Introduction

Praise God!  It is good to have the opportunity to share the Word of God with you!  May God, our Father, give you revelation knowledge of who you are in Christ Jesus as we continue, in Jesus' mighty name!  Amen!

In Hosea 4:6, God said, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge".  Satan comes to blind the minds of believers as to who they are in Christ Jesus.  Satan desires to prevent the believer from coming boldly to the throne of grace in the time of need to receive the delivering power of God.  He seeks to keep the believer from learning convenant truths, and to prevent the believer from walking in full manifestation of his sonship and delegated authority.

But praise be to God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ Jesus!

In this lesson, we discuss many of the facets of who we are in Christ Jesus.  With the Holy Spirit's guidance, we seek to clarify our position in Christ Jesus and the high calling of God in Him.  It is our desire that we all come into the fullness of knowing who we are in Christ Jesus, and into full maturity as the Body of Christ.


The Forgiven

We are forgiven of our sins and washed clean by His Blood from all unrighteousness.

    I John 1:9
    If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
    to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from
    all unrighteousness.

We have forgiveness for our sins by the washing of the blood of Jesus.  We have to willfully receive the blood of Jesus and accept Him as our Lord and Savior. 

    Rev        1:5
    ... Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the
    dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us,
    and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

    Rev        7:14
    ... And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation,
    and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
   
    Colos      1:14
    In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:


A Good Conscience

Before we were born-again and reconciled to God thru the blood of Jesus Christ, we had an evil conscience.  That is, we were still conscience of our sins and of our unworthiness to enter into an intimate relationship and fellowship with God.

    Hebrews    9:9
    Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts
    and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as
    pertaining to the conscience;

    Hebrews   10:1-4
    For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of
    the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year
    continually make the comers thereunto perfect.  For then would they not have
    ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have
    had no more  conscience of sins.  But in those sacrifices there is a
    remembrance again made of sins every year.  For it is not possible that the
    blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

Yet born-again believers have their sins purged, not only from before God, that He has no more remembrance of them, but also from their own conscience, in that they should not have any condemnation or shame. 

    Hebrews    9:14
    How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
    himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve
    the living God?
             
    Hebrews   10:16-23
    This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I
    will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their
    sins and iniquities will I remember no more.  Now where remission of
    these is, there is no more offering for sin.  Having therefore, brethren, boldness
    to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which
    he hath consecrated for us, through the vail, that is to say, his flesh; And having
    an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full
    assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our
    bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold fast the profession of our faith
    without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

Before rebirth, our conscience was aware of the guilt of our sin, and of the fear of God's wrath toward that sin.  We were not able to come boldly to God because our inner man told us and bore witness that there was enmity between us and God. 

When the Holy Spirit revealed to us that the sin problem had been taken care of by Jesus on the cross, then we were able to come in to God boldly, receive sonship thru adoption, and become partakers of His divine nature.  This removed the old sin nature. That is to say, both the desire to commit sin and the remembrance of past sins committed.  The Holy Spirit bearing witness in us to our sonship and fellowship with the Father.


The Redeemed

We were all born into sin and lived in times past in it, following the lustful desires of this world.  During which time our hearts cried out to God for help and mercy.  Or we may have attempted thru good deeds, such as paying tithes and feeding the poor, to make peace with God for our sins. 

However anything we did, as sinful human beings, trying to approach a just God to clear our sins, was as filthy rags compared to the righteousness of God.  That is, whatever we did in and of ourselves was not sufficient to pay the penalty of the right judgment of God for sin in the high court of Heaven.  And what we had to offer in comparison to the required payment was as filthy rags.

But after Jesus came and offered His holy blood for us, and after we as individuals have received Him, we are born again and are become new creatures, even the sons of God.  No longer are we trying to establish our own righteousness, that is to pay the price for our sin separate from God, but we have received His righteousness, His just payment for sin, and are not separate, but one with God, partakers of what He has done thru Christ  Jesus.

Jesus came to redeem us from the curse of the law, paying the price for sin, and becoming accursed for us:

    Gal        3:13
    Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is
    written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
   
Now while Jesus became accursed for us and received the penalty for sin, that is death, yet God raised Him from the dead, making Him alive and ruler of all.


The Righteous

As stated in the earlier Righteousness class, righteousness (or being righteous) is "meeting the standards of what is right and just; morally right; guiltless".  We are now the righteous, the guiltless in the eyes of God, because Jesus has meet the standards of justice in the high court of heaven, paying the penalty for our sin.  We are now cleansed by His blood and are now the righteousness of God, thru faith in Christ Jesus:

    II Cor     5:21
    For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the
    righteousness of God in him.

    I Cor      1:30
    But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and
    righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:


The Reconciled, a new creation

We are become new creatures, a new creation, a type of species that never existed before, when we are born again into Christ Jesus.  We passed from death into life, from darkness into light.  The Holy Spirit regenerated our spirit man into a new creation, baring witness to it as the Spirit of Adoption, crying Abba, Father in our hearts.

Reconciliation is a legal term meaning to make peace between two parties which were at odds with each other.  Because of our sins and our old nature, we were at odds against God (Jam 4:4).  But God provided the means of reconciliation, the remitting price for sin, thru Jesus Christ, our Lord. 

The Greek term translated as peace in the new testament cares this meaning. That is, the Greek term is made up of two root words.  The first meaning "to have quietness or tranquillity".  The second meaning "to join".  So we have been joined to God, with quietness and tranquillity, thru the blood of Jesus Christ.

    Romans     5:1
    Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace
    with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

     Colos      1:20-22
    And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things
    unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. 
    And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
    yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy
    and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

    II Cor     5:17-18
    Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away;
    behold, all things are become new.  And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us
    to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

    Gal        6:15
    For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision,
    but a new creature.

    Eph        4:24
    And that ye put on the new man,
    which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

This is why the angels sang:

    Luke       2:14
    Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
             
Because it was God's glory, His honor, His plan of the ages, toreveal the mystery of redemption thru Jesus Christ, our Lord,bringing peace on the earth by reconciling men to Himself.  God'sgood will toward men.  Hallelujah!


A Member of Christ

We, who are in Christ, make up the Body of Christ.  We are held together by one Spirit, the Holy Spirit, as a spiritual house or dwelling place, in which the Godhead dwells and communes with us.  The life, the love, the power, the very essence of the Trinity lives and moves thru our spiritual being in this house.

We are the members of the Body of Christ.  Individually, each one of us is a member or part of that Body.  Yet as the finger cannot live nor function without the rest of the body, so are we in the Body of Christ.  We need each other and are given to each other for help and support.

    I Cor     12:13-14,18-20
    For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one
    body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we
    be bond or free; and have been all made to drink
     into one Spirit. For the body is not one member,
    but many...  But now hath God set the members
    every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased
    him.  And if they were all one member, where were
    the body?  But now are they many members, yet but
    one body.

We must remember to love one another, strengthen one another, and help one another grow.  For we receive our nourishment from other parts, and we hear and see from other parts.  Only together are we whole.

If any one member of your physical body is not functioning properly, lets say a wrist is broken, the rest of the body suffers, due to the lack of the normal use of that part.  Moreover, the rest of the body modifies its normal functions to compensate for the injured one.  For example, the body would use more of the legs and back to pick up heavy loads, compensating and protecting the broken wrist.  The body further extends itself to protect the injured member, by acting and reacting abnormally to danger, purposely placing health members in harms way, to keep the damaged wrist safe.  This continues until the wrist is healed and restored.

So we should act in love toward each other, to nourish, protect, and restore the damaged, hurt, or underdeveloped members of Christ.  We who are strong should bear them up until they can stand with us again, for we have need of them.  So love one another, for you are one Body.


A Saint

We are saints of God, holy and pure, blameless in His sight, set apart for His eternal purpose.  The word saint literally means one who is sanctified, set apart from the world and its sinful lusts.  To sanctify a thing is to consecrate it to God, to make it clean and pure, and to set it apart for His use only and none other.

So we are!  We are washed clean, blameless and pure, by the blood of Jesus.  We are set apart from all uncleanness and unrighteousness of the world, to serve the Living God, and none other.

    I Cor      1:2 
    Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus,
    called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our
    Lord, both theirs and ours:

    Phil       1:1 
    Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus
    which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:

A saint is not one who is dead, nor one who is already gone into Heaven.  For what is there in death or in heaven which is evil that you must be separated or sanctified from it.  But it is in this world and in this time that God, thru His power and His love, and by His Word, separates us from the sinful world.  

    I Thes     4:3 
    For this is the will of God, even your    sanctification...


The Called Out

The Greek word for church literally means to be called out.  So are we called out of darkness and sin unto His marvelous light.  As Abraham was called out from his relatives in their idolatrous world, and as Israel was called out from Egypt and told to stay away from the practices of the Canaanites, so God has called us out, the Church, from the idolatrous practices of this world, to serve Him in truth and holiness all the days of our lives.

    Acts      20:28
    Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy
    Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased
    with his own blood.

    Eph        5:27
    That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle,
    or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.


A son of God

We are now the sons of God, thru the Spirit of Adoption, crying Abba-Father in our hearts.

    John       1:12   
    But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God,
    even to them that believe on his name:

The name Jesus, which is Greek for Joshua, means God who is salvation.  There is no other god that can save, and no other name given under Heaven for whereby men can be saved.  As many as believe, even on the name, that is God who is salvation, will be saved. 

    Gal        3:26
    For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
   
    Eph        3:14-15
    For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
    of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

We are not only one Body with Christ, but we are also one family, known by the name of Jesus, God who is salvation, with Jehovah as our Father.  We are sons now, even on earth, and are know by His name throughout all creation. 

    I John     3:2 
    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.
         
And we receive the power for sonship thru the Holy Spirit of regeneration.
               
    Gal        4:5-6
    To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
     And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts,
    crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son,
    then an heir of God through Christ.
               
    Romans     8:15-16
    For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received
    the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness
    with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

    Colos      1:13
    Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness,
    and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
             
    Eph        2:19
    Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens
    with the saints, and of the household of God;

You are fellow citizens of a Heavenly city, New Jerusalem, with Christ Jesus.  Hallelujah!

(For a more detailed study of Who We Are In Christ Jesus, see the book by that title, by Vernon Williams.)

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