Shall we shout Hallelujah, a stronger one?
Amen. That's good.
So we come to the last part of chapter 2 of Galatians.
The last week I did talk about was 16, but I haven't done a
full justice, so I thought I should do rerun was 16 and then
go into the rest of the chapter. So what do we say in verse 16,
Verse 16? It says know that a man is not
justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.
So we too have put our faith in Christ Christ Jesus, that we may
be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law,
because by observing the law. No one will be justified.
What is interesting here is the word justified is used for the
first time in this epistle to Galatians.
And if Paul wrote the first epistle is the Galatians is the
first epistle Paul wrote. He is introducing a powerful
concept of justification by faith to the Galatians, which he
not only explains to the Galatians, but he further, I
mean further expands it when he wrote the epistle to the Romans,
the justification by faith. It just takes a couple of
chapters, I think in Romans chapter 3, chapter 4, and then
goes on to the benefits of justification in chapter 5 and
then explains the union with Christ, our identity with Christ
in chapter 6-7 and eight. So it's just amazing book.
And I tell you, everybody should have in your mind an outline of
what is Romans teaching, the teaching in the book of Romans.
It should be in your mind and important verses, important
concepts, how he's progressing. It should be imprinted on your
mind because that is something. Is going to be a strong
foundation. Shall we shout Hallelujah, a
stronger one. Hallelujah, Amen.
That's good. So we come to the last part of
Chapter 2 of Galatians. The last week I did talk about
verse 16, but I haven't done a full justice.
So I thought I should do rerun verse 16 and then go into the
rest of the chapter. So what do we say in verse 16?
Verse 16? It says know that a man is not
justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.
So we too have put our faith in Christ Christ Jesus, that we may
be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law,
because by observing the law no one will be justified.
What is interesting here is the word justified.
Is used for the first time in this epism to Galatians, and if
Paul wrote the first epistle, is the Galatians is the first
epistle Paul wrote. He is introducing a powerful
concept of justification by faith to the Galatians, which he
not only explains to the Galatians, but he further, I
mean further expands it when he wrote the Epistle to the Romans,
the justification by faith. It just takes a couple of
chapters, I think in Romans chapter 3, chapter 4, and then
goes on to the benefits of justification in chapter 5 and
then explains the union with Christ, our identity with Christ
in chapter 6-7 and eight. So it's just amazing book.
And I tell you, everybody should have in your mind an outline of
what is Romans teaching, the teaching in the book of Romans.
It should be in your mind and important verses important
concepts, how he's progressing. It should be imprinted on your
mind because that is something is going to be a strong
foundation in your life. Why should we put so much
effort? Because it is a a must
foundation. You cannot have an option.
Oh, I'm it's OK if I understand you Romans, I don't understand.
It doesn't matter. No, it's not like that.
You have to understand. You must understand and if you
want to be a powerful Christian, that foundation is what is going
to open your eyes and give you identity, security and power.
So put an effort to understand Book of Romans.
So now justification. We all hear the word
justification, but there's also another word, sanctification,
how they are related or how the concepts go together that we
need to understand. So first of all, justification
is just, it's just a language of the court, the legal language.
So you had to imagine God the Father sitting on the throne of
judgment and you got, let's say God the Father is here behind
the pulpit and you are, I am the Sinner.
Now I am presented here, I am standing in the court of God and
they will be on the other side. Satan standing there and
accusing Ramana is a great Sinner.
OK, He has done this, this, this, this, He goes on list
after list. You don't know God.
He is really horrible Sinner and he gives you all the data, all
the information to God the Father and you will be expecting
what is God going to do with this?
All information and then we have Jesus Christ of sin as in my
advocate on my behalf and he will talk to God the Father and
say what the devil is saying 100% right, He is even 200%
right. But I have taken the punishment
on the cross. I have suffered for him.
My nails were the nails have been put in my hand in my feet
and the crown of thoughts on my head.
I was coached for him, and I was whipped for Him, and I took it.
I had taken the punishment for his sin.
And God the Father will look at me now.
Between me and God is Christ, and when He looks at me through
Christ, He sees me as if I had never sinned.
Hallelujah. That concept is called
justification by faith. No, What is justification?
Justification is something God declares one as righteous for
the sake of what crashes accomplished by our faith in
Him. There is no other way.
There is no other way is only by faith but His faith.
Faith is the instrument, but not work is not work.
You are not working by believing.
