1. 1 “In order to our fruitfulness, we must abide in Christ, must keep up our union with him by faith, and do all we do in religion in the virtue of that union. Here is, (1.) The duty enjoined (v. 4): Abide in me, and I in you. Note, It is the great concern of all Christ’s disciples constantly to keep up a dependence upon Christ and communion with him, habitually to adhere to him, and actually to derive supplies from him. Those that are come to Christ must abide in him: "Abide in me, by faith; and I in you, by my Spirit; abide in me, and then fear not but I will abide in you;’’ for the communion between Christ and believers never fails on his side. We must abide in Christ’s word by a regard to it, and it in us as a light to our feet. We must abide in Christ’s merit as our righteousness and plea, and it in us as our support and comfort. The knot of the branch abides in the vine, and the sap of the vine abides in the branch, and so there is a constant communication between them.” Henry, M. If I lean on my own understanding, am I relying on Jesus’ life as my support? If I am bothered by what others think of me, even if I have failed and did something horribly foolish, is Jesus’ life my comfort?

2. 2 “In order to our fruitfulness, we must abide in Christ, must keep up our union with him by faith, and do all we do in religion in the virtue of that union. Here is, (1.) The duty enjoined (v. 4): Abide in me, and I in you. Note, It is the great concern of all Christ’s disciples constantly to keep up a dependence upon Christ and communion with him, habitually to adhere to him, and actually to derive supplies from him. Those that are come to Christ must abide in him: "Abide in me, by faith; and I in you, by my Spirit; abide in me, and then fear not but I will abide in you;’’ for the communion between Christ and believers never fails on his side. We must abide in Christ’s word by a regard to it, and it in us as a light to our feet. We must abide in Christ’s merit as our righteousness and plea, and it in us as our support and comfort. The knot of the branch abides in the vine, and the sap of the vine abides in the branch, and so there is a constant communication between them.” Henry, M. Are you a branch trying pointlessly to manufacture your own sap for yourself, or are you truly getting what you need, and all that you need, in your intimacy with Jesus? Do you know how you can tell? If you experience the fruit of the Spirit, and less and less manifestations of the flesh, you may know that your intimacy with the Vine is at work in you, producing His fruit.

3. 3 "Along the lines of the common Greek expression μένειν ἐ ν the NT often refers to the psychological abiding of the righteous in the things which belong to salvation, 1 Tm. 2:15: ἐ ν πίστει κα ὶ ἀ γάπ ῃ, 2 Tm. 3:14: ἐ ν ο ἷ ς ἔ μαθες, cf. Ign. Pol., 5, 2: ἐ ν ἁ γνεί ᾳ. In the Johannine writings such phrases are developed into distinctive personal statements concerning the lasting immanence between God and Christ or Christians and Christ. This is a stronger form of the Pauline ἐ ν Χριστ ῷ ” TDNT

4. 4 What do we need to take with us from the TDNT?

5. 5 "Along the lines of the common Greek expression μένειν ἐ ν the NT often refers to the psychological abiding of the righteous in the things which belong to salvation, 1 Tm. 2:15: ἐ ν πίστει κα ὶ ἀ γάπ ῃ, 2 Tm. 3:14: ἐ ν ο ἷ ς ἔ μαθες, cf. Ign. Pol., 5, 2: ἐ ν ἁ γνεί ᾳ. In the Johannine writings such phrases are developed into distinctive personal statements concerning the lasting immanence between God and Christ or Christians and Christ. This is a stronger form of the Pauline ἐ ν Χριστ ῷ ” TDNT First of all, abiding in the Vine needs to be a part of our resident psychology. Did you know that the word “psychology” comes from the Greek words “ψυχή” and “λόγος”? The word “ψυχή” is a broadly used word, but for this application it means “ the nonmaterial inner life of human beings for which the body serves as a dwelling place soul, inner self (MT 11.29; 20.28); often with focus on various aspects of feeling, thinking, choosing in which the psychological being is involved; mind, purpose (PH 1.27); heart (MK 14.34); desire (LU 10.27); ” ALGNT

6. 6 "Along the lines of the common Greek expression μένειν ἐ ν the NT often refers to the psychological abiding of the righteous in the things which belong to salvation, 1 Tm. 2:15: ἐ ν πίστει κα ὶ ἀ γάπ ῃ, 2 Tm. 3:14: ἐ ν ο ἷ ς ἔ μαθες, cf. Ign. Pol., 5, 2: ἐ ν ἁ γνεί ᾳ. In the Johannine writings such phrases are developed into distinctive personal statements concerning the lasting immanence between God and Christ or Christians and Christ. This is a stronger form of the Pauline ἐ ν Χριστ ῷ ” TDNT Can you imagine what life would be like if your “inner self, your thinking, choosing and feeling, mind and purpose, heart and desire, all were grafted into the Vine?

7. 7 "Along the lines of the common Greek expression μένειν ἐ ν the NT often refers to the psychological abiding of the righteous in the things which belong to salvation, 1 Tm. 2:15: ἐ ν πίστει κα ὶ ἀ γάπ ῃ, 2 Tm. 3:14: ἐ ν ο ἷ ς ἔ μαθες, cf. Ign. Pol., 5, 2: ἐ ν ἁ γνεί ᾳ. In the Johannine writings such phrases are developed into distinctive personal statements concerning the lasting immanence between God and Christ or Christians and Christ. This is a stronger form of the Pauline ἐ ν Χριστ ῷ ” TDNT That is, when hardship or threat hits us, we naturally think very quickly of the importance of abiding in Jesus so that we may have our victory guaranteed in Him. But how do you come to that? For most of us, when hardship hits, we want to run in the opposite direction.

8. 8 On September 11, 2001, while hundreds of people crowded the stairways to get out of the buildings, there were those who were rushing to get into where the fire was. The same is true of all emergency workers and military personnel. How do you get people to run contrary to innate survival instincts? Anyone who has ever been in these fields will tell you, it comes from “training” and “practice”. If you listen, you will hear them use the phrase, “You rely on your training” over and over. Why?

9. 9 The role of “training” is to provide people with an effective way of ordering your choices over the tendency to panic and collapse in self- preservation. If not for training, every soldier and police officer would run away as quickly and as far as they could from the sound of gunfire, but training leads them to ultimate victory at a minimum of loss of life and property. You can see the role of “practice” when a veteran takes a rookie under his arm in a fire fight and helps him and encourages him to rely on his training again. Practice does make perfect.

10. 10 “But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” Heb 5:14 ἕ ξις - To condition the mind and body by repetition

11. 11 “But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” Heb 5:14 γυμνάζω ἕ ξις - To condition the mind and body by repetition - Gymnasium, spiritual training, discipline and self control

12. 12 “But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” Heb 5:14 γυμνάζω α ἰ σθητήριον ἕ ξις - To condition the mind and body by repetition - Gymnasium, spiritual training, discipline and self control - The ability to make moral decisions sense, ability to understand, power to discriminate

13. 13 This is where every one of us needs to be, in God’s gymnasium, practicing the application of truth to our psuche and conforming even our desires and interpretations of life to His truth! But where are most people in the Church today? They are in the world’s gymnasium, practicing a different way of thinking and finding themselves deeper and deeper in bondage and misery.