VICTORY IN THIS LIFE

Theme: “The believer has been given victory in this life over the devil, the world, the flesh, and sin.”

Victory is your present possession in this life. It is a gift provided by the Lord Jesus Christ.  Victory is not something you will get in the sweet by and by, it is something you have and can enjoy in the sweet now and now.
 

You Have Victory Over the Devil

Satan, also known as the devil, is a real spirit being, not just “the personification of evil.”  He is a fallen angel, nothing more and nothing less. He is not, and never has been, an evil counterpart of God. God knows everything, can do everything, and is everywhere at once.  The devil does not know everything, he can’t do everything, and he is only one place at once. He walks to and fro on the earth (Job 1:7, Job 2:2) but can never “fill all things” the way Jesus does (Ephesians 4:9-10).

Satan, being an angel, has no more knowledge or ability than an angel could have.  He does not know when Jesus is coming back (Matthew 24:36). Angels desire to look into the gospel (1 Peter 1:12); even they don’t have a complete understanding of it, which is why the Church makes God’s wisdom known to heavenly beings (Ephesians 3:10).

Satan will burn forever in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10) and there’s nothing he can do about it.  If he had the power, he’d be able to get himself out, but he can’t overpower God.

When we “resist the devil,” we are actually resisting his wicked spirits, since Satan himself will most likely not have time to pay you a personal visit. He's sort of like Santa Claus. He can't be at all the shopping malls at the same time.  So when a kid asks how this can be, his parents often explain, “Santa has a lot of helpers.” That is how it is with Satan and his helpers.  He isn't everywhere, but he has cohorts everywhere who do his bidding.  (I am not recommending that you lie to your children about Santa Claus, by the way.  If you do, someday they will wonder how old they have to be before you tell them that there is no Jesus.)

Jesus defeated Satan for you.  He stripped him and his principalities of their power, triumphing over them openly (Colossians 2:15). All angels and powers are subject to Christ (1 Peter 3:22). Jesus has all authority in heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18). You have been delivered from Satan's power (Colossians 1:12-14). Jesus, not the devil, now holds the keys of death and hell (Revelation 1:18). His atoning death has judged Satan already (John 12:31). The Greater One lives in you, so you have already overcome the antichrist spirits that are in the world (1 John 4:1-4). You have overcome the devil (1 John 2:13-14).

You sit with Christ in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6), far above all principality, power and might.  God has put all things under His feet.  Jesus is the Head.  Where are his feet? On the earth, of course.  Jesus, the Head, is in heaven, and his Body (the Church) is on the earth. The feet are part of the body, not part of the head.  So guess what?  If all things are under his feet, they are under your feet. Do you see that? Satan and all of his principalities are under your feet. That means that you rule and reign over them. You have authority over them.

Don't fight Satan. The fight is over. Jesus fought him and won, and you have the victory with him. You are called to enforce Jesus' victory over the devil, not to win the victory. Don't fight for a victory that's already yours!

Say that the New England Patriots have just won the Super Bowl and another team comes up and says, “Hand over your rings. We are the rightful Super Bowl champs because we’re better than you are.  Come out on the gridiron and face us and let the winner take the rings.”  They would be laughed out of town.  The Super Bowl is over and the Patriots won.  There is no need to play another game to keep their rings.  They already won them and have the right to keep them.

It is just as silly for the believer to try to fight the devil and defeat him. The game was over when Jesus defeated Satan and stripped him of his power. He’s already defeated! You already have overcome him. So quit trying to do what’s already done for you in Christ!  Don’t go out and duke it out with the devil – you don’t have to!  You get to keep all that Jesus Christ won for you; you don’t have to play another game for it!

Ephesians 4:27 says not to give the devil an opportunity.  That shows that it's up to you to stop him. God promises that if you resist him, he will flee (James 4:7). Since God commands you to resist the devil, it is your responsibility, not God's, to do so.  Your faith can overcome all the attacks of the wicked one (Ephesians 6:16).

Never fear Satan.  Satan is afraid of YOU because he knows that you have victory over him in Christ already.  He sure hopes you never find out about it!
 

You Have Victory Over the World

The world system is not designed to let you win. The world would like to suck you into sin through temptation and keep you there. However, you have already overcome the world system in Christ! Your faith is the victory that overcomes the world (1 John 5:4). Who is the one who overcomes the world? The one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 5:5)! If you’re a Christian, you have overcome the world along with Jesus.  You are no longer “of the world” (John 15:19, John 17:14).

So what kind of hold should the world have over the believer?  None! You and the world were legally crucified to each other when you got saved!

Galatians 6:14:
But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

One misunderstood Scripture passage is 1 John 2:16-17:  “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world.” First, this doesn’t mean that you don’t love people in the world, because God so loved the world that He gave His Son.  Second, this doesn’t mean it’s wrong to have the world’s goods. The “world” referred to here is the world system, which is obvious because it’s spelled out – lust and pride.  God does not command the rich to divest themselves of their riches; He just commands them not to be proud and to be ready to share, and says that He has given all things to us richly to enjoy (1 Timothy 6:17-18). So if you enjoy a round of golf, don’t get under condemnation for “loving a thing in this world”!

The world system seems to say, “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.”  I suppose rich people like that arrangement, but if all you can do is rent a trailer, that doesn’t sound very cheery. But there is good news for you – Jesus Christ has overcome the world (John 16:33). What is impossible with men is possible with God (Mark 10:27)! God can “do the impossible” for you and open doors for you that you could never get open yourself.
 

You Have Victory Over the Flesh

You received a new spirit when you were born again. Your mortal physical body was not born again – it’s the same one you had before.  And your body of flesh may have certain desires that don’t always agree with your new born-again nature!

For example, you could be a married man, and your “body” might want to flirt with that new blonde at the office because your eyes would enjoy looking at her close up for a while.  But your spirit man would be telling you to get your eyes on something else, like a picture of your wife in your office! Or your body could be telling you to eat a hot fudge brownie sundae at Denny’s every night because it thinks they’re yummy. But your spirit man would be urging you to exercise some moderation.

Fortunately, you have victory over the “flesh”.  Note that “flesh” is correct term, not “the sinful nature” as we see repeated ad nauseum in the New International Version.  You do not have a sinful nature if you are born again! You do not have an “old man” and a “new man” duking it out for supremacy. If you are in Christ, the old has passed away and all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17). You are not Jekyll and Hyde. You don’t have two spirits!  There is only one spirit man living in your body, the one that was created after God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24).

Here is your position relative to “the flesh” as a believer:

Galatians 5:24:
And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Romans 8:9:
But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.  Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

Romans 8:12:
Therefore, brethren, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

You don’t walk in victory over the flesh by making New Year’s resolutions and “trying harder not to sin” – you do it by walking in the Spirit.  Rather than spending all your energy trying not to do the wrong thing, focus your energy on doing the right thing instead!

Galatians 5:16:
I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Following man-made rules that aren’t in the Bible is useless for controlling your flesh!

Colossians 2:20:
Therefore if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations – “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using – according to the commandments and doctrines of men?  These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

It is NOT a sin to have your flesh desire things the opposite of what your spirit, and God, desires, as long as you still do the right thing instead of obeying your flesh. If the mere desire were a sin, Jesus sinned in the garden, where He said that the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak.  He even asked if there was any other way other than the cross.  But in the end He had to go to the cross to obey God. Jesus did not have a fallen sin nature, but He did have flesh to deal with that wanted something different from what God wanted. This proves that you can be without a fallen sin nature and still have flesh to deal with, too. The fact that your flesh may pull against your spirit in no way proves the existence of some “old man” who was done away with when you got saved.
 

You Have Victory Over Sin

Romans 6:6-14:
knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be the slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more.  Death no longer has dominion over Him.  For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.  Likewise you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Romans 6:18:
And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

Romans 6:22:
But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.

The Bible is absolutely clear that as a Christian, you have been set free from sin!  Sin no longer has the right to dominate you because of who you are in Christ.  Rather than trying harder not to sin, let this truth sink into your heart.  Then when sin raises its head, you can remind yourself that you are free from sin!

You do not have to struggle to “get” the victory over sin or “get free” from sin.  Jesus already gave you the victory over sin! That’s where some people miss it.  Worse yet, sometimes they keep affirming that sin has control over them, saying things like, “I’m John Doe and I’m an alcoholic!” instead of, “I’m John Doe, and I used to be an alcoholic, but Jesus Christ has freed me from sin and I am no longer subject to the sin of alcoholism!”

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