The ABC’s of the Christian Life (16): Following Jesus Christ Rightly (10): Our Identity in Christ

🎵Living

Forever by JP De Ovando🎵 We're addressing these

ABCs of the Christian life, and in this section of that subject, following Jesus Christ rightly.

And today we want to address an important lesson. And again, these are the

ABCs. I hope we're familiar, all of us are familiar with these matters, and yet I think this is one that is maybe understood intellectually by many, but not applied as faithfully as we should.

And so even though we may understand these things, explanation and reinforcement of them

I think is very beneficial for us. We hear much today about identity politics.

It's actually been around since about 1980 or so. The phrase signifies a wide range of political activity and social theory regarding, as one group describes it, the shared experiences of injustice of members of certain social groups.

And they identify themselves as such. Identity politics. Because members of a particular group believe themselves to have been marginalized socially or politically by the larger established culture, they strive together to affirm their identity and their common experiences, even as they attempt to correct past and present injustices of the culture, which they believe very strongly has maltreated them, and many times have.

At the heart of identity politics is the identification one makes of being a member of that group, and that's a powerful bond.

People identify themselves with these groups. It is who they are. And this identity becomes central to how the individual sees himself, values himself, and how he relates to others in the world in which he lives.

It forms his worldview. At the heart of much identity politics is the insistence of marginalized groups to be identified and valued by others outside their group.

You need to respect who I am, whatever that might end up being. And so to continue to marginalize, sometimes criminalize, stigmatize, even demonize another's identity is viewed to be the unforgivable sin in today's modern society.

Look out, you'll get a reaction. You're denying who I am. If there is a reality which identity politics has reinforced, it is that one's personal sense of identity shapes one's worldview, his value system, opinions of himself and of others both within and outside of the group to which he identifies himself.

It's a powerful dynamic, a powerful force. Who you view yourself to be will influence and affect how you view others.

And as we'll consider today, the Holy Scriptures speak about this principle, certainly the same.

In order for you to be a Christian, to follow Jesus Christ rightly, you must understand and affirm your identity, who you are, that is, to be in Jesus Christ.

And I know some of you fail in this. I'm addressing this subject today because three different people that I've spoken to in the last couple of weeks,

I came to realize this was really at the heart of the issue. Knowing and embracing this scriptural truth will shape how you view yourself, your relationship with people about you, your conception and attitude toward personal sin, but most importantly, how you perceive your relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

It's very important for us to consider the foundation of our Christian self -identity in the believer's union with Jesus Christ when he died, when he was buried, and when he rose from the dead.

Here is where our identity is to be focused and centered. The Bible teaches that when

Christ died, he died not only as the substitute for all believers, but he died as a representative of believers as well.

In effect, when Christ died, we who are believers died with him. The Bible affirms this in a number of places.

And when he rose, thankfully we rose in him. And understanding this and shaping your worldview and your assessment of yourself and who you are has implications for how we live.

And so there are actually two passages I want us to consider today. And I know they're lengthy, but both really are important,

I believe, to be able to set forth this doctrine, this teaching, which is so important.

And so we want to consider what Paul wrote in Colossians 3 and then also what he wrote in Romans 6.

And so first, let's consider our union with Jesus Christ set forth in Colossians 3, 1 -14.

And here, if you have your notes, the passage is before you. Colossians 3, 1 -14.

Paul wrote, If then you were raised with Christ... And that's not a question if you were or not.

He's assuming it is. If you were raised with Christ, it is if you're a Christian, you were raised with Christ, and you were, he's saying, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.

Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth, for you die and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

That's a significant verse. We'll give some attention to it a little later. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Therefore, put to death your members which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry.

Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

But now you yourselves are to put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.

Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him.

Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all.

And therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long -suffering, bearing with one another, forgiving one another.

If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. In this third chapter of Colossians, Paul became very practical about the matter of the believer's union with Jesus Christ.

And so after asserting the believer's union with Christ, beginning with verses 5 and 6 of this chapter,

Paul stated how they were to live in the light of their union with Christ in his death.

Therefore, since you have been united with Christ in his death, put to death your members which are on the earth.

And then he listed this list of sins. And then down in verse 8, but now you also, you yourselves also, are to put off all these.

Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth, attitudes and expressions that are not fitting for Christians.

And then in verses 12 and following, he sets forth their responsibility in the light of their union with Christ in his resurrection.

And so earlier, in the light of your union with Christ in his death, put off all these. And now in the light of your union with Christ in his resurrection, put on these things.

And so we see, beginning reading verse 9, he talks about what you put off.

Now do not lie to one another since you put off the old man with his deeds. And the old man is not your sinful nature or principle of sin within you.

When Paul references the old man, he's talking about your life before you were a Christian. Since you've put that all away, and you've put on a new man who's renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him, where there is neither

Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, scathian, slave nor free, but Christ is all in all, therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long -suffering, bearing with one another, forgiving one another.

If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

And so we're to put off our sin, and we are to put on Christ, just as you would take off a garment, put on another garment in its place.

This is how we are to live. But it's associated with who we are in Christ in our union with him when he died and when he rose.

These two aspects of Christian living have been given terms, putting to death sin in our lives historically has been referred to as mortification.

And the classic book of that is The Mortification of Sin by John Owen, was it volume three or volume six?

I always get those confused. You don't remember either? Banner edition. Yeah, that's right.

Banner truth edition. The mortification of sin. It's a classic on this whole matter.

But purposing to live for God has been called vivification. And that's, you know, an enlightening, speaking of life, and this is a work of faith that all of us who have been baptized are to undertake continually through our lives, putting off and putting on.

Paul is writing to Christians regarding this. But again, it's all based upon our identity, our union with Christ in his death and his resurrection.

Now, in order to enhance our understanding of our union with Jesus Christ, let's consider more carefully verse three, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

And there it is in a nutshell. Here we have the truth of our union with Jesus Christ stated.

When the Lord calls a man or woman to salvation, the Lord will often bring to him or her, say, a very vivid sense of sin.

And some of us underwent great conviction. I was nearly insane for a couple months.

Some say that never came to an end. Back in the fall of 71, under conviction of sin, from about mid -October until the second week of January of 1972, a vivid sense of guilt, a sense of pollution of personal sin.

And even for the Christians, sometimes, perhaps even frequently, this intense awareness of one's sinfulness, remorse for past actions, frustration with present failures, or fear of God's judgment will push forward this sense of one's sinfulness so that it becomes really the basis of one's self -identity.

This is very common for Christians, but it's wrong. And this will set you on a course of defeat and frustration and difficulty as a

Christian. So the awakened sinner, and oftentimes even the converted sinner, the true

Christian, if asked the question, who are you, they'll answer something like this,

I am a poor, wretched, helpless sinner, but who has been forgiven my sins by the grace of God that is in Jesus Christ.

Now, who could object to that kind of statement? And yet that really is in conflict with what we are trying to assert today.

Certainly it's a true statement, it's the experience of every child of God. Every Christian can say, I'm a poor, wretched, helpless sinner who has been saved, who has been forgiven of my sins by the grace of God that's in Jesus Christ.

But on the other hand, it may suggest an incorrect and faulty concept of self -identity as a

Christian. For the Christian is not to identify himself principally with his sin, but rather he's to see his identity, his true self, to be centered in Jesus Christ, not centered in his own sin or sinfulness.

Again, Paul wrote, for you died with regard to sin, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

And so the Christian is to identify himself with his new life in Christ, not with his old life in sin.

And that's really the bottom line here when we're talking about our identity as being

Christians in Christ. Earlier in Colossians 2, Paul wrote, and you being dead in your trespasses in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made alive, former before being a

Christian, and now we're alive together with him, having forgiven you all your trespasses.

And similarly in Paul's epistles to the Ephesians, he emphasized this truth, contrasting the former life when we were without Christ and the new life in Christ.

You he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts or desires of our flesh, in other words, sinfulness, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as others.

But the great contrast now, that's how you were formerly, but God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

See, we're living in a whole different arena now. By grace you've been saved, and he raised us up together, made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ.

Christ is on the throne, and we're reigning with him through grace, is what Paul is really arguing.

Now, as we look more closely at Colossians 3 .3, we might say a few words about the manner in which Paul expressed his truth, again, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Greek language is very suited for setting forth doctrinal truth, more so than Hebrew.

Hebrew of the Old Testament is very good for telling stories, and very descriptive, and that's what you have in the

Hebrew Old Testament. But in the New Testament, it was really written in Greek, and Greek is a language of precision, conciseness, particularly in the area of verbs.

And so, the way the Greek language is set forth here by Paul, sets forth in a very precise way what he intended to be saying.

Paul wrote to these Christians, for you died, and he's referring to something that happened in the past.

When you were converted, you died. That is, your former life before being a

Christian came to an end. When any sinner truly believes on Jesus for salvation, he, at that moment of faith, died to his former life.

He had formerly been in his sin. He was identified with his sin. That sin defined who he was before he came to Christ.

He was a sinner. But when he believed the gospel, he died with respect to his sin.

Being a sinner is no longer who he is. Now, please don't misunderstand that.

I'm not saying Christians aren't sinners. But it's no longer who they should identify themselves as being, but rather, he's now a

Christian. Formerly he was a sinner, and now he's a

Christian. Again, that's not to deny that Christian still sins, or has sin in him.

John wrote, If any say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. The truth is not in us. I'm certainly not saying we don't have sin.

But whereas before coming to Christ, that was who he was. He was a sinner. Having come to Christ in repentance and faith, he died to that former existence.

He is now a Christian. Granted, a Christian who has a sin problem, but he's no longer a sinner.

With a problem of God's law hanging over his head, he's now a Christian who's got a problem he's struggling with, sin.

So Paul could write, From this new worldview that he had come to experience, for I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwells, nothing good dwells.

For to desire, to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I do not find.

For the good I will to do, the good I want to do, I do not do. But the evil I do not want to do, that I practice.

I'm kind of verbalizing in a language they'll clarify. And then he makes this statement in verse 20, which is so credibly important.

Now if I do what I will not to do, in other words when I sin, it's no longer

I who do it. It's sin that dwells within me.

You see how significant that is? The person who fails to see their union with Christ identifies himself with this sin.

Oh wretched man, how can I possibly be a Christian and sin in this way? But the

Christian who's thinking rightly sees that he died with respect to sin and now it still is present, but he identifies himself with the new life that God has given him.

It's no longer I that do it. If I had my real desire, I wouldn't sin again, but I'm plagued because I never seem to be able to do right.

I'm always sinning. It's no longer I that do it, it's sin that plagues me.

So very important. And so here Paul the Christian states how you and I as Christians are to identify ourselves.

We're not to see our identity as equated with our sin and sinfulness, but rather our true identity is with the new life that God has given us in Jesus Christ.

Makes all the difference in the world. We read in Colossians 3, the believer's life is now hidden with Christ in God.

Again, very specific, clear Greek verbiage. The word translated hidden is a

Greek perfect passive verb. Perfect speaks of the tense.

Passive speaks about the mood. We talk about present tense, past tense, future tense.

There's also a perfect tense. And when we use a perfect tense, it speaks about something that happened in the past, but the effects of that continue even now.

And so he's saying that our life was hidden. It's passive. That means

God hid it. Hid it in Christ and it's still hidden today, is what he's arguing.

Very precise language. Been hidden with God in Christ.

The act of God in which the believer's life was hidden took place at conversion, but the effects of that continue at the present time.

In other words, God has hidden our new life in Christ and it remains hidden there even now. What is meant by the idea of our life having been hidden in Christ by God?

Well Paul is probably speaking of the security of that life in Christ. It's hidden. Nobody can get at it.

That's probably his emphasis. God has hid it in himself. It's secure. It can never be lost or forfeited.

Your life is hidden in Christ, in God. Matthew Henry wrote of this, the great

Puritan commentator, Our true life lies in the other world. You're dead. Your life is hid with Christ in God, quoting

Colossians 3 .3. The new man has his livelihood thence. It is born and nourished from above, and the perfection of his life is reserved for that state.

In other words, life with the Lord. It's hid with Christ, not hid from us only in point of secrecy, but hid for us, denoting security.

There's a good statement. The life of a Christian is hid with Christ. Because I live, you shall live also.

Jesus' words, John 14 .19, Christ is at present a hidden Christ, or one whom we have not seen.

But this is our comfort, that our life is hid with him, and laid up safely with him.

And as we have reason to love him whom we have not seen, so we may take the comfort of a happiness out of sight, reserved in heaven for us.

Amen. Matthew Henry. And John Calvin similarly wrote, It is worthy of observation that our life is said to be hid, that we may not murmur or complain if our life being buried under the ignominy of the cross and under various distresses differs nothing from death, but may patiently wait for the day of revelation.

And in order that our waiting may not be painful, let us observe those expressions in God with Christ which intimate that our life is out of danger, although it doesn't appear.

For in the first place God is faithful, and therefore will not deny what has been committed to him, nor deceive in the guardianship which he has undertaken.

And secondly, the fellowship of Christ brings still greater security. For what is to be more desired by us than this, that our life remain with the very fountain of life?

That would be Christ. That's where we want our life, right? Hidden in Christ. Hence, there is no reason why we should be alarmed if on looking around on every side we nowhere see life.

For we are saved by hope. But those things which are already seen with our eyes are not hoped for.

Nor does he teach that our life is hidden merely in the opinion of the world, but even as to our own view, because this is the true and necessary trial of our hope, that being encompassed, as it were, with death, we may seek life somewhere else than in the world.

Those guys thought through matters. Simple little verse. But perhaps because it's hidden from our view, it's not as apparent to us as it should be.

But the fact is certain. God has caused us to die to our former life governed by sin, even our life in sin, and he's caused us to be alive in his

Son. And therein lies our identity. And we are to live according to this principle.

Now we'll look at the next passage, Romans 6, where Paul sets forth how to live, how to apply this in our thinking.

I hope we're all familiar with this passage. It's important. Romans 6, 1 -14. Paul wrote,

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace should abound? Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin, there it is, it's over, live any longer in it?

Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into a death?

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. For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him.

Again, contrary to most evangelicals who wrongly believe that Keswick views sanctification, this is not talking about your sinful nature, convincing yourself that your sinful nature died with Christ.

That's wrong. When he talks about the old man, he's talking about your former life as a non -Christian.

It's over. That's no longer who I am. That's who

I once was. We're saying about it, I was once blind, but now I see. I'm dead,

I'm alive now. That's a different man back then. And if you compared the two, they wouldn't look any way alike.

Our old man was crucified with him, why? So that the body of sin might be done away, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more.

Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God.

And then verse 11 here, I forgot to put the numbers in, but here it's verse 11, significant as we'll point out here shortly.

Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God, in Christ Jesus our

Lord. There is the command to assume this identity that we have been describing.

Don't count yourself to be alive unto sin, that's gone. Count yourself rather to be alive unto

Christ, that's who you are. And it's worded in a command, which is significant.

And therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.

So let's make several assertions about our passage, clarification. First we see believers are in union with Christ, once again.

Let me explain the context of the passage. The Apostle Paul had just concluded in chapter 5 a lengthy explanation of the believers' justification through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.

Sinners are forgiven of all their sins and they have Christ's righteousness credited to them. The gift of righteousness, which is not their own, the gift of Christ's righteousness credited to them when they embrace

Jesus Christ as the crucified, buried, risen Lord and Savior. And so the free and full pardon of sins and the gift of eternal life is through faith alone.

The gift of righteousness is conferred. God regards the Christian as as righteous as Jesus Christ himself, which is an amazing reality.

It was not by works of righteousness that we have done, but by the work of Christ on our behalf that we are saved.

Ours is to believe on him for our salvation. So we sinners could not save ourselves no matter how we tried.

Paul reasoned that. We are condemned not only because we as individuals sinned, he set that forth quite clearly in Romans 1 and 2 and 3, but he also declared that we're guilty because of Adam, the progenitor of the human race.

For Adam was our representative when he lived in Eve in the garden. He was our representative, our federal head, as it's frequently called.

And so when he sinned, he brought God's condemnation upon the entire human race. When he sinned, we sinned in him.

His sin incurred God's wrath upon us. We were in Adam, we were in him when he first sinned, and thus his guilt is our guilt.

