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Well, greetings to each one of
you in the worthy name of the Lord Jesus. I want to return to our exposition
of the gospel according to John. I think it's been over over a
month that we have been here. But today is message number 45. As we have
been going through the Gospel of John, I think for, I'm not sure, close to or over
two years, that I have been systematically or endeavoring to systematically
go through the gospel according to John. So we find ourselves
in chapter 15, John chapter 15, and of course chapter 15 is the well-known analogy of the
vine and the branches and how that we as children of God are the branches,
and that Christ is the vine, and the Father is the vine dresser. And today as we look at our passage,
our text is from verse 9 through verse 17, and we move a bit away
from the analogy of the vine and the branches, not completely,
but We see that when you have the analogy of the vine and the
branches that that is a natural analogy that the vine is naturally
or the branch is naturally rooted or fastened to the vine and that
it draws its life from the vine. It draws its nutrients and it's
everything that it needs for sustenance and fruit bearing
comes from the vine. Now today as we leave this analogy,
we see that actually the branch has responsibilities too. The
branch has a few responsibilities that the analogy, and I think
this is a danger that we can take in an analogy or a parable
too far. By trying to look at all the
details and pulling all the details apart, really what Christ is
doing here in John 15, 1 through 8, is using the analogy of the
vine. That outside of being attached
to Christ as the vine, we can do nothing. That there is no
possibility for any fruit bearing outside of the vine. We have, you know, as believers
in this, today in this passage, verses 9 through 17, is a very
important passage on discipleship. And that there is a responsibility
for the branches, so to speak, or for those who believe in Christ
to be actively a part of the process of discipleship. So I want to begin here in verse
9. I'll read this text, and I want
to give you the title, and that is Christ in You, the Hope of
Glory. Let's begin reading John 15,
verse 9. As the father loved me, I also
have loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep
my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept
my father's commandments and abide in his love. These things
I have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that
your joy may be full. This is my commandment that you
love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one
than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are
my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I
call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master
is doing. But I have called you friends. For all things that
I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not
choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you that you should
go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever
you ask the Father in my name, he may give you. These things
I command you, that you love one another. Now I'd like to turn back to
the epistle of Colossians, I want to read another scripture in
Colossians 1 and just simply let the epistle
be a bit of a commentary on John 15 verses 9 through 17. I want
to read Colossians 1. through 29 and as you may not
see the connection immediately but as you ponder a bit here
in Colossians 1 and you reflect a bit on this passage you begin
to see the correlations between this passage and John 15. Colossians 1 verse 24, I now
rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up in my flesh what
is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his
body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according
to the stewardship from God, which was given to me for you
to fulfill the word of God. the mystery which has been hidden
from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to
His saints. To them God willed to make known
what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,
which is Christ in you. the hope of glory. Him we preach,
warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that
we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end
I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in
me mightily." So as you can see, the title comes from verse 27. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Now, you might say, well, I don't
exactly see the connection here from Colossians 1 to John 15. And I don't necessarily, I'm
not necessarily planning to preach out of Colossians 1, but I wanted
to just simply point out how Colossians 1, this short section,
how that it relates or how it is saying some of the, has the
very same elements in it. So notice, Paul is willing to
suffer, yes, even rejoice in his suffering, here in Colossians
1, to fulfill his ministry to the church, a ministry that he
received from God to reveal to the saints the riches of the
glory of the truth of Christ Jesus. Paul was so intent here
that he said, I rejoice in suffering for you that I might even fill
up whatever is lacking in the sufferings of Christ so that
the body of Christ would be edified. And he says that he is willing
to do this for the sake of his body, which is the church. And
notice what he, as we look at this, he says that what I'm about,
this stewardship from God that I received. My job is to reveal this hidden
mystery. This mystery which has been hidden
from ages past and from generations past but has now been revealed
to the saints. It's been revealed to the saints
and how is it being revealed to the saints? Specifically by
the ministry of the Apostle Paul here in Colossians 1. He is revealing
to the saints the mystery that God had planned in the past and
God willed to now make it known to the saints. What is the incredible
riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is
what? Christ in you. And Christ in
you, brothers and sisters, is the hope of glory. We may say, well, that's the
hope of a future glorious eternity. And that is true. That is the
only hope for that. But it is also the only hope
of any glory to come out of your life currently now, you see. And so Paul is so excited about
this stewardship, you see. that has been given to him by
God, that he's willing to suffer for the sake of the body, that
this body might know these things. And notice how he says, and this
is how he's accomplishing his mission. He says, him we preach,
warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that
we may present everyone perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end,
I labor. I also labor striving. I am all about laboring in this
way, striving according to something I have already received myself.
According to what is working in me, you see. It's working
in me mightily, he says. And brothers and sisters, as
we reflect on John 15 verses 8 through 17. Indeed, I find myself so needy of this
passage. And Paul's teaching and preaching
here in Colossians 1 had one end or goal, and that is that
we might present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, And Paul labored
to reveal to us the truth of Christ in us as the only hope
of glory. I would like to say that these
elements are in John 15 verses 9 through 17. Christ in us. I want to look at John 14, 23,
just flipping back a page. Jesus answered them. This was
in response to Judas's question, not Iscariot, who said to him,
Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not
to the world? Jesus answered and said to him,
if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love
him and we will come to him and make our home with him. And what
a beautiful picture that is. And we see also in John 15 verse
7, If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you will
ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this my Father
is glorified that you bear much fruit, so you will be my disciples.
Now as we come, with that bit of introduction, we come now
to our text here in verses 9 and following. And the first point
I want to just point out to you is that to be in Christ, or to
have Christ in you, is to be a recipient of the love of Christ. That it is, that if Christ is
living in you, and if you are living in Christ, then you are
receiving the love of Christ. As the Father loved me, I also
have loved you. You know, Jesus says this as
the Father loved me. In that same manner I have loved
you. Now this is an amazing statement
that if the scripture wouldn't say it, then how could we preach
it? You know, to think about the
infinite love of the Father for the Son. that he loved him, it's
a vast, immeasurable, boundless love that the Father has for
the Son. And to have that love that the Father, to have that
used as an example of how Christ now loves His children is an
amazing truth. And I think it should secure
us. It should bring us into a place
of resting in Christ to know that this sort of love has been
given to us. And that's the first point is
that we are loved by Christ as He indwells us. And I wanna just
briefly look here at the Father's love for the Son. In John, the, John the Baptist first mentioned
this in John 3.35. He says this way, the father
loves the son, John 3.35, and has given all things into his
hand. In other words, everything, the
whole administration of the universe, He even gave the judgment to
him. All things have been given over
into the hand of the Son. That is a mark of the love of
the Father. The esteem that the Father has
for the Son is given over. This is a picture of Him giving
everything over into His hand. The Father loves the Son and
gives all things into His hand. We see it in John 5 20. where
Christ himself now says this, for the father loves the son
and shows him all things that he himself does, and he will
show him greater works than these that you may marvel. You know, I've pondered on this
verse in the past, and for those of you who are fathers, You know
that sometimes it's a challenge to bring your son along when
you're in the middle of a project. You know what I'm talking about,
where you're out working on something and your son wants to be with
you, right? And if you love your son, then
you're showing him things about what you're doing. You're giving,
you're giving, you're giving him The rundown. This is why I'm doing this. I'm
doing this, that, and the other. Whatever his understanding is,
obviously you lower it to whatever his understanding is. But we
know here, for the father loves the son, and one of the marks
of this love is that he shows him all the things that he himself
does. That there is no... There's no hiding, there's no
shielding the son or hiding him from what his plans are. And
he will show him greater works than these that you may marvel. And so he shows him all these
things that he himself does. And then we see that in the beautiful
prayer of John 17, I want to point out as we think about what
Christ is illustrating His love for us by. In verse, John 17
and verse 23, I in them and you in me, that they may be made
perfect in one and that the world may know that you have sent me
and have loved them as you have loved me. Father, I desire that
they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am. that they
may behold my glory, which you have given me. For you love me
before the foundation of the world. Oh, righteous father,
the world has not known you, but I have known you. And these
have known that you sent me and I've declared to them your name
and will declare it that the love with which you love me may
be in them and I in them. What a beautiful picture. Isn't
that a beautiful picture of how the Father has loved the Son
from the foundation, from before the foundation of the world.
