Christ Our Life (Video) — Joseph Carroll

The Danger of Being Almost Saved

Once dealt with a young man, he had a tendency towards suicide, often thought of suicide. And he came to this conclusion, it was a very wise conclusion. He said, well, if I thought it ended it all, I would commit suicide tomorrow.

He said, but it doesn't end it all. I cross a line into another life. So why commit suicide? That's not the answer. That was good thinking. He saw through it. You commit suicide and then, no, you don't end it all, he said.

You cross into another life. And he was afraid of doing that because he was afraid of where he might be on the other side of that line. And praise God, he's still alive tonight. So you can be almost, but not altogether.

How sad. I remember a DC -6 Douglas airliner. The reason I remember it, and that's a long time ago, and the Douglas 6s flew from Australia to America, and this airliner flew all the way from Australia, propeller plane, and fell into the water within sight of Los Angeles, and everybody drowned.

Everybody drowned. Almost. Not altogether. They didn't make it altogether. Didn't make it. When I was quite a small boy, my father used to take me down to the entrance to Sydney Harbor, one of the three outstanding harbors in the world.

And I would stand on North Head. There are these two, there are these what we call North Head and South Head. And North Head towers, perhaps 300, 400 feet sheer, and South Head maybe 200 feet sheer from the water.

And in time of storm, the Tasman Sea is a very stormy sea. It's the sea which separates Australia from New Zealand. Very stormy water. And very often, my father would take me down, and I would stand on top of South Head, and the waves would hurl themselves at the base of that head, and the spray, I'd be drenched in the spray.

Powerful water. Well, during the late 18th century, there was a little boat put out from England. It was full of people, over 100 people, who were coming to immigrate to Australia. And they set out, beat down the west coast of Africa and across the Indian Ocean, long beat, then Australian Bight, rough water, and they turned up the coast to come to Sydney and drew level with Sydney at night in a terrible storm.

Now, when you're outside looking in to the harbor, when you're out there on the ocean looking in, I've been there many times at night. The entrance to the harbor is clear, but of course it's just a black space.

But next to the entrance to the harbor is what is called the gap, G-A-P. It's if a giant scooped a large piece of that headline away and left that hole there. So if you don't know, or if you've never been before through at night into the harbor, you could very easily mistake the gap for the harbor.

And so this captain was tossing about in the storm until he felt the ship might founder, the ship might sink. So he turned it in to what he thought was the entrance to the harbor, but he had turned it into the gap.

So the waters took that little ship and shattered it at the base of that cliff, and only one person was saved to tell the story. Just one person out of all the immigrants and the crew of that vessel. One person.

But the terrible thing was that just inside that harbor as you come in, there's a little bay called Watson's Bay on the left, and that's where all the pilots are. And the pilots knew the boat was out there.

They knew it was out there. They could see the lights of the ship. It was a very rough night, and they weren't willing to get into their boats and go out and bring the vessel in. It was dangerous. It was going to cost them.

So they're very safe in their homes, and the lives were lost. But the point is this. They were so near. Nine months beating across oceans. Nine months. Almost there. If the captain would have aimed the ship correctly, it would have taken no more than one hour to be in the safety of the harbor.

Almost there. And missed it. Missed it. Well, they missed it because those pilots, in one viewpoint, those pilots consider themselves rather the condition of the people out there on that boat. And this is a picture of the church today.

The Church’s Responsibility to the Lost

What does the church care about the four million people in the world, four billion people in the world? At least four billion who know nothing of Christ, and probably most of them have never heard his name spoken in a way that could lead them to think and know who he is.

And so what do they do? They go tumbling into a lost eternity. That's what they do. I want to tell you this tonight, my good friends. If you are saved, you know what's happened to you? Jesus Christ has come to live in you.

That's what's happened. Jesus Christ has become your life, if you are a Christian. Christ in you, the hope of glory. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory.

So Christ has become your life. Now what is Christ like? What was he like when he was on earth? He came into the world to save sinners. What's he doing tonight? Exactly the same thing. In you. Maybe. Maybe.

