What does it means to abide in Christ? we're going to be reading from the book of John, chapter number 15 read it down to verse number 8.
Now, to understand what it means to abide in Christ, we must first understand what it does not mean. You see, one way to know what something means is to first know what it doesn't mean. Praise God.
So, that is where we're going to start from.
Religionists have said that if a Christian doesn't abide in Christ, that they are going to lose their salvation. No, that's not what it means. You cannot lose your salvation. Christians who think they can lose their salvation think so because they don't understand what salvation implies, nor what the new birth is. Because their minds have been poisoned by religious teachings, built on the lack of assurance of the security that we have in Christ. So religionists have taught that to abide in Christ means to keep the Ten Commandments, to amend your ways so that God will not cut you off from Christ. Also, they have taught it means to keep the various moral laws and obligations in the Bible so as not to lose their salvation and so on and so forth.
This is what they have thought but this is not what the Bible is teaching at all. Praise the Lord Jesus!
So based on this misconception, a lot of Christians have concluded that to abide in Christ, they must try their best to keep the law, to keep the commandments of Moses and all of that.
Secondly, they must try their best to remain in Christ and not leave Christ; as if everything depends on them.
Thirdly, they also conclude that you must strive hard to remain united with Christ. None of this is true.
Now, to abide in Christ has nothing to do with you keeping the laws of Moses. It has nothing to do with you keeping commandments of Moses and all of that. Because you are not under the law today. Rather, we are under the grace economy of Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord Jesus!
Secondly, to abide in Christ does not mean trying in your best effort to remain in Christ or to remain united with Him. If you're born again, you cannot leave Christ. Hallelujah! This is one powerful truth you must understand. You cannot leave Christ.
You cannot exit from Him. Hallelujah! Religion has taught Christians, that they can exit from Christ, that they can lose their salvation and all of that if they don't abide in Christ. But that's not what the Bible teaches. That's a misconception. You see, one thing you must realize, is that in God's family there's only one door and this door is Jesus Christ. We're going to see this in John chapter 10 verse 9 in which Jesus is saying,.... I am the door by me if any man enters, he is saved and shall go in and out and find pasture.
Jesus says he is the door, there is no other door and Jesus said if any man enters, he shall be saved. Notice there is no exit door. Here he said, he shall go in and out and find pasture. What does he mean by that expression going in and out? Some people think that expression means you can come into Christ and then maybe later as a result of one sinful act or something like that you can fall out of Christ or lose your salvation but that's not what that expression means. Praise the Lord Jesus! Jesus simply used that expression to indicate that in Christ there are no restrictions.
In Christ there is free access; free access to the Father. Praise the Lord Jesus! No restrictions whatsoever!
Jesus used that expression to indicate the idea of complete freedom of access in Christ.
So that is what it means.
There is no exit in Christ because He is the only door. Hallelujah! There is no other door. There is no door out. There is only one door in. God does not have an exit door. This is not like a chess game where on one hand you win today, then tomorrow you lose out, and then you are out. It's not like a football match, where probably after a while, if you're not playing well, the coach removes you and probably even sells you out of that club. This is eternal reality. This is the truth. There is no other door. There is no exit door. Unlike what we have in a lot of buildings today, here and there, all over the world, there's some buildings, you have the entry, then you have the exit, say maybe for safety. So in case there is a fire outbreak or something like that, people can use the exit door and all that. But there is no such thing like that in the family of God. There can be no fire outbreak. There is no disaster. Nothing like that. So there is no exit door. Praise God!
God's family just has only one door in. And that door, the Bible tells us, is Jesus Christ. Hallelujah.
After a person has come into Christ. The only thing remaining is for that person to keep growing in their knowledge and understanding of Christ. And as you grow in your knowledge and understanding of Christ, Your life will keep changing for good. It will keep changing positively. Also, you have to understand that you cannot be disunited with Christ. In Christ, there is unbreakable unity. Hallelujah. You cannot break the unity you have with Jesus Christ. No matter what you do, because you are not the one controlling the unity. It doesn't depend on you in any way.
You are only a beneficiary of all that Jesus has accomplished for you the moment you receive Jesus Christ, the moment you receive all that he did for you as a beneficiary. Now that we've understood what it doesn't mean to abide in Christ, I'm now going to explain what the expression to "abide in Christ" means to us today.
