All right, let's turn our attention
to the Book of John, the Gospel of John. Jim read from 1 John,
but we're going to look at the Gospel of John and then refer
to 1 John. John chapter 15. John chapter 15. I'm continuing
on this subject entitled, Separated In and Unto Christ. separated in and unto Christ. And what I'm doing here, if you'll
look at verse 18 of 1 John 15, we've been talking about our
spiritual warfare, the believer's warfare, that specific warfare
that the believer has as he stands in opposition to the world, the
flesh, and the devil. And Christ tells his disciples
something about that in verse 18. He says, if the world hate
you, if the world hate you, now what is the world there? That's
what we have to make sure we understand what the world is. Well, he's talking about the
world in any capacity, whether it's politics, economics, and
I underscore this because this is what man doesn't see by nature,
even the world in its religion. that stands in opposition to
Christ and His church and the gospel of God's free and sovereign
grace in Christ and the truth of God. Any aspect of the world,
any institution of the world, any gathering of the world, this
earth, we're talking about people here, we're not talking about
dirt and trees and all that. Any aspect of this world, that
stands in opposition to Christ and that great salvation that
he accomplished on Calvary's cross to save his people, his
sheep, his church from our sins. That's what he's talking about.
He says, if the world hate you, and that hatred is natural to
the world against Christians. He said, if the world hates you,
you know that it hated me before it hated you. We follow Christ.
Our Savior is Christ. Our Lord is Christ. Our life
is Christ. Therefore, if the world hated
him, it's gonna hate us. He says in verse 19, if you were
of the world, if you were in partnership, in fellowship, in
communion with the world in its opposition, well, the world would
love his own. You'd be accepted of the world. But because you're not of the
world. Now, you remember Christ told his disciples one time,
you're in the world, but you're not of the world. Many times
in the book of Revelation and sometimes in the Old Testament,
you'll hear the Bible talk about those who are in the world, of
the world, sometimes literally earth dwellers. And what it's
talking about, people, listen, it's not saying that if you're
a believer, you're not living in this geographical location
and your feet are 10 feet off the ground, as some think they
are. What it means is this, you're not tied to this world. This
world is not your God. This world is not your home,
your pilgrims, like Abraham. He was a pilgrim. He's just traveling
through. This world is just a passing time for us. We're headed towards
glory, a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
And that's not just pie-in-the-sky religion either. That's reality.
And we know that because of the testimony of our Lord who died,
was buried, and arose from the dead. And that's been historically
proven. Don't ever fool yourself to think
it's not. There's more testimony to the resurrection of Christ
than there are that George Washington was the first president of the
United States, historically. That's right. But he arose from
the dead. And it says here, because you're
not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
That's sovereign electing grace. God chose his people before the
foundation of the world. And he says, therefore the world
hateth you. My point is, I've gone back into
John 15, even beginning of verse 1 there, because I want us to
understand if we're going to fight this warfare with the world,
the flesh, and the devil, first of all, we've got to recognize
what those are, but we've got to know what distinguishes true
believers from the world. What distinguishes us from the
world? And it's not what most people think it is. And I won't
go into all that. I mentioned some of it last time.
But here's what it is. That's why I entitled this Separated
In and Unto Christ. Separated in Christ. We're separated
from the world in Christ. And that's our union with Christ
by the grace of God. It's electing grace. God chose
us out of the world, the scripture says. I know people don't like
to hear that a lot, but that's what it says. That's what the
Bible teaches. And I can show you scripture
upon scripture. Salvation is not by the will
of man, it's by the will of God. And then we're in Christ by representation. He's our representative. You
know something about representatives? Whether you think they're good
representatives or bad representatives, you're going to vote for a representative. And a lot of people say, well,
we don't have any good candidates. That doesn't matter. You're still
going to vote, or most of you will. I hope you do. Civic duty
and all that. But Christ is the representative
of his people. He doesn't represent the whole
world. He represents a people. He said that. In his high priestly
prayer in John 17, just two chapters over, he said, I don't pray for
the world, I pray for my sheep, my disciples, his church. His death was for his people.
Isn't that right? He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. And those sheep, I must bring
them in. That's what the Bible teaches. It was a union of substitution. He not only represented his people
before God, but he actually took our place under the just wrath
of God for our sins charged, accounted, imputed to him. That's
what it means in 2 Corinthians 5.21, it says he was made sin.
Christ, the just, died for the unjust. Christ was made a curse
for us. God, in His love and mercy and
grace is going to save a people, but He cannot save even one of
them without His holiness, His justice, His law, His truth,
His righteousness being honored. He must be a just God and a Savior. He must be a righteous judge
who does that which is right and holy and good, as well as
a loving, merciful, gracious Heavenly Father. He's gotta be
both. And the only way he can be both
is upon the ground of the blood and the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He can't do it any other way.
That's the one way. I've heard preachers say, well,
he could have done it another way. Oh no, if he could have
done it any other way, he would have done it another way. Christ
said, I am the way, John chapter 14. I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. So it's a union of substitution.
Christ took my sins and He gave me His righteousness. So we're
separated in Christ. And then we're separated unto
Christ. Now what's that talking about?
Well, that's talking about our living union with Christ. That's
talking about the life that we live as born-again children of
God, as believers in Christ, as those who've been regenerated,
converted, brought to faith in Christ. brought to repentance. Our lives are to be lived for
the glory of God in Christ, not for self, not for the world,
but we're to live unto Him. And that's what he's talking
about in John chapter 15. He says in verse 1, I am the true
vine and my Father is the husband. See, this thing of the church,
this thing of salvation, this thing of the people of God, This
thing of the community of believers. He likens it to a garden here.
And God the Father is the husbandman. He's the owner of the field and
the garden. And Christ is the vine that's
planted. He was planted, and he uses that
analogy in John 12 when he talks about a seed of wheat falling
into the ground and dying and brings forth much fruit. His
death brought forth much fruit. There's life in Christ. It's
spiritual life and eternal life. You have physical life now. I
have physical life, but that's not going to last. You believe
that, don't you? Just go out and look at the graveyards.
Well, we don't have to talk much about that. You know you're going
to die. Somebody says, well, what if I'm alive when Christ
comes back again? Well, you're still gonna be changed
in the twinkling of an eye, and that's the equivalent of death,
my friend. You're not gonna exist in eternity in these old vile
bodies. I hope you don't think that. But we'll be given a new
body, a spiritual body, and I don't know a whole lot about that spiritual
body. I can't tell you much about it, but I know it's so. We have
an example of it in Christ after the resurrection. But here's
the thing about it. You have physical life, but that's
not gonna last. So what are we after? We're after
spiritual life. What is spiritual life? It's
not something running around inside my body. It has to do
with the life of Christ within us. He's the true vine, he says.
And then he says in verse two, every branch in me that beareth
not fruit, he taketh away. That is, he lifts up, literally.
He's talking about his people. You see, the death of Christ
resulted in life, spiritual, eternal life. And what he's saying,
everyone who's in him for whom he died, they're going to have
life. He's going to lift them up. And he says, in every branch
that beareth fruit, he purgeth it. Now those who are regenerated,
converted, born again, They're gonna bear fruit. Every believer
in Christ is gonna bear fruit. Everyone who's in Christ is gonna
bear fruit. What is that fruit? Well, it's
the fruit of faith, the fruit of repentance, the fruit of love,
the fruit of obedience, motivated by grace. It's the fruit of the
Spirit in Galatians chapter five. Later on, I'm gonna preach on
that chapter. The fruit of the Spirit. All of that, it's all
one. And it comes by the Holy Spirit
as he gives life from Christ. And that's what he's talking
about. The source of our life is Christ. It's not in ourselves. Salvation is not based upon a
spark of good that some preacher in a revival meeting fans by flapping his tongue. It's life from Christ. The Bible
says in Romans chapter 8, and I'll just read this to you in
verse 10, He says, and if Christ be in you, that's what he's talking
about here in John 15. He said, abide in me, in verse
four, look at that in John 15, four. Abide in me, that means
to continue looking to Christ. Believe in him. Don't stop believing
in him. Now we have to fight doubts,
don't we? I know we all do, if we're honest. That's what Hebrews
12 is about, that sin that so easily besets us. It's those
doubts and fears that would make us quit and faint. And he says, but you run the
race of grace looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of your
faith. And he says, abide in me and I in you. The only reason,
now let me tell you something. Here's what this is teaching.
When we talk about being separated in Christ, our salvation is totally
by the grace, the sovereign grace of God in Christ. But, or let's
say instead of but, let's say and. Our life as believers is
totally by the sovereign grace of God in Christ. It's not by
our own power or our own goodness. You see, Christ on the cross
didn't just give us a jumpstart. He fulfilled it all. He's my
wisdom. He's my righteousness. He's my
holiness. He's my redemption. The redemption
there that I believe Paul's talking about in 1 Corinthians 30 is
the redemption of our bodies in the end. But he paid the redemption
price on Calvary's tree. He paid it in full. Jesus paid
it all. All the debt I owe, or all to
him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain.
He washed it white as snow. That means not... When the hymn
writer says he washed it white as snow, he's taking an analogy
from Isaiah chapter 1 verse 18, where he talks about though your
sins be scarlet, they'll be white as snow. Though they be red like
crimson, they'll be as wool. And when he says white as snow,
what he means is there's not one spot left. Not one spot. That means simply what we've
talked about before, that God, when I stand before God in Christ,
God sees no sin in me. His books of accusation and my
sin, they're wiped completely clean by the blood of Christ.
He didn't say Christ did his part, now you do yours. And when
Christ speaks of himself as divine here, that's not what he's saying.
He's not saying, well, I've done my part, now you do yours. Now, we have
a responsibility to believe and obey. And we're to make conscious
efforts in that. You made a conscious effort to
come and worship God this morning in the assembly of the saints.
to hear the Word of God preached. You did that. And we have a tough
time in our little old puny minds of reconciling the absolute sovereignty
of God with those responsibilities that we have. We have a tough
time there, I know it. But don't let that get you down. God is
sovereign. You wouldn't be here if he hadn't
determined you'd be here. And yet you made a conscious
effort to be here. Now you go home and figure that
out, and when you got it figured out, come and talk to me. But
you can't figure it out, you see, that's the issue. We're
just to bow to God's sovereignty. Thank you, Lord, that I'm here. I'm not gonna thank you that
you're here. I know preachers do that. Brother Mahan, when
I first started hearing him preach, he liked to bowl me over with
several statements, you know, stuff like that. You know, I
was used to going to churches where they just made over, you
know, you walk in, I mean, might as well lay out the red carpet,
oh, thank you, thank you, thank you for being, no, thank God
I'm here. That's really what it is, isn't
it? Thank God I'm here. Lord, thank you that you gave
me a heart to be here to worship you. Because by nature, I don't
have that kind of heart. I don't have that kind of will.
I'd rather lay in bed and sleep an extra hour or two. But thank
you, Lord, that you showed me my need to feast upon Christ,
the bread of life, and drink from the fountain of life, and
to hear your word. This is what I need. It has nothing
to do with how I feel on Sunday morning. Because I mean, shock,
shock, I don't feel like being here every Sunday morning. You don't either. I mean, don't
lie. But I know I need to be here.
And I do have a desire to be here. But that desire is born
of that need, not a feeling. You see what I'm saying? The
desire to be here is born of my need to feed upon the word
of God, to hear Christ preach. It's not born of how I feel that
morning. Because my feelings come and go and they change.
Sometimes I feel good, sometimes I feel bad. But here's the point,
the life is in the vine. It's not in me, it's in the vine.
It's put in me by the Holy Spirit in my mind, my affections, and
my will. But he says in verse 4, Abide in me and I in you.
You see? Now in Romans chapter 8 verse
10 it says, And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because
of sin. This physical body is still going
to die because of sin. You're still going to get old
and sick. All of those things that we go
through and that's because of sin. But listen to what he says
in verse 10. He says, But the Spirit is life. The Holy Spirit gives life because
of righteousness. Now whose righteousness is he
talking about there, that the Spirit gives life from? Is it
my righteousness or your? No, sir. We've all sinned and
come short of the glory of God. Only thing we've got, we can
earn and gain is death. That's right. But because of
Christ's righteousness, what is it? That's the entire obedience
unto death that he accomplished on Calvary. Because of his death,
his blood, The Spirit gives life to a dead sinner, raises us from
the dead. And so, when you look at things
like this, John 15, ask yourself this question, why does the world
hate Christians? And you understand that really
the world doesn't even recognize what a Christian is. They think
they know. Well, it's because, it's not
just because we are Christians, and it's not because we spoil
all their fun. That's not why they hate us.
They might get annoyed at you, I don't know, but they don't
hate you because of that. It's because the world is guilty
in sin, but we're justified in Christ. It's because the world
is spiritually dead, but we're spiritually alive by the Spirit
of God in Christ. It's because the world is cursed.
But we're blessed in Christ. Remember Paul said, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world
cursed. The world's cursed. Listen, even in its religion
the world is cursed. Because any religion other than
the religion of God's grace in Christ is a curse. Even in their
prosperity, they're cursed. The Bible says that the man without
Christ, the person who doesn't know God through Christ, he's
cursed when he sits down, he's cursed when he stands up, he's
cursed when he eats, he's cursed when he works, he's just living
in a state of cursedness. Because the only way that curse
can be removed is Christ on that cross, who became a curse for
his people. The world brings forth fruit
unto death. We bring forth fruit unto God.
Now, one of the things you need to understand about this that
separates us from the world is we don't produce fruit. We don't
produce fruit. We bear fruit. The life of the fruit, just like
an apple tree that bears those apples, that life doesn't come
from the branch, it comes from the root. That grapevine. The grapes, the life comes from
the vine. Well, our life comes from Christ. Look at verse 8
of John 15. He says, herein is my Father
glorified that you bear much fruit, so shall you be my disciples. What's he talking about literally?
He's saying, you bear much fruit, that proves you. to be my disciples."
In other words, it's not your fruit-bearing that makes you
disciples. What fruit? The fruit of faith, I believe
in Christ, the fruit of repentance, the fruit of love, the fruit
of obedience motivated by grace and gratitude, the fruit of the
Spirit, all that's listed there, faithfulness, all of that, kindness. And I'll tell you, we have to
cultivate that fruit. We have a responsibility to water
that fruit with the Word of God. That's why we're here this morning,
with prayer, all of those things. but the life comes from the vine.
The life comes from the vine and we bear much fruit and what
does that do? That doesn't make us disciples, that proves us
to be disciples. Turn over to John chapter eight
with me, just back a few pages. The Lord in his earthly ministry,
he preached that gospel, pointed sinners to himself. And it says
in verse 30, it says, and he spake these words, many believed
on him. Now the context shows us that
what he's talking about is that many claimed to believe on him. They made a claim of knowing,
loving, following, believing in Christ. You hear this morning,
you claim, you have a claim, I have a claim that I believe
Christ. I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is all my salvation. He's all my hope. Now, what proves
my claim to be true? That's the issue here. You know,
there are people who claim that, but then it's a false claim.
