Gospel of John, 15:12-27

We're in John 15 and we're in the throes of some of the most incredible teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ to his disciples and the part that we're in now is that I'm the vine, you are the branches, my father is the husband and every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away and every branch that bears fruit He proves it that it may bear more fruit.

You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do anything. You cannot do anything. If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered and they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, we ask whatever you desire and it shall be done to you. Now, let me ask you a question that's not on the question sheet.

Have you thought about who he's talking to here? Who's he talking to? He's talking to the Jewish disciples, right? Now, we as Christians really like to look at this as something directed to us as believers, is it? We could sure use it. What's interesting is that believers, from a positional standpoint, are seated in Christ in the heavens. And this agenda would not be something that was going on in heaven, right? Am I right about that? Would the Lord be encouraging you to abide in him and bring forth much fruit? Where is the location of fruit bearing? It's on earth, isn't it?

So there's two things going on here, I think. One is he's talking to his disciples, the eleven who are left. He's left the upper room and they're on their way to Gethsemane now, I think, and he's telling them this. So I think there's a couple of things in play here.

One is that they are disciples, they're here on the earth, and this agenda, I in you and you in me, and fruit bearing is something that's done here. It's certainly applicable to the Christian life. We are certainly clean. We have a position in Christ. but we are to be fruit bearers while we're here because when we leave here there's no fruit bearing in that sense.

Last week we talked about the vine and the branches and the fruit and what I find interesting is that most of Christianity focuses on the fruit and not the vine. There will be no fruit without focusing on the vine, none. Fruit isn't produced by watching it, or that being your focus or that being your agenda. It won't happen because there's no life in the fruit, the life's in the vine. So the focus and the attention is what he's telling them and telling us, is that our agenda is not to be what we do. Our agenda, our focus is to be what we are, who is Christ. the focus is to be totally on Him, and from that is where the fruit comes from.

So, how far did I get last week? Eight? Seven? In verses one through three, are they position or condition? And we went through them, and I said, I'm the vine, my father is the vine dresser or the husband, and that's position. Every branch in me, position, that bears not fruit, condition, he lifts up.

Condition. And every branch that bears fruit, he purges it. Condition. That it may bring forth more fruit. Condition. Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Position. Okay? Everybody kind of get that? Actually, verse 1, 2, and 3, are very good verses if you ever want to talk to somebody about what position and condition is. It's right here.

And if you just take the verses and in parenthesis put position, condition, position, condition in there, it will self-explain exactly what position and condition is. Because you could not say that you are now claiming through the word which I have spoken unto you that that's your condition. You couldn't say that every branch in me is a condition. It's a position. So it's an easy verse. These are easy verses to explain position and condition to.

Eight, what is it about this command that lets us know that there is something more than salvation? And in verse four is what I said, abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can you except you abide in me." So, why does this verse tell us there's something more than just salvation? Nobody. There's communion with Christ in here, for abiding in me and I in you. Yeah, what it does is it goes from your salvation to fruit bearing. And he talks about how fruit is born and it's done by abiding in meat.

Now what's the question we ended up with last week that Courtney and I were disagreeing about? I think it was question 8, which is for position or condition, or question 9. Question nine verse four position or condition. I said I was conditioned. What did you say? I said both. What did you say? Did I say it was position? I forgot. I remember my position.

The Fowler book made an issue about that abiding me is salvation. So he would say from a position standpoint that that's position. That's position, that's what I have. An I in you would be, let's see, you can have your position in Christ, abide in me, and abide doesn't mean do a bunch of push-ups while you're in there, it just means to be there. And that I in you, without the I in you, you don't produce. So I think Courtney is right, it is both position and condition.

Abide can be either positional or conditional because he says if you do not abide. And then so isn't he saying if you dwell in me, then I will dwell in you. It hasn't anything to do with your union in Christ, but your communion with him. He said, if you're not abiding in him, how can he commune with you?

That's exactly right. And that's why I say abiding in him... They're both conditional, don't you think? I think the abiding in him is position. Because I think it's salvation. And I think he's talking to these guys. That has to be in place. You have to be in Christ. You have to be saved. But on the other hand, he says you may not be abiding. You may not be. You may not be in fellowship. Yeah, you may not be. I may not be abiding in you. So that's conditional. You either are or you aren't.

But the first one, the way I did it too, is going to the Greek, it's eris, past tense. It's abided me. So it's a done deal. And that's where I took it as position. Because it says abide and that's in the eris. Oh, it's not a smart guy, right? No. Well, if you don't abide, then what is it?

Well, then the second one is in So the first one I think, that's why I went position and condition. The first one is an aorist tense. It's aorist active, so he does it and it's indicative. And then the second one is present active, subjunctive. So, I mean, you know, just whatever. I'm sure he's right. So the first one seemed like it was the position one, abided. That's a done deal. Yeah. Everybody understand that? Shake your head no if you don't. And then see Courtney after. Okay. Verse 5 and let's go to question 10. You okay?

So what is the promise in verse 5? I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. What's the promise? Condition. Which means that, what this really is, is a death blow to all us believers who think we can really do a lot of cool stuff for the Lord. Because this takes care of a man's pride. Because it says, for man believes that he can do a lot without Christ. The Lord Jesus specifically says here that without me you can't do a thing. And I think Miles Stanford used to say a lot of times in discussions of works and that kind of thing that it's all about the being, it's not about the doing.

And the vine and the branches are a perfect example of that. A branch can be as busy as it wants to. It can do whatever it wants to, so to speak, but it can't produce fruit. It can't do it because it does not have the life of the fruit resident within it. It's just a conduit.

It's like saying that somehow... Here's a good example. You remember the first Iraq war when we came in from Kuwait and we kicked the Iraqis out of Kuwait? What they found there is that some of those Iraqis were so misinformed about just things that we were informed is that they would take faucets off of the sinks and they took them back to Baghdad and they stuck them in the wall and turned it on and thought water was going to come out of it. We laugh at that, but that's what Christians do. They think, oh I'm the faucet, I'll just turn it on and out will come works. No way. No way.

You've got to be connected to the life source. who is divine, who is Christ. So the focus here is on the source, who is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And I have to tell you, if the focus in abiding is in Christ alone, you're not worried about the fruit. You don't have any worries. You're enjoying beholding his glory. Trust me, things will get done. They'll get done because they'll see Christ and that's the issue.

Describe the three kinds of categories mentioned in verses one through seven. And what I'm after is, verse six kind of picks it up. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered, and men gather them. Here are the categories. The branch in me that bears not fruit. The branch in me that bears fruit. And the branch that's not in me. Those are the three categories. So when you study these verses, that's what you're looking for. Number one, is there a branch in me that isn't bearing fruit?

Yeah. What's he do about that? There's a branch in me that does bear fruit. Yeah, that's true, it's there. What's he do about that? And then there's a branch that's not in me. What's he do about that? In verse 6, he says, if a man abide not in me, He's cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. Does this mean you can lose your salvation? Why not? Easy for you to say. No way. No one would dare say yes in this group. But you're thinking it. He's not in the vine. Yeah, he's not in the vine. Never was. If a man abide not in me. If he's not in me, He's not, he doesn't have life. See that? Any questions about that?

So, getting back, I think, in Faller on page 14 of the three, Christians who do not bear fruit, Christians who bear fruit, and then those who are not Christians. Those who are not believers, yeah. And this little booklet, who did, Mary Ann, did you get one of these? I'll give you one. Fowler says there are three groups. There are Christians who do not bear fruit, Christians who bear fruit, and those who are Christians. In verse 7, we're talking about non-believers. I mean six, nine believers.

I guess that combined with the raise up, the arrow, I think that's what causes all the confusion. Not knowing what these three distinctions are and what taketh away versus raise up. That's what this section of scripture gets so misconstrued, I think. Those of you who weren't here last week, verse 2 says, every branch in you that does not bear fruit, most translations say, takes away. That word is A-I-R-O, which really means to lift up. And there are Christians who read that verse, and read verse 7, and say, I'm sorry, verse 6, and say, oh gee, I can lose my salvation.

No, you can't. Because if you're a branch in Christ that doesn't bear fruit, he's going to lift you up, make you fruitful. If you're a branch in Christ that's bearing fruit, he's going to trim you and make you bear more fruit. But if you're not in him, verse 6 is right. You're gathered up, thrown into the fire, and you're burned.

You don't have any life. Question? Verse 7. What's the promise in verse 7? If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. What's the promise? That you're going to be... That's the precondition. What's the promise?

That you're going to be in the will of the Father if you're asking for His will. Yeah, that's a good way to put it. If Christ is in you, which means you're saved, and He's abiding in you, and you're abiding in Him, then the connection of life is there.

