Join me once again, if you would,
please, in the book of 1 John, second chapter, and I'd like
to read, starting with verse 26, through the end of the chapter. It says, these things have I
written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing
which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not
that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you
of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it
hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. And now, little children,
abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence
and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If you know that
he is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness
is born of him." Now, we looked at several passages here in the
Bible. earlier in 1 John that spoke
about antichrist and that anything that opposes what the scriptures
have to say about the Lord and who he is and what work he has
done and does for his people is anti-Christ, anything that
is not in alignment with what the scriptures have to say. And
we looked at that in some detail. And the last time we gathered
here in 1 John 2, in previous verses, that we, it said that we remain
and abide in the truth. And the truth is what we have
and we hold in our hands in the scripture. And today we're gonna
have the, I'm gonna call this lesson we have today, Abide in
Christ. There are those that abide and
can abide and say they do in the doctrines, in the teachings.
They can have outlines of things, of what is surely believed and
that the scripture says And if that's all we have, that's all
we have. There's much more to it than
that. Those speak of a person. They
speak of the Lord himself. And that's where we have to abide. We have to abide in him. And
that's the only source of life we have. The scriptures attest
to that. And the truth that we hold in
our hands is from him and his word. But he is the one that
we have to abide in. We can hold and have very straight
on what we have as a set of texts or set of things
that we say we believe in, but if we don't abide in Him, they're
just dead words. And there are a lot of people
that hold the scriptures and say they stick to the scriptures,
But if they don't stick to the one they speak of, then that's
all they have is words. And the difference is when the
Lord talked to Peter and said, who do you say I am? And he told
him that you are the son of the living God. You're the Christ,
the son of the living God. And he said, flesh and blood
didn't teach this to you. It wasn't a Sunday school class
or the rabbi or whoever didn't teach that to him. And so that is the... the standard, I think, or the
thing to abide in is in Him. And that abiding in Him is by
being in His word, and as that truth is taught and holding to
that, and as the Spirit reveals that to us, and that we, the
one and the thing we stand in is not that I believe in what
our church believes in, but what the, the scriptures believe in,
but in the one of the Lord of the scripture, the Christ of
the scriptures. There were those that in his
day that believed that the Messiah would come and there'd be the
Messiah, but when he was there, they didn't. As we've been in
the book of Acts, there are those that did not. They said we believe
in the scriptures. Well, they didn't believe in
the one of the scriptures, and that was manifest and shown. So I'd like to look at some verses,
and it says here, in these verses, it says, and the ones that it
said, verse 26 to start with, it talks about those that seduce
you, and the ones that are, veering away from what the scripture
have to say about the Lord and have erred in that way. And here
that it speaks about in verse 27 that the same anointing, the
Holy Spirit that's spoken of above in this text, is, it says,
teaches you all things and is truth and is no lie, even as
it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him, in the Lord. But as it says that have taught
you all things and the Spirit indeed teaches and reveals to
his people all things that are needful to salvation, to redemption,
all the things that were required of God to do that, and all the
things that the Lord himself has accomplished, and when he
said it is finished, those things that are meant by what is finished,
and the redemption of his people, those things that were satisfied,
and that, again, it says in here, ye shall abide in him, and then, little children, it says, abide
in him that when he shall appear, we may have confidence and not
be ashamed before him at his coming. And there are those that
at his coming, it says that they're going to say, we've done, look
what we've done for you. And he says, the Lord says, I
never knew you. And, and, And I think that speaks to that
verse there about being ashamed before him that is coming is
those that indeed have not denied him and have held to him. and stand in the truth and, as
it says, abiding in Him. And if you know that He is righteous,
you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of Him,
verse 29. But we're going to look at a
few places that that I think speak to this of abiding in the
Lord himself, not just abiding in words or in teachings of themselves,
but only as they bring out who he is and speak and glorify him. In the book of Colossians, in the book of Colossians, let
me get there first. Colossians in the first chapter,
and I'd like to start reading with verse 12, Colossians 1,
12 and following. It says, giving thanks unto the
Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of
darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son. in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature. For by him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,
all things were created by him and for him. And he is before
all things and by him all things consist. And he is the head of
the body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.
For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. And having made peace through
the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto
himself, by him I say whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven. And you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you wholly and
unblameable and unreprovable in his sight, if ye continue
in the truth grounded and settled and be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel which ye have heard and which was preached
to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, have
made a minister." And several things in this passage here that It says verse 13, who hath delivered
us, God Almighty, the Father, delivered us from the power of
darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sin. And it goes on and speaks more
of him and those here, and that he is the head, verse 18, of
the body, the church. who is the beginning, the firstborn
of the dead, in all things, he might have the preeminence. And
it goes on, and what we have in him, he hath made peace through
the blood of his cross by him to reconcile unto himself by
him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. And it goes on and says, and
you who were alien and not in this situation, but he has done
these things. He has done these things himself.
And by the spirit, he reveals this
to us. And it's not just the teaching. It's not just the words in a
page. There are many millions of people
that hold the scriptures in their hands. and don't understand,
it's like the Ethiopian eunuch. Who's he talking about? They
don't understand, even though they may understand a religious
system. There's a lot of people in religion
that can tell you the plan of salvation, what the word says
of it, and not have any comprehension of the meaning of it, and not
know the person it's speaking of. And knowing the way of it
is not the same as knowing Him. And we can hold the truth in
our hands, and if it isn't revealed to us, that's how it's revealed
to us, it's by the Spirit. If He doesn't reveal it to us,
we're not gonna understand it. And here, as it says, all these
things that we have and that we believe in and hope for are
in Him, not in a system. and not just in a trite saying
or two, but in him himself. Turn back to the book of Philippians,
if you would, and join me in the first chapter of Philippians,
the book of Philippians. It says here in verse six, and we're gonna look
at a little bit in chapter two too, but in verse six, chapter
one, it says, being confident of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day
of Christ. And this verse in particular
is that, It says in here, he that which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day
of Jesus Christ. Again, it's the verse where it says,
looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And
it goes on to say that what he did for us, but he is not only
the author and finisher, but he will, see us through to the
end, and it's in Him. It's not in a belief system or just some words. It has to be
applied by the Spirit. There in John, when he's speaking,
the Lord is speaking about the new birth that must be born born
again, must be born from above. And he said, are you a master
of these things in Israel? And you don't understand this?
It's spiritually understood, and the life is spiritually life,
not just a belief in the words of it. And as it is that, he is the one
that says, will begin, has begun a good work, will perform it.
He is the one that sees it through. And it's not of our strength or anything
that is in ourselves, but of him that provides it and finishes
it and sees it through. In the book of 1 Thessalonians, In 1 Thessalonians, the first
chapter, starting with the first verse, and actually the whole
of chapter one of 1 Thessalonians, it says, Paul and Silvanus and
Timotheus unto the church of the Thessalonians, which is in
God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be unto you
and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We
give thanks to God always for you, making mention of you in
our prayers, remembering without cease your work of faith and
labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. in the sight of God and our Father. Knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God, for our gospel came not unto you in word only,
but also in power and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance,
as you know what manner of men we were among you for your sakes.
And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received
the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. so that
you were examples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.
For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in
Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to
God were to spread abroad, so that we need not speak anything.
For they themselves show us what manner of entering in we had
unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living
and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he
raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath
to come." And several things here that he said, our gospel
came to you, not unto you in word only, but also in power
and in the Holy Ghost. As he told Peter that flesh and
blood didn't reveal this to you, the preaching of the word goes
forth and faithful men bring the word and preach the word.
But as it said, men can only plant. Men plant, they water,
but God gives the increase and God has to make that life, has
to bring that to fruition. And the Lord does that with his
word as it goes forth. And that it says here in verse three, it says, without
ceasing, your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of
hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God our Father.
And again, our hope is not in what we have in word, but what
we have given to us in hymn, and our hope is in hymn. The word we have is his word
to us about himself, And it is that that we place our hope in,
is himself. And not just the words of it,
that we know the words of it, but that we know him. And that's
what the Lord was speaking to that one about being born again,
born from above. We can only bring out words and
thoughts of what the scriptures say and what we know of ourselves,
what we know, but it has to be put in each of his people himself
has to do that. And it's not easily explained. We have the word there and it's
not easily explained. It's a supernatural, not natural
thing to our nature. Only in God's nature, the spirit
has to reveal that, has to open, as it says, blind eyes to see
that. And as Paul says in another place,
he said that the Lord opens your eyes and reveals the truth to
us in himself. And that's what we hope to, and
that's what we look to, is to him as the scripture's showing
forth. In the book of 2 Thessalonians,
turn over just a little bit here. 2 Thessalonians in the second
chapter. Second chapter of Thessalonians,
2 Thessalonians, and starting with verse 13. Chapter two, it
says, we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren,
stand fast and hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether
by word or our epistle. Now the Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given
us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort
your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. And up here it says, it talks
about here, it says, Our Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given
us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort
your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.
And as it says here, our Lord Jesus Christ himself And Himself,
not another, but Himself has brought these things about to
us. And then by His Spirit reveals them to us and makes them more
than just words on a page, but brings out and makes it a living word. And only He can
do that. The word is true in every word
and is God's word Himself, but men don't, by nature, accept
that as God's word and accept it as anything. They don't place
any store in it. And until our eyes are open to
that, we may acknowledge and say, yeah, that's God's word
and read that. Until he reveals himself in that word, that's
all we have. And that's all we can have by
nature. It has to be revealed. and it's
in him that we stand. It's in him we stand and in him
we will finish the course. In the book of 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy
in the first chapter, and I believe we have read this portion before,
2 Timothy chapter one. Starting with verse seven, 1
Timothy chapter one, verse seven. For God hath not given us the
spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be
thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel, according to the
power of God, who hath saved us and called us with an holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace. which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death
and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
whereunto I am appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher
of the Gentiles, for the which cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed,
for I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. Hold
fast the form of sound words, which thou has heard of me in
faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which
was committed unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost, which dwelleth
in us. And a verse here that speaks
to what we're looking towards today of abiding in Christ. There in verse 12, the latter
part of that where it says, I know whom I believed and have persuaded,
he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against
that day. And it says, I have believed,
I know whom I believed and persuaded. And it's not, I know the name
and somebody has argued better than I have me into this. This
is, I know whom I believe, The Spirit's revealed that to us.
If we can say that and say that, I know who I believe and am persuaded
that he's able to keep that which I've committed to him against
that day. And it's not a persuasion of
man of just by the right words and things. There have been many
that have been persuaded in a physical manner. and say the right words
and been baptized and do all the right things and not been
persuaded that they know this one that's speaking of. I think
a lot of people have been gotten wet and never knew who it was
speaking of. And here, the only way that we
can know and be persuaded that he is able and that's, knowing who he is, is by revelation
of God, by the new birth. And that's the only way it can
come about. We can know the words of them.
And most of us, many of us knew the right words long before we
knew who they were speaking of. And we could say we knew the
words of that, but didn't know the Christ of the scriptures,
of his own words. Even though we may have memorized
his words, we didn't know him. by that until it's revealed to
us. And the only way we can abide in Him is having believed by
His grace and mercy to us, give us faith and know that, and know
Him, and am persuaded of that. Not just, that's the best, until
something better comes along, this'll do. This is knowing who
He is, the Lord God Almighty. That's where we must abide. In the book of Titus, just turn
over one more book. In the book of Titus, we spent some time in the book
of Titus when we were looking through the book of Jude here
not too long ago in some of these same places. But in chapter two,
chapter two of Titus, starting with verse, Chapter 2 of Titus,
verse 11. It says, for the grace of God
that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching
us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking
for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great
God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. who gave himself for us, that
he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works. These things speak and exhort
and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee." And
up here that the salvation of God has revealed these things
and reveals these things in verse 13, looking for that blessed
hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our savior,
Jesus Christ. And that's something that I heard
and hear a while back that remembered the thought of people talking
about the second coming But we should be talking about the one
that's coming, not the second coming of, like it's the big
event. It's who's coming is the big
event. That's the, when the Lord comes again at the second time,
he'll be here on earth. But people make that into the
event into the big thing and not the one that it's surrounding. And you think about the, once when they were on the Mount
of Transfiguration. And they said, well, let's build
temples. Let's build an altar to the prophets
and Moses, and this'll be a good thing. And they covered it with
a cloud, and I didn't look up the scripture
to quote it, but the long and short of it is when the cloud
raised, they saw Jesus only. And that's the point of that. It's
not, again, at his coming, it'll be him that's coming that we
look forward to. And then in chapter three, chapter three of Titus, again,
starting with verse four, Titus chapter 3 verse 4 it says,
but after that the kindness and love of God our Savior towards
man appeared, not by the works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed
on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. that being
justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the
hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and
these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they which
have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable
unto men." And up here particularly where it says, not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by
the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which
he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior." And
again, at the regeneration and renewing, it says of the Holy
Ghost, God's doing and that he abundantly through Jesus Christ,
our Savior. And again, He's the one, it's
not the words of it, but He's the one that the word speaks
of, that these things are done, it says, through Jesus Christ,
our Savior. All the things that we have received,
hope to receive, and hope to ever gain or have gained in Him
are in Him, not apart from Him. And I think that, again, the
thought is abiding in in him as the scripture shows him forth.
And not just to say that we stand in the scriptures, which is his
word, but we stand in him because of what the scriptures revealed
to us. And then in the book of Hebrews, in the book of Hebrews chapter
four, And this is, I like this particular
section of Hebrews for what it speaks to, starting with, let's start with the first verse
of the chapter four of Hebrews. It says, let us therefore fear,
lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any
of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel
preached as well as unto them, but the word preached did not
profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard
it. For we which have believed do
enter into rest, as he said, as I have sworn in my wrath,
if they shall enter into my rest, although the works were finished
from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain place
of the seventh day on this wise, and God did rest the seventh
day from all his works. And then this place again, if
they shall enter into my rest. Seeing, therefore, it remaineth
that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first
preached entered not because of unbelief. Again, he limiteth
a certain day, saying, And David, today, after so long a time,
as it is said, Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not
your hearts. For if Jesus, or Joshua, had
given them rest, then he would not afterward have spoken of
another day. There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. For he that is entered into his
rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from
his. Let us labor, therefore, to enter
into that rest, lest any man shall fall after the same example
of unbelief. For the word of God is quick
and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even
to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints
and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest
in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes
of him with whom we have to do. Seeing then that we have a great
High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of
God, let us hold fast to our profession. For we have not a
high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but as was in all points tempted, like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need." And quite a passage here, it
speaks about the rest, the rest that the generations didn't We enter
into rest because of unbelief, it says here. And that rest,
as it speaks about, is he is our rest. He is that Sabbath
that is spoken of and people make things up. And the rest
is where it says, have ceased from your own works. Cease from
our own belief that it's our faith that we stand in. It's
his faith we stand in. He is that rest. He is the one
that we have to abide in, that the rest is in. The scriptures
speak of that rest and speak of him, but it is him himself
that we stand in. And that it says, there remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God, for he that has entered into his rest
He hath ceased from his own works as God did from him. And that
ceasing from our own works can only be brought about by his
doing and by his revealing himself to us. And in that way, we must
abide in him. We abide in the truth. The truth
is from him, but he is our resting place. He is the covert from
the storm. And then one more spot in the book of
Acts. Turn with me in the book of Acts
to chapter 26. A lot spoken of our Lord in the
book of Acts, not just things that took place, but a lot of
things that speak of Him and who He is to His people. And in chapter 26, Okay, and just a portion that
when Saul met the Lord himself on the road, and here is part
of what was said during this, starting with verse, oh, let's
see, verse 15. And I said, who art thou, Lord?
And he said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecuted. But rise and
stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose,
to make thee a minister and a witness, both of these things which thou
hast seen, of those things in the which I will appear unto
thee, delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles,
unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes and to turn them
from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God,
that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among
them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." And here
what the aim of the God sending forth his word by his people
is that it says here that to open their eyes and turn them
from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God,
that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among
them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. And all
the different writings that we have in the scripture of situations
of those things taking place as those in Acts we've been seeing
before the Sanhedrin. The issue comes up, the issue
is who he is, who the Lord himself is, and not just the doctrines
or the thoughts that they have or the religious things they
have, but it's pointing to him, himself. And if the Lord himself
is not the center of it, the preaching is just words, just
words that may be good words, they may be God's truth words,
but if it doesn't point to him, And the spirit doesn't reveal
who he is, but that's what is appointed
to do is to bring that word forth that perchance the Holy Spirit
uses it. And that we know he does use
that and he does by his scripture, call his people to himself and
reveal himself. So then, Again, we abide in the
truth, but we abide in Him. And be free. We'll meet again.