Sermon
13 July 2025: Jesus' comprehensive Victory over Sin (Justin Evers)
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Welcome to the podcast of the White Church in Adelaide, South
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Australia. Morning, guys.
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Morning. While you grab your Bibles,
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we're going to open up to the Book of Colossians.
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We're going to start in the Book of Colossians this morning.
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Colossians Chapter 2, how good has the last couple of weeks
Colossians 2 chapter mention
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been? Hey, with Bruce and Meyer a
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couple of weekends ago, teaching us around, walking in victory
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over sin, teaching us to build our life on the rock.
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And we're going to dive into this morning our victory over
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sin. Yeah, let's, let's start in the
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book of Colossians, chapter 2, and we're going to start in
Colossians 2 chapter mention
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verse 11. It says in him that is Christ in
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him also you were circumcised with the circumcision made
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without hands by putting off the body of the flesh, by the
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circumcision of Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism,
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in which you were also raised with him through faith in the
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powerful working of God. I want you, if you haven't
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underlined it, you should underline the powerful working
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of God. This isn't just an ordinary
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working of God. This is a powerful working of
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God who raised Jesus from the dead.
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This is the exact same power that raised Jesus from the dead.
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We think resurrection from the dead is this extraordinary
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action. That is the exact same power
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that has brought us from a Kingdom of darkness into a
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Kingdom of life like this is. This is not just an ordinary
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work, an ordinary thing that any human being can do.
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This is incredibly powerful, and it's a powerful working of God.
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When we are transferred, ripped out of a Kingdom of darkness and
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transferred into a Kingdom of light, this is a powerful
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working of God, and you, this is verse 13, were dead in your
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trespass and the uncircumcision of your flesh.
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However, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all
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our trespasses by cancelling the record of debt that stood
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against us with its legal demands.
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This He set aside, nailing it to the cross and verse 15 I find
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incredibly powerful. He disarmed the rulers and
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authorities. He disarmed, I think Bruce
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mentioned that the the devil has been disarmed.
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It's very hard to hold weapons when you have no arms.
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He disarmed the rulers and authorities, but more than that,
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he put them to open shame. By triumphing over them in him,
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He put them to open shame. As I said this morning, we're
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going to talk about Christ's victory, and we need to remember
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that this isn't like to like an equal fight we have.
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We have to remember that this isn't an equal fight, right?
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I was thinking about this, and I'm sure many of us were
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probably familiar with names like Novak Djokovic and Roger
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Federer. Rafael Nadal, the top three
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tennis players in the world retired now, but they were
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champions. Like, we're not talking about a
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champion tennis game like Nadal versus Federer.
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We're not talking about two equal opponents playing against
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each other, right? We're talking about one of these
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champions taking on my son Xavier in a tennis match.
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We're talking about one of the most comprehensive, overwhelming
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victories of all time. We're not talking about an equal
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fight here. And I think we, we need to
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remember sometimes in our life that when we're talking about
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wrestling, you know, the flesh and the spirit, that we're kind
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of going, man, it's, it's a struggle.
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It's a real struggle. It's not a struggle because
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Jesus has an overwhelming victory.
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He has an overwhelming victory over sin.
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This is one of the most comprehensive victories of all
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time that Jesus put them to open shame.
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Open shame. Not only did he take all the
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weapons away, but he also put them to open shame by triumphing
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over them in Christ. Doesn't that fool you with such
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confidence, such celebration, such joy, such peace?
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Like man, sin in my life doesn't stand a chance when the Spirit
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of God is alive in me. Sin in my life does not stand a
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chance when the Spirit of God is alive in me.
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And so this morning I want to look at 4 areas that Jesus has
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conquered sin, 4 areas that Jesus has provided victory for
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sin. And we're going to look through
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4 chapters of the book of Romans this morning.
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it says this in verse 12. Therefore, just as sin came into
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the world through one man and death through sin, and so death
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spread to all men because all sinned, all sinned.
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Verse 14, we skip down. It says, yet death reigned.
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We know from the Scriptures, it teaches that the penalty of sin
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is death. And the first thing that Jesus
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has comprehensive victory over is the penalty of sin.
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Jesus has victory over the penalty of sin.
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Now I'm sure we all believe like you put your faith in Jesus, you
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have eternal life, right? But we are death and life equal
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opposites here. Like death does not stand a
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chance when Jesus comes. Any effect of death does not
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stand a chance because Jesus has a comprehensive victory over the
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penalty of sin. Where in Genesis chapter 2 and
Genesis 2 chapter mention
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3, when God comes and he says don't eat of the tree, for on
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that day you will surely die. And that was that was a command.
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If you break the law of God, if you sin against God, the penalty
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is death. And yet Jesus comes.
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And yet Jesus comes in verse 17. For if because of one man's
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trespass, Speaking of Adam, death reigned through that one
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man, how much more will those who receive the abundance of
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grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life
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through the one man, Jesus Christ?
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How much more this is not like we've just got a death is equal
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to life and like I've just been transferred from one Kingdom.
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No, no, no, I've been transferred from a Kingdom that
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was so down here to a Kingdom that is now so far the life.
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Jesus says in John chapter 10, he says the thief comes to
John 10 chapter mention
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steal, kill and destroy. But I have come that they may
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have life and life more abundantly.
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Like it's not just that they might have life and death, but
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I've come that they might have an even more abundant life.
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Jesus has victory over the penalty of sin.
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The second thing that Jesus has victory over, we see in Romans
Romans 6 chapter mention
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chapter 6 is that Jesus has victory over the power of sin,
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the power of sin. Verse 6, it says this, we know
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speaking to believers, we know that our old self was crucified
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with him, with Jesus in order that the body of sin might be
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brought to nothing, might be brought to nothing.
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I'm sorry, how much it's not something that it might be
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brought to a little bit, that this body of sin would be
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brought to nothing. Like it's not even like Xavier's
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taking on a champion anymore. This is like he's not even
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showing up on the court. Like he's being brought to
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nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
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See, when we transfer, when we put our faith in Jesus, right,
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the victory is over the power of sin.
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Jesus changed our master. We were enslaved to sin.
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Sin is a terrible master because you end up doing the thing you
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don't want to do. Why?
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Because sin, like you just can't help.
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But why? Because you're enslaved and
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chained to sin. But you know, now we're slaves
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to righteousness, and righteousness is a way better
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master than sin. And it's so much more glorious.
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It's so much more wonderful to be a slave to righteousness.
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My master has changed under this place over here where I'm a
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slave to sin. I don't have a choice.
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I'm linked to sin. I do what sin says.
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But over here now, I'm slave to righteousness.
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I do what righteousness says. So we're over here.
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This is a terrible master, but this master has no authority
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when I'm a slave to righteousness because I have
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been freed from the power of sin, sin no longer has power
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over me. Why?
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Because I am now under the rulership of righteousness.
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If the Bible goes on in Romans chapter 6, it says that we are
Romans 6 chapter mention
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now slaves to God. We are now slaves to God.
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Verse Romans 6. Verse 20 says, For when you are
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slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness, but
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what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of
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which you are now ashamed? It's kind of going, whoa, you're
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a slave to sin, but what is that going to do for you when you're
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chained to sin? What's that going to do?
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That's going to bear nothing good.
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It can never bear anything good, for the end of those things is
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death. But now, but now that you have
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been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit
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you get leads to sanctification and it's end is eternal life.
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For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is
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eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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There is a way better fruit when you're a slave to righteousness.
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And we need to understand here that we have been set free from
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the power of sin. Sin is no longer my master.
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When I put my faith in Jesus, I am now a slave to righteousness.
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So Jesus has set us free from the penalty of sin.
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He has set us free from the power of sin.
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And the third thing, he set us free from the presence of sin.
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So this is in Romans 7, Paul kind of poses this
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hypothetically. He speaks to Jews who have the
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law and he's kind of addressing them.
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Some scholars talk whether this is somebody saved, unsaved.
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The point that he kind of gets at, he says in Romans 7, it's
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that, you know, I do what I don't want to do, and I don't do
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what I do want to do. That kind of peace, right?
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In essence, what Paul is trying to portray here is going, even
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if I could do everything good, even if my master was not sin
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and I was, I was pursuing righteousness.
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It's going even if that were the case and I could live a holy
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life, you still have a problem. And that is the fact that the
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sin is in you, sin is in you. See if I can find it, it says
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here in verse 17. So now it is no longer I who do
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it, but the sin that dwells within me who's kind of going,
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even if I could do everything right, sin is right there.
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Sin is sin is with me. I can't shake this thing that's
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inside of me, this sinful nature, this flesh nature.
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I can't deal with it. He's he's pretty much comes to
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the end of it and kind of going, even if I could do everything
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right, even if I could live in victory over the power of sin, I
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cannot deal with the presence of sin, which means I still can't
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make it to that Kingdom. I still can't make it into the
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Kingdom of God. Even if I could do everything
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right by the law, by God's standard, and I could live a
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perfectly holy life, I still cannot deal with the presence of
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sin. And we so see this in verse 24
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of Chapter 7, Romans 724. Wretched man that I am, who will
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deliver me from this body of death is going to sin is within
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me who is going to deliver me no matter how hard I try to live in
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victory over sin, I cannot deal with the presence of sin.
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Verse 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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See, Jesus does not just have victory over the penalty of sin.
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He doesn't just have victory over the power of sin, but he
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also has victory over the presence of sin in my life.
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We spoke, we read out a Corinthians, Colossians earlier
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about circumcision, about this thing being taken out.
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Romans, Romans earlier says that we have a circumcision of the
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heart. This thing has been cut out.
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Like it's not like there's anything left.
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It has been completely removed from us and now the Spirit of
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God lives inside of us. The sinful nature has been
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completely removed. It's not like there's a little
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bit that like they had a bit of an operation and that
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something's still left. It's gone completely right.
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There is no resemblance of this sinful nature at all because
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Jesus has a comprehensive victory over the presence of sin
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in your life. When you put your faith in
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Jesus, that thing is cut out. Like this is this is the
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powerful working of God that we read out of Colossians like this
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is the powerful working of God. This sinful nature that I cannot
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do anything about because I'm born sinful.
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The minute I put my faith in Jesus, that thing is cut out.
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It is removed and now instead of having a sinful nature, I now
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have a brand new nature in Christ.
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Do we understand that like this is, this is this is remarkable
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because we often think there's this struggle, there's this
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struggle of flesh and spirit, like two things warring inside
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of me. It's not really much of A battle
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because the sinful nature is dead and it's been removed.
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And I am free from not just the penalty of sin, not just the
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power of sin, but I am free from the presence of sin.
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Yeah, that's that's that's wild because we we know we still do
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sinful acts, but we need to understand our identity here,
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that we are completely brand new creations in Christ.
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When Paul writes, he says this, if any man be in Christ, he is a
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new creation. The old has gone.
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He is made new. The old is where the old is
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gone. He is completely new.
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And it's not just like an upgraded version.
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This, this word new that they talk about.
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It's not like upgrading from an iPhone 14 to an iPhone 16 or
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whatever, right? This is like going from an old
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Nokia brick phone to a brand new iPhone.
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Completely different leagues, completely different fields.
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That is the difference of the sinful nature to the spirit
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nature. That is the difference when you
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put your faith in Jesus. I know that we don't often feel
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like that, but that is our reality.
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When we put our faith in Jesus, we have been upgraded from a
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dodgy old Nokia brick phone to a brand new smartphone.
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That is the transfer. This is the comprehensive,
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powerful working of God in our life when we put our faith and
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our trust in Jesus. So Jesus freed us from the
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penalty of sin, transferred from a Kingdom of death to a Kingdom
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of eternal, abundant, everlasting life.
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He's transferred us from the power of sin, a terrible master,
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a terrible master that bears terrible fruit, bad fruit, to a
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wonderful master who bears fruit to righteousness that bears
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fruit in serving God, that has its mind set on the things of
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God. Jesus has also delivered us from
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the presence of sin, this sinful nature that is inside of us,
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that is terrible. It's born under death and we
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have been transferred. We now have a brand new identity
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in God, a new creation, an upgraded smartphone.
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The Spirit of God lives inside of us with a completely new
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spirit nature untainted by sin, the powerful working of God.
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Fourth thing that Jesus has victory over is the pursuit of
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chapter 8, it says we're going to read from verse 2 for the law
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of the Spirit of life. The Spirit of life has set you
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free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death, and we all
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said Amen. The law of the spirit of life
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has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
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That's a comprehensive, that's a that's a full stop on the end
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there. Like that's not a comma.
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That's not a ellipsis. There's some more to go.
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Now that's a comprehensive statement that Paul is writing.
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This is it. You have been set free.
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Verse 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh,
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could not do by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful
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flesh and for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh in
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order that the righteous requirement of the law might be
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fulfilled in US who walk not according to the flesh, but
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according to the Spirit. For those who live according to
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the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh.
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But those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on
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the things of the Spirit. But to set the mind on the flesh
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is death. But to set the mind on the
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Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the
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flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law.
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Indeed it cannot. And those who are in the flesh
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cannot please God. Now, at first glance, when you
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read this, you might kind of say, well, man, this sounds like
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a bit of a wrestle of the pursuit of sin.
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Like man, sin wants one thing. The Spirit wants one thing.
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And I'm trying to live this this like, what am I going to choose
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kind of moment. But then we read verse 9.
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You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.
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If in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you, You, however, are
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not in the flesh. Now I want to read verse two to
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seven a bit now in a bit of a different frame.
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Ah, verse 5 actually. For those who live according to
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the flesh, set their minds. Remember, we're not in the
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flesh. For those who live according to
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the flesh set their mind on the things of the flesh.
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The pursuit of sin is to set its mind on the thing that think sin
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desires. The pursuit of sin is that it
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just looks to the things that sin desires, right?
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Those who walk in the flesh according to the flesh have
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their mind set on the things of the flesh.
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But those who live, who have passed from death to life, those
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who are now free from the penalty of sin, from the power
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of sin, from the presence of sin, those who have transferred
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their Kingdom, their rulership, their mastership, those who have
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received the Spirit of God instead of the sinful nature,
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those who are now in the Kingdom of light now have their minds
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set on the things of the Spirit. Those who live here have their
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mind, their tendency, their default setting, if you like, is
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now to do the things of God, not the things of the Spirit.
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Like this. This can be quite remarkable
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when we begin to think about it, that as Christians, our default
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choice is no longer to do the things of the flesh.
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And now I know that we have a journey in that.
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And that's that process of sanctification where we're
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becoming more and more like Christ, but our default setting
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of our brand new identity, the victory that Jesus has is he has
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freed us from the pursuit of sin.
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I don't know if you noticed, but when now that you're saved, when
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you start looking at sin, you see sin differently.
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You see the desires of sin differently.
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Like it's like this conscience comes up and says, well, that's
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sinful. Why?
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Because Jesus freed you from the pursuit of sin under this
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Kingdom, you kind of go, I don't care, it's my life.
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I do what I want because it's the pursuit of sin.
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It's desirable. I do it in this Kingdom.
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When I see sin, I kind of go, I don't want anything to do with
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that. Because I've been freed from the
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pursuit of sin, I no longer desire sin.
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I no longer desire to do what is contrary to God's Kingdom.
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I now desire to do what is in line with His Kingdom.
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What's better is fruit for God, what pleases God.
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That is now where I sit and where I stand.
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For you are not in the Kingdom of the flesh, and those who are
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in the flesh desire the things of the flesh.
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Those who are in the Spirit now desire the things of the Spirit.
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Galatians 5 tells us now if you walk by the Spirit, keep in step
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with the Spirit and you will not desire the things of the flesh,
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because obviously our question here is kind of going, but
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sometimes I still desire the things of the flesh.
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That's true. Sometimes I still desire the
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things of the flesh. I choose the things of the flesh
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instead of choosing the things of the spirit.
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But Paul's encouragement to us in Galatians, I say, walk by the
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Spirit and you will not not, you may not.
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You might on occasion. No, no, no, you will not gratify
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the desires of the flesh. When I gratify the desires of
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the flesh, it's when I decide to step out of that Kingdom.
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But he says, walk by the Spirit, keep in step with the Spirit,
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keep in step with who you are in Christ, and you will not gratify
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the desires of the flesh. Why?
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Because Jesus freed me from the pursuit of sin.
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Jesus freed me from the pursuit of sin.
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As I said, this is one of the most comprehensive victories of
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all time. I think again, in our minds we
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have this idea that maybe there's this still, this bit of
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back and fro, back and fro kind of stuff going on where we've
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got 2 equal champions taking on each other.
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But I want to remind us this morning, this is not an equal
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fight. This is the most comprehensive
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victory of all time. Jesus conquered sin once and for
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all. It's not like sin is kind of
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come back up and be like, ha, like you lost that battle.
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I'm here for another one. Sin is done.
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Sin is done. It is done once for all.
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Dave read it out during communion earlier.
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Once for all done. Sin has been brought to nothing.
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The penalty of sin done. The power of sin over my life
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done. The presence of sin in my life
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gone and the pursuit of sin done.
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This is one of the most comprehensive victories of all
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time. And this is the remarkable thing
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when we turn over to the book of Corinthians, pretty sure it's in
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Corinthians chapter 15, verse 57.
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But thanks be to God who gives us, who gives us the victory
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through our Lord Jesus Christ. See, sometimes we can also say,
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well, that's great, Jesus has the victory.
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Jesus has the victory over sin and we kind of go, but I still
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struggle with sin. Thanks be to God who gives us
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the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
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I want to leave with us this thought that when we put our
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faith in Jesus, not only does Jesus deal with all of those
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things, not only does he free us from the penalty of sin, the
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power, the presence, and the pursuit of sin, but then he
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gives us that victory to enforce.
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He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
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When we put our faith in him, we stand in the victorious place.
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When sin comes knocking, I exercise my victory and says,
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fine, you're defeated. Sin.
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When the devil comes and starts shoving sin in my face, I'm
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like, that's fine, you've been defeated.
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When sin kind of stirs on the outside and I start looking, I'm
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like this, this desire is defeated.
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This thing is defeated. Why?
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Because I now stand in the comprehensive victory of Jesus.
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His victory has become my victory over sin.
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And so when I talk about this battle or when we talk about
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this battle of the sin and the flesh, and it's kind of
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backwards and forwards and I'm not sure what to choose, I just
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want you to remember you have a comprehensive victory over sin.
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We stand in a victorious place because we now, because of Jesus
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putting our faith in Jesus, we now have victory over the
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penalty of sin. Penalty is death dominion when
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we're talking about praying for sickness.
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We have victory over the penalty of sin.
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We have victory over the power of sin, over the presence of
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sin, and over the pursuit of sin.
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We now stand in that victory through faith in Jesus Christ.
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His victory has become our victory.
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Amen. Thank you for joining us for
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today's message. For more information about The
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Way Church, please visit [email protected] dot
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AU. Have a blessed day.