THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL (16)

Pastor (Mrs) Silvia Lia Leigh preached another sermon in the series called: 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… sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace…There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death…  Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 1:16, 17; 3:24; 6:14; 8:1, 2, 37-39; 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. Grace is God’s unmerited favor to sinners.

In Christ, we are free from two negative situations. We are free from ‘condemnation’ (guilt because of sins) and we are free from ‘separation’. We are one with Christ! We were crucified with Him, died with Him, were buried with Him, and resurrected with Him. This unity of love is eternal! Not even death can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus! The lack of condemnation and the lack of fear of separation produces a holy boldness and manifests itself as joyful assurance of salvation! This is a fact revealed from heaven: Christ will never ‘divorce’ you! He said: “I will never leave you nor forsake you… I am with you always, even to the end of the age!” (Hebrews 13:5; Matthew 28:20). In Christ we are ‘more than conquerors.’ To be a conqueror means to win a battle. That is good. But to be ‘more than a conqueror’ it means to defeat your enemy totally. It is an overwhelming defeat without any strength or hope for your enemy to recover. At the Cross, the devil was totally defeated. In Christ we share in His total victory over the devil and we share in the authority gained by the shed Blood of Jesus!

God gave His law for two main reason: for men to know the character of God and for men to know what sin is, and that they are sinners. God did not give the law for sinners to be saved. Because of the sin in them, sinners cannot obey the law. The Law has no mercy, no grace, no peace, no faith, and no hope. The law came with two expectations. It insists on total (100%) obedience and (100%) punishment is case of disobedience. Trying to obey the law leads to frustration. The Holy Spirit uses this ‘frustration’ to make the law ‘a tutor, a teacher’ to lead us to Christ. Salvation is found only in Jesus Christ! No man could obey the law 100%. The only Man who obeyed the law 100% was our Lord Jesus Christ. He took human nature open Himself and obeyed all the law. In fact, He fulfilled the law. On the Cross He took our sins on Himself and died because of that. In other words, it was the Law that killed Jesus. He died so that we are free from the control, the tyranny, and curse of the Law. In Christ, a new form of righteousness is revealed. It is not by obeying the law but by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the Gospel we preach: Christ Crucified and Resurrected! You need the revelation of the Holy Spirit to believe this gospel! Halleluiah!

“The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Corinthians 15:56, 57). Apostle Paul saw death as a monster, a poisonous snake. The word ‘sting’ in Greek means the bite of a poisonous snake or scorpion. Death is the monster snake that bites with the fangs of sin. The poison spreads and the victim die. The power to bite, the strength of its ‘jaws’ comes from ‘the law’. You see how wicked the devil is? He misuses the law of God to give strength to the monster called death. No man can defeat sin in his power. What is our hope? It is only in Christ that we have the strength to identify, hate, confront, and defeat sin! Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ for this mighty victory!   

THERE IS A GOD IN HEAVEN

This is the story of how Daniel and his three friends saved themselves and others from death. They represent King Grace! King Nebuchadnezzar has a bad dream. No magician could tell him the dream or interpret it. He then decreed that all wise men should die. That included Daniel and his three friends. The magicians asked the king for more time to discover the secret of the dream, but the king refused. Daniel asked for the same favor. He asked the king for time and surprisingly, the king granted it. (This is a great lesson: the unbelievers cannot ‘pass’ the door of life and progress, but King Grace opens it for the children of God).  Grace opens the door that the law of sin and death shuts down. Grace is always stronger than sin! Daniel prays and God Almighty reveals the dream and the interpretation. Grace gives ‘wisdom to the wise’. When talking to the king, Daniel gives all the glory to God saying: “there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets” (Daniel 2:28). The king discovers that he is not in control. The God of Daniel is! There is a God in heaven who is in control! The King and the magicians are not in control! Even Daniel is not in control! God is! God proves that no one except Him is in control! That is why He alone is worthy of our praise! Worship the Lord!