 And the recording is on and welcome to each one today for a class on our identity in Christ. We've been making this journey through the scriptures, discovering who we are in Christ and just learning how to live out of that, live out of our identity in Christ. Okay, let's pray and we'll get started. Subhashish, sing, Roy, and can you lead us in prayer? Yes, Pastor. Heavenly Father, once again, Lord, we thank you so much for this beautiful morning. Lord, I thank you for bringing us together once again, Lord, to know more about you, your world. As Lord this morning, once again, Lord, we are going to learn about identity, Lord, in you, Lord, help us to understand that Lord who we are, Lord, and help us to reflect your identity through our life, Master. Once again, Lord, I pray for the Pastor, Lord, as he's teaching us, Lord, I pray that you bless him, anoint with your power, with the Holy Spirit, Lord, and bless each one of us, Lord, so that we will not only hear, but Lord, we will store your word in our hearts, Master. We thank you, we pray to Jesus, we pray, amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right, and I know students are still connecting to the class. All right, so in our journey thus far, in talking about the subject of our identity in Christ, we've covered the fact that we are a new creation, that this was something God had planned before time, and then we also talked about the, we focused in on, you know, how we came to be in Christ and, you know, what it means to be a new creation. And then we started last week in section three, we started talking about the fact that we are justified and made righteous. So I'm going to move over to the PDF. The reason I'm delaying is if students have not connected and if I move to the PDF, sometimes they get blocked out. Anyway, all right, maybe we'll just take a question or two. I just want to let students in, because if I shift to the PDF for some reason, Google Meet doesn't let students in, the auto admit feature doesn't work very well. All right, we'll just take a moment. Any questions so far? I mean, have you, as you have been listening and thinking about this whole truth, this whole revelation in the New Testament of who we are in Christ and of our identity in Christ? Any questions that have come up? Any thoughts that you've been pondering on? Anybody? You're free to ask or just take a few minutes on that before we get into the lecture. Any questions? Okay, no questions. Then I'm going to go over to the PDF. I hope nobody gets held up outside of the class. All right, so we started this section, section three, talking about the fact that we have been justified in mid-wrenches. I'm just going to quickly review some of the things we spoke about and then we will move forward. So we started out the fact that many believers struggle with a sense of unworthiness, guilt and shame. But what we need to know is that in Christ, we have a brand new identity for God and our identity before the Lord is that one of without blame covered in his love. So we started off looking at certain scriptures. We looked at Ephesians 1.4, that he chose us in him, that's in Christ, even before the foundation of the world and he wanted us to, and he chose us so that we would be without blame before him in love. So in Christ, you and I are standing before God without blame. That's our position before God, without blame, no fault or faultless, unblameable. That's how God sees us. And we also looked at Colossians 1.20 to 22, that because of what Jesus did on the cross, we are holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight. So we made these statements, we are above reproach, that means we are unaccused, unimpeachable, innocent, without anything that makes us guilty before God. That's our standing. We also said that we are accepted in the beloved. So our standing before God is we are accepted. God welcomes you when you come before him. God welcomes you as you pray, as you seek him. And so we are highly favored, we are covered with grace, we are surrounded with favor, we are honored with blessings before God. We also looked at this current in 6.9 through 11 that regardless of our background and all of us have history and regardless of our history, right now in Christ we are washed, we are sanctified and we are justified. So we're looking at these two aspects, washed. So washed means all the filth is gone, the dirt is removed, sanctified. We look at that in the next section and justified. So this is important. The word justified and the word made righteous, they come from the same Greek word justified. So to be justified means we are acquitted, we declared not guilty, we're completely forgiven, made innocent, made just as if I never sinned. So we mentioned this, that to be justified, to be made righteous, they come from the same word, Greek word. It means the same thing. That means we have a right standing with God. We are in right standing before the Father. So as part of this, this is something God himself did. He gave us his righteousness. So we looked at some of these scriptures here. I'm just reviewing Romans 3.22, the righteousness of God. It comes through faith in Jesus Christ. It's given to all. That means to every person and it is on every person who believes. So you think about this, the righteousness of God, that God's own blamelessness or God's own faultless, you know, I'm just making up these English words, faultlessness, God's own blamelessness. Nobody can find fault with God. He's blameless. He's righteous. That aspect of who he is, God puts it on all and he gives it to all who believe in Jesus Christ. So it's just through faith in Christ. That means we just believed, we just faith and we received this, the righteousness of God. And 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 30 says, you know, we looked at this that God has brought us in Christ Jesus. That's the whole theme we are studying, in Christ Jesus. And then because we're in Christ, Christ has become to us our righteousness. So who is your righteousness? Christ. That means we could make the statement you and I are as righteous as Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ is our righteousness. So when we stand in the presence of God, God has made it possible for us to even stand there. Why? He gave us his own righteousness without that, we would not be able to stand in his presence because we have no righteousness of our own and we could never attain it by any means. So God gives to us his righteousness. Christ himself becomes our righteousness. And so you can imagine here in the presence of God, we are able to stand there because he gave us his own righteousness. And so we must receive that truth, right? God, this is the Bible. This is the truth. I receive it and I'm going to act like it is true. There's no point in saying, well, it's in the Bible, but you're acting in contrary to the truth. Now, you receive the truth, it's in the Bible and then you can act like it. You act like the righteousness of God. And we will talk about this as we go along as to, you know, what does it mean to act in alignment with the truth that you are the righteousness of God? We'll talk about that. All right, I want to just make sure nobody's held out, held outside class. Let me just go back, make sure, okay, there are some people. Yeah, all right, admit everybody. Okay. All right. So yeah, thank you for sharing that page number. Yeah. So we started with section three and the PDF, section three PDF. And we just quickly reviewed some things. Okay, I think everybody is in more or less. So I just wanted to make sure nobody's held outside class. Okay, going back to the PDF. Right. Okay. So yeah, we are in the section three PDF, Justified and Made Righteous. And yeah, let's just get follow along on that. Okay. So we have become the righteousness of God in Christ. And this is what qualifies us to even have fellowship with God. That means you can be absolutely free with God, not because you and I have achieved that some kind of great spiritual stature. No, the reason you and I can be absolutely free with God is because He has given us His righteousness. So there is no need for any sense of shame, condemnation, guilt, all that God has put it away for us. He says, I'm taking all that out. Don't feel like that anymore. I'm making you blameless in my sight. I'm making you accepted in my sight. I'm making you righteous in my sight. So come, come into my presence as somebody who's righteous. And so we go before God like that. Right. Now, of course, when we do something wrong, we have to confess that, and we have to acknowledge it and turn away from it. That is important. We will mention that as well a little later. But I'm just talking about on a day to day spiritual walk with God, we must embrace the truth that we are the righteousness of God. And therefore we're going to act like that. We're going to live according to this truth. Now, we said that we are justified and righteous through faith. So we read in Romans 3 verse 22. It is simply through faith in Jesus Christ. So other than that, God is not asking us to do anything. Just have faith and believe in who Jesus Christ is, even Christ. Then the righteousness of God is yours. And we stopped somewhere here as we looked at Romans 5 1 and 2 last week. As we said, we have been justified by faith. That is, we are made righteous by faith. And what does this do for us? It gives us peace with God. That means we're not fighting with God. You know, sometimes we hear people use the phrase, I'm fighting with God. I'm wrestling with God. And we understand that they're actually talking about engaging intensely with God in prayer and so on. But keep in mind that our relationship with God is not one of struggle. It's not one of animosity. It's not a hostile relationship with God. God is not mad or angry or upset with any of us because we have been justified by faith. So we have peace with God. So our relationship with God is one at peace. We are in a good standing with God. And it's possible through our Lord Jesus Christ. And it is through him that it's through Jesus. We have access by faith. That means we have been able to enter into this just by faith. You see, I just want to emphasize that it's just by faith. You're able to enter into this, into what? This grace in which we stand. We are in a place of grace for God. That means we're in a place where God says, I'm going to be gracious to you. I'm just giving you my favor. So remember today, right now, regardless of our