Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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I'd like to turn tonight to the 15th chapter of John's Gospel. Just like to read a few verses out of this chapter. John chapter 15 and verse 9.
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, He shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be.
This is my commandment, that she loved one another as I have loved you.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. He are my friends, if he do whatsoever I command you henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my father I have made known unto you.
He have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.
And ordained you that she should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.
That whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
Well, as we know, this is the last day of another year and these words that we have been reading are some of the last words of the Lord Jesus.
And I just thought of them in this connection because we think of how these last words of the Lord Jesus must have been very important. And it was also the end of a certain time, as the Lord Jesus had walked with his disciples, that they could look into his blessed face, they could touch him, and they could come to him with their troubles personally. Because when John the Baptist was slain, it says that his disciples gathered together and told Jesus.
US and perhaps some of us would say, oh, if I could just go to him and talk to him, I'm sure he would enter into everything that I'm passing through in a full way and would be able to help and he most surely would. So I say again, this was the end of a time when the Lord was with them. They could talk to him, they could speak with him, but He was going to the cross to settle the question of sin so that they could be brought into blessing.
But it was to be the beginning of a new way that they were to know him as the absent one. They were to know him as the one who had gone up on high. And we have to know him in that way. It's, so to speak, the end of a certain thing here and about to be the introduction of something new. And this is the end of 1981. And if the Lord leaves us here a short time longer, it's going to be the beginning of another year, and I hope.
Hearts too. It'll be the beginning of a new desire that we might know the Lord Jesus better. We can't see him physically, but we can enjoy him by the Holy Spirit. We can be in the enjoyment of what He brings before us here in this portion. And that's what was before me tonight. There are seven different things here where the Lord.
Identifies himself with his disciples. In the ninth verse. He speaks of my love.
And in the 10th verse of my commandments and in the 11Th verse of my joy, and then in the 14th verse he speaks of my friends. Then in the 15th verse he speaks of my father. The 16th verse, it's not exactly worded this way, but it's my choice. And then in the end of the 16th verse, my name.
How do you consider those things? Doesn't it thrill your heart?
I'm sure it does. It certainly touches my heart to think that the Lord of glory would speak in this way and identify himself with us and give us the privilege of being identified with Him.
And we, these chapters we have before us, beginning with the 13th chapter, are very precious to us because as I said, they're the last words the Lord Jesus spoke to his own before he went away. And I believe the 13th chapter is the preparation that he gave in connection with his disciples entering into these things. He washed the disciples feet. And may I just pause here to say that if there's someone here.
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And you want to enjoy these things, but you know that you haven't been going on with the Lord. If I can use a very practical expression, your feet are dirty. You've been picking up some of the defilements of the way, and you really haven't got into the Lord's presence about them. Remember that before you can really enjoy what we have brought before us in these chapters, we must, as it were, allow Him to take our feet into His hands and wash them. Are we willing?
Is there anyone here that knows very definitely you haven't been walking in the Lord's company?
You haven't been walking in a way that is pleasing to him. Are we content to let him take our hand, our feet into his hands? May we not be like Peter who said, thou shalt never wash my feet? Oh brethren, I've needed it often. And I'm sure many of us will say we all have. And surely as we think of what the Lord said to Peter when he made that comment, it ought to touch our hearts. He said, if I wash thee not.
Thou hast no part with me. He didn't mean that Peter was lost. Thank God, a true child of God can never be lost. He is eternally secure as regards this salvation. But what the Lord was Speaking of was having communion with him. And what is communion? Well, communion is to have common thoughts, that is to go through life and to be able to talk to the Lord Jesus as your dearest friend.
To be able to talk to God as your Father. There's nothing more wonderful on earth to be able to walk along the pathway of life with that sweet secret of communion. And if there's anything that has come between, surely we would want to have it removed. Because the whole communion with Him is the greatest thing. Our whole pathway when the Lord Jesus rose from the dead.
And appointed a place where he would meet with his disciples. What greater privilege could they have?
As I am to be gathered in the place where he would have them. And so he appointed a place, and the disciples gathered together to that place in order to enjoy his presence collectively. But then when that happy occasion was over, he could say to them, as they were about to depart, Lo, I am with you always. And as I've often said, and perhaps it bears repeating, the sweetest portion that we can have in our Christian life.
To enjoy the Lord's presence collectively as gathered to his name and to enjoy his presence individually at all times in our Christian life. Well, the Lord in the 13th chapter was preparing the disciples for this in washing their feet. He also added to them that as he had washed their feet so they could wash one another's. And so may I also say at this point, if there's some other Christian that you can.
If there's some other Christian that has got away from the Lord and there's something that you can do to help that Christian to get back to the Lord, are we willing to do it? Are we willing to be the instrument in the Lords hand for the blessing of that person? And so we have that privilege in his absence too, of seeking to be helped to one another. When we come to the 14th chapter, I could say just briefly that the subject is.
Communion. That is what the Lord is bringing before them. If you notice in the 14th chapter, in the 21St verse, I believe we have it simply stated, He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, He it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself.
Unto him in the 23rd verse Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words.
And my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. And you see in these verses a beautiful picture of communion, and that is enjoying the company of father and son. So I believe the Lord was preparing them in the in the 13th chapter. Now in the 14th chapter he shows what he desired for them during his absence, and also in the.
Chapter tells them of the time when His heart will be satisfied, and ours too, when we're gathered into the Father's house and enjoy in fullness what we can now only enjoy in part. Then in the 15th chapter, what He brings before them is fruit, bearing and service.
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In the 16th chapter he brings before them intelligence, so that in fruit bearing and in service there needs to be intelligence as to his mind, and that's through the Word by the Spirit. And then in the 16th chapter we have that lovely high priestly prayer where he not only sets the truth before his disciples, but he prays for them. And I want to say tonight that not only does the precious Word of God and by the Spirit.
It can be entered into and enjoyed, but tonight while I'm talking to you, there's up on high who's interceding for you. And when he saw a tendency in Peter that perhaps he sees in us at times, he said, Peter, I prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. Isn't that a lovely thing, the Lord praying for Peter. We think of our prayers and we surely need them.
To pray ourselves and have others pray for us, but just thank the Lord praying for them.
And so he prayed for Peter, and so he's interceding for us, brethren. He's interceding for us there. He not only sets the truth before us, but he knows that we need help and He's there to supply it. Well, to come back to our chapter, surely what we desire, and perhaps especially as we think of the approach of another year, is that there might be fruit in our lives, fruit that remains, fruit that is to His glory and praise.
And so if we are before Him, then there will be that in our lives. That will be for His glory.
Anyone who has a vineyard knows very well how he or she looked forward to the time when the harvest comes in and you go out. What a pleasure it is to have a real lovely harvest. And so hasn't the Lord done everything that love could do in order to get a response from your heart and mind that there might be fruit that would be to His praise and glory?
Surely he has, and then too.
He would have us to be serving each one in our capacity, and you know if we are before the Lord.
He has a service for each one. When the Levites were presented to Aaron, it tells us that he appointed to each one his service and his burden. And the Lord has a service, and he has a burden for each one. Perhaps we don't realize that these things are planned of him. If there was one of the Levites and his particular service was to carry the pins of the Tabernacle, he might wish.
Who was able to carry the ark? But he could find joy for his own soul if he just said, well, this is the service that is appointed to me and this is what really counts to do the service that has been given to me. And perhaps you might say, well, what has been given to me doesn't seem very important. But what makes it important is the person who has given us the service to do. And it was just as important for that man and.
Receive just as great a reward in a coming day, if he were to do that service faithfully as the one who carried the ark. So I just want to say to each one here, and perhaps especially to those who are young. Have you been before the Lord, like Saul of Tarsus, defined what the service is that he has for you. It says in the 6th chapter of Galatians.
It says let every man prove his own work.
And then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another? I believe when it says, let every man prove his own work is to get before the Lord, and ask him, and ask him to give you the sense in your soul that what you are doing is what He wants you to do. And then you'll find it a very, very happy service when you're doing it for so worthy a master.
Then there's the other thing too. He not only appointed to the Levites their service.
But also their burden. And we might enjoy the service, but find the burden very difficult. But you know, there's blessing when we carry a burden. Well, too, there was a dear sister in Hamilton a good many years ago, and she lay on her back and finally went blind. And as I understand it, it was some mistake that was made during an operation that had caused this tragedy.
In her life. But such was her rejoicing and her bright testimony.
During this time when she lay for years upon her back and, as I say, finally went blind.
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That the Lord used her to the salvation of five infidels? Or you say, wouldn't it have been a lot better if she had been out preaching or as a sister, she couldn't do that public service, but out in some more public way that she could do something for the Lord in good health? But is there anyone here that can record that five infidels have been brought to the Lord through your service?
Well, she bore her burden in a way that was honoring to the Lord. She bore it in such a way as that her whole life and attitude was a testimony. And sometimes I think that the Lord allows these burdens and then let's us be a testimony for Him in the way that we bear them. I'm sure many of us have read the poem of that man who was crippled for life.
When he was jumping with a horse, he there was an accident.
And he was crippled for life. And he wrote these words a shattered wreck. Am I enjoying now a chair?
To sit and sing the whole day long to him who placed me there, content a shattered wreck to be. Because, my God, it pleaseth thee. So I say again, brethren, there is a service and there is a burden. And this chapter brings before us fruit, bearing and service. May there be that in our lives, and especially we perhaps have deeper thoughts just at this time, and perhaps these little thoughts will.
Exercise each one of us. We don't know whether the Lord will leave us here to 1982. We don't know whether it'll be one day or 100 days or even longer. We're not told the day or the hour. Instead, we're told the Lord. Direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. I like the way the new translation reads. The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of the Christ.
I say I enjoy that because I think of my precious Savior who has waited almost 2000 years to have His bride, to have the fruit of the tribal of his soul, and He's still waiting. I'm glad He waited for me and He's telling me that He wants me to be patient too, as I wait that time when he'll see fit to come and claim His bride to be with himself. When the Father will say Son, the hour is come.
Then, as we had in our meetings, there won't be any delay. He'll come with a shout and in a moment will be changed. So may there be that patience as we wait, may there be that fruit bearing, may there be that service. Well, I believe these things are brought before us here in this chapter in a very beautiful order. This ninth verse is well known. I'm sure some of us have it hanging on our walls because it's been printed as a text and it's.
Touching, isn't it? As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you.
In my love, we think of the Lord Jesus here in this world, who always walked in the enjoyment of His Father's love, no matter what circumstances came. And there were many, many trials in the pathway of our precious Savior as He walked here. He always walked in the sense of His Father's love. He always accepted every circumstance as from His Father, and so He could.
Rejected by the nation whom He had come to bless. He Even so Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight. He always, I say, walked in the enjoyment of His Father's love. And here He is telling them that just as the Father loved Him, so He loves us. Has this entered into our souls? Brethren, are we sitting in this room tonight in the conscious enjoyment of the fact?
That just as much as the Father's love is toward the Son, such as His love toward us, does not thrill you when you stop to think of it. Oh, I don't think it would be possible for us to even meditate on such a thing for a few minutes, but it would overwhelm our hearts that He should so love us. And so we have. Here is the very starting point, my love.
Oh, I say again, that's what we need. That's what 2nd Corinthians 5 is talking about.
It says the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead.
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And that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
Have often commented the verse does not say the love of Christ should constrain us. The verse says the love of Christ constraineth us. It's stated as an actual fact. Someone might say, but it doesn't seem to constrain me. I know it should, but it doesn't seem to. Why does it state that as an actual fact the love of Christ constraineth us? Well, let me illustrate it like this.
Supposing I had some nails sitting on the table and I had a magnet in my hand and I said this magnet will attract those nails.
Oh, you say that nothing is happening to those nails. Well, there's power in that magnet to attract them. Why is it not attracting them? I don't say it should attract them, I say it will. It does attract nails. But if I bring that magnet down close, then you see the nails start to move and as they get closer, they jump up to the magnet and they go where the magnet takes them.
There was sufficient power in the magnet to attract them.
But the magnet was too far away. And you know, we're something like Peter at times. We follow afar off.
There's power in the love of Christ to attract our hearts. I remember hearing of a man who wanted to illustrate this, and he was a man who operated one of these powerful magnets, which they often used for loading scrap steel and so on. So he brought the magnet down and picked up.
A lot of steel. And then he took it over to a bare place where there didn't seem to be any steel lying at all. But as he brought the magnet down close to the ground, why, the ground began to pop open, and little pieces of steel that had been trampled down under the earth began to pump up there, because the magnet was now close to them. And we get trampled down just like that. This earth does seem to have a way of trampling us down.
