“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31-32
In John chapter 8 Jesus is teaching in the temple about who He is in relationship to the Father. Some of the Jews assembled to hear Him do not believe His word, such as the Pharisees. But many assembled in the temple do believe what He is saying. They believe His words are truth. To those who believe He says they must “abide” in His word in order to be His disciples.
The Scripture tells us that we are saved by grace, and so we are. Grace means that God has accomplished everything for us not based on any merit or good work that comes from us. Amen. And yet Jesus tells us, as His disciples, to do stuff. One of the things His disciples do is abide in His word. Those who are not His disciples do not abide in His word. But what does it mean to abide in His word?
The Greek word translated “abide” means to remain in or to continue in. I like the English translation “abide” because it gives the connotation of “living in”. We are to live in God’s word. How do we live in God’s word? From the text in John, clearly, we must believe it. But faith is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8). So what do we need to do? There are three things we must do in order to live in God’s word.
First, in order to believe it you must know it. You can’t know God’s word unless you read it. We must read the word of God. We should be as familiar with the word as we are with the back of our hands. I always recommend all disciples read the Bible every day. Reading through the Bible in one year is a great discipline. It enables us to achieve that most important familiarity that is needed in a disciple. I’ve done this for the past 20 years and still I find new surprises in the word, things I had not considered before. Read it, memorize it, sing it.
Second, we must understand it. This implies the need for teaching. The Holy Spirit works in and through His people to help us to understand His word. Pay attention to the sermon, study it, be a Berean, find out the answers to your questions and don’t let them fade away unanswered. Read good theology. RC Sproul once said that all Christians are theologians. It’s just that some of us are really bad ones. Be a good theologian. Know why you believe what you believe. Receive teaching and grow in your understanding of the word.
Third, we must obey it. Put God’s word into practice. We must be doers of the word and not hearers only. James 1:22. As the Scripture says in James 2:17, “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15. The fact that we are saved by grace doesn’t do away with the truth that as His disciples, or as Jesus put it, if we want to be His disciples, there are things we must do. We are told in Ephesians 2:8 that we are saved by faith apart from works. Right after that in Ephesians 2:10 it says we are created for good works and we must walk in those works. We must obey His word.
So, this is what it means to abide: to live in God’s word. We must read it, understand it, and we must obey it. The alternative is that we are not a disciple. In John 8 after Jesus tells the Jews who believed His word to abide in it, He immediately tells the Pharisees who did not believe His word that their father is Satan and that they do the works of their father.
If we want to be a disciple of Jesus, we must “abide” in His word. If we do, we will know the truth and the truth will make us free.
His mercy endures forever!
Pastor Flynn