 I'll just share the link. Okay sure sure. All right it's 10 o'clock we will get started with our class so last class we saw that we kind of finished off with repentance we started on the topic of the overcoming life which is the final section in your notes so we had the initial introduction to holiness we looked at God and his holiness we looked at why we need to be holy why that is important for us to do so we looked at all of those aspects and then we moved into the practical aspect one very basic fundamental foundation of holiness which is repentance and we kind of spent quite some time looking at that how repentance looks in real everyday life so we have looked at that and then having considered the whole topic of repentance last class we sort of moved into this final section which talks about how we can have an overcoming life now today our main focus will be on the basis for this overcoming life why do we go around saying always that Christians can live victoriously that they don't have to be subject to sin what is it that you know gives us the confidence to say that or are we just you know indulging in wishful thinking really can a kind of believer live in victory over sin we all have our own various of weakness there are some areas in which we are strong in which we are almost immune I mean if somebody came to me with a packet of drugs and said you know use it use it I wouldn't even be interested I mean it just wouldn't even interest me that is my area of strength oh but then there are other areas of weakness you see where I can be tempted where I can fall so we all have our areas of strength but then there are areas where we can get very easily ensnared you see so is it really possible for a believer to live in victory in those areas you know in those areas where we have fallen so often that now that's almost like a stronghold it's it's it's like we are we are a prisoner and said that you know the term stronghold we've kind of even forgotten what the actual meaning of that word is but then in the you know originally the word stronghold basically means a fortress you know it's the strong fortress and so that's used positively in the sense of God is my my stronghold in the sense you know I can hide myself in him he will fight on my behalf we also use the term stronghold in in a in a negative sense as an inner it's this it's this very strong fortress inside which you're trapped as a slave as a prisoner and you're just not able to come out on your own it's it there's just no way of escape from that stronghold you know it's the kind of picture that we have in this negative sense you know when we use this word so some areas of sin of temptation and weakness have become such strongholds we don't even know how to come of it come come out of it how to escape so is it really wishful thinking that a believer can actually live in victory in every area of their lives can can a person actually have victory even in these areas where you know which have kind of become strongholds over the years so to even start talking about this topic we need to lay the foundation and show very clearly that scripture tells us declares to us that yes we can have an overcoming victorious life not just in the areas of our strength but even in the areas of weakness by the power of the Holy Spirit it is possible for us to come out of even those areas that are holding us down it is it is it is something that we need to absorb and accept as reality so at the very level of our thinking our mind needs to be renewed regarding these scriptural truths so today's class is mainly about that where we are laying a scriptural foundation and showing very clearly that it is very much possible you know for believers to live victoriously in every area even in areas where they feel that they are weak and why do we say that what is the foundational you know basis you know from scripture which you know affirms this and we've in fact been going looking at roman six roman six six for a very long time you know and we keep repeating that in the in the class almost every session because that kind of brings out the the key idea you know that that lies to the very core of this whole overcoming victorious life I mean if we were still that same person that we were before salvation if we still had that helpless enslaved weak defeated old you know spiritually dead spirit if if we still had that and and that was our identity then really there is not much change you know but roman six six has explained to us has established that on that day when we in that moment of salvation that that spiritually dead spirit inside us was crucified along with Christ so you know we we know that that's one truth that you know we have kind of reflected upon in all of all of our previous sessions so the one main reason why we even say that an overcoming victorious life is possible is because we are no longer that person who was you know enslaved in sin now we are free people we had a new creation created by the holy spirit given birth to by the holy spirit and now we are we have the freedom to choose so it's not that we are slaves anymore the way we were earlier it's just that many believers don't quite understand this truth and they think that they are still as helpless as they were earlier before the salvation experience and so they continue to live in that defeated way because it has not gotten through to them and that is why it says in roman six reckon yourself you know see yourself as being dead others this is not going to work at the very thinking level at the very level of our worldview our perception our perspective at that very basic level we need to absorb this fact and accept it as a fact which is what you know it talks about in roman six when it says reckon yourself as being dead to sin so we got to count this as a as a fact we all accept that gravity is a reality when we drop something it falls in the same way this is a fact we got to accept that on that day i