Believers are called to bear spiritual fruit for God's glory, just as a farmer plants a vineyard for fruit. Using the parable of the wicked tenants from Mark 12, it illustrates how God has provided protection, instruments, and defense for His vineyard (the earth and its people) through various means, including the Holy Spirit and Christ Himself as the strong tower. The core lesson is that true spiritual fruitfulness comes not from human effort but from abiding in Christ, the true vine, allowing His life to flow through believers. The message concludes by emphasizing that a decisive 'cut' from worldly things and self-will is necessary for this divine life to manifest, leading to fruit for God's praise.
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Well, we're still in Mark's Gospel. There is a great benefit through going consecutively through the Word. There are quite a number of benefits really. And one good thing is that no one can say that the preacher has chosen to preach on certain subjects that he thinks are needed or that he is preaching at certain people. Because what he does in consecutive ministry is preach on the subject as it comes consecutively.
And it's marvelous how the Holy Spirit so arranges that to meet the needs of the individuals present. And if you see anybody specially with a face aglow this evening, it's because they came up the mountain with us this morning and they beheld the glory of the Lord as he was transformed on the mount and they by the Spirit were changed somewhat into his image and glory. I'm sorry in one way that the week is coming to a close although it's nice to know I have an extra weekend with you.
I am not worthy of such blessings and benefits but the fellowship is good. We're getting to know one another very much now and we can... For instance, Andy and I, we can almost say something rude to one another and we don't take offence now. That's good, isn't it? Shows you how we're getting on and developing in grace. I'm reminded of Lady Astor, who was the first MP to be voted into the Houses of Parliament in Westminster. And she was from Bristol, wasn't she?
Yes, now Lady Esther, of course, was a friend in one way to Sir Winston Churchill, but they were so friendly they used to have a terrific rub at one another now and again, even publicly across the house of the floor. That's right. Now you can see how Irish I am. The floor of the house. The house of the floor of the house. And one occasion, she said to him, she said, Sir Winston, if I were married to you, I would feed you poison. He said, Lady Astor, if I were married to you, I would take it.
It's nice to really get to know one another, isn't it? Yeah. Well, you can tell I'm a little bit Irish. My grandfather was Irish. That's why I say things backwards sometimes. And my grandmother was Welsh. That's why when Andy said, praise the Lord, I said, Dioch. He says, huh? Never heard that one. He thought it was the tongues movement started. And it means, praise the Lord. Dioch, he go. praise me to Jesus every day. And I always like to listen to a bit of Welsh preaching with a bit of Welsh fervor in it and Welsh singing.
Nothing like it on earth except, of course, the singing at Park of the Farm. And however, although I'm a cosmopolitan mixture, Irish and English and Welsh and so on, I found out that I was a bad lot altogether and had to be born again. Now let's read the word together. I'm going to read tonight, some of you won't forgive me for this, will you? I'm going to read from Phillips's version. You won't forgive me. Well, that's terrible. You ought to. I feel led to read this from Phillips's version tonight.
And you may not like Philips' version, but if you don't, that's just ignorance. It's got to be because we have proved by research. Not only in the Moreland's Bible College in our lectures, but Dr. Stephen Short of Bristol. He also has proved by diligent research that Philips' expressions from the original Greek are closer than anybody's in modern English. and it's good to break away sometimes from the King James version and read a modern version especially if it's his Philip's, J.B.
Philip's version. Now some of these others I'm not very keen on, I've got a bit of a critical spirit myself. Some of these where they put in their own little bits and pieces and it seems to me sometimes they're adding to Scripture they say things that are not there. Some of these versions where they give two or three ideas of their own of one particular portion of Scripture, and some of these are not Scripture ideas at all, they've just been talked in, and they are propagated as interpretations of the word, and they're not. So a word to the wise, you have to be very careful. but you can't go far wrong.
I would give you that word for nothing. You can't go very far wrong with J.B. Phillips' version. I'm going to read you the first few verses of Mark twelve from Phillips' version. Then Jesus began to talk to them in parables. A man once planted a vineyard and a He said, fenced it round, dug out the hole for the wine press, and built a watchtower. Then he let it out to some farm workers and went abroad.
The end of the season he sent a servant to the tenants to receive his share of the vintage. But they got hold of him, knocked him about, and sent him off empty-handed. The owner tried again. He sent other servant to them, another servant to them, but this one they knocked on the head and generally insulted. Once again he sent them another servant, but him they murdered. He sent many others and some they beat up and some they murdered. He had one man left, his own son, who was very dear to him.
He sent him last of all to the tenants, saying to himself, They will surely respect my own son. But they said to each other, This fellow is the future owner. Come on, let's kill him, and the property will be ours. So they got hold of him and murdered him, threw his body out of the vineyard. What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard is going to do? He will come and destroy the men who were working his vineyard and will hand it over to others.
Have you never read this scripture? The stone which the builders rejected. The same was made the head of the corner. This was from the Lord. and it is marvellous in our eyes. May God bless to us that reading from his precious word. Student came into my study some time ago and he asked for permission to do some grasping in the college orchard. He was very anxious to try his hand at grasping, and I was asking permission to do it in the orchard.
He wanted to see a special kind of fruit growing from a branch which he wanted to graft into a certain tree. Somebody was showing me around here the other day. different kinds of fruit coming out of the one stock, the one tree. And that reminded me that the world is waiting to see the life of the Savior manifested in his own, the life of the true vine flowing through the branches, The world is waiting to see Christians growing by the life of Christ and bearing fruit unto God by the life of Jesus in them.
Now when our Lord Jesus in John fifteen said, I am the vine and ye are the branches, I'm quite sure he had in mind Ezekiel fifteen. Where he says, likening Israel to a vine, what is the good of a vine tree if it doesn't bear fruit? It's only good for burning. You can't even fashion a piece of the wood to make a pin or a nail out of it. to knock it into the kitchen wall to hang a kitchen vessel on.
It's not even good enough for that. The only thing a vine tree is good for if it doesn't bring forth fruit is to be burned. And of course God has put us here for his glory to bring forth fruit. to his name and here we have the details in this incident in Mark twelve tonight see what this particular farmer did and what this particular farmer wanted and to what length he went to preserve things for himself and how through these men it was all a complete failure and still it is a failure today unless we learn the secret of real spiritual fruit bearing.
This farmer planted a vineyard. What did he plant a vineyard for? Was it that he might just have the pleasure of seeing the plants grow and get taller and bigger? No. Was it that he just had got a few men around he wanted to employ? No. Was it that he wanted to compete with his neighbours and keep up with the Smiths next door? No. What did he plant it in yard for?
He wanted fruit. And I presume the product of the flute, as it says in Psalm a hundred and four, and wine to make glad the heart of men. This was his whole purpose, and he went to great lengths to do this. Now God's vineyard is the earth, and God's vines are men, and he has put us here, that he might be glorified through us, that from our lives there may be fruit to his praise, and as it were, wine to gladden his heart.
It says in the book of Revelation, for his pleasure we were and are created. This man planted a vineyard for his own pleasure, for his own good. And God has done that in the earth, and we are here, his creation, for his glory. And unfortunately, we've all come short of his glory. And from us, as of ourselves, there has been no fruit to gladden his heart. and please him. Now this farmer not only planted a vineyard, but he hedged it round.
He put a hedge round about it. The whole idea was to preserve the plants as they grew, to preserve the fruit as it came so that he might get the wine to gladden his heart. He hedged it round and God has been doing that in his vineyard all down the ages. You remember in the Garden of Eden there was Adam and Eve hedged round. Don't know whether there was a literal hedge around the Garden of Eden, but the idea was there. God blessed them and provided for them, was willing to protect them, but unfortunately the hedge was broken down and sin came pouring in.
