1I am the true vine, and My Father is the keeper of the vineyard. 2He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.
5I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, proving yourselves to be My disciples.
No Greater Love
9As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Remain in My love. 10If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. 11I have told you these things so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.
12This is My commandment, that you love one another as I loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
14You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will remain—so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. 17This is My command to you: Love one another.
The Hatred of the World
18If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first. 19If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
20Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well. 21But they will treat you like this on account of My name, because they do not know the One who sent Me. 22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.
23Whoever hates Me hates My Father as well. 24If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father. 25But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated Me without reason.’a
26When the Advocate comes, whom I will send you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—He will testify about Me. 27And you also must testify, because you have been with Me from the beginning.
a - 25 Psalms 35:19; 69:4
Everything Jesus spoke was objective truth unlike everything in the world which people claim is subjective.
"Is it possible to know what Truth is? To find truth we can begin at the most basic premise, it is undeniable. In fact, if you are reading or hearing this you have proved this first basic premise of truth. “Being”, the mere fact you can question truth or yourself means you exist."
Jesus tells us here how we can live productive, fruit bearing life. He says that we are clean and free from sin IF we remain in Him. Without Him we lead find ourselves in a living hell, where nothing goes our way and we are constantly complaining about what we don't have. Think of all the opinions and advice you've received over your lifetime. How many times did that work out? Sometimes the failures are quick and painless, while other times you end up in a horribly long process. Over long periods of time we easily forget how we ended up in this mess to begin with, so we find something else to blame. Victim mentalities exist everywhere due to this occurrence in our lives. If you live with this state of mind for years and years, its just like eating fast food your whole life. You become unhealthy but your body craves the fatty food. There are people who have lived in the same circumstances for 5, 8, 15 years of their lives and they don't know any other way. You can't convince them how bad things are, you can't even take them away from their problems. It's almost as if they can't function without the frustrations, anger or complaining. These individuals, in some cases, can only be prayed for and should still be encouraged daily. We can love from a distance while not allowing them to bring us into their rainy days every time we see them.
