Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but [this] one thing [I do], forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. (Philippians 3:12-15 KJV)

 Recently, I dreamed that I was totally in Jesus. There I slept in perfect peace, harmony, and unity. Nothing seemed to be lacking in that state. I was so shocked that I awoke. I went back to sleep praying to experience it again, and again He let me abide there in my sleep. I woke up in the morning quite rested. The experience was very real. God wanted to show me something that I had only known in theory from reading the scriptures.

“In Christ Jesus” is a phrase we see all through the epistles of the New Testament. What does it mean? We say to others, “Do you believe in Jesus?” Yet, are wein Jesus ourselves when we ask it of others? There is a great difference in believing in someone or something the way we do in our culture and really, fully believing in Jesus.

First, we are mislead by the mistranslation of many verses that have to do with our salvation.

For instance, in John 6:29 we read, “Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent” (John 6:29 KJV). All we have to do is “believe on” Jesus.

In John 3:16 we read, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Every Sunday school child can parrot this verse. This is all straight forward. We just believe on or in Jesus and we are saved. In our culture to “believe in” someone is to account them as trustworthy. We believe in our elected officials (as long as they are the ones we voted for). We believe in our home football or baseball teams and root for them all season. We even believe in Ford pickup trucks! But is this what this famous verse we hang our salvation on is really saying?

The part of these two verses in question of which I speak is this, “believe on” and “believe in” Jesus. The word translated “on” and “in” here is the Greek word ice. Its real meaning is into, not on or in. When it comes to true salvation, true belief is when we believe INTO Jesus. Through the faith of Jesus that He places in us, we are brought totally into Him in perfect intimacy. This kind of faith is way beyond simply believing in an elected official or a baseball team or a manufacturer’s product. Believing in is defined in the Amplified Version of John 3:16 as one who (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Jesus Christ. This comes far closer to our callings than the way we culturally use the word “believe.” Yet, there is more to this believing INTO Jesus than most of us will ever know.

Christ in Us

Paul wrote to the church, “[The gospel] Of which I am made a minister, according to the commission of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:25-27 KJ2000 – emphasis added). Christ living in us is the hope of glory. As I read this I had to ask, “If Jesus in us is just the hope of glory, what is the glory?”

Jesus comes into us to make His abode. But does He stay there all shut up inside while we continue to live our lives as we see fit? When Jesus comes into us, He comes to take over, not just to live in seclusion. The bumper sticker that reads, “Jesus is my co-pilot” totally misses the mark! Is that all there is when it comes to the kingdom of heaven and “being saved?” Is Jesus just along for the ride and there to be called upon whenever we lose control or need a rest? I think not! Jesus comes into us so that He might continue to grow in us. Paul wrote, “God has put all things under the power of Christ, and for the good of the church he has made him the head of everything. The church is Christ’s body and is filled with Christ who completely fills everything” (Ephesians 1:22-23 CEV). Jesus is planted within us as a lowly mustard seed and He desires to grow in us until He becomes the greatest of all herbs, filling us up to overflowing. The goal of the gospel is that we might manifest the glory of the Father as we abide in Christ Who finally takes over both within us and without, filling the whole church, manifesting to the world the body of Christ in action that the Father might once again be glorified in His creation.

“For ye are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus; for as many of you as were immersed into Christ, did put on Christ. There exists neither Jew nor Greek, there exists neither bond nor free, there exists neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26-28 Worrell N.. T. 1904)

In Christ We Have True Unity, Obedience and Glory

Jesus prayed just before He was to go to the cross,

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that you have sent me. And the glory which you gave me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that you have sent me, and have loved them, as you have loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom you have given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which you have given me: for you loved me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:20-24 KJ2000)

First He not only was praying for the disciples who believed in Him, but for all who would believe in Him in the future as the good news of Christ’s kingdom spread through the whole earth. And what was that prayer? That we ALL might be one just as Jesus and the Father are one. He defines that unity, “as you Father in me and I in you that they might all be ONE IN US. If we are not living IN Christ, we have not yet known His glory that He has IN the Father. Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Jesus and we who truly believe are in them and they are in us. This is true unity.

