Hope In The Conquest Of Sin, Death And Fear Series

We continue in our series Hope Found Here and this month our theme is Hope in the Conquest.

Perhaps for some Hope in the Conquest is a little too abstract, so maybe I need to define it a little more: Hope in the Conquest of Sin; Hope in the Conquest of Death; and Hope in the Conquest of Fear.

Our hope comes from being in a real relationship with Jesus, He has conquered the power of sin and death. If we are in Christ, if we have accepted Him as our Lord and Saviour we have no need to fear our past, our present or our future. We are secure in Him, He is with us, Jesus is our certain hope.

Jesus is our hope and He brings light into our darkest hours. When we are discouraged by circumstances and situations, Jesus is our certain hope. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:37, “We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”

To conquer means to be victorious over an adversary. To be “more than a conqueror” means we not only achieve victory, but we are overwhelmingly victorious, not through our own strengths or efforts, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us, forgives us and saves us.

Throughout the Bible there are many examples of people who had a certain hope in what God was able to do; People who trusted God to bring the victory trusted God to be overwhelmingly victorious.

In the Old Testament God brought miraculous victory to His people. For example, in Exodus 14 the Israelites were fleeing from the Egyptians, Pharaoh had sent his soldiers and chariots after them, the people were scared and fearful, in Exodus 14:13-14, Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.” Humanly speaking, this bunch of refugees fleeing across the desert was no match for the army of Egypt, but God tells them not to be afraid, He would fight their battles for them.

The Lord told the prophet, Jeremiah, that He was bringing armies against the rebellious Israelites as punishment for their disobedience, but even then in Jeremiah 1:19 God said, “They will fight you, but they will fail. For I am with you, and I will take care of you. I, the Lord, have spoken”.

In 2 Kings chapter 7, an entire army fled their own camp when God caused them to hear the sounds of a great army coming and then the Israelites were able to raid the enemy camp for food for their families. The Israelites were “more than conquerors” because they were saved from the approaching army and also benefited from what their enemy left behind.

Listen to Romans 8:35-39, Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake, we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Apostle Paul wrote these words to encourage believers in Christ to stand firm in their hope and knowledge that God is faithful. To stand firm in faith when attacks come, knowing that not only will we win in the end, but Jesus enables us to win now. The Devil does not have any power to steal our eternal destiny. Satan can not separate us from the love of God. We have Hope in the Conquest of Sin, Hope in the Conquest of Death, and Hope in the Conquest of Fear because our Hope is Found in the One who can never be defeated.

Nothing we face, no trial, no tribulation, no circumstance, no situation can ever separate us from Father God, if we are His children through faith in His Son, then we have the certain hope of His love and protection. Let me remind you of the words of Jesus in John 10:27–29, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and He is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.”