Finding One's Identity 3

we've been doing a series of messages
here at maranatha on how the Holy Spirit
applies to us the benefits that we have
in Christ and particularly of late we
have been looking at how he applies to
us our identity in Christ there is
nothing more important for the Christian
believer that knowing who in Christ we
are and what that looks like so our
scripture reading this morning is we set
the stage for this is back to Ephesians
the first chapter and we're going to
read the first 10 verses there is an
insert in your bulletin with that
scripture reading want you to take that
out it'll be on the screen but we're
going to go through portions of this in
some detail so if you have a pen I want
you to underline the phrase in him or in
Christ because that's where we're going
this morning so Ephesians the first
chapter Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus
by the will of God to the Saints in
Ephesus the faithful in Christ Jesus
grace and peace to you from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ praise
be to the God and father of our Lord
Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the
heavenly realms with every spiritual
blessing in Christ for he chose us in
him notice in Christ in him he chose us
in him before the creation of the world
to be holy and blameless in his sight in
love he predestined us to be adopted as
his sons through Jesus Christ in
accordance with his pleasure and will to
the praise of his glorious grace which
he had freely given us in cry in the one
he loves in him we have redemption
through his blood the forgiveness of sin
accordions with the riches of God's
grace that he lavished on us notice that
word lavished God is never stingy with
all wisdom and understanding and he made
known to us the mystery of his will
according to his good pleasure which he
purposed in Christ to be put into effect
when the times have reached their
fulfillment to bring all things in
heaven and on earth together under one
there's nothing more foundational to
human being than to know who we are and
father you define who we are and it's
our responsibility to try to lay hold of
that and to leave that out and we can't
do that on our own but we can surely do
that by your Holy Spirit and so as we
take these moments now and reflect on
what your word teaches us about what it
is to be in Christ what it is to
experience that reality in our hearts
and in our lives I pray Lord that you
help me to explain clearly the biblical
truths that we're dealing with and I
pray that your Holy Spirit will apply
that in each of our lives in the places
where we need it so that we may know
that we know that we know that you're
our Father in heaven that we are your
children and that you have laid up for
us blessings beyond compare so bless us
in these moments together and may the
words of my mouth from the meditations
of all our hearts be pleasing in your
sight our rock and our ed where we pray
it together in Jesus name
amen I've mentioned this to you
previously but I want to repeat it one
of Paul's common phrases in his epistles
is the phrase in Christ he repeats it 85
times in the 13 or 14 New Testament
letters that he is said to have written
in the book of Ephesians alone you will
find the expression 14 times add to that
the number of times in his writings he
refers to in him meaning in Christ and
you have more than a hundred instances
in Paul's letters where he is talking
about what it is to be in Christ and the
reason he does that is that for the
Christian being in Christ shapes his or
her identity more than anything else and
I've mentioned this before too but it
bears repeating for Paul the phrase in
Christ stands in contrast to being in
Adam to be in Adam is to share Adams
sinful nature it's to be alienated from
God it's to be in bondage to Satan it is
to struggle with a selfish passions and
desires of our lives and it's to be
under God's wrath heading for judgment
that's the condition of every natural
son and daughter of Adam in contrast to
that to be in Christ is to share all
that Christ is and all that Christ has
received from God the Father listen
again to how Paul puts it in Ephesians 1
verse 3 praise be to the God and father
of our Lord Jesus Christ
who is blessed us in the heavenly realms
with every spiritual blessing in
heavenly places every spiritual blessing
in Christ again what that means is that
whatever God has given to Jesus at his
right hand by faith in him when we are
joined to him belongs to you and to me
and the job of the Holy Spirit is to
help us experience the reality of that
and in the time that we have this
morning we're going to try to look at
some ways in which the Holy Spirit does
that we'll see how far we get the first
way in which the Holy Spirit does that
is that he helps us to undo and to
experience our riches in christ he helps
us to understand and experience the
riches that we have in Christ and one of
the reasons I asked you to take out the
insert with the scripture reading on it
is because in the opening verses in this
passage Paul in rapid succession goes
through three situations three qualities
that are ours by virtue of being in
Christ let me walk you through those
very quickly the first thing that Paul
says is that in Christ we are chosen
verse 4 if you've got a pen underlying
it for he chose us in him there you have
that phrase again before the creation of
the world to be holy and blameless in
his sight now think about that he chose
us in Christ before the creation of the
world that's the doctrine of election
the doctrine of election is very
