Well, good morning again. I don't know if it's a cedar fever or what, but it's been, ever since I got back with that cold and I got better, but then all the cedar, who knows, all the wind blowing. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. Father, I pray that you will accomplish your purposes for your people today through the preaching of your word. and ask that you would bless it to the good of your people. In Jesus' name, amen. So this is the sixth sermon on union with Christ. If you'll recall, last sermon was on abiding in Christ. We're gonna continue that theme today. Again, these topics are inexhaustible. I could spend forever and the hard part is trying to get all of the information I want to relate into some concise form and into some thematic or something that you can follow along with. But as we talked in the first messages of this series, Paul 218 times at least says, in Christ, in the beloved, in him, talks about being in Christ, in Christ, in us. This is a total and complete identification with Christ, meaning the perfect life that he lived, God counts that, he accredits that to our account as if we had lived that perfect life. That's mind blowing. And then his propitiatory death, the fact that he came when God looked at him and treated him as if he had lived the life we lived. This exchange, this complete relationship is something that we need to dwell on much, that we need to count, reckon, consider as being part of us. We are co-inheritors, meaning what he inherits, we will inherit. We're adopted. We're adopted into the family of God. We're taken out of the family of Adam and we're placed into the family of God through Christ Jesus, the second and the greater Adam. He will not present himself in glory without us being there. We were so united to him that he will not present himself in glory without those whom he purchased. We talked about all people being born in Adam, that when you were born from conception, because of Adam, because of original sin, that we don't, we're not sinners because we sin, we sin because we're sinners, that from conception, from the very first spark of life, we are enemies of God. We are created from the very first cell, opposed to, bent away from God and to ourselves. Just like in all of these sermons, I started with this quote, and again, much of what I'm gonna be teaching are things I've gleaned from Jay Wechter, either in person or through his writing. This is a quote about union with Christ that Jay Wechter gives. God's eternal plan to save his people is that they should have salvation by union with the only begotten son. By radical identification with Christ, our sins become his, and his righteousness becomes ours. Christ's righteousness belongs to believers by virtue of union with Christ. So fully is the believer identified with Christ that what Christ earned for us is rightfully ours, as if we had earned it ourselves. His dying and raising is applied to us personally. It is the basis for newness of life in Him. All the believer's blessings are in Christ as source. Last message, we started exploring abiding in Christ. And the following quote is from an article called Personal Checklist for Abiding in Christ. What does it mean to abide in Christ? To abide is to remain, to continue, to stay on, to tarry. It is to abide in the sphere of, to dwell, to remain in one place with someone, metaphorically, to hold fast and to remain steadfast. In the Gospel of John, abide means the closest possible relationship. It alludes to the believer's mystical union with Christ, that of inner unity and fellowship. Abide in the context of union with Christ does not mean us holding a position. Instead, it's a sense of allowing oneself to be held. To abide in Christ is not merely a spiritual experience, but life itself. It is a statement of Christ's ownership of the believer. Ownership extending right down to the depths of the ring. Countless genuine believers admit that their daily abiding in Christ is a haphazard, hit and miss affair, without a biblical metric or clearly marked target. This is, again, continuing this quote from Jay. And this first part of this sentence here is just, it's so true. Until I started studying these things, I never had a metric, never really considered a way of self-diagnosing, if you will, although it's not self-diagnosing, it's through the power of the Holy Spirit, but a way of gauging. how I am as far as abiding in Christ. So again, let me read this. Countless genuine believers, again, genuine believers admit that their daily abiding in Christ is a haphazard, hit and miss affair without a biblical metric or a clearly marked target. Movement toward the remedy involves a careful study of the Bible and its imperatives and promises associated with abiding in Christ. So again, as we go through this today, I want you to feel the weight of the imperatives. We're commanded to do something, but yet I want you to feel and to recognize where that source of abiding is. I'm not talking about self-righteousness. I'm not talking about grab yourself by your bootstraps, I'm gonna do this. No, no, the actual, source of how we abide in Christ is the most important thing. Today we'll once again spend the bulk of our time in John 15 with a short stop in Psalms, Matthew, Corinthians, and first John. Last sermon, the four of the checklists for abiding in Christ. We went through abiding involves, the first one was abiding involves a willing submission to the Father's pruning. John 15, two, every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away and every branch that bears fruit, he cleans it so it may bear more fruit. God is the intentional loving vine dresser. Number two, abiding brings a growing awareness of utter dependence upon Christ. Verses four and five. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit from itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. If you get nothing out of this today except this, you cannot bear fruit apart from abiding in him. He provides the life source. Number three, abiding issues forth in a sacrificial concern for the brethren. John 15, 12 through 13. This is my commandment, that you love one another. How? Just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. And we talked about how this loving one another supersedes any ambitions for ministry or for power or for anything like that. I mentioned that there were so many of you here who have discernment and wisdom and others who give willingly of their time and efforts and energy to keep this place up and running and others who pray diligently. That's something I'm continually working on in my life. Others of you are encouragers. people that come along and say, hey, I appreciate you. And these are all ways that we can love one another. Number four, abiding in Christ involves the expectation of persecution from the world for Christ's sake. John 15, eight through 21, I'm sorry, 18 through 21. If the world hates me, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world because of this, the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for my name's sake, because they do not know the one who sent me." Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, Set sail in 1853 to China to the dark continent. He served 54 years there Now with the result of over 800 missionaries at the time coming to China 125 schools being established and countless thousands of people Being brought to the light in that dark continent. This is a quote from him We don't come to him meaning Christ We don't come to him and ask him to give us life for that we already have If we are not in Christ, we have no life at all. If we are in him, he is our life. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall you also appear with him, be manifested with him in glory. I am the vine means he is the whole vine. So as we start in today's checklist for abiding, let's look at, I've gone ahead and said number five instead of number one, because we're still on the same checklist. Abiding is maintained by a life of faith, obedience, and prayer. Let's read John 15, seven through eight. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. My father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit. and so prove to be my disciples. How is God glorified? By us bearing much fruit. How do we strengthen our faith? How do we produce obedience? How do we have an effective prayer life? How do we obey his word if we don't know what his word says? Simply reading it is not enough. Digesting, meditating on it, chewing it up, absorbing it, hiding it in our heart. Let's go to Psalm 119. We're not gonna read the whole chapter, because as many of you know, that's a very long chapter. But I'm just gonna hit some highlights here. Psalm 119, verse seven. I shall give thanks to you with uprightness of heart when I learn your righteous judgments. Verse nine. How can a young man keep his way pure by keeping it according to your word. There's sanctification. The first one, I shall give thanks to you with uprightness of heart when I learn your righteous judgments. Verse 11, your word I have treasured in my heart that I may not sin against you. Verse 16, I shall delight in your statutes. I shall not forget your word. You've gotta be reading his word, studying his word. This is what David did. He meditated on the word of God. Psalms and songs about the word of God. Verse 25, my soul clings to the dust. Revive me according to your word. Here we see long suffering. Here we see hope and faith. Verse 28, my soul weeps because of grief. Raise me up according to your word. There's joy. Verse 36, cause my heart to incline to your testimonies. and not to be dishonest again. Here he's praying that the Lord would incline his heart to his testimonies, to his word. Why? So he would not be dishonest again. Cause my eyes, cause my eyes to turn away from looking at worthlessness and revive me in your ways. There's purity. Cause your word to be established for your slave, as that which produces fear for you. There's a result, fear of God. You see how the word is the catalyst for all of these things. Verse 46, I will also speak of your testimonies before kings, and I shall not be ashamed. Hold this. I shall delight in your commandments, which I love. There's joy and delight, true abiding joy and true delight. Verse 66, let's get verse 50. This is my comfort in my affliction that your word has revived me. As you're going through times of difficulty and struggle and tribulation, a diagnosis, persecution, go to the word. Verse 54, your statutes have become my song in the house of my sojourning. Verse 66, teach me good discernment and knowledge for I believe in your commandments. He's asking him here to accomplish the purposes in his life through the word. This is pruning. Verse 67, before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word. Verse 71, it is good for me that I was afflicted. Why? That I may learn your statutes. There's a willful submission to the pruning of God the Father. Verse 75, I know, oh Yahweh, that your judgments are righteous and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. Again, a willing submission to the pruning of God the Father. Let's jump forward to verse 98. Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are mine forever. Wisdom, I have more insight than all my teachers, for your testimonies are what? They are my meditation. I perceive more than the aged, because I have observed your precepts. We have wisdom that is not of this world, brothers and sisters. When the world is trying to solve the issues of our culture and our schooling system and our politics, we have wisdom from God. Verse 111, I haven't inherited your testimonies forever, for they are the joy of my heart. I have inclined my heart to do your statutes forever to the end. There's abiding, there's remaining, abiding in his word. Verse 116, sustain me according to your word that I may live and do not put me to shame because of my hope. Verse 133, establish my steps in your word and do not let any wickedness overpower me. There's a prayer for sanctification. Establish my steps in your word And do not let any wickedness overpower me. The last one, we could spend days in this chapter. It was such a blessing to go through and read it. And those who, 165, those who love your law have much peace and nothing causes them to stumble. There's peace and perseverance. So some of the results just in the verses we've read of meditating on, imbibing, drinking in deeply from God's word are obedience, a grateful heart, sanctification, purity, an increase in faith, fear of God, hope, wisdom, discernment, peace, perseverance, abiding and remaining. This is the good fruit produced by spending much time in his word. Abiding in Christ means not only that we read his word, that we meditate on it, that we absorb it, but that we obey it. And David understood that his obedience was not just based on his own self-will. He asked the Lord, according to your word, purify me. Studying and knowing the Word to the point that it becomes a controlling factor in our daily lives and decision-making. I don't know about you, but this is something that I struggle with. To get up every morning to spend time in the Word. I tell you, when I have victory over besetting sins in your life, get up and spend much time in the Word. And not just reading three chapters so you can say, I read my three chapters. Notice in John 15, seven, it doesn't just say, abide in my words, but it also says, if my words abide in you. Having his word abide in us means that we will obey it. Having Christ's words permeate our lives continually is inseparable from our ability to submit to his lordship. Knowing and understanding his will through his written word will produce prayers. that are consistent with what he desires to accomplish in and through us and in and through this body of believers. Our prayer should not be for the desires of our heart, but that Christ would implant his desires in our hearts so that we would pray accordingly. We cannot know what his desires are without hiding his word in our hearts. Here's another quote from Jake. The fruitful servant by his fruit bearing manifest that he is a true disciple of Christ. The secret of this endeavor is to keep the eyes of faith and reliance upon Christ and not upon ourselves. Faith is a most self-renouncing and self-denying virtue. It continually looks away from self as a source of adequacy. That's such a powerful, powerful statement. Our faith, believer, is placed in something external of ourselves. The world says, trust your heart, trust in yourself. Doggone it, you're good, you're smart, and people like you, right? I mean, it's a continual building up of self, but a true abiding in Christ is a continual looking away from self. And I please, I don't want you to misunderstand the imperatives of this text with the source of completing the imperatives is. We look to Christ as he is revealed in his word. 2 Corinthians 4, 4-6. And such a confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit, for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. So we don't have confidence in ourselves. And that's a daily task of, as Pastor mentioned earlier, of crucifying the flesh, of putting our flesh to death and looking toward our source of life. Our next litmus test for abiding in Christ is as follows. Number six, abiding involves experiencing Christ's love as we seek to please him by obedience. John 15, nine through 11. Just as the Father has loved me, I have also 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 so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made complete. There is a direct relationship between our obedience and the love of Christ we experience. Please don't misunderstand that statement. God's love for us does not wax and wane. It does not change based on our performance. The only basis for God's love for us is the obedience of another. is the obedience of Christ. So his love does not wax or wane. However, our daily ambition is complete obedience to Christ. If our daily ambition is to complete obedience to Christ, we will experience more joy, more peace, and experientially, more of his love. Maybe some of you can remember as a child, after receiving an excellent report card, or completing a task your dad had asked in an excellent way, and you come in to tell him, hey dad, the garage is clean, and you've done it in an excellent way, you were able to approach your father with a full sense of assurance, knowing that he was well pleased with you. It's not that your father loved you any more or any less, but you walked in with that sense of love from your father in a greater way because you knew your actions have pleased him. 2 Corinthians 5, 9. Therefore, we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to him. As we read his word, abide in his word by obeying and seek to be pleasing to Christ, we will have a fuller experience of his love. We will experience abiding in his love. Number seven, abiding produces a radical identification with Christ's purposes. John 15 verses 14 through 17. You are my friends. if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves for the slave does not know what his master is doing. But I have called your friends for all things that I've heard from my father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit and that your fruit would abide so that whatever you ask of my father in my name, he may give it to you. This I command you that you love one another. As we just read in the text, one can see that a slave doesn't know what the master's doing. A master says to the slave, go do this, go do that. The master has the full picture of what his end goal is. But here, Christ says that he no longer calls us slaves, but he calls us friends. For all the things I've heard from my father I've made known to you. We have God's eternal plan and purposes given to us in his inspired word. If you want to know God's perfect will for your life, read the word, obey it, pray for wisdom and direction. If you still have doubts, I don't know who said this, but go find people who read the word and pray and ask for wisdom. He goes on to say that we did not choose him, but that he chose us and appointed us so that we would go and bear fruit and that fruit would abide. Through knowing his word, We know the master's mission. We are not slaves that he just says, go do this and that. We are now friends. We are adopted. We are part of the family. One is in verse 17, where he commands us to love one another. Some of the other abundantly clear missions from scripture are, as we mentioned earlier, as pastor mentioned, soli deo gloria, that would glorify God. Another one, that we exalt Christ, that we disciple others, that we intentionally invest in the lives of others around us, and that we share the gospel boldly with the lost, and that we abide in him. These are foundations that need to permeate our being and exist as our daily pursuits. This is part of abiding. Some of the God-glorifying bearing, some of the God-glorifying fruit bearing that results In us knowing and pursuing God's mission are joy and peace, compassion for others, obedience, gospel-centered living, being eternally minded, and we love the brethren, also sanctification. Number eight, abiding is essential to be ready for Christ's return. Let's go to 1 John 2, 28 through 29. And now little children abide in him. Why? So that when he is manifested, we may have confidence and not shrink away from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone also who does righteousness has been born of him. Here's another quote from Jay. In addition to deepening our hope and confidence, abiding increasingly conforms us to Christ's holy character. The life of abiding in Christ cultivates a living hope. Do you want a living hope in dark times like we're in? Abide in Christ. The life of abiding in Christ cultivates a living hope that is characterized by a desire for Christ's appearing. I mean, how many of you could say Maranatha? Even so, Lord, come quickly. This also gives us the confidence that the prospect of meeting him, at the prospect of meeting him, how you greet the king of kings at his return will be a powerful revealer of your relationship with him. This is continuing the quote. The abiding believer has made communing with Christ his lifestyle. Therefore, he will greet his king in confidence. As the very consummation of a life lived fellowshipping with the Savior. The more we fellowship with Christ now, here, in space and time, the sweeter it'll be. And we should be continually looking for our Lord's return. Be eternally minded, have eternity stamped on the inside of our eyelids. Every time we blink, we see eternity. Let's go to Matthew 25. This is a well-known parable of the 10 virgins. All right. Matthew 25, verse one. Then the kingdom of heaven may be compared to 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were foolish and five were prudent. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them. But the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. But at midnight there was a shout, behold the bridegroom, come out to meet him. Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps And the foolish said to the prudent, give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out. But the prudent answered saying, no, there will not be enough for us and you too. Go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves. And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went in with him, went in with him to the wedding feast and the door was shut. And later the other virgins also came saying, Lord, Lord, open up to us. Again, there's that Lord, Lord, from Matthew 7, that's a familial, you know, Lord, Lord, you know, it's me. I know you. Open up for us. But he answered and said, truly I say to you, I do not know you. Therefore stay awake for you do not know the day nor the hour. As we see in the text, all 10 of the versions went out to meet the bridegroom. There was gonna be a wedding feast. They all knew that he would come at some point during the night, but they did not know the exact hours, so they brought their lamps with them. As the culture grows cold and mainstream evangelicalism starts to look more and more like the world, this parable teaches us that we need to abide in him and his word in order to be ready for his coming. Regardless of your eschatological view, we all await the return of our Lord. Abiding in Christ makes us ready. If we are continually abiding in his word and his word in us, like these wise virgins, we will be ready for Christ's return. The Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5 encourages believers who are waiting on the return of the Lord in the following manner. Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they're saying, peace and safety, then destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains upon a woman who is pregnant, and they will never escape. But you brothers are not in darkness that the day would overtake you like a thief, for you are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness. So then, let us not sleep as brothers as others do, but let us be awake and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us to wrath, but for obtaining salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with him. Therefore, comfort one another and build one another, just as you also are doing. We can certainly encourage other brothers and sisters to be cognizant and aware that the Lord is coming and to help them in their abiding, pointing them to the imminent return of our Lord. The more we are abiding in his word and his word abides in us, we will be eternally focused, eternally minded, and we will look forward with great anticipation to his return. Can you say that today that you are looking forward to his return? Is he gonna find you faithful? Completing the mission that he's laid out in his word? The more we are abiding in his word and his word abides in the, okay, sorry. What does abiding look like? Read his word. Know his word. Meditate on his word. And obey his word. Spend much time in prayer and communion with Christ. This life is so busy, if you do not set aside time to do this, your day will get away from you. I can testify to that. If you don't set aside time, and some of you are not morning people, I'm not a morning person, but you need to set aside special time each day that you're gonna spend time in the word and you're gonna pray. Wean yourself from your reliance on self and anything in this world that pulls sway over your heart. Examine yourself, examine your belongings, does your job, does your family, what is it that holds sway over your heart? Exercise your faith and pray for more faith. Prepare yourself and those around you for Christ's return. Even though abiding in Christ is a command, it's an imperative, it's directed to our own, our volition, It's not just a task or a duty that we have to do by just strictly disciplining ourselves. It's primarily communing with Christ for he is our source in abiding. Here's a quote from Arthur Pink. You were all called into fellowship with the son of God. Yet we tend to be fixated on our ineligibility and disqualification and often disillusioned about our progress. This is where I find myself so often. Experimental union means that personal practical dealings with him produce joy and confidence. You want surety of salvation. Spend time with the Lord. Let him be your delight. Back to the quote. How it would change us, change us, if we truly believed he was given for us. Are you groaning, sin harassed, poor in spirit? To these, the gospel brings the news of Christ's perfect suitability, his availability, his virtue and efficacy, meeting you at the point where you are smitten with your wretchedness. You can't trust in his blood too much. He is your sympathetic high priest. For sin harassed souls, He mediates unending installments of grace and mercy. Bring him to your troubled souls amidst disputes of conscience and he will give you ample grace and mercy to help in time of need. As we've learned about our union with Christ through the Holy Spirit, we must see that our ability to abide in Christ is a God-given grace. It's a gift. Applied by the Spirit through his word to our hearts And this accomplished through our abiding in his word and his word abiding in us. I often tell people in Latin America in the conferences, because so often they try to dissociate Christ and the Holy Spirit from his word. They look for the Holy Spirit in all sorts of other places. Holy Spirit is the author of the word. He travels with the word. As we read the word, he's the one who applies it to our hearts. and enables spirit driven obedience. Abiding involves a daily rejection of our confidence in this world, our own strength and our own wisdom. So it's a dying to self. It's a looking away from yourself, but it's also looking to Christ. This means placing our total and utter reliance upon Christ as source. We're not holding onto him. He's holding on to us. I read a quote yesterday. It says, if you don't fill your mind, and it came from a page of John MacArthur. I don't know if he said this originally or not. If you don't fill your mind with the word of God, the enemy will fill it with fear, anxiety, stress, worry, and temptation. We are united to Christ in salvation through a Trinitarian work of the Godhead. unilaterally, not based on any merit, not based on any performance, and yet we're commanded to repent and believe. Can we see that God provides what he requires? We are commanded to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet it's God who clothes us in Christ's righteousness. Paul says, because you're unleavened, get the leaven out. As we've talked about in several of the first sermons, when we reckon, when we consider, when we count that we are united to Christ and comprehend all the benefits of salvation, sanctification and glorification are given to us through this union, we will live differently. We will cease to rely upon our own strength and wisdom and we will rely utterly on Christ. What is our source for abiding? Christ. The more you look to him, the more you will abide. Christ wants us to see our ineligibility and inability to do any of this on our own strength. And our weakness he has made strong. We'll close with these final three quotes. I was blessed this week in reading a bunch of dead guys. I really was. Andrew Murray, there are thousands of questions that at times come up, and the attempt to answer them becomes a weariness and a burden. It is because you have forgotten who you are in Christ, whom God has made to be your wisdom. Let it be your first care to abide in him, an undivided, fervent devotion of heart, When the heart and the life are right, rooted in Christ, knowledge will come in such measure as Christ's own wisdom sees meet. And without such abiding in Christ, the knowledge does not really profit and is most often hurtful. Spurgeon says this, if you want that splintered power in prayer, you must remain in loving, living, lasting, conscious, practical, abiding union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you feel sometimes that your prayers are powerless? Seems like you're talking. I'm gonna read that again. If you want that splendid power in prayer, you must remain in loving, living, lasting, conscious, practical, abiding union with the Lord Jesus Christ. And the last quote, again from Andrew Murray. Oh, that you would come and begin simply to listen to his words and to ask the one question, does he really mean that I should abide in him? The answer his word gives is so simple and so sure. By his almighty grace, you are in him. That same almighty grace will indeed enable you to abide in him. By faith, you became partakers of the initial grace. By that same faith, you can enjoy the continuous grace of abiding in him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the truths of John 15. Thank you that you have not left us here to paw around in the darkness trying to find your will or use mystical methods to try to find out what your desire is, but you've laid it out in your word. Father, may we learn it, may we memorize it, may we hide it in our hearts, meditate on it so that we would not sin against you. And Father, I ask that you would grant your people the ability to understand to whatever degree we can with our human minds our union with Christ and That we're able to consider it and to apply it to ourselves and to believe it's true Because you say it is You tell us we are united to your son Help us to believe that and to live accordingly in Jesus name