They're with me to John 15. John
15. We continue our studies through
the blessed gospel of John. Our Lord throughout this gospel
has called himself the bread of life, the water of life. John called him the light, the
light of the world. He's called himself the good
shepherd, the way, the truth, the life. And here he's going
to tell us that he's the vine, the true vine. Let's read these
verses, verses 1 through 8. I am the true vine, and my father
is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth
not fruit, he taketh away. And every branch that beareth
fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now
ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Abide in me, and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit
of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except
ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abided in me and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me ye
can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he
is cast forth as a branch, and is withered. And men gather them
and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide
in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will,
and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified,
that ye bear much fruit. So shall ye be my disciples. Over in chapter 13, it tells
us that it was nighttime when Judas did his dark deed. It was nighttime. He went out. It was dark. They'd been sitting
at a table. in an upper room. They'd been
sitting, as you know, partaking of the Lord's table and supping
with our Savior, with Him. And down in verse 31 of chapter
14, see this, verse 31, the last line, He says, Arise, let us
go hence. He says, Get up and let us go
hence. There's so much in every line
everywhere. He did not tell them where they
were going. He never did. But they followed
Him, just like sheep follow their shepherd. He knew where He was
going. That's all they need to know.
He did not tell them where He was going, but He knew. And it's
our faith to simply follow Him. Just follow Him. And it's our
comfort in knowing that He knows where He's leading us at all
times. He knows. He leadeth me, O blessed
thought, O words with heavenly comfort from wherever I go, wherever
I be. It's God that leadeth me. All
the way. All the way. He said in Isaiah
46, from your cradle, to your grave, I've carried you the whole
way. Isn't that a blessing? It's a
blessing. And it's our prayer, it's our
desire to follow Him, isn't it? Seek His will and walk in it. I remember reading this verse
as a young believer years ago and it stuck with me and it's
been my heart's prayer ever since. Psalm 119.33, order my steps
in thy word, and let not any iniquity have dominion over me. Isn't that your heart's prayer?
Order my steps in thy word. Meaning, may I follow you. Follow
you. Everywhere I go, whatever I do,
whatever I do. He said in Psalm 25, Show me
thy ways, O Lord. Teach me thy paths. Lead me in
thy truth. Teach me. Thou art my God. You
remember our Scripture verse for Monday? It said, Psalm 86,
Teach me thy way, O Lord. I will walk in thy truth. So,
He knew where He was going, He knew where He was leading them,
and it's our desire and our prayer that He would show us the way
wherein we would walk and walk Him, follow Him in every way. Now, He's going before them,
He always did. He's leading them. They should
have known where He was going, because He's It was his, he was
prone to go to this certain place. Look at chapter 18 of John, verses
1 and 2, chapter 18, 1 and 2. And our Lord had spoken, he went
forth with his disciples over the brook Sidron, where there
was a garden, into which, it's the garden of Gethsemane, into
the which he entered, and his disciples, Judas knew, He knew
the place because that's where he oft times, where Jesus oft
times resorted thither with his disciples. He took them quite
often to the Mount of Olives. This garden is there, Mount of
Olives in the Garden of Gethsemane. If you want to find the Lord,
that's where he's going to be. That's where he leads his disciples,
the Mount of Olives. This mountain that had trees
growing, olive trees. How much is said in scripture
of olive trees? Christ is the tree. He's going to tell us in a moment
that he is the vine. But listen to Zachariah's prophecy. Zachariah prophesied this. I'll
read it for you. He said, His feet shall stand
in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem
on the east, and the Mount of Olives, that's where He should
stand. And so it is, according to Scripture.
He led them to the Mount of Olives. He Himself is that olive tree,
which we receive the oil of gladness from. The Garden of Gethsemane. Gethsemane means olive press. This garden in which was the
olive press. This is where our Lord is going
to go to pray that great prayer and be pressed down with the
weight of our sin and bleed, sweat, blood, like olives crushed. You know, the light of the lamp
in the temple was made and God specified it, make sure it's
crushed olives, pressed olives. crushed a garden of Gethsemane
to pray. That's where he led them. He's
going there to pray with them. He tells them, he tells us, always
pray, always pray. He did. He did. He could be found
in this place of prayer. He led them to prayer and he
led them in prayer. He said this, my house shall
be called a house of prayer. May that be said of this house. I believe it is. Let this house
be called his house of prayer. And it's a garden. It's a garden. You remember Psalm of Solomon?
I'll not go back there. I wanted to. Psalm of Solomon. Where is my beloved, she said.
I can't find him. Well, he's in his garden. That's
where you'll find him. This is where you'll find the
Lord. His people he calls a garden. Oh come, oh north wind, blow,
oh south, blow upon my garden, let the spices thereof floweth.
Let my beloved come into his garden and eat the pleasant fruits
thereof." So, he's leading them to the garden. Now they leave
this upper room in which I'm sure there were candles or whatever,
and now they're outside walking in darkness. How does he know where he's going
in the dark? How can he see in the dark? Well, Psalm 139 says that light
and the dark are alike to him. No, no. Christ is the light. In thy light we see light. It says in Revelation 21 that
the city had no need of the sun. The lamb is the light in their
realm. So he's leading his children
out of darkness into the light. He didn't need any artificial
light. He is the light, okay? His enemies
came to get him with lanterns and torches and weapons, and
they still didn't see him. You know that? They still didn't
know where he was. And he had to come out and say,
Humsikie. We know who he is. How? In the
light of his word. See, we are a people who sat
in darkness, but we've seen a great light. Upon us hath the great
light, which is Christ himself, shined. We're not in darkness,
he says. In his light we see light. This
world's a dark place. Go back and read that, Isaiah
8 and 9 for yourself. It says they'll look to the earth,
they'll look. for some help, some hope and
all that. It's all dimness and darkness
and anguish of spirit. That's this world. Oh, but God's
people had light. It says in Exodus that there
was darkness in the land of Egypt. Everywhere, so much so you could
feel it. But the children of Israel had
light in their dwellings. Every one of them had lights,
the light which is Christ Himself. How does he know where he's going
in the dark? And we're not in the dark. He leads us. Just follow Him. You'll not stumble.
Didn't He say that? He kept saying that. If you walk
in the light, you won't stumble. That is, walk by faith, looking
to Him, looking to Him. So they walked. to where he was
want to go. The old scriptural term, I love
it, want. It means always going there. What he was want to do. He was
always going where he was want to go and as he was want to do,
apt to do, he started teaching them. It was rarely a time he
was walking with them and he didn't teach them. You know,
Paul wrote to young Timothy and said, these are the requirements
of a bishop, a pastor. He said, a bishop must be blameless. Christ is our great bishop and
shepherd of the sheep. Blameless, holy, harmless, blameless,
separate from sin. It goes on to say, John, that
a bishop must be apt to teach. Always teach him. That's what
he's wont to do. That's his habit of doing. And
that's what he did. Always teach him. Always teach
him. I love the thought that every
word out of his mouth was a revelation to him. Did you hear that? Everything
he said, they'd look at each other. Did you hear that? I had
never heard anything like that in my life. Every day, day in and day out.
And he said so much, and so much magnificent, wonderful things
that they understood not. It took them 10, 20, or 30 years
later to get it all, to take it all in. I love the thought
that every now and then something would happen. That's what he
said. Isn't it so with you? You read something and it doesn't
register with you, and later on it's, I remember you. So he was apt to teach, and so
he started teaching them. So he says in chapter 15, verse
1, I am. You want us to stop there a minute? I am. Don't you love this book?
That's where it starts. He's going to teach them what?
Who? I am. What are you? Everything. I am. This is He who was, who is, who
ever shall be, the same. Jesus Christ, the same. Yesterday,
today, and forever. The same, He said, that I told
you in the beginning. Same God, in Exodus 3, in John
15. I am. I am. Jehovah, I am. I am means unchanging. Aren't you glad in a changing
world that our Lord does not change? His word doesn't change. His promises don't change. His
covenant doesn't change. He doesn't change. No shadow
of turning. That's all I hope. Who he is,
what he says, what he does, always the same. He said, and that's
to begin this, I reminded you, and he said, I am the bread.
There's no bread that satisfies the Christ. I am the water. The water of this world will
leave you thirsty. He said, I am the water. He said, I am the
door. I am the door. Definite article. Only the door. There's no way
in the door but back right. I am the good shepherd. The good
shepherd. I am the way, the truth, the
life, and here he says, I am the true vine. The true vine. I believe he was
probably pointing at, they were walking, pointing at some grape
vines. They were walking through this
garden, one of these vineyards. Grape vines and olive trees.
Beautiful garden. That's where he loved to go.
I'm sure he was pointing at one of these vines, and there were
many there. There were many vines everywhere,
weren't there? Huh? If you have a vineyard,
it's not just one vine. There's many. But our Lord said,
I am the vine, the true vine, meaning I'm the only one. See,
grapes, branches, grapes, fruits come from a vine. Now, I wish
I'd have brought that Vine up there, you've seen it before.
Don't think of a vine, a grape vine, as something little, poor
little thing that has to have something to support it. I've got one down there that
was 30 years old, about the age of our Lord. You can hang all
your weight on it. You can lean on it. That's Christ,
the vine. But anyway, he said, I am the
vine, divine. I am the source of everything. He said that. Without me, you
can do nothing. You can't bear fruit. You don't know where you're
going. You don't know what you're doing.
You won't be saved. You don't know anything. I am
the source, the vine. Just as the branches receive
everything from the vine, that the fruit all comes from the
vine, Christ said, I am the only source. I am the spring. I am
the fountain. I am the well. I am the source.
I am the vine. And He said, I am the true vine. The true vine. Now, there have
been many impostors over the years, haven't there? Many impostors. Our Lord said that there would
be. He said there would be many coming in His name saying, I
am Christ, the Christ. Right? Many false prophets and
apostles and so forth. Men that call themselves apostles,
they're not. False apostles. Our Lord said,
I am The true vow. Truly. Verily. All through John. Verily. Verily. What's that mean? Truth. Truth. Same word as amen. It's the exact same word as amen.
Amen. Amen. I am the true vow. There is no other. There is no
other. You won't have life anywhere
else. You won't be supported anywhere else. You won't be worth
anything anywhere else but in Him. Okay? He said, My Father
is the husbandman. The husbandman. That's the farmer,
isn't it? The farmer, the owner of the
earth. God's the owner. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. The world and they that dwell
therein. It all belongs to Him, doesn't it? People think they
own their farms and their land. It's borrowed. And the Lord's
going to take it back. He's going to take it back. It's
the Lord's. I remember an old Indian chief
one time saying, when the white men were coming out there and
claiming land and buying it, they said, how can you buy the
earth? That's pretty wise, isn't it?
How can you buy or own the earth? The earth is the Lord's. He's
the husbandman. He's the farmer. He's the owner
of it. He's the planter of everything. Everything that grows, everything
that lives, everything that moves and has its being, He's the doer
of it. He gives it the increase, right? He plants, He gives it the increase. He waters, He does it all. So
Christ said, I am the only true, or verily, verily, vine, a source
of all things, whom the Father hath planted in this earth. The
Lord hath put me in this earth. Now how did he start in this
earth? The seed. The woman's seed. Made of a woman. Made under the
law. The seed. Remember the seed? We just looked at it. The seed. And he was planted as a seed.
And then he grew up as a tender plant. Isaiah 53. As a root out of dry ground. did not yet appear what he would
be. What's this child in this manger
around whom all these cattle are lowing and these shepherds
are bringing their gifts and singing his praise? Who is this?
Who is this child? What child is this? Just wait
and you'll see. You'll see. So he grew up as
a tender plant, a root out of dry ground. He grew up Became
a man. The blind. Oh, that's who they
said. The blind. His branches, Kelly
read, Psalm 80, they read, they cover the whole earth. He said
here in verse 2, Every branch in me that beareth not fruit,
he taketh away. Every branch that beareth fruit,
he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Every branch
in me that beareth not fruit. Now, there are many Christians
in name only. There are few in truth. Our Lord
said this, many are called, few are chosen. Few are chosen. Many seem to be in Him. Many claim to be in Him. Many say they have faith in Him. But time will tell. Fruit will
tell. Yes, it will. No fruit, no root. No union with Christ, no root,
no food. And soon, verse 6, he said, if
a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is
withered, and they're going to be gathered and cast into the
fire and burned. That's what he said. Now, you can't truly be in Christ
and not bear fruit. Verse 2, he said, every branch
that beareth fruit, he purgeth it. You cannot not bear fruit
and be in Christ. Okay? You can seem like you're
in Christ and not bear fruit. Stay with me. Don't one of you
hang your head, okay? Don't do it. Lift up your head,
all right? And we'll show you. You're going
to find out. This fruit is in you, okay? Now, often you cannot
tell for a while if a branch is alive or dead, especially
in the springtime. Anybody have crepe myrtle trees?
The whole thing looks dead, doesn't it? I'm out there whacking branches
and sometimes I'll bend one. Oh, it's alive. And so, somebody
said, we commit crepe murder because that thing grows so prolifically
and it just gets whacked down. Well, you often can't tell. We're not infallible in our understanding
of people and whether they belong to the Lord or not. We're not
the ones to be doing the pruning and casting out. Right? I'm sure glad the church didn't
get together when I was a young believer and say, he's not one
of us, get him out of here. Aren't you? Now, we're not the
ones that purge. It says that the Father does. He does this. In the end, when
it's all over, He said, let the tares grow up with the wheat,
let them all go together, and in the end, the sheep with the
goats, and He said, in the end, He's going to separate. And yet,
our Lord tells us that they, his people bear this fruit, this
fruit, every branch is truly in him, bring it forth fruit,
but it must be purged in order to bring forth more fruit. And
we'll get to that in a moment. Now, the fact is every believer
bears fruit, but the sad fact is, is every believer can't see
it in themselves. Is that not right? You think,
if I have any, I don't, I just can't say. Like Bunyan's, or
Newton's poem we love so well, when I look within all his vain
and wild, how can I call myself his child? False and full of
sin I am. Anybody? Everybody. Every single believer thinks
that about himself. But you don't think that about
your brother, do you? Huh? You look at your sister or your
brother and say, now they've got fruit. I don't see any, I
said. Don't be looking for it. Don't
be looking for it. But I'm going to show you. Turn
with me and look at verse 2. He said, Every branch in me,
verse 4 and 5, abide in me, and I in you, as a branch cannot
bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can
ye except ye abide in me. Verse 5, I am the vine, you're
the branches, he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same
bringeth forth much fruit, for without me you can do nothing.
Verse 7, if you abide in Me and my words abide in you. Now where
in this Bible have you seen in him? Ephesians 1. That's right, turn there. Alright,
the first fruit of the Spirit is love. Do you love Ephesians
1? You know how many people hate
it? You know how many people wish it wasn't in the Bible?
You know all my hope of salvation is in Ephesians 1? In two words. Our Lord starts us out by saying,
you've got to be in me. Doesn't he? Where else does he say that?
Philippians, Colossians, everywhere. All through the book of John,
Ephesians 1. Look at it, verse 1. Paul, an
apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God to the saints which
are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Verse 3, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Verse 4, according as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. Verse 6, to the
praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted
in the beloved. Verse 7, in whom we have redemption. Want me to go on? Okay, I will. Verse 10. In a dispensation of
the fullness of time, He's going to gather together in one all
things in Christ. Verse 11. In whom we have obtained
an inheritance. Verse 12. Who first trusted in
Christ. Verse 13. In whom you trust. Do you trust Jesus Christ? Do
you like Paul say, I want to be found in Him? That's where the Lord started.
You're in me, if you're in me, if you abide in me. You want
to be in Him? Do you? Paul said that, oh, that
I might win Christ and be found in Him. Do you want to be in
Christ? Like Noah and his family in the
ark? Do you want to? You know what?
You already are. If you know what that means,
that means you are. If that gives you joy, love,
joy, In fact, does that give you joy to be thought of as being
in Christ? Does Ephesians 1 give you joy?
That's the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace. Do you have
peace by looking to and trusting in Jesus Christ? Do you? Do you
have peace anywhere else but in Christ? You got fruit. You got fruit that other people
don't have. Long suffering. Do you know that everything the
Lord sends is for your good? You know that, don't you? Don't
you? And you bear it. You bear it. You bear up under
it. You know you've got to. Don't you? And you do. And you
know the end is going to be good. You know that, don't you? He
does all things well. You've got fruit. Gentleness. Did he not tame that
wild ass's cold goodness? He said, I don't have any goodness.
Hold on now. Paul said, I'm persuaded to the
Romans you're full of goodness. If Christ is in you, you got
a good man in there. There's an old man. He's still
there. And he's a bad man. But there's
a new man, Christ in you, the hope of glory. He's a good man. He's a good man. The old man
bothers you so much. But other people see that good
man. God sees that good man. Goodness,
gentleness, goodness, faith. Faith. Where is your faith? Who do you trust? Who do you
believe? Tell me. One word. Somebody.
Anybody. A woman. You got fruit. You got fruit. You want it to grow? You want
to have more of that? He's going to purge you. Every
single branch. Purging. So, what is this purging? Go to Hebrews 9 with me. Hebrews
9. Every single branch. There's
not one single branch, not one single person that abides in
Christ that does not purge. And the word is pruning. Pruning. Pruning involves the removal
of dead things. Fruitless things. You know, everybody in here has
grown beans. And you go out there and you
remove those suckers. Don't you? You've got to get
rid of them. Get rid of those suckers. And the Lord is going
to remove the things that are just sucking the life out of
us. Dead things. Dead things. By this purging.
Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9 verse 14. It says,
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit he offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God? And the first thing
God does to all His people is purge them by the gospel of Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. He's going to get rid of every
dead thing, dead work, dead faith, dead whatever. It's all dead. If it's not in
Christ, it's dead. He's going to purge your conscience.
your mind, your heart, so that you know that all your hope,
help, all your salvation, all your righteousness, your sanctification,
your redemption is in one, Jesus Christ. Nothing else. Everything
else is just a dead whatever. Whatever. Comperge your conscience
to where every single one of His people say, in my hands,
no price I bring, simply to the cross of Jesus Christ. There's
nothing that will rightly purge us more than seeing Christ crucified. See, if righteousness has come
by the law, Paul said, Christ died in vain. Now here's the truth of the matter. Since Christ died, everything
else is vain but faith in Him. Okay? Purging. Gospel purging. It'll purge your passions. Later,
Christ hath crucified the flesh with the lust thereof. How's
that? Well, when these passions arise in
us, you start thinking about Christ on that cross. That's
why He died. Hmm. How could I do this? Crucify
the flesh. Dead things. Vanities of this
world. Nothing will show us the vanity of this world quite like
seeing Christ and Him crucified. He who was rich, yet for our
sakes became poor. Not just poor, of no reputation,
humbled himself, became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. We've got it so easy. We lack for nothing. But we are
really still Wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. Take a
good look at Christ on the cross. It will purge all your thoughts,
most of them, the vanities of this world. And He purges us,
chapter 12, Hebrews. Look at chapter 12. He purges
us by trials, troubles, afflictions. Every single branch, every single
believer in Christ will be tried. Every single person that has
faith in Christ, that faith will be tried. We sing that song,
some through the waters, some through the flood. No, no, no,
no, no, no. All through the waters. All through the flood. All through
the fire. And all through the blood. Every
one of them. Every one of God's people go
through deep waters at some point in their life. Every single one
of God's people go through fiery trials. The Lord sends them off
to purge us if we belong to Him. When you look at Job and his
three friends, If you were a casual observer and came by and looked
and there Job sits in ashes scraping the boils off his body. He's
lost everything and everyone. He's in great sorrow and great
pain and great affliction lying there. And his three friends,
they have it all. Good health. They haven't lost
anybody or anything. They pull up on the finest camel
or whatever. Got all this nice clothing. Job's
sitting in ashes. Who does God love? Huh? Tell me. Who is being blessed
here? Who is the man who has the fruit
here? The root. He said that the root
of the matter is in me. How do you know? Whom he loves,
he chastens. He purges. Look at Hebrews 12.
Did I say 12? Yes. Verse 1, we have a great cloud
of witnesses of people that go through these things. In chapter
11, verse 4, you haven't resisted
under bloodshed to get sin. Who did? Christ did. Whose sin? My sin. The disciples were asleep. He's
sweating blood, brother. How about us? All the time. All
the time. Man. Now, verse 7, he says, If
ye endure, verse 6, Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and
scourgeth. Whip him. Did your dad whip you,
John? Wasn't nearly enough, was he? Did your dad love you? He still
loves you then. Did he whip your neighbor's kids? As much as he'd like to. You and Steven grew up. Did your
dad ever go whip Steven? Did Joe ever whip you? No. Your
father loved you then. He encouraged you. He thought. And he would say, he might have
even said this, it's going to hurt me worse than it hurt you.
I never did believe that, did you? I do now. I do now. That's what it says. Whom the Father loveth, he chastens.
Verse 8, if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers in
your bastards. You don't belong to the Lord. So every branch in Christ he
purges. Go back to the text real quickly. Back to the text. So there's
purging by trials and troubles. And now there's no fruit without
abiding in Him. He kept saying this to me. I'm
the vine, you're the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me you
can do nothing. It's God that worketh in us. of the will and to do of His
good pleasure. Paul said, I labored more abundantly
than them all, yet not I, but Christ. By the grace of God,
I am what I am. So, but everyone that dwells
in Him, everyone that abides in Him, how many times does He
say this, abide in me? Seven times. Seven times in seven
verses. What's that mean? Well, don't
we abide in Him? Yes, we do. Why does He tell
us to? Huh? Huh? Do you know? Are we saved by keeping His commandment?
No. He said something. If you love
me, keep my commandment. It's a commandment. It's the
Father telling His children. It's He's approving, rebuking,
exhorting. Exhort Him. Abide in me. What's that mean? Abide. I looked
up the word. It means to stay. Stay. Stayed upon Jehovah. Stayed. It means to continue.
It means to continue. In Colossians 1, Paul said you're
saved if you continue. in the faith, didn't it? And be not moved away from the
gospel. What's that mean? Exactly what
you think it means. Abide in that. Stay. Continue. Dwell. The word abide means to
dwell. It means to live with. It means
to commune with. It means those who are truly
married, those who are truly married, truly married in love.
You dwell together, don't you? You abide together. You abide
with one another. You're in love. In life. Joy. Sorrow. Pain. Suffering. Everything. Together in it. You abide. You're
in the same house together. You're not married if you don't
come home. Are you? You're married? Yeah, but he hasn't been there
in six months. You're in name only, on paper. Abide in me. What's that mean? Exactly what he's saying. Where
is Christ? Where does He dwell? The Lord
loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
He's in His garden. That's where you'll find Him.
Oh, forsake not the assembly of yourselves together as the
manner of some is. And so much more as you see the
day approach. Exhort one another. You know, in a house, two love
one another, live in a house together, don't they? Oh, how
I love Psalm 84. Oh, I love, love, love it. How
lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. My soul longeth, yea,
even fainteth for the courts of the Lord. He says, blessed
are they that dwell in thy house. David said, I just want to stay
here forever. Didn't he? It's my heart's desire. One thing of my desire is, Lord,
that's what I'm going to do. Dwell in the house of the Lord
forever until they have to drag my dead body and put it in a
box down front. And many we've done just that. They'd be in the pew and the
next Sunday they'd be in a box. No, be in glory. Let that be
me. Abide. Abide. Let every man wherein he's called
abide in that same calling. You know, to be a member of the
body is a calling just like to be the pastor. Yes, it is. God called me here and I don't
intend to go anywhere else. I said years ago, I'm not, you
know, I'm not, Lord willing, I'm not going to leave Mindy
for a bigger wife. And I'm not going to leave you
for a bigger church. I love you. We dwell together. And we all hang around after
service. Why? We loathe to leave. We don't
want to leave. Someday we're not going to. Someday. We're going to dwell together.
We're going to abide forever. No possibility of us leaving. Abide. If you abide in Me. And down in verse 7 and 8, He
says, If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, Do you
love what you've heard tonight? That's the Word written on the
tables of our heart. And you'll ask what you will,
and it shall be done unto you. What do you will? What is it
that you will have the Lord do for you? Let's ask Bartimaeus. I want to see. Let's ask the
leper. I want to be clean. Let's ask
that fellow that came and said, where do you dwell? Come and
see. Ask what you will. You see, the
Lord, when He does His work in God's people's heart, He makes
them willing in the day of His power. It's God that worketh
in us with the will and do of His good pleasure. And what we
say is like your dad says, every time he prayed, every time John
Caesar prayed, he said, not our will, but Thy will. Let this
be according to Thy will. Isn't that our heart's desire?
You know, he'll do it. He'll do it. If you ask that
way. And verse 8, he says, Here it
is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, so ye shall
be my disciples. Let me give you, just run over
real quick to verse 16. Let me give you some hope, okay? I hope I've already given you
plenty. But verse 16, he says, You have not chosen me, I have
chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth
fruit and that your fruit remain. That's my hope. That's my hope
in Him. I'm kept by the power. If I belong
to Him, I will bear fruit. And He'll purge me, and I'll
bear more fruit for the glory. That's what I want. Oh, you want
to glorify your Lord, don't you? We really do. The root of the
matter's in you, if that's the case. Okay, stand with me.