Christ in You!

There are five pivotal, dynamic historic Christian events which are foundational to the believer's present experience and future existence: the death, resurrection, ascension, exaltation, and the gift of Christ--the Holy Spirit.

Christ died. While there are several theories of the atonement which have floated around for centuries, one fact is certain: "Christ died for us."¹ And as a consequence of His meritorious death, believing, repentant sinners are now justified freely.²

Christ arose. Then there's Easter, the resurrection of Christ. By bringing the Lord Jesus out of the grave to live for- evermore, God attested to Christ's veracity--everything He testified to while on earth was true. He validated His deity--He was indeed the Son of God and He guaranteed the believer's everlasting security: "He who believes in me will live, even though he dies."³

Christ ascended. But not only did Christ die and rise for us, He also ascended for us: "While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven."⁴ These three Christ-events are God's provision for the salvation of all who will believe. These events are both historical and foundational to every other doctrine of the Christian faith.

Christ exalted. But there's more. Why did our glorified Lord ascend into Heaven? The writer of the Epistle of Hebrews states it clearly: "But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God."⁵ And why did our glorified Lord enter Heaven? " . . . he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence."⁶ And what is He doing in God's presence for us? The apostle says He "is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us."⁷ Christ was exalted that He might intercede for us.

The Gift of the Spirit

Now for the fifth pivotal God-event. It was on the day of Pentecost that the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit so that Christ--by the Spirit--might indwell every believer: Peter preached: "Exalted to the right hand of God, he [Christ] has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear." Being deeply convicted for their sins as they listened to Peter's message about the death of Christ, the hearers cried out: " 'Brothers, what shall we do?' Peter replied, 'Repent and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.' "⁸

It is the gift of the Holy Spirit that brings Christ to us--in us. The New Testament writers repeatedly affirm this truth about the indwelling of Christ. Here are two examples: "Christ lives in me" and ". . . if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you . . ."⁹ Christ in you.

Jesus Christ is both a historical and contemporary Person. Historical: He died, arose, ascended, and exalted to serve as our Mediator. But inasmuch as He is also "the Living One"¹⁰ He desires to be vitally present and spiritually contemporary in the life of every believer: He is present in His glorified body at the Father's right hand, where He sits as our Mediator. And He is dynamically present in every Christian by His indwelling in the person of the Holy Spirit.

Christ in You

The apostle to the Gentiles wrote to the Colossian believers, "God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."¹¹

Paul's use of the term "mystery" here suggests that this truth of the indwelling Christ was hidden from all except by revelation. Unlike many of the pagan religions of Paul's day, which taught that only an exclusive group could know the secret information of their cultic belief system, the apostle declares to these first-century Christians that the truth of the indwelling Christ is a glorious revealed fact for every true believerCChrist in you!

Do we believe this--really believe this? Do we actually believe that this same Jesus--the crucified, risen, ascended Lord--is in reality inhabiting every believer at this very moment?

The Lack

I don't think so. And I don't think we believe this because of a glaring failure on the part of many Christians--the failure to believe in a present, contemporary Christ.

Oh, we believe in a historical Jesus--the Jesus who died, arose and ascended. But we don't believe in, or experience, the dynamic reality of "the Living One" living and reigning in us--in me!

Why do I say this?

How can a Christian affirm the truth of the indwelling Christ while he habitually sins? How can a Christian affirm the truth of the indwelling Christ while he has no overflowing supply and manifestation of joy? How can a Christian affirm the truth of the indwelling Christ while he has no pull to the place of prayer when the people of God gather? How can a Christian affirm the truth of the indwelling Christ when his heart is not broken over the world's sin and the Church's lukewarmness? How can a Christian affirm the truth of the indwelling Christ when he doesn't regularly get alone with Christ and meditate upon His words? How can a Christian affirm the truth of the indwelling Christ when he is careless about obeying the commands of Christ?

When our Lord walked among men on this earth, He lived a life of victory, joy, prayer and communion with His Father, wept over the world and Church, and always did those things that pleased the Father.

While I'm not suggesting that the Christian, as long as he is in this world, will ever perfectly attain to the likeness of Christ, I am persuaded that the average 21st century Christian is seriously defective and living far beneath his privileges in Christ.

Why are so many Christians not experiencing a life of victory in their private and personal lives? Why are so many Christians living life without a continual supply of Holy Spirit joy? Why do so many Christians not love the place of prayer, live without a broken heart, fail to meditate on the words of Christ and fail in striving to keep His commands?

The Answer

God has the answer. God's answer is--Pentecost--a personal Pentecost.

Now let's not get sidetracked here by the phenomena which attended the first Pentecost. Let's go to the substance of what happened in the hearts of those seeking, thirsting disciples on that day. For whatever conclusions one may reach as to what happened on the day of Pentecost, it must include this: it was a substantive, life-changing experience for those 120 disciples of the ascended Lord. Pentecost made a difference!

No one can study the life of Peter without being struck by the change that occurred in this one man at Pentecost. I say this reverently, but it must be said: The fact that Simon Peter walked with Christ as one of His apostles for three years did not produce the Peter that we see following Pentecost. The fact that Christ died did not produce the Peter that we see following Pentecost. The fact that Christ arose and ascended to the right hand of the Father to intercede for His Church, did not in themselves produce the Peter that we see after Pentecost.

Before Pentecost Peter lacked spiritual stability and Christ-centered focus; he was weighted down with divided loyalties and uncleansed motives; he feared the faces of Christ's enemies more than he feared God. When depressed Peter was drawn back to the things he had left; his sectarian spirit drew a narrow circle around only his own kind and his impetuosity tempestuousness was prompted by a tainted self. One time his apparent good intentions were inspired by Satan himself, and while he said he was willing to die for Jesus, he had yet to fall as grain into the ground and die to self.

Is it any wonder that the Lord Jesus charged His disciples after His resurrection: "I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."¹² Again Jesus confided to His disciples before He left them: "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him."¹³ When was this promise fulfilled? At Pentecost. For on that day Christ (and the Father) took up residence in the hearts of His believing, surrendered followers. At Pentecost the 120 experienced the indwelling fullness and dynamic reality of a Christ in them as they never had before.

Whatever one may conjecture about the dispensational factors involved at Pentecost, we do know that something happened both to and in Christ's totally surrendered disciples. There was the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them, and a revelation of the Son within them. They were baptized with the Spirit and filled with the Spirit. 

The Apostle Paul

What the 120 experienced on that ministry-transforming day was not unlike what Saul of Tarsus experienced a year or two later. Following his dramatic encounter with Christ on the Damascus Road, he was led by the Spirit to the home of a devout disciple by the name of Ananias. And in that home we observe a touching, powerful scene: "Placing his hands on Saul, [Ananias] said, 'Brother Saul, the Lord, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here--has sent me so that you may see again [Saul had been struck blind] and be filled with the Holy Spirit.' "¹⁴ In this Acts 9 narrative, we read where Paul saw Christ, trusted in Christ, and was filled with the Spirit.

I am persuaded that Paul, in writing to the Galatian Christians over twenty years later, was making reference to this "Ananias Home" experience, when he wrote, "God . . . was pleased to reveal his Son in me . . ."¹⁵ On the Damascus Road Paul had a revelation of the risen, glorified Lord, but it was after he arrived at the home of Ananias that he had a second revelation--a revelation of the Son within! And what a glorious inner revelation this was!

The Church's Great Need

Oh, that the entire Church of the Lord Jesus Christ would acknowledge and experience this. Oh, that all of the ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ would fall on their faces until they experienced the revelation of the Son within.

Whenever I think on these things, my mind invariably recalls a book that ought to be on every pastor's shelf--The Way to Pentecost--written by the saintly Methodist, Samuel Chadwick.

As a young English pastor, Chadwick became so dissatisfied--that's the key--with his lack of spiritual reality and authenticity, his lack of passion for Christ, his lack of power in the pulpit, his lack of love for people, his lack of quality fruitfulness that he took drastic action. He burned all of his sermons and set himself to seek the Lord of the Church to satisfy his thirsty heart.

And as He always does, Christ satisfied this young pastor's heart. In writing about this many years later, Chadwick says, "Pentecost transforms . . . The commonest bush ablaze with the presence of God becomes a miracle of glory."¹⁶ And this is so because by experiencing a personal Pentecost the surrendered heart has experienced a revelation of the Son within. For you see, Pentecost makes Christ realCaliveCalive and real within.

The late Dr. R.W. Dale, pastor for 36 years at Carrs Lane Chapel, Birmingham, England, testified to the reality of this experience. One day while sitting at his desk writing an Easter sermon, suddenly the Holy Spirit made the "Living One" real to this hungry pastor. "Christ is alive! Alive! Alive! Can that really be true? Living as I am?"

In recording this event in Dale's life, Dr. Joe Brice writes, "At first it seemed strange, but at last the truth dawned in a burst of glory. The preacher rose and paced about his study repeating 'Christ is living! Christ is living! Yes, Christ is living!' Dale said that this experience had the nature of a new discovery. "I thought that all along I believed it, but not until that moment did I feel sure about it." Then Dale exclaimed, "All my people shall know it. I shall preach it again and again until they believe it as I do now."17

I am of the conviction that what Dr. Dale experienced on that momentous occasion, was not unlike what Paul experienced in the home of Ananias or what the disciples experienced on the day of Pentecost, or what a myriad of other thirsty-hearted believers have experienced. In the words of the late Catherine Marshall, they have experienced "something more." And that something more is more than something to be experiencedCHe is Someone. He is the Son, the Lord of glory.

It is one thing to be in Christ; it is quite another thing for Christ to be in you--in all of His dynamic, living reality. Are you thirsty? !

- Soli Deo Gloria -

All Bible references are taken from the New International Version of the Bible. 

1.    Romans 5:8
2.    See Romans 3:22-25
3.    John 11:25
4.    Luke 24:51
5.    Hebrews 10:12
6.    Hebrews 9:24
7.    Romans 8:34
8.    Acts 2:33; 37-38
9.    Galatians 2:20; Romans 8:9-10 (italics mine)
10.  Revelation 1:18
11.  Colossians 1:27 (italics mine)
12.  Luke 24:49
13.  John 14:23
14.  Acts 9:17
15.  Galatians 1:16
16.  The Way to Pentecost; Samuel Chadwick, p. 15
17.  Pentecost; Joe Brice, pp. 25-26