Victory In Jesus
Notes
Transcript
Identity: Victory In Jesus - 1 Cor 15:54-57
How do you win a war? Wars are not often won overnight. They can be. God can bring an army to its knees and send it to flight through panic in their own ranks. God can wipe out an entire army with disease at the gates of their victory, sending them packing up and heading home in a decisive loss. God has done these things, but more often war is gruesome, drawn-out battles, where no one is certain of victory and both sides take heavy losses. War is brutal.
One of the most brutal aspects is not knowing the outcome. There are points in time when all seems to be lost, and other times when the victory is all but yours, and yet the fight just continues. One battle won, and on to the next one. A battle decisively lost, and yet the chance to make up ground and overcome is just around the corner. The constant fight is tiring, no doubt, but the worst is the uncertainty. Uncertainty destroys hope as the battles accumulate and the war drags on, and without hope the war is lost already.
There is no question, we are at war. War with sin, war with the devil, war with the world. Our own hearts tell us of the war within. The battles of sin and temptation. The newspapers declare the war going on without. The fight against abortion and the defilement of family and marriage in our modern culture. Tech companies, social media, and politicians are proof that the devil is an active force for our harm in this world.
The Battles are tiring and constant, and the temptation to say all is lost is ever present. The uncertain outcomes take their toll on our hope, but the outcomes are not uncertain. The hope offered in Christ is eternal, ever present, and sure.
So how do we win the war? I am not a military strategist and would not qualify for any army on the planet, and yet the Lord has called me to preach Good News. To battle the forces of evil, with a proclamation of hope that overcomes through times of warfare and times of peace. A message to be passed on from soldier to soldier, until the King returns and all the battles are done. An enduring hope that carries all who believe into eternal glory. The Holy Spirit says in:
You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer.
Timothy is told we are at war and in this war we need to be focused on raising and training the next generation of soldiers. Passing on the teachings we have received. Entrust them to others. Preach the Gospel in season and out of season. Disciple the nations, teaching them everything Christ has commanded. Recognize the war does not end with this generation but continues on. Prepare others for the fight as we have been prepared.
And how have we been prepared? Paul tells us that too.
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.
This is my calling here this morning, but not just mine, but for all of us who claim the name Christian we are to remember Christ Jesus, raised from the dead. This is how we fight the battle as good soldiers, enduring hardship. This is how we train up the next generation of soldiers reminding them to keep focused on the battle at hand and the will of our Commanding Officer.
Our Identity series is exactly this. A reminder of who we are in Christ, as declared by God’s perfect judgment. Who we are because of who Christ is, and what he has accomplished.
This reminder is how we persevere in hope. We remember the war is won. There is no uncertainty here. The battles we wage are against a defeated foe. An enemy conquered already by the Lord Jesus Christ.
And even
if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.
1) Jesus is the Victory for all who believe. This is the clear teaching of Scripture, and a message worthy of remembrance.
a) Jesus conquered sin and temptation.
i) Hebrews 4:15 (NIV84) – For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.
ii) Sin and temptation had no hold on Him. Jesus lived the perfect life, that nobody else had before or has since Him.
iii) In Deuteronmy 8 Moses is preparing Israel, the chosen people of God for the Promised land. He tells them the trials of the last 40 years, were trials and temptation sent from the Lord, to test your hearts and faithfulness to God. He humbled you in the desert, but he also was your provision and strength for 40 years. As you depend on God you prosper, as you deny Him you fall. Deuteronmy 8:2-5 says
Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.
v) Does this sound familiar. It should. This is the passage Jesus references in His battle with Satan in Matthew 4. Jesus is led into the wilderness to be tested. Led by God the Holy Spirit to be tested just as the nation Israel was before Him. But where Israel fell, Jesus overcame. We read about it in Matthew 4:1-11
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
vi) This passage has Jesus pointing to Deuteronomy and telling us, where Israel failed I will conquer. The test given in the wilderness, the test that saw the Israelites worship false gods, and complain against their Father for 40 years, this test I will pass. By faithfulness to God’s Word, and a heart devoted to the Father in all things Jesus overcame every temptation put before him.
(1) His Focus was not on Himself or His hunger, but on the Word of God.
(2) He did not need to prove His command of Angels or justify His title as the Son of God. As Paul wrote in Philippians 2 Jesus
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
(b) He did not need to stray from God’s plan to prove who He was to anyone. He was focused and would not let the cares of this world distract Him from His goal.
