As we come into our tenth sermon on the first seven verses of Paul’s letter to the Roman believers, I want us to press pause for a few minutes to survey the treetops of where we have been so far. Our commitment has been to study these verses, phrase-by-phrase, as we chased each theological theme throughout the book of Romans, and into Paul’s other letters, and extending into the rest of the Bible, and then applying what we have learned to our lives in respect to our identity in Christ Jesus.

We noticed, in this study, how Paul wrote these opening verses as a chiasm, where he described his own identity in verses 1 – 2, the identity of Jesus in verses 3 – 4, and then the identity of those who became obedient to the faith including the Romans in verses 5 – 7. We know that the very center of that chiasm is the resurrection of Jesus, and that both Paul, and the Romans, and every believer for that matter were designed to see ourselves through the center of the resurrection of Jesus where all our enemies were defeated once and for all, cementing our identities in Christ for all eternity.

In terms of our identity, we surveyed things such as what it means to have the identity of a servant of Christ Jesus, to be called by God, to be set apart by God, to be marked by the promised gospel, to put on the person and work of the Godman – Jesus – and to have his obedience as our obedience by faith. We have also woven into the storyline, instances of how we struggle to live in this newfound identity, namely because of the image we see in the mirror of our proverbial soul.

We recognize that there is a very real enemy, one who does not want us to live in the transformation that is ours in Christ Jesus; the enemy is very happy to have us living out of a distorted and broken image of who we are in Christ. He works overtime as he whispers lies into the dark places of our hearts and our minds, to keep us distant from God so that we do not walk in the power that has been offered to us in the work of Jesus at that bloody cross and empty tomb.

The bottom line is this: we have been engaged in a study that is designed to realign our hearts and our minds with the image of God that is being restored in us. The broken pieces of our stories are literally being re-storied (restored) as we lean into what it means to have the identity of Jesus become more fully formed within us.

So, with that brief review in place, we can now turn our attention to the text we will focus on for today in verse 6 where after explaining that Jesus – the Godman – gave gracious spiritual gifts to us to advance the gospel to the ends of the earth so that people from every tribe, tongue, and nation would come to obedience of faith, Paul now says that all of this includes “you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ”.

1Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among the nations, 6including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, 7To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Simply stated, if you belong to Jesus Christ, then you have been included in this brand-new identity and you have been included in this mission to see everyone come to obedience of faith to the ends of the earth. And even as I explain this, I am reminded that this will be the third time in this series that we have focused on this theological truth, that you and I belong to God by faith in Christ and his work at that bloody cross and empty tomb.

The third time! The first time we studied this truth was back in verse one where we discovered what it means to be set apart to belong to God and to be owned by nothing the enemy throws at us. The second time, Patrick led us into thinking about what it looks like to not allow any squatters to claim any right over the house of our lives, because God is the owner of our lives.

I am convinced that if the Lord led us back to this for a third time, then we really need to pay attention! There is still more for us to uncover as it pertains to what it means to belong to God as his newly ransomed, redeemed, adopted, beloved sons and daughters in Christ Jesus. So, for the third time, we get to dive into examining the squatters, the devices of the enemy, the chains of bondage, the bars of the jail cells, the slave owners that have attempted to keep their hold over our lives even though we do not belong to them any longer.

We get the opportunity today, to reintroduce that little kid deep within the dark hallways of our souls, to the truth that we belong to Jesus! And the way I want to get after this today is to simply combine the three circles of context we have been using over the last few weeks and just highlight a list of concrete biblical truths from the entire Bible – including more of Romans – regarding what it means to belong to God.

#1: SAVED – REDEEMED

The first thing I want us to see is that belonging to God means that we are saved or redeemed. Ephesians 2:4 – 5 says that “God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved”.

Likewise, Ephesians 1:7 – 8 says that “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight”. This is who you and I are in Christ Jesus – our identity is this: we are saved and redeemed; therefore, we belong to God, and nothing else gets to claim ownership over us.

#2: FORGIVEN

Secondly, belonging to God means that we have been given the identity of being forgiven children. Psalm 103:11 – 12 says that “as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him; [and] as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us”.

The forgiveness that God gives to us as our new identity, is the kind of forgiveness that totally wipes the slate of our sins completely clean. There is no memory of them, no smudges or smears on the clothing of our souls, and no list of wrongdoings in God’s mind because we are forgiven in Christ Jesus.

#3: ADOPTED

We have also been adopted in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:14 – 15 says that “all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’”

Fear has no claim over you whatsoever, because you have been released from slavery as an adopted child of God; your adoption from the pawnshop of Satan, Sin, Death, and the Flesh, that adoption, was signed sealed and delivered by work of Jesus at that bloody cross and empty tomb. You belong to God because you are adopted – that is your identity!

#4: JUSTIFIED – ACQUITTED

Another aspect of our identity as it pertains to belonging to God, is the truth of our justification, our acquittal of any guilt. Romans 5:1 says that “since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”. Likewise, Romans 8:33 – 34 says, “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died – [and] more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us”.

When that little kid in the dark basement of your soul tries to remind you of your sins – past, present, or future – or the sins of others that have left their mark on you, you need to love that kid enough to remind him that your new identity as a blood bought child, who belongs to God, is the identity of one who is justified and acquitted.

#5: SANCTIFIED

How about the fact that you have been sanctified? In 1 Corinthians 6:11, Paul reminds his listeners that even though we once were unrighteous, filthy, condemned to eternal separation from God, we are now “washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God”. Belonging to God means that we have this newfound identity in that we are now sanctified, as Hebrews 10:14 teaches, that “by a single offering he [Jesus] has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified”.

In Christ Jesus, you belong to God, you are sanctified (perfect) and you are being sanctified (cleansed daily), and you will be completely sanctified (perfected for all eternity in heaven). This is your identity right now! Any voice that tells you different, is a liar and an imposter that you should never listen to.

#6: A NEW CREATION

What about the fact that we are new creations? 2 Corinthians 5:17 says that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come”. Your identity as one who belongs to God is that of a new creation. Your old self – even when he rears his ugly head in your behaviors and your performance – has been put to death in Christ, and you have been recreated into a new creation.

This is who you are – a new creation – regardless of your broken and sinful performance issues; your only responsibility is to live out of your newfound identity as a new creation in Christ Jesus.

#7: SET FREE

We have also been set free! John 8:36 says that “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed”. Likewise, Romans 8:2 says that “the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” just as Galatians 5:1 underscores that “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery”. In Christ, you are set free. That is your new name; your new identity.

A slave does not have the identity of one who is free. The enemy would like to keep you as his slave; he does not want you to live as one who belongs to God and has been set free. He will work overtime to steal your fruit, kill your desire for God, and destroy your identity with his lies. You and I must constantly remind ourselves that in Christ, we are set free to belong to God.

#8: RIGHTEOUS

How about the truth that we are righteous? 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”. Likewise, Philippians 3:9 says that with Paul we can proclaim that we have been “found in him [in Christ], not having a righteousness of my own that comes from [obeying] the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith”. If you belong to God, your new identity is simply righteous or perfect – anything less than that or contrary to that is a lie from the pit of hell.

#9: BELOVED

It is also important to remember that we are beloved. 1 John 3:1 says, “See what kind of love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God”. Likewise, in 1 John 4:10 we learn that “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins”, and furthermore in 4:19 we read that “We love because he first loved us”. In Christ, we are beloved, not hated. Beloved, not overlooked. Beloved, not alone. Beloved, not rejected. Beloved, not abandoned. Beloved, this is who we are as those who belong to God.

#10: DELIGHTFUL

How about delightful? This is probably a tough one, right? Psalm 18:19 reminds us that with David we can proclaim that God has “brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me”. You and I are a delight to God! Isaiah 62:4 confirms this when he says that “You shall no more be termed [named] Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed [named] Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her”. In Christ, as one who belongs to God, you are delightful; that is your new name, your new identity!

#11: EMPOWERED

What about empowered? How often do you think of yourself as empowered? 2 Timothy 1:7says that “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control”. Ever feel weak? Weakness is not who you are. Who you are is empowered – powerful! Just as Romans 8:11 says that “if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you”. Likewise, Galatians 4:6 says that “Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out ‘Abba, Father.’”

When the enemy, along with the voice of that little kid in the basement of your soul, tries to convince you of your weakness, you need to proclaim that your new identity – your new name – is empowered as one who belongs to God!

#12: DANGEROUS

How about this, have you ever stopped and thought about how dangerous you really are? Most of us do not see ourselves as dangerous. This is why Charles Spurgeon said that “The Christian is a holy terror to the kingdom of Satan. If you do not wish to be a threat to hell, remain a stagnant Christian”.

Old Spurgeon said these things based on Matthew 16:18, where Jesus says, “on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” as well as Ephesians 6:11 – 12 which says “Put on the full armor of God [which means to put on the identity that is ours in Christ], that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil [as he primarily attacks your identity on the daily]. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places”.

You and I, in our identity as those who belong to God, we are a major threat to the kingdom of hell – you are dangerous! Do you believe that?

#13: TREASURED

How about treasured? Do you really believe that you are treasured? Exodus 19:5 says, “if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant (for us, the new covenant of faith in Christ), you shall be my treasured possession”. Or how about Deuteronomy 7:6, which says, “you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession” and then further on in 26:18, we read that “the Lord has declared today that you are a people for his treasured possession, as he has promised you”.

What more do we need other than God’s Word specifically calling us treasured? What other word do we need? Better yet, why do we listen to any other word that tells us anything different – especially when it is that familiar voice of our own from deep within the broken places in our souls? Hear God’s Word to you: You are treasured!

#14: BEAUTIFUL – DESIRABLE

Here is one that is probably even more difficult to hear: in Christ, as one who belongs to God, you are beautiful (for the women) or desirable (for the men). I bet most of us have a knee jerk reaction that rejects this part of our identity. But Isaiah 62:3 says that “You shall be a crown of beauty (or desire) in the hand of the Lord”. Over in Song of Solomon 4:7, we read that just as a husband says of his wife, God says of us, “You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you”. Convinced yet? Probably not!

Try this one on for size, in Psalm 139:13 – 14, the Psalmist recognizes his own beauty or his own desirability, when he says of God “you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully (beautifully and desirably) made. Wonderful [beautiful and desirable] are your works; my soul knows it very well”. Does your soul know this very well – that you are beautiful and desirable? Who told you different? Why did you listen?

#15: WANTED

Here is another one that I think is hard for most of us to believe: You are wanted! Not like “wanted dead or alive” but truly wanted, desired by God! Ephesians 1:4 – 5 says that God “chose us in him [in Christ] before the foundation of the world [was laid], that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us [before Satan, Sin, Death, and the Flesh ever had a chance to claim their hold over you] for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will”.

If you belong to God today, it is because it was his will – according to the purpose of his will – that he preplanned to save you, even as he chose you, because he wanted you! How can you argue with that? Why would you want to?

#16: NOT ALONE

How about this, do you ever feel alone? If so, it is because deep down inside, somewhere in the darkness, that little kid in your soul, agreed with the lies of the enemy, that you are alone. That feeling is simply an indicator of the lie you have believed. But thank God we do not have to listen to those lies any longer!

Deuteronomy 31:6 explicitly tells us to “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them [any physical, spiritual, or even emotional enemy that stands against you], for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you”. This is a promise that is repeated so often in the Bible that we really should have no problem preaching this truth of who we are to ourselves in our darkest moments (Deut. 31:8; Josh 1:5, 9; 1 Chron; 28:20; Ps. 95:14; Matt. 28:20).

#17: CALLED – CHOSEN

Here is another one – that we have kind of danced around a few times already today – but it is another one that is hard to believe: If you belong to God, you have been called or chosen by him. John 15:16 says “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide [or last], so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you”. Or how about Romans 8:30, which says that “those whom he [God] predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified”.

Or how about Ephesians 1:4 once again, which says that God “chose us in him [in Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him”. The moment you became God’s possession, the moment you belonged to him, is the moment that he gave you this new identity of one who has been called and chosen. This means that you are his special, chosen, and called son or daughter!

#18: SEEN

Or how about this: how often do you feel overlooked or forgotten? Psalm 139:1 – 4 teaches us that we have not been overlooked, we are not mistakes, and we have not been forgotten, because as it says “O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether”.

Or how about further down in verse 16 which says, “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them”. Do you see it? God sees you! Long before the days of your life were mapped out, you were seen by God. That is your identity: Seen, not overlooked, not a mistake, not forgotten, not misplaced, not insignificant; Seen!

#19: HONORABLE – FAITHFUL

Something else I came across in conversation with a few guys this week are the identity traits of being honorable or faithful. We struggle with seeing ourselves as honorable or faithful because we do not always act honorably or faithfully. That struggle, with seeing ourselves as honorable or faithful, as a result of our dishonorable or unfaithful actions, is a works-based righteousness.

As I have constantly said – and I think I have proven in the Scriptures – activity does not dictate identity, identity dictates activity – therefore, when we act dishonorably or unfaithfully, our identity has not changed, we have merely failed to live out of our true identity. Romans 9:21 – 23 makes it clear that if you belong to God then you are a “vessel for honorable use… [a] vessel of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory”.

2 Timothy 2:20 – 21 confirms this as well when it states that if we belong to God then we are in fact “a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work”. So honorable or faithful are we in Christ Jesus, as those who belong to God, that God says through Isaiah, “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands” (Isa. 49:16).

If our names have been engraved on the holy, righteous, and perfect hands of the Lord himself – if he has essentially tattooed our names on the backs of his hands – then I think it stands to reason that we are in fact honorable and faithful as those who belong to him!

