Now, He's not saying that we can lose
His love, because He has loved us with an everlasting love, a love that cannot change. I
cannot change the love of God for me. But I can lose the sense of it. And when he is talking about
abiding in his love, he's talking about abiding in the sense, the
real sense of his love. That you know his love, you feel
his love. You discern it. You're walking
in it. Like walking in sunshine, you
feel the warmth of the sun. And that's what he's telling
them. I'm going to pick up on verse
seven, but in these verses, we're going to look at this morning,
our Lord is speaking. And he started out this chapter. Of course, this portion of the
writing, there was no chapters when this was written, but he's
speaking of abiding in him, his words abiding in us. abiding
in his love as he abided in his father's love, keeping his commandments. And he speaks of these things
to us, not only to them, but to us also. And what he's telling
them is to keep up close communion with him. You see, in a marriage,
in a marriage, in a good marriage, In a good marriage, communion
works both ways, doesn't it? It goes both ways. I commune
with my wife and she communes with me. We talk to one another,
we converse with one another. That's what we do. And our Lord
is saying, you commune with me, abide, live in the sense, the
reality of my presence. Live in the reality of the presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Live in the reality of the presence
of His love. Live in the reality of the fact
that He loved me. He loved even me. Live in the reality of that.
And the one way, the number one way that we live in the reality
of it is if His words Abide in us, live in us. You're not going
to get a real sense of his love if you don't know his word. If
you don't know his words, why would you even believe? Why would
you even believe the Lord loved you? apart from his word. That's why he makes such a point
and he stresses, my words abide in you. You see, the words of
Christ abiding in me. You see, these are the words
of Christ right here. All these words. And yet it's
what? It's one word. It's the word
of God. And he has shown us how important it is that his word,
his words abide in us. work effectually in us. He's
showing this. And he tells us also that when
his word, his words abide in us and we abide in his love,
he said, ask what you will, it'll be done for you. It'll be done
for you. There's no danger of you asking
what you will if God's word, his words abide in us. And there's
no danger of him saying, ask what you will, because you're
not going to say, well, I want to know I want a 5,000 square
foot house instead of this 1,500 one I live in. That's not what
he, and you know that's what, you know he's not saying that.
Because if his words abide in us and we abide in his love,
we will ask for those things that are glorifying to God. That'll
be our chief reason in prayer. is that we ask for those things
that are glorifying to God and beneficial to us spiritually.
Give me those things that are beneficial to me spiritually.
That's what he's saying. You know, everyone wants power
with God, don't they? But not everyone wants that close
communion with the Lord Jesus Christ, that close fellowship
with the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, he's about to leave.
And he's saying, I'm leaving, but I'm not leaving. I'm going
to leave, but I'm still with you. I'm not just with you. I'm in you. If my words abide
in you, not with you. You see, Christ is in you. He's
not just with us. He's not just walking along beside
of us. He lives in us. Christ liveth
in me. That's hard to comprehend because
of our sinfulness. But Christ liveth in me. If you
believe, if I believe the gospel, God has granted us faith and
repentance, Jesus Christ really truly lives in me and in you. He lives in us. He tabernacles
in us. He dwells in us. He and the Father have taken
up their abode in us by his Spirit. And a close communion with Christ
ensures true prayer. Listen, it ensures true power
in prayer. This is where we have power with God, is our close
communion with Christ, his son. It says in Psalm 37, 4, delight
thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires
of thine heart. There's no danger in God giving
me and you who believe the desires of our heart if we delight ourself
in God, because our delight is to have him. It's to know more
of him, or that I might, Paul said, or that I might know him.
Here's the desire of Paul's heart. And I tell you what, it was given
to him, wasn't it? Peter said that he he'd been given an abundance
of revelation. Some things are hard to be understood.
Paul said, oh, that I might know him and the power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of his suffering. Paul wanted to know the power
of his resurrected life in him, living it out daily on on this
earth. I want to know that. I want to
know the indwelling power of the Spirit of Christ living in
me. That's what I want to know. Now it goes, verse 7. If you abide in me, and he's
speaking to those whose faith is in Him, whose confidence is
in Him, whose hope is in Him, this is what it is to abide in
Christ. We have faith in Him, confidence
in Him, hope in Him, We look to him, we call upon him, that's
abiding in him. And my words abide in you. That's
the same as Christ abiding in me, his words. It's not two separate
things. They are not two, you know, the
word, the written word of God and the living word of God are
the same. The one, it can't be separated.
So when he said my words abide in you, he's speaking about himself
abiding in them, is what he's speaking of. But my words abide
in you, my words guide you, not the principles of this world.
My words guide you. My words, abiding in you, regulate
your thoughts. My words, abiding in you, regulate
your walk. My words abiding in you regulates
your conversation. You see why it's so important?
Him saying my words abiding in you, it regulates our whole life.
Everything about us, our walk, our talk, our conversation, our
friends, everything. It regulates us. It guides us. Christ is telling
us how this union is maintained. This union between Him, the vine
and the branch, is maintained by His words abiding in us. That's
how. It's in His Word that we learn
of Christ. You know, the more I learn of
Christ, I learn more of Him in His Word. You want to know Christ
more? What did He say? Take my yoke
upon you. He didn't say take a stroll.
He said, take my yoke upon you and learn of me. You know, David
speaks of meditating upon the Lord. As he meditates upon the
Lord, he's meditating upon the Lord by what he knows of him
from his word. From his word. It's in the word of God that
we receive and embrace the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, Paul
said this in Colossians 3.16. Well, turn over to Colossians
3.16. In verse 16, he said, let the
word of Christ dwell in you richly. Let his word dwell in you richly,
in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns,
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord,
but let his word dwell in you richly. And he said, this is
so, this be so. You shall ask what you will,
and it'll be done to you. Power and prayer depends upon
our union with Christ. and our obedience to his will. He tells us how to maintain this
communion, this fellowship. He tells us how to do it in his
word, in his word. And my words, he said, abide
in you, you shall ask what you will and it'll be done to you.
Our wills and our prayers will be regulated by his indwelling
words. by His Word and by His Spirit.
Our will and our prayers will be regulated by that. Now herein
is my Father, glorify. All of God's children desire,
they desire to glorify God. Your desire is to glorify God,
not bring reproach on His name, but to glorify Him. And here
is my father glorified. That word means honored. Here
is in my father honored that you bear much fruit. You bear
much fruit. You see, it's the honor of the
husbandman to have good Good fruit, good strong branches,
loaded with plenty of fruit. I went out and looked at my garden
yesterday, and day before yesterday, and day before that. I go out
there and see how much has grown. Like that, you know, I watch
it. It's about to bear fruit. Potatoes I planted, man, they're
looking good. Corn, tomatoes, I mean, they're
looking good. I planted them. I didn't give
them the increase. God did, I know that, but here's what he's saying. It is an honor to the father
to have children walking in love, walking in kindness, walking
in joy, walking in long suffering. He said, this is how you honor
your father, your life, your life. I saw someone not too long ago. He had his fingernail polished,
a man. He had his fingernail polished. And I wasn't about to say nothing.
I didn't want to get into that. But he did it. He said, this
is so that when people ask me what that is, why I did that,
the red represents blood. The blue represents, I thought, that is so stupid. then I gotta
wear some kind of weird looking fingernail polish so somebody
can ask me that, then I can witness. How about your life, your daily
life, in your home, in your community, where you work, that's your witness.
It's not painting something stupid on you and so you can tell somebody
about it. Herein is my father glorified,
honored, that you walk as children in love, in grace, in mercy,
in kindness, in forgiveness. This is what it is to be conformed
to the image of Christ. Being conformed to the image
of Christ has nothing to do with how long my hair is and I'm going
to grow a beard and try to look like him. And we don't even know
what he looked like. It's being conformed to the image
of Christ in spirit, spirit of love. joy, peace, the fruit of
the Spirit. That is where our Father is honored. You know, you honor your parents. You honor your parents when you
go out there and you live a life that's respectable, okay? You
go out there and live a life like a devil, you don't honor
your parents. You don't honor. No honor in
that. We honor our father, and he's
speaking here. You honor your father by the
fruit you bear. That's the life at your life.
