What We Are In Christ
I was surprised to find that the expressions "in Christ," "in whom," and "in Him" occur more than 130 times in the New Testament. This is the heart of the Revelation of Redemption given to Paul.
Here is the secret of faith -- faith that conquers, faith that moves mountains. Here is the secret of the Spirit's guiding us into all reality. The heart craves intimacy with the Lord Jesus and with the Father. This craving can now be satisfied.
Ephesians 1:7: "In whom we have our redemption through his blood, the remission of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace."
It is not a beggarly Redemption, but a real liberty in Christ that we have now. It is a Redemption by the God Who could say, "Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven," and cause the whole starry heavens to leap into being in a single instant. It is Omnipotence beyond human reason. This is where philosophy has never left a footprint.
Our Redemption is a miracle of His grace. It is according to "the riches of his grace." It is a present-tense work wrought "through His blood." It is lavish. It is abundant. Our Redemption is a perfect thing. When you know it, enter into it, and your heart grows accustomed to it, there will be ability in your life that you have never known.
Colossians 1 :13,14: "Who delivered us out of the authority of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the son of his love; in whom we have our redemption, the remission of our sins." You are delivered out of the authority of Satan. You are free. It is in Him that you have your Redemption. You have been delivered out of Satan's dominion. You have been "translated into the kingdom of the son of his love." You are free from the dominion of Satan.
The hour will come when you will awaken to the fact that he cannot put disease upon you, that he cannot give you pain and anguish in your body.
The hour will come when you will know that want and poverty are things of the past as far as you are concerned.
You will shout amid the turbulence and fear of other men "The Lord is my shepherd. I do not want. He makes me to lie down in plenty, in fullness. I am satisfied with Him."
This Redemption is real. Satan is defeated, disease is outlawed, and want is banished.
We are free. John 8:36: "If therefore the son shall make you free, you shall be free in reality." The word "indeed" really means "reality." John 10:10: "I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly." What is Life? Life is the Nature of God. You may have the Father's Nature abundantly. You are "in Christ," in the Father's presence. You are in the very realm of life. This realm of Life has in it the Life that transcends reason. We have Eternal Life, God's very Substance. In John 14:6 Jesus said: "I am the way, the reality, and the life." He was unveiling His heart to us, showing what He can be to us in our daily life.
He can be all that His heart of love desires to be to those whom He has redeemed. He can be reality to us. How our hearts have craved this! He can fulfill every desire of our hearts. Galatians 5:1: "Stand fast therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage." The gravest danger of the believer is the possibility of his lapsing back into bondage after he has been made free. He leaves the realm of the spirit and faith, and walks in the realm of the senses. As Sense Reason gains the supremacy he loses his joy in the Lord.
We are New Creations in Christ Jesus. We are just finding out what this can mean to us. II Corinthians 5:17: "Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a New Creation." This New Creation fact gives to you all that it means to Jesus and the Father whether you know it or not. Paul's revelation is filled with New Creation truth. It is God's dream for you to enjoy the fullness of this New Creation's privileges. "The old things are passed away." Those old things of bondage, fear, doubt, want, sickness, weakness, and failure are gone.
You say, "That is not possible." But it is. The New Creation is just like the Master. He is its head. He is the Vine, you are the branch. As He is, so are you.
John 15:1-7: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman... I am the vine; ye are the branches."
As long as you deal in doubts and fears; as long as you sit in judgment on yourself, you will never arrive. You will never enjoy these things.
If; however, you will act on the Word -- act on it as you would act on a letter from some friend, you will arrive.
When you read, "All things have become new," start thinking of yourself as living in this new realm.
You have been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. You have perfect fellowship with Him now.
Oh, the wealth that belongs to you in this new relationship! Dare to act your part.
Ephesians 2:10: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus." If you are His workmanship, you are satisfactory to Him. He is pleased with you.
We have preached condemnation and sin so long that we do not know how to preach righteousness and to tell the people what they are in Christ.
When someone does tell them, they feel that it is false teaching. They feel that anything is false teaching that does not honor sin and lift it into the place of Christ.
You are God's new man. Ephesians 2:15 declares that He brought into being the new man: "Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; that he might create in himself of the two one new man, so making peace." Ephesians 4:24: "And put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth."
The New Creation knows but one Lord. Jesus is the Lord of the New Creation.
Colossians 2.6,7 gives us a graphic statement of facts "As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in your faith, even as ye were taught, abounding in thanksgiving."
What a glorious truth! No longer are you a weakling. His strength is your strength. We are so strong that we are to abound in thanksgiving. When we stop abounding in thanksgiving we deteriorate spiritually.
Psalm 27:1: "Jehovah is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? Jehovah is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"
Psalm 23:1: "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want."
You swing free from the old prison house of bondage and fear and want, of hunger and cold. You are out in the freedom of God.
Hebrews 7:25 is Jesus' present attitude toward you: "Wherefore also he is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them." He ever lives to make intercession for you.
He is seated at the Father's right hand. Say it over, "He ever lives for me."
Just as the wife lives for the man whom she loves, so in a greater measure the Lord Jesus lives for you. He has only one business: that of living for you.
We are His Righteousness
Of all the wealth that is known to the human heart, there is nothing that equals this: that Jesus declares through the apostle Paul that we are His Righteousness.
I cannot grasp it. We are His Righteousness. How precious we must be to Him!
He once became our righteousness. He once declared us righteous by His resurrection from the dead. Now He goes beyond the declaration and makes that a reality. II Corinthians 5:21: "Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him." We have become the righteousness of God in Him. I Corinthians 1:30: "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption."
Note these three blessed facts:
* He becomes our righteousness. Romans 3:26.
* He is made righteous for us. I Corinthians 1:30.
* We have become the righteousness of God in Him. II Corinthians 5:21.
Galatians 2:20: "That life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me."
He loved me. He gave Himself up for me. What love is revealed here! He not only redeemed me and sanctified me, but now before heaven He says, "I am that man's Redemption. I am that man's sanctification."
Then I can hear His voice rise to notes of utter triumph when He shouts, "I am His Righteousness and His Wisdom."
This is all His work. It is not of man's works lest he should say, "I had a share in that." Your repenting, crying, and weeping had naught to do with your righteousness or your redemption. You stand complete in Him, in all the fullness of His great, matchless life.
Romans 8:33,34 is the climax of the revelation of our Redemption: "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?" You are God's elect. Jesus and the Father have elected you and now He says, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of my own son or my daughter?" There is only one person of any standing before the Supreme Court who could lay anything to your charge. That is Jesus, and He will not do it.
"Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us?" Can't you see the wealth of your position? Can't you see the riches of the glory of your inheritance in Christ? You are in Him. All that He planned in Jesus is a heart reality now.
There is no condemnation for you. There is no judgment for you. There is no fear of death for you. Why? Because death is simply swinging the portals open for you to march in triumph into the presence of your Father. I John 4:18 grips the heart: "There is no fear in love: but perfect love casts out fear."
In Christ we have received Eternal Life, the Nature of our Father. That Nature is Love. That Love is perfect. Our human love is imperfect. His love is "agape," the love that makes life beautiful.
You may not perfectly understand or perfectly enter into it, but it is His perfect Love, and it is all yours now.
I Corinthians 12:12: "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ." We are so one with Him that we are called Christ. The Church is called the "Christ ones."
He is the Vine. You are the branch. John 15:1-8 (5th verse): "I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abides in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit." As the branch is to the vine, so are you to the heart of Jesus.
You are utterly one with Him. All this time you have been thinking about your sin, about your weakness, and your failings. Hear Him whisper to your heart now from Romans 8:1: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus."
If you are Born Again you are "in Christ." You are a conqueror. You are free from condemnation. You are the righteousness of God in Him. You are the fullness of God in Him. You are complete in Him. The wealth of His glory, the wealth of His riches, have never been sounded. You are righteous. There is no sin-consciousness for you. There is no inferiority complex for you. You are now in Christ, the very righteousness of God.
You can use the Name of Jesus without fear. You can do as Peter did in Acts 3:5,6: "And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, 'Silver and gold have I none, but what I have, that give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.'" You can swing free. John 16:23,24: "If ye
shall ask anything of the Father, He will give it you in my name." John 15:7 is yours now: "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you."
You are in Him. He is in you. His Word abides in you. You are His Righteousness. You are His Life. You can do His works now . John 14:12,13: "Greater things than these shall ye do, because I go unto the Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the son." You take your place. You use the Name to heal the sick. His death was not in vain. His suffering was not in vain. You stand complete in His completeness, filled with His fullness. You are filled with His holiness. His grace is yours.
Hebrews 4:14-16 can become a reality in you: "Having then a great high priest who hath passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession." The word here is not "profession" but "confession." Christianity is called "the great confession." Your confession is what you are in Christ. All that we have said to you is a reality. You hold fast to it.
The adversary will try to make you deny your confession. He will try to make you confess anything rather than this. He will try to make you confess weakness and failure and want.
But you hold fast to your confession: "My God does supply every need of mine." Philippians 4 :19. You stand by that confession. Philippians 4 :13: "I can do all things in him who strengthens me." You make the declaration that He is the strength of your life. Say it aloud to yourself until you get accustomed to hearing it.
I Peter 2:24: "Who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed." You died unto sins with Christ on that cross; you arose to walk in righteousness; and by His stripes you are healed. When Jesus arose from the dead, healing belonged to you.
Hold fast to your confession in the face of every assault of the enemy. You rebuke it in the Name of Jesus.
You walk in the Way of Righteousness, which means acting and living as though the Word was spoken to you by Jesus. That is the way of victory. That is the way where you cast out demons and disease in the Name of Jesus. Every disease that has afflicted a Christian could have been healed if there had been anyone who had dared to walk in righteousness for that believer, who would have dared to walk in the fullness of his privileges in Christ. The devil could have been driven out and healing could have been his.
Hebrews 4:15,16: "For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace." You are invited to come now to the throne room and sit with the Master and with the Father.
You are to come boldly. Don't come creeping in. Don't come in confessing your sin. bewailing your weakness and failures. Put on the new garment. Dress fittingly to appear before the throne.
You are the sons and daughters of God Almighty without condemnation. You will find mercy and grace to help in time of need.
THE END
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