The Vine and its Branches'

Next Part The Vine and its Branches' 2

"I am the true Vine, and my Father is the gardener. Every branch in me that bears no fruit he takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it, that it may bring forth more fruit." John 15:1,2.

What a solemn season the evening of that night was, when the Lord of life and glory was delivered into the hands of wicked men! when, before Judas came to betray him with a kiss, he opened as it were all his heart, and told out the secrets of his loving bosom into the ears of his disciples; when he said to them – "Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knows not what his lord does; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you."

He was at this solemn season setting before them everything that could comfort their drooping spirit. "Let not your heart," he says, "be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me." And if there ever was a special season, wherein the Lord, during his abode upon earth, administered spiritual consolation to those who were eternally his, we must fix this as the period, of all others, wherein that consolation was administered by him to their disconsolate souls.

But we see that the Lord did not merely administer consolation to them at this trying hour, when he was about to be taken from them and nailed to the cross, when he was going to leave them, and withdraw from them his bodily presence. He did not confine himself to topics of consolation; but he added topics of solemn instruction, and topics of deep warning. Now this shows to us, that however solemn a season of Divine consolation a child of God may be favored with from the lips of the Most High, the Lord will take care to administer instruction, reproof, and warning with it. So that the ministry of the Gospel is not one pure unmixed ministration of consolation; but fully corresponds with the character that the Holy Spirit has given of the Scriptures – that they are "profitable for doctrine" that is, teaching, "for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." And this coincides with the character that the Apostle Paul gives of his own preaching, where he says – "Commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God."

It is, then, a thorough mistake of what the ministration of the Gospel is, to think that the only Gospel topics are those of consolation for God's people. That is a short-sighted, misdirected view of what the ministration of the Spirit is. We find that the Lord, at the very moment when he was pouring consolation into the hearts of his troubled followers, lays before them a fearful warning; "Every branch in me that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it, that it may bring forth more fruit." And if the Lord of life and glory laid before his followers instruction and warning at this solemn season, it evidently proves that it is a part of the ministration of the Spirit to employ such topics, and so to "rightly divide the word of truth," to "take forth the precious from the vile," and to separate the clean from the unclean.

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. Every branch in me that bears no fruit he takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it, that it may bring forth more fruit." Without making any formal divisions of the text, I will, with God's blessing, endeavor to travel through the topics which are there lodged for the instruction of God's people, so far as the Lord the Spirit has led me into any acquaintance with them, and so far as He shall give unto me "a door of utterance" to set forth their meaning before you.

"I am the true vine." It appears from other parts of Scripture, that there were in the land of Judea plants which wore the appearance of the vine, but were of a poisonous, deleterious nature. We have a striking instance of this in the second book of Kings 2Kings 4:39, where "one of the sons of the prophets went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered wild gourds from it, and shred them into the pottage," which he did not appear to know were poisonous and injurious; but those who were better acquainted with the plant cried out, "There is death in the pot." Here, then, was a plant, which bore a great similarity to the true vine; so great a similarity as to deceive this son of the prophets. There is much, therefore, couched in the words, "I am the true vine," as opposed to false vines, poisonous and deleterious vines.

We have an allusion to this in the Book of Deuteronomy, where we read – "Their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gommorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter" De 32:32; no doubt alluding to this poisonous vine, which grew in the land of Judea. We find also the Lord, in Isaiah Isaiah 5:2, remonstrating with his people that he had "planted a vineyard with the choicest vine," but when "he looked that it should bring forth grapes, it brought forth wild grapes;" that is, instead of bringing forth clusters of the true fruit, it brought forth clusters of such fruit as I have been describing – "the vine of Sodom," and "grapes of gall." It had, as Jeremiah says Jer 2:21, "turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto him." There is much meaning, then, couched in the words, "I am the true vine," implying that, however near any false Christs may approach in appearance to the Christ of God, yet that he, and he only, is "the true vine," out of whom all the living branches grow, and is the only vine which the right hand of God himself has planted.

Now this "true vine" is said to have "branches." And there are two descriptions of branches, which are said to be in it. One kind is in it by profession; another set of branches is in it by reality. We must not for a moment suppose that those branches which the gardener "takes away" were living branches of the true vine, that they ever had an eternal union with Christ, that they were ever redeemed by the blood of Christ, or ever came forth out of Christ, as being in Christ before all worlds; but they were in him nominally – in him by profession. And the Lord seems to take this broad basis of their profession, adopts their own language, and speaks of them, not as they really were in his heart-searching presence, but as they professed to be; and thus frames his language, not according to the reality, but to the appearance of things. So that there are branches in Christ professedly, that have a mere nominal union with him; that claim to belong to him, and yet bear no fruit; and as bearing no fruit, the gardener "takes them away," removes them from their standing, plucks them out of that position in which they have placed themselves, and casts them away, that all men may see their shame.

But what are these "fruits" that some branches bear, and others bear not? Before we can describe the state of those branches that bear no fruit, we must have a little insight into what those fruits are, the deficiency of which causes the gardener to stretch forth his hand, and to take them away.

These "fruits," then, appear for the most part to be inward fruits; and we have a catalogue of some of them in the epistle to the Galatians Gal 5:22, where we read, that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace," and so on. It is the absence, then, chiefly of these inward fruits, that the gardener finds in these nominal branches; and the absence of these fruits causes him to take these branches away.

1. Now of these fruits, sincerity, uprightness, and integrity of heart before God is one inward fruit, that the Lord looks to find in the branches that profess to grow out of this spiritual vine. Where there is no principle of spiritual uprightness implanted in the soul, there we must say that the man is radically wrong. I am not speaking here of worldly uprightness, of natural integrity, of moral honesty, of carnal sincerity; but I am speaking of a principle of spiritual integrity, whereby the heart is made right before the Lord, whereby there is "some good thing" as the Scripture speaks "toward the Lord God of Israel." Now, where this principle of spiritual integrity is absent in the eyes of the heart-searching God, it demonstrates death in the branch.

But how is a man to know whether he possesses this "fruit" of spiritual integrity? If he possesses it, it will be manifested in his dealings with God, and it will be manifested in his dealings with man. He that has a principle of spiritual integrity and uprightness of heart before God, will come before him as a God that is not to be mocked, and will lay open his whole soul before him as a Jehovah that tries his thoughts and searches his heart, that knows every secret movement, and working of his soul before him, and the chambers of whose bosom he outstretched before his piercing eye. Then he that has spiritual integrity, will have those feelings which the Psalmist had in the 139th Psalm 139:23, when he said – "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

This spiritual integrity and uprightness before God is much connected with godly fear; and, therefore I believe, that a principle of spiritual uprightness lies at the root of all true religion, so that where that is deficient, life is deficient; when the soul is wrong there, it is wrong altogether.

And as it will be manifested in our approaches to God, so it will be also manifested in our communion with the family of God, and in our dealings with the world at large. There will be no taking a high room, when we feel that the lowest place is too good for us; there will be no endeavoring to elevate ourselves in the eyes of God's people, when we feel our heart to be "a nest of unclean birds;" there will be no walking upon the stilts of another man's experience, nor standing upon some high doctrinal tower, in one whose heart is really made upright and sincere before God. He will stand before the children of God in his true colors, telling them simply what he feels himself to be, and hating not only hypocrisy, but the appearance of hypocrisy; finding, doubtless, the workings of it in his carnal mind, but still brought to the apostle's experience – "The evil that I would not, that I do."

2. Again – Humility, spiritual humility is a fruit that grows only in the heavenly garden, the garden of the Lord, the planting of his right hand; and where spiritual humility is deficient in a man, the absence of that fruit stamps him as but a nominal branch. Pride was man's ruin; and pride, cursed pride, has so interwoven its roots with the fibers of man's heart, that nothing but the tearing up, the pulling up of the tree altogether, will ever totally eradicate that cursed principle; but there is a great difference between the indwelling of pride, and thedominance of pride. Sin will always dwell in us; but sin will not reign and rule in a child of God – "Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace."

Now, wherever there is the absence of spiritual humility, there is the absence of spiritual life. But what makes a man humble? It is not gathering the language of humility from the word of God, nor from the mouths of saints; but it springs from having humbling views of one's self, "from seeing light in God's light," from beholding the purity and perfection of him "with whom we have to do," from having a spiritual discovery of what sin is, and feeling the burden and weight of guilt laid upon our consciences, from being led by the Spirit into the chambers of imagery to see the tracing upon the wall, and so to "abhor ourselves in dust and ashes" before God.

3. The principle of living faith is another "fruit," an internal fruit, the absence of which stamps a man as a nominal branch. He that has no faith is evidently dead in sin; for the communication of life to his soul is contemporaneous at the same moment with the implantation of faith; and faith is raised up in the soul by some manifestation of God. For faith is the eye of the soul which sees God, the ear of the soul which hears the voice of God, and the hand of the soul which takes hold of those manifestations which are given to it by God himself. Therefore, if faith, Divine faith, living faith, spiritual and supernatural faith be lacking in a man, Divine fruit is lacking, and he is stamped by the absence of this fruit as a mere dead branch, one that is only nominally in the living vine.

But one shall say – "Are there not dear children of God who are full of unbelief, who are exercised with many doubts and fears, who cannot read their saving interest clear, and who cannot say--'My Lord, and my God?'" Doubtless, there are many living souls, who have no sweet testimony of their saving interest in the beloved, but still they have faith. Not faith in Jesus, so as to realize their saving interest in him; but they have faith in the perfections of God, they have faith in the spirituality of God's law, they have faith in the threatenings which God has pronounced against the ungodly, they have faith in the authority and certainty of God's word, and they have faith to believe that there is no Savior but Jesus, and that that Savior must be revealed with power to their souls. And, therefore, though they have not the joy of faith, nor the assurance of faith, nor the triumph of faith, yet still they have the existence and reality of faith, in acting upon things which are eternal realities, though not of such a nature as to bring peace and consolation to their hearts.

Faith deals with realities – it is "the evidence of things not seen;" and, therefore, dealing with realities, it will be according to the realities that it deals with. It is like a man looking through a glass; the things that he looks at will be tinted with the color of the glass. Everything will wear the aspect which is presented to his eye through the medium whereby he looks at it. And to faith exercised upon the perfections, the tremendous attributes, the holiness, the justice, the majesty, the glory, the heart-searching presence of Jehovah – faith viewing God through that medium receives no consolation, nor any blessed testimony, nor deliverance of the soul from bondage. And yet it views eternal realities, apprehends eternal realities, and is spiritually affected by those realities which are brought home by the Spirit to the conscience.

4. Again – Hope is a "fruit" of the Spirit; and the absence of hope, the thorough, complete absence of hope, stamps death upon that nominal branch in which the absence of all hope is found. But some will say, "Are not the children of God often plunged into despair?" No, not into despair. They are often very near it, they are on the borders of it, they go to the very brink of it; the gusts from that pestiferous land may so blow their blasts upon them, that in their feelings they shall be in despair; yet no living soul ever sat his foot beyond the brink, no child of God ever stepped beyond the border, so as to get into the regions of despair. If he got there, he would no longer be in "the land of the living;" if ever he set his foot over the border that separates the land of hope from the land of despair, he would be no longer calling upon the Lord to save his soul from the lowest hell, but he would be at once overwhelmed by those torrents which would sweep him away into endless perdition.

Hell is the place of despair, and the conscience of the reprobate, before they are cast into those devouring flames; and, therefore, unless you know what the very feelings of the damned in hell are which you can never be certain you do, however you may do you think know them, or unless you have gone into the very feelings of despair in the conscience of the reprobate before hell opens its jaws to receive him forever, however near you have been to the borders of that dreadful land, you never can say your foot has crossed the threshold. No; there is a "who can tell?" – a secret support of "the everlasting arms;" there is a band, a tie wreathed round the soul by the God of all grace; there is a golden chain let down by God himself from the everlasting throne of mercy and truth, which keeps the soul from ever being drawn into that whirlpool, going down those tremendous cataracts, and being swallowed up in the boiling abyss below. There is an invisible arm that preserves the soul from being swept away by the water-floods; and this secret help is manifested by a lifting up of the heart often times in prayer, and the relief sometimes experienced in pouring forth the soul in fervent cries, upholding all who feel it from being overwhelmed in the torrent of despair, when the sluices of God's wrath seem pulled up to hurry it into eternal misery. And therefore there is no child of God that has been quickened by the Spirit, but has some degree of hope which keeps him from making shipwreck altogether. So that we do not go too far in saying, that the absence of hope altogether stamps death upon a man.

5. Spirituality and heavenly-mindedness are "fruits" that the Lord finds – or rather, that the Lord works, and when he has worked, he finds, in living branches. That is, there is at times a drawing up, and a going forth of the soul unto him from whom all grace comes. The things of time and sense are not a living man's true element; and though he has a nature which is akin to them – aye, a base nature which, were it permitted, would wallow in the mire as the filthy swine does in the puddle – yet there is a new nature in him communicated by the Holy Spirit, which is at home only in heavenly things, and finds a congeniality only in spiritual things, when the Lord draws it into exercise, and brings the two together.

Then the utter absence of spirituality – the total lack of a nature that can receive, realize, taste, feel, and handle the things of God, demonstrates a man to be "dead in trespasses and sins." I know I am drawing a very narrow line here, because you will say and there is something in me saying it all the while "Think of those poor children of God that are in their first convictions; think of those who are passing under the rod of God's law; and do not forget those who are exercised with terrors and fears, and are cut up in their souls with deep pangs of guilt." Oh! no, friends. I would not lay the weight of my little finger to harass them; no, not the weight of a hair of my head; but rather if the Lord is pleased, be used as an instrument to lift them up, and not to wound their tender consciences, nor bring one pang of distress into their afflicted minds.

But I appeal to you that are in trouble of mind--have you never anything which feels a communion and a sympathy with spiritual things? Is there no feeling in your soul, nor affection in your heart, that, could you only enjoy it, could you only have a blessed manifestation of it, would bring peace to you? Then, if the manifestation of God's mercy would bring peace to your soul, you must have a new nature to receive those manifestations, because they cannot bring peace except to a man who has a nature to understand them, a nature to embrace them and a nature to enjoy them. Therefore say not, however low you are sinking in misery, say not there is never at any time, on any occasion, at any moment, any one spark of this hidden life. Do not give the lie to your own feelings altogether – let not the devil blind you to everything that is passing in your heart; write not this "bitter thing" against yourself, that there never has been one single moment, since the Lord first quickened you into life – not one moment when there was a spiritual going up of your soul to the Lord of life and glory, nor any one panting of heart after his blessed presence, nor any "hungering and thirsting after righteousness," nor any one desire after the manifestation of his grace and glory.

If you say, "No, I have never experienced one longing after the manifestation of Christ; I have never poured forth one fervent prayer nor groaning cry that he would reveal himself to me; I have never known one single breathing of heart, nor panting desire to feel him precious to my soul," – say that, and I will say you are dead in sin, or wrapped up in the grave-clothes of a nominal profession; say that, and I will say, "Your conscience is seared as with a hot iron." No; I am convinced from soul feeling, that however deep a man may sink in conviction, yet there is at the bottom of it all, rising in the midst of that sea of trouble--a breathing, living, unquenchable principle, which cannot be satisfied without Christ, which goes forth in longing petitions after Christ, which hungers after his righteousness, and can only be satisfied with his favor. And the total absence of that stamps a man as dead in sin.

Now, then, here are the branches that "bear NO fruit." I dare say you have often observed a vine, that perhaps covered a large space of wall; and have you ever observed, that the more the vine spreads, the less it bears? The vines which bear the greatest quantity of fruit are those which are most cut in, and those which cover the least space. And thus these dead "branches" shall look very green, shall have a very large quantity of leaves, shall appear far superior to the fruit-bearing branches; but they are stamped with this mark--that they bear no fruit.

The figure will not hold altogether; no metaphor will hold in every part; it is a mistake to think that any type is complete in all points. The barren branches in a natural tree do come out of the stem; but it is not so with the barren branches in Christ's visible church. The figure does not hold there. They are merely in him by profession – tied on, as it were, by the string, or fastened by the wire of profession, without having an inward being.

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