Again, JOH 15:2 says, “Every branch [believer] in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away [discipline]; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it.” Pruning is necessary for properly redistributing the “energy” for production. The branch that bears fruit must be pruned occasionally so that the spiritual skills will increase and maximize. This is suffering for blessing.

 

 

            In verses three and four, we see the cleansing of the branches for production. Verse three makes a reference to the cleansing of the branches in salvation.

 

JOH 15:3* “You are already clean [saved] because of the doctrine [the gospel] which I have spoken to you.”

 

            Nothing in your life before salvation should be a hindrance to your production of divine good, because you have been cleansed from your past. Everything you did before salvation has been wiped out completely.

 

ISA 43:25 “I, even I, am the One who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.”

 

            The things you have done after salvation are dealt with in PHI 3:13, “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead.”

            Verse four deals with the cleansing of the branches after salvation, which takes place through the rebound technique.

 

JOH 15:4 “Abide in me [stay in fellowship], and I in you [a mandate for cognition of Bible doctrine]. As the branch can not bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”