Regarding the experience of Christ, the book of Philippians is the most wonderful Epistle in the New Testament. Philippians 1:20 indicates that in any situation Christ can be magnified in us. In the next verse Paul says, "For to me to live is Christ." Chapter two takes us deeper into the experience of Christ. Verses 12 and 13 of this chapter reveal that we need to obey the inner working of God. God is working in us both the willing and the working for His good pleasure (v. 13, Gk.), but we still need to work out our own salvation daily. Day by day, we need to be saved, rescued, and delivered. We work out such a daily salvation by obeying God's inner working. In chapter three Paul proceeds to tell us that we need the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus the Lord (v. 8). This means that we need the excellency in knowing Christ. On account of this excellency, we should count everything loss. Furthermore, we should suffer the loss of all things and count them dung in order to gain Christ and to be found in Him. Paul was a person absolutely in Christ. For this reason, in 2 Corinthians 12:2 he refers to himself as "a man in Christ." As a man in Christ, his desire was to be found always in Christ. Being found in Christ, he did not have his own righteousness, but the righteousness that was God Himself lived out of him. Because he lived in this condition, he could know Christ, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering. All this enabled him to be conformed to the death of Christ so that, by any means, he might arrive at the out-resurrection from among the dead.
In Philippians 4 Paul says that he had learned the secret both to abound and to suffer need (v. 12, Gk.). In everything and in all things he had learned the secret. Paul can declare, "I can do all things in the One who empowers me" (v. 13, Gk.). Thus, at the end of the book of Philippians, we find a man who could do everything in Christ.
The secret of doing all things is to be in Christ. John 15:5 affords a contrast to this. In this verse the Lord says, "Apart from Me you can do nothing." Therefore, Philippians 4:13 says that we can do all things in Him, and John 15:5 says that apart from Him we can do nothing. We all need to learn to say, "Apart from Him I can do nothing, but in Him I can do all things." The secret is to be in Him.
I am concerned that many of us do not know how to be in Christ. You may say, "Today, we are all in Christ." Yes, doctrinally we are in Him, but experientially we may not be in Him. First Corinthians 1:30 says that of God are we in Christ. Furthermore, Romans 6:3 and Galatians 3:27 say that we have been baptized into Christ. Thus, we have all been put into Christ. However, the Bible also says that after we have been put into Christ, we need to abide, remain, stay, in Him (John 15:4). To be put into Christ is one thing, and to remain in Christ is another. Being put into Christ does not depend upon us; it is a sovereign act of God. How we thank God that we are in Christ! To abide in Christ, however, does not depend on God; it depends on us. Now that God has put us into Christ, we need to abide in Him. But after we have been put into Christ, we may stay there for only a short time and then not remain in Him.