We don't want just a little bit of joy. We want all of the joy that the Father has stored up for His people. And the fullness of joy that we have comes from Christ. The world promises joy in the wrong places, pursue possessions, wealth, even sin, and you'll be satisfied. But that's not the truth. It's only one source of true and lasting joy. And it's the source of our joy that is our topic today. So I'm glad you're with us for this Thursday edition of Renewing Your Mind. The word joy appears over and over again in Scripture. But do you know this joy? If you're unsure, or if you struggle with joy, take the time to study the biblical topic of joy when you request R.C. Sproul's complete series on joy and his book, Can I Have Joy in My Life? Today's the final day of this offer, so be sure to respond with a donation at RenewingYourMind.org before midnight tonight. Well, here's Dr. Sproul on the source of our joy. One of the chief characteristics of the gospel of John, that has been a delight for Christians of all ages, is John's list of the famous I.M.s of Jesus. For example, Jesus says, I am the door through which men must enter. I am the good shepherd. I am the light of the world and so on before Abraham was. I am. And in each of these affirmations of Jesus, where Jesus says, I am. The Greek has a strange form to it. The Greek goes like this, ego, eemey. These are two forms of the verb to be in Greek. Both of them mean I.M. And it's almost as if Jesus is stuttering when he says, I.M. I.M. or really he's saying, I.M. What's so fascinating about this is that this particular form of the Greek, ego, eemey, is the way the Septuagint, which was the Greek translation of the Old Testament, would translate the tetragrammaton of the Old Testament, the great I.M., which was the name Yahweh, the name for God. The way Yahweh would be interpreted was through the Greek, ego, eemey. And so many believe that when Jesus calls attention to his role as the great shepherd and as the doer, today is at the same time identifying himself with deity here. Now, the last of the I.M.s that we find in John's Gospel is found in the 15th chapter of the Gospel of John. And I'd like to ask you to turn to that now and let us give some attention to this I.M. of Jesus, I.M. in verse 1 of chapter 15 of the Gospel of John. Jesus says this, I.M. the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Now, first thing I want us to note about this statement is that Jesus doesn't say simply I.M. the vine. But rather he distinguishes what vine he is. He says, I.M. the true vine or the genuine vine or the authentic vine. Why does he do this? Well, he doesn't tell us exactly, but we have a guess that we can lodge here that most biblical scholars would agree with, and that is this, that in the Old Testament, when God enters into a particular and special relationship with His people, the people of Israel, the people of Israel are sometimes considered in the metaphor of the bride. Israel is the bride of Yahweh. But also Israel in the Old Testament is called God's Vine. Or God's vineyard. It is the vineyard that God plants, God nurtures, God prunes, and God uses for the purpose of producing fruit that will nourish and enrich the whole world. But one of the judgments that comes upon the nation of Israel in the New Testament is because of the fruitlessness of God's vineyard. Now also a theme that we find throughout the New Testament is that Jesus comes not only to redeem His people, but to embody the nation of Israel itself. In an ultimate sense, Jesus is the Israel of God. And that idea is being communicated partially here in this statement when He says, I am the true vine. Now notice also that in the Old Testament, Israel was called the Son of God. Out of Egypt have I called my Son. And when Jesus is brought back out of Egypt after His parents flee to Egypt from the warnings given because Herod was seeking the life of this baby. Remember Joseph and Mary took the baby and fled into Egypt and then when it was safe, they were alerted that they could return back to Israel. And the Scripture said, this was to fulfill the Old Testament prophecy out of Egypt I have called my Son. And so we see this strange metaphorical identity or connection between Jesus and the nation of Israel. Jesus has a kind of solidarity with the whole historical people of God. And here he is saying, where Israel has failed in its vocation to be the vineyard of God. I am the true vine. And my father is the vine dresser. That is the one who comes and plants the vine, who cultivates the vine, who prunes the vine. And so Jesus sets up this discourse by identifying himself as the vine and his father as the vine dresser. And verse 2 he says, 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. I don't understand the whole process of growing grapes or really of growing much of anything. I don't have a green thumb. And I've experimented with different things in my life, one of which is fully around with roses. And I have the most rudimentary, and only the most rudimentary knowledge of horticulture and the growing of roses, my extent of knowledge of roses, it goes about this far, that after we get the beautiful rose blossom on the stem, and it begins to decay and deweather, that we have to go out, and we have to cut off the dead blossom. And there's a particular point, where you find this place where there are so many leaves on the stem, and you prune it there. And if you are diligent in pruning away, the dead aspects of the bush, the more brilliant the blossoms become, and more plenius is the fruit. It just seems to defy what we would assume, that the more we cut away at a bush, the more we'd be destroying it, or the more we cut away branches from a tree, the more damage we would be doing to it. But this whole process of pruning is to focus the nutrients of the plant, the bush or the tree or whatever it is, to consistent process of production. The old is removed, so that a new blossom can emerge and a new fruit can be produced. And so Jesus draws this image from the whole concept of the vineyard, and the idea here of pruning is to increase fruit. Now what we've been concerned about, in the last few sessions, is the fruit of the spirit called joy. And what I'm concerned about today is this, how can we increase that particular fruit? How can we abide and maintain whatever joy that we do experience in the kingdom of God, and not only maintain it, but increase it? Well, just keep that thought, tucked in the back of your mind for a moment, and just remember that this is our larger concern as we're looking at this teaching of Jesus. In verse 3, he said, you are already clean because of the word, which I have spoken to you. Now he's addressing himself to believers, to those who are his, to those that already enjoy fellowship with him, and have a saving relationship with him. They are already clean. And now comes the command in verse 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. Now what happens to the branches that you prune from a tree, or from a bush? After you've cut the branch and removed it from the tree, or from the bush, or from the vine, throw it down on the ground, leave it there for a week, and come back and see what it looks like. See how much fruit it is producing? It's not going to produce any fruit. It's been cut off from its life supply. It's been cut off from its power supply, and so it is impotent. It withers, it atrophies, it dies. Remember the story of a minister who had a person in his congregation who stopped coming to church? And the minister wanted to visit this wayward parishioner and tried to encourage him to come back to church and said to him, why did you stop coming to church? And the man said, I'm a Christian, I'm a believer, I don't need church. I can do very well on my own. I'm an independent type of person, a self-starter, have a lot of initiative. I don't need the fellowship of other people and so on. And they were having this conversation in the parishioner's backyard as he was preparing to have a barbecue and he had already started a fire in the bed of coals of barbecue coals in his barbecue pit. And while he was talking to his parishioners, he went over beside the barbecue pit and he saw the stack of coals that were all white-hot and glowing. He took one of the prongs and lifted one of the coals that he couldn't touch with his hand because it was glowing red-hot, white-hot, indeed. And he removed that coal and moved it to the outside of the barbecue pit. And then continued his conversation with the parishioner and say, what about it? And after a few minutes of this continuing conversation, he walked over and he picked up this coal with his bare hand. And he said to the member of his congregation, do you see what just happened here? It's only a few minutes ago, he couldn't touch this coal because it was so hot. But once I removed this coal from the source of the heat, it lost its heat and became cold. And no longer could contribute to the barbecue that you're planning for this afternoon. He says, and that's what's going to happen to you. You need the body of Christ. You need the church of Christ. You need the fellowship of the saints and the assembling together of the people of God because we are not rugged individualists who are called to live in isolation from others. And if we dry up or cool down when we're removed from connection with other Christians, how much more? Will we evaporate if we're removed from the real source of power, which is Christ himself? And that's the point he's making here. I am the true vine. And so he gives this admonition to his disciples by saying he uses the Greek word, many-o, which is translated, abide. It can also be translated by the word remain or simply the word stay. So if you want to be productive, you can't just come and visit me every so often, but you have to abide in me. Now, Jesus isn't talking here about losing salvation or any of that sort of thing. That's another matter. But he is saying, stay close to me because we are prone to wander, to get out to the outer edges of the tree and fail to tap in to the source of our power and of our spiritual vitality, which is Christ himself. And so his lesson simply is to stay close, abide in me and I and you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine nearer can you. Unless you abide in me. Do you hear what he's saying? All of the efforts that you have to be joyful, all of the efforts that you have to be productive, all of the things that you want to do to achieve anything worthwhile in the kingdom of God, is an exercise in utter futility if you're trying to do it on your own power. Christians need to understand that that without the connection to Christ, who is the power supply, we will be completely fruitless. Now, again, I remind you that the particular fruit we're concerned about here is the fruit of the Spirit called joy. If you neglect the Spirit, if you neglect Christ, if you are not staying close to the source of Christ, how much joy are you going to have? Very, very little. Again, he says in verse 5, I am the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in me and I and him bears much fruit for without me you can do nothing. And Martin Luther once commented on this text and said, when Jesus said, without me you can do nothing. The nothing in this text does not refer to a little something. Jesus is saying, without me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he has cast out as a branch and is withered and they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned. But if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask which you desire and it shall be done for you. And by this is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit. So you will be my disciple. Now let's keep going here in verse 9. Jesus expands the teaching and he said, as the Father loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. Now we get to the section in the teaching that is most important for our consideration. And it is the section in which Jesus explains to the point simply and directly why it is he's telling them this little story taken from agriculture. Listen to what he says in verse 11. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. These things I have spoken to you, that here we have the use of the subjunctive in the Greek which states purpose. To read it another way, it would go like this. I have told you these things. In order that, my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. Two reasons Jesus has told this story. Two reasons that he designates here. The first one is that the joy that he provides for his people may remain. All this discussion about abiding, staying, and remaining. Abide in me, I abide in you. Why? So that your joy may abide. So that there can be a consistency, that there can be a permanency, not a roller coaster ride, of mood shifts, alternating states of joy and misery, which so often characterizes the life of the Christian. Jesus is saying, if you want consistency, then consistently abide in me and my joy will abide in you. Again, you notice my joy. Remember earlier in the fourth things chapter, Jesus talked about peace. Peace I leave with you. Peace I give unto you. Not as the world give us, give I unto you. My peace I give to you. So where does the Christians peace come from? It comes from him. We have this opportunity to participate in his peace and in like manner he's saying now, I'm telling you these things that my joy may abide with you. Now I distinguish this between his joy and our joy and that your joy may be full. Isn't that what we want? We don't want a partial cup of the fruit of the Spirit. We don't want just a little bit of joy. We want all of the joy that the Father has stored up for his people. And the fullness of joy that we have comes from Christ. It is first his joy that he gives to us. And as we are plugged into him, this joy that comes from him grows, increases, remains constant, and becomes full. No one who is listening to me right now has ever yet in his or her life fully experienced the highest level of joy. That is available to the people of God. However happy you are, however much joy you have at this moment, there is more joy to be had. There is a fullness that is constantly being expanded as the fruit of the Spirit is nurtured by the true vine. How constant is your joy? Do you feel like it's a roller coaster ride? I often do. And one of the things that disturbs me is how I can be inconsistent. And I know that we all struggle with that sort of thing. But Jesus gives us a simple explanation for that. When we are inconsistent in our walk with Him, in our quest for intimacy with Him, then the fruit that we bear will likewise be inconsistent. But if we want a constancy and a fullness of the measure of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, then we know what to do. Since He is the source of peace, of joy, of love, of faith, indeed of all of the fruit of the Spirit, then the more we tap in to that source, and the closer we stay to the vine, then the stronger and more productive, the fruit of the vine is in our lives. That was RC Sproul on the source of true and lasting joy. Thanks for being with us for renewing your mind today. I'm your host, Nathan W. Bingham. On Saturday, I'll be joined by Eric Bancroft and Stephen Nichols in Panama City, Florida, to teach at a one-day euthapologetics training event. Can I please ask you to pray for all the teenagers who will be in attendance? And if you're in the area, it's not too late to register. You can learn more and register at liganyour.org slash north Florida. The world chases joy and happiness in all the wrong places, and Christians can be guilty of this too. That's why we need to be reminded what true joy is and the source of that joy. You can study this topic more deeply and at your own pace. When you request access to this series on joy from Dr. Sproul, along with his title, Can I Have Joy in My Life? We'll also include access to his series on anger, and his book, Is Anger Always a Sin. Simply respond now with a donation and supporter renewing your mind at renewingyourmind.org, or when you call us at 800-435-4343, and we'll unlock both series in the free liganyour app and place those two books in the mail for you. I've also included a convenient link in the podcast show notes if that's easier. So that's four resources when you show your support today at renewingyourmind.org, or for the global digital edition of this offer, visit renewingyourmind.org slash global. Thank you. No one wants to be a legalist, but sometimes in response to legalism, we can be tempted to reject or even ignore God's standard for Christian living. What's the cure for that? Well, we sure to join us tomorrow as Sinclair Ferguson helps us understand the cures for anti-nomenism. That'll be Friday here on renewing your mind.
