Complete Salvation and How to Recieve It - Part 3 — Derek Prince

Derek Prince Ministries. Proclaiming the inspired word of God around the world. Derek Prince is an internationally recognized Bible teacher and author. Through books, audios, videos and radio broadcasts Derek seeks to reach the unreached and teach the untaught.

In over 50 years of ministry Derek has reached over 100 nations in more than 50 languages. And now Derek Prince.

Salvation as a Full Ongoing Process

We're continuing now with the theme Complete Salvation How to receive it. In the previous session I explained that salvation is not just having your sins forgiven, though that's marvelous. It's not even just being born again.

But it's a full ongoing process. And that the word used in New Testament Greek for to save also is used for all the other benefits that come to us through Christ's sacrifice on the cross. For healing, for deliverance from demons, for raising the dead and for keeping us through this world and to life eternal in the next.

I pointed out that the Bible is the only book that reveals the real cause of human problems and it's the only book which offers a solution. The cause is sin and the remedy is a sacrifice. There's no other remedy for sin but a sacrifice.

The Once-for-All Sacrifice of Christ

But the final all-sufficient sacrifice for sin took place when Jesus died on the cross. And when he cried, it is finished. It was finished. From then on it is perfect. Perfectly perfect. Completely complete.

And I pointed out that one way to view and understand what was accomplished by the death of Jesus on the cross is contained in the word exchange. On the cross a divinely ordained exchange took place. In this sense that God visited upon Jesus all the evil that was due by justice to us.

That in return God might make available to us all the good that was due to the perfect sinless obedience of Jesus. Or more simply, the evil came upon Jesus that the good might be offered to us. And then we worked through briefly eight aspects of this exchange.

Repeating and Affirming the Truth

And I think it would help us to recapitulate them briefly before we go further. I don't know whether you appreciate fully the benefits of repeating out loud the things that you want to believe. We'll come to this later on in this message but it's an interesting fact that where English says to learn by heart, Hebrew says to learn by mouth.

And each is true. You see, if you want a thing in your heart, keep saying it with your mouth. If you have something in your heart, it'll come out in what you say in your mouth. The two go together. Each is one part of the total process.

So that if you do believe something, the more you affirm it, the more you believe it. And the more you believe it, the more you affirm it. On the other hand, unfortunately the opposite is true. If you don't affirm it, you'll cease to believe it.

And if you cease to believe it, you'll soon cease to affirm it. So we're caught up in one or other of two spirals. Either the positive spiral of believing and affirming, or the negative spiral of not affirming and ceasing to believe.

The Eightfold Exchange on the Cross

So let's be in the positive spiral again and let's go through the eight aspects of the exchange. And I'm going to ask you to be good enough to use your hands. All right? Again, this seems childish. But Jesus said you have to become like a little child to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

And even the fact that we make an action is significant. That great evangelist of a previous generation, Smith Wigglesworth, used to say faith is an act. If you believe, you've got to do something. As a matter of fact, being a Yorkshireman, he didn't say faith is an act.

He said faith is a act. There was a situation, I always like to tell this story, when he was preaching and pressing this truth home to the people. And they weren't responding. So there was another minister there who happened to be a teacher of elocution.

And he said to this other brother, Brother, they're not hearing it. They need to hear it twice. So whatever I say on this side of the platform, you say on that side of the platform. So Smith Wigglesworth said, faith is a act!

And this man said faith is an act, you see. So they got it both ways. So, there is an act that expresses faith. Now we're going to use the left hand for the evil, the right hand for the good. And I think if I say the first half, you'll be able to say the second half with me.

If you can say the first half, that's good. All right. Jesus was punished that we might be forgiven. Jesus was wounded that we might be healed. Jesus was made sin with our sinfulness, that we might be made righteous with his righteousness.

Jesus died our death, that we might share his life. Excuse me a moment. Jesus was made a curse, that we might receive the blessing. Jesus endured our poverty, that we might share his abundance. Jesus bore our shame, that we might share his glory.

And Jesus endured our rejection, that we might have his acceptance. Now I want to go on with another word, which I have found helps people to lay hold of this sacrifice of Jesus. We've looked at the word exchange.

Identification With Christ

Now I want to offer you the word identification. Now, to identify with somebody means to make yourself one with somebody, to put yourself in that person's place. I believe that on the cross a double identification took place, with two aspects.

First of all, Jesus, as the last Adam, identified himself with the whole Adamic race and took every evil that was due to us and died to pay the penalty for our sins. That's one side of the identification.

Now salvation comes when we respond with another identification. We identify ourselves with Jesus in his death, his burial, his being made alive, his being resurrected, and his being enthroned. That's when we enter into what he's provided.

He has made the identification, that's finished. But we appropriate, as we identify ourselves, with everything that came to him from death onwards. Let's look first of all at this glorious two titles that were given to him in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 45.

1 Corinthians 15, 45. Now these are often misquoted by Christians. It's important to get them right. In verse 45, Paul says,. So it is written, the first man, Adam, became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

And then in verse 47, The first man was of the earth made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven. Now the two titles there are the last Adam and then the second man. I've often heard people call Jesus the second Adam.

That's not what he's called. He's called the last Adam. And then he's called the second man. On the cross he died as the last Adam. Not last in time, but last in the sense that the total evil inheritance of the entire Adamic race came upon him and was exhausted by him when he died.

And when he was buried, it was put away. And then when he rose the third day, he rose as the second man. A new kind of man. A kind of race that had never existed before. The God-man race. The Emmanuel race.

And he was the head of the body. The firstborn from the dead. And through the new birth, we are identified with him in his resurrection and all that follows. In 1 Peter chapter 1, the apostle Peter says, verse 3, 1 Peter 1 .3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who, according to his abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

So, through the resurrection of Jesus, when we identify ourselves with him, we are begotten again, we are born into the new race. The God-man race. It says that the Lord will do a new thing in the earth.

The Old Man Crucified With Christ

This new thing is a new race. A race in which the nature of God and man are perfectly united forever and ever. Now let's look at some aspects of the identification. Jesus died as the last Adam. Paul amplifies this in Romans chapter 6, verse 6 and verse 11.

This is one of the middle of one of Paul's long sentences. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, Jesus, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

Now that's a very important statement. And Paul says, knowing this, I have to comment that I think many Christians don't really know it. This is a historical fact. When Jesus died on the cross, our old man, our rebellious, fallen, Adamic nature, was crucified in him.

You see, the old man is incorrigible. God doesn't try to improve him. He doesn't send him to church or teach him Scripture. He's got only one solution. The solution is execution. That's right, let's say that together.

The solution is execution. The message of mercy is the execution took place more than 19 centuries ago when Jesus died on the cross. My old man, your old man, our old man was crucified with or in him.

And then Paul goes on in verse 11 with reference to this. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now, what God did on the cross is a finished historical fact.

It's true whether we know it or whether we believe it. But when we know it and believe it, it works in us. So we have to say just as Jesus was executed on the cross, so I believe my old, fallen, rebellious, corrupt nature was executed and put to death.

And that's the way out. Death is the only way out of the old, fallen, Adamic nature. But we take the way through the death of Jesus on the cross. And Paul says reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin.

This has become very vivid to me. What does it mean to be dead to sin? And I always give this little imaginary incident about this very bad man. I mean, by the standards of religious people, he was terrible.

He drank whiskey, he swore, he cursed his wife and children, he watched all sorts of bad programs on television. He was a bad man. But his wife and children were believers and they used to sneak out on Sunday evenings to the local gospel service and he would always curse them as they left.

So one night they sneaked out and there he was in his armchair with a cigar in his mouth, glass of whiskey on the table watching something he oughtn't have been watching on television. They had a glorious night in the gospel service and they got sort of high in the spirit and they came back and they were still singing choruses.

And they walked into the room and they suddenly realized they stopped dead and waited for the curse to come. And no curse came. Then they looked, the cigar was in the ashtray, the smoke was curling up but he wasn't smoking.

The whiskey glass was there but he wasn't drinking. There was no motion. You know what had happened? He died. He'd had a heart attack and died. You know what he was? He was dead to sin. Sin had no more attraction for him.

Sin had no more power over him. Sin produced no more reaction from him. He was dead to sin. Paul says, reckon yourself likewise to be dead to sin. Sin has no more power over you. Sin has no more attraction for you.

Sin produces no more reaction from you. That's through identification. You understand? We realize that when Jesus died on the cross this old, corrupt, sinful nature died in him. See, I meet people who travel around the world to get away from their problems.

But the real problem goes with them. Because it's the old man. And you can't escape from him by traveling. There's only one escape, it's by death. The death of Jesus on our behalf. Now, the second side of identification is we identify ourselves with Jesus.

Faith and the Five Stages of Identification

This we do by faith. We do it because the Bible says it's true. And here are the five steps of identification. First of all, we died with him. That's a simple past tense. You remember I was speaking about them?

It's an event that took place at a certain moment in time. In Colossians 3, verse 3, Paul writing to Christians says, For you died. They were still living on the earth. But he said you died. When did they die?

When Jesus died on the cross. For you died and your life is hidden with Christ and God. And then in 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 11, Paul brings out the implications. This is a faithful saying. For if we died with him, we shall also live with him.

So we're identified with him in death. His death was our death. Then we are identified with him in what followed death. What followed death? Burial. That's right. And this is very important. We must be identified with him in burial.

Baptism as Identification With Christ's Burial

How are we identified with him in burial? By what? Baptism. That's right. That's why baptism is so important. Because the identification with his death is inward. But the identification with him in burial is outward.

It's our visible identification with the Lord. And in countries where there is an anti-Christian force, baptism is the decisive cut-off point. Both amongst Jews, Muslims, and others. You can say you believe in Jesus, they'll get angry.

But when you're baptized, all hell turns loose. Because that's where you escape from their territory. So we are identified with him in burial by baptism. Let's look at two passages. Romans 6, verse 4.

Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. So we are identified with him in burial by baptism.

Actually, every baptismal service should be a double service. It should be a burial followed by a resurrection. That's right. But only if we've been buried can we be resurrected. And then in Colossians 2, verse 12, Paul says the same thing again.

Colossians 2, verse 12. Buried with him in baptism, in which you also were raised or resurrected with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. So when we are buried with him in baptism, then we have the right to follow him in everything that followed his burial.

Made Alive, Resurrected, and Enthroned With Christ

And there are three more stages. They're all stated in Ephesians chapter 2. Let me say there are other passages in the New Testament, but we will just look at Ephesians 2, verses 4, 5 and 6. But God who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses.

Notice, we're dead. Made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. Raised us or resurrected us together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Notice the word together three times.

We're made alive, because Jesus didn't come out of the tomb dead. He was alive before he came out of the tomb. We're made alive, we're resurrected, but we don't stop there. We're made to sit with him in heavenly places.

What is he sitting on in heaven? A throne, that's right. The New English Bible says we are enthroned with him. All right. So we're dead, buried, made alive, resurrected and enthroned. Suppose we for a moment use our fingers this way.

Shall we do that? Dead with him, buried with him, made alive with him, resurrected with him, and enthroned with him. Now that's totally outside our power to achieve. It's obvious. There's no way we can work for it.

There's no way we can be good enough for it. There's no way we deserve it. There's only one way we can receive it. By faith, that's right. It's solely by faith. If we realize the scope of this salvation, it would be foolish, we would be ridiculous, to try and earn it, or to try and do something to deserve it.

One problem with many professing Christians is they have an uneasy feeling they ought to do something to earn it. The result is they never really enjoy it. Because if you think you are earning it, God will not give it to you.

Because it would be on a false basis. That's why it's usually easier for the worst sinners to get saved than churchgoers. Have you ever noticed that? I was one of the worst sinners. And I got saved about the same time as a man who was very religious but unsaved.

And I just plunged into everything and began to swim. I got baptized in the Spirit, began to sweep gifts in the Spirit. He was months going through the same process. Because somewhere in the back of his mind he thought he had to be earning it.

God's Grace Displayed Through Believers

All right. Now, I want to share with you a beautiful thought. Which is there in Ephesians 2, the next verse. After it speaks about being made alive, resurrected, enthroned. It says, in Ephesians 2, 7, it reveals God's purpose.

Why did God do it? That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. That's a staggering thought. In the ages to come. Not just in this life, but forever and ever in eternity, we are to be for the whole universe the demonstration of the riches of the grace of God.

So that whenever God wants to show any created being the extent of His grace, He'll say in effect, look at these people. See, they're close to me. They're worshiping me. They're my children. And they were sinners, rebels, cast out, unprofitable, useless, enemies of mine.

And yet I brought them near to me for eternity. So I hope you're prepared for that. I hope you realize that all through eternity you're going to be God's demonstration of His grace. Remember what I said, grace cannot be earned.

There's many things in the eternal counsel that we don't fully understand. But I think in a certain sense God had to let sin happen in order to have something to demonstrate His grace with. I'm not saying God approved sin, but when sin took place, instead of saying, well, it's finished, He said, here is the real opportunity for me to show the whole universe my grace.

Up to that time He'd showed many aspects of His character, but I don't think He'd ever fully demonstrated His grace. So we are His opportunity, if you like to look at it that way. We're the persons in whom God is going to show the universe the real nature of grace.

Wonderful. And then just a little further on in the same second chapter of Ephesians, Paul says, we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Believers as God's Workmanship

Not only are we the demonstration of His grace, but Paul says we are His workmanship. Now you don't fully appreciate that, but the Greek word is poiema, from which we get the English word poem. And it suggests an artistic masterpiece.

So we are God's creative masterpiece. When He wants to show the universe the full extent of His creative genius, we're the demonstration piece. That's exciting, isn't it? That's wonderful. What blesses me is, just to prove what He could do, for the material for His masterpiece, you know where He went?

To the scrap heap. Do you realize that? I can do anything with anything. Created the stars and the sun and all that, and the seas and the trees. But to demonstrate what I can really create, God says, I'm going to take these broken pieces of humanity and I'm going to mold them into my masterpiece.

There's a song that I can't sing. I won't even try to, but it says, Ruined lives, broken pieces. That is why you died on Calvary. He died to create His masterpiece out of the broken lives of men and women.

Responding to Salvation With Worship

What a message. What a revelation. You know, if you're not excited about salvation, I don't know how much salvation you really have. People say we're fanatical if we jump up and down and clap our hands.

I was a logician before I became a Christian. I'd have to say that's the logical response to the revelation of Scripture. If we really believed the things I've been saying, just to sit there and say, well that's good, is totally unrealistic.

What about doing a little of it for a moment or two? Why don't we stand up and bless the Lord and tell Him we really believe what He says about us. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord Jesus.

Blessed be your wonderful name, Lord. We believe you, Lord. We're saved by grace, Lord. We didn't earn it. We couldn't earn it. You decided to do it, Lord. Bless your name. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord.

Amen. Bless the Lord. Turn to your neighbor and say, I'm saved by grace. I never could earn it. That's right. I'm saved by grace. I couldn't deserve it. All right, sit down and collect yourself.