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WEEKLY
Volume 1 Number 21
22 October 2006
Ye Have Overcome
(Message delivered by Pr Hien Nguyen at the Sunday
Worship Service, 2 pm, Oct 15, 06)
Text: 1 John
2:12-14
Everyone, including me, never wants to be
defeated in the battles but to win triumphantly. We Christians have
battles to fight in order to live a godly and holy life in faith and
obedience to the Lord. It is not a battle against human beings, but it
is a spiritual warfare against our sinful nature, against selfishness,
against sins, against Satan and his attacks, temptations, accusations,
and deception, against the apostasy and unbiblical doctrines, against
superstition, ungodly trends and sinful attractions of the world and so
forth. The Bible says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places”
(Eph 6:12).
My dear friends, are you and I aware of our
spiritual warfare? For professing Christians who are not born again,
they do not have a conflict between the old nature and the new nature as
the apostle Paul shared in Romans chapter 7. Many other Christians do
not face critical attacks from Satan because they are lukewarm and
compromising, and if they do not repent, our Lord will spit them out
(Rev 3:16-19). Only when we are determined to follow the Lord and His
Word to jot and tittle closely, wholeheartedly, sincerely and seriously
will we face the attacks of Satan and the hatred and opposition of the
world.
Satan and the Battle are Real
The Bible tells us that Satan is real. He
is the great dragon, the old serpent, the Devil, Satan (Rev 12:9), the
wicked one (1 John 2:13-14), a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44),
the adversary of believers (1 Peter 5:8), the tempter (1 Thess 3:5),
etc. He is very subtle and cunning (Gen 3:1; 2 Cor 11:3), he “deceiveth
the whole world” (Rev 12:9). He casts down on God’s love and twists
God’s Word (Gen 3:1-5), and misuses God’s Word (Matt 4:6). We must be
cautious and discerning or else we may be deceived by unbiblical
articles, journals, books, websites, even modern versions of the Bible.
Satan may disguise himself as an angel of light, so nice, so brilliant
and so attractive, alluringly drawing many people away from the Lord and
His truth and His Word through his deceiving signs and lying wonders (2
Cor 11:14; 2 Thess 2:9-10). He makes use of human sinful nature to tempt
men and women, young and old with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life (Gen 3:6; Matt 4:3-11; 1 John 2:16). He may
trouble believers with his accusation before God (Job 1:9-11; 2:4-5; Zec
3:1-3; Rev 12:10). And he may be fierce and cruel like a roaring lion,
threatening, discouraging, and scaring believers so that they may give
up their faith due to shame, persecutions, tribulations, afflictions and
so forth (Matt 13:21). My dear friends, Satan is real, sin is real and
the battle is real whether we believe or not, then can we have false
righteousness, false godliness, false holiness or false victory?
Absolutely no! Then how can we overcome Satan?
Only Christ Overcomes Satan
No one is qualified to defeat Satan except
the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Bible says, “He that
committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning”
(1 John 3:8). It is Satan, who blinds the eyes of men so that they
cannot see the glorious gospel of Christ (2 Cor 4:4). We must thank God
that He has opened our eyes and turned us “from darkness to light and
from the power of Satan unto God” (Acts 26:18).
The victory of the coming Messiah or Christ
was predicted from the beginning right after Adam and Eve were defeated
by Satan, “And I will put enmity between thee (Satan) and the
woman, and between thy seed
and her seed (Christ), it
(Christ) shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise
his heel” (Gen 3:15). Satan tempted our Lord Jesus but our Lord
defeated him through God’s Word (Matt 4). The Bible says, “For
this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the
works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Our Lord is the Conqueror
through His death and resurrection, saying “I am he that liveth, and
was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys
of hell and of death” (Rev 1:18).
Our Lord Jesus has overcome Satan and the
world (John 16:33), “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me
ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be
of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” It seems that
Satan, apostasy, sins, ungodliness, immorality, worldliness are rampant
with the majority in the world in these last days, but in the end when
our Lord comes back again, “These shall make war with the Lamb, and
the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords and King of
kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and
faithful” (Rev 17:14). Then you and I should not be discouraged even
though we are in the minority providing that we are faithfully walking
after our Lord in His narrow way and living a victorious life in Christ.
The Reward Is Only for the Conqueror
Our Lord has overcome Satan and the world
and He requires His followers to overcome them as well. We are commanded
to keep on overcoming evil “Be not overcome (defeated) of
evil, but overcome (keep on overcoming) evil with good” (Rom
12:21). The reward is only for those who have overcome. Let us hear what
the Holy Spirit says to the churches in the book of Revelation: “To
him that overcometh
will I give to eat of the tree of life”
(2:7), “shall not be hurt of the second death” (2:11), “will I
give to eat of the hidden manna” (2:17), “will I give power over
the nations” (2:26), “shall be clothed in white raiment;
and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life” (3:5), “will
I make a pillar in the temple of my God” (3:12), “will I grant to
sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with
my Father in his throne” (3:21), and “shall inherit all things;
and I will be his God, and he shall be my son” (21:7).
My dear friends, you and I are expected to
overcome our sinful nature, selfishness, sins, temptations, worldly
lusts, and Satan. There is no other way if we want to get the reward.
Then how can we overcome?
How Can We Overcome
Be Born Again.
“For
whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world”
(1 John 5:5). When seven sons of Sceva tried casting out evil spirits in
the Name of the Lord Jesus, the evil spirit said, “Jesus I know, and
Paul I know, but who are ye?” and “the man in whom the evil spirit was
leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that
they fled out of the house naked and wounded” (Acts 19:16). If we are
not born again, we are only victims of Satan!
Have Faith in God, in the
Lord Jesus Christ and in His Blood.
Christ has overcome the world,
and we must have faith in Him, “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?”
(1 John 5:4-5). Believing that Jesus is the Son of God means believing
that He is God, all-powerful, all-wise, and all-present, who is able to
protect us and help us overcome sins and Satan. When Moses sent spies to
search the promised land, and after 40 days, they came back and said to
Moses, “We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it
floweth with milk and honey;… nevertheless the people be strong that
dwell in the land and the cities are walled, and very great … We
be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we …
and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their
sight” (Num 13:27-28,31,33). They did not look unto the almighty God
but looked at their giant enemies and compared themselves with these
giants! Thank God for the faith of Caleb, saying, “Let us go up at
once, and posses it; for we are well able to overcome it” (v. 30).
Then Joshua and Caleb warned and encouraged the people of Israel, “Only
rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land;
for they are bread of us: their defence is departed from them, and
the LORD is with us: fear them not” (Num 14:9).
Disappointedly, the people did not listen to Moses, Joshua and Caleb,
and due to their unbelief and disobedience, they could not enter the
Promised Land!
If God is with us, in us and
for us, then we are able to overcome, “If God be for us, who can
be against us?” (Rom 8:31), and “Ye are of God, little
children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you,
than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). We also overcome
Satan and his accusation by Jesus’ blood, “And they overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony,
and they loved not their lives unto death (Rev 12:11).
Submit to God’s Word with
the Whole Armour of God.
“I have written
unto you, young men,
because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth
(is continuously abiding/living) in you, and ye have overcome
the wicked one” (1 John 2:14). We are to be strong not in
ourselves, but “in the Lord, and in the power of his might” (Eph
6:10). The Lord says, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my
strength is made perfect in weakness.” It is wise to see our
weakness and trust in the Lord so that “the power of Christ may
rest upon me…for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Cor
12:9-10).
Our Lord Jesus defeated Satan
by the Word of God, we cannot do otherwise. We are to take the whole
armour of God: God’s truth is our belt, God’s righteousness is our
breastplate, God’s gospel of peace is our shoes, our faith in God is our
shield, God’s salvation is our helmet, and God’s Word is the sword of
the Spirit, our weapon (Eph 6:13-17). Is the Word of God abiding and
living in our whole being with our full dependence and submission? Is it
controlling and directing our heart, our mind, our thinking, our faith,
our conduct, our worship and service to the Lord? If we doubt, question,
or criticise God’s Word, we are defeated by Satan in the first place!
Sadly, many are trapped by this snare of Satan without awareness!
Resist the Devil in Prayer.
With God’s strength
and God’s Word, we are to resist Satan in our prayers. “Submit
yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you”
(James 4:7). “When I cry unto
thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God
is for me” (Ps 56:9).
Conclusion
My dear friends, Satan is real and sin is
real, then we are to live a holy, godly and victorious life as the
reward is only for the conqueror. We only have victory in Christ (2 Cor
2:14) and through our faith in our mighty God and by His living and
powerful Word (Heb 4:12). “Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Rom 8:37).
Amen.
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