Victory In Christ

Victory In Christ
8 August, 2003

"¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. ¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." -- Ephesians 6:10-13

Praise be the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior and the Rock of our foundation! If we stand on Him, we shall never be moved. He alone can save us and bring us to Victory! Life is a series of battles. Each and every day we fight with the world and with the enemy. However, Christ has become victorious over the world and the enemy, so through Him we can have victory. Let's take a look and see what God's Word says about the battles we will face and the victory that we have in Christ.

Life is a Battle

First, God's Word tells us that life is a battle. Paul struggled every day of his life. In his service to God, he was constantly fighting other Jews, other religions, and even other Christians:

"⁴Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; ⁵in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger;" -- 2 Corinthians 6:4-5

¹¹When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. ¹²Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. ¹³The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. ¹⁴When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, 'You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?'" -- Galatians 2:11-14
"³For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. ⁴The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. ⁶And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete." -- 2 Corinthians 10:3-6

In addition to the external battles Paul fought, he had his hands full with internal battles as well. He was constantly struggling in subduing his flesh:

"²¹So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²²For in my inner being I delight in God's law; ²³but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. ²⁴What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" -- Romans 7:21-24

Paul struggled on all fronts, and today, we struggle on all fronts. Be it at work, at home or just driving down the road. It seems life is a constant battle, against the world, against our own flesh, and against an enemy that will stop at nothing to undermine God's Great Plan. Fortunately for us, we have a Savior who is greater than anything the world or the enemy can throw at as.

Christ is the Victor

In the above passage from Romans, Paul asks "Who will rescue me?" Indeed, who will rescue us? Who will save us from the world, from the enemy, from, ourselves? Paul tells right after asking the question:

"Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!" -- Romans 7:25

Jesus Christ will save us, for Jesus Christ is inside us, and greater is He who is in us then he who is in the world (1 John 4:4)! On the night Jesus was betrayed, during that fateful walk in the garden, He told His disciples that He had already overcome the world:

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." -- John 16:33

Jesus knew even before He was arrested, tried and killed, that He would be victorious. By submitting His will to the will of our Father, Jesus knew that even though some pretty horrible things were going to happen to Him, He would arise and be victorious. Indeed, He was victorious:

"⁵As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.⁶"Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. ⁷But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.' " -- Mark 16:5-7

I think it is also important to note here, that even though Jesus submitted His will to our Father, He himself was in anguish. Being human, part of Him did not want to go through all the pain and suffering He knew He was about to face:

"³⁹Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. ⁴⁰On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation." ⁴¹He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, ⁴²"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." ⁴³An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. ⁴⁴And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
⁴⁵When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. ⁴⁶"Why are you sleeping?" he asked them. "Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation." -- Luke 22:39-46

The awesome thing here is, in spite of the anguish He felt, in spite of the suffering He knew He would face, He fully submitted himself to the will of our Father, and suffered and, died, and rose again!! With His resurrection, Jesus Christ became the Champion, all His enemies will be brought under His feet:

"²⁵For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶The last enemy to be destroyed is death. ²⁷For he "has put everything under his feet." Now when it says that "everything" has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ.

"Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." -- Isaiah 53:12

"To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne." -- Revelation 3:21
"They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings--and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers." -- Revelation 17:14

Jesus Christ has overcome. Jesus Christ has won. He alone is the Victor, the Champion. It is through Him and Him alone, that we can have victory.

Through Christ, We Have Victory

With Jesus' death on the cross all our sin was crucified. With Jesus' resurrection, our life and victory has been guaranteed. Jesus Christ became victorious over life and over death, so that through Christ, we may have victory as well:

"¹⁴Since 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-- ¹⁵and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. ¹⁶For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants." -- Hebrews 2:14-16

"⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁵⁸Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." -- 1 Corinthians 15:56-58
"³³Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us." -- Romans 8:3-34

Who will bring charges against us? Well, Satan tries. He spoke rather badly about Job, the most righteous man of his time:

"⁶ One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. ⁷ The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"
Satan answered the LORD , "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."
⁸ Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."
⁹ "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. ¹⁰ "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. ¹¹ But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face." -- Job 1:6-11

Satan tries the same thing with us. He is God's enemy, so when we submit ourselves to God, he becomes our enemy, seeking to destroy us whenever and however he can:

"Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." -- 1 Peter 5:8

Now, I am not saying that Satan personally attacks each and every one of us all the time, but he has his forces of evil, and we do fight against those forces (See Eph 6:13 above). However, through Jesus Christ, we have power over the enemy:

"¹⁷The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."
¹⁸He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. ¹⁹I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. ²⁰However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." -- Luke 10:17-20

With that power, and through Jesus Christ, we will have victory over the same:

"And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name." -- Revelation 15:2

Satan also is known as the prince of this world (John 16:11). The world is, in fact, Satan's kingdom (Luke 4:5-6). As a result, Christians will be fighting against the world as well. People of God and people of the world do not mix. Above, we saw Jesus tell His disciples they would have trouble in the world. But in the same sentence, Jesus told His disciples He had already overcome the world. And through Jesus, we too can and will overcome the world:

"³This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, ⁴for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. ⁵Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God." -- 1 John 3:3-5
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." -- Romans 35,37

Through Jesus. With Jesus. Jesus has already overcome the world, and we belong to Him, so we too will overcome the world. Through Jesus, we will have victory over the world. I don't know about you, but that make we want to jump up and shout "thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ"! (2 Corinthians 2:14a) WE ARE VICTORIOUS!!!!

Not only does Jesus give us victory over the devil and the world, but through Christ, we will have victory over our own flesh. This is probably the greatest of battles we will face as Christians. For not only is Satan a roaring lion, but he also appears to us as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:4). We can see in the passage (Romans 7:21-24) above that this was something Paul really struggled with. I personally struggle each and every day with my own flesh. In Romans 7:25 Paul tells us that it is Jesus who will rescue us from our flesh. Yes, not only we will have victory over the devil, not only will we have victory over the world, but through Christ we will have victory over our own flesh!!! In order to claim this victory, we need to be in Christ and we need to imitate Christ:

"¹³Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. ¹⁴Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature." -- Romans 13:13-14
"¹If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ²then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. ³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. ⁴Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
⁵Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. -- Philippians 2:1-5

Granted, that is much easier said than done, trust me I know, but with Christ and through Christ, we will be victorious. Even though we may lose some battles along the way, in the end, we will all share in the victory of Christ Jesus our Lord.

CONCLUSION:

The bottom line is, while we are on this earth, we are going to have struggles. We are going to have to battles, and we are going to have to fight those battles. We will fight against the world, we will fight against the devil and we will fight against our own flesh. Some of these battles we are going to win and some of these battles we are going to lose. However, ultimately we will be victorious. Jesus Christ has defeated death, overcome the world and is victorious over Satan. Through Christ we will have victory over Satan, victory over the world, victory and over our flesh. What's more, the day is approaching when Satan will be defeated for good and, with Christ, we will have our final victory over all. "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus." (Revelation 22:20)

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