Turn this morning in your Bibles
to the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 2. My children love sports, and
I suppose they came by it honestly. But I remember my son Luke's
first baseball experience. And all these little guys were
on a team called the Colonels, as in lieutenants and generals
and colonels. And the very first meeting they
had, All of the people in charge emphasized this one thing. Now,
kids, we're not going to keep score. There's not going to be
any winners or any losers, with emphasis on that losers part.
And every time they practiced, they'd start with, OK, now remember,
we're not keeping score. We're not going to have any losers
or winners, we're just going to have a good time. So the first
game rolled around and they played the game and it was over and
I put Luke in the back seat and we're driving home and I look
in the rear view mirror and say, well, did you have a good time?
I said, did you really have a good time? He said, oh yeah, I went
three for four and we killed them 14 to two. While we ought to protect our
children from certain age-inappropriate things, it is most unwise to even so
much as mislead our children. It is far worse, in fact, it
is ungodly and potentially catastrophic not to tell them the truth about
who and what they are by nature. and who and what we are by nature. The ever-so-subtle but deadly
lie that was being taught to those little bitty kids, and
the point of my illustration is, they were being told there
is no such thing as a winner or a loser. Kids know the difference between
a lie and the truth. They'll find out sooner or later,
and let's hope it's sooner than when it's too late. You see,
we are all by nature complete losers. That guy on TV who lost the 450
pounds is far from the biggest loser. That would be me. And that would be you, because
we are descendants of a man named Adam who was the biggest loser. And he was our father and our
representative. We come by losing honestly. You
see, when Adam ate of the fruit, he rebelled. When he disobeyed
He made himself, and us in him, losers. Adam started a war that
he could not win. Do you know before the first
drop of that fruit, he took that fruit and he bit into it, and
before the first drop of that fruit hit the back of Adam's
throat, the war was over. Adam lost. He became a loser. You say, well,
what did he lose? It's a long list. God still lives
eternal in the heavens, and Adam lost spiritual life. He died.
He died. God is still seated on his throne,
and Adam lost the garden. He had to get out. God retains
his all-seeing eye. He sees and knows and understands
everything. Adam became spiritually blind.
He lost his sight. God knows everything, and Adam
and us, we became spiritually ignorant. And we can go on and
on and on, but the truth is, we became losers. When we became
sinners, we became losers. You say, well, war is a mighty
strong word. Adam declared war. Well, let
me see if I can make good on that, just from your own experience. Are your children competitive?
Are you? Well, what is with all of the
games, the competitive games that men and women and even children
play? I tell you what, if I went to
the back back here and said, I got a big basket of candy for
some child this morning, there would be a stampede to the back
door to be the first one there. All of the wars that men start
and fight. We are engaged still as the descendants
of Adam in a war that has long been over. Look with me at Luke
chapter 10. This was an interesting revelation
to me to see this in Luke chapter 10. How long was it between when
Adam rebelled and he lost the war? It is not recorded in the Word.
But there is recorded one other rebellion against God. And that
is when Satan and a third of the angels rebelled against God. And how long did that rebellion
last? Have you got Luke chapter 10,
verse 18? Our Lord was teaching His disciples, and the Lord said
unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning falling from heaven. The way I hear that, it says,
our Lord Jesus Christ said, I was there when Satan and those angels
went, we'll be like the Most High God. And you know what he
saw? That war lasted this long. Have
you ever stood and a storm's coming and all of a sudden you see that light Passed through
the air that lightning, that's how long that war lasted. If you blinked your eye, you
missed it. Let me tell you, Satan and his angels have powers you
and I never even dreamed of. And that's how long it took God
to dispense with him and a third of the angels. When Adam said,
I'll be like God, It didn't even take the blink
of an eye or a stroke of lightning. It was over. Adam lost. And yet, this is what's amazing,
men fight on. We fight on. We continue to rebel
against an almighty and holy God. The word fool is too kind
a word to describe man by nature. We try to teach our children,
don't we, don't be a sore loser. We know what a sore loser is,
don't we? He's the guy that strikes out and then fumes into the dugout
and takes his bat and breaks it over his feet and takes a
water cooler and throws it across the dugout and cups fly everywhere
and he stomps around. Y'all remember that guy, Lou
Piniella, who was manager of the Reds for a while? I remember
watching him one game. An umpire made a call and he
didn't agree with it. He rushed out there and he's
arguing with the referee and the umpire. We know how this
is going to end, right? And he just goes on and on and
the veins are popping out in his neck and the spittle starts
coming out of his mouth and running down his chin. And the first
drop of spit that hits that umpire, the umpire goes, you're out of
here! He lost, didn't he? It was over. We knew it was coming.
So, he turns and politely walks back to the dugout, right? Oh,
no! He backs up and he starts kicking
dirt on the umpire's feet and then he goes out and he pulls
first base up and hurls it in the outfield. Boy, he showed
him, didn't he? What was he still fighting about?
It was over. Now, I know some of the commentators
say, well, you know, he's just, he's counting on getting the
next call. You know, that umpire next time, he'll call it lose
way, maybe, or next game, next season. Folks, it was over in Adam. There's
not another season. There's not another war. There's
not even another battle. It's over. It's over. Adam rebelled, and God triumphs
completely, utterly, absolutely, and finally. It's over. We're not just losers. We're
not just sore losers. We are dead, dumb, deaf, blind,
complete losers. Our sin has made us that way. And our only hope is to give
it up, to quit, to fight. But by nature, we won't. We refuse. We refuse. All you've got to
do is have children who know the truth of this. You correct
them. You correct them. And they do
it again. And you correct them. And they do it again. And you
correct them. And it never ends, does it? It
doesn't end. Our children and us, we need
to know the difference between these two things. Losing. Victory. Defeat. Triumph. Disaster. Life. Death. Salvation. Condemnation. Now, if you like this list, you
just keep on fighting. If you like that list, that's
where it ends. Just keep on fighting. But the end of that, you know what
it will be? Most likely it will be that you and your children
and your children's children to the fourth generation will
follow you all the way to eternal, eternal suffering. Now, if anybody
here wants to surrender, to acknowledge your loserhood, to admit our
sinnerhood, there is a different way. when the Lord Jesus Christ
said, I am the way, what he meant was, I'm the way of life. I'm the way of triumph. I'm the
way of victory. I'm the way of salvation. That
way is in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's what he meant when he said,
I'm the way, the truth and the life. Now, have you got 2 Corinthians
chapter 2? Here is some amazing, wonderful
news. Our pastor preached in the second
part of this verse some weeks ago, and when he read the whole
verse, I thought, man, I might want to preach on that first
part of that first verse. And, you know, going out the
door, Todd said, you know, I'm going to be in the islands in
a couple of weeks. He said, can you take the message? And I thought,
maybe that's the message I should bring. And here is that good
news. 2 Corinthians 2, look at verse
14, the first half of this verse. Now thanks be unto God, which
always causes us to triumph in Christ. Somebody triumphs here? You just
got through telling us what losers we were. Somebody triumphs here? Yeah, do you see who it is? Two
letters, it's us. There's an us who triumphs. Who
is the us? We'll turn to Romans 8, just
back a few pages to Romans chapter 8, and let's see in the Scriptures
who is the us. You see, by nature, we love this
warfare, these battles, these conflicts. Nobody here ever taught
your children that the way to get your way is to just wear
back and slug your sister. Nobody ever taught that, did
they? No, but they sure somehow learn it, don't they? Because
it's coming from inside. It's what we are by nature. We
like the warfare. You see, all this hitting and
You know, hitting with the tongue and the fist and all this stuff.
It's training. Training for the war. It's practice. Why do men steal? You know what
they're doing? They're accumulating goods. The
means to go to war. We're going to need them later
when the real battle starts. Why is it that men curse so much? It's frustration, but it's also
getting psyched up for the battle, for the war. See these guys playing
football and they make a big hit and really crush somebody.
They get up and go, you know, what are they doing? It's all part of the war. Why
do men use the Lord's name in vain so much? When they curse,
they don't just curse. They use God or Jesus Christ
as part of the cursing. It's because it's him they despise
that we despise by nature as our enemy. Man is by nature such
a mad dog warrior. He'll kill anyone if he can get
away with it. But why through the ages have
men killed believers in particular? It's because by nature, man hates
God. He's at war with God, but can't
get at him. That man can get at the children
of God. His people. You know what their
name is? Us. Us. Have you got Romans 8? Look
at verse 37. It says, Nay, in all things,
all these things, we are more than conquerors. We're the conquerors? Yes, somebody triumph. And it
says, We are more than conquerors through him that loved who? Us. Us. And Paul says, I'm persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, none of these things
that men will do to believers, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, height, nor depth, nor
any other creature, shall be able to separate who? Us! From
the love of God. And where is that? In Christ
Jesus, our Lord. That's who the us is, the children
of God. Turn back to Romans 8, verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, us. The them is us. And look
over to verse 28 and you see it continues. And we know that
all things work together for good to them, that's the us,
that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
God calls out his people from among us warfaring, hateful losers. He calls a people out of them. Verse 29, For whom he did foreknow,
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. He's going
to have many children just like Christ. How did it get that way?
He calls them, he predestinated them, and finally he calls them,
and then he puts them in Christ. And that makes them just like
Christ. Moreover, verse 30, whom he did predestinate, them he
also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom
he justified, he also glorified. So should God's people live in
fear and be terrified of the enemies of God? Here's the answer
in verse 31. What should we say, then, to
these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Let him
rail, let him curse, let him fight, let him steal, let him
take, let him hate. That can't do anything to us.
Why? We're in Christ. And we already
saw how long that battle will last, right? Our Protector, our Father, is
the One who won the war before it began. Turn with me to Job
chapter 20. I assume you noticed the word
always in our text. I'll read it to you again in
case you didn't. Now, thanks be unto God, which always causes
us to triumph in Christ. Always? Always? You say, well,
you know, it doesn't seem like every day I'm always triumphing. I'm taking quite a few hits here.
Things aren't always going your way. Evil men do a lot of bad things
to believers. But always here does not mean
on every earthly occasion that we triumph. But with regard to
these small perceived victories of the wicked, take heart in
this verse of Scripture. Verse 4 of Job 20 says, ìKnowest
thou not this of old, since man was placed upon the earth, ever
since Adam fell? that the triumphing of the wicked,
and they do triumph in these small things day to day, but
it says it is short. And the joy of the hypocrite
is just going to last a minute. And though His Excellency, what
he thinks of himself, mounts up to the heavens and his head
reaches into the clouds, he has a big head, yet he shall perish
forever like his own dung. They which have seen him shall
say, Where is he? We understand there's a time
coming when all these people who seem to have it over us,
who seem to, they just get away with everything. Whether it's
to us or to others or whatever, we do understand there's a day
coming when we'll go, where are they? Where did they all go?
They'll be made his footstool. They'll be gone. They'll be gone. So when it says that we always
Christ, it doesn't mean in every piddling little thing. These
are just speed bumps along the road. And the proof of that is that
you remember when Daniel, that group of evil men, got together
and said, we're going to get Daniel. And they created a situation
where he did what they thought, and the king had to throw him
in the lion's den, right? Throw him down in there with
those hungry lions. And they thought, we got it now.
We're coming back in the morning and Daniel is going to be in
the belly of the lions. And the next morning they get
there and the king removes the cover and God gave those lions
lockjaw. And he reached down and pulls
Daniel out and throws those fellows in the lion's den and they perish
in the belly of the lion to be seen no more. Haman builds a
gallows. to hang Mordecai on. What happens? The way of the wicked gets turned
upside down and God has the king turn and say, take Haman and
hang him on that galaxy built to hang Mordecai on. Aren't we
glad that Joseph didn't evaluate his eternal triumph based upon
what happened before the end came, when his brothers took
him and threw him in a pit? And then they sold him as a slave. And then he went down. And working
as a slave, he worked his way up to be the houseman. And then
the guy's wife follows. He accuses him and he's back
in prison. And he's there for years before these two guys coming
out of Pharaoh's house, the baker and something else. And they
have dreams. And he interprets the dreams
and says, now, when you guys get out of here, he said, tell the
Pharaoh about me. And they said, OK, we will. Years
go by. It doesn't sound like triumph
to me, does it you? If we interpret always that way,
we're making a mistake. It wasn't until the end when
God udged the memory of one of those men and he said, there's
a fellow down there in prison, Pharaoh, who can interpret your
dream. And now Joseph is the king of Egypt. That's how it
works. You see, turn to Psalm 41. Psalm 41. Always in our text
doesn't mean on every earthly occasion. It means ever after. And these little losses and defeats
of the everyday kind are just what you do about nothing. What
does it profit a man if he gained the whole world and loses his
soul? But in Psalm 41, verse 11, we
read, By this I know that the Lord favors me. If we want to
know... You see, the us are those who
are predestinated, chosen, called, put in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That us. They're favored of God. They're
loved of God. Here in the psalm, David writes,
by this I know I'm favored of God. You see what it is in verse
11? Because my enemy does not triumph over me. You say, well,
yeah, but this stuff happens every day. Notice this is not
plural, it's singular. The enemy that David's talking
about and the only one that really matters is our sin. That's the
one. If that triumphs over us, we're
losers. We're gone. We're done. There
is no hope and no help. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15. When and how did this victory,
this triumph over sin occur? It occurred in the life and death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I know you've heard this
so many times, but we must believe this, must enter into the truth
of this. Being in Christ is believing
what I'm getting ready to tell you, which is we're rebels, we're
losers, we're mad dogs. And we need to be changed into
us, into the children of God. How does that happen? Well, the
Lord Jesus Christ came and lived a perfect life. He never once
sinned. He never once was a loser. He
said they crucified him. That wasn't losing, that was
winning for him. He lived this perfect life. And
you know what? Then he was taken and accused
and tried and found guilty and murdered at Calvary. That sounds
like losing. That's what he came to do. That's
winning. And then what he did was us losers and him the winner. He changed places with us. He
changed. He said, I'll be them and they'll
be me. That's the change, but it's a
mystery until God reveals it to us. We're as blind as everybody
else. We don't see it. We don't understand
it. We don't err into it. Oh, but look in verse 51 of 1
Corinthians 15. The word says, Behold, I show
you a mystery. Now we shall not all sleep, but
we shall all be changed. Who's all? Us. In a moment, in
the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. For the trumpet shall
sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we
shall be changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption. and this mortal must put on immortality.
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. And we will say, O death, where
is your sting? O grave, where is the victory? The sting of
death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. Thanks be
unto God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the victory. And how do
God's people become part of the triumph? Well, there are some
odd words. Look back at our text just a
minute. And when I first read this, I thought, this doesn't
make any sense to me. And then I thought a little more about
it. You see in our text where it says, verse 14, now, thanks
be unto God which always causes us to triumph in Christ. That
word causes, when I looked it up, you know what it is? It's
the same word as triumph. And when I read it that way,
I went, thanks be unto God which always triumphs us to triumph
in Christ. So that doesn't make any sense.
Oh, yeah, it does. Yeah, it does. It makes a lot
of sense. You see, unless God triumphs
over us, he overcomes us. The battle is over. The war is
over. We just haven't got enough sense to know it. God must come
and overcome us and say, I'm going to have the triumph over
you personally, because you're one of us. And He does that. He overcomes us. He absolutely
overcomes us. And when He does, you say, how
does He do that? He sends the Holy Spirit And
he says, enough, enough, surrender, give it up, give it up. You say,
you mean we can actually learn that, be taught that? Oh, yeah. I remember, I think it was a
sophomore in high school, and I was on the wrestling team,
and I'd been wrestling since the seventh grade, and I was pretty
good, or at least thought I was. And I hadn't lost a match all
year. But I was wrestling this week this guy who was a senior,
who the year before had been the district champ and the regional
champ. And I thought, he's going to
kill me. But my coach said, you can win this thing. You can win
this. I'm going to show you a new move. A new move. And of course, it was an old
move, but I didn't know that. But he showed it to me and it
was new to me. And he said, this guy's never
seen this. He said, you do this and you
can win. You do this move. So the match
came and I did the move. And I killed the guy, two to
one. Two to one? Yeah, I really did a lot, didn't
I? But it was just the move. I give that illustration for
this purpose. We come into this world and we fight. We fight. We just don't want to give it
up. We resist what our parents tell us. We kick against everything. We rebel. We fight on. And it's
futile. It doesn't get us anywhere. It's
just frustrating and awful. And it goes on and on and on
and on and on. And then one day, by God's grace, what happens
to the us? He sends his spirit and he says,
enough. I have a move and you're going
to make it. And you know what the new move
is? Bow down. It is a move totally unnatural,
totally against our nature and our will, and yet we do it. Why? Thanks be unto God, who
always triumphs us, that we may triumph in Christ. The way unto
Christ is not up, it is down. Bow down. We must bow down before
him. And that's the victory in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let me close with this illustration.
We all know Geraldine. Geraldine comes in on a wheelchair. She's very faithful, I'm sure,
because it's slick out. She's not able to be here this
morning. But a couple of weeks ago, she had on this real pretty
royal blue blouse and I patted her on the shoulder and told
her how pretty that was. And I looked down and she had
on these boots, the kind that had the fur in them. And I said,
man, I bet those are toasty. And she looked up and smiled
and she said, well, she said, you know, I've lost most of the
feeling in my feet. And she said, I really can't
feel them very much, but it's really good just knowing I have
them on. I thought that's a really good
illustration with regard to this. Day to day, hour by hour, it
doesn't seem much like triumph, does it? It doesn't feel much
like that, does it? But I tell you what, if we can
enter into the truth of this scripture, it will give us a
comfort. Even though we don't feel it,
it's just good knowing this truth is in the scriptures. And therefore,
we can thank God. Thanks be unto God which causeth
us always to triumph in Christ.