confusing to a lot of people and what
are the reasons for that is that you and
I live in time and space God lives
outside of time and space and so Jesus
is the Alpha and the Omega but he is
both of those at the same time you and I
live in time and space and so we don't
understand this very well but in
biblical language long before the world
was even created if you're a believer in
Christ today you were in the heart of
God God decided when you were going to
be born blows your mind who you were
going to be born to what your character
personality giftedness would be like
what your job or task would be in the
world in the kingdom he chose you he
wanted you and he made sure you would
get to be here that's huge because your
being here or my being here is not
simply a product of biology it's not
simply parents getting carried away
making love and conceiving a child hard
as it is to believe we were chosen by
God before the foundation of the world
and the reason the Bible tells us this
is not for us to try to speculate about
things that we can't understand the
doctrine of election was never meant in
Scripture to say well I'm chosen I'm not
chosen so therefore there's nothing that
I can do it's all in God's hands it was
never intended that way the doctrine of
election in Scripture is that when you
and I are struggling in life when we're
wondering does God love me do I have
what it takes do I have what it takes to
lead a godly life God says don't you
worry about it in Christ you were chosen
to be holy and blameless what I've begun
in you I'm going to bring to completion
so we're chosen but we're not only
chosen in generalities were chosen were
predestined to be his sons listen to
verse four and five underlying that next
in love he predestined us to be adopted
as his sons through Jesus Christ in
accordance with his pleasure and will
now to be his son of God in biblical
language means two things it means we
share his character we share his nature
Adam and Eve when they were created were
created in the image and the likeness of
God it also means that we share his
authority I've talked about this before
but that's why the Bible always talks
about sons and not about daughters very
seldom a couple of times the Bible talks
about daughters of God but it uses the
term sons of God to apply to both male
in female because it is a legal term of
inheritance and so to be destined to be
the sons of God is not only to be
destined to share his character and his
nature to be like him but it's to be
entrusted with his authority the
authority that Jesus received at the
Father's right hand as a son of God you
and I are destined to share in part in
this life but fully and more abundantly
in the life that is to come we are heirs
of God says the Bible and co-heirs with
Christ you'll see in a few moments why
it's so important for the Holy Spirit to
make
is real in their lives because as long
as that is only intellectual theory it
leaves us cold grab hold of that in the
places where it matters and it
transforms your life from one end to the
other so we're chosen we're destined to
be his sons heirs of his kingdom and we
are reconciled to God for 7 and verse 8
underlying that in him there you have it
again in Christ we have redemption
through his blood the forgiveness of
sins in accordance with the riches of
God's grace that he lavished on us with
all wisdom and understanding two things
there I want you to note the first is
the word redemption we have redemption
through his blood the forgiveness of
sins to be redeemed is to be walked back
when Adam and Eve sinned against God
they came under the legal authority of
Satan why is the world such a mess why
are so many people following so many
stupid ideas and they have no ability to
see how ridiculously foolish they are
it's because we've been sold out to
Satan later on in chapter 2 he talks you
will remember about people following the
principalities and the powers the spirit
of the air there is a spirit in the air
a spirit in the air that tells people
how they ought to live that alienates
them from God that keeps them in bondage
that keeps them insane that takes us
downward to destruction that is the
natural place where we find ourselves
and Satan has that power because we are
guilty of Sid we're guilty of sharing
and Adam sinned and we're guilty of
sharing at our own
but what happens when you come to Jesus
why do we come to Jesus because we know
that we are under the wrath of God we
know that we're separated from God we
know that he wants nothing to do with us
in the natural and we understand that
Jesus died on the cross shed his blood
why so that our sins could be forgiven
so one of the benefits of being in
Christ is that God is no longer angry
with me I don't need to hide he isn't
down on me he doesn't hold my sins
against me he throws them in the sea of
forgetfulness he he is reconciled to me
not only are my sins forgiven I am
declared righteous before him through
the person of Jesus Christ God looks at
me in Christ doesn't see any of my sin
all he sees is the righteousness of
Jesus not only that but beyond that
notice how the passage goes on God has
lavished upon us the riches of His grace
in all wisdom and understanding grace
means God's riches at Christ's expense
it's a good way to remember what the
word means it's unmerited favor in
Christ not only are my sins forgiven but
in Christ God is no longer angry with me
and because he is no longer angry with
me he loves me he wants to share good
things with me his intention is that I
would share the fullness of his glory
experience some of it in the year and
now but fully in the age that is to come
so Paul says were chosen in Christ we
are destined in Christ to be the
children of God and in Christ we are
reconciled to God God's no longer angry
he no longer closes the door
on us in fact he says come on in the
Bible talks about with confidence
drawing near to God and experiencing his
presence now that's what we are in
Christ were eligible for the favor of
God and let's be very clear this is true
whether you and I feel it or not whether
or not we experience it or whether or
not it is not at all part of our life it
is a legal reality before God if this
morning you have come to faith in Christ
and given your life to him then however
much or however little you understand
about that what God has given to Jesus
now belongs to you and the job of the
Holy Spirit is twofold the job of the
Holy Spirit is first of all to help us
understand this we can put that up we'll
backtrack one the job of the Holy Spirit
is to help me understand that what God
has given to me in Christ is mine and
then his job is to help me experience it
and we'll talk about that in just a
moment think of it this way unbeknownst
to you you are a crown prince or a crown
princess of some distant principality
let's say that you have royal blood
flowing through your veins and you are
next in line to the throne but nobody's
told you about that
and so you're working for a less than
minimum wage your car is 20 years old
and dying your kids don't have enough to
eat you're struggling along and life is
just simply really tough but then along
comes somebody and you got a letter in
the mail that says dear sir or dear
madam unbeknownst to you I mean this
sounds like a Nigerian scam doesn't it
unbeknownst to you there is this is who
you are these are the riches that are
yours and it totally and forever will
change your life because all of a sudden
you're no longer just Joe Blow groveling
in the dirt to make a living you are
king joe and you have authority and
majesty and glory and people instead of
looking down on you begin to respect you
and love you and cater to you because
you are somebody that's who we are in
christ and along comes the Holy Spirit
and he does those two things he helps me
understand he helps me understand who I
am in Christ that's why the Bible talks
about with all wisdom and understanding
and then he helps me to experience that
because the job of the Holy Spirit is to
make real in our lives what it is that
we are in Christ how does he do that a
lot of different ways but the Bible
talks about God pouring into our lives
the love of God listen to this verse
Romans 5 verse 5 God has poured out his
love into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit whom he has
given us God has poured out his love
into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom
he has given us and what that verse
means is that when we come to Christ and
God blesses us with the Holy Spirit then
it's the job of the Holy Spirit to help
us experience the reality of being
chosen the reality of being a son or a
daughter of god and the reality of
having had our sins forgiven it's no
longer just an intellectual knowledge
it's no longer just a theory that is out
there I know and I feel in my heart the
reality that God loves me that I am his
child that my sins are forgiven that I
have access to his throne of grace that
he cares about me intensely that that he
is present in my life that he hears my
prayers and that that I know that I know
that I know that he is my father and i
am his child this is not just reserved
for some elite christian this is the
heritage of every christian when by
faith they're joined to Jesus here is
how the Apostle Paul puts it brilliantly
in Romans chapter 8 the verses 15 and 16
he says you did not receive a spirit
that makes you a slave again to fear but
you receive the spirit of sonship and by
him we cry Abba Father the word Abba is
the most intimate expression of
fatherhood it's the equivalent of our
phrase daddy the Spirit of God
bears witness with my spirit that I am a
child of God let me say it again the job
of the Holy Spirit is to help me now but
also experience the fact that I'm chosen
the fact that I belong to God I am a son
of the kingdom and there is nothing but
nothing that separates me from the love
of God the job of the Holy Spirit is to
bring this home to me in a way that I
can can live out of and find security
yeah well somebody says what does that
look like whatever thinking about that a
little bit because it's a little bit
like like falling in love if I have to
explain to you what falling in love
looks like you've probably never fallen
in love and if you have fallen in love
you don't need me to explain it to you
because you already know what it's like
nevertheless i'm going to try hoping
that it will register somewhere in terms
of our life see I don't want to give the
impression that a Christian is always
going to live in a high or that a
Christian is always going to feel like
God is right there or that a Christian
doesn't go through valleys or deep times
of testing that's all part of the
journey in fact that's part of God
applying to us through the Holy Spirit
what it is to be joined to Jesus because
we're joined to him in his death as well
as his resurrection but I want us to
understand that every last one of us is
privileged in Christ to at least have
moments where our eyes are open and we
know that we know that we belong to God
that he's not mad at me that he loves me
and that he is actively involved in my
life how does he do that well he does
that in a lot of different ways
sometimes sometimes he just puts us in
these moments where all of a sudden our
spiritual eyes are opened and we know
that God's there Darrell and I were
talking about that last Tuesday on the
way back to classes and Darrell was
telling me a little bit of again if his
journey how he came to Christ and as God
had been working in his heart he found
himself among the Rockies and you can go
to the Rockies and it can be a majestic
experience and it can be a wonderful
experience but it doesn't have to be a
spiritual encounter but for Darrell it
was a spiritual encounter it was like
God said this is me this is me and it
moved him forward in his journey towards
God for somebody else it might be the
fact that they find themselves in a
difficult situation and maybe they've
never learned to pray Darrell was
telling me about one of the people that
he works with and and the Lord's
obviously working in her life and he's
been trying to invite her to church and
coming into church is a big step for a
lot of people as you know but he said
why don't you pray and you know God
loves the prayers of seekers you've
noticed that and she did she's in
difficult domestic situation and and she
prayed something or another now you and
I can pray a thousand times over in and
the heavens may remain like brass and
nothing happens what when God is at work
in you and he wants to make himself real
to you the slightest breath of prayer
goes right up into throne of God and all
of a sudden you get an answer that says
wow I didn't know God was there I didn't
know that he cared for me like that or
you can be reading scripture
and you know how that goes with us we
read scripture and we often just jump
over it but every so often there are
those moments when it's like like a
verse jumps out of the page at you and
it's like it's got your name on it and
you know that God is speaking in an
intimate way to your heart that may be a
rebuke could maybe comfort and maybe
direction but it's like God is right
there that's the Holy Spirit bearing
witness with your spirit let your child
have gone or you've been into sin and
the Lord has convicted you have sinned
and yet you wonder how God can ever
forgive you for the stupid things you've
done your eyes have been opened shame
cover you and you feel horrifically for
wood with his child and he wipes away
your tears and he says you know for
those tears I died and you know that you
know that you know that God does not
hold your past against you any longer
are you the kind of person who grows up
in a home environment where you've been
shamed and you feel that you have no
identity nobody loves you and nobody
ever sees you you have no plan and
purpose of life and God comes along and
he puts a stamp on you and he says you
are mine and even if nobody ever takes
notice of you I knew you before you were
even born you matter to me and and
everything changes in your life because
you hear the call of God and he calls
you forth and he establishes a new sense
of identity might making any sense here
God makes himself riga and for some it
will be such a lavished outpouring of
God's Holy Spirit that your elector
fight from top to bottom and you say I
never knew that I could know God this
real and this intimate in my life and it
totally changes your whole definition of
who you are a new gifts bubble up a new
abilities burst forth and and God calls
you out and you know that you know that
God has touched your life one of the
reasons that I like the hymns by Charles
Wesley is because he and his brother
John and I've talked about him before
just just experienced that amazing
renewal of God's Holy Spirit where where
John Wesley and that aldersgate
experience how long after he had been a
preacher and a missionary to you know to
Georgia came back home into this
aldersgate meeting and he said I felt my
heart strangely warmed I felt I did
trust in Christ Christ alone for
salvation and that assurance was given
me that he had taken away my sins even
mine and saved me from the law of sin
and death and out of that of course come
these great hymns and can it be that I
should gain an interest in the Savior's
blood verse for long my imprisoned
spirit laid fast bound in sin and
nature's night then i defused a
quickening ray I woke the dungeon flamed
with light my chains fell off my heart
was free I rose went forth and followed
thee the song blessed assurance Fanny
Crosby same kind of thing blessed
assurance Jesus is mine oh what a
foretaste of glory divine heir of
salvation purchase of God born of his
spirit washed in his blood this is my
story this is my song praising my Savior
all the
day long there is a place in the
Christian life where what we know by
faith in our heads settles into our
hearts and as I said a moment or two ago
this is not some special revelation only
given to the super spiritual this is a
revelation that God has for each one of
his children because the gift of the
holy spirit is free and again I will
repeat you're not going to feel that all
the time you're not going to experience
that all the time at least I've never
met anybody who does but there should be
moments there should be moments when you
have a foretaste of glory divine and you
know that you know that God is real that
you're his child and that it matters and
if you've never had that experience then
you need to do two things first of all
you need to ask yourself have I come to
faith in Christ have I surrendered my
life to Him have I trusted idiom for my
complete salvation it's interesting to
hear the Moravian brothers talk about
the Wesley brothers before they became
Christians because and I wish I had
