Abide in Him. Abide in Him. That's my subject this evening. Abide in Him. I have three reasons for bringing
this message. realize I'm preaching through
this epistle of 1 John, and we've come to this passage, but I don't
just mechanically go about giving
an exposition of scripture. I seek a message from God for
you, and I believe I have one, and here's my reasons for it. the glory of God. Unless I am deceived, unless
I am deceived, and that's a possibility, unless I am deceived, I want
in my life, in my house, and here in God's house, I want in
my heart, In my conduct and in my preaching to glorify God,
my savior. I want his honor. I believe I want his honor more
than anything. His honor. In preaching the gospel and conducting
ourselves as a congregation of believers. We do what we do in
this place the way we do it for God's glory. I have no interest
in, and as long as God gives me grace to serve as your pastor,
I will not allow this congregation to follow the trend of the world
and pursue religiously entertaining folks on their way to hell. I'm
not interested in that. I'm not interested in catching
up with the times. I'm not interested in you coming
to church and having a good time and saying, my, what a fine fellow
Brother Fortner is. I'm interested in God's glory.
We conduct our services. Lindsay picks out the hymns.
These folks who sing pick songs consistent with the gospel of
God's grace for the glory of God. Ordinances we practice we practice
according to the Word of God for the glory of God The scriptures
give us plainly in Isaiah chapter 40 what the work of God's preacher
is He must first declare All flesh is grass Yeah, if folks will hang around
long enough to finish saying that tell them something else
behold your God my object is God's glory. Everything in the
universe was created by God for his glory. Everything that ever
has been is for God's glory. Everything that is is for God's
glory. Everything that shall be is for
God's glory. That includes you and me, your
sons and daughters, and mine, for God's glory. The sooner we
learn that, the better off we'll be and the more comfortable we'll
be. Everything is for God's glory,
so let us do everything for his glory. Number two, I want you
to know God my Savior. I want you to come to Christ.
I want you to believe on the son of God. I want you to be
robed in his righteousness, washed in his blood, in a living union
of faith with the son of God. Brother Don, don't you know you're
preaching to folks who've been in church for many, many years? Yes, I know that. Don't you know
you're preaching to folks who believe the same doctrine you
do? Yes, I know that. But I don't presume that anybody
knows God. I don't presume that anybody
knows God. I try to preach, as Baxter said, as a dying man to
dying men, knowing that with your next breath, you may meet
God and be with him. I want you to know the Son of
God. I want you to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. You see, there is no salvation
apart from a personal knowledge of the Son of God, a personal
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that knowledge comes only
by divine revelation. by God himself giving you life
and light, giving you faith in his son. I can't produce it and
I don't try. I'm not going to play the religious
games with your soul or anybody else's. I'm not going to stand
up here and tell you if you'll do this, that and other, if you'll
repeat after me, if you'll come to the front, if you'll join
our church, then God will save you. Somebody ought to put a bounty
on preacher's head, 10 cents is too much. No, no. We'll preach the gospel
to you and pray that God Almighty will speak by his word to you,
a word of life, giving you faith in Jesus Christ, his son. And
thirdly, I want you to abide in him. Turn with me, if you
will, to 1 John chapter 2, verse 28. I make no presumption, but I
have good reason for looking upon you as my brothers and sisters
in Christ. You have come to Christ. You
are by profession, by the faith you profess, by that which you
profess in believer's baptism, By that which you profess as
you eat the bread and drink the wine of the Lord's Supper here
in this place every Sunday evening, by that which you profess as
members of this congregation, you're in Christ Jesus. You're
a part of his body. You're in him. You are by profession
in the sweet experience of God's grace in Christ Jesus. And as
your pastor, I want you to abide in him. It's my heart's prayer
to God, my longing to God for you, that you may abide in him. This was the burden of John's
heart for the people he served. With great love for their souls,
he says to them, now, little children, abide in him. Hold steadfastly to the pure
doctrine of Christ. to the doctrine of the gospel.
Hold steadfastly to it. Walk in the light, as I've been
telling you. Try the spirits, whether they
of God. You listen to preachers. You
listen to preachers. Try the spirits, whether they
of God. Give no heed to false prophets. Walk in love. Love for Christ. Love for God. Love for one another.
Love not the world. But how can we obey these commands?
How can anyone be expected to do those things that we've already
seen here in 1st John 1 and 2? How can anyone be expected to
do so? Abide in Him. Abide in Him. In spite of the
many temptations you meet that would take you away from Him.
The temptations you meet that would take you away from his
worship, from his word, from his people, from his gospel.
Abide in him. Like Mary, make it your business
to sit at his feet and hear his word. Make it your business ever
to abide in him. Abide in him. Those words must
have flowed sweetly from John's lips and from his pen as an old
man writing now to these people he had served for so many years.
Just before the master died, John heard him say, abide in
me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can you except
you abide in me. If you abide in me and my words
abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done
unto you. And now the old disciple, the
old follower of Christ, that man who had led these people
for so long, speaks to them and says, abide in him. Abide in him. Abide in him. Brother Don, that's such a simple
message, isn't it though? So simple. Most everybody misses
it. So simple that most folks can't
get it. Abide in Him. John mentioned
some in verse 19. Look up there. They went out
from us. They went out from us. They once
walked here with me. They once professed what we profess. They once said they believed
what we believe. They once said they trusted Christ
as we do, but they went out from us. Something happened. Something
happened. They went out from us because
they were not of us. For truly, if they had been of
us, they would be abiding with Him in Him right now. They would
still be with us to this day. Abide in Him. That word is used
so much in the scriptures. The same word that's translated
here, abide, sometimes is translated continue. Sometimes it's translated
remain. But whether it's abide or remain
or continue, this is the meaning of the word. Stay with Christ. Stay with Christ. Alan Kidby,
if you never hear this preacher again, stay with Christ. Stay with Christ. Did you hear
me, Bill? Stay with Christ. That's what
it means. Abide in him. All right, let's
look at our text. First John 2, 28. And now, after all this, after
all I've said to you, and now little children, Little children. Here I am talking to folks that
are a bit older than I am. Little children. Here I am, a
man talking to other people's children. Little children. A
man talking to other people's grandparents. Little children.
Little children. Abide in him. That when he shall
appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him
at his coming. And if you know that he is righteous,
you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him. Now that sure seems out of place.
John says, abide in him, little children abide in him, so that
when he appears, we may have confidence before him and not
be ashamed at his coming. If you know that he's righteous
then, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born
of him. What's that got to do with abiding
in him? How are these things connected?
Let's look at the text. I want to call your attention
to three things. I'll spend the bulk of our time
on the first and the other two will follow. First, we have before
us in verse 28 a compassionate, but urgent exhortation. And now little children abide
in him. Those words are thoroughly characteristic
of this man, John. He speaks to these dear children
of God as though they were his own. He calls them little children
because he loves them as his own. He watches over them as
a loving, faithful pastor. John was such a man and spoke
in such a way that those who knew him knew that what he said,
even if it hurt, they knew that what he did, even if they didn't
understand it, was for their soul's good. He was a faithful
servant of God. John addresses these believers
as little children using this endearing term, Because many
of them had been born of God under his ministry. And now,
in his old age, he gathers his children around him. And with
the tenderness of a father, he says, I want you to hear something. I guess I'm going to tell you
now. I'm going to tell you this. Abide in him. Abide in him. Boy, it looks like
he'd said more than that. If you understand what he said,
you'll find out he couldn't have said more. Abide in him. You see, John speaks using this
title, little children, with simplicity, expressing his love
for them as the congregation God had given him. Tradition
tells us that this loving old man had a tender, tender relationship
with the folks he served. He preached to them many, many
years. He loved them, as a man loves
his own sons and daughters. And in his old age, he often
was so feeble, they had to literally carry him into the assembly.
And sometimes all he could do was say, little children, love
one another. And they were delighted to have
him speak to them in his old age with his simplicity because
he had served them faithfully his life long. To show his tender
concern for them, he calls them little children. As a father,
he had been their father, serving them, loving them, ministering
to them. And he wanted the best for them.
They knew it. John intended to remind his congregation
of their near-dear relationship to their Father in heaven more
than of himself. He was more interested in them
knowing Christ than knowing him. He was more interested in them
knowing the Savior than knowing him. And so he's saying, little
children, I'm talking to you now as the sons and daughters
of God Almighty. Matter of fact in the very first
verse of chapter 3 he speaks of them just that way as sons
and daughters Adopted of God. I'm talking to you now as God's
little children Not just the objects of my love not just the
objects of my care not just the objects of my labor I'm talking
to you as God's little children You are the children of God His
grace by faith in Christ Jesus children of the Living God Adopted
from eternity chosen in love redeemed by blood called by grace
born of his spirit. You're the children of God And
he's uses the term little children He's reminding us of something
we don't like to be reminded of Our weakness our weakness. I've said this to several of
you. I've always been strong as an ox until just the last
few years. Strong as an ox. The hardest
thing I've had to deal with in my life, other than my sin, is
being physically weak. That's, oh, I can't tell you
how that bothers me. Hardest thing I've had to deal
with in my life, other than my sin, is physical weakness. We don't like to acknowledge
it. Neither men nor women. Shelby
and I still refer to our grandchildren, one of them's 14, one of them's
11. We still call them our babies. And they don't much like for
us to do that in front of anybody. Because they're big now. And
they are. But John speaks now to you. Sons
and daughters of God Almighty. 10, 12, 15 years old. 20, 30,
40, 60 years old. 70, 80, 90 years old. And says little children. Little
children. Because Merle Hart, while you
live in this world, you are a weak little child. a weak little child in all things
spiritual. Somebody says, well, I'm just,
I'm not as strong in faith as you are. And by that, they make
excuses for their sin. And somebody else says, you'd
be surprised how strong I am. And by that, they pretend they're
strong and make themselves out to be righteous. The fact is,
you who are strongest are but weak. and in your weakness you
honor the Redeemer. And when you think you're strong,
then you're very weak and you will bring shame to it. Little
children, John says, abide in Him. You see, our Lord Jesus
would have us ever to be aware, without me, ye can do nothing. Without me, Ye can do nothing Now carry that Oscar just as
far as you can carry And it's talking particularly about spiritual
things Exactly. What is it that you can do on
your own? You came here tonight to worship
God How many times have you come? and gone away and been no more
benefited in your soul than if you had stayed at home. You come and you want to sing
God's praise and you lip the words but there's no praise in
your heart. You bow to pray whether you're
with your family or here in God's house or at home in your closet.
You bow to pray and you utter the words but there's no prayer
found in your heart. You struggle with difficulties,
providential afflictions and adversities and you want to believe
God and you can't believe God unless God the Savior gives you
grace by his spirit to do so. You can't pray, you can't believe,
you can't worship. Without me, you can do nothing. The beloved pastor is here gently
warning us of our fickleness. Like little babies, many of God's
dear children are terribly changeable. At one time we're hot, another
time we're cold, sometimes we're zealous and fervent and prayerful
and devoted, and sometimes we're lankward and worldly, unbelieving. So John says, little children,
be faithful and unchanging in this one point. Abide in Him. John reminds us of these things
because we need to be reminded of these things. Abide in your
Savior. Don't change toward your Redeemer. Constantly stretch out your arms
of faith to the Redeemer, your arms of love to the Redeemer
and cry, my Jesus, I love thee. I know thou art mine. John's speaking here and giving
us a tender reminder of our constant dependence upon our Lord Jesus. Paul said, I had a terrible problem. I had a terrible problem. I had
been translated to the third heaven. And I saw things nobody
else had ever seen. And I heard things nobody else
had ever heard. I don't know whether I was in
the body or out of the body. I just know I was in the third heaven
and I saw and heard things that words cannot express. Things
that cannot be put into words. And he said, I had this thing
that came with me from that day to this. A messenger, Satan. Satan. You know, it's Paul who
said, the Lord's at hand. He said, Rex, from that day to
this, Satan has been at my side. A messenger, Satan. He keeps beating me in the face.
Every time I'm lifted up, he beats me down. And I've been
praying, Lord, take him from me. Take this from me. Three times I prayed, take this
from me. And the Lord said, live with
it. Live with it, your sin, your
pride, your haughtiness. Live with it and understand you're
nothing but weakness. And Paul said, I heard something
else from him. He said, my grace is sufficient
for thee. in the midst of your weakness,
in the midst of your horrible struggle with Satan, in the midst
of your unbelief, in the midst of your childishness, your changeableness,
your fickleness, your weakness, my grace still is sufficient
for thee. Oh, little children, since you depend on Christ for
everything, And must depend on Him for everything. Abide in
Him. Abide in Him. You who have walked longest with
Him. You who have walked longest with
Him. No better than the rest of us. That what I've said thus far
is absolutely so. Your weakness. You're nothing. Just see. All you've got is Christ. Have you got something else?
Do you have anything else to give you any peace? Anything
else give you any hope? Anything else to inspire you?
Anything else to move you? Anything else to comfort you?
Anything else upon which to rest? No preacher, only Christ! Abide
in Him. That's it. That's it. John means
for us to abide faithfully in the truth taught by our Lord.
Look at verse 24. This is what it says. Let that, therefore, abide in
you which you've heard from the beginning. If that which you've
heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye shall continue
in the Son and in the Father. Abide then in the doctrine of
Christ. Don't be moved from the hope
of the gospel. Make Christ the one object of
your faith, the singular object of your trust. Come to him just like you did
in the beginning. I am a poor sinner and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all abide in him. When you first came to him, You
had no experience to trust. Why are you looking for one now?
You had no works to depend on. Why do you look to them now?
You had no graces to boast of. Why do you boast of them now?
You had no good works to rest in. Why do you try to rest in
them now? You had no good feelings or good
things to encourage you. Why do you seek those now? You
had no holy resolutions to perform, but Christ was all. When you grow beyond that, you've
grown beyond hope. When you grow beyond trusting
Christ, alone, you grow beyond hope. Now, see that you abide
in him, trusting his righteousness, his blood, his sacrifice, his
holiness as your only righteousness, your only atonement, your only
cleansing, your only holiness. Trust his power, his fullness. Trust him. Live upon him. only upon his merits. John when
he says abide in him is saying go on making Christ the constant
object of your hope and the constant object of your life. Surely we
must understand this statement to mean that we are to persevere
in our obedience to Christ the Lord. He who is my Savior is
my Lord so we Abide in him we continue in his word and in his
doctrine. I Got a call today from a preacher
and he was asking me About those Passages in Ephesians and in
first Thessalonians 5 in Ephesians 4 Paul says he says quench not
the spirit I'm sorry says grieve not the spirit and in first Thessalonians
5 he says quench not the spirit and most folks talk about those
things and He said, I know I've heard all my life that's talking
about. You know, you want to live so good and you want to
you want to do good so that you don't quench the spirit. I know
I know a man is not going to keep God from working. What's
that talking about? And I said in the context. The
words used refer to something of a tender relationship. Grieve
not the spirit of God, whereby you sealed into the day of redemption.
Grieving. Grieving. Grieving the spirit. What a word. What a word. Only one. Who is in the most
tender relationship with you can grieve you. Many can cause
you grief But only one who is himself or herself in the most
tender relationship with you can grieve you And when paul
writes by god's holy spirit and says grieve not the holy spirit
of god whereby you're sealed into the day of redemption He
speaks specifically about what that is Don't talk bad about
each other Don't don't don't live in bitterness quarreling
with each other I got the Most delightful note from another
preacher friend of mine just today. He had a preacher that
had fallen out 20 years ago. I knew about it then. I knew
it was painful to both of them. And God arranged it so they were
reconciled just this week. And they're both just rejoicing,
me too. Oh, that grieves the Spirit of
God. Don't grieve the Spirit of God
by bitterness wrath and anger and clamor and gossip and yik-yak.
Don't do that to God's people. Don't do that to God's people.
Don't grieve the Spirit. But then in 1 Thessalonians,
when Paul says, quench not the Holy Spirit of God, he continues
in that context talking about despising not prophecy, despising
not the preaching of the Word. And he goes on to say, abstain
from every appearance of evil. Now, when you start to read what
fellas say about abstaining from every appearance of evil, yeah. Boy, it looks to me like navy
blue stripes, yellow ties with white in them. That looks awful
worldly. I'll not wear that. No, that's
not what it's talking about. That that appears evil. Look
at that. That man's wearing tassel shoes.
That sure looks evil. We won't wear those. No, that's
not what it's talking about. That's what I'm talking about.
Read the context. Every doctrine that has the slightest
appearance of will worship. Every doctrine that has the slightest
indication of turning you to honor man, yourself or another. Every doctrine. that has the
slightest appearance of works. Every doctrine that would turn
you away from abiding in Christ. Abstain from it. Run from it
like you'd run from the plague. And rest in God's good providence
as he works his will in this world. When John says abide in
him, he means for us to continue in a living spiritual union with
our Lord. Now, when I said that, I said
more than I understand. And sure enough, more than I
can preach. But God's people live in a living, mystical, wondrous,
spiritual union with Christ Jesus. the vine and the branches. We're
grafted into him and one with him. So that we, we draw life
from him and live in him. He's our food. He's our meat. He's our drink. He's everything.
