Good morning. All right, our
first message is gonna be in John chapter 14. John 14, we'll be looking at
verses 21 through 27. Our Lord in chapter 14 has been
teaching about our union to Christ. Our meaning the church, his church,
his body, our union to Christ. We saw a few weeks ago, our Lord
showing us our eternal union and our vital or living union
to Christ, as well as our manifest union to Christ. And it's our
manifest union to our savior, which is declared to here in
verse 21. Let's read that. 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. And so our Lord is telling us
that those who are the children of God, there is a manifestation
that they are the seed of Christ. It will be manifest that we are
His disciples. And the way we hear that is that
is a promise to you. That's your Lord's promise to
you that He will manifest Himself. He will manifest His power and
His glory in you whereby you believe on the true and living
God. You believe Christ. You trust
Him for your life. And so the fact that we are disciples,
it will be manifest by a walk of faith, a lifelong walk of
faith in our Savior, looking to Him. We read in the scriptures
four times, it's declared plainly like this, that the just shall
live by faith. That is a promise. And that's
the manifest union that we are the Lord's. We believe Him. We
live by faith, trusting our Savior. Likewise, in Matthew chapter
10, verse 22, our Lord said, and ye shall be hated of all
men for my name's sake. That's hard. That's impossible
in the flesh, to be hated by all men because you trust Christ,
because you're made faithful to the Lord and you believe Him,
to be hated of all men for Christ's sake, but he that endureth to
the end shall be saved. You that continue to walk in
faith, trusting the Lord, not being turned, just because you're
hated and persecuted and tried by others, you endure to the
end. You continue to walk by faith
in your Savior. James, I was looking at James,
and he combines these truths from John 14, 21 and Matthew
10, 22. He combines these two things
of our Lord when he said, blessed is the man that endureth temptation. It's a temptation to be hated
of all men. It's an affliction, it's a trial
to be hated of others. to be persecuted by others, to
be spurned by others, and to have them put you out of their
assembly and to turn away from you. But blessed is the man that
endureth temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive
the crown of life. He that endureth to the end shall
be saved. And the end of our faith is eternal
life with our God and Savior, which the Lord hath promised
to them that love him. And that's what our Savior said
in verse 21. He that hath my commandments
and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. That one who loves
Christ will endure to the end. He will walk by faith because
he is justified. It's a promise of your God to
manifest your union to him. You are in Christ and Christ
is in you. That he is your God and your savior. And so there's
a manifestation. You are the Lord. Just like that
parable of the talents. Some received, one received five,
another two, another one. And the one who had that one
talent, that one hope, he went and buried it in the ground and
brought it back to the Lord. And the Lord saying, there's
a manifestation that you're mine. Why are you bringing me back
this one talent, which I gave you? Why didn't you put it in
the bank and have it return interest to me? There's a manifestation
of them that are mine. They grow in faith and love and
hope of the saints of God. Now again our Savior said in
verse 21, 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. So let me say a few words on
these commandments. The true disciples have the commandments
of Christ in him. It's not just a mere head knowledge. Our Lord's words to us are not
a mere head knowledge, that we just know some things about Christ,
but His words are written in our heart. His commandments are
written in our heart, and they're in the thoughts of our mind. They're in our heart, they're
in our thoughts, it's part of our nature, that new nature which
is born of the seed of Christ. In Hebrews 10, 16, our Lord tells
us, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those
days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts
and in their minds will I write them. He gives you a new nature
and writes his commandments in your heart and in your mind.
And our Lord summarizes these commandments like this for us. He says this in Matthew 22, verses
36 through 40, when he was asked, Master, which is the greatest
or which is the great commandment in the law? And Jesus said unto
him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with
all thy soul, with all thy mind. and with all thy strength, and
the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang
all the law and the prophets." Now these commandments are not
accomplished by us in the flesh. This is not something that our
flesh can hear. This is not something that the
flesh has any desire to hear. or to obey or to believe or trust
Christ. With the flesh, these are things
that are written and engraven with stones. Paul calls this
the ministration of death. Those who are looking to the
Ten Commandments, those who are looking to the Law of Moses as
their rule of life and their salvation and their righteousness,
Paul says that's a ministration of death. It reveals. that the
law was given to show us our sin, to show us how far short
of the glory of God we come by nature. Instead, Paul declares
that we are Christ's workmanship. We are born of the Spirit of
Christ. He has promised to give us life in himself and he gives
us his Holy Spirit and he says it this way in 2 Corinthians
3 verse 3, for as much as ye are manifestly declared to be the
epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink,
but with the spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone,
but in fleshy tables of the heart." A heart turn. from its deadness
and coldness and hardness, and turn to the true living God,
not by the will of man, not by the works of man, but by the
Spirit of God, turning us to behold the glory of our God and
Savior in the face of Jesus Christ. So Christ isn't speaking here
about the Ten Commandments. In fact, Paul clarifies this
very point, saying in Ephesians 2.15, that Christ has abolished
in his flesh the enmity. When we start talking about what
you and I need to start doing, enmity against our God is provoked
with the law, provoked by the law, because the flesh cannot
please the true and living God. The flesh is carnal, waiting
to be transformed when we see Christ. Then this flesh will
be new. then this flesh will believe
and serve God, but until then it's at war. It's just the old
man and unbelief. And Paul says that Christ abolished
in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained
in ordinances. for to make in himself of two
one new man, so making peace. In other words, he's talking
about Jew and Gentile, the Jew born under the law, the Gentile
born without the law. Regardless, we're all saved one
way. We all come through the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our salvation. All of God's
children come through Christ, through Christ our Lord. Therefore,
what he's describing here, what our Lord is speaking of here
is a spiritual work. It's a work of his grace, of
his glory, of his power by the grace covenant of our God, which
is established for us by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's declaring what he's done
for you that are his chosen seed. He said, this is the work of
God, that ye believe on him whom he has sent. That's John 6, 29. And then in John 6, 40, this
is the will of God that sent me, that everyone which seeth
the sun. and believeth on him may have
everlasting life, and I will." There's my promise. I will raise
him up at the last day. You're not going to come short
of the glory of God. Christ has begun this work in
you. So this commandment, it reveals God's will for us in
Christ. It's to believe Christ, whom
God has sent, even as Abraham believed God and it was accounted
unto him. It was imputed to him righteousness. He believed God. And that's what
the children of God do. We believe our God. We hear that
he's our salvation. He's our hope. It's all his power
and glory. Our God has promised to save
them that are his. That's His promise, and that's
what He's speaking of here in our text. And to that He adds
in John 13, 34, a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love
one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. And your Savior loves us with
all our faults and all our stink and all our ruin and our fault.
And He loves us. And that's how we're to love
one another, to bear with one another, to be patient with one
another, kind to one another, even when we sin against one
another. Christ loves us. He doesn't forsake
us or turn from us. So we're to love one another
and endure with one another, trusting, my God is merciful
and gracious to me. Lord, help me to be merciful
and gracious to my brother, whom I love. whom you love, whom you
saved and called to yourself and put in your body. So that
faith in Christ and love for your brethren is a manifest witness
in you and me that we are the children of God. He manifests
our union to him that we're not children of this world. This is in our inheritance. This
is in our home where we have a city that we're looking for
that's built not with hands but built by our God who promised
this eternal inheritance in Him. And Christ says, that one he
shall be loved by my Father and I will love him and will manifest
myself to him. Now On that point, Christ's love
for us is eternal. It doesn't change. There's nothing
we did. His love is eternal. Our love
for Him is not the cause why He loves us. He says in 1 John
4.10 and in verse 19, herein is love. Not that we loved God,
but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Verse 19, we love him because
he first loved us. So Christ's love here in John
14.21 It means what Christ is saying is, you in whom I reveal
the witness of my spirit by giving you faith that looks to me for
your righteousness, I'm going to reveal my love for you more
and more. I will increase that understanding
of my love for you in you more and more so that you'll see my
beauty. Christ's beauty. You'll see the
loveliness of Him who is fairer than 10,000. He's the beautiful
one. We'll see His faithfulness who
doesn't forsake you, who doesn't turn from you, but comes to you
and speaks to you and calls you to Himself and hugs you in His
everlasting arms. who is gracious to you, you'll
see his grace, and his power, and his glory, and you'll worship
him, and you'll praise him, and you'll thank him. Lord, you're
more wonderful, more beautiful than I ever knew. You're more
lovely. You're the fairest among 10,000.
So I've titled this, The Promise of Manifest Union. The Promise
of Manifest Union, our union to Christ. This is a promise.
It's a promise to you. So Christ is saying, when he
said this word, it prompted Judas. This would be Judas surnamed
Thaddeus. And he asked in verse 22, Judas
saith unto him, not Iscariot, the Lord is showing this man's
not lost. He's one of my children. Lord,
how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto
the world? The disciples here still were
thinking that he's the Messiah. He's going to manifest himself
to the world. He's going to establish an earthly
kingdom. And we're going to rule with
him and conquer the Gentiles. So how is it that you're going
to manifest yourself to us and not manifest yourself to the
world? And our Lord is saying, because
my kingdom is not of this earth. My kingdom is a spiritual kingdom,
which is seen with spiritual eyes. It's manifest to those
who are born again, born of the seed of Christ, born of the spirit
of our God. except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. It's a spiritual birth in the
Lord's people whereby they see and behold the glory of their
God, the Savior whom God has sent to put away their sins and
to give them eternal life. In Luke 17, 20 and 21, we're
told that when he was demanded of by the Pharisees when the
kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, the kingdom
of God cometh not with observation. You're not gonna see it. You
in the flesh, who live in the flesh and are born of the flesh
and have not the spirit of God, you'll never see it. You won't
observe it. Neither shall they say, Lo here
or lo there, for behold the kingdom of God is within you. It is manifest
in you that you are the Lord's, and that salvation is become
your walls. in with the citizens of heaven,
here in the walls of salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. So
our Lord had just told his disciples back in verse 19, John 14, 19,
yet a little while and the world seeth me no more, but ye see
me, you see me. Because I live, ye shall also
live. Brethren, we have a sight of Christ which this world knows
nothing of. You believe Him. You trust Him. I know it's not perfect as we
would have it to be or think it should be, but you believe
Christ. You hope in Him. And that's not
the hope and the faith and the trust that this world has. Christ
has manifest that faith and that hope and that joy that you have
in Him because you're His, and He promises to manifest that
you are His and that He is yours. And that's what He does through
faith. They can't see Him with spiritual
eyes, but you that have faith, which is manifest in us, you
see Him. Hebrews 11.1, now faith is the
substance of things hoped for. It's the evidence of things not
seen. You know Christ is. You know
that he is the Lord and Savior and that he's your Lord and Savior.
You trust him because faith doesn't, because this flesh doesn't have
faith. The spirit reveals faith in you
that are his. You trust that God sent his son. in the flesh. The Son of God
was manifest in the flesh, revealed in the flesh, and He came as
the Lamb of God. to be the sacrifice, to be our
propitiation, which means to turn the wrath of God, which
was justly upon us and against us, to turn it away from us and
against himself, bearing our sins in his own body on the cursed
tree, becoming a curse for us, that we should go free, being
forgiven of God. Because the debt is paid in full
by Christ, who shed his blood to make us our own. And you believe
him. You know there is no way I can
save myself. God is holy. And I am a filthy,
vile, dead dog, wretched sinner who has nothing to boast of,
nothing to glory of. Christ is our hope. Now Christ
replied to this Judas Thaddeus He answered and said unto him,
verse 23, If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father
will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode
with him. So these are promises of your
God. This is his promise to you. These are coordinated, chosen,
specific blessings, spiritual blessings of your God which are
given to you in heavenly places in Christ Jesus because your
God loves you and he's manifesting his love for you through his
power and glory in Christ. And so our God who loves us eternally
and chose us is revealing himself that we are his and that he is
ours through this faith, through his work. And if a man love me,
that is if the testimony, if he bears testimony to the witness
of God in him, If he bears witness, which we, the children of God,
bear witness, it's manifest in us that we are the sons of God,
by the faith and the hope which he gives us in Christ, he promises
that this one will keep his words, and my father will love him,
and three, we will come unto him, and four, we'll make our
abode with him. Remember that God is the first
cause of all things. It's not our love that causes
God to love us. That's not at all what he's saying.
He's manifesting to us that we are his. He's revealing in us
the hope which he gives to the saints of God. He's showing,
you're mine. I'm your God, and you're mine. And you're not going to perish
in your sins. You're not going to be destroyed
with the wicked You're mine, and I've made you my own, and
I've revealed it to you through faith by my spirit, which I've
given to you. Another promise we've been looking
at for a while now is what Christ said in John 8, 12. He that followeth
me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. That's a promise. That's a promise. He's telling you, you that are
my disciples, you won't walk in darkness. You don't make yourself
not walk in darkness. Christ is promising you won't
walk in darkness because you're my disciples. You have the light
of life. And so our Lord here is encouraging
our hearts with his promise to reveal himself to us more and
more, to show us his love, his power, his glory, his grace,
that you are his disciples. Now turn over to Ephesians 3.
Ephesians 3. This is why I'm taking you to
verse 16 through 20. This very fact, this promise
that Christ will manifest Himself to us more and more to know the
love of the Father, the love of the Son, to know that we are
His and that He dwells with us. Paul prays for the Ephesian brethren. And this is his prayer, I'm sure,
for himself and for all the brethren. This is a prayer. When you think
of your brethren, remember them in prayer that the Lord does
this for them as well as for you and I. Paul says in verse
16, Ephesians 3, 16, that he would grant you according to
the riches of his glory to be strengthened. with might by his
spirit in the inner man. You have life in Christ. And Paul here prays, Lord, strengthen
your might in my brethren, strengthen them in the inner man. Give them
more strength to trust you, to believe you, to look to you,
to rest in you, to experience the peace that we have with our
God and Savior. That Christ, verse 17, may dwell
in your hearts by faith. that ye, being rooted and grounded
in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height." There's a deepening of our comprehension
of Christ. We don't know everything when
we first believe. He's saying, Lord, make them
to grow, to see the breadth of your glory, of your love, of
your power. Dwell with them by faith. Manifest
your glory in them. Strengthen them in the inner
man. Because this flesh is so wicked, it's so carnal, it's
so unbelieving, it's so willing to be deceived, it's so willing
to go the way of the world. Lord, strengthen them in the
inner man, keep them, keep them looking to you, rejoicing in
you. Verse 19, and to know the love
of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye might be filled with
all the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to
do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according
to the power that worketh in us. You may find it hard to believe
that God can turn your heart, that he can deliver you from
some lust that you have, some hope you have in this world,
some entertainment that delights you of this world. But he tells
you here that God is able to do above, exceedingly above,
all that we ask or think he can do. He's able. He's able. You won't turn you. You'll fail. I'll fail. But he's able to strengthen
you, to give you a heart and a love and a desire to understand
him more, to love him more, to love your brethren, to serve
your brethren. He's able. He's able. Now turn over to 2
Peter chapter 1. See this again in 2 Peter chapter
1. Here again are these encouraging
words. They're not meant to afflict
you. They're not meant to burden you or weigh you down because
your flesh is being given some task to do. You and I cannot
do it. He's encouraging you, saying
this is the promise that your God gives you in Christ Jesus. So 2 Peter 1, verse 3. First
we see that it is according as His divine power hath given unto
us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the
knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby
are given unto us exceeding great and what? Precious promises. Precious promises. That's what
your Savior is encouraging your hearts with this morning. This
is His promise. He's manifesting that you are
His. You believe Him. You trust Him. You have no hope in yourselves. And so this is his promise, that
by these, these promises, which we receive by faith, ye might
be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust. And he goes on saying,
and beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith. You believe
Christ. You trust him, that he is your
righteousness. So add to your faith virtue, which is goodness. Virtue. And to virtue? That goodness
which your God reveals in you? Knowledge. You come and you hear
the word of God. And to knowledge temperance.
What does he mean there? Consider what you've heard in
the gospel. Lord, you've promised to manifest
your glory in me. Lord, help me not to just run
out of here and just go right on back to the world, living
and fulfilling the lust of my flesh in the world. Lord, Give
me temperance. Keep me. Hold me. Hold me, Lord. Ever looking to you, believing,
trusting your promise. And to temperance, patience.
Lord, you say in your word that you reveal yourself to me. Lord,
I wait for the promise which you give to your saints, for
the promise of righteousness, Lord, to trust you, to walk by
faith in you. And to patience, godliness. And
to godliness, brotherly kindness. And to brotherly kindness, charity
or love. What are these? These are the
fruits of the Spirit which your God promises to reveal in you. For these things be in you and
abound, these things which are a manifestation of the love of
your God for you. These are fruits of His Spirit,
of His grace. They make you that ye shall neither
be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, there will be
fruits of the Spirit raw in us. What does that sound like? John,
the Apostle John, wrote in 1 John, what is it, 420, if a man say,
I love God, yet hateth his brother, he's a liar. That's what he's
saying. Don't hate your brethren. If
you feel hatred or enmity or anger or wrath toward them, Lord,
help me. Lord, melt my heart. Don't let
me dwell in hatred for them who profess to believe on your name.
Lord, you've been so patient with me, and I've said foolish
things, and I've done foolishly despite your grace. and I've done wickedly and you've
been merciful to me and patient with me, help me, Lord, to be
patient with my brethren. Strengthen them, Lord, in the
inner man according to your promise to reveal yourself in your people. Because Lord, without you, without
your grace, I'm nothing. I'm nothing, I'm just a clanging,
tinkling cymbal. I know a lot of things, I make
a lot of sound, but there's no love in me, Lord, help me. Have
mercy upon me, Lord, be gracious to me. But he that lacketh, verse
nine, he that lacketh these things, he says, is blind and cannot
see afar off. Wait a minute, Christ said, he
see me. The manifestation of his grace
is that you see me. So that looking to Christ, we're
not blind. Looking to the flesh, we are
blind and we won't do these things because he's not speaking to
the flesh. He is encouraging our hearts with the promise to
manifest Himself in our hearts. Ye see me, and hath forgotten
that he was purged from all his sins. You and I could never do
this. You and I can't grow. You and
I have no life of this flesh whereby we grow and get stronger
and do better and more consistent. This ain't of the flesh. This
is the promise of your God and Savior. Christ isn't charging
us. He isn't charging our flesh.
He's encouraging you with the promise of the Spirit. So that
look at verse 26 in John 14 26. But the Comforter, which is the
Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach
you all things and bring all things to your remembrance. Those
things, Peter says, you forgot that you were saved from that
you were forgiven for your sins. We that forget so easily in this
flesh, the Spirit is the one who reminds us, Lord, I remember
now. Here I am, angry with my brother. Here I am, charging them with
some folly, when I myself need to be forgiven, because I'm full
of folly and unbelief, and I do wickedly. And I need your grace
every hour, Lord. I've forgotten what I was saved
from. Lord, thank you for reminding me of how gracious and how much
I need you. Lean not, he's not speaking to
the flesh, don't lean unto your own understanding. Trust your
God. Trust your God who promises to
strengthen you, who promises to give you the Holy Spirit,
who promises to manifest His love and faithfulness in you. This is Christ, we need Him to
do this. For this is the love of God,
that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not
grievous. If we hear this in the flesh
and think, I better get doing, I better start fixing and straightening
things out, it's grievous, because it's an affliction, because we
have no power or strength to do it. It's, Lord, help me. I see, Lord, how far short of
your glory I fall, how you promise in your word to reveal yourself
so wondrously, so wonderfully, so graciously, so powerfully
in your people. Help me, Lord, and keep me, and
remind me. Lord, don't let me fall away.
Don't let me live in the flesh. And Lord, as you do this for
me, remember my brethren, too. that we love one another, that
we be a faithful body who loves one another and are strengthened
with the might of your power of your spirit. And that's what
he's saying. It's a promise. It's a promise. And whatsoever
is born of God, overcometh the world. And this is the victory
that overcometh the world, even our faith. We hear this and can
only hear this rightly with the ear of faith by the power of
the Spirit. So it's His promise to you that
believe Him that He does this for you by His Spirit and His
power according to promise. And so He says in verse 27, peace
I leave with you. Don't hear this in the flesh.
We look at this in the flesh and it troubles us because we're
looking at what cannot, can never do this. But he's saying, I'm
promising you this, I've given you my spirit, peace. I leave
with you my peace, I give unto you, not as the world giveth,
give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. So trust your savior. He intends this word to be a
comfort and an encouragement. When you see your weakness and
you see your sin, Turn to the Lord. Lord, save me. Lord, keep me. Lord, you've given
your promise to turn me, help me, Lord, because I can't do
anything for myself. So trust Him, and glory in Christ
your Savior. Amen. All right, let's pray. Our gracious Lord, we thank you
for your word of promise. Lord, in the flesh, this is a
heavy word. It's an impossible word. But Lord, we see that you're
promising to be with your people, to keep your people, to reveal
yourself, that we are your people. And you promise, Lord, to manifest
unto us more and more your love, your grace, your power, your
glory. Lord, keep us ever looking to
Christ, ever trusting Him. It's in Christ's name that we
pray these things, not for ourselves only, but for all our brethren,
all your people who are called by your name. It's in Christ's
name we pray and give thanks. Amen.