I invite you to turn with me tonight in the Old Testament to Isaiah 5, Isaiah 5 as we read together the first seven verses of that chapter, and also John 15 as we read the first eight verses there, the text being verse 5 of John 15. Isaiah 5 and John 15. Once you have found those, then please turn in the back of the Psalter Hymnal to page 31 to Lord's Day 24 of the Heidelberg Catechism. We'll consider that first. Page 31 in the back of the Psalter Hymnal. Questions and Answers 62, 63, and 64. Lord's Day 24. Let's respond together, giving testimony to what we believe concerning this Lord's Day. Question 62 asks, Why can't the good we do make us right with God, or at least help make us right with Him? Because the righteousness which can pass God's scrutiny must be entirely perfect and must in every way measure up to the divine law. Even the very best we do in this life is imperfect and stained with sin. How can you say that the good we do doesn't earn anything when God promises to reward it in this life and the next? This reward is not earned, it is a gift of grace. But doesn't this teaching make people indifferent and wicked? No, it is impossible for those grafted into Christ by true faith not to produce fruits of gratitude. And turning to Isaiah chapter 5, beginning at verse 1, as we hear now the word of the Lord. I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard. My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but he yielded only bad fruit. Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? Now I tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed. I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briars and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it. The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of His delight. And He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed, for righteousness, but heard cries of distress. Turning over to John chapter 15, beginning at verse 1. Again, verse 5, serving as our focus tonight. Our Lord says, I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit. showing yourselves to be my disciples. I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. Well, beloved in Christ the Lord, how does the doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone on account of Christ alone change your life? Now remember, we're coming off of the Lord's Day that dealt with justification. We had considered what it means when we confessed the Apostles' Creed over a number of Lord's Days, and in Lord's Day 23, dealt with how are you right with God. It dealt with justification, and the teaching of Scripture is that we are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, on account of Christ alone. So how does that truth of Scripture change your life? Or maybe a better question would be, how should it change your life? In other words, we believe that our salvation is all the work of Jesus Christ. He did it all from start to finish, every last bit. There's nothing that we could do to contribute even a little bit to our right standing before God, our salvation before God. And we receive all of that by faith. Well, there are some who react to that truth by saying, well, that's great, you know, that means I can live like I want, I can do whatever I want, and I'm safe. Because I'm forgiven anyway. But you see, beloved, that kind of an attitude is false if the way you want to live is to live according to the old life of sin. You see, the Bible makes it clear that new life is exactly that. It's new that life enlisted in Christ's service will desire to give back to God what the catechism calls fruits of gratitude. The simple fact, beloved, is that the justified sinner can't help but produce the fruit of new life. You see, the goal of Christ's death and resurrection has always been fruit. On the one hand, the fruit of new birth in God's children, and then flowing from that new birth the fruit that God's children are to bear to the glory of God. So once again, the justified sinner produces the fruit of new life. It's a fact. And He does so, first of all, because of the nature of the source of life. Jesus says at the start of our text, I am the vine. Jesus identifies Himself as the source of life. And we can understand what he's talking about as we consider the everyday picture that he gives. Vineyards were common to the people of Palestine in the day of Jesus. We know that. That was a perfect area for growing grapes. And we know as well that vineyards were spoken of throughout Scripture. One of the most telling ones, of course, is when we consider the Israelite spies that went in to spy out the land of Canaan and we're told that they took back large clusters of grapes to their camp from the land flowing with milk and honey. And the people of that day also would have understood that grape vines need constant care. They need constant work. It takes a number of years of cultivation and wise pruning for the vines to bear fruit. But if they are given that cultivation and care, then fruit is expected. In verse 1 of this passage, Jesus says, I am the true vine. I am the true vine. Well, of course, that's in comparison to a false vine, to a corrupt vine, very simply. And to understand that, we simply need to compare him to the Old Testament type. Again, the Jews of Jesus' day, and particularly his disciples when he spoke this, would have thought of more than a literal, physical vineyard. They knew Scripture. They knew that the metaphor of a vine was used long before to describe the relationship between God and His people, as we read about in Isaiah chapter 5. In another place, and I encourage you to read it, is Psalm 80, very similar to Isaiah chapter 5, talking about the fact that Israel was the vineyard of God, the vineyard that God planted, God pruned, God watered, God cared for in the land of Canaan, and God, of course, expected fruit. He expected that vineyard to be a showcase to the nations of His power, of His grace, to be a showcase of obedience to Almighty God. But Israel yielded only bad fruit. She was a corrupt vineyard. She did not bring forth the fruit of obedience and glory to God. And therefore, God turned His back on her. And our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, comes on the scene of history And he says, I am the true vine. Which means that he is saying, I am the