Jesus was essential for doing anything

JESUS WAS ESSENTIAL FOR DOING ANYTHING
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
John 15:5 5"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.
Without Christ—Nothing
BY SPURGEON
“Without Me you cando nothing.”
John 15:5
THIS is not the language ofa man of ordinary mold. No saint, no Prophet, no
Apostle would ever have addresseda company of faithful men and have said
to them, “Without me you cando nothing.” Had Jesus Christbeen, as some
say, a goodman and nothing more, such language as this would have been
unseemly and inconsistent. Among the virtues of a perfect man we must
certainly reckonmodesty, but this from a mere man would have been
shamelesslyimmodest! It is impossible to conceive that Jesus ofNazareth, had
He not been more than man, could ever have uttered the sentence, “Without
Me you can do nothing.” My Brothers and Sisters, I hear, in this sentence, the
voice of that Divine Personwithout whom was not anything made that was
made! The majesty of the words reveals the Godheadof Him that uttered
them. The “I Am” comes out in the personalword, “Me,” andthe claim of all
powerunveils the Omnipotent!
These words mean Godheador nothing! The spirit in which we listen to this
language is that of adoration. Let us bow our heads in solemnworship and so
unite with the multitude before the Throne of God who ascribe powerand
dominion and might to Him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb. In

this adoring state of mind we shall be the better prepared to enter into the
innermost soulof the text. I am not going to preach upon the moral inability
of the unregenerate, althoughin that doctrine I most firmly believe–forthat
Truth of God did not come in our Lord’s way when He uttered these words–
and neither did He allude to it.
It is quite true that unregenerate men, being without Christ, can do no
spiritual action whatever, and can do nothing which is acceptable in the sight
of God. But our Lord was not speaking to unregenerate men at all, nor
speaking about them. He was surrounded by His Apostles, the 11 out of whom
Judas had been weeded, and it is to them as branches of the true Vine that He
says, “Without Me you can do nothing.” The statement refers to such as are in
the Vine and even to such as have been pruned and have, for a while, been
found abiding in the stem which is Christ–evenin such there is an utter
incapacity for holy produce if separatedfrom Christ!
We are not calledupon, just now, to speak upon all forms of doing, as beyond
us, but of that form of it which is intended in the text. There are certain forms
of doing in which men excelwho know little or nothing of Christ. But the text
must be viewed in its own contextand the Truth of God is clear. Believers are
here describedunder the figure of branches in the vine–and the doing alluded
to must, therefore, be the bearing of fruit! I might render it, “Apart from Me
you canproduce nothing, make nothing, create nothing, bring forth nothing.”
The reference, therefore, is to that doing which may be setforth by the fruit of
the vine’s branch and, therefore, to those good works and Divine Graces of
the Spirit which are expectedfrom men who are spiritually united to Christ.
It is of these that He says, “Without Me you can do nothing.”
Our text is only another form of the fourth verse–“As the branch cannotbear
fruit of itself, exceptit abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in
Me.” I am therefore going to address myself to you who profess to know and
love the Lord and are anxious to glorify His name. And I have to remind you
that union to Christ is essential, foronly as you are one with Him and
continue to be so, canyou bring forth the fruits which prove you to be truly
His.
1. Reading, again, this solemn sentence, “WithoutMe you cando
nothing,” it first of all excites in me AN ASPIRATION OF HOPE.
There is something to be done–ourreligion is to have a grand practical
outcome!I have been thinking of Christ as the Vine, and of the myriads
of branches in Him, and my heart has hoped for greatthings. From
such a root, what a vintage must come!Being branches in Him, what
fruit we must produce! There can be nothing scanty or poverty-stricken

in the fruit of a Vine so full of sap! Fruit of the best quality, fruit in the
utmost abundance, fruit unrivalled must be borne by such a Vine. That
word, “do,” has music in it! Yes, Brethren, Jesus went about doing good
and, being in Him, we shall do good! Everything about Him is efficient,
practical–ina word, fruit bearing–andbeing joined to Him, much will
yet be done by us.
We have been savedby the almighty Grace of God apart from all doings of
our own and now that we are saved, we long to do something in return! We
feel a high ambition to be of some use and service to our greatLord and
Master. The text, even though there is a negative in it, yet raises in our soul
the hope that before we go from here and are no more, we may even here on
earth do something for Christ! Beloved, there is the ambition and hope before
us of doing something in the way of glorifying God by bringing forth the fruits
of holiness, peace and love. We would adorn the Doctrine of God, our Savior,
in all things. By pureness, by knowledge,by long-suffering, by love unfeigned,
by every goodand holy work we would show forth the praises of our God!
Apart from the Lord Jesus we know we cannotbe holy–but joined unto Him
we overcome the world, the flesh and the devil–and we walk with garments
unspotted from the world! The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,temperance and all
manner of holy conversation. Fornone of these things are we equal of
ourselves, and yet by faith we say with Paul, “I cando all things through
Christ which strengthens me.” We may be adorned with plentiful clusters. We
may cause the Saviorto have joy in us that our joy may be full! Great
possibilities are before us! We aspire not only to produce fruit in ourselves,
but to bear much fruit in the conversionof others, even as Paul desired
concerning the Romans, that he might have fruit among them.
In this matter we can do nothing whatever, alone, but being united unto
Christ we bring forth increase unto the Lord. Our Lord Jesus said, “The
works that I do shall you do also, and greaterworks than these shall you do,
because I go unto the Father.” Brothers and Sisters, a hope springs up in our
bosom that we may, eachone of us, bring many souls to Jesus!Notbecause we
have any powerin ourselves, but because we are united to Jesus, we joyfully
hope to bring forth fruit in the way of leading others to the knowledge ofthe
Gospel!My soultakes fire of hope and I say to myself, if it is so, all these
branches and all alive–how much fruit of further blessing will ripen for this
poor world? Men shall be blessedin us because we are blessedin Christ!
What must be the influence of ten thousand godly examples? What must be
the influence upon our country of thousands of Christian men and women

practically advancing love, peace, justice, virtue, holiness? And if eachone is
seeking to bring others to Christ, what numerous conversions there must be
and how large must the Church of Godbe increased? Do you not know that if
there were only 10,000realChristians in the world, yet if eachone of these
brought one other to Christ every year it would not need 20 years to
accomplishthe conversionof the entire population of the globe? This is a
simple sum in arithmetic which any schoolboycan work out. Certainly it is a
small thing that eachone should bring another to the Lord! And surely, if we
are one with Him, we may hope to see it done!
So I sit down and dream right comfortably, according to the promise, “Your
young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams.” See these
thousands of branches proceeding from such a stem as Christ Jesus–andwith
such sap as the Holy Spirit flowing through them, why, surely, this vine must
soonclothe the mountains with its verdure and there shall not remain a single
barren rock unadorned with the blessedfoliage!Then shall the mountains
drop sweetwine and all the hills shall melt! Not because ofany natural
fertility in the branches, but because oftheir glorious root, stem and sap, each
one shall bear full clusters and eachfruitful branch shall run over the wall!
BelovedFriends in Christ, have you not strong desires to see some such
consummation? Do you not long to take a share in the high enterprise of
winning the world to Christ? Oh, you that are young and full of spirits, do you
not long to press to the front of this greatcrusade? Our souls pine to see the
knowledge ofthe Lord covering the earth as the waters coverthe sea!It is
glad tidings to us that, joined unto Christ, we cando something in this great
business–something upon which the Lord will smile–something which shall
redound to the glory of His name! We are not condemned to inaction. We are
not denied the joy of service, the superior blessednessofgiving and of doing.
The Lord has chosenus and ordained us to go and bring forth fruit, fruit that
shall remain! This is the aspirationwhich rises in our soul–maythe Lord
grant that we may see it take actualform in our lives!
II. But now, in the secondplace, there passesthrough my heart a shudder–A
SHUDDER OF FEAR. Albeit I glow and burn with strong desire and rise
upon the wing of a mighty ambition to do something greatfor Christ, yet I
read the text and a sudden trembling takes hold upon me. “Without Me”–itis
possible, then, that I may be without Christ and so may be utterly
incapacitatedfor all good! Come, Friends, I want you to feel, even though it
casts a cold chill over you, that you may possibly be, “without Christ.” I would
have you feelit in the very marrow of your bones–yes, in the center of your
hearts.

