John 15:1 I am the true vine, and My Father is the Husbandman."

This chapter is written basically to the Elect. The "husbandman" is the vine dresser. Christ is saying that He is the vine and His Father is the one that keeps the vineyard pruned.

John 15:2 "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit He taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit."

Those that are saved and claim to be of the vine [Christ], and do not bear fruit, The Father will do some pruning of them. When you witness and plant the seeds of truth for Christ to bring forth fruit, then our heavenly Father will prune that branch, and cut away the dead wood to where it will bring forth even more fruit.

Jesus is using a grape vine to explain how each of us, as well as He, the Father and the Holy Spirit are all joined to one vine, for the purpose of bringing in the most fruit possible. Even when you are in rest and peace with Father, He is going to keep you pruned to where you can bring forth even more fruit. Jesus is showing us through horticulture and the growing of grapes, how the husbandman must keep the dead wood cut from the branches, or the vine and its branches will not bear fruit.

John 15:3 "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you."

Jesus is telling His disciples, and the elect that it is imperative that you study and know the Word, for that is how the Father does his pruning and cleaning up of ones life. When someone says that all you need is the Spirit, here Jesus is saying that the Spirit does His cleaning work through the Word of God, your Bible.

John 15:4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me."

"Abide" again is the prime word for "mansions" in the Greek. It is "meno" and it means "to abide and live the mansion". The "mansion" is the state of rest and peace of your soul where ever you are, even in the flesh body. Jesus is saying that you must have the Father and his pruning to be able to abide in peace and rest, and bring forth fruit, or you will not be able to have peace and rest.

The "branch" which is you. A branch cannot bear fruit in and of itself unless it abide in the vine who is Jesus Christ. The only way you can bear fruit is by resting in Christ, and allowing the Spirit of God to move on your heart, as you study His Word. Then the Father will do the cutting where it is necessary to make you fruitful for Him.

If you are looking for that pie in the sky, with the mansions by and by, then you haven't got it my friend. You either have it now, as of the day you repented in Jesus name, and believed and trusted on Him, or you simply do not have it. The mansions that Christ went away to prepare for you, was done on the cross of Calvary, and when He defeated death and ascended to the Father, He made that mansion possible for you right now. That mansion or "mone" [mon-ay'] in the Greek is the peace and rest that you have when you study God's Word, and trust in the promises that Christ gave us there. It is from that Word, and the comfort given by the Spirit of God that we rest and find peace of mind.

John 15:5 "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."

Do you want to produce fruit? Then get into the Word of God and let His Word clean up those dirty parts, and prune away that dead wood in your life. There is nothing that will happen in this world age that is not already written in the Word. The future is already planned out and the past bears record that God truly has control of all times and events. The deeper you get into the Word, the less you will be surprised at the events that are taking place today.

Without the ability to place within the heart and mind of your new convert the Word of God to fight against Satan, that new convert will fall right back into Satan's camp with the first spiritual attack that comes upon him. Before you go out to save people get into the depth of His Word, and learn to put on the spiritual armor necessary to fight the spiritual warfare that is coming on the world today.

John 15:6 "If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned."

This is the other side of verse five. This is exactly the way it will be, for if you are not of Christ and saved by, and through the shed blood of Christ on the cross, you will be as the dead vine that is pruned by the Father. Following judgment all of this dead wood will be cast into the lake of fire. This is also a promise of God, and written in Revelation 20:12-15.

Revelation 20:12; "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works."

Those with their names written in the "book of life" do not stand in judgment at the great white throne to be judged. For at the return of Christ to this earth, they receive their incorruptible and immortal spiritual bodies, as well as their rewards. God's elect and those in their immortal bodies, share in the inheritance of the kingdom with Christ through the Millennium age.

Revelation 20:13; "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works."

Friend, if you are saved in the Millennium age, you will be judged on your works alone, for Christ will be on earth in person, and salvation then will not be by faith then, but by works.

Revelation 20:14; "And death [second death is the of soul] and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death."

