Sermon Tone Analysis

You Cant Change

Im being a little bit ridiculous with the title of this point because I want it to force us to pay close attention to what the scripture teaches us about how real spiritual change takes place.

But before I can show you how we can change, I have to convince you that you cannot change yourself.

Here is a perfect example of why we have to start with this point…(play the Shai Labouf video)

This is a ridiculous video of Shai Labouf performing a routine for an acting class that he participated in back in 2015.

He was challenged to give a motivational speech and this was what transpired.

After you get passed the ridiculousness of the act, you start to realize that many of the things that he says are actually things that we believe.

All of us have dreams, we all have things in life that we want to experience or achieve.

We may dream of becoming a professional athlete, losing weight, graduating from college, and the slogan that Nike created in 1988 “Just Do It” has been a successful battle cry for all of us who have been born and raised in America.

Im not hating on Nike or the slogan, I think that in many regards it is absolutly briliant.

But there is one area of life that I think this battle cry is incredible unhelpful, and I would even say deceptively incedious—the Life of the Soul.

Many of us, and I might even dare to say all of us, here this evening desire to experience change spiritually.

This is a really good desire, it is God given, we were created for this very purpose.

The Westminster Catechism puts it brilliantly, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”

We were all created for this purpose, and it should be something that we aspire to grow in each and everyday.

The problem is that we often times find ourselves confused on how we can accomplish this goal.

Far too often we buy into the lie that we should “Just Do It.”

We dream of being people who read our Bibles daily, who pray more, who give generously, who obey all the commands of God.

And many times in this attempt to become those people, we find ourselves living under the guise of Nike and the “Just Do It.” Slogan.

Read you Bible, just do it.

Pray, just do it.

Be Sexually Pure, just do it.

Stop making excuses, just do it already...

Make your spiritual dreams come true...

But the problem is that we cant just do it...

Look with me at

John

In this passage Jesus teaches us about how we can experience a spirutally fruitful life.

He says that the way we do this is by abiding or “remaining” in him.

But look at why he tells us that we must abide in Him.

Look at verses 4&5

Jesus tells us that the human heart is incapable of being spiritually fruitful.

He uses this illustration of a vine and vine branches as an example.

He says, “Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me.”

Jesus’ teaching is simple.

He compares spiritual fruit to that of a vine that is attached to a life giving branch.

He says that just as the vine is unable to produce fruit without a life source—a branch—so it is with us.

We are unable to experience spiritual change, spiritual growth, spiritual fruitfulness on our own.

The Heart of the Problem is Our Heart

In this passage Jesus tells us that it is impossible to live a spiritually fruitful life apart from abiding in Him.

What is he saying?

He is saying that there is something incurious about the human heart…that the human heart is incapable of producing any actions or works that are pleasing to God in and of itself.

Look at what the Apostle Paul says about the human condition in: Romans 5:12-14

Paul gives us our diagnoses in this passage.

He gives us some insight into why we are unable to live fruitful lives in and of ourselves.

According to this passage, he says that we have an infection that has brought about spiritual death.

What does the Spiritual Death Mean?

It means that we are separated from God.

This is what took place in the Garden of Eden when God removed Adam and Eve from the midst of the garden.

It is a picture of the loss of union between God and man.

We, who have inherited that curse, are now born seperated from God.

It means that we Love our SIN and hate God

We are

It means we cant change ourselves…

Why am I spending so much time on this point?

It’s because I want us to see that the way we grow spiritually is not through discipline, it isnt through living by “12 rules for life”, it isnt by doing anything...

Many of us in this room are plagued with thinking that God is always mildly disgusted with us because we lack the ability to be obedient to God the way that we know we should.

We have tried all the tricks of the religious trade to change our bad habits and implement better ones.

Yet no matter how hard we have tried, we cannot seem to overcome our sin.

And I want us to be very clear tonight, the reason you havent been able to overcome your indwelling sin is that YOU CANNOT do it!

But Christ CAN

You Can BE Changed

Look at what Jesus says

v. 1—I am the true vine...

The image of a vine wasnt new to Jewish people, all throughout the OT God likened Israel, His elect, to that of His Vine.

This passage is one of many where God tells Israel that they were his Vine, His garden, HIs people…and each time God spoke of Israel this way it was always negative.

Psalm 80:916

God had made His vine to be a people who abided in Him, who drew their life from relationship with Him.

Israel was God’s elected people that He would bless to be a blessing to the rest of the world.

Yet Israel constantly rebelled against God.

As Isaiah puts it, “For the vineyard of the LORD of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah, the plant he delighted in.

He expected justice but saw injustice; He expected righteousness, but he heard cries of despair.”

Israel was supposed to be God’s plan to restore all things to himself, they were supposed to be God’s new Eden—His Vineyard.

But they werent.

It is with this background in mind that Jesus says these words in .

Jesus says that HE is the Vine.

Tranlation—Everything that Israel was meant to be, every blessing they were meant to recieve and bestow to the world, every gift that was designed for them, every unction of divine power that they were meant to recieve....Jesus says, I have it all...

Salvation—It comes from me

Holiness—It comes from me

Blessings—Comes from me

Favor—Comes from me

Love—Comes from me

Rest—Comes from me

Jesus is saying that he is the source of spiritual life…all of the blessings of God are to be recieved through and in Him!

Jesus says, “I am the bread of life...” in , Eat Him and you will be satisfied forever.

Jesus says, “I am LIVING Water...” in , Drink HIm and you will never be spiritually thirsty again.

Jesus is the source of spiritual life…there is simply no one and no place else that we can turn to in order to experience spiritual life.

No religion, no discipline, no habit, no self-help book, no guru, no therapist…Jesus is our only hope.

Jesus says,

This is why Jesus tells us that we must abide in Him...

So what does this mean?

How do we abide in Christ?

Everything in us jumps to pragmatism in this moment.

Our hearts long for Shai Labouf…JUST DO IT

What do I need to do?!

The word “Abide” in this passage is from the Greek root μένω.

μένω

μένω

Menno means to “Remain” or “Dwell”

What Jesus is saying is, “No matter what happens, no matter what challenges you face, no matter what comes your way.

DWELL WITH ME!

JESUS ISNT TELLING US TO DO ANYTHING…HE IS TELLING US TO “BE”