Now, the word abide, as we find in John chapter number 15, is translated from the Greek word mino. Mino. M-E-N-O. Praise God! Now, this word mino, is used in connection to a place to live, a place to stay, or a place to dwell. Now, what a lot of Christians don't realize is that the word mino, carries both a literal and metaphorical meaning or application. What this means is that when Jesus, said to his disciples, abide in me he was referring to both the literal and metaphorical meaning. looking at that expression abide in me from the literal meaning, what it means is this; every believer already abides in Christ by default through the new birth. That's what happened to us the moment we got born again, at that very moment we were placed in Christ and began to dwell in him and he in us through the Holy Spirit. And this is permanent, It is unchangeable. Thank you, Lord Jesus.
Now, we're going to look at scriptures that prove this; that every believer, is already abiding in Christ by default through the new birth. We're going to look at this.
let's look at John 14 verse 17, and it reads,.... Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. Praise God! So you see, Jesus lives in us in the person of the Holy Spirit. And it's a permanent indwelling. Alright, let's back down again to verse 20 of that same John chapter number 14. So verse 20, and I'm reading .......At that day, (referring to today; the day that we are in now. The day of grace. The day of the new covenant. That's the age of the new covenant, which is the age that you are in now. So that's what Jesus refers to us at that day. Alright?)..... At that day, you shall know that I am in my Father. And ye in me, and I in you...... Praise God. Do you see that?
With what we have in John chapter 15 verse 4 literally speaking by default every born again person is already abiding in Christ through the new birth. Let's still prove this further by reading first John chapter number four verse 15.
1 John 4:15 says, Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him and he in God. So you see, this is confirming what we have just said.
I've said here that every believer in Christ is already abiding in him through the new birth, so that is the literal meaning of what Jesus is saying. But that is not where it ends. We have to move now to the metaphorical meaning to understand what it also means to us today. And the meaning is this; to abide in Christ means to take your place of rest in Christ. Recognizing your identification and oneness with him. And that's what Jesus means in the first line of John chapter number 15 verse 4.
That is talking of identification, oneness. You in me and I in you. So you've got to recognize that oneness. You take your place of rest in Christ, recognizing your identification, that you are identified with Jesus. Now what it means to be identified with Jesus is that you are spiritually identical to Jesus. Your spiritual born again spirit is identical to Jesus. it also means everything that belongs to Jesus now belongs to us through the new birth. All of his rights, all of his privileges, all of his inheritance, all of these and more now belong to us. We are to recognize this oneness that we have with him through the new birth. And this is to say that we are to rest, trust, and depend on Christ. To abide in Christ is to take your place of rest in him, depend on his life, depend on his ability. He is the vine, and we are the branches, we receive nourishment from Him. He is our source. He is our strength. He is our energy. He is our all in all. Hallelujah! So we are to recognize this. Rather than putting our trust in self. Rather than putting our trust in human efforts. Rather than putting our trust in our ability to keep rules and regulations. You have to recognize that everything that you own, everything that you have, everything that you possess is not of your own purpose.
It's not of your own making. So you have to trust in the Lord like the Bible tells us in Proverbs chapter 3 verse 5 and verse 6 says to us, trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not on to your own understanding. verse 6, in all thy ways Acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path...
This is what it means to abide in Christ, to take your place of rest in him. To trust him, to rest in him, to depend on him. Now, this explains why Jesus made the following remarks in John chapter number 15.
Hallelujah. And then also the second remark Jesus makes, you find it in verse 5 of that same John chapter number 15. He said,... for without me, ye can do nothing.... so this explains why some Christians are not bearing fruit as they ought to.
Because they are not resting in Christ. They are not resting in the Lord. They are not trusting in Him. They are not depending on Him. Rather, they are depending on their human efforts. Rather, they are depending on their human energy. Rather, they are depending on their human connections here and there. But you know the Bible says some trust in their horses, Some trust in their chariots, but the psalmist said, we will put our trust in the Lord.
Jesus said, abide in me. In other words, take your place of rest. Stop struggling. Stop trying to do it on your own. Stop thinking that God is depending on your human efforts. Stop thinking that you can save yourself. Stop thinking that way.
Let's look at the benefits of abiding in Christ. What are the benefits?
The first benefit of abiding in Christ is that it facilitates effortless fruit bearing.
So we'll read verse 4 and verse 5 of John. Look at this Verse 4. Trust in me. I've replaced the word abide with the word trust. So you understand what it means. Or, rest in me. Or, take your place of rest in me as I have taken my place in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine.
Except he trusts in the vine, except he depends on the vine for his nourishment and as its source, No more can ye do except ye abide in me. So Jesus is tying the two together, getting us to understand that abiding in him facilitates fruit bearing. He ties fruit bearing to abiding, trusting in him, relaxing in him. No more struggling. Stop trying to do it on your own efforts.
But trust in him. Walk in faith. Depend on him and He shall bring it to pass. Depend on his energy. Depend on his love. Trust in His unconditional love. Trust in his faithfulness. Trust in his willingness to see you through that challenge or problem. And you know he's forever faithful.
some of the fruit referred to in John chapter 15 can be found in Galatians 5 verse 22 where Paul lists the fruit of the recreated human spirit.
The second benefit of abiding in Christ is that It keeps us from being messed up by people and circumstances. And this is what Jesus is talking about in verse 6 of that same John chapter number 15. Now, some people take this verse 6 to mean that, if you don't abide in Christ, God is going to cut you off from the branch and He's going to punish you and then finally He's going to cast you into hellfire.
But when you read that verse properly you wouldn't find any mention of hellfire and this verse is not saying that a Christian is going to be cut off from Christ and is going to lose his salvation and then be punished and be cast into hellfire. That's not what Jesus is talking about. That's what religionists have read into that verse from their own sense knowledge. But that's not what that verse is talking about. Let's look at it. Jesus said, If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered, and men gather them up. In other words, Jesus is simply saying or telling us what men shall do to such people, to people who do not put their trust in Jesus Christ. What men are going to do to those people, what circumstances are going to do to those people. Jesus said men will deal with them. Men will mess them up. Circumstances will mess them up. And that's what it means. And cast them into the fire. And they are burnt. They are going to be messed up by circumstances. In this life, if you're born again and you're not putting your trust in the Lord, you're not resting in Him, you're not depending on Him, of course, people, circumstances and situations, will mess you up. But that doesn't mean that you're going to lose your salvation. That's not what it means.
People may mess you up here. Circumstances may mess you up here. But you are still very much a child of God. But then you have got to understand that the benefits of, abiding in Christ far outweigh not abiding in Him. Not trusting in Him. Not resting in Him. Trying to do things in your own effort. In your own energy.
Jesus said, you are the salt of the earth. Every believer is the salt of the earth. But you see, those believers who don't know who or what they are in Christ, who don't know their inheritance, their privileges and all of that, those believers who are not depending on the Lord but trying to do things, trying to work things out in their own effort, in their own energy, the methods of man and all of that, Jesus is saying, men, will trample upon them under feet. Circumstances will come upon them and mess them up. He says all of this to help us understand the importance of abiding in Him, of putting our trust in Him, of depending on Him, of taking our place of rest in Him.
The next benefit of trusting, of abiding in Christ is that It helps us receive answers in prayer.
And we'll find this in John chapter number 15. Verse 7.... And it reads. If you abide in me. And my words abide in you. You shall ask what you will. And it shall be done unto you.....Can you see that? If you abide in me, If you take your place of rest in me, if you trust in me, if you depend on me, then you shall ask what you will. If you recognize your identification with me and walk in that consciousness, walk in that awareness of your oneness with me, resting in this understanding, resting in this revelation, resting in this knowledge, resting in this consciousness, Jesus said, then Ye shall ask what ye will and It will be done unto you. One translation reads like this,...." Ye shall demand your rights as a son". You shall demand your rights when you get to understand these truths that I'm sharing of your identification with Jesus, of your oneness with Jesus, and you come to take your place of rest in him as a result of this knowledge and understanding.
Jesus said, then you shall ask what ye will and it shall be done for you. Praise the Lord Jesus!
The final benefit of abiding in Christ is that there are no more struggles. No more struggles when you take your place of rest .A person who is resting isn't struggling praise God, a person who is resting isn't fighting. He's at rest, no more struggles you take your place of rest understanding that He is working things out for your good praise the lord you don't have to struggle in life you don't have to struggle through things.
You know your father is always with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. The faithfulness of Jesus is your own faithfulness. You see, in the presence of the Father, the faithfulness of Jesus has become our own faithfulness. So you see, God is not depending on you or on your own faithfulness before he can do anything for you. No. That's not God's method in relating with us. Everything that Jesus accomplished, he accomplished on our behalf. And, it is because he loves us. He has taught us to love. And so we love him because he first loved us.
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