Turn back to 1 John chapter 2. I've entitled this message, Abide
in Him. Now, I realize that this will
be like a foreign language unless God the Holy Spirit is our teacher. in him. And that concept at the
outset is kind of difficult to grasp, isn't it? Abide in him. If I said, abide in me, you would
be thinking about crawling somehow into my body. That's the only
thing that we could think. And really, when I'm talking
about abiding in Christ, that is what I mean. abiding in Him. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15,
22, in Adam, all die. Everybody that proceeded out
of Adam, all of his descendants, everyone in him, all die. The reason you're going to die
is because you're a descendant of Adam. When he fell, you fell. You were born with his sinful
nature. In Adam all die, even so in Christ
shall all be made alive, those that come from Christ. Those
who are in Christ, they shall be made alive. And John says
in verse 27 or verse 28, and now little children abide in
him. What if I said in this room is
all of God's blessing, favor, and grace in this room. And outside
of this room, there is no favor from God. There is no grace. There is no forgiveness. There
is no mercy. What would you want to do? You'd want to abide in this room,
wouldn't you? You wouldn't want to go outside of this room, because
outside of this room is nothing but death. Now that is some rough
illustration as to what it means to abide in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this word abide, it's translated,
the Greek word meno is translated by six other words in the scripture. Continue in Christ. Dwell in Christ. Make that your home. Endure in Christ, although you're
Tempted to leave, endure in Christ. Remain in Christ. Don't go anywhere else. Stand
in Christ. Make this your standing. Don't
go anywhere else. And I like this last one, tarry
in Christ. Tarry there. You enjoy being
there. You tarry in a place you like being. Now to abide in Him,
is a conscious desire to be nowhere else at any time. That's what it means to abide
in Christ. It's a conscious desire to be nowhere else at any time. And Paul expressed it in Philippians
chapter 3, verse 9, when he said, Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in Him. When God comes looking for me,
Here's the only way I want to be found. In Him. Not having my own righteousness.
You see, if you've got your own righteousness, you're outside
of Christ. His righteousness is the only righteousness. And
if you have your own, you've already roamed outside of Christ.
Oh, that I may win Christ and be found in Him, not having my
own righteousness, which is of the law, which is according to
my personal obedience, the things that I do, but that which is
through the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God, by faith. I don't want to be found anywhere
else but in Him. And what that means exactly is
that when God sees me, All he will see is his blessed son. He doesn't see my preaching.
He doesn't see my prayers. He doesn't see anything about
me. I don't want to have anything to do with God based upon anything
in me. I just don't want to. I want
to simply be found in Christ. And now, little children, abide
in him. Now, listen to this statement
real carefully. You're abiding in Christ when
all you have is Christ. That's when you're abiding in
him. If you've got anything else, you've gone outside of Christ.
If you have any other hope, anything that makes you think that God
can be pleased with you other than Christ alone, you've wandered
off. You've been seduced. And that
is what he's talking about in this passage of scripture. Now, the simplicity of Christ, remember
when Paul said, I don't want you to be, I don't want you to
be corrupted from the simplicity of Christ. When you have the
simplicity of Christ, that's the onlyness. That's the oneness. That means he's all you have.
And that's what it means to abide in Christ is when he is all you
have, nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else. If you've got
anything else, you're not abiding in Christ.
Christ and, Christ and my living the Christian life. Christ and
my study. Christ and my efforts to suppress
sin. Christ and anything is a failure
to abide in Christ. Now look at verse 26. These things have I written unto
you concerning them that seduce you. Now that word seduce means
literally to roam about. When you're seduced, you've left
abiding in Christ and you're roaming about. You've gone astray. That's what a sheep does. It
leaves the fold and it's gone astray. And he is warning them
of those who would seduce them. And that seduction is being seducted
from abiding in Christ. And that's what he's warning
them about. I'm writing to you about those who seduced you and
you will be seduced on every side. Your old man and those
outside of you. You're always going to be seduced
to abide outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 27, but,
but the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you. Now that anointing is mentioned
in verse 20 under the word unction, but you have an unction, it's
the same word, an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all
things. I've not written unto you because
you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie
is of the truth. You have an anointing that makes
you to know all things. Now you know, and I know, that
doesn't mean omniscience. That doesn't mean I have the
same knowledge as God. But I know this, I know that
Christ is all. And if I know that Christ is
all, I know all things. And Christ is all to you when
you don't have anything else. If you have anything else other
than Christ, He's not all to you, and you don't know all things.
