Sermon/Fruit-bearing Branches
Mountain View, California
December 12, 1909
Previously unpublished.
John 15:1. “Taketh away.” Will we consider that? Fruit is expected of every one that is on the vine. “And every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it.” [Verse 2.] He brings them through a process that will cut away words and spirit that are not in accordance with the mind and will of Christ, to make them fruit-bearing branches. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 1
“Every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit.” [Verse 2.] Now, when the purging comes, don’t consider that you are being separated from the vine. That is not so. He purgeth it that it may increase the quality of the fruit that you bear. So if you do not always feel just as you like to feel, and you wish you had a greater evidence that you were accepted of God, remember there is a way to get it, that is to seek it of Jesus. Go right to Him as a hungry child, to supply all your necessities, and give you just what you need that will make you a fruitful branch in the vine. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 2
Verses 3-5. You are in a very responsible position here. You are where young men and young women are connected with you in the work, and those who are older in experience and age are the very ones that are to be a help and a strength to the parties that may come in to take a position and that have been here in this office for some time. You are to consider that you are a branch of the vine. If you claim to be a child of God, you are to act like a child of God. You are seek counsel from the Lord. You are to be much with God in prayer, and the more that there are connected with this office the more important it is for every one to have an individual work. I will go through this now, and then I will refer to the work that should be done after I get through with the lesson here. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 3
I had a very singular experience in my home. I was writing on this subject to one of our people, and while I was writing, I lost all consciousness of anything around me. I was placed in that relation that I could understand what it means to be a branch of the true vine. And it was so wonderful, and yet so simple, that we could every one, be a branch of the true vine. This lesson in the fifteenth of John has been regarded by me with an intensity that I never regarded it before, and I will read it through now. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 4
Verse 4. “I in you.” If you abide in Christ, He abides in you. Then be careful how you speak. Don’t you let your tongue say one word that is improper for one that is abiding in Christ. You are to represent that you are a branch of the living vine. Verse 4. Will you consider that every morning, every noon, every night? Will you consider it while you are engaged in your labor? 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 5
Verses 5-7. Now the will of the man is placed as the will of the Son, as the will of Christ, and therefore nothing will transpire with them that shall attain this oneness. It is a wonderful position. I never saw it as I did on this special occasion. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 6
Verse 8. It rests on whether you bear the fruit that is in Christ Jesus, and act out His life and character. All the profession in the world will never save you unless you have a living connection with the Son of God. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 7
Verse 9. Now you just see the comparison. “Continue ye in my love.” Verses 10, 11. What would you do if your joy was full? Could you keep it to yourself? Should not your mind be constantly ascending to God to receive strength from Him to honor your profession? That is what He expects of us. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 8
Verse 12. Now He did not love us because we were so perfect, but because through Him we could be sanctified through the truth, and obey the truth. Verses 13-16. Why, this came upon me with such power, of the power that we are not grasping the grace that we might have. Now Christ tells things just as they are. We can be laborers together with Jesus Christ in God, to glorify God. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 9
Verses 17-19. The world will lay stumbling blocks in your way. You need not expect anything else from the world. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 10
Verses 20-25. They had no cause whatever to dislike Christ or to hate Him. But it was because His works were perfect with the Father. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 11
Verses 26, 27. Now here was His lesson to the people to be brought down to us, and we are to take every lesson in this chapter, every phase of it, and bring ourselves into right relation to God. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 12
The prospect that was before me as I sat there with me pen in my hands and had lost consciousness, why, the scene that was presented, and the works that were being done by Christ! The influence of His Holy Spirit that was being resisted, because they did not come up to the standard that it was their privilege to come up to, and for which the Lord sent Jesus to make it possible that humanity might grasp divinity, and divinity might lift up humanity to become one with Jesus Christ. Humanity and divinity combined could bring in a position of oneness to God that is presented. And when we consider, as when I began to come to myself, the privileges that we were to claim from this chapter—it seemed to me that I was in heaven. It seemed to me my whole being was brought into a unity with Jesus Christ, and that we could have this unity, the human being could take hold of the divine nature, and become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in world through lust. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 13
Now, every soul of us will have battled to fight, and if we will lay right hold of the divine nature, we shall find a help and a strength, and what will it reveal? The praise of God will be upon your lips in the place of worry, and in the place of expressing doubts, and in the place of giving a harsh word to those that are in connection with you. We, every one of us, are to take that joy, and to carry it out to the letter. And if you will do that, then you shall be a partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 14
Now, study these things. Where you will be in the future at any time, we know not. We know not what trials you will be brought into, but if we do not half live the Scriptures, if we are not benefitted by the divine nature, to be a partaker of that nature, so that we can escape the corruption that is in the world through lust, we are lost. If one of you should be admitted into the kingdom of heaven, not having perfect character after Christ, there would be a satanic influence that would be brought right into the city of God and a second rebellion. But God has provided for that, and He has given lessons, that we might take these lessons and that we might believe that we have to keep these lessons, and not a word escape our lips wherever we are that shall dishonor our Maker. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 15
We are to be sanctified to God, and every soul that has a connection with the publications, and the work that comes forth from this office, is to dedicate their soul, body and spirit to God, and the natural affection is to be sanctified and holy; then what? You will speak it; you will teach it; you will be converted by it, and you will be helpers to one another to overcome the besetments and transgressions that are in the world through lust. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 16
Now, these are the points that I want to present to you, that were presented to me, and that I begin to write. I do not know where it is. It is written out somewhere that we lose sight of these things. Ministers lose sight of it, and the people lose sight of it, and the physicians lose sight of it, and therefore it is brought over and over to my mind to speak it to the people. We want sanctified words. And, you know, when Saul was pursuing David that he might find him, they came to the school of the prophets, and just as soon as they came they heard the voice of the prophets, and as they heard the voices there was a wonderful sentiment created in his own mind to forget that he was after David, and to begin to prophesy right with the prophets; the Spirit came upon him. Now, if he had only kept under it, then Saul would have been in an excellent condition, but he did not keep under it. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 17
We can come into a right position, and we want to see what it must be. Therefore that is why I am speaking to you on this point now. I have not strength to speak to you much, but I want to say to you that day and night my mind is on these subjects, and I consider, from them light given to me regarding the workers in this great work of publishing, that they should not all hug right in there. There should be divisions made, and some in one place, and some in another. There should be divisions made. There is a world to save. It is not to gather right around in here all that can be gathered. There are things that we must understand, that the light may go forth as a lamp that burneth from those that know the truth. There are departments of the work that can be carried on and let light shine forth in different places. That is what I am writing, and trying to bring before our people, and have been for years, but it has been so hard for them to see it. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 18
Now read this, verses 1, 2. Just as soon as we have the Holy Spirit of God that is resting upon us individually, let me tell you it will be known. Just as surely as the power of God is communicated with us, we shall communicate it to others. And when the communication shall come to souls, there will be a recognition of it, even by unbelievers. They will either get mad or they will leave, they won’t stay in that atmosphere where angels of God are in your midst. They will not stay there. And we want the light that is here to be felt all through wherever they may go, and carry the work that must be carried. There is a work for every soul of us to do. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 19
Christ left the royal courts; He clothed His divinity with humanity. He came to our world to show us what humanity must be if we ever enter the courts above. If your passions are not overcome, it is time to begin the work. It is time in your families to pray to God until you know that He bestows His Spirit upon you, and that humanity is grasping divinity. When humanity grasps divinity, I tell you there will be a devotion, a sanctification, in every part of our work that is connected with our printing establishments, and every part of our work that is connected with the ministry, and every part of it that is connected with the medical line. It will blend, and the glory of God will be revealed. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 20
This thing was presented to men in such a way that I have felt an impossibility to present it as it were, that you might understand it, that humanity must grasp divinity, and then you are a partaker of the divine nature. Christ laid off His golden crown, He laid off His kingly robe, and He came into our world to teach just how that you could grasp divinity, that you may be prepared for any trial or any difficulty. And just so it was with the school of the prophets. They went by themselves, they prayed to God until the Holy Spirit rested upon them, and then they went to communicate the light that God had given them. What we want is a living Saviour. What we want is that connection with God that we can understand the temptations of Satan. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 21
All these books that are in the traveling cars, and presentations of these things, you want nothing to do with them. I told them in my house, said I, If you put on that table in my parlor any of these books, you never will find them again, or you never will know where they went to, because I won’t have them in my house. I won’t have it that I speak to the people, and then these different books are placed there in my house. The books have nothing but worldly thing that are brought in. We do not want a taste of it. What we want is to know that we are in Christ the living vine, and that we are to bring forth fruit to His glory. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 22
That is all that has brought me here. I did not feel able to come here, but the Lord has given me strength that I could say a few words to you, and I want to tell you that Jesus lives. He left His glory to bring to you in humanity unsullied in the world from a little child. He came up in the Spirit of God, and not a word escaped His lips for which He could be condemned. He is our pattern in all things. And we are to be partakers of the divine nature. Not a coarse word, not a passionate word is to come from your lips. The converting power of God must come into your voice, and then there will have to be a division made here in this place, that the light may be communicated to others that are in darkness. We are preparing for scenes that you can scarcely anticipate, and what we want is to be in Christ, the living vine. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 23
Now, although He was the living vine, you see He suffered. Yes, He suffered. In the garden of Gethsemane there was that bitter cup of being separated from His Father for bearing the sins, and there the bloody sweat dropped from His brow and moistened the sods of Gethsemane, and He said, My Father, if it is possible, let his cup pass from me. The separation of the Father from the Son was what He felt that He could not endure, and the bloody sweat moistened the sods of Gethsemane. And there was our destiny with that cup trembling in His hands. Would He drink it? Let this cup, He said, pass from Me. And then the future, how it would be if it did pass from Him. Nevertheless, He says, if it be Thy will, I will drink it. And He went to His disciples to see if they were awake to sympathize with Him. They were asleep and I think a good many of us are asleep, asleep spiritually, and now if ever, we want to realize what it is to be believing Christians. We had better awake in the name of the Lord God of Israel. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 24
Christ said, I will drink it. And an angel came from glory to strengthen the Son of the infinite God to drink this cup of separation from His Father, to be crucified as a sinner. But the Lord God of Heaven protected and brought His Son through. The next we see is when they came to the sepulcher to anoint His body, and lo, there was no Jesus there. Christ had risen. The angels of God from heaven had come down and rolled back that stone from the sepulcher as a pebble. And the Son of God came forth and proclaimed over the rent sepulcher of Joseph, “I am the resurrection and the life.” [John 11:25.] That was the triumph song of victory that came. And now I am going to say, Seek the Lord, while He may be found. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 25
I have said these few words to you but you have the house so heated up as to put you to sleep rather than to keep you awake. Another morning as mild as this, I beg of you, don’t build a fire in this house when you meet together. You want every vein of your being to be brought into living connection with God. You cannot realize these things if you have the heat as it is now. You cannot afford it. You want to be wide awake, and you want the Spirit of the Highest to overshadow you, and the grace of God to be with you. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 26
“I am the resurrection and the life,” said Christ. [Verse 25.] And you are to have life, and you are to praise God, and when the true fruit is borne by the vine, you will have the praise of God coming from your lips instead of complaining and finding fault and all this; you will feel that I am in connection with Jesus Christ. He is my Redeemer. I have faith in Him. I will walk, I will work as a true branch of the living vine. Now that is what we want to do, and more words, I do not think would be of use. But I want to tell you, You have a work to do individually. We are not half converted. If we were only half converted, there would be a different representation. But we want the whole conversation, a living unity with Christ, if you can ever unite with Him in the heavenly courts. And I beseech you, for Christ’s sake to come in unity with Him. Now we do not go without Him, because He will be right with us, and He will help us at every step. 24LtMs, Ms 139, 1909, par. 27