Let's take our Bibles once again
and turn with me to the gospel according to John. John 14. John 14. The last time we looked In this chapter,
we considered the Lord's precious promises of the Father's and
of His love for His people. And the glorious ground and the
evidence of their love toward Him. Here is the evidence of
it. Obedience. Obedience to Christ. Look at verse 21, this is what
we looked at last time. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth
them, he it is that loveth me, and
he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love
him and will manifest myself to him. You know, we always, we desperately
need to hear afresh of the Lord's teaching of our obedience toward Him because
of His faithfulness and love toward us. This is the reason
that God's people keep the commandment of the Lord to believe Him. This is the commandment of the
Lord. This is the commandment of the
Lord, that you believe on Him whom God has sent. We trust Him. God's people seek Him. Why? That commandment, we just read
that, is written on the heart. God writes that commandment on the heart of His people. They
love Him. Not as they should. Not as they
wish. Not as they shall. But they do. And the Spirit of God takes God's
Word. He bears it to the objects of
God's mercy. And the Spirit of God teaches
them. He teaches them afresh of themselves. He teaches them afresh of Christ. And He leads them and guides
them and directs them according to God's Word, according to His
purpose and power and mercy and grace. God's people believe God. We said before, they do believe
in God, but devils believe in God. Reprobates believe in God. There is a conscience. Man is
born with a conscience that knows right and wrong. He knows that.
Man by nature, you know, people say, I am an atheist. No, you
are not. You are not. You are a liar. God is true.
God said that there is a conscience in every man of the witness of
God. Now, they don't like to retain
the knowledge of God in their minds. I know that. I agree with
that. But to say that man says, I'm
an atheist, there is no no. No, God says you do know it. God says a man looks outside
and looks at the trees the mountains, and there is the witness of God.
And he said, man is without excuse. Men can say, I don't believe
that. God says, you do. Yes, you do. You believe that there is a God.
You don't believe Him, but you believe there is a God. But God's
people believe God. Now let me ask you this. Did the Lord say, Did the Lord
say that salvation was by God's will or man's will? Did the Lord
say this? Which were born, John 1, verse
13, not of blood. Men are not born believers. They're
not born believers. People say, well, I've always
believed the Lord. I heard Brother Henry say, well,
that's just a little bit too long. They were born not of blood.
nor the will of flesh, nor the will of man, but of God." Now,
who is right? God or man? Did the Lord say that man's salvation,
man's election, man says that God looked down to see who would
choose him, and God therefore chose because he foresaw. He
looked down through eternity and he saw who would choose him,
so he decided to make one of those his elect. Well, Psalm
14.2. I'll just read this. Psalm 14.2. I think I'm right. Psalm 14.2
says, The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men
to see if there were any that did understand and seek God.
They are all gone aside. They are all together become
filthy. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. There is not
one. God looked. God looked. And he looked and saw in one
all-encompassing look. Was there anybody out there that
did one good thing? And the Lord said there wasn't. Man says God chose because he
saw that they would choose him. God says no. Through the Apostle
Paul, we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren,
beloved to the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief for
the truth. Now, who chose? Whose will was it? Who chose?
Whose purpose was it? We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to God's purpose." God's people believed God. Called out of darkness. Did He
say that without Him we could do nothing? You can't right now,
I cannot believe God right now unless the Lord gives me faith
right now. Faith that cometh right now by
hearing the Word of God. I can't believe Him. I cannot
obey Him. I cannot love Him. We don't establish, we don't
maintain our righteousness belief before God. Is there any work
that God's going to accept on man's part for man's salvation
when the Lord said, it is finished? It's finished. Is there an addendum
to that? He that hath my commandments,
and keepeth them, keepeth them in his heart. Believes them. Believes them. He it is that
loveth me. A man that says, I love the Lord. I love God. But now, I don't
love what you're saying about God. I don't believe that God
chooses. I don't believe that the Lord
Jesus died only for the elect. I don't believe that. That's
what they say. He that hath my commandments, he said he laid
down his life. He that hath my commandments
keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me shall
be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself
to him. Now back in John 14, verse 22,
Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt
manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world? Lord, here's
Jude, the one that wrote that one chapter epistle. Just before
the book of the Revelation, Jude. Jude asks this question that
we in our heart at least ask. Lord, You've revealed that You
love us. That You've given a heart for
you. You've expressed and revealed
Your love to us. And You've told us, Lord, all
that love you, keep your commandments. And Lord, You promised that that
obedience to You, You said that if there is a desire within our
heart to keep, to love, to hold to, to guard those commandments,
to believe You and to love each other, Lord, You said That that's
the evidence of your love for us and our love for you. And
Lord, you said that you'd manifest yourself to us and not to the
world. Lord, how? Look at this question again.
Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt
manifest thyself unto us? and not unto the world. How can
that be? That's what he's asking. How
can that be? You know there's only one answer
for that. The grace of God. How is it,
Lord, that You would show mercy? How is it that You would cause
us to hear? Give the world a heart. Is there anything in us that
deserves so great favor? You know there's not. Here's
a group of people found within this group of people, some that's
been made to know that they're nothing in themselves. That we
are what we are by mercy and grace, how is it that thou wilt
manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world? And the Lord
answered, verse 23, and said unto him, If a man love me, he
will keep my words. And my Father will love him,
and we shall come unto him and make our abode with him. Lord, how is it that you would
show mercy to such and one as us? And the Lord gives him again
the evidence of it. Mercy and grace is the only answer.
But again, the Lord sets forth that that regenerated sinner
that loves Christ You that struggle, as we struggle and strive, the
older we get. That regenerated object of God's
mercy, He's going to strive after, He's going to long for, and He's
going to endeavor to be obedient. He wants to be. That's the promise,
that's the mark of a believer. He's faithful. He's faithful. He wants to seek first the kingdom
of God. He wants to. I want to do that. I want to. And that desire from
a new heart, that longing for faithfulness, and the Lord reveals that it's
found within him. He that loveth me keepeth my
commandments. John 17, 6. This is the Lord. We've worked toward John 17,
that high priestly prayer. I love that chapter. It's such
a blessing. John 17, 6. The Lord is praying,
and He's talking to the Father. And He says, I've manifested
Thy Word to the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world. to every believer, and here,
listen to this, he prays the same thing for all of us. Thine they were, thou gavest
them me, and listen to this, they have kept thy word. You know, a believer reads those
words, he hears those words, and in his heart, Because God
has taught him something of himself. There is an embarrassment. You think, Lord, as you say it
is, and Lord in you, it is only so. I know that. But Lord in
me. Like old Paul says, I see no
good thing in me. They kept thy word. They believed me. That is what
he said. They believed. They trusted me. Now listen to me. If keeping His commandments means
a perfect obedience in myself, no one is going to have any comfort. If it's going to take that I
look at myself and I say, I can see no infractions at all. Well,
that's just a blind man talking. That's what Paul the Apostle,
that's what I said over in Philippians 3. He said concerning the law,
he said, I was blameless. Can you imagine? If keeping and
being obedient, keeping His commandments, being obedient, means perfect
outward, inward obedience in myself, I don't have any hope. Because I know better than that.
But love to Him. Keeping His Word is to possess
a heart that loves faithfulness. To say that I do it as I ought,
I can't say that. But I can say, as Peter said, Lord, You know all things. And
Lord, You know I love You. I do love You. Lord, I struggle
as You well saw in Peter and in Martin. But Lord, You know
all things. You know I love You. And Lord,
I see my flesh. I see that war that goes within. But Lord, I do trust You. And
Lord, The longer I go and the more you teach, Lord, by your
grace, the more you've taught me of my need of trust in you.
Because I see frailty more clearly every day. A heart that believes God, that
keeps his commandment, is one that trusts Christ to be all
of his hope, all of his peace before God. That's a heart that
believes and keeps God's commandments. I don't keep them in myself.
He kept them. It's His righteousness imputed
to me. If my faithfulness depends upon
me, I'm gone. As Brother Scott said, gone,
Jesse. That's it. You don't have any hope. I need
one to answer. I need one to stand. I need one
that I stand in. I need one to hide me, protect
me, clothe me, cover me, wash me, cleanse me. God be thanked, Romans 6, 17,
that you were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from
the heart. That form of doctrine which was
delivered unto you. The Lord says His people are
obedient. And in Christ, it is so. That new man, that new heart,
and this life, we are never going to fully realize that true desire. You that know Him, love Him.
You that know Him, believe Him. We are never going to see it
fully realized in this life, but one of these days, that which
we strive after, that which we desire, that which we look for,
that which we love. Philippians 3.12, Paul says,
not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect,
But I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also
I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." The Lord said back in John 14,
23, If a man love Me, he will keep My words, believe in Him,
trust in Him, long after Him. And My Father will love him,
not that the Father's love is dependent. Upon my faithfulness,
thanks be unto God for that. God never started doing anything.
He's eternally loved His people. He's eternally purposed to show
mercy and accomplish in time that which He's perfectly going to set forth when we leave
this world. Brother Scott said, no more birthdays. But He is going to manifest His
love to the believer in grace. My Father will love Him, support
Him, defend Him, preserve Him. But I tell you, the greatest
manifestation of God's love to His people is the greatest manifestation
of love to God's people. that as the Lord Jesus Christ
is revealed in this book, you love Him. You love Him as He
is revealed in this book. That is the greatest manifestation
of love from the Father to God's people. We love Him because He first loved us. If a man loved me, he's going
to keep my words. My Father will love him. And
listen to this, and we will come unto him and make our abode with
him. Oh, what a promise! In every
instance of our need, my flesh is going to say, He ain't coming. He ain't coming. My flesh will
say, you can't depend on Him. And God's Word stands sure, and
the believer says, He says He's coming. The believer says that He's ever-present. He said, He's not going to leave
me, not going to forsake me. He said He's going to pour out
the showers of blessings upon the objects of His mercy. And
the Lord Jesus Christ says, We, the Father, the Lord, God's Spirit,
One God, we're going to come unto Him. And He comes even now,
right now. with a fresh manifestation of
pardon and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, and you hear the
Word of God, and God blesses it to you. It comes with that reminder of
that electing, redeeming, and regenerating grace, and we're
going to make our abode with Him. Peace. Comfort. Every place that God's people
have need, the Lord says, I'll come to you. I'll make my abode
with you. He who never leaves. But that
manifestation of it in the hour of our need, I'm telling you, the moment that God Almighty is pleased
to take us out of this world, rest assured, there will be a greater manifestation
of the assuredness of his presence than you and I have ever seen. In the hour of our need, He who
has eternally loved us, He who said, I'm not going to leave
you, I'm not going to forsake you, when it comes time to pass
over Jordan, He'll be there. And I'll receive you unto myself.
that where I am, there you may be also. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen.