John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you… I. THE DUTY ENJOINED. 1. Abide in Me. It has been justly said, that the command is not abide with Me — near Me — or under Me; but, in Me. The fruit-bearing branch is not only in the same place with the vine — near it, under its shadow — it is in it, and it abides in it. The ideas suggested are, residence and continuance. It is as if he had said, "Think as I think; feel as I feel; will as I will; choose as I choose; and let My views of all objects and all events be yours, because they are Mine; let My feelings, My volitions, My choices, all be yours, and let them be yours because they are Mine. Prosecute My ends — use My means — rely on Me, entirely on Me. Let My wisdom be your wisdom — My righteousness your righteousness — My strength your strength. Come out of yourselves. Come out of the creature. Come into Me." It is faith that thus unites us to the Saviour, and it is continued faith which keeps us thus united to the Saviour. 2. Let Me abide in you. What is meant by Christ's abiding in His people? The best answer is at the seventh verse, and 1 John 3:24. Christ abides in His people, by continuously making them, through the agency of the Holy Spirit, and the instrumentality of His word, understood and believed under His influence, think along with Him — feel, choose, enjoy along with Him. Christ is so "formed in them" that it is not so much they who live, as Christ who lives in them. 2. What is the import of the injunction, "Let Me dwell in you"? Christ never does come into any man, so as to dwell in him, against the man's will Were the thing possible, it would be to degrade man into a mere machine, and involve the incongruity, than which none can be greater, that He who of old inhabited His own eternity, and has heaven for His throne and earth for His footstool, should, as if in want of a house, force an entrance where He was not desired. But His language is, "Behold, I stand at the door," etc. 3. The two parts of the injunction are closely connected. Christians will abide in Christ just in the degree in which they let Christ abide in them. II. THE MOTIVES BY WHICH THE INJUNCTION IS ENFORCED. 1. Compliance with the injunction is necessary to prevent unfruitfulness and its fearful consequences. A vine branch by itself can bring forth nothing, not even blossoms or leaves. All men are naturally unholy and unprofitable. There is no way in which they can be made fruitful, except by being cut off from their original stock, the first Adam, and being grafted into Him who is the True Vine. When men are awakened to a sense of the dangers of a state of spiritual barrenness, they often endeavour to become "fruitful of themselves." They go about to make themselves holy by the works of the law: but the thing is impossible. There is no good fruit but what is the product of Divine influence; and no channel for Divine influence to flow into the human heart, but the mediation of Jesus Christ. It is not, "Without Me ye can do little"; it is, "Without Me ye can do nothing." It is not, "Without Me ye will do nothing" — that is true too — but it is, "Without Me ye can do nothing." It is not, "Without Me you can accomplish — finish — nothing"; it is, "Without Me ye can do nothing." 2. Compliance with this injunction alone can, and certainly will, secure fruitfulness, with all its blessed results. No stream without a fountain; no fountain, unless obstructed, without a stream. Three effects are mentioned by our Lord — (1) The answer of whatever prayers we present to God; (2) The glorification of God; (3) The clearly proving to ourselves and others that we are really the disciples of Christ. (J. Brown, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
    |