The Scripture speaks of that. You can read about it in Matthew
chapter 7, beginning at verse 21, where he says, Many will
say unto me, Lord, Lord, haven't we preached in your name? Haven't
we done many wonderful works? Haven't we cast out demons? They
claimed to be followers, disciples, believers in Christ, but it was
a false claim. Well, here's what he says in
verse 31 of John 8. He says, Then said Jesus to those
Jews which believed on him, If you continue in my word, then
are you my disciples indeed. Now, let me tell you what men
do with that, what the world does with it in its religion.
It says, well, see there, that means that you can be saved and
then lost again. Because if you don't continue,
then you're gonna lose your salvation. That's not what this teaches.
First of all, that would deny and ignore a multitude of other
scriptures. Plain scriptures that show plainly
that those who are saved will continue in the grace of God
without fail. And he says, doesn't it say,
if you continue? Yes, it does. But as I explained
the other day, this is not a conditional if, it's an evidential if, this
is evidence. And here's what Christ is saying.
If you continue in my word, then you'll prove to be my disciples.
That's what he's saying. You'll prove to be my disciples. This is the proof of it. You
continue in his word. We'll look at verse three, and
he says, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make
you free. What is that truth? It's the truth of Christ and
Him crucified. Turn back to John 15. If you
continue, and that's what he's saying here in verse seven, look
here. John 15, if you abide in me and
my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall
be done unto you. That's prayer, yes it is. Now
is that teaching? Well, if you abide in Him and
His word abides in you, you can get anything you want? No, that's
not what that's saying at all. There are keys to prayer. What
is the key to prayer? Well, number one key is praying
unto the Father through the Son, through the Lord Jesus Christ,
the prayer of faith, the prayer of a sinner seeking mercy. We have a great high priest,
Christ, and we pray unto the Father upon the basis of the
blood and righteousness of Christ, what he accomplished on Calvary.
We don't come to God in prayer expecting anything based upon
our own goodness, because we don't have any. But it's through
Christ, that's the first key. Second key to prayer is what?
Thy will be done. When you think about this passages
like this, you can pray and whatsoever you ask, it shall be done unto
you. Think about it this way. What
he's talking about, here's the key. He says, if you abide in
me and my words abide in you. What is his word? What he's saying
there is whatsoever you ask for according to his word will be
done unto you. There are many things we pray
for that we don't know if we're gonna get or not. It might not
be good for us. We're like children who come to their parents and
they ask for something but the parent knows better than the
child because of their age and their wisdom and their knowledge
and they say that wouldn't be good for you. And the Lord's
the same way in that sense. But he says, if you abide in
me and my words in you, whatever you ask according to his word
will be done unto you. In other words, whatever God's
promised, he'll give. And so he says, that's where
the Father is glorified. You bear much fruit. Why? Because
it's to the praise of the glory of his grace. Now look at verse
nine. He says, as the Father hath loved
me, So have I loved you, continue in my love." The love of God
in Christ. I could say a lot about that
love. It's divine love, it's not just human love. It's unconditional
love towards the sinner. The best definition of that,
look at 1 John chapter 4. Unconditional love. towards the
center. Now let me say this. There are, now listen to me,
there are conditions for God's love. But they're not on you and on
me. All the conditions of the love
of God towards his people were placed upon Christ. And that's what it means when
it says, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son. His love for His people required
that He give His only begotten Son. For God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth
on Him should not perish but have everlasting life. You see,
the condition of salvation there is not believing. Did you hear
what the verse said in John 3, 16? We quote it all the time.
For God so loved the world. What world is he talking about?
He's talking about his people all over the world. He's talking
about it's not just the Jews, but God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. But it says, he so loved that
he, what? He gave his only begotten son. There's the condition. If he
hadn't, listen, if God had not given his only begotten son,
it wouldn't matter whether you believe or not. Paul said that
in 1 Corinthians 15, he said, if Christ be not risen, then
our faith is what? What'd he say? Is in vain. You
can believe till the heavens are high and it wouldn't do you
any good if God had not given His only begotten. The condition
is not my believing. In fact, my believing is the
fruit of the condition being met by Christ on the cross. He
said, if I be lifted up, I'll draw all unto me, all his people,
all for whom he died. So what is the condition? We'll
look at 1 John chapter four in verse, let's look at verse six. When in verse five he talks about
the distinction that we're studying here, they are of the world,
talking about those who are unbelievers. Therefore speak they of the world
and the world heareth them. I'll tell you what one old preacher
said, you preach salvation by the works of man, conditioned
on man, you'll get a world of people to hear you. And you will. He says, we are of God. He that
knoweth God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth
not us. We preach the gospel of Christ. If you're of God,
you're gonna hear it with spiritual ears. You're gonna love that
message. That's what you feed upon. That's your life. And he says, he says, he that
is not of God heareth not us, hereby know we the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another.
Now this is that divine love that binds us together. It's
not love of feeling. It's not love of personality.
It's not love of the same ball team. It's not love of the same
food. It's not necessary, listen, I
could talk a lot about how we ought to get along, and we should.
Every one of us, we should get along. You know, the biggest
problem with preaching messages on love like that about how we
should all get along is because everybody in here, including
this preacher, thinks of somebody else other than himself. What
they should be doing for me. That's our problem, isn't it?
Yes, we should get along. But that's not this love that
binds us together. If we aren't getting along, binds
us together, there's going to be a time when we're going to
split apart. We should be kind to each other, gentle to each
other, considerate of each other, all of those things. That's the
fruit of the Spirit too. All of those things. What we
say, what we do, what we think, all of that, how we act. But
that's not what binds us together. When he says, beloved, let us
love one another, for love is of God, and everyone that loveth
is born of God, who loves this way and knoweth God. Verse eight,
he that loveth not knoweth not God. If you don't have this love,
you don't know God, for God is love. But look at verses nine
and 10. Now listen to this, here's the
definition, here's what binds God's people together in this
divine love, despite all of our differences. despite all of our
misunderstandings, despite all of our lack of consideration
for one another. He says, in this was manifested
the love of God toward us because that God sent his only begotten
son into the world that we might live through him. I may have
the worst personality of the whole bunch here and you may
have the best, but I'm gonna tell you something, our lives
as believers is through the son, period. And that's what binds
us together. That's right. Go on, verse 10. Herein is love. Not that we love
God. God's love towards His people
is not conditioned on their love to Him. We don't love Him by
nature. We don't love Him until He brings
us to see our sin and what we deserve and take sides with God
against ourselves and brings us to Christ. Look at it. Herein
is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent
His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. There it is. You
know, love is based on propitiation. Most people don't even know what
propitiation means. You know what it means? Well,
it means a lot of things, but what it talks about is mercy. Sovereign
mercy. God had mercy on me in Christ. How could I not love Him? You
say, but you don't love Him perfectly. I know that. You don't either. None of us do. But I do love
Him. That's the fruit of the Spirit.
And if you love Him too, then I can say I love you. I may not
like what you do, how you act, how you talk, but I can honestly
say I love you. And that'll keep me with you
because where Christ is preached, all the focus is on Him. It's
not on me, it's not on you. And if you've got your focus
on somebody in this audience, get it off right now and focus
it on Christ. What is that propitiation? It's
satisfaction to God's law and justice. It's related to that
Old Testament mercy seat that covered the Ark of the Covenant,
which hid the broken law. The high priest would come into
the holiest of all with the blood of the Lamb and sprinkle it over
the mercy seat. All picturing how God saved a
rich like me. Amazing grace. That's love. That's what makes your spine
tingle, doesn't it? That's what gives you chill bumps.
That's what binds us together, you see. It's Christ that binds
us together. It's nothing else. I mean, you
know, just like I read that Psalm, it's so good and precious for
brethren to dwell together in unity. But that unity is the
unity that we have as a mutual need and a mutual love for Christ. That's what it is. And all the
other stuff is just icing on the cake, you know. But go back
to John 15. That's what he's talking about.
That's what separates us from the world. You know, you have
so many churches, denominations, church splits. Uncle so-and-so
gets the call and Aunt Susie and all the cousins have to go
with him. They form a church. Has nothing to do with the gospel.
Has nothing to do with the truth. It upsets the unity of the brethren.
Somebody prefers this preacher. Somebody prefers that preacher.
Paul dealt with that in 1 Corinthians 1. Some say, I'm of Peter. Some
say, I'm of Apollos. Some say, I'm of Paul. Some say,
well, I don't follow any man. I follow Christ. And he says,
you're all just acting like a bunch of fleshly children. That's what
he said. Well, you're thinking, you see.
What Christ is saying here is abiding in His Word, you see. And notice he says in verse 10
of John 15, he says, if you keep my commandments, you shall abide
in my love. What do you think about when
you read a verse like that? You know, a lot of people, they
say, keep my commandments, and they automatically think of the
10 commandments. Well, the 10 commandments was
a code of law given to Israel on Mount Sinai. In that form,
under the Old Covenant along with the ceremonial law, the
civil laws and the dietary laws, it was all one law. The Ten Commandments
was not given as a way of salvation. It was a way to show people that
you're guilty and you deserve death. I was listening to a message
by Brother Tim James on that and he said, people want to put
the Ten Commandments on the wall. He said, just put up, you're
guilty and you're going to die. Read the Scripture, now that's
what the Bible says, wherefore then serveth the law. Well, the
Ten Commandments says there's one God. Shouldn't we worship
just one God? Absolutely. Christ said that
too. That's New Covenant too, you know. The Ten Commandments
says thou shalt not commit adultery. Shouldn't we not commit adultery? Absolutely. The New Covenant
says the same thing. You know, let me tell you something.
Let me hit you on a little secret. Thou shalt not commit adultery
was a law before the Ten Commandments was given. Did you know that?
That's right. Thou shalt not kill. Should we
not kill? Absolutely. That's new covenant
law too. And it was law before the Ten Commandments. The Ten
Commandments was a code that identified that old covenant.
It's been abolished. That doesn't mean the law of
God's been done away with. It just means that code has in
that form for that people. But here's the issue of the law
for any of us, my friend. We're guilty, and we're going
to die. What's our only hope? Christ,
who kept the law. And those for whom He kept that
law, He saves, and He gives life, and they bear fruit, and they
follow His Word, and they keep His commandments. What are His
commandments? Well, He commanded us to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and you shall be saved. That's a commandment. That's
not a suggestion. He commanded his people to repent
of their dead works and their idolatry, for by deeds of law
shall no flesh be justified. Do you know he never commanded
any sinner to try to keep the law in order to be saved? I know
some people go back to Matthew 19, the rich young man, he said,
well, if you would have eternal life, keep the law. He was just
exposing the rich young man's inability to keep the law. That's
what he was doing. He commands us to repent. and
to believe. He commands us to love the brethren.
That's what he's doing here. Love the brethren. Battle the flesh. He commands
his people to follow him in his word. He says, if you keep my
commandments, that's the evidence of being a child of God, you
shall abide in my love. You see, it's following him,
not in order to be saved, but because we already are abiding
in his love, his unconditional love. It's obeying his commandments
out of grace, gratitude, and love. And he says, so have I
loved you, continue in my love. The father's abiding his love.
And then he says in verse 11, these things have I spoken unto
you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might
be full. You know what that joy is? That
joy is the assurance of salvation and eternal life and glory that
comes to a sinner through the obedience unto death of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what that joy is. It's
the assurance of knowing that I'm a child of God and I'm safe
and secure under His blood, clothed in His righteousness, under His
wing, in His protection. That's what that is. It's the
joy of grace. It's the joy of love. It's the
joy of gratitude. Okay.