Are You Living In Victory?

ARE YOU LIVING IN VICTORY?

Are you living in victory Hosea 4:6 says “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”

Some Christians never live in victory because we never fully comprehend the total victory of Jesus and our ability by faith to appropriate all He has done for us. This sermon looks at this subject and reveals Jesus’ total triumph over sin and His ability to save anyone who wishes to come to Him despite their sin.

Luke 19:1-10 Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho

Everything Jesus did had a purpose and in this sermon we will find that although Jesus was heading to the cross in Jerusalem, (Luke 18:36) He made a detour through Jericho, a longer route. Why did Jesus do this? We will discover the answer in, The Scene, The Sinner and The Savior.

THE SCENE

Jericho meaning to blow, i.e. breathe; to smell by implication, perceive, accept, smell, touch, make of quick understanding: - is a type of our natural senses or understanding.

In Joshua 6 we find that Jericho was the first city Israel came to after they crossed the River Jordan and entered the Promised Land.

Jericho was the gateway to Canaan or in New Testament terms the stronghold or things that hold us back from appropriating the promises of God!

Israel were given a set of instructions to follow by God in order to see the city fall. The obedience of Israel to follow those instructions and see this obstacle, Jericho destroyed was an act of faith. Hebrews 11:30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.

Today our strongholds come down and the promises of God are appropriated when by faith we obey Gods word.

But Joshua foreseeing events that could occur made this declaration - Joshua 6:26 Then Joshua charged them at that time, saying, "Cursed be the man before the LORD who rises up and builds this city Jericho; he shall lay its foundation with his firstborn, and with his youngest he shall set up its gates."

NOTICE: The firstborn in the Old Testament represented THE PROMISE of a future and a Savior, so in effect Joshua was saying if you allow Jericho’s in your life you will lose your ability to access the promises of God.

In 1 Kings 16:34 In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation with Abiram his firstborn, and with his youngest son Segub he set up its gates, according to the word of the Lord, which He had spoken through Joshua the son of Nun.

This act by Hiel cost him his promise, his firstborn, the rebuilt walls of Jerich represented disobedience to Gods word, because of unbelief, doubt.

Jesus then our true Joshua had to pass through Jericho because it represented Satan’s Stronghold of unbelief and disobedience and doubt. Jesus had to see these spiritual walls demolished and prove that even in the midst of the situation there He could save the worst sinner, which leads us to The Sinner.

THE SINNER

Zaccheus means just or pure. He was called a son of Abraham. Abraham we are told was the father of faith and through him, faith promises were obtained.

Romans 4:16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

Not only that, but Zaccheus name was a play on living by faith: Romans 1:17 The just shall live by faith.

But Zaccheus was not living by faith our passage tells us he had a reputation of being a sinner and not only that he was a Chief Tax Collector, one who impoverished the people, mistreated and stole from them as was the custom of the day, he worked for the Romans, who represent a type of the world. So our “son of faith” was not living by faith he was living and controlled by his senses and as such was a prisoner of Satan.

Zaccheus represents then the most, imprisoned by sin, person living in the rebuilt city of unbelief, doubt and disobedience, in other words Satan’s chief prize.

Jesus then went to Jericho to demonstrate His complete victory over sin and Satan to prove that no-one is unreachable by God.

THE SAVIOUR

Jesus Christ meaning the Lord is salvation = Joshua

What does Jesus find when He comes into Jericho, does Jesus find proof that the inhabitants of this border town still rely on God and God alone to defend and preserve the Promised Land? Do the ruins of the collapsed walls of the city still remind the present inhabitants of the city that the Promised Land was a gift received by faith alone, a gift that can be retained by faith alone?