Say again, if the love of Christ only gets to touch our hearts, it not only should constrain, it will constrain. It's a positive fact. The love of Christ constraineth us. And the result once is that those pieces of steel don't go where they want to go. They simply go where the magnet takes them. And that's why the end of the verse is that we should not live unto ourselves, but unto him who died for us.
And rose again. Every heart desires satisfied affections.
So there are two things that perhaps we desire most of all in life and though that is that we should have someone who would understand us and someone who would really love us. You know, if you have someone who really understands you that you can go and talk to at any time and will always understand the way you feel things and your approach to them.
Why, you have a very dear friend, I would say.
That's the kind of a one we have in the Lord Jesus, and it's always been precious to my heart that verse in the Psalms.
Pour out your hearts before him. Isn't that a grand verse? There's not many people you can pour out your heart to. You know very well that when you start to talk, there's some people they just are not interested in your problems. They don't seem to enter into them. But if you have a friend that you can really pour out your heart and if you have a friend that you can tell them anything and they still love you, I say you have a friend. Well, that's the kind of a one we have. That's the quality of the love that the.
Has not a love that overlooks sin? No, that wouldn't be true love because loving us he is holy also. And so at the cost of his precious blood he has put away our sins, but that love all. May this verse sink down deeply into each of our hearts. And I could perhaps say this is a starting point of these seven different ones that we have.
My love, there might be somebody who loves you and you say, well.
I don't care too much whether that person loves me or not because you're not interested in that person. But you care that the Son of God loves you, don't you? The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Who is it that loves us?
The Son of God, the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
Christian friend of mine had that verse painted on his wall.
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And a business associate came in and they were talking business for a little while and then he stepped out of the room to get something. When he came back, the businessman said, do you really believe that? And he said, I surely do. But he said, I don't wonder that you're happy if you really believe that. All we really do believe it. The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
So may I just read those words again?
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love.
Now we have the second one in the tenth verse, if ye keep my commandments.
Ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments.
And abide in His love we have spoken of here as His commandments. I believe it's spoken of in this way because as we one has remarked before, when we think of who it is that has spoken to us and asked us why it has all the power of a command to our hearts have sometimes put it this way.
If you were doing something and someone disagreed and said why are you doing that?
Or perhaps he would say, who asked you to do that? If you reply that someone who has influenced someone important has asked you to do it, that would probably be sufficient for an answer. And so if there's something that you are seeking to do, perhaps you may have someone who objects and says why do you have to do that?
Just think of who it is that has given us His word and has made known His mind and will and has asked us to do it.
If you were to be doing it and you say why it was the president of the United States that asked me to do that, there'd be no question, would there, why such an important person as him who asked you to do that thing, even if it was only a small thing? And so when we are thinking of the pathway of obedience, we should always stop and think, who is it that has marked out the pathway for it? Is it a friend?
Is it someone who doesn't understand you? Is it someone who doesn't love you? No, dear friends, it's someone who loves us with an unchanging love, a love that doesn't change because of our failures. Have often said when the Lord assured His people of His love toward them, it was always at times when you would have perhaps least expected it.
At the end of the 40 years of the wilderness journey.
It says, yeah, he loved the people. All his Saints are in thy hand. They sat down at his feet and heard his words. What 40 years of rebellion and self will yes that's the time when he. It says, yeah, he loved the people. Then as we trace through their history after they got into the land, we see Jeremiah with tears pleading with them because of.
They were going on, had the Lord ceased to love them. We all know that beautiful verse in the 31St of Jeremiah. Yeah, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore with loving kindness have I drawn they. We pass on still later in their history, and we come to the last book in the Old Testament, the prophet Malachi. A little remnant had been gathered back into the land.
But the little remnant had departed. They were saying it was vain to serve the Lord. They wouldn't even kindle a fire in the Lorde host for not they wouldn't open the doors unless they were paid for it. And they offered the lame and the blind to the Lord, just like we do sometimes we say, oh, it's too much trouble to get ready and go to the meeting, or do such and such a thing for the Lord. Oh, it's a lot of bother. And that's the way they were talking.
And the Prophet opens with these words.
The burden of the Word of the Lord by Malachi. I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yes, all through the Old Testament, that unchanging love. And then we could trace it through the New Testament at the end of the Lord's pathway, just before they all forsook him and fled. It says having loved his own, which were in the world, He loved them under the end and in the letters to the seven churches.
