Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
Are you bored? Does your Bible reading seem dry?
Are your prayers bouncing off the wall? Are you
going to church and feel like it's status quo,
nothing's really happening, and you're simply
not experiencing the power and the presence of
Christ in your life? Well, if that's where you're
at, you tuned in on the right time, on the right
day, because we're going to talk about how you
can experience the supernatural power of Christ.
Stay with me. If you're longing for real, lasting
life change, but feel like you just can't get
there, this message is for you. In Chip's series,
Free at Last, How to Break Out of a Destructive
Lifestyle, we're exploring where the power to
change actually comes from. And today, Chip gets
practical. I'm Dave Drewy, your host here on
Living on the Edge, with today's message titled,
Where Do We Get the Power to Change? Before we
dive in, remember all of these messages can be
revisited anytime at livingontheedge .com. Well,
now here's Chip Ingram with today's lesson. So
the question is, how did Jesus conquer sin? And
how does that work practically in everyday life?
The Apostle Paul says it's going to be a struggle.
Now, verse 7 through 10 of Ephesians 4 will explain
how it happens. But here's what I want you to
get. out of this passage will help you and me
understand how to deal with the struggle of sin
and tap into the power that we already possess.
Implication number one, fact is, Christ is a
conquering victor over sin, death, and Satan.
The power to live a new life was made possible
by his death and resurrection. Colossians 2,
13 through 15. Notice how Paul in this passage
talks about the victory, talks about the conquering
of evil. He says he made you, speaking to the
Colossian church, alive together with him. How?
Having forgiven all your transgressions, having
nailed it to the cross. And then notice this
addition, and having disarmed the rulers and
the authorities, he made a public spectacle of
them, triumphing over them by the cross. And
he's speaking of this event that we just talked
about. The principle is life change always begins
with the truth. It's objective. And here's three
truths that come out of this. Number one, you
are free. Sin's power has been broken. Write
that in your notes. I am free. Number two, you
are forgiven. And third, you are secure. Satan
does not have power over you anymore. You can
give in to sin. You can give in to temptation.
You can be fearful of demonic spirits, but you're
not a slave to it. You have a choice. You have
power. You have access. Truth. That's the beginning.
of real life change. Fact number two, we become
co -partakers of Christ's victory over sin, death,
and Satan the moment we receive Christ as our
personal Savior by faith. Remember what I said?
Whatever is true of Jesus, the teaching of the
New Testament and the Bible, it's true of you.
This gets a little bit vague and hard to understand.
I've got a picture that will help you. But I
want you, if you will, turn to Romans chapter
6. What I'm going to share is so radical, even
in that day, because God is going to say that
the grace of God is so overwhelming, no matter
where you are, how far you are, however deep
the sin is, grace abounds still more. So much
so that people were bending the truth, and they
started saying, hey, you know something? This
New Testament stuff's really great. If God gives
more grace, if you send more, why don't we just
start sending more? Chapter six opens up with
an emphatic, that is not at all an option. He
says, what shall we say then? Shall we go on
sending so that grace may increase? By no means.
Now, follow carefully. This is the key. We died
to sin. How then can we live in it any longer?
Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized
into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
We were therefore buried with him through baptism
and death in order that just as Christ was raised
from the dead through the glory of the Father,
we too might walk in newness of life. Now follow
along carefully. If we've been united with him
like this in his death, we will certainly be
united with him in his resurrection. For we know
that our old self was crucified with him so that
the body of sin might be done away, that we should
no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who
has died is freed from sin. Now, if we died with
Christ, we will believe we'll also live with
him. For we know that since Christ was raised
from the dead, he cannot die again. Death no
longer has mastery over him. The death he died,
he died to sin once and for all. But the life
he lives, he lives to God in the same way. Application.
Count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God
in Christ Jesus. And then he begins to explain
what that is and how to do that. And we'll discuss
that as we go along in this process. You will
learn how to. count yourself dead to sin and
how to present your members by faith. What the
Bible teaches in Romans chapter 6, what Paul
is explaining in verses 7 through 10 of Ephesians
chapter 4 is that Christ died in your place.
He descended to the lower parts of the earth.
He declared victory over the wicked. He proclaimed
new life. He rose from the dead. He's conquered
sin, death, and Satan. And the moment that you
believe and trust in him, you become a co -partaker.
And so what you see is when God the Father sees
you, remember justified? When God sees you, and
you need to get this. You need to get this in
your intellect and get it into your heart. God
declared you righteous based on his work. And
when he looks at you, Despite your experiential
times of sin, he sees you as righteous, as forgiven,
as through the lens of the blood of his son,
as precious, as a child, as adopted. You'll never
be more loved than you are today. And you're
connected to him forever. Now in this journey
of sanctification, how do I live out what's true
of me? He says this is how it works. Whatever
is true of him is now true of you. I am crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I,
but Christ lives in me. And this life I now live,
I live by faith in the Son of God who loves me
and gave himself for me. It's not religious activity.
