Our Lord does not say, "Apart from my doctrine ye can do nothing;" important though it is that Christian people should apprehend and receive his truth. Nor does he say, "Apart from my Church ye can do nothing;" though, if we understand the term "Church" aright, this would be manifestly true. But he says, "Apart from me." Christ is, then, himself everything to his people. He is the Power, the Wisdom, the Salvation, of God, and consequently, could we be sundered from him, we should be rendered poor and powerless.

I. TO BEAR FRUIT, IS THE END OF TRUE RELIGION, AND THE RESULT AND PROOF OF SPIRITUAL LIFE. When substituted for faith, "doing" is bad; but when it is the effect of faith, it is good and precious. Where do we look for evidence of the goodness of the tree? Is it not sought in fruit, good fruit, much fruit? The doing, or fruit-bearing, here commended by the Lord Jesus, is the performance of the will of God, is the imitation of the Master's own example, is the fulfillment of the behests of an enlightened conscience. It comprises personal holiness and active usefulness.

II. SEVERANCE FROM CHRIST RENDERS MEN POWERLESS FOR GOOD WORKS. The conduct and service which are distinctively Christian are only possible through personal union with the Savior.

1. This assertion places in a clear light the unequalled dignity of the Lord Jesus. This is a declaration which none but he could make. Yet, being the Son of God and the Source of spiritual life to men, he could justly advance a claim so vast. The disciple is nothing without his master, the servant nothing without his lord, the soldier nothing without his commander, the hand nothing without the head, the Christian nothing without Christ.

2. This assertion brings out into clear light the absolute dependence of Christians. Without our Lord's teaching and example, we, should have no conception of the highest moral excellence. Without his love, we should not feel the mightiest motive that can influence the soul to consecration and service. Without his mediation, we should not enjoy the favor of God, our Ruler and Judge. Without his Spirit, we should be strangers to the spiritual power which alone can enable feeble man to do the will of God. Without his promises, we should lack the encouragement and inspiration we need to cheer us amidst the difficulties, perplexities, and trials from which no earthly life is ever exempt. Without him, there would be no deliverance from the bondage of sin, and no prospect of what is truly the eternal life. "Neither," says Peter, "is there salvation in any other."

III. UNION WITH CHRIST IS THEREFORE UNSPEAKABLY PRECIOUS, AND FOR THE CHRISTIAN ABSOLUTELY NEEDFUL. As to the nature of this connection, there should be no misunderstanding. External privileges and professions are all insufficient. A spiritual and vital union is necessary, such as in the vegetable kingdom joins the branch to the vine-stock, such as in architecture unites the temple to its foundation. This union is effected on the human side by a believing reception of the gospel of Christ; on the Divine side by the impartation of the quickening Spirit of God. Such union is capable of increase in degree; a closer spiritual fellowship with the Divine Redeemer is the means of increased fitness for holy and acceptable service. The experience of the Apostle Paul was an illustration of this principle. He could say, "I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me." He who would work more diligently, and wait more patiently, must come nearer to Christ, and so obtain the spiritual power he needs.

PRACTICAL LESSONS.

1. If this union with the living Vine be not formed, let it be formed at once.

2. If it be suspended or enfeebled, let it be renewed.

3. If it be existing and vitally active and energetic, let it be prized and cultivated. - T.

No wise teacher is ever afraid of repeating himself. The average mind requires the reiteration of truth before it can make that truth its own. One coat of paint is not enough, it soon rubs off.

I. THE FRUITFULNESS OF UNION.

1. "I am the Vine" was a general truth, with no clear personal application. "Ye are the branches" brought each individual listener into connection with it. How many people there are that listen in a fitful sort of languid way, interestedly, to the most glorious and solemn truths and never dream that they have any bearing upon themselves! The one thing most needed is that truth should be sharpened to a point and the conviction driven into you, that you have got something to do with this great message. "Ye are the branches" is the one side of that sharpening and making definite of the truth in its personal application, and the other side is "Thou art the man." All religious teaching is toothless generalities, utterly useless, unless we can force it through the wall of indifference and vague assent.

2. Note next the great promise, "He that abideth in Me, and I in Him," etc. Abiding in Christ, and Christ's abiding in us means a temper and tone of mind very far remote from the noisy, bustling distractions too common in our present Christianity. We want quiet, patient, waiting within the veil. The best way to secure Christian conduct is to cultivate communion with Christ. Get more of the sap into the branch, and there will be more fruit. We may grow graces artificially and they will be of little worth. First of all be, and then do; receive, and then give forth. That is the Christian way of mending men, not tinkering at this, that, and the other individual excellence, but grasping the secret of total excellence in communion with Him. Our Lord is here not merely laying down a law, but giving a promise, and putting His veracity into pawn for the fulfilment of it.

