Well, this morning, we come to one of the most vital texts in the scriptures, in my opinion, for our understanding of the Christian life and of sanctification. We're in the midst of a broader section of scripture in the book of Galatians, where Paul's concern and intent is the effect on the believers of placing themselves back under the law as a way of life. 

You remember that the issue at hand was the legalistic Judaizers who had come into the region of Galatia to those churches that Paul had founded there and taught and strengthened in his missionary journeys, and were seeking to trouble the believers, Paul says, by perverting the gospel of Christ. They taught a salvation that consisted of, yes, faith in Jesus Christ, but also in keeping the law of Moses, a faith plus works gospel. We saw this clearly in the book of Acts. 

I want you to turn to Acts 15 with me as we begin. Look at that passage again, Acts 15 at verse 1. It says, and certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question. So being sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, describing the conversion of the Gentiles, and they caused great joy to all the brethren. 

And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all things that God had done with them. But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, it is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses. There, the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter, and when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them, men and brethren, you know that a good while ago, God chose among us that by my mouth, the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 

So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved in the same manner as they. Notice his words there in verse 11, through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. Now Peter's saved when he says this, but he's yet to be saved, right? We shall be saved. 

So this is a clear statement, similar to what Paul says in verse one of our text, when he says, do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Paul had a great concern for the purity of the gospel and justification by faith, as we saw right off in this letter when he pronounced an anathema, a curse, on anyone who would preach another gospel. But he also was very concerned about this confusing message and what it would do to the believer's understanding of the Christian life and sanctification. 

We see this in our text in chapter five at verse seven. He says, you ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion does not come from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence in you in the Lord, that you will have no other mind. But he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is. They were running well, Paul says. They were living the Christian life by God's grace through faith, knowing, understanding what God said and believing him. And thus the fruits of the Spirit were evident in their life. 

They were running well. But someone came along and hindered them. And the word hinder means to cut in on, or literally to cut. In the imagery here of the race running well, it would have been if the Judaizers cut into the race and kind of gave a hip check to the believers as they were running along. And they were knocking them out of the race, the race of running well solely by walking by faith and living by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

This picture is shown in verse four as well, where he says you have become estranged from Christ. He says Christ will profit you nothing if you choose circumcision and the law. You've become estranged from Christ. You who attempt to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace. Those who attempt to prove themselves as righteous, show themselves as righteous by measuring themselves by the law and law keeping are not living by grace through faith in the life of Jesus in them. 

They have chosen law as their means of holiness, righteousness, and estranged themselves from Christ and grace as that means. And their running will be severely hindered by such a decision. They were hindered, Paul says, look at this, from obeying the truth. Obeying the truth. Choose law as the way to righteousness means not obeying the truth. Not obeying the gospel of grace by faith. 

So we've seen as we have studied through this book, that Paul has developed his argument to the believers centering on sanctification by grace through faith, the just walking by faith. He began this in earnest in chapter two, after he defends his authority, his apostleship and his gospel. He turns to the effects and confusion concerning the law and the life of the believer when the gospel of grace is perverted. 

Look at verse 11 in chapter two. It says, now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face because he was to be blamed. For before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles, but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. When I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, if you being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? 

Paul's talking about living. As a believer, the Christian life, how we walk. And he says that by the way they acted, Peter and the others were not straightforward about the gospel truth. What does this mean? It means they were not obeying the truth. It means they were not making clear by their words and deeds the gospel of grace and life through faith. In verse 18, Paul says, for if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor, for I through the law died to the law, in order that I might live to God. Clearly, in the context and flow, Paul's talking about a believer placing himself under the law of God as a way, a method to righteous living. 

If I build those things again, which I destroyed. Rather, here is Paul's understanding of the Christian life, of the life I now live, of how to experience righteousness and bring glory to God, verse 20, I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith. In the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God. See, going to the law would be setting aside the grace of God. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. 

Paul continues in chapters three and four with this exact same argument, taking different angles. Speaking of Abraham, the law covenant, the new covenant, the illustration of sonship, heirs of a promise through faith. So he's attempting to correct the error that the Judaizers had planted in the minds of the believers, concerning the law being a way of life for the believer, a way of salvation and sanctification. It's interesting to kind of think about that. It gets a little confusing with justification and sanctification because legalistic religions, like those we have today, or the Judaizers, don't really have sanctification. What they have is a progressive justification. They never get there. 

So sanctification and justification can be a little confusing, but what Paul's concerned about, the believers having been justified by faith, he's now concerned about their Christian life. He's now concerned about fruit and witness and holiness and being conformed to the likeness of Christ, and what bringing the law message into that would do. Well, he gives us an exhortation in the first verse of our text, based on all that teaching up to this point, particularly at the end of chapter 4. And in 5.1, he says, here's what you do in light of this truth. We're not under the law, we're under grace. We don't live by works, we live by faith. 

Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Stand fast, stay steadfast, stand in liberty in the freedom we have in Christ. And do not go back to the law, do not place yourself under the law, do not seek anything but righteousness by grace through faith. Well, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the grace of God, we will seek to unpack this vital truth and exhortation and what it means in our study together this morning. 

Let's look at our text again, Galatians 5.1. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed, I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he's a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ. You who attempt to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace. For we, through the Spirit, eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision or uncircumcision avails anything but faith working through love. 

I've given you five points on your outline this morning. First, stand fast in liberty. Second, law as a method. Third, life under the law. Fourth, righteousness by faith. And fifth, faith working through love. And again, we're gonna come back and fill in a little bit and do a proper exegesis next week. We'll just kind of lay some groundwork this morning. 

One of the greatest difficulties that I see in the church, in fully understanding the Christian life and how God intends we should live, is an inability to distinguish between justification and sanctification. Positional righteousness and practical righteousness. I often hear believers asking the wrong questions, not so much here and in recent years, but certainly in my early Christian life. Someone would often say to me, well, if I do this or I do that, then it doesn’t mean I’m going to hell, does it? 

Well, if you’re a believer in Jesus Christ, if you’ve placed your faith in Him alone and His one-time death on the cross and your place for your sins and His burial and resurrection from the dead, if you have been justified by faith, then you will not go to hell. There’s no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, but justification is just the beginning of our salvation. It’s a positional truth. It has nothing to do with anything we have done or not done. It’s based solely on what Jesus did on the cross. 

He paid the penalty for my sins and satisfied the wrath of God that I deserve. And through faith in Him, I’ve had my sins imputed to Him and His righteousness imputed to me positionally, right? However, this is not all that happened when I believed. Not only did God justify me, declare me righteous, but He also recreated, regenerated me. I was born again. The heart of stone was taken out and I received a heart of flesh. My spirit was regenerated, made new. I died to sin and law and death so that I’m a new creation, a new man in Christ. 

These things are actual works of God that He performed in me at salvation when I believed Jesus. This regeneration is the basis for my new life of outward practical righteousness. It’s by the power of the Holy Spirit in me, the life of Christ in me, that these things, this new life, is manifest out through my body, through my members. So when I say, well, if I do this, I won’t go to hell, will I? I’m asking the wrong question. No, I won’t go to hell. That’s done in justification. That’s not my concern. 

I thank God that I’m saved, made accepted in the beloved, that I’ve passed from death into life. I praise Him for that truth every day. But justification is no longer any concern in my life. It’s finished. It’s done. My focus now is on knowing the word of God, letting it dwell in me richly, seeking to believe God in what He says, abide in Christ, and yield to the Spirit, so that I might see His fruit consistently in my life for God’s glory, for a witness, and to be being conformed outwardly to the reality of who I am inwardly because of regeneration. 

So the question should be, how will doing this or not doing that benefit the cause of Christ, bring glory to God, make me more like Christ, et cetera? Because justification is only the beginning of my salvation. Clearly drawing a distinction in the scriptures between justification and sanctification and the reality of who I am as a believer in Jesus is crucial for us. Sometimes in the more serious academic realms of Christianity, we see the confusing of the two as well. 

You know, many of us are not interested in the frivolity of the evangelical church today. But unfortunately, that causes us to be drawn to some academic circles, people who are serious about Christ, who write complicated books. This kind of thing is true in the Baptist realm, fundamentalist Baptist, the two natures of you, that I’m somehow in the essence of who I am, a sinner and a saint. I’m half good and I’m half evil. And therefore, my experience should be expected to very often be sinful. 

We hear this in reform circles as well. For example, the absolute total failure of the man in Romans 7, 14 to 25 is held up as the ultimate example of maturity where the believer realizes how wicked he is and he’s driven to the grace of God. Or that the moral law is binding on me as a rule of life and it shows me how utterly sinful I am. Jeremiah 17, 9 is often quoted, the heart of man is desperately wicked and deceitful. Who can know it? The only problem is that when I believe Jesus, God said that I got a new heart and that the Holy Spirit witnesses with my spirit now. 

That my new regenerated spirit is in full agreement with the Holy Spirit. All of these teachings disregard the total transformation we experienced inwardly in regeneration when we died with Christ, when we died to sin and to the law and were released from the bondage of the fear of death. Many times, the truths of Romans 5, 12 through chapter 8, as well as so many other scriptures are simply allocated to being positional. Not actual. 

Have you ever heard a believer say, well, yeah, that’s in Christ? Well, yeah, but that’s in Christ. Are you in Christ or are you not? Is this actually true of you or not? And that’s the entire premise for our new life in Christ. The reason why we can live a new life, experience practical righteousness consistently in Christ is undermined by these kinds of teachings. 

We’re not going to get through all our points today or this text, but Lord willing, we’ll finish next week. But I want to lay groundwork this morning. I want to talk about what Paul means when he talks about our liberty or freedom in Christ. What is our liberty in Christ and what is it not? To understand what Paul means in the first verse of our text, we have to consider the context. And you’ll remember last week we studied the illustration of Hagar, Mount Sinai, the law, Ishmael, et cetera, versus Sarah and the promise, Isaac, grace, freedom, liberty. 

And Paul says, cast out the bondwoman, cast out the law. We are not sons of the law. We are under grace, experience, freedom, and liberty. And Paul ended that chapter with these words. We are not children of the bondwomen, but of the free. And then he says, stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. The liberty that we have in Christ, at least in this context, is liberty, freedom from the law. 

And we’ve considered this many times in our recent studies in this letter. Romans 7, 5, and 6 are central. He says, when we were in the flesh, in Adam, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. That was our condition. That was our experience. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve, we should live now in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. 

I want you to listen to Weiss’ comments on this first verse of our text. He says, the Galatian Christians, instead of depending on the indwelling Spirit to produce in their lives the beauty of the Lord Jesus, now we're depending upon self-effort in an attempt to obey law. Accordingly, Paul's practical teaching emphasizes the ministry of the Spirit, and the Galatians are exhorted to put themselves again under his control. Here were these Galatian Christians, free from the law, having been placed in the family of God as adult sons, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who would enable them to act out in their experience the maturity of Christian life in which they were placed, now putting on the straitjacket of the law, cramping their experience, stultifying their actions, depriving themselves of the power of the Spirit. 

And liberty here is freedom from the bondage of the law, of seeking to establish our righteousness through the law, in justification or in sanctification, particularly here in sanctification. And the exhortation is to live in this liberty, liberty from law, from law as a means, a method of living, and live by the Spirit and not by the letter. So in my experience, when we preach and teach these clear scriptures, such as we've been looking at these many weeks, where we see plainly that we as believers in Jesus Christ are not under law, do not live by the law, and are free from the law, and rather we live by faith, by the grace of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the accusation has often been, as it was for Paul in Romans 6, that we are antinomian, that we are preaching against the law, nomos law, ah, you know, ah, the negative, against the law, antinomian. Or that we are licentious, meaning we don't care about sin, we don't care about holiness. 

I want to be clear that this is the furthest thing from the truth, from what we are saying, what Paul is saying, what God is saying to us through His Word. Freedom from the law does not mean licentiousness. It does not mean doing whatever we want whenever we want according to our own fleshly desires regardless of everyone around us. Paul said, I through the law died to the law for the express purpose that I might live to God. Death to freedom from the law was necessary if I were to live for God, live in holiness and righteousness. Or if righteousness comes through the law, he says, Christ died in vain. 

