32 Sermon Illustrations on Abiding

In South America grows a species of the palm known there as “the rain-tree.” It is so called because of its remarkable power of abstracting moisture from the atmosphere and dropping it in copious and refreshing dew on the earth around it. In this way it makes an oasis of luxuriant vegetation where it flourishes.

Is not that the ideal life that gets and gives; that draws the good only to communicate it to others, so blessing the world with moral verdure and fruitfulness? (Text.)

* * * * *

One of the most interesting creatures of California’s great desert is the tortoise. Frequently a school of them, that we usually think of only in connection with water, are discovered afar out in the desert where water is scarce and difficult to obtain. Dissection shows that in a convenient place upon their body is located a pair of large water-sacks. These the owner fills with water as needed and in this way it is kept supplied.

The man who has acquired character and experience so that he has moral and spiritual reservoirs within is equipped for every emergency. (Text.)

A small boy who was very fond of his father loved to join him

wherever he went. One day while his dad was engaged in intensive

study, the youngster tapped at his office door. "Well, my little

man, what do you want now?" "Nothing, Daddy, I just want to be

near you."

Receiving permission to come in, the boy made his way

to a far corner of the room and sat quietly for a long time. He

was content just to be alone with his father. I wonder, is this

the kind of love we have toward God? Do we often go to the

Savior, even when we don't want anything, just to be near Him? If

we abide in close fellowship with Christ, we will be greatly blest

and bear rich and abundant "fruit."

When H. B. Macartney, an Australian pastor, visited Hudson

Taylor in China, he was amazed at the missionary's serenity in

spite of his many burdens and his busy schedule. Macartney

finally mustered up the courage to say, "You are occupied with

millions, I with tens. Your letters are pressingly important,

mine of comparatively little value. Yet I am worried and

distressed while you are always calm. Tell me, what makes the

difference?" Taylor replied, "I could not possibly get through the

work I have to do without the peace of God which passes all

understanding keeping my heart and mind."

Macartney later wrote,

"He was in God all the time, and God was in him. It was the true

abiding spoken of in \reference{John 15}{John 15}."

1. O Christ, in Thee my soul hath found,

And found in Thee alone,

The peace, the joy I sought so long,

The bliss till now unknown.

Chorus

Now none but Christ can satisfy,

None other name for me;

There's love, and life, and lasting joy,

Lord Jesus, found in Thee.

2. I sighed for rest and happiness,

I yearned for them, not Thee;

But while I passed my Saviour by,

His love laid hold on me.

3. I tried the broken cisterns, Lord,

But ah! the waters failed!

E'en as I stooped to drink they'd fled,

And mocked me as I wailed.

4. The pleasures lost I sadly mourned,

But never wept for Thee,

Till grace the sightless eyes received,

Thy loveliness to see.

*

1. Another year is dawning

Dear Father, let it be,

In working or in waiting,

Another year with Thee;

Another year of progress,

Another year of praise,

Another year of proving

Thy presence all the days;

2. Another year of mercies,

Of faithfulness and grace;

Another year of gladness

In the shining of Thy face;

Another year of leaning

Upon They loving breast;

Another year of trusting,

Of quiet, happy rest;

3. Another year of service,

Of witness for Thy love;

Another year of training

For holier work above.

Another year is dawning;

Dear Father, let it be,

On earth or else in heaven,

Another year for Thee.

[Tune “Aurelia”]

*

1. Jesus, I am resting, resting

In the joy of what Thou art;

I am finding out the greatness

Of Thy loving heart,

Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee,

And Thy beauty fills my soul,

For by Thy transforming power

Thou hast made me whole.

2. Oh, how great Thy loving-kindness,

Vaster, broader than the sea!

Oh, how marvellous Thy goodness,

Lavished all on me!

Yes, I rest in Thee, Beloved,

Know what wealth of grace is Thine,

Know Thy certainty of promise,

And have made it mine.

3. Simply trusting Thee, Lord Jesus,

I behold Thee as Thou art,

And Thy love, so pure, changeless,

Satisfies my heart –

Satisfies its deepest longings,

Meets, supplies its ev’ry need,

Compasseth me round with blessings:

Thine is love indeed!

4. Ever lift Thy face upon me

As I work and wait for Thee;

Resting ’neath Thy smile, Lord Jesus,

Earth’s dark shadows flee.

Brightness of my Father’s glory,

Sunshine of my Father’s face,

Keep me ever trusting, resting,

Fill me with Thy grace.

Coda: Jesus, I am resting, resting

In the joy of what Thou art;

I am finding out the greatness

Of Thy loving heart.

[Tune: “Tranquility”]

*

Do you need me?

I am there.

You cannot see Me, yet, I am the light you see by.

You cannot hear Me, yet, I speak through your voice.

You cannot feel Me, yet, I am the power at work through

your hands.

I am at work, though you do not understand my ways.

I am at work, though you do not recognize my works.

I am not strange visions. I am no mystery.

Only in absolute stillness, beyond self, can you know Me

as I am, then but as a feeling and as a faith.

Yet, I am here.

Yet, I hear.

Yet, I answer.

When you need Me, I am there.

Even if you deny Me, I am there.

Even in your fears, I am there.

Even in your pain, I am there.

I am there when you pray and when you do not pray.

I am in you and you are in Me.

Only in your mind can you feel separate from Me,

for only in your mind are the myths of “yours” and “mine.”

Yet only in your mind can you know Me and experience Me.

Empty your heart of empty fears.

When you get yourself out of the way, I am there.

You can of yourself do nothing, but I can do all.

And, I am in all.

Though you may not see the good, good is there, for I am there.

I am there because I have to be, for I AM.

Only in Me does the world have meaning.

Only in Me does the world take form.

Only because of Me does the world go forward.

I am the law in which the movement of the stars and the growth

of living cells are founded.

I am the Love that is fulfilling.

I am the assurance.

I am the peace.

I am the oneness.

I am the law that you can live by.

I am the Love that you can cling to.

I am your assurance.

I am your peace.

I am the one with you.

I AM.

Though you fail Me, I do not fail you.

Though your faith in Me is unsure, My faith never waivers,

because I know you, because I love you.

Beloved, I am there.

ABIDE thou with me, fear not: for … with me thou shalt be in safeguard. — 1 Samuel 22:23.

Two men, travelled and experienced, and feeling self-sufficient, found their way into a good railway coach. By and by a porter stuck his head into the car and told the men to move into the coach ahead. One of them asked, “What is the matter with this coach for us?” “Nothing,” the porter grinned, “only it ain’t coupled onto anything that will take you anywhere.” Are you in the coach that won’t take you anywhere? Do not argue the point of its goodness or badness. Do not try to fool yourself. — C. L. H.

Joined in one Spirit to our Head,

we wait His will to know,

That we in all His steps may tread

and do His work below.

To Him still closer let us cleave,

and alI His ways embrace;

Expect His fulness to receive,

and grace to answer grace.

1. Christ be beside me, Christ be before me,

Christ be behind me– King of my heart;

Christ be within me, Christ be below me,

Christ be above me– Never to part.

2. Christ on my right hand, Christ on my left hand,

Christ all around me– shield in the strife;

Christ in my sleeping, Christ in my sitting,

Christ in my rising– Light of my life.

3. Christ be in all hearts thinking about me,

Christ be in all tongues telling of me;

Christ be the vision in eyes that see me,

In ears that hear me Christ ever be.

4. Christ be beside me, Christ be before me,

Christ be behind me– King of my heart;

Christ be within me, Christ be below me,

Christ be above me– Never to part.

[Tune “Bunessan”]

How close are you to your relatives? How well do you really know your spouse or child? How well do you know your friends? Do you know their favorite color? I’ve been to seminars where husbands are asked what their wife’s favorite color is. Some know, but most aren’t sure. The implication is that if men really loved their wives they would know them better.

I remember our youngest son asking me what God’s favorite color is. My wife immediately answered, “purple” and explained that purple is a color symbolizing royalty and honor. So I said, “Yea, purple!”

How well do you know the Lord? It is so easy to keep our distance from the Lord, not to draw close to Him. Sometimes we vacillate, drawing close to the Lord for a while, then falling away; the cycle continues on, year after year for so many Christians.

It is a real struggle for most Christians to remain on fire for the Lord everyday.

Let me venture out on a limb. Have you had better days with the Lord? Were there times in the past when you were really spending rich time with the Lord, but now you’ve cooled off? At times, you think back to those days and would love to regain that closeness to the Lord, but you aren’t sure how.

In the Old Testament, Moses was privileged to spend time with God in a very close way, that others couldn’t. “Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance, but Moses alone is to approach the LORD; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him”(Exodus 24:1–2).

Of course, this was before the time of Christ and before the time when the Holy Spirit was given to all Christians. Yet, many Christians seem to live in the time of Moses, keeping their distance from the Lord, thinking that only “ministers” like Moses can actually have a close relationship with God. This is not the case.

“The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend”(Exodus 33:11). How did Moses earn the privilege of knowing the Lord as a friend, speaking to Him face to face?

First, it was God’s desire to draw close to Moses. It was God who made a way for Moses to come before Him. He drew Moses unto Himself, capturing His attention with a burning bush. Secondly, Moses was willing and available.

Believe it or not, God desires to draw close to each of us as He did with Moses. But are we willing and available? All day long God lights up burning bushes along our paths, attention-getters to woo us unto Himself.

This week, let’s consider the sacrifices Moses made to be a friend of God.

To draw close to God does require sacrificial living. Moses made at least five sacrifices in order to draw close to the Lord: Time, energy, reputation, personal ambition and an independent spirit.

Moses’ independent spirit had to be broken so that he would lean only on the Lord, not on his own power and strength. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight”(Proverbs 3:5-6).

We’ll never draw completely close to the Lord if we continue to rely upon our own strength and power. We must relinquish control of our lives over to the Lord, becoming dependent upon Him. When we are IN-ourselves, we are IN-dependent, dependent upon what is IN us. But, when we accept what Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible”(Matthew 19:26) we become dependent upon Christ, depending upon what is in Christ.

For Moses to be available and willing to be used by God he had to learn to depend on God, and let go of his own independent spirit. Through a series of events which God allowed in Moses’ life, he slowly moved away from his own strength and into God’s strength. Though toward the end of his life, he slipped back and lost his chance to enter into the promise land.

The more dependent we are on God, the more the Lord is able to work through our weaknesses. When Moses was depending on his own strength he was reactionary. When he saw a Hebrew being beaten by an Egyptian, Moses kill the Egyptian. Then, in fear for his own life he ran into hiding. However, after God broke his independent spirit, Moses goes before Pharaoh with confidence in the Lord, depending upon the Lord for answers, miracles and strength.

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God”(Psalm 20:7).

TODAY’S CHALLENGE: Allow the Holy Spirit to examine your independent spirit. Are you trusting in your own strength and wisdom? To know God as a friend and to draw close to Him, we must learn to depend on Him.

Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. — Luke 24:29.

“It is toward evening.” Some begin to realize it in their own lives. The high noon is passed; the shadows lengthen. The day of greatest activity is over. They cannot launch out as in former times. New enterprises are no longer contemplated. Certain things are dropped. Many friends and occupations of earlier life have faded from view. “It is toward evening.” What comfort to have some-one who will abide ! And that One, the best. These words seem just the appropriate ones at such a time : “Abide with us.” Let us make the same plea, both for His sake and ours, as these disciples did : “It is toward evening, and the day is far spent.”

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;

Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away!

Change and decay in all around I see;

0 Thou who changest not, abide with me. — H. F. Lyte.

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. — Eph. 3:17.

This is something more than initial entry, the thought is that Christ may make His home in our hearts, and that it should be a congenial home to Him. We ought to be challenging ourselves as to whether our hearts provide this for Him. What is it that keeps Christ at the door of the hearts of His people? Is it not lukewarmness? This was the condition of the church in Laodicea. Was it not to professing Christians that the Lord said He stood at the door and knocked? This Scripture has a more direct application to the believer than to the unbeliever. — H. F. R. Catherwood.

O Jesus, Thou art standing outside the fast closed door,

in lowly patience waiting to pass the threshold o’er;

Shame on us, Christian brethren, His name and sign who bear,

Oh, shame, thrice shame upon us to keep Him standing there. — W. How

Our Lord’s childhood was not immature man-hood; our Lord’s childhood is an eternal fact. Am I a holy innocent child of God by identification with my Lord and Saviour? Do I look upon life as being in my Father’s house? Is the Son of God living in His Father’s house in me?

The abiding Reality is God, and His order comes through the moments. Am I always in contact with Reality, or do I only pray when things have gone wrong, when there is a disturbance in the moments of my life? I have to learn to identify myself with my Lord in holy communion in ways some of us have not begun to learn as yet. “I must be about My Father’s business” — live the moments in My Father’s house.

Narrow it down to your individual circumstances — are you so identified with the Lord’s life that you are simply a child of God, continually talking to Him and realizing that all things come from His hands? Is the Eternal Child in you living in the Father’s house? Are the graces of His ministering life working out through you in your home, in your business, in your domestic circle? Have you been wondering why you are going through the things you are? It is not that you have to go through them, it is because of the relation into which the Son of God has come in His Father’s providence in your particular sainthood. Let Him have His way, keep in perfect union with Him.

The vicarious life of your Lord is to become your vital simple life; the way He worked and lived among men must be the way He lives in you.

Our Lord’s childhood was not immature man-hood; our Lord’s childhood is an eternal fact. Am I a holy innocent child of God by identification with my Lord and Saviour? Do I look upon life as being in my Father’s house? Is the Son of God living in His Father’s house in me?

The abiding Reality is God, and His order comes through the moments. Am I always in contact with Reality, or do I only pray when things have gone wrong, when there is a disturbance in the moments of my life? I have to learn to identify myself with my Lord in holy communion in ways some of us have not begun to learn as yet. “I must be about My Father’s business” — live the moments in My Father’s house.

Narrow it down to your individual circumstances — are you so identified with the Lord’s life that you are simply a child of God, continually talking to Him and realizing that all things come from His hands? Is the Eternal Child in you living in the Father’s house? Are the graces of His ministering life working out through you in your home, in your business, in your domestic circle? Have you been wondering why you are going through the things you are? It is not that you have to go through them, it is because of the relation into which the Son of God has come in His Father’s providence in your particular sainthood. Let Him have His way, keep in perfect union with Him.

The vicarious life of your Lord is to become your vital simple life; the way He worked and lived among men must be the way He lives in you.

1. Christ be beside me, Christ be before me,

Christ be behind me– King of my heart;

Christ be within me, Christ be below me,

Christ be above me– Never to part.

2. Christ on my right hand, Christ on my left hand,

Christ all around me– shield in the strife;

Christ in my sleeping, Christ in my sitting,

Christ in my rising– Light of my life.

3. Christ be in all hearts thinking about me,

Christ be in all tongues telling of me;

Christ be the vision in eyes that see me,

In ears that hear me Christ ever be.

4. Christ be beside me, Christ be before me,

Christ be behind me– King of my heart;

Christ be within me, Christ be below me,

Christ be above me– Never to part.

[Tune “Bunessan”]