and shadows of the heavenly truths. When Jesus says: "I am the true vine," He tells us that all the vines of earth are pictures and emblems of Himself. He is the divine reality, of which they are the created expression. They all point to Him, and preach Him, and reveal Him. If you would know Jesus, study the vine.

How many eyes have gazed on and admired a great vine with its beautiful fruit? Come and gaze on the heavenly Vine till your eye turns from all else to admire Him. How many, in a sunny climate, sit and rest under the shadow of a vine? Come and be still under the shadow of the true Vine, and rest under it from the heat of the day. What countless numbers rejoice in the fruit of the vine! Come, and take, and cat of the heavenly fruit of the true Vine, and let your soul say: "I sat under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste."

I am the true vine.-This is a heavenly mystery. The earthly vine can teach you much about this Vine of heaven. Many interesting and beautiful points of comparison suggest themselves and help us to get conceptions of what Christ meant. But such thoughts do not teach us to know what the heavenly Vine really is, in its cooling shade and its life-giving fruit. The experience of this is part of the hidden mystery, which none but Jesus Himself, by His Holy Spirit, can unfold and impart.

I am the true vine.-The Vine is the living Lord, who Himself speaks, and gives, and works all that He has for us. If you would know the meaning and power of that word, do not think to find it by thought or study; these may help to show you what you must get from Him to awaken desire and hope and prayer, but they cannot show you the Vine. Jesus alone can reveal Himself. He gives His Holy Spirit to open the eyes to gaze upon Himself, to open the heart to receive Himself. He must Himself speak the word to you and me.

I am the true vine.-And what are you to do, if you want the mystery, in all its heavenly beauty and blessing, opened up to you? With what you already know of the parable, bow down and be still, worship and wait, until the divine Word enters your heart and you feel His holy presence with you and in you. The overshadowing of His holy love will give you the perfect calm and rest of knowing that the Vine will do all.

I am the true vine.-He who speaks is God, in His infinite power able to enter into us. He is man, one with us. He is the crucified One, who won a perfect righteousness and a divine life for us through His death. He is the glorified One, who from the throne gives His Spirit to make His presence real and true. He speaks-oh, listen, not to His words only, but to Himself, as He whispers secretly day by day: "I am the true Vine! All that the Vine can ever be to its branch, I will be to you."

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Holy Lord Jesus, the heavenly Vine of God's own planting, I beseech You, reveal Yourself to my soul. Let the Holy Spirit, not only in thought, but in experience, give me to know all that You, the Son of God, are to me as the true Vine.

Chapter Two

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And my father is the husbandman. -John 15:1

A vine must have a husbandman to plant and watch over it, to receive and rejoice in its fruit. Jesus says: "My Father is the husbandman." Jesus was "the vine of God's planting." All He was and did, He owed to the Father; in all things He only sought the Father's will and glory. He had become man to show us what a creature ought to be to its Creator. He took our place, and the spirit of His life before the Father was ever what He seeks to make ours: "Of him, and through him, and to hint, are all things" (Romans 11:36). He became the true Vine, that we might be true branches. Both in regard to Christ and ourselves the words teach us the two lessons of absolute dependence and perfect confidence.

My Father is the husbandman.-Christ ever lived in the spirit of what He once said: "The Son can do nothing of himself" (John 5:19). As dependent as a vine is on a husbandman for the place where it is to grow, for its fencing in and watering and pruning, Christ felt Himself entirely dependent on the Father every day for the wisdom and the strength to do the Father's will. As He said in the previous chapter (John 14:10): "The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." This absolute dependence had as its blessed counterpart the most blessed confidence that He had nothing to fear: The Father could not disappoint Him. With...