v. 6: Whosoever abides in Him does not sin.
Abiding in Christ
The secret of a holy life and a fruitful life is to abide in Christ. John 15.
When a new graft is placed in a vine, there is a two fold process that takes place. The first process takes place in the word. The graft shoots its little roots and the stem grows up into the graft. This is called the structural union. The graft becomes one with the vine. The second process is when the sap of the vine enters the new graft. This is manifested in growth, young shoots, leaves and fruit. This is the perfect union. The branch is abiding in the vine and the vine is abiding in the branch. The words “Abide in Me” found in John 15 refer to that which we have to do. We have to trust and obey. We must reach out to Him and cling to Him. We have to seek counsel in Him. We have to detach ourselves from all else. As we do this our character is formed and our heart prepared for the full experience of “I in you”.
Have you had the experience of praying earnestly for the infilling of the Spirit and the indwelling of Christ and wonders why you have not made more progress. The reason often is the “I in you” cannot come until He “abides in me” is fully maintained. Before the branch or graft could know the infilling of the vine, it must grow into the vine. It must abide in it before the sap can flow through to bring forth fruit.
The abiding in Christ produces two things. It produces fruit and it produces holiness. See Psalms 1 in this connection. Illustrate further with the story of the Hampton Court vine. The pruning process – the pruning knife. Grandfather clipping the children’s wings. John says “if we abide in Him we will not sin”. We will become more like Christ. A Christian should be different from those in the world. Christ was different. God opened the heavens – this is my son etc. Never a man spoke like this man. He does all things well. You are the Christ the Son of the living God, Transformation. Truly this was the Son of God. The next thing John says is “whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known Him.” This is in contrast to the previous statement. The person who abides in Christ is a Christian. The person who sins has not seen the hand and does not know him.
v. 7: John says to all believers don’t listen to anyone who would tell you differently.
He who does not sin, has been saved by the grace of God and lives like His Lord and Masters.
v. 8: He who commits sin lives in sin and loves sin is of the devil. Etc Mark 7. Satan deceives, blinds and binds people. Eve in: Genesis 3, 2 Corinthians 6:6, Luke 13:16. Luke 22:3.
v. 9: Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin. Does not practice or live in sin. Describe the old nature and the new nature. Romans 7:20. “Now if I do that which I would not, it is no more I that does it, but sin that dwelleth in me”. Paul is simply saying here that it is the old nature that sins – not the new. God’s seed remains in him and he cannot sin, because He is born of God. What is the seed? Some think that the seed is the new nature – the word – the Holy Spirit. It involves all these: we are born again of the incorruptible word, born of the spirit. The result of this is the new nature is implanted within.
v. 9: The characteristics of the child of God.
v. 10: The characteristics of the child of the devil.