(3) Hungry, tired, and alone in the desert, the devil held nothing Jesus wanted. As He said elsewhere
“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
(4) Jesus claims victory over sin and temptation by His focus on the will of God and His provision in all things. Exactly where Israel failed, and if we are honest where we fail, Jesus overcame.
b) Jesus victory was not just over sin and temptation however, but this was the beginning of the greater work He came to do, and the full defeat of the Devil.
i) The apostle John writes in
He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.
ii) Jesus came to set right everything that fell in the beginning. From the Garden of Eden, where the Devil tempted Eve, and Adam’s sin spread through creation as a curse. From even before that very first fall, the plan was already in place to bring down the deceiver of man and make an end to the devil. God says in
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
iii) Jesus is the promised offspring of the women. The Son of man and the Son of God, who will crush the head of Satan. Jesus’ victory over the devil was prophesied from the very first book of Scripture, and His conquering of every aspect of the fall is this continual message throughout the Bible. The remaking of Eden, the redeeming of God’s children, and of the creation as a whole, the defeat of the devil, being in this list.
iv) Satan whose deception has brought so much chaos and destruction to this world, the one the Scriptures call the prince of the power of the air, and the great deceiver, is brought down to nothing before Jesus. The one who tempted Eve in the Graden, and tempted Jesus in the desert, is the same one Jesus spoke of to a crowd gathered outside of the Temple, in John 12:31-32 . When he cried out:
Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”
v) Jesus came to drive out the devil, to rid us of His power, and to draw all men unto Himself.
vi) This is important, because we often give the devil more power than he actually has. He is a fearsome foe, no doubt, but he is a defeated foe. One who has always been chained by God, and now has been driven out of God’s presence, and on the steady march to his final end in the pits of Hell.
vii) This is why James tells us:
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
viii) The devil will flee if we will show the slightest bit of resistance, and not because of the power with in us. Not because we are Christians and He is obligated to obey us, but because he is defeated. Christ has won the victory over the “god of this age” as Paul calls him.
c) Jesus is the victory over Satan, and over all the spiritual enemies of God. Over every enemy of God for that matter.
i) In Isaiah 42 we read of the Servant of the lord who is to come. The one who will be anointed with the Spirit of God and tasked with bringing light to the gentiles, justice to the nations, freedom for the captives, and sight to the blind. God says through Isaiah:
“Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope.”
ii) This servant, this one promised by God to come to us, is going to bring justice to the nations. His faithfulness to the will of God will bring the knowledge of God, the obedience to His law, and His eternal hope to the whole earth. This is a cause for singing and subject of praise throughout this chapter in Isaiah as he continues to write:
iii) Jesus is the prophesied servant of God who is sent to set the captives free and triumph over every enemy of God.No earthly king stands against the King of Kings, no earthly army stands against the Lord of Armies, and no supernatural enemy stands against the Son of God. Paul says as much in
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
iv) Every knee shall bow before Jesus Paul says. Whether heavenly being, Angels, demons, powers or thrones. Whatever spiritual categories you want to find in Scripture, they all bow the kneed to Jesus. Men women and children, all of God’s creation. Every general and every soldier, every farmer, and every thief all the people of earth will bow before Jesus.
v) Not even the dead below the ground can escape the Lord of all the earth. Death is no escape from the justice of God. Christ has victory over every enemy of God.
vi) This victory is often seen in a Book of Revelation, future tense, yes it will happen, but it hasn’t happened yet, sort of way. But the truth of Scripture, the consistent testimony of the apostles and the prophets, is that even now, Jesus, our Risen Lord, reigns from Heaven, over all His creation. One day they will kneel before Him in judgment, but even now Jesus is restoring His Creation, calling His children out of darkness. Jesus is raiding the strong man’s house and bringing His Kingdom to this earth.
vii) And He will continue to do so until He returns. Then as Paul tells us in:
Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
d) Christ has victory over every enemy of God and even death cannot stand in His way.
i) Death is the final enemy of God. The final enemy to be defeated by Christ. The last enemy before the end will come, and yet even now, Jesus stands as victor over death itself.
For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
ii) The Prophet Ezekiel said
The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him.
iii) But as we saw earlier Jesus is without sin. he defeated sin and temptation. The death Jesus died was not for His sin. In fact, Jesus had to give up His Spirit, because death had no claim on His sinless life. What this means is that Jesus went willingly to the cross. He chose to die, and yet, it was impossible for death to hold on to Him.
iv) As Peter declares in
But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
e) Jesus’ perfect life, His conquering of the Devils lies and temptations, His casting out demons, raising the dead, and bringing sight to the blind proved His victory over the enemies of God in this world. His life and actions declare His power and authority, but His death outshined them all.
f) In His death, the world, His followers, even the spiritual forces of darkness thought they had finally won. The enemies of God rejoiced in His death, and celebrated what they thought was the end.
g) Paul says this exact thing in
We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
h) Jesus final victory, His death, is the one that caught all the powers that be off guard, because it was there that He brought death to an end.
i) Athanasius of Alexandria - So something surprising and startling has happened; for the death that they thought to inflict as a disgrace was actually a monument of victory against death itself. (Elliot Ritzema, 300 Quotations for Preachers from the Early Church, Pastorum Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2013).)
