1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:07,080 You’re listening to a sermon from Pastor Colin Smith of Open The Bible. 2 00:00:07,080 –> 00:00:15,040 To contact us, call us at 1-877-OPEN-365 or visit our website, OpenTheBible.org. 3 00:00:15,040 –> 00:00:19,280 Let’s get to the message, here is Pastor Colin. 4 00:00:19,280 –> 00:00:25,799 Well we’re into the second stage of the journey that we have called The Inside Story. 5 00:00:25,799 –> 00:00:31,180 We began looking at the inside story of human life, and we have progressed to look at the 6 00:00:31,180 –> 00:00:34,700 inside story of the Christian life. 7 00:00:34,700 –> 00:00:36,740 What do you make of the Christian life? 8 00:00:36,740 –> 00:00:45,060 How do you find tying together what the Bible says about it and your own experience of it? 9 00:00:45,060 –> 00:00:47,299 If you’re a Christian, you have died to sin. 10 00:00:47,299 –> 00:00:53,160 But if you’re like me you probably find that sin is pretty much alive towards you. 11 00:00:53,160 –> 00:00:54,540 Its presence is obvious. 12 00:00:54,580 –> 00:00:59,299 I wonder if you’ve noticed the contradictions in your own Christian life. 13 00:00:59,299 –> 00:01:03,439 You love Christ, so why is it then that you’re drawn to sin? 14 00:01:03,439 –> 00:01:04,440 You trust Christ. 15 00:01:04,440 –> 00:01:09,500 So, why is it then that you struggle with so many fears and so many anxieties? 16 00:01:09,500 –> 00:01:13,839 I don’t know about you, but I often find that I am a mystery to myself. 17 00:01:13,839 –> 00:01:16,760 Do you find that about your Christian life? 18 00:01:16,760 –> 00:01:23,940 You think I don’t fully understand exactly what’s going on inside of me as a Christian. 19 00:01:23,940 –> 00:01:29,260 Well, that’s the reason why we’re looking at the inside story of the Christian life, 20 00:01:29,260 –> 00:01:34,500 so that we can get a better handle on what it means to be a Christian and, if you’re 21 00:01:34,500 –> 00:01:38,300 not yet a Christian, what it would be like, what you could expect if you were to become 22 00:01:38,300 –> 00:01:41,199 a Christian, even today. 23 00:01:41,199 –> 00:01:47,180 Well, maybe you have struggled to hold together your own experience and some of the things 24 00:01:47,180 –> 00:01:50,400 that the Bible says about being a Christian. 25 00:01:50,400 –> 00:01:55,919 You read about joy and you read about peace and you read about all of these things in 26 00:01:55,919 –> 00:02:03,360 the Holy Spirit, God working with you, Ephesians 1, with the same power that he exercised in 27 00:02:03,360 –> 00:02:05,800 raising Jesus Christ from the dead. 28 00:02:05,800 –> 00:02:09,220 You think, I’m just trying to get through a course of college. 29 00:02:09,220 –> 00:02:10,839 I’m just trying to raise a family. 30 00:02:10,839 –> 00:02:13,639 I’m just trying to find a job here. 31 00:02:13,639 –> 00:02:17,440 I’m just trying to struggle with a sickness here. 32 00:02:17,440 –> 00:02:21,399 My life doesn’t seem quite so grand as all of that. 33 00:02:21,399 –> 00:02:27,520 Well, I hope you’ll open your Bible today at Galatians 2, verse 20. 34 00:02:27,520 –> 00:02:30,539 Galatians chapter 2, verse 20. 35 00:02:30,539 –> 00:02:34,880 I want to draw your attention to what I think is one of the greatest statements about the 36 00:02:34,880 –> 00:02:37,440 Christian life in all of the Bible. 37 00:02:37,440 –> 00:02:42,000 To me, it has been one of the most profoundly helpful in all of the New Testament. 38 00:02:42,000 –> 00:02:44,919 Many of you will be familiar with it. 39 00:02:44,919 –> 00:02:53,320 Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20, we read these words, I have been crucified with Christ 40 00:02:53,320 –> 00:02:58,000 and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. 41 00:02:58,000 –> 00:03:06,600 And the life I live in the body I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave 42 00:03:06,600 –> 00:03:10,000 himself for me. 43 00:03:10,080 –> 00:03:12,000 And the lesson says about this verse, quote, 44 00:03:12,000 –> 00:03:18,919 your life as a Christian is a very strange one, I am crucified, nevertheless, I live. 45 00:03:18,919 –> 00:03:22,039 How do you hold these two things together? 46 00:03:22,039 –> 00:03:26,199 What a contradiction he says the Christian’s life is a matchless riddle. 47 00:03:26,199 –> 00:03:32,880 No worldly person can comprehend it and even the believer himself cannot fully understand 48 00:03:33,740 –> 00:03:40,059 He knows it but solving all its enigmas he feels to be an impossible task. 49 00:03:40,059 –> 00:03:45,279 Matthew Henry the a great puritan commentator also comments on what he calls the mysterious 50 00:03:45,279 –> 00:03:53,000 life of the Christian believer, that you have died and yet you live. 51 00:03:53,000 –> 00:03:57,559 That you live and yet Paul says here, yet it is not I who lives, it is Christ who lives 52 00:03:57,559 –> 00:03:59,399 in me. 53 00:03:59,440 –> 00:04:05,979 And then he says that we’re crucified with Christ and yet Christ lives in us. 54 00:04:05,979 –> 00:04:08,839 Well there’s the enigma, there’s the mystery. 55 00:04:08,839 –> 00:04:13,360 There’s why it’s pretty difficult sometimes to make sense of what’s going on in your own 56 00:04:13,360 –> 00:04:16,140 experience as a Christian. 57 00:04:16,140 –> 00:04:21,679 And our purpose today is to look into this mystery as we explore the inside story of 58 00:04:21,679 –> 00:04:25,220 the Christian life. 59 00:04:25,279 –> 00:04:29,839 I do hope then that your Bible is open here because for all of the mystery of this verse 60 00:04:29,839 –> 00:04:37,920 I’ve got to tell you, I have found this verse of Scripture to be more helpful than any other 61 00:04:37,920 –> 00:04:43,799 for getting a handle on the experience of the Christian life. 62 00:04:44,799 –> 00:04:49,500 I want to draw your attention to two statements in this verse that I have found personally 63 00:04:49,500 –> 00:04:50,920 to be so very, very helpful. 64 00:04:50,920 –> 00:04:52,420 They’re right in the middle there. 65 00:04:52,640 –> 00:04:56,880 Do you notice that Paul describes the Christian life in two ways? 66 00:04:56,880 –> 00:05:02,559 First he says the Christian life is a life that is lived in the body, the life that I 67 00:05:02,559 –> 00:05:05,700 live in the body. 68 00:05:05,700 –> 00:05:11,500 And then secondly he describes this life that is lived in the body is a life lived by faith 69 00:05:11,500 –> 00:05:15,339 in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. 