Sermon Title:
Hidden With Christ in God: The Believer’s Security in Christ
Key Passage:
Colossians 3:3 — “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”
Series:
Foundations of the Gospel of Grace
Topic:
The Believer’s Security, Hidden Life, Heavenly Position, and Future Glory in Jesus Christ
Book:
Colossians, Romans, Ephesians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, John
Speaker:
Paul Tackett
Suggested Sermon Text:
Colossians 3:1–17; Colossians 2:9–15; Romans 6:1–14; Romans 8:1, 31–39; Ephesians 1:3–14; Ephesians 2:4–10; Ephesians 4:30; Galatians 2:20; Philippians 3:20–21; John 5:24; John 10:27–29; 1 Corinthians 15:51–58; 2 Corinthians 5:17
Short Sermon Description:
This detailed VerseQuest Ministries sermon outline explains Colossians 3:3 and the tremendous security of the believer whose “life is hid with Christ in God.” Paul does not describe salvation as a temporary religious arrangement hanging on human performance, but as a new spiritual position rooted in the death, resurrection, and heavenly life of Jesus Christ. The believer is dead with Christ positionally, risen with Christ spiritually, hidden with Christ securely, and destined to appear with Christ in glory. This sermon explains what it means to be dead to the old standing in Adam, how the believer’s true life is found in Christ, why being “hid with Christ in God” gives profound assurance, and why eternal security never excuses fleshly living. It distinguishes standing from state, security from carelessness, justification from sanctification, and present hidden life from future manifestation in glory. Designed for pastors, preachers, teachers, Bible students, and believers, this outline magnifies the finished work of Christ and the believer’s unshakable position in Him.
Hidden With Christ in God
The Believer’s Security in Christ
Introduction
Colossians 3:3 is one of the quietest-looking security verses in Paul’s epistles, but there is enough doctrine packed into it to sink a truckload of religious uncertainty: “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” The believer’s life is not dangling over hell by the thread of human performance. It is not stored in a denominational filing cabinet. It is not entrusted to a priest, sacrament, ceremony, mood, memory, or moral streak. Paul says the believer’s life is hid with Christ in God. If religion wants to get at that life, it has to get through Christ and then get through God. That is considerably stronger security than the flesh can manufacture.
The context makes the doctrine even stronger. Colossians 2 has already declared that believers are complete in Christ, spiritually circumcised without hands, buried and risen with Him, forgiven all trespasses, and freed from the handwriting of ordinances that was against them. Then chapter 3 begins, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above.” Paul is not trying to get dead sinners to improve themselves. He is addressing people whose spiritual position has changed. They were dead in sins; now they are risen with Christ. Their earthly walk must therefore reflect their heavenly standing.
That distinction is critical. Security in Christ does not mean the believer’s conduct is irrelevant. Colossians 3 immediately tells the saved man to mortify fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication, and lying. The same passage that gives some of the strongest security language in the New Testament also gives some of the strongest practical commands. Grace does not say, “You are secure, therefore sin.” Grace says, “You are secure in Christ, therefore live like a man whose life belongs above.” Security is not permission for the flesh; it is the foundation for putting the flesh in its proper grave.
I. The Believer Is Dead to His Old Standing in Adam
Key Text: Colossians 3:3
Supporting Texts: Romans 6:6–11; Galatians 2:20; Romans 5:12–19
Paul begins, “For ye are dead.” He is not saying the Colossians were physically dead. He is speaking positionally. The believer has been identified with the death of Jesus Christ. Romans 6 says, “our old man is crucified with him.” Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ.” The old Adamic standing has received God’s judicial sentence at the cross. God is not polishing Adam and trying to make him fit for heaven. The believer has been joined to another Head—the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 5 contrasts the two men: Adam and Christ. In Adam came sin, condemnation, and death. In Christ come righteousness, justification, and life. Salvation therefore involves more than religious improvement. It is a transfer of standing. The believer was identified with Adam’s ruined race; now he stands in Christ. He was condemned in the first man; he is justified in the second Man. He belonged to a death-line; now he belongs to the risen Saviour.
Romans 6:11 tells believers to “reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The believer’s practical life must begin by believing what God says about his position. He is not trying to crucify the old man enough to get accepted. God says the old man is crucified with Christ. Practical victory begins when faith takes God’s side against the flesh.
Main Truth:
The believer’s security begins with his identification with Christ’s death and his removal from the old condemned standing in Adam.
II. The Believer Is Risen With Christ
Key Text: Colossians 3:1
Supporting Texts: Colossians 2:12–13; Ephesians 2:5–6; Romans 6:4–5
Colossians 3 begins, “If ye then be risen with Christ.” In the context, Paul is speaking to believers for whom this is already true. Colossians 2 says they are “risen with him through the faith of the operation of God.” Christianity is therefore not merely following the teachings of a dead religious founder. It is spiritual union with a risen Christ.
Ephesians 2 takes the truth even higher. God “hath quickened us together with Christ,” “hath raised us up together,” and “made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Those are astonishing positional statements. The believer is still walking around on earth physically, yet God already speaks of him as seated in heavenly places in Christ. His practical location is earthly; his spiritual standing is heavenly.
Romans 6 says Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father so believers should walk in newness of life. The resurrection is not merely something Christians celebrate as an event that happened to Jesus. It becomes the ground of the believer’s new life. Because Christ lives, the believer lives. Because Christ rose, the believer’s standing is resurrection standing. The saved man is not trying to breathe life into religion. He possesses life in the risen Lord.
Main Truth:
The believer’s life and security are inseparably connected to the resurrection life of Jesus Christ.
III. The Believer’s True Life Is Christ Himself
Key Text: Colossians 3:4
Supporting Texts: Galatians 2:20; Philippians 1:21; John 14:6
Colossians 3:4 says, “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear.” That phrase goes beyond saying Christ gives life. Paul says Christ is our life. Christianity is not merely receiving benefits from Christ while remaining spiritually independent of Him. The believer’s life is bound up with the person of Jesus Christ.
Galatians 2:20 says, “Christ liveth in me.” Paul says in Philippians 1:21, “For to me to live is Christ.” John 14:6 records Jesus saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The believer’s security therefore cannot be separated from the life of Christ Himself. If Christ is the believer’s life, then the continuance of that life does not depend upon Adam’s ability to maintain it.
This is why eternal life cannot properly be reduced to a religious substance God hands a man and later confiscates. Eternal life is in the Son. First John teaches that “he that hath the Son hath life.” The believer possesses life because he possesses Christ. To say Christ is our life is to put the foundation of salvation where God put it—outside the shifting feelings and works of the flesh and inside the eternal Son of God.
Main Truth:
The believer’s security rests in Jesus Christ Himself, because Christ is not merely the giver of life—He is the believer’s life.
IV. The Believer’s Life Is Hidden With Christ
Key Text: Colossians 3:3
Supporting Texts: John 10:27–29; Romans 8:35–39; 2 Timothy 1:12
Paul says, “your life is hid with Christ.” Something hidden is placed beyond ordinary reach. The believer’s spiritual life is not lying exposed on the roadside waiting for the first devil, bad day, temptation, false preacher, or religious system to steal it. It is hidden with Christ. The security of the life depends upon the security of the One with whom it is hidden.
John 10 says Christ gives His sheep eternal life, they shall never perish, and no man shall pluck them out of His hand. Romans 8 asks what can separate believers from the love of Christ and then sweeps the universe clean: tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, death, life, angels, principalities, powers, things present, things to come, height, depth, or any other creature. None can separate the believer from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
Second Timothy 1:12 says Paul knew whom he had believed and was persuaded that Christ was able to keep what he had committed unto Him against that day. Paul’s assurance was not rooted in Paul. It was rooted in Christ. The hidden life does not boast about the strength of the believer. It boasts about the security of the hiding place.
Main Truth:
The believer’s eternal life is secure because God has hidden that life with Jesus Christ beyond the reach of every created power.
V. The Believer’s Life Is Hidden With Christ in God
Key Text: Colossians 3:3
Supporting Texts: John 10:28–30; Romans 8:31–34; Ephesians 1:3
Paul does not stop with “hid with Christ.” He says, “hid with Christ in God.” The security is doubled in the language itself. The believer’s life is with Christ, and Christ is in God. John 10 similarly gives the sheep the hand of the Son and the hand of the Father. Christ says no man can pluck the sheep out of His hand, then says no man can pluck them out of His Father’s hand.
Romans 8 asks, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” It then points to God who justifies and Christ who died, rose, sits at God’s right hand, and makes intercession. Everything in the believer’s security runs upward toward God’s own action. God justifies. Christ redeems. The Spirit seals. The Father keeps. Salvation is surrounded by divine activity.
Ephesians 1 says believers possess all spiritual blessings “in Christ.” The recurring Pauline language is not accidental. “In Christ,” “in him,” “in the beloved,” “with Christ,” and “in God” all describe the believer’s position. Religion tends to make salvation about what the man is doing. Paul keeps making salvation about where God placed the man. A saved man should live faithfully, but his security rests in the position God created.
Main Truth:
The believer’s life is hidden with Christ in God, giving him a security grounded in the Son and the Father rather than in human strength.
VI. Security in Christ Does Not Make Sin Safe
Key Text: Colossians 3:5
Supporting Texts: Romans 6:1–2; Titus 2:11–14; Galatians 5:13
Immediately after saying the believer’s life is hidden with Christ in God, Paul says, “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth.” That “therefore” destroys the legalist’s favorite accusation against eternal security. Paul does not say security produces carelessness. He says security becomes a reason to kill the deeds of the flesh.
Romans 6 asks the question directly: “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” The answer is “God forbid.” Titus 2 says the grace that brings salvation teaches believers to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and live soberly, righteously, and godly. Grace is not the enemy of holiness. Grace is the only sound foundation for holiness that does not turn obedience into a payment plan.
Galatians 5 warns believers not to use liberty as an occasion to the flesh. Security says the believer belongs to Christ forever. That means the believer has even less excuse to live as though he belongs to sin. He is not free to sin; he has been given a position from which he can walk free from sin’s dominion. The flesh is still present, but it no longer owns the believer.
Main Truth:
Security in Christ does not excuse sin; it gives the believer the strongest reason to mortify the flesh and walk in holiness.
VII. Standing Is Secure Even When State Needs Correction
Key Text: Colossians 3:8–10
Supporting Texts: Ephesians 4:30; 1 Corinthians 3:1–3; Hebrews 12:5–11
Colossians 3 commands believers to put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication, and lying. Clearly, a saved man can still struggle practically with things that do not match his position. That is the distinction between standing and state. The believer’s standing is hidden with Christ in God. His state may need serious correction.
First Corinthians 3 describes saved Corinthians as “carnal” and “babes in Christ.” Their state was poor, but they were still “in Christ.” Ephesians 4:30 says believers can grieve the Holy Spirit, yet says in the same verse they are sealed unto the day of redemption. Hebrews 12 says God chastens the sons He loves. Those passages only make sense when standing and state are distinguished.
A poor state can cost the believer dearly. Sin can rob joy, damage testimony, wound fellowship, invite chastening, ruin opportunities, and burn rewards. But none of those practical consequences mean Christ’s finished work has become unfinished. The Father chastens sons because they are sons. The Spirit corrects sealed believers because they belong to God. Security does not remove discipline; it explains why discipline is fatherly instead of judicial.
Main Truth:
The believer’s standing remains secure in Christ even when his practical state requires confession, correction, growth, and chastening.
VIII. The Hidden Life Will One Day Be Revealed in Glory
Key Text: Colossians 3:4
Supporting Texts: Philippians 3:20–21; Romans 8:18–23; 1 Corinthians 15:51–53
Colossians 3:4 says, “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” The believer’s life is hidden now, but it will not remain hidden forever. The world may not understand the believer’s true standing. The flesh certainly does not look glorified. But God says a day is coming when what is presently hidden will be openly manifested.
Philippians 3 says the Saviour shall change our vile body so that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body. Romans 8 says believers wait for “the redemption of our body.” First Corinthians 15 says mortality shall put on immortality and corruption shall put on incorruption. Salvation is therefore headed somewhere. God did not merely save the soul and forget the rest of the purchased possession.
This future manifestation reinforces security. Paul does not say, “If Christ appears and you managed to stay saved, perhaps you may appear with Him.” He says, “then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” The God who hid the believer’s life with Christ is the God who will reveal that life in glory. The destination is as much a part of the promise as the present position.
Main Truth:
The believer’s presently hidden life will be openly manifested when Christ appears and His saints appear with Him in glory.
IX. Security in Christ Should Reorient the Entire Christian Life
Key Text: Colossians 3:1–2
Supporting Texts: Romans 12:1–2; Philippians 3:20; 2 Corinthians 5:14–15
Paul says, “seek those things which are above” and “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” Security is not merely a doctrine to make nervous Christians sleep better. It is a truth meant to redirect the entire Christian life. If the believer’s life is hidden with Christ in God, then his affections ought to be increasingly attached to the place where his life is.
Philippians 3 says, “our conversation is in heaven.” Romans 12 tells believers to present their bodies as living sacrifices and not be conformed to this world. Second Corinthians 5 says the love of Christ constrains believers so that they should no longer live unto themselves but unto Him who died and rose again. Secure people should become heavenly-minded people, not spiritually lazy people.
The man who knows his future is with Christ should stop building his identity entirely around things that are passing away. Reputation, wealth, comfort, applause, political power, earthly success, and possessions all have expiration dates. Christ does not. The believer’s life is hidden where moth, rust, devil, death, and time cannot reach it. That should change what he seeks while he still walks through this present world.
Main Truth:
The believer’s security in Christ should produce heavenly affections, sacrificial service, holy living, and a life centered upon the coming glory of Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
Colossians 3:3 gives one of the great security statements of Pauline doctrine: “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” The believer has been identified with Christ’s death, raised with Christ, given life in Christ, hidden with Christ, and placed in God. That is not a temporary arrangement held together by human performance. It is a divine position created through the finished work of Jesus Christ.
That security never makes the Christian life unimportant. Colossians 3 goes directly from security to mortification, holiness, truthfulness, charity, forgiveness, thanksgiving, the word of Christ, worship, and service. Standing is secure; state must be cultivated. The believer is hidden with Christ, but his conduct is visible before men. His eternal life cannot be plucked from God’s hand, but his testimony can certainly be damaged by foolish living.
The Church must preach both sides without apology. Tell the believer exactly how secure he is in Christ, and then tell him exactly how seriously he should walk because he belongs to Christ. Do not weaken security to manufacture holiness. Do not weaken holiness to protect security. Believe both. The saved man’s life is hidden with Christ in God, and because that is true, he should spend the rest of his earthly life seeking the things above.
Final Call
Sinner, if you are outside Jesus Christ, your life is not hidden with Christ in God. You remain in Adam, under sin and condemnation. Religion cannot hide you there. Baptism cannot hide you there. Church membership, morality, sacraments, law-keeping, and good works cannot put you into Christ.
Jesus Christ died for your sins according to the Scriptures. He was buried. He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Salvation is not about learning how to protect your own life. It is about receiving life in the risen Saviour.
Believer, stop measuring your security by the weakness of your flesh. Your life is hidden with Christ in God. Now live like it. Mortify the flesh. Seek things above. Set your affection on heaven. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Serve faithfully. One day the hidden life will no longer be hidden, because when Christ appears, you shall appear with Him in glory.
Closing Verse:
Colossians 3:4 — “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”
Closing Statement:
The believer’s security is not hidden in his own strength; his life is hidden with Christ in God, waiting for the day it will be revealed in glory.