And now Christ says to us that as the Father loved me, I also
have loved you. This is an amazing statement. And then, and we again in Colossians, you don't
have to turn this time with me here. Here he says in Colossians
1 13, he has delivered us from the power of darkness and has
conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love. Verse 19, for it pleased the
Father that in Him, that is in Christ, all the fullness should
dwell. We see this amazing picture of
the Father's love for the Son, and then we see that in, at the
cross, we see the Father sacrificing His Son because of our sin. His love for the Son did not
keep Him from sharing His Son with us. This, I think, is that
there was never ever in all of eternity what happened at the
cross. And that is, Father, why have
you forsaken me? And we see that picture of how
much this love, how much this cost, this sacrifice of the Son
of God for our sins. Jesus describes His love for
us by comparing it with how the Father loves Him. To see His
virtue and obedience in comparison to our sinfulness and need. Isn't
that amazing? That Christ was worthy of this
love. Christ was full of virtue and
full of obedience to His Father's commands. And now that He has
loved us, how unworthy are we of this love? How lacking are we in this? And we see that His love is not
based on our behavior, is it? It is not based. It is because
He has set His love upon us. And so we now get to live in
this love, in light of this love. And it is a love that redeems. It is a love that brings us someplace. It is a love that we get to respond
to. And that leads me to my second
point. And that is, Jesus says, abide
in my love. Abide here. Live here. This is your new home. Abide
in my love. To remain in His love is the
instruction here that Jesus gives us. And this is where the analogy
of the branch and the vine doesn't completely apply because in the
sense that it is, that is a natural tie. The branch is in the vine. But now we're called to here
is that we are called to abide. You are called to abide. I am
called to abide. This is the requirement of fellowship. See, we don't enter into this,
well, I think I'm getting ahead of myself here, but this defines
our responsibility in the relationship. Jesus imposes regulations on
his relations. Isn't that interesting? that
it's not a free-for-all, that there are stipulations, there
are boundaries, there are parameters. And he says, you abide, you abide
in me. This is the boundary of your
existence, is to abide here. This is where you live. He says,
abide here, stay here. You are to realize, my love,
You're to continue in the reality of my love. Enjoy my love, so
to speak. Abide. That is, make your home
here in my love. Do not leave this special place
of blessing. You see, he says we are to abide. That is an instruction. That's
a command for us. that we are to give attention to this truth
that we are to abide in His love. How then do we abide? How then do we abide? If we are
called to this place of dwelling, Well, verse 10 is very clear. He says, if you keep my commandments,
you will abide in my love. If you will keep my commandments,
you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my father's commandments
and abide in his love. You see, he is not asking something
from us that he is unwilling to do himself. This was the very
nature of his own, he says, I have not come to do my own will, but
the will of my father who sent me. That this has always been
the standard for his ministry was to do the will of his father,
which is in heaven, and to keep my father's commandments. And
now he is telling us that if you would abide in my love, if
you want to stay home, so to speak, then you must keep my
commandments. You see, that's why I said that
the Lord gets to set the terms of our fellowship. He gets to
set the terms of our relationship, right? He says, the parameters
of our relationship, of our fellowship is dictated in my word. It is spoken of in my commandments. As you obey my words, you will
enjoy my love. John 14, 23 again. We were just there. If anyone
loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him and
we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does
not love me does not keep my words and the word which you
hear is not mine, but the father's who sent me. You see we don't enter into this
relationship by us obeying the commandments of God,
do we? We can't. We have been unable. Because we're weak in the flesh,
we have not been able to meet this standard. And so now Christ
has come and bought for us this place. He bought this house,
so to speak. And now He's giving it to us
and said, just stay in here. He has given us this salvation.
We do not enter in to this salvation by obeying the commands of the
Lord. It's an impossibility. It's already
been, we have proven that over and over again. So now the Lord
comes and He buys this place for us, this place of obedience,
this place of blessing, this place of acceptance in His Father's
house. And therein He says, you stay
here. Here's the parameter of your
your salvation, here's where you're to enjoy these things,
here is your place of staying. And that is interesting here,
there are multiple words used here in this passage where he
says to abide. He says twice here, I mean I
think the old King James says this way, as the Father loves
me I also have loved you, continue in my love. It is to abide is
to continue. To continue is to remain. Do we see these words here? These things I have spoken to
you that my joy may remain in you. Same Greek word. We go down
to verse 16. You did not choose me, but I
chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit
and that your fruit should abide, that your fruit should continue,
that your fruit should remain, you see, that it is an enduring
fruit that comes out of this relationship, that it would remain. Otherwise, you know, it is the
labor of our own hands and it comes to nothing. But these words
of abide, continue, remain, they're all the same Greek word. And
we have it again in John 8 31, a very familiar passage. Then
Jesus said to those Jews who believed him, if you abide, if
you remain, if you continue in my word, you are indeed my disciples. You see, it is that mark of our
continuing And so, obviously, this is not
how we enter, but it is how we are discipled. It is how we are
to follow Christ. We must remember that we have
an obligation if we are members of the household. We have obligations
and they're called to abide. They're called to continue. They're
called to remain. Here is the parameters of my
fellowship. If you want fellowship with me,
then this is where we get it. You see, just think about it.
This point proves to us that we cannot self-govern. The Lord
says that if you are to abide, then
you are to listen to what I command you. You are to obey. That's basically what he's saying
here. You obey, the Lord says. Isn't
that interesting? That means that we need to be
taught. We need to be directed. We need
to be governed. You see, because we don't know
what is best for us. We literally don't know what
is best for us. But because He loves us, He directs
us. Isn't that amazing? This is a
really important point that we must get hold of. Because He
loves us, He gives us His commandments. He gives us his direction. He
gives us his governing. This is the word that he has
given to us. We're incapable of self-governance
without self-destruction. If we govern ourselves, dear
people, we will self-destruct. we will self-destruct. And that,
I believe, brothers and sisters, is so important. As a disciple
of Christ, yes, you were born again by the Holy Spirit of God,
but if you will not abide, if you are not interested in abiding,
if you are not interested in continuing, is it even possible
that you're born again? To be left to ourselves, brothers
and sisters, is a mark of judgment. That's the last thing you want. Is the discipline of the Lord, is
it painful? Yes, it is. Is it uncomfortable? Yes, it is. But if you understand
this truth, then you do not want Him to let you go. because you know the end result
of that is destruction. And so it is well for you to
pray, Lord, don't let me go. It is as David said, Lord, restore
unto me the joy of my salvation and renew a right spirit within
me. And it was a cry of repentance. And so I want to just flip back
to Proverbs Proverbs 1 verses 29 and following,
just as an Old Testament scripture here that agrees with this idea
that we cannot self-govern without self-destructing. If you would
turn to Proverbs 1 and we'll look at verses 29 to the end
of the chapter. And let's just let this truth
hammer home to us. Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would have none
of my counsel and despised my every rebuke. Therefore, because
we wouldn't listen. You see that? Because we wouldn't
listen. Therefore, they shall eat the
fruit of their own way. and be filled to the full with
their own fancies." Isn't that amazing? You know the things
that we sometimes run after, even as children of God, some
of the things that we give attention to, if we were to be let go to
the full extent of that, as we heard last week, the chutes and
ladders, you know, if we would be let go we would end up eating
the fruit of our own way. But in the discipline of the
Lord, there's great keeping. There's great security in the
Lord coming along behind us and saying, no, that's not the way
that you're to act. There are parameters for my children. And these, you must give attention
to. And if you do not give attention
to, then you will eat the fruit of your own way, he says, and
be filled to the full with their own fancies. For the turning
away of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of
fools will destroy them. The thing of it is, I do believe
