1862. Who Am I?; Setting My Identity, Part 2

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Today's sermon is the second 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. Notice scattered throughout the truth about being in Adam in Romans chapter 5 is the truth then about being in Christ and it gives us this stark contrast. You'll see the contrasting effects of who I am in and so chapter 5 and verse 18 speaks of being one act of righteousness that leads to justification and life for all men.

Verse 19 says then, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. And so we see that Christ is doing something that Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 5 as this work of reconciling God to man. By the way, that doesn't mean that he somehow is bringing God down to man. He actually is taking a God who doesn't change, a God who hasn't failed, a God who isn't broken, a God that is the same yesterday, today and forever. He's taken a fallen creature, one that was made in his image and that image is now marked and he's reconciling man to God. Thus if any man is in Christ, he's a new creation. See one man's trespass led to condemnation for all men so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. He's not here teaching us universalism.

He actually is teaching us here of the need for a relationship. Paul is using artful language here. The first appearance of the many is a universal statement while the second appearance refers exclusively to those who come to Christ. In each verse where he uses this language, the first all and many refer to the fact that all humanity has suffered from the consequences of being in Adam and thus Adam's sin.

And the second all and many refer only to those who trust in Christ or are saved by Christ or in him. Tonight I want us to contemplate a scene we're all familiar with. Calvary.

And I want us to contemplate it in this sense. Christ's understanding that he is redeeming and reconciling fallen man to a holy God. You see at Calvary everything is significant. This is why we see the gospel writers put such an emphasis on the last week of our Lord's life.

He lived 33 years, yet some 40% of the gospel record deals with only one week of his life. And that is because every detail is significant. It's here that we fully get a picture of why I need to be in Christ in his reconciling work. We should soak ourselves in the depths of the details that are recorded in this week.

We should ask why of every event because there was nothing that was done simply by Chan. And this is final week he fulfills more prophecy with regard to who he was than he does in the entirety of the rest of his life. And it's clear that this man's life was all about his death. The writers of Sacred Script make it abundantly clear that this is the focal point of the Christ's life and ministry.

So tonight I know we're in a building and we're here with a lot of people. But I want you to allow John, if you will, to take us on a journey. And I want you to see Calvary and see Christ and see what he is doing and understand the why and decide whether or not you are in Christ. You see, Golgotha is the place of a skull. It's a place where the contrast between the Savior's heart of grace and man's heart of rebellion is most striking. Golgotha, the place of punishment, is the focal point of revelation and history and experience. Golgotha is the place of judgment. It's a great divide between man doing his worst and God doing his best. Golgotha, the place of dying, is the watershed of justification from sin and the assurance of life and of conquering love.

And so, come with me. They were praying in the garden for the will of the Father to be done while those who were most dear to Him slept in ignorant sleep, not realizing the torment of His soul. Three times they slept and three times there would come a denial of knowing the One that was dearer to them than life itself. We see Him during the night, traipsed before three illegitimate and unjust trials where each time He is found innocent but proclaimed guilty. We see Him look lovingly at Peter and yet be coldly betrayed. We see Him standing in weariness before Pilate and though He could speak with the eloquence of the ages and with the power that spoke the very creation into being out of nothingness, when questioned as to His innocence as a lamb before its shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. When asked if He knew the power that Pilate possessed, though He knew the very thoughts of the man's heart and though He had the power of omnipotence, and ten thousand angels were hanging over the belfries of heaven, arrayed in battle dress to defend their lovely Lord at His least beckoning whim, all He answered was that He only had power because His Father had given it to Him.

Here is no victim. We see Him beaten with the Roman scourge, literally tearing the flesh from His body in an attempt to satisfy the bloodthirsty crowd. We see Him mocked, spit on, humiliated and nakedness tormented through the plucking out of His beard. We see Him paraded through the streets, yet in frailty crumbled beneath the weight of the upright section of His cross. One author said it this way, crosses had only one purpose, to bring an end to an evil man. Those who were crucified had no life in this world beyond that point. This is what God does with evil people.

He puts them to death. Thus, in the cross of Christ, God took all that we were in Adam. All our natural life with its dreams and hopes and resources and brought it to a crashing end by the dying of Jesus. And then finally we come to this place, Golgotha, the place of the skull. Tear away the shackles of time and distance, tear away the constraints of unfamiliarity with the culture and the setting and the people and the torture, and open your mind's eye to behold this most colossal of all scenes.

Where second Adam suffers for those who are in Adam, suffering, dying for the sins of the world. Listen to the scene. Allow yourself to hear the jeering in the voices of the mocking crowd. Allow yourself to hear the gleeful laughter of the ignorant soldiers as they huddle together playing a game of sport and chance as they wager together for the garments that should cover the humiliation of the eternal God. And it is already wedded with his spotless blood that must be shed for the remission of sin. Hear the weeping of his earthly mother as she cries for him in pity. Yet as her tears drop, they break his heart more than hers could ever break because they are tears of unbelief. For she does not believe that he will rise again.

And so even she doesn't fully understand that this is his mission. Not his greatest defeat, but his finest hour, for it is here where that very first prophecy of him, the one that brought hope of redemption to the first man Adam was fulfilled, and it shall bruise his heel and he shall crush its head. Why? Why would he do it? Why would God allow it? If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Why? Because the God who said let us make man in our image looked down on his creation after the fall and said, they are now in Adam. This is their identity.

This is who they are. Broken, shattered, distant, hopeless, and helpless. Sheep without a shepherd, blind without a guide, lame without a helper.

Why? Because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Because there are none that do good, no not one. Because there's none that seeketh after God. All we like sheep have gone astray.

We've turned everyone to his own way. And so the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. And by God's mercy and through God's grace, with his stripes, we can be healed. Paul declares that he who knew no sin was made to be sin. So that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

So understand the nature of your lineage. Are you in Christ? Or are you yet in Adam?

I promise the other points aren't that long. But in light of this, tonight we must understand the necessity of the gospel. No one, no one is in Christ of their own doing. Keeping the law will never get you in Christ.

Doing good works are filthy rags. They will never position you in Christ. Going to church, being baptized, attending a Christian university, having gone to Sunday school, having been in a one and memorized three quarters of the Bible.

None of that changes your lineage. You see all this Paul says is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself. That is in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself.

Not counting their trespasses against them. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin. So that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

And as we understand the necessity of the gospel, I hope tonight you understand in light of Calvary, the necessity of reconciliation. You have to be brought to God. Someone with merit beyond your merit. Someone with righteousness beyond your righteousness.

Someone who kept the law perfectly. Needed to be an advocate with the Father in order for you in Adam to be reconciled to God. This is why Calvary. This is why the necessity of God's work. This is why the necessity of regeneration. New birth, new life.

Someone needed to change you through a second birth. There needed to be a new life because we in Adam found death. Thus when we put our faith and trust in the cross work of Jesus Christ, we are redeemed, our debt is paid. And through regeneration we are brought from death to life.

New life. In Christ we are a new creation. It's the only thing that makes that kind of change and moves you from Adam to Christ. Thus the necessity of repentance.

You see this isn't just simply saying I'm sorry. It's this confession, acknowledgement that leads to a heart that turns, turns from being in Adam and turns to being in Christ. And writing to the Thessalonians, Paul described that dynamic transaction as being someone that turned from idols to serve the living and true God.

There actually is a change. And so tonight without the gospel, no man in Adam will see God. No man in Adam will see heaven. No man in Adam alone can be saved.

So as I close tonight, I want to leave us with one other thought. And that is the necessity of examination. Paul writing to the Corinthians said in 2 Corinthians 13, 5, examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. He follows that up with saying prove your own selves.

This is a thorough examination. It's a hard accounting that challenges us all to actually think about. Who am I? You see, if you find yourself striving in this life, trying to find a source of security, trying to find a place of resting, trying to find a sense of confidence, understand that in the fall all of us are broken and we strive after those things. Even as a believer, one who is saved, one who is born again, one who is in Christ, we will find ourselves drawn to other areas to find our identity.

And thus we'll find ourselves struggling. And friends, the answer to that is always to return to my true identity. Who am I? In Christ, I can be who God created me to be and thus finding my identity that I am in God as an image bearer of God and now through Christ I am in Christ. I now again can find satisfaction in my vocation and I can find satisfaction in my relationships and I can find satisfaction in all of life.

Why? Because I live it with my identity settled. And so if you're striving tonight, is it because you haven't come to God and actually settled that this is who you are and so this is how you're going to live and you will live your vocation because you're in Christ. You will have relationships because you're in Christ. Or are those things that you just live and do and it's separate and you compartmentalize your faith and actually you do all of these things and hope they'll bring you satisfaction and then you're going to go to church on Sunday or you'll have this Christian ease. Tonight you must satisfy the striving for identity by coming back to Calvary and saying I'm in Christ.

After Romans 5 comes Romans 6 and there he challenges with regard to how we should live, should we continue in sin, that grace may abound. He says megan oito in Greek. I love that. It's the strongest negative you can get. May it never be.

It's not even possible. But it's so easy for us to live that way. So examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith. Young person tonight, what is your attitude toward God?

Is your supposed faith a burden to you living the rest of your life the way you want to live it? Are you in Christ? What is your attitude toward sin? Do you look at it and say that is not my old nature, that's the product of me being in Adam, but I'm in Christ and I look at Calvary and I see what he did so that I might have his righteousness and he bear my sin.

And thus there is a growing despising of sin in your heart because you're in Christ. What is your attitude toward Christ? Is he better?

Is he enough? Do you love him? Does that passion for him satisfy you? Does it cause you to live your other sources of identity in light of your identity in Christ because you love him? What is your attitude toward the Word of God? Is it there because you're adopted and you're accepted and a beloved that you come here to find out the heart of your Father for you? That you come here to receive instruction from the Word that reminds you how much he loves you so that you might live in light of that love and display that you are in Christ. What is your attitude toward prayer?

Do you delight to talk to him? Is it rote? Is it a spiritual vending machine? Is it merely a discipline, a have to? Is it a spare tire that you pull out when the vehicle of your life seems to be out of balance?

Or is it the mark of a passionate relationship? What is your attitude toward others who are in Christ? You see, these are important questions of examination. Identity. God created us in his image and he intended for it to be settled. But we fell. And it all became broken and distorted. And if you want to know how badly broken and distorted it was, remember what Jesus went through. And understand in the depths of your depravity, in the depths of your sin, and the level of your judgment and condemnation in Adam, and there see what Jesus did for you. Tonight, whatever words you may use, are you saved? Are you a believer? Are you born again?

Have you been regenerated? I ask you with Paul, are you in Christ? If not, run to Christ.

Claim of Calvary. Open your heart and confess. Repent of your sins. Turn from them to Him. Ask for God's ready forgiveness through His Son.

God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Tonight if you are in Christ, but you're striving for identity, and unhappy, torn, pulled, covered up with anxiety because of not finding where you belong or where you fit, oh friend tonight, come back to Calvary and find your belonging in Christ and live all of the other sources of security in light of that reality. Tonight I ask you this question. Are you in Christ?

Let's pray. Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed. Friend, are you in Christ? All of us born in Adam are under judgment and condemnation. Because of that, the just wrath of God.

Because we are in Adam, we are reminded that it is appointed unto men once to die and after this, the judgment. I ran through a litany of things. I'm not asking you any of them tonight. I'm not asking you if you went to a Christian school or grew up in a good church or your parents are Christian. I'm asking you none of that.

I'm asking you at the beginning of this year simply this. Are you in Christ? Because you are, a divine exchange has taken place where you now have His righteousness and thus you have eternal life. Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed. God's people are praying. Tonight in the quietness of this moment, you would say, Dr. Benson, I'm not in Christ. And tonight I realize my need. Would you please pray for me?

If that's you, would you slip up your hand? I'm not in Christ tonight. Because of it, I won't go to Heaven. I'm not saved, I'm not born again. Please pray for me, I'm not in Christ.

Slip it up. Believer, are you struggling with your identity? Trying to find your source of security and one of the things that in God's curse are broken and fallen and thus can never satisfy. Thus you find yourself claiming of Christ and yet living with discontentment. Stress and anxiety overwhelmed because you're still looking for something to satisfy.

Maybe, maybe getting a college degree, that's what's going to do it. It'll set me on the path to the right kind of career and that career will bring me the right life status. It will bring me then residual relationships and that'll be the perfect picture, can I tell you. Not only did God not intend for you to find your identity there, it actually will rob you of your identity in Christ. Tonight you would say, you know what, I am a Christian. But I live with a heart that's much like the one you described. Despair at times, dismay, fear, anxiety and care, emptiness and striving because I've been looking for the settling of my identity in the wrong places. Tonight God's spoken to my heart and I need to live all of those things in light of what my actual identity is under the authority of God because I am in Christ and tonight God has spoken to my heart about settling that and living then in light of my identity. Would you please pray for me? If that's you, would you slip up your hand?

Yeah, that's me. Slip them up, I see your hands. Father, I thank You tonight. I thank You that You in Your mercy saw us in Adam, fallen, broken, condemned. I thank You that Your Son thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man and being found in fashion as a man.

He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of a cross. Because of that, our condemnation, our judgment had the opportunity to be forgiven because He bore the just wrath of God in our place. And that through the amazing transaction of redemption, justification, we can be regenerated and have new life in Christ, be a new creation, and thus be in Christ. Father, I pray for those here tonight who are not born again, not in Christ, I pray, O God, that this would be the day of salvation for them.

For those who are in Christ and we live in a fallen world and we have fallen bodies and we have hearts that are still contorted, it's hard for us to live our identity in Christ. God, I pray tonight that You would lead us and teach us, change us, transform us. Help us to choose, as Paul says in Romans 6, to therefore not let sin reign in our mortal bodies. That we wouldn't yield our members as instruments of unrighteousness, but rather we'd yield our members as instruments of righteousness unto God. That we would live in light of our identity and it would shape then how we approach all the other things that we think give us the promise of security. Help us to learn to live as those who are in Christ for Your glory. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You've been listening to a sermon preached at an evangelistic service at Bob Jones University by Dr. Alan Benson. Thanks for listening and join us next time as we'll hear more challenging sermons on The Daily Platform.