The 15th chapter of John's Gospel
is that wonderful chapter in which Christ speaks of his union
with his people, of his friendship and his love with those for whom
he died, his disciples, his bride, the church. He says, I am the
true vine and my father is the husbandman. Every branch in me
that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. And every branch that beareth
fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the
word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except
ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me ye
can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he
is cast forth as a branch, and is withered. And men gather them,
and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide
in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will,
and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified,
that ye bear much fruit. So shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me,
so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. If ye
keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have
kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These
things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you,
and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, that
ye love one another as I have loved you. Greater love hath
no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever
I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants,
for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth, but I have called
you friends. For all things that I have heard
of my Father I have made known unto you. ye have not chosen
me but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should
go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain
that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name he may
give it you these things I command you that ye love one another
ye have not chosen me But I have chosen you and ordained you,
that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit
should remain, that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in
my name, he may give it you. Ye have not chosen me. What a statement this is. What
a statement this is. unto his disciples, unto those
who believe and follow Jesus Christ. You have not chosen me,
but I have chosen you. How clear this is. and yet how
it cuts down the pride and the arrogance of man, especially
in the things of religion. It is commonly claimed among
many religious that they have chosen to follow God, that they
have accepted Jesus into their heart, that they have made a
decision for Christ that they have chosen to follow, that they
have made a decision to order their life in such a way that
they will worship God where others have chosen otherwise. Many commonly think that the
turning point in their lives from the day when they were going
astray in the world to the day when they are following the Lord
Jesus hinged on their decision and their choice. Christ makes
it plain to all those who truly know him all those who truly
follow him, all those who truly believe in him, all those who
are in him, all those who are his, all those whom he calls
his friends, whom he has loved and for whom he laid down his
life. Christ makes it known unto all
these You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. You may believe in me. You may
follow me. There may have come a day when
you willingly said, I believe in Christ. I love him. I will follow him. But the reason
you do The reason you are now willing when once you were unwilling
is not because you've chosen me, but because I've chosen you. You love me because I first loved
you, Christ would say. He says unto us, you love me
because I first loved you. You've chosen to follow me because
I chose you. You never chose. Your choice
was a response to the change I wrought in your heart because
I chose you. Because I laid down my life for
you. Because I delivered you. Because
I ransomed you from the grave. Because I redeemed you and set
you free. Because I sent my spirit to quicken
you unto life. Because I put faith in your heart,
you believe. Because I did this for you, you
choose. But your choice is not a natural
choice. Your choice is not of your own.
That's the response of the new life within you. Once you were
dead and never followed. Once you were dead and never
believed. Once you were dead and never
chose. You hated me. But though you
hated me, I loved you. And I laid down my life for you.
I chose you. that you should love and follow
me. You have not chosen me, but I
have chosen you. So Christ would put the lie to
many in the religious world who think it's their choice that
makes the difference when the scriptures say otherwise. We believe because he chose us. We believe because he gives us
the faith to see. We believe because he's touched
our eyes and opened them that we should see. We believe because
he's touched our ears that we should hear who once were deaf. We follow because he's touched
our legs and made us to walk who once were lame. We live who
were once dead, because he said unto us, Arise, come forth, and
live. Ye have not chosen me, but I
have chosen you. As the scriptures state, time
and time again, salvation is of the Lord. It begins with Him. It's wrought by Him. It's applied
by Him. It's sustained by Him. It's all
of God. It's all of His mercy. It's all of His love. It's all
of His grace. From start to finish. Salvation is of God. We don't
choose Him by nature. We don't follow Him by nature. We don't make a decision for
Christ by nature. We never would. Presented with
all the facts of the Gospel, all the truth of the Gospel,
all the importance of the Gospel, faced with the fact that we are
a sinner. faced with the fact that God's
wrath and judgment is upon us, faced with the knowledge that
God's fury burns from heaven above against our own sin, faced
with the knowledge that our life is brief and soon we will go
from this world into eternity and with that sin, With that
guilt we will face judgment forevermore, even faced with that knowledge,
even being told that plainly. We will just sink our heads to
the ground and look at the floor and walk on aimlessly towards
that day when we die. We will not believe. We will
not look up, we will not cry out for mercy. We turn our backs
upon God because such is the state of our heart. So depraved
are we, so dead are we, so blind are we, that we cannot believe
even though a man may come and tell us the truth so plainly,
so clearly, so forcibly. Even though we know that death
approaches so soon, that life is so brief, even though we know
that we are rebels by nature, even though we know that our
hearts are black and sinful, even though we know that one
day we will stand before God, we will not believe. We do not
make a decision for Christ. That's the reality and the fact
of the matter and if you think that you at some stage made a
decision then either you are deluding
yourself or you are not recognizing that the only reason that you
believed in Jesus is because God first wrought a change. He chose you. He brought you
to life. He quickened you by the Spirit
when He sent forth the Gospel in power. He turned you around
and He caused you to cry out under God for mercy. Either that's
what He's done and that's why you believe or you're in a delusion. Your decision counts for nothing,
it's a mental assent. But your trust and your rest
is upon your doing, your decision, your life, your works, your walking
before God. You trust in what you've done
and you trust that God will bless you and save you in the end because
you made the right decision and you did the right things. Therefore
the praise is not to God in your religion, it's entirely to you. Faced with what everybody else
hears, they didn't listen, they didn't decide, but you did because
you're better. You made the right decision when
they didn't. Where do you put the praise?
Is God your saviour or are you? Is God the one that makes you
to differ from another or was it your decision? You have not chosen me. But I
have chosen you, Christ says, of those who are his friends. Romans makes it plain what we
are by nature. As it is written, quote in the
Psalms, there is none righteous, no not one. There is none that
understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. They're all gone out of the way.
They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no not one. There's none that have chosen
Christ by nature. There's none that are righteous
before God whom he can justify and save. There's none that understands
the truth. There's none that seeks after
God. No one. Only when God seeks them. Only when he brings his truth
unto them. Only when the Spirit of God draws
them unto him. and puts a desire in the heart
to seek Him. Only then do they start to turn
because He chose them. These disciples only followed
Christ when Christ came unto them. These disciples whom He
addresses were going about their own business.
The fishermen were going about their own business. They weren't
seeking Christ. The businessman goes about his
own business. The mother, the father, goes
about their own business. The children go about their own
business. Whoever they are, whoever you
are, Until Jesus comes your way, you're going about your own business,
you don't consider him, you don't care for him. They were going
about their own business, they were going their own way. Whatever
religion they may have had in their hearts, that religion wasn't
leading them to Christ. They may have been religious,
they may have been Jews following the rituals and the ways. But
Jesus had to come to them before they knew the truth as it really
was. And many are religious today.
Many will claim to be Christian today. Many speak of making a
decision for Christ, but they don't know him. They don't know
the real Christ. The one they've decided for is
not this Christ that says plainly unto them, you've not chosen
me, but I have chosen you. if they are one of his. Many choose another Jesus, not
him, not the one that speaks in this passage. They say they
follow Jesus, they say they accepted a Jesus in their hearts, but
it's one that suits them. It's one that is their servant.
It's one that is there, in their eyes, having died for all, pleading
with all to be saved, and they made a decision to accept him.
So he becomes their servant. If I choose to accept you, Jesus,
I will believe, and I will be saved. You're there to do my
bidding. Well, is this Christ, the true
Christ? the one true Christ, whom these
disciples knew, whom he called his friends, whom he set his
love upon, who were one with him. This Christ says, Jacob
have I loved, and Esau have I hated. Salvation is of the Lord. I may
love you, or I may hate you, I may save you, or I may condemn
you because of your sins. You're in my hands. I am God. This Christ is the Son of God. He is God himself. He is in authority. He is not our little puppet or
our little servant to do our bidding when we suit, when we
call upon Him, when it suits us to believe on Him, we say,
all right then, I will believe now. He does not stand alongside,
He does not stand looking out at this world, hoping that there
will be some who believe on Him. He did not come into this world
to offer himself for everyone with some universal sacrifice,
offering some universal charity and love to all men everywhere
in the vain hope that some will receive him. He is not a powerless
puppet there to do the bidding of men's wills. It is not man
that stands, as it were, at the entrance to a shop, choosing
whether or not to go in and buy, or whether to pass by. Christ is not at the mercy of
man. Man is at the mercy of Christ. We have all sinned. We've all
gone astray. And God could justly condemn
us all. As John says earlier in his Gospel,
in Chapter 3, we're condemned already. Our sins have brought down the
judgment and the wrath of God upon our head already. And if
we're left in that state, we will plunge from this world,
when we die, into the second death that lasts forever. We're
condemned already. And if we're to be spared the
condemnation, we need Jesus to pass us by. There was a day when
he came to the shores and he found the fishermen, the disciples,
and he called them by name and they followed him. And that's
what saved them. he chose them, he came and called
their name in particular and if you're to know Christ and
his salvation then he will one day in his gospel come your way
and stand at the shore and call your name in particular follow
me and if he calls your name and says unto you follow him
you will follow ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. He came the disciples' way. He passed them by. He called
them. He saved them. He chose them. Has he come your way? Has he
passed by where you are? Has he called unto you? Has he
chosen you? as He saved you. You have not
chosen me, I have chosen you. Who has? In the passage, Christ
has. Jesus has. The Son of God has. The Son of God. John's Gospel
sets forth Christ specifically as the Son of God. This is the
One who speaks, the Son of God says unto sinners, says unto
these poor men, these poor wretched men by nature, the Son of God
says unto them, I have chosen you. Oh how we see His divinity
here. He chose them. by divine authority he does as
he wills he does as he pleases and God himself in the person
of the Son of God Jesus Christ came unto these men and said
unto them I have chosen you how astonishing how awesome that God should say unto sinners,
I have chosen you. Consider who this is. the Creator
of the heavens and the earth. This world was made through Jesus
Christ as John's Gospel opens. He was the Word. He was the Word
from before the beginning of this world and God created this
world through His Son, through His Word. God spake. and the
words he spake came through Jesus Christ. God spake and all things
came into being. Let there be light and there
was light. The light shone in the darkness. All things that are made were
made by him. This is the one that says unto
these disciples, I have chosen you. I the Creator and Sustainer
of all things, I the Word of God, I the Speech of Almighty
God have chosen you. He speaks and you are. He speaks and the creation comes
into being. He speaks and the dead live. He speaks and the ones in the
grave come forth and live. I have chosen you. What a speech.
What a choice, what a declaration, what authority. Has God said
of you, I have chosen you? What election, electing grace. He's chosen a people from before
the foundation of the world. God the Father has a people. known by name. And he says of
that people, I will have them, I will save them, they are mine. And that people in time are born
of Adam, born sinners, lost, lost sheep going astray. But
there comes a time when Christ came into this world with the
names of that people written upon his heart the names of all
the election of grace written upon his heart his love set upon
them and he went to the cross and he took that people's sin
upon himself he bore all the sins of all the names upon which
which were written upon his heart he bore all their sins and because
he bore them God took him and laid him upon the altar at the
cross. And God took his sword of divine
justice and thrust it through his own Son. And God took the
fires of his wrath and poured the fires down upon the sacrifice
upon the cross. And Christ was consumed under
the wrath of God because of the sins which he bore, because he
stood before Almighty God as guilty. As guilty sinners stood
before God, He stood in their place. As guilty and as wretched
and as sinful as they in the sight of God. He bore their sins. He was made sin that they should
be made the righteousness of God in Him. He died that they
should live. All those whom He had chosen. All those elected by God under
salvation, all those whom He loved from before the foundation
of the earth, He loved them with an everlasting love. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever
I command you henceforth I call you not servants for the servant
knoweth not what his lord doeth but I have called you friends
for all things that I have heard of my father I have made known
unto you ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you I have
chosen you why Why did God in Christ choose
these poor wretched sinners? Why does God in Christ choose
sinners like you and I unto salvation? Why did Christ lay down his life
for his friends? Why did he suffer the judgment
of God against their sins? Why did he die for those that
hated him? Why did God do this when we did
nothing whatsoever for him? All that we did, all these disciples
did deserved his anger, deserved his judgment, deserved his wrath. Why did he do this for them and
perhaps for you and for me if we are amongst that people whom
he chose? Why? Why has he chosen a people
like this. What makes one to differ from
another? He has, because he chose, a people
whom he loves. And in spite of all that they
have done in their lives from the day that they were born,
before they were born, he said they're mine. And I will cleanse
them. I will wash their sins away.
I will pay the price of their sins. I will change them. I will
bring them to life again. And they shall be mine. I shall
take them as my bride. And though she was once filthy,
though she was once a sinner, though she was once a rebel,
though she hated, I will take away all her guilt. all her rebellion, all her sin,
all her hatred. I will take it away and make
it such as though it was never there. I will make her whiter
than white, whiter than snow. I will make her perfection. I will make this people to be
perfect in me, to be righteous in me because I love them. I
love them as I love her, my bride. and she shall be mine because
it pleases me to do so. It pleases me to have these people
with me who know my love. They will know forever what I
did for them. Greater love have no man than
this. They won't be mine as servants. they won't serve me as a servant
serves his master simply because I'm in authority they won't serve
me for what they might get from me they will be friends they
will be my bride they will love me with a selfless love as I
have loved them with a selfless love he does this because he
loves them because he wants a people with him for eternity who love
him and who are wed to him who are one with him who are branches
upon his vine I am the vine, ye are the branches he that abideth
in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without
me ye can do nothing he's one with them what makes them to
differ from another? The fact that he chose them. 1 Corinthians 4 verse 7 says,
Who maketh thee to differ from another? Who maketh thee to differ
from another? What makes you believer different
from those who perish in the grave, rejecting God? What makes
you different? Is it because you made a decision?
Is it because you do the right things? Is it because you go
to church every Sunday? Is it because you read your Bible?
What makes you different? Who makes you to differ? Is it
your choice? Or is it God's choice? It's God's
choice. Did you choose me or did I choose
you? I chose you. What hast thou that
thou didst not receive? What have you got that you've
not been given in any sense? In the natural sense, here you
are on the world, who made the world? Who put you here? Who gave you life? Who causes
your heart to beat? Who gives you the food? Who causes
the sun to shine? What have you got that's not
been given? God gave you it all. And if you
know Christ and his redeeming love, if you know his salvation,
If you know what it is to be delivered from your sins and
delivered from the judgment and the wrath to come, who gave it
to you? How did you get that? How did
you come to be saved? Is it your choice? No, God did
it for you. God sent his own son into this
world to lay down his life for you. Christ came loving you and
laid down his life for you, his friend. You received it all. And if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? What have
you got that you have not received? O believer, if you have Christ, then he is God's gift. God's
gift. God's gift to you. God's gift
for sinners. If you have life, then you have
life from God. If you have faith, then God put
it in your heart. If you can see, if you have sight,
then God gave you that sight. If you can hear, He made you
to hear. If you follow Christ, He gave
you the legs to walk. If you have righteousness, it's
Christ which gave it to you. If you have the gospel, it's
God that sent it to you. If you have salvation, it is
of the Lord. What makes you to differ from
another? God does. He gave it all. He gave it freely. He gives it freely. It's all
of God. It's all of grace. And it's all
because He chose you, who never chose Him. Did He choose you? Why has He chosen you? Because
it pleased Him. It pleased Him. He loved His
own, and it pleased Him. to offer his life for his friends. How does he choose us? How does he save us? How does he draw his friends
under him? How are they one with the vine? Through his death. There could be no other way Life
for those who are dead can only come through the death of another
in their place. The cause of our death, be it
natural death or spiritual death, the cause of death, the reason
we die is because we're all sinners. We're all condemned of God because
of our rebellion, our turning our backs on him, our going our
own way. The reason men and women die
is because they hate God. And for them to live, a price
must be paid. The price of sin is death. That price must be paid. and
either you will pay it for eternity or another will come in your
place and say, judge me, slay me instead of him. The only way
that you or I can live. The only way that you or I can
be spared everlasting death, when we pass from this world
into eternity, is if another has died in our place. Is if another has paid the price,
has died that eternal death in our place, that we should live
and reign eternally. The only way that Christ could
show His love unto these disciples, the only way that He could choose
