Okay, turn with me back in your
Bibles to John Chapter 15. As we go there, I want you to
be... I want to remind myself... Now, the Lord said, before the
feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come,
that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having
loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the
end. He loved them ultimately. He loved them completely. He
loved them perfectly. He loved them on the cross. One of the remarkable things
about the unchangeable love of God is that God's children are
as loved here God's children change their place
to some extent, but they don't change their company. When we
leave this world we don't change our company. He says in John
chapter 15 and the last part of that verse, we'll be looking
at now, as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue
ye in my love. I want to be found in Him, says
the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3, not having a righteousness
of my own which is through the law or anything that I do whatsoever,
but the righteousness which is of God by the faithfulness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He says remain. He says continue. The word continue is the same
word that's used in the rest of that passage about abiding.
It means to remain. remains to remain in what I've
just told you. You continue there, you do not
depart, you endure, you stand, you dwell upon the words that
I have just told you. And I love what he says, he says,
continue in my love, not your love for him, but his love for
us, which proceeds and supersedes and is the source of our love.
It's the vine, it's the sap that's in the vine that produces the
branches and produces the fruit on the branches. Our love is
a fruit, the fruit of the spirit that comes from our union with
the vine. We really love him. God's children
really love the Lord Jesus Christ. They love absolutely everything
about him. Don't you love his absolute sovereignty? Don't you love his amazing faithfulness? Don't you love his electing grace? I've chosen you, you didn't choose
me, but I've chosen you and I've ordained, I've ordained you that
you should go forth and bring forth fruit. What's the fruit?
Love. And your fruit should remain.
Does love remain? Of course it does. It remains. It means to dwell with all of
this. In my love, In my love, in my father's glory,
for my father's glory, for my bride's glory, for her peace
and her comfort, for my friends, by this shall all men know that
you are my disciples. The word disciple means someone
who learns. Leaning on the vine and leaning
on the one from whom all of these glorious words come. You love
one another. God does everything for his holy
name's sake. That's what he does. What's happening
in this world? his people all the time for Ezekiel
chapter 36 I'm not doing this for your sake I'm doing this
for mine holy name's sake And we, his children, are commanded
just to continue in his love. The fruitful branch is pruned,
it's purged, it's made clean, clean of all the impediments
to simply just believing what God says. We believe God. was
one of the mottos of our church in the early days. We just believe
what God says about God. We believe what God says about
how God saves sinners. We believe what God says about
sinners. We believe what God says about
his predestinating, electing purposes in this world for his
glory. We believe God. See, we honour him by believing
him. That's what it is to abide, isn't
it? We honour him by reverencing his word. He gets glory, doesn't he, as
we believe. He creates that faith. And he
prunes, he prunes those budding fruitful branches that we might
continue in his love because we would just love the world
and we'd love ourselves and we'd love everything but him. We need
some pruning because we've grown up too strong by ourselves. We
need enough pruning so that we'll lean. and lean and lean more
heavily. He says you are clean through
the word which I have spoken unto you. They're the only words
we can trust. They're the only words we can
really trust, aren't they? What did God say? They're the
only words we want to preach. What did God say? I'm not interested
in my opinion and neither should you be interested in it. What
did God say? He says, as the Father hath loved
me, so have I loved you. In the same way, you are clean. You are clean through the word
which I have spoken to you. We need constant pruning. We need constant cleaning. And
isn't it wonderful how God the Father does it? He does it with
all the love of adoration, all of the love which prunes his
people for their good. So let's look at some of what
he says in this remarkable passage of scripture about abiding, continuing
my love. He says in verse 5, he says,
Abide in me and I in you. The branch can't bear fruit by
itself. So this love that you abide in
is a foreign fruit but a delightful fruit that comes from God. We
love him because he first loved us. Without me, you can do nothing. How far can we take that extraordinary
statement? First thing is do we believe
it? Everything about my Adam nature
says, no, no, no, I can do it. Everything about me religiously
that says I can actually aid God in this, I need to give him
a hand. He's done the best he can, but he can't complete the
deal until I've added my little bit. I've got to put my hand
to the work. I've got to walk up on some steps
to get into the presence of God. Absolutely no way. Without me,
spiritually, you can do nothing. Don't you love the fact that
he constrains his people to be absolutely dependent on him for
absolutely everything in our lives? Continue in his love,
by his grace, through his faithfulness, by the Holy Spirit's work in
glorifying the Son. In verse seven he says, and my
words, if you abide in me, and my words abide in you. My words abide in you. How wonderful
it is and how comforting it is that we are enabled of God through
the breadth and the depth and the wonder of his word to be
able to apply his word And there are hundreds of them,
and there are thousands of them, and they're full of the most
extraordinary promises, aren't they? When we look at the things
of this world and the things that distress us, we have a word
from God. He says, Comfort ye my people. Where is our comforts
in his word? We rest in his word. We abide
in his word. We continue in what he says.
Lord, please don't leave me to myself. Your love, 2 Corinthians
5, your love constrains me. I need to be constrained. I need
the pruning of the constraining hand of God. You continue in
his word. Herein is my Father glorified,
that ye bear much fruit, so shall you be my disciples. The Father
is glorified in the Son's work of grace in his people. There's
an amazing verse in 2 Thessalonians. I'll read it to you. It's in
2 Thessalonians 1, verse 12. And it's his prayer. I'll read
verse 11. and the work of faith with power. He gives the faith. He energises
the faith. He activates. He's the object
of faith. He's the source of faith. He energises that faith. He makes it to be ours. That, this is the fruit of that,
that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you. The next phrase is quite remarkable.
And ye in him according to the grace of our
God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Glorified. They're his words,
not mine. They're his words. Father, glorify your name. It's the fruit, the sweet fruit
of his love, causing our love to continue and remain. Verse
10, he says, and if you keep my commandments, you shall abide
in my love, even as I have kept my father's
commandments and abide in his love. What are his commandments? Believe. come, abide in him, remain there. If we think it's Moses' law,
Romans 3.21 says that by faith, by simply resting in the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, we establish the law We honour
the law of God by believing that the Lord Jesus Christ honoured
its holiness, he honoured its breath, he honoured its inflexibility
and this night of all nights is going to prove that and the
next morning we'll establish it forever that the law of God
must be honoured. God must be just. in his faithful
love to his people. The church is not a church without
bounds, is it? Do you want to obey? I want to
live. I want to live in sweet communion
in the promises of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 11, he says, these
things I have spoken unto you, these words that remain in us,
the words that cause us to continue in his love, that my joy might
remain in you. and that your joy might be full. That's exactly what John the
Baptist said of the Lord Jesus Christ and said of his relationship
with him. He says, He that hath the bride
is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth
and heareth him, he rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's
voice. This my joy. What was John the
Baptist's joy? The Lord Jesus Christ was John
the Baptist, wasn't it? because of the bridegroom's voice. When the bridegroom speaks his
sweet words of love to his elect children, they hear the shepherd's
voice. They hear a voice that no other
person in this world will ever hear. There is a sweet and secret
communication of love between the bridegroom and his bride. This my joy is fulfilled, he
heard, he saw, he saw the Lord Jesus Christ. He must increase
and I must decrease. The way up in the kingdom of
God is the way down. Down in ourselves, down in our
righteousness, down in our ability, down in our wisdom, down in all
the things about us and he must increase everything. He is made
of God unto us. Wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption. How much wisdom? All that you
ever need. How much sanctification? All
that you ever need. How much redemption, all of it.
His joy. Verse 12, he says, love one another. Love one another. How do we abide? How do we continue in his love?
We love one another. Oh, how pathetic our love is
and how tainted by sin and self it is. But God's children love
one another. because God causes them to love
one another. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 9, they
are taught of God to love one another. The world might not
see it as love, and we may not see it as love, and there's a
whole lot that's not very lovely. But there is, in the hearts of
God's children, there's a love for one another. I love my brothers
and sisters in Christ. I'm looking forward to seeing
my family, seeing my wife and my son and my daughter-in-law,
and seeing some friends over in England. But as I go, each
time I've gone away, I've missed so much my church family. God creates love amongst his
people. You continue, you love one another
as I have loved you. Verse 13, and he speaks of this
love, doesn't he? Greater love has no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. What a
powerful word, isn't it? Lay down the desires that I have
for my self-righteousness, the desires that I have that my will
be done. I just lay down my life for the
sake of my friends. for us to be enabled to deny
ourselves and take up our cross and simply follow Him. To put
other people's souls' welfare before God, above my personal
desires in this world. That's the fruit that requires
lots of pruning. But it's the fruit of grace that
God promises in the hearts of his people. Lay down my life. Lay down your life. Lay it down. That's what a vine does, it lies
down. But where do we lie? Just like John, don't you love
that picture in the upper room? John just lay back on the Lord
Jesus' breast. We spoke about it last week,
about the Shulamite leaning. Who's this that leans on her
beloved? You lean so hard that you're off the ground altogether
and you've just fallen into his arms. Greater love. Verse 15,
he speaks of his people being his friends. Friends, a friend
of God. What a remarkable thing! God
Almighty calling people like us His friends. You're friends
and you know my words. You know my words. Verse 7 says,
My words abide in you. How do you continue in His words? You know them, you've been going
to be taught those words by Him Himself. What do the newborn
babes crave? we're always babes, we're always
newborn in some way or another. What do we crave? The pure milk
of the word, the sincere milk of the word. Verse 16, how do
we abide? We abide by delighting in God's
electing love. I have not chosen you I have chosen you, sorry, you
didn't choose me, sorry about that. You have not chosen me,
I have chosen you. And I've set you in a place,
I've ordained you, I've put you where you are, I've put you amongst
these people of God, in these circumstances of your life, and
I've set you there with a purpose. with a purpose, that you should
go forth and bring forth fruit, that your fruit should abide,
that fruit should abide. People say in religion that whatever
is done for Christ remains. Not so, I'm sorry. Whatever is
done by Christ remains. That's the fruit that remains.
Not my works, dear oh dear. He says ask. He says ask at the
end of verse 16. You ask. God's children are asking
people. Leaning vines are asking vines. To recap, the source of our love
is his love for us. He rests in his love. The object
of our love is the lovely one. He loved us and he gave himself
for us. The delight of our love is in
him, in union with him, in communion with him, in his words. His words of promise, his words
of power. The desire of our love is to
love him more. The desire of our love is to
not be separated from him and his love. Continue. We love him
as he is. We love his being, we love his
word, we love his providence, we love his long-suffering, we
love his forgiveness, we love his faithfulness, we love his
call for us to come to him and find rest. We love his robe of
righteousness. The only righteousness that there
is is the Lord Jesus Christ. True love, true love, and you
can attest to it my friends, true love looks out of itself
and finds its delight in another. True love wants to talk about
another and not themselves. We are commanded to walk in love
as Christ has. Where do we get this love from?
Is it from works or grace? When we read these words, commandment,
we keep thinking, it must be all about what I do. It's called the fruit of the
spirit, this word love. Romans 5 says this love is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us. It's
given, this love, this fruit, this abiding is given to us in
the covenant of promise, not from the covenant of works. We
look to the promise keeper. We look to the eternal covenant
of grace. Salvation is all of grace, 100%
of grace. So therefore it's 0% of works. Love is the basis of the covenant
of grace and the eternal covenant in His blood. Love sent His Son
into this world. Love for His Bride caused our
blessed Saviour to suffer all of what He did in this world.
Love took our Saviour to the cross. God so loved that He gave. His loving-kindness, Jeremiah
31.3, draws us to Christ. I have loved you with an everlasting
love, therefore with loving-kindness, with grace, have I drawn you. No man can come to me unless
the Father which has sent me draw him. Love is the bond of
that everlasting covenant. And then he says about his son,
my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer
my faithfulness to fail. Love is the bond as we saw at
the beginning. Love is the bond of that eternal
union between God and God and God. And love is that eternal
union between Christ and his church. John 17 through 23 says, Thou,
O Father, hast loved them as thou hast loved me. He that dwells in love, 1 John
4, 16, he that dwells in love dwells in God and God in Him. This love is the love of God
that's perfected in us. It's the work of His grace. It's
the promised fruit of His Spirit's work in the lives of His people. As we close, let's turn to Romans
chapter 8 and let's just read. Paul, as it were, goes into the
courtroom of all that might stand opposed to the children of God
and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in these covenant love
engagements. He says, if God be for us, who
can be against us? He that spared not his own son,
verse 32, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not
with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? Where are they? It is God that
justifies. Who is he condemneth? It is Christ
that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at
the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who? shall separate us from the love
of Christ, shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, as it is written, for
thy sake we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep
for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things We don't just conquer, but we
conquer and triumph as we see our God using them all for our
good and his glory. Through him that loved us, for
I am persuaded. that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor power, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ. Of course they'll continue to
His glory for their good and for us to rest in the finished
work of a glorious Saviour. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we do pray that you might cause us to just have a simple childlike
faith. that rests, that leans, that
looks to everything in this life and the world to come, to your
dear and precious Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you, Heavenly
Father, for these remarkable words that we read. We pray that
you would write them on our hearts, that those words of your Saviour
would abide in us. that we would be captivated by
the delight of whom we are loved by, and delighted, Heavenly Father. in the glory that you have brought
into our world, into our fellowship, brothers and sisters, who we
can love and who we can be loved by for the glory of your dear
and precious son, our Father. Make his blood, which sealed
this love, to be precious to us, our Father. Cause us to remember,
as we take these elements, to remember who he is and what he's
doing right now, and the glory of redeeming love. The glory
of love that covers all of our sins in the blood of your dear
and precious son. Cause us to live by him, Heavenly
Father. cause us to continue, cause us
to ask, cause us to be leaning people who lay down our lives.
We pray these things for the glory of your dear and precious
son and for the comfort of those you've given into our lives to
love and to care for our father. We pray in Jesus' precious name,
amen.