Breaking the cycle of sin Galatians 2 vs 16-21

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

Romans 3 · chapter mention

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

Romans 3 · chapter mention

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,

Romans 1 · chapter mention

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

Romans 5 · chapter mention

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

Romans 7 · chapter mention

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?

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.

Thanks for joining us at Omega. If you need prayer for healing

or breakthrough, or simply to find out more, please head to

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