1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,860 Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. How do we know where to find answers to the toughest 2 00:00:15,860 --> 00:00:21,080 questions in life? While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search 3 00:00:21,080 --> 00:00:27,300 and how do we discover this truth? Today, in this teaching podcast, John Meador, lead 4 00:00:27,300 --> 00:00:32,440 pastor of Cross City Church, takes a specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth 5 00:00:32,440 --> 00:00:40,880 for the life we're searching for. We are so glad that you're with us this morning. 6 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:48,200 Please take your Bibles and turn to John chapter 15 today. The secret of the abiding life. 7 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:53,960 John chapter 15, and by the way, we have Bibles available at doorways as you come in. There 8 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:58,320 are also some Bibles underneath the seats that you're sitting on and you're able to 9 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:04,200 find one of those Bibles. And sometimes I'll announce actually a page number as well as 10 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:08,400 give you a text so that if you're new to the Bible, you can be able to find out where that 11 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:12,920 text is by looking at the page number. They'll be on the screens as well. So the secret of 12 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:18,520 the abiding life, John chapter 15, that's along about page 1079 in that hardback version 13 00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:24,800 of the Bible. Isn't it interesting that John chapter 14, chapter 15, chapter 16, all three 14 00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:30,680 of these chapters are three chapters where Jesus is teaching about the Holy Spirit. But 15 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:37,560 John chapter 15 is very different from 14 and 16 in that it is an entire illustration 16 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:44,640 that gives us details about what the indwelling Holy Spirit is all about. And in this illustration, 17 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:49,680 Jesus says, I'm the vine and you are the branches. We're going to be looking at that today. And 18 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:54,320 I believe it's the secret to the abiding life. Let's stand together if you would, as I read 19 00:01:54,320 --> 00:02:02,720 the first 15 or the first 11 verses rather of John chapter 15, beginning in verse one. 20 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:07,680 Imagine the disciples having heard everything that Jesus said in John 14. Imagine them being 21 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:12,320 together in a room as he taught them. And now he's going to really take it outside that 22 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:17,400 room to the real elements of life. He says this in verse one, he said, I am the true 23 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:22,640 vine and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch of me that does not bear fruit, he 24 00:02:22,640 --> 00:02:29,400 takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 25 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:34,360 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. And this is a 26 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:38,320 command that's repeated throughout this text. It's the only command by the way, and these 27 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:43,760 first 11 verses, everything else is a result of this command. He said in verse four, abide 28 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:50,240 in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, 29 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:55,080 so neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who 30 00:02:55,080 --> 00:03:01,480 abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit for apart from me, you can do nothing. If 31 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:06,140 anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up and they gather 32 00:03:06,140 --> 00:03:11,240 them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words 33 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:16,920 abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. My father is glorified 34 00:03:16,920 --> 00:03:21,880 by this that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. Just as the father has 35 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:27,920 loved me, I have also loved you, abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you 36 00:03:27,920 --> 00:03:32,720 will abide in my love as I've kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. And then 37 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:39,200 verse 11, these things I've spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy 38 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:44,720 may be made full. Man, that's a great target to move towards, right? That my joy may be 39 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:50,440 in you and that your joy may be made full. That's where all this is headed that way as 40 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:55,320 we look at the secret of the abiding life. Let's pray together. Father, we ask that you 41 00:03:55,320 --> 00:04:02,760 illuminate this text today by your Holy Spirit so that we might know not only the theology 42 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:08,600 of the Holy Spirit but actually how you literally dwell inside of each believer in Jesus. Father, 43 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:14,080 today show us what we need to know about this life, this incredible life you've called us 44 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:21,840 to. In Jesus' name we pray. All God's people said amen. Please be seated. I love this text 45 00:04:21,840 --> 00:04:25,920 because this text is really going to get us to the place where we understand we are either 46 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:32,080 abiding in him or we are not. And as we walk through this text today, you'll see that I 47 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:38,080 believe that this text refers to the average Christian life, just the regular ongoing Christian 48 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:44,080 life. Not some above and beyond kind of description of the Christian life, but the way the Christian 49 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:49,960 life is supposed to be lived out. And when we look at this today and what abiding actually 50 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:54,320 means I believe we're going to be able to tell whether we're simply acquainted with 51 00:04:54,320 --> 00:05:00,720 the historical Jesus as in we've read the book and seen the movie. Or whether we really 52 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:07,280 have a relationship with him where his life is flowing in us and through us. That's a 53 00:05:07,280 --> 00:05:11,600 pretty important question to answer today. So every time you hear the word abide I need 54 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:17,060 you to know exactly what the word abide means. It's a very simple word. The word itself means 55 00:05:17,060 --> 00:05:25,240 to remain. That's it. To remain where you are. To remain or to dwell. It's often used 56 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:31,200 as an abode, as remaining in an abode or to stay united with someone in heart and will. 57 00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:37,220 Now this is the definition of that most frequently used word in John chapter 15 which is the 58 00:05:37,220 --> 00:05:44,760 word abide. It's synonymous with salvation. It's the idea behind that is that we are believing 59 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:50,920 and accepting and trusting Christ and so that believing, accepting, trusting Christ produces 60 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:57,120 an abiding relationship through which everything he's going to do in our lives comes through 61 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:04,000 that relationship. It's being vitally connected with Christ. I've told you the story when 62 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:09,760 I was a kid that my dad and I had this conversation. He was a lot smarter than I was. Of course 63 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:13,680 at ten years of age you think you're as smart as your dad is and certainly at sixteen you 64 00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:17,760 think you're smarter than him. But at ten years of age I wanted a minibike really, really 65 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:22,680 bad. That was the thing when I was growing up in small town Oklahoma. You needed a minibike 66 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:27,040 and at ten years of age I wanted one of those. He said, well I can help you raise the money 67 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:32,680 to buy a minibike. And we had ten acres of land outside of town. We lived in town but 68 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:36,840 we'd go out and do things on that ten acres and he said, you can plant pecan trees and 69 00:06:36,840 --> 00:06:42,280 when those pecans come to fruition then you can sell those pecans and buy a minibike. 70 00:06:42,280 --> 00:06:46,320 Now we didn't have Google back then. I didn't know it took three to five years for pecans 71 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:51,360 trees to have anything at all on them. But he was smarter than I was and he gave me a 72 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:55,920 plan. I planted one hundred pecans trees. Now I learned incredible lessons about how 73 00:06:55,920 --> 00:07:01,640 to grow those pecans trees in a drought filled series of summers in Oklahoma where I would 74 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:06,400 spend the night with a water hose moving them from one tree to the next and so forth. But 75 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:10,680 one of the things I learned is that you can actually take a branch off of one tree and 76 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:17,480 graft it onto the other and it will actually take on life. It's really amazing. It's kind 77 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:23,040 of like peeling back the bark of one, peeling back the bark of the tree you're going to 78 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:28,920 plant it on and putting it on the tree, bringing the bark back up and wrapping it around it 79 00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:34,560 and putting duct tape, yes duct tape around a pecan tree. Continue to water and take care 80 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:41,840 of it before long. The branch will have the same life that the trunk of the tree has. 81 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:47,560 Incredible in a few years. It's a massive branch and it actually bears fruit. That's 82 00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:54,360 the idea behind this illustration of the vine and the branches. The idea is the branch doesn't 83 00:07:54,360 --> 00:08:00,400 really have anything in and of itself but it gets its life from the trunk of the tree 84 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:05,240 itself and I can remember grafting those branches on and wondering will they remain, will they 85 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:12,280 take on life? Jesus is giving this illustration personified. It says basically will that person 86 00:08:12,280 --> 00:08:17,560 stay connected with Jesus? And if they will stay connected with Jesus, if they will be 87 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:23,280 connected and stay connected with Jesus, if they will abide in Jesus, all kinds of fruit 88 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:30,640 comes out of that relationship but if they do not connect with Jesus there is no fruit 89 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:36,440 to come. Now as we walk into this text it's important to answer a couple of questions 90 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:41,240 that some of the more difficult parts of John 15 pose for us. For example if you look down 91 00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:46,600 to verse 6 of John chapter 15 it says this, if anyone does not abide in me he's thrown 92 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:52,120 away as a branch and dries up and they gather them and cast them into the fire and they 93 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:57,160 are burned and immediately this causes us some kind of a concern and maybe a little 94 00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:02,620 bit of fear. We're asking what is Jesus talking about? Well Jesus is not saying that Christians 95 00:09:02,620 --> 00:09:07,200 can lose their salvation. That's not what this text is about. He's also not talking 96 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:12,960 about Christians that might be able to lose their reward. He is reminding them that everyone 97 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:20,000 who's part of the crowd is not really connected to Christ. And that was true of this crowd. 