And good evening. As I promised this morning, I would give you just a little brief update over the last year. The ministry continues. God, in His mercy, continues to let me serve Him. And I say that purposely that way. He doesn't owe me that privilege. It is a grace and it's part of the journey in grace that I have been privileged to experience and I am so grateful. It's amazing as I travel and see different churches and different people that God would be so pleased to show his kindness to give me that opportunity. What a delight, what a privilege. We continue to not only do the itinerant ministry, but we continue in other avenues. I think I told you the last time I was here, we had just started a podcast, a weekly podcast, and if I didn't, I apologize, but it's been going on over a year. You can go to our website, realtruthmatters.com, or you can go to the Apple App Store podcast, or Google Play, or any of the major podcast platforms And it comes out every Tuesday, a new podcast. And you can keep up with us there and hear that. And then we continue to write. We've published our first book last year, The Fight of Faith, How a Christian Can Experience Assurance of Salvation. And I'm actually working on two books right now. And so pray for me as I continue to write, as God gives me liberty and power to do so. But one of the most exciting things that I think I am so graced by God to get to do is to actually go into the underground church in China without ever leaving my door. It's interesting what many thought would happen through COVID and how many powers that be used it to promote their agenda. God takes that which is evil and intended for such and turns it to good. At least it has been in our case. With COVID, a lot of people started meeting on Zoom, if you might remember, two and a half years ago. We were involved in a ministry formed by a church in Toronto, a completely Chinese church, mainly of first-generation immigrants from China. And the other ministry that helped to form this ministry to mainland China was a ministry called HeartCry by missionary Paul Washer, long-term standing friend of mine for over 30 years. And back in 1916, 1916, 2016, I'm not that old. The Lord let me have the privilege of going and just preaching on the weekend to that church in one of their conferences where they record everything, video, and then they subtitle it and then they smuggle that information, those sermons into mainland China to many underground churches. And when I go, I start on Friday night. And by the time Sunday night is completed, I've preached 10 times and done a two hour q&a and loved every moment of it. And so when the COVID came, We couldn't go to Toronto. I still can't go to Toronto. The borders still closed to those who have not been vaccinated. And so what the ministry decided to do was to weekly, through Zoom, have a preacher like myself preach to hundreds of people in the underground churches in China. So every Friday night, which is Saturday morning in China, I'm speaking. We record the sermon on Wednesday morning and they pump that in to mainland China. And then on every other Monday morning, I'll have about an hour and a half Q&A with 50 to 60 Chinese pastors, pastors of churches, underground churches. And it's a remarkable opportunity. Many of these churches have not been so instructed in the faith like you and I. Their churches are torn with divisive doctrine, false doctrine. When COVID struck, the Chinese government outlawed any gathering over the size of 30. So let's say you had a church of 100. Now you had to have three separate congregations to house all these people, but there wasn't enough pastors to do that. And so men have been put into ministry that are not qualified or well-trained. And so you can imagine the chaos. Many people have heard about the revival in China. Well, there is no revival in China anymore. That was about 20 years ago. Right now, China and the church is in great persecution, and they do need our prayers. So we have heard feedback these last two and a half years. God is using this ministry to really structure, restructure, reform churches. And in some cases, there has been genuine moves of God. Currently, I'm taking them through the book of Ephesians every Wednesday morning, and we're in the second chapter of Ephesians, verses 19 and 20, and we'll do so when I return next week. So that's a little bit about the ministry. One new thing that happened since I was here last is that God has provided Karen and I a home, the first home we have ever owned in our lives. I've been preaching and pastoring since I was 20 years old. Of course, I wasn't a Christian those first few years. Thought I was, but I wasn't. But I've been living in parsonages or rented houses all of our married life. We've been married 41 years. In 2009, the Lord made a promise to Karen and I, he was going to give us a home. Now, I'm not going to go into all the details, how that transpired, but just believe me, Karen and I had an assurance in our heart that somehow, and we didn't know how, that God was going to provide that to us. When the Lord called me into full-time itinerant ministry, that what we're doing now, we had no guaranteed income. We really didn't have many meetings when we started. And we determined that we would not tell anybody our needs. We never ask for money. We never make any kinds of appeals for finances. We simply pray and ask God and trust him. And if I could, I could turn this next hour and tomorrow night and the night after telling you one story after another, how God has answered prayer to provide for us when no one knew how dire the need might have been, but God, and he has always come through for us. Well, last year, out of nowhere, I received a phone call from a brother who said, I want to send you and Karen $20,000 and I want that to go to a new home. Now, again, he doesn't know we're praying for this. He has no knowledge of this. We've never made this public as far as appeals. And then two weeks later, I received another check in the mail for $20,000. And the note was the same, we want this to go for a home. So I turned to Karen and said, I think it's time, don't you? Here we had $40,000. And within a few weeks, we now had $80,000. All unsolicited, without