A Victory Story Selected Texts
1. Victory now sanctification (hagios): to make holy
Positional: occurs at salvation 1 Peter 2:9 1 Corinthians 6:11
Progressive: the process of growing in and becoming more like Jesus
Colossians 2:6-7 John 10:10 Titus 3:5-6 Ephesians 5:18 To be
Perfected: when we are in the literal presence of Christ, perfected and complete.
2. Victory forever glorification: the final removal of any effects of sin resulting in the eternal state bliss for every believer
There will be no sin
There will be no effects of sin
There will be a new physical reality
There will be unrestricted intimacy with the Triune God.
We love happy endings, right? Here are a few great story endings….(montage of these clips: Wonderful Life (from 6:25 to 7:08 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrmUipa1kc4) Rocky (3:08-3:26https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSK-Iv3gh9I)…Beauty and the Beast (2:02-2:22 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RyNu_Gg2uQ) …Princess Bride (1st 12 seconds of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUEdyXoMkgA)…Shawshank Redemption (:058-1:15 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRBl0GPBm4o)
We LOVE happy endings. And you know: There is a universal desire for happy endings.
God’s story is a story that has the BEST happy ending. We’ve been talking about how God’s story in the Bible has four acts: Act 1, Creation: everything created for man’s own good and God’s own glory. Act 2, Fall. Every ounce of disease and death, both with our bodies and with our souls, is traced back to one single event when humanity believed that they knew better than God. Act 3 is all about Rescue and Redemption; how God became one of us so that He could rescue us from the penalty of our willful disobedience. And what a rescue it was..and is. Last week we had ?? people in our three services rescued and redeemed by placing their faith and trust in Jesus alone for their salvation!
But now that leads us to the 4th and final act: Victory. Nobody wants to lose; nobody likes defeat. We have this universal desire for happy endings. And through Jesus Christ, we are now set up for victory now and victory forever.
Let’s look first at victory now.
1. Victory now
This is the idea of sanctification (generally): setting apart something and using it for its original purpose
This stool was created to be sat upon, right? So when I sit on it, I am sanctifying it.
It’s a stool whether I sit on it or not. So it is set apart, meaning that it’s not a drum or a guitar. But it is fully sanctified when I sit on it.
sanctification (biblically): set apart for and being transformed into the image of Jesus. We were created in the image of God, right? But we were in a wreck and the image has been tragically distorted. Like a car that’s been in a wreck (pic attached), we can tell it’s still a car, but it’s tragically distorted. A wrecked car can be taken to a body shop and restored (pic attached)
Humanity has been in a wreck. That was Act 2: the Fall. We were created in the image of God but the Fall and our own choices have tragically wrecked us. But those of us who are in Christ have been hauled into God’s body shop and He is in the process of restoring us into His image. That’s called sanctification. The Greek word for sanctification (hagios): to make holy. Sanctification has two dimensions:
Positional: occurs at salvation From the moment that you are saved, you have been set apart. “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9
In Christ, we are holy. IN fact, that’s why we are called saints: set apart ones. If you’re in Christ, you are accepted and set apart and holy in God’s eyes. How so? When He looks at us He sees the blood of Jesus and based on that He accepts us as holy. “You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:11
But even the best of us don’t ACT holy all the time, right? My sweet Sue is close to perfect, but even she doesn’t act holy ALL the time! So now we examine progressive sanctification.
Progressive: the process of growing in and becoming more like Jesus If positional is all about spiritual birth, then progressive is all about spiritual growth. This is becoming holy. We’re holy positionally, but becoming holy experientially. “So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7 being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude.” Colossians 2:6-7 Live in Him. Be rooted in Him. Grow in Him.
This is the part than can be painful. God has hauled you into His body shop and He is beating the hell out of you—literally. So even though the penalty of our sin has been wiped clean with the blood of Jesus, we have to deal with the consequences of our sin. And sometimes this is very painful.
Story of someone who had great challenge but overcame.
And see, that’s the point. Jesus didn’t save us to watch us writhe in defeat; He came to enable us to live in victory. When He said in John 10:10 “I came that you would have life; real life—more and better life than you ever dreamt of”, that’s what He had in mind.
