30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 24 36-49 COMMISSIONED TO BE HIS WITNESSES 10 24Apr2022 Luke 24 38-39 Victory over sin in the flesh
📖 Luke 24:36-49
10 – 24Apr2022 – Victory over sin in the flesh - Luke 24:36-49 - COMMISSIONED TO BE HIS WITNESSES - Bible reading: Romans 6:11-14
“Thank You, Lord Jesus, that because of Your resurrection, we can have victory over the temptations that we face, every day, in our flesh. We give You all the glory and praise and in Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.”
Luke 24:38-39 And He said to them, "Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? (39) Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."
The Lord presented Himself to His disciples, showing them that He was raised from the dead, by the Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit that now made Him be flesh and bones.
Friends, though we are still in this body of dust, which will go back to dust, we can live empowered lives, because we are enabled by the Holy Spirit. This is made possible because of the physical resurrection of Jesus by the Holy Spirit.
This body of dust is prone to sin. We are able to live victoriously by resisting the devil. This everyday victory is our reality because of the Holy Spirit. This is exciting since, in the midst of all the challenges, we are able to rise victoriously over sin.
Romans 8:9-11 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
Apostle Paul says that we are not in the flesh but in the Spirit. This is a paradox. Yes, the Christian life is such an amazing hyperbole that though we are still in this flesh, we live as though we are not in the flesh but in the Holy Spirit.
The Christian life, is entirely a life of the Holy Spirit. When we are not living in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, it infers that we are operating in the flesh. By the mortal flesh, no one can please God. Mortality must put on immortality, even while we are living in this body of dust.
(10) And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
To be ‘in Christ’, is an experience where the body is reckoned as being dead to sin but alive to God. Every day we live in this body, as though we are dead to sin but alive to God in the Holy Spirit. It is this experience of being in Christ that will ensure that we are not condemned.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
This life of the Holy Spirit is the life of righteousness before God, which is the reason why we are delivered from condemnation.
(11) But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
We live, every day, in the realm of victory in the Holy Spirit. This is the thrilling experience that is available to everyone who is in Christ.
Romans 6:11-14 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (12) Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
As we live in this mortal body, we are tempted to go back to sin in the flesh. Paul, in a very simple, yet direct way, tells us not to let sin reign in our mortal body.
The devil lies to us that we are still in bondage and he keeps giving evidence. This is where we must register the victory of the cross, over our lives, and resist the devil. In simple, childlike faith, we must not let sin into our body, since the shackles of sin have been broken by Jesus on the cross.
(13) And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
This is a glorious experience of presenting our bodies as instruments of righteousness to God, since we live in the enablement of the Holy Spirit.
(14) For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
The law could not give us the victory over sin but grace is the divine enablement of God by which we rise above temptations and live victoriously.
II Corinthians 4:10-11 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. (11) For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
This is the reason we identify with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
Though we have the privilege of experiencing victory over sin in the flesh, we set our eyes on the fact that we will be clothed with the body, which Jesus is preparing for us. This body, in which we now live, is going back to dust, but we will be clothed with our heavenly body.
II Corinthians 5:4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.
Thought to ponder
Are you living the life of victory, in Christ?