The Prison Epistles 03 Practice in Christ — David Clifford

Well, actually, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Song Leader, but we're not recording my sermon to send to my loved ones at home, they've heard thousands of them, and I think they probably have indigestion by now, spiritual indigestion, so we're not going to give them a little more of that, and I'll do my best to finish by about ten o 'clock tonight, but the trouble is I've been commissioned to preach the everlasting gospel, so what can you do?

I was reminded of one lady in the Deep South, is this the Deep South here where we are? Is it? Well, in another part of the Deep South, there was one hilly-billy woman who rose up in a testimony meeting, and she said, all my loved ones are in heaven, and if I live long enough and keep my health, I hope to meet them there.

The Glory That Awaits Believers

And we have a glorious future before us, but this singing down here, of course, is just a prelude and a practice for what we're going to do in the glory. I love your singing, and the heartiness of it, and the way your Song Leader does it, I'm trying to learn a few things from him, and I think it's an inspiration to us all.

We hope that this bit of singing we're putting on the tape will be an inspiration to our loved ones over in England, so they get over their stuffy English ways, and really sing the Lord's praises with gusto.

How about that? I know you all say amen to that. You think we English people are terribly stuffy. Don't they still think that? Oh, you're American now, are you? Oh, he's fallen from grace, he's American.

Oh, never mind, we'll forgive you, brother, we have a forgiving spirit tonight. Now, we're going to read the word together, thank God for his word, and may the Lord make his word live to us tonight. And we read from Ephesians chapter 3, and commence the portion at verse 14, where the Apostle Paul is telling them of his prayer for the Christians to whom he is writing.

Ephesians chapter 3, and verse 14. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now, unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.

Amen. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. May the Lord bless to us the reading of his holy word. Though the Apostle Paul, the prisoner of the Lord, in Rome, dictating this letter to one of his colleagues, is very anxious that they should know not only his exhortations and spiritual desires for them, but of his earnest prayers for them.

All those to whom the Apostle wrote he had a burden for them, and he prayed for them, and very often, when he was able, he went to visit them. He was hoping to get released from prison at this time, so that he might see these loved ones in Christ again.

From Position in Christ to Practice in Christ

Now, this morning we were discussing together, those of us who were here, if you weren't here I don't know where you were, but you'd be interested to know, we were talking really about the position of people in Christ.

And this really sums up the first three chapters of Ephesians. And in the next three chapters, the practice of those in Christ is really what we are concerned about this evening. You will appreciate that some of the important themes we're not able to deal with at all, because there isn't time.

Because I want to get through, during the week, and discuss with you some of the main themes, one or two of the main themes of each of these prison letters. Tonight, therefore, the practice of those in Christ.

If we are in this position, this remarkable spiritual position in Christ, and all that that means, then we should be in the practice of the Christ life. And that is the burden of the apostles' exhortations in these portions.

In the village where I used to live, just outside the city of Birmingham, England, when I was a boy, there were two Dr. Browns living in the same house, because they were brothers. Somebody called up the home one day, and wanted to see Dr. Brown.

Now you see, one was a physician, an MD, and the other was a DD, he was a preacher. And he said to the nurse, please may I see Dr. Brown. Well, that wasn't specific enough, so she said to him, which one do you want to see, the one who preaches or the one who practices?

Now, of course, if a man preaches, he should practice. C .H. Macintosh's phraseology for that is, we must never traffic in unfelt truth. And this is a very necessary exhortation for preachers. But here is an exhortation for every Christian.

If he is found in Christ, if that is his standing before God, then he should live the Christ life in his state before the world. The subject, therefore, for this second main theme of this epistle is, true Christianity in practice.

And since coming to Long Island, I'm in the Seacliff Assembly there, most of my time, for 12 months, but not exclusively, I'm not the pastor there. I spend about 50 or 60 percent of my time there. And then I move around to a number of the assemblies in New York State, Connecticut, and New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

I'm trying to remember a little bit of my American geography, just getting round to it now. But I have noticed, and have been very pleased to notice, that Christian people not only want some doctrine from the word of God, American Christians, but they want something very practical.

