Oxford Bible Church - Living in the Last Days (audio)

Love is the measure of who we are (1Corinthians 13:2,3,8,13, Matthew 20:26). Although feelings, decisions, thoughtfulness are manifestations of love, they are not the ESSENCE of LOVE, which is SPIRITUAL, coming from the Presence of God in us, for God is love, and all love is of God (1John 4:7,8,16), and the fruit of the Spirit is love (Galatians 5:22). God is the Source of love and He pours His love it into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). This then empowers us to think loving thoughts and making the decision to act in love. We cannot generate love from our own soul, for it comes from the Spirit of God (Matthew 5:3). In our soul, we must believe in and receive the love that He gives us, and surrender to His Love as He pours into our hearts, and yield to it in our lives (obedience). This is our soul aligning to the Love of God that comes from the Spirit. How much you know God (through your fellowship with Him) determines how much you are connected to the Source of Love, which determines how much love you can express in your life. We GROW in LOVE by (1) RECEIVING His LOVE into our heart by faith, and then (2) RELEASING His love through our words and actions. First, we must PRAY and ask God to FILL our HEART with His LOVE. The classic PRAYER to be FILLED with the LOVE of God is Ephesians 3:14-19, which Derek expounds. God wants us to comprehend, receive and experience: "(1) the WIDTH (John 3:16) and (2) LENGTH (Jeremiah 31:3) and (3) DEPTH and (4) HEIGHT of the LOVE of CHRIST, which passes knowledge (it does not come from your mind, but from the Spirit)." In this way, we "may be filled with all the fullness of God (who is love).” God is ready to fill us with Himself abundantly above all that we ask or think, through the power of the Holy Spirit who is working within us, but He is limited by our (1) THINKING and (2) ASKING, so we need to (1) meditate on His Word and pray for more revelation of the 4 dimensions of His love, and (2) come to Him in confident faith and lay hold of His love, with which He wants to fill our hearts (Ephesians 3:20). God's ultimate purpose is that He would be glorified through His Church; that is, through our union with CHRIST, the GLORY of GOD (the manifestation of His LOVE) would shine through us by the power of the indwelling HOLY SPIRIT, to the glory of GOD, the FATHER (Ephesians 3:21).

Two miracles of Jesus demonstrate how we can walk in victory over the power of sin, circumstances and satan: (1) crossing to the other side of Galilee through a storm, and (2) walking on the water. God has called us to be overcomers, who go over, not under!

The first sign-miracle of Jesus in John 2 was turning water into wine, which was a demonstration of what He will do for us if we believe in Him. This is a picture of our New Birth and our ongoing transformation by the Spirit of God. The way this miracle happened shows that we must give Jesus the right to turn our water into wine, by submitting to His Lordship.

