Let us take the example of a book. Let us judge Christ to be this book. Now let us consider ourselves to be a piece of paper. We take the piece of paper and put into The Book. Whatever happens to the book will happen to us, because we are now “IN THE BOOK.” The great Chinese apostle Watchman Nee coined this example. Brother Nee goes on to say that because every believer is “IN CHRIST”, whatever happened to Christ happened to us. Therefore when Christ was crucified, we were crucified with Him, because we are “IN HIM”. Therefore our sinful nature has been dealt a once and for all mortal blow.
When Jesus was buried, we were buried “IN HIM”. This means that our whole sinful nature has
the potential to decay from us until is totally gone.
When Christ was raised from the dead, we were raised
“IN HIM”, far above in distance and authority over the realm of the demonic,
diseases, circumstances and the like to allow us to potentially live a
victorious life here on earth.
We are automatically “IN THE BOOK, OR IN CHRIST” by
what the Lord did. This is a reality! It is our position forever and we can praise
the Lord for that. No one can ever get us out of our being “IN CHRIST”. However
as to our daily life, though we are always “IN CHRIST” if we fail to yield and
surrender to Him we start to live like if we are outside of Him, or outside of
the book. That is why we must daily get
INTO CHRIST through our uncompromising obedience. Obedience is nothing else than getting out of God’s way so that
He can live His life without hindrance.
The second angle of being “In Christ”
has to do with God putting all of His treasures and blessings safely “INSIDE THE PERSON OF HIS SON”. I always teach that Christ is God’s treasure
chest.
The enemy has duped and blinded us, mostly through
our own fault, and the church serves the Lord with a certain amount if
deception. God has given us Christ, His
only treasure chest, to live in us. All
of what God needs, and we need, is locked up safely in His Son. The whole ball
of wax about Christianity is to bring up Christ from His hidden state in our
hearts, and as He comes to view within us, all of the treasures within Him come
to view alongside with Him!
·
As
I have said before, the Christian life has very little to do with us asking God
for blessings and things. Unfortunately, that is how we live for the Lord. The
whole bottom line of our walk with the Lord has to do with us making Jesus to
become manifested. Obedience is the only way!
Because everything that pertains to God is INSIDE OF JESUS, when He is
manifested in us, all that is INSIDE of HIM become manifested WITH HIM and
becomes a gradual but automatic reality in our lives. The more that we obey,
the more that Jesus becomes manifested, and the more that He is manifested, the
more that we can get to the treasures IN HIM.
John 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
·
I
took a few excerpts from a previous teaching that will shed some light on how
Jesus is God’s treasure chest. Everywhere that you observe the expression “In
Christ” it relates to an accomplished victory and a blessing of God
dwelling eternally inside the Person of Christ.
We Don’t
Need Blessings, We Need the Manifestation of Christ the Source of All Blessings
Eph
1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in
heavenly places in
Christ:
Joh 14:30
Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world
cometh, and hath nothing in me.
In the Manifestation of
Christ We have an Absolute Victory Against the Flesh
Ga 5:24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Ro
8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
The revelation
of the person of Christ Jesus brings forth has broken the bondage of sin
2Co
5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed
away; behold, all things are become new. The revelation of Jesus Christ sets us
free from all of the old creation.
The
Revelation of the Person of Jesus Christ is the Source of all Spiritual Gifts
1 Cor 1:5 That in every thing ye are enriched by (By or In Him) him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;
1Co
1:6 Even as the testimony (the revelation) of Christ was confirmed in you:
1Co
1:7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the
coming (The revelation) of our Lord
Jesus Christ
Re 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See
thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the
testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony (The revelation)
of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy
Col
1:19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
In
the revelation of Christ dwells all of the fullness of God.
Col
2:9 For in him dwelleth
all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Col 2:10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of
all principality and power: The revelation
of the person of Christ Jesus makes us complete in all that God has for us, and
in our deliverance and freedom.
Col
3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor
Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. The
manifeststion of the person of Christ Jesus fills each of us with all that
Christ is and has for us in all aspects of our lives.
The Revelation of the Person of Christ is the Power of God and our Redemption and our Sanctification
1Co
1:24 But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ
the power of God,
and the wisdom of God.
·
The
manifestation of Christ is our freedom from sin- redemption (Christ
provides the blessing and becomes the agent of action for us to obtain it)
·
The
manifestation of Christ is our purification- sanctification (Christ
provides the blessing and becomes the agent of action for us to obtain it)
·
The Manifestation of the Person of Christ Is the Will of
God
1Co 1:24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
§
Christ
does not only show us the will of God, His manifestation IS THE will of God.
The more that He is revealed in us, the more that He will guide us to our
ministry, our callings and reveal our spiritual gifts.
For In Him We Live, and Move, and Have Our
Being
.
Romans
11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever.
Amen
· I would like to direct your attention if I could, to the scripture above, Romans 11:36. This scripture is one of my all time favorites. The apostle Paul has brilliantly by God’s anointing, summarized in just a few words, all of God’s actions towards the believer.
“For of Him’ (Jesus Christ is Our Source)
§ “For of Him’ point to us that we must “live out of, or from Jesus”. Let me illustrate this point in the following way.
§
Please
visualize with me a large tree. (I
know personally that amongst the folks receiving this Bible study there are
some fine horticulturists, so I know that they will appreciate my example.)
§ How does any tree or plant live? A tree or plant “LIVES OUT OF, OR FROM ITS ROOT SYSTEM.” Right? The roots provide all of the plant’s water and food as they absorb them from the soil. Basically speaking, the root system of any plant are the source for everything that is needed by them.. Without a system of roots the greatest and sturdiest of plants will die.
§
“For of Him’ is defined in exactly this way. As any plant must “LIVE OUT OR FROM” its system of roots, so
every believer must “LIVE OUT OR FROM” the Person, and the power of Jesus
Christ. The person of Jesus living
within us is “OUR ROOT SYSTEM”. Jesus
is our source of life.
Acts 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
§
Please
look with me now at Acts seventeen and twenty eight, Paul confirms to us once
again us that Jesus is our life, our activity, and our existence. There is a
progressive hierarchy found here. Life and energy, brings activity, which will
define our existence and destiny.
§
The
kind of life, which the Lord gives to us, is the “God kind” of life. It is a
resurrection life, which is free from bondage and hurt. It is clothed in the power of God, and is
eternal in its nature.
§
This “God type of life’ given to us by
Christ our root system, sets us in motion; anoints us, animates us, and
motivates to become vigorous in the things which please the Heavenly
Father. Because we end up gratifying
the Heavenly Father, our actions leads us into discovering what our true
existence and purpose in life is all about.
§
Before
finishing up with this section, let us quickly look at two more scriptures,
which utilize the identical Greek grammatical makeup describing to us that
Jesus is our root system, and that we must therefore “live out of Him.”
2Cor 3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ( OUT OF ) ourselves; but our sufficiency is of ( OUT OF) God;
§ “To be sufficient” has to do with making someone fit and equipped for a certain function. This in turn will allow the believer to become competent and qualified to carry out all activities pertaining to this certain function. We are unable to equip ourselves, and make ourselves competent for even the smallest of activities that relate to the kingdom of God. In order for us to qualify, and successfully carry out God’s plans in this world, we must absorb the Lord’s life, His power, His will and so forth and live out from the Lord Himself.
§
2 Cor 5:18 And
all things are of( OUT OF) God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,
and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
§
Second
Corinthians five and eighteen goes even further than this by telling us that
everything that we are dependent upon must be absorbed by us from the Lord.
§
“Through Him” ( Jesus Christ is Our Agent of
Action)
Romans 8:37 (Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved
us.)
§
By
“Through Him” we are in fact
setting apart the Lord as our agent of action. What does this
mean? The Lord Jesus has not only taken it upon Himelf to be our root source on
whom we feed. Jesus has goes even further than this!
§
For
everything that that Lord solicits of us, He also provides the avenues, the
doors, and the individual steps for us to successfully conduct His every order.
With every step that we must take to obey Him, the Lord will also provide us
with the anointing, strength, motivation, the peace and joy, and the blessings
that will lead us to successfully accomplish each one of His affairs.
§
Allow
me to share an experience with you. I
knew almost from the time that I got saved in the late 1970’s that God wanted
to give me a wife. I did have to wait as a single Christian for nine years
before the Lord blessed me with my wonderful wife Mary.
§
Those
nine years were times of great anxiety and guess working, as I thought this
girl, and this other girl, and yet this other girl, was to be my Christian
mate. Yet the Lord was not in anyone of
these relationships. I can tell you
that all of my attempts to make these relationships work was as trying to run an
engine with no oil. Everything pertaining to the relationships was frustrating;
the constant arguments, the disappointments and so forth.
§
The
Lord finally got me to a place in my life where I was so much in love with Him
that marriage, or the lack thereof, got pushed to the backburner. Finally, when the Lord brought Mary into my
life, He kept our eyes blind to each other for about one and a half years. I
will tell you how He finally opened our eyes.
I use to live in a house with two other single Christian guys in Miami,
Florida. We had a church party at our home in celebration of Mary and another
girl’s birthday. During the
festivities, a friend of mine came to me and reproved me by saying “Are you blind of something, can’t you see
whom the Lord has put under your nose?”
From that moment on Mary’s and mine eyes were opened. We went out on three dates, knew that we
were called of the Lord, and were married six months later. God made all of the pieces fall magically
together like one humongous puzzle without any effort on our side. Twelve years later our marriage continues to
be blessed over and over by God.
§
So
this is what it means to accomplish something “through Jesus”. It is not sufficient for us to only know the will of God in something
that He is requesting of us. We must
pray for His steps and wait for His timing. Once that His steps and His timing
have come together, we perform His will “through Him”. The Lord puts forth His
effort opens His doors, and gives us His power; we simply skateboard through
them. This skateboard is labeled “ ur
obedience”. .
Phillip
2:12 ¶ Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence
only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God which worketh (IS PUTTING HIS ENERGY)) in you both to will (FOR YOU TO DESIRE) and to do(AND FOR
YOU TO CARRY OUT THE DESIRES WHICH HE PLACED IN YOU) of his good pleasure
§
Philippians
two, twelve and thirteen, marvelously show us all that we have been speaking
about. In verse twelve, the phrase “to work out your own salvation”
is defined as a continuous and persevering execution of absolutely everything
that God desires, until a through success is attained in everything that
pertains to salvation. The Greek grammar here is in the middle voice. This means that the responsibility for the
execution of our salvation lies with us. However, there is more! Verse thirteen
tells us that it is God who is continually energizing us. Remember God as the
agent of action? When God energizes us, He always has a two-fold function
behind it. His energy puts His will into our hearts. Afterwards, His energy
gives us all of the strength that we need to carry out each and every desire of
the Lord. In reality, it is God living
through us.
§
Take
a quick look with me at Romans 15:18.
Please observe the great lesson that the apostle Paul had learned
through time. This is also what made
him into such a great man of God. In this little discourse he tells us that he
dares not to mention anything that The Lord has not performed through Him. You see, Paul does no want to brag about
what He is doing for the Lord. He has come to recognize that it the separate
person of Christ executing His life, and His actions in us that only
counts. Paul is simply Jesus arms and
legs.
§
What
Christ reveals and feeds us with as our root system, He also holds Himself
responsible to accomplish it in us.
Rom 15:18 For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought (accomplishing and totally executing) by me ( through me), to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed,
§
“And to Him” (Christ is the Goal of Everything)
§
This phrase
identifies the Lord the Lord as the goal of everything we do. Once that He has revealed to us what He
wants to do and accomplishes it, His desire is that everything is done for His
cause and His will.
§
“We In Him” (We Have to Get
Into Jesus)
Let us now continue
looking at how our relationship with the Lord continues.
1
Corinthians 8:6 But to us there is but
one God, the Father, of (OUT
OF) whom
are all things, and we in ( INTO
HIM) him; and
one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom (THROUGH
WHOM) are all things, and we by( WE EXIST THROUGH) him. {in: or, for}
§
We have already ascertained to the fact that God is our absolute
source for everything that we need.
Secondly we have confirmed that what ever God wants God will also
execute through us; He is our agent of action, we are His hands and feet and
mouth. God reveals and God performs everything He reveals in us. We just have to let Him live his life by
obeying all that He speaks. In other words we just have to get out of His way
and let Him do His thing. Pretty simple, right?
§
So we ask ourselves, “Okay, God wants to do this thing in us. I
know now that whatever He tells us He will also want to do it by Himself. He
does not need our good ideas. It will
just mess Him up. So what is the
answer. God needs our obedience
Rom 6:6 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
§ Do you see the little word “yield”? This is my friend is Christianity in one word! We shall continue to see this principle over and over in our Bible studies. To yield, is to present to the Lord and put before His feet all of our plans, our future, in fact our very lives, as a sweet offering. Do you all remember the Persian Gulf War, when the U.S. and its allies mounted a huge offensive against Sadam Hussein’s elite Republican National Guard? Men by the hundreds would emerge from their bunkers waving white handkerchiefs and their hands up in the air? Sweet surrender? Ye indeed! To yield is to surrender to the Lord. Why must we do that? The answer is so that we get out of the way and give God space to live His life in us! As I have said before, God does to need a live Christian, He needs a dead one! Then we can’t stick our paws into what He is doing. Too many hands mess up pot!
§ “So “WE IN HIM” has to with obedience. We all have dealt and used such slang expressions as “ Man, I am really into the music” or “Man, I am really into this football game”. When we really love something we get lost into it and just flow with it, right? What about saying, “ Man I am really into Jesus.” When we love Jesus like this, then obeying Him becomes pleasure and a breeze.
§ You see God’s steps? He reveals what He wants to do. We know now that He also wants to and has to do it for it to turn out right. Our job is to get “INTO WHAT” wants to do, yield (SURRENDER) and be his mouth, arms and legs to carry Him wherever He wants to go.
§ It is also very interesting that when Jesus uses the expression “Believe on Me” He is really saying, “BELIEVE INTO ME”! Many a good believer thinks that believing in Jesus is simply utilizing a mental confession of agreement of what is in the Word of God. True believing has to do with us getting into Jesus’ plans and desires so much that we will obey Him without fail.
John
7:38 He that believeth on me (
INTO ME), as the scripture hath said, out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water.
John
7:31 And many of the people
believed on (INTO HIM) him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he
do more miracles than these which this man hath done?
John 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my
Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
As we start to conclude
our teaching for today lets us knit everything together. Look at what Jesus
says in John fourteen and twenty. The “YE IN ME” has to do with our maintaining ourselves
smack inside the book, which is Christ. We accomplish this, as we are careful
to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” As we “believe on Jesus” we are sure to always get INTO HIS plans
and not ours. As we keep ourselves IN CHRIST, He promises to manifest Himself
to us, and in us. His manifestation
will also manifest alongside Him, all of God treasures, which reside in Him, as
well. This is now the “I IN YOU”; Christ, and all that He has and is, becomes automatically
assimilated in us. Because we are dead,
and Christ is our lives, His manifestation becomes our reality. His victory
over the devil becomes our victory, and we gradually find ourselves becoming
free from the oppressive lies of the Evil One.
His victory over sin becomes an automatic reality to us as we assimilate
His infilling presence or manifestation. Remember all blessings, treasures and
victories become manifested with Him.
The more that Jesus is revealed in our lives, the more that all of these
treasures are revealed with Him. Christianity is not about trying but about
becoming. Christianity is about us becoming less manifested, so that Christ can
become more manifested. Christianity is not about us getting blessings and
things but about knowing a Person who contains all blessings and things.
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