We are going to look at identity today.  We call it identity.  The scriptures call it Sonship.  We talk a lot about identity.  We say you’ve got to know your identity.  You’ve got to know who you are, and whose you are.  Amen!  All those things are true.  I believe all those things.  I’ve said all those things.  But why is there power in Sonship?  Why is there power in being the children of God?  How can we walk in the power of our identity. 

A lot of what I learned about identity and what it means to be a child of God wasnt exactly built on the foundation of Christ and Him crucified.  I would say there was a lot of wood, hay, and stubble there.  It left me in the place where I was like one of the three little pigs.  You know the one whose house was made with straw, and the big bad wolf huffed and puffed and blew their house down.  

As my good friend Rick Sarver says there was some relief in what I learned.  I knew I was beautiful to God.  But, for some reason, the devil still had something in me.  He was still able to torment me with lack and condemnation.  I knew God wasnt judging me for my sin.  But I was still being tossed to and fro.  Never finding stability in my life, and never understanding why.  Then one day as I was lamenting with God.  I heard God say have you considered the resurrection lately Greg?  Have you considered the life that manifested in Jesus when I raised him from the dead by my Holy Spirit, the Spirit of My Life. 

The power behind Sonship comes from identifying with the resurrected Jesus.  The power in our identity as sons and daughters of God is found in possessing the life of the Father.  The definitive mark, or seal of Sonship is to possess eternal life.  It’s the presence of eternal life that persuades our hearts of our identity.  Its the presence of eternal life that persuades our hearts God is our Father, and causes us to abide in His love.  

When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus as a dove.  The scripture says in that same moment the Father said “You are my beloved Son in whom I’m well pleased.  The Father said Jesus was His beloved Son, and when He spoke those words His breath; the breath of His life; the Holy Spirit came out of Him and descended on Jesus.  The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Life.  It was the Spirit of life that declared Jesus to be the Son of God.  Paul says in Romans 1 that Jesus was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.  

When you think of what makes you someone’s son or daughter its all about where your life came from.  Growing up I knew I was Larry and Denise’s son.  My life came from them, my life was wrapped up in them.  When I thought of my life, I didn’t think of the life my friend had.  I didn’t think of his house and what he had there, because my life came from Larry and Denise, and their house.  That’s what made me their Son.  The strength for me to walk in my identity as the son of Larry and Denise is I could see my life came from them and was found in their house.  The reason I came to them and their house everyday to eat and to sleep, and to find care was because I saw my life came from them.  

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2  The same was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Joh 1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
Joh 1:5  And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
Joh 1:6  There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
Joh 1:7  The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
Joh 1:8  He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
Joh 1:9  That was the true Light, which lights every man that comes into the world.
Joh 1:10  He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
Joh 1:11  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
Joh 1:12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Joh 1:13  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

John is drawing on the spirit of Genesis 1 here.  Just as Genesis 1 begins by saying God, the chief of all creation.  John begins by making the point that the chief of all things; that which created all things, and gave all things life, put on human flesh.  

John says, in Jesus was life, and the life that was in Jesus was the light of men.  The life the Father has in Himself, came in the flesh, it manifested in Jesus, and that life was the light of mankind.  John follows that up a few verses later by saying Jesus is the light that lights up every person that comes into the world.  And for all those who will receive him, he will give them power to appear as the Sons of God.  

Jesus is the light that lights up every person who comes into the earth.  The life that manifested in Jesus declares to all people they have an inheritance, and the Father is their inheritance.  In Jesus we see the Fathers life in human flesh.  We see the eternal life that is in the Father has been loosed on all flesh.  The Father has stretched forth His hand towards all people to anoint them with His life.  He has a sinless life.  A life that is perfected from death.  The Father has a life that cannot be overcome by the world or the sin and death in the world, and He is come in the flesh, to give you of Himself, His most precious gift, His life.  The Father shed His blood for you.  He entered into corruption for you.  He entered into the depths of our sin stained life, so He can make Himself and His life manifest in the body of Jesus’ resurrection, and offer His life to you as a gift free from your works.  Grab ahold of that life.  It’s yours.

John says all those who receive Jesus.  Receive means to grab ahold of.  All those who grab ahold of Jesus.  All those who believe on the testimony the Father has given in Jesus, and call upon His name for life.  Those who allow God to surname them.  Who believe on the goodness of the Father, and come home to their inheritance.  Those who lay down the life the world has given them, and receive the gift of the Father himself, and lay hold of the life He gave them freely in Jesus.  They shall receive strength to appear as the Sons of God.  

The word become means to appear.  Appearing as the Sons of God talks about the glorification of our mortal bodies.  It talks about being filled with  the grace of Christ now.  It talks about treading on serpents now.  It talks about walking in the power of Sonship now.  The strength to appear as the Sons of God is found in possessing the life of the Father.  The power of Sonship is contained in identifying with the life that is in the Father, the same life that manifested in the body of Jesus’ resurrection.  The power to walk in your identity as the children of God is found in considering yourself dead to the life thats contained in the things of the world, and considering yourself alive to God, and the life He has Himself. 

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Rom 8:15  For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Rom 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

The way you suffer with Jesus is by partaking with him in the faith that was in his heart as he was being crucified.  

The Spirit adopts us.  The Spirit leads us to the place where our hearts cry out Abba.  The Spirit leads us to the place where we know that we know God is our Father, and we go to rest in His love.  The Spirit testifies to our spirits that we are the children of God.  How does the Spirit do that?  The Spirit testifies to us that we have inherited God.  The Spirit tells us we have inherited the life of the Father; the same life that manifested in the body of Jesus’ resurrection.  The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Life.  The Holy Spirit testifies to our hearts that our life is from above.  The Spirit testifies to our hearts that the life we possess in these earthen vessels is from the Father of Lights in heaven.  The Spirit testifies to us that our lives are not born of the strength of the flesh, or the will of man, or the things of this world; they are born of the Father and the life He has in Himself.  We have the Spirit that adopts us; that corrals us into the life of God.  The Spirit testifies to us that God Himself abides in us; that the seed of Gods incorruptible life abides in us.  The Spirit shows us God has anointed us with His life, a life that overcomes death in the flesh, and that causes us to walk in the power of Sonship.  

When we say we are the children of God we are declaring something about our life, and where it comes from.  We are declaring our life isn’t earthy.  We are saying our life isn’t born of dust.  Its not born of this world or the things or the happenings of this world.  When we say God is our Father we are declaring our life is made up of a heavenly substance, the self same substance that is in the Father Himself; that overcame sin and death in the flesh of Jesus.  

The power that was supplied to Jesus as he walked this earth was on account of the life he shared with the Father from the beginning being lifted up in his heart instead of the deadness and corruption he saw in the world.  The power to walk in Sonship is derived from your sight being filled with the immortality that came to light in Jesus.  We can see the same life Jesus saw as he walked in this world.  We can say the same thing Jesus said when he said he was from above.  

Prayer: