John 15 Verses 14-17 

John 15:14 “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. 15 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. 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. 17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.”   

“Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”  The Lord is our friend: Pro. 18:24 “A man that hath friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”  The Lord is that friend that sticketh closer than a brother.  The Lord is that friend that advises us; counsels us; helps us in time of need; one in which we can bring our problems to and he will listen to us; who will come to us in time of need; etc.  Abraham, because he was often diligent to keep the commands of the Lord is called the friend of God: James 2:23 “And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.”  When we do the commandments of God, not only is the Lord our friend, but we are his friend.   

“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.”  In many ways we are the servants of the Lord and servants to the Lord’s people.  However, we are much more than servants as the Lord has said above, that a servant knoweth no what his lord doeth.  Master generally do not confide in their servants.  However, the Lord has called us friends.  A friend confides in a friend.  The Lord has manifest himself as our friend as he has made known to us all that he has heard of His Father.  We are blest to have him as our friend because he has revealed his word unto us.   

“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.”  While the world about us tells us that we should choose the Lord, the Lord has told us that we did not chose him, but he chose us and has appointed us (chosen us) that we should go and bring forth fruit.  Without the Lord’s having chosen us and appointing us, we would not be able or have a desire to bring forth fruit.  But now we are told by him that chose us and ordained us to go and bring forth fruit.  It is our privilege to bear fruit to his name’s praise, honor, and glory.  Moreover, he has told us that whatsoever we shall ask of the Father in Christ’s name he may give it to us.  Of course, we understand that our asking of the Father is not for us to consume on our lust, but as the context indicates, it is asking the Father for those things that we need to bring forth much fruit.   

“These things I command you, that ye love one another.”  Notice how many times in the scriptures that we are commanded to love one another. 

John 15 Verses 18-25

John 15:18 “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19 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 hateth you. 20 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. 21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin. 23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also. 24 If 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. 25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.” 

“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.”  Cain hated God before he hated Abel and slew Abel.  Cain hated God, because God did not have respect to his evil offering.  Moreover, Cain then hated Abel because God had respect to Abel’s offering.  Human nature has not changed.  Man in his depraved nature hates God and hates those who love God and serve God.  Before we were born of the Spirit this would have been an apt description of all of us.  We should not be surprised that the world hates us and that it hated Christ before it hated us. 

“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.”  The world has persecuted our Lord, they will persecute us also.  Those that have kept the Lord’s saying will keep our also as we testify of what the Lord has said. 

“But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.”  The root problem with those who persecute the Lord and his servants is that they know what God.  They haven’t been born of the Spirit of God. 

“If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.”  There was a reason that the Lord communicated while he walked on earth to the wicked among the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the rulers, and the priests.  They would have continued on their way thinking they had no sin, but since Christ spoke to them, they have no cloak for their sin. 

“He that hateth me hateth my Father also.”  All the wicked hateful things that these people did to Christ because they hated Him, showed that they hated the Father also. 

“If 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. 25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.”  The world did all the wonderful works of raising the dead, giving sight to the blind, cleansing the lepers, causing the deaf to hear, healing all many of diseases, and casting out great numbers of unclean spirits.  Yet, for all this those people hated both Christ and the Father and showed it by their actions.  They truly hated Christ without a cause.  There are still many of this type people in the world today.

John 15 Verses 26-27 

John 15:26 “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: 27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.” 

We are blessed, just as the apostles were blessed to have the Holy Comforter to testify to us of Christ.  His testimony has come to us in many ways.  First, all scripture is given by inspiration of God.  Moreover, holy men of God spake by the Holy Ghost.  Moreover, this Holy Comforter gives the ministry since Christ ascended, direction as to where to preach, to whom to preach, and what to preach.  Moreover, those disciples which had been with Jesus from the beginning were commanded and directed to bear witness of Christ as well.