It is just faith. It is not considered as a work
at all. So you're not going to believing
is not work. So you're not going to justify
it because you're working your faith because you're believing
and by that faith you are going to be justified.
And this is the teaching of the Reformation.
Martin Luther found out when he was reading Romans chapter 1,
the just shall live by faith. He, he discovered something new
and then he, he saw that this is what the Catholicism was not
teaching at that time. They were selling indulgences.
They were doing this and that lot of stuff to make money.
And that money is still there. They are still the most powerful
rich organization. And he said, no, no man is not
saved by any of these things. It is only by faith.
And because of that we, because of his teaching, people start
following him and the Catholicism, the, the Catholic
Church was very angry with Martin Luther.
They expelled him and all his followers and they were
persecuted. They had run for their life.
But because of that, because they protested against the
Catholicism, Catholic Catholicism, they were called
Protestants. We are Protestants, you said
your neighbor. We are Protestants, we protest
against that. So it's very interesting.
But I tell you that has given us the gospel through Martin
Luther's rebelling against the Catholicism.
We got the true gospel. Otherwise we would have been
perish. We will perish, all perish, all
the world will perish because the gospel was locked up.
It wasn't set free at all. So judicial, it is a judicial
act of God declaring the Sinner righteous on the basis of Christ
finished work. What is the basis?
Jesus lived a fully perfect sinless life for you and me.
He was not just living as an individual, but on the on behalf
of the whole Adamic race, all the sinners.
He lived a perfect life fulfilling the law to please God
because He fulfilled the law on your behalf and my behalf.
God the Father can say I impute my righteousness for the sake of
my Son Jesus, and He puts that unrighteousness upon you into
your account. That is what justification is
all about, scientification. So do you become holy overnight?
No, you are justified. But holiness is something
practical where you cooperate in justification.
You only believe you don't work it.
It's not by works, doing good, going to church, tithing,
prayer, none of these things are going to justify you.
It is just by the naked faith in the Son of God who died for you,
you are justified. And then you have sanctification
where you practically do what the law demands.
But what is the difference? You have the Jewish law that 2
mainly 2 parts 1 is the 10 commandments and then the
ceremonial law sacrifices for circumcision.
And you know, there are so many other kinds of ceremonial laws.
Those ceremonial laws were a shadow of the reality that's
going to come in Christ Jesus. So Jesus fulfilled the
ceremonial law and put an end to it so that we can be set free.
Now I think it's actually I'll give you one verse that is more
very powerful verses. Where is it?
One new man. He was creating one new man.
Galatians 219. No, Ephesians 215 by abolishing
in His flesh the law of commandments and decrees.
He did this to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus
making peace. What is what is Paul trying to
say here? What he was trying to say here
is that Jewish people also will have to come through Christ to
be saved. So he is completely cancelled
the law by fulfilling the law so that anybody who needs to be
saved, even if he's a Jew, oh, I have the law, he's not going to
save him. They have to come to Jesus by
faith. So now you have the Gentile who
doesn't know the law, you're the Jew who has the law, but both
have to come through who, Jesus and through Jesus he's creating
a Newman. He's creating a 1 Newman through
faith in Jesus Christ. So this is something awesome.
I was thinking about it yesterday.
I was, I said, my God, this is something no man can ever think.
Even devil cannot figure out what was God planning to do by
sending his son into the world? If he figured out he would not
have crucified him, I'm telling you, if he knew that he's going
to lose the battle, he would not have crucified him at all.
So that is the mystery. That's what Paul says.
That mystery has been given to him to bring it into the world
to teach it. So the justification by faith is
one of those powerful teachings. And secondly, we see, so
sanctification is a transforming work of God within the believer,
producing actual holiness of life.
This is a work of the Holy Spirit because you are now
justified. Holy Spirit comes to dwell in
you as you yield more and more of your life, your desires, your
whatever you want to do with your eyes, your hands, your
heart. As you yield to the Holy Spirit,
He creates in you actual practical holiness and you
become holy. And there are no degrees in
justification you. You can be a Christian for 50
years. You can be just born again
today. Both will be justified the same.
There are no degrees or he is being a Christian for 50 years
is more justified. No, they are equally justified
but sanctification. If he has been a Christian,
obedient, following God, pleasing God, he will be more
holy than the one who just born again.
There are degrees in it. It is up to you to cooperate
with God, to grow in holiness with justification.
You only believe and it is just given to your account.