You know how you know an apple tree's an apple tree? You know
how you know that? Apples are hanging on it. Ain't that so simple? In God's
children, love is hanging on it. That branch, love, joy, peace,
and kindness. Your conduct is totally opposite
of that of the world. The principles you live by is
totally opposite of that of the world. You live by the principle
of love to Christ. Paul said, the love of Christ
constrains me. Here is my father glorified, you bear much fruit,
so shall you be my disciples, so shall it be evident you're
my disciples. You know, going out here and
doing these things does not make me a child of God. It's evident
I'm a child of God when this kind of fruit is evident. And then he says here in verse
nine, as the father, and that word as means to the extent,
Now this is a powerful statement he's making here. To the extent
the Father hath loved me, so, and that word means to the same
extent. To the extent as the Father has
loved me, to the same extent I love you. To the same extent,
my soul. Charles Spurgeon said the Father
loves the Son without beginning, without change, without measure,
without end, even so does the Lord love us. This is the highest love that
anyone can conceive of. As the Father has loved me, so
have I loved you to the same extent. Everything that our Lord
endured, he did so out of love to the Father and to his children. His people. And then, and listen,
and, and continue ye in my love. Continue in it. That word continue
means persist, persist in my love, persist to know it, persist
to experience my love. Lord, make me to know your love. Make me to experience your love.
That would be a good prayer, wouldn't it? Instead of always getting me
out of trouble, how about just make me to know, make me to know
by experience your love to me. Make me to have a real understanding
and sense of your love to me. Live, and what it means also
here, continue you and my love, live in the sense of it. Live
in the, live in the sense of my everlasting love for you. Live in the sense of it. It's
like this. It's like standing in the sun
and feeling its warm rays, standing in the rays of his love and feeling
the warmth of it. He tells us, strive, persist
in the experience of my love. Don't just read about it, experience
it. Experience it. You know, I just
don't want to, I don't want to just, I don't want to hear my
wife say, I love you. I want to experience that love.
I want to experience, I don't want to just, just saying I love
you, anybody can say that. I mean, I've heard people arguing,
fussing and then hang up and then say, I love you. Have you
heard people say that? Well, I love you. I heard somebody
do that. Hustling around and, well, I
love you. Really? Well, that's a good way of expressing
it. No, I want to live in the real
sense of it, the real experience of my love. That's why he's saying,
because they are about to face some things they can't even imagine
is coming their way. You don't know what's coming
your way. You don't know what's coming down the road. I thought
of Bonnie, Terrell, and that whole family and that whole situation.
I thought, boy, they had no idea when they woke up that morning
what they were about to face. A life-changing experience. And
these disciples are going to face an angry mob. They're going
to be beheaded. Some are going to be beheaded.
Peter crucified upside down. I mean, what they are about to
face is going to be devastating as far as we would think. But
you know the number one thing that's going to keep them? Well,
you know Solomon said love is stronger than death? It's stronger
than death. People have, people have stood
in the face of death because of their love for someone and
not back down. And our Lord will give us the
greatest example of love that a friend laid down his life for
him. A friend, a friend. If you keep my commandments,
here in verse 10, and he's speaking here of perseverance in faith
and love. That's what he's talking about.
He's not talking about if you step out of line, you will lose
it. I won't love you no more. No, that's human love. That's
human love. That's not divine love. But he's
talking here about perseverance in faith and love. And he says
in verse 10, if you keep my commandments, which is the gospel. You know,
it's the gospel. We don't water it down. We, we
preach the gospel is the gospel. We don't change it. We don't
water it down. We don't, we don't, uh, go along to get along. We
don't do that. If you keep my commandments,
because it's impossible to retain a sense of God's love without
obedience in faith. He said, you shall abide in my
love. You'll walk in a sweet sense
of my love. Is there anything more beautiful
than obedience? Scripture says it's better than
sacrifice. Even as I've kept my father's
commandments and I abide, I live in the sweet experience of my
father's love. I live in it. Disobedience causes us to lose
a real sense of it, doesn't it? What David said, restoring to
me the joy of that salvation. And these things have I spoken
to you. You know, all that our Lord spoke
was meant to promote joy in them and peace. Because they live
in a bad world. They live in a world that hates
them. He said, if they hated me, it's going to hate you too.
But what I'm saying to you, is to promote the peace and the
joy that I have. I want you to experience, I want
it to be in you, and I want your joy to be full. I want it to
be full, that my joy, he said, might remain in you, even in
the midst of fire, even in the midst of hatred, even in the
midst of the mob, my joy might remain in you. You know, I've
read different accounts of martyrs singing, being burned, being
set on fire, and they're singing. They're singing praises to God. That my joy might remain in you
when they light the fire. Because they're going to light
it. When you go through the water. When you go through the water.
I mentioned this to Bonnie earlier. I was talking to her the other
day. I said, you know, the Lord said, when we go through, not if we
go through. He says, when you go through it, I'll be with you.
And my joy will remain in you, no matter how hot it gets. Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego in a furnace, fiery furnace, heated seven times
more than normal. And it didn't even kindle a bonfire.
They didn't even smell like smoke. Because there was a fourth one
in that furnace that looked like the Son of God. He looked like Him because it
was Him. All these things I have spoken
to you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might
be full, that you may really experience true spiritual joy. Not this joy that the world gives
that's just fleeting, but true spiritual joy. There are many
things that happen in this life to destroy our joy. But if we do as the Lord commands,
if we do as our Lord says, our joy will be full. His words abide
in us. Now, His words can't abide in
you if you're not reading the Word. I mean, that's just that
simple. If you're not sitting under the
Word being preached, if it's just, you know, you can have
it or not have it, doesn't matter. It depends on what's going on.
But if you're not, if you're not, you and I are not in his
word and sitting under his word, listening to his word and praying
about it and seeking the Lord. It's no wonder people fall apart
when things come along. My joy might remain in you. That
your joy might be full. This is my commandment. Okay.
Here's the essence of my commandment. Here it is. You say, well, let's
not be like that young ruler who said, Lord, which is the
greatest commandment? Tell me which one has eternal life attached
to it, and I'll keep it. I kept all the other ones, but
there's something wrong, there's something missing. That man knew something
was missing. He said, all these I've kept
from my youth up, well, then what are you worried about? If you
kept them, what's wrong? He knew something was wrong.
He knew something was missing. He knew it. But here is love's
law. Here's the essence of his commandment. Keep my commandments. Here it
is that you love one another. There's the essence of it. You
do that, and everything else fall in place. If I love you
as Christ loved me, you love me as Christ loved you. You'll
look after me. I'll look after you. We take
care of one another. We pray for one another. We hold
up one another before the Lord. That's what it is. When you love
one another, you're looking after one another. You're not looking
after yourself. You forget about yourself. I
think, I try to be careful when I talk about mental problems
and stuff. I think most people could get
off depression medication. I think they could get off a
lot of things if they just forget about themselves. If you could
just forget about yourself. If your mind could be on somebody
else taking care of someone else, looking after someone else, you'd
be shocked how much of that stuff goes away. We get so concerned
with ourselves, we just We're just falling apart. People are
falling apart because they can't get their mind off themselves. This is my commandment, that
you love one another as I've loved you. Without this, who
are we kidding? Really. Paul said, without love,
we are sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. You know, one thing about
love, real genuine love, you can't fake it. Can you? You ever look at a picture of
someone, you know, you take a picture and I say, smile, right before
they take the picture. And I say, smile. And you can
look at that picture and you can see a lot of fake smiles.
Can you tell it's fake? You know how you can tell it's
not fake? You know how you can tell a smile is not fake? The
whole face. The eyes smile. The eyes will
even smile. When there's a real genuine smile,
your eyes will light up. Your whole face gets involved
in it. It's not like, that's cheesy,
isn't it? Then you look at the picture
and say, I don't like that picture of myself. Well, you shouldn't
have faked it. You can tell when someone really
smiles. Their whole face smiles. It lights up. Their eyes get
involved in it. You can't fake love. You can't
fake love. I mean real genuine love for
Christ and love for the brethren. You can't fake it. Greater love hath no man than
this, 13, that a man lay down his life for his friend. He sits
here, the love's model. He's gonna set before them the
model of love. Greater love that doesn't exist.
There is no love above this kind of love. This is it. This is
the pinnacle. Here's the pinnacle of love.
That a man lay down his life for his friends. That he will
actually give his life. Let's say you're a friend. Let's
say you got a good friend. And he's got to have a kidney. Or
he's gonna die. And you only got one kidney.
You only got one kidney. And you say, Doc, and you say
to your friend, take my kidney. And you say, well, you're going
to die. You know that. Take my kidney so my friend can live. Our Lord laid down his life.
He literally tasted death that we might live. That's what he
did. Paul said this in Acts 20, 24. But none of these things move
me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course
with joy in the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus.
Now that's because of his love to Christ and his love to the
Lord's people that he did not count his life dear to himself. That's love. That's the greatest
expression of love. That's the pinnacle of it. And
he says here, you are my friends. And a man lay down his life for
his friend. He's a greater love than this, that a man lay down
his life for his friends. You're my friend. Can you imagine
him after him saying that? He gives the greatest example
of love. Then he says, you're my friends. You're the ones I'm
dying for. I'm going to lay down my life
for you. If you do whatsoever, I command
you." You see, it's evidenced. Our
love to Christ and discipleship is evidenced by love. And that
love is evidenced by obedience. Don't say you love somebody and
then you're totally disobedient. It doesn't go together. Here is love's life and love's
reward. It's obedience to Christ. It's
obedience to Christ. This ought to cause us great
joy to hear our Lord say, greater love had no man than this. And
he laid down his life for his friends. And you're my friends.
You're my friends. Years ago, when Cole was probably
four years old, I took him over to YMCA in Ashland. And they
had a room there they could play in. It was a big old room full
of these balls up there. And they'd just jump in them.
I mean, it was a big old room. And he was in there, and they
had a woman in there that was keeping it. She was watching
over the kids in there. Well, he was the only kid in
there at that time. Well, after I finished up what I was doing,
exercising, I went in to get him, and that woman lady was
sitting there. And I went, and I said to her, and Cole saw me
come in, I said, that's my best friend in all the world. And
he smiled, trying not to smile. He still to this day tries not
to smile. But he smiled, I mean, it's what I'm saying, you can't
fake it. I mean, it was from, it just came all across his face
when I said, he's my best friend in the world. You would think
that'd make us smile that we couldn't, it'd about crack our
face. He's my friend, she's my friend. And I'm laying down my life for
you. I'm dying for you, that you don't have to die. You don't
have to taste death. Henceforth, I call you not servants. And in verse 15, I call you not
servants. For the servant knoweth not what
his lord doeth. You know, the master doesn't
explain all his details and business details and all that stuff to
the servant. He doesn't do that. You know, you go to work tomorrow.
I'm sure that whoever owns the place, he doesn't come out and
explain every detail to you what he's doing, does he? He don't
do that. You go in, you have a job, a
responsibility to do, and that's what you do. Christ said, you
are my friends. I'm not treating you like a servant,
although we are his servants, we know that. But he said, a
servant doesn't know what his Lord does. But a friend, a friend
is a table companion. A friend is someone that you
sit down to and you can tell everything to. He said, as I
hear I speak. Whatever the Father has given
me, I've not held any of it back. I've given it to you. And Paul
said that in Acts. He said, I've not held, I've
not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God to you. You're
my friends. You're my friends. And here's the origin of his
love in verse 16. You have not chosen me. I've
chosen you. You know, this is probably one
of the greatest points of contention in our day among religion is this. God is sovereign in salvation. He didn't make salvation a possibility
and then leave the end results to a bunch of God-hating rebels.
He didn't do that. Christ says, you have not chosen
me. Let's get this right. You see,
here's the origin of love. You didn't choose me. I chose
you. I chose you. I chose to save you. I chose
to die for you. I chose to redeem you. I did
that. You didn't do it. And ordained you. I not only chose you, but I ordained
your whole life. And that, does that make you
feel comfortable? The Lord ordained my life from beginning to end. That you should go and bring
forth fruit. He said, I ordained you that you should bring forth
fruit. He's going to see to it that the branches in the vine
are going to be fruit bearing. See, he has the power to do it
and he's going to do it. he's going to do. He'll prune
you. I promise you, he'll prune you with trowels and hard eggs. He'll prune you and you're going
to bear fruit. God's children are going to bear fruit because
he ordained it. And that your fruit should remain,
that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he
shall give it to you. The great first cause of our
salvation is not our choice of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's his
choice of us. Did God save you on purpose or
by giving you a chance? He saved you on purpose. I like
that. He saved me on purpose. The election of his people is
with him. He took, and what he's telling
them and he's telling us, he took the first step. And every
step in between. And he's chosen us to be fruit
bearers, not loiterers. We're not on vacation. But to be fruit bearers. And these things I command you.
Here's what I'm going to command you. And it's just one. It's just
one. That you love one another. That you love one another. This
is my commandment. And this will take care of everything.
This will take care of everything. This will overcome all the problems
you're going to come up against. This will overcome it. Any controversy. between us, this will overcome
it. As long as it's not an issue
of the gospel, I'm not going to compromise that. But this
will overcome it. This will overcome anything in
a marriage if you love one another. If you love one another, you'll
drop it. And as God's children, if we
love one another, we'll drop it. We'll drop it because we
love one another. Greater love is no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends. You're my friends. You're my friends. And it's evident
you're my friends if you do what I'm telling you. All right.