So you would ask Him anything, and He would do it. Why would you not mis-ask, so to speak, if that's a word? Why wouldn't you ask something if that environment or that occasion is true? Why would you not ask amiss. Because you're in his will and you're willfully, you're willingly abiding in him and receiving life from him and that becomes much more important to you at that point than any sort of fleshly thing.

If you're not abiding or you're not walking in the spirit, to put it the way Paul would say, you're liable to ask him Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes-Benz? But if you're abiding in Christ, that kind of a thing you wouldn't ask for, because you would see that there's no spiritual value to you whatsoever.

You might say that I may know you. You might say that I'd be conformed to your image. You might pray for somebody else from a biblical spiritual viewpoint, because of your abiding, it would be according to his will, and you know what? What's the promise then? You get what you ask for. That's the promise. So everybody in this room has gone to the Lord about something in their life, thinking they were abiding, and asked him, and you didn't get it, right?

How come? How come? I wanted to be taller and skinnier. Or I pray for somebody's salvation and it appears like they didn't get saved. Or, I don't know, I pray that someone would be able to rest in the middle of a very difficult circumstance. And they didn't. How come? Here's the promise, that I in me and I in you, ask whatever you want and we'll do it.

He says it's not the Father's will, what did you say? Not in God's timing. I think we have to come to the realization that when God says no, that's his will too. And he's never in a position where he's trying us on, punishing us, withholding anything. He loves us and would give us, as a matter of fact there are believers that go and ask him some fleshly thing and he lets them do it. He lets them go.

Have you never experienced that? I have. I've asked him for something that wasn't any good for me at all. And he said, OK. And so I learned through the process that it probably wasn't good for me, but he graciously used it to approve me. Right? We can all testify to that. OK.

What's the difference between abiding me and abiding me and I in you? We probably have gone over this already in so many words. Is there a difference in just abiding me and then abiding me and I in you? What does abiding me mean? It means salvation. It means your position in Christ. Abiding me and I in you means, the best term I could come up with is spiritual growth. There is no spiritual growth without both of these things functioning at the same time. Let me ask you another question. Does chastisement cause you to grow spiritually? Sometimes. It does in some cases. How many agree with Winnie? I disagree. He knew it was coming. You're saying chastisement does not come into growth? That's right, it doesn't. Let me tell you why.

2 Corinthians 3.18 says that beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, right? And because that is going on, abiding in me and I in you, what's happening to me?

With unveiled face I'm being conformed to the image of Christ, right? That's spiritual growth. Now I may be child trained, But unless I'm beholding, I'm not growing. The child training might get me ready to behold, but in and of itself, that's not growth. Do you understand what I'm saying? A lot of times we think, going to the gym and pumping iron is going to make me... It's not the way things are spiritually. Spiritual growth is what? What is spiritual growth? It's conformity to the image of Christ, isn't it? How is that done according to the word of God?

By beholding his glory. Now there's lots of child training that goes on, there's lots of, even the word scourging and those other words that are used, but what they're being done for is to get us to the beholding stage. See that? James, consider it all joy, my brother, that you encounter various trials. That's right. And what is it? Consider it all joy, my brother, that you encounter trials. You may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. through trials and to be perfect and complete. Let's look at the verse. It's in James 1, right? Right, James 1. I don't mean to be going chasing these rabbits, but that's okay. James 1 verse 2. What verse?

2. My brother encountered all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives it to all liberally without reproach, and it will be given to him. So I don't see where the conformity to Christ is there. I can see that of producing patience. Romans 5 says the same thing.

What is perfect and complete? Perfect is a word that means you come into the fullness of what you are created to be. Right, and what is that? Conformity to Christ. So that you may be perfect and complete. may be, what, perfect and complete. Well, and I can go to Romans 5, 2, 3, and not only that, we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, character and character, hope. Hope does not disappoint because the love of God is shed upon our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us.

Those verses also would say, but the problem I have is that if I compare those with 2 Corinthians 3.18, then what you're telling me is that there's a dual growth situation?

I don't think so. I think that conformity, the actual conformity, is by beholding the one who is the perfect one, maybe. But see, I think the process, that's the faith, is you're looking at Him only. I mean, that's inherent in trials. But that's the purpose of the trial, is to teach us not to rely on the flesh. Right, see I don't think it's dual, I think it's incorporated in this. This process is to behold Him. The only way you can get through the trial is to behold Him. And by that, you are becoming perfect and complete.

And I don't disagree with that, but I'm not sure that James or Romans 5 says that. I think what it says is that there is child training that goes on because the Father loves us. And we should count them, Peter says the same thing, that we should count them blessings because they are tools used specifically to cause us to grow. But the growth itself only happens by beholding the glory of the Lord, I think.

Boy, see, now you've got them all quiet. That's why I use this one, because it's the perfect and complete. That's the one. Perfect and complete means to me the conformity to Christ. And that's why this one always comes to me, is that the beholding is incorporated in this. So I agree with you. It's just this is, you know, that is part of the process. I don't think they're contradictory. No, they're not. They're complementary. Yeah, they're complementary.

And you recognize when the Lord is putting you through the paces that this is being done for your spiritual growth, but what it's designed to do is to turn you from you to Him. That's really what it's designed to do. So it's a plan. I said it first. So what's the prerequisite in order to pray according to his will? I think Marian already answered that. You've got to know his will first and have it become your will by abiding in him. A believer learns the will of God by becoming very familiar with the word of God.

I'm listening to these tapes by Chester McCauley on volition. They're really good. I can't summarize six tapes in two seconds. He talks about there are only three wills. There's the will of God, there's the will of Satan, and man's will. And God's sovereignty is so great that he can allow other wills that he created to challenge him. But it never changes what his will is. Which is an incredible thought when you think about that. And that Lucifer's got a will, but he said the problem with man's will is that he is free to will anything he wants, but he can't make it happen.

Understand what I'm saying? And we're those people, because we're Americans, we think if we will it, it's going to happen. Listen to some of those kids that won gold medals. I really willed it. No, you didn't. You trained and you had a positive app and all that went into it. But I might will to fly or be the president or you name it. Just because I willed it doesn't mean it's going to happen.

So I'm free to will whatever I want. The great freedom that believers have is that they can become so familiar with the Word of God and the person of Christ that they willfully line their will up with the will of God. Isn't that cool? That God would let us do something like that is really neat, I think.

What's the difference between a disciple and just a believer? Doesn't the word disciple indicate that this person is a learner, a believer maybe, but not be learning. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, their church is full of believers who aren't disciples. And really, I've never been much of a fan of the word disciple because you hear a lot in Christianity of discipleship classes, which is what they're trying to do is make people learners or followers.

And my agenda was, well, how can you follow somebody you're in? What I need to learn about is what it's like to be in Christ. The vine and the branches principle, and not tag-along learning of him. The Word of God, which is the textbook of Christianity, is designed to promote an intimacy between Jesus Christ and the believer. And that makes him a disciple. I don't know of any growing believers who don't love the Word of God. What are the two great principles here in order to walk in communion with His love here on the earth?

There are two principles. One is obedience. The other is dependence. Dependence should be first. It implies a confidence and a reference upon Him for strength only. And obedience, which is an expression of what Jesus is, and we are in it by walking, by listening under, the disciples would be in communion with his love. See that?

Now, the verse I pulled out of Paul was Philippians 3.13. Brother, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do. Here's his will. Engaged. forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press towards the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. He's engaged.

Right? What's the goal? He says, I press towards the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. What's the call of God in Christ Jesus? is to be conformed to Christ, isn't it? He knows that that's God's will for him, so he's engaged. He is willingly and willfully doing what God's will is. Does that make sense?

I put in my notes that I should review the grace circle here just so you don't get too outside of grace. You all have it in your book. I'm not going to refer to it. I think everybody got a copy of it. Everybody get a copy of this? Let's take a look at it because it has to do with obedience and reward.

And it all starts and ends with that God loved me. It isn't that I loved him first. He loved me first. So where did the Lord Jesus get all of his joy? I probably ought to read that. Let me read some verses. By this my Father has glorified that you bear much fruit, so you will be my disciples. As the Father loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."

So, where did the Lord Jesus get his joy? Don't you see the connection here between, sometimes you search and search and you're looking for something and it's right here and you can't see it. Every believer is to be joyful, right? It's part of the fruit of the spirit. But the cause of joy, as stated here, is doing what? What's the cause of it? He shows up one day and bingo. Two things. The Lord Jesus walked on the earth in the Father's love. He had an intimacy with the Father and his whole agenda was to do the Father's will.

And as we've seen in John, there are several cases where from a human standpoint he probably shouldn't have done what he did. Like when Lazarus was sick, you and I would have run up to Bethany and cured him right away. He said, no, I think I'll wait a few days. Why?

