I feel like that I have so little
breath this morning. And when the allergies come,
I don't know whether they're the worst or the cure is the
worst. But if the Lord would give us some breath, I'd like to talk to you this
morning about the victory. I don't know if you noticed there
in Psalm 98, which we read, if you could see the reason why that the Scriptures say that
praise, glory, And every instrument is to sound
the praise of the Lord. He said it's because his right
hand hath gotten him the victory. And when you think about it,
in our day, it seems like that most that passes for preaching is some kind of version of what
some have called the victorious Christian life. The emphasis seems to be on trying
to teach people how to live victoriously, how to get the victory over sin,
how to have victory in your home, how to have victory in your job
and your life. But true gospel preaching is about the victorious Christ. and not only about the victorious
Christ, but also the victory that he gives to his people. Turn first with me, if you would,
to 1 Corinthians, and that fifteenth chapter, 1 Corinthians, chapter
15, and look down beginning in verse 54. Paul sums everything up here
that has to do with the Lord's people, and in verse 54 he says,
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and
this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through
Jesus Christ the Lord. But thanks be to God who gives
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, what the victory
is, is something that is given by God to His people. It is the gift of His grace. But the question is, how is this
victory given? When is this victory accomplished? And for that, I want you to turn
with me over to Colossians and the second chapter, and look
with me at some verses in Colossians 2. Beginning in verse 8, Paul writes
to the church at Colossae. He says in Colossians 2 and verse
8, Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain
deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the
world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him which is
the head of all principality and power in whom also ye are
circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting
off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of
Christ, buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with
him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised
him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins,
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together
with him, having forgiven you all trespasses? blotting out
the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His
cross. And having spalled principalities
and powers, He made a show of them openly triumphing over them
in it." Triumphing over them in it. And that it is His cross. Now, when you go back and you
look at the references for that word cross in the Gospel, almost every time it speaks of
that piece of wood upon which Christ was crucified. But when you come to the epistles,
it is a different story. And I suppose that to the natural
eye, to our natural minds, just as it was with his enemies at
that time, that event seems to be his greatest defeat. But in the New Testament, in
all of the references in the epistles, in most cases where
you find this word cross, It does not refer to this piece
of wood, but rather to the death of the cross. Men can by the natural eye see
a picture of a man hanging on a wooden cross. But God must
reveal to us and show to us and give us understanding to know
something about the death of the cross. To see what His cross
was all about. And that is why the gospel is
the gospel of His cross death. It is the gospel of Christ crucified. Listen to Paul in 1 Corinthians
1. He says, For Christ sent me not
to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words,
lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
or unto us which are being saved, it is the power of God." In other
words, men and women are much more prone to wear a cross and
to hold it in superstition than they are to believe the gospel
of the cross. Paul, again, writing to the Philippians,
he said this. He says that Christ humbled himself
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. In other words, the death of
the cross was not just an ordinary death. The death of the cross
was not simply a man dying on a piece of wood, because he follows
that with these words. He says, Wherefore, or because
of that, God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a
name, which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things
under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And so far from sounding like
a defeat, and so far from being pictured, as religion does for
the most part, as a terrible defeat, Christ's death on this
cross is shown to be the greatest victory. As a matter of fact, it is the
victory. And he sums it up in those words
in verses 14 and 15, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances
that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out
of the way, nailing it to his cross. How can it be said that he did
these things, nailing it to his cross. It is because he himself
was nailed to that cross. And he is, as the Scriptures
say, in his own body bearing the sins of his people. And Paul goes on saying, and
having spoiled principalities and powers He made a show of
them openly triumphing over them in it." You see, triumphing there
means to conquer. It means to get a victory over. And Paul writes, especially to
these Colossian believers, Because some who are described as being
enemies of the cross, because they who were described
as being enemies of the cross, they sought to put them in defeat
and bondage again, requiring of them things from which they
had been delivered completely. And not only that, but keeping
them from things which they had been given fully. That is always the way that the
enemy works against the people of God. He seeks to put them
under bondage to things that Christ has delivered them completely
from, and he seeks to withhold from them the blessings that
have been freely given unto them in Christ. And he says here that
they were no longer subject to the power and the dominion and
the philosophies and the traditions or the judgments of men, especially
these religious people. Because that's what it always
is about, men desiring to control men and women. People wanting
to be able to exercise a power over you, to hold you by their
philosophies and their ideas and their teachings, and to keep
us from the liberty which is in Christ Jesus. And the way
he sums all of this up is simply this. He says, all who are in
Christ they are lacking nothing. Look back up at verse 8. He says, Beware lest any man
spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition
of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily." There is no more of God to be had other
than that which is manifested bodily in Christ. Look at that
next statement. He says, "...and you are complete
in Him." And you are lacking nothing,
and you have everything that could be desired, everything
that is needed, everything that is to be received of God, everything
that there is to know about God. You have everything in Him. Now, when I was looking at this,
There are words, quite a number of words, that are used not only
here in this passage, but elsewhere in the Scriptures that are kind
of military words. Look back at verse 8. He says,
Beware or take care not to let any man spoil you. That's a military word. It means
to plunder. And so what he's saying, as a
conqueror does, when he conquers a place or a city, he goes in
and he plunders, he takes away the things that belong to the
citizens of that place. And Paul is saying, beware, don't
let anybody through any means plunder from you that which you
have been given in Christ. But compare that to what he says
down in verse 15. He says, don't let anybody, anything,
any philosophy, any notion, anything of this world, spoil you or plunder
you of these things, because Christ, He already has spoiled principalities
and powers. He already has triumphed over
them in His cross, in His death. And because He has already plundered
them. They don't have anything to give. They don't have anything to offer.
They don't have any power over you. They don't have any authority
or dominion over you in any way. You take care not to let those
that have already been plundered by Christ take from you that which he has
freely given you in himself." That's marvelous. You see, the
believer's union with Christ is such that his triumph and
his victory is theirs. I like to read on that occasion
when David stood out before all of the camp of Israel. And he
stood before Goliath. He not only did this at another
time before Israel with the Philistines, but he did this before Goliath. And he altogether by himself
wrought this great victory. But here was the terms of the
engagement. Goliath said, this is the deal. I'll stand out before the Philistine
people, and you can stand up as the head or the representative
of the Israelites, and if I conquer you, then they will be our servants,
and if you conquer me, then we will be your servants." And what happened? You see, just as it was that
Israel was partaker in the victory that David wrought by himself,
so are all of God's elect. They are participants and recipients
of everything that Christ accomplished in His death by Himself. Look back at verse 11. He says, "...in whom also you
are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands in putting
off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of
Christ." In other words, their perfection, their holiness, their
righteousness, and their claim to being the people of God is
in Christ, and their circumcision is spiritual, it is of the heart,
and it is by the Spirit of God because they are in Christ. Look at verse 12, "...buried
with him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with him through
the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from
the dead." That is, the believer along with all his sins was buried
with Christ. And by virtue of that death and
that burial, all their sins are put away and made an end of,
and they are risen to this new life in Christ just as their
baptism pictures. He said, you're not dead. You're
not dead to be held lifelessly in bondage. He said, when Christ
died, you were in Him, and you died to your sins, you died to
every connection with Adam, you died to that old man, you died
to that old life, and you're risen with Christ. You're not
even a part of that world which is so easily held in bondage
by the devil. Then he says in verse 13, And
you, being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your
flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you
all trespasses. He says that believers being
made alive in Christ and together with Christ, and quickened by
His Spirit, He has forgiven you all trespasses." You ever stop and think about
what that means? He has forgiven you all trespasses. Well, preacher, I don't know
what I might do tomorrow. Neither do I. And I pray for
grace. I pray for strength. I pray for
His restraining hand to keep me from what I would be otherwise. But that doesn't change that. He has forgiven you all trespasses. And that means all trespasses
past, all trespasses present, all trespasses future, all trespasses
of all kinds, all trespasses of every degree. Now, I know how we are. We have
such a misguided natural sense of sin. And it comes from such a terribly
misguided sense and sight of God that we imagine, and sometimes
it haunts us all our days, we imagine That though God might
have forgiven us this sin and that sin and all our trespasses
in a general sense, but there is that one thing in our mind,
that one thing in our life, that one awful, terrible, that one
unforgivable thing that we did. But the truth of the matter is,
that what we might consider to be the least of our sins in the
sight of a holy God is such that it alone would be enough to separate
us from Him forever and to cast us into eternal torment, ages
without end. Because there is no big sin and
little sin with God. And the reason being, as somebody
said, the reason for that is because there's no little God
to sin against. And you see, that's the victory.
That He has forgiven us of all our trespasses. Can that be? Every wicked thought Every moment
of unbelief, every vile act, every horrible word, thought,
deed, he said, all trespasses. That's the victory. You see,
he says it in verse 14 like this, blotting out. blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross. That is, the
law, whether it was written by the hand of God as it was to
the Israelites in the tablets of stone, or whether it was written
in the conscience as it was the Gentiles, and was never meant
to be a means by which to earn God's favor, but a testimony
to our own sinfulness. He said he blotted it out. Somebody said, well, you've got
to live by this. No, life was never gotten through
the law. Life was never improved by the
law. All that the law could ever do
would be like a searchlight to shine upon us and expose us for
what we are. And rather now than being brought
back to it for sanctification or being brought back to it as
a rule of life, he said he's blotted it all out. He said it was just contrary
to us. And he has blotted out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us. and took it out of the way."
That word, blotted it out, means to obliterate and wipe away and
erase. How? By nailing it to His cross. All it could do is curse us.
And Paul said to the Galatians, Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. being made a curse for us, for
it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. Cursed is every one that hangeth
on a tree. And all the separation and all
that sin did in dividing us from God, making that breach that
required us being reconciled to God. He reconciled in His
own body, through the cross, all of His people. The everlasting covenant is made
sure by the blood of His cross. We are said to be made nigh by
the blood of His cross. We are said to be justified by
the blood of His cross. To enter into the holiest by
the blood of His cross. Because He triumphs. Because
He got the victory by Himself. But when Paul writes, if you
look back in that 15th verse, he reminds us of something that
I'm afraid almost on a daily basis we fail to remember. He said Christ, in that cross
death, He triumphed. over all principalities and powers. As a matter of fact, in verse
15, when it says, triumphing over them in it, there are some
who give that as meaning triumphing over them in himself or by himself. Which is it? It's the same. The same if we say that he triumphed
over all these powers and principalities which are nothing less than all
his enemies and all the enemies of his people, the devil and
his angels and whatever other powers of darkness there might
be that we don't know about and obviously don't need to know
about, or He would have told us, but He told us this, that
by Himself and in His cross, He triumphed over everyone. Everyone. I've heard preachers, and I know
that all they're doing is trying to scare people into something. But they preach more about the
devil than they do about Christ. He's a mighty devil. He sure
is. He's stronger than we are. He
sure is. But Paul says here that Christ, in his humanity, as a man dying
on that cross, he triumphed over him. As a matter of fact, the Bible
pictures the devil as being on a chain. You know who's got the other
end of that chain? The Lord Jesus Christ. When he came to tempt Job, he
told the Lord, Job only serves you for what he gets out of.
All I'd have to do is just touch him and put the pressure on him,
and he'd curse you and die. And the Lord said, well, just
go right ahead. You can do this, you can do that, you can do the
other thing, but you can't touch his life. He triumphed. He got the victory. I'm not to live to try to get
the victory. You see that? I'm to live this
life based on the victory that Christ has already accomplished.
I'm not to live in fear, nor to serve Him for reward, or to
serve Him in fear of a threat. I'm to serve Him. I'm to be obedient to Him. I'm
to seek to live for His glory, because He already has given
us the victory. the victory. The prophet said he's tread the
winepress of the wrath of God by himself alone. And the one in whom we're complete,
the one in whom we're in union with, The one who by God-given
faith we trust in, he's the head of all principality and power. He is the absolute sovereign. Look back in chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1 and verse
12. The Apostle says, giving thanks
unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in life. Why do we give thanks to
the Father? Because He's made us fit. That's what that means, meet.
He's made us fit. We're not fit of ourselves. We
could never achieve this fit. But He has made us meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath
delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated
us into the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption
through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, For by him
were all things created that are in heaven and that are in
earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by him
and for him, and he is before all things, And by him all things
consist. And he is the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have the preeminence. He has the preeminence in all
things because He won the victory. And all His people are given,
freely given, all the victory. Because He rules and reigns over
all powers and principalities. Because He has all the preeminence
and He makes sure they do. He is the victory. Not only that, but because of his victorious
and triumphant death of the cross, he causes his gospel to be a victorious gospel. He sends it forth. And it will accomplish just exactly
what he would have it to accomplish, which is to make his people,
each one of them, aware of his victory. Paul says, Now thanks be unto
God, who always causes us to triumph,
in Christ, and makes manifest the savor
of His knowledge by us in every place." In other words, you can count
on this. If Christ wrought this great victory for
you, I don't care who you are. I don't
care where you are. I don't care what you are. I don't care what you've done.
You can make sure He will also be victorious in getting you. He has gotten Himself the victory. But the victory is not only for
himself, it's for all his people. His mighty right hand, who's
that? That's Christ, has gotten him
the victory. But it's not just for him. It's
for all his people in him. And therefore, in Christ, in
the victor himself, We have victory over sin, victory over the law,
victory over death, hell, the grave, the body of this death,
and every foe of His people. And that's why we can only glory
in the cross. What men see as humanly appears
the greatest failure, the greatest defeat. And that's why Jesus
on a cross as a picture or a statue or whatever is nothing but a
picture defeat. But Jesus on a throne. You see, when they pushed in
his head the crown of thorns, they were putting on his head
the crown of glory. He's the victor. When a general in history, would be victorious. Maybe the king or the emperor
or whatever governing body had sent him out, if he was victorious, they would
give him a triumph. And they would put him in a golden
chariot or a fine ornate chariot or something. I read where one
general was pulled in his trompe into a city by an elephant, some
by lions. Just the most spectacular. And they would have going before
Him all His captives, going along in shackles and chains and such
as that. And they would have following Him all His army, all
their spoils. And that's the picture here.
Christ in His death triumphed. And when he was received back
into heaven, it was with the most glorious,
eternal, and spiritual fanfare. Lift up your heads, oh ye gates.
Who's coming in? The King of Glory. He led captivity captive. He's
got all his foes. He didn't lose a one of them.
these, Father, that you've given me." And his victory is theirs. I can promise you this. I tried
this. You'll never get any victory
on your own. The best I can tell, I'm just
as mean, have just as bad thoughts, just all as ever I did. Sometimes I think worse. I've never achieved any victory
like that. But He did. He did. He gives us the victory. What kind of victory? You just
name it. That's the only way we'll ever
have it, is by His gift. Our Father this day in our weakness, always we're weak. Sometimes it's just more apparent
than others. But in our weakness, may your strength be manifest
to reveal the glorious Lord Jesus Christ to us and in us, that this might be a message
of glad tidings and good news, that you have given unto us the
victory, total, complete victory, with all its falls, in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Help us, we pray. Give us faith. Give us thankful hearts. And give us grace that we might
live and speak and do all that we do for His glory. For we pray in Christ's name,
Amen.