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Christ is in You... YOUR Only Hope

"To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:"   Colossians 1:27

Christ in you, no greater hope than this. But do we truly understand what this means to the child of God? Do we truly understand what it means not to have Christ in us?

Paul sums it up in 2 Corinthians 13:5, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?"

We christians must examine ourselves thoroughly by the Word of God and be assured that Christ is in us. The alternative is a reprobate. Most of the Church world today goes about her buisness of religion while Christ himself has no part in it.

Charles Hodge in his timeless message Christianity without Christ says this, "In painful contrast with the Christianity of the Bible and of the church, there is a kind of religion, very prevalent and very influential, calling itself Christianity, which may be properly designated Christianity without Christ. It might be all that it is, though Christ had never appeared...

"The lowest form of this kind of religion is that which assumes Christ to be a mere man, or, at most, merely a creature. Then, of course, He cannot be an object of adoration, of supreme love, of trust, and of devotion. The difference is absolute between the inward religious state of those who regard Christ as a creature, and that of those who regard him as God. If the one be true religion, the other is impiety." (Or reprobate!)

"Christ in you", is nothing short of absolute dependence upon His strength, wisdom and sacrifice. Nothing we are, have, or ever shall be will satisfy God's demand except Christ in us. Why then is man so quick to jump out ahead of God as though he could accomplish anything in the spirit realm, or make an entrance through heavens gates by his own works. Yet this is exactly what the church is doing today, and then wonders why she is lifeless and her offspring still-born.

Charles Hodge goes on to say what it means to have Christ in you. Hear what he says, "Christ was to them the object of divine worship and of all the religious affections, of adoration, of supreme love, of trust, of submission, of devotion He was their absolute sovereign and proprietor by the double right of creation and redemption. Love to him was the motive, his Will the rule, his glory the end of their obedience. it It was Christ for them to live. Living or dying, they were the Lord's. They enforced all moral duties out of regard to him; wives were to obey their husbands, children their parents, servants their masters, for Christ's sake.

"Christians were commanded not to utter a contaminating word in a brother's ear because he belonged to Christ; they endeavored to preserve their personal purity, because their bodies were the members of Christ. The blessedness of heaven in their view consisted in being with Christ, in beholding his glory, enjoying his love, in being like him, and in being devoted to his services.

"It is a simple fact, that such was the Christianity of the writers of the New Testament Their religious life terminated on Christ, and was determined by their relation to him. He was their God, their Saviour, their prophet, priest, and king; they depended on his righteousness for their justification; they looked to him for sanctification. He was their life, their way, their end. If they lived, it was for him; if they died, it was that they might be with him.

"They did not attempt to reform or to save me, on the principles of natural religion, or by a process of moral culture. These had their place, but they are inadequate and absorbed in a higher moral power. Paul, in writing to Titus, speaking of Christians before their conversion, says: ‘They were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour, that, being justified by grace, we should be heirs according to the promise, of eternal life.’

"They, therefore, labored for the reformation and salvation of men, by going everywhere preaching Christ as the only Saviour from sin. All this is true and good in its place. But it is like persuading the blind to see and the deaf to hear. This is not the gospel. Christ is the only Saviour from sin, the only source of holiness, or of spiritual life. The first step in salvation from sin is our reconciliation to God.

"The reconciliation is effected by the expiation made by the death of Christ (Rom. 5:10). It is his blood, and his blood alone, that cleanses from sin. As long as men are under the law, they bring forth fruit unto death; it is only when freed from the law, freed from its inexorable demand of perfect obedience and from its awful penalty, that they bring forth fruit unto God (Rom. 7:4-6). Christ delivered us from the law as demanding perfect obedience, by being made under the law, and fulfilling all righteousness for us; and he redeems us from the curse of the law, by being made a curse for us - dying the just for the unjust, and bearing our sins in his own body on the tree.

"Being thus reconciled unto God by his death, we are saved by his life. He sends the Holy Spirit to impart to us spiritual life, and transforms us more and more into his own image. The Spirit reveals to us the glory of Christ and his infinite love. He makes us feel not only that we owe everything to him, but that he himself is everything to us - our present joy and our everlasting portion - our all in all.

"Thus every other motive to obedience is absorbed and sublimated into love to Christ and zeal for his glory. His people become like him, and as he went about doing good, so do they. All this of course, is folly to the Greek. God, however, has determined by the foolishness of preaching to save them who believe. Pulmonary consumption is more destructive of human life than the plague.

"So Christianity without Christ, in all its forms, the phthisis of the church, is more to be dreaded than skepticism, whether scientific or philosophical. The only remedy is preaching Christ, as did the apostles."

Adding to this, one cannot preach Christ who does not know Christ, and have Him living within. One cannot proclaim a savoir who is not himself totally dependant upon the saviors' work of redemption. If the church were to come back to this kind of relationship with Christ and He in us, then would we see children born unto Zion and life, life more abundantly through Christ the life giver and life sustainer. Christ in you, your only hope!

—  Randy Munter   Editor and Webmaster

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