Tonight's message is called,
Christ hath prevailed. Turn if you would to Revelation
chapter 5. Christ hath prevailed. We'll read the whole chapter
of Revelation 5 here. And I'll just make some comments
as we go. Revelation chapter 5, Christ
hath prevailed. And I saw on the right hand of
him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the back
side sealed with seven seals. This is God the Father upon the
throne. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book and to loose
the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor on
the earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book,
neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man
was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to
look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto
me, Weep not. Behold, the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, and this is our King, beloved, this is our King, the
Root of David hath prevailed. to open the book and to loose
the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo, in the
midst of a throne of the four beasts, and in the midst of the
elders stood a lamb, as it had been slain, having seven horns
and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God set forth
into all the earth. And he came and took the book
out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. A lot
of commentators say this is the book of God's decrees, the book
of God's providence, providential works. And when he had taken
the book, The four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell
down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden
vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints. And
they sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book
and to open the seals thereof. For Thou was slain, Christ was
slain for the sins of His people. And has redeemed us, and this
is the redeemed, this is God's elect in heaven. Has redeemed
us to God, how? By Thy blood. And remember we
looked at this morning, there's many, right? Many shall hear. Look at this. Out of every kindred
and tongue and people and nation, and has made us unto our God
kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld
and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne,
and the beasts and the elders, and the number of them was ten
thousand times ten thousands and thousands of thousands, saying
with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive
power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory
and blessing. In every creature which is in
heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and such as are in
the sea, and all that are in them, heard I say, in blessing,
in honor, in glory, in power, be unto Him." That's why we say,
Lord, we want You to have all the glory. Because that's what
we're going to say in heaven, beloved. That's what we're going
to say in heaven. and power be unto him that sitteth
upon the throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders
fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.
Now I want to take our text tonight from verse 5 which says this,
And one of the elders saith unto me, remember no one could open
the book, no one was worthy, to open the book, and one came
forward, the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man
mediator, the one who purchased his people with his own precious
blood, he comes forth. Weep not. Behold, the Lion of
the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open
the book and to loose the seven seals thereof." Now, natural,
we've talked about this many times, natural man, Natural man
has an idea in their mind who they think God is. This is who
the God of the Bible is right here. He is sovereign. He is
a king. And the One who we love, the
One who has redeemed us from our sins, He hath prevailed,
beloved. He hath prevailed. And the Scripture
says in Isaiah, He shall not fail. He didn't fail. He prevailed. He's prevailed. He's redeemed
his people from their sins. So folks in religion, they make
a god of their own imagination. And the god of people's imagination
is a weak god. He's a weak god. He's powerless
to save unless they allow him to save. And their god is that
way. But not our god. Not our god. Not our God. He hath prevailed.
He hath prevailed. The God of the Bible is a sovereign
God. The God of people's imagination
is a God who can do nothing. The God of the Bible is a God
who moves and saves and saves the many that we looked at today.
Saves the many by the shedding of his own precious blood. The
God of people's imagination is a powerless God, a defeated God.
Our God is not defeated. Our God reigns. And our God hath
prevailed. He hath prevailed. The Lord Jesus
Christ hath prevailed. And He is now seated at the right
hand of the Father in majesty and power, reigning above. And
He's our mediator. He's our mediator. He hath prevailed. Turn, if you would, to Daniel,
chapter 4. The God of the Bible, as I say, in the Old Testament
and in the New Testament. Both in the Old Testament and
the New Testament. Now we've seen tonight in the reading of Revelation
5 that our God is all-powerful, isn't He? Every creature in heaven
and earth said, Amen. That's a God who's all-powerful.
That's a God who's worthy of all worship and praise. And do
you know the God in the Old Testament is the same? Look at Daniel chapter
4. We've looked at this many times, but I think this is a
perfect, Perfect passage of Scripture to show God's power. Daniel 4, verses 34 to 37. And
at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes. Now remember,
Nebuchadnezzar was a king over a vast kingdom. Vast kingdom. And he'd been struck down and
been eaten grass. And now he comes to his senses
again. He's come to the end of that
trial. And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted
up mine eyes into heaven, and my understanding returned unto
me. And I blessed the Most High. He blessed the Most High. He
blessed the One who rules. He blessed the One who reigns.
And I praised and honored Him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion. He'll never be usurped. His kingdom
will never end. Never. It's an everlasting kingdom. He has everlasting dominion over
His kingdom. And His kingdom is from generation
to generation. Generations pass and generations
cease. But our Lord is still King. He
still reigns. And all the inhabitants of the
earth... Now think of this. We think we're important. Look
at this. And all the inhabitants of the
earth. are reputed as nothing. He doeth according to His will
in the army of heaven. Verse 35, Daniel 4, 35. He does
according to His will. He doesn't take counsel from
anyone. No one tells Him how to reign. No one tells Him what
to do. He does according to His will.
If you're saved tonight, rejoice. You're saved according to His
will. According to His will. He does according to his will
in the army of heaven, so up in heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth, so everywhere. There is nowhere in anything
we can see or not see where our God doesn't have absolute dominion. Visible and invisible. He's in
full control. Now can you imagine puny men
thinking that he's at their whim? My, it's not the God of the Bible
that they're talking about, is it? No. The God that we're reading
about right here, he does whatever he's pleased. And it says this,
and none can stay his hand. No one can say, what are you
doing? He does whatever he's pleased
to do. He's a prevailing God all the
time. All the time. None can stay His
hand or say unto Him, What doest Thou? At the same time, reason
returned unto me, and the glory of my kingdom, and honor, and
brightness returned unto me, and my counselors, and my Lord
sought me, and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent
majesty was added unto me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, look at
this, praise and extol. Now this is Nebuchadnezzar, his
kingdom is huge. Now he knows what it means to
be a king too. This is a king talking about the king of kings.
This is one talking about who knows what power is. Who knows
what it is to have dominion over people and things. He says, Now
I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven.
He recognized a king greater than himself. All whose works are truth. Who's
the truth? Who does the New Testament say
is the truth? Christ. And His ways are judgment. Who's
the way? Christ. And look at this. We humans can
get pretty full of pride, can't we? And in our unsaved natural
state, we're full of pride. And even we struggle with it
after we're saved, too. But look at what it says here.
And think of this in light of we who've been saved. We've been
abased. We've been bought low. As Sister
Bonnie always says, we're bought down in the dust. We're bought
down to the dust. We want Christ preached up and
we want ourselves in the dust. And look at this, and those that
walk in pride, He's able to abase. He brings us right down. Those
that walk in pride, He's able to abase. And so think of this
in light of salvation. He abases us and shows us our
desperate need for Christ. And He passes by others and He
leaves them in their pride. And He brings us down. Aren't you thankful that He's
able to abase us? Because we could never abase
ourselves. We'd never do that. Our God is sovereign. He's a
King. We'd never come to Him on our
own, but He abases us, brings us low, shows us our need for
Christ. Now the Word, let's go back to
our text in Revelation 5. It says, And one of the elders
saith unto me, Weep not. Behold, the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the Book,
and to loose the seven seals thereof. So we're going to key
on that one word, prevailed. The Greek word for prevailed
is to conquer, to conquer, to subdue, literally or figuratively. To conquer, overcome, prevail,
get the victory. That's all the Greek meanings
for this word. So we'll look at some points tonight, five
points, Some things the Lord Jesus Christ has prevailed over.
The first thing is He's prevailed over princes and principalities. Now to listen to some in the
religious world, and I've heard many of them talk like this,
they talk like the devil has more power than God. And you
hear it all the time. Well, the devil's a defeated foe. Christ
crushed him. And I like what one grace preacher
said. He said, the devil's God's devil. God's in control. He can only do what God allows.
Our God is sovereign, beloved. He's absolutely sovereign. And
the Lord Jesus Christ has prevailed over princes and principalities.
Turn, if you would, to Colossians chapter 2. The Scriptures declare
opposite of what some folks claim. When they claim that Satan has
more power, well, they don't say that, but in their words
and what they say, you gather that. Real easy. But let's look
at what Scripture says. And the Lord Jesus Christ, remember
this, He's prevailed over princes and principalities. That's all
the angelic and heavenly beings. Look at Colossians 2, verses
10, and then we'll look at verse 15. Look at this. And this is
speaking to the Colossian believers. I just can't get away from this
verse, look at this, and ye are complete in him. We could just
sit there, couldn't we? The believer is complete in Christ.
But look at what it says, it goes on, not only is he the head
of the church, right, but look what this verse says, which is
the head of all principality and power. Now Paul is battling
the Gnostics who are saying that there's a secret a secret knowledge
that only they can impart, but there's also, there's different,
we've been looking at that in our study, there's different
things going on, different attacks on the all-sufficiency and all-supremacy
of Christ, and one of them is saying that Christ is one of
many mediators between man and God. that he's just part of the
step to God. So Paul here, in combating that
error, writes to the Colossian believers and says, no, he's
the head of all principality and power. He's over all the
angelic beings. He's over all the governments
of this world. That's why we can have peace
even about the election that's coming up, beloved, because God's
going to put in power whom he will. And he'll take care of
his people, beloved. He always does. He always does. So, He's the head of all principality
and power. And look at verse 15, lower down,
just down a little bit. And heaven spoiled principalities
and powers. Beloved, He crushed Satan at the cross. He crushed
him. He made a show of them openly,
triumphing over them. See that word, triumphing? Now,
I'm going to probably repeat this in our study. on Wednesday
nights, but that triumphing over there, Paul is alluding to a
Roman triumph, and I've mentioned this many times, where a general
would come in after a battle, and the general, usually the
general who won the battle, or the leader, Caesar, before he
became Caesar, was a Roman general. And I've read a couple books
on the legions that he commanded. One specific battle before he
became Caesar, he was still called Caesar, but he was just a general
at that time. He had won a great victory. A
great victory. And they would have what's called
a triumph. They would put him in a golden chariot and put laurels
on his head. And he would go forth at the
head of all that. And he would come in, it's called
a Roman triumph, and in would come, and it was a great thing
for a general. It was a great honor. And they
would come into Rome on this chariot. And behind him, behind
him would come some of the soldiers that they had captured, chained
up, chained up. And then behind them would become
what we would call today floats that they'd be pulled, though,
by slaves. And they would have pictures
depicting the battle upon these floats. And they would pull this
in. And like I said, this was huge.
People would just go crazy over this. And it would depict certain
parts of the battle. And then coming behind those
would come the legions. And only, not every single, not
every single legion or not every single, they broke them down
even into smaller groups, would have the honor of marching in
this, but ones that distinguish themselves in battle. And usually
it was more the veteran units, most of the time, that were on
the flanks. They actually put the veterans
on the flanks because they knew that they wouldn't fold in battle. And so they would come and march.
It was a great honor. They'd march too, and triumphant.
And then coming in chains, if they caught the leader, would
come the leader. And he is just all chained up, and more soldiers
of his behind him, just in chains. And I remember reading Spurgeon's
Sermon one time, and he said, he said, Christ entered into
heaven triumphant, and behind him came all the, everyone in
chains that he had defeated. Oh my, so that's what this scripture
is alluding to here in Colossians 2.15, and having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly. So think of the
shame of those soldiers who'd been caught and they were dragged
in during that triumph. They're ashamed, they're defeated,
and then they would all go and be killed. They usually killed
them after that. But Christ made a show of principalities
and powers openly, triumphing over them in it when he won victory
at the cross. And we saw today that he willingly
went there. He willingly went there. He submitted
himself to the Father's will. Our Lord entered heaven triumphantly,
beloved. He's a conquering king. He hath prevailed. He hath prevailed
over princes and principalities. He triumphed over our enemies.
And he triumphed over his enemies. Oh, what a king. So the Lord
Jesus Christ, again, hath prevailed over princes and principalities.
The second point is, and if you're a believer, the Lord Jesus Christ
hath prevailed over us. He prevailed over us. Over me,
a sinner. He prevailed over me. Of all
the things there's to love about the Lord Jesus Christ and all
the things we want to see revealed about Him, one of the things
I love to study the most is God's sovereign power. He's sovereign
in salvation. He's sovereign over the world. That He's a King, I love it. It warms my heart. The Lord Jesus
Christ has not only prevailed over all the things that were
against us, but he prevailed over us. Over us. And we who are familiar with
religion, again, it presents the Lord Jesus Christ prevailing
over some things. Religion does this, and this
is the religion I was in. It presents the Lord Jesus Christ
prevailing over some things, but never over the sinner. Because
then it's up to him. But that makes the sinner sovereign.
That's not what the scripture says. I'm thankful he didn't
ask me if it was okay if he saved me. But he just saved me from
my sins. He saved me. Because we know
that none of us would have ever come down in our natural state. He just saved us. Why? Because we're one of the men. Oh, my. We're one of his sheep. And think of this. Is it so with
you? Because I know it is with me. He changed my mind about
him. He changed my mind about his
word. He changed my mind about his people. Isn't that incredible? He prevailed over me. I couldn't
change my... Sister Nancy, you and I have
talked. We came out of religion. We knew what we were in. I couldn't
get myself out of that. He couldn't either. He prevailed.
He brought us out of that. He changed our whole minds on
that. It's wonderful. It's amazing. He hath prevailed. He prevailed over us. Why? For who maketh he to differ?
For who maketh he to differ from another? Christ hath prevailed. And what
hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive
it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? A
perfect example in Scripture of Christ's prevailing over sinners
is the two thieves. They were both railing on him.
And think, Brother Mott bought out this morning. His visage
was so marred. He was so battened. But the Holy Spirit moved upon
him. That one thief, didn't he? He prevailed over him. And that's
God. Our God is sovereign. This is
the God of the Bible. My, turn if you would to Luke
23. We'll look at that. Luke 23. the two thieves crucified with
Christ. Matthew writes this, the thieves also which were crucified
with him cast the same in his teeth. So they're both just railing
on him. They're both just railing on
him. But one thief's going to be changed. What he thinks about Christ is
going to be changed. And it's nothing he does. It's
all by the power of our sovereign God. He did the same for every
one of us, I believe. Look at this in Luke, chapter
23. One of the malefactors which
were hanged, railed on him, saying, If thou be the Christ, save thyself
and us. And now, like I said, Matthew
27, 44 says the thieves also, being both of them, which were
crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. But here in
Luke 23, we see something's changed. God's distinguishing, sovereign,
invincible grace makes one of the thieves to differ from the
other. And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him,
saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. Now remember, he was railing
on Christ with the other one. But the other answering rebuked
him, saying, Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art Thou art
in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly? So he sees that him and that other
thief are there justly. That they're getting what they
deserve. For we receive the due rewards
of our deeds. Now how does he know this in
the next portion? But this man hath done nothing
amiss. Oh, he's been taught of God,
beloved. Right there upon his cross as he's hanging there,
dying. The Holy Spirit's regenerated
this other thief. He's prevailed over him. That's
why we call it invincible grace. Irresistible grace. You can't
resist it. God's grace is irresistible.
He will get his sheep. He will save his sheep. Even
if it's right when they're dying. And he said unto the Lord Jesus,
and he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. And here's some precious words here in verse
43. And Jesus said unto him, Verily
I say unto thee, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. Oh my. God made him to differ. He can't
do any works. He can't be baptized. He's not
attending church. But look, who made him to differ,
beloved? The same God who made you and
I to differ. And who did he look to? The same
Savior you and I look to. Christ. Christ. Oh my. Here right before us we
have the distinguishing, prevailing, invincible grace of God in Christ. Saving the thief who is one of
the sheep, one of the sheep of God, one given to Christ from
eternity. And he turns him to look to the
Lord Jesus Christ as his only hope for salvation. And I marvel
when he says, but this man hath done nothing amiss. Only the
Holy Spirit can teach that to a sinner. And he says, we're
here just. But this man done nothing amiss.
Oh, my goodness. And is that not what we say when
the Lord saves us? Do we not say we're sinners to
the core by thought, by action, by nature? Christ is the absolute
sinless one who died in my place. So the Lord Jesus Christ has
prevailed over we who believe, over sinners, over me. The next point I'd like you to
look at is the Lord Jesus Christ has prevailed over the law. Turn
if you would to Galatians chapter 3. Now we could never prevail
over the law. We could never prevail over the
law. Remember we saw in that one message that to not fulfill the law on one
point is to be guilty of it all? So we are hopeless and helpless
before the law of God. We cannot prevail one iota over
the law of God. But beloved, He prevailed over
it all. Christ prevailed over it all.
He came to fulfill all righteousness. He came to live that perfect
life that we never could. In everything that the law demands
for sinners, for we who believe, He fulfilled it. He fulfilled
it. Everything it demanded of me.
We saw that today, didn't we? This morning. Everything the
law demanded for you, if you're a believer, He fulfilled it all.
And everything that the law demands for the rest of the many who
haven't come to Him, He fulfilled it for them too, didn't He? And
when He's pleased to reveal that to them, He will. Hear not lose
one of His sheep, beloved, not one. Now, He didn't come to fulfill
the law for Himself. He's sinless, right? He's perfect. He's spotless. But for His elect
people, He hath prevailed. He hath prevailed. And the law
demands perfection. We have a perfect Savior. The
soul that sinneth, it must die. Christ as a substitute dies in
the room. instead of His people, perfectly
fulfilling the law of God. And we saw today, perfectly submissive
to that will, to the will of the Father, and perfectly submissive
to the law. We are imperfect, but He is perfect. Romans says this, and then we'll
get to Galatians. Romans says this, for Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness. The end of the law. What does
that mean? That means that it is nothing
we do. I know that it has to be revealed,
but it's right there in Scripture, isn't it? For Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. That brings this sinner great
hope and great joy, I'll tell you that. And I know it does
for you who believe, I know it does. He is the end of the law
for righteousness. He is our righteousness before
God. By the laws and knowledge of
sin, but no knowledge of a Savior from sin. The law shows we're
sinners, but it doesn't give knowledge of our Savior. The
law is a killing letter. Condemnation and death. But the
gospel directs and encourages sinners. Encourages sinners to
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Points them right to Christ.
The one who has fulfilled the law. The one who is the end of
the law for righteousness to them who believe. His is an everlasting righteousness.
A righteousness that pleases God. A righteousness in which
God is absolutely satisfied. And only by a perfect fulfilling
of the law could this righteousness be made. Some of the commentators
say that while he was on earth, he was weaving our robe of righteousness. I like that. I like that. That's wonderful. And we're clothed
in that. The believer's clothed in that
righteousness. And he was doing that by living his life and then
by dying in our place. He suffered the penalty of the
law, which was death. He suffered the penalty of the
law for us. And he did this in the sinner's
substitute. So the whole righteousness of the law is fulfilled by Him.
And He becomes the end of it for justifying righteousness
before God. And this is good news for sinners.
Look at Galatians 3.13 and 14. Look at this. Christ hath. There's another one of those
words. It's not, well, maybe. No. Christ hath. I love those
words. Christ hath, He hath, He's done
this. What has He done for His people?
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. How? Being made a curse for us by
dying as our substitute. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. That the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith. Beloved Christ Jesus our
Lord hath prevailed over the law, over the law and over the
justice of God. He has totally fulfilled the
law for his people. And there is absolutely nothing
for us to do before the law of God. We are justified before God,
qualified for heaven, made meat, Colossians says, which means
qualified. for heaven through Jesus Christ our Lord. And his
brother Matt bought out about the worm and the blood going
on to the children, covering them. We're covered in the precious
blood of Christ, beloved. Justified before God. Sinners. Justified. And it's not by anything
I've done. It's all but what he's done.
Oh my, what a savior we have. What a savior, beloved. The Lord Jesus Christ hath prevailed
over the law. The next point I'd like to look
at is he has prevailed over sin, and he's prevailed over the wrath
and justice of God, which must be satisfied because of sin.
Turn, if you would, to Daniel chapter nine, And put your finger
in Hebrews chapter 9. Daniel chapter 9 in Hebrews chapter
9. Daniel chapter 9 verse 24. Oh, beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ
has prevailed over sin. And this is wonderful news for
sinners. This is good news for sinners.
Because we can't prevail over sin. Not in ourselves. We can't prevail over the law,
right? Because as we looked at before, Break the law in one point, you're
guilty of it all, so we're all done. But we just saw, praise
God, we just saw that the Lord Jesus Christ has prevailed over
the law. Look at this, Daniel 9, 24. Seventy weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression. And look at these marvelous words.
Christ made an end of what? And to make an end of sins. And
to make reconciliation for iniquity, for our iniquity, beloved, we'll
reconcile to God. He's made an end of our sins
and we'll reconcile to God through His precious blood. And to make
reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness,
everlasting. This is a righteousness that
will always be accepted by God. Always. It's an everlasting righteousness. and to seal up the vision and
prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy." Now turn, if you would,
to Hebrews chapter 9. There's only one sacrifice that
will put away sin. We just saw there, to finish
the transgression and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation
for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness in
Daniel 9.24. Look at this in Hebrews chapter
9, verses 26 to 28. For then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world, but now once, in the end of the
world, hath he appeared. He became man. God became a man. He hath appeared. And it was
in the perfect timing of God. And it was according to the Father.
He hath appeared, what? Why has he come here? We know
in Matthew 1.21, right, he came to what? Save his people from
their sins. Look what the scripture says here. He hath appeared to
put away sin, how? By the sacrifice of himself. By the sacrifice of himself.
Now this is the sinless one. The just one. Dying in the place
of sinners. And look at these marvelous words.
Once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away
sin. He hath prevailed, beloved. How
by the sacrifice of himself, and as it is appointed unto the
man once to die, but after this to judgment. So Christ was once
offered to bear the sins, remember the word we looked at this morning?
To bear the sins of what? Many. Many. A number no man can number. Oh
my. And unto them that look for him,
look to him. Shall he appear the second time
without sin unto salvation? Beloved, he hath prevailed over
our sin. The Lord Jesus Christ has put
away the sins of his people by the sacrifice of himself. by
the shedding of his own precious blood. And God is satisfied.
Oh, God. He made an end of them, Daniel
said. That's what scripture says. He remembers our sins no more,
remember? Why? Because he made an end of
them. We remember them, don't we? But
he doesn't. This is wonderful news for sinners. Wonderful news. Gone as far as
the east is from the west. The penalty of sin is gone. Now,
the presence of sin is still with us, right? Because we're
sinners. But the penalty is gone. We saw that this morning. He
paid everything God demanded for the penalty of my sins. And if you're a believer, for
yours too. And not only for ours, but for all the men. For all
the us-ward. All the ones. All the ones the
Father gave to Christ. He paid everything God demanded.
Christ paid it all. Now some will say that if we
think the way we do, that Christ made an end to sin and we can
live however we want. No. Always got to bring that
verse in for the love of Christ constrains us. It constrains
us. Oh my. I already sin more than
I want to. Is it so with you? My goodness. Don't we long for
the time when we'll have no sin? I think every believer is longing
for that. Oh, my. Oh, my. Oh, to enter into His
rest. To enter into His rest. This
is what we desire. Turn, if you would, to Colossians
2. We've been looking at verse 13. We'll look at verse 14 this
week. But here's another Scripture in light of Him prevailing over
our sins. Colossians 2. You know, we'll be looking at
verse 14 this week. We looked at verse 13 last Wednesday. But look at this. In light of
Christ prevailing over our sin. And you. He's writing to Colossian
believers here. And you, being dead in your sins,
in the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together
with him." Now that's speaking of the new birth, being born
again by the Holy Spirit of God. Look at this. Heaven forgiving
you. How many of your sins? How many of your trespasses?
All trespasses. All of them. Now, do you see
how people say, well, if we believed like you guys did, we'd just
go crazy? They don't have a proper understanding
of how the love of Christ constrains. They don't understand. They don't
understand. And look at verse 14. It says,
blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against
us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of His way, nailing
it to His cross. The word blotting out there means
to obliterate. to obliterate, to whitewash,
blotting out, to obliterate the handwriting of ordinances that
was against us. Oh, that's good news for sinners. Oh, that's
good news for this sinner. I'm telling you. This is one
of my favorite portions of Scripture right there, these two verses. These verses here tell me that
He has prevailed over all my sins. All of it. Beloved, He hath prevailed. He
prevailed over all my sin. He prevailed over the wrath and
justice of God as He satisfied it. He satisfied it. The wages
of sin is death. Christ, our substitute, dies
for us. Sinless, perfect, spotless. What a Savior. What a Savior. All the demands of God's justice
and wrath are satisfied in Him. Satisfied in His sacrifice. He
shall see the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied. God is satisfied. He's raised,
I've said it many times, He's raised for our justification.