This is the role of the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit in you. Just as you didn’t have the power to save yourself, you don’t have the power to walk and live in victory. “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.” Titus 3:5-6 (ESV)
The victorious Christian life is all about being under the control and influence of the Spirit. “And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit.” Ephesians 5:18 To be filled means to be under the control of ; dominated by. If you’ve had too much to drink, it will control you; dominate you. But that’s not all that can dominate the believer: pornography & lust can dominate; anger & bitterness can dominate; fear & anxiety can dominate; comfort & luxury can dominate. Being dominated by fleshly desires, is no recipe for victory, I promise you that!
But living under the domination of the Spirit is the key to victory; cooperating with Him as He transforms you from the inside out to be more like Jesus.
(draw on chart: heart & mind, flesh on one side Spirit on the other: stuck in unholiness guilt, fear, shame, lust, promiscuity, foul language, addictions, etc; moving toward holiness; defeat; victory)
But no matter how victorious and good and abundant this life is—it does not BEGIN to compare to what awaits us. There is positional sanctification: we are new creatures in Christ. There is progressive sanctification: we are growing in Christ. And then there is perfected sanctification: that is when we are in the literal presence of Christ, perfected and complete.
Past, present, and future. So let’s talk about our ultimate victory in Christ; one that is forever.
2. Victory forever
This is also called glorification: the final removal of any effects of sin resulting in the eternal state bliss for every believer We’re talking about heaven, you know that, right?
Now folks, if I preached on this topic all year I couldn’t cover all the Bible says about it.
So I’m left to hit the high spots and hopefully whet your appetite.
What is so sad to me is that when we talk about heaven, many 21st century American Christians feel one of two emotions: fear or disinterest. Both of them reveal an absolute misunderstanding of what awaits the believer. I’m reading a book (pic of two books: Heaven by Randy Alcorn and A Place Called Heaven by Robert Jeffress) on heaven right now and it pumps me up to think about it. I’m not going to quote all the scriptures—we’d be here all day. Read the books! Why do I get pumped up when I think about heaven?
In heaven:
There will be no sin (build): the Bible is clear that heaven is a place where no sin can possible exist. Satan will be totally vanquished. And get this, the concept of temptation will totally disappear. No more temptation to look, no more temptation to taste, no more temptation to do anything that is inconsistent with the very nature/essence of God!
There will be no effects of sin: the curse that resulted of the fall will be totally removed: no more pain, suffering, estrangement, disagreement, divorce, hate, prejudice, injustice, no more disease, no more death!
There will be a new physical reality: For me this is one of the more difficult concepts to grasp. This old earth will be done away with and there will be a new place for us to live; a new habitat for humanity; one that is not under the curse; one that is beyond our ability to grasp: like the Grand Tetons on steroids, like Hawaii on steroids. As amazing as this planet is under the curse, think about how incredible the new place will be! I will get a new body, but I will be recognizable to all who knew me; there will be a new habitat for humanity. I won’t get wings; I won’t be an angel; I won’t fly around in the clouds playing a harp. I’ll get a new body that will never suffer one ounce of pain.
The Bible says that I won’t miss my old life and miraculously and thankfully I won’t miss my lost friends and relatives. There is no sadness in heaven.
I will still experience work and purpose, emotions and love, And Because we won’t be omniscient, we still won’t know everything, so we will also experience thrill, and adventure, and surprise.
Amongst the blessings will be sitting around with our best friends and family telling the best stories, eating the best food, drinking the best drink and enjoying each relationship to the max without any fear of rejection.
And most importantly, There will be unrestricted intimacy with the Triune God.
I can’t imagine what it will be like to be united with my Dad and listen to him tell his stories of growing up in the depression and surviving Iwo Jima and how God took care of him and led him to my mom and visit with mom about her own redemptive story, physically abused by her first husband and divorced and then met dad fresh back from the Pacific and listen and enjoy the story of God’s redemption in their lives over and over again. And sit down with Jim Elliot and talk to him what it was like to be martyred by the Auca Indians of Equdor. And try to catch some time with the Apostle Paul and try to plumb the depths of this incredible intellect. And laugh with Peter as he tells stories of great victories and humiliating defeats. But the best part, the part that every believe longs for deep in our souls, is to be reunited with the one who loves us and gave Himself for us: to place my hands in his nail scared hands and side and look into his eyes and tell him face to face: thank you. Thank you. That will never grow old. No fear of God. No confusion. No doubt. Nothing but pure and undefiled intimacy.
Final story or quote You talk about a happy ending; except get this: it NEVER ends!
