Today I'm Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Did you know that God offers us the kind of security that can't be disrupted by any person or any circumstance? not by the threat of cancer or sickness of any kind. Not by violent crime or even the death. of a loved one.
We can be completely secure in Christ. Today, we'll learn how. Stay with me. Welcome to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Last time, Chip opened Ephesians chapter 1 and showed us that our true value isn't found in performance or what others think of us.
It's anchored in what God says about us. Today, Chip continues our series called The New You, Claiming Your Birthright as a Child of God, and takes us deeper into what it means to be truly, unshakably secure. If you miss any part of this series, catch up anytime online at livingonthege.org.
Well now here's Chip Ingram with his message titled, You Are Secure. God's solution to your security is that you're valuable. He wants to choose you. He cares about you. He's redeemed you.
And he wants to reconnect you close to him so that no one at any time ever now. Or in eternity. can separate you from him. The moment you receive Christ, if indeed you have this happened, you were justified. The word means it's a legal declaration that all my sins are forgiven, past, present, and future.
And the righteousness of Christ is placed in your account. You are granted the righteousness of Jesus. You have a... New position. And says, dearly loved child.
In the space below, I want you to write this down. Are you ready? God is my Father. You might write down, I am his child. You know what?
What do good fathers do? What do good parents do? They protect. And they provide. The second thing that happened to you the moment you received Christ is regeneration.
That means that I'm a new creation in Christ. I've been given a new nature fully pleasing to God. God is my Father. Number one. Number two, God made me a new person.
The third thing that happens is reconciliation. That means that although I was once hostile to God, and alienated from him. I am now. His friend. Would you write this down?
God is my friend. You have been justified, you have been regenerated, you have been reconciled. And then I love this next one. It's a big word. Propitiation.
It means that Jesus satisfied the just wrath of God by his death on the cross, and therefore Jesus took all my punishment forever. Let me say that again. Jesus took all your punishment forever. Jesus took all of my punishment forever. 1 John chapter 4.
Verses 9 through 11. By this, the love of God was manifested or made known to us that God sent His only begotten Son into the world. Why?
So that we might live.
Well, how? Through him. In this is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be. The propitiation for our sins.
Now you need to understand that Uh God has emotions. He's a person. He's one essence, three distinct persons. He has feelings and emotions and a mind and a will, and we're made in his image. And there's something that makes him very, very angry.
It's called evil. John Stott writes, About propitiation, and he says: the reason why propitiation is necessary is that sin arouses God's wrath or anger. This doesn't mean that he's likely to fly off the handle at the most trivial provocation, still less that he ever loses his temper for no apparent reason at all. For there is nothing capricious or arbitrary about the holy God, nor is he ever malicious or spiteful or vindictive. His anger is neither mysterious nor irrational.
It is never unpredictable, but always predictable because it is provoked by evil and evil alone. The wrath of God is his steady, unrelenting, unremitting, uncompromising antagonism to evil in all of its forms and all of its manifestations. I'm listening to um The Life of Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas right now. And I'm in the section where the most horrific things. Uh Were done to the Poles and the Jews, that it's all it's even hard to hear of gassing people and going into villages and just indiscriminately lining everyone up and killing them and then dancing on their bodies.
The human heart In the right circumstances, is desperately wicked. What you need to understand, when Jesus was hanging on the cross and crying out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It's in that moment that the just wrath of God took the punishment you deserve and I deserve and all people of all time deserve. And he placed it on Christ and he who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. And in that single moment, all the punishment of all time was on Christ.
Write this down. God will never punish me. if you're in Christ. I'm not afraid to die. That wasn't always true.
But I'm not afraid to die. And for those of you that kind of have this in the back of your mind, like in college, no one knows about the abortion I had, or I was young in business and it was only once, and but I had that affair, or that one business that I was in, and I sort of skimmed some money, or I said some things about someone, and no one really knows, or sort of I have this private addiction, or some of us have some stuff in your background. And whenever things are happening that are difficult or painful, here's what you need to understand: all the punishment. That ever will occur in your life has already been literally the word: is He satisfied? It is absorbed by Christ.
God will never punish you. He's not down on you.
Now, jot down Hebrews chapter 12, lest we misunderstand. Good, kind, loving fathers, when you are moving in directions that are going to be harmful to you or others. He may cause some circumstances. I call it the velvet vice of grace. To get your attention, to get you back on the path that's good and holy.
Because, see, good dads and good parents don't just say, oh, well, you know, good luck, kid. But he's never punishing you. It's never vindictive. Are you ready for this? God is not mad at you.
When you sin, you know what? His anger has been placed on Christ. Are you ready? It makes him sad. I will tell you, what has helped me more than anything else is not being afraid of God's punishment.
It's realizing that my Father, who loves me, who gave His Son for me, when I sin and do things I know that are wrong, or when He tells me to do something and I just, nope. And then afterwards I look at it, I break his heart. See Sin is fundamentally never about a behavior or a word. Sin is always relational. And so it's not sin management.
It's not how close can I get to a sin or how long can I do this or how far can we go sexually. Those are all the wrong questions. Sin is fundamentally that which would make a division between me and my God. And what a relief to know, I will not be punished. It's already been taken.
I remember being in the Philippines and Being out in a rural area in a Jeep. in front of a drunk guard. With a big machine gun. And I thought I didn't think this is how I would die. You know, when I go to the Middle East or when I go to some places that I travel and do some things, I'm not being stupid.
But if you hear that I die, I'm immediately in the presence of the Lord. It gives me a tremendous freedom. How about you? The fifth thing that happens is sanctification. Justification is an event any point in time.
Propitiation is an event, a point in time. Reconciliation is an event that starts a process in a relationship, but it's a journey. Sanctification is the process, underlying process, by which the Holy Spirit transforms my inner attitudes and my outward actions to the character of Christ. The first was positional righteousness. This is how God views me.
Justification. This is practical righteousness, living it out as I walk by faith and obedience, trust in His promises, and give and receive encouragement in the body of Christ. Jot underneath this one, are you ready? God will never leave me alone. He's in the process of changing you.
He lives inside of you. The Spirit of God. Yeah. 1 Peter chapter 2. talks about Our part.
Our responsibility. Therefore, putting aside all malice, all deceit. and hypocrisy and envy. and all slander, right? I mean, that's a part of the old me.
But just because I have a new nature, the Bible is clear that there's the spirit. and the flesh wage war against one another.
So he says in light chapter 1 of all that God has done for you. You've been born again through his word, therefore lay aside. Actively take these things and put them in your past and like newborn babes, long for the pure milk. of God's Word so that by it you grow in respect to your salvation. I would suggest there are a lot of people that have been a Christian two years, five years, and 20 years that are still in diapers.
And they're not mature. and they don't understand much about God. and they're probably thoroughly saved, and they've missed probably a lot of their life, or if it's 20 or 30 years, most of their life. because they have never become someone who decided I need the pure milk of God's Word. which leads them to meet.
Your relationship with the Lord is determined by your relationship with His Word. Those are Jesus' words, not mine. You're listening to Living on the Edge and there's more in just a moment. Did you know you can access every message in this series and hundreds of others completely free anytime at livingonthege.org? Whether you want to listen again, share a lesson with a friend, or explore additional resources on topics like identity, relationships, or spiritual growth.
It's all right there. You'll also find small group materials and practical tools to help you live out what you're learning. It's all waiting for you at livingontheedge.org.
Well now let's get back to chip. The second thing is we can't do this alone. I can't walk by faith and obedience alone. I can't say no to malice and envy and all those things alone. My motivation gets low.
I need people. I need the body of Christ. You need the body of Christ. And so, around here, we talk about the pure milk of God's Word coming before God daily. doing life in community.
And then being on mission 24-7, just loving people. Every single person God puts in front of you. What what would happen? If if in your psyche You went from Wow, God feels distanced to He's my Father. What would happen if I'm a prisoner of my past who God made me a new person?
What would happen instead of what do I need to earn God's favor? God is my friend. What if the fear of, well, if I do this or I do that, is God punishing me too? He'll never punish me. And even when some relationship or tragedy comes into your life, what if You believed.
God will never leave me alone. Well, I want to finish our time by sharing how you can know this for certain. It's from Ephesians chapter 1. Verses 11 through 14. And it says, in him, Jesus, Also, we have obtained an inheritance.
Circle the word we, if you will, in your notes. Literally, in Him Jesus, we have been made inheritance, having predestined according to His purpose, who works all things after the counsel of His will. To the end that we, circle that one again, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be to the praise of His glory. Paul is writing as a Jew, and this word we is, we Jews have obtained or been made God's inheritance. We're the vehicle He wants to use in all of His purposes, and that word for counsel is His deliberate.
Strategic choice, and that word for his will springs from warm, deep emotion. And he's saying, We who were Jews were chosen by God to be an agent of blessing, were made his inheritance. And then he flips it and says, What about you, Gentiles? In him, Jesus, you also circle you and write Gentile above it. Get what happened?
After listening to the message of truth.
Someone shared with them Behold, I stand at the door. Knock. After listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, then what is having believed? Not agreeing intellectually, you personally turned from your sin, you believed, you received Christ. What happened?
You were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise. Very interesting New Testament word. In the Roman culture, this word has to do with a transaction, a financial transaction or the sell of something. It's finished. It has the idea of absolute ownership.
and security. You, when you believed, all those five things happened to you, but God sealed you with the Spirit. The Spirit of God entered your life and you were sealed for eternity. If indeed, You truly repented and trusted Christ. It's a guarantee.
In fact, he goes on to say: who is given as a circle this a pledge? of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of his glory.
So we have this inheritance. And what he says, basically, the word pledge there is our, we would use the word down payment or earnest money. Uh I I currently am Like probably many of you, some of you have your house paid off. But most of us, I have a house, it's my house. But the bank thinks they still have A little part in it.
Pretty big part actually. But it's in my name. It is my home. It's a sealed deal. And what he's saying is: heaven, your inheritance.
Freedom. The absolute security, there is none in this world. You've got that, right? We're an earthquake, a tsunami, a car wreck. A financial downturn.
away from all of our lives changing like that. And what he's saying is this. When you prayed to receive Christ and he became your father, and you became a new person. And he's your friend. And he says, I'll never punish you, and I'll never leave you.
He says, what I want you to know is that then I sealed you for myself. And this inheritance is that one day I'm going to pull all things together. That's redeeming, all the things that are my possession. And there's going to be a new you. You get a new body, inheritance.
And it's going to be in a new place, a new heaven, and a new earth. And you will be with me forever and ever and ever. And if you want to talk about security, security, security, security that won't change, that's what you have. If. You're in Christ.
And see, that's the core. And I understand that's a lot of theology. And can I encourage you to maybe take these notes and read those big words over? But the big words. God is my father.
He'll never punish me. On the back page, I've given you what I think is the most fundamental lie that we believe. And then I want to give you the truth. I've been reviewing cards like this for over 35 years. And I got a long way to go.
But I will tell you, you can be the son of an alcoholic and marry someone who's a son of an alcoholic, and you can be through all kinds of trash and not believe a single thing that I taught you today, and you can change because my experience is proof of that. But you renew your mind.
So the lies are: those who fail are unworthy of love and deserve to be punished. I believe that for a long time.
So what do you do? You try and earn, improve, and performance. Doubts, guilt over past mistakes, and condemnation are evidence that you're a bad person. and unworthy of love by God or others. And so people who believe they're a bad person punish themselves and make stupid decisions that bring more pain in your life because psychologically there's something weird about us that if we feel like we're bad, we should pay, and we figure out ways to make ourselves pay.
And then you say, stop. The truth, I'm secure in my relationship with Christ. in my daily safety and well-being. And in my future outlook, whether on earth, or in heaven. Because I have been sealed by the Spirit.
Is that awesome? I've been sealed. by the Spirit. I want you to know that if you have By faith received Christ, everything I have said is true of you, and your responsibility is to say, no matter what, I've got to get it from here to here. Mm.
And if By chance, you're here, or you're watching, or you're listening, and all that I've said, you realize I'm outside of Christ. I have never. owned that I have sinned against a holy God, I have never turned away from myself and the sin that I know I'm in, and asked him to forgive me and come into my life so I could follow him, today would be like the greatest day in the world. And so as you sit in your seat or watch or listen, And God is speaking to you. Just tell him.
I want what you offered. I think the Holy Spirit might give you a Dr. Phil question. How's life working your way? And God your Father would say, Would you please Turn from your sin and let me forgive you solely on the basis of Jesus' work on the cross.
and his resurrection. It's transferring your trust.
So right now tell him. God, I'm sorry. I've sinned against you. Will you please come into my life right now and forgive me? Would you Make me your son.
Make me your daughter. I believe right now, in this moment, that you died in my place, you rose from the dead, and paid for my sins. I receive that. Right now in Jesus' name. Hey man, do you want to?
This is Living on the Edge Chip Ingramram. and a message titled, You Are Secure. To revisit or share this lesson, just go online to livingonthege.org. The moment you received Christ, five profound things happened. You were justified, regenerated, reconciled, propitiated, and sealed with the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of everything God has promised you.
Your Father adopted you into His family and sealed you for eternity as His own. That is the unshakable foundation of who you are in Christ. And if you've just received Christ here today, we want to equip you with a free digital resource that will help you take your next steps with Jesus. Just go online to livingontheadge.org/slash salvation. Or if you're simply wanting to strengthen your faith and reinforce the foundations of your identity day after day, Chip's brand new devotional, Growing Deeper in Christ, gives you exactly that.
Each day, just a few minutes in God's Word and one simple step, steadily moving these truths from your head to your heart. If you've never given to this ministry before, or if you'd like to join us as a monthly partner, we'd love to send you a copy as our thank you gift for getting started. Make your first gift or sign up as a monthly partner today online at livingonthege.org. You can also call us right now at 888-333-6003. And if you want to go even deeper into Chip's teaching, check out the Living on the Edge podcast, where you can find full-length sermons from Chip anytime, anywhere.
Just search for Living on the Edge wherever you listen to podcasts and subscribe today.
Well, now here's Chip Ingram. I don't know exactly what may be happening with you right now.
Some of you prayed that prayer of salvation many years ago. And you have been justified. You have been sanctified. You are growing in Christ, and you have ups and downs, but you are becoming more and more like Jesus every day. and what I just prayed and what I just shared brings back great memories.
For others You haven't prayed that prayer. You haven't turned from your sin and received. the security and the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. And I would encourage you. to pray that with me.
As you listened, I shared that in a live teaching at the church and a number of people Literally, I went from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light as they prayed with me. And God had prepared them, and as God has already prepared many of you, this is not an accident that you happen to be listening to me right now. Whether you're in your car or on the treadmill, whether you happen to be listening at work, I don't know where you are, but God does, and He knew. all the things that would lead up to today where he could say to you, personally. I love you.
I have already forgiven you. My Son Jesus died for you. I want you to be a part of my family. It's a gift. but like any gift, it has to be received.
will you receive the gift of eternal life? God promised as many as receive him, Jesus, to them he gives the right, the authority, to become children of God. And so wherever you are, Would you pause right now with me? And in your heart of hearts, and if it's possible, say it out loud, Lord Jesus, I need you. I admit that I have done things wrong.
I need your forgiveness and I want new life. Right now I believe Jesus died. in my place for my sin. and I trust that He rose from the dead for my salvation. Lord Jesus, Please come into my life right now.
and make me your son. Make me your daughter. Thank you for forgiving me.
Now help me to walk with you all the days of my life. If you just prayed with me God has forgiven your sin. He's made you a part of his family. and now he wants to help you grow. I'd like you to call or text the greatest Christian you know and tell him what you just did.
I want you to find a good Bible-teaching church this weekend and go to it or watch it online. And then please go to our website, livingontheedge.org. And we have a clear section there of some material that will help you understand what's happening to you and how to grow. It's absolutely free. Let me be the first to say welcome to the family.
Thank you, Chip. I'm Dave Drury, and next time, Chip Ingram continues our series, The New You, with a message about overcoming shame. That's coming up on Living on the Edge. Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge. Uh
