Victory in Christ (Hardback)

Chapter One

"Is your kind of Christianity worth sending to the non-Christian world?"

That was the rather uncomfortable question which one speaker after another confronted his listeners with at a student missionary convention I was attending.

There's no question that Christianity is worth sending; but what about the kind shown by your life or my life this morning, yesterday, last week, last year? Is that what the non-Christian world waits for? Would it revolutionize their lives?

Just as the only kind of salvation worth having is what Jesus offers, so the only kind of Christianity worth living and sharing is the kind Jesus Himself lives, moment by moment-the kind He has always lived through the lives of those who allow Him to.

Paralysis or Power?

In John's Gospel we learn about a certain man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years when Jesus asked if he wanted to be made whole. The man heard Jesus say, "Rise and walk," and at once he was healed and could step forward in wholeness.

This passage means a great deal to me, particularly because of a coincidence of detail with my own experience. It took me thirty-eight years to understand the kind of power Christ offers us for victory over sin. I was a boy of thirteen when I first made public confession of Jesus Christ as my Savior, but I continued as a spiritual invalid for another twenty-five years, longing to be made whole, until at age thirty-eight I heard the Lord telling me to "rise and walk."

I'm convinced that many sincere, born-again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are in similar bondage. Their spiritual life is an up-and-down experience-winning one day, failing the next, confessing sins, then trying again. They linger in miserable discouragement and defeat instead of striding forward in newness of life.

The reason? They mistakenly think, as I did, that we are to do what only God can do. They haven't become fully aware of our Lord's wonderful offer.

What Jesus Offers

Jesus offers to set us free not only from the penalty of our sin, but also from its power. Each of these two gifts is just as great a miracle as the other; each is just as exclusively the Lord's work; and each is offered on the same terms: We accept only by letting Him do it all, as an outright gift.

Every Christian has accepted the first offer. But many have failed to accept the second. Why?

Because they assume, as I did, that they themselves must overcome sin's power. They believe their own effort and will and determination-with Christ's help, of course-is the way to victory. As long as they mistakenly believe this, they're as doomed to defeat as they would be to eternal death if their salvation depended on their own efforts.

Christ's offer to us here and now is immediate and complete freedom from the power of known sin. That's what Paul meant when he said (in Romans 8:2), "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death."

As we put ourselves unreservedly and completely under Christ's mastery, keeping us from sin's power becomes fully His responsibility, even His duty (I say it reverently). He pledges Himself to do this: "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace" (Romans 6:14).

Don't misunderstand me; I'm not speaking of any mistaken idea of sinless perfection. It isn't possible for anyone to have a transaction with Christ that enables him to say either "I'm without sin" or "I can never sin again." Rather, the miracle of our victory over sin's power is made possible by our Lord's continual supply of grace. Jesus says, "My grace is sufficient for you" (2 Corinthians 12:9)-we don't have to ask Him to make it sufficient; He simply assures us that it's already so.

In this miraculous way, as you depend on the Holy Spirit's work, victory is yours in Christ-and you can rejoice in it.

No Thought About Door-Slamming

A friend of mine, a veteran missionary, once told me how he and some fellow missionaries in a foreign field were discussing how their daily lives were missing the characteristic vitality of the early Christians described in the New Testament. They didn't know why this was so; they only knew they longed for something they didn't have.

They agreed to go away and meet together for prayer-for days, if necessary-and lay the whole matter before God and ask Him to supply their lack. As they did this, God took them at their word. My friend came back a new man, claiming Christ in His fullness as his victory.

Later he explained this experience to another missionary, a high-spirited, high-tempered young woman. God enabled her as well to see and claim the truth by faith.

A few months later she wrote my veteran missionary friend a letter about the continuing result. "I was afraid it would not last," she wrote. "But it has lasted, and oh, it is so wonderful!" To illustrate, she mentioned the native helpers who "used to get on my nerves so," and she reported, "Do you know that not only for three months have I not once slammed the door in the face of one of these ... but I haven't even wanted to!"

Now, to keep from slamming doors in people's faces is no miracle. Any ordinary, unsaved person who's halfway decent can do it by setting his teeth, using his will, and keeping his hands behind his back. But to go for three months without once wanting to-without once feeling the angry surge of irritation or temper that makes you want to release it in some outward, uncontrolled way-doesn't your heart tell you that this indeed would be a miracle?

Surrender and Faith

What are the conditions for this victorious life?

Only two, and they are very simple: surrender and faith. Or, as many like to express it, "Let go, and let God."

Some Christians haven't surrendered unconditionally to the mastery of Jesus Christ. They have, as James McConkey puts it, surrendered their sins to Christ, but not their wills. Every habit of your life, every ambition, every hope, every loved one, every possession, and yourself-He must have all these if He's to make Himself not only your Savior but your life.

Perhaps you made this surrender long ago, and have been wondering why you didn't have the victory you longed for. The reason is that while there's no victory without surrender, there may be surrender without victory. If we've "let go" but haven't yet "let God," we're sure to be defeated ... until by faith we depend on the fact that the work of victory is wholly and exclusively God's.

The miracle of victory over sin's power is sustained and continued in our lives only through moment-by-moment faith in our Savior for His moment-by-moment provision. And He Himself will give us that faith, and continue it within us moment by moment.

Take Him at His Word

Our Lord has been waiting for you not to pray for victory, but to praise Him for it-to simply take Him at His word and say, "I thank You, Lord." Will you not accept His offer of immediate and complete freedom from the power of your known sins, on the same terms, and do it now? Then you can be assured that Christ's kind of Christianity is yours as well.

If there's anything in your life this moment that you know you've been withholding from the Lord, won't you surrender it to Him now? Tell Him you now turn over to Him, for time and eternity, all that you have and all that you are, for His complete mastery and use and disposal.

Then exercise your faith. Claim the whole blessed miracle of the victorious life now, by speaking the following sentence prayerfully and thoughtfully, realizing the tremendous meaning of the words, and in your heart praising God that they're true: "I know Jesus is meeting all my needs now, because His grace is sufficient for me."

(Continues...)