Thailand Sermon

You’re Identity

Grow in Understanding Who God says I am

Who I am is my identity

Identity is given by God, not earned.

Identity

1 Corinthians 15:9–10 “For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”

In Christ I am a New Creation

In Christ I have eternal life

In Christ I am an heir of God

In Christ I am God's child

In Christ I am Beloved and Highly Favored

In Christ I am righteous

In Christ I am Empowered to fulfill my purpose

In Christ I am Empowered

In Christ my confidence is His accomplishments

In Christ we have access to talk to God

In Christ I am blessed

In Christ I am forgiven

Growing in knowing God and what that means for us

Exodus 34:5–7 (NKJV): Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

Not only does God want us to know Him, He reveals what and how He wants us to know Him by what He reveals.

Mercy - we don't get what we deserve Grace - we do get what we don't deserve. Because God is gracious and because He is merciful - we can count on His forgiveness.

Here are 3 things we can remember because God is merciful and gracious

God's currency for forgiveness is blood.

Many of us are trying to purchase forgiveness from God with currency that is not accepted.

It's not works, it's not apologies - it's blood. Therefore it's nothing I could earn or deserve because I am bankrupt in that dept. My blood is tainted with Sin.

It takes faith to believe it

1 John 2:1–2 (NKJV): My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

God isn't adding up your sins against you.

It is easy for most of us to believe we are forgiven and our debt is clear when we get saved but then God keeps adding up all our sins again.

God will never be disappointed in you. He doesn't somehow love you less since you have sinned since becoming a Christian - He doesn't have false expectations about you and He isn't keeping a scorecard!

My sin debt wasn't just cancelled for my past but for all eternity!

Hebrews 10:16-18 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” 17 then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 18 Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

The work of the cross, the sacrifice of Jesus was so great! It wiped out our sin debt for eternity, God is not calculating our sins against us. Jesus said it is finished:

Romans 4:7-8 "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.”

This is why faith in the God is an ongoing event…

When I remember I am forgiven, I will live like Jesus lived.

When I live feeling guilty all the time, I will live bad.

God doesn’t want you living a life of guilt.

Blinds us from the love of God

Perverts the grace of Jesus in the Gospel

Ultimately makes self the center.

Guilt makes us want to earn / deserve things from God but God only gives blessings by grace

Guilt will also make me feel that I don’t deserve God’s blessing, but we never could, we are blessed because God sent Jesus to die for our sins

Guilt will always keep your attention on yourself, but God wants your attention on Jesus!

Or if I feel guilty I will try to do some things to make myself feel better as if I earned or deserved forgiveness/blessing. Some give/tithe motivated by guilt (I know I have been there). Some serve out of a sense to make up for the wrongs they've done… And all of this falls short of the grace of God! This is still all about you - self.

Ultimately guilt is dangerous because it robs you of transformation. It moves the attention from the glorious gospel to self.

Romans 8:1 NIV “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,”

This is why knowing God’s mercy and grace is so powerful. God says you could never earn His blessings, you could never deserve His blessings, you could only be forgiven and His blessings are free to all who believe.