John 15:2 “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”
The Lord teaches us that there are blessings in obedience and chastisements for disobedience to the Lord. God has never changed His mind on this issue, He makes it very clear throughout the Bible. Isaiah declared it with perfect clarity when he, under Devine inspiration, wrote “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: 20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.” (Isaiah 1:19-18). The Lord is not teaching us that He will cast a “branch” (Child of God), that was once “in” Him, into “everlasting punishment” (Matthew 25:46); for, if we were “chosen … in him before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4), on the “last day” we will surely hear His blessed voice Command “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34) and He “will raise” us “up at the last day” (John 6:40-54) and we will be “caught up together … in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (I Thessalonians 4:17)! For, the Lord also made it perfectly clear that “of all which” The Father “hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day” (John 6:39). Neither is He teaching us that, if you are disobedient, then you never were truly a Child of God; but, the Lord is again making it clear that “whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Hebrews 12:6). He “chasteneth” us to correct our bad behavior and to make us faithful servants to Him and His Holy Word, most especially in His Glorious Church. It is also true that, “if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons” (Hebrews 12:8). Notice, He didn’t say “if ye be” disobedient “ye” are “not sons”; but, one of the evidences that we are “sons” of God is that He does chasten us for our disobedience. In John 15:1-8, our Lord is telling us that we are blessed when we bring forth “fruit” unto Him and we are chastened if we do not bring forth “fruit” unto Him. Our ultimate duty and purpose in life is to glorify our God by our fruitful obedience to Him: “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.” (John 15:8). The Lord also explained it this way, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)!