 In the title of our sermon again this morning, the urgent necessity of a fruitful abiding. We're working our way through John chapter 15 verses one through eight. We're taking our time because this is a packed text. There's so much in this for us to understand and apply. Doctrines that we don't often, as we work verse by verse through scripture, some of these that we don't often come across and we wanna take our time and work through this text and help our understanding so that we can live and think rightly before the Lord. John 15 verses one through eight. As Paul describes in second Timothy chapter four, we live in a time when professing Christians will not endure sound doctrine. Paul says that according to their own desires and because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers. Now in other words, these so-called pastors are gonna be a dime a dozen. They heap them up to themselves according to their own desires because they have itching ears. Their message is going to be pleasing to the ears of false Christians. Now in order to please them, these false Christians, in order to draw in the masses, Paul says in second Timothy chapter four, they're going to do away with sound doctrine. The singing of hymns and songs and spiritual songs turns into a rock concert. Nothing more than emotional hype. Designed carefully to entertain itching ears according to their own desires. The preaching of God's word in a vast majority of churches today, so-called churches, is replaced with little more than motivational speaking. There's a reference to the Bible now and then, nothing too serious, nothing that might offend. After reading the verse, they'll put the Bible down and they'll give you pithy statements to have a happy life or to be successful, whatever that might be, but nothing that will actually convict of sin or warn of hell. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is replaced with a damning lie. Come forward at the end of the service, right? Ask Jesus into your heart and you can be saved. There's no regular or fervent command or call to repent, no regular or fervent command or call to turn from your sin and follow Christ. And often, today, it may not be as much what they do say as much as it may be what they refuse to say. Behind it all, behind all the entertainment, right? Behind all the emotional hype, behind the experience of it all, behind the weak preaching and the false teaching, behind the rejection of a clear proclamation from the text of scripture is the itch. It's the itch. I want Christ on my terms. I don't wanna come to grips with my sin. I want to be entertained. I want to be lulled into a false confidence. I know that I don't delight in God's word because I seldom, if ever, delight to study it. I know that I don't delight in Christian fellowship because we don't talk about Christ when we fellowship together. I know that I don't delight in the gospel and actually believe it myself because I never preach it to sinners. Don't bring conviction. Don't bring a sense of guilt or shame over my sin. Just scratch me where I itch. Do you see? Tell me it's okay. Tell me it's all about love, right? That's what it's all about. It's all about love. Now, once you've performed for me and once you've told me how easy it is to follow Christ, once you've convinced me that God loves me and has a wonderful plan for my life, then finish me off with the only doctrine that matters to my itching ears. Once saved, always saved, right? Do your best, right? Besides, we're all sinners. Just try your best. Once saved, always saved. So the first Baptist church of the far country teaches once saved, always saved. And we could agree that once genuinely saved, then always saved. But remember, it's often not as much as what they do say as it is what they don't say. What they mean by once saved, always saved is this. If little Johnny prays to receive, or big Johnny, it doesn't matter. Little Johnny prays to receive Christ, or little Johnny asks Jesus into his heart when he's eight years old, and then he falls into a pattern of unrepentant sin, never shares the gospel, sleeps around in college, never makes progress in his faith, still doesn't know his Bible. If little Johnny dies at age 30, then little Johnny's in heaven. That's what they teach. That's their understanding of once saved, always saved. What they don't say, what they don't faithfully preach and teach is the biblical doctrine that we understand as the perseverance of the saints. Now let me ask you for a moment. You're like me, grown up going to other churches. How many of you in your life going to these churches would raise your hand and say, you have heard, taught once saved, always saved, raise your hand. All right, look around the room, right? Okay, now, not including this church. Not including this church. We teach doctrine here all the time. Not including this church. How many of you growing up going to other churches, heard, taught such a way that you understood and could teach yourself from the Bible the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints? Raise your hand. Now that is biblical doctrine. What is taught is once saved, always saved. What is left out, what is refused, what is rejected is the biblical doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. It's not as much often what they say as it is what they do not say, what they refuse to say, what they will reject out of hand. We need to understand what the Bible teaches. We need to understand the word of God. Jesus teaches that once you are genuinely saved, then you have eternal life and that you will never perish. John chapter 10, verse 27 says this. The Lord says, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. And I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand. Amen, right? Praise God, praise God. But Jesus, far unlike these wicked man pleasers and ear scratchers that stand behind most pulpits today, Jesus, not withholding the truth as it is in Christ from us, Jesus comes along in John 15 and he tells us and he tells little Johnny, listen, if you don't abide in me in bear fruit, you're going to go to hell. Verse six, if anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered and they gather them and they throw them into the fire and they are burned. You know, the Lord isn't as concerned with what we want to hear as much as he is concerned with what we need to hear. Amen? This is something we need to understand. We need to adhere to. We need to apply. We need to live by. You and I, we don't need a scratch behind the ears. We don't need to be entertained. The Bible says that you and I have a heart in our chest that is deceitful above all things. We don't need a scratch behind the ears. We need the truth from God's word. We need to hear the truth. The truth often comes in the form of a kick in the pants, doesn't it? I'm so grateful to God for the immense and abundant and gracious and merciful encouragement that we get from the word of God. I rejoice in His promises, right? We're comforted by His provision. But what does Paul say that the word of God is profitable for? The word of God is profitable for doctrine, for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. And the genuine Christian knows that there's cause for rejoicing in the word of God. There's also cause for a buke, right? The genuine Christian knows there's provision for comfort in the word of God, but there is great need for our constant correction. So in John chapter 15, verses one through eight, from the Lord Jesus Christ we get the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth in John chapter 15, verses one through eight. Not just once saved, always saved, the way that most understand it today, but we get the biblical doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. And may that doctrine comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Look at verse one with me. The Lord says, I am the true vine 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, it prunes that it may bear more fruit. Now remember here, the Lord is teaching us by means of an allegory or an extended metaphor. Point one on your notes in your bulletin there, we see who's involved. The subjects of our allegory are Jesus Christ as the true vine, God the father as the vine dresser and professing Christians are the branches. Now at point two on your notes, we see that what is clearly expected here is fruit. The necessary goal, the object or the aim of all three, God the father, God the son and the branches, if they're in Christ, the necessary goal or object of all three, the aim of all three is fruit from the branches, the fruit of holy character, the fruit of holy conduct and fruit in the pursuit of our great commission. We've gone through these points. If you're not familiar with them, I invite you to go back and listen to those sermons. Fruitless branches, fruitless branches are taken away and fruitless branches are burned. Fruitful branches are lovingly pruned by the father that they may bear more fruit. The last week as we were working our way through the text, we began exploring point three on your notes. How is all this then accomplished? We saw that point one from that, you must be in union with Christ. From verse three, Jesus says, you are clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. You must be clean in Christ, in union with him. Secondly, according to the command that we see in verse four, in order to produce fruit, we must abide in the vine, abide in Christ. To bear fruit to the glory of God, verse four, you must abide in Christ. And that word again, abide means to remain, to persist, to persevere, to endure. As Matthew 10 says, he that endures to the end will be saved. We must persevere in fruitfulness to the end. It brings us to our premise statement. Again, remember our premise statement from this text. It is the urgent necessity of every professing Christian. In fact, our highest priority must be to glorify God by bearing increasing fruit in true union with Christ through a prayerful abiding in him. And we spend our time in the text unpacking that premise statement. This is the Christian life. This is what the Christian life is. It's not optional. It is essential. In fact, fruitful perseverance in Christ is a mark of genuine conversion. Fruitful perseverance in Christ is a mark that you're a genuine Christian. It's a mark that you're saved, right? The genuine Christian will persevere and bear fruit. The last week, we looked at the necessity of abiding in the vine. Why that's so important, right? This week, I want to look at what it means to abide in the vine. What it means to abide in the vine. How is it that we abide in the vine? Look at verse four. The Lord commands, abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, 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 bears much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. It begins verse four with an urgent and sober command. It's urgent and it's sober because there's so much at stake. He says abide in me. The word abide communicates a constant connection to the vine. It communicates a constant reliance upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the point from all this is clear. No branch has life in itself. In the Lord's picture here, the branches derive their life from the vine. That means the branch deriving his life from the vine is utterly and constantly dependent upon the vine for life and fruitfulness. In fact, apart from him, what does the text say? We can do absolutely nothing. This passage, John 15, is often presented in this way. Unless you abide in the vine, you'll never find true joy. Unless you abide in the vine, you'll never have rest. You heard that before? I have many times. If you don't abide in Christ, then you're gonna miss out on the fruitfulness that God intends for you. Now, all that's true, all that's true. But listen, it's not as much often what they do say as it is what they don't say. If you do not abide in Christ, you're going to hell when you die. That's how urgent and important and solemn and sober this is. It is an urgent necessity that everyone who professes the name of Christ abide in him and bear fruit through your union with him, through faith. We'll talk about that today. If anyone does not abide in me, verse six, he is cast out as a branch and is withered and they gather them and throw them into the fire. And they're burned. Now the command, the command to abide in him in verse four, the command gives you, gives me the responsibility to abide. A lot of times in Christian circles today, people don't like the idea of having a responsibility. It is your responsibility. God commands you. God commands me to abide. Listen, it is required of you that you abide. How many different ways can I say it, right? A lot of times, for those in Christians don't like that, but the Bible gives commands for Christians, gives responsibilities for us, you must abide. And thinking about that, I want to give you seven ways to do that from the text. I want to give you seven ways by which, seven means by which you can abide in Christ. These seven, this is not an exhaustive list, but it comes directly from our text, either explicitly or implicitly from the text. Seven directives from our text for how we are to abide in him. I want you to write these down, meditate on them, think through them. These are important. From our text, how do we abide in Christ? One, number one. Number one, fearfully heed the warnings. Fearfully heed the warnings. The warning comes to us in verse six. If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. They gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned. And we don't fearfully heed the warnings as Christians, right? Putting our faith in Christ, we don't fearfully heed those warnings with a slavish or with a despairing fear, but with a sober fear, right? A sober fear that accounts for the danger and then takes precautions. If you remember our illustration from last week, like the confident climber that approaches the mountain. It's not a presumptuous pride on the part of the climber or a careless pride on the part of the climber. If the climber is careless, he's gonna fall. But it's a climber that takes precautions. His healthy fear of climbing the mountain produces caution by which the wise climber will safely climb. By which the wise climber can confidently climb. Take the precautions, heed the warning. It's like driving along a highway, right? Again, another illustration, driving along a highway where you see warning signs posted. Slippery when wet, dangerous curve ahead, rock slides. You look at those warnings, those warnings, those signs, aren't to scare you out of driving. The warnings point to a real danger, don't they? Points to a real danger, otherwise they wouldn't post the sign. But the effect that the signs have on the rational driver is that the rational driver will take appropriate precautions to drive safely and arrive alive, amen? It's the same kind of thing. Turn with me to Jeremiah chapter 32. Jeremiah chapter 32. There is such a thing as a healthy fear of God in the life of the Christian and many professing Christians have forgotten. Jeremiah chapter 32. I want you to see this from the context of the new covenant. Something that God promises to every believer through faith in Christ, every believer in the new covenant. This is what the Lord says, look down at verse 36. Jeremiah chapter 32, beginning at verse 36. Now therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, it shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by the famine, by the pestilence. They're sent off into exile, right, 37. Behold, this is God's promise to them. And through Christ, his promise to believers. Behold, I will gather them out of all the countries where I have driven them in my anger, in my fury and in my great wrath. I will bring them back to this place and I will cause them to dwell safely. They shall be my people and I will be their God. Listen, verse 39. Then, this is the new covenant. Then, I will give them one heart and one way, why, how, that they may fear me forever. I remember witnessing this to a lady one time. She and I were sitting there talking and I mentioned the fear of God. And she's like, whoa, whoa, wait a minute, wait a minute. We're not to fear God. Nobody fears God. God is forgiving, God is loving. Besides, perfect love casts out fear, right? She quotes first, John. There's a healthy fear of God. We are to fear. Matter of fact, what is a common characteristic of unbelievers in scripture? They have no fear of God before their eyes. We're to fear God, not a slavish fear. That's what that's talking about over there. Not a slavish fear, not a fear of condemnation. We don't have condemnation any longer. We're to fear the Lord, fear displeasing him. And it's something that God promises as a part of the new covenant that he's going to put in your heart. He's going to put the fear of himself in you, why? Look at verse 39, for the good of them and their children after them. Verse 40, I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from doing them good. But I will put my fear in their hearts so that they abide, so that they persevere, so that they endure to the end to be saved, so that verse 40, they will not depart from me. Yes, verse 41, I will rejoice over them to do them good. And I will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and with all my soul. Fear of God is a blessing, amen? Fear of God, we must fear God, not in a slavish or despairing way, but fear his fatherly displeasure, fear displeasing him. You remember when the Israelites, in Exodus 19, the Israelites come to Mount Sinai, right? They come to the mountain, they're about to receive a law and there's thunder and there's lightning and the mountain is smoking like a furnace, right? They hear the trumpet sound, the trumpet is just impossibly loud. And what happens? They hear the word, the voice of God. They turn to Moses, Moses, you speak to us and we'll live, don't let us hear God's voice lest we die. And they had this fear of God, didn't they? They had a fear of God. It's a different kind of fear, though, wasn't it? And what did they do? After that, having been petrified, trembling at the voice, the thunderous voice of God and the smoking in the mountain, what did they do? They rebelled against him. They rebelled against him, they grumbled in the, it wasn't long and they were making a golden calf. They were in their idolatry, they were disobedient and all of those died in the wilderness. God says in the New Covenant, as a blessing to believers, I will put my fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from me. They will hold on to me through this godly, healthy, biblical fear, fear, heeding the warnings of God. God is not to be trifled with. Our God is a consuming fire, amen? We're to heed those warnings and obey the Lord. I will put my fear in their hearts so they will hold on to me so they will persevere, so that they will not depart from me. It's a blessing, it's a blessing. Paul says, work out your salvation with fear and trembling because why? It's God, it's God who is at work in you, both the will and the do according to his good pleasure. Don't fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul, fear who? Fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Now should that fear of God, should that fear of God drive you away from him? No, no. Now think about this. We're talking about abiding in Christ. We're talking about heeding the warnings of scripture. We're talking about fearing God. That fear, a healthy, biblical fear of God, that which God has placed in the heart of every genuine believer, that fear does not drive his people far from him like those Israelites who died in the wilderness. That fear causes us to cling to him, causes us to abide in him, causes us to depend upon him, to latch on to him by faith and live for him. It causes us to endure, do you see? Causes us to abide. Fearfully heed the warnings in scripture. The warnings are a means by which the promises of God are realized for the believer. They help us to abide in him. So let me warn you from the word of God now. There's some here who believe themselves to be forgiven, and yet there is no fear of God before their eyes. You don't know what I'm talking about right now. He's promised to put that fear in your heart, and yet you don't have it. You don't have it. If I asked your wife, if I asked your husband, the friends that you hang out with, would they say about you that the first concern in everything that you do is to please God? Would they say that about you? Would that be their testimony? That you fear God? That your first concern would be to know what God's word says so that you can obey it. Does godly fear govern the company that you keep? Does godly fear govern the movies that you watch? Does it govern your appetites, your desires? Does godly fear govern the way that you spend his day? Does godly fear govern your life? Fearfully heed the warnings. It's a means by which we are to abide in him, fear God. Secondly, secondly, we're to joyfully submit to pruning. Submit to pruning. We're to joyfully submit to pruning. The Lord says, back in John chapter 15, verse two, every branch that bears fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. Now that word prune, we looked at that last time, means to clear, to make clean, he cuts it back. This is the Lord's discipline. It comes in the form of suffering. Lord's pruning comes in the form of adversity, persecution, difficulty. Pruning is Christian suffering, Christian discipline, Christian adversity. Hebrews chapter 12, verse five says that that pruning of the Lord produces fruit. The author of the letter to the Hebrews says, my son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord. Don't be discouraged when you are rebuked by him for whom the Lord loves, he chastens and he scourges every son whom he receives. Now he goes on to say, no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but it's painful. How many of you would say amen? Amen. Nevertheless, okay, it's not gonna be joyful for the present, it's going to be painful, all right? But nevertheless, afterward, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. James, James also says that God uses the means of trials and sufferings to teach us to abide in him. We're talking about how to abide in the vine. One of the ways that we abide in the vine is by heating, faithfully heating, and fearfully heating the warnings in scripture. Another way that we abide in the vine is by joyfully submitting to his pruning, to his discipline, joyfully submitting to suffering. He, James says that God uses the means of trials, uses the means of suffering to teach us to abide in him, to cause us to persevere to the end to be saved. James says in chapter one, verse two, count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know, you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, produces endurance, produces perseverance, it produces abiding. Now this is how this works, think about this. God doesn't bear the fruit of righteousness in us. God doesn't conform us into the image of his son. God doesn't sanctify us, God doesn't cause us to abide or teach us to abide by shielding us from suffering. He doesn't cause us to cling to him, to persevere in the faith, by shielding us from persecution or shielding us from difficulty, but rather he teaches us to abide in him by exposing us to suffering, by exposing us to all those things. Through suffering, through difficulty, God exposes us to an overwhelming sense of our own inadequacy, an overwhelming sense of our own weakness. And he drives us through the suffering, he drives us through the difficulty to cling to Christ. God fills our lives with difficulty. God fills your life with adversity to ensure that you cling to him, to ensure that you hold fast to him. One commentator insightfully said this. So the reason why the Bible spends so much time reiterating that God is a strong rock, a firm defense, and a sure refuge and help for the weak is that God spends so much of his time bringing home to us that we are weak, both mentally and morally, and dare not trust ourselves to find or to follow the right road. And when you walk along, walk along a flat, smooth road, you're likely to ignore the helping hand, right? But when the path is steep, when it's jagged, when it's slippery, when it's dangerously, when it's dangerous, you'll gladly take the help, right? Often we walk along as ignorant babes, often not knowing our right hand from our left with no fear that we're walking along a precipice. But praise God, praise God, that through difficulty, through adversity, through trials, through suffering, praise God that he takes steps with us to drive out self-reliance, right? To drive out presumptuous pride. And he teaches us through difficulty to abide in him. Don't begrudge the pruning of the vinedresser, do you see? We can joyfully submit to the pruning of the vinedresser. You know, prove that you're a true branch by joyfully submitting to his pruning. Ultimately, the reason that we can be assured that we will persevere to the end and be saved is not because we're faithful in the trial, in the difficulty, but because he's faithful in the trial, because he's faithful in the difficulty. Paul said, for this reason, I suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that, which I have committed to him until that day. Lord is faithful and we can joyfully submit to the pruning. Let me give you a third way. Another way in which we abide in him from our text is to let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Look at verse three. The cleaning agent in verse three is the word of God. Verse three, you're already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Drop down to verse seven. Verse seven, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. Jesus told the Jews in John 8.31, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples. So another means by which we abide in Christ is that we abide in his word. Colossians chapter three, verse 16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And noi ke'o, and noi ke'o, let the word of Christ dwell to live in or to be at home in, to reside in your heart and in your mind. Paul tells believers in Colossians chapter three, the word of God should take up residence in you, should take up residence in you, that it should be there in residence richly and abundantly, meaning that the word of God should saturate, saturate our heart and our mind. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Fourth, fourth means by which we abide in the vine. Prayerful dependence upon him, prayerful dependence upon him. Verse five, verse five makes it really clear that we can do nothing apart from him. Not one thing, you can't do anything to please God apart from him. Look at verse seven, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. You will ask what you desire since we can do absolutely nothing apart from him. Then verse seven comes along and says that we will ask what we desire, it shall be done for him. That prayerful dependence upon God helps us to abide in the vine. We should pray for abiding in him. You think about prayer. How many of you would attest to this fact that when you neglect prayer to the degree that you neglect prayer is to the degree that your heart becomes cold and distant from him? You notice that connection? We are to abide in the vine through a prayerful dependence upon him. If you notice your heart going cold toward God, pray. Verse 16, if you look at chapter 15, verse 16, verse 16 clarifies us that the praying is for fruit. Verse 16, you did not choose me, but I chose you and I appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give to you. Now we're chosen. They, these men, John chapter 15, chosen by God for a ministry, chosen by Christ and appointed to a ministry. What was that ministry? It's preaching the gospel, preaching the Lord Jesus Christ. They were appointed to a ministry to preach the gospel and they were to bear fruit, verse 16, in that ministry. You and I were chosen. You and I were appointed to a ministry. It's the same ministry in fact. Second Corinthians chapter five, verse 18, Paul says, now all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. We're to pray for these things, to abide in the vine. We're to pray for fruit. We're to pray for fruit of holy character, pray for the fruit of holy conduct, and pray for fruit in our pursuit of our great commission. We're to pray for fruit. We're to depend upon him for fruit. I wanna give you one example of that. Go with me to Jude, little letter, right before Revelation, the epistle of Jude. One of the ways by which we, one of the means by which we abide in the vine is through a prayerful dependence upon him. Now remember again, the command in verse four to abide in me, that tells you, all of this is your responsibility. Your responsibility, these things you must do. They're not optional in the Christian life. They are essential. And we have to remind ourselves, like Paul said the Titus, right? Remind them of these things constantly, constantly. Because how often do we forget? Constantly, constantly. We need reminding all the time. Jude, verse 20. Jude, look at verse 20. But you, beloved, listen, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, what? Praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God. Abide in the love of God. Abide in the vine. Persevere to the end. Keep yourselves in the love of God, verse 21. Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And we've talked about the now and not yet aspects of our salvation. Here it is again, right? Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some, verse 22, have compassion, making a distinction. But others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. Now, in verse 21, Jude says, keep yourselves in the love of God. That's the command, the imperative in verse 21. That imperative in verse 21, that command is framed by participles that explain how to do that, right? If you know the Greek structure here, the Greek grammar. Keep yourselves in the love of God, how? Building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit and looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Three ways here in Jude that you can keep yourself in the love of God. You can abide in the vine, building yourselves up on your most holy faith. That's his word. That's through the means of obedience, faithful obedience to him, the means of grace. How do you build yourselves up on your most holy faith? You abide in his word. How do you keep yourselves in the love of God? You pray in the Holy Spirit. Now that does not mean Charismania, tongues stuff there. You cannot justify that from the text. That does not mean gibberish, right? Paul said, right? Just before tongues had ceased. Paul said to himself, I would rather pray five words with my understanding than 10,000 in a tongue, right? This is not praying in some Holy Spirit language, right? This is praying the Holy Spirit in dwelling you. Praying in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit interceding for you with God. Prayers that are in accord with his word. Prayers that are in accord with his will that you want to do that which pleases the Lord. You're gonna keep yourselves in the love of God through a prayerful Holy Spirit empowered, abiding in a prayerful dependence upon him. Keeping yourself in the love of God. Then thirdly, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. It's that hope, right? Like John says, everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself as he is pure, right? We look to the glorious appearing of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ and looking to him, hoping in him, we purify ourselves and we abide in the love of God. Now look down at verse 24. It's interesting here. We've been talking about human responsibility, our responsibility to dwell, to abide, to persevere. Look at verse 24. Now, Jesus says, to him, who's that? It's God, Christ, yeah. To him who is able to keep you from stumbling. We can't do anything apart from him. It's him who is able to keep us from stumbling. To him who is able to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To God, our savior who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever, amen. That gives you a good indication there, doesn't it? Of how we are responsible to persevere, yet all the while knowing and understanding that it's not our faithfulness that's going to cause us to abide, causes to persevere or endure, it is his faithfulness. We persevere, we abide because he is faithful. He is able to keep us. He's the one who keeps us by his power. That is a prayerful dependence upon him. You think about that, Peter says, first Peter chapter one. We are kept by the power of God. He is the one with the power to keep us. We need to be prayerfully dependent upon him, amen. All right, fifth, fifth. One of the means by which we abide in the vine is through loving obedience to his commands. Back in John chapter 15, drop down to verse nine. We abide in the vine through a loving obedience to his commands, verse nine. As the Father loved me, I also have loved you, abide in my love. Well, how do we do that, Lord? Verse 10, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. If you keep my commandments, verse 10, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I've heard it said before, and we'll get this from time to time, that we here at Cornerstone, or me in particular, overemphasize obedience to the Lord's commands in our preaching. What I usually, or where I usually hear that from are those who are under-emphasizing obedience in their life. How do we abide in love of God? If you keep my commandments, the Lord says in verse 10, you will abide in my love. But we don't do that in our own strength. We do that in his strength, in his power, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. And we've spent some time on this in recent sermons, and I don't wanna belabor this point too much, but turn with me to first John chapter three. First John, let's look at an example of this. First John chapter three. You guys are gonna have to listen faster. We've got a couple points left. First John chapter three. All right, look at this from John. I just, the context, and again, we're looking at the same author, a letter here from John. Look at verse one. Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God. Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know him, beloved. Now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And everyone, that everyone, in other words, no Christian excluded. Everyone who has this hope in him, which is every single Christian, every one of them purifies himself just as he is pure. Verse four. Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him there is no sin. Whoever abides in him does not, and here it is, it makes a practice of sin. And we know that word is that it's an ongoing, it's a present active indicative in the Greek, but it's an ongoing practice of sin. We know that that applies to verse seven. He who practices righteousness is the same context, okay? Whoever abides in him does not make a practice of sin. Their life is not characterized by sin. Whoever sins or makes a practice of sin has neither seen him nor known him. Verse seven. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for his seed remains in him, and he cannot sin, he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. Verse 10. In this, the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain who is of the wicked one and murdered his brother, and why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous. Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother doesn't abide in the vine. He abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us, and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his hearts from him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love in Word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God, whatever we ask, notice this again from John 15, right? Whatever we ask, we receive from him because we keep his commandments, and we do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment. We should believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he has given us commandment. Now, he who keeps his commandments abides in him and he in him. And by this we know that he abides in us by the spirit whom he has given us. We'll talk about that more in a moment. A loving obedience to the commands of God. Sixth, back in John 15. Sixth way, sixth means by which we abide in the vine is a determined pursuit of these means. This is one of those points that is implicit in the text. The stakes involved are immeasurably high. This is heaven and hell, life and death. If you look at John 15, verse eight, the glory of God. And it's in this way, verse eight, that you are going to be my disciples, that you abide in him and produce fruit. Now, scripture refers to the Christian life as a race. A salvation, it refers to as a prize to be won. Christians are commanded to strive. Christians commanded to agonize, to exercise themselves toward godliness. In 2 Timothy chapter two, we are engaged in warfare. Folks like to give me a hard time about my warfare analogies and illustrations, we're embattled folks. We are engaged in warfare. We must, according to Paul in 2 Timothy chapter two, we must be engaged in warfare and must endure hardships like good soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ. The effort required of the Christian is compared to an athlete competing for a crown. We were watching the Olympics yesterday and watching track and field and some of these runners. It's just absolutely amazing. The effort that is expended in competing for a crown, their crown, a perishable one, our crown, an imperishable one, how much more we, should we be competing for that prize, right? And not in a competition like I'm gonna get it and you're not, or you're gonna get it and I'm not. No, we run to win the race, pleasing the Lord who enlisted us as good soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christian life described to us as a hardworking farmer living off the crops, right? Paul says, be diligent. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God. A worker does not need to be ashamed of him. Many think of their Christian life as that one moment in time I became approved to God. You know, God forgives. I'm a big sinner, but he's a big forgiver. So that point in time when I said that little prayer, I walked that little aisle, did that little ritual, rub that little bead, right? God became approved. I became approved in God's sight. And what Paul says, be diligent to present yourself approved to God. Be diligent. A worker who does not need to be ashamed. Again, often not as much what they say as it is what they don't say. We're to be diligent. Determined pursuit of these means implied in the text. Seventh. Seventh. Means by which we abide in the vine, explicit in the text is an unwavering, uncompromising faith in Christ. Faith in Christ. Back in John 15, notice verse four. Verse four, he says, abide in church. Abide in your profession. Abide in your works. Abide doggedly with a death grip to your Roman Catholicism, right? Abide in the faith of your fathers. Abide in your hair. No, abide in me. Abide in him. He is the object of our faith. We've been delivered to him. He is our Lord. He is our salvation. We're to abide in him. You know, tying this to fear of God. I think it was Octavius Winslow that said that we should soak the roots of our profession in the blood of Christ. Soak the roots of our profession in the blood of Christ. He is our Passover lamb. He is our salvation, right? He is our inheritance. He is our hope. He is our joy. We're to abide in him. Everything accomplished in the Christian life. Everything accomplished in the Christian life through the means of faith. Through the means of faith in Christ. Look at 1 Peter chapter one. Quickly, 1 Peter chapter one. We've been going through 1 Peter with our small groups. 1 Peter chapter one. And look at verse three. We must abide in him. Faith in Christ. Trust in Christ. And trusting ourselves to him. 1 Peter chapter one, verse three. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you. Who are kept by the power of God through the means of faith. Kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice though now for a little while if need be. You've been grieved by various trials so that the genuineness of that faith being much more precious than gold it perishes though it is tested by fire. May be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see him yet believing. Having faith in him you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory receiving the end of that faith which is the salvation of your souls. Notice that future context again. The salvation of our souls. Incidentally again in verse five we are kept by the power of God through faith. Rededicating your life, recommitting your life nowhere in the Bible, nowhere in the Bible. That is a figment of evangelicalism's imagination. Rededicating your life, recommitting your life to Christ, that whole thing. It's a little ritual happens in churches all over the place. It's nowhere in the Bible. Do you know why so-called Christians have to recommit or why so-called Christians have to rededicate? Because they weren't truly committed in the begin with. Weren't truly committed the first time. When you come to Christ you are kept in your own power. No, because you couldn't keep yourself for five seconds. You're kept by the power of God and you're kept by the power of God through the means of your abiding and persevering and enduring faith in him. Does that mean that faith is perfect and powerful all the time? No, sometimes our faith is weak. Sometimes our faith is puny. But he keeps us by his power through our faith and we will be kept if we're in him, right? It's by his power. Seven means, seven means by which we abide in the vine and produce fruit to the glory of God. Now the responsibility, again, because of the command back in John 15, verse four, the responsibility is yours. The responsibility is mine. God commands us to abide and you abide through the means that he has appointed. You do all of it because of verse three. You are clean. You're clean. You're clean, even forgiven. What great motivation bought by the blood of the Lamb. You're clean in verse three. Do it all because you're clean. However, look at chapter 15, verse four with me. Abide in me, what does the Lord say? And I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me, verse five. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, here it is again, and I in him bears much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. Now the best way to think of this phrase in verse four is what they call a conditional imperative. It's a conditional imperative. In other words, Jesus is saying, listen, you abide in me and I will abide in you. You abide in me and I will abide in you. Ultimately, if you think about it that way, it's Christ who is conquering in us through the means of our abiding faith. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, why? Because it's God who is at work in you, okay? That's clear from verse five. We can't produce fruit by ourselves. We can't produce fruit by ourselves. We can do nothing apart from him. The branches derive their life from the vine. The vine produces its fruit through the branches so that we don't abandon the Lord Jesus Christ during test or during trial, during difficulty. You see? If you're in Christ through repentant faith, then the one who called you will do that which is necessary to fulfill that calling. He is faithful. Philippians chapter one, verse six, right understanding of it. He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Often what you hear with that verse is that little Johnny says the prayer when he's eight, he departs from the Lord, lives like a devil during high school, during college, leaves the church, becomes all, for all intents and purposes, an unbeliever and yet they will hold to verse six. He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. I'm sorry, listen. The good work wasn't begun in little Johnny because little Johnny hasn't persevered. Hasn't been abiding. First Thessalonians chapter five, verse 23, now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. Who does it? God does. The God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful who also will do it. Lord is going to do it. Lord, praise for that to this end in John chapter 17. John chapter 17, praise for believers to abide. It was like praying for Peter, right? He says to Peter in Luke 22, Peter, Satan has come to ask permission to sift you as wheat. But I've prayed for you, Peter. The Lord Jesus Christ says I've prayed for you that your faith may not fail. The Lord Jesus Christ praying for Peter. The Lord Jesus Christ prayed for you and I. If you're in Christ, if you've turned from your sin to put your faith in him, the Lord Jesus Christ knows you by name. He has called you to himself. He has caused you to be born again and he will preserve you. And he has prayed as much to the Father in John chapter 17 that you would abide in him. He's prayed to that end. Now let's put all this theology together, right? We've covered a lot of ground. Well, a verse. There's a lot of theology in that verse, okay? There's a lot of theology there. Let's put this theology together. I want you to think rightly. This is worthy to be meditated on. Something that you've got to think through in your head to keep straight. I've got to think through it in my head to keep it straight. God's sovereignty. God's sovereignty. God says I will preserve my own. I will preserve my own. I will do it, God says. It's a promise rooted and grounded in the faithfulness of Almighty God. Amen. Man's responsibility. Man's responsibility. I must persevere. I must endeavor to persevere. I must strive to persevere. I must exercise myself to persevere. I must be diligent, right? I must persevere. The promises of God. The promises of God are prostituted. If they are used by presumptuous or prideful so-called Christians, undermining the need for ongoing obedience and ongoing faithfulness in the Christian life. Those that just say, oh, let go of that God, prostituting the promises of God by undermining man's responsibility to persevere in the faith. He's given us that responsibility. Ongoing striving. Obedience is not optional. Faithfulness is not optional. Abiding is not optional. Enduring perseverance is not optional. And those who believe so, either by their words or by their life, strip the grace of God of its power. They strip the grace of God of its life-sustaining power. It's life-keeping, Christian-keeping power. That's the essence of easy-beliefism. That's the essence of easy-beliefism. So if you wanna think through these things one at a time, we must meet the conditions that God has set forth in his word to obtain what God has promised. Think, we must meet the conditions that God has set forth in his word for us to obtain what God has promised. We can't do that in our own strength. We can't do that in our own power. We can't do anything apart from him. We need God's grace. We need God's power. We need God's strength in order to make it. God, having loved us, having loved us to the end, God, with the great love with which he loved us, God promises that he's going to supply that strength. He's going to supply that power. And he supplies that strength. He supplies that power through the means of our faith. And even that faith is given to us as a gift. Therefore, we can be certain because of God's gracious provision that every single genuine believer will persevere to the end and be saved. All glory, John 15, verse eight, all glory to God. Let's go out and abide in him, amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, our praise be to you for this glorious salvation that you've provided, these glorious truths. It just, how it motivates us to worship, compels us to adoration. We love you, Lord, and we're grateful to you. We're so thankful for all that you've done for us. We know that we can do nothing apart from you. We can do nothing apart from faith in you. We can't do anything to please you. And yet, even that faith is a gift from you. And we praise you and thank you for us. Help us, Lord, in light of these truths, certainly not to run from you, but to cling closer to you, to abide in you, to use the means that you have given us in this text by which we are to abide fearfully, heeding your warnings, to have a healthy biblical fear of you, abiding in your word, diligent pursuit of all these means, prayerful dependence upon you. There's so many glorious gifts and promises and means, Lord, that you give us by which you cause us to endure to the end. We're grateful, Lord, that it's by your power that we are kept and by your power we are preserved. Help us, Lord, help us. Help us to live a life that is pleasing in your sight. All for your glory. Glory be to God. We love you, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.