In Or Out?
When I think of in and out, I think of In-N-Out Burger in California. It’s been years since I’ve eaten one of their burgers, but I remember how good they are. Sometimes we use in and out when we need to run to the store or a convenience store. Sometimes I’ll drop my wife off at the door and I keep the van running because she just needs to run in and out for one or two items. These are examples of in and out, but what about in or out? What comes to mind when you hear in or out?
What comes to my mind is that everyone will die one day. None of us can cheat death. But what matters more than anything else is whether you die in Christ Jesus or if you die out of Christ. Rev 14:12-13 says: Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”
Are You Blessed? Are You In The Lord?
Blessed are the dead who die IN THE LORD. Are you in Christ or out of Christ? The only way to be in Christ is to be born again. Are you born again? Have you repented from your sins and put your faith in Jesus? The Lord said you must be born again. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:1-8).
Are You In Or Out Of Christ Jesus?
Have you been born again? Are you in Christ Jesus? Are you one of His sheep? His sheep hear his voice? Are you a follower of Jesus? Do you deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow Jesus daily? Are you a new creature in Christ? Have the old things passed away, behold, all things have become new? Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).
When you truly meet the risen Lord, your life is never the same? Are you truly in Christ Jesus? Does Jesus live inside you through the Holy Spirit? I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20). Does this describe you? Are you born again? Have you truly been saved?
When we are in Christ, when we are saved, we are to be focused on our Lord Jesus Christ. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory (Colossians 3:1-4).
In Christ Through Faith
Those of us who are saved, who have been born again, are in Christ Jesus through faith in the Lord. Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith (Galatians 3:23-26).
Are you in or out of the Lord Jesus? Is Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior or are you still spiritually dead in your trespasses and sins? And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, 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, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:1-9).
If You Are Not In Then You Are Out
If you are not in Christ, then you are outside of Christ Jesus. The Lord said that He is the way, truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). Jesus is the only way of salvation, there is no other. If you are outside of Christ, then you are on the broad road to destruction. “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few (Matthew 7:13-14).
Oh, do not die in your sins and go to Hell. Do not die outside of Christ Jesus. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Each and every one of us deserves God’s righteous wrath over our sins. All we have earned is the eternal flames of Hell.
But God. But God demonstrated His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men[e] because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.
The Free Gift Of Salvation
Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.
And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 5:12-21).
In Or Out Of Jesus?
Eternal life is found in Christ Jesus, through His righteousness. We are unrighteous, Jesus is righteous. You and I are sinners, Jesus is sinless. We are unjust, Jesus is the just one. Do not die in your sinful, rebellious state. Instead, repent from your sins and surrender your life to Jesus Christ. When you do this, Jesus takes your sins and He gives you His righteousness. Be made right or righteous with God. Believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
In or out? In or out of Christ Jesus. When you die, nothing will be more important than whether you die in Christ or out. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Be blessed in this life and the next. Come to Jesus and be saved. Those who are truly in Christ Jesus receive life, eternal life and Jesus also promises us an abundant life (John 10:10).
That doesn’t mean health wealth and prosperity. No the abundant life means you are in Christ Jesus and He is with you, through this life no matter what you face and He will be with you in the next life, eternal life. Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live (John 11:25). Receive eternal life – repent and surrender your life fully and completely to Jesus Christ the Lord. Do this today and be saved.
(This message was lifted up in downtown Springfield, MO on October 4, 2019)