THERE’S HOPE FOR THE CHURCH THAT EMBRACES THE SAVED: Our Secure Relationship

“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.  ‎Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.  ‎For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  ‎When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1-4 NKJV)

The Devil has to go through the Father and then the Son to get to us.  Then, he encounters a believer indwelt by the Spirit. By the time Satan reaches us, his intended evil has become God’s intended good. That’s security!

Knowing we are secure in Christ is foundational to spiritual growth.  A believer who lacks assurance will never be what he could be. Picture two men who each own a parcel of land.  Both plan to build.  One of them, however, checks the deed repeatedly.  He is concerned that maybe the deed is not really filed, or maybe it is filed improperly, and can think of a host of issues that worry him.  The other man accepts the facts and builds rigorously.  You will not be built up in faith until you see that you are secure in Him.  
                                                                                                                                       
•           WE ARE IDENTIFIED WITH CHRIST’S REDEEMING DEATH (v.3)  When Jesus died, we died with Him! Paul develops this doctrine in Romans 6 in great detail. Being crucified with Christ means we are dead to sin. What if I told you Bonnie and Clyde just robbed a bank? You’d say, “They can’t!  They’re dead!”  So, we are dead to sin.  The sinner that I was has been nailed to the cross with Jesus.

•           WE ARE IDENTIFIED WITH CHRIST’S RESURRECTION LIFE (v.1a)  The power that brought Christ from the tomb now brings us out of spiritual death and into resurrection life. That power now enables us to meet and overcome every challenge in life. Today you can exchange human weakness for heavenly power.  That is enough—more than enough!

•           WE ARE IDENTIFIED WITH CHRIST’S REIGNING VICTORY (v.1b-2)  We are seated with Christ. So we seek after heavenly things, because we’re seated in heavenly places. Christ is seated in the position of authority and in Ephesians the Word of God says we are seated with Him. There He reigns as Lord and in union with Him we are masters of every situation. There is nothing over our head that’s under His feet.

•           WE ARE IDENTIFIED WITH CHRIST’S RETURNING GLORY (v.4)  We are returning with Christ. Christ has promised to come for His bride. At the rapture, the dead in Christ will rise and living saints will be transformed—all caught up to heaven. After the seven years of tribulation, when judgments are poured out on a Christ rejecting world, we return with Him to reign. The godly, growing Christian looks for the heavenly city.