You profess to be in Christ, but are you? The large majority of those to whom
I speak this morning are visible members of the visible Church of Christ. But
what if you should not be so in Him as to bring forth fruit? Evidently there
are branches which, in a certain sense are in the vine, and yet bring forth no
fruit! It is written, “Every branch in Me that bears not fruit He takes away.”
Yes, you are a member, perhaps an elder, perhaps a deacon, possiblya
minister–and so you are in the Vine–but are you bringing forth the fruits of
holiness? Are you consecrated? Are you endeavoring to bring others to Jesus
Christ?
Or is your professiona thing apart from a holy life and devoid of all influence
upon others? Does it give you a name among the people of God and nothing
more? Say, is it a mere natural associationwith the Church, or is it a living,
Supernatural union with Christ? Let the thought go through you and
prostrate you before Him who looks down from Heaven upon you! He lifts His
pierced hands and cries, “Without Me you can do nothing.” My Friend, if you
are without Christ, what is the use of carrying on that Bible class, foryou can
do nothing? What is the use of my coming to this pulpit if I am without
Christ? What is the use of your going down into the Sunday schoolthis
afternoonif, after all, you are without Christ?
Unless we have the Lord Jesus, ourselves, we cannottake Him to others!
Unless within us we have the Living Waterspringing up unto eternal life, we
cannot overflow so that out of our midst shall flow rivers of Living Water! I
will put the thought another way–Whatif you should be in Christ, but not so
in Him as to abide in Him? It appears from our Lord’s words that some
branches in Him are castforth and are withered. “If a man abide not in Me,
he is castforth as a branch and is withered.” Some who are called by His
name and reckonedamong His disciples–whosenames are heard whenever
the roll of the Church is read–yetdo not continue in Him. My Hearer, what if
it should happen that you are only in Christ on Sunday, but in the world all
the restof the week?
What if you are only in Christ at the Communion Table, or at the Prayer
Meeting, or at certain periods of devotion? 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? Ah me, what will come of such conduct as
this? And yet, some persist in attempting to hold an intermittent communion
with Christ–in Christ today because it is the Sabbath–outof Christ tomorrow
because it is the marketand obedience to Christ might be inconvenient when
they buy and sell. This will not do! We must be so in Christ as to be always in

Him, or else we are not living branches of the living Vine and we cannot
produce fruit.
If there were such a thing as a vine branch that was only occasionallyjoined
to the stem, would you expectit to yield a cluster to the farmer? So neither
can you, if you are off and on with Christ. You can do nothing if there is not
constantunion. One year when I was traveling towards my usual winter
resting place, I stopped at Marseilles,and there was overtakenby great pain.
In my room in the hotel I found it cold and so I askedfor a fire. I was sitting
in a very desponding mood, when suddenly the tears came to my eyes, as if
struck with a great sorrow. I shall never forget the thoughts which stirred my
heart! The porter came in to light the fire. He had in his hand a bundle of
twigs.
I calledto him to let me look at it. He was about to push it into the stove as
fuel with which to kindle the fire. As I took the bundle into my hand, I found
it was made of vine branches–branches thathad been cut off, now that the
pruning time was come. Ah me, I thought, will this be my portion? Here I am,
awayfrom home, unable to bear fruit, as I love to do. Shall I end with this as
my portion? Shall I be gatheredfor the fire? Those vine shoots were parts of a
goodvine, no doubt–branches that once lookedfair and green–but now they
were fuel for the flame. They had been cut off and castoff as useless things!
And then men gatheredthem and tied them in bundles and they were ignobly
thrust into the fire.
What a picture! There goes a bundle of ministers into the fire! There is a
bundle of elders! There’s anotherbundle of deacons!Next a bundle of Church
members, a bundle of Sunday schoolteachers!“Mengatherthem and cast
them into the fire, and they are burned.” Dearbrothers and Sisters, shallthis
be the lot of any of us who have named the name of Christ? Well did I saya
shudder may go through us as we listen to those words, “without Me.” Our
end without Christ will be terrible, indeed! First, no fruit; then no life; and, at
last, no place among the saints, no existence in the Church of God! Without
Christ we do nothing, we are nothing, we are worse than nothing! This is now
the condition of the heathen and it was our own condition once–Godforbid
that we should find it to be our condition now–“withoutChrist, having no
hope!” Here is grave cause for heart-searching and I leave the matter with
you to that end.
III. Having come so far in our secondhead, under the third I behold A
VISION OF TOTAL FAILURE. “Without Me,” says the text, “you can do
nothing”–you canproduce nothing. The visible Church of Christ has tried this
experiment a greatmany times, already, and always with the same result.

Separatedfrom Christ, His Church can do nothing which she was formed to
do. She is sent into the world upon a high enterprise, with noble aims before
her and grand forces ather disposal–butif she should ceasefrom communion
with Christ–she would become wholly incapable!
Now what are the outward signs of any community being apart from Christ?
Answer–first, it may be seenin a ministry without Christ in its doctrine. This
we have seen, ourselves. Woe is the day that it is so! History tells us that not
only in the Romish Church and the Anglican Church, but among the
NonconformistChurches, Christ has been, at times, forgotten! Notonly
among Unitarians, but among Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists–allround,
Jesus has been dishonored. Attempts have been made to do something without
Christ as the truth to be preached. Ah me, what folly it is! They preach up
intellectualism and hope that this will be the greatpowerof God, but it is not.
“Surely,” they say, “novelties of thought and refinements of speechwill attract
and win converts!If the preachers aspire to be leaders of thought–will they
not command the multitude and charm the intelligent? Add music and
architecture and what is to hinder success?” Manya young minister has given
up his whole mind to this–to try and be exceedinglyrefined and intellectual–
and what has he done with these showy means? The sum total is expressedin
the text–“Nothing.” “WithoutMe you can do nothing.” What emptiness this
folly has created–whenthe pulpit is without Christ, the pews are soonwithout
people!
I knew a chapel where an eminent divine was to be heard for years. A
convertedJew, coming to London to visit a friend, set out on Sunday morning
to find a place of Christian worship and he chancedto enter the chapel of this
eminent divine. When he came back he said that he feared he had made a
mistake–he had turned into a building which he hoped was a Christian place
of assembly, but as he had not heard the name of Jesus all the morning, he
thought, perhaps, he had fallen in with some other religionists. I fearthat
many modern sermons might just as fairly have been delivered in a Muslim
mosque as in a Christian Church! We have too many preachers of whom we
might complain, “they have taken awaymy Lord and I know not where they
have laid Him.”
Christianity without Christ is a strange thing, indeed. And what comes ofit
where it is held up to the people? Why, by-and-by there are not enough people
to support the ministry! Empty benches are plentiful and the thing gets pretty
nearly wound up. Blessedbe God for it! I am heartily gladthat without Christ
these pretended ministers cannot prosper! Leave Christ out of the preaching
and you shall do nothing. Only advertise it all over London, Mr. Baker, that

you are making bread without flour–put it in every paper, “Breadwithout
flour”–and you may soonshut up your shop, for your customers will hurry off
to other bakers!
Somehow there is a strange prejudice in people’s minds in favor of bread
made with flour and there is also an unaccountable prejudice in the human
mind which makes men think that if there is a Gospel, it must have Christ in
it. A sermon without Christ as its beginning, middle and end is a mistake in
conceptionand a crime in execution! Howevergrand the language, it will be
merely much ado about nothing if Christ is not there. Yes, and I mean by
Christ not merely His example and the ethicalprecepts of His teaching, but
His atoning blood, His wondrous satisfactionmade for human sin and the
grand doctrine of, “believe and live.” If, “Life for a look at the Crucified One”
is obscured, all is dark! If justification by faith is not set in the very forefront
in the full blaze of light, nothing can be accomplished!Without Christ in the
doctrine you shall do nothing!
Further, without acknowledging alwaysthe absolute supremacy of Christ, we
shall do nothing. Jesus is much complimented, nowadays, but He is not
submitted to as absolute Lord! I hear many pretty things about Christ from
men who rejectHis Gospel. “Lives of Christ” we have in any quantity! Oh for
one which would setHim forth in His Glory as God, as Head of the Church
and Lord of All! I should greatly like to see a, “Life of Christ,” written by one
who know Him by communion with Him and by reverently sitting at His feet!
Mostof the pretty things about Jesus which I read nowadays seemto have
been written by persons who have seenHim through a telescopeata great
distance and know Him, “according to Matthew,” but not according to
personalfellowship! Oh, for a “Life of Christ,” by Samuel Rutherford or
George Herbert, or by some other sweetspirit to whom the Ever-BlessedOne
is such a familiar Friend!
Certain modern praises of Jesus are written upon the theory that, on the
whole, the Saviorhas given us a religion that is tolerably suited to the
enlightenment of the 19 th Century and may be allowedto last a little longer.
Jesus is commended by these critics and somewhatadmired as preferable to
most teachers–butHe is, by no means, to be blindly followed. 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
exposedHim as being behind the times! Of course they have, every now and
then, to rectify certain of His dogmas, especiallysuchas Justificationby Faith,
or Atonement, or the Doctrine of Election!

