These four chapters, John 13,
14, 15, and 16, is indeed family fare. These four chapters are
the words of our Lord to his beloved disciples before he went
to the cross. These words in these four chapters
are addressed to men whom he loved and who loved him. who believed him and who would
carry his gospel to the world. No question about it. He's talking
privately, intimately, personally to believers. And if these words
are read with this in mind, the relationship between our Lord
Jesus and those to whom he's speaking, what a blessing these
words will be, what comfort, what encouragement, Let's read
4, 5, 6 verses from John 16, the next chapter here. Just a moment. You'll see what
I'm talking about. John 16, 1. These things have
I spoken unto you, believers, disciples, that you should not
be offended. They shall put you out of the
synagogues. The time cometh that whosoever
killeth you will think he doeth God's service. And these things
will they do unto you because they've not known the Father
nor me. But these things have I told you that when the time
shall come, when they come to pass, when you encounter these,
this opposition and these trials, you may remember I told you of
them. And these things I said not unto
you at the beginning because I was with you, but now I go
my way to him that sent me. And none of you asketh me, Whither
goest thou? But because I have said these
things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless,
I tell you the truth, it is expedient and necessary for you that I
go away. If I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you. If I depart, I will send him." This is who's speaking and to
whom he's speaking and the subject. I'm going away. Sorrow fills
your heart. These things will come upon you.
I want you to know of them before they come. So here is what they
are. That's what he said. And this
relationship, let's go back just a little bit. This morning I
talked about our relationship with him is a living union. Christ
in you. Look at verse 5. I am the vine,
you're the branches. He that abided in me and I in
him. That's the relationship between
him and his people. Vine and branches. Same life,
same nature. The nature of God. He's the head,
we're the body. He's the husband, we're the wife.
An intimate, real, living. The two became one. That's what
Brother Frank read a moment ago. Verse 23 of John 17, "...I in
them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one."
We're one. A living union with Christ is
not just having religion and believing doctrines. We're one
with the Redeemer. We're joint heirs with Him. A living union. Then secondly,
it's a loving union. Look at verse 9. Think about
this, as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. I love you. Christ is saying to these disciples,
I love you like the Father loves me. That's indescribable. Everlasting. Infinite. Unspeakable. I love you as the Father loved
me. Now you continue in my love. Father and son, family, if you
keep my commandments, you abide in my love. You shall abide in
my love as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his
love. These things I have spoken unto you that my joy might remain
in you and that your joy might be full. And this is my commandment,
that you love one another as I have loved you. I love you
like the Father loves me. Now you love one another like
I love you. It's a living union. It's a loving
union. It's love. And greater love,
verse 13, hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life
for his friends. Now here's the third thing about
this union. It's a living union. We're one
with Him. It's a union of love. Father
loves us as He loves the Son, and the Son loves us, and we
are to love one another as the Son loves us. Now, then, it's
a relationship of intimate fellowship. Look at verse 14. You are my
friends. You are my friends. If you do
whatsoever I command you. My friends. What is a friend? What is a friend? Not an acquaintance
now, I'm talking about a friend. A friend. You know, God called Abraham
his friend. He said, Abraham, my friend.
My friend. He called Moses his friend. He said, God spoke to Moses face
to face as a man speaks to a friend. Well, a friend is an associate,
but a friend is a confidant. A friend is one whom you love,
who is close, and so close that he's one that you take into your
confidence and share with him your secrets and your innermost
thoughts and counsel. That's what a friend is, and
that's what God did with Abraham. He shared with Abraham his counsel,
his ways, his will. He taught Israel his judgments
and his acts, but he shared with Moses, his friend, why he did
what he did. Why? And look at verse 15. Henceforth
I called you not servants, a servant serves a master. He carries out
orders not knowing why, and he's not told why, not knowing the
plan, and he's not taken into the plan, into the confidence,
and not knowing the results. But God, but the Lord Jesus said,
I don't call you servants, though we call ourselves His servants,
And in this sense, I don't call you servants. A servant knoweth
not what his Lord is doing. He doesn't know what his Lord
is doing. He just knows that he does this. Somebody else does
something else. But he doesn't know the reason,
the why, the wherefore, the results. He just does what he's told to
do. But I call you friends. For all things that I have heard
of my Father in the secret councils of eternity, I make known to
you. It is in my Word. And I'll make known more of these
things to you. Look at John 16, 12. I have many
things to say to you. I have yet many things. And some
of you have been here, and I've been here 40 some odd years.
