10-14-2018 – Jesus Calls Us His Friends

This is the insert from the bulletin. The full sermon notes are also downloadable.

10-14-2018

Jesus Calls Us His Friends

John 15:12-16

John 15:12-14... Jesus commands us to love one another with agape love (1John 4:7-8, 20; 5:1-2).
John 13:35, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Jesus was just hours away from the Cross, when He would die, so that all who believe in Him might live.
1Peter 3:18, “Christ died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.”
Our greatest need is forgiveness (cf Romans 3:10-12, 23-24; 6:23; 8:1; 10:9-10, 13).
John 1:12-13, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
In Matthew 12:50, Jesus says, “whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.’” In John 6:29 Jesus says, God’s will is for us to believe in Jesus, God’s Son..
Good works can’t produce salvation; but salvation will produce good works (see Ephesians 2:8-10).
Titus 3:5, “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy.”
Read John 15:15... Men in the OT who are described as slaves of God: Moses (Numbers 12:7), Joshua (Joshua 24:29), David (2Samuel 7:5), Isaiah (Isaiah 20:3), and the Messiah Himself (Isaiah 42:1).
In the NT there are men who were called salves of Jesus Christ: Paul (Romans 1:1), James (James 1:1), Jude (Jude 1), and John (Revelation 1:1).
The Greek word doulos is translated slave in the NT.
Jesus calls us friends and tells us the deep mysteries of God, unknowable to those who reject God’s Son.
• The mystery of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 13:11)
• The mystery of God’s will (Ephesians 1:9)
• The mystery of a Savior in human flesh (Matthew
1:21)
• The mystery of Immanuel [God with us] (Isaiah 7:14;
Matthew 1:23)
• The mystery of being spiritually and eternally birthed
as children of God (John 1:13; 3:3-8)
• The mystery of God living in us (Colossians 1:26-27)
Before coming to Christ a person is an enemy of God (see Ephesians 2:1-3; Romans 5:8-11).
Read John 15:16... In Israel, a disciple chose his own teacher to follow; but Jesus chose His own “appointing them [setting them apart from all others], that they might “go” and bear fruit [do God’s will].
Christianity is about being, doing, and going - our purpose is to show, and tell others about, Christ.
In John 15:16, Jesus says, “bear fruit that remains.” See Matthew 28:18-20... Your purpose is to tell others about Christ, so they might believe and be saved.
Jesus came to die for our sins, to save us. We are to be proclaiming the simple message: Jesus Saves!
Look at John 14:12-13... Jesus never preached the gospel outside of Israel; yet His followers, His friends, have taken His message to the ends of the earth.
As a friend of Jesus, you will seek to bring His Good News to the lost, for (1Timothy 2:3-4), God our Savior wants all men to be saved through their knowledge of the truth (see 2Corinthians 5:17-21)!
Jesus Christ (John 14:6) the only way to God, the only truth of God, the only life with God; no one enters heaven without coming through Him.
True friends of Christ will pray for the salvation of the lost, but then we need to get up and go share the message of salvation, introducing people to Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior and Lord, Sustainer and Judge over all, and yet, He calls us His friends.