Lesson for October 12, 2025

The Book of John

Lesson 36

Chapter 15:1-31

Verses 1-8

“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 it so that it may bear more fruit. ³ You are already clean because of the Word which I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself but must remain in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. ⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not remain in Me, he is thrown away like a branch and dries up; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷ If you remain in Me, and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.”

In this analogy, Christ is the vine and believers are the branches. The branch takes its life from the vine. The branch must periodically be “pruned,” so that it will continue to produce a maximum amount of fruit. In the same manner, when we as believers abide in Christ (continue in fellowship) and He is abiding in us (indwelling of Christ), we are able to produce maximum divine good. Just as a branch will wither and die when separated from the vine, believers will experience temporal death (temporary loss of their spiritual life) by staying out of fellowship with God for a prolonged period of time. Failure to abide in Christ, and to allow His Word to abide in us, results in failure to live the Christian Way of Life. Abiding in Christ means that you understand the system God has provided for staying in fellowship with Him called the Rebound Technique. (I John 1:9)

If anyone does not remain in Me, he is thrown away like a branch and dries up; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. This verse is not a reference to the Lake of Fire (Hell). It’s a comparative analogy regarding a believer’s spiritual life and what results from being out of fellowship with God for a prolonged period of time.

Verses 9-17

 ^“Just as the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you; remain in My love. ¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. ¹² This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are My friends, if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. ¹⁷ This I command you, that you love one another.”

Personal love for Jesus Christ is a function of our Royal Priesthood. He laid down His life for us, and we should in turn “lay down” our lives for Him, by remaining in fellowship with Him a maximum amount of time, and fulfilling the plan of God, as He did. Before we can love one another, we must learn to love God.

Our personal love for God is based upon our thinking, not our emotions. No one can be forced to love God. As with everything in the Christian Way of Life, it is a matter of personal volition. Loving God changes our human norms and standards to divine norms and standards and gives us a foundation on which to build our Christian lives. This, of course, not only effects our relationship with God (our spiritual life), but it also effects our relationship with others (our Christian life).

(I Peter 1:8; Ephesians 3:19)

Personal love for God means we have come to know Him in an intimate way. It means we have learned Who God is and how He treats His children. This has caused us to love God personally above all others. We have done this through the consistent study and application of accurate Bible doctrine. The Word of God is the only source of absolute truth about the character of God. Lack of knowledge of His Word means a believer cannot love God, even if they say they do,

As a Royal Ambassador, we represent God before the world. As royalty, we are to conduct our lives accordingly. This calls for high standards of excellence in every area of our life. It calls for integrity in our dealings with believers and unbelievers alike. With Jesus Christ as our example, we are to exhibit the same kind of love that He exhibited. This kind of love can be accomplished only by a believer with Bible doctrine in their soul, and who is being guided by the Holy Spirit.

You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain. Bearing fruit is a reference to divine production. Divine production is good of lasting value, done by believers when they are filled with God the Holy Spirit. Divine production is a result of spiritual growth and a function of the filling of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers. Therefore, all the honor and glory belong to God, not to believers. When we allow the Holy Spirit to form the character of Jesus Christ in our lives, we will bear fruit. The fruit is clearly outlined in Galatians 5:22-23 and should be present in all believers. So that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. Only by being in fellowship with God (abiding in Him) will our prayers be heard by God. Asking God for things when we are out of fellowship with Him is fruitless. It is a prayer that will not be answered. (Psalm 66:1)

Verses 18-27

“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they followed My word, they will follow yours also. ²¹ But all these things they will do to you on account of My name, because they do not know the One who sent Me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ The one who hates Me hates My Father also. ²⁴ If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. ²⁵ But this has happened so that the word that is written in their Law will be fulfilled: ‘They hated Me for no reason.’ ²⁶ ‘When the Helper comes, Whom I will send to you from the Father, namely, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, He will testify about Me, ²⁷ and you are testifying as well, because you have been with Me from the beginning.’”

If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. Satan is the ruler of this world system and hates Jesus Christ. And Satan hates us as believers. Christ, and those who believe in Him, are Satan’s target in the Angelic Conflict. Satan hated the humanity of Christ, as seen in Genesis 3:15, and did everything he could to keep Christ from going to the Cross. Satan continues to hate Christ even though He is no longer on earth, having won a victory over Satan, which he will not accept.

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Satan and his world system hate believers and wants to destroy them. (I Peter 5:8) So, the reason that the “world” hates believers is because it hates Christ and we are related to Him as Christian royalty. Believers are not citizens of this world; our citizenship is in Heaven. (Philippians 3:20)

Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they followed My word, they will follow yours also. But all these things they will do to you on account of My name, because they do not know the One who sent Me. We are told throughout the Word of God that believers suffer because they are related to Jesus, and we are His servants. And the servant is not greater than the master. Therefore, it should come as no surprise when we suffer for our faith in Christ. (I Peter 5:9-10)

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Jesus exposed the sin of those He came in contact with, throughout His ministry. This means that those who rejected Him, which is a sin in itself, will be held accountable for their decision at the Great White Throne Judgment.

When the Helper comes, Whom I will send to you from the Father, namely, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you are testifying as well, because you have been with Me from the beginning. God the Holy Spirit is our teacher and guide. It is His ministry to guide us to and teach us truth. It is the Holy Spirit Who makes doctrinal information understandable. We learn accurate Bible doctrine when we consistently expose ourselves to it, under the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit. The result is storage of doctrinal information that can be used by the Holy Spirit to guide us into a victorious Christian life, which is a testimony for Christ to the world. (John 7:17; 14:26; 16:13-14; Romans 8:14; I Corinthians 2:10-16; II Timothy 2:15; 3:16)