How to receive the promise o..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Very good, brethren. As I said, I want us now, as we approach to this portion of the Scriptures, to arrive to the main important message of the apostle John.

We're going to be addressing once again verse 18 through verse 27 in chapter two. And I want us by the grace of the Lord and I hope by the presence of His Holy Spirit to see the main instruction that the apostle gives in these verses that we have before us. We have already spoken about all of those important concepts, the spirit of the Antichrist, the anointing of the Holy One, how to know the truth or knowing the truth, all of those. are concepts and ideas that support, in a sense, the main point that the apostle wants to communicate. And brethren, when you are going through the Scriptures and when you find yourself with a letter or with a book that is as practical as the first letter of John, Many times, and most of the times, the easiest and the best way to find out what is the main point that the author wants to communicate to us, that the Spirit of God wants to communicate to us is by identifying the imperative in the text.

An imperative is a commandment. An imperative is an instruction, a clear call to action. That is what the Apostle wanted the early church to do. And that is what the Holy Spirit desires that the church will do when they read this portion of the Scriptures. And let me submit to you that the imperative, the commandment, the instruction of the apostle in this portion of the Scriptures is found in verse 24 and verse 25.

In those two verses, the apostle is going to call us to do something very important. We are to let that which we heard from the very beginning, we're to let that abide in us. That which we heard from the very beginning is supposed to abide in you. If that which you heard from the very beginning abides in you, you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And verse 25 says, And this is the promise that He, the Father, made to us, eternal life.

That is the imperative. That is the call to action of the apostle to the recipients of the letter and to all Christians who read this portion of the scripture. That that which you heard from the beginning is supposed to abide in you. It's supposed to stay in you. If that which you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will presently abide in the Son and in the Father."

And it's implicit in the text, in verse 25, that by your present abiding in the message that you have heard and your present abiding in fellowship with the Son and in fellowship with the Father, you will receive the future promise that the Lord has given you, in this case, the Father. That is eternal life. That is a simple and clear message of the apostle in these verses that we have from verse 18 to verse 29, but we're breaking that in verse 27. That is that the present abiding of the Christian defines the future reception of eternal life. And when we consider the Spirit of the Antichrist, when we consider the Spirit of the Lord in the anointing of the Holy One, and when we consider how we know the truth, we have the Spirit of God in us, and we have no need that no one will teach us.

These are supportive ideas that bring force and power to that commandment, that instruction that the apostle gives in verse 24, that the Christian of all ages is to let that which they heard from the beginning abide in them so that they will abide in the Son and in the Father. And they will be recipients of the promise, the future promise of eternal life. That is my message. And that is what we're going to do. Kids, that is the message.

That if you have heard the word of the Lord, you are to let that abide in you. And if you let that abide in you, you have abiding with the Son and with the Father. And if you abide in the Son and in the Father, you will receive the future promise of eternal life. The only thing that I want to do is present that to you from the context of the Apostle John, and also to give a little bit more depth to that thought. May the Lord help us as we now going to read verses 18 through verse 29 of chapter two.

Let us pay careful attention to those verses now, brethren. I'm paying more careful attention to verse 24 and 25, which is the imperative of the commandment that the Apostle gives us there. This is the Word of the Lord, and I'm reading from the English Standard Version of the Bible. Actually, let us read from verse 15, please, from chapter 2, and let us go through verse 10 of chapter 3. This is the Word of the Lord.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life is not from the father, but it's from the world and the world is passing away along with his desires. But whoever does the will of the father abides forever. children or little children in verse 18.

It is the last hour. And as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, so now many Antichrist have come. Therefore, we know that is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us. But if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.

But they that is the Antichrist, they went out that he might become plain that they all they all are not of us. But you, have been anointed by the Holy One and you all have knowledge or know all things. I write to you, verse 21, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it and because no lies of the truth. Who is the liar? But he who denies that Jesus is the Christ.

This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Verse 24, some of you will have a therefore there. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you.

If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father." And this is the promise that He made to us, eternal life. I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you or seduce you. But the anointing that you receive from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as he, so the same anointing, teaches you about everything, and it's true and it's no lie, just as it, the anointing, has taught you, you abide in him or you will abide in him.

Verse 28. There we have the other imperative. And now little children abide in him so that when he that is the Lord appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. See what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God.

And so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who thus hopes in Him presently purifies, that is what is there, purifies himself as he is pure.

Verse 4, Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sin, and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen Him or known Him.

Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as He is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.

By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. Amen. This is the word of the Lord. My dear brother and sister and soul within the sound of my voice as I said, To you, I want to share the main intention, the main goal, the main instruction of the Apostle John in this section that is found from verse 18 through verse 27, primarily found there in verse 24 and verse 25, in which we are called to let that which we heard from the beginning to abide in us.

And if that which we heard from the beginning abides in us, then we will abide in the Son and in the Father. And the promise that He has made to us, eternal life will be ours. We will receive that future blessing promise of the Lord, which is eternal life. And as we began, brethren, with the exposition of this book, one of the things that I wanted to make sure every time that I come here and I'm going to expound the intention of the exposition of the passage is to remind you of the intention of the Apostle John, the burden of the Apostle John, as he was writing and giving this letter to the church. That burden, my dear brother, my dear sister, my dear soul, is one of genuineness in the Christian life.

If you remember, I've said to you that the book of 1 John is somehow an exposition of what the Lord Jesus Christ taught the Apostle John in John 17, verse 3, in which he gave the definition of what eternal life is. He said that eternal life is knowing God, the only true God, and whom He sent, the Lord Jesus Christ. Genuine salvation, the genuineness of possessing eternal life inside of us is seen, is evidenced in our knowing of the Father, the Triune God of the world, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, to know them so intimately that we are completely transformed. The Christian is not to reduce down what eternal life actually means. Genuine salvation, having eternal life, is to know the Father and whom He sent, the Lord Jesus Christ.

