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”Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” [2 Cor. 5:17]
We are “in Christ.” This is an amazing concept. Sometimes those of us who have been Christians for awhile lose the sense of wonder of it all. We have become so “familiar” with many of the Truths revealed in the Word of God that the delight of discovery and joy of salvation is gone. May it never be! Let’s always refresh our minds in the beauty of our relationship with God - that we, as frail, fallible human beings, can know God and be “in Christ!” What could be more amazing than that?
One of the many blessings of being 'in Christ' is the assurance of overcoming temptation and sin. When we were born again, we were placed in Christ. Our life is now in Him. In Him we died, in Him we rose, and in Him, we live, as Paul goes to great lengths to show in Romans. This 'in Christ' status provides us with total protection. Just as nothing can reach my heart without going through me, nothing can reach us without going through Christ.
I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in regard to Me, John 14:30, NASB.
The words "regard to" are in italics, which means they are not in the original. Jesus said Satan was coming to Him but could find nothing in Him. Satan tried to cause Jesus to sin, but he couldn’t because he had no foothold in Jesus. There was no sin in Jesus that he could put his grimy hands on and use to pull Him into sin.
When I look at my life, sin abounds. Satan doesn’t have to look very hard to find a foothold...or does he? Follow my reasoning here...If we are “in Christ” - as the Bible declares - then Satan comes and cannot find a foothold in us either. Isn’t that amazing? Satan looks at our lives “in Christ” and cannot find anything to get hold of! Does that sound radical? Does it sound like it contradicts our experience? After all, we all know the pull and lusts of sin in whatever area of life our weaknesses happen to be. How can we be In Christ?
Imagine this picture with me. After we have been saved, we live in a house called Jesus Christ. Think about the most beautiful, luxurious house you can imagine—an indoor pool and all, if you like that kind of thing. It is wonderfully furnished and has everything you could want and more. Not only is it a magnificent house, but it is also filled with love, joy, peace, and uninterrupted fellowship with God. Can you see it? We are living in this house.
Now, before we moved into this house, we were living in a dirty, stinking cardboard house in the slums of sin. Satan comes to our new home. He knows he cannot enter, but he plants thoughts in our minds to convince us we are still living in our slum house. And so there we are, in this beautiful house, blinded to its wonders, living as if we were still in the slums. Some of us even dug around till we found some cardboard, and we set it up in the living room to sleep in!
What am I saying? We are “in Christ,” Satan has no more hold on our lives, but he will try to deceive us into living as if we were outside of Christ. He will use every emotion, play on every desire, reason with us, and do whatever it takes to get us to keep living as if we were in the slums. The slums can look and feel so real. That’s what faith is about - choosing to believe that we are secure “in Christ” even when every emotion and thought is screaming the exact opposite. Who is telling the truth: The Word Of God or our feelings and natural sight?
So, what do we do when we sin? The first thing is to be honest enough with God and with ourselves to admit that we chose to sin. We didn’t have to sin [no matter how established the pattern is], but we chose to do it. The next is to run TO God for forgiveness. I am not saying that defeating sin, especially habitual sin, is easy. But it starts with realizing that we are “in Christ.”
Let me emphasize this truth: we don’t have to work at being 'in Christ.' That is where the Father has placed us. That is where we ARE. We don’t work to get there or stay there. We can never be any more 'in Christ' than we are right now. As we grow in God, we realize and experience more and more of what it means to be 'in Christ.' As this reality becomes stronger for us, the devil's deceptions become weaker and more transparent.
For more information about Glenn Davis, see our About Glenn page or visit Glenn Davis Books.
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