Victorious Christian Life

Honor God

The Jews insulted Jesus by calling Him a Samaritan and claiming He had a demon. This was to infer that Jesus was a traitor to the nation of Israel and that He was crazy in the head demonstrating that He was demon possessed.

To put this into perspective, they are insulting the Son of God. He has done nothing that violated their law. He has only spoken truth. He has performed many miracles that have helped others. He was offering eternal life. They dishonored the Son of God.

Jesus told them that He did not have a demon but sought to honor the Father. He was not interested in defending himself because he did not seek His own glory. He was more concerned about them insulting God by dishonoring Him than defending himself.

Christ continues to be dishonored today.

Many mock Jesus by using His name inappropriately. Still others make a mockery of His church. Many people discount His Word as inaccurate and antiquated. Still others mock Him by living their lives as if Jesus never existed and does not exist today. The lost world continues to make a mockery of Jesus Christ

We too will be dishonored

We will be dishonored when we follow Christ. We should expect this because Jesus said it was going to happen. John 15:18-20

John 15:18–20 NASB95

“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.

We can expect to be persecuted and labeled by a world that hates Jesus. When we stand for Biblical values it will always be offensive to the world. Let me give you some examples of what I am referring to:

When we claim that Jesus is the only way to the Father we will be persecuted. The world wants people to think that all religions lead to God.

When we stand for traditional marriage between a man and a woman. We will be persecuted because the world will tell us we are denying people the opportunity to express their love.

When we stand up for the right to life we will be persecuted. The world will tell us that we have no right to tell a woman what she can and cannot do regarding her health.

When we choose to forgive and pray for our enemies we will be persecuted. The world would tell us that we have a right to get even.

The world just does not understand what it means to follow Christ. As a result they will dishonor us.

Out natural fleshly response would be to dishonor them back. However, this is not what Jesus did. Jesus simply said I honor the Father and you dishonor Me. This is how we should respond when we are dishonored for following Christ.

Honor God with pure motives.

Jesus was not interested in defending his reputation. All He wanted to do is bring honor to the Father. He never did anything for the purpose of building His reputation. Everything that He did is what the Father commanded Him to do. John 5:19

John 5:19 NASB95

Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.

There was no impure motive about Jesus.

We too must have pure motives to exalt the Father. When we do our works of righteousness in order to get the approval or praise on man, we rob God of the glory, He deserves. Matthew 6:1-5

Matthew 6:1–5 NASB95

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. “But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

Our acts of righteousness should be solely for the glory of God.

Also, we should not be so much concerned with what others might think of us. We should be more concerned with what God thinks of us.

Keep the Word

Jesus makes a bold claim that all who keep His word will never see death. This was craziness to the Jews because they knew that everyone dies. They indicated this in their response to Jesus. They said that Abraham died and the prophets died. The thought of a person not dying was ludicrous to them.

Jesus was not referring to the death that we all experience on earth. He was referring to the second death of unbelievers. For believers death is but a transition from life to everlasting life. The sting of death has no power over the believer.

55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 15:55-57

So what does it mean to keep Jesus word? There are three passages of scripture that I believe are indicative of what it means.

Matthew 7:21 NASB95

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.

John 6:40 NASB95

“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

Matthew 25:31–40 NASB95

“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

So we can see that only the people who do the will of the Father will inherit eternal life. The will of the Father is for people to behold the Son and believe in Him. To behold the Son is to make Him Lord of your life. To believe in Him is to follow Him.

So how do you know if you are beholding and believing? It is found in the third set of scriptures. You live what you believe. Jesus mentions several things that people did to fulfill the will of God. They involve feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsting, being hospitable to strangers, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned. All these are practical things that we can take literally and do. However, the key here is exhibiting Christ likeness to a lost and dying world. Denying self, taking up our cross and following Him.

1. Jesus fed the 5000

2. Jesus gave the woman at the well living water

3. Jesus ministered to Gentiles

4. Jesus clothed the guilty woman caught inn adultery with forgiveness

6. Jesus healed the physically sick and freed those imprisoned by demons.

We see Jesus doing the things He is calling us to do.

Rejoice In Christ

Jesus told the Jews that Abraham rejoiced at seeing Jesus and was glad to see His day. They thought this was the craziest thing he said. He was not yet 50 years old and Abraham had been dead hundreds of years. There is no way that He could have seen Abraham. This is when Jesus “dropped the mic” on them. He claimed to be God by saying “I AM”

You may be saying to yourself how can this be. If we go to the old testament we will see Abraham saw the Christ in three ways : The Promise, The fulfilment of the Promise, and the Provision of the Promise.

The Promise

God told Abraham that He would be the Father of many nations. This would require a son.

Genesis 17:6–8 NASB95

“I have made you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you. “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. “I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

God Has made a promise for you today.

John 3:16 NASB95

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

The Fulfillment of the Promise

Abraham saw Jesus in the fulfillment of the Promise.

Genesis 18:9–11 NASB95

Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” He said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing.

Jesus came and told Abraham that his wife Sarah would have a son in a year.

God has fulfilled His promise to us.

2 Corinthians 5:21 NASB95

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Provision of the promise

When Issac was a young man the Lord told Abraham to sacrifice his son. God knew that He was not going to make Abraham follow through with it. He wanted Abraham to see that he loved Isaac more than God. Abraham had to see that His love for God was more important than anything else. When Abraham drew back His knife to sacrifice his son, God stopped him and provided the sacrifice.

God requires the same from us! He requires us to lay down that which we love the most and love Him more. What is it that we love the most? US! Are you willing to lay your love for yourself down at the alter and love Christ more? This requires repentance!