The California Collection/TheCaliforniaCollection.cdr/his101/morethan.arj/MORETHAN.TXT

Text File | 1991-05-05 | 13KB | 213 lines

More Than Conquerors

"In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us."
Rom. 8:37

Calvary means that Christ not only bore on that Tree your sins, but that He
carried to the Tree the sinner - carried you there. When you come to the point
of recognizing that God does not patch up the old life, but calls upon you to
reckon it crucified, and to take from Him a new one, you will find that the
new life has in it all the characteristics which belong to it. The old Adam-
life has its own characteristics and the new Adam-life has its own.

It is necessary to repeat this message of the Cross again and again, for the
truth only lays hold of us "line upon line" until at last it grips us, and
effectually works in us who believe.

Moreover, to that Cross of Calvary, Christ, as the Representative Man, not
only carried the sinner, but on that Cross and through the death of the Cross
He utterly conquered Satan (Col. 2:15). There is therefore no need on the part
of a Christian for a trace of fear of Satan. Satan is an absolutely conquered
foe to the soul who knows:

The Victory of Calvary.

Fear hath torment. The finished work of Calvary ends the fear of death
(Heb.2:14&15), and fear of the prince of death.

On the Cross Christ took away your sins, so that you might have the blotting
out of them through His Blood, when all the wicked spirits of Satan cannot
bring them up to you, and throw them at you. God himself has blotted them out,
saying, "Their iniquities will I remember no more" (Heb.8:1 2). That is
salvation from the guilt and penalty of sin. But it is vitally important you
understand that when God blots out sin, He blots out on the condition that you
part with sin. God cannot blot out what you will not part with.

When you know that your sins are blotted out, and you are really begotten of
God by the importation of a new life, there are three aspects of the life of
victory through the Cross that You need to understand.

1. Victory over Sin. - The sinner saved through the death of Christ has a
right to break with sin. He can say, in the Name of the Conquering Jesus, "No
sin has a right to master me" -e.g., you may say, as you stand on Rom. 6, "No
doubtful habit has a right to me. I absolutely refuse, in the Name of the One
Who died for me, to be in bondage to it." As a redeemed soul you have a right
to say this, because on the Cross the work has been done for you, and you are
to lay hold of all that Christ has obtained for you and appropriate it (Rom.
6:13). Victory over sin in this way is not any glory to you, for it is not
gained through your human will, nor your human power, but through the finished
work of Christ on the Cross. He obtained the forgiveness of sins for you; He
obtained the victory for you over sin and death.

The lonely Cross, think of it! See there the Lamb! As Moody said, "God
conquered the lion of hell with a slain Lamb!" And there it was done. Oh, that
the Church of Christ would rise up in the Name of Jesus Christ her Redeemer,
and refuse to be in bondage to sin, or to Satan. The Church should rise up in
The name of Christ, declaring that all the works of the devil against her (I
John 3:8) can be destroyed, because Christ was manifested to destroy them.

Let us get hold of the fact of the Calvary victory, and of the truth that
Satan is a conquered foe. Christ conquered him at Calvary. When you stand on
Rom. 6, reckoning the old life crucified, your spirit becomes joined to Christ
- "joined to the Lord, one spirit)!" You are not going out against a great and
terrible spirit-foe alone. Your spirit "joined to the Lord" is "one spirit"
with Him. Christ is the Conqueror, and you are joined in one Spirit with the
Conqueror.

It is not that God gives you victory by yourself. He gives you victory by your
being joined in spirit to the Victor. "Greater is He that is in you than He
that is in the world" (1 John 4:4). Then are we going to cower and tremble
before the enemy, when we are joined to the Conqueror, joined to the Victor -
joined in one spirit? But you do not know that "joining" until you come to
Calvary, and you stand steadily on the fact of the old Adam-life crucified
with Christ, because the "old life" gets in the way, and is liable to do some
"fighting" which is of no avail against the foe, but rather gives him ground
and power over you. Therefore, the old Adam-life must be reckoned crucified,
because it is material for Satan, and if the old life is not kept in the
position of death every moment, it is the material Satan puts his "fiery
darts" in. Satan has full rights over all the old creation, He knows that part
of the old life in you which is not "crucified." and he directs all his fiery
darts to that spot. These darts have a bit of fire from the Pit (James 3:6) at
their tip, and when they get into you they burn and blaze, and make you
"blaze."

