They're in two different sections, but again, the heaviest teaching of the Holy Spirit is in John chapter 14, 15, and 16, and also Romans chapter 7 and 8. So I wanted to really get to this last week, but I thought today would be more appropriate, so we're going to be doing the exposition on John 15, or at least a portion of that, and then we'll jump back to Romans chapter 8.

So we want to read Romans chapter 8, verse 12-17 before we jump there. Okay? Romans chapter 8, verse 12-17. Okay, if you can turn your Bibles again to John chapter 15. John chapter 15, and I will read there from verse 1-6. Actually up to verse 7. I don't know if any of you have any experience planting vegetables or flowers or herbs or anything like that.

You know the joy that comes from at the end after you've done it whether it takes a few months or a while and you start to see the fruit. I know some of you guys in your backyard have planted trees, whatever trees you have. And it may take years before you actually see the fruit.

I don't have a whole lot of experience. The only real experience I've ever had was planting corn when my parents owned a home in Corona. And my dad decided to plant corn all over our yard, front yard and the backyard. It was pretty embarrassing. But I remember when he did that one of the first things I noticed is that the corn, the sprouts come out pretty quick.

It took maybe no more than a week or two before we started seeing signs of growth. And we got pretty excited. And so I would say it took no more than two to three months at most. It might have been less than that where it grew high enough where we began to see the corn coming out.

So I remember one day thinking, "Wow, I think in a couple more weeks we're going to be able to eat corn." And so after a while, I mean my dad planted it everywhere. So we had a lot of corn. So we thought we're going to have a corn feast today.

And so when the day came and we took all the corn down and we actually started opening it up, we found out it was completely inedible. The corn was not yellow like you normally, it was black. Or it didn't exist at all. It was empty. And so initially what I thought to be, "Wow, this is pretty easy.

Just drop it in the ground and pour water. I mean it just sprouts out." And later on, I was talking to different people. It's like, "Oh yeah, we did that and it didn't work." And growing corn is a lot harder than I thought. And they said, "Of course you can't just drop it on the ground.

You have to till the land and you have to make sure you have proper fertilizers. And even when you water it, you have to make sure that you have to do this and that." And the rock, the soil that we had in our house was very, very rocky. So we didn't prepare, we didn't think anything because it was just sprouting up.

So we thought, "Yes, we got fruit." The reason why I share this story is because I think spiritually, a lot of people go through that same kind of labor early on in your walk with God. That you want to bear fruit. Who doesn't? You're a Christian, you're excited about your faith.

You come to church, you volunteer to serve. You go to short-term missions. You lead small groups. And then initially you start to see progress because there's a bit of change in your life and there's certain things that you were challenged by. But if you've been a Christian for a while, you've gone through that period of thinking that there was fruit and then being disappointed.

Being disappointed that it's taken a lot longer than you thought to deal with your character, certain habits that you had. Or even the people around you, you weren't as patient as you'd like to be. But if you look around you and there's a growing cynicism in you, then maybe this is just what it is.

There's something missing. And possibly you may have already maybe even given up in your heart. So we see a lot of young people who are excited about their faith, but then if you've been a Christian for a while and you went through this cycle, you know, after that experience of planting corn and being disappointed, I've never done it again.

Because I don't want to be disappointed. Some of us have spiritually got to a point where you just kind of given up. You're just like, well, you know, what's the point? You know, I've done that before. I've gone to short term missions. I've gotten excited about church and I've done all of this before.

And there's a sense of cynicism especially when you see young Christians becoming Christians. You're kind of like, yeah, I remember when I was like that. You just wait until you get a full time job and see what happens to you. You just wait when you start dating and you get married and see what happens.

You're going to get rocked. You wait. You know, you see young couple who don't have children excited about their faith. You wait once you have a kid and you see what happens to you. And so we have this growing cynicism toward any excitement toward God because we've been there, done that, heard everything.

But the problem with that is that frustration it never leaves. And you just kind of, if you're not careful, you can come to a point, you think that that's what normal Christianity is. And it's completely contradictory to what we see in scripture. Every once in a while you'll hear a testimony of somebody who's passionate for God and it seems so foreign.

Something that you read in books or in church history but not reality. But the scripture clearly says the identifying mark of a Christian and non-Christian are fruits. If the power of the Holy Spirit if the God of the universe is dwelling in you wouldn't there be some kind of evidence that that is the case?

In fact, Matthew 3, 7 and 8 says, "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, 'You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. If your repentance is genuine, where is the fruit?'" He says.

So even our very repentance is something that we can identify based upon our fruit. Matthew 13, 23 "As for what was sown on the good soil" he's talking about four different soils. Remember all three soils. The first three soils for whatever the reason ends up dying. The only fourth soil ends up surviving and he said you need to be like the fourth soil.

And this is how he describes the fourth soil. "As for what was sown on good soil" this is the one who hears the word and understands it. "He indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, in another thirty." So if you notice here that each of the fruits, it's different.

Some are thirty, some are sixty, some are a hundredfold. But the unifying, identifying mark of a Christian that doesn't just die out is fruit. So it may look different in the lives of different lives of people, but at the end genuine fruit is what identifies a Christian and a non-Christian.

Romans 7, 4 "Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another." And I want you to listen carefully to this. "To him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God." Why did He die?

And why was He resurrected? Not simply so that we don't go to Hell. He said He didn't say He died and was resurrected so you could be in Heaven forever. He says He died and resurrected that you may have a new life and that you may bear fruit for God.

See, the goal of salvation is that we may bear fruit for God. That we are saved from not only the penalty of sin, but the power of sin. The corrupting nature of sin. That in bearing fruit that we give Him the ultimate glory. Now, the reason why I am in this passage in John chapter 15, if you read the questions that I asked on the Facebook page, some of you guys who may have read that, if you were paying attention you might have asked the question that I asked was, "What does it mean to abide in the Spirit?" Right?

You read that. So, if you were reading carefully you might have asked, if you came to this passage and read that, "Well Jesus is talking about Himself. Why does He ask abiding in the Spirit?" And I'm assuming everybody was thinking that, right? Everybody was thinking that. So let me answer this question.

The reason why I asked, "What does it mean to abide in the Spirit?" Even though Jesus is talking about Himself. If you look at John chapter 14, the main theme is Jesus telling His disciples that He is going to leave. And they are freaking out. If you leave, what about us?

And so Jesus tells them to comfort them in verse 18, "I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you." And then He describes who this person that is going to come. The Holy Spirit, the Helper, the Spirit of Truth. He's going to come and He's going to remind you of everything that I've done.

So He says, "I'm not going to leave you alone." And then He jumps to chapter 15 and He says, "Well if you want to bear fruit and not fall apart, you need to continue with Me. You need to remain with Me." And then He goes back to chapter 16 and He picks back up the work of the Holy Spirit.

So, if you remember in John, in Romans chapter 8 in the previous passage that we looked at, remember Paul uses the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and indwelling of Jesus Christ interchangeably. Remember we talked about that? There is a clear declaration of the Trinity in that passage. He uses Himself and the Holy Spirit interchangeably.

Here He says, "I am leaving where I am going. You cannot come, but the Holy Spirit is going to come and you need to remain in Me." So, if you look at it consecutively, Jesus basically is telling them to remain in Me by remaining in who? The Holy Spirit.

Right? The Holy Spirit is coming and He's going to lead you. He's going to remind you. He's going to teach you. So He's using again Himself and the Holy Spirit interchangeably. And that's why I asked the question, "What does it mean to abide in Christ? What does it mean to abide in the Spirit?" Now, why is this so important?

And we're taking so many Sundays to discuss this issue. The book of John is organized in seven "I Am" statements. It begins in John chapter 6 and it takes us all the way to John chapter 15. The seven "I Am" statements, and I want you to listen to the "I Am" statements that this book is--this Gospel is organized in.

John chapter 6 is, "I am the bread of life." Now I'm not going to go through all of them. But when he says, "I am the bread of life," it's because people were coming to Him and they were seeing a lot of miracles. He just fed 5,000. And so people were thinking, "If I follow Jesus He's going to feed me.

If we follow Jesus we get free health care. He heals people. We don't even have to go see the doctor. He just says, "Rise." And then they rise. So people were coming to Him thinking that if we make Him our King our life is set. And Jesus is trying to change their paradigm that I did not come to give you food, I came to give you Myself.

And that's what He means by when He says, "I am the bread of life." You're looking for bread but I am the bread of life. So each one of the "I Am" statements that He gives in the book of John is to correct a wrong thinking, a wrong hope that the nation of Israel was placing either upon food, upon power, upon their heritage, upon their law, upon the leaders of Israel, upon their religious system.

So each one of these things He's pounding and saying, "You have the wrong perspective of who I am and why I came." So if you look at the "I Am" statements it kind of grows. He kind of starts to pad off the "I am the bread of life." "I am the light of the world." "I am the good shepherd." "I am the resurrection." "I am the way and the truth and life." "Nobody comes to the Father but through Me." You would think that of all the "I Am" statements that if you're going to leave with the final "I Am" statement that you would choose one of the bigger ones.

"I am the resurrection and the life." I thought that would be a good place to end it. And He said, "You're looking for life but I am the resurrection and the life." And then He goes to the cross. Instead you kind of see if you play music there's a thing called crescendo and it kind of builds in anticipation and you almost think, "I am the resurrection and the life." And then the sixth one, "I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father but through Me." It's almost a summary of all the other five. And then the last one is, "I am divine. You abide in Me. You want to bear fruit." It almost kind of seems anti-climactic, the seventh "I Am" statement. And then He just kind of rides off.

The reason why the "I am divine" statement in John chapter 15 is the last one, all six of the "I Am" statements was preparing them for the seventh one. And the reason why is because He just told them He's about to leave. And they're concerned. If you leave what about us?

And He's telling them, "Just as you were fine when I was here, after I leave you will be fine if you remain in Me. If you continue in Me." In other words, He's preparing them for His departure. He was teaching them throughout the ministry as they were distracted. They're thinking, "Oh man, the Messiah is going to come.

He's going to overthrow the government. He's going to give us food." So everything that went wrong with the nation of Israel Jesus is going to fix. And so one by one systematically He says, "No, your real problem is not the Romans. Your real problem is not poverty. Your real problem is not lack of leadership.

Your real problem is not the religious system." He was telling them, "Your real problem is sin. And I am the answer to that sin." So after He prepares them, He says, after He's described, "This is who I am. And I've come to forgive sin and restore you back onto My Father.

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father but through Me. But even though I am leaving, I'm not leaving you as an orphan. The Helper is going to come and you need to continue with Him as you continued with Me." So John chapter 15 is really the foundation of Christianity.

Everything that you and I know about what it means to be a Christian really is summed up in John chapter 15. He says, "You can't bear fruit. Your desire to make disciples, plant churches, become a missionary, whatever it is that you have in your head, if you don't do this you cannot bear fruit." Everything that God has called us to do, the reason why He saved us, the reason why we gathered together, the reason why I studied the Bible, if you don't do this, it will only lead to frustration.

It will feel like Romans chapter 7. Everything I want to do, I do not do. What I do not want to do, I keep on doing. Oh, what a wretched man that I am. And you are left there to suffer. Oh, what a wretched man that I am. And so you live the rest of your life.

Oh, what a wretched man that I am. But you never get to, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for what the law could not do weakened by the sinful flesh, God did by sending His Son. We never get to that part. So the last "I am" statement, "I am the vine" is really the key to everything that you and I are seeking in this Christian life.

So how important is it that we understand what Jesus is saying here? Absolutely crucial, absolutely essential. If you miss this, you miss everything about your Christian life. Maybe part of the reason why we are frustrated is because we are not practicing this. Let's jump into what this means. The imperative in this passage in John chapter 15 isn't bear fruit.

Now I know he says if you do not bear fruit, you are going to be cut down. There is judgment coming. If you do bear fruit, God is going to prune you so that you may bear more fruit. So well if that is the case, if bearing fruit identifies me as a Christian, I better go bear fruit.

The imperative in this passage is not bear fruit. The imperative, the command in this passage is to abide. And you will see that even though the word bear fruit, bear fruit keeps coming over and over again. The word that is repeated over and over for emphasis is the word abide.

He mentions it 11 times in 16 verses. To abide. You have to abide in me. Abide in me. Abide in me. Abide in me. So if abide is the key to Christian life, he says if you don't abide, first of all you are not a Christian, you can't bear fruit.

Your prayers are frustrated. If you abide in me, my words abide in you. Ask whatever you wish. In other words if you are not abiding in Christ, you can't bear fruit and your prayers are not going to go answered. So how important is it that we are abiding in Christ?

