We're going to begin our second
service by standing and singing 259, the rock that is higher than I, 259. Sometimes the shadows are near,
and rough seems the path to the goal. And sorrows sometimes how
they swing, like canvas down over the soul. Oh, then to the
rock let me fly To the rock that is higher than I Oh, then to
the rock let me fly To the rock that is higher than I Oh, sometimes
how long seems to day And sometimes how weary my feet, But toiling
in life's dusty way, The rock's blessed shadow how sweet. Oh, then to the rock that they
flood, To the rock that is higher than high, Oh, then to the rock
let me fly To the rock that is higher than I Oh, near to the
rock let me keep If blessings or sorrows prevail Or climbing
the mountain waisting Or walking the shadowy path Oh, then to
the rock let me fly To the rock that is higher than I Oh, then
to the rock let me fly To the rock that is higher than I Thank
you. Turn to Titus 2. Titus chapter 2. Titus 2. But speak thou the things
which become sound doctrine, that the aged men be sober, grave,
temperate, sound in faith, in charity, and in patience. They
age women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness,
not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good
things, that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love
their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste,
keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the
word of God be not blasphemed. Young men likewise exhort to
be sober-minded, in all things showing thyself a pattern of
good works and doctrine, showing uncorruptness, gravity, and sincerity. Sound speech that cannot be condemneth,
that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no
evil thing to say of you. Exhort servants to be obedient
unto their own masters, and to please them, well in all things,
not answering again. not purloining, but showing all
good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our
Savior in all things. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously,
and godly in the present world, looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior
Jesus Christ. who gave himself for us that
he might redeem us from all iniquity and purity, unto himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works. These things speak and exhort
and rebuke with all authority that no man despise thee. Let's
pray. Father, we come to you this morning,
thankful for the message that you brought us in the first hour.
Father, we're thankful for the trials that you give us and Lord,
we're thankful for the message this morning. You showed me anyway,
Father, that it's not about the trials of maybe physical illness
or things that we necessarily go through day to day, but the
trial of unbelief, Father, that the trial that we are looking
elsewhere other than to you and Father, you, Put that in our
hearts and our minds, Lord, to bring us back to you and realize
that the only one that we need to believe in is Christ, and
the only one that we need to believe in what he did and what
he accomplished is Christ. And Father, that we don't ever
look to ourselves for an ability to save ourselves, and Father,
that we never look to ourselves for an ability to lose our salvation
either. And Lord, I just ask that you
continue to have messages such as that preached in this place
forever, eternally. And Father, we ask that if it
be your will, that this church grow and that more folks come
and hear that gospel, hear this one and only truth. And Father,
we ask that you watch over us in the second hour and open our
hearts and our eyes. and ears as you bring another
message. And Lord, we continue to ask that you watch over the
one that you've sent to bring those messages, Lord, and support
him and allow us to support him. And Father, support him as he
brings the message and give him strength to tell us what we need
to hear. And Father, we just ask that
you continue to watch over this church and watch over and care
for us as a group and individually. We ask this all in Christ's name. Our second hymn will be 298.
God leads us along. 298. Shady green pastures so rich
and so sweet, God leads his dear children along. Where the water's cool flow bathes
the weary one's feet, God leads his dear children along. Some through the water, some
through the flood, Some through the fire, but all through the
blood. Some through great sorrow, but
God gives us all. In the night season and all the
day long. Sometimes on the mountain where
the sun shines so bright, God leads his dear children along. Sometimes in a valley in darkest
of night, God leads his dear children along. Some through the water, some
through the blood. Some through the fire, but all
through the blood. Some through great sorrow, but
God gives a song In the night season and all the day long. Though sorrows befall us and
Satan oppose, God leads his dear children along. Through grace
we can conquer, defeat all our foes. God leads his dear children
along. Some through the water, some
through the flood. Some through the fire, but all
through the blood. Some through great sorrow, but
God gives us all In the night season and all the day long. Away from the mire and away from
the clay, God leaves his dear children alone. A way up in glory, eternity's
day God leads his dear children along Some through the waters,
some through the flood Some through the fire, but all through the
blood Some through great sorrow, but God gives us all In the night
season and all the day long. Thank you. It looks like it's still going
in and out. Yeah, a few times. It's all right. Just give it a second while we're
here. Just give it one minute. It doesn't look like it goes
completely off. It looks like it just goes down. Well, I saw
like an orange like box there too, and it was just a little
bit off. Just give us a second to get
settled in here. All right, good morning brethren.
