The True Vine

by J. DORRICOTT | Category: N/a | Dec 1951

"I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Husbandman". Read John 15. 1-8.

Israel was once God's Vine. "Thou broughtest a Vine out of Egypt" (Psalm 80.8, 9), and though God cared for it as He cared for no other nation, it bore no fruit to His satisfaction and according to desire, and sometimes it bore no fruit at all. At last He sent His Son, and He speaks unto them in the parable of Matthew 21. (read this for yourselves). How did they treat Him? "They took Him and cast Him forth out of the vineyard, and killed Him." Israel, which ceased to bear fruit unto God, ceased to be God's Vine; the Lord Jesus Christ is "the True Vine," and all who are believers in Him are the branches. At the beginning, we desire you to see that the chief thought in the passage before us is fruit-bearing; not our standing in Christ which is on the solid basis of redemption, which is eternally secure, but our state, our condition as fruit-bearing branches, drawing sap from the Vine, our Lord Jesus Himself, who gives us power for fruit-bearing. The power for fruit-bearing is not now in Israel, nor in ourselves, but in the blessed Lord Himself. His Father is the Husbandman, the Dresser, the Pruner, the Cleanser.

In our unsaved state we bore no fruit to God, but now it is our privilege and duty so to abide in Christ, that we bear fruit to His honour and glory. We come now to that very solemn verse, "Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away." Now we ask ourselves, what does this mean, "He taketh away"? We know it does not mean that any believing one can perish eternally, or be severed from the Body of Christ. (See and read John 3.16, John 10.28, 29, Romans 8.31 to end). Then what can it mean? From Ezekiel 15. we learn that the vine is of no use to man save for the fruit it bears. It exists to bear fruit. And if it bear no fruit, then it is cast into the fire for fuel. A child of God exists on earth for the testimony he bears, for the fruit he yields to God, "fruit unto holiness," to manifest the fruit of the Spirit, and failing to do so our life on earth is worthless, and we are cast forth as a branch and are withered, "and they (men) gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned." Testimony is destroyed because of ceasing to bear fruit! There is a similar thought in Matthew 5.18, "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted, it is henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men." All this through not abiding in Christ t Those in the world will point the finger of scorn at such, and the enemies of Christ will blaspheme that worthy Name on account of such sapless branches. These cast-forth branches may meet with their judgement from the Husbandman in this world (see and read prayerfully, 1 Corinthians 11. 29, 30; 1 John 5.16, 17; 1 Corinthians 3.18-15; Romans 14. 10-12). We would plainly tell young believers, that they cannot go to worldly places of amusement and bear fruit to God at the same time. They cannot have unsaved companions and be fruit-bearing branches. They cannot neglect secret prayer (Matthew 6.6) and devotional reading of the Word of God without ceasing to bear fruit. We now come to something about which we have much greater pleasure in writing to you, i.e., the fruit-bearing branch. "Every branch that beareth fruit He cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit." The Husbandman has great joy when He comes to examine the branches and finds some bearing fruit. "Herein is My Father glorified that ye bear much fruit, and 80 shall ye be My disciples." Do not let us call ourselves disciples if we are not bearing fruit. The Dresser sees a little blight on one of the fruit-bearing branches, and He cleanses it in order to bear more fruit. Does this not agree exactly with Hebrews 12. 6-11, "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth"? "God dealeth with you as with sons." He chastens for our profit that we "may be partakers of His holiness." There are three ways how we may receive this cleansing, pruning or chastening:

1.We may despise it (exhortation is " despise not").

2.We may faint under it (exhortation is "faint not").

3. We may be "exercised" under it, that is, concerned as to why the Husbandman is so acting toward us, by sending us this trouble or that trial, this sorrow or that grief. This will lead us nearer to Him in prayer and communion, and so there will be borne "the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby." The same thought is in Psalm 23. "He restoreth my soul, He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness, for His Name's sake." May it be, dear reader, your blest portion and mine, not only to bear fruit, but "more fruit," yea, "much fruit" to the Husband man's glory.

J. DORRICOTT | Dec 1951
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