Who Are We in the Lord?

Audio from Sermon:

Our relationship with the Lord is one where we do not have to fear Him--this is something I did for most of my life. He was always a distant God, always disappointed in my faults and in me. But I was only distant from Him in my mind (my thinking), not in reality [Colossians 1:21]. He was and is always close to me and never angry with me. I am (we are) the Righteousness of Christ: all my sins are forgiven, everyone's sins are forgiven, and His anger was placed on Jesus--how can He then be mad at me, or even mad at the world or anyone in it.

Colossians 1:12-14, 15-18, 19-20, 21-23

[We give] thanks to the Father who has qualified us (made us worthy) to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the Light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed (moved) us into the kingdom of the Son of His Love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Once & For All Time Forgiven

Hebrews 10:12

But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God

Peace with God

Romans 5:1-2

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Christ Has Taken the Punishment for Us

Isaiah 53:4-5

Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

It Pleased God to Place That Punishment on Christ For Us

Isaiah 53:10

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin.

How can God be angry with us if every sin that we do to upset Him has been forgiven?

No Longer Angry with Us or The World

Isaiah 54:9-10

“For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, So have I sworn That I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. For the mountains shall depart And the hills be removed, But My kindness shall not depart from you, Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” Says the LORD, who has mercy on you.

Study the Bible to See That We Are Already Approved of God Because Of What Christ Did

2 Timothy 2:15

When you study the word of God, to be able to rightly discern what it says, you must first know and understand that: You yourself are already approved unto God [by Christ Jesus], and that you have absolutely no reason to be ashamed towards Him!

We Are Crucified with Christ & It Is Him That Now Lives in Me That Is Me. I Am Him

Galatians 2:20

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

As He Is, So Are We

1 John 4:17

Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.

Galatians 3:10-14

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.” Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Galatians 5:1

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

Galatians 5:16-17

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Galatians 5:22-25

the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Grace & Peace Is to Us. We Are Holy & Blameless Before Him Because Of Christ

Ephesians 1:1-9

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself

Walk in Him by Believing, Just as You Received Him

Colossians 2:6

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.