These are old-fashioned things which belong to an older and less enlightened
period and, therefore, they adapt them by tearing out their real meaning. The
Doctrines of Grace, according to the infallible critics of the period, are out of
date–nobodybelieves them and they settle off old-fashionedBelievers as non-
existent! Christ is rectified and squared–andHis garment without seamis
takenoff and He is dressedout in proper style–as by a West-Endclothier.
Then He is introduced to us as a remarkable teacherand we are advised to
acceptHim as far as He goes. Forthe present the wise ones tolerate Jesus, but
there is no telling what is to come–the progressofthis age is so astonishing
that it is just possible we shall, before long, leave Christ and Christianity
behind!
Now, what will come of this foolishwisdom? Nothing but delusions, mischief,
infidelity, anarchy and all manner of imaginable and unimaginable ills. The
fact is, if you do not acknowledgeChristto be All, you have virtually left Him
out and are without Him! We must preachthe Gospelbecause Christhas
revealedit. “Thus says the Lord,” is to be our logic. We must preachthe
Gospelas ambassadors delivering their message–thatis to say, in the King’s
name–by an authority not their own. We preach our doctrines, not because we
considerthat they are convenient and profitable, but because Christhas
commanded us to proclaim them. We believe the Doctrines ofGrace, not
because the enlightenment of the age sets its wonderful imprimatur upon
them, but because they are true and are the voice of God!
Age or no age has nothing to do with us. The world hates Christ and must
hate Him–if it would boldly denounce Christ, it would be to us a more hopeful
sign than its deceitful Judas kiss. We keepsimply to this–the Lord has said it
and we care not who approves or disapproves. Jesus is God and Head of the
Church–and we must do what He bids us and saywhat He tells us–if we fail in
this, nothing of goodwill come of it. If the Church gets back to her loyalty, she
shall see what her Lord will do, but without Christ as absolute Lord, Infallible
Teacherand honored King, all must be failure even to the end.
Go a little further–you may have sound doctrine and yet do nothing unless
you have Christ in your spirit. I have known all the Doctrines of Grace to be
unmistakably preachedand yet there have been no conversions–forthis
reason–thatthey were not expectedand scarcelydesired. In former years
many orthodox preachers thought it to be their sole duty to comfort and
confirm the godly few who by dint of greatperseverance 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. As to weeping over sinners as

Christ wept overJerusalem;as to venturing to invite them to Christ as the
Lord did when He stretched out His hands all the day long; as to lamenting
with Jeremiahover a perishing people–theyhad no sympathy with such
emotions and feared that they savoredof Arminianism.
Both preacherand congregationwere casedin a hard shell and lived as if
their own salvationwas the only design of their existence. If anybody did grow
zealous and seek conversions,straightwaythey said he was indiscreet, or
conceited. Whena Church falls into this condition it is, as to its spirit,
“without Christ.” What comes of it? Some of you know by your own
observationwhat comes of it. The comfortable corporation exists and grows
for a little while, but it comes to nothing in the long run. And so it must–there
can be no fruit-bearing where there is not the Spirit of Christ as well as the
doctrine of Christ. Unless the Spirit of the Lord rests upon you, causing you to
agonize for the salvationof men even as Jesus did, you cando nothing!
But above all things we must have Christ with us in the power of His actual
Presence.Do we always think of this–“Without Me you can do nothing”? We
are going out this afternoon to teachthe young–shallwe be quite sure to take
Christ with us? Or on the road shall we suddenly stop and say, “I am without
my Masterand I must not dare go another step”? The abiding consciousness
of the love of Christ in our soul is the essentialelementof our strength. We
can no more convert a sinner without Christ than we could light up new stars
in the sky! Powerto change the human will–powerto enlighten the intellect as
to the things of God and to influence the mind as to repentance and faith–
must come entirely from the MostHigh.
Do we feel that? Or do we put our thoughts togetherfor an address and say,
“Now, that is a strong point, and that will produce effect.” And do we rest
there? If so, we can do nothing at all! The powerlies with the Master, not with
the servant! The might is in the hand, not in the weapon!We must have
Christ in these pews and in these aisles–andin this pulpit–and Christ down in
our Sunday school!And we must have Christ at the streetcorner when we
stand there to talk of Him! And we must feel that He is with us even to the end
of the world, or we shall do nothing! We have, then, before us a vision of total
failure if we attempt, in any way, to do without Christ. He says, “Without Me
you cando nothing.” It is in the doing that the failure is most conspicuous.
You may talk a gooddeal without Him. You may hold congresses,conferences
and conventions. But doing is another matter! Without Jesus youcan talk any
quantity, but without Him you can do nothing. The most eloquent discourse
without Him will be all a bottle of smoke. You shall lay your plans, arrange
your machinery and start your schemes, but without the Lord you will do

nothing! Immeasurable cloudland of proposals and not a spotof solid doing
large enough for a dove’s foot to rest on–suchshall be the end of all! You may
have all the money that generositycan lavish, all the learning that your
universities can supply and all the oratory that the most gifted canlay at your
feet, but, “without Me,” says Christ, “you cando nothing.” Fuss, flare,
fireworks and failure–that is the end of it! “Without Me you can do nothing.”
Let me repeat those words again, “Do nothing.” “Do nothing” and the world
dying around us! Africa in darkness, China perishing! India sunk in
superstition and a Church which can do nothing! No bread to be handed out
to the hungry and the multitude fainting and dying! The rock to be smitten
and the Water of Life to leap out for the thirsty, but not a drop forthcoming
because Jesusis not there! Ministers, evangelists, churches, salvationarmies,
the world dies for need of you and yet, “you can do nothing” if your Lord is
away!The age shall advance in discovery and men of science shalldo their
little best, but you shall do “nothing” without Christ–absolutelynothing! You
shall not proceeda single inch upon your toilsome way, though you row till
the oars snap with the strain! You shall be drifted back by winds and currents
unless you take Jesus into the ship.
Remember that all the while the great Husbandman is watching you, for His
eye is on every vine branch. He sees that you are producing no grapes and He
is coming round with that sharp knife of His, cutting here and there! What
must become of you who produce nothing? It makes one’s very soul curdle
within him to think that we should live to do nothing! Yet I fear that
thousands of Christians getno further than this! They are not immoral,
dishonest, or profane–but they do nothing! They think of what they would like
to do and they plan and they propose–butthey do nothing. There are plenty
buds, but not a single grape is produced and all because they do not get into
that vital, overflowing, effectualcommunion with Christ which would fill
them with life and constrain them to bring forth fruit unto the Glory of God!
There is a vision, then, of the failure all along the line if we try to do without
Christ.
IV. But now, fourthly, I hear A VOICE OF WISDOM, a still small voice
which speaks out of the text and says to us who are in Christ, let us
acknowledge this. Downon your knees, bow your mouths in the dust and say,
“Lord, it is true! Without you we cando nothing, nothing whatever that is
goodand acceptable in the sight of God! We have not ability of ourselves to
think anything of ourselves, but our ability is of God.” Now, do not speak
thus, as if you paid a compliment which orthodoxy requires you to make–but
from the deeps of your soul, smitten with an absolute self-despair,