3. Notice that little word which now appears for the first time: "much." We are not to be content with a poor shrivelled bunch of grapes that are more like marbles than grapes, here and there, upon the half-nourished stem. God forbid that I should say that there is no possibility of union with Christ and a little fruit. A little union will have a little fruit; but the only two alternatives here are, "no fruit," and "much fruit." And I would ask why it is that the average Christian man of this generation bears only a berry or two here and there, like such as are left upon the vines after the vintage, when the promise is that if he will abide in Christ, he will bear much fruit.

4. This verse, setting forth the fruitfulness of union with Jesus, ends with the brief solemn statement of the converse — the barrenness of separation. There is the condemnation of all the busy life of men which is not lived in union with Jesus Christ; it is a long row of figures which, like some other long rows of figures added up, amount just to Zero. "Without Me, nothing."

II. THE WITHERING AND DESTRUCTION OF SEPARATION FROM HIM (ver. 6).

1. Separation is withering. Did you ever see a hawthorn bough that children bring home from the woods, and stick in the grate; how in a day or two the fresh green leaves all shrivel up and the white blossoms become brown and smell foul, and the only thing to be done with it is to fling it into the fire and get rid of it? Separate from Christ, the individual shrivels, and the possibilities of fair buds wither and set into no fruit. And no man is the man he might have been unless he holds by Jesus Christ and lets His life come into Him. And as for individuals, so for communities. The Church or the body of professing Christians that is separate from Jesus Christ dies to all noble life, to all high activity, to all Christlike conduct, and, being dead, rots.

2. Withering means destruction. Look at the mysteriousness of the language. "They gather them." "They cast them into the fire." Who have that tragic task? The solemn fact that the withering of manhood by separation from Jesus Christ requires, and ends in, the consuming of the withered, is all that we have here. We have to speak of it pityingly, with reticence, with terror, with tenderness, with awe lest it be our fate. Be on your guard against that tendency of this generation, to paste a bit of blank paper over all the threatenings of the Bible. One of two things must befall the branch, either it is in the Vine or it gets into the fire. And if we would avoid the fire let us see to it that we are in the Vine.

III. THE UNION WITH CHRIST AS THE CONDITION OF SATISFIED DESIRES (ver. 7). Our Lord instead of saying, "I in you," says "My words in you." He is speaking about prayers, consequently the variation is natural. The abiding of His words in us is largely the means of His abiding in us.

1. What do we mean by this? Something a great deal more than the mere intellectual acceptance. Something very different from reading a verse in a morning, and forgetting all about it all the day long; something very different from coming in contact with Christian truth on a Sunday, when somebody else preaches what he has found in the Bible to us, and we take in a little of it. It means the whole of the conscious nature of a man. His desires, understanding, affections, will, all being steeped in those great truths which the Master spoke. Put a little bit of colouring matter into the fountain at its head and you will have the stream dyed down its course forever so far. See that Christ's words be lodged in your inmost selves, and all the life will be glorified and flash into richness of colouring and beauty by their presence.

2. The main effect of such abiding of the Lord's words with us is, that in such a ease, my desire will be granted. If Christ's words are the substratum of your wishes, then your wishes will harmonize with His will, and so "Ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you."

IV. THIS UNION AND FRUITFULNESS LEAD TO THE NOBLE ENDS OF GLORIFYING GOD AND INCREASING DISCIPLESHIP (ver. 8).

1. Christ's life was all for the glorifying of God. The lives, which are the life of Christ in us, will have the same end and the same issue. We come there to a very sharp test. How many of us are there on whom men, looking, think more loftily of God. And yet we should all be mirrors of the Divine radiance, on which some eyes, that are too dim and sore to bear the light as it streams from the sun, may look, and, beholding the reflection, may learn to love.

2. And if thus we abide in Him and bear fruit we shall "become His disciples." The end of our discipleship is never reached on earth; we never so much are, as we are in the process of becoming, His true followers and servants. If we bear fruit because we are knit to Him, the fruit itself will help us to get nearer Him, and so be more His disciples and more fruitful. Character produces conduct, but conduct reacts on character and strengthens the impulses from which it springs.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

