A. As noted, when we are joined to the LORD, and become one spirit with Him, there is a BIRTH – a new creation in Christ Jesus is born. This is another way of saying that we have been born from above. We have received Christ from the outside of us into us -- new life is not born into us naturally – we have received Him from above. In short, God does NOT act upon us and change us into a new creation. Rather, He joins us to Christ and because we are then IN CHRIST we are new creations. HE is the source of all that makes this possible.
B. Now please note that this does NOT mean that the old man in Adam – our natural man; our flesh – ceases to exist. That is not what Paul means when he says, “old things have passed away.” What he does mean is that our life is now Christ, and not the old. He means that all things that constitute true life are from out of God in Christ. The rest is under death. Eventually – at the resurrection of the body – the old will cease to exist. But for now, only the power of the old creation is broken. It remains present, and thus, possible to us to yield to it. Thus, we have in each believer two natures.
C. The Bible speaks much about these two natures as the separation of soul from spirit in the believer. If we have received Christ there is this division between soul and spirit. The presence of Christ in us immediately creates this division. There is, on the one hand, Christ in us and all that is in Him. But there remains, on the other hand, all that is of the natural. And not only is there this division and great distinction, but there is a great conflict. The natural and the spiritual are against each other.
D. Let’s lay this out: If you could take a pencil and draw a circle around the new creature in Christ – a circle around our resurrection union with Christ – all that is INSIDE this circle would be NEW. All that is INSIDE of this circle would be FROM OUT OF GOD in Christ. Inside of that circle would be LIFE, light, Truth – it would be Christ in us and all that constitutes the new birth. But outside of that circle would remain all that is OLD – the natural man and the flesh – outside of the circle would be that which is from out of the old man in Adam.
E. Now hook this up with the statement of Jesus from John 3:6: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The conclusion is that flesh cannot birth anything that is of God. Flesh can birth only flesh – and even if what the flesh births is highly religious or looks holy, it is still flesh. Only God can birth that which is of God. In short, only that which is from out of God is of God; is of the spirit. All that is from out of the natural can never be anything but natural.
F. Once we begin to understand this Truth and realize that each believer has TWO natures – one within that circle in Christ, and one outside that circle of Adam – we should realize that only that which finds it’s source from Christ is of God. Anything that finds its source in the natural man is not of God. Only God can birth what is spiritual and of Christ. The rest must pass away.
G. If Christ is in us -- then all that is in Him is from out of God as the source. Thus, this tells us who ought to be the source of all things for the believer: Christ. This is why Jesus said, “abide in Me,” and, “without Me you can do nothing.” Now, obviously, people can do plenty without Christ. It’s just that they can do nothing that is God’s will, or that is eternal. Indeed, the problem is that even Christian people do plenty that is not OUT FROM CHRIST – but rather, from out of themselves as the source, power, and intent. And where that is the case, what they are doing is part of that which is going to pass away.
H. Again – we have Christ in us, and we have our natural man. God wants us to abide in Christ – to draw from Christ for all that we are, and all that we need. Christ IS our life – that covers everything. Thus, instead of drawing upon our natural resources, and using our natural man, we are to draw from Christ.
I. Now, we are not going to do this unless God teaches us. And the way that God teaches us is not merely through information or directions. Those things help and we must find what God is doing in scripture. But God teaches us Christ, and guides us into all Truth, usually through experience. God will often allow us to try to live our lives on the basis of natural man – we tend to do this without realizing it. He will often allow this to prove to us the completely futility of it. He may even allow us to crash and burn. Why? So that we may see, through experience, yes, the emptiness of natural man, but more than that, so that we may have proven in us that in Christ alone are all things that are from God.
J. When Paul said, “old things are passed away, behold, all things have become new – all things that are from out of God,” he was stating a finished fact. But then God will prove it to us if we are open to the Truth. We must still be brought into this finished Truth and will need to discover that all that we need is Christ, and what it means to abide in Him for all that is from out of God.
K. What does it mean to ABIDE in Christ? It means, “to live from out of,” Christ as our source. It means that if we are already joined to the Lord and are one spirit with Him, that we must – by faith – live in Him and draw from Him all that we need. We are already joined to Him – now believe it, see it, and live like it. Christ is to BE our life. To function as if He is our life speaks to what it really means to abide in Him. He is the Vine. We are a branch.
L. To abide in Christ as a branch abides in the vine is exactly what it means to enter His rest by faith. It means that I know IT IS FINISHED – and now I’m going to turn and live like it is finished – I am going to abide in the Christ who is my life, and in whom are all things from God. Of course, there is nothing here that I can do, or need to do, to make something happen. It is not a matter of getting God to do something. It is a matter of seeing who Christ is and of surrendering ourself to Him as Lord. A branch does not need to try to convince the Vine to help him. A branch need not to struggle to drag life from the Vine. A branch needs to abide in, and rest in, the Vine. If we do that, by faith, we will find that we are indeed already one with Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment