Well, I was just in Oroville last week and preaching at Calvary Baptist. Those guys are on their way down here, so they'll be here soon. I had a privilege to speak up in Oroville at Calvary Baptist for the Sunday through Wednesday. I just changed residence. I love Kansas City. I still consider Kansas City home. It's funny, I grew up in New Jersey, like 20 minutes from Philadelphia, where people say, how y'all just doing? And have you met my daughters? And you want a glass of water? And let's go to Wawa. So that's where I grew up. And then I moved to Kansas City. And I love Kansas City. So I've lived there 32 years. Well, last year, my parents have both gone on to be with the Lord. And so somebody recently had said to me, hey, how's your mom? And I said, oh, she's doing great. I said, really? When did you see her last? It's been a while. She moved. Really? I said, oh, you should see her new place. Oh, is it nice? I said, I haven't seen it yet, but it's really awesome. I read all about it. And they said, oh. And then I tell them, that's OK. She wouldn't want to come back for a minute. So praise the Lord. I have been praying for Faith Baptist Tabernacle. And I pray for Tim and Megan twice a week. And I've been praying for you as a church family. Would you let us know, raise your hand, those of you who are members here at Faith Baptist. Okay, so there's some up there. They're serving and they're here. So no, I've preached here a lot, but I am praying for you. And I put Bernie on my list, Pastor Mike's wife, and I'm praying for her. And I hope you keep praying for Faith Baptist. Tim, you're a good man to keep this going, even in the loss of what you're experiencing. He told Brother Graves and me back here, we were doing a prayer time, and he said, you know, some people say, I feel like I lost my right arm. He said, I feel like I lost my right side without Pastor being here. And yeah, it's a good analogy. So I wonder. I wonder what Pastor Rogers is able to see right now. You know, I was reading Randy Alcorn's book on heaven. It's worth reading. And he gives some insight that he thinks there are some cases where they're aware in heaven of what's going on here. You know, we might argue that. But I wonder if Pastor Rogers is looking down and saying, oh, boy, Tim, you're doing a great job. He's not saying, oh, let me go back there and fix this. He's happy where he is. But I'm grateful you carried it on, Tim. Love you, brother. Thank you very much. We're going to go to Galatians 2, if you would. Galatians 2. Hey, question. We just sang a great hymn, Dwelling in Beulah Land. How many of you know what Beulah means? Anybody know what Beulah means? It's funny. We sing these songs our whole life, and we're like, I have no idea. Beulah means married. How many of you knew that? Now you know. Beulah means married. And dwelling in Maryland, I have been traveling the last two and a half years without my wife. I hate it. Our trailer is not roadworthy right now. My trailer is a 2005 Travel Supreme. It's got worn out. And the money's there. I just don't have... Try to buy a high-end trailer and every time I try it falls through so you know I know they're vacation vehicles everywhere out there Do you realize typical evangelist travels like 40 weeks a year and we pull those trailers everywhere typically so I can't just have the vacation vehicle so we've been been looking for a really good one and and I was just talking to my wife on my drive here and an hour and a half ago, and my wife, Angela, we got married 32 years ago. I love that gal, and I cannot wait to get home to her. Now, I love what I do, but you talk about mixed emotions, you know? I'm here, my heart's there, and I want her to be, but I'm all in on this, but we're singing Dwelling in Beulah, and Beulah was meant to be a picture of the relationship with Christ, and I hope you have a good marriage, and you want to build a godly marriage. A godly marriage is not just because God said it's not good that man should be alone. Have you ever visited the typical home of a bachelor? It is not good that a man should be alone. God made us to be completed. Tim referred to Charlie Kirk. I love many things Charlie said. One of them was you ought to get married and have a lot of kids. And you ought to honor God with your life. And that's well said. And if you don't have a good marriage and you, You've not been married, I want to encourage you to pray about the person that God would have you be with. Now, not everybody gets married. You're not a homosexual if you don't get married, okay? Paul apparently was unmarried. We think he was married at some point. He was a Pharisee, and Pharisees had to be married, and then he got saved. I'm assuming that he was probably a widower, but he stayed single. He said, every man has his proper gift of God. Now, in my case, I know that was not my gift. And I am so glad for marriage. And if you're a Christian, God wants you to have a vibrant relationship with him. So anyway, now you know what you're singing about next time. All right, we are in Galatians 2.20, and I'll give you a little background of this. This message got born in my heart back in March of this year. I started thinking about, I have never preached on Galatians 2.20. I've used it as scripture. I've used it as a support text. I've never preached a whole verse on it, a whole message on it. And I thought, all right, I'm going to preach on this great passage. Well, I was at the church we attend in Florida. That's gonna sound funny. My home church is still Kansas City. All right, I'm a member of Fountain City Baptist Church in Kansas City, Missouri. My pastor Brian Schaefer and Pastor Graves knew each other. And so I'm grateful for my home church. I don't get there a lot now because I now bought a house in Florida. Another story for another time. My mom and dad had lived in Pensacola for 30 plus years before they moved to be with the Lord. And after they died, I thought, man, I used to park my trailer at their house in the winter because who wants to be in Kansas City between Thanksgiving and January, you know, mid-January? Birds have enough sense to fly south for the winter, I figured I should too. So I was praying about what do we do for, you know, if I ever had to get off the road, if I had some health problem. So we ended up after my parents' house sold, my sisters and I split the money, and then I was able to buy a house, never owned a house till a year or so ago. And I'm now 59, so I've lived in the trailer literally our whole life. And so bought a house in Florida. And I'm telling you this story because I had to go to get my driver's license. I actually live in a state where you have to have ID. That's a novel idea, but I recommend it. So I moved to Pensacola, and I had my Missouri driver's license. So I went over to the Escambia County tax collector's office where you get your ID, and I said, hey, listen, I need to get a driver's license. They said, all right, do you have other forms of ID? So I had my Missouri license, I had my driver's, I'm sorry, I had my birth certificate, I had my passport, I had all kinds of stuff. So whatever they need, I got it, right? Really interesting that to do so much in this country, you gotta have your ID. I went to the hotel tonight to check in, they said, ID, please. You know, right after I had moved to Pensacola, Florida, I went to vote because Matt Gates stepped down and we need to vote our next representative in, so I go. And the first