Jesus the Light 18: Christ our Life
For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed,
then you also will be revealed with him in glory -Col.3:3,4
We have good news for you. The sentence against your evil has already been executed and fully paid for. You have a free pardon for all your moral crimes. Christ Jesus has paid for every sin and satisfied all judgment against you.
You can collect your pardon by coming directly to your Benefactor, the Lord Jesus Christ. He knows your name and every terrible deed you have ever thought or done. And He is willing and ready to forgive.
But you must come to Him. No one else can rescue you from that judgment which will surely break upon your head otherwise. He has purchased release, and He alone can dispense it.
Those who never come, never receive. Those who think they can be accepted some other way, neglect and even despise the grace of Christ. They will receive nothing, but will abide in spiritual death and enter everlasting ruin.
Rather, why not receive the life of Christ as risen from the dead? 1 Cor.15:45 describes Christ as a “life-giving Spirit.” Christ becomes our life and supplies to the trusting heart all that is needful for spiritual life and godliness. He does what we never could. But we must come to Him for that supply.
Suppose a self-righteous man entered heaven by reason of his works and religious deeds. His own efforts then would gain for him access to that glorious place. But he would arrive as having never known God, God’s life and love, God’s Spirit, or God’s light.
For God is all of these things, yet the man entered apart from them. He would be there because of his own light, life, and goodness. He would be an unknown and uncomfortable stranger in that place. This could never be.
God is the source of all that is good, right, and true. That man would have nothing but his own dirty rags of human effort. Isa.64:6 says: “All our righteous deeds are like filthy rags.”
Righteousness is already available in Christ. He Himself is our righteousness, to everyone who comes to Him. Pardon is full and free, for His purchase price has cancelled every stain and obligation against us. But none of this is ours if we do not come to Him.
And coming, we not only receive pardon from punishment and removal of guilt; no, that is not all: Life is offered as well. Eph.2:1,2; 4:18: “You were dead in transgressions and sins, living in the desires of our flesh, being darkened in our understanding, being alienated from the life of God.”
Yes, what we need is Life: a new and different kind of life that can only be found and supplied by Christ Himself. Jesus said this in Jn.15:4,5: “Abide in Me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one who abides in Me and I in him, bears much fruit, because apart from Me you can do nothing.”
He is the living root of all things good. From the Lord Jesus flows a constant supply of all that is good, right, and true. Eph.5:9: “The fruit of the Spirit consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.”
Every one abiding in Him has Christ’s very life flowing in himself. And that produces lasting fruit; fruit that glorifies God.
Gal.5:22,23: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and self-control. Against such there is no law.”
All external attempts to secure righteousness, life, and peace are worse than useless. How can a guilty and corrupt man remaining apart from Christ have either the will or power to please a holy God? He cannot.
Rom.8:7,8: “The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Christ does not exact holiness from us by insisting we obey the law while still in bondage to sin. He rather produces holiness in us by the power of the Holy Spirit that we might ‘walk in the Spirit and thus not fulfill the desires of the flesh’ – Gal.5:16.
Christ sets us free from bondage to Self. That freedom brings a new nature that loves to obey. Christ’s life delivers our hearts from the power of sin. Christ supplies liberty to serve others in love.
Gal.5:13: “For you were called to freedom, brethren, only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” The flesh uses liberty, not to bring life, but to ensnare into bondage and corruption by satisfying its own desires. The flesh uses the law unlawfully; not to convict of sin to lead to Christ which is its proper purpose, but to attempt to obtain righteousness.
But Christ has resolved the confusion and corruption of our own failing efforts. He has set us free from impossible demands of holiness while we are still abiding in the flesh. Jn.6:63: “It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing.”
Rom.8:2-4 says: “The law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. What the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did; sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
The Spirit will lead us into holiness, goodness, and truth because the Holy Spirit of God is all of these things. His very life which is the life of Christ cannot fail to produce these things in every true follower of the Lord Jesus.
Gal.5:18: “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.” Why are we not under law, that principle of self-effort to comply with codes? Because what God demands, He supplies in Christ. For all that He requires, power to perform is provided in Jesus.
A man who loves from his heart, will not commit murder. He who does not look at women and lust in his heart will not commit adultery. The person who does not covet, will not steal. If you are devoted to God in your heart, you will not turn to idols.
Gal.5:16: “Walk by the Spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh.” Gal.5:25: “If we live by the Spirit, let us walk by the Spirit.”
Dear Listener, Walk. Move from where you are and come to Christ. But to walk you must have a purpose in your heart to motivate your steps. Determination is called for followed by a decision to arise.
Steps of obedience must be taken one after the other. Move towards the desired goal of abiding in Christ and you will make progress. As you walk, new perspectives will enlighten your heart and you will arrive at your destination at last.
Don’t stop. If you stumble, get up and continue. Don’t stray onto other paths that will lead you elsewhere. And when Christ who is our life is revealed, you will be revealed with Him in glory.
Copyright Steve Phillips 2020