98 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:28,000 Judas was not connected to Christ. The other disciples were connected to Christ. He's basically 99 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:34,120 saying a branch that is not tied into the vine, not tied into the trunk has no life 100 00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:40,800 in and of itself at all. And if you go back and read John's further commentary in the 101 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:45,720 epistles you'll see he says that over and over again. In fact it might be really helpful 102 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:50,720 for you today to have the book of John opened on one hand and then on the other hand open 103 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:56,160 up first John because John is giving us commentary on some of the things he says in the book 104 00:09:56,160 --> 00:10:02,400 of John that Jesus said. So let me read to you first John chapter 2 verse 19. He says 105 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:06,560 they went out from us but they were not really of us for if they had been of us they would 106 00:10:06,560 --> 00:10:11,480 have remained with us but they went out so that they would be shown that they're not 107 00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:17,920 all of us. I brought a branch today. I'm going to have a branch up here on the stage for 108 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:22,160 just a few moments. Now some of you analytical types are going to immediately say okay that's 109 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:27,920 not really a vine. It's not really something that has grapes on it or ever did. And I think 110 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:32,720 it's kind of humorous. I live not far from grapevine Texas and everywhere I went in grapevine 111 00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:38,600 yesterday I could not find a grapevine in grapevine. Not sure how that works but several 112 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:42,960 nurseries turned me away and said now you need to plant seeds and I said tomorrow's 113 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:49,160 the message so I don't have time. I've already learned that lesson. But I do have a branch. 114 00:10:49,160 --> 00:10:56,160 And I want you to notice for just a few moments that this branch is broken off from a tree. 115 00:10:56,800 --> 00:11:01,240 So naturally this branch doesn't have any life left in it. Now it kind of looks like 116 00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:05,960 it has life right now. It still has the leaves. They're still green. It looks like if I were 117 00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:11,120 able to tape it onto a tree it might kind of look like it's alive for a while. But it's 118 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:16,840 so broken off that unless it's grafted back in it will have no life in it of itself. And 119 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:20,760 the illustration Jesus is giving us is very very important here when he talks about that 120 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:26,640 in verse 6. Basically unless you become connected to Jesus you cannot ever have the real fruit 121 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:32,920 that Jesus calls us to have because you are separated from his life and his life is what 122 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:39,360 gives us that fruit. You can't bear spiritual fruit. You can't have true joy. Not the joy 123 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:44,360 he intends for you to have. You can't understand love the way he wanted you to understand love. 124 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:49,420 You can't have any of those things unless you are vitally connected to the vine who 125 00:11:49,420 --> 00:11:55,760 is Jesus Christ. Remember he said I am the vine and you are the branches. He who abides 126 00:11:55,760 --> 00:12:00,280 in me and I in him he bears much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing. I'm going 127 00:12:00,280 --> 00:12:04,080 to leave this branch up here today because I want you to keep looking at this branch 128 00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:09,560 and I want you to realize this branch will never have life and neither will we if we 129 00:12:09,560 --> 00:12:14,240 are not connected vitally with Jesus Christ. Man keep that foremost in your mind because 130 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:21,880 that connection is everything about this illustration that we have here. In John 15 we learn how 131 00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:27,840 we abide and what it looks like when we do. And again the only command in these 11 verses 132 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:33,760 is the command to abide. Everything else that comes out of this text comes because you abide. 133 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:38,280 You bear fruit because you abide. You love because you abide. You have joy because you 134 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:44,040 abide. Everything else comes out of this one command. And three times Jesus uses the word 135 00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:49,680 abide in connection with a specific way we do that and that's the secret to the abiding 136 00:12:49,680 --> 00:12:58,760 life. There's three things. Number one abide in him. Abide in him. Obviously this is the 137 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:08,320 big one. Abiding in Jesus Christ himself. Back to verse 4 abide in me and I in you. 138 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:13,280 If you read John 14 you have all this great great theological teaching where Jesus is 139 00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:19,200 introducing the Holy Spirit to his disciples. If you jump over to John chapter 16 more of 140 00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:23,320 the same and even more practical application. But if you really want to know the secret 141 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:27,840 of what the indwelling Holy Spirit really does in our life it's found right here. Abide 142 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:36,280 in me and I in you. Abide is his picture. Abide is his illustration. The vine and the 143 00:13:36,280 --> 00:13:41,720 branches help us understand what it means for the Holy Spirit to be inside of us, dwelling 144 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:47,320 in us, living in us and the power that that brings us and the life that that brings us. 145 00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:53,520 That's the illustration Jesus uses for us to understand it. And I absolutely love it. 146 00:13:53,520 --> 00:13:57,240 Everywhere you look there are branches and vines and trees and trunks and everywhere 147 00:13:57,240 --> 00:14:02,280 you look there's green and life and you understand all these things are connected. It's part 148 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:07,120 of our everyday life. It should be part of our everyday spiritual life as well. Abide 149 00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:14,600 in him. Now we'll jump back to John 14 and look at something that Jesus said. John 14 150 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:20,800 verse 20. He said in that day, that is in the time, in the future when he gives the 151 00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:29,240 Holy Spirit, in that day you will know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you. 152 00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:34,080 The future event he's pointing to was his departure and the coming of the Holy Spirit 153 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:40,080 at Pentecost. That's Acts chapter 2. Now for you and I as believers in Jesus Christ 154 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:46,160 post Pentecost, when you and I invite Christ into our lives, we don't have to wait for 155 00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:52,520 some subsequent experience to receive the Holy Spirit. We are born again, that is born 156 00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:57,620 