We live in union with him and mark my words. You are not a
Christian unless Jesus Christ, the son of God, is in you. And you are in him. You're not
alive to God unless you are one with the risen Lord. You're not
saved unless he's your only savior. You're not righteous unless Christ
is your only righteousness. You're not redeemed unless Christ
is your only atonement for sin. Depend on Christ for everything
Abide in him abide in him Let me see if I can put that
Like I'm certain John intended it Brother Rex was praying back
there a little bit ago And he said if we could use such terms
use such words You're happy to show mercy And we're so afraid
of using such words. We're afraid of using familiar
words with God. Irreverent words, yes. Disrespectful
words, yes. You're not going to hear me use
God's name as a byword. I wish I didn't hear you. You're
not going to hear me say, oh, Lord, Oh, Lordy, Lordy. Gee, gosh. You'll come near here
and hear me cuss and hear me say anything like that. I'm not
going to speak irreverently of God. I'm not going to do it.
But comfortably with him. That's another story. Merle,
when John says abide in him. He means children of God. Be
at home in him. Be at home with Christ. Be comfortable
with Him so that He is the constant, familiar companion of your soul. We ought to be able to say with
Moses, Lord, Thou hast been my dwelling place in all generations. Abide in Him as the very element
of your life. When you get home, you might
be too tired tonight, tomorrow, sometime. Read the 8th chapter
of Romans. Paul writes by the Spirit of
God. He says, the carnal mind is enmity against
God. They that are in the flesh cannot
please God. You remember what he said right
after that, James? He said, but you, brethren, are not in the
flesh. You're in the Spirit. You're
in the Spirit. God, the Savior, has put me in
the Spirit. So now I live in the Spirit.
And walk in the Spirit. Breathe in the Spirit. Christ
is the element of our lives. Christ is the element of our
lives. We live in Him. We move in Him. Why does John press this exhortation
so urgently? And if you could read this as
John writes it, you would read it as an imperative command. Why does he press it so urgently?
Because some don't. Some haven't. how I tremble for those who've
gone out from us because they were not of us. I've been preaching
a while now and I've seen preachers come
and go. I've seen preachers get attached
to the gospel and abandon the gospel. I've seen preachers who
had lots of ability to preach the gospel. Preachers that frankly,
I'd I'd rather hear the most preachers I hear now. As far
as where you sit and listen to me. It went out from us. Because they were not of us,
they found something. More valuable than Christ. Something
more desirable than Christ, something for which they're willing to
trade the glory of God and the truth of God and the souls of
men. And though they know it not,
their own souls as well. So abide in him. Abide in him. As ye therefore
have received Christ Jesus the Lord, So walk ye in him. Abide in him. Continue trusting
the Redeemer, trusting his finished work, his accomplishments, his
doing, never your own. And let me wrap this up. The last verse of chapter two,
If you know that he's righteous, you do know that, don't you?
Christ is righteous. He's righteous because he's God. But this talk about Christ the
God-man, our mediator. He's righteous. He fulfilled
all righteousness as a man for us. Now watch this. Ye know that everyone that doeth
righteousness is born of God. Well, that's what I want to do.
Oh, I got to do something. I got to do something. What can
I do? Trust him who is righteous. Trust him who's right. How do
you obey God? How do you do righteousness?
How do you fulfill the law? Read the 10th chapter of Romans.
The whole religious world says do something. God says, done. Christ said, it is finished. To do righteousness is to walk
before God, believing on His Son. Trusting His Son. Trusting His
Son, then we have confidence before God
when Christ comes. And we'll not be ashamed. That's
what the book says. He that believeth on me shall
not be ashamed. When he presents us thoughtless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, we will not be ashamed before any
man. That's almost unbelievable, isn't
it? I won't be ashamed before anybody. But we will not be ashamed before
the Holy Lord God Himself. Because we've got no reason to
be ashamed. If we abide in Him, we do righteousness. We offer God what God requires,
perfect obedience and perfect satisfaction by the obedience
and death of Christ our Redeemer. Amen.