All right, if you'll take your
Bibles and turn with me to John, John chapter 15. John chapter 15. Our text will be found in verse
16. Jesus said, ye have not chosen
me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should
go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.
And whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he
may give it you. The title of the message this
morning, Electing Love. electing love. You have not chosen
me, but I have chosen you. I have chosen you. Now, at this
time, at this point in the Scriptures, from chapters 13 all the way
to the end of chapter 16, we have a very intimate setting.
It is just the Lord and his disciples together. It is the last supper. It is the last meal that they
will eat together before he dies, before he goes to the cross,
before his sheep are scattered and he suffers and dies for our
sins. Go back to chapter 13 and look
at this. It said, It says, Now before
the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was
come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father,
having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto
the end, right until the time that they had left him. He loved them still. And on the cross, When He was
suffering and dying in our stead, He loved us still. When He ascended
and rose again from the dead to the Father, He loved us still. And friends, He will love us
unto the end of all time. He will love us to the end of
all time because He has always loved us. He has always loved
us. And He begins with this intimate
conversation, these precious words. Think of the compassion
of Christ, knowing that He was going to the cross, knowing His
disciples were about to experience the greatest sorrow that they
could possibly experience. They were going to be so confused,
so misunderstanding of what is happening. So sad. And so he takes this time and
he comforts them. He instructs them so that after
he returns, after he shows himself, they'll be comforted. They'll
be comforted. And so this was a time of comfort
and instruction. These who Christ loved, he loved
to the end. He loved them so much that he
gave them instruction. Instruction. Instruction, first
of all, in the gospel. What is the first thing our Lord
does in this intimate setting after the supper? Well, this
is the time where he washes his disciples feet. If you remember,
he takes off his robe and he puts on that servant's towel. And he takes a basin of water
and he begins to kneel down at his disciples feet and place
their feet in the water and wash their feet, which was the lowest
job. This was the lowest job that
anyone could ever have. This was reserved for the lowest
of men to wash feet. This was the custom in that day
to show kindness, was to have your servant come and wash your
feet. Do you not think they were surprised
at this? This is the blood Of the New
Testament, which is shed for the remission of sins. Just got
done saying that this is my body, which is broken for you. Do this
in remembrance of me. Oh, majestic. Majestic was he
in his last supper. And here he was king. And yet he took off his robe
and served them. Is that not what He did for us
in the gospel? Is that not what Christ did for
His people? Did He not disrobe Himself of His glory and take
on Him the towel of humanity and kneel down so low as to wash
the sinner's feet? To wash us of our sins? What a lesson! What a lesson
He gave His disciples! He washed their feet, and you
know, he even washed Judas' feet. Is that not something? He said,
you're all clean, but not all. There's one of you that this
is just a ceremony to one of you. And this shows us also that Christ
washes the conscience of his people. Peter said, no, and you
need to wash me from head to toe. And he said, look, all I
need to do is wash your feet. And you're clean every whit.
See, believer, we are clean every whit. The only part of us that
gets dirty is our feet. We have to walk in this world,
we have to walk in this body, and sin dirties our conscience. And what does he do? He comes
by Spirit and daily washes our conscience. Even though we're
clean every whit, he constantly comes, daily washing away our
sins. from our own conscience. What
mercy! He teaches them the infallibility
of Scripture concerning Judas. He tells them that there's one
supposed to betray him. And he said, That thou do, do
it quickly. In other words, you go and fulfill
the Scriptures. The infallibility of Scriptures.
It was necessary Do you suppose that there was
anything that would have stopped Judas Iscariot from being the
betrayer? No. But I'll tell you, it's exactly
what he wanted to do as well. And he was responsible. Jesus
taught his disciples that the world will hate them. He said,
the world's going to hate you. Be warned, be instructed about
this. The world will hate you, not
because of you, but because of me. They'll hate you. We testify
of Christ. He said they will hate you. These disciples were about to
be hated. You see, when Christ walked the
earth, his disciples somewhat were immune to the hatred. It was Christ, it was always
the Pharisees, always focused on Christ. Now, they asked his
disciples, they said, why do your master eat with sinners?
