Well, good morning and welcome to our service this morning whether you're in the hall or the church are watching online. We're delighted that you've joined us. Just a bit of housekeeping before I start the announcements proper. We would like you to wear your mask when singing. You can take it off during the rest of the service and again please wear your mask as you're exiting the building and maintain social distancing. Of course we do accept that some people are exempt from wearing masks and we don't want you to feel embarrassed about that. Now, the communion will be immediately after the service, so the deacons will be going around giving out the wine just during the announcements. This evening at six o'clock, we have the pastor speaking, and if you're booked in, you know, and if you're not booked in, then do come along to our service anyway. Today is our 10th Sunday, which means that the entire offering that is given today and for this incoming week will go to support our own folk. We have our church prayer meeting on Tuesday evening at half past seven. Again, you don't need to book for that. We just want to see you coming along. Wednesday, Little Lambs is on from 11 until 12.15, and we would ask that if you are bringing your child, grandchild, or whoever, can you please book in with Heather? Her phone is on the website. On Sunday, the pastor will be speaking at our service at 11 in the morning. And again, can I remind you that you need to book in if you want to sit in the socially distant side of the church or the hall. And then our evening service at 6 PM, we will have a testimony from David Hamilton. I think some of you know David and his background. And so we look forward to hearing what the Lord has done in his life. Now, we have a prayer letter from Matthew and Liz. Matthew and Liz are working with New Tribes Mission, and it's on the display board at the back of the church, so please take that as you leave the service. Now you know you're on the countdown to Christmas when you're talking about Christmas carols. And the church is going, that's everyone who wants to be involved in it, going Christmas carol singing on Thursday the 16th of December. So meet at 6.45 in the church, that's Thursday week. If you want to be involved in carol singing, then please meet at the church then. That'll give you an opportunity to get out, get your Christmas jumper, your scarves, and so on for that. Now, the pastors already mentioned the senior citizens' meals yesterday, and can I formally thank those who prepared the meals, packed them, and delivered them. They were much appreciated. I've already had a couple of cards in from people who really appreciated what the church did. So thank you very much for all of those who were able to help in any way for this. And these are all the announcements, and of course, they're all made God willing. Thanks, Billy. Let's turn to God's Word as we come to this time. This is a special time, not just tied on or hinged on to our service, but it is a very vital and important part of our service. 1 Corinthians, please, and verse 23 and following. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 23 and following Paul giving instructions as he says was also passed on to him from the Lord of how we come to the Lord's table and also our reasoning and purpose for doing so. This is one of the times when it is commanded of us as the Lord's people to meet together to do this. This is one of the main reasons that we ought to meet together. So let's read together from God's word, 1 Corinthians chapter 11, and we're reading from verse 23. Paul says, for I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, The same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he break it and said, take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. And after the same manner also, he took the cup when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new covenant. the new testament in my blood. This do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show forth the Lord's death till he come. Amen, and we trust that the Lord will bless that reading of his word to our hearts. Paul doesn't really enter into the argument of how often we should remember the Lord or have communion as we would term it. There are varying and different reasons and different ideas and different ideologies as to how often and how frequent. Some would prefer to do it every day, well that's fine. I mean, you're sitting at an ordinary meal in your house, you can just bow your head and say, Lord, thank you for dying for me. Some people believe it's every week, some believe it's every three months, and others have various and different seasons. It's interesting that we can all often get distracted by the periphery, and not think of the purpose. And we can get into dissension and discussion as to the things that aren't necessarily what it's all about. But here it's all about your heart. It's all about your relationship with him. It's all about what he has accomplished for you. And it's all about his death on the cross for our sins that we might be forgiven. And it's also about his resurrection and that new life that he imparts to those who have come to faith in him. How often that message gets lost. So today we're just gonna bow and thank the Lord. for the various benefits that are ours as we come to celebrate the Lord's Supper. There's only one advocate, and that is that you're saved. You're saved. I'm saved, hallelujah, and I know it. I've had a real experience of God. I've entered into his death and have received of his life, and I'm walking in fellowship with him. So let's remind ourselves of what he has done for us, and let's bow together in prayer. Let's pray. Lord, thank you that we can bow together in this communion service. Lord, this part of our service, Lord, which has now become, since COVID-19 appeared, to be part of the service and not attached to the end of it. We thank you, Lord, that Jesus is front and centre. We thank you, Lord, that he is the reason that we bow together just now. We thank you, Lord, for all that he has accomplished for us on the cross. We thank you for his death. Thank you for his obedience unto death, even the death of the cross. And thank you for that new life, that resurrection, that Lord is the justification of our faith in him. It gives us the reason, the purpose, the authenticity, the authority of what he has accomplished. So Father, as we bow together, we want to thank you for giving us your Son. Thank you for that sacrifice you made in giving the very best that heaven had, the darling of your bosom, the Lord Jesus Christ. We want to thank you, Lord Jesus, for dying for us. Lord, you had many opportunities that you could have turned and ran. You had many other invitations to, as it were, change the program of heaven. Thank you that you overcame the temptation of the devil to, as he was offering a crown without a cross, A crowd without a crucifixion, a community without commitment. Thank you for him. Thank you for what you've done. Thank you for that choice you made in going all the way to Calvary, bearing shame and scoffing rude, and in my place condemned he stood, sealed my pardon with his blood. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Thank you today, Lord, we can sit and we can partake of the Lord's Supper knowing that we are forgiven. My sins are gone. Gone, gone, my sins are all gone. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord, that I am forgiven. I've been set free. Thank you, Lord, that I now do not live in dread of the future, nor the shame of the past. but I walk in newness of life because of your sacrifice for me and for each one of us. Thank you, Lord, that we can sit here today in fellowship with God. Once we were not a people. Once we were strangers, as Robert Murray McShane wrote that lovely hymn. I once was a stranger to grace and to God. but now we're living in fellowship with him. Thank you, Lord, for that fellowship, that sweet fellowship, that precious fellowship that we enjoy because we are forgiven, we are in the fold in the family of God, and we are the children of God. Thank you also, Father. that we can sit in this place and take of this communion. And no, Lord, there's not between each one or the other. We can sit here in fellowship with one another, though we have come from many arts and parts and various backgrounds. And so we thank you, Lord, for these blessings. Thank you for the church, which is built around the death and resurrection of Christ. We just give you thanks. And so, Lord, as we come to eat of this bread, we thank you for this bread which reminds us of the broken body of the Lord Jesus. We thank you that he bore our sins. He took my pain. He took my punishment and made all these blessings which we have just mentioned real for each one of us. So thank you for suffering. And Lord, as we shortly come to take of this cup, We thank you for the cup of the new covenant, the new testament in his blood. We thank you that it's satisfied the righteous and just demands of a holy God and it makes peace between the sinner and the sovereign. In Christ's name we pray, amen. On that day that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread and he broke it and he said, this is my body which is broken for you. He said, this do in remembrance of me. And in the same manner, on that upper room, what a precious, I was in the upper room when I went to Israel, and what a sobering, what a solemn, and what a blessed place to be whenever we went with David McElveen and a group there. How blessed it was to be in what they understand to be the upper room. And to let your imagination run wild and see the disciples gathered around him. Be able to picture in your mind those descriptions that the Bible has of that great event. And to see him say, this is my blood which was shed for you. Drink ye all of it. Father, we pray that as we gather together, Lord, we know there's no merit in what we've done. There's just appreciation in our hearts for what you have done. Bless, Lord, as we continue to worship you. And Father, use, Lord, these times, these special opportunities to further develop our faith and our fervency for Christ. In his name we pray, amen. Now, James and Louise are going to lead us in our next song, thank you. This next little song I would just use as a leg of prayer to bring me close to God, to bring us close to God at this time, to shut out everything that's around us, to close out all of the world and just to be close with God at this time. Draw me close to you Never let me go bring me back I'm nothing else Oh Oh Thank you. If you've got your Bibles then please turn with me to Romans chapter 7 as we try to come to a conclusion of this chapter as we deal with our victory and the problems that the Christian has regarding the law and living the life. Before we do that, we as a church want to offer our sympathy. I just heard, prior to coming up to the pulpit, of Roberta Evans's mum has passed away during the week, Leah Rothbottom, and she passed away during the week. She has been quite ill, so that's Eddie and Roberta Evans, if you know them, in the church here. Her mum passed away during the week, and her sympathy goes from the leaders and the fellowship here to Roberta and the family. on the passing of your mom. I know that she's been quite ill for quite some time, and now she's been