Why It's Amazing for You to Abide in Jesus

In John fifteen, Jesus moves on from His “I am the true Vine declaration” and concentrates some of His focus on the concept of fruit bearing and abiding. What’s exciting about this is that learning to abide leads to great things for the Kingdom of God. Abiding in Christ will always produce fruit, even though it is not always apparent. Here is the story of a man who produced glorious fruit in a very unspectacular way. A century and a half ago there died a humble minister in a small village in Leicestershire, England. He had never attended college and had no degrees. He was merely a faithful village minister. In his congregation was a young cobbler to whom he gave special attention, teaching him the Word of God. This young man was later to be renowned as William Carey, one of the greatest missionaries of modern times. This same minister had a son, a boy whom he taught faithfully, and constantly encouraged. The boy’s character and powers were profoundly affected by his father’s life. That son was Robert Hall, the mightiest public orator of his day, whose sermons influenced the decisions of statesmen and whose character was as saintly as his preaching was phenomenal. [By comparison,] it seemed that the village pastor [had] accomplished little. There were no spectacular revivals, but his faithful witness and godly life had much to do with giving India its Carey and England its Robert Hall. You do not have to be famous, wealthy, or even educated to faithfully abide in Christ. God expects every believer to live for Him wherever He has placed him in life—regardless of the circumstances. Keep on abiding in Jesus —who knows who you will reach for Him.¹ We are talking about the in’s and out’s of remaining connected to the Vine in this podcast entitled, ‘Why It’s Amazing For You To Abide In Jesus’ all on this week’s Light on Life.

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Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put it into operation.
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Abiding in Christ ALWAYS produces fruit.’ Capitalize, underline and boldface the word ‘always.’ Always means always.

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Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11). Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony.
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Question: Share your testimony where God lead your through a season of great fruitfulness for the Kindom of God. You can give your personal testimony in the comments section below.

Episode Resources:

If you would like to know more about growing in faith, see the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

We are currently teaching in the Gospel of John. You can click on the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 48 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. He and his wife Sharon of 43 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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Prayer

Well again, welcome.
Let’s talk to God for a moment.

Father God, thank you for Jesus abiding in us. We choose to reciprocate that by clinging to, holding fast, and abiding in Him. Help us to realize all that entails. Grant unto us a sprint of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of what it means to remain in Him, what it means to have connection to the Jesus the Vine. We give you all the praise glory and honor in Jesus Name, Amen.

Abide In Jesus: What the Word ‘Abide’ Means

If you recall from last week’s podcast, in John fifteen, Jesus made one of His more well-known “I AM” declarations when He said, I am the true vine.
We saw in that podcast that God has a track set for our life that includes, fruit, more fruit, and much fruit and that if we will stay connected to the Vine, we will absolutely, 100% with no exceptions, bear good fruit.
This concept of staying connected or being connected is located in verse four of John fifteen in the word ‘abide.’

John 15:3–5 (ESV) — 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Now, remember the opening illustration — there was a sentence in there that we need to hold to.
‘Abiding in Christ ALWAYS produces fruit.’
Capitalize, underline and boldface the word ‘always.’
Always means always.
If you remain in Him, you will be fruitful.
Of this fact, there is no doubt – Jesus said it.
With that being said, gaining some understand of what it means to abide is necessary.
So, we should start out defining what the word ‘abide’ means and with that thought, here is the Definition of the Day.
The Greek word ‘abide’ means to settle down and remain.
How about to remain in a place, to tarry [tarry means to wait], to stay in the house [in this case, it’s a vine.], to dwell.
Figuratively, to remain in a sphere.[ 2. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 574.]
Various translators have tried to capture the essence of what ‘abiding in Jesus’ means in their Bible translations.
The English version says ‘abide’ means ‘to remain united to.’
The Contemporary English Version defines it as ‘to stay joined to.
Same thought.
Another translation, the Revised English Bible has ‘to dwell.’
In the Philips Translation, the command ‘remain in me’ is translated ‘you must go on growing in me.’²
And that’s good but in my view, we need more of ‘how do you do live in union with?’
I mean how do we actually do that?
For example, two people get married and they are looking for advice on how to make this union work and you say “well, just abide with her” or “just live in union with her.”
You see this kind of advice is just too vague.
We need concrete steps or actions.
The New International Commentary on the New Testament [one of my favorites] said that ‘abiding in Jesus’ means to remain or stay somewhere implying a continuing relationship, one that is already going on.³
That’s better – a continuing realtionship.
Remaining involves more than believing in Jesus says the IVP New Testament Commentary.
It also consists of being united with him, sharing his thoughts, emotions, purposes, and power ⁴.
Yes, but how?
Yet, another commentator, the Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary, says to remain means to adhere to Jesus as one’s vital source of help and strength.
The Pillar New Testament, another valued resource, says abiding in Jesus has to do with continual dependence and reliance on him, obedience to him, and tenacious imbibing of his life ⁵.
All of these are adding some flavor to the recipe.
You know what, we could go on and on.
All of these comments sound terrific except for the application piece.
‘How do I put this into operation in my life.’

To Abide In Jesus, You Need the Word

Now if we allow the Bible to help us here — that is if we allow the scriptures to interpret themselves, we can see exactly what abiding in Jesus is all about.
The Word of God tells us how to abide and, there are multiple verses.
So, let’s take a scripture walk here.
Staying right here in John for a minute, look at John chapter eight.

John 8:31 (ESV) — 31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Look what Jesus said here.
“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.”
So, abiding in Jesus means to abide in the Word.

Matthew 10:11 (ESV) — 11 And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart.

See the words ‘stay there?’
It’s the exact same Greek word ‘abide’ in John 15:4.
Abiding in the Word is staying in the Word.
You can’t separate Jesus and the Word because Jesus is the Word.
Are you dealing with God’s Word?
Are you reading, studying, and thinking about God’s Word?
Are you staying in God’s Word?
And with that thought, here is the Illustration of the Day.

Much that is called Bible study is not Bible study at all. Satan kept men for years from any interest in Bible study, but now that there is a great and growing interest in it he keeps them from real Bible study. Questions about the authorship, date, etc., of the various books of the Bible are both interesting and important; but studying these things is not studying the Bible. Mr. Moody once asked a recent graduate of a great university why he did not give his life to teaching the English Bible. The young man replied, “I don’t know anything about the Bible.” “Why,” Mr. Moody said, “you have a high priced professor employed in your university just to teach the English Bible.” The young man said, “Mr. Moody, would you like to know how we study the Bible? We have spent the last six months trying to find out who wrote the Pentateuch, and we know less about it now than when we began.” That was not Bible study.⁶

That is not staying in the Word.
God’s Word is your link to Jesus the Vine.
Now, do you recall how our main text in John fifteen started out?
Let me reread it for you.

3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me…

The word that I have spoken — and the next two words? — Abide in me.
Here, in John eight, Jesus said if you abide in the Word, you will be set free by that same Word of God.
In John fifteen, Jesus said if you abide in the Word, you will be made clean by that same Word of God.
Clean and free are by-products of the abiding life.
So again, if you desire to be a fruit-bearing believer, you need to be in your Bible.

To Abide in Jesus, Hold God’s Word Fast

Let’s go now to Luke’s gospel.

Luke 8:15 (ESV) — 15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

Do you see the words ‘bearing fruit?’
So, we’re talking about bearing fruit in Luke eight just like we are talking about bearing fruit in John 15.
Fruit is fruit.
Abiding is abiding.
Luke 8:15 has in it some of the components that you’re going to need to live the ‘abiding’ life.
Now, we know already that we must be in our Bibles — we got that out of John eight.
Here in Luke eight, Jesus starts out with ‘hearing the Word.’
So, ‘being in the Word, being in your Bible, is the ‘hearing’ part.
Those in good soil are those who hear the Word.
If you want to abide, hear the Word, listen to the Word.
But, you must not only hear the Word, you must also hold fast to the Word.
So ‘holding fast’ has something to do with abiding as well.
Those who hear the word, must hold it fast.
Well, what does that mean — ‘hold fast?’
I’m glad you asked — I was going to tell you anyway.
The Greek word translated ‘hold fast’ means to heed, to listen, hear, or pay close attention to, and usually respond in conformity.
We also know that Jesus was Jewish and so He was raised with the Hebrew concept of hearing which meant that hearing and doing what you heard is the same thing.
If you’re not putting the Word of God into operation, if you’re not doing what you’re hearing, if you’re not placing your weight on it expecting it to hold you up, abiding in Jesus will be difficult for you.
And since you are not abiding, you will not be fruitful as you desire.
So first, hear the Word.
Second, ‘hold it fast – do it.’
But, there’s yet one more component in Luke 8:15.

As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

And, that component is patience.
Walking in biblical patience is something that is essential to abiding in Jesus.
The Greek word ‘patience’ used here is defined as the capacity to hold out or bear up in the face of difficulty, patience, endurance, fortitude, steadfastness, perseverance.⁷
So in this area of abiding, what is the difficulty that you are having to bear up under or face?
What are you needing patience, endurance and fortitude for?
Listen to it again.

those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

You’re exercising patience for the Word of God to come to pass — that Word of God that you are putting your weight on — that you’re holding fast to.
That Word that you’re having done all to stand — that is you stand and keep on standing.
That’s abiding — stay with it — and you will be fruitful.
Sometimes we give up too early.
We quit and we abort the fruit bearing process.

A survey made by the National Retail Dry Goods Association reveals the following results: 48% of the salesmen make one call and quit; 25% make two calls and quit; 15% make three calls and quit; that shows that 88% of the salesmen quit after making one, two or three new calls. But 12% keep on calling. They do 80% of the business. The 88% who quit after the first, second, or third calls do only 20% of the business.⁸

Quitting — not holding fast — walking in impatience disconnects us from the Vine and the fruit bearing process stops!
The potential fruit on your branch is still-born on the Vine!
Do you understand that fruit-bearing is never instant.
You don’t just plant a grape vine and the next day have grapes.
How many answers to our prayers are still born because we disconnected?
We throw our bat and our baseball glove and we quit the game and go home.
We’re not playing anymore.
How many people have lost their healing because they quit?
Now, this verse in Luke eight is just one portion out of Jesus Parable on the Sower Sows the Word.
Remember the illustration.
Eighty percent quit before success came.
This parable where the sower sows seeds into different kinds of ground, you can line up with the different salesman in the illustration above.
Only one kind of ground produced the seed that was sown in it.
Only one kind of salesman got the sale.
In both cases, it was the one that refused to quit.

2 John 9 (ESV) — 9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.

If you don’t remain in the Word, you have the Father nor Jesus because Jesus and the Father are one.
That should cinch the deal for you.

To Abide In Jesus Requires Faithfulness

This next group of verses center around the common theme of faithfulness in connection with abiding.
If you want to bear fruit, faithfulness is a key tool in your toolbox.

Acts 11:23 (ESV) — 23 When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose,

There’s that word ‘remain.’
Remain faithful — those two words are one word in the Greek.
Greek dictionaries have this word as meaning to remain with or in, to stay with, to keep on, to go further.
So, it’s really a similar word to this word ‘abide’ that we’ve been looking at.
Remaining faithful is another way of saying to abide in Jesus.
Now, we say that we should be faithful — abide in Jesus.
What is faithfulness?
What does it look like?

A shepherd once came to the city of Edinburgh from the country. He had his small obedient dog with him. While there, the man died and was buried. That little dog lay upon its master’s grave—not for a day, a week, or a month, but for 12 years. Every day at one o’clock a gun was fired in the castle of Edinburgh. When the gun was fired the dog would run to the local baker who gave it food and water. Then back to the grave it would go. This continued till the dog died 12 years later. That was faithfulness!

A man threw a goose, which had been run over and crushed by a car, into an oil drum. For seven years the gander, that goose’s mate, never went more than ten feet away from that oil drum. That was faithfulness!
George Mueller prayed for 52 years for a certain man to come to Christ.
A pastor visited an elderly man 21 times before being let in, but then he befriended the man and led him to Christ. That was faithfulness!
A Welsh postman had the British Empire Medal conferred upon him by Queen Elizabeth; he had not missed a day’s service in 43 years.
Paul Dhrlick, the chemist, performed 605 unsuccessful experiments; the 606th was a success!
Thomas Edison made 18,000 experiments before he perfected the arc light. After experiencing 50 failures on another project he said, “I have found 50 ways it cannot be done!” That was faithfulness!
During the Korean War a man buried himself in the muck and mud of a pig sty (except for his nose and mouth so he could breathe) for eight days and nights rather than betray his buddies and surrender to the enemy. That was faithfulness!⁹
Do you now understand what it means to abide, to remain in Jesus?
To abide in Jesus means remaining faithful to the Word.

1 John 3:24 (ESV) — 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

To Abide In Jesus, You Must Continue

There are several synonyms for the word abide.
Here’s another one, the word ‘continue.’

Acts 14:21–22 (ESV) — 21 When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

Do you see the word ‘continue’ as part of the phrase ‘continue in the faith?’
Here it is again — that same kind of word — another synonym.
The word continue means ‘to remain in, or to keep on in an activity or a state.’¹⁰
So, now we’re building a case with these words: hold fast, faithfulness, and continue.

Abide In Jesus Means Being Stable

Let’s keep building on this foundation.

Colossians 1:23 (ESV) — 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

We have the word continue here again but with a little extra.
How do you continue? — stable, steadfast.
Continue in the faith stable and steadfast.
The word ‘stable’ is a word that speaks to your foundation in God.
Because, that’s what the word means “to lay a foundation.”
But it’s not just any old foundation.
The grammar shows that the action of being placed on a foundation was completed in past time having present results.
You, as a Jesus follower, have been placed on a foundation, the Lord Jesus, with the result that you are grounded in Him.
This is a once-for-all act on the part of God, having permanent results.¹¹
Your life has the right foundation in Jesus.
Don’t move off of Him and you will bear fruit.

Abide In Jesus Means Being Stedfast Not Shifting

Two more words, we need to look at as we get ready to close.
We are to continue in the faith, stable, steadfast, not shifting
We got the stable part that’s foundation.
‘Steadfast’ means to being firmly or solidly in place¹²
‘Not shifting’ means to cause to cease, to be shaken from.[14. Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 153
So here are the words you need to understand ‘abiding in Jesus, the Vine.’
Hold fast, faithfulness, continue, stable, stedfast, not shifting.
Executing this with determination will lead you to one amazing result — fruitfulness.
That’s what abiding is all about.

Now, Father God, thank you for your goodness and for your mercies. They are new and fresh every morning. Great is your faithfulness. We are so encouraged today to know that by simply clinging to you and your Word, our lives will bare the fruit of God. Oh glory to your Name! We thank you for it in Jesus Name, Amen.

Why It’s Amazing for You to Abide in Jesus.
You guys have a great God week. We’ll see you next time for another edition of Light on Life.

What it Means to Wait on God

___________
References:

Leadership Ministries Worldwide, Practical Illustrations: 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 2003), 13. ↩
Ronald L. Trail, An Exegetical Summary of John 10–21, Exegetical Summaries (Dallas, TX: SIL International, 2018), 247.
You will understand that translation even more as we continue in this podcast.

Abide In Jesus: What Commentators Say

Now, all of this translations give us some insight into what ‘abiding in Jesus the Vine’ means.
Along with Bible translators, commentary writers have given their views filling volumes trying to decipher what Jesus was saying.
You know, we should thank God and give Him glory for their efforts.
You can learn quite a bit from commentators in general.
Here’s a sampling of what commentaries are saying about what they think it means to ‘abide in Jesus.’
One such volume, ‘The UBS Handbook on the Gospel of John,’ says that ‘abiding’ means to remain or ‘to live in fellowship with’ or, ‘to live in union with’, or ‘to remain united with. ’[4. Barclay Moon Newman and Eugene Albert Nida, A Handbook on the Gospel of John, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1993), 481. ↩
J. Ramsey Michaels, The Gospel of John, The New International Commentary on the Old and New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010), 803. ↩
Rodney A. Whitacre, John, vol. 4, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Westmont, IL: IVP Academic, 1999), 374. ↩
D. A. Carson, The Gospel according to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991), 516. ↩
R. A. Torrey AMG Bible Illustrations, Bible Illustrations Series (Chattanooga: AMG Publishers, 2000). ↩
William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 1039. ↩
Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 1328. ↩
AMG Bible Illustrations, Bible Illustrations Series (Chattanooga: AMG Publishers, 2000). ↩
Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 655. ↩
Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 6 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 190. ↩
William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 276. ↩

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Why It’s Amazing for You to Abide in Jesus

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eleven Episode Thirty-Four

by Emery Horvath

Listen to the Audio

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Read the Notes

Accept the Challenge

Join the Conversation

Episode Resources:

If you would like to know more about growing in faith, see the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

We are currently teaching in the Gospel of John. You can click on the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

About Emery

Subscribe to the Podcast

Share the Love

Prayer

Abide In Jesus: What the Word ‘Abide’ Means

To Abide In Jesus, You Need the Word

To Abide in Jesus, Hold God’s Word Fast

To Abide In Jesus Requires Faithfulness

To Abide In Jesus, You Must Continue

Abide In Jesus Means Being Stable

Abide In Jesus Means Being Stedfast Not Shifting

Abide In Jesus: What Commentators Say

Listen to the Audio

Click to Listen | Right Click to Download |Subscribe in PlayerFM

Read the Notes

Accept the Challenge

Join the Conversation

Episode Resources:

If you would like to know more about growing in faith, see the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

We are currently teaching in the Gospel of John. You can click on the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

About Emery

Subscribe to the Podcast

Share the Love

Prayer

Abide In Jesus: What the Word ‘Abide’ Means

To Abide In Jesus, You Need the Word

To Abide in Jesus, Hold God’s Word Fast

To Abide In Jesus Requires Faithfulness

To Abide In Jesus, You Must Continue

Abide In Jesus Means Being Stable

Abide In Jesus Means Being Stedfast Not Shifting

Abide In Jesus: What Commentators Say

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