He is the Vine - We are the Branches - Abiding in His Love

Go ahead and take your Bible this morning. Turn with me to John chapter 15. You know by now that that's where we'll be. If you remember the title of the series is Christ the Son of God Believe and Live. We know that the main thrust of John's gospel was evangelistic. He wrote these things that those who are reading and hearing his testimony about the Son of God would believe and live. And now we have transitioned into a new portion of the gospel time where Christ is spending personal one on one time with the disciples before he goes to the cross. John chapter 15 will be in verses 9 through 13 this morning. We're just progressing through.

We're going to get about halfway through this chapter this morning. Now so far we have had two messages out of John chapter 15. In our first message we covered verse 1 and 2 and then we skipped on down to verse 6. And then in our second message we covered verses 3 through 8. Now these messages were a part 1 and a part 2. It was because they covered the very same theme. That's why I used the same title for both messages and that was He is divine. We are the branches. Many times we have one message and we have to divide it because of the amount of information and truth and because of time.

And that's what we did with these two messages in these scriptures. Now everything in these verses that we have covered has centered around an analogy that Jesus gives. Jesus uses the analogy of the vineyard as a wonderful teaching tool. As Jesus was pouring into His disciples He was illustrating to them their relationship to Him and the Father was like. Remember an analogy is a comparison. Their relationship to Him and the Father was like a vineyard and a vineyard keeper. The Father is like the vineyard keeper who cares for the vineyard. By the purpose, the ultimate purpose is for fruitfulness.

Jesus is like the vine within the vineyard and those following after Christ are like the branches within the vineyard. Now we learn there are two types that are within the vineyard. Illustration. Some are cut off and they are burned while some are pruned and clean causing them to be more fruitful. Now all of this activity comes from the Father who is like the vineyard keeper. I've thought about this illustration, this analogy. Since we've gotten into the chapter I know many of us are familiar with this type of agriculture. The closest thing that I can come to in illustrating this is my dad's muscadine vineyard.

Those of us from South Mississippi we know what muscadines are. He has a trellis and he has those vines. And I remember watching my dad as he started that vineyard. He had the trellis built and the vines grew and grew. And you know each spring he knew just when to take those shears and the prunents. He knew what care to give to his muscadine vineyard ultimately for fruitfulness. Because he knew that if he produced quite a few muscadines my mother would be very happy. And that illustrates for us, that helps us understand what the vineyard is. Now I want you to notice that verses 1 through 8 are centered around this analogy of the vineyard.

Although Jesus moves away from the analogy starting in verse 7 we need to see that verses 1 all the way to verse 17 are still part of one lesson to the 11 disciples. I said to our Wednesday night crowd in our Wednesday night Bible study many Bible commentators believe that Jesus had already left the upper room and he was on his way to the garden of Gethsemane and he is teaching on his way. Now I want to make a couple of practical comments about verses 1 and 8 before we jump over into our verses for this morning. This can be some application but this will kind of wrap up these verses 1 through 8.

First of all we should understand that these verses illustrate what a lost person looks like and what ultimately happens to those who are not truly born again. These individuals in the analogy they are not connected to the vine, they are not connected to Jesus. They are not living a life of abiding in Christ. They are not increasingly fruitful in their spiritual lives and in spiritual qualities coming out of their life. If we reach back into chapter 14 in verse 15 and verse 21 and 23 we see that they are not obedient to Christ's word. Now there is a very important cultural application here.

I'm sad to say but in our Baptist work in our area there has been an entire category of people who fit into this group and rather than interpreting and understanding them to be not Christian, not born again, they are believed to be real Christians. They are communicated and presented as true Christians. Their names are on the church roll. They've been in our Baptistries. They've attended Sunday school. They know the right language. I call it the Sunday school answers. But they do not abide in Christ. They are not obedient to His commandments.

They are not increasingly fruitful in their spiritual character and the qualities that come out of their life. And I'm sad to say there is an entire category of people deemed Christian in our culture that really are not. And so we need to see the important cultural implications here because we have the responsibility of communicating the real gospel and real conversion even to those people that we know and love who are not truly converted. Then second we should understand that these verses illustrate how a truly saved person should live. The true Christian should strive. Remember this is a commandment.

They should strive to abide in Christ and to make sure that Christ is abiding in them. Remember it is a mutual abiding. A true Christian should be able to see increasing fruitfulness in their life. This fruitfulness is not rules and regulations. It's not external religion. A truly born again Christian should see spiritual qualities emanating out of their life. This is true spiritual character. So I wanted you to see in application understanding what verses 1 through 8 are teaching. Now this morning we're moving over into verse 9. Like I said earlier we will start in verse 9 and go on down to verse 13. Let me give you the title of the message.

Now I held on to the previous title that we've been using because this teaching is still part of that analogy. It comes out of that analogy. But I added to the title not just to make it longer but we're going to see that Christ adds a dimension to this abiding. So the title of the message is He is the vine. We are the branches abiding in His love. Abiding in His love. Now you see how we'll divide these verses. We'll have abiding in His love verses 9 and 10. The result of this abiding verse 11 and then a commandment of love verses 12 and 13. So let's go back to our verses. John chapter 15 we'll start in verse 9.

We know that verses 1 through 8 Christ is teaching from the analogy about abiding, about fruitfulness and starting in verse 9 notice what Christ says. "Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you." Abide in my love. There's that word abide that He's been using all along. Verse 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." These things I have spoken to you. That my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full. Verse 12. "This is my commandment, that you love one another just as I have loved you.

Greater love has no one than this, that He lay down His life for His friends." So you see how we'll divide these verses. We do encourage you to take notes. If you need some assistance there we can help you because we want you to take what the Lord's teaching us this morning, take it home with you, study your notes, pray through these verses so that we can learn all that the Lord wants to teach us. So let's look at our first major truth. Number 1, abiding in His love. Go back to verse 9. "Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you." Abide in my love. There's that word abide again.

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. Now starting in verse 9 we see a turning point in this teaching. Jesus begins to teach them about His love for them and a love that they must have in their life. Just as Jesus was encouraging them starting in verse 3, remember back in verse 3 what does He say? "You are clean, you are my children, you are born again." Now He desires to encourage them by teaching on His love for them. One commentator that I ran across this week said that Jesus was desiring to inspire them. I like that. What is Jesus doing?

He is encouraging them and inspiring them by teaching on this love. Now there are 4 observations that I want to make out of these verses. First of all I want us to notice the example of the Father and the Son. We see that in the beginning of verse 9. "Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Abide in my love." Although these disciples are not able to see the extent of this love, Jesus is teaching them about this great love. The Father loved the Son perfectly. The Son has loved and is loving the disciples perfectly. Remember where Christ is going. He is on His way to the cross. This is the night of His arrest.

And remember what is taking place on the cross. Christ will suffer the wrath of God for the sin of man. He was going to be the atoning sacrifice for them. So this is the greatest example. God the Father sent God the Son and God the Son goes all the way to the cross. Why? Why does all of this take place? It is for them. So this is the example of the Father and the Son's love. And then second, notice, "The commandment to abide in His love." It's right there at the end of the verse, verse 9. What does He say? "Abide in my love." Here Jesus commands them to abide or it can be translated, "Remain in His love." Now a question. How is this done?

How can this take place? Jesus answers this question as He continues. But this is a real and a legitimate question because if the disciples do not understand how to abide in His love, then they never can abide in His love. Third observation, notice, "The condition for this abode." We see this in verse 10, the beginning of verse 10. "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love." Here's how it is done. Here Jesus gives the condition for this abiding and that is obedience. Jesus says that if they were to keep His commandments, they would be abiding in His love. Jesus had taught this previously back in chapter 14, verse 15.

Go back and look at verse 15 in chapter 14. "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." This is a repeat. This is a review. Jesus wants them to see that obedience is the key. It is the key to abiding in Him and it is the key to abiding in His love. So that is the condition for this abiding. And then the fourth observation, "The example of the Son's obedience." What does Jesus say? "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love," and here is Jesus' example. "Just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love." Here we see another example. This is Christ.

"He was perfectly obedient to the Father, therefore perfectly abiding in His love." They had been witnesses to this abiding. They have taken note of His obedience and His perfect union with the Father. So in summary, what do we see here? Jesus gives a command to abide not just in Him, but in His love. But the way to abide in His love is through obeying His commandments and that is what He is teaching them. Jesus continues to answer this how? We know that the disciples were full of questions. How might we abide in your love? It is through obedience to the commandments that He gives. And then Jesus gives the greatest examples.

That is the example of the Father and the example of Himself. Now how might we make application of these verses? What can we learn from this teaching? I ran across a commentator's comment about these verses and I am going to borrow this comment for some application. Leon Morris says that, and I am quoting, "It is possible for men to live without being mindful of Christ's love for them and so break the closeness of that fellowship." Now I want to add to what Morris says. I believe some can never enter into the fullness and closeness of fellowship with Christ because they are not mindful of His love for them.

Let me break this down a little further. I think that there are two kinds of Christians. First, those who lose sight of God's love for them, therefore they do not have that closeness of fellowship that Morris talks about. Now let's think about that a minute. We as born again Christians, when we lose sight of the love that God the Father has for us, when we lose sight of the love that God the Son has for us, we move away from that close fellowship that we should have. Remember that language earlier about being inspired, about being motivated and encouraged.

When we are gripped by the love that Christ showed for us, we are drawn into a closer fellowship with Him. And so I believe that Christians can just lose sight, they can become numb to God's love for them. But then the second kind of Christian is this. Those who do not comprehend God's love for them, therefore they never experience a closeness and a fellowship because of that love. Now let me illustrate that for you. I'll illustrate this by sharing with you a real life example.

I can remember years ago before God called me into the ministry when I was serving as a layman, I mean coming to church and loving church and the Word and loving God's people. I remember that a lady in our church gave her testimony and she said that she struggled to comprehend the love of God. It was because she was raised in a very unchristian home and she said her earthly father was a cruel mean tyrant. She did not understand the love of a physical father. She said that she for years viewed God as like this big policeman in the sky with a club who just wanted to bop her over the head anytime she sinned or failed.

And then when she began to understand the unconditional love of the father, she was moved past that misunderstanding and she began to experience a closeness and a fellowship because why she understood biblically the love of God. So my question for you and application is, where are you? Are you someone you have never understood the love of God the father? Maybe you did not have a good earthly father. Maybe there was never a man in your life that was accepting of you and loving of you and you have a hard time with accepting the love of the father. I don't care who you've come in contact with on this earth.

I don't care how cruel or mean or wicked your earthly father was, God the father is not like them. But are you like some of us can be? We can just lose sight. We can move away because of apathy and sin and selfishness and we're not gripped by the love of the father. We need that fresh gripping to draw us into that loving, close relationship. So what do we see out of verses 9 through 10? This abiding in his love. Let's move on. I want us to notice our second major truth. I want us to see the result of this abiding, the result of this abiding. Look back at verse 11 with me.

These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. Now, here in verse 11, Jesus speaks of what would happen to them if they live a life of abiding. Now, seven times in the New American Standard in verses 1 through 10, we see this word abide. Now, fruitfulness and abiding are the two major themes in this teaching and Jesus was wanting to pour that into the lives of the disciples. But there's more. There's more than this abiding. There's more than just this fruitfulness. There is another thing that happens to them when they're abiding and they are fruitful.

You could say that a result of this abiding in fruitfulness is what? It's joy. Jesus has been teaching this fact all throughout verses 1 and 10, fruitfulness and abiding. But here in verse 11, he teaches them that there's something else that comes with that and that is joy. Now, two observations I want to make just out of this one verse and they're in the form of questions, two questions. First of all, what is joy? What is joy? Now, there's a lot of confusion here with the meaning of joy. Joy is not happiness. Happiness is dictated by circumstances.

Now, let's think for a moment, what were the circumstances of the disciples and what were their future circumstances? What lay before those disciples was heartache, was pain. They were ostracized and persecuted and everyone except for the Apostle John died an early death. So, joy was not attached to their circumstances. This joy is an inner spiritual satisfaction which comes from abiding in Christ and Christ abiding in them. Joy is an inner spiritual satisfaction which comes from abiding in His commands and abiding in His love. Joy is a work of the Spirit in the heart of the believer.

I read this verse last week, but Galatians chapter 5 verse 22 reads, "But the fruit of the Spirit," what is that? "The fruit of the Spirit of God living within us is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness." So, joy is not dictated by circumstances. It is a spiritual inner satisfaction that comes by the work of the Spirit within us. And then second, what is this joy made full?

Go back to the verse, "These things I've spoken to you that my joy may be in you, but Christ doesn't stop there and that your joy may be made full." Here Jesus is speaking of an increasing joy and a complete joy, a fullness of joy which would enable them to face any earthly circumstances and still have that inner spiritual satisfaction. Now, I really want you to see what this verse is connected to. Go back to the verse again, "These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full." Now, what is that phrase, "These things I have spoken to you," what does that pertain to?

That pertains to everything He has taught them previously. What is Jesus saying? If you receive everything I'm teaching, if you receive every word, every commandment, and you let that work be done in you, then this joy will result. So what do we see here? Jesus teaches the 11 disciples that if they abide in Him, if they abide in His love, if they will embrace and abide in His commandments, if they live a life of abiding in Him and He is in them, that's that mutual abiding, they will possess an inner spiritual satisfaction ultimately to its fullest. Again, look at their future. They did not have a bed of roses before them.

They did not have a wonderful life that was before them. They faced persecution and trial and heartache. They faced difficult circumstances, but what did they have, an increasing full inner satisfaction, a joy that came as a result of the Spirit working in them? Now what might we learn in verse 11? I'll help us here with a few questions. This is an incomplete list. My question is this, can you have joy in the midst of great financial difficulties? Have you known people who have faced financial difficulties?

You know, sometimes people face financial difficulties because of poor choices, but you know, sometimes people face financial difficulties and it's no fault of their own. I mean, could you have joy in the midst of poverty and losing all of your possessions? Could you have joy in the midst of a crumbling marriage? You know, there are lots of people, they have difficulties in their marriage and you know, sometimes these difficulties never go away. Your bad marriage may never be healed. Can you have joy in the midst of a terrible marriage? What about personal tragedy? Can you have joy in the midst of personal tragedy?

What if the doctor looks at you and says the word cancer? Or what if death comes knocking on your door? What if the doctor were to look at you and say, "At best you have three months to live." Can you have joy in the midst of those difficult circumstances? You know, I have had friends that they got to the time in their life where they were expecting children and there were circumstances that were out of their control and the doctor looked at them and said, "You cannot have children." Did you have joy if you could never have biological offspring? What am I showing you with these questions?

No matter what comes your way, can you face them and embrace them and live with joy? And let me tell you, that does not come easy. It does not come overnight. Keep pumps by denying your flesh and working as hard as you can, your fingers to the bone, to do what? To abide in him, him abiding in you, abiding in his love, and abiding in his commandments and surrendering your flesh and your feelings and your circumstances to him until he brings that work about in you. I know from personal experience. Most of you here know that I spent 10 years in full-time ministry and I was communicating to Keith this week.

I'm very thankful that God abruptly took me out of ministry full-time. Very thankful for that. Most of all for the work that God did in me. But God did something that I had no idea he was going to do. He took me out of ministry and he put me in a job that I grew to hate very quickly. I'll be honest with you. In those years, I hated going to work every day. I can remember I would fill in and preach in different places. That was the extent of my ministry. That's all God would let me do. I would fill in and go preach in different places. This sounds comical, but it's true. I would walk in the door of the church.

I would have them on my suit and I would have my Bible and my message. While I was preaching, I could remember thinking to myself, "I sure like being that man. I sure like being this person. I sure enjoy preaching and doing that that God had equipped me to do." But then I would step down out of that pulpit and leave that church and go back into that life and that job that I hated. I don't know how God led me to this place, but I can remember many late nights praying over my circumstances, bringing them before God. I can remember the very night that God gave me joy in my circumstances. There was a red chair in our sitting room in our home.

That red chair happened to be in our den, the house that we were living in at that time. My face was buried in that red chair when God spiritually brought joy into my life. Now, did I have to continue to beat back my feelings? Did I have to continue to die to what I wanted and die to my ideas? Yes, but there was a work that God did in me and it was a fruit of the spirit that only God could bring about joy in my circumstances. Do you have joy in your circumstances? Listen, only God can do that work in you. That is the result of this abiding. And then our third major truth is a commandment of love, a commandment of love.

Verse 12, 12 and 13, "This is my commandment that you love one another just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." Now, this is not the first time that we have seen Jesus command his disciples to love one another. This is an echo of what Jesus taught earlier in chapter 13, verse 34 and 35. If you can, look back at chapter 13, verse 34. "A new commandment I give you that you love one another even as I have loved you that you also love one another." But we need to see that he gives his disciples this commandment again. This is a repeat.

If you look at chapter 13, verse 34, and then if you look at chapter 15, verse 12 and 13, this is basically a repeat. And if Jesus repeats it, then he is really trying to get something into their minds and their hearts and their lives. Now there are two observations I want to make here. First of all, Christ's example of love. What does verse 12 say? "This is my commandment that you love one another just." This is the example that he gives, same example he gave earlier in chapter 13, verse 34, "Just as I have loved you." Now, remember the context. These are the 11.

"And we know that the disciples do not truly know or understand the extent of Jesus' love for them. They will come to grasp His love more fully after the cross, after the resurrection, but most importantly after the giving of the Holy Spirit." Now question, what kind of love was Christ's love? It was a sacrificial love. Christ held nothing back. He went all the way to the cross suffering the wrath of God for their sin. He was the atoning sacrifice and He gave up. So we see Christ and His example. And then second observation, Christ's test of love.

Look at verse 13, "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." Here Jesus gives them the supreme test of their love if, and in my notes I have that word if, capitalized, "If they obey all that he has taught them, then they are capable of this supreme love which is loving others just as Christ loved them." Now you may ask, "I thought the greatest love was loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength." Yes, that is true, but that is the vertical love. The greatest commandment is that we love God. It's vertical. We love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

But the love Christ is talking about is horizontal. It's left and right. And this is found all throughout the Scriptures, this love for others. Now we learn this way back in our study of 1 John. I'll give you a few verses in reference to two or three others if you want to jot those down for your own study. But tell me if John is not saying the exact same thing in the book of 1 John, the epistle of 1 John. 1 John 2, Chapter 9, starting in verse 9 down to verse 11. "Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness." Verse 10, "Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.

But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes." What is John talking about? We, as we walk in the light, must love our brother. First John 3, 10. "By this it is evident who are the children of God." Now that's real Christians. "And who are the children of the devil? Those of the lost. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother." First John 4, 7, and 8. "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God.

And whoever loves has been born of God and knows God." Verse 8, "And anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love." We see this in 1 John 4, verse 20, and in Chapter 5, verse 1. What do we see? This is the supreme test of our love for God, and that is loving each other. So in summary, what do we see here? Jesus is repeating, Jesus is reviewing what He had previously taught them in Chapter 13, verse 34. And I would say that He is re-commanding this previous command, and that is that they were to be willing to lay down their life for each other, for the brothers and for the sisters in Christ. Yes, each other.

In application, I ran across something that John MacArthur says. This is applying these verses, and I like it. It'll help us listening to what MacArthur says, and I quote, "The love believers have for each other is marked by selfless devotion to meeting one another's needs. It is not mere sentiment or superficial attachment. In fact, Christians love for each other is the most powerful, apologetic to the unbelieving world." And what is MacArthur mentioning? He's mentioning Chapter 13, verse 35, because what does Jesus say there?

"By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another." That is the greatest evangelistic tool that we have. If we want the lost world to see true Christianity, then we must love each other exactly like Christ is talking about here, laying down our life for each other, sacrificing for one another. Yes, left and right, the brothers and sisters that God has put in our life. I'll give you an example that I ran across this week, and I think it illustrates this to a great degree. I don't know if you've ever heard of an individual, who's a wonderful Christian that God used in the mighty way in our 20th century.

His name was Richard Womburand. He was a Romanian pastor. He was a pastor right about the time that communism engulfed Eastern Europe right after World War II. He was famous or made famous because he wrote a book called Tortured for Christ. Richard in our church gave me a copy of the book this week. I've never read the book, although I've listened to Richard Womburand through the years quite a few times. Now, you might know who Richard Womburand is because he was the founder of a very fine Christian organization called The Voice of the Martyrs.

But let me illustrate this commandment of love by sharing with you something that took place in Richard Womburand's life. Now, when Richard Womburand was a pastor in Romania, communism had seized control. And they were ruthlessly persecuting Christians. They were doing everything they could do to destroy Christianity and destroy the church. And the communists in that day were notorious for arresting Christians, arresting pastors, and killing pastors, and killing Christians, and torturing them in a horrific manner. Richard Womburand is leading his church. He's an underground Christian. They had an underground church.

They had to meet in secret and meet in the countryside. Why? Because of fear of arrest, fear of persecution, fear of torture, and fear of death. Richard Womburand spent a total of 14 years in prison, ruthlessly tortured, brutally treated because of his love for Christ. But I ran across something this week I'd never heard. Those Christians feared being turned in, turned over to the communist officials. Now, I'm not going to try to repeat his friend's name. It's Romanian, so it's difficult for us to say.

But one of his most beloved disciples, one he mentored immensely, loved greatly, who later became an associate pastor in their church, his closest friend turned him into the communists. And you know what Womburand said when he was arrested and he knew it was his friend? He told his wife to tell his friend he loved him and he forgave him. And after years of brutal treatment, did you know that after he was released and he was able to come to the West, there were a panel of doctors that examined his body and they said there is no reason why he should still be alive.

But you know after he was released, one of the first individuals he saw was his friend that turned him in. And did you know he embraced him and loved him and forgave him? And when an American asked him about that, Richard Womburand looked at him and said, "We all make mistakes." Now that is loving your brother, sacrificially. How many of us would have hated him in our heart of hearts and we would have said we have every right to hate him? No, not according to the teaching of Christ. Now I want to go a little further than this teaching and I want to go a little further than our example of Richard Womburand.

But I want to ask you some questions and these are questions of application. Again, we are still examining this commandment of love. Jesus says the greatest love we could possess horizontally is loving our brothers and sisters. First question, are you willing to sacrificially love the brothers and sisters in Christ that God has put in your life? Now think about the disciples. They had to look around the room at each other and say, "I've got to love him." Yes. It's easy for us to believe this in theory, but what about in practice? I dare you, look around left and right.

Are you willing to sacrificially love the brothers and sisters that God has put in your life and in our church? Are you willing to sacrificially love people that God has brought here? Another question, is our habit to love those whom we can relate to the most? You know if we're not careful, we can love those that we relate to the most. Isn't that the truth? Maybe we share the same hobbies. Maybe we have the same amount of education or have similar jobs. I don't know, maybe we just click with that particular people or that particular family. But is our habit to love those that we can relate to the most?

And is our tendency to love those who don't make us feel uncomfortable? Maybe they have problems that are greater than we are. You hear where I'm going here? It's easy for us to read the verses and have a great example in Richard Wambourin, but it's difficult when we start looking behind us and to our left and to our right and start realizing that God has brought people into our lives and He expects us to sacrificially love them. I go a stepfather. Most of you know that we have a wonderful ministry to children and teenagers. I'm very thankful for that.

I'm looking forward to the day when we can minister to adults in some manner in the same way that we can minister to our children. But you know some of these children that God has brought our way, they need sacrificial Christian love in their life. Some of them don't have a mother like you are. Some of them don't have a father like you. Some of them have never seen a family like yours. Some of them have never been in a home like yours. You see? Are we willing to sacrificially love that God has brought our way? And look, what about some of the adults that God has brought our way that just have lots of needs? They're hurting.

You see where I'm trying to go? This is a great commandment of love. The greatest. What does He say? This is my commandment that you love one another just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this that one lay down his life for his friends. Now I want to move on to the conclusion of the message. And I want to move back to our example of Richard Wombrand. I encourage you, you can go on the internet, you can watch messages, listen to messages, you can hear his testimony, you don't have to read the book. Although I would encourage you to pick up the book, Tortured for Christ.

It's a very small read, easy to read, yet difficult because of the subject matter. But like I said earlier, Richard Wombrand spent 14 years in imprisonment. He describes solitary confinement. He describes not seeing the light of day, nor the midnight sky, or the smell of fresh air. He said what was horrible was the deafening silence. They were kept underground where they literally heard no sound. Even the torturous guards would wear cloth slippers on their shoes so they couldn't even hear their torturers coming, so they endured solitary confinement for years.

But he goes on to describe what took place after the brainwashing, day after day, year after year, month after month. He said that they would be forced to sit in chairs, they couldn't move, they couldn't blink their eyes, and they would hear sometimes 16, 18 hours a day, a recording that would say communism is good, communism is good, communism is good, communism is good. The Bible is false, the Bible is false. God is not real, God is not real. Over and over and over mixed in with horrific torture. And this is what he said. Eventually I forgot all of the Bible that I knew. Now think about that. He said I forgot every Bible verse.

He said I forgot all of my theological training. He said that he forgot many things that we take for granted. He forgot even how to write after he was released from prison, he had to relearn how to write. He said that memories of the past would linger for a little while, but eventually you forgot all about the past because of the brainwashing. So he forgets his Bible, he forgets his theology, and he forgets all of his past. But he said the first thing that happened during that imprisonment, he said you begin to have regrets over how you could have served Christ.

You begin to think back of your apathy and your laziness and the things you could have done and you should have done and your Christian failures. And then after a time, he said you begin to be enveloped by this great forgiveness and this great love and this great mercy, how God floods you over with this forgiveness because he was a true child of God. But then he described the one thing that was constant and the one thing that carried him all the way through with joy and it was the abiding in Christ. Now listen, he was abiding in Christ and Christ was abiding in him.

He wasn't abiding in his Bible knowledge, he wasn't abiding in his theology, he wasn't abiding in his past memories. He was personally, experientially abiding in Christ. And look, that is the key to the successful Christian life. That joy, undescribable joy is abiding in Christ. So my question in closing is this, how are you in this abiding? Are you a fruitful Christian? That Christian character emanating out of your life because of this abiding? Let's pray.