It was under the law that I experienced perpetual defeat in Adam. Let's look at that Romans 7 passage a little bit, Romans 7, 5 again to start. Put on your thinking caps and pay attention here now, I want you to see the structure in what Paul is doing in this text. 7, 5, he says, for when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. Now this is life under the law here is what we're going to look at. Now when Paul makes this statement in 7, 5, it’s going to raise some questions, particularly the questions found in verse 7 and in verse 13. You see that? 

Is the law sin? What are you saying Paul? Is the law sin? Is the law what brought death to me? Are you saying the law is what killed us? Now verses 8 to 12 are the answer to the question in verse 7. And verses 14 to 25 is the answer to the question in verse 13 coming out of verse 5. Each of these questions relate to what Paul taught about the man in Adam, the man under the law in verse 5. 

Is the law sin? Is the law what brought death to me? He says, for when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions arose by the law, tying law to sin, were at work in our members to bear fruit to death, tying the law to death, at least in the mind of a Jew, for example. So Paul in this verse in the context of when we were in the flesh in Adam, ties the law to sin, the law to death, and this gives rise to the questions in verses 7 and 13. That’s the structure of the text. 

So what is life like for this man under the law? Let’s look at verse 14. He says, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, a slave to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice, but what I hate, that I do. If then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But it’s no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells. For the will is to present with me, but how to perform what is good, I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do. But the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 

Now if I do what I will not to do, it’s no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. You know what Paul’s really doing in this text and answering that question? He’s exonerating the law of God. He’s saying the law of God is good, and he’s highlighting indwelling sin as the problem for the man in Adam. The man in Adam’s indwelling sin is completely dominating and controlling him, working with the law, the law increasing sin, agitating sin, so that his continual, perpetual, constant practice is doing evil and never doing good. 

I find then a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God. You know who delighted in the law of God? Saul of Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus loved the law of God. It was his life. It was his way of righteousness. It was his ticket to heaven. He loved the law of God. He delighted in the law of God according to the inward man, but here’s what he says. I see another law, another principle, another force in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. 

This is the futile and fruitless experience of the man trying to live by the law. In fact, the moral law of God, Paul makes this clear in verse 7, thou shalt not covet. The verb tenses in these verses are present, representing a continuous action, an ongoing, never-ceasing action. This man never, ever does anything he wants and always continually does what he hates. He’s a slave to sin. He’s a captive to the law of sin and death. Not so for the man in Christ, as we see in verse 6 of chapter 7. He’s been made free from the law. He now lives by the Spirit, and he picks that up in Romans 8, 1 to 4, and 8, 2 tells us that this man in Christ has been made free from the law of sin and death. 

So the man in Romans 7 is in captivity to the law of sin and death. The man in Romans 8 is free from the law of sin and death. Now let’s look at the experience of the man living by the Spirit back in chapter 5 of Galatians at verse 22. Here’s the man living, walking in the Spirit. What is his life like? Living by faith, trusting, abiding in Jesus. Verse 22, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, which is true for every believer, if you do not have the Spirit you are not His, Romans 8, 9, I believe. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 

Paul says in verse 19, the works of the flesh, works, my effort to keep the law of God results in failure, utter and total and continual failure for the sin that dwells in me is aroused by the law, ending in the works of the flesh. But in verse 22, Paul says when we live by the Spirit, when we walk in the Spirit, then it is His fruit that is manifest out through our members, the fruit of love, joy, peace. Our works, law-keeping attitude, will end in defeat. But if we live by the Spirit, He by His power produces holiness out through our lives. 

Here’s the take-home message from Paul. The law is not a method unto holiness. And life under the law is a curse, is failure, is living by the flesh. So what is God’s method for producing holiness in our lives? We’ve seen Paul quote more than once, the just shall live by faith. The life that I now live, I live by faith. They asked Jesus in John 6, what must we do to do the works of God? Jesus said, this is the work of God, that you believe on the one whom He sent. First John 3.23 tells us that the command of the New Covenant is to believe Jesus and love one another. We live by faith. 

God’s means to produce holiness, Christ-likeness in our lives, is His grace, His power, His life in us through faith. I say then, walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. If you’re led by the Spirit, you’re not under the law. You see, it cannot be both, as the Judaizers taught. It cannot be faith plus works, it cannot be law plus grace. If you’re led by the Spirit, then you’re not under the law. 

The flesh here is defined as this physical body controlled by indwelling sin. The Spirit and the flesh are contrary to one another. The question becomes, how is it that I can be led by the Spirit? How is it that I can walk in the Spirit? And the answer is to believe. To believe what God says to be true. We must first, as Paul explains in Romans 6, we must first know. And this is what I believe is so lacking in the evangelical church; this is why my entire ministry has been focused on knowing these truths. 

Because we have to know them first before we can hope to apply them. So it’s incumbent upon us, first of all, to know the truth, to know what God says. And sometimes this is much different than what we’ve been taught, or what we have thought that He said. But the key is in knowing, is to then choose to believe. To reckon, as Paul puts it in Romans 6, he says, count up the facts. Here’s everything God says is true about you. Count them up. Reckon it to be so. Believe Him. God has said that I’m a new man, I’m a new creation in Christ, that my old man was crucified with Christ for the express purpose that this physical body should no longer be controlled and dominated by indwelling sin. That the man of sin might be rendered powerless, Romans 6 says. 

I have died to sin. God says I died to the law and the bondage to it, that I am now free in Christ to walk in faith, to reckon what God says is true and yield to the power of the Holy Spirit in me. And He will produce the fruit. My friends, it’s not the fruit of John. It’s the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Jesus gave us this picture of the Christian life in John 15, meaning it’s not my fruit. It’s the Holy Spirit producing the fruit. I’m not producing the fruit. 

It’s not the fruit of John. Some of you looked a little puzzled by that. Let’s look at John 15 at verse 1. John 15, 1. Such a really vivid illustration here as Jesus explains life in Him. And I always think of Pastor Krenz when he used the illustration; you know, it’d be snow up to our necks here in the middle of February and 20 below, and he’d say most people see the Christian life. He’s got these apple trees in his yard across the way on the lake here, and he said most people see the Christian life as going down to Triggs and buying a bag of apples and going out there in the middle of February and tying those apples on the end of those branches. 

