back to indexBerean Community Church - Sunday Service 5.10
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>> All right, good morning, Green Community Church. 00:08:47.000 |
Welcome to our online service and for those of you who are guests or joining us for worship. 00:08:52.000 |
I know we're all kind of getting antsy to see when things are gonna be opened up and 00:08:59.000 |
I think we're gonna have more specific announcements that are coming sooner than 00:09:05.000 |
But I think right now with all the stuff that's going on, our leaders, 00:09:10.000 |
the president, the governors, the local mayors, 00:09:14.000 |
they're in lead of a lot of our prayers because the decisions that they make are very weighty. 00:09:21.000 |
We need a lot of prayer for even the church pastors where we're kind of wrestling with 00:09:28.000 |
How do we submit to the governing authorities? 00:09:32.000 |
that we're not compromising the convictions that we have in scripture? 00:09:36.000 |
And so we're in prayer, we're having a lot of discussions and 00:09:40.000 |
we do have some announcements that we do want to give you. 00:09:43.000 |
And I know that California has gone into phase two and there are a lot of rumblings, 00:09:49.000 |
especially within the church, as to when can we open up. 00:09:53.000 |
There's been a movement within the whole country and specifically in California of 00:09:58.000 |
churches where many churches, thousands of churches are planning to open up on May 31st. 00:10:05.000 |
And again, it is not a hard line time and I know that there is a movement. 00:10:10.000 |
We are talking to our denominations, we're talking to other churches to see how we're going to do this together. 00:10:17.000 |
We want to do it in a way that again honors God and do our best to submit to the governing authorities 00:10:22.000 |
and we want to keep the church as safe as possible. 00:10:25.000 |
And so starting from, okay, and this is not a hard date, but starting from May 31st and 00:10:34.000 |
possibly a week or two after that, and we'll give you the specific dates when we can, 00:10:38.000 |
but starting from, we're hoping to shoot from May 31st that we will be able to have our live service at the church. 00:10:46.000 |
And we are planning to have three services, at least in the beginning, 830, 1030, and 1230. 00:10:53.000 |
We've already emptied out the room so that we have plenty of space in between. 00:10:58.000 |
And so in order to not to create traffic in one service, we're going to ask the church to sign up for one of them 00:11:05.000 |
and to commit to that service for the duration of the time that we need to do this. 00:11:11.000 |
So after our service, there's going to be a, it's going to be up on the Facebook where you can commit. 00:11:19.000 |
And again, even if you're not a member of the church and you want to sign up and just kind of let us know 00:11:23.000 |
that that's the service that you're planning to attend, there will be a place where you can sign up and say, 00:11:28.000 |
you know, my first choice is 830, my second choice is 1030 or something like that. 00:11:33.000 |
So if we need to add a fourth service, if I can survive, we may plan to do that, 00:11:40.000 |
but we're going to see if we can do this with three services. 00:11:43.000 |
So again, it would be at 830, 1030, and 1230. 00:11:47.000 |
So after we get all of that signed up, the following week on Sunday, on May 17th, 00:11:53.000 |
we do have a members meeting where we're going to announce to you more specifically what we are planning to do. 00:11:59.000 |
So again, all of this is tentative. We're just kind of watching the news and praying and talking to other churches 00:12:04.000 |
to see what needs to be done. And so as we get more information, we'll let you know. 00:12:09.000 |
But again, for now, we are tentatively planning to have our first open service on May 31st. 00:12:16.000 |
And again, by next Sunday, that may change, but that's kind of like what we're coordinating with other churches to do right now. 00:12:22.000 |
Okay. All right. And again, like I said, along with that, there will be more announcements that will be coming next Sunday. 00:12:28.000 |
So please, if you are a member of the church, please attend that. 00:12:31.000 |
And those of you who may be in the process of becoming members or you just haven't officially become a member, 00:12:38.000 |
but you plan to attend church, all of the announcements that we give to our members will be given on our Facebook page. 00:12:44.000 |
So please visit that afterwards and you'll get all the information that you need on that site. 00:12:49.000 |
Okay. All right. I have a business to take care of this morning. 00:12:55.000 |
We have special birthdays that are going on. Again, I want to correct what was said wrong last week. 00:13:03.000 |
I said Adam Wong and that was the wrong name. It was Adam Chong. 00:13:07.000 |
Happy birthday. George Wu's birthday is coming up this week. 00:13:11.000 |
Happy birthday. Casey Lin's birthday. Adalyn Chang's birthday. Katie Lee's birthday. 00:13:19.000 |
And Owen Chang. He's one year old. Hopefully he'll remember. 00:13:23.000 |
Okay. Happy birthday for all of you coming up. And then this is the good boy and good girls list. 00:13:29.000 |
Okay. Uriah Kim. Good job, buddy. Brooklyn and Adrian Wong. Good job. Keep up the good work. 00:13:40.000 |
We have Kara Hudson, Lucas and Lauren Young. Great job. Keep up the good work. 00:13:48.000 |
Chloe Lin. Your parents said you guys, you did a great job last week. 00:13:52.000 |
We have Danielle, Tim, Seth and Nikki Irving. You guys also did a great job. 00:13:59.000 |
And then we have Jordan, Jacoby and Jude. Okay. We have the good list is growing each week. 00:14:07.000 |
And also a shout out all the way to Japan. Hanami and Emiko. You guys are doing a good job. 00:14:13.000 |
Okay. Keep up the good work. All right. Let me pray for the offering and then we'll jump into the worship this morning. 00:14:21.000 |
Let's pray. Gracious and loving Father, we thank you for sustaining us, for loving us, for calling us and saving us. 00:14:33.000 |
I pray, Father, this morning that not only here at Berean, but all over the world, that your name may be magnified. 00:14:41.000 |
And especially for those around the world who may not yet know you, but they're earnestly searching. 00:14:47.000 |
I pray that you would guide them to gospel messages that are online. 00:14:52.000 |
That would cause them to open their eyes to see the glory of who you are. 00:14:56.000 |
And I pray, Father God, that the resurrection of Christ and the power, Lord God, that resurrected him 00:15:02.000 |
would also be powerful, Father God, in the messages that go out. 00:15:06.000 |
We pray for our family members. We pray for friends and guests who are worshiping together with us. 00:15:13.000 |
May Christ and his voice and his voice alone be made clear that we may hear our Master's voice and follow him this morning. 00:15:58.000 |
Speak, O Lord, as we come to you to receive the fruit of your holy word. 00:16:13.000 |
Deck the earth with your truth, plant it deep in us, shape and fashion us in your light. 00:16:28.000 |
The light of Christ might be seen today in our acts of love and our deeds of faith. 00:16:44.000 |
Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us all your purposes for your glory. 00:17:07.000 |
Teach us, Lord, full obedience, holy reverence, true humility. 00:17:22.000 |
Test our thoughts and our attitudes in the radiance of your purity. 00:17:36.000 |
Cause our faith to rise, cause our eyes to see your majestic love and authority. 00:17:52.000 |
Words of power that can never fail, let their truth prevail over unbelief. 00:18:13.000 |
Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds. Help us grasp the heights of your plans for us. 00:18:30.000 |
And truth shall unchange from the dawn of time that will never go down through eternity. 00:18:45.000 |
And thy grace will stand on your promises, and thy faith will walk as you walk with us. 00:19:01.000 |
Speak, O Lord, till your church is built and the earth is filled with your fruit. 00:19:15.000 |
And thy grace will stand on your promises, and thy faith will walk as you walk with us. 00:19:32.000 |
Speak, O Lord, till your church is built and the earth is filled with your glory. 00:20:12.000 |
No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has ever conceived 00:20:26.000 |
the glorious things that you have prepared for everyone who has believed. 00:20:39.000 |
You brought us near and you called us your own and made us your heirs with your Son. 00:20:51.000 |
How high and how low, how deep and how long, how sweet and how strong is your love. 00:21:05.000 |
How lavish your grace, how faithful your ways, how great is your love, O Lord. 00:21:27.000 |
Take some mercy, take some mercy, who shall have no wrath and let none speak of all joy? 00:21:41.000 |
Who will share the wisdom and search of the wild, no wonder unknowing your voice. 00:21:54.000 |
You are our treasure and our great reward, our hope and our glorious King. 00:22:06.000 |
How high and how low, how deep and how long, how sweet and how strong is your love. 00:22:19.000 |
How lavish your grace, how faithful your ways, how great is your love, O Lord. 00:22:31.000 |
How high and how low, how deep and how long, how sweet and how strong is your love. 00:22:45.000 |
How lavish your grace, how faithful your ways, how great is your love, O Lord. 00:23:37.000 |
Just the time I think that I'm at peace with the world that's gone. 00:23:51.000 |
I feel at ease, I feel at home and I know I'm not alone. 00:24:05.000 |
Then in my rest there comes a test that shakes me to the ground, I know. 00:24:20.000 |
That what I have is not enough and I know I've got to go. 00:24:44.000 |
Lord, I want to know you and I will give my final breath to know you in your death and resurrection. 00:25:24.000 |
The full supply I find as I move closer to the heart of God. 00:25:38.000 |
To strengthen me, to nourish me and to fill my mind with you. 00:25:52.000 |
I've truly grown but even so my hunger hasn't gone away. 00:26:07.000 |
Still I long, still I thirst to know and know each day. 00:26:31.000 |
Lord, I want to know you and I will give my final breath to know you in your death and resurrection. 00:27:01.000 |
Lord, I want to know you and I will give my final breath to know you in your death and resurrection. 00:27:54.000 |
Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers who are participating today. 00:27:59.000 |
I know especially with the quarantine and all the kids being homeschooled, you're working overtime. 00:28:05.000 |
And so we're praying for you. We're thankful for you. 00:28:08.000 |
And you know, typically when we think about God's agape love, 00:28:11.000 |
the closest thing that most people can think of is the love that they receive from their mothers. 00:28:15.000 |
And so again, obviously, even the mother's love cannot compare to the love that we receive from God the Father. 00:28:22.000 |
But as people, you know, the closest that we typically experience is usually from our mothers. 00:28:29.000 |
So again, we want to thank you for all the hard work that you're putting in, 00:28:32.000 |
especially now as you're homeschooling, you know, taking care of the home 00:28:36.000 |
and just working overtime right now more than any other period. 00:28:39.000 |
We do have a special video to celebrate Mother's Day, but we're not going to be watching it online. 00:28:47.000 |
It's going to be put up on Facebook. It's a little bit longer than I think normal. 00:28:51.000 |
So after the service or whenever you have time today or even tomorrow, 00:28:55.000 |
you can just go and just watch that on your own time. 00:28:58.000 |
But again, we do have a special video that our media team created for us. 00:29:04.000 |
OK, if you can turn your Bibles to John chapter 15, and we're actually going to be floating around John chapter, 00:29:11.000 |
you know, latter part of 14, 15, and then the beginning part of chapter 16. 00:29:16.000 |
But again, we're going to be there's a lot to cover and I'm not going to be able to cover all of it today. 00:29:21.000 |
This text is so rich with so many good things that Christ was trying to teach them before he left. 00:29:27.000 |
And so but the main text that we're going to be looking at is starting from verse one through 11. 00:29:31.000 |
So let me read that before we pray and then jump into the sermon. 00:29:35.000 |
I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. 00:29:39.000 |
Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. 00:29:42.000 |
And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 00:29:46.000 |
You're already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 00:29:50.000 |
Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. 00:29:58.000 |
I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. 00:30:06.000 |
If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up. 00:30:11.000 |
And they gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 00:30:14.000 |
If you abide in me, my words abide in you. Ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. 00:30:19.000 |
My father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 00:30:24.000 |
Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Abide in my love. 00:30:28.000 |
If you keep my commandments, you abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandment and abide in his love. 00:30:34.000 |
These things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full. 00:30:42.000 |
Gracious and loving Father, we pray for your anointing over this time. 00:30:48.000 |
We pray, Father God, that your living word that you invested and poured your very breath into, 00:30:55.000 |
that we may be the beneficiary of your word this morning. 00:31:00.000 |
We pray for your Holy Spirit to illumine us, open our eyes, Lord God, 00:31:03.000 |
that we may understand and that our hearts may be moldable. 00:31:12.000 |
And we desire to be molded by your word this morning. 00:31:21.000 |
If you had maybe, you know, six hours, you know, or seven hours, 00:31:29.000 |
and you knew that you were going to depart from your loved ones, 00:31:35.000 |
What are some instructions that you would give? 00:31:38.000 |
And if you're parents, like, what would you say to your children? 00:31:41.000 |
Whatever it may be, my guess is you're not going to be frivolous. 00:31:46.000 |
That every word that you say is going to have meaning. 00:31:49.000 |
You're going to think through all the things that you have learned, 00:31:52.000 |
all the things that you wish that your children would understand. 00:31:56.000 |
And most likely you're going to give them some instructions. 00:31:58.000 |
Whether they understand it or not, you're going to give some instructions to them. 00:32:02.000 |
My guess is that you're not going to be telling a joke for your last thing that you want to say, right? 00:32:08.000 |
You know, this week we--our brother Lee, his father passed away last week 00:32:16.000 |
And we were--a few of us, the pastors and a few people, 00:32:19.000 |
were able to participate from a distance, obviously because of all that was going on. 00:32:25.000 |
And one of the things that he said was that his father, before he passed away, 00:32:29.000 |
was in the state of mind where he was able to write a letter to each one of his children 00:32:34.000 |
and his loved one, and just telling them that he loves them 00:32:38.000 |
and then just giving them fatherly advice, last fatherly advice. 00:32:41.000 |
And when I heard that, I said, "Wow, that's really awesome." 00:32:45.000 |
And each one of those letters are probably something that each of their children 00:32:49.000 |
and loved ones are going to cherish for the rest of their lives. 00:32:52.000 |
And I was just kind of curious what he wrote because, you know, 00:32:55.000 |
whatever he writes there is going to be very weighty. 00:32:57.000 |
It's going to take a lot--he probably took a lot of time thinking about his 80-plus, 00:33:01.000 |
the 87 years or so of his life that he's accumulated through all the sufferings 00:33:06.000 |
and through the Korean War, immigration, and the hardship, 00:33:10.000 |
and living as a faithful Christian man for so many decades. 00:33:14.000 |
And so all of that accumulated in that one letter instructing their children 00:33:22.000 |
Well, the text that we're looking at this morning, in a way, 00:33:26.000 |
is Jesus' last teaching that he's leaving to his disciples. 00:33:31.000 |
You know, what he says here is taking place right after he has the Lord's Supper. 00:33:36.000 |
And then he's instructed them that one of them are going to betray them, 00:33:40.000 |
and so Judas takes off to go get the temple guards 00:33:44.000 |
so that they can come in the middle of the night to take him away. 00:33:48.000 |
And so it was in between that time, before they go to the Garden of Gethsemane, 00:33:52.000 |
where he wrestles in prayer, and then he gets arrested after that, 00:33:57.000 |
So really, this is the last thing that he says to his disciples 00:34:00.000 |
until after he resurrects, and then he commissions them to the Great Commission. 00:34:05.000 |
So you can imagine how important these words are, 00:34:10.000 |
This was given specifically to his disciples as instructions 00:34:14.000 |
that after I leave, you make sure that you do this. 00:34:19.000 |
Now, this is the seventh, the last of the I Am statements, 00:34:23.000 |
the seven I Am statements that we went through. 00:34:26.000 |
And if you look at it superficially, you may say, 00:34:28.000 |
"Wow, there's so many profound and great things that Jesus says in the I Am statements." 00:34:33.000 |
And I would think that maybe a good way to leave, 00:34:38.000 |
and the last thing that he would say to his disciples is, 00:34:44.000 |
because he's about to go to the cross, and he's about to die, 00:34:47.000 |
and to leave them with that, "I am the resurrection and the life." 00:34:50.000 |
Maybe even what he said last week, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. 00:34:56.000 |
But those were the fifth and sixth, and then the seventh, the last one, "I am the vine." 00:35:01.000 |
And this was the last thing that he says to them. 00:35:03.000 |
This is the last thing that he wanted to make sure he clarifies to his disciples 00:35:10.000 |
I mean, it almost sounds mundane superficially 00:35:13.000 |
if you don't really understand what he is saying. 00:35:18.000 |
You can connect to me if you want to bear fruit." 00:35:20.000 |
Again, as important as that is, the reason why he says that 00:35:32.000 |
and he wanted them to make sure that they understood. 00:35:35.000 |
My guess is that if you were to write a last letter 00:35:41.000 |
you're going to have a lot of maybe life wisdom 00:35:57.000 |
that you think are going to help your children to be successful. 00:36:06.000 |
He just told them that he was about to leave, 00:36:09.000 |
but he's also instructing them that, "After I leave, 00:36:12.000 |
if you want to continue to bear fruit, this is what you need to do." 00:36:16.000 |
And so the whole chapter 15 is about Christians bearing fruit. 00:36:20.000 |
After he leaves, he wanted them to continue to do the work that he started, 00:36:24.000 |
to continue to spread the gospel, build churches. 00:36:28.000 |
But he's telling them that you cannot bear this fruit on your own. 00:36:34.000 |
As Christians, and not even just as Christians, 00:36:39.000 |
if you start a business and it doesn't do well, 00:36:47.000 |
If you have a relationship, that doesn't bear fruit, 00:36:56.000 |
If you go to school and you put in your time, 00:36:58.000 |
and you go to school and you're staying up at night 00:37:03.000 |
and at the end of it, you're not making any progress. 00:37:08.000 |
Whatever it is that you do, whether it's sports, business, relationship, or school, 00:37:13.000 |
whatever you do, if you don't see tangible fruit, 00:37:19.000 |
And you'll probably pack up your bags and try to do something else. 00:37:28.000 |
memorizing Scripture and trying to pray, coming to church, 00:37:31.000 |
if we don't begin to see some progress in the things that we are doing, 00:37:39.000 |
We may not physically walk out of the church, 00:37:46.000 |
Hopefully, we can just make it, and we just become very nominal Christians 00:37:55.000 |
And we kind of use cliche things like God loves us exactly the way we are. 00:38:01.000 |
but we kind of revert back to that in order to excuse a life that is fruitless. 00:38:07.000 |
And so internally, we don't have any excitement. 00:38:09.000 |
Maybe that died way back in college, or maybe when you were younger, 00:38:12.000 |
maybe before you had kids, before you started, had a full-time job, 00:38:17.000 |
whatever it might be, this vision, this idea that we're going to bear fruit, 00:38:22.000 |
we're going to expand or get the kingdom of God all over the world. 00:38:28.000 |
For whatever the reason, many Christians fall away from that, 00:38:34.000 |
and then they just kind of learn to go through the motion. 00:38:37.000 |
I just do my part, and I just make it to next year, 00:38:40.000 |
and then outside of just going to church on Sunday 00:38:43.000 |
and then participating in events, there really isn't this striving after God. 00:38:48.000 |
What Jesus is saying here is not a distinguishing mark 00:38:52.000 |
between a good Christian and a bad Christian. 00:38:55.000 |
That's the first thing that we need to understand. 00:38:57.000 |
He's making a distinguishing mark between a Christian and a non-Christian 00:39:02.000 |
because he doesn't say, "If you want to bear fruit, you should do these things, 00:39:06.000 |
and hopefully you can do a good job and bear more fruit." 00:39:09.000 |
John 15, 2, it says, "Every branch of me that does not bear fruit, he takes away." 00:39:16.000 |
"And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit." 00:39:21.000 |
Again, in chapter 15, verse 16, "If anyone does not abide in me, 00:39:28.000 |
and they gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." 00:39:33.000 |
Again, many people misunderstand this text as in God is giving wise instructions 00:39:39.000 |
as to Christians so that we can bear more fruit, which is also true. 00:39:44.000 |
But fundamentally what Jesus is telling his disciples, 00:39:47.000 |
the distinguishing mark between a Christian and a non-Christian 00:39:50.000 |
is that a Christian bears fruit and a non-Christian bears no fruit. 00:39:54.000 |
There is no evidence of their faith in their life. 00:39:58.000 |
So what he is saying to his disciples are the identifying mark of a true believer. 00:40:08.000 |
So again, it's very, very important that we understand what he is saying. 00:40:14.000 |
But as important as bearing fruit is, as an identifying mark of a Christian, 00:40:21.000 |
the imperative in this passage is not bear fruit. 00:40:24.000 |
Meaning God's ultimate command is not "Go bear fruit." 00:40:29.000 |
Because if you're not a fruit tree and you're trying to bear fruits, 00:40:44.000 |
You don't plant a grape vine or a peach tree or an apple tree 00:40:53.000 |
