Current preaching admonishes us to hold our "ticket" of belief in the facts of the atonement and resurrection, with the idea that such a doctrinal position is "saving faith." As far as we know, there is no scriptural evidence that grace operates during the judgment that takes place after we die.

The penalty for not abiding in Christ is that we will be removed from the Vine today. We must understand that every day we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. If we go through life in the hope of being admitted to Paradise when we die (supposing this to be the goal of redemption), but are not abiding carefully and consistently in Christ, we will miss the program of salvation.

We do not have to strain to bear fruit. The fruit of godliness is the natural result of abiding consistently and continually in Christ. It is abiding in Christ that must become the focus of our attention.

Every day of our Christian pilgrimage, abiding in Christ is a little more difficult than the preceding day. Why is this?

When the Lord Jesus first receives us into Himself He accepts our entire personality. We experience a sense of being without guilt in the sight of God, and the Scripture confirms this position. We then may imagine that the Lord is entirely pleased with our person.

The fact is, He has received us with all our sinful, self-seeking ways. We are in no condition to abide in the Presence of God. We are naked and do not know it. It is the blood of Jesus that has made our warm welcome possible. Jesus has received our self-willed, sinful personality into His own Being. He has received discord and rebellion into Himself. He does this because He loves us even in our sinful state.

Then Christ begins to bring our personality into harmony with Himself. Each day of our pilgrimage there is a lesson in godliness presented to us. There is an evil that must be dealt with that day. The program of transformation is quite painful because every sin and every trace of self-love and self-centeredness in us must be exposed to the fire of God. It is an eternal transformation, a new creation. This is why it becomes increasingly difficult to abide in Christ.

It is more difficult as the days go by because of the increased demands. But it is true also that we have increased spiritual wisdom and strength with which to meet the increased demands, and so the next step is possible and joyous.

The Lord receives us today. Tomorrow He steps back a pace, as it were, and says, "Find Me here!" Then we must press into that new position. The following day He steps further back and says, "Follow Me here." And so on and on to the fullness of the stature of Christ.

This is what it means to abide in Christ.

To be continued.