They like to get down to earth. Now they say, well if God says so and so, what must we do about it? And I'm very pleased about this attitude, and it struck me rather forcibly. Now you know very well that whenever the Apostle Paul puts forth, proclaims, expounds a doctrine in the scriptures, he always, invariably, shows immediately after it the practical import, and how this should affect our lives day by day, throughout our Christian experience, until we see the Lord's face.

And here, of course, is a perfect example of this idea. The first three chapters, the position of those in Christ. A little bit academic in some respect, and doctrinal, theological. But then gloriously practical, the last three chapters, the practice of those in Christ.

True Christianity in a practice. And I'm sure this is what we all want to know. Although some of us have been trying to live the Christian life for many, many years, and we are now, perhaps, on the glory side.

Never call yourself a senior citizen. Say, I'm a junior citizen of the glory. And you'd be much nearer the truth. I'm sure here the Apostle tells us, not only the secret of true Christianity, but the working of it in the church, and thirdly, the working of it in the individual Christian's life.

And to get the secret of it, we really have to refer to the last few paragraphs of the first section. Because this is where the two sections dovetail, one with another. At least we see how very clearly the second section, the practical section, comes out of the first doctrinal section.

Paul’s Prayer for Spiritual Strength

So we see in chapter three and verse fourteen, to the end, Paul's prayer for the Christians to whom he is writing. He says, for this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You notice at the beginning of chapter three he says the same thing.

For this cause I, the person of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles. And then he breaks in with something more. And speaks of a mystery, how that the Gentiles are brought into the blessing, which converted Jews have through faith in Christ, and that similarly they can know the unsearchable riches of Christ as well.

But you notice the phrase, for this cause, twice over. And this of course comes out of, not the preceding verses before verse fourteen, but the last few verses of chapter two. It says, we are the households of God, we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple.

This building, the church of God, grows to a holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are built together for the habitation of God through the Spirit. And because you are in this building, the church of God on earth, built upon Jesus Christ the chief cornerstone, I want you to know that I am praying for you, that you might develop in the correct way in your Christian experience.

Well now, when we come to this prayer of the Apostle Paul's, you'll notice in verse sixteen he says that the spirit makes us strong in the inner man, and Christ makes his home in our hearts, verse seventeen, and God fills us with his fullness in verse nineteen.

So he speaks of the work of the triune God in the life of the individual believer. The spirit making me strong in the inner man, so that Christ might dwell in my heart and make his home there, so that I might be filled with all the fullness of God, so that I might know and experience the love of Christ, which in its fullest extent passes human comprehension.

He wanted them to have experimental acquaintance with that which in its fullest extent was beyond human comprehension. And he says I want you to know the extremity, the breadth of the love of Christ, the length of the love of Christ, the depth of the love of Christ, and the height of the love of Christ.

He says I want you to know its breadth, that is its extremity, reaching out to all does the love of Christ. Its length, its eternity, reaching on forever does the love of Christ. Its depth, its profundity, how wonderful and deep, beyond our comprehension in its fullest way, and the height of it, its superiority, beyond and above everything else in the universe, the love of Christ.

So he said I'm praying that you might be strengthened by the Holy Spirit, that to the end that Christ may make his home in your heart. Now you all know that the Holy Spirit has been given to every believer.

There are about 13 or 14 direct references and scriptures to show that every believer possesses the Holy Spirit. And he who has not the Spirit of Christ is not a Christian, says the New English Bible, put it very bluntly that way.

As a matter of fact one of my friends, well he was a student of mine some years ago, was converted through this verse. Tony Lewin came to us from the London University. He was there taking a course at the northern end of the Church of England.

And during this course he was, he bought a New English Bible or Testament when they first came out, started to read it. He read as far as Romans 8, when he got to verse 9 that really hit him for six as we say in cricket terms in England.

Hit him for six. And he was very much convicted. He that has not the Spirit of Christ is not a Christian. And he was very troubled. He said to himself, Tony you can't be a Christian. You haven't got the Spirit of Christ.