Let's turn to John chapter 15. We'll be covering John 15, predominantly
verse 8, but it covers most of this chapter up through verse
16. In verse 8, our Lord, he says,
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. So shall ye be my disciples. And I was thinking of that too
when Brother Scott was reading from Titus chapter 2 when he,
when Paul reminds Titus to put the people in memory to be zealous
for good works. And so I think that was an appropriate
reading there, Brother. Now, I want to understand with
you what our Lord means here looking at this verse under 3
Three points. First of all, what is the fruit
that Christ is speaking of here? Second, what does Christ mean
when he says, so shall ye be my disciples? Is our Lord saying
that our discipleship or our abiding in Christ's love is conditioned
on our obedience? Is that what he's saying? And
then third, how? do I bear much fruit? So I've titled this Fruit-Bearing
in the Garden of Grace. Fruit-Bearing in the Garden of
Grace. So first, what fruit? What is
this fruit that Christ speaks of? Let's read that verse again. Herein is my Father glorified,
that ye bear much fruit. So shall ye be my disciples. What is this fruit that Christ
speaks of here? Is he speaking about us having
a certain role or function or office in the church? Is that
what we're to pursue, that we might bear much fruit? Is it
about an office? Do I need to be a pastor or a
preacher to bear much fruit? What if I'm a song leader? What
if I read the scriptures? What if I work the nursery? What
if I attend faithfully as often as possible? Is that the fruit
that Christ speaks of here? No, that's not it. That's speaking
about us being members of the body. And our Lord instructs
us that we all have different functions. The way your body's
members have different functions, so it is that we and the body
of Christ have different functions, different roles, how we're used
here in the body. Paul wrote in Romans 12 verses
4 and 5, he said, the same office. So we being
many are one body in Christ and everyone members one of another. It doesn't matter that I'm not
a mouth. It doesn't matter that I'm a
hand or that I'm not a hand or foot. It doesn't matter what
that is because all are partakers, right? When you go to work and
you labor, either using your physical body or your mind, your
mental capacity, Whatever it is, when you earn your paycheck
and you go home and you buy the food, your whole body benefits
from that meal, right? You all benefit, the whole body
benefits. And so it is that God gives us
many members with which the whole body is benefited by his grace
and mercy to us. And so that speaks of gifts in
the body, but not fruit, not the fruit. It doesn't matter
what our gifts are that the Lord has given to us, we all bear
fruit. We're all partakers of the body. All disciples of Christ have
the spirit of Christ and that's the fruit that he's speaking
of here because it's the spirit that bears fruits of righteousness
in every member of the body. How do I know that? We'll turn
over to Galatians chapter 5. Let's look at Galatians 5 in
verse 22 and 23. Here, our Lord says, by the apostle Paul, the spirit
says, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against
such there is no law. Do you need to be a pastor to
bear those fruits? Do you need to be a certain member
in the body to bear those fruits? No, those are all fruits that
any one of us welcomes in our brethren. And we're glad when
the Lord reveals those fruits in us. We want to be loving. and kind to our brethren. We
want to be patient with our brethren and treat one another in those
fruits. And so every member of the body
is made to bear those fruits by the spirit in them. And we bear those fruits abiding
in him. In my garden, I'm growing butternut
squash this year. That the squash, when I planted
that seed, it put down roots. And from that root, which grew
out, is a main vine. And off that main vine, which
is rooted in the ground, are branches. And every one of those
branches has put off or put out a fruit of the butternut squash.
It's growing. Each branch has at least one
of those gourds growing on it. They all bear it. If they were
severed from that main vine, they wouldn't bear the fruit. It would be dead. In fact, I
have another squash or gourd out there. I don't even know
what it is. Maybe it's a spaghetti squash or something like that.
It started to grow and it dried up. It's dead. And that gourd
grew only so big. And so our Lord says in verse
four here, John 15, four, he says, 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. And so all the
members of Christ in his body being connected to Christ, we
do bear fruits of righteousness, fruits of the spirit, that love,
that joy, that peace, that patience, that temperance, that gentleness
with one another. It's because we are connected
to the vine. And like I said, there's that
squash out there. That squash isn't growing any
bigger. It got only so big, the plant
died, and it ceased to grow. And so Peter tells us in 2 Peter
3, 18, the very last verse of that chapter, he says, but grow
in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. him be glory, both now and forever. Amen. I included that last part
because it is the glory of our Savior that we bear this fruit,
being connected to the vine, being connected to him. And so like that, that white
fruit, it doesn't grow any longer because it's dead. Whereas the
butternut squash is still growing. I can go out there today and
see it's just a little bit bigger, a little bit more mature in its
color because it's alive and it is connected to the vine and
all it can do therefore is to grow that fruit because that's
what it does. That's what it does according
to nature. And Peter, you know, we read
that verse 318 there at the end, grow in grace and in the knowledge.
And Peter actually gives us an example of what that growing
is. Earlier in that, that letter,
turn over to first Peter chapter or second Peter chapter one,
second Peter one verses five through eight. He says, besides this giving
all diligence, add to your faith virtue, right? Add to your faith,
goodness and good works and to virtue knowledge. and to knowledge,
temperance, right? We grow in the knowledge of our
savior and knowing him, we are given self-control over our bodies
and we're given patience in that, waiting for our Lord's return
and adding to patience, godliness and to godliness, verse seven,
brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness, charity or love. For if these things be in you
and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor
unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so we are fruit bearers in
the Lord. He tells us, herein is my Father
glorified that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples. And so Christ's disciples do
bear fruit because we are connected to the living vine. And so naturally,
that is that spiritual way, the way our God has made it to be,
we bear fruit of him because we are connected to him. And
let me say before we move off this point, remember this with
family members in the body. It's very easy when we come together
as brethren to remember these things when we're speaking to
one another and dealing with one another. But when it comes
to family, we often forget, this is my brother, this is my sister
in Christ. And so remember that, remember,
see your brethren, your family members as brethren first, as
members of the family of Christ. Paul said it this way, as we
have there for opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially
unto them who are of the household of faith. Galatians 6 10 so if
you've been harsh or or condemning or difficult with a family member
Let it go and now begin to Deal with your your family member
in love and in bearing those fruits of righteousness toward
one another Because the Lord promises that you shall bear
fruit All right. This brings us to our second
point now with regards to our fruit bearing There's another
aspect that I want to address in regards to this fruit bearing.
What does Christ mean when he says, so shall ye be my disciples? Is he saying that our discipleship,
our abiding in Christ, is conditioned on my obedience? Is that what
Christ is saying here? When he says, herein is my Father
glorified, that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples. What about verse 10? Look at
that. 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. And again,
verse 14. He says, ye are my friends if
ye do whatsoever I command you. Now, when the scriptures read
like this, it's very easy for our natural mind to think, to
go to see our discipleship and our abiding in Christ as conditional
upon our obedience. That's how we naturally read
it. That's how we naturally read
what the Lord is saying in scriptures like this. That's because the
natural mind is enmity against God. The natural mind sees things
in a very carnal, fleshly manner. If that were so, that our being
disciples was conditioned on something we do before God does
something for us, we would all die in our sins. None of us would
believe on the Lord. None of us would obey his word. None of us would be able to do
anything. We can't bear fruits of righteousness
in this flesh. Our Lord teaches us that we all
are undeserving sinners. Our Lord teaches us that there's
none righteous, no, not one. He declares to us that we all
were quickened, given life, spiritual life, because we were dead in
trespasses and sins. And we all have been given the
spirit to give us a new birth, to give us life in him. He must
be born again. And so Christ gave us life. He gives his people life. And so. If it's conditioned upon
our obedience, we'd all die. We'd all perish apart from Christ
and have no part in his inheritance. Our Lord teaches us that salvation
is by the grace of God. And so our God teaches his people
by the hearing of faith. So when the Lord says these things,
when he declares this in his word, it's to bring us to a knowledge
of our need of the Savior, and to cry out to him to do this
for us. In Galatians 3.5, he says, He
therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles
among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, as something
conditioned upon your obedience, or by the hearing of faith. I tell you that Anyone of us
who bears fruits of righteousness, which is by the Spirit of God
in us, is a miracle of His grace worked in you. The love you have
for your brethren, the patience you have for your brethren, the
desire to be gentle and tenderhearted with your brethren and forgiving
them for Christ's sake, as God hath forgiven you, that which
is worked in you is a miracle of His grace That is a testimony
of the Spirit of God. And when we see in ourselves
what we ought not to see, what we don't want to see, when we
see this flesh acting out as the flesh does, we're broken. The Lord helps us to see, Lord,
I'm wrong. I'm not right. Lord, help me. Lord, restore me to my brethren. Lord, let me speak to them. as
I ought to speak to them, to be tender, to be gracious, to
be kind and gentle with my brethren. So our Lord declares this in
his gospel, making us to know that he does bear fruit in his
people, so that we cry out to him, Lord, save me, help me,
bear these fruits in me that my brethren would be helped.
Because herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit, so shall
ye be my disciples we cry out to him and the lord teaches us
i am the vine he are the branches he that abideth in me and i in
him the same bringeth forth much fruit and then he says in verse
five there for without me ye can do nothing and so he tells
us the truth that we see in me i don't have that i don't have
these fruits i don't have this this demeanor or this way or
this desire to show these fruits to that person, that man, I ain't
going to do that. Well, the Lord brings us to see,
yes, you are, because I'm going to give it to you. I'm going
to work it in you that you be kind and gentle with that, with
that, with your brother or sister in Christ. And so we see that
it leads us to cry out to him. Verse seven, if you abide in
me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and
it shall be done unto you. And so, he tells us the truth,
he tells us that we're fruit bearers, because that brings
us to cry out to him, Lord, I don't feel like I'm bearing fruit,
and I should be, and I want to be, I have a desire to bear fruit
with your people, help me, Lord. And so, rather than fruit bearing
being a condition of God's fellowship with us, The truth is our fruit
bearing is a consequence of the fact that we are his people. It's a consequence. These things
shall be because we are connected to the vine. And that which is
connected to the vine bears fruit. It's how God has made it. It
is the spiritual order of things. It's how he has done it and worked
it in his people because it is by grace. And the seed that's
planted in us is the seed which grows. If the tree is evil, it'll
be evil fruit. If the tree is good, it'll be
good fruit. And he puts that desire in his
people. Ye shall bear much fruit and
ye shall abide in Christ's love. And so the result of salvation
being brought in us and for us is by that justifying righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. No, it's not because your flesh
is better. It's not because your flesh is
now improved. Your flesh is as dead as it ever
was, but you have the living seed of Christ in you and you
are connected to the vine and he bears fruit in his people
because the father is glorified and you're bearing much fruit
in Christ, so shall ye be my disciples. It's a consequence
of his grace in you. It just is so. Now, before I
move on from that point, why is the father glorified in our
fruit bearing? Because that's what he says.
My father's glorified. Herein is my father glorified
that you bear much fruit. Why, Lord? Why is the father
glorified in our bearing fruit? Verse one. I am the true vine,
and my father is the husbandman. And so what he's saying there
is that the husbandman, the one who works in the garden of his
grace, is pruning and clipping and doing things on purpose,
fertilizing, taking things out, putting things in, in order to
bear much fruit. It's a reflection of his work,
of his power, of his glory. We are a reflection of his handiwork
in us, for Christ's sake. And so our God has made Christ
unto you who now believe him. He's made Christ unto you wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. He's shown you
that Christ is life. He's shown you your need of Christ.
He shows us that we ourselves are sinners in need of his grace
and mercy every hour. And when we see our brethren,
we see them as we know ourselves to be. as sinners. Lord, be patient
with me. Help me to be patient with my
brethren. Lord, show me your love. Embrace me in that same
love, in that embrace. Embrace your brother or sister
who's offended you or hurt you in some way. Show them that love
which you've been shown in Christ. And he sent his son to conform
us to the image Christ his son in this nature people talk about
were made in the image of God Adam sinned and we in Adam and
we died and we destroyed and ruined and defiled and defaced
that which was created of God in us where we are by nature
ruined defiled sinners enmity against the true and living God
but in Christ now He's the one who's glorified in Christ now.
We whom God did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Romans 8 29. Now we bear Christ's
image, yet not in this flesh. We bear Christ's image in the
new man, which is created of him and desires him and cannot
sin. And that new man is where the
fruit is born, where we love God and we love his people and
desire to know them and to speak peaceably to them and gentle
with them and to bear that fruit. All right, now this bear brings
us to our third point. How do I bear much fruit? You know, I wish I could say,
You know, like the Methodists, where I could just list out,
well, you do this, and then you do that, and you do X, Y, Z,
and A, B, C, and one, two, three, and this is how you're going
to bear fruit. That's nonsense. That's nonsense. That's not how
we bear fruit by disciplining ourselves and structuring ourselves
in such a way as to do that. We bear fruit by grace. and it's worked in us according
to the faith which he's given us. Our Lord said in verse three,
now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto
you. In other words, we're all taught
by Christ. He feeds us with his word. He
preaches and declares this gospel to us, making us to see what
we are, making us to see what he, who he is and what he has
done for us so that he abides in us by his grace. But I tell
you, brethren, it is a walk of faith. It is a learning by the
grace of God who who reveals the truth and power of Christ
in you by faith, by faith, so that he's instructing you and
teaching you and turns your heart and gives you a desire to know
him. He says, herein is my Father
glorified, that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples,
the consequence being that ye shall bear much fruit. It's by his grace, for we are
his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained, that we should walk in him. And so what he's saying is this
workmanship is manifest in you. It's revealed in you in the following
ways. It's revealed in you in love
for Christ. He gives you a love for the Savior. That's in the people of God.
They love Christ. He gives you a knowledge and
understanding of what Christ has done for you and encourages
your hearts in what he's done. He gives you a desire in the
new man to be conformed to the image of Christ, to bear fruits
of righteousness for his sake, to the glory, praise, and honor
of his name, because you love him. He bears these in you. And so, in this walk of faith,
wherein we're feeding upon Christ, our Lord in this passage gives
us four things that we'll look at, four things to encourage
our hearts, to encourage faith to fill us with love for our
God and Savior, resulting in much fruit. So, verse 8, Herein
is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, so shall
ye be my disciples. Well, we know that this fruit
now is the fruit of the Spirit, and that's what he's talking
about. We understand that our fruit bearing is the consequence
of our being alive in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not why we're
alive in Christ. It's not conditional. It's the
consequence of being alive. And then third, we're taught
and comforted by the word of our Lord so that we want to bear
much fruit and that we're not made forgetful hearers, forgetting
what we've heard. Some people are like, I just
come here to hear the word. And then when I'm out that door,
I just forget everything I've heard because I don't care. No,
the Lord turns our hearts so that we want to be, we want to
hear what he says and we want to bear that fruit that he speaks
of. All right, so four things, four things. Verse nine, as the
Father hath loved me, so have I loved you, continue ye in my
love. There, brethren, is it rejoicing
that Christ, who is the salvation of God for the whole world, Jew
and Gentile, there is one Savior whom God has given. There's not
many salvations. There's not many ways to God.
There is one way of salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. That Savior says,
I love you. I love you as the Father hath
loved me, the Son. So have I loved you. Christ doesn't love all men.
Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. And your faith in Christ
is a manifestation, that fruit of the Spirit, that you believe
Him, is a manifestation that Christ loves you. Because that is the fruit of
the Spirit. And not all men have the Spirit.
Not all men have faith. It's a manifestation that He
loves you. It means that He died for your sins. that He put away
your shame, that He put away your enmity, that He put all
that away and worked righteousness for you, and blesses you in grace,
in peace, in mercy, and has manifested this salvation in you whereby
you now believe and call upon Him. And He places the love that
He has for us in the same category as the Father's love for the
Son. As the Father hath loved me,
so have I loved you. How does the Father love the
Son? Well, we know that the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one. That is an inseparable union. That is an unbreakable union. No creature, nothing shall separate
the love of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. They
are one. In that manner, you are one with
Christ. In that manner, Christ loves
you. It's inseparable. It's unbreakable
union. You are one with your Lord and
Savior. And another thing, we can't even
measure the love that the Father has for the Son. How can we explain
or speak to how much the Father loves the Son? It's boundless.
It's unknowing. In that same manner, Christ's
love for you is boundless. It surpasses knowledge and understanding
that we have. It surpasses the peace that we
have. It gives us this knowledge of
Him, and we know that His love for us is great, and we can't
even fully express it or define it, and yet we know that He gave
His life for us. He bore our sins. He made us
righteous in Himself. Nothing shall take us from His
hand. Nothing shall separate us from the love of God Christ
Jesus our Lord as the Father hath loved me so have I loved
you he tells us you are his bride he tells us you are his body
you are one with Christ turn over to Ephesians chapter 5 Ephesians
5 25 he says there in Ephesians 5 25 husbands and love your wives, even as Christ
also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. The reason why you believe Christ,
the reason why you hope in Christ, the reason why you love Christ
is because he is your husband and he gave himself for you. He gave himself for your sins
and obtained eternal life for you. And your husband feeds you
with knowledge and understanding, teaching you through the gospel,
teaching you in this word what he has done for you abundantly,
beyond what you or I could ever deserve. Why did he do that?
Verse 27, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. but that it should
be holy and without blemish. Look down at Ephesians 5, verse
30-32. For we are members of his body,
of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and the Church. We can't even express
what Christ has done, laying aside his glory, taking upon
him flesh. And there is a man in glory right
now, raised again in the flesh, who is holy and perfect and is
married to us, is our husband, our savior, our God. And he did
that for us and is eternally in union with you, his bride."
That's the love he has for you. As the Father hath loved me,
so have I loved you. So he shows us, I love you. I
love you. You're mine. Second, he says
in verse 10, 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. So he's promising us here, he's
telling us here that ye shall abide in his love. How can he say that? He's given
us his spirit. He's given us his spirit who
helps us with all our infirmities and through all our difficulties,
all our failings, all our unbelief, all our disappointments, he keeps
his people looking to Christ. He restores you again in peace. and in mercy and in kindness. He doesn't leave you there. He
doesn't turn you away and drive you off, but he restores you
and recovers you and brings you back to himself in love and in
peace so that you are given repentance. You are shown, Lord, I don't
want those things. I want you. Keep my heart, Lord. Keep me looking to you. Help
me to love you as I ought to love you. Help me to love your
people as I ought to love them. Help me, Lord, keep me set for
the defense and confirmation of the gospel." And what does
he tell you? He's encouraging our hearts.
He's not telling you, go figure it out, get it done. You figure
it out. No, no, no. He says in Philippians
1.6, being confident of this very thing that he which hath
begun a good work in you shall perform it until the day of Christ
Jesus. He's working it in you. He's
ordained these good works for you to walk in. He's the one
who's purposed it and given it to your hand. He tells us in
1 Thessalonians 5, 24, faithful is he that calleth you who also
will do it. Everything for your salvation
is provided for you freely, abundantly in grace, brethren. Whatever
God has called you to do, you shall do it, because it's His
grace and His strength and His might and power upholding you
in it. So be encouraged, brethren, be
encouraged by it. This is joyful news to the child
of God. This is joyful news to know He's
working this in me. He's bearing the fruit in me. I'm not pulling this from some
unknown place. This is God's work in me. He's
called me to this and he says, you shall do it. I'll perform
these works in you. And that's the third thing that
we see, verse 11, these things have I spoken unto you that my
joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full. It's a joyful thing to know that
our God works this in us. And we do, we touch our brethren
and help them in ways that are subtle, that we don't see, And
yet we are encouraged. You know, Brother Scott, we're
encouraged when you come and you help. It encourages us. It
strengthens our hearts for what God has given you to do and that
you're faithful to do it. It strengthens us. It encourages
us and it helps us. And each and every one, when
you come and you hear the gospel and you're here just to hear
that gospel, it strengthens us and encourages our hearts. and
helps us when we're weak. And so God does this, and it's
a joy to us. It fills our hearts with joy. You think of what Christ has
done for you, the love that he has for you, and how he feeds
you with this gospel, encouraging and giving you knowledge and
understanding in him, how that he came as a sacrifice for us
and a propitiation to turn the wrath of God away from us and
took it to himself and did this faithful work to put away our
sin and to keep us alive in him, to deliver us from death and
to give us life in him, to know what he has done to justify us,
how that he's given us his spirit to give us life in him, to comfort
your hearts, to reveal him more and more to us and to make us
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. How do
I know that? because He's given the Holy Spirit
that bears this hope in me, that bears this faith in me, and this
love that I have now for the Savior. That's the work of His
Spirit in us. And what is the Spirit but a
down pain and an earnest to say to you, you're mine. And I'm
revealing this hope that I've given to you of eternal life
with me, which works against the hope of the natural man,
but I've given you the Holy Spirit, which is a down payment, that
I shall return and take you to myself whom I've purchased."
And so that's why there's joy that fills our hearts, because
we hear him and we believe him and we trust him. And that peace
and joy fills and floods our soul. Now fourth, he tells us
in verse 13 through 15, 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, again, you bear the consequence of what Christ has done. And
as a consequence of you being his friend, you do what he commands
you. You believe him. 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. You know, what is the difference
between family and friends? What is the primary difference?
Typically, in families, you don't choose. You're born to the parents
that you're born to. You're raised in the family.
You have the siblings that you have, or cousins. That's your
family. And you don't really get to choose
that at all. But when it comes to friends,
What kid you play with in the schoolyard and who stays your
friends, that's your choice, right? You choose who your friends
are and you can't help it. You dislike them because they're
your friends. And Christ says to us in verse
16, you've not chosen me, but I have chosen you and made you
my friend. You're my friend. I've chosen
you. You're mine 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, that whatsoever ye shall ask
of the Father in my name, he may give it you. You're Christ's
friends by his calling you. He's made you friends. That's
an encouraging word. It should be an encouraging word
to you. He knows what we are by nature,
and yet He came and did for us what we could not do, and He
made us friends, and He gave us a new nature, a new heart,
His Spirit, whereby we call upon Him and believe Him. We by nature
were enemies. We were enmity against our God,
but He made us friends in love and fellowship and in peace with
Him. So by the grace of God revealing
these truths to our hearts, We want to bear much fruit. Lord,
I want to bear that fruit, which you bear in your people, that
you would be glorified and praised and honored as my God and Savior. And so all his children bear
fruit because they have his spirit. And then secondly, you that are
his, you shall bear much fruit because of the consequence of
his life in you. You can't help it. You bear that
fruit of the spirit in you. And third, because his word makes
it effectual in your hearts. He speaks these words, encouraging
your hearts, showing you his love for you, showing you what
he has done for you, and how that he fills your hearts with
hope and joy in him, and that he makes this effectual to you
in making you his friend, giving you a new nature, a new heart,
and a desire to serve him. And so that's how You bear fruits. As I said, it's a walk of faith.
It's a walk of faith. We don't choose what fruits we
shall bear. He's ordained them, and you shall
bear those fruits. So give God thanks and praise
and glory. And if you want to bear more
fruit, it's because he's put that in you as well. To cry out
to him, Lord, help me. Help me to be gentle and kind
and loving to my brethren. So I pray the Lord bless that
word to your hearts, brethren. and that he encourage you. I
don't want you to be discouraged, but encouraged in the Lord. Amen. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your grace and mercy, which works mightily in us. Lord,
so often we're discouraged and so often we look at self and
we look at this flesh and we try to interpret what fruit is
according to the flesh and what we think it should be and how
it should be and when it should be. But Lord, you're perfect
and glorious in all your ways. And you bring us away from pride. You bring us to see our weakness.
You bring us to see our need of Christ and his salvation.
And Lord, we know that we do bear fruit, fruits of faith and
love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and gentleness in
ways that we don't even see and are often so forgetful about.
Lord, you do all these things in us because it pleases you.
And Lord, who are we to say that we're unfruitful? Who are we
to say that our God isn't working in us? Lord, it's your glory. It's your honor. You are the
husbandman and you do bear fruits of righteousness in your people
to the praise, honor, and glory of your name. Lord, help us to
see this more and more, to trust you. more and more in Christ.
Encourage our hearts with this gospel. Encourage our hearts
with the faith you reveal to all your saints. It's in Christ's
name that we pray and give thanks. Amen. Let's all stand and sing a closing
hymn. 460, leaning on the everlasting
arms, 460. What a fellowship, what a joy
divine, Leaning on the everlasting arms. What a blessedness, what
a peace divine, Leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, safe and secure
from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on
the everlasting arms. Oh, how sweet to walk in this
pilgrim way, leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh, how bright the path
grows from day to day, leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, safe and secure
from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on
the everlasting arms. What have I to dread? What have I to fear? Leaning on the everlasting arms. I have blessed peace with my
Lord so near. Leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning. Safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on
the everlasting arms. Thank you.