In Christ Realities – Part 4 Pastors Lawson and Aaron Perdue

In Christ Realities Part 4 with Pastors Lawson and Aaron Perdue. In this episode of Grace For Today you’ll learn about what it means to be made new in Christ and the rewards that come with.

In Christ Realities Part 4 Transcription

Welcome, friends, to the broadcast. I’m so glad that you tuned in today. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if any person being Christ, the same has become a new creation, old things are passed away, and all things have become new, and all things are of God.” We’re gonna talk about today, 10 new things that you’ve received in Christ from Ephesians chapter two. You don’t wanna miss this broadcast. Blessing! Friends, I’m so glad that you’re with us today. We’ve been sharing all week on a change of identity is necessary for a change of destiny. And we used some Old Testament examples. We talked about Jacob, and how his name was changed to Israel. We talked about Abram, how his name was changed to Abraham, and we also talked about Moses, and the 12 spies that he chose, one from each of the 12 tribes of Israel, in Numbers chapter 13. And the way they saw themselves determine what they received from God. Here’s something that’s kind of interesting about that. Israel was over 2 million strong. Moses chose a leader out of each of the 12 tribes of, or 12 families of Israel. And yet, only two of them believe God. Faith in God will make you one in a million.

Mm-hmm, that’s true.

Praise God. If you’re born again, you have faith. So we need to start using what we’ve been given. And we’re gonna go, in this broadcasting, we’re gonna talk about that those things were Old Testament examples, but we’re gonna talk about the spiritual reality of that in our own life. And we’re gonna look at Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians chapter two talks about who we were, and it also talks about who we are. And, you know, so much of the church, so many of the church don’t realize who we are. And, mom heard a person ministering the other day and they were just talking about, you know, “You’re hopeless.” And they were telling everybody, “You’re hopeless,” and talk about how you’re hopeless. And she had to, this person had to go on and on and on and on. And finally, she got people to start agreeing with her. But you know what? You were hopeless before Jesus, but since you’ve got Jesus, you’re not hopeless. And we were without hope, without God, but, man, we have hope in Christ. And if we don’t have the hope of the resurrection in Christ, “We are, of all men, most miserable.” Paul says that in 1 Corinthians 15:19. So we need the hope of the resurrection, but we have hope in Christ.

Amen.

We’re a new creation in Christ. And when we begin to understand that, it changes our life. So in Ephesians chapter two, Paul talks about who we were. We were dead, we were in sin, we were in trespass, we were without covenant. But then he says, “God made us live in Christ.” So, Aaron, why don’t you read the first three verses of Ephesians chapter two, and share some on that.

It says, “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature, children of wrath, just as the others.” So there’s something different about you when you believe on Jesus, when you’re given the Spirit of Christ in you, when you have that new reality living on the inside. You’re a very different than the average person out there who doesn’t have Jesus. You’re extremely different. It says, “You are now alive, before you were dead.

Yeah.

We were dead.

We were spiritually dead, but now, we’re spiritually alive.

Amen. And I like that it talks about, too, about you walked a certain way, you walked according to a certain track, a certain course. And the course of this world, it’s a very different than the course of the believer, the course of, you know, being a covenant child of God. And if you’re not following God, it says, really you’re being led by the devil, the prince of the power of the air. You know, there’s something in the air in the world today, and you can see the track. It’s taking people, you can see the track, the course it’s taking people, and it’s a very dangerous course to go on. It says, “The sons of disobedience go along this track,” and it says, “The way people conduct themselves, the way they behave.” It says, “They just fulfill the lust of their flesh, the desires of the flesh and of the mind.” You know, that’s really true today in the world. People just say, “If you feel like it, go for it.”

Right.

You know, if your mind-

If you feel-

Well, and also, if you believe it to be so, then it is so. You know, if you believe, you’re, you know, a woman trapped in a man’s body-

That’s crazy.

You are. So, even just recently, Finland revealed that they have the first transgender figure skater. And this man came out, and dressed like a woman, and was like falling on the ice. Part of their national team. I couldn’t hardly even skate. And just people acted like there was nothing, nothing to see here. So…

It’s pathetic.

It’s just really, it’s just really, man, the way the world is going is ridiculous. It looks like a circus.

“In the beginning, God created Adam and Eve, and He made them male and female.” And you know what? We are what God made us to be. And if they dig our bones up a million years from now, they could tell whether we were a male or a female by our DNA. They can’t tell any of that stuff.

And you see, it’s just people fulfilling the desires of their flesh and of their mind.

Their mind, they’re crazy. You know, when you go away from the truth, the Bible talks about people being reprivate. That’s reprivate, it’s terrible thinking. And we wanna stay away from, you know, we are who God made us to be.

There’s a great Psalm about this. I believe it’s Psalm two, “Why do the heathen rage.”

Uh-huh.

Is that Psalm two?

Yes.

Yeah, there’s something really cool in that, kinda just speaking about the way the world goes. It says, Psalm 2, “Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing?” There’s a lot of vanity out there in the world today, and it’s-

It’s just great.

A lot of it’s plotted, too. I mean, it’s a systematic plot. It says, “The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed, against Jesus.” So really just saying there’s neither male, like, you’re denying male and female. You’re a… You’re going against the Lord, you’re going against the Creator. It’s not just anti-God or anti-Christian, it’s anti-Creator, when you’re saying so.

And you’re going against who God made you to be. It doesn’t work out well.

Yeah. But it’s interesting, it says, “Let us break their bonds and pieces and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall hold them in derision.” That word, “Derision” means, to actually lose your mind. The Lord shall, like, people, if you go against, against truth, against God, the one true God, you’re gonna be, you’re gonna lose your mind. That word, “Derision” in the Hebrew means, to even start to babble, to be unintelligible.

Yes.

And I think that there are people who, even leaders of our own country, who really have gone against the truth, gone against God so much. Like, you can’t even understand what they say have to be.

They’re crazy. They’re ludicrous.

And you listen to ’em, they don’t even make sense. They can’t even hardly string two sentences together.

It’s terrible. Anyway, it’s too true. But anyway, we need to move forward. So we were dead, but now we’re alive. And where we’re alive, we’re alive in our spirit. We’re alive to God. Romans six talks about that, “We’re alive to God, count yourself to be dead, and dead to sin, but alive to God.” And he said, “You walked. You did what felt good, what you thought was right, right before you were born again. You had your behavior, just doing what you wanted to do. But you were by nature, a child of destruction, a child of wrath, determined lasting anger.” But then he says in verse four, “But, God, who is rich in mercy,” thank God, God came into our, you know, if it wasn’t for Jesus, I’d be dead and in hell right now. But glory to God, God, in His mercy, saved me. “For His great love wherewith He loved us. Even we were dead in sins, has He made us live together with Christ. We’ve got brand new life in Christ.” He says, “By grace, are you safe.” So we’ve got brand new life, we’ve got a new position. He says, “And he raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” You know, Ephesians 2:6 is the central verse between Ephesians chapter one and Ephesians chapter three. And what Paul is talking about in Ephesians 2:6 is we have a new position in Christ. And the first three chapters of Ephesians talk about this, that we have a victorious position in Christ. It’s talking about who we are in Christ. In chapter one, he talks about, “You’re blessed, you’re predestined to succeed. You’re accepted in the beloved, you’re redeemed from every curse, you’re forgiven for every sin.” This is who we are. It’s amazing. Who would wanna leave that reality? The problem is, they don’t know it. So he says, “You’ve got a new life, you’ve got a new position.” Then he talks about how we have a new destiny. He says, “He did this, so then in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” New life, new position, new destiny. I’m glad I’m a citizen of heaven. I’m not trying to get there, it’s my home. I’m a citizen of heaven, on loan to the earth from God. He goes on in verse eight, and he says, “For by grace you’re saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God.” Wow, we got brand new faith. Isn’t that amazing? We got the exact same faith as Jesus. Wow, this is amazing. This is an amazing grace. This is amazing. New covenant, he talks about, “We’re not saved by works, lest we should boast, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus under good works, which God, before the foundation of the earth ordained or planned, that we should walk in it. We’re a new creation with a new destiny.” Wow, isn’t this amazing? Praise God, we’ve got brand new peace, and he goes on down and talks about that. Now, Aaron, read verse 11 through verse 13, but we’ll focus on verse 12.

Mm-hmm. Verse 11 says, “Therefore, remember that you once Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, made in the flesh by hands, that at that time, you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off, have been brought near by the Blood of Christ.”

So we were alienated, we were separated. But he says, “You who were a far off are made near by the Blood of Christ.” So he talks about our old life. We were without Christ, we were alienated from the people of Israel, we were estranged from the covenant of promise. This is before we got saved. This is before Christ, before we received Jesus as our Lord. He said, “We had no hope.” Man, my mom prayed to God for me when I was just a little boy, when I was about 13, 14 years old, before I got baptized in the Holy Spirit. And she said, “God, could you please help me with Lawson, he is hopeless.” And God radically transformed my life. He filled me with His Spirit and called me to preach. And I begin to understand what we’re teaching right now. I begin to understand who I was in Christ, that I was the righteousness of God in Christ.

Amen.

That I was redeemed from every curse, that I was forgiven for every sin. Well, understanding that will change, that I was sanctified by the Blood of Jesus, that I was justified by faith. Boy, when you understand all these New Testament realities, it changes your life. How can you live the same when you understand the truth? I can’t. Glory to God, I’ve been changed. I’ve been saved. Glory to God. I just read a book by one of my friends, and in the end of it, he talked about, in the church where he was raised, they would get together and they’d say, “I’m saved and I’m sanctified, and I’m filled with the sweet Holy Ghost. I’m so glad that I’ve been saved, sanctified and filled with the sweet Holy Ghost.” And Paul’s talking about this. You know, he was kind of a miserable wreck before he came to know Jesus. He was zealous for God, but he didn’t know God. But when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, his life was changed. And he talks about that. And so, this is who we were. Remember, that this is who you were. You need to remember who you were. It wasn’t the good old days when you’re living for the devil. But I tell you where the good times are, the good times are in Christ.

Amen.

Being a new creation. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Aaron, go ahead and read verse 14 through verse 18.

So it says, “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus, making peace, and that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the Christ, thereby putting to death the enmity. And he came and preached peace to you who were a far off, and to those who were near. And through Him, we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.”

So he’s talking about how Jesus tore down barriers in His death and resurrection. And by His blood, He made peace between God and man. But not only did He make peace between God and man, but He brought Jews and Gentiles into this same covenant. So the cross right up here, and then over here. So through this way of the cross, he tore down a barrier between God and man. The veil of the temple was torn in two when Jesus died on the cross. He talks about that in Matthew 27. And then, there was a barrier between man and man. So both of those barriers were destroyed at the death and resurrection of Jesus. And now, we can freely come into His presence. So we’re no longer alienated, we’re no longer separated, we’re no longer strangers, but we’re friends and we’re family. We’ve been born into the family of God. And we’ll be talking about that in tomorrow’s broadcast. We’ll be talking, we’ve been talking about the value of identity, and we’re gonna move into, talk about the process of identity. See, what a lot of people don’t realize is really to walk into the victory that Jesus has won for us. It’s a process. So we were born into, you know, victory, when we were born again. But we’ve gotta renew our mind in that, and then we’ve gotta walk it out. And so, he really talks about this new identity, all through Ephesians chapter three. Now we’re gonna take a very short break, and we’ll be back right after this short break. So stay tuned, and we’ll be back sharing more on who we are in Christ. Thanks so much and blessings. Friends, I’m so glad you’ve been watching today. We’ve been teaching on the subject of redemption and who we are in Christ. This is some of my best teaching. In fact, I got a revelation of this over 40 years ago in Andrew Wommack’s meetings when I was just a child, and it revolutionized my life. And I believe, if you get a revelation of who you are in Christ, and what happened in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, it will literally transform your life. And so, we have a lot of great teaching on Redemption, what Jesus did for us in His death, burial and resurrection, and who we are in Christ. I encourage you to get this teaching. I believe, just like it transformed my life, it will transform your life. So get on the internet, give us a call. We’d love to hear from you. Thank you so much, and God bless you richly as you lay His Word first place. Friends, I’m so glad that you stayed with us. You know, we’ve been talking about how we’re reconciled to God by the cross. And this word, “Reconciliation,” Aaron, you had a definition for that a while back, that while you were preaching, and I really liked your definition for reconciliation.

Well, the word “Reconciliation” in Greek is Katallage and it’s a term that’s meant…

It’s an exchange.

Yeah, and it’s specifically talk, it’s an accounting term about, like, exchanging money. So, you know, in Paul’s writing, you know, there were, like, in Israel, when he lived in Israel, there were shekels, but you had to pay the Roman tax, you know, with Roman currency. So there would be exchangers. So there was a Katallage that happened when you exchanged currencies. So I like that Paul uses that accounting term for, like, an exchange.

Right.

When he’s talking about reconciliation, being reconciled to God, the way we’re reconciled to God is because there’s an exchange that occurs.

Right, we have an exchange of life.

Yeah.

You know, Calvary’s been called the Great Exchange.

Yeah, and Ephesians two, really talks about this exchange. It talks about what, we were-

We were…

Where you were before Christ, and where you are after receiving Christ.

Right, so-

You were dead, spiritual dead.

And now, you’re alive.

And now, you’re alive. You were…

It’s sinners, and now you’re righteous.

You were following the course of this world, but now, you’re following the course of heaven.

Right, hallelujah.

And, you know, you were alienated, but now you’re brought near.

Yeah.

You were without hope, but now, you do have hope. So there’s a huge exchange that occurs when you receive Jesus in your heart.

You were separated, now you’re accepted. That’s Ephesians 1:6.

Mm-hmm.

So it’s really amazing, isn’t it?

[Aaron] Mm-hmm.

And so, when Jesus died on the cross, He shed His blood. Now, before Christ, the high priest would go into the temple, and He would go in once a year. Hebrews nine talks about this. And when He went into the temple, He would take blood for His own sins, and for the people’s sins. And it was like a covering and atonement, right? It was like an IOU, but the Scripture says there in Hebrews that there was a remembrance made of sin every year when the high priest went into the temple. But, Jesus went and shed His blood once. And not only have we been restored a fellowship with God, but those sins have been wiped out. There’s no more remembrance of them. They’ve been completely removed, they’ve been remitted. The New Testament talks about the remission of our sin. And it’s like they’re forgiven. Like, there’s no more remembrance of them whatsoever.

Like people.

Pardon.

Some people with a criminal history, they might be out of jail, but it’s still on their record, the crimes they’ve committed. But to actually get those records expunged.

Right.

Completely removed, that’s a different type of process.

And that’s what it means really to be forgiven or to be reconciled to God, or to be the remission. The Bible talks about the remission of our sins. And that’s an amazing word when you really look at these.

So it doesn’t mean just the penalty was paid, but it’s completely expunged.

Yeah, so one word for this, Aphesis is forgiveness, remission means, this, the Greek word, forgiveness, deliverance, liberty, release from bondage or imprisonment, forgiven of a sin is never committed. Remission of a penalty, pardon, as if never committed. And it says, “In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sin.” That’s that word, Aphesis forgiveness. Remission, forgiveness, deliverance, liberty, release from bondage, forgiven of a sin is never communed. Remission of a penalty, pardon is never committed. But he says, “In whom we have redemption.” That word, this is Ephesians 1:7, is the Greek word, apolutrosis. And it means, that to release by the payment of a ransom, liberation, redemption, deliverance, salvation, riddance, Holy God, we have been rid, we have been freed. So it’s not only that the, you know, the penalty of sin has been forgiven, but the power of sin has been broken. And forgiveness, you know, reconciliation that you’re talking about, that’s talking about, you know, the penalty for sin has been paid, but redemption is talking about the power of sin has been broken. Isn’t that marvelous?

Mm-hmm.

Oh man, I love the Word. I love the gospel. And that’s what the blood did for us. That He might reconcile us to God. The exchange has been made, the price has been paid. It never has to be paid again, because Jesus paid it in full. Glory to God. He cried out on the cross. Three beautiful words in John 19:30. What is it?

“It is finished.”

“It is finished.” It’s complete, it’s done. It never has to be done again. You brought this out one time, Aaron, this word, “Reconcile” means, to bring to a former state of harmony. We’re at harmony with God. We’re at peace with God. We’re no longer enemies of God. We’ve been reconciled. Isn’t that marvelous?

That’s awesome.

That’s what the blood did for us. And so, Jesus did that in His death. “And He came and preached peace to you who were far off, Gentiles, into those who were near, Jews.” “For through Him,” verse 18, “We both, Gentiles and Jews, have access by one Spirit to the Father.” We have access into His presence today. Now, read verse 19. This is so good, verse 19 through 22, Aaron.

It say, “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and the members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”

So we have a new citizenship.

Mm-hmm.

We’ve been talking about all these things. Praise God. Isn’t this marvelous? We have a new life, a new position, a new destiny, new covenant, new creation, we have a new peace, and we have a new citizenship.

[Aaron] Mm-hmm.

You are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens. Philippians three about verse 20 and 21 says, “For our conversation, our citizenship is from heaven where we look for Jesus Christ the Lord, and when He comes, will change our vile body to be fashioned according to His glorious body. The working whereby He is able to subdue all things to Himself.”

In the 2 Corinthians, Paul raised that we are ambassadors of this ministry of reconciliation.

Amen.

So to be an ambassador of a nation, you have to be a pretty high ranking citizen from that nation.

Yeah, and we’re telling people, “God’s not mad at you. Jesus has paid the price. All you need to do is believe it, so you can receive it. “So you’re no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints.” You’re in God’s house. God is my Father, and I’m in His family. He’s your Father, too, if you believed on Jesus. You have a right to these good things. He says, it’s so marvelous, “You’re built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together, grows to a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you’re built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit.” So we’re a new, we’ve got a brand new citizenship, and we also have a brand new spirit. And we’re gonna talk about that in tomorrow’s broadcast.

Awesome.

About the process of identity. And we’re a new creation in Christ with a brand new spirit. We’ve been born of God. Isn’t this marvelous?

Mm-hmm. Marvelous gospel. I don’t know of any better news in all the world than the news of the gospel. The greatest news in the world is that we’ve come into fellowship with Jesus. If you don’t know Jesus as your personal Lord, as your personal Savior, if you’re not at peace with God, if you’re struggling in your mind, I want you to call our prayer ministers. Let them pray for you, let them minister to you. I want you to know that you know that you know on the inside, that you are at peace with God. That you’re right with God, that God’s not mad at you, that God has accepted you. And that acceptance is not based on your performance, it’s based on the performance of Jesus. So I invite you to call in right now. Say, “Jesus, I believe in You. I believe that You are the Son of God, I believe that You died for my sins, and God raised You from the dead, and made You Lord. And right now, I receive Your forgiveness for my sins, in Jesus’ name.” Call us today, if you need prayer, if you wanna become a partner, if you need product. Blessings!

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Friends, I certainly hope that you’ve enjoyed the program today, and it’s ministering to you to move into that which God has for you. And I wanna say a great big thank you to all of our partners for helping us share this gospel across the United States and across the world. It’s because of our partners that we can take this message of grace and faith around the world. If you would like to join our partners and receive that blessing, give us a call today. Blessings!

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