Part 3
There is a widely held belief among behavioral scientists that the way you see yourself has a direct correlation to how you perceive the world around you.
Series Thesis: We want to shape the way we see ourselves around the way God sees us and who we are in Christ so that we can have a healthy, godly perception of ourselves and our world.
(Proverbs 4:23 GNB) Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.
If you are going to understand who you are in Christ, you have to understand the Doctrine of Identification.
- When Jesus came to the earth, He identified with us in that He became flesh and blood like we are.
(John 1:1-3 NLT) In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) He existed in the beginning with God. (3) God created everything through Him, and nothing was created except through Him.
(John 1:14 NLT) So the Word became human and made His home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
- When He hung on the Cross and God laid our sin upon Him is when we identified with Him.
So, our “in Christ” began when He was on the Cross.
- We were “in Him” when sin was laid up on Him because it was our sin that put Him there.
(2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV) For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
- We were “in Him” during those awful hours when He was separated from God and under condemnation, when the judgment for our sins fell heavily upon Him.
- We were “in Him” when He went down to the place of suffering and torment.
- We were “in Him” when He had paid the price and God legally justified Him and raise Him up from the dead.
(1 Peter 3:18 NLT) Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but He died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but He was raised to life in the Spirit.
- We were “in Him” when He conquered Satan and the host of hell and took from him the keys of death and hell.
(Colossians 2:15 NLT) In this way, He disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by His victory over them on the cross.
- We were “in Him” when He rose triumphantly and defeated the grave.
- We were “in Him” when He took His blood into the Heavenly Holy of Holies.
- We were “in Him” when He ascended and sat down in the highest place in the universe.
(Hebrews 10:12 NLT) But our High Priest offered Himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then He sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.
(Ephesians 2:6 AMPC) And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
The Father is expecting us to occupy our position “in Christ” where there is no condemnation, where we stand complete in Him, where His fullness and completeness become ours!
Jesus is still identifying with us!
(Hebrews 7:25 NKJV) Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
(Hebrews 4:14-16 NKJV) Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. (15) For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. (16) Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Confession (Greek: Homo-logeo) – means “saying the same thing.”
- We need to be saying the same thing about us that Jesus is saying about us!