(John) the Beliver's Prospect — Willie Mullan

We're coming to John chapter 15 again this evening. John 15, and we're up to the latter part of the chapter. I'm going to get right through this evening, from verse 9, right through to the end of verse 27, right to the end of the chapter.

The Believer’s Prospect: Fullness of Joy in the True Vine

From 9 to 27, and in these verses, I want to underline four things for you. The first one, I want to talk about the believer's prospect as he walks in fellowship with the true vine. And the prospect is this, that your joy might be full.

You see, if we can really walk this walk of faith in full fellowship with him who is our all-sufficiency, then the production can be fullness of joy at times. We can get right on to the heights. The Lord Jesus is saying in this wonderful discourse, that your joy might be full.

And that's the believer's prospect as he walks in fellowship with him who is his all-sufficiency. And then I want to touch on the believer's position as he works. You see, not only are we the servants of the Lord, but the Lord desires that we should come much closer.

Ye are my friends. This is really the position, as we walk in that corner of the vineyard where the Lord has placed us. And then there's a wonderful part at the end of this chapter, the believer's place in the world.

We've been chosen out of the world. We're in it, all right, but we're not off it. And there's tremendous teaching here about the believer and his place in the world. And then the chapter finishes with the believer's power as he witnesses.

Now, these are so much linked together that one couldn't dare to separate them, and we must take them all this evening. The believer's prospect as he walks, the believer's position as he works, the believer's place in the world, and the believer's power as he witnesses.

Very precious portion this evening. Now, we're starting right back there at verse 9. I think that you'll remember this, that in chapter 14, our Lord Jesus Christ said to his disciples in verse 27, "'Peace I leave with you,' and then you remember how he emphasized, "'My peace I give unto you.'".

You see, that's something that belongs to the believer. His mind ought to be filled with peace, yes, peace that passes all understanding. You remember how I differentiated between these two? It has peace.

That was the subject of peace, of course, the truth about peace. That was peace with God, peace that came by the blood of the cross. But then the other, my peace, is the peace of God, and this belongs to every blood-bought believer.

This is good if you go in for it. You ought to have your mind filled with peace, and now he's saying in this chapter, you ought to have your soul filled with joy, and the pathway to the mind filled with peace and the soul filled with joy is to have your heart filled with love, because the three are very intimately connected right through the scripture, love, joy, peace.

But the believer ought to have his mind filled with peace, and he ought to have his soul filled with joy, and the way to it is to get your heart filled with love. Now, you watch the Lord leading you into this.

He's talking about his love here in verse 9. As the Father hath loved me, I loved you. See, it shows us the measurement of Christ's love. It's so great, you know. As the Father hath loved me, just think how much the Father loved him.

So have I loved you. I think you're bound to get this in a glance, that the Father's love for Christ was unchanging love. You'd like to come around afterwards and tell me that it changed at any time. Well, that's the kind of love that Christ has for you, unchanging love.

And the Father's love for Christ was unending love. Love this evening with the very same kind of love of the Father loved the Son, so the Son loves me. And that's unending. It will never end. It's true to say, I'm loved with everlasting love.

Yes, it's unending and it's unchanging. And I want to say this, it's unparalleled. There is no like the love of Jesus. And I could go on like that forever so long, but I'm only starting you thinking. You're looking now at the measurement, love, and it's so great.

Ah yes, it's part of knowledge. It will never be able to plumb the depth, or scale the height, or length, or breadth of the love of Christ. But he's now telling you, as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you.

That's the measurement of his love, and it's so great. Then he quickly said behind that, continue ye in my love. And that's the encouragement. And it was so sincere. You know, I think that this is what was happening.

You have these disciples standing around him. They were marching, remember, to get seminary at this time. And I feel as they strolled along in the shadows that evening to get seminary, that he might have stopped and said, as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you, spite of what you are.

And then he makes a plea to them, continue ye in my love. All the word that's used there, that word continue, is the word that we've been studying right down the chapter. It's the word abide. And it's the very same Greek word too.

It's the word abide. Because he's been teaching them what abiding meant. And he's just showing them the full-on vision of the wonderful ocean of his love. And he says, look, abide in it. No matter how dark the day may get, in the disappointment, just get the hold of this, that he really loves you, and get into it.

He who loves you won't cause you a needless tear. He wants you now. He wants you to abide there. That's what he said to them. And he's saying that now to you. And when your dark days come, and the storm is battering upon you, and the boat is almost filled with water, and you feel the whole things at an end, and you stand at whip's end corner, will you remember this?

That he pleaded with you. He pleaded with you. Abide in my love. That's the encouragement that's here. And then he went on further, verse 9 again, As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love.

Ye keep my commandment. Ye shall abide in my love. And that was an announcement that was perfectly clear. You know, if you're really going to know something of the wonder and the thrill of the length and breadth and breadth of this love, let me tell you this, you'll have to be an obedient disciple.

My dear friends, there's no getting out of this. This is the Lord walking down the road and he's talking to them. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Now abide in this love. If ye keep my commandment, you'll be found in the very center of this love, abiding.

And if you don't, you won't. My, you'll miss something. And you'll never get the thrill of it. The people who came through the book, burrowed their feet, and wiped their feet on it, and disobeyed his commandments, and one of them is believer's baptism.

I mean, you don't like that. You love to shout about potpourri, don't you? Well, you'll need to learn to obey the book, too, because there's no use shouting about potpourri when you're stuck in it. So, there's not.

You would need to get away from it, because, mind you, sprinkling was never found in this book. It came from pagan Rome, and you would need to get away from it. There's no use for shouting, you know. You need to obey God's words.

If the announcement is absolutely clear, the Lord Jesus is talking, now go on again. Verse 9, Of the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. That's the measurement. Continue ye in my love. That's the encouragement.

If you keep my commandment, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandment, and abide in his love. That's the announcement. And then he comes to the point, you see. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

That's the enrichment, you know. You know, I think this is a lovely teaching. Oh, how wonderful our Lord was. He's walking down this dark road to Gethsemane, and the gates are looming far ahead there, and he knows everything that's going to happen, and how very tender he was with all these disciples.

He's trying to let them see how much he loves them, and he's trying to encourage them to enter into the very depths of that love, and let it protect them in the days to come, and he's showing them how they can enter in, only obey my commandment.

And then he says, if you do, you know, your joy. You wouldn't tell me that you could know the fullness of joy while you're tearing up God's word, would you? Ah, you couldn't bluff me like that. You men and women in this meeting who are playing God's word every day you live.

You have never really tested the fullness, and you won't, you know. You can fiddle around with closing your eyes in the back room, and giving yourself to God a thousand times every day, and calling it holiness, and second blessing, and sanctification, but until you come to obey, continue, my, I'd be amused at all the talk sometimes when the Lord Jesus said, sanctify them through thy truth.

If you learn to obey, you'll very soon find that your heart will be bubbling over, and like the psalmist, you'll be able to say, my God, run us over. By when you obey. Obedience, you know, is better than sacrifice.

This is good teaching, this here. Now, watch it go still further. My commandment, that you love one another. I have loved you. Now, you saw the measurement, didn't you? And you saw the encouragement, and you saw the announcement, and you saw the enrichment.

Loving One Another as Christ Commanded

Now, this is the commandment. Now, this is very humbling. You know, this really struck me as I got down to think about it, that the Lord Jesus coming down this road, with an arm around this woman, walking slowly, and expounding these wonderful things to them.

He said, this is my commandment. I think that he had to command us to love one another. How humbling that is. You know, he must have really known what we were made of. Why, we talk behind each other's back, and we criticize, and we pull apart, and we do so many things we should never do to another brother, that the Lord has to command us to be commanded.

Love one another. How humbling this is. See that we finger there, when it gets hurt, that one there ups and downs, because it's in the same body. But it doesn't happen with a believer, you know. Why, when a wee finger gets hurt, the other boys all trample on it.

And there's none of us escaping this, you know. You have to command me. You can hardly face the truth, can you? Now, you're getting this, aren't you? As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. That's the measurement.

Oh, what wonderful love that is. You should meditate on that sometime. Then here's the encouragement, continue ye in my love. Abide there. And then here is the announcement, if ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love.

Then here is the enrichment, these things have I spoken unto you, that your joy might be full. And then here is the commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you. And then here's the fulfilment.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend. We're a long way from that, aren't we? I often wonder, would we really lay down our life for one another? You see, I believe that he was looking at these disciples here, and he can see them, the finished article.

His friend, not so much sinners, you know, this time. His friend, it's like giving himself with a catch. Oh, I know he died for sinners, I know that. I know he died for the ungodly, of course I do. But I know he looked at us as friends.

He gave his life for us. Don't forget that. He sought in that light, too. He loved me. Gave himself for me. And you know, he did leave an example, didn't he? Don't let me be misunderstood here, that unsaved people do not need examples from the life of Christ.

They need life from the death of Christ first. You begin at the cross, dear. Not an example from the life of Christ that you need. It's life from the death of Christ you need. You need to get life first.

Then you can follow after the footsteps, but not until you get life. And then there are great examples. So you can trace this unto the prospect before every believer walking with the Lord and abiding in his love of this, that you might be filled with joy.

What a lovely one. Now, the moment that he touched friends, he took up the subject again. That's where it changes, you see. And that's why I said they're all connected. He looked at them and he said, ye are my friends.

Friendship, Lordship, and Fellowship with Christ

I think that's very lovely, you know. You know, when a man reaches, shall we say, the highest peak in the nation, supposing he comes right up to be the prime minister, and he looks down at some common workman that he went to school with, and he acknowledges, this is my friend.

Now, it's a wonderful thing. Of course, if the common workman took it round the other way and said, he's my friend, that's not what is meant here. That may even be indigence or conceit, but when it comes from the up-down, it's the proper way.

I preached at a very large conference once in Scotland, with about four thousand people there, and about ten great dignitaries on the platform. And just before I went forward to preach, the Minister of Labour here in the north of Ireland was on the platform, Major Neill.

And he just got up and went forward to the rostrum, and he said, ladies and gentlemen, I'm the Minister of Labour in Northern Ireland's Parliament, and this man is my friend. I thought I was very nice of him, he didn't need to do it.

And when he sat down, the Minister of Health now, who's W Morgan, he just got up behind him and said, ladies and gentlemen, I'm the Minister of Health in Northern Ireland, and this man is my friend. I could hardly open my mouth for tears.

I'm just a wee fellow from a back street, but he is two of the heads of our government, and how very humble of him to acknowledge this. But when the Lord Jesus looks at me and says, you're my friend, oh, how wonderful it is.

Can you see it now? He calls me his friend. But you are dear, you're just a woman from the back street, aren't you? Well, the blessed Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, is looking into your face now and saying, you are my friend.

You know, there's something about friendship, you know. Friendship, you know, if you're in the job where I am, well, you meet so many people, but you have only a few intimate friends. Friends who will always be your friends, stand by you through thick and thin.

And you know, your friends are privileged people, because they get to know all the secrets, and all the burdens, and everything that goes on in the inner life. You know, you don't keep secrets back from your friends.

Abraham was called the friend of God, and remember, he's the only Old Testament character who was called the friend of God. And when God determined to blot out Sodom and Gomorrah, you know, it seemed that God had to stop on the brow of the hill and say, shall I keep this from Abraham, my friend?

And he couldn't keep it from him. He had to tell him. And he told him the night before. He told him what he was going to do. You see, if you're really a friend, you get the secret of the Lord. But wait a minute, don't run away too quick.

There's something more here. Read the whole text. I wouldn't like to break it like that. Verse 14. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. Remember that friendship is definitely linked with lordship.

Oh, you just can't be called a friend if you're not prepared to own them with your life. You must see that. You know, so many people think they can just do as they like and link their arm in the arm of the Lord.

Well, you just can't. No, you won't be walking with them at all. You'll be walking afar off. Yes, ye are my friends, and that's worth going in for if ye do listen to it whatsoever. Don't start arguing with me.

It'll leave you standing at the corner where you're arguing. Don't start arguing. Lordship, ye are my friends. If ye do whatsoever I command you. Then he gets into the depth. Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth, but I have called you friends.

You see, for all things that I've heard of my father I've made known unto you. You know, it's wonderful what he really says, just says. And, you know, if you really want to know the secret of the Lord, you know, you'll have to bow down low in the dust, and crown him definitely Lord of all, and be prepared to promptly obey his word when he speaks.

It's just love, you know. You just don't come talking and saying, Lord, Lord. Because, you know, so many draw an eye unto him with their lips, but their hearts are far from him. And he tests you. And, you know, if you're really prepared to crown him as Lord of your life, and do whatsoever he says unto you, whatsoever he says unto you, do it.

Then I'll tell you this, you'll get to know a whole lot of things that this poor world never knows. The saints at Thessalonica, they were only a week or two saved when Paul penned the letter back. And here's what he penned in it, Thou knowest perfectly.

Oh, just the babes in Christ, what did they know perfectly? Thou knowest perfectly that the day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night. For when the worldlings say, peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, and they shall not escape.

And the babes in Christ knew it. What do we think? You'll need to live with the Lord. Friendship is linked with lordship, and then lordship is linked with fellowship. You see, you get in cross by being obedient to his words.

