Session 3 - You’re Not Half-Sinner, Half-Saint

All right, I have to say at the outset, this is one of my favorite things to talk about. And the reason is identity in Christ, well, look, you're always running around with you. Everywhere you go, there you are. And you are constantly, no matter where you go, going to wrestle with your thoughts about you. And the enemy loves that, because the enemy likes to come in and kind of make things cloudy and make things murky and make things gray and unclear. And so what we're going to see right now, over the next half hour together, we're going to cut through the clutter and we're going to ask, who are we? At the core of our being, who are we? And is it just a special compartment of us? Or is it who we really are, like all of us, like we can be ourselves? And so as we look at this together, we're going to have to ask the question, why do I still sin? Because if we don't answer that one, things are still cloudy. Because you can, till you're blue in the face, you can say all kinds of neat things about how I'm righteous and I'm holy and I'm blameless and I'm a new creature, amen to that. But then I got the nasty thoughts and the dirty thoughts and the intrusive thoughts and the thoughts that make me think, am I even saved? If I'm getting these thoughts, am I really even saved? If I'm getting these thoughts, where are they coming from? And there are folks that have an answer that is not so great. And their answer is you're half good, half bad, half new, half old. You're fighting a civil war with yourself. And we're going to see together that that is a lie. And that you are one person, one person in there. And in fact, you've got a go-to place, a core of your being, a go-to place, which is Jesus and you and Jesus and you. And you got a go-to place that you can go to every single moment of the day. It's not long distance phone calls up to heaven.

It's Christ in you and you in Christ and Christ in you and you in Christ. And yes, we're dealing with some learning up here, learning and growing. And there's some stinking thinking that's on its way out and some new thinking that's on its way in. But here you are, no matter what you think, you're in Christ. No matter what you think, Christ is in you. And we're going to talk about this right here. Let's do it. First of all, you know what ID theft is. I mean, identity theft, are you kidding me? It's been a problem forever. I remember back in the 80s, the fear was they would be rummaging through the dumpster out behind your house and they'd get your mail and there'd be credit card statements or any kind of identifying markers. And they'd gather those and next thing you know, they're assuming your identity. It's been stolen. Now today it's a lot more complicated, right? And it's getting worse and worse, I would say. There's fake email addresses from fake people and they want you to just click here and give a little bit of money here. And next thing you know, they got your credit card number and they're off to the races. They're buying new shoes. Identity theft, but it's older than that. It's older than today. It's older than the 80s. It goes all the way back to the garden. In fact, the very first sin involved an identity theft. You know what? You might not be okay, Adam and Eve. You might need something different.

You might not find contentment in God. You might need the knowledge of good and evil. You might need to change your situation. And they were suckered by the sales pitch of religion. And in the process, they died. They lost life. They lost their identity. They were alive physically, but they died spiritually. And so scripture says in Romans chapter five, verse 12, therefore, just as through one man, that is Adam, through one man, sin entered the world and death through sin. And so death spread to all men because all died. All right, look at this. Through one man. How many sins does it take to become a sinner? People say, some people say, you know better, but some people say it only takes one sin to be a sinner. The Bible says it takes zero sins to be a sinner because we are born in sin and we get our identity. from Adam, from our lineage, our heritage. It takes zero sins to be a sinner because we are in Adam. So if God's gonna fix our fix, if God's gonna fix us, He's got to take us out of Adam and put us somewhere else that is beautiful. A new kingdom, new geography, a new place, a new person in Christ. And so that's exactly what it says. Scripture says it is by His doing that you are in Christ Jesus. He transferred us from the kingdom of darkness like a master crane operator. He hoists us out of Adam across a great chasm and He places us in Christ. And now you were unrighteous, you were sinful by birth, and now you are righteous by rebirth. You see that? It has to do with birth, not behavior. And we already get it. The whole world, born sinners. But we don't fully get it. The whole church, born righteous. It's by birth, rebirth, not by behavior. So I want to borrow this book from you, if I may. Can I borrow that? Now imagine we take a book and just one