thing you walk in the door, they say, do you have your ID? I fly all the time. Yeah, that is a great idea. California ought to follow suit. If I were here, I wouldn't have voted for Prop 50, by the way. So anyway, I was going from one place to the next. Now I fly a lot, and so first thing when I go to the airport, they say, ID, please. What exactly is your ID? In fact, I've entitled the message this afternoon, Your ID, Who Are You Really? Your ID, who are you really? Now, before we read the text, let me read to you a definition of the word ID. ID, and that's capital I period, capital D period, ID. A document such as a card bearing identifying information about and often a photograph of the individual whose name appears on it. It is an abbreviation for identification. Okay, ID, identification. Identification comes from the word identity. What is identity? That's a noun. It's the distinguishing character or personality of an individual. You know, all of us have our own little individuality. You have your own quirks, you have your own like, I'm tall, but you know what? I'm not the tallest guy in my family. In fact, I'm 6'6". I am the average height for males in my family. I've never been the tallest. My dad was 6'7". I've got nephews that are 6'8", 6'9", 6'6". For males in our family, the average height is 6 1⁄2 feet tall, 6'6". I have three daughters. My oldest daughter, Brianna, is 6 feet tall. My second born, Heather, is 6'2 1⁄2". My youngest daughter, Linnea, is 5'11", but she's only 15. I don't know if she's done yet. So Land of the Giants in my house, my wife's 5'9". The average height for women in our family, adult women, is six feet tall. So that's something that's a little bit identifying. If you meet tozers, you know, we're not short, okay? So that's a distinguishing characteristic. All right, I like to say I'm glad my daughter's got the looks from the mother and the height from the father. It's a really good thing. But your identity, I wanna go to Galatians 2.20. I think many of you know this. How many of you have ever memorized Galatians 2.20? Galatians 2.20, okay. You know, you can stay seated, but I'd love you to quote it with me, okay? And if you don't know it, look it up, all right? Galatians 2.20. Let me say the reference and then you join me. By the way, I'm not gonna say it New Jersey speed. I tend to talk fast. So I wanna slow it down and think through it reverently with you, all right? Galatians 2.20. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Now if somebody ever says to you, hey, tell me about yourself. What usually comes up? First, occupation. Somebody asks me, you know, what do you do? Well, I'm an evangelist. What does that mean? A lot of people don't know that, okay? What's an evangelist? I tell them. Marriage, you know, I've... Most everybody that knows me, when they think of me, it's Rich and Angela Tozer. I am, you know, my wife and I are one. I just, I think in terms of us, not me. So you got a marriage status, you think of that. How about your hometown? I grew up in Southern New Jersey, 20 minutes from Philadelphia. I've lived in Kansas City 32 years, longer than I lived anywhere, loved it. So hometown comes up, hobbies. Okay, Tim mentioned I am a Royals fan. I'm also a Chiefs fan. I was a Chiefs fan before Patrick Mahomes was born, I think. So I've been an Avid Chiefs fan for a long, long time, back when we would never win any playoff games. Now we're a dynasty, sorry. So, you know, that's great, I love that. But I'm a parent, I love talking about my girls. I'm a girl dad, you know, I got three daughters, love them, it's awesome. Hobbies, you know, I like golf, I love hiking, I love outdoors. Get me out of the office, I wanna be outside if I can. So you ask, hey, tell me about yourself. Those are probably some things. But let me tell you, for me and for you, your greatest, your most distinguishing characteristic is with Christ. If you're saved, He is your identity. So we're at a church service. It's a Wednesday night. It's a men's Bible study, and it's discussion time. So our assistant pastor, Brother Weatherby, is leading the discussion. We're going from Galatians 2.20. He says, I want to break this down, guys. Let's think it through. The discussion was so scintillating, so it just got my mental juices flowing. I thought, wow, I have never really chewed on this verse to the extent that we are tonight. And it was so powerful, I went home and thought, I'm gonna meditate on this during my prayer walk. I take a walk each night to pray. And then I'm going, I gotta prepare a message on that. And it wasn't because, like, oh yeah, I don't have that in my chamber. It was the burden of the Lord. You know, the prophets of the Old Testament were sent out to declare the burden of the Lord. And for Tim and me, the evangelist's burden is what he goes and he preaches everywhere. A.W. Tozer said the difference between the pastor and the evangelist is the pastor is like your family doctor and an evangelist is like a surgeon. This is why most of the time evangelists don't make good pastors. I mean, would you wanna go to a surgeon if you just had the flu or a cold? All right, who wants to have something cut out if you don't need something cut out, right? So the evangelist is like the surgeon, the pastor's like the family doctor. And by the way, those men are not competing with each other. They should be complimenting each other in what they do. I'm grateful to all of you that will have evangelists come to your church. I believe it is the calling of God. I believe that the evangelist is not just a church planter. Some of you may have been taught that, but you know, Philip's the only evangelist we have mentioned in the Bible. I challenge you to show me one church Philip planted. I think planting churches is important, but Philip went around, and interestingly, he had all daughters, too. I had an evangelist friend say, hey, you know, you ever think, a lot of evangelists have daughters, and some will have sons, but the boys grow up to be preachers. If not, it's kind of tough for the son to live in his father's shadow. I wonder if that's why so many have daughters. I have no idea. But Phillips, the one evangelist we have in the Bible, and he went around, and he's gone here to preach, and there to preach, and individuals he witnesses to. crusades that he does, et cetera. But the Bible says the evangelist was given to aid in the local church. Scripture says he gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints. Did you know the evangelist's job is not only giving out the evangel, he's not only giving out the gospel, he is called to help perfect the saints. I'm grateful for churches that still use an evangelist. So doing this 32 years, and I figured I might as well tell you that. That's why I do it. I believe it's a calling from God. I went home that night and thought, I have got to preach on this passage. So let me dive into it with you. Our identity with Christ. Your ID, who are you really? I decided to break it down with a series of statements and we'll divide the verse section by section, if you will. Sentence by sentence, phrase by phrase. Let's start with this. Number one, how I died. How I died, notice the first sentence, I am crucified with Christ. Start with this, how I died. Now, that is so unusual when you're talking about somebody's identity. You know, typically you don't start with death. You start with how they live their life. Now, there are exceptions, you