The podcast is a meeting of Grace Christian Church. We meet in person and stream services every Sunday at 10:30 AM EST in Manalapan, New Jersey.
What’s New?
Stepping Into God’s Eternal Plan
This is the sixth message/podcast in our series titled “What’s New?”.
In the last message, we discussed how, upon belief in the Gospel, Christ becomes the life of a believer (Colossians 3:4). This means that Christ lives out the life of the believer for him, in him, and through him by faith and trust in Him. But before Christ can do this, believers need to allow Him to do so and come to the understanding that, without Christ, they can do nothing.
This revelation is illustrated in the Gospel of John, chapter 15, where the metaphor of the vine and the branches is used. The life of the vine (Christ) flows through the branches (believers) to bear fruit. A branch cannot bear fruit on its own; it can only bear fruit when connected to the vine. Without the vine, there is no fruit—only a dead branch. In other words, without Christ (the vine), the believer (a dead branch) can do nothing (John 15:5), bearing no spiritual fruit.
Until a believer concludes that they can do nothing without Christ, they may think they can engage in spiritual activities on their own, from a natural human perspective, without Him. But without Christ, believers cannot do anything of spiritual value. This fundamental truth must be accepted before Christ can truly become our life. Yes, Christ is in every believer, and yes, every believer is in Christ. But until we understand that we can do nothing of spiritual value without Him, Christ cannot live through us and be our life. He is blocked from doing so until we come to this realization and allow Him to be our life!
Have You Understood the Revelation that Without Christ You Can Do Nothing of Spiritual Value?
Have you received the revelation that Christ is your life?
Have you realized that Christ lives your life for you, in you, and through you?
When believers accept Christ as their life, there is a major shift toward spiritual matters. For example:
•Christ (as your life) overcomes for you.
•Christ (as your life) works within you.
•Christ (as your life) flows through you.
When we allow Christ to be our life, He overcomes for us, instead of us trying to overcome through our own natural efforts. The apostle John explains this in 1 John, chapters 4 and 5. Paul also states it differently in Romans 8:2, saying that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death. Being set free is overcoming! The Spirit of life in Christ, which lives in every believer, sets us free and overcomes when we allow Him to be our life. Believers cannot live a victorious Christian life unless they allow Christ to live it through them and cease relying on their own efforts, allowing Christ to overcome for them and live their lives.
Not only does Christ live our lives for us and overcome for us, but He is also at work within us. When we allow Christ to be our life, He works within us for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). Christ not only lives through us, but He also works within us to bring about His purposes. His pleasure is for Christ to increase within us and for our self-centered nature to decrease. Christ’s work in every Christian is the crucifixion of self on the cross, so we come to realize the futility of self-effort, self-reliance, and self-dependence. God’s goal in working within us is to replace self as the center of our lives and allow Christ to take over.
When we allow Christ to be our life, not only does He live our lives for us and within us, but He also lives through us. Christ flows through us to those around us in the physical world. When Christ moves, we move. When Christ is still, we are still. When Christ speaks, we speak. He is the originator, and we are the natural conduits of His life. We are like streams through which Christ’s life flows. The apostle John calls this life flowing through us “living water” (John 7:38).
Let me know if you’d like further adjustments or explanations!