know in that moment of salvation when we turned over our life to Jesus Christ and in that moment we were crucified we were that that sinful spiritually dead spirit was killed crucified done away with and god placed a new creation in us and made us that that became our new identity where we were reborn into a brand new person with a clean slate with no um with no entanglements there are no there are no bonds you know binding us we are now free people the the bonds that we still feel is because of the unrenewed mind the mind in that moment of salvation was not automatically transformed into a new creation so because the mind still contains all the old habits the old thought patterns uh the old perspective of life now that has to be renewed on a day to day basis so mainly we stay in bondage because we don't renew our mind and grow in the truths of god's word and stand on that word and you know um make that our testimony because the people in revelation about whom it testifies and says that they were they were victorious they were victorious because you know um they stood on the blood of Jesus you know they they proclaim the blood of Jesus in the sense they proclaimed the finished work of the cross what Jesus Christ had done for them on the cross they proclaimed that and that was their testimony so they so they stood on the on the testimony of what the cross had done for them and how they have they had applied that to their own lives in living in victory and that's basically how they overcame they overcame by the blood the finished work of the cross and they overcame by the word of their testimony they declared that this is who I am now and therefore this is how I shall live as a victorious person who is who is now a new creation I will no longer look upon myself as that person who got crucified that day you know at the moment of salvation so this is one very very fundamental truth um but you know there are other verses before and after Romans chapter 6 6 and we kind of you know need to touch upon those things just to get a clearer picture of our status uh who we are and it is because of who we are and once we understand this once we absorb this the reality of what is being told over here and we we we humbly accept it as the truth because what God says is true he never lies he never deceives when he says something is something then we got to accept that as a fact and uh so um we will not dwell so much on roman 6 6 which we have kind of you know already grasped and understood but we will look at some verses before and after that and you know look at the implications of what you know of that of what that holds for us you know in our uh everyday christian walk so if we could have someone maybe read out um the from roman 6 and you know rather than just simply reading roman 6 6 which is what we generally do if we could start off maybe with verse 4 itself you know roman's chapter 6 verse 4 which is how you know paul in fact introduces the whole topic so roman's chapter 6 verse 4 and then we will go on up to verse 7 and then look at some other aspects uh so roman's chapter 6 if we could have someone read out from all the way from verse 4 up to verse 7 please roman chapter 6 roman's chapter 6 verses 4 to 7 therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death that just as christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father even so we also should walk in newness of life for if we have been united together in the likeness of his death certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection knowing this that our old man was crucified with was crucified with him that the body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves of sin for he who has died has been freed from sin yes so um uh we have understood verse 6 uh that um you know the old sinful spirit which was inside this human container that was crucified finished off and instead a new creation was placed inside this human container that we are living in and that new creation is who we are now we are literally children of god birthed by the holy spirit um now in this last so which is why it says you see we were buried with him and then uh we were raised with him and one day you know we will also be glorified you know when we receive our uh resurrected bodies so all of this in all of this we are identifying with christ um because now we have become one with him you know uh salvage the salvation experience made us one with him and so in him we experience these things um then it says here in this last portion you know verse 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin okay here it's talking about legal status and uh this kind of gets you know explained in other places uh Romans chapter 6 verse 14 almost says the same thing if someone could read out for us Romans chapter 6 verse 14 Romans chapter 6 verse 14 for sin shall not be your master because you are not under law but under grace uh yes we had just before it you know escapes my mind you know someone could really have kindness on me mercy on me and remind me to switch on the recording for the second session because last time I did not do that it did not get recorded and I had to do it all over again to post on the platform you know um so this happens to me okay I'm rather absent minded so in the other classes the students are so merciful they kind of remind me if I have not switched on the recording they say you know please do that and then that saves me a lot of extra effort so you know even here you know you second year guys if you can please you know if you ever notice that this recording is not on if you could please remind me to switch it on you know it kind of saves me doing the doing a double job yeah that's just they just popped into my head yeah so we were looking at Romans chapter 6 verse 14 where it says almost the same thing that we saw in verse 7 um it says sin shall no longer be your master why because you're not under the law but under grace and