It's the foundation in which we build anything that we do as a Christian. So we need to understand what does this word abide mean? What does it mean to abide in Christ? Some of your translations may have translated obey. Some of your translations translated remain. Some of your translations translated to abide.

Some of your translations translated continue. So if you look at various translations, it translated that word slightly different. There's certain nuances that overlap, but some of it just kind of says, "Oh, I can see these words are similar but different." The reason why there's different words translated is because this is one of those words that are, you know it's dynamic in translation because there is nothing, one word that captures the essence of this word.

Just like you know if we really want to dig and understand when the Bible uses the word love, you know the Greek language is a very precise language. It has 27 different tenses and they use almost all 27. You know in the English I heard from what I learned was like 17 and we use like 4 or something.

You know. So Greek, I can understand God's wisdom and why He chose Greek because it is a very specific, precise language. Even the way we use the word love. I mean we have one love for love cat, love dog, love God, love movies, love wife, love food. I mean it's the same word love.

In the Greek obviously it is a little bit more precise the way they use the word love. The word here abide in Greek is meno. Now there is all kinds of ways that we could translate it. It has similar meaning but there is three dynamic definitions that I think will help us to understand when Jesus says if you want to bear fruit, if you want to be effective in prayer you have to abide in me.

Like what does that mean? There is three understandings which I am going to briefly go over this morning. One is the word abide, meno, basically means to continue. To continue, to remain. The second understanding of the word is to rest, to rest. To rest in Christ. And then the third definition understanding of this word is to rely.

Three R's. It's to remain, it's to what did I say? Remain rest, okay. Remain, rest and rely. Okay, three R's. Remember that. The first word to abide in Christ means to continue or to remain in Christ. In Hebrews chapter 2, 1 it says, "Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift away from it." Lest we drift away from it.

The problems that the readers of the Hebrews had was that they basically had spiritual ADD. If you look at the book of Hebrews it goes over the Christology. The primary reason why the author goes over the Christology in the first 11 chapters is because they took our eyes off of Christ.

They weren't embracing idolatry. They weren't deliberately denying Christ. They were just drifting. And the constant encouragement, exhortation is to stay focused on Christ. To remain. That the very thing that saved you is the very thing that's going to sustain you. You know we kind of think like okay now we've been justified by faith now we need to find another way to be sanctified.

He says no, what justified you, the same power that justified you is the same power that's going to sanctify you. And so therefore he says to remain. You know what happens is every time in every generation when we sense a frustration, spiritual frustration that maybe the church is not growing.

Maybe we're not reaching this new generation. There's always these gatherings to try to figure out the latest trend of how to reach the younger people. Right now the big thing is millennials, which a lot of you guys are in that age bracket. And there is a huge concern in the church in our part of the world that the millennials are leaving.

And so they're afraid that if this trend continues that we're not going to have a church. I remember this when I was in college we went through the exact same thing. People were concerned there was a mass exodus. You know and if we don't do something that we're not going to have the church next generation 30 years later we're still here.

You know. But right now there's this big concern that we're losing the millennials and so there's these gatherings. There's these conferences. Books being written. And the reason the way to reach the millennials is to be in the digital world. We need to be more Facebook present. We need to learn Snapchat.

You know our sermons have to be shorter. It needs to be this way. I need to dress this way. Get rid of the suit. You know what I mean? And so you have all these things because millennials feel uncomfortable. Maybe you feel uncomfortable because I'm wearing a suit today.

Right? Maybe get rid of this and more people will come. That's what they're telling me. Over and over again every generation when we feel like there's spiritual frustration there's a gathering together like maybe we need to change our technique. Maybe the way things are organized it worked in the previous generation but it doesn't work now so we need to change all this.

Never do I see anywhere in the scripture where it tells us you know go but then you know you got to contextualize the message and you got to find out where they are, where they came from, and how they connect and you got to do a sociological study, a psychological study, and then find out how to market the church and brand your name and everything that the world uses to attract people to get them to buy their product the church is saying maybe we need to embrace some of this stuff to get more people to come and to be interested in Christ.

The Bible constantly warns us to fix your eyes upon Christ. To remain, to continue, to stay. It frustrates me every time we say oh we're cutting edge. We got cutting edge stuff. We're cutting edge this. You know what was cutting edge five years ago is no longer cutting edge.

It's dull and boring now. So we got to do another cutting edge for the new generation. I see the scripture over and over again reminding us, warning us to stay focused on what saved you in the beginning. He says if you want to bear fruit, he doesn't say find new techniques.

He doesn't say get a better degree. He says if you want to bear fruit what does he say? Abide in me. Abide in me. And I can tell you from my personal experience, personal experience and from doing ministry that any time there's ever been spiritual frustration it is almost always, and I don't think I'm exaggerating, it is almost always because at some place in my life I'm not abiding in Christ.

I've neglected my time with God. I neglected prayer. I neglected being in the Word and I prioritized something else in my heart rather than Christ. And that's why he says I'm going to be leaving but the Holy Spirit is going to come and you continue to remain in me.

John 6.56 whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks on my blood abides in me and I in him. He's talking about what he did on the cross. Your strength is going to come from abiding in him. 1 John 2.19 he says they went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would have continued with us.

But they went out that it might become plain that they all are not of us. Persevere. He said they didn't leave because the church didn't find a new technique. We didn't change according to time. You know the church wasn't willing to adopt to the new generation. No they left because they were not of us.

If they were really of us the Gospel would have been enough. Christ would have been enough. Colossians 1.21 and you who once were alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds he has now reconciled in his body of flesh the body of his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him if indeed you continue in what?

In the faith. Stable and steadfast not shifting from the hope of the Gospel that you heard. Preach the word in season and out of season. There's going to come a time when people are not going to put up with sound doctrine but gather among themselves. We're going to tickle their itching ears.

But you preach the word in season and out of season. Because the only avenue that God has ordained to bear fruit is to abide in Christ. To continue in Christ. Continue in the Holy Spirit. If you have ever entertained in your mind the reason why you are not walking right with God is because you don't have this X, Y, and Z.

And if that X, Y, and Z is anything other than Christ that is not from God. If you think that your spiritual life is frustrated because you don't have a mentor that's not from Christ. Now is it unbiblical? Of course not. But God did not say the reason why you're not walking with God is because I didn't place enough mature Christians around you and that's why you're not growing.

So the rest of your life it's his fault. The only thing that he has ordained for you to bear fruit is for you and I to abide in Christ. Now does having other Christians around us help us? Encourage us? Yes. But that can never be the excuse because that's not what God ordained.

If you've entertained anything maybe if we were organized a certain way. Maybe if I had this kind of Bible. Maybe if I had this kind of small group. If you put anything between me and Christ other than Christ himself you've made whatever you put in that an idol. He says if you want to bear fruit he didn't say go find people.

Go find a certain organization. He said no if you want to abide in me if you want to bear fruit abide in me. Abide in me. Now people who are abiding in Christ obviously will benefit from all the other things. There's nothing unbiblical about any of that stuff. But anytime you put anything as a necessity for your spiritual growth other than Christ that's not from God.

He says you need to continue. Second thing is he says you need to rest. The word abide meno means to rest. And that's why Jesus when he calls people he says come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. We've talked so much about this in the past sermons about how that idea of rest Sabbath is not just talking about just resting physically.

Right? I know you guys can sit and rest just quit work and rest for the next five days do nothing but watch movies. At the end of five days do you feel rested? You probably feel more restless. Right? Because the rest the Sabbath that the Bible talks about is not from physical fatigue.

God did not rest after six days of creation and say whew we need to recuperate. Right? Because he's immutable. He's never changing. His power is never weakened. So his Sabbath that he's talking about is the rest from work and did Adam and Eve work before the fall? Yes. God called them to be fruitful and multiply and subdue the land.

That's exactly what they were doing before they fell. They were resting in him. The difference between laboring while you're resting and laboring when your heart is at unrest. Somebody who was laboring while your heart is unrest no matter what you do it creates just more frustration. It creates more frustration because your motive is you're trying to do something to appease God to earn his favor.

