John 15:9-27

[0:00] Gospel of John, chapter 15, and we'll pick up where we left off two weeks ago. Gonna have to upgrade this church facility so that we don't have to change the coffee makers and the microwave and the stove. And I did do one. I did that clock above the doorway this morning.

[0:30] Yeah, because otherwise, well, you can figure it out. All right, so John, chapter 15, and we started into this passage here where Christ starts talking about being the true vine.

[0:46] And we covered some of this because Israel is called a vine. And I gave you some of the scriptures there in the Old Testament where it's an understood thing.

[0:57] They're called this several times. There's one passage, one thing I didn't read. I'll just, I'll read you the verse here in review. One in Psalm 80 that is pretty strong on this concept where it says, Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt.

[1:15] Thou hast cast out the heathen and planted it. Thou preparest room before it and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the bowels thereof were like goodly cedars.

[1:27] She sat on her bowels under the sea and her branches under the river. And then he describes that that vine was broken down and plucked and wasted and devoured. And so it's a picture of the nation of Israel, how God blessed them.

[1:39] And now Christ shows up saying he's the true vine, and that Israel cannot, and it did not bring fruit unto God. They were supposed to bring forth, and we read the passage in Isaiah 5 that he looked for fruit or for grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

[1:56] And we saw in Hosea that he said that Israel is an empty vine. She brings fruit unto herself. And so because they blew it and they didn't follow through with the way God ordained and set it up for them to do, the Lord Jesus Christ comes, and they can't bring forth fruit unto God without Him.

[2:15] And so he says that phrase in the verse, Where's the verse? Without me ye can do nothing. Verse 5, at the end of verse 5, Except ye abide in the vine. And Israel that rejects Jesus Christ and continues in their own way, they're not bringing forth fruit unto God.

[2:33] And it's the same setup as the Old Testament. It's an empty vine and fruit unto themselves. And it's wild grapes. And their drink is sour. I think it's Amos, maybe one of them says. And so Christ is letting them know now that doctrinally or nationally, they've got to be in the vine to be connected to the Father.

[2:54] And any rejection of Jesus Christ is going to be their damnation. Now, spiritually speaking, we looked at this and understand that God wants us to bring forth fruit. And seeing a practical thought throughout this passage, where God will purge the branches and trim them back and cut out, try to get any disease out of it and any bugs and critters and things that would damage and harm.

[3:17] And He wants to see a clean and strong branch that can bear fruit. Not just fruit, but more fruit. Not just more fruit, but much fruit, as we read in verse number 5.

[3:30] Now, there's one more look I want to take into this. And to do so, look at verse 3. Let me start in the beginning and just kind of come through it and see how this goes.

[3:42] In verse 1, it says, I am the true vine, and my father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away. And every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

[3:53] Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except that it abide in the vine. No more can ye except you abide in me. And he goes on with the vine, branch, fruit analogy.

[4:07] And so, what in the world is verse 3 doing in there? Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. And I, just automatically, I go to the references that kind of are cross-references here about wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way.

[4:24] Psalm 119, verse 9. By taking heed thereto according to thy word. The word of God cleanses. And there's a few verses. Ephesians 5 and John 17, 17.

[4:35] Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. So, this sanctifying quality of the word of God. I understand that. And that's all I ever do is with that verse.

[4:46] But now I'm looking at it like, why is that verse in there? Why? I don't think you just put that in there so we can talk about the word of God and how it can clean you. It doesn't seem to match this talk of vine and branches.

[4:59] Do you agree? Do you see that thought of, I mean, I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm just saying I don't quite understand the connection there. And I think the connection is something different.

[5:10] And here's what I think. It's just from a recent study in thought. And I'll give it to you. Verse 2 is why verse 3 is there. Verse 2, he says, Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away.

[5:25] And that's a threat. Every branch that beareth fruit he purges it that it may bring forth more fruit. And so that's either, you're either going to get taken away from him, the husbandman, God the Father.

[5:36] He could take you away if you don't bear fruit. Or he's going to purge you and you're going to bring forth more fruit. And then he says, now ye are clean. He's speaking to who?

[5:47] To the eleven that are with him. Remember they just got up. Verse 31 of the previous, arise, let us go. Hence, they're getting up to leave this room. And the connection we need to make and understand goes back to chapter 13.

[6:00] And so skip back there to just a few moments before, just minutes or half an hour to an hour or something before this getting up and leaving. They had this supper together.

[6:13] And then the Lord Jesus got up and he washed their feet. And we've covered this and it's been months now. But we were in chapter 13 and we went through all this. Now we need a little bit of a refresher. So Peter resists him in verse 6 saying, Dost thou wash my feet?

