Identity Theft - 2

Identity Theft - 2

Subject – Find Your Identity in the Death, Burial, and Resurrection

By Rick Welborne

Colossians 1:16-20 (NKJV)
¹⁶  For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
¹⁷  And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
¹⁸  And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
¹⁹  For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,
²⁰  and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

--A few weeks ago we celebrated Easter (the Resurrection of Jesus Christ) and we are praying many experienced His resurrection power in their lives. 

--We are talking about Identity Theft and how the enemy comes to steal our identity or to try to re-identify us contrary to what the Word of God declares us to be.

John 10:10 (NKJV) ¹⁰ The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

--Satan, our enemy, and his hordes of demons have a mission and that missions is to steal, kill, or destroy from us the identity we have in Christ. 

--If we allow him to define us or to redefine us…we miss out on the abundant life Jesus has promised to each one of us…we allow him to commit identity theft against us.

--Today, we want to look at the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ and come to the revelation that our identity is wrapped up in what Jesus has done for us.

1. Our identity is found in the death of Jesus Christ.

Acts 2:22-24 (NLT) ²²  “People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know.
²³  But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him.
²⁴  But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip.

--On the cross, Jesus won the victory and showed the world to be powerless…how awesome is this? The debt you had, the debt I had, and the debt the world has was nailed to the cross.

--When Jesus went to the cross and laid His life down. He was saying: Their identity is found in Me because of My blood. The Romans and religious leaders did not take Jesus’ life…He laid it down freely.

John 10:18 (NKJV)
¹⁸  No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father."

--I want to identify with the One Who willingly laid down His life for me when He died…shedding His blood so I could be free…At the cross, at the cross, were I first saw the light…

--My identity was definitely defined when I gave up my life and died to myself:

Gal. 2:20 (NKJV) ²⁰  I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

--This verse was used by the evangelist who led me to the Lord. I knew I could not live for God as the person I was. The evangelist said, you really want to live for God don’t you? Yes! Stop trying…Great!

--He then quoted the verse above…stop trying to live for God…die to yourself and let Jesus come in and live His life thru you. I finally understood the plan of salvation.

--The enemy came to steal, kill, and destroy my life…my identity was found in drugs, alcohol, and running around doing things that were destructive. My identity was changed immediately. 

--Now I was identified as born again, called by God, youth pastor, lead pastor…don’t tell me God can’t stop the identity thief…my life and my future was changed forever! Still is!

--You really can’t know who you are until you survey His wondrous love for you and realize that He did what He did because He has a plan for your life. 

2. Our identity is found in the burial of Jesus Christ.

--The Bible tells us that Jesus was beaten, tortured, and nailed to a cross. Even a spear pierced His side and He died. Jesus said, “It is finished!” He died on the cross and was buried for the sins of the whole world.

John 19:38-40 (NKJV)
³⁸  After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took the body of Jesus.
³⁹  And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.
⁴⁰  Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.

--Jesus’ body was prepared for burial…His body was laid in a borrowed tomb because that was all He needed. Three days later he was coming out of that tomb.

--I believe much of our identity has been stolen by those who tell us that Christianity is all about what we get.

Christ said we must deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. Paul explains it like this:

Colossians 2:12-15 (NCV)
¹²  When you were baptized, you were buried with Christ, and you were raised up with him through your faith in God’s power that was shown when he raised Christ from the dead.
¹³  When you were spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were not free from the power of your sinful self, God made you alive with Christ, and he forgave all our sins.
¹⁴  He canceled the debt, which listed all the rules we failed to follow. He took away that record with its rules and nailed it to the cross.
¹⁵  God stripped the spiritual rulers and powers of their authority. With the cross, he won the victory and showed the world that they were powerless.

--You see, before you received Christ you were spiritually dead, and if you were like me, you were close to being physically dead. Doctor said I probably would not live two more months. 

--One of the great reasons you should be water baptized (other than the fact that Jesus said we should be) is what verse 12 said: When you were baptized, you were buried with Christ.

--When you are buried you no longer have life, when you are buried you no longer have rights, when you are buried you no longer have a will, when you are buried you are dead to sin.

--Think about it…when you are buried with Christ you identify with Him in His death…you have died to self, to sin, and to your own will…you are set up for a brand new life.

3. Our identity is found in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:12-20 (NIV)
¹²  But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
¹³  If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
¹⁴  And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
¹⁵  More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.
¹⁶  For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.
¹⁷  And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
¹⁸  Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.
¹⁹  If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
²⁰  But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 

--Can we establish here this morning once and for all that Jesus has been raised from the dead and that He is very much alive interceding at the right hand of God.

--He is alive…I said He is alive…How do you know He is alive…He has resurrected me from my dead life of sin and now His resurrection power lives in me.

--Who I am has been identified by the resurrection power of Jesus in me…my parents told me I was hopeless, they told me I was not planned, they told me the evil around me was because of me.

--They labeled me, they identified me as trouble, as evil, as jail bound, as the reason behind all that was happening…all I heard was how I would not amount to anything…

--Jesus had a different plan…His resurrection power has resurrected me…I am a new creation…the old nature (the old Rick) is buried with Christ and the new Rick has been resurrected. My identity now. 

Philippians 3:10-11 (NIV)
¹⁰  I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
¹¹  and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

--I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection…that will make me new…that will make me whole.

Romans 8:14-17 (NKJV)
¹⁴  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
¹⁵  For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."
¹⁶  The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
¹⁷  and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. 

--God has identified me as a son, He has identified us as His children, he has identified us as heirs of God, and He has identified us as joint heirs with Christ! My identity is in Him!