in the security of the believer. I do believe that the discipline
of the Lord is to keep us from self-destructing. that it is
to pull us back in, to rein us in, to correct us, and truly
that is why His Word is given to us, and we're to abide in
it. But notice here that if the turning away of the simple, just
to simply walk past and say, I will not listen. that turning away is what will
ultimately slay those who do not come to Christ. And the complacency
of fools, that sense of, oh, peace, peace, that just, I don't
want to think about it. I'm having a good life. That complacency of fools will
destroy them. I had to think of our Bible study
on Wednesday night. He who would see good days, He
would love life and see good days. Let him refrain his tongue
from speaking evil and his lips from guile or deceit. You see,
you see, the good life is the life of discipline, the life
of the Lord bringing us in, bringing us back to that place. And now
he calls us here in our passage in John. And this is this is
the this is a a very clear passage on discipleship. This is our
call to abide, to give attention, to remain. I would like to even
say that this principle of having someone govern us is the same,
very same principle that is child training. It's the very same
thing. A well-trained child is a glory
to parents. He is, she is. It's a glory to
parents. Notice what he says also in Proverbs
29, and you don't have to turn here, I'll just bring this in
for you. In Proverbs 29, 15, it says, the rod and rebuke give
wisdom. Okay, so that's the command of
the Lord. Abide in my love. How do we abide? By giving heed there unto his
word. By giving attention to his commandment. If you keep my commandments.
So that's what he's saying here. The rod and the rebuke, they
give wisdom. But a child, what? Left to himself. A child left to himself brings
shame to his mother. So if you withhold the discipline,
if you withhold the direction, if you withhold your government
from the child, he will bring you shame. Because a child is oriented away
from your direction. And you were called to reign.
Brothers and sisters, it's humbling when we see that it's the same
thing about us. Isn't it? We sometimes see it
clearly in children. But what about us? I see my waywardness
so clearly in John 15. I'm so prone to veer this away
or to not give attention, to not remain here in the house,
in this place of abode that the Lord has for me, that I'm not
content with the parameters. You know, the boundaries, the
borders. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it
are the, what is it? If you look into that, it is,
for out of it are the borders of your life. Out of it are the
issues of your life. It is in the heart that the parameters
of your existence are determined, you see. So we keep our heart
with all diligence. And so as we look here, we see
that this principle extends to every area of government. And
this is so interesting to me. to see that a child left to himself
brings shame to his mother. And if the Lord would leave me
to myself, I would bring shame to him. And then we have also
Proverbs 23, 24 and 25. The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice. And he who begets a wise child
will delight in him. He wasn't begotten wise, was
he? No. It is only after great labor
that you have a wise child. Let your father and your mother
be glad, and let her who bore you rejoice. You see, that is
what he is saying in John 15, where he says, By this my father
is glorified. When he has such children who
bear much fruit, you see. By this my father is glorified
that you bear much fruit so you will be my disciples. Well, let's continue. Point number
three is that it is only in this place of government of obedience,
of submission is that we will find joy. This is the only place
you can find joy. These things I have spoken to
you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be
full. Obedience and joy are inseparable. It's really all I would have
to say on this point. And this is where I'm often shown
up. If I am lacking in joyfulness,
you see, it's because I'm lacking in obedience somewhere. I believe
that is true 100% of the time. that if I am lacking in joy,
then He says, these things I have spoken to you that my joy. You
see, in verse 9, it is my love. In verse 11, it is my joy. You see, that is why we see this
as being in Christ. that it is not just a theory
out here anymore. It's not just a vague idea. No, it has literal implications
that His love is living in me. His joy is my reality. You see, we talk about this idea
of being in union with Christ. Well, it has real implications,
you see. These things I have spoken to
you that my joy may remain in you or may abide in you or may
continue in you and that your joy may be full. Just a beautiful, a beautiful
point of discipleship here. Do we lack joy? I know I do. Joy is not necessarily happiness. It is a much deeper truth than
that. It is a place of simply that
we are rejoicing in our belonging to Him. That He is mine and I
am His. He is my beloved. You see, I
may not be happy, that my cows came out, or whatever.
