Welcome to the podcast of the White Church in Adelaide, South
Australia. Morning, guys.
Morning. While you grab your Bibles,
we're going to open up to the Book of Colossians.
We're going to start in the Book of Colossians this morning.
Colossians Chapter 2, how good has the last couple of weeks
been? Hey, with Bruce and Meyer a
couple of weekends ago, teaching us around, walking in victory
over sin, teaching us to build our life on the rock.
And we're going to dive into this morning our victory over
sin. Yeah, let's, let's start in the
book of Colossians, chapter 2, and we're going to start in
verse 11. It says in him that is Christ in
him also you were circumcised with the circumcision made
without hands by putting off the body of the flesh, by the
circumcision of Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism,
in which you were also raised with him through faith in the
powerful working of God. I want you, if you haven't
underlined it, you should underline the powerful working
of God. This isn't just an ordinary
working of God. This is a powerful working of
God who raised Jesus from the dead.
This is the exact same power that raised Jesus from the dead.
We think resurrection from the dead is this extraordinary
action. That is the exact same power
that has brought us from a Kingdom of darkness into a
Kingdom of life like this is. This is not just an ordinary
work, an ordinary thing that any human being can do.
This is incredibly powerful, and it's a powerful working of God.
When we are transferred, ripped out of a Kingdom of darkness and
transferred into a Kingdom of light, this is a powerful
working of God, and you, this is verse 13, were dead in your
trespass and the uncircumcision of your flesh.
However, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all
our trespasses by cancelling the record of debt that stood
against us with its legal demands.
This He set aside, nailing it to the cross and verse 15 I find
incredibly powerful. He disarmed the rulers and
authorities. He disarmed, I think Bruce
mentioned that the the devil has been disarmed.
It's very hard to hold weapons when you have no arms.
He disarmed the rulers and authorities, but more than that,
he put them to open shame. By triumphing over them in him,
He put them to open shame. As I said this morning, we're
going to talk about Christ's victory, and we need to remember
that this isn't like to like an equal fight we have.
We have to remember that this isn't an equal fight, right?
I was thinking about this, and I'm sure many of us were
probably familiar with names like Novak Djokovic and Roger
Federer. Rafael Nadal, the top three
tennis players in the world retired now, but they were
champions. Like, we're not talking about a
champion tennis game like Nadal versus Federer.
We're not talking about two equal opponents playing against
each other, right? We're talking about one of these
champions taking on my son Xavier in a tennis match.
We're talking about one of the most comprehensive, overwhelming
victories of all time. We're not talking about an equal
fight here. And I think we, we need to
remember sometimes in our life that when we're talking about
wrestling, you know, the flesh and the spirit, that we're kind
of going, man, it's, it's a struggle.
It's a real struggle. It's not a struggle because
Jesus has an overwhelming victory.
He has an overwhelming victory over sin.
This is one of the most comprehensive victories of all
time that Jesus put them to open shame.
Open shame. Not only did he take all the
weapons away, but he also put them to open shame by triumphing
over them in Christ. Doesn't that fool you with such
confidence, such celebration, such joy, such peace?
Like man, sin in my life doesn't stand a chance when the Spirit
of God is alive in me. Sin in my life does not stand a
chance when the Spirit of God is alive in me.
And so this morning I want to look at 4 areas that Jesus has
conquered sin, 4 areas that Jesus has provided victory for
sin. And we're going to look through
4 chapters of the book of Romans this morning.
So if you flick over Romans chapter 5, Romans chapter 5, and
it says this in verse 12. Therefore, just as sin came into
the world through one man and death through sin, and so death
spread to all men because all sinned, all sinned.
Verse 14, we skip down. It says, yet death reigned.
We know from the Scriptures, it teaches that the penalty of sin
is death. And the first thing that Jesus
has comprehensive victory over is the penalty of sin.
Jesus has victory over the penalty of sin.
Now I'm sure we all believe like you put your faith in Jesus, you
have eternal life, right? But we are death and life equal
opposites here. Like death does not stand a
chance when Jesus comes. Any effect of death does not
stand a chance because Jesus has a comprehensive victory over the
penalty of sin. Where in Genesis chapter 2 and
3, when God comes and he says don't eat of the tree, for on
that day you will surely die. And that was that was a command.
If you break the law of God, if you sin against God, the penalty
is death. And yet Jesus comes.
And yet Jesus comes in verse 17. For if because of one man's
trespass, Speaking of Adam, death reigned through that one
man, how much more will those who receive the abundance of
grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life
through the one man, Jesus Christ?
How much more this is not like we've just got a death is equal
to life and like I've just been transferred from one Kingdom.
No, no, no, I've been transferred from a Kingdom that
was so down here to a Kingdom that is now so far the life.
Jesus says in John chapter 10, he says the thief comes to
steal, kill and destroy. But I have come that they may
have life and life more abundantly.
Like it's not just that they might have life and death, but
I've come that they might have an even more abundant life.
Jesus has victory over the penalty of sin.
The second thing that Jesus has victory over, we see in Romans
chapter 6 is that Jesus has victory over the power of sin,
the power of sin. Verse 6, it says this, we know
speaking to believers, we know that our old self was crucified
with him, with Jesus in order that the body of sin might be
brought to nothing, might be brought to nothing.
I'm sorry, how much it's not something that it might be
brought to a little bit, that this body of sin would be
brought to nothing. Like it's not even like Xavier's
taking on a champion anymore. This is like he's not even
showing up on the court. Like he's being brought to
nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
See, when we transfer, when we put our faith in Jesus, right,
the victory is over the power of sin.
Jesus changed our master. We were enslaved to sin.
Sin is a terrible master because you end up doing the thing you
don't want to do. Why?
Because sin, like you just can't help.
But why? Because you're enslaved and
chained to sin. But you know, now we're slaves
to righteousness, and righteousness is a way better
master than sin. And it's so much more glorious.
It's so much more wonderful to be a slave to righteousness.
My master has changed under this place over here where I'm a
slave to sin. I don't have a choice.
I'm linked to sin. I do what sin says.
But over here now, I'm slave to righteousness.
I do what righteousness says. So we're over here.
This is a terrible master, but this master has no authority
when I'm a slave to righteousness because I have
been freed from the power of sin, sin no longer has power
over me. Why?
Because I am now under the rulership of righteousness.
If the Bible goes on in Romans chapter 6, it says that we are
now slaves to God. We are now slaves to God.
Verse Romans 6. Verse 20 says, For when you are
slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness, but
what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of
which you are now ashamed? It's kind of going, whoa, you're
a slave to sin, but what is that going to do for you when you're
chained to sin? What's that going to do?
That's going to bear nothing good.
It can never bear anything good, for the end of those things is
death. But now, but now that you have
been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit
you get leads to sanctification and it's end is eternal life.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There is a way better fruit when you're a slave to righteousness.
And we need to understand here that we have been set free from
the power of sin. Sin is no longer my master.
When I put my faith in Jesus, I am now a slave to righteousness.
So Jesus has set us free from the penalty of sin.
He has set us free from the power of sin.
And the third thing, he set us free from the presence of sin.
So this is in Romans 7, Paul kind of poses this
hypothetically. He speaks to Jews who have the
law and he's kind of addressing them.
Some scholars talk whether this is somebody saved, unsaved.
The point that he kind of gets at, he says in Romans 7, it's
that, you know, I do what I don't want to do, and I don't do
what I do want to do. That kind of peace, right?
In essence, what Paul is trying to portray here is going, even
if I could do everything good, even if my master was not sin
and I was, I was pursuing righteousness.
It's going even if that were the case and I could live a holy
life, you still have a problem. And that is the fact that the
sin is in you, sin is in you. See if I can find it, it says
here in verse 17. So now it is no longer I who do
it, but the sin that dwells within me who's kind of going,
even if I could do everything right, sin is right there.
Sin is sin is with me. I can't shake this thing that's
inside of me, this sinful nature, this flesh nature.
I can't deal with it. He's he's pretty much comes to
the end of it and kind of going, even if I could do everything
right, even if I could live in victory over the power of sin, I
cannot deal with the presence of sin, which means I still can't
make it to that Kingdom. I still can't make it into the
Kingdom of God. Even if I could do everything
right by the law, by God's standard, and I could live a
perfectly holy life, I still cannot deal with the presence of
sin. And we so see this in verse 24
of Chapter 7, Romans 724. Wretched man that I am, who will
deliver me from this body of death is going to sin is within
me who is going to deliver me no matter how hard I try to live in
victory over sin, I cannot deal with the presence of sin.
Verse 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
See, Jesus does not just have victory over the penalty of sin.
He doesn't just have victory over the power of sin, but he
also has victory over the presence of sin in my life.
We spoke, we read out a Corinthians, Colossians earlier
about circumcision, about this thing being taken out.
Romans, Romans earlier says that we have a circumcision of the
heart. This thing has been cut out.
Like it's not like there's anything left.
It has been completely removed from us and now the Spirit of
God lives inside of us. The sinful nature has been
completely removed. It's not like there's a little
bit that like they had a bit of an operation and that
something's still left. It's gone completely right.
There is no resemblance of this sinful nature at all because
Jesus has a comprehensive victory over the presence of sin
in your life. When you put your faith in
Jesus, that thing is cut out. Like this is this is the
powerful working of God that we read out of Colossians like this
is the powerful working of God. This sinful nature that I cannot
do anything about because I'm born sinful.
The minute I put my faith in Jesus, that thing is cut out.
It is removed and now instead of having a sinful nature, I now
have a brand new nature in Christ.
Do we understand that like this is, this is this is remarkable
because we often think there's this struggle, there's this
struggle of flesh and spirit, like two things warring inside
of me. It's not really much of A battle
because the sinful nature is dead and it's been removed.
And I am free from not just the penalty of sin, not just the
power of sin, but I am free from the presence of sin.
Yeah, that's that's that's wild because we we know we still do
sinful acts, but we need to understand our identity here,
that we are completely brand new creations in Christ.
When Paul writes, he says this, if any man be in Christ, he is a
new creation. The old has gone.
He is made new. The old is where the old is
gone. He is completely new.
And it's not just like an upgraded version.
This, this word new that they talk about.
It's not like upgrading from an iPhone 14 to an iPhone 16 or
whatever, right? This is like going from an old
Nokia brick phone to a brand new iPhone.
Completely different leagues, completely different fields.
That is the difference of the sinful nature to the spirit
nature. That is the difference when you
put your faith in Jesus. I know that we don't often feel
like that, but that is our reality.
When we put our faith in Jesus, we have been upgraded from a
dodgy old Nokia brick phone to a brand new smartphone.
That is the transfer. This is the comprehensive,
powerful working of God in our life when we put our faith and
our trust in Jesus. So Jesus freed us from the
penalty of sin, transferred from a Kingdom of death to a Kingdom
of eternal, abundant, everlasting life.
He's transferred us from the power of sin, a terrible master,
a terrible master that bears terrible fruit, bad fruit, to a
wonderful master who bears fruit to righteousness that bears
fruit in serving God, that has its mind set on the things of
God. Jesus has also delivered us from
the presence of sin, this sinful nature that is inside of us,
that is terrible. It's born under death and we
have been transferred. We now have a brand new identity
in God, a new creation, an upgraded smartphone.
The Spirit of God lives inside of us with a completely new
spirit nature untainted by sin, the powerful working of God.
Fourth thing that Jesus has victory over is the pursuit of
sin. In Romans chapter 8, Romans
chapter 8, it says we're going to read from verse 2 for the law
of the Spirit of life. The Spirit of life has set you
free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death, and we all
said Amen. The law of the spirit of life
has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
That's a comprehensive, that's a that's a full stop on the end
there. Like that's not a comma.
That's not a ellipsis. There's some more to go.
Now that's a comprehensive statement that Paul is writing.
This is it. You have been set free.
Verse 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh,
could not do by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh and for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh in
order that the righteous requirement of the law might be
fulfilled in US who walk not according to the flesh, but
according to the Spirit. For those who live according to
the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh.
But those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on
the things of the Spirit. But to set the mind on the flesh
is death. But to set the mind on the
Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the
flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law.
Indeed it cannot. And those who are in the flesh
cannot please God. Now, at first glance, when you
read this, you might kind of say, well, man, this sounds like
a bit of a wrestle of the pursuit of sin.
Like man, sin wants one thing. The Spirit wants one thing.
And I'm trying to live this this like, what am I going to choose
kind of moment. But then we read verse 9.
You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.
If in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you, You, however, are
not in the flesh. Now I want to read verse two to
seven a bit now in a bit of a different frame.
Ah, verse 5 actually. For those who live according to
the flesh, set their minds. Remember, we're not in the
flesh. For those who live according to
the flesh set their mind on the things of the flesh.
The pursuit of sin is to set its mind on the thing that think sin
desires. The pursuit of sin is that it
just looks to the things that sin desires, right?
Those who walk in the flesh according to the flesh have
their mind set on the things of the flesh.
But those who live, who have passed from death to life, those
who are now free from the penalty of sin, from the power
of sin, from the presence of sin, those who have transferred
their Kingdom, their rulership, their mastership, those who have
received the Spirit of God instead of the sinful nature,
those who are now in the Kingdom of light now have their minds
set on the things of the Spirit. Those who live here have their
mind, their tendency, their default setting, if you like, is
now to do the things of God, not the things of the Spirit.
Like this. This can be quite remarkable
when we begin to think about it, that as Christians, our default
choice is no longer to do the things of the flesh.
And now I know that we have a journey in that.
And that's that process of sanctification where we're
becoming more and more like Christ, but our default setting
of our brand new identity, the victory that Jesus has is he has
freed us from the pursuit of sin.
I don't know if you noticed, but when now that you're saved, when
you start looking at sin, you see sin differently.
You see the desires of sin differently.
Like it's like this conscience comes up and says, well, that's
sinful. Why?
Because Jesus freed you from the pursuit of sin under this
Kingdom, you kind of go, I don't care, it's my life.
I do what I want because it's the pursuit of sin.
It's desirable. I do it in this Kingdom.
When I see sin, I kind of go, I don't want anything to do with
that. Because I've been freed from the
pursuit of sin, I no longer desire sin.
I no longer desire to do what is contrary to God's Kingdom.
I now desire to do what is in line with His Kingdom.
What's better is fruit for God, what pleases God.
That is now where I sit and where I stand.
For you are not in the Kingdom of the flesh, and those who are
in the flesh desire the things of the flesh.
Those who are in the Spirit now desire the things of the Spirit.
Galatians 5 tells us now if you walk by the Spirit, keep in step
with the Spirit and you will not desire the things of the flesh,
because obviously our question here is kind of going, but
sometimes I still desire the things of the flesh.
That's true. Sometimes I still desire the
things of the flesh. I choose the things of the flesh
instead of choosing the things of the spirit.
But Paul's encouragement to us in Galatians, I say, walk by the
Spirit and you will not not, you may not.
You might on occasion. No, no, no, you will not gratify
the desires of the flesh. When I gratify the desires of
the flesh, it's when I decide to step out of that Kingdom.
But he says, walk by the Spirit, keep in step with the Spirit,
keep in step with who you are in Christ, and you will not gratify
the desires of the flesh. Why?
Because Jesus freed me from the pursuit of sin.
Jesus freed me from the pursuit of sin.
As I said, this is one of the most comprehensive victories of
all time. I think again, in our minds we
have this idea that maybe there's this still, this bit of
back and fro, back and fro kind of stuff going on where we've
got 2 equal champions taking on each other.
But I want to remind us this morning, this is not an equal
fight. This is the most comprehensive
victory of all time. Jesus conquered sin once and for
all. It's not like sin is kind of
come back up and be like, ha, like you lost that battle.
I'm here for another one. Sin is done.
It is done once for all.
Dave read it out during communion earlier.
Once for all done. Sin has been brought to nothing.
The penalty of sin done. The power of sin over my life
done. The presence of sin in my life
gone and the pursuit of sin done.
This is one of the most comprehensive victories of all
time. And this is the remarkable thing
when we turn over to the book of Corinthians, pretty sure it's in
Corinthians chapter 15, verse 57.
But thanks be to God who gives us, who gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ. See, sometimes we can also say,
well, that's great, Jesus has the victory.
Jesus has the victory over sin and we kind of go, but I still
struggle with sin. Thanks be to God who gives us
the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
I want to leave with us this thought that when we put our
faith in Jesus, not only does Jesus deal with all of those
things, not only does he free us from the penalty of sin, the
power, the presence, and the pursuit of sin, but then he
gives us that victory to enforce.
He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
When we put our faith in him, we stand in the victorious place.
When sin comes knocking, I exercise my victory and says,
fine, you're defeated. Sin.
When the devil comes and starts shoving sin in my face, I'm
like, that's fine, you've been defeated.
When sin kind of stirs on the outside and I start looking, I'm
like this, this desire is defeated.
This thing is defeated. Why?
Because I now stand in the comprehensive victory of Jesus.
His victory has become my victory over sin.
And so when I talk about this battle or when we talk about
this battle of the sin and the flesh, and it's kind of
backwards and forwards and I'm not sure what to choose, I just
want you to remember you have a comprehensive victory over sin.
We stand in a victorious place because we now, because of Jesus
putting our faith in Jesus, we now have victory over the
penalty of sin. Penalty is death dominion when
we're talking about praying for sickness.
We have victory over the penalty of sin.
We have victory over the power of sin, over the presence of
sin, and over the pursuit of sin.
We now stand in that victory through faith in Jesus Christ.
His victory has become our victory.
Amen. Thank you for joining us for
today's message. For more information about The
Way Church, please visit ourwebsite@thewaychurch.com dot
AU. Have a blessed day.