2
Corinthians 5:16-18 “So from now
on we regard no one from a worldly point of
view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so nom longer. Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has
gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who
reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us
the ministry of reconciliation.”
Is it enough to live in a
world that is trying to convince everyone into something else that the God of
the Bible? We also are being short-changed and pick-pocketed of our love, joy
and peace in Christ by our past. Pastor JJ continued in his Sunday sermon
series on: “Identity Theft” with the concept that with becoming a creation “in
Christ”, that included, we receive and take on a new identity also. Outside of
Christ, we are under condemnation and slaves to sin, but “in Christ” the spirit
is regenerated, so that the old is put away and we put on the new. Our identity
is now in Christ and this is a completely new identity.
John 10:9-11 “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will
come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that
they may have life, and have it to the full. I
am the
good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
The evil one, Satan, comes
to kill, steal and destroy us with tempting lies, and the God-rejecting world
chips away at faith to steal our joy in the Lord. What you believe or not
believe, the relationships that you build or resist, what you do or what you
decide not to do, and who you follow, along with who you chose to avoid, shows
our identity that molds and shapes us, so must be given to the Lord. We can
live in the fear and guilt of past sins before God, but the questions would have
to be asked: Did we lose Christ the Redeemer? Do we identify with the sins of
the world (the old) rather than the forgiveness and salvation “in Christ” (the
new)?
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will
forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Psalm
103:12 “He has removed our sins
as far from us as the east is from the west.”
What’s going on? Do we feel
no longer welcome because we cannot forgive ourselves or forget what we did in
the past, even after coming to a “saving” knowledge of Jesus Christ? Or have a
healthy fear of not wanting to disappoint Father God, hurt others or hurt
ourselves, so give the past to the Lord and walk in the Spirit, obedience to
the Word of God with an eternal perspective. That is our I.D. card – “in
Christ”! Christ the Lord paid the price for all sin by His atoning, sacrificial
death on the cross in our place in order to give us that new identity. God is
faithful and just, so drop that burden of past sin that we carry and give them
to God because they no long identify us. Don’t ever forget who God is and who
you are “in Christ”.
Romans 8:1-6 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit
who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was
powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And
so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be
fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the
Spirit. Those who live according
to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in
accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by
the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.”
Our I.D. does not have to be
confirmed by the devil, nor the world with our position and possessions within
the world, because our identity is defined and confirmed by our Creator, Lord
and Savior God. “In Christ” we are a child of the King of the kingdom of Heaven
John
8:32 “You will know the truth, and the
truth will set you free.”
In Christ, Brian
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