Because it was his father's will that he do it, right? So he gets great joy of just doing the father's will because the father loves him. That premise or that There's a direct connection between obedience to the heart of God and the joy of the fruit of the Spirit. Do you understand what I mean by that? Now, I don't mean that. I hope you don't pick this up that you've got to do one to get the other, which would make it legal.

So how does grace work in this environment? How would it work? Explain to me how the Father says, OK, if I'm obedient, then I'm going to abide in your joy. So I think, oh, I've got to find all the stuff I need to do. How is the grace implemented here?

There's a vibe. In the end, the Father and the Holy Spirit, they do it all. They do it all, right? You've come to realize that there actually is a really cool reward here. that the Father and the Lord Jesus are going to allow me to function joyfully in obeying them. But they're going to do it all.

You see the difference? I'm going to be willingly involved and I'm going to function and walk by faith, but they're going to do it all. They're going to implement everything. So my job is to respond, my job is not to initiate. See the difference? All right. Wow. We're done. Let's go to Lesson 29. Everybody have a sheet for Lesson 29?

Isn't it part of the situation if anybody, any person opens a Bible and reads like before? Isn't part of it in understanding the definition of what fruit is? What is fruit? Sometimes they come in with a concept of what fruit means. And whatever they have in their mind for that, it's applied to the rest of everything. That's a great point. So what is the fruit? If that's the focus, if that's the goal, to bear fruit. Right. Which it is. And that's a great question. I'm glad you asked it.

If I'm going to be a branch and bear fruit, what's it going to look like? I think that she's right. A lot of Christians come in with the idea that fruit is seeing other people come to Christ through you. Activity. It's activity. It's doing something. Sure. Jewels in the crown kind of thing. Or whatever. That to me is what has always been presented in this passage as the fruit. Yeah, that's right. And that's right. study of what we've done, it's become the fruit of the Spirit, which is what keeps patients. Marian?

Well, if the fruit is not our fruit, I think as believers, then we think, well we want the fruit, but it's not our fruit, it's only Christ's fruit. And if it is ours, it's not the right kind of fruit. So if it's really of Christ, that fruit, that's what other believers believe.

We have no credit in that. The focus shouldn't be on the fruit. The focus should be on Christ. Just like the vine doesn't grow, the branch doesn't work. It just varies. It's just a conduit. Also, if we use that too, the fruit really isn't almost a thing.

The fruit is peace, joy, and gentleness. Whatever he has us doing, it's not little old lady across the street, or I did whatever. The fruit is what he says, peace, joy, gentleness, love, joy, peace, patience, all everything. And it's not kind of a thing, more than that which he gives to us, which is the fruit of the Spirit. Could you say that fruit is the manifestation of the life of Christ in you? Amen. Right, so we seek after Christ and that's a sideline, not that we seek after the fruit. And our focus is on the fruit because then our focus isn't on Him and it is the fruit.

That's right. Yeah, we somehow have this idea that we need to be fruit inspectors for ourselves and for others, you know, and that if the others aren't doing it right we need to sort of you know, take the role of the husband and start clipping on them. When in fact the issue is, and Courtney's right, the fruit of the Spirit, and that's singular by the way, it's not the fruits of the Spirit, it's the fruit, because they're either all being manifested or none of them are.

Okay? The love, joy, peace, patience, long-suffering, all of those are happening all at one time. You're not just being loving and being grumpy about it. It isn't going to happen. And what those really are, are the characteristics of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the glorified Christ. Now think about that, the way God has set that up, which is really cool. He conforms us to the image by us beholding and the discipline that comes with it. So that what happens? That we begin to find all of our delight in Christ alone, in here.

Because the mirror, in 2 Corinthians 3.18, what's the mirror? Beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord. What's the mirror? This is the mirror.

So you can't throw this away and hope you're going to be manifesting the fruit of the Spirit. So the fruit of the Spirit, you find you're in a circumstance. You're walking in the Spirit. These are the characteristics that are being manifested through your personhood. And so you help the little old lady across the street, or you do whatever the doing thing is. You may not even be aware that you're doing a fruitful thing, because the fruit doesn't care about the doing, it just cares about the...

If I'm an ambassador of the reconciliation, if I'm conformed to the image of Christ, what do I really want people to do? I want them to see Christ in me. I want them to see Him. Not that I'm a cool guy. Him. My job as an elder is to point people to Christ, not through me to him, to him. The disciple's job is to point people to Christ.