2) Jesus sacrifice on the cross ended the rule of sin, ended the power of the devil, conquered the kingdoms of the world, and defeated death itself.
a) The cross is the focal point of all of history. We tend to think of religion as one aspect of our lives. There is science, and learning. There is work, and play. Then we have our spiritual lives, prayer, and church attendance, which may be the greatest focus, but still just a compartment, one division in the greater reality of how we see our world and our lives.
b) But Scripture does not divide things like that. Science is learning about God. Work is creation that God has put within us and called us to do. And our times of rest, vacation and play are the enjoyment of the gifts God has given us. He is the central focus of life, and the cross is the central focus of His plan for all our lives.
c) From the moment the stars began to spin, from the moment Adam took his first breath, God was moving towards the cross. The place where He would show Himself victor over everything that is keeping His children in bondage. Jesus is God’s Champion sent out to conquer and defeat all enemies, and to call all men unto Himself.
d) The cross is the place designed by God to free His children from the chains of this world and to call His children back into the war. Not just as soldiers but Victors in Christ. Back into a war that is already won. And not won by us.
e) We were not sinless, we did not stare down the devil, or rise from the dead. We sinned. We fell short. We looked at the perfect love of God and spit in His face. That is what we added to the mix.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
3) Christ is our Victory because we have none of our own. And because Christ is our victory, we are assured we will never go at this world alone again. Through Repentance and faith we have entered into a relationship with God that conquers all our enemies. Because He has already won.
a) This does not mean we don’t still battle. We all know the battle is raging yet, in our own hearts and the world around us, but we no longer battle as those without hope. But as those who know the end from the beginning, because the end has already been written.
b) The cross speaks across the centuries. Jesus has defeated the grave and nothing stands in the way of those who are found in Him. This is the promise in
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
c) We have joined Him in His victory. We have been called out from the world, to stand as soldiers for Christ. We have been empowered and equipped for the battle, and we go out secure in the One who has overcome the world.
d) Again, look at this passage, the promise here is that we will have trouble. Too often we think the trouble in this world needs a pill to bypass it, or a vacation to move around it, or we give up in the middle of the struggle, because we have it in our minds that the world is supposed to be peace and prosperity all the time.
e) The promise of God is not peace in the world but, trouble, trial, and persecution. The hope is not an easy life, but a victorious, because we know the one who has overcome and we can trust Him to continue His perfecting work in our lives and the world around us.
f) Jesus won at the cross, Jesus called us into His Kingdom, Jesus will, no matter how long it takes, no matter how it looks to us, Jesus will Bring His Kingdom to the earth. We fight with that assurance.
g) Spurgeon tells a story about the persistence of Copernicus who saw something no one else did. Whose faith and hope in God, allowed Him to stand on what He saw, no matter what the current situation looked like. Spurgeon wrote:
i) Copernicus declared the truth that the earth and the planets revolve around the sun. His opponents replied that this could not be true, for if the planet Venus revolved around the sun, she must present the same phases as the moon. This was very true. Copernicus looked up to Venus, but he could not see those phases, nor could anyone else. Nevertheless he stuck to his statement and said, “I have no reply to give, but in due time God will be so good that an answer will be found.” Copernicus died, and his teaching had not yet been justified. But soon after Galileo came forward with his telescope, and on looking at Venus he saw that she did pass through exactly the same changes as the moon.
ii) Thus wisdom is justified by her children. Truth may not prevail today or tomorrow, but her ultimate victory is sure. … We can wait, and we do not doubt that public thought will alter its tone. (C. H. Spurgeon, “A Seasonable Exhortation,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 32 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1886), 383.)
h) The victory is sure because it is not ours, but His, and He does not fail.
4) It is at this point that someone I know and love will be saying, so what. Christ is the victory, what do I do with that. Well I am glad you have asked.
a) Believers share in Christ’s victory. We no longer live as slaves to sin, but have been bought with the precious blood of Christ. Have been filled with the Holy Spirit and have been given power on high. Power to battle sin and temptation in our lives with the weapons of Scripture and the gift of the Spirit of God.
b) And we do so by remembering we are at war. War with our sin, and as John Owen said,
i) Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you.
c) This is a battle we can not take lightly. Our sin is killing us. Sometimes sin takes its victims out quick. But more often the death is slow in coming on. So that what we see as harmless fun, mindless entertainment, and something not to be spoken of in polite company, but is ok to do as long as no one else knows. These are the silent killers that destroy families, wreck jobs, and kill us before we are even aware there is a problem.
d) We are at war, and we must be constantly aware of it. Constantly repenting, and constantly trusting in Christ who has already given us the victory. This is the message Paul give us in:
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
e) Sin is no longer our master. We have died to sin, and live in Christ. That does not mean we don’t have to fight it, we have to fight it every day. The promise here is not sinlessness but that in Christ we have already won the fight. So keep on fighting and do so in hope.
