In John 15:1 the Lord said, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman,” and in John 15:5 He said, “I am the vine, you are the branches.” Not many Christians have seen that in the Gospel of John the Father is expressed in the Son, the Son is realized as the Spirit, and the Spirit is expressed through all the branches. The Spirit, who is the reality of the Son, now expresses Himself through all the branches in fruit-bearing. Hence, the fruit brought forth by the branches is the expression of the working and moving of the indwelling Spirit. In John 15:8 the Lord said, “In this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit.” Eventually, the Father is glorified in all the fruit because the fruit is the expression of the Spirit, who is the reality of the Son in whom the Father is expressed.
What does it mean to preach the gospel? It is to bring forth fruit. Bearing fruit is not merely a matter of preaching or teaching; it is a matter of imparting life to others. The proper and genuine gospel preaching is not merely a type of preaching or teaching; it is the imparting of the very life that is within you to others. This is a matter of life. Suppose you are a dried-up branch. To be dried up is to lack life. As a branch, you should share the abundant life of the vine. But to be dried up means that you lack the life of the vine and are unable to bear fruit. Because you do not have life, there is no overflow of the life of the vine within you. But if you abide properly in the vine, then the life of the vine will fill you up. The life that has filled you up will then overflow into others. This is fruit-bearing, and this is the genuine and proper gospel preaching. I look to the Lord that we all might see this.
We need to abide in the Lord. To abide in the Lord means that there is no insulation or distance between us and Him. There must be nothing between us and the Lord. When we abide in Him, He as life will flow into our whole being and will fill us up. As a result, life will overflow from within us.
In this chapter the Lord Jesus is serious, saying, “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away,” and, “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is dried up” (vv. 2, 6). If a branch does not bear fruit, the Father will cut it off. Does this mean that we shall perish? Do not apply this thought to this chapter. In John 15 there is no thought of being saved or lost. Many Christians emphasize only one thing—being saved to go to heaven. According to some of them, if a saved person does not do well, he will lose his salvation and perish in hell. John 15, however, is in another realm, having absolutely nothing to do with going either to heaven or hell. To be dried up and cut off firstly means to be cut off from the enjoyment of the riches of Christ. When a branch is cut off, it loses the enjoyment of the riches of life. Secondly, to be cut off means to be severed from the fellowship with all the other branches. When you are on the vine, you not only abide in the vine but also in the fellowship with the other branches. However, if you are cut off from the vine, you will lose this fellowship. Thirdly, to be cut off means to be cut off from your function. When a branch is cut off, it loses its function. Finally, to be cut off means to miss God’s eternal purpose. A branch that has been cut off from the vine cannot possibly fulfill God’s eternal purpose.
It is possible to preach and still be insulated from Christ. I knew of a brother who beat his wife at home and then stood up to tell people that Jesus loved them. It seemed that Jesus loved everyone except his wife. For years, I sat under a great teacher of the Bible. He was a good talker. But when people went to visit him, after speaking with them for a while, he excused himself, picked up his pipe, and smoked. Do you think that as he was smoking his pipe he was abiding in the Lord? His pipe smoking must have been an insulation. Although I sat under his teaching for years, I never received any life supply from him. While some may preach and still be able to smoke or attend the movies, genuine gospel preaching is the overflow of the inner life. In order to have this overflow, we must abide in the Lord. Even a negative thought can insulate us from the flow of life. We know this from our experience. You may preach and teach, but if you do not abide in the Lord, you will never bear fruit by the overflow of the inner life.
When we abide in the Lord, we become a part of the Triune God. Are not the branches a part of the vine? If we, as branches, abide in the Lord, then we are a part of the Triune God. When some of the critics hear this, they will accuse me of teaching evolution into God. What slander this is, and what blasphemy to the Lord! We do not teach any kind of evolution.
As you contact people on the campuses, you must have the deep sense and the full realization that you are abiding in the Lord. When you talk to people, you must talk to them by abiding in Him. In the previous message I said that we must talk from our spirit. Now I am saying that we must talk by abiding in Him. We need to practice this. Tell the Lord, “Lord Jesus, I am going to the campus. Help me to abide in You right now. Lord, You promised that if I abide in You, You would abide in me. My abiding is Your abiding. Lord, I will go abiding in You.” If you abide in the Lord, in your speaking will be the Lord’s speaking. Never contact people without abiding in the Lord. Do not speak a word to anyone without abiding in Him. If, as I am speaking, I do not have the assurance that I am abiding in Him, I should stop speaking, for whatever I would say would not be the truth, the reality, but a falsehood. All human words, even if they are true, are falsehoods because there is no reality in them. But when I abide in the Lord, He speaks in my speaking, and my speaking is His speaking. This is the imparting of life, the overflow of life from within.