John 15.
THE answer to this question is very simple. The Lord Jesus has said, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me.”
The word "abide" occurs many times in this chapter. As believers from the heart, we well remember the happy moment when we first trusted in Christ. There stole into the heart like a beautiful light the sweet consciousness that we had passed from death into life through faith in His name, leading us to exclaim, "My beloved is mine and I am his; he feedeth among the lilies."'
Then the Lord became our object of adoration and contemplation; then the soul reveled in the enjoyment of unhindered fellowship with Him continually; then prayer was a source of constant delight; then His promises were exceeding great and precious to us; then the world seemed too poor and small to engage attention; then we reckoned ourselves to be "dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord," causing us to sing aloud for joy.
Well we are to abide, to continue, to remain, just there, knowing our own need and weakness„ and casting ourselves in confidence upon His fullness. We are, in this, to stay where we were ten, twenty, it may be fifty years ago. As to our trust and the foundation of our hope, we are never to leave the place of child-like faith; though we must never rely upon any feelings, any experiences, any attainments, any knowledge of our own. But in every fresh discovery of the evil of our hearts, in every fresh manifestation of His boundless grace, in health and in sickness, in life and in death, we may say, "Christ is my all.”
Thus it is, and thus only that we abide in Him, and the first result of abiding in Him is fruit; "He that abideth in me and I in him, bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing." We are prone to think we can do some little thing, but severed from Him we can do nothing, for we cannot think a right thought, nor have a right desire, nor perform a right act, nor take one step forward in the Christian life, nor draw one breath, but as we continue in the place of dependence and communion. His life flows through us; even as the life of the vine penetrates and vivifies the branch, so He says to us, "From me is thy fruit found.”
The second result is answered prayer: "If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you.”
Abiding in Him is asking in His name, and His promise is, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son."
A beggar who takes to the bank a check having upon it the name of a rich man gets all the money demanded, because he represents the rich man, and is for the time one with him. So he who abides in Christ is one with Him, and when he prays is as sure to obtain what he asks, as Christ Himself would most certainly be heard and answered by the Father.
The third result of abiding in Him is love: "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you, abide in my love." Notice, He does not tell us to abide in our love for Him, but in His love to us. It imparted great gladness to our hearts once to believe that He loved us notwithstanding our own unworthiness. He wishes us to abide in the firm persuasion, that having loved His own in the world, He loves them unto the end, and that nothing in heaven, nor in earth, nor in hell, shall be ever able to separate us from that eternal, infinite and unchangeable love of God which is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The fourth result is obedience: “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in His love. "There are many who never hear nor read the word" commandments" without thinking of the Ten Commandments, or the ten "knots;" but since God sent His well-beloved Son to the cross, this is His commandment, that we should "believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment." Under the law God's commandment was, "Love me;" under grace God's commandment is, "Believe in my love for you." Under the law the commandment was, "Love thy neighbor as thyself;" under grace the commandment is, "Love one another as I have loved you." And the Lord Jesus Christ promises the man who keeps His commandments, that He and the Father will love him, and manifest themselves to him, and come and abide with him.
The fifth result of abiding in Him is joy: "These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might abide in you, and that your joy might be full." Literally this is, that my joy in you might abide. He actually has joy in His blood-bought people. And it may be said to them now, as truly as of old, "The joy of the Lord is your strength."
The time was when it could be written to the followers of the Savior, " Whom having not seen ye love, in whom though now ye see him not [with the natural eye], yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. If such joy entered into the experience of Christian’s to-day, can anyone doubt their fruitfulness?
The sixth result is fellowship: "Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth, but I have called you friends: for all things that I have heard of, my Father I have made known unto you." Blessed fellowship! when He takes us into the intimacy of His imparted secrets, and tells us of the Father's counsels, and of our future glory. The one thing better than prayer is communion; and this sweet and holy companionship He gives to those who abide in Him.
The seventh result is enduring service: "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain!' If we only abide in Him, fruitfulness shall surely follow. We shall gladly say with the apostle," I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." So the graft can say, I live yet not I, but the tree liveth in me, and the life I now live, I owe it to the choice of that life-giving tree, imparting to me all the flower, and fragrance, and fruitfulness there are in my life.