Abide in Christ | John 15:1-5, 11 | September 6, 2026 | Aaron T. Colyer

I hope you have a Bible with you.

If you do, turn it to the Gospel of John.

John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

That's where we are going to camp out for a little bit today.

As you turn your Bible there, uh help me and join me in praying for a friend of mine.

His name is Pastor Zach, and he leads a church in Hobbes, New Mexico.

I've gotten to hang out with him recently, and there's some really great things happening there.

In the past couple years, they've planted two churches, two Spanish-speaking churches.

They're seeing the kingdom grow and some momentum build in their church family.

So join me in praying for Pastor Zach at Taylor Memorial Baptist Church, and then we'll dive right in to John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

Lord, we have declared it's better to be in your presence.

And there's something sweet when we're in the presence of you all together.

And so thank you, Lord, for answering these prayers.

Thank you that in the lifting up of the name of Jesus, there's a sweetness of fellowship in your presence.

God, I pray for more of that even as we transition into this preaching time, Lord, we need you.

We've sung it over and over.

Lord, we need you.

Lord, we need you.

Now help us to apply that in this moment where we open the word and say, show us how you're causing us to change the way that we're living so that we want to better represent Christ to a lost and dying world.

We want to abide and be close and be connected.

And so use me, Lord, not my own strength, not my own words.

Just make me your messenger, a vessel this morning, that people might be encouraged to continue to abide in Christ.

We pray for Pastor Zach, and I'm grateful for his friendship.

I'm grateful, God, that he is excited about the things that you're doing there in Hobbes, New Mexico.

And we're we're especially grateful to see a healthy church that's multiplying, planting churches.

And so we ask for your grace, your blessing, your provision, and all the things that are needed as those uh church plants continue to uh forge ahead and see your kingdom come and your will be done.

And we pray that in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen, amen, amen.

Well, this morning we are using John 15 as a way to focus our minds and our hearts as we continue to walk through our values, our vision and values.

You've heard it, but I'm gonna say it again.

Our elders this last January started praying, seeking God's face, and saying, how can we clarify what we seek to do here as a church family?

The reason that we're all tight in this one room for this season, we've got two more weeks of it, is so that we can look across the aisle and say, we're doing this together.

Even if I don't see you, if I go to the late gathering or to the early gathering, we're still in this together.

What are we in this together for?

To strive to magnify Christ and share the gospel in our homes in the Wimberley Valley and beyond.

We really feel certain that if we can focus on these 12 core values, and you're gonna see three of them today, as we focus on those things, as we are obedient Christians and seeking to be salt and light and represent Him and live out the Great Commission, that that will be accomplished in our church family.

And so what you're gonna see is John 15 is really the uh the springboard for us to consider the larger category today of abiding in Christ.

So those those 12 values have four categories.

We talked about the first last week.

It was glorify God.

Today is abide in Christ.

Next week will be connect in community, and that final week is multiply disciples.

As we look at abide in Christ, we are starting in John 15, and let me remind you that in the Gospel of John, Jesus makes all kind of I am statements.

I'll tell you what they are.

Chapter 6, verse 35, I am the bread of life.

Chapter 8, verse 12, I am the light of the world.

Chapter 10, verse 9, I am the gate of the sheep.

Chapter 10, verse 11, I am the good shepherd.

Chapter 11, verse 25, I am the resurrection and the life.

And chapter 14, verse 7, I am the way and the truth and the life.

And no one can come to me.

No one come to the Father but through me.

That's what Jesus says.

And now we get to John 15, where Jesus teaches the disciples that I am the vine.

Would you follow along with me as I read chapter 15, verse 1 through 5?

Jesus says, This I am the true vine, and my father is the vine dresser.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away.

And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

Already you are clean, because of the word I have spoken to you, abide in me, and I in you.

As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine.

Neither can you, unless you abide in me.

I am the vine, you are the branches.

Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.

For apart from me, you can do nothing.

