Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast,
where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to
this podcast.
I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen
you in the word of God.
Now come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has
for us here today.
I was reminded this last weekend just thinking about all of
the immense riches we have in Christ, all the things that I've
been thankful for, family, friends, relatives, the extension
of church, family, you know, all everyone who's dear to us.
And you know, I really miss being here last week with you guys,
but feeling better this week coming from Pastor Josh as they're
heading back from their vacation.
We'll be in John chapter 15 this morning.
John, chapter 15.
Who, who is the A.P.
who is the author of the Book of John?
Well, of course it's John the Apostle of Jesus Christ.
The beginning church Father Arranius wrote that the early date
and apostolic evidence, externally looking at it and internally
conclude that John the Apostle was the author.
Now, when was this book written?
It was written roughly between 85 and 95 AD.
It was believed to have been written from the city of Ephesus
towards the end of John's life.
Now, a key verse in the Book of John is John 20, verses 30 through
31, where it states and many other signs truly to Jesus in the
presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book,
but these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through
his name.
So what is the Book of John?
What was the purpose of the Book of John?
Well, John selects four key descriptions to prove that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God.
In chapter one, verses one through 14, it talks about Jesus
Christ's identity and purpose for why he came to this earth.
The second part of the book of John, John 1:15 through 12:50, talks
about Jesus Christ's public ministry.
And then John 13:1 through John 17:26, it talks about Jesus
Christ's private ministry.
And that's what we'll get into here.
And the last part of the Book of John talks about Jesus Christ
passion ministry in chapters 181 through 21 25.
So we're here in John chapter 15.
And what's happening here in the context?
Well, this is right before the death, burial and resurrection of
Jesus Christ.
And so during this very sensitive timeframe for Jesus, if
there was anything important to be told to his disciples, it's
being said here in John chapter 15.
And today we're going to see that God wants you to be steadfast.
How can you be steadfast to the Lord?
You can be steadfast by following two steps to ensure steadfastness
in the Lord here in John chapter 15.
The first point is this, you must remain in Christ.
And the second is, you must obey Christ.
Now, vine branches, they serve multiple functions in the life of
a vine.
They produce the leaves that carry out photosynthesis.
They provide energy needed for the vine's growth and grape production.
And the branches also produce tendrils that help the vine to climb
and spread, maximizing the exposure to sunlight.
But additionally, the branches support the growth of grape clusters.
The flower clusters that appear on the branches in the spring
will eventually develop into grapes.
And the health and vigor of the branches can directly influence
the quality and the quantity of the grapes produced.
So here In John chapter 15, we're going to see that God wants
you to be steadfast.
And even before we, even before we start getting into this,
a couple of questions to be thinking about as we're moving through
here is how, how have you been doing?
How have you been doing personally?
Whether you're here at the church, whether you're online at
home right now, or across the, across the sea, across the oceans,
around the world, watching this, watching this service this
morning.
How are you doing?
Just celebrated a holiday season.
We're going into another holiday season for Christmas.
It can be a challenging time for people, but it can also be a
great time.
Right?
It's kind of double edged a sword sometimes.
But I want to encourage you this morning that you can be steadfast
to the Lord by remaining in Christ.
So right here In John chapter 15, in verse 1, Jesus says, I am
the true vine and my father is the husbandman.
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away.
And every branch that beareth fruit, he purchased it, that it may
bring forth more fruit.
Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
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.
I am the vine, ye are the branches.
He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much
fruit.
For without me ye can do nothing.
If a man abide 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.
If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye
will, and it shall be done unto you.
Hearing is my Father, glorify that ye bear much fruit, so shall
ye be my disciples.
The first important part for this passage here is that we must
remain in Christ.
Now what are the evidences of somebody who is truly remaining in
Christ?
We have that fruit Christ is talking about here producing much
fruit.
Now a couple of examples of counterfeit products to kind of help
illustrate as we're moving into this.
First is electronics.
I know a lot of us maybe this last Black Friday guest on Friday
or Saturday, Monday coming up tomorrow.
You're thinking about different technologies and stuff,
right?
Will Counterfeit electronics are now an ever present problem.
Infiltrating once trusted e commerce sites, consumer electrics
are the second most pirated item in the United States, trailing
only behind clothes.
If these electronics had been sold, it would have comprised 10%
of the estimated value of all fake goods.
Smaller counterfeit products like hair dryers can also be deadly
with totally configured circuitry that can shock people.
So you better watch out.
Or is your electronics coming in?
Is it actually real or is it counterfeit?
Right.
Well ladies, as an example of hygiene and cosmetics.
Oh no.
These are chemically based goods that when imitated may use
dangerous ingredients.
For example, counterfeit Colgate toothpaste was discovered
in 2007.
Included in the knockoff ingredients was diethylene glycol,
also known as antifreeze, a toxic replacement for fluoride.
Unfortunately, there's also an abundance of counterfeit cosmetics
featuring similar dangers.
Makeup is applied to the skin which can absorb dangerous toxicants.
When news breaks that a knocked off product has dangerous
and deadly characteristics, the brand associated with the product
can be unfairly associated with a public threat.
And so it's really important for us as we're talking about this
study this morning about abiding in Jesus Christ, that we
truly are remaining in him this week, and that's last week.
There can be temptations, right?
Spending all these different things.
But Christ encourages us here to be focusing on Jesus Christ as
the vine.
Verse 1.
Jesus says, I am the vine.
And this phrase here, I am.
Jesus is referring to himself as the self existent and self sustaining
one.
