John's Gospel, chapter 15. My text is in verse 16, but I
want to begin reading in verse 8. The Lord Jesus has just been
speaking of their union with Him, and likened it unto a branch
that's connected to the vine. And then He begins in verse 8
and says this, Herein is My Father glorified, that you bear much
fruit. so shall ye be my disciples,
learners of me, followers of me. As the Father hath loved
me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love, continue in
my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye
shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments,
and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto
you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might
be full. This is my commandment, that
ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath
no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
And ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants,
for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I have called
you friends for all things that I have heard of my Father. I
have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen Me, but I
have chosen you, and ordained you that you should go and bring
forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever
ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it you."
I want to confine my comments in our study this morning to
verse 16. You have not chosen Me. but I
have chosen you." And that may be served for our title this
morning, but I have chosen you. Whether the Bible is speaking
of eternal election in our salvation or election, as it is here, to
apostleship or election to good works in general, that is done
by every believer. In election, the Lord always
takes the initiative. You have not chosen Me, but I
have chosen you. None of these men chose themselves
to be apostles. The Lord Jesus Christ chose them
to be apostles when they knew nothing of even what an apostle
was or what their duty or blessings as an apostle would be. These
men were fishermen. They were tax collectors. They,
for the most part, were ignorant and unlearned men. The Lord chose
them to go preach the gospel. And why did He do that? Because
He was pleased to do it. He chose them. The reason was
not found in them. But He tells them here, I have
chosen you. I have chosen you to be fishers
of men. according to His own good will
and purpose. And note this, He corrects in them any thought
of pride that they might have as being the cause of their being
chosen. Some of them might begin to think,
well, it's because I'm so smart. Well, it's because I'm such a
great preacher. Or it's because I'm so wise or
something else. But the Lord corrects any pride
that might be found in His disciples When he says this, you have not
chosen me to be your master. Now upon this earth, you school
children, your parents may choose your teacher. When you get in
school, you may choose your own professor. Paul chose Gamaliel
to sit under and learn. We do that in our worldly masters,
but it doesn't happen in the heavenly realm that way. No man
chooses the Lord Jesus Christ to be his master. The Lord chooses
you to be his servant. That's what he's saying here.
You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. The Lord Jesus takes
the initiative. And this little word here, but,
it carries great meaning with it. It has two or three meanings
that are scriptural. words that are used in the Scripture.
The first word, if you look it up in Strong's, it says it means,
nevertheless. But, nevertheless. You have not
chosen me, but I have chosen you. Nevertheless. And when you
see it like this in Scripture, sometimes it is used to surprise
us. It is used to surprise us. Let me show you a couple of places
where this word but or nevertheless is used. If you want to hold
John's Gospel, turn with me to Ephesians chapter 2. Look at
Ephesians chapter 2 here in verse 1. Look at this surprise. And I imagine the apostles never
got over the surprise that the Lord chose them when they finally
came to their senses. and began to learn how stupid
they were, and what a great blessing the Lord had called them to,
I imagine they lived in the surprise of, He has called me, of all
people, to be an apostle. And that's what this word is
used for, to surprise us. Nevertheless, you have not chosen
me. Me choosing you, that's the initiative. You choosing me had nothing to
do with it. As a matter of fact, he said,
you have not chosen me. No man by nature chooses Christ
for anything, does he? He takes the initiative. And
when he does, it surprises us. Ephesians of the blessings of
being chosen to salvation. They had been chosen to salvation
before the world ever was. Given to Jesus Christ to save
them. And now he goes on in chapter
2, and unless they begin some way or another to be lifted up
in pride about it all, or thinking they had something to do with
it, now Paul tells them what they were by their very nature.
to let them know they had nothing to do with their election. It
wasn't anything the Lord seen in them, but it was by His own
good pleasure and His own will. So He says this to them in chapter
2, verse 1. You have bequeathed who were
dead in trespasses and sins. And look what He tells them about
them, what a sorry lot they were. Here wherein in time past you
walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience." They loved the devil. They loved
his ways. He influenced them and they loved
to have it so. They didn't complain about it.
And look in verse 3, "...among whom also we all had our conversation
in time past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath." In our minds, we hated God. We were enemies of God,
just like everybody else. Now, there they were. Ain't that
a mess? Ain't that a deplorable condition that they found themselves
in? And look what he says in verse
4, "...but God." Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that surprising? But God,
nevertheless God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love
wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ. By grace ye are saved." See the
surprise of that? Are you surprised this morning
to be a Christian? What is it that made you a Christian?
Is it not this eternal difference between you and the Lord God? But, God, you were born in sin
and living with sin and you loved your sins, but God intervened
and He quickened you and He made you a Christian. Who took the
initiative to do that? He did, didn't He? And don't
it surprise us? Look in here in Psalms chapter
106 and verse 7. Psalms 106, verses 6 and 7. Strong said this
word means nevertheless. But nevertheless. Psalms 106,
verses 7 and 8. Look what he says here. The Lord does this on purpose
just to surprise us. Psalms 106, verses 7 and 8. Our
fathers understood not Thy wonders in Egypt. They were ignorant,
weren't they? They remembered not the multitude
of Thy mercies, but provoked Him at the sea, even at the Red
Sea. Nevertheless, He saved them for
His namesake, that He might make His mighty power to be known. He could have said here, He judged
them. He condemned them. He gave them
what they deserved and had earned. And He damned them. That wouldn't
be a surprise, would it? That's what they deserved. But
here's the surprise. Nevertheless, He saved them. It's no surprise that the Lord
would damn me. That's what I lived in dread
of because I knew that's what I deserved. The surprise was
this. He saved me. But you have not
chosen me, but I have chosen you. And I imagine as these apostles
begin to grow, looking back on their lives, especially after
Pentecost, they'd walk with the Lord Jesus. They began to realize
their gross ignorance and their pride. These men were totally
ignorant of the Lord. Peter didn't even know and understand
the necessity of Christ's dying. He said, Lord, be it far from
you. Don't even think about going
to the cross. And James and John came wanting
to set one on his right hand and one on his left in his kingdom.
how proud and ignorant these men were. And I imagine they
remembered this conversation that they had with the Lord Jesus
when He said, You have not chosen Me, but here is the surprise
of it all. I have chosen you. I have chosen you. But, but,
it wasn't because they chose the Lord. It was because He had
chosen them. Aren't you surprised this morning
to be a Christian? Have you ever gotten over that?
You look around you and you see lost people everywhere. They
were more moral than you were. Most of them were smarter than
you were. Then why did He save you? It
goes back to this, doesn't it? I have chosen you. He took the
initiative. He saved you. When you think
about your sins and your rebellion before and after the Lord saved
you, you remember that He saved you anyway. And it was because
of this, nevertheless, to surprise you. To surprise you. You have
not chosen Me. You being My apostles have nothing
to do with your choice. Nothing to do with your choice. You are apostles wholly because
I have chosen you. Strong said this little word
has another meaning. It's also a Scripture word that
we use in the Scriptures sometimes. It means therefore. Therefore. And sometimes this word in the
Scriptures is used to show a distinction in things. And it sometimes used
to show a distinction between us and God. Is it necessary that
God could never be like us? Is that not your hope? What is
your hope this morning of salvation? Is it not in this that God is
eternally different than you are? If He was like you, you
would not be saved. But you are saved because therefore. Therefore. My thoughts are not
your thoughts. My ways are not your ways. As
the heavens are high above the earth, so are my ways above your
ways, saith the Lord. We are eternally different. Listen
to Hosea chapter 2 and verse 13. This word therefore is used. And look what a distinction it
makes. I will visit upon her, speaking
of his people, Jerusalem. I will visit upon her the days
of Balaam, wherein she burned incense unto them, these dumb
idols. She decked herself with her earrings
and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgot
me, saith the Lord." Now if he was like them, they would be
damned. They'll never be saved. They
forgot Me and went after their lovers. Can you relate to that? All the time you were growing
up in your young years, the Lord feeding you, giving you breath,
upholding you, and yet what did you do? You forgot Him. Everything your parents told
you, everything you read, everything you heard, truth about Him, it
just rolled off of your mind like water rolling off of a dust
bag. You forgot it all. But what happened? Well, listen to this. Therefore,