But if all you have is Christ, you know all things, and you
have Christ as all. Now this is what God the Holy
Spirit teaches someone. This is beyond the scope of natural
understanding. The only way you can enter into
Christ being all is if God is your teacher and reveals himself
to you and reveals yourself to you so that you'll know the necessity
of having Christ as all because you have nothing. Now, when you
have nothing, it's easy to have Christ as all. If you have something,
well, he can't be all to you, can you? But it's only when you
have nothing that he is all to you, and that's the teaching
of God the Holy Spirit. That's that unction from the
Holy One that you know all things. Now, look back in verse 27. But
the anointing, the unction, which you have received of him, abides
in you. It remains in you, it's not gonna
leave. And you need not that any man teach you, but as the
same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is no truth,
and is no lie, even as it hath taught you, you shall abide in
him. Now here's this anointing that
you have. It causes you to abide in him. Turn with me for a moment
to Matthew 24. This is what is going to keep
you and I from being seduced. It's not because of any extra
spirituality on our part. It's not because of any spiritual
intelligence on our part. Turn to Matthew 24. Verse 24. For there shall arise false Christs
and false prophets And they will always be trying to seduce you
from abiding in Christ. That's the purpose of the false
Christ and the false prophet. And they shall show great signs
and wonders, very impressive, insomuch that if it were possible, if it were possible, They deceived
the very elect, but thank God it is not possible for one of
God's elect to be deceived because they have this anointing that
causes them, that constrains them to abide only in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, what this anointing does,
notice the last phrase of verse 27, you shall abide in him. Now, this thing of abiding in
Christ, it's no new concept. It's not a New Testament concept.
I heard a preacher preaching recently, and he said, well,
this is taught in the New Testament. Well, if it's taught in the New
Testament, it's taught in the Old Testament, too. I mean, the two are one. You
can't have the New Testament without the Old Testament. You
can't have the Old Testament without the New Testament. And this is
a Old Testament concept, and it's a New Testament concept.
Listen to this scripture. Moses said in Psalm 90, Lord,
thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. This has
always been the only dwelling place of every believer. David
said in Psalm 27, one thing have I desired of the Lord, and that
will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord. all the days of my life. Now
you and I know full well that he doesn't mean dwelling in a
house of bricks and stone. He's talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ. One thing have I desired of the
Lord and that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of
the Lord and to inquire in his temple. Isaiah said surely shall
one say In the Lord have I righteousness and strength. In the Lord shall
all the seed of Israel be justified and glory. And we have so many
illustrations of this, not just plain statements, but illustrations.
And the first thing that comes to my mind is the ark. When God sent the deluge, when
God sent the flood, there was one place of safety, and only
one, in the ark. Outside of the ark, there was
nothing but the judgment of God. Anybody outside the ark perished
in their sins. Everybody in the ark were saved,
but where was the one place of safety? In the ark. When God came through Egypt to
destroy the firstborn, there was one place of safety in the
house with the blood over the door. What happened if you were
outside that house? The firstborn was killed. But
if you were in that house with the blood over the door, there
was complete safety and security. Whether you felt safe or not,
you were still safe if you're in the house with the blood over
the door. And what's the one thing God
was looking for? He said, when I see the blood. He didn't say
when I see your faith or your repentance or your sincerity
or your good works. He said, when I see the blood.
That's all he was looking for. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. I think my favorite illustration
is there in Hebrews chapter seven, where it said that when Abraham
paid tithes, Levi paid tithes. For he was yet in the loins of
his great-grandfather Abraham. When Christ kept the law, kept
the law because I was in Him. When Christ died, I died because
I was in Him. When Christ was raised from the
dead, I was raised from the dead because I was in Him. When He ascended back to glory,
I ascended back to glory because I I am in him. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 6 says
literally we are seated together in the heavenlies with him. That means that as I am in him
right now I'm in heaven. That's how sure heaven is for
me. I'm already there in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That is what in him means. Now can you see why John said
abide in him? Why would you ever want to be
anywhere else but simply in Him? Now, I believe that this scriptural
truth about being in Christ, being united to Christ, being
in Him, being one with Him, both He that sanctifieth and they
who are sanctified are all of one, is the biggest truth in the Bible. Let me give a bunch of scriptures. I'm not going to say much about
any of them, but I'm just going to give a bunch of scriptures
that tell us what is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the first scripture
that came to my mind was, for in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. That's what's in Him. All the
fullness of God Himself resides in the body of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And you know what it says next
in the next verse? And you are complete in Him. In Him. Now, do I feel complete? No. No. I feel lacking in every area. Something's always wrong, something
over my head. Do I feel complete? No. Am I
complete? Yes. Because I am complete, nothing
lacking, all that God requires of me, I have. I'm complete. There's no gray
areas, there's no skeletons in the closet. I am complete. Every believer is complete. in the Lord Jesus Christ. What
dwells in Christ? Well, I've already quoted this
verse of Scripture. Oh, thou may win Christ and be
found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is the law,
but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. You know what's in Christ? The
very righteousness of God. And if I'm in Christ, I am a
possessor right now of the very righteousness of God. Now, somebody says, that's hard
to believe. Well, it's impossible to believe
unless God gives you grace to believe it. But every believer,
just as he truly, we just sang that hymn. And Matt, I meant
to ask you to sing that hymn. I really did. I was singing that
hymn to myself today on I Stand Amazed in the Presence of Jesus
the Nazarene. And I was thinking about that verse, he took my
sins and my sorrows and made them his very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone. But just as truly as he made
my sins his very own, he made his righteousness my very own. What's in Christ? The love of
God. Paul said in Romans 8, 38, nothing
shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus,
our Lord. That's where God's love is. Outside
of Christ, nothing but wrath. God's holy. God's just. God must punish sin. Nothing
but judgment outside of Christ, but oh, in Christ, the very love
of God, and oh, His love. His love is saving love. You're
familiar with this scripture, 1 Corinthians 1, 30, of him are
you in Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. In Christ, I have wisdom. God looks at me as a wise man. Now, what am I myself? A fool. A fool. You believe that about
yourself? In and of yourself. You're a
fool, aren't you? A fool. But in Christ, you're wise. The very wisdom of Christ, righteousness,
sanctification, holiness, and redemption. There's life in Christ. 1 Corinthians 15, 22, in that
Christ shall all be made alive. I love this, Romans 8, 1. There
is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
I'm not going to be judged or condemned for anything because
I stand before God perfect with the very righteousness of God.
No condemnation now I dread. I am my Lord's and he is mine
alive in him my living head and clothed in righteousness divine. There's no condemnation. to them
that are in Christ Jesus. And then 2 Corinthians 1.20 says
all the promises of God in him are yea and amen. That means
they're not contingent or conditioned upon you doing something. When
he makes a promise, there it is. And it's not up to you to
make it work. It's yea and amen. So be it. It's already done.
Second Corinthians 5, 17 says, if any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. He's a new creation, a creation
of God, something that was not there before. You see, God doesn't
change the old. People talk about their changed
lives. And I just I can't tell you what I want to say and even
think when they talk about the changed lives, because, well,
that's another subject. But if I mean Christ as a new
creature, that means I have a new history. And it's all good. You can't change your history
at all, can you? God can by making you a new creature that was not
there before to where your whole history is good. 2 Corinthians 5.19, God was in
Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto him. Now, in Christ there's reconciliation,
and here's how it is. God won't charge you with your
sin. He doesn't impute it to you.
All the sins you've committed just in the last week, he doesn't
impute them to you. All the sins you're gonna commit
before you die, He doesn't impute them to you. All the sins you've
committed since your birth, He doesn't impute them to you. That's
what reconciliation is. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. You
see, they became Christ. And so, they're not imputed to
me. Romans 3.24, being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus.
Now, what's in Christ? Justification. I'm made righteous. I'm made perfect. I'm justified.
I have no guilt. Redemption. All my sins are paid
for. Ephesians 1.3, blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings. That means every blessing God
has to give, I have in the Lord Jesus Christ. And He enumerates
them in verse 4. He says, according as He hath
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. What a blessing
that is. To be elected by God. To be chosen by God before time
began. To be His peculiar treasure.
For Him to set His love on you before you had any physical existence. Before time began. And that choice
was in Christ. Christ be my first elect, he
said. Then chose us in him, our living head. And he didn't choose
you independently of Christ. He chose you in Christ. That
you should be holy and without blame before him. Holiness and
blamelessness is in the Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture goes
on to say in Ephesians 1, 6, in whom We have redemption through
His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness of sins
is in Christ. Acceptance, if made us accepted
in the Beloved. Acceptance is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Ephesians 2.6, I've already quoted
this, we're seated in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. I've got a seat
in heaven that I'm already there if He's there. Because as He
is, so are we in the world, the scripture says. Is He in heaven?
in the person of my Redeemer." Now, once again, I know that
this is impossible for the flesh to understand, but God can give
us understanding. Ephesians 2.13, in Christ Jesus,
you who are sometimes far off are made nigh by the blood of
Christ. Nearness is in Christ. Near,
so near to God, nearer I cannot be. For in the person of his
dear son, I'm as near to God as he, dear to God, oh dear to
God, dear I cannot be. For in the person of his dear
son, I'm as dear to God as he. Ephesians 3.12 says, in whom
we have boldness. We have boldness and access into
the very presence of God, I'm welcome. in whom we have boldness
with confidence, but access and confidence by the faith of Him. Right now, I'm welcome to come
into His presence, into the very Holy of Holies, and I have an
audience in the Beloved, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Colossians
119 says, it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness
dwell. All fullness dwells. in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now I don't even know what to
say about that. I know that John said, of His fullness have we
all received. And grace for grace. He gives
grace to receive grace. He gives grace to receive His
fullness. Philippians 3.3, rejoice in Christ. That means glory in
Christ. Here's why I glory in the Lord Jesus Christ. I have
confidence in Him and Him alone. Jude 2 says we're preserved in
Christ Jesus. The reason I persevere is I'm
preserved in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3.22 says where there's
neither Greek nor Jew, bond nor free, male nor female, but you
are all one in Christ Jesus. There's not a hierarchy in the
kingdom of heaven. Everybody's the same. We're all
one. Aren't you the preacher? Yeah,
I am the preacher, but I'm still just one with you. We're all
one in Christ Jesus. I love this. Paul said in 2 Corinthians
12 1, I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago, whether in
the body or out of the body, I cannot tell. But he's saying
even my experience is only in Christ. I won't even think of
my experience, that experience where the Lord brought me up
into the third heavens. It's only in Christ and I don't want
to think of anything else. 1 Thessalonians 5.18 says this
is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Whatever's
going on, that's why it says in everything give thanks. For
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." Whatever
it is, it's God's will concerning you for your good and his glory,
then give thanks. It's the will of God in Christ
Jesus. John 15, four and five says,
He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit. Much fruit's in Christ. And remember,
he said right after that, without me, you can do nothing. Don't
you know that's so? And I love this, 1 John 3, verse
5, in him is no sin. You know what that means? That means if I'm in him, I have
no sin. And 1 John 3, verse 6 says, he
that abideth in him sinneth not. Are you saying that if you abide
in him, you actually sin not? No, John said it, not me. and
I'm plumb satisfied with that, aren't you? In him there is no
sin, and in him I sin not. If he didn't sin, I didn't sin.
In him I sin not. Don't really have anything to
feel guilty about. 1 John 5, 11, this then is the
record that God hath given us eternal life, and this life is
in his son. 1 John 5, 20 says we know Him that is true and we are in
Him that is true. This is the true God and eternal
life. Now all that God has for the
sinner is in Christ. It's for Christ's sake and it's
for His glory. Christ is all in salvation. Now little children abide in
Him. Now look at verse 28. our little
children abide in him that when he shall appear. Now this is talking about the
second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of these days he's
going to come back and everybody's going to know exactly who he
is. Now how all that is, I don't know, but it's so. Every eye
shall see him, they who pierced him. Everybody is gonna be aware
that this is Jesus of Nazareth, coming back as the mighty God,
the everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace, coming again
to this earth. Now think about the Lord's return. How will it be for you? He's coming back. How will He
see you? Do you feel boldness and confidence
that He's coming when He comes in His dazzling holiness and
power and there you are? Well, let's look what John says
in verse 28. 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. Now the only way that
I'm not going to, that I'm going to have confidence, not being
scared, rejoicing, and not being ashamed at His coming, the only
way that can be is if I have nothing to be ashamed of and
I have nothing to be afraid of. And the only way that can be
is by abiding in Him. To where when He comes, all He
sees is Himself. Turn with me to 1 John chapter
4. Verse 17, Herein is our love
made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment,
Now can you imagine standing before the thrice holy God on
judgment day and having boldness? Do you know if you're a believer,
you will. At that time, you'll have a glorified body and you'll
have boldness. And here's why you'll have boldness. Look what it says, because as
He is, Well, how is he? He's holy. He's without sin. He's altogether lovely to the
Father. He's perfectly righteous. I could
go on and on with this description. As he is, so are we right now. now in this world. Now, this is the mystery of being
in Christ. Union with the Lord Jesus Christ as He is, so are
we in this world. Now, if anything about me is
viewed, I would be so ashamed, but in Christ there is no sin. He that abideth in Him sinneth
not. So, truly, there'll be nothing
No sin, no sinning to be ashamed of. Record perfect. Now, oh little
children, abide in him. And remember, he's warning us
concerning those who seduce us. And that word literally means
roam about. There's only one place of safety.
There's only one place of security. There's only one place of salvation.
There's only one place of acceptance. There's only one place of God's
favor. That's in Him. So that all God sees is Jesus
Christ. If you're in Him, all He sees
is Jesus Christ. You stay right there. Abide in
Him. Because those who seduce you
are trying to seduce you to roam outside of Him. And I think of
the words of Paul in Philippians chapter 3, verse 3. We are the
circumcision. We're the true Jews. Now remember
this about national Israel. National Israel, that Jewish
nation of the Old Testament, was given only to picture the
believer, the true Jew, the true Hebrew. You're a Hebrew. You're a Jew by faith in Christ
Jesus. We are the true people of God.
We are the circumcision. We are the true Jews. We are
the true Israelites. We are the true Hebrews. That's
what he said. We're the real Israelites, which
he gives three marks. We worship God in the spirit. We worship God for who He is.
We bow to who He is. And we worship Him for who He
is as He revealed in His word. And we know that only by the
Spirit of God. No worship without the Spirit
of God. Secondly, we rejoice. And that word rejoice means we
glory. We have confidence in. We boast
in. We have boldness in. The Lord
Jesus Christ. That's how we have that boldness
on judgment. The Lord Jesus Christ. And here's how you can know if
you really do worship God in the spirit. Here's how you can
know if you really do rejoice in Christ Jesus. The third thing
he says is we have no confidence in the flesh. If you do worship
God in the spirit, if you do Rejoice in Christ Jesus. You
will have no confidence in the flesh. None in yours, none in
mine, none in anybody else's. May God enable us to abide in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, by your Spirit, enable us by faith to abide only
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we say with the Apostle
of old, oh, that we might be found in Christ. not having our
own righteousness. Lord, we know we don't have any,
but that which is through the faith of Christ, His obedience,
His faithfulness, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Lord, bless this message for
your glory and for our good. Lord, we would remember the people
in Texas. We pray for your mercy upon that
place and we pray for your relief upon that place. We pray that your will would be done. Lord, how we thank you that you're
God and beside thee is none else. In Christ's name we pray, amen.