What the Christian life is--all in the appropriation

Paul writes in Ephesians 1: [13] In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

[14] Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

You know what an "earnest" is? When you buy a house, you give a down payment and you get the contract that says it's "earnest money." You're going to buy a $100,000 house and you put $10,000 down. It's earnest money and when it comes time for you to complete the sale that 10 was part of the 100, so the earnest is part of the whole, explains Richard Jordan.

God the Holy Spirit believes in what the Father's doing so much He was willing to give Himself as the earnest. He didn't just say, "I think it's right," He committed Himself to it, so much so that He comes to be the seal, the guarantor or our redemption. 

In the godhead, the life of the godhead is that everybody lives for the benefit of the other. Everybody lives with a confident expectation of what the wisdom and the plan is, and they all live in faith and in Word in the work of the Son. They all work together and that's God's life.

That's why Paul says in Ephesians 3: [12] In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

It's "in whom" and it's "the faith of Him." For you and me it all focuses on the Word, the Son. The one who is the bridge for you and me. The one by whom we have access through the Spirit unto the Father. The Lord Jesus Christ is the mediator. He's the one who brings all of that life to you and me.

In Romans 8 there's a strangely wonderful verse. Paul says in verse 38: [38] For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

[39] Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Where is the love of God? It's in a person. It's in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and when you got saved, God put you in Christ and you participate in His divine life, His relationships. In all of the relationships Jesus Christ has with the Father and the Spirit, you share. "Christ in you, the hope of glory."

Galatians 2: [20] I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

You see that? He's our life. He's the one who gives us the fullness and the access with confidence. Don't spend your life trying to become something God's already made you.

Spend your life living in the reality of WHO He's made you and walk by faith in the details of your life-- in every detail of your life because every decision you make, and every choice you face, and every obstacle you have to overcome, every blessing you can enjoy, in all of those He is our life and we carry Him into life as we walk by faith in the reality of who He's made us. That's what the Christian life is.

It's not tithing, religious ordinances, on and on. We're not trying to get something from God. That's why people do those things. We're just simply being who we are and we get to be that because of our faith in Him.

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When we’re talking about the "blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works," we’re talking about the love, the joy, the peace, the longsuffering.

We’re talking about appropriating into your experience the reality of what God has given you in your position in Christ. You have an identity in Christ. God has taken your sin and set you free. He’s taken the guilt and sent it to Calvary.

He said, "I’ll remember it no more. I’ll not connect it back with your identity again. I’ll do it permanently and forever. You never have to come and ask me to accept you. I already have. You never have to ask to please forgive me my sins. I already have. I’ve made you complete. I’ve blessed you with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Now all I want you to do is take what I’ve already given you and bring it into the experience of your life on a daily basis."

Colossians 2:10 says, "And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power."  But then look at chapter 4:12: [12] Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.’

Wait a minute—I thought they were complete?! Why is Epaphras praying and laboring that they would BE complete?

Paul says in Ephesians 1, "You’re accepted in the beloved." In II Corinthians 5:9, he says, "Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him."

You say, "Wait a minute—I thought I was accepted!" That’s the difference between your standing and your state; your position in Christ and your practice in time; your identity in Him and then that identity living in your experience now.

If you’re complete in Him, there’s nothing to make your more complete. All you need to do is appropriate the completeness you already have—bring it into your experience. Have the practical, experiential possession of what already belongs to you.

That is to experience the joy of, "I am forgiven." Whew! That’s a wonderful thing. Let that inform your mind so that your emotions know how to relate to reality.

Now, there’s two things you have to have to appropriate anything. One, you got to know about it. You got to see what you already have in Christ. The key to the Christian life is knowing your identity, and you can never know your identity if you don’t study the Bible rightly divided. Dispensational Bible study is the most practical thing you’ll ever have in your life because it gives you the ability to know who you really are.

The other component is you not only have to know it, you have to be aware of your need of it. That’s because you’ll never reach out and appropriate into your experience something unless you know that you really need it.