Jesus said: Remain (abide, dwell, continue) in Me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. I am the vine. You are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from Me you can do nothing… As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now remain in My love. If you keep My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commands and remain in His love. (John 15:4-10, excerpts)
In our last post, Remaining and Abiding in Christ (Part 1), we commented on Jesus’ statements on the night before He gave His life for us on the cross. These were some of Christ’s last words, so He was saying super important things that shape our whole lives. These verses are sometimes misunderstood, so let’s dig a little deeper, drawing on the work of Sinclair Ferguson.1
God the Divine Gardener
The Father has taken the initiative, graciously connecting His believers into His only Son. God gave us to Jesus before the world was created! Remember that Christ prayed, “Father, I have revealed You to those whom You gave Me out of the world. They were Yours. You gave them to Me, and they have obeyed Your word.”2 We were assigned to Him and included in Him. He took on the job of saving us before the world was every made! (See Isaiah verses about Jesus’ conversation with the Father.)
When Jesus said “they have obeyed,” He didn’t mean that the earliest disciples were perfect. He meant that they earnestly followed Christ as Lord and Savior. Jesus said, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.”3 Jesus knew these disciples would stumble, and yet He claimed them as His own. He does the same for us!
The Lord said, “All those the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never drive away.”4 If we pause right there, that’s the most encouraging truth in the universe! One hymn says:
Through the love of God our Savior, all will be well.
Free and changeless is His favor, all is well.
Precious is the blood that healed us, perfect is the grace that sealed us,
Strong the hand stretched forth to shield us, all must be well.
Though we pass through tribulation, all will be well.
Ours is such a full salvation, all is well.
Happy, still in God confiding, fruitful if in Christ abiding,
Holy through the Spirit’s guiding, all must be well.
We expect a bright tomorrow; all will be well.
Faith can sing through days of sorrow, “All, all is well.”
On our Father’s love relying, Jesus every need supplying,
In our living, in our dying, all must be well.5
It’s a Complete Package
Brothers and sisters, we are forever loved and secure because our salvation is achieved completely by God’s grace (undeserved kindness) in the beginning, middle, and end of our salvation. Christ says, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.”6 The Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit to call us and bring us back to God. See how much He loves us!In saving us, the Spirit graciously convinces us that we are miserable apart from the Lord. That’s not cruel. It is just the truth. We are never made or meant to be separated from God by our sins. So the Spirit opens our hearts and minds to understand Christ our Savior. He also persuades us and makes us able to receive Jesus by faith, as He is freely offered in the Bible.
The Spirit gives us the repentance (turning from sin) and faith (turning to the Lord) that we exercise in coming to Him at first. Then the Spirit enables us to continue in fellowship with God for the rest of our earthly lives. Later, we will live with the Lord forever in the new heavens and new earth, a world filled with God’s goodness and righteousness. Our initial, ongoing, and final connection with Christ are aspects of remaining or abiding in Christ. It’s the whole package!
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all… To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power, and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. (2 Corinthians 13:14: Jude 24-25)
Connected, Dependent, and Growing
Remember, in John 15, God the Father is the Gardener; Jesus is the central Grapevine; His believers are the branches; and Christ-like living is the fruit His Spirit produces in us. To say it in another way:
•Christians belong to God the Father forever
•By the death and resurrection of God the Son
•Through the saving, helping, keeping, loving work of God the Holy Spirit
Christians are triply precious to the Lord, triply safe and secure in Him!
The vine and the branches image is similar to the idea of God the Father adopting us as His children. God heaps up the language to assure us of our connection to Him, our dependence on Him, and the great benefits we receive in Him.
J. I. Packer (1926–2020) said that we can sum up all New Testament religion as knowing God as our Holy Father. If we really understand Christianity, we will make a big deal about being God’s adopted children and having Him as our Father. That will shape our thinking, worship, prayers, and our whole life. Everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new and better than the Old, is summed up in knowing the Lord as our Heavenly Father.7
Let’s keep these precious truths at the front of our minds and hearts! Remembering our identity in Christ helps us to remain in Him and gives us joy and peace!
Let’s Re-Commit to Trusting and Obeying Jesus
Christ says, “If you love Me, keep My commands… Whoever has My commands and keeps them is the one who loves Me. Whoever loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love them and show Myself to them… If you keep My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commands and remain in His love… Anyone who loves Me will obey My teaching. My Father will love them, and We will come to them and make Our home with them. (John 14:15-24, 15:10 excerpts)
Christ is not teaching salvation by our efforts. He’s teaching that the salvation-by-grace blessing He gives causes us to live by focusing on and following Him. St. Augustine prayed, “Lord, give me the grace to do as You command, and command me to do what You require!.. O holy God, when Your commands are obeyed, it is from You that we receive the power to obey them.”9 Augustine also said that wicked people obey the Lord out of fear, while God’s children obey Him out of love. That’s Jesus’ point here in John 15.
There is no question that obedience to God’s commands prompted by fear or merit-seeking is not true obedience. The only obedience acceptable to God is constrained and impelled by love, because “love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10). God’s law as revealed in His Word prescribes our duty. But love provides the correct motive for obedience. We obey God’s law, not to be loved, but because we are loved in Christ… Obedience to the revealed will of God is often just as much a step of faith as claiming a promise from God (Jerry Bridges).10
Prayer
Heavenly Father, You are the Divine Gardener, Jesus is the true Vine, the Spirit is the life, strength, and fruit-producing power that flows into us and out from us. Thank You for making us branches, securely attached to Christ our Risen Lord. You have first loved us. Help us to remain in Your love and to live fruitful lives for Your glory.
Prune our lives with kindness and compassion. Cut away every thought, word, and action that does not please You or imitate Jesus. When the pruning is painful, help us to trust Your loving heart and hand. Shape us to seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness, and to rejoice in You always. Amen.11
Notes (various Bible translations used): 1 In Christ Alone: Living the Gospel-Centered Life. 2 John 17:6. See also John 17:24, Eph 1:4, 2 Tim 1:9, and many more. 3 John 6:29. 4 John 6:37. 5 “Through the Love of God our Savior,” 1846. Mary Bowly Peters (1813–1856) was a British hymn writer who produced more than fifty hymns. 6 John 6:44. 7 Adapted from J.I. Packer, Knowing God. 8 Heb 2:12-13. 9 Augustine, Confessions. 10 Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace, p. 92. 11 Adapted from kevinhalloran.net, Feb 3, 2026.