of the Spirit and we have the Holy Spirit of God in our lives from the moment we surrender 157 00:14:57,620 --> 00:15:04,800 our lives to Jesus as Lord and Savior. We sometimes use these terms like accepting Jesus 158 00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:10,040 into your life or receiving Jesus into your life. What we really mean is you trust in 159 00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:14,440 and believe in what Jesus did on the cross and you receive the Spirit of Jesus into your 160 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:19,200 life. You receive the Spirit of the living God in your life. So once you come to faith 161 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:26,520 in Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit. If you are a believer in Jesus today, you have the 162 00:15:26,520 --> 00:15:33,400 Holy Spirit of God inside of your life and you should be attached to this vine and he 163 00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:40,000 is in you. In chapter 14 verse 23 he said it this way, if anyone loves me he will keep 164 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:48,360 my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our abode with him. 165 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:55,520 Man this is strong stuff. This is the key, the secret of the believer. We will make our 166 00:15:55,520 --> 00:16:02,120 abode with him. Now I want you to notice in this illustration something very interesting 167 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:08,760 is that this is not a two way street. The branch doesn't give anything to the vine. 168 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:14,680 The branch only receives from the vine. This branch didn't give anything to the trunk of 169 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:20,280 the tree it came off of. Only the trunk gave life to it. And in this illustration it is 170 00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:26,040 important for us to realize we do not contribute to who Christ is or to who God is. We don't 171 00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:32,400 make God better by being present with him because God is not going to be made any bigger 172 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:38,480 than he already is. He is already awesome almighty God amen. But all that we receive 173 00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:44,160 is what he gives to us from abiding in him. It is a one way thing. He gives us love, he 174 00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:52,040 gives us power, he gives us wisdom by our abiding in him. So we abide in him. Someone 175 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:59,680 defined the idea of abiding and said it like this, they said abiding basically is where 176 00:16:59,680 --> 00:17:07,840 we just simply trust, we simply have confidence, we simply savor that interaction with him, 177 00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:14,520 we receive from him. I've summarized it this way, abiding is dependence upon Christ instead 178 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:20,720 of ourselves. Have you ever noticed how hard it is to live the Christian life, I mean fully 179 00:17:20,720 --> 00:17:25,380 live the Christian life? You ever notice that? If you were being transparent and I was saying 180 00:17:25,380 --> 00:17:30,840 on a scale of one to ten how easy is it for you to live the Christian life? And ten being 181 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:35,160 the greatest effort and one being the easiest, you're probably going to say it's a ten on 182 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:39,200 a scale of ten, that's how difficult it is to live the Christian life. And you would 183 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:44,400 be correct, it's not easy to live the Christian life. But what is the price for me to say 184 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:51,400 to you, Jesus never said you could live the Christian life. He never said you could. But 185 00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:58,760 he said he always would. He said he always would live that life through you. Therefore 186 00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:03,200 we need to be really connected with him for him to live that life through us. It's not 187 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:08,680 about what we do apart from Jesus, it's what we do because we are in Jesus Christ. So abiding 188 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:16,560 is dependence upon Christ instead of ourselves. It's realizing and knowing that we can't do 189 00:18:16,560 --> 00:18:23,160 it on our own. And then there's a surprising statement that I love because it reminds me 190 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:27,840 of where I really need to be in my mind about living the life he's called me to live. It's 191 00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:31,800 in verse five. Jesus said I'm the vine and you're the branch. As he who abides in me 192 00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:39,360 and I in him, he bears much fruit. And then there's this last line. For apart from me, 193 00:18:39,360 --> 00:18:45,040 you can do nothing. Let me suggest to you that that's one of the greatest prayers or 194 00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:50,840 greatest verses you can pray back to him. Lord, I need your help today. Because I know 195 00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:56,160 that apart from you I can do nothing. Lord, I need your wisdom today because apart from 196 00:18:56,160 --> 00:19:00,240 you I can do nothing. Lord, I need you to give me the joy that I don't seem to have 197 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:06,680 right now because apart from you I can do nothing. I need your wisdom. I need your love. 198 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:11,520 I need your insights because apart from you I can do nothing. I really can't. I'm just 199 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:16,560 like every other human being apart from abiding in the power of the Holy Spirit, abiding in 200 00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:23,000 Jesus Christ. There's such a huge emphasis on this kind of connection. Abiding is paying 201 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:27,360 attention to the connection we have with Jesus instead of trying to do things by our own 202 00:19:27,360 --> 00:19:34,360 effort because you know you can't and you know he can. That's what abiding is. That's 203 00:19:34,360 --> 00:19:42,080 what abiding is. It's paying attention to the relationship that we have with him because 204 00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:49,520 we know we need him. Because we know we need him. Abiding. See, if you stay focused on 205 00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:56,760 the connection the sap will flow and the fruit will come. The sap will flow and the fruit 206 00:19:56,760 --> 00:20:01,120 will come and you'll see your life change. Not because you're trying hard to make a change 207 00:20:01,120 --> 00:20:05,080 but because you're vitally connected with the one who can change your life and you may 208 