John 15:8-11 part 2 Theme: New Covenant Branches

Welcome. In order to follow along on service, I did have the tables and the new offering boxes for G3 rentals and I was going to do that this week. Also, I was going to build a few boxes but I wasn't able to do that.

I was able to do those things this week. In order to follow along on service, I did have the tables and the new offering boxes for G3 rentals and I was able to do that this week. Also, back there is a offer box.

We have two ways to give. One is to the designated spot and the other is for parents with small children. We do have a fire room slash changing room. Also, the employers will be going back towards that way.

Each week we have a fellowship meal and today we will be having hamburgers and cheeseburgers. The point of this is once the service is over, we'll all just hang out here until it's time to eat and then we'll enter this door to get formed a lot.

Also, we have a bathroom to be on both floors. There's a bottom floor and a top floor and walk out of any one of these two rooms and just struggle around. A women's book club starts January the 18th and the new books that we're going through is Respectable Sands by Jerry Bridges and that's a $10 acceptable order.

As far as activism, there's a lot of work being done on the church and the bad weather. We haven't been able to do much with naturalizing and here in Columbia Lake, we're preparing for a good weather so we can get back on that together.

Also, David and Donna, we have a membership form. The membership form is on the information table, but we have two now. So, it will be on this side. If you're going back, it will be on this side. It's a bigger table.

So, if you're a member here, please make sure to grab a copy of their membership form, read over it, and we will be welcoming you into membership this week. It could be next week, but I don't think it will be the next week.

Also, if you want to join us in our Bible reading plan, we're doing a three-year plan at the church and we'd be very happy to give you a report on that and we can talk and discuss some of the questions that we have in there.

I think that's about it outside of Lazy Night Prayer. If you're available on Lazy Night, please come and join us. Now, if you would put your copy of the bulletin, we will go over together the call to worship.

Our call to worship is taken from Psalm 118 .1, 22 -24. Psalm 118 .1, 22 -23. Thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his steadfast love in whom we're praying. This is the day that the Lord has met us.

Let us rejoice and be glad. God and Father, Lord, we do come to you in the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus, we praise your holy name. We thank you that the spirit has proceeded between the father and the son, and that we, your people, are filled with the spirit that you have in your hands.

And God, we pray that as we worship you today and experience food as a collective body, but we're not only us, but all churches who have gathered together with the same purpose to worship you for food.

We ask that you marry and be a part of us, that you will lead us in the right direction, that you will guide us. And now we pray that our Lord and Savior, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Amen. Let's sing Psalm 21. When you will come to me, O Lord. All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and your thanks will coalesce to you. Psalm 215. All things themselves shall be given to you.

Be with us, O Lord, in every circumstance. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And they sent a message. A rose came forth and said, send me away to my master. Her brother, when he said to them, do not delay me, send me away with her, that I may go with my master. They said, let's call the young woman and ask her.

And they called on Becca, and said to her, will you go with this man? She said, I will go. So they sent away Abraham's first, and many of the offspring of Beth, and gave them Rebekah and her young wife.

Now Isaac, had returned from Jeroboam, and was growing in the garrow. And Isaac went out to meditate, and he lifted up his eyes, and said to his servants, who is my master? So Isaac put his voice in once again, and said to him, question number two, what is God?

Answer, to you only God, we confess our sins, we confess to you, O quickening, distracting, quickening, quickening, Christ, and I continue, but saying what we sing, we sing, give me this. We sing your God, Lord Jesus, we have prayed to you, so take my praise, and hold me in your heart.

Now John was clothed with leather felt, and ate roses, after meeting those he who is mightier than I, was saying, I have baptized you with water, that he will baptize you. Those days he contained some bad things on him, a voice came from heaven, you are my blessed son, with you I am well pleased.

The spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness for days, being tainted, I say, with the wild animals, and angels, and after John was arrested, Jesus came and gathered him, proclaiming he's God's and saying, the time is of the spirit, the kingdom of God is at hand.

Amen. Let me just focus. Oh God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, when we come to that portion of our service that we're looking to you through the text through the apostle John, Lord, through me to articulate well your message.

Thank God we are dependent upon you through your spirit to speak forth through me in order for us to understand these things that you have laid out for us. God, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ, through the power of your spirit, and through your spirit, you will speak to your people through this vessel.

I pray in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Well, it's been a joy to say the least being able to stand before you all this time that we've been walking through this glorious gospel written by the apostle John.

Here in chapter 15, I've been applying the application of our text as we go. This is something I don't always do. However, I felt it necessary I felt it necessary to do so in this church. When we walk through this section of scripture, what we need to walk away with is understanding that the direct interpretation was applied to his disciples at that time which were physical descendants of Abraham.

That's what we must understand first. That this portion of scripture where Jesus has been sent is direct interpretation to physical descendants of Abraham, particularly those that were following him. But that in no way negates or nullifies an indirect interpretation and an application for us.

So I've been applying that as we go. We have all known people who profess faith in Jesus, live as Christians, and went to churches, and one day just stopped. They stopped professing faith in Christ. They stopped living as Christians and began to forsake the gathering with the saints.

Now this could be for a short time until the discipline of God comes upon them. Or this could be because they were never a part of it. One of the saddest verses in all of scripture that we as Christians have to come to terms with is found in 1 John 3 verse 19.

If you're not returned there, I will read that for you. 1 John 3 verse 19 says this, They were not from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would not continue with us. For they went out that it might become plain that they all are not of us.

Now this too has a direct and indirect interpretation. The direct interpretation has to do with the physical descendants of Abraham who denied that Jesus was the Christ. Still today, we have people that are joining up with the church and church membership to profess faith in Christ, live as Christians, and stop gathering with the saints because they were not from us.

They were not. Our theme for this Lord's Day is New Testament Branches. This is the second part of a two-part message. My proposition is this, New Testament branches are not Old Covenant or Visible Church Membership branches.

There's a difference. Last week, we spoke about how the Old Covenant only branches and how they were cut off from the body when the New Covenant took form. Also, we spoke about how Visible Church Membership only branches and how some can be a member of a church and not be in the New Covenant.

He spent all these years, probably as a child, raised up in church, believing that when you die you're going to go to heaven. Only to hear Jesus say, I never knew. There are many people, sadly, who are going to hear the words, I never knew.

They were never truly sold out to Jesus Christ. They were members of churches but not members of Christ and the New Covenant. Outside of the Memphis and Statham Christ, they too will be cut off from the true heart.

They were connected without a connection. I touched on that last week. I mentioned that this week. I plugged my phone charger in. I didn't push it all the way in. Sometimes when I plug it in, you know how it's like two devices and I'll just plug one device in and the other one will hang out by itself.

I got my phone in and I'm thinking it's charging. I go to check and it didn't charge. I thought it was connected. There wasn't a connection. Dear friends, this is what church membership can be like. If you're here today thinking that you are connected to the vine and all the while you have not repented, you have not true faith in Jesus Christ and your connection but there is no connection.

There is no true connection to the vine. That they will go out from us. When you see that they go out from us and within one They are connected to the church without the connection and you will hear not well done my good and faithful servant but I never need.

Join me as I read for us our text today. John chapter 15 verses 8 through 11. Again, this is Jesus speaking. He says, By this my Father is glorified that ye bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

As the Father hath loved me so I have loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments you will abide in my love just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. This saying I have spoken to you that you may have that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full.

Today we're going to see that Jesus tells us how to bear, Jesus tells us how branches are to bear much fruit. We see that it's through abiding in Christ, through proving we are his disciples and through being joyful.

Point number one is what we looked at last week and it was about abiding in Christ. It was basically just an overlook of what we've been looking at from verses 1 through 7. If I'm not mistaken this is our fifth message in chapter 15.

Points 2 and 3 is what we look at today. Point number 2 is proving we are disciples of Jesus. 3 being joyful in Jesus. Now to transition I want to read for you verses 1 through 7 so we can have our context and comment just a little bit.

Look at verse 1 Jesus starts out with a text of Grantham proclaiming himself to be God. He says I am He says I am the true vine and my father is the vine. At the time Israel was known as the vine and as Jesus is leaving the upper room with his disciples they pass by the temple.

I don't really know the map too well. They could have been way far away. I just don't believe that this just popped in his head for no reason. He just often whenever he's hearing something he would take what was happening in that moment and he would use it as an illustration for himself.

He would show that these things were pointing to him. Now Israel itself points to Christ because we know in the scripture that Jesus is the true Israel. Jesus sees the temple with his gold plated vine and he says that he is the true vine and his father is the vine.

Every branch that ascends to me he says that does not bear fruit he takes away and removes. And every branch that doesn't bear fruit he presents that it may bear more fruit. This word here the Greek word is and I pointed out that this is speaking about sanctification and this word means to transform a guilty and furious.

We talk about how that's what's taking place here at church under the ordinary means of grace. The work of God is being preached over you as those who are baptized will partake in the Lord's supper day after day.

God the Father with his knife and with his spear is turning us sanctifying us he is cleansing us from all guilty and furious. Thank you Lord. And Jesus tells his disciples to listen because Jesus had already written the first book.

He mentions that back in chapter 13 he mentions that not all of you are clean because he knew who would betray him and in verse 3 he says all of you are clean. The word here is the Greek word for understanding of justification our cleanse by the washing of regeneration, the new birth.

He says all of you are born again. Because of the words that I spoke he says abide with me before abiding to remain. And I believe that the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine.

Neither can ye unless you abide in me. We saw in 1 John that to abide in Jesus is to believe in the name of Jesus and to love one another as yourself. He goes on to say that he abides with us through the Holy Spirit.

Now let's look at it again. He says believe in me love me believe the Holy Spirit. The branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can ye unless you abide in me. His word here from the context of Isaiah chapter 5 is justice and righteous.

We found out that we are justified and made right with God because of what Christ Jesus has done for us. He says neither the vine nor the branches. Whoever abides in me and I am the only it is that bears much fruit.

For for me it can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and with it. Branches are gathered together, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.

There are a few specific things that people have trouble with concerning this text and other texts that we've been looking at in Genoa. The first was how God is only the father of the children of Abraham.

And he tells the religious Jews in John chapter 8 your father is the devil. Yes, if this was the descendants of Abraham.

Your father your father is the devil. And these Jews, these children of the.

Children of Abraham their father is the devil. When you read Galatians chapter 3 verse 7 and you're listening to the apostle Paul's interpretation of this, he says note then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.

So it's not the physical descendants of Abraham who are the sons of Abraham or who are the Jesus brothers who have God as their father but it's those who have the faith of Abraham who have God as their father.

Today, if you listen I love our Jesus brothers and sisters I don't think there should be a racist bone in any of our bodies. Because they don't look like it. They're not. We need to understand the truth.

If they do not have the faith of Abraham they are not children of God. They are not the God's chosen people. Now are the physical descendants of Abraham God's chosen people? Yes, for a purpose. To bring about the seed of promise to be given to Abraham for a long purpose.

That seed being Jesus Christ. They fulfilled that purpose. God's chosen people are those that believe in Jesus Christ. That goes really far for a lot of people and particularly a lot of Christians to understand.

The second was that those who did not abide in Christ will face divine judgment. That those who do not believe that Jesus is the Christ who loves our brothers and sisters in Christ will face divine judgment.

That's what the week Remember, it says that his week, being a Christian will be gathered into the barn from the barn here in heaven but the chaff, non-Christians will be burned with an unquenchable fire divine judgment speaking of him.

There's only two places, two remaining ways to go. One, your week, your gathering into the barn, your being in heaven. The second place is hell. You'll face divine judgment and you're going to go to hell.

Those who have faith in Jesus Christ, whether I was speaking to Doug yesterday where we were talking about this over the phone the revelation that Abraham got the gospel that was preached to him. That was the gospel message.

Abraham believed that he was counted righteous. We in hindsight have a more full picture of what took place. However, we have something against us that they can keep people in our time from believing.

You tell them that God became man and he was created and he lived a perfect life and then he died? God died? On a cross? And then he was buried and he came back from the grave? That's foolishness. And so the message that we believe is full of picture, is foolishness is often that it's foolishness to those who are careful.

Those who are going to face divine judgment. However, what sin to really Christians to learn it when it tells us that Christians are to prove themselves to be just as possible. Now, I thought I was going to tell you to look to your own proofs look to your own works in life and judge by the works that you've done in life to see if you're a Christian that's possible.

That's possible. I'm talking about your focus, your gaze upon Jesus. It's free for other people to learn if you are a Christian. Let's look at that real quick. Point number two. Proving we are disciples of Jesus.

Verses 8 -13 Jesus says, By this, my Father is born by, that ye bear much fruit, and so true to be my disciples. That's why it says in Jesus. The Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love.

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. Now to say that all of this links together is an understatement. Abiding. How do we keep this commandment?

We believe in Jesus. Those that believe in Jesus, we gather together for free in order to love one another and prove that we're able to bear fruit. It's all interconnected, and I don't believe that I'm educated enough to even articulate well this diamond with its many facets.

I think if I were to start to think about it, I would just be rambling and begin to make up words that don't make sense. It's so far beyond me. In Jesus, keeping the commandments of His Father is how we are dedicated to Christ.

Abraham was credited. All those in the Old Testament were credited with a righteousness that had not yet been revealed. We are again in all points to when Jesus Christ lived a life that He could not live and took upon Himself a punishment that we deserve.

All righteousness, all right standing with God is based on the active and passive obedience of Jesus Christ. Here, living the life that we could not live and taking the punishment that we deserve. I was talking about earlier, our days and our days need to be focused on Jesus.

That's what it is to be focused on. We're to live our lives with looking to Jesus Christ, the life that He lived and the atoning death and He died, His burial and His resurrection. My dear friends, I believe that everyone sees that Jesus bears fruit.

We as the people of God gather together, we assemble together because we believe in Jesus Christ and we love Him. Through that, the Father cleanses us He cleanses us from our guilty impurities. We're able to bear fruit.

The Son of Jesus Christ loved the Father and the evidence of this is that Jesus fulfills His role because He keeps His commandments. Jesus kept the commandments of the Father. It had to do with His role in the covenant of redemption.

We need two ways to understand Jesus keeping His commandments and we already mentioned them. The first one that we mentioned was Him fulfilling His role in the covenant of redemption. The covenant of redemption is a timely covenant with God.

The Father chose to save the people. The Son comes in through time to save that people through His life, death, burial, and resurrection and the Holy Spirit applies that salvation to those who fear the gospel.

The Father chose them to hear the gospel and to save them. Jesus did His part. His part was to come into time. He steps into a holy throne. He enters into time. He takes all the flesh. He lives in a time that He and I cannot live and He takes the punishment that we deserve and His death is buried and He rises again on the third day.

The part of the commandment that Jesus kept says right here, As the Father has loved me so I have loved you. Abide in my love. Keep my commandments. You will abide in my love. Just as I have kept my Father's commandments.

Speaking of His role in the covenant of redemption. Also, the second way to understand this is Him keeping the law of God in our place as a substitute. Dear friends, Jesus had not fully been obedient to the law of God.

He had not lived the life that you and I could not live. His death would not be a perfect end. Jesus in verse 8 is telling us how to glorify God. Now, I hate to do this but I'm going to quote from the Westminster Professions of the Age of Short Catechism.

I'm going to be smiling. Stop it! But it's just a fantastic quote. The Westminster Short Catechism Question 1 says this. What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. We glorify God according to verse 8 by bearing fruit. Bearing fruit. And through our bearing fruit, we prove ourselves to be disciples of Jesus.

That's the best catechism of verse 8. By this my Father is glorified that He bare much fruit and so true to be my disciple. A lot of people, they don't like the fact that once they become a Christian, now they have to do something.

You have to love Jesus. I have to love Jesus. That's why one of the hardest things about being a Christian is this love for one another. When we're born, we're so set and we're so set that it's all about me, me, me, me, myself, and only me.

That's not how it's to be a Christian. To glorify God according to verse 8 by bearing much fruit. And it has to do with those who believe in Him, gather together, and love one another. And we can only bear much fruit through our abiding in Jesus, our believing in Him, and loving one another.

It's the only way that we can bear much fruit. It's the only way that we can prove ourselves to be disciples of Jesus. Because those who can't believe in Jesus gather together and love one another. I think Christians would do well to understand that the church is a gift given to us by God.

So that we can carry out this commandment. This commandment.

Without the church. You cannot do it. Without the church, we do not bear much fruit. We cannot prove ourselves to be disciples of Jesus. We cannot love one another if there is no gathering. This is why what took place in 2020 was so important in the church, right?

You know, this COVID, this shot thing that came about, and the world was trying to keep people from gathering together. Because Christians, they're trying to keep us from being able to keep the commandment of God.

If we gather, we love one another. If we don't gather, we love one another. Things that are good to evil, things that are evil, good. This is the only way that we can fulfill this commandment. Those who believe in Jesus gather together and love one another.

This is the Holy Spirit. Me and myself and others. It's self-sacrifice. Can I just say something? We need the Holy Spirit in order to carry out these commandments. I don't know about you, but I really love the fact that the Bible when it tells us to do something, it tells us how to do the something that it tells us to do.

But it doesn't leave you one way. It tells you to abide. It tells you how to abide. It tells us how to abide in Jesus, and it tells us how to abide in Jesus, and it tells us to bear fruit. And it tells us how to bring those fruits of the Holy Spirit together.

Gathering together, all the Lord's angels. I just know that. In this gathering, God is pouring over us, sanctifying us, giving to us a deeper and richer knowledge of Him, a deeper and richer love for Him, a deeper and richer love for one another.

Now, this might not be true for all of you. My hope is that you love me more today than you did the first day you visited me. But if you love God more today than you did the first day you visited me, just so.

That we're growing in our knowledge of God, we're growing in our love for God, and we're growing in our love for one another. This is a part of our reward by God and enjoying Him. If you do not gather with the saints on the Lord's day, and let me just say this, if you're not enjoying gathering, if you do not love to gather with the saints on the Lord's day, you will not.

I just imagine the best moments that we have here at church, right? The best moments that we have in our life, the theological talks, the bantering back and forth, right? Or even if it's just with the guys in the area, or the women in the book club, or the guys on the street, I can't think of the next step.

But we're just together, and we're hanging out, and we're laughing, and we're talking about the things of God, and we're celebrating. And I imagine this is the best moments here that most of us walk away from.

And I think this could be, by itself. Last week we touched on the fruit of righteousness and the fruit of repentance. And we read from Galatians chapter 5 concerning the fruit of the Spirit. And those fruits you see in Galatians chapter 5 was love.

The fruit of love. Joy, peace, patience, kindness, spiritualness, faithfulness, forgiveness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-compassion. We know that we've practiced those things here. We've been speaking about love, right?

And how to enjoy God, we're also to enjoy one another. We're here that our hearts should be filled with joy. We should be joyful that we're able to gather together. Right? And there needs to be a house, a church, a local church who has peace, like there should be peace in this life.

And we're able to display to one another our kindness and goodness and our faithfulness. Not only to God, but to one another. Our gentleness and trust. These nine fruits that we read about in Galatians chapter 5 are the first of all to be displayed.

I want to read this as our first of all to be displayed in our own. In the church, we have this common faith. I'll come with you to 2 Peter chapter 1. But as we turn to 2 Peter chapter 1, I want to again remind you as you're coming in, you need to understand that these fruits here in Galatians, and also that we're going to look at in Peter, do not justifier for God.

I'm not saying do these things and God will be pleased with you and grant you salvation. Justification is by grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ. For God has forgiven us of our sins because of the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

You believe in that. That's not your justification. However, horizontal justification is the fruit of justification in my view, we are justified not before me, but before men. Imagine I'm sure all of us have known someone who says they believe in Christ and live like a devil.

We probably know people like that. But we can't take this discussion and take it seriously. We see it all the time on the internet. These big church banter groups and I hate everyone that doesn't believe.

I've always tried to build bridges between people who have a slightly different belief. You don't have to be formed back as somebody that is a right-hand person. It would cause you further and further in front.

The bottom line is no one has a right-hand person. There's a difference between vertical faith in God, faith in Jesus Christ versus horizontal justification. You can tell me that I don't believe in Christ in my life.

We'll start again in verse 3. The divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to one and one that is building us up to what's coming. Read that again. His divine power. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to light and godliness through the knowledge of him who calls us to his own glory and excellence.

By this he has granted to us his precious and very great promises so that through him we may become partakers of his divine nature, speaking of our resurrection of the dead, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desires or thoughts.

For this very reason listen. For this very reason make little effort or every effort make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue where virtue here is moral excellence and your moral excellence your virtue, this is how you live with knowledge with knowledge where do you get the knowledge from?

It's important to have knowledge make every effort make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue with moral excellence with knowledge with self-control and self-control steadfastness here is perseverance perseverance you're coming you keep coming you keep coming and to the very end, perseverance you just come and your steadfastness with gladness and your gladness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love for at least quality what I just read page 3 faith, moral excellence knowledge, self-control perseverance gladness brotherly affection and love.

For if these qualities are yours and are increasing they keep you from being ineffective or unfeasible in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you Lord for we don't want these qualities. We want equality.

Equality. Equality is so nearsighted that he is blind having forgotten that he was slain. Therefore you be all the more diligent to confess your calling in relation to these qualities these qualities you will never fail.

If you practice your faith moral excellence knowledge, self-control perseverance gladness, brotherly affection and love you will never fail. This is the word of God this is very much. It's a little like a comforting word that joyful sensual calling and perseverance if our Jesus this is the word of God it's so dear to my heart and it's so dear to me to make your calling in relation to those faiths.

Faith in Jesus Christ. The Father has loved me so I am loved you. Abide in my love if you keep my commandments. If you keep my commandments you will abide in my love just as I have kept my Father's commandments.

In order to measure how much Jesus loved us we would have to be able to measure how much the Father loved Jesus. We have rulers that day and for us to keep the commandments of Christ we are to love one another.

Do you know how much we are to love one another. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. How much has he loved us as much as the Father loved him he loved me he loved me with the unimaginable love as the Father loved the Son and the Son loved us we are to love one another in the same way that the Father loved the Son the Son loves us we are to love one another in that same kind of love.

And dear brothers and sisters the Gospel has not lost it. Christians have lost their ability in the same capacity as the Father loved the Son and the Son loved us you understand what I am talking about this is why Christians have lost their ability they have lost their ability to serve the world to serve the church to serve the family to serve God.

I said this I can't continue this is holy spirit if you have holy spirit and the football you have that crown of saints I'm telling you, it's so much what we're doing, we're tormenting the Holy Spirit, we're tormenting the Holy Spirit's mouth, it's as simple as that.

So this second scripture has convinced me and has challenged me in so many different areas. Most would rather betray you with a kiss than to repent and ask for forgiveness. Right? The most intimate way of betrayal, we see it with Judas, we spoke about it last week, we have Judas who betrayed Jesus with a kiss.

Most people today would rather betray you in the most intimate way than to repent and ask for forgiveness. In John chapter 13 verse 35 Jesus says,. By this all people will know that you are mine disciples.

This, we love one another. The people know that you are disciples of Jesus. The only way for them to know is to love one another. We love one another. In order to bear fruit, we must abide in Jesus and we do that through keeping his commandments.

By believing in Jesus and loving one another in the same way that the father loves the son, the son loves the father. And my business here today is for you to be disciples. He's a master. He's a master.

What that is, is a gift to us. We are not abiding in him. We show ourselves to be false protectors of the things and we will be, because they are just like us. We will go off on them because we were not.

If we are not loving one another, we cannot show the fruit of the Spirit to one another. In our last point we wanted to see that abiding in Christ, abiding in Jesus, bringing him and glorifying God is for our joy.

Point number 20, being joyful in Jesus. Look at verse 11. These things I have spoken to you, that you may be filled. Let's read that verse. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that this joy may be full.

Again, I was trying to touch on this earlier. The last two weeks, this message has been really weighing on me. Again, as I'm going through it, I would say the last seven or eight weeks I've been preaching to this whole thing.