therefore, she went after her lovers and forgot me. Therefore,
behold, I will allure her. and bring her into the wilderness
and speak comfortably to her." Ain't that amazing? This is what
she's been doing. She's forgot me. She went after
her wretched lovers. She served her idols. I'm going
to bring her out into the desert and speak comfortably to her. I will give her her vineyards
from fence. and the valley of Achor for a
door of hope, and she shall sing there as in the days of her youth,
as in the days when she came up out of the wilderness, saith
the Lord." Why are you saved this morning? Why are you serving
the Lord? Why are you here this morning
worshiping Him? Why do you seek to do good for
His glory? Why? Do you know why? Because the Lord God is eternally
different than you are. That's why. That's why. The fact that the Lord is completely
different and acts different towards us than we do towards
Him. That's why we say, you have not
chosen me. And if I'm going to do you any
eternal good at all, I must not act towards you as you've acted
towards me. I must do different. I must act
different. I must treat you different than
you've treated me. And that's what he does. But
I have chosen you. A distinction between me and
you. Something else about this thing
of choosing. You have not chosen me, but I
have chosen you. His choice of them or anyone
never stands alone. It's never by itself. And by
that I mean this. He always chooses for some reason
to do something or to be something. Listen to 2 Thessalonians 2 verse
13. God hath from the beginning chosen
you. But He doesn't stop there, does
He? To salvation. To salvation. This is Acts 13,
verse 48. As many as were set aside are
ordained to eternally believed. It's not just about choosing. But when He chooses them, He
chooses them to do something with them or to make something
out of them. He chooses them to salvation. He chooses them to life eternal. He predestinates them unto the
adoption of sons. He predestinates them to be conformed
to the image of His Son. And what does our text say? Turn
back over to our text. What did He choose them for?
In chapter 15 of John and verse 16. You have not chosen me, but
I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring
forth fruit. I have chosen you that you should
go and bring forth fruit. Now this is amazing, isn't it? These apostles, they go to Jerusalem. They begin to preach Christ.
Then they go to Samaria, and then they go up to Antioch, and
then they go into the uttermost parts of the world preaching
the gospel. And why? Because Christ chose
them to do it. I've chosen you that you should
go and bring forth fruit. And you know something? When
He chooses a man for something, you know that will come to pass. that will come to pass. We can
put our whole hearts into it because we know that it shall
come to pass. The Lord Jesus tells these apostles
two things here in the 15th chapter. The first one He tells them is
something that humbles them. He puts their mouths in the dust.
He tells them here in verse 4 and 5, look at this, Abide in me
and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except
it abide in the vine, no more can you except you abide in me.
I am the vine, and you the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me you
can do nothing." Boy, how humbling that is. And I take that word
nothing there means this. You can't do anything. You can't
believe on me. You can't repent. You can't follow
me. You can't worship me. You can't
do anything apart from me taking the initiative, working in you.
That's the first thing he tells them. That's humbling, isn't
it? You can't do anything without me. And then he tells them here
in verse 16, I've chosen you that you should go and bring
forth much fruit. He first says, You can't do a
thing without Me. And the second thing He tells
them is, You're sure to succeed and bring forth a lot of fruit,
because I have chosen you to that end. And boy, these apostles
suffered at the hands of this evil world. Fox's Book of Martyrs
tells us that all of them but John was finally killed because
they preached. They wouldn't quit preaching.
They were killed because of it. Why wouldn't they quit preaching?
The Lord had chosen them to do it. And I tell you, when He chose
them to do it, with His choosing came a will to do it, encouragement
to do it, a desire to do it. And when the Lord has purpose
for us to do something or to be something, with that purpose
will come the opportunity. With that purpose will come the
will and the grace and the desire and the power to do it. I have
chosen you to go and bring forth fruit." And boy, that put the
fire in their bones, didn't it? Brother Donnie Bell told me the
other day a profound statement when he told me this. He said,
God's purpose gives us purpose. God's will gives us will. Why
did these men go preach? Knowing they were going to be
beaten. Knowing finally they would be killed. Why did they
do that? The Lord said, I purposed this for you. Long, long before
I called you, I planned this. I purposed this for you. It's
My will. And boy, that got in their hearts.
And that's where they went out and preached. His purpose became
their purpose. His will became their will. And Paul tells us in Ephesians
2.10, we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, listen to this, which God hath ordained that we should
walk in them. God hath before ordained every
good thing that his children will ever do. Why do you worship God in your
private? Why do you worship God in public?
Well, here's the reason. He's ordained for you to do it.
He's chosen you to that end. Why do you walk by faith? Why
do you go on loving others? Why do you go on preaching and
teaching? Because the Lord has chosen you
to. That's why. It's not about you. It's not
about you at all. It's about what He's chosen you
to do. That's it. That's why you do
what you do, dear child of God, because He has chosen you to
it. You have not chosen Him. But He has chosen you and ordained
you that you should go and bring forth fruit. There was a time
when Peter stood and preached Christ, and he knew that when
he did it, it would get him whipped. But he did it anyway. Why? This
was the Lord's purpose for him. This purpose gave him purpose.
The Lord had chosen him and called him and enabled him to do it,
and therefore he Boy, think of this. Isn't this encouraging?
This is so encouraging. All our fruit is from Him. He said in Hosea 14, verse 8,
From Me is thy fruit found. It comes by our union with the
Lord Jesus Christ, and it comes because He has chosen us to it. Think of this. The joy, the peace,
The love and all the fruits of the Holy Spirit, to whatever
degree they are possessed in your heart, is from the Lord. It's of the Lord. Every prayer
that you've ever prayed is from the Lord. You ever find a time
that you have liberty in prayer and you're able to pour your
heart out unto Him? You know something? That came
from Him. And long before you were born, long before you ever
began to pray, He chose you to that end. He chose that specific
prayer. Even David said when he was praying
to the Lord, praising Him that He had chosen him to lay up for
the temple, he said, therefore, I have found it in my heart to
pray. He found it. He didn't put it
there. He found it. And when you're
able to pour your heart out to the Lord in sincere prayer, that's
the fruit. That's the fruit. And it's from
Him. Every thought that is good is
from the Lord. Every desire that self-abases
and God honors is from Him. Every groan to be like Christ
and to do His will, that's from Him. Your fruit is from When
you feel like poor old Jonah at the bottom of the mountains,
covered with a sea of afflictions and chastisement from the Lord,
and you glance out of your despair with those tear-filled eyes,
that glance is of the Lord. When you hear His voice in the
Word, speaking that still, small voice, and you hear it in your
soul, and it encourages you, and it guides you, that voice
is from Him. The seeing eye and the hearing
ear, the Lord has made both of them. And every time you bear
witness to your neighbors and your fellow workers, Every time
you leave your home in the sincerity of your heart and come to worship
the Lord, everything you do for His glory is from Him. And here's the joy and the encouragement
of it. Long, long ago, before you ever
did it, He chose you to it. It had nothing to do with you. It had all to do with Him. He
took the initiative long, long ago and said, I've chosen Glenn
Whitehead that he should bring forth fruit. Lord, what's going
to be his fruit? I'm going to break his heart.
I'm going to put it in his heart to pray. I'm going to put it
in his heart to abhor himself and to trust me as to all his
righteousness and all his wisdom and justification and sanctification. I'm going to put it in his heart
to love me and love others and speak highly of me. I'm going
to put it in His heart to groan over His sin and hope to be like
me. Every virtue we possess and every
victory won and every thought of holiness, He's chose us to
it. All the fruit that you bring
forth, it's not of yourself. It's not by any choices that
you've made. He always takes the initiative.
It is all the Lord. I have chosen you that you should
bring forth this fruit. Are you Christ's friend? Are
you a friend of Christ? Do you love Him? Do you believe
Him? Do you speak on His behalf in
this world? He chose you to that end. How
amazing. And notice what he says here
about their fruit. That your fruit should remain. Boy, there's a lot of fruit that
perishes, ain't there? It just swivels up or it rots.
And you know why? It's of the energy of the flesh.
How many things we do. Like some of my fruit there in
my garden. You pick up a big old tomato and it looks so wonderful.
And it's huge and red, and you pick it up, and you start to
hold it in your hands, and my, it smells awful. And you turn
it over, and the whole bottom's rotted out of it, and bugs are
in it. And what do you do? You throw it on the ground and
smash it. It looked great until you begin to examine it, and
then, man, it was filthy rotten awful. A lot of things we do
look good, don't they? But they're all done in the energy
of the flesh and it's worth nothing. It just decays. It's that old
husk that the wind just blows away. But there is fruit. Most
of it comes out of the secret recesses of the soul. A lot of
it we won't even recognize to be fruit. But there is fruit that the Lord
brings forth through us and in us. And you know something, that
fruit will remain. It will remain. And the Lord
will make mention of it on the Day of Judgment too. And a lot
of the fruit that we thought was so good, it will be stinking,
nothing to be mentioned of it. But some of those groans down
in our souls, some of those times where we had no utterance in
prayer, some times where we spoke to some dear soul about the Lord
and we thought they heard nothing of it? Most of the things that
we weren't even aware of was fruit that He brought through
us, that He produced from His hand. And that will abide. That will abide. And I'm glad
I'm not a prudent inspector. I don't even try to inspect myself
anymore. Because I can't tell it. I've deceived my own self. Oh,
I've come up here and preached to you, and I thought, man, what
a message. Man, what a message. Nobody even heard it but me.
And there's other times I've preached, and oh, I couldn't
wait to get out of the place. I thought, these poor sheep,
having to listen to something like this. And that's the very
thing that the Lord brought forth for you. His ways are not our ways, are
they? His thoughts are not our thoughts. Notice this again in closing.
In verse 16, the last portion of it, "...that whatsoever you shall
ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you." All of this
that he has been saying to these apostles, in some strange way,
encourages them to pray. You would think the way I have
been talking to you, There's no encouragement in this to pray
at all. The fruit is of Him. It comes by union with Him. He's
the one that's working through us. So why even pray? But yet
there's something about this that produces this need, this
desire. How much the Lord is going to
do through His people, and how much He's going to do through
their seeking Him, through their praying to Him. You know what I think? I think
one of the most evidence that I'm a believer is I am ashamed
of myself. Don't you feel that way about
yourself? If I ask somebody if there's a believer, and they
say, what does it mean to be a believer? You know one of the
first things I'd say to them? Are you ashamed of yourself?
Are you absolutely ashamed of yourself? Because the Scripture
everywhere tells us that when the Lord saves us, He begins
His work in us. One of the things about us is
that we become extremely ashamed of ourselves. Ezekiel 16 says, I'll give them
a new heart and a new spirit. I'll cause them to walk in my
statues. And then he says, I'm not doing
this for your sake. Be ashamed and confounded, O
house of Israel. But for my sake, I'm doing this. Romans chapter 6 and verse 20,
something I think it is, 21. What fruit had you then and those
things were of you are now ashamed. Aren't you ashamed of yourself?
Not just what you used to be and used to do, but you're still
ashamed of yourself. And this is the way we go to
the Lord in prayer. We know that He's ordained these
things. We know that He's pleased when
we bring forth much fruit, but we realize we can't do anything.
And where does that find us? Ashamed at the throne of grace. Lord, forgive me. Lord, give
me grace. Lord, work in me. Give me a will
and understanding. Give me opportunities. Give me
boldness. A prayerless person is a useless
person. A man may study and have his doctrine as straight as a
gun barrel, but if he is a prayerless person, he is a useless person.
These apostles were praying men, weren't they? And you know why? Because they knew the Lord had
purposed it to be that way. Whatsoever you ask in my name,
the Father will give it to you. If you had one request this morning,
and you took it to the throne of grace, and you got your Father's
attention, what would it be? What would that prayer be? That's
a good thought, ain't it? That's one good one, ain't it?
Mercy. You know what my prayer would
be this morning, above everything else? Father, not my will, but
Your will be done. If you save me according to your
will, I bless you for it, your will be done. If you would have
me to do something, your will be done. Your will be done in
everything. God bless this word. Let's pray.