acknowledge the truth unto God. “To will is present with me, but how to
perform that which I would, I find not. Lord, I am a good-for-nothing do-
nothing! I am a fruitless, barren, dry, rotten branch without You, and this I
feel in my inmost soul. Be not far from me, but quicken me by Your
Presence.”
Next, let us pray. If without Christ we can do nothing. Let us cry to Him that
we may never be without Him! Let us, with strong crying and tears, entreat
His abiding Presence. He comes to those who seek Him–letus never cease
seeking!In conscious fellowshipwith Him, let us plead that the fellowship
should always be unbroken. Let us pray that we may be so knit and joined to
Jesus that we may be one spirit with Him, never to be separatedfrom Him
again. Masterand Lord, let the life floods of Your Grace nevercease to flow
into us, for we know that we must be thus supplied or we canproduce
nothing! Brothers and Sisters, let us have much more prayer than has been
usual among us. Prayeris appointed to convey the blessings Godordains to
give–letus constantly use the appointed means and may the result be always
increasing from day to day.
Next, let us personally cleave to Jesus. Letus not attempt a life of separation,
for that were to seek the living among the dead! Do not let us depart from
Him for a single minute! Would you like to be caught at any one secondof
your life in a condition in which you could do nothing? I must confess Ishould
not like to be in that state, incapable of defense againstmy enemies, or of
service for my Lord. If an awakenedone should come before you under
distress of mind and you should feel quite incapable of doing any goodfor
him–what a sadperplexity! Or if you did not feelincapable and yet should
really be so–andwhatif you should, therefore, talk on in a religious way but
know no powerin it? Would it not be a sad thing? May you never be in such a
state that you would be a do-nothing, with opportunities afforded and yet
without strength to utilize them! If you are divided from Christ you are
divided from the possibility of doing good;cling therefore, to the Saviorwith
your whole might and let nothing take you away from Him–no, not for an
hour!
Heartily submit yourselves, also, dearFriends, to the Lord’s headship and
leadership, and ask to do everything in His style and way. He will not be with
you unless you acceptHim as your Master. There must be no quarrel about
supremacy–youmust yield yourself up absolutelyto Him, to be, to do, or to
suffer according to His will. When it is wholly so, He will be with you and you
shall do everything that is required of you. Wonderful things will the Lord
perform through you when once He is your All in All! Will we not have it so?

Once more–joyfully believe in Him. Though without Him you can do nothing,
yet with Him all things are possible!Omnipotence is in that man who has
Christ in him! Weakness,itself, you may be, but you shall learn to glory in
that weakness becausethe powerof Christ rests upon you if your union and
communion with Christ are continually kept up! Oh for a grand confidence in
Christ! We have not believed in Him, yet, up to the measure of the hem of His
garment, for even that faith made the sick womanwhole! Oh to believe up to
the measure of His infinite Deity! Oh for the splendor of the faith which
measures itselfby the Christ in whom it trusts! May God bring us there! Then
shall we bring forth much fruit to the Glory of His name.
1. And now, lastly. While I was listening to my text, as a child puts a shell
to its earand listens till it hears the deep sea rolling in its windings, I
heard within my text A SONG OF CONTENTMENT. “WithoutMe you
can do nothing.” My heart said, “Lord, what is there that I want to do
without You? There is no pain in this thought to me. If I can do without
You, I am sorry to possess so dangerous a power. I am happy to be
deprived of all strength exceptthat which comes from You. It charms, it
exhilarates and delights my soul to think that You are my All. Your
have made me penniless as to all wealth of my own that I might dip my
hand into Your treasury! You have taken all poweraway from every
sinew and muscle of mine that I may reston Your bosom.” “Without
Me you can do nothing.”
Be it so. Brothers and Sisters, are you not all agreed? Do you wish to have it
altered, any of you that love His dear name? I am sure you do not, for
suppose, dear Friends, we could do something without Christ? Then He would
not have the Glory of it. Who wishes that? There would be little crowns for
our poor little heads, for we should have done something without Him. But
now there is one greatcrownfor that dear head which once was pierced with
thorns–for all His saints put togethercannotdo anything without Him! The
goodly fellowshipof the Apostles;the noble army of martyrs and the
triumphant host of the redeemedby blood, all put together, cando nothing
without Jesus!Let Him be crownedwith majesty who works in us both to will
and to do of His own goodpleasure! Forour own sakes, forour Lord’s sake,
we are glad that it is so!
All things are more ours by being His! And if our fruit is His, rather than our
own, it is none the less, but all the more ours! Is not this rare music for a holy
ear? I feel so glad that without Christ we can do nothing because I fear that if
the Church could do something without Christ she would try to live without
Him! If she could teachthe schooland bring the children to salvation without

Christ, I am afraid Christ would never go into a Sunday schoolagain. If we
could preach successfullywithout Jesus, I suspectthat the Lord Jesus Christ
would seldom stand on high among the people again. If our Christian
literature could bless men without Christ, I am afraid we should setthe
printing press going and never think about the Crucified One in the matter. If
there could be work done by the Church without Jesus, there would be rooms
into which He would never be invited–and these would soonbecome a sort of
Blue Beard’s chambers full of horror. A something that we could do without
Christ? Why the mass of the Church would getto working that machinery
tremendously and all the rest would be neglected–andso it is a blessedthing
for the whole Church that she must have Christ everywhere! “Without Me
you cando nothing.”
As I listened to the song within these words I beganto laugh–I wonderif you
will laugh, too? It was to myself I laughed, like Abraham of old. I thought of
those who are going to destroy the orthodox doctrine from off the face of the
earth. How they boastof the decline and death of old-fashionedevangelism!I
have read once or twice that I am the last of the Puritans, the race is all dying
out! To this I object–Iam willing to be esteemedlastin merit–but not last as
ending the race!There are many others who are steadfastin the faith! They
say our old theologyis decaying and that nobody believes it. It is all a lie! But
wise men sayso and, therefore, we are bound to considerourselves obsolete
and extinct. We are, in their esteem, as much out of date as antediluvians
would be could they walk down our streets. Yes, they are going to quench our
coaland blot us out from Israel.
Newspapersand reviews and the generalintelligence of the age all join to
dance upon our graves!Put on your nightcaps, you goodpeople of the
evangelicalorder, and go home to bed and sleepthe sleepof the righteous, for
the end of you is come! Thus say the Philistines, but the armies of the Lord
think not. The adversaries exult exceedingly, but Christ is not with them.
They know very little about Him. They do not work in His Spirit, nor cry Him
up, nor extol the Gospelof His precious blood–and so I believe that when they
have done–their little best will come to nothing. “Without Me you can do
nothing.” If this is true of Apostles, much more of opposers!If His friends can
do nothing without Him, I am sure His foes cando nothing againstHim! If
they who follow His steps and lie in His bosom cando nothing without Him, I
am sure His adversaries cannot–andso I laughed at their laughter and smiled
at their confusion.
I laughed, too, because I remembered a story of a New England service when
the pastor, one afternoon, was preaching in His own solemnway, and the good

people were listening or sleeping, as their minds inclined. It was a substantial
edifice where they assembled, fit to outlive an earthquake. All went on
peacefully in the Meeting House that afternoontill suddenly a lunatic jumped
up, denounced the minister and declaredthat 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 Samsonrepeatedhis threat!
Everybody rose. The women were ready to faint. The men beganto rush to
the doors and there was dangerthat the people would be trampled on as they
rushed down the aisles!There was about to be a greattumult. No one could
see the end of it, when suddenly one coolBrother sitting near the pulpit
produced calm by a single sentence. “Lethim try!” was the stern sarcasm
which hushed the tempest!
Even so, today the enemy is about to disprove the Gospeland crush out the
Doctrines of Grace!Are you distressed, alarmed, astounded? So far from that,
my reply to the adversary’s boastthat he will pull down the pillars of our Zion
is only this –LET HIM TRY! Amen.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
Apart From Christ
John 15:5
J.R. Thomson
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 cando 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 effectof faith, it is goodand precious.
Where do we look for evidence of the goodnessofthe tree? Is it not soughtin

fruit, goodfruit, 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 ownexample, is the fulfillment of the behests of an enlightened
conscience. It comprises personalholiness and active usefulness.
II. SEVERANCE FROM CHRIST RENDERSMEN POWERLESSFOR
GOOD WORKS. The conduct and service which are distinctively Christian
are only possible through personalunion with the Savior.
1. This assertionplaces in a clearlight the unequalled dignity of the Lord
Jesus. This is a declarationwhich 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 soldiernothing without his commander, the hand nothing
without the head, the Christian nothing without Christ.
2. This assertionbrings out into clearlight the absolute dependence of
Christians. Without our Lord's teaching and example, we, should have no
conceptionof the highestmoral excellence.Without his love, we should not
feel the mightiest motive that can influence the soulto consecrationand
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
powerwhich alone can enable feeble man to do the will of God. Without his
promises, we should lack the encouragementand 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 prospectof what is truly the eternallife. "Neither," says Peter, "is
there salvationin 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, suchas
in the vegetable kingdomjoins the branch to the vine-stock, suchas in
architecture unites the temple to its foundation. This union is effectedon the
human side by a believing reception of the gospelof Christ; on the Divine side
by the impartation of the quickening Spirit of God. Such union is capable of
increase in degree;a closerspiritual fellowship with the Divine Redeemeris
the means of increasedfitness 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 strengthenethme." 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.
Biblical Illustrator
I am the Vine, ye are the branches.
John 15:5
The true branches of the True Vine
A. Maclaren, D. D.
No wise teacheris ever afraid of repeating himself. The average mind requires
the reiterationof truth before it can make that truth its own. One coatof
paint is not enough, it soonrubs off.
I. THE FRUITFULNESS OF UNION.
1. "I am the Vine" was a generaltruth, with no clearpersonalapplication.
"Ye are the branches" brought eachindividual listener into connectionwith
it. How many people there are that listen in a fitful sortof 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 convictiondriven into you, that
you have gotsomething to do with this greatmessage."Ye are the branches"
is the one side of that sharpening and making definite of the truth in its

personalapplication, and the other side is "Thou art the man." All religious
teaching is toothless generalities,utterly useless,unless we can force it through
the wallof indifference and vague assent.
2. Note next the greatpromise, "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 artificiallyand 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
secretof total excellencein 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 saythat 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 Christianman of this generationbears 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 statementof the converse — the barrenness of separation. There
is the condemnationof 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. Separationis 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 greenleaves all shrivel up and the white blossoms become brownand
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 gatherthem." "They castthem into the fire." Who have that tragic
task? The solemn factthat the withering of manhood by separationfrom
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 againstthat
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, consequentlythe 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 greatdeal 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 contactwith Christian truth on a Sunday, when somebody
else preaches whathe 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 steepedin those greattruths which
the Masterspoke. Puta little bit of colouring matter into the fountain at its
head and you will have the stream dyed down its course foreverso far. See
that Christ's words be lodgedin your inmost selves, and all the life will be
glorified and flash into richness of colouring and beauty by their presence.
2. The main effectof 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 reachedon earth; we never so much are,
as we are in the process ofbecoming, 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. Characterproduces
conduct, but conduct reacts on characterand strengthens the impulses from
which it springs.
(A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Growth from within
J. J. Wray.
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 swellthe
rising pile; but trees and branches expand from within: their growthis the
putting forth of a vital but unseenforce. The life powerin 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 "Godworkethin
you" more and more "to will and to do of His goodpleasure." Bythis inner
powerthe branches of a tree have a wonderful powerof assimilation.. They
take hold upon all surrounding forces and turn them to advantage. The dew
that falls, the gasesofthe 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 weatherthat test and try it and ofttimes seemto work it
damage, are all made to consolidate its fibres, to quicken the actionof its sap,
and send new energythrough every vein, a strongerlife: 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, allthe providences of God, all the circumstances oflife, as well as
all the riches of promised grace, are made by the goodnessand 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 societyofthe good,
the exercise ofChristian toil, the business of life, the storms and tempests of

sorrow and toil — all things, by reasonof 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, andto give him a
strongergrip upon his God. "All things work togetherfor goodto 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 graftedinto the Vine whose Rootis the Godhead
and whose resourcesare infinite and eternal.
(J. J. Wray.)
Religionin diverse places
J. L. Porter, LL. D.
I saw a vine growing on the fertile plain of Damascus with "boughs like the
goodly cedars" (Psalm80:10). One "bough" of that vine had appropriated a
large foresttree; it had climbed the giant trunk, it had wound itself round the
greatgnarled arms, it had, in fact, coveredevery branch of the tree with
garlands of its foliage, and bent down every twig with the weightof its fruit.
And I saw another branch of the same vine spread out along the ground, and
coverbushes and brambles with foliage as luxuriant and fruit as plentiful as
those on the lordly foresttree. 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 powerof the statesman, the genius of the philosopher, and they shed a
lustre upon eachand all greaterand more enduring than canever be
conferredby gemmed coronetor laurel crown. While other branches of the
same vine find a congenialsphere in humbler walks, they penetrate city lanes,
they creepup 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, philosopherand 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.)
Variety of Christian growth
J. J. Wray.

There may be a hundred branches in a vine; their place in reference to each
other may be far apart; they may seemto have but a very distant connection
with eachother; but having eacha living union with the centralstem, 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 weightedwith 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 seeminglyinsignificant, and
look as though they might readily be dispensed with; as though, indeed, the
tree would be healthier and more gracefulwithout them; some are old and
well grown, thoroughly strong and established;others are young, delicate, and
need development. But whatevervariety 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 Christian individuality
C. Stanford, D. D.
The discoveries ofvegetable physiologyhave 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 aggregateof
individuals — a body corporate, losing nothing, however, and merging
nothing of its own individuality. It is charming to study a scientificallywritten
biography of a tree, giving an accountof 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 affectedby the chemistries of nature; tracing it from
its first faint filament to its full wealth of foliage and its final sweepof
extension; thereby revealing through this miracle of the forestthe glory of
God. But, for the reasons suggestedby 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 scarcelyless interesting, forit teaches him how to connectthe ideas of
total dependence and perfectindividuality. I am a branch, yet I am a true tree

— a tree growing on anothertree — even on the Tree of Life. I see it all now,
and also see the harmony betweenthis particular Scripture and other
Scriptures, better than formerly. It is scientificallytrue that I am a branch in
the Vine, yet that I am a tree, answering to the description, "Rootedandbuilt
up in Him, and establishedin the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding
therein with thanksgiving."
(C. Stanford, D. D.)
The buds
J. L. Nye.
A Sunday schoolteacherwas 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," saida little fellow in the class, "Jesusis the
Vine, grownup 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 youngestcan make themselves useful.
(J. L. Nye.)
The condition of fruitfulness
I saw a little twig scarcelyan 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 shelterto God's
wearysheep at noonday, and the fowls of heavenshould 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 greatbuilding 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 crownedit, and in
God's time I saw the heavy fruit it bore.
Without Me ye can do nothing.
Without Christ -- nothing
C. H. Spurgeon.

No saint, prophet, apostle would ever have said this to a company of faithful
men. Among the virtues of a perfectman we must certainly reckonmodesty.
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, andlove.
2. Fruit in the conversionof others.
3. Fruit of further blessing will ripen for this poor world. Men shall be blessed
in us because we are blessedin Christ.
II. A SHUDDER OF FEAR. It is possible that I may be without Christ, and so
may be utterly incapacitatedfor 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 castforth 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 expressedin 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 allowedto last a little longer. It is
fortunate for Jesus that He commends Himself to the "bestthought" and
ripest culture of the period; for, if He had not done so, these wise gentlemen
would have exposedHim 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 takenoff, and He is dressedout in proper
style, as by a West-end clothier; then He is introduced to us as a remarkable
teacher, and we are advised to acceptHim as far as He goes. Now, whatwill
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 corporationexists and grows for a little
while, but it comes to nothing.
4. But above all things we must have Christ with us in the powerof His actual
presence. The powerlies 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 gooddeal without Him;
you may hold conferencesandconventions; 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, whichspeaks out of the text, and says to us who
are in Christ —
1. Let us acknowledgethis.
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 personallycleave 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 cando nothing, yet with
Him all things are possible.
V. A SONG OF CONTENT."WithoutMe 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
beganto laugh. I thought of those who are going to destroy the orthodox
doctrine from off the face of the earth. They sayour old theologyis decaying,
and that nobody believes it. It is all a lie. If His friends can do nothing without
Him, I am sure His foes cando nothing againstHim. I laughed, too, because I
recollecteda story of a New England service, when suddenly a lunatic started
up and declaredthat 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 Samsonrepeatedhis threatening. Everybody rose;the women
were ready to faint. There was about to be a greattumult; no one could see
the end of it; when suddenly one coolbrother produced a calm by a single
sentence. "Lethim try!" Even so today the enemy is about to disprove the
gospeland 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.)
Nothing without Christ
W. Forsyth, M. A.
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 openedtheir 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 WITHGOD. That man needs this is not to be
questioned; but how is it to be effected? Godcannot change;His laws cannot
be set aside. Sin is eternal separationfrom God. How, then, canman be
reconciled? Only through Christ (Romans 3:19-25;Colossians 1:21;2
Corinthians 5:19: Romans 5:11).
III. AS TO PROGRESSIN THE DIVINE LIFE. From first to lastthe
Christian is dependent on Christ. His life is derived from, developedby,
devoted to Christ.
IV. AS TO SUCCESS IN EVANGELISTIC WORK.

