How God's Power Works in Us

Introduction: The Trinity Baptist Church Platform and the Warfare with Sin

0:05 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, August 30, 1992, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:17 Now let us again ask the help of God in the ministry of the Word that the thing we have sung about will indeed be true, that Christ himself, whom none of us will see with our physical eyes until he returns in glory, but whom we must see by the eye of faith, eyes opened by the Holy Spirit, if we are to be saved, if we are to grow in grace, that he will indeed draw near to us by the ministry of the Spirit through the Word in this hour that lies before us. Let us together seek his face in prayer.

0:59 Our Father, we do thank you for that great truth of which we have sung, that Christ... ...Christ himself does indeed draw near through his own Word,

1:12 and yet we know that this does not automatically happen, but it occurs when you are pleased by the Spirit to take that Word and to bring it home to our hearts with power, to open our eyes that we might behold the Christ of whom it speaks, and we pray that to everyone gathered in this place today, Christ... ...Christ himself will indeed draw near.

1:41 For those to whom he has never drawn near in saving mercy and power, we ask that this day they may know the Savior's nearness as the one who has come to save his people from their sins. And for those who have known his initial drawing near, we pray that he will draw near with new measures, of sanctifying and illuminating grace, that we may have in our hearts more evidence of the working of his mighty power as the one who delivers his own people progressively from their sins.

2:25 Come then and visit our needy and waiting hearts, we plead in Jesus' name. Amen. Now even though I have been away from the clamor, of the American political arena for a little over two weeks, I with you am very conscious that this year is marked by a presidential election, and whenever such an event is in the calendar year, we hear much. We are veritably bombarded by the so-called party platforms,

3:07 the declaration of what each party stands for and what it intends to do, and what it intends to do, and what it intends to do, if you and I, the electorate, will whisk it into a place of power and influence. Well, in a very real sense, for apparently an entire year, we've been articulating the party platform of Trinity Baptist Church. That is, we have been setting forth those biblical convictions which have shaped and molded our life together for the purpose of our life. For the past 25 years, and we trust by the grace of God,

3:48 we'll continue to mold and shape our life until the Lord Jesus returns. But our purpose has not been to seek to gain votes for our cause, but it has been, first of all, to clarify for all who are members and adherents and visitors of this assembly, exactly what it is that we are about, what are those heart commitments that mark our life together. And then not only have these things been articulated in this 25th year of our life together as a means of clarification,

4:33 but also as a means, we trust, of reaffirmation and commitment for our future life together. And we are presently studying the ninth major affirmation or plank in our spiritual platform, and I have expressed it as follows. We are determined to maintain a balanced New Testament perspective in our teaching and expectations concerning conversion, the Christian life, and the mission of the church. And in the opening up of the first focal point of this tenet,

5:17 namely the New Testament doctrine of conversion, we have seen from the scriptures the necessity for conversion, and then we have considered some of the essential elements in conversion. And one of those elements is that God implants in every converted person a lifelong service to God. spiritual disposition of repentance and of faith. And one of the outworkings of that disposition of repentance and faith is what I have described as a radical break with the dominion of sin

6:00 followed by a real and constant warfare with remaining sin. Now having established both of these facts from the Word of God, we have spent several messages focusing on this real and incessant warfare with remaining sin which is always a fruit of repentance and faith. Having established the reality of this warfare, we then looked at the motives which constrain us in that warfare. And we saw from the Scriptures that those motives

6:43 are primarily evangelical and they are never exclusively legal. In other words, the motives which constrain us to war against our sins are motives that grow out of gospel realities heard, believed, and loved. They are not the exclusives. That's their exclusive motivation but wherever there is a true work of converting grace gospel motives are the fundamental constraining power to wage this incessant lifetime warfare against sin

7:26 and legal motives are never exclusively the motivation. If your only motive in fighting against sin is that you might miss hell and hope to gain heaven, you've never been converted. If you know of no motives which lash you to the cross of Christ, and to the person of Christ, out of gratitude for the sufferings of Christ, then you know nothing of gospel conversion. Then we considered in our last study several weeks ago, the goal which has captivated us in this warfare.

8:11 Having looked at the motives which constrain us, which are primarily evangelical and never exclusively legal, we then looked at the goal which has captivated us in this warfare. And we saw from the scriptures that that goal is the total destruction. The destruction of all sin, and never the selective or partial restraint of some sins. If we do not know what it is in our heart of hearts to yearn and long for the destruction of all sin,

8:51 but only the partial restraint of some sins, we are strangers to converting grace. Listen to John. John Owen, as I conclude our review, to mortify a sin is not utterly to kill it, to root it out, and to destroy it, that it should have no more hold at all, nor residence in our hearts. It is true that this is the thing aimed at, but this is not in this life to be accomplished.

9:24 There is no man that truly sets himself to mortify any sin, but not to kill it, to root it out, and to destroy it. There is no man that truly sets himself to mortify any sin, but not to kill it, to root it out, and to destroy it. He aims at, intends, desires its utter destruction, that it should leave neither root nor fruit in heart or life. He would so kill it that it should never move nor stir anymore, cry or call, seduce or tempt to eternity.

9:57 Its non-being is the thing. Its non-being is the thing aimed at. And so the great goal that every truly converted man or woman has in his heart is the destruction of all sin, though in this life that goal will never be realized. Now we come this morning to take up another very crucial aspect of this real and incessant warfare, with remaining sin that is one of the inevitable fruits of this disposition of repentance and faith

The Ultimate Source of Power: The Triune God

10:40 in every converted man or woman. And this has to do with the power and the means employed in this battle with remaining sin. We've looked at the motives and then the goal. Now we ask the question, by what power and by what means by what power and by what means do we wage this warfare with remaining sin?

11:07 And I will attempt to answer that question under two major headings and then make some crucial practical observations and applications.

11:19 Heading number one, the ultimate source of power in this battle with remaining sin is the triune God Himself. The ultimate source, source of power in this battle with remaining sin is the triune God Himself. As Scripture reveals that it takes the whole triune God to bring a man or woman into a state of grace, so it takes the imminent real work of the same triune God to keep us in the way of an

12:02 effective warfare against remaining sin. Look at several texts which point to the present powerful work of the Father in this warfare against sin, the present powerful work of the Son in this warfare, and the present powerful work of the Holy Spirit. First of all, God the Father is at work enabling us. He is enabling us to be overcomers in this warfare with sin. I refer to the familiar

12:39 words of Philippians chapter 2. As the Apostle Paul calls the Philippian believers to a life of careful gospel obedience, no little part of which is dealing effectively with their remaining sin. In the following text, the Apostle Paul calls the Philippian believers to a life of careful gospel obedience, no little part of which is dealing effectively with their remaining sin.

13:07 Further on, he deals with additional sins that they will have to wrestle with and with which they will have to do spiritual warfare. Well, what is their power as they carry on this warfare? Philippians 2 and verse 12, So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now Now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who worketh in you.

13:45 It is God, and unless there is a compelling reason to attribute this reference to God, particularly to God the Son or to the Spirit, it is a reference primarily to God the Father who not worked in you in the past, but who is presently, right now, working in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Then as He calls them to do all things without murmurings and questionings, to the end that their testimony, may be one marked by blamelessness and harmlessness,

14:31 He has informed them that if they are to deal with the sins that would keep them from being blameless and harmless, it will be because God is at work in them. God the Father is at work enabling us to deal with our sins in this ongoing warfare with remaining sinless. Hebrews chapter 13, verses 20 and 21. If we are to do the things that please God,

15:12 either considered negatively, turning away from the sins that He forbids, positively manifesting the grace and the graces which He commends and commands, how is it to be done? Hebrews chapter 13, verses 20 and 21. Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, even our Lord Jesus, make you perfect in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ,

15:56 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. It is the God of peace, the very God who brought our Lord Jesus back from the dead, who is to make us perfect in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is well pleasing in His sight. And I've chosen this text again because it emphasizes the imminent, present constancy of the work of God the Father.

16:28 Amen. In our ability to overcome sin negatively and positively, to walk in the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. As surely as it is God the Father who is prominent in our election, who is prominent in our effectual calling, so His work is prominent in the ongoing warfare with sin. The ultimate source of power in this battle is in the Triune God Himself and these texts point to the work of God the Father.

17:10 One other text that points in the same direction, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 23. And while the fulfillment of this noble standard will not be realized until the second coming of our Lord Jesus. Amen. This is the standard to which we presently press.

17:35 And the God of peace, 1 Thessalonians 5.23, the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly and may your spirit and soul and body, your entire redeemed humanity be preserved entire without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you. Who will also do it.

18:04 Here we see the Father completing this work of purging all sin from us and presenting us without blame at His coming. But the God who will perfect and consummate the work at the coming of Christ is the one who is presently, powerfully effecting that work in us to whatever degree we are enabled to overcome sin and to be conformed to the likeness of Christ. But not only is God the Father active as the ultimate source of power, God the Son is active.

