You In Me

Conrad Hertzler

The Power of the Blood Covenant • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

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A sermon series based on the book by Malcolm Smith

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You in Me

Being a Pilot for MAF in Mozambique

The weekends and evenings were a time for me to be a husband to my wife and a father to my children.

I would do the shopping, work on the car, do maintenance around the house.

On Sunday evening I would lead our English church fellowship

But on Monday morning, things were different.

My alarm would go off, many times soon after 4:00 a.m.

I would find a shirt like the one I’m wearing (Heidi always had them washed and ironed for me)

I would find a pair of nice black jeans

I would put my pilot bars on the epulats

I would find my two pens and put them in my pocket.

I would put my identification papers in my other shirt pocket

I would put on a pair of rugged footwear.

On the way out the door, after I had my breakfast, I would grab my bag with my lunch, my iPad, my portable GPS, my knee board.

I would get in the car or on my motorcycle and head toward the hangar and arrive an hour before my flight.

My first order of business was to gather all the weather information that I could to see if there was a possiblity of being delayed.

After that, I would do the paperwork that was required--

a flight plan form

a tax form

Print out a log to keep a physical record of the flight

Then I would head out into the hangar and do the pre-flight inspection of the airplane

Check quantity of fuel

Color of fuel

Quality of fuel—any water in it?

Check oil

Do a complete walk around, check airplane systems, condition

Then passengers would arrive.

Had to weigh the passengers

Weigh their bags. Could I carry everything and everybody?

If all was good, it was time to fly

Passengers on board

Give them a briefing on seatbelts, door operation, doggy bags

Do a checklist before getting into the airplane

baggage doors closed?

fuel caps closed?

Wheel chocks pulled out?

Passengers briefed?

Get in and get settled.

Seat belt on

Seat adjusted and locked into place

Pre-start checklist

Post-start checklist

Call the tower and get clearance to taxi

At the end of the runway, stop and do a pre-takeoff checklist

Including emergency briefing

If all is good, we call for clearance for takeoff

After takeoff, perform a climb checklist

At level off, perform a level off checklist

During the flight, always evaluating aircraft systems, changing weather, passenger comfort, emergency landing options.

At descent, perform a descent checklist

Before landing, a landing checklist.

After landing, a landing checklist

After shutdown, a post-shutdown checklist.

To be a good pilot, you had to be very calculating, very technical. Able to leave all that had happened during the week and the emotions that came with it behind you.

In order to be a good pilot, I had to actively and consciously step into the role. I had to put on the hat of a pilot

If I was arriving at the hangar to do maintenance or an inspection, again, I had to conscientiously put on the hat of an inspector or maintenance technician

I had to step into the role of a maintenance technician. I had to put on my mechanic’s hat, as we often said.

But putting on these clothes spoke other things as well

Identity: When someone looked at me, they could tell what kind of job I had. When I changed from my work clothes of the weekend into my flight uniform, I had a change of identity

Position: wearing these clothes brought a certain position of authority. When I was in the airport environment and wearing my security badge, I had a position.

I could enter secure areas. I was pilot in command of my airplane. I was allowed to tell people what they could and couldn’t do around my airplane

Stepping into this uniform and into the airport environment, brought with it a change of identity and position.

It took a conscious change of mind, a change of attention

I want to draw your attention again to

(NIV)

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

Pray

Here Jesus introduces His followers to something which had to be completely new and astounding to them. Vs. 20

You in me, I in you

The past two Sunday’s that I preached, we took a closer look at “I in you”—Jesus living in us through the power of the HS and what does that mean.

We sort of get this because this is how being a Believer is introduced to us. “Ask Jesus to come and live inside your heart”, and “Jesus is knocking on your heart’s door”

The idea of the HS coming to live inside of us is familiar and seems right.

But I wonder how much we have thought about this other idea: us being in Him?

I certainly don’t recall thinking much about it for most of my life. I would read this idea but it didn’t click with me. It didn’t compute. I would tend to just sort of brush over it and go on because I just couldn’t grasp it.

But I think that we have to think about it and grasp it. Because if we don’t, we are missing such a key part of living as a Believer.

“in Him”— a phrase found 118 times in the NT

“in Christ”—found 76 times

Especially in the writings of Paul. He repeats this over and over again. He talks about us being IN HIM or IN CHRIST.

So it’s worth looking into and worth gaining an understanding

But first a couple of things:

While we are looking at these ideas of Christ in us and us and Christ as separate ideas, they are actually very closely tied together.

Jesus used these two phrases or ideas together and we cant’ separate them

We can’t say, “Yes, I have Christ in me but I don’t want to be ‘in Christ’.

“I in you”—the power for living

“You in me”—the practicality for living

Jesus used both phrases or ideas together and we have to think of them together.

“in Christ”—found 76 times

So how do we understand being in Christ?

But the majority of time talking about us being in Christ.

POWERPOINT

Makes you think that this is a concept that we need to sit up and pay attention to.

Man

We talked about how when man sinned, there we were separated from the life that we had been connected to. The life line was cut.

Separated from God— “at one time you were separated from God, strangers to Israel

Enemies of God—

I wonder if it’s a phrase or concept which you have thought much about.

And there was nothing that we could do about it. We were helpless and deceived apart from God.

Needing Forgiveness—because of the above conditions

Powerless— “when we were powerless, Christ died for the ungodly”

Without hope— “Without hope and without God in this world

This was all true of us. Our condition was truly pitiful and hopeless

But then God in His hesed took upon Himself the fulfillment of His covenant and sent Jesus to do everything that man could not do for ourselves.

Jesus Christ

Brought reconciliation

Made us friends with God

Brought forgiveness of sins

Gave us the gift of the filling of the HS

Brought us a living hope

All of this and much, much more.

And we, through faith and with the working of the HS in our hearts, all we have to do is step into Jesus Christ and the work that he has already done.

His position with God, is our position

His righteousness is our righteousness

His blessings are our blessings

His power is our power

His character becomes our character

And that’s where we stay!

But our frustration comes when we say, “Look, Jesus, what you did is great and all, but I think you need some help. So I’m going to go back to living by the Law or at least making laws for myself to help things along a little bit. You know, just fill in the gaps and make sure we are all covered.”

And so we do that and we fail. We give into temptation. We give into laziness, give into whatever our body wants.

And it brings defeat because we think that the moment we have a lapse in “righteous living” that our salvation is in jeopardy.

But our position as Believers is IN HIM! There is nothing more that we can do to earn our salvation or earn a greater position before God

Maybe another way that we can look at it is like taking a piggy-back ride:

My kids at bed time used to compete for who was going to get a piggy-back ride tonight:

They had to trust that I knew where I was going, that I could hold them without dropping them. They were completely at my mercy.

Or maybe it’s like taking a trip by air

True, you get your ticket and get yourself to the gate. But after that, the trip is out of your control.

You have no idea of all the prep work that it takes to get an airline ready for a flight.

And you don’t care either

You don’t care how much work it takes for the pilot and crew to operate this complex piece of machinery.

All you care about is getting safely to your destination on time.

Once you are in the airplane, is there anything you can do to improve your position?

Maybe you can get out and help push the airplane down the runway

Maybe you can sit out on the wing and flap your arms

Yes, it’s ridiculous. But so often that’s how we treat our lives as Believers. Lord, what you did was nice, but I think you need some help. So I’m going to sit out here and flap my arms. That should help things along and make me feel like I’ve had some part in this whole thing.

But Jesus says, “No, that’s not going to help. Simply step into me. Clothe yourself with me by faith. I’ve done it all. There’s nothing more that you can do.

I’m not saying that our works of faith don’t matter. They do matter very much.

But not when we are talking about our position before Christ.

I heard about salvation and teaching about salvation

Specifically things like:

Let Jesus come into your heart

Ask Him to be your personal Lord and Savior

I had to open the door and let Him in

All true to some degree. but I heard very little about:

The Holy Spirit putting a new Spirit in me

And I heard almost nothing about me, or us, living in Him.

And for years, when I was reading the NT, I would come across this concept and almost just kind of skip over it like it wasn’t there. I didn’t grasp it. I didn’t know what the Scripture was saying

(ESV)

Life Through the Spirit

Life in the Spirit

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

8 There is therefore

Therefore—what is he referring to?

Answer: To the entire book of Romans up to this point. If you could get rid of the chapter and verse divisions and look at the book with “soft eyes”, you would see Paul making a case which builds up to this point.

Chapters 1-3 Paul makes the case that even with the Law in place, our unrighteousness deserved God’s wrath and punishment. Despite our best efforts, we simply could not be good enough.

Chapters 3-4 Paul tells us that true righteousness comes through faith! That just as Abraham believed and God counted it as righteousness, our right standing before God comes through faith, not works of the law!

Chapter 5—That faith that brings us into a right relationship with God, brings peace with God!

Chapters 6—Paul talks about the practical outworking of this righteousness. He’s just established that God in His matchless grace justifies us through faith. But Paul is incredulous, as we all should be, that anyone would even suggest that it doesn’t matter how we live since God is full of grace.

Yes it DOES matter!

Chapter 7—Paul kind of goes back and tries to explain it again

Just as a marriage is annulled through the death of a spouse, our obligation is not to the law anymore because we have died to the law

And again, he tries to explain that the Law wasn’t what was bad. It was our own evil desires that were awakened by what the Law prohibited.

When the Law said, do not commit adultery, we said, “I wonder what that would be like.”

When the Law said, do not steal, we said “Yeah but I could get it for free”.

When the Law said, do not covet, we said “yeah, but I really want it”.

And so we constantly lived in condemnation and guilt under the Law.

And that guilt brought death. We deserved it.

But now here comes chapter 8: THEREFORE!

Because we were once condemned under the Law

And because we are counted as righteous through faith

And because we have died to the Law

Therefore: Why “therefore”? You need to look back at chapter 7. Paul has expressed the struggle that he feels.

This struggle is always feeling the pull and the tug of the flesh.

But he ends the chapter with this famous question: “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?

the answer: Thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

That is why he can come in chapter 8 and say “therefore”. Because even though you feel the tug and pull of your flesh, you aren’t living there anymore. There is deliverance! You have been delivered!

2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

now no condemnation (Lit. punishment. And what was that punishment? DEATH!) for those who are in Christ Jesus.

And why is there no condemnation? Verse 2 Because...

2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

The fact that the Law awakened in us every evil desire and we struggled with sin, that sin brought death. Just like there are consequences for breaking the law. And we were stuck there, imprisoned there

But in Christ Jesus, we have been set free. Do you remember our picture, that we saw last Sunday of sinful man stepping into Christ Jesus? That’s our freedom.

Paul explains this farther. How did this happen?

3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

Yes, the Law was good and right. Remember the Psalms and David’s expressions of delight in God’s Law?

But the Law had a problem. That problem was us. The problem was that man had a deep problem that the Law could not possibly fix.

WE see this today. Unspeakable things being done. Well we need to pass more laws, need to put more police on the streets, etc.

Will that work? Probably not. it never has produced righteousness in the past.

So the Law, or the effectiveness of it, was weakened by our flesh.

So God took it on Himself to do what the Law could not do. He sent His perfect Son to be punished in the flesh. And in doing so,

4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Do you want to be righteous? Here it is. In order for the righteousness that the Law was meant to bring to be fulfilled in us, we need to walk in the Spirit.

This is a hard one for us because we are finite and sensory beings. We think it’s easier to know if we or someone else is being righteous if we have a list of things that we can check off. Let’s see, they

eat right,

Dress right,

go to church regularly

Drive a modest car

Tithe.

Yep, they must be righteous

Walking in the Spirit is harder for us to define. The fruit of the Spirit are heart qualities, coming from our innermost beings.

The righteous requirements of the law (making us acceptable before God) are fulfilled only in those who are walking in the Spirit.

More explanation:

5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

How are you going to be in Christ yet desire the things that you want?

If you are in Christ, you are going to demonstrate that by setting your mind on what the Spirit wants

6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. PERIOD, FULL STOP

It is impossible to please God if you are living according to the flesh.

If the first thing on your mind when you get up in the morning is “how am I going to take care of me?” it’s pretty safe to say that you aren’t pleasing God.

5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.

Remember how we said that “Christ in you” and “You in Christ” are concepts which cannot be separated? Here it is.

You are in the Spirit if the Spirit of God dwells in you.

Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin,

This is something that cannot change. We are born into sin, and our body is corruptible for the time being. We will continue to feel the effects of sin.

the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

Heirs with Christ

12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, (We have an obligation) not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

You know, as hard as the flesh pulls sometimes, we are not obligated to the flesh. We don’t HAVE to do what the flesh wants.

But we MUST live according the Spirit. We have no option in this.

13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die (remember, we just said that this flesh, our body is still feeling the effects of sin and is bound to die), but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

So our debt is not to our flesh, so serve it. Our debt is to Him. And the way that we pay this debt is simply to live by the Spirit.

These words should pound themselves into our minds. By the Spirit, By the Spirit, By the Spirit.

Again, this is not about you trying to clean up you and live better.

Although, determining in your mind to live differently does come into this. But you decide to live by the Spirit. You ask Him to transform you from the inside out

What does this do? It identifies you as sons and daughters of God

14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,

Why does he mention fear? Because our attempt to “do enough” to make God accept us or to make others accept us is rooted in fear

Fear that nobody could ever want us, fear that God’s grace really isn’t sufficient

but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

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