Whenever you see a "blaze" in a Christian you may know where it comes from. It
is from the old life "set on fire of hell."

Child of God, do you "fire up," and say things which you ought not to say! Do
you flash out unkind things, "set on fire" by Satan! This is not the "fight"
that wins, but the fight that fails every time! Do you see the importance of
Romans 6? Suppose without standing on Romans 6 you set out to take the
aggressive against Satan, how he would laugh! He would say, "Why the 'stuff'
that belongs to me is there; they have so much of my 'goods.' "You cannot bind
the "strong man," because his goods are in and about you. Therefore you must
take your stand at Calvary, reckoning the old life crucified moment by moment'
so that the fire from the pit may not fasten upon you, and set on fire the
"wheel of nature" - that nature which already has the poison of the serpent in
it through his victory over man in Eden.

There must be for this battle with the lion of hell the spirit of the Lamb -
the Lion-Lamb - the very Spirit of Jesus. It must be, when the fiery darts
come, that they find in you the Lamb-spirit, however much people may tread on
You, mistreat you and put upon you - there must not be any blaze in you, which
you call "righteous indignation!" The Calvary deliverance is needed, and the
Lamb-spirit of Calvary.

II. Victory in Suffering - This aspect of the victorious life is to be found
in Rom. 8:35-39. The Apostle says, "We are accounted as sheep for the
slaughter... In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that
loved us! More than conquerors" when we are mistreated, and when for Christ's
sake you are counted, like Christ, a lamb only fit for slaughter. "For Thy
sake... killed!" It is not nice to be considered a sheep fit for slaughter; it
is not "dignified!" There is no room for pride here. There was not much room
for "dignity" in the Lord Christ's Calvary death, When He was led along the
road with a crown of thorns upon His brow, with the blood upon His face, after
walking seven miles during the night, as He was moved from place to place -
there was not much "dignity" - there was "no beauty that we should desire
Him." It was not a "dignified" death! He was put to open shame!

With God's children, the thing which hurts them most is the thing that touches
their dignity. They do not mind being put to shame before God, but they do
mind being put to shame before men. How they blush over anything that
humiliates!  But that all dies when the believer feels that he is really
suffering with Christ. It does not say "killed" for "your own sake," but "for
Christ's sake." It does not say beaten and whipped because you have been
wrong, but beaten and whipped because you have been right! If you do well and
suffer for it, and take it patiently, this is grace; but if you do wrong and
suffer for it, and bear it patiently what thanks have you (1 Peter 2). This is
victory and being a conqueror in suffering for Christ. If you do wrong, and
suffer for it, you must not call that "suffering with Christ." "For Thy
sake... killed.., in all these things more than conquerors!" This is the
triumph of the spirit of the Lamb, in suffering "for Jesus' sake," and this is
victory over the world.

III. Victory over Satan In having victory over Satan you conquer in quite
another way. Enduring grief, suffering wrongfully, with patience and a loving
spirit is the true spirit-life of one who is joined to Christ, Be a "lamb" to
the people, be patient with them, love them, be "more than conqueror" by
showing the Spirit of the Lamb to them, but at the same time you must take an
attitude of resistance against the devil according to 1 Peter 5:8,9 and James
4:7.

There are therefore three aspects of the victorious life - (1) The aspect
towards sin, Rom. 6 "dead indeed unto sin": (2) The aspect towards the people,
"more than conquerors" when they "kill" you: and (3) the aspect to the devil,
"Resist the devil" in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Ephesians 6 depicts
this last aspect of the victorious life in resistance to the foe. When the
Lord Jesus was the "Lamb" towards men, He was a "Lion" to the devil. We are
told that He shook off from Himself the principalities and powers and put them
to open shame, and what was defeat in the eyes of men was victory in the eyes
of God. What was "shame" in the eyes of men was glory in the eyes of God.
Towards Satan and all his wicked hosts Christ was a LION - the Lion of Judah.

In Eph. 6 we see something of the spirit warfare - the Lion-life - against the
powers of darkness. Here we see the soldier, with the spirit of the soldier -
"henceforth be strong." On the human side Christ was "crucified through
weakness, but He was "strong" - stronger than the "strong man." His name is
called Strong ""When the Stronger than he shall come upon him." So Christ's
name is the "Stronger than he." He is stronger than the "Strong man," So to
the believer standing in Christ and facing Satanwards, the message is "Be
strong." You must not now talk of weakness. You may be weak in your humanity
and in yourself, but you must be "strong in the Lord."

One of the devices of the devil is to get the children of God to accept
weakness, because of the "weakness of the Cross" (II Cor. 13:3&4), but that is
the human side towards men. In the spiritual sphere the rousing word is "BE
STRONG!" On the earthly side, "l will boast of my weakness," said Paul. But in
facing the foe "Be strong!" "From heceforth be STRONG !" It does not say, "Try
to be strong." It says, "BE strong." When God says BE, He gives the power to
be. He said, "Let there BE light," and there was light! So whenever God says
to you "BE so-and-so," say "Amen, I AM so-and-so" - i.e. IT IS SO! God speaks
the word, you appropriate it, and it becomes fact as you act it. GOD does it.
So God says "Be strong!" "Let the weak say, I AM STRONG!" Why have you to say
it? Because in the spiritual realm, words create. Christ said, "He shall have
whatever he saith." In the spiritual realm there are no empty words; what you
say is what comes about. Thus you need to be careful of your words. When you
walk as a "natural man" in the earthly sphere you may say words that have
little effect, but if you walk in the spiritual sphere you will need to watch
that you do not contradict your faith by your words.

If you say "God tells me to 'BE strong.' and therefore I am strong by His
strength," then strength comes in. The devil knows the laws of the spiritual
sphere, and he whispers, "Oh, you do feel bad today!" and you say, "I am bad!"
But God says, "Be strong," then you say. "By faith in God I am strong!" Satan
whispers. "You are going to break down," and you say, "I believe I shall break
down!" and you find yourself really going "down!" This is the law in the
spiritual sphere, yet few of us understand the power of words in that sphere.
"Let the weak SAY, I am strong!"

BE STRONG! In yourself? No; "IN THE LORD." That is a position. It is not
outside the Lord, but is "in the Lord." Stand "in the Lord." Take care you
never stand anywhere else. Keep your faith set on the fact: - "I am in Christ
and Christ is in me.

I am not meeting things alone - I am personally weak, but Christ is strong. I
am powerless, but Christ is mighty. I am strong in Christ; I have His
strength. His power. "I stand in the Lord!" Not remembering their place in
Christ, and "with Christ in God," many children of God are so "weak." You
place them in an exposed position in the battle, and they run away. You hardly
dare tell them some things you have to conquer by prayer, because they get so
frightened. It is appalling that God has such a weak Church, weak in the
conflict with sin and Satan, weak in its attitude to the world, all because it
has not learned the inner message of the Cross.

"HIS MIGHT." Let us meet the lion of hell with this verse. God says, "Be
strong," and "stand" in the "strength of His might." It will take every bit of
fear away. It is "MIGHT." Exactly the same word that Paul uses in Ephesians 1
that Christ was "raised from the dead" by the "might" of God - by the
"strength of HIS MIGHT." Let us therefore go forward with God in steady hourly
Victory, until the Lord comes, and we are gathered unto Him.