Tonight, let's turn now to John's Gospel, chapter
15, as we follow Jesus in His last
hours prior to the cross.
Jesus had been at the last supper with
His disciples there in the upper room somewhere
in Jerusalem.
The 14th chapter of John ends with the
words, Arise, let us go hence.
So at that point, they left the upper
room.
And they began their journey, which would ultimately
lead them to the Garden of Gethsemane.
And whether or not they went through the
temple courts or whatever, we don't know.
The Gospels do not trace the steps of
Jesus.
It is possible that they went on in
through the temple gates because they were left
open all night during the Passover season so
that anyone who wanted to come and pray
could pray at any time.
And those gates had upon them the carved
clusters of grapes by which God declared His
purpose for the nation of Israel that it
be a fruitful vine and bear fruit for
God.
And it could be that as they were
passing through the gates with these clustered grapes,
the symbol of the nation, the vine, that
this prompted Jesus to make this statement to
His disciples found here in the 15th chapter
of John, where He said, I am the
true vine.
In the Greek it reads, I am the
vine, the true.
And though you say, well, what is the
difference?
It sounds the same to me.
There is, I feel, a subtle difference here.
I am the vine, the true.
Throughout the Old Testament, God had used the
vine as a symbol of the nation of
Israel.
And many of the prophets refer to Israel
as the vine, as do the Psalms.
It was the national symbol of Israel.
But Isaiah the prophet in chapter 5 speaks
of the nation as a vine and how
God planted it, hedged it about, put in
a winepress.
But when the time came to gather fruit,
there was nothing but wild grapes.
And so He allowed the vineyard to just
go back to nature.
Allowed the brambles to come in and just
discarded actually the vineyard as far as ever
endeavoring or hoping to receive the fruit from
it.
Now, in the 21st chapter of Matthew's Gospel,
Jesus gives a parable that the Pharisees understood
correctly to be addressed against them.
And in this parable, He speaks of the
Lord who had a vineyard.
And when the time came for fruit, He
sent His servants that He might receive from
His vineyard.
But the husbandman that He had left in
charge of the vineyard beat the servants and
sent them away empty.
And so He sent other servants to them,
which they also beat, and some they stoned.
And finally, He said, I will send My
only Son.
Surely they will honor Him.
But when the husbandman saw the sun coming,
they said, look, this is the sun in
the air.
Let's kill Him and then the vineyard can
be ours.
So Jesus said, what will the Lord of
the vineyard do when He comes?
Surely He will take the husbandman and cast
them out and give the vineyard unto others.
Now, with that as a background, the vineyard,
the nation Israel having failed, having the religious
leaders at that time were the husbandmen who
were overseeing the vineyard.
And when Jesus came, they said, look, He
is a threat to us and to our
positions.
We better get rid of Him.
And so they destroyed Him.
And what will the Lord do?
He will take the vineyard and He will
give it unto others.
And so Jesus is saying, look, I am
the true vine.
And My Father is now the husbandman.
And in that He is saying, you are
the ones to whom this vineyard is given.
Or you are now the vineyard.
You are the true vineyard of God.
You are the ones who are to bear
fruit now for God.
The nation Israel failed in God's purposes for
it.
It did not bring forth the fruit that
God was desiring.
And so now God is giving to you
that privilege, the church, that it might become
now God's vineyard and bring forth fruit unto
Him.
I am the vine, the true.
And My Father is now the husbandman.
And so He is the one that is
overseeing the vineyard directly.
He no longer has it under the authority
of the priesthood of Israel or of the
religious leaders.
He has taken away their authority and He
has taken upon Himself that position of the
husbandman overseeing the vineyard.
And every branch in Me that beareth fruit,
or every branch in Me that beareth not
fruit, He taketh away.
And every branch in Me that beareth fruit,
He purges it that it may bring forth
more fruit.
So every branch that doesn't bear fruit, He
takes away.
There is that pruning process that goes on
within the church as the Father cuts off
the unfruitful branches.
But then there is also that cultivating of
those branches that are bearing fruit.
He washes them.
Now, in Israel, many of the grapes that
are grown are grown actually on the ground.
As you go through the Eshkol Valley and
the areas around the Eshkol Valley where the
finest grapes are grown, you will see these
huge trunks of the grape vines.
And they are maybe six feet long.
And you'll see them lying on the ground,
propped up on one end by a rock.
And so they're just lying across the ground,
only propped up by a rock on the
one end.
And as they produce the fruit, the fruit
actually is lying right there on the stony
ground of the vineyard.
And the vine dressers will go through the
vineyard and they will pick up these great
bunches of grapes and they will wash them
and clean off the dirt and all.
And they'll cleanse them in order that the
fruit might ripen to perfection.
And I'll tell you, the grapes that are
grown there are truly delicious.
Grapes, table grapes that are grown through that
valley.
Now, Jesus is taking a picture that is
very familiar with the people as they had
seen the people out there washing the branches
and washing these bunches of grape that they
might produce more fruit.
If you're not bearing fruit, cut off.
You are pruned.
If you're bearing fruit, you're purged that you
might bring forth more fruit.
And what is that which God uses to
cleanse the church?
His Word.
Now, you are clean through the Word which
I have spoken unto you.
What tremendous cleansing power there is in the
Word of God.
Thy Word have I hid in my heart,
O Lord, that I might not sin against
Thee.
Wherewithal shall a young man take heed of
his ways?
By giving heed to the Word of God.
The great cleansing power of the Word.
My father-in-law, an old Swede, had
in his Bible this book will keep you
from sin and sin will keep you from
this book.
And it is true, there is that cleansing
power of the Word.
It will keep you from sin.
Now, you are clean through the Word which
I have spoken unto you.
Abide in me.
Now, I am the vine, the true.
You're the branches.
And the importance of the branch abiding in
the vine and this relationship is going to
be stressed here by Jesus Christ in the
next few verses.
That important relationship and the necessity of abiding
in Him.
And He declares, Abide in me and I
in you.
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself
except it abide in the vine, no more
can ye except ye abide in me.
You cannot bring forth any worthwhile fruit unto
God apart from that indwelling power of Jesus
Christ.
Anything that you endeavor to do for God
apart from Jesus Christ is worthless.
It is as wood, hay, and stubble that
will burn when the day of judgment comes.
The only lasting fruit is that which is
produced as the result of the relationship with
Jesus Christ.
And here again, the idea of fruit indicates
to us the method of God.
The fruit that comes forth from our lives
is a very natural thing.
It's not forced.
That apple hanging on the tree is not
out there struggling and striving and pushing and
doing its best to get ripe.
All it has to do is just hang
in there and it's going to ripen and
it's going to come to maturity.
And I just need to hang in there
just to abide in Christ and the natural
result of abiding in Christ is my life
is going to bring forth fruit.
One of the problems in the church today
is this endeavor of forced fruit.
Now, you ought to be doing this for
Lord and you're being pushed into all kinds
of activities not really directed by the Spirit.
And this can become worthless expenditures of energy
unless God is behind it and God is
guiding it and God is directing it.
Unless you're abiding in Him, you cannot bear
fruit of yourself.
You cannot sit down and say, now this
is what I'm going to do for God
this year and these are the projects that
I'm going to endeavor and this is my
plan by which I intend to fulfill this
goal.
That bearing fruit that God desires is the
most natural thing that can happen to you
as you abide in Christ.
It's just a natural function.
And so, abide in me, you can't bear
fruit of yourself.
I am the vine, ye are the branches.
And he that abides in me and I
in him, the same brings forth much fruit.
Now this is really progression and this is
growing.
I start out as I receive Jesus Christ.
I am grafted into the vine.
I become a part of it.
I begin to take nourishment from Him.
And as my life begins to bring forth
fruit, then His Word cleanses me that I
might bring forth more fruit.
And as I abide in Him, then I
begin to bring forth much fruit.
And herein is my Father glorified.
This is what my Father wants, that my
life bear much fruit for Him.
So, I am the vine, you are the
branches.
He that abides in me and I in
Him, the same brings forth much fruit.
For without me, you can do nothing.
I've got that underline with a bold underline
in my Bible.
Because I have tried to do so many
things on my own and failed.
I wonder when will that truth really sink
into my heart.
That I might realize that apart from Jesus,
I can do nothing.
It's futile for me to even try.
Any service towards God not directed by the
Spirit is worthless.
Apart from me, you can do nothing.
Now, I have here a reference to another
verse that Paul declared in Philippians 4.13.
For I can do all things through Christ
which strengtheneth me.
So, they go together.
Apart from Him, I can do nothing.
Through Him, I can do anything.
Nothing is too hard.
I can do all things through Christ.
But apart from Him, I can do nothing.
And so, if a man abides not in
me.
Now, this brings up an interesting consideration.
Is it possible for a man not to
abide in Jesus Christ?
If it were not possible, why would Jesus
even bring up then the prospect?
You see, if it weren't possible for a
man not to abide in Jesus, he would
not have even brought up the prospect.
But the fact that he brings up the
prospect means that there is that possibility.
If a man abides not in me, he
is cast forth as a branch and is
withered.
And men gather them and cast them into
the fire and they are burned.
Cut off from the vine.
Withered.
And Isaiah tells us, no, it was Ezekiel
that tells us the worthlessness of a grape
branch.
It's not strong enough to make a nail
out of it.
And you can't use it for any woodworking
project because of its texture and makeup.
A grape branch is only good for one
thing and that's to produce grapes.
And if it doesn't do that, it really
isn't good for anything else.
It's not good firewood.
It's like a punk.
It just, you know, smolders and and smokes,
but it doesn't really burn well.
And it's not good for any woodworking project.
It's just worthless.
It's good for only one purpose and that's
to produce fruit.
I hate to tell you this, but you're
good for only one purpose and that's to
bear fruit to God.
And if you don't do that, you're just
as worthless as a punk.
I mean, you don't, there's no, there's no
value to you.
So, Jesus said, abide in me.
And if you don't, cut off your withered.
Men, gather them together and throw them into
the fire and they are burned.
Now, if you abide in me and my
words abide in you, you shall ask what
you will and it shall be done unto
you.
Now, he brings up here the subject of
prayer.
And in the subject of prayer, he makes
here a very broad promise.
You shall ask what you will and it
shall be done unto you.
But who is he addressing this broad promise
to those who are abiding in him and
those who are, have the word of God
abiding in them.
If you abide in me and my words
abide in you, then under those conditions, you
can ask what you will and it shall
be done unto you.
And herein is my father glorified that you
bear much fruit.
So shall you be my disciples.
And so, God called the nation of Israel
to bring forth fruit.
They failed.
Now, God is giving out the vineyard to
others.
The church becomes the instrument of God to
bear God's fruit in the world today.
And if God spared not the natural branches
but cut them off, take heed lest he
not spare us.
If we fail in the purposes of God
to bring forth fruit, then God will raise
up others to bring forth fruit unto him.
I believe that I am eternally secure as
long as I abide in Jesus Christ.
No power can wrest me from his hand.
I have no doubts or qualms at all
about my eternal security and my salvation.
I don't worry about, oh, is God going
to save me or not?
Or will I make it in the last
day?
I know I will because I have no
intention of ever doing anything but abiding in
Jesus Christ.
And as long as I abide in him,
I am eternally secure.
You see, but what if you don't abide
in him?
That's your problem, not mine.
You see, that doesn't even enter my mind.
I'm like Peter, Lord, where can we go?
You have the words of life.
These people get all hung up on eternal
security and all.
That's too bad because I am eternally secure
as long as I abide in him and
I have no intention of doing anything else.
Now, Jesus said, as the Father hath loved
me, so have I loved you.
Continue in my love.
Now He's beginning to talk about the fruit.
The fruit of the Spirit is love.
This is what God is seeking from His
church.
Love.
The expressions of love.
He wants verbal expressions, but He also desires
deeds that express.
Just like our wives want the verbal assurance,
but then also they want the deeds.
The verbal assurance doesn't mean much unless there
are deeds, and the deeds don't mean much
unless there are words.
Somehow, they want it verbalized.
And she says to me sometimes, Honey, do
you love me?
And I said, of course I love you.
Don't I bring the food home for dinner?
Or don't I provide for the house?
Sure, I love you.
Well, it just needs verbal assurance.
And God wants that verbal expression of our
love.
And God wants us to love and to
show our love by our deeds.
And this is the fruit God is seeking
from His garden, from the church.
Oh, that we might express our love to
God more fully, more completely.
If you keep My commandments, you will abide
in My love, even as I have kept
My Father's commandments and abide in His love.
And these things have I spoken unto you,
that My joy might remain in you, and
that your joy might be full.
Now, this is the first time the Gospels
mention anything about the joy of Jesus Christ.
These things I've spoken unto you, that My
joy.
There are many people who picture Jesus as
a very sad and sorrowful person, and they
make note that the Gospels record many times
His crying, but they never record any place
where He laughed.
I do not believe that silence is evidence
or proof of anything.
I personally am convinced that Jesus laughed a
lot.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, and
the characteristic of love is joy.
And for too many years, there was that
kind of an unwritten code in the church
that the more sorrowful you looked, the more
holy you were.
And so, the ministers used to try and
look as mournful and sad and sober, never
cracking a smile, because that would be a
sign of getting in the flesh and carnality,
you know.
And so it was always even a somber
voice.
Good morning, brethren.
We're gathered here today.
And it took on this somber kind of
a...
You know, you felt like you're coming under
a dark cloud.
Coming in the presence of God.
But in His presence, the Bible says, is
fullness of joy.
And at His right hand, there are pleasures
forevermore.
And Jesus here speaks of His joy, but
it is interesting that He speaks of His
joy just before He's coming to the cross.
And in Hebrews, we read, who for the
joy that was set before Him endured the
cross, despising the shame.
But then He talks about the fullness of
joy that His disciples should receive.
That My joy might remain in you and
that your joy may be full.
There's a vast difference between joy and happiness.
The world today is in a mad pursuit
for happiness.
But happiness is an experience of the emotions
where joy is an experience of the Spirit.
Because happiness is in the realm of emotions,
it's a variable.
And a person can go from great happiness
to tears in just a hurry.
Have you ever noticed how akin our emotions
are?
If our emotions really get to working, and
I'm really getting emotional and laughing hard, it's
just a little tilt and you can be
crying.
You know, I've watched this with the grandchildren.
They'll be laughing and all just screaming with
gales of laughter.
And then suddenly, they'll look real sober, the
little lip will go out and they'll begin
to puddle up and cry, you know.
And you wonder, well, what happened?
They seem to be so happy and giggling
and having so much fun, and suddenly, they're
crying.
But that's because it's in the realm of
emotions.
And our emotions are variable and, you know,
they can change so quickly.
That's why the Lord doesn't promise happiness.
It might not last.
He promises joy.
Because that is an experience of the Spirit
deeper than the level of the emotions.
It's an abiding joy.
It's not the variable.
And though the outward circumstances of my life
may change drastically because it's joy, it doesn't
vary with my outward circumstances.
It's a constant.
You see, you might come to me and
say, oh, Chuck, I'm really desperate.
I need $10,000 right away to pay
off these bills because, you know, they're going
to foreclose on me.
And I might sit down and write you
out a check for $10,000 and hand
it to you and say, here.
And you go away just so happy.
Saying, oh, great!
Laughing all the way to the bank until
you tried to cash the check.
And then you would become very sad when
they would say, he doesn't have enough money
in his account to cover that thing.
And so, you see how your happiness can
change to sorrow in such a hurry because
of the change of the outward circumstances.
But not the joy.
And the Lord wants your joy to be
full.
And twice here in this final discourse with
His disciples, He speaks about this fullness of
joy.
And in this case, the fullness of joy
is related to your prayer life.
Oh, the joy of being able to spend
time in prayer with the Father.
And to see God working in answer to
prayer.
What joy, what full joy it brings to
us to see God's answers to prayer.
And so, related here to our prayer life
that your joy may be full.
This is My commandment.
Now, Jesus had said, if you keep My
commandments, you will abide in My love.
What is His commandment?
That you love one another as He said,
I have loved you.
Just one commandment, but it isn't simple.
Just one commandment, that I love you as
He loved Me.
Now, this love, as I said, is the
fruit that God is looking for.
And Jesus said, apart from Me, you can
do nothing.
And for you to try to manufacture this
fruit, this love, is an impossibility.
And you just can't do it.
It is the result of that relationship with
Him.
As I abide in Him, His Word abides
in me.
As I am washed and cleansed by the
Word, then my life begins to produce much
fruit.
And God's love begins to pour forth through
my life to touch the lives of those
around me.
But it isn't something I can do in
my own struggle or effort.
It is something that is the natural result
of just abiding in Jesus.
His love begins to flow forth from my
life to others.
And that really is the sign and the
evidence that Christ is truly indwelling me.
That I am really one of His disciples.
That we have this love.
So, this is my commandment, that you love
one another as I have loved you.
And then He declared, for greater love has
no man than this, than a man will
lay down his life for his friends.
That's the kind of love I have for
you.
I'm going to lay down my life for
you to prove my love.
And this is the way I want you
to love one another with a self-sacrificing,
giving love.
Where you will lay down your life for
each other.
You are my friends if you do what
I command you.
The commandment is that we love one another.
Henceforth, I do not call you bond slaves.
For the bond slave does not know what
his Lord is doing.
But I have called you friends.
For all things that I have heard of
my Father, I have made known unto you.
It is interesting though, Jesus declared this new
relationship, no longer bond slaves, but friends.
That each of the writers of the New
Testament took the phrase bond slave to describe
their relationship to Him.
Paul, a bond slave of Jesus Christ.
By the will of God.
Jude, a bond slave.
Peter, a bond slave.
James, a bond slave.
And though the Lord said I'm calling you
friends, yet there was that awareness and consciousness
that true life is only discovered when I
submit it totally to Him to serve Him.
Now Jesus declares you have not chosen me,
but I have chosen you.
That to me is such a exciting thing.
That God chose me.
When did God choose me?
In Ephesians we read we were chosen in
Him before the foundations of the world.
Now it is interesting that in so much
of our evangelism we are emphasizing that a
person chose Jesus Christ.
When in reality Jesus said you haven't chosen
me, I have chosen you.
As Paul begins to list the spiritual blessings
that he has in Ephesians chapter one.
Thanks be unto God the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in Christ in heavenly places.
When he begins to make a list of
the spiritual blessings for which he is thanking
God, what does he put at the top
of the list?
The fact that God chose him.
Actually that should be at the top of
all of our list because if God didn't
choose us then none of the rest of
the benefits would be there.
But because God has chosen us then all
of the rest of the benefits follow having
been chosen of God.
Does it upset you that God chooses people?
Surely if you've been chosen it doesn't.
I'm blessed that God chose me.
Now my mind immediately begins to take this
truth and race with it and say wait
a minute if God has chosen some then
that isn't fair to the others.
And shouldn't God be fair?
How can God be fair when he has
chosen those that are to be saved?
In the book of Acts we read and
as many as were ordained to eternal life
believed.
God, Jesus said I've chosen you and ordained
that you should be my disciples.
And so in the book of Acts and
as many as he ordained unto eternal life
believed.
You know that sure takes the pressure off
doesn't it?
It's God's work.
Salvation is of the Lord.
Except the father draw a man he cannot
come to Jesus Christ.
God has chosen us in Christ before the
foundations of the world.
That we should be holy and blameless before
him in love.
Bringing forth this fruit that he desires.
Now on what basis did God make his
choice?
You see don't find fault with God yet.
Don't judge God too quickly.
God made his choice on the basis of
the fact that he knows everything.
On the basis of his omniscience and his
foreknowledge.
Now because God has all knowledge, omniscient,
it is impossible for me to think how
God thinks.
How do you come to a problem when
you know everything from the beginning?
You know how it's all gonna work out.
You know what the end result is.
I can't even think of how it would
be to be able to think that way.
Surely if I could think that way I
would make different decisions than I often make.
I would never botch things up.
If I knew everything then I could always
make the right decision.
And I would make my decisions predicated upon
what I knew.
Be dumb not to.
So God knowing those who would respond to
his love and grace chose them on the
basis of his foreknowledge.
And I know that they should be in
Christ.
So I'm thankful that God chose me.
Spurgeon made an interesting statement on this.
He said, it's a good thing that God
chose me before I was born because he
never would have chosen me afterwards.
That I'm sure he said in jest because
when God chose him before he was born
God knew him completely then.
And God knew the end result of this
man's life.
He chose us and knowing everything about us
he chose us anyhow, isn't that neat?
The grace of God.
So Jesus said to his disciples, you've not
chosen me, I've chosen you.
Now, I was encouraged to choose Jesus and
I did.
And as soon as I did, he said
to me, you didn't choose me, I chose
you.
And I ordained you that you should go
and bring forth fruit and that your fruit
should remain.
This is something that concerns me greatly.
Not that I just bring forth fruit, but
that I bring forth lasting fruit.
A lot of people fault me because I
do not make strong appeals for salvation.
At the end of the sermons, I do
not stand and cry and plead with people
to receive Jesus Christ.
That I just tell them if they want
to be saved, they can go through that
door and pray with the pastor.
And we don't make big emotional appeals.
And some people fault us for this.
If God's Spirit is working in a person's
life, they will respond.
I can't do anything to enhance that.
Salvation is God's work.
I recognize that.
Rather than having a lot of people respond
on an emotional appeal, so that I can
put a bunch of notches in my belt
and say, I had 20 people accept Jesus
last night because I pled with them and
begged them and continued.
The problem is, I want to know one
year from now, how many of those same
people are going on with the Lord.
Lasting fruit.
That your fruit should remain.
There was a little fellow who used to
be here in the Costa Mesa area who
used to do a tremendous amount of witnessing.
He spent his whole life witnessing.
But he was often very forceful and as
a result, very obnoxious.
And I watched him one morning when I
was sitting in a restaurant.
He came in and he started going from
table to table loudly witnessing to everybody about
the Lord.
And you could see the people getting embarrassed
and all.
And he said, would you like to go
through the sinner's prayer?
And just to get rid of him, they'd
say yes, you know, and they'd go through
it.
And then he'd put his notches on his
belt, you know.
Going from table to table, you know, I
led so many people to Jesus today.
Well, very little of the fruit was lasting
fruit.
It was a forced kind of a thing.
The guy was very forceful.
It is an interesting study.
There was an interesting study made after Moody's
campaigns.
And in some of the cities where he
had tremendous campaigns, five years after the campaign,
the survey team went around and surveyed people
that had gone forward in the Moody meetings
and made a profession of Christ during the
Moody meetings.
And it was discovered that 85% of
the people that had gone forward in the
Moody meetings five years later were not going
on in their Christian walk.
They were back into the old practices living
in the world and had not continued in
the Christian faith.
Now, you who have read Moody's sermons or
know anything about his ministry know how that
he would generally conclude his evangelistic sermons with
a real tearjerker type of a story where
he would talk about this little boy dying
in his daddy's arms and the last words,
well, daddy, will I see you in heaven,
you know?
And the daddy, you know, there gulping and
saying, yes, son, you'll see me in heaven.
And the little boy dies, you know, with
a smile on his face.
And so every daddy's heart is touched, you
know.
I want to be with my children in
heaven.
And so now come forward, you know, you
want to see your child in heaven, you
know, come forward.
And they were touched with emotions.
But it wasn't very deep.
It wasn't always a biting fruit.
In contrast with that, Dr. Finney had a
very powerful ministry through the Word of God.
He was a lawyer before he became a
minister.
And he was able to set forth the
Scriptures in a very logical order and sequence.
And those people and thousands of people came
forward in the Finney services and in the
Finney revivals.
And five years after his meetings in the
various communities, they made the survey of those
that had gone forward in the Finney meetings
and it was discovered that 85% of
them were still going on with the Lord.
Their faith was not based upon an emotional
appeal or an emotional moment, but was based
upon facts of God's Word.
And the faith was established in the fact
of God's Word.
And it was lasting fruit.
That your fruit should remain.
Now, I believe that God ordained Moody and
I believe that God ordained Finney.
And I believe that God had Moody reach
people that Finney could not reach.
And Finney reach people that Moody could not
reach.
And certainly, Dwight Moody was one of the
greatest evangelists that God has brought along in
the American history.
But God uses different methods to reach different
people and different instruments to reach different people.
But my desire is that I not only
bring forth fruit, but that the fruit remains
lasting fruit.
And so, I'm not so much interested in
the quantity of the fruit as I am
the quality of the fruit that is developed
through my ministry.
And that's why we spend so much time
in the study of the Word of God.
That we might be clean through the Word
which He has spoken to us.
That we might bring forth more fruit.
And that we might bring forth much fruit.
And that the fruit should remain.
And Jesus then said something quite interesting.
That whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in
My name, He may give it to you.
Now again, He comes back to the subject
of prayer.
And prayer to the Father in His name.
I do believe that prayer should be addressed
to the Father in the name of Jesus.
I think that Jesus established this pattern for
us.
In the 14th chapter, He said, and if
you shall ask the Father anything in My
name, I will do it that the Father
may be glorified in the Son.
Again, He said, Now, I've ordained that whatsoever
ye should ask the Father in My name,
He may give it to you.
Not He shall.
And therein is the big issue in this
verse.
And the thing that you want to take
note of.
He doesn't say that the Father shall give
it to you, but that the Father may
give it to you, indicating that the Father
is desiring to give it to you all
the time.
And prayer opens the door that the Father
may do for you what He is wanting
to do the whole while.
Too many people think that prayer is an
information time where I'm going to inform God
of all of my difficulties that He doesn't
know about.
And then I'm going to present to Him
my solutions that I want Him to work
out for me.
Because I've dealt with these problems so long,
I've got it all figured out how it
could come to pass.
And so, I begin to pray that the
Lord will start working here and working there
and put this together and put this together.
And I'm directing God on just how to
work out my problems.
Now, often times as I am praying, I
am not offering to God direct prayers.
I'm not praying directly for the need.
But because I've worked out the way by
which God can answer this need, I'm praying
direction prayers as I'm directing God in how
to answer my problem because I've got it
all figured out.
This is the best way.
Now, many times I get frustrated with God
because He doesn't follow my directions.
He doesn't always do it my way.
And I think, oh, God doesn't listen to
me when I pray.
You know, because I've asked God to work
it out like this.
And I've shown Him the way it should,
you know, it all come to pass real
well.
I've got to just do this and this.
Then I could work it all out.
And so, I've given Him directions and He's
not following my directions.
And sometimes I get upset with God because
He doesn't follow my directions.
And then one morning I wake up and
found out that He's already done it.
He did it by a much wiser way
than I even thought of that.
Pretty smart.
Wow, that's all right, Lord.
And He really answered the real prayer.
He just didn't follow my directions.
And so, I think that it's important that
when we pray, we come to the heart
of the issue.
Rather than trying to direct God on just
how to work things out, just lay the
whole thing before Him and say, Lord, I
know that You're much wiser than I am.
You just work it out however you see
fit, Lord.
And I'm opening the door that God may
do for me the things that He is
desiring to do.
And prayer is consenting to God and to
the will of God for Him to do
those things that He is wanting to do.
I am at total disagreement with those persons
who say that you've got to give detailed
instructions for God or He doesn't know how
to answer your prayer.
One minister has written in a book that
he was praying for God to give him
a bicycle.
And he prayed for a long time for
this bicycle, and God didn't give him a
bicycle.
And finally, one day he said, Lord, I've
been praying so long for a bicycle.
Why haven't You given me the bicycle?
And the Lord said, You didn't tell me
what kind you wanted.
You know, there are 10-speed bikes.
There are, you know, cruisers.
And there are all kinds of bikes.
And you didn't...
Poor God didn't know what kind of a
bike the fellow needed.
And so, he had to wait for the
fellow to tell him, I want a 10
-speed Schwinn, green with silver stripes.
I don't accept that.
Jesus said, Your Father knows what you have
need of before you ever ask Him.
And every right thing I have ever prayed
for, God had determined to give it to
me before I ever asked.
My asking only opened the door that God
might do what He was wanting to do
the whole time.
That Your Father may, not shall, Your Father
may give it to you.
Your Father wants to bless you.
Your Father wants to answer your prayers.
Your Father is wanting to do some wonderful
things for you.
But He has given to you that capacity
of choice, and He will not violate your
choice, and He will not work against your
will.
Prayer is consenting for God to do what
He is wanting to do, that God may
give to me those things that He desires.
Now, again, Jesus emphasizes the importance of love.
These things I command you, that you love
one another.
We read so much about keeping His commandments.
It gives us confidence in prayer, for we
know that we receive whatsoever we ask of
Him if we keep His commandments.
What is His commandment?
That we love one another.
That's the fruit that God is looking for
from His vineyard.
That love flowing in and through our lives
from Him to each other.
That God would just bind our hearts together
tonight in the glorious love of Jesus Christ.
That we would have that kind of self
-sacrificing, understanding, forgiving, love for each other.
That God would erase all of the bitterness,
or animosities, or hard feelings, or whatever we
might feel towards our brethren in the Lord.
And that we would be obedient tonight to
the commandment of Jesus Christ and truly love
one another even as He loved us.
God help us.
Oh, may the fruit of God's Spirit just
really spring forth in our lives as we
abide in Jesus and as He abides in
us.
Now, Jesus tells them of the problems that
they are going to experience in a world
that is alien to Him.
He came into the world, and the world
was made by Him, and the world knew
Him not.
He came to His own, and His own
received Him not.
He was an alien on the planet Earth.
He never did settle down as a citizen
of the world community, but was an alien.
And Jesus said, If the world hates you,
you know that it hated Me before it
hated you.
Don't be surprised at the reaction of the
worldly person if they hate you because of
your love for Jesus Christ, because of your
relationship to Him.
Just know that they hated Him before they
ever hated you.
Now, if you were of the world, Jesus
said the world would love you.
But because you are not of the world,
but I have chosen you out of the
world, therefore the world hates you.
We are told, Love not the world, neither
the things that are in the world, for
he who has the love of the world
in his heart has not the love of
the Father.
And so we are told not to love
the world, but we are also being told
here that the world isn't going to love
us.
If you were of the world, if you
were a part of its system, then they
would love you because they love their own.
But you're not of the world.
That's pretty heavy, and it should cause each
of us to sort of examine the attitude
that the world has towards me.
Do they hail me as a great fellow?
Do they pat me on the back and
say I'm doing a good job?
If they do, I better go in my
closet and repent and ask God to forgive
me.
Because if you were of the world, then
the world would love you.
But because you're not of the world, it
hates you.
Remember the word that I said unto you.
The servant is not greater than his Lord.
If they have persecuted me, they will also
persecute you.
If they have kept my sayings, they will
keep yours also.
You're not greater than the Lord.
If they hated Him, they're going to hate
you.
If they persecuted Him, they're going to persecute
you.
But all these things will they do to
you for my name's sake.
Because they do not know Him that sent
me.
Jesus said, Blessed are ye when men shall
revile you and persecute you and say all
manner of evil against you falsely for my
sake.
Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is
your reward in heaven for so persecuted they
the prophets that were before you.
Now, if you are persecuted by the world
or ridiculed by the world, make certain that
that persecution is coming for Christ's sake, not
because you're just an obnoxious person.
One of the most obnoxious persons I ever
knew was in college at the same time
I was.
And she was a character and that's complimentary.
She was a very loud mouthed woman.
She had trained for opera and had a
voice I'm sure that came close to Enrico
Caruso's as far as volume.
And I used to ride the Jake streetcar
home from work in the evening.
And every once in a while, she would
get on the same car that I was
on.
And if she would spy me in the
back of the car with this loud operatic
voice, she would say, Praise the Lord, brother.
And everybody would turn to see who she
was talking to.
Including myself.
But somehow you know that everybody knows it's
you.
And this woman was guilty of disrupting more
classes when a joke was told and they
would all be laughing.
She would laugh louder than all the rest.
I mean, she was just loud.
And so one day I was emboldened to
take her the scripture, let the women keep
silence in the church.
And learn in silence and subjection.
And she went walking away saying, Thank you,
Lord, for the persecution.
And I knew then that there was no
use.
But I wasn't persecuting her for righteousness sake
or for the Lord's sake, but because she
was just a plain obnoxious person.
And persecution that comes for being a bore
or brash or whatever, there's no reward or
special benefits for that.
But if it is truly for Christ's sake,
then know that you are bearing His suffering.
And if you suffer with Him, you will
also reign with Him.
So, Jesus said that if they have persecuted
me, they will also persecute you.
But all of these things will they do
to you for my name's sake because they
have not known the One who sent me.
Now, if I had come and spoken unto
them, if I had not come and spoken
unto them, they would not have had sin.
But now they have no cloak for their
sin.
A man is held responsible for that which
he knows.
A man is not held responsible for that
which he does not know.
And when God judges, people will be judged
according to the knowledge that they have received.
With knowledge comes responsibility to act upon that
knowledge.
The Bible says it would have been better
for them to have never heard of it.
Then to have heard and turned away.
You say, well, then it would be better
if I had never heard.
Well, it's too late for you.
You are now responsible having heard.
And knowledge brings responsibility always.
Jesus said, if I had not come and
spoken unto them, they would have no sin.
But now they have no cloak for their
sin.
And he that hates me will hate my
Father also.
And if I had not done among them
the works which no other man did, they
would have had no sin.
But now they have both seen and hated
both me and the Father.
What an indictment He is making against those
people who are now sinning against the light
that God has given to them.
But this cometh to pass, that the word
might be fulfilled that is written in their
law, they hated me without a reason, without
a cause.
And as you analyze the hatred that people
have towards Jesus Christ, it is hatred without
a reason, without a cause.
But it is interesting how many people are
unreasonable in their hatred for Jesus.
You know, there are people that can talk
to you rationally on every subject in the
world except Jesus.
And they become irrational.
They become heated.
They become violent.
Normal, rational people.
But yet they have such a hatred and
yet you ask them, why do you hate
Jesus so much?
And they can't tell you.
They hate Him without a cause.
They don't know why.
But it's just something that is there.
But when the Comforter is come, whom I
will send unto you from the Father, even
the Spirit of truth.
Again, notice that how often Jesus in these
last words with His disciples is tying together
the relationship of the Father, the Son, and
the Spirit.
And is making reference to the three.
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,
whom the Father will send in my name.
And here, but when the Comforter is come,
whom I will send unto you from the
Father, even the Spirit of truth.
Which proceeds from the Father, He shall testify
of me.
Look how it's just intertwined.
The Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit being sent from the Father
by the request of Jesus.
Coming and bearing witness then of Jesus Christ.
Testifying of me.
And ye also shall bear witness because you
have been with me from the beginning.
So, talking to His disciples.
He declares that they, along with the Spirit,
will be bearing witness of Him because you've
been with me from the beginning.
Now, of those, and how many there were
that were disciples following Jesus, we do not
know.
Of those that were disciples, He named twelve
of them apostles.
But there were many others that were following
Him.
And later on, when Peter stood up before
the assembled disciples, he said it is important
that we choose one of us who has
been with Christ from the beginning.
That we might choose him to take Judas'
place.
Who by his transgression fell and has gone
to his own place.
But we need to replace him in the
board of twelve here.
And so we need someone who has been
with us from the beginning.
Who can testify of these things and also
bear witness of the resurrection.
That he might be placed as an apostle
in the place of Judas Iscariot.
So it is interesting that one of the
requirements was those that have been with Christ
from the beginning.
Now He is saying, you are my witnesses.
You're going to bear witness of me because
you have been with me from the beginning.
That is the beginning of His earthly ministry.
Well, we've got one chapter tonight.
Next week, we'll take 16 and 17.
Chapter 17, spend a lot of time in
that chapter in meditation this week.
We talk about the Lord's Prayer.
Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be
thy name.
That is not the Lord's Prayer.
That is a model prayer for the believers.
It has been called the Lord's Prayer.
But the 17th chapter of John is truly
the Lord's Prayer.
This is His prayer that He is offering
to the Father.
And I would suggest that you spend a
lot of time this week meditating on the
Lord's Prayer in the 17th chapter here in
John's Gospel.
It will do so much for you.
May the Lord help us now to be
doers of the Word and not hearers only,
lest we deceive ourselves.
Speaking of His commandment to love one another,
may God enable us this week to show
that love one to another.
And may we love each other even as
He loved us so much that He gave
Himself for us.
May we truly abide in Jesus Christ.
May we spend more time in the Word,
less time with television and other fleshly distractions,
and more time with Him.
Learning of Him.
Receiving from Him.
Growing in Him.
And may we allow the Word of God
to do its work in our heart of
cleansing us that we might bring forth much
fruit that the Father might be glorified through
our lives.
Oh, may God bless you this week.
And may God use you this week in
a very special way to show forth His
love to the needy world in which we
live.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.