Abiding in Christ: What Must I Do?

Abiding in Christ is the secret of the Christian walk, but that is not supposed to make the word "abide" mystical. "Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father" (1John 2:24).

Abiding is continuing to do what you did in the beginning of your walk with the LORD Jesus Christ. What did you begin to do when you first met the LORD Jesus? Keep doing it.

Continue in faith.

The Apostle Paul confirmed "the souls of the disciples" and exhorted "them to continue in the faith" (Acts 14:22). Continuing in faith is a condition of receiving the benefits of the reconciling work of the LORD Jesus on the cross.

"And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight: IF YE CONTINUE IN THE FAITH grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister" (Colossians 1:21-23).

If it was necessary for us to repent and believe the Gospel (Mark 1:15) to begin the Christian walk, should it be thought strange that it is necessary to continue in faith to continue our abiding in Christ?

Continue in the grace of God.

"Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God" (Acts 13:43).

Again, the Apostle Paul gave us the example. Grace is literally the help of God.

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).

Only as the Holy Spirit persuades us of our neediness, do we cry out for the grace of God.

Continue in the Word of God.

"Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed" (John 8:31).

We are what we have been commissioned to make of the world-- disciples of the LORD Jesus (Matthew 28:19)-- if we continue in His Word. This is encouragement to not be a forgetful hearer.

"But whoso looketh into the perfect Law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work this man shall be blessed in his deed" (James 1:25).

Continue in prayer.

"Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving" (Colossians 4:2).

We know that "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God"(Romans 10:17).

If we continue in the Word, we have been given assurance of answers to our prayers.

"If ye abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you" (John 15:7). The Exceeding Great and Precious Promises connect the Word to prayer.

"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious Promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the Divine Nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2Peter 1:4).

Continue in the love of God.

"As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you: continue ye in My love" (John 15:9).

Jesus demonstrated His love of the Father by His obedience to the Father.

"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. These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full" (John 15:10-11).

Continuing in obedience is continuing in love.

"For this is the love of God, that we keep His Commandments: and His Commandments are not grievous" (1John 5:3).

Again, we have the agency to choose to be kept in the love of God.

"Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our LORD Jesus Christ unto eternal life" (Jude 21).

Continue in brotherly love. "Let brotherly love continue" (Hebrews 13:1). The Church of Philadelphia (literally, brotherly love) represents the Church of the Pre-Tribulational Rapture. We not only know that we are the children of God, but that we will leave at the Pre-Tribulational Rapture because we continue in brotherly love.

"We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren" (1John 3:14).

Couple this with Philadelphia's promise to escape the Tribulation.

"Because thou hast kept the Word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth" (Revelation 3:10).

Brotherly love is a further proof of our discipleship.

"A new Commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:34-35).

Endure to the end. "Endure" is the same word translated as "abide". "He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved" (Matthew 24:13).

Does our necessity to abide or endure to the end detract from the fact that God's Almighty Power keeps the Saints unto Heaven?

"Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1Peter 1:5). Certainly not. Our abiding or enduring no more detracts from God's power in keeping, than did the LORD Jesus' earthly works diminish the Father's Heavenly Help.

"But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work" (John 5:17). Abiding or enduring is cooperating with God.

It may seem that abiding in Christ has now become a tribute to the force of the Moral Agency of man to will it, but that would be a great mistake in understanding.

"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).

Whenever we have a good thought to act upon, God is the Author of it.

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Lights, with Whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:17). So complete a title does God have on all good actions that anyone could will, that Scripture authoritatively declares Him to be The Only Good.

"And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou Me good? there is none good but One, that is, God" (Mark 10:18).

In abiding, Jesus set the example of how to use the human will-- unconditionally submitted to God.

"Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered" (Hebrews 5:8); even so, we are to submit ourselves to the will of God as reasonable service.

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Romans 12:1-2).

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