them eternally, have them as His friends forever, was if He
took away their sins. And the only way He could take
away their sins was to lay down His life. He died that they should
live. Did He die that you should live? Is His love so great that He
died for you? Do you know it? Greater love
have no man than this, that a man laid down his life for his friends. Did Christ lay down his life
for you? Are you one of his friends? He died. that we, his people,
should live, that those who are his should live, that those whom
he has chosen should live. Did he die for you? Did he choose
you? Has he come unto you and said,
you've not chosen me but I have chosen you? Did he die that you
should live? If he did, then the life which
he gives you himself he is our life he is the vine and his people
are the branches he is their life they live because they're
one with him because they're taken and united to him they
live because they have Christ there's no life outside of Christ
He's the vine, we're the branches, without me ye can do nothing. This is where the lie comes,
the false religion, unless you have Christ, unless you have
the true Christ, the true Christ as revealed in the scriptures,
the one who is Christ and not a false Christ, unless you have
Him, you have no life. You can profess anything. You
can say, I follow Jesus, I do this, I do that, I believe this,
I believe that. But unless you have him as your
life, you're dead. You bring forth no fruit, it's
all just words. It's all just a profession, it's
all a vain show. How many religious people are
there in this world who think they've chosen Christ? And they
don't know this Christ, who says unto his own, ye have not chosen
me, but I have chosen you. So they go about with their Jesus
in their head whom they've chosen. And they say he's like this and
he's like that and he did this for me and that for me. And they
claim to follow him and to imitate him and to live a life that they
think is pleasing to him. And he will bless them because
they chose him and because they lived for him and they served
him. And the day they die they will stand before this Christ,
the true Christ, and they will say unto him whom they profess
to follow, Lord, Lord, I've done this in thy name and that in
thy name. And he will say unto them, depart
from me, ye worker of iniquity, I never knew you. I never knew
you. You took my name and you followed
a Jesus with my name but you denied me. I said unto you in
my word that I am God, that I am sovereign. That God created the
heavens and the earth through me, that I am the Word. I said
unto you that I save whom I will save. I said unto you that salvation
is of the Lord. I said unto you that I laid down
my life for the sheep and not the goats. i said unto you that
i chose my people they don't choose me i said unto you that
salvation is of god he has a people who are elect elected by grace
i said unto you what the truth is and you said oh i don't believe
that I said unto you there is judgment and wrath to come. I
said unto you Jesus says of hell fire more times than anywhere
else you will read in the scriptures and you come unto me and say
oh well I can't believe in hell what a dreadful thing and yet
I warned you I said unto you there is a hell there is a judgment
That's why you need to be saved by my blood. There is a hell
which is why I came to suffer and to die that sinners might
be spared. I came unto you with the truth
and you received it not. I said the truth shall set you
free and you set it to one side and remain bound and locked in
your sin and in your unbelief. And then you come before me,
he says unto these, these workers of iniquity, you stand before
me and you say, Lord, Lord, I did this in thy name and that in
thy name. You take my name in vain. you walk in your own pride and
in your own glory presenting your own religious glory before
others that others might think well of you and that God might
think well of you but you never served me, you never knew me,
I never chose you you take my name in vain and you break my
commandments at the very beginning I shall not take the name of
the Lord thy God in vain And that's exactly what you do when
you take the name of Jesus, but deny his gospel, and deny his
truth, and deny his sovereignty, and deny his power as God to
save whom he wills, rather than whom you will. You have not chosen me, but I
have chosen you. Has he chosen you? I have chosen
you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit
and that your fruit should remain. He chose these disciples and
he ordained them, he sent them forth, he commissioned them with
the gospel, he said I've saved you, this is my love for you,
you are my friends, I've laid down my life for you, go and
bring forth fruit. Now that going and that bringing
forth fruit wasn't something they did by their efforts. It's
something that came forth naturally because they were one with Him.
