“Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.”
If what you heard from the beginning abides in you,
The Greek puts great emphasis on “you.” That is, “For you believers, you in contrast to unbelievers if you remain true to where you started, you will abide in the Son and the Father.” It is possible to let foundational truths slip from us. Many people start fine, but they do not finish well.
The emphasis here is hearing what God said in His Word at the beginning. If God’s truth dynamically abides in us, we will experience continuing vital fellowship with God in time. Going back to the incarnation (God dwelling in man) is the sum substance and foundation to abiding.
PRINCIPLE:
God gave us the Word that we might have a stable, ongoing fellowship with Him.
APPLICATION:
Many people start fine, but they do not finish well in the Christian life. How many people have you seen fall away from a dynamic faith and engagement with the Word of God?
Have you lost interest in the Word of God? Many churches devolve into religious country clubs having no interest in the Word. They are more interested in social life than they are listening to what God has to say.
God intends that His Word take hold of our lives. He did not design it to lay dead on dusty pages of a black book. He desires that we interact with what He has said.
Ro 15:4-6, 4 “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. 5 Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, 6 that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
We live in a day when evangelicals put heavy emphasis on the subjective rather than the objective. It is high time that we return to the objective Word of God and engage with it actively. An objective orientation to Scriptures gives us confidence, stability, and clear direction for our lives.