know, like John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Tim mentioned Charlie Kirk. I was out in my yard in Pensacola putting up plywood on the window in case when I'm away a hurricane would hit and I wanted my girls to have, I even had the screws for the picture window and everything ready to go, and my daughter Heather came out and said, Dad, did you hear Charlie Kirk got shot? I would listen to Charlie Kirk every afternoon when I was around, because they had him on the local station, and I, you know, Charlie and I wouldn't have agreed on every nuance of theology, but he was a born-again man, and he believed in the six-day creation, and he was, there were so many things about him I really liked, and honestly, I'd never met Charlie in person, but I felt like one of my relatives had died when I heard that. I said, you're kidding. And I went in, and I got my phone, and I was then listening to the coverage the afternoon. He hadn't yet died. He died about an hour later. probably had died, but they didn't pronounce him dead until about an hour later, and oh man. You know, something like that happens. Charlie Kirk will forever be remembered, beginning with his death. Same with John F. Kennedy. You know, the death of certain individuals literally has earth-shaking ramifications. It's interesting, the verse starts off here, Paul says, I am crucified with Christ. Okay, let's break this down. It starts with this. A, a cruel method of execution. A cruel method of execution. There was no more heinous way to put somebody to death than crucifixion. In fact, that's why the Jews went to Pilate about it. They wanted Jesus to be crucified. The Jews could have stoned a man for blasphemy, and they thought they had cause to stone Jesus, but that's not what they wanted. They wanted crucifixion. Why? They wanted the most ignominious cause of death, or they wanted the most pain-inflicting cause of death. Think about it. I like to relive the crucifixion. I don't do it to sensationalize. I'm afraid so often we just kind of sterilize the gospel. Now, I don't think we should sensationalize, but I do think we just need to memorialize. I want you to think for a minute. Crucifixion. The night that Jesus was betrayed, Judas came in. It starts with Jesus in the garden, sweating great drops of blood. From the beginning, there's agony. Why is he sweating? Father, be possible. Let this come pass from me. I don't think he's avoiding the pain. He knew why he had come. but the realization that for the only time in all of eternity, fellowship with Father and Son would be severed. To me that's, maybe I'm wrong, to me it seems like that's the big conundrum there, that he's struggling with. Remember in Psalm 22, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? For the only time ever, fellowship would not just be cut off, it would be severed at that moment in time between the Father and the Son. He's on his knees, he's in Gethsemane, he's agonizing, And then comes one of his inner circle. Then comes Judas. And they've got torches, and they all didn't know who Jesus was as a temple guard. They weren't following him around. They were employed in the temple. They only knew what they knew. It's like controlled narrative in media, you know? We just want the people to know what we want them to know. And so they have, he says, they say, Judas says, whoever I kiss, that's the one. Now kiss, you know, don't think of that inappropriate. It's like us shaking hands. They would kiss on the cheek like they do in the Middle East. Whoever I kiss on the cheek, that's the one. And you remember Judas comes up, hail master, and he kisses him. And you remember Jesus reply, Judas, betrayest thou the son of man with a kiss? Be like, you'd say, you're going to betray me with a handshake? You know why we do handshakes, the old Knights Templar? It was to show that I'm not armed, okay? It's a sign of peace. That's why, by the way, that's why I hated going to fist bumps during COVID. I mean, fist bumps, awesome, maybe, I don't like them. Shake hands. You say, well, it spreads germs. Oh, come on, first century, they said, greet one another with a holy kiss. You think the Lord was real worried about germs? So, you know, shake hands, man. Be a man, and don't give a limp wristed shake, okay? So now I'm just meddling. Okay, so he comes and he kisses him on the cheek. Judas, do you betray the son of man with a kiss? And he says to the guard, whom seek ye? And they said, we seek Jesus, which is called Christ. And he said, I am. Now, our King James says, I am he, and he is italicized. Okay, please don't think I'm corrupting scripture. You know, when the italics is in there, it's added for our understanding. I am is the reference to the almighty name of God, I am that I am. When they said, he said, whom seek ye? We seek Jesus, which is called the Christ. I am he, I am. When he said I am, they fell to the ground. Peter whips out the sword, he's ready to do battle. He goes swiping, I'm guessing Malchus ducks, Peter whacks off his ear. Jesus says, Peter, put up your sword. Now wait a minute, Jesus had told them, you know, do you have any swords? They said, well, we got two. Well, that's enough. And then he says, them that live by the sword will die by the sword. Whoa, is there a contradiction with him? I believe the reason he let them have swords was for their own protection. He would have authorized self-defense, but he was not going to authorize them to defend him with a sword. Put up your sword. And you can imagine they're all getting that, and he heals Malchus on the spot. Picture of, you know, forgive them, they know not what they do. And they get up off the ground, and you can imagine them grabbing their weapons and thinking, this is not gonna be as easy as we thought. Some religious teacher, we didn't expect this. And he asks them again, who do you seek? Whom seek ye? We seek Jesus, which is called the Christ, I am. I'm he. And at that point, he surrenders himself to them. Remember, they carry him off, and he's treated like the worst of criminals. He is taken in. Before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council of 70 plus the high priest, 71, he is put on inquisition. They are bringing accusation after accusation. The Bible says none of their accusations worked. Well, he made himself the son of God. You know, he didn't make himself the son of God. He was forever and is the son of God. So if I claim to be God, that would be reason for execution. If you claim to be God, that would be blasphemy. But if he claims to be God, it's nothing less than who he is. They finally said, well, he said, if you destroy the temple in three days, I'll raise it up. It took years to build that temple. He wasn't talking about the temple, he was talking about his own body. And what's harder, to raise up rubble or raise up yourself from the dead, by the way? And so they cannot find agreement. Finally, they say, well, he's guilty of insurrection against the government, and this is how we gotta turn him over to the Romans. And by the way, when they asked him to try to trap him, is it lawful to pay tribute to Caesar? He said, you render to Caesar what Caesar's, render to God what's God's. So he did not teach insurrection, but they, you know, how many times insurrection is thrown around? So he's guilty of insurrection. So now they take him to Pontius Pilate. It's now the morning of the Passover. The Jews are not supposed to have contact with the Gentiles on this day, and yet they go to Pilate. He has to come out to them. What do you want? They said, this man is guilty of insurrection. And he says, what evil hath he done? Well, he made himself God. He's like, you see to that. Well, he said that he's the king. Pilate says, I will scourge him. So trying to placate them, trying to appease them, he sends Jesus first to be scourged. Do you remember scourging? I remember Tim and I were both greatly influenced by Dr. Ron Comfort. That was the president of the school that he went to. And I did my internship under Ron Comfort. And I remember him describing the crucifixion. I've never forgotten. And he described, starting with the beating that occurred, the scourge. It was called the flagellum. or the phlegm, colloquially, it was called the cat of nine tails, called that because there were three strands of leather wound in groups, and there were three of those groups, so three times three is nine, and intertwined in all of these leather straps were pieces of broken pottery, glass, metal, sharp, and so it would wait. wrap around the body, and then tear the flesh. And the executioner comes out, and Jewish law was you can only beat somebody 39 times. I don't know if the Romans were helped with that. I mean, they maybe could have beaten him to death if they chose. But let's say they follow Jewish law, and they beat him 39 lashes. Can you imagine? Twist and pull. This is done nearly 40 times. Have you ever caught yourself on a piece of barbed wire or a tin can? We're talking about jagged, ugly cuts. They don't make clean incisions. They make horrible, excruciating cuts. And this is done repeatedly. And to insult him, they blindfold him, and they punch him in the face, and they say, if you're really the king of the Jews, tell us who hit you. And as the lamb before her shears his dumb, so open ye not his mouth. They spit in his face, they took a crown fashioned out of thorns, these Judean thorns, they push it down on his skull, and you can imagine the blood comes from the capillaries running down into his eye sockets, into his ears, down the back of his neck. They punch him in the face, as Brother Graves mentioned, they plucked out his beard. Can you imagine somebody grabbing your mature beard and ripping pieces out? I mean, that act alone would be infuriating. It's like fighting terms, right? It says nothing. They brought out a robe and they threw it on his bloodied back and they stuck a reed in his hand like a cattail. Hail, king of the Jews! The robe was a scarlet robe such as royalty might wear and this is all to mock him. Literally adding insult to injury. Pilate brings him back and he says, while I bring him forth that you may know, I find no fault in him. but behold your king. You have a custom. At the Passover, I release a notorious criminal. All right, we have Barabbas that he's been planning to execute. Guilty of insurrection, guilty of murder. Shall I give you Barabbas or shall I give you Jesus? They said, give us Barabbas. In other words, let Barabbas go free. Pilate is perplexed. What shall be done with Jesus? Let him be crucified! Crucify him! He said, shall I crucify your king? And this had to be shocking coming from the Jews. We have no king but Caesar! When did Jews ever say that? But oh, how fickle the crowd becomes. And then they hear the words from Pilate they've been waiting to hear. You take him and crucify him. Goes over, washes his hand in a basin of water. I am innocent from the blood of this just man. Now listen, water can never wash away your guilt. Baptism can't do it, christening can't do it. You know what could have absorbed Pilate of his guilt? I'll give you a hint, it was dripping on the pavement close by. Precious blood of Jesus. I'm innocent of the blood of this man. Just because you claim you're innocent doesn't mean you are innocent. And then he says, you take him and crucify him. That's what they wanted. They wanted authorization to take him and crucify him. So they take Jesus out. before they throw the cross piece on his shoulders, they rip the scarlet robe off his back. Can you imagine? Have you ever wound up a wound that, you know, with gauze or what, and then you have to peel it away? You know what all that freshly coagulated blood does when you peel off the bandage? And it's all the way down his back. In fact, Isaiah said his visage, his appearance, was more marred than that of any man. We haven't even gotten to the crucifixion yet. They threw that cross piece, the horizontal piece, on his shoulder, and they forced him to carry it. We're told that along the way, Simon the Cyrene is compelled to carry it. Now, we're not told that Jesus stumbled. We infer that that's likely because, I mean, he's totally man as well as totally God. He's lost so much blood. Perhaps that's why, but whatever reason, Simon is now forced to carry the cross piece, and Jesus goes on with him, and they come to Calvary, Golgotha, the place of the skull. And there are two other notorious criminals. They're both convicted thieves, robbers. And they throw them on the ground. And listen, they were all nailed to crosses. Don't think that Jesus was nailed and they were roped. No, they just nailed them like cattle being hung up to bleed out. And they throw the arms of the criminals out. And I think I separated the shoulder the other day, but I get it up there the best I can. And they took a nail and they put it right at the base of the hand. Now it was here, this was considered part of the hand. Up here, you've heard, it would rip out between the fingers. Wrist, top of the wrist, bottom of the hand. That, just to put pressure on that makes me squirm. Can you imagine a five to seven inch tapered nail driven right there at the base of your hand? And I can imagine those thieves crying in agony as the nails are driven through them. Romans had, they got this cruel method of execution from the Phoenicians, and then they perfected it. And you can imagine, as the nails are being driven through the criminal's hands. See, the Romans wanted to make an example of these people. You never do what they did. You don't want to die like that, do you? And then they come to Jesus. He says nothing. And you know he felt it. He's as man as much as I'm a man. I'm not God like he is, but he was man like I am. And they drive those hands, those nails, right through the base of his hand. And again, as a lamb, a sheep before a shearer's dumb, like mute, he opened not his mouth. They throw out the other hand and they drive that nail through that hand, and then they pull that horizontal piece up and they drop it into place. This may be why the scripture says, all my bones are out of joints. I was saying dislocated, I think I tore tendons the other day, but I'll tell you, I was sliding down a bank that I tried to climb up, and my foot went out, and I threw my hands, and I felt just, I got one little sore spot right now. I cannot imagine, all my bones are out of joint. Did you ever suffer a dislocation? And then they dropped the cross piece into place, and now they impale the feet. They take one foot on top of another. The nail was typically driven through the top of the foot, out the heel, top of the other foot, out the heel. Sometimes they would turn the feet sideways and drive the nail through the ankles. In either case, the knees were bent, and so the criminal had to push up on the weight in the nails to force himself to breathe, and then he would let down, and I want you to think about that. Every time he pushes up, all of his body weight is on the nail through the feet, And then when he lets down, it all transfers to the nails in the hand. And in Jesus' case, his back had been beaten to a pulp. And so he's rubbing up and down against a splintery Roman cross. Again, I'm not trying to sensationalize. I'm not trying to dramatize. But I am trying to memorialize. Would you think about what it took to save me? Would you think about what it took to save you? Christ suffered the just for the unjust. That's me, that's you. The just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. And as he's on the cross, every time he breathes, he has to force the air out of his lungs and then he lets himself down. Essentially, crucifixion was death by asphyxiation. Alexander Metherell, a physician, gives a detailed account of it in Lee Strobel's book, The Case for Christ, it's worth reading. And he talks about the agony that Jesus endured on that cross. And by the way, that was just the physical anguish. That was nothing of becoming sin for us. For six agonizing hours, he hung on the cross. He made very short statements. You've probably preached on the seven statements of Christ. You know, I thirst. Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother. Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. The longest expression, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That one was spoken at the moment when literally Jesus became sin for us. And then he said, it is finished. And you remember the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom. The veil was as thick as a man's, the span of his hand. And the veil was from top to bottom, like people at the bottom pulled it from the bottom up. Who could have done that? But God the Father. showing the once forever sacrifice now opened up access to the holy place because of what Jesus did. That's what it took to save you and me. When they came along to test if he were already dead, they couldn't believe he was. Most guys did not die in hours. They would fight for days on end. But the Passover was approaching, and so they did not want to leave Jesus on the cross. So they came by, and they're gonna break the legs of all the criminals, and ah, just the thought of a smashing into the shins of those thieves, and then they can't push up, and so they die by asphyxiation. And they come to do it to Jesus and realize he's not here anymore. Remember, not a bone of his would be broken. They broke the other guy's bones, not Jesus. They couldn't believe it was true. They took the spear and thrust it up into his side, and when they pulled it out, water and blood came out. The pericardium serum around the heart comes out, and water and blood testify he'd already died. See, he died on his terms and his time. Oh yeah, the crucifixion was his terms. And the timing was his timing. In fact, that fulfilled the prophecy in Daniel chapter nine, that Messiah the Prince would be cut off, but not for his own sins. That prophecy in Daniel 9, 24 to 27, that came to fruition right there. That was the end of the 62 weeks. Seven weeks yet to be fulfilled. 62 weeks were culminated at that moment at Calvary. How I died, I'm crucified with Christ. It's a cruel method of execution. But I want you to notice this, B, it's a crushing mastery over reputation. Not only a cruel method, it's a crushing mastery over reputation. Think about this. There was no more ignominious way to die. There was no more socially abhorrent way to die than to be crucified. Nowadays, we see people wear a cross around their neck, and we think, oh, that's a nice religious symbol. Can you imagine if you saw a guy wearing a hangman's noose around his neck? What if you saw somebody with a firing squad around their neck? What if you saw somebody with an electric chair around their neck? You'd think, that is morbid. One person died on a cross and forever changed the identity of a cross. It was an abhorrent, awful means of execution, but Jesus not only saved us, he literally saved the image of the cross in what he did. It is now the symbol of Christianity. Some of you got saved after you had already lived a life of sin. And you know, if you had a criminal record, you know, there are petty crimes and then there are felonies. And some of you would testify, yeah, I had a felony. I had a felony rap sheet. And if you're like that, you know, it's awfully hard to get a job. It's awfully hard to get your reputation back. I've got a number of Christian friends who, you know, got saved in prison or after prison, and they still deal with the stigma. Listen, Paul says, I'm crucified with Christ. Jesus said, marvel not if the world hate you. You know it hated me before it hated you. You and I are identified in the stigma of the Savior. Stigma actually even comes from the word for a cross, a stake. I want you to notice this. Cruel method of execution. There's a crushing mastery over reputation. You know, if you're gonna follow Christ, it's not like, yeah, all right, everybody loves Christians. Have you noticed Christians are not widely loved in this world? I think the only people hated more are the Jews. Interesting, why? God's chosen people. I want you to see third, a crucial metaphor. Let her see a crucial metaphor. use a big word here, for abnegation. Okay, ab, A-B, negation, N-E-G-A-T-I-O-N, comes from the verb abnegate. What's abnegate? It means to give up your rights to renounce, surrender. It's a crucial metaphor for abnegation. See, crucified people had no control over how they died. They had no control over their reputation. I want you to go to Romans chapter six with me for a minute. And I would love you to mark Romans six. We're gonna jump back and forth in the next few minutes to this passage and the text. Romans six. Remember, it's the first chapter of the Bible I ever memorized. And if you don't memorize scripture, I wanna urge you to memorize scripture. And a great place to start is Romans chapter six. 23 verses, if you can memorize one a week, you could do it in 23 weeks. You can do a verse a day, you can do it in 23 days. Even if you find it hard to memorize the whole chapter, I'd encourage you at least to memorize verses one to 14. Okay? Fantastic passage. Opens up with, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? I was taught to personalize that when I was a teenager. What shall I, Rich Tozer, say? Shall I continue in sin? Okay, what sin? Oh, a typical teenage boy, what sin? Lust, anger, pride. Call it what it is. What shall I say? Shall I continue in lust, that grace may abound? God forbid, how shall I, Rich Tozer, who am dead to lust, live any longer in lust? Personalize it. It's a very powerful way to appropriate the scripture. All right, go to verses six and seven. So this is in the context of how I died, I'm crucified with Christ. Romans 6, 6, knowing this, that our old man, that's life before Christ, our old man is crucified with him. Why? That the body of sin might be what? Destroyed. Hey, I'm not destroyed, the body of sin's destroyed. That henceforth, what's henceforth mean? From this point forward, we should not what? Serve sin, verse seven, for he that is dead is freed from sin. Okay, listen, I have here, Tim, you're gonna love this. I have here a Royals ticket. I got a couple of them in my Bible. I use them as markers. This was against the Blue Jays years ago. Okay, I use these as illustrations. Listen, getting saved was not God just handing out tickets. Okay, here's one for you, one for you. Now you're saved, you get to go to heaven. Hey, listen, that's a great benefit of being saved, but that is not the sum total of being saved. He did not save you just so you end up with a home in heaven someday. It is not just fire escape, guys. He saved you. I'm crucified with Christ that the body of sin might be destroyed. For what purpose? That henceforth I should not serve what? Sin! He didn't save me to let me continue in sin. He saved me, delivered me from the penalty of sin, from the power of sin, and ultimately from the very presence of sin. In the past, I'm saved from the penalty of sin. In the present, I'm being saved from the very power of sin. In the future, I'll be saved out of the very presence of sin. That's what salvation is sum total. So he says, look, I'm dead with him. Let me take you to Luke chapter six, verses 22 and 23. Don't lose Romans, we will be there repeatedly. Luke chapter six, look at 22 and 23. I will have you look up a number of scriptures. 