The All Powerful Reign of Grace pt 2

SPEAKER A You once to every time in the sight of the good or evil sky don't break on you that I choice of life forever with that darkness. And. SPEAKER B The Bible assures us in Ephesians two, verses eight to ten, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Welcome to faith to faith Here are your hosts, Ettienne McClintock and Braedan Entermann. SPEAKER C Dear listener, welcome to the program. We're glad you've joined us. And just as we start, we just want to ask God to bless our study time together. Gracious Father in heaven, we just commit this program to you, asking for your blessing upon it. As we open the Scriptures, may we see the beauty of your glory and your power today as we study together. Bless our dear listener and bless Braedan and myself as well. As we unfold some of these beautiful truths, may your spirit guide and lead us as our prayer. In Jesus name, amen. SPEAKER D Amen. SPEAKER C Now, this is part two of a program we started last week. It's called the all powerful Reign of Grace. And as we've been looking at it in the scriptures, we've noticed how incredibly powerful the promises of God is in regards to being victorious and living a Christian walk. That is, one that is not fraught with defeat and failure, but one that God actually can promise us exceedingly abundantly. Above all that we can ask or think in regards to victory because we can claim the victory of Jesus Christ by faith. Now, as we were looking at the program last week, we actually started unpacking some of these beautiful statements. There were two words we were looking at and these two words were much more. And this phrase much more is repeated five times in the Book of Romans, chapter five. The first one we find in verse nine where it talks about much more than having been justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him. Then in verse ten, it says that when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his son. Much more. Having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. So it's talking about saving that much more. Again, God has done this, but even much more. These are the consequences. Then we went to two, verse 15, where it says that if by one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded to the many. So now it's introducing much more. It's introducing grace and it's talking about this abounding grace, abounding to the many. Now the word the many just simple means the whole human collective, the whole human family. It's the word the many. It is an expression which we don't typically use in English, but it was used in Greek at that time. Then we go to verse 17. This is the fourth time this word much more, this phrase much more appears. And it says, for if by one man's offense, death reign through the one much more those who receive abundance of grace. So here we're talking about the superabundance reign of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in the life through the one Jesus Christ. Now, where we didn't get to was this very last verse where it talks about the much more, one of my favorite verses, romans, chapter five and verse 20. So five, verse 20. It says, moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. Now, just we'll just stop there for a moment. The law is what shows us sin. Sin is a transgression of the law. Matter of fact, in Romans, chapter four, verse 15, we were told that if there is no law, there is no transgression, and we wouldn't have known sin but by the law. If we go to Romans, chapter seven. SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER C So here we see that the law entered, that the offense might abound. So what happens is all of a sudden we become aware of sin. And as we become aware of sin, we start looking at, well, this is not a good thing. We don't want to participate in these bad things. How do we find a solution to this? Because we might try and gritty our teeth a little bit, try a little bit harder. But to find a solution within ourselves, I don't know if you've tried a dear listener. I've tried it many times. It just doesn't work. I don't have it within myself to actually have this ability to overcome the sin problem. SPEAKER D And the more we're confronted with the problem, the more overwhelmed we get and the more hopeless it seems, because the darkness of sin and the darkness of this world, it actually gets we're naive to most of it. And the more we become acquainted with just how evil evil is, it just makes us go, how in the world can anyone save us from this? Just like the apostle Paul said, who can deliver me from this body of who can deliver is I'm in desperate need right here. And so as we're confronted with just how big the problem of sin is, that's where the good news is just poised and ready to enter the stage and just to let us know that there's something far greater, far more powerful, far more effective to heal and to restore than sin is to destroy and to maim. SPEAKER C Now, it's interesting dealers and if you've come to times where you have been confronted with your own weaknesses or maybe it's something that you feel that you're almost enslaved by certain character traits, which gets you in straight places, in difficult places, with relationships with other people, for example. And look, our broadcast doesn't only go to Australia, obviously goes to New Zealand as well. In New Zealand, they have an expression, they call it somebody feeling pretty stink about something. It means they feel pretty bad about something. Do they use that expression here? SPEAKER D Braedan no. SPEAKER C Okay. In New Zealand, someone feels pretty stink about something. So the New Zealand listeners would know what I'm talking about. That's when you're confronted with something that you've done wrong and you go, well, how do I resolve this? I've obviously got to go and make amends with the people I've wronged. Or you just feel so bad, but this may not be the first time you felt bad. Now, what it says here, the law is actually part of that process. The law enters that the offense might abound. So you may feel pretty stink in regards to that, but we've got good news for you, dear listener. Doesn't matter how stink you feel, how bad you feel, and how big your sins are, and how big this confrontation is with the sin problem that we have. It says where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. So that's the fifth time this much more phrases are used. But not only that, it's used with much more. The word abounded is connected to that, and grace is connected to that in contrast to the abounding sin. So we praise God that where sin abounds, because the law shows us sin. Therefore we start looking for a solution, because no one, when they're confronted with the ugliness of sin, when you start feeling stink about it, really wants to continue to live in it. All right, there's times when we enjoy sin, but when sin comes home to roost, when the consequences of sin start hitting us, then we no longer enjoy it anymore. It's right at that time where grace steps in and super abounds above the sin equation. So this is the exciting thing we want to share with you today. And that's why the program is entitled the All Powerful Reign of Grace. Now, we want to take this concept a little bit further. We started the program last time saying that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So the concept of grace is something that is revealed through Jesus Christ. And understanding Jesus and looking to him gives us a better understanding of how grace actually overpowers sin. Jesus conquered sin, and the greatest manifestation of that was actually at the cross. The devil thought he'd obtained a victory, but the whole victory that the devil was starting to claim was actually his greatest defeat. SPEAKER D That's exactly right. SPEAKER C So sometimes something appears to be an apparent defeat, but in the spiritual realm, it could be the greatest of victories. So let's unpack that a little bit today, Brandon. SPEAKER D So in Luke chapter eleven, we have this very interesting parable. And in these parables, Jesus was communicating spiritual truth. Jesus is such a magnificent teacher. He could take the grandest and most vivid and just extensive themes and distill them down to a little tiny story. But as we look at these stories, we're tempted just to pass over them and go, oh, that was interesting. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D And head on to the next chapter. But inside of these parables, inside of these teachings, god explains so much. And this is a particular one that has caught my attention. This is in Luke chapter eleven and verse 21. And this is talking about how God is stronger than the devil, right. Because Jesus had just been accused of casting out demons by the power of Satan. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D And Jesus said, that doesn't make sense. SPEAKER C Why would the devil, why would Satan fight against himself? SPEAKER D Why would Satan fight against himself? SPEAKER C Like a house or a kingdom divided against itself has brought a desolation. It says there in verse was it verse 17? SPEAKER D That's right. And then in verse we'll start in verse 19. He said, and if I cast out demons by beelzebub the devil, by whom do your sons cast them out, therefore they will be your judges. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D He says, but if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. Jesus presents himself as not being someone who's working for the devil to destroy the devil. That wouldn't make sense. He presents himself as the conquering king of glory, the one, as in our previous presentation, that promised in that ancient prophecy, that promised son who would be the king, who would bring this reign of holiness and grace to this world. He presents himself as the Messiah who's going to take the devil head on. Verse 21. Now he says, when a strong man fully armed, just picture it, this fully armed soldier. It's kind of like a Special Forces soldier in our situation today. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are at peace. When you're armed to the teeth, you've just absolutely got ammo, all this kind of stuff. No one's getting past you. All your goods are at peace. Verse 22 but when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted and he divides his spoils. SPEAKER C Interesting story, interesting story. So what does that mean? Who is the strong man and who's the one that's stronger? SPEAKER D Well, Jesus makes it very, very clear in the context of this story that the devil is the strong man who's guarding his palace. Yes, a palace is where a king lives. And so the devil has claimed to be the prince of this world. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D To be the god of this world. He has set up his kingdom of darkness on this planet and he has religiously guarded his palace and no one's been able to break through to unseat him off the throne. No one's been able to strip him of his armor and of his power and be able to rescue the goods. And what are the things that he's been keeping captive? The Devil doesn't care about gold and silver. He's bigger than that. He cares about taking people down. Just picture the souls of men. He's basically got this massive group of captives, every single human being who's ever lived on this planet. But Jesus, he's got all of them captive. And then in his confidence, he's out the front. He's standing there with this parable, this soldier standing out there guarding his palace. And then someone comes walking down the road, someone who is stronger than he is. And there's a confrontation and this stronger person overcomes this other strong person and sets free everyone in the house. Jesus presents himself as the great warrior, the true king of the universe, who's coming to set the captives free. So he presents himself as being stronger, greater, much more powerful than the Devil ever has been or ever will be. SPEAKER C Well, that is powerful. Now if we look at that analogy further right, if we look at the power of God and we look at the power of the Devil, it's clear that the Devil is a powerful man. But there's somebody more powerful. And it's a simple analogy. Who is more powerful, the creator or the creature? Now we know that Lucifer is a created being. We read that very clearly. And if you look at Ezekiel chapter 28, it says that the day that he was created, that he was a very powerful, intelligent, the most intelligent being, the most highly created being at that time, very powerful. But he is also the father of sin. And we are now contrasting sin and grace, of course. So we told in one John, chapter three, verse eight, that the Devil sins from the beginning. So he is the father of sin, he's the father of lies, he's the murderer from the beginning. The Bible tells us. But then if we look at where does grace come from? Well, grace comes from God. It's an attribute of God that revealed through Jesus Christ becoming a human being and then being obedient to his Father, even to the point of death and the death of the cross. So that demonstrates what grace is like. So then if we have to contrast grace and we contrast sin, the power of sin is the power of the Devil, which is very powerful. And we all suffer under the power of sin. If you've ever tried to conquer a sin in your life, that may be an addiction. Many people can tell the story where they've had temporary, maybe temporary victories, but they typically have been defeated time and time again. But when we look at the grace of God as revealed in Jesus Christ, there was never a time that he ever sinned, even in the humanity, even when he was weak. After 40 days of fasting, at his weakest point, the first temptation is food. You need food to live or you're going to die. Imagine being hungry after 40 days. SPEAKER D You can't even imagine it. SPEAKER A Yeah. SPEAKER C So he's taken our weak humanity. I mean, he's God in the flesh, but he doesn't rely on his own divinity. He relies on his father. He will break his fast when the Holy Spirit tells him to break his fast, because the Holy Spirit is the one that led him into the wilderness, into this fast. And it's not until God says, so the Devil comes at that weak point, and the Devil is defeated after the sweet temptations. Now he's also defeated at the cross. But it's very clear to me that the devil is a strong man, but a stronger than him is there. And that's why Jesus can say that surely the kingdom of God is upon you because the king of the kingdom of God is present. SPEAKER D That's right. And having this in our minds is so encouraging, because, let's be honest, we have known in our experience that the taste of defeat yes. Every person's tasted it, and it's not a nice one. And in our little tiny spheres, we get discouraged because there's someone who's much stronger than us. The Bible makes it very clear that there is a strong man. He's called himself the prince of this world, who's locking us down in bondage to sin. But then someone stronger comes. It's like that scene changes in the movie where it seems hopeless. How can they break free? And then that person comes walking down the street, who's coming to set them free? Jesus is the one who comes onto the scene. The scene changes. Praise the Lord. It changes. And he comes to set the captives free on this planet, which, if we have this in our minds, will we ever say, oh, it's just too hard to serve the just, the devil's got me chained up. That is to ignore this portion of scripture. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D That is to ignore the power of God. Jesus says, if you think the devil's strong in leading you into sin, in trapping you up in your bad decisions, if you think he's strong, I'm stronger. SPEAKER C Praise God. SPEAKER D If you think sin is powerful, my grace is much more powerful. SPEAKER C That's right. Super abounding grace, much more. SPEAKER D That's right. So God's power to heal is far greater than the devil's power to hurt. And if we had that in our minds, we would have a brand new it doesn't change the fact that being a Christian can be challenging at times. SPEAKER C Sure. SPEAKER D We're asking the question, which one's harder? It's so easy to say, oh, it's so much easier to serve the devil. That's a wrong statement. It may give you a sense of ignorance, is bliss, that kind of thing. SPEAKER C Or sense of justification to continue in sin that grace may abound. SPEAKER D That's right. But in the ultimate sense it is not true. It is easier to serve the Lord because his wages are much