page out of this book. Let's use this. We got a page out of the book. We fold it up real nice and then we put it inside the book. We seal it up. Now if I were to go out behind this building here and set this book on fire, what would happen to the paper inside? It'd be burned. What if I were to dig a hole out back and bury this book deep in the ground? What would happen to the paper? It too would be buried. Why? Because it's quite simple. The paper is in the book, sealed tight. Now what if I were to take this book and go find a store somewhere here in Irving, Texas, in Las Colinas, I find a store and I raise this book up and I seat it on the highest shelf in that store. What happens to the paper? It too is raised up and seated on that shelf. Now you see where I'm going. This is the gospel. Not just forgiveness, folks. Forgiveness is great. But you were taken out of Adam, you were put in Christ, sealed in Him, and you were crucified with Him, buried with Him, raised with Him, and seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Do you see that? Isn't that beautiful? It's all about who you're in. And so that's what we see here. It's about our inness, geography, as the Realtors say, location, location, location. Out of Adam, into Christ, that's the game-changer. It is by His doing, Paul says, that you are in Christ Jesus. He became to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. He's our life. He's our everything. Now my grandmother, no joke, this is true story, she was late to her own funeral. I kid you not, she was not late a day in her life, but she was late to her own funeral. We sat there, my family, my mom and our extended family, sat there looking at a hole in the ground at the funeral, waiting for grandma's body to be delivered. Now the hearse driver called us and said, you know what, I'm sorry, Mrs. Farley, I, you know, I went north on Route 95 instead of south. I'll be there in another hour. Now it had already been three, and the pastor had begun the service. You don't do that till you have the body. He began the service and at one point he paused and he said, well I just realized I can't continue. He said, I can't commit the body to the ground if there's no body. So we waited and we waited and finally the hearse driver showed up. It was a lady in a pinstripe suit. She popped out brandishing a script in her hand and she said, I'm here and I've got the deceased

and I'm ready to do the ceremony. She was prepared to be the pastor. My mom, her normally calm facade is now showing a few cracks. She turns and says, thank you so much, but we've already got a minister and he's halfway through. Now I got to tell you, that's a true story, and really the wedding, I mean the funeral... It felt like something else, but yeah, the funeral, I mean it really, from there it went off without a hitch, real smooth. But seriously, I ask you this question, I tell you this true story to have you consider. Have you attended your own funeral? Are you late to your funeral? Have you signed your death certificate? Have you recognized that you've been crucified with Christ? Have you counted yourself dead to sin and alive to Jesus? You are allergic to sin and addicted to Christ. The Bible says you're now a slave of righteousness. You ooze the righteousness of God and you can't get away from it. It is your essence, it is your heart, it is who you are, it is your nature, it is not a compartment of you, it is you. The child of God that you are is not one third of you called your spirit, you, all of you is a child of the living God. And so, have you attended that funeral? Have you signed that death certificate? Have you agreed with God? Scripture says in Romans chapter 6, or do you not know? Do you not know about this? That all of us who've been placed into the paper in the book, all of us who've been baptized into Christ, placed into Jesus, immersed into Christ. We have been baptized into his death, therefore we've been buried with him, the paper in the book, buried with him through baptism into death. Not baptism in water, baptism into death. In order that as Christ was raised from the dead, so we too through the glory of the Father,

we too can walk in newness of life. Dead man walking, better than that. You're alive to God, you're not a dead man walking, you're alive. Get busy dying, or get busy living. And the true message is you don't need to kill you every day. There is a morbid flavor of Christianity that essentially teaches us God loves you, God is grace, God is love, but you better kill you every day. You better get rid of you, and they got it on billboards, it's plastered, I've seen it on my trips to West Texas. More of him, less of you. All of him, none of you. Folks that is not the gospel, that is gross. That is rejection. And the true message is much better than a Weekend at Bernie's theology. You know that movie, Weekend at Bernie's. Now Bernie's dead, okay? The mafia killed Bernie, and he is out for good. All right, couple of young guys, they decide they want to have a party at Bernie's house for the weekend. Now they decide the best plan then is to prop Bernie up. You've seen, maybe you've seen the previews of the movie, they prop him up in a convertible, they put a drink in his hand, they prop him up on the sofa, they put sunglasses on him so nobody sees his eyes are shut. They don't know Bernie's dead. The public doesn't. Now the problem is, is that the mafia then thinks that when they killed Bernie it didn't work. So they try to kill him all over again. But Bernie's already dead. You see where I'm going?

Do you have a Weekend at Bernie's theology where you're trying to carry along your old self in sort of a horror movie? You're trying to kill your old self daily? Oh man. That makes for a great horror flick but a horrible way to live the Christian life. We're not living a Weekend at Bernie's theology. Scripture speaks clearly, Colossians chapter 3, you have died, past tense. And now look at you. Your life is hidden with Christ in God. You're in Him and He's in you and you're in Him and He's in you and you're enveloped. You're sealed. When Christ who is our life is revealed then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. So you're probably familiar with the idea you've got to put God first. I don't even know exactly what we're saying there because the truth is greater. You don't put God first. first, Christ is your life. You might realize Christ is your life, but you don't have to make God first. God's already first. And, you know, He's not competing with a bowling ball either. Oh, you love your hobbies too much. You might hear that in church. Have you heard that? Oh, you know, some folks that call into our radio program, they say, well, I was wearing a jersey. I my favorite football team. And the pastor told me I love the NFL too much. And he said, I got idols in my heart. So apparently God is in competition with a football and he's nervous because he's losing the match. And so we start thinking God and family and country. Don't love your family too much. Don't love your job too much. Don't love your sports too much. We've got to get God for like Lucy and Ethel in the chocolate factory. If you've seen that episode, they're trying to arrange all the chocolates and they end up with a mess on the floor and all over their clothes. We're trying to get God first. Let's see there's country and, and, and my occupation and my favorite TV show and movies and sports. I'm trying to get God for, Oh, he slipped into second, get him first again. Christ is your life. It's not that complicated. God is not served by human hands as if he needed anything. Acts says the book of acts says as if he needed anything, he's not up in heaven, sweating it out because you like to do needle point

Christ in you, no matter what you're doing. Christ is your life. Christ is your life. As you enjoy family. Christ is your life. As you're taking the kids to school. Christ is your life. As you're sitting in the workplace, he's not competing. He's already your everything. And so what do we do with this? Die to self, this phrase, die to self. Now, what verse was it where die to sell? Oh, right. None. We made it up. You can Google it for days and we made it up. The phrase die to self is non-existent in the Bible. The closest thing we have is our old self died. That's Roman six, your old self died. Look at you now count yourself alive. Scripture says in Ephesians two, even when we were dead in our sins, God made us alive together with Christ by grace. You've been saved. He raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ. Jesus alive, raised seated. You remember high school or junior high. You're walking into that cafeteria. Maybe for the first time you got your tray. You're hoping to sit somewhere. You're hoping to be welcomed. You're hoping to be accepted in a group. God says this, you got the best seat in the house. You're raised. You're seated. You're clean. You're close. You're at God's right hand, right on his hip. You can't get any closer than one with Christ in him and him and you vine and branches, right? What are we doing? Teaching people that through enough devotions, enough quiet time, enough church attendance, there he is out in the distance. You're getting closer enough. First John one, nine, and enough confession, enough evangelism, enough service, enough dedication. Are you sold out? Are you committed? Are you dedicated? You're getting closer. That is a pitiful gospel. You are one with Jesus. Anyone who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with them. We wrote that in our son's yearbook as a message to him. They said, pick a verse. That was our verse. If I want my son to know one thing, that's it. That through the gospel, he's been made one spirit with the Lord as close as he can get. Our father wants us to know that all of us. So if Jesus made you close, how close are you? If Jesus does everything perfect, then how close are you? And so you think about hardware and software. When I buy a computer, I usually buy it at a store like Best Buy. And one time I remember I brought home the computer, and it was shiny, and it was silver, and it was new. And I paid $1,000 for it. And then within five minutes, it said, I need new software. What? I just bought thing. I need new software. I need a software update. I just got this thing. But that demonstrates the difference between hardware and software. Between hardware and software updates. See, you've got the new hardware, and yet you're experiencing