70 00:05:15,339 –> 00:05:19,440 So here are two touchstones of the Christian life. 71 00:05:19,679 –> 00:05:24,440 Here are two handles as it were, that you can get on the Christian life. 72 00:05:24,440 –> 00:05:31,220 The Christian life is lived in the body and the Christian life is by faith in the Son 73 00:05:31,220 –> 00:05:32,220 of God. 74 00:05:32,220 –> 00:05:37,980 These two statements will give you a firm handle on the Christian life as it is in the 75 00:05:37,980 –> 00:05:42,940 Bible and as you will experience it every day of your walk with Christ. 76 00:05:42,940 –> 00:05:45,440 Your Christian life is lived in the body. 77 00:05:46,440 –> 00:05:51,359 What that means is that you will always feel the pull of the flesh, as long as you live 78 00:05:51,359 –> 00:05:53,260 in this world. 79 00:05:53,260 –> 00:05:56,359 You will find that there are times when you lack courage. 80 00:05:56,359 –> 00:05:58,820 There are times when you lose heart. 81 00:05:58,820 –> 00:06:02,640 You will find times when you lament your own failure. 82 00:06:02,640 –> 00:06:05,040 You may experience sickness. 83 00:06:05,040 –> 00:06:08,519 You will experience at some point weakness. 84 00:06:08,519 –> 00:06:12,320 Eventually if Christ has not come within the span of your lifetime, you will like the 85 00:06:12,359 –> 00:06:17,359 vast majority of other believers experience death itself. 86 00:06:17,359 –> 00:06:20,420 On the way there, you may experience depression. 87 00:06:20,420 –> 00:06:27,459 On the way there, you may experience anxiety, doubt, feelings of inadequacy, loneliness. 88 00:06:27,459 –> 00:06:32,559 All of this flows from the reality that Paul states here that we live the Christian life 89 00:06:32,559 –> 00:06:34,700 in the body. 90 00:06:34,700 –> 00:06:46,000 In this physiological reality, I live this life in the body. 91 00:06:46,000 –> 00:06:47,179 But that is not the whole story. 92 00:06:47,179 –> 00:06:51,019 The second handle on the Christian life. 93 00:06:51,019 –> 00:06:54,420 Your Christian life is lived by faith in the Son of God. 94 00:06:54,420 –> 00:06:56,899 This Christ is for you, he’s saying. 95 00:06:56,899 –> 00:06:58,859 This Christ is with you. 96 00:06:58,859 –> 00:07:03,500 His Spirit lives in your body and what that means is that you can look to him, and you 97 00:07:03,579 –> 00:07:08,820 count on him in every circumstance of your life. 98 00:07:08,820 –> 00:07:15,079 What he’s saying here then, is that it is Christ’s presence that makes it possible 99 00:07:15,079 –> 00:07:20,779 for you to live this difficult and challenging life in the body. 100 00:07:20,779 –> 00:07:24,820 Because Christ’s power makes it possible for you to live this life with all of its struggles 101 00:07:24,820 –> 00:07:26,660 and with all of its difficulties. 102 00:07:26,660 –> 00:07:32,820 And that power is appropriated to you and by you as you exercise faith. 103 00:07:33,799 –> 00:07:38,540 So think with me for a moment to give an illustration here about the Metra train making its way 104 00:07:38,540 –> 00:07:43,260 in every morning and coming out every evening from Chicago. 105 00:07:43,260 –> 00:07:48,899 The train runs on twin tracks, and if you like to think about it that way, thinking 106 00:07:48,899 –> 00:07:55,100 about these parallel tracks that we cross so many times, the Christian life runs on 107 00:07:55,100 –> 00:07:58,299 the twin tracks of these realities. 108 00:07:58,299 –> 00:08:01,820 You are in Christ and you are in the body. 109 00:08:01,820 –> 00:08:06,299 Both of these things are true so long as you are living in this world. 110 00:08:06,299 –> 00:08:11,500 And just as the Metra train needs two tracks to get into Chicago, so you need a firm grip 111 00:08:11,500 –> 00:08:16,420 on these two realities in order to make sense of the Christian life. 112 00:08:16,420 –> 00:08:19,980 Get hold of one without the other and you’ll always be in confusion, you’ll be saying, 113 00:08:19,980 –> 00:08:22,040 why is the Christian life as it is? 114 00:08:22,040 –> 00:08:26,600 Why am I so far from the realities of the Bible? 115 00:08:26,640 –> 00:08:33,320 The Christian life then is in Christ and it is in the body. 116 00:08:33,320 –> 00:08:39,440 And once you grasp that you’ll begin to see and make sense of your own experience. 117 00:08:39,440 –> 00:08:43,039 Sin dwells in you by the flesh. 118 00:08:43,039 –> 00:08:46,559 Christ dwells in you by the Spirit. 119 00:08:46,559 –> 00:08:50,599 As long as you’re living this Christian life you’re engaged in some kind of conflict with 120 00:08:50,599 –> 00:08:55,520 the world and the flesh and the devil, and the reason that you’re able to engage in this 121 00:08:55,760 –> 00:09:00,239 particular struggle is that Jesus Christ lives in you. 122 00:09:00,239 –> 00:09:04,119 Being in Christ means that you have new life. 123 00:09:04,119 –> 00:09:07,200 Being in the body means that you have new battles. 124 00:09:07,200 –> 00:09:11,400 That’s our title today, new life and new battles. 125 00:09:11,400 –> 00:09:16,280 Now I want you to see that these twin realities are not only in this verse they’re actually 126 00:09:16,280 –> 00:09:20,400 all over the Bible. 127 00:09:20,400 –> 00:09:25,140 Let me just give you four examples and rather than chase all over the place I’ve taken the 128 00:09:25,200 –> 00:09:28,979 four examples from the one letter from the Second Corinthians. 129 00:09:28,979 –> 00:09:34,260 If you go back a page you will see that that’s the letter before Galatians. 130 00:09:34,260 –> 00:09:38,380 Second Corinthians is fascinating because it’s the letter more than any other where 131 00:09:38,380 –> 00:09:45,380 Paul opens up his own personal experience of what it was like for him to live the Christian 132 00:09:46,000 –> 00:09:47,239 life. 133 00:09:47,239 –> 00:09:52,539 Let me just take one or two snapshots so that you can see both the new battle that he faces 134 00:09:52,840 –> 00:09:56,299 and also the new life in which he faces that battle. 135 00:09:56,299 –> 00:10:00,760 Second Corinthians chapter one in verses eight and nine is the first of these. 136 00:10:00,760 –> 00:10:06,320 Second Corinthians chapter one and verse eight and nine. 137 00:10:06,320 –> 00:10:11,679 Look at the new battle here, Paul says we do not want you to be uninformed brothers 138 00:10:11,679 –> 00:10:16,780 about the hardships that we suffered in the province of Asia. 139 00:10:16,780 –> 00:10:23,400 We were under great pressure and it was far beyond our ability to endure so that we despaired 140 00:10:23,400 –> 00:10:27,140 even of life, indeed in our hearts we felt the sense of death. 141 00:10:27,140 –> 00:10:31,140 And you see the battle written all over there. 142 00:10:31,140 –> 00:10:36,460 He says to translate it another way we were utterly unbearably crushed. 143 00:10:36,460 –> 00:10:40,780 That was part of his experience of the Christian life. 144 00:10:40,780 –> 00:10:47,140 But notice at the same time, he then says in this verse, but this happened that we might 145 00:10:47,140 –> 00:10:53,419 rely not rely on ourselves but on God who raised the dead. 146 00:10:53,419 –> 00:10:55,419 Now do you see the part of that. 147 00:10:55,419 –> 00:11:02,900 He’s experiencing the new battle and the new life at precisely the same time, he is 148 00:11:02,900 –> 00:11:07,340 not saying I once was in a terrible battle but of course now I’m in Christ all of that 149 00:11:07,340 –> 00:11:09,520 is behind me. 150 00:11:09,599 –> 00:11:15,039 He’s saying the new life in Jesus Christ is what made it possible for me to stand and 151 00:11:15,039 –> 00:11:21,520 to endure when I felt utterly unbearably crashed and when I felt even the sentence of death 152 00:11:21,520 –> 00:11:23,840 coming over my own life. 153 00:11:25,179 –> 00:11:27,320 New battle, new life. 154 00:11:27,320 –> 00:11:34,119 Turn over a couple of pages to 2 Corinthians 4, and two verses here verse 11 and verse 155 00:11:34,119 –> 00:11:38,140 16, notice the battle in verse 11. 156 00:11:38,140 –> 00:11:46,340 We who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, always being given 157 00:11:46,340 –> 00:11:47,340 over to death. 158 00:11:47,340 –> 00:11:50,679 I mean you remember how Paul speaks later in this letter about being shipwrecked and 159 00:11:50,679 –> 00:11:52,940 being flogged and being persecuted. 160 00:11:52,940 –> 00:11:56,359 I mean this is real experience. 161 00:11:56,359 –> 00:12:03,159 He had the wounds in his own body to demonstrate it, but then he says look at the life here, 162 00:12:03,200 –> 00:12:08,760 we’re always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake so that his life may be revealed 163 00:12:08,760 –> 00:12:11,039 in our mortal body. 164 00:12:11,039 –> 00:12:16,200 Life of Christ is being evidenced in this apostle, standing up under this and continuing 165 00:12:16,200 –> 00:12:19,400 to serve Christ and to go on as a missionary. 166 00:12:19,400 –> 00:12:26,479 Verse 16, he’s making the same point again, the twin realities. 167 00:12:26,479 –> 00:12:30,719 We do not lose heart though outwardly we are wasting away. 168 00:12:30,760 –> 00:12:37,159 So here’s a Christian who physically, his body is in decline. 169 00:12:37,159 –> 00:12:41,719 But he says at the same time, inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 170 00:12:41,719 –> 00:12:46,659 There’s the reality both of life and the body and the reality of life and Christ, and these 171 00:12:46,659 –> 00:12:50,479 two things are happening to the Apostle at the same time. 172 00:12:50,479 –> 00:12:53,099 Turn over another couple of pages would you? 173 00:12:53,099 –> 00:12:56,659 Once you start seeing this you’ll see it all over and you’ll begin to have a handle on 174 00:12:56,659 –> 00:12:58,260 the Christian life. 175 00:12:58,260 –> 00:13:03,140 1 Corinthians chapter 7, I’m looking at verse 5. 176 00:13:03,140 –> 00:13:11,020 Look at the new battle, when we came to Macedonia, verse 5, this body of ours had no rest, but 177 00:13:11,020 –> 00:13:15,739 we were harassed, that’s the Apostle speaking, at every turn. 178 00:13:15,739 –> 00:13:20,260 Conflicts on the outside, fears within. 179 00:13:20,260 –> 00:13:21,260 This is extraordinary. 180 00:13:21,260 –> 00:13:28,059 Here’s a man in Christ, a man of extraordinary faith and he’s describing a particular experience 181 00:13:28,059 –> 00:13:31,000 that he goes through and he says I was harassed. 182 00:13:31,000 –> 00:13:35,260 I came to Macedonia, I experienced all these conflicts that were going on all around me 183 00:13:35,260 –> 00:13:41,140 and what was going on inside me was fear, fears within, conflicts without. 184 00:13:41,140 –> 00:13:45,520 That’s life in the body, but notice that it’s never alone. 185 00:13:45,520 –> 00:13:50,500 Notice the new life in the very next verse, but God who comforts the downcast comforted 186 00:13:50,500 –> 00:13:55,099 us by the coming of Titus. 187 00:13:55,219 –> 00:13:59,299 In this I experienced God’s grace and his help and he sent me a friend. 188 00:13:59,299 –> 00:14:01,979 That’s what he said. 189 00:14:01,979 –> 00:14:05,000 Turn over another couple of pages and you’ll see it again. 190 00:14:05,000 –> 00:14:08,880 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 and verses 7-9. 191 00:14:08,880 –> 00:14:10,619 You may know these verses as well. 192 00:14:10,619 –> 00:14:12,020 Here’s the battle. 193 00:14:12,020 –> 00:14:13,059 Verse seven. 194 00:14:13,059 –> 00:14:18,020 There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, and three 195 00:14:18,020 –> 00:14:21,820 times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away. 196 00:14:22,000 –> 00:14:26,260 O God, please take away this affliction in my life. 197 00:14:26,260 –> 00:14:28,840 Satan’s tormenting me. 198 00:14:28,840 –> 00:14:29,840 There’s the conflict. 199 00:14:29,840 –> 00:14:32,260 There’s the battle. 200 00:14:32,260 –> 00:14:34,020 But notice the new life. 201 00:14:34,020 –> 00:14:37,840 But Christ said to me, My grace, verse 9, is sufficient for you. 202 00:14:37,840 –> 00:14:42,020 My power is made perfect in weakness, and Paul says, therefore I will boast all the 203 00:14:42,020 –> 00:14:50,320 more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 204 00:14:50,320 –> 00:14:56,359 So this is the same apostle who, on one occasion, captured these things in just two phrases. 205 00:14:56,359 –> 00:14:59,719 He said, Who is sufficient for these things? 206 00:14:59,719 –> 00:15:00,739 I look at my life. 207 00:15:00,739 –> 00:15:03,140 it all seems overwhelming. 208 00:15:03,140 –> 00:15:08,020 Who is sufficient for these things that I face? 209 00:15:08,020 –> 00:15:09,500 That’s life in the body, isn’t it? 210 00:15:09,500 –> 00:15:10,760 You ever felt that? 211 00:15:10,760 –> 00:15:14,039 I know I have. 212 00:15:14,039 –> 00:15:19,460 But you see that’s one of the twin realities of the Christian life, because in the very 213 00:15:19,460 –> 00:15:24,760 next line he says, but our sufficiency is of God. 214 00:15:24,760 –> 00:15:36,520 The battle, the life, in the body, by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself 215 00:15:36,520 –> 00:15:38,140 for me. 216 00:15:38,140 –> 00:15:45,320 Now, once you get a hold of these two firm handles on the Christian life, I think you 217 00:15:45,320 –> 00:15:48,500 will find this to be profoundly helpful. 218 00:15:48,500 –> 00:15:51,239 It will help you to make sense of your own experience. 219 00:15:51,239 –> 00:15:56,700 It will help you to understand the broader scriptures that you’re reading when you place 220 00:15:56,700 –> 00:16:00,780 them within the light of this context. 221 00:16:00,780 –> 00:16:05,659 Let me give to you six ways in which the twin realities of the Christian life can be stated. 222 00:16:05,659 –> 00:16:09,260 I hope you might find at least one of these helpful. 223 00:16:09,260 –> 00:16:10,840 Here’s one way of saying it. 224 00:16:10,840 –> 00:16:17,059 The Christian is at peace with God, but he is at war with sin. 225 00:16:17,239 –> 00:16:24,039 See, a true Christian, someone has said, is known as much by his war as by his peace. 226 00:16:24,200 –> 00:16:27,599 If you think of the Christian life only in terms of, oh, well I have peace with God and 227 00:16:27,599 –> 00:16:30,359 so I should experience all of this wonderful peace all the time. 228 00:16:30,359 –> 00:16:36,059 Then you’ve got one handle and you won’t have a clear grasp of what the Christian life is. 229 00:16:36,080 –> 00:16:39,960 To be at peace with God also means that you’re at war with sin. 230 00:16:39,960 –> 00:16:45,200 And that is why the Christian is known as much by his conflict, by his struggle as he 231 00:16:45,200 –> 00:16:49,880 is, by his experience of peace. 232 00:16:49,880 –> 00:16:53,619 Grasp one without the other, you really will never understand or make sense of the Christian 233 00:16:53,619 –> 00:16:54,619 life. 234 00:16:54,619 –> 00:16:58,859 Second, Christ lives in me by the Spirit. 235 00:16:58,859 –> 00:17:03,059 Sin lives in me by the flesh. 236 00:17:03,059 –> 00:17:08,959 See, the Christian doesn’t live in sin, but sin lives in the Christian. 237 00:17:08,959 –> 00:17:13,599 The Christian’s not in the flesh, but the flesh is certainly in the Christian. 238 00:17:13,859 –> 00:17:17,640 It’s well said in one of the songs that we sometimes sing here. 239 00:17:17,640 –> 00:17:28,140 In my heart there is a treason, one that poisons all my love, so, Lord, take my heart and consecrate 240 00:17:28,140 –> 00:17:30,859 it, wash it in your cleansing blood. 241 00:17:30,859 –> 00:17:36,959 There is never a day when my heart does not need the washing and the cleansing of the 242 00:17:36,959 –> 00:17:38,160 blood of Christ. 243 00:17:38,160 –> 00:17:42,579 And that’s true of your heart as well, however much you’ve progressed in the Christian life. 244 00:17:42,619 –> 00:17:47,660 No Christian ever arrives in heaven because he’s done well in the Christian life. 245 00:17:47,660 –> 00:17:52,219 Christians arrive in heaven only because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. 246 00:17:52,219 –> 00:17:54,900 It’s always our dependence. 247 00:17:54,900 –> 00:18:02,300 Here’s another way of saying the same thing, the Christian is done with sin, but sin is 248 00:18:02,300 –> 00:18:04,699 not done with the Christian. 249 00:18:04,699 –> 00:18:09,660 Now, that’s important when you read a passage like Romans 6 in verse 2. 250 00:18:09,760 –> 00:18:17,359 We have died to sin, the Bible says, or when you read 1 John and chapter 3 and verse 9 251 00:18:17,359 –> 00:18:20,920 and John says, you cannot go on sinning if you’ve been born of God. 252 00:18:20,920 –> 00:18:23,719 You no longer sin. 253 00:18:23,719 –> 00:18:31,640 And yet at the same time, in 1 John 1.8, we’re told if a man says that he is without sin, 254 00:18:31,660 –> 00:18:35,900 he deceives himself, and the truth is not in him. 255 00:18:35,900 –> 00:18:38,560 How are we to put these things together? 256 00:18:38,839 –> 00:18:40,119 Well, let me put it simply this way. 257 00:18:40,119 –> 00:18:44,060 That to be a Christian means that a decisive break has been made with sin. 258 00:18:44,060 –> 00:18:45,520 You are not the person you were. 259 00:18:45,520 –> 00:18:48,239 You are done with sin. 260 00:18:48,239 –> 00:18:52,459 But sin is not done with you. 261 00:18:52,459 –> 00:18:53,800 Let’s put it another way. 262 00:18:53,800 –> 00:19:00,060 The Christian lives in the power of the Spirit, but he or she also experiences the weakness 263 00:19:00,060 –> 00:19:01,719 of the flesh. 264 00:19:02,719 –> 00:19:10,280 See, don’t expect that the power of the Holy Spirit will make you feel on Tuesday evening, 265 00:19:10,280 –> 00:19:15,880 to take a random point of the week, like you are standing on the victor’s podium, taking 266 00:19:15,880 –> 00:19:19,739 your bow for your performance in the Christian life during that day. 267 00:19:19,739 –> 00:19:21,719 You will not have that experience. 268 00:19:21,719 –> 00:19:27,579 Not the sight of Heaven, then you will be on your face and on your knees in adoration 269 00:19:27,579 –> 00:19:29,500 before Christ. 270 00:19:30,400 –> 00:19:39,339 No, the power of the Holy Spirit is what makes it possible for you to perserver in the challenges 271 00:19:39,339 –> 00:19:43,900 that you face on Tuesday of this week. 272 00:19:43,900 –> 00:19:51,339 So to try and give this a face, few weeks back Karin and I spent an evening with about 273 00:19:51,339 –> 00:19:58,920 20 families, Snappan, you know what Snappan is in the life of the church? 274 00:19:58,920 –> 00:20:05,180 It’s our parent’s network for parents of children with special needs. 275 00:20:05,180 –> 00:20:11,699 About 20 families there, we sat in a circle and it was an incredibly moving evening for 276 00:20:11,699 –> 00:20:17,699 Karin and for myself to listen to each of these couples, tell their story, speak about 277 00:20:17,979 –> 00:20:23,859 the burdens they were carrying and some of the joys they were experiencing. 278 00:20:23,859 –> 00:20:30,859 One couple said without any particular sort of emphasis, as best I can repeat it, they 279 00:20:31,859 –> 00:20:38,739 said, we are really thanking God that we have just had our first night of unbroken sleep 280 00:20:38,739 –> 00:20:42,260 since our son was born. 281 00:20:42,260 –> 00:20:44,939 Our son is 13 years old. 282 00:20:44,939 –> 00:20:49,160 13 years old. 283 00:20:49,160 –> 00:20:56,160 Now here’s a glimpse of what the power of the Holy Spirit looks like in a believer’s 284 00:20:58,000 –> 00:20:59,280 life. 285 00:20:59,280 –> 00:21:05,939 It’s by the power of the Holy Spirit that these dear folks have been able to persevere 286 00:21:05,939 –> 00:21:10,300 in the difficulties and the demands and the pressures of which that has been just one 287 00:21:10,319 –> 00:21:14,520 thing for the last 13 years. 288 00:21:14,520 –> 00:21:18,119 You can list some of the difficulties and pressures that you are facing in your life, 289 00:21:18,119 –> 00:21:22,920 some of the things that would make a person completely turn away from any faith in God 290 00:21:22,920 –> 00:21:26,119 whatsoever, if it was not for the power of the Holy Spirit within you. 291 00:21:26,119 –> 00:21:30,560 You experience the weakness of the flesh. 292 00:21:30,560 –> 00:21:34,119 What then has enabled you to persevere? 293 00:21:34,119 –> 00:21:36,280 Nothing other than this, the power of the Holy Spirit. 294 00:21:36,280 –> 00:21:38,040 Here’s another way of putting the same thing. 295 00:21:38,040 –> 00:21:45,000 I’m trying to settle in your mind today this one point that you grasp the Christian life 296 00:21:45,000 –> 00:21:46,140 with two handles. 297 00:21:46,140 –> 00:21:49,959 It’s in the body and it’s in Christ. 298 00:21:49,959 –> 00:21:55,439 And you’ll never understand it if you try to grasp it with only one handle. 299 00:21:55,439 –> 00:21:56,760 Let me put it this way then. 300 00:21:56,760 –> 00:22:05,900 In Christ, you are a new creation, but your struggles are shaped by your experience, by 301 00:22:05,920 –> 00:22:10,119 your environment, and by your own temperament. 302 00:22:10,119 –> 00:22:15,560 See here is this wonderful truth that when you are regenerated by the Holy Spirit you 303 00:22:15,560 –> 00:22:18,260 truly do become a new creation. 304 00:22:18,260 –> 00:22:19,479 But it’s a new you. 305 00:22:19,479 –> 00:22:20,479 It’s still you. 306 00:22:20,479 –> 00:22:25,619 It’s you made new but it’s not another person. 307 00:22:25,619 –> 00:22:30,420 So it’s you put in a position to deal with the stuff of your life that comes from your 308 00:22:30,420 –> 00:22:38,119 temperament that comes in some ways from your experience that comes in many ways from your 309 00:22:38,119 –> 00:22:40,920 environment. 310 00:22:40,920 –> 00:22:44,880 So this helps us to have some kind of window into what each of us are experiencing in the 311 00:22:44,880 –> 00:22:46,540 Christian life. 312 00:22:46,540 –> 00:22:49,640 All of us are tempted but we’re not all tempted in the same way. 313 00:22:49,640 –> 00:22:52,800 How you are tempted has an awful lot to do with your temperament. 314 00:22:52,800 –> 00:22:56,140 It has an awful lot to do with your background. 315 00:22:56,180 –> 00:23:03,560 The particular battles that each Christian faces are not exactly the same and it has 316 00:23:03,560 –> 00:23:06,780 something to do with the environment as well. 317 00:23:06,780 –> 00:23:23,540 The spiritual dullness that comes from a comfortable Christian life is not the noticeable battle 318 00:23:24,479 –> 00:23:28,180 brothers and sisters in our sister church in Haiti. 319 00:23:28,180 –> 00:23:33,300 Not many of them are struggling with that not any of them are struggling with it. 320 00:23:33,300 –> 00:23:37,839 But that is a battle for many of us here, why? 321 00:23:37,839 –> 00:23:41,380 Because we live in the northwest suburbs it’s our battle. 322 00:23:41,380 –> 00:23:45,520 You were born in another part of the world your experience can be quite different and 323 00:23:45,520 –> 00:23:48,819 your battles may be quite different too. 324 00:23:48,819 –> 00:23:51,260 But this is one place where its for us. 325 00:23:51,819 –> 00:23:57,699 Here’s another way of putting it just trying to get the the twin tracks of the Christian 326 00:23:57,699 –> 00:24:03,439 life here sin is no longer your master that’s wonderfully triumphantly true of you in Jesus 327 00:24:03,439 –> 00:24:08,619 Christ, but sin will always be your enemy so as long as you are living in this body. 328 00:24:08,619 –> 00:24:16,020 A wonderful statement in Romans chapter six in verse 14, sin shall no longer be your master. 329 00:24:16,020 –> 00:24:17,979 But it is always your enemy. 330 00:24:17,979 –> 00:24:20,380 Let me give you a picture. 331 00:24:20,380 –> 00:24:25,479 This has helped me and maybe it’ll help at least a few of us. 332 00:24:25,479 –> 00:24:31,180 Imagine a war is taking place between two armies. 333 00:24:31,180 –> 00:24:35,439 And picture yourself engaged in the conflict. 334 00:24:35,439 –> 00:24:41,839 Here we are together and we’re behind some rocks and we’re taking heavy enemy fire 335 00:24:41,839 –> 00:24:50,160 and eventually our escape route is cut off and we’re surrounded and we’re captured. 336 00:24:50,219 –> 00:24:54,500 You surrender your weapons and you’re carted off together with the others in your unit 337 00:24:54,500 –> 00:24:58,359 and eventually you arrive at a place where you’re going to be imprisoned. 338 00:24:58,359 –> 00:25:00,520 It is like a massive cage. 339 00:25:00,520 –> 00:25:05,800 A whole crowd of people are already there inside. 340 00:25:05,800 –> 00:25:12,060 The cage’s open, you’re roughly thrown in there and when you begin to get oriented 341 00:25:12,060 –> 00:25:16,739 to where you are you realize that this place is being run by a man who looks absolutely 342 00:25:16,760 –> 00:25:18,800 terrifying. 343 00:25:18,800 –> 00:25:22,800 He shouts out orders and all the people who have been there for some time do exactly what 344 00:25:22,800 –> 00:25:28,939 he says, and you value your life so you decide you’re going to do exactly the same. 345 00:25:28,939 –> 00:25:31,380 For the next year your whole life is in the cage. 346 00:25:31,380 –> 00:25:40,880 You eat, you sleep, you exercise, but all the time you are under the power of the enemy, 347 00:25:40,880 –> 00:25:45,819 you are in the cage, and you have no alternative really but to do what he says to you. 348 00:25:46,819 –> 00:25:49,119 And there isn’t a way out. 349 00:25:50,819 –> 00:25:56,819 As long as you’re in the cage, there is absolutely nothing you can do to overcome the enemy. 350 00:25:57,819 –> 00:26:06,760 Then one night as you’re sleeping, you hear an extraordinary noise and a commotion, and 351 00:26:06,760 –> 00:26:08,579 suddenly you realize what is happening. 352 00:26:08,579 –> 00:26:13,739 Your captain has come, and he’s brought all of his forces, and he is making an assault 353 00:26:13,900 –> 00:26:15,959 on the cage in order to set you free. 354 00:26:15,959 –> 00:26:19,400 The locks on the cage burst open. 355 00:26:19,400 –> 00:26:20,939 He grabs you from where you are. 356 00:26:20,939 –> 00:26:27,939 Together with the others, he loads you into a Jeep and off you go, and up into the hills. 357 00:26:27,939 –> 00:26:30,739 Your captain then hands you a weapon. 358 00:26:30,739 –> 00:26:34,060 You haven’t had one in your hands for a year. 359 00:26:34,060 –> 00:26:36,239 He says you’ll need this. 360 00:26:36,239 –> 00:26:40,180 You’re back in the battle now. 361 00:26:40,199 –> 00:26:43,040 The next day you’re up in the hills. 362 00:26:43,040 –> 00:26:46,660 And the man who’s been running the cage, he comes out, he’s looking for you, and he has 363 00:26:46,660 –> 00:26:48,599 all of his forces with you. 364 00:26:48,599 –> 00:26:53,319 And here we are, the unit, and now we’re armed, and now we’re out in the open. 365 00:26:53,319 –> 00:26:56,920 We’re in an entirely different position. 366 00:26:56,920 –> 00:26:59,500 The man who’s run the cage of course is shouting orders. 367 00:26:59,500 –> 00:27:02,439 He’s got this loud hailer and he’s saying, now you come back in. 368 00:27:02,439 –> 00:27:04,520 He’s shouting all kinds of orders. 369 00:27:04,520 –> 00:27:06,760 Of course you don’t pay attention to him. 370 00:27:06,760 –> 00:27:09,180 Why, you’re not in the cage, you’re free. 371 00:27:10,079 –> 00:27:12,520 But now you’re in a battle. 372 00:27:13,920 –> 00:27:17,380 And he will hunt you as long as you live. 373 00:27:17,380 –> 00:27:24,459 And you will always need your weapon, and you must always be on your guard, and when 374 00:27:24,459 –> 00:27:28,959 he has gone, others will come after you. 375 00:27:28,959 –> 00:27:31,800 But you’re not in the cage. 376 00:27:31,800 –> 00:27:34,099 You’re free. 377 00:27:34,099 –> 00:27:39,079 But being free means you’re in the fight. 378 00:27:39,079 –> 00:27:41,859 That’s the point. 379 00:27:41,859 –> 00:27:44,540 Sin is no longer your master. 380 00:27:44,540 –> 00:27:46,079 You’re not in the cage. 381 00:27:46,079 –> 00:27:48,939 That’s Romans 6.14. 382 00:27:48,939 –> 00:27:52,300 But friends, sin will always be your enemy. 383 00:27:52,300 –> 00:27:55,420 You will always be fighting. 384 00:27:55,420 –> 00:27:56,800 This will always be your battle. 385 00:27:56,800 –> 00:27:59,699 And how will it be waged once long as you are in the body? 386 00:27:59,699 –> 00:28:08,839 It will be waged by faith in the Son of God who loves you and who gave himself for you. 387 00:28:09,380 –> 00:28:15,040 Now friends, here’s how you can be discerning with regards to teaching you hear about the 388 00:28:15,040 –> 00:28:18,119 Christian life. 389 00:28:18,119 –> 00:28:25,979 Ask two questions about any teaching that you hear regarding the Christian life. 390 00:28:25,979 –> 00:28:32,599 The first question should be this, does this teaching take seriously the power of indwelling 391 00:28:32,599 –> 00:28:33,599 sin? 392 00:28:35,000 –> 00:28:36,119 Here’s some teaching on the television. 393 00:28:36,119 –> 00:28:38,599 You read some newfangled Christian book that’s come out. 394 00:28:38,599 –> 00:28:41,839 Ask this question as you read. 395 00:28:41,839 –> 00:28:45,579 This teaching that I’m reading, this account of the Christian life that’s been so wonderfully 396 00:28:45,579 –> 00:28:52,640 presented to me, does this teaching take seriously the power of indwelling sin in the Christian 397 00:28:52,640 –> 00:28:53,640 life? 398 00:28:53,640 –> 00:28:57,520 Does it take seriously that I live this life in the body? 399 00:28:57,520 –> 00:29:01,239 Not in heaven. 400 00:29:01,239 –> 00:29:07,060 Second question, does this teaching take the power of the indwelling Christ seriously? 401 00:29:07,160 –> 00:29:12,520 Is this faithful to the power of the new life and to the presence of the Holy Spirit and 402 00:29:12,520 –> 00:29:18,280 to the light of hope that shines into every human life through the gospel? 403 00:29:18,280 –> 00:29:24,300 Does this account of the Christian life give evidence that this author, this speaker has 404 00:29:24,300 –> 00:29:28,819 a firm grip of both handles? 405 00:29:28,819 –> 00:29:31,140 New life, new battles. 406 00:29:31,140 –> 00:29:33,979 A new freedom, but a new fight. 407 00:29:34,040 –> 00:29:38,500 In Christ but in the body. 408 00:29:38,500 –> 00:29:46,839 So, if I can put it visually for you, remembering the twin tracks of the metro going into Chicago. 409 00:29:46,839 –> 00:29:54,260 Beware of any account of the Christian life that looks like the monorail. 410 00:29:54,260 –> 00:30:03,920 Beware of any teaching regarding the Christian life that looks like the monorail. 411 00:30:04,040 –> 00:30:09,280 You see, over the centuries, and it’s still true today, there have been a line of Christian 412 00:30:09,280 –> 00:30:16,599 teachers, who have tried to come up with an experience or a formula that would be like 413 00:30:16,599 –> 00:30:20,800 a silver bullet for the Christian life. 414 00:30:20,800 –> 00:30:29,060 Some way in which you can get out of the struggle and into a higher form of the Christian life. 415 00:30:29,060 –> 00:30:34,540 And it may often sound like this, it’s an experience of yielding to Christ, of full 416 00:30:34,540 –> 00:30:41,540 surrender, of baptism in the spirit, of letting go and letting God, the list goes on and it 417 00:30:41,540 –> 00:30:43,260 goes on and it goes on. 418 00:30:43,260 –> 00:30:48,420 What these teachings tend to have in common is that they have the same aim. 419 00:30:48,420 –> 00:30:56,739 And it is an attempt to resolve the tension that runs all the way through the New Testament. 420 00:30:56,760 –> 00:30:58,520 The invitation is always the same. 421 00:30:58,520 –> 00:31:05,119 Oh you poor ordinary Christian, on the old Metro going down the twin tracks, why don’t 422 00:31:05,119 –> 00:31:09,040 you come and join us on the shiny new monorail? 423 00:31:09,040 –> 00:31:19,060 Well, I tell you that teaching like that is always a distortion of the New Testament. 424 00:31:19,280 –> 00:31:30,079 I urge you to grow in discernment and whenever you recognize the monorail, realize that there 425 00:31:30,079 –> 00:31:36,719 won’t be much good for your soul that comes from it. 426 00:31:36,719 –> 00:31:42,760 In the body in Christ. 427 00:31:42,760 –> 00:31:46,800 Set free in te fight. 428 00:31:47,560 –> 00:31:54,680 Now, let me just make a couple applications before we conclude here today. 429 00:31:54,680 –> 00:32:03,800 Once you’ve got a firm grip on the Christian life, once you’ve got your hand on these handles, 430 00:32:03,800 –> 00:32:05,760 what difference will that make to you? 431 00:32:05,760 –> 00:32:08,859 Let me suggest just two things. 432 00:32:08,859 –> 00:32:12,400 The first would be this, get real about the battle. 433 00:32:12,400 –> 00:32:15,839 Get real about the battle. 434 00:32:15,880 –> 00:32:20,839 You are living this Christian life in the body. 435 00:32:22,140 –> 00:32:27,660 And so it is so important for you to grasp that you really are up against the world and 436 00:32:27,680 –> 00:32:30,959 the flesh and the devil. 437 00:32:30,959 –> 00:32:34,359 This is not going to be easy. 438 00:32:34,359 –> 00:32:39,560 You will be tempted, you will feel your own weakness. 439 00:32:39,560 –> 00:32:41,400 Satan will have a special eye on you. 440 00:32:41,400 –> 00:32:48,479 You were in his kingdom and you have been taken out of the cage and he will never rest 441 00:32:48,479 –> 00:32:50,239 in his attempts to get you back. 442 00:32:50,239 –> 00:32:59,900 You are safe in the hands of Christ, but you’re in a fight, you’re in a battle. 443 00:32:59,900 –> 00:33:04,319 How realistic are you about this battle? 444 00:33:04,479 –> 00:33:12,780 When our sons were in high school, I remember very clearly an occasion when one of them 445 00:33:12,800 –> 00:33:16,920 asked me if he could go to a particular party. 446 00:33:16,920 –> 00:33:21,859 Now I asked a number of questions and from the questions that I asked, and the very honest 447 00:33:21,859 –> 00:33:27,099 answers that he gave, it was very very clear from the folks who were going there and from 448 00:33:27,099 –> 00:33:31,500 the description of other things that were going to happen there that this was not going 449 00:33:31,520 –> 00:33:36,900 to be a party that was going to be a good scene for him to go to. 450 00:33:36,900 –> 00:33:44,140 The answer was very obviously going to be no, walking into temptation makes no sense 451 00:33:44,140 –> 00:33:47,060 for a Christian. 452 00:33:47,060 –> 00:33:53,319 And parents know how these conversations go, right? 453 00:33:53,339 –> 00:33:58,180 After we have talked it round, what, well Dad, can I go? 454 00:33:59,079 –> 00:34:03,280 No son, that’s not the place for you. 455 00:34:03,300 –> 00:34:14,199 And you know the ace card that a high schooler can play at this point, Dad, don’t you trust me? 456 00:34:14,199 –> 00:34:20,979 And I remember the moment so clearly because I said to him, of course I don’t trust you! 457 00:34:20,979 –> 00:34:24,060 And he looked absolutely stunned! 458 00:34:24,060 –> 00:34:27,500 Because that is not the politically correct thing for a parent to say, it’s not what you 459 00:34:27,540 –> 00:34:29,100 to say to your high school student, right? 460 00:34:29,100 –> 00:34:33,620 I said to him, of course I don’t trust you, I said because you’re made of the same stuff 461 00:34:33,620 –> 00:34:39,979 as I am and I wouldn’t trust myself from what you’ve told me is going to go on in that party. 462 00:34:39,979 –> 00:34:44,979 And you should learn not to trust yourself either! 463 00:34:44,979 –> 00:34:49,419 Get real about the battle – it was a wonderful conversation. 464 00:34:49,419 –> 00:34:50,260 In the end. 465 00:34:53,219 –> 00:34:56,699 But it was a decisive moment. 466 00:34:56,699 –> 00:35:01,959 The naivety that says hey, I can go into any environment and it’ll have no effect on me. 467 00:35:03,620 –> 00:35:07,659 So you develop the habit of sitting in front of the television or in front of the computer 468 00:35:07,659 –> 00:35:11,840 screen and you’re watching stuff that you know you should not be watching. 469 00:35:11,840 –> 00:35:13,260 But you have rationalized it. 470 00:35:13,260 –> 00:35:17,620 You have said to yourself, this won’t effect me. 471 00:35:17,620 –> 00:35:19,179 Of course it will effect you! 472 00:35:19,179 –> 00:35:20,179 It is effecting you. 473 00:35:20,179 –> 00:35:21,580 It has effected you already. 474 00:35:21,580 –> 00:35:24,399 It’s going into you. 475 00:35:24,600 –> 00:35:25,540 It’s shaping your thoughts. 476 00:35:25,540 –> 00:35:26,840 It’s shaping your actions. 477 00:35:26,840 –> 00:35:28,340 It’s gaining a grip on your life. 478 00:35:28,340 –> 00:35:33,719 And every time you do it, it’s making the battle harder next time. 479 00:35:33,719 –> 00:35:37,620 You live this life in the body, so get real about the battle. 480 00:35:39,719 –> 00:35:43,820 So much failure in our Christian lives arises from foolishness. 481 00:35:43,820 –> 00:35:49,560 Because we have not taken seriously what we’re learning today. 482 00:35:50,360 –> 00:35:53,300 I live this Christian life in the body. 483 00:35:53,300 –> 00:35:56,679 You taking that seriously? 484 00:35:59,500 –> 00:36:03,939 And here’s the second and obvious application. 485 00:36:05,399 –> 00:36:07,739 You live in the body, so get real about the battle. 486 00:36:09,560 –> 00:36:10,600 But you live by faith. 487 00:36:12,699 –> 00:36:15,780 And so, start trusting Christ with regard to the outcome. 488 00:36:16,340 –> 00:36:19,679 That we encourage the person who feels defeated. 489 00:36:20,820 –> 00:36:23,040 Right now, you’re saying, oh, hey, 490 00:36:23,040 –> 00:36:26,899 you just put your finger on exactly where my battle is, 491 00:36:26,899 –> 00:36:29,320 and I feel so defeated, 492 00:36:29,320 –> 00:36:30,899 and I don’t know that I can ever get out 493 00:36:30,899 –> 00:36:32,199 of what I’ve got into now. 494 00:36:35,199 –> 00:36:36,040 And I’m saying to you, 495 00:36:36,040 –> 00:36:37,739 well now you’re getting realistic about the battle, 496 00:36:37,739 –> 00:36:39,899 so let’s talk about what it means for you 497 00:36:39,899 –> 00:36:42,179 to exercise faith in Christ in this regard. 498 00:36:42,179 –> 00:36:46,979 The Son of God has not left you. 499 00:36:48,979 –> 00:36:50,260 You are a Christian today, 500 00:36:50,260 –> 00:36:52,739 the Spirit of God indwells you, 501 00:36:53,860 –> 00:36:55,520 the battles, the struggles, 502 00:36:55,520 –> 00:36:56,500 that you are going to face, 503 00:36:56,500 –> 00:36:57,439 whatever they are, 504 00:36:57,439 –> 00:37:00,620 be it overwhelming circumstances, 505 00:37:00,620 –> 00:37:02,419 be it particular temptations. 506 00:37:02,419 –> 00:37:05,260 Here’s what you can say as a Christian. 507 00:37:05,260 –> 00:37:09,399 I live by faith in the Son of God, 508 00:37:10,120 –> 00:37:15,120 who loved me and gave himself for me, 509 00:37:17,979 –> 00:37:20,020 and this Son of God is with you 510 00:37:20,959 –> 00:37:24,139 now and every day of this week. 511 00:37:24,139 –> 00:37:26,979 He is totally for you, 512 00:37:27,959 –> 00:37:29,939 and you are able to face 513 00:37:29,939 –> 00:37:32,020 the toughest battles of your life. 514 00:37:32,020 –> 00:37:32,860 How? 515 00:37:32,860 –> 00:37:35,060 By appropriating the power of Christ 516 00:37:35,060 –> 00:37:38,320 who is present with you by faith. 517 00:37:39,679 –> 00:37:40,899 By looking to him. 518 00:37:42,239 –> 00:37:44,639 Lord Jesus Christ. 519 00:37:46,219 –> 00:37:47,280 Help me stand. 520 00:37:48,879 –> 00:37:50,679 I’m gonna look more at that next week. 521 00:37:52,040 –> 00:37:53,320 But take away this, 522 00:37:55,219 –> 00:37:58,239 that when you’re looking to Jesus Christ in faith, 523 00:37:58,239 –> 00:38:00,260 it means that you don’t despair. 524 00:38:01,560 –> 00:38:03,340 Yeah, despairing and looking to Christ in faith, 525 00:38:03,340 –> 00:38:05,060 these are opposites. 526 00:38:06,300 –> 00:38:07,540 Well, of course, there will be times 527 00:38:07,540 –> 00:38:10,139 when you feel completely defeated, 528 00:38:10,139 –> 00:38:12,979 but this is the moment for you to say, 529 00:38:14,520 –> 00:38:16,179 Lord Jesus Christ, 530 00:38:17,520 –> 00:38:18,419 you are with me, 531 00:38:19,719 –> 00:38:23,699 and I place my hope in you. 532 00:38:26,479 –> 00:38:30,860 And if you’re feeling right now 533 00:38:30,860 –> 00:38:32,959 that all of this may be very useful 534 00:38:32,959 –> 00:38:34,899 for other people who have real temptations, 535 00:38:34,899 –> 00:38:37,159 but really you’re doing quite well in the Christian life, 536 00:38:38,139 –> 00:38:40,979 as some of us might be feeling, 537 00:38:42,600 –> 00:38:44,780 let me just say this to you, 538 00:38:44,780 –> 00:38:46,379 that looking to Christ in faith 539 00:38:46,379 –> 00:38:47,919 not only means that you don’t despair, 540 00:38:47,919 –> 00:38:49,520 it means that you don’t presume. 541 00:38:51,199 –> 00:38:54,739 I’ve noticed that some Christians these days 542 00:38:54,739 –> 00:38:56,879 are really picking up on the fascinating fact 543 00:38:56,879 –> 00:38:59,919 that the New Testament describes believers as saints. 544 00:38:59,919 –> 00:39:01,739 That’s wonderfully true, it’s true. 545 00:39:01,739 –> 00:39:06,739 But it is a dangerous thing to affirm yourself as a saint 546 00:39:08,159 –> 00:39:11,000 if you have lost sight of the fact that you’re a sinner. 547 00:39:12,260 –> 00:39:13,500 Remember the monorail 548 00:39:14,479 –> 00:39:16,580 because that might just be what you’re on. 549 00:39:18,540 –> 00:39:20,459 A believer is a saint but only because 550 00:39:20,459 –> 00:39:22,159 he or she is in Christ. 551 00:39:23,139 –> 00:39:26,320 And without Christ, I am completely and utterly lost. 552 00:39:26,320 –> 00:39:28,719 I have no standing before God without him. 553 00:39:28,719 –> 00:39:30,340 My life flows from him. 554 00:39:30,340 –> 00:39:32,100 My hope is on him. 555 00:39:32,100 –> 00:39:33,620 All my good is in him. 556 00:39:33,620 –> 00:39:36,939 It is by the grace of God that I am what I am. 557 00:39:38,419 –> 00:39:40,419 And so living by faith means you don’t despair, 558 00:39:40,419 –> 00:39:41,260 you don’t presume. 559 00:39:41,260 –> 00:39:43,860 Living by faith means that there is humility 560 00:39:43,860 –> 00:39:45,780 and that there is hope. 561 00:39:48,060 –> 00:39:49,939 You look to Christ and you will see that 562 00:39:49,939 –> 00:39:52,780 this Christ to whom you look is the Son of God 563 00:39:54,379 –> 00:39:55,500 and that he loves you 564 00:39:56,780 –> 00:40:00,080 and that he gave himself for you. 565 00:40:01,300 –> 00:40:03,699 So I invite you to look to this Christ today, 566 00:40:04,739 –> 00:40:06,260 to humble yourself before him 567 00:40:07,739 –> 00:40:09,800 and to find your hope in him. 568 00:40:12,060 –> 00:40:14,320 Bowed down beneath a load of sin, 569 00:40:14,320 –> 00:40:16,780 by Satan sorely pressed, 570 00:40:17,860 –> 00:40:20,300 by war without and fears within, 571 00:40:20,300 –> 00:40:23,000 I come to thee for rest. 572 00:40:23,860 –> 00:40:26,500 Be thou my shield and hiding place 573 00:40:26,500 –> 00:40:28,679 that’s sheltered near thy side. 574 00:40:29,600 –> 00:40:33,239 I may my fierce accuser face 575 00:40:33,239 –> 00:40:37,159 and tell him thou has died. 576 00:40:38,399 –> 00:40:39,899 The son of God loved you 577 00:40:41,000 –> 00:40:44,000 and he gave himself for you. 578 00:40:44,919 –> 00:40:46,020 Will you pray with me? 579 00:40:51,080 –> 00:40:53,080 Father, we bow before you 580 00:40:53,080 –> 00:40:55,620 in these twin realities of our lives. 581 00:40:56,459 –> 00:40:59,719 Father, help us to get real about the battle, 582 00:41:02,959 –> 00:41:05,300 help us to trust Christ for the outcome, 583 00:41:07,419 –> 00:41:10,300 grant that there may be all over this place 584 00:41:10,300 –> 00:41:13,300 the exercise of living and active faith 585 00:41:14,500 –> 00:41:18,060 that is marked by true humility and by genuine hope 586 00:41:19,239 –> 00:41:23,020 and all these things we ask in Jesus name, Amen. 587 00:41:23,600 –> 00:41:24,439 Amen. 588 00:41:28,179 –> 00:41:29,419 You’ve been listening to a sermon 589 00:41:29,419 –> 00:41:31,820 with Pastor Colin Smith of Open The Bible. 590 00:41:31,820 –> 00:41:36,820 To contact us, call us at 1-877-OPEN365 591 00:41:37,100 –> 00:41:40,560 or visit our website, OpenTheBible.org.