The amount of people that worship Jesus is the minority of the world.  There are some that worship Jesus and other gods, but they are in the same boat as those that don’t believe – they are all going to hell.

“Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord ’s table, and of the table of devils” (1 Cor 10:21).

Without Jesus we are nothing.

Tomorrow we are going to look at the seventh of eight…

John 15
Jesus the True Vine

1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

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.

3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

“Abide in me” – the believer has no fruitfulness apart from his union and fellowship with Christ.  A branch out of contact with the vines is lifeless.

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.

6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

“Cast them into the fire, and they are burned” – Judged.  In light of such passages as 6:39, 10:27-28, these branches probably don’t represent true believers.  Genuine salvation is evidenced by a life of fruitfulness.

7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

“My words abide in you” – it is impossible to pray correctly apart from knowing and believing the teachings of Christ.

8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

“My Father glorified”- the Father is glorified in the work of the Son and He is glorified in the fruit-bearing of disciples – and even today Jesus is glorified by those that stand for Him.

9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

“Keep…as I have kept” – the importance of obedience and the example of Christ.

11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.  

“Joy” – this joy comes only from Jesus, all believers that abide with him will always be joyful.  Not meaning there will not be hard times and even disappointing times, but there will never be true sad times.

12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

13 Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Christ’s love was not only in words but also in His sacrificial death.

14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

“Servants…friends” – a servant is simply an agent, doing what his master commands and often not understanding his master’s purpose.  But Jesus takes His friends into His confidence.

“All things…I have made known to you” – from 16:12 we learn that though Jesus had let His disciples know as much as they were able to absorb of the Father’s plan, he revelation was not yet complete.  The Spirit would make other things known in due course.

If you have accepted Jesus into your heart the Holy Ghost is there and He will tell you things when you need to know.

16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.

18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

“Ye are not of” – believers essential belonging, his new life, comes specifically from God and therefore he is not the same as those who oppose God.

20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep your’s also.

21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.

“All these things will they do unto you” – because Christians do not belong to the world, persecution from the world is inevitable.  The basic reason is the world’s ignorance and rejection of Jesus.

22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.

“No cloke” – privilege and responsibility go together.  The Jews had had the great privilege of having the Son of God among them – in addition to having received God’s special revelation in the Old Testament.

Their rejection of Jesus left them totally guilty and without excuse.  Had He not come to them they would still have been sinners, but they would not have been guilty of rejecting Him directly.

23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also.

24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.

25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.

“That the word might be fulfilled that is written” – in the end God’s purpose is always accomplished, despite the belief of sinful men that they have successfully opposed it – see Is 55:11.

26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.

The World’s Largest Cities since 4000 B.C.

Here’s an interest chart going way back to 4000 BC showing the population of the biggest cities in the western and eastern worlds.

…Ancient Man’s Cults, Sects, and Religions: Shintoism.