“THE FULLNESS OF CHRIST’S INDWELLING PRESENCE!”
By: J.Farrell Fisher, June 26-28, 2018
Sometimes have you ever wondered if the mass numbers of ‘professing Christians’ have truly experienced, invited, understood, welcomed and celebrated the Christ’s “Indwelling Presence”? John was very clear when in John 1:16 he wrote: “And of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace,” with the beloved John saying in John 1:6-16, yes, testifying:
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which lights every man that comes into the world.
He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. BUT as many as received Him, to them He gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on (trust in, rely upon, adhere to) His name; Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth). John bore witness of Him, and cried, saying, “This was He of whom I spoke. He that comes after me is preferred before me; for He was before me. AND of His fullness have we all received, and grace for grace.” The Holy Word is very clear concerning God’s intent in and through His Son as Savior and Lord in men’s hearts, minds, lives, and walks! In Colossians 1:19 Paul said: “For it pleased the Father that in Him all fullness should dwell.”
Amazing, enlightening, enriching, encouraging Verses in Colossians 2:6-10!!! It says: “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him DWELLS ALL THE FULLNESS OF THE GODHEAD BODILY, AND “YOU” ARE COMPLETE IN HIM, who is the head of all principality and power.” How many ‘church-goers’ do you know who see themselves as “complete in Christ”?
In Ephesians 3:14-4:1 Paul enlightens us: “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; THAT YOU MAY BE FILLED WITH ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD.
Now to Him WHO IS ABLE to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.4:1. “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called…!”
HAVE “YOU” RECEIVED CHRIST JESUS AS YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR, AS THE MASTER AND OWNER OF YOUR LIFE, AS YOUR FAITHFUL GUIDE INTO THE FULLNESS OF THE BLESSING OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST? OR, have you sprung multiple leaks?
Did you understand what Paul said? “In Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him!” Oh, I know there is the “birthing” of babies of true faith, there is a maturing process as a child, a teenager, a young adult, into the fullness of spiritual manhood, BUT the Christ in you never changes, never ‘leaks’, and never ‘falls away’ from YOU, His son or daughter!
Highly instructive, inspirational, and informative, illustrious words from James in James 1:21-25! “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. But if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” Looks into – and continues in it? That ought to shock some into awareness of ‘daily choice’ of death to ‘self’ that Christ Jesus might reign supreme as Lord and Savior of their daily walk!
It was Spiros Zodiates, in his lengthy book entitled “The Behavior of Belief”, (p.124), who wrote: “If the Christian wants to benefit in any way as he looks in the mirror of the Word of God, he must approach it with humility. A man can counterfeit love, he can counterfeit faith, he can counterfeit hope and all the other graces, but it is very difficult to counterfeit humility. One soon detects mock humility.”
There IS a ‘light’ by which a true disciple enters, appropriates, and upholds as his/her “guiding light”, but some in the religious world have appropriated “man-made lights” that have nothing to do with Christ Jesus WHO IS “The True Light of Fallen Mankind”, illuminating his/her ‘walk-way’ into the very Presence of Holy God! Redeemed men and women, washed in the Blood of the Lamb, raised out of spiritual death into eternal Life in Christ, are The “Holy Temple” in which the Resurrected Christ has taken up RESIDENCE because of one’s “repentance toward God” and “faith alone in the Victorious, Raised-Up, Reigning Christ” in “blood-bought hearts”!
The brother of Jesus, James, was a blessed recipient and author about “true, divine Life in Christ” when he wrote in James 1:21-25 !! A lengthy but necessary passage! James wrote: “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness (teachable-ness!) the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. BUT be DOERS of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a DOER OF THE WORK, this one will be blessed in what he does.”
James went on in James 2:14-24 saying, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? (Works because one has been saved or works in order to be saved?). Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of them says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things that are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe – and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone.”
How many people have you heard say, “I’m not a religious person”? Really?, as they bow to worship ‘flesh’ or the ‘old sin nature’, as they ‘sacrifice’ to be successful, as they ‘devote’ time, education, the work ethic, ‘to prove they deserve what they work for’, expending and spending their energy to prove themselves worthy, yet void, empty, and uninterested in God’s eternal purpose??
In 1 Timothy 6:20-21 Paul wrote to his spiritual son, and us, saying: “O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge – by professing ‘it’ some have strayed concerning the faith (or ‘fallen away from God’s gracious calling and knock on their heart’s door?). Grace be with you. Amen.” But today? Sadly, some in the ‘professing Christian community’ say, “Grit be with you in your walk of faith” – not grace! Today? There are those embracing what is profane, affirming profane and idle babblings, straying from the faith and yet asserting they’re OK because of the heart of God!
Do you even grasp the “perfect work of Christ” through the Cross and His Resurrection, yet believe, because of grace and mercy, it’s OK to minimize the reckless sinfulness in your walk as a professing disciple of the Resurrected King of kings and Lord of lords?
What did Paul write in Colossians 3:1-7? “If then you were raised with Christ, SEEK THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE ABOVE, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. (Is that “Christ ‘unveiled’ in you and through you for the world around you to see Him in you, your hope of glory?). Therefore PUT TO DEATH YOUR MEMBERS (DAILY!) which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves ONCE WALKED when you lived in them.”
THANK GOD for the Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin, unrighteousness, and the judgment to come! THANK GOD for the Holy Spirit who “guides us into all Truth”! THANK GOD for the Holy Spirit who illumines our hearts and minds to the reality of the Resurrected, Reigning Christ, yes, living and reigning within us as VICTOR over the law of sin and death! BUT, you don’t have anything to “rejoice in”? How about being ‘born again”, “born of the Spirit”, “birthed through the Living Word”? AMEN?