When John writes this letter, brethren, this is just simply a practical exposition of what knowing God and what knowing the Lord Jesus Christ represents. We either have the presence of God inside of us or we don't. And when we do have by His grace, the presence of God inside of us, this is going to be externally manifested in the way that we speak, in the way that we live, in the way that we feel and in the way that we relate to one another, in the way that we understand and in the way that we hear His voice. The person who is not genuinely in Christ does not have the ability in and of themselves to behave like one who belongs to Christ, to speak like one who belongs to Christ, to act like one who belongs to Christ. So the apostle is concerned because the church will not be edified with programs, with money and with the charisma of men.

The church will be only edified with the presence of Christ in them, in each one of the members of the church. So the apostle writes a letter to confront the depths of the soul and the mind of those who profess to be in Christ, so that they will test and see if they are in the faith. Through the letter, we see that the apostle wants to bring assurance of the faith that they have. certainty of their belonging to God, and also ensure that the saint is going to endure until the end. That is the purpose that is given in 1 John 5, verse 13, when he says, I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son.

The apostle is concerned with the genuineness of the faith of those who profess to be Christians. So he is writing this letter for the one who believes, that the one who believes will know, will have certainty that they possess eternal life. And by possessing certainty and assurance that they have eternal life, they may continue to believe in the name of the Son. Faith is, my dear brother and sister, when faith is built upon the queen of the Christian virtues, namely love, 1 Corinthians chapter 13, when faith is working through love, Galatians chapter 5, when faith is begotten in the Spirit, when faith is begotten in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, becomes the most powerful weapon that the Christian has. We cannot commune with God if we do not have genuine faith.

We cannot understand the Scriptures as we spoke last week if we do not have genuine faith. We cannot endure until the end if we do not have powerful living faith. Faith becomes not only that which justifies in the beginning of our Christian life, but we live our lives by faith. And faith, my dear brothers and sisters, becomes this powerful weapon that you have to walk in the ways of Christ. To be free from your previous ways.

to behold the beauty of the One that is unseen, to be partaker of the things of heaven while you walk on the earth. Faith is that which gives you entrance into the mind of God through the Word that no intellect of men or ability of men can do. Faith is that which makes you experience the Lord Jesus Christ that no other experience on earth compares. The one who does not have faith cannot taste the goodness of the Lord. The one who does not have faith cannot hear the words of the Lord.

The one who does not have faith cannot win the battle against the passions of his or her flesh. My dear brother and sister, I'm saying all of these things because the concern of the apostle is one of faith. That which you heard from the beginning is supposed to abide in you. If that which you heard from the beginning in the past presently abides in you, you will presently enjoy communion with the Son and with the Father. And the outcome of it is the future reception of this promise of eternal life.

Brethren, it is so easy to come to church and it's so easy to tick a particular box of the Christian life. But where is your heart when it comes to faith? When you open this book, brother or sister or friend within the sound of my voice, do you believe what you read? Have you tasted the goodness of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is Christ this concept?

Or is Christ this good doctrine? Or this proper doctrine? Or this correct exegesis? Or is just Christ this concept that has been taught through generations in your ears? But have you tasted the goodness of the living person of Jesus Christ?

Have you experienced the favor of the Lord in the gospel and in His Spirit by virtue of your faith? Does the Lord speak to you every time that you come to this word? Does the Lord speak to you through the word that has been deposited in your heart and mind when you bow your knees in the secret place? Do you bow your knees in the secret place? Is your faith so living inside of you that indeed leads you to the secret place that moves you to die to self, that moves you to remember the things that you have heard?

Because my dear brother and sister, when we speak about faith, this is this powerful weapon in the hands of the Christian, that we can gaze that which is unseeable, that we can see that which is hidden from men only through faith. Faith gives us the hope, the certainty, the assurance of the things that we're hoping for, the things that we have not seen. And when faith is genuine, brother, sister, this faith is not dead, but comes with godly, Christ-like works. This faith is the one that will move you to be very diligent and to make every effort to supplement that faith with virtue, with knowledge, with godliness, with steadfastness, with brotherly affection and with love. Has your faith moved you in such a way that you see the internal necessity of supplementing your God-given faith with all of these Christian virtues, that if you do not have them, you're barren and unfruitful in the eyes of the Lord?

Has this Christianity become only a concept and a way of doing things that does not have any reality or power inside of you? Brethren, my dear brother and sister, we are to be careful because the deceitfulness of our heart and the temptations of this world can easily move us and take us to be satisfied in living a religious life that lacks the power inside of the heart and inside of the soul. very quick and very well trained to speak words and to utter words and to pretend in the eyes of others while we lack the power of the Spirit and of God-given faith inside of us. If we do not have the power of living faith, then what is going to be said of us when we see the Lord Jesus Christ, when He comes? Because it is only genuine faith, which is more precious than gold, that when it's put through fire and goes through the fire, this is the one that is going to be for the praise and the honor and the glory at the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Peter chapter 1.

It is only that type of faith that will receive the outcome, which is the salvation of our souls. 1 Peter 1, verse 9, it is only that type of faith, my dear brother and sister, the one that will allow us to presently abide. so that we will receive the future promise of eternal life. And yes, we do know and we profess and we confess that he who has begun a good work in us will bring it to completion in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, we profess and we conclude from the scriptures that the Lord will take all of his people until the end.

But at the same time, my dear brother and sister, and joining the apostles, we are to see the concern that they have. Because what we see here is a call for the people of God to believe that which they have heard. That which you heard from the very beginning is to abide presently in you. And if that happens, this is the door that will be open for you to have communion with the Son, fellowship with the Son, abiding with the Son and with the Father and receive the promise of eternal life. And brethren, faith is of vital importance for the Apostle John.

Faith is of vital importance for the Apostle John. If you go in your Bibles there to 1 John chapter 4, you will see how well the Apostle speaks of faith. He says in chapter 5 verse 4, he says that everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world. Our faith, brethren, your little feeble, my little feeble faith, when it was initially given from above, when it was gifted to us, when it was given from on high to us, it becomes not only the token, not only the characteristic that identifies the genuine believers and sons and daughters of God, but it also becomes the victory over the world.

And those who are genuine children of God, brothers and sisters, will overcome the world. And the way that the Christian overcomes the world is through our faith. Yes, the Lord will keep us and preserve us until the end, but He will do it through our faith. 1 Peter 1, verse 5. He will guard us, He will keep us until the end, for a salvation that is ready to be revealed through our faith.

That means that if by virtue of His grace, the Holy Spirit has given you a new heart and now you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you're a son or daughter of the Lord Jesus Christ, when the day comes that you're going to take up to glory, When that day arrives, when you die, if it's in the next second or in the next minute, five minutes, tonight, tomorrow, in five or 10 years, when the Christian is genuinely taken up to glory to face the Savior on that glorious day, when the countenance of the Lord will be only for you, when the flaming eyes of the Savior will be focused on your countenance, When you will be able to behold the beauty of the Savior, not physical beauty, but the kingship of our Lord Jesus Christ. When the gates of heaven are open and your turn will arrive. When the name that has been given to you arrives in the scroll that has been already opened, and you are to present yourself before the Lord Jesus Christ. then your faith is not only a token that will speak of the promise of the Lord that has been kept, but also, brother and sister, it is a testimony of your victory over the things of this world. You will enter in the feebleness of your ways and my ways, in the limitations of your mind and my mind, in the many sins that we have committed and the many errors that we have made through our Christian life.

When that day arrives and when we see Him face to face as He is, when He receives us in glory into the eternal rest, our faith will be a testimony, brethren, of our victory over this world. We that are so weak and feeble and limited, we will be counted to be victorious. We will enter through those gates as victors in the person of Jesus Christ. And that is the faith that is counted to be of glory and honor at the revelation of the Lord. It does not matter what we have done or the things that we have not done.

It does not matter the things that we have accomplished or have not accomplished. It does not matter if we have made unto ourselves a name and reputation before the sons of Adam. What it will matter that day, it is independently of the size of our faith. If that faith was given by the Holy Spirit to us, every single genuine believer throughout history, from every country, from every nation, from every tongue will enter through those gates as a victor, as a victorious son or daughter of the Lord God on high. And brethren, that victory will be victory over Satan.

The works of Satan, who is like a roaring lion seeking you to devour you. That day when your faith is confirmed and you enter into glory to receive eternal life and commune with Him, you will be victorious over the works of Satan, as the Lord has already been victorious upon the cross, according to 1 John 3 and Hebrews 2, verse 14. You will also be victorious upon your flesh, brethren, all the passions that are making war within you, all of this conflict that exists within you on that day when you enter into glory, you will be victorious by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and the glory that He freely gives you by virtue of the faith that He gave you and implanted in His Word. You will be victorious over your flesh, finally mortified, finally put to death. Every single Christian will be victorious on that day.

And the main emphasis that the Apostle John makes in those verses that we have from verse 18 through 27 is that we will even be victorious, brethren, over the spirit of the Antichrist. The spirit of the Antichrist that is in these last times, in this last hour, the Antichrist that is coming and is manifested now in the many Antichrists who are within the context of the church. These ones that want to deceive you. These ones that want to seduce you. The genuine believer will be even victorious.

against the opposition of the spirit of the Antichrist that is trying to deceive you and that is trying to seduce you into ways of unrighteousness. What a glorious promise that is, brethren, that no genuine Christian, no genuine believer will be ultimately taken captive by the spirit of the Antichrist. Why? The apostle says, because you know the truth. And because you have been anointed by the Holy One, and the Spirit of the Holy One teaches you all things, the Antichrist is the one that denies the Lord Jesus Christ and is offended with the things of Christ.

So those who do not have the anointing of the Holy One are also equally offended with the biblical Jesus Christ. And such is the offense of those who do not have the anointing of the Holy One with the words the character and the person of Jesus Christ, that they may contort unto themselves other Jesus, and other Christ, and other gospel, and other spirit. If not, go and read the complaint of the Apostle Paul in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 from verse 1, specifically in verse 4 against the Corinthian church. These super apostles that were trying to deceive the people of the congregation, the person who genuinely has, brethren, the Spirit of the Savior, the Spirit of the Son of God is one who will overcome even all things of this world, Satan and the system of the world, the darkness, the unrighteousness of the world, but primarily according to the apostle, the Antichrist. Brethren, and this is a glorious truth because, brethren, our mind is so feeble and so limited that we can be easily taken.

We can be easily taken by doctrines of demons. We can be easily taken by things of this world. We can be easily taken by the idolatry of intelligence. We can be easily taken just simply by following systems of men. If it is not because of the promise of God that has given us the anointing of the Holy One, brethren, we will end up just in complete, not only heresy, but treasuring upon ourselves wrath that is not seen and not even being able to be quantified.

Brethren, it's only the grace of the Lord that can give us a little bit of the truth of God. And then we will see once we enter into glory and once the Lord glorifies our bodies and our minds and our understanding in our hearts, we will see the many things that we had wronged. And that will not frustrate us. That will actually enlarge the grace of the Lord in giving us the truth that was sufficient for us to keep walking before the Lord and to make it until the end. But the Apostle John, knowing together with the Apostle Paul and with the Apostle Peter, What was the final destination of the believer?

Namely, that there will be victory, that they will overcome the world, that they will overcome the spirit of the Antichrist, that they will overcome the Antichrist, that all of these things will happen by virtue of the presence of the Spirit of the Lord inside of them. He still sees the necessity, brethren, to call them not to be deceived. to bring this strong instruction, to call them like Jeremiah calling the people of Israel. These apostles now know as there were false teachers in those times, there will also be false teachers among you. So then the apostle John comes with this burden in his heart to say that which you heard in the beginning, that is supposed to abide in you.

If that which you heard from the beginning does not abide in you, you will not abide with the Son and with the Father, and hence you will not receive the promise of eternal life that is to come. Brethren, that you may not think just because you come to church on a particular Sunday and you do all of these religious things, and not just because you agree to a particular message 1, 2, 5, 10 or 20 years ago, and you said that you believe, just because you believed in that particular time, that now calling yourself a Christian is sufficient to receive the promise of eternal life. Brethren, even though we hold to the fact that He will indeed fulfill that promise, we are to be very diligent to listen to the warnings and to the exhortations of the Scriptures, and not to be like those who sear their conscience and harden their hearts to the Word of God, but rather those who carefully pay attention to it. Because that is the commandment that we have in those verses there, 24 and 25, that we are to let that which we heard from the beginning to abide in us. There are two important things that we need to understand from those two verses that will help us comprehend the instruction and the burden of the apostle.

Two important things. The first one is the verb, what it is to abide, right? That is a very important word that is given to us in verse 24 and 25. that let that which you heard from the beginning abide in you. If that which you heard from the beginning abides in you, you too will abide in the Son and in the Father."

Abiding, whatever that is, we are to understand it from the Scriptures because that is what we are called to do. That which we heard is supposed to abide in us. And if that which we heard abides in us, we will abide in the Son and in the Father. Abiding is very important. And the second important thing that we need to discern from the scripture is what is that?

What is that that we heard from the beginning? Why the apostle did not see the need of clarifying what is that thing that we heard from the beginning? We could just put whatever in that relative pronoun there. But the puzzle is very specific. What is that that the Christian heard from the beginning?

What is that thing that is supposed to abide in the Christian, upon which my abiding in the Son and in the Father depends? Because if you clearly see the text, there is a conditional there. And it says, if that which you heard from the beginning abides in you, you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. My presently abiding with the Son and with the Father depends upon that, whatever that message is, abiding inside of me. Otherwise, I will not abide with the Son or with the Father.

So we find ourselves here before this text and in the context of all things that I've said before and the reading of the Scriptures, that we need to answer those two important questions. What it is to abide, initially, so that we will know how to obey that commandment. And secondly, very importantly, to discern from the Apostle John and the Scriptures, what is that, that, that we are supposed to keep inside of us. Let us start with the first one, my dear brother and sister, and please bear with my explanation here. We're going to see it from the Apostle John.

Abide. Every time that you see that word abide, it's very common in the Scriptures, but it's more common by the Apostle John. The Apostle John is the one that uses these words abide more often, or at least in a more doctrinal way. When we think about the concept only of abiding, brethren, we have to think about two important words. One of them is location and the other one is time.

The concept of abiding requires that we see a location or a place and also time or timing. Abide, or to abide, is to continue in a definite place. The concept of abiding requires a location, a place, and also time. That is, that I'm going to remain, I'm going to stay in a particular place, and the way that I'm going to remain in that particular place is rather permanently and not temporarily. The concept of abiding requires that the person who is going to abide will remain, not temporarily, not visiting from time to time, but permanently this particular place.

Such is the power of the word abide that you can transform that in a noun in English and make it a synonym of a dwelling place. I don't know if this is the word that you use in contemporary English, but I know that in Old English you would speak of your abode. Right? Your abode. Your abode is your dwelling place, and the abode is just a participle of a by that has been transformed into a noun.

An abode, your dwelling place, your house, is a location where you remain and when you stay. And unless you have issues or problems, you are going to remain in your dwelling place and in your house. You're going to be permanently in your dwelling place. So when we think about abiding from the mind of the Apostle John, we are to think about this destination, this location in which we are to stay and remain permanently. That is what it is to abide from a lexical point of view.

But of course, we don't care so much about lexical meaning. We do care. But more importantly, we care about doctrinal understanding. When it comes to a doctrinal understanding, taking now the meaning of the word to a doctrinal level, for the Apostle John, abiding is a synonym of union with Christ. You would have heard many times that the Apostle Paul, in Ephesians, speaks of the Christian being in Christ.

This is the way that the Apostle John speaks of union with Christ, that we are united to Christ. For the Apostle John, the Apostle John many times uses also in him, but he primarily will refer to the experience of the Christian as abiding in Christ. Doctrinally speaking, for the Apostle John, abiding is this process of remaining at the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, not temporarily, but permanently. And as the result of that abiding or that communion with the Lord Jesus Christ, you will have conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you pay attention to verse six of chapter number two, the Apostle has explained there what it is to be in God and what it is to abide in Christ.

In verse six, he says, Chapter 2, whoever says he abides in Him, you see it there in verse 6 of chapter 2, whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked. If anyone is going to abide in the Lord Jesus Christ, then the abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ, the remaining permanently in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ is going to end up in the walking as he walked conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, my dear brother and dear sister, just as the Apostle John, Just as the Apostle Paul exalts the importance of union with Christ to the point that genuine salvation is to be in Christ. So genuine salvation is equivalent to abiding in Christ. No genuine believer is not in Christ, first of all.

And secondly, no genuine believer who is walking in the light does not abide in Christ. Now, a genuine believer might temporarily not be in the presence of the Savior due to spiritual darkness, as we spoke in 1 John 1. temporal spiritual darkness, but it's going to be the law, or it's going to be the pattern of the life of the genuine believer, the one of abiding at the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is remaining in Him, in communion and in fellowship with Him. This apostle writing the words of the Lord Jesus Christ emphasizes this term or this concept of this doctrine of abiding in John chapter 15. Come with me to John chapter 15, and I want to show you a little bit deeper what the Apostle John understood from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ what abide is supposed to be and how we are supposed to understand it.

Let us come to John chapter 15, please, brethren. You will have those 11 verses, the first 11 verses of John chapter 15, brethren. Brethren, abiding in Christ is fundamental for a Christian life. Abiding is essential for a Christian life. We can preach, we can move, we can pray, we can write, we can evangelize, we can do whatever we want.

All of it can be done in the flesh. The flesh can be trained, we can train ourselves through use and repetition and activity to find ourselves doing, doing, doing and not able to discern that what we do is the result of the routine of the flesh or actually the presence of the Holy Spirit in us. When we do not abide in Christ and we are able to do, do, do, do, do, that means that something like that has already taken place. That means that you have already moved yourself in such a way that you can repeat and do and move and preach and go and give your life even if you want for Christianity or for the gospel. And if you're not abiding in Christ, let me tell you that there is very likely that you have managed to convince yourself to deceive yourself into the trickery.

I hope that that is a word that have just came into my mind of just repeating things in your life. The trick of your flesh that has now deceived you into repetitious activity. Abiding, 16 times is directly mentioned or indirectly or implicitly mentioned in those first 11 verses. Sometimes in the way of synonym, sometimes in the word abide itself. I want us just to simply pay attention to it, to those 11 verses.

Of course, we're not going to be able to address everything that is in there. But I want you to see a couple of things. Verse 1, first 11 verses. I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me, that is the first allusion, every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away.

And every branch that does not bear fruit, he prunes that he may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, we see that word there in verse 4. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me.

I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me, and I in him, He, it is, that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch, and he withers, and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. Fearful there. Verse 7.

If you abide in me, and my words Abide in you. Ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. But this my father is glorified that you very much root and so prove to be my disciples as the father has loved me. So have I loved you. Abide in my love.

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you that your joy may be in you. and that your joy may be full, brethren." A couple of things that I want you to see from there. First of all, that this is spoken to Christians.

You see there in verse 3, already you have been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. And what is spoken to Christians is a commandment. And that commandment is a commandment to abide. Abide in Me and I in you. The same does the Apostle John in 1 John 2, verse 28, that we are to abide in Him.

Abiding is not only a concept that we explain of the Christian life, but brethren, is a commandment. a commandment that has been given to the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we are to abide in the Lord Jesus Christ, that this location, this dwelling place that is Christ Himself is where we are to remain. And abiding is not so much a repetitious religious activity of chronologically and sequentially and very organizedly, addressing the Scriptures, or praying a prayer, or coming to church, but rather is the whole experience of the being that enters in fellowship with the living person of Jesus Christ, in which we partake of His presence in such a way that when we depart, we have been touched by the hand of the Savior, that now those who see us see the hand of God upon us, that we become like the Lord, that if anyone says that he abides in Him, He ought to walk as He walked, as the Apostle says in 1 John 2 verse 6. Abiding in Him is a commandment upon which, my dear brother and sister, the life of the Christian depends. The life of the Christian who is Christ Himself is provided, is given to the believer through the constant, ongoing abiding in the presence of the Lord.

Abide in Me is the commandment that the Savior gives to His disciples, that we are to abide in Him. Brethren, you are here seated on a church service. Are you abiding in the presence of Christ? Are you so taken by the beauty of the Savior that your soul is necessarily and organically moved to abide in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ? Or have you trained yourself enough to fulfill the requirements of religion so that you will diligently attend and come and do?

But in the secret place of your mind and in the secret place of your heart, your heart, your soul is separated from this Jesus Christ. Have you trained yourself in the flesh in such a way that you have developed the ability to do, to go, to travel, to push, to move, to speak, to study, to pray? when you have not experienced the beauty, the glories of Christ? Do you have to push yourself into coming to the presence of Christ? Do you have to obligate yourself into coming to His words?

Do you have to force yourself to pray? Do you have to force yourself to do and to do, and this constantly and ongoingly? Brethren, one does not choose a dwelling place against his will. One chooses a dwelling place because one wants to dwell there, and because one wants to live there, and because one wants to spend there, because you want to put your things in your dwelling place, and you want to make your dwelling place your dwelling place. You dwell in your dwelling place because your affections are moved to go there and to abide and to remain in that dwelling place.

And this is a commandment that we either keep or that we break. Because this is not only an explanation of what every single Christian does and will do. This is a commandment that is given to the Christian of which much fruitfulness depends. Not only fruitfulness, you pay attention there, much fruit you will bear if you abide in Christ. not the fruit that is seen by the eyes of men, not the fruit that is seen by the eyes of religion, not the fruit that is seen by the institution of the visible church, but the fruit that brings glory to the Father, the fruit that the Father sees and perceives, the genuine transformation of the souls, the genuine devotion of the heart to the person of Jesus Christ, the genuine visitation of light to the place of darkness, fruit that brings glory to the Father, and this is the result of abiding.

Do you want to glorify the Father? We're told there in verse 8. By these, the Father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. Brethren, do you want to glorify the Father? But pay attention to the question.

Do you want, do you desire to glorify the Father? Or you're satisfied enough glorifying yourself or you're satisfied enough that what you want is to glorify your reputation, your name and your little empire that fire will come and destroy. Do you want to build yourself your tower of Babel just to give unto yourself a name that will be forgotten one week after you die? Do you want, my dear brother and sister, to glorify the Father with fruits in Christ Jesus that will endure unto eternity because of the fruits of Christ in the Holy Spirit? Do you desire that?

Because then I'm not addressing my mind or yours, I'm addressing your affections. And our affections leave us with no space. Our conscience testifies, yes or no, of the desires of our heart. Do we generally desire to glorify the Father? Because if that is the case, if we want to glorify the Father, then abiding in the person of Christ is required.

And pay careful attention, my dear brother and sister, that abiding here is intrinsically and very strongly connected to the words of Christ. You read that, right? Connected to the words of Christ. Where are the words of Christ, the ones that cleanse the disciples according to verse 3? Already you are clean, because the words that I have spoken to you are the words of Christ, the ones that bring joy to the soul of the disciples.

According to verse 11, these things I have spoken to you, these words I have spoken to you, that my joy, Christ's joy, will be in you, and that your joy might be full, are the words of Christ. We're told in verse 7, if you abide in Me and My words abide in you, then you can pray whatever you desire or whatever you ask and it will be given to you. The Apostle Daniel will say in 1 John chapter 5 that this is according to God's will. But it's the Word of the Lord. And pay attention, my dear brother and sister here, that he is not relating or he is not speaking about the written words.

But rather here he is speaking of the heard words. The words that Christ speaks and the audience hears. He's not speaking about the words that are only heard with a human ability, as if it was only about hearing the noises of the words that are uttered with the mouth. But rather, the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking about genuinely hearing the words of the Savior. Words, of course, that are written in the Scriptures, but he's not speaking about the ability, the fleshly ability that a person has to come and understand with the mind the words that are written in the book, but rather the ability that no one has, that is only given by the Spirit to hear the words of the Savior.

Because when a person hears the words of the Savior, that person is cleansed. When a person hears the words of the Savior, that person desires to abide in the presence of the Savior. When a person hears the words of the Savior, the joy of the Lord abides in that person and that joy becomes the strength by which that person lives, operates and does all things. It is the heard word. A very fearful example of this we are given in John chapter 5.

If you quickly go to chapter number 5, we see the accusation of the Lord Jesus Christ against the Jews, brethren, who had the words of God, who had the scriptures, who had the letters of the words, yet they have never heard the voice of the Father. They had never heard the voice of the Father. Hence, they were not able to abide or to receive the Lord Jesus Christ. If you carefully pay attention to John chapter 5 and in verse 37, you can see there, brethren, the witnesses that we generally know, four or five witnesses that the Lord Jesus Christ speaks about Himself there. And in verse 37 we're told these words, and the Lord is speaking to the Jews, "...

and the Father who sent Me has Himself borne witness about Me." Then He says something terrifying there, "...His voice you have never heard." His form you have never seen." These are the people that had the Scriptures, that had studied the Scriptures, that had read the Scriptures, that were very diligent in memorizing the Scriptures and keeping the Scriptures with themselves.

They had never heard nor seen the Lord. Verse 38 says, "...and you do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe the One whom He has sent." Faith. Faith, once again, brethren, the necessity so that the words of the Savior will abide in us.

Faith, once again, the necessity so that we will hear the voice of God. Faith, once again, the necessity to have a genuine encounter with the words of the Lord. Faith, once again, the requirement and the necessity to be spoken by the triune God of this universe. Yes, we have the scriptures and yes, we can read them aloud. But brethren, that we may not believe that just by reading the scriptures and reading them aloud, God has spoken to us.

It takes much more to be than to be done just to simply read the scriptures with our minds and with our intellect to be spoken by the Lord. It requires Faith. And that faith, when it's combined with the presence of the Holy Spirit, brings light to the heart of the one who is exposed to those words. And when that person is exposed to those words, brethren, they will decide to abide in those words. The heart has been enlightened to the power, to the beauty, to the excellencies of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Brethren, are we in a condition like the Jews? Are we walking in ways like the Jews? Brethren, are we? Are we walking in ways in which we are content and satisfied in having this book and this simple Christianity, this profession of things that we do, while we lack the power of being spoken by the Lord, of hearing the voice of the Lord in such a way that when we hear His voice, We have no other option than just to abide and to remain in Him. Because brethren, that is the experience of abiding.

And I don't know if you paid attention to 1 John 2, verse 24, but there the apostle does not say that, "...that which you read..." in the beginning is what you are to abide in or let abide in yourself. But rather, he said, that which you heard in the beginning, right? That which you heard.

And of course, the apostle is not speaking about the human ability just to simply receive the sounds of the preacher, because the Antichrist who were in the church and went out of the church, they had also heard. the words that were initially preached, and the message that had been communicated from the very beginning. But it was only the believer, and the one who had the anointing of the Spirit, who had genuinely heard the message, and who had the ability, in and of himself or herself, by the presence of the Holy Spirit, to let that message abide in them, or in her, or in him. Come back to 1 John chapter 2. That is what it is to abide, brethren, that you may not be taken captive by the things of this world, by the temptations of this world.

Brethren, that you may not convince yourself that you're so busy, that you're so busy with work and building this and moving this and going to this place, that you will not convince yourself that you're so busy in the things of this world that you can I don't have the word in English, I have it in Spanish, but only the brethren will understand what I have in Spanish. That you will just simply put away, not abiding in Christ. That you will neglect, is the word, abiding in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. That you will not create a style of life such, that you will not create a type of life such, in which you are so busy running and going and moving and pushing, and many times pushing and putting labels of Christianity to all of those things, in which you no longer have time to genuinely abide in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, in which you no longer have time, disposition, or more sadly, this position in your heart to spend time with the Lord, in which in the morning you are more quick to wake up because you have to go and push and do. But when it comes to the presence of the Lord, you're lazy and slothful.

That when it comes to spending time with the Lord, you're quick and you're OK just to go and do this secular thing, which we have to do. But when it comes to the things of the Lord, we have all excuses and all reasons why not to do it. Brethren, your life depends upon abiding, presently abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ and in His message. The message that you heard from the very beginning. The second question that I have in my mind is, what is that which we heard from the beginning?

Or what is that that the Christian is supposed to make abide in themselves so that they will be able to abide in the Son and in the Father? What is that that the Christian has heard that is supposed to let abide or allowed to presently abide so that this requirement, once fulfilled, we can have fellowship and abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, what we see there in John chapter 15 is the word of the Lord, because if the words of the Lord abide in us, then we will abide in the Lord. And if the Lord abides in us, we abide in his word. And the word comes together with the Lord Jesus Christ because the Lord Jesus Christ is the word himself.

But brethren, let me submit to you that for the Apostle John, there's something more specific that he wants the church of the early century and us to have in our minds. We could put any answer there. When the Apostle leaves that open, any answer could be given. But the Apostle left that relative pronoun, that or what, there because he knew that the people who will receive this letter, they will know what he was referring to. Perhaps we might be tempted to believe that the Apostle was referring to what he said in 1 John 1, verse 5, in which he said, This is the message that we receive from Him and we proclaim to you, that God is light and in Him is not darkness at all.

That is a message that they received from the beginning, that God is light and in Him is not darkness at all. Perhaps that is the message that the Apostle wants the people to keep and to abide in, and that will empower them to have fellowship with the Son and with the Father. Or perhaps is the message that was communicated to them in verse 12 of chapter 2, in which she brings this confirmation that your sins have been forgiven. Perhaps is the reality of the gospel in the fact that we have been forgiven, that we have received this forgiveness from the Lord and that we are to let that presently abide in us. And if that presently abide in us, then we're going to have fellowship or communion or abide in the Son and in the Father.

All of these things could be good answers to that which is supposed to remain inside of us. But let me submit to you that is a very important concept in the mind of the Apostle John that I'm going to show you from the scriptures, not before going back to John, chapter five, to show you an important comment that the Lord Jesus Christ makes of the disciples or better makes of the Jews who did not have the voice of the Lord or who were not spoken by the Lord. If you return there to John, chapter five, the Lord seems to make a comment rather non-related to what he had just said there. He has said that these Jews had the Scriptures, that they had understood the Scriptures or that they were searching the Scriptures better. He had said also that the Scriptures were bearing witness of the Lord, but they could not hear the voice of God.

And then he says something very interesting. If you pay attention to John chapter 5, In verse, let's just read from 37 once again. And the father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have not heard, his form you have never seen. And you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.

You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. And it is they that bear witness about me. Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people. And then he says in verse 32, 42.

But I know, brethren, but I know, the Lord who knows it all things, but I know that you do not have the love of God within you. You do not have the love of God within you. Then in John chapter 8, he equates to being a genuine Christian or a genuine believer to love the Savior. If you love the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be a son of the Father. You do not have the love of God within you.

Let me submit to you that in the many answers and in the many things that we are called to remember, and the many things and the many virtues and glories of the gospel that we are to remember, that we have been justified by faith and that we have peace with God according to the Apostle John in Romans chapter 5, or that we have received an inheritance, undefiled inheritance by virtue of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Peter chapter 1, or that we are going to be sanctified according to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, that we're going to receive all of these glorious blessings according to Ephesians chapter 1, these blessings that we have received in Jesus Christ. The one that takes priority in the mind of the Apostle John, in his mind, is love. He wants the Christian to remember love. And for him, love is so important that my present abiding in Jesus, my present abiding with the Son and with the Father is contingent upon my ability to let the love of God that I heard and I received upon curvation to remain in me. The Apostle will say, as I'm going to show you, that love is that which presently empowers me and you and every Christian to genuinely and experientially abide in the presence of the Son and of the Father.

That which we are to hurt or that which we are to allow to be in us, which we have hurt, is that we have been loved or the love of God. Pay careful attention to 1 John. Let's return to 1 John chapter 3, and I will show you the parallel passages in which it's very clear that this is what the apostle has in mind. Return, please, to 1 John chapter 3, and let us see this, and mighty Lord, help us to see, brethren, the power of what love can do in our present lives. Pay attention to verse 11 in verse 3, and that is very clearly stated there.

For this is the message, it says in verse 11 of chapter 3, right? For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning. What is the message? That we should love one another. Brethren, the gospel or the perception or the preaching of the Apostle John can be very simplistic for the cardinal mind.

Brethren, the preaching of the gospel of John can be very simplistic and too easy for the cardinal mind. Because the apostle will call us to love, love, love. And when you compare that with the technicalities and the depths of the doctrine of Paul, when he speaks about justification and sanctification and glory and the union with Christ, that may seem to be a little bit too simple, a little bit too basic. When the apostle reduces the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ many times than only here to the experience of love. But as I said, that to the carnal mind.

Because when a person has come to the realization of the immensity of the love of God that was manifested for his or her soul in the sending of his son to be a propitiation for your sins, and that being the definition of love, and that together with the fact that God is love, and that the love of God who is Himself was manifested in the giving of Himself in the Lord Jesus Christ, When the Lord speaks to you and teaches you that glory, that your wicked and deserving soul was the object of this magnificent love, my dear brother and sister, the simplicity of the words of the Apostle John becomes the depths of doctrine, becomes an ocean of beauty, becomes an ocean of power that enables the person and the Christian in the present time to not desire any other thing than to remain in the presence of the Savior. Of course, He expands this concept, not only there in verse 11 of chapter 3, but He is going to make it plain and clear in chapter 4 when you go to verse 13. And pay attention to this text of the Scriptures, my dear brother and sister, because here we have the testimony of the power of love of remembering that we have been loved to move us to presently abide in the presence of the Son and of the Father. And I hope that you can see it simply as we read verse 13 of chapter 4. By this we know we abide in Him and He in us.

This is what I have been speaking about for the last time. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us His Spirit. We have been anointed by the Holy One in chapter 2. And we have seen and testified that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. We confess the Son according to chapter 2.

Now he reinforces that in verse 15. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God. Verse 16, pay attention to this. So we have come to know and to believe that the love that God has for us. God is love and whoever abides in love abides in God.

Whoever abides in love abides in God. Why? Very simple, the apostle says, because God is love. What is the message that the Christian is to remember that they have heard? That you have been loved by God.

Of course, we put this in light and understanding of all the things that the Scripture says, my dear brother and sister. But for some strange reason that only the divine council understand and that the Scripture called that eternal union with Christ and that we cannot comprehend and understand, we are the objects of the love of God in the person of Jesus Christ. That in your feebleness, in all the sins that we have committed, in all of our shortcomings, in all of our difficulties, that when we find ourselves without strength or without power to continue to endure in the present time in fellowship and in communion with the Son and with the Father, Thinking and remembering and knowing that we have been loved by God is that which makes us abide in the Son and in the Father. That is what verse 16 says. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment. because as He is also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. Brethren, do you have issues of assurance of your salvation?

Come to the love of God that was manifested upon the cross. Do you doubt upon your walking, or your ways, or your thoughts, and you're uncertain about the things of this world? Come to the love of God that was manifested upon the cross. Remember, and remember, and remember the message that you were spoken, the message that you received, that when you were dead in your trespasses, He sent His only begotten Son to die upon the cross in a manifestation of His eternal love to die for your sins, the things that you have done, you continue to do and you will do. And this is the greatest manifestation that love can have, because the only one who is love is God Himself and brothers and sisters.

That is why love is the fulfillment of the law. That is why love is that which empowers faith, Galatians chapter 5 verse 6. That's why love is the queen of the virtues. That's why love, as we behold it in the person of Jesus Christ, is that which empower us to genuinely do, to genuinely move, to genuinely abide. Because when the person really hears, I love you in my son, not from the mouth of the Colombian, but from the mouth of God Himself.

When you hear in your soul, I love you in Christ, and I love you so much that I gave my son for your soul, that empowers you, my dear brother and sister, not to love the world. not the things of the world, but rather to have the love of the Father inside of you. My dear brother, my dear sister, do you like power in sanctification? Do you like power in abiding in the presence of Christ? Think upon the magnificent love that was shown upon the cross for your wicked, dying soul.

Do you lack power to speak in truth and to speak the things of God? Come to the realization that He loved you and He gave Himself for your soul. It is this love, the one that compels us, according to 2 Corinthians 5, verse 14. The love of Christ compels us, moves us, that if He died for all, that if the Lord Jesus Christ died for all, then we are to live this life for Him who died for all. He was risen, He was victorious, and He was victorious because He loved us, He gave Himself for us, and it was the desire of the triune God that a people taken out of this world will be captured unto Him to remain unto eternity.

Brethren, if the love of God does not move you, then there's absolutely nothing that is going to move you. And if the words were not sufficient, let me just simply conclude with this. The Apostle Paul says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 9 or 11, 9 or 11, I think. He has no need, he says, I have no need to write to you about brotherly affection, but it's God the one that teaches you to love. He is God Himself, the One who manifests His love so powerfully in us, that He is the One that empowers us to love one another.

Lack of conformity to Christ is lack of genuine knowledge and understanding that we have been loved by Him. If you let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning, If you let that abide in you, brethren, when the world is tempting you to deviate and just to go from one place to another, but if you, by God's grace, if you let that which you heard from the beginning presently abide in you, that yes, the Lord loves you, that yes, this is not just simply a liberal Christianity preaching that is scriptural, that if the Lord, has, by His grace, empowered you to have that message abiding in the present time, that He has loved you in the person of Christ upon the cross. This is going to move you to have fellowship with the Son and with the Father. And this is the promise that He has given you, eternal life. my brother and sister, and how are we going to do so?

Quickly come to 1 John 2, verse 3 and 4. Please pay attention to that. 1 John 2, verse 5. I mean, how are we going to keep that love? You know how Jude says that we are to keep ourselves in the love of God, in verse 21?

Praying in the Holy Spirit, we are to keep ourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of the Lord upon His appearing. It's what Jude says there in verse 21. But here in 1 John chapter 2, we're told this, in verse 4, "...whoever says, I know him, but does not keep his commandments, he's a liar, and the truth is not in him." But verse 5, "...

whoever keeps his word." in Him, inside of Him, truly the love of God is perfected. The love of God is made complete. The experience of love, not the love that is unchangeable. He has loved us already.

He loved us so much that He gave His only begotten Son. But the experience of the love of God, the experience of the manifestation of the love of God that Judah speaks in verse 22 or 21. That experience of the love is kept in us perfected by the keeping of His word. Because if you abide in Him, you abide in His words. Because if you desire Him, you desire His words.

And the more that you spend time with the Lord, and the more that you commune with the Lord, and the more that you would commune with His words, my dear brother and sister, there's no other necessity, there's no other option better, that if the Spirit of God comes upon you, the result of it will be die to self, death to self, and the exaltation of the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. What then is left, my dear brother and sister, other than just simply to remain in communion and in fellowship with this glorious Lord that is calling everyone at this very time and this very hour to repent? My dear brother and sister, if you have not, spend or given yourself to abiding in Christ. If you have not spent or given yourself to be in the presence of Christ, then he says, he's just and faithful to forgive us all sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is the time, this is the moment in which the voice of the Lord speaks to you.

that you will come to Him in repentance, and that you will ask that the Lord will empower you to abide in His presence, to abide in His Word, to abide in His commandments, to desire to be like the Savior. And if there's any one of you, brother, sister, who knows of someone that is not in Christ, or that knows someone that is not in the presence of Jesus Christ, our only mission is to call them to Christ. Because this is the only dwelling place that will give us security from the wrath that is to come. This is the only place that will protect us from the deceitfulness of our flesh. Please come to Christ.

Let us continue to come to our dwelling place that we will receive the majesties and the glories of the presence of the One who created all things and is the One that is able to sustain us until the end. Amen. Amen.