In Touch Ministries

Dr. Charles Stanley: God's entire great sovereign kingdom that covers this whole universe, over which he reigns every single split second of every moment of every day, he says you and I have become not only part of the family of God, we're part of the kingdom. Our position has changed.

He says once before we were in the domain of darkness, but now he transferred us by an act of our faith, responding to the atoning death of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit baptizes us into Christ Jesus. Now, once in Adam, now in Christ.

Guest (Male): Jesus offers freedom and liberty to each of his followers. Today on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, we'll focus our attention on the believer's position in Christ. Christians are God's possession, adopted by the heavenly Father and children of the King. Keep these truths in mind as we continue in John 8 with part two of "How the Truth Can Set You Free." Let's listen in to Dr. Stanley's message.

Dr. Charles Stanley: If you will listen to this series of messages on how the truth can set you free, my friend, your life will never be the same. There is a liberating power in this passage of scripture that can make a decided difference in your life. And it may be that you are in bondage to areas that you're not even aware of. Maybe you've been a Christian a long time and can't figure out why you're not happy. Can't figure out why you're not enjoying your Christian life.

If you will listen carefully, I believe God will speak to your heart and show you the real problem. And if you will apply what you're going to hear, I can assure you your life is going to sense a freedom and liberty you've never known before. John chapter 8, let's begin reading in verse 31, remembering that Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and he's talking about the truth.

"He said therefore to those Jews who had believed him, 'If you abide in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.' They answered him, 'We are Abraham's offspring and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you shall become free?' Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. And the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.'"

Let me define what I mean by freedom. I mean release from the bondage of those things, attitudes, habits in your life that are hindering you from becoming the person God wants you to be and from achieving the things that God would have you to achieve. There are three aspects of this truth that are essential to be set free. One of those truths is the one I want to talk about today. I'm going to tell you all three of them, but I'm only going to talk about one today.

The first truth and the basic truth is I must know the truth about my position in Christ Jesus. Until I know that, I will never feel the security God wants me to feel. What do we mean when we say our position in Christ? What is that position? What is my position in Christ Jesus? I want you to look at about five scriptures, beginning in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17. What do we mean by position? What is that position that the Holy Spirit has engineered in your life and mine?

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things passed away; behold all things have become new. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation." Now watch this. The word reconciliation means to bring back, to reclaim. What did God do? In his grace and his mercy, he reached out through the Lord Jesus Christ, convicted you of your sin, showed you his grace, and he brought you back to himself.

This means that now you have been reconciled. You and I are in a position of having been reconciled. We've been brought back. We are now with God. We have been brought back into oneness with him. The second thing I want you to see as a result of that is in John chapter 1 and verse 12: "But as many as received him, to them gave he the power, the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name."

Our position is we've been reconciled. He reached out, found us in our sin, reconciled us unto himself, and made us sons and daughters of God. My position is I am living in the state of being reconciled. I have been made a son, and you women have been made daughters of God. Let's move one step further. If you look in Colossians chapter 1, verse 13, it says, "For he delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son."

We have become citizens of the kingdom of God. God's entire great sovereign kingdom covers this whole universe, over which he reigns every single split second of every moment of every day. You and I have become not only part of the family of God, we're part of the kingdom. You and I are part of the rule of God and the reign of God, reigning in righteousness with our Lord God Almighty himself.

Our position has changed. Once before we were in the domain of darkness, but now he transferred us by an act of our faith, responding to the atoning death of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit baptizes us into Christ Jesus. Once in Adam, now in Christ. I want you to look at these verses tucked away in this Ephesians chapter 2 passage. Everybody knows these verses. Verses 8 and 9 say, "For by grace you are saved through faith." We've quoted that for years. But I want you to go back to verse 4 and ponder the meaning of these verses.

"But God, being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, he made us alive with Christ (for by him we are saved) and has raised us up with Jesus Christ, seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us who are in Christ Jesus."

He has taken the real you, and when you were saved, he said he raised you to walk in newness of life on this earth. But he also took the real you and he took you into the heavenlies and seated you in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus at the Father's right hand. He took you out of Adam and put you into Christ Jesus. When Jesus died, we died. When he was buried, we were buried. When he arose, we arose. When he ascended, we ascended. When he was seated at the Father's right hand, because we are in him, we were seated there also.

