1861. Who Am I?; Setting My Identity, Part 1

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Today's sermon is the first part of an evangelistic message preached at the beginning of the Bob Jones University school year by Dr. Alan Benson. The title of his message is, Who Am I? Setting My Identity. Genesis chapter 1, verse 26, capturing the work of God on the sixth day of creation says, And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

This is referred to as the dominion mandate. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created him, male and female created he them. God blessed them and said unto them, Be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Turn over with me then if you would to Genesis chapter three. Genesis three and verse six says, And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked. And they showed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons and they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. The Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself and he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree where I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gave us to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me and I did eat.

And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I'll put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed.

It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel. Under the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children and thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee. And anatomy said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife and is eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it.

Cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee. And thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground for out of it wast thou taken for dost thou art.

And unto dust shalt thou return. And Adam called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all living. And to Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothe them. When you read these two passages of scripture back to back, it's almost a stark contrast. When you look at the intention of God and his creative splendor in making man in his image and then looking at his image bearer and his heart for them in giving them the creation to have dominion over and the blessings and the rewards that came with that. You see there a sense of identity.

Zero question for Adam about who he was and what he was supposed to do. When you read all of that and then go quickly to the fall and then the subsequent curse you actually see almost every piece of the creative intention of God and making man in his own image unraveled. You see in that description every area of life where we tend to find our identity, our source of security and confidence if you will, we see every piece of it is broken by the fall. So many find their identity and their health and strength.

God said you will surely die. So many find our identity, our confidence, our strength, our security in relationships and God says in pain and suffering you will bear children and you will have the desire to rise up against your husband and he'll rule over you. So many find our source of security or our identity in our abilities or if you will captured mostly then in our career, our vocation. And God says to Adam by the sweat of your brow you will till the ground and it will rebel against you in producing thorns and weeds.

It's all broken. They're known as generational markers and they take different forms in different generations and unique forms maybe even for Gen Z but those characteristics I believe are actually universal and I think we see all of them in this account. There are areas in which throughout the different spheres of life people find belonging. So one of them is in figuring out who I am, identity. Who am I?

What should I be doing? What should I be like? What am I good at? What are my talents? What are my abilities? What's my personality?

What groups do I fit in because of who I am? Identity is shattered in the fall. What we refer to as maturity or then growing and developing, being able to understand more of who I am by both identifying my abilities and then developing my abilities and ultimately then deploying my abilities.

And when the fall happens, man is hit with depravity, an actual undoing rather than a maturity which is a building up. Third is community, a sense of belonging because of relational dynamics where we fit and it's not just because I found a group of people that all like the same thing I like, it actually is that community has a sense of interdependence, not codependence but interdependence. These relationships are valuable, going both directions. The New Testament refers to them often as one another, loving one another, encouraging one another, edifying one another, loving one another, being kind to one another. And so a sense of community where these dynamic relationships are shaping me and I can see how I am helping to shape others.

Community is destroyed in the fall. The last would be then a word that isn't as common but it's synergy, that I want to be a part of accomplishing through helping others and them helping me and us working together. That there's a multiplication of the energies that we bring and that multiplication allows us to accomplish something greater than I could ever accomplish on my own. That's synergy and when I see that happening and I'm a part of it, it brings a unique sense of belonging.

I fit here. And synergy is destroyed in the fall and selfishness grips hearts and atrophy comes to the creation. One of the things I want us to see as we begin looking at these messages tonight, I'm going to preach on identity. Tomorrow in chapel I'll preach on maturity. Tomorrow night I'm going to preach on community. And then Thursday in chapel I'm going to preach on synergy. Because these are all biblical concepts but I hope you see as we look at the fall that there's something there that is dynamic and necessary.

And that is this. God never intended for Adam to find his identity in his job, though he gave him a dominion mandate. He didn't intend for him to find his identity in his relationships. He didn't intend for him to find his identity in what he could accomplish or even accomplish with others. He intended that his identity was settled and that God made him in his own image. And all of the rest he was to do because he was an image bearer. But when Adam fell, one of the very first things that he did was he was afraid he wouldn't hit himself. The relationship with God was shattered and thus in the curse all these other things where I think in the understanding and foreknowledge and sovereignty of God he knew that a fallen man would turn to try and find a sense of security and hope and confidence.