This growing is to be the growth of a branch: not by accretion, by adding to the surface, but by strength and development from within. You may make a molehill into a mountain by bringing a sufficiency of material to it, to swell the rising pile; but trees and branches expand from within: their growth is the putting forth of a vital but unseen force. The life power in the stock, being also in the bough, compels an outward exhibition of results in progressive keeping with the vigour and strength of the supplies. So the believer "grows up" into Christ into ever-increasing holiness, influence and grace through the Divine afflatus which is at work within his soul, for it is thus that "God worketh in you" more and more "to will and to do of His good pleasure." By this inner power the branches of a tree have a wonderful power of assimilation.. They take hold upon all surrounding forces and turn them to advantage. The dew that falls, the gases of the atmosphere, the descending rain, the chemistry of the sunlight, all are drawn into it; all are made a part of itself, are made to serve its purpose and to nurse its health. The very storms that blow, the alternations of weather that test and try it and ofttimes seem to work it damage, are all made to consolidate its fibres, to quicken the action of its sap, and send new energy through every vein, a stronger life: thrill into every leaf. So grows the righteous soul into higher, stronger, more mature religious life. "All things are yours," says the apostle Paul. That is to say, all events, all experiences, all the providences of God, all the circumstances of life, as well as all the riches of promised grace, are made by the goodness and wisdom of God to serve the Christian's interests and help his soul to grow. The dew of the Spirit, the sunshine of God, the aids of the sanctuary, the society of the good, the exercise of Christian toil, the business of life, the storms and tempests of sorrow and toil — all things, by reason of the subtle power of the inner life, are made to help the Christian, to deepen his piety, to strengthen his soul, to beautify his character, to mature and ripen his graces, and to give him a stronger grip upon his God. "All things work together for good to them that love God." Neither is there any limit to the attainments possible to the godly soul. Under the influence of the Divine life it is placed amid an exhaustless store of nourishment, it is grafted into the Vine whose Root is the Godhead and whose resources are infinite and eternal.

(J. J. Wray.)

I saw a vine growing on the fertile plain of Damascus with "boughs like the goodly cedars" (Psalm 80:10). One "bough" of that vine had appropriated a large forest tree; it had climbed the giant trunk, it had wound itself round the great gnarled arms, it had, in fact, covered every branch of the tree with garlands of its foliage, and bent down every twig with the weight of its fruit. And I saw another branch of the same vine spread out along the ground, and cover bushes and brambles with foliage as luxuriant and fruit as plentiful as those on the lordly forest tree. So is it in the Church. Some branches of that heaven-planted vine climb to the very pinnacles of human society. They appropriate and sanctify the sceptre of the monarch, the dignity of the peer, the power of the statesman, the genius of the philosopher, and they shed a lustre upon each and all greater and more enduring than can ever be conferred by gemmed coronet or laurel crown. While other branches of the same vine find a congenial sphere in humbler walks, they penetrate city lanes, they creep up wild mountain glens, they climb the gloomy stair to the garret where the daughter of toil lies on her death bed, and they diffuse wherever they go a peace and a joy and a halo of spiritual glory, such as rank and riches cannot bestow, and such too as poverty and suffering cannot take away. Peer and peasant, philosopher and working man, king and beggar, have equal rights and rewards in the Church. They are united to the same Saviour on earth, and they shall recline on the same bosom in heaven.

(J. L. Porter, LL. D.)

There may be a hundred branches in a vine; their place in reference to each other may be far apart; they may seem to have but a very distant connection with each other; but having each a living union with the central stem, they are all members of the same Vine, and every one of them therefore is a member one of the other. Some of the branches are barely above the ground; some peer higher than all the rest; some are weighted with fruit, much fruit rich and fine; some bear but little fruit and that only small and inferior; some occupy important and central positions; some are seemingly insignificant, and look as though they might readily be dispensed with; as though, indeed, the tree would be healthier and more graceful without them; some are old and well grown, thoroughly strong and established; others are young, delicate, and need development. But whatever variety there may be among the branches in size, circumstance, or state, they all form a part of one complete, harmonious and like-natured whole. The vine stem is the common centre, and in it all partake of a common life.

(J. J. Wray.)

The discoveries of vegetable physiology have shown that every branch is, in fact, a tree perfectly distinct and complete in itself: a tree which, by means of roots struck into the parent tree, derives its life, and sends out its leafage. The common idea is, that every tree in the ground has in itself the same kind of individual existence that a man has, and that, just as in the body limbs and various organs are component parts of a man, so the bole, the boughs, and the leaves are component parts of a tree. But the common idea is wrong; a tree is, in truth, a colony of trees, one growing on another — an aggregate of individuals — a body corporate, losing nothing, however, and merging nothing of its own individuality. It is charming to study a scientifically written biography of a tree, giving an account of its cells and pores and hairs, telling the isle of its evolution and its education; its infinite relations with all the elements, and how it is affected by the chemistries of nature; tracing it from its first faint filament to its full wealth of foliage and its final sweep of extension; thereby revealing through this miracle of the forest the glory of God. But, for the reasons suggested by some of the thoughts just confessed, interesting as is the story of a tree, a Christian will find the life tory of a mere branch scarcely less interesting, for it teaches him how to connect the ideas of total dependence and perfect individuality. I am a branch, yet I am a true tree — a tree growing on another tree — even on the Tree of Life. I see it all now, and also see the harmony between this particular Scripture and other Scriptures, better than formerly. It is scientifically true that I am a branch in the Vine, yet that I am a tree, answering to the description, "Rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving."

(C. Stanford, D. D.)

A Sunday school teacher was trying to make his class understand this lesson. "Jesus is the Vine," said he, "we are the branches; we get all our life and happiness from Him." "Yes," said a little fellow in the class, "Jesus is the Vine, grown up people are the branches, and we young ones are the buds." In the natural vine the buds do not bear any fruit. But in Jesus, the Spiritual Vine, even the buds can be fruitful; the youngest can make themselves useful.

(J. L. Nye.)

I saw a little twig scarcely an inch long, so tender an infant hand could break it; rough and unseemly without comeliness, and when I saw it there was no beauty that I should desire it. It said: "If I were comely and beautiful, like those spring flowers I see, I could attract, and please, and fulfil a mission." It said: "If I were like yonder oak or cedar, I could afford shelter to God's weary sheep at noonday, and the fowls of heaven should sing among my branches." It said: "If I were even strong, I might bear some burden, or serve a purpose as a peg, a bolt, or a pin, in God's great building that is going up. But so unsightly, so weak, so small!" A voice said to it: "Abide in Me, and I in you, He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit." And so it rested. It was not long until a glory of leaves crowned it, and in God's time I saw the heavy fruit it bore.

No saint, prophet, apostle would ever have said this to a company of faithful men. Among the virtues of a perfect man we must certainly reckon modesty. It is impossible to conceive that Jesus of Nazareth, had he not been more than man, could ever have uttered this sentence. We have here —

I. AN ASPIRATION OF HOPE. From such a root what a vintage must come! Being branches in Him, what fruit we must produce! That word "do" has music in it. Jesus went about doing good, and, being in Him, we shall do good. There is the hope of doing something in the way of glorifying God by bringing forth —

1. The fruits of holiness, peace, and love.

2. Fruit in the conversion of others.

3. Fruit of further blessing will ripen for this poor world. Men shall be blessed in us because we are blessed in Christ.

II. A SHUDDER OF FEAR. It is possible that I may be without Christ, and so may be utterly incapacitated for all good.

1. What if you should not be so in Christ as to bring forth fruit? If you are without Christ, what is the use of carrying on that Bible lass; for you can do nothing?

2. What if you should be in Christ, and not so in Him as to abide in Him? It appears from our Lord's words that some branches in Him are cast forth and are withered. What if you are off and on with Christ! What if you play fast and loose with the Lord! What if you are an outside saint and an inside devil! What will come of such conduct as this?

III. A VISION OF TOTAL FAILURE.

1. A ministry without Christ in its doctrine will do nothing. Preachers aspire to be leaders of thought; wilt they not command the multitude and charm the intelligent? "Add music and architecture, and what is to hinder success, and what has been done?" The sum total is expressed in the text — "Nothing."

2. Without acknowledging always the absolute supremacy of Christ we shall do nothing. Jesus is much complimented but He is not submitted to. Certain modern praises of Jesus are written upon the theory that, on the whole, the Saviour has given us a religion that is tolerably suited to the enlightenment of the nineteenth century, and may be allowed to last a little longer. It is fortunate for Jesus that He commends Himself to the "best thought" and ripest culture of the period; for, if He had not done so, these wise gentlemen would have exposed Him as being behind the times. Of course they have every now and then to rectify certain of His dogmas; He is rectified and squared, and His garment without seam is taken off, and He is dressed out in proper style, as by a West-end clothier; then He is introduced to us as a remarkable teacher, and we are advised to accept Him as far as He goes. Now, what will come of this foolish wisdom? Nothing but delusions, mischief, infidelity, anarchy, and all manner of imaginable and unimaginable ills.

3. You may have sound doctrine, and yet do nothing unless you have Christ in your spirit. In former years many orthodox preachers thought it to be their sole duty to comfort and confirm the godly few who by dint of great perseverance found out the holes and corners in which they prophesied. These brethren spoke of sinners as of people whom God might possibly gather in if He thought fit to do so; but they did not care much whether He did so or not. When a Church falls into this condition it is, as to its spirit, "without Christ." What comes of it? The comfortable corporation exists and grows for a little while, but it comes to nothing.

4. But above all things we must have Christ with us in the power of His actual presence. The power lies with the Master, not with the servant; the might is in the hand, not in the weapon.

