God says you are a new creation and your old mindsets have passed away. Included in this re-birth is the authority to exercise dominion over every principality and power in our sphere of responsibility.
The devil’s strategy is to is to do everything he can to keep us distracted from this revelation so we don’t see the truth about our authority in Christ. A distracted church is a powerless church!
That’s why Paul didn’t pray that God would just send down revival from heaven. He said in Ephesians chapter one that God would grant us a “spirit of wisdom and revelation” so we’d know the hope to which we were called, the riches of the glory of His inheritance in us, and the exceeding greatness of His power working in us who believe.
Instead of just sending down revival from on high, God’s contending to wake us up so that we release revival from Christ within us, the hope of glory.
This sermon is number eight in a 10-part series, One Spirit.
Additional Resources
The Eternal Defeat of Satan Book
Transcript
As most of you will realize, I’ve been teaching a series called one Spirit, which is about our identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. And I’ve referred to this on some occasions as the backbone of the revelation that God gave to Paul, all of the apostles and all of the early church taught that Christ died for our sins, and that he was raised again from the dead. But the Apostle Paul was given a revelation that not only did Christ die for us, we died with and in Him. Our old life in Adam was put to death on the cross. And we are now part of God’s new creation, resurrection species. God’s new humanity of born again men and women, who are now partakers of the life of God. The enemy’s strategy is to do everything he can to keep us distracted, so we don’t see the truth. Because he knows if the church comes to understand and comprehend what God has actually done for us in Christ, we will kick his tail end right out of our lives.
So the warfare in your life and my life revolves around revelation. That’s why Paul didn’t pray that God would send down revival from heaven. He said, God would grant us a spirit of wisdom and revelation, so we’d know the hope to which were called, the exceeding greatness, the riches of the glory of His inheritance in us, and the exceeding greatness of His power working in us who believe. See, God’s not going to send revival from heaven. He’s going to wake us up, so we release revival from within. Christ in you the hope of glory. Over the years it has become clearer and clearer to me, the church is more comfortable with the seen realm. See, Christ died for my sins on that cross. Well, that’s true, thank God he did. I can’t stop thanking him for it. I don’t stop thanking him for it. But what Paul had revealed to him was much of what the cross was about, happened in the unseen realm, beyond the physical sufferings of Christ. We were in Him crucified, we died, we were buried, we were made alive, we were raised up, we were declared righteous before we were raised. And, what we’re going to talk about tonight is another aspect of that process, which was, we conquered Satan in Christ when God raised Him from the dead.
Now, as Diane said, about The Eternal Defeat, the whole thing I’m trying to say in the book is that quit waiting for Jesus to come back to defeat the devil. Wake up and defeat him yourself. Because you and I have been given authority over the enemy. Not over every principality and power in the world, but in every principality and power in the sphere where you are called to exercise dominion in your life. In the areas of your responsibility, you and I are called to exercise dominion, in the name of Jesus, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, demonstrating the resurrection. Like I said, I love that song we sang at the end about that death has been defeated. It could not hold you. See? Well guess what? Death has been defeated. It cannot hold you, because you were in him when God raised Him from the dead. You were in Him when God put Satan to an open shame. You were in him when he was enthroned at the Father’s right hand. And you were with him and in him, when at the Father’s right hand He received the Holy Spirit. You say, Well, didn’t he have the Holy Spirit in his Earth walk? Yes, of course he did. But when he sat down at the Father’s right hand, it says he was anointed with the oil of gladness above his brethren, because none of his brethren had fulness. But when he sat down, he poured out on the day of Pentecost of that newly received fullness of the Holy Spirit.
And so you and I are to reign in the power of the Holy Spirit indwelling us, and resting upon us, the spirit within and the Spirit upon. You see, the evangelical church, by and large believes in the indwelling of the Spirit. That’s good. But when Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem, until the Holy Spirit came, he said, The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you. What’s that mean? Well, he comes upon us for service. He’s in us for our own sanctification, and spiritual life and growth, but he’s upon us to anoint us with His gifts and various ministries, to minister to others in the same kind of power that he had.
The other thing that Diane mentioned is in the end of the book I talk about how the Reformation when it came, it upset the whole Christian world, because they didn’t know that you could be justified by faith alone. Well, the Reformation isn’t over. God continued. In the early 1900s, God restored a fresh vision of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit upon and gifts of the Spirit broke out. Now, the thing you have to understand about everything that God does, is when God does anything fresh and new, he does it with humans. And humans have a great capacity to go nuts with it. Because people said, The Pentecostal movement, that’s fanaticism, they’re crazy. They do wild stuff. And if you read any of that history, you’ll find out that in the midst of God doing a genuine thing, there were crazy people who did crazy things. So never be put off by a fresh movement just because there’s some excess and some fanaticism surrounding it. That’s part of the process by which God restores things. God believes more in where we’re headed than the mess we make when he starts. I’ll let that sink in. See, you could be put off. I’ve seen it.
I’ve been alive for a number of movements, the Jesus people movement. I got saved in Jesus people movement. Was their crazy stuff? Yeah, there was a cult called the Children of God that was a street ministry that came out of the Jesus people street movement and formed a whole cult around false teachings and promiscuity and bizarre stuff. Did that do away with the Jesus people movement? No. Many of the people who are in the ministry today got saved during that meeting. That movement. Well, then first there was the charismatic movement. And Pentecostals wouldn’t believe that God could fill with the Holy Spirit people in traditional denominations. Guess what? He didn’t seem to mind that they thought that. He went ahead and did it. Filled people with the spirit who were spiritually hungry. Roman Catholics. Well, Protestants, you don’t know Catholics. God couldn’t do anything with Catholics. So he just filled them with his Holy Spirit and had a Catholic charismatic movement that was just as fired up as any part of the Pentecostal Charismatic Movement.
Then there was the faith movement. I was greatly helped by the faith movement. Were there some crazy excesses in prosperity and some things? Yeah. But guess what? I know that when I started getting the teaching on finances and prosperity in the faith movement, I stopped being broke. And I started learning how to give. You see. Were there excesses? Yes. Well, then, then it was the deliverance movement. Well, man, people were starting to cast out demons and people were, you know, it’s like, I used to say when I was involved heavily in that movement, I said, you know, some people say, you think there is a demon behind every doorknob. I used to say no, they run in bunches. But there was excesses. There was crazy stuff in the deliverance movement. But how many know, believers will cast out demons? I’m thankful for getting demons cast out because I’ve had demons cast out and it really helped my life.
So then we had the prophetic movement. Oh my gosh, I tell you people could just think they could prophesy to anybody and prophesy anything. But you know what? God was in the movement, he was restoring something to the church that the church needed. So, now, we’ve had lately we’ve had the grace movement. Well, you know, those people are just too far in grace. Well, some of them are. I’m planning to write a book, that’s hopefully to bring some balance to what some people are doing that’s excessive. But the church has been in the ditch of legalism for so long, when grace comes along it scares them. What’s legalism? Well, that’s I have to be good enough to deserve what Christ died to give me. No, he was good enough for you to deserve what Christ died to give. It’s not about how good you are. It’s about how good he is. But if you let how good he is work in you, you’ll start to be more and more like him.
All right. So part of another revolution that’s going on is in our view of the future. When I got saved in 1970, the biggest book in the Christian market was the Late Great Planet Earth. Yeah. And I went and heard Hal Lindsey speak, and boy, I was, I was ready. Big popular song among Christians, Wish We’d All Been Ready. Well, is the Lord gonna come? Yeah, I believe he’s gonna come, don’t you? But I’m not expecting him any minute, because the same apostle that’s quoted so frequently, for any minute rapture is the same apostle that said, he would come for a glorious church without spot, wrinkle or blemish, that had been washed in the water of the word. And we were predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. And I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed, but we’re probably not there yet. Jesus said, I have given them the glory, which you gave me that they might be one, even as we are one that the world might know that you sent me. Well, as far as I can tell, the world isn’t impressed about how one we are. And actually, if you look at that passage, he’s saying, I’m praying for them, and giving them the glory that you gave me so they can enjoy the intimate union with us, that you and I Father have. It’s not unity this way, although that’s the byproduct, but it’s unity this way. Partaking of His glory, enjoying his spirit and the union of the Father and the Son, which we’re now partakers of by the Holy Spirit.
It’ll blow your mind if you do this, but think maybe we’re like, Luther in the Reformation. And we’re saying this is it. This is all the truth we ever needed, the Reformation, justified by faith. Well, how many generations have said that? We’ve got it all now. But you see, I don’t think we do. I’m not condemned by that. I’m hungry. I want it all. Used to be the kind of a cry of our prayer meetings and our services. Lord, we want it all. Now, all would probably blow us out of the water. But I’d rather want it all and be blown out of the water than not want more. So that’s my introduction.
Now, here’s something that you might not realize: for Jesus to die physically, he had to come under the dominion of the devil. Because there was one who had the power of death, the devil. If you read in Romans, chapter six, verse eight and nine, Now if we died with Christ, we believe 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. Now ask yourself the question If death is the punishment for sin, how could Jesus die? Because he had our sins. And if he came under the dominion of death, when did that stop? And the answer is obvious, when God raised him. Right? Death, he dies no more. Death has no more dominion over him, and you are in him. So, Jesus came under the dominion of death.
In Luke 22:53, Jesus was speaking of His coming crucifixion, and he says, When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize me. But this is your hour and the power of darkness. Now we are 2000 years away from the early church, right? Well, for the first 1000 years of teaching on Christ’s work, they had what was later referred to as the teaching of Christus Victor, the victory of Christ. In other words, they didn’t say, Christ died for your sins, you can be saved and go to heaven when you die. And you can be forgiven. They said, Christ rose from the dead, he defeated Satan, and he’ll now give you new life.
So, when Jesus submitted, do you remember what he said when when they came to get him? He said to His disciples, put away your swords, don’t you think I could call for 20,000 angels and my father would deliver me. So he wasn’t taken, he surrendered himself. And then on the cross, He took our sin upon himself and that’s why he could die. Because a sinless man wouldn’t die. Right? So embracing our sin on the cross, embracing us on the cross, He came under the power of darkness, and submitted to death in our place. But in Romans 6:4, I have this from another translation, the Living Water Translation. It says, When we were therefore baptized in water, that symbolic burial was our commitment to join ourselves with Christ in death to our old life, so that as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glorious power of the Father, we might also experience the power to live a new kind of life.
You know, a lot of teaching kind of says, in fact, I was reading something today. It was a book on Paul’s theology by a respected Baptist theologian who has many good things to say. But there’s a teaching that came out of the Reformation, that you’re justified, but you’re still a sinner. Well, let me see now, if I’m justified and I’m still a sinner, then I’m still going to sin because I’m still a sinner. So, there’s really not a lot of hope of doing anything until the Lord returns. And then I might be able to live a good life. But actually, that’s just not what Paul taught. He said, You are crucified with Christ, you died with Christ. You were buried with Christ, you were made alive with Christ. We’re gonna look at tonight how he defeated Satan. We defeated Satan with Christ. And now sin’s dominion over our life is broken, if we know it, and believe it. Well, Joe, are you saying you never sin? No, I’m not. I’m saying I sin 90% less than I used to, because I’ve discovered that sin does not have dominion over me. Do I sometimes get in the flesh and react in an ungodly way? Yes. And I confess it, and I forget it, and I move on with God because I refuse to live condemned and defeated. Because there isn’t any condemnation coming from heaven.
What sin does in your life is it produces guilt and shame, which makes you draw back from God and not appropriate His grace to get up and go on. But there’s no condemnation coming from Heaven toward you. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing their trespasses against them, and has placed in us the word of reconciliation. Well, now let me just say this, unless you believe that you’re not going to tell unbelievers that. If you think God’s reckoning your sins against you, then you’re going to be struggling with condemnation and shame. But if you realize that in the new covenant, God promised this, he says, I’m going to make a new covenant, and it’s not going to be like the covenant I made with Israel. When I brought them out of Egypt. It’s not going to be like that covenant. Here’s the covenant I’ll make with them. I’ll give them a new heart. I’ll give them a new spirit. And I will write my laws on their hearts and upon their minds, and they will walk with me. And I will be their God, and they will be my people. Now, I don’t know if you figured this out. But this is really good news. Well, Brother, you know, you gotta be careful or God’ll smite you. No, Jesus took the smiting. It’s done.
And this is how God demonstrated His love. He said, They deserve punishment. They deserve condemnation. They deserve hell. But let’s take it for them. Let’s deal with it for them. Let’s get it out of the way, because I want relationship. I want to have a walk with them. I want them to be the sons and daughters that I created the world to have in the first place. Through one man, sin entered the world, and death through sin, but by another man came righteousness. Well, brother, that just means we’re legally declared righteous. You were legally declared righteous, but then God recreated you. We looked at that a couple of weeks ago, that when he was justified, you were justified in him. When he was declared righteous then he was made alive, you were justified, made alive in him. Now you are the righteousness of God in Christ. You know, that shakes people up because you’re looking at yourself after the flesh. If you look at yourself after the flesh, you ain’t nearly as pretty as if you looked at yourself after the spirit.
But see, you have to decide who’s the higher authority, your perception or God’s Word. God says you are a new creation and old things have passed away. I remember arguing with God about that one time, Lord, old things haven’t passed away. You know, it was a funny thing, the Spirit of God didn’t say anything after that. And then finally I got a little more understanding, and I said, Well, Lord, if all things have passed away, I don’t understand that yet. Because I was looking at myself after the flesh, and I was still fully capable of yielding to my flesh and doing carnal stupidity, as probably are you. But you see, God believes more in what he’s done in you in the spiritual part of your being than he believes in what Satan did in Adam because of his sin. Who you are now is your eternal identity in Christ Jesus. There’s coming a day when you will take off your earth suit. But you’ll still be fully you. But unless you learn in this life, who that you is, you’ll be shocked when you find out that you have been since the moment you were born again, a new creation, the righteousness of God in Christ. If you dare to believe that, you will say I am not going to accept the lying condemnation, shame and guilt the enemy wants to put on me. I’m going to put that under my feet because that’s where my father says he’ll put all my enemies.
He was raised by the glory of the Father. And as I read in Romans 6:4, the same glorious power that raised him is at work in you and I so that we can walk in newness of life. God is pleased by faith. The Bible says it’s impossible to please God without faith, right? Why? Well, because faith lets God and His Word be true in the face of contrary evidence. You see, your personal experience has likely dictated to you for many years. I know mine did until the Lord showed me that if I wanted to change, I had to start believing what he said about me and stop believing what the devil and sometimes unfortunately, what the Church says about us. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Well, Brother, I’m trying to die out to self, I’m trying to mortify my flesh. I’m trying to kill the old man. Well, let me say to you good luck. Well, isn’t that what we’re supposed to do? Well, no, that’s what some people teach we’re supposed to do. That’s not what Paul taught. Paul said, You were once and for all crucified, you once and for all died, and you were once and for all buried, and now you’ve been made alive. You’ve been raised. You have defeated Satan, and you’re seated with Christ in heavenly places, and you’re anointed by the Spirit so that you can reign in your life. Well, you know, these things don’t dawn on us all at once. We have to kind of go over them and over them and think them through and say, Lord, show me how to walk in this. Lord, reveal this to me. Lord, let the spirit of wisdom and revelation engulf me until I see this until I refuse to tolerate the enemy’s work in my life.
In Colossians 2:15 in the English Standard Version, it says, When he rose from the dead, He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, triumphing over them in him. Now, depending on what translation you have, some translations say triumph over him in the cross, some say in it, but it’s the little Greek phrase, that throughout Paul’s epistles, is translated in him. And you see, sometimes people try to teach that the devil was defeated while Jesus was on his physical cross. But this verse, let me read it to you in context from, I’m reading from the New King James, but there’s a real key here, beginning with the 13th verse. It says, And you being dead in your trespasses, and the uncircumcision of your flesh (meaning you were outside of the Covenant), he has made alive together with him. Now, you see that word having? How many of you have a Bible? That wasn’t one of the verses they had, so you have to actually read your own Bible. And if you’ll notice, okay, since you’re not looking at your Bible, I’ll explain it to you. It says, He made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. He has taken it out of the way having nailed it to the cross, having disarmed principalities and powers. Now, in the context, there’s three havings. These are the result of being made alive with him. Can you see that? Having been made alive with him, he having forgiven you, having nailed the law to the cross, and having disarmed the principalities and the powers. The victory of the resurrection, was lifting you out of spiritual death. It was nailing the law to the cross as a means of righteousness. And it was defeating the enemy completely. N
What Paul says and I read you the ESV version, He disarmed the rulers and authorities put them to an open shame by triumphing over them in him. See, it was the father raising Jesus from the dead. This so great because Jesus voluntarily came under our sin and experienced that dying for our sins. And then the glory of the Father descended into Hades and took his soul up. And in doing that, He disarmed the principalities and powers, he put them to an open shame in Christ when He raised Him. Now, if you think that through and I mean, man, it’s just so powerful. But you see if you and I were in him when God raised him and when he put to an open shame the principalities and powers, if we were in him, then guess what, that victory belongs to the church. Not in the next age, but in this age.
Now, just think about this, if the body of Christ was no longer intimidated by Satan and his works, and every believer, wherever they were called in the culture, began to exercise dominion in the workplace, not a hierarchical top down, trying to take authority over people and things, but rather taking, let’s say your job place, where you work. Let’s say, you began to take authority over demonic influence in the workplace. I wonder if that would affect the amount of confusion, strife and bitterness flowing in the workplace. I wonder if you were the prayer warrior who prayed peace into your workplace, if you’d work more efficiently, get more work done, and the business would prosper, because you were there. I wonder if that would bring favor on you and you would be promoted because you were recognized as a servant who didn’t complain. Just a thought.
I believe that the gospel is extremely down to earth and practical. It’s not for church on Sundays. Church on Sundays is refueling so that you can go out and kick some demonic stuff in your life. You see, sometimes we go through difficult times. We need the body to surround us and to pray for us and to stand with us. We’re not individually self sufficient. In that sense we need the body of Christ. That’s something that we need to understand because Americans are culturally independent. We need to understand that we need one another. My teaching wouldn’t do anybody any good if I couldn’t find anybody to listen. My gift is for somebody else, not for me. Same with your gifts. The gifts God has given you are not for you, although you benefit from them, but you get to give them away, you get to discover the gold in other people’s treasury. And you get to call it forth. Because I believe in what God has done in me and I see it in the word, I want to call it forth in you so that you discover the treasure that God has placed in you. You begin to see yourself as the workmanship of God. Ephesians 2:10 says we are His workmanship created for good works. We’re not His workmanship if we do good works The workmanship of God recreated in Christ for good works that flow out of who we are and what gifts we’ve been given. It’s really remarkably good news. You guys are awfully calm. Are you thinking out there? Is that what’s going on?
Now, let me read this to you from Philips translation. This is Colossians 2:14 and 15. Christ has utterly wiped out the damning evidence of broken laws and commandments, which always hung over our heads. Yeah. And has completely annulled it by nailing it over his own head on the cross. The broken law has been crucified. And having drawn the sting of all the powers ranged against us, he exposed them shattered, empty and defeated in his final, glorious act. You can just imagine how the whole angelic realm of God, looking on this scene is going, Father, what happened? Jesus has died. He’s under the power of death and the dominion of darkness.They’re on top of him, and he’s in Hades. Father, what are we going to do? And Father says, Hang on. And then three days and three nights later the glory of the Father invades Hades, brings Jesus up and out, and as he does that the whole Demonic Realm is put to open shame as he triumphs over them in his son, who he’s raising from the dead. But get this, his son was in a place where only the Father could raise him. So are you and I. And the father raised us up in the Son, putting to an open shame, the devil. Now can you imagine how if you were the Devil, how desperate would you be to try to keep people from seeing this? You’d come up with all kinds of traditions that obscured that truth. Hello.
God raised Jesus from the dead for you. For me. Jesus didn’t need salvation. He was eternal God. But the love of God is shown by this. Adam chose to sin. Adam deserved the punishment for sin. God said, I want my family back. Let’s take care of this situation. Let’s totally resolve it, so I can have back my sons and daughters, and they can walk with me as though sin had never been. He says, I’m going to write my law in their hearts, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. This is why we have to get into the New Covenant. Because in the new covenant God isn’t keeping track of your failures. Church might. Some Bible teachers might. But God isn’t. Well, brother, if we don’t tell people how sinful they are, how are they going to change? I don’t know, maybe grace. Maybe if they really see what grace is they’ll say, Oh, Lord, please help me to walk right. Lord, I need more grace. Lord, give me grace to overcome this. Lord, give me grace to share this. Give me grace to do this. Lord, give me grace to do your will and to live for You, Lord. You’re so good I just want to live for you. I’ve discovered how good and merciful you are, Lord, now show me how to help other people see the same thing.
Grace motivates us. It doesn’t just say. Oh, sin doesn’t count. No problem. Just live any way you want. No. Grace says, I want a relationship with you. Come to me. Learn to live at the throne of grace, and I’ll empower you to live above your sin and I’ll empower you to impart grace to others. If I have any challenge to the modern Grace movement, is it’s defining grace as unmerited favor. Because grace is more than unmerited favor, grace is supernatural power working in is freely given. You and I are predestined to be conformed to the image of God’s Son, not to stay the same and then say, Grace, grace. We say, Grace grace so that we can have more grace so that we can change so that we can grow so that we can mature, because the more we understand God’s unconditional love for us the more we want to be like him, and the more we want to be like Jesus. Grace will motivate you, because grace is the Father’s heart of love given to you freely in Christ, so that you can have a relationship with him without condemnation. So that you can come boldly to the throne of grace day by day, and get a download of fresh grace for every day.
It’s all about relationship. God didn’t save you so you could be a good little trooper and salute him. Now, he wants you to honor him, of course. But you see, it’s like when we had our daughter, she couldn’t dress herself. She couldn’t do anything. She was just a little baby. But I was crazy about her. And everything she did was pleasing to me. Except crying in the middle of the night. She couldn’t help it, she was just a baby. But here’s the thing. See, a father’s love for his children isn’t conditioned on their performance. It’s because she was born of me. She was my child. Well, I wonder where I got that. I wonder who I’m reflecting when I love my child with an… see if a parent has a child that goes away from the Lord for a season, a godly parent doesn’t stop loving their child, even if they disapprove of their performance. A godly human parent will pray for that child and believe that God will restore them, but won’t condemn them. Because he loves them. Ideal human fatherhood is a pale reflection of the glory of the Heavenly Father. And we can do all right as human fathers and mothers.
But think about Abba. He wants relationship with you so much he sent his son to remove the sin problem. And even if you still struggle with your flesh, you can get up every morning and get more grace. When I was struggling with a besetting sin, that I just didn’t know how to get victory over, the Lord taught me to come, the first thing I learned was don’t stay and wallow in my sin. And what I learned to do was, I could come boldly to the throne of grace, even if I had sinned. Even if I was condemning myself and beating myself up and frustrated with my own failure, I could come to the throne of grace and find mercy. Then the Lord said, Go beyond mercy, and receive more grace to help you change. Mercy took care of my failure, but Grace would enable me to rise up and go forward and get past whatever the problem was. Now, sometimes this is where deliverance or inner healing can be a part of it, but first of all, we must see that Jesus has already defeated sin’s dominion, and that God isn’t mad at us. This will motivate you to get back up. If you think God’s angry at you and condemning you, you just wallow. But if you realize it’s only the devil that gets glory out of your wallowing, something can rise up in you and you can say, I’m not gonna put up with this. God loves me even if I fail. There’s a way back. It’s called grace, and it’s called Mercy, and I’m going to the throne because that’s the only place I can get help. I heard this when I was a young believer, I heard a teacher say, Don’t run from God with your sin, run to Him. God will show you the way out. God will show you the way through. God will show you the way over. All right.
The word triumph in Colossians, the triumphed over them in it, this is an interesting word. In the time of the Roman Empire, when a warrior went out and conquered a rival King, when he would come back into Rome, he would have a triumphal procession. Now, in this triumphal procession, he would ride in the front chariot, and behind him were all the conquered kings. And he would come into this celebration and this exposure of all the defeated kings. That’s the word Paul chooses to describe the resurrection of Christ. That it was his triumphal procession back into heaven. And in the spirit realm, all the angels saw the public humiliation of Satan and principalities and powers. And Paul is just passionately trying to get the saints to see it, that it’s already been done, it’s already been accomplished. Paul uses that same verse in another place in second Corinthians chapter two, verse 14, he says, Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests the savor of his victory everywhere we go.
Now, think about this, Paul faced amazing difficulties and challenges. But he had such a revelation, that he was walking out the triumph of Christ, that nothing could intimidate him. Nothing could stop him. He finally said, I have run the race. I finished my course. The Lord has shown me it’s time. The devil tried to kill him his whole life after he got saved. But he couldn’t be killed till he finished his course. Now, that’s the vision that you and I need to embrace. I can’t be taken out until I finished my course. And then are willingly go home. He was martyred. But you know, it’s kind of like when they came and got Jesus, you know, in the Garden of Gethsemane. It’s kind of like he said, Who do you seek? And they said, we seek Jesus of Nazareth, we got our clubs, we got our swords. And Jesus said, I am. They all fell down. Did you ever read that in John 20? They all just were knocked down when he said, I am. Well, I got good news for you, you am. You am united to him. I know that none of us are fully walking like Jesus yet. But I’m not going to postpone that yet until the Lord comes. I’m gonna press for all of it I can, now. Well, what if I don’t make it? Well, maybe the next generation will make it. We see every every generation of new movements of God, it adds something back to what the Church lost. And the church rises up further and presses on further and begins to accept as normal, which the previous generation did not even believe or accept.
If we’re moving toward a glorious church, then there’s no place for complacency because we’re not there yet. I’ve been looking at First Corinthians 12:31, which says, desire earnestly, the best gifts. It’s legitimate. In fact, the old King James says covet. You know, the Bible says, Thou shalt not covet. But the Bible says, covet. Covet the gifts of the Spirit, just don’t covet your neighbor’s wife or your neighbor’s goods. There are some things you can covet. One of them is spiritual gifts, which would mean the ability to heal the sick, cast out demons, prophesy, bring a message in tongues with interpretation, all of those things it says to covet. It’s legitimate to hunger for more spiritual power, not just for the sake of power, but for the sake of revealing Christ to a sin sick world. Amen.
I got a little declaration here I’d like you to make with me before we close tonight. And it’s at the bottom of the first page. So I want you to just stand up and let’s make this declaration together:
Father, I thank you for the sacrifice of Christ. I see by the word that when you raised him, you raised me also. When you put Satan to an open shame, I was in Christ and I share his victory. Jesus now has the keys of death and Hades. Therefore, Death and Hades have no authority over me. I have been made alive with Christ. I have been raised with Him, and I defeated Satan in him. His victory is my victory. My life has released the aroma of the resurrected Christ. Thanks be to God who always leads me in his triumphal procession. I am more than a conqueror through him who loved me. Yeah. Amen. Praise God.
I had an interesting thing. A few weeks ago, when I was in my quiet time, I was sort of debating with the Lord like we do. And I was debating about his favor. And I was just saying, you know, you’ve blessed me in so many ways in my family, and so on. But I haven’t seen the extent of your favor that I believe is promised in the Word. And why is that? And he said, Well, here’s why. He said, You believe a lot of things. And if I hooked a truth meter up to you, it would show that you really do believe. But he said, You don’t expect my favor. You’re walking in belief and faith, but you’re not expecting. And so as a result of that, what has caused me to do every day is now sort of look instead of at my circumstances to look beyond and say, Okay, where is favor coming at me? Because it’s going to be coming, but I have to be observant. I have to take the opportunity. And I won’t go into it, ut I have seen 97 occurrences of stuff that I normally I’m sure I would have just totally missed, that are really amazing and are things that are exponential beyond what I was previously seeing. So just an encouragement. I think it follows on what you were just saying.
Yeah, great. Thank you, Henry. Praise God.