And if that's the motivation behind what you're doing it only causes more restlessness. When he uses the word if you want to bear fruit you need to first and foremost rest. In Hebrews chapter 4 1. "Therefore while the promise of entering his rest still stands let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it." So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

Remember how he describes the rest as God resting? Is God resting because he's tired? No he's not resting because he's tired. He said after he created everything everything was good. Everything was good. When everything is the way it was supposed to be there's a sense of peace. Those of you who are what do you call it OCD you guys know that if you walk into a house and the house is messy there's no rest because it's not in order.

Those of you who are not OCD have no idea what I'm talking about. Right? You're not at rest because things aren't the way you think it ought to be. And that's the kind of rest he's talking about where what God had intended had fallen apart because of sin. And so the rest that he's bringing back is to put back what God intended in creation.

Whether it is the role of a man or a woman, our sexuality, our homes, our church, our goals, sex all of these things that have gone out of whack. To bring that back into order is to bring back the Sabbath to rest. There is unrest when things are out of whack.

So when Christ came and redeemed us it is to bring back what was lost, this unrest. The greatest thing that causes rest in a life of a Christian is his forgiveness. His love. The very first thing that you need to embrace and believe with all your heart is when you confess your sins he is faithful and just to forgive you of all your unrighteousness.

And if you are living your life thinking somehow you're going to earn that back. That when I'm right with God I can come to the communion table. When I'm right with God I'll start doing this. When I'm right with God I'll start serving. And there's something inside of you that wants to earn his grace.

And all it's doing is causing greater and greater restlessness in your heart. If you want to bear fruit he says first and foremost you have to learn to rest in him. That I have been complete. That he's not simply a judge who forgave me of my sins. He's our Abba Father that I call him my dad.

You know in Philippians 127 Paul says let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. What a burden. If you read that the wrong way that's a tremendous burden. What does it mean to live worthy of the gospel? Worthy of the blood of Jesus Christ. Go do it.

What can you possibly do today that's going to make you worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ? I mean you're talking about a burden. If you hear that the wrong way it'll sound like get your ass straight before you come to him and be worthy of the gospel. It's a contradiction of the gospel itself.

There is a world of difference between somebody who is pursuing righteousness because he has been made righteous versus somebody who is pursuing righteousness trying to be righteous. There's a world of difference. And that's why he says again Ephesians 4 1-3. Three chapters three chapters of revelation of teaching us of the depth of the love of Christ.

How he pursued sinners. And then in chapter 4, therefore a prisoner of the Lord urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Walk worthy. Not to be worthy but because you've been made worthy by the blood of Christ. See unless our hearts are at rest we can't bear fruit.

Unless we have confidence that the throne that we're entering is not the judge but our Abba Father. We will never feel comfortable entering into his room. We'll always be groveling. You know what's interesting is John, 1 John writes and he basically says if you're living in darkness you know you fool yourself God is light and there is no fellowship and you're making him out to be a liar and he says boom he brings down a hammer.

But in 1 John chapter 2 he says the reason I'm writing to you right, 1 John chapter 2 verses 12-14 he writes to different groups of people and listen carefully to what he says. And this is after he just brought down the hammer in chapter 1. In chapter 1 it says if you're walking in darkness you're probably not a Christian.

Now a Christian stumbles in sin but you're not living in sin and boom brings down the hammer. But in chapter 2 verse 12 he says I am writing to you little children. I'm saying all of this to you because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. I'm not saying this so that you can earn your forgiveness.

I'm saying this because your sins are already forgiven. Verse 13 I am writing to you fathers because you know him who is from the beginning. I'm not writing this to you so pursue him so that you can earn this. I'm writing and I'm saying these things to you because you already know him.

I am writing to you young men because you have overcome the evil one. You've already overcome that's why I'm writing this to you. I write to you children because you know the Father. He gives assurance after he says boom you can't live in darkness and call him your father.

But he says but the reason why I'm even saying this to you is because you are children of God. Verse 14 I write to you fathers because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you young men because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one.

And he gives absolute assurance to these people that he just hammered. Why is he doing that? Because the reason why he was writing this letter is to prune them and strengthen them. He's to prune them and strengthen them. He said he who does not bear any fruit he'll be chopped down and he'll be burned.

But those who bear fruit however little it may be if you're a child of God he will prune you. He said I'm writing these things to you and I'm warning you because you're a child of God. So what brings rest to a Christian is the confidence that your sins are forgiven.

Your sins are forgiven. When you came before the Lord in all honesty and asked for forgiveness and God said I forgave you. And when he says it is finished it is finished. It's no longer our job to strive but to live up to what he has already given. Second.

Third abiding in Christ means to rely on Christ. To depend on Christ. As I said before anything that we place between us and Jesus that I need this for my spiritual walk with God you've placed something else where only Christ is supposed to sit. If you say you can't walk passionately for Christ because I lack these things then those things have become our idol.

We become dependent on those things. Anytime when we start talking again it frustrates me sometimes when I see the gatherings of pastors talking about new techniques and why we need this and we need more finance, we need more organization, we need to do this and yet when I look at scripture Jesus and God deliberately goes the exact opposite direction.

His choosing of the 12 disciples made no sense. The way he conquered Jericho makes absolutely no sense. Why he even chose the nation of Israel makes absolutely no sense. He said I'm not choosing you because you're great I'm choosing you because of the sins and basically sovereignly chose him to display his glory.

In every instance God chooses somebody. He said Paul the reason why he chose me is because I'm the worst of sinners. He doesn't say God chose me because I was a Pharisee and I kind of know the law. Anytime we study the apostle Paul and why God chose him we always look from our human perspective.

Oh he had Roman citizenship so it was easier for him to go from place to place. Because that's what we value. That's what we think. That's why we think that apostle Paul was successful. Oh he's highly educated. He has Roman citizenship. He was already well known to every city he went.

People already knew who he was. He must have been very articulate. He was a Pharisee among Pharisees. As to the law he was perfect. A tribe of Benjamin. So anywhere he went to the synagogue and he decided to speak people showed respect. That's why he must have been chosen.

That's why he must have been able to bear fruit. And yet Paul says the very reason why he was chosen is because he was the worst of sinners. Humanly speaking he was the worst person. He was the worst person. He hated Jesus. He was willing to kill anybody else who was proclaiming Jesus.

Why did he choose him? To display his glory not his. Not Paul's. How much of our what we think is effective is completely unbiblical. Where God in history is seeking his glory. And how much of what we use as an excuse of why certain things aren't happening is nothing more than a practice of Romans chapter 1.

Giving glory to the creation rather than the Creator. You know the greatest blessing of being a Christian or of salvation is Jesus Himself. It's Jesus Himself. That's why He says, that's why He says in John chapter 15, 7, "If you abide in Me, My words abide in you. Ask whatever you wish and it shall be done for you." Isn't that the greatest benefit of being a Christian?

I mean if I needed to get a loan, right, the greatest benefit is not like, "Oh you know what Chase Bank is moving next door." "Ooo they're next door." You know what I mean? They used to close at 5. I get a work for kids 6 and they open at they open till 7.

Yes! You know Chase, they got billions of dollars and they're moving close. As foolish as that may sound, that's what we celebrate sometimes. The benefit of a Christian is not that we have a close proximity to the bank. The benefit of Christian living is that our Father is a billionaire.

That bank exists for my Father. Not my Father for that bank. And so our confidence often times comes from what we see. And it is ridiculous for us to think, "Oh you know, if we just had more people with certain personalities, certain education, and if we were just smart enough, if we had more money." And the thing that trips us up more than anything else are the very things that you happen to be good at.

That's what trips you up the most. If you're smart, your intellect is getting in the way from coming to Christ. Because you think that by your smart, somehow you're going to add to the kingdom. If you happen to be a physical strong-willed person, whatever you set your mind on, "I do." That's getting in the way of tapping into His power.

Anything that you think is somehow going to add to bearing fruit outside of Christ is getting in the way. He says the only way you're going to bear fruit is to rely upon Him. That's why Peter when Jesus was about to go to the cross, He says, "Where I'm going you cannot come." Peter said to Him, "Lord, where can I, why can I not follow You?

I will lay down my life for You." Peter meant it absolutely. Sometimes people just say things. Every once in a while I hear somebody say, "I'll take a bullet for you. I don't believe you." You know? Maybe I'm just cynical. Every once in a while somebody was like, "Oh, somebody threw a grenade." And you hear stories of a soldier who jumped on top of it and took it for the rest of the team.

And then it makes the big news. Right? He gets a medal. His family meets the president. And the reason why that happens is because it's that rare. If that's the instinct of every soldier, they wouldn't be meeting the president. The reason they meet the president is because it's so out of character.

