The Fourth Indispensable Thing

Close connection to Christ

The fourth indispensable thing necessary to validate the existence of true saving faith is keeping strict and close communion with Christ, the source of all grace and all good works. “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5 ESV). In this verse, by using a similitude from a grape vine, Christ teaches us:

1. By nature we are wild barren briers until we are changed by coming to Christ. Christ is that noble vine having all life and sap of grace in Himself. He is able to change the nature of everyone who comes to Him and is able to communicate Spirit and life to as many as will believe in Him. “I am the vine,” Christ said, and “you are the branches.”

2. Christ loves to have believers so firmly united to Him that:

   1. They are not separated at any time by unbelief.

   2. There may be a mutual indwelling of them in Him by faith and love, and of Him in them by His word and Spirit, for He joins these together as things inseparable: “… abides in me and I in him.”

3. Unless a person is grafted⁶⁹ into Christ and united to Him by faith, he cannot do even the smallest of good works by his own strength. In fact, except in so far as a person draws Spirit and life from Christ by faith, the works that he does are naughty and devoid of any goodness in God’s judgment, “for apart from me,” Christ said, “you can do nothing.”

4. This mutual indwelling is the source and unfailing cause of constant continuing and abounding in well-doing. For “Whoever abides in me and I in him,” says Christ, “he it is that bears much fruit.” Now our abiding in Christ presupposes three things:

   1. That we have heard the joyful sound of the Gospel making offer of Christ to us who are lost sinners by the Law

   2. That we have heartily embraced the gracious offer of Christ

   3. That by receiving Him we have become children of God “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,” (John 1:12 ESV).

And we are incorporated into His mystical⁷⁰ body, that He may dwell in us as His temple, and we dwell in Him as in the residence of righteousness and life. So our abiding in Christ implies three other necessary things:

1. Believers must draw on grace from Christ in all our addresses to God and in all our service to Him, of whatever kind.

2. Believers must be contented with Christ’s sufficiency without going away from Him to seek righteousness or life or support in the supposed worthiness of ourselves or any other creature for any reason.

3. A steadfastness in

   1. Our believing in Him

   2. Our drawing on His grace and relying on Him

   3. Our contentment in Him, and adhering to Him

So that no

• Allurement

• Temptation of Satan or the World

• Terror or trouble

May be able to drive our spirits from

• Firm adherence onto Him

• Constant avowing of His truth

• Obeying His commands

For Christ has loved us and given Himself for us. In Christ, not only our life is laid up, but also the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily in Jesus Christ by reason of the substantial and personal union of the Divine and human nature in Him.

Hence let every watchful believer, for strengthening himself in faith and obedience, reason after this manner: “Whoever daily draws on Christ Jesus for cleansing his conscience and affections from the guiltiness and filthiness of sins against the Law and draws on Him to enable him to give obedience to the Law in love, he has the evidence of true faith in himself. But I,” may every watchful believer say, “do daily draw on Jesus Christ for cleansing my conscience and affections from the guiltiness and filthiness of sins against the Law and draw on Him to enable me to give obedience to the Law in love. Therefore I have the evidence of true faith in myself.”

And hence also let the sleepy and sluggish believer, for his own stirring up,⁷¹ reason thus: “Whatever is necessary for giving evidence of true faith, I must give careful attention to doing it. Otherwise I will deceive myself and perish. But to draw upon Christ Jesus daily for cleansing my conscience and affections from the guiltiness and filthiness of sins against the Law and to draw on Him to enable me to give obedience to the Law in love, is necessary to produce evidence of true faith in me. Therefore, I must give careful attention to do all that is required. Otherwise I will deceive myself and perish.”

And lastly, seeing that Christ Himself has pointed out these things as undoubted evidence of a person elected by God into life and given to Jesus Christ to be redeemed, if he come to Him, that is, embrace His Covenant and keep communion with Him, as He teaches us, saying, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out” (John 6:37 ESV). Let every person who does not in earnest draw on Christ for remission of sin and amendment of life, reason from this and all other evidence, after this manner, that his conscience may be awakened: “Whoever is neither by the Law nor by the Gospel so convicted of sin, righteousness, and judgment, as to make him come to Christ and draw upon Him daily for remission of sin and amendment of life—he lacks not only all evidence of saving faith, but also all evidence of his election so long as he remains in this condition. But I,” may every unrepentant person say, “am neither by the Law nor Gospel so convicted of sin, righteousness, and judgment, as to make me come to Christ and draw on Him daily for remission of sin and amendment of life. Therefore I lack not only all evidence of saving faith, but also all evidence of my election, so long as I remain in this condition.”

FINIS.

69 Grafting is the process of joining a scion onto a stock, both being woody plants. The stock is an already rooted plant. The scion may be of a same or (usually) different species and may be a branch or whole plant above the roots. The grafting process involves making a special cut on the trunk or a branch of both the stock and scion so that the two may be joined and bound. Done right, the scion and stock become as one plant, the stock providing water and nutrients and the scion providing the products of photosynthesis. Both remain their own original species.

70 Our Lord Jesus has a glorified physical body, which has a true human nature from His mother, Mary. That body is in Heaven at the right hand of the Father. Scripture also speaks of the universal Church as being the body of Christ: “For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior” (Ephesians 5:23 ESV). But, Scripture also speaks of the universal Church as Christ’s bride (Revelation 19:7), while also speaking of believers being invited to the marriage supper of Christ (Revelation 19:9). Clearly, there is much mystery surrounding Christ’s body, the universal Church. Hence, the universal Church is sometimes called Christ’s mystical body.

71 Stir up here, and as frequently used in Scripture, refers to stirring a still-hot bed of wood coals and ashes so as to knock ashes down and allow oxygen to reach the coals. By this means, especially if new fuel is added, the coals will burst anew into flame.