anybody knowing. It was early August and my real estate agent, a good Christian couple, sent me an email showing us a piece of property about an acre and a half just outside of the metroplex in the country where we wanted to be and said it's available. But they wanted, I don't even want to tell you how much money they wanted for it. They wanted an astronomical amount, but you can imagine in an area of 7 million people, that's what the Metroplex holds, about 7 million people, that the real estate prices are extremely high. And the market was red hot, if you remember last year. I'm sure it was even in this area. Property was going very, very much above in inflated prices, but be that as it may. We prayed about it, and we decided, you know, if the Lord wanted us to have it, He would have to take care of it and that was the end of it. We were at peace. That was on a Friday. This property became available on Thursday. By the following Tuesday, not even a week had transpired, it was around noon and I was in my study and a phone rang and it was a brother that I knew who also knew my real estate agent and thereby he found out about this acre and a half lot. And he asked me, would you be interested in that? I said, well, we prayed about it, but they're just asking way too much money. He said, well, how much would you give? I said, I won't even give the list price. All I have is $80,000. He said, would you live there if you could? Well, I said, it would be nice. Right next door, a couple in our church was building a home. on the acre and a half lot next to it. And just a mile down the road is one of our pastors in the church. And just beyond, being around the corner from him, is a custom home builder, who's a deacon in our church, who came to me unsolicited and said, Michael, if you want, and you believe it's the Lord's will, I'll build you a house at my cost. So on that Tuesday, after that phone call, didn't, I'd even never looked at the property by the way. That evening at 8 o'clock my realtor called and said, congratulations, you've just won the winning bid. That was the closing day they were taking bids that had multiple offers and you won. That man made up the, he made up the bid, he submitted the bid and he made up the difference, $46,000 worth of difference. And before I went to bed that night, I owned an acre and a half, tidal, clear, no dam. And in February the 2nd, we began to build. And on August the 18th, just a month ago today, we moved in to our first, and I pray, last home before the last stop in heaven. So I just wanted you to know God hasn't changed. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. I know some of us hear stories like that and think, I don't know about those kinds of things. And I know there's a lot of TV preachers out there who will, they will ask for money, and they'll tell you that you're sending it to God, but I've always noticed God's address is their address. Have you ever noticed that? And they'll tell you God does those things, but I don't want to let what charlatans and people who are false steal from us. And that is faith in God, that God is good and He still graciously blesses His people by faith. So that's a little bit about us. My family's doing well. They send greetings to you all. One day I pray, if the Lord be pleased to let me come back, that my wife will get to come with me. And you'll find out she is truly the better half, my soul's twin. But anyway, all enough of that from me. I just would ask you continue to pray for us. You could not do me any greater service than to pray for us and that God will keep his hand upon me and his favor, and most of all, the smile of his countenance. You know, I don't need to preach. I really don't. I love it, I enjoy it, I relish it, but I don't need to preach. If I just have my Lord in the conscious awareness of his presence, I'm fine, I'm happy, I have joy, and I'm thankful for his presence, often so clear and conscious to me And I prayed the same for you, and that's why we're preaching this series. from John chapter 15. So the text we pray the Lord be pleased to speak to us from tonight is once again the gospel of John chapter 15, verses one through 10. I wanna continue on the theme of Christianity's parable. This would be part two, Christianity's parable. John chapter 15, verses one through 10. For those of you that were not here this morning, I will give a quick review after I read the text. get you up to date so that you can trek through this text with us this evening. And we're so glad and grateful that you've chosen to bless us with your presence tonight. And if the Lord does anything for you, share it with others and invite them as well. John chapter 15, beginning with verse one. Our Lord said, 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 bears fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you. unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered, and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 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, 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. The theme of this parable, as we shall see more in just a few moments, is how to live by the power of the Holy Spirit who is our advocate today. That is the theme, and it's right in the middle of this wonderful discourse of Christ from the end of the 13th chapter to the conclusion of his prayer in the 17th chapter. This morning we looked at the participants of this parable. There was the vine, which is Jesus. There was the vine dresser, that is, the one who cultivates the vineyard, the vine, and that is the Father Himself. And you and I are the last participants, we who are children of God, truly born again. We are the branches. As he says in John 15, 5, I'm the vine, you are the branches. And then we turned our attention, as we continue to look at the parable, to the function of each of these three participants. We looked this morning at the function of the vine dresser. What was his purpose? What does he do in the vineyard? And we said, number one, according to Jesus, he attends the vine, or he keeps it, he cultivates it. He nourishes it so it can produce fruit to the maximum. He restores unfruitful branches in verse two. He lifts them up, as I understand the text. And number three, he cares for the branches that are being fruitful, and he makes them more fruitful. And finally, he removes the dead wood. Anyone who is not truly in Christ, he removes. Final judgment, it is Christ, or God, who will determine the judgment and the swift and righteous penalty for those who profess to be in Christ but really in reality were not. A typical example of this would have been Judas Iscariot. Judas has already left the 12, and he's gone to do his treacherous deed to betray our Lord Jesus Christ. So the parable is given to the 11. He's not one of them, and he never really was. As John says, he was a devil from the beginning, and Christ knew that. He was a counterfeit Christian, if you please. And so he is a branch, like a branch, who is gathered up and thrown into the fire. Well, tonight, let me pick up there, and let's look at the ministry of the vine itself and its function. We see this in verse four and five. The function of the vine is to produce or provide fruit-producing life. The vine exists to take its life and grant it to the branches that in turn will bear the fruit. Look at verse four. Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. The life that I now live, says the Apostle Paul in Galatians 2.20, the life and I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Let me be clear. Hear this simple statement and believe it. God never, ever intended for you to live the Christian life. Why would I make such a statement? Well, because of the sheer impossibility of you doing so. You can't live the Christian life. In fact, the Bible says that here in our text. Verse five, the branch cannot bear fruit without the vine, for without me you can do nothing. The Christian life, which what this parable represents, its essence and heart, is that you and I must live by God's gracious activity. We are saved by grace through faith, Ephesians 2, verse 8. But my dear friend, the way you are saved is the same way you live the Christian life, by grace through faith. Nothing's changed. You could not save yourself. If you're a Christian here tonight, you are heartedly in agreement with that statement. I could not save myself. I was fast bound in sin and nature's night. I was enslaved to my sin. I loved my sin. I wanted to be set free. I cried to God. But all of my religious efforts and duties only kept me bound in sin. The more I tried to do right, the more I failed. Until one glorious day, God took mercy upon me. You see, everyone in this room tonight that is a Christian is a recipient of divine mercy. And mercy means mercy. You didn't deserve it. You didn't earn it. You never became good enough. No, no, not at all. God chose to pour out his grace upon you. You are the privileged one whom God's love has been set upon. And if you have known the love of God, I have good news for you. Please be lifted up and encouraged tonight. You didn't do anything to get God to love you, and you will never do anything to get God to stop loving you. And dear friend, you can't get God to do anything to love you more than He already loves you. That's divine grace. and you couldn't save yourself, well, my dear friends, you can't live for Christ any other way but by grace. The same grace that saves you is the same grace that sanctifies you. It's the same grace that propels you, motivates you, lifts you up, perseveres and keeps you. Oh, and so tonight, one of the most fundamental things that we must come to once again reaffirm is that I am absolutely incapable of living for Christ, loving Christ. Do you realize that your love for God is not manufactured by your heart, but is poured in your heart and is a reflex of the love of God to you and for you? We shared that with you last year, if you remember. So many of us are trying to increase our love. We're trying to dial it up and love him more. And rightly, he deserves more affection, more devotion, more love. You can't do that. There's no switch within your heart that you can flip, no dial that you can turn. No, the Bible makes it clear that my love for God is a reflex of experiencing God's love for me. So we're not even talking about preaching or sharing your faith or witnessing or prayer or coming to church or serving in the church. We're talking about just loving him, keeping that one blessed commandment to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. soul, mind, and strength. You cannot do so without him. For as Jesus said, for without me, you can do nothing, not a thing. Oh, would God bring us back to the humility that we had the day we were converted? and to realize that no more could we save ourselves can we serve him. And anything we offer him by the arm of flesh is counterfeit. It's false fire. It's something that does not honor him. What honors him is that his love's poured into your heart and your love is therefore poured out to others. It's his love through you. That's it, it's Christ in you, as we said this morning. You see, the Christian life is not for us to be saved. Now we render back to God our gratitude through our service. No, no. There is no debtor's ethic in Christianity. And I pray that many of you who are plagued with that kind of thinking, a debtor's ethic, I owe him a debt I just cannot pay. Well, it's true you owe him a debt you cannot pay, but you could never pay it because there is no debt now. You're saved by grace. Grace gives it freely. This is not a mortgage. This is not some payment program whereby you live in order to retire. Some kind of payment that you owe God for saving you. No. No, the Christian life is now Christ can live and he can express his glory through us. How is that? By an intimacy that comes through union with the Lord Jesus Christ. So that your life and his life become so one, you are bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh. so that when the Father looks at you, He doesn't know where you stop and Christ begins. He doesn't know where Christ begins and you stop. No, He sees you one wed with His blessed Son. That's the essence of Christianity. And friends, that cannot be sustained without spiritual fellowship with the same Christ. And that's what this parable is demonstrating. But my question to you is, how do we do this? How do we maintain that kind of fellowship? How do we