Destined To Reign – Part 13 – The Key To Effortless Victorious Living

Dear friends,



People are afraid to preach the gospel of grace because they think if they preach grace, believers will go out and sin. They seem to have more confidence in man’s flesh to keep the law than in the power of cross. Yet, it is not grace that stirs up sin, but it is the law! (Romans 7: 7-8) Don’t forget that after Israel boasted to God, “All the Lord has spoken we will do (Exodus 19: 8)”, they broke the very first commandment and made a golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai. Have you ever read, “the strength of sin is the law?” The more you try to keep the law and not sin, the worse it becomes. The more you try not to sin, the more conscious you will be of sin.



Self Effort Results In Defeat



Imagine a man who knows that he has a problem with lust. When he gets up in the morning, he tells the Lord, “Lord, give me victory today. Help me not to lust after women. I do not want to lust, so help me not to lust today. I will not lust. I will not…” But the moment he steps out of his apartment and sees someone walking in a skirt, what do you think would be his first thought? It would be a lustful thought! The more he tries not to lust, the more his mind is occupied with lust.



Effortless Victorious Living



Let’s take another Christian who has a problem with lust. But this Christian believes in grace, so when he wakes up, he tells the Lord, “Lord, I am not even going to try today. I know that I cannot overcome this on my own. Lord, I rest in you. You live the victorious life for me. I cannot overcome lust by my own strength. My eyes are on You. Even though I cannot, I know that You can. Thank You for Your grace.” Then he leaves home and goes to work. As he is driving, he sees a huge billboard showing a woman in bikini. When he feels tempted to lust, he says, “Thank you, Father, I am the righteousness of God in Christ. I know that You are here with me. I have not lost your presence. Even when I fail, You are with me. Thank you for Your grace.” The temptation comes and the temptation goes. He does not lament, “O God, why is this happening again? Please forgive me, Lord!” because he knows that the more he confesses and focuses on his weakness, the worse it becomes. Do you know what people who believe in confessing their sins in order to be forgiven usually do? Many times, they would say to themselves, “I will save my confessions for tonight. In the meantime, since I am already guilty of lust, let me watch this raunchy movie and indulge in this men’s magazine. I will compile these sins and confess them all at the end of the day.”



You see, people who are living under guilt and condemnation are doomed to repeat their sins. They think that since the fellowship with God has already been broken, they might as well go all the way and indulge their weaknesses before they reconcile themselves with God. On the other hand, believers under grace know that they are always righteous and that fellowship with God is never broken. Even when they fail, they know that Jesus is still with them. They know that righteousness is a gift and the Holy Spirit is present to convict them of their righteousness in Christ. The more they believe that they are righteous, the more they experience true victory over sin. Right believing always produces right living.



My friend, every once in a while, you will be tempted to sin. But while the law only stirs up your flesh to be more aware of sin, grace gives you the power to be effortlessly victorious over sin. That’s why Apostle Paul said, “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6: 14)”. When you put yourself under the law, the moment you are tempted, you condemn yourself, and in that state of guilt and condemnation, you are more likely to follow through with that temptation and sin. However, when you put yourself under the grace of God, the moment you are tempted, you receive a fresh dose of His grace and His forgiveness. You will see yourself righteous, and this gives you the power to rise above the temptation. Apostle Paul said, “Awake to righteousness, and sin not. (1 Corinthians 15: 34)”. When you believe that you are righteous even when you sin, your thoughts and actions will come in alignment with your believing. In contrast, believers who do not know that they are righteous (even when they sin will remain in their cycle of sin.



Right Believing Leads To The Right Living



Charles Haddon Spurgeon, probably the first pastor ever to build a mega-church in London, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, said, “No doctrine is so calculated to preserve a man from sin as the doctrine of the grace of God. Those who have called it a “licentious (to sin) doctrine” did not know anything at all about it. Poor ignorant things, they little knew that their own vile stuff was the most licentious doctrine under heaven….There is nothing like a belief in my eternal perseverance, and the immutability of my Father’s affection (love), which can keep me near Him from a motive of simple gratitude. Nothing makes a man so virtuous as belief of the truth. … A man cannot have an erroneous belief without by-and-by having an erroneous life. Of all men, those have the most disinterested piety, the sublimest reverence, the most ardent devotion, who believe they are saved by grace, without works, through faith, and not of themselves, it is the gift of God.”



Spurgeon was saying that if your behavior is wrong, it is because there is something wrong with your belief. Right believing leads to the right living. The grace of God is the power to preserve you from sin. Believe that you are righteous because of the blood of Jesus, and the result of such belief will be righteous thoughts and actions.



Victory In Your Though Life



In the Song of Solomon, Solomon said, “Your temples … are like a piece of pomegranate. (Song of Solomon 4: 3)” The temples are a reference to the head. The Bible actually compares your head to a pomegranate. When you open a pomegranate in half, you will find that it is filled with white seeds in a beautiful red liquid.



Now, it is a very powerful picture for you to have if you want victory over your thought life. You may be struggling with temptations, lustful and angry thoughts, or thoughts of guilt and condemnation, but the Lord wants you to have victory over these battles in your mind. He wants you to picture your head like a pomegranate. The rich, red liquid is a picture of the blood of Jesus, and the many seeds is a picture of your thoughts. The blood of Jesus is constantly washing and cleansing your thoughts. Your thoughts are under a constant waterfall of cleansing and forgiveness. When the Bible declares in 1 John 1: 7 that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin, the tense here in Greek for the word “cleanses” denotes a present and continuous action. This means that the blood of Jesus never ceases to cleanse your thoughts. Even right now, your thoughts of guilt and condemnation are being washed away. Angry and lustful thoughts are being washed away. All manner of temptation is being washed away. The moment you think a bad thought, it is being washed away. The problem with believers today is that they think, I am a Christian, so how can I have such terrible thoughts?



Listen carefully: You cannot stop birds from flying over your head, but you can certainly stop them from building a nest on your head! You cannot stop your flesh and the devil from putting negative thoughts and temptations in your mind. But you can have victory over your thought lifeby seeing that all your thoughts are continually being cleansed by the blood of Jesus. His redemptive work is your victory over your thought life.



Amen!



Dedo Suwanda



From "Destined to Reign" by Joseph Prince