Well, you can turn with me in your Bibles to John's gospel. We are in John 15. John chapter 15. Our focus this morning will be verses 9 to 11. Verses 9 to 17 are a unit. But much is going on there, so we'll just take up the first section this morning, verses 9 to 11, and then, God willing, next Sunday, verses 12 to 17. While it's one discourse that our Lord gives in what we call this upper room discourse in chapters 13 to 16, there are various themes and various emphases that we find along the way. So I'll just read from verse 9 to verse 17. As the Father loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing, but I've called you friends for all things that I heard from my father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our gracious God and Holy Father, we thank you for the Lord's day. We thank you for the house of God, on the day of God, when we get to gather with the people of God. We pray that you would be glorified now. We pray that you would send forth your Holy Spirit, that you would guide us and lead us as we consider the words of our Lord Jesus in this passage. We thank you for the encouragement that you give us in the scripture, for the admonition, for the rebuke, for the correction, for all that we receive from your gracious hand. We pray that even now, God, we would be receptive by the Spirit And for any and all who've come here this morning dead in their trespasses and sins, may they hear of a glorious Savior. May they hear of one who lived and who died and who was raised again so that sinners might have everlasting life. Do forgive us now for all sin and transgression and cleanse us in that precious blood of the Lamb. And we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, it's been a little while since we've been in the Gospel of John, so just by way of reminder, there are several sections in John's Gospel. So initially, you have a prologue in John 1, beginning in verse 1 and continuing to verse 18. And then from chapter 1 at verse 19 to about chapter 12, verse 50, we have what we call the Book of Signs. It's the public ministry of our Lord Jesus, when he went about doing good, when he went about teaching and instructing. And then from 13.1 to 20.31, we have what we call the Book of the Passion. It records the death and the resurrection of our Lord and the events leading up to that. And then the book ends on an epilogue. So in chapter 21, we have an epilogue where we see some things between the Savior and his disciples. So within the Book of the Passion, we find ourselves in the Upper Room Discourse. So as I said, from John 13 to 16, Jesus instructs his disciples. And as I mentioned, there are many themes and emphases that he visits along the way, but one of the overarching concerns is for him to instruct them on who God is. In other words, he speaks concerning the triune God in a whole host of ways. He speaks of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and he does that to encourage his disciples to build them up and to prepare them for that work that they would embrace after his resurrection and ascension. Remember, they are tasked, according to 1412, with engaging in greater works. So the Lord Jesus supplies them with his Holy Spirit. He floods their hearts with peace. He causes their joy to increase such that they may go and turn the world upside down for his name and for his glory. So now as we come to this section, it is connected to verses one to eight, which we've already considered. Remember in verses one to eight, he uses the analogy or metaphor of the vine and the branches. He is the true vine. What old covenant Israel failed to be, Jesus Christ fulfills. He is the true vine. All the promises of God are yay and amen in him. We're not looking forward to a future sort of ethnic Israel centricity. All the promises of God are yay and amen in Jesus Christ. The church is the Israel of God. Those rightly connected to him by faith are his people. So he mentions the necessity of the branches and the vine. Without the vine, the branches don't survive. Apart from me, he says, you can do nothing. So now in verses 9 to 17, he highlights love to Christ and love to one another. In other words, the disciples must demonstrate or show or evidence, and we'll deal with that in a moment, their love for the Lord Jesus. Not so that they may be saved, but as saved men, they demonstrate by their actions their love for the Lord Jesus. But then he speaks concerning their love for one another. He deals with commandment keeping and he uses as sort of the primary reference this love for one another. As Paul tells us, all of the law is summarized in that statement, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So that's essentially what he's doing. So we'll take up the disciples' love to Christ this morning, verses nine to 11, under three considerations. First, the pattern, second, the precept, and then thirdly, the purpose. Note first the pattern in verse 9a. He says, as the father loved me, I also have loved you. This is the pattern that they are to imbibe. Now the father's love for the son is certainly expressed throughout John's gospel. You see it recurringly, you see it repetitiously, you see it over and again piled up in terms of the father's love for the son. Now, in theology, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, of course, there's this mutual indwelling of the persons. Of course, they love each other, but I think he's speaking according to his humanity. He's speaking as the mediator, as the father loved me. The father loved me in the sense that I, as the mediator, assumed humanity, is doing everything that the father calls me to do, and he loves me as a result of that. There are two instances in Matthew's gospel where we see this punctuated. We see it at the baptism of our Lord, and we see it at his transfiguration. Remember when Jesus goes down in that water, and then he comes up again, which does indicate he wasn't sprinkled, he was certainly immersed. He goes down into the water, and he comes up again, and we hear that voice of approbation from heaven, this is my beloved Son. And then again, on the Mount of Transfiguration, when they see Moses and Elijah, and they hear the word of God Most High, He says, this is my beloved Son, hear Him. So when it comes to Christ who assumed our humanity, Christ who is placed under the law, Christ who lived for us, He had this divine approval. He had this love of the Father. Obviously it was reciprocated, he loved the father as well, but here specifically he says in verse 9, as the father loved me, I also have loved you. Now again, the son according to his divinity. The Word who was with God and the Word who was God love the disciples. And that love is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. And we know that from all of Scripture. But I think he's speaking according to his humanity. In fact, look back at chapter 13 in verse 1, how the upper room discourse begins. Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come, that he should depart from this world to the father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. Is that a wonderful thought to contemplate or to consider the love of Christ for his people? Again, look at what it says in verse 9a, as the father loved me, I also have loved you. As the father loves the son, who is altogether lovely and chief among 10,000, as the father has loved the son, so the son loves the father. In other words, it's not some cheap love. It's not some breakable love. It's not some sort of a love that's negotiated. It is rather the love that is love to the end. It is love that is firm. It is love that is lasting. It is love that is most glorious and most wondrous. In fact, the Apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 3 prays for the Ephesians for them to know specific things concerning who God is. And one of the petitions he says is that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. It's interesting. Commentators try to get into width, length, depth, and height. What's he talking about? Is he talking about north, south, east, and west? Well, I think that latter statement basically tells us the truth, to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge. In other words, don't busy yourself trying to figure out what the width, the length, the depth, and the height are, because it passes knowledge. It surpasses everything that is consistent with our station as demoniacs or thieves on the cross who have been liberated by the Son of God and loved to the very end. Paul wants us to contemplate that love. Paul wants us to be stabilized by that love. Jesus wants his disciples in the upper room discourse, when they embark from this place after his ascension on high, when they go into the then known world to proclaim his excellencies, he wants them to be sure of that love. The fact is, is that when he says, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age, that's a marker, a characteristic of love. Love doesn't abandon. Love doesn't vacation. It does, but temporarily. Love rather is steady. Love is constant. Love is abiding. Love is always present. And so Jesus wants his disciples to be assured of this. And as we move through this particular context, it's not only essential that they contemplate the love of Christ for them, but it's also essential that they reciprocate that love to one another. so that the church is a community defined by love while she finds herself in the hostility that this world promotes. Notice in verses 18 to 25, he turns direction. After love one another, he says, don't marvel if the world hates you. You see what he's doing. He's preparing his disciples. Within the context of the disciple group, within the context of the church, within the context of the gathered people of God, we need to buoy one another up with love. Why? Because there's a miserable world out there that hates us and wants to destroy us. It's an amazing thing to me that some people still haven't figured that out. They haven't figured out that the devil is a reality that he roams about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. That Ephesians 6.12 is a reality. We don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and those things that are behind the physical demonstration of that aggression. So if we're not loving one another within the community of the saints, if we're not loving one another within the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're not prepared to go into a hostile world where we're battered about for the cause of Jesus. So the Lord is taking his disciples through this instruction, telling them about the triune God, promising them various gifts that they'll need along the way to engage in these greater works, and emphasizing the reality that they need to understand the love of Christ for them. They need to reciprocate that love among one another, and they need to do so in the midst of a hostile world that's trying to kill them, or trying to attack them, or trying to snuff out their faith, or trying to cause them to stumble and to scandalize them. Again, brethren, the devil and the world, they're not your friends. They don't have remedial ends for you. They're not there cheering you on, running the race with endurance. They despise you. And by way of analogy, it still shocks me how many people don't see this at the political level. The government is not necessarily there to always help you. And in many respects, it apes or imitates or parallels what the world does generally with reference to the people of God. Come to our prayer meeting sometime. Listen to voice of the martyrs. You know who the chief oppressor of the people of God is in other countries? Oh, the Muslims. Oh, the Roman Catholics. Well, they're there, but it's typically the government. It's typically oppression from that particular level. And yet, we'll just blindly do whatever they say? No, don't love or don't be surprised if the world hates you. This is not a new thing, brethren. This is something consistent throughout scripture. So the method of the master is to prepare his servants for their love for one another and their confrontation with a hateful world. Now notice then, after the pattern, he gives the precept in verses 9b and 10. 9b, he says, abide in my love. And I think he teases that out or amplifies that 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. So when he says abide in my love, I think John Gill deals sufficiently with the two possible interpretations. He says, meaning either in his love to them, abide in my love. In other words, do what I say so that I'll continue to love you. Do what I say so that I'll continue to show affection to you. Husbands aren't supposed to love their wives this way. Wives aren't supposed to love their husbands that way. It's not supposed to be conditional. As long as you satisfy all my needs, then I will love you. That's not what Jesus is saying, but Gil gives this. Meaning either in his love to them, which he, as he always continues in without any variableness or shadow of turning, so he would have them continue in believing their interest in it, prizing and valuing it, or in imitating and remembering it. He says, or else in their love to him. I'm gonna argue that that's what the context would indicate there, especially in that amplified version in verse 10. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. What's it mean to abide in the love of Jesus? It means to keep his commandments. Now again, I wanna deal with that in a bit more detail in just a moment. But Gil says, or else in their love to him, to his person, to his people, to his gospel, to his ordinances, ways, worship, which he knew was liable to wax cold, though it could not be lost. Again, I think when he says, abide in my love, it's not so much do what I tell you to do so that I'll continue to love you, but abide in my love in such a way to demonstrate through obedience and the faith that you have by God's grace, that you are indeed my disciples. In fact, the relationship of the disciple to the Savior is not conditioned upon the disciple's obedience and love. You need to hear this, brethren. The relationship of the disciple to Jesus is not conditioned upon the disciple's obedience to the law. Rather, it is conditioned upon the Lord's obedience to the law and the shedding of his own precious blood. If you didn't get that as we just sang, Jesus, thy blood and thy righteousness, you need to go back and review. Because that's the point. It's not our obedience unto the law that puts us in the favor of God. It's Jesus' obedience to the law that brings us into favor with God. The disciple is a disciple because he was chosen by God from before the foundation of the world. Now, some balk at this, some don't like this, some say, oh, it seems kind of unfair. But this is what Paul says, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. If you understand that, instead of saying, it's unfair, you ought to say, glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Because if He didn't choose me, I never would have chosen Him. I was dead in my trespasses and sins. I was naked living among those tombs. I was cutting myself with those stones. I was crying out in that graveyard. It was the Lord who sought me. It was the Lord who found me. It was the Lord who clothed me. It was the Lord who cleansed me. It was the Lord who put me back into my right mind. Maybe not totally, still out of it a little bit, but I can look forward to glory when it will be consummated. It's the obedience of Jesus. The disciple is a disciple because he was chosen by God. And in time, in history, so just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. But in time, what happens to us? We hear the gospel. We hear about Jesus. We hear about His death, His resurrection. We hear about His life of obedience. And by the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, He regenerates us. He makes us born again. He grants us the graces of faith and repentance so that we receive the benefits that Christ has accomplished. So He chose us. He regenerates us. We believe on Him. As well, through faith, we believe in Jesus for salvation. And then His love, or our love, after we've been chosen, we've been regenerated, we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So there's no place to say it's my love and my obedience that earns me a title to heaven. No, it's the love of Jesus and the obedience of Jesus that brings us that right to heaven. Our love for Him, our obedience to Him, are the lively evidences. They're the fruits of that. They're the consequences, not the condition. The condition for our acceptance with God is Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness. We are cleansed in His blood, we are clothed in His righteousness, and as a result, consequentially, we will love Him. We will obey Him. We will seek by God's grace to be faithful to Him. And when we stumble and fall, which we will, we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. We confess our sins and He is faithful and just to forgive us. Jesus is not laying conditions upon them for their acceptance with God. If you don't, I'm gonna cut you off. No, that's not the way we're supposed to interpret this. Rather, we're supposed to see it as those justified freely by God's grace, through faith in the Savior. The result or consequence of that is that they will have love for the Savior. That love will be demonstrated in their obedience to the Savior. It is a most wonderful thing. Our love to Christ and obedience to Christ are not conditions for us abiding in the love of Christ. Rather, our love to Christ and obedience to Christ are consequences of grace received. If everybody got that, we could end here, because that's my concern. There are too many Protestants today selling papists. You know, anything about the history of theology and the Protestant Reformation? What did the Protestants reform? Or protest, rather? Going to that first name, Protestant. Well, that's an interesting name, but they like to go out and stand out and hold signs. They protested the Church of Rome. And one of the aspects they protested in the Church of Rome was this addition of works to faith. You've got to believe plus do all these things. And once you've believed and plus done all these things, then you'll be accepted to God. He said, well, how could they get to that conclusion in light of the book of Galatians and Romans? Exactly. How could they have gotten that conclusion? That's what Calvin and Luther and Zwingli and the others were saying. How could they get there? Read Galatians sometime and ask yourself if the Apostle Paul wants you to believe and be circumcised in order to go to heaven. May it never be. Paul pronounces a curse, the wrath and fury and judgment of God, the condemnation of God in hell for any who would twist or distort the gospel of free grace. When the papers come and say, faith plus works, and now we've got Protestants emphasizing faith plus works, we need a good dose of instruction concerning causes and consequences. Our faith, our obedience, is not the cause or even a contributing factor to the cause of our acceptance with God. It is rather the consequence. because we're accepted in the Beloved, because we've been justified freely by grace, because we've been received by the Father through the Son in the Spirit, it is now a blessed privilege for us to love Him and for us to obey Him. The blood-bought children of God don't hear scripture saying, you need to obey the Savior. Again, not for your salvation, but because you're saved. You don't say, I can't believe God wants me to follow Him. No! We delight in the law of God, right? We're like the psalmist in Psalm 1. We're like the psalmist in Psalm 119, who, by the way, those are descriptions of Jesus. We're like him insofar as we believe in him. What does the psalmist say? I delight in the law of God day and night. Or I delight in the law of God, it is my meditation day and night. What's John the apostle tell us about the commandments of God? They're not burdensome. Now brethren, we're not perfect, I get it. See, we got our challenges, we got our issues, we got our struggles. Paul recognizes that, Romans 7, Galatians 5. But for the most part, the general overarching desire of the people of God, I know it seems zany, but they want to follow Christ. That's his point, not follow me or I'm going to cut you off. but follow me because this is what I've saved you to do. Abide in my love, keep my commandments. And then notice, after having made this particular statement, he declares, abide in my love. And then he demonstrates this abiding in his love in verse 10. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. And note the comparison, just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. Now, this is a recurring emphasis in the upper room. Look back at chapter 14 on this whole idea of keeping my commandments. John 14 at verse 15, if you love me, keep my commandments. John 14 at verse 21, he who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and manifest myself to him. Notice in verse 23, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him. And then again in 15.7, notice if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. So this is not a unique theme in the grand context here in the book of John, specifically in the Upper Room. Again, the theological order isn't, abide or keep my commandments and do these things so that you get my love. There's a couple of other passages that we need to consider as well in this regard, in terms of order. Galatians 4.9, but now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, or 1 John 4.19, we love him because he first loved us. You didn't wake up one grand morning and say, well, you know, just decided to follow Jesus. I mean, that may have been how it came out, but that's not what happened. God, in his infinite grace and mercy, took out your wretched rebel heart and put in a new fleshly heart. I don't mean physically. You don't have a scar there. Spiritually, this is the promise of the prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 36. It's ratified, confirmed, affirmed, demonstrated, and displayed in John 3 in Jesus' discussion with Nicodemus. When he says, are you the teacher of Israel? You don't know these things? He's not trying to stomp old Nicodemus there. Nicodemus should have known the realities of Ezekiel 36, that in the New Covenant era, there was going to be divine heart surgery rendered. There was going to be that cutting out the old dead heart and replacing it with a new fleshly heart. There was going to be the knowledge of God that was expansive and entire with reference to the New Covenant community. There was going to be that forgiveness of sins, that internalization of the law of God. Jesus upbraids Nicodemus because as a teacher of Israel, he missed the mark when it came to promises of the new covenant. And so what we have here in this particular emphasis in verse 10, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. Again, not be, if you do this, then you'll be saved. But notice then this comparison, just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. Now, brethren, he is obviously here speaking according to his humanity. There's no obedience in God in himself. Sometimes today it's happening more so with Protestants than even Papists. It's the attempt to distinguish the persons of the Godhead, Father from Son from Spirit. What do you think they do to distinguish the Son from the Father? His obedience, his submission. his willingness to undergo what the Father commands. There's no obedience in God at intra. There's no obedience in terms of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided. We start breaking that up, we end up in tritheism. We've got the big God, we've got the littler God, and then we've got the smallest God of all. He's not talking about what is true with reference to His Father and the Spirit. He's talking about His work as the mediator. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The word obeyed the Father, Jesus, thy blood and righteousness. We need the blood shed at the cross to cleanse us from our sin. We need the righteousness as the clothing so that we are fit now to enter into the presence of God most high. We need everything and Christ supplies it. And here he uses this by way of comparison. So 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. So whatever he is saying, it can't be bad. Jesus wants me to abide in his love and keep his commandments, just as I have abided in my father's love and kept his commandments. How arrogant on our part to say, well, no, you know, I'm saved, and it's by grace, and it's through faith, and in the life of sanctification, I can just do whatever I want. No, you need to obey God. You need to follow the Lamb. And you do so with joy, and with thankfulness, and with delight. So in the general context, the Lord is speaking according to his humanity. But in terms of the theology involved, this is the righteousness aspect of the hymn. Jesus, thy blood and righteousness. We refer to his bloodshedding as passive obedience. Now, passive there doesn't mean he was uninvolved. probably is related to the word passion, which indicates suffering. We look at the death of Jesus Christ, his penal sufferings, as his passive obedience. But then there's that active obedience. He always does what pleases the Father. There are theologians today that deny the place of active obedience. The imputed active obedience of Jesus, it's just some sort of a fake shit. Why do you think Jesus highlights it all the time? Why do you think Jesus speaks about it all the time? And here specifically, he says, just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. Look back at John 4, specifically at verse 34, John 4, 34. My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work." John 5, verse 19. Then Jesus answered and said to them, most assuredly, I say to you, the son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the father do, for whatever he does, the son also does in like manner. Notice as well in John 6 at verse 38, for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. John 8, specifically at verse 29. John 8, verse 29, and he who sent me is with me. The father has not left me alone for I always do those things that please him. Brethren, we need the blood of the Lamb to cleanse us from all of our sin. We need the righteousness of Christ to present ourselves, or Him present us to the Father, lovely. See, we need both. And that's what justification is. And it's an act of God's free grace wherein He pardons all of our sins and accepts us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. If you don't have that, Come to the Lord Jesus. If you don't have that blood and righteousness or an interest in that, then believe on him. Notice John 8, verse 55, as he's fighting with the religious Jews, the religious leaders in Israel, not fighting physically, but verbally, that you have not known him, but I know him. And if I say, I do not know him, I shall be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word. Look at John 10, verses 17 and 18. Therefore, my father loves me. Why? Because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down to myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from my father." Notice in 12, 27, and 28. Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name. And then again in 1431, he uses this with reference to his exhortation to his disciples. 1431, but that the world may know that I love the Father and as the Father gave me commandments, so I do. Arise, let us go from here. So you see what he's doing? It says, as the Father loved me, I also have loved you. Now, I want you to abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. He uses a comparison, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. In other words, what he's doing communicates blessing, privilege, and benefit to them, but also example. Why should we live the way that Jesus calls us to live? Because that's the way that Jesus lived for us. That's the model. That's the pattern. That's the way. That, dare I say it, is the key to a happy life. And that brings us finally to the purpose. Notice, these things I have spoken to you. Could be a specific reference to chapter 15, verses 1 to 8. drawing out implications from the metaphor concerning vine and branches, or it could be the context as a whole, the upper room, or the entirety of his ministry with that. Whichever way he tells us, verse 11, these things I have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. Now there's two things obviously going on here. that my joy may remain in you. I mean, if you're thinking clearly through a passage like this, implication, you're not. I didn't mean it quite that way, but if you're thinking through a passage like this, you're probably still back a ways going, he actually loves me. That's mind blowing. He actually loves me. He found me in those tombs naked, screaming, cutting. He found me in those tombs just viciously going after everybody around. He found me there out of my mind, and he loved me. He clothed me. He put me in his right mind. You're still back there thinking, it's kind of like getting that notice in the mail. You've just won a free, all-inclusive paid trip to Mexico. We know there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. I mean, sometimes things sound too good to be true. And in the temporal sphere, that's a pretty good, solid rule. But with reference to Christ, we think, he loved me? Now, let's just think about what's going on in verse 11. that my joy, the Savior says, may remain in you. You know, love for us isn't this, I have to love them in the covenant of redemption, this is what I agreed to, and I just gotta love them. It's not that kind of love. My joy may remain in you. There's two joys going on here. His joy in us, and then the text, verse 11, ends with our joy in him. But with reference to His joy in us, He loves me, but He's also joyful in me? I don't get it. I don't understand it. The Bible teaches it. Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is sat down at the right hand of the Father. That our Savior loves us, and that it's not this kind of grin and bear it, I gotta love you kind of love, but a joy-filled love that terminates on the object of that love. That my joy may remain in you. Brethren, again, these are things we should think about once in a while. He actually loves me, and He's actually happy with me. My dog's not always that way with me. My friends aren't always that way with me. My spouse isn't always that way with me. My parents aren't always, you get the point. He loves us and his joy abides in us or remains in us. It is truly an amazing statement. But then notice after speaking about his joy, you kind of see this parable. The father loved me, love. as I've had joy or as I have joy in you, joy, he's speaking according to his humanity as the mediator for us men and for our salvation in a specific way calculated to promote from these disciples that when they leave this upper room and they see the atrocities that are going to play out before them, They're going to see Jerusalem, city of sinners, say, away with him, away with him, crucify him. They're going to see him brutalized. They're going to see him agonizing. They're going to see him treated with abject contempt. They're going to see him put up, not on a throne, but on a cross. They're going to see crown of thorns embedded into, they're going to see all this. Once they get past that, once they see the resurrection glory, once they understand all too well, not that they don't, but they're still kind of coming to it. Disciples aren't even present there at the cross. When it comes down to it, they need to be ready. with all that they've seen, with all that they've learned, with all that they've experienced, with all the admonition and exhortation and instruction to leave from their places of comfort to go into the uttermost parts of the earth to testify concerning the glory of Jesus Christ and His saving power. So again, verse 11, these things I have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. I think there's an expectation that the passage provides or invites for us. What do you think when somebody says, well, if you do this, then this? There's kind of an expectation that's not a happy one. If you do this, then this. Well, you could just ask me. There's an expectation of burden, right? If you do this, then this. Well, the, if you doing this thing must be pretty tough in order to get the, that thing. But do you see what Jesus is saying? The, if you do this thing demonstrates you're rightly connected to me through faith thing, which means fullness of joy. There's no burden in doing what Jesus says. There's no challenge except our own remaining corruption. But in principle, why should we want to not keep the Sabbath day holy? Why should we want to commit idolatry? Why should we want to engage in adultery? Those are horrible things. So notice that the particular purpose here in verse 11 is that Jesus has joy in us, and it remains, and that your joy may be full. So the expectation and emphasis on obedience may lead to the interpretation of burden. I got to obey, I don't like to obey, so that's going to be a burden or it's going to be grievous. I already cited 1 John 5, 3, for this is the love of God that we keep His commandments and His commandments are not burdensome. With reference to this, there is this reciprocity. Jesus has joy in us. We have joy in Him. Jesus loves us. We love one another. What we learn from the Master, we turn outward to others. And then as well, the blessedness. Look back at chapter 14, specifically at verse 27. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Just by way of conclusion here, look at what he is promising. You've got peace. You've got joy. You've got above that the salvation for which you ought to be peace-filled about and joyful about. You've got communion with the living and true God. You've got every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Jesus, if I can say it, motivates these disciples at the level that they desperately need to witness the horrors they're gonna witness, to then go out and do what they eventually do. They turn the world upside down. Why? Because of the peace of Christ, because of the love of Christ, because of the word of Christ, because of the presence of Christ, because of the gift of another comforter, the advocate, the Holy Spirit of truth, everything these men need to equip them for the work of mission is being conveyed upon them by the Savior King. And I wanna conclude by highlighting the last part of verse 11. And I wanna ask you to ask yourself the simple question, do I have joy? I'm not saying do you have bad days? We all have bad days. I'm not saying do you have seasons and periods where, man, it's just rough. I'm talking about melancholy. I'm not talking about, you know, season of depression. I'm just asking, do you have joy? not in your cat, not in your bank account, not in your car, not in a sunny day, but in God the Lord. There is an empty search for joy that is often entertained by man. The prophet Isaiah speaks to this in Isaiah 55. Why do you spend your wages for that which does not satisfy? So I guess I'm talking to any here today that haven't believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. And I would ask with Isaiah, why do you do that? Why do you pursue joy in things that are not calculated to promote joy? Why would you spend your energies? Why would you spend your efforts? Why would you busy yourselves going after things that ultimately are here for a moment and then pass away? That's essentially what the prophet does in Isaiah 55. I've preached it several times, usually when I come back from vacation. So I had to fit it in at some point. I think it fits in well here. Hope. Everyone who thirsts, let him come, is what the prophet says to the sinner. You don't have money? Come buy and eat. I'll fill you, God says, through the prophet with wine that exhilarates, with milk that nourishes, with water that satisfies. Everything there is that a desperate sinner needs is to be had in God. That's how the chapter starts. And then he says, why? Why do you spend your money on things that don't satisfy? Why would you go to a first-class restaurant with an all-expense-paid trip to the table and say, you know what? I'm going to walk through the kitchen. I'm going to go to the back of the restaurant. And I'm going to dumpster dive. Why would you do that? Why would you jump? Probably the dumpster behind a first-class restaurant might be OK. but you're bypassing the table that is set with all of the goodies and you're gonna go jump into a dumpster? That's a ludicrous illustration, but that's precisely what sinners do all the time. You hear there's every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places to be had in Jesus? Nah. I'm gonna go out and dive into a dumpster. I'm gonna go out and satisfy my lusts. I'm gonna go out and search for joy in the creature that cannot provide any lasting joy whatsoever. Why do you do that, the prophet says? As well, look at the text again in 11b, that your joy may be full. What does this teach us about the joy that the people of God possess? I would suggest it tells us it is constant, even in the midst of trials. There's gonna be trials. Verse 18, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. Look at 16.2. They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God's service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor me. The joy that the people of God have has is constant, even in trial, or affliction, or heartache, or sorrow, or difficulty. I mean, it's not the upbeat, oh, I'm great, I'm fine, everything's great. You're allowed to agonize. You're allowed to cry out the lamentations alongside of Jeremiah and Asaph and other sad singers in Israel in the Old Testament. You're more than happy or more than permitted to do that. That's why God puts those in there. but it's never completely devoid of joy. We have the joy that is constant. We have a joy that is progressive because it's gonna be full. That means it's not full yet. So it's constant, it's progressive. And brethren, I think that that progress is seen through our lives, through our trust in the Savior, through our following the Savior, through our maturation, through our understanding more about the Savior's love for us, and all those sorts of things. But as well, it is full in glory, that your joy may be full, completely filled to the very brim, probably waits till Emmanuel's land. So it's constant, it's progressive, but it's going to be full. It's going to overflow. Communion with God Almighty provides the fullness of joy. Our brother read Psalm 16 and highlighted the messianic part at the end. I'm sure he would agree the whole thing's messianic, but at verses nine to 11, therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. Now, brethren, I realize we don't know of a truth that that's what Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. We don't know that of a truth. But we do know of a truth that the Psalter is all about Jesus. Not just, you know, a few messianic Psalms. Jesus is the Psalm one man. That's not a description of you and I, even at our best. Jesus is the Psalm two king. Those two Psalms introduce everything to follow. And it's all about Jesus. So I think there is some merit in, if not verbalizing it in Gethsemane, it's in his mind. But listen, he's agonizing in Gethsemane. My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death. On the cross, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Psalm 22 one, we are told specifically that that's what Jesus cried out from the cross. We hear that and we forget the rest of it. My soul trusts in you. So in the midst of his grief and affliction and trial and pain, he's able to trust and rejoice in the Father. I just want to end the sermon here. Why are you searching for those things that are vain? Those things that will always come up short? Those things that are always just fainting and fleeting and temporary? When you could come to God Most High through the Son, the Lord Jesus, in faith and know pleasures forevermore. Come to Jesus, believe on Jesus, and you will be saved. Well, let us pray. Our God and our Father, we thank you for our Lord's instruction here in the upper room. We thank you for all four Gospels and what is taught us concerning our Savior, concerning the blessings that we enjoy in Him. We pray for the prosperous nature of the gospel today, that it would run forth swiftly and be glorified, that many from every tribe and tongue and people and nation would be called out of darkness into marvelous light, by your grace and for your glory. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, let's stand and close our service by singing the doxology. It can be found on page 568. Doxology in praise to our triune God. ♪ Praise him, all ye that hear him call ♪ ♪ Praise him, all ye that hear him call ♪ The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen. Well, please be seated for a brief time of meditation.