(W. Forsyth, M. A.)
None but Christ indispensable
A. K. H. Boyd, D. D.
In this world no man is necessary. There are many men who, if they were
takenaway, would be missed. But there is no man but what we may sayof
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 exactlythe same without us as with us. But this world has
never seenmore than one Being who could say that it was absolutely
impossible to go on when separatedfrom Him. The little child fancied, when
its mother died, that without her it could "do nothing;" but the grownup,
busy man, hardly seems everto 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 "cando 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
congregationthat missed their minister for a while, come at length to gather
Sunday after Sunday with little thought of the voice it once was pleasantfor
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 necessaryto 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 absentfriends sadly and long; but we shall come at
last to do without them.
(A. K. H. Boyd, D. D.)
Man's greatestneed
Homiletic Monthly.
No man lives a true and useful life who lives without Christ. The goodman
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.Christis the one only
Saviour who canmake 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.)
The union betweenChrist and His people
J. R. Owen.
Apart from Christ —
I. THERE IS NO MERIT FOR OUR ACCEPTANCE WITHGOD. "There is
none righteous, no, not one." "Bythe 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. Notthrough His merit togetherwith what
we ourselves cando. Dr. Chalmers', when awakenedto his condition as a
sinner, for a time "repairedto the atonement to eke out his deficiencies,and
as the ground of assurance thatGod would look upon him with a propitious
eye." But the conviction was at length "wroughtin him that he had been
attempting an impossibility...that it must be either on his ownmerits wholly,
or on Christ's merits wholly, that he must lean; and that, by introducing his
own righteousness into the ground of his meritorious acceptancewith God, 'he
had been inserting a flaw, he had been importing a falsehoodinto 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 repeatedfailures he is driven almost to
despair, and is ready to ask, "Canmy corruptions ever be conquered, or must
I become more and more their slave?" Butif 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 accomplishedby turning the river Alpheus through it, thus
performing with ease whatbefore had appearedimpossible. 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 charactermay be likened unto
a tree growing. "Giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue," etc. Here is a
noble, well-developedgrowth; But these spiritual graces willnot appearif we
do not abide in constantcommunion with Christ.
IV. WE CAN DO NOTHING TO PROMOTE THE TRUE INTERESTSOF
OTHERS. Whatare 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.)
The necessityofsupernatural grace in order to a Christian life
Archbishop Tillotson.
I. WHAT WE MEAN BY THE SUPERNATURALGRACE AND
ASSISTANCE OF CHRIST. Whatevernatural powerwe have to do anything
is from God, but God, considering the lapsedcondition of mankind, sent His
Son to recoverus out of that condition, but we, being without strength, our
Saviour hath in His Gospelofferedan extraordinary assistanceofHis Holy
Spirit, to supply the defects of our natural strength. And this supernatural
grace ofChrist is that alone which canenable us to perform what He requires
of us. And this, according to the severaluses and occasions ofit, is calledby
severalnames. As it puts goodmotions 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 calledassisting grace;
as it keeps us constantin a goodcourse, it is calledpersevering grace.
II. TO THIS GRACE THE SCRIPTURE DOTHCONSTANTLY
ATTRIBUTE OUR REGENERATION, SANCTIFICATION,AND
PERSEVERANCE IN HOLINESS.

III. THERE IS GREAT REASON TO ASSERT THE NECESSITYOF THIS
GRACE AND ASSISTANCE TO THESE PURPOSES. If we consider —
1. The corruption and impotency of human nature. When the Scripture
speaks ofthe 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 contractedimpotency. The habits of sin being added to our natural
impotency, are like so many diseasessuperinduced 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 recoverthemselves.
3. The inconstancy and fickleness ofhuman resolution.
4. The malice and activity of the devil.
IV. THIS SUPERNATURAL GRACE AND ASSISTANCE DOES NOT
EXCLUDE, BUT SUPPOSESTHE CONCURRENCEOF OUR
ENDEAVOURS. The grace of God strengthens and assists us. Our Saviour
implies that by the assistanceofgrace we may perform all the duties of the
Christian life; we may bear fruit, and bring forth much fruit. When the
Apostle says, "I cando all things through Christ strengthening me," he does
not think it a disparagementto the grace ofChrist to say, he could do all
things by the assistanceofit (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 necessaryto all the ends of holiness, obedience,
and perseverance,then there is greatreasonwhy we should continually
depend upon God, and every day earnestly pray to Him for the aids of His
grace.
2. We should thankfully acknowledgeand 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 resistnot the Spirit of God, and receive not the
grace ofGod in vain.
4. The considerationof our own impotency is no excuse to our sloth and
negligence, ifso be the grace of God be ready to assistus.

5. The considerationof our own impotency is no just ground of
discouragementto our endeavours, considering the promise of Divine grace
and assistance.
(Archbishop Tillotson.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(5) I am the vine, ye are the branches.—The first clause is repeatedto bring
out the contrastwith the second. It has been implied, but not directly stated,
that they are the branches. It may be that there was a pause after the end of
the fourth verse, accompaniedby a look at the disciples, or at that which
suggestedthe imagery of the vine. His words would then continue with the
sense, “Yes, it is so. That is the true relation betweenus. I am the vine, ye are
the branches. The fruitful branches represent men that abide in Me . . .”
For without me ye can do nothing.—Better, separate from Me, or, apart from
Me. (Comp. margin.) The words bring out the fulness of the meaning of the
fruitfulness of the man who abides in Christ. It is he, and he only, who brings
forth fruit, for the man who is separate from Christ can bear no fruit. The
words have often been unduly pressed, to exclude all moral powerapart from
Christ, whereas the whole context limits them to the fruit-bearing of the
Christian life. The persons thought of all through this allegoryare true and
false Christians, and nothing is said of the influence on men of the wider
teaching of God, the Light of the Logos everin the world. A moral power
outside the limits of Christianity is clearly recognisedin the New Testament.
(Comp., e.g., Romans 2:14-15, Notes.)
MacLaren's Expositions
John
THE TRUE BRANCHES OF THE TRUE VINE
John 15:5 - John 15:8.

No wise teacheris ever afraid of repeating himself. The average mind requires
the reiterationof truth before it can make that truth its own. One coatof
paint is not enough, it soonrubs off. Especiallyis this true in regard to lofty
spiritual and religious truth, remote from men’s ordinary thinkings, and in
some senses unwelcome to them. So our Lord, the greatTeacher, never
shrank from repeating His lessons whenHe saw that they were but partially
apprehended. It was not grievous to Him to ‘say the same things,’ because for
them it was safe. He broke the bread of life into small pieces, and fed them
little and often.
So here, in the verses that we have to considernow, we have the repetition,
and yet not the mere repetition, of the great parable of the vine, as teaching
the union of Christians with Christ, and their consequentfruitfulness. He saw,
no doubt, that the truth was but partially dawning upon His disciples’minds.
Therefore He said it all over again, with deepenedmeaning, following it out
into new applications, presenting further consequences,and, above all, giving
it a more sharp and definite personalapplication.
Are we any swifter scholars than these first ones were? Have we absorbed into
our own thinking this truth so thoroughly and constantly, and wrought it out
in our lives so completely, that we do not need to be reminded of it any more?
Shall we not be wise if we faithfully listen to His repeated teachings?
The verses which I have read give us four aspects ofthis greattruth of union
with Jesus Christ; or of its converse, separationfrom Him. There is, first, the
fruitfulness of union; second, the withering and destruction of separation;
third, the satisfactionof desire which comes from abiding in Christ; and,
lastly, the great, noble issue of fruitfulness, in God’s glory, and our own
increasing discipleship. Now let me touch upon these briefly.
I. First, then, our Lord sets forth, with no mere repetition, the same broad
idea which He has already been insisting upon-viz., that union with Him is
sure to issue in fruitfulness.

