Jesus Christ offers every
believer His life. It is like the life of a vine
whereby the branches draw their life from the
trailing plant. The believer shares in the life of
the Vine.
The soul of the believer is in
Christ and through our vital union with Him we
receive spiritual nourishment. The Christian life is
like the entwined vine with every fiber “like the
ivy in an ancient wall.”
The Christian is permitted to
enjoy “such ravishing tastes of heavenly joys” in
Christ.
Brainerd described the life in
the Vine as “lively acting of a holy temper and
heavenly disposition, such vigorous exercise of that
divine love which cast out fear.”
The apostle Paul described this
deep entering into the divine life of Christ for him
as to live and to die, “for to me to live is Christ
and to die is gain.” It is, “Not I, but Christ.”
Jonathan Edwards described it
as “a calm, sweet abstraction of soul from all the
concerns of this world; and sometimes a kind of
vision or fixed idea of being alone in the
mountains, or some solitary wilderness far from all
mankind, sweetly conversing with Christ, and rapt
and swallowed up in God.”
Uninterrupted communion with
Christ is the hunger and desire of every born again
Spirit-filled believer in Christ Jesus.
We are in Christ by faith and
therefore one with Him in unchangeable justification
which enwraps the root, branches, leaves and fruit
into one vine.
Christ our Vine is not limited,
and we are only limited by our being available to
Him. Why should we therefore limit God? It is easy
to get involved in “show and tell” forms of legalism
that emphasize seeking fruit from without instead
from within. We look for adornments instead of the
fruit of the Spirit.
“All that Christ has now
becomes the property of the believing soul; all that
the soul has, becomes the property of Christ,”
writes Luther. We are one with Christ.
The secret to fellowship and
fruitfulness in the Christian life is abiding in
Christ. “Remain in me, and I will remain in you.”
This is not salvation; it is communion. We are to
live such lives that Christ will continue to abide
in us. This is our responsibility. You cannot
separate these two abidings because it is necessary
for this vital union in Christ.
We abide by being available to
Him and obedient to His Word. We can never be kept
from sin and in intimate fellowship with Him except
by careful attention to God’s Word. The Holy Spirit
applies His word to our daily lives and the blood of
Jesus continues to cleanse us of all sin. This is
the Father’s pruning effort upon our daily lives.
“Apart from Me you can do
nothing.” Without Christ the most eloquent preaching
and Bible discussion will be like a bottle of mist
that quickly evaporates into thin air.
Without Him we can do nothing.
Let those words penetrate to the depths of your
soul.
I am nothing; Christ is
everything.
To “abide in Christ” is a
conscious experience. The fact that our lives are
producing the fruit of the Spirit demonstrates that
we are “in” Christ and abiding in Him. The fruit of
Christ’s character in us is expressed in love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control. When we look into the
face of Jesus that is what we see.
When our Lord says: Abide in
Me He is talking about the will, about the
choices and the decisions we make. It is a
volitional choice we make whereby we decide to do
that which exposes us to Him and keeps us in contact
with Him. We have been placed into Christ by the
Holy Spirit. Now we must choose to maintain that
fellowship by the decisions we make. We choose to
expose ourselves to His Word in order to learn about
Him and to relate to Him.
To remain in union with Christ,
to abide in Christ, to dwell or continue in Him
means you are already in Him. To “abide in
Christ” is for those who are “in Christ.” Have you
come to a saving knowledge of Christ? Are you in Him?
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author's written consent.
Unless otherwise noted "Scripture quotations taken from the NASB."
"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE" © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://www.bible.org/. All rights reserved.
Wil is a graduate of William Carey University, B. A.; New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Th. M.; and Azusa Pacific University, M. A. He has pastored in Panama, Ecuador and the U. S, and served for over 20 years as missionary in Ecuador and Honduras. He had a daily expository Bible teaching ministry head in over 100 countries from 1972-2005. He continues to seek opportunities to be personally involved in world missions. Wil and his wife Ann have three grown daughters. He currently serves as a Baptist pastor and teaches seminary extension courses in Ecuador.
Bible word studies for sermon preparation, messages, devotions and personal Bible studies with abiding principles and practical applications.
Reports on what God is doing through Bible believing evangelical Christians in Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru, India and Ecuador. Jesus said, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you" (John 15:7).
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