the renewing of the mind. Those are different things. Stop confusing the two. You have a go-to place in any moment. But if you get confused about the most recent version of software that you're thinking, you start defining yourself by the thoughts instead of defining yourself by the gospel. Christ says you have new, shiny, new, silver hardware. And yet you're learning and growing up here. Ever heard somebody, they're saying the opposite. We've all said it. We've said something like, yeah, let me tell you, I've got it all up here. I just need to get it down here. That's false. Are you a know-it-all? You've got it all up here? I don't. I'm looking at scripture, and it's still jumping out at me after decades. It's still jumping out, and I'm learning, and I'm growing, and I don't have it all up here. But scripture says, I've got it all down here. Do you see it? It's the opposite. And this is why we gather, whether it's a Sunday, or a weekend, or a coffee shop, or a living room, whatever it is, this is why we gather to remind each other of the truth, because we don't know it all. And anybody who says, oh, grace, I got that, they're saying, I got it all up here. And no, sir, you do not. And that's why we need a lifetime to gather it all in the beautiful truth of the finished work of Jesus, because we forget, and then we get reminded. We get discouraged, and then we see again the clarity of the gospel, and we get encouraged. Amen? Thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were entrusted. Who's this written to? To every Christian in Rome, anybody that'll read the letter, look at you, you became obedient. How did that happen? The same way you were a slave of sin, by birth. By birth, you were a slave of sin. By rebirth, you're a slave of righteousness. By birth, you had a wicked heart. By rebirth, you became obedient from the heart. But I don't know about you, I've heard this in church. I've heard things like, and I get it in my email too, I've heard it. You got a wicked heart. You got a deceitful, wicked heart. They quote in the Old Testament, and yet God's saying the opposite. Hello, are we going to factor in the born again experience here? You got Jesus living in a wicked heart? Or did he clean house and move in? You got a wicked heart? They say, prepare your heart for Christmas. Prepare your heart for the table. Or you have to let the cup pass, you might not be qualified. Prepare your heart for Easter. Your heart is not right with God. We're telling Christians this. Maybe we could tell them, hey buddy, your head's not right.

You got some stinking thinking going on there, man. That's your attitude, and that could be changed by the renewing of the mind, by believing the truth. But your heart, let me tell you, if you're born again, oh man, you got a gorgeous heart. The enemy is engaging in a heart attack, the attack on the heart. And he's got half the church or more convinced we're dirty, and we think it's humble. That's what we think. We think it's humble to say I'm dirty and rotten before God. I remember a recent Christian conference, the first speaker got up, his first words literally, God, we are bad, but you are good. But you are good. Okay, so then if you're bad, you're a bad tree which produces bad fruit, but God is good, and he wants you to be good, but you're bad. So this is the Christian life, you're bad, but you got to act good. Oh, that sounds delightful. Jesus says only a good tree can produce good fruit. What's he doing in you? The fruit of the Spirit. Why? Because you're a good tree with a good heart. Now, what about the flesh though? Because we do have an enemy, the flesh is our opponent, but what is the flesh? Because, you know, for the longest time I'd crack open my NIV Bible and it would say sinful nature. Back in the 1980s that term really took off because the NIV Bible really took off and it would say I got a sinful nature and so I thought well I got a new nature but then I got a sinful nature so I got two natures. It's like a white dog and a black dog, I'm going to starve the black dog and feed the white dog and slowly over time I guess I'll get holier, right? You're 50-50, you got an angel on one shoulder, a demon on the other and it's like the cartoons. Now you got a cartoon theology, 50-50 shot when temptation hits. And then I realized okay, actually the word is flesh, not sinful nature, not your nature but something to do with a way of thinking. It's almost like the former policies in the White House. So every four years or every eight years there's a new president in town brought into the White House and what do they do? I mean immediately they get started trying to undo the policies of the former administration, right? That's what the flesh is. See there's a new man, a new self, a new creature in Christ that has moved into the house but

there's former policies, former policies of the previous administration. And so we see here's some policies, some fleshly thinking, Paul says we are the true circumcision, we worship in the spirit of God and we glory in Christ Jesus and we put no confidence in the flesh. What does that tell you? The flesh is a way to be confident, it's a way to be confident. Now furthermore we keep reading it says if anyone could put confidence in the flesh, I could, look at me, look at my resume, circumcised the eighth day, I'm of the right nation, the nation of Israel, I got my members only card, my members only jacket, I'm part of Club Israel and then I'm a Pharisee. As to the law, I'm an expert. As to zeal, I mean I was bashing the church trying to get rid of heresy, I was God's guy I thought. I was a Hebrew of Hebrews, I was of the right tribe of Benjamin and I was as far as righteousness goes, look my friends found me blameless. Now they didn't know about my coveting but they found me blameless at least on the outside. So my resume was spotless and sterling according to the flesh. So you see, that's a way to be confident. Look at me and my accomplishments, look at my bloodline, my heritage, my family line, look at my wealth and my success, look at my accomplishments, look at my achievements, look at my birth, look at my personality, look at everything that I've carved out to be successful. That's the flesh. But it's not your heart and it's not your nature, it's a way to think. It's software, not hardware. You see that? And there are many kinds of flesh, it's like Baskin Robbins, I mean you've got 31 flavors. All kinds of flesh, here's another kind of flesh. You know, we normally think of, you know, flesh is that stinking thinking, that dirty stuff, you know, lying, cheating and stealing and hanging out with people that do.

And that's one flavor. Let me show you another flavor, a religious flavor. Here's religious flesh. God hates religious flesh. Who did Jesus get mad at? The Pharisees. The people that knew they were pitiful and desperate and in need of hope, he was compassionate and kind to. What did God really get angry at? It's the hypocrisy, the religious flesh. Here's a little flavor of flesh out of Galatians 3. Are you so foolish, having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? What's the flesh trying to do there, be bad? What's the flesh doing? It's trying to perfect you, it's trying to grow you. Instead of the Holy Spirit, this would be another way to grow, another way to be perfected. It's called religion, religiosity, self-improvement. See the flesh would love to tell you, just like in the garden, the flesh would love to tell you, you're not okay as you are. We need you on a self-improvement project. And here's the way you do it. Well, we've got to get you into volunteering in this and doing quiet time and accountability group. You can do a small group. We need you giving 10%. We need you. And it's just this big project. So then we talk about what a mess we are, and we think that's grace. I mean, look, I'm all for being transparent, really.

Let's be honest, let's be transparent, let's talk about our struggle. But this idea that grace is you get up and you say, oh man, I'm just a horrible mess of a person, and I just need to be real with it. Okay, you're being honest about your feelings, but guess what? You're not a mess, you're a masterpiece. You are a new creature in Christ. You are awesome. God loves you and likes you, and he made you new. And you are not ugly, you are the fragrant aroma of Jesus to God. God says you smell good. You might think you stink, you might feel like you stink, but you're the fragrant aroma of Christ. So why do we still sin? Stinkin' thinkin', need software updates, policies of the former administration, but that's not who you are. I'm gonna leave you with one more thought as we start thinking about why we still sin. It has to do with a phone tapping. This is another true story. South Bend, Indiana, we got some folks from Indiana here? Yeah, come on, yeah. We got about 10 people from Indiana, I believe. Well, I lived in South Bend, Indiana for five years. Let me tell you, I did not enjoy it, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

God took me out of Indiana and put me in Christ. No, no, no, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Yeah, that was lethal, that was, I love Indiana. I do, I had a good time. But I was burglarized three times. Yes, and, what'd he say? What'd he say? So here's the thing. Not only was I burglarized three times, but there was a phone tapping, true story. We started getting our phone bill, and it was a bunch of calls to Madame Cleo, you know, the psychic? And these calls were at like one o'clock in the morning, so I thought my wife had lost it, okay? And she got the phone bill first. She thought I was the culprit. So we're both looking at each other like, really, you got Madame Cleo? You got something going on there? Finally, we decided to believe each other. We call the phone company, and we say, hey, you guys, look at this bill. You gotta come out, figure this out. So this guy comes out, and he's excited. Like, he's feeling like he's Columbo, or a detective, or Jack Bauer, or something. He's gonna solve it, right? So he comes out, and he's wide-eyed, and he starts investigating the neighborhood,

looking around, and finally he comes back, and he says, I found it, I found it. I said, what? Well, down the street, there's some notches in the phone pole. Somebody's been shimmying up that pole, and they've shaved off the insulation on the phone line. They've been clamping in to your line, and making calls to Madame Cleo. So I'm sitting there thinking, okay, these calls are at one o'clock in the morning. Can you imagine? I mean, what a great test for a psychic. One o'clock in the morning, there you are. If you're such a good psychic, do you know where I am right now? Hangin' on a phone line, hangin' on a phone pole, one o'clock in the morning, patched in. Now, here's what God is trying to tell us. Somebody's tapping your line. They're making calls, and you've been paying the bills. That stinking thinking, that nasty thought that comes at you, you felt guilty, you felt shame, you've taken ownership of that thought. You've said, I can't believe I'm thinking this. What's wrong with me? I'm dirty, I'm perverted, I'm bad, I'm lustful, I'm jealous, I'm envious, I'm bitter. You've been taking in those thoughts, and taking ownership, and then trying to pay for them.

