One thing that makes all the difference in the world is in these situations having Jesus
in our life, number one, and like the topic we're talking about, knowing who we are in Christ.
In every aspect of life, but especially the real difficult ones, it makes all the difference
in the world.
And that's the topic we're in at this point, is who am I in Christ, or our identity in Christ?
And we've been in this series, I believe this is number five now.
So we've got some groundwork laid out.
So I want to just kind of prime the pump here of what I'm trying to see happen and what
I believe the Lord wants to see happen.
You know, we can say I'm a new creation in Christ, all things have passed away, behold
all things have become new.
So I'm a new creation in Christ.
What does that mean?
Could you describe it or explain it to someone?
I'm a new creation in Christ.
Well, tell me what that means.
Explain that to me.
No, I'm just letting you think, because some of you will do an excellent job, but I'm
just trying to get you to think, but that is a good question because I'm quiet.
I'm saved.
Well, what does that mean?
Could you describe or explain to me what it means to be saved?
Because see, if you can't describe it or you can't explain it, you don't understand
it.
That's what's real.
If we can't explain it to someone else, we don't understand it.
We don't get it.
We might think we do, but until you can actually describe or explain, we don't get it.
Because once we get it, we can explain it.
So we've been looking at this.
We started on Ephesians 1 and 2.
I'm going to finish 2 this morning, Ephesians 2, and then we're going to jump off a
different direction because there's some other things that are also covered in who
we are in Christ, which is like the big words that we hear a lot in churches that a lot of
times, again, people don't understand.
I am sanctified.
I'm redeemed.
I'm bought by the blood.
I'm the righteousness of God.
You know, we'll throw these out.
Can you tell me what that means?
What does it mean?
Describe it to me.
Because if we can't, we say, well, that's what I am.
Well, then what are you?
Describe it.
Put it out there.
So we're going to go into that next Sunday and move that direction.
But I want to finish 1 and 2 because Ephesians 2, Paul does an excellent job of putting
it in a nutshell.
And I came out a last Sunday and I was not feeling satisfied with how I did it.
So I redid the whole PowerPoint and made it huge.
And the PowerPoints, what you see on the screen, is always available online once the message.
We have the live stream channel, which gives the whole service.
And then Monday or Tuesday or so, Kevin will pull the message out of that and put
it on our message channel on YouTube.
That PowerPoint is always with that message.
So if you need to go back and refresh your mind on something, everything on the PowerPoint
is there.
And I made a lot of PowerPoints for today because there's just so much.
If we can't go back and meditate on it and think about it, we'll forget it.
So I thought I'm going to hit this really hard and make a lot of PowerPoints.
So I did that.
So you're going to be flipping through a lot of stuff here, but it's available
for you.
That's the point.
So often we take our identity from what we do in this earth, from the physical realm.
Well, who are you?
Well, I'm a plumber, or I'm an electrician, or I'm an architect, an engineer, etc.
In reality, that's not correct.
So in other words, well, I'm a mechanic.
So if something happens that you can no longer do mechanic work, you're nobody.
You're nothing.
Take your occupation and slide it off the table and answer this question.
Who are you?
I don't want to know what you do.
Who are you?
Because a lot of times we draw our identity from what we do.
And that's why people will hit depression when they can no longer do what they claim
their identity is.
It's like, well, I'm worthless now.
I can't do it anymore because that's who I am.
That's the mistake.
Our true identity comes from God.
As human beings, our true identity comes from God.
And that's what we need to nurture.
Like for instance, I am more than a conqueror through him that loved me.
So who am I?
I'm a conqueror.
And you should be one too because that scripture applies to you too.
Doesn't it feel funny when you say, who are you?
I'm a conqueror.
Doesn't that kind of go inside?
Because we don't really view ourselves that way.
Well, some days and some days there's the problem.
It doesn't say some days I'm a conqueror and some days I'm not.
It says I'm a conqueror.
And I'm more than a conqueror.
If you just need a conqueror, you need to find somebody else because I'm more than a conqueror.
But see, we don't normally think in that realm.
Then of course you've got to take that and plug that into the context.
Don't just grab that and apply it to anything because it doesn't apply to anything.
Anybody remember when Paul quoted Romans 8 when he said we are more than conquerors through Christ?
What was he applying that to?
Because I hear people quoted all the time, we're more than conquerors.
That plumbing leak is going to stop in the name of Jesus.
Yeah, it doesn't apply there.
Not unless the Holy Spirit specifically told you to apply it there.
But you know, we'll just grab a phrase and then shoot it into life.
And then we wonder why it doesn't work.
Do you know what he's talking about at the end of Romans 8?
Nothing can separate us from the love of God.
He talks about it before the verse.
He talks about it after I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels,
no things present, no things to come.
Nothing can separate me from the love of God in him or in Christ.
So if you want a direct scriptural application of we are conquerors and more than conquerors,
it has to do with us understanding we are loved.
And that that love toward us can never be stopped by anything.
And from there it can fan out.
But that is the specific...
I'm a conqueror in that all the doubt, all the I wonder if God even cares about me.
My life really went bad this last week and it was tough.
And I don't even know if God loves me and da da da da.
You're not a conqueror.
You need to conquer all those doubt thoughts of does God even love me?
Is he even paying attention? Does he care?
You've got to conquer that.
Because faith works by...
faith worketh, King James, faith worketh by love.
If we're not secure in our love with God, our faith won't work well.
If there's cracks, there's going to be all kinds of doubt that's going to come.
I don't even know if God loves me and I'm not sure and I'm not worthy and I'm not good enough.
And I do so much wrong and da da da.
You've got to conquer that whole realm and come to the understanding,
Paul did of there's nothing separate me from the love of God.
I am loved. Period. So let's not even go there.
Okay, message number two. Let's go on.
A large reason we need to know who we are in Christ is because we rule our lives.
By Scripture, we're told to rule our lives.
It started with Adam and Eve. It comes all the way through Scripture.
We're supposed to run our lives.
We're supposed to rule our lives.
We decide what will happen in our lives, in Christ.
You know, you always got to add the in Christ part.
But we are the ones who rule and so forth.
So on what basis are you ruling your life?
See, if we don't know who we are, we will put up with stuff we should never put up with.
And we will not pursue stuff we should be saying that is mine.
This is who I am in God. That is mine by inheritance.
That's covenant. That's mine.
But we don't know. So we're kind of just floundering.
So prayer had the emphasis of expansion.
It has flowed kind of like right through the service.
So apply it right here.
We need to expand in understanding and revelation of who we are.
The last half of the first chapter that Paul prayed.
We need to expand into that.
Because that is what lays out our identity and who we are and gets the whole thing kick started.
So we started in Ephesians 1.
And I made some notes here.
So I'm going to go through. We went through a number of verses.
We ended at verse 6. So I'm not going to reteach all that.
But I want to see you, have you see what I did with the PowerPoint.
So who am I in Ephesians 2?
How am I being described? Just kind of keep that in your mind as we go through this.
Who am I? How am I being described here?
There is the first verse. So I listed.
What does the first verse say I am? How am I being described?
It describes me as alive in verse 1 and in verse 5.
There is the second verse.
How does it describe me?
I no longer live in trespasses and sin.
Because he says at which time you used to live
following the course, fashion of the world and fashion of the world.
Some of you got a little twinge or two when I talked about staying in style.
Fashion last week.
I had some comments this week.
That's good. I made you think. That was my whole point.
You got to figure it out between you and God.
We're not going to prescribe fashion here.
You got to figure it out.
But I'll tell you this.
Once fashion is so important, you can't afford to tithe.
You're wrong.
Well, I don't have enough money to tithe.
You know how much clothes cost? Well, quit buying so many of them.
Well, I got to stay in style.
Well, do you? Really?
You know, God made a comment to me two weeks ago.
Because I've been asking this question.
Because things on earth were under the prince and power of the air,
and he skewed everything.
Everything on this earth is skewed.
That's what 1 John 2, 15 through 17 says.
Everything's been touched. It's not of the Father.
And I'd been asking this question for a long time.
And he gave me an answer that actually surprised me.
I said, what do you think about how people look physically?
It's an odd question, but I've been asking it for a while.
What do you think about how people look physically?
No answer. Nothing.
No, seriously.
You know, what do you think of how people look physically?
Because some people spend a lot of time on their physical being
and a lot of money, and others, not so much.
Where are you at on the whole thing?
How people look?
All of a sudden, right out of the blue, he said,
you know, you've been asking me about what I think about how people look physically?
He said, I don't care.
I don't care how you look physically.
It's not the issue.
So I've been pondering that.
It's like, you know what?
You're probably right, God, on that one.
I think I heard you on that one.
It's not the issue.
We make it the issue.
Oh, it's so important.
Is it? Really?
He said, I don't care.
And I was thinking he was going to go on.
He never did.
He just said, I don't care.
So in other words, I don't care if you're tall.
I don't care if you're short.
I don't care if you're fat.
I don't care if you're thin.
I don't care.
There's bigger fish to fry.
So I don't care.
And it's like, well, this world's been deceived on that one.
Because man, is it important in this world how you look?
So, there's all the points in that verse.
I'm taking time here.
There was verse number three.
There's all the points that we talked about in verse number three.
I no longer live or conduct myself by the passions of my flesh.
I don't obey the impulses and thoughts of my flesh, the old nature.
Because he were a new creation.
I'm not a child of God's wrath, nor an heir of his indignation.
We're a new creation.
So now let me stop right there with those first two lines,
because you're going to see it over and over as Paul lists this.
The difference between calling something by face and it manifests
is the difference between positional and progressive.
I no longer live or conduct myself by the passions of my flesh.
Positionally, that's how God sees us.
Progressively, the Holy Spirit is working on us all the time.
One piece at a time, cleaning us up.
I don't obey the impulses and thoughts of my flesh.
That should be our statement of faith.
That's our goal.
I'm not going to follow the flesh at all.
Positionally, everything we need to be totally free of the flesh
and following its impulses and its desires is already bought and paid for.
It's ours by inheritance. It's mine.
Progressively, I have to learn to walk this out.
So when you read that, it's like,
well, I don't obey the impulses and thoughts of my flesh.
Well, that's not true. That's not me.
Positionally, it is.
God is calling you the righteousness of Himself.
There is no sin in God whatsoever.
And if we're His righteousness, there's nothing in us whatsoever.
God is calling that by face through the blood of Jesus.
He sees us that way.
But there still is a progressive work the Holy Spirit's doing
to bring us to that point.
And here's the awesome part of the gift that comes with salvation
or the gift of salvation.
No matter how far we get in life,
because it's a lifelong journey, we still won't get there.
No matter how far we get as we pursue God
and allow Him to keep changing us,
if we only got this far and we die,
we are dressed in robes of righteousness that are pure white.
We are the righteousness of God, period.
And this whole mess in between that we never got to,
I don't want to think about it, God says.
Just get rid of it.
Jesus took care of that in His blood.
You have to see yourself that way.
Who am I?
I'm the righteousness of God.
From His perspective, He's calling that over me in faith.
Yeah, there's still some things I'm working on,
but when I stand before Him,
as long as I am following and obeying,
I will stand before Him clean.
Perfect, holy, righteous.
You say, but you weren't, you never got there.
I know the rest is a gift.
It's a gift. I couldn't earn it.
He just gave it to me.
That's who I am.
You know, I've had people say,
aren't you afraid of standing at judge...
I am looking forward to judgment.
To stand before Jesus and have Him lay it out,
I am so looking forward to it.
Because none of you, I mean, you're all good.
But I have people who think I'm a certain way.
And I've done certain things.
And I'm disqualified because my heart is bad.
And I want to stand before the judge
and let Him set that straight.
Paul talked about that.
Let's not judge each other.
In fact, he says, don't even judge yourself.
Don't get into that realm.
I am so looking forward to judgment.
Aren't you ashamed of some things?
None of them are going to show up.
You say, how can that be?
Because I have been forgiven.
I am saved.
All the old things are gone.
As far as the east is from the west.
So it's like, you know, I had one person say,
well, I get to heaven.
I'm kind of expecting there's going to be a big screen
and they're going to play my life for everybody.
And I'm going to be so embarrassed.
It's like, you have no clue who you are.
That is not the way it works.
Remember, let's see if I can remember his name.
Roland.
Roland.
R.H. Buck.
Back in the 70s, he had phenomenal visitations by angels.
And they were explaining to him some things
that the body of Christ desperately needed.
I think you can still find his stuff on YouTube.
R.H. Buck.
Roland.
Visitation of angels?
Is that what it was called?
Well, he caught so much flak,
because he had one angel come to him
and explained to him out of Scripture,
judgment day is the day when the Father says thank you.
Oh, they practically crucified the man.
That is not true.
That's the day all our sins are brought out
and we're judged.
Well, that's not true either.
That's not scriptural.
But they said, no, that's the day the,
you know, because your sins are washed away.
You're white as snow.
So you're being judged for all this negative?
There is no negative.
You know that stuff you repented out 5, 6, 7 times?
God don't even know what you're talking about.
Why are you bringing this up?
You never did it.
You know how God thinks?
Boy, we're into something here.
That's not in them.
We're not going to get very far.
When he's talking about Abraham,
he calls him the man of faith
who, depending upon what translation you read,
he did not falter.
He did not sway.
He did not lose faith at all.
That's how God sees Abraham.
Why?
Because I'm sure at some point Abraham went,
oh God, I messed that one up.
I'm sorry.
Forgive me.
God don't even remember
that Abraham messed this up.
That Abraham faltered in his faith.
God doesn't see it that way.
He never stumbled in his faith.
It's the human thinking that goes,
yeah, but that ain't right because,
I mean, you can read in the Bible.
Why no?
But God doesn't think that way.
When he sees you clean, he sees you clean.
When he says, you will no longer live
by the lusts of the flesh.
That's what he calls.
And through the blood of Jesus,
that's how he sees us.
While these people are just walking it out,
perfect.
And the Holy Spirit's gone.
We talking about the same one here because
I'm working on some things here.
But that perfect, that white as snow,
without spot or wrinkle,
no blemish, no matter how far we made it,
when we go stand before him,
that's how he's going to see you.
So our job is to keep walking this thing out
and keep submitting.
Verse four changes everything,
but God, this is what that verse says.
Because of his intense love,
God changed me.
Not because of my good looks,
because he doesn't care what you look like.
You're still thinking about that one, aren't you?
Well, I'm really working on myself.
I hope God's impressing us at all.
We've all been affected by sin
and no matter how...
Yeah, I don't know if I should say that.
I will.
You ready?
I heard this saying
two different sings when I got into Mary's family.
You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
And no matter how much time and money
you spend dressing up a pig, it's still a pig.
Isn't that deep?
You say, what's your point?
My point is,
these bodies are fallen.
They're corruptible.
They're full of sin.
According to Romans 7, they're enemies of God.
This flesh is yuck.
And when God looks at it
about the only way he can deal with us honestly and fairly
is to look past it and say,
yeah, that's all fallen.
I got new bodies for all these people.
I really don't care now.
Let's keep them healthy.
Let's keep them in their destiny.
Let's keep them going.
But whether one ear is bigger than the other
or one eye is bigger than the other
or whether their nose is on sideways
or I really don't care.
Because from God's perspective, the whole thing is ugly.
Compared to what it would have been without sin.
Somebody here is struggling with your looks.
I'm on that this morning.
God don't care.
You know, if I could just lose some weight
God would be impressed.
God don't care.
It's the heart.
It's the heart.
It's the inner man.
It's not the outer man.
The outer man is the deception of the Prince of Darkness.
All the focus is on the outer man.
How are you between you and God?
We're not going to talk about that.
See, it's flipped.
So let's flip it back.
Okay.
Verse 5, there it is.
We talked about it.
Here's what it says in verse 5.
I am alive.
I have fellowship with Christ.
I'm also in union with Him.
The same life force Jesus has lives in me and I am saved.
And what that means is I'm delivered from judgment
and made a partaker of what He brought us in salvation.
Made a partaker of salvation.
I grew up in a predominantly Catholic community
and one of the gripes that those of that persuasion
had with us is you people, you always say you're saved.
Well, I am.
Yeah, but you're saved.
You can't know until you die.
It's too late if you're not.
You got to know early.
It'd be good to know early.
But that was a gripe.
They bring it up in a sarcastic way.
And you're always saved.
I'm saved.
Well, that's what it says right there.
Verse number six, there's the verse and here's the points in it.
We won't go through them again except I do want to hit this
because I briefly hit it last week
and now I'm going to hit it again and challenge you.
Let's read the verse again.
And He raised us up together with Him.
That's who we are now.
That's how it's describing you.
He raised you up together with Him being Christ
and made you sit down together
giving you joint seating with Him in the heavenly sphere.
And where is He seated?
Right hand of the Father.
Gave you that by virtue of our being in Christ.
How did we get this?
By virtue of our being in Christ.
That's how this happens.
So I made this comment.
Go to the last one.
Consequently, everything in chapter 1, 21 through 23 is now mine.
So it says He raised us up, made us sit in heaven with Christ.
So I want to hit this hard enough now that this really shocks you.
Could you bring up Ephesians 1, 21 through 23 in the amplified?
Because this is how it describes that what He just applied to us,
you're sitting in on the throne with Christ because you're in Christ.
Here is how chapter 1 describes Christ in that.
There we go.
It's speaking.
Go back to verse 20.
Can you quickly?
Does that work for you?
Which He produced in Christ when He raised him from the dead
and seated him at His own right hand in heavenly places.
So you did good on the...
He seated at the right hand because we just read it last week.
Verse number 21.
So where is this spot?
Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion,
whether angelic or human.
And far above every name that is named,
above every title that can be conferred,
not only in this age, but also in the one to come.
So stop right, we'll hold it right there.
He gave us joint participation with Him being in Christ.
We're seated with Him.
So if this describes Him,
He said, I'm going to bring you here
and you're going to do this with me just like me.
It describes you.
Your authority is far.
Your rule and authority and power and dominion is above.
Your rule and authority,
your power and dominion is above angels, humans,
and anything that can be named
and any title that can be conferred.
That's who you are.
In Christ.
Get out of Christ and none of that applies.
But in Christ, not only in this wretched place
we're living in now,
but also in eternity, the one to come.
So you say, do you mean that we're going to rule and reign in eternity?
Oh, it's better than that. Go to the next verse.
And He put all things in every realm
in subjection under Christ's feet.
Now verse 23 is going to tell us we're the body of Christ
and that we're the ones that He does this through.
Now He wants to do it here, not just there.
He wants to do it here.
Put all things in subjection under Jesus.
By us doing it.
By you doing it.
And appointed Jesus as supreme and authoritative.
He's over all things where?
In the church, depending upon what translation,
it might say through the church.
So go to the next verse.
Which is His body.
The church and the body are synonymous.
The body of Christ is the church.
The church is the body of Christ.
The fullness of Him who is Him, Jesus,
who fills and completes all things
in all believers.
Let me read this to make sure,
because there's different amplifies.
Ephesians chapter 1 verse 23.
Yep, I like my amplified better.
Can you go to the classic version?
Got it?
Oh yeah, see the difference?
It's a different way of explaining those original Greek words.
Which is His body, the fullness of Him,
who fills all in all.
Who fills all in all?
Go back to verse 22.
He is supreme throughout the church,
comma, next verse, which is His body.
The fullness of Him, the body is the fullness of Christ
who fills all in all.
Because we've been given authority over all.
That's how, go back to the first message.
That's how we were created, our design.
For in that body lives the full measure of Him
who makes everything complete,
and Him who fills everything everywhere with Himself.
Do you know how Jesus, who is locked into a human body now,
He is no longer omnipresent.
He gave that up to come and die for you.
The Father is a spirit, the Holy Spirit is a spirit.
Jesus is locked in to a human body.
He is not omnipresent anymore.
He gave that up to be our Savior.
So how is He going to fill and cover everything?
Somebody tell me.
Through us, through you.
That's who you are.
He wants to do it now,
and He's going to do it throughout eternity.
That's who we are.
We're His rulers.
We're the ones who fill everything for Him.
Because He gave us all the authority to do that.
Now I can tell you what, if I quit right here
and say go home and just meditate on those three verses,
they're going to stretch you.
They're going to stretch you.
Because part of the gift is,
when He brought us up and sat us on the throne,
we'll go back to that PowerPoint in that verse here.
If you could bring that up, that'd be great.
When He brought us in and sat us on the throne with Him,
He gave all those things to us as a gift.
Not because we earned Him,
not because we were good enough,
not because we were good looking enough.
A gift.
Because He doesn't care how you look.
Man looks at the outward,
but God looks at the heart.
See, it's even scriptural.
Some of the looks on your face are like,
just ponder it.
It'll be fun.
Verse 6.
He raised us up together.
Can you take us to that PowerPoint?
Verse 6.
He raised us up together with Him
and made us sit down together,
giving us joint seating.
When you are joint with someone on a contract
or on a deed or whatever,
who owns the most?
It's equal.
Joint means equal.
He brought us into that spot of rulership
and made us equal with Him
as long as we're in Christ.
All right, if we're going to get halfway through this,
we got to kick it in gear and go.
So verse 7.
He did this.
Why did He do this?
He did this that He might clearly demonstrate
through the ages to come
the immeasurable, limitless,
surpassing riches of His free grace,
His unmerited favor in His kindness
and goodness of heart toward us
in Christ Jesus.
He did this that He might clearly demonstrate.
My mind goes to demonstrate to who?
Demonstrate to who?
In the ages to come.
We're talking eternity to come.
He wants the living demonstration
of who He is.
So I got a thought for you.
Who is the one that is continually
saying God is a creep?
God is unfair?
God is not just?
God is out to destroy you?
God will take advantage of you?
God wants your ties so you can be poor?
God wants you sick?
God wants you worshiping Him?
Because He's some kind of egomaniac?
God, God, God, He's just...
God is just a mess.
Who is that one?
Satan, Lucifer.
Satan.
I think...
I could be wrong...
but I think God is kicking him in the teeth.
Right there in that verse.
He says,
You've called me this
and billions of people have believed it.
So for eternity,
I have done something that demonstrates
I am not what you accuse me of being.
Just think about it.
So what does it say I am there?
I am the recipient of His immeasurable, limitless free grace,
favor, kindness, and His good heart.
That's who I am.
I'm the recipient of this.
God loves me.
And I've conquered all the stuff that tells me He doesn't.
Am I going too fast for you?
Verse 8.
I'm going to speed up then.
For it is by grace, free grace.
God's unmerited favor that you are saved.
I am saved.
I am saved.
I am delivered from judgment
and made partakers of Christ's salvation through my face.
That's how I get in Christ.
And this salvation is not of me or yourselves.
It's not my doing.
It came not through my work or my striving.
This is a gift.
So what is that verse telling me about me?
By God's gift of grace and through my faith, I am saved.
Delivered from justice and made a partaker of His salvation.
Not because of works, not fulfillment of the law.
And this is a repeat of verse 8, so I didn't put it there.
I put it under 9.
Not because of works, not the fulfillment of the law's demands.
That's works, by the way, scriptural.
Well, we don't have to go to church to live for God.
God's not into works.
Going to church, God does not consider a work
unless you're trying to earn your salvation through it.
He considers what the law tells us we're supposed to do
the kind of works we're not supposed to do.
Okay?
Follow me?
Lest any man should boast.
I was just talking with a guy this last week who is...
He's suffering from Calvinism, legalism and performance.
He's Christian, but those three really messed him up
and he's struggling with it.
And we were talking about some things
and he said, I'm just tired of telling me
if I... people telling me if I would live like them
my life would be as great as theirs is.
He said, I'm just tired of it.
Redeverence.
Not because of works, fulfillment of all the things we do
and all the rules.
Lest any man should boast.
That's what they're doing.
When they tell them.
You know, if you would do what I do,
if you would read your Bible every day,
if you went to church every time the doors are open,
your life would be good too.
You're bragging on your efforts.
Exactly what Paul says.
No, no, no, no, no.
It's not the result of what anyone can possibly do.
So now he expanded it beyond the law.
Anything you can possibly do.
Because if we can do something that impresses God,
we get proud, we brag.
So no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself.
So what's it saying?
It's not the result of me keeping the law by my works
and or Paul did expand it according to the Amplified
into anything we can do that we can wave out there
and say, look how great I'm doing.
For we are God's own handiwork.
His workmanship created in Christ Jesus,
born and new, that we may do good works which God predestined,
planned beforehand for us,
taking paths which he prepared ahead of time,
that we should walk in them,
living the good life which he pre-arranged
and made ready for us to live.
Paul is not contradicting himself
between verse 8 and 9 and 10.
8 and 9 he says, this is not by works.
Verse 10 he says, by the way,
the reason God did this for you,
so you can do good works.
See, right there the Bible contradicts itself.
No, don't.
We got into it in this...
we were doing podcasts this last week
and I don't know if it was in...
I don't think it was in the first one.
We got into it later
and we were dealing with Galatians 5
walking by the Spirit versus by the flesh.
And Paul makes a statement in there
that I've said over and over
and he just nails it in one verse
so you have to listen to the podcast
to find that verse.
If we live by the Spirit,
he says we're not under law.
For under law,
we're not living by the Spirit.
What's he saying?
Human beings, especially church people,
love rules.
They love rules.
Let's make a rule about this.
Did you see how that person came dressed?
Yes, we need to make a rule.
They love rules.
Just tell me what I need to do.
Tell me what the rule is.
You can't live by rules
and by the Spirit.
Rules were Old Testament.
New Testament is
the Holy Spirit has come inside of you
to teach you, guide you, equip you,
lead you, take you where you need to go.
And in this chapter,
Paul is going to really disillusion
some of us who love rules.
So let's get there before our time is up.
Verse 10, we are God's own handiwork.
We read the verse. Let's not go through it again.
Here's what it's saying.
I am God's workmanship.
I've been created in Christ to do good works.
What's the difference between good works and bad works?
Bad works are based on rules.
Good works are based on the Spirit told me to do it.
Just, if you want, it's just a simple definition.
Why don't you wear a suit when you go to church?
Isn't that the rule?
Yeah, exactly why I don't do it.
I'm not going to obey rules.
I'm going to try to follow the Spirit.
Them who are led by the Spirit are the sons of God.
Those who keep all the rules are a bunch of Pharisees, scribes, and...
Okay, move on.
I have a preplanned life that God has designed for me to live in.
The works God wants me to do are part of that design, that life.
What are the works?
I'm going to say it again.
What are the works?
Because he is about to take the rules and kick them out.
So get ready for that.
So what are the works?
What has God asked you to do?
That's the works.
What has he asked you to do?
What he asked you to do, he's going to...
You're his handiwork.
He's working in you.
He's working in your life.
He's maturing you. He's changing you.
He's helping you get over some things.
Because he's asked you to do some things.
It's part of the reason you hear that preplanned life.
And by the Spirit, he's going to lead you into that.
If you lock down and get stubborn and say,
I ain't doing that.
Yeah, now we have a problem.
The things that God's looking for is obedience to what he's asking us to do.
Those are the works he's prepared us for.
Verse 11,
Therefore remember that at one time you were Gentiles.
Heathens.
In the flesh.
Called uncircumcision by the Jews, the circumcised ones.
In the flesh, it's merely a mark in the flesh made by human hands.
So who am I?
How does this apply to me?
I'm no longer a heathen.
I'm not without God.
I have God.
I'm not a heathen.
You're not a heathen.
So don't call when your children are doing things you don't like.
Don't call them a bunch of little heathens.
Not a bunch of little heathens.
You never listen.
If they're saved, they're not heathens.
I'm not a heathen.
You're not a heathen.
In other words, without God.
Remember that you were at that time separated living apart from Christ.
Before you got in Christ.
You were excluded from all part in Him.
Utterly estranged and outlawed from the rights of Israel as a nation.
And strangers with no share in the sacred compacts of the messianic promise.
With no knowledge of or right in God's agreements, His covenants.
And you had no hope.
You had no promises.
You were in the world without God.
I mean that is a huge verse.
But who am I in that verse?
I am connected with Christ.
It should have the word have there.
I have the rights of the nation of Israel.
I didn't type that out just right.
I have the rights of the nation of Israel.
I share in the sacred compacts of the Messiah's promises.
I have knowledge of and I have right to God's covenants.
I have hope because I have God while I'm in this world.
Who am I? That's who I am.
Now if you just take that one verse and go well who are you?
Well I'm a plumber.
That's really lame compared to that right there.
You say what are the rights of the nation of Israel?
The covenants.
The covenants were given to Israel and we were brought in under them.
Some group of people had to bring the Messiah into the world.
That's what the nation of Israel, that's what that whole thing is about.
Some group of people had to bring the Messiah in.
Abraham started it, they became his lineage, nation of Israel.
They brought in the Messiah.
There were promises, covenants made through Jesus that I have right to.
I've been brought into this.
And of course we could take that verse and make a series out of that verse.
Don't have time.
But that's who you are.
That's who you are.
If you just understand the first line.
I am connected to Christ.
What does the word Christ mean?
Messiah anointed one in his anointing.
I am connected to the anointing.
The anointing breaks the yoke, loses the bondage.
So if I just believe, wait a second.
I am connected to the anointing.
Jesus explained it this way.
He said I'm the vine, you're the branches.
You can do nothing without me.
But if you stick in me, anything's possible.
Well, I'm connected to Christ.
I'm connected to the anointing.
So when things aren't working, if we actually understand that's who I am.
And things aren't working, it riles us up.
People who don't understand who they are will go,
well, I don't know, I prayed, maybe this is what God wants.
Yeah, you don't know who you are.
You're connected to the anointing.
The anointing is supposed to be fixing this problem.
Well, then why isn't it? I don't know.
But you need to get riled up enough to find out.
Study, to show yourself approved.
And that comes, you've got to get motivated.
Something's got to make you go,
I'm going to find out what this is all about.
Because I am connected to the anointing.
And the anointing is not showing up in my life.
What is the issue here? Because I am that.
That's an amen spot.
Next verse.
But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away
through by in the blood of Christ have been brought near.
What does that mean?
In Jesus I am brought near to the Father.
The Father and I have a wonderful relationship.
Most Christians are afraid of the Father.
Father and I have a wonderful relationship
because I'm near Him.
I've been brought near Him.
He talks to me.
He talks to you.
He loves you.
There's nothing you can do to separate yourself from His love.
That's who I am.
I can make the worst decisions tomorrow
and my whole entire lifetime and on Tuesday morning
the Father will love me as much as He does
before I ever made those decisions.
Because see, I've conquered all that doubt about that.
I'm a conqueror.
In fact, I'm more than a conqueror.
You're either going to leave happy, mad, or confused this morning.
Because I'm challenging all your religion.
Verse 14,
For He Himself is our peace, our bond of unity and harmony.
He has made us both, Jew and Gentile, one body
and has broken down and destroyed,
abolished the hostile dividing wall between us.
What does that say?
Jesus is my peace and unity with the Jewish people.
I have been made one body with them.
Now, this was a huge, a bigger issue for them back there
than it is for us because of culture,
because of salvation had come through the nation of Israel
and not was going to the Gentiles.
Paul was dealing with the Gentiles
and the Jews didn't like it.
That's why they followed them around
and tried to kill them all the time, persecuted them.
They didn't like it.
So, the issue of what Jesus did
was take the Jew and Gentile and make one out of them
and he had to break something, destroy something,
remove something, let's say it that way,
that was dividing the two.
Well, if you know anything about the old Jewish mindset,
you already know what that is.
But let's read on.
How did he do it?
By abolishing in his own crucified flesh
the enmity, the enemy status,
caused by the law with its decrees and ordinances
which he annulled.
That he might, from the two,
create in himself one new man,
a new quality of humanity out of the two
making peace, making peace what?
Between the Gentiles nations
and the nation of Israel, the Jewish people.
Why? Because these people were really full of themselves.
We are Abraham, see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
is our father. We have the law.
You are nothing but Gentile dogs.
And we are not going to share with you
because you discussed us.
We are the chosen people.
To get salvation to the Gentile,
God had to kick that wall down.
They were so proud of who they were
and they have Moses' law
that God wrote with his finger.
See, we are the ones.
And that whole thing was getting in the way
of saving the world.
So what did God do?
He says, let's just get the law out of the way.
We're going to abolish it.
With all its decrees and ordinances
we're going to annull the law.
There's many scriptures in Hebrews
that explains that.
So let's just jump there
because we don't have much time.
If you pay attention,
we don't have the Ten Commandments
posted any place in this building.
Are they bad? No, they're not bad.
We're just not under them.
He killed them.
Fulfilled them. Ended them.
Why?
To get the Jews off their high horse
so salvation could go to the world.
That's why he did it.
Because as long as they were so proud
of who they were and what they had,
we were not going to be allowed in
from their perspective.
He says, well, let's just take everything
that you're so flutin' high-minded about
and let's just do away with it.
Annull it.
You say, well, if we don't have any rules,
what do we live by?
Oh, we have a rule.
Love.
And the Holy Spirit takes that one rule
and he applies it to all of our life
as we follow the Spirit.
Not the rules.
Rules make us judgmental.
Rules make us critical.
Rules make us look down on other people
and they never measure up to as good
as we're doing it because we are so awesome.
I'm trying to remember the phrase.
Felicia might remember it.
There was a person in our past,
I'll just say it this way, who was a leader,
a person of influence.
Correct me if I'm wrong in this.
He was working with young people
and he made this statement.
He said, don't you dare
look at the opposite sex
with lost or unclean thoughts or anything.
I have never had an unclean thought.
Is that how he said it?
I have never had a sexual thought
towards a woman in my lifetime.
So the rule is,
based on my either delusion or lying,
he wasn't.
He was married, he had children.
But it is a valid question.
See, Christians love rules.
That is Old Testament law.
God gave 10 rules and by the time
the Jewish nation was done with them,
didn't they have 630 some rules?
They love rules.
The church loves rules.
You can't wear that kind of clothes at church.
Why? Well, it's not godly.
Where does it say that?
Well, anybody who is mature in God knows that.
It's a rule. Get over it.
It's a dumb rule.
I'm pushing on you.
What are the rules to attend word of life?
Learn to love and follow the Spirit.
You don't got any more rules than that?
Well, we've got organizational stuff,
so if you get weird, we can say, hey, you know.
Back up a little bit here.
You're getting a little weird now.
But as far as living for God, there's two rules.
If you want to call them rules,
love God with all your heart, soul and mind and strength.
Love your neighbors yourself.
And the Spirit has been given
because God got rid of the rules.
Why did he get rid of the rules?
I like the rules.
The rules were the problem.
So I've had people say to me,
they'll quote something out of the Ten Commandments to me.
One way or the other.
And my response is always,
why are you going to the Ten Commandments?
That doesn't apply to me.
And then the jaw drops.
I thought this is a church.
I thought you're a minister.
Why am?
You don't believe in the Ten Commandments?
No, I believe in them.
They just don't apply to me.
How can you say that?
Paul said it.
Hebrews, it says it over and over and over.
They don't apply to us.
We're not under that covenant.
Well, you must think you got it pretty good.
Yeah, this is a better covenant than that one.
That's what the Bible says.
We got a better covenant.
You said, well, you possibly can't just live by love.
God does.
Well, people can get away with anything.
Ah, we need a rule.
Because they're going to get away with stuff.
And somebody's got to shut this down.
You know, we don't need a rule.
Do you know what we need?
We need to learn how to follow the Holy Spirit.
Because he won't let you get away with anything if you've noticed.
If you can hear him at all and you're paying attention,
just go do something stupid.
It takes a day or two and he's going to say, by the way...
You know what you did?
Sometimes a lot quicker.
You know what you said back there to your wife?
And you're going, oh, man, he was listening.
Yeah, he's listening to everything.
And he's going to call you on it because it wasn't love.
Okay, did I make my point there?
So, the point is, I am now a new creation,
a new man with the Jewish people.
So to say, well, these people are Messianic Jews.
There is no such thing.
Well, these people are Gentiles.
Well, not if you're in Christ, you're not.
You're no longer Gentile.
You're no longer Jew.
There is a new creation made.
Taking both of them, bringing them together as one.
I'm a new creation.
And he designed to reconcile to God both Jew and Gentile
united in a single body by means of his cross.
So he brought the two together as one.
So God sees it.
And as a result of that, killing the mutual enmity
and bringing the feud to an end.
So I am reconciled to God and now joined as one man
with the Israelites who are in Christ.
Israelites who are not in Christ, that's different.
It all revolves around being in Christ.
And he came and preached glad tidings of peace to you
who were afar off and peace to those who were near.
I have received the message of peace.
And by the Holy Spirit I will live in peace.
And anything that tries to take my peace,
we're going to have it out.
I'm going to live in peace.
He's the Prince of peace.
Peace he's given to us.
Not as the world gives give on to you.
So do not let your heart be troubled.
Do not be afraid.
I'm not going to lose my peace.
Throw your fit.
Jump up and down.
Whatever you got to do.
I'm not going to lose my peace over you.
And we shouldn't lose our peace over anyone or anything.
Because we've received the message we can live in peace.
For it is through him that we both,
whether far off or near, Jew and Gentile,
now have an introduction accessed by one Holy Spirit
to the Father so that we are able to approach him.
I have access with the Israelites to the Father.
I now have the promises of that nation.
I now have the Holy Spirit working with me and in me.
Therefore, you are no longer outsiders.
I'm not an outsider.
But you now share citizenship with the saints
and you belong to God's household.
Who am I?
I'm not an outsider.
I'm a citizen of heaven.
And by the way, I'm part of his family.
Both of those are upgrades from Adam and Eve, by the way.
You are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets
with Christ Jesus himself, the chief cornerstone.
In Christ, my spiritual life,
my spiritual being,
is built on the solid foundation of Jesus,
the apostles and the prophets.
How do you know that you're going the right direction?
He's answering that question.
Well, how do you know Judaism isn't right?
Because Judaism isn't built on Christ
and the apostles and the prophets.
Prophets were part of it, but not the whole picture.
For people who struggle, you need to realize
people who struggle with knowing,
maybe Muslims are right, maybe Buddhists are right,
maybe Hindus are right, maybe whatever is right.
Go to God and say, like Paul did last half of that first chapter,
he says, you got to see this.
You have to have supernatural revelation to see
you are built on good ground.
You're not off.
You have to see that in your spirit.
I can talk to you all day long, not convince you.
You have to see it in your spirit.
You are built on the right foundation.
That was Paul's prayer leading into this.
Okay, next verse.
In him the whole structure is joined,
bound, welded together harmoniously.
So now he's talking about the structure, the body.
It continues to rise, grow, increase
into a holy temple in the Lord,
a sanctuary dedicated, consecrated and sacred
to the presence of the Lord.
Lot in there. Let me just say it this way.
I am part of the whole structure.
That's the corporate body, the corporate building
that is being built.
That's what that verse says.
In him the whole structure is being welded
and put together into a holy temple in the Lord.
The whole structure.
Well, I'm in that structure as the body, okay?
So I'm part of that structure and in him...
Now the structure, he's into the structure.
The structure is in him and it's with each other, the body.
In him and in fellowship with one another,
you yourselves also are being built up.
See, I'm in that structure.
You are in that structure.
You are being built up into the structure with the rest.
Here we go.
To form a fixed abode, a dwelling place of God in
by through the Spirit.
He just hits the Spirit.
He just hits it on a glancing blow in verses 21 and 22.
But that is the open door into everything we live in.
In Christ and in fellowship with each other, corporate body.
I am part of the corporate anointing that allows the
Holy Spirit to abide and be active among us.
Read the verse again, you'll see it.
In him and with each other, you are being built into
a structure with each other with the rest.
To form a fixed dwelling place of God by and through the Spirit.
So as a corporate body, the Holy Spirit comes,
fixes himself here and works here.
Well, how does the anointing get into that?
The Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me
and He has anointed me.
The word Christ means Messiah, anointed one and His anointing.
First John chapter 2, you all have an anointing from God.
Because if you're in Christ, you've got the Holy Spirit.
So as a result, in Christ as a corporate body with each other,
I'm part of this, you're part of this.
There is a corporate anointing that forms,
that allows the Holy Spirit to not only rest here in power
and strength and might, but to be active here.
That's who we are.
It's who we are.
So here is my challenge to us.
And there's more in that PowerPoint.
We'll just pick it up next week and finish that PowerPoint.
There's more there.
But here's my challenge to us.
We need to pray.
Can you bring Ephesians 1 back up?
We'll start at verse 16 in my amplified version.
I do not cease to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers.
For I always pray to God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory, that He may grant you the spirit of wisdom and revelation.
Insight into mysteries and secrets in the deep and intimate knowledge of Him.
This is what Paul prayed for the Ephesians and he prayed for the body of Christ.
Getting the eyes of your heart flooded with light so that you can know
and understand the hope He's called you to.
Verse 19,
So you can know and understand what is the immeasurable, unlimited,
and surpassing greatness of His power in us and His power for us who believe.
As demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength.
Take the PowerPoint from this morning when it comes up online,
grab that, print it out, do something with it.
Take that PowerPoint and pray Paul's prayer over yourself.
Over and over and over. I got to see this. I have to understand this.
If it doesn't drop into our heart supernaturally, it won't get in our heart.
It's way too big for our ears to understand, our head to understand.
It is way beyond. This has to drop into my heart.
And if it gets into my heart, it'll change me forever.
Because now I begin to see, oh, that's who I am.
Now I want you to notice something. I'm going to point it out at the end and we're done.
Because there's your homework.
Pray those three verses over yourself. Pray it over yourself.
Pray it. Put your name in there.
Call what He's calling for us. Call it for yourself.
Pray it. Pray it. Pray it.
So that the ground gets formed so these seeds can go in and be planted.
Then go back through that PowerPoint and say, that's what I am. That's what I am. That's what I am. That's what I am.
I want to point something out to you.
When God was talking to Moses and Moses said, who do you say?
Who am I supposed to say you are when they say who sent you?
What did He say? I am.
Now I want you to notice something.
We are the children of the I am.
Okay?
So in our culture we pick up the surname.
So Matt's children are Ruth and my children are Pelts and, you know, what I am,
they pick up that same. They're the children. Okay?
He's the great I am.
And in Christ, you know what we keep saying? I am.
I am reconciled. I am redeemed. I am forgiven. I am. I am bought by the blood. I am.
What gives us the right to say that? Being in Christ, we are children of the great I am that makes us I ams.
You might need to think about that for a bit.
I can give you scripture on that if you say, well, I don't know if that's good. I'll give you scripture on it.
You need that.
So when I say I am saved, I'm using His name.
Tell them who sent you. I am.
By the way, I am also in Christ.
I am.
What He is, I am.
Wait into that one. Swim around on that one for a while. See what He reveals.
Heavenly Father, expand us.
Expand us beyond rules. Expand us beyond religion. Expand us beyond tradition.
Expand us to understand who we are in Christ.
And how to live that out. Expand us. Give us wisdom. Give us revelation.
Give us insight. Drop this thing into our inner man, our heart.
Get it boiling in there.
Because as a man thinketh, so is he.
We have to understand who we are if we're going to walk this thing out.
Increasingly in the glory, from glory to glory to glory.
And increasingly, overcomingly.
Growing, growing, growing. Winning, winning, winning.
Succeeding, succeeding, succeeding. Why? Because I am in Christ.
And this is who I am.
You convince us, Father, in Jesus' name, amen.