John 15…
4, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.”
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
6 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.
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.”
The Lord Jesus commands His people to abide in Him, and He abides in us. In order for the branch to bear fruit it must abide in the vine. The same is true with us. We cannot abide in the vine except you abide in Christ. As we study this issue we will be using information from Dr. MacArthur’s notes on Abiding in the Vine. He asks a serious question, and it is a question that baffles people is how can I have a vital relationship with the Lord Jesus? It is a crucial question for those who want to understand how to have a vital relationship with Jesus Christ. We must have a vital relationship with Him because He is the Savior and King. Our ambition should be to please Him, and so, we ought to abide in Christ, and seek to it with eagerness and determination. This question that has been raised is asked in the midst of suffering, sinfulness, confusion and discouragement. We suffer in life, and we sin in life. At times we are confused and discouraged. It is not only Christians that ask this question but it is unbelievers who do as well. In what way can we describe the union we have as believers and with Christ Himself? It is common to speak of knowing Christ. We say this because we know Him. We should know Him in an intimate relationship. We should speak to Him in a way that is God-honoring. We speak of being in Christ. If we are in Christ, we have His righteousness. We speak of walking with Christ. Are we faithful in our walk with Him? We speak of loving him. Are we confident that we love Christ? Scripture says “If anyone does not love the Lord—a curse be on him. Come, O Lord!” What does this union with Christ involve? We can compare it to a relationship of two people in love. We can compare it to a relationship between a father and a son. In this relationship there is love, respect and compassion. We could compare it to two close friends. Or we can compare it to two brothers that defend the other’s life till the death. The most profound and graphic illustration we have is seen in John 15. This was provided by the Lord Jesus Himself. The allegory of the vine and the branches gives us profound insights into the life of a Christian. When we look at the vine and the branches we see our growth together with the Lord Jesus Christ. In ourselves we are nothing at all. Our strength comes from the Lord above. The lives of His people are filled with the Lord’s energy and resources. In and of ourselves we are unable to produce fruit. As Christians we must be fundamentally connected to the Lord. The Lord produces fruit through His people. We see in John 15 from the start that the Lord Jesus teaches the allegory about the Christian’s relationship with Christ and the Heavenly Father. If someone merely has appearance of being connected to the vine, it is worthless. Such people will be cut off, thrown away and burned in the fire. This is a very serious matter, and we must heed the words of the Lord Jesus with caution and reverence.
In chapter 14 of John’s Gospel, spoke of the Lord Jesus as the Vine, and the Father as the Vinedresser. The Lord spoke of two kinds of branches: Christians who bear fruit and unbelievers who do not bear fruit. The Lord continues the analogy and makes a heart-felt plea. He says, “Abide in Me.” The Lord Jesus does not people who are superficially connected to Him. Such people who claim to attend church, or attend church, claim to be devoted to the Lord, and they even mention their relationship with Him. But these people are not real or true believers. The Lord Jesus exhorts the unchristian people, who are fruitless, to remain in Him. The Lord Jesus desires His superficial followers to be real believers. He wants them to show the legitimacy of their faith and remain in the Vine. When we say this we do not mean that a believer must work to remain saved. But a believer will remain in Christ due to the fact that He is indeed a believer. But for the people who do not remain in Christ, He provides a sober warning, “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.” What happens with someone who was attached to Christ and yet departs from the Christian faith? It is certainly natural to wonder what happened. There is a simple answer. It is this: The people who departed from the faith were not really true believers to start. If they were true believers they would never have departed from the faith. The branch that is false does not abide or remain in Christ. John says that those who went out from us were never really of us. This is true with the people who departed from the faith of Christianity.
First, let’s begin with basic meaning of what it means to abide in Christ. There is an exhortation for the unbelieving person. There is plea found in the Word of God for the unbeliever. Let’s explain what that is. The Lord Jesus is saying to unbelieving Judas, “Abide in Me. Do not be phony. You must abide in Me and show that your faith is real and true. The phony branches you carry need saving.” It is a sad thing when people are phony in terms of having a relationship with Christ. And these people never become true Christians but remain in their foolishness. Sometimes we see believing wives bring their unbelieving husbands to the beloved church of Christ. These people claim to be Christians, yet these people are not Christians. At other times we see young people who come to church just to get involved in youth programs. And these people do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The Lord Jesus calls all people who identify themselves with Him, and who have made a statement of faith to make sure they are really His. The Scriptures say the Lord knows those that are His. The ones who belong to Christ have the Spirit of God. Those who do not have the Spirit of God do not belong to Christ. You must make sure you are a true believer. For if you are not a true believer your fate is the eternal reality of the punitive wrath of God.
The Lord Jesus says, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” The Lord Jesus meant by abide to simply, remain. We must remain in Christ. The Lord Jesus is saying, “Be for real. Do not play games. Show you really remain in Me by evidence.” Remaining in Christ does not save you. It is would be ridiculous because that would mean it would rely upon your own strength. Abiding in Christ means you have given evidence that you are saved. There are people who are involved in things of the church. Yet they disappear and they never return. That person proved he is not a true Christian. The faith of these kinds of people was never true to start. People that really know Jesus Christ will remain in Christ. But the false believers will leave later in time.
We have explained this issue, and now we move on to the exhortation. Let us look at the profound verses that are related to this issue of abiding in Christ. Luke 8:14: "The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity.” What they have heard is the Word of God. There are people who look like they have experienced a legitimate conversion into Christ. Yet deep down inside of them there was no conversion into Christ. There were never saved to begin with. They simply fail to remain in Christ and produce much fruit. 1 John 2:19: “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.” If these individuals John spoke about were true followers of Christ, they would have remained in the fold of Christ. Yet we know that they went out from them because they were never really of them. 1 John 2:24, “As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.” Those that are for real will remain and have eternal life. The abiding believer is the only legitimate believer. When people stop fellowship with Christians they demonstrate that they are not believers to start. We must show the reality of our faith. Believers abide in Christ while unbelievers do not abide in Christ. Colossians 1:21-23, “And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach-- if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.” Here Paul warns of the Judas-type branches. The Colossian people were outside of Christ at one time. Yet Christ died to bring them in fellowship with Him. But the relationship needs to be maintained. We must show the legitimacy of a person’s salvation by remaining in Christ. This is what Paul is saying. Hebrews 3:6, 14, "but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house--whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end… For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end…” We must give evidence of our faith and continue in the Lord Jesus. Hebrews 4:14, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.” People who made a profession of faith in Christ must continue to do so in a genuine matter. That would be the evidence of their salvation. There some people who become elders and become involved in gross sin and then they leave the ministry. They totally forsake the relationship they had with Christ. Obviously, if someone is a true believer they will follow Christ. Such is the characteristic of being a true follower of Christ.
Jesus, I live to thee, the loveliest and best; my life in thee, thy life in me, in thy blest love I rest.
Jesus, I die to thee, whenever death shall come; to die in thee is life to me, in my eternal home.
Whether to live or die, I know not which is best; to live in thee is bliss to me, to die is endless rest.
Living or dying, Lord, I ask but to be thine; my life in thee, thy life in me, makes heaven forever mine.
Amen (Hymn 438).
The Lord Jesus gives a marvelous and magnificent promise. The Lord Jesus says abide in Me and I will remain in you. The world is filled with people who cannot claim to have a constant abiding in Christ. But the one who is abiding in Christ can claim that. The Scriptures speak of Christians abiding in Christ and the Lord Christ abiding in them. Colossians 1:27 says, “to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” We must remember “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” But Christians have a relationship with Christ who is the Vine. Real faith shows we are really saved. We will always abide and Christ will abide in us. John 14:4 speaks comforting words to the Christian. We must not be engaged in worry that they will not hand on to their salvation. This is a warning to professing Christians. If they are not true believers, Christ is not present in their lives, and they are none of His. Some people think that if they go to church, the Lord is present with them. But if someone is in the church, it does not mean that the Lord is with them. Christ lives in the person who is His, and who has the Spirit in them. They, then, are true believers. To abide in Christ only comes from a genuine relationship with Christ. We must have genuine faith in Christ. When we have real faith, which is a work of God in the heart of a person, it shows that it is irrevocable and it is unchangeable and eternal. Indeed it is a everlasting relationship. In the verses 8 through 10 we learn several things that the Lord taught. We learn faithfulness, love, and obedience. First, He exhorts His people to be true believers. He does not want fruitless branches that are attached to Him. If we bear fruit we show that we are Christian. We know that the unchristian person bears no fruit. Second, the true believer enters into the love of Christ by His grace. He continues to live in the love of God, and he never rejects it. If someone does not continue in Christ, it is a sure sign they were not born from above. Those who are born from above will remain in His love. Third, Jesus wants people to abide in Him. “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.” When we speak of abiding of Christ, bearing fruit, continuing in Christ and devoted to His commandments; it is various ways of saying the same thing. A true disciple of Christ obeys His commands. They remain in His blessed love and continue on from the beginning of the time they were saved. Christ wants true disciples. We must be determined not to disappoint Him or displease by failing to abide in Him. We know that Judas failed to abide in Christ. Scripture says he went to his own place. He went to the place of hell because he did not have Christ as his Savior and Lord. He said not all of the apostles’ feet were clean. He spoke of Judas who betrayed Him. Do not be like Judas who did truly follower Christ though he was in the midst of His ministry and saw the abounding mercy of Christ.