#20: SET APART – HOLY – ROYALTY

Lastly, and this should not be a surprise, but in Christ, as those who belong to God, we are set apart, holy, royalty. 1 Peter 2:9 says that “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light”. Need I say more? This is who you are, in Christ, as one who belongs to God!

APPLICATION…

So, this is what it means to belong to God! This is what Paul means when he says that we are included in the family of God “who are called to belong to Jesus Christ” in Romans 1:6. It is quite the list is it not? And I am certain you could find more if you kept searching God’s Word.

Listen to these words again, if you belong to God, then you are: Saved-Redeemed, Forgiven, Adopted, Justified-Acquitted, Sanctified, A New Creation, Set Free, Righteous, Beloved, Delightful, Empowered, Dangerous, Treasured, Beautiful-Desirable, Wanted, Not Alone, Called-Chosen, Seen, Honorable-Faithful, Set Apart-Holy-Royalty, and Called out of Darkness into the Light of the presence of Christ Jesus as one who belongs to God.

This is who we are as people who have been rescued from the pit of darkness and placed into the kingdom of the light in Christ Jesus (Col. 1:13). And I believe that ever since the moment of your conception in your mother’s womb, the enemy has been after you because he knows that if you walk in your true identity as a child of God, you will glorify your Father in heaven, and the enemy has wanted to steal the glory from God since his fall from heaven.

And I believe the primary way the enemy gets after you and I, to keep us from glorifying God as we walk in our true identity, is to keep us in bondage in a dark pit, locked behind the prison cell of a broken identity that no longer belongs to us. That little kid in the dark basement – the unseen pit of your soul, is in desperate need of someone to get down in that pit with him, to shine the light of your true identity upon him, and to rescue him from that darkness.

This is where you and I must be ever diligent about taking every thought captive, and putting on the mind of Christ and the new identity we have in him, and shining the light of truth into the darkness within us.

Just as a frame of reference, there at least twenty-two places in the Bible where the biblical author thanks God for pulling him out of the dark pit or begs God to get him out of the dark pit or asks God not to let him slide into the dark pit or not to leave him in the dark pit (Psalms 18, 28, 30, 40, 49, 56, 69, 71, 88, 103, 107, 116, 143; Jonah 2; Lam. 3; Isa. 38:17; 51:14; Ezek. 37:12-13; Job 33:28-30; Zech. 9:11).

So, what if our real issue with living in our true identity is simply that we have abandoned a little version of ourselves in a deep dark pit inside of us? And what if all that is needed is for us to spend some time in that dark pit with the truth and the light of who we actually are in Christ Jesus, preaching those truths to that little kid as an act of loving ourselves as God in Christ Jesus has loved us? 

CONCLUSION…

In conclusion, I want to encourage you to take these twenty truths of your identity as one who belongs to God and spend some time crawling down into that pit with that little kid and applying the healing truths of the gospel to him or her. Build yourself a ladder of questions to get down into the darkness where the roots of your identity are. Take one or two of the identity markers we studied today that you struggle with the most and start interrogating it.

How does it make you feel? What lies have you believed about it? What events in your life have taught you that those lies were actually true? When is your earliest memory of agreeing with the enemy’s lies? What behaviors did you put in place to protect yourself from the pain associated with those feelings and lies? What behavioral band aids did you turn to, just to escape the pain of those lies, those experiences, and those feelings? What fruit of the Spirit was the enemy trying to kill inside of you?

You might be surprised to find some words embedded into your soul describing you as: Lost, Irredeemable, Orphaned, Guilty, Shameful, Filthy, Dirty as Always, Imprisoned, Imperfect, Unlovable, A Burden, Condemned, Weak, Fragile, Impotent, Worthless, Unwanted, Undesirable, Ugly, Pathetic, Despised, Alone, Cast Aside, Overlooked, Unfaithful, Unworthy, Insignificant, and a whole host of other lies that do not define who you are.

Climb down that ladder of interrogation. Journal what you find. Do a question a day. Write the story out. Make it make sense. Be honest. Recognize that it was the enemy all along. Yes, you may have agreed with him, and yes you may have sinned because of it, but here is the beauty of this: once you have the story, flip it on the enemy’s head by applying specific truths from our study to it. Shine the flashlight of the gospel truths we have been studying to it.

This is identity warfare my friends! Do not sit on the sidelines. Do the hard work. Freedom is already yours! Transformation is already yours! This kind of identity warfare is exactly what you were designed for! This is the cross you were designed to carry right down into the darkest pit of your own soul, right next to your crucified, Risen, and Returning Savior! – Amen!

1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).