Abide In Me

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This is 15 Minutes With Jesus. Today’s program is called Abide In Me. Let’s turn to John 14:1-24, Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know. Thomas said to Him, Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?  Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him. Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the Word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.  John 17:20-26, I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them. Jesus Christ is in us: when you receive Jesus, He comes to dwell in your heart. Col 1:27, To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Gal 4:6, And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father! 1 Cor 6:15, Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?... verse 17, But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. When you are born of God; when you are born of the Spirit, Christ is in you, and the Father is in Him; so the Father is in you, and He will give you His Holy Spirit, and then the Holy Spirit dwells in you: the Spirit of Truth which proceeds from the Father. 2 Cor 13:5, …Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?... Gal 2:20,  I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Let’s turn to John 15:1-17, I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the Word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 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. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.  Abide in Me, and I in you. I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abides in Me, and I in Him, the same brings forth much fruit, for without Me you can do nothing.  If we don’t continue with Jesus, then we are not abiding in Him; we will wither, and the Father will take us away, and we will be gathered by men and cast into the fire. It is not  “Once saved, always saved.” We must abide in Jesus: If you abide in Me, and my Words abide in you- continuing in His Word. Verse 2 says, every branch in Me: this is one who is born again. He or she is in Jesus, and He is in them. But if that person does not bear fruit, then the Father will take them away, if they do not abide in Jesus (He is the vine), and continue in His Word. Verse 5,...He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  We can say we are Christians; we can say, “Lord, Lord,” but are we truly abiding in Him?, and are His Words abiding in us? Are we loving Him? Are we keeping His Words? Jesus said,...even as I keep my Father’s sayings and abide in Him. In verse 10 Jesus said, 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. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you; that we lay down our lives for one another. We must walk in love toward one another, forgiving one another, serving one another, washing one another’s feet, if we are to abide in Jesus. If we harden our hearts and begin to hate someone, or refuse to forgive them, or exalt ourselves over them and oppress them, we will begin to wither. And if we refuse to repent and humble ourselves to each other, we will dry up, and the Father will take us away. We will be gathered by men, by false prophets, and end up being cast into the Lake of Fire. Verses 9&10, As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 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. 1 John 3:11-16,   For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous. Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Verse 24, Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. Chapter 4, verse 16-21, And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. If someone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. 

We bring forth fruit by abiding in Jesus; abiding in His love; His love being shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. We love Him because He first loved us. The Holy Spirit will lead us in doing good works: acts of love, as we are abiding in Jesus and yielding to Him. So when we repent of our own way and believe in Jesus and confess him as our Lord; when we receive Him, He comes into our hearts; He is in the Father and the Father is in Him, and they come and make their home in us. If we then will continue in His Word; remember He said, If you love Me, keep My Words, we will be His true disciples, and His Truth will make us free indeed. If we will receive the Holy Spirit: be baptized in the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit will be leading us every day, as we deny ourselves, deny our flesh, lay down our lives and love the Father and love His Son, and love one another, keeping His Words, taking up our cross and following Jesus, as He will be leading us by the Holy Spirit to do the will of God. We are abiding in His love, even as Jesus keeps the Father’s commandments and abides in His love. As we are walking this way in Him, the Holy Spirit will be leading us to do the works that the Father wills for us to do, and He will work through us to the glory of God, even as Jesus is the Son of God, and He only does what He sees His Father doing. So we, as we are led by the Holy Spirit, are sons and daughters of God, and we love Him, and we delight to do His will; we delight to please Him and see Him work through us to minister His gifts and His blessings to His people and edify them, to His glory. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God gives: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Remember, Jesus said, I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.