Jesus, Your Life - Part 2

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, December 22nd. Today's program wraps up the series highlighting the good news of great joy and propels you beyond the Christmas season with the encouraging reminder that for the believer, Jesus is your life. If I should ask you today, according to the scriptures, where is the Lord Jesus Christ? Where is Jesus? Where is he? He's in heaven seated where?

At the Father's right hand. Where are you? You are down here on earth for all practical purposes. But the truth is, if you're in him and he's in you, now watch this, if Jesus Christ is in you, which he is, and you're in him, wherever he is, you are.

And wherever you are, he is. All right, so the Bible says that Jesus Christ is seated at the Father's right hand in the heavenlies. If Jesus Christ is seated at the Father's hand in the heavenlies, where are you as the believer?

You are in the heavenlies seated with the heavenly Father in Christ Jesus. Jesus used the term of abiding and I in them and they in me. Now I want you to see how Paul described this. Look, if you will, in Galatians chapter 2 verse 20. In the 20th verse he said, having been saved by the grace of God, some tremendous transaction took place. Now when did he saw some great life?

What happened happened on the inside. He said, I have been crucified with Christ. That is, when the Lord Jesus Christ came into his life, he died to the old way. And he says in Romans that he that as he was buried and rose to walk in newness of life, you know why? Because he became a new person. Same body, new person, new spirit, new life within.

Now think about this. You've got the same brain and the same mind, the same conscience, will and emotion, all the rest when you are saved. What is new within you is Christ. And as we submit to the Christ who is within us, it is amazing what happens to us emotionally, mentally, in our conscience, our consciousness, our awareness of God, and every other facet of our life, our body is even affected by our submission to the Christ who is within us.

Listen to how Paul said it. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, he says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who lives. Well now wait a minute, Paul. You tell me that here you are talking to me and you tell me you're not living.

I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I that live. Look at the next part.

Read it with me. But what? Christ lives in me.

You know why? Because Christ had become his life. Everything in him Godward was Christ through the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, I'm abiding in you and you're abiding in me. Paul says it's no longer I that live, but now Christ is living in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me, delivered himself up for me, and became his very life. Christ is my life, he said. Paul said, for me to live, he says, is for Christ to live.

Why? Because he understood that Christ had become his life. He says, for me to die now is my gain.

I'm going to heaven. He says, but for me to live is for Christ to live because Paul knew that the resurrected glorified Christ was alive and living in and through him. Paul said, Christ is my life. Look, if you will, in Colossians and look in the first chapter, the 27th verse.

He says, he says, well, let's go back so you can catch a couple of things here. Let's go back to verse 25. Of this church, I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God. That is, now watch this carefully, that is the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested, revealed to his saints, to whom God will to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles.

What is this mystery? Which is Christ in you. The hope of glory or your hope of God glorifying himself in us is that Christ Jesus has become our life. When you receive him not only Savior, Messiah, Lord, but life, everything in you that is Godward is Christ Jesus within you. Now turn to chapter three of that same book, Colossians, and look, if you will, beginning in verse one, Paul says, if then you've been raised up with Christ, that is having been saved with the grace of God, keep on seeking the things above, get your mind on the things that are above, spiritual things, knowing wisdom, where Christ is. Now watch this, keep seeking the things above where Christ is. Where is that? Seated at the right hand of God, where we are in Christ Jesus.

Set your mind on the things above, because that's where we are, not on the things that are on earth, because you see, we have a whole different life now. For you have died that has died to your past life, and your life is hidden with whom? Christ, where? In God. The real you has been hidden with God in Christ Jesus, when Christ who is our life is revealed. When he appears, when he comes, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. So what is Paul saying?

Paul is simply saying to us in this passage, and all these passages, that Christ has become our life. Where he is, there we are. Where we are, there he is. And we are in an inseparable union with the Lord Jesus Christ.

He has become our life. Now, what we have to ask is, how is it that we experience on a daily basis, what in reality is true? Now you remember what Jesus said in that eighth chapter of John, when you know the truth, you know the truth, the truth will set you free. Set you free of the things that shackled you and bind you. And you see, most people are bound by some things.

Some are bound by less, some are bound by more. But so many people are tragically bound. They'll never be able to soar like God intended them to live their lives in victory and in joy and peace. That doesn't mean, and I'm not even going to begin to imply, you won't have heartaches, burdens, tribulations, trials, defeats, you're going to have it all.

But here's the difference, friend. When you understand and you grasp and you begin to live out of the truth that Jesus Christ is your life, all the things that used to hit you may hit you triple for us. But the difference is this, you're going to be able to rise above that in the most beautiful way.

I mean, you may hurt just as bad, but there's something inside of you that is exhilaratingly motivating. I mean, there is an assurance, there is an abounding assurance. Listen, God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, the supernatural triune God living within you. Listen, He says we're in God, hidden in God, in Christ Jesus, in breath of the Spirit, Christ Jesus abiding within us. An inseparable, wonderful, incomparable relationship with God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit.

We ought to wake up every morning excited. You say, man, you don't know the kind of life I'm living, I can tell you this. If Christ is your life, there is not anything you cannot gain the victory over. Because you see, as Christ is your life, Christ is your victory. It is the truth this world needs to understand that you have, listen, you have the forever, listen, you have not only forever life within you, you have the forever person within you who is warm and personal and intimate and loving and forgiving in an unconditional loving way. He's living on the inside of you. Tell me anything that God Almighty cannot overcome. Christ has become your life.

I believe a seven-year-old boy can understand that to some degree. You say, well, but how do I make that real in my life? There are two words that come to my mind when I think about Christ being in life. The first word is freedom and the second one is faith.

What do I mean by that? Simply this, that when you begin to understand that Christ is your life and you appropriate that, it is amazing how free you become of so many things. Now, you can resort back to the old way of life if you choose, anytime you choose.

But I'm saying, my friend, once you taste of Christ your life, I can tell you this, you will never, you may try the past, but you'll never be satisfied, you'll never be happy, you see the patterns, you see your mistakes, you see your failures, you see how ridiculous the whole idea is, and then you begin to realize that you're basking in the sunlight of God's love. Now, listen, I have a little affirmation that I say to the Lord and to myself, sometimes several times a day, but usually before I get out of the bed in the morning. And one of them is, thank you, Lord, that I'm walking in the sunlight of your love. Now, it has nothing to do with the weather, nothing. It can be cloudy, snowing, raining, hailing, sleeting, has nothing to do with it.

Neither does it make any difference, nor does it in my schedule have any effect of what people think or what they do, what, nothing can affect that. Listen, I thank you, Father, I'm walking in the sunlight of your love. How do I know that? Because Christ is in me and I'm in Him. And He's made a promise that He's my heavenly Father. And I can walk in the sunlight of His love because I know that His love never changes. His love for me isn't conditioned by my actions, my attitudes. His love is an unconditional forever, immutable love that never changes. I can always know that every morning I wake up and when I'm asleep at night, I'm either walking, living, or sleeping in the sunlight of God's love.

You can't change that. We just need to understand who we are. Secondly, secondly, Christ is my life. That makes me adequate for everything you say.

That sounds a little cocky and prideful. Well, let me tell you, that's just my way of saying what Paul said. Paul said it this way, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Christ is my life that makes me adequate for every situation.

If it doesn't, there's something wrong with God. Christ is your life. Do you know why He is your life? He came to make you adequate for every situation in Him. Apart from Him, He says we can do nothing. In Him, we can do all things. That's what Paul said. Christ is your life.

That makes you adequate for anything and everything. And you become free of so many things that have bothered you and trapped you and snared you and made you fearful. Listen, you want to get rid of your fears, you begin to grasp that Christ, Christ Jesus is your life. What are you afraid of if Christ is on the inside of you, living out His life in you?

Oh, you can come up with a few things, but all of them are illegitimate. There's nothing legitimate that you and I have the fear of Christ is our life. But let me say one other thing at this point about Christ, our life.

Not only does the first word freedom come, but the second word is faith. You say, well, now, wait a minute, how do I make this happen to me? You don't have to make it happen. You know what happens? When you receive the Lord Jesus, you receive the Lord Jesus. You receive the Lord Jesus. When you receive the Lord Jesus Christ, everything I've described has already happened to you.

It's already true. The problem is we don't know it's true. And so what do we do? We struggle, we fret, we try, we talk to God as if He's way up yonder somewhere. We say, I just can't reach God. You know why I can't reach Him? He's on the inside. Listen, you don't even have to reach. You pick up the telephone to call your friend. You don't pick up anything to talk to God. He's on the inside of you. I'm not saying you shouldn't bow or look up in reverence.

That's fine. But the reality is this. You see, we need to be programmed to think truth, not what we've been taught. But what is the truth? The truth is this, that God is your life on the inside of you, everything inside of you. In order to enable you, listen, in order to enable you, equip you, make it possible for you to become the righteous, godly, whole man and woman that He predestined you to become.

And friend, I want to tell you something. You spend your life searching and seeking and piling up wealth and getting status and prestige and position and all the rest but I want to tell you something. Until the Lord Jesus Christ in living reality by the appropriation of your faith becomes your life, you will search, claw, dig, knock, pull, stomp on, step on, climb. And when you get to the end of the way, you'll realize that somewhere and somehow you missed it. You know what you missed?

Now think of the tragedy of this. Spend your whole life relating to other people, seeking, going, searching, finding, investing, trying, saving, spending, working, laboring, driving yourself only to end up in life and realize that everything you are looking for has been there all along. And look the price you paid, trying to find and merit and deserve what you were freely given by grace through the cross in Christ Jesus.

Did you know that's what most of you are going to do? You're going to spend your life searching, seeking, trying. You're going to spend your life doing everything you know how to do to find something to fill that great big vacuum. And I want to tell you, my friend, the only person who can fill that is Jesus Christ. Anything else you put in there, somehow it just won't fit together.

It just won't work. Only Christ is going to make it work. And that begins by your confession of your sin and your repentance toward God and asking the Lord Jesus Christ to come into your life.

Listen to me now. Asking the Lord Jesus Christ to come into your life. Asking the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sin based on his death on the cross. Receiving him as your savior for your sins. Your Lord to give you guidance and direction submit to him and is your life.

The enabler for you to become everything God had in mind. Some of you are saved and you know that I've told you the truth today. And what you're asking is real. Here's the way you make it real. You tell the Lord Jesus Christ today that you begin to live out of the truth that Christ is your life.

Which means by faith you will allow him to respond to your circumstances, in your situations, that you will acknowledge him when there's a need. Lord Jesus, you're my life. I'm going to trust you to respond to this situation.

And you know what happens? The fear is gone. The anxiety just leaves. The frustrations are gone.

Why? Because if Christ is living within you and you understand that and you begin to respond to circumstances on the basis that the all-sufficient ones on the inside, it is amazing how tranquil and peaceful God begins to make your life. It is a matter, listen now carefully, it is a matter it is a matter of trusting God to be in and through you everything he promised. That is, what is true of you is that Christ has become your life. Now will you allow him in your daily walk, will you allow him to begin to live out through you?

So how am I going to... You don't even have to try. It is amazing what happens when you get in a situation and the Holy Spirit just reminds you, remember who your life is. Who's my life? The all-sufficient, forever everything that I need is within me.

I don't have to fret, fume, become anxious or fearful. I know that no matter how black the situation may look, the God who is within me is going to bring me through it. Whatever my need is, he's going to supply it in his own perfect timing, in his own way. Christ my life means that I'm willing to set aside my will and allow him, listen, not get something, just allow the one who is within me to live it out in a practical way, Monday morning, Friday night, Saturday afternoon, Sunday, doesn't make any difference when, and what?

It's just Christ. Now if you'll tell him, Lord, Lord, I don't know that I understand it all. Nobody will ever understand it all. Lord, I don't understand it all, but beginning today and from this moment on, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I want to live out of the life that is within me. You can't ever be the same. And even if you try to go back, you'll become so miserably dissatisfied.

You'll be praising God in the middle of your repentance that he delivered you from what you once were. Thank you for listening to part two of today's podcast, Jesus, Your Life. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.