And in that first place, he calls you friends, and he treats you as friends. And he begins to tell you things that are in the heart of all power of that fellowship. Merely satisfaction, there it is worth.

And I want you to notice here that there's something more attached to this. See verse 14 again. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not serpents, for the serpent knows 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. Ye have not chosen me. I think that the real teaching here is this, you know. Ye have not chosen me as a friend.

I have chosen you. That goes on down through every department. You know, they were not only chosen as friends, not only chosen as serpents, not only chosen as vessels, apostles. How they were the chosen.

Few, eleven apostles walking down the road. He gave them the niche. Yes, you see this. Friendship, and lordship, and fellowship, and apostleship are all wonderfully connected here. Wonderfully connected are the ideas this, that you are very placed in the body, and you are very powerful for the throne.

All comes because I'm your friend and you're mine. Here's how he ended this. You can hardly see the connection unless you look out of sight. Verse 16. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that ye 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.

Did you get the whole of this? Look, portion, their position, and their power before the throne of God is all connected. Friendship that comes because of lordship. You want to know how to pray to get answers?

Well, I'll very soon tell you. Here it says in the words of God, if our heart condemns not, then every confidence before God, and whatsoever we ask of him, we receive because we keep his commandments and do those things which are pleasing in the sight.

Well, that's it. You see, confidence is linked with conduct, and your conduct is when you keep his commandments and do those things which are pleasing in his sight, and when you do it, that's lordship.

That brings you into the place of friendship, and that brings you into the place of fellowship, where you can go right through, and your power to ask to his holy name, and you'll get answers. Lovely, you know, to be a friend of the king.

The Believer’s Place in a Hostile World

All right, now we come to something that's still more difficult. Then that little paragraph with the very same phrase, these things I command you, is this love. This love for each other, and this love for him, is the foundation that takes us into the fullness of joy, and by when we are confessed as friends of the king.

Now, look at how he begins verse 18. If the world hated you, know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own, but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.

If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sinned. But now they have no cloak for their sins. He that hates me, hates my father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sinned.

But now have they both seen and hated both me and my father. This cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in the law. They hated me without a cause. And this tremendous teaching is touching the believer's place in the world.

You see, believers are chosen people, and on this occasion, watch, I have chosen you out of the world. Verse 19, you see, it is quite true that we're in the world tonight, but we're not offered. It is quite true that many of you have to mix every day with worldlings.

But you don't need to do as the worldlings do, you know. You see, you are a peculiar people. You're in it, but not offered. But let me tell you this, if you live in this peculiar place, you'll be persecuted.

That's why you'll be persecuted, because you just live in this peculiar place. You're a persecution. That's what the Master was telling me. Yes, but I want you to notice more. You see, this people that's chosen out of the world, he said in verse 21, but all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake.

You see, this is the professing people. You know what they did to the Lord? Watch the two things, did you notice it? Verse 22, had I not come unspoken unto them. See, verse 24, had I not done among them the works.

You see, you must be a professing peculiar person, that your works must magnify Him, and if they do, you'll get persecuted. You just go and talk about Christ tomorrow. You just live for Christ tomorrow.

You just bring a message, and you just do for the works. You'll find you're in the very same mix as he was then. You'll be persecuted. You see, we're a peculiar people, and we're a professing people. My, when you start to talk about the Lord leading you, you know, to some people, they just think you're mad.

And when you go on in this, they would persecute you for it. But, you know, we want to be more than just a peculiar professing. There must be a production from our lives, and the only thing that will glorify God is the production of the fruit of the vine, which is Christ.

When you begin to let this world see something of the peculiar person you are, and the profession you make, and the production you bring forth, you're going to be persecuted. All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, is the plain teaching of God's Word.

Oh, you see, this was bound to bear a mark on me, boys. I wanted to see them. It was all right while he put his arms around them and talked about being filled with peace, and being filled with love, and being filled with joy, and you're my friends, but he's a newbitch.

I was hit with un-persecution, waiting for you round the corner. The place that you have in this world. And now he comes to the real teaching. That's why I couldn't break it. You see, there's a but there, isn't there?

The Comforter and the Spirit of Truth

Verse 26. When the Comforter is come, you see, I want you to get a hold of that. This is very rich. You see, here they're standing, just eleven, common, ordinary, five-eighths, following the Master, and he's about to leave them, and he told them that he was the all-sufficiency at the chapter, and he told them that they could get fullness of peace for their minds, and fullness of joy for their souls, and fullness of love for their hearts.

How is this to be got by the power of the Comforter? The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace. Do not ask to stir it up yet. How are we going to enter into the depths of fellowship until we get the secret of the Lord by the Holy Ghost?

I think they might have turned around and said, Lord, Lord, how are we going to face the world? How are we going to face this persecution? How are we going to face the hatred of men? You see the importance now of being filled with the Spirit, because it will produce love, joy, peace.

It will bring you into the near peace and fellowship, where you can get answers to prayer, and it will make them more than conqueror, even in the evil day. But watch, there's something more here. First of all, you see the Comforter here, don't you?

It is a lovely little phrase, verse 26, but when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father. Now, the Conqueror is here. I want you to get the hold of this. This is very wonderful.

He's walking down the slopes through Gethsemane, isn't he? And horrible, dreadful Gethsemane lies ahead there. And just a little bit from that is Gabbatha, where they stripped the Lord from his back and ripped his back into furrows, where they pulled the hairs from his cheeks and crushed the arms upon his brow.

And a little bit further on is Golgotha. Gethsemane, Gabbatha, Golgotha. He's not worried. He says, I'll do right through it, you know, and back home. That's the Comforter. And the old modernists who write in this city of Belfast of ours and say that when he was in Gethsemane, he didn't know where he was and was confused.

You just take them back a step or two and let them know. But he talks about sending the Holy Ghost from the Father before he ever enters Gethsemane. Of course, they run past these races. This is the Conqueror talking.

He's not worried, you know. He's not trembling. He's almost at the gate of Gethsemane. But he says, I'll conquer this thing. My, this is the victory. But we don't only see a victory in this phrase. I think you see more.

Have a look back at chapter fourteen and twenty-six. Chapter fourteen, twenty-six, speaking of the same event, but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name. Oh, did you see that?

You see, way back there in fourteen, it was the Father who was sending the Comforter. But just so that these fellows see really who he was, at the end of fifteen he said, I will send. You see the victory.

You see the equality of the blessed Lord with the Father and the whole Trinity is appearing on the page. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He said, I'll send. So that here you see the victory and the unity and the equality and the deity of our Lord Jesus.

How much is in that wonderful phrase? But there's a little bit more here. Yes, the Comforter is here, and the Conqueror is here, when the Comforter has come whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth.

You see, he changed that. Yes, the Comforter is one title, because that's how he comes to us, to walk with us down through this horrible, dreadful pathway of persecution and hatred that will come to you from the world if you really live as a peculiar, professing, producing person.

Yes, he'll come to you as the Comforter. But you know, there's a little bit more than that. He'll come to you as the Spirit of truth. Oh, how I prove this. Why, here I am tonight, and here you are. My, I've got a crowd sitting round the Word of God, listening to a common five-eighth from a back street.

Yes, oh yes, no scholar, of course not. No, but one who sat at the feet of Jesus and was taught by the Spirit of truth, who knows all truth. Oh, I'd just lay on the hills and let them fill my soul with truth at times.

It's been lovely to do it too, and I shall do it for all eternity. You know, when I get up there, I'm only practising now. Ah, here's the certifier. He can tell you what's what and what's not what. Yes, he's here, and I want you to notice this.

Oh, what a phrase that is. You know, he's the champion of the Lord. You see that little phrase, just five words. It begins with he, doesn't it? Well, it ends with me. And I'll tell you this, young people, if you want to know when the Holy Ghost is really working in your life, whatever begins with he, it will end with Christ, because he has come to testify of Christ's working in the beginning.

Christ is exalted. Whatever begins with he, it will end with Christ. See that book? That book began with he, the Holy Ghost, his author, is seen in the book. Christ. To him gave all the prophets witness, every type and shadow and parallel and picture and promise and prophecy of the Old Testament exalts the Lord.

See my Christian life? Who began this work in me? If the Holy Ghost came and convicted me of my deep dire death with me, what will the finished article be like? I'll be like Christ or be like Christ. That'll be the finished article.

See this big world of ours. Yes, who brought it into being? The Spirit of God brewed it. Listen to this. Who'll be glorified on every weave of the sea and on every inch of the land? The whole world will be full of the glory of the Lord.

You're bound to know where you are. That's the champion. But look at this. The children are here. Yes, the comforter is here. Yes, the conqueror is here. Yes, the certifier is here. Yes, the champion is here.

The Believer’s Power as a Witness

And ye also shall bear witness while the children are here. You know, isn't it lovely that the great eternal God has so planned that we who have come as repentant sinners to the cross and accepted his son as our own and personal savior, that we should be indwelt by the Holy Ghost, that we too should be witnesses of Christ.