He’s The Victor
A victorious life that lives above the circumstances is in the very nature of the Christian life.
Transcript
Alright, thank you very much. And hello again radio friends. How in the world are you? You doing okay? Well, I just am praying that God will bless and strengthen, and guide you every step along life’s way. I hope everything’s okay at your house today.
If you’ve struck a snag, and some of you have I know, because not every day is roses. If you’ve struck a day that isn’t all that good, just look up and say, “Lord, I’m yours. See me through.” “Yea though I walk through the valley” said the Psalmist. “When thou passeth through the waters, they shalt not overflow thee.” So trust your Lord to see you through and He will. Well, that wasn’t part of the regular radio message, but I just felt I wanted to ask people to pray for us so that God’s power would be poured out here and that’s always in good taste, isn’t it?
I’m looking now with you at 1 John Chapter 5, verses 4 and 5. We may not get through both of them today, but we’ll start anyway. He says, “Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the son of God.” Here you have the operating principle, the dynamics that make the principle live and then the personal application. First of all, he says, “Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.” It is in the very nature of the Christian faith to be victorious. If you are trying to be victorious in your living, you’re going at it mistakenly, you’re going at it the wrong way.
I said one time to an old man in Germany, “Aren’t you doing that the hard way?” And the answer came back, “If it isn’t hard, it isn’t right.” Well, that isn’t necessarily the way to apply the truth of the Christian life. Yes, we’re in a battle. Yes, we have an adversary, the devil. Simon Peter said, “Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, is a roaring lion who walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Resist him steadfast in the faith.”
Paul talked about the devices of the devil and the snares of the devil. “We are not ignorant of his devices, lest being overcome thee be taken in with the snare of the devil,” so on. And over in Ephesians chapter 6, Paul talks about “put on the whole armor of God that ye may stand against the wiles of the devil.” He’s a wily foe, isn’t he? So there you have all of these different… All of these different concepts of the enemy of our souls.
What do you mean, Brother Cook, in saying that you don’t have to try to have the victory? Simply this, that Jesus has won it for you. “Thanks be unto God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” He already won the victory for you and the faith of the believer says, Christ purchased my victory on Calvary and therefore, because I trust him, I can share in the victory that He purchased with His precious blood over sin and Satan and all of the demons of hell. It is in the very nature of the Christian faith to be victorious. If your Christianity is genuine, you are possessed of all that you need to be a victor over sin and Satan, and temptation and trial. You don’t have to try, you don’t have to reach for it, you’ve got it. You remember the story of the dear old couple that were traveling by steamer from Europe to America?
And they just barely had enough money to pay for their… For their steamship ticket. They didn’t have enough money, they thought, to be able to eat in the ship’s dining room. And so they got together a box of food, which they took with them on board. Hard bread and some cheese and some salami, and that sort of thing, that would keep during the voyage. Which in those days, took a little longer than it does today. Well, they… They managed to exist alright, eating their meager meals and spacing out the consumption of their little store of food so that it would last throughout the journey.
And just a day or so before, they were due to land at the dock here, in the United States. They remarked to someone else, “Well, we just have barely managed to spell out our supply of food so that it lasted for the whole journey.” And the passenger said, “What supply?” Well, they said, “What we had to eat, we couldn’t afford to eat in the ship’s dining room.” Well, the passenger said, “Didn’t you know that your ticket included the three meals a day and tea, and all of that? You could have had all of the food you wanted. It was yours, it was included in your ticket. You bought it.” He is the victor and you and I, when we trust in Him, share in His victory. It’s in the very nature of the Christian faith to be victorious.
That’s the first statement, there. “Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world.” Now, that is implicit in the idea of a new nature. Born has to do not with a standard of conduct, but with a kind of person. A pig is born a pig and he grows up to be a pig and he likes to be in mud puddles. A lamb is born into a different family and grows up to be a sheep and doesn’t like to wallow in the mud. There’s a different personality there, there’s a different set of inherent likes and dislikes. Paul says in Colossians, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sit-th at the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the Earth for ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God when Christ who is our life, he’s our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. Put to death, therefore,” mortified means put to death, “therefore, your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupisence and covetousness, which is equal to idolatry.”
“Put of all these as well, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth and don’t lie to each other because you’ve put off the old man with his deeds.” The point is, the very nature of the new life you received from God is to be victorious. Now, that victory, according to what we just read from Colossians, that victory has to do with resolutely turning my back up on that which is already dead in God’s sight. You’re members upon the earth and He lists and all of these moral breakdowns and religious, and societal breakdowns. For these things, He says, “The wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience.” Now he said also, “As a result of being alive unto God, put off all of these things: Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth, lie not one to another. Seeing you’ve put off the old nature and have put on the new nature, which is the new man, renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him where Christ is all and in all.”
08:41 DC: So it’s in the very nature of the life you have shared through faith in Christ to have victory over all of these old things and the old nature because the old nature is dead with Christ. It’s still around there, the Christian has two natures but in God’s sight, by faith, that old nature has been crucified. Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ that nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me.” And so you and I have the privilege by faith of counting on the righteousness of Christ and the eternal life that is his now given to us. So that victory over sin and Satan, and temptation, and trial, and trouble, and sorrow, and frustration, and heartache and disappointment. Victory in life, a victorious life that lives above the circumstances is in the very nature of the Christian life. When you trusted Jesus, my friend, you got all you need to make it through victoriously.
So that in any given situation you could look up and say, “Lord Jesus, I’m yours. You’re the victor, give me the victory now in this situation.” Would you try that in the next 24 hours? I’m speaking to some of you just before you fall asleep and others of you have just awakened because this broadcast is heard on both ends of the day. But during the next 24 hours, beloved, would you try that as a working procedure?
When you’re faced with some kind of a test or trial or temptation, would you look up and say, “Lord Jesus, I’m yours. Now, you won the victory for me. Give me the victory that you won for me in this situation. You’re the victor and I’m gonna trust you.” The Holy Spirit of God living within you manifests the very life of Christ. And so you’re gonna say, “Lord Jesus, I know you live within me by your Holy Spirit and I’m gonna trust you to have the victory in this situation”? Oh, I cannot describe for you the delight there is in feeling the steam and the pressure go out of a situation when deliberately you hand it over to your Lord. You wanna try that? I can promise you, you’ll be delighted. It’s in the very nature of the Christian faith to be victorious because Jesus bought it for you.
Precious Father, have your way with us today. May the Holy Spirit of God be real in our lives. I ask in Jesus name, Amen.
Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!
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