The benefits of abiding in Christ; John 15:4-5

Title: The benefits of abiding in Christ, John 15:4-5.

 

John 15:1 I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.

 

John 15:2"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.

 

John 15:3"You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

 

John 15:4"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

 

 “Abide” - aorist active imperative of meno[meno] = to remain, to abide, to tarry, to reside without leaving. Aorist - start now.

 

Abide therefore means to remain in the plan of God for your life by not quenching or grieving the HS and remaining positive towards the word of God.

 

When we abide in Christ we abide in certain virtues that belong to Christ.

 

Abiding in Christ means living the resurrection life in time, the love of Christ abides in you, 1John 3:17.

 

1 John 3:17 But whoever has the world's goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?

 

Abiding in Christ means the continued mentoring and teaching of the Holy Spirit, 1John 2:27.

 

1 John 2:27 And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.

 

Abiding in Christ means confidence at the judgment seat of Christ, 1 John 2:28.

 

1 John 2:28 And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.

 

Abiding in Christ means abiding in the PPOG for your life that you may see straight and clearly God’s will for your life, 1John 2:10.

 

1 John 2:10 The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

 

Abiding in Christ means abiding in the truth so that you are not distracted or deceived, 2 John 2.

 

2 John 2 for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever:

 

Abiding in Christ means that God the Father and Son make their abode beside your soul - Edification Complex of the soul, 2 John 9.

 

2 John 9 Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.

 

Every believer is indwelt by the Trinity, therefore the reference in this passage to have both the Father and Son refers to having them make their abode or dwelling place within your soul. To be specific, the abode is within your human spirit which was imputed to your soul at salvation.

 

John 14:22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us, and not to the world?"

 

John 14:23Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him.

 

This abode is not said to be in the believer but with the believer.

 

 “with” = the preposition para [para] means to be beside or along side, which refers to the human spirit which is beside or along side the soul.

 

By means of the baptism of the Holy Spirit God the HS creates a human spirit in which you store all metabolized doctrine. This is simultaneous with being identified with Christ in His death which is the severance or pruning of the flesh and identification with Christ in His resurrection which is the new creature in Christ.

 

My analogy to this abode of the Father and Son has been the west wing of the White House, which was an addition to the main house that was burned in the war of 1812. The west wing is the location of the Oval Office and I liken that to the ECS where the Father and Son set up a command center designed to guide and assist us in producing fruit. This is the function of the new creature in Christ.

 

[slide: soul - click to add ECS]

 

This is what continually occurs while you abide in Christ.

 

Unbelievers abide in darkness. John 12:46 I have come as light into the world, that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness.

 

Believers that do not abide in Christ abide in temporal death, 1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.

 

John 15:4"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

 

 “and I in you” = doctrine in you. The abode of God the Father, Son and HS who are at home. Edification complex; Oval Office.

 

Christ again emphasizes the abode of God. Not the indwelling of the Trinity, but the ECS which is constructed of all the doctrine you have metabolized.

 

The believer’s responsibility is to not grieve or quench the HS and continue to take in doctrine daily as #1 priority and as such he will abide in Christ. Abiding in Christ results in Him abiding in you.

 

EPH 3:16-17

that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell [be at home] in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

 

John 15:4"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

 

The branch “cannot” - ouk [ouk] = not; and the present passive indicative of dunamai [dunamai] = be able, can, power. “The branch has no power…”

 

Unless we abide in the vine we do not have the power to produce fruit or divine good. Without divine good there is no fulfillment of your election and no experiencing the happiness of God.

 

 “cannot bear fruit of itself” - you were not meant to go through life alone. You have been called to go through life with the Lord Jesus Christ, your true husband.

 

The thinking that I’m a rock and an island and that I don’t need anyone or anything is usually just a self-pity trip after a big disappointment. Self-pity is a strong and subtle form of arrogance.

 

You can also be surrounded by people and have a busy social life, but if you do not have communion with TLJC than you have no power other than the power of arrogance that may suffice for cosmic living, but it is only placing yourself under the power of your dead husband, the flesh or OSN.

 

Communion with your true Husband is communicated by Paul to the Romans after he clarifies RPT and CPT in chapter 6.

 

ROM 7:1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? [but the believer no longer lives in this sense]

 

ROM 7:2For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband.

 

ROM 7:3So then if, while her husband is living, she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress, though she is joined to another man.

 

ROM 7:4Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God.

 

Joined to Christ - positional truth = you are in union with Christ forever. Might bear fruit - experiential truth = you have the liberty to abide in Christ in time.

 

ROM 7:5For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.

 

ROM 7:6But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

 

John 15:4"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

 

John 15:5"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

 

The Lord repeats verse 1 and continues with the abide concept. The reversionistic believer can do nothing because he is in the energy of the flesh. Therefore, the abide concept is the grace concept.

 

Before the disciples get wind of the entire mystery doctrine for the Church, the basic concept that is repeated by Christ 11 times in this passage is that we must not be apart from Him. Abiding in Him is the only way we will ever grow up spiritually, learn the truths of the PPOG, and put it all together for ourselves through our own personal revelation by the Holy Spirit who we have not grieved or quenched.

 

 “Abide in Me and do not be apart from Me or you will have no power for the abundant life that I have purchased for you.”

 

And now He illustrates the severity of the consequences that come from not abiding in Him.

 

John 15:6"If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

 

This is not loss of salvation, which is impossible.

 

This is a failure to respond to warning discipline and intensive discipline and even dying discipline resulting in the sin unto death for the reversionistic believer.

 

You may say, “That’s terrible.” But when viewed correctly through the lens of the grace of God it is seen as a grace act. The reversionistic believer who will not respond to God’s repeated and intense calls to rebound and recover will only continue to increase his own misery and the burden he places on others. In God’s gracious way and in perfect timing He takes that believer home to heaven early. He will be in perfect happiness and face to face with the Lord forever and so his misery is relieved. However, he has lost His eternal inheritance and will have shame and embarrassment at the judgment seat of Christ. He will have failed to glorify God in time which was his normal Christian life. He will enjoy perfectly the eternity that God purchased for him through Christ, but he will lose out on God’s highest and best.

 

Branches that are removed from the vine are gathered together and burned. That’s what occurs on any vineyard. The branch is no longer on the vineyard and the sin unto death removes the believer from the earth. It’s that simple.

 

They burn the left over corn stalks after harvesting as well. That’s why this has nothing to do with eternal judgment. No believer can lose his salvation but he can lose his place on earth under dying discipline.

 

John 15:7"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.

 

As we have studied:

All effective prayer lines up with the will of God. If you can think with God you can pray correctly.

 

We have to correct the translation for the second part which in the NAS is “ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.”

 

The original looks like this:

 

 `oeanqeleteaitvsesqekaigenvsetaiumin. ho ean thelete aitesesthe kai genesetai humin…Literally: what if you will you will ask and it shall come to pass to you.

 

This structure is confusing, but the reason I brought it out is the particle ean which is with the subjunctive of theloo meaning if you will or if you desire, maybe you will maybe you will not.

 

The subjunctive indicates that the mature or super-grace believer who abides in Christ is not going to ask for everything under the sun or above the sun, but will be selective in his prayer life for maximum impact. There are many things that do not need to be prayed for and many things where prayer becomes the most effective weapon in the soul of the super-grace believer.

 

If you desire to ask [which will be according to the will of the Father because you abide in the vine] it will come to pass for you.

 

Corrected:

John 15:7If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, if you desire to ask it will come to pass for you.

 

It’s not whatever you ask, but not far from it. The key to effective prayer is knowing the will of the Father and asking according to that will under the filling of the Holy Spirit, in love, and without MASs.

 

John 15:8"By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

 

Clearly stated here is that the Father is glorified when we bear much fruit.

 

 “fruit” - divine good production. The believer that abides in Christ during phase 2 produces much divine good and glorifies the Father who is the Author of the plan.

 

Remember that the Father is the vinedresser. The vinedresser is the one who cultivates the land, prunes the branches, makes healthy soil, protects the vine from parasites, etc.

 

The soil is the grace PPOG which the Father authored in eternity past. Living in the plan produces fruit and so the plan’s Author is glorified.

 

 “proves” - future middle indicative of ginomai [ginomai] = to become, to come into existence, to begin to be. “and become My disciples.”