Miles J. Stanford emphasizes the critical importance of understanding our identification with Christ in his sermon 'Cross, Identification.' He explains that true growth in the Christian life is rooted in the foundational truths of justification and acceptance, which must be firmly established before one can grasp the deeper truths of identification. Stanford highlights that believers must recognize their union with Christ in His death and resurrection to experience true freedom from sin and self. He stresses that this understanding is essential for spiritual growth and liberation, as it allows Christians to live out their new identity in Christ. Ultimately, he calls for a deeper revelation of these truths to combat the struggles many face in their Christian walk.

We must share some time on the subject of identification. Clarity here will mean so much to any hungry heart. And it's surprising to, when you come to realize how many believers are not even clear in the birth realm of justification. You really have clarity there. To say nothing of having any clarity in the realization of the growth realm of identification. And as we have mentioned before, there is no possibility of any reality in the identification realm, in the growth truths, unless the Christian is firmly established in the primary birth truths of justification and acceptance. His acceptance with God. The fact that he is in the Lord Jesus Christ in a union of nature, of birth, born into him, eternally secure in him. This is the only basis upon which the believer can come to reality in the deeper truths. There has to be the firm foundation upon which to build. And in our sharing these things, we must make sure about the individual to whom we are ministering, that that person is clear as to his security in the Lord Jesus and his fact that he is accepted in the Lord Jesus. That he knows he has the assurance of his salvation and he's sure that he is secure in the Lord Jesus. Not any conditional security, but the security of sheer grace upon what the Lord Jesus did on his behalf and who the Lord Jesus is in relationship to him. The relationship of life, eternal life. This must be settled before there is any progress in these deeper truths. And as the Christian is clear as to substitution, where the Lord Jesus died on his behalf and in his stead, paying for his sins, then he can become clear in the realm of identification. But not until. And he must not only be clear as to the truth, but he must be conditioned as to his everyday experience through failure, through finding out about self, through the need being built up in his life where he must have the Lord Jesus as his daily life. Who shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Christ Jesus, my Lord. There must be that conditioning. And this takes a long time. But it's worth all that one goes through to come to the place of the cross. And usually the believer goes through the different attempts to come into a healthy Christian life and walk by his own efforts. He has to go through all that so often before he'll come and rest in the Lord Jesus and acknowledge that he is his life. He seeks to mortify himself and to win out through self-denial, and that fails. And then he seeks to conquer self, and that fails. And revivalism is not the answer. And growth is not the only answer. Growth is not the full answer. Growth is only a part of the answer. Growth is the result of the work of the cross. And, of course, the work of the cross is God's answer to the problem with self. And until the believer is finally brought to the place where he gives up and puts his case in the hands of the Lord Jesus, until that time he is not going to get God's answer. Because it is the truth that sets us free. And it is specific truth that will set us free from the dominion of the self-life, from the power and domination and slavery to sin. It is the truth that has to do with the liberating cross. To that truth we must comply. We must line up with that which God has done at Calvary. Not just general truth, but specific truth. And this, of course, is in the realm of identification, and mainly brought out in Romans 6. And Paul, as you go through Romans 6, you notice where Paul says, knowing this, and know ye not. And he realizes that the Christian must know the fact before he can get the benefit of them. We think of Galatians 2.20, and we often quote it and hear Christians quoting it so often, especially at conferences. Many Christians have Galatians 2.20 as their life verse. Many Christians use it and quote it, but a few Christians, comparatively speaking, a few Christians really know and understand what Paul is saying in Galatians 2.20. And I think the revised version, the RV, not the RSV, not the revised standard version, but the revised version, puts Galatians 2.20 very clearly, even more clearly than the King James, where Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me. And there's a past tense, the finished work there, I have been crucified with Christ, and that Paul realized that he was identified with the Savior on the cross, as is everyone who will ever believe in him. God placed every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ when he was on Calvary. And the Lord Jesus died unto sin. He died out of the realm of sin when he died on the cross. He was made to be sin, our sin. He was made to be sin for us. And the wages of sin