Abiding in Christ: 1 John 2:28-29

Our sermon text this morning comes from 1 John 2:28-29.

1 John 2:28–29 “Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.”

[Pray for illumination]

The main point of today’s sermon is that abiding in Christ equips us with confidence for His return.

We will see first:

-What it means to abide in Christ?

-Why is it important to abide in Christ?

-What are the implications to abiding in Christ?

1. The Imperative

1 John 2:28 “Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.”

The imperative here is that John commands Christians to abide in Christ. In other words, continue to abide in Christ, continue to lean on Christ for all your needs, and continue to look to Christ as your one and only hope in this life and in the life to come.

What does it mean to abide in Christ?

I believe that John’s favorite word is “abide.” Used 23 times in 1 John and is used 7 times here in 2:18-28. The word “abide” (Gk: meno) in the NT means to remain, stay, and reside. Here in this verse, abide in Christ means to stay in Christ. So now I move to give you four principles of what abiding in Christ looks like for the Christian. First principle....

To abide in Christ means to abide in His grace.

John is speaking directly to the “little children” that is the born-again believers in Christ. Regardless of whether a person attends church, walks an aisle, says a prayer, signs a card, gets baptized, or serves the church, only born-again believers are found in God’s grace, everyone else are still enemies of God.

This is best illustrated by the cleansing of God’s visible church: 1 John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”

Some people in this world are convinced that they can by human effort, and human achievement position themselves within God’s grace but this is a lie from the evil one. Salvation is not about believing a list of facts. Salvation is not about asking Jesus to come into your heart. Salvation is an act of God and a display of His full sovereignty over this world and over your life.

Let me illustrate the beauty of this truth: Ephesians 2:4–9 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

John MacArthur said, “You and I believed the gospel, not because we were wiser or more righteous than anyone else but because God graciously intervened, opening our heart to heed His Word and believe.

Arthur Pink said, “Salvation is a supernatural act of God that changes the heart, renews the will, transforms the life, so that is evident to all around that a miracle of grace has been wrought.”

To abide in Christ is to abide in His grace. Either you’re an enemy of God by your nature or you’re a child of God by His grace. The question is: Where are you positioned today? Have you truly believed in Jesus Christ, trusted Him, embraced Him, received Him in your hearts, and are committed to follow Him for all your days? Our response to the gospel message should be to repent and believe. How will you respond today?

The second principle is.....

To abide in Christ means to abide in His Word.

Christians are to be feeding continuously on God’s Holy Word and to continue to hold fast to His promises, His precepts, and His provisions.

Let me Illustrate: 1 John 2:24 “As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.”

Heres the point John is making: if you’re not grounded in the Word of God, you too will be swept away with the false teachings of the antichrists. Many of these antichrists today are already positioned in churches, in seminaries, and on Christian television. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in church, how much money you’ve given to church, or even if you’re name is written on a pew, you will ultimately fall away when the deceivers come if you’re not deeply rooted in God’s Word.

Paul wrote to Timothy in his first Pastoral Epistle that in “later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons (4:1).

Paul wrote to Timothy in his second Pastoral Epistle that “in the last days difficult days will come” (3:1). These false teachers will prowl on those who are rooted in shallow soil. These are those who are “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (3:7). These are those who are always in church, but are never willing or able to share the gospel, and these are those who grew up in the church but never able to teach others because they’re still clinging to elementary principles of the faith that has never traveled the 18 inches from their head to their heart.

John Stott once said, “We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior.”

Sinclair Ferguson said, “Abiding in Christ means allowing His Word to fill our minds, direct our wills and transform our affections.”

Church, its time to wake up, open up your Bibles, and completely lose yourselves to the truth of God’s Word. To those truths that don’t agree with what your Mammy and Pappy told you. To those truths that expose your sins which you’ve hidden from everyone else but cannot be ignored in light of the Holy Scriptures.

As Jesus so beautifully stated in John 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

Church, we should NOT expect the Spirit to flow thru us freely and willingly if we ignore the spiritual grace of God’s Most Holy Word that we’ve been given. As Paul said in Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you...” This means to let it take up roots in your life, and to shape you and mold you into God’s design for you, not your own. How you respond to God’s Word is equated to how you respond to God’s Son, the Incarnate, Living Word, Jesus Christ. My question for you is how will you respond?

The third principle is......

To abide in Christ means to abide in His Spirit.

Christians abide in Christ by heeding to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, the third member of the Godhead, coequal and coeternal, is given to those who “repent and believe” (Acts 2:28), to those who “obey God” (Acts 5:32), to all believers in order to guide them in all truth (1 John 2:20, 27). As Christians, we possess the Holy Spirit, but we can either fan the flame of the Spirit in our lives by desiring the things God desires which are found in His Word or we quench the Spirit by ignoring His Word. Christians cannot lose the gift of the Holy Spirit nor can they earn the gift of the Holy Spirit thru performing good works, but they can loose their effectiveness in their Christian lives by ignoring His guidance.

In context the Spirit protects us from error by illuminating our minds to recognize and understand the truth, and moving our hearts to embrace it and cling to it. Our relationship to Christ is depended upon our response to our Bibles.

John Calvin once said, “The Word of God can have no efficacy unless at the same time the Holy Spirit works in the hearts of the hearers, creating faith and making men’s minds open to receive the Word.”

Even Ananias and Sapphira fooled those in the early church that they possessed and was performing works of the Holy Spirit, but God knew and their hypocrisy was exposed as works of the flesh.

May I ask you this morning, how are you responding to God’s Word? How are you responding to the Holy Spirit? My prayer for you is that you’re being filled up to the brim with God’s Spirit and that every desire and prayer are coming in line with those of our Father in heaven.

The fourth principle is......

To abide in Christ is to abide in His love.

We are to abide in our love for Christ because it is the perfect love. A love that was proven at the cross of Calvary with Jesus laying down His life for those the Father gave Him.

Jesus illustrated this in John 15:9 when He said “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.”

Jesus made the connection between love for God and love for His Word in the very next verse:

John 15:10 “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”

Following Jesus means we’re becoming like Jesus. Love for God which is our vertical worship is also extended horizontally as love for our brothers as being another marker for those abiding in Christ.

1 John 2:10 “The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.”

In applying this verse in the most simplistic fashion, abiding in Christ means being in fellowship with Christ.

Transition: This passage teaches us that as you and I abide in Christ, we will be prepared for the return of Christ in this way:

2. The Importance

1 John 2:28 “Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.”

The importance of abiding in Christ is now how John aims to encourage the church. Up to this point, John has been exhorting us to persevere in the faith and now he provides the reason for this and its that we would be prepared for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Regardless of your views regarding the end times, whether you’re pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, or post-tribulation, (which are non-essential doctrines) the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is essential for it will take place. There is an end to all of this and we all have an appointment before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It doesn’t matter who your are, how much money you have, what positions you hold, death waits at the doorstep for us all. God who decreed all things has also decreed an end to all things which will be ushered in with the unveiling of His Son Jesus Christ as He returns for His Church, to destroy His enemies and to set up His kingdom.

This is illustrated so clearly in Scripture in Mark 13:4 when the people demanded answers from Jesus, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?” Jesus’ response, Mark 13:32–33 “But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. “Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come.”

We the church are to be encouraged by the teachings of the Bible. The apostle James who said to “be patient and stand firm, because of the Lord’s coming is near” (Jas. 5:8), Paul said, we are to eagerly await Jesus’ return, and we are to watch and be ready for His return. If the disciples and the early church were to expect the coming of the Lord at any time, how much more should we be waiting in keen expectation?

Why is it important to abide in Christ?

The importance to abiding in Christ is that we would be prepared for His return. Prepared in what ways.... (I’m glad you asked)

We may have confidence at His return.

Christians may have confidence (Gk: parressia) meaning to be bold, regarding their salvation and their relationship with Jesus Christ. The Greek word for confidence is also closely related to the (Gk: parousia) used for the Jesus’ second coming in 1 Thessalonians 4.

Illustrated in Matthew 24:30–31 “And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. “And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”

When Jesus walked this earth, He stared death in its face confidently because He knew the cross was not the end, he knew the grave could not hold Him, the resurrection wasn’t the end, but He looked forward to one day upon His return when all things would be made right, as all things and all people are placed under the authority of King Jesus when the redemption process would finally be completed.

This verse is best illustrated with the Parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25:1-13. Five wise virgins came prepared with extra oil to meet the Bridegroom. Five foolish virgins came unprepared, with no extra oil thus they missed the return of the Bridegroom. This too could be said of our world today. For some are prepared for the Lord’s return and some are not.

Richard Baxter said, “O that Christians would learn to live with one eye on Christ crucified and the other on his coming in glory.”

The opposite of having confidence for the day of the Lord’s return is:

To shrink away from Him in shame at His return.

Upon Jesus’ return, for some instead of having confidence they will be embarrassed about their lives and their lifestyles. I would assume for believers that these are those who have gotten bogged down with this earthly life, backslidden and they have taken their eyes off of the prize of eternal life that awaits them. They’re no longer longing for the Lord’s return because they’ve gotten so entangled with the affairs of this world. Shame is always the result of sin. From the very beginning in the Garden of Eden, where sin drove God’s most precious of creation to hide themselves from Him in shame.

John Calvin said “No man has made much progress in the school of Christ who does not look forward with joy to the day of death and final resurrection.”

In applying this truth to our lives today, I ask the question: Are you ready for Christ’s Second Coming? Church, is it a day that you’re longing for, a day that you’re praying for or is it a day that you along with unbelievers are ultimately dreading? For spiritually healthy Christians, it should be a day of confidence and great blessings but for those who forsook the faith a day of great shame. If Christ would return today, would you come to Him in confidence or in shame? Examine yourself, repent of any backsliding in your life, run once again to Christ, and rest confidently in His precious blood.

Transition: Now that we’ve seen the importance of abiding in Christ, how does this affect how we live?

3. The Implications

1 John 2:29 “If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.”

Those whose claim to abide in Christ (the Righteous One) who loves righteousness will also live righteous lives. In other words, those who claim to be born again will live righteous lives as evidence of this regeneration or rebirth. Righteousness is the nature of Christ, so righteousness must become the nature of His people.

This is NOT referring to imputed righteousness or justifying righteousness, but its referred to as bearing fruit, a sanctifying righteousness. Righteousness is the inevitable fruit of abiding in Christ; it is the manifestation of abiding in Christ. Abiding in Christ means pursuing Christ’s righteousness and gleaning from it the Spirit-worked power to do what is righteous in God’s sight.

This is so clearly illustrated with this verse in the original language. If you know (Gk: oida speaks of knowledge that is intuitive and absolute) that He is righteous, you know (Gk: ginosko connotes knowledge gained by experience and observation) that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.

Gnostics claimed that knowledge was the essential mark of the Christian and no doubt they probably knew a lot facts about God. Here John says the essential mark is righteousness, though knowledge of the truth is essential to obedience. Put another way: Obedience flows from the cross, it does not contribute to it. It is a fruit of our union with Christ not the root.

What are the implications to abiding in Christ?

The implications to abiding in Christ is to live righteously in three ways:

Living rightly toward God.

Living righteously involves loving God and obeying His Word. The most loving act we can do is to obey God.

This is illustrated by Jesus saying in John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

Notice the implications on Jesus’ life in John 6:38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”

Today this same principle should rule our lives. Imagine God’s church saying, “I’m not here to do my own will, but the will of Him who saved me.” I would venture to say that more Christians would know their Bibles and more Christians would be willing and ready to lose their lives for the sake of advancing the gospel. Obedience is never a suggestion from God, its expected. Some of the most neighborly people in this world will be in hell before they rejected Christ.

Living rightly toward others.

Living righteously involves loving others. This involves extending grace and mercy even when others may do us wrong. We the church have to abandon this philosophy of always finishing on top, ahead of others because it is the most un-Christlike behavior we can portray before the lost world who desperately needs Jesus. I’m not saying you can’t be a competitive person but don’t let it turn you into a jerk, because that doesn’t help our evangelism efforts.

In applying this principle to us as the church body, there are people in our community that don’t have nice things to say about this church. I would challenge each of this morning to examine ourselves to determine if their is validity in these claims. Have we elevated our pride and traditions above our call to fulfill the Great Commission? Have we become like Paul all things to all men for the sake of the gospel?

Living rightly toward self.

Living rightly toward self means we’ve adopted John Owen’s mindset of, “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.”

Paul illustrates this in Romans 8:13–14 “for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

In applying this truth, as we seek to live righteous lives for Christ in the positive side, we should also fight against unrighteousness in the negative side.

Closing Prayer and Invitation