Through Christ

Many of us have been jolted back into the reality of truth that we can trust our Lord, for He is not dead and He is not a deceiver. Our Lord is the Way, the One and only Way. He is the Truth for He alone is Truth. He is the Life, for no one else has Eternal life. We must trust Him implicitly, for if we don’t, how can we trust what He tells us about His shed Blood? 

Jesus Himself has said; This is my Blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sin. Matthew 26: 28. If we do not trust Him implicitly, to keep us living the promises which He has made to us, then His freely spilt Blood will be of no use to us. You see, as we were previously reminded, it is in Him that we have peace. I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. John 16: 33a. The one condition is that we must be in Him.

It is this same condition needed to know the works of His shed Blood. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with wisdom and understanding. Ephesians 1: 7 – 8. 

We hold firm, with ever obedient hearts and increasing faith, this truth. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5: 21. We receive, with open arms, hearts and minds, the will and mind of our Lord for us. It was His will, His move, His desire to bring us back into perfect fellowship and communion with God, we who were at one time estranged from God. He wants us saved. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation. Colossians 1: 21 – 22. 

We have no choice but to stop. I don’t know about you, but I do feel as many of us feel when, as we journey with our thoughts, anxious to get to our destination and we are stopped. Before us is a person of the law, on a motorbike, who comes before us and we have to stop, I mean dead stop, pull over and wait. We are told that this is a random, routine check and we comply. Mind you, there is no fear, because we know that we have all lawful things intact and up to date.

As we stop, we keep our calm and cool and respond to all that we are being asked by the law. This is where we are at the moment, as we have come to this midweek hour, on our journey to Holy Week. What therefore are some of the questions we are being required to answer? They come from the above quoted, Colossians text. We are, each of us, receiving this as a personal check up, as we need to know, before we unite again to travel on.

• Do you know that at one time you were alienated from God?

• Do you know that at one time, you were an enemy of God?

• Do you know that because of your evil behaviour, your mind was dead against God?

• Do you know why you can journey on, continue on, in this Lenten travel, fully cleared and up to scratch?  

You are allowed to move on, to freely travel on because of Jesus.

You are no longer alienated from God. Thanks to the reconciling shed Blood of Jesus, you have been rejoined in perfect union with Almighty God.

You are no longer estranged, an enemy of God. Thanks to the pardoning shed Blood of Jesus, you can now be presented before Sovereign God, holy in His sight.  

You no longer have a mind that is dead against God. Thanks to the saving Blood of Jesus, that presents you without blemish and free from any accusations of the deceiver.  

However, this will only be effective, only be a reality for you and for me, if we are in Jesus. You and I must understand this condition, as we have been meeting conditions all through our travels thus far, on our way to Holy Week and beyond.   How can a person be in Jesus? What really does it mean for one to be in Jesus? How practical is it for us to be in Jesus? I have been made aware that there are people, believers as well, like you and me, who speak the Word of Jesus, but find it so strangely impossible to be in us. We simply cannot have it applied in our natural lives, because we are held under the deceiver’s skillfully worked banner of, ‘Humanly Impossible’. It’s what I refer to as the deceiver’s, HI! O how he is quick, astute, clever and shrewd in his manner.  

• His ways are highly seductive. Just look at how he tried, to seduce Jesus, with the very truthful words of Jesus’ own Father.

• His words are highly emotive. Capture how he tries, with all his might, to motivate Jesus to use His supernatural powers, according to his, the devil’s commands.

• His works are highly creative. Picture this clever enemy, as he creates a perfect scene for Jesus to test His Father’s faithfulness, under his, the deceiver’s suggestions.  

If we keep, ever glued to our hearts, and minds, the cleverness of the, hi, of the enemy, then we are much less likely to yield to him. To be forewarned is to be forearmed, and this is so when we know this tactic of the deceiver, who is trying, even now, on our travel to Holy Week and beyond, that it is humanly impossible for us to be in Christ Jesus. 

For the remainder of this week, we shall be exploring some of what it means to be in Jesus and to remain in Him.