Why? Because God is satisfied. And
we were raised in Him. What a Savior. What a redeemer. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge, shall my righteous
servant justify. Many, there's that word again. How do people think Christ died
for all when the scriptures keep saying many? Because they don't know the God
of the Bible. But Christ said, I lay down my
life for the sheep. Aren't you thankful, you who
are saved, that you're one of his sheep? Why? Because that means he died for
you. Oh, my. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Isaiah 53, 11. Satisfied. He hath prevailed. Christ hath
prevailed. The Hebrew word for satisfied,
found in Isaiah 53, 11, the Hebrew word for satisfied means this,
to fill, to satisfaction. You can't add anything to it.
It is finished means it's finished. There is nothing to be added.
Christ hath redeemed us from our sins. Oh, may we rest. May we rest
in the precious truth that God is satisfied with the sacrifice
of Christ. That the Lord Jesus Christ has
prevailed over sin. And He has prevailed and satisfied
the wrath and justice of God in our place. It is finished. The last point I'd like to look
at is Christ has prevailed over death. He has prevailed over
death. Turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians,
and I'm going to read a few portions from Acts 3. A little portion
from Acts 3 and Acts 13 if you want to write down the references.
The Lord Jesus Christ hath prevailed over death. Acts 3, verses 13-15
says this, The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, and
the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son, whom ye delivered
up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined
to let him go. But ye denied the Holy One, and
the just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed
the prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof
we are witnesses." God raised him from the dead. He prevailed
over death. In Acts 13, verses 28 to 30 says
this, And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired
they Pilate that he should be slain. Remember the crowd, they
demanded that Christ be slain. And it's all by the determined
foreknowledge and counsel of God. We know that. When they
had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from
the tree and laid him in the septacre. But God raised him
from the dead. God raised him from the dead.
Again, Christ hath prevailed over death. He hath prevailed. The lion of the tribe of Judah
hath prevailed. That's why you can take that
book. Because He prevailed. He hath
prevailed. Turn if you will to 1 Corinthians
again, chapter 15. This will be the last portion
I'll have you turn to. 1 Corinthians 15, verses 12 to
22. Now if Christ be preached that
He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is
no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection
of the dead, then is Christ not risen? And if Christ be not risen,
then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain? Yea,
and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified
of God, that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up, if so
be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then
is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain. Ye are yet in your sins. See,
if Christ hasn't risen, then we're still in our sins. then they also which are fallen
asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have
hope in Christ, we are all men most miserable. But, look at
this in verse, there's a but. All those buts in the scriptures
when God has put in. But now is Christ risen from
the dead. He is. He's risen. And become
the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came
death, By man came the resurrection of the dead. So by man came death.
When Adam fell, we all were plunged into sin. But look at this. But by man, being Christ, came
also the resurrection of the dead. All who were in Adam died. All who are in Christ shall live
everlastingly. For as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive. And that's speaking of
all who are in Christ, all His sheep, the many. And He will
not lose one of them, beloved. Not one. Not one. All. All who trust in Him. All who
believe in Him. All who rest in the Lord Jesus
Christ and Him alone. Rejoice, beloved of God. If you're
saved, rejoice. Rejoice. Rejoice, because the
Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed. He hath prevailed. He hath prevailed over princes
and principalities, right? All seen and unseen, he prevailed
over them all. All of them. He's prevailed. He's prevailed over you and I, who believe, just like He did
with that thief. And if He hadn't prevailed over
us, we'd still be dead in our trespasses and sins. But He had
mercy upon His people. So number two, He has prevailed
over us. He prevailed over the whole world.
everything that the law demanded and it stands before us and we
are guilty. He prevailed over the whole law
for his people in our place. Number four, he's prevailed over
sin. He prevailed over all our sin.
He made an end of our sin. Oh, my. He's prevailed over the
wrath and justice of God. Number five. He hath prevailed
over death. And we are risen in him. Oh, my. Rejoice, beloved. The Lion of the tribe of Judah
hath prevailed. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. O Lord Jesus, we are in awe of
your majestic power. We are in awe that you have prevailed. We who are sinners, we who are
saved by your grace, your loving kindness drew us
to you. We pray that you would use this
message to draw your lost sheep to Thee, we pray. May we think
upon this this week when trouble comes or just the natural things
of life. Sometimes we get down. May we
remember this. The Lion of the tribe of Judah
hath prevailed. You hath prevailed, Lord Jesus.
Oh, may we just marvel in this. We love Thee and we praise You.
In Jesus' name, Amen.