genuine vine. I am the real thing. Compared to that which was not. And as the true vine, Jesus Christ represents God's people. He fulfilled what God had intended for Israel. He brought forth grapes, not bad fruit. He brought forth the good fruit of perfect obedience and perfect glory to God. And in Him, the fruit of new life entered Jerusalem and entered the world. And He, as the vine, the true vine, brings forth good fruit through His branches. His disciples are His branches, those to whom He has given new life for the sake through His shed blood. But Jesus Christ is the true vine. He is the only source of true life, the only one that is able to give true life. And therefore, the justified sinner produces the fruit of new life in the second place because of the connection to that genuine source of life. And we can understand that connection if we think about the nature of that connection. It is to be an abiding connection. It is an abiding connection. He says, if a man remains in me. In other words, one must be one with Christ. He must be connected to the Lord Jesus Christ. The word remains here has the idea of taking up residence. Living there. A permanent place. And to remain in Him means to live in and according to His word and prayer. It means to obey His commandments. It means to keep our lives clean. through His Word. It means to continue to believe on Him. And to His branches then, He gives an internal evidence, an assurance that you and I indeed remain in Him. And that evidence, that assurance, includes knowing the Savior's love, obeying God's Word, answered prayer, complete joy. All these things come from John 15. The connection is to be an abiding connection, But that's only possible then by faith. One can only be connected to Christ by faith and can only remain in Him by true faith. That true faith which, as Answers 61 of the previous Lord's Day says, that true faith which receives His satisfaction so that God is satisfied with me. It receives His righteousness so that God sees me as righteous in His sight for Jesus' sake. It receives His holiness. The Holy Spirit makes me holy more and more day by day. The true faith receives the very things I need to make me right with God. Beloved, we remain in Him by faith. And God constantly strengthens our faith and increases our assurance of forgiveness and fellowship with Him as we remain in Jesus Christ. As we consider the context of John chapter 15, we know that Jesus was speaking to his disciples without Judas Iscariot. Boys and girls, Judas was a bad branch, a rotten branch. He had already been cut off by this time in the evening, the evening of the Last Supper, which points to the truth that he was not a true disciple of Jesus Christ. And Jesus says to the other disciples, you are the branches. And where does the fruit grow? The fruit grows on branches. And that fruit grows on branches only as the branch abides in and receives life-giving sap. Now, boys and girls, that makes sense. Maybe you have a fruit tree or two in your yard and you wake up one morning and there's a branch laying on the ground. Well, you know that that branch is no longer going to yield grapefruit. No longer will oranges grow on that branch that is cut off, that is broken off from the tree laying on the ground. Or if it's not a fruit-bearing tree, as the Scripture says, it will wither. The leaves on it within a day will wither. And no more leaves will ever grow on that branch. And the same thing is true with our spiritual life, beloved. That true spiritual life comes only from being grafted into. In other words, made one with Christ by true faith. And we need to always remember and always be reminded, beloved, that we are not grafted into Christ because we are His disciples. But we are His disciples because we have been grafted into Him by true faith. And new life results in faith. New life results in discipleship because of the connection with the true source. The connection is an abiding connection by faith. But that connection is also necessary. Jesus very clearly says, apart from me, you can do nothing. Now that's a powerful statement. There's no qualifications. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Apart from me, you can do nothing. A powerful statement, yet an offensive statement to many, to be told that we need Jesus Christ. That goes against our sinful human nature that thinks I can do anything I want on my own. I don't need help from anyone. But here he plainly says, you need me. There were some, of course, throughout history and still today that say, well, he was a great teacher. He was a good example. But it's not necessarily the only way of salvation. And some say that he's not necessary for salvation at all. But that's clearly to oppose what God Himself says. Scripture teaches there is no other way to the Father, no other way to be saved than through Jesus Christ. And this text teaches that, that the new life that we are called to live can only be done in Christ. Even as Paul says in Galatians 2, verse 20, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. That connection, that abiding connection by faith is necessary, beloved, for fruit bearing. Think about the vine or the tree again. The branch is only alive when it is not only connected to, but also it must be drawing nourishment from the tree. Where there is nourishment, where there is sap, where there is life, there will be fruit. The Holy Spirit of God is the life of Christ given to His church, given to believers. And the Holy Spirit brings forth the fruit of the Spirit, good works in your life and my life that are pleasing to God. Without the Holy Spirit, without new life, one is dry and barren and dead and cannot do any spiritual good that is acceptable to God. Not even a little bit. In fact, the truth is, even as renewed people of God, even our best works are not enough to do even part of our salvation, earn even part. That's what Answers 62 says, or the question, why can't the good we do make us right with God or at least help make us right with Him? Because the righteousness which can pass God's scrutiny must be entirely perfect and must in every way measure up to the divine law. Even the very best we do in this life is imperfect and stained with sin. Israel as a vineyard was imperfect. Only Jesus Christ is the true, is the genuine, is the perfect vine. Apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, even the most intelligent of men are nothing but dead men walking. And sadly, beloved, the same is true even in the invisible church. Many seem to not understand this, but a mere profession of faith or having one's name in the membership roles or in the directory isn't enough. Many claim to be Christians, but their lives are fruitless for God. Or worse yet, they produce bad fruit. In the parables of our Lord, He clearly teaches that in the visible church, there are both sheep and goats. There is wheat and tares. There are vital life-filled branches as well as dry, dead branches. There is dead wood in the visible church. those who profess Him with their mouth, but not with their heart. And as like someone has said, they're nothing but clouds without rain. Useless. And their motive is nothing but selfish, sinful gain. And there is no love for God above all than their neighbor as themselves. And Jesus makes it very clear what their end is. They are dead. They are worthless. And a dead branch is useless for building furniture or anything useful or constructive. It's only good for one thing, as Jesus makes clear, and that is to burn up. And we all know what the result of that is, don't we? Ashes. Ashes blow away so easy in the wind. Boys and girls, if you find, again, a broken branch laying on the ground and you dig a little hole in your yard and you stick that branch in and you water it and you care for it, what are you going to get? Nothing. Because that branch has no life source. It has no tree. It has no root. Jesus Christ is the one and only source of true life apart from Him. One can do no spiritual good. One can do nothing to benefit God's kingdom or His church or His people. One can only do evil in God's sight and is nothing more than an instrument, a tool in Satan's hand that Satan will try to use to destroy the church and the kingdom of God. Beloved, we can spend our time reading all the self-help books and manuals that you can find on the shelf, and some do. We can spend our time attending all the life-changing seminars that are offered out there, and one might even feel good and feel a bit of a change for a time, but apart from Jesus Christ, there is no true lasting change. That one is still unfruitful. That one is still empty of any good. And that's because nothing but the Holy Spirit can produce the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. In Christ alone, there is true reform and true transformation. But this connection with the source of life also has a need for a continuous flow of life from that source. You see, beloved, union with Christ is not to be temporary. It's not to be once in a while or on again, off again. But we are called again to remain in Him. That idea of residence, of a permanent union, as Paul says, in Him we live, we move, we have our being in the realm of Jesus Christ. How does one remain in Him? By remaining in His Word through reading, study, believing, obeying, and His Word remaining in us as a lamp unto our feet and a light upon our path. As well by remaining in His merits in that He is our righteousness before God and therefore we plead with God only for the sake of Christ's work and His work and His merits also remain in us. They are to our comfort and our support giving us assurance that we are right with God. But of course all of that depends again on faith, doesn't it? One being grafted into Christ by faith. That's how we remain in Him. That's how we continue by God's grace, by the power of the Spirit to receive that continual flow of the life of Jesus Christ. And being grafted into Christ by faith results in sharing in the nature of the vine. Those who have true faith in Christ share in His nature with His life-giving blood flowing through us and we draw power from Him through His Holy Spirit. And that new nature that we enjoy by faith is the righteousness then of Jesus Christ. Beloved, He is the genuine, the real source of new life. We are connected to Him by true faith. Yet, that new life of Christ's righteousness produces the fruit of righteousness because of the vitality of the source of life. Vitality or life. See, vitality distinguishes the living from the non-living. There was no vitality in Israel. They were not truly living. It's only in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ and His eternal life is the vitality of the believer. And that vitality is seen in that evidence, again, that is called the fruit of gratitude. He says, if a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. Again, a powerful statement. He will bear much fruit. Now, in a sense, that ought to make every one of us a little bit uneasy. Those of us who profess to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. You hear what he says? You will bear much fruit. It's not an option. It's not an if or a maybe. But doesn't this teaching, again, that our good works merit nothing, not even a little bit, make people indifferent and wicked? No, it is impossible for those grafted into Christ by true faith not to produce fruits of gratitude. It is impossible. Christ's life is powerful, it is effective, and it will produce fruit in its branches. I don't know about for you, but for me, This is an amazing truth that Jesus Christ would even bother to live through a clay jar, a cracked pot like me. This is amazing to me what He is able to bring forth from what was formerly just a pile of dry, dead bones. But again, the evidence is in what is produced. We ought to praise God for the imagery He gives us here of a vine. We can understand that. Boys and girls, you can understand this. A living vine, or a living orange tree, for example. A living vine from that, we expect grapes. From a living orange tree, we expect oranges. From a Christian, one who is truly living in Christ, God expects Christianity. Which includes a Christian temper and an attitude. Which includes a godly walk and talk. which includes a manner of living that is governed by true faith, not by the ideas and the beliefs and the pressures of the godless world. In Isaiah chapter 5, it clearly teaches us that the fruit that God desires is loving obedience and righteousness and justice, the very things, beloved, that will get one cut off from the world. I believe Paul, as he sat in prison, was an example of that. God expects from those who are alive in Christ, He expects all that is included in love for God and our neighbor. We already considered some of the things that we are to give to God. To live in and according to His Word and prayer. To obey His commandments. To keep our lives clean through His Word. And to continue to believe on Him. And our love for our neighbor is to include the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And this fruit of gratitude, beloved, is fruit that springs from faith, understanding that Jesus Christ is my Savior, that I am righteous in Him. It is fruit that is in harmony with God's law, obedience to Him. It is fruit that is done to His glory, that is done to glorify Him, that again, as we said this morning, we show to the world, we demonstrate to the world the glory of our God. by the fruit that we bear. This, beloved, is the productivity of one whose life is intimately connected to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. But this vitality of the true source of life is also evidenced in growth. Maybe you notice the progression in this portion of Scripture from John chapter 15. From fruit to more fruitful to much fruit. There is to be progress. There will be progress for those who are in Christ Jesus, but there is to be progress. Beloved, we are never to be content with the current state of affairs of our Christian life. We are never to be content to give only part-time fruit, to give a little bit here and there, maybe only between the hours of 9 and 5 or only on Sunday or maybe when it's convenient for us and we see some benefit from it. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave His all for us and we are to be content with nothing short of giving our all for Him. It is to be our desire as God calls us to be, to be living sacrifices, to be living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, to actively, consciously desire and strive to be living sacrifices. Beloved, we're not just puppets on a string for Him. We don't just lay by idly, but He gives us a renewed will and new desires. He gives us responsibilities. He says, believe in Me and live for Me and be obedient to Me. Our lifestyle is to be a life of sacrifice to the Lord in every way we can think of, in every opportunity that God gives to us. And that sacrifice is to be more faithful day by day. But once again, it depends on fellowship with Christ, right? An occasional fellowship with Christ will yield only occasional fruit. And sad to say, probably wax fruit, plastic fruit at that, but not real fruit. And God Himself increases the fruit in His branches by pruning. Think of the vines and the plants and the trees again. They are pruned to trim off the unwanted and the unnecessary branches. They're pruned to increase the quality and the quantity of the fruit. God, through His Holy Spirit, He prunes us. He trims away the old habits and the sinful baggage and the ungodly tendencies that continue to cling to you and me against our renewed will. And sometimes it's painful. Yet the result is glorious. The result is the blossom of fruitfulness to His glory. Beloved, the question is not if the fruit of good works is necessary. That's not the question at all. Not the question of the catechism. not the question of the Word of God. It is the constant call of God's Word that you and I as believers bear fruit. No questions asked. Spiritual fruit is evidence of new life and true life in Christ Jesus. And the goal is simple. Verse 8 says, This is to my Father's glory that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. First of all, again, to the glory of God. but also fruitfulness is evidence of being a disciple of Christ. It is to be our desire to show to the world, not in a proud and an arrogant way, of course, but to show to the world in a humble way that we are disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is by their fruit. You will know them. And our comfort is that not only does Christ give us new life, but He brings forth the fruit of that new life to identify those who are His. if you are saved, there will be fruit. And beloved, by the fruit of faith, believers may very well be cut off from the world. But that's nothing compared to unbelievers, rejecters of the vine, and who demonstrate that rejection by their wickedness and their unbelief. They will be cut off from God forever and ever. But those who turn to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, those whom the Holy Spirit grafts into Christ by true faith, they will show gratitude by fruit. And they will want to show gratitude by fruit. And they will never be cut off. They will never be stripped away. They will never be snatched from or pruned from the true vine. So how does justification by grace alone, through faith alone, on account of Christ alone, change your life? It changes it from unrighteousness to righteousness. It changes it from selfishness to selflessness. It changes it from a desire to sin to a passion to live for God. That's the identity of those who are in Christ Jesus. So then, are you a branch connected to Christ, the true vine, the source of new life? then again, You will produce fruit for Him. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, we pray, O Lord, that having once again heard Your Word and been reminded of what Your children are to look like in this world, that indeed You would cause each and every one of us to examine our lives, our hearts. And that You would cause us to see, O Lord, please, please cause us to see that we are bearing fruit for You in some way, even if in a small way. And Father, we pray too that You would continue to pour the life of Christ into us by Your Holy Spirit and that we too would be those who become more fruitful for You. That we would desire to show such gratitude to You for such a great salvation that that fruit might be abundant and real and seen by all those with whom we have contact. And that others too might enjoy the fruit of Your people as they see the Lord Jesus Christ and hear a testimony to that saving grace in Him. Father, we pray that You would continue to bless Your branches. that you would continue to bless your people through your Holy Spirit. And may we be a blessing to you. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray these things. Amen.