is death. And the Lord Jesus died and went down into death and took sin with him and paid the penalty because he had no sin of his own. And then he was free to rise out of death. Death could not hold him. The wages of sin is death, but he was not a sinner. So he was free to come up out of death onto resurrection ground and ascend up into, back up into glory, as a man, as the man Christ Jesus, as God the Son, the Son of Man. And he's there at this very moment on the right hand of the Father with his nail-pierced hands and feet. And he will forever be in that glorified body that identifies him as our Savior. He eternally identified himself with us. And we are eternally identified with him. And when the Lord Jesus died on the cross and went down into death, he did not only do this to pay for our sins, but he took the sinner. Every sinner who would ever believe upon him, trust him, was identified with him at that moment. And every Christian was taken down into death in the Lord Jesus Christ. I have been crucified with him. And now our Christian life is the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ who is our life. It is no longer I that live a Christian life, but Christ liveth in me. And then in 2 Timothy 2, Paul says that it's a faithful saying, for if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him. It doesn't say if we be dying with him. It's not a progressive thing. It's something that happened at Calvary, a finished work. If we be dead with him, since we are dead with him, we shall also live with him. In 1 Peter 2, we being dead to sins shall live unto righteousness. And then of course, Romans 6, 6, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him. And this is where we were identified with him, in his death. This we will cover more thoroughly when we come to Romans 6. But this is the truth of identification. These are the facts. This is the doctrine. This is what the Word sets forth, that when the Lord Jesus Christ died, we died. When he was buried, we were buried. When he rose, we rose. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away in death. Behold, all things are become new. That's our position. And as we grow, that position becomes more and more fully our condition, our everyday life. That the old things pass away because they already did pass away in the finished work of the cross. And we receive that benefit day by day as we grow. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. Positionally, all things are new. We are new creations in Christ Jesus. But we experience this. We grow in this day by day, a bit at a time, all being drawn from the finished work, alive unto God in Christ. That's the progression. That's the growth. But as to the position, the facts, it's already completed. We already are dead in Christ. We already are alive in Christ, completely. First we see the facts. First we are established in the truth, in the doctrine. And then as we see the doctrine and as we trust Him about it and believe these facts, the Holy Spirit begins to apply this finished work of death to the old and life in the new. Hence we grow, not I, but Christ. When God's light first shines in our heart, our eyes for forgiveness, for we realize that we have committed sins before Him. But once we have known forgiveness of sins, we make a new discovery, the discovery of the principle of sin. And we realize that we have the nature of a sinner, even as Christians. There is an inward inclination to sin. And this is what the young convert begins to find out after a time, after a while, sometime after he's saved. There is an inward inclination to sin, even though he is a Christian. There is a power within that draws us to sin. And when that power breaks out, we commit sins. We may seek and receive forgiveness, but then we sin again. And life goes on in a vicious circle, sinning and being forgiven, but then sinning again. That's the up-and-down life of the defeated Christian. We appreciate God's forgiveness, but we want something more than that. We want deliverance. We need forgiveness from what we have done, but we need deliverance from what we are. And that's what God is showing the believer, what he is in himself, so that when the believer sees how sinful he is in himself, he begins to long for deliverance. And after he struggles for a long, long time, seeking to get deliverance in his own strength and by different means, finally he comes to the place to see that he's already been delivered at Calvary. And he begins to come back to the basis and the principle of faith, not of effort and struggle. And the principle, as we have, the same way we became saved by having faith in the finished work, we are to grow by having faith in this new finished work that we see, that we were freed from the power of sin at Calvary through death. And we're to reckon, we're to count ourselves dead indeed unto sin, because we see that we did die unto sin in Christ. We see it in the Word. And we're only counting upon that which we see. It isn't a matter of reckoning we are hard seeking to make it come to pass. It's simply resting in the fact that we see has already come to pass. And then we begin to receive the benefit in our daily walk of the finished work. We need forgiveness from what we have done, but we need deliverance from what we are. And this truth needs revealing today. It's far too little known identification. The Reformation