South Shore Pentecostal Church

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Apostolic Truth Radio Program with Pastor Craig Ouellette, a radio ministry of South Shore Pentecostal Church located in Whitman, Massachusetts. At a time when many Christians do not know what to believe, South Shore Pentecostal is honored to bring you clear biblical teaching on which you can confidently build your faith. Thank you for joining us.

J. Craig Ouellette: Amen. We're going to talk about "in Jesus Christ" today. Say, "in Jesus Christ." Let's read these first two verses, probably familiar to most of us here, Romans 8:1-2: "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 has made me free from the law of sin and death."

First Corinthians chapter 15, verse 19 through 23: "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Amen.

Then 1 Thessalonians 4:13 through 18 says: "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep."

"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." Probably in your mind, you caught it. The question here is, what's the connection with these scriptures?

Every one of those passages is related to "in Christ." "In Christ," "in Christ Jesus." Amen. When we talk about the body of Christ, the church, the phrases "in Christ," "in Jesus," "into Christ," "into Jesus" are referring to being in the body of Christ, the church. These are Bible verses here. The thing we need to understand, which many people do not understand, is that salvation is the process which places people within the body of Christ.

Colossians 1:18, I have that there just as a reference showing that the church is the body of Christ. We can just look at that quickly. I think we are all good with that, but just to read it. Colossians 1:18: "And he is the head," meaning Jesus, "of the church, of the body, the church." The body of Christ and the church are synonymous. Amen.

When we start to look at our situation in life, one of the things we see is we're all sinners till we come to God. All are sinners through Adam. Romans 3:23: "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Romans 5:12 says because of Adam's sin, all were made sinners. Then 1 Corinthians 15:22 says: "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." There has to be a transition from Adam to Jesus to get life.

All human beings are from the lineage of Adam. We know that physically by DNA we can trace it back to Adam. But we're talking about being transformed or moved into a new lineage, which is the body of Christ. Are we okay so far? The salvation process places a person in Jesus Christ so they can live. There's a legal process because we all belong to Adam until we are born again. We're not talking about earning salvation; we're talking about doing what you need to do to obtain what God has provided. Amen.

Let's look at some of the promises that we've already read just to put these into perspective. The promises of no condemnation and free from the law of sin and death are given to those in Christ. Isn't that what it said? "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ." The question arises, can I believe and not be in? That's the crux of the problem. That's where most people are caught. They believe, but they might not be in. They think that they're in because they feel something.

Romans 8:1: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:2: "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus..." The law of the Spirit of life works when I get into Christ. When I get into the body, the law of the Spirit of life now works because it's working in Him. I need to be a part of His body. Those in Christ are made alive. Again, we read in 1 Corinthians 15:22: "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."

The dead in Christ will arise. We read in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 it says the trumpet's going to sound, the Lord's going to descend with the voice of an archangel, and the dead—not all dead, it doesn't say dead believers, it says the dead in Christ—the dead in Christ shall arise. Then we which are alive, implying we that are alive in Christ, shall rise up to meet Him in the air. Do you understand what I'm saying? Praise God. Amen.

I know I have to clean up a lot of apples when we're done because I'm upsetting the apple carts. Praise God. Amen. As I said, salvation is a process. It's more than a single event. It starts with a single event, but the born-again believer can say, "I was saved, I am saved, and I'm being saved." Of course, that negates the idea of "once saved, always saved," but the Bible never says that anyplace. When you ask people about it, they say, "the sovereignty of God." Yes, God is sovereign. But what did God say? He didn't say once saved, always saved. He said if you continue to the end, "he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved." Jesus said that in more than one place.

We must get saved and continue to live for the Lord. I've got a couple references; I didn't want to get bogged down in there. But in 1 Corinthians 15:1-2, the resurrection chapter: "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain." We can believe and then believe in vain because we give up and don't continue. Amen. I've got to continue in the things that God gives us. Once I'm saved, to make it all the way, I've got to continue.

As I've said so many times before, the children of Israel in the wilderness are visual pictures. They're word pictures of how we have to live for God. They're all delivered. They're all delivered through the flood, aren't they? But they don't all make it to the Promised Land. Right? I'm not saying that those who didn't make it went to hell, but what I'm trying to say is their Promised Land is a lot like our Promised Land is not really this world, is it? But it's Him. It's heaven where Jesus is.

The Bible lets us clearly understand that passing through the Red Sea was a type of salvation. They're baptized to Moses, they're baptized in the sea and in the cloud, so it's a type of the salvation process. Being delivered out of Egypt is a type of being born again or delivered from the world. In other words, God's giving us an illustration. These are illustrations to help us understand. Again, in Colossians 1:22-23: "In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight."

In other words, in Him, He's done that to deliver us. But it says, "if ye continue in the faith and be not moved away from the hope." Amen. If you continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye have heard, which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister. I've got to continue. You've got to continue. We've got to get into the body, stay in the body. Amen.

Salvation takes us... part of what salvation's going to do... all in Adam die, all in Christ live. Salvation is going to take us out of the lineage of Adam and put us into the lineage of Christ. Notice in Galatians chapter 4, verses 4 through 7, we see that God has got a promise and a plan for those that are going to be part of the church, that are going to be born again. Galatians 4:4 says: "But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."

God wants to adopt us. In other words, I'm changing families. Right? Adoption means I'm going to a family that was not my original family. I was part of the family of Adam by my humanity. But when I'm going to be born again, God wants to adopt us into a new family. Verse 5: "To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ."

You see that one of the things that God does, this is why we need a baptism of the Holy Ghost. God's Spirit gives us the spirit of adoption. In order to be part of His family, I've got to have the same Spirit of the family. I've got to have a change of my spirit. I can't be part of Christ's family and retain my Adam spirit. I need a new spirit. This is what he's talking about adoption. Part of the salvation process is God working in our lives to take us from the old man, the old lineage, and put us into a new lineage in Christ Jesus.

Salvation does a number of things and this is where again people don't understand: it pays the debt of our sins. But that's not all it is. If you got saved just to take care of your sins, you're missing what God wants to do for you. You're missing God's plan. Salvation is not only supposed to take care of the sins, but it's supposed to transform us, give us the power to transform to be like Him. It's supposed to take us out of the world and put us into the church, take us from the lineage of Adam and put us into the lineage of Christ. It's supposed to adopt us into the family of God.

I think a lot of people go to church just to get rid of the sin problem. That's a good place to get rid of the sin problem. But that's not all we're trying to do. We're not just trying to get rid of the penalty. Again, a lot of people, I think, we almost sometimes think about our sin debt like a credit card debt. If I just pay it off, then I can go on. But that's not what God wants. God pays it off so we can go on and be what He wants us to be, and we can live for Him and have victory and have peace and joy in Him and overcome the world and devil and ourself.

God does this. He pays the debt of sins because the sin problem is what caused our relationship with God. If we go back to Colossians 1 and read a couple verses before where we read there, he kind of explains the problem. Verse 21: "And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled." The sin in us creates a block or prevents us from having the relationship with God that God wants to have with us.

God is not just interested in us just doing good things. Do you understand that? God is not just interested in forgiving our sins and now you're out from under the devil, so now go on and live life, just don't sin again. That's not what salvation's about. Salvation's supposed to be about God redeeming us from our sin nature and bringing us into relationship with Him. Think back to Adam and Eve, how God would appear and talk to Adam and Eve in the garden. God wants that kind of relationship with us.

The sin has to be dealt with. We have to come into a place where we become changed so that we can come into His presence. Even if the sin is just dealt with, now I still need to be remade. Just taking care of the sin does not change me; it just eliminates the debt. Do you understand that? This is why sometimes many people struggle: it's church service to church service because they never really get born again.

They get convicted, go to the altar, repent, God lifts the debt, they feel good, but because they haven't got born again, they're going to struggle and fall back into the same things. Then they're going to have to go to the altar again. I'm not saying that getting saved you don't go to the altar, but you enter into a different relationship and dimension where you're under the blood when you're saved.

If I'm in the body, the blood's flowing on me because I'm connected to all the organs of the body. If I'm outside of the body, maybe the Lord can put some blood on me and take care of me, but in the body, I'm in contact with the blood. The Bible says if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us. That blood works to wash us. Hallelujah. And that maintains the relationship.

We're justified by the blood. In other words, the sin problem's taken care of. If God shows up, He's not going to judge me because I got sin in my life. I got justified by the blood. But justification does not change your nature or my nature; it just makes me right with God. If just being right with God was enough, Adam and Eve would never have sinned because they were right with God till they sinned.

We need something because the same devil that came to Eve is coming to you and me. He's coming with the same things. I need something, you need something, that lifts us up above, gives us the desire to do things God's way. The Holy Ghost will give you a desire to do things God's way. The Holy Ghost will lift your faith up. The Holy Ghost will bring you into a place where all of a sudden you start to believe.

These are not just nice words; these are not just things on a page; this is truth. You'll start to read and believe. If He did it for them, maybe God can do it for me. The Holy Ghost gives us power to live the way God wants us to live. The Holy Ghost is not just some mysterious thing or just an idea or just a feeling; it's an experience. When it happens, you know it happened because it's going to take you up a level beyond what you can do in your own ability or understanding.

Justification takes care of that sin problem. It says in Romans 5:8-9: "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." The blood applied justifies us. Amen. Salvation places us into the body of Christ. Look at these scriptures: water baptism.

Romans 6:3: "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?" Water baptism starts to place us in the body. If you're not water baptized, you haven't obeyed part of the process or experienced part of the process that places you in the body. The question is, can I hear from God without being in the body? Yes, many examples in the Bible. Can I feel God without being in the body? Yes, many examples in the Bible. Can God use me without being in the body? Yes, examples in the Bible.