CHRIST IN US AND US IN CHRIST: COMING TO PERFECTION

JOHN 6:56] "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. [57] "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me.

JOHN 15:1 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. [2] "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit. [3] "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. [4] "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. [5] "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing. [6] "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. [7] "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.

2 COR 1:20] For as many as may be the promises of God, in Him they are yes; wherefore also by Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.

2 COR 5:21] He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

EPH 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, [4] just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. ALL THE REST OF CHAPT. 1

PHIL 3:8] More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, [9] and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, [10] that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

COL 1:17] And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. [18] He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything. [19] For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fulness to dwell in Him, [20] and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

COL 2:6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, [7] having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.

COL 2:9] For in Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form, [10] and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; [11] and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;

1 JOHN 1:5 And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. [6] If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; [7] but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 JOHN 2:4] The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; [5] but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: [6] the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

1 JOHN 2:27] And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. [28] And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. [29] If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.

1 JOHN 3:5] And you know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. [6] No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.

1 JOHN 3:24] And the one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And we know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

1 JOHN 4:13] By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. [14] And we have beheld and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. [15] Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. [16] And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. [17] By this, love is perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.

1 JOHN 5:20] And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ.

JOHN 14:18] "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. [19] "After a little while the world will behold Me no more; but you will behold Me; because I live, you shall live also. [20] "In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.

JOHN 15:4] "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

JOHN 17:20] "I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; [21] that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me. [22] "And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one; [23] I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me.

GAL 2:20] "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.

ROM 8:10] And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

2 COR 13:5] Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test?

COL 3:3] For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. [4] When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

COL 1:26--but has now been manifested to His saints, [27] to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. [28] And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ. [29] And for this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.

Surely the Christian life is unique and above and beyond any other kind of life. The reason is not complicated but it is incredible and difficult to believe because the scriptures declare that not only the Holy Spirit dwells IN US but also Christ, Himself, dwells IN US and we dwell IN HIM. If that were not enough to believe John 14 says that if we love Him and keep His commandments the Father will love us and both He and the Son will come and abide with us.

JOHN 17:21] that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me. [22] "And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one; [23] I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me.

The scriptural FACT that we are IN the Father and the Son and that THEY are in Us is incredible but something that we are expected to believe if we are to obtain the fruit of that union. When this FACT becomes a reality in our lives the world is supposed to see something that will convince them that Jesus Christ is God’s only solution.

Multitudes are “interested in religion” but are not in Christ! We may be “in church” but not be “in Christ”. If “conversion” ceases to convert we may not be “in Christ”. In Christ locates us in a Person , the Divine Person, in the present, here and now. In other words this is not something that will take place in heaven. The “in Christ” brings us into a relationship that is nearer than to be “with Christ”. Jesus said of the Holy Spirit “ He has been with you but He shall be in you”. It is this same “in you” but refers to us being “in Christ”.

To be “in Christ” means that we have been uprooted from being “in self” and now have a different location and source in Christ. To be “in Christ” means that He has come to have first place in everything and that we move as HE moves. We think as He thinks because we are “In Him”. All that God has for us is in Him, and by Him, and for Him, and through Him, and to Him.

When we observe the many personal problems that plague believers we soon realize that the root problem is the un-surrendered self. However, to be “in Christ” means that we have surrendered ourselves. Ultimately the only thing we will be able to take out of this life is “ourselves”. We will leave our money and all possessions and property here. We are only given one thing that we take with us and that is ourselves. But we have been given the opportunity to surrender the last and only possession we have and that is ourselves. It is the ultimate sacrifice of “self”. We may surrender with a prayer such as this; Lord, I can no longer control this fallen self with it’s bad habits, wrong attitudes, recurring problems and character defects so I ask you to take me as I am and make me what you want me to be. I have been “in myself” but now I want to be “In you”. I believe that if I lose myself, I will find myself in you and life eternal. I understand that I can only truly live when I live “in you”.

Paul uses this phrase “in Christ” 97 times in his letters. It is used about 170 times in the New Testament in it’s various forms. This term “in Christ” divides all humanity into two classes. (1) Those who are “in Christ” and (2) Those who are not “in Christ” or we could say “out of Christ”. Those who are “in Christ” have His Life and those “outside of Christ” are dead in trespasses and sins or are residing in death! When the judgement day comes there will not be some arbitrary decision of who will go where. The great division will be quite evident and everybody will be on one side or the other. Whatever is “in Christ” has eternal life and whatever is not “in Christ” has remained in death.

If we just say “in Jesus” we may miss the magnitude of what the scriptures say. If we just say “in the Messiah” we may limit the eternal truth to a Jewish mold or Old Testament concept . Jesus Christ is much more than Messiah, or Teacher, or Everlasting Father or Prince of Peace! He is all of these but much more! This “Christ” is not just a remembrance or a historical figure but is the revelation of the Father. He is the Eternal Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. That Word was with God and that Word was and IS God. He was the Eternal God manifesting Himself as man and dwelling in time. He is God understandable but God approachable. Christ, Himself, IS the gospel or good news. The whole New Testament looks at Jesus Christ either in human body or as the resurrected and enthroned Christ who continues working with His disciples.

Our salvation is wholly “in Christ” and not in the various “systems” that have been built up around Christ or His name. The “church” has devised a system of worship, thought, ritual, institutions and traditions that can never save. “In Christ” implies a personal involvement in who He is, what He says, what He does and in His Life.

JOHN 5:39] "You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me; [40] and you are unwilling to come to Me, that you may have life.

In other words we must get beyond the black words on white paper and come directly to Him to receive Life. To try to understand Jesus Christ of the scriptures outside of the life of Christ in us , which in reality IS the Eternal Word of God in us, leads to many misconceptions. The Bible says that we are predestined to become conformed to the Image of His Son. How can we do that except by the Eternal Word becoming flesh in us. Is that what it means to have “Christ in us?” Is His image supposed to emerge out of His Life in us? Yes, I think that is only logical. “In Christ” we develop but “outside of Christ” we decay. If He is Eternal Life in us then He is our eternal destiny also! What the black words on white paper demand from us as Christian character, the Life of Christ in us enables us to meet those demands.

Modern scholars, when evaluating the Christian life, assume that Christians just come under “the influence” of a great teacher whose name was Jesus. By studying His words we live a certain way similar to the influence Greek philosophers have on their students. However, to be “in Christ” and for Christ to be “in us” is a totally different reality. To be “in Christ” is to be in a whole new Life that IS Christ, Himself. No other religion or philosophy can offer anything even similar to this experience. For that reason, who outside of Christ can evaluate the Christian life? Philosophy, psychiatry or psychology can only evaluate existence because outside of Christ they have no way to touch Life. This Life must explain itself by experience and not just by doctrine. Our former existence is transformed into Life when it is put into Christ.

Our education, our talents, our time and our personality all come Alive in Christ. Outside of Christ they are valid but dead. Whatever talent is not buried in Christ is buried in the earth.

While we are living in “the kingdom of self” we experience death before the time but while we are living in the Kingdom of God we experience eternal Life before the time. We can lose Life while right in the midst of religion and feel death gripping us but Life in Christ is eternally secure. This “Life in Christ” which is eternally secure is the result of a life totally surrendered to Christ and is always “found in Him”.

1 TIM 6:15---He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords; [16] who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen or can see. If Christ ALONE possesses immortality then only those “in Christ” posses immortality. God has not made this “eternal life” an arbitrary thing where God accepts the multitudes through various means. The mortal must be swallowed up by immortality. What we are saying is that other religions are not just another way to God but an outright deception. In other words it would be better NOT to be born than Not to be born again into Jesus Christ. There is no hope outside of Christ!

What we firmly put into Jesus’ hands can be multiplied, like the fish and loaves, but what we take from His hand is just what we have. When we use it up it is gone. All that we firmly surrender into His hands may be multiplied until it not only meets our need but others also.

Just trying to observe Jesus from a segment of life 2000 years ago recorded in scripture is quite different than observing Jesus from our vantage point of being “in Christ” and from “Christ in us”. The observation is the difference between doctrine and experience. The experience makes the doctrine live.

What other alternatives do we have than Christ? None! It is either Christ or nothing! It is either Life or death! It either light or darkness! It is either wheat or tares! It is either good fish or bad fish. If He is not “the Way” then there is “no way”. Every way that is not Jesus the way is a dead end way! Are we supposed to preach a salvation “through Christ” or is the true gospel salvation “in Christ”. If we can’t be saved outside of Christ then the gospel must be salvation in Christ. Through Christ is too ambiguous. Christ in us and us in Christ is God’s salvation. If we have stopped on the outside of being IN Christ we have stopped short of God’s salvation.

The New Jerusalem IS God’s eternal temple and Jesus Christ and the Father is that temple. REV 21:21---And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. [22] And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple. [23] And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. Can you see that God, Himself, IS our heaven? To be “in heaven” means to be “in God”.

To be “IN CHRIST” is to be { potentially} in the New Jerusalem because He is the temple thereof. If I am in Christ and He is in me and if Christ is my salvation then I am in salvation and salvation is in me. I am doubly secure! Salvation cannot be “a free gift” outside of Jesus Christ. That means that salvation can only be a “free gift” in Christ! Preaching some salvation as a free gift from God that we receive by some act but is not preached as “in Christ” is a deception. Some “salvation” where you retain yourself , for yourself, is not “In Christ” because you surrender yourself “into Christ” and you are not your own because you were purchased with a price. The gospel is not sentimentalism, you are either His or you are yours. He is either your Lord or you are your lord.

We were in a sentimental religion of positive thought and positive confession for about 16 years. It lifted us up in hope but it let us down in reality. Our healing was in a confession rather that in THE PERSON who heals. It matters little how much we confess we are saved, if we are outside of Christ, we are lost.

THE NEXT INCREDIBLE FACT IS THAT NOT ONLY ARE WE IN HIM BUT NOW WE SEE THAT HE IS IN US.

2 COR 13:5] Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test?

COL 1:27] to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

JOHN 17:23] I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me.

In these few verses this incredible fact is firmly stated so that no interpretation is needed. Jesus Christ dwells within us. But many will say, how could He be in us if He is seated on the throne of heaven which is also clearly stated. The Person, Christ Jesus, is seated at the right hand of the majesty in the heavens but the Spirit of Christ, the Eternal Word of God has come to dwell in us. That Word has again become flesh within us. In fact we are really born again by the Word of God when He comes in to us.

1 PET 1:22 Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, [23] for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God

Jesus said in exactly the same way the Father sent Him, He has sent us.

When we understand what the scripture says about us being in Christ we may accept that in some abstract way that is not very powerful or meaningful. However, when we learn that Christ is in us we should see that is not abstract but is present reality. This single fact, when believed and acted upon, will set a new course for our life. If we see that it is really “Christ in us” that is doing His works we will not be intimidated by ministry or the need of miracles.

JOHN 14:10] "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. [11] "Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; otherwise believe on account of the works themselves. [12] "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father

Now the time has come for us to do the works of the Father and Jesus said even greater works because He goes to the Father. Jesus was “in the Father” and “the Father was in Him” and it was the Father in Him that was doing His works. In the same way that the Father sent Jesus He is sending us only this time we are in Christ and He is in us and He does His works through us.

If you have been wondering how we are going to do greater works than Jesus He is telling us how. Now He is going to be “in every surrendered believer” who is “in Christ” which extends His ministry to every highway and byway in the world through every true believer. The responsibility to do the work is still His. It is our responsibility to carry Him into all the world and for us to preach the gospel to every creature. When we lay our hands on the sick Jesus is right there to do the work.

If Jesus is not doing any “work” we should test ourselves to see if we are in the faith. If Jesus Christ dwells in us then He will surely do His work today the same as yesterday.

Now Gal. 2:20 makes sense: "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in {of} the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. What Paul was doing was really Christ in him that was doing the work and Paul was even living by the faith of the Son of God Who lived in him. If we receive the revelation of this, we will be certain that this Christian life is really lived by Christ in us. He becomes our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification and our redemption WHEN He lives in us. That is surely why “it is Christ in us our hope of glory”.