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| Fruitful or Barren
John 15:5: I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Albert Barnes: Without me ye can do nothing. The expression *without me* denotes the same as separate from me. As the branches, if separated from the parent stock, could produce no fruit, but would immediately wither and die, so Christians, if separate from Christ, could do nothing. The expression is one, therefore, strongly implying dependence. The Son of God was the original source of life.
John 1:4: *In him was life; and the life was the light of men.*
John 6:33: *For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.*
He also, by his work as Mediator, gives life to the world, and it is by the same grace and agency that it is continued in the Christian. We see hence, to him is due all the praise for all the good works the Christian performs. They will perform good works just in proportion as they feel their dependence on him and look to him. The reason why others fail of being holy is because they are unwilling to look to him, and seek grace and strength from him who alone is able to give it.
Philippians 2:13: For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
God Himself and the Bible are necessary for fruit-bearing.
1 Thessalonians 2:13: For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.
Spurgeon on Isaiah 44:3: I will pour water upon him that is thirsty.
When a believer has fallen into a low, sad state of feeling, he often tries to lift himself out of it by chastening himself with dark and doleful fears. Such is not the way to rise from the dust, but to continue in it. As well chain the eagle*s wing to make it mount, as doubt in order to increase our grace. It is not the law, but the gospel which saves the seeking soul at first; and it is not a legal bondage, but gospel liberty which can restore the fainting believer afterwards. Slavish fear brings not back the backslider to God, but the sweet wooings of love allure him to Jesus* bosom. Are you this morning thirsting for the living God, and unhappy because you cannot find him to the delight of your heart? Have you lost the joy of religion, and is this your prayer, *Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation*? Are you conscious also that you are barren, like the dry ground; that you are not bringing forth the fruit unto God which He has a right to expect of you; that you are not so useful in the Church, or in the world, as your heart desires to be? Then here is exactly the promise which you need, *I will pour water upon him that is thirsty.* You shall receive the grace you so much require, and you shall have it to the utmost reach of your needs. Water refreshes the thirsty: you shall be refreshed; your desires shall be gratified. Water quickens sleeping vegetable life: your life shall be quickened by fresh grace. Water swells the buds and makes the fruits ripen; you shall have fructifying grace: you shall be made fruitful in the ways of God. Whatever good quality there is in divine grace, you shall enjoy it to the full. All the riches of divine grace you shall receive in plenty; you shall be as it were drenched with it: and as sometimes the meadows become flooded by the bursting rivers, and the fields are turned into pools, so shall you be-the thirsty land shall be springs of water.
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