Derek Prince Legacy Radio International

There’s a tremendous gap that man cannot bridge between the level of God’s ways and thoughts and the level of what humankind can comprehend. But there is a way we can know God better. His thoughts have been brought down to our earthly level. Derek explains how.

The book of Romans is the source of the today’s installment of Derek’s teaching on the theme of identification. There are three successive phases of this Romans Recipe, each comprising steps that we must follow to accomplish the desire result: identification with Christ.

Derek teaches us today that salvation requires a cooperation between the heart and the mouth. Believing in the heart enables us to achieve righteousness. This is only achieved as we confess with our mouth what we believe in our heart. Make the words of your mouth agree with God’s Word.

Today we find out that it is not enough to know the truth—we must also believe the truth. Knowing is in the mind, but belief is in the heart. Accept the fact that unbelief is a sin—and it is an evil that keeps us from what God has ordained for us.

In today’s talk, Derek uncovers the first of two barriers that come in the way of keeping us from being fully identified with Jesus Christ and what His death has purchased for us. Ignorance is simply a lack of knowledge. We are unaware of promises of our inheritance.

Over the past three weeks, Derek has been showing us how the concept of identification is the key that opens up for us a full understanding of the purpose of the death of Jesus and so enables us to enter into all that He obtained for us through His death.

The wisdom of this world, as Derek well knows, will never take the place of the hidden wisdom of God, which will only come when one becomes a new creation in Christ Jesus. Then the door will open up for us to search out this hidden wisdom.

Derek shows us today that we are also identified with the ascension life and ministry of Jesus in heaven. When Jesus ascended to heaven He entered into two unique ministries: where He rules as King and intercedes as Priest. In this way also, we are invited to identify ourselves with Jesus.

As Derek proceed with his teaching on our identification with Christ, he points out that the Father sent Christ. The Father gave Jesus the words to speak and God performed His works through Jesus. To see Jesus was to see the Father. In the same way, Jesus has sent us out.

Yesterday’s message presented the heart of the gospel, found in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. What is our Christian experience? Paul tells us that God has made us alive, God has raised us up and God has seated us with Christ. Through our identification with Jesus, we are born again to a living hope.

The absolute heart of the gospel is this: First, Christ died; second, He was buried; and third, He was raised on the third day. There is one outward act required by God that enables us to be identified with Jesus in these three phases: the act of baptism in water. Have you been baptized?

Scripture tells us that the wages of sin is death. This inevitable consequence was cancelled on the cross, as Jesus died in our place. When we accept this truth, we find that it is no longer we who live, but Christ lives in us. He is resurrected—and so will we be. He died our death that we might have His life.

Derek explains today the meaning of rejection. It is the feeling of being unwanted, unworthy and not really belonging. As the sin of humanity came upon Jesus on the cross, God averted His eyes. He could not look on sin. That was for our good—that we might receive God’s total acceptance.

Christians often have an incorrect view of poverty. Derek shows us that poverty is part of the curse. In fact, on the cross Jesus experienced absolute poverty: He was hungry, thirsty, naked and in want of all things. His suffering made way for us to receive the abundance that was due to Him.

Part of the curse that Jesus bore for us has to do with mental and physical sickness. Since He bore these things in His body, physical healing has been obtained for us. The fact that “we were healed” is always in the past tense. It has already happened.

When Jesus died on the cross, He took all the evil consequences due to the rebellion of the whole human race. One aspect of that has to do with curses and blessings. Because Christ was made sin for us, He was also made a curse. Why? So that we could partake of all the blessings.

The second exchange, which Derek presents today, is that Jesus became the sin offering, or the guilt offering, for us. He bore our sin in His body on the tree that we might be wrapped in the robe of righteousness that Isaiah has written to us about.

Today, Derek begins to reveal specific ways in which “the divine exchange” took place – Jesus bearing all the evil that we might receive all of the blessings that was due to Him. The first way that Derek mentions is: Jesus bore our punishment that we might have God’s forgiveness, or peace.

Jesus became our substitute by taking all of the evil that was due to our rebelliousness and sin—that we might receive all the good that was due to His eternal righteousness and complete obedience. What an exchange took place!

Isaiah writes to us about “the suffering servant,” who is recognized by biblical scholars to be Jesus Christ Himself. Not only was He the Son of Man, depicting human frailty, but He also took upon Himself our infirmities, our transgressions and our punishment.