There is VICTORY IN JESUS!  Why do we not hear more teaching of this victory?

I hear preachers talking about “Repentant Sinners” almost to the point you would think we have to be saved or at least repent of our many sins every week, day, hour.

 But, the work of Jesus on the cross made a difference, we are not, cannot be in the flesh bound to sin.  Jesus changed all that!

Rom 5:19  For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous.

Rom 8:2  But the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

1John. The apostle states, on the matter of sin: 3:5 “And ye know that he was manifested

to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.” [So, the incarnation of Christ is evidence that

earthbound believers can be delivered from sin in the here and now by Christ, their

example.] 3:6 “Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen

him, neither known him.” 3:7 “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth

righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.” 3:8 “He that committeth sin is of the

devil…For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works

of the devil.” 3:9 “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.” 3:10 “In this the

children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not

righteousness is not of God.” From these scriptures it is evident that the proof of one

being in Christ is his not sinning.”

Grace, Faith, Indwelled, Family, Adopted, Child, Heirs, Priest, Kings, all of these names apply to a Christian and understood in order they are the story of a Christian.

The only way to be saved is by Grace, it is a free gift and available to All.

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  Faith is our part. Grace is offered but must become real to us accepted by us. Every thing Changes at this point.

A Christian is not a Repentant Sinner.   A Christian is “Indwelled By the Holy Spirit”, Adopted into the family of God, Adopted as Sons and Daughters, Children of God, Heirs of God, Joint heirs with Christ.  We are the temple of God indwelled by the Holy Spirit we are Priest of the Most High God with Jesus as Our High Priest. We are a Royal Priest hood and will rule with Christ in Eternity.  

Now I Call that VICTORY!!

I want to discuss a little history, a little tradition, and some Greek.

Christ started His ministry with a simple gospel.  He spoke to the people about their salvation.  But, what did He say?

Mat 4:17    Repent For the Kingdom Of heaven is at hand.

                                          OR

                     Change your mind  come near for the power of God.

When Christ began preaching, did He proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven?

 or did He call us to change our way and prepare to receive the Power of God.

This is an interesting study, It has it basis in the formation of the formal church (referring to the Church form 325 ad to 1350 ad  from Constantine to the reformation), and the fact that the church wanted to control the masses,  The development of the early Church combined ideas from many people and many sources.  The only true commentary on Scripture is Scripture, Any understanding we have of a verse MUST agree with the rest of the Bible.

Mat 4:17  απο    τοτε  ηρξατο    ο  ιησους  κηρυσσειν   και   λεγειν   μετανοειτε           ηγγικεν        γαρ    η      βασιλεία              των     ουρανων

         from   then  began         Jesus    to  herald   and    say  think differently   come near   for   the royal power     of      heaven

βασιλεία    basileia

Thayer Definition:

1) royal power, kingship, dominion, rule

1a) not to be confused with an actual kingdom but rather the right or authority to rule over a kingdom

1b) of the royal power of Jesus as the triumphant Messiah

1c) of the royal power and dignity conferred on Christians in the Messiah’s kingdom

The royal power of heaven is the power of the King of Kings, God's authority to rule over eternity.  When changed by grace, children of God,  we are heirs and joint heirs with Christ. He is the King there is only one King, Yet as heirs we have the power (βασιλεία) of  God.   When Christ said Mat 16:28  Truly I say to you, There are some standing here who shall not taste of death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.  The word βασιλεία is used that is "Coming in His Royal Power." 

 The ones saved by Grace and obeying Christ Lordship share and have that power.  This is not some distant eventual result it is a present possession.

How do you tell someone "you are a child of the king, heir to the throne of God, member of the heavenly family, Priest under the High Priest Jesus Christ. You may go directly to the Fathers side with your petitions."

Then tell them, “I am in charge and will tell you what you need to know and do for the church. I will tell you what the scripture says and how to live.” The failure to teach the truth about the Adoption of Sons and Priesthood of the believer is a choice of the leaders in the church to control people and the same grasp for power that lead to both the Reformation and the Enlightenment. 

History defends my translation. The Ideas and usurped power I have discussed did happen. The taking of power for the clergy is real. Not allowing the common person to read the scripture for themselves is history. (Any one educated enough to read it would see just what I see, Saved we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, Adopted into the family of God, Priest of the Most High God.)

The Dogma and Theology of the Church needed the Kingdom to be controlled by the Clergy, not the power of the Living God in every Christian.  

The New Testament defends my translation.  Saved, Repent, turn from the flesh, all come down to a change of mind, Stop Disobeying God and Keep His commandments. We are said to live in the Spirit, Indwelled by the Holy Spirit, Adopted as sons Heirs and joint heirs with Christ. We are called Priest and Kings. ( more correctly Priest with the Royal Power βασιλεία of the King, Jesus is the King) The "Kingdom of Heaven" is the Power of the Living God in a Church Living in the Spirit, The family of God.

Justified Innocent!    A Christian is not a Repentant Sinner.  

Now  carried on the Blood of Jesus we step out onto the mountain top!  No Condemnation but Justified Innocent in the eyes of God.

Rom 8:1  Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

The “Therefore” is all that Paul has said  always ending in only Jesus.  The “NOW”  is present today in Christian Lives.  The “No Condemnation”  is  In Christ we are Justified Innocent before God.  Think of this prayerfully.

WE HAVE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD WE ARE HIS!     And there is still more. 

Rom 8:14  For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Rom 8:15  For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"

Rom 8:16  The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,

Rom 8:17  and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Rom 8:18  For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Rom 8:28  And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Rom 8:31  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

Rom 8:32  He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

Rom 8:33  Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies;

Rom 8:34  who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If this chapter is not the mountain top of the entire bible I missed something somewhere.  In Christ, No Condemnation, Adopted children of God, Protected as God justifies and Christ intercedes for us before God.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?   Nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We Have the Power of God, we are His, All we have to do is learn to yield ME to Him.

