Truth beyond brokenness, and that is the truth of faith.
For the Christian life is a life of faith.
It is a walk of faith.
I'm thinking especially this morning of two verses in Colossians chapter 2, verses that
you undoubtedly have read before, of where we have the nugget of this truth about the
Christian life being a life of faith.
In verses 6 and 7 of Colossians 2 it says, And you therefore have received Christ Jesus
the Lord, as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.
Having been rooted, firmly rooted, and now being built up in him, and established in
your faith, just as you were instructed and overflowing with gratitude.
He tells us here that as we receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so we are to walk in him.
Did we receive him through self-effort?
Did we receive him through our own ability, our own fleshly strength?
No, of course not.
When we received him, when we were saved, we simply appropriated by faith what God had
to give us, eternal life, through Jesus Christ.
We simply reached out and took by faith the Savior.
How is it then that we walk in him?
It is the same way.
It is not through much effort and work and self-striving, but rather we walk in him the
same way by faith.
We simply reach out and take from him his power and receive it, and appropriate it.
We receive from him his life and allow that life to flow through us.
That is the life of faith.
That is the Christian life.
We have said that the walk of faith involves two ideas.
One idea is the idea of abandonment.
If we are going to walk by faith, it means that we must forsake and abandon certain things.
G. Campbell Morgan, a Bible teacher of another generation now, talked about abandonment.
When he talked about it, he was suggesting that we hand over the control of the whole
life to God in order that through that life his will may be realized and his work done.
The life thus abandoned to God is a life that has given up its own plans, purposes, and
hopes, and has taken instead the plan, the purpose, and the hope of God.
That is what I mean by abandonment.
It is a biblical concept.
It means that we abandon ourselves from self-interest, from self-will, from earthly relationships.
That is, we keep them in right perspective.
We abandon human and earthly and material possessions to whatever extent they may be
encumbering and hindering us.
We abandon ourselves from those and to God, indeed to the cross.
For it is through dying, as the song said earlier, that we inherit eternal life.
It is through dying to self that eternal life is enabled to flow through us in what we call
the Christian life.
But today I want to come to the second key thought in the walk of faith, and that is
the word abiding.
It seems to me that these two words, abandonment and abiding, pretty well summarize what the
walk of faith is all about.
And if we are talking about abiding, there is one key passage in the Bible, of course,
which we think about, and that is John 15.
John 15, I want you to turn there with me.
Jesus says, I am the true vine.
Literally, he says, I am the vine, the true one, the original one, the genuine one.
And my Father is the vine dresser.
Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away.
And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.
He says, you are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the
vine.
So neither can you unless you abide in me.
I am the vine, you are the branches.
He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit.
For apart from me, you can do nothing.
We need to keep in mind as we look at John chapter 15 that the subject here is not salvation.
Jesus is not talking here about how to be saved or how to keep saved.
And because some have not understood that, they have gone to this chapter and have received
from it teaching that is unsound.
John chapter 15 is a chapter that talks about fruit bearing as believers.
That is the theme.
You need to keep that in mind as you look at what Jesus says here.
He is telling us that we are branches and he is the vine as far as fruit bearing is
concerned.
That is the analogy, that is the picture.
If we are going to bear fruit as believers, we must abide in him just like branches have
to abide in the vine.
What does it mean to abide?
The word literally means to remain or to stay.
It is used 120 times in the New Testament and over half of those times in the writings
of the Apostle John.
What does it mean spiritually to abide?
We will think about a branch for a moment.
A branch abides in the vine.
It receives its life from the vine.
It bears its fruit because the life of the vine flows into the branch and out through
its tips to produce the fruit.
So Jesus is saying to you and me that we are to be like branches abiding in the vine.
That is, receiving from him our life, our strength, our power.
Because we receive it from him spiritually, then it produces through us fruit.
Have you ever heard a vine produce fruit?
Have you ever heard it?
No.
We don't have too many vines in these areas.
We have apple trees.
Have you ever gone into an orchard at night and heard the apple trees going, uh, uh, uh,
uh?
You hear that?
No.
If you hear that, you better run.
It's not apple trees.
They don't have to do that.
They don't grunt and groan and try hard to bear fruit.
Why?
Because apple trees bear apples.
Those branches are not working hard at it.
All they're doing is abiding in the trunk of the tree.
And the result is the apples are produced.
It's a very natural, painless thing.
It just happens as they abide, you see.
Now the analogy Jesus uses is a vine and branches.
It happens very naturally, fruit bearing, that is, when we abide in him.
You see, abiding allows the flow of his life through us.
The result of that is fruit.
You know what the problem often is?
We want the fruit without learning to abide.
We want to be branches off doing our own thing, producing the fruit, and sometimes even with
sincere modis, even wanting to glorify God, but we don't want to take the time to understand
what it means to abide.
Warren Wiersbe has exegeted this chapter in a very practical way, as he uniquely can do.
He tells us that there are five secrets here in fruit bearing.
He says the secret of fruit bearing is abiding.
The secret of abiding is obeying.
The secret of obeying is loving.
The secret of loving is knowing.
If you read this chapter, you'll see exactly what he's saying.
As we come to know the Lord, then we will come to love him more deeply and intimately.
And as we come to love him, we will want to obey him.
And as we obey him, we abide in him.
And as we abide in him, what happens?
We bear fruit.
Do you know what it is to abide in Christ?
You know, most of us are a lot better at working for the Lord, working for Christ, than we
are abiding in him.
And yet our work for him is not going to be fruitful unless we first learn to abide.
A recent publication was released by the Multnomah Critical Concerns publishing company.
And Don Baker wrote a book entitled Depression, Finding Hope and Meaning in Life's Darkest
Shadow.
Don Baker is a godly man.
He is a pastor of the Henson Memorial Baptist Church in Portland, Oregon.
In his book, the first half of which recounts in his own words his experience with depression,
he tells about what led up to that experience and about the ten weeks that he spent in a
psych ward in a hospital in California.
It's worth reading.
During those weeks he was in the hospital, his wife Martha, on one occasion, brought
him a book by Andrew Murray, one of his favorite authors.
It was entitled Abiding in Christ.
He relates in the book these words,
The cover picture was that of an earnest Christian kneeling beside a chair, apparently agonizing
in prayer.
I studied the picture for a few moments, and then threw the book across the room in disgust.
In later years that same book became a treasure, but often I've recalled that moment with
bewilderment, wondering what emotion triggered such a violent response.
Was I expressing a momentary disbelief in prayer?
Was that picture calling on me to expend levels of energy which I no longer possessed?
Was the whole concept of abiding saying something to me that I wasn't ready to hear?
Don Baker goes on to say,
I have never known for sure just why I threw that little book with such force, except that
possibly the word abide had never been one of the more important words in my theological
system.
The word really had very little meaning, relational significance for sure, but its experiential
meanings were vague and elusive.
To abide had always meant something similar to stop, to rest, to be still, to be quiet.
Whenever I would read a verse like Psalm 46.10, be still and know that I am God, I would never
stop to ponder its meaning.
Christian ministry to me was never characterized by words like rest, stop, quiet, or stillness.
If that was what abiding meant, I didn't have time to waste on such an experience.
Do you identify with that?
Some of you who are so busy working for the Lord, do you identify with that?
For 20 years, he says, I had grown accustomed to a ministry of action, a ministry that had
made insistent demands on both time and energy.
I was convinced that I should be in my study before the men of my church began their work
day.
I prided myself on being the last to turn out my light at night.
In three pastorates, I gave my entire work day to counseling and visitation six days
a week.
After the family would retire, I would slip over to my office to spend the quiet hours
of the night in study, returning home at about four in the morning.
The schedule worked well until some of the local police officers came to Christ.
Those officers who worked the night shift would drive by, see my light on, stop, and
come in for counseling.
I was accustomed to a Christianity that gave obvious, active meaning to every moment.
Anything less suggested a flaw in my commitment.
Friends would encourage me to slow down.
Doctors would warn me to change my lifestyle.
Encounters with God were always on the run.
Prayers were telegraphed.
My study of scripture was impersonal.
Every new concept was assimilated with my people in mind and remembered only to be incorporated
into a future sermon.
For a fast-paced Christian like myself, the word abide had little meaning.
Now that my whole world had stopped its violent, wrenching pace, I was bewildered.
Some of you are bewildered this morning about abiding.
Baker goes on to say, Like Elijah, I felt I had been exceptionally zealous for the Lord.
I had worked diligently at tearing down the false altars to the false gods.
I was accustomed to the great and strong winds and the rending of the mountains and of the
fire and the earthquakes, but a total stranger to the still, small voice.
There comes a time, he says, in every Christian's life when the only thing he can do is abide.
My time had come and I did not know how to do it.
Maybe that's where you are today.
He goes on to relate the fact that God had not stopped speaking to him.
God was still with him, but it took him weeks to slow down, to stop, to rest, to begin to
learn what it is to abide.
It seems to me that there are several related ideas to abiding, abiding like a branch in
the vine.
In the first place, it means resting, not striving.
And then it means depending, not forcing.
Now frankly, most of us are used to thinking about Christian witness and Christian work
in terms of striving and forcing.
Abiding is resting and depending.
Abiding is producing fruit, not producing work.
Abiding is trusting, not trying.
And all of that comes from uninterrupted communion of the vine and the branch.
Andrew Murray tells us that the branch is to be utterly given up to the vine.
The vine gives as much or as little sap as it pleases.
The branch is at the disposal of the vine, just intended to bear fruit.
Another place he reminds us that you cannot really distinguish the point at which the
vine stops and the branch begins.
Why is that?
Because they are grown together.
You see dear people, you and I are branches in the vine.
You cannot see where Jesus stops and you begin because you see you are identified together.
When you are abiding in Christ, in this biblical sense, what you are doing is simply recognizing
that union with him and on the basis of that beginning to draw upon his life and his power.
But so often we are like branches that are cut off, still laying over there somewhere
trying to do its thing.
Branches that are cut off, not from salvation, but from receiving and appropriating his life
and his power.
What is it that cuts off that receiving of his life?
The expression of it through us, wrapped up in one little word, S-I-N.
That is what interrupts our communion with him.
It is that which causes his life not to cease giving us life, but to cease flowing through
us, expressing what he is like.
It is sin which quenches his spirit from working through us.
There are some of you today who are very, very frustrated in the Christian life.
Oh, I know you look good sitting there.
You really do.
You look real pretty.
And your smile looks genuine and that handshake is firm and warm and sincere.
But if the truth were known, your experience in the Christian life is in the pits.
Part of the problem is that you have not learned how to abide in the vine.
Now, it is impossible for me to tell you exactly how to do it.
You know why that is?
I can give you principles.
I can explain truth to you.
But only you can learn how to apply those and experience it in your own life.
And there are some of you here today that are not even ready for it because you have
not even gone through the breaking process yet.
You are still fighting with God in your life.
There are still some things you do not want to receive from Him.
You need to deal with that.
You need to be broken before God.
And there are some of us that have not abandoned ourselves yet.
But there are some of you here today who are hungry and desirous and wanting and eager
to learn what it is to abide.
Abiding is simply obeying.
You say, yes, but that is hard to do.
Well, in one sense that is true because sin within us seeks to keep us from obeying the
Lord.
But in another sense, it is not true if we love Jesus.
Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments.
We spend a lot of money on our kids.
You know that every other week or so my wife goes to one of the supermarkets and she buys
a lot of food.
She spends more money than I used to get in a salary when I was single and just starting
out as an assistant pastor.
Of course, that was a few years ago and food has gone up.
We spend a lot of money buying our kids shoes.
Do you know how much shoes cost for kids?
A little bit of leather costs as much as my shoes.
We buy them clothes.
You know what?
This state in which we live says I have to do that.
There are laws in the books of the state of Minnesota that force me to buy my kids food
and clothing and shoes.
If I don't, they are going to be taken away from me.
Is that why I buy my kids those things?
No.
I do what I should for them, not because I have to, but because I want to, because I
love them.
You listen.
When the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ seem hard and seem to rub against us, the
problem is not the commandments.
The problem is our heart attitude.
We are not loving Him as we ought to.
For when we love someone, we want to do what pleases them and what is good for them.
And when we love the Lord Jesus Christ, it is our heart's desire to obey Him.
His commandments are not grievous.
They are our delight.
Sadly, we don't perfectly keep them because sin still dwells in us.
But the more we love Him, the more we want to please Him by obeying Him.
And how do you get to love Jesus more?
Same way you get to love anybody more.
You spend time with them.
My wife and I have often remarked that as we look back now upon our marriage and compare
the love that we had when we were married to the love we have now, we didn't even love
each other then.
Some of you can identify with that, can't you?
I hope.
I hope you're not saying, well, I loved her a lot more than I do now.
Now what has happened over the last 13 years?
What's happened?
We have spent a little time together.
And the more I get to know her, the more I love her.
The more we know each other, the more we see each other's faults, the more we love each
other.
Now my friend, the more time you spend with Jesus, the more you're going to get to know
Him.
And the more you get to know Him, the more you're going to get to love Him.
The more you love Him, the more you're going to want to obey Him and please Him.
And the more you obey Him and please Him, the more you'll abide.
And the more you abide, the more fruit, real fruit, will be produced in your life.
That's what abiding is all about.
The Christian life, if it seems difficult to you, perhaps is because you're seeking
to do it in your own strength, the basis of your own will and fortitude.
Don't we so often put our plans together?
We decide what we're going to do and then we say, now Lord, we thank you that you've
been here with us and you please bless what we've decided to do.
You bless and help us, right?
I mean those two usually go together.
Bless and help.
And we think that's abiding.
No my friend.
Because you see, when we're abiding, it means that He's the center of our lives.
It means that whatever decisions we make, whatever actions we're going to take, whatever
direction we're going to seek, we're consulting Him first.
He's number one.
The Christian life is abandonment and abiding.
Go back to Matthew chapter 14 and we'll close with this one final episode.
Here in the middle of the chapter, Jesus sent the disciples ahead of Him in a boat and the
boat got away from the land on its way to its destination.
Night came and with the night came a storm.
And it says that the boat was battered by the waves, verse 24.
And then in verse 25, and in the fourth watch of the night, that is sometime between three
o'clock and six o'clock in the morning, Jesus came to them walking on the sea.
Now you can see the disciples, can't you?
They're out here in the boat.
They haven't slept a wink.
The oars are out there.
They are pulling, trying to keep that boat headed into the waves at the right angle so
that they're not going to sink.
They are frustrated.
They are worried.
Jesus is back there and here they are about to die.
And the fourth watch of the night, He came to them walking on the sea.
And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were frightened and said, it's
a ghost.
And they cried out for fear.
And you know what?
You would have too if you'd have been there.
And immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, take courage, it is I.
Do not be afraid.
They knew His voice.
And Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it's You, command me to come to You on the
water.
Did you hear that?
He didn't say, Lord, if it's You, get over here in the boat.
He said, Lord, if that's really You, then command me to come to You in the water.
And He said, come.
And Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came toward Jesus.
Do you know what I see there?
I see abandonment and abiding.
Because Peter, having received this command from the Lord, come, had to leave the boat.
And he didn't have a life preserver on.
There was no life jacket.
I mean, he had to step out of the boat on the water.
And then he had to walk to Jesus and he did it.
He not only abandoned the boat, he had his eyes on Jesus, was trusting Him, and he walked
on the water as he was abiding.
I think that illustrates for us a different perspective, a different analogy, what the
Christian life is all about.
Now it goes on to say, but seeing the wind, he became afraid and began to sink and he
cried out, Lord, save me.
And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took a hold of him.
I think what happened was Peter was out there walking on the water watching Jesus.
Back in the boat, John said, look out, Peter, here comes a big one.
And this wave was coming.
And he looked, and there it was.
That's just like some Christians, isn't it?
Watch out!
A reasonable thing to say.
But Jesus was there and Peter cried out.
He didn't have to say much.
Jesus reached down, picked him up.
My friend, the secret to the Christian life is faith.
And faith is abandonment and abiding.
Do you need to be broken today and finish that process, or that Christ's experience,
rather?
That process really that goes on through life.
If you're struggling with God over some circumstance in your life, what you need to do today is
say, Lord, you are right.
I am wrong.
I give you control.
I humble myself before you.
There are some of you that are clinging on to self-interest and self-goals and what you
want and material things and relationships and what you need to do today if you want
to walk the walk of faith is to abandon those things.
And all of us here today need to learn some more about abiding, obeying, because we love
Him and know Him.
Let's bow together.
John chapter 15, of course, follows John chapter 14 where Jesus says, I am the way, the truth,
and the life.
No man comes to the Father but by me.
And someone here today perhaps needs to trust Him as Savior.
You need to come to Him for salvation.
If so, would you today repent of your sin and trust Him?
He is God came and died on the cross for you.
He's been raised from the dead that He might give you eternal life.
So we can't stay in John 14, folks.
We've got to go on to chapter 15 and learn what it is to abide in the vine.
Heavenly Father, I pray that you will teach us today what we need to learn that we might
abide.
I pray that you will deal with us in such a wonderful and intimate and personal way
that not one of us will go out without knowing that you've touched our heart and you've
said something to us this morning.
And I pray, Father, that we will respond to you just as we should.
May we trust you and obey you.
May we love you.
May we come to know you as you've revealed yourself in the Word.
Would you sing with me?
Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.
We're going to close by singing number three.