Victory In Jesus

VICTORY IN JESUS

THIS MORNING, I AM GOING TO SPEND MUCH OF OUR TIME TOGETHER IN THE BOOK OF ROMANS. I POINT THAT OUT BECAUSE PAUL’S LETTER TO THE CHRISTIANS AT ROME IS SUCH A FANTASTIC BOOK AND WE CAN LEARN SO MUCH ABOUT OUR FAITH FROM THAT SINGLE BOOK.

ANYWAY … BEFORE I GO THERE … THERE IS A WONDERFUL HYMN OUT THERE, WHICH WE WILL BE SINGING IN A FEW MINUTES, CALLED VICTORY IN JESUS.

HERE IS HOW THE CHORUS GOES …

“OH VICTORY IN JESUS, MY SAVIOR FOREVER … HE SOUGHT ME … HE BOUGHT ME WITH HIS REDEEMING BLOOD. HE LOVED ME 'ERE I KNEW HIM AND ALL MY LOVE IS DUE HIM. HE PLUNGED ME TO VICTORY BENEATH THE CLEANSING FLOOD.”

I OPEN WITH THIS BECAUSE WE AS HUMANS ARE AN ODD RACE WHEN COMES TO OUR SPIRITUAL WELL BEING … AND EVEN IN SOME CASES OUR SECULAR NATURES.

FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS MORNING HOWEVER, I WANT TO ASK THE FOLLOWING QUESTION – “WHY DO WE FEEL DEFEATED WHEN IN FACT THE BATTLE HAS ALREADY BEEN WON, AND WE SHOULD BE CLAIMING VICTORY INSTEAD”

BECAUSE OF THAT, MANY CHRISTIANS FALL VICTIM TO WHAT PAULADDRESSES IN OUR SCRIPTURE READING FROM ROMANS 6, WHERE HE WRITES –

“WHAT SHALL WE SAY, THEN? SHALL WE GO ON SINNING, SO THAT GRACE MAY INCREASE? BY NO MEANS! WE ARE THOSE WHO HAVE DIED TO SIN; HOW CAN WE LIVE IN IT ANY LONGER?”

PAUL IS WRITING TO THOSE WHO THINK THAT BECAUSE THEY ARE SAVED THEY CAN GO ON SINNING BECAUSE THEY HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN IN CHRIST.

HE IS IMPLYING … HOW IDIOTIC IS THAT … ESPECIALLY WHEN ONE CONSIDERS WHAT PAUL WRITES, LATER IN THAT SAME PASSAGE, WHICH READS AS FOLLOWS:

“WE KNOW THAT OUR OLD SELF WAS CRUCIFIED WITH HIM SO THAT THE BODY RULED BY SIN MIGHT BE DONE AWAY WITH, THAT WE SHOULD NO LONGER BE SLAVES TO SIN – BECAUSE ANYONE WHO HAS DIED HAS BEEN SET FREE FROM SIN.”

PAUL IS NOT THE ONLY ONE TO WRITE ABOUT OUR SPIRITUAL VICTORY.

IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, IN PSALM 44, THE PSALMIST WRITES – “YOU GIVE US VICTORY OVER OUR ENEMIES, YOU PUT OUR ADVERSARIES TO SHAME. IN GOD WE MAKE OUR BOAST ALL DAY LONG, AND WE WILL PRAISE YOUR NAME FOR EVER.”

OUR ENEMY TODAY IS THE DEVIL … OUR ENEMY TODAY IS SIN … ‘BUT THANKS BE TO GOD WHO GIVES US THE VICTORY’

THAT LAST STATEMENT IS ACTUALLY AN EXTRACT FROM ROMANS 7, WHERE PAUL STATES THAT THE INTERNAL SPIRITUAL BATTLE IN CLAIMING VICTORY IS NOT AN EASY ONE.

LISTEN TO THIS … ROMANS 7, VERSES 14 TO 25:

“WE KNOW THAT THE LAW IS SPIRITUAL; BUT I AM UNSPIRITUAL, SOLD AS A SLAVE TO SIN. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT I DO. FOR WHAT I WANT TO DO I DO NOT DO, BUT WHAT I HATE I DO. AND IF I DO WHAT I DO NOT WANT TO DO, I AGREE THAT THE LAW IS GOOD. AS IT IS, IT IS NO LONGER I MYSELF WHO DO IT, BUT IT IS SIN LIVING IN ME. FOR I KNOW THAT GOOD ITSELF DOES NOT DWELL IN ME, THAT IS, IN MY SINFUL NATURE. FOR I HAVE THE DESIRE TO DO WHAT IS GOOD, BUT I CANNOT CARRY IT OUT. FOR I DO NOT DO THE GOOD I WANT TO DO, BUT THE EVIL I DO NOT WANT TO DO – THIS I KEEP ON DOING. NOW IF I DO WHAT I DO NOT WANT TO DO, IT IS NO LONGER I WHO DO IT, BUT IT IS SIN LIVING IN ME THAT DOES IT.

WHAT A WRETCHED MAN I AM! WHO WILL RESCUE ME FROM THIS BODY THAT IS SUBJECT TO DEATH? BUT … THANKS BE TO GOD, WHO DELIVERS ME THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD!

I BRING UP THAT PASSAGE BECAUSE THAT IS ONE PASSAGE THAT SOME USE AS AN EXCUSE TO GO ON SINNING, AFTER THEY HAVE BECOME A CHRISTIAN.

LET ME THEN OFFER SOME ASSURANCE OF OUR VICTORY AND CONFIRMATION THAT WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS.

A COUPLE OF POINTS TO CONFIRM THAT THEN … WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS IN THE FACE OF TRIALS.

IN ROMANS 8, FOR EXAMPLE, PAUL IS WRITING TO CHRISTIANS AT ROME, OFFERING ASSURANCE OF THEIR VICTORY IN JESUS. HE OPENS WITH THE WORDS – “THERE IS THEREFORE NOW NO CONDEMNATION FOR THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST JESUS”

IN OTHER WORDS … BECAUSE YOU HAVE BEEN REDEEMED, NO ONE CAN ANY LONGER CALL YOU GUILTY … THE PRICE FOR YOUR SIN HAS BEEN PAID IN FULL.

THEN LATER IN THAT SAME CHAPTER HE DESCRIBES A LIST THAT SAYS THAT NOTHING CAN, AND NO PERSON CAN, TAKE AWAY CHRIST’S LOVE FROM THE BELIEVER.