This is a foundational study today. Now please do not be put-off by the word “foundational”. Because there are many people who when they hear this word they think that it is going to be boring or that God does not have anything for them to learn here; but we are doing this today because as believers in Christ, we are supposed to be living the supernatural life, yet many of us are still in bondage; but Jesus Christ has paid to get us out of bondage and into freedom.

God is a miracle-working, almighty covenant-keeping God, and it is when we trust in Him and release to Him fully that we begin to see these things in our lives. So in this study, we are going to be exploring this truth and how to obtain victory and live the abundant life which Jesus has come to give us.

So let’s begin our study today by reading 1^st John 4:17:

“Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.”

This verse is so very important and there is such truth and freedom packed into this one verse. Our love – which is imperfect – is made perfect in this, so that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Stop here for a moment, because this is the first point for us to examine today. If we do not understand this point, we have noting else to stand on.

For us as believers in Christ Jesus today, the judgment is not something for us to fear or be afraid of. Notice that the verse says that we should have boldness in the day of judgment, not fear or trepidation. When a believer stands before God, He is not going to read an itemized list of your sins. Because of Jesus, He is merciful to your unrighteousness and your sins and iniquities He remembers no more! (Hebrews 8:12). This is the New Covenant which you as a believer in Christ Jesus are under today, and praise God for it. You can have boldness in the day of judgment, knowing that your sacrifice and not only a spotless lamb, but an eternal, divine, perfect lamb. One that is an absolute overpayment for your sins, not just for one year, or two, or three, but for all eternity! It is upon this foundation of Jesus Christ and our absolute righteousness, justification and sanctification in Him that everything else can stand. Today God is not looking at you to judge you, God is looking at Jesus, the Perfect One at His right hand, who is there as your representative for all eternity!

Moving on, the next detail for us to see is how Jesus is today, because the next part of our verse in 1^st John 4:17 says as He is, so are we in this world. Notice that it does not say, as He is, so are we sometime later when we get to Heaven… No, it is says as He is so are we in this world.

This is what it means to be in Christ. Many believers use this term “in Christ” but still do not understand what it means. Where is Jesus today? He is seated at the right-hand of God the Father, with all glory and majesty, far above all principalities and powers (Ephesians 1:20-21). Now where are you today? You are seated with Him! (Ephesians 2:6)

This is what so few believers understand, that what you see, hear, feel, taste and touch with your physical senses do not accurately reflect your reality in Christ Jesus today. Christ today is far above all principalities and powers of darkness. Evil spirits cannot afflict Him, oppression and depression cannot lay a hand on Him, sickness and disease cannot touch Him, He is far above all these things in glory and honor and divine majesty, and as He is so are you in this world!

So why is it then that so few people are experiencing this supernatural miraculous life in Jesus Christ? Why is it then that many believers fall sick with terrible diseases that are listed as curses and punishments for judgment in the Bible, and many die prematurely? Men have come up with a variety of answers for these questions:

Yes it is true that we are in a fallen world, but we are not of the world (John 17:14-16).

Yes it is true that everything around us is cursed, but there can be no curse on one who is righteous (Numbers 23:8, 20-23)

Yes it is true that Jesus has said that in this world we will have tribulation (pressure), but Jesus has already overcome the world. (John 16:33).

The scripture is very clear on our position in Christ. However the mentality of the world and the spirit of the enemy has set us up to expect the curses to come on us. Everyone expects to become decrepit and feeble with advancing years. Yet Joshua 14:11 makes it clear that when he was 85 years old, Caleb was still as strong as he was in his youth, and it was strength for war, physical strength.

What people expect comes out of their mouth, they talk death and curse into their lives because it is the natural language of the world. They feel their symptoms, and it compounds and reinforces the idea of the curse or oppression, and then when they hear the way that I am speaking to you today, it is perceived as though I am “hyper-spiritual” with my head in the clouds and not in touch with reality; even some believers think that of what I am saying to you. However the way I am speaking to you today is the way that a normal victorious life in Christ should be.

We have people today –including believers– who say: “well my great-grandfather had heart disease, and my grandfather had heart disease, my father had it too, so I’m next.” They expect it and accept it, and speak power into it. But 2^nd Corinthians 4:13 says that “we having the same spirit of faith… we believe and therefore we speak.”

So at what point do we begin rising up in the Spirit of Faith and say “Father, I thank you that because of Jesus, I am not subject to anything that follows generational lines, or the heritage of my family. There can be no curse on me, because You have justified me and I am blessed in Christ!”

We need to understand that the person we once were that was subject to the curse has died. 2^nd Corinthians 5:17 says:

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

You are a new creation in Christ Jesus. The one who was set-up in-line for all of the judgment and curse is no longer here. Your family tree is no longer what it once was. Your new lineage is in the family of God Almighty. If you accept and receive this truth it will absolutely change your life forever.

Cynical people of the world will mock and scoff at the truth you are hearing tonight. They will fall back on human reasoning and the thinking of the world, and this truth won’t make sense to them, but we know from 1^st Corinthians 2:14 that the carnal mind cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God, but considers them to be foolish”. But do not let anyone rob you of the truth that you are hearing tonight from the Word of God, because it will change your life, and bring freedom into your soul and Spirit. Because you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. (John 8:32)

Turn now to Colossians 2:6-8:

“As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk you in him:

Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”

Verse 6 starts off, As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so we must ask the question, “how did you receive Christ?” Did you receive Him through works of the Law or Through Faith? We are all saved by faith in Jesus (Galatians 3:26). So in the same manner also walk in Him. And please do not think that this walking in Him is referring to law-keeping or commandments. This walking is referring to abiding in the truth of who we are in Christ Jesus. Does the scripture actually say this? Yes, in Galatians 2:11-14. So we must always be alert, to abide in Christ and remember who we are in Him, and as verse7 continues, being rooted and built-up in Him and established in the faith, abounding therein with thanksgiving. And believe me, when you begin truly meditating and focusing on who you are in Christ, you will absolutely abound with thanksgiving; so much that you will not even be able to contain it!

Now verse 8 is a warning… it says beware, that means watch out for, stay alert. Watch, so that no one should spoil you; and look at the things that can spoil us from the truth of Christ: philosophy, which here is sophistry (deceptive reasoning or arguments) leading to vain deceit. Then we have the traditions of men, and they are many. Man-made rituals, rules, artificial barriers between you and God, such as “10 reasons why people don’t get healed”, “20 reasons why God doesn’t bless you”, things that complicate the simple Gospel of Jesus Christ and place burdens on men which Jesus actually came to free us from.

Next we have the rudiments of the world, and this is a big one. The word “rudiments” there means the origin of a thing, in this case the world, and many people have entertained doubt of Jesus because of the debate of the origins of the world. Many young people are taught evolution in school as a fact and have been driven away from the life-giving truth of Christ as a result of it.

And lastly, we have whatever is not after Christ. This one is extremely subtle and insidious. So many things in this world, even our own senses, lead us away from the truth of Christ. The world coaches us constantly away from Christ with carnal human ideas and influences that many times we do not even realize are leading us away. Just as was mentioned earlier, the worldly idea that we must automatically grow decrepit and feeble as we advance in years – that weakness is inevitable, this is a purely carnal and human idea, and as we read in scripture it is not a Biblical truth, it is falsehood, but many have come to accept it is an unavoidable fact.

So what are we to do about this? The scripture says here in our text that we should guard against such ideas of the world, and we should build ourselves up in the truth of Christ. And this is where the warfare happens, because we do have an enemy. He’s not a big bad monster, in-fact he only has one weapon: deception, and that is what we must fight, with the truth of God’s word. Here’s how it works…

The enemy wants to keep you focused on yourself and on your human physical senses. He will tell you things like, “see you prayed, but the pain is still there, God didn’t answer your prayer.” or “God is trying to teach you something, and He won’t heal you until you learn it.” or “It just wasn’t your time.”

The Bible says guard against those thoughts of the enemy. Satan wants to keep you in the realm of your humanity, your senses, what you feel, what you think, human reasoning, but The Spirit wants to keep you focused on Christ and what you truly are in Him. If you stay focused on the truth of Jesus, Satan is defeated; if Satan keeps you focused on you, then you are defeated. It’s that simple.

So if it’s that simple, why are so many believers not seeing miracles or living victoriously in Christ? Because here is what happens most of the time, turn to 2^nd Corinthians 11:3-4:

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

For if he that comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him.”

The serpent tricked Eve through subtlety of speech and deceptive reasoning of mind, questioning the very words of God. The things that God said plainly, the devil twisted to mean the opposite. God stated something plainly “Do not eat the tree of the Knowledge of good and evil.” Satan said “That’s not really what God meant.”, and we have become accustomed to that language of the enemy.

We have read scripture tonight that very plainly expresses God’s words about our new nature in Christ and how we can trust Him for complete provision and salvation in all things, but do you believe it, or are you entertaining the thoughts of the enemy; “That doesn’t work for everybody”.

God has made things very simple: Mark 16:17-18 says:

“And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

And the enemy comes along and says “God really didn’t mean that. You think someone can be healed simply by the laying on of hands? No, what God really meant was…”

It’s the same voice of the serpent as in the Garden of Eden. The only reason that voice has any power is because it plays into our human experience of not seeing people healed and our mind creates doctrine around our own experiences, at the cost of God’s truth. We try to re-interpret God’s truth which we don’t understand or think is reasonable or logical from our human standpoint, and we do so at the very cost of Jesus who came to set us free.

I am going to leave you today with some very simple words which the Holy Spirit wrote about God in Psalms 103:1-5:

“Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

Who forgives all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases;

Who redeems your life from destruction; who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies;

Who satisfies your mouth with good things; so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

We see here the benefits that the LORD gives:

forgiveness of iniquities

healing of all diseases

redemption from destruction

crowning with loving kindness and tender mercies

satisfying your mouth with good things

renewal of youth like the eagle’s.

These are just some of the benefits of the LORD, plainly stated. You must decide now whether to believe them or not.

I pray that this study today has encouraged you to begin receiving the truth of what Jesus has paid to give you. That you have been strengthened to stand up for your rights in Christ and resist the enemy who tries to rob you. These and many more benefits are yours in Christ Jesus. You will see miracles, when you trust in Him.