You are seated in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus now. Not going to be; now. It has already happened. You say, "How can I be down here and up there?" God, being rich in mercy because of his great love which he loved us—this is the only reason it happened—even when we were dead in our transgressions, he made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

What is it that he took up there? He took the real you up there. He's taken the you that's going to last for eternity. You are seated in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. How in the world are you going to be lost when you're already there? You say, "But now I just don't feel that way." Almighty God says the day you were saved, he raised you out of your life of sin, placing you into Christ Jesus, and he has placed you in Christ Jesus seated in the heavenlies.

That is the new redeemed you. Your spirit, he says, is in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. You are eternally secured. But listen, not only that, you are earthly secure. If you're in Christ and Christ is seated in the heavenlies at the Father's right hand, the only way in the world anything can touch you down here is for Christ up there to allow it to happen. That is the only way.

When the Holy Spirit comes into your life and redeems you and baptizes you into Christ Jesus, making you a new creation and one with him, you are eternally secured. You have become a son in the family, in the kingdom, seated with the Father at his right hand in Christ Jesus. You are in the heavenlies in Christ, and the only way you can accept that is by faith, because you can't feel that.

The only people who are going to get liberated are those who are willing to say, "Lord, I can't quite figure all that out, but you've said that you've seated me in the heavenlies at the Father's right hand in Christ Jesus. That is where my security is." Because I've been secured up there, I am also secured down here because I am in Christ. He's in us, but as more scriptures say, we're in him. That's where our security is.

While in my mind and in my physical body and in my human spirit I'm still down here, my spirit that will last forever has already been seated in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. God Almighty said that's where you and I are, seated with him in Christ. Now, you see, that all deals with my relationship. If you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ, then there is no security. You're not in heaven. You're down in this mundane world trying to fight your way through, and you'll never make it, my friend, without Christ.

He says that God Almighty has executed his divine miraculous power in us. God, being rich in mercy because of his great love toward us, has saved us and raised us up, seating us with him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. If God the Father has seated the real you in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus and eternally you're going to be there, tell me something you have to be worried about.

If Almighty God loves you and me enough and he has so worked in your life and my life to make us eternally secure here and now—not future, here and now, not later but now—to say to us that because of his great love and mercy toward us, he seats us in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. He says in verse 7, "in order that in the ages to come he may show the surpassing riches," indescribable riches of his grace. There is no way in the world to fathom the grace or understand it all. He says the riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Friend, the first truth that sets me free is this: that I am in him. That means I'm in a state of reconciliation. He's brought me back to him. He's made me a son, put me in the family, put me in the kingdom, and seated me in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that I am walking in absolute security. What does that do to these bondage areas? This feeling of not belonging, of rejection?

Rejection is Satan's deceit. He says you belong. He reconciled you and brought you back. He's made you a son, made you a daughter, put you in the family, adopted you, and made you part of the kingdom. Not only that, he says he's put you in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, seated at the Father's right hand. Already, that is where you are. The real you that's going to last for eternity is there.

There is no legitimate basis for feeling insecure and a sense of lack of belonging when God says you belong to him. He reached out and grabbed you, brought you back, reconciled you, made you a son, made you a family member. He put you into this kingdom. And not only that, he says, "I'm going to settle it once and for all. I'm going to take you into the heavenlies and seat you in Christ Jesus at the Father's right hand."

Tell me why you'd feel insecure? Only because Satan says you don't have it, you can't do it, or it won't work. Think about this one verse. The next time you think you don't deserve something, read this: "But God, being rich in mercy because of his great love wherewith he has loved you." And you mean to tell me you think he's going to let you go lacking in any area of your life? He has secured you in him, and that is the foundation, the basis of my liberty and my freedom.

It makes no difference what the world may do to me, it is already a settled issue. The issue is that my eternity not only is settled, but he says he has taken me into the heavenlies in Christ Jesus and seated me at the Father's right hand with him. Where he is, I am. At the same time, I am down here in this body, in this mind. And the Holy Spirit, his work is now to live through me the life of Jesus Christ and to live that life through you.

Do you think about what that means? What it means is the only purpose you and I have for living is for the glory of God, to reflect the Lord Jesus Christ, to magnify him, to honor him. Our selfish pursuits don't fit because our citizenship and our family heritage and our position speaks of holiness, righteousness, obedience, joy, peace, confidence, and security in him.

You say, "But I still don't feel like it." I want to tell you, my friend, your feelings will keep you in bondage the rest of your life unless you are willing to give them up to the testimony of the word of God. The word of God says the truth will set you free. The first step in that truth is to know what your position is, who you are, and where you are in Christ Jesus our Lord.

One last passage. Look in John chapter 15 for just a moment, where Jesus is talking to his disciples right before he left them. He says, "I'm the true vine, my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away; and every branch that bears fruit he prunes it that it may bear more fruit. You're already clean because the word which I've spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, so neither can you except you abide in me. I'm the vine, you're the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing."

You know what our position in our daily life is? It is just resting in him. Look, if you will, in Colossians chapter 2 and verse 6. Here is really the key: "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus"—how did you receive him? By faith—"so walk in him." You received him by faith. He says so we are to walk in him. He is in us, and we are in him. Our position is by faith; we are walking in him.

If we're walking in him, we have all the security we need. All the sense of belonging is there because we belong to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Sons and daughters of God. In the family, in the kingdom. And he says you who have been saved have been seated in him in Christ Jesus. If I'm in him and he's in the heavenlies, then I must be there.

Don't let your feelings keep you in bondage because you say, "Oh, if I could just understand how I could be here and how I could be there." You'll never understand that. You'll never fathom the miraculous resurrection of Jesus Christ. You'll never be able to explain in finite detail all the details of the virgin birth, or the new birth. But he gives us enough knowledge to liberate us and free us.

You'll never be able to fathom humanly how you can be up there and down here at the same time. But that is exactly what he says. That's our position. You'll never be free until you're willing to accept your position in Christ, that you are the sons and daughters of Almighty God, and he has freed you to become everything he wants you to be in order to accomplish everything he wants you to accomplish.

Guest (Male): Dr. Stanley's message today on In Touch helped us to see that only those who've trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior are able to truly honor God. Because of their position in Christ, believers are called into a life of obedience, joy, peace, and confidence. To continue learning about the truth of God's word and how it can work powerfully in your life, access the Bible-based resources at intouch.org.

You can also review what you just heard today by clicking the link to "Today on Radio." And if you'd like to have the entire set of messages on "How the Truth Can Set You Free," you can place your order at the bookstore. Again, log on to intouch.org or call or text because the number simply is 1-800-IN-TOUCH. To write to us, address your letter to In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia 30357, or 1-800-IN-TOUCH.

When your trust is centered in the place of real security, you can be at rest even when your circumstances are not. Today's moment with Charles Stanley is just ahead.

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You don't need to be perfect to be a man of God. But with just a little encouragement and some time and attention, you can be a patient example, a generous leader, and a joyful provider. In his book, Man of God, Dr. Charles Stanley looks at what it takes to grow into a man after God's own heart. Order your copy at intouch.org or 1-800-IN-TOUCH.

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Guest (Male): You're listening to In Touch. Are you ever really safe? That depends on how you view security. With encouragement for believers, here's a moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: It is an act of grace that God reached out, took you out of a life of sin, out of Adam, placed you in a life of righteousness in Christ Jesus, wrote your name in the Lamb's Book of Life, and made you one of his children. That is an act of grace. You see, the only thing you could do is just respond. You responded to his love, responded to his grace, responded to his kindness, and responded to his goodness. You and I have been the recipients of all that God's been giving down through the years.

It is a work of grace. It is a work of God's goodness and love and mercy toward us. It is an unchanging act. Our position in Jesus Christ is the only basis you and I have for our eternal security. What is your basis of security in this life today? Is it your money? You could lose it tomorrow, or today. Is it your position? You could get fired this afternoon. Is it your relationship to other people? That could all change in a split second.

The truth is, you and I have no other basis in life for security except our personal relationship to Jesus Christ, which God the Father engineered as a result of the cross by the power of the Holy Spirit, placing us into Jesus Christ who is our Savior and our Lord.

Guest (Male): A personal relationship with the Lord begins with believing that Christ's death satisfied the penalty for your debt of sin and trusting him to forgive you by his grace. Learn more at intouch.org. And if today's program has encouraged your relationship with Jesus, we'd love to hear from you. Tomorrow on In Touch, God wants his children to be free to become everything he knows that we can be. And to do that, we need to see ourselves as he sees us. Find help aligning your perspective with his when you join us next time on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley.

This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on this station through the grace of God and by your faithful prayers and gifts.