Good morning, everyone. Go ahead
and turn with me again to John chapter 15, if you would. John
chapter 15. Last week, we looked at verse
13. Look at it again with me, if
you would. 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." Last week, we considered Christ's great love
for his people. And there's no greater love found
than when a man lays down his life for a friend. So who are
Christ's friends? Those who do whatsoever he commands,
is what he says. So is salvation by works? No. Salvation's by grace, God's
grace in Christ who laid down his life for us. What is it to
do whatsoever Christ commands? You remember, as we saw last
week, that lawyer came to Christ and in an effort to tempt him,
he asked him what the two greatest commandments were. And the Lord
said that all the law and all the prophets hang on the two
greatest commandments. And we looked last time at Matthew's
account of that, but I want you to turn with me, keep your place
in John, but turn with me to Luke chapter 10, and let's look
at Luke's account. Luke chapter 10, beginning in
verse 25. It says, and behold, a certain
lawyer stood up and tempted him saying, master, what shall I
do to inherit eternal life? And he being the Lord said unto
him, what is written in the law? How readest thou? And he answering
said, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with
all thy soul, with all thy strength and with all thy mind and thy
neighbor as thyself. And he said unto him, The Lord
said unto this man, thou hast answered right, this do and thou
shalt live. Now, you and I both know that
none of us can be saved by the keeping of the law. The scripture's
very clear about it. It says in that it was weak through
the flesh, and that being our flesh. And we've talked so many
times about how that was never the purpose of the law anyway,
not for man to keep in order to be saved, but to show sinners,
men and women alike, that they can't keep it. The law was our
schoolmaster to what? To bring us to Christ. None of
us can love God with all our heart. Why? Because our heart
is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked by nature.
We just love ourselves too much to love God with all of it. And
we can't love God with all our soul, strength, and mind because
we're dead in trespasses and sin. Our strength is non-existent. Paul said you're without strength.
When you were without strength, no strength at all, we don't
have any strength. And our mind is carnal. hostile,
it's enmity against God, meaning hostile towards God. And it's
for these same reasons that we can't love our neighbor as ourselves. We just love ourselves too much
and we don't have the ability to love our neighbor as we love
ourselves. And the child of God knows these
things because God's revealed those things to him. And this,
like all God's law and commandments will have to be kept by Christ
for us as our substitute. He is our substitute, keeps these
commandments for us, and there's no other way for them to be kept
by us apart from our union and our oneness with Him. And that's
why the believer rejoices in the Lord Jesus. Keeping the commandments
of God is not an act, it's more of an attitude. I hope I'm not
wrong in saying it that way. It's realizing and understanding
that all our righteousness is by the work and the keeping of
God's law and commandments that Christ did for us. Keeping God's
commandments is evidence that we understand that apart from
Christ and Him crucified, there's no way for us to be righteous
and holy enough to satisfy the justice of God. This law, leave
well enough alone so in verse 29 we read but he willing to
justify himself the word justify there means to render regard
or attention to himself. He was just showing off. He said
unto Christ, and who is my neighbor? And it's here in response to
this man that the Lord gives the parable of the good Samaritan.
And it's no real surprise that the Lord begins this parable
by telling this lawyer who a man's neighbor is not. In describing
who is not a neighbor, Christ exposes this man's heart as not
being one who is compassionate enough to be a true neighbor
and a friend. By nature, none of us are, and
the Lord Jesus is the only one that's compassionate and merciful
and gracious and loving enough to be a true neighbor and a friend.
Now look at verse 30, and you'll see what I mean by the Lord first
tells him who a neighbor is not. And Jesus answering said, a certain
man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves,
which stripped him of his raiment and wounded him and departed,
leaving him half dead. And by chance, there came down
a certain priest that way. And when he saw him, he passed
by on the other side, a priest. And likewise, a Levite, when
he was at the place, came and looked on him and passed by on
the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he
journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion
on him. And he went to him and he bound
up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and he set him on his
own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
And on the morrow, when he departed, he took out two pence and gave
them to the host, the innkeeper, and said unto him, take care
of him and whatsoever thou spendest more, whatever it costs more,
when I come again, I'll repay thee. And then he looks at this
lawyer in verse 36, and he says, which now of these three, the
priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan, which now of these three thinkest
thou was neighbor unto him that fell among thee? And the lawyer,
I suppose, just had to be honest, kind of hard to deny it after
this parable. He said, he that showed mercy
on him. Then said Jesus unto him, go
and do thou likewise. Now there you have what it is
to be a true neighbor and friend. It's one who has compassion. It's one that is merciful. It's one that has concern for
others. It's one who takes care of others.
It's one who prefers others over themselves. It's one who loves
others as they love themselves. And you know, it's easy for us
to be compassionate towards ourselves. Oh, I'm pretty good at having
pity parties and expect everybody else to join right in. Yeah,
poor David. Has that ever happened to you?
