YOUR RIGHTS IN CHRIST
(Luke 4:18, Galatians 2:4)
The introductory part of Pastor Chris’s book, “Your rights in Christ” highlights the Liberty we have in Christ. The word Liberty as used in Luke 4:18 means to release those that were bruised. Pastor Chris postulates that the word liberty has two meanings. Liberty as in Luke 4:18 means to set free, to release while liberty in Galatians 5:13 and Galatians 2:4 means right, synonymous with authority, a legal right. We have freedom that empowers us with a legal right. (Rights – a just claim to authority).
In Galatians 4:7 the bible says, “Thou art no more a servant but a son”. A son has rights that the servants do not have. The servant might not have information concerning his masters business but the son does.
WHAT ARE THESE RIGHTS?
These rights can be categorized into the three: the right to choose, live and rule.
The right to choose (Deuteronomy 30:19; Philippians 1:21 – 25)
The New Creation is not a programmed robot; he has the right to choose. Christianity is not a religion were you loose your right to choose. You have the right to choose between life and death, but the unbeliever is subjected to death already, He has no right he is under bondage. Paul tells us of his dilemma on how he was caught between two options to make a choice to die and be with Christ, or to live and fulfil the gospel. In John 5, the bible records that Jesus asked the man who had been infirmed for 38 years; if he wanted to be healed (Will thou be made whole, Verse 6). Many instances have shown that many are ignorant of their rights in this life. Some say, maybe God put the sickness on me to make me humble, but that is absolutely wrong because His will for us is to prosper and be in good health even as our soul prospers (3 John 2). We have the right to choose.
The right to live (John 11:25-26; 2 Tim 1:10; 1 Cor 15:26,; Heb 11:5)
Because we have believed in Jesus Christ we have the right to live. The bible says, whoever believes in him shall never die (Amplified Bible says shall never die at all). This scripture in John 11:25-26 speaks of physical death. Yes many have quoted the scripture saying and it is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgement (Hebrews 9:27). From this scripture, they say every human being must die but we know that we have been crucified with Christ and therefore the life, which we now live in the flesh we live by the faith of the Son of God.
Death is by choice
The bible says in Romans 6:9, death has no dominion over us. Death is a choice because Jesus abolished death and brought life and immortality. The questions that a lot of people ask is that why do some Christians still die. The scripture says in 1 Corinthians 15:26 that the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Death is still in existence. It has only been abolished but not yet destroyed. Being abolished means it has no legal right upon us but except we lay down our lives, we have the right to live. (John 10:17-18). A man could live without the sting of death like Enoch and Elijah, who never physically died.
The right to rule (Rom 5:17; Rev 1:5; 1 Pet 2:9; Eccl 8:4)
The bible says we are kings and priests, and as kings we have the right to rule. To reign means to rule, to govern. We must walk with the mentality of a king, a peculiar people and a chosen generation. God has given us the divine ability to cause changes. As kings our words are powerful when we speak, we speak words of power. The bible says, “Ye are gods” (Psalms 82:6)
Exercise: Exercise your rights in Christ by speaking the right words
YOUR INHERITENCE IN CHRIST
The New Creation has an inheritance in Christ. Galatians 4:7 says “wherefore thou art no more servants, but sons, and if sons, then heirs of God through Christ”. If Heirs, then what is our inheritance? By the reason of Jesus’ Death, a will came into effect. Our inheritance is our legal possession. No one can revoke the will that has been written about our inheritance (Hebrews 9:15). What are the things that are rightly yours? A man died in poverty because he did not know that His late father left him a huge inheritance. What are our inheritances?
All things are yours (Eph 1:11; 1 Cor 3:21; Psalm 115:16; Rom 4:13)
Firstly, we must understand that according to scriptures we have obtained an inheritance. Colossians says giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saint in light and 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 tells us that all things are ours. Everything your mind can receive is yours whether death or life, wealth, health, joy, houses, education, all things are yours. Abraham received the promise as the heir of the world and the promise was also to his seed. Now our inheritance can be classified into general, which is all things, and the specifically into three, which are: divine health, prosperity and abundance, and deliverance.
a. Divine Health (Isaiah 53:4-5; 1 Peter 2:24; 3 John 2)
God’s will for us is to be in good health. In Isaiah 53:4-5 and 1Peter 2:24, God affirmed divine healing and divine health to us. Isaiah 53:4-5 was a prophecy on health for the ordinary people. The bible says in verse 5 with his stripes we are healed. By the stripes of a man they had not yet seen or known.
Divine healing
While divine healing is for the unsaved, divine heath is for the believer (1 Peter 2:24). For we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes we were healed. It means we have already been healed because the scripture has been fulfilled. Therefore, we have divine health as our inheritance. It is God’s will for us to prosper and be in good health even as our souls prosper. Sin brings diseases, sickness and death. But we are the righteousness of God and sin has no dominion over us. Health denotes freedom from sickness, it means fitness, well-being and wholeness
b. Prosperity and abundance (3 John 22; 2Cor 8:9; 1 Tim 6:17)
Someone said “I really don’t want to be too rich”. But the bible says God wants us to prosper and to have abundance. To prosper means to flourish. Poverty is a state of lack. 2 Corinthians 8:9 says Jesus became poor so that we through his poverty might become rich. He has given us all things to enjoy (1Tim 6:17). God wants us to have in abundance so that we can be a blessing to others.
c. Deliverance (Col 1:12-13; Mark 16:17)
God has delivered us and so it is wrong for a child of God to seek deliverance. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
The bible says God has translated us into the kingdom of his son. He hath delivered us from the power of darkness. (The Amplified Bible says “and has drawn us to himself”) and hath translated us unto the kingdom of his dear son. We have the power to cast out demons not for them to possess us.
YOU ARE GOD’S ADDRESS (Col 1:27; Eph 2:21 – 22; 1 Cor 6:19)
An address is a place of residence. The New Creation is God’s house, His address. Acts 17:28 let us know that. He dwells in us, and that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Colossians states that Christ in us is the Hope of glory.
His extension (Jer 51:20-22; Acts 1:8)
Bible says we are God’s extension, the extension of his manifested presence on earth. We execute justice, maintain peace through our prayers and reshape situations. Acts 1:8 says we shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes. That power is that dynamic ability to cause changes. (See also Psalms 149:6-9). This honour has all the saints of God.
GOD’S MIRROR PRINCIPLE (James 1:22-25; 2Cor 3:17,18)
A mirror is used to see ones image. It is a reflector; it shows the exact representation of the image before it. The bible lets us know that, God’s word is his mirror and when we look into it we see our true reflection; that God says we are. The mirror has the power to reflect change in a person’s life. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord”. It does not matter how you feel or see yourself, it is what the mirror shows you that you are. James 1:22-25 talks about being doers of the word and not a forgetful hearer. It gives us a clear picture of a man who is not a doer of the word. The bible says such a person is like a man who beholds his natural face in a glass and straight away forgets what manner of man he was. A lot of Christians forget who they are because they do not dwell on the Word.
As we read the Word we become transformed, we become changed. We become more like Jesus, Romans 8:29 says He predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son. Note that the Word will do nothing until you act on it. The Word reveals who we really are.
OPERATION OF THE FIVE SENSES (2 Cor 5:7; 2 Cor 4:18)
The senses include hearing, seeing, talking, smelling and feeling. They are in the physical perception, but the Lord wants us to live by faith. Physical perception connotes carnality and the bible says they that are in the flesh cannot please God, Romans 8:6-8. But the New Creation is not in the flesh but in the spirit. The bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:7 that, “we walk by faith and not by sight”. You must develop or grow your faith by hearing the Word of God. Pastor Chris points out in the book “The oil and the mantle”, that whenever a man turns his eyes to the physical, he loses sight of God and this is what happens to a lot of Christians.
Faith in Jesus Christ alone is all that we need to live the Christian life. In the last paragraph of page 26 of the book, it further says “God has called us to live the life of faith or the walk of faith”. Hebrews 11:1 says “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, evidence of things not seen”. We are not looking out to see something, we believe because God has said it. 2 Corinthians 4:18 says, “While we look not at the things which are seen, for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal.
CONCLUSION
A Christian is the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. He has the eternal life, which is God’s kind of life. He has the right to rule, to live and to choose. He has inheritance in Christ: all things, divine health, prosperity and abundance, and deliverance. He is the dwelling place of God.
CLASS REVIEW
What is righteousness and how does one become righteous?
What is eternal life? Who has eternal life and how is it gotten?
State and explain the rights of a Christian in Christ?
State and explain the inheritance of a Christian in Christ?
Where does God live? What is the importance of this knowledge to the Christian?
How do you relate God’s Word with the mirror?
What is the difference between working in faith and sight?
Now faith is the substance of things _____________ for, the ____________ of things not seen.
CRITICAL POINTS TO REMEMBER
Though the bible refers to the devil as the god of this world. However, Jesus spoiled principalities and powers and made a show of them openly, but in Ephesians 3:17 it says, “Christ dwells in my heart by faith and it is expressly declared that I am of God and that greater is He (Christ) that is in me than he that is in the world. (1 john 4:4)
John 17:17 makes us know that the Word of God is truth. Sight is anything we can perceive with our physical senses i.e. smell, touch, sight, sound and taste. Hence sight and truth may not always agree, thus as a Christian I may have all the symptoms of malaria but in truth I have been healed by the stripes of Jesus Christ.
Righteousness is the nature of God. It’s my ability to stand in the presence of God without fear or any sense of inferiority or condemnation. Therefore it is a facelift made available to me through the substitution work of our Lord Jesus in which I have faith.
Because I have believed in Jesus Christ. I have the right to live because I have eternal life. The Bible says whoever believes in Him shall never die
Also the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the son of God.
RECOMMENDED MATERIALS BY PASTOR CHRIS
i) TAPES
The authority of a believer
An Inheritance for you
Understanding righteousness
ii) BOOKS
Your Rights in Christ