called home. So Romans chapter seven, and we also want you to put your finger in Galatians chapter two, verses 17 to 21. What we have to do when we're dealing with a subject, especially the subject we're dealing with today, this passage, we have to let Scripture interpret Scripture. and we have to come to a place where we have to see what the scriptures say about Paul's position on this great matter of from defeat to victory. So Romans chapter seven, we will read from verse 13, and then also in Galatians chapter two, and we will read just two verses, sorry, five verses of Galatians chapter two, verses 17 to 21. We'll get you to stand together as we read God's word to give you an opportunity to change your positions. Let's stand together for reading of God's word. Verse 13 of Romans chapter seven, and I'll try and go as slowly as I can, so we take in these phrases. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me, be that which is good, that sin by the commandment may become exceedingly sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual. I am carnal. My default mechanism is sinfulness. I'm sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, That do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent on to the law, I agree with the law that it is right, it's good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but that's in default position that dwells in me. For I know that in me that is in my flesh, or old nature, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. For the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Christ Jesus our Lord. So then with the mind I serve, myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. And over there to Galatians chapter two and verse 17, Paul still dealing with this great subject. But if while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. And here's how. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Amen. And we trust that the Lord will help us meditate and also communicate his word. You may be seated. Thank you so much. Well, you remember last week, we only got halfway through the message. We got you well and truly defeated, and in the depths of despair, not able to manage to gain any source of victory or any sort of victory in your life. Well, today's title is just simply this, Victory in Jesus. I really wanted to sing that song we finished with last Sunday again, but if you can remember when we were singing, it was Victory in Jesus, my Savior forever. He sought me and he bought me by his redeeming love. Well, that's what we're dealing with today. We're trying to get you out of defeat and into victory. And who doesn't want to be in victory? Isn't that right? I'm sure you must be fed up losing that old temper. I'm sure you must be fed up with that old anger that rages within, that old sense of unforgiveness, those oftentimes being down in the depths of despair, embarrassed and ashamed of your actions and in your activity. I'm sure, like most of us, you'll be fed up with that. You know, some folk, they place great importance in being able to practice the gifts of the Spirit. And it's important, as this Bible teaches that. Others place great emphasis on the ability to preach. Oh, he's a great preacher. You want to hear the message he preached the other day. Others take great stock and place great priority on the ability to teach, to dissect God's word and to exposit the truth and bring out the truth. So that's the teaching of God's word. Others take great priority in the gift of evangelism. On that note, there's not as many evangelists around today as there used to be. Whenever Esther and I were in the faith mission, boy evangelists, you had Joe Black, you had Sam Workman, you had Boland and Grant, and a host of others. And they were all effective in winning the lost. Now we have only got a handful that we could refer to that are gifted evangelists. What's going on? I often wonder. Others put great priority on organizational or managerial skills and qualities within the church. What many miss is that God's first and foremost desire for the church, God's people, is that we live in victory. That's his first desire, his first priority, that you and me I was reading this morning in my own quiet time, and of course another translation, how the reason that he brought us to himself was that we would live to his glory and his honor. I would also add, effectiveness in evangelism, in teaching, in preaching, in winning souls, and building up the body of Christ is tied, all tied in with this life of victory. A number of hymns, as I was preparing during the week, came to me, and you'll hear them not sang, but quoted throughout this message, taken from our own hymn book. How I praise thee, precious Savior, that thy love laid hold of me. Thou hast saved and cleansed and filled me that I may Thy channel be. Channels only, blessed Master, yet with all Thy wondrous power flowing through us, Thou canst use us every day and every hour, yet sin can often block Him flowing through us. Listen to this verse. Empty that Thou shouldest fill me, a clean vessel in Thine hand, with no power but that thou givest every day and every hour. As far as that hymn goes, he ties the effectiveness in ministry with lives that are living in victory. Wouldn't that be right to say that? Again, I remind you it's in our hymn book. What is victory? We posed that question last week. It's a life that doesn't keep falling foul to the old sinful nature. We are now seeking to live a new life with the power of the Holy Spirit, having died to self and living unto God. It's a life that doesn't operate in the old default mechanism. but a life that's now living under a new master. They say that whenever you