He repeats the theme, ‘I am the Vine’; but He points its applicationby the
next clause, ‘Ye are the branches.’That had been implied before, but it
needed to be said more definitely. For are we not all too apt to think of
religious truth as swinging in vacuo as it were, with no personalapplication to
ourselves, and is not the one thing needful in regard to the truths which are
most familiar to us, to bring them into close connectionwith our own personal
life and experience?
‘I am the Vine’ is a generaltruth, with no clearpersonalapplication. ‘Ye are
the branches’brings eachindividual listener into connectionwith it. How
many of us there are, as there are in every so-calledChristiancommunion,
that listen pleasedly, and, in a fitful sort of languid way, interestedly, to the
most glorious and most solemn words that come from a preacher’s lips, and
never dream that what he has been saying has any bearing upon themselves!
And the one thing that is most of all needed with people like some of you, who
have been listening to the truth all your days, is that it should be sharpened to
a point, and the conviction driven into you, that you have some personal
concernin this greatmessage. ‘Ye are the branches’is the one side of that
sharpening and making definite of the truth in its personalapplication, and
the other side is, ‘Thou art the man.’ All preaching and religious teaching is
toothless generality, utterly useless, unless we canmanage somehow orother
to force it through the wall of indifference and vague assentto a general
proposition, with which ‘Gospel-hardenedhearers’surround themselves, and
make them feel that the thing has got a point, and that the point is touching
their own consciousness. ‘Ye are the branches.’
Note next the great promise of fruitfulness. ‘He that abideth in Me, and I in
Him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.’
I need not repeatwhat I have said in former sermons as to the plain, practical
duties which are included in that abiding in Christ, and Christ’s consequent
abiding in us. It means, on the part of professedlyChristian people, 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. We want stillness of heart, brought about by our own distinct effort
to put awayfrom ourselves the strife of tongues and the pride of life. We want
activity, no doubt, but we want a wise passivenessas its foundation.

‘Think you, midst all this mighty sum
Of things for ever speaking,
That nothing of itself will come,
But we must still be seeking?’
Get awayinto the ‘secretplace of the MostHigh,’ and rise into a higher
altitude and atmosphere than the region of work and effort; and sitting still
with Christ, let His love and His power pour themselves into your hearts.
‘Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers and shut thy doors about
thee.’ Getaway from the jangling of politics, and empty controversies and
busy distractions of daily duty. The harder our toil necessarilyis, the more let
us see to it that we keepa little cell within the central life where in silence we
hold communion with the Master. ‘Abide in Me and I in you.’
That is the way to be fruitful, rather than by efforts after individual acts of
conformity and obedience, howsoeverneedfuland precious these are. There is
a deeper thing wanted than these. The best way to secure Christian conduct is
to cultivate communion with Christ. It is better to work at the increase of the
central force than at the improvement of the circumferential manifestations of
it. Getmore of the sap into the branch, and there will be more fruit. Have
more of the life of Christ in the soul, and the conduct and the speechwill be
more Christlike. We may cultivate individual gracesatthe expense of the
harmony and beauty of the whole character. We may grow them artificially
and they will be of little worth-by imitation of others, by specialefforts after
specialexcellence, ratherthan by generaleffort after the central improvement
of our nature and therefore of our life. But the true way to influence conduct
is to influence the springs of conduct; and to make a man’s life better, the true
way is to make the man better. First of all be, and then do; first of all receive,
and then give forth; first of all draw nearto Christ, and then there will be
fruit to His praise. That is the Christian way of mending men, not tinkering at
this, that, and the other individual excellence, but grasping the secretoftotal
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. ‘If a man will keepnear
Me,’He says, ‘he shall bear fruit.’
Notice that little word which now appears for the first time. ‘He shall bear
much fruit.’ We are not to be contentwith a little fruit; a poor shrivelled
bunch of grapes that are more like marbles than grapes, here and there, upon
the half-nourished stem. The abiding in Him will produce a characterrich in
manifold graces. ‘A little fruit’ is not contemplatedby Christ at all. God
forbid that I should saythat there is no possibility of union with Christ and a
little fruit. Little union will have little fruit; but I would have you notice that
the only two alternatives which come into Christ’s view here are, on the one
hand, ‘no fruit,’ and on the other hand, ‘much fruit.’ And I would ask why it
is that the average Christianman of this generationbears 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?
This verse, setting forth the fruitfulness of union with Jesus, ends with the
brief, solemnstatement of the converse-the barrenness ofseparation-’Apart
from Me’ {not merely ‘without,’ as the Authorised Version has it} ‘ye cando
nothing.’ 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 algebraic symbols added up, amount just to zero. ‘Without
me, nothing.’ All your busy life, when you come to sum it up, is made up of
plus and minus quantities, which preciselybalance eachother, and the net
result, unless you are in Christ, is just nothing; and on your gravestones the
only right epitaph is a greatround cypher. ‘He did not do anything. There is
nothing left of his toil; the whole thing has evaporatedand disappeared.’ That
is life apart from Jesus Christ.
II. And so note, secondly, the withering and destruction following separation
from Him.
Commentators tell us, I think a little prosaically, that when our Lord spoke, it
was the time of pruning the vine in Palestine, and that, perhaps, as they went
from the upper room to the garden, they might see in the valley, here and
there, the fires that the labourers had kindled in the vineyards to burn the

loppings of the vines. That does not matter. It is of more consequence to notice
how the solemn thought of withering and destructionforces itself, so to speak,
into these gracious words;and how, even at that moment, our Lord, in all His
tenderness and pity, could not but let words of warning-grave, solemn,
tragical-dropfrom His lips.
This generationdoes not like to hear them, for its conceptionof the Gospelis a
thing with no minor notes in it, with no threatenings, a proclamation of a
deliverance, and no proclamationof anything from which deliverance is
needed-which is a strange kind of Gospel!But Jesus Christ could not speak
about the blessednessoffruitfulness and the joy of life in Himself without
speaking about its necessaryconverse, the awfulness ofseparationfrom Him,
of barrenness, of withering, and of destruction.
Separationis withering. Did you eversee a hawthorn bough that children
bring home from the woods, and stick in the grate;how in a day or two the
little fresh greenleaves 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 getrid of it? ‘And so,’says Jesus Christ, ‘as long as a man holds on to Me
and the sap comes into him, he will flourish, and as soonas the connectionis
broken, all that was so fair will begin to shrivel, and all that was greenwill
grow brown and turn to dust, and all that was blossomwill droop, and there
will be no more fruit any more for ever.’ 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 Christand 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.
Withering means destruction. The language ofour text is a descriptionof
what befalls the actual branches of the literal vine; but it is made a
representationof what befalls the individuals whom these branches represent,
by that added clause, ‘like a branch.’ Look at the mysteriousness of the
language. ‘Theygather them.’ Who? ‘They castthem into the fire.’ Who have
the tragic task of flinging the withered branches into some mysterious fire?

All is left vague with unexplained awfulness. The solemnfact that the
withering of manhood by separationfrom 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 lestit should
be our fate.
But O, dear brethren! be on your guard againstthe tendency of the thinking
of this generation, to paste a bit of blank paper over all the threatenings of the
Bible, and to blot out from its consciousness the grave issues that it holds
forth. One of two things must befall the branch, either it is in the Vine or it
gets into the fire. If we would avoid the fire let us see to it that we are in the
Vine.
III. Thirdly, we have here the union with Christ as the condition of satisfied
desires.
‘If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask whatye will, and it
shall be done unto you.’ Notice how our Lord varies His phraseologyhere,
and instead of saying ‘I in you,’ says ‘My words in you.’ He is speaking about
prayers, consequentlythe variation is natural. In fact, His abiding in us is
largely the abiding of His words in us; or, to speak more accurately, the
abiding of His words in us is largely the means of His abiding in us.
What is meant by Christ’s words abiding in us? Something a greatdeal more
than the mere intellectualacceptance ofthem. Something very different from
reading a verse of the Gospels ofa morning before we go to our work, and
forgetting all about it all the day long; something very different from coming
in contactwith Christian truth on a Sunday, when somebodyelse preaches to
us what he has found in the Bible, and we take in a little of it. It means the
whole of the conscious nature of a man being, so to speak, saturatedwith
Christ’s words; his desires, his understanding, his affections, his will, all being
steepedin these greattruths which the Masterspoke. Puta little bit of
colouring matter into the fountain at its source, and you will have the stream
dyed down its course for ever so far. See that Christ’s words be lodged in your
inmost selves, by patient meditation upon them, by continual recurrence to
them, and all your life will be glorified and flash into richness of colouring and
beauty by their presence.