He did that, you remember with... Nor and his family. He eradicated evil and gave Nor and his family a new chance and he blessed them and he hedged them round, so to speak. And soon the sin came pouring in through the broken down hedge. Then of course God did that with Israel. He chose a nation. And he gave them all the necessary whereby they could glorify his name as his representatives on earth. And he gave them his word.
And yet they came short of his glory. He hedged them round. The idea of hedging round is seen illustrated in Job. At the beginning of the book, Satan comes to appear before the Lord. And the Lord God says to him, Where have you come from? He said, I've been wandering up and down the earth. As a matter of fact, he's still doing that, so be careful. We must not be ignorant of his devices. And he said, Well, in wandering up and down the earth, he said, Have you considered my servant Job? And Satan said, yes, I have considered him, and I know why he's your servant too.
It pays him to serve you. You've hedged him round, and that was the idea that Satan used. You've hedged him round. You've protected him, and you've preserved him. And look at the blessings and the possessions he's got. No wonder he's your servant, Job, said Satan sarcastically. God said, alright, you are at liberty to break down that hedge that I have put around him. And you can bring trouble into his life through the gap in the broken hedge. And then we'll see.
And Satan came with a temptation, but at the same time it was the Lord coming with a testing. Now remember that. The trouble that came into Job's life was a test from God, but the devil brought it as a temptation. Remember that. God doesn't tempt anybody. We are tempted when we are drawn away by our own lusts and selfish desires. But Satan tempts us too, as in this case. And so it was, you remember, the day came when Job heard that his possessions had gone.
And then he heard that his loved ones had died. And then he found out that his health had departed. And from the crown of his head to the sole of his seat, he was covered with boils, terrible boils. And his wife said to him, Now you turn round and curse God and die. And he turned round and worshipped God and said, Blessed be the Lord, the Lord gave. And the Lord put the hedge round about me. And the Lord has allowed it to be broken down. And the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. But that is the idea. He was hedged around.
Satan was right there. He is right sometimes. But he always mixes the truth with a bit of evil. And so it was that he had hedged a job around had God. and the hedge was broken down. Now, of course, God has done that in his vineyard all down the ages, blessed people abundantly. But the greater the blessing, the greater the responsibility. Think of all your blessings in your country. Think of America. I'm amazed at the vastness of America. I'm in the process of trying to learn the geography of America.
I know a little bit about the geography of the British Isles, the Scotland and Ireland and Wales and England and one... Teacher in America said to, well, the boy said, where do your forebears, your ancestors come from? And he said, teacher, from the west side of Britain. She said, did they come from Wales? And he said, no, from human beings. I told you my grandmother came from Wales. The country of Wales I was referring to. I thought I'd better explain that in case you can get it quite right.
But the greater the blessing, the greater the responsibility. Now you look back for a minute. Don't count your troubles, count your blessings. And don't stop at surprise, it will surprise you what the Lord has done. Respond to God's love. The greater the blessing, the greater the responsibility. Think of those dollars you've had month after month all through your life. Think how God has preserved you on these busy, dangerous roads. Think how God has led you to this place and given you a home. Think of a thousand and one blessings are yours.
This means you have a thousand and one responsibilities to God. And the apostle realizing this said, I am better to everybody. And I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are at Rome also. And he hedged it round. God has done that in his vineyard. Now this farmer, he dug a wine press. It says digged in the sixteen-eleven version. That's a bit ancient and out of date. I mean that wording, he digged a wine press.
He dug a wine press to be a bit more modern English. And you know what was happening that when he was putting in these tender vine plants, if that's what they do, here and there around the area, he came to a corner where the soil was only an inch and a half deep. And he said to his men, it's no good putting those plants in there. They won't grow. There's not sufficient earth. He said, I tell you what to do. Straight the soil away. It will be useful somewhere else. And he said, bring your mallets and bring your chisels and we'll scoop out from this corner and from this piece of rock a wine press.
a wine fat it is called probably about eight feet in diameter and quite a big basin and then what they would do would make a channel you see at the bottom and there would be a ledge there underneath outside and the idea was that the men when the fruit was grown and ripe would pick the bunches of grapes and throw them helter-skelter, handfuls and armfuls into this wine press, you see, and then they would tread the wine press, let's hope they washed their feet first, and then the juice would flow into the channels and into the wineskins that would be placed on the ledge to receive the juice.
That was the idea. It didn't work out like that in this case. But this is what the wine press was for. It was the instrument to make the wine. Now God has done that in his vineyard, given to us all that we need. to make the wine, to glorify his name, to bring forth fruit to his spray. He's given you a voice to sing his praises like the choir did so beautifully tonight. He's given you a mind to be occupied with him.
He's given you feet to walk in His ways and a heart to love and adore Him. And He's given you hands to do His will. And He says, Son, go work today in my vineyard. But those of us who are believers in the Lord Jesus, he's given to us a much more wonderful instrument, if I can say that reverently, to make the wine. He's given to us in our hearts, his gracious Holy Spirit, to be our sufficiency that we might, by his indwelling enabling, make the wine that he might do it through us.
that there might be not the fruits of our nature, but the fruits of the Spirit as the life of the Spirit of Jesus flows through us to the glory of God's name. The wine press was the instrument to make the wine. God has done that in his vineyard. He has given you, if you are a Christian, all that you need to glorify God. And you and I tonight should be glorifying God because we have the necessary. One boy was always painting. And on this occasion he got paint all over his knees and hands and over his socks as well.
And his mother said to him, Johnny, you're forever painting and you've got paint all over you. Why are you always painting, I would like to know. So he looked up and he said, because, Mom, when I grow older, I want to be a great artist. so that God will ask me to help him to paint his rainbows and sunsets. Now, of course, she had to explain to him, God didn't want him to do just that. But there was so much God did want him to do in his life. And how he wanted him to glorify him and bear full fruit to the praise of his name.
He digged a wine press. have the instrument to make the wine. And then this farmer, so that he might preserve the fruit, that in the end his heart would be gladdened, in the middle of the vineyard he built a tower. It was a high tower. And this was, of course, for defence against his foes. Now he had enemies. Probably some of the neighbours were enemies. Don't know what kind of a district he lived in.
Maybe there would be wild animals that he would have to keep out. And a high tower was a defence against all his foes. He could see them coming. and he could stop them from the high tower. Now God has done that in his vineyard. He's given to us all all the defense we need against all our enemies so that he might be glorified in us, that the wine might be preserved. A high tower, the psalmist puts it this way.
The Lord is my high tower himself. And again, the name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous runneth into it and is safe. We are safe in the Lord himself. The arm of flesh will fail you. You dare not trust your own. This was for victory and defense against all their foes, the high tower in the middle of the vineyard. And Christ himself, by his indwelling spirit, is our victory. you know in Romans chapter six and verse four the Apostle by the Spirit says so walk in newness of life and this life is of course a new life it says newness of life it isn't the old life patched up but superseded by another one it's not the old life refined replaced by another one.
It's a new life. It's the life of the risen Son of God by his Spirit in us. And we're supposed to walk by that life. And that life is a wonderful life. It's not only a new life because it's his, but it's holy because he's the holy one. and it's fruitful because he's the true vine and it's a victorious life if you're walking in unison life because he is the victorious Christ the point is you see it isn't so much that God will give you some help when your foes confront you and you are struggling against them I don't think God's going to help you struggle in the energy of the flesh against any of your foes why should he help you in your old nature struggling when he finished with you and your old nature and all that you could do two thousand years ago when in his reckoning he crucified you with Christ what he gives you is a new life
which is a marvelous almighty life. It's the victorious life of the Son of God and day by day by faith we enter into another's victory because it is the victorious Christ by his Spirit who is the life of the believer. Imagine my son Ian or our son Ian. I've got my wife here tonight. Imagine our son Ian when he was a boy very interested in football. English soccer I mean of course. and well he was he was captain of the school in football and in some of the other sports as well he wanted to be a minister of sport in the british government but instead he's a preacher of the gospel and a teacher of the truth so we're satisfied however he was very interested in english soccer now imagine i say imagine him supporting the local town team, you know, week by, every Saturday afternoon, going down to the field and watching them play and say, hooray, hooray, we scored another goal and that sort of thing.
And then one day the team is playing away, about thirty-five miles away in another town and they go by coach, you see. Not greyhound, an English toker. And they go by a coach, and of course the coach is not too roomy, and Ian can't go. but of course he's there when they come back and even before they stop he was on the corner waiting for them and and as soon as they turn the corner to slow up he shouts through the window he said how did he get on and they said we've won we've won and he runs down the road and he gets there before the coach does and he runs through the house and he runs through the village and he tells everybody we've won he said we've won we've won he hasn't even been there Their victory is his victory.
That's the only way to get spiritual triumph day by day is to enter into another's victory by faith. Christ is the victorious Christ. Satan will never stand against Jesus anymore forever. His victory proved by his resurrection in his death proved by his resurrection is eternal, perpetual and everlasting. And if the victorious Christ is your life, then that is your victory day by day. We read of some in a coming day in the book of Revelation is the prophecy. They are going to overcome sin. Satan and all their foes, how?
By the blood of the Lamb. Their victory then is going to be through his victory two thousand years ago. It was the blood of the Lamb, the life of Jesus poured out, which was a glorious triumph over all his foes and incidentally over all your foes. Jesus, the victorious Christ, is your life. He built a high tower for defense against all his foes. And the Lord himself, my victorious Christ, is my high tower. He has already the victory game.
We are not on the winning side. We're on the side that's won. And it all happened at Calvary. Somebody said to Sam in Central Africa, we hear you've been converted, Sam. He said, yes, praise the Lord. And we hear that you're satisfied, Sam, he says, yes, praise the Lord. And we hear, Sam, that you now have the victory over the devil. Where is he? Very theologically correct, he said. Where is he? Not exactly that. It isn't that I have the victory over the devil. But I have the victor of the devil living in my heart.
That's it. And the Lord himself is our high tower. He is our personal victory. Because we enter into his triumph at the cross. day by day. Just like the children of Israel, I think you'd gone forever on this subject if you wanted to because the word is full of it. Because this is the way of blessing and victory, you know. Some of us are so much struggling in the energy of the flesh and never getting there and forgetting about His eternal triumph on the cross. You know when the children of Israel went forward in their journeys day by day, Moses got them all together and they had a little morning prayer together.
You know, like Mr. Willie gets you together here and we have a little morning prayer together. The beginning of the day. Well, listen, what Moses did with the children of Israel, you know. But his prayer was much shorter than ours here. This was his prayer. He said, Arise, O Lord, and let thine enemies this cutter than them that hate thee flee before thee. Amen. And you know what happened? God arose, and every day overcame their enemies for them, and every day they entered into his victory. It was the Lord's victory.
Arise, O Lord, let thine enemies be scattered, and day by day they entered into his victory. By the way, the end of the day, this is just for your interest, the end of the day they had another prayer and it was shorter than the morning prayer. They gathered together around the ark of the covenant and they rested in the Lord's presence. And Moses' evening prayer was this, Lord, return unto the many thousands of Israel. Amen. And on the way to the land of rest, they found not only his victory, day by day, but his rest on the way to the land of rest in the Lord himself. The Lord himself is our high tower.
The righteous runneth into it and is safe. This is your only victory, the victory of the cross for your present birth need. And then, of course, This man, he went into a far country. This farmer, this householder, went into a far country. And God has done that in his vineyard, in relation to his vineyard. You see, he wanted to prove them. So he must give them liberty. That's what God gave you liberty for. You have a free will.
You could do what you like. but remember in giving you a free will God is proving you and testing you because he's not only given you a free will he has given you his instructions and you know what his will for you is and when this man went into a far country he left his instructions now he said to his men I want fruit I knew what his will was now God has done that in his a vineyard and these men unfortunately they turn their liberty into license and it's so easy to do a thing like that God has left us his instructions the Savior has gone away to the glory and he still says I am the vine and you are the branches and I want some fruit from you That's why I prune you so that you might bring forth more fruit.
And he gives us liberty. And sometimes we turn our liberty into license. The late Dr Dixon of London had a great London preacher, had a father, I think he was, or grandfather in one of these southern states here during the time of the Emancipation. and he had quite a number of slaves he was very good to his slaves he looked after them very well and I think they liked him too and when the bill was signed by the president he got them all into his great hall in his home and he says now I can keep slaves no longer the great president has signed the bill of the emancipation and you're all free do what you like go where you will he himself went to the door and opened the door for them So they got their bits and pieces together, their bags and their baggage, and they were seen after a little while, perhaps two or two and a half hours, walking up the street, up the lane, single file, with baggages on their head and under their arms and in their hand, and they were struggling up the road, and they were all free now.
Didn't seem to know what they were going to do and where they were going. Anyway, after a little one, after two miles, they turned right into a wood. And then they stopped at a clearing and they put their trunks and baggages down and they sat on the trunks of fallen trees and they had a conference together. They said, where are we going? Don't know. What are we going to do? Don't know. We've got liberty, yes. Isn't it wonderful, yes. But we loved our master. We like serving our master. We don't know what we're going to do now. Why can't we, what can we do?
Well, we can't be slaves anymore, they said. No, but perhaps he'll let us serve him of our own volition. That's an idea they said, so they put their cases on their heads and under their arms and in their hands, marched down the road again single pile, and the first one up the head, the spokesman for the party, knocked at the big front door, and there were no slaves to open the door, so poor Mr. Dixon had to open it himself. And there he saw this cure. He said, what on earth do you want? Well, it said we'd come back. we know that we've been set free and we cannot be your slaves by law but can we please be your slaves by choice and so they've got liberty but they didn't use it for themselves they used it for their master and they were saying i loved i loved my master i will not go out free.
You know the story in the Old Testament and now with an all the year was bored to the doorpost and this was an out, so many outward signs. in the scriptures. I'm tempted to give you a list of them. I'm not going to. An outward sign that the man who was not turning his liberty into license but loved his master and out of a free will of his own volition was willing to serve him all his days. Now God has done that in his country, gone into a, in his vineyard, gone into a far country, given us liberty. But unfortunately we've turned it into license and we've pleased ourselves.
That's why the call in our Christian meetings is very often for a surrender will. a absolutely surrendered will to the will of Christ that we might serve him acceptably, reverently and fruitfully and with godly fear. Now this farmer sent from the far country his servants to get the fruit from his vineyard and God has done that in his vineyard. He sent more that preacher of righteousness, and Moses, that meek man on earth, but that great leader.
He sent Elijah the prophet and Elisha, and Jeremiah, who broke his heart over the city of Jerusalem because of the backsliding condition of God's people. And he sent Amos to the people of the north. And they said, Amos shut up and go home. And so they treated God's servants badly. Just like this farmer's servants were treated badly from time to time. And God sent John the Baptist and they cut off his head. And then God had a unique son. That's the meaning of the word only begotten. The real word is, as in the American Revised Standard Version, unique son.
He had one son. his only, his well-beloved son. He said, I will send my son surely. They will reverence my son. But when they saw the son coming, they said, this is the heir. This is the son of the owner. The property is going to him. Let us kill him and seize the property ourselves. And they caught him and slew him. and cast him out and that's what they did in God's vineyard and they came to a place called Calvary and there they crucified him there the place where our Lord was crucified outside the city wall There the place, a place of darkness.
Well might the sun in darkness hide and shut its glories in. When the dearly beloved unique sun died for man, his creature's sin. There they crucified him, the place of a skull, the place of death that you and I might be brought into life eternal. through his sacrifice. There they crucified him and over his head was his accusation in Hebrew and Greek and Latin and they all had a share in the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus and so did you and so did I because he was wounded for your transgressions, bruised for your iniquities.
The punishment that you might have peace was laid upon him. by his stripes, therefore you can be healed. And there they crucified him. The punishment our Lord endured when he was nailed to that rugged Roman cross for our redemption. to bring us back to God and him, the person who was soft crucified and put to shame, declares to us Jehovah's name as love because this was his only beloved, his unique and dear son whom he gave for our sakes to bring us back to him.
So last of all, God hath in these last times, and last of all, spoken unto us by His Son. This is God's last word to mankind in His Son, the Lord Jesus. Last of all, He sent. The Son came from the glory sent by the Father to do His will. Five times in Christ's high priestly prayer in John, he says, Thou hast sent me. And to me these are the most wonderful words in Scripture. It was the good pleasure of the Lord to bruise Him.
Not that God was happy to slay His Son. that it was the perfect will of Jehovah to put his son to grave because he so loved the world. He thus gave his only begotten son. Last of all, he sent his son. And after the refusal of the farmer's son, he didn't send anybody else he brought. He came with judgment. There's only one thing following the rejection of the Lord Jesus, and that is the judgment of God.
Because the Lord Jesus is the salvation of God for mankind, you see. The Lord Jesus said to Zacchaeus, Today is salvation come to thy house. Today I must abide at thy house. He is God's salvation for you and me. If you have Christ, you have God's salvation. and after refusing the sun they accepted the judgment now the great point in tonight's message is this we're just coming to it now and I shan't be long and it'll be all over the great point I think is one of the most important things we have to learn in our conferences in our Christian life in all our ministry and meditation over the word follow me closely now if you haven't had a blessing in these three months or more I pray you tonight listen and get a blessing from the word of God at this particular point they never brought their master any fruit and
from them he never received the wine to gladden his heart. In God's vineyard it's been always the same all through the earth. We've all failed. We've all come short of God's glory. We were made for his praise and we haven't praised him. We are created for his glory and we haven't glorified him. We were put here in God's vineyard to bring forth fruit and we brought forth sour fruit, sour grapes to set the teeth on edge. And this is the history of mankind all down the ages.
We've all failed. All have failed. And left to ourselves now the story is still one of complete and absolute failure because flesh is flesh. You can never get the Spirit from the flesh. You may sublimate the flesh as much as you will. It will never yield Spirit nor the fruits of the Spirit. Only the Spirit of Jesus can bring forth the fruits of the Spirit. And this is why He is the true vine and we are the branches and we being joined to Him can have His life flowing through us.
to the praise and glory of his holy name. These men failed and all down the ages the story has been the same. Wild vines, sour grapes, no pleasure to God. Then suddenly, suddenly there's some pleasure come. Suddenly, God is pleased. We heard about it this morning. On the top of the mountain, we heard about it. We heard the voice of the Lord God saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Is it true? Is it true?
Is there at last, amongst the men of earth, someone who is bringing glory to God and pleasure to his heart and fruit to his praise and wine to glad in his heart. Yes, the heavens open three times and the Father speaks glowingly and gloriously about his Son and the pleasure he has in his dearly beloved. And that is why if we are going To glorify Jesus in our lives, it must be by the life of Jesus through our lives.
He is the true vine. The flesh is a wild vine. Only the true vine is fruitful unto God. And the true vine is always fruitful unto God. This is why we must be joined to Jesus, grafted in to the Savior, complete in Christ. in union with our Lord in a very real practical experiential way. And then the life of the true vine, which is always fruitful unto God, shall flow through us to the praise of God's name. The Father said, in him I am well pleased, and he's the young.
Now haven't we seen that all through the week in one way or another? Didn't the Lord Jesus say last night, was it? It is I, the United States. I'm the one you need. I'm the answer to your problems. I am the overcomer. I am the miraculous Savior. If you'll only take me in and let me in control, the miracle will be done. The Lord Jesus is the answer. You never can by yourself. Flesh is flesh. And spirit is spirit, and if it's the spirit of Jesus, then the fruit unto God.
Well, now for the branch to be grafted into the stock, into the tree, I understand that both have to be cut, sliced at an angle, with a sharp knife, both have to be cut, and then they are placed together on the cut, and they are bound together with some kind of raffia and some kind of muddy substance which keeps out the air so that the sap of the tree, the life of the tree can flow now through the branch.
And then when my friend in Eversham, Worcestershire, which is the fruit growing district of Britain, were one of the two special areas, There's another area in Kent. When this brother from the Eversham Assembly was showing me around his fruit farm and describing to me how they did the grafting, he said, we did this one yesterday, see that? Now he said, after a while this will be growing, you'll see this branch here growing by the life it's got from this tree, not by its own life. And they said, look over there, he says, there was one there with some leaves on it.
And those leaves had come from the tree to which it was grafted. You see that one further over there, there's some fruit on that one. And it's not from the branch, it's from the tree. Because the branch was grafted in and was abiding in the tree. and so there's fruit and this of course is the only way you and I must be joined to Jesus we must be grasped in we must abide in Christ now of course to really make this work so that there's growth and life that is eternal life the divine life the life of the eternal and fruit unto God I must be cut and the tree must be cut.
If I'm going to bear fruit, the fruit of the life of Jesus through my life, there must be a cut in my experience. There must be a crisis. There must be a cut with the things of the world, with any known sin, with any little bit of self-will. personal selfish desire must be cut right off there must be in the church of God godly repentance turning from everything that is known to be not of Christ there must be a genuine serious and clean cut before I can know the life of Christ flowing through me and not only so The tree has to be cut.
But don't worry, it's been done. His hands were cut. And his brow was cut with thorns. And his feet were pierced and cut with nails. And his side with a spear. So that, so that, so that you and I could be grafted in. All that is waiting for now, a clean cut with all that is not of Jesus in my personal experience, so that I might abide in him completely.
that his life might flow through me, that I might grow spiritually by his life, that I might bear fruit by the life of the true vine through me. No man can but by the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is the Holy Spirit of the true vine, the Lord Jesus himself, and only the true vine is fruitful unto God. This is the way of blessing and fruitfulness. It is the Christ way, indeed. It is the Christ life.
Not I, not I, but Christ. Let us pray. Let us take a moment. This Friday evening at the end of this beautiful, three months of conference season, let us take a moment to pray and reflect. Take the retrospective view now. What did God say to you the first week? And then was it the third or the fourth week? You really had a message from the Lord.
Think about that in prayer for a moment. Perhaps it was the beginning of this week or the end of last week. Tonight God has shown you that the thing that is hindering the fruit bearing must go. Self-pity, self-desire, self-will, selfishness, self-love let there be a clean cut oh God by thy grace I want to cut it clean now all that is not of thee and of thy son in my life Lord cut it out so that I could not only be joined to Jesus the true vine but that his life might flow through me that by the true vine in me and through me I might bring fruit unto thee now
pray that prayer make the decision in the presence of the Lord and say not I there's the cut not I but Christ But Christ bears the fruit, the true vine. Hear our many prayers, O Lord, in heaven thy dwelling place. Reveal the Lord Jesus to us again and now, not only as our Saviour and our Lord, but as our present life, and as the one who threw us by his life in us.
shall bring fruit unto thy name, glory to thee, and as it were, wine to gladden thy heart. May the grace of the Lord Jesus, thy love, our God, the fellowship and the enabling of the Holy Spirit, be with us all, tonight and always, until we see his face. Amen.