The very first sermon ever given in Christianity, Peter stands up in front of all of these Jews, and what does he say to them? You need to repent. You need to change your mind about who this Christ is. You need to take a really good hard look at him, because he's the Messiah. And he died for your sins. And you need to look at him and go to him.

That's what he said. That's all Paul ever said. Even on Mars Hill, when he can't use scripture because he's not talking to Jews, he uses creation. But where does it wind down to? This man, Jesus Christ, here's the man. He's the Son of God. This is the one you need to focus on. So that's what the fruit is all about. So that you and I, as vessels, manifest the fruit of the Lord Jesus Christ, and so people do what? They see Christ in us. Not that we're cool. Him. And so what are we doing?

I love this question, when you talk about walking in the Spirit and you cannot fulfill the lusts of the flesh. My question is this. When you're walking in the Spirit, from behind your eyeballs, what are you looking at? What are you looking at? Him! You're not saying, I'm walking in the Spirit. You're not doing that. I'm beholding Him. See? Because we read that verse and we think, oh, I've got to get really cleaned up, really cool, get everything down. No. When you're walking in the Spirit, you are walking in fellowship, and Christ is your object. I know what your mind just said.

Oh, if I do that, I won't pay my bills. Really? You're beholding the God of the universe. You think your bills will get paid? Yeah, they will. And now two lessons behind. Yeah, I don't want to hear anymore about me being poor. Well, we've got five minutes, so let's... Question one. This is chapter 15, 12 through 27.

To what extent did Jesus love them and us? He laid down his life for us. Probably the best example of that is Romans 5, 5-8. And hope makes us not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man would one die, but for a good man some would even maybe dare to die. But God commends his love towards us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

That's just an awesome statement because God didn't call any of us up and say, hey, be okay if I sent my son to take care of the same thing. No. He did it himself. And he did it out of his righteousness and his love for us. And so the demonstration, greater love has no man than to give his life for his friend. And the Lord Jesus gave his life for us and not a single one of us deserved it. None of us did. Nor were we thankful. There weren't hordes of people running up to the cross saying, oh thank you Jesus for dying. Nobody did.

But he loved us. Is this love a gift from the Father? That's a hard question, isn't it? This kind of love is the agape love which finds incredible value in the object love and it never takes into consideration whether they are responsive or not. You love them no matter what. Is this kind of love a gift from God?

It has to be because it is characteristic of who he is. Now you can demonstrate agape in loving darkness Because that same word is used in John 4 where it says that they love the darkness more than the light because their deeds are evil. That word love there is agape. The lost have extremely high value, extremely high value in darkness.

But the love of God has to be a gift, it has to come with his life. It's not separated from him You know, you can never look like the gift of the Spirit or the fruit of the Spirit is never, you know, piecemealed out or you go to Target and buy six. That isn't the way it is. It comes with Him. See that? It's connected with Him.

Verse 14 tells us, You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you. What did He have commanded them so far? What did He have told them to do? through the first part of 15. Yeah, he said abide in me, then he said abide in my love, and then he said love one another.

Now, does this mean that if they do not do what he commands, they are not his friends? Oh, by the way, I hope you've noticed this. Have you noticed how he's changed his what he calls the disciples, he doesn't call them disciples anymore, they're now friends. And there's a progression here, you know, between servants to disciples to friends. So, question, does this mean that if they don't do what he commands, they're not his friends? What do you think? Which means you guys better be busy. That's a logical imperative. It's just the opposite. When one is a friend, there's little resistance of the request of the one who is a friend. Courtney and I are friends.

If I call him up on the phone and say, hey, Courtney, would you help me? He's going to, you know, well, I shouldn't have picked you. What can I do for you? If Marian calls me up and says, Mike, right away I'm going to think, how can I do this for her?

Because we're friends. Do you see how that goes? She's not going to call me up and say, now, if you really were my friend, you would. Because then I'm going to say, no, I don't think so. You understand that? But that's the way our mind goes at it. Well, oh, gee, I've got to demonstrate to Don I'm his friend, so I better do all these things. No, it's the other way around. We'll talk more about that next week. Oh, I've got the next lesson up here, too, if we ever get to it.

Dear Father, how we thank you for your grace, and how we thank you for your word that carefully shows us that it's the life of your Son that we live in, and it has its own characteristics, and it's gracious, and it's loving, and you've given it all to us just out of the goodness of your heart. Father, we thank you for that, and we pray in your Son's name. Amen.