If you never committed a sin in all your life, you'd still be damned on the day of judgment for your guilty for Adam's sin.

Paul makes that very clear. And if you deny that, then you cut off the same principle that's able to bring you salvation in Christ.

But not only did Adam bring guilt upon us, his initial act of sin made him a sinner in his very nature.

He was a different sort of fellow after he sinned than before he sinned. He had not simply committed an act of sin, but in doing so he became a sinner.

His nature was corrupted, and thereafter he and all of us have had a bent on sinning.

Jesus Christ accepted, because he was virgin -born, he wasn't born with that corrupt nature.

Arthur Pink described Adam the sinner. No sooner had Adam revolted from his gracious Maker and Benefactor than the evil effects became apparent.

His understanding, originally enlightened with heavenly wisdom, became darkened and overcast with crass ignorance.

And he explains how this is evident in what happened to Adam. His heart, formerly fired with holy veneration toward his

Creator, warm with love to him, now became alienated and filled with enmity against him.

His will, which had been in subjection to his rightful governor, had cast off the yoke of obedience.

His whole moral constitution was wrecked and had become unhinged, perverse. In a word, the life of God had departed from his soul.

His aversion for the supremely excellent one appeared in his flight from him as soon as he heard his approach.

His crass ignorance and stupidity were evinced by his vain attempt to conceal himself from the eyes of omniscience.

His pride was displayed in refusing to acknowledge his guilt, his ingratitude when he indirectly upbraided

God for having given him a wife. But again, what happened to Adam did not happen to Adam alone.

It happened to us as well, for we were in union with Adam. When Adam became a sinner, he made all of his descendants sinners.

You and I are sinners, not because we commit acts of sin. We commit acts of sin because we are sinners.

Our very nature is corrupt as born. Something terrible happened when Adam sinned.

The human race became sinners. But whereas Adam brought condemnation upon all his people, the entire human race, through his original sin, in a similar way

Jesus Christ brings justification for all his people, full pardon and a right standing before God.

We read in Romans 5 .18 -19, Therefore, as through one man's offense, Adam's sin, judgment came on all men, resulting in condemnation,

See, all men are condemned. Even so, through one man's righteous act, the sum of Jesus' life is described as one single righteous act, his life and death, came to all men, resulting in justification of life.

For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience,

Jesus Christ, many will be made righteous. And so, our free justification before God through faith alone greatly magnifies the grace of God, doesn't it?

Certainly it does. Here we were condemned, and yet God enabled believing sinners to become righteous in His sight through faith alone.

This greatly glorifies God. In fact, the glory of God in His mercy and grace is more greatly enhanced due to the enormity of our depraved condition.

Consider the greatness of our sin, which had to be overcome in order to bring us salvation.

Great sin requires greater grace, doesn't it, by definition, and great sinners need a great

Savior. But we could not know fully the depth of sin to which we were fallen in Adam simply by considering Adam's sin alone.

And so, for this reason, God gave His law, so that we would know what God knew, just how wicked we are apart from grace.

And so Paul wrote in Romans 5 .20 and following, 21. A single

F means verse 20 and then the following verse. Two Fs would mean verse 20 and any number of verses that follow after.

Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our

Lord. Now one of the false conclusions that some of Paul's detractors were publishing about his teaching was that he was promoting loose living through his teaching about Christ's substitutionary death.

They reasoned this way, if we may be saved through faith alone, then it does not matter how believers live.

And that is one of the common accusations you will hear, say, from Roman Catholics, but others also who are not

Christians. In Romans 6, Paul begins to refute this notion.

He shows that the believer's union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection impels the Christian to live according to righteousness, not sin.

When Christ died, first of all, believers died with Him. That's what he states in verses 1 and 2, just as we saw in Colossians 3.

What should we say then? Should we continue in sin that grace should abound? Certainly not. How should we who died to sin live any longer in it?

That was our former life. How can we continue in that way? It's incongruent with what

God has done for us. Scriptures not only teach us that Christ died for us, that is, on our behalf, but again, teach us that when

He died, we died with Him. He was our representative. He was so identified with us in His life and death that it could be said that when

He died, we died with Him. There are other verses that speak about this.

It's a common theme. Galatians 2 .20 is a familiar one. I am crucified with Christ, Paul declared.

Nevertheless, I'm living. Yet not I, but Christ lives in me.

And the life which I now live, see, I don't live the former life. I'm crucified to that. I live by faith in the

Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. As we were in Adam when he sinned and died, we believers were in Christ when

He died. And then, secondly, when Christ rose from the dead, all true believers rose with Him.

He wasn't just our substitute on our behalf, but He was our representative, and we were in union with Him.

We rose with Him. Stated here, but also back in Colossians 2 .12 and 13, buried with Him in baptism in which you also were raised with Him through the faith and the working of God who raised

Him from the dead. And you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, being made alive together with Him, having forgiven you of all your trespasses.

And so there is the fact of the matter. God regarded us in union with His Son when

He died on the cross and was raised from the tomb. And when we were baptized, we showed forth this union.

It was a visible picture of what had occurred and how we were to regard ourselves and to live.

And so baptism, in one sense, is an identification with Christ. In Romans 6 .3,

Paul appeals to these Christians that their union with Christ was portrayed in their baptism. Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism unto 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. And so baptism is somewhat like a burial.

You are saying that former life is over. I'm dead to it. Now I've got a new life before me.

I'm going to live for Christ if He enables me. And so when we are baptized, we show forth our inward faith of our union with Christ in this outward visible sign of baptism.

As Christ died and was buried and rose, we confess in our baptism He died for us, and that we died with Him, and that He rose for us, and we rose with Him, and that we as believers do resolve to live out this spiritual reality before the

Lord and before others, other believers who witnessed our baptism. And so our baptism is a formal declaration of our faith that we are identifying ourselves with our

Savior. Baptism is the believer's confession of faith that he is a sinner worthy of death, but nevertheless who believes the death which he deserved was borne by Jesus Christ who died in his place, but who was also buried and raised in his place as well.

And baptism is a confession of one's faith in Jesus Christ and of his identification with Jesus in his death and resurrection life.

I suspect few of us when we were baptized really had a concept of that reality, but ideally we should have had and should have now.

Secondly, however, baptism is not only identifying with Christ, but it's identifying with Christ's people.

We all come to God through this means. We all profess like faith in baptism. We collectively died, were buried, and were raised by Him.

There is an identification with Christ in baptism. There's also an identification with Christ's people in baptism.

It's not just me and Jesus. It's we and Jesus. Critically important.

This is why baptism has been a prerequisite to church membership in all churches everywhere.

Just about every denomination believes baptism is a prerequisite to church membership. Even those who hold the infant baptism, they see it.

Baptism is a prerequisite to church membership. A couple of years ago, we had somebody who wanted to be baptized but did not want to join the church.

We did not baptize that person because we see that there's a connection there. It's not just me and Jesus.

It's we and Jesus. It's very important. And so baptism not only shows forth our faith in our union with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection, it shows forth our resolve to live our lives in the light of his death and resurrection among the people of God.

And so we resolve, we confess in our baptism, dying to sin. That is, we repent and turn from our committing acts of sin.

We'll continue to do so. We're plagued by sin. But it's our intention, our resolve to identify ourselves with the risen life of Christ.

Well more precisely, how are we to think and live according to this truth? Look at verse 11 once again.

Critically important. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our

Lord. Now that's a command. It's significant.

This is the first command in the book of Romans. Chapter 6, verse 11, everything that preceded this verse,

Paul was instructing them about nature of God, nature of sin, how God deals with sin, what

Jesus did to atone for sin and whatnot. But now the command is given. Reckon yourself indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our

Lord. What is the substance of this command?

We who know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior because of our union with him in his death and resurrection are to identify ourselves with our new life in Christ.

This is what we're arguing. This is our foundation. This is where our identity must be grounded and shaped.

And so if I were expressing it for myself, I'm not to see myself as I was before being in Christ, a sinner condemned by God's judgment.

Rather I'm to see my identity as a new man in Jesus Christ. Yes, I still sin, or rather sin dwells within me, but I myself am a new man, a new creature in Christ Jesus.

I am no longer Lars, the guilty sinner, but I'm Lars the Christian, the man in Christ.

That's how every Christian, if he or she is thinking rightly, that ought to be our view of ourselves.

It makes a big difference. If you, the Christian, assume your new self -identity as a Christian, you'll not feel condemned and estranged from your

God when you sin. Because you've identified yourself as the new man or woman in Christ, bound in spiritual union with the life of your

Savior, then you will see sin as a thorn, an invasive principle, a common enemy of you and of God.

This sin, this enemy which is seeking to defeat and defile you. And you will be able to call upon the

Lord as a friend and a Savior to help you defeat the sin that dwells in you, because it's

His enemy and it's your enemy. This is in contrast to the Christian who fails to identify himself or herself in union with Christ.

For when he sins, when she sins, he's fearful that the

God of all wrath will be against him and will punish, most certainly punish him for his sin.

That's not how the Christian is to view things. No. Rather, the

Father rescues and delivers from sin those who are in Christ. God the

Judge condemns and punishes and will destroy those who are outside of Jesus Christ. But not

God the Father, who is the Father of all those that are in Christ. Very important, you identify yourself on the right side of your conversion.

I was once a sinner. Now I'm a saint. I'm a holy one, set apart by God through Christ.

But I've got a terrible sin problem. I'm thankful that Christ is on my side and he's going to help me to fight against it.

And it will not defeat me because I'm under God's grace. I'm in Christ. Whole different optimism isn't there, reflected in that view.

Rather than, woe is me, what a dirty dog I am, how can

I even come among the people of God because I am so wretched, a wretched sinner.

And I've commonly had that happen over the years, where people impose a self -excommunication upon themselves because they have so identified themselves with their sin and they have failed to see their union with Christ and what the implications are for our life in Christ.

One last thing and we'll conclude, I don't have time to go through all these notes. But not only does this identity with Jesus Christ affect how you should view yourself, and that's our main point today, but it's also to affect how we view each other.

We are to regard each other as Christians in this wonderful, glorious way. He's a saint.

She's a saint. Paul could say that to those Corinthians who were in many ways wretched, weren't they, in what they did, but they were saints.

And we ought to not only view ourselves in Christ, but we ought to view one another in Christ. And we ought to have a high opinion, a high regard of one another.

And so when we see sin plaguing a brother or sister and causing them, it shouldn't cause us to disregard them, discredit them, and dismiss them, but rather have compassion for them and desire the same thing that God desires of him or her, to be delivered from that sin.

You see how that is more conducive to true Christian fellowship than the other manner that we were talking about?

You know, whether or not you jump through my hoops and meet all what I perceive as bottom line criteria, then

I'll accept you as a true brother and sister. But until you do, until you achieve these things, meet these things,

I'm going to hold you in question. No, no, when we go into the water as a confessing

Christian, that person comes out, he or she is one of us, and we are to treat that person as a

Christian, a brother or sister in Christ until all evidence proves otherwise.

And it's only because of, you know, you're forced to come to the place you can't conclude otherwise that then you reluctantly go there.

But until then, we assume the best, and we're compassionate and concerned for one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.

And this is the only way that we could possibly see that we would have a vital relationship with one another that's conducive to the kind of love that the

Lord expresses to his disciples, as we'll say in John's Gospel, which we're reading now, if you're following through our

Bible reading chart. And so let's have this high regard, not only for ourselves, but let's have it for one another as well.

We're in Christ. God be praised. And that's no basis of boasting, you know, we don't take any glory for ourselves.

If Paul said, you know, let him who glory, glory in the Lord. This was all his doing, freely bestowed upon us and brought into our reality when we put our faith in him, which itself was born of God's grace.

Amen. Thank the Lord. Let's pray. Father, help us, our

Lord, to take these spiritual truths and take them to heart. And may it indeed form,

Lord, our self -identity. May we identify ourselves, our Father, with our Savior and with one another who are in Christ and help us to go forth from this place,

Lord, with confidence that because we're under your grace, you will indeed help us as we fight against this sin that troubles us, plagues us, but from which we desire deliverance.

we ask these things, Father, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen.