The reading is from John, the
Gospel according to John chapter 15 and the first 17 verses. This is the parable of the vine
and it goes on to the Lord speaking of himself as the friend. So
from verse 1, I am the true vine and my father is the husband
man. 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 ye 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." That's Father reading of God's holy
word. Struck me as we read there of
the Lord saying that without me he can do nothing and that
with him that he shall bear much fruit herein is my father glorified
that he bear much fruit is another promise they shall still bring
forth fruit in old age and do remember that promise it's a
wonderful promise right to old age they shall still bring forth
fruit and you join that with what we've read that means there's
still a union from me is thy fruit found there's still a union
with his people in old age. So just take that away as a thought
as well. But I want to speak mostly from
verse 13. Pray to love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. I want
to think just of three points this morning. So the first one,
I will introduce them as we go. how the love of God is shown. Because really our Lord is speaking
here of what He is going to do for His people, for His disciples,
for His friends on Calvary's tree. He is going to lay down
His life for them. He says, I have power to lay
it down, I have power to take it again, this commandment by
the seed of my Father. In Romans chapter 5 we read that
God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners Christ died for us. So it is the Lord instigating
or beginning what is to end up in a friendship that it begins
when his people are enemies or sinners and alienated from him
And this is really highlighted on the cross. Even His disciples,
they all forsook Him and fled. We see the Jews, His own people,
His own nation, away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him. This
really emphasizes that while the Lord was actually suffering,
laying down His life, paying for their debt, they were crying
out in anger against Him. He said, Father, forgive them.
They know not what they do. Later on, when Peter was preaching
at Pentecost, then those same people were pricked in the heart.
They realized that they had crucified the Lord of life and glory. They
were brought to know that then. But our Lord had already told
his disciples, and he tells us here, of that greatest love that
any man can have. that a man lay down his life
for his friends. And yet the circumstances, you
know, if we had a friend that was very friendly to us, they
were very nice to us, we may think, well, we would do great
things for them, we would lay down our life for them. But if
it was an enemy, if it was someone that was dealing with us really
hardly, if you had a one of your fellow residents here, and they
were quite unpleasant to you, you found it hard to get on with
them, and they were doing horrible things to you, and then they
came to be in need, would you be as ready to stop what you
were doing, and to help that person, as well as someone you're
getting on with? This is the love of the Lord
Jesus Christ, that he showed to his people, in laying down
his life, and the blood that was shed atoning for sin, the
life that he had with his father before the world was, he speaks
of that, the glory that he had, he laid that aside, he comes
to this earth. And one wonderful thing, as it
were, we think of the Lord humbling himself and becoming a man, but
the Lord will never cease to have that human manhood he will
always be the Lord Jesus Christ now from the time of his conception
he is always God and man in one person and in glory he is not
humiliated in glory he is not humble he is exalted still in
that frame still as a man but it's what he suffered as a man
what he endured here below God manifest in the flesh The only
way that we can know the invisible God is through His Son and through
the Word, the written and the incarnate Word. All the time
the Word of God is exalted as to know Him. And remember the
Lord on the way to Emmaus, those two, Christ in all the Scriptures,
ought not Christ to have suffered these things? And all the time
pointed to what He would do at Calvary. And we have to remember
the ordinance of the Lord's Supper as well is looking back to that.
Paul says, he determines to know nothing among you save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. This is something, dear friend,
never lose sight of, and never leave the context of the subject
this morning, that this is the greatest expression of the love
of God, the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, that He should
die and suffer for our sins. 2. How it is evidenced in those
for whom Christ died that the Lord Jesus is our friend,
and that he actually suffered and bled for us. And it's evidenced
here, because the Lord says, ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever
I command you. We could put it another way,
and say you see a person that has been made willing, and they
love to do whatever is commanded and bidden of me, They are my
friends, by their fruits ye shall know them. Remember the first
part of our reading was speaking of the Lord as the vine and he
was speaking of the fruitfulness coming from a union with Him. And it is that union with Him
that brings forth the fruit then that says the only reason why
this fruit is there is because they do have a union. And the
Lord says here, where you see that fruit, you know they are
my friends. Abraham was said to be Abraham,
my friend. And Abraham did as the Lord bade
him. He went from Ur of the Chaldees. He went then from, to offer up
his son Isaac. He was obedient. Now, we must
be very clear, Abraham was not saved because of his works. He was saved because Christ was
to die for him. Abraham saw Christ die and rejoiced
at it. But where one is saved by Christ,
then their works will evidence that. They will be the fruit
of that. And the person, they're not looking
at their works thinking, I'm earning my way to heaven. This
is what is going to get me to heaven. Their soul looking is
to Christ. But in doing that, then they
imitate Christ. They walk in a way. like Him,
laying down their life for their friends and walking in a way
that really shows who they are and whom they serve. And the
Lord is very clear in the previous verses, this is my commandment
that you love one another as I have loved you. So He doesn't
just say if you do whatsoever I command you and you're left
to think, what is the Lord commanding me? He's told us already. and
the two tables of the law and remember the law at Mount Sinai
was all in the negative for the most part, thou shalt not but
when we get the Lord speaking of the law really as it was in
the Garden of Eden it's all positive thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, with all thy mind and with all thy
soul and thy neighbour as thyself and it's a positive the law is
a positive expression of love to God first and then love to
man and John in his epistles he says how can we say that we
love God whom we haven't seen when we do not love man his brother
whom he has seen and he that loved God loved his brother also
and this is what is being taught here so how it is evidenced is
by Having that love like the Lord had to us, then we impart
that to others. Our Lord told another parable
where one had been forgiven a great big debt, but he went out and
took his servant by the throat and demanded he pay all that
he owed. And the Lord was angry with that
servant. He'd been forgiven a lot, but
he couldn't forgive a little. And we are to remember that as
well. If we realize how much we've
been forgiven and pardoned, may we be really helped and strive,
ask the Lord Grace, to forgive one another when we have much
smaller things done against us. Time to then think of our third
point, which is the relationship enjoyed between Christ and his
people, that is, friends. This is why we sung in our first
hymn, wasn't it? What a friend we have in Jesus. And because of friends, they
like to be together, they like to hear from one another and
help one another. And it's a wonderful thing to
think that the Lord has chosen that relationship. And you might
think, well, if you had someone that was a beggar on the street
and they had the friend in the king's court, You say, that's
a strange thing. One is so powerful, so wealthy. Another one has nothing and so
poor. But with the Lord, you can hardly
compare this because he is having for his friends, those that have
nothing, no righteousness of their own. He's had to do everything
for them and yet he calls them his friends. And it's a wonderful
thing to realize that we have this friend that we can go to
And He helps us, He appears for us, He does for us what we cannot
do for ourselves. And so do think of this, no doubt
you sing this hymn quite often, but do think of that relationship. The whole of the Gospel, it is
to do with relationships, isn't it? There's the Redeemer and
the redeemed. There's the Saviour and those
that are saved. There's the Heavenly Bridegroom
and the Bride, the Church. It is all the time a relationship
between Christ and His Church. And this relationship is that
of a friend. And he says in verse 15, that,
I have called you friends for all things that I have heard
of my Father, I have made known unto you. And maybe when we read
the Word of God, we think this is our heavenly friend. make
Him known to us all those things that He's heard of His Father,
to be given to us as a friend. Well, may these thoughts remain
with you, how the love of God is shown by Christ laying down
His life for us on Calvary's tree, how it is evidenced by
our love one to another and love to the Lord, obeying what He
sets forth in all His Word, and the beautiful relationship a
friend, a friend we have in the Lord Jesus Christ.