Igniting Your CHirstian Life: Indweeling Christ

And I’ve always said spirituality is the process of decreasing frequency of sinfulness. Sin decreases as you yield to the Spirit, because you strengthen the inner man, and it becomes easier to say yes to the Holy Spirit. So that’s where it all begins. Strengthening the inner man by the Spirit as you yield to him one day at a time. That leads to the indwelling Christ. And we saw in our last couple of studies together that when you yield to the Holy Spirit, He controls your life, then Christ settles down and becomes at home there, right? Verse 17, that Christ may kator kesai settle down and be at home in your hearts by faith.

Christ wants to be at home in you. He wants to settle down. He wants to have a clean life, one that He doesn’t have to be running around, cleaning and sweeping and chastising and chastening and exhorting and so forth. The blessed Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour, the Messiah, God Himself in human flesh, wants to live within the believer in fullness. He’s there because you’re a Christian. He wants to fill you. He wants to dominate you so that 2 Corinthians 3 18 becomes a reality. You are changed into His very image so that Ephesians 4 becomes a reality, that you come to the full measure of the stature of Christ.

In other words, Christlikeness, Christ permeating every part, every fiber, every ounce of your being with His wonderful person and presence. So as you yield to the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God controls your life. And as your life is under His control, it is being directed, it is being guided, it is being cleansed, it is being led, and there Christ can settle down and be at home. And when Christ is at home in your life, then He permeates every part of your life. You consent to be yielded totally to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Now, when that happens, it leads to a third purpose. Look at verse 17 in the middle, in order that ye may be rooted and grounded in love. The beginning, then, of really a love life, which everybody really wants. It’s the only way to be happy is to be filled with love. Hate doesn’t do anything but tear you to pieces. Everybody wants a love life, and a love life springs out of the permeation of a life by the greatest lover in the universe, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. When Christ fills us, love fills us.

Look what it says then in verse 17. When Christ dwells in our hearts, that is when He settles down and is at home in our hearts, we are rooted and grounded in love. Now, that’s talking about the foundation, the basis, the root system. That’s where it all starts. You can’t have a love experience, you can’t have a love life unless you have love as a foundation, love as a rock bed, the roots have to be love. And so He says, as Christ fills your heart, love rules. Love is the foundation, love is the bottom line, love is that which everything else is built upon.

Now, we know, according to Romans 5-5, that when we were saved, it says the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The moment we’re saved, God’s love comes in us, His love is there, and it’s expected that we love. It’s the most normal thing in the world for a Christian to live a love life. In fact, Paul wrote the Thessalonians and said, nobody needs to teach you how to love. You are taught of God to love one another, right? You are taught of God to love. That’s just basic.

There shouldn’t be any question about that. That’s just normal. That’s just living out the Christian life. That’s just doing what is natural. As obviously Peter says it, that you, when you were born again, were born again unto unfeigned love of the brethren. Now, let me say it this way. If you don’t experience a total life of love, it is not because it isn’t there. It’s because you have never allowed it to function, which is easier. To breathe or hold your breath. Well, you’ve been breathing all morning and never thought about it. You don’t get up in the morning and say, now I’ve got to breathe.

Keep breathing or you’ll die. Keep breathing or you’ll die. Keep breathing. Don’t stop. Keep breathing. You breathe, period. Nobody has to do anything because the pressure of the atmosphere around you exerts its pressure on your lungs and forces you to breathe. It’s very difficult to hold your breath. You try it for a long time and you explode. It’s just very difficult. You’re fighting against the natural. Thank you for joining us in this exploration of igniting your Christian life, indwelling Christ. Until next time, remember to keep the faith, stay strong and continue to shine your light in the world.

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