It's not a formula. It's not... my self -effort
of trying hard. It's understanding the bedrock
truth that when you trusted Christ, you're connected
to him for all eternity. So principle number
one, life change begins with the truth. Principle
number two, we must act on the truth for life
change to occur. Life change demands that we
act on the truth. Do you know what acting on
the truth is called in the Bible? Faith. Faith,
that's what it is. Now, faith isn't a feeling.
Faith isn't some ooey -gooey thought. Faith is
believing what God has said to the point of acting
on it, whether I feel like it or not. Let me
say that again, because sometimes I think we
think, I don't have enough faith. You don't have
to feel anything. Faith is believing what God
has said to the point I act on it, whether I
feel like it or not. God says that sexual purity
is my will for this relationship. I don't feel
like that maybe in a relationship. And I say,
you know what? I'm going to act on that. And
the moment I act and make provision to be sexually
pure, God gives grace. And then he does a lot
of wonderful things in that relationship that
sin block. Faith says, I'm going to prioritize
the first portion of my life. my future, my priorities,
and my relationships by what God says. I don't
always feel like loving my wife. I don't always
feel like turning off the remote and walking
over and dealing with one of my kids. I don't
always feel like doing, but when by faith I trust,
the other side of faith is the moment I take
that step, it's obedience, and I get grace. That's
how transformation occurs. Left to myself, I
don't do very well. So there's community of people
who their gifts and their love and their encouragement
helped me on my walk. Because remember, what
did we learn about the little babies when they
walk? Step, step, step, great, then, right? And
we're all going to keep falling. And we have
a heavenly father who understands, who says,
look, that's who you really are. My dad did not
grow up as a Christian. and I had been a Christian
a year, and you know, sometimes when God's changing
you, it's so close to you, you don't see how
it really works, and all I knew was what I just
shared with you about what Christ had done. I
trusted him in 1972. I went away to college,
and there was a bricklayer who was a godly man
who came up and taught me how to get in the Bible
for myself, and so I started reading the Bible
in the mornings, and I memorized, you know, just
a few verses, and I got in a small group and
did some Bible study, You know, little by little,
just the old was passing away and new had come,
but I had a long way to go. And I came home that
summer, and after about three weeks, my dad said,
what happened to you? I said, what do you mean?
He said, what happened to you? I said, I mean,
what do you mean what happened to me? There's
a piece about you I can't understand. And I said,
well, Dad, I, you know, we went to church, but
we didn't believe the Bible, and we didn't know
about a personal relationship to God, so it was
hard to say. I said, well, I put my faith in
Christ, and I have a new relationship with God.
So he said, well, how'd you get it? And honestly,
this is not really good news for the people that
were helping me, I suppose. I said, I don't know.
You know? And so eventually I just said, well,
the one key, I said, I started reading the Bible.
And so, you know, you got an ex -Marine, okay.
That's how you do it. He got up at five every
morning, read the Bible for a year, almost. Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John. Then finally, like six months into it,
he goes, do these guys not know the story? They
keep telling the same story over and over. And
I had to say, well, actually, Dad, you know,
Mark's writing to the Romans and Luke to the
Greeks. And, you know, it's sort of a composite
picture. And after six months, my dad comes to
me. And, I mean, he'd been in religious all his
life. And in his own words, he would say, I went
to church whether I was drunk or not. So he's
a recovering alcoholic who, because he knew he
was going to lose his marriage, stopped drinking
a year earlier. And he wants to change and doesn't
know how. His kid comes home and there's something
different. His kid can't explain even, you know,
I wish I could have said, oh, dad, it's a substitutionary
work of Christ. He died in your place on the
cross, rose from the dead. What he wants to you
by faith turned to him. I couldn't explain it.
And so he just, but here's the point. Truth.
Life change begins with the truth. He got in
the Bible. You're listening to Living on the
Edge with Chip Ingram, and we'll continue the
lesson in a moment. But while you're with us,
did you know that Chip's teaching is also available
on YouTube? The Living on the Edge channel has
full video series, short form clips, and a growing
library of content you can watch anytime. Check
out Chip's other series like Sacred Strongholds,
exploring the lies we believe that quietly destroy
the lives we love. Just search Living on the
Edge with Chip Ingram on YouTube and hit subscribe
so you never miss what's new. Well, now here's
Chip. I'll tell you what, the people that I meet
and talk to in terms of their journey with God,
I would much rather have someone read the Bible
with me and have coffee and I put my arm around
him as a friend and let's just talk about what
this is like for months as opposed to someone
feeling some quick moment of guilt and praying
a quick prayer. Because I will tell you, God's
word never returns void. After six months, he
says to me, you know something? I don't know
what this whole deal is you have, but it has
something to do with faith. I mean, here's a
guy that's never read the Bible. It's faith.
And I said, Dad, I think you're right. He says
so what do I do? I said I don't know. You know?
So he goes another nine months or so, and I go
off to school, and I get a call a little bit
later, and he said, I got it. I got it. I said,
what do you mean you got it? I'm a Christian
now. I said, really? What happened, Dad? He said,
well, I knew it was about faith. I kept reading,
reading, reading, and I don't know where it came
from, but I was walking by my dresser, and there
was a little pamphlet called The Four Spiritual
Laws, and I read it. It had all the stuff I've
been reading. God has a plan for your life. What
separates you from God is your sin. Christ died
in your place. You need to trust him by faith,
and it had a little prayer. And it was like,
wow, so that's how you do it. And he says, what
I did is I got down right on my bed, and I said,
God, I have killed thousands and thousands and
thousands of people, and I've lived with nightmares
and shame all my life, but I received the blood
of Jesus to forgive me right now at this moment.
And in my dad's late 50s, he came to Christ.
Life change begins with the truth. Life change
demands that we act on the truth by faith. Let
me give you the greatest example of acting on
the truth. At the very bottom, I put a little
chart, if you will, and I put a verse, because
it's truth, and I want you to get to act on it
if that's where you're at. The truth is Romans
6 .23. It says, for the wages of sin is death,
but the free gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, what I've put there
is a picture of kind of like two cliffs, if you
will. There's us on this side, and there's God
on this side. And when you look at that, on the
us side, it says the wages. What are wages? It's
what you earn, right? It's what you get for what
you do. The wages of our sin, there's this chasm
like in Luke 16. There's this chasm that separates
us from God forever. But the free gift of God
through Jesus, you have eternal life. So what
you need to do. is you need to pull your pen
out, and I want you to make a bridge because
Jesus is the bridge to life. So make a little
bridge, okay? And once you make the horizontal
line, why don't you make it a really cool, nifty
bridge and put a vertical line? And if you put
a vertical line and a horizontal line, what do
you have there? You got a cross. Now here, we're
right back to what Jesus said. Jesus said, the
day will come when I'm going to speak to all
that are dead. One day, all of us will be dead.
And one day, Jesus will return. And he said,
truly, truly, or verily, verily, it's just for
emphasis. This is really important. I say to
all of you, those of you who hear my word and
believe on him who sent me has, present tense,
eternal life. So you are looking at truth. The
truth is there's a fact. that the eternal Son
of God, fully man, fully God, walked upon the
earth, lived a perfect life. He built a bridge,
and he paid for the wages of your sin, and he
atoned, or he's covering death. And it's by grace,
it's a complete free gift. And if by faith you
receive the free gift, you move from this side
of the bridge to the other side. And according
to Jesus, it means you hear his word, and then
you believe. And when you do that, the gift of
eternal life. You're taken from the kingdom of
darkness to the kingdom of light. You're free,
you're forgiven, and you're secure. There's some
of you today that this is the most wonderful
day in your life ever. Today is better than the
day that you were born because today's the day
that you will be born a second time or be born
spiritually. Jesus said physical life requires
a physical birth. Spiritual life requires a spiritual
birth. If you have never by faith not come to
church, not tried to be a moral person, not tried
to read the Bible a little bit, I'm not talking
about giving to the United Way, I'm not talking
about being religious. If you have never by faith
said, I'm going to trust in the objective facts
of what Christ did in my place, then right now
in your seat, the greatest thing you could do
is cry out to God. Whether you feel or not feel
is to say, your sin separates you from God for
all eternity. And God's word says, his desire
is that not one person would perish. And so he's
offered you a free gift. And so you, by faith,
say, I'm going to trust in Christ. I want to
be united to him. Will you please forgive me
right now? I'm sorry for my sin. I turn from
it. It's called repentance. And I want to receive
right now eternal life. You can pray that in
your seat right now at this moment, and God will
hear. Jesus came to give you that today. Fact
number one, his death and resurrection is the
key. Life change always begins with the truth.
Fact number two, you become a co -partaker when
you receive Christ personally. Principle number
two is life change. demands that we act on the
truth. Remember when the conquering victor, general,
or king, when he was declaring his victory, remember
there's the military, he humiliates his foes,
but remember what's in the back of the spoils?
He gave gifts to everybody. He gave gifts of
what was conquered. So every time people got
a gift, they were reminded what? The love of
their king and the victory that they shared in.
Fact number three, every believer is given a
spiritual gift, a supernatural enabling at the
moment of salvation for two reasons. Every believer.
What does it mean? He gave gifts to men. Reason
number one, to remind us that life change occurs
on the basis of grace, not self -effort. When
that lady's milking that cow, when that other
lady sees the bracelet, when the blacksmith,
when he came through town, he said, hey, wow,
here, you can have a donkey and two camels. When
he's taking care of those animals, he's reminded,
my king won a great victory. The evidence and
reminder that I was given this gift is my king's
work for me. And that's the imagery. Can you
imagine what would happen if every time you used
your spiritual gift, if you really discovered
what it was, and you realized you have this supernatural,
sacred endowment? that you use to get to love
people in a supernatural way, that it would remind
you it's a gift. Your salvation is a gift. The
second reason is to be empowered as other -centered
agents of grace who supply what others need to
be transformed into the likeness of Christ. Remember,
if life change happens in community, sort of
in that spiritual cocoon, well... I was pretty
honest with you. This last week, I wasn't humble
and gentle and patient and bearing with and making
every effort all the time. I had a lot of the
right side. And you know what I need? To learn
to be humble, I need people that put me first.
I need people that'll be patient with me. I need
people that won't be critical and judgmental,
that will be grace -filled and loving and kind.
Because you know what happens? Whoever you're
around, you become like. And when the Jesus inside
of you and the Jesus inside of me, as we do life
together from the heart honestly, the Spirit
of God will take your gifts and meet my needs
and my gifts to meet your needs. And so you'll
have wisdom and I'll make a great decision to
experience God. Or I'll really blow it and I'll
feel ashamed and down on myself and beat myself
up and the enemy will say, see, Ingram, you're
a lousy, stinking, and you'll have the gift of
mercy and you'll say, no, no, no, no, no, Chip.
That's your experience. That's who you are. God
loves you. The world's not over. And so it gives
us power as we use our gifts with one another.
The principle is life change is both a gift and
a responsibility. It's a gift. You're listening
to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and a
message called Where Do We Get the Power to Change?
It's part of Chip's latest series, Free at Last,
How to Break Out of a Destructive Lifestyle.
Well, Chip has a final word for us in just a
moment. Life change is both a gift and a responsibility.
That's where Chip landed today. And it's the
thread running through every page of his book,
Yes, You Really Can Change. It's honest, hopeful,
and written for anyone who genuinely wants their
faith to stop being something they know and start
being something they actually live. And for a
limited time, we're including a second copy with
every order, one to keep, one to give to someone
who's ready to take this step with you. So get
your copy of Yes, You Really Can Change and a
copy for someone you know by going online to
livingontheedge .org slash offers. If Living
on the Edge is making a difference in your life,
we'd love your help to keep it going. Every gift,
whatever the amount, goes directly toward reaching
more people with this kind of practical biblical
teaching. Give online at livingontheedge .org
or by phone at 888 -333 -6003. You can also reach
us by mail at Living on the Edge, P .O. Box 3007,
Atlanta, Georgia 30024. And every message in
this series will also be available on the Living
on the Edge podcast. Subscribe so you can get
each message downloaded automatically every day.
And the Chip Ingram Sermon Podcast has every
sermon in full, unedited from start to finish.
Find it wherever you listen. Well, now here's
Chip. For the last two days, we've been talking
about how to experience Christ's resurrection
power in our lives. There's three transformational
principles we've dealt with. Number one, life
change always begins with the truth. Number two,
life change demands that we act on the truth.
And number three, life change is both a gift
and a responsibility. Today, as I begin to apply
that, I talked about the evidence of walking
by faith and God having the first portion of
our money and the first portion of our time.
And then I talked about that very sensitive area
of forgiveness. And I want to camp there. I want
to stop there. I sense that maybe many of you
listening to my voice have an issue with forgiveness.
I can't imagine how many people with ex -mates,
bad bosses, rebellious kids, abusive parents,
have unforgiveness in your heart and your life
that is quenching the power of God. The application
today is release them. Forgive them. It's not
a feeling. It's a choice. It's a decision. And
I'm going to call you before God right now to
act on the truth that you know. They don't deserve
it. They have hurt you. But you release them,
you entrust them to God's justice, and you make
a commitment that you will not bring up in your
mind negative, destructive thoughts, or you will
not say negative, destructive things about them.
You let it go. You forgive. And then I want to
encourage you that to seal that deal, begin today
praying for them, asking God to encourage them
and help them, and literally even bless them.
Remember those words of Jesus, bless those who
persecute you. Who do you need to forgive? Do
it today. That's the end of today's program.
Join us next time as we continue our series,
Free at Last, How to Break Out of a Destructive
Lifestyle. That's next time with Chip Ingram
on Living on the Edge. Today's program is produced
and sponsored by Living on the Edge.