5) Another enemy we often feel hopeless to fight is the enemy of the world around us. Culture is a killer. Our culture is a peddler of death.
a) If you think that a bit extreme, open the newspaper.
b) Our governor is a merchant of death and his attorney general is seeking the lives of our children here in Wisconsin.
c) The family and marriage itself is under direct assault by our federal government, by our public schools, and by those who claim to be the leading intellectuals of our day. The peddlers of science. Science that bends the knee to the marketing experts rather than before truth.
d) They declare openly and often, Christ’s church is out dated, homophobic, anti-science, racist, and any number of other things. And if Christ’s church must bear that load so must those who claim the name of Christ.
e) That is if we claim the name of Christ.
f) How many of our youth hide that they are Christians to get along better in school. How many of us do the same with our coworkers and neighbors.
g) These are hard topics, hard statements, because the world is against us. Because the world is against God and He is bringing them to kneel before His Son. This is why we must rejoin the war.
h) If we have been hiding, it is time to repent. The message of Christ’s victory is one that has been designed by God to change the world, to transform souls, and to be the battle cry of His Soldiers as His Kingdom is brought to bear over every element of society.
i) The world is a defeated foe, and that should be confidence for us. We need not fear this world, because we have already overcome.
for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
6) Too often we let fear rule, instead of Christ rule. This Scripture says this is an aspect of the devils control over us, but as we have already seen the devil has been overthrown. His rule over our lives is no more.
a) The Book of Hebrews picks up this same theme when it describes Jesus humanity and how, by becoming a man He has brought about the defeat of the Devil and an end to his power.
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
b) The fear of death, the power of the devil has no control over us anymore. In Christ we have the promise that death is not the end, but just the beginning of life.
c) A friend and I were talking the other day, this world, our current life, is a state of infancy. Death is not the end of a life long lived, it is the promise of God that, for all who are found in Christ, we will live forever. Death is but the beginning. Paul says this very thing in
I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
d) While we have breath in our lungs, we are to be fighting the battles of our God. We are to be about our Father’s business. Declaring Christ won the war. Calling soldiers into the battle with the message of the grace offered in the death of the Lord. Encouraging the saints to fight against the evil that lingers while we wait for the coming of our King.
e) Standing strong in all types of trials, from our sinful nature, to the devils tricks, and the worlds persecution. They have no hold on us, because even death has been swallowed up in Christ’s victory. We stand victorious in Jesus.
7) I want to end this morning with a quote from a commentary on the Book of Revelation. The commentary is called Days of Vengeance by David Chilton. This section is from chapter five and He titles the chapter, Christus Victor. I leave with this because as he rightly points out, what the church needed at the time of the writing of the Book of Revelation is the same thing we need today.
a) The church then and now need to remember, we over come because He overcame. In the end, no matter what the enemy. In Christ, we win. Chilton writes:
b) The Church in St. John's day was about to experience a time of severe testing and persecution. …These Christians needed to understand history as something not ruled by chance or evil men or even the devil, but ruled instead from God's Throne by Jesus Christ. They needed to see that Christ was reigning now, that He had already wrested the world from Satan's grasp, and that even now all things in heaven and earth were bound to acknowledge Him as King. They needed to see themselves in the true light: Not as forgotten troops in a lonely outpost fighting a losing battle, but as kings and priests already, waging war and overcoming, predestined to victory, with the absolute assurance of conquest and dominion with the High King over the earth. They needed the Biblical philosophy of history: that all of history, created and controlled by God's personal and total government, is moving inexorably toward the universal dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ. The new and final age of history has arrived; the New Covenant has come. Behold, He has conquered! (David Chilton, Days of Vengeance, An Exposition of the Book of Revelation, (Fort Worth, TX: Dominion Press, 1987, pg. 180.)
8) Jesus is the victory. As the ushers come forward, please pray with me.
Here at Faith Chapel we practice an open communion which means that we welcome any and all of you who have given your life to Christ, who are found in relationship with Him through repentance and faith, to join us as we take the elements together. We also take seriously the warnings of judgment for those who would take these elements improperly, and so for any here who have never received the Lord by faith, while I would love the opportunity to speak with you further about your relationship with God after the service, I would encourage you to allow these to pass you by. The ushers will pass out the elements and then I will be reading from the text found in 1 Corinthians 11
In 1 Corinthians 11 starting in verse 23 we read
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
We will now take the bread
In the same way, after supper he took the cup saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
We will now drink from the cup - Please pray with me: