Let's take our Bibles once again
and turn with me to the gospel of John, chapter 15. The gospel
as penned by the Apostle John, chapter 15. We're about to read the words
of the precious one we just considered. He says, verses 7 and 8, John
15, 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 you be my
disciples. Having revealed in verse 5 the evidence of those that are
truly in him by grace, not just in appearance, but by grace,
verse 5, he says, you are the branches. He that abideth in
me, and I in him the same, bringeth forth much fruit. For without me you can do nothing, if you abide in me." Abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ reveals much. It means that the Father puts
you there. He puts you there. How would
you have ever gotten eternally? How would you have gotten eternally
in Christ? You think about this. If a man be found in Christ,
Christ who is the eternal God, God-Man, Messiah, the Anointed. And in Him, nothing changes. Nothing has ever been added to
Him. Nothing has ever been taken away. Mitchie doesn't change.
Nothing changes about God. How could you be abiding in Christ unless God had always put you
there, chose you there? How could you abide in Him unless
He has eternally been your surety, your husband? To abide in Christ means that the Lord shed His
blood for you, the sheep. And it means, if you abide in
Christ, that in time, God told you about it. That is the only
way you knew. You would have never known anything
concerning being in Him unless the Spirit of God, through the
preaching of the gospel, would have told you. How would you
have come up with that? And it means that the Spirit
of God is going to keep you if you abide in Me. And without Me, he said, you
can do nothing. So abiding in Christ, that means
that in time, He who everlastingly loved me, everlastingly stood
for me. He in whom the Father chose His
people. He who came into this world and
lived for them and died for them, and in time the Spirit of God
called them out of darkness. It means now that I know that
I am absolutely helpless. without Him, and He is my all
in all. Those that are kept abiding in
Christ, kept by the Spirit of God, kept by grace, they believe
God. They believe God's Word. His
Word is precious to them in all the In the preciousness of our blessed
Savior, they look at themselves and they say like old John Newton, if I love, why am I thus? Why am I like I am? That old flesh, you know, I've
mentioned this before, I hear people talk about how easy it
is, you know, to pray and stuff. I'm going to tell you something,
it's not like that with me. It's not an easy thing. I struggle. I struggle. I think, Lord, oh,
that I might be found in You. That I might know You. found
abiding in you, kept by grace, kept by your power. If you abide
in Me and My words abide in you." You know, a believer knows. He knows it and he wants to know
it. He knows that his Word It's the
only thing that matters. Psalm 119, 160, Thy word is true
from the beginning. And every one of thy righteous
judgments, that's what we just looked at. The ways of judgment,
justice, right. Thy righteous judgments endureth
forever. If my words abide in you, the
Lord Jesus Christ prayed in John 17, verse 17, in that high priestly
prayer. And I think about as the Spirit
of God graciously caused the Apostle John to pen that high
priestly prayer, Lord willing, John 17 will be there one of
these days. And I think about as he prayed,
And the Spirit of God allowed John to write it. That's what
he prays now. The great high priest praying. John 17, 17. This is what the
Lord said. Sanctify them. Set them apart. Set them apart. That they be
holy in Christ. Sanctify them through Thy truth. Thy Word is truth. Almighty God said that He chose
to have mercy and compassion on His people. God said that. That's the truth. Christ said
that He laid down His life for the sheep. That's truth. If my
words abide in you, all that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. I think to myself, Lord, God
of heaven, if you will, Lord, you can bless this word today.
Lord, you can call out your people. Lord, have mercy according to
your will, according to your good pleasure. I know this, His
Word is not going to return void. It is going to accomplish the
purpose for which it was sent. Therefore, according to His Word,
I can expect something is going to happen today. What is going
to happen? Whatever He purposes. Believers know that His Word
is power. If my words You abide in me and
my words abide in you. Hold your place right there.
Turn over to Matthew 8. Matthew 8.23. Matthew 8.23 to
27. When he was entered into a ship,
his disciples followed him, and behold, there arose great tempest
in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves. But he was asleep. Now, get that
picture in your mind. The waves came over the ship.
The waves are coming over the ship. He was asleep. His disciples
came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us. We perish. And He saith unto
them, Why are ye fearful?" And look at this blessed, blessed,
blessed truth that is set forth for their
comfort. O ye of little faith. By the grace of God, I think
I can enter into that. He didn't say, O ye of no faith.
Oh, ye of little faith. There was some faith there. If
you had faith, it was a grain of mustard seed. You can see
this mountain being moved. It moved. Oh, ye of little faith. Then he arose and rebuked the
winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. But the men
marveled, saying, What manner of man is this that even the
winds and the sea obey Him? Exclamation point. Not a question mark. It wasn't
a question. That was a statement. That was
a declaration. What manner of man is this that
even the winds and the sea obey Him? That Word abiding in them. They of little faith. Believer knows that His Word
is eternal. I know that His Word is truth,
His Word is power, His Word is eternal, heaven and earth. Matthew
24, 35, "...shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."
