1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 As I look out at the crowd this morning, I wonder where you all have been. 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:18,000 I hope you had a happy holiday season. I know that some of our families were traveling both of those weekends, and of course the students who come are at home normally during those times. 3 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:25,000 So we're glad that you're back today. For some of you, this almost seems like another chapel service, I fear. 4 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:32,000 And we don't want it to be that. I hope you look around and notice that not everybody here is a student. 5 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:39,000 So this is not a chapel service, this is a worship service, and we're glad that you're here. 6 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:48,000 And I hope that you want to invite others to come. Now we have plenty of room to bring our guests, invite them to be here with us in our worship on Sunday morning. 7 00:00:48,000 --> 00:01:00,000 We have not only the carousel open back here on my left, we have another one we can open on the right to provide another, I think, 100 seats or perhaps more than that. 8 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:10,000 And so, or maybe 200 seats, I believe it is. And so we're thrilled with what God has provided for us and what we're able to do here. 9 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:21,000 One thing that is not exactly to my liking, but there's not a whole lot we can do about it, is that there seems to be a great gulf fix between you and me. 10 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:31,000 I'm not sure which side you're on or which side I'm on in that great gulf, but one of these days maybe we'll get out there a little farther to be closer. 11 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:45,000 In the meantime, would you take your Bible please and turn with me to Colossians chapter 3 as we look at two verses which will point us to our theme for this morning. 12 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:55,000 I want to talk today about Christ, our life. 13 00:01:55,000 --> 00:02:08,000 While you're turning there, may I encourage you, if you are interested in some of the basic doctrinal beliefs of our church, to join us next Sunday morning at 9.15 here in the auditorium. 14 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:16,000 We have a very fine group of 60 or 65 today as we studied what we believe about the Bible. 15 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:23,000 We cover a lot of territory in a hurry, but it's a good time, a good time of interaction and sharing. 16 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:29,000 If you'd like to be a part of that, you're welcome to next Sunday. It's an eight week series. 17 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:33,000 It's not our purpose at all to take away from the small churches. 18 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:43,000 Only if you are unfamiliar with some of the basic doctrines should you plan to come out of the small church to what we're doing here. 19 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:47,000 If you're new in the church, you may want to come to find out what we believe. 20 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:53,000 If you're visiting and want to know where we are as a church, doctrinally, that's a good place to find out. 21 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:57,000 Join us next Sunday morning at 9.15. 22 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:01,000 Colossians 3 verses 3 and 4 says, 23 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:07,000 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 24 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:20,000 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. 25 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:25,000 Let's bow together in prayer. 26 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:29,000 It's been several weeks since we've used our prayer course. 27 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:33,000 Open our eyes, Lord. We want to see Jesus. 28 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:36,000 Would you sing that with me without accompaniment? 29 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:42,000 Let's ask the Lord Jesus to open our eyes that we might see him today in the Word. 30 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:48,000 Open our eyes, Lord. 31 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:56,000 We want to see Jesus. 32 00:03:56,000 --> 00:04:03,000 To reach out and touch him. 33 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:11,000 And say that we love him. 34 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:18,000 Open our ears, Lord. 35 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:26,000 And help us to listen. 36 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:33,000 Open our eyes, Lord. 37 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:43,000 We want to see Jesus. 38 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:48,000 Father, that is our prayer. That is our desire. 39 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:56,000 We know that we can count upon you to answer that, for that is your will for us. 40 00:04:56,000 --> 00:05:06,000 Thank you. Amen. 41 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:12,000 I was struck this morning in the reading that we began the service with 42 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:23,000 to notice these words. I desire that I may feel no sense of possessing anything outside of thee. 43 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:32,000 I want constantly to be aware of thy overshadowing presence and to hear thy voice. 44 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:38,000 I believe that we read those words meaning them. 45 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:45,000 But do you feel that those words describe where you are now spiritually? 46 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:52,000 Do you have a sense of possessing Jesus only? 47 00:05:52,000 --> 00:06:03,000 Do you go through the day with an overwhelming sense of his blessed presence? 48 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:07,000 There are many who are discouraged with a Christian life. 49 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:15,000 And sometimes we hear statements like, well I tried Christianity and it didn't work for me. 50 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:25,000 Others say, I've attempted to live for God, but somehow I can't seem to pull off. 51 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:36,000 Others say, I sincerely want to live the Christian life, but somehow I can't quite find out how to do it. 52 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:43,000 There are some people who are greatly discouraged this morning in this matter of being a Christian. 53 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:49,000 I believe statements such as those that I have suggested reveal an essential misunderstanding 54 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:54,000 about the true nature of the Christian faith. 55 00:06:54,000 --> 00:07:00,000 Because you see, Christianity is not just a way of life. 56 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:04,000 It is not merely an ethic. 57 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:09,000 It is not just another religion. 58 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:17,000 But biblical Christianity is a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. 59 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:23,000 And the Christian life then is not attempting to do something for God. 60 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:27,000 It is not trying to live up to a certain set of rules. 61 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:32,000 It is not trying to be like Jesus. 62 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:41,000 Rather the Christian life is developing a personal communion with the living God himself through his Son. 63 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:51,000 And then trusting him for the outflow of his life and his power day by day. 64 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:57,000 Major Ian Thomas in his book entitled The Saving Life of Christ said, 65 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:03,000 There is something which makes Christianity more than a religion, more than an ethic, 66 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:07,000 more than the idle dream of the sentimental idealist. 67 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:15,000 It is this something which makes it relevant to each one of us right now as a contemporary experience. 68 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:23,000 It is the fact that Christ himself is the very life content of the Christian faith. 69 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:26,000 It is he who makes it tick. 70 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:35,000 It is he himself who is the very dynamic of all he demands. 71 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:42,000 Dear people, I believe that so many Christians miss that point. 72 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:47,000 They see the demands, they see the standards of the Christian faith, 73 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:57,000 and they think that somehow now God expects me as a Christian to live up to that standard in my own power. 74 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:00,000 But that is not what God expects. 75 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:09,000 You see, Christianity is Christ living in us. 76 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:14,000 One of the concerns I have for the Evangelical Bible teaching church 77 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:18,000 is that we tend to become like seminaries, 78 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:25,000 training people to be theologians so that they will know about God. 79 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:34,000 But somehow we miss maturing people in their knowledge of God himself. 80 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:40,000 We are a Bible teaching church, and I believe that a true church is a Bible teaching church. 81 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:47,000 But my friend, a growing knowledge of the Bible is not an end in itself. 82 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:55,000 The reason that we grow in the knowledge of the Word of God is so that we can come to a deepening intimacy 83 00:09:55,000 --> 00:10:00,000 with our personal Savior, Jesus Christ. 84 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:07,000 Somehow a lot of us have not yet put that together. 85 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:14,000 We read in Colossians that Jesus Christ is the life of his people. 86 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:18,000 I'm thinking of that truth in three respects. 87 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:24,000 In the first place, Jesus Christ is the source of life. 88 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:28,000 We see that in Colossians 3, verse 3, where it says, 89 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:34,000 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 90 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:38,000 Jesus Christ is the very source of life itself. 91 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:45,000 In passing, I want to say he is the source of life in a physical sense. 92 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:51,000 We see that emphasized back in chapter 1 of Colossians, verse 15, 93 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:56,000 where it says in this marvelous Christological passage, 94 00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:02,000 And he is the image of the invisible God, 95 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:05,000 the firstborn of all creation. 96 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:09,000 That does not mean he was the first thing created. 97 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:17,000 The title firstborn is a technical title of preeminence. 98 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:24,000 It is the one who is above and before and ahead of all others. 99 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:28,000 He is the preeminent one of creation, is the thought there. 100 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:37,000 Then verse 16 says, For by him, Jesus Christ, all things were created, 101 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:41,000 both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, 102 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:45,000 whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, 103 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:54,000 all things have been created by him and for him. 104 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:58,000 He is the means by which God created everything that is. 105 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:01,000 He is the source of life. 106 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:07,000 We read back in Genesis chapter 1 that God created living creatures on the earth, 107 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:10,000 beginning with the fifth day. 108 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:19,000 On the sixth day, he came to the crowning of his creation with man. 109 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:27,000 And God breathed into that body he created, his own breath, and man became a living soul. 110 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:37,000 Life is not of spontaneous generation, but life is of special creation. 111 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:41,000 And Jesus Christ is the creator of it. 112 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:48,000 Our breath, our personhood comes from him, our creator. 113 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:54,000 Now the implications of this in our society are enormous. 114 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:59,000 It means that every person is eternally significant. 115 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:03,000 When we hear so much these days about the masses, 116 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:11,000 let us remember that the masses, the multitudes, are comprised of individuals 117 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:17,000 who are specially designed people by their creator. 118 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:24,000 It means that every life has worth and value and significance. 119 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:30,000 Even if there is deformity, even if there is handicap, 120 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:40,000 every life has value and worth before God because he is the giver and the creator of life. 121 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:46,000 I remember as a student in Chicago walking to my employment several times a week, 122 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:56,000 and on a number of occasions seeing a woman whose form broke my heart. 123 00:13:56,000 --> 00:14:01,000 She was bent all the way over, unable to stand up straight, 124 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:09,000 dressed in normally very drab clothing, often black clothing. 125 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:19,000 Her graying, dirty hair dragged in the street as she walked along and was matted with the filth of the sidewalk. 126 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:27,000 When she came down the street, people took steps out of her way. 127 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:32,000 But I want you to know that that woman, whoever she was, 128 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:40,000 whatever caused her condition, had value and worth in the sight of God. 129 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:47,000 And I want to say to you that baby Jane Doe back in New York is not an accident either. 130 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:55,000 That little baby has worth and value in the sight of God. 131 00:14:55,000 --> 00:15:03,000 It is not man's prerogative to take life. 132 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:08,000 That is why we are so opposed to abortion on demand. 133 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:17,000 That is why as we begin to study genetic engineering, we will see that that is beyond man's prerogative. 134 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:21,000 Our creator is the one who gives life. 135 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:24,000 He is the source of it in a physical sense. 136 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:29,000 But I want to go on to say that he is also the source of it in a spiritual sense. 137 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:36,000 For there is no spiritual reality or life apart from Jesus Christ. 138 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:43,000 In Colossians 2, verse 10, it says that in him, in Christ, 139 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:51,000 you have been made complete, and he is the head over all rule and authority. 140 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:58,000 And in him, it says, you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands. 141 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:02,000 Verse 12, having been buried with him in baptism, 142 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:10,000 you were in which you were also raised up with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. 143 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:16,000 Verse 13, and when you were dead in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, 144 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:19,000 he made you alive together with him. 145 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:25,000 Verse 20, if you have died with Christ, chapter 3, verse 1, 146 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:29,000 if then you have been raised up with Christ, 147 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:34,000 and then in verses 3 and 4, hidden with Christ, revealed with him. 148 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:46,000 Do you see how inseparable spiritual reality and life are between Jesus Christ and the believer? 149 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:51,000 Life is in him. Reality is in him. 150 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:59,000 The reason that we have eternal life as children of God is because when we place our faith in Christ and receive him as Savior, 151 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:06,000 at that moment we are identified with him in his death, and we die with him. 152 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:10,000 We talked about this in Romans, chapter 6 and 7. 153 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:15,000 We died with him, and we were circumcised as it were. 154 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:22,000 The flesh, the old nature was cut away. What we were in Adam is no longer. 155 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:29,000 We died with Christ, identified with him in crucifixion. 156 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:34,000 What we were, we are no longer. We can be no longer. 157 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:42,000 Warren Worsby tells the story of two sisters who before their conversion loved to go to wild parties, 158 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:46,000 and dancing was their first love. 159 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:51,000 But then they both got saved on the same evening. 160 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:57,000 And after that event they were invited to such a party as they had enjoyed before. 161 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:00,000 And on the RSVP they sent these words, 162 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:09,000 We regret we cannot attend because we recently died. 163 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:16,000 That's the point. When we trust Jesus Christ we died what we were. 164 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:20,000 But at that very same instant we are raised with him. 165 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:25,000 We are identified with him in the power of his resurrection. 166 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:30,000 So that not only are we not what we were, but we are what we were not. 167 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:35,000 We are new creatures in Jesus Christ. 168 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:44,000 And he tells us in verse 3 that that new life that we have is hidden with Christ in God. 169 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:48,000 That's a great thought, hidden with Christ in God. 170 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:51,000 A couple of ideas woven together there I think. 171 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:58,000 One is the idea of secrecy, hidden with Christ in God. 172 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:05,000 You see the Christian's life has a source that is hidden from the world. 173 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:07,000 The world does not know it. 174 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:10,000 The world cannot understand it. 175 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:14,000 It cannot grasp it because it's hidden to them. 176 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:18,000 It is spiritual. 177 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:22,000 But there's a second idea here and that is the idea of security. 178 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:27,000 He says that our life is hidden with Christ. 179 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:34,000 Now can you think of a more secure place to be than to be with Christ? 180 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:39,000 Disciples were in that boat on the Sea of Galilee when the storm came up. 181 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:44,000 And were frightened, but they need not be. 182 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:47,000 Jesus rebuked them for their little faith. 183 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:53,000 Why? Because he was in the boat. They were secure. They were safe. 184 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:59,000 My friend, as a Christian, your life is hidden with Christ. He protects you. 185 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:03,000 It is his power that keeps you secure in himself. 186 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:06,000 But not only that, he says we are hidden with Christ in God. 187 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:09,000 You see there is a double security here. 188 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:13,000 A double lock, as it were, on the door. 189 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:17,000 He says we are with Christ in God. 190 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:22,000 The same idea is found in John chapter 10 where Jesus says regarding his sheep, 191 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:27,000 no one is able to snatch them out of my hand. We're in his hand. 192 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:32,000 And then he goes on to say no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. 193 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:38,000 The idea is that we are both, Jesus and myself, in the Father's hand. 194 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:42,000 A double security. 195 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:47,000 See the source of your spiritual life today? 196 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:52,000 You will not find life and reality anywhere else. 197 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:56,000 You may find religion in the church. 198 00:20:56,000 --> 00:21:03,000 You may find a certain sense of self-satisfaction in ritual and sacraments. 199 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:09,000 You may feel good about baptism or about your self-denial. 200 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:13,000 You may even boast in your good works, but my friend, none of that, 201 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:17,000 none of it will bring you life. 202 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:23,000 None of it can cause you to be forgiven of sins and to die to it 203 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:27,000 and to be raised in eternal life with Jesus Christ. 204 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:35,000 Not the church, not ritual, not sacraments, not baptism, not good works, none of it. 205 00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:40,000 It is only as we come into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ 206 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:53,000 that life is imparted to us, so that Jesus himself begins to give us life as he lives in us. 207 00:21:53,000 --> 00:22:00,000 Major Daniel Webster Whittle was a man used of God in the last century 208 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,000 to bring many people to Jesus Christ. 209 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:05,000 He fought in the Civil War on the side of the North, 210 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:10,000 was in Sherman's March to the Sea, when the close of the war came, 211 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:19,000 he was breveted a major and carried that title then to the rest of his life. 212 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:27,000 After the war, he went back to work as a part of the origin watch company in Chicago, 213 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:39,000 but in 1873, Evangelist D.L. Moody influenced him to enter full-time evangelistic work, and he did so. 214 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:47,000 The last major emphasis of his ministry was to work with the soldiers in the Spanish-American War, 215 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:57,000 and it was there ministering to those soldiers that Major D.W. Whittle wore himself out in the service of Jesus Christ. 216 00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:02,000 But we know him better than as an evangelist, as a songwriter. 217 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:12,000 He wrote the words to moment by moment, the crowning day is coming, I know whom I have believed, showers of blessing. 218 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:21,000 Some of the songs he wrote he wrote under a pseudonym, a pen name, L. Nathan. 219 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:29,000 And one of those hymn texts was Christ liveth in me. 220 00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:33,000 I think the words are so significant in relation to what we are talking about. 221 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:51,000 He says, Once far from God and dead in sin, no light my heart could see, but in God's word the light I found, now Christ liveth in me. 222 00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:57,000 And the refrain goes, Christ liveth in me, Christ liveth in me. 223 00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:03,000 Oh, what a salvation this, that Christ liveth in me. 224 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:11,000 My friend, that is the difference between biblical Christianity and its many counterfeits. 225 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:16,000 It is that Jesus Christ is its life source. 226 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:23,000 It is Jesus Christ living in the believer. 227 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:33,000 There is a second idea that we want to look at, found in our text in Colossians 3. 228 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:41,000 And that is the fact that not only is Jesus Christ the source of life, but he is the center of life. 229 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:49,000 He is not only the fount or the origin of life, but he is the focus of it, he is the heart of it. 230 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:56,000 As the hub is to the wheel, so is Christ to the life. 231 00:24:56,000 --> 00:25:07,000 That is why the Apostle Paul testifies in Philippians 1.21, For to me to live is Christ. 232 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:12,000 In that text he did not just mean that he got eternal life from Christ, 233 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:21,000 but he is saying to me the very idea of life, the very living out of my life is Jesus Christ. 234 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:25,000 He gives it purpose, he gives it meaning. 235 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:29,000 In Galatians 2.20 he says it a little differently. 236 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:35,000 He says, For I have been crucified with Christ. 237 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:45,000 Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. 238 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:49,000 And the life which I now live by faith in the Son of God, 239 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:56,000 I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 240 00:25:56,000 --> 00:26:00,000 Do you know the thing that gripped Paul's heart? 241 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:08,000 It was that Jesus Christ so loved him that he had given his life for him at the cross. 242 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:13,000 Now Paul says every day, my life is his life. 243 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:21,000 I live my life in faith in him who loved me and gave himself for me. 244 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:28,000 He is eternally grateful and committed to the person of Jesus Christ. 245 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:34,000 And I say to you that very many of us understand the first point I talked about today, 246 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:40,000 but there are probably few of us who can enter into the truth of this second point, 247 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:45,000 that Jesus Christ is to be the center of life. 248 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:48,000 Is Christ the center of your life? 249 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:59,000 If so, may I ask you how much time you spent with him last week? 250 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:14,000 How often did you open up his book written to you and read these words and converse with him in prayer? 251 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:22,000 In the course of your average day there in the office or driving your truck or taking care of your children 252 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:26,000 or taking down dictations, typing letters, whatever you do, 253 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:43,000 in the course of your average day, how often do you consciously think of Jesus Christ? 254 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:54,000 Before making a decision, even little decisions, do you ask him what his will is? 255 00:27:54,000 --> 00:28:00,000 Is he the focus of your life so that when you face some matter of decision, 256 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:05,000 your first thought is, Lord, what would you have me to do? 257 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:09,000 Lord, how should I face this situation? 