Sam Storms on the Believer’s Eternal Union with God

What is true of every born-again, Christ-trusting child of God?

If you have truly been born of the Spirit, have repented of your sins, and look to Christ alone for your salvation, the following is true of you:

• You are now and forever will be in spiritual, loving, unbreakable union with God; you are in him and he is in you (Col. 1:2, 27).

• All your sins have been forgiven. That is to say, the guilt that is incurred from your sins, past, present, and future has been forever and finally wiped clean. This is why Paul says there is “no condemnation” for those who are in Christ Jesus by faith (Rom. 8:1).

• You are now and forever will be an adopted child of God (Gal. 4:4–7). This is your identity that defines both who you are and what awaits you on the other side of the grave.

• You are now and forever will be redeemed or ransomed from the condemning power of sin and guilt (Eph. 1:7).

• You are now and forever will be justified in God’s sight, which is to say that through faith in Christ, God has imputed or reckoned to you the righteousness of Jesus and declared you to be perfectly acceptable in his sight, not because of what you have done but because of what Christ has done in living a sinless life and dying a substitutionary death for you (Rom. 3:28; 5:1).

 •You are now and forever will be in spiritual union with Jesus Christ. Or, to use the words of the apostle Paul, you are by faith “in Christ” (Eph. 1:1).

• You are now and forever will be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:18–19).

• You are now and forever will be delivered or saved from the wrath of God. You will never face the threat of divine wrath, as Jesus has faced it, endured it, and exhausted it in himself on the cross (Rom. 5:9).

• You are now and forever will be seated together with Christ in heavenly places (Eph. 2:4–7).

From A Dozen Things God Did with Your Sin (and Three Things He’ll Never Do) by Sam Storms, Crossway: 2022