Followed By Mercy

You Are Not Your Performance, You Are In Christ

• W. Austin Gardner • Season 2 • Episode 21

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What would your life look like if you truly understood your identity in Christ? In this episode of Followed By Mercy, Austin Gardner and Robert Canfield explore the freedom that comes when we stop striving to earn what God has already given us.

Drawing from Ephesians 1:11, they unpack the difference between being “in Adam” and being “in Christ.” This isn’t just theology; it changes how we see ourselves, how we face our struggles, and how we grow. True transformation doesn’t come from rules, programs, or self-effort. It comes from God working in us, like a seed that mysteriously grows into a tree.

One of the most liberating truths they share is Colossians 1:12: God has already qualified us to share in the inheritance. We don’t deserve it, and we can’t earn it. But the Father has declared us worthy through Jesus. That truth alone can set us free from performance-based religion and the crushing burden of trying to measure up.

If you’ve been frustrated by failures, worn out by striving, or unsure of who you really are as a believer, this conversation will refresh your soul. Your worth isn’t found in your performance but in your position in Christ. When you know who you are in Him, everything changes, not because of your effort but because of His faithfulness.

Listen in and discover the joy of resting in your true identity and inheritance. And remember: when you stumble, just confess it and rest in His mercy. He is already producing the fruit you could never produce yourself.

Thanks for listening. Find us on YouTube, Substack, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

Austin:

Well stop saying well. Oh my goodness. I'm with the well. Hey, welcome, Robert. There you go. Um, well, no, I'm just joking. Uh welcome to Followed by Mercy podcast. How about that? That's good. And I just want to remind you, surely goodness of mercy to follow us all the days of our life. And that's all of us. And it's not the word follow, really, like you think. It's more like a following up policeman does when he's chasing down a criminal. I mean, hot on your trail and going to catch you, the love and the mercy of God, the goodness and the kindness and the love of God is alive in your life and you ought to thank him for it. Well, we've been in Ephesians chapter one. We were talking about our inheritance in verse 11. Uh, do you happen to have Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 11 there, Robert? I just want you to know we have an inheritance because we are in Christ.

Robert:

Would you read that verse? It says, In whom also we have obtained an inheritance. In whom? Being predestinated Jesus. Okay, thank you. We, those who are the faithful and the saints, which are disbelievers. That's us believers. And by the way, everybody emphasis, they were just regular people. They got marriage problems. There's even got some vegan problems. Go ahead. Tons of problems. We have obtained, that means past tense. We have obtained already ours and inheritance.

Austin:

Keep going.

Robert:

Being predestinated, um, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.

Austin:

By the way, I love the fact we'll come back to it, but he's one he's the one doing the work. Amen. And performance-based religion is put all the work on you. And and and uh honestly, performance-based religion without meaning to, it's kind of like a husband looking at his wife and saying, obey these rules here. I'm my wife. Yep. It is, it is listen, you listen to me, Woman. You got to keep earning your place here. It's like planting a seed in the ground and saying, Okay, seed, now you produce the fruit. Yeah.

Robert:

We don't know how a seed produces. It just pops up one day and we see it, we see it sprout. And you can't, it wasn't the person that planted it, it wasn't the person that watered it. It's they didn't cause any of it. They can't explain it. It's what's in the seed. Exactly. And it's what's in you. And when that seed comes up. It's not really what's in you, it's who's in you. And then when that seed produces into a tree, it produces fruit. Not because of the farmer, not because of the plower, not because of the sower. It was all done because something supernatural caused that thing that to happen.

Austin:

I really want to call your attention uh to all of you that are listening. It's about being in Christ. So, like in Ephesians 1:1, you're the faithful in Christ. In Ephesians 1 3, in heavenly places in Christ. In verse 4, we were chosen in him. And in verse 5, we're predestined by Jesus. And in verse uh 6, we are accepted in the beloved, in verse 7, in whom we have redemption by his blood. In verse 10, uh, he's going to put everything together in Christ. It is literally everything is about in Christ, not in the church, not in good works, not in what you do, but in Christ. That's what it's all about. And so I want to just briefly, Robert, let's go over some of the things you know about being in Christ.

Robert:

We're in Christ. So, yeah, you talked about last podcast. There's either two families that we could either be in. We're either in the world.

Austin:

Well, you know, is in at least one of those families.

Robert:

Yep. Either you're in Adam or you're in Christ. And if you were born once, you are you are or were in Adam. And Adam is earthy, and Jesus is heavenly. Adam is after a soul, Jesus is born of the spirit, and with those come different inheritance. With Adam comes condemnation and death. With Jesus comes life, justification, being made right.

Austin:

And when you get saved, you die to the old man, Adam, and live to the new man, Christ. We are you were we are crucified with Christ. How does the verse go? I'm crucified. I am crucified. So I used to pray all the time, God will be crucified, crucify me. And he's like, You've been crucified, buddy. You you're not in Adam anymore. That's not who you are. That's who you were. I am already crucified with Christ. What's Romans 6 say? How does Romans 6 1 go?

Robert:

Therefore, uh okay, how's it? You just put me on the spot. Um, we're grace abounding. We're sin abounding. 520. Yep. Romans 60. Oh man, you just got me uh 520.

Austin:

I was really trying to say how smart Robert was, but hey, I'm not. I'm talking about being baptized in Christ. Uh how about being so old? Uh how about being as old as being?

Robert:

And uh what shall we say then? Shall we continue in standing the grace of God? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live there any longer? Live longer than me. You can't. That's not who we are. That's not who we're out of Adam. And it's he says in the next verse that we've been baptized into Jesus Christ. And so now we have out of this death, now we've been baptized into Jesus, and now we have life.

Austin:

And by the way, baptized means immersed. Immersed means placed into the middle of. And you realize what happened when you got saved, he pulled you out of that nasty atom and stuck you in the middle of Jesus. You're in Christ.

Robert:

And so we no longer have to live towards death and sin in the flesh. We can now live with the life he's producing in us.

Austin:

Now listen to this. You can't get to the Father but by Jesus. And when you get saved, when you come to him, everything we have is because we're in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Uh, how's that going? I'm looking at his problem.

Robert:

Uh we are new creatures in Christ. If any man be how's it go? Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away.

Austin:

Behold, all things are become because when you're in Christ, listen, everything, all the old junk is gone, and everything else is made new. Now, I don't we don't really believe that. We tend to believe, well, I'm in the process of making it new. I'm in the process of getting rid of it. Well, I'm going back to the old man, or I'm in the old man, I'm just in the flesh. And it's not who we are, really. Uh, Romans 8 1 says that there's therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. That are in Christ. Because we're in Christ Jesus. And I guess before I leave this thought, would you look up Philippians chapter 3 and verse 9? I really, really want to look at that.

Speaker 00:

This is a verse I love because Paul just got done talking about how good he was and how he was. He actually starts off the chapter by saying, Beware, beware, beware. And then he talks about how if anybody has uh anybody else has a uh the ability to to to praise of themselves because of the flesh, he's like, I'm more. And he goes through all this stuff and he says, uh, all those things I just want to count it, but done, that I may win Christ. And he says this in verse nine, and be found in him. Not having in him. That's right. Not having my own righteousness. Be found in your mind. Oh, go ahead. Not having my own righteousness, which is mine, which is of the law. Not what I do. I can't do anything. Not my listener, my not my listener. I gotta not my not my previous religion, not all the stuff that I was holding to, and not the fact that I was blameless, a Pharisee of Pharisees says this, but that which is through the faith of Christ. I want to be found.

Austin:

I don't want to look at it. It's the faith of Christ, not his faith. Your faith.

Speaker 00:

Yeah. You don't believe good enough. Well, you said you brought that attention to me back then, was it Galatians chapter 2, verse 20? And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who love me by the faith of the Son of God. Not faith in the Son of God, but the faith of the Son of God, Jesus' faith.

Austin:

For by grace are you saved through faith in that mind of yourselves. But this faith in yours is it's that God gives it to you. That's right.

Speaker 00:

What does God do with it? He's always been working, ever since you were a little kid.

Austin:

But go back over that verse. We are found in him. In him. And Paul's like, I don't want to be found in me. I don't want you looking at me and saying, Look what Paul did. If anybody lived a changed life, Paul did. But Paul's like, stop looking. And so many of my friends were performance-based. It's like, check out me. I preach more, I teach more, I live more separative, I live more holy. Check me out.

Speaker 00:

And Paul said, No, no, no. Well, I think some of the friends might even they try to divert their attention from that. They're like, it's not me that I want you to look at. I want you to look at all these standards or all these principles that I live by. And Paul's never saying, look at the standards, look at the principles. He's like, look at Jesus. And and by the way, we uh what is it?

Austin:

How does it go in Colossians? Let me look it up while I'm talking. Colossians chapter 3, verse 1 just uh popped in the Bible about one three, and some bit further down that said, When Christ, I don't know, it says your your life, verse three, for you are dead. You are dead, and your life is here with Christ. And why so much emphasis on me?

Speaker 00:

Well, I feel like sometimes we have a place to glory in it. It puts us up with. We don't go like Ephesians 2 9, do we? No, we don't. And he says, For by grace we save through faith, not in yourself, he's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man short. For we are his workmanship. Not of our not of work. Verse 2-9 is talking about not of works lest any man should boast. Verse 10, I was quoting it, for we are his workmanship. But yeah, not of works lest any man should boast. We like to boast.

Austin:

Yeah, uh I I hate to say I think we love boasting. Now I want to remind you, we're we're back in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 11. That's what I'm going to be talking to you about, is who you're in, and who you're in determines what inheritance you're getting. So in Adam, you get death and condemnation and competition and shame and embarrassment. Uh you're naked, and you're trying to hide your nakedness, and you're putting on masks, and you just can't measure up. But in Christ, there's love and peace and holiness.

Speaker 00:

Because we're in Christ. In Christ, there is in us uh something that the spirit that's working, I think he says it was it in 2 Corinthians. You used 2 Corinthians, I think it was 2 Corinthians chapter 3. I just put chapter 4, but chapter 3. Um, he tells us is it 2? I'm I'm in the wrong spot. 2 Corinthians chapter 3, he talks about how these this church was his epistle that was written with uh not written with with with you say chisel of stone or ink or something like that, but this church was uh he Paul went to the church of Corinth, he preached the gospel, people got saved, and my my thing just crashed. People got saved, um, and as they were getting saved, their lives were changing. And what brought about the change in the person's life? He talks about the law and how it was glorious, and how with Moses it was wonderful, and it was something glorious, and Moses had to cover a veil whenever he was up there with those people. But um now with these people, there was something that was changing them. And um I'm I'm trying to get this verse up here after my my thing crashed on me. Um, but I love technology, don't you? I hate it. But, anyways, maybe you could read it. I think it's 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 19 or 17.

Austin:

Changing the verse, I was looking at it. 2 Corinthians 3, yeah, 19 or 17. Uh what are you looking at? He said that uh he talked about how um where the We all with open face, behold against the blast, the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image, how glory of glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. That's it.

Speaker 00:

That's what he was saying. So what he said, Jesus. So what he's saying, we had the law, and that was glorious. God gave it to us, and the law just realized that man, we can't do anything, we're in trouble.

Austin:

But Paul says, My ministry, my ministry was the ministry of condemnation. It was. And if people are reading that passage, you'll see that. Go ahead.

Speaker 00:

And so Paul's like, Paul's like, when I came, that's not, I'm not of the old letter, I'm in the new one. And I was preaching to you, and you guys come and you guys saw like an image, and he says, Who was it that brought about the change? It was in the last part of that verse. By the Spirit of the Lord. It wasn't what Paul preached, it wasn't his principles, it wasn't a religion. That's good. It was nothing more than the Holy Spirit changed you. The Holy Spirit brought the change in your life.

Austin:

What he's telling you to do is to look at behold it as in a glass. I can't see it, I can't understand it, but I am looking at the glory of the Lord. Who's that? And that's Jesus' thus. Yeah. They changed us in the same name. God is slowly building all of us.

Speaker 00:

And so I can hear people say, you know, well, bless God. We gotta, we gotta, how do they say Romans chapter 12, verse 1? He says that you see too beautiful, brother, by the mercy of God, present yourselves a living sacrifice. We gotta present ourselves a living sacrifice. But the second part of that, he says, but be not conformed to this world, but be transformed. That means transform is like an inward changing from the inside out. And so, like, get this. You go, if you just do like a simple word study on that word for change there in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, it's the same word that Paul uses back in Romans chapter 12, verses 2 as transformation. It's the same thing that happened in was it in the book of John? Is it the book of John or am I getting messed up? But in the gospels, when Jesus was at the mount with transfiguration, he turned into something glorious that the people were looking in. And Peter, Java, Peter's like, we gotta build a temple, we gotta build something here.

Austin:

Someone take a picture of you.

Speaker 00:

Yeah, someone take a picture. We gotta set something up. This is glorious. It's going on. What what what what Peter was saying, this was glory, this was a total changing of who Jesus. It was a transformation. That's what they call it, the mount of transfiguration. And what Paul says in Romans 12, verse 2, he says, Don't let the world conform you, don't let the testers conform you, but let that inward thing transform you. It's not about your sacrifice, it's not about your, it's about the inward transformation. And that word for change is the exact same word. It's a transformation that's brought about only by, get this, the Holy Spirit, who is now the inheritance of ours. So it's not by us keeping letters and keeping law, but rather it's the spirit now making changes in us and working in us and making us more like Jesus, which is the end goal.

Austin:

And he is doing that's why the apostle Paul said to 1 Corinthians, I can't not with all my smart, not with an speech or a wisdom. I just told you about God, declaring unto you the testimony of God. I determined not to do anything among you saying, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I have not fully understood every day see where the Lord opens that more. But you know, what he was saying is it wasn't about telling everybody what to do. I spent my life trying to tell people what to do. I spent my life trying to measure up to what you wanted to do. And it and it's really about this. Don't know anything with Jesus. He did it all. Amen.

Speaker 00:

And he he did it all, and he's still doing it all. That's right. He hasn't left us. Um, we were talking before this thing, and we were talking about um stuff that I was learning. And one of the things that that I learned and I was learning from the the gospel of Mark, Jesus says this, he says, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or what comparison shall we have with it? What shall how are we going to compare God's kingdom? He says this it's like a grain of mustard seed. It's like a grain of the mustard seed when it's sown in the earth. It's less than all the seeds that be in the earth. But when it's sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all the herbs, and it shoots out great branches so that the fowls may lodge and shadow underneath it. And so he was quoting, I think, some of the prophets there at the end. But what took that seed and turned it into something glorious and great, and now all the nations are going to go and come to it. What what what caused that? It was nothing more than God working in it. You can't, you can't. There is no book that we have out there, there is no list of rules, there is no discipleship program that's going to bring about true change. It's only God working in you.

Austin:

And it is God working in us, and we want to keep that in mind all times. Now, nobody here is trying to say what the mustard tree symbolized. You know, you know, some people will talk to you about the mustard tree was a sign of wickedness. Yeah. Let's talk about it, the whole point. That's just off our subject. But we're talking about our inheritance. And real quickly, as I kind of sum up, and and you need to know who you are. See, that's what Ephesians 1 is about who you are. And in 1 Peter 2, 9 says, you're a chosen generation, you're a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, or a people that he has purchased, in other words, that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness through his marvelous light. We are Christ's inheritance. God gave us to Jesus. And uh that uh I preached this many times in missions, but Psalms chapter 2 and verse 8. Uh God says to Jesus, Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. How about that? God gifted us to his son.

Speaker 00:

That's right.

Austin:

Jesus died for us.

Speaker 00:

That's a pretty powerful thought when you think about that.

Austin:

You and I are a gift to God, of God, to Jesus and salvation.

Speaker 00:

And Jesus is God's gift to us. And you think about what's changing us and what's making us something into something glorious that that we could be the bride of Christ, that's something that would be a gift to his son. And it's nothing more that he's doing the work inside of us. That's part of his interior. He's doing the work. That's very comforting for me.

Austin:

The Bible says in Hebrews 2 13, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold, I and the children which God has given me. So God gives us to the Son. God gives us to him. And so it is God has given you your inheritance. Just like uh my children will one day get an inheritance from my wife and I. Blessed, Psalm 33, 12, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord and the people whom he had chosen for his own inheritance. We are God's inheritance. He made us, he bought us, and we belong to him.

Speaker 00:

So it brings up the question: why did he choose us? And then I heard someone say, just because he loves us.

Austin:

If you're listening and you're not a born-in believer, you can be. Amen. Because he saved you, he's paid for the price. He's the savior of the whole world, especially those that believe. The Bible says in Ephesians 1.18, that the eyes of your understanding have been enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory of his inheritance and the saints. He has done the work, and we are given to him. And so I just want you to think a little bit about your inheritance. Anything else on this subject, everybody?

Speaker 00:

No, no. I think this is a this is a wonderful chapter here in Ephesians.

Austin:

I just want you to know that you weren't uh really, let me read you one more verse. I think I I don't really think you need to hear Colossians chapter 1 and verse 12. Uh, because uh you are really worthy of being a saint, you're not worthy of being uh an inheritor. The Bible says in Colossians 1:12, giving thanks unto the Father, which has made us meet or fit or able or worthy or apt to be partakers of the inheritance. You don't deserve the inheritance, but the father fixed it where you are. That's pretty awesome.

Speaker 00:

And I mean that you know what that does? It says it brings joy.

Austin:

That's right. And we worship him because he did all of it. You see, that's really what it's about. It's about worshiping the God who did everything and has given us this eternal uh inheritance for us. Well, do you got anything else for an answer today?

Speaker 00:

No, no, I think that's a lot to swallow.

Austin:

Uh you go off. Hey, listen, if you if you're driving on the road or you're working or you're working out, it doesn't matter. I just want you to know God loves you. And if you're a born-again believer, you have an inheritance set aside, waiting on you right now. It's all yours, and you didn't earn it, and you didn't pay for it, and you're not worthy of it, is just because of the family you're in and you are in Christ. Another word on that.

Speaker 00:

I for those of that out there listening, I'd like to say this. His children, he's producing the fruit that we can't produce in of ourselves. He's producing it. He's it's all of him. He's we look he's the one changing you. He is. You go to sleep, you wake up in the next morning, and you're like, how'd this come to be? I look at my life and I look at all the good stuff that he's allowing me to see. I look at the good stuff like I wouldn't normally do that. I wouldn't normally, but I'm looking back and I'm like, what caused the change? Can I can I say it was a sermon? Can I say it was this? Can I say it was this person? All I did was eat, sleep, drink, and wake up in the morning and and just I watched him work.

Austin:

That's so funny what you're saying. I was with a friend today, and he said, and I remember this guy when he first got saved, man, he was God. Yeah, good. Creed. That's a good word. And uh today he said, uh he said, you know, ever since I've been saved by the grace of God, he said, I want to be holy, I want to do right. He said, whenever I mess up, I really it bothers me. I feel it. But you know, I thought to myself, why in the world did this man change like that? That's God in us. Because when you're in the family, the family's in you.

Speaker 00:

That's right. I mean, you've got those family traits. And daddy's working in our lives the whole time. And we don't want to be like Adam anymore. No, we don't want to live like what we used to live. No, and we I mean, and that's not saying that people don't mess up. And people do mess up, but when they do mess up, they they they feel bad.

Austin:

Like he said, they feel bad about it.

Speaker 00:

They feel bad about it. And like, I don't know any born-again believer that wants to hurt other people or do anything. I mean, that that just shows the beauty of it.

Austin:

As you do that, it it wouldn't by the way, when you mess up, that's okay. Fess up. Just say, I agree with you, Lord.

Speaker 00:

When you mess up, fess up like that.

Austin:

I ain't who I am. I won't be like that anymore. And it's fine right there.

Speaker 00:

Amen. And he's already forgiven you. And he's got that mercy following you that day.

Austin:

And by the way, he forgave you before you did. And sure that goodness and mercy are following you.

Speaker 00:

And that mercy just doesn't say, Hey, I got you a home in heaven. That mercy says, Hey, I've got to change it right now.

Austin:

Right now. And I'm gonna keep on loving you uh no matter what's going on right now. Well, I think we're at the end of today. I hope we'll stuck to you the next time. Be sure to invite somebody to be with us. Uh, Robert Canville, Austin Gardner, we're the host of all of my mercy. I'm glad you're with us. May God bless each of you.

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