Sometimes within church circles we hear things from the Bible sometimes and even believe those things, but when we think about we have no idea what it really means. One of the phrases that we read today was one that I knew, that I could quote, i even believed it, but I found myself asking the question this week what exactly does that mean? The phrase is what Jesus told His disciples "Abide in me" I know there are some here that think they know what it means, there may be a few that really knows what it means, but I figure most have no idea what that means. You may know what abide means but how do we abide? You tell me, you will find that is very difficult to tell someone how to abide. Why is it even important? Well it is important because Jesus repeated the phrase 8 times just in this passage. (4,6,7,10) Not only that in the particular verse we find that there are some promises associated with abiding in Him. (1)There is first the promise of a fruitful life if we abide in Him vs 4. (2)There is the promise of answered prayer if we abide in Him vs 7. (3) There is also a promise in the fact that Jesus said "abide in me and I in you" If we will do our part and abide in Him we are assured of the fact that He would also abide in us. Sometimes in our lives when we look around and say Lord where are you maybe you should go back to the point where you quit abiding in Him, because a sure promise of our abiding is His abiding. Now none of this means anything at all if we don't know how to abide. I will start by saying there are some sure ways we can know that we are not abiding in Him, the first is unfaithfulness, the second is a lack of faith, the third is discouragement, the forth is doubt, now there are more but I figure these are the most common and probably most of us are guilty of one or more of these. What can we do well lets look today at "Abide in Me" I guess the first thing we should do is see
I. What Abide means.
a. To remain-abiding in Him means to remain in him for example; (ill-a tree limb- would you say that this is a part of some tree? Would you say it is an active part of the tree? No, why because it no longer abide in the tree, do you know what is happening to this limb now and what will happen in a few days?)
b. To continue- which means the same thing as to remain
c. To stay-Which mean the same as remain, and continue
d. To wait- abiding is a patient expectancy My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him Psalms 62:5
e. To rest other definitions out of Strong's exhaustive concordance of the Bible 1 to remain, abide. 1a in reference to place. 1a1 tarry. 1a2 not to depart. 1a2a to continue to be present. 1a2b to be held, kept, continually. 1b in reference to time. 1b1 to continue to be, not to perish, to last, endure. 1b1a of persons, to survive, live. 1c in reference to state or condition. 1c1 to remain as one, not to become another or different. 2 to wait for, await one.
Now I had the definition for abide, but that's not what I wanted not what abides mean, but how do I abide. I have remain in Him, and Continue in Him, Stay in Him, Wait in Him, rest in Him, but how do I get in Him, because it is possible to be in Him (as in saved) but not abiding in Him. And I am trying to figure out how to abide, I want to abide in Him, so I didn't really have time to remain, continue, stay, wait and rest, I was looking for answers. So the definitions didn't help me so I decided I would figure out;
II. What are the Results for Abiding in Christ-
a. Fruit bearing- If we abide in Christ according to our text we will bear fruit
b. Loving Jesus and doing what he says- If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. John 14:23 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. 1 John 2:6
c. Loving Others- He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. 1 John 2:10
d. Trusting in God and making Him you refuge- He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Psalms 91:1-2
e. Hating the World- Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 1 John 2:15-17
f. Remaining stedfast in the faith- Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God. 1 Cor 7:24; Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. 1 John 2:24
OK now I had the results of abiding, but yet still I didn't feel like I had all the answers, because there are people who are not even saved that do love others genuinely the have charities to help people, (Not only that it says they "abideth in the light" and if I compare the word "light in I Jn 2 to Jn 1:7 there is a difference in the word light one of them is a capital letter referring to Jesus the second is lower case referring to goodness) and some do hate the wickedness of this world, good moral people that do some of these things but they cannot abide in Christ cause even all their goodness will not save them. There are some that could help like (d) that says I can abide in the shadow of the almighty, if I dwell in the secret place of the most High, but where is the secret place of the most high? (Now understand I am just walking you through my thinking process, not expressing complete ignorance of the Word. I just want to show you what God showed me) So when I abide in Him I will bear fruit, I will love Jesus, I will love others, I will trust God, I will hate the world, and I will remain steadfast in the faith, when I abide in Him, but how do I abide in Him?
I picked up the phone I called some of my most trusted men of God, and I asked How can I convey the idea to my congregation on how to abide in Him, not what it means but how to do it, There answers were good but still just gave more of the definition of abiding, instead of the practice of abiding. So I said forget maybe it just is not possible to explain how to abide, I will just preach something else, but the scripture just burned like a fire in my bones and I could not turn it loose. So I went back to the text and I said God you are going to have to show me how to abide and how to explain it to my people. YOU KNOW WHAT HE TOLD ME HE SAID WAIT,STAY, REMAIN, ABIDE. You know what I realized
III. How to Abide-
a. Abide is not about doing anything it is about being-it does not say abided, or is going to abide it said "Abide"
b. Then it said abide in me and I in you so I began to see what God does in me when he "abides" You know what he does he stays, he remains, he continues, he does not depart He keeps me continually, he holds me so I do not perish. I begin to realize I had the answer the whole time. Then a preacher told a story He said " There was was a boy that attended His grandfathers death bed, His grandfather gave him a pocket watch and said keep it and when you open it look up and think of me, the boy cherished that pocket watch, on day working at an ice plant He lost the watch out of his pocket, when he realized he lost it he began to turn the place upside down looking for it but with all the saw dust on the floor from the ice it was impossible, he scratched and dug around to no avail, then he had an idea, he shut off all the equipment and let it get so quite in the factory you could hear a pin drop, not only could you hear a pin drop, you could hear a pocket ticking, he found his watch not but running around in a panic, but by slowing down, abiding, and listening till he could hear the ticking.
Abide in Him-quit running around, settle down and listen for the heartbeat of God, then you are abiding in Him. How do i do it? To abide in Christ is, on the one hand, to have no known sin unjudged and unconfessed, no interest into which He is not brought, no life which He cannot share. On the other hand, the abiding one takes all burdens to Him, and draws all wisdom, life and strength from Him. It is not unceasing consciousness of these things, and of Him, but that nothing is allowed in the life which separates from Him are you abiding in Him today?
