Like it or not, we live in the midst of Satan’s world, surrounded by temptations designed to ruin us. We are not to love the world, neither the things, the temptations, the joys, the promises of the world. John gives us that exhortation, because many professing Christians extensively love the world. And perhaps every Christian loves it to some degree. But again, the exhortation is: “Don’t do it. Don’t love the world.” Verse 26: “These things have I written unto you concerning them that SEDUCE you.” The god of the world has thousands of tempters in the world, all working to seduce us – to lead us off the strait and narrow path.
But victory over the world is possible. It is not just a promise of God, it can be a perfect present reality… IF we abide in Him. Verse 28 reminds us that we have a choice: abide in Him, OR be embarrassed (abashed) at His coming. “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence before him at his coming.”
To whom is the exhortation given? “LITTLE CHILDREN.”
In the middle of this chapter, John differentiates between new believers, strong energetic servants of the Lord, and the septuagenarians whose service has become more spiritual than physical. But by verse 18, as an older saint himself, he is thinking of everyone simply as children. They are all children of God by faith in Christ, but many may also have been John’s children in the ministry. I don’t think he ever makes those three distinctions again in this letter; everyone is a child to him. Six times he lumps everyone together with group exhortations. “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. 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.” “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” The last thing he writes is: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.”
Here is something else to keep in mind: Despite addressing all these “little children,” he doesn’t exclude himself. “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, WE may have confidence before him at his coming.” The pastor and preacher has as much responsibility to hear the command of God as everyone else. John, as an apostle of the Lord, has before him all the same standards as everyone else. And, because he is a spiritual father, he has more responsibility to live the life he is sharing with others. I don’t want you to be ashamed at Christ’s coming, and I have even more fear of that embarrassment.
And again what is the exhortation? “ABIDE IN HIM.”
Abide in whom? In the Lord Jesus Christ. That is obvious. But WHAT is it to abide? It is to REMAIN, CONTINUE and even TO DWELL, making one’s residence there.
Thinking back over earlier lessons, I keep hearing myself saying, “Here is one of John’s favorite words.” It is almost as if John had a limited vocabulary, because he uses some terms over and over again. And “abide” is another one of those terms. The Greek word is used just over a hundred times in the New Testament. But almost half of those verses are found coming from the pen of the Apostle John. And he tells us in his Gospel that the Lord Jesus used the word over and over again. We certainly can’t go wrong in repeating the words of Saviour.
Here are a few of Jesus’ statements about abiding: “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not ABIDE in darkness.” “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may ABIDE with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he DWELLETH with you, and shall be in you.” “ABIDE in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it ABIDE in the vine; no more can ye, except ye ABIDE in me.” “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that ABIDETH in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man ABIDE not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye ABIDE in me, and my words ABIDE in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” In John 14, Christ tells us just how important it is to abide in him, “as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself.”
But, again, what is it to abide in Christ? Maybe I can illustrate it with joy? Do you know anyone who is perpetually joyful? Couldn’t you say that person is abiding in joy? It is so much a part of her life that she’s characterized by it. And then there is a young lover whose spouse is never far from his thoughts. Sometimes we say that he is living in a world of his own – no, it is a world shared with her.
What is it to abide in Christ? Leaving aside the divine aspects and those aspects which relate to salvation… Abiding in Christ is to have a heart so filled with Christ, there is no room for much else. It is to be so close to the Saviour there is no gap sufficient to insert a knife blade to force them apart. It is to be so linked to the vine that the same blood and the same life flows between them. This means that we LOVE the things that He loves, and we also HATE the same things. It means that when the vine bows in one direction, the branch bends in the same direction.
Among the twenty times John uses the word “abide” in his epistles he helps to explain the word for us. “Whosoever ABIDETH in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.” “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed REMAINETH: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother ABIDETH in death.” Those who abide in Christ live and behave like Christ. They will obey and glorify Christ. “And he that keepeth his commandments DWELLETH in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he ABIDETH in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God DWELLETH in us, and his love is perfected in us.” “Hereby know we that we DWELL in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.” “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God DWELLETH in him, and he in God.”
What is it to abide in Christ? It is to be so enveloped in the Lord to such a degree that we come close to thinking and acting in unison. It bears some similarities to a good Christian marriage.
Living in this connection, we will NOT BE ASHAMED at the LORD’S RETURN.
“And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence before him at his coming.” As Christians, what should be our hope or goal? Heaven? I will not discount the importance of Heaven or of the future glorification of our bodies and souls. Paul was looking forward to the day that his personal “corruptible must put on incorruption.” “We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” While having a hope of Heaven is not unimportant, and our metamorphosis from these worm-like bodies into the beautiful bodies yet to come, John doesn’t speak of looking for these. He was looking first for the return of the Saviour.
“Christ shall appear.” This is not a matter of speculation or debate. “Christ SHALL appear” – He is coming again. It sounds to me like John was looking for an imminent appearing. He was expecting the Lord. And remember Christ’s purpose in everything: His glory. Among other things, He is coming again to receive the glory which is due to his name.
The word “coming” is the wonderful Greek word “parousia.” That word is translated both “coming” and “presence,” in the sense that the coming One will have come. Christ Jesus speaks about His coming, saying in Matthew 24: “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” And “as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” And Paul uses that word in I Thessalonians: “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?” “To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.” For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.” James says, “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord…” “Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.”
When the Lord comes, SOME of us will stand before Him with CONFIDENCE, and some will be ASHAMED.
When I was first saved, I heard over and over again that I shouldn’t want to be caught in any act of sin when the Lord returns. I was told that to be caught in sin at the Lord’s return would be highly shameful and embarrassing. I was reminded that some time in eternity I didn’t want to be asked, “Hey, what were you doing when the Lord plucked you away?” and have to answer, “Well, I was behind the barn smoking a cigarette.” “When the Lord came for me, I was with a couple lost buddies looking at a girlie magazine.” I shouldn’t want to be caught with my hand in the cookie jar. While the cock was crowing in Peter’s ears, “the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter.” “And Peter went out, and wept bitterly,” because he was ashamed of what he was doing and that he was caught doing it.
Maybe I should preach more messages like those that once convicted and helped me. But shouldn’t the point be that at no point in our lives are we to be engaging in sin? It is not about whether or not we are caught at the Lord’s return; it is whether we ever denied the Lord. Our fear of sin and of shame before the Lord shouldn’t be about whether or not we are caught. It should be about not doing anything that might cause shame in the first place.
How can we avoid that future embarrassment? John tells us that the key is found in abiding in Christ. Which means, rising each morning and putting ourselves in the hand of the Lord, surrendering to the Holy Spirit. It is in praying without ceasing – thinking about and talking to the Lord in the midst of every blessing and every test. I am told that the words “abide in him,” are in the verb tense that demands “keep on abiding” – “don’t stop abiding in Christ even for a moment.” Of course, the Lord is not going anywhere; He is constantly aside us and in us. The problem is with our straying away.
This abiding in Christ gives us the opportunity for confidence. Not self-confidence, but rather the confidence that comes with His strength through that abiding. This confidence speaks of boldness and freedom in the presence of the Lord, things which we don’t possess in ourselves.
Some of you may think I get a little foolish in my use of words. And admittedly I do get carried away with alliteration and other verbal games. For example, I’ve given this message the title: “Abide or Abashed,” basically only because they rhyme. Grammatically, it would be better as “Abide or be Abashed.” But hey, my thought came straight from John’s statement: “abide in him… that he be not ashamed.” I think I have Biblical encouragement to play with words.
Hidden in the Greek of this verse, there is an even more intriguing play on words. “Coming” is the Greek “parousia” and “confidence” is the unrelated word “parrhesia” (par-rhay-see’-ah). They are two separate and different words, but they begin with the same prefix. The prefix “para,” speaks of nearness. A paralegal is some who is nearly a lawyer, and things parallel are nearly the same. I had to tell a man this morning that our church doesn’t support para-church organizations. In many ways, to be near the truth is not good enough. But here, to have confidence before the Lord, John speaks of nearness to God, nearness to the heart of Christ. And this should be our great desire. Our goal should be to glorify our Saviour and to live as near to Him as possible.
Christ is coming again, of that there is no doubt. Sadly, at His coming, or at His judgment seat thereafter… At Christ’s coming, many Christians will be abashed and ashamed because of the sin in their lives. It will be obvious to all that they have spent their lives living in the flesh and living in communion with the world which we are told not to love. John WANTS us to have confidence and boldness before the Lord. And we can if we learned to abide in the vine, producing fruit to His glory.