The Lord felt it in the first one that they had left their first love.
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But in the last one of the letters, he assures them that he still loves them. He says, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Oh, it's wonderful to think of that. And friends, I say this because that's the person that has made known his mind and will in this blessed book. My commandments. My commandments. Just don't think of it. Well, that's what Paul said. That's what James said. That's what John said.
But as you pick it up and read it, think of it as the one who went to Calvary and died for you is making known his mind and his will to you. And if there's some little step that you're pausing about and you say, oh, that's too difficult, I don't think I could follow out that verse. I don't think that I could take that step. Just say to yourself, but who is it that asked me to do it? Who is it that?
Asked me to do it. Oh, it was the person that loved you and I enough to go to Calvary's cross and bear the judgment. Who, when he could have taken an easier path, he set his face to go to Jerusalem and wouldn't allow anything to hinder him in the fulfillment of that divine purpose for which he had come to accomplish a work of redemption that would bring you and I into a place where we could share his company and communion.
For all eternity. And so I say again whenever there's a little.
Difficulty comes in your mind, some verse of Scripture that you come upon. You know it's going to cost something to please the Lord in that matter. You know that perhaps you will be misunderstood in seeking to take a step to please the Lord. Just say to your heart, But who is it that asked me to do it? Is it just a request or does that request have the power of a command to your heart? I.
That when love is operative, every request, every word becomes a command.
We think of how David was thirsty one day and he said, oh, that I had a drink.
Of the waters of the well of Bethlehem. He didn't give any command. He didn't tell his man to do it. But some of them, at the risk of their lives, broke through the host of the Philistines and drew water and brought it back. Oh, they might have said. He doesn't really mean that. He wants us to do that. He just is expressing a desire. He's not telling us that we have to do it. No, he wasn't either. But it became a command to their hearts, a command that led them to risk their lives.
And David numbered them among his mighty man. May God grant that when there's something in the word that we read that seems to be difficult to walk in the path of obedience, may we just say to our hearts, But who is it that asked me to do this? Who is it that said he wanted me to do it? Oh, that's enough for the heart that has learned his love. So he says, if he keep my commandments, she shall abide in my love.
Even as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. And how often we find that when we take a step that is not according to his word, we lose in some measure the enjoyment of his love. It's true with our children. We love them. We love them through thick and thin. We love them when they're willful, when we when they're disobedient. But they lose something when they choose a passive self will they don't enjoy.
That we want to bestow upon them. They don't enjoy it. And yet our hearts feel like the Father in the 15th of Luke, yearning for them and for their good and for their blessing. And so he said, if you want to really abide in my love, then walk in the path of obedience. For the path of obedience is the path of happiness. I believe it was Mr. Darby once said, how often does one forbidden thing in our lives?
Hide from our view 1000 blessings. It isn't that the heart of the Lord changes, but it, just as it were, cast a cloud between our souls and Him, so that we can't enjoy His love as we should and as He wants.
Now we come to the third one in this 11Th verse. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. What was the Lord Jesus joy, you might say, and rightly too. Wasn't the Lord Jesus the Man of sorrows? Yes, tells us that in the 53rd of Isaiah He was the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
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But we read in the 12Th chapter of Hebrews, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God. And also in the 10th chapter of Luke. The only occasion where we read about the Lord Jesus rejoicing in spirit was at a time when we would hardly expect it. He was mourning over the fact that the.
Ones whom he had come to bless and rejected him.
And yet he rejoiced in spirit. Is there a joy in the path of obedience?
Well, I quote the words of another There are joys in the path of faith only known to those who walk in it. Ask anybody who has sought to walk in obedience to the Lord, and ask them if they have found happiness in that path. I know that if you just do things to please your father and mother and your brethren and don't have the Lord before you, maybe you won't have the same joy.
Because your father and mother may not be able to sustain you in a problem.
I've often said to the young people, when you want to do something for the Lord, you must do it with himself before you, because you will never be sustained in the path of faith unless you have the Lord before you. Your friends can't sustain you. They may tell you what you should do, but when you face the problem, your friends can't sustain you. Your father can't sustain you, your mother can't sustain you. Your brethren can, but the Lord can, and we need to have the sense of the Lord's presence.
And I was thinking of Paul as he stood before that tribunal on trial. He speaks of it in Timothy. And he said at my first answer, no man stood with me, but all men for subway. But he said, notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me. And I'm sure we've all read the lives of some of these martyrs and how they went out to face the hungry lions rejoicing and singing.
Paul, as far as I know, the only recorded case that we have in his pathway of his rejoicing was also when he was in prison with stripes on his back. And there we have him in the prison and it says he was, he was rejoicing there and singing, praying and singing praises to God. And I just want to say this to you. When it speaks of my joy, it doesn't mean the ordinary things that we can.
And enjoy in life. We thank God that He gives us all things richly to enjoy. I know many of you have had a happy time today and probably hope to have a happy time this evening. And I hope surely from my heart that you do. But the joy I'm talking about here is a different kind, because you may not always be able to enjoy all the bubbling things of youth, but you can always have this joy.
You can have it in prison, you can have it on a sick bed.
The Lord spoke of my joy, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. What is this my joy? It's the joy of communion with the Lord. And I don't know of anything sweeter in life than to have this joy as a secret between our souls and the Lord. And so as you go on the path take to do what you do to please the Lord, If you have to suffer in the past, you'll find you'll.
Have the same experience Paul did, and it's a wonderful experience. Some of us can think of times in our lives when you're really pressed in some matter and there was nothing. We look back upon it as some of the happiest things in our lives when we could say, notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me. I've often said I'm going to meet Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in heaven someday, and I like to think of having conversations with some of these people.
Ask them what is the best time you ever had in your whole life down here in this world? And I quite expect that they're going to tell me that it was when they were in the fiery furnace. I might say to them, couldn't you have found an easier way out than that? You could have put down your head. He would have never known that you weren't bowing. He would have said, oh, I wasn't bowing this, but out of my head, but I wasn't bowing. He could have found an easier way out, surely. Oh, they said we wouldn't have missed that for anything that was real.
Did you not know the Lord walked in the fire with us? And you're missing an experience that will ever be precious to your soul if you're sidestepping the path of faith in order to escape something. Escape what? All the world's frown, yes, but escape what? The joy of His presence? The joy of His approval. Paul lived his life in view of that day of manifestation.
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And then isn't this 12 verse beautiful? It's not one of the number that I'm counting here, but it says this is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. In other words, this is a love that the vessel can't contain. And I always enjoy the way loving one another is brought in. It usually follows the Lord speaking about his love. And to me is just like filling up a glass until you come to the top and then it starts to flow over. And so when you're enjoying.
Love, it just goes over the top. And if we find it hard to love someone else, just think of his love. And then as we think of that, it just goes over the top and it reaches out to others and flows out to the to our brethren and to sinners in their need. And so after telling us these three things, my love, my commandments, that the path of obedience and my joy.
Then he says, and let it flow out to others too, that she loved one another.
And then he goes on in the 14th verse. Perhaps I should read the 13th also. Greater loveth no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Here are my friends, if he do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants, but friends. Or the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth.
For but I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my father.
I have made known unto you.
I'm sure many of us have sung, I'm sure all of us have sung that beautiful hymn. What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. And we're so happy that we can speak of the Lord Jesus as our friend. But I want to tell you something more wonderful. And that's what we have here, that the Lord Jesus should call me his friend. I tell you that really humbles me when I think of.
Now that I could call the Lord Jesus my friend is indeed a stupendous, a wonderful thing, and that I can come and talk to him as my dearest friend, but it overwhelms me that he should call me his friend. Doesn't that touch your heart, dear friend? Tonight the Lord Jesus talking to these disciples, He knew all about them. What kind of people were they? Well, we had the other night in the Bible reading how they had.
Who should be the greatest? And they did some very strange things at times like we do. But isn't it beautiful to think that the Lord right on the eve when he was going to the cross and he knew they were going to forsake him that he'd say these wonderful words. He are my friends all just pause and think of it. Just think of it. If I could say that I was a friend of the of the Queen of England or the.
President of the United States, I would feel quite honored that I was a personal friend of theirs, but I have a far higher friendship than that. I can say, and the authority of what we have here that the Lord calls us his friends. Ye are my friends. And as this lays hold of our souls, and then it encourages us in the pathway of obedience.
And then he also tells us too.
The reason that He can call us friends, not servants here, but friends, is because all things that He has received of his father He has made known unto us. Have you ever stopped to think how privileged we are? If we were in with all the secrets of the government of the United States, we would feel we were quite important people to be in on a great deal of the.
In secrets that are only for those who were in the very top of authority.
But you and I, as we sit in this room tonight, if we truly belong to Christ, you know we're far higher than that. And the Christian knows what's going on and what's coming upon this world in a far more intelligent way than the best instructed people in this whole world.
I've often said the Christian is the only one who has an intelligent outlook on what is going on in the world.
The man of the world don't know. They don't understand. But you realize that having this book in your hand, that you know the future of this globe on which we live. That you can look up and see the starry skies and have a personal relationship with the one who made them all and who holds them all in their place, and who has written us a book like this to bring before us all that we need for our whole pathway.
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Invited us to come boldly.
He tells us of His love, tells us that we can say that He counts us as His friends. Oh, how marvelously privileged we are. And through all eternity, brethren, there are no new secrets that are to come out. The heart of God has been revealed. It's true. We're going to enter into things in a fuller measure when we get to glory than we do down here.
About all that is in the councils and purposes of God.
Has been made known and heaven will not be a strange place to the believer. Yes, it will be home to us. That's what I believe. Many of us love to think about that the moment we enter those glorious scenes above that we'll say at last this is home. And as a little hymn says, there are no stranger. God shall meet thee. We won't be strangers in those courts above.
Oh, isn't it blessed, my friends?
And when you sing that little hymn, what a friend we have in Jesus, thank the Lord from your heart that you can call the Lord Jesus your friend, but thank him also for this marvelous fact that he says, ye are my friends. And if we want to enjoy this friendship, it says, if you do whatsoever I command you, it's all been made known in his precious word, and you may have a very dear friend.
But you know you can hurt that friend.
You can hurt that friend so that you don't enjoy the friendship. The Lord's love will never change. His desire for our company will never change. And when he gets us to glory, He's going to see if the travel of his soul and be satisfied. But he wants us to enjoy this down here. Ye are my friends. And then he says all things that I have heard of my father.
I wanted to speak of that relationship for when the Lord Jesus rose from the dead.
He said to his disciples, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God. He has brought us into a relationship, a relationship that no St. in the Old Testament could enjoy. A relationship that you and I are entitled to enjoy, that God is our Father.
Yes, we can look up and say that the one who counseled all things.
My Father. And when I get to glory, it'll be the Father's house. Are we enjoying that relationship to God as our Father? Remember a brother down in the East telling about how he had learned this blessed truth and enjoyed it, but he hadn't yet been gathered to the Lord's name. He was seeking the Lord's mind about where he should go to remember the Lord.
And he went into different places, and he noticed the different ways in which they spoke to God.
Some addressed him as almighty God and some addressed him as Jehovah God in different ways that they addressed him. And he said one time he walked into the little assembly down there and he said the brothers stood up to pray. And he said, our blessed God and father, oh, he said that brother has learned something that's precious to my heart. God is my father. And the Lord used that to speak to his.
And he was gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus. Are you enjoying this fact? There are many people that don't. You'd be surprised how many, although they know about God, they don't enjoy the relationship because your sons God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying ABBA father. And then the next one is my choice.
You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. You and I didn't choose the Lord Jesus. We would never have chosen Him.
Have he hadn't chosen us? No, brethren, we would never have chosen Him. Left to ourselves, we never would. People talk about free will, but as someone has illustrated it, if we were left to our own wills, we would never choose Christ. And so what's the good of free will when our hearts were at enmity? Supposing I had an apple on the table and I had an orange, and I said.
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You can have your choice, but you hate apples and you love oranges.
And I say you can have your choice. What's ever going to make you choose the apple? Well, certainly giving you a choice is not going to make you choose it because you hate apples. And man left to himself, has enmity in his heart toward Christ. We were enemies in our minds by wicked works. What can I do to ever make you choose that apple? I'd have to do something inside you, wouldn't I? I would have to change your likes, wouldn't I? And God begins.
From within, He begins His work from within. And so He chose me. It wasn't my free will, brethren. It was His sovereign choice. And that is what is going to be so marvelous for all eternity as we're up in His presence there. To think that He looked down upon the vast company of men and women here in this world, and He picked us up.
Doesn't it touch your heart sometimes when you walk down the street with crowds of people?
Or perhaps in some public place where there are hundreds or perhaps thousands of people, and you say to yourself, and he chose me. Doesn't it touch you? Sometimes it does me. I just marvel because I would never think that I was any better. Not nearly as important as some of the other people surrounding me. And yet he chose me. And that's going to be the wonder of all wonders for all eternity. And this ought to thrill our hearts. Is there someone here that's a little?
Dissatisfied and perhaps disgruntled with life, Paul said to the Thessalonians, I've always enjoyed that comment that he makes in the first chapter of Colossians of First Thessalonians. Rather, he said, remembering brethren, your election of God, what he's really saying to them now I know, said Paul, that your fellow countrymen hates you. They would never choose you. They dislike you.
You've received Christ, but he said the Lord chose you. That's what counts. That's what counts, and that's what counts with us too. And we can go on. Perhaps you feel someone's hurt your feelings, someone's been mean, someone's been unkind and done something that really hurts. Isn't it nice just to say to yourself, But the Lord chose me, and the Lord loves me, and he's not dissatisfied with me either. He's not disappointed in me.
He's not disappointed. You might get disappointed with yourself, but I want to tell you the Lord will never be disappointed with you because He's going to see of the travel of His soul and be satisfied. Oh, what a blessed thing it is to know that He chose us. He chose us. We need to say these things to ourselves quite often. It's easy to get discouraged and we need to just bear these things in mind.
And then last of all, the 7th, 1:00.
Perhaps even the very best one of all is in my name. You will ask the Father.
In my name he may give it to you. Just turn to a little verse in Numbers the 6th of Numbers.
In this connection.
The 6th chapter of Numbers.
And the 23rd verse speak unto Aaron and unto his son, saying, on this wise shall he bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord, make his face shine upon me, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace in this last verse, and they shall put my name.
Upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.
Isn't this lovely? He said, put my name upon the children of Israel and the apostle John James rather speaks of that worthy name by which ye are called. And so he says in my name, that name has been placed upon us. We are Christians, we bear the name of Christ. I hope we value the privilege of being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope it's.
Privilege and joy it most certainly should be to confess that altogether lovely name. Whose name? My name? Doesn't it touch your heart to think about that my name, and that he should put it upon us?
We know when a man gets married, like when the Diane got married to the Prince Charles, why immediately from then on she bears his name. She is no longer in the position that she once was in another family, but now she is in a certain position where in a short time perhaps he may become the Queen of England, and she bears the name of the one whose husband, who is her husband.
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And so here we are in this world, and the Lord looks down upon us. We have his name.
Placed upon us. We're gathered to His name. We have the privilege of confessing His name. Baptism is in his name, isn't it Very precious, His name placed upon us. May we value this, brethren. Well, I just want to say these things again, and I hope that they will touch our hearts. My love, my commandments, my joy.
My friends, my father.
My choice and my name. What better portion could we have?
To start the year 1982. If He leaves us here a little longer, this is all ours. This was the Lord talking. What kind of people was He talking to? Disciples. Who would ever be faithful to Him now? Disciples who grieved his heart. But this is the way He felt toward them. And may the thoughts that the Lord has toward us touch and stir our hearts. May it affect our lives. Brethren, we only have a little time, I believe, until the Lord.
Come, and we have this privilege of going through life in the enjoyment of this place into which we have been brought. May the Lord grant that it may be an enjoyed portion with each one of us, and so that as we do, it'll be something like it was with Moses when he went up into the mountain. His face was no doubt very sad, because he went up just after the people had failed so grievously. He went up into the presence of.
Lord. But when the Lord revealed himself to him as merciful and gracious and long-suffering and patient, and provided a way of approach for God's people into his presence, He came down and his face was shining so much that they asked him to put a veil over his face. And you and I couldn't consciously be enjoying all these wonderful things without it affecting our.
Countenance, May God grant it, will be so as we perhaps are left here a few hours more.
And then perhaps have to meet the world again, that they'll see that we face the future.
In the company and in the enjoyment of this one who has done so much for us.
Could we sing #256?
Praise the Savior, ye who know Him, who can tell how much we owe Him gladly Let us render to Him all we have and are 256.
Praise the Savior, ye know Him.
I can tell.
How much we owe him gladly.
Let us render to him.
All we have and all.
It's our says thy name that charms us. Hey for.