00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:09,840 even be surprised by the character that comes out of your life. The fruit that shows up 209 00:20:09,840 --> 00:20:14,240 because you're connected with Christ. You'll be able to see love and kindness that come 210 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:18,800 out of you when it wouldn't normally naturally come out of you. You'll see he takes the edge 211 00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:25,000 off of anger and the anxiety out of stressful situations. He takes the hate out of disagreement 212 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:29,320 and division. He influences the fruit that comes out of us. If you will pay attention 213 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:33,720 to the connection you have, the relation you have with Jesus Christ, all kinds of fruit 214 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:40,080 will come out of you. But if you don't pay attention to it, you can do nothing. Abide 215 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:46,360 in him. That's the umbrella over everything else he's going to say today. So let me just 216 00:20:46,360 --> 00:20:53,320 pause for just a second and say, are you connected to him? Abide connected to him. I don't mean 217 00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:58,880 just one moment in time where you said, yes, I trust Jesus. I'll pray and ask him to forgive 218 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:04,080 me if I sin. But are you connected to him relationally? Often for many people it begins 219 00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:09,600 with a moment like that and then they grow into this regular ongoing relationship because 220 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:14,280 they've trusted him. But it's not just the moment of praying and accepting what he did 221 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:18,880 on the cross. It's a matter of entering into that relationship that connect. Are you connected 222 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:26,360 to him? Are you abiding in him? Do you have a reliance on the Lord who brings all this 223 00:21:26,360 --> 00:21:31,800 good fruit and apart from him, you can do nothing. Abide in him, Jesus said. That's 224 00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:37,920 the first secret. The second you'll find he attaches the word abide with something else. 225 00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:44,640 Abide in his word. Abide in his word. Look at verse seven for a second. It says, if you 226 00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:52,880 abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for 227 00:21:52,880 --> 00:22:00,160 you. Many of us really get zeroing in on that prayer promise. Okay. Whatever I ask in his 228 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:05,880 name he'll do for me. But really the emphasis is that first line. If you abide in me and 229 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:10,480 my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. I promise you 230 00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:15,520 when you abide in Jesus and his words abide in your life, you're going to be asking different 231 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:20,680 things than you would otherwise. That's an important part of our prayer life is to know 232 00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:25,920 that we're flavored by the relationship we have with Christ and by the word in our life. 233 00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:31,920 But why did Jesus make such a direct connection between abide in me and my words abide in 234 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:36,080 you? I'm going to try to explain that over this next couple of minutes because it's so 235 00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:43,880 important. Imagine having the most wise and powerful person in the world with you yet 236 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:50,520 ignoring what they say. You're facing a massive decision to ask your help or you're facing 237 00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:57,160 a big challenge about something in your financial future or you have some challenges in your 238 00:22:57,160 --> 00:23:02,320 relationships and you know what you want to do but you have someone right there with you 239 00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:07,280 who knows everything about relationships, everything about the future, everything about 240 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:14,760 your own life. What are you going to do? Listen to them or are you going to listen to you? 241 00:23:14,760 --> 00:23:18,200 And if they're saying to you don't do what you would normally do, don't do what you want 242 00:23:18,200 --> 00:23:24,160 to do but do this instead, go this way. If you trust them, if you know they're wise, 243 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:28,960 if you understand that you don't know everything then you'll yield to them and do what they 244 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:35,560 say to do instead of your natural inclination. That's about the closest I can get to describing 245 00:23:35,560 --> 00:23:40,320 what it means to abide in the word. And it's tough to do sometimes because we're talking 246 00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:45,200 about things that are bigger than just finances or health or relationships. Sometimes things 247 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:50,240 that really rock us to the core of fears and panic and heartbreak and everything else is 248 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:55,480 going on inside of there. But here's what I want you to see today. It is your response 249 00:23:55,480 --> 00:24:02,480 to what the word says about your life that reveals the level of your abiding with Him. 250 00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:11,680 How you respond to His word is everything. Abide in my words. Now John also comments 251 00:24:11,680 --> 00:24:16,880 in 1 John chapter 2 about what it's like not to abide. And here's what he says in 1 John 252 00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:21,520 2, 4. He says, the one who says I've come to know Him and yet does not keep His commandments 253 00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:26,360 is a liar and the truth is not in Him. But whoever keeps His word in Him the love of 254 00:24:26,360 --> 00:24:33,320 God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him. The one who says he abides 255 00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:39,200 in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked and that word's consistent with 256 00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:47,320 His word. So our response to His word is incredibly revealing. Here's what it ought to look like. 257 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:54,000 It ought to look like this. Over time you become more and more dependent upon His word 258 00:24:54,000 --> 00:25:02,240 than you do your opinion. Over time it becomes our go to to see what the scripture says about 259 00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:07,640 a thing instead of think this is what I want