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Scripture Reading: John 1:12-13; 3:5-6; 4:24; 6:63; 14:17-20, 23; 15:1, 4-5, 7-8; 20:22
The Gospel of John, especially in the verses given above, answers the question of how to abide in Christ. In 1:12-13 there is the matter of receiving Him: “As many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name, who were begotten...of God.” Have you received Him? Sometimes doubts come in after we are saved. Suppose, however, I ask you where you got your Bible. You will have no trouble telling me exactly where and how and when you received it. With the matter of receiving Christ, it may be more difficult to give a clear answer. John 1:12 can resolve this uncertainty for you. Receiving Him means believing into His name. When did you receive Christ? It was when you believed into His name. How did you receive Him? It was also by believing into His name.
Verse 13 goes on to say that we were born of God. This is not a human birth, making us a certain nationality. Those who have never experienced the new birth find such a term incomprehensible. Even many Christians are not thoroughly clear about the divine birth. We all need to see that besides our first birth into the kingdom of men, we have had another birth into the kingdom of God.
In regeneration we were born of God with the divine life and nature. In John 3 the matter of the new birth comes up again. The Greek term is properly rendered “born anew” or “born from above,” not “born again.” We have not only had an earthly birth; we have also been born from the heavens.
John 3:6 says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” This birth from above involves two spirits, the divine and the human. The new birth is by the divine Spirit in our human spirit. In this birth two spirits meet.
In John 4 there is another matter involving the two spirits. Verse 24 says, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.” The proper worship is to worship the Spirit in our spirit.
Our topic in this chapter is “How to Abide in Christ.” It is this book of John that gives us the key. While chapter 15 is the central chapter on this, the surrounding chapters are all related to it. For many years I did not realize this. As a young man seeking after the Lord, I surely loved the word in John 15 on abiding. But I kept wondering how to do it.
Our efforts to abide in Christ seemed always to end in failure. Because of such frustration, we were compelled to spend more time in the Gospel of John. In order to uncover the secret of abiding, which is revealed in the middle of this book, we thought that we should follow the principle of studying the whole book thoroughly. This we did.
To abide in Christ, then, begins with the divine birth in chapter 1. Chapter 3 goes on to tell us that this birth from above involves two spirits. The worship in John 4, of the Spirit by the human spirit, also involves the two spirits.
In 6:63 John proceeds from the two spirits to the word. “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” Abiding is not merely a matter of the Spirit; the word is also involved. The Greek here is the instant, practical, present word of the Lord.
In chapter 14 the Lord and His disciples were together when suddenly He told them that He was going away. He told them not to be sad, that by His leaving, another Comforter could come. He was implying that however wonderful His presence with them was, He could only be among them, not within them. But when the other Comforter came, He “shall be in you” (v. 17). This other Comforter would be none other than Himself as the Spirit of reality. That is why He said in the next verse, “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you” (v. 18). As the Spirit He could be not only with them but also in them: “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (v. 20).
Notice 14:23: “Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him.” This word abode is the noun form of abide. The Father and Son will come to the one who loves Them not only for a visit but to make an abode. This abode is mutual. They will abide in him, and he will abide in Them. The abiding in chapter 15 comes from the abode, or mutual abiding place, in 14:23.
I trust you are beginning to see that to understand the matter of abiding in Christ, you need the whole Gospel of John.
Chapter 1 tells us that Christ as God took on human form (v. 14), but when we meet Him at the end of the Gospel, He has another form, that of the Spirit. In the evening of the day He was resurrected, He came to where the disciples were meeting and stood in their midst (20:19). How did He get into the room when the doors were shut? No one opened the door for Him, but suddenly He was there. He talked to the disciples, showed them His hands and side, and even breathed into them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (vv. 20-22). In so doing He was breathing Himself into them as the life-giving Spirit. By inhaling the holy breath (spirit and breath are the same word in the Greek), the disciples were receiving Christ as the Spirit into them. After this meeting with the disciples, there is no record in John that the Lord left. From this point on, He was in them, no longer just among them. He had fulfilled His promise to return as the Comforter and abide in them.
How can we be branches in the vine? How can we abide in Him and have Him abide in us? For many years I could not figure this out, until one day I saw that as the life-giving Spirit He had entered into my spirit, just to be one with me. I am one with Him not in my mind, emotion, or will but in my spirit.
Today the Lord is no more only Jesus in the flesh. He is now the life-giving Spirit. Concerning His exaltation, He is at the Father’s right hand as Lord of all (Acts 2:32-36). But concerning His indwelling, He is within us as the life-giving Spirit. Because He is in our spirit, we are one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17). This one spirit is the vine. These two spirits are one in the divine life and one in the divine nature.
If you see this, there is only one more thing I need to mention, and that is how to abide in Him. There is no need for you to do anything except abide.
I would like to tell you the secret of abiding. This is based upon my experience, not on the black and white pages of the Bible. Matters concerning life are not characterized by feeling. If you have a stomachache, you know something is wrong. If you have a pain in the chest, you need to see a doctor. When you are in good health, however, you are not conscious of any particular feeling. The same is true when you are abiding. As soon as you are not abiding in Christ, you are aware of it. If you criticize a brother, you know deep within that you are not abiding. Even in a small matter, like smiling a little, you may sense that you are not abiding. You may say yes to a question and sense that your answer was a political one, spoken apart from the abiding.
When you find yourself in a difficult situation, do not react. If you feel that you are not abiding in Christ, do not say anything. If your wife starts an argument with you and you feel that you are not abiding, do not answer or even look at her. Do not even pray. Let her keep talking. Do not say, “Praise the Lord!” That would be coming from your flesh and would only further aggravate her. Practicing not to do anything is the negative secret of abiding in the Lord.
If you feel drawn to love something apart from the abiding, refrain from loving it, and instead pray, “Lord, I turn away from whatever does not come from my abiding in You.”
By this divine birth two spirits have been joined into one. The divine part within has the desire to worship the Father; the divine Spirit would worship by your human spirit. This divine part also loves and appreciates the words spoken by the Lord, His instant practical speaking. This divine part further tells you that the Father and the Son are making an abode with you and that you are abiding in Him. Whenever you sense within that you are not abiding, say, “Lord, forgive me and cleanse me. I do not want to be out of the abiding. I want to stay in You all the time.”
In this abiding we pray without ceasing. Our prayer while we are abiding is simply our spontaneous trust in the Lord.
How many of you will practice this? Those who do will find that they are in practice one with the Lord. They are one in the mingled spirit. At times they will not say even a word. They will not take any action. They will not express an opinion. They simply remain in the spirit that involves the two spirits. In this abiding they have holiness; victory over sin, the world, Satan, the flesh, and the self; spirituality; the actuality of being a member of the Body of Christ; the normal Christian life; and the proper church life. No problem remains, for they are one with the Son of God, who has conquered all the negative things. Instead of striving, they enjoy what He has accomplished. Their unceasing prayer is the expression of their constant trust in this living One who is now one spirit with them.
This should be the experience of all of us. I have tried various ways in the past to overcome sin and be victorious. Now we have learned that the secret of all the “hows” is in the abiding.
When we abide in this mingled spirit, every spiritual blessing is ours, because it is wrapped up in this dear One. In Him, this all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, is the processed God, the uplifted humanity, the all-inclusive death and resurrection, redemption, and ascension. Let us abide in Him and enjoy His all-inclusiveness.
To believe in the Lord is adequate for us to have the divine birth, but to enjoy the divine birth by abiding, we need to love Him. The Gospel of John first tells us to believe into Him, then to love Him. “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him” (14:23). This making of the mutual abode depends upon a constant love on our part. On His side the love is always there.
Keep this vision always before you. Do not allow any veil to cover your eyes. Do not be sidetracked by the enemy. Do not say that you cannot stand a certain brother, that the church life is not so good in your locality, or that the recovery has gone downhill these past years. Any such remark will keep you out of the abiding. One complaint can cut your lifeline. To criticize or murmur is like slashing your wrists. Your life will ebb away. It is not for you to evaluate whether the church is high or low or whether the brothers are spiritual or fleshly. Your business is to abide in Him. If the church is really poor, by your abiding it will be uplifted and enriched. The remedy for the church comes from the abiding.
Stay in this divine place, involving the two spirits. Worship here. Receive the instant word of the Lord. As you live in Him and He dwells in you, there is a mutual abode. In this place you are holy. Your Christ will be no longer merely doctrinal. He will be your experience all the time. You will be able to testify that you are one with Him and He with you, even that you are abiding in this oneness.
I believe we have all experienced abiding in this way. The problem has been that we have not made it a constant matter. Now we must come to the place of constant abiding. The whole world will be under our feet. We will not utter a vain word. Whatever we are will be Christ. Whatever we do will be Christ. Whatever we say will be Christ. “To me, to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21) will be our testimony. Galatians 2:20 will be true of us — that we have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer we who live, but it is Christ who lives in us. It will be hard to distinguish whether this is He or we. We and He are one. This is the abiding. The Lord’s recovery needs this. There is the need of this abiding life so that the church life may be enriched.
