Abide In Jesus (1 John 2:18-28)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.600 --> 00:00:11.990 Let's turn and hear God's word, and first John Too. I'm going to 2 00:00:12.150 --> 00:00:19.109 read beginning at verse eighteen and I'll read through twenty eight. The focus of 3 00:00:19.149 --> 00:00:23.019 the sermon this morning is on Verse Twenty Eight, is on that last verse. 4 00:00:25.859 --> 00:00:30.579 Right, let's give our attention to God's word. May bless it to 5 00:00:30.699 --> 00:00:35.810 us. Children. It is the last hour and, as you have heard, 6 00:00:35.929 --> 00:00:41.130 that antichrist is coming. So now many antichrists have come. Therefore, 7 00:00:41.210 --> 00:00:44.770 we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but 8 00:00:44.850 --> 00:00:47.210 they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they 9 00:00:47.250 --> 00:00:51.960 would have continued with us, but they went out that it might become plain 10 00:00:52.079 --> 00:00:55.399 that they are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy 11 00:00:55.520 --> 00:00:59.320 One and you have all knowledge. I write to you not because you do 12 00:00:59.479 --> 00:01:03.119 not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie 13 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:07.950 as of the truth. Who is the liar? But he who denies that 14 00:01:07.109 --> 00:01:12.750 Jesus is the Christ. This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father 15 00:01:12.950 --> 00:01:18.700 and the son. No one who denies the Son has the father. Whoever 16 00:01:18.780 --> 00:01:23.019 confesses the son has the father. Also, let what you heard from the 17 00:01:23.099 --> 00:01:29.500 beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, 18 00:01:29.900 --> 00:01:34.810 then you too will abide in the sun and in the father, and 19 00:01:34.049 --> 00:01:41.890 this is the promise that he made to us, eternal life. I write 20 00:01:41.930 --> 00:01:45.810 these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you, but the 21 00:01:45.890 --> 00:01:49.280 anointing that you have received from him abides in you, and you have no 22 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:55.480 need that anyone should teach you, but as his anointing teaches you about everything 23 00:01:55.519 --> 00:01:59.680 and is true and is no lie, just as it has been taught you, 24 00:01:59.959 --> 00:02:05.430 or just as it has taught you, abide in him now, little 25 00:02:05.469 --> 00:02:09.590 children, abide in him, so that when he appears you, we may 26 00:02:09.669 --> 00:02:17.539 have confidence and not shrink from him in shame. At his coming, you 27 00:02:17.659 --> 00:02:28.379 may be seated. As we begin this morning and reflect on what God has 28 00:02:28.460 --> 00:02:35.210 spoken to us. Let's just pause a moment and remember something about God's word, 29 00:02:36.689 --> 00:02:42.650 the importance of it, the stability of it, some of the reasons 30 00:02:42.849 --> 00:02:47.520 for it. Here in this passage we have just read, we read in 31 00:02:47.560 --> 00:02:52.400 Verse Twenty Five, if what you heard from the beginning abides in you, 32 00:02:52.639 --> 00:02:58.750 then you two will abide in the sun and in the father. How is 33 00:02:58.830 --> 00:03:05.469 it that we have access to the father and the son? How do we 34 00:03:05.629 --> 00:03:10.270 come to know God through hearing. This is what Paul says in Romans Chapter 35 00:03:10.310 --> 00:03:17.379 Ten. What is it that we hear God's word? God's Word is spoken 36 00:03:17.539 --> 00:03:23.300 to US and abides in us so that we may abide in it, so 37 00:03:23.419 --> 00:03:25.860 that we might live in it, dwell in it, and through that word, 38 00:03:27.849 --> 00:03:31.330 through God's speaking his truth, which is no lie, we come to 39 00:03:31.449 --> 00:03:36.449 know the son and the father. What is that word? Well, you 40 00:03:36.530 --> 00:03:39.729 could sum it up in different ways. John sums it up in verse twenty 41 00:03:39.810 --> 00:03:43.719 five when he says, and this is the promise that he made to us, 42 00:03:44.439 --> 00:03:49.680 eternal life. Now there's a lot of packed into those two words. 43 00:03:49.800 --> 00:03:53.840 This is the promise that he made, eternal life. We could think about 44 00:03:53.879 --> 00:03:55.909 what eternal life is, we could think about how it is, we come 45 00:03:55.990 --> 00:04:00.150 to have it through Jesus and any number of things, but this is where 46 00:04:00.189 --> 00:04:05.469 it all starts. It starts not in US going out and seeking God, 47 00:04:06.069 --> 00:04:11.419 but in God coming to us, in speaking a word to us that is 48 00:04:11.860 --> 00:04:18.060 living and active and effective, word that is so living it can be described 49 00:04:18.180 --> 00:04:25.129 of as abiding, as remaining, as staying, as dwelling. So these 50 00:04:25.170 --> 00:04:28.050 are the things that we have in mind when we start to think about what 51 00:04:28.089 --> 00:04:32.490 it means to a bide in him. This verse a Verse Twenty eight are 52 00:04:32.569 --> 00:04:39.000 focus for this morning as two simple parts. First it has a command and 53 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:43.959 then it gives a reason for the command. Do you see that? So 54 00:04:44.519 --> 00:04:47.279 First John to twenty eight. First there's the command what we ought to do, 55 00:04:47.959 --> 00:04:53.750 and it's described by these words abide in him. Abide in him. 56 00:04:54.310 --> 00:04:57.589 That's the command. That's what we ought to do. And then we have 57 00:04:57.750 --> 00:05:01.750 the reason for the command. If we abide in Jesus, then when Jesus 58 00:05:01.829 --> 00:05:11.180 returns will have confidence, not fear and not shame. This is going to 59 00:05:11.259 --> 00:05:15.180 be said in other ways, in another places, a little bit go and 60 00:05:15.300 --> 00:05:21.009 earlier in our service I read this passage from first John for right verse thirteen. 61 00:05:21.329 --> 00:05:24.850 By this we know that we abide in him. Do you hear that 62 00:05:25.009 --> 00:05:28.209 word again, that phrase? And he and US. He's given us his 63 00:05:28.370 --> 00:05:32.089 spirit. We read that. We have in Verse Eight Sixteen. So we 64 00:05:32.170 --> 00:05:35.959 have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. 65 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:43.680 God is love and whoever abides in love abides in God. By this verse 66 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:46.639 Seventeen, by this is love perfected with us so that we may have confidence 67 00:05:46.759 --> 00:05:50.430 for the Day of Judgment. There's no fear. He says. Fear has 68 00:05:50.470 --> 00:05:54.829 to do with punishment. We can have confidence. This is the reason he 69 00:05:55.029 --> 00:06:00.110 gives for why we ought to abide in Christ. Now there are lots and 70 00:06:00.230 --> 00:06:04.740 lots of other reasons of why you ought to abide in Christ, but this 71 00:06:04.860 --> 00:06:10.300 is the one John gives and will think about it this morning. But let's 72 00:06:10.300 --> 00:06:14.740 begin with the beginning. Let's begin with the command to abide in him. 73 00:06:14.860 --> 00:06:18.649 What does that mean? Does it mean to abide in him, abide in 74 00:06:18.769 --> 00:06:26.009 Jesus? The word abide is a word we don't use a lot anymore. 75 00:06:26.970 --> 00:06:31.529 Newer translations or translations that seek to put this into more modern English will use 76 00:06:31.569 --> 00:06:38.759 words like continue or remain or stay, which are all excellent translations. So 77 00:06:38.959 --> 00:06:42.040 is this word abide? It's just an older word and it means those things. 78 00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:48.670 It means to stay, to persist, to continue or remain. Now 79 00:06:49.029 --> 00:06:54.589 we use that word and it can be used in different ways and it will 80 00:06:55.029 --> 00:07:00.350 take on its meaning depending on what it's connected to. So sometimes the word 81 00:07:00.350 --> 00:07:03.740 abide can have a physical sense. So you might say to your guests. 82 00:07:04.180 --> 00:07:06.740 Well, you probably wouldn't, but you could if you wanted to. You 83 00:07:06.819 --> 00:07:11.180 could say, oh, would you please abide a little longer in my home. 84 00:07:11.620 --> 00:07:14.060 They'd probably say why are you talking like that? But you, you 85 00:07:14.620 --> 00:07:17.089 could say that right and they would probably understand what you mean that they want 86 00:07:17.089 --> 00:07:19.889 you to. You are asking them to stay a little longer. There's a 87 00:07:19.970 --> 00:07:24.970 physical sense in that. You're asking them to stay put in this location, 88 00:07:26.009 --> 00:07:30.279 but it can have other meanings to you can stay put them or remain or 89 00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:36.279 continue in a condition, to abide in a state of health. We might 90 00:07:36.319 --> 00:07:45.189 stay or in a relationship, to abide in your job or in a contract 91 00:07:45.230 --> 00:07:51.790 with your employer, or you can abide in in in a situation or other 92 00:07:51.829 --> 00:07:57.189 kinds of things. So we have to think carefully about what does this word 93 00:07:57.269 --> 00:08:01.180 mean here? How do we abide in him, because it can mean different 94 00:08:01.220 --> 00:08:07.180 things depending on what we're abiding in. So let's talk about first what this 95 00:08:07.459 --> 00:08:11.180 doesn't mean, because there are a few ways in which we can go wrong 96 00:08:11.420 --> 00:08:18.490 here. We should not take abiding in Jesus in a physical sense. Here's 97 00:08:18.490 --> 00:08:24.970 what I mean. When Jesus said to his disciples abide in me, he 98 00:08:24.129 --> 00:08:28.319 wasn't telling Thomas, for example, to put his finger in Jesus side and 99 00:08:28.439 --> 00:08:33.600 keep it there. Right, I want you to physically be in me and 100 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:37.639 I want you to stay there, remain in me, Thomas. We of 101 00:08:37.720 --> 00:08:41.710 course know that's that's not what he asks. It's not what he means. 102 00:08:41.350 --> 00:08:46.830 And another thing we can remember is that the ascension itself would make this impossible. 103 00:08:46.750 --> 00:08:52.110 Jesus certainly didn't want Thomas to keep his finger in his side because Jesus 104 00:08:52.230 --> 00:08:56.340 was going to ascend. It would be impossible for Thomas to do that because 105 00:08:56.779 --> 00:09:01.860 Jesus's body would be in heaven and Thomas's and us, with all of ours, 106 00:09:01.019 --> 00:09:07.100 is here on earth. Jesus ascension makes that that kind of command impossible. 107 00:09:07.139 --> 00:09:13.210 Along similar lines, we also ought not to think of our union with 108 00:09:13.370 --> 00:09:20.169 Christ as some sort of fusion of his essence with ours. To be one 109 00:09:20.370 --> 00:09:26.440 with him or to be in him or have union with him does not imply 110 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:33.960 that somehow the essence of God is fused with you and your essence throughout the 111 00:09:35.080 --> 00:09:37.120 history. This is important to say because throughout the history of the church, 112 00:09:37.710 --> 00:09:43.429 including today, there's been a temptation to think of our union with him in 113 00:09:43.549 --> 00:09:48.470 this way, and you can find it in eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism and 114 00:09:48.669 --> 00:09:54.259 in Protestantism. It comes I won't get into why, but it comes from 115 00:09:54.259 --> 00:09:58.620 thinking of our union with God and more platonic or terms of Plato, than 116 00:09:58.700 --> 00:10:05.820 it does of Peter or Paul or or John. The Union that we have 117 00:10:05.100 --> 00:10:09.529 with God is not the result of some kind of chain of being in which 118 00:10:09.529 --> 00:10:16.490 our being is sort of ontologically connected with God. Somehow. It comes in 119 00:10:16.529 --> 00:10:20.519 a different way, which I'll explain. The Union we share with God is 120 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:26.559 great, but we do not become God. I do not become God, 121 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:33.200 Christophered as not become God, and God does not become Christopher. We have 122 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:37.350 a union with one another, but it's not because our essences are mixed together. 123 00:10:39.470 --> 00:10:45.149 Marriage is a helpful analogy here. Jesus himself tells us to think about 124 00:10:45.149 --> 00:10:50.740 marriage in terms of our union with him and Effesians Chapter Five. When the 125 00:10:50.820 --> 00:10:54.740 Bible says that the two become one in their marriage, it's not saying that 126 00:10:54.779 --> 00:11:03.259 the two people cease to exist and a third entities created. Right you, 127 00:11:03.779 --> 00:11:07.649 if you are married, you are. You did not cease to exist or 128 00:11:07.889 --> 00:11:13.769 somehow fuse your personhood with someone else. It's similar with us in God. 129 00:11:13.210 --> 00:11:18.409 When we become one with God and united with him, we do not cease. 130 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:26.879 God does not cease. We remain distinct and yet also one. Nor 131 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:30.759 is it saying that we become one, as I mentioned, in a purely 132 00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:35.269 physical sense, and this is true even in a marriage. A husband and 133 00:11:35.389 --> 00:11:39.549 wife express a great unity in physical intimacy, but it's not limited to that, 134 00:11:39.789 --> 00:11:45.950 is it even outside of that. They are still married, they are 135 00:11:46.110 --> 00:11:50.740 still one, they are united and remain one at all times in their marriage. 136 00:11:52.220 --> 00:11:56.980 Likewise, with God, the eternal distinction between the essence of God and 137 00:11:58.659 --> 00:12:03.090 the essence of a creature does not become erased when a creature is becomes one 138 00:12:03.210 --> 00:12:07.450 with God, when we are found to be in him, united with him, 139 00:12:07.450 --> 00:12:13.929 we remained distinct. The Creator remains the Creator. The creature remains the 140 00:12:13.129 --> 00:12:20.120 creature creature. Sometimes we try to think about this in another sort of odd 141 00:12:20.200 --> 00:12:24.399 way. We think, well, God is omnipresent, right, he's everywhere 142 00:12:24.440 --> 00:12:28.519 at all times and in all places. He's also omnipotent, and that he's 143 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:37.110 upholding all things. He's intimately connected with every molecule of the universe, and 144 00:12:37.309 --> 00:12:45.419 that's true, but that doesn't mean that God divinizes everything. Just because God 145 00:12:45.659 --> 00:12:50.700 is everywhere, it doesn't mean that God is everything. We don't have a 146 00:12:50.820 --> 00:12:56.539 pantheistic world in which every man, woman, child, dog, boat or 147 00:12:56.700 --> 00:13:01.649 parking lot becomes God. Right. It's obvious that this is true. God 148 00:13:01.970 --> 00:13:07.409 is God and and we are not, even though it's also true that God 149 00:13:07.570 --> 00:13:11.610 is upholding everything, from the leaf to the parking lot, to you or 150 00:13:11.730 --> 00:13:16.960 me, by his power and without him connected to us and innoce, in 151 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:26.000 a sense, we would cease to exist. But existence is different than the 152 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:31.230 salvation and the saving kind of union that John Means when he says abide in 153 00:13:31.470 --> 00:13:39.309 him. God's Omnipotence and Omnipresence extend to everything. God is everywhere and everything 154 00:13:39.470 --> 00:13:48.259 and on is the omnipotent upholder of the universe. But God's Omnish or Omnish 155 00:13:48.340 --> 00:13:56.049 or sorry, omnipresence, or his everywhareness extends beyond the objects of his salvation. 156 00:13:58.169 --> 00:14:03.090 In other words, being in Christ remaining in Christ, is not just 157 00:14:03.250 --> 00:14:07.250 a matter of existing. Right, we're at what? Other words, just 158 00:14:07.330 --> 00:14:11.879 because God is omnipresent doesn't mean that you are automatically in him in the way 159 00:14:11.960 --> 00:14:16.720 that John Means. Just because God is everywhere in the world, just because 160 00:14:16.759 --> 00:14:20.360 God is upholding you and active in your life, which he is in every 161 00:14:20.519 --> 00:14:26.830 life of every single person, it doesn't yet mean that you know him, 162 00:14:26.309 --> 00:14:30.389 that you are in him, and the way that John Talks about when he 163 00:14:30.470 --> 00:14:39.659 says abide in him. Being in Christ doesn't mean just being upheld in this 164 00:14:39.820 --> 00:14:45.740 work of creation, but it means being upheld by a special work and being 165 00:14:45.940 --> 00:14:52.179 made by his spirit as a part of new creation. Means that God's electing 166 00:14:52.700 --> 00:14:56.730 love has been set upon you and is set apart so that you are in 167 00:14:56.929 --> 00:15:01.649 him and united with him and one with him in a new way. And 168 00:15:07.399 --> 00:15:13.399 that's a lot to digest, I know. Perhaps it would be helpful to 169 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:16.200 think positively about this now. What does it mean to abide in him? 170 00:15:18.039 --> 00:15:22.230 These are the things that it doesn't mean. What does it mean? What 171 00:15:22.309 --> 00:15:26.909 does it mean when John Talks About our union with Christ and are being in 172 00:15:26.070 --> 00:15:33.190 him and are the call to remain in him? Well, the Bible tells 173 00:15:33.230 --> 00:15:35.940 us that there are different ways in which we can understand this union that we 174 00:15:37.019 --> 00:15:43.059 have with Christ. For one, it's a covenantal union. Our Union with 175 00:15:43.179 --> 00:15:48.659 class Christ has a legal and covenantal nature. You can go back to the 176 00:15:48.820 --> 00:15:54.769 analogy of marriage for some help. How do the two become one? I'll 177 00:15:54.850 --> 00:16:02.049 by getting married. A man shall leave his father and mother and become one 178 00:16:02.169 --> 00:16:10.240 with his wife. The scripture says they become married by joining together, and 179 00:16:10.360 --> 00:16:17.039 this legal covenantal act. How do they get married? By entering into a 180 00:16:17.159 --> 00:16:21.950 covenant with one another. And the same as true for US and Christ. 181 00:16:22.669 --> 00:16:26.429 If you go to the book of Ephesians, for example, you see that 182 00:16:26.590 --> 00:16:33.940 this biggins as a work of God's grace and and his covenanting with us. 183 00:16:36.379 --> 00:16:41.100 I'm going to read an Ephesians chapter one, verse four. There we see 184 00:16:41.179 --> 00:16:45.500 that it says even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the 185 00:16:45.580 --> 00:16:48.649 world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love, he 186 00:16:48.809 --> 00:16:55.049 predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his 187 00:16:55.169 --> 00:17:00.639 will. Here Paul describes that love that John Describes in chapter four and he 188 00:17:00.759 --> 00:17:04.640 says, you want to know where the beginning of that all is? It 189 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:11.440 happened, Paul says, even before the world itself was made, before you 190 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:19.549 were made. God chose you in love, predestined you in love, he 191 00:17:19.710 --> 00:17:27.109 cut made a covenant to love you from all eternity. Similarly, in verse 192 00:17:27.150 --> 00:17:33.299 eleven, we read in him here that language in him, abide in him. 193 00:17:33.619 --> 00:17:37.579 Here Paul says in Him, through our union with him, we have 194 00:17:37.700 --> 00:17:44.529 obtained an inheritance. Why, having been predestined according to the purpose of him 195 00:17:44.529 --> 00:17:52.849 who works all things according to the counsel of his will, where does our 196 00:17:52.049 --> 00:18:00.000 union with Christ begin? Well, certainly doesn't begin with kind of physical union, 197 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:04.920 because it happens before we even exist. It happens before ere we've even 198 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:11.039 been created. Our Union with Christ, are being united to him, happens 199 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:18.470 from all eternity in the Council of God. That's where your union with him 200 00:18:18.230 --> 00:18:27.019 is situated. In Him, we have been predestined to obtain this inheritance that 201 00:18:27.220 --> 00:18:36.660 God's purpose and will might be worked out in the world. This is, 202 00:18:36.859 --> 00:18:41.930 of course, an amazing thing, and God promises to do amazing things in 203 00:18:42.049 --> 00:18:48.009 us. It's not merely a relationship that God establishes by the word of his 204 00:18:48.210 --> 00:18:52.769 power and his great council. He does something in us. He promises that 205 00:18:53.289 --> 00:19:00.640 in our new creatureliness, as he unites us to himself in love, in 206 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:07.759 time and space, he changes us. Listen to his promises. In is 207 00:19:07.880 --> 00:19:12.390 Echiel, Chapter Thirty six, I'm going to read verses twenty two through thirty 208 00:19:14.630 --> 00:19:18.789 Zekiel thirty six. Verses Twenty Two through thirty and as you hear this, 209 00:19:18.950 --> 00:19:23.460 I want you to to notice what it is God has promised to do here. 210 00:19:23.539 --> 00:19:30.740 It is that eternal life that John Mentions is fleshed out in some ways 211 00:19:30.779 --> 00:19:36.700 here and many other places as well. So, Ezekiel Thirty six, verse 212 00:19:36.779 --> 00:19:40.289 twenty two, therefore say to the House of Israel. Thus says the Lord 213 00:19:40.809 --> 00:19:44.690 God, it is not for your Sake, oh Israel, that I am 214 00:19:44.730 --> 00:19:48.450 about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you 215 00:19:48.529 --> 00:19:52.119 have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will thendicate the 216 00:19:52.279 --> 00:19:59.200 holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, of 217 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:03.440 which you have profaned among them, and the nations will know that I am 218 00:20:03.480 --> 00:20:07.869 the Lord, declares the Lord God, when, Through You, I will 219 00:20:07.910 --> 00:20:11.670 vindicate My Holiness Before Their Eyes. You See, here God is emphasizing that 220 00:20:11.710 --> 00:20:17.990 it is by his purpose, by his will, Israel, his people, 221 00:20:18.069 --> 00:20:22.380 have done exactly the opposite. He is doing this in spite of what they've 222 00:20:22.380 --> 00:20:26.140 done. He's loving them because or in spite of the fact that they are 223 00:20:26.140 --> 00:20:30.019 ungodly and unrighteous. Here's what he will do. I will take you verse 224 00:20:30.059 --> 00:20:33.140 Twenty Four. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all 225 00:20:33.180 --> 00:20:38.930 the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water 226 00:20:40.130 --> 00:20:45.210 on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, cleanness, uncleannesses, 227 00:20:47.049 --> 00:20:51.359 and from all your idols. I will cleanse you and I will give 228 00:20:51.400 --> 00:20:56.480 you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you and I 229 00:20:56.559 --> 00:21:00.480 will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and I will give you a 230 00:21:00.680 --> 00:21:04.230 heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to 231 00:21:04.470 --> 00:21:10.710 walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell 232 00:21:10.789 --> 00:21:12.789 in the land that I gave to your father's and you shall be my people 233 00:21:12.869 --> 00:21:18.109 and I will be your God and I will deliver you from all cleanliness or 234 00:21:18.150 --> 00:21:22.099 an uncleannesses, and I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay 235 00:21:22.180 --> 00:21:26.619 no famine upon you. I will make the fruit of the tree and the 236 00:21:26.700 --> 00:21:30.420 increase of the field abundant that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine 237 00:21:30.460 --> 00:21:36.609 among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that 238 00:21:36.730 --> 00:21:38.849 you are not good and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities, in your 239 00:21:38.890 --> 00:21:44.089 abominations. Is Not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord 240 00:21:44.170 --> 00:21:48.720 God. Let that be known to you. Here God says that in His 241 00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:52.480 grace, as we sang in the Psalm earlier. I don't know if I 242 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:59.480 yes, I have this here. Let me read. Set the verse two. 243 00:21:59.920 --> 00:22:03.150 From beneath the cross of Jesus, upon the Cross of Jesus, Mine 244 00:22:03.269 --> 00:22:08.470 Eye at times can see the very dying form of one who suffered there for 245 00:22:08.630 --> 00:22:14.750 me and from my stricken heart, with tears too, wonders, I confess, 246 00:22:15.309 --> 00:22:21.819 the wonders of redeeming love and my unworthiness. That's what God is saying 247 00:22:21.859 --> 00:22:23.940 here. I am going to do this for you and you will see these 248 00:22:25.099 --> 00:22:29.059 two things. You are great unworthiness us and you will come to hate it 249 00:22:29.220 --> 00:22:33.289 and despise it, but you also see my greatness and the goodness of my 250 00:22:33.490 --> 00:22:37.650 grace. I'm going to do something in you. And how does he say? 251 00:22:37.650 --> 00:22:47.480 He will do it. Not by not by changing us into God's but 252 00:22:47.640 --> 00:22:57.480 by giving us his spirit to spiritually, capitalist holy, spiritually live in us, 253 00:22:59.069 --> 00:23:04.069 dwell in US and change us, to take our hearts and make them 254 00:23:04.109 --> 00:23:11.150 out of Stony, stubborn, sinful things and two hearts that beat for God. 255 00:23:14.380 --> 00:23:18.180 This is what the Lord promised to do before the creation of the world 256 00:23:18.619 --> 00:23:22.460 was is what he predestined for, and this is what he does do when 257 00:23:22.539 --> 00:23:32.369 Jesus Christ comes earn salvation for us, establishes the legal basis for the covenant, 258 00:23:33.049 --> 00:23:37.009 that our sins might be forgiven through his sacrifice, that we might receive 259 00:23:37.289 --> 00:23:41.519 all righteousness and love in his name. And then what does he promised to 260 00:23:41.559 --> 00:23:48.519 do? To pour out his spirit on his people, to make these changes 261 00:23:48.119 --> 00:23:55.599 in us. This is all made possible because of what is sometimes been called 262 00:23:56.109 --> 00:24:02.430 the marvelous exchange, in which we give our sins to God, he takes 263 00:24:02.470 --> 00:24:11.140 them on himself and gives us his righteousness. Before this happens, before we 264 00:24:11.579 --> 00:24:18.180 come to abide in God, before we come to be in Christ, through 265 00:24:18.299 --> 00:24:22.980 his work in us, his word, proclaimed, his spirit, the uniting 266 00:24:22.059 --> 00:24:27.089 of ourselves with him by faith, we are in a different state. Romans 267 00:24:27.170 --> 00:24:32.369 five tells us that we are abiding, we are dwelling, we are united 268 00:24:32.490 --> 00:24:38.480 with someone else, our first father, Adam, and in him, Paul 269 00:24:38.519 --> 00:24:44.960 tells us, we have dirt, we have death, we have curse and 270 00:24:45.119 --> 00:24:51.720 the wrath of God. Why? Because in Him we have fallen the covenant 271 00:24:51.759 --> 00:24:55.029 that God made it with Adam was not only for himself but as first his 272 00:24:55.150 --> 00:25:02.549 posterity, to that all who are in him also sin in him and also 273 00:25:02.670 --> 00:25:07.940 die in Him. This is why God comes to save us, so that 274 00:25:07.019 --> 00:25:11.420 he might transfer us out of our union with Adam and bring us into union 275 00:25:11.539 --> 00:25:22.049 with himself. This is what it means to be in Christ. It means 276 00:25:22.170 --> 00:25:30.769 to have union with him because of his work for us. So how can 277 00:25:30.809 --> 00:25:36.119 we come to have that? John says that we are in Christ and he 278 00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:40.279 says we are to abide in him. How can we abide in him? 279 00:25:40.319 --> 00:25:45.799 Let me start by saying that you can't abide somewhere or in someone or in 280 00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:52.029 something unless you're already there. You can't abide in Christ unless you already have 281 00:25:52.269 --> 00:25:59.150 him. Do you have Christ? Do you know him? Do you live 282 00:25:59.190 --> 00:26:03.190 in him? Are you made new in him? Do you have the spirit 283 00:26:03.230 --> 00:26:08.700 of God dwelling in you? Are you walking in the life of the resurrection? 284 00:26:11.099 --> 00:26:15.700 If not, then it will be impossible for you to abide in him, 285 00:26:15.859 --> 00:26:22.809 just as it would be impossible for you to abide in in a abide 286 00:26:22.930 --> 00:26:30.809 in a place and which you aren't currently at. So how can we abide 287 00:26:30.849 --> 00:26:37.680 in Christ? How can you come to have this great inheritance and change of 288 00:26:37.839 --> 00:26:42.240 heart and all of these things that are promised to us. Well, John 289 00:26:42.359 --> 00:26:49.789 Thirty six, Jesus says, whoever believes in the sun has eternal life. 290 00:26:51.950 --> 00:26:57.509 There's that promise that John mentioned. Whoever believes in the sun has eternal life. 291 00:26:59.670 --> 00:27:03.339 Whoever does not obey the son shall not see life, but the laugh, 292 00:27:03.700 --> 00:27:10.220 but the wrath of God remains on him. Beloved, that word remains 293 00:27:11.099 --> 00:27:15.490 is the same word that he uses later when he says abides. It's one 294 00:27:15.569 --> 00:27:21.769 or the other. We either abide in the in and under the wrath of 295 00:27:21.930 --> 00:27:27.250 God, by being left in our trespasses and sins, or we abide and 296 00:27:27.609 --> 00:27:34.599 remain and live in Christ, who forgives our sins and cleanses us from all 297 00:27:34.720 --> 00:27:41.599 unrighteousness. How do we come to no longer be under wrath but abide in 298 00:27:41.640 --> 00:27:52.509 Christ? Well, Jesus says, whoever believes, whoever believes, we come 299 00:27:52.630 --> 00:27:56.910 to believe by the word working in us. We come to believe by abiding 300 00:27:56.950 --> 00:28:02.819 in the thing that we have heard. As John says, let what you 301 00:28:02.940 --> 00:28:07.660 have heard from the beginning abide in you. Let that word that created this 302 00:28:07.940 --> 00:28:15.849 life in you remain in you. This is what it means to abide in 303 00:28:15.009 --> 00:28:22.329 Christ. If we abide in Christ by faith, if that's how we start 304 00:28:22.730 --> 00:28:27.039 and be first become united to him, how, then, do we stay 305 00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:33.160 in him? We stay in him by staying in that word, by continuing 306 00:28:33.519 --> 00:28:40.079 our believing, by producing the fruits of righteousness, by trusting in God. 307 00:28:41.400 --> 00:28:45.430 Paul says in the book of Colossians, as you received him, so walk 308 00:28:45.549 --> 00:28:49.109 in him. How do we receive him? By faith? How do we 309 00:28:49.230 --> 00:28:56.859 walk in him? How do we abide in him by faith? If you 310 00:28:56.940 --> 00:29:02.500 do not know the Lord Jesus as your savior, if you desire or not 311 00:29:02.779 --> 00:29:07.779 to be under God's wrath and condemnation for your sins, know that all you 312 00:29:07.940 --> 00:29:15.690 have to do is believe. And it's not a great leap of faith into 313 00:29:15.769 --> 00:29:21.130 the darkness. No, God describes the work that he is doing is coming 314 00:29:21.210 --> 00:29:26.960 into the light as revelation, as coming to believe the thing which has been 315 00:29:26.039 --> 00:29:33.240 revealed, the Sun who has made himself known. This is the command that 316 00:29:33.319 --> 00:29:38.589 he gives us. Abide in him. Do you want to abide in Jesus? 317 00:29:40.390 --> 00:29:45.190 Then come to know him, trust him. How do you come to 318 00:29:45.309 --> 00:29:49.069 know him? Well, hear it in his word as it's proclaimed. You 319 00:29:49.230 --> 00:29:53.420 this morning, as you hear it throughout your life, as you remember it 320 00:29:53.619 --> 00:30:00.259 from past times, as you find it here in the scriptures. Well, 321 00:30:00.299 --> 00:30:07.250 let me conclude briefly with the reason that John gives for our abiding in him. 322 00:30:08.769 --> 00:30:12.890 He says, little children, abide in him, remain in him, 323 00:30:12.930 --> 00:30:22.079 stay in him, continue and persist in faith, so that when he appears, 324 00:30:22.440 --> 00:30:27.759 we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 325 00:30:30.680 --> 00:30:33.920 Go back to John Thirty six. If we do not believe in the 326 00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:38.190 son, if we are not trusting in him for our life, for that 327 00:30:38.509 --> 00:30:45.309 new spirit that God promised in Ezekiel, thirty thirty six, where are we? 328 00:30:47.430 --> 00:30:52.579 We are remaining under the wrath of God. And that means that when 329 00:30:52.619 --> 00:30:56.420 Jesus comes again, which he will one day, a day that we do 330 00:30:56.579 --> 00:31:02.700 not know, a day that we have not been told, if we are 331 00:31:02.740 --> 00:31:07.849 not abiding in him, we will be afraid of him because he is bringing 332 00:31:07.009 --> 00:31:12.250 judgment and wrath for all who are not in him, for those who are 333 00:31:12.289 --> 00:31:18.089 not in Christ. It's not a sort of neutral position. You can't say, 334 00:31:18.130 --> 00:31:22.240 well, Jesus is for other people, because if you do, that 335 00:31:22.400 --> 00:31:30.000 means he's not for you. And when the great conqueror and prince comes to 336 00:31:30.160 --> 00:31:36.150 judge the world, you want him to be for you. When God comes 337 00:31:36.230 --> 00:31:41.789 in his wrath to crush all unrighteousness, to destroy all evil forever, you 338 00:31:42.069 --> 00:31:47.109 want to be on his side. You want to be on the side of 339 00:31:47.180 --> 00:31:49.740 righteousness, you want to be on the side of holiness, you want to 340 00:31:49.940 --> 00:31:59.220 be on the winning side. When Jesus comes, be on his side, 341 00:32:00.420 --> 00:32:07.170 be in him, because the one who isn't will face shame at his coming, 342 00:32:07.329 --> 00:32:10.569 will shrink from his coming, will have fear, as John says in 343 00:32:10.769 --> 00:32:16.519 First John. For but for those of us who have believed and who have 344 00:32:16.680 --> 00:32:23.880 lived our lives by faith and whatever point God gave us that gift, then 345 00:32:23.960 --> 00:32:31.509 we will stand with confidence. We will literally rise up out of our graves 346 00:32:32.390 --> 00:32:42.430 with confidence and security, glowing and glorying in the light of God, him 347 00:32:42.950 --> 00:32:50.140 shining through us and resurrected bodies. We will be more than conquerors, overcomers, 348 00:32:50.220 --> 00:32:52.819 as he says earlier in chapter two, when he says I write to 349 00:32:52.940 --> 00:32:59.529 you because you are strong, the word of God abides in you and you 350 00:32:59.690 --> 00:33:06.730 have overcome the evil one. On that last day that will be manifest and 351 00:33:07.009 --> 00:33:10.809 all of our sorrows and all of our sufferings and all of our sins will 352 00:33:10.849 --> 00:33:20.839 be gone and we will be forever and permanently a vindicated and shown to be 353 00:33:21.160 --> 00:33:25.519 on the right side of the wrath of God. There will be no shaking, 354 00:33:25.720 --> 00:33:32.990 no fear when judgment comes. If you are in Christ, John Jesus 355 00:33:34.029 --> 00:33:39.309 says in John Fifteen. You did not choose me, but I chose you 356 00:33:39.509 --> 00:33:45.859 and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should 357 00:33:45.539 --> 00:33:52.859 abide, it should remain persist, so that whatever you ask the father in 358 00:33:52.940 --> 00:33:58.250 my name, he may give it to you. Jesus says there and in 359 00:33:58.329 --> 00:34:01.490 several other places, there in John Fifteen, that he is doing something really 360 00:34:01.650 --> 00:34:07.530 remarkable in us, the language of his equal, of great crops that will 361 00:34:07.610 --> 00:34:15.920 never die, never facing famine. That's s scatological language, that's Heaven Times 362 00:34:15.079 --> 00:34:22.679 language, that's eternal life language, and the same as promised here, when 363 00:34:22.800 --> 00:34:27.269 God is working in us, he's already be gone a word work that, 364 00:34:27.429 --> 00:34:31.829 on the last day, will be revealed for all that it is. This 365 00:34:32.110 --> 00:34:37.150 is the reason we ought to abide in him. So, when you're setting 366 00:34:37.269 --> 00:34:43.860 priorities in your life, when you're deciding what you're going to give your time 367 00:34:44.139 --> 00:34:49.260 to your energy, to your resources, to when you're deciding which path to 368 00:34:49.420 --> 00:34:52.170 take, whether to obey, whether to not obey, what to love, 369 00:34:52.329 --> 00:34:55.530 what not to love, where to set your hopes. We're not to set 370 00:34:55.610 --> 00:35:01.329 your hopes. Think about a passage like this. Think about what God is 371 00:35:01.449 --> 00:35:06.250 saying in this command that he's given to you, when he says abide in 372 00:35:06.409 --> 00:35:12.280 him and you will not be put to shame. Live in Christ, dwell 373 00:35:12.480 --> 00:35:16.440 in Christ, find your life and your hope in him and on the last 374 00:35:16.440 --> 00:35:22.710 day, the all the things and the difficulties, in the temptations that one 375 00:35:22.829 --> 00:35:29.150 seemed so strong, will seem like nothing, because you will not be afraid 376 00:35:30.190 --> 00:35:34.429 when the wrath of God comes, because you will know that you have been, 377 00:35:35.860 --> 00:35:40.579 always have been and always will be, justified in his name, sanctified 378 00:35:40.739 --> 00:35:53.809 in him and glorified forever. Abide in him, abide in him. Let's 379 00:35:53.849 --> pray