Living in Victory
Sermon By Keith J. Andrews
All scripture marked ESV: The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001.Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
July 4, is the day of celebration for Americans. Is special to us because we won our independence from Great Britain. We look at this day as a time when America was victorious.
July 4 comes as a comfort to us. Many times in our world, we feel defeated. It is good to celebrate a victory once and a while.
Day to day we live our lives through one battle after another.
And what about you?
Your marriage may be on the brink of failing.
Your Children may be growing more and more uncontrollable.
In this economic recession we are in, you may be worried about how your family is doing in the States.
You may be worried about your safety, worried about your work situation, or lonely.
We find that we can be beat up on a daily basis by this evil world. And it is evil, the problems we see are the effects of a sinful people.
Not only do we feel beat up, but we feel defeated.
But what does the Bible say about being defeated?
Turn with me this morning to I John 5:1-4:
5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. (1 Jn 5:1-4, ESV)
We are all looking for ways to have victory in our lives.
The Bible says “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” (Jn 5:4, ESV)
What does this victory mean?
1 John 5 shows us three ways you can have victory.
First, you can have victory through
1. Salvation
Look with me in verse 12:
12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.(1 Jn 5:12, ESV)
The Bible says whoever has God’s son has life.
Do you realize the significance of that statement?
Whoever has God’s son—has life.
That means that when you accept Christ, death has been conquered. Death is no longer a threat.
This sinful world can send everything it can at you, but death has already been conquered.
It was conquered when Jesus died on the cross, in your place. Jesus paid the price for you, if you accept it.
From the moment that you accept Christ, you are on an eternal timetable.
Do you know for certain that you have eternal life when you die? You can know that. You can know that by asking Jesus into your life.
And you can be victorious over death.
What does that mean for you? It means that there should be nothing to stop you from sharing Christ.
One thing this world hates, and that is a Christian on fire for God.
When sin comes in contact with the godly man or woman, it has two choices: to run or attack.
But you are victorious through your salvation.
As I read this passage, I thought about the martyrs that have died in the name of Christ.
They have died in the past, and they continued to die to this day in countries like Indonesia, Sudan, Pakistan and many others that I hear rumors about nearly once a month.
Why are these Martyrs ready to die?
Because they have victory over death. Through salvation they know that their eternity is paid for and they no longer need to worry.
When they accepted Christ the decision was made.
They decided to leave their life and become a Christian.
And more important for us to remember, is that the salvation that we have in Christ is no different, than the salvation that they have.
In America, we have so many opportunities to become a Christian.
And when many become Christians, it makes no difference in their life at all.
It should make a difference. Jesus makes a difference in all of our lives.
When we have conquered death, what fear do we have? We need to live for Christ, at all times, at all cost.
Once you have Victory over death. Your fear is taken away.
What do you have to fear? Once you realize that death is the worst thing that could happen to you, and that is no longer a threat, what do you have to fear?
And once you have victory over death, your Confidence is in your Salvation, the God given salvation through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
That is your confidence.
Many times this world confuses confidence with arrogance.
Why? Because people can not understand what it means to know God.
People cannot understand what it means to know the truth—the truth that is found through the Bible.
People around the world literally hate to hear a Christian say Jesus is the only way.
“It is close minded”, they say. And it is closed minded.
Once you accept Christ, and you know without a shadow of doubt that he took away your sin, and paid the price for you. There is no other argument.
And you come to know the Bible is 100% true—there is no need for another argument. The case is closed.
And in this truth, is your confidence.
You can have confidence to know that you are protected and guided through the Holy Spirit.
And once you have victory over death, you also have, Comfort in Hardship.
Hardship will come. This may not be overt persecution, but hardship will come.
And when it comes you can have comfort.
Peter & Paul were continually in and out of jail. Their comfort was found in Christ. Through their salvation they knew that they had conquered death.
They were living victorious lives. And they found comfort in their hardship.
And you can to.
Through salvation you can have victory over fear, confidence in your witness, and comfort in hardship.
We also see that you can have victory through
2. Prayer.
Look in Verse 14-15:
14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. (1 Jn 5:14-15, ESV).
The Bible says, He will listen to us, whenever we ask him for anything in line with his will.
What does it mean to ask anything in line with his will? It means to consult the Bible.
Guide your life by the Bible.
Many times, we try to make God conform to our wishes. We treat God, like a genie in a bottle.
But we are to seek his kingdom first. What does that mean?
It means that God is more important than you or me. We are to submit to his plan.
When we accept Christ, we surrender all.
And once we are surrendered to Christ, putting him before all else, we are in line with his will.
We already know the will of God,
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. (Mt 22:37, ESV)
Not every exact technical question, but we know enough to do the will of God.
Our problem, in many cases, is that we don’t do what he reveals in the first place.
We need to seek the will of God through a daily pursuit of the scriptures.
When we are seeking his face, we are seeking his will, and his will will become clear to us.
So if we are asking according to his will, we can be sure that he will give us what we ask.
We can have victory through Prayer in Missions.
Iraq is a place of great need of prayer. The people of Iraq have experienced war, famine, corrupt governments, and terrorism.
But at the same time, they are beginning to hunger for gospel. Iraq is a place that is ripe for the harvest.
This is not our job to preach the gospel to the Iraqis, but to prepare the way for freedom—through this I pray that they will have opportunities to know Christ.
And we need to pray for the people, that they will come to know Christ.
And we know this is in accordance with God will because God desires everyone to come to know him.
If it wasn’t so, he would not send us to the ends of the Earth.
But we need to pray, so that God’s will, will be done. And he has promised that he will answer.
Similarly, we can have victory through Prayer in America.
If it is so important a prayer for those in Iraq and around the world, it is important to pray for America.
And if God will answer your prayers for Iraq, we need to also pray for America.
God desires for all nations to know him. And our nation knew him once, but has forgotten where we have come from.
We know that our country is traveling a dangerous road. And that road is leading us away from God.
We need to pray that our country will repent of its sin.
We have worshiped money. And we have worshiped ourselves.
And now we are scrambling for any thing we can worship besides our God.
Our country needs desperately to repent.
But that starts with the prayers of godly people.
Do you want to see changes in America? Then pray. Do you want to this country turn back to God? Then pray.
We love to complain about our government. We love to complain about immorality. But do we, honestly, pray to God for this to change.
You can read the entire Old Testament, or just a portion, and you will find that God wants nations to turn to him.
It is according to his will, he promised to answer it. So we need to pray. We can have victory through prayer.
But, as important as these are, what about the things that are important in your life. The Bible says the Jesus came that we might have abundant life.
Are you having an abundant life? Are you coming to know the joy of being a Christian?
Hear me clearly. I’m not talking about wealth.
I’m talking about life.
A life in Christ is abundant.
And you can have victory for prayer in your personal life.
You may be experiencing hardship. You may the waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Jesus came so that you can have abundant life.
All your problems may not be fixed all of a sudden.
But, if you pray for abundant life, according to his will, he will answer that prayer.
Finally, you can have victory through
3. Christ
Look at verse 18-20
18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. (1 Jn 5:18-20, ESV)
The Son of God has come. One more proof of victory do you need?
Through Christ, he has given us understanding.
We are made to understand who God is. We can know the true God.
There are a lot of false gods all around this world.
But through Christ we can know the true God. And we can have victory through Christ.
As we understand who God is, we understand that we are in God because we are in his son, Jesus.
And He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.
Are you experiencing Victory in your life?
Are you living in victory today? Or are you being defeated before you wake up in the morning?
Jesus wants to give you a victory. Victory never comes without a battle and it is a battle, but there is victory in Jesus.
And you can have that victory. You can ask Jesus into your heart this morning.
Why do we ask Jesus into our heart? Why do we surrender our lives to him? We do these things because he died in our place.
He conquered death and he gave us the opportunity to accept that victory in our lives.
We are sinners. The wages of sin, the payment of sin, is death.
And we are all condemned to die because of our sin. But Jesus died on a cross for you and for me.
He became our substitute. It was a substitute, because he had no sin.
The Bible says that he has given us this life, this new life, as a gift. The gift of God is a eternal life through Christ Jesus.
But we must accept it. We must accept this gift from God today.
Have you accepted this gift and asked Jesus into your heart?
You can do that today. You can ask Jesus into your heart today.
