“And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.” (1Corinthians 3:23)
There is only one way that one can be certain he belongs to Christ. It isn’t by his deeds or words. The children of darkness can emulate deeds. They can even parrot the Word of God. Jesus said, “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:35) We’ll be recognizable by our love for one another. This separates us from the world.
In the world, the by-word is “número uno.” They look only to themselves and what is beneficial to themselves. To sacrificially do without, sacrifice time, energy and effort on another is fine and good to the world, until it infringes on their personal benefits. But even these acts of love can be replicated. Jesus wasn’t specifically talking about “doing” for another as much as He was speaking about genuine love felt in our hearts for another that we take their burdens as ours and pray for one another, not just a general superficial prayer, but a pleading before the Lord with empathy for the brethren.
If we love our brethren, as described previously, we show to “all men” that we are disciples of Jesus. But what is one thing that undeniably marks us as belonging to Christ. Certainly, our love demonstrates we are followers of Christ, but what is that brand, that seal that the Father sees which the world knows nothing about nor understands? “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” (Romans 8:9) It is the Holy Spirit of God in us. He is the guarantee that we belong to Christ. If the Holy Spirit dwells in us, we are His irrefutably. We are His possession.
We will not review the mechanics of coming to Christ. They are of themselves miraculous and wonderful, but we will study coming to Christ from Jesus’ point of view. Jesus said, “All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” (John 6:37) In the previous lesson we studied how it all is all God. And here we have it again. The Father is in control. He is the one Who gives us to Jesus. He is the One Who plucked us out of the devil’s grasp. It is the Father Who carried us away from the kingdom of darkness. “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son:” (Colossians 1:12-13) That word “translated” in the original Greek means “carried away.” The Father plucked us out of the kingdom of darkness and carried us away from it to place us in His Son’s kingdom. And we can never be plucked out of the kingdom of Jesus, the kingdom of the Light, Truth and Love. Jesus told the Jews who demanded to know who He was, “But ye believe not, because ye are not of My sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand.” (John 10:26-29) We have a choice to leave Christ, which we will never take as long as the Holy Spirit lives in us. But the Father will never allow us to be taken from Jesus.
Yes! We are Christ’s! ...by donation as Spurgeon says because the Father gave us to Christ. We are Christ’s by purchase because He bought us by His blood. In speaking to the Ephesian leaders, Paul said, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood.” (Acts 20:28) And in 1 Corinthians 6:20, Paul writes to the Corinthians, “For ye are bought with a price...” And Peter writes that the price was not corruptible silver and gold, but “with the precious blood of Christ.” (1Peter 1:18,19) And if we are Christ’s then we can live for Christ and proudly show to Whom we belong.
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