Because He chose them, because they were branches on the vine,
they brought forth fruit because they were one with Him. He brought
forth the fruit through them because they were one with Him.
The life which is in Christ brings forth fruit. They didn't have
to strive to, they didn't have to do things to try to bring
forth fruit. They weren't like the religious
who go about doing this and that, trying to produce results. They
just went forth, chosen of Christ, with the life of Christ within,
speaking the Word because the Word was within them. Because
Christ, the Word, was in their heart, they spake the Word, they
spake the Gospel and the result. was fruit. Others heard them. Others came to know Christ. Others
had Christ come unto them through that gospel, through that word,
through that life, and they believed there was fruit. I am the vine, ye are the branches.
He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit. For without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he
is cast forth as a branch, and is withered. And men gather them,
and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide
in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will. And it shall be done unto you.
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. So shall
ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me,
so have I loved you. He's one with them, and they
bring forth fruit. Well, the Gospel does, doesn't
it? If you've come to hear the Gospel
and lived, if you've heard the Word of God, if you've heard
the Word of Jesus Christ, if you've heard the voice of Christ
and lived, that message that makes you live will bring life
to others too. It's a living Word. It saves. It's powerful. If Christ saved
these men and sent them forth with his gospel, speaking through
them, the life within, the word within, coming out of their lips,
if he was in them, speaking through them, then he could do nothing
but bring forth fruit because the gospel's the power of God. He sent them forth and they spake. He sent them forth to tell others
about that very Gospel that saved them. To tell others of the electing
grace of God. To tell others that salvation
is of the Lord. To tell others that they didn't
choose Him, but He chose them. to tell others that they were
lost in sin, dead in sin and Jesus came their way, touched
them and healed them to tell others that he chose them and
they lived. That brings for fruit the gospel,
the message that Christ has chosen us That brings forth fruit. You deny that, you deny the gospel,
you deny Christ. This fact, this truth, this statement
is in this passage where Christ speaks of being the vine and
speaks of having branches who are one with him, who bring forth
fruit. You're either with him with a
knowledge that he chose you. or you deny that He chose you
and rest in your choice of Him and you're outside of Christ. You bring forth no fruit, you're
cast forth as a branch that is withered. You're either in Christ
or out of Christ. And if you're in Christ, you
know, you know, you receive, you believe and you rejoice in
the truth that He chose you. It is he who chooses and he who
brings forth the fruit. For he is the life, he is the
light and he is the word of God. Any other message, any other
word or words is another gospel. You can call the man you speak
of Jesus all you like. but he's not this Jesus. You
can call him the son of God, but he's not this son of God.
You can call it the gospel, but it's not this gospel. You can
call it the word, but it's not the word. Any other message,
any other words, any other word is another gospel, which is not
another, which brings forth death. not fruit, not life, not salvation,
not love, but death. But this message, ye have not
chosen me, but I have chosen you, saves. It brings life, it brings love,
it brings unity with Christ. It saves. Greater love have no
man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends
you are my friends you have not chosen me but i have chosen you
and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and
that your fruit should remain that whatsoever you shall ask
of the father in my name he may give it you These things I command
you, that ye love one another. You have not chosen me, but I
have chosen you.