experience this kind of ongoing intimacy so that the life that's in the vine is flowing through you and out of you? Well, that's what Jesus is trying to teach his apostles. So I would suggest to you that the vine and its parable says this, that my cannot must join his can, and together, we will do it. I cannot, must team up with his can, his ability, and together we do it. Now that's the function of Christ, that he literally lives his life through you. Well, let's look at the function of the branches. You already have a good idea from what I've just said as we've discussed the vine. But the function of the branches we find in verses four through five, and then seven through 10. And it's here where it seems, the metaphor seems, the illustration seems to break down because in the end, as I just said, no branch truly can remain connected to the vine by its own strength. You can't even stay connected to Christ by your own power and ingenuity. But it is your function in this parable and in Christianity to bear the fruit. In verse two, he says, bears fruit, he bears fruit. And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes. Verse 2 and 3, he takes you to more fruit. Read it again. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. And then verses 5 through 8, he says it is your function to not just bear more fruit, but much fruit. Abundantly. Overproduced. Overwhelming. Look at what he says there in verse 8. We are to produce fruit, and the way we do that is by abiding, and we will spend the next few evenings explaining, defining what it means to abide in Christ. I hope you come back. I can't do this in one message. Oh, I could. I could skim over it, and you would forget it as soon as you left the parking lot. No, no, we need to spend much more time than that on this text. This, to me, is one of the most essential texts of the Christian life. I don't know of any text that explains it more thoroughly than this one. And so what I want to do for the rest of the evening is direct your attention to the parable's function and its illustrating its major theme, interaction with Christ. We need to go back to the 14th chapter. if you'll permit me to do a little bit of teaching. Good preaching requires, first of all, good teaching. We've got to know the doctrine before we can apply it and hear the imparity. Jesus has explained in the opening chapter of the opening verses of chapter 14, his union with the Father. Remember, the parable illustrates our union with Christ. But Christ has already been talking about another union, His union with the Father. In fact, He goes so far as to say that He and the Father are one. If you've seen Me, you've seen the Father. And why does He begin this chapter this way? Well, He's going to tell them He's going away, that He will no longer be bodily with them. But he wants to explain to them that that doesn't mean they can no longer have intimacy or interaction with him. It's just going to change, and it's going to change to a new level. And he gets them ready. He prepares their heart by explaining his relationship with the father. And he does that strategically. And you need to hear the strategy behind it. So are you ready? Are you ready to hear how Jesus was able to do what He did on this earth as a man and to hear of His union with the Father? Because it is most instructive of our union with Christ. Well, He begins. Jesus pulls back the curtain. He lets the apostles see how He was able to function. Chapter 14, beginning with verse 1. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God? Believe also in me. Now that's a mighty statement right there. You believe in God? I want you to believe in God just as you do me, which means he is God. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. So he now informs him. I'm getting ready to leave you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am there you may be also. And this, as always, as most often, sends the disciples down an excursion. They get off the main point and they want to chase a rabbit. And Philip brings up the question, Lord, show us the Father. And notice what Jesus says in response to that question. In chapter 14 and verse 7, if you had known me, you would have known my father also. And from now on, you know him and have seen him. If you see me, you've seen the father. And if you'd really known me, pay attention to that. What does that mean? Well, obvious. They really didn't know who this man was before them. They didn't understand this God-man Messiah. They thought they did, but as we said this morning, their faith was too weak and too little. And Jesus said, you will know. Verse 10, do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? How are you in the Father one? How can I look at you, Jesus, and know that I've seen the Father? How can you say to an unbeliever, if you see me, you see Christ? You say, well, I would never say that. Well, then you don't understand the parable. You are the bodily representation of Christ. You are bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh. Christ and his life ought to be magnified. Through you, you ought to be glorified. Let your, let men so see your, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works. And do what? Glorify your Father in heaven. When they see you, they see God's work. And so you and I should be able to say what the Apostle Paul said to the church at Corinth. Imitate me as I imitate Christ. And so he's going to explain. Here's how you've seen the Father. Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me. He does the work. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me, or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves. So Jesus said, you can know you've seen the Father by just watching me and see what I've done. Now here's the question, and I want you to think about it for a moment. How was Jesus able to do what He did? And He tells you right here. How was He able to do what He did? Because the Father was in Him. How was the Father in Him? And the answer is, by the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was the Spirit of the Father as much as He is the Spirit of Jesus Christ. And the Bible tells us that at the beginning of His ministry, John the Baptist baptized Him in the River Jordan. And when they came up out of the water, the Bible says the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, descended from heaven. and rested upon him, and a voice from heaven spoke, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." John tells us in the third chapter of the Gospel of John, quoting John the Baptist, that the Holy Spirit was given to Christ without measure. Now, friends, I want to ask you a very important question. Prior to the baptism of Jesus, Did Jesus, did He have the Holy Spirit? Was the Holy Spirit dwelling in Him? What do you think? And most of you are doing this, and I would agree. I wholeheartedly agree. He did have the Spirit. But having the Spirit indwell you and to be filled or immersed with the Spirit is two different things. The Bible teaches that there is an indwelling of the Spirit, and there is an infilling of the Spirit. And I suggest to you that at the baptism of Christ, we have the infilling, the anointing, the testimony of the Father that He has sanctioned this Messiah. And from that moment on, Everything Christ does, it is the Father by the Holy Spirit performing those works in Him. This is exactly what Christ is testifying to here in this text. I did what I did because it was the Father in me, and the Father was in Him by the person of the Holy Spirit. Now, if you don't believe that, Just go back to the fifth chapter of John. And at first, this is very similar to a verse I quoted from the verse 19 of John 5. In 5.30, John 5.30, Jesus said, I can't of myself do nothing. That's exactly what he says about you and me. Without me, you can do nothing. Here, he says in John 5.30, the exact same thing about himself. Without the Father, I can do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me. So once again, Jesus is pulling back the curtain, and he lets the apostles see how they were going to function on the earth. How were they to function? How were they to interact with him now that he's no longer bodily with him? The same way he interacted with the Father, by the Holy Spirit. Go back to John 14, verse 12. Oh, I wish we had more time this evening. I wish I had more than just a few days with you, but we take what we have and we thank God for it. In verse 12, most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also. In greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father. Now there's been much conjecture and debate about what verse 12 means. I don't believe it means what the Pentecostals and Charismatics want it to mean, that we can do more miracles and even greater miracles than Jesus. I don't know of any greater miracle than the resurrection from the dead. But I don't know of anything even, but there's one thing better than that, when you resurrect yourself from the dead. Christ did that, I don't think there's any miracle that's gonna top that one, do you? I don't think that's what it means. I just simply think it means what he's trying to teach them. By the Holy Spirit in you, my works are going to multiply. I'm one man in one place at one time, but I'm going to put my spirit in you, and my work is going to multiply as you go through the world preaching the gospel to every creature. That's what he means. greater in number because Christ is in his church, and his church is the body, the literal physical representation of Christ on this earth. Verse 13. And here's how it's going to work. Whatever you ask in my name, that will I do. Now notice the pronoun. In the earlier part of the chapter, He was speaking of the Father working in him. Did you remember that? Do you remember that? Now he changes the pronouns and says, it's not the Father working in you, it's gonna be me. I'm gonna work in you just like the Father has been working in me by the same Holy Spirit. But he's not introduced the Holy Spirit quite yet. I'm getting ahead of the story just so that you won't be in the dark trying to help us along here. And whatsoever you ask in my name, that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, again, notice the pronoun, I will do it. You see, even the works that we do in greater works, we ultimately cannot take credit for because Jesus says right here in verse 14, it won't be you and I doing the work, it will be him doing it for everyone. So Jesus works in and through us by the person of the Holy Spirit. Now he gets a little bit more detailed and explains that in verses 16 through 18. Let's look at John 14, verse 16. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another helper. The old King James says, comforter, that he may abide with you forever. The Greek word is really the word advocate. Now, who else in the New Testament is called an advocate? Do you know? In 1 John 2, verse 2, if any man sins, he has an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Jesus is our advocate. Even now, he intercedes at the right hand of God. But Jesus says, I'm going to send you another. And the word another means another of the same kind. Jesus is saying that the Holy Spirit and I are one. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, as He is the Spirit of the Father. Same in essence and in nature, so that when He comes, He will lead you and guide you as I have these last three and a half years. Now listen carefully. What that means is this. As Jesus was bodily leading them, guiding them, teaching them those three and a half years, the Holy Spirit is to be to us in the same way. Our leader, our teacher, our defender. He's our discipler. As Christ discipled those 12 men, you've been given another of the same kind of advocate, helper, one who comes alongside and aids you. And it's the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the living Christ and Lord. And this is what he's trying to explain. Things are going to be taken to a different level. You're not gonna be able to see me and handle me. You're not gonna hear my voice audibly anymore. We're not gonna be able to walk together on the road and you can see me and thereby follow me. No, but I'm still gonna interact with you, but on a spiritual level. And I'm gonna do so by the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. It's interesting that as he moves to this section and he explains the Holy Spirit, he then moves to the 16th chapter. verse 5 