258 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:13,000 Lord, what is the purpose in what I'm going through? 259 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:18,000 Lord, give me the faith to trust you today in this difficulty. 260 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:21,000 God, I don't understand this heartbreak that I accept from you. 261 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:25,000 Now, Lord, show me your hand in it. 262 00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:29,000 Is that the way you live? 263 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:33,000 For so many of us it's not, is it? 264 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:38,000 Not that we wouldn't like to live that way. 265 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:44,000 Not that we don't know that that's the way it should be, but when we come right down to it, 266 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:50,000 Jesus Christ is not the center of our lives. 267 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:58,000 You see, the great enemy of the Christ-centered life is the self-centered life. 268 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:06,000 We live in an age that is absolutely wrapped up with itself. 269 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:14,000 It is a narcissistic age, an age that is ingrown, an age that talks about self-help, 270 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:22,000 self-realization, self-actualization, self-respect, self-assurance, self-fulfillment, self-love. 271 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:24,000 That's our age. 272 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:29,000 And that flows over into us, doesn't it? 273 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:44,000 Until while we talk about a Christian life and we say Jesus Christ is Lord, in truth, he is not. 274 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:48,000 We ask Jesus to help us. 275 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:53,000 We ask Jesus to bless us. 276 00:29:53,000 --> 00:30:01,000 And yet, self-interests dictate what we do and how we live. 277 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:07,000 And we call that the Christian life, asking God to bless what we want. 278 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:14,000 It is no wonder there are so many of us discouraged with this thing called the Christian life. 279 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:24,000 The fact is we don't even know what the Christian life is. 280 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:36,000 The Apostle Paul says, when Christ, who is our life, is revealed, what a statement. 281 00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:46,000 Literally he says, Christ, the life of us. 282 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:53,000 But if many of us were honest today, we would have to say that rather than Christ truly being our life, 283 00:30:53,000 --> 00:31:12,000 work is, or money is, or some relationship is. 284 00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:25,000 And we are often facing temptation. Do you consider how that deed would affect Jesus Christ? 285 00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:34,000 As you seek guidance in your life, is your first thought to look at the compass in Jesus Christ? 286 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:40,000 Or do you begin to think, well, now, how much money am I going to make in this? 287 00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:46,000 Where will I have to live? And on and on it goes. 288 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:53,000 And then somewhere down the line they say, oh yeah, Lord, what do you think about it? 289 00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:56,000 That's not the Christian life. 290 00:31:56,000 --> 00:32:03,000 You see, if Jesus Christ is truly the center of our lives, it means that whatever comes to us 291 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:11,000 will immediately prompt in us our looking to him, Lord, what shall I do? 292 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:18,000 And when we talk about the center of the life, we're talking about where the power comes from too. 293 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:24,000 Because you see, the center of life is by nature the power source of it. 294 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:30,000 If myself is the center of my life, then myself will be the power source. 295 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:36,000 And how quickly that runs out. 296 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:40,000 Is Jesus Christ the power source of your life? 297 00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:45,000 Are you trying to live the Christian life and saying, God, now bless me as I try to live the Christian life? 298 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:50,000 No, my friend, that doesn't make it. 299 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:54,000 Rather we ought to say, Lord, you are my life. 300 00:32:54,000 --> 00:33:01,000 And I give myself to you, I yield myself to you, now live your life through me. 301 00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:05,000 That's the Christian life. 302 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:16,000 That's where so many of us, including myself, have so much to learn. 303 00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:21,000 The secret of it is abiding in the vine. 304 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:26,000 As Jesus said, I'm the vine, you're the branches. 305 00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:32,000 But a marvelous illustration that is as to how we are to appropriate his life. 306 00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:40,000 How his life is to flow through us to produce the fruit, the growth. 307 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:49,000 I don't know about you, but as I talk about this, I get to feeling uncomfortable inside. 308 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:57,000 And I realize how far short I am of a truly Christ-centered life. 309 00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:02,000 We need to go back to the words that we read as we began the service. 310 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:06,000 And say them again in our hearts. 311 00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:13,000 We need to pray as did someone, Lord, bend that proud and stiff-necked eye. 312 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:23,000 Help me to bow the head and die, beholding him on Calvary who bowed his head and died for me. 313 00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:28,000 It is that proud and stiff-necked eye. 314 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:43,000 It is the interest of self that preclude the outflowing of the true Christian life. 315 00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:46,000 My friend, he is the consummation of our lives as well. 316 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:50,000 When he appears, we're going to appear with him in glory. 317 00:34:50,000 --> 00:35:00,000 The sufferings we go through now are not even worthy to be compared with what's coming at the consummation of it all. 318 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:04,000 Now we walk with him by faith, on that day it will be by sight. 319 00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:10,000 Now we see through glass darkly then face to face. 320 00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:18,000 And when that day comes, how glad we will be that while we were still in this world, in this life, 321 00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:26,000 we made Jesus Christ truly the focus, the center of it. 322 00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:32,000 Let's bow together in prayer. 323 00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:36,000 None of us has arrived. 324 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:44,000 Even the Apostle Paul said, not that I've arrived, but I press on toward the mark. 325 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:52,000 My friend, there may be some of us today who are struggling so desperately with self. 326 00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:58,000 And we are miserable and frustrated Christians. 327 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:01,000 And we say, somehow the Christian life isn't working for me. 328 00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:04,000 You know why? Because it's not the Christian life you're experiencing. 329 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:07,000 It's the self-life. 330 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:13,000 What you need to do is to die. 331 00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:21,000 To deny self that place of sovereignty that it demands. 332 00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:27,000 And to give that place to Jesus Christ. 333 00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:36,000 Vance Havner said, what we need to do is to stop carrying buckets of water and let the river carry us. 334 00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:40,000 Some of us have been busy carrying buckets of water, trying to do the right thing. 335 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:44,000 Live the Christian life. Please God. 336 00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:48,000 And it's all been in the flesh. 337 00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:56,000 What we need today is to say, Lord, pick me up and carry me along in the river. 338 00:36:56,000 --> 00:37:07,000 Father in heaven, I pray today that Jesus Christ will be the source of life to that one who's never trusted him. 339 00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:17,000 That today there will be someone here who would for the first time believe what Jesus said. 340 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:25,000 When he said, he that believes on me shall have everlasting life. 341 00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:34,000 Help someone here today, Father, to see Christ clearly as his Savior, to trust him for salvation. 342 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:40,000 But Father, across this auditorium, in the hearts of your children, in my heart, 343 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:54,000 I pray that you will do a work of cleansing us of the self-life, of self-centeredness, of selfishness. 344 00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:59,000 And claim the throne of our lives for yourself. 345 00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:03,000 You be the king. You be the sovereign. 346 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:10,000 Father, I pray that some frustrated, discouraged Christians here today will give it up to you. 347 00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:18,000 And instead of trying to live for you, they will heal themselves up in rust, in faith, 348 00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:26,000 and allow you to live your life through them. 349 00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:33,000 And with our heads bowed, I wonder if there is a Christian here today who would honestly say, 350 00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:39,000 Pastor Call, that's me. I am a self-centered Christian. I am miserable. 351 00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:43,000 I don't want to be self-centered, but that is the way I've lived. 352 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:47,000 Today I want you to pray for me. Pray that God will help me to understand, 353 00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:54,000 will give me enlightenment as to what the real Christian life is. 354 00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:59,000 I want Jesus Christ to be on the throne of my life today. Pray for me. 355 00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:04,000 Would you lift your hand and then put it down? I'm not going to point you out or embarrass you. 356 00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:08,000 There are far too many of us for that. Of course. Would you lift your hand? 357 00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:13,000 God bless you, many of you. Others? 358 00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:22,000 Now Father, you've seen these hands. You know our hearts seal, I pray, this decision. 359 00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:27,000 And move us along in our understanding of what it is to live, 360 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:36,000 depending upon the power source who lives in us, Jesus Christ. 361 00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:53,000 And I pray this in His name, Amen.