We're reading the same word and every time we read it and study
it, He says something else to us. I have many things to say
to you. You'll never exhaust my word,
my teachings, my counsel, my wisdom. And that's what He's
saying to these men, I've got so many things to say to you
and you can't bear them now. There comes a time when you can. Understanding upon understanding,
you've got to learn this before you learn this, before you learn
this. You've got to experience it. And how be it, verse 13, when
he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he'll guide you into all
truth. He'll not speak of himself, but
whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. It didn't originate
with him, it originated with the Father. The words that I
speak are not my words, they're the words of Him that sent me.
The words the Holy Spirit teaches and speaks are not His words,
they're the words of the Father who sent Him. And the words we
speak as His preachers are not our words, His words. But whatsoever
He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He'll show you things
to come. And He'll glorify me, He shall
receive of mine, Show it to you. That's the relationship we have
here with our master. It's a living union. We're one
with him. It's a loving union. You can't
describe his love for us. Can't put it in words. Nor can
we put in words our love for him or love for one another.
And then he says you're my friends. What a blessing to have a friend
that you can share things with. And I'll tell you, when someone
makes you their friend, that's quite an honor. That's quite
an honor. And the Lord has honored us by calling us His friends. I'm
going to take you into my counsel and into my secret will. You're
my friend. You're my friend. You won't abuse
me, nor my word, nor my confidence. You're my friend. You love me
and I love you. We're one. We've got the same
goal. We've got the same objective.
But we're friends. And then this union, fourthly,
is a union of choice. A union of choice, a choice which
He made. He says in verse 16, to these
gracious disciples, these men whom He loves, He said, you didn't
choose me. You needn't be proud. You needn't
be lifted up in thought or heart. You needn't feel like that you're
by nature any different from anyone else, but you didn't choose
me. I chose you. You have not chosen me. That's
the first thing that I looked at here when I studied this for
the message tonight. What an indictment. What a charge
against all flesh and all mankind. What a revelation of human wickedness
and depravity. You have not chosen me. I am the way. I am the truth,
I am the life, I am the water of life, I am the Son of the
Most High, I came down from the Father, but you didn't choose
me. He was in the world, and the
world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came into
His own, and His own wouldn't choose Him. And you can make
all the excuses you want to for mankind, but here stands the
condemnation. You have not chosen me. You have not chosen me. Turn
back to John 5. Listen to the charges the Lord
brings against all flesh, all sons of Adam, especially the
religious ones. In John 5, verse 39, he said,
you search the Scriptures. Well, look back at verse 38.
You have not His Word abiding in you for whom He has sent.
Him you believe not. You don't believe me. Search
the Scriptures. In them you think you have life.
And there they which testify of me, and you will not come
to me, that you might have life. You will not come. You've not
chosen me. That's amazing, isn't it? He even says that to these 12 men whom we hold in the highest
honor and respect. Peter, James, John, Nathaniel,
all these men. But he said, you didn't choose
me either. The world didn't, the Jews didn't, and you didn't.
Amazing, isn't it? We cried, we'll not have this
man reign over us. We're going to have to crucify
him. Nail him to a cross. And we'll
be done with him. But here's an equally amazing
thing. Amazing. You didn't choose me,
but this is equally amazing. He said, but I've chosen you. I have chosen you. He could have
passed condemning us by, but I've chosen you. He could have
left us in our sinful darkness and our religious tradition,
left us justifiably so, but I've chosen you. He could have condemned
us with all the rest of mankind, but I chose you. Oh my, what an honor. Amazing
grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I was
lost, but He chose me. Now I'm found. I was blind, now
I see. It is not that I did choose thee. Lord, that could not be. This
heart of mine would still refuse thee, but thou hast chosen me. You didn't choose me, but I chose
you. Thou from the sin that stained
me, washed and set me free, and to this end ordained me that
I should live with Thee. My heart owns no one above Thee,
for Thy rich grace I thirst, this knowing. If I really loved Thee, You had
to love me first. If I, this knowing, my heart
now by grace owns none but thee, and for your rich grace, continuation
thereof, I thirst. But this I know, if you hadn't
chose me, if you hadn't loved me, I'd have never loved you. You had to love me first. Well,
I have two questions on this verse here. You didn't choose
me. What an indictment. But I've
chosen you. What grace. I have two questions. One, why do men not choose Christ? He's lovable, gracious, kind,
merciful, powerful, sovereign, God in the flesh, holy, Why do men not choose Christ?
And then my second question will be, why did He choose us? And
the first one I'll deal with, why do men not choose Christ?
Well, you say they're dead. I know that. I know that. But there's dead
and then there's dead. I've heard people say men, sinners,
they're as dead as this pulpit. No, they're not. No, they're
not. This pulpit cannot hear me. They
can't. This pulpit cannot read this
word. My sinner friends can. This pulpit cannot attend a gospel
service and hear the message, but sinners can. They're dead
spiritually, but they're not dead physically. Look down here
at verse 24. Verse 22, If I had not come and
spoken to them, they had not had sin, but now they have no
excuse. They heard me. They heard me. Verse 24, If I had not done among
them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin,
but now they have seen me. They've both heard and seen. This pulpit's never heard a word
and never seen a work. And so men are dead spiritually,
but they're not dead mentally. They're not dead physically.
They're not dead socially. And they can read and they can
think and they can consider. And they do think and read and
hear and see the things that God has done. The heavens declare
the glory of God. They see that. The wind and the
waves and the lightning. I was watching the lightning
the other day and the scripture says, have you entered the treasures
of the lightning? Can you say to the lightning,
go when it goes and come when it comes? God does. I saw a bumper sticker on the
back of a car in Florida that said, God is alive. And the minute
I read it, I knew he didn't know God. I just knew he didn't know
God. Because the God He knows, He has to use a bumper sticker
to tell people He's alive. The God we know, the Son, tells
them He's alive. And the moon, and the stars,
and the snow, and the rain, and the trees, and creation. And for me to try to prove the
living power and existence of God with a bumper sticker is
to deny God Himself. To deny His witnesses. Isn't
that foolish? I'll let God tell you he's alive.
I won't try to put it on a sticker. He'll tell you he's alive. You'll
crack some thunder tonight and you'll say God's alive. You'll
roll the rain on your vegetable and you'll say God's alive. You'll
put the sun in the sky tomorrow and you'll say God's alive. So
I tell you, sinners are not to be pitied. to be blamed. God, he said, they've heard me.
They've heard my voice. There's not any place his voice
is not heard. His line has gone out through
the whole world. He set a tabernacle in the sky
for the sun. They're without excuse. They've
heard him and they've seen him. And they've got no alibi. That's what that said. Verse
24, If I had not done among them the works which none other man
did, they would not have sinned. They would have had an excuse.
But now they have seen and hated both me and my father." This
world has heard this gospel and said, we won't have it. The religious
world has heard this gospel of substitution and sovereign grace
and said, we won't have it. They have seen the acts of Almighty
God and they said, we will not have Him to reign over us. He
can sit in His welfare office and dispense some
favors down there, but he's not going to rule. So why do men
not choose Christ? Number one, they don't know who
he is. They neither know me or my father, in spite of what they've
heard, in spite of what they've seen. They do not know me or
my father. The woman at the well, our Lord
said, if you knew, if you knew, Here this poor, sinful, unhappy,
wretched woman, with no peace or joy, toiling through this
world, was talking to the Son of God. And he said, if you knew,
if you knew who it is speaking to you, you'd ask me and I'd
give you living water. We don't know him. Secondly,
they don't need him. They don't know Him, they don't
need Him. Our Lord was eaten with some publicans and sinners,
and these religious fellows standing around said, why does He, to
His disciples, they said, why does He associate with people
like that? He turned and said to them, the well do not need a doctor,
but they that are sick. I'm not come to call the do-gooders
and religious and righteous. I've come to call sinners. Christ
came into the world to save sinners. You go learn what that means.
But they never learned. They never learned. He came to
save sinners. They didn't need him because
they weren't sinners. That Pharisee in the temple said, I thank you,
I'm not like other men. I'm not like other men. I tell you why they do not choose
Christ. They do not know who He is. They
do not need His blood and righteousness. And thirdly, they do not see
the wisdom of God in Christ, in His life and in His death.
They do not see the need of a lamb or the wisdom of a lamb. They see no law that needs to
be honored. They see no judgment or justice
under which they are living that needs to be satisfied. They see
no holiness or perfect righteousness which needs to be provided. So
therefore, a substitute, a representative, a second Adam from heaven, the
Lord Himself in human flesh, made under the law, made of woman,
tested, tried in all points as we are, yet without sin, going
about through life to provide a perfect holiness and restore
righteousness, And going to the cross and bleeding and dying
is our atonement, satisfying the judgment and justice and
wrath of God against our sin. That's foolishness to them. They don't see any wisdom in
it. They say it's foolishness. We say it's the wisdom of God. The cross is the wisdom of God. The cross of substitution The
righteous life of Christ is the wisdom of God. But the world
says, foolishness. If they knew who it is, if they
knew what they are, fallen sons of Adam, helpless, without hope,
without God in this world, if they knew what he did, in His
righteous life and in His substitutionary death, they would choose Him. And when He taught us who He
is and what He did and why He did it and where He is, we chose
Him. We did. I choose Jesus. And then fourthly,
they do not choose Him, now listen to this, because they do not
prefer to walk with Him. They do not prefer the lifestyle
of a disciple. They do not have any desire to
bear this offense. You look at it again, verse 18.
Remember, we read it slowly. The world will hate you. And
my friends, I'm not talking about the folks that shoot guns and rob
filling stations and that type of... I'm talking about the religious
world. hates the gospel of grace. That's the world Christ is talking
about. The world will hate you. If you were of the world, they
would love you, but because you're not of the world, I've chosen
you out of the world, therefore the world will hate you. And
verse 20 says they'll persecute you. They'll hate you, they'll persecute
you, they'll do these things to you. Verse 21, these things will they
do to you? What's the cause of it? It's
for my name's sake. My name. His name is who He is. His name is His attributes. His
name is His glory. His name is His character. And
because you preach the name, which is above every name, you
believe the name, you call upon the name, you exalt and honor
the name of Christ, that's why they hate. That's why they hate. They don't hate religion. Religion
is popular. The most popular religion in
the world today is Catholicism. And there's a magazine at home
I'm going to look at this week which the Catholics are having
a debate now over making Mary a co-redeemer
with Christ. This is being debated. So it's
popular. Religion is popular. But grace
and substitution and salvation is unpopular. And they'll hate you. They'll
hate you. They'll persecute you. And that's why men do not choose
Christ. They do not know who He is. They
do not need Him. They do not see the wisdom of
God, the power of God in his substitutionary life and death. And they just don't want this
lifestyle. They don't want to suffer for
the offense of the cross. And there's no way out of it,
there's no way around it. You know, when God called me
to preach, I said this recently in a message, Wednesday night
I think, and I learned the gospel in 1950, I determined then, by
His grace and I determine now that what men think of me and
how men treat me is of no consequence. I love this word, I love this
Lord and whatever the results of the outcome, I'm going to
preach His glory, His majesty, His sovereignty, His grace, His
beloved Son, His substitutionary sacrifice. I'm going to preach
it. And I've had people write and say, well, I agreed with
you this time. That's of no consequence to me whatsoever. Whether they
agree or don't agree. It's of absolutely no consequence.
Whether men like it or don't like it. Whether we please them
or don't please them. That's the first thing I'd say
to a young preacher. Before you enter the ministry
or the pastorate, sit down and decide who you plan to please.
People or God. Who you plan to cater to? God
or people? Who you plan to discuss your
ministry with? Him in the privacy of your study
and say, Lord, you tell me what to say and I'll say it come flame
or flood. If every friend I've got walks
off, if every relative I've got walks off, that's alright too.
I'm sorry. I hope they won't. But it'll
have to be that way. And men don't want that. They
just do not want this offense. It's offensive, and people who
don't even know you hate you. Isn't that right? People who
don't even know what you believe or what you preach, they just
know they don't like whatever they send you preaching to them. I got off the track there,
but that's you, you forgive me. But they just don't want to,
they don't want to take the flat. But see, so if you're going on
a mission into the enemy territory, you expect the flak to catch
you. That's part of the job. They're
going to shoot at you. There's going to be a lot of
it. But I ain't turning back, are
you? You never did, did you? Don't turn back. You've got a
mission. It's to glorify Him. To win the
peace. His peace. Well, why did He choose
us? Well, I can tell you who chose
us. It's the Father. Turn to Ephesians 1. I can tell
you who chose us. Ephesians 1. It says here, Blessed be the God and Father.
Verse 3, Ephesians 1. of our Lord Jesus Christ who
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places
in Christ according as He chose us in Christ. He chose us in
Christ. I can tell you who chose us,
in whom He chose us. Christ is my first elect, God
said, and then He chose us in our faith. He chose us in Christ. And I can tell you when He chose
us, before the foundation of the world. that we should be holy, not because
we were, but that we should be without blame before him in love.
Why did he choose me? Well, there are two scriptures
here in Ephesians 1. Let's look at this. Ephesians
1. There are two scriptures that
give us an answer. Ephesians 1 verse 5. It says here, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ himself according
to the good pleasure of his will. He was pleased to do it. He willed
to choose us. Verse 9, having made known unto us the
mystery of his will according to his good pleasure
which he had purposed in himself. There is where it originated.
His choosing us began with God, originated with God. He chose
us because he would. That's about all you can answer.
And then you might give you this verse over in Matthew 11. Here's
why he chose us, Matthew 11. Christ is condemning these cities
in which his mighty works were done and they rebelled and rejected
his message and his mighty works. And he says in verse 24, I say
unto you that it, Matthew 11, 24, it shall be more tolerable
for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee.
At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank you, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Answer,
even so Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. Even so Father. But I believe
I can carry this a little farther and give you the results of His
choice. Now here, look at verse 16 and
I'll close. Christ said, you didn't choose
me. I chose you and ordained you. And here's the results. that you should go and bring
forth fruit and your fruit should remain. In other words, the Lord
is going to have a kingdom of righteousness. So he chose a
people to make up that kingdom. The Lord is going to have a new
earth and a new heaven, so he chose a people to populate that
new heaven and new earth. The Lord is going to have a people
like Christ. Whom He foreknew He predestinated
to be conformed to the image of His Son. And so He chose us. The Lord will glorify His Son. A multitude which no man can
number will one day say, worthy is the Lamb. So He chose us. The Lord will manifest and reveal
His great grace and mercy and unexplainable love. by saving the most unworthy. And therefore he chose them.
The Lord will restore all the ruins of the fall. Turn to Psalm
69. Brother Cecil read this the other
night in the study. Our Lord Jesus is speaking here
in Psalm 69. This is Christ. All the way through
here is Christ. And he says in verse 4 of Psalm
69, they hate me. They that hate me without a cause
are more than the hairs of my head. They that would destroy
me being my enemies wrongfully are mighty. Then I restored that
which I took not away. He's going to restore creation, men He's going to have a kingdom
of righteousness, therefore he chose him. Going to restore righteousness
that he didn't take away. That's right. He's going to restore
it. And he's going to destroy every
enemy. That's why he chose us. That's why he chose us. And here
I'll read you over in Revelation 21, and this will be our last
scripture. You say, well why me? Alright,
the only answer I can give to that is, even so father it seemed
good in thy sight. Why me? It pleased the Lord. Why me? According to the good
pleasure of his own will. That's the only answer I can
give to that. But if you say, why did he choose a people? I
can give you a lot of answers here. He's going to have a kingdom.
He's going to bestow the covenant mercies of David. He's going
to have a new earth, new heaven. He's going to have people like
Christ. He's going to manifest His mercy and grace. He's going
to honor His Son. There's some folks throughout
eternity who are going to say, worthy is the Lamb. And this
is what he's going to look at. Revelation 21, verse 1, I saw
a new heaven and a new earth. But the first heaven and first
earth were passed away, and there's no more sea. And I, John, saw
the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great
voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with
men. That's why He chose us. And He's
going to dwell with them. And they're going to be His people.
And God Himself will be with them and be their God. And He'll
wipe away all tears from their eyes. And there'll be no more
death. No more of this mess we're living in. No more sorrow. No
more crying. No more heartache. No more pain. The former things are gone. And
he that sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.
You're right. These words are true and faithful.
He said to me, It's done. I'm Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end are given to him that's a thirst of the fountain
of the water of life for you. And he that overcometh will inherit
all things and I'm going to be his God and he's going to be
my son. And therefore he chose the people. Our Father, bless the Word. What a delightful time we've
had today. What an enjoyable time we've
had here in Thy house, with Thy people, the family of our Lord,
singing praises to Your Name, reading Your Word, rejoicing
in the mercies of Christ our Lord, exalting, magnifying His
matchless Name. looking into the things that
our Master said to his disciples and to us. Now Lord, take these
things that we've read and that we've considered and which you've
taught us, and make them effectual in our hearts, and bring forth
in us the fruit of thy Spirit, that that fruit might remain
to his glory, for worthy is the Lamb. In his name we pray, Amen.