But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:30-31.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
In Christ. It is My doing that you are IN CHRIST. Now when you are IN HIM it is like you are encased in Him and His merits, works, triumph, wisdom, righteousness, and all He is and has are yours—as if you had done them. In Him you died to sin and in Him I raised you to new life and seated you with Him and in Him in Heaven.
In a way it is like being with Noah in the ark. The flood could not reach him and even if he fell, he fell inside the ark and was still safe from My wrath which had justly fallen on the rest of mankind. “Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him. You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance.” Psalm 32:7. When you are in Christ you are in My hand and there is no snatching out of My hand. I keep you from the evil one.
Do you know what a settlement agreement is? When people have a controversy and are fighting in court, they can instead settle it out of court and release all the claims against each other by some form of consideration given by one to the other. I tell you in My Word to settle with your opponent while on the way to court with him. A settlement puts an end to the matter and no further lawsuits can be filed over it. It is closed and no further payment is required then was agreed upon. All claims are settled and out of the way. Done. Finished. Nothing further is required except to comply with the terms of the settlement agreement.
Well My Son has entered a settlement agreement with Me as your representative on your behalf. He paid with His eternal life for the one you lost and the life is in the blood. He took all your sins, ills, sorrows and pains and paid for them in His own flesh. He took on your sentence and went to the dust of death and settled your debt with Me. More than paid in full. All that is gone now and no further action can be taken against those who are IN CHRIST. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1.
But just as a settlement agreement with your opponent does no good if you will not enter into it with him, that is, if you refuse to sign the agreement, if you refuse to receive My Son and enter into the Covenant, His settlement with Me as your substitution does you no good either. Unless you come to believe in Him as Lord you will die in your own sins because there is no way you can pay the debt you owe Me as you are born in the flesh of Adam’s seed, which is corrupted, and you do not have an eternal life to offer in payment for the one lost, “a life for a life,” and the life is in the blood. And your blood is not from incorruptible seed as was the blood of Jesus, being born of My Word and in the womb of a virgin as the blood is from the seed.
Now, once you enter a settlement agreement, all of the past is gone as far as further liability goes but you do have to comply with the terms of the settlement agreement as an enforceable contract. My Son told you, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so [d]prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” John 15:7-12. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35. And part of that is to forgive one another just as I have forgiven you in Christ. And how did I forgive you in Christ? By His blood, Ephesians 1:7, and He paid the ransom for all, so He paid you too just as He paid Me for the sins of those who wrong you.
My beloved John put the settlement contract terms this way: “This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” 1 John 3:23-24. IN CHRIST is abiding in Him and He in you.
All is done once you enter the settlement agreement, which is the eternal Covenant, and your sins and offenses I remember no more. Legally I cannot. There is no further atonement for sin when you are in Christ. It is settled, signed, and sealed in His blood, and when, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, you believed and received Jesus as your Lord, I sealed you IN CHRIST with the Holy Spirit of promise, whom I gave to you as a pledge of your inheritance, with a view to the redemption possession, to the praise of My glory (that is, My goodness, My power, and My presence with you). Ephesians 1:13-14. Yes, you who were so sealed possess all. It has pleased Me to give you the Kingdom. All is judged on the basis of our new agreement in Christ. And what are those terms? Believe in the Name of My Son and love one another as He gave command. You who are saved will not be judged at the white throne judgment but you will come before the judgment seat of Christ to be rewarded for the good you have done in the body. Be sure you receive your full reward.
If you sin after receiving Jesus as Lord, it is like if Noah fell down in the ark, it would not have put him back out in the flood. If you confess your sins, I am faithful and true to forgive them for they have already been paid for by the blood of My Son in advance. If you stay in the light, His blood continually cleanses you. It is like the day of atonement, that was for believers who sinned, and the High Priest took the blood into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled it there. And your High Priest enters with His own blood with an eternal redemption. You are still sealed IN CHRIST. But watch yourself that you receive a full reward and do not come before Jesus with only wood, hay and stubble that you built on the foundation of Christ in your life. Build to last by following the terms of the New Covenant, which encompass all areas of your life. My Will for you IN CHRIST JESUS is that you rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give constant thanks. Think about that.
IN CHRIST all I have is yours—My armor, My Name, My merits, My righteousness, My Spirit, My love, My light, My works, My peace, My healing power, and My Kingdom. You have been reconciled to Me in My Son. The controversy is settled. Forever. Paid in full. You have become the bride of Christ.
And it is by My doing that you are in Christ but by your believing that you have entered the Covenant. And let Me tell you about what I have done for you. “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.” 1 Corinthians 1:30. Let us break this down. First, “who became wisdom to you from God.” “For the LORD gives wisdom, from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding. He stores up wisdom for the upright, a shield to those who walk in integrity” Proverbs 2:6-7. I fulfill this Scripture in Christ, I give you wisdom in Him and He is My Word giving knowledge and understanding, it is stored up for you in Him, for in Christ are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and IN HIM you have access to these treasures. And I shield you in Him as in the secret place of the Most High. He is the secret place where the evil one cannot touch you. Encased in Christ as a shield and a buckler, for He is your Sun and shield, and in Him no weapon formed against you can prosper and every tongue raised against you is proved false. He is your peace. For wisdom will enter your heart with Him. Proverbs 2:10. Christ in you, your hope of glory. And when Christ is in your heart, He pours My Spirit into your heart, who is wisdom.
“and righteousness” is next in that line. 1 Corinthians 1:30. I have given you My own righteousness when you are in Christ Jesus. He became sin on your behalf so that in Him you would become righteous with My own righteousness. 2 Corinthians 5:21. And established in righteousness you are far from oppression by the devil. It is your breastplate of righteousness, protecting your heart.
“and sanctification” is next. 1 Corinthians 1:30. “Pursue peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:14. And do you remember how I sanctify you? Jesus prayed for you that I would sanctify you in truth; My Word is truth. John 17:17. You are cleansed by My Word and thus sanctified, set apart as holy. Jesus sanctified Himself for your sake so that you would be sanctified in truth. John 17:19. And when you take Jesus as your Lord you become a member of His body and His body is the church—the called-out ones. And Christ loves the church and gave Himself up for her so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless. Ephesians 5:25-27. No one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church because you are members of His body. Ephesians 5:29-30. And I put all things in subjection under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Ephesians 1:22-23.
And finally, I tell you I also made him “redemption” for you. 1 Corinthians 1:30. In Him, you have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of your trespasses, according to the riches of My grace, which I lavished upon you IN CHRIST. Ephesians 1:7.
Once the crowds asked Jesus, “What shall we do so that we may work the works of God?” And Jesus replied simply, “This is he work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” John 6:28-29. The works of God. Jesus did My works and spoke My Words and He told you, “Whoever believes in Me, the works that I do he will do, and greater works than these shall he do because I go to the Father.” John 14:12. When you ask in His Name, He does it. How is that? You are His body and each a member of it and the Head directs the body and Jesus’ Spirit, the Holy Spirit, empowers and inhabits the body. You are each a temple of the Holy Spirit and a house of God and corporately you are being built into a temple for the Holy Spirit as My royal priesthood. “And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” Ephesians 217-22.
I love you. The best thing you can do to work My works is believe in the One I sent. For eternal life is to know Me, the one true God, and the one I sent, Jesus Christ. If you believe in your heart, I raised Him from the dead and confess with your mouth that He is LORD, you are made righteous and are saved. You have then entered the Settlement Agreement made between Me and My Son and all the benefits of that covenant are yours. Forever.