In Christ We Rejoice In Victory

IN CHRIST...WE REJOICE IN VICTORY

John 14: 1 – 6

A couple walked into a pet store and while they were there looking around, they saw a parrot. The parrot looked at the man and said, “Hey, mister!”. The guy said, “Hey, what?”. And the parrot replied, “You’re stupid and your wife’s ugly.”. The two nervously chuckled and walked to another aisle.

A few minutes later, they came in sight of the bird again and the parrot called out, “Hey, mister!”. The agitated husband yelled back, “Hey, what?”. And once again the parrot said, “You’re stupid and your wife’s ugly.”.

At this the other customers gasped in disbelief. The angry husband had had enough and went to the manager to report the rudeness of his pets. The manager went directly to the parrot reached into the cage, slapped him around a little bit and said to the terrified bird, “Promise me you will never say that again!”. The trembling parrot said, “I promise, I won’t!”.

So, after the “come to Jesus meeting” between the manager and parrot the embarrassed manager apologized to the couple and headed back to his office. But as the husband and wife started to walk out of the pet store the parrot hollered at the man, “Hey, mister!”. The man looked back and muttered, “Hey, what?”. And the parrot said, “You know what!”.

That’s kind of how I feel about my sermon this morning… “We Rejoice in Our Victory.”. No news flash there. I mean, who wouldn’t rejoice over a prepared place called Heaven and a promised return by our Lord?

I doubt if any of you were on the fence this morning on whether to come to church today and then you saw in the bulletin my sermon title and said, “I’ve always had a hard time getting excited about Heaven and Christ’s return; I think I’ll stay and listen to Chris’ message.”.

And yet while I know that’s not the case, if the truth were known there are probably a few of us who are here because we need to have our faith renewed and our hope restored. When it comes to the Christian’s victory even though — you know what — you might not know why. God wanted there to be an incentive, or reward for both the living and the dead, so that either way they had hope and victory.

When long time Christians see a title that we have victory, on the surface it appears to be old news… “You know what.”.

The “Law of Familiarity” reads, “No matter how valuable, given enough time, everything will be taken for granted.”. There’s a danger for faithful Christians, and church leaders who are constantly doing the “work of the Lord”, and that is forgetting the “Lord of the work”. You’re around the messages so often that you begin to take them for granted. It was C.S. Lewis who said, “Sometimes rather than hearing new ideas, we need to be reminded of old truths.”.

Some people are under the misconception that you commit your life to Jesus Christ and then you graduate on to something better. But folks I’m here to tell you that you START with Jesus, you STAY with Jesus, and you FINISH with Jesus. It doesn’t get any better than Jesus. And He is the reason we can rejoice in victory.

My friends…it’s in Christ and in Him alone that we place our trust. Acts 4:12 says, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”. If you believe that this morning say, “AMEN.”.

So this morning, I want us to dwell upon two certainties which assure us and every single Christian in this world that WE ARE VICTORIOUS. The first certainty is this…

#1: Our home has been prepared because of. . .

? A New Relation:

Nowadays, a lot of people have bought into the popular but false notion that we’re ALL headed for heaven. But if you don’t have a companionship with Christ prior to eternity, you can’t expect a new relationship with Him in eternity.

You may recall that the reason many of the Bible characters got in trouble wasn’t because they believed in Jehovah God, people could accept that. They were persecuted because they claimed He was the ONLY God. Rulers and religious leaders couldn’t stomach that. They thought, “How exclusive! How intolerant to say that He is the ONLY way.”.

Sound familiar? Ever had someone challenge your beliefs with the convenient fall- back position of “all roads lead to Heaven”? Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great concept, it’s very reassuring. There’s only one problem with it. It’s in direct opposition to the teachings of the one whom death could not keep. For Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”.