5. We have, then, before us a vision of total failure if we attempt in any way to do without Christ. He says, "Without Me ye can do nothing:" it is in the doing that the failure is most conspicuous. You may talk a good deal without Him; you may hold conferences and conventions; but doing is another matter. The most eloquent discourse without Him will be all a bottle of smoke. You shall lay your plans, and arrange your machinery, and start your schemes; but without the Lord you will do nothing.

IV. A VOICE OF WISDOM, which speaks out of the text, and says to us who are in Christ —

1. Let us acknowledge this.

2. Let us pray. If without Christ we can do nothing, let us cry to Him that we may never be without Him.

3. Let us personally cleave to Jesus.

4. Heartily submit yourselves to the Lord's leadership, and ask to do everything in His style and way. He will not be with you unless you accept Him as your Master.

5. Joyfully believe in Him. Though without Him you can do nothing, yet with Him all things are possible.

V. A SONG OF CONTENT. "Without Me ye can do nothing." Be it so. Do you wish to have it altered, any of you that love His dear name? I am sure you do not: for suppose we could do something without Christ, then He would not have the glory of it. Who wishes that? If the Church could do something without Christ she would try to live without Him. As I listened to the song I began to laugh. I thought of those who are going to destroy the orthodox doctrine from off the face of the earth. They say our old theology is decaying, and that nobody believes it. It is all a lie. If His friends can do nothing without Him, I am sure His foes can do nothing against Him. I laughed, too, because I recollected a story of a New England service, when suddenly a lunatic started up and declared that he would at once pull down the meeting house about their ears. Taking hold of one of the pillars of the gallery, this newly-announced Samson repeated his threatening. Everybody rose; the women were ready to faint. There was about to be a great tumult; no one could see the end of it; when suddenly one cool brother produced a calm by a single sentence. "Let him try!" Even so today the enemy is about to disprove the gospel and crush out the doctrines of grace. Are you distressed, alarmed, astounded? So far from that, my reply is this only — Let him try!

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

I. AS TO THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. There is much in the Bible which all must understand and admire; but as to its moral spirit and purpose what can be done without Christ? How slow of heart to believe were the disciples till Christ opened their understandings (Luke 24:48). Of the Old Testament Christ said, "They are they which testify of Me." The first words of the New are, "The Book of the Generations of Jesus Christ;" and its last, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," etc. He is the Alpha and Omega, and of the whole Bible John 20:31 may be said.

II. AS TO RECONCILIATION WITH GOD. That man needs this is not to be questioned; but how is it to be effected? God cannot change; His laws cannot be set aside. Sin is eternal separation from God. How, then, can man be reconciled? Only through Christ (Romans 3:19-25; Colossians 1:21; 2 Corinthians 5:19: Romans 5:11).

III. AS TO PROGRESS IN THE DIVINE LIFE. From first to last the Christian is dependent on Christ. His life is derived from, developed by, devoted to Christ.

IV. AS TO SUCCESS IN EVANGELISTIC WORK.

(W. Forsyth, M. A.)

In this world no man is necessary. There are many men who, if they were taken away, would be missed. But there is no man but what we may say of him, that useful and valuable as he may be, we might come to do without him. It is a truth this which we do not like to admit. We like to fancy that things would not go on exactly the same without us as with us. But this world has never seen more than one Being who could say that it was absolutely impossible to go on when separated from Him. The little child fancied, when its mother died, that without her it could "do nothing;" but the grownup, busy man, hardly seems ever to remember at all her whom the heart-broken child missed so sorely. And the mother, when her little one is called to go, may fancy that without that little one she "can do nothing;" but time brings its wonderful easing, and, though not forgetting, she gets on much as before. And it is the same way in every earthly relation. The husband comes to do without his dead wife; and the wife to do without the departed husband. The congregation that missed their minister for a while, come at length to gather Sunday after Sunday with little thought of the voice it once was pleasant for them to hear. The state comes to do without its lost political chief, and the country without its departed hero: and we learn in a hundred ways, that no human being is absolutely necessary to any other human being. We may indeed fancy so for a while, but at length we shall find that we were mistaken; we may indeed miss our absent friends sadly and long; but we shall come at last to do without them.

(A. K. H. Boyd, D. D.)

No man lives a true and useful life who lives without Christ. The good man feels his need of Him, and of all of Him always.

1. His eye to guide him.

2. His hand to uphold him.

3. His arm to shield him.

4. His bosom to lean upon.

5. His blood to cleanse him.

6. His Spirit to make him holy and meet for heaven.Christ is the one only Saviour who can make a sinner a saint, and secure to him eternal life. Usefulness is suspended upon holiness, and we are made holy by Christ's cleansing blood, and in no other way.

