Derek Prince - What Is Our Identity?
This is an excerpt from: Complete Salvation And How To Receive It - Part 2
We're continuing now with the theme 'Complete Salvation and How To Receive It.' In the previous session I explained that salvation is not just having your sins forgiven, though that's marvelous. It's not even just being born again but it's a full ongoing process. The word used in New Testament Greek for 'to save' also is used for all the other benefits that come to us through Christ's sacrifice on the cross. For healing, for deliverance from demons, for raising the dead, and, for keeping us through this world and to life eternal in the next.
I pointed out that the Bible is the only book that reveals the real cause of human problems and it's the only book which offers a solution. The cause is sin and the remedy is a sacrifice. There's no other remedy for sin but a sacrifice. But the final all sufficient sacrifice for sin took place when Jesus died on the cross. When He cried, 'It is finished,' it was finished. From then on it is perfect. Perfectly perfect, completely complete. I pointed out that one way to view and understand what was accomplished by the death of Jesus on the cross is contained in the word exchange. On the cross a divinely ordained exchange took place in this sense, that God visited upon Jesus all the evil that was due by justice to us, that in return God might make available to us all the good that was due to the perfect sinless obedience of Jesus.
Or, more simply, the evil came upon Jesus that the good might be offered to us. And then we worked through briefly eight aspects of this exchange. I think it would help us to recapitulate them briefly before we go further. I don't know whether you appreciate fully the benefits of repeating out loud the things that you want to believe. We'll come to this later on in this message. But it's an interesting fact that where English says 'to learn by heart,' Hebrew says 'to learn by mouth.' Each is true.
You see, if you want a thing in your heart, keep saying it with your mouth. If you have something in your heart it will come out in what you say in your mouth. The two go together, each is one part of the total process. So that if you do believe something, the more you affirm it the more you believe it. And the more you believe it the more you'll affirm it. On the other hand, unfortunately the opposite is true. If you don't affirm it you'll cease to believe it. And if you cease to believe it you'll soon cease to affirm it.
So, we're caught up in one or other of two spirals. Either the positive spiral of believing and affirming or the negative spiral of not affirming, and ceasing to believe. So let's be in the positive spiral again and let's go through the eight aspects of the exchange. I'm going to ask you to be good enough to use your hands. All right?
Again, this seems childish but Jesus said you have to become like a little child to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And even the fact that we make an action is significant. That great evangelist of the previous generation, Smith Wigglesworth, used to say faith is an act. If you believe you've got to do something.
As a matter of fact, being a Yorkshireman he didn't say faith is an act, he said faith is a hact. There was a situation I always like to tell this story when he was preaching and pressing this truth home to the people. and they weren't responding so there was another minister there who happened to be a teacher of elocution. He said to this other brother, 'Brother, they're not hearing it, they need to hear it twice. So whatever I say on this side of the platform, you say on that side of the platform.'
So Smith Wigglesworth said, 'Faith is a fact.' And this man said, 'Faith is an act.' You see, they got it both ways. So, there is an act that expresses faith. Now, we're going to use the left hand for the evil, the right hand for the good. I think if I say the first half you'll be able to say the second half with me. If you can say the first half, that's good. Jesus was punished that we might be forgiven. Jesus was wounded that we might be healed. Jesus was made sin with our sinfulness that we might be made righteous with His righteousness. Jesus died our death that we might share His life. Jesus was made a curse that we might receive the blessing. Jesus endured our poverty that we might share His abundance. Jesus bore our shame that we might share His glory. Jesus endured our rejection that we might have His acceptance.
Now I want to go on with another word which I have found helps people to lay hold of this sacrifice of Jesus. We've looked at the word exchange, now I want to offer you the word identification. To identify with somebody means to make yourself one with somebody, to put yourself in that person's place. I believe that on the cross a double identification took place with two aspects. First of all, Jesus as the last Adam identified Himself with the whole Adamic race and took every evil that was due to us, and died to pay the penalty for our sins. That's one side of the identification. Salvation comes when we respond with another identification.
We identify ourselves with Jesus in His death, His burial, His being made alive, His being resurrected, and His being enthroned. That's when we enter into what He's provided. He has made the identification, that's finished. But we appropriate as we identify ourselves with everything that came to Him from death onwards.