Nothing Without Christ

🍇 Nothing Without Christ

Text: John 15:5
Theme: Christ is all that matters for spiritual success — without Him, we are nothing.
Key Verse: "For without me ye can do nothing."

🌱 Introduction

  • There are three levels of fruitfulness in the Christian life:

    • Fruit (John 15:2)

    • More Fruit

    • Much Fruit (John 15:5)

  • These parallel:

    • Thirtyfold, Sixtyfold, Hundredfold (Mark 4:8)

    • The Called, The Chosen, The Faithful (Revelation 17:14)

🧍‍♂️ I. Everything We Have in Christ Is Given Through Christ

Philippians 4:7

  • 🪞 Identity in Christ – Galatians 2:20, Colossians 3:3

  • 🌿 Unity in Christ – We are all branches of the same vine

  • 🤝 Ministry in Christ – 2 Corinthians 5:18–21

  • 🛡 Security in Christ – Romans 8:38–39

Quote: “All that we are is by grace; all that we have is through Christ; all that we will be is because of His mercy.” – Charles Spurgeon

Illustration: A beggar received a warm cloak and coin from a nobleman. He did not boast but said, “I am warm and filled because of the prince’s kindness.” We are beggars clothed in the righteousness of Christ and filled with His mercy.

Application: Don’t boast in what you have — it’s all been given by Christ. Be thankful and humble.

🛠 II. Everything We Do for Christ Is Done Through Christ

Philippians 4:13

  • 💪 Sufficiency – 2 Corinthians 3:5

  • 🙌 Service – John 15:5, Acts 1:8, 1 Corinthians 4:2

  • 🔋 Strength – Zechariah 4:6

Illustration & Quote: Hudson Taylor, missionary to China, faced weakness and health issues. He once said, “I used to ask God to help me. Then I asked if I might help Him. Now I ask Him to do His work through me. Without Christ, we can do nothing; but through Christ, there is nothing we cannot do.”

Application: ⚙️ Everything we do for Christ is done through His Spirit and the mighty power of God

Scripture: Zechariah 4:6 – “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.”

💼 III. Everything We Need to Serve Christ Is Supplied Through Christ

Philippians 4:19

  • 🪴 Abiding – John 15:7–8

  • ⚖ Afflictions – Christ is our strength in weakness

    • If you are going to have a good testimony, you will have to have go through afflictions

    • 2 Tim. 1:8  Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;

  • 🤝 Ability – The best ability is availability

  • 💎 Grace – Philippians 4:23, 2 Corinthians 12:9

Quote: “The branch is nothing apart from the vine. It lives by the life of the vine and bears fruit by the strength of the vine.” – Andrew Murray

Application:
🌳Application: The more we try to serve in our own strength, the less fruit we bear. Faithfulness flows from abiding, not striving

🔚 Conclusion

We are called since we are saved, we might be chosen if we are servants, but we must strive to be faithful as soldiers. Christians are nothing without Christ. What we have is not our own. We have been bought with a price (1 Cor. 6:20). Our inheritance is God’s inheritance. We have nothing, but we owe everything to God. We shouldn’t sell for worldly profit what wasn’t ours to begin with.

Jeffrey smith