(Homiletic Monthly.)

Apart from Christ —

I. THERE IS NO MERIT FOR OUR ACCEPTANCE WITH GOD. "There is none righteous, no, not one." "By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight." But in Christ there is all-sufficient merit. Believing in Him, we are justified and accepted. Not through His merit together with what we ourselves can do. Dr. Chalmers', when awakened to his condition as a sinner, for a time "repaired to the atonement to eke out his deficiencies, and as the ground of assurance that God would look upon him with a propitious eye." But the conviction was at length "wrought in him that he had been attempting an impossibility...that it must be either on his own merits wholly, or on Christ's merits wholly, that he must lean; and that, by introducing his own righteousness into the ground of his meritorious acceptance with God, 'he had been inserting a flaw, he had been importing a falsehood into the very principle of his justification.'"

II. WE CAN DO NOTHING TO OVERCOME THE POWER OF INDWELLING SIN. The evil propensities within us are not the same in each one; it may be the love of money or the lust of power in one, vanity or pride, malice or guile, in another. Does not the Christian have frequent experience that the corruption of his heart is too strong for him? He made good resolutions, and broke them; after repeated failures he is driven almost to despair, and is ready to ask, "Can my corruptions ever be conquered, or must I become more and more their slave?" But if we be brought by Divine grace to cleave in faith to the Saviour, we shall have His Spirit to dwell in us, and in His strength we shall prevail. In ancient fable we read that one of the great labours imposed upon Hercules was to cleanse the foul Augean Stable. This mighty task he accomplished by turning the river Alpheus through it, thus performing with ease what before had appeared impossible. That stable is a true picture of the heart defiled by countless sins. The streams of that fountain opened in the house of David, turned by a living faith to flow into it, alone can cleanse it.

III. WE CAN DO NOTHING TO BUILD UP A CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. In a building there is not only a foundation, but also a superstructure. Apart from Christ we cannot build aright. Christian character may be likened unto a tree growing. "Giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue," etc. Here is a noble, well-developed growth; But these spiritual graces will not appear if we do not abide in constant communion with Christ.

IV. WE CAN DO NOTHING TO PROMOTE THE TRUE INTERESTS OF OTHERS. What are all the provisions for the alleviating and removing of the wants and sufferings of men — the hospitals, orphanages, almshouses, and other philanthropic institutions — but the results of Christian effort, the products of the Christian spirit! All noble enduring, legislative acts also, such as that for the emancipation of the slaves, have been brought about by men under the influence of the religion of Christ. Who likewise have filled Wales and other countries with the gospel? Is it not men with the love of Christ as a holy fire burning Within them?

(J. R. Owen.)

I. WHAT WE MEAN BY THE SUPERNATURAL GRACE AND ASSISTANCE OF CHRIST. Whatever natural power we have to do anything is from God, but God, considering the lapsed condition of mankind, sent His Son to recover us out of that condition, but we, being without strength, our Saviour hath in His Gospel offered an extraordinary assistance of His Holy Spirit, to supply the defects of our natural strength. And this supernatural grace of Christ is that alone which can enable us to perform what He requires of us. And this, according to the several uses and occasions of it, is called by several names. As it puts good motions into us, it is called preventing grace; because it prevents any motion or desire on our parts; as it assists and strengthens us in the doing of anything that is good, it is called assisting grace; as it keeps us constant in a good course, it is called persevering grace.

II. TO THIS GRACE THE SCRIPTURE DOTH CONSTANTLY ATTRIBUTE OUR REGENERATION, SANCTIFICATION, AND PERSEVERANCE IN HOLINESS.

III. THERE IS GREAT REASON TO ASSERT THE NECESSITY OF THIS GRACE AND ASSISTANCE TO THESE PURPOSES. If we consider —

1. The corruption and impotency of human nature. When the Scripture speaks of the redemption of Christ, it represents our condition not only as miserable, but helpless (Romans 5:6).

2. The strange power of evil habits and customs. The other is a natural, and this is a contracted impotency. The habits of sin being added to our natural impotency, are like so many diseases superinduced upon a constitution naturally weak, which do all help to increase the man's infirmity. Evil habits in Scripture are compared to fetters, which do as effectually hinder a man from motion, as if he were quite lame, hand and foot. By passing from one degree of sin to another, men became hardened in their wickedness, and insensibly bring themselves into that state, out of which they are utterly unable to recover themselves.

