“It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). It is extraordinary to say that another person lives in us. Another Person lives in us! He is not only with us, but in us! If we are students, we may have a roommate living with us. If we are married, we have a wife or husband living with us. But they do not live in us! They could never live in us! Nonetheless, we who are saved do have a Person living in us. And not a small person. This One is a great, all-inclusive, divine Person!
Do you realize that there is a living Person in you? It was not simply a piece of bread which got into you, but a living Person! “No longer I...but Christ!” Do you know that Christ is in you not only as your life, but as your person as well? Day after day, morning and evening, hour by hour, this Person is in you. This is what Paul tells us in this verse.
He further says, “My children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ is formed in you” (Gal. 4:19). This Christ has to be formed in us. He may be in us, but limited, restricted, frustrated. For Him to be formed in us means that He occupies us in full. From our spirit, He takes over our mind, our will, and our emotion, thus occupying our whole being. He is in every part of our inner being.
In Philippians 1:21 Paul says, “To me to live is Christ.” What a word is this! Paul and Christ lived together as one person. Paul’s life was to live Christ. He was one with Christ both in life and in living. He and Christ had one life and one living. Christ lived within him as his life, and he lived Christ without as his living.
Then Paul prays in Ephesians 3:17, “That Christ may make His home in your hearts.” Not only is there a Person in you, but a home built up in you as well. Surely this will be a further bother! Yes, to believe in the Lord Jesus is good. But you will have problems! Another Person comes into you. Do you really like having another Person with you all the time? Then, if you allow Him, He will build a home in you. Do you not agree that this will mean even more “trouble”? He is already within you, and you cannot get Him to leave. Then He wants to settle down and make a home in you. Christ wants to make His home in your heart!
Dear saints, this is the gospel. Our destiny is to contain Christ. For this we were created. It is not up to us. God has created us in this way. Christ must occupy us. Our destiny is to be filled with Him. The gospel is simply this living, all-inclusive Person. He is both God and man. He must fill us!
Satan caused man to fall. The fall brought man to sin and to the world. There were some who turned away from sin and from the world back to God. But halfway back they were held up. What made them come short? Religion. Saul of Tarsus was one of these. Saul turned from sin and from the world. His intention was to return to God, yet religion held him back. Many Christians today are like this. They have turned from sin and the world, with the intention of going to God, but they have been held back by religion. Christ does not fill them. The Lord’s recovery would rescue such ones, help them get free of the hook of religion, and lead them on directly to God so that Christ can fill them. In the recovery there is nothing to hold anyone back. All the time we are being urged to go directly to Christ in an inward way, to let Him occupy our whole being, that we may be one with Him and have Him one with us. What a declaration Paul could make: “To me to live is Christ”! All of us must be able to say this, not merely the words but the words backed by the fact. We must be able to tell the whole universe, “To me to live is Christ!” Without this point the divine revelation is not complete.
Even as you read this message, you may still have this need of completion. You have turned back from sin and the world with the intention of going to God. Yet you have gone only halfway. Something close to God, not sinful or worldly in your eyes, is holding you back. You are behind in God’s revelation. He would have Christ occupy you in full so that you are able to say, “To me to live is Christ.” Until you can truly say this, you are behind in God’s full revelation. Thus you need the completing ministry. This completing is Christ as a living Person entering into you, filling you, making Himself one with you, and making your living to be Himself.
What I am saying is all in the Bible. Why are God’s people so unaware of this? One day by His mercy I saw these things. Though I was brought up in Christianity, I had never been told about Christ living in me. When the Lord opened my eyes, I could not contain myself. I had to bring this message from the Far East to the western world. You are behind in God’s revelation. You are behind! You need the completion! Christ in you, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27)! God destined you not to go to heaven but to contain Christ! Your destiny is to contain Christ and to have Him fill you. With Christ in you, you have the real hope and the real glory.
Can you declare that for you to live is Christ? Is Christ in you? Is He filling you? Has He occupied you? What a high gospel this is!
Of all the books in the Bible, it is Paul’s writings which tell us most clearly that Christ lives in us. No wonder his ministry is the completing ministry (Col. 1:25)! God was pleased to reveal His Son in us. Now it is no longer we who live, but Christ lives in us. He is being formed in us. He is making His home in our hearts. He is our hope of glory. He is our life (Col. 3:4). To us to live is Christ.
Because He is one with us, we are different from others and different from what we were. Now we are a people filled with Christ. We are Christ-men. This is the meaning of Christian. Christians are Christ-men! We are those fully occupied by Him.