The Gospel of John, especially in the verses given above, answers the question of how to abide in Christ. In 1:12-13 there is the matter of receiving Him: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave authority to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: Who were born...of God.” Have you received Him? Sometimes doubts come in after we are saved. Suppose, however, I ask you where you got your Bible. You will have no trouble telling me exactly where and how and when you received it. With the matter of receiving Christ, it may be more difficult to give a clear answer. John 1:12 can resolve this uncertainty for you. Receiving Him means believing in His name. When did you receive Christ? It was when you believed in His name. How did you receive Him? It was also by believing in His name.
Verse 13 goes on to say that we were born of God. This is not a human birth, making us a certain nationality. Those who have never experienced the new birth find such a term incomprehensible. Even many Christians are not thoroughly clear about the divine birth. We all need to see that besides our first birth into the kingdom of men we have had another birth into the kingdom of God.
In regeneration we were born of God with the divine life and nature. In John 3 the matter of the new birth comes up again. The Greek term is properly rendered born anew or born from above, not born again. We have not only had an earthly birth; we have also been born from the heavens.
John 3:6 says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” This birth from above involves two spirits, the divine and the human. The new birth is by the divine Spirit in our human spirit. In this birth two spirits meet.
In John 4 there is another matter involving the two spirits. Verse 24 says, “God is Spirit; and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and reality.” The proper worship is to worship the Spirit in our spirit.
Our topic in this message is “How to Abide in Christ.” It is this book of John which gives us the key. While chapter fifteen is the central chapter on this, the surrounding chapters are all related to it. For many years I did not realize this. As a young man seeking after the Lord, I surely loved the word in John 15 on abiding. But I kept wondering how to do it.
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