That’s the way they see the Christian life. But that’s not how Jesus explained it. Jesus said, I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 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. He prunes it that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 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. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. 

To abide in Jesus is to remain in Him, to believe Him, to trust Him, and depend on Him. This is a life of abiding in the vine. I often think, I’ve told you this before, but that experience I had in India; India is a crazy place, and they’ll have, in a city of 10 million, nine lanes of traffic with bullocks pulling carts and city buses and a guy on a moped with his wife on the back holding two babies in her sari flapping in the spokes, all at the same time, and there’s no lights and there’s no signals. 

And Sharon took us to shop for some silk scarves for our wives while we’re there, and we were in the city, and we came up to this street, nine lanes across, and traffic, and motorcycles buzzing right in front of us. And she says, when I say go, you go. So I’m holding on to her, right? I’m staying with her, I’m not, the guy’s got his video camera and he’s over here, I’m like, guy, get back. But if you don’t stay with her, you’re going to die. My whole focus was just stay with her, hold on to her, run when she says run. 

That’s what it means to abide in Jesus. Stay with him, focus on him, hold on to him. When he says run, run. To abide in Jesus is to remain in him, but the branch does not produce the fruit. No, there’s a union, a relationship whereby the vine brings up the nutrients from the soil and nourishes the branches and produces the fruit out through them. 

This is a process. You can’t tie the apples on the end of the tree limbs; that’s works, law. You have to abide in Christ and let him produce the fruit through you. This is the Christian life; it is Christ in you. Jesus lives in you, and he produces the fruit of holiness as we believe him, trust him. 

I find that these things are very difficult for us to hold on to, to believe. Because we have an incessant desire, an instinct almost to do something, to keep a law, to establish our own righteousness, to be good enough, to please God by doing enough. Our mindset in this world is constantly, what must I do, what can I do? And when I’ve done it, I can feel better about myself. 

And the problem is that when my attitude toward the Christian life is doing, is keeping a law to justify ourselves, that is to show how righteous we are, then Paul says I’ve fallen away from the principle, the life, the walk of faith by God’s grace. If I’m under the law, then I’m not being led by the Spirit. Because Paul said if you’re led by the Spirit, you’re not under the law. 

The flesh here is defined as this physical body controlled by indwelling sin. The Spirit and the flesh are contrary to one another. The question becomes, how is it that I can be led by the Spirit? How is it that I can walk in the Spirit? And the answer is to believe. To believe what God says to be true. We must first, as Paul explains in Romans 6, we must first know. And this is what I believe is so lacking in the evangelical church; this is why my entire ministry has been focused on knowing these truths. 

Because we have to know them first before we can hope to apply them. So it’s incumbent upon us, first of all, to know the truth, to know what God says. And sometimes this is much different than what we’ve been taught, or what we have thought that He said. But the key is in knowing, is to then choose to believe. To reckon, as Paul puts it in Romans 6, he says, count up the facts. Here’s everything God says is true about you. Count them up. Reckon it to be so. Believe Him. God has said that I’m a new man, I’m a new creation in Christ, that my old man was crucified with Christ for the express purpose that this physical body should no longer be controlled and dominated by indwelling sin. That the man of sin might be rendered powerless, Romans 6 says. 

I have died to sin. God says I died to the law and the bondage to it, that I am now free in Christ to walk in faith, to reckon what God says is true and yield to the power of the Holy Spirit in me. And He will produce the fruit. My friends, it’s not the fruit of John. It’s the fruit of the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus gave us this picture of the Christian life in John 15, meaning it’s not my fruit. It’s the Holy Spirit producing the fruit. I’m not producing the fruit. It’s not the fruit of John. Some of you looked a little puzzled by that. Let’s look at John 15 at verse 1. John 15, 1. Such a really vivid illustration here as Jesus explains life in Him. And I always think of Pastor Krenz when he used the illustration; you know, it’d be snow up to our necks here in the middle of February and 20 below, and he’d say most people see the Christian life. He’s got these apple trees in his yard across the way on the lake here, and he said most people see the Christian life as going down to Triggs and buying a bag of apples and going out there in the middle of February and tying those apples on the end of those branches. 

That’s the way they see the Christian life. But that’s not how Jesus explained it. Jesus said, I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 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. He prunes it that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 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. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. 

To abide in Jesus is to remain in Him, to believe Him, to trust Him, and depend on Him. This is a life of abiding in the vine. I often think, I’ve told you this before, but that experience I had in India; India is a crazy place, and they’ll have, in a city of 10 million, nine lanes of traffic with bullocks pulling carts and city buses and a guy on a moped with his wife on the back holding two babies in her sari flapping in the spokes, all at the same time, and there’s no lights and there’s no signals. 

And Sharon took us to shop for some silk scarves for our wives while we’re there, and we were in the city, and we came up to this street, nine lanes across, and traffic, and motorcycles buzzing right in front of us. And she says, when I say go, you go. So I’m holding on to her, right? I’m staying with her, I’m not, the guy’s got his video camera and he’s over here, I’m like, guy, get back. But if you don’t stay with her, you’re going to die. My whole focus was just stay with her, hold on to her, run when she says run. 

That’s what it means to abide in Jesus. Stay with him, focus on him, hold on to him. When he says run, run. To abide in Jesus is to remain in him, but the branch does not produce the fruit. No, there’s a union, a relationship whereby the vine brings up the nutrients from the soil and nourishes the branches and produces the fruit out through them. 

This is a process. You can’t tie the apples on the end of the tree limbs; that’s works, law. You have to abide in Christ and let him produce the fruit through you. This is the Christian life; it is Christ in you. Jesus lives in you, and he produces the fruit of holiness as we believe him, trust him. 

I find that these things are very difficult for us to hold on to, to believe. Because we have an incessant desire, an instinct almost to do something, to keep a law, to establish our own righteousness, to be good enough, to please God by doing enough. Our mindset in this world is constantly, what must I do, what can I do? And when I’ve done it, I can feel better about myself. 

