THE PROVISION OF VICTORY (cont'd)
"For he that is dead
is freed from sin.” When we accepted Christ as our Savior, the
Holy Spirit of God baptized (immersed) us in the body and blood of
the Lord Jesus. This action united us together with Christ in His
death, burial, and resurrection. So when Jesus died on the cross of
Calvary, we died with Him. When Jesus was buried in a tomb, we were
buried with Him. When Jesus was resurrected on the third day, we were
resurrected with Him. Therefore our bodies have already died. A dead
man cannot sin or do anything else. He is dead. He has no interest
in hot apple pie with vanilla ice cream on top. Though you wave it
in front of his nose and tempt him with it for hours on end, he simply
will not respond because he cannot. He is dead. Our body of sin died
when Jesus died and the power of that body of sin died with it. Our
bodies were condemned on the cross and are being brought to destruction
(death) that we might receive our new immortal bodies. Yes, in our
frame of mind this process is still taking place, even though the
process is not finished, from our point of view, the result of the
finished product is already available to us.
The power of sin has been defeated. IT IS DEAD! When self or the devil
tells us that we have to sin, it’s a lie. When temptation comes
it has no power over us. The feeling that we must obey the temptation
is a lie of the devil. We are freed from the power of sin because
we died with Jesus on the cross. To be dead is to be totally free
from ALL that self, the world, or the devil can throw at us. Nothing
can defeat us. Christ has won the victory for us. “Faith is
the victory.” All we must do when temptation comes is deny it,
asking Jesus to take care of it for us, for He has defeated it for
us already. Hallelujah, what a Savior!!! “There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”
Rom. 8:1. We have the victory over sin and there is no longer any
condemnation on us, we are free in Jesus. “For ye are dead,
and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Col. 3:3. You say,
ok, but how is it then that I am still breathing, walking, and talking
if I am dead? I still enjoy eating physical food and all of the desires
my body has are still there. This is very true. It is also true that
when Jesus died we died with Him, for if we did not we have no hope
of Heaven. However, in God’s eyes all of this is already completed
and although our physical bodies have not yet completed this death,
we have in fact died. God is not restricted by time as we are. Although
our bodies still breathe, they have indeed died. All the power of
our bodies to control what we do is GONE. No longer do we need to
yield to a temptation to sin. We must simply rely on the completed
work of Christ at Calvary. “Faith is the victory.”The
story does not end here though. Just as we died with Him, we also
rose with Him. A dead man can’t sin, but he can’t do anything
else either. Remember Jesus said, “Without Me ye can do nothing.”
John 15:5. However, if we abide in Him we will have the victory. We
will produce much fruit and thereby glorify our Father in Heaven.
Why? When we arose from the dead with Jesus, He gave us life. This
life is the power to go on, to live, serve Him, and produce much fruit.
Now we not only have victory over sin in our life, but we have the
power to live a holy and righteous life for God. “Neither yield
ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield
yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your
members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” Romans 6:13.
We now have the power to surrender all of ourselves to God as instruments
of righteousness. It took faith for us to receive Jesus as our Savior,
and it takes faith for us to continue on and live for Him. We must
believe and receive this truth just as a child believes and receives
in simple faith. “For therein (in the Gospel) is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall
live by faith.” Romans 1:17.
Faith in the finished work of Jesus is the cornerstone of our life.
Just before He died on the cross He declared, “It is finished.”
John 19:30. Hallelujah, it is ALL finished. Our ticket to heaven is
finished. Our victory over sin is finished and our power to live for
Him has been provided.
