John 15:1-11

CONTRARY TO POPULAR OPINION, the cultivation of a psychology of uncritical belief is not an unqualified good, and if carried too far it may be a positive evil. The whole world has been booby-trapped by the devil, and the deadliest trap of all is the religious one. Error never looks so innocent as when it is found in the sanctuary.

One field where harmless-looking but deadly traps appear in great profusion is the field of prayer. There are more sweet notions about prayer than...

For Reading and Meditation:     Mark 6:45-51

Yesterday we said that we all want to be happy - and rightly so. This is a deep-rooted instinct which God has built into us. But happiness is not something you make but something you receive. You cannot make happiness any more than you can make love. You can express love but you cannot make love. So it is with happiness....

For Reading and Meditation:
     John 13:1-38

What other teacher has taken the Ten Commandments and had the right to add another commandment to them? But this is precisely what Jesus did, as we see from our text today. "A new command I give you," He said. "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."

The Old Testament and other...

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. - John 15:5 ESV

NEVER forget that in the Lord is our righteousness and strength.

We are not sufficient to think rightly of ourselves, but through Him we can do all things. Never attempt anything without looking to Jesus for power. Let a knowledge and constant sense of weakness keep you near to Him; sensibly depending on Him; and...

BY nature we are without Christ and are far from Him; by grace we accept His invitation, and come to Him feeling our need of Him. We are brought to see that nothing but union to Jesus can make us safe and happy; and to give up ourselves to Him, praying to be one in Him; He receives us, sheds abroad His love in our heart, and we become members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. He then bids us abide in Him, which we do by living in absolute dependence upon Him; by cleaving to Him in...

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

Of necessity we must be in Christ to live unto Him, and we must abide in Him to be able to claim the largesse of this promise from Him. To abide in Jesus is never to quit Him for another love or another object, but to remain in living, loving, conscious, willing union with Him. The branch is not only ever near the...

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

Note well that we must hear Jesus speak if we expect Him to hear us speak. If we have no ear for Christ, He will have no ear for us. In proportion as we hear we shall be heard.

Moreover, what is heard must remain, must live in us, and must abide in our character as a force and a power. We must receive the...

"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." John 15:2

This is a precious promise to one who lives for fruitfulness. At first it seems to wear a sharp aspect. Must the fruitful bough be pruned? Must the knife cut even the best and most useful? No doubt it is so, for very much of our LORD's purging work is done by means of...

"If ye keep My Commandments, ye shall abide in My love." John 15:10

These things cannot be parted — abiding in obedience and abiding in the love of Jesus. A life under the rule of Christ can alone prove that we are the objects of our LORD's delight. We must keep our LORD's command if we would bask in His love. If we live in sin we cannot live in the love of Christ. Without the holiness which pleases God we cannot please Jesus. He...

How did you begin to bear fruit? It was when you came to Jesus and cast yourselves on his great atonement, and rested on his finished righteousness. Ah! what fruit you had then! Do you remember those early days? Then indeed the vine flourished, the tender grape appeared, the pomegranates budded forth, and the beds of spices gave forth their smell. Have you declined since then? If you have, we charge you to remember that time of love, and repent, and do thy first works. Be most in those...