Episode 220

The new year is a perfect time to reflect on the past, present, and future. On today’s episode of the Removing Barriers podcast, we are reflecting on the past, the present, and the future that we have in Christ. Who are we and what will we become because of Christ in us? What is our position in Him? The Bible gives us an innumerable number of declarations and promises that answer these questions, and we can trust the God who cannot lie, who always keeps his word. We will only scratch the surface of our position in Christ in this podcast, so we would love to hear from the audience some of the truths we missed. And if you are someone without Christ, may this recording open your eyes to the manifold blessings of the grace of God, that you may receive the free gift of salvation that the Lord is offering you even now.

[MCG]

The Bible make it clear that we are condemned already when we are not in Christ. But once we are in Christ, we stand with no condemnation. That is an amazing position for a wretched student to be in.

[Jay]

Thank you for tuning in to the Removing Barriers podcast. I’m Jay and I’m MCG. And we’re attempting to remove barriers so we can all have a clear view of the cross.

[MCG]

This is episode 220 of the Removing Barriers podcast, and in this episode, We will be looking at the amazing position we are placing once we receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

[Jay]

Hi, this is Jay. MCG and I would like for you to help us remove barriers by going to removingbarriers.net and subscribing to receive all things removing barriers. If you’d like to take your efforts a bit further and help us keep the mics on, consider donating at removingbarriers.net slash donate. Removing barriers, a clear view of the cross.

[MCG]

All right, Jay, so once we are saved, once we repent of our sins and trust Christ as our Savior, we are adopted into the family of God and we are placed into some amazing positions in Christ. Let’s talk about some of those positions that our Lord and Savior placed us in once we put our personal faith in Him.

[Jay]

I like to go to Ephesians chapter 1 to be reminded of our amazing position in Christ. Ephesians chapter 1 and in verse 3 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. It’s incredible to realize that we are in a position of being blessed. We are incredibly blessed with all of the spiritual blessings that heaven has to offer in Christ. When we are in Christ, we are no longer cursed. We are no longer ashamed. We are blessed. And if I remember correctly, the Bible describes blessed as happy, as being in a good position with the one who created us.

[MCG]

Joyful.

[Jay]

Joyful. And all of these things are in heavenly places in Christ. And just as Paul did, we should bless his name because he has done this for us in Christ.

[MCG]

Yeah, definitely. I think about Psalms 1, And the blessed is a man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. And he went on to describe what the blessed man looked like. And it’s amazing that we are planted by the rivers of waters when we’re in Christ, we can flourish as a plant. Once we remain in him, and I think about when Christ said he that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me he can do nothing. Yeah, definitely. That’s an amazing position in Christ. Well, I have one. I have Romans chapter 8, verse 1 and 2. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, had made me free from the law of sin and death. So not only are we blessed, but in Christ, we stand with no condemnation. And that is an amazing position to be in. Realizing that we are sinners, we are born condemned already, we are alienated from God, and yet in Christ, the Bible says that we have no condemnation. Think about John 3 verse 16 to 19. The Bible said, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. because he had not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and man loved darkness rather than light because the these were evil. The Bible make it clear there that we are condemned because of our sinful state. We are condemned because we reject Christ and the Bible make it clear that we are condemned. already when we are not in Christ, but once we are in Christ, we stand with no condemnation. That is an amazing position for a wretched student to be in with no condemnation.

[Jay]

Yeah, incredible. Considering that the lack of condemnation comes from the one who has every right to do the condemning.

[MCG]

He was condemned for us.

[Jay]

Exactly. Yeah. I have one here. I’m going to continue in Ephesians verse 4. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. And in Him, this verse says, we are holy. And all of these things, the fact that we are blessed, the fact that we are holy, stems from and are dependent on the fact that He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. And I won’t go into what Calvinists believe about this particular verse. It’s not our mission here to refute that. But Revelation 13, 8 says that the Lamb of God was slain from the foundation of the world. And so God already had the plan of salvation ready to go and determined from the foundation of the world. And those of us that are in Him He has already predetermined and decided that those that are in Christ are holy and without blame before Him. That would probably fall under the same category as no condemnation. But it’s not simply the fact that we’re not condemned. Not only are we not condemned, we are also holy before Him. And many Christians have said, and I can’t recall who actually said this, the sacrifice of Christ on the cross was such that he took our sinfulness and he gave us his righteousness. So it’s not just that we’re not condemned. It’s not just that we’re sinless. It’s also that we are actually righteous, actually holy before God in love. And that’s an incredible thought to have. Verse 5 goes on to say, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. We are also adopted. So it’s not just that we are not condemned. It’s not just that we are holy, but we are also adopted. We belong to the family of God now. We literally belong to him. It wasn’t enough that he took away our sin. It wasn’t enough that he clothed us with his righteousness and his perfect robes. He also gave us a family to belong to. Right. We are adopted in him.

[MCG]

Yeah. And don’t overlook the fact that we are chosen in him as well. You know, and chosen and adopted kind of go hand in hand. Because what does adopted parents do?

[Jay]

They choose the one that they’re going to adopt.

[MCG]

Yeah. So That is an amazing position to be into, to be not only be adopted, but to be chosen by him. And of course, again, you said we’re not going to get into Calvinist stuff and we don’t hold to Calvinistic or reformed theology, but we don’t need to shy away from the fact that the Bible said what we are chosen. When are we chosen? In him. In him are we chosen. And they normally joke and say, you didn’t have a choice with your biological kids, but if you adopt, then you actually choose that child. You know, we have some dear friends in Colorado that I, always make fun with them. I tell them that I’m there. Well, I told them I’m not the adopted son. The real son is the adopted one. But when you’re adopted, you’re in a very good position.

[Jay]

Absolutely. Absolutely. And the scriptures say that while we were yet sinners, he died for us. And while we were actively against him, he sought us, chose us, adopted us.

[MCG]

And he chose the rotten of the bunch. Not the sweetest, nicest child, but the rotten one of the bunch.

[Jay]

Right.

[MCG]

And because of that, the next one I have here is second Corinthians 517. The Bible says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he’s a new creature. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. That kind of reminded me of the chorus. I’m a new creation. I’m a brand new man. All things are passed away. I’m born again, more than a conqueror. That’s who I am. I’m a new creation. I’m a brand new man. and again chosen adopted no condemnation blessed all because he make us a new creation in him therefore if any man be in Christ in Christ he is a new creature I don’t know about you listener but in Christ we have some amazing positions.

[Jay]

Amen the next one I have here is verse 11 Well, actually, I had another one before this in verse six where it says that we are accepted in the beloved in him. And that is the same idea of being adopted, of being received and belonging to his family. But in verse 11 reads, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. So not only has he taken away our condemnation, not only has he given us his righteousness, and not only has he made us holy and adopted us and accepted us into his family, he’s given us all of what he owns, the inheritance, if you would. That doesn’t mean that we can take on some of the immutable characteristics of God, attributes of God. It just means that all of who he is, all of the blessing, all of the riches of his glory, the Bible says. All of that is our inheritance, holiness, righteousness, truth, love, goodness, peace, purity. Every good thing that the scripture describes is all ours in Christ. We have an inheritance in him. And so I suppose you could say our position in him is we are the heirs. We’re co-heirs with Christ, the Bible says. Yep. What an incredible thought. The highest level of being an heir that we can probably think of in this world today would be that of a monarchy. If you’re the king’s son, you’re the heir, you’re next in the line to the throne. All of the kingdom is yours. All of the land, all of the wealth, all of the prestige, all of the respect, all of the honor, all of the, what they call, what does the Bible call it, duty, all of the respect, all of that is yours. in him. I’m not drawing a great parallel there as I’m trying to, because what Christ offers us as an inheritance is so much greater than any monarchy or empire that we can even fathom in our world today. But all of that is ours in Christ.

[MCG]

Yeah, definitely. The Bible declares him as being king of kings. So we are not the year of the king. We’re the heir of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lord, the creator of the universe. That’s amazing position to be in as well, you know, having that inheritance. So who normally get inheritance? The Son.

[Jay]

The Son.

[MCG]

And that’s because we are adopted in him. And that’s because we have no more condemnation. That’s because he chose us. That’s because we are blessed. All our positions that are in Christ Jesus. You’re listening to the Room of Embarras podcast. We are talking about our amazing position in Christ. We’ll be right back.

[Jay]

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[MCG]

Right. And another way to look at it is what does a seal do? A seal identify you.

[Jay]

Right.

[MCG]

And that’s amazing that he doesn’t only adopt us. We have no condemnation. We’re chosen. We’re blessed. But then he put his seal upon us to identify us to be his. So at the end of the day, we know that we are his because we have that seal or we have the Holy Ghost living within us. That’s amazing because, think about in the day when, the king sent out a decree. He will put his seal upon it to identify that this is authentic coming from the king.

[Jay]

Right.

[MCG]

When Christ saved us, he put his seal upon us, which is the Holy Ghost, to identify us as being his, which is an amazing position to be in. Amen. All right, I have one. First John chapter 5, verse 11. And this is the record that God had given unto us eternal life. And this life is in his son. Again, what position we have here? We have eternal life in Jesus Christ. I think about John 3 16 I read that before verse 15 said that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life and of course we know John 3 16 already for God so loved the world that he gave only begotten son that we should not perish but have everlasting life Romans 6 23 for the rages of sin is death that is the condemnation that we have no more but the gift of God is eternal life to Jesus Christ our Lord. It is amazing that in him, in Christ Jesus, we have the gift of eternal life in him. We were on the broad path, on the way to eternal damnation. And when we repent of our sins and make that 180 turn and get on the narrow path, now in Christ we have no condemnation. In Christ, we are sealed. In Christ, we are new creation. We are blessed. We are chosen. We have an inheritance. That’s an amazing position to be in.

[Jay]

Amen. And we know these aren’t empty promises either. We know we have eternal life in him because he was raised from the dead. God raised him from the dead. He has power over death, power over sin, power over the grave. And he has promised that He will raise us up too. We’re going to die. This body will die. But in him, we have everlasting life. Praise be to his name for that. Amen.

[MCG]

All right. And my final position that we have in Christ is Romans chapter 3, verse 24 and 25. The Bible says there, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. whom God has set forth to be the propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. In Christ, we stand redeemed. This reminds me of the chorus, I am redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. I am redeemed and I know I am. First Peter 1 verse 19 said for as much as he know that he were not redeemed with car things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot Galatians chapter 3 verse 13 said Christ had redeem us from the curse of the law been made a curse for us for it is written Cursed is everyone that hang on a tree. Colossians 1, verse 13 of 14, who had delivered us from the power of darkness and translate us into the kingdom of his dear son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sin. In Christ, we stand redeemed, bought back from the slave market of sin. And the good news is that You too can be redeemed if you repent of your sin and trust Christ as your Savior.

[Jay]

Amen. Ephesians 1, verse 7 says, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. And redemption is the buying back of something that was lost. We were lost when Adam fell in the garden. When Adam and Eve fell in the garden, we were lost right along with him.

[MCG]

We were condemned.

[Jay]

We were condemned, but he bought us back by shedding his blood for us on the cross and raising on the third day. It says here that… Not only are we redeemed through his blood, we have the forgiveness of sins. Our sins are forgiven. That is, you just read a verse that equates redemption with the forgiveness of sins. Psalm 32, 1 says, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. We have that redemption in Christ. And that is all so that we can be to the praise of his glory, those of us who first trusted in Christ. Ephesians 1:12 says that. Romans 4:3 says, For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. That redemption that we have in Christ is available to all who will believe on his name.

[MCG]

Definitely. So, listener, what did we miss? Tell us in the comments, contact us somehow. Go to removingbarriers.net forward slash contact and tell us what is your favorite position in Christ. If you’re saved, born again, living for the Lord, let us know what is your favorite position or if we may have missed one or two or three, let us know.

[Jay]

Thank you so much for listening to the Removing Barriers podcast. Make sure to rate us everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher. Removing Barriers, a clear view of the cross.

[MCG]

Thank you for listening. To get ahold of us, to support this podcast, or to learn more about Removing Barriers, go to removingbarriers.net. This has been the Removing Barriers podcast. We attempted to remove barriers so that we all can have a clear view of the cross.