In Romans the Christian is always viewed upon earth; he has died to sin, is alive in Christ, and is perfectly justified, he is walking through the world in that condition, and has to yield himself up to God.
In Colossians you get him dead as in Romans, but also risen with Christ, and he has a hope laid up for him in heaven.
In Ephesians you get a step further, as there, he is seated in the heavenly places.
Each of these is a Christian state, so far.
And now let us see how the Christian lives. You can’t live in the world without an object before you, so the Apostle says,
“I live by the faith of the Son of God.”
How far can we say that we live by the faith of the Son of God?
“Whatsoever ye do, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,” that will be by the faith of the Son of God.
I may fail, but here he speaks as a Christian. And mark how this acts upon the heart and the affections, it is He “who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”
You get two things connected together; Christ lives in me, and is this blessed object, and I have the certainty of His deep affection for me. He has laid down His life for me, and I live by the faith of Him. How far can we say that?
His death has closed the whole history of man in the flesh. He loved us and gave Himself for our sins, and now He is the firstborn among many brethren. Then, are we living for Christ, or has the world got hold of our hearts? It is possible to live like Lot for a time. Are we living in association of faith with Christ in heaven, or are we living in this world?
The time is short. It is the time of God’s long-suffering now, and Peter says He “is ready to judge the quick and the dead.”
God knows the moment when grace will cease to gather souls to Christ in glory. Be assured there is reality with God.
We walk by faith not by sight. Which are we living by? Faith or sight?
Things to attract are stretched out on every hand. Shops are full of things everywhere. We know well what that is, but do we allow all that? Or are we so living by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us, and gave Himself for us, that the world and the devil cannot distract us? But can we say “This one thing I do,”?
The Lord is patient in His love, but are we with purpose of heart living to Him who died for us and rose again? We know how far short we come, but still, is there a perfect heart with us, so that our conscience is good?
Conscience is purged and made perfect before God by the blood of Christ, but I speak of it now in a practical sense.
There is for us the present joy of having Christ in our hearts, by the power of the Holy Ghost, until we reach that blessed day, when He shall come and take us to be with Himself.
The great truth and essence of Christianity is that it takes the heart out of this world, and fixes it on Christ. It makes us live by Christ, on Christ, and to Christ.