You're frustrated when only pineapples come out or maybe no fruits come out. 00:40:58.000 |
The imperative in this passage is not "Go bear fruit." 00:41:02.000 |
The imperative in this passage is "How do we bear fruit?" 00:41:14.000 |
That after I leave, up to now, you've been just doing whatever I told you to do. 00:41:22.000 |
If I fed the people who were hungry, you carried it and you did my work. 00:41:28.000 |
And they're all freaking out like, "Where are you going?" 00:41:32.000 |
So he's answering that question, "Why can't we go with you?" 00:41:39.000 |
"What's going to happen to us after you leave? 00:41:44.000 |
So he's telling them that in order to bear fruit, you must remain in me. 00:41:50.000 |
That's the "I am" statement that he's making to his disciples. 00:41:55.000 |
If you want to bear fruit, you must abide in me. 00:41:59.000 |
In fact, John himself uses the word "meno," which is translated for "abide" in this passage, 00:42:09.000 |
So John repeats it in his letters over and over and over again 00:42:13.000 |
that if we want to bear fruit, we must abide in Christ. 00:42:17.000 |
And that's in this text alone, in chapter 15. 00:42:19.000 |
He uses the word "meno" to abide 11 separate times. 00:42:24.000 |
So if you were to read chapter 11 and you have a highlighter, 00:42:27.000 |
every time he uses the word "abide," highlight it. 00:42:32.000 |
Because it'll tell you every time you flip that chapter, chapter 15, 00:42:36.000 |
the highlighter will tell you, "Oh, he's talking about abiding in Christ." 00:42:42.000 |
It's like, "No, you can't bear fruit unless you abide." 00:42:45.000 |
So this word "abide" is a very key word because Jesus is saying 00:42:50.000 |
that distinguishing mark between a Christian and a non-Christian is abiding. 00:42:55.000 |
For you to be able to bear fruit and continue to do the work that I am sending you to do, 00:43:02.000 |
In order for you to have any success in your Christian walk with God, 00:43:09.000 |
So this word "abide" is a key word in our walk with God. 00:43:17.000 |
We have "agape" and in the Bible it's very precise. 00:43:20.000 |
So you have family love, you have romantic love, right? 00:43:28.000 |
But the love that God gives us is the "agape," unconditional love. 00:43:33.000 |
So if you've been a Christian for a while, you probably already have heard 00:43:36.000 |
many times the word "agape" because it's crucial. 00:43:40.000 |
It's foundation to our understanding of our relationship with God. 00:43:46.000 |
This word "meno" is just as crucial because we are children of God 00:43:53.000 |
because He agape'd us and then the instruction that He leaves with the disciples, 00:43:57.000 |
"If you do not meno with me, you cannot bear fruit. 00:44:11.000 |
In fact, just like the word "agape," in English we say "love," 00:44:14.000 |
whether it's family, chocolate, or God's love, we use the same word. 00:44:21.000 |
Well, this word, again, it's a rich word that really can't be translated with one word. 00:44:31.000 |
In some of the other translations it's translated "to remain." 00:44:36.000 |
And then in other parts of the Bible, in other translations, it'll say "to dwell." 00:44:41.000 |
In some other translations it'll say "to continue." 00:44:45.000 |
You'll see about five or six or even seven different translations of this word, 00:44:49.000 |
and some of them are very similar and some of them are very different. 00:44:52.000 |
But the reason why it's so different, and whenever you study the Bible 00:44:56.000 |
and you look at the different translations and the word that is translated 00:44:59.000 |
sounds very different, that already indicates to you that that Greek word 00:45:04.000 |
doesn't have a precise translation in the English, 00:45:07.000 |
and that's why they did their best for whatever context that they used to use that word. 00:45:12.000 |
Well, this word "meno" is translated five or six different ways in different translations. 00:45:17.000 |
So it is a very rich word that connects us to God, 00:45:21.000 |
connects us to Christ, that causes us to bear fruit. 00:45:26.000 |
So we're going to be talking about, again, three, just to kind of give you an outline, 00:45:34.000 |
The most important part of it is the first one, 00:45:36.000 |
but under each of these there's going to be sub-points, so just kind of stay with me. 00:45:41.000 |
If you look at the children's outline, it'll show you what the outline is. 00:45:44.000 |
The first thing that I want to point out is that Jesus is divine, so we must abide in him. 00:45:56.000 |
But the immediate question that the disciples probably would have asked is, 00:46:00.000 |
"You just told us that you're going to leave and we cannot follow you." 00:46:08.000 |
And then when we said, "Well, why can't we follow you? What about us?" 00:46:13.000 |
And you answer, "You have to abide in me. You have to stay with me. 00:46:17.000 |
You have to continue with me. You have to dwell with me. You have to remain with me." 00:46:21.000 |
Well, how do we do that if you're going to leave? 00:46:31.000 |
See, it's that question that he's trying to answer. 00:46:35.000 |
What does it mean to abide in Christ in the context of him leaving? 00:46:39.000 |
So again, if you didn't get a lot of sleep last night and you're kind of coming in and out, 00:46:44.000 |
and you missed this, I'm telling you right now, you're going to miss the whole sermon. 00:46:48.000 |
Not only are you going to miss the whole sermon, I told you this word "meno" is key to your walk with God. 00:46:54.000 |
Right? And so you're not going to understand. You could possibly, and again, 00:46:59.000 |
I don't mean to over-exaggerate, but if you don't understand this, 00:47:02.000 |
you can possibly spend all your life trying to bear fruit by your own power and be frustrated, 00:47:16.000 |
"I'm trying so hard, but I don't feel like I'm going anywhere. Why is this?" 00:47:23.000 |
What does it mean to abide in Christ to bear fruit? 00:47:25.000 |
If he's the true vine, and I need to connect with him. 00:47:31.000 |
Well, if you've ever studied the Gospel of John, you may already know that chapter 14, 15, and 16 00:47:38.000 |
of the Gospel of John has one of the most extensive and the clearest teaching of the role of the Holy Spirit. 00:47:45.000 |
Typically, when we think of the Holy Spirit, we think of him as an "it." 00:47:50.000 |
Right? Like some power source, like the electricity. 00:47:54.000 |
But we already know, if you've been a Christian for a while, that he is the third person of the Trinity. 00:47:59.000 |
He is a being. Like Christ is a being. Like God the Father is a being. 00:48:04.000 |
But we take glimpses of, usually the Holy Spirit is kind of mentioned in the background, doing the work. 00:48:12.000 |
But again, the clearest teaching about the personhood of the Holy Spirit that's condensed 00:48:21.000 |
The reason why I say this is because Jesus is connecting the dwelling that he is telling them to dwell with him 00:48:33.000 |
He is going to leave, but someone else is going to come who's going to dwell in you that you must dwell. 00:48:40.000 |
So you're going to dwell in me by dwelling with him. 00:48:43.000 |
Hopefully you caught that. So if you missed that part, the rest of it is going to be confusing. 00:48:48.000 |
Not confusing, but it'll be harder than normal. 00:48:57.000 |
I am the true vine, and then in verse 14 he explains, knowing that the disciples may be asking, 00:49:02.000 |
how are we going to abide in you? How are we going to stay with you if you're leaving? 00:49:09.000 |
I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper, that he may be with you forever. 00:49:16.000 |
Now why does he say that? Because he said he's going to leave. 00:49:22.000 |
Another one's going to come, but that other one who's going to come isn't going to ever leave you. 00:49:28.000 |
I have to leave you, but he comes and he's going to stay with you forever. 00:49:32.000 |
That is the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, 00:49:36.000 |
because this does not see him or know him, but you know him because he abides with you 00:49:41.000 |
and will be in you, and I will not leave you as orphans. 00:49:50.000 |
He says, first of all, he says, I am leaving. 00:49:54.000 |
You need to abide in me if you want to bear fruit. 00:50:01.000 |
When he comes, he's going to stay with you forever. 00:50:04.000 |
So even though I may leave, what does he say? 00:50:09.000 |
In other words, when he says to abide in him, he's introducing the Holy Spirit that they may abide with him. 00:50:20.000 |
And by abiding with him, you will be abiding with me. 00:50:25.000 |
So he's using the presence of the Holy Spirit and his presence interchangeably. 00:50:30.000 |
Okay, so this is a very important text about the Holy Spirit. 00:50:34.000 |
So let me highlight three things that he says about the Holy Spirit here. 00:50:37.000 |
Okay, first of all, the word that he uses when he says he will give you another helper. 00:50:44.000 |
In the Greek, there are two words that can be translated another. 00:50:51.000 |
First word is the word alos, which is the word that is used here. 00:50:59.000 |
Let's say as an example, if a police officer is on the scene and that police officer has to go, 00:51:04.000 |
and he says, "Well, I need to go, but another police officer is going to come, and he's going to continue to help you." 00:51:13.000 |
There's another word of another kind, in quality, and that's heteros. 00:51:20.000 |
Both words can be translated another, but the word that he uses here is alos. 00:51:26.000 |
So if the other one that is coming is different than him, then he would have used the word heteros. 00:51:33.000 |
But by using the word alos, he's saying as he is equal to the Father, 00:51:39.000 |
another equal to me, who is just like me, is coming to continue the work that I started with you. 00:51:47.000 |
So in other words, Jesus was equating the Holy Spirit with him. 00:51:52.000 |
And he equated himself with the Father, so he is saying, in a sense, "I am not leaving you." 00:51:59.000 |
Just as the Father didn't abandon you and sent me, I am not abandoning you, and I will send the Holy Spirit. 00:52:06.000 |
His role, the Holy Spirit's role, is not different from Jesus. 00:52:15.000 |
In John 16, 7, "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away." 00:52:22.000 |
Think about that if you're disciples and you're hearing him. 00:52:27.000 |
This is the guy who raises people from the dead. 00:52:30.000 |
This is the guy who walks on waters and then calms the storms just by his word. 00:52:36.000 |
And he says, "I am going, you cannot follow me, but in fact, it's better for you if I go, 00:52:46.000 |
So in other words, what he's saying is the coming of the Holy Spirit is actually more beneficial for you 00:52:57.000 |
How often have you thought, "Man, it would have been awesome, you know, 00:53:03.000 |
it would have been awesome to be on earth when Jesus was walking this earth, right? 00:53:08.000 |
It would have been great to be in Jerusalem when he was at the temple, 00:53:12.000 |
if I was there and I ate the miraculous bread and the fish, right?" 00:53:17.000 |
I mean, we probably all have thought that, and that's why so many people will pay lots of money 00:53:21.000 |
to go to Jerusalem and walk on the streets that he walked on and look at the trees 00:53:28.000 |
But Jesus says, "It's better for you," meaning better for all of us, "that he left." 00:53:34.000 |
Our current situation is better than the situation that the disciples were in 00:53:43.000 |
In other words, the Holy Spirit that's going to come is going to do mightier things in us 00:54:03.000 |
In John chapter 1, 14, he says, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." 00:54:12.000 |
And again, like I said, if you are tired, you may have already gone over your head, right? 00:54:18.000 |
But I'm trying to give you the ministry of the Holy Spirit 00:54:21.000 |
and the transition that Jesus is making to the disciples and how important this is. 00:54:26.000 |
Because this is the center of what Jesus came to do. 00:54:29.000 |
He said, "Christ came and he dwelt among us." 00:54:38.000 |
But the word "dwell" here is the word literally to pitch a tent. 00:54:44.000 |
So when Christ came, he came into our campground, 00:54:55.000 |
But of the Holy Spirit, he says in John chapter 14, 17, 00:55:01.000 |
"This is the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, 00:55:06.000 |
But you know him because he abides with you and will be in you." 00:55:12.000 |
The distinction between Jesus' dwelling and the dwelling of the Holy Spirit is 00:55:20.000 |
In other words, he came and was in the campground with us. 00:55:25.000 |
He walked with us, he lived with us, he ate with us. 00:55:29.000 |
But the Holy Spirit, he's going to come and he's going to indwell in us. 00:55:38.000 |
Our union with the Holy Spirit is that he indwells in us. 00:55:45.000 |
And that's why Jesus was saying, "It is better for you that I leave, 00:55:48.000 |
because I'm only here to pitch a tent with you, 00:55:52.000 |
but I'm going so that the Holy Spirit can come and actually pitch a tent in you." 00:56:01.000 |
So let me wrap this up, what Jesus is saying. 00:56:04.000 |
What Jesus is saying is he came and he dwelt among us, among us, 00:56:10.000 |
so that he can prepare us so that the Holy Spirit can dwell in us. 00:56:19.000 |
In Mark 2, verse 21, Jesus tells the disciples, right? 00:56:26.000 |
He tells the tax collectors and he's telling the story about, you know, 00:56:32.000 |
about the Holy Spirit and he says, "No one puts new wine into old wineskin." 00:56:39.000 |
If you put new wine into old wineskin, what happens to the old wineskin? 00:56:44.000 |
So in order for you to put the new wine into the bag, 00:56:50.000 |
you need to make sure that you need to have a new bag. 00:56:53.000 |
So you put the new wine into the new wineskin. 00:57:02.000 |
Is it next time we have a wedding to make sure that the wineskin is new? 00:57:11.000 |
I believe what Jesus was saying in that text is related to what he's saying here. 00:57:18.000 |
His whole purpose of why he went to the cross and he said, 00:57:22.000 |
remember he said, "I'm going to the Father's house and prepare a house for you." 00:57:40.000 |
By washing us with his blood, by forgiving us our sins, atoning for our sins, 00:57:51.000 |
He said, "Whoever is in Christ," what does he say? 00:57:54.000 |
"The old has passed, behold the new has come." 00:58:08.000 |
And that's exactly what happens after the resurrection in Acts chapter 2. 00:58:12.000 |
The Holy Spirit comes and he doesn't pitch a tent among us. 00:58:24.000 |
And that's why he says because he's indwelling in us, 00:58:27.000 |
if you want to bear fruit, you're not going to be the one bearing the fruit. 00:58:32.000 |
The Holy Spirit is going to be bearing fruit through you. 00:58:36.000 |
So because Jesus is divine, and the Holy Spirit is coming, 00:58:42.000 |
as he dwells in you, you must also dwell in him. 00:58:48.000 |
So the key to our walk with God, the key to bearing fruit, 00:58:52.000 |
is walking in the Spirit, praying in the Spirit, 00:58:56.000 |
fellowshipping in the Spirit, studying in the Spirit. 00:59:00.000 |
That our whole life is connected with the Spirit 00:59:12.000 |
I strongly encourage you to go back and listen to that again. 00:59:15.000 |
