The Bible tells us that we are God’s children and heirs and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, (Romans 8:15-17). This is a new position since we came to Christ. We were sons and daughters of darkness and sin. We were without Christ in this world. We were strangers and aliens from the covenants of promise, having no hope without God, (Ephesians 2:12). Now in Christ Jesus we have been brought near by the blood of Christ, (Ephesians 2:13).
We need to really understand what it means to come to Christ Jesus. Everyone is not in this position. Everyone who goes to church is not in this position. Without God’s help, we cannot enter into this peace, joy and love. We are brought near and made children and heirs of God through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. When we come to Jesus Christ, our lives really change. Everyone who has truly believed in Him knows this.
2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
People in the world do not know what this means. They have varying ideas about what Christians are. The only true way to know what this is like is to receive Christ as one’s Savior and be born again. The people of the world cannot understand our faith and relationship with God. They cannot understand why we live as we do.
Jesus has made it possible for us to have this new kind of relationship with God. Since we have come to Jesus, we are living under the Father’s blessing, favor, and covering. We should never lose sight of the intense blessing that God has given us in Christ. We are so blessed by His grace and favor.
Jesus frequently told stories to help us understand this relationship with God our Father.
You need to know who you are in Christ.
In Luke 15, Jesus described this relationship in the parable of the prodigal son. In the parable, the son enjoyed his father’s blessing, favor, and covering. He was raised in a good home and had every benefit and blessing that a rich father could provide. He was safe, sheltered, and blessed.
This story parallels the life of the redeemed. Through Jesus Christ, believers have been brought into a blessed relationship with the Father. This fellowship with God the Father is full of His blessing and favor.
Ephesians 1:3 NKJV 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,
No one is more blessed than those who are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Jesus showed what happens when this young man walked away from the blessing, favor and covering of his father. Most of us don’t know how good we have it until we experience loss.
Through a process of time and events, the young man became deeply involved in the world. When he first left home and went into the world, he was richly endowed with his father’s blessings. His father had loaded him with blessings and riches. As time progressed, he lost almost every advantage. Sin always does that. It takes us further than we want to go and cost much more that we are willing to pay. The ways of the world robbed him of almost every advantage. When he walked away from his father, he plunged into the activities and attitudes of the world.
Do you know what you have in Christ Jesus?
The Bible tells us that when God saved us by grace, He radically changed our position. Watch what God has done for us.
John 1:12-13 NKJVBut as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
God does a wonderful thing for us when we are saved by grace and dramatically changed. We were full of darkness and death. We were in bondage and chains of sin.
Now, God has given us light and life in Jesus Christ.
As soon as the prodigal son realized what he lost, he was ready to go back home. In the pigpen, he realized that the least person in his father’s house was rich. He said: “My father’s servants have bread enough and to spare, and I am dying with hunger.”
We are looking into who we are in Christ Jesus.Abundant provision and life is prepared for those who remain in God’s blessing and favor. You don’t have to lose your joy, righteousness, and peace. We don’t have be a prey to Satan’s schemes and devices. In Christ Jesus we have been given victory and power over sin and Satan.
Ephesians 1:22-23 NLTGod has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made Him head over all things for the benefit of the church. And the church is His body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with Himself.
John 1:16 NLT “From His abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another.”
John 1:16 NKJV “Of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.”
The word for “fullness” has a dual meaning.
- It refers to the body of believers who are filled with the presence, power, and riches of God and of Christ. We are made complete or filled-up with Him.
- It also refers to the filling that would fill it up.
The fulness or abundance that is in Christ is in us. Our lives are full and complete. Jesus Christ satisfies us fully. When we come to Jesus, we are filed with all of His blessing and favor. Everything that we enjoy is in Him. God’s blessing and favor rests on our lives if we remain in Him.
John 15:7-8 NIVIf you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples.
This is referring to the abundant life that we receive in Christ. Our strength and life comes from remaining in Him. In Christ we have love, joy, peace, fullness, and hope. When we remain in Christ, we are destined to be invincible champions.
2 Corinthians 2:14 NKJV Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.
Right now, we have this triumphant and abundant victory in Christ Jesus.
This is the hallelujah chorus of the new creation. In Christ, we are more than conquerors. We have been pulled up and out of the mire and muck of our sin. God takes so much pleasure in Christ Jesus our Lord, that He fills us with the aroma of Jesus Christ.
Do you know that you are in Christ Jesus?
Do you know that you have been made a new creation?
This was what was wrong with the prodigal son. He was a son and was rich, but he did not walk worthy of his position. He wasted and lost every blessing that his father gave him.
Colossians 1:10-12 …walk, live, and conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God… being strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory …giving thanks to the Father, Who has qualified and made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
God has made provision for you to be an invincible champion in Christ Jesus. For this purpose, He has brought us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love. When the prodigal son walked into the word, he lost conscious awareness of who he was and what he had. He went into a downward spiral that robbed and defeated him. He stopped living in the covering, blessing, and favor of his father.
We cannot have this victory if we do not remain in Christ Jesus. In Christ, we have been delivered from Satan’s dominion. In Christ, we are set free.
Do you know that you have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ? Can you relate to the position of the prodigal?
Luke 15 gives us the whole story. He enjoyed the luxuries of his father’s blessing, favor, and goodness. He had lost everything but the knowledge of what he could gain by going back to his father. We must never lose that knowledge.
Ephesians 1:3 NLT All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.
Ephesians 1:4-7 NLT Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes.God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace He has poured out on us who belong to His dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.
We are the products of God’s love and grace.
- By grace, God opened the door for us to enter into His family and blessing.
- By grace, we can stand in His presence.
- By grace, we can live without guilt or condemnation.
- By grace, we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing that was purchased by Jesus Christ.
- By grace, we have been adopted as His sons and daughters through Christ.
- By grace, His blood has redeemed and cleansed us.
- By grace, through His blood we are forgiven.
- By grace, we are heir to the riches of God’s grace.
Luke 15:20 NLT So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.
- He came home broken, filthy, destitute, hurting, hungry, and defeated.
- He had lost everything in the world.
- His father had made him rich, but he lost it all.
- His royal robes had been destroyed and polluted.
- His wealth was lost.
- His health was failing.
- His strength was gone.
- What was once clean and white was filthy and rotten.
But, He came home.
I love the image of the father running with love and compassion to his son. This is an image of Father God’s love and compassion for the lost and hurting. I love what happened when his father saw him. This is the story of the wonder of God’s grace. God knows what to do with our failures and pain. He knows how to make us new. He knows how to take our hurts and pains, and heal us. He knows how to revive and restore our lives.
The father said, “Bring out the best robe, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.” He was clothed in a new white robe clean and bright. He was given a new ring and a banquet. He was brought back into the position of a son.
Ephesians 2:6 NIV And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus
None of us deserve God’s grace and mercy. He has raised us up with Christ. He has taken away our sin and our shame. He has promised to heal our hurt and pain. We have been made an overcomer through Christ Jesus. We are more than conquerors. We reign with Him.
This is a work of God’s grace.He has taken us in and made things right. You need to know that you are in Christ Jesus.
In Christ Jesus we have been made invincible champions.God has raised us up, we need to believe it. He has defeated every principality, power and ruler of darkness, we need to receive it. God has made us conquerors and victors in Jesus Christ, we need to live in it. We have been made to sit with Christ in heavenly places. By the blood of Jesus Christ we are redeemed and accepted. We have been washed, renewed and given new life. We are covered with the righteousness of Christ. What Satan tried to kill, steal and destroy has been restored.
