Constantly Abiding

When John says, “we do not need anyone to teach us”, it is because nothing new needs to be added on top of what Jesus did or taught in regard to having a right relationship with God and receiving eternal life. God's Word has revealed the truth, and it is in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. There is nothing we can add to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us. When you hear someone come and say that we’ve been getting it completely wrong about Jesus for the past 2,000 years, you have to be skeptical.

It is not that God will not show us new things, or that we may get a deeper understanding of the implications of the Gospel. But the basic truth of the Gospel will not change. Jesus came to earth as the divine Son of God, fully God, fully Human. He lived among us and taught us the way to real life.

Then He died on that cross to pay the penalty for our sins so that we might step into the eternal life that He made possible for us. And then, praise God, He rose from the dead to demonstrate the new life that He is able to give us.

This is the good news that we have heard from the beginning. Hold tightly to it. Read the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament so that if someone comes and attacks this original message, you can keep the true message remaining in you.

We need to abide the Word, and abide in the truth, and abide in Jesus so that “we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming” as it says in verse 28. What John is begging of his readers, and of us, is that our relationship with God through His Word, His truth, and His only begotten Son is so strong a connection, that we will not shrink back or be ashamed when we enter into the presence of the Lord.

We can not abide with Him if we have sin which is a blockage to trust, and openness with God. That may cause us to think, “I hope the Lord does not come back just now, for this in my life is not right.” That is exactly what John is saying when he speaks of shrinking back and shame.

To avoid this, we must be constantly abiding with the Lord. The commentator Barclay said this, “By far the best way to be ready for the coming of Christ is to live with Him every day. If we do that, His coming will be no shock to us but simply the entry into the nearer presence of One with whom we have lived for that long.”

If we do that, we will have no regrets when He appears. We will run to Him with rejoicing, and be able to abide with Him forever.

CLOSE:

The first song we sang this morning is called, “Constantly Abiding”. It was written by Anne Murphy (1878 – 1942). We know her husband, Will, ran a pottery business in Ohio.

Not much else appears to be known about her life except that she was widowed around 1929. And without her husband, having lost her wealth, she moved to California to live with her sister.

The hymn was written in 1908 when she was thirty years of age. There is no information what her music background was. This hymn is apparently the only hymn she wrote. It must have been her personal testimony of her trust in Jesus.