brought that quote along it's a
fantastic quote where he says they make
the gospel so complicated that they
cannot just trust in Jesus they think
they have to earn their salvation and
therefore they're miserable because they
never know that they're good enough it
was a humbling experience for John
Wesley to discover that he was saved by
grace through faith as the free gift of
God salvation ask yourself the question
have you been to the cross have you
surrendered because this kind of
Revelation you can't argue yourself into
you can read the Bible from morning till
night you can go to church for morning
tonight and you will not know
the reality of God short of coming just
as you are a sinner to the cross and
saying Lord Jesus it is only in you that
I've been chosen only in you that I'm
destined to be the Son of God only in
you that I have been redeemed only in
you that I can experience your grace
having decided that you have then asked
God to fill you with His Holy Spirit
because listen to these words of Jesus
you've heard the many times but they are
an incredible promise that he gives to
us this is in Luke chapter 11 the verses
9 to 13 I say to you ask and it will be
given you seek and you will find knock
and the door will be open to you for
everyone who asks receives he who seeks
finds and to him who knocks the door
will be opened which of you fathers if
your son asked for a fish we'll give him
a snake instead or if he asks for an egg
we'll give him a scorpion if you then
though you are evil know how to give
good gifts to your children how much
more will your Father in Heaven give the
Holy Spirit to those who ask him doesn't
get much simpler or plainer than that
lay aside your expectations of what's
going to happen I discovered a long time
ago how you experience the Holy Spirit
in your life is determined on the one
hand sovereignly by God and it more
likely than not will be in keeping with
your personality if you are a
rambunctious vivacious kind of
personality you might well encounter the
Holy Spirit in that way have your a
sober stayed
or a Scotsman or Lord knows whatever
else stiff British stiff upper lip lip
written the Holy Spirit knows what you
need and the real test is not whether
you have a liver shiver or you have a
Holy Ghost moment now the real test is
are my eyes opened do I see more of
Jesus do I understand more of who he is
am I more and more convinced that God
loves me that he's got a place for me
and that he is at work in my heart to
change me to make me more like Jesus at
the end of the day that is the test of
whether or not you are in Christ and
whether or not you have received the
Holy Spirit think we'll leave it at that
second point that I'm going to want to
make and we come back to this is that
the Holy Spirit not only helps me to
understand and experience the presence
of God he also helps me to live out my
identity in christ he will change me
from the inside out to make me worthy of
the inheritance that God has for me
because remember when the curtain falls
in history oh I wish that we could see
this when the curtain falls in history
we're going to sit on Thrones with Jesus
we're going to rule the new creation
we're going to do it for all eternity
and I've often said listen if you see
how we strive for recognition in the
here and now how glad we are when we
have success or when people praise us or
when we we accomplish it's nothing
compared to what God has in store for
those who love him and if you and I
could see it the more we could see it
the more it will change us in the harder
we will strive as we'll see next time
too
off the olden to put on the new so that
we can be pleasing to our Father who is
in heaven and suitable candidates to be
entrusted with God's Authority for ever
Lord we can talk about this forever but
talking alone won't open the eyes of the
blind or the ears of the Deaf or make
the lame to walk or make streams in the
desert or the desert bloom like a rose
but father we know that in Christ that
has all been accomplished so thank you
for choosing us before the foundation of
the world that makes us feel pretty
special thank you for having chosen us
and destined us to be sons of God most
high recipients of all that he is and
all that he has and thank you Lord for
redeeming Grace redeeming Grace that
washes away not only all our scene but
that presents us before you without spot
or wrinkle or blemish or any such thing
and that lavish is upon us everything
that we need for life and for godliness
for time and for eternity and Lord how
we pray this morning that first of all
you will help us to see who in Christ we
are help us to get our eyes off who we
are in Adam help us to get past what we
didn't have when you come into the world
or our life has treated us and how tough
it's been help us to see Lord that were
chosen in Christ destined for glory
redeemed for grace and then having
understood it even just a little bit
help us by faith to claim our
inheritance in Christ and to reach out
to you confidently in boldly and say
transform my life from the inside out
and establish us Lord a security of
knowing that we know that we know that
we know that nothing but nothing can
ever separate us from the love of God
and then give us a passion a
determination to love you the Lord our
God with all of our heart soul strength
and mind and the love our neighbor even
as we love ourselves set your church on
fire set our hearts on fire may the
world know that we know that we know you
and that you in turn know us and Lord
will be careful to give you the glory
through Jesus Christ it's in his name
you