3. The inconstancy and fickleness of human resolution.

4. The malice and activity of the devil.

IV. THIS SUPERNATURAL GRACE AND ASSISTANCE DOES NOT EXCLUDE, BUT SUPPOSES THE CONCURRENCE OF OUR ENDEAVOURS. The grace of God strengthens and assists us. Our Saviour implies that by the assistance of grace we may perform all the duties of the Christian life; we may bear fruit, and bring forth much fruit. When the Apostle says, "I can do all things through Christ strengthening me," he does not think it a disparagement to the grace of Christ to say, he could do all things by the assistance of it (Philippians 2:12, 13).

V. THIS GRACE IS DERIVED TO US FROM OUR UNION WITH CHRIST. Inferences:

1. If the grace of God be so necessary to all the ends of holiness, obedience, and perseverance, then there is great reason why we should continually depend upon God, and every day earnestly pray to Him for the aids of His grace.

2. We should thankfully acknowledge and ascribe all the good that is in us, and all that we do, to the grace of God.

3. Let us take heed that we resist not the Spirit of God, and receive not the grace of God in vain.

4. The consideration of our own impotency is no excuse to our sloth and negligence, if so be the grace of God be ready to assist us.

5. The consideration of our own impotency is no just ground of discouragement to our endeavours, considering the promise of Divine grace and assistance.

(Archbishop Tillotson.)

Jesus, DisciplesJerusalemAbides, Abideth, Able, Abundant, Anything, Apart, Bear, Beareth, Bears, Branches, Bringeth, Continue, Continues, Forth, Fruit, Gives, Nothing, Remaining, Remains, Vine1. The union of Jesus and his members shown under the parable of a vine.
18. The hatred of the world.
26. The office of the Holy Spirit.

John 15:5

     5630   work, divine and human
     5776   achievement
     5864   futility
     6645   eternal life, nature of
     7028   church, life of
     8244   ethics, and grace
     8330   receptiveness
     8349   spiritual growth, means of

John 15:1-5

     2203   Christ, titles of
     8021   faith, nature of

John 15:1-8

     4534   vine
     6755   union with Christ, nature of

John 15:2-5

     8258   fruitfulness, spiritual

John 15:4-5

     2227   Immanuel
     6214   participation, in Christ
     7155   saints
     7922   fellowship, with God
     8224   dependence

John 15:4-6

     8616   prayerlessness

John 15:4-7

     6705   peace, experience
     8102   abiding in Christ

John 15:4-10

     8459   perseverance

John 15:5-6

     4416   branch

John 15:5-8

     1613   Scripture, purpose
     7027   church, purpose
     8164   spirituality
     8618   prayerfulness

The Comforter
Eversley. Sunday after Ascension Day. 1868. St John xv. 26. "When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." Some writers, especially when they are writing hymns, have fallen now-a- days into a habit of writing of the Holy Spirit of God, in a tone of which I dare not say that it is wrong or untrue; but of which I must say, that it is one-sided. And if there are two sides to a matter, …
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons

April 1 Morning
The fruit of the Spirit is joy.--GAL. 5:22. Joy in the Holy Ghost.--Unspeakable and full of glory. Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; . . . exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.--We glory in tribulations. Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; . . . for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame.--These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be fuIl.--As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

February 8 Morning
Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends.--JOHN 15:15. The Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?--It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.--God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.--Even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

December 16 Evening
The deep things of God.--I COR. 2:10. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.--It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

January 21 Morning
Every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it.--JOHN 15:2. He is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. We glory in tribulations: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

June 13 Morning
Abide in me, and I in you.--JOHN 15:4. I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

February 3 Morning
Be strong, and work; for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts.--HAG. 2:4. I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.--I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.--Strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.--The joy of the Lord is your strength. Thus said the Lord of hosts; Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets.--Strengthen …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

July 22 Evening
Keep yourselves in the love of God.--JUDE 21. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. The fruit of the Spirit is love. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

January 28. "That My Joy Might Remain in You, and that Your Joy Might be Full" (John xv. 11).
"That my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full" (John xv. 11). There is a joy that springs spontaneously in the heart without external or even rational cause. It is an artesian fountain. It rejoices because it cannot help it. It is the glory of God; it is the heart of Christ, it is the joy divine of which He says, "These things have I spoken unto you that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." And your joy no man taketh from you. He who possesses this fountain …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

May 19. "He Purgeth it that it May Bring Forth More Fruit" (John xv. 2).
"He purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit" (John xv. 2). Recently we passed a garden. The gardener had just finished his pruning, and the wounds of the knife and saw were just beginning to heal, while the warm April sun was gently nourishing the stricken plant into fresh life and energy. We thought as we looked at that plant how cruel it would be to begin next week and cut it down. Now, the gardener's business is to revive and nourish it into life. Its business is not to die, but to live. …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

