The
Victorious Christian Life
"O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body
of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord "
Romans 7:24-25a.
It is common among Christians to talk about the
difficulties of living the Christian life because of the weakness of
the flesh, the pressures of the world, and the temptations of Satan.
The Christians of the apostolic church lived when
the church was in its infancy. They faced difficulties equal to or
greater than any Christian faces today:
Jews who rejected Christ were certainly hostile
to Christians. They sought to put anyone guilty of being a Christian
in chains and imprisonment, putting to death those who were the most
fervent.
Greeks were hostile to Christians. Their
Hellenistic culture was the prevailing culture throughout the Roman
world. They believed in many gods, whereas Christians firmly
proclaimed there was only one true God.
Roman authorities were often hostile to
Christians. They were primarily concerned about keeping the peace,
expanding their empire,
and collecting taxes from those nations under their control.
Christian evangelism often provoked violent upheaval as seen in
Paul’s missionary journeys. Many times this would bring about severe
persecution from Roman authorities.
And yet, with all these difficulties these early
believers demonstrated that when the Christian life is lived as it
should be that it is a life of joy, peace, victory, fellowship in
God’s family and purposeful living.
Perhaps there is no better example than Paul and
Silas when they were beaten and thrown into the dungeon of the
Philippian prison. (Acts 16:22-25). In spite of backs that were
lacerated from whips and ankles that were aching in pain from the
wooden stocks, they prayed and sang praises to God at the midnight
hour. They beautifully pictured thousands of other believers who
sang joyfully as they were burned at the stake; fed to the lions and
crucified like their Lord.
They do not stand alone. Throughout the nearly
2000 year history of the church there have been believers who
possessed this victorious spirit even up to the point of making the
ultimate sacrifice of their lives.
The question may rightfully come to many of us, "Why
am I not experiencing the victorious Christian life? Why does it
seem so few Christians I know are experiencing it? The
answer is because they are not appropriating all that has been made
available to them in Christ. They don’t need anything new. They need
to appropriate what they already have.
I. THE BELIEVER’S PART
To the extent Christians believe and practice the
truths God has given in the following words determines the degree of
victory (joy, peace, and fellowship) they will:
KNOW
(Be certain these facts are true)
1. That we have received Jesus Christ as Savior and that He lives
within us. "But as many as received Him, to them He gave
the right to become the children of God, to those who believe on His name:"
John 1:12. "Examine yourselves,
as to whether you are in the
faith; Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that
Jesus Christ is in you?,---unless indeed you are disqualified." 2nd
Corinthians 13:5 We must know that we have received Jesus
Christ by faith and that He lives within us.
2. That we have been placed into Christ. In 1st Corinthians 12:13
we are told that the Holy Spirit has baptized (immersed) every
believer into Christ’s body. Romans 6:3 asks "Or do you not
know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?"
The scriptures are teaching us that every
believer has been placed into Christ. This means that in God’s eyes
every believer was in Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection.
When He "died for our sins" and received the full penalty of the law
for us we were in Him. The full penalty of the law was also carried
out on us for our sins. When Christ rose again we rose with Him.
Since the full penalty of the law was carried out, it has no more
authority to be carried out on Christ or us again. (read Romans
6:4-11).
RECKON
(Believe these experiences to be true)
As a believer we know that Christ is in us and
that we are in Christ, so we are to reckon or account some things to
be true:
1. Reckon our sinful nature to be dead. "Likewise
you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin…" Romans 6:11a. If
we go by our feelings we will say, "This means I am reckoning
something to be true that is false." But if we go by what God
declares in His word, we reckon by faith and say, "God has decreed
that my fallen nature was crucified with Christ and He sees it
dead and buried forever. Even though I feel the stirrings of that
fallen nature in my present experience, I will account that what
God says is true is true. I believe myself to be free from the
control of my old fallen nature."
2. Reckon our new nature to be alive in Christ Jesus. As a
believer we say, "When I received Jesus as my Savior I was born
again by the Holy Spirit. I received God’s life and became a "new
creature in Christ Jesus". (2nd Corinthians 5:17) I therefore reckon
or account myself to be "alive unto God through Jesus Christ (my)
Lord." (Romans 6:11b)
YIELD
(Accept God’s will for your life)
We have only two options as to who we can yield
ourselves: Satan and sin, or God and righteousness. Jesus stated "Whoever
commits sin is a slave of sin." John 8:34. The
fact is that the lost person has no choice in the matter. His/her
fallen nature dictates yielding to Satan and sin. That is the reason
it is a universal truth that "…all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God." Romans 3:23 Jesus went on to say, "Therefore
if the
Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."
John 8:36. When we experience Christ’s saving work we are
set free to choose to whom we shall yield ourselves.
Paul exhorts, "but present yourselves to God,
as being alive from the dead, and your members as
instruments of righteousness to God." Romans 6:13b.
At this exact point the marvelous grace of God
brings about a supernatural work in the believer that lifts him or
her on to the plain of victory. In contrast to Satan, God never
makes his children do anything. God only works in cooperation with
His children’s will when their will is yielded to do His will.
II. GOD’S ENABLEMENT BY GRACE
GOD ENABLES THE BELIEVER TO LIVE BY FAITH.
Every truly saved person knows they have been
saved by grace through faith. (Ephesians 2:8,9). In Romans 1:16 Paul
spoke of this when he wrote, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ: for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone
who believes…" By grace, God produces faith in a lost
sinners heart through their hearing the gospel of salvation. This is
further confirmed in Romans 10:17 "So then faith comes by hearing
and hearing by the word of God."
In relation to the victorious Christian life it
is sad that many Christians miss the truth of Romans 1:17 "For
therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as
it is written, The just shall live by faith." A lost sinner
receives positional righteousness in God’s eyes when he or she hears
the gospel and God produces faith in their heart to trust Christ to
save them. What now? After having been saved by grace through faith
is the new believer left on his or her own to live the Christian
life in their own strength? Many try, but they always end in
failure. It is when the believer yields his or her body to the Lord
with the sincere desire to live a life totally pleasing to God that
God begins to give them faith to trust Him to do it. And, yes, God
does it through His word. His word becomes like a new book with His
promises producing greater and greater faith in the heart of His
child. The consequence is that "the righteousness of God is
revealed" in a practical way through the yielded believer
believing God to provide all the enablement they need to live for
Him
GOD ENABLES THE BELIEVER TO OBEY FROM THE HEART
"Yet you obeyed
from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered".
Romans 6:17b.
To obey from the heart is impossible for an
unsaved person. "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God:
for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be."
Romans 8:7. It is also impossible for an unyielded believer to
obey from the heart. It is only when our yielded will comes into
harmony with God’s will that God supernaturally gives us a heart that
delights to obey Him. Jesus revealed how powerful this principle is
when He said, "If any man is willing to do His will, he shall
know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from
myself." John 7:17.
As believers we provide a willingness to do God’s
will and God provides us a heart that delights in obeying His will.
GOD ENABLES THE BELIEVER TO ALLOW JESUS TO LIVE
THROUGH THEM.
The Apostle Paul revealed how God enabled him as
a hated Jew with meager resources to shake the Roman Empire to its
foundations. "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no
longer I who live, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now
live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me
and delivered Himself up for me." Galatians 2:20 .
Paul reckoned his (fallen fleshly nature)
dead and his new nature alive unto Christ. He yielded himself
totally to Christ to do God’s will and Christ evangelized the bulk
of the Roman Empire through him and gave the world fourteen epistles
of God’s revelation.
To the extent that we do what Paul did Christ
will live in and work through the body we yield to Him.
Copyright © 2005 Thomas E Berry
All Scriptures quoted from NKJV unless otherwise noted
Copyright © 2008 Truth Helpers Inc.
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