Jesus paid for them, but somebody's tapping your line. It's not you. So scripture says this very clearly. Sin is lurking at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must master it. There's a power of sin called an it, but back in Hebrew, back in Genesis four, it's actually a he or a him. There's a personified power there. Sin is lurking at the door. In the original language, it says, his desire is for you, you must master him. Now, that's Genesis, that's not Jesus, that's Genesis. You go forward, and you see in the New Testament, it says, don't let sin reign. And you spend five minutes in Vine's dictionary for New Testament words, you find there's this power called sin, and it's personified. It's a personified power. You might say it's like a parasite. A parasite is not you, but it's in you. It's in you, but it's not you. And so if you were walking down the beach and you were to get a parasite up in your foot, you might start thinking, man, my foot is killing me. There's something wrong with my foot. You go to a doctor, they say, sure enough. I can't explain it, but we got to amputate. We got to get rid of your foot.

You say, I think I'll get a second opinion. You go to the next doctor. He says, no, no, no, no, no. It's not your foot. There's something in your foot. It's a parasite. Something in you that's not you. Oh, well, that changes everything. So now I don't have to get rid of me or get rid of a piece of me. I see that something is operating through me and it's sending pain messages to my brain. It's in me, but not me. It's a parasite. So look at this, Romans 7. No longer am I the one doing it, but sin which indwells me. You want to know why we still sin? There it is right there on the screen. Why do you still sin as a new creature in Christ? It's not you. It's sin living in you. If I'm doing the very thing I don't want to do, I'm no longer the one doing it, but sin which indwells me. Now, then you get saved. Like this may be Paul as an unbeliever, but then you get saved. Does sin disappear? No.

Sin doesn't die. Get this. Write this down. Mark this. Sin doesn't die, but you die to sin. Sin doesn't die, but you die to sin's power. And so the last verse of the session, here we are. Therefore, what you going to do? What you going to do when sin comes for you? It's a bad boy. Therefore, do not let the parasite reign in your body so that you obey its lusts. Who do the lusts belong to? It. Not you, but it. Don't let it reign in your body to use your body and abuse your body. Don't present your body to the parasite. Present your body to God. My brother has a daughter named Emma. When Emma was a little girl, she was scared to go play in the yard. She was scared because of the dogs next door. They were ferocious. They were big and loud and scary. So my brother decided, okay, here's what I got to do. I got to go to the neighbors and have a talk. And he knocks on their door. They come to the door, and he says, hey, I got a big request of you. Look, I got a young daughter, and she's not able to play in the yard. She's too scared.

Do you have like a schedule where your dogs are in the house part of the day? Maybe when she comes home from school or whatever, could we just have a time where she could play in the yard? And the neighbor says, no, no, I'm sorry. We're not going to be able to do that. That's not going to work for us. So the presence of the dogs was constant, never changed. But my brother got a bright idea. He said, you know what? We're going to build a fence. And so he constructed a four-foot fence around the perimeter of that yard. Now, guess what? Same dogs, same volume, same bark. But now the dogs are all bark and no bite. It's just noise. So he takes little Emma by the hand, and he walks her around the perimeter of the yard. The dogs, you better believe it, they're going after it. They're loud and obnoxious and scary by noise alone. And yet Emma realizes, you know what? I'm safe on this side of the fence. You see it? The enemy can't touch you. You're sealed with the Holy Spirit until Christ returns. You're safe. The enemy hasn't gone away. The power of sin hasn't vanished. Sin has not died, but you have died to sin. And now it's all bark and no bite. It's just lies. So what do we do?

Have you attended your funeral? Have you signed your death certificate? Have you realized your resurrection? Have you seen your righteousness? Do you see how beautiful your heart is? Because now you can be yourself and express Jesus. Count yourself dead to those dogs and alive to your God. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for our identity. We talk about identity like it's just a feel-good doctrine, but it's truth. It's how we live. When temptation hits, who are we? come. Who are we? When we start to doubt because of the software updates we need, we go, am I really saved? Thank you, thank you Father for the truth that you saved us, you transferred us, you made us new. We are righteous by birth, not by behavior. Thank you that we can see clearly now the parasite, the power of sin, working in us but not us. We believe you. Father, we're gonna take this truth and we're gonna use it as a grid to interpret our thought life. We used to think every thought we got was us. We're seeing it, we're seeing it. We are not every thought, we are not the sum total of our thinking, we are the sum total of the cross and resurrection. Thank you, thank you Father. In Jesus name we celebrate, amen.