And he read on. And after two weeks he found Christ. And he was gloriously saved. And he went to the Dean of King's College in London University and said, excuse me sir but I'd like to report that I've had a marvellous experience.

I've been converted through reading the New English Bible. And he tells him in his experience you see. So the Dean said, well, he said it's quite true Mr Lewin that you've had an emotional experience but you'll soon get over it.

He didn't get over it you know. And after a while he found out that they were not teaching according to the word in his course, the word that he was reading. So he gave the course up and he came to Moreland.

He did very well with us and he got a degree and then he stayed on to be a lecturer in New Testament Greek and in another subject and he was very, very good. And Tony Lewin always remembers the day when the Lord told him that he did not possess the Spirit of Christ and therefore he was not a Christian.

Christ’s Indwelling Presence and the Christian Life

Now this is where we start tonight. Every believer has the Spirit of Christ in his heart. Now remember, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. He's the Spirit of the Father and the Son. Speaking of his coming, the Lord Jesus said, if any man love me, my Father will love him and I will love him and we will come.

We will come. The Father and I will come. And he was talking about the coming of the Spirit. We will come and make our abode with this man. So everybody who loves the Lord has the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of the Son in his heart.

There are not two Holy Spirits you know, only one, the third person of the Trinity. And the Spirit of God is in our hearts to do one special thing amongst many. I'd love to give you a list of the things that the Holy Spirit does for the believer now.

If you want to read the list in a very short reading without listening to a sermon on it, well read Romans chapter 8. Okay? And one of the most important things, if not the most important thing the Holy Spirit does in our hearts is to make Christ real to us and in us and through us.

He tells us of Christ. He teaches us about Christ. Brings to our memory what the Saviour said. Reveals Christ to us and indeed he forms Christ in us. And this is what the apostasy is. I'm praying that the Holy Spirit will so strengthen you in your inner man that Christ shall be so real to you that he'll actually be making his home in your hearts.

Now of course he was writing to Christians who already had Christ in their hearts. The trouble is with a lot of Christians in those days, the trouble was and still is today with a lot of Christians these days, the Lord Jesus does not make his home in our hearts because we do not give him the liberty so to do.

We do not give him right of way in every department of our lives. So it is strengthened by the Spirit that you might know the Christ in a very real sense making his home in your heart. To the end that you might be filled with all the fullness of God, the Lord God making his fullness a reality.

And the fullness of God, filled with all the fullness of God, well I think the word really there, the preposition is into all the fullness of God. And you can just imagine a huge tank and a weeny teeny little bottle with the cork out put into the tank.

And the bottle is filled into the tank. And we, abiding in Christ, resting in God, under the control of the Spirit, immersed in the triune God, are filled with God's Spirit, filled into all the fullness of God.

So the point is this, if I am in Christ, as we were saying this morning, very categorically every believer is, I wasn't saying it, the scripture was saying it plainly, if I am in Christ, then Christ is in me.

If the sponge is in the water, then the water is in the sponge. If the bottle is in the ocean, then the ocean is in the bottle. If I am in Christ, then Christ is in me. The point is that God has given Christ to us to be all that we need.

Our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption. Indeed, our very life. For you have died. You know, I am telling you, you have died in Christ. His death is counted as your death.

You have died in Him. And your life is hid with Christ in God, and Christ is your life. So God has given Christ to you to be your life as well. And the Apostle wanted these Christians, to whom he was writing, to know Christ experimentally as their very life.

The Lord Jesus living His own life through them to the praise and glory of His own holy name. Now notice this. It says, unto God be glory in the church by Christ Jesus. That's in verse 21. And this is the only way God can be glorified through the church.

By Christ Jesus. This is the only way that God can be glorified by any Christian in the church. By the Lord Jesus in the Christian. Living His own life through him to the praise of His name. And so, it's a wonderful thing that Christ is our life.

He's been given to us to be our life. So that we don't have to try to struggle to live the Christian life ourselves. And God never meant us to. If you're trying and struggling and failing, I suggest you give up.

And let the Lord Jesus make His home in your heart, and then He'll live His own life through you to the praise of His own holy name. In the Song of Songs, which is Solomon's, in chapter 1, He comes to her place and reveals Himself as a shepherd.

King Solomon disguised as a shepherd. And He shows grace to her because it's love to the unlovely and undeserving. She said, I'm black, don't look upon me. And don't look at my vineyard, it's unkept and fruitless.

But in spite of both, He loved her just the same. Now that's great. And she was forced to respond to this and said, Oh, tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, which way you're going with your flock, because I'm coming your way.

I'm not going by the flocks of your companions. I'm not going with them, I'm going with you. Tell me the way you're going. I'm going to follow you. And she followed Him, and she found that He led to a palace.

He was not only a shepherd, He was a King, you see. And so He revealed Himself to her in the second place, at her place, at His place rather, as the King. And then, the beginning of chapter 2, He comes back to her place again.

And He, she says, He stands behind our wall. He shows Himself through the window, through the little lattice. Everybody that passed down the street knew that she belonged to Him, that He belonged to her, that He dwelt with her.

And He come to live with her, you see. And later on in the chapter, He's calling her from a distant place and says, Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. It's wonderful here. It's like Florida here.

The flowers are always blooming. The birds are always singing. It's terrific here. Away, my love, and come and dwell with me. And so you go on. But this is the point. He was the shepherd. He was the King.

But then He came to live with her, to share her life. The Lord Jesus comes to live with us by His Spirit in our hearts. Not just to share our lives, but to be our lives. You remember He said, If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him.

I will share your life. I will sup with him. And he shall sup with me. He will find that coming in, I bring with me all the fullness of God and all His blessing and provision. And he shall sup with me.

Beloved, our need is met tonight in the indwelling Christ by His Spirit. Let us bow and worship for the mighty provision God has made for us in the Lord Jesus and in the Spirit of Christ being put in our hearts since we have become regenerate through faith in His atoning death.

Walking Worthy in the Church

Well now let us consider just for a few moments the working of this true Christianity in the Church. In chapter 4 and verse 1, this is the key verse to the section. He said, I beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called.

And God would have us to, in a practical way, live the life that we are professing. And if you like, in these first few verses, we could speak of unity in diversity. Because there is the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, verse 3.

But then there are diversities, a diversity of gifts in the next few verses. We could sum up this chapter in this way. Dismember not the body of Christ, verses 1 to 6. Disallow not the gifts of Christ, verses 7 to 16.

And dishonor not the Spirit of God. Notice verse 30. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed until the day of redemption. Dismember not the body of Christ, keep in a practical way the true ecumenism existing already in the sight of God, the unity of the Spirit for all those who are in Christ.

Disallow not the gifts of Christ. All these gifts that we see here are for the perfecting of the saints, so that each comes to fullness in Christ, knowing the blessing of Christ in his heart and life, living his own life through him.

And then verses 17 to 32. Dishonor not the Spirit of Christ. And the contrast here, there's a contrast here which we should note. The Gentiles being alienated from the life of God and now the Christians associated with the life of God.

So the exhortation is, put on the new man. And the new man, according to Colossians, is where Christ is all and in all. So if the Lord Jesus is everything to us and in experience we put on the new man, then we shall not be grieving the Spirit of Christ in our hearts.

Verse 30. I think we should compare or contrast Ephesians chapter 4, verses 22 and 23 and 24 with the similar scripture in Colossians because there the apostle says, here he says, put off concerning the former conversation of the old man and put on the new.

But in Colossians he said, you have put off the old man and you have put on the new where Christ is all and in all. In the one you see he's talking about our standing before God. You have put off the old man, you have put on the new.

And in this one the exhortation is in relation to our state before men. So God would have us to remember that the Spirit of Christ is in our hearts and we are sealed by the Spirit of Christ as God's property.

The seal of the Spirit is indicative of ownership. Ephesians, this city, to whom this letter was sent to probably first of all, was a timber port. And the merchants used to come down to the port and buy their timber and put their seal upon it.

And everybody knew by the seal who that piece of timber belonged to. And God says, I put my seal upon you. And my seal upon you so that everybody knows that you are my property, that you belong to me, is the Holy Spirit in your heart.

It isn't a blessing we strive after, it's a fact in the life of every believer. The Spirit is there. And the point is this you see, nobody will know that we belong to God if we grieve the Holy Spirit and hinder His working.

We read of some in the Old Testament who grieved the Holy Spirit and they vexed the Holy Spirit. And through their unbelief they hindered the Holy Spirit's working. Through their faithlessness they were not led by the Spirit into the place of rest.

And we miss a thousand blessings if we do not acknowledge the Spirit of Christ within. But we grieve the Holy Spirit if we do not acknowledge Him and let Him have His way with us. How important it is therefore that we acknowledge Him.

My old friend Dr. Oswald Smith used to say that it isn't striving after some spiritual experience but it is acknowledging the person within which is the secret of blessing. And we shall never know true Christian experience if we do not acknowledge His indwelling and yield to His impulses and directions day by day and fail to, if we fail to allow Him to form Christ in our hearts and in our lives.

Being Filled with the Holy Spirit

So grieve not the Holy Spirit. Of course this takes us on very very definitely to chapter 5 and the key verse there in verse 18. Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess but be filled with the Holy Spirit.

And the tense there of course is being filled with the Holy Spirit. And as I was suggesting to the other age, isn't it we can have more of the Holy Spirit? But the Holy Spirit should have more of us. Indeed should have control of us completely.

If you use the word control I think you get the idea of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. His full control in every department of the Christian life. And the tense is being filled with the Holy Spirit.

And it is a continuous process. We are not preaching some special particular second blessing or work of grace or eradication of the old nature or sinless perfection. But unless we are under the control of the Holy Spirit God's purposes in giving to us the Holy Spirit are not being fulfilled.

And God has given to us the Spirit of Christ so that we can live the true and normal Christian life by Christ within. His Spirit working in us and through us day by day. But if this is the normal process of the Christian life be being filled with the Holy Spirit day by day experience then of course it's got to begin sometime.

And most Christians do not begin to be filled with the Holy Spirit when they are converted. I led somebody to the Lord a little while back and I really felt from the moment the profession was made this person was filled with the Holy Spirit.

It's pretty evident to me. And then the other day in Bermuda we were going along in a car my wife and I with a brother who was driving us because you can't drive a car there unless you've been there for months you know and passed the test.

And we were being driven along by this brother and he was thanking God for the ministry some twelve months before when he entered into this blessing after being in the assembly for years and years and years and years and he was one of the elders.

And he was bowing over with joy a new life completely was his because he was beginning to live the Christ life. And he had sought to enter into the full control of the Holy Spirit by giving way to the Spirit of God in his life and claiming the blessing that was his by faith making sure there was no sin in his heart and life between him and God hindering the blessing.

Now you see if it is a process the process must begin. And the beginning of a process is a crisis. Now you've heard of men of God you've read books about men of God who had a crisis experience in their Christian life when they have begun to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Some surrendered their wills to Christ because it was non-surrendered will which was stopping the blessing. And others found victory in Christ because it was some sin in their lives that was keeping them back.

Others found deliverance from some expression of the old nature in their experience and finding deliverance in Christ they began to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You know very well that this is true.

One of our leading brethren in England Arnold Pickering one of the Echoes brethren one of the editors of Echoes of Service a personal friend of mine he speaks of the time in his Christian experience in the assembly when he came to a crisis and began to realize for the first time in his life that he had been crucified with Christ and that Christ had been given to him to indwell his heart by the Spirit of Christ so that Christ should live his own life through him.

And you know when George Muller began to be filled with the Holy Spirit he found that God answered prayer. Think of that. And this was a mighty experience for him and it lasted him for many, many years.

And somebody said to him when he was over 90 years of age Mr. Muller why is it you are so successful in God's work and have so many answers to your prayers? Now of course he wouldn't deny that he didn't have answers to his prayers in a false modesty.

He acknowledged it that God gave God all the glory. You see he had $7 ,500 ,000 go through his hands for his orphan work and his missionary work without taking an offering or asking for a penny or making an appeal of any sort to any man at any time.

He prayed for it all. $7 ,500 ,000 dollars not pounds and in answer to prayer. So they said why is it you have so many answers to your prayers but you are so successful? He bowed his all back to the ground as far as it would go he said listen a day came in George Muller's life when George Muller died.

Since then it hasn't been George Muller it's been the Lord Jesus. And his life and his will and his desires. So when did you die? Now of course the answer to that is legally, judicially you died at the cross with Christ.

But when did you realise it and say Amen to it? And say with the Apostle I am crucified with Christ and then say after that now Christ liveth in me. The life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me and now lives in me according to the context there.

So George Muller when he began to be filled with the Holy Spirit found that God answered prayer. Well there is no hindrance to God answering his prayer. You see Hudson Taylor when he began to be filled with the Holy Spirit entered into rest.

A new blessing of resting Christ who is our life which was so needed by him at that time when the burden of the inland China mission was weighing heavily upon his soul. John Bunyan when he began to be filled with the Holy Spirit found deliverance in a wonderful way.

And Amy Carmichael of India entered into a beautiful experience of holiness when she began to be filled with the Holy Spirit. What I am trying to say is the blessing that you need is yours when you are filled with the Holy Spirit.

And this is what you find in studying the Acts of the Apostles. They were filled with the Holy Ghost and with boldness. That is what they needed. Filled with the Holy Ghost and with joy. That is what they needed.

They were being persecuted. And Francis Ridley Habergula when she began to be filled with the Holy Spirit enjoyed remarkable peace in Christ. And D. L. Newley when he began to be filled with the Holy Spirit preached the same sermons that he preached in Chicago when nothing happened.

And he came over to England and there was mighty revival everywhere he went and thousands were led to Christ. And my daughter is in the college in Glasgow now that he founded during that time of great revival the Bible Training Institute.

And Hanley Mole of Durham that most saintly, godly bishop of Durham in northern England found a divine fragrance in his life when he began to be filled with the Holy Spirit. One day he was in his study working hard and he suddenly stopped and looked around and his study was in a terrible mess and he was so tired it didn't feel as though he wanted to put it together.

And papers and books and Bibles all over the place and he said to himself as he sat there tiredly he said, oh I do hope nobody comes because my study is such a mess today. And then he went to sleep. And in his sleep he dreamed that he was in his study and that the Lord Jesus was coming up the garden path toward his study.

And he said to himself my, this is the saviour I must let him in, quickly let me alter this situation and put everything right. But it was too late. The Lord Jesus was knocking at the door and he let him in.

Then he woke up and he wrote something about that. He said, come in Lord Jesus not to find but to make this troubled heart a worthy dwelling place for thee as thou art. Come in to chase the gloom the terror and the sin.

Come all thyself yea, come Lord Jesus in. I seek no more to alter things and mend before the coming of so great a friend. All were at best unseemly and were ill above all else to keep thee waiting still.

Come in. I knew thy voice beloved it was thou. Lord Jesus come all thyself come in. And the Bishop found a sweet divine fragrance into his life and soul when he began to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

And W .P. Nicholson Pat Nicholson, the great revivalist evangelist of Northern Ireland found personal victory in his life had been wanting for years when he began to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And Charles G. Trumbull found a reality of the indwelling Christ when he began to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

And the Apostle said I'm praying that you might be strengthened by the Spirit in your inner man and so that the Spirit of Christ shall make his home in your hearts so that you should be filled into all the fullness of God.

The Spirit’s Work in Church, Home, and Daily Life

Now you see there are many ideas for this important truth in the Scriptures and I wanted to mention just two or three in passing. Walk in the Spirit it's the same thing. Live by the Spirit see that is spiritual the same idea.

Walk in newness of life it's a new life it's the life of the Son of God not your old life patched up but replaced by another one. Not your old life refined but substituted by the life of Christ. Walk in newness of life the life which is Christ.

And this is the normal Christian experience. Filled into all the fullness of God. As I was saying the new man where Christ is all and in all. So the working of this impractical experience in the church is seen the first half of chapter 4 and then the working of it in the individual life of the Christian is seen in the remainder of the chapter and in chapter 5.