You see, they were they were trying to use them, but really
their focus and hatred was on Christ this whole time. But when
Christ will die and rise again and go to be with God, his disciples
would be the mark. And this is a lesson for us as
well. We're the mark, we're the target. And I wouldn't want to be anything
else. I wouldn't want to be anything else. Why? Because my Lord was
the target. My Lord was the mark and hatred
of this world. Why should I not be? Why should
I not be? In this world, you shall have
tribulation. You will have troubles. He's
instructing them. Tribulation and trials and tears
and hatred of this world are promised to every believer, and
the only way we escape this is compromise. The only way we're
going to escape the hatred of this world is to compromise the
gospel. And if the church compromised,
the cross of Christ would not affect. Paul says, if I preach
circumcision, then why am I persecuted? Then is the offense of the cross
ceased. See, I think we have a misunderstanding of the cross.
The cross is offensive. The cross is offensive. Why is
it so offensive? Because the one who died on it
died only for his people. And he saved them without any
of their works or religion. That's offensive. It's offensive to men. We will
be persecuted, but Christ said, be of good cheer. I have overcome
the world. I have overcome the world. Don't be of good cheer and say,
well, we have overcome the world. There's no cheer in that. There's
only cheer in that He overcome the world. He's already rules
over this world. And what Jesus says to his disciples,
do we not see that this is meant for us as well? This intimate
setting, this time together when he was alone with them. This
is the worship service that we have this morning. He is alone
with us. We who are believers in Christ,
he is alone with us. This is his intimate word just
to us. I'll tell you, there may be the
lost here, and they may hear the sound of this word, but really,
he's not being intimate with them. It's us, his disciples,
his children. When we hear of his condescension,
does our heart not leap? Is it not amazing? how low he
condescended to become our substitute. It should cause our hearts to
ring out with joy and peace and laughter. It's great that he
condescended to men of such low estate that he might wash away
our sins. These words are a comfort to
us when men betray us When the religious world rejects us and
hates our gospel, yet because he loved us, because he forgives
us our sins, we rejoice. We rejoice. And you know what
he did after the Lord picked up that stuff and put back on
his robe, which pictures his ascension? He's back with his
robe of glory he shared with God from the beginning. He said,
you go and do likewise. You go and wash each other's
feet. Now, people who are ignorant
of the gospel obviously take that literally. You know, I can
hate you and still wash your feet. Somebody can despise this and
smile the whole time. No, that's not what it is. He
said, you serve one another like I served you. You forgive one
another like I forgave you. I think that some believers live
in a fairy tale land to think that other believers won't offend
them. That's a fairy tale. Don't be surprised if I offend
you. And I shouldn't be surprised if you offend me. We are sinners
saved by grace. And you know what? If you ask
for my forgiveness, I should give it to you. And if you don't,
you should give it anyway. I should give it anyway, regardless
of whether you ask for it or not. That's how we're to serve
one another. And as we suffer in this life,
let us bear it patiently, even as our Lord did. And he instructs
him in grace. This is an instruction in grace.
Let me ask you this. Is there any pride in grace? Is there any room? Is there any
room for boasting in grace? Absolutely not. Otherwise, grace
is no more grace. So if you offend me and I don't
forgive you, what have I done? I've boasted that I am better
in some manner than you are. That I'm worthy of you coming
to me and pleading for my forgiveness. No, there's no room for that. No room at all. No room for pride and grace to
set ourselves above another. And he also instructs them in
his death. This is disturbing news. You
know, we have heard of his death. These disciples at this time,
they had no clue what was going on. He had already told them
several times. He said, I'm going. I'm going
to suffer. I'm going to die. I'm going to
rise again. I'm going to suffer. I'm going
to rise again. I'm going to suffer again and
again and again. And here it was, the last hours,
and he was still having to instruct them concerning his death. Sometimes we are just slow and
hard, aren't we? We're just slow and hard to believe
all that the Scripture says. Oh, you fools and slow heart
to understand Christ must have entered into his suffering to
receive his glory. This was disturbing news because
he was going away. And these men had followed him
for three years, gave up everything in their life for three years. Night and day they stayed with
this man Christ. They followed Him everywhere
He went. They ate what He ate. They slept
where He slept. They went where He went. And
here it was, the end of three years of giving up everything
for Him. And now He says, I'm leaving
you. Oh, man, how their heart must have sank inside of them. But He gives them comfort. about
his death. He said, boys, this is necessary. This is necessary. Look over
chapter 14, verse 1. He says, let not your heart be
troubled. Can we not say that every second
of every day and need it? Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are
many mansions? If it were not so, I would have
told you." I would have told you? I go. Why do I go? To prepare a place
for you. That when I come again, I might
receive you unto myself. That where I am, you may be also. His death was to prepare a place. Believers take heart that our
Savior has prepared a place. He has prepared a place. Don't
let your heart be troubled. Trust, believe. Believe on Christ and be comforted
in this. And in chapter 15, he gives them
instruction concerning our union with him. Look at this, I am
the vine, and my father the husbandman. Every man that abideth in me
that beareth not fruit, he taketh away, and every branch that beareth
food, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now
you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can you except
you abide in me. I am the vine, and you are the
branches." When he walked out, his disciples went out into that
garden. He must have walked by a fruitful
vine. I love the way the Lord uses
the illustrations just as he passes by. What a preacher! What a preacher! He sees the
vine and he has a message in it. He says, look at this vine.
See this fruit? It comes from the vine, not the
branch. I'm the vine. You're the branch. Unless you abide in me, you can
do nothing. If you break off a branch from
the vine and throw it down, come back later, it's dead. It cannot
live outside the vine. But friends, we are in so close
a union with Christ as the vine and the branches. He's the source
of our life, the source of our nourishment, the source of our
strength. You see, the branch bears the
fruit. But the branch did not produce the fruit. It just bears
it. It comes out of the branch, but
it doesn't come from the branch. It comes from the vine. We are in union with Christ.
And so when the Lord died, so did we. When He rose again, so
did we. When He sat on God's throne,
so did we. That's how much we are in union
with Him. He is our head, and we are His body. We are in union
with Christ, and this should give us joy and comfort in His
cross. That as He was accepted, so are
we. So are we. And this union, this comfort,
all of these comforts, Where do they stem from? Where do they
stem from? If we were to trace back all
of these things that the Lord had told us, told his disciples
concerning himself, concerning his death, concerning our salvation,
concerning our union with Christ, where could we go? Look at your text, 15 verse 16. You have not chosen me. But I've
chosen you. Here's the root. Electing love. Here is the root as to why Christ
suffered for our sins. When we were born, I'm sure that
someone thought we were special. Isn't that right? So you get
a child born and sure enough, that mother, she thinks that's
the That's the cat's meow. That's this one is great. This
is my son. This is my daughter. Look how
special they are. And truly to us, they are. We
love them. But the truth is. None of us are special. The only thing that we have when
we're born into this world is sin. And it doesn't matter who
was special or who wasn't. We all were born the same way.
Full of sin. Full of depravity in spiritual
things. And we could not know God. And
we would not come to Christ. That we might have life. Children,
all children are born even as others. You see, I love that,
how the Bible just levels everyone at the same place. Everybody
starts at the same place. Depraved. Not special. Sinners, worthy
of only hell. And so then, because we are nothing
special, we are haters of God, every one of us by nature, so
then if anyone is to be saved, if anyone is to be forgiven, all the praise, all the honor
should go to Christ. in the Trinity of His person
should receive all the glory for our salvation. Why? Because none of us were worthy
of it. None of us were special enough
that God should look upon us and choose us. God forbid, Paul
said, that I should glory save except in the cross. We cannot boast in ourselves
because we're sinners. We cannot boast in what we've
done because all we've done is sin. We cannot boast in what
we know because everything we know is earthly. We cannot boast in our rank or
our race because our rank is a criminal. Our race is the race
of Adam. There is no boasting whatsoever
in us. None. No glory. Therefore, if
any man is to be made righteous, it is because of Jesus Christ's
imputed and imparted righteousness. It is because of grace. If any
man is to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world,
it is truly all of grace. And if any man is to know God,
He must know him only by revelation, not education, not reformation,
revelation. Christ said, many shall say to
me in that day, Lord, Lord, but I will confess to them, depart
from me, you that work iniquity, I never knew you. You see, it doesn't matter what
we know. It matters, does He know you?
Does He know you? Believer, we would not ever have known
God had God not revealed Himself to us. We did not choose Him. Well, let me ask you this. Did
his disciples choose to follow him? Were they willingly following
Christ? Did they not believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ? Did they not leave all? Yes,
they did. Absolutely, they desired to follow
Christ. Absolutely, they chose to follow
Christ. But only because he loved and
chose them. They chose him only because he
first chose them. He first loved them. God tells
us who believe on Christ, who choose to follow
Christ, who forsake all, I've loved you with an everlasting
love. We have not loved God with an
everlasting love. We've not loved God with a temporal
love. God loved us from eternity. We love him because he first
loved us. Behold, then, what manner of
love God has lavished upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. Now, I'll tell you what, if you think highly of
yourself, that's not a very big thing. Well, God made me a son. Well, thank you. Appreciate it.
I was pretty much in line for it anyway, but thank you. No, no. Behold what manner of love. What is this manner of love?
This manner of love is electing love, eternal love that chose
us. Believer, we glory in the grace
of God because He drew us with His irresistible Spirit, and
by His grace, He taught us of Christ. Do you know no man can
learn Christ except God teach him? That goes against every religion
that produces, that's a worse religion. That goes against everything
that they're doing. You know, if we can just have 47
classes about how to learn who Jesus is, you know, that's the
way to do it. We've got to educate these people.
These people are just ignorant. We've got to bring them up to
speed. No, God has to bring you up to speed. God has to teach
you. It was the Father who loved us
and chose us. It was the Son who loved us and
redeemed us. And friends, it is the Holy Spirit
who loved us and called us. I like this song. Who am I? That the Lord of all
the earth would care to know my name, care to feel my hurt. Who am I that the bright and
morning star should choose to light my way of my ever-wandering
heart? I am a flower quickly fading,
here today and gone tomorrow, a wave tossed in the ocean, a
vapor in the wind. Still, you hear me when I'm calling. Lord, you catch me when I'm falling.
You told me who I am. I'm yours. I'm yours. Why are we his? Because of electing love. Because
he chose us to be his own. He chose us. You did not choose
me. Is that not a very serious charge?
Is that not a very serious charge to sinners? You did not choose
me. The most glorious being in all
the world, the most selfless act ever performed, the most gracious words that
has ever been spoken came from this man. What is it about him
that men would not choose? You did not choose me. Sinners
who stand every hour in need of mercy and will not come to
the only one who can give it. Is that not foolish? How arrogant. Left to ourselves, we would never
come. This gospel of grace is offensive,
and men will not believe on the Son of God that they might have
life. You have not chosen me. There
is no glory for the flesh in this, and men are offended by
it. But all who are chosen in Christ
definitely will come to Christ. Why will men not choose Christ? Just three things hurriedly.
Because they don't know God. Men won't choose Christ because
they don't know God. The woman at the well. Jesus
said, give me some water. And she says, who are you? He
said, well, if you knew who I was. If you knew who it was that asked
you. to give me water. You would have asked Him, and
He would give you living water. If you knew who He was. And then
what happened? He told her who He was. He said,
I am the Messiah. And she did what? She believed. Second of all, men have no need
of a Savior. This is why men won't come to
Christ. Men have no need. Only sinners come to Christ.
Remember, the Pharisees asked the disciples, they said, why
does your master eat with sinners? And Jesus said, they that are
whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came to
call not the righteous, but sinners, ones who have need. I call them. Do you have a need? Then he says,
come to me and I'll fulfill your need. You have to know you have
a need before you'll come. And thirdly, Men won't come to
Christ because they don't desire to follow Christ. They don't
desire to follow Christ. Don't want to. Don't want to. They have no interest in forsaking
sin. Now, they have an interest in
getting out of hell, but they have no interest in following
Christ. Suffering for Christ. What a deception to think that
Christianity is devoid of suffering. It's a deception of the enemy.
Friends, the Christian life is full of suffering. He said, he
that does not take up his cross daily and follow me cannot be
my disciple. Praise God for his electing love
by which he taught us who he is. He showed us our need. And friends, we desire to follow
Christ. I pray that God blesses to your
heart.