Who We Are "In Christ" in Search of Our Identity (Part 1) Questions Answered

Who We Are "In Christ"
In Search Of Our Identity (Part 1)

Questions Answered
The issue of identity is inescapable and central to our lives. "Who am I?" we all
ask. "Where did I come from? Where am I going?" Every person wrestles with
these questions, and the answers we adopt determine the direction of our lives.
Today, this search for identity falls under the concept of "self-image". Every
person has a "self-image" of himself. It could be a healthy, positive image, or it
could be a poor, negative one. Regardless, a person's self-image determines his
self-worth in this life, whether he/she is a success or failure. Self-image is what
affects, for better or worse, a persons attitude and behavior toward others and
life's circumstances. With all that is at stake, it is easy to see why people are in
search of a good self-image.
However, there is much debate concerning how to develop a good self-image.
Many psychologists, counselors, and even some church leaders believe that to
develop a good self-image a person needs to start loving himself more. As we will
see, this philosophy is contrary to the teaching of the Word of God.
Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:2 that in the last days men will be lovers of
themselves. According to this verse, our problem is that we love ourselves too
much. So it would appear that we cannot develop a good self-image
based on learning to love ourselves more. As a matter of fact, we do
not need to develop a good self-image at all. We need to develop a
realistic view of ourselves, what is called a "proper self-image". We
need to learn who we are from God's perspective.
Romans 12:3 says: "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do
not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself
with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given
you."
This passage is very revealing in a couple of different areas. Paul warns us of a

couple of different things that can be detrimental to our ability to live the
"Newness Of Life" of which the bible so frequently speaks. He warns us against
arrogance, pride and vanity. As you'll find, there is nothing about these things
God finds appealing... As a matter of fact, God specifically says He "hates" them!
Paul also reveals the motivation for his warning, and I believe from examining
everything Paul ever said, I think this motivation was the same motivation that
gave him the drive, will power and great desire/love that was necessary for him to
complete all the God-given tasks in his life... It was revealed in the very first part
of this passage: It was the "Motivation of Grace" that gave Paul his desire,
stamina and the ability to be totally content with his life despite the many
hardships he encountered. And there were many hardships in Paul’s life.
Pride is what caused Satan to be cast from heaven. Pride is what caused Adam to
eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And pride is what motivates us to
think too highly of ourselves. How should we think of ourselves to counteract this
attitude of pride? We can look at who we really are and have the guts to recognize
what we see.
Truth is, we are a being that is "spiritually dead" without Christ in our hearts, and
nothing we could ever do would produce nothing more than a stench in God's
nostrils... For ALL have fallen short of the Glory of God... That's the plain Truth.
There is nothing within us in the flesh only that could ever be considered
"good"... No matter how pretty, no matter how smart, no matter how educated,
no matter how gifted in any area, no matter WHAT!
When we think of ourselves with "sober judgment" (the ability to see the reality of
who we are), we are thinking in accordance to what? God's Word, of course. You
have to look no further than the scripture above to confirm that.” Sober
judgment", in comparison to the "modern-day philosophy" that says we should
love ourselves more, we find a clear contradiction. Scripture is Truth, so, the
"modern-day philosophy" loses out as a clever, but false teaching that does
nothing more than lead an individual down a path of failure, as someday, the
individual will find there nothing to sustain true "happiness" in false assumptions
of their identity.
Godlessness in the Last Days

2 Timothy 3:1-5 "1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.
2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive,
disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving,
slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous,
rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God 5having a form of
godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them."
In this passage, Paul plainly states the various conditions of man in the last days.
I think we can all agree that none of these characteristics could be deemed as
things we should have in our own lives. Right? So, is the problem that we hate
ourselves or that we love ourselves too much? It would seem, by the scripture
above that we tend to love ourselves too much. In light of these verses, will
"loving ourselves" more enable us to develop a "proper self-image"? Absolutely
not! So how do we develop a "proper" self-image? That's coming next in "How To
Develop A Proper Self-Image".
Questions Answered
How To Develop A "Proper" Self-Image
To develop a "proper" self-image, we must first decide to whom we are going to

listen. Are we going to listen to Satan and the world? Or are we going to listen to
God and His Word? As we have already seen, Satan and "the world" are in direct
opposition to God and His Word concerning how we should think about
ourselves. Unfortunately, we live in the world and are constantly bombarded by
the almost endless philosophies of the world. So let's examine some of the ways
the "world" tells us to determine our self-image and then compare them with
what God has to say.
#1 – Appearance
How we look is one gauge we use to determine our self-image. Most commonly, if
you notice yourself and those around you, if we think of ourselves as very pretty
or handsome, we tend to have an "acceptable" self-image because of...what?
Many people will "accept" us into their social circles because physical beauty is a
desirable trait among people. Many people even worship physical beauty... Yes.
Even today.
If we think of ourselves as physically "ugly", our self-image could suffer greatly.
We will probably tend to consider ourselves as "undesirable"..."unwanted"...
Mostly we will be shown by the world that we are not "acceptable" to it, and thus,
we'll tend to think quite a bit "less" of ourselves as the result of this "shunning".
If we are physically pretty or handsome, what will happen to our self-image as we

grow older and our looks change, or if we are in some kind of accident that alters
our appearance in some fashion? Generally, we'll tend to think "less" of ourselves
because the world around us will make clear that we are not who we once were,
physically. The world will treat us with less popularity... less respect (which it
never really had for us)... in general, the world will not "accept" us as it once did.
Our "self-image" will suffer greatly as we will feel of less worth, we'll feel
"diminished" in some capacity, and some will even feel "worthless". As you can
see, a "culture" can greatly affect the way we see ourselves.
Usually, Mom and Dad start by saying such things as, “You are such a beautiful
little girl," or "You are such a fine-looking young man." Friends, and even
complete strangers can "echo" these same sentiments... In today's time, it's not
uncommon for a young man to walk up to a lady and say, "Babe... You are so
hot!", indicating that upon physical appearance alone, he has found someone
"desirable"... And more times than not, the young lady will feel "special" in that
she was able to gain his immediate acceptance... What a total, simple-minded
fallacy of the enemy!
From the illustrations above, it may be easy to develop a "good" self-image, but
we must realize that the opinions of Mom, Dad, friends and even strangers can
change in time. Even after we have personally decided we are handsome or
pretty, our very own opinion could, and will, one day change. It is inevitable.
So, could we ever develop a "secure" self-image or identity based on our

"appearance"? I submit to you, absolutely not.
Psalms 139:13-14 "13 For you created my in most being; you knit me together in
my mother's womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully
made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."
According to these verses, God made you and me the way we are. Since God made
us who we are, it does not make sense to build a self-image based on what others
say/think about us that are of the world. It really does not even matter what we
say about ourselves if we do not know the "Real Truth" about who God says we
are.
Another thing many of us use to determine our identity is "what we do". In other
words, our "abilities": I'm a businessman, a housewife, or an athlete, for example.
Self-image based on what we do, however, is dependent on how well we perform:
If I was a businessman, and my business did very well, I could smile and feel
confident in that I am an "accomplishment" when in the midst of friends, or even
alone with myself. But, if my business was a failure, my "identity" would be
somewhat different. I may lack self worth, feel inadequate, embarrassed... I
would feel like a failure in many ways... And my "circle of friends" would probably
reflect that in the area of "acceptance"... To people tend to remain your friend
even when you have been "less than satisfactory" in areas of your life? The answer
to this can be very revealing when determining friends.
What if I were a Dad and my kids turned out to be pillars of the community...
Leaders in every respect... What would people think of me? What if I were a Dad
and my kids turned out to be "drug-addicts"? What would people think of me
then? See what I mean? The very thing that determines whether we are successes
or failures are the people around us!
Our abilities to perform any certain function/task always changes over a period of
time. For example, is a 45 year old athlete able to perform the way they did at age
25? Of course not. So, concerning the people around us, we can pretty much
figure that their "opinions" of us will constantly "change" with relation to how we
"perform, or "measure up" in their eyes.
When we look at ourselves, do we ever "compare" ourselves to others? Most
people do. When we do that, we usually don't have to look very hard to find
someone that is "better" at doing a specific task than we are. When we compare
ourselves to them, our self-image always suffers. Most times we don't "measure
up" to another's standards. But, on the other hand, sometimes we feel we are
"THE BEST" at what we do, and being "THE BEST" has certain extra rights and
privileges... Right?
2 Corinthians 10:12 "12We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with
some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves
and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise"
According to this verse, it is not wise at all to compare our own self to others. If
we do compare ourselves to others, there are only two conclusions we can come
to understand: We are either "BETTER" than those with which we compare, or
we are "WORSE" than those with which we compare ourselves. So, knowing this,
it definitely does not make sense to build your self-image on your abilities as a
person.
There are many other ways we try to determine our self-image based on the
philosophies of the world (for example, family relationships, friends,
denominational affiliation). Basically, however, all these standards gauge self-
image by:
~What others think about you;
~What you think others think about you;
~What you think about yourself.

And this brings us to the problem of listening to the world's opinions in regard to
who we are. The world's opinions are constantly changing from
moment to moment. It is impossible to find any stability or security in
what the world says concerning our identity.
If we have a poor self-image based on the opinions of the world, we will
experience defeatism and be null and void of the knowledge of The Truth about
who we are, and we will be rendered "ineffective", pertaining to the plan God
already has for our lives.
1 John 2:16-17 says, "16For everything in the world‚ the cravings of sinful man,
the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does‚ comes not from the
Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but the man
who does the will of God lives forever."
Mentioned above in scripture, some of the things of this world are:
~~Man having cravings for sin;
~~His eyes are lustful;
Man brags about what he has, and what he has done. It is also pointing out that
these things are NOT from our Father, God. So guess who fathers such things as
these? That's right. The enemy ; Satan.
As mentioned in the scripture above, this world and it's desires will pass away...
cease to exist. So, can a person ever have a secure identity if he/she is dependent
on the things of this world to determine who he/she is? No...no... No. We can
only determine from the scripture above that it is more important to see
ourselves from God's Perspective, rather than the world's false assumption of
who we are.
We do not need a self-image based on the ever-changing opinions of the world.

We need a proper self-image, an identity based on Truth from God's
Perspective. Since God created us and knows us better than we know ourselves, it
makes perfect sense to begin listening to what God says about us.
You are not who you are because of your own or others' opinions. You are who
you are because of what God says about you! When we begin listening to
God, we can rest assured that what He says will not be like the ever-
changing opinions of the world:
"All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the
grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of The Lord stands forever" (1
Peter 1:24-25).
Our New Identity (Part 3)
Questions Answered
A person has no identity apart from a relationship with someone or something

else. That is why we latch on to practically anything in our desperate need to
discover who we are. We determine our identity through our appearance,
occupation, abilities, family relationships, friends, denominational affiliation --
The list is absolutely endless.
Identity, however, is a "spiritual" need. Who we truly are is determined by our

relationship with Jesus Christ. This is the only way you will find out who you
really are - through the One who created you! When we are identified with Him,
we have an identity that cannot be shaken or taken away. It's an identity that is
more wonderful than we could ever imagine.
Unfortunately, the tragedy of "Modern-Day Christianity" is our utter ignorance

of who we are in Christ! As a result, many Christians struggle, wondering if God
really loves them, if God ever did love them, or if God "still" loves them. The
believers identity in Christ is not a side issue; it is central to experiencing the
"Real" Christian life!
1 Corinthians 15:22 says, "22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive."
From God's point of view, there are only two kinds of people in this world.
Their identities are determined by whom they are identified with. According to
the verse above, we are either identified with Adam, which is "spiritually dead"
in relation to our relationship with God and lost in our sin, or we are identified
with Christ, which makes us "born-again" unto God spiritually, with the "old
self" dead and gone...
To be "in Adam" or "in Christ" may be strange language to us. Biblically, to be

"in" someone means that person is our family head. As such, he has left us his
name, his nature, an inheritance, and a destiny.
The "destiny" for those that are "in Adam", is unbelief and ultimately, separation
from God. The destiny for those that are "in Christ", is one of belief in God, and
total and eternal acceptance by God, that we may have eternal life. "Eternal life"
is our inheritance from God! Magnificent, isn't it?!
Let's face it. Eternal means eternal. If we could lose our relationship with God
once He has accepted and forgiven us, God's Word could not have said "eternal"
could it? If we had a relationship with God for let's say 10 years, then we think
we can "lose" that acceptance, then we've had life for 10 years... There wasn't
anything eternal about it, was it?...To think that anyone can "lose" their salvation,
is to be ignorant of the "Whole Truth" that God has given us. There is a great deal
of what God is trying to tell us that has either been mis-understood, or not
realized at all by the born-again believer. The Word of God does say "eternal",
doesn't it? That's what it says, and that's what I'm going to believe.
Every human being is born into the world "in Adam". That means we are born
with the same nature, inheritance, and destiny that Adam possessed after his fall.
Let's take a closer look at the inheritance left to us by Adam.
Romans 5:19 says, "19For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were
made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made
righteous."
As revealed above, through the disobedience of one man, we were made sinners
through our sinful nature. The one man was Adam. Therefore, our identity in
Adam is a "sinner", when we are born into this world, depicting the inevitable
sinner we will become because of our nature...
Romans 5:12 - "12Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death
through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned"
Sin entered the world through *one man. This one man was Adam. Death
entered the world through sin. As a result of this, *death came to all men. God
wasn't speaking of physical death to our bodies. He didn't address that until
later. God was speaking of *"spiritual death"! This death was brought upon us
because of "sin". Therefore, the *"inheritance" we have been given in Adam, is a
sinful nature and spiritual death because of sin.
Ephesians 2:1-3 says, "1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in
which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the
kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us
also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and
following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by *nature objects of wrath."
In this scripture, our condition before we knew Christ was that we are "dead in
our transgressions and sins". We "follow" the ways of this world and the ruler of
the "kingdom of the air" (Satan). Satan is the "spirit who is now at work in those
who are disobedient (the sinner). The sinner will seek to gratify the cravings of
the sinful nature (within all of us before Christ) and following it's (sinful nature)
desires and thoughts. By our very nature in Adam we are nothing more than
"objects of God's WRATH"... Not a very pretty picture is it?
So. What type of *nature did Adam pass on to us as our family head? A *sinful
nature, we are objects of wrath and we are doomed to a lifestyle of sin... Still
want to be "In Adam"?
As we've seen thus far, all of us are *born into the world as unavoidable sinners.
We were born totally controlled by our flesh. As a result, we were by nature,
objects of wrath. This is the identity Adam passed on to us -- an identity we
received through birth. For this identity to change requires a "new birth".
John 3:3-6 states:”3In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth; no one can see the
kingdom of God unless he is born again."4"How can a man be born when he is old?"
Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be
born!"5Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless
he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to
spirit.”
As revealed in these scriptures, for a person to see and enter the Kingdom of God
we must be "born again". John describes being born of water as "flesh gives birth
to flesh". But the kind of birth Jesus refers to when He says, "You must be born
again", is a new "spiritual" birth.
Physically, we are born "in Adam" and he (Adam) is our family head. When we
are "born again" of the "Spirit" of God, our family head changes. God is then our
family head through being "born again" spiritually unto God. Thus we have a
"new identity". This new identity is from God Himself.
When Nicodemus heard Jesus say you must be born again, Nicodemus asked,
How can this be?" If you think about it, probably every one of us would have
asked the same thing. So, how can you be born again? Jesus gives the answer in
the famous passage of John 3:16.
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes
in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
This is absolutely astounding in that God did not "have" to do any of this for
us! As revealed in this scripture, God's sole motivation to give His one and
only Son as a sacrifice for our sins was His Love for us! If we were to be saved,
Jesus was the only sacrifice in all of earth and Heaven that was good enough to
pay the price. None other would do.
What must we do, according to this scripture, to receive eternal life? Simple. The
answer is so simple, it confounds the wise. We simply need to know we need a
Savior, turn to Jesus and "BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST"! Now. To be 'born again",
what need we do according to this scripture? Yep. You got it... "Turn to Jesus as
our Lord (repent)", and "BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST" (have faith in Him only
and His complete work on the cross and resurrection)!
John 1:12-13 – “12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he
gave the right to become children of God! 13children born not of natural descent, nor of
human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.”
This scripture is also phenomenal when realizing who we are "in Christ". It
plainly says when we receive Jesus Christ we get the right to become "children of
God"! We receive Christ through believing faith. As a child of God, whom are we
born to? God! John distinctly contrasts being born of natural descent and being
born of God. I think he does this because he wants us to clearly see the difference
and realize what has happened to us!
So. If we believe in Jesus Christ and are "born again", what is your new
identity? Simply, we are a "Child of God"...
Romans 8:15-17 -- 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again
to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba,
Father." 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.
17Now if we are children, then we are heirs. Heirs of God and co-heirs with
Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his
glory.
Focusing on this scripture, when we are born again of the Spirit of God, we
received a "Spirit of sonship"! Paul starkly contrasts this to a "spirit of fear".
Evidently, Paul knew that many were and would in the future mis-interpret their
relationship with God as one as was under the Old Covenant. But Paul is trying
to reveal something new to us!
In Ephesians 2:3, we learned that "in Adam" we were all, by nature, objects of
wrath, and our natural response to God is one of "fear". But in Proverb’s, we are
told that the fear of God is the "BEGINNING" of understanding. It said nothing
of it (fear) being the end result... Quite the contrary... The Word tells us that
"perfect love drives out fear". In light of these things, we can conclude that it is
very important for us to understand that when we are born again, we DO NOT
receive a spirit that makes us a slave to fear!
Because we have received the Spirit of sonship, we should be crying out, "ABBA,
FATHER!" The Spirit of God should testify to our human spirits that WE ARE
GOD'S CHILDREN!!! Because we are children of God, we have become HEIRS!
Heirs to God! All that God has is now ours! Because we are children of God, we
are "CO-HEIRS" with CHRIST! Good God, Almighty! Co-Heirs with CHRIST!
"We have received an inheritance! An eternal, glorious,
unspeakable, Spiritual inheritance! ... From none other than
God, Himself!"
In summary of this part, a person's identity is determined by the one he is
identified with. From God's vantage point, a person is either identified with
*Adam or with Jesus Christ. If you are identified with *Adam, you are a sinner
and your identity is eternal separation from God -- death. If you are identified
with Jesus Christ, you are a child of God and your destiny is eternal life.
Your identity can change through "new birth". If you are still "*in Adam", are you
willing to receive Jesus Christ by believing in His name and experiencing "new
birth" in Christ? You can do so by simply asking Jesus to come into your heart.
If you wish to do so right now, here is a suggested prayer:
Lord Jesus? I need You. I recognize that I was born into this world a slave to
my sinful nature, spiritually separated from You since my first decision and I
am in need of "life in Christ". Thank You for dying for the forgiveness of my
sins and then for being raised from the dead so You could come and give me
life! I now receive You into my heart! Take control of my life and teach me
about Your Love and the inheritance I now have as a child of God! Thank You,
God, for coming into my heart and for giving me eternal life... In Your Name
Jesus I pray only, as You are the only source of anything which I seek! Amen...
If you prayed to receive Christ, you are now a child of God. You have a new
identity, a new nature, and a new destiny. Throughout the rest of this
particular series of study, we'll take a closer look at just what it means to be a
"child of God" and the eternal inheritance we have as His Children...
Glory To God Only... Amen & Amen...
*denotes: "The sinful nature" referred to herein, is that which was passed to us by Adam:
"Specifically, what is this 'sinful nature'?
The sinful nature is the knowledge of good and evil, coupled with our natural "desire" to
do evil."
If you'll remember, Adam and Eve were not created with this knowledge of good and evil,
and was strictly forbidden to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for God knew it
would corrupt their hearts, and all of us to come in the future.
It is this "knowledge" that Adam passes to each and every one of us. With man being
what he is, this knowledge of good and evil is also a guarantee that when we are old
enough to make our decision between good and evil, we will most certainly choose evil.
This is what is referred to as being "born INTO sin"...
It is important to notice that although we are "born into sin", in our infantile state, we
are not yet actual sinners, as we have not yet sinned. If it were otherwise, every infant
death would demand eternal damnation to hell, and that's not "justice"... My God is
"just"... And I think His Word reveals this very thing when examined close enough.
Romans 5:12, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by
sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:"
"We Are A New Creation In Christ!"
Questions Answered
When you become a child of God, the Bible says you have become a brand new
creation -- like a caterpillar becomes a beautiful butterfly. In nature, the
caterpillar weaves a cocoon around itself, and in the cocoon the marvelous
process of metamorphosis takes place. When this process is complete, a beautiful
butterfly emerges. This butterfly is a new creature; It will never be a caterpillar
again. In the same way, we have become new creatures in Christ; we will never be
old sinners again. And as new creatures in Christ, we must learn to see ourselves
as God sees us.
Key verse: 2 Corinthians 5:17 - "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
Here it is, as plain as day. If we are in Christ, we have become a "new" creation.
The old person we used to be is... GONE! Once you have become a "new" creation
"IN CHRIST", you can never become the old person again! Why? Because God
did the changing... And what God does CANNOT be undone by man... Nor does
God say He will ever "take it back". As a matter of fact, quite to the contrary. God
says in His Word (which HE exalts higher than Himself) that His gifts are
"IRREVOCABLE!" Glory to His wonderful name!
"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus, the
faithful in Christ Jesus" - Ephesians 1:1
In this letter to the Ephesians Paul addressed the believers there as "saints". Paul
DID NOT think of the the believers in Ephesus as "old sinners saved by Grace".
According to this verse and many others, our identity is a "saint"!
A couple of questions for you: Does God see us as "old sinners saved
by Grace"? Or as "Saints"? How do "you" see yourself?
"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to
the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia" - 2
Corinthians 1:1
Corinth was a city in the Roman province of Achaia. If you'll notice, Paul
addressed the believers in Corinth as "the church of God" and "saints". That
might be a bit surprising to you if you knew the background of this particular
band of brothers.
The Corinthians were guilty of sexual sins, getting drunk at the Lord's Supper,
and pride. Yet, with all this going on, God, through Paul, called the Corinthian
believers "Saints". Remarkable, huh? Evidently, their behavior alone did not
change their identity from God's vantage point.
Something we all need to be honest with ourselves about is, it is possible for us as
born again children of God, and "saints", to commit sins. Also something to
realize is the fact that when we do sin, it does not change our "identity" in Christ -
Sin stunts our spiritual growth - Sure, but it does not change our identity. Fact is,
we are saints in the eyes of God, because we have been saved by Grace, through
faith in Christ Jesus.
When you sin as a child of God, "you" are the one doing the sinning. God
recognizes our sin, but He sees us as children that need to grow... But our
MAJOR problem is "how we see ourselves"!
Do we recognize we are children of God that need to grow? Or do we think that
our relationship with God is so conditional that the first sin destroys everything
God did for us? Interesting question, huh? Is there a difference between the
way God sees us and how we see ourselves? If there is... somebody is
wrong... And it's not God. So, are we "willing" to see ourselves as a "saint"? You
may be reluctant - Quite understandably given what is being taught in many
places today. But we should really learn that we are saints... Not because we have
done anything to "earn" that status, but because it is the "gift" from God!
As Christians we sometimes get the idea that our behavior is all that is truly
important to God, or all that He is concerned with. Behavior, however, is simply
the result of a belief system.
There is an old adage I am told that says, "Actions follow attitude." That is why
God is so persistent in teaching us who we are. Once we know and truly believe
we are children of God, saints by calling, our actions will follow suit. As we will
see in the following verses, knowing who we are is our true "MOTIVATION" for
living GODLY lives!
"As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling
you have received" ~~ Ephesians 4:1
According to this verse, Paul urges us to live a life worthy of the calling we have
received. If we do not know or understand the calling we have received,
it's impossible to live a life worthy of that calling! Isn't it?
"To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace
to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ" - Romans 1:7
According to this verse, we are called to be what? Saints. What kind of life are we
to live? The life of a saint!
"For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord! Live as children
of light!" ~~ Ephesians 5:8 (Glory To God! Amen!)
This verse says we once WERE darkness! It also says we ARE NOW
light! So! We should LIVE as CHILDREN OF LIGHT! Amen! And we
should live as children of light so we can truly shine in the darkness!
So we can rightly show others the Truth of God!
A good paraphrase of this verse is, "You once were a caterpillar, but now you are a
butterfly. Fly like a butterfly!" It just makes sense for a butterfly to fly. In the
same way, as children of God, saints by calling, it just makes sense for us to live in
accordance with who we are! When we do sin, however, God reasons with us
based on our true identity!
It's as if He holds a mirror over us and says, "Look up here. What do you see?"
"A butterfly, Lord."

"Since you are a butterfly, why are you crawling around with the caterpillars?"
"I don't know, Lord. It doesn't make sense does it?"

"No, it doesn't. Why don't you get up and fly like a butterfly?"
The butterfly can fly because through the process of metamorphosis,

God equipped the butterfly with wings. It wouldn't make any sense to
tell the butterfly to fly if it didn't have wings. In the same way, it would
be foolish to tell us to live a life worthy of our calling if we had not
been given the Holy Spirit to enable us to do so. We have been made
into a new creation, but what is it that makes us new?
"To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches
of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of Glory!" (Colossians 1:27)
The mystery that Paul referred to in this verse that was revealed to the Gentiles
was the fact that Christ is now in us as born again believers. So the thing that
makes us "new creatures" is "Christ in us!" Realizing this, we can know full well
that "Christ in us" is our ONLY hope for living out and experiencing our calling as
"children of God!" Just as a butterfly is dependent on its wings to enable it to fly,
we can be dependent on "Christ in us" to live the Christian life!
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and
gave Himself for me" ~~ Galatians 2:20
Important stuff in this scripture... The only reason Paul says, "I no longer
live", is because we have been crucified with Christ (notice the past tense).
Although our old selves have been crucified, we can now rejoice in the fact that
Christ, through the Holy Spirit DOES now live in us (note: this was given us by
God). If we will saturate our own hearts with this knowledge and Truth, there will
be nothing left for us to do but to live our lives by faith in the Son of God, who
loved us, and gave Himself for us! Amen & Amen!
We truly are a new creature in Christ! Through spiritual birth GOD has
transformed us into saints! Sometimes we might act like "old sinners saved by
Grace", but that is NOT our identity!
If you find yourself crawling around with the caterpillars, you need to realize
that you are a butterfly! Get up and fly! God has something much better for you
than crawling around with the caterpillars. It is called the "Abundant Life"!
With Christ living in you, you can experience everything God created you to be
as a new creature in Christ!
Oh, I would give any earthly thing I have if only those that read this would fully
understand what I'm saying! Can you understand? Have you got it? Has it
began to dawn on you yet?
Please seek the Holy Spirit on behalf of what I am saying. If I had one thing to
ask of God, it would be that all who read this understand... Understand the
"Truth" that will leave your shackles of mis-understanding forever laying on the
prison floor!
It will TRULY change your life!"
Not Guilty?
Questions Answered
Having a proper understanding of our identity in Christ greatly depends on how

