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WEEKLY
Volume 3 Number 46
12 April 2009
Victory in Jesus
Christ
(Message delivered by Rev Hien Nguyen at the
Worship Service, 2:00 pm, Apr 12, 09)
Text: 2 Cor 2:14-17
We thank God and praise Him for giving
mankind His only begotten Son, who humbly came to die for our sins and
rose again for our justification (Rom 4:25). Unlike human religious
leaders who died and were still in their graves or tombs, our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ rose again, appeared to His disciples, encouraged
them, taught them, and ministered to them in forty days and gave them
the great commission before His ascension, “To whom also he shewed
himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of
them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of
God” (Acts 1:3) and “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying,
All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto
the end of the world. Amen” (Matt 28:18-20).
Our Lord Jesus’ resurrection shows
that He is the Son of God and is God, “And declared to be the Son of
God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection
from the dead” (Rom 1:4) and that He has fulfilled all the
Scriptures (Luke 24:27, 44) and that He is the Victor or Conqueror over
death, Satan, and the world (John 16:33; Acts 2:24; 1 Cor 15:25-26; 1
John 3:8, 4:4, 5:5) and that He is the living and almighty Saviour, who
is able to save you and me perfectly, “Wherefore he is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever
liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb 7:25).
Our Lord Jesus Christ truly rose again
and this truth is recorded in the Holy Scriptures, “For I delivered
unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and
that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Cor
15:3-4). However, many people in this world still do not believe in the
bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the days of the
apostles, God gave them power to witness of the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ, “And with great power gave the apostles witness of the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all”
(Acts 4:33). How about today? Do others see the power of the
resurrection of Christ in our lives? Paul counted all things but loss so
that he might know (experientially) the Lord Jesus Christ and the power
of His resurrection, “That I may know him, and the power of his
resurrection” (Phil 3:11). How about you and me? Have we experienced
the power of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives? It
is the power, not to speak in tongues or to perform miracles, but to
live a victorious life over Satan, sinful nature and worldliness. May
God graciously help you and me experience the power of Christ’s
resurrection in our lives and through us the sweet aroma of Christ’s
resurrection and His knowledge be spread abroad wherever we are, “Now
thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and
maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place” (2
Cor 2:14).
Victory in Jesus Christ Alone
As Satan is real, sin is real, our
sinful nature is real, worldly temptations are real, we must have real
victory over them, but how? Surely, all efforts of human beings will
fail due to their rebellious, corrupt and sinful nature. Knowing this
truth we shall not be impressed by those who may claim that they are
saints through their efforts or religious practices in monasteries,
convents, pagodas or temples. Outside of Christ or without Christ, there
is no true victory. The victory can only come from God through Christ
alone, “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in
Christ” (2 Cor 2:14) and “But thanks be to God, which giveth us
the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 5:57). It is God
alone who can give us the victory and cause us to triumph always in
Christ. Thanks and praise be to God alone. Dear friends, if we are
living a defeated life, we cannot be joyful to give thanks to God. We
can never thank God when we commit sins, fall into temptations, or fail
to keep and do God’s Word.
Dear friends, the victory in Christ
alone reminds us of the constant dependence on Him and submission to Him
and His Word as the branch to the Vine, “I am the vine, ye are the
branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing… If ye abide in me, and my
words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto
you” (John 15:5, 7). Having Christ, we shall have the victory, and
without Christ we shall surely be defeated before the enemies of our
souls. May God help you and me see this truth so that we shall turn to
our Lord Jesus Christ, rely on Him, trust in Him and humbly submit to
Him and His Word.
Victory over Satan
Satan is like “a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8) while we
are like defenseless sheep. Thank God that our Lord Jesus Christ has
come to “destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8), to deliver
us from “the power of Satan” (Acts 26:18), and He will “bruise
Satan under your feet shortly” (Rom 16:20). Dear friends, we have
the victory over Satan “because greater is he that is in you, than he
that is in the world” (1 John 4:4), because “the word of God
abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one” (1 John 2:14),
and because of “the blood of the Lamb” (Rev 12:11). Dear friends,
God is willing to give us the victory and to cause us to triumph always
in Christ, then if we are defeated, it is our fault due to our lack of
trust in Him, our dependence on Him and our submission to Him and His
Word.
Victory over Our Sinful Self
Our sinful self with self-will,
self-love, self-image, self-importance, self-righteousness, self-glory,
and so on will hinder our obedience and submission to God, to His will
and to His Word. However, we can overcome our sinful self through our
Saviour Jesus Christ, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me
from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord”
(Rom 7:24-25) and “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live;
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the
flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave
himself for me” (Gal 2:20). Dear friends, do you and I experience
the victory over our sinful self daily in Christ? Let us take up our
cross daily and let our Lord Jesus Christ live in us and manifest His
life in us daily (2 Cor 4:10-11).
Victory over Worldliness
We are living in this sinful and
cursed world, but Jesus does not teach us to run away from this world,
praying to His Father, “because they are not of the world, even as I
am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the
world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil” (John
17:14-15). Satan is making use of the world with the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (1 John 2:16) to attract many
people and to distract them from God’s Word and God’s Truth, “And the
cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of
other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful”
(Mark 4:19). However, if you and I are born again and humbly trusting in
our Lord Jesus Christ always, we shall have the victory over the world
as our Lord Jesus did, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but
be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33), and
“For 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?” (1 John 5:4-5).
Victory over All Circumstances
Sometimes we feel that we want to give
up our hope and faith due to our long and painful trials, difficulties,
afflictions, illness, dangers, and so on. However, if our Lord Jesus is
with us and in us, He is able to see us through all circumstances
triumphantly, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?... Nay, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Rom
8:35, 37). Dear friends, are you and I living a victorious life no
matter what may happen to us or no matter what circumstances we may be
in?
A Sweet Savor of a Victorious Life
God’s Word says, “Now thanks be
unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh
manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are
unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them
that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to
the other the savour of life unto life” (2 Cor 2:14-16). Dear
friends, if you and I truly have Christ and His victorious life in us,
we shall be a sweet savour of Christ unto God. God and His children
(those who are saved) will be delighted to smell the sweet savour of
Christ in us like the savour of life unto life. And we should not be
surprised or discouraged at the envy, opposition and hatred from those
who are not saved because “every one that doeth evil hateth the
light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved”
(John 3:20) and to them, we are just “the savour of death unto
death.” Paul asked, “who is sufficient for these things?” (v
16). Thank God for by His grace alone, He may use His humble, obedient
and submissive children for His glory. Paul continued, “For we are
not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as
of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ” (v 17). Dear
friends, although many are corrupting God’s Word for personal gain or
selfish aim, let us speak God’s Word with sincerity and reverence as
speaking in the sight of God in Christ.
Conclusion
Dear friends, Satan, sinful self, and
worldly temptations are real, so we must have real victory over them.
Only a victorious life in Christ may bring glory to God and spread
abroad a sweet aroma of His knowledge, and only a victorious life will
receive the rewards when Jesus comes, “He that overcometh shall
inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son”
(Rev 21:7). If you and I are living a defeated life, let us come back to
our Risen Lord and Saviour in repentance, turn to Him alone, humbly
trust in Him, constantly rely on Him and wholeheartedly submit to Him
and His Word, then He is able to give us the victory and cause us to
triumph always in Him. May God use our lives as His victorious witnesses
in this world of sin and darkness, shining forth His Light and spreading
abroad the sweet aroma or fragrance of His knowledge wherever we are.
Thanks and praise be unto God alone. Amen.
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