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Messages of Jose Anathanam and
the Covenant Ministries from |
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Messages of Jose Anathanam and
the Covenant Ministries from |
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In
Christ Jesus
Part XII
| HOW TO BE IN CHRIST JESUS? Through the last eleven messages in this series, we have been trying to put forward the abundant blessings of God IN CHRIST JESUS, available to anyone who is prepared to receive them IN CHRIST JESUS. For the Word of God says: - "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me"(John 7/37). Jesus did not say, "let all come"; but He said, "If ANYONE is thirsty; let him come. Or, on another occasion Jesus said,"If ANYONE hears my voice and opens the door, I will come INTO HIM and eat with him and he with me."(Rev 3/20). Or, in Isaiah 55, it is written - "HO, everyone who thirsts, come - Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him, while He is near." (Isaiah 55/1-6). All the blessings of God are available IN CHRIST JESUS only (2 Cor 1/20); because, Jesus became poor for our sake, so that we may become rich (2 Cor 8/9). And, Jesus became a curse for us, that IN CHRIST JESUS we may receive the blessings of God (Gal 3/13,14) or, it is written Jesus became sin for our sake, so that we may become righteous before God IN CHRIST JESUS (2 Cor 5/21). "Therefore if anyone is in CHRIST, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come" (2 Cor.5/17) In order to receive all the blessings of God IN CHRIST JESUS; we need to, first understand how man forfeited all these blessings. He lost every thing that God gave him because, man, of his own free will, chose to disobey and disbelieve God. Instead, man chose to believe and to obey what Satan offered; there by, facing all the consequences of that decision; the worst consequence being, slavery to the devil "Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death or of obedience which leads to righteousness?" (Romans 6/16) This is the reason why Jesus spoke the truth to the good religious people of his time, when he told them that they were slaves and they needed to be free. In order to experience freedom in Christ, they needed to know the TRUTH (John 8/32), which is the word of God (John 7/17). But, in order to know the TRUTH, they need to be in IN CHRIST JESUS and to be His disciples. How does this happen? Jesus said, "If you ABIDE in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free." (John 8/31-32) It is very important to understand that JESUS CHRIST himself is the WORD OF GOD became flesh (John 1/14). "In the beginning was the word (JESUS), and the word (JESUS) was with God, and the word (JESUS) was God. He (JESUS) was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him (JESUS), and without him (JESUS) was not anything made that was made. In HIM (JESUS) was life, And the life was the light of men" (John 1/1-4) "And the word (JESUS) became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; and we have beheld His glory, glory as of the Only Son of the Father. And from his fullness have we all received grace upon grace." (John 1/14,16) "And the name by which He (JESUS) is called is THE WORD OF GOD" (Revelation19/13). From the above verses, (quoted from scripture), it can be clearly understood that JESUS IS THE WORD OF GOD and hence, if ANYONE abides in the word (lives according to the word), he abides IN CHRIST JESUS. This makes him a disciple of Christ (John 8/31-32). Only disciples are Christians (Acts 11/26). Only disciples receive all the blessings from God because they are IN CHRIST JESUS. Now; coming to the most important question; IS IT POSSIBLE TO ABIDE IN THE WORD OF GOD (live according to the word of God)? The answer is Yes and No. Some will find it difficult and others will find it easy to ABIDE in the Word of God. WHO WILL FIND IT DIFFICULT TO ABIDE IN THE WORD OF GOD? All those born IN ADAM; the sinner, the enemy of God, the spiritually dead man who cannot know and experience God, who possess the wisdom of this world which is a corrupted wisdom, that came from Lucifer the fallen angel (Ezekiel_28/17) and hence cannot understand the things of God. Such people will find the Bible boring, and meaningless. They will have no taste for the Word of God. Although, such people may be holy, pious, religious, and sincere in seeking God; their spiritual state prevents them from enjoying the Word of God and hence they will find it burdensome to obey the Word of God. This prevents them from being IN CHRIST JESUS who is the Word of God. To such people Jesus said: - "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God". (John 3/3) This could also be the case of all those people who call themselves Christians on the basis of their baptism, but have never heard the Gospel; Or, if at all they have heard it, they may not have given a positive response to the word of God and hence they still remain in a state of Spiritual death; because, it is only through the Word of God (JESUS) that one is born anew. "You have been born anew, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and abiding Word of God" (1 Peter 1/23) It is also noteworthy from the Word of God, that many who heard the word did not benefit anything at all; because they did not receive that Word in faith nor did they put it into practice "For, good news came to us, just as to them; but the message which they heard DID NOT BENEFIT THEM, because it did not meet with faith in the hearers." (Hebrews 4/2) "BE DOERS OF THE WORD and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" (James 1/22) "We have much to say which is HARD to explain, since you have become dull of hearing" (Hebrews 5/11) It is very important to understand, that all human beings born into this world are born with a HEART OF STONE, as the Bible calls it; because this heart is closed to God and to his word. And this heart becomes harder and harder as people become more and more religious. That is why the Pharisees and the scribes who were religious rejected JESUS, THE WORD OF GOD. Since the WORD OF GOD is GOD himself; We cannot separate God from his Word. For that reason we cannot have a religion without the WORD OF GOD. To do so is to keep God away from our lives and yet to be religious which is a deception. This is the reason why Jesus looked at that religious man, Nicodemus and said emphatically: - "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you are born again, you will never enter the Kingdom of God". (John 3/5) You must be born again through the living and abiding word of God (1 Peter 1/23) HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN? "A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you, a heart of flesh. And I will put my sprit within you and cause you to walk in my statues and be careful to observe my ordinances." (Ezekiel 36/26-27) From the above verses, we can notice that being born again is a work of God within us, when, we allow him to work in us. That is why Jesus says: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him" (Rev 3/20) Hence, we need to listen to His voice by hearing HIS WORD from the Bible and then God himself removes the heart of stone from within us and replaces it with a heart of flesh. He then gives us his Holy Spirit to live within this new heart and His Holy Spirit helps us to abide IN CHRIST JESUS by giving us the power to obey and to put into practice all that is spoken in the Word of God. The presence of the Holy Spirit within us gives us a thirst for the Word of God. We begin to have a spiritual taste for the Word of God. We begin to enjoy the Word of God and we begin to abide in the Word of God. To such people Jesus says " You are those who have continued with me in my trials; and I assign to you, as my father assign to me, a Kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." (Luke 22/28-30) And so as we come to the close of this series - IN CHRIST JESUS we pray that all those who have been led by the Spirit of God to read these messages, may continuously be led by the same Holy Spirit to listen to His word preached with His authority by His disciples who are in different parts of this world and to receive a new heart which will thirst for the Word of God. "You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. ABIDE in ME and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you ABIDE IN ME. I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, He, it is that bears much fruit, for APART FROM ME YOU CAN DO NOTHING." (John 15/3-5) |
The Covenant
People
P.O. Box: 20, Kanjirapally
Kottayam District, Kerala - India