He reconsider into your account. So grounded entirely in Christ's
righteousness, the justification impure to the believer through
faith and ground in the invaling Holy Spirit who renews the
believers character as you yield to him, He renews you and makes
you holy and holier and holier day after day.
And justification is by faith alone.
But and sanctification is a process where you actively
cooperate with the Holy Spirit who dwells in you by obedience,
disciplines of prayer, studying the word, witnessing so many
different things as you keep doing, you grow in holiness and
justification is instantaneous. It just happens in one second.
The moment you say Jesus, I am a Sinner, I believe you died for
me, come into my heart, forgive me, done.
You are justified. All your past is gone in one
second. But holiness is progressive.
You have to keep obeying God, praising God, worshipping God.
You know all these things you have to keep on doing and
justification changes your status, your Sinner 1 moment
when you believe in Jesus, next moment you are declared a St.
It's just instantly, instantly your position is changed.
But holiness is progressive again.
It is you have to keep walking with God.
It is developing a new character.
It is increasing in holiness, Christlikeness, victory over
sin. These things are a lifelong
process. No one can say have arrived any
day. I am nearly, I am following
Christ for 48 years now. I cannot say I arrived.
Still, every day as I look at my life, I say, oh, I need to
stretch myself. I need to grow more, I need to
obey more. I need to yield more, I have to
fight more. This is part of the
sanctification. So when you are justified, the
believer is freed from condemnation of the law.
The law is ready to condemn everybody, but when you believe
in Jesus that condemnation goes in Romans chapter 5 says
therefore, if anybody we are justified by faith, there is no
condemnation. Even chapter 8 also it starts
the worst one is started. If you have been justified by
faith, there is no condemnation and that is how it is.
And whereas in the in the sanctification enables the
believer to fulfill the moral law through the Spirit.
Now what we could not do by our own strength, fulfilling the
moral lot, the 10 commandments, by the inventing Holy Spirit
enables you to fulfill it. He enables you to do it.
You had no power before. Now we have power to do it.
That is great good news. And then you have assurance that
your sins are forgiven, that you are going to go and see your
Maker one day when you are justified.
But sanctification also provides you not only assurance, but it
gives you a subject to assurance and evidence of spiritual
growth. How do you know you are growing
in God? Only by knowing how you are
growing in character. Your character is becoming more
and more and more like Christ. You know you are growing.
You look at a plant in your garden or any tree and if you
think it is dead and you know it is dead, but if it is alive, you
know the leaves will be greener, it will flower, there will be
fruit will come if it is a fruiting tree and you know it
has got life. Same way when people look at
you, if they don't see the fruit, we are dead, we are dead.
So justification comes first, then sanctification flows from
it, and they cannot be confused. You cannot confuse justification
and sanctification. You cannot replace each other.
They must never be separated and they go together.
Those who are justified will be sanctified as they yield to God
more and more. Am I communicating here?
So this is the great Thea. I mean the doctrine of
justification by faith, which Paul introduces in chapter 2,
verse 16. Know that a man is not justified
by observing the law. It's not by doing the law, but
by faith in Jesus Christ. We too have put our faith in
Christ. They had the law, but it's not
going to save them. So they also are putting faith
in Jesus. That's what he's saying.
We too have put our faith in Jesus, that we may be justified
by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by
observing the law no one will be justified.
You cannot 100% follow the law, James writes.
If somebody is not committing adultery but commits murder is
all the same. You fail in one, you fail in the
hole. There is no 85% marks, 90%
marks, 99% pass. There is no nothing like that
when it comes to law. One thing you commit sin, you
are sin, you are a Sinner. There are no degrees there.
Everybody is the same. So no one can 100% fulfill the
law. Only one man born of the woman,
virgin woman, which we are going to say the season is we are
celebrating the season of Christ coming into the world.
He alone lived without sin, fulfilling the law 100% and that
he did for you and me. That's why we had to celebrate
Christmas. You tell somebody why you want
to be happy during Christmas because he's setting you free
from obeying the law to get righteousness, to be counted as
righteous. So this is good news.
This is good news because all the world is trying to do
something, to get something. And here are here we are
Christians saying you have to do nothing just to believe in
Jesus. That is just amazing to me.
At least verse 17 if while we seek to be justified in Christ,
it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners.
Does that mean that Christ promotes sin?
Verse 17 can you find an NLT and put it on the screen please?
New Living translation if possible because that was just
of all the translations when I looked at verse 17 was making
sense when you read in new living translation.
But if in seeking to be justified in Christ.
Oh, this is not NLT. We don't have NLT OK searching
in OK as it comes up what he is trying to say here.
I struggled to understand this was quite a lot I whole week or
more than a week I have been thinking about.
In fact, I did not preach on this last week because I wanted
more time to study. So this is if you are going to
is coming up, Yeah. If you are going to be justified
by law, it's not going to happen.
It's not going to happen. So you are being declared A
Sinner by the law. So when you come to Christ and
Christ is saying I forgive you, I have paid the price for you, I
have taken the punishment, He is saying I forgive you.
Is he promoting sin? No.
Yep, it's up there. But suppose we seek to be made
right with God through faith in Christ, and then we are found
guilty because we have abandoned the law.
Would that mean Christ has LED us into sin?
Absolutely not. Now this is a different context.
This is like, imagine Peter. Like this is where the whole
context is. We have looked at it the week
before, the week before where Paul confronted Peter because
Peter used to eat with the Gentiles.
It was a normal practice, but he moved away from it when certain
Jews came from Jerusalem and looking.
He stopped eating with the Gentiles and he started eating
separately. Seeing Peter, Barnabas also was
led into joining the joining Peter.
What they were trying to do is that they are trying to say you
have to obey the law. Gentiles don't have the law, so
we cannot have fellowship with them.
Now what they are trying to say, you have to be circumcised, you
have to become like one of us. When you do that, what you are
doing is you are actually. Is it coming up again?
Yeah. So when, when, when we are found
guilty because we have abandoned the law, would that mean Christ
has LED us into sin? No, it is not that.
By doing the law we are actually cancelling our own faith.
You cannot have works and faith together, but at the same time,
when you read the book of James, you are justified by works, he
says. And Martin Luther had a big
problem with the book of book of James.
He didn't want to have it in the Bible at all because he was so
strong on justification by faith.
He didn't have anything to do with the works.
But how do you know you are justified unless you show it by
your character? That's the reason why we need to
have, we need to have the book of James.
And without Book of James, we will be lost.
We will become sin, sinful Christians, we will be enjoying
sin and at the same time saying, no, we are saved.
It is going to be a contradiction.
So we need Book of James. Without it, gospel is
incomplete. Next, let's go into verse 18.
If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker.
What is he trying to say here? If you again go back to the law
again, force Gentiles should be circumcised.
Now again you observe here, if I rebuild what I destroyed, he is
using himself as an example. He is putting his name I Paul.
You know what is he trying to do?
He is trying to put an argument, a general, general argument,
saying he talks about himself, but he is talking about
everybody. He's not just talking about
himself. Talking about everybody who is a
Jew, has become a believer, have become a Christian.
And if they go back to doing the law, then you are going to be in
this position. If I rebuild what I destroyed,
when you believe in Jesus, you are destroying the law.
Basically you are deserting it. You are just walking away from
it and believing in Jesus. When you go back to law again,
you are rebuilding what you have broken down.
You are a lawbreaker. You are a lawbreaker.
That's the reason why verse 18 is important for through the
law, Verse 19 for through the law.
I died to the law so that I might live for God.
Now what is he trying to say here?
I'm telling you this, so much of wealth of information in the
Scriptures, you need to sit down and study even after you listen
to me sit and study because you have to get to grips with the
Scripture, which will become a strong foundation and that will
become a very big motive for you to live in holiness.
We have to understand the Scripture.
So verse 19, through the law, I die to the law.
Basically what he is trying to say is that now when I try to do
the law, I cannot do it. I cannot fulfill it.
And you need to understand it. You will have to read Romans
Chapter 7 where he talks about it with inwardly I rejoice in
the law because law is good and law is holy.
But I cannot do what I approve with my mind.
I only end up doing what is wrong.
And he he says who can deliver me from this death?
Descendants of death it is. I'm telling you, everyone of us
should be able to have the struggle with sin and have this
concept of, oh, I cannot do it in my strength.
Only then you realize and really become a good believer.
I was a believer for many years, but I had a besetting sin.
And when I commit sin, I feel guilty and I don't want to read
the Bible. I don't want to pray and I don't
want to do anything. And it takes me to come out of
the guilt, takes me one week and then I'm recovering.
And now I'm reading the Bible. I confess it, ask God to forgive
me, wash me in his blood. And I begin to read the Word,
begin to pray, and I'm going with my Christian business.
And again I sin. It again takes me one week or
two weeks again to recover. Have you had this struggle
anytime? Yes, even if you said keep
silent, it is not going to help. Why?
It is the experience of everybody.
No one can say no. I don't have the struggle there
was. There were times I would cry out
to God. Jesus you came and died on the
cross to set me free from this sin.
Why am I not being set free? Why am I not being set free?
Until you have the struggle with
the sin and overcome it by faith in the name of Jesus, you do not
experience the full power of the gospel.
You are saved only when you understand with your mind the
power of the cross what Jesus did for you on the cross.
And if you are not struggling with sin and you are happy with
the sin, you are not saved. It is very simple, simple test
Are you saved or not saved? If you are comfortable with sin
and you are not feeling guilty, you don't confess to Jesus again
and ask him to forgive you and wash you in his blood, then you
are just not saved at all. If you are saved, you cannot
keep on sinning and be happy about it.
But that is why scientification is process where you put to
death the deeds of the flesh and overcome and walk in the power
of the Holy Spirit. And you will say, I yield myself
to the Holy Spirit, take all my emotions, take all my will, take
over my mind, take over my heart, Help me to do what you
want me to do. Help me not to compromise sin.
And then the Holy Spirit will touch you and refresh you and
give you power so that that sin does not dominate anymore.
Actually, I want to tell you a story to begin with, I got
carried away by I was 16. There is a man called Daniel.
He is supposed to be a real story.
And this man was a Christian, but he had a problem.
The problem is he used to drink and he used to drink to such an
extent where life becomes little bit impossible to carry on
normally. So this this guy would you know
every time he had a binge drinking and when he recovers
from it he will make certain new rules for himself.
Rules like I will never drink again rule number one.
Rule #2 I will read 10 chapters of the Bible every day as a
punishment. Rule #3 I will fast twice a
week, 2 * 2 days in a week I'm going to fast.
This is why because he doesn't want to drink again.
Rule #4 I will pray. I will pray an hour every
morning, and only he will find himself drinking again and he's
hitting the bottom. And as a Christian guy, he
looked at the life of Daniel one day and told Daniel, what did he
say to him? Is Daniel, you're trying to save
yourself with rules. You're trying to save yourself
with rules. Christ didn't die to give you
more rules. He did not die to give you more
rules. He died so you can be dead along
with Him. That drinking, that struggle
we've seen that domination of the self.
The whole fleshly life has ended already.
You're thinking that you have to fight it.
No, you cannot fight it. You have to accept that you are
dead in Christ. And when you are, when you
accept that you are dead in Christ, you are buried with, you
are raised up with him, you are seated with him in the heavenly
realms. That is the time that power to
say no to the next demon of the flesh comes.
So Daniel, what did you do that night?
He went and said, Jesus, I can't make myself righteous.
I can't stop drinking by my own power, by my own effort.
And Jesus, I can't make myself righteous.
I need your life in me. I want you to live in me.
Jesus, can you live your life in me?
I want you to walk into me, come into my heart, live your life in
me, so that I will not want to do anything on my own.
I want you to live in me. And that day the Holy Spirit set
him free. Something shifted then he
started going to a group, confessing that I am a drunkard,
but I want to be set free. People gather around him, they
gave support, and in a very short time he became a
victorious Christian. The beginning of victory starts
calling sin sin. You call it by any other name.
You are not going to win any other name.
You are going to put it under the rug, under the carpet.
It will resurface it again. You'll come up again.
You have to call sin a sin. Only then your first step to
victory begins. There was a guy who was
sentenced to death and the king was standing there to oversee
the execution. So out of mercy, the king says
to the guy, hey, before you're executed, do you have a do you
have any wish? He said, I want a glass of water
to drink. So he was given a glass of water
and he picked up in his hand and he was overcome with fear and he
started shaking and he wanted to drink but he cannot bring the
glass to his mouth. It was just shaking and shaking
and shaking. And the king said to that guy,
be cheerful. You will not be executed until
you drink that glass of water. You will not die until you
finish the glass of water. So what did the guy do?
He took the king on his word and dropped the glass.
It hit the ground and broke into pieces.
What is it? What?
What am I saying to you? Was he executed?
No, he escaped the execution because he took the king at his
word and dropped the glass and broke it.
Now how can you drink that water unless you get another glass and
another water? No, that's not.
He cannot be executed on that reason on the ground.
So we need to have that kind of a common sense to take God at
his word. You have to believe his word
when you come to Christ. You had to say my struggle with
sin is over because when he died, I died with him when he
was buried and buried with him when he rose again, I have I
have been raised with him because he's seated with the
right now, the Father. I am sitting in him right now.
And when you have to do this again and again and again, tell
yourself, because that's the the only way you learn and walk in
victory is by repetition. You have to confess it with your
mouth. You have to know who, who you
are. Your new identity.
You are not a Sinner anymore in Christ.
You are the child of God. You're a daughter of God.
You're a son of God. You have to say to yourself,
hey, you cannot do the sin anymore because you're a son of
God. You're a daughter of God.
There is a place for confession. There are many confessions that
are available in on the net if you want to find them.
New creation realities and so many things and you have to do
it over and over and again. Every day.
Confess it. 30 minutes you confess it.
There was a guy who went to a seminar conducted by Neil
Anderson and in that he, he gives them a sheet of paper
containing lots of confessions to make.
And one guy he travelled by car five hours he drove to the
conference. When he was going back, he
decided I will meditate and make this confessions as I drive back
for five hours he kept on confessing I'm a new creation
and all things would have passed away.
Everything has become new, all those kinds of one after the
other. He started confessing I have
been justified by faith, therefore I'm not coming
anymore. No condemnation for me anymore.
And afterwards when Neil Anderson came to know about
this, he asked him what was the experience like confessing for
five hours. He just said unimaginable life
transforming. Why are Christians weak today?
Because they failed to confess the word.
You have to confess what the Bible says you are.
You are simply by confession. What you are saying is you are
agreeing with Bible who you are and when you keep doing it, you
become like what the Bible says you should be agreed.
Can we shout Hallelujah? Let's find a source of
confessions and if you want one send me a text or send me an
e-mail. I will send you 4 or 5 pages of
confessions. It will take you 30-40 minutes.
We are walking up and now reading it every day will take
at least 30 minutes, but you will not be the same.
You will not be the same. You have to not only say it,
believe it and you will be transformed and that the process
of sanctification kicks in, in higher gear into your life, but
the confession part. So now let's come to five more
minutes. Sometimes I get carried away.
You know so much of the study of the Word, it just inspires me to
no end. So verse 20, let's come to verse
20. I have been crucified with
Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me, the life I
live in the body. I live by faith in the Son of
God who loved me and gave himself for me.
This is the most quoted scripture of Paul.
Galatians 220 is no longer either live but scratches who
lives in me and reigns in me. What a beautiful verse it is.
There are few things that I want you to take away this morning
from that one single verse. First thing is I have been
crucified with Christ. Everybody say I have been
crucified with Christ. So who is living then?
If you have been crucified with Christ, who is living now?
He has to live in US. So first thing is that we had to
realize that we have been crucified with Christ.
Now this is easily said than done because I have gone through
this struggle myself so many times.
When I fall in sin, I said, oh I have died with Christ.
My life has been already placed in him.
I have died. But why am I committing sin?
Because I am. I am trying to live on my own.
When you try to live on your own, you will be defeated.
It is very simple. You have to hide in Christ.
As Paul writes to Colossians, your life is hid with Christ,
with with Christ in God. Your life is hid with Christ and
Christ in God. And because of that truth, you
have to hide in Christ. And when the temptation comes,
you tell Jesus, you answer the temptation, you answer the
temptation. And after half an hour or one
hour or one day, the temptation will be gone.
It will not have any dominion on you anymore because you are not
trying to live in your strength. You're telling Jesus to face it.
Cool. So my old self is dead.
When Christ died for me, I died with him.
When he died for me, I died with him.
You may ask me, Oh, I was born only 30 or 40 years ago, how am
I placed in Christ? This is the mystery of the
world. Life of Christ is not.
He did not live for himself. He lived on behalf of the fallen
race, the life of Christ. He lived on behalf of everyone
in every country, continent, language, color.
He lived for everybody. And when he defeated Satan, he
defeated Satan on behalf of you and me.
And that is the mystery when that's the reason why you accept
clash by faith. You are accepting He died for
you on the cross. Then your sins are not only
remitted, you receive the Holy Spirit who becomes your source
of power. That is why we have to 1st
realize that we have been crucified with Christ.
Then I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
So this is an exchange you are making with Christ.
Even though you are not on the earth, when Christ died for you,
You are born. Now after 2000 years, you are
accepting that He died, lived for you, died for you and you
are telling him, OK, you stepped into my life and you died in my
place. Now I want to step into you and
live my life for you. How does it sound?
He stepped into your life and died for you.
Now you step into His life and live for Him.
Exchange, the great exchange, that's what the theorists call
it, the great exchange. You're exchanging your sinful
life for the holy life of Jesus. But Christ lives in me, the life
I live in the body. I live by faith in the Son of
God. Now this is a very important
part of the Scripture is how do you live this life?
You have to live the life. I live in body.
I live by faith. In the son of.
God, it is not an event. It is not an event.
It's a process. It's not that you do it 10 years
ago. God, Jesus, I know you died for
me. I exchanged my life for your
life. What happens afterwards is not
an event. If it is an event, you have been
declared righteous and you remain righteous.
You become holy, you remain holy.
It doesn't happen like that. You are still struggling with
sin. You have struggled the last 10
years. You are going to struggle with
the next few more years until we come to that point where we
allow Jesus to take over and we allow Him to live.
I am telling you this is something I am.
What I am telling you is from my heart.
I have gone through the struggle for when God gives me a victory
in certain sin, I will live in victory for a short time, maybe
six months or three months or six months.
And sometimes I wonder, huh, have I lost my ability to commit
sin? And then I deliberately commit
sin and then that I become a slave to the sin again.
Three or four times the Lord gave me V3 or four times I have
I experimented with sin and I allowed myself to be ruled by
Satan again. So what is the problem here is
every Christian when he comes to Christ with integrity, with the
desire to be holy like He wants us to be, and you yield to him,
He gives you victory. You will look at certain things
which was a source of temptation or no more a source of
temptation because you asked Jesus to help you.
And the Holy Spirit agrees with you and He gives you power over
the same situation which you have been defeated.
But you, you, you lose that thing one day.
Why am I not being tempted anymore?
And I want to try. I haven't lost the power to sin.
And you commit sin. Bang, you become a slave again.
You cry out for two or three years again.
God, I wanted victory again. I want the victory again.
And in His mercy the Holy Spirit comes and gives you the power
again and sets you free. Only you are free for a month or
six. And then you again commit sin
because you think you have lost ability to commit sin.
Am I making sense? This we had to overcome.
We had to overcome. We had to count ourselves dead
in Christ, buried with Christ, raised up with Christ.
And I tell you, it has to be an experience.
It's not theory. It's not perception that you
have to understand with your mind.
It's not an intellectual exercise.
It is something you have to understand with your spirit, in
your spirit you have to understand that you're one with
Christ, the union with Christ. You have to say it several times
in a day. Morning, thank you God for
making me one with Christ. Afternoon, Lord, I thank you.
I'm one with Christ. Thank you Lord Jesus.
I'm one with Christ. I'm in union with Christ.
His life is he's living in me. He's no longer I that live.
It's Christ who lives in me and reigns in me.
Give him the control, make him King and don't do anything on
your own until you say hear from him.
You will be living in victory that besetting sin.
You will walk under your feet and it will not tempt you
anymore. Why?
Because you allowing Christ to Christ to reign in you as King.
You are allowing the Holy Spirit to one simple thing I need if I
take extra time. Also, it is very important for
you, for me to speak to you is confessing the bread of Christ
will set you free for the besetting sin.
Confessing the bread of Christ. Lord, cover me with your blood,
cover me with your blood. And as you plead the bread of
Christ, that that temptation will pass by you, you will not
fall in that area. Confessing the blood.
This power, this power in confessing the blood, this
discovered after 3035 years of being a Christian, There is
power in confessing the blood. I learned after many many years,
3 decades or more. And after I received that
understanding, my falling has been reduced greatly.
I would say greatly why I'm still in the flesh.
I can fall in one area or the another, but it is not for long.
I will rise up and say God forgive me, wash me your blood
and start walking with him again.
And praying in tanks is the key. When you pray in tongues, you
are allowing the Holy Spirit to fill you, charge you.
And he is not for nothing that God gives you a gift.
He gives that gift to everybody. No one can say that's not for
me. You say I want it.
The Holy Spirit says I'm ready, Are you ready?
I want to come into you. I want to give you the gift.
As you pray in tongues, you're filled with the Holy Spirit and
you will trample down snakes and all of our enemy because you
have the power of the Holy Ghost.
This is just a a mechanism, a tool or a means of grace that
God has given us that we may walk in holiness.
If somebody says I am not walking in holiness, I have been
a believer, I would say. Have you received the Holy
Ghost? Yeah, Holy Spirit is already in
me. Do you speak in tongues?
No. Then you are depriving yourself
of one of the best tools God has provided to walk in holiness.
This is out of experience. I'm telling you, I was not
praying in tanks for many decades, but now I see the
difference when I pray in tanks, what happens?
I know when you pray in tanks, you are filled.
You are charging yourself with the power of the Holy Ghost.
And that's how it is going to change everything for you and
me. And let's come back to the
scripture here again. Who loved me and gave Himself
for me so. He.
Loved and he gave himself for me and I am yielding to him and I
am allowing him to live in me. I am in union with Christ.
There is a word union. You know this is this is very
difficult concept for us to understand.
When you when you read book of Ephesians and look into any
commentary on it. There is a simple small
preposition in English called in, IN, in, in Greek it is
north, epsilon N, noon, noon, whatever.
It is north. And that simply is not just in.
It is not like this is your putting into another box.
It's not like that. It is union.
You and Christ become one and that's called a union union.
And when you are in union with Christ, the dominion of sin,
dominion of Satan will be broken.
Say I am in union with Christ, I am one with Christ.
His life is filling me and flowing through me.
I will not be defeated, defeated by sin because His Spirit is
living in me. I cover myself with the bread of
Christ and He, the blood of Christ, sanctifies me, makes me
clean. What am I trying to do?
I am trying to help you to make some confessions.
Now you go home, do some research or come to me.
I'll give you a list of things to confess as you do it.
After one month, tell me if your Christian life is the same.
It will not be the same. It will not be the same.
I give you a guarantee. Why?
I have experienced it myself. I have experienced myself.
You will have 360° rotation in your life and you will walk in
victory. That is what Paul is saying
here. The law will not set you free,
but faith in Christ will set you free.
The law will only make you prove 100,000 times that you are a
Sinner. You are a Sinner, You are a
Sinner because you fail. But when you come to Christ, He
gives you grace and makes you a winner.
And this has to be experienced which is open to everyone who
believes in Jesus. Walking in victory is your
inheritance, growing in holiness is your inheritance because God
commanded be holy, for I am holy.
That is the standard. We accept nothing less than
that. And when you come to that
position, the Holy Spirit says I am ready to help you.
I am very pleased that you accept my standard.
I want to help you. So after that you come to verse
21. I will finish quickly.
Verse 21 What does it say? I do not set aside the grace of
God, but if righteousness could be gained through the law,
Christ died for nothing. What is he trying to say?
He's covering so many things here.
Peter was preaching the gospel by faith.
He went to Cornelius House, he preached the gospel.
Jeddahs became Christians, and he started preaching everywhere
the same gospel. And now he comes to Antioch and
he is now siding with the Jewish people, draws away from them,
stops eating with them, stop saying fellowship with them.
He's saying you should be circumcised.
What is he trying to do is resurrecting what is dead?
The law has been crucified on the cross.
Jesus crucified the law so that you can be set free from the
law, so you can become a new creation, so you can have the
Holy Spirit living in you, that you can become completely new
and powerful Christian. That is his will for you.
And you come back to making rules like Daniel did about
quitting his drinking. You are going to be defeated
again. Does it make sense?
Shall we pray? Father, we thank you for your
word. There is power in your word,
there is life in your word. Ah, we praise you, we praise
you, we praise you, my Lord, which is inexhaustible wealth in
the cross, in understanding the cross.
No one has completely exhausted the power of the cross.
But Lord, we can experience the power of the cross in a real
time in our life. So I pray right now help your
children to make the transaction and to surrender their old self,
surrender their old life, surrender the flesh and take you
and believe that they are one with you.
And when they are one with you, your life will begin to flow.
And when they are separated from you, the flesh will overtake and
dominate. So in the name of Jesus, I pray
now for your children that everyone will know and
understand and walk in victory from today in a new way by the
power of the Holy Spirit. I commend the children to your
grace. Holy Spirit, take over.
Help them to know that they are new creation.
Help them to confess it. Help them to walk in victory.
Help them to fill the Holy Spirit.
And I pray the gifts of the Holy Spirit will be manifest in them
through them bringing the Kingdom of God into the world
around them to the glory of your name, Jesus, mighty name.
We ask and everybody says Amen, Amen.
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