The security of the believer is an awesome principle of
Bible truth.
Not only is it the crown example of what "saved by
grace" means, but it is a powerful motivation for greater love and
service to the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Far from being any
imagined "license" to sin, for the believer who understands God's
sealing "down payment" of the indwelling Holy Spirit, salvation
security provides the freedom to live above every encumbrance from human
viewpoint and every lust from the sin nature that seeks to entangle us.
Jesus Himself taught the security of the believer upon
many occasions. One of the most succinct statements on this subject is
found at John 5:24, where Jesus states, "Truly, truly, I say to you,
he who hears my word and believes Him who sent Me, has everlasting life,
and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life."
This views the present status of the believer as "in
life." That is, as possessing the quality of life that is the opposite
of spiritual death, and is in fact, a sharing of the very life of Christ.
John writes at 1 John 5:11-12, "And the witness is this, that God
has given us everlasting life, and this life is in His Son. He who has
the Son, has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have
the life."
Paul writes at Romans 6:23, "the wages of sin is
death, but the gracious gift of God is everlasting life in Christ Jesus
our Lord."
And at Romans 8:2, "For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus, has set you free from the law of the sin and the
death."
Jesus taught, as recorded at John 10:27-29, "My sheep
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give to them
everlasting life, and they shall not ever perish; and no one shall snatch
them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than
all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand."
In spite of these, and dozens of other, very clear statements
and promises from the Word of God, many still attempt to dispute the validity
of the believer's salvation security by appealing to human logic and so-called
problem passages. All such attempts fail through two very serious doctrinal
misunderstandings.
(1) The failure to distinguish between the believer's
"relationship" with God (in union with Christ), which is viewed
as a totally righteous heavenly state; and the believer's experience while
living here on earth, which is continually tainted by the presence of the
sin nature and the failures of choice that choose to do things independently
of God instead of according to God's viewpoint and policies.
(2) The failure to recognize that the child of God, who
fails to live like a child, but instead chooses to act independently from
God and do things that are contrary to God's viewpoint and policy, will
come under the strict and severe discipline of God, as God tries to motivate
him back into righteous living. And that God does NOT discipline the unbeliever,
but only His children. And that any sin, no matter how grievous or long-term
will not remove the believer from being a child of God, but instead, will
bring that believer under the harsh discipline of God, which may even include
a premature removal from this life of spiritual privilege here on earth,
through physical death.
In view of these principles then, let us examine another
teaching of Jesus, that is quite often misunderstood and misused by those
enemies of grace to teach the loss of salvation, or that the person in
view was never saved in the first place.
John 15:1-11
Verse 1
1. I am the true vine: Vine is the instrument of fruit;
of production. If there is no vine, there can be no service to God.
Jesus is the only true source for bringing honor and glory
to God.
Not only from a salvation perspective, as He taught, "I
am way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through
me," (John 14:6). But also from the perspective of living rightly
here on earth, "for apart from Me, you can do nothing," (verse
5).
2. And My Father is the vinedresser: The Father is the
author of the plan and the source of vitality to the vine. Jesus said,
"The Son can do nothing of Himself except what He sees the Father
doing," (John 5:19). And, "I can do nothing from myself. As I
hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own
will, but the will of Him who sent Me," (John 5:30).
In this analogy, God the Father is the one who is responsible
for keeping the vine productive.
Verse 2
1. Every branch in me: The branches are people, and they
are seen as in the vine whether they are bearing fruit or not. These "people"
who are in the vine, must be seen as having some kind of a salvation relationship
with Christ and not be unbelievers. However, it is not proper to see this
as a "positional" union with Christ, because that did not actually
come into existence until the arrival of the Holy Spirit after Christ's
resurrection. But it is a relationship that is established at the point
of time that a person trusts in Jesus as the Messiah/Savior.
Jesus taught four primary factors concerning the salvation
relationship with God.
(1) Jesus proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom (Matthew
4:23; 9:35; Luke 4:43; 8:1); and entrance into it through faith (Matthew
18:3; Mark 10:15)
(2) Jesus taught that by the new birth one entered into
the kingdom of God (John 3:3-5); and that the new birth constituted the
reception of everlasting life, and was realized by faith in Him (John 3:16-36).
(3) Jesus taught that by faith in Him, one was removed
from darkness and became a son of light (John 12:36, 46).
(4) At John 6:29-58, Jesus taught that the one who believes
in Him has everlasting life and enters into a reciprocal spiritual relationship
where the believer abides in Christ and Christ abides in the believer.
This then, is the basis for recognizing the phrase at
John 15:2, "every branch in Me," as referring to those who have
a salvation relationship with Christ.
In the agricultural sense, a branch in the vine, might
not be productive. It may need some nurturing; some cultivating; some pruning
so that it will become productive. Even the branches that are productive,
need additional attention in order to become even more productive.
2. That does not bear fruit: However a branch may be unproductive
and unresponsive to the attention given it by God, the vinedresser. It
is then viewed as a DEAD branch. In such a case, the branch needs to be
removed in order to make room for other branches that will be productive.
The believer who fails to "grow in the grace and the knowledge of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18), is "unacquainted
(unskilled) with the word of righteousness, for he is a baby" (Hebrews
5:13), and as such, will remain unproductive unless he begins to grow.
The failure to grow up in the faith results in non productivity because
it is the word of God in the soul that gives the believer fuel for producing
a righteousness that is pleasing to God.
3. He takes away: The believer who is unproductive will
be disciplined by God according to the principles taught at Hebrews 12:6-11.
This is not removal from the family of God and not loss of salvation. It
is discipline from God in order to motivate the believer to recover from
human viewpoint and sin. If the believer responds in a positive way to
divine discipline, which is described at Hebrews 12:11, as being "trained
by it," then the result of the discipline "yields the peaceful
fruit of righteousness."
According to 1 Corinthians 11:30, there are three stages
of divine discipline (1) warning stage, (2) intensive stage, and (3) ultimate
stage. This is taught in the context of partaking of the communion table
with sin present in the life; that is, sin that has not been confessed
to the Father. The three stages are described as, weak, sick and dead (sleep).
Weak refers to a warning stage of divine discipline which
is designed basically to slap the hands of the erring believer, and motivate
him to confess the sin(s) by using 1 John 1:9. If the believer fails to
recover through this warning, then God may intensify the discipline, which
is represented by the word, "sick." This simply indicates that
God will bring more intense pressure into the life of the erring believer
in a further attempt to get him to confess his sins. This may or may not
involve actual sickness, but that is one tool that God uses for the intensive
stage of discipline. If the believer still fails to recover from his sinful
activity, then God may choose to totally remove him from the privilege
of living here on earth as God's ambassador. This then involves premature
physical death so that the believer is taken out of this life to face the
Lord Jesus in shame and embarrassment. But none the less, that believer
is still saved and placed into the presence of the Lord. The initial shame
and embarrassment will be gone after facing the Lord, but the fact of his
premature removal from this life, and the interruption of the privilege
to serve God here on earth will never be undone.
This act of God in removing the erring believer prematurely
from this earthly life is called "the sin unto death," which
indicates an expression of sin that serves as a "final straw"
type of sin that brings God's hand of discipline down upon him in a FINAL
act of discipline, from which there may or may not be recovery.
Since the sin unto death can be either an immediate judgment
from God as with Annanias and Saphira (Acts 5:1-11) or a terminal type
of illness as with Hezekiah (Isaiah 38:1), there may be an opportunity
for recovery, which is exactly what happened with Hezekiah (Isaiah 38:2-5).
SEE: DISCIPLINE:
on the believer
The removal of the unproductive branch refers to divine
discipline and looks at it from the perspective of the ultimate stage of
divine discipline. This then operates on the premise that the branch in
question has had previous opportunities to recover from his non productive
Christian life, and has failed to do so, which results in removal from
this life through physical death. In the agricultural analogy, this is
pictured by cutting off the branches and throwing them into the fire. This
is not to suggest to us a loss of salvation and a placement into the lake
of fire, but is simply the common agricultural image that conveys USELESSNESS.
And that is what the believer who fails to produce is - he is useless.
But he is still a child of God. This passage is not talking about loss
of salvation, it is talking about failure to produce.
3. And every branch that bears fruit: This is the believer
who has learned some truth and is able to cycle that truth through his
soul so that it produces righteous living (good works), which is what God
has planned for the believer to produce (Ephesians 2:10; 5:9; Romans 14:17-18).
However, the Christian life involves a PROCESS of growth
and advance to a place of ever more consistent character strength and precision
in representing truth to the world. Accordingly, the growing believer is
encouraged and comforted and guided by God to continue to advance in growth.
This is represented by the "pruning" of God.
4. He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit: The word,
prune, is the verb kathairo, which means to cleanse. In an agricultural
context, the "cleansing" is the removal of old growth so as to
stimulate new growth. In the spiritual context, the "cleansing"
is the removal of human viewpoint and logic; the preconceptions and misconceptions
that the believer brings with him from his former life, that need to be
exposed, removed and replaced with divine viewpoint. In Jesus' famous prayer
in the garden, he expressed His desire that the Father might "sanctify
them through Your truth; Your word is truth," (John 17:17). Sanctification
refers to the experiential process of "making unique" by transforming
the believer into a reflector of Christ's character. Of course, the believer
must agree to undergo the transformation process by maintaining fellowship
with God an pursuing growth in grace and knowledge (1 Peter 1:13-17; 1
Thessalonians 4:1-8).
At 1 Timothy 1:5, Paul writes that the "goal of the
instruction is LOVE, out from a CLEANSED heart." The word for cleansed
is the adjective, katharos (from the verb kathairo in our passage), which
indicates the removal of that which is unusable in the mentality of the
soul (the heart). Love, which is the summary word for the production of
Christ's character, can only be consistently understood and reflected as
the heart is cleansed from the human viewpoint that distorts the true biblical
perspective of Christian love. In other words, the heart needs to be cleansed
from "every encumbrance" of human viewpoint, and "every
sin that entangles us" (Hebrews 12:1), so that we can efficiently
"run the race" and fulfill God's plan for us while living here
on earth.
Then, there will result a consistent production of righteousness
as we are able to present our entire life to God as "weapons of righteousness"
(Romans 6:13) which will glorify Him, "For by this is my Father glorified,
that you bear much fruit," (John 15:8).
SEE: Spiritual
growth
Verse 3
1. You are already clean: Jesus addresses the disciples,
excluding Judas, for he has already left the group (John 13:21-30), and
explains to them that they have been already prepared to serve.
2. because of the word which I have spoken to you: This
confirms that the cleansing process involves the proclamation of truth.
Jesus had been teaching them for 3 1/2 years and cleansing their hearts
from human viewpoint and tradition. But especially in the last few hours,
He has been fine-tuning their focus by giving them the information they
will need to face the immediate crisis of the cross, and the beginning
years of the church age. Issues of humility in John 13:1-20; and love at
John 13:33-35; teachings about His second coming at John 14:1-3; about
His character at John 14:6-10; and the coming of the Holy Spirit at John
14:15-26; and the peace of the abundant life at John 14:26-29.
Verse 4
1. Abide in me: this is an aorist active imperative of
the verb, meno, and communicates the EXPERIENCE of abiding. Abiding refers
to having a fellowship/rapport experience with the Lord by which His word
functions as the controller of the soul. Abiding takes the relationship
factor of our salvation and extends it into our experience through functional
fellowship. Fellowship is experienced when there is no un-confessed sin
in the life of the believer. If a believer expresses sin (mental, verbal
or overt), then this breaks fellowship with God, and creates a functional
separation between God and that believer. When the believer confesses that
sin or sins, then God is faithful and just to forgive the sin, cleanse
the believer from all unrighteousness, and restore him to functional fellowship
(1 John 1:9, 7). The command expressed by Jesus here, is a command to maintain
functional fellowship through allowing His word to control the soul and
prevent personal sin (Colossians 3:16a; 1 John 2:27; 3:6, 9). As long as
the word of God controls the soul; that is, the word is what the believer
chooses to follow in making decisions and facing temptation, he is unable
to sin. But as soon as he chooses to abandon the influence of the word
in his soul, he ceases to experientially abide in Christ and instead, he
yields to the sin nature and will commit sin, whether it is only mental,
or advances to verbal or overt. This is what John means at 1 John 3:6,
"everyone who abides in Him does not sin."
SEE: FELLOWSHIP
WITH GOD
SEE: The Theology
of Abiding
2. And I in you (kago en humin): There is no verb in this
construction, but the idea of command is carried over from the imperative
of abide, and gives this the force of "and (let me) abide in you.
This refers to the character reflection of Jesus abiding within the soul
of the believer through both knowledge and application of truth. It is
thus, the other side of the same coin of abiding in Him. This is also expressed
at verse 7, "if you abide in me and MY WORDS abide in you." This
parallels verse 4 and indicates that Christ abiding in the believer is
through the dwelling of Christ's word in his soul. Thus, the command at
Colossians 3:16a, "Let the word of Christ abundantly dwell within
you." And what we saw at 1 John 3:6 is explained at verse 1 John 3:9,
"Everyone who has been born of God, does not do sin BECAUSE His seed
(the word) abides in Him. And he is not able to sin (through this provision)
because he has been born of God."
3. This is NOT to be confused with what we saw earlier
at John 6:47-56, where Jesus explains the salvation relationship that is
realized through faith.
A. At verse 47: "He who believes in Me has everlasting
life."
B. At verse 54: "He who eats my flesh and drinks
my blood has everlasting lfe."
C. At verse 56: "He who eats my flesh and drinks
my blood ABIDES IN ME, and I in Him."
D. What Jesus does at John 15:4, is to simply make an
extension of a salvation truth into the experience of living the Christian
life. This is a concept that is taught all throughout the New Testament,
which basically says, "as we are in relationship, we should live in
our experience." Thus, we are a saint in relationship; we should act
like a saint. We are righteous in our relationship; we should act righteously.
We are a child of God in relationship; we should act like a child of God.
3. This is simply an amplification of what Jesus had been
teaching all throughout His ministry, just as was exemplified in His own
life as recorded at Matthew 4:4, "man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word of God." And here at the end, just a few minutes
before while they were still in the upper room, at John 14:21, John records
that Jesus said, "He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it
is who loves Me," and at verse 23, "He who loves Me, he will
keep My word."
4. Jesus applies the illustration of the branches and
vine to fellowship with Him. There can be no bearing of fruit unless the
believer abides in Christ. That is, unless the believer is in fellowship
with Christ through keeping sin out of the life.
Thus, the exhortation from God expressed through John
at 1 John 1:6, "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk
in darkness, we are lying and not doing the truth." And at 1 John
2:1, "My little children, I write these things to you so that you
will not sin."
Verse 5
1. Jesus repeats the application to the disciples for
amplification and emphasis.
2. For apart from Me you can do nothing: This dependence
on Christ is realized through knowledge and application of His word into
every area of life. And of course, His word refers to both Old Testament
and New Testament truth, for "the word which you hear is not Mine,
but the Father's who sent me," (John 14:24).
Thus we find at Romans 15:4, "For whatever was written
formerly, was written for our instruction, so that through the endurance
and the encouragement from the Scriptures, we might have confidence" (BFT).
And at 2 Timothy 3:16-17, "All scripture is God-breathed,
and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training
in righteousness, so that the man of God, might be proficient, having been
equipped for every good work" (BFT). And finally, 1 John 2:24, "As
for you, let that (teaching about love) which you heard from the beginning
abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also
will abide in the Son and in the Father."
Verse 6, the failure
1. if anyone does not abide in Me: The 3rd class condition
"if clause" here indicates the very real possibility of a believer
not abiding in Christ. This refers to failure to maintain fellowship with
Christ through avoidance of sin. This does not refer to a believer who
gets out of fellowship now and then and quickly recovers, but for the one
who stays out of fellowship and continues to walk in darkness. This one
may even claim to have fellowship with God as John indicates at 1 John
1:6. However, such a one is a liar and is not "doing" truth in
his life.
2. he is thrown away as a branch: The analogy continues
with the word "as" and compares the consequences in the believer's
life to the actions taken with the unproductive branch. The branch is thrown
away; it is discarded as non-functional. The BRANCH then dries up and is
gathered into a pile and is burned. This refers to the removal of the branch
from any functional place in the vine.
So it is with the believer who stays out of fellowship
with God.
The casting into the fire, is not a correlation to the lake of fire.
It is a picture of extreme measures taken by the Father to remove
the non-productive child from this world and take him home
to heaven.
So, just as the branch is rejected and burned by the
vine keeper,
so God will discipline the erring believer according to the three stages
of discipline that we have seen at 1 Corinthians 11:30, and if there is
no recovery, then the ultimate stage of discipline will be administered
and the believer will be placed under a "sin unto death" verdict.
That is, he will be placed in a status of terminal illness or injury; or
will be taken by physical death immediately. This effectively and prematurely
removes that believer from his place of privileged function in the plan
of God while living on this earth. But this is not loss of salvation. Only
the believer is disciplined by God. If he had lost his salvation, he would
no longer be a child of God and would not qualify for divine discipline
(Hebrews 12:7-8).
But someone may challenge us here and suggest that these
believers are NOT being disciplined, but are being judged because the severity
of their sin has removed them from being a child of God. But this is the
whole focus of the discussion. Certainly, that is a possible interpretation
of this passage (and other passages as well), but to follow that line of
reasoning, one must totally ignore the other passages of Scripture that
establish the security of the believer beyond any shadow of doubt.
Although at the beginning of this article, I presented
several factors that establish the security of the believer's salvation
IN CHRIST, at this point it is probably valuable to provide the 13 POSITIVE
factors of the believer's salvation security.
THE 13 FACTORS OF SALVATION SECURITY
1. Salvation is provided, administered and secured by
God alone.
A. Salvation is the work of God. Man does nothing to possess
it.
Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-6; 2 Timothy 1:9; 1 Corinthians 1:30;
Galatians 2:16; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22
B. If man is unable in himself to obtain salvation, he
is just as unable to maintain it.
C. Therefore, it depends totally on God's ability that
our salvation is secure. Hebrews 7:25
1. The power of God: 1 Pet. 1.5; Jn. 10.28-29; Rom. 14.4
2. The faithfulness of God: 1 Corinthians 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:24; 2
Timothy 2:12-13
2. ETERNAL (or rather EVERLASTING) life by definition
cannot end.
John 3:16, 36; 10:28; 1 John 5:11-12
If we can lose EVERLASTING life - we never had it.
3. Salvation constitutes freedom from judgment: Romans
8:1
A. John 3:16-18; 5:24
B. Romans 6:23, the wages of sin (death and wrath) have been removed and
replaced with the gift of everlasting life.
C. 1 Thessalonians 5:9, God has not appointed the believer
to wrath, but for the possession of salvation through
Jesus Christ.
D. If we have truly been delivered from eternal judgment,
then we cannot receive such judgment .
4. Salvation places the believer IN UNION WITH CHRIST:
A. Baptism of the Holy Spirit: 1 Corinthians 12:13; Gal.
3:27
B. 2 Corinthians 5:17 = a new creation = OLD THINGS PASSED
AWAY.
Ie, spiritual death (Romans 6:23) and judgment (Romans 8:1)
C. Established and sealed: 2 Corinthians 1:21-22
D. The completed and permanent status of sanctification:
Hebrews 10:14 uses the perfect active indicative of teleioo to express
the idea, "He has brought to completion at a point of time in the
past, with the result that that completion continues on as a permanent
condition.
E. Under the special relationship love of God. Romans
8:32-39
This passage is one of the strongest to communicate the security of the
believer - because absolutely NOTHING (and that includes the believer himself)
can separate that believer from the love of God which is expressed to us
via salvation IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD.
5. Salvation places the believer in the family of God: Jn
1:12; Gal. 3:26
Once born into the family of God, you cannot be "unborn."
A. Born again: 1 Peter 1:23
B. Designated as Christ's brethren: Hebrews 2:11-13
C. Fellow-brethren: the carnal believers of the Corinthian
church are still considered "brethren."
D. Under the loving provision of child discipline: Hebrews
12:4-8
E. The back-slidden brother is STILL a brother:
2 Thessalonians 3:14-15, regard him as a brother.
F. Now we are sons of God: 1 John 3:1 indicates a present
status, and yet all through John's letter, he is warning and exhorting
these "sons of God," to live like sons.
G. The people of God: 1 Peter 2:10
H. Heavenly citizenship: Philippians 3:20
6. Since the believer IS a child of God, he IS an heir
(Romans 8:16-17) and possesses a reserved inheritance (1 Peter 1:4-5). An inheritance that refers to the resurrection body, and
is -
A. It is imperishable: it cannot rot away.
B. It is un-defilable: it cannot be polluted.
C. It is unfading: it cannot diminish
D. It is reserved for the believer: it is waiting just
for him.
E. And he is being guarded by the POWER of God through
and because of his initial act of FAITH when he trusted in Christ as Savior.
7. Salvation titles express the permanent STATUS of the
believer.
A. Saint: 1 Corinthians 1:2; Philippians 1:1 = a sanctified
one.
B. Elect: Colossians 3:12; 1 Peter 2:9 = a permanent status
C. Brethren: 1 Corinthians 2:1
8. The SEALING work of the Holy Spirit is a guarantee
of redemption.
A. Indwelling - one time: Romans 8:9 with 2 Corinthians
5:5
B. New birth - one time: Titus 3:5
C. Baptism of the Holy Spirit - one time: 1 Corinthians 12:13
D. Sealing - one time: Ephesians 1:13-14; 2 Corinthians 1:22
E. Filling - many times: Ephesians 5:18; 1 Thes. 5:19 Gal. 5:16, 25
F. Man's problem in understanding salvation security is the failure to
recognize the difference between positional status and experience; between relationship and fellowship.
9. Status at the reward seat of Christ is SAVED.
1 Corinthians 3:10-15 - He himself shall be saved in spite of the inadequacy
of his works while living here on earth.
10. The transfer from darkness to LIGHT is a completed
work.
A. The intent: Acts 26:18
B. The fulfillment: Colossians 1:13, Has transferred us
C. The past, present status and experience: Ephesians 5:8
11. The imitation of God is an issue for a believer ONLY.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18; 7:1 + Ephesians 5:8; Colossians 2:10-16 + 3:1-12
12. The prayer of Jesus is answered. John 17:20, 24
The Father is not going to deny Jesus His request. And of course the basis
for the request and the granting of it, is the fact, that those who have
believed in Jesus are held tightly in both His and the Father's hand.
13. The believer is an OVER-COMER by virtue of his initial
genuine trust in Christ as savior and possesses all the benefits of salvation.
1 John 5:5; Revelation 12:11a; 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12,
21; 21:7
This overcoming of the evil one is NOT an experiential
issue, but a STATUS issue. The devil is stopped initially by the "overcoming"
faith of the person who trusts in Christ. As that believer grows and remains
in fellowship, the devil is continually "stopped" or "resisted."
But if the believer gets out of fellowship, then the devil, through the
controlling influence of the sin nature, defeats the believer (1 Peter
5:8; Romans 6:12-14).
Verse 7
1. If you abide in Me: this refers to fellowship with
Christ through maintaining consistent avoidance of sin. Of course that
is maintained by the next factor - learning and using the word of God.
2. And my words abide in you: This corresponds with "I
in you" at verse 4.
At verse 10, Jesus said, "If you keep my commandments
you will abide in My love." The keeping of the commandments is the
natural follow-through from having His words abide in the believer. And
the result of consistent application of Christ's (God's) word in the life,
is the character reflection of Christ's love and the Father's love, which
is described by "abiding in love." In other words, since Christ's
teachings revolved around the "new" and "old" commandment
of love (John 15:12; 1 John 2:3-11), when the believer KEEPS Christ's word,
it constitutes the application of those love standards in every area of
his life, just as John describes by contrasting love and hate at 1 John
2.
5. If the believer meets these conditions, and the 3rd
class condition "if clause" once again indicates the volitional
responsibility of the believer to make the right choices, then he will
also have a successful prayer ministry. This results because answered prayer,
which is ALWAYS according to God's will (1 John 5:14-15) is based on the
believer understanding what God's will is, so that he can pray in agreement
with it and not contrary to it. Thus, as the believer learns more and more
of God's word, he is able to pray consistently according to God's will
and thus enter into a fellowship with God's will as He brings to pass the
believer's requests that are all lined up with Divine viewpoint standards
rather than selfish, human viewpoint.
Verse 8
And the result of this success in prayer as well as application
of God's word in every area of life, is that God is glorified because "much
fruit," which is the reflection of Christ's love and righteousness
is produced in the believer's life.
Verse 9
The command to abide in Christ's love is accomplished
by fellowship consistency, growth consistency, and application consistency.
Thus, verse 10, "IF - you keep my commandments, you will abide in
my love."
Verse 11
And another result of consistent obedience to Christ's
words, is that the believer is able to participate in Christ's quality
of happiness. His joy is produced in the life of the consistent believer,
and that believer's joy is brought to completion. Only the believer in
fellowship with Christ is able to reflect Christ's love and to experience
the abundant life of peace, joy and inner stability - and then as a result,
to glorify God.
The believer who fails to do this is missing out on great
blessings from service and great blessings from the peace and joy. And
with consistent failure, the believer will come under the disciplining
hand of God because God wants him to bear fruit. If he continues to be
unresponsive to God's warning and intensive stages of discipline, then
in His own perfect wisdom and timing and way, God will remove that believer
from this life as a failure; a casualty of war - worthless on the battlefield
of God's combat zone here on the earth; remove him prematurely through
physical death from the blessing of serving God and being an ambassador
for Jesus Christ.
Questions and comments
are always welcome
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