Walking In Christ's Victory

Walking in Christ’s Victory

Text: 1 John 3:6-10

Introduction: Christians are in a warfare. Unfortunately, we are often fighting against the wrong enemy. In many situations, you find Christians fighting against other people. Sometimes they even fight against themselves. But our enemy is not another human being. Even the most evil human beings are not our real enemy.

The real enemy of every Christian is unseen and unhuman, but it is not an impersonal force. While our enemy is not human, he is a person. And even though there are many who would like us to believe that this person does not exist, there is tremendous evidence of his reality and existence.

A number of years ago, the best selling author, Hal Lindsey, wrote an interesting book entitled Satan Is Alive And Well On Planet Earth. It became a bestseller. The reason why is that most of us realize that Satan is real. D. L. Moody once said that he knew that the Devil was real for two reasons: first, because the Bible says so; and second, because he had done business with him. We’ve all probably done a little business with the Devil.

But quite apart from what the Bible teaches about Satan, consider the current state of affairs of our world. Even in our "civilized" society you find tremendous evidence of the existence of the Devil. While we might be able to rationalize certain small acts of evil as mere imperfections in human character, there are hideous and grotesque acts of pure evil that are routinely committed in our society that can have no other explanation than the presence of an evil force like Satan himself. Someone once said that: "It is stupid of modern civilization to have given up believing in the Devil when he is the only explanation for it!" Indeed! How do you explain acts of evil so despicable and grotesque that we would not even want to mention them today in the hearing of our children? Indeed, Satan is alive and well on planet earth.

Sin is a reality in our world. Sin and unrighteousness is the fruit of Satan’s labor. Sin and unrighteousness have their origin in the person of Satan. He is our real enemy. He is the one we must oppose and fight against.

1 John 3:5 tells us how Jesus came to take care of the sin problem, it says: "He was revealed that He might take away our sins." Christ came to deal with sin by dying on the Cross and offering Himself as the sacrifice for sin. Through His death on the Cross, we can be free from sin by receiving Him as our Lord and Savior.

But Christ also came to deal with the Devil. The last statement in verse 8 tells us this: "the Son of God was revealed, that He might undo the works of the Devil." Jesus came to deal with the Devil by destroying the Devil’s work. He has already gained the great victory over Satan that enables us to walk in that victory. So let’s consider certain truths we must clearly understand if we are to walk in Christ’s victory.

I. The Truth About the Lie

A. What is the "devil’s work"? Deception - Lying

1. Consider his encounter with Adam and Eve.

a. They were in the Garden of Eden in paradise.

b. God provided everything they needed.

c. God walked and communed with Adam in the cool of the day.

d. God put them in charge over all creation.

e. All they had to do was to obey God’s one simple commandment.

f. Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it?

2. His method of deception.

a. He came to them and lied about three things.

1.) He lied about God’s love for them.

- He told them that God didn’t really have their best interest at heart.

- God didn’t really care about them or He would not withhold anything from them.

2.) He lied about God’s Word to them.

- He tried to convince them that God was really the deceiver.

- God didn’t want them to know as much as He did and that was the real reason why He told them not to eat of the tree.

3.) He lied about the consequences of sin and disobedience for them.

- God had said they would receive a sentence of death, Satan came along and told them that it was a lie.

- Satan said God was the deceiver when in fact Satan was doing the deceiving.

B. Satan continues deceiving today.

1. He continues deceiving humanity concerning the real consequences of sin and disobedience.

2. He continues deceiving our society concerning the true nature of righteousness.

C. Society’s reaction to Satan’s deception.

1. Society views those who sin as cool, in touch, really living life.