There are 3 foundational BAPTISMS that should take place at the start of our Christian life: (1) BAPTISM into CHRIST, (2) BAPTISM in WATER, and (3) BAPTISM in the HOLY SPIRIT. The word ‘BAPTISM’ means to DIP or IMMERSE into a medium – effecting a union, resulting in a permanent change. The 3 Baptisms are distinguished by WHO does it and the MEDIUM into which the person is baptised. *1. BAPTISM into CHRIST by the HOLY SPIRIT. This happens at the moment of salvation. *2. BAPTISM into WATER should follow soon after salvation, in which we act out and testify publicly to what God did in our spirit when we were baptised into Christ. *3. BAPTISM into the HOLY SPIRIT by the Lord Jesus (Matthew 3:11), empowering us for ministry. Adam, as the head of the human race, sinned and rebelled against God, and as a result he received sin, curse and death into himself, and all who are born IN ADAM are born into that same position of condemnation before God. Many things were true about us simply because we were born IN ADAM – we were spiritually dead, sinners under the power of the sin-nature, in the kingdom of darkness, guilty before God and under His wrath, destined for eternal destruction in Hell. This was our positional truth in Adam. Jesus became the 2nd Adam, offering Himself to us to be our new Representative before God. As we inherited from Adam the result of his sin, so when we receive Christ as our new Head, we inherit the result of His righteousness (forgiveness, grace and eternal life). On the Cross, He paid the price to cancel out our inheritance from Adam and reverse its curse. As He was perfectly righteous and obedient to God, as our Representative Man, He was fully accepted by God, and in His resurrection He received every blessing from God on our behalf. Through the Gospel, His forgiveness and His abundant and eternal life is offered to us as a free-gift. When we received Christ as our Lord and Saviour we were taken out of Adam and put (baptised) us into Christ, so that now every blessing is ours automatically, because of our new position in Christ. Just as death came to all through our union with Adam, so now abundant grace comes to all who are in Christ, through our union with Christ (Romans 5:12-21). The key issue is: Are you ‘in Adam’ or ‘in Christ’? As in Adam we were automatically under the curse of death because of Adam’s sin, even before we sinned, even so in Christ we are under the blessing of life (grace) because of Christ’s righteousness, simply because of our position in Christ (independent of our works): “As IN ADAM all DIE, even so IN CHRIST all shall be made ALIVE.” (1Cor 15:22). When we were baptised into Christ, we receive the NEW BIRTH of our spirit as Christ comes into us through His indwelling Spirit, and every blessing is ours, for sons of God are joint heirs with Christ (John 3:3-7). We were born IN ADAM, but now we are born again IN CHRIST. You still have a body and a sin-nature in your flesh from Adam, but the real you (your inner man) is now positionally in Christ. You are a new reborn spirit, a new creation in Christ, and qualify for every blessing in Christ (2Cor 5:17, Ephesians 1:3). Jesus, our Representative, lived a perfect righteous life and was fully ACCEPTED by God on our behalf, and is totally LOVED by God. So if we are IN CHRIST, we too are fully righteous and ACCEPTED by God, and are totally LOVED by God IN CHRIST (Eph 1:6). A key verse on the BAPTISM into CHRIST is 1Corinthians 12:13: “BY one SPIRIT we were all BAPTISED into one body (the body of CHRIST, the Head), whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and have all been made to drink into (receive) one Spirit.” Other key verses are Romans 6:3-6, Galatians 3:27, Ephesians 4:4-6 (where the 'one baptism' that all true believers have experienced is the baptism into Christ), Colossians 2:11-13. All the IN CHRIST verses tell us who we are and what we have simply because we are now IN CHRIST, having been put into union with Christ, through our baptism into Christ (1Corinthians 6:17, 2Corinthians 2:14, 5:21, Ephesians 2:10, Galatians 3:13-14, Colossians 1:13-14, Romans 8:37). In order to experience our freedom in Christ, it is important to know who we are in Christ, through God's Word (John 8:31-32). According to Ephesians 2:4-6, the moment we were put into Christ, (1) His LIFE was imparted to our spirit, changing it from death to life. So, our spirit is now alive to God (v5, Romans 6:11), (2) His VICTORY was imparted to our spirit, RAISING it above the power of the sin-nature and satan, making us victors, and setting us free from sin, and (3) His DOMINION was imparted to our spirit, empowering us to reign in life.

God's mighty power is in us, through the Holy Spirit, and it is available to us, but we need to have a revelation of this power, so that we can draw upon it by faith, as well as the wisdom to walk in that power, for it is released through our obedience. Ephesians 1 gives us a revelation of this mighty power, by describing what it has already accomplished when it was released in Christ, when He was (1) made alive from the dead, (2) raised far above all powers, and (3) enthroned on high. Then Ephesians 2 describes what this resurrection power accomplished in our spirits when we were born again in Christ: (1) Our spirit was made alive with Christ, changing us from spiritual death to being spiritually alive to God. (2) Our spirit was raised far above all opposing powers (sin, satan and the world), for His victory was imparted to our spirit. (3) Our spirit was seated with Christ far above, having been empowered to reign with Christ. This same power is available to us in our life today! (Ephesians 3:20).

