Well, amen! Greetings to the reader from John, the fifteenth chapter. As we study this remarkable chapter we study it under the rule of four.
First, we find a branch with no fruit on it at all. This is a branch but no fruit.
Second, we see a branch with some fruit. That is better than no fruit, but it is the poorest condition that a Christian can be in to live at all. Some fruit is the lowest standard that God will put up with.
Third, we see a branch with more fruit on it. That is better than some fruit, but just how much better we are not told. We see that more fruit was not the best that God could do, but that He is able to help us bear "more fruit."
More fruit, as good as it is, is not God's plan; for we see the fourth branch and, behold, it has much fruit on it. And that is coming up to the Lord's standard.
Now let the reader run back over these branches and see the difference. First, no fruit; second, some fruit; third, more fruit; and fourth, much fruit.
No fruit is a dead branch; some fruit is a converted man; more fruit is a holy man, and the branch that bore much fruit is the holy man fertilized and pruned and sprayed and irrigated and at his best for God. He is in the best soil, and in the best climate, and in the best condition that a soul can be in this present world. And that makes him bear much fruit.
And it is the branch that bears much fruit that brings glory to God. For Christ himself said, "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples" (v. 8).
Now here is the secret of bearing much fruit, and it is in the words of Jesus: "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you" (v. 7).
Robinson, Reuben A. (Bud). The Collected Works of 'Uncle Bud' Robinson (Kindle Locations 2610-2622). Jawbone Digital. Kindle Edition.
First, we find a branch with no fruit on it at all. This is a branch but no fruit.
Second, we see a branch with some fruit. That is better than no fruit, but it is the poorest condition that a Christian can be in to live at all. Some fruit is the lowest standard that God will put up with.
Third, we see a branch with more fruit on it. That is better than some fruit, but just how much better we are not told. We see that more fruit was not the best that God could do, but that He is able to help us bear "more fruit."
More fruit, as good as it is, is not God's plan; for we see the fourth branch and, behold, it has much fruit on it. And that is coming up to the Lord's standard.
Now let the reader run back over these branches and see the difference. First, no fruit; second, some fruit; third, more fruit; and fourth, much fruit.
No fruit is a dead branch; some fruit is a converted man; more fruit is a holy man, and the branch that bore much fruit is the holy man fertilized and pruned and sprayed and irrigated and at his best for God. He is in the best soil, and in the best climate, and in the best condition that a soul can be in this present world. And that makes him bear much fruit.
And it is the branch that bears much fruit that brings glory to God. For Christ himself said, "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples" (v. 8).
Now here is the secret of bearing much fruit, and it is in the words of Jesus: "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you" (v. 7).
Robinson, Reuben A. (Bud). The Collected Works of 'Uncle Bud' Robinson (Kindle Locations 2610-2622). Jawbone Digital. Kindle Edition.
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