Search
The writings of the apostle John are in three categories — the Gospel, the three Epistles, and the book of Revelation. In his Gospel John tells us about abiding in the vine. In fact, this is the central thought in the Gospel of John. Not till we come to his Epistles, however, do we find how to abide in the vine. Then in Revelation we have the reaping.
Before we consider what the Epistles tell us of the way to abide in the vine, I would remind you of the vision shown us in John 15. It is nothing less than the dispensation of the Triune God. The Father is a husbandman cultivating a vine, the Son. What the Father is and does has become embodied in the Son. The Spirit transmits what the Father cultivates and what the Son embodies, into us the branches.
What is the secret of the growth and spread of this vine? Life. We the branches have only to live the life of this vine, grow this vine, and produce this vine. This life is simple and ordinary, without the encumbrances of organization, gifts, or doctrine. Life does not mean teachings, natural talents, plans, or activities. John 15 does not refer to teachings, gifts, and organization, though these are what Christianity requires for its existence and spreading. The vine in John 15 grows by life alone.
We need this vision to kill all our dependence on arrangements, schemes, and gifts. It is not easy to live such a simple life. We were born and raised in an environment that has encouraged us to teach, organize, use our gifts, and take action. These things are still in our blood. Sooner or later they will crop up, unless our natural man has been put to death. May God have mercy upon us, that our plans and activities may be fully killed and that we may see that He wants nothing but His Son lived out as our life and as our fruit. If we see this, we will prostrate ourselves before Him and repent of living by our natural man.
The Word is the embodiment of the Triune God and also of His life, light, and economy. The divine life is embodied in the printed page of the Bible. This Word is concrete and substantial. We can all touch and receive it. From the Lord’s word in 15:7, “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you,” we can see that our abiding in Him is a condition for His words abiding in us.
The result of this mutual abiding is fruit-bearing. If you were to ask the branches of a vine how they are able to bear fruit, they would say that they do not plan, organize, or use their gifts; their fruit is just the outflow of their inner life. Let us stop all our doings and just live Christ, grow Him, and produce Him. “Consider your ways. You have sown much, but you bring in little” (Hag. 1:5-6). What has been the result of all our labor?
In 1 John we are given the practical ways to experience abiding in Christ. The first chapter gives us the first way. We will consider the chapter verse by verse.
First John 1:1 says, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life.” By comparing this verse with the first verse of the Gospel of John, we know that “That which was from the beginning” is the Word. The Word is for hearing; it can also be seen and handled. The Word of life is a person; Word is capitalized because it is personified. This person is the Lord Jesus. If we add John 1:4, “In Him was life,” to the description of Him in John 1:1 as the Word, we have the term used here, the Word of life.
The Word of life cannot be separated from the Word of letters. To do so would be like separating your spirit from your body; the result would be death. The Word of life is one with the Word of letters. We must treasure this book, the Bible, because within its printed pages is the Word of life.
First John 1:2 says, “The life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and report to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us.” Eternal life can be reported. This is not just a matter of preaching or teaching but of showing the eternal life. The words which was with the Father and was manifested to us again indicate that eternal life is nothing less than Jesus Christ Himself. He is the very life.
Verse 3 says, “That which we have seen and heard we report also to you that you also may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” The word translated “report” means to hand over, not just to show you my hymn book, for example, but also to hand it over to you. When we hand this life over to others, the outcome is fellowship. If we have life, we are in the fellowship. We hand this eternal life over to others so that they may have fellowship with us, with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
Verses 4 and 5 say, “These things we write that our joy may be made full. And this is the message which we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” God’s being light to us is subjective. The context makes clear that God is light when we have life and are in the fellowship of life. In this fellowship of life is light. All these key words — Word, life, light, and God — are also found in John 1. The difference is that in the Gospel they are objective, whereas in the Epistles the reality of these words is within us. The light is in the fellowship; any darkness means that something is wrong.
First John 1:6 continues, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and are not practicing the truth.” With some of the saints, we can sense a transparency. As we talk and fellowship with them, there is no sense of any darkness or opaqueness. With others this is not so; perhaps only one part is transparent, and the rest of their being is in darkness. You may be in darkness yet say that you are not. You may be deceived by the enemy and unintentionally tell a lie. Unconsciously, you are deceiving others because of darkness within.
“If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin” (v. 7). Since light is God Himself, to walk in the light is to walk in God. We may go to a fellowship meeting or to someone’s home for fellowship and yet not have any true fellowship. Fellowship is not possible if we are in darkness. We may have outward contact, but without the flow of life within, there is no true fellowship. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood cleanses us from every sin. If we are walking in God and are in the fellowship, our real situation will be exposed. We will see that in this matter we were wrong and in that matter mistaken. Surely we will confess and ask the Lord’s forgiveness. This confession comes spontaneously from the light in the fellowship. Then the blood cleanses, even without our applying it. Too often we apply the blood in darkness, outside the fellowship, and in death. With such a loose, light attitude the blood does not cleanse.
The real abiding in Christ is a fine, sensitive matter. That is why we must go to the Lord day by day to spend time in His presence and to have Him check whether we are in life, in the fellowship, in the exposing light, and fully under the cleansing of the blood. If we are, we will have the assurance that we are transparent, with nothing between Him and us. This is abiding. To abide in Christ we need the fellowship, the light, the enlightening, the confessing, and the cleansing.
Verses 8 and 9 say, “If we say that we do not have sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Even in the apostle’s day some were saying that once they were saved, they no longer sinned. This is a deception. The reality is that we still have sin in us.
How do you confess your sins? There is a confession according to knowledge. You realize that you have offended people, so you ask the Lord to forgive you. Your conscience is not touched, you have no feeling of regret, and you shed no tears. This is a confession outside of life, with your real situation not exposed to the light. Whether God recognizes such a confession that is only according to knowledge I dare not say, but I can tell you, it has no effect on your life.
There is a confession that changes your life. While you are in the fellowship, the light shines penetratingly through you, exposing your true condition. You are filled with regret, the tears may flow, you confess, and the blood of Jesus cleanses you. True confession comes from the exposure of the inner light.
If you confess only according to knowledge, you may pray, “O Lord, forgive me for gossiping,” but within a short time you will find your loose talk continuing as before. But if you confess in life, with the light shining on your gossiping, such a confession will seal your lips, and it will be a long time before another vain word crosses them.
Notice that both sins and unrighteousness are mentioned in verse 9. When this light exposes, it has no regard for your person. Your actions may not have been sinful, but under this light you will see that you have wronged this brother, you have cheated that sister, in this matter you were unjust, and in that matter you were unrighteous. Your confession will touch the very depths of your being, not just your conscience, and it will transform you.
The final verse in 1 John 1 says, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (v. 10). We not only “have sin” (v. 8) but also “have sinned.” If we are in the fellowship, we will be fearful and trembling in the realization that we not only have sin but that we are also sinning.
What is the way to abide in Christ? First John 1 tells us that we must come to the light and be fully exposed, with no sin or unrighteousness hidden. We must recognize that we both have sin and do sin, that we are guilty of both sin and unrighteousness. We have no escape but to confess and be cleansed. By this way we abide in Christ.
If you are abiding in Christ, you will sense a light shining over you and within you. Be faithful to this shining. It will expose not your wife’s mistakes but yours. You may feel that you have only a little offense compared to your wife’s, but if you complain to the Lord that He should deal with her as well, you will be out of the abiding. If it is during the night that the light comes, you can tell the Lord that you will make things right with your wife first thing in the morning. By taking care of every matter in such a tender way, you will be kept in the abiding. Keep yourself fully clear under the exposure of the inner light.
In chapter 2 of 1 John we will consider only verse 27: “The anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone teach you; but as His anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, abide in Him.” Here we see that we abide in the vine according to the inner anointing. This anointing is a moving within us, the working of the all-inclusive Spirit as the compound ointment (see Exo. 30:23-25).
There is a contrast between these two chapters in 1 John. Chapter 1 deals with sins, failures, and unrighteousness, all of which are negative things. Chapter 2 is positive, with the anointing directing us what to say, what to do, and where to go.
Many times the sense of the anointing is “no” to our plans, our thoughts, or our words. How many times do we obey the “no”? Very few. This means that we are not abiding, for we are not going according to the teaching of the inner anointing.
Without a thorough knowledge of the Word, you will be unable to understand much of what the anointing teaches. In the Lord’s recovery every saint must be built up with the full knowledge of the Bible. Gradually, your ability to understand and interpret spiritual things will develop; this will give the anointing the means to speak to you.
It grieves me that in the Lord’s recovery these days there are so many signs of dissension, division, looseness, and lightness. A false liberty has crept in. These are offenses to the Lord. I entreat you to come back to the way of life. Spend time on the Word every day. If you run a race, you will be disqualified unless you stay within the two lines. We must be just as strict. All of us in the Lord’s recovery must maintain a high standard lest we give the recovery a bad name. Be strict with yourself about getting into the Word. Only in this way can you come to understand what the anointing is teaching you and thus abide in Him.
Now we come to the third way to abide in the vine. “If our heart blames us, it is because God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not blame us, we have boldness toward God” (3:20-21).
How can we have boldness toward God? It is by a heart without condemnation. This heart has been sprinkled from an evil conscience (Heb. 10:22) and is without offense toward God and men (Acts 24:16). We must deal with anything that our conscience condemns.
From these three chapters in 1 John we can see that to abide in Christ we must walk in the light so that the blood may cleanse us, obey the teaching of the inner anointing, and keep our heart clean from any condemnation. By taking care of these three things, we are abiding in Him.
