PART I
The Importance of Knowing
Who You Are in Christ
For he received from God the Father honor and glory when there came such a voice
to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount.
2 Peter 1: 17-18
Apart from understanding eternal life and the extent by which we are reconciled to and have relationship with God, there is no more important truth than knowing who you are in Christ. This verse of scripture from 2 Peter (above) is so very powerful when trying to convey the importance of knowing exactly who we are in Christ. The Bible says that Jesus received honor and glory from the Father when the voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
In other words, the Lord Jesus received the honor and glory from God by believing who God said He was. Jesus knew that the word of God is the only authority by which you should know who you are and what God has destined for you. Our identity doesn’t come from our parents, teachers, circumstances, or other people, or even from our own “self-image”, but directly from God’s mouth. That’s why Jesus said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. [Matthew 4: 4]
Therefore, if Jesus received honor and glory from God by believing who God said He was, then we should seek to learn what God has said about us in His word. As the Bible teaches, God’s word is a mirror that reveals who we really are in Christ. Yet although people have read God’s word, they are not walking in these truths. I hear what comes out of many Christians’ mouths, and their words are in direct contradiction to what God has already established through His word. I even hear some preachers and other Christians identifying themselves as “sinners” and even the oxymoron “sinner saved by grace.”
These ridiculous claims reflect the truth that many Christians have no idea who they are in Christ. The Bible says that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. [2 Corinthians 5: 17] This scripture teaches that we were sinners before receiving Christ, and after receiving Him, we became new creatures. If we were sinners before receiving Christ, and if the prevalent thinking were true, what new thing have we become—a new sinner? Even when we use common sense, it’s easy to see how ridiculous this claim is. Instead of listening to what man has taught over the years, the Lord impressed upon me to begin searching the Bible for answers concerning who we are in Christ.
CHAPTER 1
A SOLID FOUNDATION
But let every man take heed how he builds thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:10-11
The first important truth the Lord has shown me is that the foundation of our lives in Christ exists only when we know our true identities in Christ. Therefore, if we have not fully comprehended and believed what the Bible teaches concerning who we are in Christ, we have not established a strong foundation, but one that is weak and subject to being ruined when any storm arises.
This is what the Lord was teaching when He said, Why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever comes to me, and hears my saying, and does them, I will show you to whom he is like. He is like a man who built a house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock; and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it; for it was founded upon a rock. But he that hears, and does not, is like a man that without a foundation built a house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great. [Luke 6:46-49]
Many Christians haven’t considered this passage to be a teaching about our identities in Christ, but it is. Jesus is teaching us about the difference between being a doer of the word and a hearer only. A person who both hears and acts upon the word of God has built his house upon a rock; while the hearer only has built his house upon earth or sand.
James taught the same principle in his epistle and described the person who hears the word only as having deceived themselves. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholds himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what manner of man he was. [James 1:22-24]
As the Scripture says, one who hears the word only—and does not act upon it—has deceived himself in the same way we deceive ourselves by looking at our flesh—our natural faces—in a mirror and believe this is an accurate reflection of who we are. Furthermore, this deception is linked to forgetting what manner of man the word said he was, which indicates that the word of God tells us who we really are in Christ, but these truths are forgotten or perhaps more accurately, they are simply not believed.
The next verse in this passage proves this point. But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. [James 1:25]
In his second letter to the Corinthian church, the apostle Paul also taught that we should see ourselves as being in Christ’s image, using the same metaphor of looking into a mirror. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. [2 Corinthians 3:18] As James wrote and as I will discuss later in chapter 10 “The True Mirror”, the mirror James and Paul are referring to is the word of God.
Therefore, the person who does not fully understand what the word of God teaches concerning his or her identity in Christ, they have, as the Lord taught, built their house without a foundation. (Luke 6:49) The apostle Paul wrote, According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds thereon. But let every man take heed how he builds thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. [1 Corinthians 3:10-11]
Paul is teaching that through the gospel, he had laid the foundation of the truth in Christ as it relates to our identities. We see this because in verse 16 of this passage, after Paul explains what happens to what we have built upon the foundation (reward or burned), he connects the foundation to this truth: Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He takes the wise in their own craftiness. [1 Corinthians 3:16-19]
Once again, the Bible teaches that when a person fails to realize and walk (hear and do) in the truth of their identity in Christ, they have deceived themselves (see James 1:22). Defiling the temple of God isn’t limited only to our actions, but we can defile the temple of God with words that are contrary to it. For example, as this passage teaches, you, as a Christian, are the temple of God; and the temple of God is holy; and therefore, you are holy. But if you consider yourself to be nothing but an old sinner, your words are defiling the temple of God.
The words of our Lord Jesus support this principle as well as it is written, But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. [Matthew 15: 18]
It is also written, And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity; so is the tongue among our members, that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. [James 3: 6]
Our natural sense of logic tells us, “You’re not holy. Every day you do something that amounts to sin. That’s not what a holy person does.” This logic is part of the wisdom of the world because it focuses entirely upon natural truths, while God’s wisdom contained in the word of God speaks spiritual truths, which seem to be foolish in comparison to worldly wisdom. Nevertheless, as it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. [1 Corinthians 1: 19, 27]
Using natural wisdom, it may seem foolish to claim that you are holy, righteous, and full of goodness, but praise God that He desires that we become fools so that we may be wise according to God’s wisdom.
As I will continue to teach throughout this book, the only foundation we can build our houses upon is the truth of our identities in Christ, as it is written, Christ in you; the hope of glory. [Colossians 1:27] This is the mystery that had been hid from ages and generations, but now has been made manifest to his saints [Colossians 1:26] but unfortunately, many Christians have not opened their eyes to this truth, which explains why most Christians see themselves as ungodly sinners; live in defeat, sickness, and other rewards of the wicked. Only by understanding and walking in the truths of what the Bible teaches about who you are in Christ—in the spirit (not in the flesh) will you even begin to realize the extent of your inheritance in Christ Jesus.
In order to fully understand the importance of knowing who God says we are, we must first examine an incident where failure occurred as a result of not knowing who God says we are, and also, we will examine an incident where someone was victorious because they knew and believed who God said he was. These incidents are so strikingly similar that it would be difficult to misunderstand. One doesn’t have to turn very many pages in the Bible to find a failure in the bodies of Adam and Eve.
Chapter 1--A Solid Foundation