And the problem is that when my attitude toward the Christian life is doing, is keeping a law to justify ourselves, that is to show how righteous we are, then Paul says I’ve fallen away from the principle, the life, the walk of faith by God’s grace. If I’m under the law, then I’m not being led by the Spirit. Because Paul said if you’re led by the Spirit, you’re not under the law. 

The flesh here is defined as this physical body controlled by indwelling sin. The Spirit and the flesh are contrary to one another. The question becomes, how is it that I can be led by the Spirit? How is it that I can walk in the Spirit? And the answer is to believe. To believe what God says to be true. We must first, as Paul explains in Romans 6, we must first know. And this is what I believe is so lacking in the evangelical church; this is why my entire ministry has been focused on knowing these truths. 

Because we have to know them first before we can hope to apply them. So it’s incumbent upon us, first of all, to know the truth, to know what God says. And sometimes this is much different than what we’ve been taught, or what we have thought that He said. But the key is in knowing, is to then choose to believe. To reckon, as Paul puts it in Romans 6, he says, count up the facts. Here’s everything God says is true about you. Count them up. Reckon it to be so. Believe Him. God has said that I’m a new man, I’m a new creation in Christ, that my old man was crucified with Christ for the express purpose that this physical body should no longer be controlled and dominated by indwelling sin. That the man of sin might be rendered powerless, Romans 6 says. 

I have died to sin. God says I died to the law and the bondage to it, that I am now free in Christ to walk in faith, to reckon what God says is true and yield to the power of the Holy Spirit in me. And He will produce the fruit. My friends, it’s not the fruit of John. It’s the fruit of the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus gave us this picture of the Christian life in John 15, meaning it’s not my fruit. It’s the Holy Spirit producing the fruit. I’m not producing the fruit. It’s not the fruit of John. Some of you looked a little puzzled by that. Let’s look at John 15 at verse 1. John 15, 1. Such a really vivid illustration here as Jesus explains life in Him. And I always think of Pastor Krenz when he used the illustration; you know, it’d be snow up to our necks here in the middle of February and 20 below, and he’d say most people see the Christian life. He’s got these apple trees in his yard across the way on the lake here, and he said most people see the Christian life as going down to Triggs and buying a bag of apples and going out there in the middle of February and tying those apples on the end of those branches. 

That’s the way they see the Christian life. But that’s not how Jesus explained it. Jesus said, I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 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. He prunes it that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 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. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. 

To abide in Jesus is to remain in Him, to believe Him, to trust Him, and depend on Him. This is a life of abiding in the vine. I often think, I’ve told you this before, but that experience I had in India; India is a crazy place, and they’ll have, in a city of 10 million, nine lanes of traffic with bullocks pulling carts and city buses and a guy on a moped with his wife on the back holding two babies in her sari flapping in the spokes, all at the same time, and there’s no lights and there’s no signals. 

And Sharon took us to shop for some silk scarves for our wives while we’re there, and we were in the city, and we came up to this street, nine lanes across, and traffic, and motorcycles buzzing right in front of us. And she says, when I say go, you go. So I’m holding on to her, right? I’m staying with her, I’m not, the guy’s got his video camera and he’s over here, I’m like, guy, get back. But if you don’t stay with her, you’re going to die. My whole focus was just stay with her, hold on to her, run when she says run. 

That’s what it means to abide in Jesus. Stay with him, focus on him, hold on to him. When he says run, run. To abide in Jesus is to remain in him, but the branch does not produce the fruit. No, there’s a union, a relationship whereby the vine brings up the nutrients from the soil and nourishes the branches and produces the fruit out through them. 

This is a process. You can’t tie the apples on the end of the tree limbs; that’s works, law. You have to abide in Christ and let him produce the fruit through you. This is the Christian life; it is Christ in you. Jesus lives in you, and he produces the fruit of holiness as we believe him, trust him. 

I find that these things are very difficult for us to hold on to, to believe. Because we have an incessant desire, an instinct almost to do something, to keep a law, to establish our own righteousness, to be good enough, to please God by doing enough. Our mindset in this world is constantly, what must I do, what can I do? And when I’ve done it, I can feel better about myself. 

And the problem is that when my attitude toward the Christian life is doing, is keeping a law to justify ourselves, that is to show how righteous we are, then Paul says I’ve fallen away from the principle, the life, the walk of faith by God’s grace. If I’m under the law, then I’m not being led by the Spirit. Because Paul said if you’re led by the Spirit, you’re not under the law. 

The flesh here is defined as this physical body controlled by indwelling sin. The Spirit and the flesh are contrary to one another. The question becomes, how is it that I can be led by the Spirit? How is it that I can walk in the Spirit? And the answer is to believe. To believe what God says to be true. We must first, as Paul explains in Romans 6, we must first know. And this is what I believe is so lacking in the evangelical church; this is why my entire ministry has been focused on knowing these truths. 

Because we have to know them first before we can hope to apply them. So it’s incumbent upon us, first of all, to know the truth, to know what God says. And sometimes this is much different than what we’ve been taught, or what we have thought that He said. But the key is in knowing, is to then choose to believe. To reckon, as Paul puts it in Romans 6, he says, count up the facts. Here’s everything God says is true about you. Count them up. Reckon it to be so. Believe Him. God has said that I’m a new man, I’m a new creation in Christ, that my old man was crucified with Christ for the express purpose that this physical body should no longer be controlled and dominated by indwelling sin. That the man of sin might be rendered powerless, Romans 6 says. 

I have died to sin. God says I died to the law and the bondage to it, that I am now free in Christ to walk in faith, to reckon what God says is true and yield to the power of the Holy Spirit in me. And He will produce the fruit. My friends, it’s not the fruit of John. It’s the fruit of the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus gave us this picture of the Christian life in John 15, meaning it’s not my fruit. It’s the Holy Spirit producing the fruit. I’m not producing the fruit. It’s not the fruit of John. Some of you looked a little puzzled by that. Let’s look at John 15 at verse 1. John 15, 1. Such a really vivid illustration here as Jesus explains life in Him. And I always think of Pastor Krenz when he used the illustration; you know, it’d be snow up to our necks here in the middle of February and 20 below, and he’d say most people see the Christian life. He’s got these apple trees in his yard across the way on the lake here, and he said most people see the Christian life as going down to Triggs and buying a bag of apples and going out there in the middle of February and tying those apples on the end of those branches. 

That’s the way they see the Christian life. But that’s not how Jesus explained it. Jesus said, I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 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. He prunes it that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 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. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. 

To abide in Jesus is to remain in Him, to believe Him, to trust Him, and depend on Him. This is a life of abiding in the vine. I often think, I’ve told you this before, but that experience I had in India; India is a crazy place, and they’ll have, in a city of 10 million, nine lanes of traffic with bullocks pulling carts and city buses and a guy on a moped with his wife on the back holding two babies in her sari flapping in the spokes, all at the same time, and there’s no lights and there’s no signals. 

And Sharon took us to shop for some silk scarves for our wives while we’re there, and we were in the city, and we came up to this street, nine lanes across, and traffic, and motorcycles buzzing right in front of us. And she says, when I say go, you go. So I’m holding on to her, right? I’m staying with her, I’m not, the guy’s got his video camera and he’s over here, I’m like, guy, get back. But if you don’t stay with her, you’re going to die. My whole focus was just stay with her, hold on to her, run when she says run. 

That’s what it means to abide in Jesus. Stay with him, focus on him, hold on to him. When he says run, run. To abide in Jesus is to remain in him, but the branch does not produce the fruit. No, there’s a union, a relationship whereby the vine brings up the nutrients from the soil and nourishes the branches and produces the fruit out through them. 

This is a process. You can’t tie the apples on the end of the tree limbs; that’s works, law. You have to abide in Christ and let him produce the fruit through you. This is the Christian life; it is Christ in you. Jesus lives in you, and he produces the fruit of holiness as we believe him, trust him. 

I find that these things are very difficult for us to hold on to, to believe. Because we have an incessant desire, an instinct almost to do something, to keep a law, to establish our own righteousness, to be good enough, to please God by doing enough. Our mindset in this world is constantly, what must I do, what can I do? And when I’ve done it, I can feel better about myself. 

And the problem is that when my attitude toward the Christian life is doing, is keeping a law to justify ourselves, that is to show how righteous we are, then Paul says I’ve fallen away from the principle, the life, the walk of faith by God’s grace. If I’m under the law, then I’m not being led by the Spirit. Because Paul said if you’re led by the Spirit, you’re not under the law. 

The flesh here is defined as this physical body controlled by indwelling sin. The Spirit and the flesh are contrary to one another. The question becomes, how is it that I can be led by the Spirit? How is it that I can walk in the Spirit? And the answer is to believe. To believe what God says to be true. We must first, as Paul explains in Romans 6, we must first know. And this is what I believe is so lacking in the evangelical church; this is why my entire ministry has been focused on knowing these truths. 

Because we have to know them first before we can hope to apply them. So it’s incumbent upon us, first of all, to know the truth, to know what God says. And sometimes this is much different than what we’ve been taught, or what we have thought that He said. But the key is in knowing, is to then choose to believe. To reckon, as Paul puts it in Romans 6, he says, count up the facts. Here’s everything God says is true about you. Count them up. Reckon it to be so. Believe Him. 

God has said that I’m a new man, I’m a new creation in Christ, that my old man was crucified with Christ for the express purpose that this physical body should no longer be controlled and dominated by indwelling sin. That the man of sin might be rendered powerless, Romans 6 says. I have died to sin. God says I died to the law and the bondage to it, that I am now free in Christ to walk in faith, to reckon what God says is true and yield to the power of the Holy Spirit in me. And He will produce the fruit. My friends, it’s not the fruit of John. It’s the fruit of the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus gave us this picture of the Christian life in John 15, meaning it’s not my fruit. It’s the Holy Spirit producing the fruit. I’m not producing the fruit. It’s not the fruit of John. Some of you looked a little puzzled by that. Let’s look at John 15 at verse 1. John 15, 1. Such a really vivid illustration here as Jesus explains life in Him. And I always think of Pastor Krenz when he used the illustration; you know, it’d be snow up to our necks here in the middle of February and 20 below, and he’d say most people see the Christian life. He’s got these apple trees in his yard across the way on the lake here, and he said most people see the Christian life as going down to Triggs and buying a bag of apples and going out there in the middle of February and tying those apples on the end of those branches. 

That’s the way they see the Christian life. But that’s not how Jesus explained it. Jesus said, I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 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. He prunes it that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 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. 

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. To abide in Jesus is to remain in Him, to believe Him, to trust Him, and depend on Him. This is a life of abiding in the vine. I often think, I’ve told you this before, but that experience I had in India; India is a crazy place, and they’ll have, in a city of 10 million, nine lanes of traffic with bullocks pulling carts and city buses and a guy on a moped with his wife on the back holding two babies in her sari flapping in the spokes, all at the same time, and there’s no lights and there’s no signals. 

And Sharon took us to shop for some silk scarves for our wives while we’re there, and we were in the city, and we came up to this street, nine lanes across, and traffic, and motorcycles buzzing right in front of us. And she says, when I say go, you go. So I’m holding on to her, right? I’m staying with her, I’m not, the guy’s got his video camera and he’s over here, I’m like, guy, get back. But if you don’t stay with her, you’re going to die. My whole focus was just stay with her, hold on to her, run when she says run. 

That’s what it means to abide in Jesus. Stay with him, focus on him, hold on to him. When he says run, run. To abide in Jesus is to remain in him, but the branch does not produce the fruit. No, there’s a union, a relationship whereby the vine brings up the nutrients from the soil and nourishes the branches and produces the fruit out through them. 

This is a process. You can’t tie the apples on the end of the tree limbs; that’s works, law. You have to abide in Christ and let him produce the fruit through you. This is the Christian life; it is Christ in you. Jesus lives in you, and he produces the fruit of holiness as we believe him, trust him. 

I find that these things are very difficult for us to hold on to, to believe. Because we have an incessant desire, an instinct almost to do something, to keep a law, to establish our own righteousness, to be good enough, to please God by doing enough. Our mindset in this world is constantly, what must I do, what can I do? And when I’ve done it, I can feel better about myself. 

And the problem is that when my attitude toward the Christian life is doing, is keeping a law to justify ourselves, that is to show how righteous we are, then Paul says I’ve fallen away from the principle, the life, the walk of faith by God’s grace. If I’m under the law, then I’m not being led by the Spirit. Because Paul said if you’re led by the Spirit, you’re not under the law. 

The flesh here is defined as this physical body controlled by indwelling sin. The Spirit and the flesh are contrary to one another. The question becomes, how is it that I can be led by the Spirit? How is it that I can walk in the Spirit? And the answer is to believe. To believe what God says to be true. We must first, as Paul explains in Romans 6, we must first know. And this is what I believe is so lacking in the evangelical church; this is why my entire ministry has been focused on knowing these truths. 

Because we have to know them first before we can hope to apply them. So it’s incumbent upon us, first of all, to know the truth, to know what God says. And sometimes this is much different than what we’ve been taught, or what we have thought that He said. But the key is in knowing, is to then choose to believe. To reckon, as Paul puts it in Romans 6, he says, count up the facts. Here’s everything God says is true about you. Count them up. Reckon it to be so. Believe Him. 

God has said that I’m a new man, I’m a new creation in Christ, that my old man was crucified with Christ for the express purpose that this physical body should no longer be controlled and dominated by indwelling sin. That the man of sin might be rendered powerless, Romans 6 says. I have died to sin. God says I died to the law and the bondage to it, that I am now free in Christ to walk in faith, to reckon what God says is true and yield to the power of the Holy Spirit in me. And He will produce the fruit. 

My friends, it’s not the fruit of John. It’s the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Jesus gave us this picture of the Christian life in John 15, meaning it’s not my fruit. It’s the Holy Spirit producing the fruit. I’m not producing the fruit. It’s not the fruit of John. 

Some of you looked a little puzzled by that. Let’s look at John 15 at verse 1. John 15, 1. Such a really vivid illustration here as Jesus explains life in Him. And I always think of Pastor Krenz when he used the illustration; you know, it’d be snow up to our necks here in the middle of February and 20 below, and he’d say most people see the Christian life. He’s got these apple trees in his yard across the way on the lake here, and he said most people see the Christian life as going down to Triggs and buying a bag of apples and going out there in the middle of February and tying those apples on the end of those branches. 

That’s the way they see the Christian life. But that’s not how Jesus explained it. Jesus said, I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 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. He prunes it that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 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. 

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. To abide in Jesus is to remain in Him, to believe Him, to trust Him, and depend on Him. This is a life of abiding in the vine. 

I often think, I’ve told you this before, but that experience I had in India; India is a crazy place, and they’ll have, in a city of 10 million, nine lanes of traffic with bullocks pulling carts and city buses and a guy on a moped with his wife on the back holding two babies in her sari flapping in the spokes, all at the same time, and there’s no lights and there’s no signals. 

And Sharon took us to shop for some silk scarves for our wives while we’re there, and we were in the city, and we came up to this street, nine lanes across, and traffic, and motorcycles buzzing right in front of us. And she says, when I say go, you go. So I’m holding on to her, right? I’m staying with her, I’m not, the guy’s got his video camera and he’s over here, I’m like, guy, get back. But if you don’t stay with her, you’re going to die. My whole focus was just stay with her, hold on to her, run when she says run. 

That’s what it means to abide in Jesus. Stay with him, focus on him, hold on to him. When he says run, run. To abide in Jesus is to remain in him, but the branch does not produce the fruit. No, there’s a union, a relationship whereby the vine brings up the nutrients from the soil and nourishes the branches and produces the fruit out through them. 

This is a process. You can’t tie the apples on the end of the tree limbs; that’s works, law. You have to abide in Christ and let him produce the fruit through you. This is the Christian life; it is Christ in you. Jesus lives in you, and he produces the fruit of holiness as we believe him, trust him. 

I find that these things are very difficult for us to hold on to, to believe. Because we have an incessant desire, an instinct almost to do something, to keep a law, to establish our own righteousness, to be good enough, to please God by doing enough. Our mindset in this world is constantly, what must I do, what can I do? And when I’ve done it, I can feel better about myself. 

And the problem is that when my attitude toward the Christian life is doing, is keeping a law to justify ourselves, that is to show how righteous we are, then Paul says I’ve fallen away from the principle, the life, the walk of faith by God’s grace. If I’m under the law, then I’m not being led by the Spirit. Because Paul said if you’re led by the Spirit, you’re not under the law. 

The flesh here is defined as this physical body controlled by indwelling sin. The Spirit and the flesh are contrary to one another. The question becomes, how is it that I can be led by the Spirit? How is it that I can walk in the Spirit? And the answer is to believe. To believe what God says to be true. We must first, as Paul explains in Romans 6, we must first know. And this is what I believe is so lacking in the evangelical church; this is why my entire ministry has been focused on knowing these truths. 

Because we have to know them first before we can hope to apply them. So it’s incumbent upon us, first of all, to know the truth, to know what God says. And sometimes this is much different than what we’ve been taught, or what we have thought that He said. But the key is in knowing, is to then choose to believe. To reckon, as Paul puts it in Romans 6, he says, count up the facts. Here’s everything God says is true about you. Count them up. Reckon it to be so. Believe Him. 

God has said that I’m a new man, I’m a new creation in Christ, that my old man was crucified with Christ for the express purpose that this physical body should no longer be controlled and dominated by indwelling sin. That the man of sin might be rendered powerless, Romans 6 says. I have died to sin. God says I died to the law and the bondage to it, that I am now free in Christ to walk in faith, to reckon what God says is true and yield to the power of the Holy Spirit in me. And He will produce the fruit. 

My friends, it’s not the fruit of John. It’s the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Jesus gave us this picture of the Christian life in John 15, meaning it’s not my fruit. It’s the Holy Spirit producing the fruit. I’m not producing the fruit. It’s not the fruit of John. 

Some of you looked a little puzzled by that. Let’s look at John 15 at verse 1. John 15, 1. Such a really vivid illustration here as Jesus explains life in Him. And I always think of Pastor Krenz when he used the illustration; you know, it’d be snow up to our necks here in the middle of February and 20 below, and he’d say most people see the Christian life. He’s got these apple trees in his yard across the way on the lake here, and he said most people see the Christian life as going down to Triggs and buying a bag of apples and going out there in the middle of February and tying those apples on the end of those branches. 

That’s the way they see the Christian life. But that’s not how Jesus explained it. Jesus said, I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 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. He prunes it that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 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. 

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. To abide in Jesus is to remain in Him, to believe Him, to trust Him, and depend on Him. This is a life of abiding in the vine. I often think, I’ve told you this before, but that experience I had in India; India is a crazy place, and they’ll have, in a city of 10 million, nine lanes of traffic with bullocks pulling carts and city buses and a guy on a moped with his wife on the back holding two babies in her sari flapping in the spokes, all at the same time, and there’s no lights and there’s no signals. 

And Sharon took us to shop for some silk scarves for our wives while we’re there, and we were in the city, and we came up to this street, nine lanes across, and traffic, and motorcycles buzzing right in front of us. And she says, when I say go, you go. So I’m holding on to her, right? I’m staying with her, I’m not, the guy’s got his video camera and he’s over here, I’m like, guy, get back. But if you don’t stay with her, you’re going to die. My whole focus was just stay with her, hold on to her, run when she says run. 

That’s what it means to abide in Jesus. Stay with him, focus on him, hold on to him. When he says run, run. To abide in Jesus is to remain in him, but the branch does not produce the fruit. No, there’s a union, a relationship whereby the vine brings up the nutrients from the soil and nourishes the branches and produces the fruit out through them. 

This is a process. You can’t tie the apples on the end of the tree limbs; that’s works, law. You have to abide in Christ and let him produce the fruit through you. This is the Christian life; it is Christ in you. Jesus lives in you, and he produces the fruit of holiness as we believe him, trust him. 

I find that these things are very difficult for us to hold on to, to believe. Because we have an incessant desire, an instinct almost to do something, to keep a law, to establish our own righteousness, to be good enough, to please God by doing enough. Our mindset in this world is constantly, what must I do, what can I do? And when I’ve done it, I can feel better about myself. 

And the problem is that when my attitude toward the Christian life is doing, is keeping a law to justify ourselves, that is to show how righteous we are, then Paul says I’ve fallen away from the principle, the life, the walk of faith by God’s grace. If I’m under the law, then I’m not being led by the Spirit. Because Paul said if you’re led by the Spirit, you’re not under the law. 

The flesh here is defined as this physical body controlled by indwelling sin. The Spirit and the flesh are contrary to one another. The question becomes, how is it that I can be led by the Spirit? How is it that I can walk in the Spirit? And the answer is to believe. To believe what God says to be true. We must first, as Paul explains in Romans 6, we must first know. 

And this is what I believe is so lacking in the evangelical church; this is why my entire ministry has been focused on knowing these truths. Because we have to know them first before we can hope to apply them. So it’s incumbent upon us, first of all, to know the truth, to know what God says. And sometimes this is much different than what we’ve been taught, or what we have thought that He said. But the key is in knowing, is to then choose to believe. To reckon, as Paul puts it in Romans 6, he says, count up the facts. Here’s everything God says is true about you. Count them up. Reckon it to be so. 

Believe Him. God has said that I’m a new man, I’m a new creation in Christ, that my old man was crucified with Christ for the express purpose that this physical body should no longer be controlled and dominated by indwelling sin. That the man of sin might be rendered powerless, Romans 6 says. 

I have died to sin. God says I died to the law and the bondage to it, that I am now free in Christ to walk in faith, to reckon what God says is true and yield to the power of the Holy Spirit in me. And He will produce the fruit. My friends, it’s not the fruit of John. It’s the fruit of the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus gave us this picture of the Christian life in John 15, meaning it’s not my fruit. It’s the Holy Spirit producing the fruit. I’m not producing the fruit. It’s not the fruit of John. 

Some of you looked a little puzzled by that. Let’s look at John 15 at verse 1. John 15, 1. Such a really vivid illustration here as Jesus explains life in Him. And I always think of Pastor Krenz when he used the illustration; you know, it’d be snow up to our necks here in the middle of February and 20 below, and he’d say most people see the Christian life. 

He’s got these apple trees in his yard across the way on the lake here, and he said most people see the Christian life as going down to Triggs and buying a bag of apples and going out there in the middle of February and tying those apples on the end of those branches. That’s the way they see the Christian life. But that’s not how Jesus explained it. Jesus said, I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 

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. He prunes it that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 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. 

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. To abide in Jesus is to remain in Him, to believe Him, to trust Him, and depend on Him. 

This is a life of abiding in the vine. I often think, I’ve told you this before, but that experience I had in India; India is a crazy place, and they’ll have, in a city of 10 million, nine lanes of traffic with bullocks pulling carts and city buses and a guy on a moped with his wife on the back holding two babies in her sari flapping in the spokes, all at the same time, and there’s no lights and there’s no signals. 

And Sharon took us to shop for some silk scarves for our wives while we’re there, and we were in the city, and we came up to this street, nine lanes across, and traffic, and motorcycles buzzing right in front of us. And she says, when I say go, you go. So I’m holding on to her, right? I’m staying with her, I’m not, the guy’s got his video camera and he’s over here, I’m like, guy, get back. But if you don’t stay with her, you’re going to die. My whole focus was just stay with her, hold on to her, run when she says run. 

That’s what it means to abide in Jesus. Stay with him, focus on him, hold on to him. When he says run, run. To abide in Jesus is to remain in him, but the branch does not produce the fruit. No, there’s a union, a relationship whereby the vine brings up the nutrients from the soil and nourishes the branches and produces the fruit out through them. 

This is a process. You can’t tie the apples on the end of the tree limbs; that’s works, law. You have to abide in Christ and let him produce the fruit through you. This is the Christian life; it is Christ in you. Jesus lives in you, and