This is a preparatory message to help us get into the right frame of mind throughout the upcoming ‘days’.
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.
What does this mean? Is it just a passing metaphor?
First we need to understand:
Christ and God are Spirit
They are composed of spirit; it is them; it is there power; they are indistinguishable in that sense
1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, “THE FIRST MAN ADAM BECAME A LIVING BEING.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
John 4:24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Simple Description
2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (self-control/discipline)
1 John 4:8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
1 John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
1 John 4:4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
All of these qualities and characteristics are interchangeable
How We Are to Live
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.
Ephesians 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Ephesians 3:15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
Ephesians 3:16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,
Ephesians 3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
Ephesians 3:18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—
Ephesians 3:19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:20 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,
Ephesians 3:21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
How else are we to insure that Jesus Christ is in us?
Romans 8:8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Romans 8:9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
Romans 8:10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you
Romans 8:12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
Romans 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. [eternally]
The sinning ways of the old man. The breaking of the law of God; the Way God wants us to live.
Titus 1:16 They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.
2 Corinthians 13:5 …. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.
We have insight that helps
1 Corinthians 2:10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
1 Corinthians 2:11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
To follow the example of Jesus Christ; to lead a Christ-centered/Christ-like life; WWJD
Romans 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear [like we just read in 2 Timothy 1:7], but you received the Spirit of sonship by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
Romans 8:17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
Through it we Have Eternal Life
Ephesians 1:13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
Ephesians 1:14 which is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
Hebrews 2:10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
How does this happen? A transformation from physical to spiritual: Carnal; earnest of holy spirit (Christ in us) that we utilize in our growth process; raised incorruptible in glorified body;
The Passover
At this time of the year we are to bring into focus: Christ in our lives
Not only do we put sin out, but we are to replace it with righteousness – the righteousness of Christ
Matthew 26:26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”
John 6:56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
Physically this happens, but it is to portray the spiritual
Bread of life
Passover is the beginning of the path that we are to continue in.
1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
2 Corinthians 6:16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM. I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.”
2 Corinthians 6:17 Therefore “COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM AND BE SEPARATE, SAYS THE LORD. DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN, AND I WILL RECEIVE YOU.”
2 Corinthians 6:18 “I WILL BE A FATHER TO YOU, AND YOU SHALL BE MY SONS AND DAUGHTERS, SAYS THE LORD ALMIGHTY.”
How does this happen?
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:2 He was in the beginning with God.
John 1:3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
John 1:4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
John 1:5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
John 1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
John 1:7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.
John 1:8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
John 1:9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
John 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
John 1:11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
John 1:13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us [Became our Passover], and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
We are to follow
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Conclusion
Christ, living and working God’s will within us, preparing us to be in God’s family.
Colossians 1:26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.
Colossians 1:27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.