We need to keep the Son’s commandments by obeying His instant words that we may abide in His love (vv. 10-11). First, we abide in Him and He abides in us. Then His word will abide in us, and we will abide in His love. We abide in Him and then we abide in His love. On the one hand, we must abide in the Lord Himself; on the other hand, we must abide in His love. Just as we must let the word of the Lord abide in us in order for the Lord to continue His abiding in us, so, in the same principle, we must abide in the love of the Lord in order to abide in the Lord continually. If you do not sense the freshness, sweetness, and tenderness of the Lord’s love, I fear that even if you tried to continue abiding in Him you would fall short. The matter of continual abiding in the Lord is a matter of love. We must feel and sense that His love is so fresh, sweet, and new. We must abide in His love so that we can maintain our abiding in Him. For example, if two brothers do not have the feeling of love toward each other, how can they maintain an intimate fellowship? Likewise, we must abide in the Lord’s love and sense His love so that we can abide in fellowship with Him. As you read this, perhaps you are saying, “Brother, I do not sense His love.” If this is your situation, you should pray like this: “Lord, be merciful to me. Why is it that I do not sense Your love in these days? O Lord, why?” If you pray in this way, I believe that you will experience the fresh love of the Lord. His love will be so refreshing to you. Then you will abide in the love of the Lord. This will keep you abiding in the Lord Himself.
If we are to abide in the Lord’s love, we must keep His commandments. When we abide in the Lord, He will speak His instant words within us. These words are His commandments to us. If we keep them, it means that we love Him. Thus we shall abide in His love. First, the Lord abides in us. Then His word abides in us. First, He deals with us by Himself. Then, He deals with us by His word and by His love. This is very meaningful. First, He abides in us and then His word abides in us. First, we abide in Him and then we abide in His love. Take the example of two friends. In such a friendship, the one friend must care for the word of the other. It is no longer only a matter of the friend himself but also of his word. If the one friend does not care for the other’s word, he will lose his friendship. But if he cares for his friend’s word, he will gradually find himself in his friend’s love. This will deepen the friendship, making it more intimate and intensified. But if the one does not care for the other’s word, he will not be in the other’s love in such an intimate way, and eventually the friendship will be damaged.
At the beginning we abide in the Lord and He abides in us. In His abiding He speaks His instant word to us. We need to keep this word. When we keep His word, it means that we allow His word to abide in us. Then not only does He Himself abide in us, but His word abides in us. When we keep His word and let it abide in us, we immediately come into His love and abide in His love. We abide not only in Him but also in His love. This abiding becomes more intimate, deep, and intensified. If we do not abide in Him in such an intimate way, we may gradually slip out of the abiding altogether. The Lord is always speaking. If you will let Him abide in you, He will continually speak to you. When He speaks, you must say, “Amen, Lord, I love You.” When you say amen and keep His words, you get into His love, having the sweet sensation that He is so dear, precious, and lovely to you. At this point, you abide not only in Him but also in His love.
If we abide in the Lord by abiding in His love, and if the Lord abides in us by His word abiding in us, then we shall have some intimate fellowship with the Lord. Out of this fellowship we shall have some prayer in the spirit which will be the expression of the living Lord dwelling within us. By praying in this manner we shall know that the Father will be expressed and glorified. We always talk about glorifying God, but how do we glorify God? It is by abiding in the love of the Lord and by letting the word of the Lord abide in us. Then God the Father will be expressed through us and will be glorified in the Son. Out of this intimate, intense abiding, clusters of fruit will be produced because we have been filled with all of the Lord’s riches of life. The overflow of the abundance of this life will be so prevailing that it will bear fruit, and God the Father in the Son will be expressed and glorified.
If we abide in the Lord and keep abiding in Him by abiding in His love so that we may bear much fruit to express the riches of His life for the glorification of the Father, we shall be filled with joy. Our joy always comes from our abiding in the Lord, from our abiding in His love, from our fruit-bearing in His rich life, and from the expression and glorification of the Father. It is in this kind of life that we are full of joy.
We have seen the abiding in John 15. Romans 8 is a continuation of John 15. Without Romans 8 it would be difficult for us to maintain the abiding in the Lord continually. The way to maintain the abiding in the Lord constantly is to set our mind upon the spirit (Rom. 8:6). To set the mind on the spirit in Romans 8 is a development of the abiding in the Lord in John 15. If we have only John 15 without Romans 8, we still do not have the way to abide in the Lord continually. In Romans 8 we have Christ as the Spirit of life (v. 2) and as the indwelling Spirit in our spirit with life. The way to keep abiding in the Lord is to have our mind, the main part of our soul, set on our spirit that we may experience the Lord who is the life-giving Spirit indwelling our spirit.