Other sheep I have which are not of this foal, them also I must bring. How is he bringing in the other sheep tonight? Scattered throughout this world. They're out there. How is he bringing them in? Well, he's bringing them in through those in whom he dwells, through whom he lives, and through whom he speaks.

That's how he does it. He said, I will build my church. I will build it. Very often missionaries go out and say, well, I'm going to be a church planter. There has never been a church planter. The only church planter is Jesus Christ.

Did you plant a church? Oh yes, I planted three churches. You did no such thing. Jesus Christ said, I will build my church. And he builds his church through those instruments whom he has chosen, sanctified, set apart, in whom he dwells, and whom he fills or desires to fill with his spirit, so that the spirit ministers Jesus Christ through him to those to whom Christ sends him.

That's how it's done. Where is your heart tonight? The heart of the Lord Jesus was in doing the will of his Father. Is that your desire? Is that your desire above everything else on the face of this earth?

Everything. To do the will of God. That's the first thing. Is that your desire? I was thinking tonight, just before I left the office to come here, meditating on what the Lord would have us to say. And I remember two experiences I had.

A Young Man’s Crisis at Long Reef

First one when I was about 16. I had an offer to go in a small 14 foot boat up to a place called Broken Bay. It was about 20 miles north of Sydney Harbour. I wasn't looking forward very much to that because we had a very nice 32 foot auxiliary ourselves on Sydney Harbour and I spent a lot of time in it.

But the offer was there was a 60 foot triple screw cruiser that I could come back in with this man, a German, who looked after the boat and a friend of mine. The three of us were to take a little 14 footer up and bring this beautiful 60 foot triple screw cruiser back.

So I was very excited. Well we got into the little 14 footer. It had a small engine and you started it by pulling the flywheel back on compression and then it would kick off and away you go. Just a small engine.

So we got out and it was summer and there was a slight northwest wind blowing which is normal for that part of the year and we made our way along the coast. Well about 11 miles up, about halfway, there is a very, very dangerous reef comes out from the mainland and it comes out for about a mile and a half then it goes underwater for about another half a mile then these jagged heads that come up for about another perhaps three quarters of a mile.

Mean, mean reef. And it was noted by the suction of the waves that constantly beat on them and they carved out caves so that if anybody was lost, and quite a few people were lost, you never saw them again.

They were sucked underneath into those caves and there they stayed. Had a terrible reputation. So we got on the windward side of Long Reef and the motor broke down. Well we very foolishly didn't have any oars in the little boat.

Didn't have any oars. So we were in danger but we thought we could get the engine started again and I was over that flywheel pulling it back on compression and the gasoline from the engine came up and I was a very sick boy.

Down into my stomach but I still kept trying to start the engine. It wouldn't start. And then we heard the breakers as they were roaring onto that reef. Must have been the low water. You could hear them like cannons.

And we're drifting toward that reef. So this sailor, this German sailor, these very tough men, he put over the only, we had one anchor and it was attached with what we call coir rope which is a waterproof rope but it's very rough.

Very rough rope. And so he put over the anchor and it caught. And he had about 8 or 10 feet left in his hands, maybe a little more. And as the little boat would go down in the trough of the wave, he'd pull the rope in.

And when it came up on the crest of the wave, he'd hold on. If that rope breaks, we're finished. We're about 30 yards when the breakers began to curl. Just about 30 yards. Well, what did I do? Well, I was afraid.

I was very much afraid. I was very sick but I was very afraid. Why? Because I knew I wasn't right with God. I wasn't what you call a deep-dyed sinner, not involved with girls, not involved with anything really.

Clean living young fellow but lost. And the amazing thing was I knew it at that point. I was not right with God. And I knew it. Are you right with God tonight? Are you really right with God? Are you? What are you hoping in?

Paul’s Religious Performance Cannot Justify

Decision. We've been reading about the Apostle Paul. And of all that he could glory in, no man, no Jew could have gloried in more than Paul gloried in. But you know what he discovered? He discovered it was just a performance.

