Do You Know?

By Tammy Lacock

“For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:10)

In this week’s podcast, Warren Litzman again emphasizes the Apostle Paul’s gospel of grace as the only gospel for believers today.

Paul’s gospel of grace is that by Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, we are saved. By God’s grace we are joined to Christ in Spirit, reconciled to God by His life literally within us now. We are not saved by anything we do or don’t do. We are saved by the uprooting of our sin-nature and the placing of God’s Seed, His Son, in our very spirits. We are saved by Christ, and He is our new life. We are brand-new creations, bona fide sons and daughters of God by Christ. In fact, our new life in Christ was part of God’s plan before He created the world.

“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” (Ephesians 1:4)

The question for believers today is, Do you know Christ lives in you now?

Most Christians today don’t know. Preachers aren’t emphasizing Paul’s gospel! We’ve literally been born again by having Christ’s life within us, but many don’t know it. Instead, they are living the same way the early church lived, basing their salvation on their works (and outer signs and miracles) rather than getting to know and love the resurrected Christ who now lives in them.

Christ revealed to Paul in the Arabian desert that Christ lived in him, and yet believers at the time, including the disciples, couldn’t grasp this revelation. Christ Himself raised up only Paul to bring this new gospel to the world. That no longer do we look for Christ outside of us. He literally lives within us now.

“But when it pleases God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son IN (my emphasis) me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.” (Galatians 1:15-16)

Paul realized believers needed a radical mind-change for this new gospel to take hold.

Warren tells us, through Paul’s epistles, that this mind-renewal is extremely important if we are to live our new life in Christ and live who God created us to be. We must make up our minds whether we will conform to this world or fix our minds now on Christ within us, our new life.

Yes, as believers, we are saved. We are going to Heaven. We are completed by Christ’s life within us. Yet our minds are polluted. If we don’t know that Christ lives in us, then we will never live out who God created us to be. If we don’t get to know Him and love Him now while we’re here, then we will invariably conform to this world. We can ask the Holy Spirit to clear out the clutter and renew our minds to our new life in Christ. The Holy Spirit’s sole purpose is to teach us of the Christ who now lives in us so that we can begin to focus our minds on Him rather than anything outside of us.

May we follow Paul as he follows Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1) and have a radical mind change. He didn’t care whether he lived or died. This world meant nothing to him. The truth that Christ lived in him set him free. All He wanted was to know Him and love Him.

And now, It’s time to make up our minds!

Will you continue to conform to this world?

Or have a radical mind change by focusing on Christ, He who now lives in you?

“And not be conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2 KJV)