Derek describes the triune nature of man (spirit-soul-body), made in the image of our Triune God, and how every part of man was affected by the Fall. Since man lives on 3 dimensions, he needs a 3D salvation, which only God can accomplish. If we trust in Him, the God of peace Himself will sanctify you completely; so that your whole spirit, soul, and body will be blameless at the Coming of Christ (1Thessalonians 5:23). First, (1) our spirit was saved in the New Birth. Then (2) our soul is being saved now by God's Word and Spirit. Finally, when Christ returns He will save our bodies by resurrected them. Our salvation will then be completed by our glorification.

In these evil times, it is essential that we stand firm in the Lord and do not compromise our faith to the spirit of the world. The Lord is seeking those whose hearts are loyal to Him, so that He can show Himself strong on their behalf (2Chronicles 16:9). Derek relates the events in 2Chronicles 16 to our present life in the world, and reveals from Ephesians 6:10-17 the keys to being able to stand strong and stay loyal to God in the present spiritual warfare. First, we need to be filled with the Power of His SPIRIT (v10), and second we need to put on the whole Armour of God, which God provides to us through His WORD (v11-17). Derek describes all the pieces of God's Armour, and how to put them on, so that they become effectual in our fight of faith.

Pastor Derek shares about God's general will and His specific will for your life, and gives 5 major keys to how you can miss God's will big-time. These concern 5 areas, where God highlights what His will is for all of us, including baptism, thanksgiving, submission, sexual morality and overcoming spiritual lust (the occult).

JESUS CHRIST Himself is our FOUNDATION both for salvation, and for our daily life (1Corinthians 3:11). Jesus said: “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a SLAVE of SIN... if the Son sets you FREE (from SIN), you will be FREE indeed” (John 8:34,36). The the New Birth, He has already set our spirit free from sin, through His indwelling Spirit (1Corinthians 3:16, 2Corinthians 3:17, 5:17,21). However, we still have the sin-nature in our flesh to deal with. “The spirit indeed is willing (to do God’s will), but the FLESH is WEAK” (Matthew 26:41). “The WEAKNESS of the FLESH (to do God's will)” (Romans 6:19) is due to “SIN in the FLESH” (Romans 8:3). Pastor Derek goes verse by verse through Romans 6:2 - 8:14 to expound God's wonderful revelation of how we can walk in victory over sin. When we were baptised into Christ, we were united with Chris's death and resurrection, so that our old spirit man was crucified with Christ, and our reborn spirit (the New Man) has been resurrected with Christ, and so it consists of the resurrection life of Christ, which has overcome sin (Romans 6:3-6), so as we live out from our spirit we experience victory: “Reckon yourselves (in your spirit) to be DEAD indeed to SIN, but ALIVE to God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:11). In this way, the BODY of SIN (the sin-nature in our flesh) might be done away with (dethroned and neutralised), that we should no longer be slaves of sin" (Romans 6:6). We have a choice now, to walk in the Spirit or in the flesh: “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. Present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members (of your body) as instruments of righteousness to God” (Romans 6:12-13). When we live by Christ's life in us, we will "serve God in the NEWNESS of the SPIRIT, and not in the oldness of the letter”(Romans 7:6). By walking in the Spirit we overcome sin in the flesh: “for the LAW of the SPIRIT of LIFE in Christ Jesus has made me FREE from the LAW of SIN and DEATH” (Romans 8:2).

Through Adam’s sin, (1) we were put into in a state of sin and were counted to be guilty before God, just because we were in Adam (imputed sin), and (2) we inherited from Adam a sin-nature (called ‘sin’) in the flesh through physical birth. In Romans 5-8, Paul describes how to come out of bondage to the sin-nature into the liberty of the Spirit. In this message, Derek goes verse by verse through Romans 5:17 - 6:23 to expound God's revelation of how we can walk in victory over sin.