The way to receive, experience, and enjoy Christ is by loving Him and keeping His word to gain the Father's love and to have Christ manifest Himself to us and have the Father and Him make Their abode with us (John 14:21, 23). If we love the Lord and keep His word, we will have three results. First, we will gain the Father's love. This is the response of the divine love. Second, we will have the Son's manifestation. Then, third, the loving One and the manifesting One will come to make Their abode with us. Love is from the Father as the source; the manifestation is through the Son; and the making of the abode is by both the Father and the Son. Not only do the Father and the Son make us Their abode, but They also become our abode. We and the Father and the Son become a mutual abode in the Father's love and the Son's manifestation. In this way the Triune God has an abode, and we the believers of Christ also have an abode. His abode is in us, and our abode is in Him.
The way to receive, experience, and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ is also to abide in Him as a branch abiding in the vine to enjoy all the riches of what He is (15:4-5). We are not branches of the vine by birth, but we have become the branches of the vine by grafting (Rom. 11:17). If we as a branch abide in Him, we enjoy all the riches of what He is. As the branches of the wild tree that have been grafted into Christ as the true vine, we have the position, the capacity, and the right to enjoy whatever is in Christ. Therefore, this abiding is the way to enjoy the riches of Christ. After breathing, eating, and drinking Christ, we abide in Him as a grafted branch to absorb all His riches.
The way to receive, experience, and enjoy Christ is also by going forth to bear fruit, even remaining fruit, that we may be kept in the enjoyment of His riches (John 15:16, 2). In order to bear fruit, we must go forth. We must go forth from one door to another door, even from one city to another city and from one country to another country. John 15:16 says, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and I set you that you should go forth and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain." Christ set us, as grafted branches, in Himself to be those who go forth to bear fruit. If we do not go forth, we cannot bear fruit. We should go forth to contact people every day. We can at least go forth by contacting someone on the telephone. Moreover, to bear remaining fruit implies feeding. Fruit cannot remain without being fed. It must be watered and fertilized and have adequate sunshine and air. The reason that some of our fruit does not remain is that we have not cared for them adequately.
Going forth to bear fruit and helping the fruit to remain is the way to enjoy the riches of Christ. If we do not bear fruit, we will be cut off from the vine (v. 6). To be cut off from the vine is not to perish. It is to lose the enjoyment of the riches of the vine. To enjoy the aggregate of the all-embracing blessing of the full gospel of God, we must abide in the vine, but we cannot abide in the vine without bearing fruit. We must go forth to bear fruit and do something to cause the fruit to remain. Then we will be in the right position and will have the right to enjoy the riches of Christ. Some may claim that they have not been cut off from the vine. They still come to the meetings, pray, and function. However, this does not mean that they are enjoying Christ. If we bear even one remaining fruit, we will be joyful in the enjoyment of Christ. To see one of our fruit remain in the church and begin to serve in the same way that we do causes us to be joyful. This joy indicates that we are enjoying Christ. Without new fruit and without remaining fruit, we do not have such joy. This indicates that we have lost the enjoyment; we have been cut off from the riches of Christ.