Context here, when we think about abiding, we think about being uh plugged in or connected to a source of life, a source of nourishment, a source of sustaining.

And so I love that we sing that line.

Jake, you led us so well to sing that line.

I want more of you.

You are my source of strength.

That's what's happening in John 15, because Jesus is the source of life.

Jesus is the sustainer of life.

So every Christian should be concerned about how we stay plugged in or connected to, how we're close with, intimate with Jesus in our relationship.

Why?

Because he's the source and sustainer of life.

Briefly, before we jump into examples about our values, I want to show you three truths about Jesus being the source and sustainer of all life.

This encourages me in my walk with Jesus.

Number one, Jesus is the true vine.

Now, what's interesting about Jesus saying he's the true vine is that not only is he the source of sustenance, nourishment, the source of life, but there is a reality, and maybe I can get a witness on this, that even though I'm a Christian, sometimes I look to other things.

Jeremiah addresses it like this that they go to broken cisterns to be satisfied, and God gives judgment there.

It says, Not only have you gone to broken cisterns, you've forgotten that I am the best satisfaction.

I am the one that you should be plugged into.

So Jesus is the true vine because I think sometimes we go to false vines.

That's a whole nother sermon, by the way, and I'll preach it one day.

Think about this idea that Jesus is a sustainer of life, that he gives us nourishment.

We heard the I am statement in John 6.

I'm the bread of life.

What about John 4?

As Jesus addresses the woman of the well and says, I have access to give you living water.

Living water where you will never thirst again.

Living water that leads to eternal life.

Why?

Because Jesus is the source and sustainer of life.

He's the true vine.

He is the true bread.

That means that other bread will leave you hungry and wanting.

Other bread won't satisfy.

Other cisterns won't satisfy, but Jesus is the true and better satisfaction.

That's right.

And so we read that in Psalms like Psalm 63, that we we yearn as in a dry and weary land to be fed and sustained by the presence of God.

There's a passage in the Old Testament, Isaiah chapter 5, and I won't read it all, but I want to show you something about Israel.

Isaiah 5 · chapter mention

Israel was expected to be a vineyard.

Israel was expected to display the presence of God to lost and pagan nations around them.

It says this Isaiah chapter 5, verse 7.

Isaiah 5:7

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting.

And he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed.

For righteousness, but behold, an outcry.

And so we skip a few verses earlier to see how God reacts.

When the people of God who are supposed to be representing God in his character to an outside, lost and dying world, do not do a good job of it.

This is what it says in verse 5.

And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard.

I will remove its hedge and it shall be devoured.

I will break down its wall and it shall be trampled down.

I will make it a waste and it shall not be pruned or hoed, and the briars and the thorns shall grow up.

I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

You see, Israel was supposed to be a vine and a connection point for people to understand who God was, but Israel failed.

Jesus is the true and better vine, and praise God that we have Jesus for sustenance.

Praise God that we have Jesus for our source of life.

And so when you think about the true vine, I just want to ask you: are you being satisfied in Christ?

Are you looking to Him, the true vine, to be the source and sustainer of your life, your joy, your purpose, your mission?

That's what we need to be, church.

If we're going to magnify Christ and share the gospel, it's because we are plugged in and connected to and sustained by Jesus, the true vine.

Amen?

Number two, he's the source and sustainer of all life.

Why?

Because Jesus makes us clean.

Look at verse 3 one more time.

Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.

Now, I've done this before, and I want to do it again.

Let's see if y'all can nail it right off the bat.

I'm going to sing the beginning of a song, and you're going to sing the rest of the song.

You ready for this?

I may not sing as on key or beautifully as Jake and our musicians, but I'm going to give it a shot.

Here we go.

What can wash away my sin?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

And what can make me whole again?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

So we preach the gospel to ourselves.

Ephesians chapter 1, verse 7.

Ephesians 1:7

In him, in Christ, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.

Even Kingsley, who we got to celebrate with him.

I was meeting with him and his mom and dad, and I said, Hey Kings, what washes away your sin?

The water of baptism or the blood of Jesus?

He goes, It's the blood of Jesus.

I've already been cleansed, I've already been cleaned.

And so Jesus, talking to his disciples in John 13 before he washes their feet, says this when Peter's like, I don't know that I want you to wash my feet.

This is what Jesus says.

And it's a foreshadowing of what he knows he's going to do at Calvary.

He's going to pay for sin.

And so he says this to Peter.

Jesus said to him, The one who is bathed has not a need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean.

And you are clean.

But not every one of you.

For he knew who was to betray him.

That was why he said, Not all of you are clean.

Jesus is pointing forward to a day where we're once for all clean.

The book of Hebrews says we don't need to continue to have a priest go in and get more sacrifice and more sacrifice and more sacrifice for the atoning of our sin.

No, Jesus makes us clean.

Our sin is bought and paid for at the cross.

And as soon as we receive that gift of salvation, we're clean.

What a beautiful truth just to remember that we don't walk in guilt and shame, that we don't have penance, that we don't have to do certain things to earn God's forgiveness.

It is offered to us as a free gift in Christ.

The question, and I know we're talking about values, but it's important.

I would ask every single person in here, have you experienced the forgiveness that comes from Jesus?

Do you know what it's like to be clean?

Have you felt the freedom from guilt and shame?

Have you experienced new life in him?

We already quoted John 14.

Jesus says, I'm the way and the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through me.

I hope, I hope that you've experienced that.

And I pray that even if you haven't, something would click in you today.

You would come speak to a minister or a pastor in our church.

You would call up a Christian friend when you go back home from church, say, I need to receive Jesus.

Now, I want to give you a warning here.

Not to be tempted to mix up the teaching of bearing fruit, earning some kind of forgiveness for us.

This passage talks a lot about our need to obey Jesus, and we're gonna cover that in a few minutes.

But we do not earn forgiveness by the way that we obey Jesus.

We don't bear fruit in order to be told we are clean.

No, Jesus first says, you are clean, and then we go and we bear good fruit for him.

And I praise Jesus that we didn't have to clean ourselves up to come to him.

Amen.

He's already done that at the cross and at his resurrection when he sealed the deal and claimed the victory that he knew he deserved.

Philippians 2 is a good passage for that one.

Take notes if you don't know what I'm talking about.

Go home and read that one.

Number three, Jesus is the source and sustainer of life because Jesus gives us life.

Verse 5, it says, For apart from him, you can do nothing.

I have some friends that love that verse and they remind me all the time.

Hey, hey, hey, preacher boy.

He can call me that because I love him and he's mentored me in my life.

He says, just remember, it's not about you.

John 15, 5, apart from him, you can do nothing.

It's all about Jesus.

You see this contrast between dead things and alive things?

If the branch is plugged into the vine, abiding in the vine and connected to the vine, it bears fruit and it flourishes because it's nourished.

But if it's not plugged into the vine, it's dead.

And it falls off.

And even this passage in the context says it will be burned.

There is this contrast between dead and alive.

Outside of Christ, branches are dead.

But inside of Christ, they're alive.

Outside of Christ, we seek satisfaction in all the wrong places.

But inside Christ, we are sustained and satisfied by him alone.

Outside of Christ, we're dirty, stained, and unclean.

But inside of Christ, we are washed.

Ezekiel 36, outside of Christ, we have a cold heart of stone.

But if we're in Christ, we're given a heart of flesh, one that's alive and beating.

Outside of Christ, we are lost in our brokenness, but inside of Christ, we are rescued and redeemed.

Outside of Christ, we're stuck in our sin, but inside of Christ, we walk in victory.

We have to know, church, if we're going to magnify Christ and share the gospel, we have to know with confidence that Jesus gave us new life.

One preacher says it like this Jesus is saying, remain connected to me.

Get your life from me.

Live your life out of your connection with me.

So I want to show you a picture.

And if you're an arborist in the room, you can critique me because I don't know for sure that this new tree is the same species.

But I think that even though this tree got old and dry and dead, it had good roots.

And since it kept good roots, guess what?

There is new life coming out of the middle of that tree.

Now it's possible that it's a different tree.

I really don't know.

I found this picture on the internet.

But what I know to be true is this if you are in a season of dryness, if you are in a season of rebellion, a prodigal moment like we're here about in Luke 15, if you are in a season where you've turned your back on the Lord, yet you're connected to Christ, that He is your root, you can turn back, abide in Him, and there will be flourishing fruit that comes out of your life.

If you're connected to the root, there's still nourishment and abiding and hope for you and for me.

Why?

Because Jesus gives life.

Jesus said in John 15, verse 5, Apart from me, you can do nothing.

John 15:5

Paul says something very similar in Philippians 4, 13, and we see it.

It's football season.

I'm not going to say it, but everyone out there that's wearing orange knows what I want to say right now.

It's football season, and you see athletes wearing Philippians 4.13, but oftentimes I think they're doing it out of context.

It's not so that they can win a game.

It's so much more than that, doing all things through Christ.

Jesus says, Apart from me, you can do nothing.

How does Paul say it?

Not that I'm speaking of being in need, for I have learned that in whatever situation I am to be content.

I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound.

In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Why?

Because Jesus gives life.

We can be content in any circumstance because we're living in him, knowing that apart from him, we can do nothing.

Christian in the room, are you living that kind of victory?

Are you living like you can do all things through Christ?

Because he's your strength, he's your source of life, he is your sustenance.

I want to live that way every day.

So how are you abiding?

How are you connected?

How will you remain in him?

Well, I want to teach you one thing that I learned a long time ago about John 15.

Abide looks like obey.

And we're not getting this twisted, right?

We don't bear fruit to prove that we're deserving of forgiveness.

We bear fruit to prove we're forgiven.

We're new, we have a new heart.

In fact, our value says we're displaying a transformed heart and mind.

But just so you understand what Jesus is talking about here, and we if we abide in him, it means we're obeying him.

Look at verse 8 through 10.

It says this By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.

Abide in my love.

If you keep my commandments, you'll abide in my love.

Just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love.

I love verse 11.

We're going to end actually with it.

It says, These things I've spoken to you that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Abide looks like obey.

If you mark in your Bible, I really encourage you to circle.

Verse 15 of chapter 14.

It's a chapter right before.

Verse 15, verse 21, verse 23, and 24.

I'm going to read them back to back because it's saying the exact same thing four different ways.

Chapter 14, verse 15.

If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Verse 21.

Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me.

Verse 23, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my father will love him.

Verse 24.

Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.

Repetition in the Bible is a big deal.

It's like Jesus really wants us to remember this.

I usually talk about a flashing red light, but let me give you another one.

Have you ever been driving on the road or a passenger in someone's car and they get a little bit off the road, and what do they hit?

They hit that braille on the road.

I had a friend one time that said, That is stupid for get back on the road.

It's that reminder.

You're about to go all the way into the ditch.

You need a physical reminder to go back and abide in Christ.

Jesus is saying here that braille, that reminder for us, is when we see ourselves in disobedience, the Holy Spirit convicts us, and we say, okay, we need to turn away from that sin and put on Christ again.

It's like Jesus is shaking us, saying, get back on the road.

I died that you might be on the narrow road that leads to eternal life.

Why are you acting like you're still on that wide road that leads to death?

Abide in me.

Be connected to me.

Remain in me.

In that process of abiding in him, let's obey him.

And obedience is not just trying harder.

I always get frustrated when I hear preachers say, just try harder.

Can't you just white knuckle this thing?

It's not about white knuckling anything.

It's not about pulling up our bootstraps and trying harder.

No, it's about further surrender.

Jesus, I can't do it on my own.

I need you.

And we talked about that last week.

We're living surrendered lives.

That's how we glorify God.

It should not be a passionate pursuit of obedience.

It should be a passionate pursuit of a greater love for Jesus, the source and sustainer of our life.

So don't just try harder.

Ask God to help you fall even more in love with Him.

Another scholar said it like this Obedience does not earn love.

Obedience is an expression of love.

God, I love you, so I want to obey you.

Colossians 3 says it like this that famous passage that says, put sin to death and put on Christ.

It says, Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth, for you have Died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

So ask yourself: if abide looks like obey, is there something in your life that is not currently in line with obedience to Scripture?

And just be honest.

Say, Holy Spirit, search me and know me.

See if there's any error in me.

Show me if there's something that needs to be realigned in my life.

Then I'm obeying you.

Again, not to earn any love, but as an expression of my love for you.

Jesus, I want you to be magnified in my life.

So how do we connect this idea of abiding in Christ to these specific three core values?

Praying in all circumstances, walking in the Spirit and displaying a transformed heart and mind.

Number one, praying in all circumstances.

Abiding in Christ looks like walking in relationship with Christ.

I meet with a group of dads on Wednesday mornings.

We had a wonderful discussion this last week about communing with God.

And how do we commune with God in busy schedules?

And how do we commune with God and hear from the Lord?

And do we actually sit and say, God, is this something you want from me right now?

Are we living that kind of surrender and submitting to the Lord?

It's a great discussion.

One of the verses that was spoken that morning was 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.

1 Thessalonians 5 · chapter mention

I think most of us know pray without ceasing is in the Bible.

Let's read it in context.

It says, Rejoice always.

Okay.

If I'm rejoicing always, that helps me pray without ceasing.

Rejoice always.

Pray without ceasing.

Give thanks in all circumstances.

For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Do not quench the spirit.

Oh, I want to abide in Christ.

I want to stay remained.

I want to stay connected.

I want to pray in all circumstances and I want to walk in the spirit.

Isn't it interesting that here in this verse, those two things are connected?

And all the way through, if you're going to a small group right now where you are walking through that curriculum that the elders have written, you know that these things are interconnected.

So it means that if I am not in a constant relationship with Jesus, praying without ceasing, rejoicing always, giving thanks in all circumstances, I might be quenching the spirit.

If I want to walk in the spirit, I need to be in this constant conversation with the Lord.

We moved to Wimberley and I got really close to one of my best friends, and we talk a lot.

We talk almost every day, sometimes multiple times a day.

And when we first started talking a lot, I got really frustrated with this guy.

And if you know him, you'll know exactly who I'm talking about without even naming him, because he'll be on the phone with you and he won't hang up.

He won't say goodbye.

He actually does hang up, but he does it without saying goodbye.

And we'll be in the middle of a conversation and it'll end, and all of a sudden he's no longer on the line.

He just doesn't say goodbye.

And I remember the first time I called him on it, I said, that's so weird.

What are you doing?

Like, I never know.

Like sometimes I'm just talking and you're not even there anymore.

He says, Aaron, it's because I know I'll talk to you again later.

It won't be long until we're on the phone together again.

So I don't need to say goodbye.

I do that with my family, I do that with some of my friends.

I just I don't say goodbye.

But in that friendship, ever since I accepted that, I started to think, isn't that the way we're supposed to be with God?

In the morning, we say, Good morning, Lord.

In the morning, we say, What do you have for me today, Lord?

In the morning, we confess, I'm yours.

I need you, I need your strength, I need you to lead me and guide me.

And then guess what we don't do?

We don't hang up the phone.

Because we know we'll just be talking to the Lord later.

We'll be driving down the middle of the road, and the Holy Spirit will put something on our heart and we'll say, Okay, yes, Lord, I want to obey you.

Or we'll be in a conversation with someone, and then we'll think, I should ask them about this.

I should pray with them for this.

We'll be in our quiet time, and the Lord will say, I want you to obey in this way.

And just all throughout the day, we have these conversations with the Lord.

That's what it looks like to pray without ceasing, to pray in all circumstances.

Does something need to change in your conversation with God, your speaking and listening, in the way you relate to the Lord, in the way you pray in all circumstances, to help you better abide in Christ.

I want you to know we're a praying church.

I don't know many churches that spend time every Sunday praying for a long moment.

And I know sometimes people come to me and say, Pastor Aaron, it's a little bit weird.

I start praying and I run out of things to say.

And, you know, that's a long time, and sometimes I get distracted by the music, and I say, Listen, we want to be a church that's desperate in prayer.

And it's not just that Sunday morning.

We've got a great prayer ministry.

It meets in the prayer tower every Sunday at five o'clock.

We have moms that get together on Monday morning and they pray over their kids at school and over their grandkids.

We have small groups that meet all throughout the week and they're praying.

We have discipleship groups all throughout the week.

I had lunch with a guy this past week and said, I want you to pause your discipleship group and pray for an hour.

I said, Pastor, I've never done that before.

I said, Well, then you can start by pausing your discipleship group, meeting with those guys and praying for half an hour.

We want to learn how to commune with God and pray in all circumstances.

That is how we're gonna abide in Christ.

Number two, walking in the spirit.

So, under that category of abide, we have praying, walking, and displaying.

We want to walk in the spirit.

Galatians 5 is so interesting because we have the fruit of the spirit there, which we'll read later.

But we also have the command in Galatians 5.

Walk in the spirit.

We're commanded to walk in the spirit and put off the things of the flesh.

And then in that context, we have these nine examples of how to walk in the spirit.

And I love this memory of my kids, my girls, and my son.

We were in the car several years ago with my mom, and they don't get a lot of time with grandma Shirley, and they were singing this song they learned at their Christian school.

The fruit of the spirit's not a coconut.

Fruit of the spirit's not a coconut.

But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, shooting us, faithfulness, and self-control.

Anyone else?

Am I the only one?

It's a couple, a couple.

Because the fruit of the spirit is not a pineapple either, right?

The fruit of the spirit is not a banana, but the fruit of the spirit is these nine things we see in Galatians 5.

And we want to walk in the spirit.

We want to be led by the Spirit.

We know the Spirit is our wonderful counselor.

As we're praying and interceding for people, we want the Holy Spirit to intercede those things.

As we've hidden God's word in our heart, we walk throughout our day and we're reminded of truths that are hidden right in here.

That's because the Spirit brings them to our mind.

We want to walk in the Spirit.

We want to obey what the Lord is saying for us to do, or else we quench the Spirit.

Man, I don't want to quench the Spirit in my life.

I've taught before through the book of Acts that quenching the spirit is like putting on noise-canceling headphones.

It's not that you can't hear him anymore because he's God and he's going to break through and turn us around, but we're putting on those headphones saying, I'm just not sure I want to hear you right now.

Man, don't be that Christian.

I want to walk in the fullness of the Spirit.

I think every Christian is sealed with the Spirit, Ephesians chapter 1.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

But there are some Christians walking around that are experiencing more fullness of God's presence in their life than others.

Let me show you a prayer that Paul prays in Ephesians 3, that we should be praying over ourselves and over our church family.

He says, For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you, catch this, grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit.

So we're talking about being strengthened by the power of the Spirit in our inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what's the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.

Catch it again, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

You want that?

Raise your hand if you want that.

I want that.

That's what I want in my life.

And I've taught this before with a balloon, and I blew it up really big and it popped.

It scared everyone.

I'm not going to do that today.

But I could blow up a balloon this big and say, Is this balloon full of air?

And the truth would be, yes, it's full of air.

Ephesians 1.

When you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.

So every believer has a spirit.

But just like a balloon is full of air when I blow it up this big, if I blew it up this big, is it more full of air?

When I think about walking in the spirit, I want to be more full.

Ephesians 3, I want to be strengthened by his power, by his spirit, that I might know what it is to be filled with the fullness of God.

How, church family, are you walking in the spirit?

And then this last value that's connected to both of these, displaying a transformed heart and mind.

We read it from Ezekiel 36.

There was his promise, God was going to remove a heart of stone and put in a heart that's living and beating, a heart of flesh.

Maybe you know this verse.

It's one of my favorites.

2 Corinthians 5, verse 17 through 21.

2 Corinthians 5:17–21

What a beautiful picture of the gospel, verse 21.

He made him who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

In that passage, you have this charge that you're an ambassador of Christ.

You have a ministry of reconciliation.

But you know how it starts?

Maybe I can start it and you can finish it.

And if you don't know it, don't be embarrassed.

Because you can know it and you can learn it and you keep growing in Christ.

Amen?

But I hope I can start it, and some people can finish it.

You had enough chance to look it up because I talked too much about it already.

2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17.

2 Corinthians 5:17

It starts like this.

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation is the answer.

Let me give it to you and see if we can do a little better than that.

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old is gone.

And the new is come.

This is what we do is we magnify Christ.

We display that we have a transformed heart and mind.

Romans 12 puts it like this: it's your spiritual act of worship to not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Those who abide in Christ, put him on display.

We have a new mind.

We have a new heart.

And we want to put that on display.

Not for pats on the back, not for blue ribbons, not for our own glory, so that he would be glorified.

So that people would see him in us.

I wonder if you're starting to see how all those values connect to abiding in Christ and magnifying him and sharing the gospel.

I told you I'd close with verse 11.

Jesus says, I've told you these things that my joy would be in you and that your joy would be full.

You know why we abide?

Because abiding brings joy.

We want to abide because we don't want the things of the world to satisfy us.

We want the things of God to satisfy us.

And I'm not talking about a fake smile.

Oh, I'm great.

Everything's great.

I'm talking about a joy at the gut-wrenching level.

No matter how hard this world gets, Jesus is my joy.

And so we think about our life with Christ.

Jesus said in John chapter 10, I came that you might have life more abundantly.

John 10 · chapter mention

Just consider with me for a moment.

When we're motivated to obey out of joy, now that changes the way that we abide with Jesus and obey Him.

When you pray in all circumstances, joy.

When you love your neighbor, joy.

When you display a transformed heart and mind, joy.

When you actively engage in evangelism, joy.

When you cast all your cares on him, joy.

When you make disciples, joy.

When you abide in Christ, joy.

Do you want that kind of joy?

I do.

That's why we're reminded in Galatians 5 that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.

Church, let's abide in Christ.

Just like the fruit of the Spirit is joy, the fruit of obeying Jesus is joy.

I wonder if you really take these things to heart and say, God, I want you to be glorified in my life.

Individually, it matters that I'm abiding with you, Jesus, for my joy.

But I also see the connection of our church that if I'm not abiding, then we aren't abiding as well as we could be.

But if I am abiding, then we are abiding and we will fulfill this mission that you've given us to go make disciples of all nations.

Here's the response.

If there's anything that needs to change, that you might abide better.

Just asking God to change your affections, asking God to change your appetites.

As Bro Isaac encouraged us, our student minister, going in his presence in repentance and saying, Lord, help me surrender this to you.

If there's anything, there goes the water.

If there's anything that needs to change, that you might better abide.

Now's the time.

So come up here at these steps.

Talk to someone you came to church with.

And I I mentioned it earlier.

If you've never been washed by the blood of Jesus and you want to start a relationship with Jesus today, you have that opportunity here in this response time as well.

Let's pray.

Lord, thank you for your word.

Thank you that we are not left lost without any kind of guide map, without any kind of instruction, without any kind of encouragement.

Lord, you have spoken through your word.

And so even today, as we dwell on these truths from John chapter 15, would we as a church make sure that we're checking in, that we abide in Christ, and would we individually make that our priority and purpose in life?

John 15 · chapter mention

So during this response, Lord, if you want to do anything, it's your time.

Have your way in us, have your way with us.

Do business in this moment.

We pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.