His heart wasn't in it. Just a performance. He knew it all. Pharisee, he knew it all. As far as the law was concerned and his keeping the law in the prescribed way, he was fine. But his heart wasn't in it.

He's a proud man. No proud man knows God. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Theirs is the kingdom. Doesn't matter what a proud man says. He's not Christ. The poor in spirit. He's a proud man. And then the cross.

What did it do to Paul? It turned him right about 180 degree turn. But you see, it was a performance. And then he found that what? The law required of him that he should love the Lord of God with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his mind.

And he wasn't doing that. He couldn't attain to that. He's lost. And then he discovered God's way of righteousness was through his son. The only way. If that rope breaks, we're finished. And I knew that I was not right with God.

Now, if you study the epistles, the epistles of Paul, indeed the Bible, a word stands out continuously, and it's the word righteous or righteousness. Well, what does it mean? Well, a righteous man is simply one who's right with God.

He's right with God. Now, who is the man who is right with God? The man who is in Christ. And that's what the apostle tells us in that third chapter. And I'm going to read it. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord, to write the same thing to you.

To me, indeed, is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision, for we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.

Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, is touching the law a Pharisee.

You can't get any better than that. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ.

Now, I want you to notice here the attitude of the apostle toward Christ. What things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. Why? Because all of those things could not make him a righteous man before God.

That is what he discovered. Well, you might be saying, what happened? You're here tonight, obviously you were saved. We were saved. But saved in a way I could never forget. Here was that man holding on to that rope and pulling it in when we went down in the trough and letting it out when we came up on the crest of the way.

That rope breaks, we're finished. We have about 10 or 15 minutes to live and that's all. So I made a covenant with the Lord. I said, Lord, if you save us, I will live a better life. That's all. If you save us, or probably me, if you save me, I will live a better life.

That's all I knew. I had to live a better life. When we saw a little fishing boat come out, he'd come up on the crest of a wave, then we'd lose him. He'd go down in the big trough and then he'd come up again and we'd see him on the crest and down again he would go.

And then he pulled level with us and put his bow into the waves and one of our number, one of the three of us, the German was holding on and I was there praying. I don't know what the others were doing.

But he threw a rope to this other man, he caught the rope, he made it fast around the bollard on the front of the boat and the anchor rope broke. There wasn't 10 seconds between his making that rope fast on the bow of the boat when the rope broke.

That close. I never forgot it. God was giving me another chance and I took it. I took it. How many times have you played the fool with God? How many times has he brought you right up to that point when you knew if you did not die to your life in this world you couldn't have the life he was offering and you didn't take it?

How many times? God is not mocked. Scripture is very clear there are degrees in hell. Not everybody has the same experience in hell. But I believe to such people it will be the lowest hell. Lowest hell.

How many times when you've played games, you've said, oh, well, that's all right, that's what, for instance, last week all that Matt and Lord Jones was telling us what a Christian is. Solemn word. A Christian is somebody that God takes hold of.

This is true. And you'll know it when he takes hold of you, too. You can never be the same again. Not only does he take hold of you, but he keeps hold of you. Keeps hold of you. You're in his hands. First thing.

Apprehended by Christ for God’s Purpose

God takes hold of you. God apprehends you. And he apprehends you for a purpose. And the one thing in life that really matters is that we apprehend that for which we have been apprehended, that the will of God is done through us to the glory of his Son and to God's ultimate glory.

That's all that matters in life. Nothing else really matters. Well, of course, there's something that matters before that can happen. And the thing that happens is that I must be righteous before God.

I must be accounted righteous. Now, to be accounted righteous doesn't mean that I'm going to be forgiven my sin and God is going to accept me because of the sacrifice of Christ. All this is true. But to be considered righteous or to be accounted righteous means that I'm declared to be a justified man.

In other words, the righteousness which is the possession of all who are in Christ is not a performance, but because I am in Christ, all that he is, I am in God's sight. And he loves me as he loves his Son.

So when we speak about the righteousness which is the true believers in the sight of God, that God declares him righteous, he has justified him because no charge can be laid against him. That is the believer.

So in God's sight, the righteous person is one who has never sinned. Why? Because he is in Christ. Now we can read further verses of that 3rd chapter and you come to that 9th verse which is a pivotal verse.

Doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but refuse that I may win Christ. Now here's the 9th verse and be found in him.

That's the pivot. That's the turning point. The big question tonight is are you in Christ? If you are not in Christ, you're lost. That's the big question. So why is Paul going down the line here? Why is he giving everything to know Christ?

What things were gained to me those I counted lost for Christ, yea doubtless. And away you go, right down the line. Why? That he might be found in Christ. That's why. He didn't take it lightly. He didn't take the salvation which God offered in Christ lightly, nor must you.

You might miss. You might miss it. And there is no second chance. There is no saying well Lord I didn't understand this or I didn't understand that. When the Spirit of God speaks to you he makes it clear, crystal clear.

But my friend if you consistently refuse to heed the Spirit of God then the voice is not so clear. The more you obey, the clearer the voice. Because the nearer you are to the Lord. But that's the pivotal point here in that 9th verse.

Why? Yea doubtless and I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but refuse that I may win Christ and be found in him.

That's salvation. Because when I am in Christ, when I am baptized into Christ let me say again all that he is I am in the sight of the Father. What about the law? Well the law which troubled Paul in which he wanted to meet head on and found that it was impossible for him to fulfill it.

Justification, the Law, and Christ’s Substitution

What about the law? Christ fulfilled the law therefore in him I am regarded as having fulfilled the law. So the law has no claim upon me because it has no claim upon Christ. I'm free. Well what about your sin?

Ah that's a different thing. That's different altogether. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And how did he save sinners? By accepting my sin and bearing that sin on the cross and dying the death I should have died.

So when the law has to be satisfied it can only be satisfied by somebody keeping it. If somebody can keep the law then that somebody is a righteous man. Only one person ever kept the law that was the Lord Jesus Christ so he was the righteous man.

He had to become a man in order that he might identify with me and my need. So he becomes man, takes my place, bears my sin. Number one. Alright but if the law is broken then a penalty must be meted out and satisfied and in the case of breaking the law it is death.

So what did Jesus Christ do on that cross? To satisfy the righteousness of God he died by death. Let me explain the two ways again. If righteousness is to be declared or a man justified is to be declared he must keep the law perfectly.

If he keeps it perfectly which he cannot do he's a righteous man. So there is none righteous no not one. All have sinned to come short of the glory of God. None. Well if the law is broken and it is broken by all from Adam down how is God going to be righteous and still declare righteous one who is unrighteous?

Well he baptizes him into his son. He who took my place, bore my sin, suffered in my stead, bore the wrath of God which I should have experienced for my sake. The law was satisfied. The death penalty was meted out on Christ on that cross.

So I'm free. Perfectly free. You see that was the message that broke Paul's heart. It will break your heart if ever it gets to your heart. If it ever gets there it will break it. Nothing else will. How are you going to break a heart?

This man Paul, he had a great heart. No question on that one. How are you going to break that heart? Only the cross can break the heart. But then wonderful things happen when I am baptized into Jesus Christ.

I become part of him. Now I want you to listen very carefully to what I'm saying. Because here in one sense is truth that is very seldom understood and very seldom appropriated. So when I am baptized into Christ I become part of him.

And from that point onward I belong to him. I belong to him. I'm his. Are you? Who rules tonight in your heart? Who rules? Don't you try to hide behind some superficial decision. Don't you try to excuse your sin and your selfishness and your inconsistency with well God loves me.

Yes he does. And he wants to change you. And the only way he can change you is by baptizing you into his son. So that you become a partaker of the life of Christ and a totally new person to what you formerly were.

And we heard last week from Morton Lloyd-Jones if that hasn't taken place you are not a Christian period. Only those are Christians who are in Christ. So you become a very a part of Christ. For instance the vine and the branches.

Abiding in Christ, the True Vine

There's only one vine in John 15. There's only one vine. The vine is everything. The branch what? Well it's a part of the vine. Can't have a vine without branches. So I'm taken and I am placed in Christ who is the vine.

So I become part of him. Wonderful. Let me read you the experience of the man who was a great Bible teacher named Trumbull. Late last century and this century. In fact he was internationally known as a Bible teacher.

Used to go to England and speak in conferences there. And then he had an experience. He began to realize there was something more than what he had. Something more than what he experienced. And this is what he says.

I want you to listen carefully. It's an important point he comes to at the finish. He said what I mean is this. I had always known that Christ was my savior but I had looked upon him as an external savior.

One who did a saving work for me from outside. As it were one who was ready to come close alongside and stay by me helping me in all that I needed giving me power and strength and salvation. But now I knew something better than that.

At last I realized that Jesus Christ was actually and literally within me. Now let's stop there. Surely we all know that. That Christ is in us. Literally in us. Tonight if you are here. Think on that.

That the son of God is in me. He is not divisible. He is in me. Period. Right? This realization came to him. He may have known it before but he didn't realize it. And even more than that that he had constituted himself my very life.

Taking me into union with himself my body, mind and spirit. While I still had my own identity and free will and full moral responsibility. So he's taking me into himself into union with himself but I still have my own identity my own free will my own moral accountability or responsibility.

Was not this better than having him as a helper or even than having him as an external savior to have him, Jesus Christ, God, the son as my own very life. He's coming close. He's getting very close now.

But here's the point. It meant that I need never again ask him to help me as though he were one and I another. Now that's real growth. Let's pause there for a minute. What's he saying? Well, let's consider the fact that you might have a problem.

Living by Faith in the Son of God

Serious problem. Let's say you have a spirit of fear. You're afraid. It's very common, fear. How are you going to deal with it? Lord, help me! And the help doesn't come. That's not God's way. Jesus Christ in you is to be your life.

That's more than helping. The apostle Paul said, I live by faith in the son of God. Why did he live by faith in the son of God? Because he knew he had died in Christ on that cross. And he was a new man in Christ on the resurrection side of that cross.

I have been crucified with Christ, he said. Nevertheless, I live. Yet, not I. It's not Paul. But Christ liveth in me. Hallelujah! He's got it. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God, in him.

What does that mean? All right? What about the fear? All right, the fear approaches you. What do you do? You live by faith in the son of God. And what do you say? Lord, your fearlessness manifested through me.

That's different. That is very different. Principal Malling, in his beautiful little book on the quest for serenity, speaks of his, because of his temperament, having a problem. And instead of asking the Lord to meet, to give him grace to overcome the problem, he asked the Lord to live himself through him in that area of his need, and he found victory.

You see, you live by faith in the son of God. There is no other way. Your peace, Lord, through me now. Let him live through you. If he's your life, how else can you live? What other source are you going to call upon?

You're not calling upon him as one who's outside. That's finished after Pentecost. He's inside by the Spirit. He wants to live his life through. He wants to be your peace. He wants to be your joy. He wants to be your victory.

By faith. That's abiding in Christ. Living by faith in the son of God. And there's no other life that wins but that life. Trumbull called it the life that wins. There's only one victorious life, and that's Jesus Christ.

So if you ask him for help, he's outside you. No, he's not outside you, he's inside you. And then he goes on. Let me repeat the important word. It meant that I need never again ask him to help me as though he were one and I another, but rather simply to do his work, his will, in me and with me and through me.

Now, his work through me, his will in me and with me and through me. In other words, it's Christ all the way. There is never a moment that you can't live by faith in the son of God, that you can live without expressing faith in the son of God.

That won't work. That won't work. Because Christ is your life. And the spirit of God wants to minister Christ to you so that Christ is able freely to express himself through you. In other words, Christ is seen.

That's what I saw in Morling 50 odd years ago. I saw Jesus Christ. And that's what the world should see in you. And that's what the world should see in me. And there's a right to see it. But it depends who we're occupied with.

Who were you occupied with most today? That's the question. It's a big question. Then he goes on to say, My body was his, now listen carefully, my body was his, my mind his, my will his, my spirit his, and not merely his but literally a part of him.

In other words, we are one. What he asked me to recognize was because I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me. That's victory. Only one victorious life.

Love Proven by Total Commitment to Christ

What a relief! God doesn't expect me to be victorious. The day I saw that I shouted hallelujah and I kept on shouting it. Praise God. It has been said God expects nothing from us but failure. And that's all we're capable of.

Especially when we are religious and trying very hard to be good. Where is the source? The source is Christ in me, my life. Hallelujah. Is that what he is to you tonight? You say, well that's the kind of life I want to live.

Well you've got to forget about every other kind of life. What did you do today with your time? How many times did you commune with Jesus Christ today? How many situations were you confronted with that demanded Christ in you, meeting it through you?

How many times? Where are your thoughts? Where are your motives? What are your objectives? That's a dead giveaway. Martin Lloyd-Jones, very strong on that. Very, very strong indeed. Do you count all things but loss for Christ?

Is he your life? Do you really love him? Earlier this morning I was asking the Spirit of God to speak to me again about love. What is meant by a commitment? Can I meet a commitment which would prove that I really love the Lord?

And he gave this to me. What is the proof of love? It is when I commit all I am and all I have all the time to the one loved right to the end. It's good enough for me. What is the proof of love? It is when I commit all I am and all I have all the time to the one loved right to the end.

Do you love Jesus? Do you really love him? Is he more than life to you? Can you say to die would be gain? If you can't, there's something wrong. There's some rival. Who wouldn't want to be with the one who loved as Christ loved?

Who wouldn't want to be with him? If you don't want to be with the Lord, there's something wrong. You've got a lesser love than Christ or you've got a desire that you want to be fulfilled before he comes or before he takes you to be with himself.

So there's some love that you have a greater desire for than Christ himself because you've had the greatest desire for Christ you would say to die is gain. I will be the one who loved me and gave himself for me.

How can you improve on that? Down on this earth? Come on, that's insanity. Well, that's a dead giveaway as to who you really love. Do you want to be with the one you love? Of course you do. Is Christ your life?

Christ’s Sufficiency in Every Situation

Christ died for the unjust to bring us to God in order that we might be accepted by the Father and counted by him as righteous in his sight as if we'd never sinned. And he loves those that are truly his in Christ as he loves his own son because I'm in Christ.

Now what is the life I live? I must live it by faith in the Son of God. I don't ask him to help me. He's inside to live through me. That's the difference. He wants to. And as I'm yielded to him every day trusting him to guide me and lead me by his Spirit and at every situation living by faith in him saying simply as far as I'm concerned Lord Jesus you be in me and through me what you want to be in this situation.

Pick up a telephone. Tell him. Lord you be in me and through me what you want to be through me in this telephone conversation. I've found that when I don't do that I'm not victorious. There's a certain young man in this city and I wasn't getting anywhere with him.

Every time I would meet him and chat with him I felt I wasn't penetrating with what I said. And then one evening I was talking to him and I wasn't getting nowhere. So I'd forgotten to relate it to the Lord and to live by faith in him in this situation and let him speak through me to this boy.

Well it was me speaking and that was the problem. We weren't getting anywhere. So I simply dismissed myself and said Lord Jesus you be in me and through me what you want to be to this boy. And I went back into his presence.

It was totally different. Why? Christ is speaking now. I've proved that many times. Christ is speaking now. He's speaking to the boy. Speaking through me. Hallelujah. That's abiding. That's letting Christ live through you but it's only by your faith.

You have to have faith in him to meet that situation through you. So you don't ask him to help you. You ask him to do it. And by faith you believe he does it. He must become your life. Otherwise you're not going to know increasingly his love or his sufficiency as your very all.

Prayer for Those Who Are Almost but Not Altogether Christ’s

So shall we pray? Dear Father, these truths are not easily received. They are very different. We want to be somebody. We want to do something when all the time your son desires to live through us by his spirit.