Today I'm Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Are you on the Christian treadmill? You know that one, try hard, do good, fail. Try hard, do good, fail. You know, if you're sick of that life and finding that it simply isn't the abundant life promised with joy and peace and power, then today is the day for you.
I have been there and we as believers don't have to live there. Stay with me and we'll learn from God's Word how to break out of the Christian treadmill syndrome. Most of us would love to experience real lasting positive life change, but we just don't know how to get traction and actually grow. That's the honest question at the heart of this series, Free at Last, How to Break Out of a Destructive Lifestyle. I'm Dave Druy, and this is Living on the Edge.
Today, Chip Ingram begins our next message called, Where Do We Get the Power to Change? And the answer is one you don't want to miss.
So in case you can't stick around to hear the whole message, be sure to visit livingontheedge.org to catch up when you can.
Well now here's Chip. Where do you get the power to change? Dan came up to me the very first time I ever publicly taught through Ephesians 4:1 through 6 that we covered last week. I literally got done. A guy walks up to me.
He was a young, zealous guy, played for a local college basketball team, and we'd gotten to know one another. And I mean, he was living the life. His life was dramatically changing. And I literally got done, and he caught me just as I was going around the corner. He stops and he goes, Stop.
So I did. And he opens his Bible and he opens it up right here to Romans chapter 6, he goes, listen to this. He says, but thanks be to God. That though you used to be slaves to sin, You wholeheartedly obeyed this form of teaching in which you were entrusted, you've been set free from sin. and have become a slave to righteousness.
And this big 6'4 guard looked at me and goes, it's not true. It doesn't work. I said, what do you mean? He said, well, a lot's changed in my life, but I've been, there's some areas, and he was very specific. I can't change.
I'm supposed to be transformed and I can't. What's wrong with me? We had a little discussion, and literally, this is one of those bizarre experiences. I leave that. Walk on around, get a cup of coffee between the services, and a young mom that I'd gotten to know pretty well who came from a horrendous background, drug, alcohol, addictions, fractured relationships, difficult home life, had come to Christ, amazing transformation in the last couple years.
And she walks up to me with an open Bible, Romans chapter 6. I'm thinking there's something going on here. And she goes to a different verse. She goes, look, look right here. Verse 22.
It says, but now that you've been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap is holiness, and it results in eternal life. And she goes, this isn't working. And I'm thinking, I guess I really had a bad day on this one. And I said, well, what do you mean? She goes, well, I'm not on alcohol.
God's really changed my life. But I smoke dope every day. Every single day, and I'm concerned about my four-year-old daughter. And I've tried to quit, and I've prayed to quit, and I want to quit, and I can't quit. Where do you get the power to change?
So what we're going to talk about today. Listen to the Apostle Paul, interestingly, in the very next chapter after chapter 6. He says, for I desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not good. The evil that I don't want to do, this I keep on doing.
I mean, he's basically saying, I want to do what's right. I find myself not doing it. And the very thing I don't want to do, I find myself doing that. Anybody in this room having that struggle at all? Yeah, same here.
Here's what I want you to understand. Christ comes into our life. His game plan is to turn us from a green caterpillar and be metamorphosized. Remember, the walk is a process, into the transformation of a beautiful butterfly in terms of our character and likeness of Christ. But listen to what the Apostle Paul goes on to say.
He says, Now, if I do what I do not want to do, He identifies the problem. It's no longer I who do it, but it's sin living in me that does it. What a wretched man that I am, who will rescue me from this body of death? And then he gives us the answer: thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And 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 seven through ten of Ephesians four will explain. how it happens. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. And therefore, it says, he reaches back and quotes Psalm 68, 18. He makes some small modifications.
But he says when he, speaking of Jesus, ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives. And he gave gifts to men. Underlying, he gave gifts to men because right after this, he's going to explain the gifts. We'll talk about the gifts and how spiritual gifts really interact to help us be conformed to the image of Christ. And then now he explains.
Now this expression, he ascended, what does it mean? except that he also descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is himself also he who ascended far above all the heavens. And here's a purpose clause.
so that he might fill all things.
Now here's what I want you to get. Paul would take some different pieces. And pull them all together, and he's going to describe for you and me what Jesus accomplished and whatever he accomplished that's true of him. becomes true of us. Phrase number one: He led captive a host of captives.
This imagery is from the Old Testament, but was still true in the Roman world. Here's the picture. You go to battle against your foes. Maybe they're in a large city. You surround the city.
You build ramparts. You may cut off the water, cut off the food. It may take months or even years in some of those battles. And then you defeat your enemy. And once you defeat your enemy in those days, you would often deport them to other places.
And when you would defeat your enemy, you would come back to your hometown and celebrate the victory. Often the general or the king would be on a white horse. Behind him would be all of his army, often in their best battle array. Behind them would be the captives that are described here. And they would chain them three, five, seven across, and they would be stripped to the waist.
or sometimes it gets a little graphic, they would strip them naked. And then behind them would be what's called the spoils. There might be, you know, all the cattle, all the donkeys, all the gold, all the silver, all the jewelries.
So, this is a procession or a train. And so, imagine this general coming back into his hometown, people cheering. He's on a white horse, he's demonstrating we've won the victory. Here's who won the victory: the soldiers. Behind them, here's our humiliated, defeated foe.
And behind them, the evidence of the great victory are the spoils: gold, silver. Animals. And so the people would cheer. The military would get much of the spoils, but then the spoils or the gifts as an evidence of the victory would be given to some of the people in the town.
So if I was a lady cheering, I might get a cow. Or I might get a bracelet. And so I would get these gifts, but these gifts are an indication of a victory that's been won and a foe that has been defeated. And Paul uses this imagery as Jesus as the victorious. Victor over sin.
Over death and over Satan, and he's going to talk in a minute about the captives. who he's overcome. And what he's done in giving us gifts or spiritual gifts are the evidence of that victory. The next key word is: he's the righteous judge. It says, the lower parts of the earth.
The picture I want you to get is: there's this reality of a Jewish Old Testament picture of what was going on when people die. The lower parts of the earth, then, here's what happens. When Jesus went into the lower parts of the earth, he made a proclamation. And an announcement. He proclaimed a victory's been won.
To the abode of the wicked. And then he proclaimed the good news that the Savior, the Messiah, is going to do what? All that you hoped for, and all the animal sacrifices, all that you believed of God, all the promises of God, they're finished. It's been won. The Messiah has come.
Follow along, if you will. Hades, this is what it says in 1 Peter. Three, eighteen, and nineteen. For Christ died once for sin. The righteous for the unrighteous.
Why? To bring us to God. He was put to death in the body, but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison. Important, the word preached here is not the same word we'll see in just a minute. This is a word for a pronouncement of judgment.
The lower parts of paradise, 1 Peter 4, 6. For this reason the gospel was preached, different word, even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men with regard to the body. but live according to God with regard to the Spirit. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and will 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 any time. 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. Now, let me ask you to do something, if you will. Open your Bibles to John chapter 5.
Some of you are looking at me like, this is really weird.
Okay, I get that. What I want you to do is open to John chapter 5, and I want you to listen to what Jesus said would happen. He's preaching in John chapter 5. Beginning at verse 24.
Now listen to what he says. He's giving this tremendous offer. He says, Truly, truly, or I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes in him who sent me, notice the tense of the verb, has eternal life. And the result of this present possession of eternal life when you believe or trust in Christ is he will not be condemned, but is crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth.
Notice what he says. A time is coming, and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God. and those who hear will live. Notice what Jesus' role is. For the Father has life in himself, and so he's granted the Son to have life in himself, and he has given him authority to what?
to judge because he is the Son of Man. Notice the very next line, verse 28. Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out. And those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. And the Apostle Paul is saying in this little picture here, When he went into the lower parts of the earth, Jesus was first the victorious victor over sin and death and Satan.
Second, he went into the lower parts of the earth and he condemned and gave judgment on the wicked and then told those who had been trusting in him: it's over. Your faith has been fulfilled. Finally, this last unique phrase that he might fill all things. And the idea of Phil here is the idea that Jesus is taking back all territory. He's the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings.
There's victory over sin. There's victory over death. There's victory over Satan. Remember when he's tempted by the devil? And the devil said to him, If you will bow down before me, I will give you these kingdoms.
Apparently, in God's economy, He had responsibility over a certain reign upon the earth because of sin. And and Jesus Avoided that temptation, but now what he does, Colossians 2 says, he destroyed the works of the devil, and he is now proclaiming, he fills all things. He's the ruler, he's the Lord, he's the king of kings now in real time. It's a defeated foe. You can look death in the eyes because its sting is gone.
Sin's power, broken. Sin's penalty, gone. In fact, we pick up. This in Revelation chapter 5. Follow along and listen carefully for the very end.
They sang a new song. You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals because you were slain. And with your blood you purchase men from God in every tribe and every language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God and they will reign on the earth. And then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels numbering thousands upon thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand.
And they encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. And in a loud voice they said, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise then. I heard. Every creature in heaven And on earth and Under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing, to him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb be praise, and honor, and glory, and power. Forever.
We've taken some very remote pieces and a couple hard passages, and the very words of Jesus, and we have understood what it means that He ascended. That he also descended, and that now he is the ruler, the king, the lord of lords. He's a victorious Savior, and everything that happened with regard to him of conquering sin and death and Satan is now true of you.
Now. Our theology lesson is over. I hope you'll look up some of those verses, scratch your head. But here's what I want you to get. There are three Undeniable facts.
and three principles. that 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.
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. Not only has sin's power been broken, but sin's penalty has been paid for. Christ, when He hung upon the cross, the sins of all people of all time were placed on Him and He absorbed it for you in your place.
So write, I'm forgiven. And third, you are secure. Death doesn't have dominance over you anymore because you have eternal life. The moment you turned from your sin in the empty hands of faith, trusted in Christ, the Spirit of God came into you, sealed you with the Spirit. Adopted you into his family, took you from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, gave you a new relationship with God the Father through the blood of Christ, relationship with the supernatural community called the body of Christ, gave you an inheritance.
He's preparing a place for you, deposited spiritual gifts in you, gave purpose for your life, and you'll never be the same. But it happened in objective space-time history. These are facts. 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, as a believer, a child of God, a son or a daughter, can look death straight in the eye, can look sin and realize you can give in to it, but doesn't have power over you.
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.
You can feel it or not feel it. You're forgiven. You're free. and you're secure. begins with the truth.
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 is really great. If God gives more grace if you sin more, why don't we just start sinning more? Chapter 6 opens up with an emphatic, that is not at all an option. He says, What shall we say then?
Shall we go on sinning 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 live, or literally, it's our same word. might walk in newness of life.
Now follow along carefully. If we have 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 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.
count yourself dead to sin and how to present your members by faith. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. and a message called, Where Do We Get the Power to Change? We're in a series we've just begun called Free at Last, How to Break Out of a Destructive Lifestyle. We'll continue next time, and remember all of Chip's teachings are available online at livingonthege.org.
Three truths from today worth repeating You are free, you are forgiven, you are secure. That's the foundation for the kind of life change this series is all about. Chip's book titled Yes, You Really Can Change is built on exactly these truths: a practical guide on how to move from knowing them to actually living them. It's an honest, hopeful look at what genuine transformation requires. And right now, we're including a second copy with every purchase so you can share the reading experience with someone seeking real change.
Find it at livingonthege.org/slash offers. And you know, this ministry is listener-supported, and your generosity is what makes it possible. If Living on the Edge has been meaningful in your life, we invite you to help us keep going strong. Your gift of any amount helps us reach more people with life-changing truth. Give online at livingonthege.org or by calling us at 888-333-6003.
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Well now here's Chip. Someone has rightly said, We are what we eat. If your mind and heart isn't saturated with the truth, you will not change. I mean, I can't tell you how many people I meet and I love them and God loves them and I'll speak somewhere and they'll come up afterwards and they'll tell me the struggles in their heart and their life or with pornography or in a relationship or with one of their kids or anxiety or depression. I mean, and then I always ask them, tell me a little bit about your daily practice or, you know, weekly practice of getting into God's Word.
What are you putting in your mind? And what I want you to hear with a heart of compassion is that people who have their minds renewed are making progress, and people whose minds are not being renewed aren't making progress. It's the key. Remember what Jesus said: you will know the truth, and the truth will. You can fill it in, can't you?
The truth will set you free.
Well, you don't need more exhortation. Let me give you a specific game plan beginning right now today to get into the truth. Number one, I want you to decide for the next seven days what's the best time for you to spend time with God. Number two, where are you going to do it? I mean, just for seven days, I want to get you started.
Now I want you to take one verse, something you're hearing on the radio or where you're reading the Bible, and I want one verse that really matters to you, and I want you to write it on a 3x5 card today. All right, I'm not messing around. I mean, today, you write it down, and then at the beginning of the day, and you carry it with you, and maybe at dinner or at some breaks, and before you go to bed, I want you to read that one verse and ask God to make that one verse real in your life. These are just baby steps to get you going. Third is: I want you to decide in your travel time that instead of listening to talk radio or music, and on the way to work and on the way back, you are going to play Christian biblical teaching to renew your mind.
These are baby steps to get you going, but I'm telling you, it will help. Are you ready? Let's dig in together.
Next time Chip Ingram concludes his message from Ephesians 4, where do we get the power to change? That's the message next time on Living on the Edge. Yeah. Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge. Uh
