Abide In the Love of God

Transcript

GR 397
4/12/1981
Abide In the Love of God
JOHN 15:9-17
Gil Rugh

John chapter 15 this morning. John’s gospel and the 15th chapter. This is a very basic and intimate session that Christ is having with His disciples to prepare them for His impending departure from the earth. We've broken into this discussion several times in chapter 15, and I hope you keep the flow of things. It’s good for you to sit down and read through chapters 13 to 17 at one sitting and remind yourself that this was given all on one evening. There is much material here—much of it the disciples will not grasp and understand until after the events of the crucifixion and resurrection. But it is all told them now to prepare them and to equip them for that time when they will serve without Christ present in His body on the earth.

He has been developing the analogy of the vine and the branches, and the branches abide in the vine. As a result of that, there is life flowing from the vine into the branches. The result of life flowing from the vine into the branches is fruit being produced on the branches. The fruit here in this passage is the character of Christ Himself being produced in the life of the children of God. Each child of God has the character of God being produced in and through him. We looked at verses 4 and following in our last study where we're reminded that apart from the vine, the branch can do nothing. So we are to abide in Christ. We noted the significance of abiding, as John writes about it both in his gospel and in his epistle, is to believe in Him as our Savior. When one believes in Jesus Christ as his Savior, he is brought into a personal relationship with God whereby he dwells in God and God dwells in him. The result is that the life of God is produced in the believer and the character of God is a result.

Now regarding those who do not abide in Christ, verse 6, they are like dead branches. There is no life in them because they have no real connection with the vine. So they do not produce fruit. They are doomed to destruction, destruction by fire. We noted in many passages through the New Testament the emphasis for the unbeliever is on their destiny of destruction in fire, concluding in Revelation chapter 20 with the second death, casting into hell all those who did not come to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior.

Verse 8. "By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples." The production of much fruit, the more fully the character of God is produced and seen in my life, the more God is glorified. And the production of the character of God in my life is the evidence that I really am a child of God. And if God's character is not seen in my life, it's an evidence that I'm not His child at all. By His character, we mean His holiness, His righteousness—the fruit of the Spirit as Gal. chapter 5 speaks of. The character of God being produced.

Now in verse 9, He continues His discussion and He zeroes in on the subject of love in verses 9-17. That is the theme of these verses—love. And everything He talks about will be seen in the context of love. His love for us and our love for one another as believers.

Verse 9. "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love." Now note here the standard of the love Christ has for us. "Just as the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you.” Now there are no limits on that love. That love is without restriction. It is a total and complete, absolute giving that Christ is talking about. There is no limit in the love that is expressed from the Father to the Son. And so Jesus says 'In the same way that My Father loves Me, I love you.' Amazing the depth and the breadth, the completeness of Christ's love for us. Then He gives the command, "Abide in my love." This is the realm in which you are to dwell and live. Now what does it mean to abide in the love of God, in the love of Christ? That's explained in verse 10. "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." You note as we move through this section that obedience and love are inseparable. You cannot talk about a relationship of love without talking about obedience, and where obedience is lacking, love is also lacking. "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love." The other side of this was expressed in chapter 14 and verse 15. "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." So if you love Me, you keep My commandments; if you keep My commandments, you love Me. They are interchangeable and inseparable. If there is not obedience to the commandments of Christ present, you do not love Him. If you love Him, you will be obedient to His commandments. It’s just that simple.

Now the question comes, and some of you have asked about this. About commandments as it’s referred to here by John. And we’ve eluded to this in other places, but just to review for ourselves so we are clear. When John writes here about commandments, Christ is speaking about keeping His commandments, He is not talking about the commandments of the Mosaic Law. John has a totally different word that he uses in his gospel when he writes about the Mosaic Law or the Ten Commandments. When John writes about the Mosaic Law or Mosaic Commandments, he uses the word ’nomos’. It means "commandments or law." John uses it 15 times in his gospel, never in his epistles. it always refers to Moses’ Law or the Mosaic Commandments.

Look back in John chapter 1 for an example. John chapter 1, verse 17. "For the law was given through Moses..." The law there is the word ’Nomos,’ the commandments, the law, referring to the Mosaic Law that was given through Moses. Down in verse 45, "Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, ’We have found Him of whom Moses wrote in the Law...'" The word law there is the word nomos, the Mosaic Commandments, in the Mosaic Law. And this goes on 15 times and the context always indicates that John is talking about the Mosaic Law.

Now over in John 15, John uses the word 'entole.' Totally different word. It means ’commandment or law’ but John uses it to refer to the instructions or teachings of Christ. He does not use this word to refer to the Mosaic Law.
He uses it ten times in his gospel, eighteen times in his epistles. Always to refer to the teachings or instructions that Christ gave, not to the commandments contained in the Mosaic Law. So you need to be clear on that. Jesus is not saying ’If you keep the Mosaic Law, you abide in My love.’ But rather, 'If you keep the commandments, my instructions, that I have given you, you abide in My love.'

Look over in First John to see what these entail. First John chapter 3, and we'll look at this section several times because it is key in the subject of abiding as well. First John chapter 3, verse 22, "And whatever we ask, we receive from Him..." This is going to come up in John 15 again this morning. Linked together, the subject of obedience, the subject of love, the subject of prayer—all are inseparable. "Whatever we ask, we receive of Him because we keep His commandments, and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another just as He commanded us." So when we talk about keeping the commandments of Christ, the heart of those commandments is to believe in Him as the Son of God, the Savior of the world, and to love fellow-believers. That's the commandments he's talking about keeping. Believing in Christ and loving other believers. "The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him."

So come back to John 15. When Jesus says 'If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love' He's talking about obeying Him, particularly by believing in Him and loving fellow-believers. "Just as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love." He dwells in the realm of His love. I take it that every believer then here abides in the love of Christ. Because to be a child of God, you must believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, the One who died for your sins. You must also be manifesting a love for other believers. John writes in his first epistle, 'If you don't love the children born of God, you don't love God.' Everyone who is born of God loves the children of God. So they are inseparable.

Now verse 11, He brings an added dimension to love. Keep in mind that the theme we're talking about is love. It seems He changes the subject here but He doesn't really. Verse 11, "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full." I've spoken these things—what things? These things about abiding in Me. About keeping My commandments so that you might have My joy abiding in you. It was interesting to me, I hadn't realized it until I was studying John, that John uses this word 'joy' more than any other writer in the New Testament. Nine times he uses this particular word ’joy', more than any other New Testament writer. The amazing thing is that it is used seven times in this discourse by Christ on the last evening before His crucifixion. What a time to be talking about joy. He's about to leave His disciples. He's about to suffer the agony of death on a cross, and He is talking about joy! The disciples are about to be thrown into confusion, despair for a period of time and He says 'I'm talking to you about these things so you can have My joy and that your joy may be full, overflowing, abundant.' Doesn't seem to go together but it does.