want to know what's in an orange, just give it a squeeze and you'll see what comes out of it. Well, just squeeze the odd Christian and you'll know what's inside. And sometimes the Lord allows us to be in circumstances that squeeze us, maybe brought to a place of temptation. or maybe a place of opposition and oppression. Consider this, God is squeezing us to help us see what's already in there. Let me very quickly then, go very quickly through to bring you up to speed to those of you who probably weren't here last Sunday and I'm not gonna spend much time. We first of all talked about the problem. I am yet carnal. We talked about what that was. We clarified what being carnal was. A carnal Christian is someone whose life is not characterised by walking in the spirit. A carnal Christian is a person who is still characterised by living in the old way and the old lifestyle. You can still see more of the old traits of the old man than the new man. And by the way, I said it last week, I'm gonna say it again, I am not preaching sinless perfection here. I don't believe that's possible. You will not be sinlessly perfect till you get to glory. That's one of the blessings of death. Let me say that to you. The old goes and the old man is put to death and he's buried the second time. But what I am talking about is that our life of victory and walking in God and walking in the Spirit is more prominent than the old sinful failures of the flesh. That's what I'm talking about. Yet carnal. Paul says that as he describes this carnal Christian, they're still dominated by the old nature. In other words, you don't see any change in their life. or very little. You see the odd little glimpse of spirituality, the odd little glimpse of spiritual desire, the odd little glimpse of the spirit life as we'll go into in Romans 8 after Christmas. No more Romans until after Christmas because I can't get my head around all these concepts. But it's a person who is still displaying the bad temper, the bad tongue, the bad language, the bad habits, the bad ideas. They're still gripped with this old fallen nature. And they are falling foul to it in every step and every turn of the road. Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 3 and 3, he says, You are still carnal, for where there is envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? That's what we faced with me this morning. In other words, he says, if you're still getting into strife, still getting into arguments, see you Mr. and Mrs. who profess to be saved and you're still arguing the bit out. You're arguing like mere men. That's what Paul says, you're still living in the flesh. You're not walking in the spirit. Here's the secret to successful marriage, right here. Here's the secret to successful parenting, right here. Here's the secret to successful, we're not really talking about success in the work of the church, we're talking about success in the life of the Christian. He says if you're still arguing and fighting and bickering and getting on, he says you're still acting like me or men. Well I'm a man and you're a man or a woman, whatever. I hope you realise what you are. Because there's only two genders as far as I'm concerned, man and woman. And that's the only two that God put in the garden. Well, what we're talking about here is people, mere men, who are living on the flesh. Here's what Galatians 5, 19 says, When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear. Listen to them. Sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarrelling. When's the last time you had a quarrel, eh? When's the last time you fell out with your wife, your husband, whatever, your neighbor, your sibling? Quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties. You don't have to go to number 10 to have a wild party. As the Paul says in Galatians 5 verse 19. In and of our old nature, we have not the ability. I'm not going to spend much more time. You now know what the clarification is. If you're still carnal, then you're still doing that. And if you're still doing that, then you're carnal. And the sad thing about it is that unbelievers look at your life and say, well, what about your life? This gospel doesn't work. See, you flew off the handle to me at work. See, you cook the books just to make a pound. I was speaking in Ballycraigie yesterday morning at a men's breakfast and I was talking beside a tax man. He says, you're not wanting to really talk to me. He says, I'm into taxation. I says, what's that? He says, well, I deal with tax issues. I says, you're exactly the man that I like to talk to. And we talked about the whole regime of tax evasion, tax avoidance, tax this, tax that, tax the other. Because nobody can see that. Nobody can see you doing it. Only you and God and the tax money if he catches on. I'm not going to take much more time other than to say that's the clarification. Notice the conflict. There's a conflict of potential. You could do better. I can remember when I was at school, I couldn't have done any worse. That's true. I couldn't have done any worse. I got an F in most things. Simply because I didn't apply myself. The one thing, it was interesting, there's a wee bit of psychology for you if you're a teacher. The subjects that I liked to teach her were the subjects that I did well. So, teacher, if you're a teacher, buy your pupils sweets every morning. Give them no homework. I don't think so. But that was interesting. And often, on my report, could do far better. I had the potential, they said, to do far better. But there's a conflict of purpose. There's a conflict of potential. There's a conflict of purpose because the new nature is given to you to serve Christ and to exalt Christ and to be walked as a child of God. That's what you got. You got a new nature and that's your purpose. But as the old purpose of the old nature wants to satisfy and gratify flesh, it wants to promote self. That's why you can't even trust it. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? So there's a conflict of purpose, and there's a conflict of principle. He knows the law is good. He knows the law is right. In fact, we read it there, he even agrees with the law. He agrees with God's law that condemns him, but somehow he's able to justify, to qualify, to argue with the fact of what he's doing. Somehow God will forgive me for all of doing this. He may, but look at the damage you're doing. the conflict that reaches. You're gonna laugh at this one, and I hope you do, because it'll fall flat and it'll rebound back on me, but there's quite a large preacher. I'm being diplomatic here, in case you think that I'm being insensitive. But I'm gonna say it as it should be said, he was quite fat. And a few of his congregation came to him and said, do you not hate being fat? He says, I do, but I hate being hungry more. I hate failure. I hate flying off the handle. I hate giving in to the pleasures of life, the carnal Christian would say. But I hate denying myself more. That's the problem. Very quickly then, let's get on to the provision. He says, oh wretched man that I am, Who shall deliver me from this body of death? I said to you last week, I do not believe that that was Paul's ongoing experience because I would wonder how he could read and write Galatians 2 and 20 and other passages and speak and write on Galatians 5 and talk about the fullness of the Spirit where he says in Galatians 2 and 20, I have been. Paul you're a liar, you haven't been, you're still living according to the flesh, according to what some people think. I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. The life that I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. You know, let me say this to you. Paul is not talking about improvement. He's talking about deliverance. Improvement, I can watch my P's and Q's and be all polite. I remember when somebody said to me, he's not as polished as we would like. I'm sorry, I can't be fake. I have to be me. Some people like polished. Well, I polished my shoes, is that enough? Paul is not taught, we can dress ourselves up. I like what W.P. Nicholson used to say, we can dress ourselves up with rags and relics of religion, but that doesn't do one bit of good to our hearts. A lot of time, people deny themselves, they beat themselves up, they try to make themselves better. Now you catch, you point out my false wanting whenever I say something out of place. That's improvement. He's not talking about improvement. He's talking about deliverance. It's a decisive, distinctive, dramatic, definite action, event that has taken place in his life. Who shall deliver me from this body of death? Remember we finished, is there anybody there can help me? Paul is like a man who's hanging on to a rope down a deep, dark well, can't see the bottom, and he's held on as long as he can, and after a few hours, his muscles begin to go into spasms, his fingers and his hands get tired, and he begins so weak that he can't hold on at all any longer, and he discovers, I just have to let go here, and he lets go of the rope, and there's only three inches to the ground. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from this body of death? Then we get over to Galatians 2 and 20. I have been crucified. He falls into the arms of a loving Savior. He stops trying to improve his life. It's not change, get this, it's exchange. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. That Hebrew, the Hebrew construction of that verse is the exchange of my weakness for his strength. When we read Galatians 20, that tells us how it happened. He says, I died. I was crucified with Christ. I know this is good, deep theology, don't you? You just love it, don't you? No? What would you like? Would you like me to come and tell you Mary had a little lamb's fleece as white as snow? Would you like me to tickle your ears and say you're good, you're a nice, sweet Christian, you're all chained up and you're coming to church and you're paying your hundred pence in the pound and you're keeping the preacher in the job and that's all very good? That will not get you, do you, one bit of good. Deep, sound doctrine of God's Word is how we are built up. How we're built up. Paul came to a crisis. He let go of the rope. He says, if I die, I die. But I'm not gonna live like this any longer, holding on to this old rope, down this old dark way. I'll not know what's on ahead of me, what failure, what dark deed and demon is hiding in my heart. That's where people go wrong. They try to change instead of exchange. Folk, this is a fundamental truth in the Word of God if we are to know victory in our lives and the blessing and power of God on earth. experience. Jesus himself said except the corn of wheat fall to the ground and die yet it bideth alone but if it fall and if it die it shall spring forth. Jesus said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water living water not dead words dropping off some old dead preacher and some old dead congregation but life life abundant life it's not what we want Don't we want our families to be changed to experience Christ in our home, around our family altar where we enter into the things of God? And mother and father and son and daughter and uncles and aunts and brothers and sisters know that you're a Christian, that you're alive to God. They're almost embarrassed for you to be in their presence because something of His holiness comes with you. Isn't that what we want? It's an exchange. What do we mean by an exchange? It means that Jesus takes control, command, and charge of the vessel. He brings in his desires, his love, his care, his praise, his will, his heart, and his passion. Nestor and I said yes to the Lord. You've heard this story before. I'm going to tell it again because it goes well. Whenever we went into Babel College, we sensed the call of God to go into full-time work. We didn't look for advice. We didn't think of looking for advice. We didn't think that we would need advice. We just wanted to do whatever the Lord says. That's the person that we are. That's who we are. So we had a few problems. One is we had a house and we had a mortgage. I didn't believe you could go to, not that I have any theological or doctrinal problem with having a mortgage, none of that, but I didn't know how you could pay a mortgage and go to Babel College at the same time, because you don't, by the way, you don't get paid to go to Babel College. So we decided we'd sell the house. And that's a story God wonderfully undertook for us. We got far more for our house than anybody else in Tully, and yet our house was a little terraced house. We got more for our house than people who lived in the end of Terrace got for their house. And their houses were far more fancy than our house. And yet our house, because two people wanted it, they fought the bid out, and our house was twice the price that everybody else's house was. That's God. That's God. Well, we sold the house. Double quick time. But we're not in Bible College yet because there's three months to go before we go to Bible College. We don't know where to live. So I got in touch with my friend Gary Tutty. Gary, thank you, if you're listening. And we took our house and our furniture into his house and we dumped his stuff out of his house. Because the woodworm in his furniture was saying hello to us every morning and every evening. And we wanted to stay alive for another wee while. Whenever Jesus comes in, he dumps the old furniture out and he brings his furniture in. Mercy, grace, forgiveness. It would almost be, and that's why Jesus said we are to be as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves. It's almost as if you appear to be an easy touch. Is that the time, 12 o'clock? Where is the time going? When Christ takes up residence in our lives, in his fullness, he brings in his furniture. The old self is dethroned and ejected, and his grace and mercy and, because that's the new nature. That's the new nature. Turn with me to 1 Timothy chapter one and verse 13. 1 Timothy one. 1 Timothy 1 and verse 13. This will give you the secret as to how. 1 Timothy 1 and verse 13, and it says, read verse 12. And I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. I heard yesterday of a man who had played for a church. I would never have played for any church anywhere, but I heard of a man who had played for a church. Whenever God puts you in places, God puts you there, not yourself. Not yourself. But here's what it says. I thank God, our Lord, who has enabled me, for he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor injurious, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and unbelief. Paul, as he's describing his old past life, the life in sin, he did it ignorantly and in unbelief. Two words. ignorance and unbelief. For many Christians, that's why they're stuck where they are, because of ignorance and unbelief. Two key words to going on with God, truth and faith. Truth and faith. This is the essential path for living a victorious Christian life over falling foul to your old sinful nature and your old sinful habits. Here's what Dr. Martin Lyde-Jones said on this subject. He said, if every Christian is living in the light and the experience of everything that God has provided for them, then why under God's heaven is the church and the world and the state that it's in? This great exchange is the key to living in the light. We love that song, we'll sing it. It's no longer, there I'm singing, I'm gonna sing it anyway. It's no longer I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me. It is no longer I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in, but is that true? This is the reality of what we're preaching about. It's no longer me that's living. How dare I say that if I keep flying off the handle? How dare I say that if I keep taking the odd wee sneaky drink behind everybody's back? By the way, those are not the only sins. Those are not the only sins. Sometimes we love to categorise and catalogue sin and as long as we don't do that one, that one, that one, that one, that one, then we're okay. But there's another catalogue and it's called the sins of the spirit. You've heard me singing that one before, you're not going to hear me again. Get them out, get them going on the little rabbits in the fields of corn. Envy, jealousy, malice and pride, they must never in my heart abide. Here's what Paul said in Galatians 6 and 14, but God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified onto me and I onto the world. That's not somebody who's talking about a defeated experience. Paul would tell you how the devil's kingdom was ransacked, how the devil's power was broken and undone. It is Christ in me, the hope of glory. Paul will tell us everything he did as an evangelist, every church that he planted, every disciple, every convert that he saw made, every leadership established were not his doing, but it was Christ in me and through me. Jesus Christ living, moving, leading, walking, warring, gating me from within. He is now present. We can then sing in all honesty, he is Lord. He is Lord. He's risen from the dead and he is Lord. Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ was Lord. Little boy. After listening to a pastor preach something like this in the fullness of the Spirit, he went to the pastor after the service was over, and he said, Pastor, you talked about Jesus coming and living within me. He says, you only see the size of me. I'm a wee boy. He says, if Jesus is in me, he says, he'd be sticking out all over the place. That's exactly what it means. Jesus sticking out all over me. Everywhere. The secret is stop trying to stop. I told you the flesh will fool you. It's not change. The answer is not in a theory. The answer is in a person. It's Christ. He is my all in all. I've died to me and he's now living in me. Here's another song. I'm not singing it. His life for mine, his life for mine, how could it ever be that he would die, God's son would die to save a wretch like me? Here's another song. These are all Nuremberg, by the way. Live out thy life within me, O Jesus, King of kings. Be thou thyself the answer to all my questionings. Live out thy life within me, and all things have thy way. I the transparent medium, thy glory to display. Whenever God told the children of Israel to cross Jordan and into the promised land, he told them two things concerning truth and faith. He says to the Levites, take the ark, and as soon as you put your foot into the water, they'll part. But he makes sure that the divisions and the nations, or sorry, the various clans and company of God's people follow at a distance. And he says, you just walk on through the Jordan and they will follow you. Listen, and they got to the other side. Now there's no rocket science there. It's not hard to understand. God just told them what way to go, and he told them how to do it, and they did it. And that's what they did. When they got to the other side, they weren't congratulating the Levites. They weren't congratulating the boys that was carrying the ark. They weren't congratulating one another that they got over. They were thanking God they got through. Nothing difficult, complicated, or extravagant. By the way, would you like to know what Paul was saying there when he was talking about, oh wretched man, who shall deliver me from this body of death? You know what that was? If you've been reading the commentators, some of them will have quoted this next week's explanation. When a man committed murder or some deed that was worthy of death, the person that they murdered, they would be strapped to the person who did the murdering. Eye to eye, nose to nose, mouth to mouth, chest to chest, leg to leg, toe to toe. And as the process of mortification began to happen, the dead man's body would start eating into the worms, and whatever happens would start eating into the man who'd done the murder. And he says, who shall deliver me from this body of death? Christ is the answer to our every need. His death, his life in me. I haven't much time to finish this, but I'm gonna take two minutes. Notice the position from then, which you begin to live this life. Paul says, I die. But he says in 1 Corinthians 15, he says, I die daily. I am not going to give in. I am going to reckon, as he said in Romans 6, that I am dead to sin and alive to Christ. And I am going to deny myself. I'm going to reckon myself. I'm going to consider myself dead. I'm not allowing that old sinful flesh to get the way. And I'm going to allow Christ to live out through me. Remember what I keep saying. The flesh does not have the ability to satisfy the law or live God's standard. So it's pointless even trying. We have to allow him to live his life out through us. That's what Romans 8 would be all about. The flesh would have you pointing out someone else's failures and not seeing your own. It would claim to be a master of spiritual truth, a master of the things of God, bragging how much better it could do it. It can have your own opinion, you can have your doctrines, you can pass your comments, and you can have all the sermons, but if your heart's not exchanged, then you're not changed. Here's how Paul said what you need to do. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove whether it's a good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Remember Colin Peck telling us in Bible college, he says a man on a cross, he's not going anywhere, he has no plans for the future, he's not coming down, he's fully committed. Fully committed. That's the beauty of what we're talking about. You're not your own, you're bought with a price. I wish I could relate to you all that's in my heart on this subject. But when it comes to this matter of faith, what is real faith that believes and dies to self and allows Christ to live? Here it is simply. It means I am divinely persuaded Divinely persuaded, God has won my heart. That's how we gain victory. And it's probably why so few really do. God wants victory to be prominent in our lives. Not the other way around. Let's pray together in prayer, let's pray. Father, for your word, we give you thanks. For your truth, Lord, which is amazing, Lord, how you want us to live, to glorify your name, glorify your name in all the earth, and the way you choose that is to live through the church. We ask God for your blessing, your grace, your goodness, your mercy, your power, your love. We ask, Lord, that we might have obedient hearts, resilient wills, stubborn, Lord, in our faith to go back into the ways of the world and, Lord, determined to live to glorify your name. Bless, Lord, Louise and James as they come and lead us in this last song. Cause us, Lord, to lay hold of these promises and exalt you in our lives. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Thanks, James and Louise.