the same thing in verse 7 said anyone who has died has been set free from sin now both of these verses are talking about our legal status um you know so uh let us understand uh what is being talked about over here or what is this whole thing about our legal status and about the law and about us now being not under the law but under grace what is this all about uh for us to get a background we would maybe need to go to roman chapter 2 verses 9 to 16 which I know is kind of a lengthy passage but it's got a lot of stuff in there which talks about um the basic human race and uh what their legal status was when they first you know came into the world and they were born into this world and it's very very important for us to understand that first so roman chapter 2 verses 9 to 16 you know if you could just turn in your bibles to that um um okay um it starts off in verse 9 by saying uh there'll be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil first for the Jew then for the Gentile um you know so there will be trouble there will be distress for every human who does evil whether you're a Jew or whether you're a Gentile if you sin yes you will have trouble you will have distress and verse 11 explains for God does not show favoritism you know just because you're a Jew you're not going to be excused if you live in sin in the same way the Gentiles are being punished and judged you too will be punished and judged and then it says in verse 12 um maybe we could if someone could read out verses 12 to 16 how does the law you see apply to Jews and how does the law apply to Gentiles uh both of them are going to have trouble both of them are going to have distress for breaking the law but what law are they breaking you know let's uh someone could read out Romans 2 12 to 16 Romans 2 12 to 16 for as many as I've sinned without law will also perish without law and as many as I've sinned in the law will be judged by the law for not the heroes of the law are just in the sight of God but the doers of the law will be justified for when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do the things in the law these although not having the law are a law to themselves who show the work of the law written in their hearts their conscience also hearing witness and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel and so so you see uh some people are born as Jews into the Jewish community and from the moment of birth they are expected to fulfill they were expected to fulfill the mosaic law on the other hand you had a whole bunch of human beings who were born being born outside the Jewish community and this does not mean that they were free from the law of God because even though they didn't you know God did not come down upon Sinai and give a give a you know his laws to them it is something that is programmed into them every human is instinctively knows that there are some moral absolutes which they should not break no one has to go and sit next to them and tell them you know what murder is something wrong it's not something that you should do everyone knows that instinctively inside as we know that that murder is wrong it is sinful in the same way even something as basic as lying why do people try to cover up their lies it's because they know that what they are doing is not correct and it's something which is if they are caught telling a lie it's a humiliating thing because everyone knows that what you have done is doesn't have integrity and your lack of integrity is exposed and it is shameful so you see nobody teaches us these things we instinctively know that certain things are wrong why because the law of God is written on people's hearts everyone knows you know at least to some extent you know they all are aware that certain things are sinful they are wrong and some things are good so depending on the way people are conducting themselves irrespective of whether they are Jews or whether they're Gentiles you know in certain things their heart you know defense them and they know that what they are doing is right is good but in some things they can feel the conviction they are they realize in their heart that what they are doing is not good and they try to you know cover it up so instinctively people know right and wrong and that is why it says in verse 16 one day God will judge you know the secrets the other things which they have tried to hide it will all come out and God will say yes in these things they what they did was right in these things what they did it was wrong so in that sense every person who is born into the world automatically comes under the law they either come under the mosaic law or they come under the general law which is written on human hearts and because of the sinful nature which is there in us humans we start breaking that moral code at a very very early age you know so once we break the law sin which is like waiting over there you know on the sidelines it says ha this person has sinned now I have the legal right to control this person and enslave them why because now they have broken the law and that gives me the legal right to move in and take hold of them and make them my prisoners so in that way all of humanity becomes a slave to sin because once the law is broken sin has the legal right to enslave us and keep us under its control and in fact force us to break the law more and more and more so that we are firmly totally under its control helpless to ever set ourselves free that is the condition of humanity but then here it says you know in in our romans chapter 6 verse 7 anyone who has died has been set free from sin and the same thing is said in in roman 6 14 for sin shall no longer be your master because you are not under the law but under grace what it's saying over here is that in on that day in that moment of salvation when when the old spiritually dead thing that was inside you know your spirit I mean you that's that was literally you because you're a spirit being so you the