Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2105
Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, September 22, 1889
“And now, little children, abide in Him. That, when He shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.” 1 John 2:28.
OUR first anxious desire is that our hearers would come to Christ. We lay ourselves out to lift Him up, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness and to bid men look to Him and live. There is no salvation except by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, “Look unto Me and be you saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God and there is none else.”
When men have looked to Jesus, our next anxiety is that they may be in Christ, the City of Refuge. We long to speak of them as “men in Christ Jesus.” My beloved Hearers, you must be in living, loving, lasting union with the Son of God, or else you are not in a state of salvation. That which begins with coming to Christ, as the engrafted branch is bound to the vine, continues in your growing into Him and receiving of His life. You must be in Christ as the stone is in the building, as the member is in the body.
When we have good hope that our hearers have come to Christ and are “in Christ,” a further anxiety springs up in our hearts that they may “abide” in Christ. Our longing is that, despite temptations to go away from Him, they may always remain at His feet. That, notwithstanding the evil of their nature, they may never betray their Master but may faithfully hold to Him. We would have them mindful of that precept—“As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk you in Him.” Oh, that they may be rooted in Him, and built up in Him—and may always be in union with Him! Then shall we present them to our Lord in the day of His appearing with exceedingly great joy.
To this third anxiety of the minister of Christ I would give my mind this morning. John says, “Little children, abide in Him.” How sweetly those words must have flowed from the lips and the pen of such a venerable saint! Methinks he is, in this, the echo of the Lord Jesus. For in the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of John, the Lord Jesus said, “Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can you, except you abide in Me. If you abide in Me and My Words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.”
That word, “abide,” was a very favorite one with the Lord Jesus and it became equally dear to that disciple whom Jesus loved. In our Authorized Version, the translators have interpreted it sometimes, “remain,” and sometimes, “continue.” But it is not very wise of them to have so changed the rendering. It is one of the virtues of the Revised Version that it generally translates the same Greek word by the same English word. This may not be absolutely requisite, for a little variety may be tolerated. But it is eminently instructive, since it allows us to see in our own mother tongue where the Holy Spirit used the same word. And if the translation is correct in one case, we may naturally conclude it will not be incorrect in another. “Abide,” is one of John’s special words.
May the Lord help us to consider these blessed words! Better still, may He write them on our hearts and may we fulfill their teaching! First, notice to what he urges them—“abide in Him.” Secondly, under what character he addresses them—“little children.” And thirdly, by what motive he exhorts them—“that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.”
I. First, then, OBSERVE TO WHAT HE URGES THEM—“Abide in Him.” By this he meant one thing. But that thing is so comprehensive that we may better understand it by viewing it from many sides.
He meant fidelity to the Truth taught by our Lord. We are sure he meant this, because, a little previously, in the twenty-fourth verse, he had said, “If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, you also shall continue in the Son and in the Father.” Beloved, you have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ unto the salvation of your souls. You have trusted in Him as the Son of God, the appointed Mediator and the effectual Sacrifice for your sin.
Your hope has come from a belief in Christ as God has borne witness to Him. Abide in the Truth which you received from the beginning—for in your earliest days it worked salvation in you. The foundation of your faith is not a changeable doctrine—you rest on a sure word of testimony. Truth is, in its very nature, fixed and unalterable. You know more about it than you did. But the thing itself is still the same and must be the same. Take care that you abide in it. You will find it difficult to do so, for there is an element of changeableness about yourself—this you must overcome by Divine Grace.
You will find many elements of seduction in the outside world. There are men whose business it is to shake the faith of others, and thereby gain a reputation for cleverness and depth of thought. Some seem to think it an ambition worthy of a Christian to be always questioning, or, as the Apostle puts it, to be “ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth.” To throw doubt into minds which, by a gracious certainty, have been made blessed, is their chosen lifework. Therefore, you will be often led to try your foundation, and at times you will tremble as you cling to it.