Rich, I don't know if you knew
what I was preaching on tonight, but I'm preaching on Christ dwelling
in the heart. And I was thinking while we were
singing that song, what do I know of Christ actually dwelling in
my heart? That is an amazing concept. if you could call it a concept,
that's probably not a very good word, but I'm kind of at a loss
for words at trying to speak of Christ dwelling in the heart. And I request that you pray for
me as I attempt to preach this message. I do not want to darken
counsel with words without knowledge. And no doubt there's been much
darkening counsel with words without knowledge regarding this
truth of Christ dwelling in the heart. What does it mean? Christ dwelling in the heart. I want to know if it dwells in
my heart. Paul had been speaking of being
strengthened with might by the spirit in the inner man. And we considered that last week,
this inner man. This is the new man. Every believer
has two natures, the new man and the old man. The man we were born with in
the physical birth, that's the first man, that's the old man.
And the second man is the man we're born with in the new birth.
regenerated by God the Holy Spirit, given a life that was not there
before. The new man in Christ Jesus,
the inner man. Now here's what it looks like
as the Spirit strengthens with might the inner man. Christ dwells,
resides, lives in the heart by faith. We've missed the meaning if we
don't get this thing, he dwells in the heart by faith. Now, let
me give you some scriptures. Colossians 1 27 says, Christ
in you, the hope of glory. Now you and I have no hope unless
Christ dwells within us and causes us to believe and causes us to
repent and causes us to continue in the faith. Christ in you,
the hope of glory. And there is this scripture in
Galatians 1, 15 and 16, when it please God, who separated
me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace to reveal
His Son in me." You know, it's not enough for Him to reveal
Himself to me. I'll lose it. I must have Him
to reveal Himself in me. Galatians 2, verse 20, Paul said,
I live, yet not I, but Christ. liveth in me, like we were just
singing. And the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the son of God. I live off
his faith. Galatians chapter four, verses
19 through 21, Paul said, my little children, speaking to
the Galatians, my little children, to whom I prevail in birth again,
until Christ be formed in you. He said, I stand in doubt of
you. That's strong language, isn't it? He said, I stand in
doubt of you. Tell me ye that desire to be
under the law. Why did he stand in doubt of
them? Because they were showing a tendency to want to Be under
the law. Tell me the desire to be under
the law. Don't you hear it? All it does
is condemn. It can't do anything else but
that. Expose and condemn. And because these Galatians seem
to have some kind of desire to be under the law, he said, I
stand in doubt of you. He says, the first of the epistle,
I marvel that you're so soon removed from him that called
you to the grace of Christ. undo another gospel. Job said, the root of the matter
is in me. And if I'm a believer, the root
of the matter is in me. Not simply outside of me doing
things for me, but in And let me say this to all who
he dwells in your heart by faith, and this is every believer. He
dwells in the heart of every believer without exception. If
he dwells in your heart, there's a reason. If he's in you, it's
because you're in him. Now that's a simple concept,
but it's the truth. If he's in you, there's one singular
reason for that. You're in him, in him by an eternal,
vital, living union. You're one with him, in him by
election, according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world. In him, because that's where
God has put you. Of him are you in Christ Jesus. who of God is
made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Because you're in him, he's in
you. That is the reason. If you have
faith, it's because he's in you. It's because you're in him and
he's in you. Now, in our text, it says that
Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. Now, what about the
description the Bible gives of the human heart, the heart we
were born with? Jeremiah 17 9 says the heart
is desperately wicked, deceitful above all things. Who could know
it? The wise man said in Proverbs
28, 26, he that trusts in his own heart
is a fool. What about that? What about God's
testimony of the heart in Genesis chapter six, verse five, and
God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and
that every imagination, every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually. Now that's the state of my heart
by nature. That's the state of your heart
by nature. And if you don't see that, God's
never done anything for you. That's the only reason you wouldn't
see that. The Lord hadn't done anything
for you. Because if he's done anything
for you, you're gonna see this is the truth regarding you. Does Christ dwell in that heart? The answer is no. He doesn't
dwell in that heart. He dwells in the heart that he's
given. Remember when the Lord talked
about blessed are the pure in heart? That's the new heart that
he has given. Create in me, David said, a clean
heart. The Lord gives us a, you know,
he said in Ezekiel 36, a new heart also will I give you, a
heart that you didn't have before. And this is the heart that he
dwells in. And the Lord gives us a very
simple parable to make this very plain to us. He said, you don't
take new wine and put it into old wineskins. Old wineskins
are dried up. They're not supple. The fermentation
of the wine would bust them. You'd lose the wine. You'd lose
the wineskins. You don't put new wine into old
wineskins. You put new wine into new wineskins. The Lord doesn't put the oil
of His Spirit. He doesn't dwell. He doesn't
give His grace and make it to live in the old heart. live in that heart. I remember
one time my little sister said this to me. She said, the preacher
was saying, give Jesus your heart, give Jesus your heart. And I
thought, what would he want with it? True. What would he want with that
old heart of yours? You'd be much better off, I'd be much
better off asking him for a new heart, not giving him my old
heart. That's no good. Lord, give me
a new heart. And the Lord gives us this parable
to let us know that his grace, his spirit, Christ dwells in
that new heart, which he has given in the new birth. Now, think of this one. who is said
to dwell in your heart, if you're a believer. Turn with me for
a moment to Colossians chapter one, a few pages over. I mean, this is just incredible
to think that Christ actually dwells in my heart, that he's
given me a heart that's fit for him to be there. It's the heart
he has given, that new heart. And he, by his spirit, dwells
in that heart. Now beginning in verse 12 of
Colossians 1, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us
meet to be partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. Now before
we go on, you know what that means? That means right now I'm
meet to be in heaven. I've got all that is needed for
me to be in heaven. That's hard to get hold of, isn't
it? The reason that I have all that's needed to be in heaven
is because I have his righteousness and I've been given this new
nature. And the difference between the saints in heaven and ones
down here on earth is we still have these two natures, this
old sinful nature. They have one nature, a holy
nature. They put aside this sinful nature,
but every believer right now is meet, is fit to be a partaker
of the inheritance of the saints in life. I love that one line,
more happy, but not more secure are the glorified spirits in
heaven. Every believer has all that needed
right now. Not what will be, I have it right
now. Now I only know that by faith.
I can't look myself over and say, yep, I'm ready for heaven.
No, no, I can't enter into anything that, but I believe I am because
God's word says I am. Do you need anything else? I
believe this because God's word says I am. Now let's go on reading.
Who hath, verse 13, who hath, that means it's already done.
Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated
us into the kingdom of his dear son in whom we have redemption
through his blood. even the forgiveness of sins,
who is the image of the invisible God, speaking of Christ Jesus,
He's all we'll ever see of God, the firstborn of every creature,
for by Him were all things created. that are in heaven and that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by him
and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things
consist. He's the head of the body, the
church who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have the preeminence for it pleased
the Father, that in him should all fullness dwell. That's how big he is. In him
dwells all fullness. If you go on reading the next
chapter, he says, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. And this is the one who is said to dwell in the heart
of every believer. If you're somebody saved by the
grace of God, he dwells in your heart. right now. And He dwells in your heart as
the Christ. I love it that He said that Christ
may dwell in your hearts. And this talks about His offices
as prophet, priest, and king. He dwells in your heart as God's
prophet to teach you the gospel, to give you the Word of God.
Anything you truly learn, He gave to you. He dwells in your
heart as the priest to represent you to the Father. At all times,
He ever lives to make intercession for you. He has presented His
sacrifice for you, and He stands before the Father as your representative. And He reigns in your heart as
King. He's the King of kings. He controls
everything. And he causes you to believe. You see, the king is the one
whose will is done. You know the reason you believe? It's
his will being done. The reason you see beauty in
him? It's his will being done. He's king. Prophet, priest, and
king dwelling in the heart. And this word dwell carries with
it the idea of permanence. He's there forever. He said,
I will never leave thee. nor forsake thee." That's what
he said. Now, I bet that somebody in this
room, maybe everybody in this room, but somebody in this room
is thinking, if he really was dwelling in me, it seems like I wouldn't struggle
so much with sin. If he really was dwelling in
me, I wouldn't have the struggle that I do with sin. You know, the opposite is true.
The reason you have such a struggle with sin is because he's dwelling
in you. That's why. You see, wherever
he dwells, there's never peaceful sin. It beats you black and blue. And the reason you struggle with
sin is because he dwells in you. If he didn't dwell in you, you'd
be okay. You'd be okay. You wouldn't have these struggles.
Somebody else thinks, seems like if he was dwelling in me, people
would see him more readily. They'd see Christ in me. I have
even heard somebody say, seems like if Christ, a little boy
said, seems like if Christ dwelt in a man, he'd stick out some.
And you could see him. Well, let me say this. I want to be Christ-like with
everybody I deal with. I know I'm not, but I want to
be. You know what I mean when I say that. I want people to
not feel judged and threatened by me. And I judge people all
the time. I realize that. I wish I could
be delivered from that, not do it anymore. I'd love to never
judge anybody again and be just like Christ. But I want you to
think about this. Nobody saw Christ in Christ. What makes you think they'll
see him in you? And if they do, they won't like
him. He provokes such rage from people,
particularly religious people. So just this thing, well, if
Christ dwells in me, it seems like I wouldn't struggle with
sin. No, the reason you do struggle with sin is because Christ dwells
in your heart. You know, you read Romans chapter
seven, that's the healthy state of a believer. Oh, wretched man
that I am. That's his experience. And this
thing of, well, it seems like if Christ dwell in my heart,
others would see him in me. Well, they did not see Christ
in Christ. You know, he lived 30 years,
nobody got him. And this shows how little, little is not even
a good word, how zero the natural man's understanding is of holiness.
Once the one time holiness walked on this earth, nobody could see
it. They didn't know. Now, the word I want to center
on in this, back to our text in Ephesians chapter three, verse
17, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. By faith. Now this is so important.
that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen, and the evidence that the Son of God, by His Spirit,
dwells in a man's heart is faith. Believing the gospel. Faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. Now, let me ask you a question.
Can you look at the purity of your mind? Can you look at the
cleanness of your actions and hands? Can you look in how well
you're dealing with sin and how much you're growing and how holy
you're becoming and think, yep, Christ dwells in my heart. I
can see it. Now, if you said yes to that,
you're in trouble. You're in trouble. You haven't
ever learned anything about who you are. The evidence that Jesus
Christ, the Lord, the Son of God, the eternal Son of God dwells
in somebody's heart is faith in himself. That is the evidence. Now that lets us know of how
important it is to understand what the Bible teaches regarding
faith and to see if I really have this thing called saving
faith, the faith of God's elect, the acknowledging of the truth,
which is after God knows, because I cannot ascertain that Christ
dwells in my heart by looking at my conduct and how I am and
think, yep, I'm good to go. I believe he dwells in my heart
and I'm doing so well. The evidence is faith, and the
scripture says that faith is the evidence of things not seen. I can't look at myself and say,
yep, Christ dwells in my heart, look how good I am. We're just
talking about the way you look at yourself. You know, you can
see Christ in others if you're a believer. You really can. If
you're looking within your own heart and saying, yep, I see
such goodness and holiness, no. The only evidence that you'll
ever have that Christ dwells in your heart is faith in himself. Now, would you turn with me to
Romans chapter 3, because in these two chapters, Romans chapters
3 and 4, we have the clearest exposition in the New Testament
as to what faith is. And if you want to know what
faith is and whether or not you have it, listen real carefully
to this passage of Scripture. In Romans chapter 3, verse 19,
Paul says, now we know. You know, he says that a lot.
Somebody that's a believer, somebody who knows something, they know. They know. He said, this is not
something we're gushing at. Now, we know. Do you know this? Now, we know. The we is speaking
of all the elect of God. Every one of God's people knows
this. We know. We've been convinced. We know
that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are
under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
may become guilty before God. Now here's the starting point.
Our state before God. That's where we gotta begin.
I'm not going to begin with your understanding of and belief in
the existence of God. Everybody believes God is. Everybody
already knows that. We've got to begin with our state
before God. And what is that state? Guilty. Subject to the judgment of God. Subject to the condemnation of
God is what he's talking about. Guilty as charged. If I'm ever
going to have any understanding of saving faith, I'm going to
have to take my place. Guilty as charged. Whatever God says against me
is right. I agree with God. I take sides
with God against myself. I'm guilty. Guilty as charged. Mouth stopped. No excuses. No self-justification. No self-vindication. Every mouth is stopped. Guilty before God. Is there anything we can do to
make this better? Verse 20, Therefore by the deeds of the law there
shall no flesh be justified in his sight, For by the law is
the knowledge of sin. Now, the deeds of the law, yes,
we can include the Ten Commandments, but the deeds of the law cover
anything that you do, any response you have that makes God able
to do something for you. If you believe in free will,
you believe in salvation by works. If you believe there's something
you can do to make yourself holier, that's salvation by works. But
what does he tell us? By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law is the knowledge
of sin. There's nothing we can do to
change that state of guilt before God. Have you ever dealt with
that? You're guilty and there's not
a thing you can do to change that. You're guilty, and there's
nothing you can do to make yourself just before God. You're guilty,
and there's nothing you can do to put away your sin. You're
guilty, and there's nothing you can do to make yourself better.
Guilty. No hope. If salvation has anything
to do with something I need to do, I have no hope. But, verse 21, Now this is a glorious word in
the scriptures, but now the righteousness of God without the law, without
me doing something is what that means. Now the righteousness
of God without me doing anything. How's that sound to you? Now
the righteousness of God without the laws manifested, being witnessed
by the law and the prophets, this is what the Old Testament
has always taught. This is the way Abel was saved. This is the
way Noah was saved. This is the way Abraham was saved.
This is the way David was saved. It's what the scriptures have
always taught. People look in the Old Testament and think,
well, that's a different God than the God of the New Testament.
That's foolishness. Same God. Same God. And this is the only
way any sinner has ever been saved. But now the righteousness
of God, without your obedience to some act, some doing on your
part, is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets,
even the righteousness of God. which is by faith of Jesus Christ
unto all and upon all them that believe. Now, here we have it. The righteousness of God. It's
not talking about some kind of righteousness me or you work
out. That's nothing but filthy rags. This is the very righteousness
of God worked by the faithfulness, the obedience of Jesus Christ,
His law keeping, the righteousness of God. without the law, even
the righteousness of God, which is by faith, doesn't say by faith
in Jesus Christ, it says by faith of Jesus Christ, his faithfulness
unto all and upon all them that believe. That's who has this
righteousness, those that believe. Now look what he says at the
latter part of verse 22, but there's no difference. You take the best, most moral,
most kind, most generous human being that you know. And it's
good to be that way. I'm not degrading that. But you take the best person
you have ever known and you take the most degraded, wicked, deceitful,
heartless person you know How much difference is there
between those two people in God's eyes? None. There is no difference. Now somebody says, how can that
be right? Because that person that is so good that you know
is one of the people who wanted to murder Jesus Christ. That's
the only way you're going to find out how you really are is
by looking at the cross. When God left men to themselves,
I don't care who they are. When God left men to themselves,
this is you, this is me. When God left men to themselves
and let them do what they wanted to do, what did they do? They
nailed his son to a cross. Now that is my state, that is
your state by nature. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God, being justified freely. by His grace, through
the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Now here's the only hope
any sinner has, that God justifies them freely, by His grace, through
the redeeming work of Christ on the cross. being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Verse 25, whom God set forth. Now that word set forth, my marginal
reading says foreordained. I love this. Christ is the Lamb
slain to the foundation of the world. This is how complete His
work is. It was accomplished before creation.
Before there was ever a sinner, there was a Savior. Christ is
the Lamb slain. God created the universe to send
His Son to accomplish salvation. Whom God set forth to be a propitiation,
a sin-removing sacrifice. And don't miss this phrase, through
faith in His blood. Question, do you have faith in
his blood? Do you believe that his blood
is all that's needed to make you perfect before God? Do you believe that his blood
actually put away sin? You don't believe his blood was
some kind of attempt to make you savable if you do your part.
You believe his blood is everything in your salvation. faith, reliance in His blood. Through faith in His blood to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed in the forbearance of God. That's so important. The
gospel, we think, well, that declares His mercy and His grace
and His love. I won't deny that, but that's
not the word Paul uses. It declares His righteousness.
His righteousness. It's His righteousness. When
God forgives my sin, He's doing the righteous thing because of
the blood of His Son. He's not just sweeping it under
the carpet. He's demonstrating the righteousness
of His character, how all sins are going to be punished. Verse 26, to declare, I say at
this time, His righteousness. that he might be just and justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus. Do you understand that? Do you
understand that God has made a way to be just and be utterly
righteous and holy? No inkling of sin or injustice
or letting sin go under the rug and not dealing with it. Nothing
like that. He's found a way to be just and
the justifier. of that one which believes in
Jesus. Now we're going to get more into
what this is a few verses down to believe in Jesus. But then
he asked this question, where is boasting then? What can you say? Well, at least
I did that. Well, somebody says, well, at least I received Christ.
Not everybody received him. You're making a work out of receiving.
That's foolishness. Where is boasting? What can you
boast in and say, well, at least I did this that somebody else
didn't do it? Where is boasting then? It's excluded. By what
law? Of works? Nay, but by the law
of faith. I love this term, the law of
faith. You know, every believer has a law in them that keeps
them from looking anywhere but Christ alone. You can't do it. You've got this law in you. It's
called the law of faith. And you cannot find any rest
or assurance in anything but Christ himself. You've got this
law. It's one of the laws of the new
nature. And it is at work in you right now. You can't find
comfort or assurance or rest in anything but Christ alone.
Verse 28, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith
without the deeds of the law. There's no mixing faith and the
law. It's faith without anything you
do. Now, just may the Lord give us
grace to just... How many times have I thought
to myself, it's gonna be better from now on. I'm going to do
this. I'm going to stop doing that.
It's going to be better from now on. And all that is is anti-faith. Faith, not the works of the law,
but believing the gospel. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the
God of the Jews only? Is he not also the God of the
Gentiles? Yes, Jews and Gentiles alike.
Seeing it's one God which had justified the circumcision by
faith and uncircumcision through faith, do we then make void the
law through faith? God forbid, yea, we establish
the law. Now understand this, the only
way, me or you, can show any respect for God's holy law is
by looking to Christ only. Somebody says, well, I try to
keep the law. Yeah, but you didn't do it. You didn't do it. Well, I tried. That don't cut
mustard. That won't do you any good. Every
believer, by faith in Christ, has kept God's holy law. I don't try to keep the law.
I've kept it. Well, what's the evidence you have? Christ. Faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Do we then make, void the law
through faith? God forbid, we establish the
only way you or I can honor God's holy law is by faith in Christ. That's it, that's it. Now, chapter
four. What shall we say then that Abraham,
our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? Now Abraham's
the father of the faithful, I don't guess there's a more important
human being other than the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's the God
man, so obviously Abraham's nothing compared to him. But as far as
men goes, there's not a more important man than Abraham for
us to learn the gospel from. Now what should we say then that
Abraham, our father who is pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For
if Abraham were justified by works, he'd have something to
glory in. At least I did this. At least
I received Christ. At least I accepted Him as my
personal Savior. At least I fill in the blank.
At least I did anything. If that is the case, you'd have,
or Abraham would have, something make a glory in before God. You'd
be like that Pharisee in the temple. God,
I thank Thee that I'm not as other men are. I've done something.
For if Abraham were justified by works, he'd have something
to glory in, but not before God. For what saith the scripture?
Abraham believed God. God said something to him. See
the stars? So shall your seed be. They're
gonna be that much. You know what Abraham did? With no evidence
at all other than the word of God, he believed what God said. Now that's faith. With no evidence
other than what God says, you believe what God says. That's
what he did. Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward, not reckoned of grace, but of debt. In other words, if there's anything
that you do to make the difference, God owes you salvation. It's
not a gift of his grace. It's him making payment for what
is due you. But, and if you want to know
what faith is, here it is. But to him that worketh not. But believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Now, listen
to this description of this man that believes in gospel. Number
one, he works not. Now, why is it that he works
not? Because he sees his works are no good. He wouldn't dare
bring anything before God's presence because he knows it's defiled
with sin. It's defiled with evil. It's
not that he's lazy, although it doesn't care anything about
working. It's because he knows his works are no good. They can't
be accepted. To him that worketh not. Have you ever worked not? Have you ever worked not? Well, you won't be saved if you
don't. To him that worketh not, but
believeth, relies, rests in, trusts him that justifieth the
ungodly. Now, do you believe, are you
relying on this, that by Christ's work on Calvary's tree, The ungodly
were justified. Beloved, that's faith. You work
not, but you believe on him. That justifies the ungodly. His faith is counted as righteousness. Now that doesn't mean your faith
is righteousness. The evidence that you are righteous is that
you believe the gospel. Now that is, I don't know, well I can't make
it plain, that's the word of God, that's what faith is. That's
what faith is. Now who is that man that Christ
dwells in their heart? The one who he dwells in their
heart by faith. Now I said this this morning,
let me remind you, faith is not what you think about yourself.
Well, I think I'm saved. That has nothing to do with faith.
Well, what about that experience I had when I was a kid? That
has nothing to do with faith. What about when I went down to
the church and accepted Christ as my personal savior? That doesn't
have anything to do with faith. What about when I, whatever.
If you're in the equation, that's not faith. Faith has wholly to
do with what you believe concerning him. Do you believe on him? who justifies the ungodly. That's the man who believes the
gospel. Now, who is that man where Christ dwells in their
heart? Now, we like to think, I would like to manifest the
fruit of the Spirit. I want to have more love, joy,
peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
I want to manifest the fruit of the Spirit. I want to be as
the Beatitudes describes the true believer. I want to be poor
in spirit. I want to mourn over my sin. I want to be meek before God.
I want to hunger and thirst after righteousness. I want to be a
peacemaker. I want to be pure in heart. I
want to be merciful. I want to be persecuted for righteousness.
Now, I want all those things. You do too. But can I look at
something about me and think, Christ dwells in my heart? Because
as soon as I started looking at those things, I thought, what,
are they there at all? But here's something I can get hold of.
I do believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. You believe
that? I believe He is the Son of God, and that nothing is needed
for my salvation but Him. If you believe that, Christ,
the infinite, eternal Christ dwells in your heart. Let's pray. Lord, how we stand amazed that thy son would
dwell in our hearts giving us a heart to believe your gospel. Lord, cause thy son to dwell
in our hearts by faith. Cause us to be of that number
who works not, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly. Bless this message for Christ's
sake in his name we pray. Rich Cudley.