[Jesus answered and said unto him, 'Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God'] (John 3:3). [Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again'] (John 3:7). [That which is born of the flesh is flesh] at any rate; [and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit] at any rate. [Unless one is born of ... the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God] (John 3:6, 5).
[And I say to you] (Luke 11:9), [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] (John 15:1, 2).
Whether the harvest of the field is rich or scanty, or whether the fruit trees are fruitful or fruitless all depend upon the hands of the farmer. Likewise, it depends on the hands of the great Farmer, the Lord of heaven and earth, as to whether the fruits of character in human-trees on earth are fruitful or fruitless.
Our Father, the most industrious Farmer in the universe takes away harsh and rough branches from our characters with His pruning shears (John 15:2), and with the good branches of our characters, He trims and cultivates them, choosing only the trees bearing good fruits in order to transplant them to His beautiful Garden. [For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant plant] (Isa. 5:7). [You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain] (John 15:16). [For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such (fruit bearing) there is no law] (Gal. 5:22, 23).
Jesus said, [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] (John 15:2). [Therefore I say to you,] [Not every one who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven] but it will be [given to a nation bearing the] [good fruit] [who does the will of My Father in heaven] (Matt. 21:43, 7:21, 3:10).
When I stand before the congregation, I occasionally ask,
"Are you indeed disciples of Jesus?"
"Yes, we are His disciples."
"Are you sure you are saved then?"
"Yes, I am sure that I am saved."
I frequently hear such brisk answers and so I continue; "Then let us confirm through the Bible whether we are indeed His disciples who are saved." And we open the Bible. Jesus said, [You bear much fruit, so you will be My disciples] (John 15:8). But [the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control] (Gal. 5:22, 23).
[You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit] - the fruit of the Spirit, [but a bad tree bears bad fruit] (Matt. 7:16, 17), [which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contention, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissension, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like ... those who practice such things] are not My disciples and [will not inherit the kingdom of God] (Gal 5:19-21). [Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it] (Matt. 21:43).
[Examine yourselves ... do not be deceived, God is not mocked] (2 Cor. 13:5, Gal. 6:7). [Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance,] and without bearing fruit [do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children of Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax (of judgment) is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire] (Matt. 3:8-10). Thus we end our discussion and start examining ourselves solemnly, offering prayers of contrition.
Truly it is not worldly rank, birth, nationality, or religious privilege which proves that we are heirs of heaven or members of the family of God. Only those who have the character of God, who possess His love which embraces all of humanity, are the true heirs of heaven and children of God.
Now let us get back to the story of the Great [vinedresser] (John 15:1). He speaks to us, [Son of man, how is the wood of the vine better than any other wood? ... Is wood taken from it to make any object? Or can men make a peg from it to hang any vessel on? Instead, it is thrown into the fire for fuel] (Ezek. 15:2-4). It is not because the vine looks more beautiful or lovely that it is esteemed above other trees. On the contrary, it is no more beautiful or useful than any other tree. It cannot be made into any vessel, or peg, or any lumber for building a house; it is useful for nothing but to be thrown into the fire. But there is one reason which makes it an object of admiration of all beholders among all other trees; it is because of its fruits. The fruits cover all the imperfections and defects of the vine and make the whole vine look beautiful. Without the fruits, it becomes the most useless and ugly tree among all other trees. and this grapevine is ourselves, [For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant plant] (Isa. 5:7).
[You have brought a vine out of Egypt (the world) ...and planted it.] It is [the vineyard which Your right hand has planted, and the branch that You made strong for Yourself] (Ps. 80:8, 15). [He dug it up and cleared out its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine] (Isa. 5:2). He pruned and dug and commanded the clouds to give [the former rain and the latter rain] (Joel 2:23), and made [His sun rise on it] (Matt. 5:45), and [dug] around it and [fertilized] it (Luke 13:8).
Now the Great Vinedresser says, [What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it?] I loved My vineyard so much that I gave My only begotten Son. [Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes?] (Isa. 5:4). [Yet I planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality. How then have you turned before Me into the degenerate plant of an alien vine?] (Jer. 2:21). [He looked for justice, but behold, oppression, for righteousness, but behold, weeping] (Isa. 5:7).
I once heard the following story. Somewhere in my country (Korea), there is a pear farm where some trees in one part of the field bear much bigger and better pears without aid of either fertilizer or manure. After probing the cause, it was found that during the Korean War (the June 25th Incident of Korea in 1950), numerous dead bodies of innocent people were thrown into a huge hole dug in the ground and eventually buried in it. Many years later, people planted pear trees on the very site unknowingly. And so, because the dead bodies of the innocent people became fertilizer, there is a great harvest each year even until today.
Our heavenly Father, the Great Vinedresser in heaven, so loved the house of Israel that He buried His only Son Jesus under the vine of Judah (on Calvary) in the midst of the vineyard (the earth) and since then He has been eagerly waiting to see them bear good fruits in proportion to the good fertilizer (Jesus His Son). And now He says, [What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it?] "I have given My only Son to be the fertilizer for them" (Isa. 5:4).
But there only comes from His lips a grievous sigh of disappointment and despair, [Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes?] (Isa. 5:4). [I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality. How then have you turned before Me into the degenerate plant of an alien vine?] (Jer. 2:21).
The expectations of the Great Vinedresser has been broken into pieces. Oh, what a great number of people without the good fruits (Gal. 5:22, 23), the genuine, sacred fruits of character, are rather vainly saying, "I am a child of God. I will enter heaven. I am saved!" Regardless that they have made His grace so futile and disappointed Him so bitterly, they still jubilantly call out, "Lord, Lord." Let us listen to the voice of the Holy Vinedresser again. [And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned; and break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned or dug, but there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it] (Isa. 5:5, 6). And [ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield one ephah] (Isa. 5:10).
The Bible exclaims to Israel today, [Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?] (Ezek. 33:11). Come [...before the day passes like chaff, before the Lord's fierce anger comes upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger comes upon you!] (Zeph. 2:2). [Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground (of your heart) for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness on you] (Hosea 10:12).
Our real Father who is merciful, gracious and slow to anger, and weak in punishing His children is exclaiming, ['If you will return, O Israel,' says the Lord, 'return to Me; and if you will put away your abominations out of My sight.'] Come and [circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskin of your hearts, you men of Judah and inhibitions of Jerusalem lest My fury come forth like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings] (Jer. 4:1, 4).
['Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.'] ['For I am merciful,' says the Lord, 'and I will not remain angry forever'] (Jer. 3:22, 12). [Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.] [His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope] with the holy and blameless character and [to an inheritance ... reserved in heaven for you] (Eph. 1:3, 1 Peter. 1:3, 4).
To the Holy Vinedresser, our real Father who has not only given His only Son Jesus to be fertilizer for us thereby producing good fruits of our sacred character, but who also gives us the fresh rain of the Holy Spirit from heaven boundlessly, pruning our character-branches to make us beautiful, to Him be the glory and praise forever and ever!
Praise the Lord!
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