Identity Termination: Why God Didn't Fix the Old You

Stop trying to improve something that God has already ended.

Most people think salvation is just a second chance or a clean slate. But in this episode, Austin Gardner reveals a much deeper, more shocking truth: You were included in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection before you even knew it.

Using the metaphor of a bankrupt company, Austin explains that the cross isn't about "behavior management"—it’s about Identity Termination. The old you didn't just get a makeover; the old you died. Now, your life is "hid with Christ in God."

If you’ve spent years striving to "become" a better Christian, this teaching is your invitation to wake up to who you already are.

In this episode, we explore:

• Romans 6 & Colossians 3: The legal reality of your death in Christ.
• The Elevator Metaphor: Why resurrection isn't something you wait for, but something you're carried into.
• Seated in Heavenly Places: What it means to live from victory rather than for it.
• Levi in Abraham: How a great-grandson participated in an act decades before his birth—and how you did the same in Christ.

Connect with Austin:

• Blog/Hub: waustingardner.com (Read the full "DNA of Grace" series here).
• Substack/Email: Sign up for daily grace-filled encouragement.
• Podcast: Search "Followed by Mercy" on all major platforms.

#WArustinGardner #IdentityInChrist #Grace #GospelTruth #FollowedByMercy #ChristianMentorship #IdentityTermination

Thanks for listening. Find us on YouTube, Substack, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

Transcript

Baptized Into Jesus’ Death

The Old Identity Ends

Buried Means Finality

Raised And Seated Together

Live From New Identity

Levi In Abraham And Us In Christ

Where To Follow And Closing Charge

Austin Gardner 0:27

What happened to you in Christ? What happened to you in Christ? Let me ask you something. If everything we said so far is true, if you were in Christ and what happened to him included you, then here's the question. What's actually happened to you? What's happened to you? Because most people think salvation is forgiveness, a second chance, a clean slate. But the New Testament describes something much deeper. It describes an event that you were included in. Not just something done for you, but something that happened to you because you were in him. I think you know that. We've been going over this for days as you listen or as you watch. But I need you to understand this is not just symbolic. Let's go straight to the language of the Bible, of the scriptures. Romans chapter 6 and verse 3 says, Know you not that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death. Whoa. See, now we read these verses and we don't think about them and we get over them quickly. Paul says, you were baptized into his death. It's not you were inspired by his death. It's not that you're learning from his death. Are you ready? It says you were included in it. Listen, know ye not that so many of us as we're baptized into Jesus Christ, we're baptized into his death. That'll call for a whole lot of meditating. That'll call for a whole lot of thinking. What in the world does that mean? And what's really shocking is Paul's talking to believers like this. No, do you guys not know? Do you not know that being baptized into Jesus, being put into the body of Christ, placed into the body of Christ? You were placed into his death. You see, that's what baptism is. It's the immersion of us, it's the setting of us, it's putting us into Christ. This is not really about water baptism here, it's about being placed in Christ. We apply it to water baptism, but it's about being placed in Christ. How about Romans 6, 6? Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him. Our old man is crucified with him. This is not try to die to sin. That's not what it said. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him. This is you already died with him. Imagine your name being on a legal document, and someone signs it on your behalf, and later you find out that decision already included you. That's what Paul is saying. You were, we were included in Christ's death. We were included in Christ's death. Now, if that's true, then something about you has already ended. Let's stay with it. Let's think about it. Romans 6, 6, our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed. That old man, my identity in Adam. Not by behavior, not my habits, my identity in Adam. God doesn't fix the old you. Think of that old company that's bankrupt. You don't improve it, you shut it down, and you start something new. So the cross is not behavior management. The cross is not behavior management, though we so quickly turn everything into behavior management. It is identity determination. Most people are trying to improve something that God has already ended. You ready? You died. Let's make that even clearer from the Bible. Colossians 3:3. Ye are dead. You are dead. That's what he said to the Colossian believers, you are dead, for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. You are dead. Not you're gonna die, not you will die, not you need to die, you are dead. Let's simplify it. The OU is not alive anymore. The OU is not alive anymore. Imagine someone trying to pay off debts from a life that is legally ended. That person's dead. They can't pay their debts. The system would say that person no longer exists in that way. That's what the cross did. It ended our old identity. We are dead. But then are you ready? We're buried. It goes further. Romans 6, 4 says, Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death. We are buried with him. Burial means finality. It means no return. It means no going back. You've been to the graveyard. You've walked in with your family and you're carrying the casket and you walk it over to that place and you bury it. They don't do it like this very much anymore, but when I was a boy, they'd lower it down and you'd hear the dirt as it fell down on the casket. Nowadays they send you home and tell you to come back in an hour or two once they got it all fixed. But the finality, you are buried. This wasn't partial. This was complete. You don't bury something that's still alive. You don't bury something that's still alive. When you bury it, you're saying it is finished. So not only did you die, but that life was put away. That life was put away. Now, here's where everything shifts. We were raised. Ephesians 2, 5 and 6. Even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ. Look at that. Together, together, together. Listen to it again. Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, hath raised us up together, and hath made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Three times. Together, together, together. So here's a simple way to say what's being said in the Bible. When Jesus came out of the grave, we came out to. Think about being on that elevator again. If you're in it, when it goes up, you go up. You don't climb, you don't earn it, you're carried. So resurrection is not something you're waiting for, it is something you're already included in. Well, that's a wild one to think about, isn't it? You are now seated. This part's hard for me to believe. It's hard for people to believe. Ephesians 2, 6 made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Simple version, you're not trying to get to God. You're already seated in Christ. It's like being given a seat at the table before you feel worthy to sit down, and the invitation is already given. The place is already set. Well, that what was all this? How's it affect us? What's a change? What's this change? Well, everything. Here's here's the boy, I've needed this so desperately. You stop trying to become new because you are a new creature. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. You don't become new, you are new. We're so worried about working to be new when we are new. You stop trying to fix yourself because the old you is gone. You live from your new identity. It's not about effort, it's about awareness. The simple version is you don't achieve this life, you wake, you wake up to it. You wake up to it. So let's bring it all together. If you were in Christ, then you were crucified with him, you died with him, you were buried with him, you were raised with him, and you are seated in him. Just like Levi was in Abraham and participated in what he did. In Hebrews chapter 7, it's just so clear. And you don't pay attention to it because you forget that Abraham had a son named Isaac, who had a son named Jacob, who had a son named Levi. That's a great grandson. It's dozens of years apart. And he says, Levi paid tithes in Abraham, and Abraham had all that happened before he ever had a child. But Levi was in there. And you and I were in Christ. And we participated in everything he did. So the question is no longer, what do I need to do? But now it is, will I believe what has already been done and what's already happened to me? Because you see, once we see that, we stop trying to be something, to do something, to become something, and we start living from who we already are. We are not waiting for transformation. We are living from one that already happened. I just want to take these few little lessons and help you understand who we are in Christ because I'm learning this. I would like to tell you that I didn't, I already knew it, but I didn't. Here I am, 71 years old and getting close to heaven and learning so much every day. But I think you could learn it a lot quicker than I could, and it could save you a lot of heartache and a lot of sorrow, a lot of striving and struggle, a lot of fighting and fussing and comparing and competing because you realize it's all about Jesus. We're in our champion, and his name is Jesus. Like always, I'd like to encourage you to, you know, I've got a YouTube channel and I've got uh podcasts. And if you're driving down the road, you can easily listen to the podcast. Just go to any place you listen to the podcast and look up Followed by Mercy, and I think you'll find it. There it's showing up in every everywhere. You can go to YouTube and watch. I don't know why you'd watch, because I I'm just me and I don't even do that good a job of recording. But you could go to WAustengardner.com and you could read where I'm writing all of this, I think maybe slower pace and more detail, and you can have that. If you're not signed up to my emails, you can sign up on Substack or on Beehive. You can use both of those links and they'll be in the description. You can sign up to get the emails that will point you always to the articles that are being written on walksegardner.com. That's the main place that I write. I consider that like the hub. It's the center of everything I do. And I thank you for following me on TikTok. I thank you for being my friend on Facebook. I thank you for following me here on YouTube or on the podcast. And man, I'm so grateful for you. But you know, here's the deal. And I'm slowly learning this. It's not about me, it's about who did it all for me. And that's the way it is for you too. And I hope and pray you enjoy who you are in Christ. Today, live in victory. No more questioning what he thinks. Because if Levi paid tithes in Abraham, then we died and were buried and rose again and are seated all in Christ, just like Levi. You see, we were in Christ, and it's all ours. Wow, is that hard to understand and hard to accept? Thank you so very much. Please give it a like if you would. Share it with somebody, and I'd love to have a comment from you. I'd love to hear from you.