through 7, and he once again introduces them to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And right in the middle of chapters 14 and 16 is the what? Our parable in chapter 15. You see, chapter 15 in the parable is an illustration of this theme of how to work with the Holy Spirit. Again, John 16, 5, but now I go away to him who sent me. And none of you ask me, where are you going? But because I said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It's to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send him to you." Now, Jesus acknowledges that what he has said to the disciples has not cheered their hearts. Rather, it has saddened them. He says it, does he not? Sorrow has filled your heart. They should have rejoiced with him, but they didn't and could not because they didn't understand what he was saying. Just like some of us in this room right now. Some of you are not really understanding what I'm trying to say to you. It's not easy to decipher But God can teach us the same advocate that was promised to them is here tonight to teach you. Just send up a prayer right now and say, Holy Spirit, give me understanding. Help me to see what Jesus is teaching in this amazing text. And like the disciples, we too. We don't think it's to our advantage that we can't see him or hear him with these eyes and ears. Isn't that right? Come on now, tell me the truth. Don't be coy, don't act spiritual. How many times have you said, oh, I wish I could have been there. I wish I could see Jesus and all the miracles he did. I think my faith would be stronger if I could have seen that. Have you ever said that? Have you ever thought that? See, you really don't think it's to your advantage that you can't see him. How many times have you prayed, oh God, if I could just feel you. Oh, my faith would be encouraged. Ever prayed that? See, you too, like the disciples, are not truly convinced that it's to your advantage that he's not here bodily with us. Why is that? Why were they that way? Well, it's really simple. Once you think about it, and I think you'll see it, and you'll wonder, why didn't I think of that myself? That's so obvious now that you've said it. They were more self-centered than they were Christ-centered. He says to them in the 16th chapter, if you really loved me, you would rejoice with me. They were thinking more about themselves. He's going to be gone. What are we going to do then? How are we going to survive? What's he mean he's going to be gone? What's he mean he's going back to the Father? I thought we were going to rule and reign with him on 12 tribes. He told us that. He promised that. 12 tribes. And we will have 12 thrones to sit upon. They were thinking in the realm of the physical. realm of the material. You see, there's only two parts to reality. Do you know what those two parts are? It is the material and the immaterial, the visible and the invisible, the physical and the spiritual. That's the only two components. Everything you see has been made of that which cannot be seen, the spiritual realm. God is spirit, and God is spoken, and he spoke everything material into existence. That's what the writer of Hebrews tells us, that everything made was made out of nothing. He just spoke it into existence. John even refers to that in the prologue in chapter one of his gospel. So the spiritual is as much a component, a part of reality. And if you make judgments based on only what you see, can hear, and reason with your mind, you are not making decisions based upon all the facts. There's a spiritual side, a spiritual component to reality. And therefore, these apostles, their physical senses is what they were addicted to. They were addicted to what they could see, what they could hear, and thereby addicted to what they could feel. Does that sound familiar to anyone here tonight? Now, the Bible says that's not the way you're supposed to walk. We walk by faith, not by sight, says the apostle to the Corinthians. Faith is the eye of the Spirit. I remember in 2009 when the Lord made Karen and I, gave us this assurance of a home. I had to fight the fight of fate. There was a lot of doubts. Why would God give me a home? I don't deserve a home any more than the next fellow. I traveled to many other places than just the United States, other parts of the world, and there are people, dear Christian people, who I'm not worthy to carry their shoes, who live in squalors, in deplorable conditions. God didn't give them new homes. Why should he give me? That battle of faith, and for years I had to fight that. At times my faith would be high, at times my faith would get low, and I'd begin to lack assurance and doubt that the Lord really said that to me. But I'll never forget September the 13th, 2017, while in prayer about this very thing, I came to that verse. In Proverbs 13, verse 12, hope deferred makes the heart sick. I had prayed that to the Lord so many times. You see, here it is. It's 2017. How many years had transpired? Six years had gone by since the promise and no home. And now we were getting ready to leave the parsonage where we'd lived for almost 24 years. And we didn't know where we were going. All I knew I was to go. We were to leave the pastor, and we were to do this. And I remember taking that verse and going before the Lord and said, Lord, your word says, hope deferred makes the heart sick. The longer you wait to fulfill this, the weaker my faith is, the sicker it becomes. I quoted that verse to the Lord scores of times. And if you don't know what a score is, scores point to the number 20. Scores of times, many times. but I never paid attention to the next part of the verse. Do you know what the next part says? But when the desire has come, it is a tree of life. And all of a sudden, I don't know how to really get you to understand this, but something happened. Those words became life to me. There was a power that infused my heart when I read those words. And then at that moment, I took possession of the house that we moved into a month ago. Now what do you mean by that? Well, if we had more time and we could study the subject of faith, Hebrews 11 teaches us that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. In other words, when God puts faith in your heart, you often possess it