Note here the context in which we're talking about joy—it's in the context of love. Abiding in His love. Verse 12 will say, "This is My commandment that you love one another, just as I have loved you." So this comment on joy is in the flow of the discussion on love. I take it the reason is that joy always is present in the context of love. And where love is absent, joy is absent. That fits in Galatians chapter 5 where we're told the fruit of the Spirit is number one, love; number 2, joy! As we're function in this relationship of love, it's then that the joy of Christ is produced in us. Now we're not talking about the fun in the light sense of joy, but that deep abiding joy. That fulfillment that inner satisfaction that is so close to peace, that inner happiness that belongs to a child of God. Functioning in a love relationship with God and with other believers, "that your joy may be full." God did not intend for Christians to be sour, depressed, discouraged, and miserable. Rather, He intended for them to have a fullness of joy, "...that your joy may be full." John picks up this idea in his epistle chapter 1, verse 4, when he says "These things I write unto you in order that our joy may be full." Same thing. He writes about having fellowship with God and having fellowship with other Christians. He says these two concepts, having fellowship with God and fellowship with other believers produces fullness of joy among us. Now Christ here talks about love, the fellowship we have in love with Him and with the Father, and with one another because verse 12 says, "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you." So when I talk about My love for you, Christ says, now I talk about your love for one another. Now in the midst of all this My joy is being brought to fullness in you. I think you ought to pick that up as we go by because there is a lot of absence of joy among believers. I take it that it ties to an absence of love. And Christ intended for us to have fullness of joy. He intended for us to function in a love relationship with one another. Verse 12 He gives a command, "This is My commandment... that you love one another." Now the way that we often think of love today we say it can’t be commanded. You can’t make me love someone. I can't help it, I don't love them. Yet Christ says here "Love one another." We say, Lord you don't know that one another! I don't love them. I can't help it. I can't control my feelings. I just don't love them! Christ says, "This is My commandment. This is not My recommendation. It's not My advice." He's not writing a Dear Abbey column in John 15. He's saying that this is the way it has to be. "This is My commandment, love one another." You say, Oh boy! How am I going to do that? Keep in mind that love in the context we're talking about, agape love, always functions in the realm of obedience! I must obey Him to be functioning in the right relationship. And in loving you, it's a matter of obedience, obeying Him in doing what is best for you. You note the standard of love here. Love one another, just as I have loved you. Now that is quite a standard of love. He doesn’t say 'Love one another the best you can. Love one another to your utmost.’ He says, ’’Love one another with My love as the standard!” And there is no limit on His standard of love. No limit on the love that He gave.

Note what He says in the next verse. "Greater love has no one than this that one lay down his life for his friends." The love we're talking about is the willingness to sacrifice yourself for someone else, regardless of the cost or consequences. That’s what He is commanding. It’s true, I don't have the same feeling for every Christian, but I can give myself totally for the good of every Christian. That’s what He's talking about. The ultimate in giving? The sacrifice of your own life. Christ says you can go no further in manifesting love than giving yourself. And how often we think as Christians that we have gone to the fullest. I say, I have gone as far as I can go. What am I saying? I’ve run out of love? Well, remember, this love is commanded. Two things you ought to remember about it. 1) It is produced by the Spirit of God in your life (Gal. 5, the fruit of the Spirit is love.) You say ’I can't help it, I can't love them. I don't love them any more.' You know what I'm saying? I ought to be honest—I am unwilling to have the Spirit of God produce the love of God in my life for them! That's the issue. I do not want to love them and I am willing to stifle the Spirit's ministry in my life so that He does not produce love in me for them. That's basically what I'm saying. That's a world of difference from saying 'I can't help it, I just don't love them' when I'm saying 'I will not help it because I don't want to love them.' Now a problem comes when I stifle the Spirit's ministry in my life, I cannot control that. I cannot say, ’Spirit of God, don't produce love in me for them but give me all the joy I desire' because the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, then peace. And I am unwilling to have the Spirit of God produce love in me for another believer and pretty soon I find myself being a sourpuss Christian, miserable. Then I find the peace that I should be having is not present. And I become unsettled throughout my life. Why? Because Christ says, "Love one another. Function in this relationship." I really believe that the cause of so much bickering and division and misery in the Church today is because the devil is attacking us at the very heart—love for one another. And we can bicker about things, we can criticize one another, we become impatient with one another. It's another way of saying we don't manifest love to one another.

Someone in the congregation was sharing about a church that we're both familiar with, we both know the pastor there. There was a man in this church who told the pastor that he had the spiritual gift of criticism. Really, can you imagine that? Now if you had a spiritual gift, you have to exercise it. That's the only biblical thing to do. So he's the chief critic. Going around finding what is wrong with the other believers there and in everything else. You know what is lacking in that person? Love. And often we as believers, when we get down to the root problem we're tearing each other apart, bickering about this, divisive about that. The issue is a lack of love. Now I realize that is swung from one side to the other. We've got these over here who don't know anything about doctrine. All they're talking about is the squishy, guishy, gooshy love. That's not what we're talking about. But on the other side, we've got Christians who are slicing away at other believers and they know nothing of love. We need to walk in the path of the Scripture.

First Corinthians just quickly, just read it. A few verses out of here. You can measure it very easily. We like to leave love in the realm of feelings because then it's harder to measure. It's more intangible. God brings this love down into concrete demonstration. You can tell whether one believer loves another believer. Verse 4 of 1 Corinthians 13. "Love is patient..." So I decide I am going to be patient and draw upon the Spirit’s power to have patience with you. You say 'I’m at the end of my rope, I'm losing my patience." What am I saying? I'm just about to take over from the Spirit of God. Love is patient. "Love is kind, and is not jealous, does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong." How many churches are divided? People are all bent out of shape because they had their feelings hurt. Somebody wronged them. Now it doesn't say here that the wrong isn't real. It just says you don't keep a record of it. I don't take it into account. "Does not act unbecomingly." Down to verse 6. "Does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." That's love. You shy 'I can't take any more.' The love of the Spirit has run out? What do I mean? I mean I don't want to function in love any more. The flesh is tired of it. Well, I wasn't called to function in the flesh. I was called to function in the Spirit, and He has a limitless supply of love.

Look over in Philippians chapter 2 to see how love and unity and oneness are joined together. Philippians chapter 2. "If therefore there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in you which was also in Christ Jesus." And what did He do? He was willing to sacrifice Himself even to the point of dying on a cross. That carries us to where we are in John 15. "Greater love hath no man than this than a man lay down his life for his friends." That willingness to sacrifice ourselves totally. We have a thimble full of love for one another often as believers, and when that's exhausted we think 'Wow, I've just gone the last mile.' Remember what the writer to the Hebrews says? They thought, 'Oh, boy, I've suffered as much as a person can be expected to suffer. This has got to be the end.' You know what the writer to the Hebrews said? You've not yet resisted to the shedding of blood. What are you crying about? You're still here. You think you've really sacrificed. Well, you haven't died yet, have you!

Well, all of us sitting here in this auditorium are alive to one degree or another, and you should be up here and you would be able to see the varying degrees! But sometimes we think we've gone so far in loving that person. Well we're here. We're breathing! We're functioning. In other words, I haven't died for you yet. My sacrifice hasn't been so complete yet, so I'd better quit my whining and get on with being the person God wants me to be. That would take care of the bickerings and strife and the back-bitings that go on. And invariably if you have that kind of person, you have a sour, unhappy person because the love of God is not being produced in his life, the joy of God is not being produced in his life either. The church ends up being a battleground where everybody is miserable. The character of Christ is so blurred, it's no wonder the world doesn't know who we belong to. And even if they know, they know they don't want to belong.

Back to John 15. "Love one another." Ultimately we can say every believer, one who is a true believer does have love for other believers. But you know, it's just like in our own family. I have to be reminded that he's my brother, she's my sister, and to function accordingly. "Greater love hath no one than this than a man lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends, if you do what I command you." You note here how obedience and love is all intertwined? You are My friends if you do what I command you. Now. If you don’t do what I command you, you're not My friends. You don’t belong to Me. I take it it's that simple. Believers are those who are obedient to Jesus Christ. You could define a child of God as one who is obedient to Jesus Christ. Now be careful. Some will take that and say ’Oh, you’re being saved by works.' No I'm not saying you’re being saved by works. I'm saying you're being saved by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. And because you've been saved by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, you are a child of God and that manifests itself in your conduct. This is what John stresses in his First Epistle. If you're not obedient to God, you are not a child of God. It is that clear. But the order is important. "No longer do I call you slaves; for the salve does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you." Hard to grasp the fullness of the intimacy of the position that we have as the children of God. That we are the friends of God! You know, in all the Old Testament there is only one person that was ever called the friend of God and that was after He was dead. One person! In 2 Chronicles chapter 2 and Isaiah chapter 41, the same man is referred to as having been the friend of God. James chapter 2 refers to the fact he was the friend of God—the man Abraham. The only man in all the Old Testament that was ever called the friend of God. You find Abraham being brought into the intimacy, Genesis 18, of what God was going to do. "Shall I keep from Abraham what I am about to do?" That's what Christ says here. You're My friends. I haven't kept anything from you. All that the Father has revealed to Me, I have revealed to you. It's a special thing to have friends. It's a sad thing when a person says he has no friends. You say, 'That person is my friend' you mean that person is special to me. I can share things with them, they share things with me. There is an intimacy that we have. Jesus says we're His friends. He has shared with us the intimacy of the knowledge of God His Father. He hasn't kept them secret from us. You note here, He doesn't deal with us as slaves. We are His slaves. But He deals with us more than slaves. He’s the Lord, I’m the servant. But I am a slave who is His friend. He doesn’t just order me around. He gives me commands, but He has given me the fullness of knowledge to understand and know. You don’t tell servants your personal business, you have a slave that worked for you, a servant, you wouldn’t bring him in on the personal details of your family. It’s none of their business. They just do the work. Well, we are those who are obedient to Him and He has brought us into the intimacy of the family. He has shared with us His Father, has shared with Him. And we walk as friends of God. There is no such thing as a Christian who doesn’t have friends—they have a friend who sticks closer than a brother! He is with me at all times under all circumstances, in every situation. Never alone. He has brought us into the privilege of a family relationship where we as the friends of Christ ought obviously to be functioning in the relationship as friends with one another. Friends don’t question the motive. Friends trust one another. There is a mutual respect. That's the relationship we have with Jesus Christ and it ought to be reflected in the relationship we have with one another.

Verse 16. How did we get to be the friends of God? Well, I'll tell you how it happened. One day after living in sin, I decided I needed a friend so I chose Jesus Christ to be my friend. Well, it seemed that way quite frankly, but verse 16 set the record straight. Gil, you didn’t choose Me, I chose you. No, you don't remember, Lord, remember back there that evening? It was presented and I sat there and thought, Well, would I like to have Him as my friend? Yeh, I think I would. I’ll take Him. He says, No, Gil, that's not the way it was. You thought it was, that's the way it seemed to you, but you know what was going on? I chose you to be my friend. And the reason you came to that decision was because I had chosen you. That's what verse 16 says. "You did not choose Me, but I chose you." He was the initiator. Now that's hard to understand. Humanly speaking, I can understand why I would want Him to be my friend. But it’s much more difficult to understand why He would want any of us to be His friend. We have nothing to offer Him. He doesn’t need anything. But He's a true friend. He chose us, we didn’t choose Him.

Note here. The doctrine of election is what we're talking about, but it’s election with purpose. He chose us and appointed us—to set someone, to place them. He chose us and appointed us. It's important to see that. Some people believe in an election without purpose, and they believe they are the children of God because they were elected and nothing else enters into it. You don't understand the doctrine of election if you don't link it to the purpose of God in choosing you. There are four purposes expressed here. He appointed you: 1) that you should go; 2) that you should bear fruit; 3) that your fruit should remain; 4) that the Father would give you...whatever you ask Him. First three are in present tenses, denoting something that is to be constantly going on. "That you should be going," picturing here that we go as His representatives. That we proceed out. Those chosen and appointed by Him to be going with a purpose of bearing fruit. Now you put these two together and what He is saying is, that in every place that we go, in all of our activity, we are to be manifesting the character of God in our lives. That's what He is saying. In all of our dealings, in all of our activities, we must be manifesting the character of God. "Bearing fruit," present tense. Constantly having the character of God produced in and through us in ALL of our goings, in all of our activities. Now you see here, the production of the character of God in our lives is inseparably linked to His sovereign choosing of us to be His friends. That is why a person who is not having the character of God produced in their life is demonstrating that they don't belong to God at all. Because the sovereign God has determined that all of those that He has chosen will produce His character, will be bearing fruit in their life. And if that is absent, you have not been elected by Him. You are not His child. Now maybe you're one of the elect who hasn't believed yet, but at this point in time, you have no vital, living relationship with Him.
And you note. "Your fruit should remain." This ought to encourage us.
One thing is happening in your life that will abide, will remain, that is eternal and that is the production of the character of God in you. That is a process that is eternal in nature so whatever else you get taken up with, whatever else absorbs us, above all else we should be concerned with the production, the manifestation of the character of God in all of our activity, because God has decreed that this remain, that this be eternal. I take it this will tie to the rewards that we will receive in eternity—how we have allowed the Spirit of God to work in our lives in producing the character of God in us. Look over in Ephesians chapter 1.

Ephesians chapter 1 and we'll just read two verses out of Ephesians. As we talk about the subject of election, Ephesians chapter 1 along with Romans chapter 9 is a key chapter on this subject. Ephesians 1:4, "Just as He chose us..." and that's what we're talking about—choosing. "...chose us in Him before the foundation of the world..." That what Jesus said, "You did not choose Me, I chose you." When did He do that? Ephesians 1:4 says "before the foundation of the world." Now note the purpose. "In order that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love." That is inseparably linked to our election. He has chosen us so that we would be holy and blameless. John 15:16 says, "so that we should be bearing fruit." I take it the fruit is the holiness, the righteousness, the character of God. That's an inseparable part of our salvation.

Over in chapter 2 of Ephesians, verse 10. "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, (now note) which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." God has sovereignly chosen us to salvation and in that choosing, He has determined and ordained that all whom He has chosen> everyone, WILL bear the fruit of His character in their lives. So if His character is absent from your life, you do not belong to Him. If it is absent from my life, I do not belong to Him. Then Jesus ends on the note, emphasizing that aspect of character which He has been talking about in verse 17 of John 15—"This I command you, that you love one another." The stress here is on loving other believers. That’s the one another. That’s where the emphasis is. A place for loving the lost, but the real evidence and testimony that we are children of God is that we love other believers because the world loves its own and we’re going to see that in coming studies. Unbelievers love unbelievers. The unique thing is that we love the children of God. "This I command you that you love one another." Do you really love other believers?
Do you have an interest and a concern for them? You are willing to sacrifice yourself for them? To suffer whatever personal inconvenience and loss that is necessary for their good? That you’re not looking out for good old number one, but you're looking out for their benefit? As you see other believers you see them in light of the grace of God in their life? You look at other believers not to see what you can find wrong but so you can praise God for the work of grace in his life? Manifesting His character, the particular aspect of His character that He has been repeatedly stressing is love for one another. We can expect that if this is the heart of our testimony, the heart of our evidence that we belong to God, that it is going to bear the frontal attack of our enemy, the devil. We can expect that what is going to be attacked repeatedly in this local body is our love for one another. The devil will be constantly giving a dozen reasons why you can't love them, why they are wrong, why this, why that, instead of saying 'Oh, God, how I praise you for so-and-so. What a wretched, miserable sinner and my what an evidence of grace that you saved them.' It would change the way we deal with one another. I'm amazed at you—filthy, dirty sinner and God saved you by grace. It’s not amazing to me what you're not, it's amazing what you are! And that ought to amaze you about me! Fallen humanity, the grace of God—we are what we are. We ought to focus on that in our relationship together.

One question. Is the character of God being produced in your life? Do you love other believers? If not, be careful about hiding behind the guise of carnality when perhaps you're not a believer at all. You can have the love of God, the joy of Christ produced in your life but you must believe in Him as the Savior who loved you and died for you. Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you for the greatness of your love this morning. For what you have accomplished for us and in us in the finished work of Your Son, Jesus Christ. We are privileged to abide in your love, privileged Father, to have the joy of Christ produced in us to the fullest. Lord, we are privileged to live in a love relationship with one another as believers. Lord, our desire as your children is that Your character might be produced in us to the fullest. Lord, that we might love one another with an overwhelming love that the world might know that we belong to You.

Father, I pray for those who are here in whom your character is not produced because they don't belong to you, that they too might come to trust you and experience the joy of sins forgiven and new life in Christ, in whose name we pray