Who are You?
Really! Who are You?
 It seems like an obvious question, almost idiotic to ask!
If we were asked that question, we’d point to ourselves and say this is who I am. But is that really you?
 
Our world has a tendency towards being very superficial, never really getting to know each other, just knowing one another on the surface. Like looking at the perfect birthday cake and never taking a bite
When you really think about who you are,...it doesn’t come from the outside it comes from the inside. Your body is simply an expression of who you are and what you believe from the inside.
 
The abiding life, is also known as the dependent life, the life of rest, the life of Christ, or the Spirit-filled life. All these terms describe something that many people have never experienced.
But to understand this you have to begin with who you were created to be and you weren’t created to be(which is who you are now).
You were created with much more than what you’re experiencing now
 
In Colossians 1:26-27 the apostle Paul talks about the “mystery” of God that has been kept hidden for ages but is now revealed.
Paul says God has chosen to make known to us.. “the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
What does that mean? Christ in You the hope of glory!
That can seem like as much of a mystery as the mystery itself...but it really is quite simple, glory refers to the character of God, Hebrews 1:3 says “The Son radiates God's own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. “
So what “Christ in you the hope of glory” simply means is Christ in you the hope of God’s character in you.
You were originally created to express the image and the character of God. Genesis says that God made you in His image. God is Spirit. So if we were created in God’s image, we were created with His Spirit living though us in perfect union with God
Charles Price uses a great illustration about this, Adam an Eve were created in the image of God.
God is spirit  so if they were created in His image what does that mean? It means they were created with His character
Now suppose you and I had a time machine and could go back in time to where it all started, the Garden of Eden, before the fall of man before sin came into the world. Suppose we got out of the time machine, then hid behind a bush and watched the way Adam and Eve acted and interacted with one another, the way they treated each other.
If we could do that we would see what God was like because they were created in His image. They showed His character. They acted and treated one another the way God would.
The sin and selfishness, self awareness that came from the fall took away all that...we ceased to express the selfless image of God and now express the selfish self-centered image of ourselves. All we have to do is look around to see how destructive and damaging we are because of selfishness
 
When Christ died on the cross he said “it is finished!” the work is done, the debt to God for our sin had been paid, and we are made right, we are justified with God. And because we are justified, God can complete His restoration project in our lives.
Through Christ’s death and resurrection paying the penalty for our sin and giving us the righteousness of Christ, Jesus can now give us His indwelling Spirit, His glory, His image, His character.
Christ gives us His Spirit to think for us, to live for us in this messy world, to order our days and enjoy His life the way we were meant to.
It means that in the midst of terrible circumstances I can have absolute peace, because Christ’s Spirit indwells me and lives for me.
2Peter1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
Jesus said “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28-29
When we come to end of our own striving and struggling and in exhaustion give up on trying to make this life work, and simply trust and depend on Him, His life lives through us, for us and as us and real life happens, abundant life, a life of joy and contentment and satisfaction.
The writer Watchman Nee had a great illustration for the abiding life, what it means to have the life of Christ living in and through us
Roman 8:1-2 says  Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
The life of Christ in you is a law; sin is a law...what makes something a law
It’s a law when it happens 100% of the time
Gravity is a law...Anywhere you go in the world you will feel the effects of gravity. It wants to hold you here on the earth you’re not going up in the sky
But planes fly – how is that possible? Gravity is saying no you are not going up in the air
Planes fly because there is another law at work the law of aerodynamics—that with enough propulsion and the correct lift design on the wings of a plane,... planes can fly!
Think of sin as the law of gravity and Jesus as the plane with infinite propulsion
As we depend on Christ and His life lives through us, we have victory over sin, The life of Christ is a law that over comes the law of sin and death – it is only as we abide in Christ that this happens when we try and live out of our own strength we wither, only Christ’s life is victorious
So the message for us is to stop trying and start trusting
Galatians 2:20 says “ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
The moment I believe in Christ to save me I am crucified with Christ on the cross, my old man - my sinful selfish nature is dead, it has no more controlling power over me and I live by the faith the God gives me, trusting, depending, abiding(remaining) in Him. But there is even more here in the verse. It says He loved me and gave himself for me. We typically understand “gave” to mean that He gave Himself for me when He died on the cross for my sin. The Greek word for gave here is in the second aorist tense, active voice. That means that the “giving” is continuous. He “gave”, He “gives” and He will give himself for me.
His indwelling Spirit will live for me and through me. He is responsible for me. He is responsible for you if you simply stop striving in your own effort and  let Him be enough for you.
What Christ wants you to hear today more that anything else is that He is enough – Jesus is enough!
The question is will we let Him?
Will You?