Abide In Christ

Well, I want you to look this
morning at this 20th verse, first of all, here in 1 John 2, verse
20. These are some things that I've
been thinking about some and listening to the radio considerably
on the trip by myself, and I heard a lot of talk by the Pentecost
about the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit. I thought about
these things and maybe they would be of some help to us this morning,
but I want you to notice in verse 20, but ye have an anointing. That's the word, the word unction
there is translated in the RV version, anointing. You have
an anointing from the Holy One and you know all things. Now
I've not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because
you know it and that no lie is of the truth. who is a liar,
but he that denieth Jesus is the Christ. He is an antichrist
that denieth the Father and the Son. Now there's another verse
that I want you to look at before we get into the message. That's
verse 27 of this same chapter. It says, but the anointing which
ye have received of him abideth in you. Now notice this is an
anointing which we have received. We have received it of him. This
is the gift of the Holy Spirit, which we received of the Lord.
He says, abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach
you, but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and
is truth, and is no lie, even as it hath taught you, ye shall
abide in him. Ye shall abide in him, even as
it hath taught you, even as the anointing hath taught you, ye
shall abide in him. And now, little children, abide
in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence and not
be ashamed before him at his coming. These are precious verses
indeed. Now, there's a great deal of
talk, as I suggested, that I'd been acquainted with, listening
in the religious world, about the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
And if the things that men say about this subject were true
to the Word of God, it would be a great blessing indeed if
these things were true, if they were according to the Holy Scriptures. There is great need, I believe,
for clear and biblical instruction regarding the person in office
and the work of God the Holy Spirit. But most of the preaching
I heard today about the Holy Spirit, I believe, is utterly
heretical. It is heretical because of its
emphasis. Now, most people seem to think
that the anointing of the Spirit is some mystical second work
of grace, that it's something that only the super-Christian,
only those who are acquainted with the higher life, so-called
higher life, of the believer will ever experience, will ever
have. Well, I believe that John here
in our text this morning when he said, But the anointing which
ye have received of him abideth in you, that this is an anointing
which every one of the children of God, every member of the family
of God, every child of grace in this world has received. We
all have received it. If we be in Christ, if we're
joined to Him, if we are children of faith, children of God, then
we have received this anointing. We've received this gift of the
Holy Spirit of God. If any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of His. So if you are His, then the Spirit
that raised up Jesus from the dead, this Spirit dwells in you,
and it quickens your mortal life. It makes you alive in the Lord. Even in this body, You are alive
because of the Spirit of God that dwells in you. Now then,
this work, it's not that just some believers are privileged
to enjoy this anointing. I recognize that there are those
that believe that they're just a certain class. that have this
anointing, but we recognize the fact that there's no such thing
as first-class and second-class Christians in this world. It certainly is my conviction
that all of us are on the same level, that we're all on the
same ground, In christ jesus the lord and that there are no
such thing as first class and second class third class christians
But that we're either christians or we're not we're either in
christ or we're out of christ We either got the hope of the
gospel or we don't have the hope of the gospel We're either we're
either joined to him or alienated from him. We're joined to christ
or we're cut off from christ It's it's that we're his or we're
not his and so if we're his then we have this anointing. Now,
I believe that this idea that I'm just now talking about, the
idea that this anointing is only for the first class Christians,
while the second class and the third class, as they say, don't
have it. I believe that this comes from
the terrible influence of Pentecostalism. And it reveals, I believe, the
influence of this even among those who loathe that religious
system, as indeed it ought to be loathed. We believe that the
idea that an individual can seek this anointing and that he can
seek an experience in the Holy Ghost such as speaking in tongues
or seek the baptism of the Holy Ghost, we believe that this is
foreign to the teaching of the Bible. Now John does not speak
of the anointing we should seek. And I'm not here this morning
to tell you to seek an anointing. I'm not here to tell you to seek
an experience. I'm not here, that's not my purpose
here in this meeting. I'm not here telling you to get
the baptism of the Spirit. That's not what this is about.
That's not what this meeting is about. And I want to clear
that up. I want you to understand that. That's not the emphasis
here because John is talking about, he's talking about the
anointing we have. The anointing we have, and I
just want to press that upon your mind. This is an anointing
we have as the people of God. Now, this anointing of the Spirit
flows to all believers freely from And through the Lord Jesus
Christ, according to John, the one thing that distinguishes
the believer from the unbeliever is indeed this anointing or this
unction which we have received from Christ the Holy One. And in these verses here from
19 verses 19 and 20 this I believe is crystal clear You can look
at it here. They went out from us, but they
were not of us. Well, who are these people? They
were Antichrist they were those who denied Christ they were those
who denied that he had come in the flesh and so if they denied
Christ and Then they deny the father because as the scripture
so eloquently puts it here in verse 23 It says he that acknowledges
the son hath the father also So if you deny the son then the
same has not the father and so we're talking about the antichrist
We're talking about people who deny christ people who are against
christ people who do not stand with christ You know, there's
a text where jesus said In the Gospels, he said that they that
are not with me are against me, and they that are against me
scatter abroad. They that are not with me. Now,
we want to be with Christ. And those that are with him,
we're not talking about them being with him literally, we're
talking about them being with Christ in his doctrine, with
Christ in his truth, with Christ believing in his deity. And so
this morning an antichrist is somebody that's not with Christ.
Somebody that will not stand with Christ somebody that rejects
the gospel. I'm not talking about just one
man That's going to appear on the world scene down the line.
The world is full of Antichrist this morning people that deny
Jesus Christ deny his redemptive work deny that full salvation
is in this one man. They deny him the glory, they
deny him the crown, they deny Christ, and they're anti-Christ. Anyone who stands not with his
truth and with his teaching is anti-Christ. and is scattering
abroad. Now then, I do not suggest, and
I want this understood also, that we, as the people of God,
do not seek the filling or the control of the Spirit, the power
of the Spirit, or the manifest presence of the Spirit by which
we might be enabled to worship and live for and to serve our
God, because we ought to be seeking that. But I believe this is,
as the children of God, in that we have the Spirit and the anointing
of the Spirit, that certainly these things we can pray for
and we can seek. We must have the Holy Spirit's
power upon us. I do not minimize His power or
His work, because without Him we are nothing and we can do
nothing for Christ. It is through the work of the
Spirit, not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord. It's by God's Spirit that we're
enabled to serve the Lord, enabled to walk in this world, and we
as the people of God, we have the anointing, and then we seek
the filling and the control of the Holy Spirit in our lives. But it is dishonoring, I think,
to Christ and to the Holy Spirit to speak of the Spirit's anointing
as though it were something that we earn by our devotion. Now, some people might think
that, you know, if you're more devoted, then you'll have this
anointing, but it's not true, beloved. We have this anointing
as a gift of God, and we received it of Him. We do not gain it
by our earnestness, or we do not miss it because we do not
measure up to others spiritually. This anointing I'm talking about
today, we have from God. We have it as a gift of God. Now, we who believe, I believe
the scripture makes this abundantly clear. Many, many people miss
it. Many, many people are blinded
to it. But the believer, the child of
God, is complete in Jesus Christ. In Colossians 2.10, we read these
words, and I'd like for you to be familiar. With the word of
God and so turn there in Colossians 2 and verse 10 This is one of
the scriptures in the Bible that every child of God ought to know
where it is And you ought to know the meaning of this verse
and if you'll listen this morning You will know it in Colossians
2 and verse 10. It says and ye are complete in
Him ye are complete in him which is the head of all principality
and power And so we who believe are complete in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now I'm driving at something.
You listen to what I'm saying. The Holy Spirit of God is the
principal gift of grace. promised in the covenant by Whom
all other graces come now this gift of God the Holy Spirit this
anointing that is promised in the eternal covenant and it is
by the Holy Spirit that all the other gifts all the other spiritual
graces are Every spiritual grace you have in your life. Do you
have any patience my brother my sister Do you have any do
you have any power in prayer? Do you have any any ability to
to stay under the load and to endure? Hardship and testing
in this life if you do have this is because of this anointing
It's because God's Spirit is in you and he's given you these
other graces these graces that are to be found in the life of
Of the child of God and there isn't one Gift, there isn't one
grace. There isn't one jewel That adorns
the child of God except it be given by the Holy Spirit It's
given by the Spirit to the life. He is given to all God's elect
fully and completely Now, you get that? He, the Spirit, is
given to all God's elect fully and completely as the result
of the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you
to turn to Galatians 3, Galatians chapter 3, and look at verse
13 and 14. I'm saying that the promise of
the anointing, I'm saying the Holy Spirit is given fully to
every child of God Through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ
and in Galatians chapter 3. I read verse 13 and verse 14
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made
a curse for us For it is written curse. It is everyone that hangeth
on a tree and then verse 14 that the blessing of Abraham might
come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ and that we might
receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. That we might
receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. And that's exactly,
my friend, how the people of God come into the Holy Spirit. You're completing Him, and so
it is because of the fitness that we find in Christ. It is
because of the fullness and the completeness that we find in
Christ that we have this gift of the Holy Spirit. And it's
not because of your devotion. You say, I'm a great deal more
devoted than the rest of my family. I'm a great deal more devoted
than the rest of the church. I just seem to be a better Christian
than most people, and that gives me a corner on the Spirit. No,
it does not give you a corner on the Spirit. Because we all
have this anointing, we are complete in Christ. Is Christ sufficient? Is He sufficient? Is Christ alone
enough to satisfy both the demands of God's holy law and also enough
to satisfy the needs of your own heart? Is Christ alone sufficient? Well, you take note that when
John talks about this anointing here, that he talks about our
abiding in Him. Yeah, and this this is very important
that we see this in that that we have received what we do have
we received the gift of the Holy Spirit because of the redemptive
work of Christ and we We have the blessings of God because
of where we stand it's in Christ and I I went over some of these
things with my sister and not these things in particular, but
we were talking about the gospel and our being complete in the
Lord Jesus and Christ being made into us, wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. Went through the gospel message
and she said to me, of course she's under medication, but she
said, how much of this do you have to know to have the benefit
of it? How much do you have to know
to go to heaven? And I told her, sis, it's not what you know,
it's who you know. It's who you know. So if you
know Christ, if you're in Christ, then my friend, then that's what's
required. That's what's needful. That's
what's necessary. That's all, my friend, that is
needed. Christ is sufficient. But you
take note here in verse 27 He talks about but the anointing
which you received of him abiding you need not that any man teach
you Because now what that refers to is it refers to over in the
sixth chapter of John where it says out of the prophecy in Jeremiah
chapter 31 that they shall be all taught of God and Everyone
who is taught of God everyone who hears and learns of the Father
Jesus said they come to me And so you have no need that somebody
teach you to know the Lord because all those who are who are God's
elect when the Spirit of God comes into their heart they know
him and They know the Lord and so I don't have to say to you
know the Lord because you know the Lord if you've been if you've
seen and heard of the Father if the Spirit of God has come
to your heart if the Father has drawn you then you know Christ
you know it and you know that you know him it's like the lady
said I heard a a lady one time and she was testifying and she'd
been an alcoholic and she just ready to take her life and God
had saved her and she said there's two things that she knew Immediately
when when the Lord saved her and one of the things that she
knew she knew just exactly Was these two things one is she knew
what happened to her? She knew exactly what happened.
She knew that God had saved her She knew it and the second thing
she knew was she knew who it was that saved her She knew it
right then and there no question about it. It was the Lord that
saved her She knew the Lord And so everyone who is converted
by the grace of God and the Spirit of God, and everyone the Spirit
of God comes through, they have this anointing, and they don't
need anybody to teach them, say, know the Lord, because they have
this anointing that teaches them all things, teaches them that
it's God that saves, and it's God that does the work of salvation
from the beginning to the end. All the work of God, all things
are of God. And all spiritual things all
work of the spirit in the heart. This is all of god now It goes
on to say and even as it had taught you Ye shall abide in
him Even as it had taught you you shall abide in him and our
little children abide in him And so the point I want to make
is that your sufficiency For this anointing is through Jesus
Christ, and this anointing teaches you about Christ so that you
cannot be anti-Christ in any way, shape, or form. And so,
my friend, abide in Christ. Abide in Him. Ye shall abide
in Him, even as it hath taught you. Now, you remember the verses
over in the book of John. You turn back there with me.
I I'd like to just to read these to you I know that no man can
call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Ghost but in John chapter 16,
I Want to read here a couple of verses. Well, no, let's read
verse 12 of John 16 and read down through verse 15 from 12
to 15 in John chapter 16 I have yet many things to say unto you,
but you cannot bear them now. I Howbeit, when he the Spirit
of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall
not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he
speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me,
for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All
things that the Father hath are mine, therefore said I, that
he shall take of mine, and shall show it To you and then over
in the 14th chapter in verse 26 This is a good verse, but
the comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send
in my name He shall teach you all things and bring all things
to remembrance whatsoever. I've said unto you So this is
the anointing the Holy Spirit is the anointing and he teaches
you the things of Christ He teaches you he he reveals to you the
things of Christ and apart from the Holy Spirit You have no ability
to discern the things of God because the things of God are
discerned by the Spirit and the Spirit searches all things yea
the deep things of God and those who understand the things of
God are those who have the Holy Spirit they have this anointing
and And they know these things, they know them in their hearts,
because the Spirit of God teaches them. But I like this, that they
are taught this anointing to abide in Him. And the reason
is because all fitness is in Him. Now, if you are a believer,
you know that Christ is all you need. on this thought and on this truth. And so I want to drive it home
to you this morning, and that is that if you are, you know
that Christ is all you need, and you're complete in Him. In
Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and of
His fullness have all we received as the people of God, and grace
for grace, and we need and desire nothing but Christ. And this
anointing leads us to this. It drives it home to our hearts,
so that we may abide in Christ, so that when Christ comes, we'll
not be ashamed before him and his coming. My friend, if I do
not see myself dressed up to the full in the Lord Jesus, in
the garments of salvation, if I do not have on the heavenly
garment, the garment of the of the children of God, if I don't
have that garment on, if I'm not as holy as the Holy One,
if I do not stand in Christ, I'll be ashamed when I see. The only way that I can miss
being ashamed when I see Christ is to be dressed in His holy
garments and to have on His righteousness. To be in Him is the only way
I can keep from being ashamed when I see Him as He is, in His
white righteousness, in His holiness. I'll be ashamed unless I'm dressed
like he is. Now, hear me out this morning.
John Gill made some statements here that I want to give you.
He said we're complete in Him. Well, what does this mean? It
means that God's saints are perfect in Him. Saints are in Christ
and all fullness being in Him, they are full too. The child
of God, the saint of God is full too, of as much as they stand
in need and are capable of containing. Now, do you get that? The child
of God is as full as he can be, as they stand and need to be.
And my friend, our needs, I often thought about our need. And there
are two things that stand out, I believe, when you grow in grace
and the older you get in the Lord, and that is his fullness
and my emptiness. The older you get, I mean, it
boils down just to that, his fullness and my emptiness. and
so as john gill points out here the child of god is that there
is full as they have everything they stand in need of and that's
saying a lot when you talk about what you stand in need of picture
yourself a sinner naked before god a sinner a dead sinner lifeless
picture yourself a worm of the dust a wiggling maggot of the
dust Picture a thrice-holy God, and He's going to make you so
that you can stand in His presence. Yea, He's going to adopt you
into His family. What must He do? Well, He must
lift you up out of the dunghill of sin, and He must put upon
you His own clothing. He must clothe you with garments
that are fit for His holy habitation. He must give you His righteousness
and merit. He must clothe you, my friend,
so that you have everything that you stand in need of and all
that God demands of a sinner, He provides for him. Isn't that
wonderful? that our message is not you get busy with your sewing
machine and you make this garment, that garment. No, no, no. The
wedding garment that we must all have on to come and to appear
at the marriage supper of the Lamb is made by God's tailor
and it's not made by any tailor on earth. It's made by God's
tailor and he provides the garment, the wedding garment. Well, all
we're capable of containing is the Lord Jesus Christ and God
has fitted our soul for Him because He is all God demands and we're
capable of containing Him. You know, there's a whole lot
I'll never attain to in this life. There's just a whole lot
I'll just never will. A whole lot I can't get a hold
of. There's a whole lot I just can't, I just somehow or other
can't simulate into my system. but there is one who I can attain
to and I'm capable. God's designed our souls so that
Christ can be received and Christ can be contained in us and Christ
lives in us. Paul said Christ the hope of
glory. It is Christ in you that is the
hope of glory. Christ can live in you and in
me, and he's the hope of glory. We're capable of containing all
that God demands that we have, and Christ is all that God demands. Now then, John Gill went on to
say, these words are an affirmation asserting not what the saints
shall be hereafter or later on in heaven but what they now are
in Christ. Saints are perfect. Saints are
full. Saints have sufficiency and they
are complete now in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this scripture
in 1 Corinthians 1.30 Here's another verse that you ought
to know where, you ought to know where it's found and you ought
to memorize this. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 30. But of him, and you take note
there that all true believers who are born again by the Spirit
of God, they're in Christ and they're virtually united or vitally
united to him by the living union of faith. as the branches are
in the vine, drawing life from and entirely dependent upon the
vine, we are in Christ Jesus. Paul said, but of him are you
in Christ Jesus, of him, and we're in Christ, not by an act
of our own free will. Because Paul said, but of Him
are you in Christ Jesus. Of Him. He's the one that put
you there. He's the one that put you in
this position. He's the one that has given you
the anointing. You've received it of Him. And
so that the anointing teaches you to abide in Him. and because
the Spirit of God has put you there, but by the work of God's
free, sovereign, almighty grace. And so we could meditate upon
this fact, this glorious fact that God has put us in this position. Well, what does it mean to be
in Christ? I'm gonna give you four things
and we'll close. What it means to be in Christ. Well, this is interesting, mightily
interesting to me. Mighty interesting to me, I should
say. And I hope this morning that is interesting to you. Because
this is simple, but my brother, my sister, you'd be surprised
how many professing believers in the world that don't know
a thing on earth about what I'm talking about. And many of the
Baptists of our day and time, especially the landmark Baptists,
their doctrine keeps them from coming to clear light and understanding
of the things that I'm talking about this morning. They're just
blinded to these glorious facts that I'm talking about here today.
To be in Christ, number one, is to be blessed of God. It's to be blessed of God. This
is wonderful, and you can turn to Ephesians chapter one, and
you can look at verse three. To be in Christ is to be blessed
of God. Do you want to be blessed of
God, my friend? Well, the only people who are
blessed of God in this whole world are those who are in Christ
Jesus. Listen to what it says, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. So when God put us in Christ,
he blessed us with all spiritual blessings. And so don't let anybody
talk to you about any second work of grace. Don't let anybody
talk to you about your need to speak in tongues or your need
to have some sort of a mystical experience. No, my friend, if
you be blessed of God and put in Christ Jesus, you have been
blessed with all spiritual blessings in the everlasting covenant of
grace. God blessed all His people with all spiritual blessings
before the world began. All with which God can or will
bless man, He has freely bestowed upon us in Christ in infinite
measure. And so if you're in Christ, every
blessing God can bless a man with, He has blessed you with
it in Jesus Christ. and so you should meditate on
that. You see the reason more and more why I said to my sister,
it is not what you know, it's who you know. If you're in Him,
if you're in Him, then you've been blessed, God's bestowed
upon you in Jesus Christ all the blessings that He'll bless
men with. Now then, the second thing is
this. To be in Christ is to be the object of God's favor, the
object of God's favor. Now, you might ask yourself the
question, with whom is God well-pleased? With whom is God well-pleased? Well, Matthew 17 and five, it
says, this is my beloved son in whom I am well-pleased. God was pleased with Christ. Well, if we're in Christ and
if we're one with Christ, God is well pleased with us for Christ's
sake. He cannot be displeased with
the body if he is pleased with the head. If Christ is the head,
and He is the head of the church, He's the head of the body, and
if God is well pleased with Him, then God cannot be displeased
with the body. The church is the body. We're
many members. We're His body, members of His
flesh and of His bones. And so we're the objects then
of God's favor and pleasure because we're in Christ. Now that's so
important to understand that, especially when you, when Satan
takes you on a guilt trip and whenever you, when you think
that, you know, when somehow or other you get this awful feeling
of guilt and you get despondent and you become depressed and
you think, my, how awful I am and I'm so unworthy. And you know, that's to be understood,
you know, as Satan's work. Who is the accuser of the brethren?
Satan is the accuser of the brethren. That's not God's spirit working
in your heart when you feel this terrible guilt and you feel it
so despairing in your heart and you feel depression. That's not
the spirit of God. That's the devil is what that
is. And anytime the Spirit of God brings an individual to feel
their need, that the same Spirit of God brings them, draws them,
shows them Christ, shows them the remedy. Doesn't just take
them down the road of guilt and lead them to despair and despondency. That's the devil who's the accuser
of the brethren. And so remember this, my friend,
that you're the object of God's favor and pleasure if you're
in Christ. And away with this guilt and
this morbid attitude. Away with it! Because you're
in Christ and you're the object of His pleasure, the object of
His favor. He cannot be displeased with
the body if He's pleased with the head. and Christ is the head. You remember that. All right,
now the third thing to be in Christ is to be complete. Is to be complete. Now, I may
have mentioned this a while ago, but there's some things I want
to say about that that I think will make it a little clearer
to you. In Christ Jesus, we are complete. That means that we're
full. That means that we're lacking nothing. It means that we're
perfect. Perfection is in Christ. There is no sin in Christ. Therefore, there's perfection
in Christ. And if you're in Christ, then
you're perfect. As far as God is concerned, as
far as your position is concerned, you're perfect. He is all our
wisdom and He's all our righteousness. He's all our sanctification and
all our redemption. He's all that God requires of
us. We have perfect fullness in Him. Now being complete in Him, there
is no lack. There is no need. There is no
room. And the only way that we can
put anything else in us is to push Him out. We are completing
him, that's what that means. And so if you were to get anything
else and somebody says, well, you need something else, well,
you're mistaken. Because the only way I can get
any more than me is to push Christ out. Because Christ is all, I'm
completing him. And so I have to push him out
to put something else in. And what I would take in if I
pushed him out, my friend, compared with Christ, I don't want it.
I don't want it. I'm not impressed with what people
say I need when I already have the Father's best. When I have
heaven's best, I don't need what other people suggest. I don't
need it, and I'm not impressed at all, and don't turn my head
one bit. I have him, and that's all God
requires, and so I'm complete in him. Now, let me just say
this. We were declared to be holy when
we were redeemed by Christ. You say, now, Preacher, does
that take care of this business of sanctification? Does it take
care of this business of being holy? What you're talking about
this morning, does it take care of that? Well, we read there
in 1 Corinthians 1.30 that it was made unto us, sanctification,
and we were made holy by having We were made, we were declared
to be holy when we were redeemed by Christ. And we were made holy
by having the nature of Christ implanted and imparted to us
in regeneration. So when people start talking
to you about, well, preacher, you know, you can talk about
your position in Christ, but what about practical things such
as, I mean, is Christ really our sanctification? My friend,
you know what sanctification means? It means to be set apart.
He is what sets us apart unto God. And so it is through the
impartation of His nature in us that in regeneration, that's
where it takes place, Christ comes in to dwell. The principle
of righteousness and holiness is planted in us then, and there
isn't any other way to get that in you but by regeneration. And
if it's there, Certainly he will perfect his work until the day
of Jesus Christ Now then I want you to understand that because
some people might say well preacher You're an awful lot on this position
business about being in Christ and and are being The object
of God's favor are being complete in him. But what about this practical
thing? Well, we are he's our sanctification. He's the only sanctification
I know anything about If it wasn't for him in me, I'd be just the
same devil I was before he converted me. If it wasn't for him being
in me, you would never see anything but the old man. That's all there'd
be there is the old man, no new man. But because he dwells in
me by faith, there is a new man, and that new man is Christ, Christ
alone. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creation. All things are passed away. Behold,
all things become new because he's in Christ. And that's the
difference. The last thing is this. To be
in Christ, now you remember what I said about pushing him out.
I don't want to push him out. I don't want anything to take
his place. I just want Him, that's all I want. And if I got any
more than what I've already got, I'd have to push Him out to make
room for it. Is that right? That's what I'm trying to tell
you. Okay, now the last thing. To be in Christ is to be freed
from all possibility of condemnation. Now Romans 8 1 says there's therefore
now no Condemnation and Edward combination is judgment. There's
therefore now no judgment To them which are in Christ Jesus
If a man is in Christ, there is no judgment Awaiting him because
the judgment has already fallen on on the substitute upon the
Lord Jesus Christ. The judgment fell on Him. That
was due you. It is no more possible for a
believer to be condemned by God than it is for Christ to be condemned. Can you take that? It is no more
possible for a believer to be condemned by God than it is for
Christ to be condemned. For we are in Him. We dwell in
Him. And we're in Christ. And so therefore
God cannot condemn us because we're in Christ. He will not
condemn Christ. Who is He that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather than is risen again. Who is even
seated at the right hand of God, making intercession for us. Now
because we're in Him, because God once imputed our sins to
Him, and because He has imputed Christ's righteousness to us,
we cannot ever be condemned because God will not for any reason ever
again impute sin to God's elect. He will never impute sin. Now
turn over to Romans 4, Romans chapter 4 here, and I want you
to look at these verses. Boy, I got a blessing out of
these verses. morning And I want to read verse 6 Well, let me
back up to verse 5 But to him that worketh not but believeth
on him that justifieth the ungodly Romans 4 and 5 His faith is counted
for righteousness. I Even as David also describeth
or declare the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth
righteousness without works, saying, blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Now notice
this eighth verse. Blessed, happy is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute sin. Blessed is the man to whom
the Lord will not impute sin. Surely it would be acceptable
with God for me to tell you this morning that there are some men,
some people in this world to whom he will never impute sin. He will never accredit sin to
them anymore. And there are some whose sins
have been completely remitted, canceled out, and God will never
remember them against them anymore. Their sins have been put away
and God will not impute a credit sin to them anymore. And those
are they that are in Christ Jesus. And if he will not impute sin
to us, he cannot ever for any reason condemn us for sin because
we're in Christ. Therefore, we cannot ever be
condemned. Now, these are four things that I've given you here
to help you to understand what it means to be in Christ Jesus. Because the text, if you remember,
tells us that the anointing teaches us, it teaches us to abide in
Him And this is the point that I want to make to you this morning
that we are to abide in Him and to stay on Him is what that means,
to stay on Him, to live on Him, to live in Him, and to abide
in Him. And don't get away from Him because
to get away from Him is to be antichrist. Let me say in closing
here that any message that would speak contrary to you this morning,
and you say, Preacher, you're pretty bold to say that, but
I make bold to say it, that any message that would speak contrary
to completeness and fullness in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ, of God's elect, as I've stated it to you this morning,
is the message of Antichrist. The message of Antichrist. Any
message that strips Christ of His glory, of His honor, as being
all that the sinner needs, it is anti-Christ. any message that
would in any way belittle Christ and belittle His work on the
behalf of God's elect and suggest that something must be added,
that there's a condition that must be met by the elect in order
to obtain full forgiveness and free salvation in Christ is Antichrist. Antichrist. and so this morning
it shuts us up to abide in him the anointing has taught us that
and that's what we know and no lies of the truth that's what
we know because of this anointing well may the Lord bless these
truths to your heart and to enable you to rejoice in them and blessed
is the man happy is the man to whom the Lord will not impute
iniquity, sin. So you ought to be happy if you're
in Christ. Meditate on these facts. Feed
on these facts. Father, thank you this morning
for the privilege of preaching. this word and I pray a blessing
upon this little family of believers here. Pray that this church will
be strengthened. Pray for you, oh God, to come
to each one of us and to supply and strengthen our needs and
to strengthen our hearts, Lord, in these testing and trying times,
that our hearts shall not be faint, but that we should be
strong in faith glorifying God, being fully persuaded that whatever
you promised, you're able to perform. Father, if there be
one poor sinner here this morning who's looking for someone to
carry their burden, someone to take their sin and guilt, might
they understand the message of the gospel and might they receive
what has been preached here today by thy spirit Enlighten the minds
and hearts of men and women and those to whom we preach Might
there be a saving work of Christ in their hearts. I pray it for
Jesus sake in his name. Amen

Abide In Christ

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Abide In Christ

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