Identity theft is a huge problem in our country. According to javelin Strategy & Research, identity fraud resulted in $16.9 billion lost in 2019. Yes, that’s nearly 17 BILLION dollars! If you are a victim of identity theft it can cost you a lot more than merely dollars and cents.

According to a report from the SANS Institute, it takes an average of six months and roughly 200 hours of work to recover your identity after it's been compromised.

Perhaps the worst toll identity theft exacts is not only sabotaging your credit, but the emotional distress that it leaves behind.

Identity theft is a work of deception that unscrupulous people work hard at perpetrating.

But far more sinister is the work of Satan and demonic spirits who seek to sabotage the saints of God by blinding us from our true identity in Christ.

When a person is saved, a new identity is given. It is a spiritual identity that we inherit by faith and that defines who we now are in Christ. This identity anchors us to God’s truth and to his eternal plan for our lives. The closer we walk with God and the better we know his word, the clearer is our understanding of our identity in Christ and the stronger is our conviction to hold to that identity in the face of struggles and pressures and doubts.

But when we neglect the word of God and become distracted from the priority of intimacy with God, we are easily deceived about our true and spiritual identity. We lose sight of our glorious inheritance in Christ and fall subject to the instability of our emotions and the imprinting of the popular culture around us.

We exchange the voice of God for the lesser voices of culture or people or self-doubt or even unwittingly, the voice of the enemy, Satan himself. Now I don’t know any Christians who would consciously choose to listen to Satan rather than God. But the Bible calls Satan the great Deceiver. He is a stealth fighter. He prefers to work under cover; incognito; camouflaged from detection. He seldom rings the doorbell and announces himself and his deviant intentions. Rather, he infiltrates our thoughts, he targets our insecurities, he partners with our fears, he cultivates our doubts. And when he is most successful, we never even suspect his presence.

Peter, the great fisherman-disciple, was shanghaied by Satan on one infamous occasion. Jesus was revealing the deep truth of the necessity of the crucifixion to the twelve. Peter thought, “This makes no sense; this is not right; this can’t be; I’ve got to do something!” He had no awareness that these thoughts were not his, but dark deception from the Devil.

Peter takes the bait. He has no idea that he is being played like a puppet. The Scriptures record, “Peter took [Jesus] aside and began to rebuke him. ‘Never, Lord!’ he said. ‘This shall never happen to you!’ 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns."

What a wake-up call that must have been for Peter. The Devil had duped him into doing his bidding. He had pawned off his thoughts to Peter so cunningly that Peter thought they were his own. He stole Peter’s identity and left him holding a bag of lies. This is how identity theft works not on the dark web but in the world of darkness where the devil temporarily reigns as the little “g” god of this world.

In our new teaching series, “Identity Theft” that begins this morning, I’ll teach you the five key components of our identity in Christ that are designed by God to help us live our lives as true citizens of the kingdom of heaven. The better you know this divine identity, the easier it will be for you to detect Satan’s schemes to deceive you and to steal away your true identity.

In place of each one of these five rich realities of your identity in Christ, Satan has a worthless counterfeit that he seeks to imbed in our minds and hearts and lives. Satan knows that WHO we are does not necessarily determine HOW we live. It really is about who we BELIEVE we are, that is the determining factor.

I’d like to invite you on a spiritual journey over the next five weeks that could equip and empower you to live like a child of the Most High God. I’ll teach you from God’s word how to recognize and embrace your God-given identity and how to live in it on a consistent basis. I’ll teach you how to unmask Satan’s lethal lies and walk in the truth.

We start this morning with the first of the five pillars or anchors of our spiritual identity in Christ. All five are found in a single verse of the New Testament.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

1. The most desirable; first choice (Genesis 23:6)

2. Special ordered and prepared (Ezra 5:8)

3. Prized and desirable (Jeremiah 3:19)

4. Individually selected (Matthew 22:14)

5. Differentiated from others (Matthew 24:31)

6. Unique; the one and only (Luke 23:35)

7. Personally invested in (Romans 8:33)

8. Fully vetted, known and qualified (1 Peter 1:1-2)

1. My sins have separated me from God: Guilt (Genesis 3:22-24; Isaiah 59:1-2; Romans 3:23)

2. I am worldly minded and not sensitive to God’s Spirit: Worldliness (Romans 8:5-6)

3. Satan shames me into believing a lie: Lies (Romans 8:1)

a. You are undesirable

b. You are anonymous

c. You are alone

d. You are a disappointment to God and resented

1. Rehearse the truth (John 17:17)

a. God did his homework on me and hand-picked me for his own

a. I am a valued part of God’s faith family and never an afterthought or a burden

c. I am my Father’s pride and joy

2. Seek God’s will and serve him (Philippians 3:12-14; Acts 22:10)

May Jesus heal the hole in your soul of rejection and insecurity.

May you feel the freedom of being fully known and deeply desired by

God.

May you learn to detect and resist the rejection rhetoric of the Devil.

And may you always remember that you are a celebrated part of God’s

favored family.