The Lord Jesus is an example to us in all things. He is the Perfect Example of abiding. He said, “…even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.” The Lord wants us to have a relationship that He has with His Heavenly Father. John 17 shows that Christ prayed in His High Priestly prayer that He wanted His people to be one as He and the Father are one. Christ will always keep His relationship with the Father. He wants us to keep our relationship with Him.
John 15 shows what Christ said about true and false disciples. He is contrasting them. It is the one who abides in Christ and the one who departs from the faith. Christ pleads with the people who have a phony way of abiding in Him. He wants His people to abide, bear fruit, remain in His love, and obey His precious commands. These are qualities of a true Christian. The Christian remains in an affectionate and productive relationship with the Lord Jesus. The true believer will never abandon His faith. John 8:31 says, “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed…”
If you love the Lord, you will keep His commandments. All true disciples love the Lord and He wants obedience. We must love and have obedience. The Christian should not think that the Christian life is complicated. It is rather in simplicity that we should understand the Christian life. We are called to love God and others. We need the love that brings obedience to the divine Word of God. We must be true followers of Christ. We must not be false followers.
Let us understand the expectation of the believer. Through John’s Gospel he draws the line between true and false believers. He does not contrast one believer with another. Rather he shows an idealistic picture of it. Believers have eternal life. They will never thirst again for eternal life because they already have it. Some teach that believers can lose their salvation. Rome teaches that if someone commits a mortal sin, he or she loses their state of justification. But in Reformed theology we know the blessed truth of the preservation of the saints. God will preserve His people. He will complete the work His started. He is faithful and true. He will never forsake His own. Those who eternal life, have the peace of God. True peace is not losing and gaining the state of justification but having it throughout life. Either God is faithful or He is not. We maintain He is faithful and He will see us through. The unbeliever will always crave or thirst again. We who have eternal life will never thirst again. What a blessed truth this is! When we get a little thirsty we must turn to Scripture. When we turn to Scripture we meet Christ Himself. It is Christ speaking to His people. Listen, and listen well. Remember that John 6 speaks of the promise of those who trust in Him will never hunger. But have you become hunger for spiritual truth? Sometimes we get hungry for spiritual meat from our churches. Sometimes we get hungry for spiritual truth. Do not starve yourself, but feed upon the meat of those who write sound doctrine, and who embrace the truth of divine Scripture. We must understand the ideal pattern which God has made for us to understand.
We must confess our sins to the Lord. We see this blessed truth in 1 John 1:8-10:
8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us
9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
We must confess our sins to the Lord. Unbelievers do not confess their sins to God. Rome says we ought to confess to a priest. But we know differently because we obey divine Scripture alone not man’s traditions. Sometimes believers fall short to confess their sins. John does not deal with them in this case. Rather he presents the model. Let us read 1 John 2:3-5…
3And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
4He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
Unbelievers disobey but believers obey. Yet we see at times believers disobey. It is true that believers disobey but John does not deal with exceptions. This does not mean that we should commit sin with license. It is wrong and unscriptural to sin with license. Peter says that we should not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil. Let us read 1 John 2:9-11…
9He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
10He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
11But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
We must always love our brothers. Yet unbelievers never love their brothers. There are Christian people who struggle with loving their brothers. 1 John 3:14-15…
14We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
15Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
John draws distinctions that show what is and is not a Christian. 1 John 2:15 says, "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." John is not saying you are going to hell because you may desire a new couch. 1 John 3 6; 8-9 says, “Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him…He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” John is concerned with the ideal and the positional truths of life of a Christian. John knew of the exceptions to the ideal. He was aware of them. 1 John 2:1 says, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous…” John mentions this because he knows through the Holy Spirit that Christians fail. Sometimes we fail and fall into sin. General patterns in the Word of God show what a believer is and what a believer is not. These general patterns are clear and plain. Exceptions occur when a believer hates his brother, disobeys God’s commands and fails to repent of a plain sin.
In the fullest sense, sometimes believers do not abide. This is true. Yet it will be to abide in Christ. This is the general pattern. There may be a lapse in the life of a Christian with their relationship with Christ. And we may cease to abide in the complete sense. John 15 is not entirely restricted to the unbeliever. It is possible it could refer a believer. John assumes that the believer loves their neighbor and yet he commands us to love our neighbor. It speaks to the exception of the ideal. The epistles of Paul are full exceptions. Ephesians chapter 1 speaks of a Christian position. It is regarding him who is in Christ. And the second section talks of Christian practice. It is about what a Christian ought to do. Believers make sinful mistakes, and therefore the Father prunes His people. But if we were free from mistakes, the Father would not have to prune us. But we see that the Father prunes His people. Yet there are exceptions in the life of a Christian. They are not abiding in the complete sense.
The Lord Jesus wants and longs for His people to abide in Christ fully, completely and totally. It may seem like a perplexing thing when the believer cannot abide in the fullest sense or his failure to do so. Dr. MacArthur wrote,
“One illustration is found in Galatians 1:6, where Paul, writing to Christians, says, "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel." When the Galatians started believing legalistic teaching, Paul rebuked them for not abiding. In Galatians 3:3, he said, "Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" The Galatians had been saved in the energy of the Holy Spirit, but they were living as if they'd been saved in the energy of the flesh. They believed they needed to keep a list of rules to retain God's acceptance. They had stopped abiding in Christ and started trying to produce their own fruit apart from Him. Legalism is one way a Christian can stop abiding; it is essentially the opposite of abiding.”
“When Christians fail to abide in the fullest sense of the word, it doesn't mean they lose their salvation. In John 10:27, Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them." You may be a wayward sheep, but you don't turn into a goat (cf. Matt. 25:31-46). When you stop abiding, it doesn't mean you're out of God's love and His Kingdom--your position is secure forever. But when you wander a little bit and cease to abide in the fullest sense, you move away from the intimacy of a full relationship with Christ.”
“To abide as a believer simply means to stay close to Jesus. A branch is much better off if it's connected to the vine. Being only a half an inch away from the vine doesn't do a branch any good. To abide is to be totally connected to Jesus Christ in a loving and obedient relationship. As the vine sends its energy through the branch to bear fruit, so Christ can send His energy through you.”
The question is how is it possible to be in a close and intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus? We must abide in Christ and abide in His Word. Are you in God’s Word? If you are in God’s Word, you are abiding in Christ. Stay connected to the Word of God. We must stay in a living and close relationship with the Word so you abide in Christ. If we feed upon His Word, we can have an energized relationship with the Lord and Redeemer. No believer should operate independently from Christ. Somewhere in the life of a Christian, he or she fails to abide in Christ. Some independently make an effort to produce fruit outside of Christ. That is, I mean apart from Him. If the branch is disconnected from the vine, it is worthless. Only if you abide in Christ can you bear fruit. Dr. MacArthur says, “Bearing fruit is not a question of whether you're strong or weak, good or bad, brave or cowardly, clever or foolish, experienced or inexperienced. Your gifts, accomplishments, and experience are worthless in helping you produce fruit apart from Jesus Christ. Fruit not produced by Christ is like artificial fruit tied to branches.” No one bears fruit by trying but you bear fruit by abiding. We must learn that in us no good thing dwells (Romans 7:18).
Abiding comes when you realize you are branch and need to remain in the vine. A closer relationship to Jesus means putting off sin and self-effort. Rely on the Spirit of God. Sin robes you of a deep relationship with the Lord Jesus. Get into the Word of God. If you do so, you will abide. Do not worry about fruit. Christ will bring fruit through you. Remain close to Jesus, and stay away from sin. Stay involved in reading the Word of God. Let us learn that “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" and “It is God who worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." The Lord will produce fruit through you as you abide in Him. By His grace may you have a closer relationship to Christ by getting into His Word, obeying Him and loving! God surely wants a closer relationship then you have now. John 15:11 says, "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." Christ speaks through His Word today even though He spoke two thousand years ago. If you are a Judas branch, repent, and believe in the gospel.
