Part 4 - The Application of Faith

Sanctified: In the Heavenly Dwelling Place of Christ

Another aspect of the sanctifying work of Christ is the separation of the believer into the heavenly places with Christ (See Part 2: Separated in the Heavenly Dwelling Place of Christ). When one comes to Christ, he is born a second time, not into the world but into the spiritual realm and into God's kingdom. The believer is made alive in the spirit and dwells with Christ in the presence of the Father. Applying faith by reckoning this position and abiding in it is another important element in being fruitful in Christ.

The new creature

Nicodemus wondered when Jesus told him that one must be born again to see the kingdom of God. Scripture records, "Jesus answered, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, "You must be born again." The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit' " (John 3:5-8).

This position that one has in Christ is not visible to the eye: "you ... cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes." This is a realm that is foreign and unknown to the natural and unregenerate man. It is also a realm that that part of the believer, the flesh, cannot see. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." The term "the flesh" refers to all that is descended from fallen Adam. This is primarily the nature and mind of man who is alienated from God and who lives according to his bodily appetites. Paul the Apostle uses this term frequently to show that natural man is opposed to God, is self-serving and bound in sin, and cannot serve and please God. Instead of reforming the flesh, God creates in the believer a new nature that is after God's Spirit. Man's spirit is made alive in Christ. This "new creature" desires the things of God and is grieved by sin. These two opposing natures make for warfare in the life of the believer.

Life in the spiritual realm

"Experiential" sanctification involves the recognition of this warfare and learning to abide in that position in Christ that He has already delivered the believer into: the spiritual realm instead of the fleshly realm. Paul writes to the Galatians, "I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Gal. 5:16). To battle the flesh and try to improve or reform it is a losing battle. Paul writes, "I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members" (Rom. 7:21-23). By calling sin a "law" that is in his members (the carnal man), Paul is saying that it is an inviolable principle that the flesh follows after sin. Paul further shows that the flesh is totally unprofitable toward the things of God: "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom. 8:7-8).

God's provision for the believer regarding the flesh is for the believer to live with Christ in the "heavenly places," the spiritual realm. Although the "law of sin" cannot be broken, there is another law that can override it, the "law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." Paul writes, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" (Rom. 8:2-4). In a similar way, the law of gravity cannot be broken, but the law of aerodynamics allows a person to fly in a plane and not fall. Gravity is still present and can pull one down, but another law overrides it. Such is walking in the Spirit. Leave this place and one will immediately fall in sin.

Set apart by Christ: into spiritual life

Because of the heavenly position that the believer has in Christ, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit" (Rom. 8:1). This is a position of faith, not of works. Christ did the work of sanctification, and now the Holy Spirit is available to bring fruitfulness. "And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you" (Rom. 8:10-11).

Attaining to spiritual life apart from Christ is an impossibility. For this, Jesus Christ is the Way. He has risen to the Father and is seated with Him. Those who rest in the work of Christ have risen with Him and are seated with Christ in the heavenly places. The place of spiritual life in Christ is the place of victory over the flesh. By reckoning that one has been delivered into the spiritual realm with Christ, and abiding in Christ through the Spirit, the believer can be fruitful in the sanctified position he has in Jesus Christ.