VICTORY IN JESUS: THE MASTER OF MY NEW LIFE IN CHRIST
The choices we make in life define us and determine our future. At some point in our lives we who gather here to worship the Lord made the same choice Joshua made long ago, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Amen.
You had a choice of two ways to go in life and you chose the Jesus Way. You had a choice of two masters to serve, and you chose Jesus. You had a choice of two eternal destinies and you chose to live in the House of the Lord forever.
You said “yes” to God’s plan and purpose for His creation and for everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord. You said “no” to the way of atheists, fools, agnostics and others who reject the Creator of us all and the Father of those who by repentance and faith accept God’s Son Jesus Christ as the Messiah.
You chose God’s way, not the misguided way of humanists who say life is not about God but all about the accidentally evolved individual human being who, they say, has no choice but to become the master of oneself - a godless philosophy that espoused by many elitists through the centuries – humanists like the British poet William Ernest Henley whose Victorian poem “Invictus”, written in 1875, is expressive of the atheistic doctrine of self-mastery (and I quote):
Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeoning of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find me, unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.
The ungodly view of life poeticized by this secular humanist establishes self as the captain of one’s soul instead of relinquishing control of self to any deity, let alone the God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. However, “This way of the ungodly shall perish but the Lord watches over the way of the righteous.”
It has been said, “There are two kinds of people in the world: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘All right, then, have it your way’” (C. S. Lewis). I am so glad it can be said of you, my brother and sister in Christ: “God’s will is being done in your life!”
The choice you made at whatever point in your life was epitomized by baptism, as pointed out by Paul in his letter to the Romans – Romans 6:4-14 . . .
Your baptism symbolically portrayed, to all who witnessed it, that you died to sin as a way of life, and that you were raised by God’s power to a new life in Christ. Because you said “no” to sin as the master of your life and you said “yes” to Christ as Lord and Savior . . . as the master of your fate . . . as the captain of your soul, you can be certain that you shall be raised to eternal life with Him!
Sin cannot, will not, will never have dominion over you, because you are now united with the One who gave His life as a “once and for all” sacrifice, to pay the price for that inherited godless nature that made you bent on controlling your own thoughts, decisions, and actions rather than submit to the will of God.
Yes, my beloved, you have been set free! Yet, there is a caution flag that has been waved at you as you go down the home stretch toward the finish line of life’s race: God’s grace set you free BUT did not give thee or me a license to keep on sinning as we might have opportunity, or be prone to do, at the beck and call of the Evil One who is still at large and raging in this old world of ours!
Since you have died to sin as a way of life, come alive spiritually! Jesus lives forevermore! If Christ does not live, then all He professed is a lie. You and I, true believers, declare unequivocally that He lives! Jesus proved it by His resurrection! He defeated death. His death was real . . . sufficient to defeat death once for all. Give serious thought to what has happened to you in Christ – dead indeed unto sin . . . alive unto God! So live like it! Our lives reflect who we are in Christ.
The questions we faced back when we made our choices, and the questions we face each day that God gives us breath, are these two: “Who will be the Lord, the Master, the King of my life? Whose kingdom will I be a citizen of?”
You answered those questions in the affirmative as a child of God and as a citizen of the Kingdom of God! You said “yes” to the rule of God in your life, and you said “no” to the domination of sin as a way of life.You knew that you would “slip up” sometimes but not all the time; but you also knew and have learned that God knows your heart and His grace is sufficient to empower you to renew your faith in Him, to rise above the temptations, to set your feet back on higher ground, and to say “Get thee behind me, Satan!”
Here’s why sin can never claim dominion over you and me . . . we are alive in Christ . . . we have offered ourselves completely to His way of life and Christian service in His Name: “Now I belong to Jesus, Jesus belongs to me, not for the years of time alone, but for eternity.” Folks, our lives are different because we are dead to sin and alive to God! Hopefully we will, and I truly believe we will, continue to give evidence that Christ is Master of our lives and that therefore we are living the life of Victory in Jesus!
For many years, this was my prayer in song, and still is:
“O Master, let me walk with Thee in lowly paths of service free; tell me Thy secret, help me bear the strain of toil, the fret of care.
“Help me the slow of heart to move by some clear, winning word of love; teach me the wayward feet to stay and guide them in the homeward way.
“Teach me Thy patience still with Thee in closer, dearer company, in work that keeps faith sweet and strong, in trust that triumphs over wrong.
“In hope that sends a shining ray far down the future’s broadening way, in peace that only Thou canst give, with Thee, O Master, let me live.”
Folks, you had a choice, and you chose the Jesus way of life . . . Jesus to be the Master of your life . . . victory over sin and death . . . an eternal destiny to be with the Lord!
Now, let us help one another to enjoy life and to live out the freedom we have in Christ Jesus - who lives, and whose promise to believers is, “Because I live, ye too shall live.” Amen.
