Failure to realize and understand the package we have in Christ is a major enemy to faith. This is because you can’t effectively exercise your faith so as to enjoy the blessings of God unless you have a proper understanding of the package you have in Christ.
Last Sunday we looked at who God the Father says you are in Christ. This is your identity because of what Christ has done for you on the Cross at Calvary.
Today, we are going to look at the new POSITION you have attained in Christ. Before looking at that which God the Father has done for the believer in Christ, here is a worthy summary:
a) Your position in Christ is a result of your new life in Christ from which precious experiences may grow. For example, justification – meaning that all of your past sins having been totally forgiven – leads to joy and peace.
b) This position is as perfect and complete the instant it is possessed as it ever will be in the ages to come.
c) This position has nothing to do with what you have accomplished or earned. It is based solely on the merit of Christ. The Christian is “accepted (now and forever) in the Beloved.”
d) This position does not ever change. Your awareness and feelings about your position in Christ may vary from day to day, but the abiding fact that you are a new creation in Christ remains.
e) Your position can only be known through God revealing it to you personally. Its reality can be grasped only by your believing the Word of God. These eternal riches of grace are for anyone who will believe.
According to the Scriptures, once you are in Christ your level, your position changes. You are forever united and joined with Christ. Believers have been placed “in Christ” so that whatever has happened to Christ has also happened to them. When Jesus died and rose again, so did you spiritually, and never again will God see you as anything other than a new creation in Christ Jesus. You are forever united and joined to Christ, and His position is your position. And this is now your position because of what Christ has done for you on the Cross at Calvary:
1. You have moved from death to life. Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (Jn. 5:24).
2. You have moved from darkness to His marvellous light. “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Pet. 2:9).
3. You have moved from poverty to riches. “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich”
4. You have moved from sickness to divine health. “…Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses” (Matt. 8:17).
“Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Pet. 2:24).
5. You have moved from fear to power and a sound mind. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7).
6. You have moved from a condemned person to a free person. “There is therefore, now no condemnation (judgment) to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:1-2).
7. You have moved from being a child of the devil to a child of God. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is” (1 Jn. 3:2).
8. You have moved from being a sinner to the righteousness of God. “For God the Father hath made Jesus Christ to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ” (2 Cor. 5:21).
9. You have moved from a sinner to a saint. “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 1:1).
10. You have been crucified with Christ. Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Romans 6:6 says, “We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.”
11. You have died with Christ. In Romans 6:8 the Bible says, “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.”
2 Corinthians 5:14 says, “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died.”
Romans 6:8 says, “Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.”
Colossians 3:3 says, “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”
12. You have been buried with Christ. Colossians 2:12 says, “Buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”
In Romans 6:4 the Bible says, “Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
13. You have been made alive together with Christ. Ephesians 2:5 says, “Even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).”
Colossians 2:13 says, “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the un-circumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses.”
14. You have been raised up together with Christ. Ephesians 2:6 says, “And raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
15. You have ascended into the heavens with Christ. Colossians 3:1 says, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.”
16. Right now, you are seated together in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:6 says, “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:”
This position is far above principalities and powers.
“And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, 20 Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, 21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come” (Eph. 1:19-21).
In this position, God the Father has put all things under the feet of Christ.
“And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church…” (Eph. 1:22).
And because you are seated with Christ in this position, God the Father has also put all things under your feet.
That is why the Bible says that as He is now in Heaven, so are you now in this world. “…as He is, so are we in this world” (1 Jn. 4:17).
In John 15:5, Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches.” He did not say, “I am the vine, try to be the branches.” In other words, He wants us to realize that we are already the branches. We do not have to struggle to become the branches.
As His branches, we only have to abide or remain in Christ our vine. How do we do that? We do that by simply being conscious every day of our position in Christ. Because we have received Christ, we are in Christ and are accepted in the Beloved (see 2 Cor. 5:17, Eph. 1:6). God the Father accepts us because we are in the Beloved and He is in us. And that is how God sees us today when we come into His presence.
What the devil wants to do then is to get you to focus on your condition instead of your position in Christ. The condition you are facing could be financial lack or deteriorating health. The devil wants you to focus on your condition and forget your position, that you are the righteousness of God in Christ and that you are seated with Him in heavenly places at the Father’s right hand (see 2 Cor. 5:21, Eph. 2:6). He wants you to forget that you are an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ (see Rom. 8:17).
The devil knows that once you focus on your position in Christ, it will give you the power to change your condition and circumstances. John 15:5 says that you will bear “much fruit.” This means that when you pray against any lack, abundant supply will flow. When you pray for healing, sickness will leave.
Beloved, none of these things can happen by your own doing, but by His life which flows through you. Just as sap flowing through the branches of a vine will cause them to bring forth fruit, His life flowing through you will bring forth a bountiful harvest of provision, healing and miracles. You only need to remain conscious of who you are and your position in Christ!
Conclusion: The realization of the package you have in Christ makes you more than a conqueror. It helps you to have a very sound opinion of yourself – a positive self-image. Talk about who you are in Christ. Think it! Believe it! Confess it! As you do this, your faith will abound and you will effectively exercise dominion over the devil walking in total victory everyday of your life.
Watch out for the next edition of Good News from the Pulpit!
Your friend: I. I. Madubunyi (Senior Pastor) 26.01.2020
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