1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” John 15:1-8

God desires that we produce the fruits of faith and glorify His name (cf. Eph. 2:8-10), but can a man do good works in God’s sight without saving faith in Jesus Christ? Many say yes to this question, but Jesus says no.

In the Parable of the Vine and the Branches, Jesus teaches us that only those who abide in Him — those who are and remain connected to Him through saving faith — can produce fruit acceptable to God the Father. He will cut off those branches that produce no fruit for Him. Our heavenly Father also prunes and purges those branches that do produce fruit so that they might bring forth more fruit for Him (cf. 1 Pet. 4:17-19).

Those who, through faith, are joined to Jesus Christ have forgiveness for all their sins and evil works. They are clean through the Word of the Gospel spoken to them — all their sins are washed away in the blood of Jesus, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

As long as they have true and saving faith in Christ and His redemptive work, they will be fruitful and do works that are acceptable and pleasing in God’s sight. This is so because Christ, by the indwelling Holy Spirit, abides in them and empowers them to live for Him, and because the sin and impurity yet in their works is forgiven and not held against them.

Apart from saving faith in Jesus Christ, one cannot do good works in God’s sight, for one remains spiritually dead to God and unable to truly love Him and honor Him with pure and holy works. The unbeliever is like a branch that has been severed from the grapevine. It will not produce grapes but will wither up and eventually be thrown into the fire and burned.

So also, the one who does not trust in Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice for forgiveness and life will not only be unable to do good works in God’s sight, but he will be gathered up on the Last Day, together with all others who were unbelieving and fruitless, and be cast into the eternal fires of hell!

Abide with richest blessings among us, bounteous Lord; let us in grace and wisdom grow daily through Thy Word. … Abide, O faithful Savior, among us with Thy love; grant steadfastness and help us to reach our home above. Amen. (“Abide, O Dearest Jesus,” Verses 4 & 6; Author: Josua Stegmann; Translator: August Crull)

[Scripture is taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 (Read John 14:25-31)

Jesus offered and gave His disciples peace, not the kind the world gives but the peace that only He can give. What is that peace? It’s peace in times of trouble and turmoil, comfort and hope amid despair, and certainty when all seems uncertain.

Jesus’ disciples were about to see Jesus arrested and crucified and to fear for their own lives as followers of Jesus. They were about to see Jesus, their teacher and hope, taken from them and laid in a tomb. They were about to face uncertainty regarding their faith and their future because Jesus, whom they had followed for three years, was about to be taken from them and return to the Father in heaven. But, in all this, Jesus offered and gave to them peace.

As believers in this world, we face tribulations and persecution, uncertainties in life, and fears in death. As sinners, we feel the burden and weight of our sins and despair at the thought of standing before the righteous and holy God who created us to live for Him and do His will and who hates and punishes sin and disobedience. But amid all our fears, uncertainties, and despair, Jesus gives us peace.

Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” How true this is! God does not give us worldly peace or a life without fears or troubles; He gives us peace amid those fears and troubles.

Those who place their trust in Him and the salvation He provided for us in the shed blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, know they will face tribulation and troubles in this world, but they know that God is still in control and is working all things for their good (cf. John 16:33; Rom. 8:28, 1 Pet. 4:17-19). They know they are sinners and deserve only God’s wrath and punishment, but they take comfort in God’s promise of full pardon and forgiveness for the sake of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross (cf. John 3:14-18; 5:24; Rom. 3:9-26; 4:23 — 5:2). They, like everyone else, face death, but they know that Jesus, their Savior, conquered death when He rose again on the third day and that He will keep His word and raise them up again on the last day to reign with Him forever in heaven (cf. John 11:25-26; John 14:1-3; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; Rev. 7:9-17).

So, when we face troubles in life, when we face sickness and death, when we despair over our sins and the judgment we deserve, Jesus offers and gives His peace to all who trust in Him — the peace of sins forgiven through faith in His shed blood, the peace that He will bring us safely through the troubles of this life and is working for our good, the peace that He is always with us and will raise us up on the last day and give us the eternal joys of heaven.

Give us Your peace, Lord, through faith in You and the salvation You won for us by Your innocent sufferings and death in our stead and Your glorious resurrection. Amen.

[Scripture is taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever — the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” John 14:15-18 (Read John 14:15-24)

Do you love Jesus? It’s easy to say yes, but if we truly love Jesus, we will hear and do what He taught and commanded. Jesus said in John 14:21, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.”

Among Jesus’ disciples, many loved Him and heard His Word, but one failed to love Him and keep His Word. He even betrayed Jesus for financial gain and did not know Jesus’ love for him well enough to look to Jesus for pardon and forgiveness. But for those who loved Jesus and kept His Word, Jesus had words of comfort as He went to the cross, rose from the dead, and ascended to the right hand of God the Father.

Though Jesus would no longer live and dwell with them as He had over the past three years, Jesus would not leave His true disciples as orphans in the world; He would come to them and dwell in them. “How?” we might ask. Jesus explained that when He said, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever — the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”

Jesus told His disciples who loved Him and kept His Word that, when He was glorified and at the Father’s right hand, He would ask the Father to send them another Helper, God the Holy Spirit, who would dwell in them forever. This Helper (Parakleton in the Greek original) comes alongside believers and comforts and consoles them with the Gospel of forgiveness and life in Jesus and His cross. He leads and guides believers into the truth through reading and hearing His Word (the Bible), and He coaches them and encourages them as they live their lives in this world while awaiting the return of Jesus, their Savior. The world does not know Him, but believers know Him; He dwells in them and works in their lives.

Jesus did what He promised on the day of Pentecost, when He poured out His Holy Spirit upon His disciples, giving them a right understanding of the Scriptures and emboldening them to bear witness to Jesus and the salvation He provided for us when He suffered and died on the cross for the sins of the world and rose again. And Jesus still gives His Holy Spirit to all who believe and are baptized into His name today.

It is as Peter said on the day of Pentecost: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:38-39). The Apostle Paul also wrote to Titus: “But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7).

Jesus has not left us as orphans in this world. He comes to all who know Him, love Him, and trust in Him and His Word by the indwelling Holy Spirit. His Spirit teaches us from God’s Word, brings us to a knowledge of the truth about our utter sinfulness, and points us to the cross of Jesus, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), for pardon and forgiveness. Through the Bible, the Holy Spirit leads and guides us in the truth, coaches us as we live out our lives for Jesus in this world, and preserves us in the true and saving faith unto life everlasting in the mansions of our heavenly Father’s house.

Jesus has not left us comfortless; He comes to us and dwells in us as believers, and He will keep us safe in His hands until we are with Him forever in heaven.

O gracious Savior, give us Your indwelling Holy Spirit, who has been with us and brought us to know and trust in You as our Savior, that You may dwell in our lives and lead and guide us safely through this world to Yourself in heaven. Amen.

[Scripture is taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” John 14:12-14

Jesus here tells His disciples that those who believe and trust in Him as the Son of God and their Savior will continue to carry out His works here in this world, even after He has ascended to the right hand of God the Father in heaven. Jesus’ work of gathering souls into His everlasting kingdom would not come to a close when He died on the cross to redeem us and then rose again and ascended into heaven. Jesus would work through those who believe in Him to carry the saving Gospel to the ends of the earth so that many would turn to Him in faith and be saved and added to His church and kingdom (cf. Mark 16:15-16).

And, because Jesus made full atonement for our sins by His death on the cross and then returned to the Father to rule over all things, pour out His Holy Spirit on believers, and intercede for them, the one who believes in Jesus is privileged to do even greater works than Jesus — to proclaim the redemption Jesus accomplished for all when He suffered and died on the cross and then rose again on the third day. And the Holy Spirit, working through the proclamation of the Gospel, raises up those who are dead in sin to faith in Christ, giving them God’s pardon and the blessings of life eternal in communion with God through faith in Jesus. Consider the mighty works done through Jesus’ disciples on the day of Pentecost when “about three thousand souls were added to them” (Acts 2:41).

Jesus said, “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

This is not a blank check to ask anything our sinful hearts desire but, rather, a promise that when we ask in Jesus’ name — meaning that we ask in accord with Jesus’ will and to further His kingdom and bring Jesus glory — Jesus Himself, our God and Savior, will do it.

James warns against praying for the sinful desires of our hearts when He says: “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?” (James 4:3-4). John writes in his first epistle: “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him” (1 John 5:14-15).

Jesus died on the cross for the sins of all and rose again in triumph. After many appearances to His disciples, Jesus ascended to the right hand of God the Father in heaven. But His work goes on! He continues to build and establish His kingdom and church, made up of all who repent of their sinful ways and look to Him and His cross in faith for mercy and forgiveness.

Though we no longer see Jesus with our earthly eyes, He has not left us but dwells in those who believe in Him by His Spirit. And He works through those who trust in Him. He empowers them to proclaim salvation through faith in His name, and He works through the proclamation of the Gospel to raise up the spiritually dead to spiritual and eternal life through faith in Him and His atoning sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world.

Dear Lord Jesus, my Lord and my Savior, grant that I see my sin and guilt and look to You and Your cross in faith for pardon and forgiveness, and use me to carry out Your ongoing work in this world by empowering me to share the Gospel that others, too, may hear and believe in Your name. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.]

“‘If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.’ Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.’” John 14:7-11

While it may be hard for our minds to grasp, to know God, one needs to know Jesus; and to know Jesus is to know God the Father.

Philip, a disciple of Jesus, didn’t grasp this truth, prompting Jesus to say to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.”

Jesus had just told His disciples: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). And He told His disciples: “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him” (John 14:7). This is what prompted Philip’s request that Jesus show them the Father.

Jesus is “the brightness of [the Father’s] glory and the express image of His person” (Heb. 1:3). “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him” (Col. 1:15-16). The Gospel of John tells us of Jesus: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. … No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:14,18).

And so, to see and know Jesus is to see and know the Father, and one cannot know God the Father without knowing Jesus, the only-begotten Son of God in human flesh and blood! Or, as Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

This, of course, has many implications for us yet today. Those religious faiths that deny Jesus is the Messiah and the only-begotten Son of God in human flesh and blood not only deny Jesus but the Father who sent Him into the world. Those who claim to worship and serve the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob but do not know and trust in Jesus as the Messiah and their Savior do not know the God they claim to serve.

Of much greater importance to all of us who wish to know and serve the true God who created us and will be our judge on the last day is the truth that Jesus is the only way to know God and be acceptable in His eyes. Only in Jesus can we know God, and only in Jesus can we be acceptable in God’s sight (cf. Eph. 1:6-7; Col. 1:19-23). Jesus’ teaching and His works reveal that He is God and that the Father dwells in Him and works through Him.

Remember the simple truth: “No Jesus, No God; Know Jesus, Know God.” Another version says: “No Jesus, No Peace; Know Jesus, Know Peace.” If you wish to know God and know peace with God, know Jesus and what He has done for you so that you might have peace with God through faith in Jesus and His cross.

Dear Lord Jesus, grant that I learn of You through Your Word that I might know You and place my faith in You and thereby know the Father who sent You into the world to be my Savior. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.]