of faith that one made in the past. True Christianity is the progression of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ in an individual as he's continuously abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ. True Christianity, as someone has said, is long obedience in the same direction. So it's not an issue of I made a profession of faith. It's an issue of have you continued in that long obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ in the same direction as you journey to heaven. Is this what is true of you? Or you simply find comfort in the fact that I made a profession of faith and yet there is nothing to show forth of that profession today. So let me invite you as we open up those verses and draw some lessons for ourselves this morning. And the first thing I'd like us to deal with is the meaning of abiding in Christ. The meaning of abiding in Christ. What does it mean to abide in Christ? And you see this in our passage over and over again. In verse four, abide in me and I in you. Verse five, 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. Verse six and verse seven, if anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be granted for you." The phrase, abiding in Christ, pictures an intimate, close relationship and not just a superficial acquaintance with Christ. It gives us that intimate relationship. And to abide means to live, to remain, or to continue. And so to abide in Christ is to live in Christ, to remain in Christ. To abide in Christ signifies to rest on Christ alone for the whole of our salvation. It means to completely depend on Him and to thoroughly give to Him and to always seek refuge in Him. Jesse Ra writes and I quote, to abide in Christ means to keep up a habit of constant communion, rather to keep up a habit of constant close communion with him. To always be leaning on him, resting on him, pouring out our hearts to him and using him as the fountain of life and strength, as our chief companion and best friend. To have his words abiding in us is to keep his sayings and his precepts continually before our memories and our minds, and to make them the guide of our actions and the rule of our lives daily. And always, end of quote. And dear Carson also has this to say in his commentary. This is what he says. The point is clear. Continuous dependence on the vine, constant reliance upon him. persistent spiritual imbibing of his life, this is the essence and the essential condition of spiritual fruitfulness." End of quote. And therefore, we see that to abide in Christ is to rest on him for all our salvation. And to abide in Christ, it means to have this relationship with Him. And as you have this relationship with Him, you remain in Him as the source of your spiritual life. When a person becomes a Christian, or when a person is saved from sin, he or she is described as being in Christ. In Romans chapter 8 and verse 1, the Bible there tells us that, therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. And this relationship being in Christ also gives us this idea of a secured, permanent relationship with Him. And that's what John chapter 10 and verse 28 says. That no one can snatch those who are in Christ away from His hand. Because the Father who gave them to Him is greater And so those who are in Christ are now commanded to abide in Christ, to rest in Christ, to be secure in Christ. Therefore, abiding in Christ is not a special level of Christian experience. Rather, it is the position of all who are believers. Abiding in Christ signifies a mutual indwelling of Jesus and those who are his. He is in them and they are in him. The picture of a vine and the branches gives us this idea that the branch is constantly, continuously abiding in the vine, for the branch has no life on its own. And this is what we are being told here, that abiding in Christ speaks of consistency in our spiritual walk with Christ. And this consistency has this idea of fruitfulness stability, dependability. It is signified in the continual and unbroken existence of your walk with Christ. Abiding in Christ speaks of a constant relationship with Him who saved us from our sins. Abiding in Christ. shows us that no matter what life throws at us, no matter what season we may be in or what we're going through in life, No matter what the disposition of your heart might be, you are constant with your Lord. You are constant in your work with God. Whatever it is that life throws at you, you don't step away from this relationship. You don't give up on this relationship. You don't pull back from this relationship. You are constant, following, abiding in Christ. there'll be lots of things in your life that will call for your attention. And some of those things will be good things. But whatever it is, whatever those things could be, those things cannot replace the core of your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever it is that demands for your attention cannot replace the core, the Lord Jesus Christ, who's the center of your spiritual life, however good they might be. Because you are abiding in the true vine, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the blessings of life should not draw you away from him. One commentator says it like this, so crucial is this abiding reality to the Christian life. that whatever leads to this is good. Whatever hinders this is bad. And whatever does not bear on this is futile. And this is the benchmark that we need to use as God's people. It is an interesting benchmark to bring into our lives. on those things that we devote our lives to. And to ask ourselves the question, whatever leads to good and constant devotion and time with the Lord, prioritizing Jesus Christ is good. But whatever it is that hinders this relationship is bad. And whatever it is that does not hinge on this relationship is futile, and therefore to give it up. And this is why the Lord Jesus Christ commands us, all of us, to abide in Him, to rest on Him, to trust Him, to cleave to Him, to find our awe in awe in Him, because anything outside of Himself is death. and you cannot produce life out of the true vine. Hence the command, abide in me. That's the meaning of abiding in Christ. The second thing I'd like us to note is the result or the results of abiding in Christ. The results of abiding in Christ. And they are highlighted in our passage. The first thing we see is that abiding in Christ leads to power in prayer. Abiding in Christ leads to power in prayer. Verse seven, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. The idea of power in prayer is best understood as confidence or boldness in prayer. And the statement that the Lord Jesus Christ makes here reminds us of the earlier promise that he made in chapter 14 and verse 13 and 14. In chapter 14, this is what he says, whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. And here we see, also in chapter 15, that the Lord Jesus Christ encourages those who are in union with him to ask. To ask and say, whatever you ask, I will do it. And the promise is that it shall be done for you. We are given that assurance of the certainty that God will look on that request with favor. But the Lord Jesus Christ does not mean that his children or his disciples will get anything and everything they asked for. The conditional clause we see there in verse 7 still stands, still applies. And what is that clause? If you abide in me, and my words abide in you. That's the conditional clause that the Lord Jesus Christ gives. And the lesson there is that the perfect union of Jesus and his disciples, the fact that Jesus is in them and they are in him, gives us this idea that when you become a believer, there is the blending of wheels. the will of the Lord Jesus Christ becomes yours and your will blends to his as you are daily being sanctified by his words. Those who draw life in the Lord Jesus Christ through that union will normally ask for the things that Jesus wills for and for the glory Once you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, you accept His will, His Lordship, His guidance, His leading. And therefore, when you are daily growing in grace and being subjected to the truth of God's Word, when you come before Him to pray, your number one concern, your chief concern is that, Lord, let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And because of that, you have this boldness, this confidence to come before Him, knowing that as He leads you by His Spirit, and His Spirit that is in you helps you to cry out to Him, what you ask for is for His glory. When He says, ask, and it will be done. That is, if you abide in Him and His words abide in you. When you are daily living in communion with Christ through His Word, it becomes much easier. for you to seek primarily not your welfare, but His glory, the welfare of others. And you cry out to Him that His will be done. And we see when you read the scripture in John chapter six, he says the will of the Father is a festival none would be lost that has been given to him, but that all may believe in the sun. And therefore, you cry out to God, Lord, let your will be done. And what is it? Let many come to the knowledge of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what preoccupies your mind, and it is this which Christ will graciously and gladly respond to. F.B. Mayer writes, If you abide in Christ in daily fellowship, it will not be difficult to pray aright. For he has promised to abide in those who abide in him. And the sap of the Holy Ghost securing for you fellowship with your unseen Lord. will produce in you has fruit desires and petitions similar to those which he unceasingly presents to his Father. Abiding in Christ is an engagement of the divine life from the Lord Jesus Christ, with which we commune with God in prayer and seek the welfare of humanity. And as we seek the welfare of humanity, we know that the greatest need of the human race is that they should experience the forgiveness of God. that they may know true forgiveness as they come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you have union with Christ, abiding in Christ, you see that the world endlessly needs Christ. You pray for your needs and the needs of others. Your greatest prayer will be the salvation of many. See that the secret to power in prayer is to live close enough to Christ so that his desires become your desires. and that your prayers will be molded by his word. And as you pray to him, you ask him that his will be done on earth as in heaven. The second reason we see is that abiding in Christ glorifies God. It glorifies God. Verse eight and verse nine. But this, by this my father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. The other Lord Jesus Christ is saying to us that what glorifies the Father is the fruitful life of all those who believed in the Son. And the glorification of the Father is the revelation of His awesomeness, His majesty to the church and the world. The ultimate goal of this mutual indwelling of Christ and the believers is to reveal the Father's glory. Lord Jesus Christ, while He lived on earth, He said His will was to do His Father's will, to glorify His Father. And therefore He lived and lay body on earth to manifest God's glory. And therefore those who are united to the Father through Him, their lives must also seek to glorify the Father. Because the life of Christ in them reveals the Father's love for them. And the Father expects from those who are in Christ to reveal His glory to the world. The latter part of the state when he says, by this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. is not meant to be understood that first you need to produce fruit so that then you can be in Christ. Rather, what the Bible is saying to us is that fruit bearing is the result of already being a faithful follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Father is not demanding for fruit from those who are not in His Son. Rather, he demands that those who are in his son, one of the ways they will show that they belong to the father, they belong to the son, is this constant, continuous fruit bearing of their lives, signifying a life that has been transformed by the power of his salvation. Bearing fruit. for God is the outward and visible sign that you are a disciple of Christ. This is what enables the world to recognize Jesus' disciples because they reproduce the life of the master who indwells them and thus glorify the Father. This indicates that if we are not abiding in Christ and bearing the fruit of changed lives, we are denying God the glory that ought to be His. The world is going to see the glory of God in the church and in the life of believers, not in the variety of church program activities that are being offered, but in the daily lives of believers as they live in love with one another and with their neighbor. What it is that will show a changed life is not the numerous or the many church programs, no. It is the life of Christ in those who are in Him. And as they show to the world a changed life, transformed by the power of the gospel, as they show the world Christ's likeness in their lives, the world will see the glory of God in the lives of those individuals. And thus glorify God. It is easier for us to speak of praising God and singing hallelujahs to God. But the way that God especially desires to be glorified is by our transformed lives, as we produce fruit, as evidence that we are disciples. of the Lord Jesus Christ. Abiding in Christ glorifies the Father. And thirdly, we see that abiding in Christ fills us with joy. Abiding in Christ fills us with joy. Verse 11, these things have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. These things, the Lord Jesus Christ say, have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. And here you see the Lord Jesus Christ speaks of two joys. The joy of Jesus in them and that their own individual joy be filled up. While remaining in Jesus and his word, his life flows to us the branches. His life is full of love, obedience to the divine commandments. And therefore, he mentioned that my joy becomes your joy because you are attached to me. The joy of Christ becomes your joy. because of being touched to the Lord Jesus Christ. And since his joy is a heavenly joy, therefore the joy that becomes yours is also a heavenly joy. This is the desire of the Lord Jesus Christ that all those who are His, all those who call upon Him, all those who claim to have come to believe in Him for the forgiveness of sin may have a comfortable share of His joy in their salvation and redemption. And the idea of this special joy When you read Hebrews chapter 12 and verse two, there the writer of Hebrews in chapter 12 verse two says, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was said before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus had this great joy in the redemption of his people. Way back in eternity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit had this redemption plan to create a people and to send the Son of God to come and die for these people. to secure their salvation are those who believe in Christ might be healed forever. And now, it doesn't just end there. Christ sends his Holy Spirit to dwell in them. And he says, that was the joy of Christ. He despised the shame. the insults, the scourging, the mockery, He endured life on earth for the joy set before Him. That this time there will be a people that would have been redeemed from the nations, sanctified by His Word, indwelled by His Spirit, who will stand before the throne of God. has a trophy of his amazing grace. And the world will see what it means to be in Christ. This was the joy of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the joy that he's talking about here is not the fairy tale kind of joy, where all your worldly dreams are fulfilled. that Jesus Christ does not promise believers a carefree life, no worries, no troubles, but what he says is that all those who are his, he offers them the fullness of joy as his life flows in them. The psalmist, you remember, tells us that in the presence of God, there is fullness of joy. And this is what we are being told here. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ says, this thing I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you. This unspeakable joy, you cannot compare it to anything. Those who are wallowing in sin know nothing of this joy. And he says, this joy that I give you, it's my joy. The joy that I have. The joy of knowing that I'm in the Father and the Father is in me. This joy that is not disrupted. by the presence of sin, because there's no sin in my Father. There's no sin in me. There's no sin in God. There's this joy that resides in the Godhead. And he says, this is my joy that I give you. I want it to be yours. Abide in me. The other says, he says, These things are spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. That's the other side of the joy that Christ speaks about. It's that though his people may experience this sense of Christ's love to their souls, that they may not just have the joy of Christ in them, that among themselves as they live, they will live in full assurance of this joy that comes from Christ. This joy of knowing that your sins have been forgiven. This joy that cannot be taken away by any created thing. that his children may continually rejoice in the things in which Christ rejoices, so that their inward lives may increase in the experience of the joy of Christ. Abiding in Christ as living branches, his joy flows through us. And meanwhile here on this earth, we experience this joy. As God the Holy Spirit reminds us that we are His. But also as God the Holy Spirit deepens our experience of this joy. And as it deepens our experience of this joy, these blessings matures into the rich harvest of spiritual joy. This spiritual joy as we abide in Christ. To put it another way, spiritual joy is the byproduct of obedience to Christ. You won't enjoy spirit of joy if you are not living in obedience to Christ. This is why Christ says, abide in me. This is the result or the results of abiding in Christ. the joy of Christ becomes ours. And we experience it, we live in it, as we obey Him, as we follow Him. Joy is a by-product of our obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. The world insists that turning from sin to Christ is bound to take all the pleasures of life out. It insists that once you turn away from sin, there's no joy in Christ. The world paints the picture that the sensual pleasures of life are more enjoyable than the everlasting gift of salvation that Christ gives, and this is a lie. And many have found themselves into this trap. When they begin to think that fame, career, power, riches, are more measurable than the salvation that Christ gives. And the more they chase after these things, they get into the hold of sin. They lose all kinds of senses and become intoxicated with gratifying their fleshly desires. They are simply chasing after the things of this world. And they can't stop and reason and ask the question, have I really found fulfillment in any of these? As Dr. Bikiwad was preaching this week would say, I've never met any Christian who's regretted becoming a Christian. But I've met many who look back at their lives, their lives of sin, with regrets. Don't fall for the lies of the world. the created things of this world cannot fill the void that God has created in you. Only God himself can fill that void. And this is why Jesus here shows us that the opposite in fact is true. The philosophy of this world is not true. But the way to true and abiding joy It's not what the world offers. It's not what the world offers. It's what Jesus offers. It's the joy that comes from knowing that your sins have been forgiven. Knowing that your conscience does not condemn you. Knowing that God does not condemn you. True joy. comes in Christ and Christ alone. Resting in Him, trusting in Him, and finding fulfillment for all your salvation in Christ and Him alone. That is where true joy is. Dear friends, if you are busy chasing after the things of this world at the expense of your soul, you will not find fulfillment. You will be a slave to your own ambitions, your own desires. And before long, you'll be so intoxicated by this desire to find fulfillment and lose yourself in the end. Stand before God in judgment and be cast into the lake of fire. And also for you, high Christian, see that it's obvious from our passage that you may fail to know the joy that ought to be yours. It's possible that you may lose your joy when your fellowship with Christ is broken because of worldly entertainments. when disobedience and unbelief steal your joy. It is possible to lose this joy that comes from Christ. It is possible. Because of worldly entertainments, your prayer life gone. The glory of God is no longer your God. and you lose your joy in Christ. And when you read Psalm 51, verse 11 and 12, this was David experience when he sinned against God and his plea, it was that, cast me not away from your presence, Lord. And he says, take not your Holy Spirit from me. Lord, restore to me the joys of your salvation. Lord, restore to me. And David missed the spiritual joy, the joy that he had previously known. And he pleaded with God, Lord, restore to me this joy. The things of this world have so consumed me. Lord, restore this joy. It is possible to lose joy. when the things of this world become your supreme delights and you fail to live in obedience to him who saved you from your sins. Purity of life stems from a heart that acknowledges that the joy of God's salvation has a gift more satisfying than any competing pleasures of this world. This joy is accompanied by an inward transformation and reveals itself daily in trusting and obeying. Don't lose the joy of your salvation. Because of the fleeting pleasures of this world, they will not satisfy. Cry with a hymn that will be singing in closing. When we walk with the Lord, in the light of his birth, what a glory he shares with you now. While we do His good will, He abides with us still, and with all who will trust and obey. Trust and obey. For there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. This is for you, child of God. But this is also for you, those who aren't a Christian. Trust and obey God's word. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation, and you'll know what it means to abide in Him. And you'll know what it means to have boldness in prayer, to glorify the Father in Christ, and to experience the joy of the Lord Jesus Christ in your life. Amen. We thank God for the preaching of his word. Thou ask that we just spend 30 seconds to a minute just to think about what has been preached, and then we'll then sing our blessing here.