1. Grace Fellowship Church
Pastor/Teacher
Jim Rickard
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Title Page
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2. John 15:6 Divine Discipline for the Reversionistic Believer

3. John 15:6a, “If any believer does not abide in Me (is not Occupied with Me).”

4. Non fruit bearing branches are: 1) Cut off and left to dry, 2) Gathered and thrown into a fire, 3) Burnt up.

5. This is the three phase analogy of God’s Divine Discipline as also noted in 1 Cor 11:30.

6. 1 Cor 11:30, “For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.” See also Prov 3:12; Heb 12:5-14; Rev 3:19.

7. Prov 3:12, “For whom the LORD loves He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.”

8. Rev 3:19, Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.”

9. Stage One Divine Discipline John 15:6b, “He (the reversionistic believer) is thrown away as a branch and he withers away.”

10. James 1:11, “For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.”

11. Stage Two Divine Discipline John 15:6c, “And they, (servants of the Vinedresser - Angels), gather them (reversionistic believers), and they throw them into the fire.”

12. Stage Three Divine Discipline John 15:6d, “and they (reversionistic believers) are consumed (third stage of Divine Discipline).”

13. John 15:6, “If any believer does not abide in Me, (is not Occupied with Me), He (the reversionistic believer) is thrown away as a branch and he withers away; and they, (servants of the Vinedresser - Angels), gather them, (reversionistic believers), and they throw them into the fire; and they, (reversionistic believers), are consumed.”

14. Principles: 1) This is not talking about the fires of Hell
Principles: 1) This is not talking about the fires of Hell. Just because it mentions fire does not mean that it is talking about eternal judgment in the Lake of Fire. Cf. 1 Cor 3:9-15

15. 2) To use verse 6 to teach that a Christian loses his salvation and is burned in Hell if he fails to bear fruit, is to twist the meaning of the parable.

16. a) Such teaching contradicts the plain teaching of other verses, John 6:37; 10:27-29; etc.

17. John 6:37, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”

18. b) If it were a picture of loss of salvation, the reversionistic believer would just be “Cast Out”. Mat 8:12; 18:8-9; 22:13; 25:30; John 6:37; 12:31

19. 3) Verse 6 is talking about Divine Discipline for the believer, not loss of salvation.

20. 4) This is an analogy just as “weak, sick and sleep” are in 1 Cor 11:30. This is not what literally happens to the individual.

21. 5) As for D.D., when you burn the branch it is no longer in the vineyard. Just as when a believer is removed by the Sin Unto Death, he is no longer on planet earth.

22. 6) The Christian who fails to abide in Christ becomes like a useless branch, like the salt that loses its taste and is good for nothing. Mat 5:13

23. Mat 5:13, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.”

24. 1 Cor 3:15, “If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”

25. John 15:16, “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain.”

26. Grace Offering

27. Grace Fellowship Church Sunday, April 25, Tape # Divine Discipline for the Reversionistic Believer Upper Room Discourse, Part John 15:6; 1 Cor 11:30; Prove 3:12; Rev 3:19 James H. Rickard Bible Ministries 2010