Thrown Into The Fire And Burned

John 15:2,4,6,10 – He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful…Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me…If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned…If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

John 6:39 – And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.

John 10:28-29 – I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.

Hebrews 6:9 – Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation.

Matthew 7:21 – “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Application:

• ·         Pruning produces fruitfulness.
• ·         True believers will persevere because of Christ’s firm hold on them.
• ·         Eternal life is Christ’s gift.
• ·         The Father’s power is greater than that of any enemy, making the sheep completely secure.
• ·         A branch out of contact with the vine is lifeless.
• ·         Obedience and love go together.
• ·         Changed lives and works of love suggest regeneration.
• ·         “Does the will of my Father” is the deciding factor as to who enters the kingdom.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Clean

John 15:2-5,16 – He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing…You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.

Philippians 4:13 – I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Application:

• ·         Pruning produces fruitfulness.
• ·         A branch out of contact with the vine is lifeless.
• ·         A living union with Christ is absolutely necessary; without it there is nothing.
• ·         Jesus enables us to bear fruit, and then the Father will hear our prayers.
• ·         “Him who gives me strength” is Christ.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Prunes

John 15:1-2 – “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

John 6:35 – Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Ephesians 5:8-10 – For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.

Philippians 1:9-11 – And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Application:

• ·         Pruning produces fruitfulness.
• ·         In the New Testament the figure of good fruit represents the product of a godly life or virtues of character.
• ·         Light is productive, and those who live in God’s light produce the fruit of moral and ethical character, while those who live in darkness do not.
• ·         “Filled with the fruit of righteousness” is what is expected of all Christians.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

I…Do Exactly What My Father Has Commanded Me

John 14:15,21,23,30-31 – “If you love me, keep my commands…Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”…Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them…I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me. “Come now; let us leave.

John 12:49 – For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.

John 4:34 – “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

Application:

• ·         Jesus had stressed the importance of His followers being obedient, and He set the example.
• ·         Jesus’ hearers have a great responsibility.
• ·         Love, like faith, cannot be separated from obedience.
• ·         Love for Christ and keeping His commands cannot be separated.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

The Father Is Greater Than I

John 14:28-31 – “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me. “Come now; let us leave.

John 10:29-30 – My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

John 12:31 – Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.

Application:

• ·         The Father’s power is greater than that of any enemy, making the sheep completely secure.
• ·         The two are one in essence or nature, will and purpose, but they are not identical persons.
• ·         “Prince Of This World” is Satan.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Troubled

John 14:1,27 – “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me…Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Numbers 6:24-26 – “‘“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’

Luke 2:14 – “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Philippians 4:7 – And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:15 – Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

Application:

• ·         All true peace is His gift, which the repetition emphasizes.
• ·         The Hebrew for “peace” is shalom, here seen in its most expressive fullness—not the absence of war, but a positive state of rightness and well-being.
• ·         Peace is not assured to all, but only to those pleasing to God—the objects of His good pleasure.
• ·         The full dimensions of God’s love and care are beyond human comprehension.
• ·         “Peace of Christ” is the attitude of peace that Christ alone gives—in place of the attitude of bitterness and quarrelsomeness.
• ·         “You believe in God; believe also in me” was Jesus’ antidote for a troubled heart.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Advocate

John 14:13,16-17,24-26 – And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son…And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you…Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

John 12:49 – For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.

1 John 2:27 – As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.

Application:

• ·         His “words” are what the Father commanded Him to say. To reject them, therefore, is to reject God.
• ·         Both the Father and the Son are involved in the sending.
• ·         The Spirit will always stand by Christ’s people.
• ·         “All Things” are all things necessary to know for salvation and Christian living.
• ·         “In my name” is not simply prayer that mentions Jesus’ name but prayer in accordance with all that the person who bears the name is.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Loves...Obey...Love

John 14:15,21-23 – “If you love me, keep my commands…Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

John 15:10 – If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

Application:

• ·         Again love and obedience are linked.
• ·         Love, like faith, cannot be separated from obedience.
• ·         Love for Christ and keeping His commands cannot be separated.
• ·         Obedience and love go together.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Keeps...Loves

John 14:15.21 – “If you love me, keep my commands…Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

John 16:27 – No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.

1 John 2:5-6 – But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

Application:

• ·         Love for Christ and keeping His commands cannot be separated.
• ·         Love, like faith, cannot be separated from obedience.
• ·         Christ is explaining why the disciples can come directly to the Father in prayer: They have loved and trusted in Jesus, and in love God will hear their requests in Jesus’ name.
• ·         God’s love for the believer is made complete when it moves the believer to acts of obedience.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

In My Father

John 14:11,20 – Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves…On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

John 10:38 – But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”

John 17:20-21 – “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

Application:

• ·         Faith includes believing that Jesus is one with the Father.
• ·         Miracles were only a part of Jesus’ works.
• ·         The unity of believers should have an effect on outsiders, to convince them of the mission of Christ.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Because I Live, You Also Will Live

John 14:18-19 – I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.

John 1:4 – In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

John 10:10 – The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Philippians 1:21 – For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Application:

• ·         The life of the Christian always depends on the life of Christ.
• ·         Life is Christ’s gift, and He, in fact, is “the life”.
• ·         Christ’s interest is in His sheep, whom He enables to have life to the full.
• ·         The gain brought by death is being “with Christ”, so that Paul is saying that his ultimate concern and most precious possession, both now and forever, is Christ and his relationship to Him.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

The World

John 14:6,16-17 – Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me…And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

1 Corinthians 2:14 – The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.

John 4:24 – God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Psalm 31:5 – Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, Lord, my faithful God.

Isaiah 65:16 – Whoever invokes a blessing in the land will do so by the one true God; whoever takes an oath in the land will swear by the one true God. For the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from my eyes.

Acts 1:1-2 – In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.

Acts 2:17,38 – “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams…Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Application:

• ·         In essence and in action the Spirit is characterized by truth.
• ·         The non-Christian is governed in thought and life by an unrenewed, worldly heart.
• ·         “True worshipers” must worship God in the power of His Spirit and in accordance with truth.
• ·         “Into your hands I commit my spirit” was the climactic expression of trust in the Lord—echoed by Jesus.
• ·          “My spirit” was his very life.
• ·         The truth is a key emphasis in the Gospel of John.
• ·         Jesus’ postresurrection instruction of His apostles was carried on through the Holy Spirit, and succeeding statements make it clear that what the apostles were to accomplish was likewise to be done through the Spirit.
• ·         The age of Messianic fulfillment has arrived.
• ·         Two gifts are now given: the forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

The Father...Will Give You

John 14:16-17,26 – And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you…But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

John 16:8-12,14 – When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear…He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.

Application:

• ·         “Advocate” referred to any person who helped someone in trouble with the law.
• ·         Both the Father and the Son are involved in the sending of the Holy Spirit.
• ·         “About righteousness” was the righteousness brought about by Christ’s sacrificial death.
• ·         To live out Christ’s teaching requires the enabling presence of the Spirit.
• ·         The Spirit draws no attention to Himself but promotes the glory of Christ.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Love...Keep

John 14:13-15,21,23 – And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. “If you love me, keep my commands.

Matthew 7:7 – “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

John 15:10 – If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

1 John 2:5-6 – But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

1 John 5:3-4 – In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

James 2:21 – Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?

Application:

• ·         “In my name” is not simply prayer that mentions Jesus’ name but prayer in accordance with all that the person who bears the name is.
• ·         We are to persistently ask, seek and knock.
• ·         Love, like faith, cannot be separated from obedience.
• ·         Love for Christ and keeping His commands cannot be separated.
• ·         Love and obedience are linked.
• ·         “Keep…as I have kept” shows again the importance of obedience, and again the example of Christ.
• ·         God’s love for the believer is made complete when it moves the believer to acts of obedience.
• ·         The one born of God by faith is enabled by the Holy Spirit to obey.
• ·         Faith that saves produces good deeds.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Greater Things

John 14:12,16-17 – Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father…And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

Application:

• ·         These “greater things” depended on Jesus’ going to the Father, because they are works done in the strength of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus would send from the Father.
• ·         The Spirit will always stand by Christ’s people.
• ·         In essence and in action the Spirit is characterized by truth.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Believe…That I Am In the Father And The Father Is In Me

John 14:11 – Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.

John 10:38 – But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”

John 17:20-21 – “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

Application:

• ·         Faith includes believing that Jesus is one with the Father.
• ·         Miracles were only a part of Jesus’ works.
• ·         Jesus’ prayer is a rebuke of the groundless and often bitter divisions among believers.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

In Me

John 14:10-11 – Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.

John 10:38 – But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”

John 17:20-21 – “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

Application:

• ·         Saving faith is trust in a person, but it must also have factual content.
• ·         Faith includes believing that Jesus is one with the Father.
• ·         The unity of believers should have an effect on outsiders, to convince them of the mission of Christ.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Me...My Father

John 14:7-9 – If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

John 1:18 – No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

John 8:19 – Then they asked him, “Where is your father?” “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

Isaiah 9:6 – For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

2 Corinthians 4:4 – The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Colossians 1:15 – The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Application:

• ·         Since no human being can see God as He really is, those who saw God saw Him in a form He took upon Himself temporarily for the occasion.
• ·         Jesus stresses that the Father is known through the Son and that to know the one is to know the other.
• ·         God the Father and God the Son are not one and the same.
• ·         Christ, the incarnate Son, authentically displays God to us.
• ·         Christ is called the “image of God”.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Way

John 14:2-6 – My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 6:35 – Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

John 10:9 – I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.

John 1:4 – In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

Acts 9:1-2 – Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

Application:

• ·         Jesus is the way to God. Jesus is not one way among many but the only way.
• ·         In the early church, Christianity was sometimes called “the Way”.
• ·         “The gate” is the one way into salvation.
• ·         Life is Christ’s gift, and He, in fact, is “the life”.
• ·         Jesus called Himself “the way”.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

You Believe In God; Believe Also In Me

John 13:36-14:1 – Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.” Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times! “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.

John 10:11 – “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Luke 22:31 – “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.

John 14:27 – Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Psalm 56:4 – In God, whose word I praise—in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?

Application:

• ·         Shepherds might risk danger for their sheep, but they expected to come through alive. Jesus said that the good shepherd is willing to die for His sheep.
• ·         Satan wanted to test the disciples, hoping to bring them to spiritual ruin.
• ·         “You believe in God; believe also in me” was Jesus’ antidote for a troubled heart.
• ·         Peace speaks, in effect, of the salvation that Christ’s redemptive work will achieve for His disciples—total well-being and inner rest of spirit, in fellowship with God.
• ·         “Word” was God’s reassuring promise that He will be the God of His people and will come to their aid when they appeal to Him.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV