ONE OF THOSE THINGS PART 2

TO HIM THAT OVERCOMES

                Whether we are caught up in a pre-trib rapture, or we go through the tribulation, there is one thing that is required of all Christians. To all of the churches throughout all time Jesus said, “To him that overcomes I will grant…”We are all required to overcome and for that reason, it is imminently important that we know what overcoming is and how it is accomplished.

                Around this concept there are perhaps more false doctrines than any other. They go something as follows

1.       Jesus overcame so we don’t have to.

2.       We are just old sinners saved by grace

3.       It is our lot to sin and repent sin and repent until Jesus comes, when we will be glorified.

4.       Everything depends upon our will and our determination to overcome

5.       We must imitate Jesus so that we will become like Him.

6.       We must somehow die to self; choosing God’s will over our own will.

7.       We must obey at all costs for it is in keeping the commandments that we are saved.

8.       If we sin, we must do penance to atone for what we have done.

                Actually, none of the above is true. The first three above represent only half of the salvation Jesus brought to us… The first half of the salvation package is that Jesus died for our sins, thus clearing our sin debt… and many people stop there. But Paul said in 1 Cor. 15:17 that if Christ hath not been raised, we are yet in our sins.”

                Well, if Jesus paid the sin debt in full, upon His death, then why do we remain in our sins?

                We need a two part salvation and the second part is that Jesus has risen to become our new life. So there are three things we need to establish in our lives:

1.       There is a living standard which God has set for every Christian to live by.

2.       We are unable to live by it.

3.       Throughout the centuries there has only been One who has so lived, who is Christ.

                In other words as Watchman Nee says, “We ought, but we cannot. “ So, only God can live the life that He requires. Only God can live God’s life.

                In other words if Jesus did not rise from the dead then we are of all men most miserable. Why? It is because there is nothing to keep us from incurring more debt by continuing to sin. So we are left with one of two choices… Either God has to lower His standards to accommodate our weakness, or He has to come and live His life in us.

                Paul said: “For me to live is Christ” Phil. 1:21. This verse does not say “Like Christ.” It doesn’t say to imitate Christ. It does not say to take Christ as a model for us to imitate. No, instead he says, “For me to live IS Christ. So God not only appoints Christ to die at Calvary for us, but He also makes Him our life.

                Again, as Watchman Nee says: “God does not make you a Christian in the way a person teaches a monkey how to dress, eat and move. To teach a monkey to live like a man would be such a burden to it that it would rather remain as it is than to learn to be a man. No, God has not treated us in such a way.”

                I have often argued with God that if I could die to self, then I could probably just as easily keep the law… both are out of my reach.

                “Oh, let me say that if only we could truly believe that we cannot- how much better it would be! God doesn’t want you to try. The life which He gives us is not a fail-and- repent type of life. He wants us to live as Christ lives; because it is Christ in us who wishes to live out His style of life.” Nee.

                We need to truly understand and experience the fact that for me to live is Christ. It will change our prayer life immensely. We will no longer promise to do better next time. We will no longer live in guilt and condemnation. We will no longer feel separate from God,  struggling in vain to be like Jesus.

                We live in a covenant, signed in the blood of Jesus that promises that what He started in us, He will finish. We are more than conquerors, not because we have learned some magic new positive mantra. We are overwhelmingly conquering because Jesus Christ is our new life. In the cross, He has provided a death for us, so that in entering it by faith, we put Him in charge of our salvation. We can’t live God’s life. Only God can live God’s life, but now God is living His life in me and I am at rest in Him.

                Now, instead of promising God with bitter regret, saying  that I will do better next time, I simply come to Him and remind Him and myself of His promises to finish what He has begun in me. It is His life being lived, not mine. My life is now dead and it is no longer I that live but Christ. I give Him permission to do whatever it takes in my life to get me to the finish line.

                The burden to try to make it to heaven and escape hell is taken from me as Christ lives His life in and through me.

                So as you can see, Satan has made it his goal to get us to look at ourselves, to compare ourselves to Jesus, or to others whom we think might be more holy than us. Instead we must focus our eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. He will get us to the finish line. He has promised to do it and He is infinitely capable of doing what He has promised.

                I hope this has helped someone today. It is so easy to fall into ruts of old thinking, from either legalism or liberalism, both of which will get us into the ditch. Only Jesus Christ can live His perfect life in us. He promised it and we can believe Him and rest in Him.