Continuing In Christ Series

A father was at the beach with his children when his four-year-old son ran up to him, grabbed his hand, and led him to the shore, where a seagull lay dead in the sand. “Daddy, what happened to him?” the son asked.

“He died and went to Heaven,” the dad replied.

The boy thought for a moment and then said, “Did God throw him back down?”

Don’t worry, when you accept Jesus Christ in your life and become one of God’s children, he won’t ever throw you back.

How do you know if you really KNOW God? We have looked at 6 proofs so far:

• Obey God’s commands

• Loving one’s neighbor

• Remembering your spiritual growth

• NOT loving the world

• Guarding against antichrists or false teachers

• Letting the gospel remain in you

Tonight we look at yet another test, continuing in Christ. This seems to say the same thing that we talked about last time when we talked about letting the gospel remain in you. Isn’t that and continuing in Christ the same thing? Well, yes in a way, but not really. So let’s begin by asking the question, “Do we continue in Christ?”

Let’s recap for a moment. Christ is the only person who ever came out of heaven, out of the spiritual world. He is the Son of God who came to earth to reveal who God is and to show us what life is all about. Jesus Christ is the very nature of God.

He is righteous just like God is righteous. He always did what was right; He was righteous in every detail of life just like God is righteous. So, when we continue in Christ, we continue in the very nature of God.

That means that when we continue in Christ:

• We live like God lives, and we live life like it should be lived.

So the person who continues and lives in Christ is the person who knows God. READ verse 28.

Again the test is stated clearly: Continue in Christ. To continue in Christ means that we are at home, we are comfortable at home in Christ, in being fixed on Him. We are not ashamed of being called a Christian. Don’t ever be ashamed of Jesus and His words at school, at work, and among your friends. Stand up for what you believe. Jesus said, “38“For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

The basic idea of continuing in Christ is that of dwelling. It’s like dwelling in a house. We are to dwell in Christ, in the kind of life He showed us how to live.

We know that Jesus lived a righteous life. He lived a life that was always right toward God and man. So we are to be right with God and man just like He was.

Now, let’s spend a little time specifically talking about what it means to continue in Christ. When a person continues in Christ, what kind of life does he live? What kinds of things are you supposed to do? How are you supposed to behave toward God and man?

Being a Christian is not easy. It carries with it a lot of responsibility.

First, continuing in Christ means that a person confesses that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That means that you love God because of what God has done for you. John writes a little later in this same book: “All who proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. 16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in him.

God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.(1 John 4:15-16)

Continuing in Christ means that a person walks and fellowships with Christ. Acts 17:28 expresses this when Luke wrote: “In Him we live, and move, and have our being.” We should live in a consciousness of the Lord’s presence. You know, if we lived everyday life truly believing that the Lord was watching our every move, we would probably do a lot of things differently. Remember back in 1 Jn. 2:6 John said “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”

Continuing in Christ means that a person walks in open confession before God. What does that mean? That means that you live your life hour by hour all day long opening up your life to God. It means that you don’t walk in sin, and when you do accidentally slip into sin you don’t let that sin go unconfessed.