The Believer's Identity

Q: What does the Bible say about the believer's identity?

The Bible reveals that the believer's identity is rooted in recognizing both their great sin and God's immense grace. The believer's identity is defined by an acknowledgment of their sinful nature and the overwhelming grace of God. As seen in Psalm 36, David describes himself as a servant of the Lord, which emphasizes that even powerful individuals like kings must recognize their position as God's servants. Believers identify with their sinfulness, understanding that they are completely depraved by nature and can do nothing good apart from God's grace. The knowledge of being a servant of God leads to humility and gratitude, recognizing that it is by grace alone that they are saved from their sins.

Q: How do we know God's grace is sufficient for us?

Scripture teaches that God's mercy and faithfulness are unchanging and that they are sufficient for every believer's needs. God's grace is depicted as being higher than the heavens, showing its immeasurable nature. Through the righteousness of Christ, which is like a great mountain—high and unmovable—God's grace is sufficient for believers. The Bible illustrates that mercy is received, not earned, and this mercy flows from God's character as shown in Christ, who fulfilled the law and bore our sins. Therefore, believers can trust in God's promises, as His grace ensures that He will be faithful to forgive our sins and maintain our salvation through His power.

Q: Why is recognizing our sin important for Christians?

Recognizing our sin is crucial as it humbles us and leads to a deeper appreciation of God's grace. The acknowledgment of sin highlights the reality of our depraved nature, which fosters humility among believers. As David observes in Psalm 36, seeing the wickedness in others should lead us to reflect on our own sinful hearts. This recognition of our sinfulness—tied to the doctrine of total depravity—allows us to appreciate God's grace more fully. When we realize that we are no different from the wicked apart from God's intervention, it drives us to rely on His mercy and live a life of gratitude, recognizing that our standing before God is solely based on His unmerited favor.

Q: What does it mean that believers are given a new nature?

Believers are granted a new nature that allows them to live according to God's righteousness through the Holy Spirit. The new nature given to believers is a transformative work of the Holy Spirit, enabling them to live in righteousness and true holiness. Ephesians 4:24 emphasizes this concept, highlighting that believers are to put on the new man created after God. This new identity contrasts with the old man, which remains sinful and prone to temptation. The distinction lies in the new heart and mind that believers receive, allowing them to serve God and live in accordance with His will. Despite the old nature's presence, the new nature gives believers the ability to resist sin and walk in obedience to Christ.

Q: How does God's faithfulness reassure believers?

God's faithfulness reassures believers that He will keep His promises and uphold them in their salvation. The faithfulness of God is a cornerstone of the believer's assurance. As stated in Psalm 36:5, God's faithfulness reaches to the clouds, indicating that His promises are steadfast and unwavering. Believers can trust that God will forgive their sins and keep them from falling. This assurance is not based on their own strength but on God's fidelity to His word and His covenant promises. Through trials and uncertainties, God's faithfulness remains a source of comfort, reminding believers that their salvation is secure in Christ and that He will sustain them until the end.

If you will take your Bibles
in term of me to, uh, the Psalm, Psalm chapter 35. I'm sorry. Chapter 36, Psalm
chapter 36, Psalm chapter 36. And we'll be looking at verses
one through seven this evening. If I can get a little farther,
I will, but I don't think I will. I think one through seven is
all we're going to get. So I pray the Lord be gracious
to bless this to us. Psalm chapter 36, beginning in
verse one. The scripture says, if you read
the title, it says to the chief musician. A Psalm of David, the
servant of the Lord. The transgression of the wicked
sayeth within my heart. that there is no fear of God
before his eyes. For he flattereth himself in
his own eyes until his iniquity be found to be hateful. The words of his mouth are iniquity
and deceit. He hath left off to be wise and
to do good. He deviseth mischief upon his
bed. He setteth himself in a way that
is not good. He abhorreth not evil. Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the
heavens, and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy
righteousness is like a great mountain. Thy judgments are a
great deed. O Lord, thou preservest man and
beast. How excellent is thy lovingkindness,
O God! Therefore the children of men
put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. The title of the
message tonight, The Believer's Identity. The Believer's Identity. The scripture here begins with
this title, the psalm of David, the servant of the Lord. Now
David was not just any man. David was the king of Israel. He was the shepherd of God's
sheep. He was the man that God exalted. He was the man that
God put on the throne over Israel. He was a very important and powerful
man. Yet he recognized this. that
he as a man was the servant of God. The servant of God. He was God's servant. And as
God's servant, he notices in these verses two distinct things. He notices two distinct things. First of all, he notices the
greatness of his sin. And second of all, he notices
the greatness of God's grace, the greatness of our sin and
the greatness of God's grace. This is also the testimony of
every child of God. Every child of God recognizes
themselves to be God's servants. To be God's servants. And if
you're a servant of God, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ,
these are two very important things that you should know. These two things give us the
identity of a believer. Because we identify with these
two things, don't we? Sin and grace. We know these
two things. We know these two things. First
of all, We identify with the wicked. Believers always can
identify with the wicked. Look at this in verse 1. The
transgression of the wicked. This reminds David, as he is
looking out, he is seeing wicked men. And this reminds him as well as us who are servants
of God to know exactly what we are by nature. That man by nature
is completely, utterly, and absolutely depraved by nature. If you remember
in Genesis chapter 6, before the Lord condemned the whole
world under the flood, What did he say concerning man? He said
this, And God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth. Now that speaks to man's action. Man's action. Man's action, man's wickedness
in his actions were great. But not only that, he said every
imagination of the thoughts of the heart was only evil continually. Only evil continually. Well,
pastor, what does that have to do with us? That was a generation
of Noah. No, the generation of Noah was
a reflection of every generation that was after it. It is a reflection
of us by nature. It is a reflection of every son
of Adam. In Mark chapter 7, Jesus tells
us, it's not what goes in a man that defiles a man, but that
which comes out of a man defiles him. Because the heart is defiled. The heart is defiled. So the
actions and wickedness of men, it comes from a wicked and evil
heart. It comes out of the heart of
man. He said, out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, adultery,
fornication, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, an
evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. These actions of evil men are
all framed in the heart of man. And this is evil continually. This is evil continually. Jeremiah said this, the heart
is deceitful above all things. Friends, that's saying a lot.
There's a lot of deceit in this world. There's a lot of things
that are deceptive. But you know what the most deceptive
thing is? A man's heart. A man's heart
is the most deceptive thing. And desperately wicked, who can
know it? Who can know it? In other words,
we can't even know the depth of our own sinful nature. We
can't even fathom the depth of our depravity by nature. The natural mind of man is defiled. The thoughts of his heart are
evil. The will and the affections are
defiled. The imagination of the thoughts
of his heart and the frame of them is evil. So then it may be asked, Is there
not some good in men? Is there not some good mixture?
Somehow, doesn't man do good things? Aren't men doing great
things for other people? In our eyes, yes. In our eyes,
yes. But you know what? Our heart
is deceitfully and desperately wicked. Friends, there is not one good
thought, not one good motive, not one good thing, but always
and only evil continually. That is our nature by birth. That is our fleshly, carnal nature. If a man changes, if a man is
reformed, understand this, he is only changing from one evil
to the other. If a man reforms himself or changes
himself, if he starts doing something and stops doing another thing,
it is only going from one evil to another. He has not changed. If you stop being immoral and
start being moral, you have only changed from an immoral evil
to a moral evil. If a man is reformed in his doctrine,
if he becomes from an Arminian to a Calvinist, if that's all
he's changed is his doctrine and his nature is still the same,
then friends, he is not changed but evil for evil. Unless a man is given a new nature,
a new nature. by the power of the Holy Spirit
through the means of preaching the gospel, the only nature He
has is one that is only evil continually. Romans chapter 3 verse 10 says,
As it is written, There is none, none, none that doeth good, no,
not one. There is none that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after
God. They are altogether become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. All men therefore by nature are
dead in trespasses and sins. This nature that we are born
with is both unwilling and unable to come to God. It cannot please
God. Thinking of a verse in Romans
chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8, it says, because
the carnal mind is enmity against God, verse 7, for it is not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be, so then they that are
in the flesh cannot please God. Cannot. Impossible. Impossible. Why? They are both unwilling
and unable to subject themselves to the law of God. They can't
and they won't. But friends, David was not just
admiring the wicked. He was not just admiring the
wicked and the depravity of their nature, is he? He's not in this text just looking
at the wicked and saying, oh, look how wicked the wicked are
and how good I am. He's not doing that. But rather,
he, here, Does what all saints of God do,
they identify themselves with the nature of the wicked. Look
at this in verse 1 of our text. The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart. The transgression of the wicked
saith not in his own heart, but it says it in mine. David, as he saw the wicked, he saw himself. When David looked upon the wicked,
he saw himself. And he said, their wickedness
says in my heart. Their wickedness spoke to my
heart. Proverbs 27 verse 19. Proverbs 27 and verse 19. The Scripture here says, As in
water, face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man. When you look in a pool of still,
calm water, what do you see? You see you. You see your face. And so it is with the heart.
So it is with the heart of man. to man. When I see their heart,
I see my heart. When I see their wickedness,
I see my wickedness. When I see their sin, I see my
sin. I see my sin. When we look at
others, we should see a reflection of
our own nature. When men are quickened by the
Holy Spirit to faith in Christ, when we have been given a new
nature, a new heart, a new mind, a new will, as it says in Ephesians
chapter 4 and verse 24, he said, put on the new man, which is
after God created, in righteousness and true holiness. We as believers in Christ, we
have a new nature. that has been created inside
of each one of us. But the old nature, the old man
we were born with, did not change at all. Our old nature is just as vile
and as sinful And as depraved as he was before the Lord created
us, in us a new nature. The old man still comes. This old man is still here. He
has not the dominion he once had in us. He doesn't have the
rule that he once had in us. But he is still there. Therefore
the scripture tells us, put him off. mortify him, starve him. But friends, he will not die
until he falls off into the grave. He will not die. Therefore, when we see the unregenerate
man who has no fear of God, friends, we see our own nature. We see ourselves. When man by nature desires something
or seeks after pleasure, does he not have to put aside God
to do it? Doesn't he have to have no reverence
for God to do such evil things? Why do you think men are trying
so hard to get rid of God in everything? So they can do anything
that they want without fear. Without fear. Is that not our nature? Is that
not still the nature that resides in us? How many times have we tried
to put God from our minds so that we can do what we want to? And when we do, is it not because
we don't reverence God? Are we not by nature the same?
Yes. By nature the same. Verse 2,
For he flattereth himself with his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to
be hateful. Is this not the religious self-righteous
man that seeks flattery? Does he not seek flattery of
other men? He wears robes and crowns and
all kinds of pomp and ceremony. And I'll tell you this, when
a natural man can't get the praise of other men, he'll look in the
mirror and give himself praise. He'll flatter himself. Have we not seen this in our
own selves? God help us not to please men,
but to please God. I'll tell you, that should break
our hearts when we try to please others or seek praise for ourselves. But we do. But this is the mind of our flesh. This is the mind of our nature. Is it not pride? to seek flattery
of self, to seek glory for self. Pride is the first and fountain
of all sin, and God hateth a proud look. What does man have to be proud
of? God created man in absolute perfection and holiness and goodness. He put him in the best environment
that could possibly be made by God Himself, that God said, behold,
it is very good. And man in rebellion turned his
head against God and said, I'll have the glory and I'll take
it from you. God has done nothing but good
for man. And man has done nothing but
hate God. Man can do nothing to make himself. Man can do nothing to sustain
himself. He is full of ignorance and darkness
and hatred toward God. He cannot deliver himself from
sin. But rather than run to God, he
runs from God. What a sad condition the human
nature is in. What a sad condition. Saints, are we not prone to this? Do we not also have mouths of
deceit, like it says in verse 3? The words of his mouth are
iniquity and deceit. He had left off to be wise and
to do good. How many times have we left off
to be wise and left off to be good? Friends, we are much like the
wicked in our nature. But I'll tell you this, we are
not to follow after them We are not to compromise the gospel
for them, but we should be humbled when
we look at them. We should see a reflection of
our own self. We, by nature, were children
of wrath, even as in others, ruled by sin, and by nature loved
ourselves rather than God. Believer, when you see the loss,
what do you see? What do you see? We should see ourselves by nature
and it should cause us to be humble. This is the tendency of our nature
when we become religious. When the Lord comes and saves
us, the natural man wants to rise up and says, look, we have
something somebody else doesn't. We should exalt ourselves above
them and look down at the That is not the case. What did Paul
cry? Oh, wretched man that I am. I am. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death, this old man? This old man is not bettered
when we are saved. He is nothing better, but grows
worse. Who then maketh thee to differ
from another, believer? If you see the wicked and see
the reflection of your nature, how is it that you're different?
Who maketh thee to differ from another, or what hast thou, thou
hast not received? And if you've received it, why
do you not act like it? Why do you act? Why do you boast?
If you've received it, why do you boast? Like you haven't received
it, like you've earned it. Why? Who maketh thee to differ? I
thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord. So in the mind, I myself
serve the law of God. Is that not amazing? I myself,
not another, I myself have served the law of God. How? In Christ. I thank God through the Lord
Jesus Christ, I have served the law in my new nature, the new
man. In union with Christ, I have
served the law. But with my flesh, the law of
sin. You see, the flesh didn't change
in Paul. And the flesh didn't change in us. And it doesn't
change. It stays the same constantly.
The only thing that's different is that we've received, we've
received by the grace of God a new holy nature that now rules
in our hearts over the old man. So Paul writes, there is therefore
now. Now. Right now. No condemnation. No condemnation to those who
are in Christ Jesus. And this is the second thing
we as believers identify with. We not only identify with the
old man, we identify with the grace of God. We identify with
the grace and the greatness of God's grace in Christ. Look at
verse 5. Thy mercy. O Lord, is in the
heaven. Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the
heavens. We who are sinners by nature,
sinners ruined and born dead and trespassers in sin, how then
do we, how then are we able to stand before a just God? How
is it that we who are believers, we have peace with God? How is
it now that our sins are gone before the eyes of God? How is
that? Thy mercy, O Lord. Friends, mercy is not something
we earn, it is something that is given. If you seek to earn
mercy, you are not seeking mercy. You are not seeking mercy. Mercy
is something received but undeserved. It is something received but
undeserved. Thy mercy. Where is God's mercy? How is it that we have God's
mercy? Thy mercy is in the heavens.
Who is in the heavens? Is it not the Lord Jesus Christ
who sits on the throne of God? Is He not in the heavens ruling
all things after the counsel of His own will? Friends, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the law that we despised, He fulfilled. The God we did not reverence,
He reverenced. The words of our mouth were deceit,
but His words were truth. His words were life. We flattered ourselves, but He
humbled Himself. We put off wisdom and goodness,
He is wisdom and goodness. He is wisdom and goodness and
He only served God. We abhorred good and loved evil. He abhorred evil and loved good. And yet in mercy, He took our
sins and our guilt as it was imputed by the Father to Himself
and bore all the wrath of God for our sins. Hebrews 12, verse
2 says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
Who gives us faith? Who is the author of our faith?
Christ. Christ is the author of our faith.
Why would we brag about faith? Faith is something that's given
to us so that we may receive. Jesus Christ is the author and
finisher of our faith. Who for the joy set before Him
endured the cross, despising the shame. and is sat down on
the right hand of God. The joy of Christ that was set
before Him was God's glory and the salvation of His people.
That's the joy of Christ. He said in Proverbs chapter 8,
He said, My delight is among the sons of men. Christ delights in saving His
people. This was not something He begrudged.
This is something He did willingly for us. He willingly came down from heaven.
He willingly took our nature, excluding sin, so that He might
provide a righteousness that God will accept. And look at
verse 6. Thy righteousness is like the
great mountains. In mercy He came to provide our
righteousness. The righteousness of God is like
the great mountains. It's too high for men to obtain
and too big for them to move. It's too high to obtain and too
big to move. That's the righteousness of God.
You'll never obtain it by your works. And you know what? You'll never move God's bar of
righteousness either. God's bar of righteousness is
perfect and you'll never move it down. How many times do we
try to move the bar down? When we went to the park, they
had these signs that had a line and said, you know, you had to
be so tall. And sometimes Andrew would try to tiptoe. He would
try to move himself to meet the bar. But that didn't change the bar.
The bar was the same. God's righteousness is so high
that none could obtain it. So big that none can move the
bar. How then can we obtain righteousness
who are free from righteousness? Only by imputation and impartation. Let me show you this in Scripture.
Go to Romans chapter 3. This is a very interesting thing.
Words are very important in Scripture. It's good to sometimes look them
up. Romans chapter 3. And you know this very well.
Look at verse 21. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifest. being witnessed by the Law and
the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ." Now notice this, unto all and upon all. Now why does he use two different
words here? Because they have two different meanings. The word
upon all could definitely mean to enter into. to enter into. That is imparted
righteousness by the new nature. When Christ comes and creates
a new nature, He gives us the righteous nature of God. That's
why we are partakers, Peter said, of the divine nature. Because
it's imparted to us. And upon all. This word has to
do with resting on. Imputation. It's imputation. God imputed righteousness to
us. He charged righteousness to our
account. That's what it is. When? In Christ, before the world began. He charged to our account perfection. Before the world began. And Christ
accomplished it in time. And it was revealed to us when
he came by his spirit. His righteousness. imputed and
imparted to us by the free grace of God. Therefore, for all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, whom God has set forth to be the propitiation through
faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for the remission
of sins that are past. through the forbearance of God,
to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness, that He might
be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus."
Christ has, by His own merit, obtained righteousness for us. And not only obtained it for
us, imputed it to us, and imparted it to us by faith in the new
nature. Now, there's no difference by
nature between us and anyone else. But what's the difference? The new nature. The new nature
that was given to us by grace and not by merit. Where then
is boasting? It's excluded. You forget about
that. If you have salvation by grace,
there is no boasting. Not in ourselves. There's only
boasting in our God. for His great grace. And we also
identify with God's faithfulness. Look at that back in our text.
Not only His mercy toward us in sending His Son, not only
in righteousness by His Son providing it for us, but also His faithfulness
to keep us. Thy faithfulness reaches unto
the clouds. Believer, because of His grace,
because of the redemption of Christ, God will be faithful
to give us all His promises. All His promises. He will be faithful to forgive
you of all your sins. If any man say he had not sinned,
he makes God a liar. Isn't that what John said? If
we say that we're without sin, we don't know Him. We don't know
Him. We have no part with Him. But
if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins. Do you need forgiveness? I do.
Every second of every day, I need His forgiveness of my sins. And you know what? He's faithful
to do it. I know that for a fact. It's a promise that God is faithful.
He is faithful to keep us from falling. The Jew said unto him
that is able to keep thee from falling. Praise God that we do
not have to keep ourselves from falling. Praise God, He we are
kept by the power of the Holy Spirit until He comes for us. He is faithful to be with us.
He said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. And lastly, we see that God's
judgments are deep. What is this saying? This is
talking about God's decrees and God's providence. This is a great
deep. This is a great deep. How deep is it for us to fathom
that God would choose us? Now, if you think a lot of yourself,
that's not very deep, is it? But if God show you your seeing.
You'll see how great, how deep his judgment, how deep his decree
was to love us from eternity. To love us. How deep are God's providences? by even our own experience. We
could look at the Word of God and you could see how deep God's
providences are. How He moves all things after
the counsel of His own will. How He is determined to use everything
for the salvation of His people. How deep is that? And then when
we see the circumstances, we don't understand why this is
happening. We should just believe God and
trust God to do what is right. Don't look at the circumstances
to judge God's providence. Remember that song we sang on
Sunday where it says that behind every frowning, there's a smile
of God. Behind every frowning providence,
there's a smile of God. Believer, God doesn't hate you.
And God's not doing anything that's not good for you, including
showing us who we are. That's painful, isn't it? That
hurts. But in doing that, we see how
great he is to save us from our sins. In the last verse it says,
How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children
of men put their trust under the shadow of his wings. How
excellent is his love for us! How excellent is it for God to
be gracious to us when there was no difference between us
and anyone else. Therefore, we gladly hide ourselves
under His wings. We gladly trust Him for all our
salvation, all our help, all our goodness, all our mercy. We trust His faithfulness and
we trust His providence. I pray that God bless this to
our hearts. Let's stand and we'll be dismissed in prayer.

The Believer's Identity

What does the Bible say about the believer's identity?

How do we know God's grace is sufficient for us?

Why is recognizing our sin important for Christians?

What does it mean that believers are given a new nature?

How does God's faithfulness reassure believers?

Sermon Transcript

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The Believer's Identity

What does the Bible say about the believer's identity?

How do we know God's grace is sufficient for us?

Why is recognizing our sin important for Christians?

What does it mean that believers are given a new nature?

How does God's faithfulness reassure believers?

Sermon Transcript

About Fred Evans

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