Now I wanted this morning to
be able to bring this message I trust and I've attempted and
prayed that the Lord would give me a word for you today that
that would be That we could apply to our hearts beginning this
new year And I believe that the Lord has directed my thoughts
to this 28th verse here of 1st John chapter 2 and I think these
words as I read them over and meditated upon them I think these
words are an echo of those words that John undoubtedly heard from
the master, the Lord Jesus Christ, from the gospel of John chapter
15. And if you would hold your finger
here and turn back to John chapter 15, I wish you would do that.
And I would like for us to read here a few verses beginning with
verse four and read down through verse seven. And I believe that
John got his message from the Lord Jesus. And so he echoed
the words of Christ, where it says, Abide in me, John 15, verse
4, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except you abide
in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches,
he that abideth in me, and I in him the same bringeth forth much
fruit. For without me, ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he
is cast forth as a branch, and is withered, and men gather them,
and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide
in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what you will,
and it shall be done unto you. Now, John was, as we mentioned
a little bit earlier, was now an old man, and he knew that
his remaining days upon this earth with his little flock would
be few. Soon he would have to preach
his last sermon, and soon he would have written his last scripture. And the time of his going home,
the time of his departure from this life, was at hand. And he
being a true pastor, in his heart he was concerned for those that
he had labored among and those that he had ministered unto. He was burdened for those whom
he would have to leave behind this world of sin, in this world,
this wilderness that we know this world to be. Now what would
become of his congregation? I believe that was the question
that was in his heart. Antichrist were already abundant
in the world. Look if you will at verse 18
of 1st John chapter 2 and listen to what it says, little children
it is the last time and as you have heard that Antichrist shall
come, even now are there many Antichrists, whereby we know
that it is the last time." And so John was greatly concerned
for his little flock, and if you please, he could see the
wolves were at the door, barking, if you please, at the door, ready
to devour the little flock. How could he best secure his
flock against the wiles of the devil? What could he say to them?
What could he give them at the time of his departure that would
secure them in this world? Suddenly, there was a thought
that struck his heart. why he would say to himself,
he said, the best thing for these sheep to do is for them to simply
stay near their shepherd. The very best thing they could
do is to abide in the master, abide in the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, he summarizes all
of his exhortations in the most practical and loving admonition,
abide in him. Abide in him. Now, that expression
means to stay in a place where the Lord has put you, to stay
in a place. It's like somebody might admonish
a little child, just stay at home, stay at home, abide in
Christ. And so John, he summarizes all
of his teaching and all of his preaching and in his last message
to this church, he would say to them, just stay at home, stay
in Christ. Now at the beginning of this
new year, with all of its uncertainties, and certainly there are a lot
of uncertainties that we face in this coming year, and only
God knows what this year will bring to each one of us. We are
not fearful. We're trusting in the Lord. The
Lord knoweth them that fear Him and those that trust Him, and
He's a stronghold to all those that trust Him. But in this new
year that we face, I have a desire to preach Christ. I have a desire
to present the message of the gospel of God's free and saving
grace unto the souls of men, and I want to do that today.
But I also want to exhort those who are in Christ and those that
God has placed in His Son and under my care here in this church
to abide in the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to exhort you to do that. And I believe that if we understand
the meaning What John had, what he meant here when he told these
people to abide in Christ in order that they would have confidence
at the Lord's appearing and that they wouldn't be ashamed at His
coming, if we understand that, I believe that it will fit us
well for the coming year, whatever it brings. And also, I want that
my labor be not in vain in this church. I want you to abide in
Christ. I want you to understand the
meaning of that and to abide in the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore,
it'll be well with your soul both here and hereafter. Now,
believers must keep on abiding in Christ by faith. Arthur Fink
said, true believers will persevere, but they must persevere. God's
people must persevere. And so believers must keep on
staying at home in Christ by faith, trusting him alone for
their eternal preservation. May the Lord help us to consider
these blessed words, and better still, may he write them on our
hearts this morning. Well, first of all, I want to
say a little bit about John addressing these people as little children. This indicates, I believe, his
love for them. John truly loved them. Now, John
had told us that we know that we pass from death into life
because we love the brethren. He believed that. And John truly
loved these people because he had been born of God. He had
been begotten by the same Heavenly Father they had been begotten
by. They had the new birth. John had experienced the new
birth. And he loved these people very dearly. And he was affectionate
toward them. And I hope this morning, you
know the Bible speaks about us preaching the truth in love.
And I hope this morning that I could preach this message with
some measure of the affection that old John had for these people
when he called them my little children. Now by this he suggests
their near and dear relation to their Heavenly Father, of
course. You are the children of God. You know, the Bible says,
except we become as little children, we shall no wise enter into the
kingdom of God. That's one of the characteristics
of a true child of God. He's like a little child when
it comes to the understanding and when it comes to his submission
to the teaching of our great master, the Lord Jesus Christ. So these were the children of
God's family, and so John addresses them as little children. Therefore
seeing, he would say, that your little ones do not go wandering
off From your father's house stay at home and abide there
in your refuge seeing that your little children You've got no
business out wandering around being blowed about by every wind
of doctrine listening to every teacher of false religion in
the world going through the garbage cans of the religious of the
world trying to find something for your soul stay at home and
stay at home and feed upon the food that your master would give
you. Next, I believe that he hints
here at their feebleness and their fickleness. You're young,
he would say, you're dependent, you're feeble, you're fickle,
changeable like children. And, beloved, this is one of
the characteristics of the sheep of Christ. They are very fickle.
They are feeble. Somebody said, if sheep of Christ
could fall away, my fickle, feeble soul, alas, would fall a thousand
times a day. God's people are indeed fickle.
They're feeble. They're like little children.
You're this and then you're that. You're 50 things or 50 other
things in a week's time. You go up and down like a yo-yo.
Now we're all guilty of that. And if we could make one resolution
for the new year, I'd like for it to be that we would not be
so changeable. That we would not just simply
go up and down and change every day. That we would try to be
a little bit more even in our effort to live here in this world
for the glory of God. My little children, he would
say. My little children. But little children, can you
not be faithful to one thing? Can you not be faithful to one
thing? Can you not abide in your Savior? Can you not stay at home
in Christ? What can you do apart from God?
Jesus said in John 15 5b. He said without me you can do
nothing. You can do nothing without me Can you not abide in Christ?
Can you can you lay aside your changeableness and stand steadfast
and firm be steadfast? unmovable Always abounding in
the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor in
him is not in vain Is he not your life? Is he not your all
stay with him? Oh The songwriter said, My Jesus,
I love Thee, I know Thou art mine, for Thee all the follies
of sin I resign. Now I mentioned the word dependent
just now. As little children are dependent
on their parents' care, we are dependent on the Lord's constant
care. First Peter 5 and 7 says, casting
all your care upon him for he careth for you. He must give
us the unadulterated milk and meat of the Word of God. We must
get that from him. He must carry us as it were in
his bosom. He bears us up and he sustains
us even to old age. The Lord bears up his people. He gives them constant care all
their days. Little children, since we derive
all from Jesus, should we not abide in him? Now to go elsewhere
would be to wonder, I think, off into this waste, howling
wilderness, off into this world. The world is empty, beloved.
The world is empty. Only Christ has fullness. John 1.16 says, And of His fullness
have all received, and grace for grace, then why would we
need to exhort you to abide with Christ and stay with him if of
his fullness we all have received? Well, we just are so fickle and
changeable and we do not know how dependent we really are on
our Lord. Away from Jesus, you will be
as a child deserted by its mother, left to pine and starve and die,
or as a little lamb on the hillside without a shepherd, tracked by
the wolf, who will soon find itself in its teeth. Abide, O child, with your mother.
Abide, O lamb, with your shepherd, John would say. Cling, O cling,
to the Lord Jesus in your feebleness, in your fickleness, in your nothingness,
and abidingly find him to be everything to you, everything
that you need. Now, the Cones are but feeble
folk. Yet they make their houses in
the rocks. Proverbs 30 and verse 26 says
that Coney is a rabbit-like creature. And they make their house in
the rocks even though they're We're little children, you're
no lion or tiger able to fight your foes and deliver yourself
from while others go and come, no
more a stranger or a guest, but like a guest. All I believe that he means for
us to abide faithfully in the truth that's been at home in
the Son, continue in the Son, and in the Father. That word
continue there. You have believed in the Lord
Jesus Christ unto the salvation of our souls. You have trusted
in him as the Son of God, the appointed mediator, and the effectual
sacrifice for your sin. You have been brought to faith
in the living Lord Jesus Christ. Your hope came to your soul through
this faith in Christ as God has borne witness to Him in the Word. In other words, your faith came
by the hearing of God's Word and the testimony of the Word
of God is eternal life. This life is in His Son and He
that hath the Son have eternal life and you believe that and
it brought salvation so abide in the truth which you received
from the beginning in the day that salvation was wrought in
your soul in the day when God delivered you in the day when
you felt that the Lord came and your soul was born from above. Believe that truth and abide
in that truth. Now the foundation of our faith
is not a changeable doctrine, and you'll remember that. The
foundation of our faith is not a changeable doctrine. We rest
on a sure Word of prophecy on a sure word of testimony. It never changes. The Word of
God is forever settled in heaven and you can trust the Word of
God always to say the same thing. It is unchangeable. Truth in
its very nature is fixed and it's unalterable. Now, you know
more about it right now than you knew the first day when you
heard the gospel of your salvation. You know more about it. Maybe
you can talk more about it. Maybe you've got more to say
about it. But my friend, the thing itself
is still the same, and it must ever be the same. It will never
change that which we heard in the beginning, which brought
salvation to our hearts. Take care that you abide in it.
The gospel is fixed and the gospel is unalterable. It cannot be
altered. You will find it difficult to
do, beloved, to stay and continue in the Son. You'll find it difficult
to do. For there's an element, we said
a little bit about this a little bit ago, but there's an element
of changeableness about each one of us. We can go one week,
have it settle in our soul. We're on the foundation. We're
on the rock of ages. We can have the peace of God
that passeth all understanding, keeping our hearts and minds.
And then there can be a little storm cloud come over. There
can be some problems arise that we weren't expecting. And the
first thing you know, We're all shaky. We're all shaky in this
world because we do not stay. We do not stay. We fight because
of the weakness of our flesh. And I'll tell you something,
this changeableness that overcomes us, we must overcome it. by the
grace of God. Quit becoming legalist two weeks
out of the month and absolutist the other two weeks. We must
believe God firmly and trust the Word of God. Now then there's
an element of seduction in the outside world. Do you believe
that? I'm telling you it's going to
be difficult for you to continue in what you heard from the beginning.
It's not going to be easy. Somebody said, oh, you don't
need to warn us about that. My friend, I've had a little
experience. I'm not an office. I know what
I'm talking about. And I know that you're going
to be tried. I know the Lord's people are
a tried and a tested people. And whatever the world brings,
whatever the situation brings, the next year we're going to
be tried. There's a lot of seduction in
the outside world. There are devils. that there
are devil-sent people in this world whose effort it is to shake
the faith of God's people. You know, there's three enemies
of a child of God in this world. The world is one enemy. The flesh
is an enemy. Most of you know this. And also
the devil. The world, the flesh, and the
devil. The three enemies of God's children. And there are professing
Christians who are ever learning, but never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth. Now we in this coming year will
often be led to try our foundation. We'll often be brought back to
where we begin to examine what we're about and examine just
where we really are spiritually. And at times we're going to tremble
as we cling to this foundation. Make no changes, make no changes
as to the grounds of your hope. if your hope be a hope that is
based on the grace of God, and if your hope is one that is spelled
out clearly in the word of God. If your hope is Christ in you,
then make no change, make no change. Do not be seduced by
the world. Do not listen to the voices of
those that are speaking contrary to the word of God, because if
they speak contrary to this word, it's because there's no light
in them. As a stone, you are built on
the foundation. Abide there. As a branch, you
have been grafted into the stem. Abide there. As a member, you
are in the body. Abide there. It is all over with
you if you do not. If you be moved away from Christ,
and we'll have a little more to say about this directly, it's
all over with you. There's only one Savior. There's
only one Deliverer. There's only one who can stand
you steadfast and give you acceptance in the day of judgment, and that's
Christ. Let no man deceive you with vain
words. There are many around in these
days who would deceive the very elect if it were possible. many
in this world. Now the second thing that he
means, first thing was that we're to abide in that truth that we
heard from the beginning, the pure unadulterated truth of the
gospel of Jesus Christ. Now the second thing he means
here is also that we must abide in Christ as the only object
of our faith and trust. Now, when you were first converted,
you rested upon Christ alone as the hope of eternal salvation. You had no experiences. You had
no works. You had no good feelings. You
had no inward graces. Your glad testimony was this,
I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my
all in all. That was your testimony. And
that was your glad testimony. You didn't have anything else.
You didn't have any track record. You had no record that you wanted
to talk about. The only record you wanted to
talk about you was ashamed of when the Lord saved you. And
you just come to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now see to
it that you abide. in Christ as nothing but a poor
sinner, as one who is resting entirely upon the finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Your only hope before God is
Christ. Remain in the good ship Grace. Don't get outside on the water
and try to walk on the water yourself. Don't, after beginning
in the spirit, try to gain perfection in the flesh. Trust Christ alone
for righteousness, for cleansing, for pardon, sanctification, and
preservation, just like you did at the beginning. Abide in Him,
living only on His merits at all times, whatever your circumstances
are. Keep on coming to Christ as a
poor sinner, just like you did at the beginning, just like you
did. Somebody said, well, I think I got a little more now. Give
it up, throw it away. Just keep on coming to Christ
as a poor sinner in need of all that he has. in need of everything
that he can give you. And that's the second meaning
that John has here to this abiding in Christ. Now the third thing,
again he means that we must make Christ the constant object of
our lives. Make him the constant object
of our lives. Brother, sister, as you live
by Christ, you must live for Christ. As you live by Christ,
you must live for Christ. Set your hearts and lives to
seek his glory. I said, your heart and life to
seek His glory first. Love Christ, and I tell you,
how do you love Christ? How should you love Christ? Love
Him supremely. Love Him supremely. Seek grace
to know and to do His will. his will. Prefer the honor of
Christ to all things. Seek his honor. Listen to me
now. Listen to me carefully. Seek
his honor above your pleasure, your security, your wealth, or
any other worldly interest that you have. Seek his honor. Number one, the honor of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's what I think it means.
to abide in Christ. Fourthly, John means that if
we're God's children, we must continue to live in a spiritual,
a living spiritual union with our Lord. Now beloved, this becomes
a little difficult here. Now you cannot see this living
spiritual union that believers have with Christ. But this living
spiritual union is just as real. Now you listen to me. It's just
as real as the union that exists between you and your wife, or
between your wife and your husband. It's just as real. It absolutely
is. The Bible says that they that
are joined unto the Lord are one spirit. One Spirit. Over in 1 Corinthians 1 and verse
30 it says, of God are you in Christ Jesus. Now listen to me
you married couples, let me say to you that you were not married
when the preacher says I pronounce you husband and wife. No, it
had nothing to do with you being married in the sight of God. It was when two became one that
they were married before God. And I want you to understand
that that spells out the relationship of marriage. And I'm going to
tell you, God put his children in Christ and there came a day
in their life when they came unto the Lord Jesus Christ and
said, I take you as my husband. I take you as my husband and
I swear that I will perform unto you all the duties that a wife
owes to her husband, Christ. As long as time and eternity
last, I'm yours, and I belong to you, and I will follow you,
and I will obey you. I will do that which you would
desire that I do. But we must live in the reality
of this relationship. It's just as real as this relationship,
as we said, of marriage. Hear me. Christ is our life. And apart from Him, we have no
life. You separate yourself from Christ
and you have no spiritual life. We're not alive to God except
as we're one, as we're in union with a person, and that person
is Christ. You're not married unless you've
been in union with your husband, with your wife. There's not a
marriage unless there's this union. And this union is what
is marriage in the sight of God. And it's so spiritually between
the Lord and his people. We're not saved except as Christ
is our Savior. You are not righteous except
as Christ is your righteousness. You're not. You say, I'd like
to be looked upon as a good man, as a righteous man. Well, I want
to tell you this morning, you're not righteous. The Bible says
there's none good, no, not one. The Bible says there's none righteous,
no, not one in this world. And I'll tell you this, you're
not righteous. is your righteousness, but if you're in Him, joined
to Him, married to Him, then all that He had when He married
you, He gave to you, and it's all yours, and you have it. As
you stand in this spiritual, living union with Christ, you
have all that He was. He gave everything to you when
He married your soul. Now, we need to elevate our mind
to this. Live in such a union with Christ
that you depend upon Him for all things, as the branches depend
upon the vine, as the members of the body depend upon the head,
as the body depends upon food, as the tree depends upon the
root, as a building depends upon the foundation. We need to learn
to live just this way. Elevate our minds to where we
live in Christ. Stay at home in Him. Abide in
Christ. Live in such a way that you're
at home with Christ. Somebody said, where are you
at spiritually? I'm at home in Christ. I continue there. I abide
there. That's my abiding place. Others
may leave, but I stay at home. That's where I stay. I stay in
Christ. Well, the third thing that I
want to talk a little bit about this morning is what motive that
John uses here to exhort us to abide in Christ. Now as I talk
about this, I believe it'll give me opportunity to say some things
that I need to say that maybe we've left a few gaps along the
way, maybe we'll be able to fill in when we talk about this. What motive did he use? Well,
he said that when he shall appear, We may have confidence and not
be ashamed before him at his coming. That was John's motive,
that when he shall appear, we may have confidence. And that
word confidence there is boldness. and not be ashamed before him
at his coming. Now he draws his motive, I want
you to notice this, from Jesus. From Jesus. He says, I know little
children abiding in him. He's talking about Christ. And
he draws his motive from the Lord Jesus. Now this is very
important, we see this. John does not derive, he does
not drive believers with the lash of the law. And I never
like to see God's people whipped with rods that are taken from
the thorny side of Sinai. We have not come to Mount Sinai,
but to Mount Zion. You're not under the law, but
under grace. The motive which will move true,
free, born heirs of heaven must be drawn from grace, not from
the law, from Jesus, and not from Moses. Christ is our example
and our motive. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
He's our example and he's our motive also. Our motive for all
things. Christ. The motive is drawn from
our Lord's expected advent into this world. Jesus is coming back.
John believed it. And all the writers of scripture
believed it. We believe it. We believe it. Now, we'll say a little more
about that in a few moments, but we believe it. And he uses
two words, two phrases for the same thing, when he shall appear
and at his coming. After our Lord's appearing, he
would have us abide in Christ that we may have confidence when
he appears. Now Christ is here now. I'm persuaded
of that. The Bible says where two or three
are gathered together in His name, He's there in the midst
of them. Those that are gathered under
His authority, Christ is in the midst. I believe Jesus Christ
is His presence, His secret presence is in this world. It's in this
world. I believe He's here in the world.
But we know that the Lord Jesus is going to come down from heaven
He's here in the person of the Holy Spirit. He's coming down
from heaven and He'll come out behind the veil, out behind the
curtain if you please, and He'll put in an appearance right here
in this world. And that's what John's talking
about, that we may have boldness when the Lord Jesus steps out
behind the curtain. when he comes into this world. Now confidence at his appearing
is, I believe, boldness at his appearing, not fearing at his
appearing, I believe is the reward of constant staying at home in
Christ or constantly abiding in Christ. A thousand things
are to happen when our Lord appears on this earth. But John, he doesn't
mention one of them. He does not mention one of them.
What does he mean by having this confidence when he shall appear? What does he mean? That's what
he's talking about. Having boldness when the Lord appears. Whenever
the Lord comes, us not being ashamed. Well, I think he means
this, that if we abide in Him, when you do see Him, you'll be
very bold When he does come, you'll be very bold because suddenly
he's going to appear and he's going to reveal himself. Before
he appears, you've dwelt in him and as he dwelt in you, what
fear could his appearing come to you? What fear could his appearing,
what could that cause you? What fear could that cause you?
Faith has so realized him that if suddenly he were to appear
to the senses, it would be no surprise to you, and assuredly
it would cause you joy rather than dismay. Don't you think?
It would cause you joy rather than dismay. I mean, we've been
with Christ. We've been with Christ for years.
The Lord Jesus came into my heart when I was just a young fella,
a very young fella. And He's been in my heart all
these years. I've been talking to Him. I've been visiting with
Him. I've been talking to Him about all the situations of my
life all the way up to this very day. And to this very hour, He's
acquainted with me, and I'm acquainted with Him. I've read His Word.
I've read the testimony of His Word. I've heard the voice of
His mouth. And I know Christ. I know Him. Now, you would feel
that you at last had what you long expected, that you had it. Here's Christ, our beloved Redeemer. And you had just saw some close
friend with whom you had been long familiar. Here he is. The Lord Jesus has appeared.
It would cause no alarm to us, I trust. Our Lord has been present,
as we said, but unseen, and I trust it would not affect our confidence
if he were to this very day step out behind the door, step out
behind the curtain, and appear in our presence. How would we
feel? How would we feel? He's coming. He's coming. And
John's talking about having boldness when he comes. If the Lord should
suddenly appear, I believe, now listen to me, I've tried to be
a servant of God, tried to preach the word of God through this
year, tried to preach the gospel, and I wouldn't hesitate to show
the Lord Jesus Christ, although he knows all things already,
but I wouldn't hesitate one minute to take him and show him the
boxes, sermon notes that I preach to you people preach the gospel
to you people, I wouldn't hesitate one minute to take him and show
him to it. I would not. I wouldn't hesitate to show him
what I read. What the books I read, the books
I study, I wouldn't hesitate to do it. I would do that with
boldness. Proof that I not departed from
his gospel, from his truth. I ought to improve in many things,
but I could not improve upon the gospel which I have preached
among you people. I cannot improve on that. And
for as I'm concerned, no man can improve upon the gospel which
I preached among you people. I'm prepared to live by it, and
I'm prepared to die by it, and I'm prepared to meet God and
stand before God upon this. truth of the gospel should He
appear this very day. If we abide in Him, if He would
unveil His majestic face, we might be overcome with rapture,
but our confidence in Him would grow stronger, our freedom with
Him would be even more enlarged, and our joy in Him would be made
perfect, would it not? It'd be made perfect. Now, if
you do not abide in Him, you will not have this confidence. You will not have this boldness.
Now, I do not intend to compromise the truth of the gospel for anybody.
Now I'm talking about abiding in Him. How would you feel? Now let me turn, and you turn
back with me quickly to a couple verses Mike read the other night
out of the 8th chapter of the book of Romans. I want you to
see this. I want to have boldness when the Lord comes and I believe
His people will have if they've continued in the Son. In Romans
chapter 8, notice verse 33 and 34. Who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. It
is God that justifies. Now there was a brother believer
that was asked one day, if the Lord was to appear, how would
he feel? And he replied, I would not be
afraid. I would not be afraid. But he
says, I think I should be ashamed. He meant that he was not afraid
of condemnation, but that he blushed to think how little he
had served his Lord in this life. Well, I believe that is genuine
humility, but I think we must also get over that even, before
it's over with. I think we must get over that.
Now let me say that here is my boldness as a believer and here
is why that I say to you that I do not fear condemnation and
I do not fear the Lord's coming. And that is because who shall
weigh anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that
justifies. If God has justified you, I mean
if God has proclaimed that you're just as if you'd never committed
a sin. I mean, if through the imputed righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ, He has made you as righteous in His sight
as Christ is, then why would you fear His appearing? If you
have abide in Christ, I mean if you stayed in Christ and you
said, I'll not turn to the left or to the right, I'm going to
stay on Christ, I'm going to abide in Him, I will not be moved
away from Him, I'm going to trust His gospel, believe His gospel,
make it a part of my life, I'm going to stand on it as long
as I live, God helping my soul, then what do you have to fear
at the Lord's coming if you're as righteous as Christ is? Not
a thing. It is God that justifies. You
didn't do the justifying. It wasn't because you started
to work on yourself and you got yourself all prettied up and
the Lord looked at you and said, well okay, one day you made it,
you're alright, just don't get your face dirty again. No, no,
it's not that way. It is God that justifies, and
He justifies through making His Son to be sin for us. He knew
no sin, but that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. He, God, provided what He demanded
of us. Why should we fear the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ? And then look at verse 34. Who
is He that condemneth? Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. Christ has died. Christ was condemned. He was condemned in our stead.
He was condemned in our place. And it's Christ that died. The death of sin has already
been suffered in the Lord Jesus Christ. God put his own son to
death in order that we might live. And so Who is he that condemneth? And Paul would call upon the
devil, he would call upon the world, he would call upon anybody
to come and condemn us. He said you can't condemn them
because it is Christ that died. He died to satisfy God on the
behalf of our sin and to pay the debt and to pay it in full. Who is he that condemneth? Oh,
no one can condemn. He's risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, proving God accepted his death and his
sacrifice to pay for his people's sins. God accepted it, or it
wouldn't have raised him from the dead, and took him yonder
to be seated at the right hand of God. That's our receipt, don't
you see? So why are you not bold? Why don't you have confidence?
If you're not in Christ and if you don't stay at home there,
you're going to be in trouble, my friend. You're going to be
in trouble. Well, the next thing I want to say is that if we don't
want to be ashamed, that is coming. And here's talks about that here.
And this man said, well, I might be ashamed. Let me say a few words about
that. We don't want to be ashamed. Well, the word shamed here, some
people would say, well, You know, we can be in Christ, but we can
so live that we would be ashamed. Well, now I know there's a lot
of things that we can improve on. I know there's a whole lot
of things that are, in a sense, unfinished in our lives. Each one of us have things we're
praying about. There are situations in our life
that we're helpless to do anything about. We do not want our lives
to end like they are right now. We do not feel that we're ready,
in a sense, for the Lord to come back. It's not that there's something
we could do that we're not doing. It is that there are things that
we would like to see different that only God is able to bring
to pass. and in our own lives, in our
own weaknesses, our own frailties, our own situations. But my friend,
it goes back to what we were talking about a while ago, we
talk to Christ about it, we talk to God about it every day. He's
acquainted with it. There isn't anything, there's
nothing about my life He's not thoroughly acquainted with. And
there's nothing about my life that I could not talk to Him
about if He were to come right into my presence Just like I
talked to him about it early this morning, even though he
was absent from me, I could talk to him about it just the same.
Do you feel that way yourself? We would like to see the Lord
intervene and undertake many things. That's on our hearts
that we'd like to see the Lord do, but we just plead the blood
and wait on the Lord. Now then, I want to say something
about this business of being ashamed. And I said earlier that
if we leave home, if we leave the gospel, if we trifle with
the gospel and the truth of the gospel, that it's over for us. And I want to show you what I
mean by that. Turn back with me, if you will, to the book
of Galatians, chapter 5. And we're going to hurry on here,
and we'll be closing here in just a moment. But in the book
of Galatians, I want you to see this. We begin here with verse
1, just a few verses here. Just stay with me, this will
help you in the coming year. Stand fast, verse 1 of Galatians
5, therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and
be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul,
say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
Here Christ comes back, and here's a fellow, and he said, well I
wasn't necessarily so much a worshiper of Christ, But I did sure follow
the Mosaic Law to the ninth degree. I followed it. I was obedient
to the Law of Moses. I was circumcised the eighth
day. Well, Paul said, Christ shall profit you nothing. You'll
be ashamed in that day if you're trusting that. I testify again
to every man that is circumcised that he's a debtor to the whole
law if he intends to be accepted of God on the basis of his adherence
to the Mosaic law. He's a debtor to do it all. He
can't say I've just done this one thing and the Lord's going
to let me in. Now listen to these words in verse 4. Christ is become
of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law,
ye are fallen from grace. And I say to every self-righteous
legalist in this world, you will be ashamed at His coming because
you left Christ and Christ has become no effect unto you. If
you leave Him, if you don't stay at home on the Lord Jesus Christ
and continue there, trusting in Christ and His finished work,
He has become of no effect unto you. No effect. What an amazing
verse. ye are fallen from grace if you
seek to be justified by the law of Moses ye are fallen from grace
now you've heard that statement people talk about people say
that you know we believe in eternal security and we do but they say
well we believe you can fall from grace I believe you can
fall from grace too I do you can fall from grace but not abiding
in Christ not continuing in Christ Going back to the law, going
back to works for your justification, sanctification, going back to
works, leaving Christ and the Spirit's work to be made perfect
in the flesh. You'd be ashamed that He's coming.
It's all in Him. It's all in Him. For we through
the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For
in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but faith which worketh by love. The thing that counts is that
you've got a faith that motivates you, and out of love that faith
works. You serve the Lord God, and you
bring forth fruit unto your new husband, Christ, because you're
in love with Him. You're in love with Him. And
you're going to abide in Him and stay with Him. You did run
well, who did hinder you? That's what we talked about earlier,
that you should not obey the truth. You started out right. Why did you turn away? These
people did not abide in Christ. They left Him. This persuasion
cometh not of Him that called you. It didn't come from God. This persuasion was of the devil.
Now I want you to look at this ninth verse. A little leaven
leaveneth a whole lump. You know what that means? You
get a few legalists in the church and they get to talking and spouting
off and telling us what they believe and what they think is
right and so on and so forth. First thing you know is here's
some poor soul over here and he's been struggling and he's
got a lot of faults and problems and first thing you know they
get him to thinking that he's not good enough to be saved and
he can't possibly ever have any joy in the Lord or anything else
and he feels condemned. A little leaven, you put a little
bit of yeast in a loaf of bread or in a batch and you make several
loaves, but it'll cause all the loaves to rise. It'll affect
them all. That's what it means. It'll affect them all. We can't
allow it. Legalists. We're going to abide.
Are we not going to abide? Are we not going to stay at home
in Christ and the gospel? Is that not where we're going
to stay? Whatever happens, stay at home. Stay with what you know
and with what you believe. and give these people, let them
go if they got just a little leaven in them. Just let them
go on down the road. We don't need it. We don't need
it. We're going to abide in the Lord Jesus. So listen to me.
We're going to close here just briefly. Blessed is the man who
with all of his faults have been so sanctified, so justified by
the grace of God that he will not be ashamed. at His coming. Well, who is the man? Who's the
woman? Who's the boy or girl? It's that
one who has learned to stay at home in Christ. What is the way
to prepare for Christ's coming? I want to say just a word about
this. What is the way? Well, somebody said, I think
we ought to start a series of studies on prophecy. I think
that's what we ought to do. To prepare, you know, for the
Lord's coming. Well, we'd probably end up like
a lot of these other screwballs out here in the country. And
I understand that they had a group in the White House, a group of
clergymen, and they asked them, how much longer can this world
stand? And all those clergymen, every one of them had an answer,
and the longest that it was given to stand was February the 16th,
year 2001. Every one of them said the scriptures
teach that the world's coming to an end, before February 16,
2001. Every one of those clergymen.
Twelve of them. Now you listen to me. If we don't
have any better sense than they do, we ain't got any business
studying prophecy. We better listen to what the
Word of God says. And we better just forget about
trying to interpret it. I've read the Bible all my life.
I never saw that in the Bible. Did you ever see it in the Bible?
I never saw a thing like that in the Bible. Not a thing. Somebody's
got a book to sell, I think. Somebody's got a tape they got
made that's got a lot of money in it, too, and so therefore
they want to get rid of them. They want to sell them. Tell
you the world's coming to an end in a few days. No, we're
not going to have a series of studies on prophecy. Some say
that we'd be better off if we just took a month off in retirement
like a monk and got out of this wicked world and kind of pretty
ourself up a little bit. No, no, no, no. That's not necessary. Oh, if you're lazy, that'll appeal
to you, but Being that you're all hard-working people, that
wouldn't appeal to you. Now listen to me. The one scriptural
prescription for preparing for His coming is this. Now get it. Abide in Him. That's it. Abide
in Him. Isn't that what the text says?
Isn't that what it says? Abide in Him. Stay at home with
Christ. If you abide in the faith of
Him, holding and treasuring his truth, following his example.
For if we say we abide in him, we ought also to walk as he walked.
That's in verse 6 of 1 John chapter 2. Our dwelling place, making
him our dwelling place, your Lord may come at any hour and
you'll just welcome him. The great white throne, the blast
of the trumpets, the angelic attendance at the last judgment,
the trembling of creation, and the rolling up of of the universe
as a worn-out vesture. It'll have no alarm for you,
none whatsoever. You'll not be ashamed of His
coming. Now the date of that coming is concealed. When He
shall come, no man can tell. And you just write this down. If you hear somebody telling
you when the Lord's coming, mark it down. They're ignorant. They're
ignorant of the Word of God. They ought to follow this simple
rule. A plain scripture, always, a
very clear, plain scripture is always the rule by which you
judge obscure passages. And when the Lord says that not
even the Son of Man knows, then how clear did he make it? That
nobody is going to know when the Lord comes. Remember, there's
no need For a pious, smart, and a nub, he that abides in Christ
always wears the garments of glory and beauty. Does he not?
He may go in with his Lord into the wedding whenever the midnight
cries heard. He may go in. In such an hour
as you think not, the Son of Man cometh. When the world is
eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage,
he will bring destruction upon the ungodly. What will it be?
for us to be caught up in the air together with the saints
to meet the Lord in the air. What will it be to see Him come
in the glory of His Father and all His holy angels with Him?
Glory awaits us, and nothing but glory if we abide in Christ. Therefore keep your garments
unspotted, and your loins girt, your lamps trimmed, your lights
burning, and ye yourselves as they that look for your Lord,
that when He cometh you may have confidence and not shame. May
the Spirit of God, without whom this would be absolutely impossible,
this morning bless us and give us the understanding of these
things, that we may be able to truly, as John exhorted his little
flock, to abide in the Lord Jesus. And remember, if we've not been
ashamed to confess Christ here, Christ will not be ashamed to
confess us there. May the Lord own this message,
may He bless you in this coming year, May this be a Sunday that
we can look back to and whatever happens and say, well, just one
thing I want to do, I want to know Christ and I want to abide
right there. That's what I want to do. I want
to stay right there. That's what I'm going to do. You say, well,
preacher, don't you think we ought to grow away from this
after a while and get something else here to kind of occupy our
thinking? No, I don't think so. I don't
think so. I'm not going to. I want some
boldness when it comes. And I don't want to be ashamed.
And my business is to preach the gospel and exalt Christ in
your presence. Father, own the message. Use
it for Thy glory. Bring some poor soul to trust
in the Lord Jesus today and rest their care on Him. I pray that
You'll give us the victory in Jesus' name. Amen.