It's easy to expect concern and mercy from others. Why, after
all, we deserve that, we think. It's natural for us to take care
of ourselves and prefer what is best for us. But I'm telling
you, without God's grace, it's impossible for us to love others
that way. It just is. But what was the
Lord's instruction to this man, this man of the law? What was
his response to who his neighbor was? Go and do likewise. So it's not just an act, though.
It's an attitude. It's not just an effort on our
part. It's the evidence that God has done something for us.
Those who have received grace are gracious. I've heard that
all my life. Now I've experienced that, I
see that. Those who have received mercy
are merciful. If not, they're nothing but hypocrites. Those who have been shown compassion
are compassionate. They just are. Matter of fact,
the scriptures say a man that hath friends must show himself
friendly. And then he says, there's a friend
that sticketh closer than a brother. We know who that's talking about.
Now, back in our text, in John chapter 15, this is what the Lord's saying.
Again, in verse 14, Christ said, ye are my friends if you do whatsoever
I command you. Well, what does he command us
to do? Well, to love the Lord our God
completely, fully, all our hearts, soul, mind, and to love our neighbors
as we love ourselves. The whole law and obedience to
it hangs on those two commandments, and we in and of ourselves cannot
do them. Let's just be honest, we can't
do them. But I'll tell you this much, the believer, the child
of God, the one whom God has revealed some things to, sure
does want to. Sure does strive and desire to.
I do, I do. I want to be compassionate. I
want to be merciful and gracious to others. And it's, I'm ashamed
to say that it's not easy. Brother Mahan wrote in his commentary
on the gospel of John and said this, the word friend here, that's
what I want us to think about. He said it carries a powerful
message. And it does. You know, Abraham
was called the friend of God. God spoke to Moses as he did
as a friend. And our Lord calls his disciples,
his people, his friends. What favor it is to be the friend
of God. What a privilege. The friends
of the Lord are those who love him and do his commandments,
our Lord said. And not that these things gain
for us the favor of God, because that is the gift of His grace
in Christ. But this is, in a sense, what
obeying God's Word and doing His will is. It's out of a principle
of love for Christ. As I said last week, I wanted
to be pleasing to my Father. I just did. I loved Him. I knew
He loved me. He did everything for me. He sacrificed everything. He
worked two or three jobs to provide me with all my needs and a lot
of my greeds. He really did. And he earned
that respect and that obedience. I desired to be obedient to him,
be pleasing to him. How much more so should we be
with God, as I said? Look at verse 15, he said, henceforth,
I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what
his Lord doeth, but I've called you friends. For all things that
I have heard of my Father, I've made known unto you. You know,
God's elect, God's people, are the servants and bond slaves
of the Lord, and they're glad to be. But God's people, they
delight to serve Christ and love. But our Lord is saying here to
his disciples, you're much more than just servants. You're my
friends. You know, a master usually kept
himself distant from his servants. He commanded them to do his bidding
without any explanation. He said to one, do this, and
they did it. And to another, do this, and they did it. And
often the master would either reward them or punish them according
to their service. But it's different with a friend.
It really is. A friend is loved and taken into
one's confidence and plans and will and way. This is what I'm
thinking about doing, friend. What do you think about it? What's
your opinion on it? That's the way we deal with a
friend. Christ reveals to his people his purpose and his counsels
and his redemptive will. Christ has made known unto us,
his friends, the glory of the gospel and the word and the purpose
of God. Turn over a couple of pages,
John 17, look at verse six. "'I've manifested thy name unto
the men "'which thou gavest me out of the world. "'Thine they
were, and thou gavest them me, "'and they have kept thy word. "'Now they have known that all
things whatsoever "'thou hast given me are of thee. "'For I
have given unto them the words "'which thou gavest me, and they
have received them, "'and have known surely that I came out
from thee, "'and they have believed that thou didst send me.'" as
I was reading these verses again this morning, I thought to myself,
how can anyone who reads these things deny that salvation comes
to us by and through divine revelation? We know that all Christ did was
of God the Father. We received the words that the
Father gave the Lord Jesus because God gave us life and light and
understanding. And it's been made known to us
by divine revelation that Christ came from God. He was sent from
God and that He is God. Not everybody knows that, but
His friends do. And it's then that we come to
this verse, this glorious verse in chapter 15, that the people
of God believe and preach and rejoice in, verse 16. The Lord
says, you've not chosen me, but I've 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 to you. And even though we are the friends
of Christ and friends with Christ, that friendship and love did
not begin with us. It began with Him. The friendship
was one-sided in its origin. He chose us. He set his love
upon us. Before we were born, before we'd
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to
election, might stand not by us, but of him that called. He
redeemed us. He called us to himself. We love
him. Why? Because he first loved us,
period. We seek Him because He first
sought us. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. We call upon Him because He made
us willing to do so. Our Lord elected and chose us
out of the world of sin before we were ever in that world of
sin. But that's where I was when He
called me. And He ordained that we should
be His sheep, His followers, and bear the fruit of His glory.
And here's the truth of that, being in Christ by the purpose
of God and abiding in Christ by His grace, it will produce
some lasting fruit in us. It'll bring further mercies and
blessings to those who seek His glory. We have no cause to be
proud. We were children of wrath, even
as others, but God, who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith
He loved us, even when we were dead in sin, have made us alive
in Christ. Ephesians 2, 3 and 4. You can
ask any child of God, who makes you to differ? And they'll all
give you the same answer. They'll let you know real quick
that it was God. You can ask any redeemed sinner,
what do you have that you didn't receive? And they'll tell you
absolutely nothing. Everything that I got, God gave
me. You can ask God's chosen, God's
elect, how can anyone boast in something as though they didn't
receive it from God? And they'll tell you that a man
can receive nothing except it be given him from above. We know
that, don't we? Because we're his friends. Paul
said, I am what I am by the grace of God. And when Peter confessed
to the Lord that he was the Christ, the son of the living God, the
Lord said, flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you, but my father,
which is in heaven. In Jeremiah chapter nine, Jeremiah
the prophet said, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man glory
in his strength. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this. What
do we glory in? That we understand and know Him. That's what he said, that we
understand and knoweth me, saith the Lord. How does a man or woman
know God? Only in Christ. And it's hard
for an unregenerate man or woman to grasp that. Men argue, well,
these men did choose Christ, didn't they? They did come to
Christ, did they not? They did love Jesus and follow
him. I mean, after all they said in
the Bible, my Bible says, Lord, we've left all and followed you.
Yes, they did. But they loved and they followed
and they chose Christ because he first loved them. here in
His love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent
His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4, 10. We
chose Christ in response to His choice of us. And we call on
the Lord in response to His calling us. We cast ourselves upon Christ
in response to His drawing us to Him. Our Lord said in John
6, 37, I'm sure you could quote the verse. He said, all that
the father giveth me shall come to me. Not one can resist his
effectual calling. If he calls, we're gonna come.
We come to Christ because there's none who can resist his will. No man can come to me except,
oh, I'm glad for that word, aren't you? Here's the exception that
the father which sent me, draw him. and I'll raise him up at
the last day. You know why? Because we're his
friends. They shall all be taught of God,
and every man, every woman that hath heard and learned of the
Father cometh unto me, the Lord said. The Lord hath appeared
of old unto me, saying, yea, I've loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. By nature, we will not come.
We will not come that we might have life. That's exactly what
the Lord said. But his people shall be willing
in the day of his power because God made them willing. And if
God makes you willing, you'll be willing. And that's his precious
electing love and grace. I don't know how anyone can deny
it. Thank God that he didn't pass us by. Thank God he didn't
leave me in darkness. Thank God that He loved us first,
because I would have never loved Him. Thank God that He chose
us. Thank God that He called us.
Thank God that He drew us with the cords of love. Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, in Christ
according as He hath chosen us and Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love. having predestinated us into
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ according to the good
pleasure of His will. God did it because He wanted
to. Who? God. What? Chose us. When? Before the foundation of
the world. How? By adopting us. Why? Because it seemed good in His
sight and it was according to the good pleasure of His will.
That's why. Can you think of any other reason
why God would love you and me? I mean, honestly. Isn't that
what David said? He said, when I consider the
heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, the stars, which thou
hast ordained, the only thing I can think is what is man that
thou art mindful of him? What would even cause you to
visit the son of man in mercy and grace? I tell you this much,
nothing apart or outside from Himself. It just simply pleased
Him to do so. It pleased the Lord to make you
His people. Friends, we didn't choose God,
He chose us. We didn't love God, God loved
us. And this is plain and simple
and clear in the Scriptures. It's God that hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit,
His Spirit, and belief of the truth, His truth. Our Lord said,
you didn't choose me. Well, I tell you what a horrible
indictment that is against us. Why? Because we should have chosen.
That's a serious charge. We should have chosen him, but
we didn't and we couldn't. Why? Because we were dead. Why
don't men and women choose and come to Christ? I give you three
quick things in closing. First of all, they don't know
who he is. Just don't. Secondly, they don't know who
and what they are. And those two together gives
us the third reason, and that is that they don't need Him.
Yet I find myself this morning having the knowledge of who Christ
is. He's God. He is a just God and
a Savior. How do I know that? Because God
revealed it to me. I find myself this morning knowing
who and what I am. You know, for years, I'd tell
you something like this. You know, I'm not perfect. But I'm not that bad either. But now I see what I am. I'm
a wretch, deserving of hell. One who's dead in sin, but who's
now been made alive in Christ. And God calls me his friend.
I was blind, but now I see. I see my need of a savior. I see my need of a substitute.
I see my need of a sacrifice. How did I receive my sight? How
did I learn of my need? It was because He chose me. I
didn't choose Him. No. I should have, but I didn't. He chose me. And because He did,
I have the fruit of believing and trusting in Him. Enable me
to believe. Help thou my unbelief. Boy, that's
fruit in and of itself, isn't it? Oh, I have the fruit of believing
and trusting in Him who loved me and gave Himself for me. What
a God, what a Savior.