Yes! You Really CAN Change - Where Do We Get the Power to Change?, Part 2

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. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Chip's our Bible teacher on this international discipleship ministry motivating Christians to live like Christians.

I'm Dave Drouy. We're in the middle of Chip's series, Yes, You Really Can Change. Hearing that, you may be thinking, that's impossible. I can't make anything change.

That discouraging feeling of being stuck can be overwhelming. But as we've heard in this series so far, genuine life change is possible with God's help. Let's learn more about this important concept as Chip brings us part two of his message, Where Do We Get the Power to Change, from Ephesians chapter four. Life change always begins with the truth. It's objective.

Here's what I want you to get. We are so in an existential world. We think it's our experience. We think it life change is trying harder.

We think there's some formula. We think of religious activities. We have all kind of people telling you self-help ways of how life change happens. Life change, metamorphosis from the inside out, New Testament, it always begins with the truth. 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 to his family, took you from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, gave you 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 into 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. I'm gonna ask you to do a little work here, and as you turn to Romans chapter 6, I want to read a few of the verses that came before the questions that the young man asked me, that came before the questions that the young mom asked me. The Apostle Paul, what I'm gonna 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 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'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 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.

But let me give you a picture that's been very helpful to me. I'm going to just take this block of wood, I put a cross on it and let's let this represent Christ. And let's have this very heavy looking bolt represent us apart from Christ. And all I want you to get is what we know is wood has a certain nature or properties and steel bolts have a certain nature or properties.

There's a gravitational pull in life and there's a gravitational pull for all of us away from God called sin and left to ourselves. Does anybody know if I take this heavy bolt and put it in this water, what will happen? Any predictions? It's going to sink. Let's test this theory.

My lands were an amazing group. Now, the properties of wood are quite different. If I take this piece of wood and lay it in the water, can you tell me what's going to happen?

It's going to float. Why? Because is it better? It's just it's different.

It's a completely different nature. 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 by faith, which is this rubber band. 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.

Now, can I pull the rubber band off and get wet if I want to? Sure. 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 help me on my walk because remember what 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 and 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 so what do you mean he said what happened to you I said that I mean what do you mean what happened to me there's a peace about you I can't understand and I said well dad I I you know we can't 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 I'd only 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 I I the one key I said I started reading the Bible and so you know you got a 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 turn 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 I'll tell you with 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 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 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 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 what I've put there is a picture of kind of like a 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 what's sin it just means you miss the mark it means you blow it it means you had a thought that you know was not a good thought it means that you know you know what's right to do but you don't do it everyone has sinned and falls short of the glory of God but the wages of 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 gonna 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 sins separates you from God for all eternity and God's Word says his desires that not one person would perish and so he's offered you a free gift and so you by faith say I'm gonna trust in Christ I want to be united to him will you please forgive me right now I'm sorry for my sin I turned 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 what remember what's in the back 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 realize you have this supernatural sacred endowment that you used 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 last 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 have the gift of mercy you're saying 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 of life change is both a gift and a responsibility it's a gift Chip will be right back with his application for this message where do we get the power to change you're listening to Living on the Edge and we're in the middle of chip series yes you really can change you know there's so much practical insight in this series based in Ephesians chapter 4 for people desperate for something in their life to change maybe you're looking to mend a broken relationship or overcome a recurring personal struggle genuine life change is absolutely possible but it takes a lot of work maybe a good way to get some help would be to share this message with a friend and then meet over coffee or jump on zoom to talk about it accountability and community are essential in becoming what God's called us to be to find all the resources for yes you really can change including chips book study guides and small group videos just go to Living on the Edge org or call triple 8 3 3 3 6 0 0 3 I'll be right back to talk about today's teaching and give you some real practical application but before I do I want to just remind you that the resurrection the ascension of Jesus Christ provided spiritual gifts to all men and when we activate and use those spiritual gifts we serve the body we help other people grow we help them become like Christ and I just think it would be wise for all of us to take a minute and thanks some people that have exercised their spiritual gift you're listening to this today because some people with the gift of giving have generously given over and above what they give to the local church to Living on the Edge and then I would say we want to thank those people with a gift of mercy that long to help everyone and they realize they can't do it all on their own so they partner with us as we reach out and help others that are in need and we put all kind of free resources up and I'm convinced it's people with the gift of mercy that say you know we've got to help those single moms and single dads and people the gift of mercy who say you know a lot of those prisoners that we help on a lot of those military personnel we have letters and emails from all these people and we provide resources on a regular basis to help them and finally I want to say just thank you to those of you who maybe you're not quite sure what your gift is but you just care our ministry is on the air because of the faithful and generous financial support of those who benefit from it and those who realize that Christians need to live like Christians about a million people every week from the radio alone I mean forget the internet and podcasts and streaming and all the rest but a million people hear God's Word put it into practice I want to say first thank you to our partners who are making better reality but I also like you to stop right now and say when's the last time you exercised maybe some giving or a spiritual gift and request that you get on board you know the generosity of others has provided this for you wouldn't you like to be on the team and provide it for others if partnering with Living on the Edge is an idea that makes sense to you we'd love to have you join us helping Christians live like Christians will change the world we live in to donate just go to Living on the Edge org tap donate on the app or give us a call at triple 8 3 3 3 6 0 0 3 your generosity is greatly appreciated well now here's chip with his application for the last two days we've been talking about how to experience Christ 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 changes 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'm gonna stop there I sense that maybe many of you listening to my voice have a issue with forgiveness in fact I came back from a conference that I did and I was teaching this material and a man came up to me and he looked very distraught and he said to me chip I gotta tell you something and begin to explain a long painful story of thousands and thousands of dollars to a man who married his daughter and she was abandoned and what she's been through and he had anger and bitterness and resentment and in his heart of hearts he said I just can't forgive that guy and I said well can I ask you a question he said well sure I said do you feel like you're experiencing Christ's resurrection power in your life he said no not at all and I said you know something there's a correlation here God has forgiven and released you from that what you've done wrong and the passage we looked at is just as Christ has forgiven us we are to forgive or release others 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 want 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 and trust 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 him 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 the end of our conference we took the Lord's Supper and I walk people through a time of blessing or praying for those who had really heard him he came up after the Lord's Supper and he said you know something I started a whole new life this weekend I said what do you mean he said I prayed for that man who has milked me out of thousands of dollars and hurt my daughter and what I saw is my heart is beginning to change who do you need to forgive do it today God will honor it he will bless it and it is what truth looks like in your life so exercise faith release them even as God has released you just before we close I want you to know that as a staff we ask the Lord to help you take whatever your next faith step is we'd love to hear how it's going would you take a minute to send a note or give us a call either one is easy just send a quick note to chip at Living on the Edge org or give us a call at triple 8 3 3 3 6 0 0 3 that's triple 8 3 3 3 6 0 0 3 well I'm glad you've been with us and until next time this is Dave Drewey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge you