Sermon – “Know Who You Are in Christ”

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 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, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. 13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,

He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing.

“At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates. 29 And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

This morning i titled my message. Know who you are in christ. Know who you are in christ. I want to begin by sharing the story a little story before i even read scripture this morning. There was an airline gate agent in denver colorado. Who one day was confronted with a very with a passenger who was extremely rude. And demanding a united flight had just been cancelled. And this one agent was responsible for booking a very long line of travelers that were very upset because of the inconvenience. We’ve been there. We’ve had those inconveniences. It’s not pleasant. Well one. Angry passenger. Pushed his way to the front of the line. He stood before the agent. At the desk. Slapped this ticket down the counter and said. I’ve got to be on the next flight and has to be first class. The agent. Calmly said sir. I’m very sorry for the inconvenience. We’ve caused you. And i’ll be happy to help you. But you’re going to have to get to the back of the line and wait your turn. And we’ll see what would be able to do we will work something out for you. Well this only irritated the passenger even more so in a very loud voice about enough that everyone could hear him he said. Do you have any idea who i am. Without hesitation. The agent. Smiled grabbed the public address microphone and said. Matt have your attention please. As her voice bellowed throughout the terminal. She said we have a passenger here a gate forty two does not know who he is. If you if anyone can help. And then if i this man could you please come and help. So i got to laugh to start with. Yeah. Anybody can help would you please come and help. I deliberately titled the sermon. Know who you are in christ. I didn’t make it a question. Do you know who your in christ. I made it a statement. Because i’m preaching this day with the assumption that we are all believers here that we all have the knowledge of christ. That we’ve all repented of our sins and we know him. So i’m saying today to you church. Know who you are in christ. In christ jesus. My script or today comes from if eason’s chapter four. It was only going to be six or seven verses but i added some. Is going to be one through fourteen. You have. David gotten. Got the edition. Paul an apostle of jesus christ. By the will of god. To the saints who are an emphasis. And faithful in christ jesus. Grace to you and peace from god our father. In the lord jesus christ. Bless it be the god and father or lord jesus christ. Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. In the heavenly places in christ just as he chose us. In him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Having predestined us to the two adoption as sons by jesus christ. To himself. According to the good plays are of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace. By which he made us excepted in the bee love it. In him. We have redemption through his blood. The forgiveness of sins. According to the riches of his grace. Which he made to a ban on. Towards us all. He made them abound towards us all in all wisdom and prudence. Having made known to us the mysteries of his will. According to his good pleasure. Which he purposed in him so. Elf. That in the dispensation of the fullness of the times. He might gather together in one all things in christ. Both. Which are in heaven and which are one earth. In him in him also we have obtained an inheritance. Being predestined according to the purpose of him. Who works all things according to the counsel of his will that we who first trusted in christ. Should be to the praise of his glory in him you also trusted. After you heard the word of truth. The gospel of your salvation. In him also having believed you were sealed. That’s important you were sealed with the holy spirit of promise. Who is the guarantee. Of our inheritance. Until the redemption of the purchased possession of the. Of the praise of his glory. May god out of the blessing to the here and in reading of his holy word. There are two basic reasons why. The people in the world today are frustrated. Irritated aggravated. Discouraged depressed and. All those things. It’s because they either do not have a personal relationship with jesus christ. Or they don’t understand what having a personal relationship with jesus christ is. There are some that believe but they don’t understand what it really means. If you’re a true. Born again believer. And have a relationship with christ. There are three things that we need to understand as believers. We have to know what we have. What we have in him what we have available to us. So that we can do what we ought to do. And we need to know who’s we are that we can truly know who we are now is out of town where did you get that. That. We need to know who’s we are so that we can truly know who we are in christ and in christ jesus. So first. In order to do what we ought to do we need to know what we have verse three said. blessitt be the god and father of our lord jesus christ. Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. In the heavenly places. Notice. Characters two words are very important. The word has in the word. Every. We’re not told that god will. God is some day. Going to bless you with these buzzing. It’s. That’s not what he said he didn’t say. I’m going to some day bless you with some blessings. He says. I who has christ has blessed us with every. Spiritual blessing. God has already given us. All that we need. Every spiritual blessing. That we can need. God has already given to us. You know if i told the children i’m going to give you all of my inheritance i’m going to give you everything i own. But then i say well i’m going to get half of it to her though. Within i really didn’t give you all did i. Crisis i’m going to give you all. The spiritual blessings every one of them. We don’t need to ask for what we already have in the lord jesus you already have all that you need. Do you need. Sometimes need more patience where you already have it in him. Do you need more love. You already have it in him. You have it in the lord jesus christ. We just need to say lord help me to walk in it. Help me to practice it. Laura no it’s here. Because i have the holy spirit i have it. I have the spiritual blessings. But help me operate in them. Help me to help me to use them. So we don’t need as much as. We think we need because we already have it in him in christ. He’s not. It doesn’t say he’s not going to. Not going to give it but he has the blessings. We already have it. As believers in christ our blessings are in the heavenly places. In christ. An unsaved person is primarily interested in what. The earthly things. Because that is where they live. Yes we live here. Jesus called the people of the world. The children of this world in luke sixteen eight. But the christian life ought to be centered on the heavenly things. Because that is work for citizenship lives. For libyans three twenty says for our citizenship. Is in heaven. For from which we also eagerly wait for the savior. The lord jesus christ our citizenship. Is in heaven. It’s not here. There was a man who took a. Ocean voyage one day. And it took just about all the money that he had to purchase the tickets. He was leaving his old country to go to a new country. So this left him with very very little money. So the man thought the self. Well i’m not going to be able to afford to eat so we packed as many hard biscuits and peas into a suitcase as he could possibly put in there. Because it would spoil. So every single day. That man had hard biscuits in piece for breakfast lunch. And dinner. Every day. After about five days. He was just sick of it. I just i just can’t eat this anymore. I’ve had all i can steak of this. So as he was going around that. Through the ship he went by the dining hall and he smelt that wonderful roma coming out of the dining hall. So he goes in to see what. What there have been. There have been roast beef mashed potatoes and vegetables and apple pie. So he thought i’d love to have some of that. So i went to the maitre d. and he said sir. He said i have very very little money. He said but. How much would it cost me to eat. He said sir do you have a ticket. He said yeah i have a ticket. He says what didn’t you know to if you had a ticket all the food is provided is free. For five days he ate hard biscuits in peace. Because he didn’t know what he had. How many believers are like that man. That we don’t realize what we have in the lord jesus christ. We’re eating hard biscuits and pays. And we can be faced in. How many after today don’t realize what they have in christ. That we have all the blessings. Some people of. Asked. Have you receive the second blessing. Some people’s not even heard of the second blessing when you know what the second blessing is the second blessing is when you realize what you got in the first place. When you understand it. When you understand what you have in christ that’s what the. The blessing is whether you want to call it the first lesson or the second blessing. Is when you wonder stand. What you have in jesus christ. The blessings you have first three. If that is true. Let me ask you this question. How many more blessings do you want. If you’ve got every spiritual blessing. In christ. How many more do you. One you have salvation. Amen. Listen to these spiritual blessings. John three sixteen. For god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him. Should not perish but have everlasting life. Greater. One of the greatest spiritual blessings we have salvation. Can we say. Is it enough. Yes but what. There is more. John fourteen two. In my father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so i would have told you i go to prepare a place for you. So there is another spiritual blessing. He has gone to prepare mansions for us in our heavenly home. Philippians four seven. And the peace of god which surpasses all understanding. Will guard your hearts and minds through christ jesus. Another great spiritual blessing peace. No matter what’s going on in the world around us. No matter what term or we may be facing in our lives at home or was going on in the society or in our nation. We can have peace. Where in christ. The spiritual blessings in christ. First peter. One eight. Whom had he not seen you love. Though now you do not see him yet believe in you rejoice with joy inexpressible. And full of glory. The spiritual blessing of joy. The spiritual blessing of joy. We have it. We can have it. It’s there it’s available to us. So we know what we have in him. We need to know who’s we are. Second verse five said. Having predestined us to adoption as sons by jesus christ to himself. According to the good plays are of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace. By which he made us excepted in the beetle of it before a person comes to the lord. They are in a sense. Spiritual or finance. In a scripture. You will often find the term. Orphan. Or fatherless you’ll find followers fatherless more than you will find orphans. But a followed us child is an orphan. They are a person without a male parent. Therefore they have no one to care for them they have no inheritance. No means to sustain themselves. Orphans would often be forced to beg for their food. They would have no worldly possessions they would have no homes they would have no law stock. No land. Sometimes they were often treated violently. Oftentimes they were even murdered. But you know god has a special concern for orphans and widows in the fatherless deuteronomy ten eighteen says. He had ministers justice for the fatherless and the widow and loves the stranger. Gives him food and clothing. The old testament low provides for the material needs of orphans and widows. Doesn’t mean that they always followed it. The people didn’t always follow it but he did. Try to provide for friends and widows in deuteronomy fourteen twenty eight twenty nine. It says at the end of every third year you bring out the tide of your produce of that year and stored up within your gates. And the levites because he has no portion nord heritance with you. And the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates. May come and eat and be satisfied that the lord your god. May bless you in all the work of your hand which you. Do. So when we are faithful to provide for the fatherless and the widows. God will bless the work of your hand. The church. Should have the same attitude. For the fatherless and the widow the god hats. And that’s to help provide for them and take care of them. There was a great preacher named dr dances have. Haven or. And he told a story of being in a revival meeting one night. And the church had invited a choral group from an orphanage to come and sing for them. This was a christian orphanage and these children knew the lord jesus christ. They didn’t have mothers. They didn’t have fathers of. As a matter of fact. Most of them did not even know who their father or mother was. When they stood up to sing before the church. Dr havior said. They literally. Radiated with joy. And this is what they sang. From the door of an orphanage to the house of a king. No longer an outcast. A new song i sing. From rags to riches. From the weak to the strong. I am not worthy to be here. But praise god i be loam. A man. They knew who they were in christ jesus. They knew they belong. They knew that they were no longer fatherless. Because they had a father in heaven. Because they understood the spiritual blessings. In christ jesus. So then thirdly. Recognize who you are. The average christian. Under say the average or. Some christians have no idea who he or she really is in the words jesus christ. Chuck swindoll shared the story. They were going to trip. And as you know when a long trip kids. Can get bored. Or didn’t need a little entertainment. And you. In various ways. When they decided to play the game what if. So they asked the question what if you could be anybody on earth. Who would you like to be one of his daughters quickly said wad like to be the bonnie. Woman. The other children followed suit. And thought of someone famous that they would like to be. But his youngest child chuck jr. Didn’t say a word. As they pulled up to a stop sign chuck sr looked at his son and said chuckie. He said yes or. He said who would you like to be. His son said. I’d like to be me. He said what do you mean. To be you. He said. Because i like me better than anybody on that. Smart kid. He underwater. Understood what it meant. To really be somebody. And he was happy with who he was are you happy with who you are. Are you happy with you are who you are in christ. God don’t want to try to be somebody else. Because he created you to be you. And you are unique individual. Created in the image of god so don’t long to be somebody else. Don’t long to look like somebody else. But be who you are in christ and be all you can be in christ. Many people struggle with self esteem. Because we compare ourselves to others. We don’t measure up with self esteem is gone the only things left to self right. You know. We may not be the best looking or. Have the greatest physique. We might not be the richest we were not what the finest clothes are drive the nicest car but you are who you are in christ jesus. You are a son of the living god. Remember what paul said in the beginning of this. To the saints who are in f. assists and faithful and. He’s jesus. That is what they were. They were called the saints. You know these people hadn’t died. This was the letter to the church they were alive and well. Some people think a saint someone is already passed on. But the paul. Apostle paul said to the saints. Of the church of epis. They were christians. Not only agree with one church’s idea of a saint. But i’m going to share. One particular church. Being a saint means. Being a holy person and as sane as a person who is declared a saint. By the pope. We just heard of what church i’m talking about. But to be a saying. One has to be a person who has performed miracles in fact. Since year. Twelve hundred thirty four more than four thousand people have been named saints. By the pope’s. Now the process of sainthood is fascinating. First of all to become a saint a person must be nominated by bishop who initiate a formal investigation to determine whether that person’s life merits. The consideration for becoming a formal saint. The bishop and usually a group of other people will investigate this person’s life and work. And collect documents which are then sent to the vatican’s congregation for the caucus of saints. That report is then turned over to a panel of nine theologians that judge. The case. And if two thirds approve. The cause assent to the cardinals of the congregation. Who then sends it to the pope who declares the candidate better bill. Not least two miracles are required to become a saint. And if only one miracle is proven the committee can recommend that that person receive. But if occasion. That is when the pope declares. Someone blessed. Which means they have gone to heaven worthy of special honor. But if a second miracle was proven than that person is canonized as a saint and. Not as one. By the entire church. But i say to you church. You don’t become a saint. By performance. You become a saint by birth. You become a saint by birth and that birth is the new birth in jesus christ. When you must be born again when you become a christian. You become a saint. A lot of people don’t like to call themselves saints. Some people might think well. That sounds a little arrogant. To call myself a saint. But when you think about it in a right way. And the right term. It’s a humble statement. Why. Because you’re saying i’m a saint because of him. In christ. Because of what he has done. If you say well i’m not a saint. Then you’re saying well i’m not good enough. The christ blood is not sufficient enough. That is work wasn’t good enough on that cross. If you say i’m not a saint. But we can say that we are saint. A christian is a saint. A true christian that believes in jesus christ. Believes in the sacrifice believe that it’s also efficient. To cover all of our sins. One drop of his blood. Would have been sufficient to cover all of our sins. Listen to who you are in christ you are the redeemed of the lord. You are the redeemed of the lord you are more than conquerors in christ. You are the beloved. Your called kings and priest in christ. So church don’t think it arrogant to know who you are in christ. Because when you truly know who you are in christ you know that you are who you are in christ because of what christ has done. It’s not bom opera form it’s a bomb of works but it’s by his works. And we just need to grasp that and understand it because that is the blessing when you understand what you have. Who’s you are and who you are in christ. So that’s a word to encourage you today. Yes because put it in him. But when you’re confident in him that gives you the confidence to know who you are that i have been redeemed that i have been saved i was a wretched sinner but i was lost but now i am found. I’m not maybe a little found i’m completely found. His sins didn’t wash away a little or his blood did more to a little bit of mustn’t but it washed them all away. And i made new in him. You are a new creature a new creation in christ. That is who you are in christ. So be bold for him. Don’t be ashamed of who you are. Don’t let. Don’t be intimidated by others. But be who you are in christ. And walk before him every day lord help me to walk it. Help me to live it. Help me to live as you want me to live lord. Is the word for today. And be who you can be in christ. Amen.