18:45 And here I would turn you to John chapter 15. John chapter 15. In that upper room discourse spoken by our Lord just prior to His crucifixion, He likens Himself to the true vine and His Father to the caretaker of that vine. Verse 2.

19:08 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, He takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, He cleanses it that it may bear more fruit. Verse 4. Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine.

19:30 So neither can ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit. For apart from me, severed from me, cut off from living communion and vital life interaction with me, ye can do nothing.

19:59 Verse 5. And here the Lord Jesus acknowledges that though He is about to die and be raised from the dead and go back to the right hand of the Father, He will sustain a relationship to His people as intimate as the relationship of a vine and its branches, a sharing of common life. So intimate is the sharing of that life. Verse 6.

20:28 Definitely in dealing with sin, or positively, being conformed to the graces of Christ reading Paul does not scruple to use these words in Galatians 2 and verse 20. I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Now He does not live in me in such a way that I am blotted out. He lives beyond what Christ lived out.

20:54 Jesus lives in me as Christ lives in me. Jesus lives in me and he is theBecause he believes and believes in me. He lives in me and he's profiled in me. blotted out, and I'm an empty funnel. No, for he goes on to say, and the life which I now live in

21:05 the flesh, I live in the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And so we must not, as some teachers of the deeper life do, take Galatians 2.20 and stop in the middle of the verse. I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And

21:30 they end up expounding it in such a way that it doesn't say Christ liveth in me. Christ lives instead of me. And I am so blotted out that I no longer exist. Christ lives his life through me. I'm

21:45 simply the funnel. That is not the teaching of that verse nor of Scripture. No, Paul says, though Christ lives in me. Nevertheless, I live, and the life which I now live in the flesh lives your life in your present fleshly existence. He says, I do. But Paul, it is a life manifested by increasing degrees of overcoming sin, by

22:15 increasing degrees of likeness to Christ. How do you account for that? He says, I account for that because Christ lives in me. But Paul, who lives? Either you or Christ. It is Christ who lives in me. And I am so

22:26 Christ lives in me. And I live this life which I live in the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And as surely as God the Father is the ultimate source of power in this ongoing warfare with sin, so God the Son is the ultimate source of power. It is in the strength of his life.

22:56 that we are enabled to overcome sin and to be conformed to His likeness. Likewise, Ephesians chapter 6, where the very imagery of warfare is dominant in the passage, where does our strength come from in order to wage effective warfare? Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

23:33 Now, though we must, and this is part of my second heading, use every means that God has ordained for our success in the battle, the ultimate source of success is not in the means, but in the Lord Himself. Be strong in the Lord. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. And Philippians 4.13.

24:03 I can do all things through Christ or in Him who strengtheneth me. And most likely the reference there is to Christ, who by His Spirit strengthens me to overcome sin and to be conformed to His likeness. And when we think of a text like Hebrews 7 and verse 25, hear the reference to the intercessory work of Christ and our ultimate salvation is so clear. Hebrews 7 and verse 25.

24:40 Wherefore also He is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. And the aspect of the work of Christ which is highlighted in this text in conjunction with our success in this warfare against sin, in the ongoing necessity of being supported and forgiven and upheld in the battle when at times we fall and we sin and we stand in need of forgiveness. This passage says, It is the ever-living Christ who by...

25:24 by His intercession secures our ultimate salvation. The ultimate source is not only seen to be God the Father and God the Son, but God the Spirit. In this warfare with remaining sin, from whence does our power come? It is from God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

25:52 Romans chapter 8 and verse 13. The text forever immortalized in English literature from the Puritan age onward by John Owen's classic work on mortification in which he takes this text as the basis and the framework for his whole treatment of the subject. Verses 12 and 13 of Romans 8. So then, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh, but if ye live after the flesh...

26:25 lest you must die. But if by the spirit ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live. Here is the warfare. The warfare with remaining sin.

26:42 And it calls for the mortification of those deeds of the body. And we are told that we are active in that warfare. Ye are to put them to death. But ye shall live.

26:55 But if by the spirit ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live. And we are told that we are active in that warfare. But if ye live after the spirit, ye shall live. But if by the spirit ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

26:57 And then we are told that ye live after the spirit. Putting them to death. Well, who puts them to death? Do I do it or does the spirit?

27:04 It's not either or. It is I, not the spirit apart from me. Not me apart from the spirit. But you and I by the spirit as the ultimate agency, as the ultimate source of power and enablement, we are called upon.

27:29 to put to death the deeds of the body. A similar text in Galatians 5 and verse 16. Galatians 5 and verse 16.

27:45 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Whatever it means to walk by the Spirit, it's obvious it is a present tense relationship to God the Holy Spirit, which results in our success in this battle with remaining sin. That much is clear on the surface of the text. And my purpose is not to give a dissertation on what it means to walk by the Spirit, but simply to answer the question, by what power, from what source, are we to gain strength

28:29 in this battle with remaining sin? This battle in which evangelical motives dominate in our hearts. This battle in which our goal is nothing less than the extermination of all sin. What is the ultimate source of power in this battle?

28:49 I say, it is the triune God Himself. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. In summary then, we can state as surely as the Scriptures teach us that our conversion is rooted in the election and calling of God the Father, rooted in the redemptive obedience and death and resurrection of God the Son, and the regenerating, inhabitating ministry of God the Spirit. That's the salvation taught in the Bible.

29:28 It has its tap roots in the Father, in the Father's electing love, and in His effectual call. It has its tap roots in the redemptive obedience, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. It has its roots in the regenerating, inhabitating ministry of the Spirit. As surely as our conversion is rooted in that activity of the triune God, so our remaining, remaining in a state of grace by an effective warfare against remaining sin is ultimately rooted in the same work

30:12 of the same triune God. For Scripture says, he that hath begun a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1 and verse 6, 1 And therefore, Surely as we repudiate all self-help schemes of getting into the way, so we repudiate all things in the way. Divine initiative and divine power and divine grace

30:53 are the ultimate source of every facet of our salvation. When the Scriptures tell us salvation is of the Lord, it means salvation in all of its purpose, in all of its procurement, and in all of its application. So in this incessant warfare with remaining sin, a warfare which is the experience of every truly converted man or woman, the ultimate source of power for effectiveness in that warfare is the divine initiative and divine grace.

The Method by Which God's Power is Made Operative: Knowledge of What We Are in Christ

31:37 There is none other than the triune God. But now consider with me, secondly, the method by which the power is made operative in us.

31:50 The source of the power is the triune God. But now, what is the method by which His power is made operative in us? And now I want you to listen very carefully. If you miss this, you'll miss a most critical distinction made in the Scripture.

32:10 When we consider the method by which His power is made operative in us, we come to a contrast with the initial work of salvation, the initial work in our conversion. In our initiation into a state of grace, the Bible makes it clear, and our confession uses this very language, there is nothing we do to prepare ourselves for grace, and there is no cooperation. There is no cooperation on our part with God in order to become the recipients of grace.

32:48 But once we are quickened by the grace of God and become new men and women in Christ, indwelt by the Spirit of Christ, united to Christ as a vine with its branches, now we are indeed co-actors with God. We are operative in our profession.

33:13 We are creating the true lebenings in self, the true, well-being vegetarian, kind-hearted, faithful,

33:44 were sure he was dead. Now, they didn't stand there and tell him, now do something. Get up. Cloth out the water that's in your lungs. If you hope to live, if there's any life there, get on with it, man, and do something. No, he can do nothing in his present state for his own recovery. He's totally passive.

34:05 Somebody drags him out of the pool and plops him on the poolside. Somebody begins to perform the proper first aid to try to get the water out of his lungs, to get him breathing again. He is totally passive, but once he begins to spew out the water that's in his lungs, and once he begins to breathe again, now he is given directions as to what he must do to cooperate with those who intervene,

34:35 on his behalf, to come back to the place of normalcy, of health and strength. And so it is in the work of God in conversion. He finds us utterly helpless, and in that sense, passive, unable to do anything to recover ourselves. But once God in grace brings us to life, he then calls upon us to be active and to be co-operative.

35:05 And so it is with him in the ongoing work of our sanctification. And what is the method? Well, I don't want to be oversimplified here, but let me suggest that in studying the scriptures, you will find that passage after passage in the New and Old Testaments, with reference to this ongoing warfare with sin, can be hung upon one of these three pegs in answer to the question,

35:36 the method by which his power is made operative in us. First, by the knowledge of what we are in Christ. Secondly, by the present actings of faith towards Christ. And thirdly, by the active effort to use every means instituted by Christ.

36:00 First of all, then, the method by which God's power is made operative in us. In this warfare, it begins by the knowledge of what we are in Christ. And I want you to look at two texts that have peculiar relevance as we think of this ongoing battle with our sin. Turn to Romans chapter 6. For the question with which the chapter begins plunks us dead center into the issue and problem of sin. What shall we say then?

36:39 Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? May it never be, God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein? Someone has taken the devil's logic and added it to God's glorious proclamation of the previous chapter where sin abounds, grace super abounds.

37:09 If sin raises a mountain 5,000 feet high, grace raises a mountain 10,000 feet high to bury it and to hide it. Well, someone says if that's true, let's raise a 20,000 foot mountain of sin so God can raise a 40,000 foot mountain of grace. Let's continue in sin that grace may abound. Let's continue in sin that grace may abound.

37:39 Let's continue in sin that grace may abound. Let's go on sinning that we might magnify grace. He says may it never be for this simple reason, we who died to sin. We who are the recipients of grace have died to sin, therefore how shall we any longer live therein?

38:02 And then he asks a very important question, or are you ignorant? Have you never come to the understanding? Have you never come to the understanding that as part and parcel of your conversion experience, that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

38:35 For if we become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall also be baptized into his death. We shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that we should no longer be in bondage to sin. Verse 3, are ye ignorant? Verse 6, knowing this, what's the emphasis?

39:08 The emphasis is you roam. Common Christians must have a spirit-wrought knowledge of what you already are in Christ. If you do, you'll never buy the devil's logic. Let's continue to sin that grace may abound, and you will have a solid basis of dealing with the enticements and allurements of pressures that come from your remaining sin.

39:39 You will be able to do. What verse 11 says, even so, reckon yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. In other words, if you know what you are in Christ, you can act in a manner consistent with that position. But if you're of that fact, you will find yourselves unable to act in the light of it, just when you most need it.

40:12 And so the method by which the power of God is made operative in us in this incessant warfare with sin is, first of all, by the knowledge of what we are in Christ. A second pivotal text, 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Here the apostle is dealing with the very knotty problems connected with the immorality that was rife in the city of Corinth.

40:44 And many young converts had not yet fully extricated themselves from a pattern of life in which fornication was no more considered sin than scratching your ear when it itched or sneezing if you snipped up too much pepper. So how does he deal with this problem? Well, he deals with it in a number of ways. But notice how he emphasizes the necessity of knowing certain realities.

41:14 Already true of every believer. Verse 15. Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? Do you know that when you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, you were so united to Christ in the totality of your redeemed humanity that your bodies are now members of Christ?

41:43 Union with Christ. Exclusively spirit. If it were, there'd be no resurrection of the body.

41:53 Because it is a union in the totality of our humanity, our resurrection is pledged to us. Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? What does a person do when he makes himself united to a harlot?

42:13 He's not united just, quote, spiritually. He's united physically. He says, shall I take the members? The members of Christ.

42:24 That is, the members of my body that are united to Christ. And make them members of a harlot. May it never be. Or know ye not that he that is joined to an harlot is one body?

42:39 For the two said he shall become one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man does is without the body.

42:51 But he that commits. Fornication. Sins against his own body. Or, now notice, know ye not?

42:59 Are you ignorant of this other truth? That your body is not only a member of Christ, but your body is a temple, a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, which you have from God. And therefore you are not your own. You were bought for the price.

43:17 God purchased the temple by blood. And then he came to inhabit it. With his own presence. Don't you know this?

43:25 It's not Corinthians. This is true of you. As a reality. And when you do.

43:31 And you begin to think and act in the light of it. You'll stop your fornicating. In this warfare with sin. The method by which the power of God is made operative begins with the knowledge of what we are in Christ.

43:48 That's where it begins. And this is why Peter could say, grow in grace. And in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And why the apostolic prayers in Ephesians 1, Ephesians 3, Colossians 1, Philippians 1.

44:06 They all focus on the believer's increase in knowledge. Why? Because it's critical to any success in the warfare. I must know what I am and what I have in Christ.

44:23 And the measure of what I am in Christ is not what I think. It's what I feel. It's what God has declared is true of me. The measure of reality is not what I feel.

44:37 It's what God has declared is true of me. And therefore, ignorance of what I am in Christ. Indifference to discovering what I am in Christ. Are never the handmaidens of any successful warfare in this ongoing battle with remaining sin.

The Method by Which God's Power is Made Operative: Present Actings of Faith Towards Christ

44:56 But then the method involves not only the knowledge. Of what we are in Christ. But by the present actings of faith towards Christ. By the present actings of faith towards Christ.

45:14 Let's go back to the Galatians 2 passage.

45:19 We looked at it in terms of proving that it is the second person of the Godhead. Who is also active in this ongoing warfare with sin. And it's opposite or it's counterpart conformity. To likeness to the Son of God.

45:37 But notice what the apostle says. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I that live. But Christ lives in me.

45:44 And the life which I now live in the flesh. I live in faith. The faith which is in the Son of God. Who loved me.

45:57 And gave himself up for me. This life which I now live. Which is a manifestation. Of the reality that Christ lives in me.

46:07 Is the life of faith in Christ. A life that began by faith in Christ. On the threshold. When in the sense of my guilt and condemnation.

46:21 And the realization that I had nothing to present to God. To commend me to the court of heaven. I threw the weight of my guilty, sin sick, hell deserving soul. Upon Jesus Christ.

46:35 He said now I continue to throw upon Christ. The weight of this soul. Though out from under the condemnation of God. In union with Christ.

46:47 Has remaining sin. Has the reality of this horrible inner enemy. So that the good I would I do not. And the evil that I would not.

46:58 That I do in that setting. He says I have learned to live. By faith in the Son. Of God.

47:05 Who loved me. And gave himself for me. Faith that lays hold of the fact. Of his intercessory work.

47:14 When I've sinned. If any man sin. We have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous.

47:22 Will I believe that. And feed by faith upon Christ. Or will I grovel in my sin. And leave myself vulnerable.

47:30 To more sin. All under the name of humility. No I must live in faith of the Son of God. Who loved me gave himself for me.

47:43 And continues to give me himself to me. In intercession at the right hand of the Father. First John Chapter five verses four and five. One of the clearest text on this principle.

47:58 We're answering the question what is the method by which God's power is made operative in us. And I've asserted it begins. With the knowledge of what we are in Christ. But then secondly by the present actings of faith towards Christ.

48:14 And in first John Chapter five the Apostle states this. In unmistakably clear language first John five and verse four. For whatsoever is begotten of God. Over cometh the world.

48:30 And this is the victory that have overcome the world. Even our faith. And who is he that over cometh the world. But he that believe it's present tense.

48:42 He that believe it's that Jesus is right now. The Son of God.

48:50 Here he says that all believers are over comers. And we saw in a previous study that every promise. Of heaven at last in Revelation two and three. In the midst of all of the tremendous pressures upon believers.

49:06 From. Coldness of heart. To formalism. To immorality.

49:12 To false doctrine all of the troubles plaguing the seven churches in Asia Minor. To every church Jesus says to him that over cometh I will give. To him that over cometh I will grant. To him that over cometh he shall.

49:26 And all of the promises of heaven and its privileges are to over comers. Well who then is an over comer. John tells us. What so ever is begotten of God over cometh.

49:39 The world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world. Our faith. And who is he that over cometh the world.

49:46 But he that believe it that Jesus is the Son of God in other words. It's not faith in anything. It is fixed upon the Son of God. As the one who came to deliver us from our sins.

50:03 The one who came in might and power to open the prison to those that are bound to proclaim liberty to the captives. It is in the faith of Jesus Son of God that we overcome the world. Without those present actings of faith there will be no victory. That's why Paul could say to Timothy fight the good fight of faith.

50:29 It is not a fight in which you're trusting in yourself Timothy. It is not a warfare in which you rely upon your own pathetic and weak resources. Be strong. In the Lord and in the strength of his might well his might pass over into my weakness.

50:50 I say it reverently by the conduit of faith by the conduit of faith. It is faith that links me to a present Christ in the face of my present struggle with my present sin and my present need. That's why Paul could pray in Ephesians 3 14 that Christ would dwell in the hearts of believers by faith. He already dwelt in them yes.

51:17 But he's praying that he will dwell in greater fullness and experiential reality by faith. This is what Jesus is talking about in John 6 verses 54 to 58 when he speaks of he that eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives by me. He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood hath eternal life. Present tense.

The Method by Which God's Power is Made Operative: Active Effort to Use Every Means Instituted by Christ

51:43 That is he who lives in the faith of myself as crucified as dying for sinners who lives in that faith is the one who overcomes. But then thirdly the method is not only by the knowledge of what we are in Christ by the present actings of faith towards Christ. Now this is where some of us miserably fall. It's by the active effort to use every every means instituted by Christ by the active effort to use every means instituted by Christ.

52:27 Christ has instituted means by which to kill to avoid to stay clear of to overcome. And I must not only know by the word in the illumination of the spirit what I am in Christ. And the exercising faith. Towards Christ.

52:49 But I must be using actively effort in every means by Christ for the killing of my sins. And I can only suggest a few of them. This would be a whole series where I to try to be anything like exhausted. Go back to the Romans 6 passage.

53:14 What is one of those means instituted by Christ. Let's look at it. In the light of what we are in union with Christ. He died to sin once for all.

53:28 We died in him and with him. He rose from the dead never to die again. We rose with him unto newness of life. Verse 12.

53:37 Let not sin therefore rain in your mortal body that you should obey the lust thereof. Neither present your members unto sin as instruments of unrighteousness. But present yourselves unto God as alive from the dead. And your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

54:00 This is something I'm to do in the light of what I am in Christ. Have I died to sin. Then when sins allurements would appeal to my remaining sin. What am I to do.

54:16 I am not to treat it as though it were a rightful master. When it calls for my allegiance. I am to reckon myself to have died to its dominion. I am in Christ.

54:29 I died with Christ to sin's dominion upon the cross. I have risen to newness of life. Therefore I will not give my eyes to that gene ad that is pornographic. I'll either click the set off or turn my head away.

54:48 I won't present these eyes. As though they were still under sin's lordship. To the instruments of breaking the seventh commandment. I and the problem and do the presenting for you.

55:07 It says you must refuse to let sin reign. You must present your members unto God. He's given you a hand with a clicker.

55:41 You can click the off button. You do it based upon a present acting of faith in Christ rooted in the knowledge. That in Christ I died to sin. And when sin would make an appeal to me to base lost in my remaining corruption.

56:09 I'm not going to regard sin is my lawful master. It was dethroned in my conversion and my new master is the Lord Jesus. My new master is God and righteousness. All of those are included in Romans chapter 6 and I will actively by the effort.

56:30 Of refusing neither present your members unto sin. That means when you come to that time in the date when you're tempted to spend too much time. With your bodies pressed together in your lips pressed together. You set up some standards by which you don't get your setup.

57:01 And then the next date you do the same stupid thing again and presents your members. You stay out of those situations. You refuse to put yourself into them. And tempt God and hope that somehow by a heavenly zapping something will happen and you won't fall again.

57:23 Turn to first Corinthians chapter 6. Here's the text that makes it very clear. When it comes to anything to deal to do with sensual lust is what God says you're to do. First Corinthians 6 in verse 18 flee fornication.

57:44 Then say fast and pray for a week says flee. Do something on your knees says do something with your feet from Pornia. That means for you men did have a struggle with pornographic literature run from Pornia run from fornication. Don't store you say it's late and I need milk for my cereal eat dried bread won't kill you for a day.

58:21 You're going to start today and down underneath your flesh is craving an excuse to go to the 7-eleven store. So you can pick up the porno. Run about your problem for don't years and there's no progress. Why because you haven't begun and you're either unconverted lacking gospel motives and gospel power.

58:56 Or you are refusing the active effort to which God calls your to this to flee it. What did we read in Gethsemane Jesus knows the awful trial that is to come to himself and to his followers. And what does he tell them to do in Matthew 26 the parallel passage to the one that was read in our hearing. He's agonizing prevailing before that horrible cup that he must drink all alone.

59:39 And as he knows his own disciples are to face an ordeal not even in the same Galaxy of spiritual reality with his. They're simply going to face the ordeal of his rejection. He's facing the rejection of his father. He's facing the dereliction.

60:00 He's facing the abandonment of hell itself. But here he is concerned about their relatively minor conflict. And as he sees it looming on the horizon what is he tell them to do in verse 41. Trust in me and I will keep you from entering into temptation though your spirit indeed is willing.

60:24 My power is great and I'll keep you no matter what you do. Know what and that you enter not into temptation. You are to marshal up all of your faculties. I know it's late.

60:42 I know the night is pressing on. I know that all of your physical signals say it's time to sleep. But first to watchfulness and while watchful pray cry to the God of heaven for grace. Grace and strength to face the coming ordeal.

61:02 You have a willing spirit you are my own. But your flesh is weak and weak flesh is strengthened not by God without means. But by God in the use and in the way of means. Watch and pray that he enter not into temptation.

61:25 The spirit indeed is willing. The flesh is weak. And what is God's antidote for weak flesh. I say it reverently.

61:34 It's not simply to exercise faith in Christ and remind yourself of what you know you are in Christ. It's to take active efforts to use the means ordained by Christ. And that's to watch that you enter not into temptation. And we could multiply passage after passage thy word if I laid up in my heart that I might not sin against thee.

62:01 Job said I've made a covenant with my eyes. Why should I look upon a maiden. We can go through the scriptures and see the dozens of means ordained by Christ. We want nothing to do with any means not ordained by Christ.

62:18 Colossians 2 says that's will worship and it's of no use in the putting to death of sin. Asceticism is not the answer. But the answer is. The active effort.

62:32 To use every means instituted by Christ for the killing of our sin. And all three of these comprise the divine method. Therefore ignorance of what we are in Christ undermines the measure of our victory over sin. Unbelief with respect to what we are and what Christ is undermines the measure of our victory over sin.

Conclusion: No Power Over Sin Apart from Union with God and Use of Means

63:00 Inactivity and spiritual laziness. Refusing to use the means ordained by Christ results in defeat after defeat. I close with just announcing these heads. That's all I have time to do by way of observation and application.

63:21 Number one. There's no possibility of power over sin. If you're not United to the triune God. There's no possibility of victory over sin.

63:33 If you're not truly United. To the triune God. We've seen from the scriptures that the ultimate source of power in this victory over sin is God the Father. God the Son and God the Holy Ghost.

63:47 And if you are not United to that God in a saving work of his grace. You can have no real power over sin. All you can do is dress up your sin in different garments. You can send it into different channels.

64:02 You can give it different smells and flavors. But all it will be is reflavored recycled sin without me. Jesus said you can do nothing in the context. You can do nothing in the way of bearing the fruit of a holy life.

64:19 That is pleasing to God without me severed from me. He can do nothing. My unconverted friend. You'll never know true victory over any one sin.

64:32 That is an evidence of grace. Until you're United to Christ. In common grace. God may restrain certain sins.

64:41 Yes, but you will not know what it is to conquer them. Unless you United to Christ and often spiritual impotence is highlighted in terms of one major sin. And I'm convinced that that's the problem with some of you though. I would not play God and say who I'm convinced though.

65:01 It is I see the patterns emerging in pastoral dealings in this congregation over the past five to seven years. I'm convinced. That that one sin that many of you have you say if only I could do something with that I could break loose. Maybe the problem is you're still unconverted and that one reigning sin is the mark of the devil's rule over you.

65:27 You've yet to have the prison house open and maybe what you need is not some new book on sanctification. But you need to go back to the old path of true repentance. And faith and cry to God that he would dethrone sin and enthrone his son in your heart. And my final observation is there's no possibility of power over sin.

65:56 If you're not using the divinely appointed means if you're ignorant of what you are in Christ. You're not using that mighty weapon against sin. Are you ignorant? No, you not.

66:10 No, you not. Are you ignorant? No, you not. We need to cry.

66:14 To God to teach us what we are in Christ and knowing what we are in Christ. We need to pray Lord. I believe help down my unbelief Lord strengthen our faith help us at the point of temptation to believe what you've said is true of us. And then Oh Lord deliver us from the being spiritual sluggards.

66:35 Maybe your life looks like the field of the sluggard grown over with metals and the walls broken down. Why you're simply not using the means. Ordained by Christ and you don't need any more counseling sessions. You don't need any more books.

66:50 You don't need to go looking for answers anywhere else. You need to start doing what you know. You should have been doing all along using the means that God's put at your disposal that in the way of those means the blessing of God might come upon them and you would become an overcomer in this perpetual real warfare with sin, which is the inevitable fruit of conversion.

67:15 The motive the motives are primarily evangelical and are never exclusively legal the goal the destruction of all sin and never the mere partial restraint of some sin the power ultimately in the triune God the method in the way of knowledge faith and the active use of every means ordained of Christ. Let us pray.

67:53 Our father. We thank you that you have made abundant provision in the Lord Jesus that we should be increasingly a holy people putting sin to death by the spirit by the spirit becoming more and more like your son. Forgive us for our sinful and willful ignorance. Forgive us when we know more about the stock market in our favorite ball team than we know of what we are in Christ.

68:23 According to Romans 6 and 1st Corinthians 6 and a host of other passages. Forgive us Lord for our unbelief when the weakness has not been our knowledge but has been our unbelief our lack of faith. Oh God forgive us for so often walking by sight and not by faith. May we say with the Apostle we walk by faith and not by sight and then oh God forgive us when we have not used every means.

68:54 For the destruction of our sins cleanse and pardon us. We pray and help us to be wise and good warriors in this battle strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might taking up all the armor and wielding it effectively. Oh Lord seal your word to our hearts and for those who cannot know any victory over sin because they are yet United to their sins and to the devil. And to the world and to all that is base and all that is defiling.

69:30 Oh God this morning pass by in the liberating power of your son and set them free. Cause them to cry to you for mercy seal your word to our profit into your praise. We plead in Jesus name Amen.