Only by living in Christ are we filled with all things that Father has for His sons and daughters. Paul wrote, “And of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glories, let him glory in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31 KJ2000). As we abide in Jesus, we have everything we need to function in His body, the church. As we abide in Jesus all religious divisions are done away with, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation” (Galatians 6:15 KJ2000). We are made new creatures in Christ (see Jeremiah 31:31-33 and Ezekiel 36:26&27) and abide in a whole New Covenant totally unlike the Old Covenant! We are no longer of, nor do we live for this world. We no longer rely on our old natures to do the will of God. Paul wrote, “And [God] has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6 KJ2000). Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, and as we live in Him that is our abode as well. It is there that we can say with Paul, “…For all things are yours [ours]; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; And you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3:21-23 KJ2000). “For in him we live, and move, and have our being….For we are also his offspring” (Acts 17:28 KJ2000).

Obedience to the Father and knowing His will are no longer an issue, either. We simply abide in Him and listen to and observe Him and carry out His will. Jesus said that He only did the works He saw His Father doing and only spoke the words He heard His Father saying, and so it should be with us as the sons and daughters of God. To me, this IS the high calling of Jesus Christ. Everything else is just dead religious works, living as carnal Christians. Just because we read something in the Bible does not mean that we have a mandate to go do it in and of ourselves. Our real lives are in Him, always abiding in and resting in Him and only from that position of rest can we consistently act under the influence of the Spirit.

We start out in our Christian faith first by believing in Christ and learn that Christ in us is our hope of glory. But that is not all. We then are called ever deeper INTO Christ. First Jesus abides in us, but as it is with Him and the Father we go deeper. We are called to abide in– live IN Him! As Jesus is in the Father, and the Father in Him, so it is to be with us. God invites us to share in His glory, the glory that comes over us when we abide IN Them.

Jesus taught the disciples, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. ABIDE IN ME, and I IN YOU. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you ABIDE IN ME. I am the vine, you are the branches: He that ABIDES IN ME, and I IN HIM, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing” (John 15:1-5 KJ2000- emphasis added). Here we see the same thing as Jesus prayed two chapters later. Jesus not only wants to live in us, but He wants us to live IN Him. This is when true spiritual fruit starts to happen in our lives.

When Jesus lives only in us, which is often spoke of in Christian circles as the goal of our salvation (inviting Jesus into our hearts), what do men see? They still see us on the outside of the relationship. We are still being manifest, though we rely on Him as our salvation and righteousness. But where is the glory of the Father in all this? The glory that Jesus shared with the Father comes not only from Jesus living in us, but when WE are also living IN Jesus. He is the one who is on the outside. He is the One who people see. Until we are also in Him, we have not been made “perfect in one” within the Father and the Son. It is by abiding in the unity of Father and the Son that the world will see the good news of the gospel in action. 

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you shall know them. Not every one that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out demons? and in your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity. (Matthew 7:15-23 KJ2000)

There is an interesting flow in this discourse by Jesus. He starts out talking about false prophets and ends by talking about workers of iniquity. But in the middle He speaks of bearing fruit and that this very fruit will be the true manifestation of whether they are true or false prophets and whether their works were born of the Father.

We are warned in the New Testament that false prophets, false apostles and false teachers will abound in these last days. To those without any depth and spiritual discernment they look on the outward as fellow sheep. To discover their true natures we have to look at the inward nature of these people and the Spirit of God gives us this discernment, the discerning of spirits. There is also an outward sign given as to what their agenda and nature is, you look at their fruit. You look at the outward by-product of what they are really producing. Many people think that “fruit” is strickly the number of people a person “leads to Christ.” They look for the amount of new members and the amount of baptisms that happen in a church or how many people one can get to repeat a “sinners prayer.” Yet, Jesus did not say, you will know them by their buds or their flowers. Fruit is not seen for what it is until it is in full maturity and you take a bite of it. If you try to eat most fruit before it is mature it is very bitter and will make your mouth pucker. So, you see, for fruit to be a true sign you have to partake of it once it has matured. Some fruit when it matures has worms in it. Others have rot in the center and both have to be thrown away. It is interesting that the eggs of the apple maggot are layed in the apple blosom itself and mature with the fruit and finally bore out to the surface as the apple matures. Not all apple trees play host to apple maggots. The trees that do bear fruit that has iniquity in it!

Jesus never said, “Go out into all the world and make converts to Christianity.” No, He said, go forth and make disciples. There are millions of Christian converts, but oh so few who have come into a mature relationship in Christ where they can say as He did, “If you have seen me, you have seen my Father.” Frankly, most fruit that is made in and by churches today is rotten inside. If it wasn’t then why do “Christians” have the same divorce rate as the world’s people do. Why is it that most “Christian businessmen” are as cut-throat and dishonest (if not worse) than the world’s businessmen? Most “Christians” are as hooked into the lust for the things of this world as any of the un-saved of this world are.

It is one thing to make converts, but a whole other thing to make a disciple of Jesus. One time I prayed, “Father, make me like Your Son… that I would only do the works I see you doing and that I would only speak the words I hear you saying.” I had just enough time to think to myself, “Man! That was sure a righteous prayer!” And then He answered me, “No, my son, that is only the STARTING place.” How many of us have reached the beginning of the race that God has set before us? How many of us who name Christ as ours have grown into such a love for Him that we pray with Paul, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Philippians 3:10 KJ2000)? Yes, many of us would love to have His power, but few love the idea of being conformed into Christ’s sufferings and death! This is the road to maturity, wanting to be fully conformed into all that Jesus is. Many want power, but few want to drink from the cup that Jesus had to drink (Matthew 10:37-39 and Isaiah 53). There is a huge difference between a mere convert and a true disciple.

So Jesus said of these times we are in, speaking of modern day ministers and ministries in Christendom, “Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out demons? and in your name done many wonderful works?’” What does it mean to be IN the name of Jesus? Do we just use the name J-E-S-U-S as some kind of magic word or incantaton to get our wills to be done by God? That is how most Christians use it, “In the name of Jesus we pray….” The Greek word translated “name” is:

Onoma and according to W. E. Vine it means: for all that a “name” implies, of authority, character, rank, majesty, power, excellence, etc., of everything that the “name” covers: (a) of the “Name” of God as expressing His attributes, etc.

You see, to do anything IN Jesus name we must be walking IN who Jesus IS! In John chapter fifteen we read of Him saying, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5 KJ2000). All true spiritual fruit is born our of a relationship in Christ. Too many of us are still trying to be Chrsitians without abiding and living IN Jesus and only in there will we be living out His character, excellence authority and power.

So these Christians who were using and claiming His name who “ prophesied in His name, cast out demons in His name and did many wonderful works in His name” were not IN His very essence, character and under His authority while doing all these things, but were just using His name to do their religious works to be seen of men for their own glory. How many of the works that Christians do today with all their ministry building will be shown to be iniquity in the judgement of God when that time comes? Because of their seeking financial gain, glory and power, they will already have got their rewards and have nothing left to receive in eternity.

Abiding IN Jesus is the key to bearing fruit that is eternal unto the Father. If we abide in Him He will abide in us and from this relationship alone we will bear heavenly fruit. Just as we had to be born from above in the Spirit to be sons and daughters of God, so must the works we do and the fruit we bear be born by the Spirit of God. Just because we read about a “good work” that was done in the Bible, does not mean that WE have are authorize to run out and do it of our own wills and energies. It might be “biblical” but it is not born of the Father in Christ until the Spirit of God initiates that work and brings forth from it by His power and authority.

Speaking of those who did not bring forth His fruit, He said, “I never knew you.” Have you ever pondered how the all-knowing God could possibly not know one of His created beings? I have, so I decided to look up this word “knew” and “know” in the Greek. W. E. Vine wrote:

ginosko – In the NT ginosko frequently indicates a relation between the person “knowing” and the object known; in this respect, what is “known” is of value or importance to the one who knows, and hence the establishment of the relationship, e.g., especially of God’s “knowledge,” 1Co_8:3, “if any man love God, the same is known of Him;”

Again, all that we do in and for Christ must be born out of an intimate relationship with Him. All that we do as His saints must be born out of a relationship with Him and Him alone or it is not conceived, given life or brought into maturity by Him. All fruit that is His is born of a love relationship with and in Him and not of the initiation and energies of that old Adam within. His place is to only be crucifed in Christ and for Jesus to live out His life within and through us. With God, nothing we do is born out of religion or religious “good works,” but is always born from our love relationship with Him as we rest in the Son.