CNM Bolivia Church - Sunday morning June 22nd

The Spirit filled life
Basic principles for the Spirit filled Christian
Lesson #13 “Living the life of Victory”

Introduction: For the last few weeks we have been looking at the 5 basic foundational principles of the Spirit filled Christian. We have discussed that learning these 5 different principals are important because they are the different subjects that will continually be a part of the messages we will share in our church. No study like this would be complete without a look at the subject of the victorious Christian life. It is a theme that will continue to come up in our teachings when we come together for church so in this lesson I would like to spend a good amount of time exploring the concept and also explaining what is God’s desire in the area.

The promise of victory
As we read the Bible we find that it talks a great deal about victory. One of the main reasons is because the writers of the New Testament were constantly surrounded by war and fighting being a part of the Roman world. Battle was a constant reality to their world.

2nd Cor. 10:3-5
“ 3For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,”

In this passage Pablo is using terms of battle to explain spiritual concepts. He is using something that his readers would understand to explain new things that they had never heard before.
Ephesians 6:10-12
“ 10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against then world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

In this passage just as in the other we can see the comparison of battle and the Christian life. Paul describes different parts of the armor of a Roman soldier as the spiritual preparation we need to have as we do the will of God. Again taking something that was common in the everyday life of his readers to explain more higher spiritual realities.

Victory is a by production of the lover of God
It is important that we keep in mind that victory was meant to be a by product of the Christian life. What I mean by “by product” is that the creator meant for victory to be a something that came along with the pursuit of knowing God. As a person made the decision to seek the “God priority” the result would be that God would also bless them with victory. As they grew in the things of God they would experience more and more a life of victory (3rd John 2, Romans 8:37).

The three antagonists
The Bible is filled with scriptures that give us our legal decedent to be able to approach God and receive victory in our lives but for the purposes of this study we will us the following scripture as our key text focus on three areas of victory we have been given. These three areas of victory that Jesus has given us are also the three main antagonists of the Christian life. It is important to realize that faith in Christ has allowed us to defeat these three antagonists.

1) Faith is the victory that overcomes the world (1st John 5:4 “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith.”) The first area of victory we have been given is the area of over the world. Before we knew Christ we were slaves to the system of the world but now since we are born again have been freed from the world’s system. Where before we simple obeyed the system of ungodliness in the world now we have the choice to obey God with our lives, conduct, thoughts and actions.

What is our responsibility as believers in this area? Be transformed in our mind. Romans 12:2 “2And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” As we renew our mind to the things of God we fortify our position of victory over the influences of the world.

2) Faith is the victory that overcomes the flesh (Galt. 3:20 “"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 gave Himself up for me.”) The second enemy that we face in the area of the victory that the Bible promises is the flesh. The flesh is our natural desire to do things that disobey God and lead us back to slavery to sin. Because we were all once sinners and our body stills remembers how to sin we are at a constant conflict with the ungodly desires of the flesh. The good news is that the Bible promises us that we have overcome the flesh. The challenging news is that it is a life long process to bring the flesh under the control of the spirit.

What is our responsibility as believers in this area? Crucify the flesh. Romans 12:1 “1Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” God desires for us to be a 24 hours a day, seven days of the week living sacrifice for Jesus. It is a constant process of denying the cardinal desires that take us away from closeness with God and obedience to His Word.

3) Faith is the victory that overcomes the devil (Hebrews 2:14-15 “14Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”) The scriptures us that the third enemy that we faces is the enemy of the devil. Many people give him too much credit thinking that he is all powerful but the Bible teaches that after Calvary his is a defeated foe. The only power that he now has over us is the power that we give him.

What is the responsibility that we have in this are? Resist Him James 4:7 “Submit therefore to God Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” The Bible teaches us clearly the way that we defeat the devil is through resisting him. Resist him by obeying and submitting to the plan that God has for our lives. Just about every day we have opportunities to obey or go along with the devils plan for our lives. When we go along with the devils plan for our life this is called temptation. If we resist those temptations the devil has absolutely no power over us.

All three of these enemies we had not power in ourselves to defeat them. Through Christ we have been given the assurance that not only will we be victorious in battle against these foes but Jesus has already won the battle for us.

The past tense reality of the victorious Christian life Romans 8:37
A large part of living in the victory that the Bible promises is identifying who are your enemies. With that same though in mind it is also important that we understand that the victory that the Bible promises is a past tense thing.

Romans 8:37
“But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.”

In other words we are not promised victory from the stand point of something that is actively coming to pass like a plot being developed in a theatrical performance but we have been given victory already. Jesus has already defeated our foes for us. They have no power over us. So all we have to do is show up to the battle and fight and we will walk into the reality of the victory that has already been given to us. Yes we have our part to play but we should never confuse this with the part that Jesus has played. We are victorious because Jesus has defeated our foes for us.