Because our natural nature is not that. Right? But Peter I believe meant it. "I will lay down my life for you." If you know anything about Peter, Peter is the guy who, he's the guy like, Jesus walks on water. He's like, "Is that you? Oh, let me come." Right?

Everybody else is like, "What are you doing?" Peter went. "If I drown, I drown." Right? So I think my picture of Peter is kind of like Esau. You know what I mean? Like Jacob's the slippery one. And he's always kind of like, "How can I get his soup?" You know?

Or not the soup, but the birthright. And he's always conniving. Right? Esau's the guy who went hunting. He's a burly man. That's how I see Peter. Peter's the full-time fisherman. I'm assuming his hands are all calloused. And he's a burly guy. And he's confident. He might be the oldest and toughest guy there.

And he's weaklings. Yeah. He's computer nerds. They're not going to They're not going to follow you. Right? Did I offend some people? Don't write my email, okay? I already know. He's that mountain guy who chops down trees. He's like, "I'm going to do it." Because he actually does it.

Remember when the temple guards come? Right? When the temple guards come, everybody else is kind of, "What's going on?" Peter actually takes out his little sword and goes, "Bam!" Right? He's the only one. He misses. Right? Jesus said, "What are you doing?" He puts the ear back on. He actually does it.

Peter was a man of his word. He did it. Right? But Jesus answers him, "Will you lay down your life for me?" It's a rhetorical question. Meaning, Peter, you don't even know yourself. You don't even know yourself. You're going to deny me three times before the rooster crows. All this time I've been loyal to you.

Why would you say that? I know these guys. But not me. You know me. Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. Right? And that's why the Bible says, "He who thinks he stands, be careful, because that's when you fall." When you let your guard down, thinking that, "You know what?

I have enough experience. I have so much experience. I've been a Christian for this long. I've led small groups. I've gone on missions. And I've done this and I've done that." He says, "Be careful. Be careful, because that's when you'll fall." See, the greatest gift that you and I have been given is our connection with Christ.

The greatest power to bear fruit is Christ. The greatest strategy to plant churches is Christ. The greatest method to bring lost sinners to Jesus is Christ. And we constantly think, "Oh, I haven't been trained enough. I haven't gone to school. I don't have an MDiv. I don't have a doctorate.

I don't have this. I don't have enough experience." But Jesus said one thing. He didn't say, "You know what? Let's take a class. Let's go to three years or go to the mountain and I'll show you how to bear fruit." He said one thing. If you want to bear fruit, stick with me.

Stick with me. If you want to bear fruit, stay with me. Rest in me. Rely upon me. He said one thing. Think how complicated Christianity has become in our generation. Think how complicated we make everything. When all Jesus did, think of how many of you were from noble backgrounds.

How many of you were wise. How many of you were noble. In other words, none of you. God chose what was weak for what purpose? To demonstrate His power. So why are we trying to be so smart? When He told us one thing. Every frustration that you and I experience as a Christian is because we've taken our eyes off of Christ.

Author and the perfecter of our faith. Let me conclude with this. John 15, 16. "You did not choose me. I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit. That your fruit should abide so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you." The greatest resource that you and I have is not the great men of our generation.

It's not the schools. It's not the experienced men. It's not the knowledge. It's not older people or younger people. It's not the quality of worship or the songs that we pick or how certain things are organized or talent or any of that. The greatest resource that you and I have is that we're able to come to our Abba Father and ask Him to get involved.

Ask Him to get involved. So when we bear fruit, that everybody will know it wasn't us. It wasn't us. It was Him. It was Him. That's what He's seeking. He's seeking His glory in us and the person that He will use the most are the one who's emptied. And when He works, people will know that it was Him.

If you want to bear fruit, abide. Stay with Him. Rely on Him and rest in Him. Let's pray. And as our service team comes up, let's take some time to reflect and to pray. And I know the solution is really simple. Practice is difficult. Let's not complicate the solution.

Like we don't know what to do. We know exactly what to do. We need to come to Christ. We need to depend on Him. We need to cry out to Him. The difficult part is wrestling with our flesh. But what to do, we know what to do. We need to humble ourselves.

We need to cry out to Him. We need to prioritize abiding in Him. Let's take some time to come before the Lord as we have our worship team lead us.