Come back to John 15, abiding in Christ and keeping
His commandments. That's what He's teaching His
disciples. He's not speaking to the multitude. He's speaking to His disciples,
those whom He knows. loves him, believes on him. Peter said, Lord, you know I
love you. He knows that. And that's who
he's speaking to. And that's who he's speaking
to this morning. The Lord's still speaking. He's
still speaking. And he gives us here in these
few verses something of our responsibility. Our responsibility in communion
with Him. We have a responsibility to commune
with the Lord Jesus Christ. We have that. In every relationship, there
are at least two parties. You can't have a relationship.
There are at least two parties, and it's a two-way street. And
here we have Christ, our Redeemer. Our Lord, our husband, our head,
who is saying to his people, to his body, to his spouse, commune
with me. Commune with me. Keep it up. We also have given to us here,
in just this short few verses, the secret to having power with
God in prayer. He gives it to us so clearly,
so clearly. Everyone wants power with God
in prayer. I assure you, everyone here,
and you can go to any other congregation and you can ask, would you want power with God in prayer like
Jacob did, like Jacob had? And everyone, everyone to the
person would say yes, would say yes. But not everyone wants,
desires a close communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. You know,
we want what we want. It's like kids, you know, I want
this, I want that. And they want mom and dad to
just get it. Cole has become a master at this. He's taken
down the fishing catalogue I have from Cabela's yesterday, sat
on my lap. He said, Paul, Paul, buy this.
He said, buy this one. Then he turned and said, buy
this one. That's the kind of power people want with God in
prayer. That's what, you know, that's
basically the imagination that they have. That's what they want.
But they don't want that communion, that fellowship, That love, that
connection that's between Christ and His people, that's between
the vine and the branch. I could not get this off my mind
this past week after I looked at it last week. I thought, my,
I felt like I fell so far short of it. After going, reading it
and bringing the message, I thought, my soul, this is it. Abiding,
abiding, staying in Him. A close communion with Christ
ensures true power in prayer. It ensures it. He tells us that. I know many ask in time of trouble. Many ask amiss, James says, to
consume it upon the lust of the flesh. But those who abide, they
abide in Christ. He said you can ask what you
will. And it shall be done unto you. It shall be. That's a promise. Now, that is a promise. Our Lord
never speaks vain words. He often speaks more than I can
comprehend. More than I understand, but I
tell you this, he never speaks less than I understand. He never
speaks less, and he said that those who abide in him, they
can ask what they will. And it will be done. Listen to
this scripture in Psalm 37, verse 4. Delight thyself also in the
Lord. Delight in Him. You delight in
His company. You delight in His presence.
You delight in His people. You delight in His Word. Delight
in Him. And He shall give thee the desires
of thine heart. That's the promise. That's a
promise. He said, delight thyself in him.
And the more we abide in him, commune with him, the more we
will feel the necessity to pray unto him. We will find ourselves
often, often in prayer the more we abide, commune with him. The closer one is to Christ,
the more that one sees his or her need of the Lord Jesus Christ. We sing that song, I need thee
every hour. We're the only person who can
truly sing that song. I think most of the time we sing
above our experience. I honestly do. I think we do. But the person who can really
sing that song is the one who is abiding in Him. He said, listen, and abiding
in Him gives us liberty in prayer. Ask what you will. Ask what you
will. Abiding in Him and His words
abiding in us not only keeps us aware of our need of Him,
but also makes us wise and alert to the subtleties of Satan. and
the deceitfulness of the old heart. Abiding in him. Now he says in verse 7, if ye
abide in me, he's speaking to those whose faith is in him,
whose confidence is in him, whose hope is in him. That's who he's
speaking to. And this is, listen, this is
a place of safety. This is also a place of safety,
abiding in Him. When God flooded this world,
where was their safety at? In the ark. Staying in that ark, abiding
in that ark. When God went through the land
of Egypt and killed the firstborn, where was their safety? In the
house. where the blood was shed and
put over the doorpost. If a man killed another man,
if he did it accidentally, where was there any safety for that
man? In the city of refuge. Staying in the city of refuge.
Staying in that ark, staying in that house where the blood
was. If you abide in me, he says, and my words My words abide in
you. My words guide you. What guides
you? Something. I'm telling you the
truth. Something guides every one of us. We are guided by something. Something or someone. And here
our Lord says to His disciples, My words guide you. They regulate
your walk. And He's showing us here how
this union is maintained is if my words abide in you. It is through His Word, this
written Word, that we've learned of Christ. I didn't learn of
Christ walking through the woods. I learned of Christ one day when
I sat down and I heard a man sent of God preach the gospel.
And he took the Word of God and preached Christ, just like Philip
did that eunuch. He preached Christ unto him. And His Word is where we learn
of Him, and it's where we learn from Him. We have to learn from
Him. And it's in the Word that we
receive and embrace Him. We cannot embrace Christ or receive
Christ apart from this Word, apart from His words. If my words
abide in you, they will guide you, instruct
you, and teach you. You know, some of you are teachers. Wouldn't it be something if you
could take the lesson Take the instruction and put it into the
heart of that student that you're trying to instruct. They come
back, I mean, I know I went to school, I came back and I forgot
what I heard. Because it wasn't in here, it
was up, it went through my ears, went through one ear and out
another. But here, here, he's saying if
my words My instructions, my command, if they abide, if they
are in you, if they are truly in you, they'll guide you, they'll
regulate your walk, your talk, your conduct. You'll be controlled
by it. Controlled by it. Because I tell
you what, He's not giving us here a history lesson, He's giving
us life lessons. And He's putting it in the heart
of His disciples. And He does it by His Word. Now you shall
ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. Listen to me. Power in prayer depends upon
union with Christ and obedience to His will. There's the secret
to it. There it is. Herein, he says, is my Father
glorified, that ye bear much fruit. So shall you be my disciples. Here is my Father honored. It
is the honor of the husbandman to have good, strong vines loaded,
loaded with plenty of fruit. You know, man plants a vineyard. And if you drive by that vineyard
and you see that vineyard and it's hanging with fruit, just
hanging with fruit. Well, that fruit is to the glory,
is to the honor of that husbandman who owns that vineyard. Who's
worked that vineyard. And what he's saying here, it
is an honor to the Father to have children walking in love. Bearing the fruit of the Spirit.
It's an honor. To him, it's an honor to his
name. It's to his glory that his children bear much fruit,
much kindness, much love, much joy, much patience, much faith. It's an honor to have a father.
And he says, so shall you be my disciples. It's the evidence.
Discipleship is evidenced by fruit bearing. Fruit of the spirit. Love, joy, peace. long-suffering
kindness. Our discipleship is evidenced
by the fruit that we bear. Just as an apple tree is evidenced
by the fruit it bears. Now, he says in verse 9, As the
Father hath loved me, well, who can put an estimation on that?
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. You know,
nine times In these short, from 7 to 16, nine times the word
love is mentioned. He mentions it nine times. As
the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye
in my love. The Father loves the Son without
beginning. He's loved us with an everlasting
love in Christ. I've loved my wife for Thirty-four
years? Somewhere around there? See? It's somewhere around there. But God has loved us with an
everlasting love. We cannot look back and say,
a million years ago. Somewhere around there. No, He's loved us with everlasting
love. The Father loves the Son and
all those who are in the Son without beginning. And without
change, our love changes. I love it. Like the weather,
it changes. And he loves the sun without
measure. And he loves his son without end. That's the way he
loves his children. That's the way he loves those
in Christ. This is the highest, Spurgeon said this, this is the
highest love that anyone can conceive of. As the Father hath
loved me, so have I loved you." Can't conceive of it. Not with
these brains. Everything that our Lord did,
everything that He endured, He did out of love to His Father
and to those whom the Father gave Him. Now He says, continue in that
love. You know, over in Colossians, I believe it's chapter one, it
says, continue, continue in the faith, continue in the gospel,
be not moved away from it. Continue in it. Some responsibility
laid there. Continue in my love. Live. Strive to live in the sense of
it. Yesterday, like today, is a beautiful
day. Beautiful day. When I got out
of the car coming out here in the parking lot, I said to Cecil,
I said, oh, what a beautiful day. Just feeling the warmth
of that sun, just shining down, beaming down. And I think he's
saying something like this, like standing in the rays of the sun
and soaking up the warmth of it. Stand in the rays of his
love and feel the warmth of it. Strive to get and to stay, keep
a sense of His love. So have I loved you. We have a responsibility. I'm
not talking about trying to do something here that makes me
accepted of God. That's Christ. He made us accepted
in the Beloved. But strive to stay in the real
living sense of His love for us. And we have a responsibility
to continue in His love. Strive to know it and feel its
power. He says in verse 10, if you keep
my commandments. Don't be afraid of this. Don't
be afraid of this. He's not talking about salvation.
I'm not talking about the salvation of my soul, keeping a commandment
or commandments for the salvation of my soul. If you keep my commandments... You know, David said over in
the Psalms, I love thy law. I love thy law. There's nothing
wrong with God's law. There's nothing wrong with all
of His commandments. These are His commandments. We
love them. We love them because they're His. We love the one
who gave them. It is impossible to retain a
sense of God's love, of Christ's love for us, without continuing
in the obedience of faith. It's impossible. Can't do it. If you keep my commandments,
you shall abide in my love. See? Speaking here of the obedience
of faith. If you walk in obedience to my
commandments and my teachings, as I have the Father's, you will
live in the sweet sense of my love. You will. Even, he says, as I
have kept my Father's commandments and abide, live in the sweet
sense of his love for me. causes us to lose the sense of
His love and joy. David said this in Psalm
51, Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. I've lost it. That's what he's saying. I've
lost it. Saying to my soul in another place, he's saying to
my soul, I am thy salvation. We can truly lose the joy of
salvation. We can truly lose the sense,
the real sense of His love to us by going a different way. What did He say to the church
at Ephesus? You left your first love. Return. Return. These things, He said, have I
spoken unto you. All that our Lord spoke was meant
to promote joy. in His people, in His people. Sometimes it's a word of warning.