I may not be happy that I had a crop failure, but I am rejoicing
in the Lord. I have joy in Christ, regardless
of these, you know, what does it say in Habakkuk? Where it
says, though there be no flock in the stall, yet I will rejoice
in God my Savior. It's a beautiful passage, you
can look it up. The last couple verses of the Minor Prophet Habakkuk. Joy. Joy. That my joy may remain in you. See, it is these commandments
that ultimately produce our joy. Isn't that amazing? It sounds
counterintuitive. You having to submit and breaking
your will in front of God in front of whoever else that you're
called to submit to. Truly, we see that so many times
in the life of our children, isn't it? They come to a place
of disobedience and we discipline, and then their hearts are restored
to us. We literally get the privilege of delivering them from the guilt
of their disobedience. That's the wonder that as parents
we have. And this is what the Lord does
for us. He, as we obey, as we submit, our joy is restored. He says,
the psalmist says, restoring to me the joy of my salvation. Well, we cannot truly pray that
if we are not interested in repenting. You see, that prayer is by nature
a prayer of repentance. Lord, here I am. Please forgive
me for this sin. Please forgive me for my waywardness,
and please restore to me the joy of my salvation. You see,
we can be saved, but we can be unjoyful in our salvation, and
we should not be. And so this is a message of discipleship,
of bringing glory to God through our joyfulness. Notice what he continues here,
this is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved
you. Now we are again given a commandment
that this is something that we are to give attention to, that
we love each other as he has given us an example of his own
love. As I have loved you. He says
greater love has no one than this. And I believe this is speaking
into the fact that he is planning to give his life for them. He
says greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's
life for his friends. And truly, that is the picture
that he left for us. So he laid down his life for
his friends. You are my friends. If you do whatever I command
you. You see, there is this place of intimacy as we obey. We grow in this relationship. We move. He doesn't just call
us servants. He says there in verse 15, no
longer do I call you servants. I think what he is saying that
I am not only calling you servants, because later in this, it is
not very far down here, I'm not sure where it is, he does call
them servants. Yes, verse 20. Remember the word
I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. So I
think what he is saying there, that my relationship with you
is not just you serving me, but there's an intimacy in our relationship.
We have a friendship together. We are, we, we, intimately in
fellowship with each other. This comes from us responding
to His Word, obeying His Word, listening to His commands, being
submitted to the parameters of our fellowship and of our relationship. You are my friends if you do
whatever I command you. And notice what he says, I do
not call you servants for a servant does not know what his master
is doing, but I've called you friends. For all things that
I have heard from my father, I have made known to you. And
this is where I wanted to go with the next point. And that
is that his love has been portrayed by his revelation to us. And
if you go back to the Colossians 1 passage. What does Paul say? He says, I am willing to rejoice
in my sufferings for you so that I can reveal these truths to
you. You follow my logic here? Christ was doing this, he was
the example of that. I am willing to humble myself,
take upon the form of a servant, come down to earth, live my life
before you, even take the... separation from my Heavenly Father,
so that I might reveal these truths to you." Notice he says,
I have called you friends for all things that I have heard
from my Father. I have declared or I have made
known to you. I have revealed them to you.