The first death is the death of this flesh body, the second death is the death of the soul.

Revelation 20:15; "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

This is all the dead wood that the Father has pruned off the vine that will be burned in the lake of fire. It is the same vine and the same branch that will be together at the end of the Millennium age, and you will either be tied into Christ that is the vine, or you will be the dead wood that will be burned at that time.

John 15:7 "If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."

What again is this talking about? Does it say that all you need to do is believe? No, the subject here is "the Words." Those Words that Jesus spoke are written from cover to cover in the entire Scriptures.

Jesus is using the growth of a grape vine and the fruit that is grown on that vine to show how our lives should be governed. To make that vine grow and and bear fruit in our lives, Jesus is saying that we need to put His words, from the Bible in our minds. Then if you are obedient to Him in this request, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

It is important that you understand why it is necessary to study His Words, for it is only through His Word that you can understand the conditions of the promise, and the requirements that we must have in order to stay in His will. If Jesus' words are part of you, then you know what we must do to please the Lord, and what does not please him. When you place the Scriptures into your mind then the Comforter, the Holy Spirit will come and help you to understand, bring it to your remembrance.

John 15:8 "Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples."

This pleases the Father when you take the time to study His Word. The heavenly Father wants you to be blessed and bear much fruit. The words "My disciples" means, "my students disciplined in My teachings". If you do get off on some wild teaching, and your branches get out of control, the Father will come with His pruning shears and prunes you back where you can continue to bear fruit. This is why we must pray for a little pruning now and then, to keep us right on line. Pray for knowledge and understanding and for the Holy Spirit to help you understand the Word.

John 15:9 "As the Father hath love Me, so have I loved you: continue ye in My love."

John 15:10 "If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love: even as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love."

Here is that word "abide" again, it is the same word as "mansion" in the Greek. Jesus is again telling us that when we keep His commandments and show love one to another, as Jesus commanded, then we have are abiding or have mansions with us right at that moment.

John 15:11 "These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."

Jesus is telling you that He wants you to be happy and full of joy. When you understand the plan of God, and see the promises that are direct just for you, joy and happiness is the only way possible for you to feel. God is in control, and in Christ we have the victory.

John 15:12 "This is My commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you."

Jesus loved us in that He gave His life for us. You simply cannot love any one any more then that. There are two kinds of death, the physical and the spiritual. Christ laid down his physical, flesh life so that our spiritual lives could be saved and not perish. When we sacrifice ourselves by telling of others of Christ saving grace, we are placing Jesus' words in the minds of others. That is how show our love for others.

John 15:13 "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

Love is the greatest gift in the world, and when that love and friendship is so deep that one would even sacrifice his life for you, there is nothing greater. Do you realize what Jesus is calling you here? He is calling you a friend.

John 15:14 "Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you."

Jesus is not talking to children here, but friends. Why? Because Jesus is talking to His election [His Elect].

John 15:15 "Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you."

Jesus is telling His Elect that from this time forth He will not call them slaves or servants, or in bondage. The servant and the slave respond to what is told and commanded of them. They have no right to ask why of their master, but must react to their master's command. Jesus is saying because He has informed His elect [His disciples] of all matters concerning both Him and their world, they are no longer in the position of servants to Him but friends.

Where do we get our instruction and knowledge on all matters? From His Word, the Bible. This is why it is imperative that we study the whole Word, and that includes the prophets of the Old Testament. We must learn those great things that were spoken of by Moses, and Ezekiel, and especially the minor prophets to know and understand what our generation is starting to go through, and what is going to transpire in the end times. Every book is important from Genesis to Revelation. The Bible was given and written down that so we would not be ignorant of God's plan, for it is the God's plan for all ages. When we learn and study from His Word, then we act upon His authority, and with the friendship of Jesus Christ.

God is the God of the Living, Spiritually alive and all those who are spiritually alive are on a mission and work for the our Heavenly Father. The details of how we are to do His work we will get when we study His Word. Then the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit will guide and direct us as we tend to the work. Remember what we read above, we are the vine, and Christ is the Branch. It is the vines that get the pruning to bear the most fruit, and when we are going about our Lords work, the Father will prune where it is necessary in our lives, to cut away those things that hinder us in performing for Him.

It is God that has chosen you for His service, and when you refuse to respond and yield to Him, then you become dead wood, in our Lord's vineyard. We study for the purpose of storing them in your mind [memory]. Remember back in John 14:26; "But the Comforter, Which is the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."

That is why we study and store information from our studies, not necessarily to memorize, but so that His teachings are part of our conscience that the Holy Spirit will use to "bring all things to your remembrance". Many times people will be so set in their mind that they don't need to study, because they feel the Holy Spirit will reveal all things to them that is necessary for them to know. They just want to overlook the part of Jesus teachings that instructs them to learn all of those thing which He has taught. Those things written in the Gospels, which were written also in the Old Testament by the Prophets, as it was given to them from God.

The problem comes when they are so intense in following the Spirit, that they forget to discern between the True Spirit, and the false spirits, and in the end the false spirits lead them down the wrong paths of emotionalism. They forget that the spirit world is all supernatural, every last one of them deals in a realm that is beyond the human limits. However there is only one Spirit that can approach you that is of God, and He is the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is the only Spirit that will confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the only Begotten of the Father. Jesus became flesh Man and died and shed His blood for the sins of all that will repent and call on His name.

All other spirit that comes to men and women are spirits of the night and darkness, and not sent of God. These appear in many forms, from which we get every thing from voodooist to reincarnation. The heathen world is full of all different types of these demonic spirits, and many in the Christian world have started using these demonics in ignorance, for they simply cannot tell the difference between the Holy Spirit and the spirits of darkness, because they have not studied the Word to know the true nature and character of the Holy Spirit. The spirit realm is more real than the world of the flesh because it is eternal from the past to the future. This flesh age is quite limited to the short span of time of an average of seventy years for most people living in the flesh.

This is why it is important that you and I read and study the Scriptures so that we will not be deceived by any man, or spirit, or even Satan himself when he arrives to rule the earth as the Antichrist.

John 15:16 "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it you."

To "ordain" is to set forth with a purpose. It is to be placed in a specific spot. In the Greek text, "Ye have not chosen Me," actually reads, "Not that ye chose Me." Thus it is stating the reverse of the custom of the Jews, in that the disciple is given the right to choose his own master. This is possible because Jesus has placed His disciples, the election, as friends which are part of the decision making, and not as servants or slaves that merely respond to orders given to them. When the elect are confused to what it is that they are to do and pray for, the Holy Spirit intercedes in their lives.

Romans 8:26; "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit Itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."

Romans 8:27; "And He That searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God."

It is because we know not what to pray for, or where we are to fit into the will of God, and His overall plan, that the Holy Spirit makes the prayer that we should be praying, and then leads us into that place, and places the desire in us to fulfill that purpose.

When Jesus came to John, He did not ask, John would you like to follow Me? No, He stated, "John , follow men." The elect of God have already been chosen in the age that was, and the Spirit of God has put that desire in the hearts of the elect to respond to the call when it comes. Our Savior loves the "elect" and the "free will" equally, and that is why He gave His life for the very lowest of man. Jesus desires that all people will come to repentance, but many people will not.

II Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not will that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

The way that people come to repentance is by God's elect and those of the free will telling other people of the love and and gospel of Christ. The only way people come to repentance is when the release that they are sinners, and that Christ is the only way to lift the judgment of their sins from them. Jesus is telling His disciples that He is going to send them out to tell others of Him, and that them must repent. The saving of lost souls is what is meant by "bringing forth fruit." That is the will of the Father.

The subject here is the bringing forth fruit for the Father, the saving of souls through their repentance, and believing on Jesus name. This subject is not your getting a new car, or house, or getting rich. Jesus is telling you that when you are praying for lost souls, and going forth to witness and preach for Him, and planting the seeds of the gospel in the minds of others, whatsoever you ask of the Father on these matters, in Jesus name, He may give you.

Jesus is telling us that when we are in the mission of doing His work, we are to ask the Father for the items and things that are necessary to accomplish the spreading of the gospel, in Jesus name. It may be in the form of transportation, or even a request of the Father to give you an opening that you can witness to an individual. The Holy Spirit will not give the opening when you have not studied to know the word that you are to plant in the mind of the unsaved. The Holy Spirit calls to your remembrance that which you have already placed in your mind through your study.

God can change the minds of people, or even cause the mind of someone to ask a certain question. When you ask for help while you are witnessing to the lost, God will give you your desired request. Remember also that your request must be requested in the name of Jesus, God's only begotten Son.

John 15:17 "These things I command you, that ye love one another."

Jesus is now repeating the commandment that He gave to His disciples; "that ye love one another." Remember the foot washing back in John thirteen? Jesus went to each disciple and washed their feet and dried it with a towel girded around Him. That set the stage, in that we are to be girded in the word of the Lord, then show our love to one another, just as He has shown to them.

Love is a driving desire within a person to cause them to unselfishly help, and desire to do good to another. When you witness to someone, and have the love of God in you that person can sense that love coming forth. The love of God is not mushy, but it speaks out with the authority, discipline and purpose. It doesn't make a door mat out of you, but a firm pillar that is unshakeable in the winds of false spirits and doctrine.

John 15:18 "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you."

Does the world hate somebody that it can push around and walk all over? Of course not, they just kick it out of the way. There is no emotion there so there is no feeling toward the one that blows in every wind of doctrine. The reason that one that is in the world hates the Christian, is that the Christian exercises the authority, power and truth of God's Word in their community. They are not a pacifists when it comes to the Word of God, and what is going on round about them. They know how to use God's love in the way that He intended it to be used.

John 15:19 "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you."

If you take an active part in this world age of the flesh, and make the rounds as those of the men of the world do, to become accepted; then the world would love you. They love you because you are one of them. When you go out and do Satan's work, then Satan and his people will love you.

Once the Holy Spirit has touched you, and changed your heart, your desires and goal will change. What was important before, simply will not matter to you any more. It doesn't take long for one of the world to sense that there has been a change in you, and that you and he are not on the same path and heading in the same direction. Your mere presence around them convicts them of their sin, and they want to flee from you.

John 15:20 "Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept My saying, they will keep yours also."

This verse is just pure common sense. If they persecuted Jesus and killed Him for the Words He spoke, and the heavenly Father that He represented, then why in the world would you expect any other treatment then what Jesus went through. We are preaching the same word, and presenting the same Messiah and love of God that Jesus spoke, and the world will react the same to us, as it did to Him. If you ever wonder how you will be accepted in teaching and telling others of the Word of God, it will be exactly as it was two thousand years ago.

If one is convicted of his sin and repents to the Father in Jesus name, then he will accept the word, just as Christ's followers believed and followed Him. People of the world will either accept what you say by the moving of the Spirit of God, or they will reject what you say, and run from you. That is why we must study His Word and make sure that our teachings are the same as Christ's teachings are. God's Word never changes and there are not several meaning to what the Word says; God's Word is true, fixed and eternal. It is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and that is why we can take comfort in His Word.

John 15:21 "But all these things will they do unto you for My name's sake, because they know not Him That sent Me."

If they receive My sayings, then they will receive yours because you will teach what I teach. How ever they treat you, their reaction is not to you, but to Jesus Christ. Any reaction that these men of the world have whether good or bad, is in their acceptance of or rejection to the Spirit of God, and the gift of the sacrifice of the blood of Christ. You become the messenger of either the good news of Salvation or the bad news of their conviction of sin, and the reaction to that message is shown in the treatment that you will receive.

John 15:22 "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin."

If no one brings the message of God's love and forgiveness to the people of the world, then they can hide behind their innocence of ignorance. However once Jesus came and told them of their sin, then their cloke of innocence is removed and they stand convicted in their own mind of their sin. Jesus is talking about the Kenites here, and those that have been taken in by their traditions and doctrines. Once you witness to a person tied up in the traditions of men and show them the error, when they have the Word and refuse to accept it, then you have stripped that person of their excuse of innocence.

You then force them to make the choice that will count, for they will be accountable for how then choose. Do you see why even Christians will turn hostile when you point out the error of their traditions. They love their fairy-tales that were passed down to them by mom and dad, and this then makes them liable and accountable for their study and choosing of God's Word, or the fairy-tales that have been soothing for many generations.

John 15:23 "He that hateth Me hateth My Father also."

You cannot separate the Father from the Son, Jesus Christ. When you love the one, you automatically love the other, why? Because they are one. When you see the Father, you see the Son. When you believe the Father you believe the Son. "We have one Father, even God." [John 8:41] God is the Father; then Jesus stated in John 10:30; "I and My Father are one." The Father and the Son are two offices of the same person. This is why the world will hate the Father when it hates the Son. The Father does the saving, but that salvation can only come when the sinner address the atoning work on the cross that was done by the Son, Jesus Christ. You do the choosing, the repenting, and the acknowledging that the repentance comes only through the blood of Christ on the cross. This is a blanket statement that is fact.

John 15:24 "If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both Me and My Father."

Keep in mind that Jesus is talking about the Kenites here, that He had confronted in John 8 earlier. As these Kenites observed Jesus in all of His miracles including the calling forth of Lazarus from the grave, they witness the miracles of God, and heard Jesus teach them. While Jesus was doing the miracles, they were plotting against Him with murder. They had seen and heard the workings of God, and because to what they saw and heard, they rejected both Jesus and the Father. The Kenites had the Word of God taking place before them, yet they took their own traditions over the Word of God, and chose to hate both the Father and the Son. They had seen the glory of God in action, and they scoffed and rejected it when offered to them.

Jesus stated to them in John 14:11 that even if that did not believe in what He stated, they should have at least believed in the works that were done. They should have believed that it was the works of God.

John 15:25 "But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated Me without a cause."

Jesus is referring to Psalm 35:19; "Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: Nether let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause."

How is this possible? There was jealousy when the power of God challenged their power they had established in their own central organization. They did not want any glory to be given to the Father nor the Son. Jesus is telling us that this prophecy is now being fulfilled.

Psalm 35:20; "For they speak not peace: But they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land."

They did not speak of peace at any time when they heard Jesus' words, for from the start of Christ's ministry these Kenites thought in terms of deceit and plotting to murder, just as their physical father "Cain" did, and as Cain's father, Satan did also.

John 15:26 "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, Which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me:"

The commandment to each of us by Christ is that we love one another. The basic nature of the Christian should be to help other Christians in the Word, to draw the lost souls to Christ. When one of God's brethren falls that is the time to pick them up and encourage them to get back on the right path.

The "Comforter" is the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit that gives us direction by calling to our remembrance the words that we have stored in our hearts and minds through our studies. When Jesus goes to the cross shortly, Jesus is saying that He will not leave His disciples alone, even to our generation, for the Spirit will reveal the truth to us, and will never lead us against what God's Word teaches. That is why it is important to know what the true intent of the Word is, through our studies, for from that Word, the Spirit will bear witness that what Jesus said was truth. Remember that every Word of the Old Testament "proceedeth from the Father" and it also is part of what the Spirit of God will bear witness to.

The only Spirit of truth that there is, is the Holy Spirit. Every word given to the Prophets of old from God, the Holy Spirit will verify with you in your mind.

John 15:27 "And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning."

A noun has to be supplied here, and we get it from verse verse sixteen. Jesus is talking to His friends, not His servants but His election, those that were chosen from the foundations [beginning] of this earth age. The purpose of God's choosing was to bear fruit, and here we are told that this is done by our bearing witness to what He has said in His Word. Jesus stated this, and we know it because the Holy Spirit of God has opened our minds to receive it and believe it.

This lesson continues into the sixteenth chapter of John.