we view God's forgiveness toward us. If we see ourselves as unforgiven or not
worthy of forgiveness, in my opinion, it perverts our understanding of God's love.
In a world where forgiveness has to be earned or paid for, complete and
unconditional forgiveness is sometimes difficult to understand, especially by
those of us that have been taught otherwise. However, the scriptures will tell us
that this is the way God has forgiven us.
Please listen to what will be said here very closely, and make your mind up for
yourself concerning God's forgiveness. Please know, that without Truthfully
understanding God's forgiveness, we'll never really understand one of the most
important things about our God, and our relationship with Him. This holds true
no matter what your view.
When Christ died on the cross, His last words were, "It is finished." In other
words, "The payment for sin has been satisfied." Please make no mistake here.
When Christ came to us here on this earth, He was on a multi-task mission. One
part was to purge Heaven of Satan’s sin (another whole topic in itself), and the
other was to save US! One of the things He came to do for us was to adequately
deal with our sin.
Sin exists for us in three time frames... past, present and future. If
Christ had failed to deal with any one of these, it would be impossible
for Him to "save" us from anything! Right? But He was successful in all
phases of His mission, both upon this earth and in heaven. THIS is the freedom
we have as children of God.
2 Corinthians 5:19 says, God is "no longer counting men's sins against them."
"All the prophets testify about Him that everyone who believes in Him receives
forgiveness of sins through His name." Acts 10:43
This scripture reveals that all the prophets testified about Jesus. It also says that
the way we receive forgiveness of our sins is to "believe" in Jesus. In light of this
verse, the prophets in the Old Testament were expecting the Messiah to bring us
to a place of forgiveness. Jesus fulfilled that expectation in all ways.
According to this verse, when we put our faith in Christ, what do we receive? Our
forgiveness. After this, there is no need to seek and re-seek that which has already
been given you! Thus, a huge part of our "new" identity in Christ is that we are a
"forgiven" person. But let's not stop here.
"I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending
you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, the power
of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among
those who are sanctified by faith in me." - Acts 26:17-18
Glory To God! Let's take a minute and see what was said here! Paul makes it clear
that his mission is to "open their eyes". He says that before coming to Christ we
are under Satan’s power. Upon putting our faith in "Christ Alone", we WILL
receive forgiveness of sins, removing us from the power of Satan! We are also
"sanctified" (found not guilty!) because of and through our faith in "Christ
Alone!"
If we are forgiven and sanctified (found not guilty) when we put our faith in
“Christ, their is no need to be sanctified (found not guilty!) and forgiven at any
subsequent time after our salvation! Glory To God! When we become children of
God, we receive Forgiveness and Eternal Life as part of our Godly Inheritance!
Thank You, God, for what you have done for us! Amen!
"For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the
Kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of
sins!" - Colossians 1: 13, 14
What has God rescued us from? The dominion of darkness! If it were not a done
deal, this scripture would have read, "In Whom we have redemption, the
forgiveness of sins, if you constantly ask for it!" Sound a little funny to you? Me
too! Plainly, "In Christ", we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins! We were
redeemed at the point of having faith (believing in and accepting) Christ. We
were forgiven at the same time. According to this verse, our forgiveness and
redemption are already ours. We DO NOT need to ask for them on a daily basis.
In light of all the previous scriptures mentioned in this particular blog, it is quite
clear that our forgiveness was complete on the day we put our faith in Christ. Are
we willing to rest in the fact that we are totally forgiven and that there is nothing
we can do to "add" to His forgiveness? It's a very important question. The
conclusion you have may completely transform your relationship with God. Give
it some deep thought!
'Then He adds, "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." And
where these have been forgiven, there is no longer ANY sacrifice for sin'-
Hebrews 10:17, 18
As plain as this scripture is, many do not have the courage to look into the Truth
because of "previous mis-understanding through teaching". God WILL NOT
remember our sins any longer. He won't remember them because they have been
forgiven!
If God has forgiven our sins and remembers them no more, how then, should
"we" look at our sins? As forgiven and forgotten. This understanding does
something for the believer that nothing but the Truth can... It sets you FREE! You
are now FREE to fully realize your "FREEDOM" from sin and REST in the
TOTAL ASSURANCE in your FUTURE! Realizing this, is there anything to be
"fearful" of in your relationship with God? NO! NO! NO! And what does scripture
say about this other than "PERFECT LOVE DRIVES AWAY FEAR!" GLORY!
"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do
with punishment. The one who fears is NOT made perfect in love. We love
because He first loved us." - 1 John 4:18, 19
According to this verse, anyone who remains "fearful" in their relationship with
God has an underlying problem. Most of these problems are the direct result of
mis-understanding God's intentions and works toward you. Instead of the love of
God being the most abundant and prevalent thing in our hearts and minds
toward God and others, we are "fearful". Fearful of God's judgment... We wonder
at what times He may look at us in "acceptance" and when He looks upon us with
"rejection". We know we are less than perfect... But if we think God's acceptance
of us hinges on our "performance" or our ability to beg, we'll miss the greater part
of how He really feels about us and what He, in His all-knowing deity, has really
done for us to insure our eternal well-being.
There is something that "drives out fear": Love. This whole scenario can be best
explained by examining the parallels in the traditional Jewish Wedding. When
Christ calls us "His Bride", He is speaking in terms that everyone back then would
have understood. The Jews are God's chosen people. By examining this
traditional ceremony, we can more fully understand what God is saying to us.
There are a few things that are revealed through this custom, some of them quite
astonishing and new to our understanding. It is a topic in itself and one I hope to
blog in the future, but the point I wish to immediately focus on here, is that Christ
FIRST chose US to be His bride. We, then, make a decision to accept His
marriage by being "born again". Thus, we love Him because He "first loved us!"
Glory To His Name! As a born again child of God, we now await to drink from the
"fourth cup"... the cup of "consummation" which now awaits us in Heaven, to be
shared between us... and Christ... GLORY!
So, with this "Bride and Groom" theme that is most dominant in scripture and
the "love - fear" Truth that is brought forth in the scripture above, we can discern
a few different things:
• If we are "fearful" in our relationship with God, we are not "perfect in love".
• We cannot be fearful and loving at the same time
• Should any bride "fear" the Groom? No!
• We love God ONLY because He first loved us.
• Correctly understanding or mis-understanding God's love and forgiveness
affects "every" circumstance and action governing our lives as Christians.
• If you can fully realize you are forgiven, it will take away your fear of God's
judgment, assure you of your eternal acceptance, and set you free to live the
life God intends for you in total peace, joy, love and certain confidence that
God has dealt with your sin -- "Once And For All!"
"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by
the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain,
that is, His body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us
draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our
hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies
washed with pure water. Let us hold "unswervingly" to the hope we profess, for
He who promised is faithful" - (Hebrews 10: 19-23)
Wow! Jesus opened the way for us to the Most Holy Place by His life's blood
sacrifice for our sin. The "Most Holy Place" is the very Throne Room of God!
Jesus is our "Great Priest!" Knowing that you are forgiven should give you "full
confidence" to approach God! The ONLY thing that cleanses us from a guilty
conscience is "being sprinkled" by the blood of Jesus! We can now draw near
unto God faith a sincere heart and an attitude of "full assurance" that we have
been sanctified (found not guilty) and eternally accepted by God as a child of
God!
In verse 23, it's important to note that "Jesus" is the One that is faithful... NOT
us! So, then, it is very important for us to realize that we are totally forgiven! If
He had left any part of our salvation up to us, rest assured, we would have
screwed it up... It's inevitable!
"In Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and
confidence" - (Ephesians 3:12)
Starting to dawn on you yet? The ONLY way we can approach God in freedom
and confidence is in Jesus and our faith in Him (which includes what He has
done for us). To approach God in freedom and confidence means you must
"KNOW" you have been accepted by God, "once and for all"! That freedom is ours
to be had!
We have seen that our relationship with God should be greatly affected by the
forgiveness Christ has provided. Is there any reason why you are not experiencing
freedom and confidence in your relationship with God? If so, are you willing to let
go of it and by faith accept the fact that as a child of God you are totally forgiven?
Our understanding of God's forgiveness has a lot to do with how we treat other
people, also. If we have never experienced God's love and forgiveness for
ourselves, it would be very hard to be a loving and forgiving person toward
others. Make sense to you?
"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ
God FORGAVE you..." -- (Ephesians 4:32)
As you can well see, the way you view God's forgiveness toward you will surely
determine how you apply the wisdom of the above scripture to your life. This
scripture points out that we are to forgive others as Christ "forgave" (notice the
past tense that is very specific in this scripture) us. God forgave us because of His
kindness and compassion toward us. If God has forgiven us totally and
unconditionally, we SHOULD forgive others in the same way... But do we? How
often do we require that the other person "ask" our forgiveness before we "try" to
forgive them? How often do we put forth our best effort to forgive and seek
forgiveness just because we think it a "command" that our very salvation hinges
on? And even when we "try" to do these things, how often are we really
successful?
If we see ourselves as unforgiven, or conditionally forgiven, being constantly in

danger of punishment, just like sinners who have never been saved, how will we
treat others? I don't need to answer that one for you... But if we see ourselves as
totally forgiven, how then would you treat others? You could easily learn that it is
within you to have forgiven most trespasses before they even occur... Making the
process an already done deal... Drastic difference isn't it?
"Therfore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with
compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience! Bear with each other
and forgive whatever grievance you may have against one another. Forgive as
the Lord "forgave" you." -- (Colossians 3:12 & 13)
This is very revealing wisdom in that it describes God's chosen people as people
clothed in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience... A people
that bear with one another and a people that forgives all grievances between
themselves... Forgiving each other in the same manner as God forgave them...
Oh. And this is done in the "heart" of His people. It's not referring to "lip service"
here. Does this accurately describe us? If not, we've missed something very
important in our understanding of God. A forgiving spirit is totally natural for
God's people. This is because it is the personality of Christ in the believer.
Christ forgave us of "all" our sins. So, we are to forgive ALL grievances we have
against others... ALL... "Once and for all"... This means those of the past, those of
the present, and yes, those of the future. Your reward will be "YOUR" freedom!
Forgiveness is at the very root of our identity in Christ. His unconditional love for
us that He demonstrated by dying for us on the cross is what gives us the power
to draw near unto God... And to love others ~~
In Christ, We Are Totally Righteous!
Questions Answered
Not only do we receive forgiveness through our faith in Christ, we also receive
"righteousness" -- the righteousness of "Christ". Through faith in Christ, we
"exchange" our unrighteousness for "His" perfect righteousness.
Resting in the righteousness of Jesus Christ frees us from the impossible task of
trying to keep ourselves "clean" before God. How many of us understand this?
How many of us have been taught by various religions influenced by Catholicism
that we must "perform" to maintain our very salvation? Let's take a look at a few
scriptures that will hopefully clarify a few things in our own minds:
Romans 3:21-22
But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested,
being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God
through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;
As always, scripture is what so many would consider painfully clear in what it

says concerning out righteousness. It says plainly that righteousness is from God.
Not in what you do, what I do, or what anyone else does. Our righteousness is
from God!
This scripture also reveals that we cannot become righteous by observing the
Law. Scripture says our righteousness from God is "apart from the Law". So, if
our righteousness does not come from the Law, where does it come from? Kind of
easy to figure when looking at the above scripture: Our righteousness comes
through faith in Jesus Christ to ALL that believe! Notice belief is different
than faith... All the demon believe, but they lack faith. They believe in Jesus, and
had faith in Satan... See the difference? Our righteousness come from Christ
when we both believe and have faith in Christ... Amen...
2 Corinthians 5:21
"He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf,
so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
Christ did not have any sin within Him but God made Christ to be sin on our
behalf. In taking that sin of ours, Christ took it "all". Not one sin was left behind
for us to scuffle with. What do you truly think would happen to the world if Christ
had left one sin for us to conquer on our own? Well, I don't think He would have
had too much trouble building the new city... There wouldn't be anyone to occupy
the place (heaven).
It's important to take note of in our hearts and minds, that because of that special
exchange Jesus made on our behalf, and ONLY because of that loving and painful
exchange did "we" benefit from obtaining the very "righteousness of God" - "IN
CHRIST"! It is only "IN CHRIST" this is obtained!
So... If we have actually become the righteousness of God by being born again,
how righteous are we? We are FULLY, 100%, without lacking anything, with
nothing to add, we are FULLY and TOTALLY Righteous, In Christ! Nothing left
to even improve upon concerning your righteousness that Jesus has provided you
and I.!
Romans 4:5
"But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who
justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness..."
Here is some simple facts that "religion" tends to disagree with in one form or
many others:
God justifies the wicked. Man is not justified by any aspect of his works. He is
justified by trusting in God. "Faith is credited as righteousness to those who
believe in Christ." No person can gain righteousness through their good works.
Not Pope John, Mother Teresa, Mother Mary, nor Matt nor anyone else. It is
"God's" Righteousness of which we are given!
Romans 5:17
"For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one,
much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift
of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ."
What a wonderful scripture... As a result of one mans sin, "death" had reign over
us. Everyone was affected by this sin of one man. NO ONE was excluded from the
dreaded judgment as a result of the sinful nature (our guarantee that we WILL
sin). This is the most dreadful news to mankind... As there was but one verdict on
the day of judgment... "Guilty!"
But the next part demonstrates the saving power of a loving, mighty and Graceful
God: If we receive His Grace (Jesus Christ), one of God's gifts to us is "His"
righteousness! This righteousness "reigns in life"! That means we are now free to
live with the knowledge that we have an eternal acceptance that cannot be
challenged by anything on this earth or beyond... We are "free"... Set apart from
the wages of sin and death, because no longer are we identified as "sinners"... We
are now identified as sons and daughters of God... Saints forevermore! Glory to
God! Our mind have a hard time wrapping around that little tid-but of Truth
doesn't it?
Philippians 3:8-9
"More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of
knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things,
and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him,
not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is
through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of
faith..."
As Paul was all too famous for, he weighs in on the subjects of righteousness by
faith in Christ as opposed to righteousness by the Law in the above scripture.
Paul says that righteousness that comes from obeying the Law as "rubbish"
(trash). Not that obeying God's Law is a bad thing... Not at all! But "our ability" to
achieve righteousness through perfect obedience? It's not even a remote
possibility. No human on earth, except Jesus Christ, was or ever will be able to
obtain righteousness through perfect obedience. NONE! It makes no matter how
"good" we think we are... On our own, the best we will ever do is be a stench in
God's nostrils...
The only righteousness Paul found valuable was "the righteousness that
comes 'from God' on the basis of faith"! Who's righteousness would you
rather have? Be honest... Look deep within yourself. Is there ANY given time
when you think you could measure up on your own? I'm talking right now, even if
you've been a Christian for 40 years... If you started right now, could you
perfectly adhere to the perfect Law of God?
For years, I was asked if I "had sin in my life that I sought to justify" through my
understanding of God's Grace. You see, there are people I know right now that
actually think this whole concept of God's Grace is to accommodate a sinful
lifestyle (license to sin). And for quite a while I denied having sin in my life. My
answer would always be, "No." What an incredible lie. The facts of the matter
is, no matter how hard I try, and whether you want to admit it or not, no matter
how hard "you" try, we will NEVER stand perfect before the Law of God!
Therefore, yes. I do have sin in my life. I have re-occurring sin in my life... And so
do you... Each and EVERY ONE of you... THAT, coupled with the Truth God is
trying to communicate to us, is the reasons why we need to correctly discern this
matter of God's Grace... It will be the ONLY thing that frees your spirit and allow
you to live joyfully in God's Service, both in this physical life, and our spiritual
lives to come!
"Yes. I do have sin in my life. I have reoccurring sin in my life... And so do

you... Each and EVERY ONE of you... THAT, coupled with the Truth God is
trying to communicate to us, is the reasons why we need to correctly discern
this matter of God's Grace... It will be the ONLY thing that frees your spirit
and allow you to live joyfully in God's Service, both in this physical life, and
our spiritual lives to come!"
As revealed in the scripture above, the only way to receive the

righteousness of God is by faith in Christ and His finished work at
Calvary, for you and for me. A most important question we can now ask
ourselves in the light of the combined Truths of the Gospels is, "Are we willing
to give up our feeble efforts and 'rest' in His free gift of righteousness
today?" IF you are standing 100% in the righteousness of "Jesus Christ", you are
100% acceptable to God!
Ephesians 1:6
"...to the praise of the glory of His Grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the
Beloved."
This scripture reveals that God's acceptance of us is NOT something we can

establish on our own, but rather it is Jesus Christ that has provided our
acceptance. When we realize we are truly only accepted and made righteous
through God, we should be able to relate to Him freely, willingly and with
assurance that His acceptance of us cannot be threatened.
"A most important question we can now ask ourselves in the light of the
combined Truths of the Gospels is, "Are we willing to give up our feeble efforts
and 'rest' in His free gift of righteousness today?" IF you are standing 100% in the
righteousness of "Jesus Christ", you are 100% acceptable to God!"
It is important to understand that the righteousness of God is not just another

gift He gives us. Righteousness is given in the form of a person - Jesus Christ, the
"Righteous One"! Glory to God! Can I get an amen up in here?!?!
Romans 1:16-17
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for
salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it
the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT
THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."
Why is Paul not ashamed of the Gospel? Because it is the power of God! The
Gospel reveals the righteousness of God from faith... to FAITH! You receive
the righteousness of God... BY FAITH! Those that have received the
righteousness of God are now to live... BY FAITH! Are we now resting in the
righteousness we have received from God, as a child of God... BY FAITH?
Scripture is as clear as the noon day sun after a good rain, that NO ONE will ever
be declared righteous in God's sight through obedience to the Law of God. So,
God, in His Grace and Mercy, did for us what we could not do for ourselves. He
imputed to us His righteousness by coming to live in us!
"It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom
from God - that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption (1Corinthians
1:30). As a result? We stand in His presence totally and eternally loved and
accepted.
Praise the Name of The Lord, Jesus Christ!

In Christ, you are REDEEMED!
Questions Answered
As children have walked out the door for an evening of fun, parents have been
known to say, "Remember who you belong to." Perhaps the parents were hoping
that the knowledge of who you were and to whom you belonged would influence
your decision-making process, should you be tempted with the ways of this awful
world.
I think too, that through our identity in Christ, God reminds us "who we belong
to". As children of God, we have been redeemed. Now I don't know about you, but
my understanding of exactly what it means to be redeemed used to be somewhat
fuzzy. To "redeem" someone literally means to "buy back", then to "set free".
There is a famous story of how a man once saw a slave on the open market. The
bids were quite high for this particular slave because he was very physically fit,
able to do the work of two men supposedly. But also, this man's wife and child
were for sale as slaves. During the slave trade, families were frequently split up at
auctions, as it was rare the whole family would be purchased by the same owner...
However, in this particular case, this man out-bid all others at this particular
auction and gained the deed to the slave. This particular man also out bid the
crowd on the slave’s wife and child. For all practical purposes, he had deed to a
male slave, the slave's wife, and the slave's child.
Upon completing payment, the slave owner stood with deeds of parchment in
hand, and his slaves before him. As the owner looked into the eyes of this family,
he then took ink in hand and did what he had intended to do all along... He
signed the "deeds" of ownership, accompanied by a signed statement that the
persons in these deeds were now "set free" by the owner.
You see, if a slave owner wished it so, he could set his slaves free... totally free...
and this action was irrevocable . No one else was allowed to legally enslave these
people again once the owner had set them free.
The owner of the slaves then handed his signed and sealed documents of freedom
to each of the three in the family. Looking into the eyes of the male slave, he
simply said, "You are now free." ...
Try if you can, to imagine a man who's entire family was caught up in a society
that endorsed human slavery... and try to imagine what happened within the
heart of the "used-to-be-slave" when suddenly and quite unexpectedly he realized
he AND his family were free... What do you think the ex-slave felt toward the man
that had just paid quite a high price for his entire family, then without any
personal benefit from them what-so-ever, he just "gave them away" to freedom?
This is a true story. And the man that purchased the slaves was quite a famous
man... that ended up having quite the key role in freeing ALL slaves in the United
States of America... His name was Abraham Lincoln.
The Incomparable Christ
"For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the

kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness
of sins." - Colossians 1:13-14
What a powerful, loving statement in the Word of God! We have been "rescued"
from the dominion of darkness by Christ, Himself! We have now been transferred
out of darkness, INTO the KINGDOM of God's Son, Jesus Christ! In THIS
Kingdom, we have redemption, which is the forgiveness of sins! According to this
scripture? We ALREADY have redemption! We have been "bought back"! It's
DONE! We are FREE from DARKNESS!
How does that make you feel? Toward the One who "bought you back" from
darkness, then "set you free"?
"But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a
woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under
the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons." - Galatians 4:4-5
Here we are told that God sent His Son Jesus into the world to redeem (buy back)
those that were under the Law (you and I). Jesus did this for us so that we would
receive "full rights" as children of God. Why is it important that we fully
understand this? The list is almost endless, but to start, it is so we can rest
assured of just who we are in Christ that we may have the peace of heart,
boldness in spirit to deal with the flesh that resides within us all, and
perseverance to endure this spiteful world. We are supposed to understand that
we are now free to "live by the spirit" (which has eternal life by the power of
Christ), despite this flesh that will one day die and pass away. But, even though it
will remain with us for a little while (our flesh), it is, can, and will be dominated
by the Holy Spirit that now resides in us as born again Christians! Will we ever be
"perfect" in this flesh? Probably not... But there will most definitely be "major
changes" and it (our flesh) will be more and more subdued as we "mature" in the
power of the "Spirit of God"! Glory! How absolutely INCREDIBLE!
"The Robe and The Ring"
"But when he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men
have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! 'I will get up
and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven,
and in your sight;
I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired

men."'
"So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his
father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and
kissed him.
"And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your
sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'"
"But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on
him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened
calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has
come to life again; he was lost and has been found.' And they began to
celebrate." - Luke 15:17-24
In the story of the prodigal son, the son took his inheritance and squandered the
wealth on the ways of this world. After he squandered the money, he came to a
place to where he found himself eating with the pigs. In reference to the verses
above, what can we conclude in how the son felt about his relationship with his
father? Well? Scripture plainly says his thoughts were that he had so greatly
sinned against heaven and in the sight of his father, that he thought himself no
longer worthy to be called his son... And you know what? He was right. He wasn't
"worthy" enough! Now the son simply desired to be as one of his father’s
servants.
But? As was the case, the father had something totally different in his heart. In
the heart of the father was celebration because a son that had been lost was now
found. Did the father feel as if the son was no longer "worthy" to be his son? The
fact that the best robe and the ring was fetched for the son, was symbolic of all
rights of son-ship being restored to the son... You see, it wasn't up to the son, but
the father as to whether or not the son would remain his son!
With all that is within me, I must conclude that our heavenly Father feels the
same way about us IF our heart was ever given to Him in earnest. Even though
we may, for this reason or that, go off and sin and/or to do our own things, from
God's vantage point, does this make us slaves again, or are we still His
sons/daughters? Scripture tells us that NOTHING can separate us from the love
of God! How extraordinary!
When you sin (notice I said, 'when'), do you sometimes feel exactly the way the
prodigal son did -- that you are no longer worthy to be called God's
son/daughter? If you're anything the way I was, you may fall prey to that self-
condemnation, not fully realizing that it is up to GOD to determine such a thing...
And that He has told us what His determination is already concerning His
children!
God redeemed us so we would have full rights as His sons and

daughters. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance for us to fully
understand that we HAVE BEEN redeemed!
As I have said many times, in many different places, for twelve years in my walk
with God, I had mis-understood my salvation. I had adopted the attitude that, "If
I make it to heaven God? That will be fantastic! But if I don't, I'm going to do for
You what I can anyway." That was the best I could do. You see, I had thought
myself no more than a "hired man". But God? He finally showed me that
He stood before me with the best robe! He stood before me with the ring!
Undeservedly, I accepted the robe and the ring that only HE could offer me... I
have never gotten over that, and I'm quite sure I never will... That totally
overwhelms me in my flesh every time I dwell and meditate on it... What a loving
God we serve!
Where are you in your understanding? Do you think yourself a "hired

man/woman" of God? Or are you ready to wear "The Robe and the
Ring?"
"What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it
never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as
slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of
sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But
thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from
the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having
been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness." - Romans 6:15-
18
There is constant criticism concerning the teaching of Grace and our truthful
identity in Christ is that it gives a "license to sin". As a fellow I know would say,
"We don't need a license to sin. We did that just fine without one." But? I do
suppose it is a valid question. I remember asking it myself before I understood
God's Grace.
And so it must have been even in Paul's time. You see, the Jews, steeped in the
Law of God asked the same questions. Paul's reply was clear and very concise:
"By no means!" To further elaborate , Paul used the idea of slavery so everyone
could visualize in their minds what should be going on in the heart of the
recipient of God's Grace.
In this explanation, Paul makes some interesting points concerning "slavery".

First, you "offer" yourself to someone to "obey" him as if a slave. In this particular
case, we have two clear choices as to who will enslave us, which would be slavery
to sin which would ultimately lead to death, or slavery to "obedience" (unto Jesus
Christ, of which Jesus only had two commandments) which leads to
righteousness (the righteousness that can only be seen through the blood of
Jesus and enabled by our acceptance of the Life Jesus demonstrated for us
through His Resurrection).
We all know that when we were lost, we were definitely "slaves to sin". No rocket
science there is there my friends? But by "obeying the gospels", what have we
willingly become slaves to? That's right... The "Righteousness" (Jesus Christ)
mentioned above. We can also thank God for The Holy Spirit, for without Him,
subduing the flesh would be a total impossibility and neither could our minds be
"renewed".
What Paul describes here and in many other places in the New Testament is
"freedom". This freedom, as has been described elsewhere is a total freedom. But,
as is always the "context" of the Gospel (Good News), anytime freedom is
mentioned describing the born again believer in Christ, it is ALWAYS A
REFERENCE TO FREEDOM FROM SIN! Some of us have been blessed with
the understanding that spiritually we have been freed from sin entirely, and this
was what Jesus dealt with over 2000 years ago to "prepare" us for salvation.
Jesus has already paid the price for every sin in all the world, in all time frames,
forever! IT (dealing with sin) Is Finished!
But in the here and now? In this flesh? Evidence of this is a gradual physical
process of which the physical manifestations become more and more evident as
our minds and hearts grow in the "renewal" process... Our flesh is actually
becoming more and more "subdued" by the Holy Spirit as we choose to be more
and more "obedient" to the will of God in our character. Since we have been "set
free" (freedom) from the law of "sin and death" it wouldn't make a bit of sense to
return to a lifestyle of sin would it? Truly, when we really realize the Truth about
our redemption in Christ, we can then realize that by faith we simply do not have
to participate in sin any longer the way we did before. Before we were born again,
we had no real choice according to our nature... Now? It's quite different, praise
God! We are literally free in our spirit NOT to sin!
So? Spiritually, freedom from sin is a matter of history for the born again.
Physically? It is an ongoing process made possible only through our willingness
to obey God, and that is only possible through the ministry of the Holy Spirit
within us all... Physical obedience to the ministry of the Holy Spirit promotes
what is described as "living by the Spirit"! Amen!
"Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but
the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body
is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that
you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore
glorify God in your body." - 1 Corinthians 6:18-20
In the previous segment we discussed Paul's address to what was going on in the
Corinthian church at the time, which namely was an "abuse of God's Grace". The
Corinthian church mis-understood their new-found "freedom" in Christ. Their
flesh grabbed hold of the idea that "Now we can do as we please without fear of
judgment from God!" (my paraphrase). Paul sought to address this error in
understanding, thus, the scripture above is one instance where Paul attempts to
explain to us what our basic "motivation" should be in our hearts and minds so
our flesh will be properly directed (subdued) by the Holy Spirit. He does this by
explaining some very important facts about the changes that should occur within
the born again believer.
In this particular instance, the issue of promiscuous sex within the church is
being addressed because it was literally rampant within the Corinthian church at
that time (*Oh how horrible! That wouldn't be possible today among believers
would it?). But the basics that explain the Truth of Grace not only sheds light on
this error in understanding of sex, but also lays the foundation of the believers
"motivation by Grace" which enables our freedom "NOT" to abide in sin!
Paul starts by making a distinction between sexual sin and all other sins, in that
sexual sin is against the body, where as all other sin is outside the body. Paul
implies this should be especially despicable to us as born again believers because
we sin against the "temple" of the Holy Spirit, which "lives" in... US!
He also teaches us that "our bodies are not our own"... In all things this is true,
not only in the arena of sexual sin. Then Paul goes even deeper into our
understanding to explain "we are not our own" because "we have been bought
with a price"! Friends? What "price" was that? What was the only thing valuable
enough to "purchase you" from the kingdom of eternal darkness? How absolutely
incredible that God's Son, Jesus... God Himself would shed His own blood to buy
us back...
Now how does that make us "feel" in our hearts? Has it been said so much, by so
many people, for such a long time , that we no longer have a "debt of
appreciation" of what God did? Ok... So we're imperfect... But we have God's
Grace... All things are lawful, right?
" I have this feeling of being fed up with a great many things in this world. I'm
tired of how I'm treated. There are even a few types of people I hate, and others I
hate what they do. I'm that way, and I'm free to do so!"
True enough, all things are lawful to the born again believer. Freedom wouldn't
be freedom if God's Law remained in judgment of any part of our lives... But the
"Law of The Spirit" also says, "not all things are profitable" to the character,
integrity and purpose of God which is inside each and every one of us through the
ministry of The Holy Spirit (of Whom we now belong)!
So? Clutch all your imperfections that you have come to treasure! Hold them as
tightly as you can in both arms! Then walk into the shadow of the cross and look
into the eyes of Jesus and see if His Grace allows that you should keep them for a
lifetime... Search the heart of God... then search yours... Do you possess a "debt of
gratitude" for the Sacrifice made on your behalf so that you can now know what it
is to "LIVE" and eternal life made available to You through Jesus, expressed to us
through His glorious resurrection?
"So? Clutch all your imperfections that you have come to treasure!
Hold them as tightly as you can in both arms! Then walk into the
shadow of the cross and look into the eyes of Jesus and see if His
Grace allows that you should keep them for a lifetime..."
That is what Paul was trying to tell us... He was trying to tell us this in hopes that
we could tap into the Holy Spirit within us that is more than able to enable us to
"Glorify God in our bodies"... Amen & Amen
But that's not nearly all:
"Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our
hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave, but
a son; and if a son, then an heir through God." - Galatians 4:6-7
My God! I cannot find the words to adequately express the power and the love
God has for us that He would not only save us, but He would actually "send forth
the SPIRIT OF HIS SON" into our hearts! Friends? How can we have JESUS
living and breathing inside of us and hold our bibles in one hand and our hate
and/or disdain for others in the other? How can we read and study the things of
God and sneak out the house for a sexual encounter with someone besides our
mate? How can we hold our bibles in one hand and hold ANY sin in the other
hand? As ugly a thing as it is to admit, the way we do this is with the flesh. And
THAT is exactly what we are to engage in battle with the Holy Spirit at our stead!
We can make headway in defeating and subduing our flesh through the Spirit of
God's Son that lives within us! Spiritually that battle has already been won... But
in this flesh? Well, stand in the shadow of the cross and see what the Spirit of
Jesus has to say to you, huh?
But we also need to know that God knew of everything we would be through
Him? And He also knew everything we would not be and He has delivered us
through it all if we are truly born again... Can you imagine? We are no longer
slaves to sin... We have been given the gift of Son ship. We have been made sons
and daughters of God! We are an "heir"! You know "heirs" inherit things... And
our ultimate inheritance is eternal life as sons and daughters of God!
If the Truth of these scriptures doesn't stir an "undying debt of gratitude" within
you my friends, I would take a serious look at myself, for there is something
terribly wrong with our condition... It will be up to you and God to find your
motivations by Grace in all things...
Knowing we have been bought by the precious blood of Jesus and having been set
free from the law of sin and death enables us to fully enjoy the "riches of God's
love and Grace" with a heart free of all malice and immorality, despite any
momentary lapses we may have in this learning process. In light of the fact that,
despite all the obstacles Satan would have you think exists, you have totally been
"redeemed", it just wouldn't make any sense what-so-ever to go back to our lives
of bondage!
Glory To God! All praise belongs to Him! All honor! All Glory! Thank
You Jesus for Who you are to us... Our Savior, our Teacher, our
Grace... our Motivation! Amen & Amen!
You Are Sanctified!
Questions Answered
To be sanctified means to be "set apart" or to be "made Holy". As a child of God,

you have been made 100% Holy by and ONLY by the blood of Jesus. Despite
differences of opinion, the Bible clearly tells us that holiness is not something we
can attain by our own good works. Like salvation, holiness is a free gift that is
given to all who put the faith in Christ Jesus.
"...yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to
present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach--" - Colossians
1:22
Here's some foundational Truth concerning our identity in Christ. CHRIST...

notice God's Word says "CHRIST" reconciled us to God through His physical
death. As a result of ONLY this action by Jesus, we are now seen as a "Holy"
person! We will NEVER again be condemned by God because we are forever now
seen as "holy, blameless, and BEYOND REPROACH!" Glory! Is it starting to
dawn on you yet just how magnificent the work of Christ toward us as Savior
really is? Glory to His Name!
"...who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in
Christ Jesus from all eternity..." - 2 Timothy 1:9
This passage of scripture is perfectly clear. We ARE called to a "Holy" life. But are
we Holy because of ANYTHING we have done? Not according to scripture, which
means the Truth of the matter is, our holiness cannot ever come from our actions,
but our holiness is ALWAYS provided ONLY by God's purpose for us, and
God's Grace, which is in and through Jesus Christ!
The "reason" we are made Holy is for God's own purpose. You know what
that is? God wanted to save us from an eternity in hell! God wants us to be with
HIM forever! God wants to USE us in what time we have left! THAT'S God own
purpose! Amen & Amen! And God provided this even before the beginning of
time (eternity)... That kind of tells us we've never caught Him by surprise doesn't
it? I know it's impossible for us to understand "how" God knows all this, but
through faith? We "know" it never-the-less. Glory to our Father! What a
God!
So... Could "we" ever have anything to boast about concerning our "holiness?"
Could we EVER live in such a way as to be considered "holy" by our own doing?
No rocket science to it... Absolutely not! But what we will experience is our flesh
being more and more "subdued" by the Holy Spirit of God, bringing even surprise
to ourselves sometimes. We will grow in the character of Christ... We will
mature... We will go from m ilk to the meat... Our minds and hearts will be
continually transformed... And the speed at which this will occur will depend
greatly on your desire to "submit" yourself to God's Instruction... THAT is "living
by the Spirit"! What a glorious process to behold... a treasure beyond compare...
an honor... An Honor to participate as a child of God! Thank You Jesus!
"By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all." - Hebrews 10:10
Oh... My... GOD! No, I'm not using the Lord's Name in vain here! Folks? Can
you see the Good News all over this scripture? The sheer POWER of the totality of
Christ's Work toward us is incredible! For many, it's unbelievable (sadly)...
Friends? There is enough power in this one verse to alter your life forever if you'll
just hear what has been said!
We... are ...made ... HOLY through the sacrifice of the Body of Jesus Christ...
ONCE AND FOR ALL! Precious Lord! Could that one statement be perfectly
true?!!? Think about something please... What does, "Once and FOR ALL" mean
to you? To me? It says that our "holiness" has been provided by Jesus Christ from
now on, without end! ... Forever! It is FINISHED! This kind of suggests our
"holiness is COMPLETE" doesn't it? Ummm... YEAH!
Now one more question: "Is there anything you as a man or a woman can do that
would overpower what Jesus did here for our holiness?" Are you more powerful
than God? Can you change the "once and for all" part with any human element in
your possession? Well friends. Some may think they can, but I rest in knowing
that what God hath put together, no man shall separate! Amen! Romans 6:10,
Hebrews 7:27, Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 10:10, 1 Peter 3:18, Jude 1:3,
Jude 1:5 ! ...and Amen!
Friends and family? In light of all these "once and for alls" and all the other Truth
in Scripture presented up to this point, are you willingly ready to continue to
present your teaching of mis-understanding of that one verse that would put
God's people back on that "performance treadmill" that is ever-so-similar to the
one the Jews trod on before the Messiah ever came to us? If so? Shame on you.
Shame on you indeed! That may be strong verbiage, but not nearly as strong as
what the Bible says. The Word of God says that "to anyone, man or angel,
that would teach a different gospel, may he be accursed!"
"But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel
contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we
have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel
contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! For am I now seeking the
favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to
please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ." - Galatians 1:8-10
Like I said... Strong verbage... But this is an important topic.
"For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one
Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren..." - Hebrews
2:11
Look at this scripture for a moment please. What family is referred to here? The
family of God. How can Jesus be called our "Brother"? Because He (Jesus) who
sanctifies, and those who are sanctified (you and I) are all from one Father. If we
are part of the same family with Jesus and Jesus is our Brother, how should this
affect our relationship(s) with other believers? Should we not all consider
ourselves all of the same family? If it relies ONLY on what Jesus has done for us
(provided our sanctification), are we not of the same family? Friends? Yes we are.
That Truth cannot be changed whether we believe it or not, understand it or not,
dis-agree with it or not... It doesn't matter... Truth says we are ALL, as believers,
in the same family of God!
"To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in
Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:" - 1Corinthians 1:2
The Corinthian church as you may know, had many problems. Paul wrote 1st and
2nd Corinthians to address these problems. One of the major concerns of Paul
was the sexual immorality that was being tolerated. Despite the severe
immorality that was going on within the Corinthian church, Paul still identifies
them in his address by "those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy".
Now that's a far cry from how most churches would approach things such as that
today, huh?
Despite being acutely aware of the conditions of extreme immorality within the
Christian Church at Corinth, Paul still reinforces the fact that they "ARE
SANCTIFIED IN CHRIST and called to be Holy!" Now to back step just a
second, what were they called to be? That's right. HOLY! Let's ponder something
for a second... According to this scripture, what do ALL of us that have called on
the name of Jesus have in common? Without doubt, the commonality is, we are
ALL in the family of God! I don't know about you all folks, but I myself will never
get over this. I mean, I enjoy this life as much as the next person, but it pales
ever-so-much knowing that when this is all over (I die and leave this earth) that I
have an eternity to look forward to that is so wonderful it can't enter the mind of
man (and we have some pretty smart people on this earth)!
Realizing within your mind and heart that you ARE holy, not that you must
"work" for the status, should begin to totally transform your life... IF it is
important to you at all... I mean, isn't it wonderful to know that Jesus has already
done what many men teach you have to attain on your own? Your Holiness?
Taken care of? THAT'S part of what man should mean when he speaks of man's
Saviour, Jesus Christ! Amen!
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave
Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her
by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the
church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but
that she would be holy and blameless." - Ephesians 5:25-27
Here, the Bible says Christ gave Himself for us as an act of love. That's amazing in
itself, but here's what many in the world fail to understand: The RESULT of this
action is what makes us holy! When Christ died for us on the cross and was raised
from the dead into life, the avenue to be made holy was provided right then and
there! All that was then needed is for us to accept It! That’s where our holiness
lies folks! In the works of CHRIST! Not the works of Wade! Not the works of
Granny! Not the works of Matt! Our holiness does NOT rely on the works of man
in ANY fashion! It's ALL JESUS! People have been wondering for years what I
mean when I say, "It's all about Jesus." This expose', when concluded, will
explain just what I was saying... And yes, it really is that simple!
Look at some of the adjectives used in this passage describing US, the people that
have been born again in Christ! In this scripture alone:
• HOLY
• RADIANT
• CLEANSED
• WITHOUT STAIN, WRINKLE, OR ANY OTHER BLEMISH
• BLAMELESS
Please examine this list and ask yourself is it possible that YOU, through all your
works, could EVER achieve this? If you're honest with yourself, and according to
God, the answer is, "No". And that goes for each and every one of us! But in
reading this scripture, isn't it wonderful to realize that CHRIST has done it for
you? Amen! Yes it is! It will transform your mind, and thus your life if you let it!
Imagine a life where you no longer have to worry about "measuring up" to the
standards of holiness (perfection) through the various performances on the
various treadmills "religion" would seek to impose on you! Glory to God! Now
THAT is DELIVERANCE! Amen!
So. If GOD sees us this way, would it be presumptuous to see ourselves in the
same way? Absolutely not! As a matter of fact, God WANTS you to realize this!
He WANTS you to understand what JESUS did for you! I am quite sure it breaks
His heart to see His children unknowingly sell Jesus short of what He
accomplished! Also, by fully realizing what Jesus has done for us, we no longer
will waste time in a vicious circle trying to obtain what we've already been given...
Holiness! THEN, we can move continually forward in the ministry God intended
for us all!
"Also, by fully realizing what Jesus has done for us, we no longer will
waste time in a vicious circle trying to obtain what we've already
been given... Holiness! THEN, we can move continually forward in
the ministry God intended for us all!"
Folks? This whole expose' is so we can all discover within ourselves a wonderful,
life-changing Truth that is thousands of years old in relation to our physical
reality, but It is timeless Truth in eternity. Please give this entire series it's due, in
that you'll save it, re-read it, take your time in study of this Truth about your
salvation if you have been truly saved by Jesus...
"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor
effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor
revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you;
but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God." - 1Corinthians 6:9-11
Scriptures such as these frequently throw people for loops in their understanding
of their future because they do not know for certain what scripture reveals about
our "New Identity in Christ". Here is why:
According to these verses, who will not inherit the Kingdom of God? You can go
through the list. It's a long one isn't it? Now, do you see yourself "in the flesh"
anywhere in there? I do. The Corinthians most certainly could... To be brutally
honest? You should be able to see yourself in there too. Scary? You bet! Had it not
been for our Savior, we wouldn't stand a chance. The reason I say that is, notice
what Paul also says about our identity. After all, the Corinthians and us... we have
a lot in common don't we? Maybe our flesh is much more subdued to the things
of Christ than these Corinthians were, but we're still far from perfection aren't
we?
In the same breath, Paul told the Corinthians that all those evil things is what
they "were" (past tense). Now it may strike many of you as strange, as it first did
me, that Paul would say these Corinthians were no longer unrighteous in their
fornications, their idolatry, adulteries, their "girly-man" actions, homosexuality,
thieving, covetousness, drunkenness, reviling, swindling etc., etc., etc. . Now
were these Corinthians still participating in this stuff? This
perversion? Yes they were! Yet their "Identity In Christ" is secure!
They are born again! They are saved! Hey... Don't get upset with me... It's
the Bible that says it, not me.
Now that most of you are really upset, let's shed some light on a few other things,
shall we? Now what has just been described here? "A license to sin!" you might
say... Well? Let's see what else Paul had to say. You see, we fail to understand
much of what the Bible has to offer us because we don't take the time nor put in
the effort to grasp it in it's entirety! Too many times we stop short in our studies
and miss the main points of many a conversation in the Bible! Let's not do that
here. Let's get it all... We need to. We need to understand our Identity in Christ
before we can clearly understand anything else in the proper perspective, which is
"God's Perspective"!
"Too many times we stop short in our studies and miss the main
points of many a conversation in the Bible! Let's not do that here. Let's
get it all... We need to. We need to understand our Identity in Christ
before we can clearly understand anything else in the proper
perspective, which is 'God's Perspective'!"
"He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with
his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one
who has need." - Ephesians 4:28
Ok. Take a look at this Scripture, please. What is God's response to a child of God
who has stolen? Well? ... ... . He instructs us we must steal no longer, but work, so
we will have even something to share with others! Does he call such a person a
thief? Noooo! He couldn't call us a thief, as that would contradict who we are,
which is a person inherent to the Kingdom of God! But let's not lose sight of why
we are Saints... It's was only by our acceptance of Jesus Christ, and Jesus being
who He is that enables that!
Again, what does God tell us to do if we have been stealing? He tells us plainly to
"steal no longer". God says, "Work!, so you can GIVE!" God clearly teaches
us that He wants us to bear fruit, and we must realize we CAN bear the fruit if
we'll learn of God and His ways, and humble ourselves to the authority of The
Holy Spirit inside us. For if the Holy Spirit is inside you, He will let you know
when you do wrong, and He will want you to "change your ways" (repent)! So?
Why fight it? Why be miserable? REPENT! And experience the blessings of God
through the fruits that will come forth through you as God's Tool! Amen!
Now don't you find it odd God doesn't say, "Get on your knees straight away and
beg Me for My forgiveness!" ??? It might surprise you to know the Bible never tell
us anywhere in it's text for us to beg for forgiveness. Why should you beg for
something that was given over 2000 years ago? The knowledge of this fact is
more than clearly displayed in Jesus Himself when he made the statement in
John 3:18, that "sin" is "unbelief in Jesus!" There was many a call unto the Lord
to restore the "Joy" of salvation, but never was there a call to restore "salvation".
Rather than a standard to be lived up to, the holiness of God is a gift that has
been given to all who believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ. As we have clearly seen,
whether or not we want to humble ourselves to it, we are sanctified ONLY
through our faith in Jesus Christ, NOT by our "good works"! Therefore, our
"identity" is based on what HE has done rather than what "we" do! And I for one
am dog gone glad of it!
God does not "need" us to carry out His work in this world. Yet, in His
sovereignty, He has "chosen" to "use" us. Through sanctification, He has "set us
apart" for that purpose. We are a VERY PRIVILEGED people, knowing that God,
at any time, can and will use us to share His Life and Love to those around us.
Is it starting to mean a little more now when you say, "Glory to You Father God!
You alone are WORTHY!" ??? Amen & Amen!
You Are Found "Not Guilty" In Christ!
Questions Answered
To be "justified" means to be "made right" with God... To be found "Not Guilty!"

by the Good and Perfect Judge, God Himself! You see, every good judge must
seek justice for all wrong doing. God is no different. Sin demands punishment.
God MUST punish sin.
Our identity before coming to Christ was that of a sinner. As it says in Ephesians
2:3, "We were by nature objects of wrath." Having being born into sin, we were
cut off from the life of God. However, through the death, burial, and resurrection
of Jesus Christ, we have been brought back into a "right relationship" with God.
Because Jesus took all our sin, paid the price for it on the cross (our preparation
unto salvation), and GAVE us HIS righteousness, we can now stand "justified"
(found not guilty) before God!
Let's ask ourselves a few questions that requires a little honesty here if you don't
mind.
• Have we ever looked upon a person with lust? I'll admit I have. So?
According to God's Law, what does that make me? An adulterer.
• Have we ever stolen anything? I have. So what am I? A thief.
• Has anything ever been more important to me than God? There have
been times in my life when God was last on my list. What does that make me? An
idolater.
• Have we ever told a lie, no matter how "small" the lie? I'm guilty again.
So what does that make me? A liar.
Ok. I'll stop there. No need to go any further... No matter what "your" answers
were, if you find yourself guilty of any ONE of God's Laws, the bible says you are
guilty of breaking them all!
So by my own admission, I'm an adulterer, a thief, and idolater, and a liar.
Now let's say I stood before God for judgment. I know God is a loving, caring and
forgiving God, and I am very, VERY sorry for what I've done. I'm so sorry for
what I've done, I'm ready to promise never to do it again, and mean it!
So when I get before the Judge, I say, "Your Honor? I am guilty of all these
things. I do not deny that. But I am very sorry for what I've done. Please forgive
me. I promise I will NEVER do them again!". The Judge hears your plea, but
being a good Judge, he cannot let your wrong doing go unpunished. There must
be a sentence of punishment.
"You should be sorry for what you've done." the Judge says. "The price that must
be paid for your transgressions... is death." Standing in the wake of your
judgement, what will you do now?
Right then and there, in walks Someone that petitions the Judge on your behalf.
"Your Honor? My name is Jesus. I take all the blame for the list of transgressions
before you. I will give all that is required by the Law in order to pay the penalty in
full." He then pays the price for your sin, satisfying the requirements of a perfect
Law, and a Righteous Judge.
"Very well." says the Judge. "(your name here)? Another has come forth and
accepted the blame for these sins and paid the price for them. This Judge finds
you not guilty. You are free to go." As you hear what has happened, and as the
price is paid for your sin... How would that make you feel? How do you feel
toward the One that accepted your blame as His own and paid your price? Folks?
If that doesn't bring you to your knees in love and adoration for Christ, then you
are totally missing the point, and quite honestly, you need to re-evaluate your
situation, as it may well be you just "think" you're saved... If this doesn't move
you with great compassion and appreciation, most likely you are not saved at all.
But wait? He paid the price... You're free to go... But where?
Through the first Adam's sin, mankind was left spiritually separated from God.
Mankind inherited a "sin" nature, which guarantees you to be nothing more than
a sinner. So? Two things had to be done in order for us to be saved... First we had
to be justified before God. Jesus did that on the cross of Calvary. He took the
blame for the sin of the world... every sin... and then He paid the Price for that
sin... with His life's blood. Sadly, that's where the message of salvation stops in
many pulpits across this globe. How sad, because it is an incomplete message.
The price Jesus paid for our sin was our "preparation" for salvation... not
salvation itself, because we are still spiritually "dead" so to speak, though our sin
has been justified. Do you understand what I'm saying? Before the cross, we
were two things: Sinners and dead. After the cross we are only one
thing: Dead.
You see? Being "sorry" for what you've done and "doing good" from
here on out, and begging for forgiveness isn't good enough to get
salvation because even though the fine has been paid, you are still "dead".
That is NOT salvation. You still need "LIFE"... You/WE still need LIFE!
"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be
saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies
we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more,
having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this,
but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we
have now received the reconciliation." - Romans 5:8-11
Salvation can come only through the One that can give you life, as well
as pay your fine. In the scripture above, three specific things are mentioned,
each different from the other: (1) "Justification" by the sacrifice of Jesus; being
(2) "Saved" by Jesus, and both of them together (justification and being saved)
equals (3) "reconcilement" unto God through Jesus!
Jesus paid your fine over 2000 years ago, preparing us for salvation. The price
Jesus paid for you can only be accounted on your behalf if Jesus "knows" you.
And the only way He will "know" you is for you to invite Him into your heart and
life, seeking and accepting the "life" He gives, demonstrated in His Resurrection
from the Grave! You see, even if your sin has been paid for, you still need
life! You STILL need LIFE! Jesus said only HE is "the Way, the Truth, and
the Life!", John 14:6 .
So in short? Salvation is accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, believing
that He is the Son of God who died in payment for your sin (in fact, the sin of the
"whole world" - EVERY sin) and THAT HIS payment was the ONLY payment that
could pay such a price, and that He (Jesus) was resurrected unto life eternal and
that He gives this life to all that seek (life) and accept HIM, of which
personal repentance for who you are/were (a sinner) is a part of that
acceptance of Christ! You cannot turn to Christ, without turning away from
your old self. Seeking and receiving "LIFE” in Christ"? Now THAT'S
salvation!
If you will? Please drive a stake right here and let this premise of what salvation
really is be a backdrop for what we are about to study and realize in scripture. I
can promise you, you just may find inspiration to spend the rest of your life in
this Word of God... It is quite remarkable!
To be justified means to be made right with God. Our identity before coming to
Christ was that of a sinner - we were objects of wrath according to Ephesians 2:3.
Having been born into sin, we were cut off from the life of God. However, through
the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have been "brought back"
into a right relationship with God! Because Jesus took all of our sin and gave us
HIS righteousness, we stand justified before God! What an incredible Savior we
have in Jesus! Amen!
Romans 5:18, "So then as through one transgression there resulted

condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there
resulted justification of life to all men."
What was the result of one man's sin according to the scripture above? Plainly It
says condemnation for all men (and women) was the result of one man's sin. It
affects everyone. No one is left out.
On the flip-side of that, what was the result of one act of righteousness? Again,
very plainly, scripture says "justification that brings life to all men (and women)"
was the result of Jesus' sacrifice for us all! How many people did it affect?
Everyone!
Jesus was the only One that could perform this one act of righteousness. No one
else was worthy. Through His Gift to us (the whole world), our sin has been
justified. We, as born again believers, have been made "right" with God, by
accepting Jesus' Gift (HIS Righteousness) to be counted on our behalf!
Titus 3:7, " ...so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs
according to the hope of eternal life. "
We have been justified by Grace, through faith (Ephesians 2:7-9). Once we

become justified, we become "HEIRS WITH CHRIST!" Is that not amazing?
Being an heir with Christ means we share in all things Christ has! How
overwhelming to the human mind! And according to the scripture above, what is
our hope my friends? What do we have to look forward to in the sharing of all
this? It is eternal life! Amen! Eternal life! What a wonderful Savior we have in
Jesus my friends and family! For through HIM all these things are possible!
Without Him, we couldn't even dream of this!
Now there are those among us that would say I'm preaching universal
salvation here. Well? Am I? Go back and re-read Romans 5:18... Doesn't it say
that one act of righteousness justified "ALL" men? Dear friends? ... If the
sacrifice of Jesus alone is salvation, then truly Romans 5:18 would tell
us that everyone is already saved. The doctrine of universal salvation
would be true! No ifs, ands, or buts. This is where I'd like to drive an
uncomfortable reality for many people home, for many are taught in error: Jesus'
sacrifice on the cross for the sin of the world (every sin that has been, or ever will
be committed) alone is not salvation. It was our "preparation" for salvation.
Through Jesus' work on the cross, salvation was made possible, in that the
penalty for the sin of the world was paid.
"If the sacrifice of Jesus alone is salvation, then truly Romans 5:18 would tell us
that everyone is already saved. The doctrine of universal salvation would be
true!"
But? As I hope we all come to understand, the Sacrifice for sin in itself is not the
complete process to obtain salvation. We must also repent (Luke 13:3), believe in
Jesus (John 3:15-16), and realize that JESUS ONLY offers us LIFE, to which we
must receive ( Romans 5:16-18 ; Romans 6:23 ; Romans 8:11 ; 2 Corinthians 3:6 ;
Colossians 3:3-4 ; 1Timothy 6:13 ; James 1:12 ; Romans 5:8-11 ) ! Friends? THIS
is salvation! It includes loving Jesus, worshiping Jesus, adoring Jesus, wanting to
please Jesus, obeying Jesus as best we can, listening to Jesus, having a personal,
intimate relationship with Jesus, being committed to Jesus... ALL these things!
All this will happen within the heart of a person once they really and truly accept
Jesus into their hearts!
I can say that it was a very important thing to me when I realized I had eternal
life in Jesus. As a matter of fact, it shocked me to realize how important it was to
me. But friends? Beyond a shadow of a doubt, even if there were no such thing as
Heaven or Eternal Life in Christ... even if I knew I would never make it to
Heaven, I would still serve Jesus as best I can... simply because I love Him. I love
Jesus just for Who He is... Can we all say that same thing? The reason I ask is
because if the only reason we serve Jesus is for fire insurance, you may
unwittingly find out you never had that fire insurance. There is more to turning to
Jesus than just the insurance. In all reality? With Jesus, there is no such thing as
"insurance". But there is such a thing as "assurance"! Jesus assures us that we
will live forever with Him! Amen! How absolutely wonderful!
"There is more to turning to Jesus than just the insurance. In

all reality? With Jesus, there is no such thing as 'insurance'. But
there is such a thing as "assurance"!
Justification is a free gift to us as believers in Christ. I do hope we come to
understand just what it means to be a "believer". Justification is not based on our
abilities to observe the Law of God, though we will inevitably desire to do so (and
we will fail to be perfect in our best of efforts). Justification can only be received
by faith in what Christ did on our behalf.
" ...nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but
through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we
may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the
works of the Law no flesh will be justified. " - Galatians 2:16
This wonderful scripture clearly tells us that no man will be justified by observing
the Law. It also says that a person is justified ONLY through our faith in Jesus!
We can't be justified by observing the Law, because we can't keep the Law! Oh yes
friends. We want to... Some of us desperately want to because we love and adore
our Savior, Jesus... but in all our best efforts... we fall short... What a wonderful
Savior we have in that even through our imperfections, Jesus has saved us! HE
has saved us! We are saved! Glory to God! We are saved!
" You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law;
you have fallen from Grace. " - Galatians 5:4
Oh friends and family! Please listen here very closely... Please pray
and ask the Holy Spirit Himself to place the Truth of the scripture
above into your heart forever! Search this out for a Truth that will
forever change your life and set you free in Christ Jesus!
What is this scripture in Galatians 5:4 above telling us? It is telling us that if we
are trying to be justified by Law, then we have fallen away from Jesus ... in
essence been "alienated" from Christ! Oh my God! Enable us to understand!
When all this comes together in our hearts, minds and spirits, we should be able
to understand there is absolutely no way we can try to be justified by the Law
and, at the same time, rest in the fact that we have been justified by faith in Jesus
Christ!
For those of us within the body of Christ that mis-understand or have been taught
in error in that we try to be justified by the Law (our works), we very much need
to realize that the Bible says we have "fallen from Grace" (Jesus Christ)! You see?
That is how Jesus is there for us! That's why we call Him "Savior"! That's how He
has SAVED us! HE, and only HE (Jesus Christ) has given us of Himself (Grace)
!!!
"For those of us within the body of Christ that mis-understand or have been
taught in error in that we try to be justified by the Law (our works), we very much
need to realize that the Bible says we have "fallen from Grace" (Jesus Christ)!"
As plainly as the nose on our own faces, the Bible tells us here in Galatians 5:4
that when we try to mix Law and Grace (known as Galatianism) we have been
ALIENATED from Jesus Christ and have FALLEN from Grace (Jesus Christ)
!
Now I will leave that one point for you to ponder personally, but any way you look
at it, that is some pretty strong verbiage from the Bible! In the context of
Galatians 5:4 the term "fallen away" means to be alienated from God in terms of
personal relationship and quite possibly your salvation because you are not
relying on JESUS ONLY for your salvation, or you do not fully understand and
acknowledge everything Jesus has already did for you! Some of us think we must
continually hang and re-hang Jesus on that cross to get forgiveness of our sin,
like what He did for us wasn't good enough the first time, or that what He did did
not stand good for the sins of the future! What a horrible mis-understanding and
effective wile of the enemy, Satan! This mis-understanding only leads one around
in a never-ending circle that leaves us only able to chase our own tail... With this
understanding, you could never say, It's all Jesus!" Amen? Or "Oh me!"?
So, my friends... In light of the last two verses of scripture from the Holy Bible,
does the Law play any role in our justification? Absolutely not. The Law can only
serve to teach us we need a Saviour! Titus 2:11-14
"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ ..." - Romans 5:1
My dear fellow believers in Christ... Can you say this from the very depths of your
heart? Have you came to know Jesus in such a Way that He provides you an
unshakable peace? Is He your Rock in the most trying times? Have you came to
know that your salvation is HIS to keep and not YOURS to manipulate? Can you
trust Jesus enough to know that when you're mad enough, mixed up enough,
mis-taught enough, untaught enough that you don't know which way is up or
down that HE is able to hold onto your salvation? Can you see that HE has said
many times (in places we have yet not yet examined in this expose') that HE
ONLY can be trusted with your salvation and that HE is faithful even though we
are so unfaithful, despite our best (and even sometimes not-so-best) efforts?
Realizing Who Jesus is... What He is... What He has said... What He has
promised... THESE are the only things that will provide you with unwavering
peace, my friend. Despite popular belief, THIS is a peace that can be fully
understood by the children of God (Colossians 2:1-3). THIS understanding in
Truth will bring you total peace in that It will calm ANY storm in your heart!
Should still respect God? By all means, yes! If we don't hold a natural, heart
deep respect for Him... Friends? You don't have God within you at all. BUT... as a
believer in Christ, we don't have any reason to FEAR Him anymore, in the
context that we need be AFRAID of Him... In all that God has said He is to us,
and all that He has said we are to Him, what could we possibly have to be afraid
of? Only the lost have anything to be afraid of... And what they have at stake is
their eternal judgment as objects of wrath. Now THAT is something so terrible...
something to be afraid of... so horrible, I don’t think we can begin to wrap our
minds around it! How so very horrible it would be to spend an eternity in the
Lake of Fire! Oh God! Deliver all who hearkens unto Your voice in answer to Your
call~!
But... As children of God? Heirs to Jesus Christ Himself?
" (A)What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will
He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against
God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ
Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of
God, who also intercedes for us. " - Romans 8:31-34
Thank You my precious Lord Jesus... Isn't all this wonderful Truth from our own
treasured Holy Bible just exciting? Amen! Since we have been justified as born
again believers in Christ, we are told that, "God is for us!" Glory to God
only! Now if GOD is FOR us, it doesn't matter who or what is against us, does it?
NO! Glory to God only! Can anyone now accuse you? Only Satan will now try,
but even he will be ineffective! Glory to God only! Since God Himself has
declared us totally righteous, does it matter what Satan or anyone else says? No
one stands against God! It doesn't matter one iota!
"...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift
by His Grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;" - Romans
3:23-24
How many people have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God? Every one of
us! Every human being that has ever been, save Jesus Christ, Himself! According
to this blessed holy scripture, these same people are justified freely by His Grace
through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ! Glory to God alone! Only
Jesus Himself can offer this redemption, therefore the only glory to be had in all
this belongs to Jesus Christ! Glory to God alone! If each and every one of us
are justified in the very same way, this will definitely affect the way we see others,
will it not? There will be none any better than the other... no worse than any
other... all of us saved the very same way... through Christ ALONE! Glory to
God alone!
Friends? Being made right with God, or said another way, justified, not only
affects our relationship with God, but also our relationship with others. Your
right-standing before God "frees" you to enjoy that perfect fellowship with Him.
It is much easier to be at peace with man when you know you are at peace with
God. Amen & Amen.
I do hope and pray that each and everyone is taking Joy learning of who we are in
Christ. For me? There is an excitement lit within me that is unquenchable! I learn
daily of yet something else Jesus has provided for us. With every new horizon
reached in understanding, there lay yet another far-off horizon to reach! I am
fully convinced than when God tells us He is eternal, He was not only speaking of
time, He was speaking of His essence... I truly believe there to be no end to the
knowledge and wisdom of God...
I do hope you continue to journey with me in the expose', in that the next
topic I have planned in Part 10 is, "You Are A Part Of The Body Of
Christ"! Chances are there will be some things exposed you maybe didn't stop to
realize before. I know it has been an eye-opening adventure for me!
God bless you all as you take the time in prayer and study to discover more about
the overwhelming victory available to us in the Truth of God's Revelation!
God be with you all, and to God be the glory! Amen!

You Are Part Of The Body Of Christ! (Part 10)
Questions Answered
One thing I think I've recognized in every human being I've ever met, is a desire
in their heart to be a part of something, the desire to "fit" into some group. That
sense of belonging drives people to do such things as join country clubs, civic
clubs, college fraternities, sororities, gangs, the social elite... and even... churches.
As part of our inheritance and true identity in Christ, God meets our need to
belong... I think maybe it is this very need we search for all our lives in these
other things, but in denying God, we deny the one group our soul longs for.
Through our faith in Jesus Christ, we have been placed into the body of Christ!
The body of Christ is NOT and organization, but rather a "living organism" of
sorts, made up of people literally all around the world and throughout history,
who have named the name of Jesus Christ. Folks? My brothers and sisters? We
WILL be a part of that family, the body of Christ, throughout eternity! Isn't that
the most wonderful news a person could possibly get? Amen! Let's meditate on
this a bit:
"Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."
1 Corinthians 12:27
Ladies and gentlemen, in all things we either believe the Word of God, or we
don't. In this case, if you do believe, then you've got to understand that you ARE a
part of the body of Christ! I know in some ways this seems so fundamental that
it's barely worth mention, but in all reality? For those of us that have understood
the impact of this one statement, it has changed our lives forever! Do you really
understand that you are now "part" of the "body of CHRIST"? My Lord! How
absolutely incredible!
With this Truth as part of our reality of who we are in Christ, let me ask an
interesting question. What can we now conclude about our relationship
with "one another" as born again Christians and fellow members of
the body of Christ? Well I'll say this much. The black man better get
comfortable with worshiping with the white man. The white man better get
comfortable with worshiping with the black man. And both of them better get
comfortable with the red, yellow and green men and visa-versa, Amen??!! Would
it be right or normal for one hand to hate the other or be prejudiced in any way
toward the other hand of the same body? One mouth holding something against
the tongue? One foot harboring hateful feelings toward the other hand? Folks?
When we have any kind of problem with ANY other born again
Christian, whether they are Democrat, Republican or regardless of
gender or nationality, WE HAVE A PROBLEM WITH CHRIST! It is
HIS BODY we have the problems with. Correct? "Amen" or "Oh me!" ?
Now let me mention very quickly that the cause of these problems are generally
the result of either one person being interpreted wrongly by another because of
error in our own understanding, or? The other person wrongly interprets who or
what you are because of error in their understanding of Truth. Most times I
would say, both are occurring simultaneously. So? What is the common
denominator in either case? Error in understanding.
"The body is one unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all it's
parts are many. they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all
baptized with one spirit into one body - whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free -
and we were all given the one spirit to drink!" - 1 Corinthians 12:12-13
Here, Paul clearly describes the body as a unit. He points out that our physical
body has many parts and even though our body has many parts, they come
together to form "one body". Paul also clearly compares our physical bodies to the
body of Christ (the church). So how did you and I become a part of the body of
Christ? By our own faith (given by the Holy Spirit) and God's Grace (Jesus
Christ). So? Regardless of our nationality, our ancestry, our gender... We are ALL
"unified" by "the Holy Spirit".
Each of us comes to Christ on an individual basis. Regardless of background,

every person who places his/her faith in Jesus Christ is indwelt by the Holy Spirit
of God. Romans 8:9 says that if anyone does not have the Holy Spirit of God, he
does not belong to Christ. You cannot be a born again Christian apart from God's
Spirit living in you.
Once the Holy Spirit of God comes to live inside a person, the Holy Spirit places
that person into the body of Christ. We come to Christ on an individual basis, but
then we are joined to the body of Christ. As a result, we can say we "belong" to
Christ, AND we "belong to one another"! Friends? I can tell you, there is probably
no greater a gift from God in enduring this life on earth than this gift of each of
us, to one another, in the unity of the Holy Spirit of God.
"Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the
blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body
of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all
partake of the one loaf..." 1 Corinthians 10:16-17
Here we go. In "The Lord's Supper", what does the cup of thanksgiving
represent? It represents our "participation in the 'blood' of Christ". The bread? It
represents our participation in the "body" of Christ. Because we have all partaken
of the "one loaf", whether we understand this right now or not, we have literally
become "one body", which is the spiritual body of Christ. So how does
participating in The Lord's Supper show us the Truth that we belong to Christ,
and we belong to one another? It is to demonstrate to us, and remind us, of how
closely we are all joined to Christ and to one another... We are all inseparable
from one other, and from Christ.
"And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the
firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the
supremacy..." - Colossians 1:18
This is easy enough to understand. Jesus is the head of the body. Jesus has the
supremacy in everything concerning the body and Jesus directs all the parts of
the body... Amen?
"For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not
have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and
individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according
to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy,
according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who
teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives,
with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with
cheerfulness." - Romans 12:4-8
As in the book of Corinthians, here Paul also compares the body of Christ to our
physical bodies. As we can plainly discern, the different parts of the body does not
all have the same function. Our relationships with one another is that we all
belong to one another. We all form one body, but we all have different functions
and/or gifts. What are some of the "gifts" Paul mentions above? Prophesying,
serving, teaching, encouraging, giving/contributing, leading in diligence and
mercy... That's a fairly wide array of gifts! To have any one or all of these gifts is a
treasure! They only come from God! To be around anyone that has one or more of
these gifts is equal treasure, for all gifts from God benefits the whole body! What
an honor and privilege from the Lord... Amen.
Does not the one who serves benefit from the teacher? Does not the teacher
benefit from the one who serves? Does not the one who gives benefit from the one
who encourages? Does not the one who encourages not benefit from the one who
gives? Just keep on mixing it up in these combinations. Everyone literally
benefits from everyone else equally in the body of Christ.
In the body, there are no "big I's" or "little you's". All are equal. Why is it the one
who sits in the congregation elevates the preacher above the sheep? Does not the
preacher have a Master and Shepherd? Why does the preacher look down his
nose at God's children? Would he not be totally lost if Jesus were to ignore him?
Why is the prophet revered among the elite? Would he have anything to say
without God to listen to? Why do the flock war against the leader? Do they benefit
from their arrogance, rebellion and lack of mercy? Visa-versa- yada-yada-yada!
Folks? Forget it! We are of one body! Whether we realize it or not, we are ALL
called to be "unified"... We ARE all unified! Not by our own understanding, but
we are unified by the Spirit! The Spirit of God has sealed us unto the body of
Christ! It's not our decision! It has already been done by the Spirit!
I have wondered and wondered - meditated and meditated - prayed and prayed
to God - knocked and knocked - trying to understand how God's people could
become unified as one body. With this one teach this, and that one teaching that,
how in the world could man ever be unified? As God led me through the
scriptures previously mentioned, He showed me that our unification to one
another is much like our salvation... Once we come to Christ in repentance, faith
and love for Jesus, HE saves us... AND the Spirit of God "seals" us... unto eternal
life? AND unification! As you've heard me say before, Truth, whether we realize
it or not, know it or not, agree on it or not, never changes. And the Truth here
is? We, as truly born again believers in Christ, ARE UNIFIED in the body of
Christ! Unification has already been achieved. The enemy just doesn't want us to
know it and has done one fine job in preventing our minds (flesh) from realizing
what has been done in the Spirit, which of course, prevents us from applying it to
our lives... Which in turn paves the way for what? Discord within the body.
Wow. Let's just take a few minutes/days/weeks/years to stop and ponder on all
that. Shall we? Amen. Friends? I don't know about you, but all this is
revolutionary to me. It is turning me inside out and changing me just as radically
in my understanding.
"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you
were called to peace. And be thankful." - Colossians 3:15
Folks? What I've just pointed out, most importantly, I think it is biblical. Look
upon it, ponder it, and see what you think. Also, how else could we ever think it
possible to achieve the "peace" among the body if it is not done by the Holy
Spirit? Do we have it within ourselves to achieve unity? You know the answer to
that one as well as I do. Of course not. But if we believe the Word of God, placing
our faith in what God has already done, wouldn't it be a lot easier to now ponder,
meditate, pray, seek, knock, and acquire from God what we need in our hearts
and minds to apply what has already been done in the Spirit to our lives? I think
so. That is EXACTLY what we need to do... We need to quit focusing on who
agrees with us on every jot and every little tittle, and start learning how to apply
this unification of the body among us as believers... Wow. You want to "grow" in
the ways of God? Here's a door to knock on! Amen!
"Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his
neighbor, for we are all members of one body..." - Ephesians 4:25
There's the first thing you will find behind that door if you knock. We need to quit
pretending and get real... God already knows all Truth... It's high time we all
started admitting it to ourselves... Amen.
"From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every ligament, grows
and builds itself up in love, as each part does it's work..." - Ephesians 4:16
Does this say the body "grows and builds itself up in agreement with one
another?" Nope... It says we grow and build up the body by "love"... and doing
our part in "love" for one another grows and builds us ALL as the one body! You
don't have to agree on everything with someone to love them do you? Of course
not! So let's never lose sight of the "love". My God! The Key is in our hands and
we can't even find the door! Amen? - Amen!
Dear friends? In the past 2000+ years, we have been penetrated and adversely
affected in our understanding by a great many things. So many things in fact,
there is not room on any parchment to list them all. But the Way is always
straight, and It is always narrow. Stray from it in the least and we'll find ourselves
lost in a sea of despair. That is Satan’s goal by the way... to keep us from realizing
the Truth so as to prevent us from applying It to our lives.
I have been blessed to realize that the way of life explained above is most
importantly Biblical, but also? It is absolutely beautiful when applied in life.
Small bands of people join together in life. When one has a problem? A sickness?
The rest gather together in prayer... When one finally sleeps in comfort after
many days of unrest? They gather silently around the bed and pray that the
restful sleep continues. When they disagree among themselves? They come
together until such time as all is resolved and they are one in body, mind, Spirit
and in Truth again... These small bands of people live together... cling to one
another... teach learn, listen and talk to one another... They love and worship God
together... They let themselves into another's house while they are sleeping just to
check on them as they sleep away the fatigue of seeking God until they were born
again. They pray for their lost loved ones... that they be saved... and brought out
of the mosques and into the Light... They pray their families and friends "Home"
to Jesus.
It is a unique thing in this day and age. Never-the-less, it should be more that way
for us all... It is available to us all. It is already ours. Like everything else we learn
of God, we need simply to take hold of it in faith, meditate and seek from God the
Wisdom to apply it to our lives...
It is a beautiful thing to be "one body" in the body of Christ. My friend if you are
born again, a beautiful life lay before you in just this one aspect of the Christian
life. I pray you realize the benefit it will be you, and thus, the benefit you will be
to others... both will be priceless and among your greatest treasures...
Next Up? "You Are A Citizen Of Heaven!" It just keeps getting better and better
doesn't it? Amen & Amen!
You Are A Citizen Of Heaven! (Part 11)
Questions Answered
Oh, my brothers and sisters in Christ... To the SAINTS by the works of Christ, I
have such a great story to tell straight from the Truth of God's Word! This new
"identification" (who we are) In Christ just keeps getting better and better, even
deeper and deeper in our minds as we realize the reality of Christ's "finished"
work! It seems the more meditation one gives toward what Christ has
accomplished, the more meditation that is required, to go even further in the
knowledge of our identity, doesn't it? Amen! That's just like our God! Glory to His
wonderful Name forever! He didn't leave one thing undone on our behalf!
Bless the Lord, once we have been placed into Christ, our citizenship is no longer
in this world. We have a "New Home" that awaits us in Heaven. This should give
us a new perspective on how we deal with day-to-day life. It is so very easy to get
caught up in our daily struggles and forget that all of it is just temporary. The
Word of God has much to say about Heaven and those for whom it is prepared!
Let's look into a little of it. Shall we? Amen
"But our citizenship IS IN Heaven! And we eagerly await a Savior from there,
The Lord, Jesus Christ!" - Philippians 3:20
Friends? I know you won't find very many exclamation marks in your bible, but I
just can't seem to write that verse without them! I can't even say it without
getting excited! As plain as day, and despite how many people would try to make
this complicated, SCRIPTURE says that as true children of God our citizenship
IS... IN... HEAVEN! Scripture says it, so you can totally TRUST It! Amen!
As true children of God, we also "await OUR Savior from Heaven, our Lord, Jesus
Christ!" Saints? Is this not so? Of course it is! I don't know one single, solitary
brother or sister that does not look forward to the coming of our Savior, Jesus!
What a glorious future! However, what I have noticed is a difference in the "level
of reality" with which this exists within different individuals. Some see the words
and think of it as some sort of Truth, but it is not large enough to dominate their
lives. To others, this is so real, nothing can shake them in this present time,
because they are so sure of their glorious future! My friend? Which one are you?
I submit to you, that the way you view your citizenship in Heaven drastically
affects your attitude toward the things of this world. Most people do not realize
this plays such a vital role in their lives concerning their mental well-being. And
when anyone mis-understands this Truth, it erroneously robs them of so much
that would have otherwise been so rewarding and possible in so many different
ways.
Properly understanding this Truth enables us to live in continual Joy, though we

might not always be "happy" with our circumstances. Properly understanding
this Truth enables us to live in the reality of complete bodily healing, knowing
that one day soon we will be in our glorified bodies, even if our current physical
bodies are broken and/or riddled with disease. Properly understanding this can
enable one to truly love an enemy, as you will understand the level of destruction
they will ultimately endure should they not repent. Properly understanding this
will give you sure Hope for your lost loved ones, knowing we have a Father that is
just, but also more Gracious than what can be imagined. Properly understanding
this will enable us to lean on the sure Hope of His promises to us, knowing His
gifts are irrevocable, instead of wondering whether or not one day all these gifts
will be taken away, and whether we, and our loved ones, will really "make it".
Properly understanding we are a citizen of Heaven, once and for all, enables all
these things and so very much more. Mis-understanding our citizenship will
bring doubt in every facet of our relationship with God and rob us of our Joy.
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He
has given us new birth into a living Hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept
in Heaven for you!" - 1 Peter 1:3-4
Oh... My... God!

Friends, do you understand how Peter describes our "inheritance" in Jesus
Christ? As plainly as West Virginians are hillbilly's, Peter says our inheritance
from God is something that can "never parish, spoil or fade!" Oh people! This is
just the tip of a biblical iceberg that is trying It's best to explain to you that your
eternal future with God is unshakable and unchangeable if you are truly born
again!
Did you notice where this inheritance is kept? It's kept in Heaven... But to hear
some people talk, you'd think it's kept by "you", in the palm of "your" hand. I
mean, many people say "YOU" can "LOSE" your inheritance... For that to be so,
"YOU" would have to have it in your own hands, wouldn't you? But your eternal
inheritance isn't in your hands... It is "kept in Heaven"! Amen! Thank You Jesus!
The major difference between this spiritual, unearthly, Heavenly, God given
inheritance and all our other "earthly treasures"? It is eternal (can never parish)
and it is forever "unchanging" (will never spoil or fade)! Isn't that something to
just shout all over yourself about??!!?? Amen!
Please bear in mind! This IS ALL SCRIPTURE! Not Matt!
"But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the
living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful
assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in Heaven.
You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made
perfect." - Hebrews 12:22-23
The church in the passage is described as "the church of the firstborn". The
names of those in the church are "written in Heaven". Now think about this next
question: If our names are already written in Heaven, how should this affect our
understanding of who we are in Christ? Interesting question, huh? Your answer
will be even more valuable to you!
"That say will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the
elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with His promise we are looking
forward to a new Heaven and a new earth, the Home of righteousness!" - 2
Peter 3:12-13
Here's a little more prophecy from the Word of God. One day, what we know as
the heavens and the earth today, will be destroyed completely. This will be an
event that will NOT affect any born again child of God, all because we will have a
"New Home"! Instead of total destruction which we at one time deserved, we can
now look forward to a "new" Heaven and a "new" earth, a "new, permanent
Home!" It should change your total outlook on life to really realize that your
future is sure with God, as His children!
"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be
compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of
the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation
was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in
hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption
into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth
together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first
fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly
for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body." - Romans 8:18-23
The more you study of Paul and the life he lived, the more you become aware that
his life was full of sever sufferings and tribulation, yet he considered them all as
"not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us". In other words, his
current circumstances, no matter how harsh, was not even worthy of thought
compared to what lay ahead for him in his eternal future with the Lord Jesus
Christ! The Truth of how things really are according to the Word of God, coupled
with Paul's own faith in God and God's promises in Word and Spirit, is what
enabled Paul to properly view his life in this way.
That being said and fully realized, should we not view our present trials and
tribulations in the same Way Paul did? If we find within ourselves that we differ
from Paul, then you can only conclude that your understanding of God's Word
and/or level of faith in God differs from that which Paul had. Our true and
unchangeable Hope as children of God for ourselves and for creation is to be
liberated from our bondage to decay, to be brought into the glorious freedom of
the children of God! That is a Truth of God's Word, whether we know it or not,
understand it or not... Truth never changes. And I am so glad that is so!
A Truth here is, because we are citizens of Heaven, we need not get too involved
in the things of this world. It is God's job to change the world, which He will
ultimately do. Our mission is to simply proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
of God, which is the only message that can bring lasting change to the hearts of
men and women everywhere.
"Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building
from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands..." - 2
Corinthians 5:1
Here, Paul is speaking symbolically. The "earthly tent" he mentions here is our
own physical body. It will most definitely be destroyed, whether it be by old age,
sickness, an accident maybe? Whatever way it is destroyed, rest assured it will be
destroyed. This mortal body will die. Even in the case of Rapture, I do not think
this flesh will be what passes on.
This body is very different form the "eternal" house, or body, we will receive. This
current body is physical flesh. Our "eternal house"? Well, there's a great amount
of speculation over what all that will be, but one thing pointed out in this
scripture for sure is, it will be eternal! It will last FOREVER! That new, eternal
house is built for the born again believer!
So. All this helps to confirm a couple of very important facts. One is, that God
Himself has made for us a house in Heaven. The second is, if that house is
eternal, then God wants us to live, with Him, FOREVER! Glory to God! I tell ya
friends! This is better than hitting any lottery could ever dream of being!
Knowing that our names as born again children of God are written in Heaven and
that we have a "guaranteed" Home when we leave this earth is a great comfort. To
some more than others it seems. Yet if this is real inside one's heart, it will make a
remarkable difference in your dominant attitude concerning life in all it's
complexities. More than just a comfort, knowing we have an eternal Home gives
us the "freedom" to walk in confidence that this earth is NOT our home. We can
actually live beyond our circumstances in the Truth because we have an "eternal"
perspective. Thank God, our identity is not based on circumstance but on the
"unchanging promises" of God! ~ Amen~
Now. To have an eternal Home, there's something else we must have to make this
possible... And that's "eternal life"! Amen? That'll be what we explore next in this
series of writs! So sit back, relax, study, meditate upon, and pray about what
we've found in the Word thus far. Good Lord willing, part 12 won't be long in
coming! Amen!
~~God Bless and Keep Us All!~~
Who We Are In Christ
We Really Have Eternal Life?
(Part 12)
Questions Answered
My brothers and sisters, a question that haunts the minds of many people is,
"How do I know for sure that I have eternal life?" It is a question that keeps
many people in bondage (most times even unawares to themselves) to the fear of
death. People "fear" death for many different reasons, but the one I will focus on
here and now is, there are people fearful of death because they fear they have
somehow "un-done" what God said He has "done" - and that is give us eternal life
when we accept Jesus as God's Son, our Lord, our Savior, our Way, our Truth and
our LIFE! The Bible is very clear when it comes to this issue. God never intended
for us to doubt the quality of life Jesus Christ gives us both in the here and now,
and eternally. In order for our identity to be secure in Christ, we MUST come to
an understanding of what ETERNAL life really means. But rest assured, God
answers these important questions through His Spirit and His Word.
There are so many people I know that have just started their precious walk with
our Savior, Jesus Christ. Many of them are newly born again Christians who have
turned their backs of faith on the religion of Islam. These people have been held
"hostage" by the man-made imaginations of religion. They have always been told
that their eternal existence was based on a set of "scales", that weighed the "good
against the bad" performances in deed throughout their lives. If the scales were
tipped the wrong way? They were doomed to an eternal hell. What a horrible
place to be within one's faith. They could never be certain of anything concerning
Heaven or Hell! But like the rest of us, if they were truthful within themselves,
they knew it wasn't looking good.
These ex-Islamists need to realize the TRUTH of God's Word concerning their
eternal life in Heaven with Him! They need to know it because God wants them to
experience many things in their relationship with Him and He wants them to be
certain of a great many things. Three of them being "eternal love, eternal
fellowship and eternal life" with God, as people that have accepted Jesus as
Lord, Savior, their Way, their Truth and their Life!
In a way, I wish the ex-Islamist were the only one I needed to address in this writ.
But this writ is for every other "religion" in this world that is void of the full Truth
of Jesus... But even further yet? I must also address a great many that have even
accepted Jesus as Savior! Many people that view themselves as "Christians" need
to learn the full Truth of God's Word, accept it by faith in their hearts, and stop
"denying the power thereof" (1Corinthians 1:18 and 2Timothy 3:5), even though
they may be doing so with the best of intentions.
Our eternal life, if correctly understood, has atomic impact on every aspect of our
being, including this flesh. By knowing what God has already done for us in the
Spirit, it will free us in the physical to do His bidding, which namely is to simply
spread the Good News of The Gospels of Salvation in whatever form God has
designed. If we have error in our understanding of our eternal life, hope and
future? We'll spend our physical life chasing our own tails on the innumerable
performance treadmills, and we will get... nowhere.
Brothers and sisters in Christ? Join me as we reveal the plain Truth of God's
Word about that which we have to look forward, concerning our eternal
citizenship in Heaven! It's nothing other than Good News for your heart, mind,
body and Spirit! Bless God's wonderful Name! Don't be surprised if you find
yourself absorbed with your mouth full-open as you realize, maybe for the first
time in your life, that this earth - this existence - is NOT your Home. You have so
much more with which to look forward! One day soon, you are going Home my
brother! You are going Home my sister! Bless God! Let's learn a little more about
that! Shall we? Amen.
"And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in
His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God
does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the
name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life." -
1John 5:11-13
Dear friends? Are any of you familiar with rocket science? Well neither am I. And
you'll find none of it here as God's Words to us as born again believers explains
ever-so-simply what is available to us as born again Christians. And not only
what's available to us, but how we get it!
In the above scripture, God offers up to us HIS TESTIMONY concerning our

eternal life, that we may once and for all understand something ever so critical to
our own personal existence in mind, body and soul which in turn enables
everything concerning our effectiveness in His ministry of spreading the Truth of
The Good News to a hurting and dying world! GOD'S OWN TESTIMONY clearly
tells us that 'IN CHRIST', we have 'ETERNAL LIFE'! If we have The Son, we have
eternal life! For those that do not have the Son, they do not have life! Also, John
wrote these things so we could know we have eternal life!
"John wrote these things so we could know we have eternal life!" - 1John 5:13
How about it my brothers and sisters? Can you read the Words of God given to
man and have the Spirit given faith to believe what It says? The enemy wants to
steal this understanding away from you! Will you allow it? Do you want to believe
you have eternal life? If so, there's Good News! You can do so with a clear
conscience because it is IN the Word of God! Here it is, right here in your Bible!
You now have ETERNAL LIFE! Eternal means "without end"! You are
IMMORTAL!
The next verse of scripture is no doubt the most notorious, the most preached
upon, the most reflected upon, and perhaps to many, the most cherished
scripture in all the Bible and with good reason. It reveals the subject matter of the
entire Bible, Old Testament and New Testament. The Theme of the entire Bible is
captured right here in this passage:
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." - John 3:16
Bless The Name of The Lord, Jesus Christ! The very motivation for God sending
His own Son to die for our sins was God's Love for His children (that's you and
I)... How absolutely incredible! When you stop to meditate upon that, does it awe
you as it does me? That God would love "me" so much, that He would send His
Son, Jesus Christ to die in order to pay the penalty for my sins? Even while I was
yet an enemy (unsaved) of God? My sins were paid for by Jesus (Romans
5:10)? Folks? As hard as we may try, we can't understand that kind of Love, nor
know the depths of which it reaches... But? We can understand that it exists, for
God has just said so, hasn't He? Amen!
"For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of
His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." -
Romans 5:10
Lades and gentlemen? My brothers and Sisters? To those that worship Allah,
Buddha or any Deity other than the Real God and His Son, Jesus Christ? Romans
5:10 makes a statement so profound... so incredible... so powerful... so loving and
Graceful, that even many children of God fail to understand what it is saying in
the flesh of man! It describes a fact about what Jesus accomplished for us that
absolutely separates Jesus from any other man-made, man-drempt, man-
imagined god in this world and beyond! Here is something Jesus did for us in
which no other god can lay claim. God has never allowed Satan to tell such a lie,
therefore I can only guess God never will allow Satan to tell such a thing. And if
Satan can't spread this lie, then it might very well be considered blasphemy if
man denied the power of this scripture here in Romans 5:10 !
While we ALL were yet sinners (UNSAVED; UN-BORN AGAIN IN SPIRIT),

Jesus paid the price for our sins, ALL of our sins, with His life! Wow! Can your
god say that? Has he ever made that claim? Has your god ever said he loved you
enough to take your sin away forever despite you being his enemy? Oh my Ever-
Loving God! Of course not! Not once has any other god EVER made such a claim!
Do you want to know why no other god has claimed to have paid for your sins
even while you were yet his enemy? You want to know the top three reasons why
your god has never said that? One is that any other god besides the God of
Abraham is nothing more than man's imaginations. In any other God? There is
no reality... only imagination.
The second reason you never heard of any other god doing this is because these
man-made gods are all designed for control. Men want to control other men. To
do this, men must remain in bondage to the man claiming to have the knowledge.
No other subject has better results in the total control of men than that of
religion.
A good third reason? There is no love where there is only imagination. No other
god could possibly love you, because in reality, there is no other god.
In the scripture above that speaks to the world, God has again went out of His
way to make certain things undeniable concerning the POWER of what Christ
did! It tells us that believing in Jesus SAVES us from perishing! It tells us that
when we believe in Christ, we have ETERNAL LIFE! But we need to get
something straight:
Jesus paid the price for all your sins before we were even born! Look at Romans
5:10 again! Look at it hard! The harder you look at it, the longer you look at it, the
harder it is going to be for you to deny the power thereof! There are two
specific things mentioned there: your sins being reconciled and your
life... your ETERNAL LIFE! They are two separate things! The forgiveness of
your sin by God through the Blood of Jesus is NOT salvation! Again,
look hard at Romans 5:10! The forgiveness of your sin was your "preparation" for
salvation, making it possible that you be saved!
But even after you were forgiven of your sin, you are still... what?
DEAD! So what do you need to be saved? You need LIFE! You need LIFE! You
need ETERNAL LIFE! Temporal life will be no good to you in the long run. You
need ETERNAL LIFE to be saved! Thus? That's why Jesus demonstrated to us
His Resurrection! He DEMONSTRATED the ETERNAL LIFE He offers to us!
As against the grain as what I'm about to say is to so many teachings of error out
there, not one man or woman will go to the eternal lake of fire because of any
fleshly sin they've committed here on this earth except one: their rejection of
Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself said that sin was unbelief in Him (John 3:18).
If you properly understand Romans 5:10 and John 3:16-18, you will understand
that what you need to be born again in the Spirit (saved by God's Grace), is that
you need to repent... but you need not repent of every sin you've ever committed
or will commit in the future. My friends? You couldn't do that if you tried with all
your might (and many are trying hopelessly to do just that). Your sins were paid
for while you were yet an enemy of God (Romans 5:10). If you wish to be born
again, repent of your unbelief in Jesus Christ (John 3:18). In doing that, you will
thank Him eternally for the forgiveness He has already provided you, and you
will welcome Him into your heart as your Lord, your Savior, your Way (of life
spiritually), your Truth and your LIFE (eternal)! Oh my God! When you realize
THIS Truth, even your physical being will be atomically impacted! You'll be
changed forever into a "new creature"! Oh my God, what a Gift! Praise His Name
Forever!
Eternal Life is just that - it is eternal. If eternal life could be lost, it would have to
be called "temporal life". We can be 100% secure in the fact that the eternal life
we have been given in Christ can never be taken away from us! Note: This is not
"thus saith Matt"! This is the EXACT Words of God, Himself!
"I give them eternal life, and they shall never parish; no one can pluck them out
of my hand" - John 10:28
This author can certainly understand why the book of John is many people's
favorite book in the Bible. It is dedicated to telling every born again believer the
exact terms of our relationship with God as well as all the fine details. And what
fine details they are! Bless God!
According to scripture, only God has the power to give eternal life. Once we have
that "eternal" life, we can never perish! No one (including self here, because we,
ourselves are a person) and no thing can cause us to lose this eternal life because
we would have to pluck it out of God's Hand wouldn't we? Do you actually think
so much of yourself that you think it possible to overpower God and do
something HE says cannot be done? Think about it friends. Of course you can't.
No one can.
"For the wages of sin is death, but the Gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus,
our Lord" - Romans 6:23
Some more detail in comparison form: The wages of sin is death. The GIFT of
God is eternal life. Eternal life can ONLY be found in Jesus Christ. Therefore,
when you received Christ Jesus, what did you receive? Ahhhh-hahahaha! Now
you're getting it! Amen!
Wages are earned, but a gift is given freely. In his best efforts, man can only earn
death and destruction (we know all about that don't we?). Eternal Life cannot be
earned. It can only be given freely by God to those who will accept it by repenting
of their lack of faith in Jesus Christ (John 3:18-19).
"Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus" -
Romans 6:11
We can know, as born again believers in Christ, that we have eternal life because
sin has been dealt with once and for all. If sin had not been forgiven and taken
away, every time we sinned we would once again "die spiritually"! Think about it!
Every time we sin, we would again die spiritually if were not already dealt with!
And what doe Romans 6:11 say? Scripture says to "consider yourselves ALIVE to
GOD in CHRIST JESUS"! DEAD to SIN - ALIVE to GOD! ALIVE! LIFE! That's
what you have in Christ - LIFE! You see dear friends, it truly is "all about Jesus".
In Jesus Christ, we have LIFE! By realizing this reality, we can know we have life
even when we sin (and we will, we ALL will, despite our best efforts).
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have
life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays
down His life for the sheep." - John 10:10-11
Satan comes to steal (take away), kill and destroy. Jesus came to give us "life to
the full", or full life. This Truth is manifest in God's Word in plain as black and
white. Which "doctrine" are you following in your life? Do you have life to the
fullest in Christ? Or do you allow Satan to come and steal it away from you every
day? Tough questions for sure and quite hard to face. Never-the-less, you need to
realize the Truth about what you have or don't have. Please be honest with
yourself, and in your intellect as you search this out!
"The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin
increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so
grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord." - Romans 5:21
Sin's reign leads to death. That is all God's Law can do for us individually. It
makes it possible for us to know the difference between right and wrong. Without
God's Law, there would be no such thing as right and wrong. Thus? The Law
came so we would know that our transgressions only increase. Under the
judgment of God's Law, there is but one verdict for each and every one of us:
Guilty.
But Grace (Jesus Christ) came to reign over sin, bringing us righteousness to each
and every individual that accepts Him. Also, in Grace (Jesus Christ), we have
eternal life! Is that not what the scripture just said? Amen & Amen!
"For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and
believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last
day." - John 6:40
Oh my friends and family! I want to laugh out loud in the Joy the Truth of the
scriptures provide! According to this scripture in John 6:40, what is the will of
The Father, God? That everyone that believes on His Son, Jesus Christ will have
ETERNAL LIFE and He (God) Himself will raise us up on our last day! Oh! How
can it be refuted any longer even by the most educated? Folks? In Christ, we
HAVE eternal life! I don't know about you, but when I realized this, it totally
changed my attitude toward death, and it forever affected my relationship with
God! Now I know I am secure. I am forever God's property and no one or nothing
else will ever change that! Talking about freedom? It is true that the "knowledge"
of the Truth will set you free! Amen!
Friends? Eternal life is found only in Christ. No where else can It be found.
Therefore, since Christ lives in us, we have eternal life. The two cannot be
separated. Eternal life begins the moment we accept Christ into our hearts by
faith as our Lord, our Way, our Truth and our LIFE. Understanding this reality
will free us from the fear of death and give us an eternal perspective on life.

Who We Are "In Christ" in Search of Our Identity (Part 1) Questions Answered

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Who We Are "In Christ" in Search of Our Identity (Part 1) Questions Answered

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Who We Are "In Christ"

In Search Of Our Identity (Part 1)

This passage is very revealing in a couple of different areas. Paul warns us of a

Godlessness in the Last Days

How To Develop A "Proper" Self-Image

To develop a "proper" self-image, we must first decide to whom we are going to

If we are physically pretty or handsome, what will happen to our self-image as we

So, could we ever develop a "secure" self-image or identity based on our

~What others think about you;

~What you think others think about you;

~What you think about yourself.

~~Man having cravings for sin;

~~His eyes are lustful;

We do not need a self-image based on the ever-changing opinions of the world.

A person has no identity apart from a relationship with someone or something

Identity, however, is a "spiritual" need. Who we truly are is determined by our

Unfortunately, the tragedy of "Modern-Day Christianity" is our utter ignorance

To be "in Adam" or "in Christ" may be strange language to us. Biblically, to be

If you wish to do so right now, here is a suggested prayer:

"Specifically, what is this 'sinful nature'?

"A butterfly, Lord."

"I don't know, Lord. It doesn't make sense does it?"

The butterfly can fly because through the process of metamorphosis,

Having a proper understanding of our identity in Christ greatly depends on how

If we see ourselves as unforgiven, or conditionally forgiven, being constantly in

As always, scripture is what so many would consider painfully clear in what it

"Yes. I do have sin in my life. I have reoccurring sin in my life... And so do

As revealed in the scripture above, the only way to receive the

This scripture reveals that God's acceptance of us is NOT something we can

It is important to understand that the righteousness of God is not just another

Praise the Name of The Lord, Jesus Christ!

The Incomparable Christ

"For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the

"The Robe and The Ring"

I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired

God redeemed us so we would have full rights as His sons and

Where are you in your understanding? Do you think yourself a "hired

In this explanation, Paul makes some interesting points concerning "slavery".

But that's not nearly all:

To be sanctified means to be "set apart" or to be "made Holy". As a child of God,

Here's some foundational Truth concerning our identity in Christ. CHRIST...

To be "justified" means to be "made right" with God... To be found "Not Guilty!"

So by my own admission, I'm an adulterer, a thief, and idolater, and a liar.

Romans 5:18, "So then as through one transgression there resulted

We have been justified by Grace, through faith (Ephesians 2:7-9). Once we

"There is more to turning to Jesus than just the insurance. In

But... As children of God? Heirs to Jesus Christ Himself?

God be with you all, and to God be the glory! Amen!

Each of us comes to Christ on an individual basis. Regardless of background,

Properly understanding this Truth enables us to live in continual Joy, though we

Oh... My... God!

Please bear in mind! This IS ALL SCRIPTURE! Not Matt!

In the above scripture, God offers up to us HIS TESTIMONY concerning our

While we ALL were yet sinners (UNSAVED; UN-BORN AGAIN IN SPIRIT),

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