I have manifested them to you. And I think he even, if you go
back to this idea of verse 9, as the Father loved me, The way
we know how the Father loved Him is by the way the Lord loved
us, you see. And so that is a revelation even
in His incarnation of His ministry. Just He in His coming has revealed
His heart of love to us. And by the way, Abraham is a
beautiful example of this idea of a friend. You know, there's
two places in the Old Testament that he is called the friend
of God. In James 2 23 it refers to Abraham being called the friend
of God and if you go back to John I mean a Genesis I think
it's Genesis 18 and you don't have to turn there. I'll just
read this for you Genesis 18 in verse 17 You remember this account where
the Lord came with the two angels and Abraham prepared a meal for
them and they were on the way to Sodom to destroy the place. And so this is what the Lord
said in Genesis 18 and verse 17. verse 16 it says, Then the men
rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with
them to send them on the way. Abraham was unaware of what was
in their plans. Notice, And the Lord said, Shall
I hide from Abraham what I am doing? Since Abraham shall surely
become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth
shall be blessed in him. For I have known him Abraham
had a relationship with the Lord in such a way, in such a fashion
that the Lord said, Embark on this mission without
revealing to Abraham what I'm going to do. And so he is called
the friend of God now Jesus tells the disciples he said I refer
to you as Friends I relate to you as friends. You will know
me you will know my plans and you Actually, I've revealed everything
to you already. That's why I'm calling you friends
and And it's John 1, 18, where he that dwelleth in the bosom
of the Father, he has declared him, you see. And so this friendship,
this intimacy, this is the ultimate end of our discipleship, isn't
it? That we would grow in intimacy
and fellowship with him. I have, again, an interesting
passage in Psalm 25. I want to just bring in here. That is in
verse 14. He says, The secret of the Lord
is with those who fear Him. The secret of the Lord is with
those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. We have Christ loving us and
revealing these things to us that we might know the mind of
God. And I believe that even more
fully as we come into the next couple, like chapter 16 about
the coming, or even the end of chapter 15, the coming of the
Holy Spirit is descending forth from the sun. That is so that
we might have this intimate fellowship that we might grow in this relationship with Christ, that
we might know Him, that Christ would be in us, and that out
of this then, out of this growth and relationship with Christ,
there's a glory that comes out of our life. That is Christ in
us. This hope of glory. Let's continue here in our passage.
He says in verse 16, I just think, well,
maybe just in case they thought that they were of such a caliber
that they were blessed in this fashion. No, he says in verse
16, you did not choose me. You did not choose me. And this,
again, I'm thinking about Colossians 1 where he says, the father willed
to make known. The father willed to make known.
Now he says, you did not choose me, but I chose you. Lest you
by any means think that you have some spiritual clout here. No,
I chose you. and appointed you or ordained
you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should
remain, that your fruit should stay, that it should be acceptable. This fruit bearing is directly
linked to his choosing of his children. You did not choose
me, I chose you and appointed you. that whatever you ask the
Father in my name, He may give you. And this comes back to verse
seven again, that you will ask what you desire and it shall
be done for you. This is because of the relationship, because
of the obedience, because of our submission. We do not ask
anything not according to His will. When we ask according to
His will, we have the promise that He will give it to us. That whatever you ask the Father
in my name, He may give you. These things I command you that
you love one another. There's one commentary pointed
out. He says, these things I command you, as if he were going to give
a whole list of things, right? And then he gives that you love
one another. And this, that's the second time
in this short text that he says, that he commands us to love one
another. This is my commandment, you love
one another as I have loved you in verse 12. So maybe that is our specific
point of weakness in the New Testament. One commentary pointed
out that in the Old Testament the admonition to have no other
gods before you. This tendency to idolatry was
most often addressed. Now here in the New Testament,
maybe this is our unique weakness, that we were called to this place
of obedience in loving each other. But the thing of it is, just
think about it. If you've been loved by the Lord
the way the Father loved the Lord and the Lord now loves you,
isn't now, now you have the means whereby you can love your brother,
you can love your sister. This is the great call here to
us. Again, as I have loved you.
Christ In You The Hope Of Glory
Series John's Gospel of Jesus Christ
| Sermon ID | 102724179533877 |
| Duration | 57:46 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Colossians 1:24-29; John 15:9-17 |
| Language | English |
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