[6:29] And he thinks I'm not worthy of this. I should be doing it. And so here's a statement Christ makes in verse 10. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.

[6:43] And ye are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him. Therefore said he, ye are not all clean. So earlier that night he makes this statement about them being clean, but not all.

[6:58] Okay, there is one of you here that's going to betray him. And he goes into that later in the passage. Now, he continues some statements. And we've covered all of this through chapter 14.

[7:09] And he comes back to 15. And when he says in verse 15, There's going to be a branch that's taken away. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. And then the ones he does, he purges it. And he's like now, tells him he's 11.

[7:20] Now, ye are clean. He already told them you're clean. Well, not all of you actually. One of you is a devil. But here he says, when he's making this statement of a threat that could concern them, that we could be taken away, that the Father would take us away, in this picture of a vine and a branch, he says, no, no, not you guys.

[7:43] You guys are clean. You're clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. And then he, I think that verse is just him reassuring them that you 11 are all good. I said it earlier that you're all good, but actually all 12 of you weren't all good.

[7:58] Now that he's out of the picture, and he's gone to betray me and to work this deal, the 11 are with him. And so he says, ye are clean. Ye are clean. Ye are clean. So I think that's what it means, why it's there.

[8:08] I think he's, you know, just soothing the threat from verse 2, that it does not apply to those 11 men with him.

[8:19] Now, that being the case then, Judas Iscariot is the one that would be taken away in a doctrinal sense, and would be the one in verse 6 that could be withered as a branch and cast into a fire and burned.

[8:37] And so that's to me what makes sense of that verse, why it seems to be out of place. As far as him saying, through the word which I have spoken unto you, I don't think we can nail this down to like, oh, here's the verse.

[8:48] This is the word, the one. But I'll give you just an example of something. Look back at chapter 12 of such a word that he spoke to them and why he would say, you guys are clean.

[9:03] You're okay. In chapter 12, look at verse 25. He that loveth his life shall lose it.

[9:16] He that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow me. And where I am, there shall also my servant be. And if any man serve me, him will my father honor.

[9:30] And so there's a sample of the things that he said to them and taught these men. And they, in fact, did obey him and they did follow him. And they're following him right now as he's leaving to go to the Garden of Gethsemane.

[9:43] And so through the word which he's spoken unto them, they've followed through with it. They are his disciples. They are not the devil of Judas Iscariot, but they're going to be with him.

[9:54] So, now ye are clean, in John 15, 3, through the word which I have spoken unto you. Now we went through some of this into verses 5 and 6.

[10:08] Considering him speak about the word that he spoke unto them, the word is a powerful thing. And the word of God, and when Jesus Christ came, we could go back through this book alone and just highlight the times where he says, where he emphasizes his words to them, what he has spoken to them.

[10:27] It's all over John, really. It's all over the place where he puts a strong emphasis upon the words that he spoke to them. And I don't think I could ever, I don't think I could ever explain or do justice to the power and to the authority and to the effectualness of the scriptures and to our obedience and submission to them I don't think I could ever do it.

[10:54] I try to. I try to exalt the word of God here. I try to tell you I love it and I want you to fall in love with it and let God get that book inside of you and give it its proper place in your life and give it time in your day and let it renew your mind and transform you into being somebody that Jesus Christ can use.

[11:14] And the word, you have to submit yourself to this book. The word, look at verse number 7 where he said, if ye abide in me and my words abide in you, there's a clause that needs to be added that we need to believe and understand that the words of God need to be in us.

[11:33] And I don't know any other way to get them in you than to spend time in the book and to spend time around it and around teaching and preaching and studying it and absorbing it.

[11:45] The world and the phones and the TV and the internet, they're not going to feed you the word of God. That's something that you have to do privately. And I don't think, I personally am not really into watching as much preaching as possible and watching as much YouTube videos as possible.

[12:03] I mean, it's better than watching junk. So you can get stuff from it. But I think you cannot replace the private time with just a book and turning the pages and studying the words and getting a study Bible or having a study curriculum and letting it guide you through some doctrines and through some things.

[12:23] You can't replace that. And what happens when the word gets in, it just gets in. And I'll give you an example. This was pretty recent here with Greg when he called and was telling me about the baby dying and then I think the second time he called he was just barely talking at all and just crying.

[12:42] And he made this comment and I told some of this to some of you where he said, he's like, I said to Vic, to whom shall we go? And when I heard him say that, I thought he's going to be all right.

[12:56] He's got the word of God in him. And that was his response to what can we possibly do? To whom shall we go? That's Peter in John 6 when Christ said, will you also go away?

[13:11] And the word of God is in that man to get him through this and to be there and to encourage his brother to see it right and to know that we can't, you know, we were in a terrible place before the Lord.

[13:26] We don't want to go back that way. So, what are we going to do? And it was, that to me was just a little like, he's got the word of God in him.

[13:37] That's a big thing. And it comes in tough times. It comes, it comes sometimes in just hanging out with your brothers and making a corny joke and you make a joke from the scriptures.

[13:50] And somebody did one last night. I don't remember what it was, but it's just, it struck with me like, I love that stuff. I love when we can talk and the word of God comes out of us because it's in us.

[14:00] Now, moving on, getting back onto this, I'm going to pick it up in verse 7. If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you. So, here's another prayer promise kind of thing.

[14:13] We saw that earlier in chapter 14 and verse 13. We spent a little time on it back there where you'll ask things in my name and it's going to be done.

[14:24] And we understand the parameters for this. These are the apostles and these are the hand-picked men chosen and ordained, as he says a little later in this chapter, verse 16. And they had some special privileges and power with God because they were called and chosen to do something for Him.

[14:42] And this is not something we are going to try to imitate because Christ said it to those 11 men. We're not going to pretend we're His disciples and therefore we can just do things and make things happen because we use Jesus' name.

[14:54] Now, verse 8 says, Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit. And that's the third and the biggest category or degree of fruit bearing that was mentioned earlier in verse 5 of after the pruning, there's bringing forth much fruit, a continual abiding in the vine.

[15:16] And I will say it again, I said it last time, is if you abide in the vine, there will be evidence in your life. People like to go a little bit behind that and they like to say, Well, if you're saved, then you're going to do this, this, and this.

[15:31] And I don't agree with that. I agree that if you're saved, you're saved. If you're saved and you abide in the vine, then you'll start to show evidence of that and fruit.

[15:41] But if you don't abide in the vine, and that is you walk in the flesh, then you're not going to show fruits of salvation in your life. I'd love for you to do, to show fruit. God would love for you to bear fruit.

[15:54] But the comment here is that you're abiding in the vine. It's about your walk. It's a glorifying thing to God for you to bear fruit. Christ says, So shall ye be my disciples.

[16:06] As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. So the Father loved the Son. And then the same thought here, it's kind of like Jesus Christ is being that figure to these men.

[16:24] The Father loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. Verse 10, If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love. So, the thought is pretty simple there.

[16:36] Then if you're not keeping His commandments or obeying His word, don't pretend and tell everybody that you love God or that you love the Lord Jesus Christ. 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.

[16:55] And so the disciple here is a follower of his teacher, a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's imitating the life that he lives.

[17:06] The Father loved the Son, and he abode in that love. Why? Well, because he obeyed the Father. He submitted himself to the will of the Father, and the Father loved the Son.

[17:17] And Christ tells His disciples, You keep my commandments, and I'll love you, and you abide in that love. But it's conditioned upon obedience. It's an important thing to understand.

[17:28] Verse 10, 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. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

[17:47] Who doesn't want that? There's a threat of sorrow. Look over at chapter 16. But even in the sorrow, there's an opportunity for joy.

[18:00] Look at 16. I'll just read a couple verses here, starting verse 20. Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice, and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.

[18:14] A woman, when she is in travail, hath sorrow, because her hour has come, and as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore shall have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.

[18:32] And in that day ye shall ask nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name, asking ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

[18:48] And again, another comment here of their prayer, and the promise that the Father will hear and will answer. And given specifically to these twelve, I see joy again a little bit later in chapter 17, and verse 13, as Christ prays to the Father, and now come I to thee and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

[19:15] And the context and how that's going to happen is that they're going to be obedient to His word, and the world's going to hate them, but they're going to love and abide in the love of Christ.

[19:26] And in abiding in His love and in keeping His commandments, there's joy. And I don't, this is a necessary element for you in your Christian life is that you have joy.

[19:39] It cannot just be, this is hard. This is the hardest thing ever. I can't do it anymore. It's too much. The pressures are too, it can't be that. And it won't be that if you keep His commandments and abide in His love.

[19:52] You'll feel the joy. Even when the world is just pressing down on you, you'll still, inside, the Lord will just open up a fountain where a fruit of the Spirit will emerge, and it's a joy that is the joy of obedience.

[20:08] Obeying God brings joy. And it doesn't bring financial success. It brings joy. It doesn't always bring great relationships with everybody in the world, but it brings joy.

[20:21] And when you get that joy, it's enough for you to say, it's worth it. And I can go on and I can deal with people being against me, or I can deal with my family turning their back on me because I'm a Christian.

[20:34] And you can deal with things that are otherwise just not exciting or disconcerting in life when the joy arrives on the inside and it sustains you.

[20:45] And so Christ, in telling them to keep His commandments and abide in His love, He says, My joy will remain in you and your joy will be full. In verse number 12, 15-12, This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you.

[21:03] He says it again in verse 17, that ye love one another. He said it earlier in chapter 13 when He brought it out as a new commandment, 13-34, that ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

[21:19] By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another. So this is just pounding this into Him.

[21:30] This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you. Verse 13, Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

[21:41] Now we take that one straight to Calvary, right? We take that because Jesus Christ did that. But understand as He's speaking it, He's speaking it to them.

[21:52] He's not saying, I'm going to lay my life down for you, although He did tell them that and He did do that. But in His speaking, He's telling them, you need to love one another. And there's no greater evidence of that love for one another but that you'll lay down your life for your friends.

[22:09] He's actually commanding this to them and that ties into them showing and displaying their love for one another. Now we know that the Lord Jesus Christ did that and let's look at a few verses how this is a display, one of the strongest ones.

[22:22] Look at 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3 and this is one of those 316s of the Bible.

[22:39] And you watch how this ties right back in as the example of Jesus Christ. It's for His disciples to follow.

[22:51] 1 John 3.16 Hereby perceive we the love of God because He, God, laid down His life for us. Not just does that show us the deity of Jesus Christ but there's the evidence of His love because He laid down His life for us.

[23:09] and then the action that we take is we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren as He's commanding His disciples. Come on your way back to John.

[23:20] Stop at Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5 and verse 1 and 2 and look at the same discipleship context of following the example that God laid down.

[23:37] These men are to follow the example of Jesus Christ, their Master. Verse 1, Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children and walk in love.

[23:50] What kind of love? as Christ also hath loved us and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.

[24:01] You'll notice there is the reference to Christ's fulfillment and display of that love but inside of that is the admonition for us to be that and to walk in that kind of love and to be a follower of God in that very way.

[24:17] One more as you're moving back toward John Romans chapter 5 is another one. Romans 5 and starting in verse number 6 For when we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly for scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet per venture for a good man some would even dare to die but God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

[25:06] There's the love of God laying down His life for the ungodly and for the sinners that we are for His enemies in verse 10 if we were enemies reconciled to God by the death of His Son.

[25:21] So come back to John 15 There's no greater display or manifestation of love than to lay down your life and He said that a man lay down his life for his friends ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.

[25:39] Now there's a case where you want the Word of God abiding in you but you don't necessarily want that to be your attitude coming out of well you're my friend if you do what I tell you. It sounds like a selfish and childish mindset but not at all accusing the Lord of that He has the right to say that and He is the Master and they are the disciples and they're to do what He commands them.

[26:00] That's the duty of the student is to follow the teacher and to imitate the teacher and to learn from the teacher and to submit to Him. And now He calls them friends and He clarifies that in the next verse saying 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 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.

[26:42] So they're on a this is all that preparatory work of Christ in them and getting them ready for the ministry really it's kind of a transition as He's going out He's the teacher they're the student the master the disciple but He's saying I'm not hiding anything from you I'm getting you ready to go out and I'm putting you in the game pretty soon and so this word friends now He's calling them that because I've revealed everything to you and they're not I don't know how to say this right except I kind of want to allude to like they're coming up being brought up to the big leagues but not necessarily on the level of deity so I'm trying to be cautious there but I think you understand the concept is that He's preparing them to send them out and to turn them loose we'll keep going here verse 17 these things I command you that you love one another if the world hate you and that's an if if the world hate you you know that it hated me before it hated you if you were of the world the world would love his own but because you are not of the world but I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hateth you and so here's a concept that it may not be as real in your life as it would be in the lives of these eleven in this moment and in

[28:13] Jesus Christ and just his ministry I mean he's got the powers of darkness coming to destroy him and to kill him in just a few hours and so the hatred is alive and well but he was very much resisted and a man that was rejected and so the hatred is just it feels like we don't know this feeling of hatred from the world like the Lord Jesus Christ mentioned but let me put a reference with this let me couple a spot look at 1st John chapter 4 he said if you were of the world the world would love his own and you would be accepted in the world and you'd fit right in if you were of the world but the statement was you're not of the world and for these men

[29:14] Christ chose them out of the world to do something for God now in 1st John 4 I'll just pick up verse number 4 5 and 6 here where John writes to believers saying you are of God little children and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world they are of the world therefore speak they of the world and the world heareth them we are of God he that know of God heareth us he that is not of God heareth not us hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error so that when one that's of the world speaks he said they speak of the world the world heareth them if our message today was conserve the world heal the planet it was just be kind to everybody and love your brothers and we're all one we're all one blood and it's a message of unity and peace and harmony if that was our message the world would hear us because that's of the world that's humankind that's just man loving man holding his hand and saying that everybody's fine and if there's a

[30:35] God there's many ways to him and no judging the rhetoric that's of the world and the world would hear that and if we would speak that here the world would hear that and people would come and they wouldn't be offended by anything that's divisive and nothing would bother them because we're just all of the world but Christ told these brothers these men that you're not of the world and he's going to send them forth to speak words that he gave that he got from his father and he gave to them his doctrine he said is not my own and he gave them his doctrine and they're going to speak the words of God and the world is not going to receive that remember back in John I'll just read this to you when he went face to face with these supposed godly men he said he that is of God heareth God's words ye therefore hear them not because you're not of

[31:37] God and then they got all offended and said you have a devil Jesus Christ has a devil that's their response to him telling them that they're not of God now in John 15 he's preparing these men for some rejection and from some hatred and from a hostile world that's not going to receive them and agree with their message and their word John 15 and verse 20 remember the word that I said unto you the servant is not greater than his Lord that was back in chapter 13 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 sake because they know not him that sent me if I had not come and spoken unto them they had not had sin but now they have no cloak for their sin he that hateth me hateth my father also if

[32:41] I had not done among them the works which none other man did they had not had sin but now have they both seen and hated both me and my father but this cometh to pass that the word might be fulfilled which written in their law they hated me without a cause and that's coming out of the Psalms so a fulfillment of prophecy is the rejection and hatred of Jesus Christ now the sin they have no cloak for their sin just a quick reference right to the next chapter in verse number 9 of 16 the Holy Ghost the comforter is going to reprove the world of sin because they believed not on me the Lord Jesus Christ speaking and that is these men heard him speak and saw his works and believed not on him as a matter of!

[33:34] they called him! Satan they said he hath a devil and so yeah they hated him and they rejected him and because they saw with their eyes and heard with their ears the words of God and the person of God in the flesh there is no cloak there is no covering for their sin anymore they are exposed they have rejected the Lord Jesus Christ they have rejected God son!

[34:04] !!! they bear witness because ye have been with me from the beginning now if you know Acts chapter one when they go to replace Judas that's one of the qualities that they're looking for and a disciple for a replacement apostle is somebody that was with him from the beginning and so that that's a quality or a real characteristic that holds weight with these men is that they were!

[34:59] from the beginning they're I think we did this a few times that that's what Jesus Christ did in 1628 he came forth from the father and came into the world and in 1708 Jesus Christ came out from the father and so this is the truth of the comforter the spirit of truth is going to come out from the father and be sent down into the world and have a!

[36:01] ministry and his ministry is going to be testifying of Christ another thing he's going to do is in 1613 he's going to glorify Jesus Christ and he's not going to speak of himself and he's not going to be a self promoter but he's going to lift up the son and we'll close with this but look at 1 Corinthians chapter 1 we could look at almost any one of Pauline epistles just start the book the first book he writes to this church it's just Jesus Christ Christ Jesus Jesus Christ just all over the place and so notice how many times Paul mentions the Lord Jesus Christ in just the first ten verses Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes our brother unto the church of God which is at Corinth to them that are sanctified in

[37:03] Christ Jesus called to be saints with all them in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ that in everything you're enriched by him in all knowledge known as him it's a reference to Christ in that verse again in verse 6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you to come behind in no gift waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall also confirm you unto the end that he may be blameless unto the day of our Lord Jesus Christ God is faithful by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord and next verse I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ this is given by inspiration of God holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and as the Holy Ghost fills the Apostle

[38:03] Paul to write and to pen scripture to these people he is not saying I Paul by the Holy Ghost of God have written these words to you he is glorifying Jesus Christ Christ Jesus Jesus Christ the coming of Jesus Christ the name of Jesus Christ it's Christ always that's exalted and lifted up and so that's evidence that it's of the Holy Ghost and that's a proof text from back in John when he tells you that when the Holy Ghost comes he's going to testify of me and he's going to glorify me and so if you're in a place and you're around people that are always talking Holy Ghost you better be careful the Holy Spirit of God is a person of God and he's at work today and he's alive and he's in you but he's going to push your thoughts and your attention to the Lord Jesus Christ so we'll quit with that and take 15 minutes and have some fellowship and hopefully the rest will get here and we'll come back in the top of the hour!