restored the truths of a new birth, the birth truths by faith alone, but the Reformation failed to go on to the deliverance truths, to the growth truths, for everyday life and growth. The Reformation did not bring these truths out that are necessary for growth. And if you know this about the present-day Reformation churches and the Lutheran churches and all, there's very little... As a matter of fact, today there's very little salvation and justification in them amongst the members. But even so, there's very little hunger for growth. There's very little separation. There just isn't the truth there for this. The Reformation didn't go that far. But what sort of a salvation would it be if our Father had simply saved us from the penalty of our sins and then left us on our own to deal with the power of sin in our Christian life and walk? What type of... That wouldn't be much of a salvation. But the trouble is today that many Christians feel that's about all God did. They know they're saved and they know they're going to go to heaven. And any of them who are the least bit concerned about their Christian life, they feel that they have to struggle and carry on with all the efforts that they can muster to live the Christian life and to seek to get away from the influence of self. And they never have been shown that God took care of that, too, at Calvary. And that is what is needed today, a more thorough revelation of these identification facts, that the truth should be revealed beyond Romans 1, 2, 3, 4. They must be revealed as they're set forth in 6, 7, and 8. Because this is the only realm of truth that liberates, that frees the Christian to really live in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not left to deal with the old life ourselves. It has been dealt with by Christ on the cross. Calvary is the foundation of sanctification as well as justification. But until a Christian sees this, he's going to struggle. He's either going to struggle or he's not going to do anything. He's simply going to vegetate. And he's going to be nothing but a nothing. And, of course, simply revealing the truth is not the answer. It's only half the answer, because the other half of the answer has to be that the Christian is cultivated and conditioned to want these truths, to want to enter into them, that he must have the need. The truth sets free when the Christian realizes that he's a slave, that he needs the freedom desperately. Then he's going to apply to the liberating truths. He's going to find out about them. He's going to be open to them, but not until. And the thing that is going on amongst Christians today is that the conscientious ones are simply aware of their sins, and they're confessing their sins, 1 John 1, 9, being cleansed, and they're seeking to get along on this basis. But yet, after a time, they just can't keep up with things, and the sins just sort of stockpile, pile up in their lives, and cut off their fellowship with the Father. And they just become overwhelmed, and sometimes they just give up, and utterly defeated, because they have not been shown how to get at the source of sin itself, where these sins spring from. They have not been shown the identification truths, where the cross, the sinner, has already been dealt with at Calvary. And so many Christians feel, well, this Romans 6 is extremely difficult. I just can't get anywhere with it. That is, many of the Christians who realize that there is such a realm as Romans 6, many Christians today don't even know that Romans 6 is in their Bible. They don't even realize that there is such a thing in the Word of God. But some Christians, many Christians who are aware, feel that it's just futile. They just can't get anywhere with these deeper truths. They're just too deep for me, you see. But they're extremely simple, once the heart is prepared. And God has taught the Christian the principle at the very outset, that when he was saved, he saw that the Lord Jesus Christ was his substitute, that he had done all the work for him to pay for his sins, and he put his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and he entered into that finished work, and he received the benefit of it, that he knew he was saved, and that his sins were paid for. So he knew what to do about the cross, and about the work of the cross, and the one who did it. He entered into the finished work. Well, when the Christian is struggling, and he begins to become aware of his need to be freed from the dominion of sin, the power of self, he is again shown the work of the cross, where the Lord Jesus Christ died out of the realm of sin, and took the sinner with him, down into death, and then the Christian rose in Christ, the new creation, that the Lord Jesus was not only his substitute, but now he is his representative, and that the Christian was identified with him personally, intimately, and not just objective substitution, but subjective representation, that he was there in Christ when it happened, when the Lord Jesus died out of the realm of sin. And as he begins to see that, and realize that, that he did die in the Lord Jesus, and that he is risen in the Lord Jesus, then he begins to rest in that truth, and he begins to count upon that fact. And as he does, the Holy Spirit begins to give him the benefit of that finished work, that the Holy Spirit brings the death of Calvary into the Christian's life, and begins to apply that finished work of death to the old life, and holds it in the place of death, as he counts it true, as the Christian counts it true. And he experiences more and more freedom from the dominion of self and sin, and he experiences more and more the rest in the Lord Jesus, and the fact that the Lord Jesus is living in and through him, and he is beginning to experience Galatians 2.20. As our substitute, the Lord Jesus went to the cross alone without us to pay the penalty of our sins as our representative. And as our representative, he took us with him to the cross. And there, in the sight of God, we all died together with him. We may be forgiven because he died in our stead. We may be delivered because we died with him. God's way of deliverance for us, the race of hopeless and curable, is to put us away in the cross of his Son, and then to make a new beginning by recreating us in union with him, the risen, living Lord Jesus Christ. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And that we must see. That is what brings the reality of these truths into our daily walk, that we see the truth and we begin to stand upon the truth. It becomes our attitude. Yes, Lord, I realize and I see that when the Lord Jesus died unto sin, out of the realm of sin, that thou had identified me with him. Thou didst place me in him. And that when he died, I died. I see that, Father. And that becomes our set attitude as we do see it. And we do count ourselves dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ. And we do. This is a basis for our abiding in him, the risen Lord Jesus. We see it, and it becomes our fixed attitude. We reckon it just as definitely and count upon it just as definitely as we did for the payment of our sins when we got saved. This is the same thing, the same principle, trusting in his finished work. And it's on this basis that we begin really to grow, that it's not I but Christ more and more definitely, that we present ourselves to him as those that are alive from the dead, our basis for consecration, those who are risen in the Lord Jesus, that we see ourselves in Christ risen. That's our position. Our citizenship is in heaven. That's where we abide, in him. That's the basis for growth. That's the basis for a progressive liberation from the law of sin and death and the dominion, domination of self, slavery to self. And this thought, this truth of Romans 6.6 shows so clearly our identification with him. Knowing this, there is that word knowing, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. And of course that word destroyed in the Greek means to render inoperative, to put out of action. And as we see this fact that we were crucified with him, the Holy Spirit begins to progressively put the old life out of action so that we do not have to serve sin, that we're free from the domination of sin more and more fully. And there's no other way for us to get free from the self-life and from the law of sin. No other way than applying to the truth of the cross, seeing it and applying to it, of appropriating it, of counting it so. And the reason there's no other way is because this is the way that God did it. And he did it 2,000 years ago in the Lord Jesus Christ when he was crucified. It's all done and it's ours now to believe as we see it. And we can't really believe a thing until we understand it and know it. And there comes our knowledge again, know ye not, that we have to study, that we have to be shown by the Spirit what happened to us at Calvary. And this is a wonderful fact here, a very true, that the flesh will only yield to the cross. And the reason for that is that the cross is the victory over sin and self. There is where the completed work was done. The flesh will only yield to the cross, not to all the resolutions we may make at a conference, not to any self-effort, not to any attempted self-crucifixion, only co-crucifixion, crucified together with Christ. And it doesn't mean present-day crucifixion. It means a past-tense completed crucifixion at Calvary, crucified together with him, that we're looking back and trusting in something that already happened. We're relying upon a finished work. Only will the self yield to co-crucifixion, crucified together with Christ. So that I begin to realize that death separates me from the old life, the death that I went through at Calvary. We are to see that gap between the new life and the old. As we abide in the Lord Jesus, we can be confident that the tomb that we went down into with the Lord Jesus now separates us from the old life and its domination. And as we count upon that death, we progressively get the benefit of it, that death separates. Death is the great and final separation. And as we abide in the Lord Jesus and count ourselves alive unto God in him, that death takes hold of the old life and holds it in the place of death. Puts it out of action. Holds it inoperative. And we're free to live in the Lord Jesus. And he's free to manifest himself in and through us. And this is the result of the identification truths. This is the benefit we derive from them as we rest in them. And we only rest in that which we see and understand. So there can be no results until we really see these truths and are brought into them. Many Christians seek to rush into Romans 6 just to get the benefit of what they hear about it. And they're not ready at all. They're not prepared. And they do not get the results. And they reckon and reckon with all their might and nothing happens. And so they cry as well. There's nothing to it. It isn't true after all. And Romans 6 doesn't work for me. And there's a common cry because the heart was not prepared. They did not really know the facts. And therefore they were unable to rest in them and get the benefit of them. Because we're not only saved by faith, but we are to live and walk and to stand by faith, faith in a finished work. And we cannot exercise faith in that which we're not sure of, that which we do not see. So knowledge comes first. And then the exercise of belief and faith. The flesh will only yield to the cross. We see in Romans 6, 3, baptized into his death. Well, that is a spiritual baptism that when we were placed in the Lord Jesus, we were immersed in him, we were placed in him, baptized into him. Why, naturally, when he died, we died. We were baptized into his death. It's the same meaning as in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, where the Holy Spirit baptized every believer into the body of Christ. We were baptized into his body by the Holy Spirit. We're placed in the body of Christ. We became members of his body, placed in him. It's a spiritual baptism. Water baptism is only a picture of this spiritual baptism, this finished work, this truth. Water baptism is depicting it, typifying it. It is not the baptism itself. And then we see in Romans 6, 4, buried with him, with him. We were taken down into the tomb. And Romans 6, 5, the progression. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. And we see that also in Colossians 3, 3. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. It's not only resurrection, but it's ascension. And that the Christian is alive unto God in the risen Lord Jesus. And we're seated in heavenly places in Christ. That is our position. That's the source of our life, the Lord Jesus himself. I often think of this poem that has to do with identification. It's called, "'Tis Not Enough." My God shall sin its power maintain, and in my soul defiant live. "'Tis not enough that thou forgive. The cross must rise and self be slain. O God of love, thy love declare. "'Tis not enough that Christ should die. I too with him in death must lie, and in my death his anguish share. O God of love, thy power disclose. "'Tis not enough that Christ should rise. I too must seek the brightening skies and rise from death as Christ arose. And from the cross and to the grave descend. And when the morning breaks to live anew, the soul awakes that sin nor death shall e'er enslave. The cross is love, the Christ's and mine. "'Tis life to die and death to live. And not enough that God forgive if I would live the life divine." And that's what happens to the Christian. He rejoices at first that he's forgiven. That's established. He comes to know that. That he's clear before God and sure of heaven. And he rejoices in that fact. But God does not allow the Christian to stay there on simply the birth truths of justification. He brings him on through daily processing that the Christian doesn't reject the birth truths, but he seeks to go on from them. On the basis of justification, he realizes he must go on into the realm of sanctification, in the realm of identification. And the birth truths were not meant to satisfy. They're not meant for life. They're meant for the beginning, not for growth. But many Christians are staying right at their birth, in their birth realm, and they're wondering why they don't grow. And they're seeking to grow on the basis of justification. And that's not possible. So we come to realize that just being saved is not enough. It's enough to get to heaven, yes. But that heaven is actually wonderful as heaven is. It's really, well, it's an extra when you come to think of the importance of growing in the Lord Jesus Christ and being used of him here and now. Christian growth, Christian development, Christian maturity, Christian service. And the emphasis in the Christian's heart changes from being thoroughly satisfied that he's saved. He becomes dissatisfied with his condition. And he sort of sets heaven aside. That can wait. Now the business at hand is to grow and to become more like the Lord Jesus Christ, to enter into God's purpose for him. And his burden becomes growth now. He doesn't leave his basis of birth and the fact that he's going to heaven, but there's more. And now he becomes burdened and interested and eager about his development in the Lord Jesus Christ, day by day. And as his hunger increases, as he is conditioned and prepared, he becomes willing and ready for all that is involved in daily Christian growth. That self must be dealt with, that self must be taken more and more fully out of the picture, that the center of the Christian's life is not self, but it is to be the Lord Jesus Christ. But of course self just doesn't lie down and die. That isn't the nature of self. The nature of self is to be self-centered and to be the center of attraction and to be the main force in everything. That's the nature of self, selfishness. So that the Christian comes to find out how exceedingly strong and dominating that self and sin are. And he finds out that even though he's a Christian, born again, he just can't do anything, can't handle the situation. He can't do anything with self. The more he tries, the worse he gets. And this drives him to God's answer to self, the one and only answer. This takes him back to Calvary. This takes him back to Calvary, not the Calvary of substitution and justification. It takes him back to Calvary of identification. And there's where he begins to see what happened to him at Calvary, not only his sins. And since he is now concerned about himself, he realizes that what an enemy self is, and now he's in condition, and now he's ready to see this further truth that is contained in Calvary. And the wonderful thing is that God himself brings the Christian to that. That we cannot do it ourselves, we will not do it ourselves, since the law of the natural life is self-preservation. The Christian is not going to crucify himself, he's not going to want to be crucified, without God conditioning him to the extent that he begins to hate his life and he becomes willing. That he longs so deeply for the Lord Jesus that he's willing, no matter what it costs, that he wants the Lord Jesus Christ in his daily life. And this is the realm of identification. Closed, absolutely closed to the unprepared heart, and it's sheer mercy, sheer mercy that God opens it up to us. There's this thought by Austin Sparks in The Christian's Development, where he says, the first phase of our spiritual experience may be a great and overflowing joy with a marvelous sense of emancipation. And that's when we're first saved. Oh my, things are all brand new, and we've entered a wonderful new life. And in this phase, extravagant things are often said as to total deliverance and final victory. And we feel that the battle is all over, and now we're born again, and now everything is going to be simple and easy. Oh, I know how I felt. I felt that way. All my problems taken care of. Brand new life. No more drunkenness. No more cursing and carousing around. No more of the emptiness of life and the futility of it all. But now there is fullness of life and joy in the Lord Jesus. Now everything is taken care of in the most wonderful way. Well, this is an earnest that God gives us. An earnest of the ultimate is often given with the incoming of the Holy Spirit when we're born again. He gives us a taste of the life ahead. We at the time think that we have arrived. This is it. But no, it's a taste. He gives us a vision of it, a realization of it to the extent that we hunger for it. Nothing else will satisfy. And this is needed so that when He takes us down into the processing that is necessary to bring us into this victory into the life of the Lord Jesus in our daily walk, when He takes us down into death to bring this about, our taste of the life and our realization of it will hold us firm. That we won't give up. That we're so eager for it and hungry for it that we won't allow anything to turn us from it. And we're willing to go through anything to be brought into it. So He gives us tastes from time to time of what lies ahead. And often there's a testimony. Well, now I have this or that and I've entered into this or that. That might just be the taste and then it'll disappear while we're taken down into the process that brings reality. So we must be careful about our free-handed testimony at times and to wait until we truly have entered in and been brought in. It's the same way when a Christian begins to see the facts of Calvary and the identification truths and he experiences a great deal of liberty and freedom and the wonderful release from the power of sin. And he testifies, he says, now I'm out of Romans 7 forever and I'm walking in Romans 8. But it isn't long when God takes him down into the process to make this real in his life. Then the testimony fades and the Christian has to back off somewhat from what he's been claiming. But that was the taste and the earnest of what is his in the Lord Jesus and what the process will bring him to, ultimately. Then there may and often does come a phase of which inward conflict is the chief feature. It may be very much the Romans 7 experience. This will lead under the Lord's hand to the fuller knowledge of the meaning of identification with Christ as in Romans 6. Happy the man who has been instructed in this from the beginning. Yes, the sooner we are able to see the truths of identification, the better. Because then we'll hold still and we'll have this goal and we'll have the realization that this is what God is seeking and working and processing to bring us into. And we'll be able to trust him and hold still. That's why it's so important to begin to see the truths of identification. That we can cooperate with him and rest in him while he works him into our lives through his daily processing. We which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake. That the life also of Jesus might ultimately be manifest in our mortal flesh as we grow. Less and less of self, more and more of Christ. Not I, but Christ. So as we see these truths, we must be willing to wait his time and his way for him to bring us into them. That they might become an integral part of our daily walk. Patience is needed. And trust and rest and time. Our Father, we thank thee for thy word today. All of these wonderful truths and promises that thou hast set forth so clearly. And each of us waits upon thee as thou dost give us these truths, as these truths take hold of us and become real in our walk, in our experience day by day as we grow. We just trust thee about all this. In Jesus' name, amen.