Sunday, December 19, 1993
Gal. 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

	This evening, let us again consider the truth of Christ living His life in us. To realize that God so loved us, that He gave His only begotten Son to save us unto Himself is, in itself, incomprehensible. And, when we add to it, the fact that Christ so loves us that He chooses to live in our hearts, and to work in us to the perfect expression of Himself, it is beyond any grasp of our human intellect. This is the point at which we need to seek after the Holy Spirit to reveal, in us, that which God has made reality in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. It is essential, on our part, to gain an appreciation for the working of God in Christ, by the Holy Spirit, in order that we give ourselves to His continued glory in our lives.		
	As the body of Christ, it is our call to manifest the Love that is Christ Jesus, unto those about us. In order for this to take place, we need to recognize it is no longer I that liveth, as the Apostle Paul so eloquently proclaims. We no longer have the control or the desire for control in our lives. The life that we live is singularly by the Holy Spirit's guidance in us. 
	This brings us to the question of what is necessary for this to be evident in a moment-by-moment, day-by-day basis in our beings? The answer is seeking after the Lord to make Himself known in us. Many of us have had the Lord make Himself known to us. We are fully aware that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, sent from the Father to die on the cross to save us from Hell. We know that He lived, was crucified on the cross of Calvary, and then rose from that death on the third day. This is fundamental Biblical doctrine related to the relationship of knowing Jesus as our Christ, our Savior.
	The fact is, however, that this is but the beginning of the relationship into which God has called us. He is working to create a far greater relationship in line with the truth of Christ as our Lord, as our Head, as our very life. As this truth becomes worked livingly in the Body of believers, so will all of creation give expression to the great love that is God to usward.
	Initially, please listen to the very words of Christ as He prepared His disciples, and us, to receive the reality of Christ living His life in us. In John 17:23, He talks about the coming of the Holy Spirit, At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 
	This is one of the main functions of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works to reveal Christ in us. As we are open to the working of the Holy Spirit, we come into a living knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord. We are shown with spiritual awareness, Christ exalted in the heavenlies, far above all principalities and powers and anything that is named in heaven and on earth. We are, as well, opened to the fact that the oneness of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit is now our very life. Wherever we go, with whomever we converse or interact, we are in the presence of God Almighty, because He has taken us into His presence in Christ, and He is in us, by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit ministers the reality that our lives are to bear witness to the One who now indwells us. As we daily deal with people, we begin to recognize a different attitude being evidenced in us. Where once we were defensive and on guard with people out of concern for our own well-being, we, now, begin to view and to deal with them on the basis of what is best for their lives. Where self once reigned in its efforts for survival and dominance, now we desire more of Christ's life to shine forth. 
	This is not an overnight change, but a dependable upward working of the Holy Spirit to bring our beings into line with the eternal purpose of God in Christ Jesus. And, what becomes increasingly evident, is that we are more and more desirous after His work being done in our lives. We find that the old ways are no longer satisfying nor are they any longer desirable. Rather, we become increasingly irritable and downtrodden as we seek after our old ways, rather than after Christ's way in our lives. The old, familiar paths become more and more foreign and treacherous, without any comfort or security. Rather, we find that as we turn our eyes more and more upon Christ and His glory, our joy and our security and our comfort are spiritually focussed and eternally set in Him, by the Holy Spirit.
	This is part of what Christ living His life in us demonstrates to the world. Christ's mission of giving Himself for the world, as recounted by our Lord in Jn. 17:23, is living evidence to those around us of the One Who is true Life. I in them, thou in me that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. What more Divine method could be chosen to reveal the truth of the Living Christ, than earthly vessels through whom Christ, by the Holy Spirit could reveal Himself in His Lordship of Love and Mercy and Grace and Glory? As the world witnesses the beloved of God, facing all the torments and onslaughts of this present age, and never succumbing, what more excellent witness could be given? 
	Consider the Christians of Rome, crucified in the Coliseum for the pleasure of Ceasar and the masses, and what was the result? Was Christianity eradicated, as was the worldly intent? No! Rather, the Body of Christ grew as the multitudes witnessed the atrocities of this world order being heaped upon those belonging to Christ. Those Romans marveled at the expressed essence of Christ Who lived forth from each and every persecuted Christian. Rather than eliminating Christianity, the world's persecution served only to cause the Body of Christ, and the message of the Gospel to flourish as more and more people, lost in the despair of this realm, saw Christ in the mangled bodies of His people and marveled at the love which responded to the afflictions of this world. As the Holy Spirit's guidance and peace and joy and righteousness are evident in the lives of His people, so will the world recognize and bear witness to the fact that there is Someone greater in us than is in the world, and that Someone is Christ.
	This is why we face the trials and tribulations of each day, even as Christians, and maybe even more as Christians, so that others will witness how a life, hid in Christ, is different and will overcome all adversity. When they ask why we seem to be at peace in the midst of the worst of situations, the reply is and always will be Christ in us.
	The situations of the daily lives that we live are to the purpose of being witnesses, both verbally and livingly, unto the grace of God as Christ is our very life. They are also beneficial to us in building our relationship with Christ. How do we discover and come to know the living person of Christ as our life unless He gives evidence in our living condition? This is the point of the manner in which He is revealed in us. How many of us have had the experience of listening to a message, on a Sunday evening, about the working of the Holy Spirit in revealing Christ, and sought after Him to make Christ more known in our lives? Then, on Monday morning, when everything seems to fall apart, we wonder what was the point of our prayer? Why didn't God listen to our supplication? That's when the Holy Spirit whispers in our frustrated heart the fact that He was the One Who arranged the day in order to show where more of Christ and less of Ted was needed. This is the way in which we learn to live by Christ. It is not through the books, but rather through the Word of God as we are instilled with the desire to know more and more of Christ in us. We are shown, by the Holy Spirit, the areas in our lives that need to be brought into line with His Word. As the exposure takes place, we ask Him to accomplish His will in us, and He continues to work to the glory of God in us and through us to the benefit of ourselves and those who are watching us through the trouble and strife.
	This on-going, growing in Christ process develops as our reliance in Him is expressed by our growing faith in Him to make Himself ever more fully known. Ep. 3:17-19 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.
	This reliance on Christ develops as He meets the needs of our daily lives. As He proves Himself over and over again, we become more and more cognizant of the fact that we are part of a relationship that is indescribable in any earthly terms. The knowledge of the Love that is Christ Jesus is a treasure beyond the comprehension of human capability. We may attempt to describe Him to others, and they will never know unless they too have learned, by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the greatness of a life lived by Christ. All the anguish and torment of this world order but serves to show the increasing brilliance of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
	Salvation, as wonderful and indescribable as it is, pales in comparison to the relationship that a heart focussed on Christ enjoys. We are in no-wise belittling the glory of God's love to us in His salvation plan, yet it is merely the beginning of the momentous love which He has lavished upon us in Christ. To settle simply for salvation is to miss the bulk of the glory of God in Christ to usward who belong to Him and are led by His Holy Spirit into all the truth of a life lived by the faith of Jesus Christ. 
	This is a Glorious Mystery, as we are told in Col. 1:27. To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:. The revelation of Christ in us is a mystery that even the angels are unable to comprehend. They, and the world watch as God works in His church, and all wonder at what the Lord will accomplish. So often, it seems as if we are futilely struggling with our self-lives being put to death and we dishearten ourselves with thoughts that God cannot possibly deal effectively with or through us. We get discouraged and down-trodden in our seemingly continual failures, and miss the reality of what God is accomplishing in His church. The difference lies in the perspective of our vision of what God has done in Christ Jesus. When we look at what we appear to be of ourselves, in our stubbornness and obstinacy, we get discouraged. That is because we are focussing our attention on the defeated being of ourselves. The self-life has been put to death in our beings. As we accepted Christ, we gave Him the control of our self-being, which He left buried at the death side of the cross. We are now a new creation in Him, with Him as our very life source of being. The difficulty lies in the fact that we take occasion to look at the dead essence of self, and muddy our feet in that grave. 
	Where our focus needs to be set is in Him Who is our life. If we could learn, and we will through the effectual ministry of the Holy Spirit, to always see beyond the earthly circumstances to what God is accomplishing in each and every one of those whom He has called, including ourselves, we would be completely amazed at the effectiveness with which God is dealing in each and every life. It is ironic that the angels and the powers of the spiritual realm earnestly desire to see what plan God has for mankind in relationship to Himself, and we, who are part and parcel of this glorious plan, and who are enabled by the Holy Spirit to see the Hand of God in action in this realm many times choose not to see God in action. Rather than keeping our focus on Christ as He works to the glory of God in us, we tend to focus our eyes on the things that are of this world, and look at those items which serve to discourage instead of looking to Christ, Who is fully set on the throne of Victory. 
	Rather than emphasize our inabilities, we need to have our heart set on His ability to overcome all our adversity. This is a key to the next element to our continued growth in the knowledge of Christ by the Holy Spirit. Obedience is essential to knowing Christ in a living reality. I John 3:24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. It is through our obedience to the Holy Spirit, that we are brought into relationship with Christ. It is an obedience born in Christ, from Christ and unto Christ. We are indwelled by the One Who was obedient to the uttermost in His desire to please the Father. He knew how the glory of God would be fully evidenced as He gave Himself up, even unto death on the cross. Out of that obedience, we have been born anew, indwelled by the same Spirit of obedience unto the Father. As we are guided by the Spirit in our walk on this earth, we have the opportunity to please the Father in the same manner of laying down our lives for the brethren. When we put each other before our self-interest, with the earnest desire that God will be glorified in the lives that we live and in the lives of those with whom we are in contact, the Holy Spirit will honor that desire, and make Himself known unto us in all the omnipotence of the God-head. It is never a matter that we are enabled to obey on our own, but rather, that as we seek after Him to be our strength, He overcomes the temptations that so easily beset us and He is the One whose strength sees us through the difficulties. 
	This again becomes a matter of our focus. Do we concentrate on our inabilities to obey, when we know that we should, or do we trust Him to be our strength through each moment of each day? He is well suited because He has already triumphed over all the powers of this realm, both physically and spiritually. He has faced every temptation, and not succumbed because He kept His heart firmly set upon the glory of the Father. That same heart is now our heart as He lives His life in us. 	This exposure to obedience points out the negative aspect of self and the certain calling of having Christ live His life in us. Self views obedience as a list of restrictions that put up fences to what can and cannot be done in seeking after self-pleasure. How often have we felt or heard that all the fun things are forbidden, while all the acceptable things are boring? The reality is that all those things that are sought after by self are barriers to what will truly bring joy and peace and pleasure into our beings.
	Obedience to the Holy Spirit, when viewed from the spiritual perspective is a course of life that will be fully satisfying to the Father, to Christ, and to the Spirit. As they are glorified, we find that we are overflowing with the joy of the Lord, causeing all else to pale. Obedience to the Spirit is not a list of restrictions, but a freedom to do those things that are pleasing to God and have eternal weights of glory. As our hearts revel in pleasing the Father, through our obedience to His way in our lives, so are we fully enveloped by the very glory of God. 
	There is no self-seeking in the Lord, nor self-satisfaction. As the Father is pleased and glorified, so the Son is glorified and partaking of the spiritual delight of the Father. As the Son is glorified, so the Spirit is exalted. As our Lord receives exaltation, so the church partakes in that resplendence, a continual expression of God's outpouring of Love, lavished fully and eternally upon us and returned in the praises of the Church unto God. That is our call of obedience. It is not a call to duty, but a call to enjoy the fruit of the Spirit as He leads us in the paths that will shower our Beloved God with all the grandeur of lives desiring His Truth, His Love and His Preeminence.

	I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.