Sometimes it is a word of encouragement, a word of exhortation. But all
that He speaks is to fulfill His joy in us, is to bring us
to that point where where He says that my joy may remain in
you, and not just remain in you, but that it might be full, running
over. Do you find that so? Well, He tells
us how. He tells us how to maintain it.
Abiding in Him and walking in obedience. There are many things
that happens in this life that destroys can destroy our joy. But if we walk after Him, if
we follow after Him and seek, I mean seek to do His will, not
only will His joy remain, He says it will run over. That's
a promise. It will run over. Now He gives us in the next verse,
Love's Law. This is my commandment. This
is the first one He starts. This is my commandment. If this
is not so, as Paul said, you're just a sounding brass and tinkling
cymbal. If love is absent, then we're just sounding brass and
tinkling cymbals in here. This is my commandment. Here
is love's law. He's been saying, keep my commandments,
and now he gives the essence. He gives the essence of his commandments
in one sentence. Our Lord knew how to say it simple,
didn't he? He knew how to say these things
simply. That you love one another as
I have loved you. That you love one another as
I have loved you. Spurgeon said, here is love's
law, here is the diamond rule. That you love one another as
I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than
this. Here's love's model. Love's law is that you love one
another as I have loved you. Here's love's model. Greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends. This is the ultimate expression. This is the ultimate model of
love. laying down your life for a friend,
for a friend. Let me give you an example of
something I read this week. There was a king named Cyrus,
not the one in the Scriptures, but there was a king named Cyrus,
and he made war on the king of Armenia. And he took that old
king, and he took his wife, and he took his children, and he
took his son Tigranus, He took him and he took his wife and
took them into captivity. Then he spoke to the old king
of Armenia and he said, what will you give in ransom to have
your wife again, to have her back again? And that king said,
I'll give all that I have to have her back again. And then
he said, how much will you give to enjoy your children again?
And he said, all that I can produce I will give for my children again,
to have them back again. And by reckoning thus, said Cyrus,
you prize these at twice as much as you possess. Then turning to Tigranus, his
son, he said, how much will you give as a ransom for your wife? They were newlyweds. They hadn't
been married very long. He said, how much will you give
for your wife? And he said, I will indeed, O
Cyrus, ransom her with my life. He said, I'll ransom her with
my life that she may be no longer in thralldom. The old king said,
I'll give all I possess and all that I can produce. But his son
said, I'll die for her. I'll die for her. Greater love
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. He gives it up. Giving one's
life is the ultimate expression of love. And that's what our
Lord did. That's what he did. And then
he says to them, and how sweet is this, you are my friends. I'm giving my life for you. He are my friends. If you do
whatsoever I command you, here is love's life and love's reward. Obedience to Christ leads to
a sense of the love of Christ. And you'll have a greater sense
of it as you walk through this life in obedience to faith, to
Him. I tell you, this ought to cause
This ought to cause great joy in our souls to hear him call
us friends. You're my friend. The God of
heaven and earth calling worms friends. Enemies, those who were once
enemies, friends. It ought to bring real joy to
our soul. The other day I was over at the
YMCA. Cole was in the ballroom. He
was the only one in there playing around, and there was a person
in there watching him, this lady. And I walked in, and he was playing
those balls that got in there, and I looked at her, and I pointed
at him, and I said, that's the best friend, that's my best friend
in the whole world. He was grinning from ear to ear.
I mean, he just, and he was trying not to, but he couldn't keep
from it. I said, that's my best friend
in all the world. And he just grinned. And I thought
of that this morning. You are my friends. We ought
to be grinning from ear to ear, just bursting at the seams that
he would call us friends. And that's who he died for. That's
who he died for. Henceforth, I call you not servants,
though we are. We are. For the servant knoweth
not what his Lord doeth. But I have called you friends.
Friends. You know, I had friends in school. But I had one friend, he and
I were like this. And he and I told each other,
I pretty much imagined everything. We told each other everything. And he said, I have called you
friends for all things that I have heard of my father. I've told
you. I've told you. I've revealed
to you. We are made His companions. We are allowed to sit at His
table because you are my friends. And there are no secrets between
us. He has told us everything. He
tells us all that's in His heart. I tell you what, this is love.
This is love. Love is that which lifts poor
worms out of the dust and makes them friends of the Prince of
Glory. You are my friends. That has
such a sweet sound to it. You are my friends. Now listen. He says in verse 16, and I'll
close. You have not chosen me, but I've chosen you. I chose
you and I have ordained you, I've planted you that you should
go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain.
That whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he
may give it to you. I'm going to close by reading
what Spurgeon, Charles Spurgeon had to say on this verse. The
great first cause of our salvation is not our choice of the Lord
Jesus Christ, but His choice of us. He chose us. The election of His people is
with Him. He takes the first step towards
us. He has, however, chosen us not to be idlers, but fruit bearers,
not to be occasional workers, but persevering laborers. He
has also chosen us to be men of prayer, and He would not have
us formal worshippers, but prevalent pleaders. I thought this was
good. Have the objects of the Lord's
choice been realized in us? How can we know our election
except by fruits of holiness and answers to prayer? I thought that was good.