Summary:
Jesus is the true vine, we are the branches. If we are cut off, we will die because it has no life source! We have to abide in Christ; abide in His (1) words, (2) love, (3) church, and (4) Holy Spirit. Today, do we abide in Him, or are we just one of the people who are around Him?

Abiding in Christ means remaining in Christ. Many believe in Christ but are not in Him. They hence cannot abide in Him.

In the Philippines, many Christians from other churches heard the truth from the True Jesus Church. But they were doubtful whether they should get baptised. A sister who was from another church previously heard the teachings of the True Jesus Church and was deliberating whether to get baptised. The speaker said to her, “The question is: are we in Christ? If we are not in Christ, then we cannot abide in Him. If we don’t abide in Him, then we are just like the people who were around Jesus Christ.”

Using the speaker’s family analogy:
He knew his daughter-in-law for a long long time before she got married to his third son. They had met in the Australian Theolo. But she was not in his household UNTIL she got married.

Today we may be devout in our worship of Christ, but if we are not IN Christ, we cannot abide in Him.

Jesus uses the parable of the true vine to display the importance of being in Him.

John 15:4-7
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

Jesus is the true vine, we are the branches. A branch must be joined to the vine before it can bear fruit. If the branch is cut off from the vine, it’ll definitely wither. It can’t bear fruit and will be thrown into the fire to be burnt. The branch withers because it is not fit to the vine and has no life in it. No matter how beautiful the branch looks, it has no life because it’s cut off from the branch.

In the same way, if we are cut off from the Lord, we cannot abide in the Lord nor have the life of Christ.

The speaker hence asked the sister in Philippines while she was truthseeking, “Are you in Christ or are you around Christ?” She was moved by the Holy Spirit but was hesitant whether to get baptised again (for she had been baptised in another church). He said one could be baptised many times in the baptisms that were not true. But for the true baptism, one could only get baptised once.

Thank God she was one of the original believers in that church. She was baptised in 1985. The first group was baptised in 1982. Thank God the group of believers remain faithful. Those who remain continue to remain in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We must constantly abide in Christ. Until when?

1 Thess 1:7-10
so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything. For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

In his 2nd missionary journey, Paul met with persecution in Philippi and came to Thessalonica. For 3 Sabbaths, they entered the synagogue and reasoned with them why Christ had to suffer. Why Christ had to suffer was difficult to understand. To the Jews, the Christ was supposed to revive the Davidic kingdom. How could He die on the cross? The disciples explained that suffering death on the cross was in accordance to the Scriptures. That began the church in Thessalonica. The Thessalonians received this faith in affliction/persecution. Because the nearby church in Philippi was already being persecuted. They knew if they were to believe in Christ and get baptised, they would also meet with afflictions. But they had the faith, and so believed in Christ and got baptised. Their faith grew quickly. They imitated Christ and the apostles. Their faith became an example to those in Macedonia and Achaia.

The Thessalonians abided in Christ and awaited the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. This was their faith. They believed in the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even though He didn’t come in those days, one day, He will. Those who have hope in the second coming of the Lord will be abiding in Christ until that day because of their faith in Him. They won’t be put away by afflictions, nor discouraged by false teachers, because they know whom they have believed in.

1 John 3:2-3
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

The people who abide in Christ will be like Him when He comes again. That’s when they will see Him face to face. Put off the old man and put on the new man. Transform in our hearts and in our minds. May the nature and image become new. Keep His word and abide in the Holy Spirit, hoping in the Lord. At the same time, purify ourselves. Allow the word of God to be a light in our lives. Let the power of the Holy Spirit sanctify us so we become a transformed man. So that when Jesus Christ comes, we can come before Him face to face. Then we will have the glory of the Lord.

Abiding in the Lord is not just abiding for 1 year. Or only when we are young, and then leaving Christ after that. We have to abide in Him to the end. Should Christ come in our lifetime, or if He takes us away before He comes again, we have to be abiding in Him.

In the history of the Singapore True Jesus Church, some believers who were baptised in our church no longer come. They may not have given Jesus Christ up but have given up the truth and gospel of salvation. They have gone out of the grace of Jesus Christ. They are not able to abide in Jesus Christ.

Testimony:
A deacon was unhappy with the church, with an elder in the church, with his life’s situation and with his family. When there was divisions, he wrote a letter saying he no longer believed in the church. The speaker and another Taiwan preacher was appointed to visit him. They spent an hour. It wasn’t the speaker and the preacher who spoke an hour, it was this deacon. While he was in the church, he seemed to be a very nice man. Humble. Loving. Caring for members. But hearing him speak for an hour, the Taiwanese preacher who had never met him before felt like he was a Gentile. He no longer had the life of Christ in him. He no longer had the image of Christ. The speaker isn’t saying his image had been hypocritical. It was the time he had the life of Christ in him. But he lost that life. You won’t be able to abide in Christ and bear His fruits without His life in you.

Just like the branch that has been cut off from the vine. The life of Christ is no longer in it.

Jesus Christ says He’s the true vine. He differentiates Himself from other vines. If you leave this true vine to go to other vines, you will still not have life in you.

Abiding in Jesus Christ means to abide in His words - the word of truth. It also means to abide in His love. Also, abide in His blood. This blood cleansed our sins. If we treat this blood as ordinary and commit a sin against Jesus Christ, there no longer remains a sacrifice of sins. We have lost the grace of being in the blood of Christ. To abide in Christ means to abide in His church. The church is also the true vine because the church is the body of Christ. The body is like the tree. Some members say they don’t want to go to church. “I’ll do my own Bible study and have my own service. I can interpret the Bible on my own too.” They cut themselves off from the True Jesus Church. They just view the True Jesus Church as an organisation. “But I still believe in Jesus Christ.”

But the church is the body of Christ. This makes it the true vine.

There is one flock because we have one shepherd. If we’re not in that one flock, the shepherd you have is another shepherd who will lead you to another place which isn’t the Kingdom of Heaven. If you follow another shepherd, your spiritual life will be lost.

Abiding in Christ is also abiding in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of Jesus Christ. The spirit was in the body of Jesus Christ. You must be part of this body to have the Holy Spirit.

Testimony:
Many churches pray for the Holy Spirit. But the spirit that they receive is different from ours. This happened near to our True Jesus Church in Jia Yi. The leader of that church was a good friend of Elder Gao. Their church also had morning prayers for the Holy Spirit. The leader invited Elder Gao to observe. What he saw shocked him. It wasn’t the Holy Spirit! He told this leader, his friend, “This isn’t the Holy Spirit.” He showed the Bible to him.

In the eastern part of Sabah, Balong, the building was on stilts and the True Jesus Church was on the second storey. There was another church near the True Jesus Church. They prayed for the Holy Spirit. Another spirit came onto them. They fell down and foamed. The leader ran over to our church for help. This is a spiritual thing. Men cannot solve. Not by our might can we handle it. If we don’t abide in the Holy Spirit, we will be deceived by the evil spirit.

How do we abide in the love of Christ? By obeying His commands.

1 John 3:23-24
And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

We are already in Christ (because we have been baptised into Him). A very important thing is to obey His commandments. Obeying requires us to deny ourselves. If we think we are right all the time, then we cannot obey the Lord all the time. If we humble ourselves to acknowledge the Lord is always always right while we may not always be right, then we learn to submit to Him, even in things the Lord commands we may not think is reasonable. Forgive our enemies. Somebody scolds you for no reason, perhaps in the church. This is human weakness. Either ours or the scolder. We shouldn’t vent our anger on others, instead exhort those who are wrong in the Lord.

Men may scold us, but Jesus Christ will always love us. As long as we repent, He will forgive us. He will abide in us.

Keeping the commandments also means keeping the Sabbath. Sabbath Day keeping is not keeping any other day. It’s not “as long as I believe in Christ, I can keep it when I want to”.

You say you love Christ? Then you have to keep the Sabbath Day.

Believers who go out of their way to keep the Sabbath have testified that blessing came upon them.

Isa 58:13-14 records how those who keep the Sabbath shall be blessed.
Isa 56:7 records how even Gentiles who keep the Sabbath shall be blessed.

The promise in the Old Testament was to the Israelites. Gentiles who keep the commandment of the Lord; to keep the Sabbath Day, were also blessed.

It’s the same in our church.

Elder Kuo has passed away but he has left behind a legacy of faith. The members of another Presbyterian church respected him and his father so much because they were so upright. He kept the Sabbath very strictly. Elder John Yang was a good friend of Elder Kuo. He said Elder Kuo was a director of many companies, but would never miss a service during the Sabbath. If he wasn’t in church on the Sabbath, they’d know he’s sick. Otherwise he’d always be in the church. This is keeping the Sabbath. He was also a very wealthy man, but he did not use it for himself. He used it to love others. He supported much of the church work. He started funds for the orphans. He also contributed much to society. He donated much to the church to build residential dormitories for preachers. He really loved others as God loved him. He didn’t even own a car. Even though he was so rich, he came to church in a tricycle. Even his bed leg (of his marital bed) was repaired (instead of just replacing the whole thing). God really blessed him. He wasn’t born rich. He worked hard. God provided for him because he kept His commands.

The first generation of believers used to cycle 6 miles to the True Jesus Church that resided at Beach Road in Singapore. They were poor but offered much. That’s how we have the current Telok Kurau church today! They kept the commandments and abided in the Lord.

“Keep them in the word of truth”

Rev 14:12
Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

If we keep this word, this word tells us there’s only one true God who incarnated in the flesh - Jesus Christ.

Even those who believe in the oneness of God have a different understanding of who Jesus is. Jehovah Witnesses believe only the Father is the one true God. Jesus is just the Son. This wasn’t what the apostles taught.

1 John 2:24
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.

Eph 1:13 says it’s the word of truth, the gospel of salvation.

There are many diverse believers today. We need to be careful. Don’t be misled. Paul says if someone preaches another gospel, let him be accursed (Gal 1:8). If we are led to believe another gospel, the Christ we believe may be another Jesus.

2 Cor 11:3-4
But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!

Paul told the church in Corinth to be very vigilant. We have heard of another Christ. But is there another Jesus?

Some people hear our church is called the True Jesus Church. They ask, “True Jesus? Does that mean there’s a false Jesus?” Yes.

But it’s the true Jesus who saved us. He is God incarnate.

There are many groups who believe in Christ. But they are deceived. Even people who are in the True Jesus Church can get deceived.

In 1987, there was a division in the West Malaysia True Jesus Church. Singapore was under the West Malaysia General Assembly and so was affected. Two leaders were told in their prayers to be separated from the True Jesus Church because of the manner of tongue speaking. 17 ordained ministers signed a letter saying they were leaving.

The speaker knew a member who was dynamic and spoke beautiful English. From young, he read the Bible encyclopaedia which was something marvellous. He interpreted well too. The speaker was concerned about him. He was a boss in a big bank. The speaker and another person went to visit him with the intention of telling him the series of events that led to the 17 leaving. At the end of the conversation he said, “Don’t worry. I won’t be influenced!” 1 week later, the person who went with the speaker to visit said this member had called him to say he had joined the other group.

If we don’t believe in the one true God whose blood has washed our sins away, we will not be able to abide in Him.