November 26. "He Purgeth it that it May Bring Forth More Fruit" (John xv. 2).
"He purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit" (John xv. 2). One day we passed a garden. The gardener had finished his pruning, and the wounds of the knife and saw were beginning to heal, while the warm April sun was gently nourishing the stricken plant into fresh life and energy. We thought as we looked at that plant how cruel it would be to begin next week and cut it down again. It would bleed to death. Now, the gardener's business is to revive and nourish into life. Its business is not to …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

May 13. "Abide in Me" (John xv. 4).
"Abide in Me" (John xv. 4). Christianity may mean nothing more than a religious system. Christian life may mean nothing more than an earnest and honest attempt to follow and imitate Christ. Christ life is more than these, and expresses our actual union with the Lord Jesus Christ, and He is undoubtedly in us as the life and source of all our experience and work. This conception of the highest Christian life is at once simpler and sublimer than any other. We do not teach in these pages, that the purpose …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

February 25. "I am the vine, Ye are the Branches" (John xv. 5).
"I am the vine, ye are the branches" (John xv. 5). How can I take Christ as my Sanctifier, or Healer? is a question that we are constantly asked. It is necessary first of all that we get into the posture of faith. This has to be done by a definite and voluntary act, and then maintained by a uniform habit. It is just the same as the planting of a tree. You must put it in the soil by a definite act, and then you must let it stay put and remain settled in the ground until the little roots have time …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

November 28. "Without Me Ye Can do Nothing" (John xv. 5).
"Without Me ye can do nothing" (John xv. 5). How much can I do for Christ? We are accustomed to say.--As much as I can. Have we ever thought we can do more than we can? This thought was lately suggested by the remarks of a Christian friend, who told how God had laid it upon her heart to do something for His cause which was beyond her power, and when she dared to obey Him, He gave her the assurance of His power and resources, and so marvelously met her faith that she was enabled to do more than she …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

December 13. "He that Abideth in Me and I in Him the Same Bringeth Forth Much Fruit for Apart from Me Ye Can do Nothing" (John xv. 5).
"He that abideth in Me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for apart from Me ye can do nothing" (John xv. 5). So familiar are the vine and the branches, it is not necessary to explain; only the branches and the vine are one. The vine does not say, I am the central trunk running up and you are the little branches; but I am the whole thing, and you are the whole thing. He counts us partakers of His nature. "Apart from Me ye can do nothing." The husband and the wife, and many more figures …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

August 20. "Herein is My Father Glorified" (John xv. 8).
"Herein is My Father glorified" (John xv. 8). The true way to glorify God is, for God to show His glory through us, to shine through us as empty vessels reflecting His fulness of grace and power. The sun is glorified when he has a chance to show his light through the crystal window, or reflect it from the spotless mirror or the glassy sea. There is nothing that glorifies God so much as for a weak and helpless man or woman to be able to triumph, through His strength, in places where the highest human …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

March 15. "Continue Ye in My Love" (John xv. 9).
"Continue ye in My love" (John xv. 9). Many atmospheres there are in which we may live. Some people live in an atmosphere of thought. Their faces are thoughtful, minds intellectual. They live in their ideas, their conceptions of truth, their tastes, and esthetic nature. Some people, again, live in their animal nature, in the lusts of the flesh and eye, the coarse, low atmosphere of a sensuous life, or something worse. Some, again, live in a world of duty. The predominating feature of their life is …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

The True vine
'I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.'--JOHN xv. 14. WHAT suggested this lovely parable of the vine and the branches is equally unimportant …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI

The Oneness of the Branches
'This is My commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.'--JOHN xv. 12, 13. The union between Christ and His disciples has been tenderly set forth in the parable of the Vine and the branches. We now turn to the union between the disciples, which is the consequence of their common union to the Lord. The branches are parts of one whole, and necessarily bear a relation to each other. We may modify for our …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI

Christ's Friends
'Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it you. These things I command you, that ye love …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI

Sheep among Wolves
'If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept My saying, they will keep yours also.'--JOHN xv. 18-20. These words strike a discord in the midst of the sweet …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI

The World's Hatred, as Christ Saw It
'But all these things will they do unto you for My name's sake, because they know not Him that sent Me. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. He that hateth Me, hateth My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both Me and My Father. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated Me without …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI

Our Ally
'But when the Comforter Is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me: And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning.'--JOHN xv. 26, 27. Our Lord has been speaking of a world hostile to His followers and to Him. He proceeds, in the words which immediately follow our text, to paint that hostility as aggravated even to the pitch of religious murder. But here He lets a beam of light …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI

The True Branches of the True vine
'I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples.'--JOHN xv. 5-8. No wise …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI

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