Gospel of John, 15:1-11
John · Courtney Hemenway · Aug 17, 2008
Gospel of John (2008), No. 33
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492619387596

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

All right, we're going to do a tag team today. if he shuts up. The vote of confidence from Mike. I am setting my watch because he had little doubt that I could get through in 10 or 15 minutes. So I will be beeped in time so we can do the tag team. Question sheet number 27, lesson 27. We got through seven. Did we get through seven? We got two seven. Two seven. We didn't get through seven, right?

Okay, oh, I think this is Mike was this your notebook or was this And then in the 28th, I'm like it's up there Taking up your time. I know If I fail it's all because Mike Mike pay this Wait, I'm stopping the clock Well, somewhere in here is also 28. You're looking for 27?

28. Oh, here's a bunch of them. Oh, you got them, okay. Yeah, coming up for Mike, I was going to hand those out. Alright, number 27, Lesson 27, Question 7.

Did Jesus know what the disciples thought and believed about him? Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe. Did he know what they thought? And did he know what they believed about him? Absolutely. From Jesus' response again it shows that He knows the heart and understanding of the disciples. Let me start my clock again.

He knows that they haven't comprehended all that He has told them. However, He has just promised them that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, in verse 17, and in verse 26, that the Holy Spirit would what? teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said." So he's just told him this, he's just told him that about the Holy Spirit, gone through this whole discourse on the Holy Spirit, and then he gives this in verse 29, and I've told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe. He knows they don't understand what's going on, he knows that they're confused, so he's comforting them by the fact that he's saying, hey, even though you don't understand, I know you don't understand this, Trust me, you will, after it happens, because the Holy Spirit, who's going to bring all things to your remembrance, I promise the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, you'll understand in time.

You know, I think about that too, you that have children. Trust me, you'll understand in time. Just trust me. You don't understand right now, but just trust me. My promise is nowhere near fulfilling as what the Lord says here, but it's the same kind of concept. Just trust me. You'll understand in time.

And in this one, we have the indwelling Holy Spirit who will bring all things to remembrance after the things transpired. They didn't believe. So how comforting is this to us? What does this mean to us? The same concept. Does he know our situation? Does he know what circumstances we're in? I just prayed for Jack and Winnie and all that, and talked with Winnie yesterday. The Lord's in control. I know that. She wasn't angry. She wasn't, why is the Lord doing this? It was, the Lord knows about this, in all circumstances. So, we can be comforted by the same thing. My favorite ism, God never says, oops, I missed that. You know, there's never a time that's not in his vocabulary. Oops. You know, he's always aware of everything that's going on in your life.

So no matter what, you know, we've just gone through this discourse on peace, you know, from the last questions before this. The peace that he gives to us. And the peace is the fact that he has given us the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He knows everything that's going on with us, moment by moment. There's never a time that he doesn't. And so we can be comforted by that fact, no matter what happens.

Even when he allows us to fail in things, he knows about that. He lets us do, you know, sometimes, I think Mike and I have talked about this, you know, or if somebody was, you know, sometimes he just, okay, I'll let you do it. You want it, I'll let you do it.

Actually, it was in Acts with Paul. That's right. We were talking about that. That's kind of an interesting one with Paul when he's going to Jerusalem. He has all the disciples going, hey, the Spirit's leading us not to go to Jerusalem. And then the prophet comes and tells him, look, give me your belt and I'll tie you up. This is what's going to happen. You're going to be bound and taken away. Don't go to Jerusalem. A prophet. And it was a proven prophet. Tells him, but what does Paul do? Right to Jerusalem. What happens? Gets bound, taken away, blah, blah, blah.

So the Lord lets us do something, even in some of the failures, He lets us, for learning and for child training, I think. So even in all those circumstances, we can be comforted by the fact that He knows us. The intimacy that He has with us is the fact that He never says, So, you know, we have the same thing. We have that comforting that the Holy Spirit is indwelling us and that God always knows what's going on in our life. Question 8.

Was Jesus' impending death a result of Satan's power over Him? No. No. And why? Verse 30 says, He has nothing in me. He has nothing in me. And he's doing as the Father commanded. Exactly. He's doing the Father's will. That's exactly right. He's doing the will and Satan has nothing in him. And when it gets on the cross, he gives up his life. No one takes it from him. So Satan has nothing, no power over him.

So, and again, the thing is the Father's will is the most important thing. That's all I do. And we'll get, actually, we'll get that into, in question nine, we'll get into that now. In verse 31, what was the commandment that the Father gave to him? From verse 31. He's gone in silence again. You're eating up my time.

Well, then he'd go to the cross. Then he'd go to the cross and die for the sins of the world. And what would that show? His obedience. His obedience to the Father. His love for the Father. Yeah, in the beginning, all that's true. Going to the cross, it's really doing the will of the Father. In this verse, so that the world may know what? That I love the Father. I do exactly as the Father commanded me. So again, it's that they know that He loves the Father. And how much did He love Him?

Enough to go to the cross. To take all of our sins, and take the penalty for all of our sins, go to the cross, First time ever in all of eternity, the Father had to turn his back on him. He knew all this, but it was the Father's will that he do that. So again, it was the obedience to the Father's will. I think of this, when we're in Christ and we are in the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, to do the Father's will is just like breathing.

Yeah. It brought to mind Romans 5, 6 and 7, for when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Yeah. I mean, perfect way. You know, it's great for us to die for somebody, but This death, that's what I always remember when we have the remembrance service. I always think about how we are calloused sometimes to death. We hear it on the news all the time.

300 people died here. 9-11, 2,000 people died. We have 4,000 people die in Iraq. We have a bus that goes off a bridge and people die. In order to survive, we tend to be calloused to death. When you really think about it, what death and the death of an individual, but when you're talking to all these people, I mean, it's overwhelming.

I sometimes get fearful, and that's why I think the Lord did the remembrance service, is to have us remember the most important death, the death of Jesus on the cross. And we have this remembrance service to bring that to our remembrance so we're not callous to it. That we don't forget what that death meant on the cross. And so every time we have the remembrance service, it's for us to remember, not to be callous, not to just, this is another death, I'm kind of insulated from it, but to remember the death of the Lord on the cross and what that means. I mean, all-encompassing what it means. Taking all the sins upon Him, having the Father who never ever turned His back on Him, turn His back on Him. When you encompass that into our remembrance service and what the Lord did on the cross, it's not just another death that we're calloused to. A couple things on the will.

Again, as you look through John and just the revelation that keeps coming about doing the Father's will, On John 4.34, Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work. His very food, what gave him life, was to do the will of the Father.

John 5.30, I can do nothing on my own initiative. As I hear, I judge. And my judgment is just, because what? I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me. John 6, 39.

This is the will of Him who sent me, that of all that He has given me, I lose nothing, but I raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I myself will raise Him up on the last day. Again, just for him to breathe was to do the will of the Father. And as I say, if we walk in the Spirit, Conditionally, we will do the will of the Father, because that is what Christ's example, His life is, was to do the will of the Father.

All right, and lastly, question 10. What are the similarities between Jesus' obedience and ours? Pretty much given away already. What's the similarity? We should trust the Father. Trust? Yeah. Others? If we love Him, what will we do? Obey. What? Obey. We'll do the will of the Father. Because our very life is Christ's very life. So if we're in Him, what is our will? To do the Father's will. It's not hard. It's not tough. It's like breathing. So, you know, to do the Father's will should be, you know, as easy as breathing if we're in the spirit.

So, alright. Ha! Did you make it? Ha! What's the time deal, Mark? I've got plenty of time. So, we're moving on to 28th and Mike... Let us go from this place. Yes, exactly. That's the end of the verse. Let us go from here. OK, John 15. We are entering into three or four of the best chapters in the Word of God, I think. John 15, really familiar to most believers. Everybody got a 28? Less than 28? OK. The first thing I want to do is, so we can put it in context, Somebody who, let's read the first 11 verses of 15, please. Anybody? The first 15? No, the first 11 verses, please.

I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away and every branch that bears fruit he proves it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so 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, he bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up, and they gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned.

If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

Okay, before I get to the first question, everybody understand what a vine and the branches and fruit is? Who doesn't? I got pictures. It's important to understand that the symbol that he's using here is that there are a grapevine has branches and on the end of the branches fruit is produced. The key is, which one of those three elements has the life in it? All three of them do, if they're connected. What's the source of the life in a grapevine? The root, the vine itself. The vine itself is the source of the life. So he says in verse 1, I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. So were there other vines? Were there other vines? Yes. How many? Several. Several? Name them. Weeds.

Were there other sources of life? that a Jew would understand, well who would a Jew think that the source of life was in the vine? A godly Jew, somebody who was serious about being a Jew. Who would he think might be a vine? Didn't they think the nation Israel was a vine? They thought the whole nation was the vine. And that that nation was producing fruit. They weren't, but that's what they thought. There is another source, a vine source, that every single human being is connected to when they come on this planet.

Who is it? Adam. When you are conceived, whose life do you get? You get Adam's life. So you could say Adam is a vine. And whatever the vine, whatever the life characteristics are in that vine is what you being a branch, that's the characteristic you're going to have. So it's important that the issue that the Lord Jesus is laying out here is that if the vine is the center, the branches are out here and the fruit hangs on the end of the branches, where does the life come from? It comes from the vine. So if you're, let's make Adam the vine, what kind of fruit did Adam produce?

Sin. Right? So if you're an Adam, do you have any chance of producing anything other than sin? You have no chance. So you can forget this idea that you're going to do a lot of good stuff in Adam and be pleasing to God. Because it's impossible because the source is not right. Same thing with Israel.

So, the next character that's talked about here is this guy called the Vine Dresser. Now who's that? It's the father. And what does the Vine Dresser do? My brother-in-law, Paul, has a... why he's doing this is beyond me. I hope he listens to the tape.

He just loves vines and wine and grapes and stuff, so he bought 35 acres or something, or 13 acres in Red Mountain, Washington. And then he bought 6,000 grape plants. And then he went and bought water. And now he's got them planted. And he's really hoping they grow, right?

Well, he's going to become, next year he's going to become this guy, the vine dresser. And what does that guy do? What is the vine dresser's job? He would not, and wine parlance be called the vintner, he'd be called the grower. And what does he do? He cultivates it, he waters it, he protects it from disease. He takes care of it, he fertilizes it. He makes sure that it produces the maximum amount of grapes that it possibly can. That's his job.

Who's the vine dresser here? The father. So, you think that's what the father's up to? Yeah, absolutely. When you think about Jack McBride having a stroke, is the wine dresser busy or would he take the day off? He's busy, right? He's doing his job. Okay. He watches, he prunes, he facilitates the greater fruit production. Now, watch this next part.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away. Does everybody's Bible say take away? Does anybody's Bible say something other than take away? No. Okay. If bears not fruit, he takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. Okay. Well, maybe I'll say it this way.

There are three characteristics going on here. And there are branches in me that don't bear fruit. There are branches in me that do bear fruit. And there are branches that aren't in me that don't bear fruit. So we've got three players in this act, right? Who is this group? Every branch that's where? In me that doesn't bear fruit. What's in me, Stan, mean? In Christ. In Christ. How does that work? What's this in me thing all about? In the context of abiding in the branches. Union. What's that? Union with Him. Union with Him.

So, what the Lord Jesus is telling the disciples, which has to be probably confusing to him, that being in him is a prerequisite for bearing the proper kind of fruit. But then he's saying to him, oh by the way, every branch that's in me that doesn't bear fruit, he takes away.

So I got to tell you, there have been volumes written on this being the verse that means you can lose your salvation. because if you don't bear fruit, he's going to take you away, right? Which would mean, if that were true, it would mean that you had to earn your salvation, wouldn't it? It would mean that you had to do an infinite number or undetermined number of spiritual push-ups in order for God to be pleased enough in order for you to be saved, okay? Or it would mean, okay, you're safe. But if you want to stay saved, You better get busy. And if you don't get busy, this line dresser is going to come along and he's going to take you away. The guy in the white coat and the little truck is going to come and take you away.

The problem is, and I don't know, I spent some time researching this, where the translators came up with take away goes all the way back to the first translations into English of this word A-I-R-O. Now, if you look up the word, take away is a secondary meaning. The primary meaning is what? A-I-R-O. In Greek, it means to lift up. Lift up.

So, I mean, think about this. If you're out there in Red Mountain, Washington, helping my brother with his vines, and one of them isn't bearing fruit. Are you going to cut it off and throw it away? No. What you're going to do is you're going to lift it up and tie it up and do whatever you can to get it to bear some fruit.

That's what this word really means. It means to lift up. It means to support. It means the primary route to lift up, to take up, to carry up, to bear up. That's what it means. So, very seldom will I ever tell you to do one of these in your Bible and put another word in there, but this is one of those places. I would put lift up in there, because that's really what this word means. Somehow The second or third definition is take away. I don't know where the translators came up with that.

Since we're using the word lift up, what does it tell us about the vine dresser? He's lifting those who don't bear fruit. So if you're one of those slackers, doesn't have a lot of fruit, you can trust the Vinedresser to take the steps necessary for you to be productive.

That's what it means. And it may come in the form of something that you're not happy about. It may come in a whole bunch of ways that maybe initially don't make sense to you, but trust me, the Vinedresser who is the father and who is interested in the maximum production is going to come along and he's going to lift you up. He's going to tie you up. He's going to put you in a position where you can produce.

That to me is really cool because it's gracious. Sometimes, if you're like me, you're very critical about non-producers. But you can trust the Lord to take care of the circumstances when it comes to maybe being a quote-unquote non-producer. The Father knows what he's doing. He's been at this a lot longer than we have. Interesting. I made Xerox this little book and give it to everybody.

There are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Greek lexicons that all say to raise up, to lift up, to elevate. And how we got to English and it says cut off or take away is like What are they thinking? I think it's because a lot of times when you read an English translation of the Word of God and it's just in there, you just think, well, we can't mess with it. You know, one of the cool things about having a few guys around that understand Greek is they go check it out. They're Berean enough. that they said, well, maybe this takeaway isn't, I better check that out and investigate it a little bit. And when you do, what you find out is the lift up is the right translation. It is the primary translation to establish the root word, which is to lift up. So you will find, People who didn't do their homework could translate the word of God into English using take cut off, take away, but you will find scholars who have done their homework using lift up. Let me give you some other examples.

Exactly the same word, Matthew 9.6, take up thy bed and go. Same word.

Mark 10.21, take up the cross and follow me. Same word. Mark 16, 18, they shall take up serpents. John 11, 41, Jesus lifted up his eyes. Same word. Revelation 18, 21, a mighty angel took up a stone. Same word. So you will probably in your Christian life Have someone challenge you.

So remember, A-I-R-O means to lift up. Any questions about that? So, maybe now is a good time to talk about position and condition. Everybody know the principle of position and the principle of condition? Understand what I mean by that? If you don't, raise your hand. position is what the Word of God says is true of you. If you're in Christ, in the vine, that's your position.

Whether you bear fruit or not is your condition. Can the bearing of fruit or not bearing of fruit affect your position? Absolutely not. If you live in a contemporary mindset under a law system, you pretty soon are going to buy into the fact that if you're not producing fruit, somehow your position is starting to wane. Your position is immovable. Why? Why can't your position ever be touched, tarnished, exchanged or exchanged. Why not? Because God can't change. Because God can't change.

You didn't do anything to get your position, did you? What did you do to put yourself in the mind? Faith. You exercised faith in the facts, right? Okay, so six months from now I've changed my mind. Why can't you change your mind? What's that? Sure, well, when you exercise faith, did you contribute anything to what you were exercising faith in? No. And really, if there's any part of the John's Gospel that refers to the identification truths but doesn't explain it, here it is. See? Because you have to answer the question, well, he says any branch that's in me, how did I get this in me position? How'd I get there? I got there by being included in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

Romans 6.3 says, don't you realize that when you were baptized into Christ, you were baptized into His death?

You were placed in Him at the time that He died. When He died, He was separated. He was made sin for us. He was separated from sin, the thing sin. Well, if you're in Him, guess what happens to you? You get separated too. You get buried, you get resurrected, you are now seated in Christ in the heavenlies positionally. That's all the work of God. I think that's the key as far as the position and unchangeableness or the eternal aspect of it.

If you have to get out of that, you have to reverse that process. How do you go back through, down, buried, back up on the cross? For either Christ or us, we can't do that. Sure, well you didn't abrade the path going up, you certainly can't come back on your own. But if you put it on Christ, Christ would then have to go back in the grave, come back on the cross, and undie I guess again or something.

That's exactly right. So your position in the vine is a secure position. The problem you have, and the problem I have is, oh gee, now that I'm there, down the road is called the vine dresser, and if I'm not bearing fruit, duck. Because he's going to do something so that I will begin to manifest the exact same kind of life that's in the vine. Right? Here's our problem. The vines here, we're the branches, right?

And out at the end of the branches is the fruit, and we're supposed to focus in and keep our eyes on Christ. You know what we normally do? We're looking at the fruit. As soon as you look at the fruit, it withers. Because the branch has to abide, which we'll see in a minute, in the vine.

So my question four was, is verse one through three a position or a conditional truth? And what I did actually is both. So what I want to do is go through those three verses and then just say position and condition. I am the true vine and my father is the husband and I am the vine dresser. That's position.

Every branch in me, position, that bears not fruit, condition, he takes away or lifts up. Condition. And every branch that bears fruit. Condition. He purges it. Condition. That it may bring forth more fruit. Condition. Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Position. You see that? I think it's extremely important for believers to understand clearly the difference between when the Word of God talks about your position in Christ and your condition.

So, put it in simple English. The vinedresser's job is to get the branch to produce the kind of life that it positionally has in the vines. That's what he's after and that's what he's up to all the time. He never varies from that job. That's his job.

So when he comes along and lifts you up, and it's painful, you start to think, oh gee, now if you understand your position, you know what you'll do? You'll let him do it. I'm watching my father-in-law in the hospital, with a stroke, and his family, and they all understand position and condition. You know what? Other than the first little while when the news first came out and there was a lot of stress, they're all resting. Every single one of them. It's really cool to see. Because they know their position. You know?

Winnie said to Jack, Jack, we've had a lot of pigs, now we're going to have a valley. And everybody went, yeah, that's right, Winnie. trusting in the bind dresser to do his job. That's what's going on. I was thinking of putting it in context too, you know, when you said when the bind dresser comes, duck.

You know, I think it is, you know, if it removes, takes away, or cuts off, it doesn't make any sense in the context of what he just said, you know, my big thing is about peace. You know, he just told you peace and I'm leaving you in all this. If it was cut off, take away, smack, you know, do anything like that, it's not in context what he's just told us. He just told us that peace, I'm going to give you peace, I'm going to give you all this. So when you put it in the lifting up, if you put it in that same context, it's in peace and love and all the things he's already told you about. It makes much more sense that it's not, you know, duck. It's, I'm here to lift you up.

I agree, yeah. I've known a lot of people that would say, you know, this so-and-so is out in the world saving a lot of people and they're producing a lot of fruit. But something like that happened to Jack, they would say, well, he must have done something wrong. And it's interesting to get a different perspective on that. That's exactly right.

Or if somebody dies, that he was taken away because he wasn't married proof. Not that that doesn't happen, but the point is that, well maybe put it this way, the underlying issue here is that the intensity with which the father pays attention to you and what you're doing. Put it this way, he's out in the field every day, all day, doing his job. Now, in verse 3, you are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. You're in the vine because of the word that he spoke to you and you believed it. And so he put you in the vine. You're there because of him.

And question 8. We're down to verse 4. What is it about this command in verse 4 that lets us know that there is something more than salvation? Verse 4. Abide in me, and I in you. Oh, wait a minute. I'm sorry. I need to discuss the second half of verse 1. And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it that it may bear more fruit. Oh yeah? I got all this down. I'm immune to pruning.

Have you ever visited a vineyard or an orchard and watched what these guys do to the vines? Especially in a grape vineyard. They whack on those things. You know, with the loppers and the nippers. If you know anything about backyard growing of fruit trees or anything, what do you do every year with them? What do you do with your trees? You're sharpening up the loppers. You know, firing up the chainsaw.

And what are you doing? You're shaping, you're cutting it back, so like rose bushes, tomato plants, tomatoes have those little sucker things on them and you cut them off, you pinch them off. Why? Because they sap life out of the vine and they won't produce tomatoes. So you get rid of the stuff that doesn't produce.

You can trust the vine dresser to do that in your life. every step of the way, for the sole purpose. Oh, by the way, what is the fruit? When he says that you might produce more fruit, what is it? What is that fruit? It's a glorified God. It's a glorified God, but what about fruit? Fruit is visible, right?

Do you ever see the life in the vine? You ever peel it open and say, oh yeah, there's the life. You ever see that? No, you don't see the life in the vine, do you? You might see the sap, but you don't see the life. How do you know the thing's alive and it's functioning? Because it's producing fruit. That's how you know. So, what's the fruit look like for a believer in this context? What's that? Love, joy.

Yeah, the fruit of the spirit. By the way, that word fruit of the spirit is singular. It's not a whole bunch of different fruits. Otherwise we'd have a whole bunch of different vines. We have one vine that produces one kind of fruit and the characteristics of that fruit are love, joy, peace, patience, long-suffering, kindness, meekness. All of those things together You can't say one believer is very loving but he's not joyful and the guy next to him is joyful but he isn't very loving. Oh no, that's not the way it works. All tomatoes, well I shouldn't say that, they're not all red. They all taste good though. So you understand what I'm saying? As the life is produced in the branch and the fruit begins to show up, it's all of these things will be manifested, not just one or two. Question 8.

What is it about the command in verse 4 that lets us know that there is something more than salvation? Here's the verse. Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can you except you abide in me. What is it about this verse that lets us know Because salvation is what? Abide in me. So what does this verse tell us about, gee, there might be something more than salvation? What tells us that?

It's relationship. Yeah, and relationship is characterized by what phrase? I in you. Yeah, I in you. It means to continue to dwell to remain, to tarry, to stand. Is verse 4 position or condition? I'm going to be banging on position and condition the whole time. Abide in me is position, right? And I in you, position or condition? What do you think? If the verse says abide in me, position? No problem. And I in you? Position. So once you're a believer, you're going to bear fruit from now on. Is this a conditional? Yeah, it's conditional. Let me put it to you this way. So he can leave you? No. We have to talk about the word abiding. What does the word abiding mean? Make your home. Make your home. Stay there and hang out there.

So when the Lord Jesus said an I in you, when I in you is functioning it means that the life is functioning through you. That has to be a conditional verse, because he wouldn't have said both things after he has said, abide in me, because that puts you in Christ, that we could say is salvation. But my abiding in him, for him abiding in me is a whole different thing, because that means that the life is active.

That make sense? You have furrowed brows, come on, challenge me. I have to think about that one. I and you as conditions. If you're not in him, you can't fare for his life. But if you are in him, you can. But how about, maybe I should read this to you. I would say that, maybe put it this way.

When he says an I in you, he's talking about something more than just you being in him. Is he not? of the discourse of him leaving and giving us the spirit, which would not leave. So I put it in the context that I am you, meaning the spirit is in you. He just went through saying, you know, even though I'm leaving you, the spirit will come and never leave you. And that's what I think.

These are both positional. The second part of the abiding, I believe, is conditional, because the Greek in it, too, is present, where these are aorist tents. Well, the other problem you have here is this is an imperative. This is a command. This says, abide in me and I in you is an imperative. And he does it two more times. He does it in five and he does it in seven. He says, he that abides in me and I in him, and seven, if you abide in me and my words abide in you.

So would he command someone who is already in Christ to be in Christ? No. But he might come in and get to think about it all week. Actually, that's pretty good because we have a discussion point. And so next week we'll we'll address whether it's position and conditions that come with your best guns. I don't know if we'll get through less than twenty eight next week, but here's twenty nine. I'm going to be real surprised if you get 15. So I want you to come with your best arguments about about me and you.

Let's close in prayer. Dear Father, how we thank you for your word and how we thank you for the position that is irrevocable in your dear Son and that we may grow in the knowledge and grace of him and to produce a fruit that's characteristic of the Father. We thank you for that. We pray in your Son's precious name. Amen.