past, regardless of what has happened, the blood of Jesus Christ is taking care of all that. Today, you and I are standing in a place of grace before God. That means we're in a place where we are highly favored by God. He's going to be gracious to us and be entered in just by faith. Faith in Jesus Christ. And and therefore we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. That means we are joyful even of the things we are going to receive in hope of the glory. There's even better things up ahead. Today, we are in just this awesome place of grace, which is wonderful. We have peace with God. But there's even much more that God has in store for us. And so we rejoice in hope of all that God has given to us. All right. So this is as far as we covered. We're going to move forward here, point or point 27 in this PDF. So another aspect is that we have been justified freely by his grace. So we need to emphasize that how have we been justified? How have we been made righteous? We said it's by faith, but it's also freely by his grace. That means we didn't earn it. And we are never going to earn it earn it. You see, the problem with many of us in our Christian life is when we start out, we start out based on grace, because we know, hey, there's no way I can stand before God. But then as we continue progressing in our Christian life, in our faith life, somehow we move from grace to works. We think that now I have to earn everything from God. So we start looking at how much I'm praying, how much of Bible I'm reading, how many times I go to church, or whatever the works might be, or how much money I give, or how much good things I do, or whatever our things might be. And so we make the mistake as we journey in our life of faith, of moving from grace to works. And we should not do that because works are important, works are good. I'm not against that, and the Bible is not against that. But no amount of works that we can, we do can earn us what God gives to us freely by his grace. So we must always understand the only reason we are justified or righteous in the eyes of God is because of his grace. He gave it to us freely. And it will always be that way. Now we do good works, we do good things, we love people, and we help people, and we serve people, and we do all that because of the goodness of God to us. God has been good to us, so let's be good to other people. God has been gracious to us, so we are going to be gracious to other people. God has been merciful to us, so we are going to be merciful to other people. That's the motivation. The motivation is not, I have to be good to other people so that I can become right in his eyes. No, I am right in his eyes. He gave it to me freely by grace. He's been so good to me, so let me be good to others. See that's the motivation. And we must always remember it's by his grace. And once again in Titus chapter 3, verses 4 through 7, it repeats, you know, we have been justified by his grace. You know, we have been the kindness and the love of God. Now, so God was being great kind and expressing his love, not by works of righteousness which we have done. And it's not any good works we did, and it will never be by any good works we do, but by his own grace he justified us, made us right in his eyes. All right, so remember it's always by grace. Now, it's the third aspect is we are justified and made righteous by his blood, by his blood. Somebody could read this place. Romans chapter 3, verse 24, 25. Romans chapter 3, verses 24, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. Verse 25, please. Yeah, go ahead. Hello? Yeah, go ahead please. Whom God said fought as a proposition by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his righteousness God has passed over his sins that were previously committed. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you both. All right, so Romans chapter 3, verses 24 and 25, the scriptures are telling us that we have been justified freely by his grace, but how has God able to justify us freely? I mean, how could God say, hey, you know, people have sinned, everybody has done wrong things, but I'm going to make them free of all charge. I'm going to make them faultless. I'm going to make them blameless. How could God do that? It was not an arbitrary decision from God's side. It would be very unfair if a judge was sitting in a court, and there's somebody who's done wrong things, he's maybe a criminal, he's done all kinds of things. A judge cannot arbitrarily say, you know, we know you've committed all these crimes, but we're just ignoring all that, and we're saying you're free, you're faultless. A judge will never do that, and a judge cannot do that. For the crime, there has to be a punishment. So the God has asked judge, how is he able to freely, by his grace, justify us, make us faultless, make us just as if he never sinned? He's able to do that because of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The word redemption there simply means a ransom price, a price that is paid as a ransom that brings somebody out into freedom. It's the price Jesus paid. So because of the redemption price that Jesus paid, and because God himself sent Jesus and made a propitiation by his blood. Again, that word propitiation is a very interesting word. When you look at it up, look it up in the Greek. It's talking about the mercy seat. So that word propitiation is actually the word mercy seat, and the mercy seat is referring to the Old Testament Tabernacle. It was a place where the high priest went and he sprinkled the blood of the atonement, and on the mercy seat, God said, I will meet with you. So Jesus became of a mercy seat, and he offered his own blood so that our sins could be forgiven and we could meet with God, we could be reconciled to God. So because of Jesus being our redemption price, because Jesus paid the price for our sins, God can say, I can freely forgive you, and I can make you faultless in my eyes. So that's the reason. So we are so indebted, and we always remain so grateful for what Jesus Christ did for us. And we find this repeated for us in several other places. Could somebody please read Romans 5.9 for us? Much more than having now been justified by his blood. We shall be saved from the wrath through him. Thank you, John. So we have been justified by his blood once again. Why is the blood powerful? The blood speaks, the blood of Jesus speaks, the blood of Jesus is telling us or expressing to everybody. We have been justified. We have been declared just as if we've never sinned, faultless and blameless, because the blood has paid the price, and we are acquitted. So we have been acquitted or justified by the blood. And so not only are we presently justified, but we know, even in the future, meaning we are saved from wrath through him, that we are saved from eternal judgment because of this. And this is again repeated for us in Colossians 1.20 to 21, that God made peace through the blood of his cross. And we who once were alienated and enemies, we have now been reconciled. We have now been reconciled. I mean, we are at peace with God. We were enemies with God, but through the cross, through the blood of his cross, we have been reconciled. So that's our standing before God. So having understood this truth that we have been made justified, we are justified and righteous, how do we live out of this? What does this mean to us in everyday life in our Christian journey? What does it mean? What are the implications of it? Well, we're going to look at that now. And I've just summarized the main points we're going to look at. It means that there is no condemnation against us. And so we can live free from any sense of guilt, shame, and condemnation. You don't have to live under that. And we will explain each of these points with Scripture as we move forward. Secondly, we can have constant, continual fellowship with God. It gives us that privilege. Thirdly, we can exert dominion over life situations because we are justified and righteous. And I've explained that. And fourthly, we can confront demonic powers with absolute authority and dominion. So this is implication. You are a person who is justified and made righteous. And therefore, these four truths things that you walk in. So let's look at each of them one by one. There's one more is that we need to be careful to maintain it by walking in righteousness. So what is the truth of righteousness being made righteous? How does it affect me? Number one, there is no condemnation against you and me. Could somebody read for us Romans chapter eight and verse one, please. There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. Thank you. Again, you see this phrase in Christ Jesus. Look at that word now, meaning it's talking about a present tense thing. Not something's going to be in the future. It's now. There was therefore now, right now, this moment today. There is now no condemnation, no charge, no sentence, no, no adverse sentence, no condemning verdict, no guilty conviction or guilty judgment. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. So understand that as a believer understand that because you are in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation against you. Now we must understand one tactic of the devil. The Bible calls Satan as the accuser, accuser of the brethren. Now you find that in Revelation chapter 12, verse 10 and 11, Satan is called the accuser of the brethren who accuses us before God day and night. So what's the strategy? Sorry, accuse us before God. That means he's saying, hey, you are not accepted before God. God is angry with you. God is upset with you. God doesn't favor you. So he accuses us and this comes in the realm of our mind. So he puts these lying thoughts, these accusing thoughts, these condemning thoughts, these thoughts that accuse us before God. And these thoughts keep coming to our mind. So need to understand that this is a strategy of the enemy. He is called the accuser of the brethren of God's people. And so he's going to keep reminding us, putting these thoughts, intercepting our thinking with these lying thoughts that are accusing us, making us feel ashamed, ashamed, condemned, guilty before God. But that's when you and I must look to the Word of God and say, the Word of God says, there is no condemnation to me who I'm in Christ Jesus. If I've done something wrong, I will repent of it and ask the Lord to forgive me. That moment he cleanses me, he forgives me. I don't have to live or we don't have to live under a sense of guilt, shame and condemnation. So this is Satan's tactic, trying to keep us condemned and make us feel accused. And then because of a sense of guilt, shame and condemnation, many believers, they don't do anything. They just say, hey, God's upset with me. God's angry with me. So I'm not going to do anything. They just stay away from serving God or praying for people or just making themselves available in God's hands. But we must understand the way we deal with these lies is by believing the truth, believing the truth. The truth says, God's Word says, there is no condemnation to you because you are in Jesus Christ. So you just accept that. Say, Father, I thank you. There is no condemnation against me. Accept it. Right. So in connection with that, let's read a couple of other scriptures. Romans chapter 8 verses 33 and 34. Somebody could read that for us, please. Who shall bring a charge against God's election? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen. Who is even at the right hand of God who also makes intercession for us? Amen. Amen. Thank you. So in that same chapter where Paul began by saying there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, Paul goes on says, you know, who can bring a charge or an accusation against God's people? Who can charge? Who can point a finger? Who can accuse you? Why? It is God who has already justified us. It is God. You know, it is God who said, I have declared that person blameless and faultless. So the highest judge has already acquitted you in me. Who's going to condemn me? Condemn you and me. Who is he who condemns? Because Christ died, Christ rose from the dead, and he's at the right hand of God and saying, hey, I've paid the price for them to be justified. So the judge is on our side and right there is Jesus who has already paid the price to acquit us. So there is no way any accusation, any charge is going to prevail. No charge against you and me will ever stand in the before God. It won't stand because God, the righteous judge, is the one who has justified you and me and Jesus Christ, the one who paid the ransom price is right there. So we can be absolutely confident in the presence of God. And there is no condemnation. So I choose, I'm making a deliberate choice, not to let myself come under any sense of guilt, shame and condemnation. The moment I feel like that, the moment you and I, we feel condemned, guilty, throw it off, don't accept it. So no, I don't accept this. I don't need to live under this guilt, shame, condemnation, accusation. No, don't even accept it because the Bible says there is no condemnation against you because you are in Christ and there's no charge that can stand against you before God. So don't even accept it. And remember, Romans 3.26 tells us this that God, he talking about God is just, he's fair, there's no unfairness, he is just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. That means God is the one who is sitting as the righteous judge and the righteous judge himself has justified or acquitted you and me. So that's what Paul is saying. The righteous judge has already acquitted you. So there's no way there can be any condemnation against you. Right. So can somebody read Romans 8.1, please, from the Passion Translation? Can somebody read this for us? So now the case is closed. Sorry, but someone else is trying to read. Yeah, thank you. So it's kind of interesting how the Passion Translation puts it. It's putting it in modern English. It says the case is closed. It's over. Case is closed, court is dismissed. So there are no more court hearings against you. It's over. Think about that. Now that's how you and I must behave. The case is closed, court is dismissed, no more hearings. Why? Because there is no accusing voice of condemnation against those who are joined in life union with Jesus. So no more charges against you. No more charges. The question is, will we act like that? Satan, the enemy, is going to try to do the exact opposite. He's going to bring accusing voices. He's going to try to tell us lies, the exact opposite, and say, hey, God doesn't like you. God is angry with you. God is upset with you. All those things. But you need to stand by the truth. Case is closed, court is dismissed, no more charges against me. That I'm going to live completely free from any sense of guilt, shame, and condemnation. Now, sadly, sometimes people may accuse us. People may look at us or, you know, say things about us that may be condemning. Again, over there, you just need to say, tell yourself, I believe the Bible, the word of God says there is no accusation against me. Now, if I have done something wrong, of course, I'm going to admit it and I'm going to make it right. I'm going to tell somebody sorry if I offended them or, you know, done something. Obviously, I'm going to take responsibility. But once I've taken care of it, I've said, God, I'm sorry. Remember, everything is put right. There's no more accusation. Let's move on to the second one. I know I spent a lot of time on this one. The second practical aspect of being made righteous and justified in the eyes of God is it gives us bonus to enter into God's presence. You know, think about that, you know, God is so holy. God is perfect. When the Bible says that God dwells in unapproachable light, that's his presence. He is so magnificent. He is the Father of lights. You know, so we understand the natural, you know, when you think about the billions of stars, they're all lights, you know, and the stars are so big, the sun itself, one star that closes to us, is huge, so many million miles wide. And it's full of these gases that are emitting and light coming forth, one star and like that, there are billions of stars. But God who's made them, He is the Father of lights. I mean, He is intensely more full of light than all these stars that we are aware of in the natural. God is light. God is holy. There's no way you and I can enter the presence of God. But we have said, God gave us His righteousness. And God is saying, come into my presence. And how does He want us to come into His presence? He wants us to come with boldness, with confidence, with our heads held up high. That's how He wants us to come. So let's look at these scriptures. Let's read them. Somebody could read Ephesians chapter 2 verses 13 and 18, please, for us. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, Ephesians 18, for through Him we both have access by one spirit to the Father. Thank you. Somebody could read Ephesians 3, 12, please. In home we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. Amen. And last one. Somebody could read Hebrews 4.16, please. Let them therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain nicely and find grace to help them. Okay. Thank you. All right. Let's look at these scriptures. It says, But now. So it's something of the present. But now in Christ Jesus, that's what we're talking about in Jesus. So we are in Jesus. What's happened to us? We who once were far off, we had a relationship with God. We didn't care about God. We were living our own life. In many cases, we've had no knowledge of God. We were far off from God. But that was the past. We who once were far off now in Christ Jesus, we have been brought near. So we have been brought near. That means we are close to God. Where are you now? You're not far away. You're near to God. Sometimes we don't feel near to God. It could be maybe because of these lying thoughts of the devil in our mind. You're so far away from God. Or sometimes it's just our own feelings. I mean, maybe it's just not, you know, things, you just don't feel great, you know. But the truth doesn't depend or is not affected by our feelings. The truth says, now, every day it reads the same. Now, this moment in Jesus Christ, you are near to God. So whether we feel like it or not, now in Jesus Christ, you are near, near to God. You're not far away. You're near, close to Him. Now, you say, how near is near? Well, it's, you know, the Bible tells us we are at His right hands. He can hear your whisper. You're near. You're seated at His right hand. So this is where you're standing. You're, because you're righteous, you're near to God. And of course, it says, through the blood of Christ. And through Christ, we have access. We have access. You have access to the Father by the Holy Spirit. You have access. Never has that access been denied. Never has that access been withdrawn. Because you're in Christ Jesus. Through Jesus, you have access by the Holy Spirit to the Father. So as a person who is in Christ, every moment of every day, you are near to God and you have access to Him every day, every moment. He can hear your whisper. So you have boldness in the presence of God. You have the confidence that you can talk to Him. You can whisper to Him. You can pray however you want. You're near and you have access. Paul repeats it again later on in Ephesians 3-12. It says, in whom? Once again, it's that same phrase, in whom or in Christ. He says, we have boldness and access with confidence. I mean, think about being redundant. He's saying the same thing three times. Boldness, access, confidence. It's in Christ. He's saying, I really want to get this across to you. He says, in whom? We have, this is a present tense thing. This is what we have, boldness, access with confidence through faith in Jesus. So how do you and I approach God? We do not sneak into God's presence. You don't have to come through the back door. You know, or we don't have to kind of slide, slip in a piece of paper. Oh God, this is my request. Can you please handle it? You don't have to go through a third party. I mean, there's nothing wrong in having, you know, other people pray with you or pray for you. Absolutely nothing wrong, but you don't have to depend on that. You don't have to think that's the only way. No, you can go boldly and with confidence. You can access God because you are in Christ. So this is the second implication of being made righteous. When we pray, we pray like this. We pray as people who are near, who have access, who have boldness and confidence, we forgot. Okay, I'm going to pause here and we will take a quick break. We'll come back to the same point here and we will, you know, kind of talk a little bit more about this. And then I will, yeah, I will take questions. You know, I just saw this question in the chat. So we'll come back after the break and we will take up this question and any other questions. Okay. All right, let's go for a quick 10 minute break and see you in 10 minutes. Thank you. Thank you.