CONTINUING IN THE WORD
(week 50/16)
OLUBI JOHNSON
John 8:31-32 KJV: Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; (32) And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Here, the Lord Jesus tells us about the importance of CONTINUING in the Word.
One of the most important virtues we MUST DEVELOP is diligence: CONSISTENT, CONCENTRATED, WELL-DIRECTED EFFORT.
2Peter 1:4-8 KJV: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (5) And beside this, GIVING ALL DILIGENCE, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; (6) And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; (7) And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. (8) For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The key word here is CONSISTENCY.
It is those who CONTINUE in the disciplines of Christ (Hebrews 5.7-8; Luke 9.23): daily prayer, reading, study, confession, meditation and practice of the Word that become disciples IN DEED.
Many are disciples in mouth BUT NOT IN DEED!
Matthew 7:21 KJV: Not every one that SAITH unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that DOETH the will of my Father, which is in heaven.
Matthew 15:8 KJV: This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
Continuity is CRITICAL because our knowledge of God increases GRADUALLY from mental knowledge to revelation knowledge to experiential knowledge over many years.
Even the Lord Jesus grew GRADUALLY in wisdom and stature from the age of 12 to 30 (Luke 2.40-42; 52; 3.21-22; 4.1-15).
So as we CONTINUE applying the blood (Hebrews 13.20-21; 1 John 1.7-10), the Word (1 John 2.5, Deuteronomy 30.11-14, 2 Peter 1.4) and the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 14.2, 5, 18; Ephesians 6.18, Romans 8.26), we will GRADUALLY COME TO KNOW THE TRUTH: the Person of the Lord Jesus (John 14.6) by revelation and experience and that knowledge of the truth will FREE us PERMANENTLY from sin, sickness, ignorance, poverty enabling us to think, speak and act like the Lord Jesus (John 14.12).