greater. Yes, they're much better. The fruits of peace and righteousness are the inheritance that we receive and also the life in the kingdom. SPEAKER C I was just thinking of that. Because there is an element of difficulty, we're not denying that. But we want to explain why the element of difficulty exists. Right. But just don't think it's just difficult for Christians because it's difficult for Satan's captives as well. We were all captives of Satan's and we can't say it was an easy run. It was a very difficult run at time. There's a lot of conflict, there's a lot of issues. People fighting and arguing. There is no peace, there's no rest. But this text in Matthew, chapter eleven, which talks about the easiness of taking the yoke of Christ upon us. The yoke is a thing that is used with oxen to help them do a task. Now without that yoke, it's very difficult for the oxen to do the dark. But with the yoke it's actually fairly easy for them to do it. Now I want to read this. This is Matthew, chapter eleven, verse 28, where Jesus extends an invitation to everybody. It says, Come unto me. What a beautiful invitation. Come unto me. And we can all say, yes Lord, we'll come to you all you who labor. So in other words, you're doing some work, right? And you are heavy laden. So you're laboring, you are heavy laden. You're carrying the burdens of sin. You're carrying the burdens of guilt and shame. Guilt and shame. Difficult relationships, poor decision making, slave to some of your passions. Maybe you've got a temper issue. All those labors, all those burdens you are carrying with you. And then the promise is, come unto me and I will give you rest. Because you might be laboring, you might be heavy laden, but I'm able to. SPEAKER D Give you rest because the picture there is someone struggling under a heavy load. SPEAKER C That's right. Yes. SPEAKER D And that just sounds all too familiar. Struggling under a heavy load. And Jesus says, I've got this solution, I'm going to give you rest. SPEAKER C Oh, that's beautiful. So now what does this picture of rest looks like? Is it one where you no longer work or do anything else? How does this rest look? Is it just rest where you can just be lazy, drop the pack and. SPEAKER D Lay on the ground? SPEAKER C Lay on the ground, sit in front of the TV, couch potato, get fat, eat junk food. Is that the picture? Well, let's look at it further then. Jesus says, take my yoke upon you, so get rid of all those heavy laden burdens and take my yoke upon you and learn from me. So it's an ascent to a knowledge which brings peace. SPEAKER D Interesting. SPEAKER C Yeah. And I believe it's. Learn of me is learn of my teachings. So learn from Jesus. Learn of his teachings. Learn of me. And then he says, For I am gentle and lowly in jesus is actually saying there, I'm humble and meek. And it doesn't matter how low in life you think you've sunk. I'm right there with you. You have to come up to me. But look, I will meet you where you are. That's what Jesus is basically saying there, for I'm gentle and lowly in heart. So there's no boastful, proud, arrogant, looking at you with fines and saying, well, you're not good enough for me. Jesus is saying, I'll take you as you are. Right. SPEAKER D It's interesting. It's almost like there's two yokes. There's the yoke and the burden of sin. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D And there's the yoke and the burden of serving God. It's interesting. We exchange one yoke for another and a yoke. And as you've been explaining it's, two cattle get joined together to do a task. A yoke unites the will of two animals. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D So basically, if those two cows go somewhere, they both have to choose how to choose to do it. Because they're locked together. It's basically that they become one. And their destination, their direction, their energy is all directed in the one way. So we've got one option. Naturally, we're born yoked up to the devil, where we are captive to his will, his ways, his desires, his lies. We're locked up to that. And we think it's freedom. But the Bible says very, very clearly in the book of Proverbs, the way of the transgressor is hard. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D Let's never deceive ourselves thinking that the way of the transgressor is easy. It may in the moment seem to be okay, but the way of the transgressor is hard. And the Bible also says that there is no peace for the wicked. Jesus says, I'll give you rest that's rest for the soul. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D When we come to Christ, he says, take my yoke upon you, which is interesting. We go, no, no, I want to be free. I want to have I've got a. SPEAKER C Burden I'm carrying already. But Jesus is saying, put their burden aside and then take my yoke upon you. SPEAKER D Take my yoke. SPEAKER C But it's not called a burden, though, is it? SPEAKER D It's interesting. He says, My yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Is light. And so what appears from all for someone who doesn't know what it's like to be yoked up with Jesus, it looks like a burden and a yoke. But for someone who's actually yoked up with Jesus, they realize it's a friendship and an experience with God like no other. When we get yoked up with Jesus, we are united. Our heart is united with his heart, our mind is united with his mind, and we're united with the great source of salvation, healing and righteousness. And we now, rather than just being pulled all over the place by the Devil. We are walking in the piles of righteousness for his name's sake, through the green pastures that lead beside the still waters. And even if we go through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil because he is with us. And his rod and his staff, they comfort us. And so being united with Jesus is presented as the solution. And he says it's easy. SPEAKER C It's the greatest privilege to be yoked up with God. I mean, you're a co laborer now with Jesus. SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER C You're yoke up besides the stronger man, the stronger man than even the Devil. And you're walking in harmony, in communion with God, because you're learning from Him. So you're learning. You're getting a knowledge, you're getting educated. You're walking with the Lord. And if you were ever but for a moment, just to look back, you'll be surprised at how well you've been plowing up all that fallow ground, all that hard ground, all that clay behind you. You've actually been productive. SPEAKER D You've been productive. Yeah. SPEAKER C But it's not that you thought you were productive, because the yoke is easy and the burden was light. You were in close fellowship and communion with your Savior because you are yoked up with Him. SPEAKER D And I've heard that the practice that they had with oxen is they used to put an experienced, strong ox yes. With an inexperienced one, they'd lock them together, and guess who's carrying the load? Really? SPEAKER C The experienced one. SPEAKER D The experienced one. When we yoke up with Jesus, he carries the load. He says, Come unto me, and I will give you rest. You yoke up with me. Walk along beside me. We don't really contribute much, but when we're united with Jesus, we get to see the amazing things that he does for. SPEAKER C And, you know, I remember just recently doing a little bit of a study about how much work one ox can do and how much work two oxen combined together in a yoke can do. And they reckon that under normal circumstances, one ox can probably drag or carry in a wagon about one or two tons. On a flat surface, they can do that. But under favorable circumstances, two oxen not only can double that, so do four tons. Under favorable circumstances, sometimes they can go up to 23 tons. SPEAKER D Wow. SPEAKER C I mean, that was a significant increase. And I thought, well, that's just ordinary oxen. We now yoked up with Jesus, who is the stronger man, who's the experienced one, who's conquered death, who's conquered sin, who's conquered the devil, and we now yoked up with Jesus. Wow. So we work on addition, but we know God through his grace. And the Holy Spirit works on multiplication. SPEAKER D Multiplication, absolutely. SPEAKER C So we can learn of Jesus. But does this knowledge help us in our day to day walk with Christ? SPEAKER D If we turn to the Book of Hebrews very briefly, it's easy to be content with coming this far and that know, okay, come to Jesus, it's going to be great, he's stronger than the devil and next thing we get trapped and ensnared in sin. And then we ask him that question, god, where were you? Yes, God, it's so hard what's going on here? You promised that you were stronger and next thing we just feel like we're trapped and then we go that whole thing again. It'll just be easier if I go back. It'll just be easier if I go back. In the book of Hebrews we're told here in verse one, down to verse four, therefore Hebrews chapter twelve. Hebrews, chapter twelve, yes. Therefore we also since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, these are people who have contestified that God is faithful. Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become wearied and discouraged in your souls, you have not yet resisted to bloodshed striving against sin. SPEAKER C Wow, okay. So it does actually acknowledge this weight, this burden we were talking about before, which Jesus invites people to come to Him, this very weight and sin which so easily ensnares us. So we are to lay aside that weight, that burden and then we are to be yoked up with Christ. SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER C But the yoking up is actually it tells you how to do that. It says let us run with endurance. The race looking unto Jesus, looking to Jesus. SPEAKER D I heard someone sharing recently on this looking to Jesus, what does that mean? Where can we find him? Where can we see him? In the clearest possible place is the Bible. SPEAKER C Amen. SPEAKER D If we are struggling and we feel like we're entangled in sin, we can't get out. We're just like it's hard to serve the Lord, where is he? Look to the Bible, look to the life of Jesus, look to the life of the men and women who can testify in the scriptures that there is a God in heaven who is faithful to his word. You keep your eyes focused on Jesus and every thread of faithfulness that you see from beginning to end of scripture and you will find yourself walking in that beautiful peaceful relationship with God and you'll see your difficulties vanish. SPEAKER C Amen. Dear listener, we pray that you'll keep your eyes focused on Jesus as well, who is the author and finisher of our faith. Until next time, God bless. SPEAKER B Thank you for joining us on Faith. To Faith. If you would like more information about today's program or if you have any questions, please contact 3ABN Australia Radio by Phoning. 02 4973 3456. Or you can send an email to [email protected] You can also contact us on our 3ABN Australia radio Facebook page. We'd love to hear from you.