Abiding in Christ

Abiding in Christ

Andrew Murray

BOOKS BY ANDREW MURRAY

FROM BETHANY HOUSE PUBLISHERS

With Updated Language

Abiding in Christ

Absolute Surrender

The Andrew Murray Daily Reader

The Blood of Christ

The Fullness of the Spirit

Humility

The Indwelling Spirit

A Life of Obedience

Living a Prayerful Life

The Ministry of Intercessory Prayer

The Path to Holiness

Teach Me to Pray

Abiding in Christ

Andrew Murray

BETHANYHOUSE

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Abiding in Christ

Copyright © 2003

Bethany House Publishers

Newly edited and updated for today’s reader by Jeanne Hedrick. Originally published in 1895 by Henry Altemus under the title Abide in Christ.

Cover design by Eric Walljasper

Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version of the Bible. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations identified NIV are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Italics in quoted Scripture are included for emphasis by the author.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Published by Bethany House Publishers

11400 Hampshire Avenue South

Bloomington, Minnesota 55438

Bethany House Publishers is a division of

Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN 978-0-7642-2762-2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Murray, Andrew, 1828–1917.

    [Abide in Christ]

    Abiding in Christ / by Andrew Murray.

         p. cm.

Originally published: Abide in Christ. Philadelphia, Pa. : H. Altemus, 1895.

    ISBN 0-7642-2762-9 (pbk.)

    1. Meditations. 2. Christian life—Reformed authors. I. Title.

BV4832.3.M87     2003

248.4—dc21                                                       2002155876

ANDREW MURRAY was born in South Africa in 1828. After receiving his education in Scotland and Holland, he returned to Africa and spent many years as a missionary pastor. He and his wife, Emma, raised eight children. He is best known for his many devotional books, including some of the most enduring classics of Christian literature.

Preface

During Jesus’ life on earth, the phrase He used most often when speaking of the relationship of the disciples to himself was ‘‘Follow Me.’’ When about to leave for heaven, He gave them a new phrase, which better described their more intimate and spiritual union with himself in glory: ‘‘Abide in Me.’’

Unfortunately there are many earnest followers of Jesus who fail to grasp the full meaning of these words. While trusting Him for pardon and help, and seeking to some extent to obey Him, they have not realized the closeness of union, the intimacy of fellowship, or the wondrous oneness of life and interest He invites them to when He says, ‘‘Abide in Me.’’ This is not only an unspeakable loss to them personally but also a great loss to the church and the world around them.

If we ask why those who have accepted the Savior, and have experienced the renewing of the Holy Spirit, come short of the full salvation prepared for them, I am sure the answer will in many cases be ignorance, which leads to unbelief. If the reality of abiding in Christ, the living union with Him, the experience of His daily and hourly presence and keeping, were preached in our orthodox churches with the same distinctness and urgency as is His Atonement and our pardon through His blood, no doubt many would accept with gladness the invitation to such a life. And its influence would shine forth in the believers as they experience the purity and power, the love and joy, the fruit-bearing, and all the other blessings associated with abiding in Christ.

My desire to help those who have not yet fully understood what it means to abide in Him, or who have feared that it is a life beyond their reach, is why these meditations are now published. It is only by frequent repetition that a child learns its lessons. Only by continuously fixing the mind for a time on one of the lessons of faith is the believer gradually helped to take and thoroughly assimilate its benefits. I hope that to some, especially young believers, it will be a help to consider carefully the precious words, ‘‘Abide in Me,’’ with the lessons connected with them in the parable of the Vine. Step by step we will see how truly this promise–precept is meant for us, how surely grace is provided to enable us to obey it, how indispensable the experience of its blessing is to a healthy Christian life, and how awesome are the blessings that flow from it. As we listen, meditate, and pray, the Holy Spirit will make the words to be spirit and life to us. This word of Jesus will become to us the power of God unto salvation, and through it will come the faith that grasps the long-desired blessing.

I pray earnestly that our gracious Lord may be pleased to bless this book, to help those who seek to know Him fully, as He has already blessed it in its original issue in the Dutch language. I pray that He would, by whatever means, make the multitudes of His dear children who are still living divided lives, to see how He claims them wholly for himself, and how wholehearted surrender to abide in Him alone brings a joy that is ‘‘unspeakable and full of glory’’ (1 Peter 1:8). May all of us who have begun to taste the sweetness of this life yield ourselves to be witnesses of the grace and power of our Lord to keep us united with Him. And may we seek by word and walk to win others to follow Him fully. It is only in such fruit-bearing that our own abiding can be maintained.

In conclusion, I would give one word of advice to my readers: It takes time to grow into Jesus the Vine; do not expect to abide in Him unless you will give Him that time. It is not enough to read God’s Word, or meditations as found in this book; and when we think we understand the concepts and have asked God for His blessing, to go out in the hope that the blessing will remain. No, abiding requires day-by-day time with Jesus and the Father. We all know that we must take time for our meals each day. Every workman sets aside his time for dinner because it is important in his daily routine. In the same way, if we are to live through Jesus, we must feed on Him (John 6:57); we must thoroughly take in and assimilate the heavenly food the Father has given us in His life. Therefore, anyone who wants to learn to abide in Jesus must take time each day, before reading, while reading, and after reading, to put himself into contact with the living Jesus. He must yield himself distinctly and consciously to His blessed influence—giving Him the opportunity to take hold of him so that He may draw him up and keep him safe in His almighty life.

And now, to all God’s children whom He allows me the privilege of pointing to the Heavenly Vine, I offer my fraternal love and greetings, with the prayer that to each one of them may be given the rich and full experience of abiding in Christ. And may the grace of Jesus, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be their daily portion. Amen.

Contents

1. All You Who Have Come to Him

2. You Will Find Rest for Your Souls

3. Trusting Him to Keep You

4. As the Branch in the Vine

5. It Is As You Came to Him, by Faith

6. God Has United You to Himself

7. He Is Your Wisdom

8. He Is Your Righteousness

9. He Is Your Sanctification

10. He Is Your Redemption

11. The Crucified One

12. God Himself Will Establish You in Him

13. Every Moment

14. Day by Day

15. At This Moment

16. Forsaking All for Him

17. Through the Holy Spirit

18. In Stillness of Soul

19. In Affliction and Trial

20. That You May Bear Much Fruit

21. So Will You Have Power in Prayer

22. Continue in His Love

23. Abide As Christ Abides in the Father

24. Obeying His Commandments

25. That Your Joy May Be Full

26. Showing Love to Fellow Believers

27. That You Might Not Sin

28. He Is Your Strength

29. It Is Not in Ourselves

30. The Guarantee of the New Covenant

31. The Glorified One

John 15:1–12

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 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 shall ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; continue in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

— Day 1 —

All You Who Have

Come to Him

Come to Me.

Matthew 11:28

Abide in Me.

John 15:4

It is to you who have heard and responded to the call, ‘‘Come to Me,’’ that this new invitation comes, ‘‘Abide in Me.’’ The message comes from the same loving Savior. No doubt you have never regretted responding to His call and coming to Him. You experienced that His word was truth; all His promises He fulfilled; He made you a partaker of the blessings and the joy of His love. His welcome was heartfelt, His pardon full and free, His love most sweet and precious, was it not? You more than once, at your first coming to Him, had reason to say, ‘‘The half was not told me.’’

And yet you have had some disappointment. As time went on, your expectations were not always realized. The blessings you once enjoyed were lost; the love and joy of your first meeting with your Savior, instead of deepening, have become faint and weak. And you have often wondered why, with such a mighty and loving Savior, your experience of salvation was not a fuller one.

The answer is very simple. You wandered from Him. The blessings He bestows are all connected with His ‘‘Come to Me,’’ and are only to be enjoyed in close fellowship with Him. You either did not fully understand, or did not rightly remember, that the call meant ‘‘Come to Me and remain with Me.’’ This was His object and purpose when He first called you to himself. It was not to refresh you for a few short hours after your conversion with the joy of His love and deliverance, and then to send you forth to wander in sadness and sin. He destined you to something better than a short-lived blessing, to be enjoyed only in times of special earnestness and prayer, and then to pass away as you had to return to the more mundane duties of life.

No, indeed, He has prepared for you an abiding dwelling with himself, where your whole life and every moment of it might be spent and where the work of your daily life might be done as you enjoy unbroken communion with Him. This is what He meant when to that first word, ‘‘Come to Me,’’ He added ‘‘Abide in Me.’’ Just as earnest and faithful, as loving and tender, as the compassion contained in the invitation to ‘‘Come’’ was the grace that added a further invitation to ‘‘Abide.’’ As mighty as the attraction with which that first word drew you were the bonds with which this second—had you but listened to it—would have kept you. And as great as were the blessings associated with coming, so much greater were the treasures to which abiding would have given you access.

Notice that He did not say, ‘‘Come to me and abide with Me,’’ but, ‘‘Abide in Me.’’ The relationship was not only to be unbroken, but also intimate and complete. He opened His arms, to press you to himself; He opened His heart, to welcome you there; He opened up all His divine fullness of life and love, and offered to take you up into its fellowship, to make you wholly one with Him. There was a depth of meaning you have not yet realized in His words ‘‘Abide in Me.’’

Just as earnestly as He cried, ‘‘Come to Me,’’ did He plead—had you but noticed it—‘‘Abide in Me.’’ Was it the fear of sin and its curse that first drew you to Him? The pardon you received on first coming could, with all the blessings flowing from it, only be confirmed and fully enjoyed by abiding in Him. Was it the longing to know and enjoy Infinite Love that was calling you? The first coming gave but single drops to taste; it is only the abiding that can really satisfy the thirsty soul and enable you to drink of the rivers of pleasure that are at His right hand (Psalm 16:11; 36:8). Was it the weary longing to be set free from the bondage of sin, to become pure and holy, and so find rest, the rest of God for the soul that drew you to Him? This too can only be realized as you abide in Him; only abiding in Jesus gives rest in Him. Or if it was the hope of an inheritance in glory, and an everlasting home in the presence of the Infinite One, the true preparation for this, as well as a taste of its glory in this life, is granted only to those who abide in Him.

The truth is, there is nothing that moved you to come that does not plead with even greater force: Abide in Him. You did well to come; you do better to abide. Who would be content, after seeking the King’s palace, to stand in the door, when he is invited in to dwell in the King’s presence, and share with Him in all the glory of His royal life? Let us enter in and abide, and enjoy fully all the rich supply His wondrous love has prepared for us!

I fear that there are many who have indeed come to Jesus, and who yet mournfully confess that they know little of this blessed abiding in Him. With some the reason is that they never fully understood that this was the meaning of the Savior’s call. With others, though they heard the word, they did not know that such a life of abiding fellowship was possible and within their reach. Others will say that, though