Maybe I didn't do a good job connecting this, 00:59:26.000 |
And if you do not bear fruit, if there's no evidence of any fruit, 00:59:33.000 |
And if you don't have any connection with him, what does he say? 00:59:38.000 |
In other words, you are probably not a Christian. 00:59:41.000 |
So the key to our walk with God, key to our identity in God, 00:59:48.000 |
Second thing that he says, he says the helper is going to come, 00:59:53.000 |
but he says he will not leave you as orphans. 01:00:13.000 |
If they're grown-up adults, they say, "You were orphaned when you were young." 01:00:16.000 |
But we don't typically call somebody in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, 01:00:19.000 |
you know, and I'm 52 years old, and say, "I'm orphaned because my parents died." 01:00:29.000 |
it means that when they were young children, they were helpless. 01:00:32.000 |
They needed parents to guide them, shelter them, and take care of them, 01:00:36.000 |
and their parents, for whatever reason, wasn't there. 01:00:41.000 |
So when he says, "I will not leave you as orphans," 01:00:45.000 |
by him saying that, he's telling them that you are helpless, 01:00:52.000 |
So the Holy Spirit is coming, not to simply assist you, 01:00:57.000 |
it's so that he may not leave you as orphans, as helpless. 01:01:02.000 |
The word for the Holy Spirit here, parakletos, 01:01:06.000 |
in our translation, it's translated "helper." 01:01:09.000 |
Again, this is another word that can't be translated with one single word. 01:01:12.000 |
So if you look at your different translations, 01:01:14.000 |
it'll say "helper," "counselor," "advocate," or "comforter." 01:01:21.000 |
The word literally means the one who's called to one side. 01:01:27.000 |
In other words, if you're headed toward a path, 01:01:30.000 |
somebody has given to you to stay with you the whole way. 01:01:34.000 |
And that's how the Holy Spirit is described for us in the Bible, 01:01:37.000 |
that he is a helper, a counselor, an advocate, a comforter, 01:01:41.000 |
whatever it is that you need for you to continue this journey. 01:01:45.000 |
The Holy Spirit is going to come, he's going to guide us and lead us. 01:01:51.000 |
Well, what does he guide us and lead us to? John 14, verse 26. 01:01:54.000 |
"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, 01:01:58.000 |
he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." 01:02:04.000 |
Now, I want you to really hone in on what he says here, 01:02:12.000 |
a lot of people think of the Holy Spirit as some supernatural power 01:02:15.000 |
or some feeling that we get when we are in the middle of worship 01:02:18.000 |
or we're praying and there's some outside force that keeps coming in, 01:02:23.000 |
touching us and then leaving us when we're done. 01:02:25.000 |
That's not how the Bible describes the Holy Spirit. 01:02:28.000 |
He said that the Holy Spirit, the helper, the counselor, the advocate, the comforter, 01:02:38.000 |
There is no two baptisms of the Holy Spirit. There are no three baptisms. 01:02:42.000 |
There is no Christian who doesn't have the Holy Spirit in them constantly. 01:02:47.000 |
He said he's going to come, he's going to stay with you, 01:02:50.000 |
and the primary thing that he's come to do is to remind you of the things that I have already said to you. 01:02:59.000 |
In other words, he's going to take the Word of God, 01:03:02.000 |
and he's going to make it effective in our lives. 01:03:06.000 |
And you know that there's a huge difference between just studying the Bible 01:03:13.000 |
where the Word of God is being used to judge the thoughts and intentions of other people's hearts 01:03:17.000 |
versus the Word of God being, judging the thoughts and intentions of your heart. 01:03:23.000 |
While you can hear the same gospel for years and years and years, 01:03:27.000 |
and for whatever the reason, the Holy Spirit opens your eyes, 01:03:33.000 |
And you repent, and you give your life to follow Christ. 01:03:36.000 |
That's the difference between studying the Word of God 01:03:39.000 |
and having the Word of God illuminate you by the Holy Spirit. 01:03:42.000 |
And he says the Holy Spirit is going to come and do that. 01:03:48.000 |
to think about all the Word, the gospel that has been preached, 01:03:54.000 |
John 16, verse 13, "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, 01:03:58.000 |
he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own initiative, 01:04:02.000 |
but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will disclose to you what is to come." 01:04:07.000 |
So the role of the Holy Spirit, just like Jesus, he says, 01:04:11.000 |
"I do not speak on my own accord. I say whatever the Father told me." 01:04:15.000 |
And then the Holy Spirit says the same thing. 01:04:18.000 |
The Holy Spirit comes to remind us, and to make the Word of Christ effective in us. 01:04:25.000 |
And so the primary way that the Holy Spirit comes alongside is through his Word. 01:04:34.000 |
So without a clear hearing of his voice, you cannot be abiding in Christ. 01:04:41.000 |
You cannot be abiding by the Holy Spirit. Let me say that again. 01:04:44.000 |
Without a clear hearing of the voice of Christ, 01:04:48.000 |
the work of the Holy Spirit automatically gets quenched. 01:04:53.000 |
Because that was the primary reason why the Holy Spirit was to come. 01:04:57.000 |
To come alongside, to help, to counsel, to advocate, and to comfort us through his Word. 01:05:03.000 |
Romans 8.26, he says, "In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses." 01:05:14.000 |
He reminds us of the truth that we already know. 01:05:18.000 |
I think many of you have gone through a lot of trials, even just the last couple of months. 01:05:22.000 |
Whether it's through a job, or sickness, or a loved one who you may have lost. 01:05:28.000 |
Some difficult things that are happening in your life. 01:05:31.000 |
And how did the Holy Spirit come and comfort you? 01:05:35.000 |
He reminded you of the truth that you already know. 01:05:42.000 |
That God hears our prayers. That he walks among us. 01:05:45.000 |
And so the Holy Spirit comes and he comforts us in our weakness. 01:05:57.000 |
Paul, through the Holy Spirit, tells us, "You're not going to be good at praying." 01:06:05.000 |
I mean, in some sense, it's weirdly encouraging. 01:06:10.000 |
Because most Christians will say their weakest part of their walk with God is prayer. 01:06:14.000 |
Now, this is not an excuse that we shouldn't pray. 01:06:17.000 |
We are challenged, we are told to be devoted to prayer. 01:06:20.000 |
But Paul himself says, "God knows that you're going to be struggling in prayer." 01:06:27.000 |
"That you're going to have a hard time knowing even what to pray for." 01:06:34.000 |
In other words, him knowing our weakness has given us the Holy Spirit. 01:06:38.000 |
Because what you are not effective in doing, God will do through the Holy Spirit. 01:06:46.000 |
Not just with any prayer, but with groanings too deep for words. 01:06:51.000 |
I think if you've lived long enough as a Christian, 01:06:54.000 |
you've probably groaned in your prayers before yourself. 01:06:57.000 |
You don't have words to express, but it expresses your emotions and your thoughts. 01:07:02.000 |
And you can't articulate with words, but it's like, "Oh my God. My God, my God." 01:07:07.000 |
He says that the prayers of the Holy Spirit are deep. 01:07:13.000 |
Because it's groaning on behalf of our weakness. 01:07:18.000 |
He said, "We're not going to succeed. We're not going to bear fruit." 01:07:21.000 |
"Because we're trying harder. We're more disciplined." 01:07:31.000 |
He said, "No, you're going to bear fruit because the Holy Spirit has been deposited in you." 01:07:38.000 |
"So that you may bear fruit as He dwells in you, that you continue to dwell with Him." 01:07:44.000 |
And thirdly, He says, "This Holy Spirit, not only does He come to help." 01:07:49.000 |
"Not only does He not leave us as orphans and helps us in our weakness." 01:08:00.000 |
And then He did many miracles, but then He had to physically go. 01:08:04.000 |
So physically, He's up in heaven, sitting at the right hand of the Father. 01:08:09.000 |
But He said, "When the Holy Spirit comes, this helper," He says, "is going to be forever." 01:08:16.000 |
Ephesians 1, 13-14, "In Him you also, after listening to the message of the truth, the gospel of your salvation." 01:08:25.000 |
In other words, you are marked to be genuine believers. 01:08:31.000 |
In other words, the distinguishing mark between a Christian and non-Christian is the Holy Spirit. 01:08:40.000 |
Is there evidence of the fruit of the Spirit in your life? 01:08:46.000 |
Some of your translations, the word "pledge" is "deposit." 01:08:50.000 |
And I don't know if people still do that today. 01:08:52.000 |
If you go into a store and you see, I don't know, you see an iPhone. 01:09:03.000 |
A long time ago when I would go to a store and I couldn't afford the pants, I would put $5 deposit. 01:09:10.000 |
Because, as you can see, I don't have a normal body. 01:09:13.000 |
So it's very difficult to find pants that fit. 01:09:15.000 |
So if I find one, I need to make sure that I put a deposit. 01:09:18.000 |
That nobody else, like me, which probably doesn't exist, but if he does come, they're going to want that pants. 01:09:25.000 |
So I would put the deposit down, and then even if I come and put $5 every week, at some point I'm going to pick up the pants. 01:09:43.000 |
Deposit is guaranteeing that the person who put the deposit, from that moment on, even though it is not complete, 01:09:51.000 |
they didn't pick it up yet, that they have every intention to pick it up. 01:09:55.000 |
And when the time comes, they're going to come and pick it up. 01:09:58.000 |
And no one else can claim that for themselves. 01:10:01.000 |
Well, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit has been given to us as a pledge, as a deposit. 01:10:25.000 |
And I'm going to leave you, and I'm going to wait on the other side, hope you make it. 01:10:39.000 |
He knew that we were going to have a hard time even praying. 01:10:43.000 |
So the Holy Spirit is deposited in us as a pledge, guaranteeing that what he started, he will complete. 01:10:54.000 |
That's why he said, Paul says, "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion." 01:10:58.000 |
He doesn't say, "He who started a good work in you, hopefully you can finish the job." 01:11:05.000 |
What he started, he will continue to bring to completion. 01:11:15.000 |
So when he says, "I am the vine," he says, "As the Holy Spirit dwells in you, you must also dwell in him." 01:11:29.000 |
Because if the dwelling of the Holy Spirit is just to get to heaven, it wouldn't be forever. 01:11:37.000 |
No, but he says, "The Holy Spirit will be indwelling forever." 01:11:42.000 |
Our union with Christ in his death and resurrection isn't just so that we can cross the bridge. 01:11:48.000 |
And that's why he doesn't say that Christianity isn't simply about erasing the consequence of sin. 01:12:00.000 |
Whatever we were before, the Holy Spirit made an indwelling in us, is gone. 01:12:08.000 |
Because we still live in this flesh, we may have things that we remember of the past, a lot of habits that we still have. 01:12:15.000 |
But at the core of who we are, the Holy Spirit completely changed us. 01:12:23.000 |
That's why people often ask, "Adam and Eve fell at the Garden of Eden." 01:12:28.000 |
And oftentimes the heaven is described as a new heaven, new Garden of Eden. 01:12:35.000 |
Well, Adam and Eve fell at the Garden of Eden, so what guarantees us that when we get to heaven, 01:12:40.000 |
that this is going to happen again and this whole cycle is going to begin again? 01:12:52.000 |
So the state that we will be in eternity will be much better than Adam and Eve was from the beginning. 01:12:59.000 |
So the recreation of what was lost at the fall is not only going to be recreated to what it was, 01:13:16.000 |
The Holy Spirit has made an indwelling in us. 01:13:19.000 |
And so therefore we are called to continue with him. 01:13:30.000 |
So if any of you fell asleep for five minutes, even at home, I know your couch is really comfortable. 01:13:36.000 |
All the messages, all the "I am" statements are crucial. 01:13:40.000 |
But I encourage you, if any part of this went over your head, go back and listen to it again. 01:13:45.000 |
And then if my English isn't good enough, then go to the commentaries and read it for yourselves. 01:13:54.000 |
Jesus leaving, Holy Spirit coming, indwelling, that he is going to help us, he's going to stay with us, 01:14:00.000 |
he's not going to leave us as orphans, and this is going to be eternal, is at the core of who we are. 01:14:08.000 |
And he says, until you do that, until you understand that, you cannot bear fruit. 01:14:13.000 |
Until the fig tree who has dried up and cursed, God completely transforms us into a peach tree, 01:14:33.000 |
There's a lot of people who are in the church who came in and never really met Christ. 01:14:41.000 |
So you've heard the talk of the Holy Spirit, you're doing Bible study, 01:14:51.000 |
But the only experience that you have in your walk with God is frustration. 01:14:56.000 |
Because you have all these standards that have been set for you, that Jesus is holy, so we ought to be holy. 01:15:02.000 |
God is holy, the temple is holy, we ought to strive for holiness, we need to love unconditionally. 01:15:08.000 |
And so the more we hear the imperatives of what it means to be a Christian, it doesn't free you. 01:15:18.000 |
Because Christianity just sounds like a lot of rules. 01:15:22.000 |
What you do enjoy is friendship, purpose, community. 01:15:28.000 |
That when we die, I don't have to be afraid of death. 01:15:35.000 |
But the actual walk with God is tremendously burdensome. 01:15:42.000 |
Because you may be a fig tree trying to bear peaches. 01:15:59.000 |
So you understand it mentally, you understand it logically, 01:16:04.000 |
you regurgitate information that you have heard, especially if you've been at a church for a long time. 01:16:11.000 |
But you never understood when Jesus said, "I have come to give life, and give this life abundantly." 01:16:20.000 |
"My sheep will hear my voice, and they will follow me." 01:16:26.000 |
See, the danger of living in a post-Christian culture is that a lot of non-Christians who have many Christian friends 01:16:42.000 |
Jesus says, "You cannot bear fruit unless you abide in Him." 01:16:50.000 |
Remain with Him. Dwell with Him. Continue with Him. 01:16:58.000 |
I'm not talking about some charismatic experience where you have some overwhelming experience 01:17:03.000 |
or emotions that overwhelm, you can't help but uncontrollably cry. 01:17:10.000 |
But do you understand what it means to have life? 01:17:17.000 |
Again, I'm not going to be able to finish this sermon this morning 01:17:21.000 |
because I don't want to go longer than I should, especially online. 01:17:26.000 |
But when we abide in Christ, He says, again for the last part, 01:17:31.000 |
I'm going to revisit the second part and we're going to skip to the last part. 01:17:34.000 |
When we abide in Christ and we bear fruit, He says four things happen. 01:17:46.000 |
It's not coming to church and raising your hands and just doing the right things. 01:17:53.000 |
No, when we abide in Christ and that causes us to bear much fruit, 01:18:02.000 |
A Christian who is constantly living in this cycle of sin 01:18:07.000 |
and never really understanding what it means to bear fruit 01:18:11.000 |
and never really reproducing, and therefore God is not glorified. 01:18:21.000 |
it's kind of like pushing a dead car that doesn't have gasoline. 01:18:26.000 |
It's just dead weight that you have to push, but you're not going anywhere. 01:18:32.000 |
Until we abide in Christ, you cannot bear fruit. 01:18:35.000 |
And when we bear fruit, it brings glory to God. 01:18:38.000 |
Verse 8, it says, and it proves that we are His disciples. 01:18:43.000 |
Assurance of salvation isn't simply somebody telling you, "Don't doubt, don't doubt." 01:18:50.000 |
We live in a generation where doubting for any reason is unhealthy, it's not good. 01:18:56.000 |
Don't ever doubt. Don't ever question your faith. 01:18:59.000 |
When the Bible is filled with, examine yourself. 01:19:05.000 |
What you see in Scripture of what a genuine believer looks like and what he bears fruit, 01:19:13.000 |
And I'm not talking about some external standard of like, "Am I doing this and am I doing that?" 01:19:19.000 |
Just at the core of it, do you know this Christ? 01:19:24.000 |
Have you truly seen the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ? 01:19:31.000 |
because we bear fruit and we abide in Christ, 01:19:35.000 |
it will give us assurance of who we are, that we're His disciples. 01:19:39.000 |
In verse 9 and 10, it says, "Then we abide in His love." 01:19:42.000 |
Then His love, that we have assurance of this love. 01:19:51.000 |
It's not just some empty words that are given to people because they're having a hard time in life. 01:19:58.000 |
And the love of God is spread so generously to everybody without context. 01:20:03.000 |
And so you have Christians and non-Christians who are absolutely assured, 01:20:08.000 |
"God loves me unconditionally, so God is not calling me to repent of sins." 01:20:16.000 |
He says, "No, when we are bearing fruit, when we are abiding in Christ, 01:20:19.000 |
when God is glorified and that we are His disciples, that that is confirmed, 01:20:28.000 |
Then we abide in His love and His love abides in us." 01:20:31.000 |
And then in verse 11, He says, "Finally, the reason why He says all of this 01:20:41.000 |
He says, "so that my joy may be in you and that the joy may be full in you," 01:20:49.000 |
So for a true believer who has met Christ, righteousness is a joy. 01:21:00.000 |
Pursuit of Christ we pursue not simply because it's our duty, 01:21:07.000 |
Abiding in Christ is where we drink the living water. 01:21:16.000 |
that we do not thirst and we are no longer hungry. 01:21:21.000 |
And so the challenge for us as we look at this, and again, as I said, 01:21:29.000 |
what Jesus says here is the key to Christian life. 01:21:34.000 |
Am I genuinely abiding in Christ? Is God glorified? 01:21:38.000 |
Do I have assurance? Do I have confidence in His love? 01:21:43.000 |
And am I living this abundant life that He promised? 01:21:48.000 |
Or do I find life somewhere else, and then when I come to church, I find duty? 01:21:55.000 |
And the answer is, again, we don't know exactly when the church is going to open up. 01:21:59.000 |
It may be a few weeks. Hopefully it won't be more than that. 01:22:04.000 |
But this divine appointed time that God has given us to be home and take some time to reflect, 01:22:10.000 |
and that when we come back together physically as a church, 01:22:14.000 |
that we do not just come back and just go through the motions. 01:22:19.000 |
That we don't just do what we normally did in the past, 01:22:22.000 |
that we worship again because that's what we did before. 01:22:25.000 |
We're going to be joining small groups and studying inductive bibles because that's what we did before. 01:22:30.000 |
That we would examine ourselves so that when we come to church, 01:22:34.000 |
that we would truly build a church that will worship Him in spirit and in truth. 01:22:40.000 |
That the fruit that we bear is not just harder work, 01:22:45.000 |
just simply because we just figured out how to do this better, 01:22:49.000 |
but because we are genuinely abiding in Christ. 01:22:55.000 |
And again, just to kind of remind you, there's going to be a sign up after maybe within an hour or so. 01:23:04.000 |
So please go there as soon as you can so that we can know which services are full, 01:23:08.000 |
and we can kind of direct that hopefully by the end of this week. 01:23:19.000 |
I pray, Father, that the word that you have revealed to us 01:23:25.000 |
would judge the thoughts and intentions of our own heart. 01:23:35.000 |
Is our joy founded on things, Lord God, that will come and disappear. 01:23:41.000 |
Help us, Lord God, to firmly plant our feet and to be rooted 01:23:47.000 |
in the only source that we know of and that we believe can truly bring life. 01:23:53.000 |
So we ask, Lord God, that what you have ordained will come to fruition. 01:23:58.000 |
Help us, Lord, to be truly abiding in Christ, that we may glorify our Father, 01:24:06.000 |
that we may have confidence to abide in your love, 01:24:09.000 |
and that our joy truly may be made full in you. 01:24:17.000 |
Let us all rise as we sing our closing praise. 01:24:57.000 |
my steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace. 01:25:23.000 |
all is mine, yet not I, but through Christ in me. 01:26:24.000 |
Oh, the night has been won, and I shall overcome, 01:26:55.000 |
The future's sure, the price it has been paid, 01:27:35.000 |
I am free, yet not I, but through Christ in me. 01:28:36.000 |
when the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat, 01:29:04.000 |
when the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat, 01:29:18.000 |
When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat, 01:29:49.000 |
Lord, we want to lift up the leaders of our country. 01:29:54.000 |
President Trump, the doctors that surround him, 01:30:14.000 |
But I pray, Father, you would help them to put politics aside 01:30:18.000 |
and that they would have the best interests, Lord God, 01:30:30.000 |
whatever concerns and fears and loyalties that they may have 01:30:34.000 |
that is to their own parties or human interest. 01:30:51.000 |
and as you told us, Lord God, that there is no governing authority 01:31:03.000 |
We pray again, Father God, for the local church leaders. 01:31:06.000 |
What does it mean, Lord God, to be faithful in this context? 01:31:12.000 |
How do we make decisions in a way, Father God, that puts you first? 01:31:16.000 |
Help us, Lord, whatever we do, that we would not be in fear, 01:31:26.000 |
So help us, Lord, not to be like the rest of the world 01:31:37.000 |
that we have our eternity secure in the love of Christ. 01:31:41.000 |
And so we ask, especially in the next few weeks and possibly months, 01:31:46.000 |
that the church would come out thriving, Father God, 01:31:49.000 |
that we would not be entangled with worldly affairs, 01:31:55.000 |
that you have a greater purpose in the midst of all of this. 01:31:58.000 |
Help us, Lord God, to see those who are lost, 01:32:12.000 |
into the deepest of the darkness that Satan creates, 01:32:16.000 |
that the gates of Hades would not prevail against it, 01:32:19.000 |
so that the church would come back even stronger, 01:32:24.000 |
more determined, Lord God, to continue to abide in Christ, 01:32:28.000 |
that our singing, our fellowship, our study, our evangelism, 01:32:32.000 |
all of it, Lord God, may be saturated by your presence in all things. 01:32:36.000 |
So we pray for our members, we pray for our guests, 01:32:40.000 |
that whatever it is that you call us to do this week, 01:32:53.000 |
rest and equip and strengthen the church forevermore. Amen. 01:34:46.000 |
Lord, take me deeper into the glories of Calvary