622. Blessed are ye, you are to be happy, esteem this a blessing. Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, when they shall separate you from their company. Oh, this sounds like a great reason to be happy. They shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil for the son of man's sake. I never thought I'd live in a day when Christians would be treated as if they're evil. You know, we have a generation now, they think that when you stand up against abortion, pardon me, you say like, I would, abortion is murder. They think, well, you're against women's rights. These are the same freaks that argue that if a male decides he identifies as a woman, he can go participate in their sports and go into their locker room. And I'm the guilty one? But they say, man, if you stand up against abortion, you're against a woman's rights. You're oppressive to women. They'll hate you. Notice in verse 23, rejoice in that day. Rejoice ye, all of you, in that day. Leap for joy. Behold, your reward is great in heaven, for in like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. What's he saying? Hey, listen, why was Jesus crucified? He didn't deserve it. It was public stigma. And if you're gonna follow me, he says, prepare, there will be public stigma. So it's a crucial metaphor for abnegation. I gotta give up my right. You remember Jesus said, if you would follow me, take up your cross daily and follow me. Crucifixion. So we started with, and I spent the most time on how I died. The others won't take that long, but let me give you this. Number two, where I stand. Where I stand, notice the next part of the verse, nevertheless, we're back in Galatians 2.20, nevertheless, I live. All right, we have how I died, I'm crucified with Christ. Number two, where I stand, nevertheless, despite the fact that I was put to death, nevertheless, I what? Live, wait a minute, I thought you're dead. Yeah, nonetheless, I live. All right, back to Romans. Look at verses eight through 11. We'll just kind of go sequentially here through the verses. Verse eight we left off with. Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe we shall also live with him. Okay, notice we're identified with his death, but we're also identified with his resurrection. If we're dead with him, we shall also live with him. Verse nine, knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died to sin once. But in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise, reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Okay, so, I'm crucified with him, nevertheless I live. You know, normally think of this, normally when somebody dies, There's a death certificate that's issued. Just last week, I was, my mom died three years ago, and we had this one last ExxonMobil stock that was transferred into my mom's trust. Well, my mom's trust was a revocable trust, meaning when she died, well, then we would disperse the assets and close down the trust. We've been trying to do that. So I had this one last trust that we had to work on, and I had to go get a medallion guarantee stamp, and that's this, they gotta verify who you are, especially when you're dealing with money. And you gotta go, and you gotta have multiple forms of ID. It's a step above a notary, right? So it's a pain in the neck, honestly. But I had to go through the whole process. And one of the documents I had to show was my mom's death certificate. Okay, now listen, typically when a person dies, there's a death certificate, but not with you. I'm crucified with Christ, guess what? On that day, you got issued a new birth certificate. It's called being born again. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new. So yeah, I died with him, but I got a new birth certificate that day. That's your identity. Years ago, I heard, I sat under Pastor Jim Shetler, who's now on staff with Brother Goetsch at West Coast Baptist College. He was our pastor when I was a student at Pensacola Christian College, and he was the pastor of the campus church. I remember him sharing a poem I have never forgotten to this day. I had to learn it. It's called My Advocate, written by a woman named Martha Snell Nicholson. I don't know if you've heard it. It's worth looking up. My Advocate by Martha Nicholson goes like this. I sinned, and straightway, post haste, Satan flew before the presence of the Most High God and made a railing accusation there. He said, this soul, this thing of clay and sod, has sinned. It is true, he has named thy name, but I demand his death. For thou hast said, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Shall not thy sentence be fulfilled? Is justice dead? Send now this wretched sinner to his doom. What other thing can righteous ruler do? And thus he did accuse me day and night. And every word he spoke, O God, was true. Then one rose up from God's right hand before whose glory angels veiled their eyes. He spoke. Each jot and tittle of the law must be fulfilled. The guilty sinner dies. But wait, suppose his guilt were all transferred to me and that I paid his penalty. Behold my hands, my side, my feet, One day, I was made sin for him that he might be presented faultless at thy throne. And Satan flew away. Full well he knew he could not prevail against such love, for every word my dear Lord spoke was true. Hallelujah for our advocate. That's why in 1 John 2, 1, he says, my little children, these things write I unto you that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He's our advocate, paid in full. So where I stand, hey, I still live. I'm dead with him, but just like he lives, I live. Number three, who I am. All right, we've looked at how I died. We looked at where I stand. Number three, who I am. Notice this expression, not I, but Christ lives in me. Now, I'm changing liveth to lives just to make you think, okay, we know that liveth is reverential. Okay, that's why our Elizabethan English and our King James is for reverence. But when you read these things, just go back in your mind and if you're telling somebody, hey, okay, how can you have a claim on being right with God? Hey, nevertheless, it's not I, it's Christ who lives in me. He's the one living in me. Huh, look at Romans 6, 12. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lust thereof. Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. Yield yourselves to God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion, have jurisdiction, have power. Sin shall not have dominion over you. You're not under the law, but under grace. All right, who I am? Hey, listen, go to 1 Corinthians 15 for a minute. We'll talk about who I am. 1 Corinthians 15, we'll go Romans one more time here in a moment. 1 Corinthians 15, start in verse 12. You're identified with not only his crucifixion, but his resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15, 12. Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, I'll say some among you there's no resurrection of the dead. But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen? If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain? Your faith is also vain. Okay, think of the background. Paul was a Pharisee. Their prevailing counterparts in that day were the Sadducees. You've heard about the Sadducees. They didn't believe. In angels, they didn't believe in spirits, they didn't believe in resurrection. They only believed in the material. Some have said that's why they're sad, you see. I'm sure you've heard that before, right? They were known more for by what they didn't believe than what they did believe, okay? And then the Gnostics came along and the Gnostics said, you can't have the material and spiritual mixed. Really, Jesus Christ is the personification of all of that. But these false notions led them to believe, well, there's no such thing as a resurrection. Verse 15, yea, we're found false witnesses of God, because we testified of God, that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is Christ not raised? If Christ be not raised, Your faith is vain, it's pointless, it's empty, it's meaningless. Your faith is vain. You are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, meaning Adam, by man, the second Adam, came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Amen, because He lives, I live also. So I'm identified with this awful, cruel means of execution, but I am also identified with this triumphant means of being raised from the dead. I'm alive because He lives. When we were kids, we used to sing the song, oh, be careful, little hands, what you do. Did you ever sing that one? Be careful, little hands, what you do. Be careful, little feet, where you go. I was a big guy, so we always said big feet. And then careful, big mouth, what you say. For the Father up above is looking down in love, so be careful, little hands, where you go. Okay, those are members of your body. Your hands, your feet, your mouth, your ears. Hey, let me ask you this. What are you doing with God's mouth? Well, God doesn't have a mouth, he's a spirit. Yeah, but he's got your mouth. You belong to him. What are you doing with God's eyes? What are you scrolling through with God's eyes? What are you texting with God's fingers? What are you snorting through God's nostrils? What are you drinking through God's throat? You're not your own, you're part of the price. And he didn't save you so you could continue in sin. He said, you've been raised to walk in a whole new life. That's your identity. So I am crucified with him, nonetheless. I live, yet why? Because it's not I, it's Christ that lives in me. And he indeed rose from the dead. Number four is how I live. Number four, how I live. Notice the expression, I live by the faith of the Son of God. Number four, how I live. I live by the faith of the Son of God. Go with me to 1 John, the epistle of 1 John, chapter two. And I want you to see a couple of different verses here. 1 John 2, look at the last, I'm sorry, yeah, chapter two, verse 29, last verse of the chapter, and we'll go into chapter three. 1 John 2, 29, if you know that he is righteous, the context here is speaking about Jesus Christ, if you know that he's righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him. Look at verse, Seven, little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. Huh. Look also at verse number 10. Verse 10. In this, the children of God are manifest. They're plainly recognizable. In this, the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. Okay, I'm not saved by my righteousness, because y'all know this about me, and y'all know this about you, I hope. All our righteousnesses are as what? Filthy rags. Reference for that? Isaiah 64, 6. Y'all don't know that one. Okay, Isaiah 64, 6. Our righteousnesses are crud. They're like filthy rags. They get you nothing before God. Hey, listen, if you could get to heaven being good, why did Jesus have to die on the cross? If you could get to heaven joining a church, why did Jesus have to die on the cross? If you could get to heaven because your dad was a preacher, why did Jesus have to die on the cross? One of my favorite books outside of the Bible is a devotional book written by the British preacher, Ian Thomas. Major, that was his title in the army, his rank in the army. Major Ian Thomas. The book is called, The Saving Life of Christ. Here is the single sentence summary of The Saving Life of Christ. It's worth writing down. The death of Jesus for you was to put the life of Jesus in you. Chill on that for a minute. The death of Jesus for you was to put the life of Jesus in you. Okay, so he didn't die just so you could go to heaven, he died to literally put his very life in you. And he said in another part of his book, only Jesus is capable of living the Christian life for the simple and obvious fact that there would be no Christian life without Jesus. He that does righteousness is righteous because he's righteous. Ian Thomas observes, listen, for any righteousness to be righteous, it has to originate with Christ. We have none in ourselves. I'm not righteous because I read my Bible every day. And frankly, I have read my Bible every single day since I was 15. I promised God I would never go to bed at the end of the day without reading the Bible every day. I have never missed one single day in my life. And I'll tell you, that means nothing when it comes to righteousness. I do that for fellowship with God. I'm not doing it to mark off and say, well, I've got my points with God. You know, well, I witnessed two souls this week. Lord, count me righteous. If you could be righteous by what you do, why did Jesus have to die for you? You're not righteous by what you do for Him. You're righteous only because of him. But I will tell you this, if you're in Christ, you are righteous. Hallelujah. You're saved to walk in a whole new life. So, how I live. One of the men that night in our men's study, Scott Harrell is his name. He grew up in New Orleans. And he said, you know where I grew up, fellas? He said, we weren't known by our own name. We were known by our daddy's name. Like, nobody called me Scott Harrell when I was growing up. They said, oh, you're Ernest Harrell's son. He said, I don't think I was ever called Scott by the older people. He said, oh, you're Ernest Harrell's son. He said, I think that might be what the Lord has in mind here. You know, I'm not known as Rich Tozer. I'm known as Jesus Christ's child. That's a great analogy. In the same room that night was Pastor Dwight Tomlinson. He pastored here in California for years. Liberty Baptist in Newport Beach, Redwood City, I think four different churches out here. He did some church planning. He now is retired and goes to the church I attend in Florida, Lighthouse Baptist. And we're talking about I live by the faith of the Son of God. And he said, you know guys, I'm not in my pastoral study. I haven't looked into the language of this. And he said, but I'm just thinking out loud here. I live by the faith of the Son of God. We always tend to think of it's our faith in him that makes us alive. He said, is it, I don't know, is it possible that the faith of the Son of God would be his belief in us? Now he wasn't being humanistic about this, he just thinking out loud. And I said, oh, oh, you mean like, he didn't save us because of what he saw in us, he saved us because of what he could make of us. Now, I don't know if that's theologically sound or not. It's worth studying out. It got me thinking that night, but I will tell you this, it is true. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. One of the greatest quotes I saw about manhood was from Jim Valvano, the famous coach of the North Carolina State Wolfpack. The year, I think it was 1984, they beat the Houston Cougars when Houston had Kareem Olajuwon and, and, Clyde Drexler, thank you. Everybody expected Houston to win that year. And somehow, the Wolf Pack pulled it off, and Jim Valvano's running around looking for somebody to hug, right? Okay, so, and then he died of cancer, you know, and they started the V Foundation for Valvano, the cancer, never, never, never give up. His most motivational statement I think I ever heard, he said, my father gave me the greatest gift any man can give another. He believed in me. That's good. My father gave me the greatest gift any man could ever give another. He believed in me. I can't tell you how many times my dad told me, Rich, I love you. Son, you're doing a good job. I'm proud of you. Years ago, let me just throw in a freebie here. I got some great advice on parenting. Somebody said try to offer 10 points of praise for every point of correction that you give your children. It is easy to find out what needs to be corrected, Brother Graves. You know, I look at them when they're little like, Try to offer 10 points of praise for any point of correction. So I can't find anything. Well, your heavenly father did in you. And you can probably find it in them if you look. Thank God Jesus Christ believed in us, not because of what we offered to him, but because of what he was gonna offer to us. And that's how I live. I live by the faith and the sin of God. And then the last one is this. Who loves me? Who loves me? The most determinant characteristic of your life is who loves you. Who loved me and gave himself for me. Finish up our scripture tonight in Romans 8. Romans 8, 31 through 35. Romans 8, 31 to 35. 31, he says, what should we then say to these things? If God be for us, Who can be against us? Well, the world's against me and Satan's against me. Let me reiterate, if God's for you, does it matter who's against you? If God's for you, who can be against you? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who's he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of God, of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Look at, jump to 37. Nay, in all these things we're more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I'm persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. No one can separate you from the love of the Father. Hallelujah. I was driving somewhere and I heard a gospel quartet sing a song. I had not heard it before. And I thought, man, I like that song. I've got to find those lyrics. It's entitled, It's Under the Blood. It's written by a pastor named Leonard Fletcher. And I met a gal in Denver a couple weeks back, probably a month ago or so. And she said, oh, my parents knew Pastor Fletcher. He's from Georgia. Listen to these lyrics. While walking down a memory lane of paths not long ago, old Satan came right by my side, making me feel low. He brought up thoughts of hurt and pain when I had gone astray. He wanted to discourage me as I walked along life's way. He said, you're undeserving because I know where you've been. I have a record of your life when you were bound by sin. I know your darkest secrets that you would never tell. What makes you think you don't deserve with me a place in hell? Well, I heard the old accuser. And this was my reply. You're right. For all the things I've done, I sure deserve to die. My righteousness is filthy rags. My goodness is unclean. There is only one thing I can say to what you've said to me. It's under the blood. Oh, praise his dear name. I'm not what I used to be. My life has been changed, not shackled by sin and shame. It's already gone. I'm happy reminding him it's under the blood. Victory was given me when I was born again. He washed my stained and sinful past and put new life within. No longer do I fear the marks that sin had brought my way. With happiness and peace of mind, praise God, I now can say, it's under the blood. Oh, praise his dear name. I'm not what I used to be. My life's been changed. Not shackled by sin and shame, it's already gone. I'm happy reminding him, it's under the blood. The blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin. Long after church was over that night, I took the dog for a walk, and Journey's my Britney Spaniel bird dog, and we like to go for walks. I talk to the Lord, she chases birds. And we're out taking a walk, it's night, I got my headlamp on, and usually I'm going through my list of people to pray, but that night I extended my time of meditating on scripture, and I was thinking about what I'd heard in church that night, what got me preaching on this passage. We were in identity with Christ. So I thought, you know, you ever thought of the question, what could God do? You know, what could God do? And if I were to ask you guys, hey, what could God do? You'd say, well, anything, you know, he's omnipotent, he's omniscient, omnipresent. I mean, there's no limit to what God, he can't sin, obviously, but there's nothing God can't do. But then I thought of this. What if I add the prepositional phrase through you? What could God do through you? Is he limited because I'm the personality through which he works? You know, I saw a documentary about Corrie Ten Boom this week. She said, look around, you'll get distressed. Look within, you'll get depressed. Look to Christ, you'll be at rest. That's well said. So during my walk, I thought, what could God do? And I started with, what could God do through you? And then I thought, what could God do in me? Can God change stubborn, sinful habits? Can God change my, you know, whatever my personality is that's not pleasing to him? What can God do in you? Then what could God do for you? I just started changing the prepositions. What could God do with you? So through, in, for, with. Here's a good one. What could God do despite you? Hallelujah. He doesn't need me. He's just pleased to use me. I'll finish with this. Your identity is now completely changed. It's totally altered. You don't just have a new citizenship. It's not like you just got a new passport issued with heaven as your final destination. No. When you got saved, you're a whole new you. I've quoted again, and I'll repeat it. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. If any man, any of us, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new. So if the agents of the old accuser, if Satan had You know, if he had his goon squad, if he sent them out to arrest you, if the agents of the old accuser were sent to arrest you and process you for prosecution, you know what they'd find? They'd find all new fingerprints and completely altered DNA. For what they'd find in you is the very identity of Jesus Christ in place of yours. You are a whole new you made whole by the Holy One. That's your ID, who you really are. Let's thank God for it.