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Greetings to all in Christ, As I mentioned earlier this afternoon, John Chapters 13 through 17 are the private teachings for the disciples. In Chapter 15, the location has changed. They have left the upper room and are now traveling down on the south side of the temple along the south wall and next to the vineyards and Jesus continues His discourse with them. In John 15:1, Jesus says I am the true vine. This word true means genuine. So, He says I am the genuine vine, and my Father is the husbandman, literally earth worker, the farmer of the vineyard. There are some terminologies that I believe are important to know and have helped me tremendously in my study of this chapter. I hope they might be of help to some here. First of all, in the Old Testament, the vine was always used as an example of Israel, especially in Isaiah 5:1-7 which is also known as the Song of the Vineyard, how that God planted a vineyard and it was the nation Israel. But they grew wild grapes, and thorns grew and God allowed the vineyard to be overrun by the wild animals, and that was the symbol of His judgment against Israel. So now Jesus is talking to His disciples and He says I am the genuine vine, not the symbolic one of the Old Testament. I am the genuine vine and my Father is the farmer. There are two phrases that are found here that can be confusing and have actually caused some to come to a false conclusion about what the text is saying. It is important to know these two terminologies in order to rightly approach this. First of all, there's the phrase “in me.” Jesus says, “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit.” That's not a saved person. That’s the nation Israel being in God and I’ll try to explain that in a moment. There is another phrase that Jesus is going to use. He's going to say “Abide in me.” This is a personal relationship. If you understand anything about horticulture, you can understand about how the fruit tree can produce its branches, and once it's time to produce fruit, if there's a branch that does not produce fruit, it looks like it's dead or dying. But the branch is still in the tree. It is still in the tree even though it is dead. And internally it is severed from the tree itself. To abide in the tree would be connected, not just physically on the outside, but internally also connected. The very life of the trunk of the tree that comes up from the ground and into the branches; that's what produces the fruit. So, you've got two phrases, one has to do with outside and one has to do with inside. Jesus said every branch in me that does not bear fruit. How can you be in Jesus and not bear fruit? Well, that is why Paul says in Romans Chapter 11 that the Gentiles have been grafted in because the Jews have been pruned out and we have been grafted into the vine. They are already in God in that they are pictured as the vine. But if they do not produce fruit, then they are not abiding in the vine. They are not connected to the vine’s life source internally. They are just physically associated with the vine. So, by understand these two terminologies, plus the emphasis on the phrase abide in me, it helps us to understand this section. I mentioned earlier that the word abide is a key word for this entire section. Jesus is going to show a difference between people who are abiding in Him, and He abiding in them, and everybody else. John himself, the writer of this gospel, in 1 John, he emphasized the fact that if you have the Spirit of God abiding in you, and you are abiding in Him, you are the ones who are saved. Everybody else is not. It sounds pretty simple, even though that's what makes John’s writings controversial. He is called a polemic writer. He is very controversial. He says either you have Christ dwelling in you or you don’t. We can believe the right things, but if we have not experienced a spiritual birth in receiving Christ, then we do not belong to Him. If we understand the difference between these two phrases, we can apply these to two different kinds of branches. The branches that are in Christ, but are not bearing fruit, they are only physically connected. Internally they are cut off from the life source. The branches that are abiding in Him are the ones that are connected to the internal life source of the vine who is Jesus Christ. If we understand these two phrases, the correct teaching of the text will make sense. Some believe, at least here in the western world, that where Christ says “every branch in me”, they automatically assume that is a saved person. But we have to apply it to who the vine is in the Old Testament, and how the Lord is using that as an example of the two different kinds of branches. Israel, God's people, they are in God but they also can be lost. Again, the reference is in Romans Chapter 11 which tells us that we are grafted in because the Jews have rejected their Messiah. So, in Verse 1 He says, I am the genuine vine, and my Father is the earth worker, the farmer. There is so much to share from this chapter and I realize that this has been somewhat long for only one verse but as I said, this is my favorite chapter, one that has blessed me in many ways and one I love sharing. I am going to stop here and pick up in Verse 2 tomorrow (Lord willing). Blessings to all in Christ!