Thursday, June 26, 2014

Abiding in Christ



"Abiding in Christ"


     On the last evening before the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, He preached one of the most important sermons of His life. In this vital message He taught the foundational truths that would supply the disciples with what was necessary to lay the basis for their own fruitful lives plus the principles needed for establishing the future Fruit-bearing Church of Jesus Christ.

     This vital information begins in John 15 verse one and continues throughout this most important chapter. Jesus begins by revealing the exalted Position in God's future program for the disciples, and all others who become children of God. "I am the True Vine" is Jesus' statement revealing that He now was the Source of all of God's dealing with mankind. This is the last of the 'Seven Great I Ams' found in the book of John.
    
     No longer would the nation of Israel be God's source as the "The Vine out of Egypt", but Jesus, the Son of God is now our Source for Provision: "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19); He is also our Source of Peace: "He is our Peace" (Ephesians 2:14); He is the Source of our Power: "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20). Jesus is now the vital Source of all things to the child of God.

     Jesus then points out that God His Father is the "Husbandman", The Gardener, the Keeper, the Caretaker of the Vine.  He will make sure the Vine is healthy, growing, and bearing fruit by His loving watch-care. God's Pattern for Fruit-bearing is the primary subject of the next section of this brief but powerful sermon.

     "Every branch in Me that bears not fruit, He takes away" this statement supplies us with the answer to those who are truly in Christ but are not obedient to Him, but instead are allowing sin to cause them to be "taken away" from the presence of God and therefore they are removed from all the blessings of God’s presence!

     "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear." (Isaiah 59:2) "If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me." (Psalm 66:18) "That he might be taken away from among you" (Referring to the man who committed fornication) (I Corinthians 5:2).

     God as the Husbandman must deal with sin, the corrupting influence of the branches, and His first step is to take the one who sins away from His presence and the presence of those who are bearing fruit! There is no room for branches that are dead, lifeless, and without the power of Christ flowing through their spiritual veins, for this kind will only corrupt those that are indeed living for the Lord and are themselves bearing fruit!

     However, this does not mean, as some contend, that these unfruitful branches lose their salvation. God merely puts them away, on the shelf as it were, until they get their hearts right with Him and resume bearing fruit. This is the chastening hand of the Husbandmen (Hebrews 12). His purpose is to bring them back into fellowship first, and then to the place of growth in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

     In some severe cases as the man in I Corinthians who committed fornication, it might be necessary to "deliver such and one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ." (I Corinthians 5:5)

    The Great Husbandman's work continues:
"Every branch that bears fruit He purges it that it may bring forth more fruit"(v.2). Those believers who bear fruit have the Privilege of being purged, purified and cleansed in order that they might bear more fruit. The Purging Process of the Great Husbandman can be accomplished in many ways.

     God may purge us by bringing into our lives tests of our faith, testing us to see if we will rely on Him and His promises to supply our needs in a time when we are not able in and of ourselves to make ends meet. His purging process might come in the way of tragic circumstances bringing us to a total reliance on Him, purging us from any strength in and of ourselves. Purging in the life of Paul brought him to realize his strength was made perfect in weakness and God's grace was sufficient to see him through the most difficult spiritual or physical infirmities.
(II Corinthians 12:7-10) 

     So, even though Paul was definitely a fruit bearing branch connected to the Vine, God the Great Husbandmen continued to purge him so that he could bear much more fruit for his Lord Jesus Christ. This is the Master's method of making us more like Jesus His Son,  conforming us into His image. (Romans 8:29)

     Therefore, we must expect the loving hand of God to continue to purge us utilizing any method He, in His loving ways, must use to give us the greatest opportunity for ministry to Him and those He puts in our path by making us Christ-like.  It is only as we imitate the Lord Jesus as He uses us for His glory that we can really accomplish anything that will really count for eternity!

     Jesus continues His powerful sermon in v.3:
"Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you." Here, Jesus teaches us what it is that God uses to cleanse/purge His children. Purging by the cleansing power of the Word of God!  Jesus later prays that God would "Sanctify them through Thy Truth, Thy Word is Truth" (John 17:17).

     Paul, too attests to this fact in Ephesians 5:26:
"That He might sanctify and cleanse it (the church) through the washing of water by the Word" proving that the Word of God has enormous cleansing power for the child of God! The positive Purging power that God's Word possesses can not be measured, but is a vital necessity for the purity of the child of God!

     Fully cleansed by the Word, Jesus immediately gives these eleven disciples one of the most important commands in Scripture: "Abide in Me" (v.4) Abide, dwell, continue, tarry, endure, remain in Me! This pointed command carries with it the direct demand for them to continue, to remain connected spiritually to Jesus, with an intermingling continual communion which only can be totally effected by the Holy Spirit and therefore teaching us that our Position for communion with Him is one of abiding!

     Vitally connected to the Vine, we as branches must remain in contact, yea, in life giving communion with Jesus by and through the Holy Spirit, as Jesus indicates in the next part of verse four: "And I in you" indicating the future permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the disciples at Pentecost. One is impossible without the other.

     We can not abide in Christ without Him abiding in us:
"As the branch can not bear fruit of itself, no more can ye except ye abide in Me." This great Privilege of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is given to every believer at the point of salvation.

     We are born of the Spirit (John 3:3-8), baptized (spiritually placed) into the Body of Christ (I Corinthians 12:13), forevermore to remain in Christ by this great transaction which takes place the moment we are born again by repenting of our sin and putting our faith in the Lord Jesus who died on the Cross to pay the penalty for our sin!

     Jesus, then, repeats this marvelous truth:
"I am the Vine, ye are the branches; He that abides in Me and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing." (v.5) The emphasis in this verse is found in the last phrase, for truly without the indwelling Christ becoming our very life (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:4) we can in and of ourselves accomplish nothing!

     This underlines the marvelous purpose of salvation, that we might serve God through the power of the indwelling Son of God, the Holy Spirit!  Jesus said in John 14:12 that we would accomplish "greater works" than Him. This can only be explained as we recognize the all encompassing power of the indwelling Christ in the multitudes of believers as the centuries roll on!

     The great impact that the children of God have had through the power of the indwelling Christ has truly been staggering when we recognize how many millions have entered the kingdom and faithfully served God during these two millennia!

     These statistics are indeed overwhelming when we think of the Lord's small beginnings with these eleven men this night before the Cross. This Priority of abiding must be foremost in our daily lives if we are to produce fruit for Him: "for without Me ye can do nothing."

     Jesus continues His sermon in verse 6 by announcing the Penalty for those who do not abide in Him:
"If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned."  This vivid description points out the destiny of the child of God who refuses to obediently follow the Lord Jesus by remaining vitally connected to Him, each and every moment of their life.

     The first phrase describes Departing Fellowship: "He is cast forth" separated from God by allowing sin to take priority in his life (I John 1:6-8); the second phrase describes the Deterioration of the Spirit: "Is withered"  outwardly and inwardly lifeless without the Spirit's active influence (Romans 8:13)

     The third phrase continues the downward slide in Defilement of the Temple of God:
"Men gather them and cast them into the fire" this picture of the branch being tossed away as so much wasted rubble is the result of the defiling effect of sin on the temple of God (I Corinthians 3:17) allowing sin to continue it's devastating effect; the last phrase describes the Destruction of the Flesh:
"And are burned" showing that God's most extensive degree of chastisement can bring about "The destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved" (I Corinthians 5:5).

    
     But, Jesus' magnificent promise in verse 7 is the driving force and Purpose for the child of God to abide in Him: "If ye abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you." Two Prerequisites to God's opening of the windows of heaven in answering prayer for the child of God:
1. Abiding in Christ, remaining connected to the Life-giving Vine through continual communion with Him. 
2. The Word of Christ must dwell in us richly for it is in and through His Word that we will experience the power of the Spirit and the Life which Jesus taught in John 6:63:
"It is the Spirit that quickens, the flesh profits nothing, the Words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, they are Life!" So, do we want answered prayer? Do we want the presence and power of the Holy Spirit? The only way to unlock the storehouse of God is to abide in Jesus and put His Word in our hearts!

     "Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples." (v.8) Jesus concludes this section of His sermon with a very important statement. If we want to fulfill our Primary Purpose of glorifying God we must be bearing "much fruit".

     There are divided opinions on just what Jesus meant by "fruit" in these eight verses, but the majority of Bible scholars hold to the fact that this is internal fruit, the "fruit of the Spirit" not the outward fruit which Jesus mentions in v.16 which most believe refers to souls won to the Lord Jesus Christ.

     This type of soul-winning service to the Lord will only come as we bear fruit internally, preparing ourselves for the soul-winning opportunities that He will send to us as we are filled with the Spirit, abiding in Christ and the Word abiding in us!  However, all agree, if we are to abide in Christ, His Word must abide in us, the Word of Christ dwelling in us richly, filling us with the Holy Spirit of God! (Ephesians 5:18, 19; Colossians 3:16,17) 


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