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Well, we're turning back this morning to the

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second passage chosen for us in the 15th

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chapter of the Gospel according to John, and

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particularly to the section verses 1 through 11,

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but I'll also refer to the rest of

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the chapter as we work our way through

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it, in which our Lord Jesus, as it

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happens at the center point of the teaching

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of the farewell discourse, that begins with the

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enactment of his saving grace in the foot

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washing, and ends, as it were, with the

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transcript of his high priestly intercession in John

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chapter 17, and accidentally, I suppose, from our

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point of view in the providence of God

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chapter 15, has been allotted the central part

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of this, and it gives to us what

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at first sight looks like a metaphor that

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the Lord Jesus is using, I am the

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true vine and my father is the vine

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dresser, but in the course of the passage

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becomes obviously more than a metaphor, becomes an

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extended metaphor that grows into this remarkable allegory

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that the Lord Jesus uses of the relationship

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between himself and his people as a vine

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and branches, and the father's ministry as the

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vine dresser or the gardener, and the spirit's

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ministry ultimately as the paraclete, the counselor or

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the helper in chapter 15 verse 26.

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But let me begin with a question.

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You know the old story about the man

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who asked a rabbi, why is it that

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rabbis always answer questions with questions, and the

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rabbi said, why not?

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And I did ask you a question last

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night for your homework, if you were in

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our position here and you were asked to

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give a series of addresses on the topic

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of holiness, would you have divided them in

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the following way, planned in the purpose of

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the father, purchased at the high cost of

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the blood of Jesus Christ, and then finishing,

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of course, with walking in the Spirit, but

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would you have slid in between these two?

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Would you have devoted an entire exposition to

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the theme of abiding in Christ's love?

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It is actually, I think, a very serious

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question, and at risk of embarrassing Walt Chantry

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yet again, although I delight to do that

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in honor of him, I suspect that we

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would not all have divided the theme this

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way, that many of us would have divided

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the theme, yes, holiness designed by the father,

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perhaps we would have included purchased by the

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son, but then I many of us would

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have been instinctively likely to have given the

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great central section in our exposition to the

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conflict and the battle of the Christian life.

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Is that not one of the great characteristics

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of biblical teaching and especially caught up in

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our Reformed theology?

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We hold this view of sanctification, that sanctification

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is a fight to the death, and I

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suspect many of us might have therefore been

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inclined to slide past this notion of abiding

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in the love of Jesus Christ in order

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to move on to the manly aspects of

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sanctification and the struggle to the death and

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then lead into the blessed ministry of the

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Holy Spirit as we walk no longer in

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the flesh but in the Spirit.

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And architecturally, or to use the expression Derek

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Thomas used earlier on, from an architectonic principle,

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as people who think systematically about holiness, it

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would be altogether appropriate that we give much

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attention to the battle and the fight and

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the conflict of holiness.

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But sanctification at the end of the day,

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as we tried to see last night, is

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not a matter of architecture.

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Sanctification at the end of the day is

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a matter of personal character.

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Holiness does not float above our heads.

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Holiness is who we become in Jesus Christ.

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And there is, I think, something extraordinarily insightful

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about wanting to give an entire address to

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this principle of abiding in the love of

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Jesus Christ.

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Because it's as we abide in the love

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of Jesus Christ, or abide in Christ with

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respect to His love, that the architecture of

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the Christian life takes on a very distinctive

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flavor.

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I recognize that we can become thoroughly sickened

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of that false emphasis that extrapolates from Scripture

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that the heart of the Christian message is

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love.

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But the fact of the matter is the

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heart of the Christian message is love.

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The love of God, the Heavenly Father, the

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love of Christ, the glorious Savior, the love

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of the Holy Spirit with whom we are

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to dwell in the sweetest of communion.

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It is the fact of the matter that

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the first fruit of the Spirit is love.

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It is the fact of the matter that

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the heart of Jesus' exhortation to us, the

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summation of the law, is about loving the

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Lord our God and loving our neighbor as

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ourselves.

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And the key to all of that is

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that the Christian believer abides, remains, dwells, stays

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in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Alexander White, who had some failures and many

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outstanding qualities, used to say, there is such

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a thing as sanctification by vinegar.

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When we were children, one of the games

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at a certain time of the year whenever

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the horse chestnuts were out and could be

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purchased in the shop would be to play

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what we called conkers.

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We would put a chestnut, put a hole

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through a chestnut and then a string through

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a hole and we would bang one another's

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chestnuts.

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And you would get a conker, as we

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called it, that was a once-er or

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a twice-er or a thrice-er that

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had destroyed many other people's chestnuts and eventually

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there would come a point where you would

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accuse this great conqueror of cheating.

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And we would say, you used vinegar.

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And that's what happened.

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You would soak your chestnut in vinegar and

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it would harden.

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It was a kind of, there was no

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dope testing on horse chestnuts in those days.

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But if there had been dope testing, vinegar

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would have been a banned substance.

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And Alexander White was surely right to say

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that there is a false kind of holiness

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that is a sanctification by vinegar that exudes

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something usually hidden from the person who thus

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earnestly projects himself or herself as a model

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of sanctification.

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But there is something about that sanctification that

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repels not only unbelievers, but actually, and this

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is the sinister thing, repels weak believers.

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And it strikes me often in the Gospels

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that one of the things about the holiness

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of our Jesus Christ was the way in

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which his holiness actually attracted weak believers to

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him.

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And that he brings this out as a

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kind of test case of our sanctification, our

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holiness, inasmuch as you have done it to

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one of the least of these, my brothers,

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you have done it to me.

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That the evidence of my holiness in my

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congregation's life, therefore, is not the way I

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rub shoulders with those who have it all

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together, but the way I devote myself to

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those who have almost nothing together.

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And I show them the love of the

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Lord Jesus Christ.

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That's where Christ-like holiness is most likely

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to emerge.

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And when I go to a conference in

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those whom I will seek out, I'm always

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amazed at conferences, how there are people who

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seem to have been extraordinarily gifted in getting

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to you.

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And the reason they get to you is

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because you've appeared up front and in public

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and they zone in upon you.

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They want to discuss with you or debate

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with you or whatever.

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But wherever they go, they're always able to

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get to you.

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And I sometimes think it's a real test

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of my holiness, whether I love them in

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all the irritation that they cause me.

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And in a conference like this, is my

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instinct to mix with what kind of people,

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what kind of ministers.

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This is why abiding in the love of

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the Lord Jesus Christ is, as it were,

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what creates an atmosphere in the Christian's life.

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If I can use an illustration, you go

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to a beautiful home where everything is correct,

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where the flowers are in the right place,

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where the drapes match the carpet and where

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the settee has the right level of comfort.

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And everything is perfect, except when you go

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into the home, you almost immediately realize that

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there is a spirit of alienation in the

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home.

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And the way you are treated is completely

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formally.

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There is no affection.

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There is no love.

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The children do exactly the right thing.

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But you catch that sense in the children

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that they don't really know what it is

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to experience the love and the affection of

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their parents.

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And this is a very real thing.

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And I think it's a very real challenge,

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particularly for those of us who are concerned

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about the architecture of the gospel, that we

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don't build our theological house and miss out

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from the ingredients.

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The one thing that belongs to the very

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essence of the style of being a Christian

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that is so characteristic of the Lord Jesus

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Christ.

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And so in a way that seems increasingly

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to me to summarize and bring together in

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one extended allegory, many lines of the teaching

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that he's giving to his disciples in the

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whole of the farewell discourse.

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He urges upon his disciples in the context

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of his exposition of the idea of the

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vine and the branches.

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These wonderful words in chapter 15 and verse

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9.

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Abide in my love.

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Abide in my love.

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And I want to say that this is

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of the very quintessence of real holiness.

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That the love that flows from me in

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my ministry to others is an authentic and

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genuine love only so long as I myself

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am abiding in the love of the Lord

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Jesus Christ for which nothing else in the

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world can possibly substitute.

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And I want us to think about this

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really under three headings, which is a disguised

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fashion probably for about 15 headings as we

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try and make our way through the material

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that I want to bring to you this

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morning.

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First of all, to think about the love

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in which we abide.

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Secondly, about the union with Christ by which

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we abide in his love.

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And thirdly, about the characteristic hallmarks of those

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who thus abide in Christ's love.

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First of all, the love in which we

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abide.

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A very interesting thing to me over the

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history of the church since the days of

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the Reformation, that sometimes because of a lack

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of this emphasis, Christians who have struggled to

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understand union with Christ have developed a very

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mystical view of what it means to abide

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in the love of Christ.

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It is something ethereal.

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It is something sometimes said so marvelous that

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there's no way you could put it into

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words.

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The thing about the Lord Jesus teaching here

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is that that's precisely what he does.

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He urges us to abide in his love

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and he gives us a very carefully expounded

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piece of teaching about what this love is

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in which we are to abide.

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Beginning of verse 9, As the Father has

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loved me, so have I loved you.

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Abide in my love.

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00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:21,380
That is to say, the original pattern for

271
00:15:21,380 --> 00:15:23,140
this love in which we are to abide

272
00:15:23,140 --> 00:15:26,180
in Christ is the love that the Father

273
00:15:26,180 --> 00:15:28,440
has had for the Son.

274
00:15:29,380 --> 00:15:33,300
As the Father has loved me, so have

275
00:15:33,300 --> 00:15:34,560
I loved you.

276
00:15:34,900 --> 00:15:38,180
Therefore you abide in my love.

277
00:15:38,180 --> 00:15:41,060
Now, here's a striking statistic in John's Gospel.

278
00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:44,520
I think I'm right in saying that there

279
00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:47,900
is only one place in John's Gospel that

280
00:15:47,900 --> 00:15:50,920
speaks about the love of the Son for

281
00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:51,500
the Father.

282
00:15:54,050 --> 00:15:58,370
But there are several places where John's Gospel,

283
00:15:58,590 --> 00:16:02,130
as it were, undergirds this statement by speaking

284
00:16:02,130 --> 00:16:04,650
about the Father's love for the Son.

285
00:16:05,030 --> 00:16:08,010
Now, it's self-evident that the Son loves

286
00:16:08,010 --> 00:16:08,590
the Father.

287
00:16:10,070 --> 00:16:13,010
But John's Gospel provides for us, right up

288
00:16:13,010 --> 00:16:16,410
to this point, a way of exegeting what

289
00:16:16,410 --> 00:16:19,350
Jesus means when he says, As the Father

290
00:16:19,350 --> 00:16:21,510
has loved me.

291
00:16:23,210 --> 00:16:25,730
Of course, it's adumbrated right at the beginning

292
00:16:25,730 --> 00:16:26,810
in the prologue.

293
00:16:27,310 --> 00:16:31,410
The Son who is in the bosom of

294
00:16:31,410 --> 00:16:31,870
the Father.

295
00:16:32,710 --> 00:16:37,050
The Word who is pros ton feon, who

296
00:16:37,050 --> 00:16:40,630
is, as it were, face to face with

297
00:16:40,630 --> 00:16:41,170
the Father.

298
00:16:42,130 --> 00:16:45,750
And there in those descriptions of the closeness

299
00:16:45,750 --> 00:16:48,790
of the intimacy, the eternal bond of love

300
00:16:48,790 --> 00:16:51,070
between the Father and the Son, the whole

301
00:16:51,070 --> 00:16:54,530
Gospel is set up as an exposition of

302
00:16:54,530 --> 00:16:57,870
the nature of the Father's love for the

303
00:16:57,870 --> 00:16:58,210
Son.

304
00:16:59,490 --> 00:17:02,010
But we find this running through the Gospel.

305
00:17:02,890 --> 00:17:07,210
For example, John 3, 35, the Father loves

306
00:17:07,210 --> 00:17:11,109
the Son and has given all things into

307
00:17:11,109 --> 00:17:11,890
his hand.

308
00:17:12,849 --> 00:17:17,010
John 5, verse 20, in a similar way,

309
00:17:17,589 --> 00:17:21,109
says the Lord Jesus, Here the Father loves

310
00:17:21,109 --> 00:17:24,890
the Son and shows him all that he

311
00:17:24,890 --> 00:17:26,490
himself is doing.

312
00:17:27,770 --> 00:17:29,990
Now, whether or not, as some commentators have

313
00:17:29,990 --> 00:17:34,630
suggested, the idea here may reflect on Jesus

314
00:17:34,630 --> 00:17:39,430
learning his carpenter's trade in Joseph's shop and

315
00:17:39,430 --> 00:17:43,930
his Father showing him all he knew about

316
00:17:43,930 --> 00:17:47,070
carpentry, or whether this is a purely neutral

317
00:17:47,070 --> 00:17:49,230
kind of piece of language.

318
00:17:49,430 --> 00:17:51,450
And in one way or another, it speaks

319
00:17:51,450 --> 00:17:57,270
so extraordinarily about the love of the Father

320
00:17:57,270 --> 00:18:02,150
for his Son, that he shows him all

321
00:18:02,150 --> 00:18:05,690
he is doing, that the Father has no

322
00:18:05,690 --> 00:18:07,870
secret from his Son.

323
00:18:08,070 --> 00:18:10,770
Now, that's obviously true in eternity.

324
00:18:11,810 --> 00:18:14,690
But what Jesus seems to be speaking about

325
00:18:14,690 --> 00:18:17,550
here is the way in which, in terms

326
00:18:17,550 --> 00:18:20,870
of his life and ministry, there has been

327
00:18:20,870 --> 00:18:25,050
no secret hidden from him in the Father's

328
00:18:25,050 --> 00:18:26,430
day-by-day purpose.

329
00:18:26,550 --> 00:18:29,970
Remember how the songs of Isaiah put this,

330
00:18:30,290 --> 00:18:33,510
morning by morning he awakens me, he awakens

331
00:18:33,510 --> 00:18:37,050
my ear to listen, and I've listened to

332
00:18:37,050 --> 00:18:37,370
him.

333
00:18:38,070 --> 00:18:41,850
The intimacy of love between the Father and

334
00:18:41,850 --> 00:18:42,410
the Son.

335
00:18:43,490 --> 00:18:46,750
And then in chapter 8, verse 42, certainly

336
00:18:46,750 --> 00:18:50,290
by implication, the same thing is surely here.

337
00:18:50,930 --> 00:18:53,630
Jesus said, If God were your Father, you

338
00:18:53,630 --> 00:18:57,230
would love me, for I came from God

339
00:18:57,230 --> 00:18:58,210
and I am here.

340
00:18:59,130 --> 00:19:01,730
If God were your Father, you would do

341
00:19:01,730 --> 00:19:06,130
what your Father does, namely, you would love

342
00:19:06,130 --> 00:19:06,670
me.

343
00:19:07,630 --> 00:19:10,050
And then in our text, in chapter 15,

344
00:19:10,150 --> 00:19:14,030
verse 9, as the Father has loved me,

345
00:19:14,470 --> 00:19:15,650
so have I loved you.

346
00:19:15,750 --> 00:19:18,650
And in the great prayer in chapter 17,

347
00:19:19,050 --> 00:19:21,210
exactly the same thing, amazingly.

348
00:19:22,330 --> 00:19:26,630
He prays that the world may know that

349
00:19:26,630 --> 00:19:31,010
you sent me and loved them even as

350
00:19:31,010 --> 00:19:33,150
you loved me.

351
00:19:33,530 --> 00:19:36,230
Verse 24, I want them to see my

352
00:19:36,230 --> 00:19:39,730
glory that you gave me because you loved

353
00:19:39,730 --> 00:19:42,030
me before the foundation of the world.

354
00:19:42,530 --> 00:19:44,970
And then in verse 26, at the end

355
00:19:44,970 --> 00:19:47,590
of the prayer, I'll continue to make it

356
00:19:47,590 --> 00:19:49,510
known that the love with which you have

357
00:19:49,510 --> 00:19:52,330
loved me may be in them and I

358
00:19:52,330 --> 00:19:53,170
in them.

359
00:19:55,370 --> 00:19:58,370
And perhaps most significantly, the text in John's

360
00:19:58,370 --> 00:20:01,150
gospel that I've left out that seems to

361
00:20:01,150 --> 00:20:04,010
me to be so eloquent of the nature

362
00:20:04,010 --> 00:20:06,050
of the love about which the Lord Jesus

363
00:20:06,050 --> 00:20:09,210
is speaking when he says, recorded in chapter

364
00:20:09,210 --> 00:20:15,010
10, verse 17, for this reason, the Father

365
00:20:15,010 --> 00:20:19,150
loves me because I lay down my life

366
00:20:19,150 --> 00:20:21,730
that I may take it.

367
00:20:22,370 --> 00:20:24,370
In other words, and I think this is

368
00:20:24,370 --> 00:20:26,910
a not unimportant thing for us to grasp,

369
00:20:27,770 --> 00:20:30,490
the love the Father has for his Son

370
00:20:30,490 --> 00:20:33,310
itself has more than one dimension.

371
00:20:34,410 --> 00:20:36,590
There is a love, an eternal love that

372
00:20:36,590 --> 00:20:39,910
the Father has for his eternal Son, because

373
00:20:39,910 --> 00:20:42,030
he is his eternal Son.

374
00:20:43,030 --> 00:20:46,750
In the eternal intimacy and bond between the

375
00:20:46,750 --> 00:20:51,310
Father and the Son and the mutual admiration

376
00:20:51,310 --> 00:20:56,750
and esteem and enjoyment of one another, of

377
00:20:56,750 --> 00:20:59,250
which in the image of God, I assume

378
00:20:59,250 --> 00:21:03,450
a pale glimpse or reflection is given in

379
00:21:03,450 --> 00:21:06,470
the mutual esteem, affection, and bond of love

380
00:21:06,470 --> 00:21:08,270
that there is between the man and the

381
00:21:08,270 --> 00:21:11,590
woman, Genesis 1, 26 through 28.

382
00:21:13,130 --> 00:21:16,950
That what we have in the eternal love,

383
00:21:17,330 --> 00:21:20,530
mutual love of the Trinity is given a

384
00:21:20,530 --> 00:21:24,950
pale reflection in the mutual love of the

385
00:21:24,950 --> 00:21:28,730
image of the miniature of himself that God

386
00:21:28,730 --> 00:21:33,710
has made, in which a man and a

387
00:21:33,710 --> 00:21:40,590
woman can spend so long doing nothing but

388
00:21:40,590 --> 00:21:43,610
just being with one another.

389
00:21:44,730 --> 00:21:47,430
That old question that Calvin takes up in

390
00:21:47,430 --> 00:21:50,170
the Institutes that Augustine took up, what was

391
00:21:50,170 --> 00:21:52,350
God doing before creation?

392
00:21:52,570 --> 00:21:56,370
I won't pause on the answer that Augustine

393
00:21:56,370 --> 00:21:56,950
gave.

394
00:21:58,290 --> 00:22:00,550
But you know, he wasn't doing what Augustine

395
00:22:00,550 --> 00:22:01,470
said he was doing.

396
00:22:02,210 --> 00:22:03,970
He was loving his Son.

397
00:22:04,870 --> 00:22:06,650
He was enjoying his Son.

398
00:22:07,510 --> 00:22:09,770
He was being intimate with his Son.

399
00:22:11,150 --> 00:22:13,210
In the bond of the Spirit, the Father

400
00:22:13,210 --> 00:22:18,090
needed nothing else fully to express himself as

401
00:22:18,090 --> 00:22:22,490
Father and fully to enjoy being Father.

402
00:22:22,670 --> 00:22:25,430
He needed nothing else than his Son.

403
00:22:26,390 --> 00:22:28,190
That's beyond our imagination.

404
00:22:29,410 --> 00:22:32,610
But I say we experience a little of

405
00:22:32,610 --> 00:22:35,150
it here in the bond of fellowship that

406
00:22:35,150 --> 00:22:36,750
many of us have with one another.

407
00:22:37,950 --> 00:22:40,410
That we leave the evening meeting and suddenly

408
00:22:40,410 --> 00:22:42,590
it's way past bedtime and what have we

409
00:22:42,590 --> 00:22:43,030
been doing?

410
00:22:43,270 --> 00:22:44,670
We've not really been doing anything.

411
00:22:44,830 --> 00:22:46,530
We've just been with each other.

412
00:22:47,870 --> 00:22:49,950
And we discover in one another there is

413
00:22:49,950 --> 00:22:51,550
a whole world there.

414
00:22:53,830 --> 00:22:56,070
And in a sense this boggles the imagination.

415
00:22:56,670 --> 00:22:58,890
Every single one of us, in a way,

416
00:22:59,050 --> 00:23:00,250
don't let me get off the track.

417
00:23:00,370 --> 00:23:01,610
I'll get back to the track in a

418
00:23:01,610 --> 00:23:01,790
minute.

419
00:23:02,090 --> 00:23:06,470
Every single one of us contains within ourselves

420
00:23:06,470 --> 00:23:09,730
an entire history of the universe that's different

421
00:23:09,730 --> 00:23:12,010
from the entire history of the universe that's

422
00:23:12,010 --> 00:23:13,390
in every other one of us.

423
00:23:14,530 --> 00:23:17,850
And so we can endlessly explore one another

424
00:23:17,850 --> 00:23:20,810
without doing anything.

425
00:23:21,950 --> 00:23:23,770
How we need to learn this in the

426
00:23:23,770 --> 00:23:24,190
church.

427
00:23:24,750 --> 00:23:26,970
If you send out an invitation to members

428
00:23:26,970 --> 00:23:28,230
of your church and say, we're going to

429
00:23:28,230 --> 00:23:31,710
meet 7.30 Friday night, half of the

430
00:23:31,710 --> 00:23:33,830
membership will phone into the church office and

431
00:23:33,830 --> 00:23:35,530
say, what are we going to do?

432
00:23:37,270 --> 00:23:39,890
And if the response is actually, we're not

433
00:23:39,890 --> 00:23:41,770
going to do anything.

434
00:23:42,510 --> 00:23:44,570
We're just going to be.

435
00:23:46,070 --> 00:23:56,150
Oh, but you see, once

436
00:23:56,150 --> 00:23:58,770
we grasp the nature of the fellowship within

437
00:23:58,770 --> 00:24:02,590
the Godhead, we begin to see, and this

438
00:24:02,590 --> 00:24:05,350
is so abundantly clear in the farewell discourse,

439
00:24:05,950 --> 00:24:08,370
that the fellowship of God's people is an

440
00:24:08,370 --> 00:24:09,010
analogy.

441
00:24:10,230 --> 00:24:12,710
This is what makes the church as church,

442
00:24:12,810 --> 00:24:15,990
when the church is church, such a powerful

443
00:24:15,990 --> 00:24:18,070
testimony to the world.

444
00:24:18,350 --> 00:24:20,230
And this is what Jesus is praying for,

445
00:24:20,450 --> 00:24:23,030
that they may be one, even as we

446
00:24:23,030 --> 00:24:25,610
are one, that the world may believe.

447
00:24:26,570 --> 00:24:29,750
Because when it sees this kind of community

448
00:24:29,750 --> 00:24:34,450
that dwells in this kind of love, that

449
00:24:34,450 --> 00:24:36,890
is modeled upon the father's love for his

450
00:24:36,890 --> 00:24:40,470
son, and is the fruit of indwelling the

451
00:24:40,470 --> 00:24:44,210
love of the son, it recognizes that it's

452
00:24:44,210 --> 00:24:45,770
not normal.

453
00:24:46,590 --> 00:24:48,430
It's not natural.

454
00:24:49,490 --> 00:24:53,050
It's supranormal and it's supernatural.

455
00:24:53,050 --> 00:24:55,890
And it's rooted in this principle that Jesus

456
00:24:55,890 --> 00:25:02,400
is enunciating that the pattern of the love

457
00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:06,200
in which we dwell in Jesus Christ is

458
00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:09,080
the love of the heavenly father for his

459
00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:09,320
son.

460
00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:13,640
But back to John 10, 17, the father

461
00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:16,480
loves his son as his son from all

462
00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:17,060
eternity.

463
00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:21,300
But there is another dimension to the love

464
00:25:21,300 --> 00:25:22,580
for his son.

465
00:25:23,660 --> 00:25:25,960
We might say the father's love for his

466
00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:29,880
son from all eternity is absolutely unconditional.

467
00:25:30,120 --> 00:25:33,900
It's conditioned by nothing except the personal in

468
00:25:33,900 --> 00:25:36,260
being of the son in the Holy Trinity.

469
00:25:37,460 --> 00:25:39,620
But we might also say that the love

470
00:25:39,620 --> 00:25:42,100
that the father has for the son as

471
00:25:42,100 --> 00:25:45,380
incarnate, as mediator, to which the Lord Jesus

472
00:25:45,380 --> 00:25:49,640
is referring in 10, 17 is actually carefully

473
00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:50,320
conditioned.

474
00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:56,640
It's a love that is capable of development

475
00:25:56,640 --> 00:26:02,880
and growth, just as your love for your

476
00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:06,100
son, if you have one, is capable of

477
00:26:06,100 --> 00:26:07,820
development and growth.

478
00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:10,580
That you loved him when he was a

479
00:26:10,580 --> 00:26:13,260
baby, that you cradled in your arms.

480
00:26:15,100 --> 00:26:17,220
But as you see him grow, as you

481
00:26:17,220 --> 00:26:19,420
see him go through much that you would

482
00:26:19,420 --> 00:26:22,840
take to yourself and struggle with it, is

483
00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:24,740
it not true there is something in your

484
00:26:24,740 --> 00:26:28,500
fatherly heart that goes out to him and

485
00:26:28,500 --> 00:26:30,780
you say, if ever I loved you, my

486
00:26:30,780 --> 00:26:31,720
son, it's now.

487
00:26:33,500 --> 00:26:35,420
And Jesus says there is a moment in

488
00:26:35,420 --> 00:26:38,020
his life, in his relationship with God as

489
00:26:38,020 --> 00:26:42,520
mediator, as the eternal son wearing our flesh,

490
00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:47,640
there is a moment of climactic consummation to

491
00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:50,020
the love of his father for him.

492
00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:53,380
Yes, how much he loved him because he

493
00:26:53,380 --> 00:26:55,880
was willing to become incarnate for us and

494
00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:59,160
wear our flesh and enter into the abject

495
00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:03,820
weakness of our humanity, become from the point

496
00:27:03,820 --> 00:27:06,960
of view of his humanity, totally dependent upon

497
00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:10,520
his mother, that he would enter into the

498
00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:13,360
darkness of her womb, he who had forever

499
00:27:13,360 --> 00:27:15,540
known only the eternal light.

500
00:27:16,380 --> 00:27:19,920
Oh, what love, no wonder the angels burst

501
00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:22,000
out of heaven to praise him.

502
00:27:26,340 --> 00:27:30,440
But surely that paled into insignificance when on

503
00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:33,800
the cross in obedience to the father, he

504
00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:36,640
cried out, my God, why have you forsaken

505
00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:37,040
me?

506
00:27:40,650 --> 00:27:43,710
And it was in that moment that the

507
00:27:43,710 --> 00:27:48,450
father sang, if ever I loved you, my

508
00:27:48,450 --> 00:27:51,990
Jesus, it is now.

509
00:27:53,530 --> 00:27:58,850
The reason the father loves me is because

510
00:27:58,850 --> 00:28:02,150
I lay down my life that I may

511
00:28:02,150 --> 00:28:03,350
take it again.

512
00:28:04,550 --> 00:28:08,650
Now that is the pattern of the love

513
00:28:08,650 --> 00:28:11,650
as the father has loved me.

514
00:28:12,130 --> 00:28:15,230
So have I loved you.

515
00:28:15,650 --> 00:28:18,090
And of course, this is really where the

516
00:28:18,090 --> 00:28:21,250
farewell discourse began in terms of the washing

517
00:28:21,250 --> 00:28:23,810
of the disciples feet chapter 13, verse one,

518
00:28:24,430 --> 00:28:26,250
Jesus knew that his hour had come to

519
00:28:26,250 --> 00:28:28,090
depart out of this world to the father,

520
00:28:28,630 --> 00:28:31,270
having loved his own who were in the

521
00:28:31,270 --> 00:28:31,750
world.

522
00:28:31,970 --> 00:28:34,170
He loved them to the end.

523
00:28:35,270 --> 00:28:37,050
Well, we're all educated people here.

524
00:28:37,150 --> 00:28:38,630
Let me put it in a very educated

525
00:28:38,630 --> 00:28:38,910
way.

526
00:28:39,210 --> 00:28:41,250
He loved them teleologically.

527
00:28:43,380 --> 00:28:47,380
He loved them to the end in the

528
00:28:47,380 --> 00:28:48,840
fullness of his love.

529
00:28:49,980 --> 00:28:52,000
And of course, he's speaking here about his

530
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:57,180
atoning love, just as there is in the

531
00:28:57,180 --> 00:28:59,680
nature of the father's love for his son,

532
00:28:59,780 --> 00:29:02,880
the kind of two foldness, his love for

533
00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:05,380
his son, as he is son and his

534
00:29:05,380 --> 00:29:07,540
love for his son, because of what it

535
00:29:07,540 --> 00:29:10,660
is that his son does in love for

536
00:29:10,660 --> 00:29:10,960
him.

537
00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:14,640
So there is a two foldness in the

538
00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:17,300
love of Christ in which we are to

539
00:29:17,300 --> 00:29:17,760
dwell.

540
00:29:18,740 --> 00:29:22,000
There is a love of Jesus Christ that

541
00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:24,620
is his atoning love for us.

542
00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:27,320
And that's what then is unfolded in chapter

543
00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:27,900
13.

544
00:29:28,040 --> 00:29:29,860
He loves us to the end.

545
00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:33,780
And so there is the Johannine acted out

546
00:29:33,780 --> 00:29:38,980
version of the Pauline exposition of the incarnation

547
00:29:38,980 --> 00:29:40,940
and Philippians 2, 5 to 11.

548
00:29:41,040 --> 00:29:43,420
And you can put this Philippians 2, 5

549
00:29:43,420 --> 00:29:46,260
to 11, John 13, almost phrase by phrase

550
00:29:46,260 --> 00:29:47,460
opposite one another.

551
00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:50,720
And you see how clearly the Lord Jesus

552
00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:55,320
was enacting before them the wonder of his

553
00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:58,580
humiliation and then the marvel of his exaltation.

554
00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:03,700
How he knew that the father had given

555
00:30:03,700 --> 00:30:05,760
everything into his hands and that he had

556
00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:10,630
come from God and although he was in

557
00:30:10,630 --> 00:30:13,290
the form of God, he didn't count equality

558
00:30:13,290 --> 00:30:16,650
with God, a thing to be held onto

559
00:30:16,650 --> 00:30:18,830
and made a special privilege.

560
00:30:19,070 --> 00:30:21,790
Why should he wash the disciples feet?

561
00:30:21,970 --> 00:30:24,910
But he took on himself the form of

562
00:30:24,910 --> 00:30:27,890
a servant and was made man and being

563
00:30:27,890 --> 00:30:30,690
made man, he humbled himself.

564
00:30:31,730 --> 00:30:35,450
He girded himself with the towel and he

565
00:30:35,450 --> 00:30:37,110
humbled himself yet further.

566
00:30:37,590 --> 00:30:39,590
He stooped to conquer.

567
00:30:40,570 --> 00:30:43,210
He came and he washed his disciples dirty

568
00:30:43,210 --> 00:30:43,770
feet.

569
00:30:44,750 --> 00:30:46,550
And because he has done this, God has

570
00:30:46,550 --> 00:30:48,590
highly exalted him and given him the name

571
00:30:48,590 --> 00:30:49,670
above every other name.

572
00:30:49,770 --> 00:30:52,070
And so when he had finished his work

573
00:30:52,070 --> 00:30:55,990
of foot washing, he retook his place at

574
00:30:55,990 --> 00:30:59,250
the center, at the head of the table.

575
00:30:59,630 --> 00:31:03,250
Having loved them, he loved them to the

576
00:31:03,250 --> 00:31:03,670
end.

577
00:31:04,930 --> 00:31:08,530
I love the words of John Donne about

578
00:31:08,530 --> 00:31:09,810
this very text.

579
00:31:10,230 --> 00:31:13,650
When he says this, he says, whom he

580
00:31:13,650 --> 00:31:18,710
loves, he loves to the end and not

581
00:31:18,710 --> 00:31:24,310
to their end and to their death, but

582
00:31:24,310 --> 00:31:25,710
to his end.

583
00:31:27,610 --> 00:31:33,230
And his end is that he might love

584
00:31:33,230 --> 00:31:35,210
them more.

585
00:31:36,770 --> 00:31:38,910
You understand that's what the atonement is all

586
00:31:38,910 --> 00:31:39,270
about.

587
00:31:40,390 --> 00:31:43,450
It's the efficacious love of God for your

588
00:31:43,450 --> 00:31:48,030
salvation in order that he may love you

589
00:31:48,030 --> 00:31:48,570
more.

590
00:31:50,030 --> 00:31:53,030
That's what salvation is really all about.

591
00:31:54,810 --> 00:31:59,030
Salvation in this sense, for all its glory,

592
00:31:59,170 --> 00:32:03,150
for all its costliness is not the end

593
00:32:03,150 --> 00:32:04,490
in itself.

594
00:32:04,490 --> 00:32:09,550
The end in itself is the restoration to

595
00:32:09,550 --> 00:32:13,810
the love and the communion in love which

596
00:32:13,810 --> 00:32:17,930
we were created to enjoy in the presence

597
00:32:17,930 --> 00:32:20,050
of the Father and the Son and the

598
00:32:20,050 --> 00:32:20,730
Holy Spirit.

599
00:32:22,670 --> 00:32:25,530
So this fullness of love in which we

600
00:32:25,530 --> 00:32:29,030
are to dwell is not only a love

601
00:32:29,030 --> 00:32:32,030
that Christ has for us in terms of

602
00:32:32,030 --> 00:32:36,770
what he does for us as atoning, but

603
00:32:36,770 --> 00:32:40,910
once atoned for, that's the foundation of everything.

604
00:32:42,050 --> 00:32:46,750
But the love that brings atonement is the

605
00:32:46,750 --> 00:32:49,830
stepping stone to what the older writers called

606
00:32:49,830 --> 00:32:54,970
in a beautiful expression, if odd to us

607
00:32:54,970 --> 00:32:58,270
in the 21st century, not the love of

608
00:32:58,270 --> 00:33:02,250
atonement, but the love of complacency.

609
00:33:03,490 --> 00:33:08,590
The love that having made atonement now delights

610
00:33:08,590 --> 00:33:11,250
in those for whom the atonement has been

611
00:33:11,250 --> 00:33:16,140
made as the Father has loved me as

612
00:33:16,140 --> 00:33:18,940
mediator and for myself.

613
00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:23,280
So the Son loves us as those for

614
00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:26,560
whom he has made atoning mediation in order

615
00:33:26,560 --> 00:33:29,660
that having made atoning mediation for us, he

616
00:33:29,660 --> 00:33:32,880
might love us with the love of complacency

617
00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:37,140
in which he loves us as atoned for.

618
00:33:38,220 --> 00:33:46,040
Now objects of his pleasure, of his complacency,

619
00:33:46,180 --> 00:33:49,360
of his satisfaction in that sense.

620
00:33:50,500 --> 00:33:53,340
And we see that here in John 15.

621
00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:58,420
Owen again, who incidentally is not the only

622
00:33:58,420 --> 00:34:01,700
Christian author I ever read, but he does

623
00:34:01,700 --> 00:34:04,580
from time to time put things most exquisitely.

624
00:34:05,940 --> 00:34:08,460
And he speaks about the love of Christ

625
00:34:08,460 --> 00:34:12,580
as the love of complacency in a fourfold

626
00:34:12,580 --> 00:34:17,639
manner that's magnificently illustrated here in John 15.

627
00:34:17,780 --> 00:34:19,560
He must have read John 15.

628
00:34:22,679 --> 00:34:24,920
He speaks about the love of complacency as

629
00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:26,340
a love of delight.

630
00:34:27,639 --> 00:34:34,159
The outflowing of love in appreciation and joy.

631
00:34:35,139 --> 00:34:37,820
The kind of love that's described in Zephaniah

632
00:34:37,820 --> 00:34:41,760
3, I will delight over you and sing

633
00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:42,560
over you.

634
00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:46,960
The kind of love of delight that's spoken

635
00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:50,560
of in chapter 15, verse 11, to look

636
00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:51,639
no further.

637
00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:55,920
I've spoken to you these things that my

638
00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:57,720
joy might be in you.

639
00:34:59,300 --> 00:35:02,000
You see, there is a love of grace

640
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:05,320
in order to bring atonement for our sins,

641
00:35:05,380 --> 00:35:09,960
but once atoned for, there is a love

642
00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:12,340
that overflows in the heart of the Lord

643
00:35:12,340 --> 00:35:15,680
Jesus in sheer delight over his people.

644
00:35:15,780 --> 00:35:18,800
Now, my dear brothers, that's something we need

645
00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:20,260
to bathe ourselves in.

646
00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:25,180
Because we can so often, and yes, from

647
00:35:25,180 --> 00:35:27,860
a certain point of view rightly, but from

648
00:35:27,860 --> 00:35:31,600
an exclusive point of view, never safely, we

649
00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:34,220
can beat ourselves into the dust because of

650
00:35:34,220 --> 00:35:35,980
our sinfulness and our failure.

651
00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:38,220
And we can lose sight of the Lord

652
00:35:38,220 --> 00:35:41,800
Jesus Christ love of complacency that once atoned

653
00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:43,860
for, we are the objects of his delight

654
00:35:43,860 --> 00:35:46,460
and even his joy.

655
00:35:48,020 --> 00:35:51,400
It is secondly sazone, a love of value.

656
00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:55,880
He was made flesh and emptied himself, became

657
00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:59,160
a servant, obeyed to the death of the

658
00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:01,640
cross, sanctified himself for us.

659
00:36:01,860 --> 00:36:04,340
As Jesus says in John 17, as we

660
00:36:04,340 --> 00:36:07,720
are reminded, Calvin emphasizes so greatly in the

661
00:36:07,720 --> 00:36:10,960
Institute's book three, and especially his commentary on

662
00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:11,800
Hebrews.

663
00:36:12,500 --> 00:36:12,820
Why?

664
00:36:14,660 --> 00:36:20,640
Because his saving love for us expresses his

665
00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:22,880
valuation of us.

666
00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:27,280
Now notice, not that he dies for us

667
00:36:27,280 --> 00:36:31,660
because we are valuable, but because he has

668
00:36:31,660 --> 00:36:35,300
died for us, we become valuable.

669
00:36:36,280 --> 00:36:39,500
Our value, your valuation, you need to understand

670
00:36:39,500 --> 00:36:42,320
this, your valuation in the eyes and heart

671
00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:46,880
of the Lord Jesus is nothing less than

672
00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:48,840
his oblation on the cross of Calvary.

673
00:36:49,860 --> 00:36:53,780
That's the value he has placed upon you.

674
00:36:54,520 --> 00:36:57,760
And he loves that which he values.

675
00:36:59,260 --> 00:37:05,600
Where your treasure is, there will your heart

676
00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:06,300
be also.

677
00:37:07,680 --> 00:37:15,120
We are his treasured possession and his heart

678
00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:16,720
is toward us.

679
00:37:20,890 --> 00:37:22,570
And then thirdly sazone, there is a love

680
00:37:22,570 --> 00:37:27,070
of pity and compassion that's expressed in many

681
00:37:27,070 --> 00:37:29,930
ways in the New Testament, but actually expressed

682
00:37:29,930 --> 00:37:33,430
here in two ways, in the compassion and

683
00:37:33,430 --> 00:37:35,210
pity that Jesus has for us.

684
00:37:35,290 --> 00:37:37,950
Verse 18, because he knows that the world

685
00:37:37,950 --> 00:37:39,070
will hate us.

686
00:37:39,130 --> 00:37:41,630
And so he's at pains to explain to

687
00:37:41,630 --> 00:37:43,430
us why it is that the world hates

688
00:37:43,430 --> 00:37:43,610
us.

689
00:37:43,670 --> 00:37:45,030
He wants to teach us to be able

690
00:37:45,030 --> 00:37:48,030
to say when the world hates us and

691
00:37:48,030 --> 00:37:49,990
there is something in us that is likely

692
00:37:49,990 --> 00:37:53,310
to recriminate the Lord Jesus because we are

693
00:37:53,310 --> 00:37:54,130
hated by the world.

694
00:37:54,210 --> 00:37:55,730
He says, don't look at it that way.

695
00:37:57,010 --> 00:37:58,210
Think of it like this.

696
00:37:59,330 --> 00:38:00,870
This isn't really about me.

697
00:38:02,030 --> 00:38:03,150
This is about him.

698
00:38:03,990 --> 00:38:08,570
The world hates me because he loves me

699
00:38:08,570 --> 00:38:13,340
and abide in my love.

700
00:38:13,460 --> 00:38:14,820
And so at the end of the passage

701
00:38:14,820 --> 00:38:17,820
in verse 26, he speaks to them about

702
00:38:17,820 --> 00:38:20,860
the way the helper will come, the counselor

703
00:38:20,860 --> 00:38:23,880
who will come alongside us to strengthen us.

704
00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:25,260
That's the fruit of his love.

705
00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:27,240
And then sazone, there is the love of

706
00:38:27,240 --> 00:38:31,520
bounty that's so beautifully expressed in the words

707
00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:33,060
of verse 14.

708
00:38:33,780 --> 00:38:37,500
You are now my friends.

709
00:38:38,100 --> 00:38:41,820
No longer do I call you servants for

710
00:38:41,820 --> 00:38:43,980
the servant doesn't know what his master is

711
00:38:43,980 --> 00:38:46,820
doing, but I have called you friends for

712
00:38:46,820 --> 00:38:49,120
all that I have heard from my father.

713
00:38:49,780 --> 00:38:51,660
I have made known to you.

714
00:38:52,540 --> 00:38:55,420
Now, this is the grace upon grace about

715
00:38:55,420 --> 00:38:57,780
which John had spoken in the prologue to

716
00:38:57,780 --> 00:38:58,440
the gospel.

717
00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:00,760
When we get to this point of the

718
00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:03,480
gospel, the grace is just pouring out of

719
00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:07,140
Jesus towards his disciples as he draws them

720
00:39:07,140 --> 00:39:09,940
into that love in which they are to

721
00:39:09,940 --> 00:39:10,700
abide.

722
00:39:10,900 --> 00:39:14,560
This is the abundance of grace that is

723
00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:17,820
ours in Christ Jesus.

724
00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:22,500
And so we need to understand the love

725
00:39:22,500 --> 00:39:26,980
in which we are to abide.

726
00:39:30,250 --> 00:39:32,370
Let me ask the homework question again.

727
00:39:34,930 --> 00:39:40,050
How well do you understand this in terms

728
00:39:40,050 --> 00:39:43,070
of what it does to the style of

729
00:39:43,070 --> 00:39:43,730
your holiness?

730
00:39:45,150 --> 00:39:48,210
That you are somebody who has grasped the

731
00:39:48,210 --> 00:39:50,410
love in which we are to abide.

732
00:39:50,830 --> 00:39:54,050
Second, the union by which we are to

733
00:39:54,050 --> 00:39:54,450
abide.

734
00:39:56,350 --> 00:39:59,370
Clear to us, wasn't it in Derek Thomas's

735
00:39:59,370 --> 00:40:04,850
address this morning, how deeply imbued with Johannine

736
00:40:04,850 --> 00:40:08,450
as well as Pauline theology the apostle Paul

737
00:40:08,450 --> 00:40:09,270
was.

738
00:40:09,690 --> 00:40:11,930
Notice a number of things about this union.

739
00:40:13,650 --> 00:40:15,750
Six of them, five of them I think

740
00:40:15,750 --> 00:40:16,530
I want to mention.

741
00:40:17,430 --> 00:40:21,330
Number one, and perhaps most important, it is

742
00:40:21,330 --> 00:40:22,850
a personal union.

743
00:40:24,290 --> 00:40:26,710
It is a personal union.

744
00:40:27,650 --> 00:40:32,710
Abide in me and I in you.

745
00:40:33,510 --> 00:40:35,850
Now one of the reasons that is so

746
00:40:35,850 --> 00:40:39,230
difficult for us to expound is because there

747
00:40:39,230 --> 00:40:42,530
isn't really a perfect analogy.

748
00:40:42,930 --> 00:40:45,290
And Jesus uses, as it were, the least

749
00:40:45,290 --> 00:40:48,630
imperfect analogy for our abiding in him and

750
00:40:48,630 --> 00:40:52,970
he abiding in us in the horticultural metaphor

751
00:40:52,970 --> 00:40:55,510
that he uses of the vine and the

752
00:40:55,510 --> 00:40:58,150
branches united together in order that the branches

753
00:40:58,150 --> 00:40:59,530
may bear fruit.

754
00:40:59,750 --> 00:41:03,390
But dear friends, let's try and grasp this,

755
00:41:03,990 --> 00:41:05,950
however difficult it may be for us to

756
00:41:05,950 --> 00:41:11,030
articulate, that the union which we have with

757
00:41:11,030 --> 00:41:15,990
Jesus Christ is a union with his person.

758
00:41:17,870 --> 00:41:26,200
I think oddly enough, oddly enough, it's Bultman

759
00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:31,040
who points out that the expression that the

760
00:41:31,040 --> 00:41:35,360
New Testament loves to use, pistouane ais, to

761
00:41:35,360 --> 00:41:42,720
believe into Jesus, is actually unique in all

762
00:41:42,720 --> 00:41:43,700
classical literature.

763
00:41:45,860 --> 00:41:47,960
That is to say there is something about

764
00:41:47,960 --> 00:41:51,380
the nature of the gospel that demands a

765
00:41:51,380 --> 00:41:54,620
different use of grammar in order to express

766
00:41:54,620 --> 00:41:55,100
it.

767
00:41:56,520 --> 00:42:00,280
Believing into the Lord Jesus Christ.

768
00:42:01,080 --> 00:42:03,720
That is to say this union which we

769
00:42:03,720 --> 00:42:06,420
have with him is a union of persons,

770
00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:11,100
most nobly illustrated as far as the scriptures

771
00:42:11,100 --> 00:42:14,660
are concerned by the union of persons in

772
00:42:14,660 --> 00:42:15,280
marriage.

773
00:42:15,860 --> 00:42:18,640
So that we have one name and we

774
00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:20,380
become one flesh.

775
00:42:21,040 --> 00:42:23,820
Or to put it negatively, this is not

776
00:42:23,820 --> 00:42:25,840
an impersonal union.

777
00:42:28,510 --> 00:42:32,730
This is not the fruits of Christ's atoning

778
00:42:32,730 --> 00:42:35,390
work affecting my life.

779
00:42:36,290 --> 00:42:38,670
This is the very person of the Son

780
00:42:38,670 --> 00:42:42,210
of God in my flesh dwelling in me

781
00:42:42,210 --> 00:42:45,190
by his Spirit and I dwelling in him

782
00:42:45,190 --> 00:42:47,190
through the power of his Holy Spirit.

783
00:42:47,390 --> 00:42:48,710
So that if I could put it this

784
00:42:48,710 --> 00:42:54,150
way, there is nothing between the person of

785
00:42:54,150 --> 00:42:56,750
the Lord Jesus and the person of the

786
00:42:56,750 --> 00:43:02,450
believer as that union and communion develops and

787
00:43:02,450 --> 00:43:03,150
grows.

788
00:43:04,490 --> 00:43:06,490
I think this is a very important thing

789
00:43:06,490 --> 00:43:07,390
for us to grasp.

790
00:43:07,550 --> 00:43:09,170
Let me put it the way I sometimes

791
00:43:09,170 --> 00:43:09,770
put it.

792
00:43:12,180 --> 00:43:16,600
The union with Christ we have is not

793
00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:21,700
that we somehow or another share his grace

794
00:43:23,360 --> 00:43:27,700
because, follow me carefully, there actually is no

795
00:43:27,700 --> 00:43:31,000
such thing as grace.

796
00:43:32,920 --> 00:43:36,900
That actually is Roman Catholic teaching, medieval Roman

797
00:43:36,900 --> 00:43:37,660
Catholic teaching.

798
00:43:38,100 --> 00:43:40,700
There is a thing called grace that can

799
00:43:40,700 --> 00:43:43,140
be separated from the person of Jesus Christ.

800
00:43:43,240 --> 00:43:44,900
It's something that Jesus Christ won on the

801
00:43:44,900 --> 00:43:47,100
cross and he can bestow it on you.

802
00:43:48,020 --> 00:43:50,000
And there are at least seven ways it

803
00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:51,960
can be bestowed on you and they all,

804
00:43:52,220 --> 00:43:53,520
as it happens, turn out to be in

805
00:43:53,520 --> 00:43:54,660
the hands of the church.

806
00:43:55,420 --> 00:43:56,860
And you can have this kind of grace

807
00:43:56,860 --> 00:43:58,540
and this kind of grace and this kind

808
00:43:58,540 --> 00:43:59,900
of grace and this kind of grace.

809
00:44:00,200 --> 00:44:03,260
There is no such thing as grace.

810
00:44:06,160 --> 00:44:07,600
There's only the Lord Jesus.

811
00:44:09,500 --> 00:44:12,840
Grace is not some appendage to his being

812
00:44:12,840 --> 00:44:16,420
nor is it some substance that flows from

813
00:44:16,420 --> 00:44:16,600
us.

814
00:44:16,900 --> 00:44:18,720
Let me give you grace.

815
00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:23,480
All there is is the Lord Jesus himself.

816
00:44:26,070 --> 00:44:28,670
And so when Jesus speaks about us abiding

817
00:44:28,670 --> 00:44:31,690
in him and he abiding in us, this

818
00:44:31,690 --> 00:44:36,130
however mysterious it may be, mystical in that

819
00:44:36,130 --> 00:44:39,190
sense, is a personal union.

820
00:44:42,550 --> 00:44:45,950
Do not let us fail because of the

821
00:44:45,950 --> 00:44:47,790
abuse of expressions.

822
00:44:48,170 --> 00:44:51,370
Do not let us fail to understand that

823
00:44:51,370 --> 00:44:53,130
at the end of the day actually Christianity

824
00:44:53,130 --> 00:44:57,390
is Christ because there isn't anything else.

825
00:44:58,690 --> 00:45:02,050
There isn't an atonement that somehow can be

826
00:45:02,050 --> 00:45:04,910
detached from who the Lord Jesus is.

827
00:45:05,010 --> 00:45:08,910
There isn't grace that can be attached to

828
00:45:08,910 --> 00:45:12,070
you, transferred from him.

829
00:45:13,410 --> 00:45:17,550
All there is is Christ and your soul.

830
00:45:18,930 --> 00:45:22,270
And so he's emphasizing to them this high

831
00:45:22,270 --> 00:45:24,530
and deep mystery of the Christian faith that

832
00:45:24,530 --> 00:45:26,490
the union we have with the Lord Jesus

833
00:45:26,490 --> 00:45:29,290
is a personal union.

834
00:45:30,310 --> 00:45:33,530
And because that union, as Calvin, remember, taught,

835
00:45:33,670 --> 00:45:36,610
because that union is actually grounded in his

836
00:45:36,610 --> 00:45:40,870
union with our humanity and the beauty he

837
00:45:40,870 --> 00:45:45,150
created in that humanity, the holiness that is

838
00:45:45,150 --> 00:45:48,510
forged in us by our union with his

839
00:45:48,510 --> 00:45:54,730
person follows the simple principle, you become very

840
00:45:54,730 --> 00:45:59,050
like the person with whom you most intimately

841
00:45:59,050 --> 00:45:59,590
live.

842
00:46:00,510 --> 00:46:05,030
Now listen, that's a fundamental element of our

843
00:46:05,030 --> 00:46:06,130
ministry, isn't it?

844
00:46:08,350 --> 00:46:10,670
I spent, I guess, many years of my

845
00:46:10,670 --> 00:46:13,990
life having the privilege of begging, borrowing or

846
00:46:13,990 --> 00:46:16,110
stealing somebody else's congregation.

847
00:46:17,250 --> 00:46:19,310
And one of the things I've noticed again

848
00:46:19,310 --> 00:46:21,570
and again and again is the way in

849
00:46:21,570 --> 00:46:26,110
which congregations over a longer ministry tend to

850
00:46:26,110 --> 00:46:30,210
take on the personality of their minister and

851
00:46:30,210 --> 00:46:34,310
preacher and the extent to which people model

852
00:46:34,310 --> 00:46:37,670
their holiness and sanctification on what they see

853
00:46:37,670 --> 00:46:38,410
in their minister.

854
00:46:38,690 --> 00:46:40,750
Now we might fly from that, we might

855
00:46:40,750 --> 00:46:42,650
say it shouldn't be that way, we need

856
00:46:42,650 --> 00:46:46,230
a plurality of elders, but at the end

857
00:46:46,230 --> 00:46:49,830
of the day there is such a close

858
00:46:49,830 --> 00:46:53,730
identification inevitably in the hearts and minds of

859
00:46:53,730 --> 00:46:56,930
our people between the one who preaches Jesus

860
00:46:56,930 --> 00:47:00,810
and the Jesus who is preached that your

861
00:47:00,810 --> 00:47:04,030
likeness to the Lord Jesus in your mutual

862
00:47:04,030 --> 00:47:09,390
indwelling of him is either going to foster

863
00:47:09,390 --> 00:47:12,850
a true likeness to the Lord Jesus in

864
00:47:12,850 --> 00:47:15,830
your people or it's going to foster a

865
00:47:15,830 --> 00:47:18,950
distorted Jesus in your people.

866
00:47:21,310 --> 00:47:23,870
And that's absolutely vital that we see that.

867
00:47:23,910 --> 00:47:25,430
It's a crushing thing to think.

868
00:47:27,980 --> 00:47:29,700
I find it a haunting thought.

869
00:47:29,880 --> 00:47:33,990
I want to fly from the pulpit and

870
00:47:33,990 --> 00:47:35,650
say, please don't look at me.

871
00:47:36,970 --> 00:47:39,430
Please don't think that Jesus really is the

872
00:47:39,430 --> 00:47:40,510
way I preach him.

873
00:47:42,690 --> 00:47:44,630
But my friends, if Jesus isn't really the

874
00:47:44,630 --> 00:47:46,270
way I preach him, I shouldn't be preaching.

875
00:47:49,530 --> 00:47:52,450
And the key to that is personal union

876
00:47:52,450 --> 00:47:53,290
with him.

877
00:47:54,470 --> 00:47:56,490
I think it's one of the great mysteries

878
00:47:56,490 --> 00:48:00,450
of God's providence that when we preach, we

879
00:48:00,450 --> 00:48:01,990
grow large, don't we?

880
00:48:02,890 --> 00:48:05,050
Our minds operate at a level.

881
00:48:05,550 --> 00:48:06,670
I mean, I know you can lose the

882
00:48:06,670 --> 00:48:09,210
place, but your mind operates with a speed

883
00:48:09,210 --> 00:48:13,830
that it doesn't normally operate with.

884
00:48:14,010 --> 00:48:17,030
You grow large, you become conscious that you're

885
00:48:17,030 --> 00:48:19,990
caught up into the Word of God and

886
00:48:19,990 --> 00:48:21,950
into something the Holy Spirit is doing.

887
00:48:24,670 --> 00:48:26,590
And one of the strangest of all divine

888
00:48:26,590 --> 00:48:28,870
providences seems to me to be this, that

889
00:48:28,870 --> 00:48:31,310
when the Holy Spirit makes us, as it

890
00:48:31,310 --> 00:48:34,510
were, as large as we can possibly be,

891
00:48:37,100 --> 00:48:43,130
he doesn't always hide the enlargement of our

892
00:48:43,130 --> 00:48:47,030
distortion of the character of the Lord Jesus

893
00:48:47,030 --> 00:48:47,610
Christ.

894
00:48:48,710 --> 00:48:50,950
We pray that we will be hidden behind

895
00:48:50,950 --> 00:48:51,510
Christ.

896
00:48:51,650 --> 00:48:53,030
We pray that the Holy Spirit will do

897
00:48:53,030 --> 00:48:55,890
that, but apparently he is not always pleased

898
00:48:55,890 --> 00:48:56,810
to do that.

899
00:49:00,440 --> 00:49:02,280
And so we preach a half Christ, a

900
00:49:02,280 --> 00:49:03,520
distorted Christ.

901
00:49:04,680 --> 00:49:06,760
And it's not so evident in our preaching

902
00:49:06,760 --> 00:49:10,120
to the people that we love them as

903
00:49:10,120 --> 00:49:12,640
those who are abiding in the love of

904
00:49:12,640 --> 00:49:13,740
Jesus Christ.

905
00:49:14,200 --> 00:49:17,520
And there is not the atmosphere in our

906
00:49:17,520 --> 00:49:21,540
ministry that we are enjoying personal union and

907
00:49:21,540 --> 00:49:23,380
personal communion with the Lord Jesus.

908
00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:26,860
So it's a union that's personal.

909
00:49:26,980 --> 00:49:29,060
It's a union, secondly, that's spiritual.

910
00:49:29,820 --> 00:49:31,540
That is to say, this is point number

911
00:49:31,540 --> 00:49:33,400
two and this is subheading number two.

912
00:49:34,340 --> 00:49:36,280
It's a spiritual union in the sense it's

913
00:49:36,280 --> 00:49:38,980
a union that's forged by the Holy Spirit.

914
00:49:39,260 --> 00:49:41,320
And this, of course, is the key to

915
00:49:41,320 --> 00:49:44,180
understanding what it means for it to be

916
00:49:44,180 --> 00:49:45,060
a personal union.

917
00:49:45,180 --> 00:49:47,020
And Jesus has just been speaking about this

918
00:49:47,020 --> 00:49:50,240
in chapter 14, verse 15 to the end,

919
00:49:51,100 --> 00:49:52,740
where he speaks about the way in which

920
00:49:52,740 --> 00:49:55,180
this union is forged in us by the

921
00:49:55,180 --> 00:49:57,120
gift of the Holy Spirit that he's going

922
00:49:57,120 --> 00:49:58,080
to give to them.

923
00:49:59,060 --> 00:50:01,140
And this Holy Spirit he's going to give

924
00:50:01,140 --> 00:50:03,660
to them, as we heard again earlier on

925
00:50:03,660 --> 00:50:06,020
today, is the gift of the very same

926
00:50:06,020 --> 00:50:09,780
Holy Spirit who has indwelt him and possessed

927
00:50:09,780 --> 00:50:12,920
him and empowered him, because there is no

928
00:50:12,920 --> 00:50:14,000
other Holy Spirit.

929
00:50:15,060 --> 00:50:17,760
There isn't a Holy Spirit who came and

930
00:50:17,760 --> 00:50:20,120
dwelt upon the Lord Jesus and another Holy

931
00:50:20,120 --> 00:50:22,260
Spirit who didn't come and dwell upon the

932
00:50:22,260 --> 00:50:22,860
Lord Jesus.

933
00:50:24,360 --> 00:50:26,900
So that when God gives the Holy Spirit,

934
00:50:27,040 --> 00:50:28,860
he says, will I give them Spirit A

935
00:50:28,860 --> 00:50:30,680
or will I give them Spirit B?

936
00:50:32,200 --> 00:50:35,480
There's only one Holy Spirit received by believers.

937
00:50:36,360 --> 00:50:38,560
And that's one and the same Holy Spirit

938
00:50:38,560 --> 00:50:41,900
who endowed our Lord Jesus Christ for his

939
00:50:41,900 --> 00:50:44,580
ministry with all the graces and gifts of

940
00:50:44,580 --> 00:50:45,260
the Holy Spirit.

941
00:50:45,580 --> 00:50:48,240
He is the Spirit of Christ who comes

942
00:50:48,240 --> 00:50:49,600
to indwell us.

943
00:50:49,800 --> 00:50:52,040
And look at what Jesus says here when

944
00:50:52,040 --> 00:50:54,240
he speaks about this, when he says, I

945
00:50:54,240 --> 00:50:56,980
won't leave you as orphans, I'll come to

946
00:50:56,980 --> 00:50:57,160
you.

947
00:50:57,300 --> 00:50:59,900
He's speaking not just about his resurrection, he's

948
00:50:59,900 --> 00:51:01,480
speaking about coming to them in the power

949
00:51:01,480 --> 00:51:03,120
of the Holy Spirit on the day of

950
00:51:03,120 --> 00:51:03,880
Pentecost.

951
00:51:04,820 --> 00:51:08,860
And he speaks, you notice, verse 23 about

952
00:51:08,860 --> 00:51:09,160
this.

953
00:51:09,300 --> 00:51:13,140
If anyone loves me, you see, as the

954
00:51:13,140 --> 00:51:15,200
Father has loved me, so have I loved

955
00:51:15,200 --> 00:51:15,500
you.

956
00:51:16,100 --> 00:51:17,300
Abide in my love.

957
00:51:17,300 --> 00:51:19,500
If anyone thus abides in my love and

958
00:51:19,500 --> 00:51:25,680
loves me, then my Father will love him

959
00:51:25,680 --> 00:51:30,280
and we will come to him and make

960
00:51:30,280 --> 00:51:33,580
our home with him.

961
00:51:36,050 --> 00:51:38,450
I don't begin to understand what that means,

962
00:51:40,610 --> 00:51:42,770
but I think I begin to experience what

963
00:51:42,770 --> 00:51:46,310
it means, that he more and more works

964
00:51:46,310 --> 00:51:50,090
in my life to unite me to himself

965
00:51:50,090 --> 00:51:52,470
by the power of the Holy Spirit, that

966
00:51:52,470 --> 00:51:56,610
my life becomes more and more a place

967
00:51:56,610 --> 00:52:01,230
from which Jesus is not repulsed, but to

968
00:52:01,230 --> 00:52:03,430
which he is drawn.

969
00:52:04,990 --> 00:52:06,630
That he loves being here.

970
00:52:07,550 --> 00:52:10,210
That he knows he can go anywhere here.

971
00:52:11,550 --> 00:52:15,730
That he can be ungrieved here.

972
00:52:21,530 --> 00:52:23,910
And while that may be beyond our ability

973
00:52:23,910 --> 00:52:28,510
to articulate, Jesus also emphasizes that this union

974
00:52:28,510 --> 00:52:31,610
that is personal and spiritual is also a

975
00:52:31,610 --> 00:52:34,090
union that's regulated by his word.

976
00:52:35,470 --> 00:52:40,850
If he says, my word abides in you,

977
00:52:41,590 --> 00:52:44,490
then you will abide in my love.

978
00:52:44,610 --> 00:52:47,530
If you keep my commandments, you will abide

979
00:52:47,530 --> 00:52:50,530
in my love.

980
00:52:51,390 --> 00:52:53,670
It's the same thing as Colossians 3, 16,

981
00:52:53,830 --> 00:52:54,090
isn't it?

982
00:52:54,330 --> 00:52:56,530
Let the word of Christ dwell in you

983
00:52:56,530 --> 00:53:01,720
richly, which is parallel to Ephesians 5, 18.

984
00:53:02,660 --> 00:53:04,340
Be filled with the Spirit.

985
00:53:06,440 --> 00:53:07,520
Give the word room.

986
00:53:08,220 --> 00:53:10,660
You know, our love for the Lord Jesus

987
00:53:10,660 --> 00:53:14,800
is going to be manifested by that which

988
00:53:14,800 --> 00:53:19,020
we communicate to our congregation in our preaching,

989
00:53:19,540 --> 00:53:22,420
that we are not experts who stand on

990
00:53:22,420 --> 00:53:25,680
top of this book, who are able simply

991
00:53:25,680 --> 00:53:31,250
to explain it all, but that we are

992
00:53:31,250 --> 00:53:34,850
deep sea divers who have gone down into

993
00:53:34,850 --> 00:53:37,830
this book and we are forever finding precious

994
00:53:37,830 --> 00:53:40,950
perils to bring up and hold before the

995
00:53:40,950 --> 00:53:44,370
congregation and say like excited children, do you

996
00:53:44,370 --> 00:53:45,970
see what's here?

997
00:53:46,870 --> 00:53:48,590
Do you see what the Heavenly Father has

998
00:53:48,590 --> 00:53:50,850
embedded in the seabed of his word?

999
00:53:50,970 --> 00:53:53,670
And we hold it up and our congregations

1000
00:53:53,670 --> 00:53:56,590
begin to sense that we ourselves are growing

1001
00:53:56,590 --> 00:53:58,310
in our understanding of scripture.

1002
00:53:59,250 --> 00:54:03,730
That we are not just schoolmasters teaching them

1003
00:54:03,730 --> 00:54:09,010
something we know perfectly, but we're explorers in

1004
00:54:09,010 --> 00:54:10,590
a world of grace.

1005
00:54:10,970 --> 00:54:15,890
We're constantly finding new things and we're conscious

1006
00:54:15,890 --> 00:54:20,330
then that we're not above this book, but

1007
00:54:20,330 --> 00:54:22,070
that we're below this book.

1008
00:54:22,970 --> 00:54:26,650
We're well below this book and we sit

1009
00:54:26,650 --> 00:54:30,570
where the congregation sits and we're drinking it

1010
00:54:30,570 --> 00:54:33,410
in and God is speaking to us and

1011
00:54:33,410 --> 00:54:36,450
no one is more thoroughly dealt with by

1012
00:54:36,450 --> 00:54:39,250
the Lord Jesus in our ministries than we

1013
00:54:39,250 --> 00:54:41,990
who are the conduits of that ministry.

1014
00:54:42,750 --> 00:54:46,790
Because our very ministry of his word is

1015
00:54:46,790 --> 00:54:48,710
one of the high points of our weekly

1016
00:54:48,710 --> 00:54:52,990
experience of abiding in Christ in a union

1017
00:54:52,990 --> 00:54:56,530
that's regulated by his word dwelling in us

1018
00:54:56,530 --> 00:54:59,250
and it's a loving union.

1019
00:55:00,390 --> 00:55:03,990
No longer servants, well we're still servants of

1020
00:55:03,990 --> 00:55:06,350
course, we don't misunderstand what Jesus is saying.

1021
00:55:07,450 --> 00:55:09,690
No longer servants but friends.

1022
00:55:12,930 --> 00:55:15,630
I really regret, I guess I'm getting old,

1023
00:55:15,730 --> 00:55:20,170
but I really regret the Americanization of the

1024
00:55:20,170 --> 00:55:23,210
Western English-speaking world so that everybody wants

1025
00:55:23,210 --> 00:55:24,910
to call you by your Christian name.

1026
00:55:25,910 --> 00:55:27,410
And it's not I think I want to

1027
00:55:27,410 --> 00:55:32,910
stand on my dignity, but I thoroughly dislike

1028
00:55:32,910 --> 00:55:35,110
going into the hairdressers and an 18-year

1029
00:55:35,110 --> 00:55:36,970
-old girl saying to me, what's your name?

1030
00:55:37,530 --> 00:55:38,890
And I say it's Ferguson.

1031
00:55:39,770 --> 00:55:41,310
She says, oh what's your first name?

1032
00:55:42,290 --> 00:55:43,670
And I know what's going to follow.

1033
00:55:43,930 --> 00:55:45,390
She's going to call me Sinclair.

1034
00:55:45,550 --> 00:55:46,870
Come over here Sinclair.

1035
00:55:47,770 --> 00:55:49,070
Now why do I object to that?

1036
00:55:49,070 --> 00:55:50,570
That's the name my mother gave me.

1037
00:55:54,710 --> 00:55:58,150
What I object to is this, that it

1038
00:55:58,150 --> 00:56:02,330
means that social grace that used to exist

1039
00:56:02,330 --> 00:56:06,630
when somebody wanted to draw you into their

1040
00:56:06,630 --> 00:56:11,870
friendship, they could say to you, please call

1041
00:56:11,870 --> 00:56:13,190
me by my Christian name.

1042
00:56:14,070 --> 00:56:16,610
I've never forgotten going in an elevator with

1043
00:56:16,610 --> 00:56:20,290
very famous Christian theologian that you would all

1044
00:56:20,290 --> 00:56:24,130
recognize his name immediately, to whom I'd always

1045
00:56:24,130 --> 00:56:27,590
referred as Dr. X, when Dr. X turned

1046
00:56:27,590 --> 00:56:29,770
to me as the doors were just about

1047
00:56:29,770 --> 00:56:32,670
to open and he said, please, he said,

1048
00:56:33,550 --> 00:56:34,850
my name is.

1049
00:56:37,990 --> 00:56:39,830
It was a great moment for me as

1050
00:56:39,830 --> 00:56:43,870
a young man to be drawn into friendship.

1051
00:56:45,070 --> 00:56:47,690
It was no longer the relation of master

1052
00:56:47,690 --> 00:56:49,370
to servant.

1053
00:56:50,490 --> 00:56:52,410
And I would never in a thousand years

1054
00:56:52,410 --> 00:57:00,040
have transgressed the honor and the esteem, but

1055
00:57:00,040 --> 00:57:00,940
to be drawn in.

1056
00:57:03,160 --> 00:57:05,020
And Jesus says to him, what a moment.

1057
00:57:05,760 --> 00:57:07,940
I think the thing that really just overwhelms

1058
00:57:07,940 --> 00:57:10,240
me about this moment is that our dear

1059
00:57:10,240 --> 00:57:14,640
Savior was going to die in awful excruciating

1060
00:57:14,640 --> 00:57:17,640
pain upon the cross within 24 hours.

1061
00:57:18,960 --> 00:57:22,860
And he says to them, from now on

1062
00:57:22,860 --> 00:57:25,160
you're friends.

1063
00:57:25,260 --> 00:57:27,140
It's a union of friendship.

1064
00:57:28,280 --> 00:57:31,060
And yes, he says, it's a, it's a

1065
00:57:31,060 --> 00:57:31,980
growing union.

1066
00:57:32,720 --> 00:57:34,860
Did you catch that in Calvin this morning?

1067
00:57:35,380 --> 00:57:36,800
It's a growing union.

1068
00:57:37,660 --> 00:57:40,280
There's more and more and more and more.

1069
00:57:41,000 --> 00:57:43,280
Those of you who are married, the day

1070
00:57:43,280 --> 00:57:45,140
you were married and you were just, I

1071
00:57:45,140 --> 00:57:48,180
hope just filled overwhelmed with the emotion of

1072
00:57:48,180 --> 00:57:50,420
the situation, maybe more than your wife was.

1073
00:57:50,520 --> 00:57:52,280
Can't believe this is happening to me.

1074
00:57:53,200 --> 00:57:54,480
She's actually done it.

1075
00:57:54,600 --> 00:57:55,300
She's mine.

1076
00:57:58,130 --> 00:57:59,810
You scarcely loved her then.

1077
00:58:00,390 --> 00:58:04,630
You, you scarcely knew her then, but you've

1078
00:58:04,630 --> 00:58:06,050
grown into that union.

1079
00:58:06,230 --> 00:58:09,190
You have a hundred thousand more intimate reasons

1080
00:58:09,190 --> 00:58:12,250
to love her today than you did then.

1081
00:58:13,290 --> 00:58:15,830
And so with the Lord Jesus for all

1082
00:58:15,830 --> 00:58:16,410
eternity.

1083
00:58:19,110 --> 00:58:21,230
I think it's a great mistake that people

1084
00:58:21,230 --> 00:58:23,630
think that when we die, we become A,

1085
00:58:23,690 --> 00:58:25,130
infinite and B, eternal.

1086
00:58:25,870 --> 00:58:30,350
When we die, we remain finite creatures and

1087
00:58:30,350 --> 00:58:36,250
we don't become eternal in that ontological sense

1088
00:58:36,650 --> 00:58:39,510
that there is no past, no present, no

1089
00:58:39,510 --> 00:58:40,210
future.

1090
00:58:40,650 --> 00:58:43,850
Otherwise the lenses that scripture gives us of

1091
00:58:43,850 --> 00:58:46,310
those who are in the glory are false

1092
00:58:46,310 --> 00:58:48,610
and untrustworthy lenses.

1093
00:58:49,770 --> 00:58:52,830
And this friendship that's bestowed upon us in

1094
00:58:52,830 --> 00:58:55,770
Christ, this union of love, we will find

1095
00:58:55,770 --> 00:58:59,570
a million, million, million more reasons to love

1096
00:58:59,570 --> 00:59:03,670
the Lord Jesus in eternity than we have

1097
00:59:03,670 --> 00:59:03,990
now.

1098
00:59:04,950 --> 00:59:08,750
It's a love of growing union.

1099
00:59:10,110 --> 00:59:14,350
And yet you notice it's a union that

1100
00:59:14,350 --> 00:59:18,250
in order to bring blessing causes pain.

1101
00:59:19,170 --> 00:59:23,690
Back to the Michelangelo illustration, as he chisels

1102
00:59:23,690 --> 00:59:26,170
away, because he sees in this block of

1103
00:59:26,170 --> 00:59:28,250
stone, the angel.

1104
00:59:29,890 --> 00:59:32,710
But the difference between the illustration and the

1105
00:59:32,710 --> 00:59:35,770
reality is this, that we are not blocks

1106
00:59:35,770 --> 00:59:38,270
of stone that have no feelings.

1107
00:59:39,470 --> 00:59:43,650
We are men who feel every chisel blow,

1108
00:59:43,650 --> 00:59:46,590
every hammer of the heavenly father.

1109
00:59:47,150 --> 00:59:49,030
We cry out to him, what are you

1110
00:59:49,030 --> 00:59:49,290
doing?

1111
00:59:49,390 --> 00:59:50,910
We don't see the big picture.

1112
00:59:51,890 --> 00:59:54,590
We don't understand that he's conforming us more

1113
00:59:54,590 --> 00:59:57,330
and more to the likeness of his son,

1114
00:59:57,410 --> 00:59:59,630
that he might be the firstborn of many

1115
00:59:59,630 --> 01:00:00,070
brethren.

1116
01:00:00,250 --> 01:00:02,930
And we allow ourselves to be dislocated and

1117
01:00:02,930 --> 01:00:06,690
enervated by the chisel blows of the heavenly

1118
01:00:06,690 --> 01:00:12,210
father or by the pruning knife that he

1119
01:00:12,210 --> 01:00:12,910
uses.

1120
01:00:13,450 --> 01:00:18,630
As he cuts away everything that will get

1121
01:00:18,630 --> 01:00:22,930
in the way of stable fruit and glorious

1122
01:00:22,930 --> 01:00:23,430
fruition.

1123
01:00:25,030 --> 01:00:26,710
Well, I'm almost finished.

1124
01:00:26,810 --> 01:00:29,370
Let me simply give you the six headings

1125
01:00:29,370 --> 01:00:31,850
of the third point, the love in which

1126
01:00:31,850 --> 01:00:34,250
we abide, the union by which we abide,

1127
01:00:34,750 --> 01:00:37,550
the marks of those who thus abide.

1128
01:00:38,050 --> 01:00:40,610
And there are at least six of them

1129
01:00:40,610 --> 01:00:41,510
in this passage.

1130
01:00:42,230 --> 01:00:46,410
Number one, in chapter 15, verse 12, universal

1131
01:00:46,410 --> 01:00:51,750
obedience to the Lord Jesus commands, universal obedience

1132
01:00:51,750 --> 01:00:53,550
to the Lord Jesus commands.

1133
01:00:53,950 --> 01:01:01,510
Second, a respondent friendship to Jesus himself, a

1134
01:01:01,510 --> 01:01:05,870
respondent friendship to Jesus himself.

1135
01:01:06,790 --> 01:01:09,310
You know, the privilege as you go on

1136
01:01:09,310 --> 01:01:11,690
in ministry, you come to this conference year

1137
01:01:11,690 --> 01:01:15,050
after year, or you intersect with brethren here

1138
01:01:15,050 --> 01:01:17,470
and there, sometimes a year passes, two year

1139
01:01:17,470 --> 01:01:20,470
passes, and you've no idea what's been going

1140
01:01:20,470 --> 01:01:21,450
on in their lives.

1141
01:01:21,570 --> 01:01:23,870
And yet you somehow or another, you pick

1142
01:01:23,870 --> 01:01:25,570
up where you left off and you think

1143
01:01:25,570 --> 01:01:27,570
there can't be friendships like this.

1144
01:01:28,410 --> 01:01:30,310
Do you sometimes think, is there another man

1145
01:01:30,310 --> 01:01:33,210
in the whole universe who is so blessed

1146
01:01:33,210 --> 01:01:37,830
by the friendships you have?

1147
01:01:38,630 --> 01:01:40,930
The bounty that Jesus Christ has given to

1148
01:01:40,930 --> 01:01:42,530
you in the gospel.

1149
01:01:44,010 --> 01:01:47,550
I know that friendship grows over the years

1150
01:01:47,550 --> 01:01:49,650
and same here.

1151
01:01:51,130 --> 01:01:54,790
He not only makes us his friends, but

1152
01:01:54,790 --> 01:01:58,690
he seeks from us a respondent friendship.

1153
01:01:59,390 --> 01:02:00,830
You think about yourself that way.

1154
01:02:00,830 --> 01:02:03,390
There are many ways in which I need

1155
01:02:03,390 --> 01:02:04,450
to think about myself.

1156
01:02:04,590 --> 01:02:05,970
I'm a sinner saved by grace.

1157
01:02:06,110 --> 01:02:06,430
Yes.

1158
01:02:06,970 --> 01:02:09,150
I continue to be a sinner, a wretched

1159
01:02:09,150 --> 01:02:09,670
man.

1160
01:02:09,810 --> 01:02:12,130
And I need to be delivered from the

1161
01:02:12,130 --> 01:02:14,030
body of sin and the body of death.

1162
01:02:14,250 --> 01:02:17,690
But he wants me also to think of

1163
01:02:17,690 --> 01:02:21,870
myself as his friend, to walk with him

1164
01:02:21,870 --> 01:02:25,010
as his friend, to go to him as

1165
01:02:25,010 --> 01:02:29,250
his friend, to share my life with him

1166
01:02:29,250 --> 01:02:31,510
as his friend.

1167
01:02:33,030 --> 01:02:36,250
Mark number three is a love for all

1168
01:02:36,250 --> 01:02:39,050
those for whom Jesus has died.

1169
01:02:39,930 --> 01:02:43,170
This is my commandment that you love one

1170
01:02:43,170 --> 01:02:45,830
another without exception.

1171
01:02:46,150 --> 01:02:47,270
Now they hadn't done that.

1172
01:02:48,150 --> 01:02:51,250
Some of them had been furious about the

1173
01:02:51,250 --> 01:02:53,290
way in which there were some who were

1174
01:02:53,290 --> 01:02:54,210
in the inner circle.

1175
01:02:55,170 --> 01:02:57,350
They were probably all furious with one another

1176
01:02:57,350 --> 01:02:59,170
as they'd sat around the room and Jesus

1177
01:02:59,170 --> 01:03:00,410
had washed all their feet.

1178
01:03:00,510 --> 01:03:01,190
You should have done it.

1179
01:03:01,270 --> 01:03:02,290
You should have done it.

1180
01:03:05,850 --> 01:03:07,550
And he who called them to a universal

1181
01:03:07,550 --> 01:03:10,470
obedience called them also to a universal love

1182
01:03:10,470 --> 01:03:13,710
for all those for whom Jesus died.

1183
01:03:14,570 --> 01:03:17,490
Never my brothers let your first thought of

1184
01:03:17,490 --> 01:03:21,030
somebody who is a true Christian, never let

1185
01:03:21,030 --> 01:03:23,930
your first thought about them be anything else

1186
01:03:23,930 --> 01:03:27,050
but I will love this brother or sister

1187
01:03:27,050 --> 01:03:28,790
for whom Jesus Christ died.

1188
01:03:29,710 --> 01:03:34,030
And never ever transgress that principle by God's

1189
01:03:34,030 --> 01:03:34,490
grace.

1190
01:03:36,270 --> 01:03:39,890
Fourthly, a willingness to suffer in communion with

1191
01:03:39,890 --> 01:03:40,250
Christ.

1192
01:03:40,390 --> 01:03:41,790
This is what he goes on to expound

1193
01:03:41,790 --> 01:03:43,450
in chapter 15 verse 18.

1194
01:03:44,330 --> 01:03:47,330
If you are united to me again, this

1195
01:03:47,330 --> 01:03:49,190
is Calvin this morning, isn't it?

1196
01:03:50,430 --> 01:03:53,410
If you're united to me, you will suffer

1197
01:03:53,410 --> 01:03:58,510
in me and with me and your life

1198
01:03:58,510 --> 01:04:02,030
externally as well as internally is going to

1199
01:04:02,030 --> 01:04:05,410
be conformed to this pattern so that death

1200
01:04:05,410 --> 01:04:07,090
is the way to life and the cross

1201
01:04:07,090 --> 01:04:08,130
is the way to victory.

1202
01:04:08,910 --> 01:04:11,530
And it's all here in chapter 15.

1203
01:04:12,610 --> 01:04:16,590
Number five, a constraint to witness to Jesus'

1204
01:04:16,870 --> 01:04:17,090
name.

1205
01:04:18,490 --> 01:04:20,350
Remember how Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians

1206
01:04:20,350 --> 01:04:22,970
5, the love of Christ constrains me.

1207
01:04:23,270 --> 01:04:25,790
And here Jesus himself puts it fascinatingly at

1208
01:04:25,790 --> 01:04:28,650
the end of the chapter where he says,

1209
01:04:28,830 --> 01:04:30,850
speaking about the coming of the Holy Spirit,

1210
01:04:31,310 --> 01:04:33,130
when the helper comes whom I'll send you

1211
01:04:33,130 --> 01:04:34,710
from the father, the spirit of truth who

1212
01:04:34,710 --> 01:04:37,110
proceeds from the father, he will bear witness

1213
01:04:37,110 --> 01:04:39,470
about me and you also will bear witness

1214
01:04:39,470 --> 01:04:42,310
about me because you have been with me

1215
01:04:42,310 --> 01:04:43,010
from the beginning.

1216
01:04:43,110 --> 01:04:45,690
Now see the perfect analogy that he's drawing

1217
01:04:45,690 --> 01:04:49,930
here, the parallel lines, the reason the spirit

1218
01:04:49,930 --> 01:04:54,250
is such an effective witness is the very

1219
01:04:54,250 --> 01:04:57,070
same reason they are to be witnesses because

1220
01:04:57,070 --> 01:05:00,850
he has been with Jesus from the beginning.

1221
01:05:01,490 --> 01:05:03,870
And he who has been with Jesus from

1222
01:05:03,870 --> 01:05:06,390
the beginning of his ministry is able to

1223
01:05:06,390 --> 01:05:08,810
enable those who have been with him from

1224
01:05:08,810 --> 01:05:12,230
the beginning of his ministry to bear witness

1225
01:05:12,230 --> 01:05:13,070
to him.

1226
01:05:14,270 --> 01:05:16,810
That's how our union with Christ overflows.

1227
01:05:17,690 --> 01:05:20,950
And point number six, a mark of one

1228
01:05:20,950 --> 01:05:24,190
who abides in Christ, chapter 15 verse 11,

1229
01:05:25,250 --> 01:05:28,670
is that Christ's joy will be in him

1230
01:05:29,350 --> 01:05:34,790
and his joy, your joy, will be full.

1231
01:05:35,790 --> 01:05:37,930
I find that one of the most intriguing

1232
01:05:38,670 --> 01:05:40,750
pieces of language in John's gospel.

1233
01:05:40,930 --> 01:05:41,930
What does Jesus mean?

1234
01:05:43,150 --> 01:05:46,030
He says, I've spoken these things to you

1235
01:05:46,030 --> 01:05:48,870
in order that, does he mean in order

1236
01:05:48,870 --> 01:05:51,550
that the joy I have may be in

1237
01:05:51,550 --> 01:05:51,950
you?

1238
01:05:52,610 --> 01:05:55,750
Or does he mean that you may be

1239
01:05:55,750 --> 01:05:58,330
the reason, the cause of my joy?

1240
01:06:00,070 --> 01:06:02,690
I suspect actually he means both.

1241
01:06:04,470 --> 01:06:08,490
That as we abide in Christ's love, the

1242
01:06:08,490 --> 01:06:11,910
love that has as its foundation, the love

1243
01:06:11,910 --> 01:06:13,950
that the father has for him, the love

1244
01:06:13,950 --> 01:06:16,970
that he has given to us, we discover

1245
01:06:16,970 --> 01:06:18,150
both things are true.

1246
01:06:18,990 --> 01:06:22,090
That our little lives give our Savior great

1247
01:06:22,090 --> 01:06:25,790
joy and the great joy of the Savior

1248
01:06:27,550 --> 01:06:29,470
dwells in us.

1249
01:06:30,870 --> 01:06:36,000
And when this is true, if we can

1250
01:06:36,000 --> 01:06:38,740
apply all this to ourselves as ministers of

1251
01:06:38,740 --> 01:06:44,500
the gospel, when this is true, our ministries

1252
01:06:44,500 --> 01:06:54,640
really will be different and Jesus-like, Jesus

1253
01:06:54,640 --> 01:06:55,260
-like.

1254
01:06:57,470 --> 01:07:00,510
And at the end of the day, there's

1255
01:07:00,510 --> 01:07:04,550
nothing else worth living for except what's going

1256
01:07:04,550 --> 01:07:08,110
to be Jesus-like because nothing in you

1257
01:07:08,110 --> 01:07:13,650
will last for eternity unless it's Jesus-like.

1258
01:07:14,710 --> 01:07:18,270
Our Heavenly Father, we thank you again and

1259
01:07:18,270 --> 01:07:20,770
again for the grace that you have shown

1260
01:07:20,770 --> 01:07:24,050
to us in Jesus Christ and we pray

1261
01:07:24,050 --> 01:07:26,050
that you would teach us more and more

1262
01:07:26,050 --> 01:07:28,670
by your Holy Spirit what it means to

1263
01:07:28,670 --> 01:07:32,930
abide in Christ and grant that it may

1264
01:07:32,930 --> 01:07:34,790
be said of every single one of us

1265
01:07:34,790 --> 01:07:37,790
in the last day that abiding in Christ

1266
01:07:37,790 --> 01:07:43,190
we bore much fruit and so proved to

1267
01:07:43,190 --> 01:07:45,410
be Christ's disciples.

1268
01:07:46,370 --> 01:07:48,650
Bless us now as we go to lunch,

1269
01:07:48,850 --> 01:07:50,630
we pray in Jesus' name.

1270
01:07:51,010 --> 01:07:51,290
Amen.