The Victory

Will you visualize it? The time is perhaps 50 A.D. in one of the ancient cities of the Bible, the seaport town of Corinth. A great many people have gathered to hear a man named Paul. The LORD has not yet added Paul's words to Scripture. No one knows that He will, not even Paul. The fiery apostle begins to speak of the mysteries of godliness, reasoning from cause to effect, from the known to the unknown, using illustrations already familiar to teach what is not yet understood. The people hear and begin to understand. Conviction reveals itself on the faces of some of those gathered. Desire awakens in hearts long turned to stone. At length, acceptance flashes into the minds of a few, and new life begins to surge through the born-again, as miracles occur here and there among the congregation. Those gathered hear the words, "Thanks be to God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place." (2 Corinthians 2:14). Did he say always? Did they hear him right? The testimony of Paul is very different from anything these people have heard before. Their great men, the conservative Pharisees, who prided themselves as expositors of the sacred writings, had never spoken thus. So some have not received Paul's testimony, and to the "stony hearts" remaining, his words are most unwelcome. "Always?" they whisper maliciously. "That's full of pride! We're supposed to be humble--never boastful!"

Like the whisperers of that day, nurtured in the "humility" of failure, we too have been taught not to bear a decided testimony. The very Scriptures that speak victory have been wrested from their obvious meaning that there may be no living witness. Thanks be to God who always gives us THE VICTORY! "Let the redeemed of YAH say so...!" (Psalms 107:2).

In Christ the battle has been fought, on every point, and "the victory" has been made complete. He was made flesh itself--the same flesh and blood as those whom He came to redeem. He was made in all points like these; He was "in all points tempted like as we are." If in any "point" He had not been "like as we are," then, on that point He could not possibly have been tempted "like as we are." He was "touched with the feeling of our infirmities," because He "was in all points tempted like as we are." When He was tempted, He felt the desires and the inclinations of the flesh, precisely as we feel them when we are tempted. For "every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lusts [his own desires and inclinations of the flesh] and enticed." James 1:14. All this Jesus could experience without sin; because to be tempted is not sin. It is only "when lust hath conceived," when the desire is cherished, when the inclination is sanctioned, --only then it is that "it bringeth forth sin." And Jesus never even in a thought cherished a desire, or sanctioned an inclination, of the flesh. Thus, in such flesh as ours, He was tempted in all points as we are, and yet without a taint of sin.

And thus, by the divine power that He received through faith in God, He, in our flesh, utterly quenched every inclination of that flesh, and effectually killed at its root every desire of the flesh; and so "condemned sin in the flesh." And in so doing, He brought complete victory, and divine power to maintain it, to every soul in the world. All this He did "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." This victory, in its fullness, is free to every soul in Christ Jesus. It is received by faith in Jesus. It is accomplished and maintained by "the faith of Jesus," which He has wrought out in perfection, and has given to every believer in Him. For "this is the victory which overcometh the world, even our faith." He "abolished in His flesh the enmity [hostility]" that separated mankind from God. Eph. 2:15. In order to do this, He took the flesh, and must take the flesh, in which that hostility existed. And He "abolished in His flesh the enmity," "for to make", in order to make, "in Himself of twain," God and the estranged man, "the one new man, so making peace." He "abolished in His flesh the enmity," in order "that He might reconcile both" Jew and Gentile--that is, all mankind who are subject to that hostility--"unto God, in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity in Himself." Eph. 2:16, margin. "The enmity" was "in Himself," by being "in His flesh."And there "in His flesh" He slew it and abolished it. And He could do this only by its being indeed "in His flesh."

Thus Jesus took upon Him the curse, in all its fullness, precisely as that curse is upon all mankind. This He did by "being made a curse for us." But "the curse causeless shall not come," and never came. The cause of the curse is sin. He was made a curse for us, because of our sins. And to meet the curse as it is upon us, He must meet sin as it is in us. Accordingly, God "hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin." And this "that we might be made the righteousness of God IN HIM." 2 Cor.5:21. And though He thus placed Himself entirely at the same great disadvantage as are all mankind,--made in all points like us and so, "in all points tempted like as we are," --yet not a single tendency or inclination of the flesh was ever allowed the slightest recognition, even in thought; but every one of them was effectually killed at the root by the power of God, which, through divine faith, He brought to humanity. And thus, "as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also HIMSELF LIKEWISE took part of THE SAME; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted." Heb. 2:14-18. And this victory which Christ wrought out in human flesh, is brought by the Holy Spirit to the rescue of everyone in human flesh who today believes in Jesus, the Christ. For by the Holy Spirit the very presence of Christ Himself comes to the believer; for it is His constant desire to "grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God." Eph.3:16-19.

Thus the deliverance from the guilt of sin and from the power of sin, which holds the believer in triumph over all the desires, the tendencies and inclinations, of his sinful flesh, through the power of the Spirit of God, --this is wrought today by the personal presence of Christ Jesus IN HUMAN FLESH in the believer, precisely as it was wrought by the personal presence of Christ in human flesh over nineteen hundred years ago. Christ is ever the same-- "the same yesterday, and today, and forever." The gospel of Christ is ever the same-- yesterday, today, and forever. The gospel of Christ today is the same that it was when He walked this planet in the flesh. Then it was "God manifest in the flesh;" and today it is the same-- "God manifest in the" same flesh, the flesh of sinful men, human flesh, just as human nature is. That gospel is "Christ in you, the hope of glory," --Christ in you just as you are, sins, sinfulness, and all; for He gave Himself for our sins, and for our sinfulness. And you, just as you are, Christ has bought, and God "hath made accepted" in Him. He has received you just as you are; and the gospel, "Christ in you, the hope of glory," brings you under the reign of the grace of God, and, through the Spirit of God, makes you so subject to the power of Christ and of God that "the fruit of the Spirit" appears in you, instead of "the works of the flesh." This is THE VICTORY in you.

Thus every soul in this world can truly say, in the perfect triumph of Christian faith, "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me;and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who lovedme, and gave Himself for me." Every soul in this world can say, in all truth and allsincerity, "I am crucified with Christ." It is but the acceptance of a fact, the acceptance of a thing that is already done; for this word is the statement of a fact. It is a fact that JesusChrist was crucified. And when He was crucified, we also were crucified; for He was oneof us. And so it is written: "Knowing this, that our old man IS CRUCIFIED WITH HIM,that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." My oldsinful human nature is crucified with Him, that this body of sin might be destroyed, thathenceforth I should not serve sin. Romans 6: 6. Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Always bearing about in my body the dying of the Lord Jesus, --the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, for I am crucified with Him, --that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in my body. For I who live am always delivered unto death, for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in my mortal flesh. 2 Cor. 4:10,11. And therefore the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.

In this blessed fact of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, which was accomplished for every human soul, there is not only laid the foundation of faith for every soul, but in it there is given the gift of faith TO every soul. And thus the cross of Christ is not only the wisdom of God displayed from God to us, but it is the very power of God manifested to deliver us from all sin, and bring us to God --always causing us to triumph in Christ Jesus!

O sinner, brother, sister, believe it. Oh, receive it! Receive THE VICTORY --even the "faith of Jesus". Surrender to this mighty truth. Say it, say it in full assurance of faith, and say it forever. "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God,who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20. "Now thanks be to God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ..." (2 Cor. 2:14). ". . . and this is THE VICTORY that overcometh the world, even our faith."(1 John 5:4). [Adapted from the works of Pastor A. T. Jones.]

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