spiritually dead spirit being you were crucified with Christ and once you died law had no longer any control over you because you're dead a law can only have control over living people you know we understand that in the natural so easily right a government can't go to a dead person and know poke him in the ribs and say hey get up you know you need to pay your taxes once that person is dead they are dead the law has no hold over them it can't make them do anything they are beyond the law they are dead so that is what happened to us we are we were on that day when we were crucified with Jesus Christ we died to the law the law is no longer our master it has no control over us but now we came under a new master Jesus Christ so we don't do all these you know things that we do and avoid doing the wrong things that we avoid we don't do all of that because we are under the law we are doing it because we are under now our new master Jesus Christ and he just tells us what to do what not to do you know through the leading of the Holy Spirit and we stay obedient to him so we are no longer under our old master the sin you know which which which began to control us because we broke the law so we are no longer under the law nor are we under the sin which you know became our slave master we are under a new master Jesus Christ who says to us in Matthew 11 you take my yoke upon you and you know you learn from me you'll discover that my yoke is very light I'm not like the law I'm not like you know sin the slave master I on the other hand and I'm a gentle and humble master is what Jesus says about himself so we are now like it says in Romans 614 sin shall no longer be your master because you are not under the law but under grace so this is one you know basic fundamental truth that we need to grasp and now let's elaborate a little more on it Romans chapter 8 verses 3 and 4 if someone could read out Romans 8 3 and 4 Romans 8 verses 3 and 4 for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God did by sending his son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin he condemned sin in the flesh that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit yes so the law is a good thing see the law was God given God gave the law and the law in fact you know it it reflects his character his righteousness his holiness so the law is in fact a good thing and so the law started telling people you know you got to live this way you got to you know behave in this particular manner you must avoid doing these things the law said all of those things but the law was powerless in making people do it why because people are enslaved under sin sin has become their master their slave master and sin is controlling them so even though the law is very good and it's telling them how to live and how to honor God and you know have communion with him the law is not able to help them to be that the law is only able to tell them that they are wrong that they are sinning that they're under judgment it's not able to empower them to be good because they are enslaved under sin you know which has become their slave master and so the entire human race is in the grip of this slave master sin what hope is there for them how can they ever come out of the grip of this sinful one and have a relationship with God and have eternal life rather than you know being condemned to death and judgment and eternal hell so what is the hope so gee this is what God does for humanity it says over here the law was powerless to to yeah for what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin of ring and so he condemned sin in the flesh so the solution that God came up with is that he's going to send Jesus Christ in the likeness of sinful flesh you know the same way we are we are all you know people who are you know living over here on this earth helpless you know not able to come out of the grip of sin now in the same way Jesus is also going to become 100% human just like us he's not going to use any of his divine powers while he is on this earth he's going to be as you know weak and helpless as us and you know in his humanity he now has to choose is he going to keep the law or is he going to break the law he's not going to have any special supernatural powers and abilities okay what we have he's also going to be having the same set of you know capabilities Adam whatever Adam originally had the abilities that he had as a human that's that is all that Jesus Christ would be given he would not be given some supernatural power to resist sin he would just be the way Adam was the problem with Adam our first representative is what did he do he gave in to sin and when he gave in to sin he dragged us all into you know sin along with him in the sense he passed his sinful nature to us so our first representative Adam really failed us but now here a new representative is being sent and this new representative is just like Adam was 100 human Jesus Christ is also has also come 100 human he is not using his divinity in any way so he is literally our true representative in the same way Adam was also a true representative and now the second representative what does he do what does he do even though he is like us he doesn't have any special powers he chooses to keep the law he keeps it and the entire law he doesn't break it even once yeah he doesn't break even one of the laws even once so by doing that he condemns sin in the flesh you know that's basically what it means over here he condemned sin in the flesh in the sense he declared I am a human being I'm 100 percent human but I have not broken the law even once so sin you have no control over me you have absolutely no control over me so he became this perfect human who even though he was 100 percent human just like us he chose not to sin okay so he could he never came under the control of the slave master sin and so now anyone who comes to him and they place themselves under him Jesus says in the same way sin has no control over me now these people who have come to me to be under my wing under my atoning work you know now the same you know freedom I pass it on to them in the same way sin you have no control over me sin you will no longer have any control over my people who have now come under the atoning work of the cross which I did on their behalf on the cross I paid the price for all the sins that they have done so now there you have no legal right over them and I their representative who is sinless was you know legally in a position to actually make the sacrifice on their behalf because I never came under the control of sin so I the sinless representative was able to be the sacrifice for all the sinful things which they did I paid the price in full for everything that they you know they have done and everything that they will in fact even do in the future all that is now covered by my by by my atoning work you know in in in NKJV that would that would be called the propitiation for our sins in NIV it's just basically the atoning work of Christ on the cross so this is what Jesus Christ has done for us so the second representative he he he invites people to come and place themselves under his grace so by his free grace we are now you know come under his righteousness because he paid the price for us and in the same way sin has no control over him you know he has condemned sin in the flesh in the same way sin has no control over him it can now have no control over us either so we are as free as Jesus is from sin you know so that actually is our legal status now and so in Romans chapter 6 you know going back to those very very familiar verses when it says Romans chapter 6 verses 3 and 4 it talks about how okay if someone could just simply read out only okay it's all right go ahead and read out both the verses Romans chapter 6 verses 3 and 4 and you know even as you're reading it kind of think about what we have talked about what is our new status in Jesus Christ how did we get that new status now in that you know keeping that in mind look at what Jesus Christ did as our representative we all know what Adam did as our representative he dragged us into sin but what is this new representative Jesus Christ what did he do for us Romans 6 3 to 4 if someone can read Romans chapter 6 was 3 to 4 or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death we were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father we too may live a new life so you know this is our union with Christ that has taken place at the moment of salvation and the example that someone used for this is of a bucket of water and a sponge okay so the bucket of water is Jesus Christ in this example and the believer is the sponge the you know the sponge is immersed in the bucket of water and so the the sponge begins to absorb the water it starts to you know become a part of the water in that sense of course the water remains water and the sponge remains a sponge it's not the sponge doesn't become water we believers don't become divine we are united with Christ but and and we absorb him because we are abiding in him he flows you know into us his power his enabling or his righteousness all of that is constantly you know being given to us on a regular basis so yet we are like the sponge which is absorbing him and becoming like him but of course we never become divine so having understood that you know not carrying not dragging out the example too far understanding the limitations of the example the point is wherever the bucket goes the sponge also goes everything that the bucket experiences is now the experience of the sponge which is inside inside the bucket which is inside Christ so this is what happens for the believer so when Jesus Christ now you know was crucified the sponge which was inside Jesus Christ this believer who has now placed himself in Christ he also is crucified when Jesus comes out of that baptism baptism waters of depth you know he rises up we believers also in him the sponge which is in him that also rises up the experience of the bucket is now you know every experience of the bucket has gone through it's now a reality even for the sponge so in the same way after Jesus you know Jesus rose up and then he went on to be glorified in the sense he received his resurrection body so one day we too will receive a resurrection body just like him and so when it comes to overcoming sin the experience of the bucket will be the experience of the sponge the sponge understands its new status and lives in that way Jesus lived in victory complete victory over sin throughout his life and in him we too can have the very same experience because we are united with Christ you see so that actually is our legal status so we need to fundamentally understand this of course there are practical things that we would yeah jeffina that's really not my example at all it's something that this wonderful man of God came up with which you know which I read in my website and I was like very excited when I read that example I was like wow I had never thought about the union there are beautiful articles out there you know which which these people of God just make available freely for us I mean we just need to have the time to be able to read all of that but it's amazing they don't charge anything it's just free and they just give us those resources just like that you know my god bless them for you know the work that they are doing so yeah getting back to this yeah what was I saying yeah so so this is our legal status and we need to fundamentally first understand this now once we have understood this then we can start you know using the practical tips which are available in the bible to live a victorious life but if we have not even understood these basic facts then always you know satan brings this thought into our mind that no jesus is jesus because he was divine he was god he overcame sin what makes you think that someone like you will ever you know live in victory so that satan will keep speaking lies into our heads so we need to first of all grasp these things and renew our mind in these fundamental truths once we catch it once our mind really begins to understand this then we will have greater confidence in you know imitating jesus christ and by his power living victoriously so that was one one main fundamental truth that we needed needed to understand and the second very very important fundamental truth is that we need to understand that satan has been defeated he is powerless and when we when we hear that statement about satan being powerless it sounds ridiculous to our human years because we we know that he is still very very powerful so why on earth does you know that the scriptures say that so this is another very important fundamental truth that we need to grasp that we need to understand so if we could have someone read out hebrews chapter 2 verse 14 hebrews 2 14 hebrews chapter 2 verse 14 since the children have flesh and blood he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death that is the devil okay so the it says over there you know in the in the version that she read out that he has been destroyed his power has been destroyed in an in an niv it says so that by his death you know by the death of jesus he might break the power of him who holds the power of death that is the devil so the devil's power has been broken satan is powerless now what do we mean by this because you see um the thing about the lord is that when he gives uh when he gives his created beings his giftings he never withdraws those giftings when a person is living in sin is still continued to be able to you know move in those giftings for instance a teacher if a teacher is living in sin they would still have the ability to teach they would still have the ability to preach god never withdraws his gifting in the same way when the angels were originally created and they were given certain giftings even after they fall even after they fell even after they became fallen angels and turned into demons they continued to hold on to their giftings so satan can maybe you know lift a chair off the ground and make it float in the air so you see satan has got his powers still he's got you know the he's got brains he's able to come up with schemes and strategies to you know attack the people of god and to maybe you know to draw them into temptation so in that sense satan still has his powers but his power over us is broken it please you know let's let's grasp this satan he has his giftings you know whatever he was originally given when he was still under the lord and still you know honoring the lord whatever was given to him he still has those powers but he has no power over us so for us today i the believer who am in christ i'm united with christ to me it really doesn't matter how much power that satan has it's irrelevant for me because his he has no power over me uh he may be powerful you know in a in a in a physical sense but that power cannot even touch me as long as i'm under christ his power over me over believers is broken he has no power over me unless i am foolish enough to go and place myself back under him which is why it says in scripture again and again do not give your your body as instruments of unrighteousness you are you have been set free to be under christ christ is your new new master you give your you know your the members of your body as instruments of righteousness to him don't go and give it to satan once again you're no longer under him you have no yes no power over you you know in in in us law there's this thing about a restraining order you know if you watched enough detective serials you'd kind of be familiar with the idea so basically let us say a gangster is you know harassing somebody you know for money or whatever and so this person goes to the police and the police uh you know they um they issue an a restraining order or rather the court issues a restraining order um they you know this person is not the gangster cannot go within some number of feet uh of that person you know they cannot go near that person uh attack him you know abuse him so there's a restraining order placed against the gangster and he if he's caught within the now that number of feet of that person's house or no then you know the he can he can be thrown in jail so it's like a so the gangster no longer has any power over this man because this man is now protected by the law but if this man foolishly walks up to the gangster and say hey punch me you know he gets punched it would be a highly foolish and dumb thing to do uh which is what sometimes we believers do so the power of satan over us is broken established fact okay this is something that jesus christ did on the cross um if you know if he was 214 it brings it out so beautifully since the children have flesh and blood you know they're just helpless human beings made of flesh and blood he too shared in their humanity he became hundred percent human like us why did he do that so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death he god jesus christ went to that extent to break the power of satan over us satan has a restraining order he cannot come and harm us he there are serious divine eternal restrictions placed on him now he is one defeated four but he can stand over there at a distance and tempt us he can meddle with our thinking and you know and make us believe in his lies and he'll draw us he will tempt us to come come come near me i cannot come to you but you can come to me come come you know be tempted don't trust this lord of lords you know so he does that so the power of satan over us is broken established fact it and it's only when we go to him when we expose ourselves to danger only then does he have the authority to meddle in our lives so this is another very fundamental truth that we need to understand that satan is a defeated four um four such an ancient word he's a defeated enemy um yeah satan is a defeated enemy and he has no power over us and the third important fact um is that um we have been redeemed now you know we are so familiar with that term we kind of even have stopped thinking about what it actually means but um this uh again you know a lot of spiritual significance in that um so let's look at how we are redeemed and what that could mean for us uh so colossians chapter one versus 13 and 14 if someone could read out please colossians one 13 and 14 colossians chapter one was 13 and 14 for he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the sun he loves in whom we have redemption the forgiveness of sins all right so uh we were slaves of sin we were under the control of our slave master sin but now our sins have been forgiven and because all our sins now stand forgiven you know we have been declared righteous in god's eyes so sin can no longer control us we have been set free so we have we are now brought from satan's kingdom where people are under the slavery of sin we have been brought out from there as free people and now we have been placed in this other kingdom the kingdom of the sun so as long as our sins were not forgiven we were still there in that kingdom of darkness under the control and dominion of of sin uh under the slavery of you know satan but once our sins were forgiven once the righteousness of jesus christ you know covered us once that became our legal status the dominion of darkness no longer has any control over us so we were brought from that dark kingdom into this into the kingdom of the sun uh you know and so we now have a new citizenship and um uh okay fine maybe we can just go in here two minutes over time and you know get into the break so yeah so we now we understand our citizenship rights very you know you know in a very um um clear manner when it comes to the natural realm you know because see if i'm a citizen of india and one day i come home and i see that my house has been taken over by a bunch of some foreign soldiers from some other nation some nation abcd okay that's the near i don't want to mention any nation i'm nothing against any nation you know so this this foreign soldiers have come and and have taken over my house you think i'm going to keep quiet i'm going to say you know this is my house you know kindly leave and those foreign soldiers they say to me no don't you know the garment of abcd has issued a law that people cannot have private property anymore so now your house is ours i'll say i'm not a king i'm not a citizen of abcd so you know your whatever your your garment whatever law your garment is passed it doesn't apply to me i'm a citizen of india and so i will go to my garment and i'll say you know please help me um you know these people they have no right over my house because i don't even come under the laws of their kingdom whatever whatever laws and regulations you know the uh kingdom of abcd has been issuing it doesn't apply to me because i'm a citizen of india so my garment in fact will come to my defense and they will have those soldiers thrown out of my house and i'll reclaim my house my house will be mine once more why because i'm a citizen of this of this of this kingdom of india and the laws of this other kingdom abcd kingdom don't even apply to me so i have the legal right to go to my government and my government will act on my behalf and they'll have those foreign soldiers thrown out of my house okay so we understand this very clearly in the natural realm and that is basically what is being done for us on a day-to-day basis by the lord jesus so you we see you see when um the darkness of um when the when the kingdom of darkness tries to come and control us when it tries to you know tempt us when it tries to bring us into into subjugation to sinful habits um and and we are under its control we don't have to put up with that kind of behavior you know we are now citizens of a new kingdom so we can use our authority in christ we can go to our you know our lord and master jesus christ and use the authority that he has given us to get these things vacated from our life from our home you know from our family they have no right over us we now belong to a different kingdom and the king the the kingdom of the of the son his rules apply to us whatever you know the kingdom of darkness is trying to impose upon us that is no right over us any longer so we can actually because we are redeemed people and we have been brought into a new kingdom the old kingdom cannot continue to exercise its control over us and we have the legal right to ask it to leave in the name of jesus so this is again another very important truth to grasp which can you know help us when it comes to um you know times of spiritual battle at that time understanding our legal status we can you know claim and say no i now come under the kingdom of the son of god and so whatever you're trying to do in my life and in my family's life you have no legal authority and so by the power given to me by my master jesus christ i can command you in the name of jesus to vacate you know so actually this can be of help sometimes you know in our spiritual battles but of course when it comes to temptation it's a plain no we would have to say no i don't need to you know submit to you i'd rather submit to my new master jesus christ so um but there are some areas of spiritual battle where understanding this aspect of our legal status helps us you know in getting rid of the activities of satan in our lives because those activities are not being done legally he has no right to meddle in our lives you know if we stay under the covering of our new government i'm under the government of jesus christ um so yeah so we've kind of gone two minutes or you know over the into the break if we can all you know please log back in at 11 o'clock and you know we'll resume with the class so 11 if we can get back um and at that time if someone could please remind me to switch on the recording yeah thank you so much take your break