Seated In Heaven!

7. In the study “The Rescue,” we discovered that Jesus came to this earth for the purpose of dying in order to forgive our sins. God planned all of this. Why did God do all of this according to John 3:16?

Position and Practice. At the moment Sam believed in Jesus, he became a new Christian. Sam knew very little about God. He did not know the Bible. He was eager to learn while he was still struggling with sin in his life. The New Testament tells us that every new Christian enters into a new life and yet there are old parts of him/her that have not changed. We still sin and are incomplete. Yet, in Jesus Christ we are perfect. That is, we are declared to be “positionally” perfect and complete. That is, God considers us to be perfect and complete, even though He knows that we still sin. For example, God declares us to be saints (1 Cor. 1:2) or holy ones and yet, we still sin and need forgiveness (1 John 1:9). So He calls us to live up to our holy position. Positionally we are holy, but by our behavior, experience, or practice we are not holy. Positionally we are holy, but by our practice we are sinners.

8. The position that God has given to you is listed below followed by your everyday experience. Your position in Jesus is listed first. However, we do act according to our position. Therefore, what do I need to do?


Position in Jesus		What Do I Need to Do?
Spiritually Alive	Eph. 2:4-5	Rom. 8:12-14	I need to act as if the flesh is dead
Dead to Sin	Rom. 6:11	Rom. 6:12-13	I need to stop sinning.
Forgiven	1 John 2:12	1 John 1:9
New Life	2 Cor. 5:17	Rom. 6:4
Seated in heaven	Eph. 1:3	Col. 3:1-2
Light to the world	Matt. 5:14	Eph. 5:8
Holy and blameless	Eph. 1:4	1 Pet. 1:15-16
Freedom	John 8:32	Gal. 6:1
Secure in Christ	1 Pet 1:5	2 Pet. 1:10
We Have Unity	Eph. 4:4-6	Eph. 4:3
Saints are in grace	Rom. 5:2	2 Pet. 3:18
Live in the Spirit	Gal. 5:25	Gal. 5:25
Empowered to serve	Eph. 3:20	Eph. 3:16
Saints are in love	Rom. 5:5	1 Pet. 1:22

The Unexpected Gift. When anyone believes in Jesus, he/she has been given an amazing gift. It is an unexpected gift. The gift is simply this: we are already in heaven with Jesus,

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus . . . (NASB) Eph. 2:4-6