The main effectof such abiding of the Lord’s words in us which our Lord
touches upon here is, that in such a case, ifour whole inward nature is
influenced by the continual operationupon it of the words of the Lord, then
our desires will be granted. Do not so vulgarise and lower the nobleness and
the loftiness of this greatpromise as to suppose that it only means-If you
remember His words you will get anything you like. It means something a
greatdeal better than that. It means that if Christ’s words are the substratum,
so to speak, ofyour wishes, then your wishes will harmonise with His will, and
so ‘ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.’
Christ loves us a greatdeal too wellto give to our own foolish and selfishwills
the keys of His treasure-house. The condition of our getting what we will is
our willing what He desires;and unless our prayers are a greatdeal more the
utterance of the submission of our wills to His than they are the attempt to
impose ours upon Him, they will not be answered. We getour wishes when
our wishes are moulded by His word.
IV. The last thought that is here is that this union and fruitfulness lead to the
noble ends of glorifying God and increasing discipleship.
‘Herein is My Fatherglorified, that ye bear much fruit.’ Christ’s life was all
for the glorifying of God. The lives which are ours in name-but being drawn
from Him, in their depths are much rather the life of Christ in us than our
lives-will have the same end and the same issue.
Ah, dear brethren, we come here to a very sharp test for us all. I wonderhow
many of us there are, on whom men looking think more loftily of God and
love Him better, and are drawn to Him by strange longings. How many of us
are there about whom people will say, ‘There must be something in the
religion that makes a man like that’? How many of us are there, to look upon
whom suggests to men that God, who can make such a man, must be infinitely
sweetand lovely? And yet that is what 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. Does Godso shine in me that I lead men to magnify His name? If I am
dwelling with Christ it will be so.

I shall not know it. ‘Moses wistnot that the skin of his face shone’;but, in
meek unconsciousnessofthe glory that rays from us, we may walk the earth,
reflecting the light and making Godknown to our fellows.
And if thus we abide in Him and bear fruit we shall ‘be’ or {as the word might
more accuratelybe rendered}, we shall ‘become His disciples.’The end of our
discipleship is never reachedon earth: we never so much are as we are in the
process ofbecoming, 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 to be more His disciples and more fruitful. Character
produces conduct, but conduct rests on character, and strengthens the
impulses from which it springs. And thus our actionas Christian men and
women will tell upon our inward lives as Christians, and the more our
outward conduct is conformed to the pattern of Jesus Christ, the more shall
we love Him in our inmost hearts. We ourselves shalleatof the fruit which we
ourselves have borne to Him.
The alternatives are before us-in Christ, living and fruitful; out of Christ,
barren, and destined to be burned. As the prophet says, ‘Will men take of the
woodof the vine for any work?’Vine-wood is worthless, its only use is to bear
fruit; and if it does not do that, there is only one thing to be done with it, and
that is, ‘They castit into the fire, and it is burned.’
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
15:1-8 Jesus Christ is the Vine, the true Vine. The union of the human and
Divine natures, and the fulness of the Spirit that is in him, resemble the root of
the vine made fruitful by the moisture from a rich soil. Believers are branches
of this Vine. The root is unseen, and our life is hid with Christ; the root bears
the tree, diffuses sap to it, and in Christ are all supports and supplies. The
branches of the vine are many, yet, meeting in the root, are all but one vine;
thus all true Christians, though in place and opinion distant from eachother,
meet in Christ. Believers, like the branches of the vine, are weak, and unable
to stand but as they are borne up. The Father is the Husbandman. Neverwas
any husbandman so wise, so watchful, about his vineyard, as God is about his
church, which therefore must prosper. We must be fruitful. From a vine we
look for grapes, and from a Christian we look for a Christian temper,

disposition, and life. We must honour God, and do good;this is bearing fruit.
The unfruitful are takenaway. And even fruitful branches need pruning; for
the besthave notions, passions, andhumours, that require to be takenaway,
which Christ has promised to forward the sanctificationof believers, they will
be thankful, for them. The word of Christ is spokento all believers;and there
is a cleansing virtue in that word, as it works grace, andworks out corruption.
And the more fruit we bring forth, the more we abound in what is good, the
more our Lord is glorified. In order to fruitfulness, we must abide in Christ,
must have union with him by faith. It is the greatconcernof all Christ's
disciples, constantlyto keepup dependence upon Christ, and communion with
him. True Christians find by experience, that any interruption in the exercise
of their faith, causes holyaffections to decline, their corruptions to revive, and
their comforts to droop. Those who abide not in Christ, though they may
flourish for awhile in outward profession, yet come to nothing. The fire is the
fittest place for withered branches; they are goodfor nothing else. Let us seek
to live more simply on the fulness of Christ, and to grow more fruitful in every
goodword and work, so may our joy in Him and in his salvationbe full.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
I am the vine - John 15:1.
Without me ye can do nothing - The expression"without me" denotes the
same as separate from me. As the branches, if separatedfrom the parent
stock, couldproduce no fruit, but would immediately wither and die, so
Christians, if separate from Christ, could do nothing. The expressionis one,
therefore, strongly implying dependence. The Son of God was the original
source of life, John 1:4. He also, by his work as Mediator, gives life to the
world John 6:33, and it is by the same grace and agencythat it is continued in
the Christian. We see hence:
1. that to him is due all the praise for all the goodworks the Christian
performs.
2. that they will perform goodworks just in proportion as they feeltheir
dependence on him and look to him. And,
3. that the reasonwhy others fail of being holy is because they are unwilling to
look to him, and seek grace andstrength from him who alone is able to give it.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
5. without me—apart, or vitally disconnectedfrom Me.
ye can do nothing—spiritually, acceptably.
Matthew Poole's Commentary

I am the vine, ye are the branches; that is, I am as the vine, you are as the
branches: without the continual influence of the vine upon the branches, they
bring forth no fruit; but that influence continuing, no plant is more fruitful
than a vine is: so without the continual influence of my Spirit of grace upon
you, you will be altogetherbarren and unfruitful; but if you have that
influence, you will not be fruitful only, but very fruitful: for without my
continuing such influence, you will not only be able to do little, but you will be
able to do nothing that is truly and spiritually goodand acceptable in the sight
of God.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
I am the vine, ye are the branches,.... Christhere repeats what he said of
himself, "the vine", for the sake of the application of "the branches" to his
disciples:which expressestheir sameness ofnature with Christ; their strict
and close union to him; and the communication of life and grace, holiness and
fruitfulness, of support and strength, and of perseverance in grace and
holiness to the end from him:
he that abideth in me, and I in him; which is the case ofall that are once in
Christ, and he in them:
the same bringeth forth much fruit; in the exercise ofgrace, and performance
of goodworks;and continues to do so as long as he lives, not by virtue of his
own free will, power, and strength, but by grace continually receivedfrom
Christ:
for without me ye can do nothing; nothing that is spiritually good;no, not
anything at all, be it little or great, easyor difficult to be performed; cannot
think a goodthought, speak a goodword, or do a goodaction; canneither
begin one, nor, when it is begun, perfectit. Nothing is to be done "without
Christ"; without his Spirit, grace, strength, and presence;or as "separate
from" him. Were it possible for the branches that are truly in him, to be
removed from him, they could bring forth no fruits of goodworks, any more
than a branch separatedfrom the vine canbring forth grapes;so that all the
fruitfulness of a believer is to be ascribedto Christ, and his grace, andnot to
the free will and powerof man.
Geneva Study Bible
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.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary

Jesus was essential for doing anything

Jesus was essential for doing anything

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Jesus was essential for doing anything

Similar to Jesus was essential for doing anything (20)

More from GLENN PEASE

More from GLENN PEASE (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (17)

Jesus was essential for doing anything