Well, you can turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel of John as we continue to move our way through the fourth gospel. We're in John chapter 15. Our focus this morning will be verses 12 to 17. Specifically, I mentioned last week that verses 9 to 17 are a unit, so we looked at part one last week, verses 9 to 10, or 9 to 11, basically Jesus emphasizing the love of the disciples for Christ. And in this section, verses 12 to 17, their love to one another. And this isn't the first time in the fourth gospel that he has mentioned this. We know it's very important as we read our Bibles. In fact, in John 13, he says, by this, all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. So we're gonna look at the disciples' love to one another in verses 12 to 17, but I'll read the unit beginning in verse nine. 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 have 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 our Holy Father, we thank you for the Lord's Day, we thank you for your house, we thank you for your people, and the glad occasion of worshiping our gracious God, even Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We pray that your Holy Spirit would work in our hearts now, that we'd approach you as that high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, that one who looks upon those who are lowly and of a contrite heart. And God, we know that's not us by nature, so we praise you for that grace. We praise you for the power of the Holy Spirit, for that conviction of sin wherein you showed us our need for the Savior and directed us to the Lord of glory. We pray, Father, that you would be merciful to any and all here this morning that are dead in their trespasses and sins. We pray that you would awaken them. We pray that Christ would be altogether lovely and chief among 10,000 and that they would believe on him for salvation. May you encourage and may you build us up. May you strengthen us in our faith. May you cause us to truly express that love for one another that is symptomatic of the people of God. Forgive us now for all sin and all unrighteousness. And we pray through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Well, as we have noted several times, moving our way through this section of scripture, we call it the Upper Room Discourse, or some have called it the Farewell Discourse, because it's Jesus addressing his disciples prior to his death, resurrection, and ascension on high. One of the primary themes that he sets before them, by way of encouragement, is who God is. He mentions the doctrine of the Trinity, not in those particular words, but certainly the substance concerning Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And here we see He is getting very practical with the disciples, not only again in terms of their love for Him and obedience to Him, but also their love for one another, which is an expression of their love for Him and obedience to Him. So as we investigate verses 12 to 17 under the general heading, the disciples love to one another, we'll notice four things. First, there's a command in verse 12. Secondly, a pattern in verse 13. A privilege in verses 14 and 15. And then finally, a reminder in verses 16 and 17. So we'll look first at the command in verse 12. Very simply, this is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Now, in terms of this particular command, as I mentioned, it's not the first time it comes in John's gospel. It's not the first time it comes in the Bible. And it's probably pretty elementary in terms of people that have been saved for any amount of time. Well, of course, we know that we're supposed to love one another, but the attention that Jesus gives it, the emphasis that the Bible shines upon it, recognizes that obviously at some point or at some level, the people of God may actually struggle with this. Remember, we are prone to wander and prone to leave the God that we love. Remember, there is the reality of remaining corruption according to Romans 7 and Galatians 5. So, constant recurring reminders in scripture, they're not superfluous, they don't just sort of fill up the white space in the pages, but rather it is something that is intrinsic to Christian discipleship. So with reference to this command in verse 12, this is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. I would suggest first that the command to love is a summarizing statement. Remember that we are still connected to verse 10. Jesus says, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. So he stresses there how they are to abide in his love. It is by commandment keeping. so that he refers to commandment keeping here in verse 12, shouldn't surprise us, but as I suggest, this is a summarizing statement. To say love one another is to summarize the entirety of God's law. Love to God and love to man summarizes the Ten Commandments. The Decalogue. In Protestant interpretation, we refer to the two tables of the law. The first four commandments are our duty toward God, and the latter six commandments are our duty toward man. And love your neighbor as yourself, love one another as I have loved you, summarizes the entirety of that second table. You can turn to Matthew's Gospel to confirm this. In Matthew chapter 22, the Lord Jesus Christ is questioned, specifically at verse 34. When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him and saying, Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. So in our immediate context, when Jesus stresses commandment keeping in verse 10, as a recognition of his love for them, and as an expression of their love to him, it is commandment keeping. So when he gets specifically in verse 12 to say, that you love one another, he's summarizing the entirety of the second table. As well, this command to love is a comprehensive statement. Turn over to the book of Romans, Romans chapter 13, where the apostle invokes the second table of the law as that standard by which love for one another is to be measured. Notice in Romans 13, specifically at verse 8, he says, And if there is any other commandment are all summed up in this saying. So it's a summary statement, love your neighbor as yourself, love one another as I have loved you, but it's a comprehensive statement. Our love for one another is to be expressed in terms of what God commands us in that second table. We're not supposed to commit murder against those we love. We're not supposed to commit adultery against those we love. We're not supposed to steal from those we love. We're not supposed to lie about those we love. We're not supposed to covet or envy or engage in that kind of mindset with those we love. Notice his summary statement, verse 10, love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. So when we see in the upper room that he says, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, commandments there, plural, are summarized by this statement in verse 12, this is my commandment, singular, that you love one another. Why? Because it summarizes the entirety of the second table, and it's a comprehensive statement concerning the love that we are supposed to have with one another. But then notice in verse 12, this is my commandment, that you love one another. Not the way that Hollywood defines love. Not the way the popular romance novels define love. Not the way our godless, Christ-hating, abortion-loving, old-people-killing, child-mutilating society wants to dictate what love looks like. No, love is expressed, declared, manifested, and revealed by our blessed Savior. So notice in verse 12, this is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Now, with reference to the love of Christ, we know that love of Christ is self-sacrificial. In Matthew's Gospel, in chapter 20, the disciples are jockeying for position. The Lord Jesus reproves that. And then the Lord Jesus summarizes His argument by saying, just as the Son of Man did not come into this world to be served, but rather to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. or in the word of God revealed to us by the Apostle Paul in the book of Ephesians. There's a general statement in Ephesians 5 too. We're to walk in love just as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us. And then the Apostle moves from the general to the very specific in terms of Christian marriage. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. So when we ask the question, what does it mean to love one another? It means to love like Jesus does with reference to his people. So that love is self-sacrificial. I would suggest as well that that love is constant. Turn back to chapter 13 in the upper room, specifically at verse one. 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. So when he calls upon us to love one another, just as I have loved you, certainly self-sacrificially, certainly constantly, but I would suggest thirdly, the love of Christ is toward sinners. We are never told in the Bible, love the object you're supposed to love insofar as they are lovely. We look for conditions for our obedience. Well, you don't know what my wife is like. You don't know what my husband is like. You don't know what my parents are like. If you knew what they were like, then you would excuse me in my sinful rebellion, wherein I don't love them as I ought. God demonstrated His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. These men in the upper room were not perfect men. They were godly men. They were upright men. They were faithful men. They would prove to be very useful men in the extension of the kingdom of Christ on earth. They were not perfect men. And yet Christ loves His own even to the end. Brethren, our love for one another is not to be conditional. Our love for one another isn't to be predicated upon their good behavior. Well, you've earned my affection this week by 15 units of compliance. Husbands, if you love your wives that way, you need to repent and forsake your wickedness." If any of us love that way, in light of this passage or in Ephesians 5, 2, wherein we're to walk in love just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, we need to repent. That doesn't mean we excuse their sin. It doesn't mean we're not hurt by their sin. It doesn't mean we don't reprove them of their sin. But it doesn't mean that the love stops. It doesn't mean that you're dead to me. I have no use for you anymore because you've crossed the boundary and you have offended the Holy Me. You're not supposed to live that way. You're supposed to be like our Lord Jesus. In the presence of men that were not perfect, He loved them and He loved them to the end. So the commandment in verse 12, I think, is very simple, at least in terms of understanding. It's a little bit more difficult in terms of application. And the fact of its repetition throughout the Bible should cause us to reflect upon its importance. Verse 17, that's how this section or unit is capped off. These things I command you that you love one another. Go back to John 13, specifically in verse 34. A new commandment I give to you that you love one another. It's not new in terms of, wow, we never heard this before, but new in terms of standard, new in terms of demonstration, new in terms of revelation as Christ loved us. In other words, we now have the embodiment of the divine word showing us and demonstrating what love looks like on earth. As I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. The teaching of the apostles, we've seen that in Romans chapter 13. You see the great love chapter by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Why do you think Paul writes 1 Corinthians 13? Because this is intuitive on the part of the people of God. If you read the preceding chapters in 1 Corinthians, you'll know why he comes to write 1 Corinthians 13. Because if I could put it in the vernacular, the church in Corinth was a mess. You know, we get these people there, we've got to get back to the early church, the first century church. Really? Corinth was pretty messed up. It's actually reported among you that a man has his father's wife. Not sure I want to get back to that. A mean sacrifice to idols to the point where people were stumbling in terms of their Godward focus. The great abuse at the supper of the Lord's table, the haves excluding the have-nots. So when Paul comes to deal or finish that particular unit, and he comes with 1 Corinthians 13, he's underscoring the primacy of love amongst the people of God that will facilitate their ability to deal with one another in a gracious, God-honoring, glorifying way. You've got Ephesians 5. You've got the parallel in Colossians 3. You've got it riddled all throughout 1 John. How do we know that we have passed from death to life? John asks. Because we love the brethren. At one point, we didn't love the brethren. At one point, the brethren irritated us. At one point, we didn't quite appreciate the brethren. At one point, the brethren were obnoxious as far as we were concerned. But by God's grace, we've passed from death into life. And what does that then end in? It ends in love for the brethren. You've got the teaching of the Old Testament. I think Leviticus 19 is the Old Testament counterpart to 1 Corinthians chapter 13. When you think of the book of Leviticus, do you think of love chapter? Probably not. You think of blood, and gore, and tabernacle, and priesthood. and lots and lots of legislation about sores and leprosy and houses being under the ban and all kinds of odd things for our 21st century minds. But listen to Leviticus 19.18, which is paradigmatic or foundational for New Covenant ethics. It says, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. This is not a new thing. This isn't something that is peculiar to New Covenant teaching. This is something that was to characterize Old Covenant participation. But of course, it didn't. But why? Because there wasn't an assurance of salvation built into the Old Covenant. That is not the case in the New Covenant. When the prophet prophesies concerning New Covenant reality, he tells us what that covenant community is going to look like. They will know the Lord. They'll be forgiven of their sins. They'll have the law of God written on their hearts. What will be the automatic reflex in terms of their lives? They'll love God and they'll love one another. So the Lord Jesus Christ underscores what has always been an emphasis in terms of our relationship one to another. Notice secondly, in our particular section, the pattern in verse 13. So verse 12 is the command, verse 13 gives us the pattern. Note the declaration, he says, greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends. We'll look at that latter part in just a second, but just think about this, greater love. Greater love seems to indicate or suggest that our love for one another ought not to be static. Well, you know, I love this guy because I haven't killed him. Okay. You're doing great, champ, but maybe you could probably excel still more. Greater love. I wonder at times do we pray, God help me to love the brethren more. We probably pray, God help the brethren to love me more, but do we always pray, God help me to love the brethren more? Increase my love for Christ, increase my love for his people, increase the demonstration of that in my life, not so I can get kudos or points or, you know, ring the bell of success in terms of sanctification, but because it's right. Greater love seems to imagine or seems to imply a growth in this particular aspect of our Christianity. Greater love in our marriages, greater love to our children, greater love from children to their parents, greater love one to another amongst our friends, greater love within the context of the local church, greater love to the world outside. Greater love such that by this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another." Shouldn't be hard to discern the love that we have for one another. It shouldn't be, well, I think it's there. I hope it's there. Let me throw it on the torture rack and start to spin the wheel and see if it pops out. Greater love is what Jesus envisages for his people in the context of the local church. I just mentioned a few sample passages in the New Testament. I didn't even mention Peter, didn't mention the others, didn't mention the other gospel narratives. What's the overarching concern? In fact, Peter says, above all things, have love or put on love for one another. Love is that wonderful demonstration that the people of God are living like the people of God. So notice, with reference to the Declaration, he says in verse 13, Now, we know that Jesus does this, right? We know where the narrative is going. We know where the Passion Week ends, with Christ on the cross, crying out to the Father, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? They should have known, because this wasn't the first reference or allusion to his self-sacrificial love amongst them. But in the original setting, what would they have heard? They would have heard greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. Sure, they would have thought, oh, that's what Jesus is going to do. That's what Jesus shows in terms of love for us. But they would have also heard, this is what I need to be doing for these guys. Remember, the disciple group is sitting together, they're in the upper room, they're discoursing, and what would they think? I need to have that kind of greater love for this group of brothers that is sitting here with me. I need to have a self-sacrificial mindset to be willing to die for them. And that's what the New Testament, again, everywhere puts forth as the standard and as the habit of God's people. The self-sacrificial element involved with reference to love. Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends. This is the supreme demonstration. This is the supreme example. If in another few years, government agents are in the parking lot and they lob grenades in here, it'll be curious to see how we respond. If everybody bolts out that door, then we've all failed, according to Paul in Romans 5. But if we dive on that grenade, now I'm not necessarily recommending this as a course or habit of choice, but that's the demonstration. Don't we read stories of valor and military history and the man who jumps on the grenade? What do we say? We say, he really loved his fellows. He was really self-sacrificing. He really gave to the end for them. And this is the standard, the love that is set forth here. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. Turn over to Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5, and note the argument that the apostle uses. I think it's a lesser to the greater argument. The greatest being, of course, that God demonstrates his own love toward us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. But notice in verse 6, for when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die. The apostle's a realist. He knows the heart of man for scarcely one out of a hundred. But then he goes on to say, yet perhaps for a good man, someone would even dare to die. You'll always have that guy that's going to jump on the grenade. And Paul recognizes that. For the most part, people aren't jumping on the grenade. But there are those blessed exceptions to that rule wherein some do jump on the grenade. They make it into our history books. Well, not necessarily our history books, but they should. Scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Yet perhaps for a good man, someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners. So we weren't righteous men. We weren't deserving men. We weren't worthy men. The emphasis or the accent falls on the self-sacrificial nature of Christ's love. Christ died for us. So going back to the upper room, when the Lord Jesus issues the command in verse 12, he then sets forth the pattern in verse 13. It is to be self-sacrificial. It is to be others-minded. I often encourage people as they get married, you don't enter into a marriage relationship first and foremost seeking what you get. It is to seek rather what you can give. I want to get married because it's going to be nice. I'm going to have a wife. She's going to make me waffles. She's going to rub my feet. It's going to be wonderful. It's at this point I respond like that and laugh and tell them, you have no clue, young man, what lies ahead in your future. But we're mercenaries, aren't we? We go into something for what we get. Sign me up for all the benefits. I want all the assets. I don't want any liabilities or responsibilities. You go into marriage to give. You have a relationship with one another in the life of the church to give. Now it's mutual, it's reciprocal, there's all that give and take to be sure, but the mindset indicative of our culture and our world is give me, give me, give me. Solomon said, the leech has two daughters, give, give. It's the basis of the advertising industry today. It ought not to be the basis for Christianity in terms of discipleship relative to our blessed Savior who loved us and gave himself for us. self-sacrifice in terms of love for one another. That brings us then to privilege in verses 14 and 15. Notice there's a declaration in verse 14 and then an explanation in verse 15. Note first the declaration in verse 14, you are my friends if you do whatever I command you. That sounds a bit harsh. Usually in our friendship, we don't say, look, I'll keep you on the line as long as you do whatever it is that I command you. You might be tempted to say, well, I'm not so sure I want to be your friend anymore. But with reference to this, the place of obedience and friendship is not outlandish. I mean, if I call you, hey, friend, come over and wash my car, because it's quite dirty. And if you don't, you're no longer my friend. Now, that's an abuse, to be sure. But obedience, servanthood. A willingness to give, that's not outlandish in friendship. That's perfectly consistent with friendship. Giving, deferring, giving preference to others, that is most certainly part and parcel of friendship. What Jesus is saying here, He's not saying, this is conditional. As long as you wash my car, I'll call you my friends. But see, it's not outlandish because good friendship, good relationship, again, is a reciprocity of give and take. Giving usually involves some sort of obedience, some sort of servanthood. But as well, there's a specific theological order that we cannot forget as we navigate through this section of Scripture. We're not saved because we obey. We're not saved because we do what He commands. We obey and we do what He commands because we are saved by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. I feel that is very important and very much necessary to stress as we move through narrative passages, which people can say, wait a minute, that sounds a bit awkward. It seems to present a challenge to the doctrine of justification by faith alone. The sinner is justified freely by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, Obedience is a consequence of that. As our confession speaks concerning good works, it says these good works done in obedience to God's commandments are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith. They're the fruits and evidences, not the cause of salvation. So again, Jesus is talking to people that have been justified freely by grace. The believer's obedience is not what makes them friends. It is rather what characterizes them as his friends. I stole that from D. A. Carson, not the specific quote, but the theme. Listen again. The believer's obedience is not what makes them friends. It is what characterizes his friends. That is crucial to get so that you don't end up with a conditional approach to salvation. As long as I obey the Savior, then I can call him friend or he'll call me friend. No, you're saved by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The consequence, the fruits, the lively evidences of that is your obedience to Him. What happens when I'm not perfectly obedient? We have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ, the righteous. We don't enter into heaven because of our obedience. We enter into heaven because of His obedience, because of His doing, His dying, His rising. We go because of God's grace. The Apostle says in Ephesians 1, in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. We're not saved by works, we're saved unto works, and Jesus affirms that everywhere in these narrative discourses with his disciples. So it's not a condition. If you obey me, then I'll keep you around. No, because I've saved you. This is what is the case with those I've saved. They obey, they follow. Do they do it perfectly? No, that's why I'm their advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. That's why he ever lives to make intercession for his people. So don't mess up theology when you read through these sections and say, wait a minute, it sounds like our Lord is being very conditional in terms of his friends. Verse 14, you are my friends if you do whatever I command you. Verse 15, he sort of expands it now or amplifies it or explains it. He speaks of their former status and he speaks of their present status. And again, what is owing to the change of status? Their obedience? Their wisdom, their ingenuity, their choice for Jesus, their signing the card, their altar call. No, it's the grace of God. And Jesus is gonna make that abundantly clear in 16a. You didn't choose me. You didn't raise the hand at the tent meeting and say, I have decided to follow Jesus. You didn't choose me. I chose you. This is the same theology you find throughout the rest of the Bible. The condition is not there by way of, do this to be saved. It is rather, do this because you have been saved. So note their former status according to verse 15a. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing. I don't call you servants anymore. Again, brethren, in the grand scheme of things, Christ at the right hand of the Father, dispatching His disciples out into the then known world to engage in the greater works He tells them to do in 1412, yeah, they're serving Him. but their status relationally to him is as friends. In Romans chapter 8, the apostle says, For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. In a more close context, look back at John chapter 8, as Jesus is mixing it up with the religious leaders, the unbelieving Jews. Look at how he deals with them in 8.31-36. acknowledges that they are the ones in slavery, they are the ones in bondage, and that those who are in Christ are free men, they are free women. Notice in 831, Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed him, If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, we are Abraham's descendants and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say you will be made free? Jesus answered them, most assuredly I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore, if the son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. So back to John 15, specifically at verse 15, no longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing. He just works the grinder. He just rows the ship. He just shovels the coal. He just engages in those activities without any insight whatsoever into the mind of the master. But differentially, notice what he goes on to say in verse 15. Now brethren, this language of friend of God has a rich heritage in scripture. Abraham was a friend of God, according to 2 Chronicles chapter 20, Isaiah chapter 41, and James 2.23. Abraham was called the friend of God. And Moses, in Exodus chapter 33, specifically at verse 11, God spoke face to face with Moses as a man speaks to a friend. I think those two images, or those two men rather, should help inform us as to the rationale there in verse 15b. So notice again, he says, but I have called you friends for all things that I heard from my father, I have made known to you. So revelation of divine truth to the disciple is a blessing. As our brother mentioned in the scripture reading, do you ever ponder how we got this blood-stained book? The great lengths that men went to, the great lengths that women went to, the great lengths that people went to, so that we could have that written word of the living God. And now that it's in our laps, that it's on our phone, that it's all over our bookshelves in our homes, do we bless God for the privilege of revelation? This is one of the end games of the incarnation, practically speaking, in the prologue in John 1.18. No one has seen God at any time, but the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared Him. So it separates the servants on the one side and the friends on the other side. It's divine revelation. It's faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of Christ. It is the recognition that, fowl I to the fountain fly, wash me, Savior, or I die. It's the recognition that Christ is altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. That it's He alone that has the ability to save. It's He alone that speaks John 6, 37. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out. It is the recognition of the glory of John 3, 16. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Brethren, we count ourselves blessed as the recipients of divine truth, not just externally, yeah, I own a Bible or five, but internally by the power of the Holy Spirit who's opened our hearts. As the hymn writer says, reflecting, I think, the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 32, "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear." Brethren, if we have that revelation, we understand the glory of God. Not that we can explain successfully every jot and tittle of the Christian faith, but that we know Him, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. That's where our friendship or where our status as friend is recognized. The servant just does what he does. There's no mind of the master that is actuating him, but the friend, we know what the master wants. We know what the master has come to do. We know what the master's intentions are. So we are not on an equal level with him, may it never be, but we are subordinate, but nevertheless friends. The idea that you can't have a subordinate that's a friend is completely contrary to what we find in this particular passage of scripture. One man, Edward Plank, makes the observation, it is knowledge that distinguishes a friend from a slave. And this knowledge is reflective of relationship. Right? Many people know your spouse, but they don't know your spouse the way you know your spouse. Many people know other people as well, but there's not that intimacy that people have in a marriage. Well, many people have a concept of deity, God, out there, but not knowing the master, not having that status of friendship. They don't have that relationship of friendship. So this is a wonderful explanation on the part of our Lord in the larger context of the upper room as an impetus for these men to go out and do what he says to do in 1412. You've got to do greater works. And this greater works isn't the grinder, it isn't the shoveling of the coal. It is out of love for Christ and out of love to your fellow men that you go there for, that you make disciples of all the nations, and that you baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. These brothers needed impetus. They needed encouragement. The world is about to collapse all around them. They're going to see their Savior mocked. They're going to see their Savior crucified. They're going to see their Savior buried. They're going to see their Savior raised again and ascended on high, to be sure. But at this particular vantage point, what is it that they need in terms of motivation to go and engage in those greater works? They need all that Jesus is telling them. You ever hear those questions? Could God do this and could God do that? God does all his holy will. And God, as he speaks to us in scripture, there might be enigmatic portions. That means puzzling portions to you. The book of Leviticus, I've already mentioned that. Yeah, you got to deal with this sore and this scab with this hair in it in this particular way and quarantine this particular facility if this kind of stuff. You know, modern readers read that and they go, what? It just seems so foreign, it seems so far. In fact, most people, not most, I would imagine some, they... I'm going to read the Bible from cover to cover. Leviticus is probably the great rock that levels a few of them. I'm just not sure I can make it through. Leviticus is all about Jesus. I know that sounds odd. I think you see it in many, many ways. Leviticus 16 and the day of atonement, Leviticus 21 and 22 or 20 and 21, the fitness of the priest and the fitness of the sacrifice. But with reference to Scripture, when it comes to these particular things, when we ponder these particular things, we ought to remember that our gracious God has brought us into this position of friendship, revealed to us these things, and called us to function in a capacity that is consistent with his mind revealed to us in the Word. So Jesus comes along to these disciples to encourage them, to help them along, to be a blessing to them. Not a harsh taskmaster snapping the whip, but he comes to speak to them in a way that moves them from the upper room to the then known world to take the gospel to all the places in the earth. And then that brings us finally to the reminder. Notice in verses 16 and 17, he emphasizes sovereign grace. You did not choose me, but I chose you. I think this functions in a particular way, and I'll speak to that in just a moment, but the nature of his choice. What did he choose them for? He chose them for apostleship. We know that from Matthew 10, verses 1-4, and the parallels that you find in Mark and Luke. He chose them for apostleship. He didn't have, you know, sign-ups today, if you want to be my apostle, you know, come and, you know, do your thing and show me that you're one that ought to be included in this apostle group. No, he doesn't do that. But not just to apostleship specifically, but to salvation generally. You didn't choose me, I chose you. Ephesians 1.4, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him. He doesn't choose us because we are holy and without blame. He chooses us so that we'll become holy and blameless. As John Gill rightly says, election does not find men in Christ, but it puts men in Christ. So I think Jesus is doing something here in terms of showing them privilege. You didn't choose me, but I chose you. Showing them privilege. I don't call you servants anymore, but I call you friends. But he's doing it to encourage that intimacy that he has with them. That relationship, again, when these guys go out into the world to preach the gospel, and brethren, notice in verses 18 to 25, that's where the accent lay. Believe it or not, I'm gonna let you know something. According to 14.12, Jesus is gonna send these men out to do greater works. When these men go out to do greater works, believe it or not, the world's not gonna like it. They're not. You look around today and say, wait a minute, why is it that Christians are persecuted throughout the earth? Well, why don't we just spend a part of the prayer meeting this morning praying for six different countries, or maybe two of them were the same country, but six different instances of grievous suffering among the people of God. Because the world hates Christ. And the world hates Christ's people. I really don't know how to make that more of a simple proposition. So what is Jesus saying to prepare them for the eventuality of 18 and following? Know that when you go out into the Roman Empire and you preach another king, Jesus, The world's not going to be happy. Of course, God saves out of the world those whom he has chosen from before the foundation of the world. There will be receptivity. There will not be an extinguished church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It will march onward. The gates of Haiti shall not prevail against it. But in your own lives, in your own experience, in your own doings within the empire, you're going to end up in jail, you're going to end up before magistrates, you're going to end up dead. But be mindful of this. I call you friends. You didn't choose me, but I chose you. I chose you for this privileged position to go out and die for me. I chose you for this privileged position to go out and suffer for me and say, well, Butler, that's a stretch. Read the book of Acts. After the apostles are scourged, after they are beaten, they leave from that place not to go call their lawyer. They leave from that place rejoicing because they had been counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. It is a privilege to suffer for the cause of God and truth. It is a privilege to follow the Lamb wherever He bids us go. This is the way 20 centuries of Christ's church has interpreted it. But in this 21st century, well, you know, that just doesn't fit into our lifestyle. We can't actually go against governmental decree. We can't actually go against the norm. We can't actually take a stand upon the Holy Word of God. Brethren, 20 centuries before us, saw it as their great privilege to take that stand. The Lord Jesus Christ is calculatedly fitting his disciples for service in a John 15, 18 world. He says, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own, yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Before moving on, and we're going to close this soon, I think that this statement as well, you did not choose me, but I chose you, should at least through the back door serve as a check against our pride. What does privileged status often yield in the privileged? Pride. Arrogance. I'm a friend of the master. I'm a servant in the functional term of the master. You didn't choose me. I chose you. It's like that scene in Ezekiel chapter 16 when God is rehearsing the founding of Israel. When I came to you, you were like a baby lying there in its blood. Your father was a Hittite. Your mother was a Hivite. And I came to you and I said, live, live. And then I picked you up. I cleaned you off. I decked you with ornaments. I set you on the path that you're on. Brethren, I think, again, through the backdoor, this should serve to check our pride, our arrogance. I'm a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, owing to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, not owing to your good decisions, or to your works, or to your law-keeping, or to your merit. So the Lord Jesus is encouraging and he is helping the disciples to go into the then known world. So from verse 16, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit. This appointment, as I mentioned earlier, is in Matthew chapter 10, the appointment to the apostolic ministry. And then the purpose for that appointment is to go. Not to stay, but to go, the disciple group here specifically, to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. That is the Matthew 10 specifics. And then of course, in Matthew 28, there's expansion. Go to the uttermost parts of the earth, go to all nations, make disciples of all nations. You see, Jesus' appointment of these men is with the specific task of extending His church, of extending His kingdom, of extending the salvation of God to the uttermost parts of the earth. Again, as our brother was mentioning, every tribe, every tongue, every people, every nation. This is the purpose of the Savior relative to the missionary enterprise. Notice specifically then the provision, or I'm sorry, the mission for the disciples follows. I appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain. This is a connection to the unit in verses one to eight. Here in chapter 15, he gives the meaning of who he is as the true vine. And then what does he say? your branches and the vine and my father pruned you so that you're fruitful, so that you get the sap and the nutrients, you get the nourishment and the satiation so that you can go out and actually bear fruit. You see, that's what he wants from his disciples. I appointed you to this particular task and I want you to bear fruit and I want that your fruit should remain. Now, as our brother, again, picking on Mark here, he started off the statement with, I want to ask a question. I want to ask a question. Did their fruit remain? You better believe it did. You better believe their fruit remained. What was the complaint of these men or about these men in the book of Acts? They turn the world upside down. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that glorious? Isn't that blessed and amazing that a handful of men from different backgrounds, different walks of life, united in God's grace under the headship of their friend, the Savior, go and turn the Roman Empire upside down? It probably seemed like an impossible task. It probably seemed like there's nothing that's going to stop the Roman Empire. Yeah, there is. It's God Most High who rules and reigns at the right... The Lord Christ Most High rules and reigns at the right hand of God. And then notice, provision from Christ that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give you. He's already said this in chapter 14. He'll repeat it again in chapter 16. They're supposed to be doing greater works, 1412. Those greater works are gonna require great resources. And so when he says, whatever you ask the Father, he's not saying if you want summer homes, if you want a new boat, you want a new job, you want a new this, you want a new that. The whatever you ask in my name is conditioned by the greater works of 1412, always governed by the will of God itself. When we pray, we're not praying to change God. What a miserable approach to prayer. Boy, I just want to go change God. No, God in infinite wisdom has everything under perfect control. He governs all His creatures and all their actions. A primary focus in prayer is to align our will under His will. So the whatever you ask in my name are the resources necessary to take the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. And I would argue specifically the Holy Spirit in light of 14, 15 to 18, and Luke 11, 9 to 13. It's the Holy Spirit in these men, with these men, empowering and enabling these men, illuminating these men, teaching these men, bringing all things to remembrance to these men, that will be the grand impetus for them to go out, to proclaim the truth as it is in Jesus, to make those disciples, and to baptize them. And then the text, or the unit, ends with a reiteration in verse 17. These things I command you, that you love one another. Importance, comprehensiveness, and then the power of obedience to that command. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. And then I would suggest, as we move into the next section, this is the necessary help that obedience to the command affords. There needs to be a community of love when we live in a world that is filled with enmity. I mean, if just that alone is a reason to come to church, and I'm not suggesting that alone is the reason to come to church, but that's a good one. Six other days that you live, if you have any contact with social media, any contact with at least understanding what's going on in terms of the political realm, you probably have discovered that they hate you. There's a lot of hatred out there for Christ and his church. A lot of hatred out there for the commandments of God. So we come in here and at least for an hour, 15, gonna push it to 20, we're not hated expressly, This is a safe haven, at least for an hour 15. Again, I think there's a myriad of other reasons why you should come to church, but that's certainly a good one. A community of love that is planted in the midst of the enmity of the world. How is it that we go out and face the battles of this current generation? We find impetus from our blessed savior and from one another. Prayer meetings are very helpful for that. Midweek meetings are very helpful for that. Just imagine the soldier that never has any reprieve, the soldier who never gets a good hot meal. One of the military leaders said that an army is basically fueled by its stomach. Remember that scene in King Saul's reign where he forbid everybody to eat? Not a genius move when you're going into battle, Saul. Jonathan comes and he tastes the honey and his countenance shines. And then, of course, Saul wants to kill his own son because he broke the oath or broke the vow. Thankfully, the people of Israel intervene. See, we need that. No man is an island unto themselves. The God-haters have that. They certainly have their rallies and their times together, and they have all their points wherein they get encouraged to go out and do their horrible and vicious deeds. Yet, for some reason, the people go, I don't need church. Again, if it's an hour and 15 where people aren't screaming insults at you, it might be a good thing sometime in the future. Brethren, this is the community of love within the enmity of the world. So in conclusion, we need to count ourselves as privileged by Christ. We are loved by Him. We have communion with Him. We get to obey Him. Prior to conversion, you probably thought obedience to God was probably the whole obedience to God. But as converted men and women, isn't obedience to God the recognition that that's what we were made for? True freedom is doing what God made you to do, not rebelling against Him. We have joy in Christ. We are friends of Christ. We have been chosen by Christ. We are empowered by Christ. So let us count ourselves a blessed lot. The privileges are manifold. We have been richly smiled upon by our King of grace. And let us live in a manner that is consistent with His revealed will to us. As his friends, let us love him. As his friends, let us love one another with a self-sacrificial love, with a constant love, and with a love that doesn't demand that you better clean up everything in your act before I'll convey love to you. You gotta love people where they're at. Now again, help them to be somewhere else or better if where they're at isn't necessarily good. And if you're not a Christian here this morning, may I just emphasize this Lord Jesus Christ, this one who always did what the Father commanded. As I mentioned earlier, hopefully you heard it, we don't enter into heaven because of our obedience, we enter into heaven because of his obedience. Notice what he says 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. Why did Jesus keep the commandments of God? Because it was necessary for us men and for our salvation. without that righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone, with that forgiveness of sins that we get through His precious blood, we would never enter into heaven. The way of salvation isn't leave here and try to be a better you. The way of salvation is to look unto the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, and He will save you by His grace. Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this section of Holy Scripture and the wisdom of our Lord Jesus and encouraging and helping his disciples along as they leave that upper room and as they go into the Roman Empire with the gospel of salvation. May we receive these things as well. May you encourage our hearts. May you increase our faith or our love for the Savior and our love for one another. And we ask in Jesus' name, amen.