REMAIN IN CHRIST
“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing."
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How do we remain in him? “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you." John 15:9-12
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If we do not remain in him, we are likened to branches that are severed from Jesus and burned.
"Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned." John 15:6
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​So to be clear, how do we remain in him? The passage above says "When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love." John 15:10
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​You can see that to love him is to obey him. In the verse below, you see this truth again:
"And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him." 1 John 2:3-5 (You can also observe commandments and God's word are used interchangeably).
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Those who obey remain in fellowship with him and he with them
"And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us." 1 John 3:23-24
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"No one who remains in Him sins continually; no one who sins continually has seen Him or knows Him." 1 John 3:6
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​His love remains with those who fear him
​​"But the love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear him." Psalm 103:17a
Fear of the Lord is hatred of evil:
"The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate."
Proverbs 8:13
2. Only those who do the will of the Father will enter the kingdom of heaven: Matthew 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
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What is lawlessness?
"Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness" 1 John 3:4
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You can see that only those who actually do the will of the Father will enter the Kingdom of Heaven; which means doing the will of the Father is essential.
So how do we know what the will of the Father is?
​"One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” Jesus answered, “The most important is: ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28-31​
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​​"Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." Romans 12:2
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And how does he change the way you think? The word of God:
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"Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth." John 17:17-19
Why is it important to be holy?
"Pursue peace with all people, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." Hebrews 12:14
Without holiness, we won't see the Lord!
3. Whoever is victorious will not be harmed by the second death: Revelation 2:11
“Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.
Whoever is victorious will not be harmed by the second death." Revelation 2:11​
​Revelation 2:11 is telling us that in order to avoid the second death, we must be victorious
(one who conquers, one who overcomes).
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So who are the victorious and how can we be among them?
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The victorious defined:
"To all who are victorious, who obey me to the very end,
To them I will give authority over all the nations." Revelation 2:26
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So who are the victorious?
Those who obey him to the very end.
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How is this possible? Read what Jesus did for us in Enter Through the Narrow Gate.
4. A Bonus Point: 2 Peter 1:3-11
How to never fall away and be given a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord
"By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
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In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises.
Supplement your faith with a generous provision
of moral excellence,
and moral excellence with knowledge,
and knowledge with self-control,
and self-control with patient endurance,
and patient endurance with godliness,
and godliness with brotherly affection,
and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
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The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.
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So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." Or as the NASB translation states it, "for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you."
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The ending of this passage tells us "Do these things, and you will never fall away." You can see again that falling away is possible and we are told to "prove" that we really are among those God has called and chosen. If we do these things they are a safeguard to help us obtain a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In the first sentence we see that "God has given us everything we need for living a godly life." He has provided all we need to meet the call upon us to Enter The Kingdom of Heaven.