Transcript: Living in Christ: The Sweet Fragrance of God's Love

Music In the Gospel of John 15, 7, Jesus gives a mandate to all believers that is vital to our eternal life and hope in the promises which are yea and amen in him. We have heard and read this word many times, so many, many times. But like anything in the word, we must hear it over and over before it becomes a living reality in our hearts. And so many times we only see a small part of the truth in any word. But knowing that in this divine, living, and powerful, life-changing word, there is always a greater depth and revelation in God's word, in his truth. And I like to say the word of God is so pregnant that we can never exhaust the fullness of it, nor put God in a box as far as the richness of his word and the fullness or the depth of it. We only limit ourselves if we do this, dear ones. We limit what God wishes to reveal to us in the knowledge of himself. This, in fact, was Apostle Paul's prayer and concern for his followers and the church that he had raised up. He says, I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. For I always pray to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that he may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation of insight into mysteries and secrets in the deep and intimate knowledge of him. by having the eyes of your heart flooded with light so you can know and understand the hope to which he has called you and how rich is his glorious inheritance in the saints, his set-apart ones. And so you can know and understand what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of his power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the workings of his mighty strength. Well, for your notes, that was Ephesians 1, 16 through 19. We need the eyes of our hearts flooded with the light of truth that Jesus brought into this earth and declared as the right way for all to live by in order to inherit eternal life, which is found in himself and is only possible by living and abiding in him and in his word. Let us open this word today in John's Gospel beginning in John 15, 4. And if you're looking for a title, the title is, Live in Me and I in You. Dwell, live or abide in me, and I will dwell in you. Live in me and I will live in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in being vitally connected to the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. Whoever lives in me and I in him bears much fruit. However, apart from me, cut off from vital union with me, you can do nothing. Verse 6, if a person does not dwell in me, he is thrown out like a broken off branch and withers. Such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire and they are burned. Verse 7, if you live in me, abide vitally united to me and my words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts. Ask whatever you will and it shall be done for you. And when you bear much fruit, my Father is honored and glorified, and you show and prove yourselves to be true followers of mine. I have loved you just as the Father has loved me. Abide in my love. Continue in his love with me. You see, in verse 4, we see Jesus' mandate or command when he says, dwell, live, or abide in me. And we also see the necessity of it as he continues to say, just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in, being vitally united to the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in me. In other words, there will be no life apart from Jesus. Looking at verse 7, Jesus declares, If you live in me, abide vitally united to me, my words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts. Ask whatever you will and it shall be done for you. We see a qualifier in this opening word as Jesus says, if. If you live in me and my words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts. if, if, if we are obedient to his commands, then we may petition him in prayer and we can expect answers to our prayers. This is the condition and the requirement and the qualifier. And this is where many people fall short and never give introspection as to their own spiritual condition to see or know if the requirements of Jesus are being met in their own lives. It is so easy to just assume and presume that I'm okay and you're okay. Let's just get on with the answer part and expect, because after all, I confess Jesus as my Savior, therefore everything he has promised is mine too. Well, what is really meant by our abiding, our dwelling, or living in Christ? Well, a simple definition of our living in Jesus Christ would be the partaking of him. Yes, partaking. Partaking, according to the Bible dictionary, means to receive a share. All true Christians are partakers of Jesus Christ and of the heavenly calling. Partaking of Jesus Christ and his Holy Spirit into your heart means that you now possess the Holy One and his Spirit, and all of their blessings and influences are yours too. And according to Ephesians 3.6, This means you and I are partakers of God's promises and benefits, and that we have an interest in all of these and will receive every blessing that is contained in them. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. That should bring joy to your hearts. Ephesians 3.6 that the Gentiles are now to be fellow heirs with the Jews, members of the same body, joint partakers sharing in the same divine promise in Christ through their acceptance of the glad tidings of the gospel. As we live in Christ, we are also partakers in his divine nature and his holiness as our spirits are being conformed into his image by union with him. And this is also called growing in righteousness. We are also partakers of Christ's sufferings and even the persecution, the mockings and afflictions that come because we are believers and live by the truth and example of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 4.12 Please, let's see this. 1 Peter 4.12 Beloved, do not be amazed or bewildered at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test your quality. And though something strange or unusual is alien to happening to you in your position, we'll be following you. Verse 13 But insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, rejoice so that when his glory is full, radiance and splendor is revealed, you may also rejoice with triumph. If you are censored or suffer abuse because you bear the name of Christ, blessed are you, happy and fortunate to be envied with life, joy and satisfaction in God's favor and salvation, regardless of your outward condition. Because the spirit of glory and the spirit of God is resting upon you. On their part, he is blasphemed, but on your part, he is glorified. So we see that dwelling in Jesus Christ is when we are partakers with him in these ways. So living in him or being in him means that we will have his precepts and his commands written upon the tablets of our hearts. and we will walk according to the Spirit whom God has given us. Precious Holy Spirit is a divine heavenly gift, and we need to treat him in this way and not take him lightly or grieve him. Romans 8, 1 says, Therefore there is now no condemnation or a judging guilty of wrong for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live and walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit. And because of this vital union and abiding in Christ, 2 Corinthians 5.17 declares, Therefore, if any person is engrafted in Christ, he is a new creation, a new creature altogether. and the old previous moral and spiritual condition has passed away And behold the fresh and the new has come Hallelujah Hallelujah. So living in Jesus Christ also means that we are vitally connected to him in our faith. Yes, in our faith we partake of him this way. In our faith. And Philippians 3.8 will declare this to us in God's word. You know, we must lay a foundation in the word of God. And you grow by being built on the foundation of our Lord Jesus Christ. So in order to live in him and grow in him, we must also grow in his word. So this is the importance of building the foundation in every word. that it's not just a man or a woman's concept, but you see it in the word of God for yourself. Philippians 3.8 Yes, furthermore, I count everything a loss compared to the possession, the priceless privilege, the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth and supreme advantage of knowing Jesus Christ, my Lord, and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with him, of perceiving and recognizing and understanding him more fully and clearly. For his sake, I have lost everything, and I consider it all to be mere rubbish in order that I may win or gain Christ. Verse 9, and that I may actually be found and known as in him, not having my own self-achieved righteousness that can be called my own, based on my obedience to the law's demands, ritualistic uprightness, and supposed right standing with God, but possessing that genuine righteousness which comes through faith in Christ, the anointed one, the truly right standing with God, which comes from God by saving faith. Hallelujah. By saving faith. So, again, living in Jesus Christ means also that we're vitally connected to him in our faith, as was stated previously. And by living or abiding in our Lord Jesus means also that we will walk in obedience. And walking in obedience means that we will allow the Spirit of God to crucify our godless human nature with its passions and appetites and desires. You see, there's no other way we can be obedient to our Abba Father and Lord Jesus Christ if our old nature is not put to death or crucified. It's just that way, precious ones. It's just that way. We cannot walk in the blessing or promises of God when our fleshly and sensual desires are ruling. And also as we live and we abide in Christ, we are a part and members of his spiritual body as described in Ephesians declares. We are members of his body. Well, Colossians 1, 18. that all the divine fullness, the sum total of the divine perfection, powers, and attributes, should dwell in him permanently. Hallelujah. He is the head of the body, and we are all members of that body called the church. The second part now of our opening scripture today, The second part of this command of Christ to us in John 15, 7, if you live in me, abide vitally united to me, and my words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will and it will be done for you. Well, the second part of this is if my words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts. We have been talking about living in Christ, but now we're speaking about his words remaining in us and continuing to live in our hearts. Jesus said his words must live in us and continue to live in our hearts. So they must live in us. We must hold on to them and they must continue to live. In the Gospel of John 7, 16, Jesus declares that his words are the teachings or the doctrine that he came to deliver in his Father's name. And he tells us that they must live in us and remain in our hearts. These words or doctrine of Christ then mean that we must know them and live them and practice them. And not only must we know them and live them, but we must believe them because of the effect that they will have on us. Praise the Lord. And because of their abiding effect is that they purify us and bring forth fruit in our lives, which is eventually edible for others as well. Jesus declared in the gospel of John 17, 17 Sanctify them, Father Purify, consecrate and separate them for yourselves Make them holy by the truth Your word is truth Hallelujah Hallelujah Your word is truth, Father This is how we will be sanctified and cleansed separated and consecrated and purified for our God, for our Father, for our Lord Jesus Christ. And 2 Corinthians 5, 17 declares, therefore, if any person is engrafted in Christ, he is a new creation, a new creature altogether. The old previous moral and spiritual condition has passed away. Behold the fresh and the new has come. And this is why, dear church, we must grow and mature in the word of truth. The truth in the gospel of God has the power in itself to bring forth the desired change in the new creature in Christ, giving deep and clear insight and knowledge of God's will for us. Colossians 1.5 declares Because of the hope of experiencing what is laid up reserved and waiting for you in heaven of this hope you heard in the past is the message of the truth of the gospel. Verse 6 Which has come to you indeed in the whole world that gospel is bearing fruit and is still growing by its own inherent power. Even as it's done among yourselves ever since the day you first heard and came to know and understand the grace of God in truth, you came to know the grace or undeserved favor of God in reality deeply, clearly, and thoroughly, becoming accurately and intimately acquainted with it. Verse 9. For this reason, we also, from the day we heard it, have not ceased to pray and make special requests for you, asking that you may be filled with the full, deep, clear knowledge of his will, in all spiritual wisdom, in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God, and in understanding and discernment of spiritual things. That was Colossians 1, 5 through 9. Apostle Paul's prayer and heart passion for his followers, we can see that. We can see his heart's passion was that the people following him would continue growing and maturing in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. He knew that if they did not grow, they would become lazy and lethargic and fall away. If we do not continue growing or abiding in Christ and producing fruit, we will be like the branch that is cut off and it withers and that is thrown into the fire. So laying this groundwork in the scripture today, as we have peered into this word in a little deeper way, What do we see promised to us as we abide or live in Christ and his word lives in us? What are we promised if we live in this way as new creatures in Christ and submit our lives to his will? Well, we can see in the last part of the verse that we are promised whatever we ask of him in his name, according to his will, he will give us. Jesus was our perfect example and model when it comes to how we should pray in regards to the Father's will. And we can see in Matthew 26, 39, where Jesus was in the garden praying to his heavenly Father before he was taken captive and crucified. Matthew 26, 39. And going a little farther, he threw himself upon the ground on his face and prayed, saying, My Father, if it is possible, Let this cup pass away from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, not what I desire, but as you will and desire. And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter What Are you so utterly unable to stay awake and keep watch with me for one hour Verse 41 all of you must keep awake Give strict attention, be cautious and active, and watch and pray that you may not come into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Verse 42, again, a second time, he, Jesus, went away and prayed, My Father, if this cannot pass by unless I drink it, your will be done. Twice in these few scriptures, we see Jesus praying in accordance to the Father's will. In the gospel of 1 John 5.13, we have the blessed assurance that what we ask of the Father, we can know with absolute confidence that we have been granted what we ask. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And now, of course, let's remember that sometimes prayer takes time before it is answered. But nevertheless, precious ones, it is answered in God's perfect time. Let's look at 1 John 5.13, please. 1 John 5.13. I write this to you who believe and who adhere to trust and rely on the name of the Son of God in the peculiar services and blessings conferred by him on men, so that you may know with settled and absolute knowledge that you already have life. Yes, eternal life. Verse 14. And by this, the confidence, the assurance, the privilege of boldness which we have in him, we are sure that if we ask anything, make a request, according to his will, in agreement with his own plan, he listens to and hears us. Verse 15. And if since we positively know that he listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know with settled and absolute knowledge that we have granted us as our present possessions the requests made of him. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Jesus was completely submitted to his Father's will and was obedient to do what the Father had sent him to do. And because of this, he was confident that the Father heard him when he prayed. We have the same assurance. We too will be heard by our Abba Father in heaven when we pray. Our heavenly pattern, Jesus, declares in Matthew 7, 11. Matthew 7, 11. If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good and advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven, perfect as he is, give good and advantageous things to those who keep on asking of him? These prayer petitions that we ask of our Father in heaven will be in accordance with his will and his word. And everything we ask of him will be lawful or righteous and will not be foolish requests as spoken of in James 4.3 as the apostle was speaking to the people regarding their prayers saying, Do you ask God for them and yet fail to receive because you ask with the wrong purpose and evil, selfish motives? Your intention is, when you get what you desire, to spend it in sensual pleasures. Dear Church, our prayer requests will be good and advantageous requests for things or needs for ourselves and others that we ask of God. So then we want to position ourselves in an honorable way before God in our asking and praying. We want to pray in faith. And we want to pray with fervency and devotion. As we see our chief apostle example in Romans 1.8. In Romans 1.8. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because the report of your faith is made known to all the world and is commended everywhere. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my whole spirit, rendering priestly and spiritual service in preaching the gospel and telling the good news of his Son. how incessantly I always mention you when at my prayers. Verse 10, Keep pleading that somehow by God's will that I may now at last prosper and come to you. We want as well to pray in humility from a clean heart. We see Apostle Paul through the scripture that we have just read. Pray with fervency and devotion, but also seeing his humility and his clean heart as well in these scriptures. And the Lord, through prophet Isaiah, declares in Isaiah 1.11, Isaiah 1.11, To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me unless they are the offering of heart? That means a clean heart, a pure heart, says the Lord. I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts without obedience. And I do not delight in the blood of bulls or lambs or he goats without righteousness. And verse 16. Wash yourselves. Make yourselves clean. Put away evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do right. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. And correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead for the widow. Verse 18. Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. And though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. 1 Timothy 2.8 declares, I desire, therefore, that in every place men should pray without anger or quarreling or resentment or doubt in their minds, lifting up holy hands. See, these few verses certainly define and outline the importance of our coming to God in prayer with pure and clean hearts, with right motives and intentions and uprightness in our asking. And the last thing I wish to mention in regards to prayer, the prayer privilege that we have, for those who abide in Christ and his word living in them, We need to be persevering and constant in our prayers until we see them come to pass. And Jesus taught us in the precious word when he says in the Gospel of Luke, in Luke 11, 9, So I say to you, ask and keep on asking, and it shall be given you. Seek and keep on seeking, and you shall find. Knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. Verse 10. For everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives. And he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds. And to him who knocks and keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened. these scriptures are only a few of the many many many scriptures which declare the promises of god as blessings to his children who live in his son and the word of life lives in them these promises are found only for those who live in christ because they are yea and amen in him Our prevailing, strong, insistent and effectual prayers will move mountains and bring the desired results as we are faithful to our Lord's commands. The ingredients or factors of prevailing prayer in our life as we come before God will be sincerity, humility, persistence and most of all faith. Since God's word declares these promises and blessings, our faith ought to arise to the heights of expectation and hope and stand anticipating on our toes for the answers to our prayers. Because God, our heavenly father, is faithful to his word and to his promises. And for those who abide and live in Christ, Jesus' word lives in them in the way of faithful and believing trust and confidence in him. God's word declares that he will indeed show you great and mighty things. The Lord spoke through prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 33 verse 1. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the second time. while he was still shut up in the courts of the guards, saying, Thus saith the Lord, who made the earth, the Lord who formed it to establish it, and the Lord is his name. Call to me, and I will answer, and I will show you great and mighty things, fenced in and hidden, which you do not know, do not distinguish or recognize or have knowledge of or understand. What a promise. Oh, what a promise. God wants you to take up your prayer responsibility and believe him and have faith in him. He wants to astound his people. And he wants to pour out his abundant blessings and riches from his great storehouse that is never exhausted for those of you who may be struggling and feel you have no hope because of present sin in your life that you've been battling with and the enemy's lies have become more real to you than God's word and his promises, I say to you, cast off that dark garment or cloak and pick up your Bible and begin to believe what God says and who he says you are as his child. Dear sinner, there is always hope when you put your trust and faith and hope and confidence in Jesus Christ, who is your Savior. Jesus loves you, dear one, with a passion. He died for you. God wants to show you great and mighty things too. And he wants you to rise up and pick up your sword of the spirit and begin to wield it and take your place in his army. Rise up, soldier. It's time to rise up and stop feeling defeated. And the Lord will fight your battles for you. Whatever your sin, Jesus is more able to fight that battle when you repent and lean on him and believe in his word. The rest of the word in Jeremiah 33.1 gives great promise to all who have fallen. And that would be to all of us, wouldn't it? We were all fallen in our nature. But it is now time for the restoration and the healing for all who have gone astray. Look at the love of God for his people in these verses and the restoration that he desires with all of his heart to bring to his people who have been overcome by the enemy. Jeremiah 33. Let's read from one. This is speaking of excellence of restored nations. And let me say in the word of God, we're talking about people. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time while he was still shut up in the courts of the prison, saying, Thus saith the Lord who made it, the Lord who formed it to establish it. That's the earth and all that is in it. The Lord is his name. Call to me and I will answer you and I will show you great and mighty things which you do not know. Verse 4. Behold, I will bring it health and healing. I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. And I will cause the captives of Judah and the captains of Israel to return and will rebuild those places as at first. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against me. and I will pardon all of their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against me. Verse 9. Then it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honor before all nations of the earth who shall hear all the good that I do to them. They shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I provide for it. What a loving God we serve. What a loving Father that he would send his Son and by his Son's blood we will be made clean. God in another place in his all-powerful word declares, and we have read that today already. Isaiah 1, 18, come, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. if you are willing and obedient you shall enjoy the good of the land this brings us back to our main scripture today where Jesus says if you live or abide in me and my word lives in you ask me what you will and it will be given to you all that we have coursed through in God's word today shows that in order to enjoy the fruitfulness of the good land, we must abide in Christ and keep up our union with Him by faith. We must constantly keep a dependence upon our Lord Jesus and our communion with Him needs to be habitual in order to actually receive continued supply from Him. He will never fail you or leave you, dear one. And this is how we will produce good fruit. Our life comes from the vine who is Christ. And since he is the vine, that means he is the holy root who supplies our every need. And the righteous and holy root goes very deep and supplies the whole vine. And he has more than enough for you and me. Jesus says without me you can do nothing and this is saying without me nothing will happen there will be no healing or restoration without Christ there will only be fatal disasters we have necessary and constant need and dependence upon the grace the mercy and loving kindness of our beloved Jesus for our spiritual and divine guidance, for our provision and favor and love. We need to live in him and have our lives regulated by his gospel of truth. And this truth should live and abide in us. It is in this truth that we are set free. It is only in this way that you or I will ever inherit the promises which are yea and amen in Christ. Only as we live in Christ can we ask and believe that we shall have whatever it is that we ask in the name of Jesus. Jesus showed us how we are to pray. Let us dare not ask anything that lies outside of him. Let us also learn to ask not only for our own need, but for the needs of others. And this shows that real fruit is being developed in our lives when we do. Let us expand our prayers and ask God to give us Christ's purity, his simplicity, his meekness or humbleness and his gentleness. And let us ask God to increase our faith and our faithfulness to him. Let us learn to be obedient and faithful to what he has shown us in his word regarding overcoming sin and avoiding those things that are sinful. You who love the Lord hate evil. Ask him to open your eyes and give you deeper revelation of himself. Pray in faith and believe that he wants to draw you into a deeper communion with himself and show you great and mighty things that you could never imagine or believe. And once, dear ones, once he opens your eyes, never take them off of him. Let Apostle Paul's deepest heart desire become yours too. Paul said, oh, that I might gain him. Oh, that he might live in me and make me what he is. Dear one, isn't this why Jesus came? isn't this why the father sent his son isn't this what jesus said to us if you live in me abide vitally united to me and my words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts ask what you will and it shall be done for you and when you bear much fruit my father is honored and glorified, and you show and prove yourselves to be true followers of mine. Well, I too can say for myself, like Apostle Paul, oh, that I might gain him, and oh, that he might live in me and make me what he is. This is Jesus' desire for you and me. Can you honestly say this for yourself? If you can say yes, yes, and yes to that, praise God. Keep on looking up and walking forward in faith. But to those of you who might say, I don't know where to start. I am so weak. I say to you, do not mourn or grieve in your heart. Make this your prayer. And dear one, Jesus will never fail you. He will never forsake you or leave you. But you must cling to him. Be encouraged. He loves you and is drawing you with cords of loving kindness into the place where the abiding is sweet and lovely and beautiful. Pick up the word of God and wield your sword of the Spirit and have faith in Him and be persistent in your prayers and produce fruit in keeping with your repentance. Jesus sees you finished, and you too must see yourself in this way. .