Pastor (Mrs) Silvia Lia Leigh continued preaching about the power of the Gospel. Her main text was taken from the Book of Romans: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” … being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus… Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 1:16, 17; 3:24; 5:18-21; NKJ).

Pastor (Mrs) Silvia Lia Leigh said that there are two ‘countries’ or two ‘realms’: Adam and Christ! All men are either in Adam or in Christ. There is no middle ground. In Adam, Sin is king and reigns unto death. In Christ, Grace is King and reigns unto eternal life! You are either under Sin or under Grace! Sin and saving Grace are both positional. In Christ, all are under Grace!

Sin is defined as rebellion against God! It is disobedience, breaking God’s law, and worse, breaking God’s heart! It is lawlessness, chaos. It is missing the mark (failing to achieve the intended purpose). It is falling short of God’s glory (stealing God’s glory). There is ‘an original sin’. That is the sin committed by Adam and Eve. They disobeyed God’s command in the Garden of Eden. God told them that disobedience to His command will end in death. They knew it and still, they disobeyed God’s command. This is how sin entered mankind. All humanity was in Adam’s loins when he was created and when he sinned. That is why all men are born sinners. Sin is spiritual. Sin is not coming from outside like ‘a virus’. Sin is internal. Even the born-again Christian has to battle with sin in his ‘members’. The devil is the author of sin for he has sinned from the beginning. Sin is universal; all men are born sinners. There is no other sickness known to man that can affect all men everywhere. Except sin, this terrible soul’s sickness. All men are affected by sin. They are born in sin. This is the Bible’s revelation. Sin is extremely powerful. Next to the power of God, is the power of sin. God creates but sin destroys. King Sin has killed all his citizens. This is called ‘the sinfulness of sin’.

Pastor (Mrs) Silvia Lia Leigh said that sin can deceive that you are saved when you are not. For a child of God sin is an enemy, something alien, like a poison. When a child of God sees sin it is the same as he sees a snake. He hates it! When a believer in Christ, falls into sin, he feels bad. He repents of it and learns a lesson. Any man or woman who says that is a Christian but continues habitually in sin, without a feeling of shame or grief, without fear of God, that one is not saved. He is only religious. This is God’s Word: “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God” (1 John 3:4-9).

The Bible commands us: “Encourage one another daily … lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13). The deceitfulness of sin ‘hardens’ the heart. To become ‘hardened’ it means to become ‘stubborn’.   

The devil, thru the snake, deceived Eve and she fell into sin. She said: “The serpent deceived me, and I ate” (Genesis 3:13). To deceive it means to lead astray, to deliberately cause (someone) to believe a lie, especially for personal gain.  Sin tries to deceive you, to believe a lie, so that he gets control over you. How does sin deceive men? By misusing the law of God; by depressing you, by telling you that you can continue in sin because you have the ‘antidote’ of grace; by telling you that God does not love you, that His ways are too difficult; by advertising itself as ‘an angel of light’, hiding the terrible consequences.  

GRACE IS KING IN CHRIST! IT IS ALWAYS GREATER THAN SIN AND THE ONLY ANTODOTE AGAINST IT!

To genuinely appreciate the Grace of God, you must study the doctrine of sin. The greatest revelation of the sinfulness of sin and the love and grace of God is at the Cross of Calvary. Jesus died because of our sins! Nothing less than the Blood of God the Son could atone for our sin. In a nutshell this is the Gospel: Jesus died and rose again, for me! This is the power of the Gospel. Salvation is a miracle. You cannot buy it with money. If you have never felt the power of the Word of God under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, changing you, it is possible that you are not saved. You are only religious. Examine your foundation!

THE PRODIGAL SON AND HIS FATHER (KING GRACE) (Lk 15:11-24)

The younger son stands for a sinner who shall be saved by grace. He is among the elect. The Father stands for God the Father, for Jesus, our Lord and for King Grace. The younger son was lost even before he left the home. He hated and rebelled against God’s command. He refused to honor his father and his father’s God. After the death of his father, he could have received 1/3 of the father’s wealth. It was his by law. But he could not sell it for as long as his father was alive. But he could not wait. He asked for his portion, he sold it (for peanuts) and took away the cash. He went to the far country of sin. He planned how to ‘enjoy life’ but he did not plan what he would do if the money got finished.  The famine made the things worse. Hungry and desperate he hired himself to a pagan pig farmer. For the Jews, pigs are unclean (Leviticus 11:7, 8). Hungry, rejected, poor and sick, the son is now at his lowest. Then King Grace comes. Grace always manifests when we are at our lowest! Grace touches his spirit, his mind. The young man ‘comes to himself’. He remembers his father and his father’s house. He decides to come and be hired. He thinks of himself as a hireling and not as a son. He has lost his identity and confidence. But he is still a son to King Grace. The Father waits for him. He runs to meet him. King Grace covers his shame and nakedness and restores him back to the family. Face to face with the amazing loving actions of his father, the son finally truly repents. Grace will never forsake His own. The wounded Love will not let go. Mercy will not turn his back to him who is elect. You see the power of Amazing Grace! Child of God, your identity in Christ and your salvation is sure! Worship the Lord!  

Prophetic scripture: “From the fulness of His Grace, we have all received one blessing after another” (John 1:16; NIV)