The Results of Abiding in Christ

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«Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you; continue ye in my love. 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. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.» «These things I command you, that ye love one another.» «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.»

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It is plainly stated that fruit bearing is the result of abiding in Christ. Jesus says, «I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing.» We have read these words of instruction again and again, but have we taken them into our hearts? Are they practiced in our life, and revealed to all those with whom we associate? No soul will be lost who will practice the principles of these words of Christ. Jesus prayed that his disciples might be sanctified through the truth, and added, «Thy word is truth.» He said again, «I have given them thy word.» The soul’s sanctification is to be accomplished through obedience to the word of God. In the fear and love of Christ I would inquire, Do we hear, and do we receive into a good and honest heart, these important words? and are we determined to know for ourselves what is truth? Do we know by experience what it is to abide in Christ as the branch abides in the parent stock? «As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.»

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Have the words of Christ had any weight in determining our course of action? Has not self been strangely mingled with all our service? Is not the chief reason why growth in religious experience has been dwarfed and sickly to be found in the fact that our works are so largely of self, and so little of Jesus? Christ is nothing to us unless he is our Guide, our Counselor, our Alpha and Omega, our all and in all. If Christ abides with us, self must be dead, for our very spiritual life is to have self hid with Christ in God.

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Let every soul make sure that the principles which Christ has taught concerning abiding in him are deeply planted in the heart by the Holy Spirit. This instruction has been strangely neglected, and is it any wonder that the professed people of God have had little of the peace and love of God abiding in their hearts, when they have felt so little responsibility to carry out these principles of truth? Even the professed teachers of truth have failed to impress on the minds of the people the importance of abiding in Christ, because their own lives and characters were not sanctified through the truth. Unless the truth is enthroned in the heart, and there is a thorough transition from darkness to light, even the professed teachers of truth will be blind leaders of the blind, clouds without water, carried about with winds; they will be as trees whose fruit withereth, twice dead, to be plucked up by the roots. Let all feel the necessity of self-examination. Let us know for ourselves that we are abiding in Christ, and that his words are abiding in us.

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As we near the close of earth’s history, Satan redoubles his efforts to cast his hellish shadow over us, in order that he may cause us to turn our eyes away from Christ. If he can prevent us from beholding Jesus, we shall be overcome; but we must not permit him to do this; for «we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.» What is the glory of the Lord? Moses prayed, «I beseech thee, show me thy glory.» And the Lord said, «I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.» «And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed. The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.» The glory of God is his character, and it is manifested to us in Christ. Therefore it is by beholding Christ, by contemplating his character, by learning his lessons, by obeying his words, that we become changed into his likeness. As we are enlightened by his Spirit, we see no virtue or merit in ourselves. We realize there is naught in us but deformity. But the glory of the Redeemer, manifested in his atoning sacrifice, in his justifying righteousness, in his fullness of grace, whereby we not only obtain pardon but receive sanctification, fills the whole soul with love and adoration, and in contemplating the goodness, mercy, and love of God, we become transformed in character. Jesus said, «The glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.» On him who receives Christ, the glory of the Lord has risen, the Sun of Righteousness has shined, and, rising from his low and worldly state, the believer reflects the light of Christ’s glory. As he continually looks to Jesus and contemplates his beauty, he is more and more transformed into the child of light.

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Jesus said of his followers: «Ye are the light of the world. . . . Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.» «Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.» God is glorified in his children as they represent Christ in character. Jesus says, «He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.» Good works are the fruits borne upon the Christian tree. It is impossible to be a disciple of Christ, and be as a fruitless branch. The good works of the believer are wrought through the human agent by Christ himself. They are doers of the words of Christ, and will not only impart blessings of the highest order to others, but as they render implicit obedience to Christ, they represent his character, and bring joy to the heart of Christ, and to all the holy ones of heaven. —