to do. This is what I feel like I ought to 260 00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:12,280 do. Let me describe it again this time on the screen. Abiding in the word means that 261 00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:18,680 we allow His word to fill our minds, to direct our wills, and transform our emotions and 262 00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:24,400 affections. It gives shape to our life but it only happens if we're connected to His 263 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:32,880 word constantly more so than another person with us. It's like being present all the time. 264 00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:41,400 It's like you allow it to just absolutely fill your mind and life. I was trying to think 265 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:46,120 of a way to illustrate this the other day and I really was coming up with blanks. Then 266 00:25:46,120 --> 00:25:53,160 something happened to me. Yesterday my iPhone broke and it didn't work anymore. People 267 00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:59,520 couldn't hear my voice anymore and the camera broke as well. The whole back side of the 268 00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:04,120 phone broke. I went to four different places before they finally said go back to the Apple 269 00:26:04,120 --> 00:26:10,280 store. I'm in the Apple store yesterday afternoon not far from here. They said we can fix your 270 00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:15,080 phone but we kind of have to overhaul it. It will be three hours before you get it back. 271 00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:18,600 Do you want us to do that or do you want to mail it off for about two weeks? I said three 272 00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:24,120 hours. We'll do three hours. They took my phone. Before they took it away I was able 273 00:26:24,120 --> 00:26:29,880 to text my wife and say I'm up at this place not far from us. I said I'm going to be here 274 00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:35,000 for three hours and I'll be out of contact with you and everything else. She said great, 275 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:38,440 where do we meet for dinner? I said okay. Meet me at this restaurant not far from the 276 00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:43,360 Apple store. I texted all that on my watch and I said now this is the final word. I can't 277 00:26:43,360 --> 00:26:48,560 communicate with you anymore after this. Show up at this time so we make the agreement. 278 00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:52,640 I went to the restaurant and at that moment I was completely out of communication with 279 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:57,840 the world because my phone was broken. I waited in that restaurant for the 30 or 40 minutes 280 00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:01,240 it took for her to get there, whatever that amount of time was. When I was sitting there 281 00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:07,400 I realized I am completely disconnected from everything I'm comfortable with knowing. I'm 282 00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:11,760 sitting there drinking my tea and water. I don't know anybody in the restaurant. I can't 283 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:16,840 check the weather even though I know what it is outside. I can't check football scores. 284 00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:21,440 On Saturday afternoon there's some important information I need to have. I can't tell what's 285 00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:25,320 going on in the world. I can't look at all the pictures I've taken while I'm waiting 286 00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:30,640 for my wife to show up. I can't do anything I normally do and I'm thinking I do not know 287 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:35,040 how to live without my phone. I've come to that conclusion. I don't know how to live 288 00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:39,200 without my phone. I can't Google anything. I can't look at YouTube videos. I can't check 289 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:44,440 my Facebook friends. I can't do anything without this phone. At first I was embarrassed and 290 00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:49,920 then I thought you know what a perfect picture of what we need to be in the sense of connected 291 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:56,120 to Jesus. We really need to be that connected to Jesus. In fact abiding in his word and 292 00:27:56,120 --> 00:28:02,600 abiding in him means that we're more connected to him than we are anything else in our lives. 293 00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:09,600 Even our phones. Even our phones. Moment by moment we need to be checking in with him. 294 00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:14,080 Moment by moment we need to be remembering what he said in his word. Every decision we 295 00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:20,120 need to make we need to make based on what we know he's already said to us. We need to 296 00:28:20,120 --> 00:28:25,960 be at least as connected to the word as all the other important things in our lives. It's 297 00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:32,960 so incredibly important that we do that. In 1 John chapter 3 verse 24 John said it like 298 00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:40,080 this. He said the one who keeps his commandments abides in him and he in him. We know by this 299 00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:47,080 that he abides in us that the spirit whom he has given us is present. This is why thousands 300 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:52,840 of believers gather hundreds of thousands even millions of believers gather every Sunday 301 00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:57,160 to seek under the teaching of the word. It's why we listen to podcasts and read Christian 302 00:28:57,160 --> 00:29:02,560 books. It's why we have devotionals in quiet time. It's why we pray and read the word. 303 00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:06,760 It's why we want you in a small group talking about the truth of God's word because that's 304 00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:12,120 the only way you can really abide in the word by having it around you all the time. It doesn't 305 00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:16,800 mean you don't have the presence to know how to live in this life. It means you do have 306 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:22,000 the spiritual presence to know how to live in this life. We want you to abide in his 307 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:29,000 word and abide in him because that's the key to life. Paul said in Colossians chapter 3 308 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:36,000 verse 16, let the word of Christ richly dwell in you. Richly. Let it be overflowing in your 309 00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:44,360 life and in time. You learn this dependency. You learn to rely on being connected to the 310 00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:50,320 word. We learn to discover that all the earthly wisdom out there and all my natural wisdom 311 00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:56,400 just is not enough. In fact they will steer me wrong often. I need to be connected to 312 00:29:56,400 --> 00:30:02,920 his word and that's progress. Put another way, you cannot bear fruit if you're more 313 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:07,880 connected with other people and other things than you are with this vine. You can't bear 314 00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:14,880 his fruit. You can't bear his life unless you're connected to him. So abide in him. 315 00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:21,120 Abide in his word. Then the third one, your life. The third time he uses the word abide, 316 00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:27,720 he says abide in his love. Abide in his love. He says this in verse 9, just as the father 317 00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:34,720 has left me, I have also loved you. Let this sink in. Abide in my love. I want to remind 318 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:40,520 you this is not a two way thing. It's a one way thing. The branch is receiving everything 319 00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:47,520 from the vine. In other words, Jesus is saying I want you to continually feel and understand 320 00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:54,520 and know and believe the flow of my love into you and through you. I want you to never have 321 00:30:56,600 --> 00:31:02,120 a moment where you don't know that I love you. I want you to remain in my love and the 322 00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:07,720 stress is not where Jesus is saying that he wants us to love him, but the stress of the 323 00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:13,840 whole conversation is I want you to let me love you. Abide in my love. Remain in my love. 324 00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:20,840 Don't disconnect from my love. Abiding in love means you come to know and believe that 325 00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:28,680 God truly loves you. Now I read those words in the English and I think that doesn't really 326 00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:33,440 communicate as powerfully as I want them to communicate because knowing something and 327 00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:38,520 believing something are kind of tepid words in the English. But if you take a step back 328 00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:45,520 and just let those two words sink in for just a moment, to know experientially, to know 329 00:31:46,680 --> 00:31:51,440 by way of experience, to fully know and grasp that he loves you is a really, really big 330 00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:58,440 deal. They can come in one experience or can come over a variety of experiences and gradually 331 00:31:58,520 --> 00:32:03,640 you become convinced and really believe, believe to the point where you're absolutely convinced 332 00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:09,640 that God absolutely loves you even when you're at your worst. For you to know and believe 333 00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:14,880 that is part of what it means to abide in my love. Now why do I know that? Because John 334 00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:19,800 says it in 1 John chapter 4. Here's what he says, he said, whoever confesses that Jesus 335 00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:26,280 is the son of God, God abides in him and he is in God. We have come to know and have believed 336 00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:32,760 the love which God has for us. God is love and the one who abides in love abides in God 337 00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:39,280 and God abides in him. Why is this such a difference maker? Why is this such a big deal? 338 00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:43,520 Why does it even matter? It matters because if I actually believe that God loves me and 339 00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:49,320 I realize the depth of his commitment to me, I have no reason to distrust him, no reason 340 00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:55,000 to run from him, no reason to disconnect from him at all. I have come to believe that his 341 00:32:55,000 --> 00:33:00,920 word for me reflects the best interest that he has in my life and even in the toughest 342 00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:05,480 of choices, the toughest of time, I can have confidence he'll never leave me, he'll never 343 00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:12,960 abandon me, he'll never desert me because he loves me. We say this all the time in John 344 00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:18,200 3 16, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son and now Jesus is the 345 00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:23,400 one who gave his life is saying to those disciples, abide in that love, remain in that love, let 346 00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:32,480 it keep flowing into your life. It radically changes how you live life. John again in 1 347 00:33:32,480 --> 00:33:39,160 John chapter 4 verse 18 says, there's no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear because 348 00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:45,760 fear involves punishment and the one who fears is not perfected in love. That's a pretty 349 00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:54,240 big deal. When I know that I'm loved by God, I don't have to fear him. He has done everything 350 00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:59,040 necessary to remove the barriers I put up between myself and him and he's cleared them 351 00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:04,480 out of the way and I can have a real relationship with him, I can really stay connected, stay 352 00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:13,320 attached to him because he loves me. Beyond that, when I abide in his love and I'm confident 353 00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:22,280 in it, loving others is risk free. You know you can love someone and not really risk anything 354 00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:26,880 because even if they reject you, you will never be rejected by God. You'll always be 355 00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:33,000 loved, you'll always be valued, you'll always be the apple of his eye, you'll always be 356 00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:38,120 one that he comes to and helps in every way. When we love people, we're afraid of being 357 00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:43,560 rejected but all that fear should go out of the window because you are fully loved in 358 00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:50,560 God. Get it this way, no human being on this planet can possibly love you to that degree. 