The Power to Change // Breaking Free from the Power of Sin, Part 5

When we finally wake up to ourselves and admit that the way we're living our lives just isn't working, the next thing we need is something that does work. Because like it or not, what we discover is that by and large, we ourselves our powerless to change.  We need power to change. I don't know, you turn on the evening news on the radio or the TV and there never seems to be much good news, it's all bad. And then, when there is good news, on the odd occasion, I don't know, the good news stories, they're very, very rarely, you know, really good news. Well today on the program it's a 'good news' story, not just a good news story, a great news story. In fact, not just a great news story, an absolutely fantastic news story. If you've been joining me on the program this week, what you'll know is that we've been talking about breaking free from the power of sin. Okay, there are people who think sin is some old-fashioned concept from an out of date Church but scratch below the surface, what you'll always find is that each one of us has things in our lives that we do or we say or we think, that have lousy consequences. Things that drag us down and rob us of life. And the worse they become, the more powerless we feel to change them. And in fact, powerless we are because they are addictions. So today's absolutely fantastic news is this; that there is power available, the power to change and it comes to us from a source that, perhaps, we may not expect. It's the power to have a fresh new life irrespective of what it is that the world's throwing at us. Power is something that people in this world seek after and abuse. You don't have to look very far to find that. There are the powerful and the powerless. So many people are oppressed by power but that's not the kind of power I'm talking about today. I'm talking about the power to change. The power to deal with things in our lives that rob us of life and that ruin the lives of those around us. Sin is shorthand for those things. Sin literally means to 'miss the mark' to 'miss the whole point of life'. The point of life is that God is the most amazing God. He wants to fill us with His joy and His peace and He wants us to live a life that glorifies Him. See, for me, when people talk to me about sin, for much of my life, I was so touchy about that. I cared so much what other people thought about me. I'd do anything to enhance my reputation. I'd lie, I'd cheat to get people to think better of me. I couldn't stand it when I didn't have the limelight. I couldn't stand it when other people succeeded and they got the limelight and they got the credit. Now maybe it's entirely different for you, we all have something different that we're addicted to. For me it was recognition and success and we need setting free from that stuff. Now I'm a tough-minded, hard-nosed businessman kind of guy but as much as I tried, I couldn't get away from that and I know it was ruining my life. I just didn't have it in me. I needed some power. Well today, I want to share with you where that power came from, I want to share with you actually through the words of the apostle Paul, yesterday we looked at what he wrote in Colossians chapter 2. I want to have a look at a different part of that today, this is truly powerful stuff. We're talking about breaking free from all that rubbish that robs us of life, God calls it sin, breaking free from the power of sin. How, if we don't have it in us, can we break free? Have a listen to what Paul writes; this comes from a really contemporary translation called The Message Translation 'cause I find it really easy to understand. I'm beginning at Colossians chapter 2, verse 2. I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know about God. Then you'll have minds confident and at rest, focused on Jesus, Gods great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else and we've been shown that mystery. I'm telling you this because I don't want anyone leading you off on some wild goose chase after some other so-called secrets. My counsel for you is simple and straight forward, just go ahead with what you've been given. You received Jesus Christ, now live in Him. You are deeply rooted in Him, you're well constructed upon Him, you know your way around the faith, now do what you've been taught. School's out, quit studying the subject and start living it and let your living spill over into thanksgiving. Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double talk, they want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that's not the way of Jesus. Everything of God gets expressed in Him so you can see and hear Him clearly. You don't need a telescope, a microscope, a horoscope to realise the fullness of Christ and the emptiness of the universe without Him." When you come to Him, that fullness comes together for you too, His power extends over everything. Entering into His fullness isn't something you figure out or achieve, it's not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you're already in, you're the insiders. Not through some secretive initiation rite but through what Jesus has already gone through destroying the power of sin. If it's an initiation ritual you're after, you've already been through it by submitting to baptism. Going under the water was a burial of your old life, coming up out of it was a resurrection, God raising you from the dead as He did Jesus. When you were stuck in your old dead life you were incapable of responding to God but now, God brought you a life, all your sins are forgiven, the slate is wiped clean. That old arrest warrant is cancelled and nailed to Christ's cross. He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the cross and marched them naked through the streets. (Colossians 2: 2-15) You see what Paul is saying here? The power of sin has been defeated; the guilt, the condemnation, the power of addiction is completely disarmed because Jesus triumphed over them. Through His death we have forgiveness 'cause He paid the price. Through His resurrection we have new life. And that very same power that brought Jesus back to life is available to you and me. Do you believe? Do you believe in Jesus? Have you received Him? Well, now live in Him. See, we wander around feeling powerless and believing that we are powerless and that is a deception from the devil. It's like the devil is pointing a pistol to our heads but if you have a look inside, he's got no bullets in it. It's a lie. God gives us the same power that raised Jesus from the dead to change our lives. Paul writes that in Ephesians chapter 1, he says: I just pray for you that you would know, as you get to know God, the hope and the riches and the immeasurably great power He has for us who believe, the very same power that raised Christ from the dead. We don't have to rely on ourselves to change. I can't change me, I can't change you. You can't change you and you can't change me. The only one that can change us is God. And God has already given us everything we need. If we place our faith in Jesus we have forgiveness, the old arrest warrant has been torn up and nailed to the cross. And the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is given to us. There will be no breaking free from the power of sin until we believe that in our hearts. Next week we're going to look at really practical, day-to-day, ways of breaking free. But today, I want you to stand firm, I want you to claim this promise for yourself. Decide YES! The power of God is in me because I believe in Jesus and I have a new life.