Well, a good morning to all those who are physically here and those who are here by other means. And we are looking at abiding in Christ, John 15 in particular. We have verse 4 in our bulletins if you are here presently. It's printed right smack in the middle, right down at the bottom here. So let's work on that first and then we'll continue on. John 15.4. 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. John 15.4. Let's do this silently for a bit. etching it in the cereal of our mind. Okay, well, we spent a little bit of time with this and each Sunday for the last couple of them. Let's see how we do today. John 15, four. 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. John 15, four. And so we have it. Also, our pastor is challenging us to learn the first three verses of the chapter. So if you're bored and have nothing else to do, certainly go ahead and tackle that. If you're not bored, go ahead and tackle it anyway. All right. So John 15, very important things Jesus had to say about our life, our Christian life, abiding staying, growing, bearing fruit. So, as a matter of view, we can come across and see the application. If a man loves Christ, he will obey Him. And of course, this is in John 15, verse 9, as well as in John 14, 23. God the Father in Christ will love him. We think about these things and we say, how is it that God loves me? He just does, it's part of his character. But he said, if you abide in me, if you obey my voice, the Father will love you and I will love you. The promise made. He who bears fruit, he's the one abiding in Christ. So you can look, what's the fruit of his life? What is the outcome of his actions? Every branch that doesn't bear fruit is taken away. And Jesus said here in verse five, without me you can do nothing. That's important because we try to do so many things in life. We want to be successful. We want to have influence over others. We want to do. But he said, without me you can do nothing. And that's success in God's eyes. Maybe not the world's eyes. You may know some people, they are trying and it looks like they're succeeding. But when you measure it against eternity and all the things that matter to God, even those people have failed. Why? Because the will of God is success, not the size of the bank account. how many yachts you have, or any of the rest of it. It's a little gone. You don't abide in Christ until you cast forth whither worth was cast into the fire and burned. Those are also very heavy words. But I have noticed that what Jesus says, he means. So however that works out, this is what he's talking about here. But abiding in Christ opens the door of blessing from God. So you abide in Christ, verse 7 and 16. There are two verses that say this. Now, it would be enough if one verse said this, but we have two in this same chapter that say this. Abide in Christ and you'll have blessing from God. You want blessing from God, there you go. That's it right there. Those who abide bring glory to the Father, So you want to glorify God the Father you abide in Christ Obedience Brings abiding Obedience Brings abiding and that's more to the point But we're not done because in verse 11 Comes up and says these things that I've spoken to you that you might joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full joy You know, in life, many things can be a burden. All kinds of stuff going on. In Korea here, it's tax time. People are having to pay their taxes. And we're aware of how thrilling it is to pay your taxes every year. But this is how the thing goes. They pay their taxes April 15th, then on for ever, it seems like. And here, this time of year, Koreans pay taxes. But what does he say? I say, I'm telling you these words that my joy might be in you. Now, did Christ pay taxes? Sure. He said, Peter, get out to the lake, grab a fish, open its mouth, pull out the coin, pay your tax. Christ paid taxes. He recognized the authority of the government that was there. God raises up kings. God takes them down. God instituted government. And we have that record way back in the first five books of the Bible. So we have that. Government has a legitimate place. But government of God. So this is what we have. that we have his joy no matter what, and that your joy might be full. So it isn't the fact that you have joy only, but the joy is full, complete, everything is there. Then in 12 and 17, again, one time is not enough. He's saying it twice. This is my commandment. Love one another. It's an active taking care. Take care of each other. Love each other. Sometimes it requires a bit of sacrifice. Sometimes that requires a bit of doing beyond. But this is his commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. What? Wow. That's big. How much does God love you? You ever stop and think about that one? Can I do it? In the power of God? Yes. Because remember, Christ came down upon earth and ministered among us, gave up his life for us. As I have loved you. Humanist speaking, that is a tall order. but we're going right back to without me you can do nothing. Who would try to fulfill that in his own strength? Now we might have that desire, but there's not gonna be a way for us to do that in our own strength. As I have loved you, that's a high standard. So what is it? In Christ, abide in me, and I in you, you're gonna bear fruit, you're gonna love one another, okay, that's how you're going to do it. Staying in there. Verse 17, these things I command you that you love one another. So he ends that section with the command again. Verse 13, how do we know we have great love for one another? A man lays down his life What bigger sacrifice can a person make? Historically, we see this. Christ himself, other Christians. We have the record in Europe, for example, of Jan Hus. Jan Hus, Croatia. He said, this is how God said things. This is what God meant. And I'm ready to be sacrificed for this. He faced the council. He faced the fire. He faced death, certain death. That was a tall order. But people to this day honor his memory because he stood where he should have. Very difficult thing to do. I mean, think about it. If you were called upon to do this, could you do it? I can't say for sure I would, because it's that deep and that powerful. But he did. Martin Luther, well, he was pursued by those who would take him down. He had the protection of the prince, but he was still pursued by the Catholic Church in those days. Here I stand, I can do no other. He took his stand on the word of God, abiding in Christ. And though he had the training in that church, he could not abide it. Why? Because it did not abide in Christ. In those days, it had departed. The tradition was more than the word of God itself. And this is the condemnation that Christ brought against the religious leaders of his day. You have your tradition, but I say to you, he countered that. Abiding in Christ sometimes requires us to go against things that are popular and viewed as normal in our society. Not an easy thing. And particularly if it's connected with some power. People who are given the authority to do things to circumvent the law of God, to go around it. But we have Christ's friendship if we obey him. Now, this is also found in Matthew. Matthew 12, 15. Go there, take a look at that. Okay? Matthew 12, 15. Verse five, zero. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." Interesting. Christ's friendship, part of the family, brother, sister, mother. See, Christ did have a mother, as we all recognize. Her name was Mary, we know that. But here he says, the person that does the will of the Father, she's my mother. She's my sister. The man that does that, he's my brother. A brother to Christ. The one who spoke the universe into existence, and he's my brother. Hopefully that's making some kind of impression here. This is incredible. But this is his word, and this is what he says. And how does he know? How does he count friendship? I call you friends, right in the middle of verse 15. All things that I have heard of my father have been known to you. How do we know? He tells us the secret things, the things he does not tell his enemies, the things he does not tell his mere acquaintances. We're his servants. Yes, we serve Christ, we're his servants. But he says, I call you friends. He goes beyond. The things I have heard from my father, I'm now telling you. So you read those words. Have we heard all the secrets of God? No. The secret things belong to the Lord our God. But so many of the things that he could have kept secret from us, he opened it up. and let us know of her." Incredible. This is the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the one who is in charge of all. And 16, Christ chose us and ordained us, set us aside. And he said, you never choose me, I chose you. Now this is it. When a person comes to Christ, we say, he chose Jesus. Well, what about it? You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. Who was doing the searching in the beginning? God was searching for us. When we are yet outside of God's family, we're not naturally looking for God. We're not naturally looking to be his family or to do his will or any of that. You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. He goes for us. So we sit here in the midst of this body to worship a God who picked us out. You. You. Privilege. Very deep, very strong privilege. Now, we've been talking about all this, and I wanna go beyond this and take this as an illustration point in John 17. Now, John 15 talks about the vine and the branches, but how do we see it worked out? All these things that Christ talks about. Okay, just flip another page over to John 17 and we'll take another look. John 17, you ready? This is it right here. Abiding in the Father by obedience. Now, John 8.29 talks about that. So, this is what we do. Obey. And then we abide in the Father. But we take a look, and we see Jesus' prayer for his disciples. Jesus is praying, I have manifested thy name. I'm talking about verse six here. Because before this, it's a lead up. to this point in the prayer. I have manifested thy name unto the men who thou gavest to me out of the world. I and they were, and thou gavest to me, and they have kept thy word. So Christ prays for their obedience. And he says, and they have kept my word. What did they do? They abided. They stayed put. John 17.6. So Christ gives testimony to that in John 17. Okay, so now we're looking at it. And remember, John 15, verses seven and 16, he says, this brings blessing. And you stop and think about it. You say, blessing? How is it? And in John 17, The very fact that he's praying for us, he's blessing us. He's setting us aside. He's giving us more than we would have had. That's what we're talking about. So we skip down to verse 20 in John 17, neither pray I for these alone. Verse 20, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me." So unity with God, unity with each other. How blessed it is for brothers to dwell together in unity. And here we have it. And it's not a made-up unity. It's a unity that is made by God himself and given to us, as we see here, that they may all be one. Christ, the Father, the Spirit, they are one. We say we have one God. People wanna come along and say, well, you have three gods. No, we have one God. But this is it right here. His prayer was for us. to be one, in unity, as God is, thinking the same thoughts, having the same goals, doing the same kinds of things, unity, that they may all be one. But that's not all the blessing, there's more. Verse 22, in the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them. So it's not just unity, it's glory. Now that's something we tend to fight for. We want prestige. We want recognition. What better way than for him to give that to us? Rather than us fighting for it, contending, trying to make ourselves look better, abide in Christ. He gives this freely. He values it, certainly. He gives it to us. That I might glorify them, as thou hast glorified me. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one. Complete. Nothing we see, nothing lacking. There it is, right there. Now, following this, convenience brings blessing, we're gonna walk a little trail here, okay? So let's go to Matthew 3 now. We're gonna go to Matthew 3, get this thing done. Convenience brings blessing. Matthew 3. We have the record of the baptism of Jesus. Right before the temptations, right before Satan tries to trick him. But here he is in the baptism. And let's drop down to verse 17. We have the baptism where he comes to the River Jordan and John baptizes him. I should be baptized by you. No, you baptize me. You carry out the will of the Father. And as this is done, verse 17 of Matthew 3, and lo, a voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Now, keep in mind, this is the beginning. He hasn't done all the healing and preaching and everything yet. So, this is the testimony of the Father. He is my Son, in Him I am well pleased. So obedience brings blessing. Up to this point, Christ had obeyed the Father, and the Father put a stamp of approval on that. I am well pleased. He's letting people know. Jesus is doing the right thing. Okay. Then you go to chapter 17 and verse 5. This is after a bunch of preaching and miracles, work that Jesus did. So at the beginning of the ministry, the Father speaks from heaven. In Matthew 17, we have the transfiguration, Christ being glorified on the mount. Verse 5 of Matthew 17. Jesus is speaking to Moses and Elijah. And while he yet speaks, Behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud which said, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And God the Father adds one more thing now. He said this before, right? Now he says this, hear ye him. He's going to tell you the truth. He's going to tell you what you need to know. Matthew, verses 5 of 17, and 17 of 3. So chapter 3, 17, chapter 3. 17, verse 5. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. The blessing and the charge, hear him, pay attention to what he says. If you abide in me and I in you, How do we abide in him and how does he abide in us? Through his word. If you obey, that means you listen, you got the message, and you did it. Without the knowledge of his command, how would we obey? But when he clearly commands and communicates that to us, now we have something to go on Now we have something we can do. And if we obey that, we're abiding in him. So that whole thing follows. Now this is Christ. Obedience brings blessing. Historically, I wanna travel on down. We're gonna go to Acts now. And as you know, the book of the Acts is about the history of the early church. So in chapter five, the apostles are suffering persecution. You go down to verse, let's start at verse 29, because Peter and the other apostles answered and said, because they're saying, didn't we tell you not to speak in the name of Jesus? And Peter answers. So Acts 5.29, then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. Abide in me, and I in you. We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus when he slew and hanged on a tree. Did they want to hear that? No. But it was the truth. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. This is the instrument of blessing for all of Israel right here. Acts 5 31. So this is what we have. Him hath God exalted with his right hand. We remember something about the right hand. He is seated at the right hand of his father by the throne in heaven. A place of privilege and power, authority. And here we have it, right here. God exalted him with his right hand to be a prince and a savior, to bring forgiveness. What more blessing This is huge, this is absolutely marvelous to think about. This is where Christ ended up. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Why? He obeyed the will of the Father, and he went through the cross, through the tomb, came back up, resurrected, and now him hath God highly exalted. We talk about obedience bringing blessing, this is Christ. But what about us? Go to Romans 8. We're gonna go to Romans 8, verse 30 in particular. And this can get a little tricky here. Meet up to 30, starting at 28. Romans 8, 28, by the way, is the favorite of a good many people. And we know, what do we know? That all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. You love God? You're called by God? Okay. We know that all things work together for good. Yeah, did you see what happened yesterday? Hang on. You remember Joseph? They threw him in jail. But that all worked out. He became the second ruler in all of Egypt. He brought his family out of famine, out of trouble. and blessed his family and blessed his nation because eventually they were the root and ground for Israel to grow and to prosper. So, okay, we have this. Verse 29, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestine to be conformed to the image of his son. He set things up so it would work out. that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Blessing upon blessing, right there in 30. He predestinated, and I'm not gonna get into that whole tangle, but this is what it says. Not only that, he called, He justified, He glorified. Who? Believers. Folks like you and me. Right here. So Romans 8.30, that's about us receiving the blessing, not just Christ. He also says, those who bear fruit are purged. Now we go down through and we see Christ again. What was it? Was Jesus necessarily having to be purged? He was perfect already. But what he went through shows us what the process is. What? He was crucified. Not for his sins, for ours. He was crucified He was buried in a borrowed tomb, Joseph's tomb, Joseph of Arimathea. But then he didn't stay there. Three days and three nights, and boom, here he comes. Despite the best efforts of his enemies, we're going to put soldiers there, we're going to seal that. He's not coming out, and his followers aren't going to break that seal, because then they'll be under penalty of death by law. So we're going to make sure. Now, this is a dead person, right? They're looking at this and saying, he's dead. He's not going to walk out of there. Boy, did they get a shock. Not only did he walk out of there, he walked out of that tomb in triumph. Bright and shining were his angels who gave the message, who had to say, don't be afraid. He's not here. He's risen. He already came out of that tomb. They had to roll the stone away. Do you realize what this means? He walked out of that tomb right through that rock. He didn't have to move it. I'm going out of here, right through. And remember, later on, the disciples were in that upper room with the door shut. Nobody's coming in this room. We're all under threat. The Jewish authorities want our heads. Jesus just walks in like the door's open, but it's not. He walks right through that door. So what is it that people walk right through that stone that sealed the tomb? Nothing is gonna stop him. But when you stop and think about it, wow. Resurrection. That purging then brought forth more fruit. When he walked about after his resurrection, who saw him? More than 500 people. And they could all say, yeah, I saw him. He was there. In fact, he cooked fish. He ate like we eat. This is someone who came out of the grave, and he's eating food like we eat food. Ah. This is the power of God. To be sure this helps us understand more fruit and fruit that remains Remember in John 15 that you might have fruit that remains Just take a look around you We are hundreds thousands of years beyond that event There are Christians in just about every nation you want to name. I've traveled to many here in Asia. There are Christians in Malaysia. There are Christians in Taiwan. There are Christians in Korea, many. There are Christians in Singapore. There are Christians in the communist countries. In fact, the record is out. And it's no secret. Some of these communist countries are sending forth missionaries into Arabia. Think about it. Those Christians are going from communism into the nations of Islam. We will carry the gospel. Is the gospel bound? No. Not one bit. In fact, even as Christ walked right through That stone that was supposed to seal the tomb so he couldn't get out? The gospel is free like that. Unbound, no matter what. They cannot stop it. And so we have fruit that remains to this day. Churches all over the place. Here in Korea, we can walk, and we don't have to walk very far at all. And we see a steeple there, a cross there, another steeple, another steeple, church, church, church, church in our neighborhood. And Koreans, what about your neighborhood? You could probably do the same. Walk around, see church houses all throughout. And we're in Seoul, the capital city. How many of these are also in the countryside? How many Christians are out there worshiping God today? By the thousands. I don't know that we can count them all. And we're here at this moment in time. But we recognize, as you head west, people are still in bed at some places. But they're going to get up this morning. They're going to get dressed and ready, and they're going to go to church. Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Eastern US, the Greenbelt, the Western part, Canada as well. All these places, fruit that remains. We have the record, we have the testimony now of what he said. We can look at it and see, yeah, it's there. In fact, we also have this kind of record in 2 Corinthians 11. I won't go there to say, but the record of Paul, the things that he went through. So you read 2 Corinthians 11, and you see what Paul went through. And he has fruit that remains. Timothy, Timothy was a preacher of the gospel. He put forth the traditions that Christ put forth, the teachings, the doctrine, all the things that Christ had said. And there's fruit, there's fruit that remains. And so we have it. Not only Christ, not only Paul, And so we have glory to the Father, John 17, one and four. Glory to the Son, John 17, again, five and 10. Praying for us, verse nine. Having Christ's joy. Now remember, these things I said, it's you and I have my joy, and that your joy might be full. And in John 17, he prays for us. Verse 13, that his joy might remain in us. that we should be kept from the evil. Think about the corruption influence in this world. It would be easy to fall prey, but Christ prayed for you. Christ prayed for me. John 17, 15, to be kept from the evil. John 17, 17, a well-known verse, sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth. So the truth is setting us free. The truth is setting us apart. Sanctify them. So we're sanctified. And verse 20 of John 17, that we should bear more fruit. Verse 24, that we should be with Christ, loved by the Father. So John 17 has a lot of the same elements that John 15 has. And when we come to bearing fruit, don't forget about the parable of the sower and the seeds. I'll end with this right here. You go to verse four of Matthew 13. Matthew 13 has that parable. Matthew 13. And we take a look at that and see what is said. Matthew 13. So are sows. Well, of course. That's what he does. He puts seed in his bag, and he starts throwing it around. Well, what happens? Some of it falls on hard ground. Some of it falls by the wayside. Some of it gets plucked off by the birds. It just falls on the ground. The birds come and eat it. It's not going to bear fruit, of course. If it falls on rocks, it doesn't have a chance to really form roots on rocks like that. So it dies, doesn't bear fruit. Thorns? Yeah, this good ground will produce thorns. Anybody that has a garden can tell you this, right? What do you have that you don't even have to work for? Weeds. Thorns. Thorns and thistles. Oh, we used to have an abundance of those things. And we'd have to pull them out by the root. Not always pleasant and easy. You wear those big thick gloves. But what is it? Some of these seeds fall by the thorns, and the thorns grow up and choke them out, and they don't have a chance to bear fruit either. But there's this one last category Verse 8 of Matthew 13. Matthew 13, 8. But other fell into good ground and brought forth fruit, some 100 fold, some 60 fold, some 30 fold. Good ground. The seeds fall, they germinate, the root structure grows, they grow up, and they can bear fruit. And this is what we look for. And this is the power of God and the gospel that goes forward. Let us consider this well, and as we study this going forward, we have one more week in this month right here. Abide in Christ. And we have all these things to look at, and the blessing of God and his joy. Let's pray. Lord, we praise you for today. We thank you for your kindness, we ask now that you would help us, remind us, Build us, grow your word in us. And may the gospel have free course, not just in this little church, this country, but all through every country. We know it is unstoppable. Your power is greater than any. You are the King of kings, Lord of lords. We depend on you for the answer. that your glory might be filled in us, and we ask it in Jesus' name, amen.