359 00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:55,200 No human being can possibly fulfill your need to be loved like God fulfills that need to 360 00:34:55,200 --> 00:35:00,160 be loved. That means we can love irregular people who may throw stuff back at us who 361 00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:07,480 may not treat us well. We can love them anyway because we've been loved by God. In 1 John, 362 00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:16,080 it goes on to say, brothers we love because he first loved us. And that's how we love 363 00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:20,360 unconditionally. Do you have any irregular people in your life that sometimes you struggle 364 00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:23,840 to love? Anybody have irregular people? Some of you don't want to raise your hand because 365 00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:29,520 you're sitting next to the irregular person that's hard to love. That's got to be why. 366 00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:40,040 Got a lot of glances being exchanged in this room. It's threefold secret, abide in Jesus, 367 00:35:40,040 --> 00:35:47,760 abide in his word, abide in his love. I don't have time to talk about all the great results 368 00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:53,240 of all this but let me summarize them really quickly. This passage says that when you abide 369 00:35:53,240 --> 00:35:59,480 you bear much fruit and prove to be his disciples. That's where the fruit comes from. I'm 370 00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:04,560 not going to give you ten steps to bearing more fruit but if they didn't include as the 371 00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:12,400 top step abiding in Jesus it would never happen. When you abide you bear much fruit and then 372 00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:22,560 when you abide you find the love and joy that's found nowhere else. Nowhere else but him. 373 00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:27,320 I was watching a guy talk about this subject recently and he posed the question, he goes, 374 00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:36,080 how is it that the son of God seems to be begging his disciples to stay, to remain, 375 00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:40,280 to abide? Why would Jesus be saying it like that? Because he says it so many different 376 00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:46,600 times and the plea is very obvious. If you were to use your own language about abiding 377 00:36:46,600 --> 00:36:51,840 it would be remain attached to me, let my word dwell in you, let my love flow through 378 00:36:51,840 --> 00:36:56,640 you, stay connected to me. I'm strong enough to help you with everything. You're not that 379 00:36:56,640 --> 00:37:01,400 strong. I'm able to love more than you can love me. You're not by yourself able to love 380 00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:08,040 other people. Abide in me, stay in me. Why is he pleading with the disciples to do that? 381 00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:12,320 And the reason he's pleading with them is because it's the only way to live the life 382 00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:22,920 he calls us to live. Apart from that, we're this. No hope, no promise, no future, no joy, 383 00:37:22,920 --> 00:37:32,680 no love, none of that. Abide in me and I in you. That's his invitation to you today. 384 00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:35,920 There may be today that you've never come to the place where you've ever trusted Jesus 385 00:37:35,920 --> 00:37:41,320 for what he did on the cross. That's the starting point for abiding. Abiding means coming to 386 00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:46,320 him in the first place. He has done everything necessary for you to come to him and put your 387 00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:51,240 faith and trust in him. In fact, the gospel, the good news is Jesus died, was buried, rose 388 00:37:51,240 --> 00:37:57,800 again the third day. And as a result of the resurrection offers the life that he alone 389 00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:04,160 can give. He overcame death, he overcame sin and in his resurrected state he said, I've 390 00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:09,280 come to give you life. It's accepting that. That's the beginning of abiding. That's when 391 00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:16,200 you start that grafting in. And then day by day, week by week, you begin to depend and 392 00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:21,640 abide and remain. Maybe today you've never, you've realized you've never made that decision. 393 00:38:21,640 --> 00:38:25,760 Today at the end of our service, I invite you to stop by a decision station. There are 394 00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:29,720 two different places on the way out. There'll be counselors there that would love to talk 395 00:38:29,720 --> 00:38:35,320 to you. My first invitation to you today is stop on the way out and say, I need to know 396 00:38:35,320 --> 00:38:41,000 what it means to start this relationship and we can help you. My second invite is to come 397 00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:45,400 out of the worship center into our guest reception room. I would love to visit with you personally. 398 00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:49,320 Kind of hard to do that in a big room. I'd love to do that personally. For about 10 minutes 399 00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:55,240 we have a guest reception time together out the center exit doors just across the hallway. 400 00:38:55,240 --> 00:39:01,280 A glass 10 room is there. My third invite is when you come next week, bring someone 401 00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:06,320 with you. We have invite cards out there. We're looking at the second half of John 15. 402 00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:10,720 More about what it means to abide in Christ. And I want to encourage you to bring someone 403 00:39:10,720 --> 00:39:15,480 with you. People need to hear what this is all about. Would you stand with me as we close 404 00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:22,960 out in prayer today? Father, thank you so much that you have done everything necessary 405 00:39:22,960 --> 00:39:30,080 for us to bear fruit, to experience love and joy. And Father, today I want to ask you that 406 00:39:30,080 --> 00:39:36,120 you allow each of us that needs to stop, stop our movement from here to anywhere else until 407 00:39:36,120 --> 00:39:41,920 we settle the question of our salvation. Have we made this decision? Have we begun abiding? 408 00:39:41,920 --> 00:39:48,600 Father, help us to have the courage to ask those questions and to get those answers. 409 00:39:48,600 --> 00:39:53,960 And Father, as we leave today, I pray that we will enter into this abiding remaining 410 00:39:53,960 --> 00:39:59,520 connection with you so that we can see you live through us in a way only you can. Thank 411 00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:05,480 you Lord Jesus for inviting us, even pleading with us to do this. I ask this in Jesus name. 412 00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:07,120 Amen. God bless you.