Rom 10:9  That if you shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God hath raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.

Rom 10:10  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.   

This very familiar verse tells us How the act of being saved works. With the Heart Believes, with the Mouth Confesses.  

Our position in the family of God carries with it a Great responsibility.  The next verses are not so often read but they tell us of that responsibility.   

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a messenger? And how shall they preach, except they be sent?     Romans 10:14-15

Christ said “You must be Born again,” and as such we are new creatures in Christ.

We have a birthright responsibility to tell others the wonderful story of the Gospel. We are the Priest of this age, the Priest of Grace, to tell the world about JESUS is our Responsibility.  If they do not hear they  will not be saved, and that is an eternal loss.  WE are to live a new life dedicated to God to spread the Gospel. Paul gives us the structure for that New Life.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Romans 12:1

Finally How do we do all of this that Paul has taught us.  

Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

 Please look at this verse. present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 

living sacrifice,   In Jesus We give our all to Him, hold nothing back He is all.

holy,  That attribute of God that holdup the highest standard of right and truth.

acceptable unto God, Doing only what the commandments of God require To put Him First in Love and service.

Now look at this last point  All given to God, Pure and Holy, Keep the Commandments of God  and it is WHAT?

Super spiritual, 

Dedicated in a special way to God,

 NO IT IS ONLY  your reasonable service.

Romans 12-2 tell us how this is to be done.  Not conformed to this world, but transformed by a new mind  to do and live in that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Not special, not a super Christian, not doing more than every one else, ONLY your reasonable service.

Php 3:10 - 15  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death;  11 if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. 12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I am pressing on, if I may lay hold of that for which I also was taken hold of by Christ Jesus. 13  My brothers, I do not count myself to have taken possession, but one thing I do, forgetting the things behind and reaching forward to the things before, 14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 15  Let us therefore, as many as are perfect,{justified Innocent } be of this mind.

 What Do I Owe Jesus?   

We often speak of Tithes of 10%, and a gift to meet special needs. We may even get to Church AND Sunday school, or Prayer meeting and Bible study, some even go to evangelistic outreach.  Look at all we do for Him.

What Do I Owe Jesus?   The wealth of the universe could not pay that Debt!

He in love, stepped accost time and eternity and was born a man. Totally GOD (second person of the Trinity, existing for all eternity,  Became, Totally a man just as we are. The man had a beginning with birth and was rewarded and seated with God in heaven.)

He lived as a man, learned a trade, taught us to know Him, and paid a debt we could not pay.

He is, He must be, my all, my all in all, life and Lord, Master and FRIEND.  Lord and Master, yet wants to commune with us and be a true friend.  We owe Him ALL. 

The Question is not What Do I Owe HIM?  

The question should be, In that deepest private personal place of thought and hope,

"What would I with hold from Him” ?

This view of a Christian is beautiful, breath taking, exciting, there is victory in knowing Jesus. But, it came with a caution, Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

 

How do you make this work and not seem proud?

How do you access the power of God?

By choice I give my all to Jesus, a bondslave to serve Him.  Life is not about Me and what I want.  I give my wealth, life, position, and Faith to the savior, He is my all in all I only live to serve Him. The more I yield to Him the more His Power can flow through me.

Who am I?

A bondslave of the King.

The twenty first century Christian needs some first century Living Reality of Christian Life.  Mr. Wesley was accused of  ”experiential theology”, the educated of the day made fun of him basing any part of his “theology” on having lived it.  Yet the only way to know it is to live in Christ.   The problem in the Church today is “we are so busy we fail to stop to worship, pray, or just be still and let Him speak to us.”   To know Him is to understand His word. To know Him is to hear Him speak.  If you have studied scripture long I am sure you have read a familiar passage only to have some new truth pour over your soul and thrill you with God’s meaning. This is God speaking to you through scripture.  But, we have to listen, be quiet and listen. 

Steven Randall Eubanks ,  δουλος  

We are the temple of God Indwelled by the Holy Spirit.

Ezekiel 36:26-28 (NKJV)   compare to 2 Corinthians 6:16-18
²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
²⁷ I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
²⁸ Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.

John 14:15-17 (NKJV)
¹⁵ "If you love Me, keep My commandments.
¹⁶ And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever--
¹⁷ the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

 John 14:23 (NKJV)
²³ Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

Romans 5:4-5 (NKJV)
⁴ and perseverance, character; and character, hope.
⁵ Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Romans 8:8-9 (NKJV)
⁸ So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
⁹ But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

1 Corinthians 3:16 (NKJV)
¹⁶ Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

1 Corinthians 6:19 (NKJV)
¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

 2 Corinthians 6:16 (NKJV)
¹⁶ And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people."
¹⁷ Therefore "Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you."
¹⁸ "I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty."

Galatians 4:4-7 (NKJV)
⁴ But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
⁵ to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
⁶ And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!"
⁷ Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

 Ephesians 4:4-6 (NKJV)
⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;
⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
⁶ one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

2 Timothy 1:14 (NKJV)
¹⁴ That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

 We are adopted children of God.

John 1:12 (NKJV)
¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:

Romans 8:15-17 (NKJV)
¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."
¹⁶ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
¹⁷ and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

2 Corinthians 6:18 (NKJV)
¹⁸ "I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty."

 Galatians 3:26-29 (NKJV)
²⁶ For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
²⁷ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
²⁹ And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

 Galatians 4:4-7 (NKJV)
⁴ But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
⁵ to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
⁶ And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!"
⁷ Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Ephesians 1:5 (NKJV)
⁵ having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

1 John 3:1-3 (NKJV)
¹ Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
² Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
³ And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.