Our scripture reading this morning is in John chapter 15. Pastor Mark said when he was thinking of a name to read the scripture, he thought of my name because we have a small vineyard, 40 vines, and I definitely can relate to trimming branches, pulling them off to burn the branches. So, thank you, I'm pleased. Now, as in the company of Jesus' ministry, John 15. I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, He takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit, He proves that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I 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 be 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, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, for all 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 abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I have said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen that hate of both me and my father. But the word that is written in the law must be fulfilled. They hated me without a cause. But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father in the spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. and you will also bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. Thank you, my brother John. I appreciate your willingness and reading of scripture this morning. Well, I hope you do have your Bible open to John chapter 15. We are continuing to work through this heading toward Easter. We plan on, Lord willing, to land on the resurrection context by Easter morning. And so that is just great. And we do have a really nice Easter breakfast that day that I just want to invite you and invite some friends and looking forward to what the Lord does as we continue working through the word together. I put the Irish flag up this morning as a representation of tomorrow being St. Patrick's Day and it's for us to always be aware of different things culturally. I think it's an important thing as we understand why we do what we do and I'm talking about all of us and sometimes we're just doing life the way we are but Let me give you a little context concerning Irish, a little bit of Irish history, especially concerning the flag. But green, when you talk about Irish history, green is often associated with Catholicism. and the Irish nationalist movement, while orange represents Protestantism and the Orange Order, a fraternal organization involved there in Ireland. Green and Catholicism. The color green has been strongly linked to Irish Catholicism, particularly due to its association with the Irish nationalistic movement and the Irish flag, which features a green stripe. Orange, on the other hand, is associated with Protestantism, stemming from the historical connection to William of Orange, a Protestant king who overthrew the Roman Catholic King James II in the Glorious Revolution. The Orange Order, which is a Protestant fraternal organization, is also strongly associated with the color orange and the Protestant identity in Northern Ireland. The Irish flag with its vertical blocks of green, white, and orange is representative of the blending of the cultures. The green represents the majority of Roman Catholics, the orange represents the minority Protestants, and the white in the center symbolizes purity and peace between the two sides. And you know, if you've watched any history, how there's been battles that have gone on for a very long time with both of those religious groups. And so on St. Patrick's Day, while green is widely associated with St. Patrick's Day, Some Protestants in Ireland may choose to wear orange on that day as a way to express their own identity and that heritage. So this holiday, which actually is tied to a saint who, by the way, when you become a Christian, you become a saint. I just want you to know, you are called out one. We don't have to go through some sort of process for sainthood. We, because of what Christ did, we become saints. It just isn't necessarily, that doesn't appear in a book somewhere about us, okay? I mean, Book of Life, when the books are finally opened, if you've received Christ, you are a saint. I know sometimes we don't live like them, but the reality is positionally, that's where we're at. And so we have St. Patrick's Day, which is a celebration, and you have all that's tied to that with corned beef and cabbage and things along that line. But also the whole idea of luck comes up. And luck, is interesting. I saw a quote by actually by the Roman Senator Seneca. He said this, luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Okay, let me repeat that. Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Like, I don't know if you, it's March Madness is coming up, and you and I, if you ever are into basketball, you're watching what's going on with the college tournament, and you'll see these things where what is called a Cinderella team, or a David team beats a Goliath, or something happens where there's a last second shot, and you see this guy, he's almost stumbling, and he just throws it up there and, Right through the net. What a lucky shot. And we could think that way, but the reality is there is an element usually of that person on the court of preparation. That they've worked a little bit. I saw one just recently in a high school tournament in Nebraska where the guy got the ball and he went beyond half court and just goes through. What a lucky shot. He threw it that direction, okay? And he has some element, I know some of you, I've seen some people play, it's lucky, all right? But there's some element to the preparation and that opportunity and that combines to make something happen. There's no such thing as luck. I know some of you are like, no, I'm telling you. Well, we can keep going around. We can say those things about karma. We can say all those things. God is sovereign. He's in control. And so as we even look at our word today, there is a God who's in control of that stuff. He even talks about the roll of the dice that's in his hands. And so I say all that to you as a reminder that sometimes some things are happening, oh, I just had some bad luck. Understand God loves you. He's for you. All of these things, he knows what's going on. And we come to him this morning as people that can rest in that and trust in that, that it's not like something happens, God's like, I can't believe that. Well, now what do I do? God's always aware and we can look to him. So let's pray and then look into the word together. Father, thank you again. that you are in control. Thank you that we can rest in you and trust in you and ask you now that as we are spending this time together, that Father, you use your word to push us, to help us and guide us and that we would get it, that we have an understand each and every one of us as we desire to be obedient to you, God. Help us in our unbelief and it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Well, as I've already mentioned, we're in John 15. If you want to take notes in the back of your bulletin, there is a section there that talks about or gives you opportunity to fill in some blanks. And there will also be some context that I will allude to that we're not going to look at, but maybe later as you're doing Bible study, you're going, you know, he mentioned that I want to, I want that to be something that's the case in my life. But listen to this from a commentary on the book of John. He says this, in John 15, one through 11, he used a grapevine as an illustration of spiritual truth. What called this illustration to the master's mind? Perhaps the closeness of the disciples, or perhaps the moonlit tendrils of a vine at the window. So remember he's in the upper room. What would make him use this? Because Jesus is the perfect teacher. What would make him do this? Well, these guys are close, that comes to mind, He looked out the window and he saw a vine and he goes, I wanna use something that would communicate that to them. But regardless of the fact that Israel was thought of in terms of a vine, reinforced his use of this image. For example, for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting, Isaiah 5, 7. The grapevine, hear me on this one, the grapevine was a symbol of national life. That emblem appeared on coins minted during the Maccabean period, which was just before the time where Jesus is there. Their regard for it's resembling our regard for stars and stripes. So when you and I would look at the flag and it would mean something to you, Jesus, if he was preaching in America at this time, he'd use things. that you and I would resonate with. He would do that because he wants us to understand what he's saying. And so he would use this vine picture. And they go, oh, I get that, because it's part of their everyday life. And so this first section here that we're looking at today, and we're looking at 27 verses, we're working on some casting. Think of us, Jesus is a director, and he's putting together a story, a play, and there's some casting to these different roles that are going on. And so point number one, as we're doing this together, is being fruitful. being fruitful. Look again with what John already read. with us this morning, verse one. I am the true vine. Now think about that. Why would he put that there? There's a potential for a false vine, okay? So he goes, I'm the true vine, and this is the last of the I ams. Remember, when Jesus has been working through stuff with them, each time he's been, there's seven I ams. I'm the way, the truth, and life. I'm the resurrection, life. I'm the door, all those different things. He used the I am because that was the God name from the Old Testament with Moses. And so he says, I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. The old King James word I think was husbandmen, okay? And this is the last of those seven claims. And now John is communicating what Jesus is trying to get across to these disciples. There's 11 left, Judas is out now, and he's doing his dirty work. He's setting things up. He thinks that he's gonna have this payday, but ultimately it's gonna be something bad that happens here. Well, let's move to verse two. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes that it may bear fruit, may bear more fruit. And so this picture of this vine dresser getting rid of dead wood so that this living fruit bearing branches may be sharply distinguished there. But there's been different interpretations, but I'm gonna tell you what I believe is the case I believe that the fruitless branches are people that have never been saved, are not saved. In fact, throughout the Bible, the whole idea of a fruitless tree is an oxymoron. There'll be people that will rationalize this away. They'll look at somebody and they'll go, yeah, that person, I know they have no interest in going to church. They have no interest in things of God, but back when they were seven, they went to an Awana club or they were in a Sunday school class or they were at a VBS and they prayed a prayer But since then, nothing has happened in their life that would show that they are a believer. And Jesus is getting across that the case here is those people were never saved. They may appear in the word there in me or in Christ. Don't let that confuse you because that was Judas too. He's part of a group of people that they would look at and go, he's one of the disciples. but he wasn't saved. His life hadn't been changed. He had no fruit. And so that branch is taken to what looks like judgment as we keep working through the context here. But for the Christian, he prunes. He removes all things in the believer's lives that would hinder fruit bearing. That's sometimes he's chastising, he cuts away these hindrances that would drain our spiritual life, just as a farmer removes anything on the branches that keep them from bearing maximum fruit. And so context is king. I hope that we're all in agreement. When I'm looking at the word of God, I want a context. And we would want that if we're writing a letter to somebody, we wouldn't want necessarily, you know, let's say you're, you got this, this boyfriend that you want to break up with. I'm not setting anything up here. Okay. But those are called dear John letters. No offense to John's, just how it is. Okay. And in it, the letter would say something like, I think you're a great guy. But all the rest of the letter is going, we're done, all right? If you wanted to rip it out of context, you'd go, I want you to show you the one verse in here. She thinks I'm a great guy. She must still love me. It's almost like on Dumb and Dumber, I think I've got a chance. And you live with that verse, not written, no, but there's a whole context around that letter that's basically saying, you're done, it's over. We can do that with the word of God. So context is king. Spurgeon, I won't get into the whole quote, Spurgeon talks about this, and it blew his mind. In fact, I will. He would have, in his, yeah, I gotta do this, okay. He says this, who will venture to say that a man who yields no fruit of righteousness can really be a Christian? He'd be astounded. A Spurgeon in his day would, with what we do sometimes, the mental jumping jacks that we do to rationalize somebody being a part of the Christian life and Christian walk because we want so badly to believe that they're a Christian with no fruit in their life, none at all. And so this context shows that, let alone And I'm not gonna go through every verse, but I want you to know that every time this analogy is used, talking about fruit, it's always talking about salvation, not sanctification. It's always talking about a person that has either saved or not saved. It's not talking about a person who is saved, but kind of only by the skin of their teeth. They're just enough to get them in, and they can live like the devil, and they die, and at the funeral, everybody's crying. It'll be so good to see them again. They're up there waiting for me, and they're cracking a beer for those good old days, and rationalizing, no, if they've never had any fruit, if there's been nothing that would communicate that. there's a concern. And granted, I don't know what happens in the quietness of somebody's heart before they go to glory. Understand that. But understand, we are called, constantly in the Word, to be fruit inspectors. We're called to be people that hold each other accountable and love each other enough to tell each other the truth. Well, I'll give you some context, but I want you to look at this, Matthew 7, beginning in verse 15. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. And so he puts that out to the people that need to hear that. And I want you to notice in the next context, verse 21, look what he says. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, so this is a judgment day, many will say, Lord, Lord, do we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, of lawlessness. And so you can have this, I'm thinking, I'm a believer, but there's no fruit at all. And we come to another context, Matthew 13, beginning at verse 18. This is Jesus, oh, by the way, this is a parable that was told in all four Gospels. That didn't always happen. Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word, understands it, he indeed bears fruit and yields. In one case, a hundredfold, in another case, And what I like about that is we also have an understanding as we hear that, that there are those that have bunches of fruit that show up. But there is some element of fruit even on the minimum number there. The idea of not having any fruit is not even entering the text. And so that's that context. And I'll give you a couple more. We're not going to look at them. Matthew 3, 7 through 12. Matthew 12, 33 through 37. Matthew 21, 33 through 41. And then the famous fruit of the spirit, Galatians 5, 22 and 23. And if you didn't get those at some point, I can get those to you later. But I just want you to understand that first of all, we have context, which is King. Remember, Judas has just hit the road. They don't know why he's gone. They thought that he's going to give, maybe do something to take care of the poor or he's doing something, some other. Good thing, they've got this idea that Jesus is doing something good. He's the last person that they would think was gonna do what he's gonna do. Jesus knows, contextually, that this group of 11 needs to understand that when the truth does come out, they would go, oh, he was that guy. That's why that happened. And he also knows that years later, you and I are gonna be reading this. We're gonna be hearing the word. We're gonna have an understanding of these things and to know, okay, this is what it looks like for people that claim to be Christians, but there's no fruit at all. And so that's just the context and also the analogy. Well, let's keep going. Verse three, already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. And so this commitment to the word, this understanding I wanna be obedient to the word, receptivity to the word, and then the idea of staying in the word. Verse four, abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. He's saying, here's what he, this calling of God on your life and mine as believers. How do I abide in him? I stay close. I take what he says seriously. The things that saved you are the things that continually help you with abiding or sanctifying you. What happened when you got saved? You heard the word, you acted on it, and you obey it. You've heard about that book, that famous book that says, everything that I needed to know, I learned in kindergarten, that you really needed to know. Sanctification, this is gonna sound really deep, get ready. You hear the word, you receive it, and you're obedient to it. Wouldn't it be a great thing if we were obedient to just the things we know about God? Not like, oh, what's the will of God? And you're looking for this mystic thing. And here's an idea for the young ones. Clean your room. Husbands, love your wives. Be respectful. We could keep going on the different things that are basic things that the world would look and go, there's something different about that person. It's not this, this explosion that has to happen. It's just the steady every day and just being obedient, that's abiding. And when I don't abide, there's death to that. I was just talking to the men's breakfast yesterday and we were talking about this whole idea of a fruit, a tree planted by the rivers of water bearing much fruit. You ever do this where you're sleeping and you just lay in there and this thing, there's no blood in it anymore. And you wake up and you look and you go, what's that? Because you don't feel it. And then you're like, live, live. Why? Because that's what it looks like all the time. Not abiding. What's a branch without life in it, that has no fruit in it. Deep, get ready, it's deep. It's a stick. That's it. The calling on our lives is to abide so that that sap, you're all looking at me, oh, good name, yes, would just flow, staying connected. Life, fruit growing as a result of it. Verse five, I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit for apart from me, you can do nothing. Isn't that a powerful verse? What can I do without God? Nothing, nothing. So how is that fruit produced? I wanna be fruitful. When it's all said and done, I would love to hear from God, well done, thou good and faithful servant. It's by abiding. It's not struggling. It's not striving. It's understanding that he's changed our heart and I'm tied into him. And when he says so, okay, that's what you want? You don't want me to lie? You don't want this, you don't, oh, okay, that's what you said. And it's fruitful. So many, I've had doctor friends that were talking and somebody would come back and they had a thing that was given to them by the doctor and then good things start happening in that person's life. And what'd you, I just did, I actually did what he said. Instead of looking for the quick fix, okay, that's what you want me to do, I'll do it. Verse six, if anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. Wow, if our life isn't bearing fruit, it's good for nothing. It's kindling. And to do that fruit inspecting, where am I at when it comes to the Lord? Verse seven, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. Imagine that kind of thinking if I'm abiding with the Lord and the reason I can ask whatever I wish is because I'm in tune with him. I actually think biblically. My prayers aren't just selfish. Understanding, God, you're in control. I want to pray lining myself up with you. Abide, the idea of being at home in Psalm 1, 19, 11, a very familiar verse to all of us. I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. That's why constantly we're encouraging Bible memorization or just reading the word. It really messes up your sin life. Because you're like, oh, I can't do that anymore. That doesn't work when I'm lining myself up with him and his thinking. and my abiding affects my prayer life. Let's keep going, verse eight. By this, my father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. So there's an element to this Christian walk, this discipleship walk, that when people see us, that how we're living our lives communicates if I'm a child of God. Bearing fruit shows who your daddy is. It shows who you and I are following. Point number two, being loving, being loving. Look at verse nine. As the Father has loved me, so have I 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. So Jesus is going, I'm not asking of you anything that I haven't been doing. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. And so he promises this. He says, there's this idea of joy that comes as a result of that abiding. This constant sense of I'm doing right. You know that as a child of your father, a child of your mom. You know when you're pleasing them. You know that you have nothing to be embarrassed of when you see them. They pull up in the driveway and you're like, as opposed to, I'm not doing anything that I need to be embarrassed about. Verse 12, this is my commandment, that you love one another, that you love one another as I have loved you. And how'd they start this meal off? Remember, they got into the room, what happened? Dirty feet, who steps up? God in the flesh is the one who starts washing stinky old feet, all right? And he's saying, I just want you to know, I'm calling you to this. I'm calling you to have this kind of mindset. But loving Jesus is one thing. Loving one another, that's what really shows it. I can talk all day about how much I love Jesus, but if I'm not loving you, Because it's easy, Jesus is invisible. You don't know how much I'm really loving Jesus. I show my love for Jesus by loving you and vice versa. Verse 13, greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. Now they don't know the full extent of this. Jesus has told them a bunch of times what he's going to do. I don't know if you guys remember seeing the movie, The Passion, if you didn't watch The Passion, it's rough, Passion of Christ. But I don't know about you, when you watch a movie like that and you see what Jesus went through, there's a part of you go, I will never sin again. I will never sin again. Look what he did. And to remember what he's done. And you know that I will never sin again thing. Verse 13. Oh, that's what we just read. Verse 14. You are my friends if you do what I command you. Isn't that interesting? He's putting stipulations on this friendship. He's saying, if you desire to line yourself up with me, that's my calling on your life. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends. For all that I have heard from my father, I have made known to you. Just as Abraham was called the friend of God, look at this in James two, verse 23. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God and was counted to him as righteousness. And he was called a friend of God. And so what makes him a friend of God? First of all, believing God's word, but also understanding that I want to line myself up with God. He enjoyed that extraordinary access to the mind of God's revelation to him. And so he believed, but he also follows him as we are called to follow Christ. Look at verse 16, you did not choose me, but I chose you, that's a powerful verse, and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you. He's stressing that the disciples were and they're based not on their choice for Him, but on His choice for them. In verse 17, these things I command you so that you will love. one another. This is a commandment. This isn't a suggestion. I don't know if you've ever heard this story before, but I'd like to share it with you. Some of you may have heard it before. This next slide here. A number of years ago on the Southern California campus, University of Southern California, there was a sociology teacher named Leo Biscaglia, okay? And He, as he was teaching this first course in his sociology, if you've ever, as a teacher, been teaching, you're doing your first course, those of you that are teaching could really appreciate this, and he's teaching at a college, he's nervous. And as he taught, I think he entitled this little thing that he put together, The Girl in the Fifth Row. This young girl caught his eye. And I think her name was Liani. And he would watch her and she would listen to him and take notes and empathize on the good points and nod when she would give a cent. That's always nice, by the way, I'm not forcing you to do anything, I'm just telling you that there's something beautiful about that. And there were compassionate points and she would lean forward and he could tell she was into his teaching. And he said she was such an empathetic young lady that he ended up teaching his class just looking at her. And then one Monday she wasn't there. And Wednesday, and then she wasn't there. And then Friday, she wasn't there. And he wondered where she was. And next Monday, she wasn't there again. And he thought, she might be sick. And he asked one of the fellows there, he said, where is she? And they said they didn't know. And he went to the registrar, and he asked, and he said, oh, you didn't hear? She threw herself off the Pacific Palisades. That's like a cliff area there. She killed herself. She said, for what reason? They said she was just lonely and she felt unloved and nobody cared about her. So she saw no reason for living. This is a girl that was empathetic, smiling. She's the one that he was staring at and she just seemed to be okay. And he thought about that. And he thought about the wellspring of appreciation for her and wished that he could have talked to her for five minutes to tell her how much worth and how good that she was and the worth that she had and she died. And he said to himself, you know, we're teaching all these kids and they've got all these academic fields of inquiry and yet in the basic issue of loving somebody, we got a kid on campus that doesn't even think anybody loves him. in one of the biggest campuses in California, and he said, this can't happen. This was the 70s, he went to the heads of the department, he said, I wanna do a class on loving. They said, what are you gonna call it? He goes, loving. He wrote a book, in fact, the next slide. He says, I'm just gonna teach about how to love. They said, you ever taught? He goes, nope. They said, you've ever been where it's been taught? Nope. And he books on it, nope. But he said, somebody better teach it. This is an essential quality of life. It's what we're all looking for. We don't have a clue what it is. And so he went and he taught loving with a degree in loving. He didn't have one either. He said this, and it's kind of funny, he said this. He said, my only claim to be able to teach this class is that I'm Italian. Isn't that beautiful? They're just huggers, you know. And he said, at least my family would hug. And he just got a bunch of these college students together, taught the first semester, the second semester, and they started to line up before class signups to get in there and they'd sprint to his table. It became the most popular course in the Southern California campus because it was the only course that could actually transform the individual. Not enlighten them, but as much as merely a virtue can do, it turned kids' lives around. It didn't just educate it, it changed them for the better. And everybody wanted to be in that class, even though it was a scary class, because there were no big lectures. He made you love. The class would begin that you had to turn and hug somebody. And I know some of you would be like, we ain't starting that here, okay? He would have an assignment to where you'd call an ex-enemy and you had to be reconciled. You had to learn how to apologize. You had to learn how to forgive. And then you had another class. He might say, you have to have a 20 minute conversation with somebody and you can only speak twice. That's all. You have to, by your very eye contact, inspire another individual to listen or to talk. And you are to listen to them and be a good listener. He made them go home and love their parents. He made them tell three people that they loved each other. He would make them take a $20 bill and give it away to an absolute stranger simply on a benevolent need. You have to give it away. You'd have to do three good deeds. You'd have to do a good deed to somebody over 70. You'd have to do a good deed to someone under six. He made you love children. He made men do compassionate deeds to women and women to men. He made you do it to different racial groups. In other words, what he did, it's called Christianity without Christ. There's a whole book here. I don't know if you noticed, we do this every week. There's a whole book here on how you and I are to love people, love one another. Because all of this doctrinal stuff doesn't mean a thing without love. Prayer, Bible study, All those things are valid, but we could become pharisaical. Yes, we could win Bible jeopardy, I guess, but to allow God to change our lives. And so this is a calling on your life and mine. That story moved me so much to thank God if that man knew that, and he's not a person that claimed the name of Christ. that this would be Christ in you, the hope of glory, that we would give it, that we would become a person, persons, that we are known, that we love people. We move from that in this same context to point number three, being hated, being hated. Look at verse 18. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you are of the world, the world will love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Now I'm telling you, there will be people that you and I will come and go, I love Jesus, I don't understand. And they have no interest in things of God usually, but they love Jesus. They cannot, biblically speaking, love the biblical Jesus. They love a Jesus that they've created in their own mind that allows them to live a certain way and act a certain way. And so loving Jesus means I gotta love every aspect of how he is communicated about in this word. And Jesus says, and Jesus doesn't lie, if they hate you, understand, they hated me before they hated you. Paul told Timothy that this would be the case. Look at this, 2 Timothy 3.12. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life, does anybody here desire to live a godly life? I hope your hands are up. After you read the verse, you're gonna go. All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. So if our heart's desire is I wanna be, I want everybody to like me, which by the way, doesn't work. I wonder where the wind's blowing them. I want people to like me. Trust me, people pleaser 101, I'm in that class. But the calling on our life is to live godly. Not, it doesn't say to be a jerk, because if I'm persecuted for being a jerk, you're persecuted because you're being a jerk, right? But to live godly. There'll be people who will not like that. It's a fact, it's basically Jesus saying they're gonna hate you if you line yourself up with me, because they hated me in the first place. And the reason they hate you is because of this. Look at verse 20. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. So we're his servant. So we're not going to get out of this. He's the master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they would also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. The reason is because we are the light. If our hearts desire us to be in light. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 5. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. There's a difference with us. Just your being there. I've told you before about that kid who threw the snowball at me at snow trip. And it's because I got in his nerves. And later he said to me, it's because you just, you loved me. And I did not like what you were expecting of me. He became a pastor later. Amen. All right. But that snowball hurt. Let's keep going. Okay. I was persecuted. All right. Let's keep going. Verse 23. Whoever hates me, hates my father also. A person cannot say he loves God if he does not love Jesus. Verse 24, if I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my father. But the word that is written in their law must be fulfilled. They hated me without cause. And so he's quoting a couple of Psalms there. And understand that David is saying these things because David aligned himself with God. Saul hated him. Why? Because Saul wasn't walking with God. And so Jesus is saying, this is me too, prophetically. Last point, being witnesses, point number four, verses 26 and 27. But when the helper comes, now he's going back about the Holy Spirit, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me, and you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. And so this is put to the disciples, but it's also put to us that just understand this, I'm the vine, you're the branches. I want you to have fruit in your life. I want you to love one another, even though this is hard. Thomas, I want you to get along with James. I know you have these issues, but you gotta love one another, because this will show something. But understand this too, as you love one another, there's gonna be people that hate you. He's being honest. And then he goes, and then I want you to invite them, witness to them about what I've done in your life. because you can't just keep this to yourself. That's a lot in that chapter, you think about. I love testimonies. I saw this testimony by Sadie Robertson-Huff, related to the Robertsons of Duck Dynasty, thank you. But she's sharing a testimony here, and I thought this was really powerful. Take a listen to Sadie Robertson-Huff. She goes, all of a sudden, when you see a positive, it's like, Talk about pregnancy sex. Like, it's so early on that you don't have any symptoms yet, no one knows, you're probably not going to tell anybody. You're just trying to figure out, my life is changing. Yes, I know that's true because there's positive, but in reality, nothing's changed yet. Then, whenever you go to the doctor, it's just the craziest thing in the whole world. You get there, and you haven't thought about change, you haven't thought anything different, and all of a sudden, you hear a heartbeat. And it is the most miraculous thing. Most of us are actually going to get to experience a heartbeat. When you hear a heartbeat inside you, you're like, this is crazy. This is amazing. There is a supernatural reality happening inside of me. And it's normally like this. When people find out they're pregnant, this is a positive process. You don't tell people you're pregnant until after you've been adopted. Why? Because you have a confirmation that there's life inside of you. And after you have a confirmation that there's life inside of you, From that point on, it changes everything about who you are. It changes the way that you walk, the way you talk, the way you eat, the way you sleep, the way that you prepare for today's your future. It really changes your day. I went from a baby to a mom. Everything about my life changed. I tell everybody about it. They can't even help it. They're never a part of it. This is an amazing, miraculous thing. ever, that, oh, God, this is so cool. And I think a lot of people in the church live in this state of just getting the positive, right? The positive tense, like, yeah, I'm saved. Facts. Yeah, that's the Bible. Facts. True. Yes, it is. It's telling God. Positive. True. But it hasn't changed anything about who you are. There's not a confirmation of life. No one's seen a difference in the way that you talk, in the way that you walk, in the way that you eat, in the way that you drink, in the way that you plan for your future. You haven't been responsible for this in your life. Nothing's really changed. You have a first something new, like, where's the miraculous? Where's the heartbeat? And I think so many people need to really admit the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is literally alive and living inside of you. That's the most miraculous thing that we all get to be a part of. Amen? Let's pray. Father, thank you again for your gracious goodness to us. I ask you, God, that we would be people fruit inspecting in our own life, that we draw a circle around us and say, have I demonstrated that I'm a child of God because some fruit has happened? Maybe it was just the fruit of confession. The fruit of acknowledging that I need a savior. That's a big first step. I ask you, God, to do your work so that when it's all said and done, it isn't just this pregnancy test alone, but it is a thing that is confirmed in our life. It's changed our lives. You have changed our lives. And I thank you for that. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.