{"id":92054,"date":"2025-11-11T16:56:52","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T22:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=92054"},"modified":"2025-11-11T16:56:52","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T22:56:52","slug":"conditional-statements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/conditional-statements\/","title":{"rendered":"Conditional Statements"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>by Hugh DeLong<\/p>\n<p>In John 15, Jesus speaks with the Apostles, and in what he says, we see many &#8216;if&#8217; statements and conditional sentences. Note the list:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;<em><strong>If anyone does not abide in\u00a0 Me, he is thrown away<\/strong> as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned<\/em>&#8221; (John 15:6).<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<em><strong>If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you<\/strong>, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you<\/em>&#8221; (John 15:7).<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<em><strong>If you keep My commandments<\/strong>, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father&#8217;s commandments and abide in His love<\/em>&#8221; (John 15:10).<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<em>You are My friends <strong>if you do what I command you<\/strong><\/em>&#8221; (John 15:14).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Our relationship with Jesus is an active one on both parts. We actively abide in Him by letting His word abide in us (cp. Colossians 3:16-17), and thus, letting His teaching direct our lives. Within such a relationship, we <b>are <\/b>His friend. These instructions show us the pathway to being recreated in His image (cp. Ephesians 4:17-21). This is a process as we start out as &#8216;babes&#8217;, but then grow with the milk of the word (I Peter 2:2).<\/p>\n<p>In our singing, we sometimes sing the hymn &#8220;I&#8217;ll be a Friend to Jesus&#8221; &#8211; we need to then follow through on this &#8216;promise&#8217;. Are you a friend to Jesus? Read the words to this hymn (below), then read John 15 again.<\/p>\n<blockquote>1. They tried my Lord and Master,<br \/>\nWith no one to defend;<br \/>\nWithin the halls of Pilate<br \/>\nHe stood without a friend.\n2. The world may turn against Him,<br \/>\nI&#8217;ll love Him to the end,<br \/>\nAnd while on earth I&#8217;m living,<br \/>\nMy Lord shall have a friend.\n3. I&#8217;ll do what He may bid me;<br \/>\nI&#8217;ll go where He may send;<br \/>\nI&#8217;ll try each flying moment<br \/>\nTo prove that I&#8217;m His friend.\n4. To all who need a Savior,<br \/>\nMy Friend I recommend,<br \/>\nBecause He bro&#8217;t salvation,<br \/>\nIs why I am His friend.\nCh. I&#8217;ll be a friend to Jesus,<br \/>\nMy life for Him I&#8217;ll spend;<br \/>\nI&#8217;ll be a friend to Jesus,<br \/>\nUntil my years shall end.\n<p>&#8220;<em>Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father<\/em>&#8221; (Colossians 3:16-17).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Hugh DeLong In John 15, Jesus speaks with the Apostles, and in what he says, we see many &#8216;if&#8217; statements and conditional sentences. Note the list: &#8220;If anyone does not abide in\u00a0 Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[959,65,54],"class_list":["post-92054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-john","tag-love","tag-obedience"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":62237,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bearing-fruit\/","url_meta":{"origin":92054,"position":0},"title":"Bearing Fruit","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 18, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Jesus spoke these well-known words to His disciples shortly before going to the cross: \"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 does bear fruit he prunes, that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Grapes-Ripening-on-the-Vine-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":89505,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/commandment-keeping\/","url_meta":{"origin":92054,"position":1},"title":"Commandment Keeping","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kevin Cauley There are those in the religious world today who ridicule the idea of keeping commandments. They claim that keeping God's commandments has nothing to do with our salvation today. If someone objects and says that we must keep God's commandments to be saved, the charge of legalism\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58525,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-john-319-24-our-assurance\/","url_meta":{"origin":92054,"position":2},"title":"I John 3:19-24: Our Assurance","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 28, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ethan R. Longhenry \"Hereby shall we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our heart before him: because if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God; and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":85627,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/by-this-we-know-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":92054,"position":3},"title":"By This We Know Love","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Michael Sullivan via\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 15 No. 1, January 2015 \"I love you.\" We live in a world that drains these words of their power. Even for many who claim to follow Christ, \"love\" has come to represent strong emotion and warm feelings toward those who are likeable, those\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58244,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-did-god-say-that-we-are-not-allowed-to-use-instruments-in-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":92054,"position":4},"title":"Where Did God Say That We Are Not Allowed to Use Instruments in Worship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Paul Mays Question: Where did God say that we are not allowed to use instruments in the avenue of Christian worship that is music? Answer: The thing is God doesn't owe us a list of what worship we are not allowed to offer. He is merciful enough to give\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44017,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-does-someone-know-if-they-have-the-holy-spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":92054,"position":5},"title":"How does someone know if they have the Holy Spirit?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I always wondered this, but how does someone know if they have the Holy Spirit or they don't? Answer: \"Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, \"I know Him,\" and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92054\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}