Christ in You

May 15, 2016

Devotions:

      “And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul; and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”  Acts‬ ‭11:25-26‬ ‭NASB‬‬

      Saul or Paul, was the major writer of the New Testament. Pauls writings are all about the grace of God which in the New Testament is different than in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, the saints were looking forward to the coming of the Savior but they really did not know hat that meant. God continually painted them pictures of what His grace would look like and what His salvation would look like but even when they understood, they only saw a shadow of good things to come.  The Old Testament saints did not understand our salvation neither did they experience it. True salvation, based on the finished work of Jesus, is in a total ly different deminsion.

      In New Testament salvation, His eternal life flows into you, totally recreating you and restoring the image of God in you. This image is different in that it cannot be marred by sin and lost as what happened with Adam and Eve. This new image is created and sustained by the resurrection life of Christ. In that resurrection life all sin has been fully paid for. So as Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live,yet not I, but Christ that lives in me...." Galatians 2: 20

      This is our new identity, Christ in me, the hope of glory. Colosians 1: 27. Paul so powerfully taught this at Antioch that they were called Christians there because they accepted it there.

      The he central theme of Christiany is the resurrected Christ in me and you, God's total victory over all of the work of the enemy. He is in you if you are born again, His victory is your victory in every area.