They're all cursed and they can't do it. Take your Bibles and go with me tonight if you would to a very familiar passage of scripture in the New Testament. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

2 Corinthians chapter 5. Anybody ever played the little game 20 questions? Anybody played the little game 20 questions? Can anybody tell me the first question in that game? No, you ask all kinds of questions, but really it's who am I?

Right, the person that you're going to interview ask that question. Who am I? And then in 20 questions or less people have to guess your identity. And so I want us to explore tonight as we talk about identity. Who am I? Who am I?

Who are you? We'll unpack that a little tonight. It's a concept that is particularly throughout Paul's writings. It is throughout the New Testament. He's not the only New Testament writer that speaks of it, but it is particularly Pauline in language.

And I want to look at a classic text as we launch into the exploration of identity in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17. I think you know it well says this. Therefore, if any man be, say the next two words with me.

Say them nice and loud in Christ. He's a new creature. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new and all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself.

You hear that phrase? Hear it in light of Genesis chapter 3. A fallen man afraid and hiding from God. And now we have this idea, this concept of being in Christ and he describes it for us this. And all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself by Christ Jesus.

And it's given to us the ministry of reconciliation. To wit, to know, to understand that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. And hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us.

We pray you in Christ's name be reconciled to God for He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin. That we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. What does it mean to be in Christ?

Is it a question of location like I'm in the house? Is it a question of membership like belonging to a club or an organization? I'm in Christ. No, actually in the Apostle Paul's expression of this phrase it actually has the idea of being united to Christ. It's Paul's I think favorite expression for describing the overall relationship of one who is saved, a believer, a Christian. Whatever words we might use, Paul would describe that as being a person who is in Christ, that little phrase in Christ or in him or in the Lord.

Paul uses it 160 times in his letters. So it's an important concept and it's at the very heart of us answering the question, who am I? It is in fact what I believe biblically is God's intended answer for us. So what does it mean to be united to Christ?

What does it mean to be in Christ? Take your Bibles and turn to Romans chapter 5 and we'll plant here for a while. But as you're turning there I want us to see really tonight three things. I want us to see first of all the nature of our lineage. The nature of our lineage. We read Genesis 1 and Genesis 3 together and there we saw the saga, the story, the actual truth of the Genesis account of God creating man in his image. And as I came to the end of that passage in Genesis 3 there's an interesting thing that Adam gave to his wife a name, Eve.

Why? Because she was the mother of all living and there we have communicated after the fall that everybody that's coming next, all life that's coming next is going to come from Adam and Eve. And thus there is a common universal parentage. Paul also describes that and he uses the language in Adam. Back in 1 Corinthians 15 22 he writes this, for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

And he creates really two categories. And I would tell you tonight based upon that, that there are two kinds of people, just two. Those who are in Adam and those that are in Christ. And tonight as we unpack this together I hope you will be thinking, listening, learning and answering this question, am I in Adam or am I in Christ? 1 Corinthians 15 45 Paul adds this, the first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening or life giving spirit.

There's a difference between the two. So we have a first man Adam and a last Adam and they are Adam and Christ. Which one are you in? Who is your representative head? Who are you united to with regard to your standing before God?

So let's understand it. First of all, let's understand what it means to be in Adam or to have Adam as our representative. Verse 22 of 1 Corinthians 15 says in Adam all die.

What does that mean? Does that mean that in Adam physically, Adam died physically, all of us are going to die? Yes. Is that the only death? Chapter 5 is going to help us to understand that, but let's make sure we capture it in our own thinking. So let's think about what God said when He said to Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He said for in the day you eat of it, you will surely, what's the word? Die. We see the account unfold.

And Eve eats and she gives to her husband and he eats. A yes no question. Right after they ate that day, did they die physically?

Yes or no? Amen. No, but God said in the day you eat of it, you will die. You will surely die.

What happened? Look at Romans chapter 5 and verse 12 with me. Wherefore as by one man, Adam's sin entered into the world and death by sin. And so death passed upon all men for that all of sin.

For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come, but not as the offense. So also is the free gift for through the offense of one, many be dead, much more the grace of God and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, has abounded unto many and not as it was by one that sinned. So is the gift for the judgment was by one to condemnation. But the free gift is of many offenses under justification for if by one man's offense death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as by the obedience of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men under justification of life, for as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners.

So by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. So the death if you see it here is described in words like condemnation and judgment. There actually was a spiritual death. In the day they sinned against God, death gripped them.

A separation that eventually would look like a separation that you and I understand physically. But there was a separation from God that was marked in Adam's own demeanor whenever he realized he was naked, and he was afraid so he hid himself from God, there was a brokenness in the relationship. And ultimately that brokenness in that relationship has left them in the place of being separated from God, that when physical death comes will lead to a second death, which is an eternal death separated from God in a place of eternal torment, judgment, and condemnation. You see being in Adam is colossal. Adam wasn't just an ordinary man so that the consequences of his sin would fall only on him. Rather Adam has been appointed by God in a sense to be the representative head of the entire human race. And as a result the consequences of his sin fell upon all humanity and so verse 12, death spread to all men because all sinned. We because we are Adam's heirs, Adam's seed, Adam's grand and great grand and so on children have inherited from Adam a sin nature. Thus, we hear expressions like, I was born in sin.

In sin did my mother conceive me. And so, in Adam, we all receive a death sentence we all have suffered the consequences of Adam's sin. This is the idea of the representative nature of Adam's sin. It's developed further here in verse 18, therefore as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, Adam sinned.

Led to condemnation for all men, verse 19, for as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners. Friends, all of us in understanding the nature of our lineage are born in Adam. All of us receive his nature. Because of that all of us receive his fallenness. You see, tonight the truth of the scripture is this, you're not just a sinner because you sinned. You're a sinner because you're an Adam. And because of our fallen nature and our separation as a human race from God, because of our fallenness, we are rightly, justly condemned. We are rightly, Romans 5, under judgment. You see, who am I?

I am in Adam. Because of that, I am spiritually dead. Paul describes it when he is actually setting up his grand gospel account in Ephesians 2 when he speaks about what God has done in the life. And he says, And you hath he quickened or you have he made alive because of your death sentence, who were dead in trespasses and sins wherein in time past you walked. According to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our lifestyle, our conduct, our conversation. In times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and whereby nature, the children of wrath, even as others.

You see, in Paul's description, all of us being an Adam, we are spiritually dead. Because of that, we are slaves to the things that actually are contrary to who God is. The world and the devil and our sinful passions, he describes them here in Ephesians 2.

All of these things grip us, they hold us, they draw us, and in fact, I would say to you, they become places where we strive and seek for our identity. And because of this, we are objects of God's wrath. Tonight, if you are not in Christ, you are yet in Adam. And it doesn't matter whether you were born to Christian parents or pagan parents. It doesn't matter if you were raised in church or not in church.

It doesn't matter if you went to a Christian school or a public school or were homeschooled. It doesn't matter how tall you are. It doesn't matter how well you speak.

It doesn't matter what major you are. Nothing you can do will change the fact that you are in Adam. And as such, you are under just condemnation and the wrath of God.

Tonight, I hope you sense the need. So then let's talk about Paul's incredible, unbelievable, marvelous, oft repeated truth. And now I hope maybe you sense why is it that he would talk about this being a reality? Why would he describe salvation this way? Because the only way to not be in Adam is to be in someone else.

To change the lineage. To be, if you will, in second Adam. To be in Christ. If any man be in Christ, Paul wrote, we read, 2 Corinthians chapter 5. He is a new creature. God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself. And the truth of that and how it works is captured in verse 21 of 2 Corinthians 5 when he says that he made him Christ who knew no sin to be sin for us so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Unfortunately, that's where we'll have to end this sermon preached by Dr. Alan Benson from a Bob Jones University evangelistic service. Join us again tomorrow when we'll hear the conclusion of this sermon about setting my identity on The Daily Platform.