IN CHRIST

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In Christ  

Everybody says they are in Christ. They declare it by a faith of their own making and, in the meanwhile, a Jesus of their own making.

Well, I’m in Christ, I’m a new creation.

Well, I’m in Christ, there’s no condemnation. 

Well, I’m in Christ, I have eternal life.

This is true if you’re really in Christ, but are you in Christ? Or were you in Him and now have left Him? Everybody thinks just because they got born again that they will always be in Christ. Well, when a baby is born from its mother’s womb, any day that baby can walk away when it gets older. 

Just because you are born into something doesn’t mean you will stay in something. The Bible talks about a great falling away of believers. Not of unbelievers, BELIEVERS. Not people who are pretending to believe, not the false! Those who were walking in Truth! But now lies! People who were written in God’s book but are now associated with that scripture that talks about their name being written out of the lamb’s book of life.

If a sheep stops following the shepherd, that sheep is on its own unless the shepherd is able to retrieve that sheep. Some might be reading this saying, “Well, God always chases down the one that leaves the 99.” Yes, but it never says that He is always going to bring the one back. It just says that he chases after the one and rejoices “IF” He finds it.

God is able! But are you? 

Yes, God is able, but are you able to allow God to reel you back in. God works through the willingness of man. There are spiritual laws that God abides by that He created. And one of those laws is man’s free will. And even if you’re in the kingdom, He will only release the grace of His Will in your life if you give up your will.

If that one sheep is not willing, there’s trouble. Are you in Christ now if you leave Him? The Bible says He will never leave you or forsake you, though it never talks about you leaving God and forsaking Him. 

He will always be there in the sense that He is God and He is everywhere and He reigns over the just and the unjust, but His hand will be off your life if you run off and go do your own thing.

Feeling condemnation? You’re out of Christ!

Feeling like an old creation? Feeling like your life is no longer eternal? 

YOU’RE NOT IN CHRIST! 

What does it mean to be in Christ?

To be in Him is to obey Him, and when you’re not obeying him anymore, you’re not in Him. He said those who abide in Him, He shall abide in them. And when they don’t abide in Him or stop, He ceases to abide in them. They are no longer “in Christ”. It’s a simple concept; it’s right there in scripture!  

John 15:4-8

‘Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”

There you have it! The branch will be broken off and cast away. Where’s “once saved always saved” now?! We must continue to follow, and endure until the end. Nothing is guaranteed unless we obey. Obedience opens up all the windows of heaven in our life and guarantees everything that God has for us! 

And He says you will ask what you desire and you will have! But on what condition? “Abide in Me!” There’s no prosperity, there’s no true peace, joy, or any other godly thing without abiding in Him until the end. 

People say as long as we remember that we’re in Him, there’s nothing to fear. As long as we know we’re in the hope of glory. Yet people say all these things but they live in fear and lack hope. What’s up with that? That makes your faith look fake! Wake up to reality!

When you’re walking in Him and obeying Him, there’s no need to remind yourself because He will remind, because you will know by faith, because of your in the faith. The Holy Spirit that brings all things back to remembrance will remind you that He is with you. And if He’s not reminding you, then you may not be in Him! 

When you walk away from the faith, you can no longer walk in faith. Faith comes from God, and when you are right with Him, he releases that knowing into your life that says, “You are my son.” “You are my daughter.” 

We need to get real and understand that the reality is that we can be with Him one day and apart from Him the next. It’s very simple, and we can learn it by examining how life works. I’m with my parents one day, I leave them the next. Am I with them? No. Can they help me? No. Can they take care of me? No. Because I’m apart from them. You can be born again and on fire one day, and the next day dead and headed for hellfire. This should put the fear of the Lord in us! The fear of being separated from Him! It’s all about the heart.

We have become so spiritually prideful, especially in America, thinking we’re good. We’re going to heaven no matter what. We’re guaranteed. He will never leave us. Let’s live free!! I tell you that this is not freedom! To live like this is to live a rocky life because you will always be trying to convince yourself of these things, but it will never stand firm in your life because He is not firm in your life. 

We need to stop trying to stand on scriptures that we put in our own context, and on the contrary, we need to stand on His Spirit and let the scriptures become spirit in our minds.  

Just like when the prodigal son left the father, when he spent all the riches his father gave him, there was nothing left. And he began to live an exposed life, no money, no protection, no covering. Living on the street and homeless. And this is how many Christians live spiritually-speaking because they have abandoned God saying, “Well, I’m in Him, He will take care of me.” And then to find out at the end of the day, He doesn’t. Not that He doesn’t want you, but you left Him. And when we walk away from His Will for our life, we walk away from Him. There you are believing God for prosperity but never getting it. Believing God for joy, but you never get it. Believing God for deliverance or [fill in this space with what you are believing for], and never getting it! 

The World is waiting for the manifestation of the Sons of God. They are waiting for the manifestation of those that talk about promises and the glory of the Kingdom and actually have it manifested in their life! 

Everybody tries to cling to His name, but His name is only a name unless He’s there to back it up with His power. The prodigal son could have tried to use his dad’s name to get by in the city, yet it would never sustain him; because if his dad didn’t show up to back it as proof, it wouldn’t get him anywhere. Same with us spiritually: The name of Jesus will only get you so far unless He shows up in power. There will be those that come to the judgment seat and say, “Lord, Lord,” and He will say, “I never knew you.” They will say, “Lord, Lord, I did it all in your name,” and He will say, “You knew my name but you didn’t know me." "You knew me once but you walked away. And now I don’t know you anymore, and you don’t know me.” 

We need to stop using His name, and we need to start letting Him use us!

If the prodigal son never came home, he would have died a prodigal. How many are going to die as prodigal sons?

How sad it is, it breaks my heart to see those who think they are in Him and they are just prodigals running away from Him. Let God have mercy on them. 

Romans 8:1-4

“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 hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

Everybody likes to pass the part where it says, “Who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit.” Right there it’s giving you a condition to having no condemnation. Walk in the Spirit, not the flesh! When we walk in the Spirit, we are in Christ, but when we get in the flesh, we are departing from Him. Then it says the law of the Spirit sets us free from the law of sin and death. Though what is the law of the Spirit? It’s to follow Him, so really when we stop walking in the Spirit, we put ourselves back under the law of sin and death.

The law of the Spirit sets us free from the old law, but there’s no longer freedom when we cease following the spirit of life! It didn’t say believing sets us free from the law. Rather, obeying His Spirit sets us free from the law and sets us truly free from condemnation. 

Walking in the Spirit is to be in Christ. The Spirit is Christ.

Let our declaration and proclamation of saying we’re in Him be true. Not because we say it with our lips or because we believe it so much, but let it be because we honor Him with our heart. And true honor is to obey Him. Saying you’re in Him doesn’t mean you’re in Him, but following Him keeps you in Him.

By: Joe Pinto