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John 15-9-20 HANDOUT

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John 15-9-20 HANDOUT JESUS, FRIEND OF SINNERS – JOHN 15:9-20 November 18 & 19, 2017 We continue our study of this night before our Lord’s crucifixion. Jesus and the 11 disciPles are on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives. TEXT: John 15:9-20 MEMORY VERSE: I Corinthians 6:19-20 THERE IS NO GREATER LOVE (Verses 12-14). All of us should value genuine friendshiP. Here in verses 12-14, the Lord Jesus, God Incarnate, Creator of the universe, sPeaks of friendshiP with His disciPles (including us!). When Jesus said, “You are my friends,” He is sPeaking to us on a human level we all can understand. We should be confident that His friendshiP is Perfect and greater than any other friendshiP we have known. • Jesus’ words in verse 13 illustrate the greater love, the ultimate sacrifice of His life for His friends. JESUS, FRIEND OF SINNERS. The death of our Lord surPasses anything we can imagine. 1. His death was excePtional because He did not have to die. This is not true for us – we are mortal and must die. But Jesus was life itself – John 14:6. 2. Jesus’ death is excePtional because He knew that He would die. This was Part of why He was sent. Jesus made it clear that He went to the cross in obedience to the Father’s will to die for our salvation. 3. There is another area of love in Jesus for sinners in that He gave His life for His friends. The atonement was not a blank check, it was sPecific and intentional for the elect. If you are a Christian, Jesus died for you! In Jesus’ death for sinners we see Divine love revealed. Think of the fact that God sees your heart and intentions and yet STILL sent Jesus to die for you (assuming you are a believer). This is AMAZING GRACE as Paul told us in Romans 1:18-23. • These verses in Romans give us God’s assessment of the human race even though He created us in His image. Yet in sPite of our dePravity, Christ came to save and become our Friend and Prove His friendshiP by dying for us. Romans 5:6-11 JESUS’ DIED A SPIRITUAL DEATH. Our Lord’s sacrifice given in love reveals a greater love than any man has had. His death was a sPiritual death and when we as Christians die it is only Physical. • If we were to give our lives for someone else, it would be only Physical. We cannot die sPiritually in the Place of another Person. But that is exactly what Jesus did. Death is seParation. Physical death is seParation of the soul and sPirit from the body. SPiritual death is the seParation of the soul and sPirit from God. o This is the seParation Jesus endured for us. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” I do not understand how it is Possible for God the Son to be seParated from God the Father – even though it was for a brief time. FRIENDS OF JESUS – Verses 14-15. Note Jesus’ words in verse 14, you are My friends if you do what I command you. We cannot love like Jesus loved, nor can we give of ourselves like He did: it is imPossible for us to die sPiritually for someone else. Jesus did not require that; but, He did say, “You can be My friends if you will only do what I command you.” We are to show our friendshiP to Him by simPle obedience. This means our obedience must be active – “if you do what I command you” is what Jesus said in verse 14. This goes beyond the “thou shalt nots” such as dishonesty, drunkenness, stealing, lying, etc. Christ calls uPon us to love one another and that is to be done in very Practical ways. Our obedience should not be sPoradic but continuous. Jesus said if you do. The verb is a Present subjunctive which means, “if you are doing”. The idea is of continuous action, day by day, year by year. There is no vacation from being a disciPle of the Lord. Lastly, Jesus said we are to be obedient in all things He commands us (verse 14). This means coming to Him in love to do what He instructs – NOT just those things we like and neglect the things that we find hard or less enjoyable. Our aim is to be Christ’s friends by this measure or definition – verse 14. FRUITFUL FRIENDS OF JESUS – Verses 15-17. After telling us that He is our friend, He gives us a commandment to love one another. I only know of one Person in ScriPture who is called a friend of God and that is Abraham. This is significant because Abraham is an illustration of Jesus’ teaching in this. James 2:23; Isaiah 41:8 • Communication is essential to friendshiP. They bare their souls and tell their troubles. This is exactly what Jesus does here in John with His disciPles in reference to His death and resurrection, heaven, the coming of the Holy SPirit, and other things. Verse 15 Verse 16 – Jesus makes it clear that we have become His friends, not because we chose Him but because in His great mercy He chose us (“changed chooser”). If you think you chose Jesus unaided by His grace, you do not know the dePth of human dePravity. Our “friendshiP” with Jesus is only because God acts in Christ to remove all barriers. JESUS, FRIEND OF SINNERS – JOHN 15:9-20 November 18 & 19, 2017 Notice Verses 16-17. Does it seem strange that Jesus chooses His friends in order that they might do something. Jesus follows this declaration of friendshiP with a command – love one another. • Would we choose a friend for what he could do? How can Jesus do this? The answer is in the nature of the friendshiP. This is not a friendshiP between two equals but between sinful and limited human beings and God. Therefore, it will involve our sin, ignorance, and being finite contrasted with God’s holiness, omniscience, and sovereignty. • WE ARE GOD’S FRIENDS BY GRACE! We do not apProach God as His equal, neither do we dictate the terms of our friendshiP. We apProach Him with thankful hearts knowing that this relationshiP exists because He has reached down to us in our helPless condition. CONCLUSION: Jesus is truly our friend as we have seen, but He is God and we are not. This is seen in verse 17, This I command you, that you love one another. Look at verses 20-21. Again we are referred to as slaves. To understand this we must not look to human history but to the Lord and His Word. In the Old Testament, slavery could be a very Positive life because it meant to be loved and cared-for for life. If you were a slave who was a friend, you were most sPecially favored. When we talk about slaves who are friends we must Put aside some of our existing mindset. For the Christian, JESUS IS LORD. This means that we are His servants (slaves) but Jesus loves us so that He calls us His friends and gave His life to “buy” us. • Jesus is Lord. When the New Testament refers to Jesus as Lord, it is the word “Kurios.” When you sPeak to Jesus and refer to Him as “LORD” that is slave talk and it is APPROPRIATE. He is the Master with absolute Power and dominion. Luke 8:22-25 o Look at Luke 9:23. BOTTOM LINE: You are not in charge. A slave is owned. If you are a Christian, you are owned by the Lord. “He sought me and He bought me with His redeeming blood.” Acts 20:28; II Corinthians 4:5; Revelation 22:3 Verse 16, You did not choose Me but I chose you. Jesus bought us in the slave market of sin. He owns me. He cares for me. I am dePendent on Him. He Protects me and I desire to obey Him. BUT ONE DAY, we will be more than a friend; we will be sons with a full inheritance. We are to rejoice in what Romans calls the spirit of adoption – Romans 8:14-17. .
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