Lord, teach me. May I, by Your grace, hide Thy
Word in my heart, that I might not sin against You." Put in
him, abiding in him, God's people believe him. Trust him, look
to him. For all their need, trusting
and seeking and asking. He said back in John 15 verse
7, If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall
ask what you will. shall be done unto you." Now,
the natural mind would obviously, foolishly, lustingly think, well,
that's just carte blanche. Let me just think what I want. That's the thoughts of flesh. That's a thought of deception,
seeking the cares of this world. If His Word abides in me, I know
this, whatever He says is my need. That's my will. If His Word abides
in me. Oh, I've got an old man that
fights against that, believe me. I've got an old man that
wants just exactly what every old man wants, self. But if His Word abides in me,
you shall ask, what you will, it shall be done unto you." What
does that mean? It means that if by faith and
by the grace of God that His promise, His Word, His truth
has been given to me, put there, kept there, cultivated Can I say that under
the hearing of the gospel? May it grow and increase of knowledge,
truth through the preaching of the gospel. I see in part, I
know in part, and I want to know. But I might know Him, be found
in Him. Promises of His faithfulness
to me because of His mercy and grace to me You shall ask what
you will as His Word, lest by His Spirit it causes my will
to be directed toward His will. Lord, I pray Thy will be done.
That's what that leper said. Lord, if You will, You can make
me whole. The old man says, make me whole. The new man says, Lord, if You
will, You can make me whole. Lord, if You will. You will ask
what You will, and it shall be done unto You. Look at 1 John 5.14. 1 John. I'll read this, or you can turn
this. 1 John 5.14. This is the confidence that we
have in Him. We ask anything according to
His will. He heareth us. Lord, direct my will to Thy will. Back in John 15, verse 8, Herein
is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. So shall
ye be my disciples. The glory of the Father The magnifying,
the setting forth of the Father was ever the Lord Jesus Christ's
desire. My meat, He said, is to do the
will of Him that sent me to finish His works. That desire is in
every believer. Paul said, Apostle Paul said
in Romans 7, To will is present with me. To will is present. But how to accomplish that which
I would, I find not. I want to be obedient. I want
to be. There is a new man that desires
God's honor and God's glory and God's praise. And I've got an
old man that just fights that. That does not want that. And they struggle, and they don't
ever compromise with each other. Never. That old man is going to be with
me until the Lord delivers me from the body of this death. His meat. He did only always
those things that pleased His Father. I want to. And one day,
by the grace of God, I shall. His will. For the glory of His
Father was His food, His meat, His hunger. The Lord said, this herein is
My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. So shall you
be known as. Not that He waits for me to bear
fruit, then I become His disciple. So shall you be my disciples,
the evidence of, the truth of, the fruit, the fruit of God's
Spirit, that fruit that is produced only by God Himself. We never deny that much fruit
is evidenced externally. I don't deny that, but I'm telling
you this fruit is from an internal blessing, joy, meekness, long-suffering. You know, we never can lay claim
to it because our Lord said, without me you can do nothing.
Hosea, listen to this, Hosea 14.8, from me is thy fruit found. You leave a man to himself thinking
he's producing fruit, And he's going to start talking about
all the things, all the souls that he saved, all the chapters
that he's read every day, how long he prays, when he prays. That's what he's going to start
bringing. Without me, you can do nothing. Philippians 1.11,
being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by
Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. We cannot lay
claim to their source. If there is truly love, the fruit
of God's Spirit, love for God, love for His people, love for
His gospel, it is the love of Christ that constraineth us. Romans 15, 18, the Apostle Paul
says, I will not dare to speak of any of those things which
Christ hath not wrought by me. Unless the Lord has done it in
me, for me, through me as the means, I will not dare speak
of any honor. If there is any joy, joy in the
Lord, John 15, 11 says, These things have I spoken unto you,
that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. If there is any peace, if there
is any peace in my heart, peace before God that has been given
unto this heart here, that I might settle and be settled in the
Lord Jesus Christ, He gave it to me. Meekness. Remember when old Abraham told
Lot, they were fighting, shepherds were fighting. Here's meekness. Abraham said, you take what you
want of the lamb, I'll take the rest. That's meekness. A bowing
to God's providence. If there's any meekness, Almighty
God's put it there. The Father is glorified. When
the objects of God's mercy bear much fruit, because it's the
fruit of God's Spirit, the fruit of His Son, one. So shall you be my disciples. So shall you be evidenced to
be my disciples. Bearing much fruit is not a condition
of discipleship. It's the evidence of it. He said,
I am the vine and you are the branch. You abide in me, so shall you bear much fruit.
Therein is my Father glorified. The Father who gave us to the
Son entrusted us to His precious Son, His anointed, the Messiah. The Father is glorified when
the Son who has redeemed us, the Spirit of God who has regenerated
us, produces in us that which magnifies the Father, praising,
glorifying Him for Christ's sake. Lord, to these words may Your
holy name be exalted and praised for Christ's sake.