The God who was there at the time of creation, before creation,
the one who spoke all these into existence.
It was by him, Colossians 1, 16 and 17.
All things exist.
All things exist and they consist by him by his, by the.
By him, by the word of his power.
But he says here he says, I am the true vine.
This is in contrast to what is false.
When you abide in Christ, he is the only true source of life,
with whom you must depend on what else in those sources.
Have you tried to get help from self help books, podcast videos?
Am I saying some of those things aren't bad?
Not necessarily, but we need to make sure that we find our true
source of help in Jesus Christ.
Asking him, saying, lord, I'm struggling with this area in my life.
Please help me, help me to know, give me the wisdom to understand
how to, how to make a decision about this.
Maybe it's a financial decision, whatever it is, fill in
the blank.
Maybe it's a relationship and you're struggling with it and you're
like, lord, how can I work through this?
Ask God to give you wisdom, to give you that understanding, to know
how to respond.
Verse 1.
Christ says, I am the true vine and my Father is the husbandman.
Now, my Father here, this is the same person of the Trinity whom
Jesus went about fulfilling the business for, right?
What did Jesus say throughout the Gospels?
He says, I go about following my Father's business.
He was.
He was fulfilling the purpose that God and the Father had for him,
which was to go out and to live a perfect life that he had his
death.
He would experience death, burial and resurrection to pay for
our sins, for the sins of the whole world.
But Jesus completely obeyed and he fulfilled the Father's will
for his life on earth.
And why is this important?
Why is this important that Jesus is saying this?
Because he is showing this direct connection, that I'm the true
vine, my Father is the husbandman, I am following his will.
So as he's about to break down these different things and these
different challenges for us as believers, us as followers of Christ,
Christ is saying, look, my Father is the husbandman.
He is the one coming alongside.
I am the vine.
I'm your source, I am your life source.
And then the Father is ultimately the One who has commanded
this whole all to happen.
So this is all coming from Him.
But so who is, who is the Father?
Verse 1, it says, My Father is the husbandman.
Now, this description for the Father is simply the one who manages
the livelihood of the vine and its branches.
In this case, the Father manages Jesus and his branches.
To give you an idea of what an earthly husbandman or Vinedresser
does, Ag Explorer reported in 2021 that vitaculturists earned an
average salary of $61,457 per year.
Although the idea of working outside Every day in sunny vineyards,
overlooking rolling hills seems romantic.
The job itself is physically demanding and tiring.
I'm not sure how many people are, you know, the go getters to
go outside, to get in the sun or how many are like, no, I'm gonna
stay inside.
But for this example here, this vine dresser, he's out there,
he's working, right?
Maybe related to yourself, like, yeah, maybe you're an IT person,
right?
Faithful, working hard.
And so this, this husbandman, he is working hard, right?
He is.
This is a very physically demanding job, a very tiring job,
particularly during harmless season right now, right?
How many hours do you think Avantras is putting in my now?
Every day, 18 hour days.
How many want that job?
Right?
But that's how much work is involved with harvesting and getting
this fruit, getting vegetables, getting the harvest from
the crops.
And so God the father is a very faithful vine dresser to us.
But something else that the vinedresser does, the vine dresser
also helps to till the soil, to prepare the soil, pulling out
the weeds, maybe taking out rocks and stuff to get the soil prepared.
But what threats come to the plants?
Well, you might have crows or insects that come in to eat at the
vine, eat at the branches and stuff, or eat at the fruit.
The husbandman takes care of all that, right?
He scares off the deer, he puts up the scarecrow to get rid
of the crows, right?
The husband, he is faithful with keeping this work so that there
are fast growing vines, but these fast growing vines require
pruning.
Other duties that are also associated with this vinedresser
is he's soil testing, irrigating, weeding and fertilizing.
Vine dressers must be ever vigilant to ensure that plump, juicy
grapes are adequately protected from birds and marauding
animals.
So did you catch those different details there?
God the Father is not only the one who is doing this pruning, you
know, he's ensuring the process of helping the fruit to produce.
But the vine duster is the protector.
He tills the soil, he protects the vine, the branches from any animal
that might try to come and take the fruit out the branches.
But now think about this from a bigger picture as God, God the
Father the infinitely wiser and carrying one over your life,
carefully tills the conditions of the soil in your life.
A lot of times we go through difficult struggles, right?
We might go through a challenge here or there.
And there's questions, what is the purpose of this?
Well, maybe the purpose of that is God is tilling the soil and
God is allowing for these to have to be removed from our life,
from the distractions in our life.
But ultimately God, who is the infinitely stronger, infinitely wiser
vine dresser, how able is he to take care of your life, in your
situation, in your stage of life?
So we see that Jesus describes himself as the true vine.
I am the true vine.
My father is the husbandman.
Verse 2.
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away.
And every branch that beareth fruit, he purchased it that it may
bring forth more fruit.
So we see this other responsibility of the vinedress.
The vine dress is coming through, and he is cutting out these
branches that are not producing fruit.
He's purging it so that he can produce more fruit.
And that's part of the purpose of the vine dresser, right?
Coming alongside this plant that's producing these different
fruit.
Right.
After some time.
And think about this, like, logistically speaking, if you're
a farmer and you're trying to produce a good crop for people to
sell, are you going to allow branches to grow and to die to affect
the ultimate life of that vine?
No.
Why?
Because it's going to affect your sales.
It's going to affect the production of what you're trying
to produce for selling these different fruit and different things
coming out of these vines.
And so a lot of times we can feel that this is a personal attack
on me.
Why?
Is this me?
Right.
No, but it's a part of God's sovereign plan that he's striving
to purge things in our lives to help us to be able to bring forth
more fruit.
And so we see that the purpose of a fine dresser.
But we also see that we are called to abide in Christ.
Look at verse three.
Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
We cannot bear fruit in and of ourselves.
We can't do it.
We need the true vine.
Look at verse four.
It says, abide in me and die 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.
This seems to indicate that the disciples had shown evidence
of fruit and Jesus was ensuring that they abided in him.
Right?
What was about to happen?
He's about to be separated from his disciples, right?
He's about to be removed.
And it was going to be a very scary time for them.
What's going to happen?
You know, they're going to be separated.
They're going to be removed from their situation, from.
From having him with them as, as their present leader and their
present guide.
And what does Christ tell him?
He says, be faithful, keep being steadfast, abiding in me.
You may feel that there is a physical separation, but I am still
the true vine.
Trust in me and rest in me.
Question through you.
Have you been struggling with those thoughts that God has forsaken
you, that God has abandoned you, he has not banned you, he is
still faithful.
He is a faithful line dresser who will be faithful to come alongside
to do what he has to do, to help me, to produce for me.
And so we are called to abide in Christ.
But how could the disciples in Christ, even though he was about
to die, he was about to be separated, how could the disciples
abide in Christ?
They needed to be steadfast.
They needed to remind themselves that even though Jesus
would be removed from their equation, God the Father still had
his plan.
God the Father still had his purpose.
God the Father still had everything that was going to happen
and what was going to result.
If the disciples recognized Jesus, he would be departed for a
time, but he would come back.
And when he would come back, then they would be able to have that
unification with him.
And as for us today, right as the bride of Christ and one day we
look forward to his coming soon return, right?
Being reminded of how we look forward to his return for us.
And that's how we can encourage ourselves is that no, God
has not abandoned us.
In fact he is going to come back.
John 14 talks about this.
John 14, verse 1.
Let not your heart be troubled.
Ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father's house are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a
place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again
and receive you unto myself.
That where I am, there you may be also.
And so Christ here is just laying out right in the previous
context here with the disciples saying don't, don't let
your hearts be troubled.
You believe in God, believe in me.
I'm going to go prepare a place for you that when I come again,
I can take you to come with me for.
And that's the excitement, that's the joy that we can have in
waiting on Him.
And so we cannot bear fruit in of ourselves.
We need the true vine.
And Christ says that I am the truth.
Look at, look at verse five.
I am the vine, ye are the branches.
He that abideth in me and I in Him.
The saying bringeth forth much fruit.
For without me ye can do nothing.
We cannot Bear fruit.
Without Christ, it is impossible.
That's what he's saying in verse five.
He's saying we need to abide in him and he and us.
The saying brings forth much fruit because of that and we cannot
do anything.
We were just talking this morning.
I sent into a class about this.
2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God.
Is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
the instruction in righteousness.
That the man of God be perfect, throw thee furnished into
all good works.
Why is that put in there?
Why is the life of Christ?
Why is the teachings of Christ in there?
Why can't anything be added to it?
Why can't anything be taken from it?
Oh, it's too hard.
It's too difficult.
Look, that's how God has ordained it.
It is the truth of God's word.
It is what God has established for us to follow.
He has established for us to abide in Him.
He has established that we cannot do anything in and of ourselves.
We need Him.
We need him desperately with what we're dealing with in our lives.
What I love about this is that this is every stage in our life.
Whether you're a child in the service this morning and you're dealing
with something, whether you're a teenager, you're dealing with struggles.
If you're an adult with no kids, young kids, older kids, grandparents,
whatever stage you are in life, we can all still abide in Christ.
We can all still be steadfast to following him and abiding in Him.
Let me ask you a question.
Is it possible if somebody has a goal, right?
I want to lose weight.
Is it possible to lose weight if you don't actually do anything
about it?
No.
Right.
For me, for the first year, towards the beginning of this year,
you know, I was like, I really want to lose weight.
I really want to get in shape.
But it wasn't until it finally clicked for me where I was like,
yes, okay, I had this coaching program, I had this Dan and get on.
And by God's grace, it's helped a lot to lose weight, right?
But it takes work.
But being more fit without working out, that's not possible,
right?
There has to be intentional changes.
There has to be nutritional decisions, There has to be maybe
some working out decisions.
And I have to go walk around, get a certain number of steps in
every day.
There are necessary steps to ensure that and there are necessary
steps for us if we're truly desiring to abide in Christ, to follow
Christ, we need to ask him to help us work through this.
Look at verse six.
It says, if a man abide 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.
I was so thankful this last weekend they lifted up the burn ban
in Delaware.
And then we had a huge bonfire at my in laws house this last weekend.
It was awesome.
And but you know what we threw in the fire?
We didn't throw a wholesome, you know, wood in there.
We didn't throw in there, you know, green, green branches and green
sticks, right?
Why?
Because they wouldn't have started.
It's specifically things that have fully dried up, right?
Wood has to sit out for a year to dry out from the, from the, from
all the moisture, all the greenness of it, until it's fully
dried out.
And just like that, this process, you may think to yourself,
well, is it too late for me?
Is it too late for me to be able to be restored again?
Maybe you feel like you've taken so many steps off the track.
Can I be restored?
And the answer is yes, come back to him, abide in him.
And you ask the Lord, you say, lord, please take thee and use me.
There's always that goal that we can work towards building back
to.
But it says in verse six, it does say, it says, and men gather
them and cast them into the fire and they are burned.
And so there is a end point where our testimony is just skewed.
And that you have specifically the way of the ungodly that perishes.
This is the end of those who choose to abide in the alternative
vine.
They weren't truly saved in the first place.
They weren't truly Christ's Psalm 1 talks about this.
It says, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of
the ungodly.
Nor standeth the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat
of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law does
he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that
bringeth forth his fruit in his season.
His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall
prosper.
The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind
driveth away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in judgment, nor sinners
in the congregation of the righteous.
The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the
ungodly shall perish.
God knows the way of the righteous, they are going.
They're going to be steadfast, they're going to be faithful.
But the wicked, they are going to perish.
And I'm encouraging you today.
And you're like, you know what?
This all sounds great.
Maybe you've been in church for your whole life.
But if you have not truly received Jesus Christ as your personal
savior, would you do that today?
Would you say, you know, I'm done playing this Christian, Christian
life of portraying myself of somebody who I'm not truly am.
Would you confess with your mouth to Lord Jesus and say, lord,
I'm a sinner.
I believe what you did for me when you died on the cross for me.
You paid for my sins.
You were buried and you rose again to give me eternal life.
That hope is always available at any point in your life.
There's a quote from Matthew Henry, a commentator.
He says, those who fall off from Christ presently fall in with
sinners.
And the sheep that wander from Christ's fold, the devil stands ready
to seize them for himself.
1 Peter 5, 8, 10 states, Be sober, be vigilant, because your
adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking
whom he devour, whom he's steadfast in the faith, knowing that
the same afflictions are accomplishing your brethren there
in the world.
By the God of all grace who hath called us into his eternal glory
by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while and make you
perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you to him be
glory and dominion forever and ever.
Amen.
We are called as Christ's followers.
We are called, as we are abiding in Christ, to be resisting,
steadfast in the faith, the world around us, specifically the
devil, submitting ourselves to God, resisting the devil.
He will flee from us by abiding in Christ.
We don't have the strength to do it in our.
In ourselves.
Guys, we need God's word.
Christ used God's word to rebuke the devil.
We need God's word to help to overcome the sin in our lives, the
struggles in our lives, the evil influences around us.
Let me ask you a question.
Are you being firm and unmovable in your life?
Are you being firm and unmovable with your children?
And am I saying, oh, it's this harsh.
This is harsh reality where it's like, no, it's just, no, no,
no, no.
God commands us.
He says, we are called to nurture our children and to admonish
our children.
That is a respective relationship where you are building
that loving relationship with your child.
And you're also having that.
That reaffirming where you're saying this is wrong.
There's that balanced approach there.
We're called to have that.
What about in your workplace with your coworkers, maybe with a
boss who.
A boss has just been nonstop.
They're clearly not.
They clearly hate you for what you believe as a Christian.
But yes, you can still, in a loving way, still show Christ to
them.
Ask God, read scripture, read this passage and say, lord, how can
I this week abide in you?
Maybe you're at the holidays this last week.
Maybe you foresee being around family that's not safe coming up.
Ask God to show you how can I abide in you?
Maybe it requires.
Maybe it requires a removal of distractions.
Maybe requires removal of certain electronics, of things that
don't matter.
To have our focus, of our needs to be on Christ.
Do you strive to remain consistent in your walk with him,
to be abiding in him?
It's very difficult, but it is right and it is worth it.
Bearing fruit takes a lot of patience and hard work, but it yields
fruit.
Hebrews 12:11.
It states, now, no chastity for the present seemeth to be joyous,
but grievous nevertheless.
Afterward, it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness
unto them which are exercised thereby.
So when we are disobedient to God, when we don't abide in Christ,
when God chastens us, it's not an enjoyable time, is it?
When we have to.
When we have to deal with children, our children, and say,
you did this, there's a consequence, you're disciplined.
It's not an enjoyable process, but there's joy in this, joy of the
outcome of that process.
And that joy is that fruit of righteousness, right?
Tramp a child in the way he should go, that when he is old, he
will not depart from it.
It's saying, this is the way.
This is the way that we are called to live as a Christ follower,
abiding in Christ.
And for.
Maybe some of us were like, maybe you say, man, I have been going
through some of this.
I've been getting a firm kick, you know, to.
From the Lord, to be like, you know what?
I gotta make sure that my life is shaped up to where it's supposed
to be.
Maybe today is that reminder that we all need to saying, you know
what?
I need to take the steps that I need to take to abide in Christ,
to confess that sin to him, to confess that distraction to him,
saying, I have not been abiding in you.
But there is blessing by abiding in Christ.
Look at verse seven.
It says, if ye abide in Me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask
what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
He will answer our prayer.
When we abide in Christ and His Word remains within us, we are
in sync with him and he will guide us into what we need to ask
him for things in our lives.
He wants to give us the things that we need and necessarily things
that we want.
I mean, that'd be nice, right?
Things that we want.
And sometimes he may.
But if we're abiding in him and his words, his commandments are
abiding in us, we're in sync with obedience to his will, with
our will being in line with his.
And he will answer our prayer.
But not only that, but we also glorify God.
Look at verse eight, hearing.
Is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit?
So shall ye be my disciples.
As we choose to abide in Christ and His Word, we will bear
much fruit.
This is a manifestation of our faithful love to Him.
Much here, much here, much fruit.
Meaning specifically that this is a many or a large fruit.
There will be a large amount of fruit that demonstrates a faithful,
obedient walk with Christ.
Let me ask you a question.
How many.
How many of us truly want to be able to bear specifically that?
The fruit of the Spirit, right?
Maybe you say, in my home, I've been feeling.
I've been seeing this.
I've been seeing a lack of love.
I've been seeing a lack of peace.
I've been seeing a lack of joy, right?
The fruit of the Spirit just kind of goes through that in your,
in your mind.
How can I, how, how, how can I get that back on track?
How can I get that focus of where it needs to be?
Look at verse nine right here.
It gives you a really good first step.
As a Father hath love to me, so have I loved you.
Continue ye in my love.
This is a whole reciprocated relationship here.
God the Father loves the Son, His Son loves the Father, God loves
us, and we love him, and then we love others.
It's an overflow of our relationship with God.
And so that is where it's a really good starting point.
If you're like, where can I start?
Right?
Focus on loving God.
Loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
And what does loving God require?
It requires being faithful to God's commandments, abiding in his
commandments, and not just having A Persona.
Maybe, maybe you have a Persona before your family, but behind
closed doors, when you're by yourself in your own private space,
you're not truly abiding in God's commandments, right?
No, it means being genuine, being real, saying, I'm truly desiring
to abide in Christ.
Well, let's look at our next point here.
Being steadfast in the Lord, you must obey Christ.
A couple married for 30 years had a daily tradition.
The wife would bake a bun cut at a cross.
She buttered both sides and as usual, she gave the top for the husband.
But this day, it was their 30th anniversary.
As she reached her hand out to give the sweeter part of the bun
to her husband, she thought, on the day of our 30th anniversary,
I want to eat this rosy part of the bun.
I was dreaming about this for 30 years, every single day for 30
years.
Finally, I was an exemplary wife for 30 years.
I raised good sons for him.
I put so much effort and health for the well being of our
family.
Well, guys, she made the decision.
Her husband, the bottom part of the bun.
Her husband said, what a wonderful gift you gave me today,
my dear.
30 years I did not eat my favorite part, the bottom, the part
of the bun, because I thought it rightfully belonged to you.
When it comes to our relationship to Christ, there should
be a continual growth in our walk with him that we're growing
in our love and allegiance to Him.
This is a demonstration through obedience to His Word, right
where we always have areas to grow.
All of us, we're striving to grow, to love him, to abide in him,
to learn more about Him.
But verse nine of it talks about that.
It says, as a Father hath loved me, so have I loved you.
Continuing my love.
If Jesus is somebody who is continuing in the Father's love,
He is continuing in that love, how much more should we be abiding
in his love and living out his love for those around us?
So the Father loves His son.
The Son loves us to remain in his love.
Now, the word used here for love is agape.
And it's in the tense of a past love that is continual.
What does that mean?
Well, it is.
It has been in the past.
It is a continuing love and abiding love that God has for you,
that God has for me.
The question is, do you want.
Do you want to continue to be a part of that in your life or do
you want to continue to not do that and have to experience that
pain and that Hardship of not abiding in his love.
We all have that choice to make.
But God's love is of no short supply for us.
Do you struggle to continue showing God's love to others?
You need to dig into Scripture and pray over those verses about
God's love.
Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you how to live that out.
We are encouraged to continue in Christ's love.
How is your walk with the Lord?
Is the love you show self centered love that you were living
in?
Is God's love steadfast and in through your life?
If you haven't been showing God's love, ask him to show you how
to live it out and he will show you.
We demonstrate that we love God by obeying his commandments.
Look at verse 10.
Christ says, if ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in my
love, even as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in
his love.
These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain
in you and that your joy might be full.
This is my commandment that ye love one another as I have loved
you.
And greater love hath no man than this than a man laid down his
life for his friends.
Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth
not what his Lord doeth.
But I have called you friends for all things that I have heard
of my Father I have made known unto you.
So we see that there is this whole purpose, this whole goal of
what God has for us.
We demonstrate that we love God by obeying his commandments.
Verse 10.
If you keep my commandments.
Now, what does this word keep mean?
This word keep here, Obviously it means, okay, I'm, I'm keeping
this within.
But it also conveys the idea of protecting and guarding, right?
Why do we need to protect and guard that?
Specifically, we need to protect and guard ourselves that
we truly are abiding in God's love.
Because if we're not careful in our thinking, if we're not careful
in our hearts to properly be processing things in our lives according
to truth.
And the smallest bit of information that gets in there, that's
a lie, that's not of God's word, that's not of Christ.
And then it can potentially throw off the whole thing down the
road.
And to bring back the illustration from before, right?
Wood being thrown in a fire, it's not an immediate thing, right?
You cut the wood off, but it takes a good year for it to dry out
before it can be used for fire.
It takes time for that to happen.
And you can always be restored to that.
You can always have that back by remaining in God's commandments.
And so we see the first aspect there of abiding in Christ is his
love.
But we also see the next one is his joy.
Verse 11.
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy by remaining
you and that your joy might be full.
Christ is saying, you're saying these things.
I'm sharing with you.
I'm saying for you to abide in me.
I'm encouraging you to abide in God's love.
I'm encouraging that.
Why?
Because then a natural production of fruit that comes after
love is joy.
Verse 11.
There he says that my joy might remain in you and that your
joy might be full.
So going back to the illustration of discipline, correction,
chastisement, you know, of being punished for disobedience to
God, right?
Is it joyful?
No.
But coming out of it, there's that joy and that restoration of
the relationship with God that we have.
And that's the whole purpose and the whole point of it.
And so as we look at God's commandments, he has many things
for us to follow, right?
Verse 12.
This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved
you.
That's a pretty tall order, right?
What are you saying there?
He's saying you love one another as I've loved you.
That natural overflow of that relationship, of our love with God,
as we have that love, we have that joy abiding.
That's where you're gonna start seeing your own individual
life.
And maybe it's in your family, within your home, maybe it's even
within your workplace.
And you're like, how can I possibly show God's love and joy
to people who hate the gospel?
How can I possibly show God's love and show God's joy?
Well, a lot of times love is sacrificial, right?
Is love something that's a happy feeling, an enjoyable feeling?
No, it is an intentional self sacrificial decision that we make
on the betterment of somebody else.
So if you have a boss who is being, who is just getting upset
at you about this or that or whatever, and maybe about your Christian
faith.
How can my, how can I make my boss look good?
What can I do with projects in my workplace to help lift him up
to show God's love, right?
Self sacrificial, right?
Because that's contrary to the world around us, right?
You got to be on top.
You Got to rise to the cream of the top and you have to be the
best of the best to be on top, right?
What better testimony would be for Christ if you had that perspective
where it's like, you know what, I make my boss look good.
And that's my goal, right?
That was my goal when I was working at 84 Lumber a few years
ago.
And I'm like, you know, I have no idea how to fully quote on materials
for a house.
You know, I try loading massive dirty and 50 foot trusses
on trucks.
Crazy insanity.
But how can I, how can I make my boss look good?
How can I do the best that I can to help further that cause for
the company?
So think about that.
How can you make your boss look good?
Maybe it's a spouse, right?
How can I lift them up?
How can I show them God's love?
How can I serve them right?
How can I serve my boss?
Likewise, children, how can you serve your parents?
You know, how can you love your parents?
How can you show them honor?
How can you take the steps in your life to say, you know what simple
obedience may be, saying, you know what?
Mom and dad said, I got to go do this, and I'm going to do it because
I have to be obedient to my parents.
Teenagers, I know it's difficult, difficult stage you're
going through with transition of going into adulthood.
But the Bible continues to say to honor our parents.
How can I honor my parents?
I may not fully agree with that decision that they're making,
but how can I honor them and respect their opinion about that?
You know, a lot of times when in general, when there's a thought
that we have that's contrary to something else that we want, a
lot of times God is using that other thought that's contrary to
what you think to help to show you that that isn't the best of the
tickle right now, right?
So when I was a teenager, my parents said a few things to me and
I was like, I did not fully agree with it, but I trusted them
and I honored them.
And I said, you know what my parents are?
They have more experience in life.
They know that they've gone through that process of life.
And I can honor them and respect them.
So how can you do that for your parents?
How can you do that for your boss, for your spouse, for those
around you?
Verse 13.
Christ says, Greater love hath no man than this.
That a man laid down his life for his friends.
Christ does it.
Christ did it for us.
Christ was referencing how he was about to do that for his disciples.
And then in verse 14, he says, Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever,
I command you.
What's Christ saying?
This is common sense, right?
Abide in me, follow my commandments.
Let's have that fellowship that we're supposed to have.
Just as we cannot have a proper relationship with somebody
else who is not abiding in Christ, right?
But we can ourselves.
We can be responsible for how we choose to live, how we choose
to respond, how we can choose to be Jesus friends by doing whatever
he has commanded us to do.
In verse 15, he says, henceforth, I call you not servants,
for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth.
But I have called you friends for all things that I have heard
of.
My Father I have made known unto you.
What's Jesus saying here?
He's saying, I'm not keeping any secrets from you guys.
I'm being open and transparent with you.
Everything the Father has told me, I'm telling you.
Have you been open with your spouse about things?
Have you been open with your parents about these?
Have you been open with your boss about these?
Let me go back to the example of an unsaved boss.
But how.
How transparent have you been with those in your life?
This is a very hard one, right?
We all.
Oh, I shouldn't say oh.
Some of us might say, you know what?
I have that one skeleton in the closet.
I'll bring this example in.
You know, let's say Jesus walks into the house of your life,
right?
Comes up, pulls up at the front door, walks up.
Beautiful.
Maybe it's a beautiful front door.
You know, there's beautiful blinds, know, window shutters on
the outside.
You come to the door, hello, Lord, it's so good to have you.
Come on in, right?
He walks in, lush, just living.
Just like, nice couches.
There's a rug on the floor.
Beautiful fire going, right?
During this cooler season and stuff.
And the Lord's like, let's go to the next room, right?
So we go to the kitchen, right?
Dishes are all stacked away.
Everything's all clean.
Everything's all nice, organized, right?
Then you go into your bedroom, okay?
You know, the bed's made, Everything's organized, everything's
great.
And then Jesus says, can I look at your closet?
And you're like, lord, don't go to my closet, Lord, I have a skeleton
in there, and I want you to see it.
But the Lord's like, look, if you're my friend, you need to do
that.
You start tearing up, and you're like, no, please don't.
And God is like, am I not the Lord of your life?
Am I not your Savior and your God if you don't look?
And the truth is that Christ already knows anyways, right?
And so he goes, he opens that door.
How many of us have that skeleton in our closet today?
How many of us have chosen not to be a full friend of Christ, fully
obedient to Christ, having that full love for Him?
How many of us have that skeleton in the closet that we have
to confess to him to saying, lord, I completely yield everything
to you.
I'm not going to hide anything.
I'm going to be open and I'm going to be transparent with you
about everything.
Serve.
Verse 15.
There he says, henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant
knoweth not what is what his Lord doeth.
But I have called you friends for all things that I have heard
of my Father I have made known unto you.
So what's the purpose behind all of this?
Purpose behind all this is that God is designed for us to abide
in him, to be steadfast in Him.
We demonstrate this, that we love God by obeying his commandments.
First John, 2 verses 3, 3 through 6.
It states, and hereby we do know that we know him if we keep
his commandments.
This next verse here is very crucial.
It states, he that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments
is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoso keepeth his
word in him.
Verily is the love of God perfected.
Hereby know we that we are in him.
He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk
even as he walked.
The author of the Gospel of John, the author of the Epistles
of John, like First John here, he was known as the disciple whom
Jesus loved at the Lord's Supper.
He was literally laying on Jesus chest because he was so in
love with his Lord.
He loved Christ.
And all throughout the Gospel of John, John's referred to as the
disciple whom Jesus loved.
Why?
Because John abided by God's commandments.
John abided in Christ.
He was faithful to abiding in Christ as his true vine.
Go back to verse three.
And this is, and this is a huge pivotal part here.
Verse 3.
Christ says, now you are clean through the word which I have spoken
unto you.
How are we made clean?
How are we made right pure before God?
It is through his word.
Psalm 19 talks about that, right?
There is that cleansing, there is that washing, there is that growth
in God's wisdom and God's understanding as we're truly desiring
to live for Him.
He gives us that understanding and no, this is what God's Word is.
It's cleansing.
It purifies us and it helps to make it.
It helps to show us the right way to go and how to live.
Psalm 119.
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto
according to thy Word.
Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against
thee.
How do we.
How do we not sin?
How do we abide in Christ is by abiding in His Word?
Question for you.
Have you been abiding in God's Word?
Have you been faithful to spending time regularly with him,
in your relationship with him?
Spending time?
Maybe it's taking just a couple of verses every day.
Maybe it's taking right now some Bible verses and bringing it
with you on a two by five card, tucking it in your shirt pocket,
meditating on scripture, focusing on God's word.
And so we demonstrate that we love God by obeying his commandments.
But the purpose of Jesus sharing these things is also to produce
that consistent joy in our life.
Think about what happened to Jesus.
Jesus was about to be betrayed here.
He was about to be dragged off to be killed, crucified.
If there was ever an essential time for the disciples to know his
true joy was right now.
He was about to be separated.
But in our world today, there are many uncertainties, right?
The economy, weather, refrigerated this last weekend, the
hostile environment towards Christianity and our culture.
If there was ever a time for us to be remaining in God's commandments
so that we can keep our priorities straight, it is now.
We must be abiding in God's love and his joy so that we can carefully
demonstrate to our families, our workplaces and our church that
we all must abide in Christ.
When was the last time someone noticed a difference in your life
through a demonstration of God's love and joy?
Maybe you say yesterday with my spouse or child.
Oh great, good.
Keep it up.
Maybe it was maybe a coworker.
But choose to remain faithful by abiding in God's commandments.
Go down to go back to John, John chapter 13 and John 13 and 34.
He states, A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one
another as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
By this shall all men know that you're my disciples.
If you have love one to another.
By this shall all men Know that you and my disciples, if you
have love one to another, how are you doing today?
Are you abiding in God's.
Are you abiding in God's commandments?
Are you abiding in him?
Go back to John 15.
There is this contrast between the world and between us if we're
abiding in Christ.
Verse 16.
Ye have chosen me, but ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen
you and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit and
that your faith should remain.
That whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, he may
give it to you.
What is he saying here?
You haven't.
You are not the one who has ultimately ordained this.
God has and I have.
And it's all set up for you.
All you have to do is just take it up and run with it, right?
He says, I have ordained that you should go and bring forth fruit.
So let me ask you a question.
Who is the one that this, that this is depending upon?
Does it depend on you?
Ultimately, no.
It depends on Christ.
And that's what he's saying.
He's saying that your fruit should remain and that whatsoever
ye shall ask of the Father in My name, he may give it you these
things.
I command you that ye love one another.
If the world hates you, ye know that it hated me before it hated
you, right?
This message that we're sharing, you guys know this.
In our workplaces, maybe in our public schools, maybe in when
you go shopping in different places, maybe on social media, as
you have all these different influences from the culture around
us, the world did not respond to Jesus well, did it?
No.
And the world won't respond well to us.
So when you make a decision, maybe today you're saying, you know
what?
Okay, I will abide in Christ.
I will be faithful to Him.
I will abide in His Word.
And then when you start having harsh responses, don't let it discourage
you.
Maybe you say, you know, and maybe recently I have been trying
to do that.
Don't let it discourage you.
I remember years ago, when I was young, probably about 12 years
old, I had a gospel tract.
I remember I was going up to this one truck, this guy, he was
in his truck.
I think it was like an F250 or something like that.
A big pickup truck, a little 12 year old.
I was a little 12 year old, and I gave, I gave this guy in the
truck.
And I was like, here, here's a gospel tract for you, right?
He took the tract.
You know what he did?
He threw it Back in my face, he said, no, thank you, I'm not interested.
Thankfully, my dad was there.
My dad pulled me aside and he was like, john, that's how the world
is.
You know, the world hated Jesus and is going to hate you.
And so maybe today, as.
As we're looking towards, okay, what are the next steps for
me maybe abiding in Christ?
It's good if you be warned that the world hated Christ.
Verse 19.
If ye were of the world, the world would love his own.
But because you're not of the world, but I have chosen you out
of the world, therefore the world hateth 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 saying, they will keep yours also.
But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake.
Because they know not him that sent me.
The world doesn't know God.
Romans 1 talks about that.
They don't know God.
They choose.
They choose to reject the true and living God.
They don't want to have an accountability with the Creator.
And your life as a living testament to God's saving grace to
Jesus and what he's doing in your life and having that true love
and that true joy in your life is in direct opposition to what they
want.
What is the philosophy of the world?
Look, the satanic philosophy is the philosophy of live as you
please, have what you want, don't let anybody tell you what to
do.
It's your life and you have a.
You have a right to live it.
Completely foreign from what the Christian philosophy is.
Self denial, self control and self restraint.
The world's gonna tell you, oh, don't kid, don't.
Don't worry about what this book says, okay?
You wanna be a Christian, that's okay.
Maybe, maybe you have some people like, oh, yo, I respect your
beliefs.
I have my beliefs.
But hey, it's okay for you to come out and do this.
It's okay for you to go do this.
And maybe you found yourself doing that well today I wanna encourage
you.
Don't do that.
Abide in Christ.
And I'm not gonna list any specific examples because that's
God's job on his part with the Holy Spirit to be talking to you
about whatever the area is right now that he's dealing with
you about.
What do we need to confess to him?
What do we need to confess to the Lord?
To say, lord, I need to confess this area of my life that
I have not been living right for Think about this too.
The world has already rejected the Bible, right?
They're not going to read the Bible.
They're not going to listen to the Bible.
But you could be the only, the only example of Christ, the only
example of God's word that they'll ever see in their life.
Let's think about that first.
You might be the only person that they know who's a true Christian.
And if you choose to abide in Christ by having that self sacrificial
love for that person, think about how much further you can get
in your testimony for Christ.
Right back in verse 13 he states, Greater love hath no man
than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
What measure of love have you done for those around you?
What measure of love have you demonstrated to those and lay down
your life?
For I'm challenged myself on a regular basis to make sure that my
rights are crucified so that others can move forward.
My opinions don't matter in comparison to opinions of what God.
Of how God has called me to live and how he's called me to be.
Final thought here down in verse 20:23.
He that hateth me, hateth my Father also.
If I had not done among them the works which none other man did,
they had not had sinned.
But now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
What's he saying here?
He's saying, look, if I never came, they wouldn't have recognized
their sin.
By me explaining the truth, by me explaining what this is.
It convicts them of their sin, right?
And did Christ come and just condemn people?
No.
When Christ came, he came to give himself as a ransom for many.
And that's what God's called us to do.
He's called us to abide in God's love.
He's called us to abide in the joy of Christ.
Will you remain steadfast in the lord?
In verses 12 through 14 here we are called to be faithful by loving
Christ through our obedience to his commandments.
This will be shown through how we love God and others.
Let's pray.
Dear Father, thank you Lord for this message of how important
it is for us, Father, to be steadfast in you.
Lord, I pray that as we take a few moments here, Lord, to be challenged,
Lord, with these different things.
Father.
Help us Lord, to make new commandments today.
Maybe renew commitments, Father.
Maybe new individuals, Lord, who need to know you as a personal
savior.
Lord, please.
May your word work today.
Jesus name I pray.
Amen.
You please test it.
Do you please stand with your eyes closed.
I invite you to come forward right now.
Maybe.
Maybe you say, you know what?
I have.
I've been dealing with a struggle with abiding in the Lord
today.
Maybe I need to come forward and I need to confess a distraction
in my life that has caused me to be unfaithful to him.
Maybe where you're standing there.
Maybe where you're standing there in your seat, Maybe you say,
you know what?
I have not been abiding.
Faithful in God's love and God's joy.
Maybe you say, you know what?
I've allowed the flesh to get a better hold of me.
I've allowed the distractions in this world to pull away from my
responsibility.
Perhaps as a father, as a husband, as a wife, as a mother,
as an employee, or even an employer.
How can you.
How.
How can you abide in Christ?
This week I'm gonna ask another question.
Maybe you've been in the service this morning.
Maybe you've been in church your whole life.
Maybe this is your first time today listening maybe online here
in church, hearing the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
How Jesus Christ came.
He lived that perfect life.
As a lamb before shearers is dumb.
He opened not his mouth.
And how Christ paid for the sins of the entire world.
He paid for your sins.
He'd be paid for my sins.
That perfect sacrifice is the Lamb of God.
He died, he was buried.
He rose again according to the scriptures.
How have you done that in your life?
Romans 10:13 states, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved.
Would you call out to God today?
Maybe it's something like this.
Lord, I confess I'm a sinner, Lord, in of myself.
I cannot do anything.
Lord, I need you.
Father, I confess that you are the Lord of the universe, that you
died for me.
That you were buried and you rose again.
And I put my full faith and trust in you alone to be my Savior.
Let's pray something like that.
If you.
If you prayed a prayer like that or something similar, or a decision
you made that you've made today, please feel free to come talk
to me or to write on one of the cards in the welcome center.
I would love to be able to follow up with you by decision this
morning.
Dear Lord, I thank you for this time, Lord, to reflect on this
these truths.
Lord.
Help us God, to be steadfast in you, Lord.
And thank you so much for all you've done for us.
Lord, in Jesus name I pray.
Amen.
Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church
podcast.
I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.
If you would like to find out more information about our church
or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org
or find us on Facebook or YouTube.
You can also email me directly at joshmisaroiddletownbaptistchurch
dot com if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow
along for future podcasts and updates.
Thank you so much.
God Bless.
Have a wonderful day.