in your heart before you possess it in your hand. Often it's a reality in your soul before it's a reality in the physical realm. I woke up my wife, it was in the early hours of the morning, I went and said, sweetheart, sweetheart, it's ours, it's ours. I got down on the floor and bawled like a baby with joy, with joy. Why? Because that day, I had the deed to a home that didn't even exist. And when on August the 12th, when that dear man, that dear Christian deacon handed me the keys to the finished house, I told him that story and said, I have to tell you, I know you probably thought we'd have some tears or we would be laughing or jumping. I'm apologizing for my emotions, but I had that experience five years ago. That was the day I took possession of it, and I knew and never have doubted it since. Full rest in peace. You see, that's the realm in which we are to live, the spiritual realm. Not by what you can see, not by what you can feel, not by what you can hear, but upon what the spirit leads and teaches us through the word. And he teaches us what Christ has taught us. That's our advocate. That's our disciple. Now, why is this such a big deal? Well, for three reasons. All of our relationships are based upon what? Physical senses. What we can see, how we can hear, touch, smell. We take all information in by the senses, and very well. Indeed, we were made to be that way, to take in physical information through the physical senses. But that's not all there is to reality. And we become so addicted to these physical senses that when the spirit works, we discount him. We do not listen to him. We don't believe him. Why? Because it doesn't make sense in the physical realm. We see no way possible. We just can't get it. We just can't compute it. It doesn't make sound reason or logic to us. And that's the way it was for these disciples. Here, Christ had promised them a great kingdom, that God would restore the kingdom to Israel. Listen to them. They still don't get it when he's ready to go back to the Father. What is the question they ask? Lord, is this the time you're going to restore the kingdom to Israel? They were still looking for this physical manifestation of a king and thrones for them to sit upon. No wonder they couldn't understand what he was saying. He was talking spiritual things to them. He was talking about interacting on a spiritual level. And that's what this parable is all about, how to interact with God by the Spirit through faith. Secondly, it's a big deal, and it was for the disciples, and I think it has a lot to do with us today. They were lazy. They were simply lazy. Now, I don't want to speak disrespectful of these revered men upon whom the church is built. We rest upon their ministries and testimony of Christ. But at this period in their life, they didn't have to do very much. And they had grown accustomed to having Christ right there doing everything for them. No wonder their prayer lives was weak. Anytime they had a problem, what'd they do? They'd just go to Jesus, and he'd solve the problem for them. Can you imagine that? Anytime there was a disagreement, where did they go? They went right to Jesus. He solved the issue for them. They didn't have to pray. They had God in the flesh with them. They were addicted to this physical contact they had with Christ. And so they didn't have to do hardly anything. Did you know they didn't even have to provide for their families? Jesus did all of that for them. When these men dropped their nets and left their professions or Matthew leaves the tax collecting table, how did they live? How did they support their families? Jesus, all the gifts and the alms, The monies that came into Christ was given to people. He would disperse it among those apostles, and they would take care of their families. They had no needs whatsoever in those three and a half years. He ministered them, kept them. And now, he says, he's going to leave. No wonder they panicked. No wonder they were silent. You know, when you know you're going to be tested, you pay attention to the teacher. When you know you're going to be tested, you pay closer attention to the information. They never thought they were gonna be tested like this. They never had any clue that he was not going to be with them physically. And then thirdly, there is this natural inclination to depend upon ourselves. That's our default mode. And my dear friend, in order to trust in you, you've got to exercise faith. But when you exercise faith in you, you cannot exercise faith in God. And so the result is, of approaching the spiritual, trying to have intimacy with God through physical senses, to feel him, to see him, to look at answered prayer, well, Lord, you haven't answered any of my prayers, therefore you've abandoned me, leads to nothing but unmet expectations, which leads to disappointment, disillusionment, and discouragement. How many of you are in that place tonight? You're discouraged because God has not met your expected expectations. You prayed, you expected to see this, but it didn't happen. So now when you pray, you don't pray with hardly any faith. In fact, you kind of guard your heart just in case the prayer doesn't get answered. My friend, that's not what this parable teaches us. That's not the Christian life. That is not what God intended for you. And so there is this sense of abandonment, this sense of failure that we drag with us wherever we go. These men were addicted to their senses, experiencing God, and now he tells them, that's no longer any good. It's not to your advantage. This is a huge shift. So Jesus said, in this parable, the way you're going to live from now on, is the same way I live in interaction with my Father. You and I are going to interact. Yes, I'm going to be in your lives. I'm not going to leave you. I'm going to come to you. I will not leave you as orphans, but I'm going to come to you in the person of the Holy Spirit. He promises them the Holy Spirit, and he says, the world does not know him, but you know him. for he has been with you and shall be in you. Notice again the terminology. Shall be, that's future tense. At the time Jesus was teaching this to the apostles, the Holy Spirit did not indwell them. They are an unusual band of men, never to be repeated again. This is a transitional time in these moving from the old to the new covenant. They didn't need the Holy Spirit in them. They were regenerated by the Holy Spirit, yes, but they didn't need the Holy Spirit in them, why? Because they had the Holy Spirit without fullness in Christ right there all the time. And Jesus says, you know him, but he shall be in you. And he did come. He indwelt them and he filled them. And so there has to be a weaning of this addiction to the material. And so the Lord wants to move you from the material to the spiritual. And my friend, that's to your advantage. Christ can be with you at any time and in any place. You're never alone. There's a parallel here between the disciples and us. Just as they had to be weaned from the physical in order to drink in the spiritual, we do too. And in the case of these men, it was a crash course. It was a detoxification quite quickly. Took about 50 days. After the resurrection, Jesus did not walk with them anymore. When he gave this text, that night he would no longer be with them all the time. It came to an end then. He would appear to them now and again those 40 days, but he wasn't with them all the time. He appeared and then disappeared in the upper room the night of the resurrection. He appears to them again at the Galilee seashore with breakfast. Do you remember that? They fished all night, caught nothing. He appears to them again. But he does not walk with them any longer in the physical realm as he had been the three and a half years. And then you've got 10 days after his ascension. So 50 days. They had to learn how to switch from thinking purely from the material and visible world into this invisible spiritual realm where the advocate works. Now, friends, listen carefully as I bring this message to a conclusion. Jesus' work is not finished on this earth. No, no. He continues to do his Father's will on this earth, and he does it not through the apostles any longer, but through you and I. by his union with you. And the parable of the vine and the branches illustrate this new relationship, this new spiritual relationship. How does this relationship look? How does it function? Well, you'll have to come back tomorrow night, and we will unpack it further for you. But before you leave tonight, the question must be asked once again. Are you sure you know him? Has your eyes been opened and the spirit of understanding been granted to you that you've seen Christ, not with these eyes, no, but with the understanding of the heart, that He's just as real as if you saw Him physically. And is there a communion with God? Maybe it's sometimes interrupted, sometimes it's not always consistent or constant, You can testify that there is a fellowship. You sense the presence of God. You hear the Word of God preached as you have today, and something stirs up within you. You're strengthened, a new resolve, a comfort come, a peace that passes understanding. What is that? How can you answer and describe or explain that? I can tell you quite simply. It is the Spirit of Christ working, ministering to your spirit, strengthening you, ministering to you. This is the way the Spirit of God works. But do you know that? Have you experienced this? Are you experiencing this? Do you want more of this? I can tell you if you're a Christian or not by just simply letting you answer one question. Do you hunger for more of this like you've never experienced before? Only those who've been truly saved hunger. Those who are false Christians, counterfeit, all they're concerned about is getting to heaven, that's all they mean. And have the blessings of God on their life, an easy death, and heaven forever. That's all they're concerned about. That's the majority of their spiritual concerns. But not the true Christian, no. He's tasted of something that this world cannot afford, give him or substitute or supplant. He's tasted of the vine, the fruit of the vine. He's tasted of Christ. She wants more. She hungers. And not all, no, not all the time. But I tell you, when you're not hungry for God, you're most miserable. The Christian is miserable because they're feasting on the husk that the swine would eat. Aren't you tired of that? Well, get up. Come to your senses, my dear man, and run back to the Father. Go back to home where the Father will throw a feast for you and invite you to dine with him. I stand at the door of your heart and knock if any man hear me. And open up, I will come into him. and dine with him. That promise is to the Christian, to you tonight. Are you a part of the vine? Are you a branch? Are you a living part of Christ? Then your heart has sensed what I've said to you, and you've said, oh God, I want more of that. Teach me this. Open the eyes of my understanding. And he will. He will. Amen. Let's pray. Father, I commend and commit these dear ones to you. Without you, I can do nothing. I can't affect their hearts. I can't move them one inch closer to you. And so, Lord, with joy and peace, I give them to you. Be pleased, Father, be pleased to deal with each one of us, including me. Help us to see more clearly that you are seeking worshipers who worship in spirit and in truth, according to the truth and by the life of the spirit. Oh, make this more real to us than ever before. Lord, I've had so many conversations already in the last 24 hours about the nation, the spiritual sad state of this nation. Lord God, I pray. Here we are. Do something. Start it within us. Revive us. Reform us. reconstruct our hearts that we, like these apostles, might believe it is to our advantage that you're no longer bodily here, but you've given us the advocate, another helper like unto you to lead and guide and teach us, to empower us. Oh, may the Holy Spirit come, come in thy fullness and in thy power. Visit us these days. Start tonight. Let repentance be granted. Lord, we have forsaken the true living waters for broken systems. Oh, Lord, what shame and reproach we've brought to you, how we've broken your heart to try to live the Christian life by these feeble means that are inadequate and insufficient. God, tonight I pray, Tenderize us. Humble us. Show us our great need. Oh, please. We do not see our poverty. Show it to us. Show us, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.