The Sting of Death is Gone

“Behold, I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will in any way hurt you.” (Luke‬ ‭10:19‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

Many troubles we experience in life are the work of Satan and his demons, represented by the serpents and scorpions in the verse above. When they attack, do you know what to do?

The power of a serpent is in its sometimes poisonous bite, and the power of a scorpion is in its toxic sting. The serpent’s mouth is in front, the scorpion’s stinger is at the back.

Jesus is saying that He has given you authority and protection against the front, back and everything in-between of the enemy.

When you understand how to tread on your demonic enemies, you become immune to harm.

““Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.” (1 Corinthians‬ ‭15:55-56‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

Sin is the scorpion’s poisonous sting which produces death. Satan wants people to nurture their sins so that their sowing into the flesh brings forth the mature fruit of death.

Sin produces death because of the Law (the Ten Commandments). A transgression of God’s law brings the penalty of death and the curse of the Law. Without the Law, sin wouldn’t result in death.

For a born-again believer, sin has become powerless to kill him (the spirit) because the believer has shared in Jesus’ death and has passed from death into life. He has been irreversibly saved.

““Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word, and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” (John‬ ‭5:24‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

Sin is also unable to bring the curse upon a believer because Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse Himself at the cross.

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,” that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Galatians‬ ‭3:13-14‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

However, many believers don’t know these. When up against a believer, Satan is like a scorpion without a sting. He still tries to deceive believers that they can lose their salvation and that God curses them when they sin. Making a Christian think that God is against him destroys his faith because who can resist the power of God?

Actually, the only way the sting can grow back is if you put yourself under the Law again. The moment you attempt works-based justification, it’s like Satan’s sting regenerates and is driven deep into your body, inflicting death through the curse of the Law.

“For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.”” (Galatians‬ ‭3:10‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

Satan may come with lies like a serpent and say, “You sinned again. You’re hopeless. God’s curse is upon you. God is going to destroy you because you keep repeating your sins and are unrepentant.”

He heaps accusations and condemnation upon you. The moment you believe him, you are stung by the scorpion. The curse of the Law takes effect in your life because you have effectively put yourself under the covenant of the Law as a transgressor.

Based on the principle of sowing and reaping, sin still bears the fruit of death, causing sickness, depression, infirmity, aging, and finally the death of the body, but sin cannot cause you to lose your salvation or bring you under God’s curse.

God is for you, not against you. His favor continually shines upon you and it is not by your performance, but by the grace of God, made possible through Jesus’ finished work at the cross.

When you fall because of sin, it is by the grace of God that you can immediately pick yourself up again. Do not cut yourself off from that supply by being self-condemned.

In your war against Satan’s temptations, sometimes you will fall—and God knows that. But you can dust yourself off and get up again by receiving the grace and mercy of God. Do not allow Satan to trick you into thinking that God’s curse is upon you.

The scorpion’s sting has been removed and the Law does not apply to you, so let it stay that way. You are a child of God under the New Covenant of Grace who is led by the Holy Spirit!

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What “you are the Righteousness of God in Christ” Means

“For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians‬ ‭5:21‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

The verse above is beautiful because it sums up what Jesus’ finished work at the cross achieved for us and how it was done.

At the cross, Jesus, who has always been sinless, received our sins, and was punished as a transgressor of the Law in our place.

Then, because all our sins have been righteously punished in Christ, God has fully exhausted His sin against our sins, and has nothing but favor for us now.

Our debt has been wiped clean, having been transferred to Jesus, and it’s as if we never sinned.

To become the righteousness of God means to be made as righteous as God Himself.

Even if you did 99.99% right things and only sinned 0.01% of the time, you cannot qualify to be called the righteousness of God. You will be called a sinner. Anything less than perfect is not considered righteous at all.

“For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians‬ ‭3:3‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

However, now that you have died and your life is hidden in Christ, you are called the righteousness of God. Just as Jesus is perfectly righteous, so are you.

What is the benefit of being as righteous as God?

“Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked.” (Proverbs‬ ‭10:6‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

It means that you qualify for all of God’s blessings. You are favored and blessed because you are righteous in Christ.

Whatever good thing you can enjoy in this mortal lifetime is called a blessing. Blessings can’t be earned, only freely received through the gift of righteousness you possess.

Every time you confess “I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus”, you are shifting your trust for favor and blessings to the gift of righteousness instead of works-based righteousness.

You are exalting Jesus’ finished work at the cross and actively using what He purchased for you with His own precious blood.

It is so easy to fall back to attempts at self-justification through works because that’s what the sinful flesh craves. The flesh wants to earn things based on its performance and boast in its strength.

But as long as you are trying to become righteous by your works, you are not reigning in life.
You are taking the place of a transgressor and slave to sin under the Law, activating the curse in your life.

“For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.” (Romans‬ ‭5:17‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

Rely on the gift of righteousness and keep receiving the abundance of grace. That’s how you reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ!

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What Highest Respect for the Law Looks Like

“He answered them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ “For you set aside the commandment of God, and hold tightly to the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and you do many other such things.” He said to them, “Full well do you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother;’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban, that is to say, given to God”;’ then you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother, making void the word of God by your tradition, which you have handed down. You do many things like this.”” (Mark‬ ‭7:6-13‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

When the Pharisees tried to keep the Law, it’s like they were cheating by amending the questions in a very difficult exam paper.

They added their own man-made traditions and commandments in, to try and make what was impossible to keep, more manageable—and they still failed.

The Pharisees tried to appear holy by keeping their own version of the Law, but the very act of depending on the works of the Law for righteousness shows their disrespect for the Law’s holiness—for no man who was born into sin can ever keep it perfectly.

Today whoever still tries to live by the Ten Commandments doesn’t know what they’re doing.
They’re essentially saying: “God, save and bless me based on my best efforts at obedience, not Jesus’ perfect obedience at the cross.”

I don’t insult or ridicule the Law because I have the highest regard for its perfect holiness—Yahweh (Jesus) wrote it by His own hand and had it given to Moses on Mount Sinai.
It’s also why I would never try to earn my righteousness through it because if you fail in one commandment, you become guilty of breaking the whole Law.

“For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.” (James‬ ‭2:10-11‬ ‭WEB)

The Law is holy, but mortal man is not. That’s why we need Jesus.
That’s why God had to establish the New Covenant of Grace—because the Old Covenant of the Law was faulty in the sense that no man could ever become righteous through it.

How did Jesus fulfill the Law for us? Not just by living a perfect life of obedience. That part only qualified Him to be an unblemished sin offering.

The Law necessitates that the wages of sin is death and that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.
Jesus fulfilled the Law on our behalf by shedding His precious blood and dying on the cross for our sins.

We are no longer slaves of sin because our debt has been paid in full.
The one sacrificial offering of Jesus far out-values all the blood of goats and bulls that was ever offered by the Jews throughout history.
Having died to the Law (for Gentiles it’s our conscience), our spirits have been raised to new life, recreated in perfect righteousness, to live forever to God.

The life of a child of God is not servitude to the Law, but rather obedience to the Holy Spirit.
We are not unappreciated slaves being forced to serve a hard taskmaster, but rather beloved sons choosing to trust and obey a good father!

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