Nothing Less Than Victory

Just yesterday, in between times of preparing for today, I went down to North Way Mall to look for a new shirt. What do you think? These are hard to get on. You know that. But I couldn't believe the number of people that were lined up to sit in the Easter Bunny's la. What? Pastor Fred said he didn't think I'd seen him there. Lined up to see the Easter bunny, but I did. There was, as normal, the fluff that goes with Easter. And you know, I want to set you at ease right now. This is not going to be a sermon today against all the trappings of Easter. I like hard boiled eggs. I like bunnies for the most part. I like baskets. I like to get dressed up once in a while. So do you all look just so good today. This is terrific. And you know who we're dressing up for? We're dressed up today to give God our very best. Is that right? I mean, it's nice that someone else says you look nice today, but I just want to be my best for God. Don't you today? Because you know what he's dressed in those lovely and precious white robes of righteousness and the glory and the radiance comes from that throne that one day we're going to see church. And so we're dressed up and we're here to celebrate. And anytime we have a reason to celebrate, we do it up. That reminds me too. By the way, does anyone have a birthday today? Is anyone's birthday on Easter. Ron Carlson, God bless you. Let's give Ron a hand today. That's great. Happy birthday, Ron. I just pray another one over here. A little one. Aw, terrific. Happy birthday, Ron. I hope this doesn't happen to you. I don't think you're in jeopardy of this yet, but this is in the paper yesterday. Ethel Simpkins, 170th birthday party. 107th birthday party was such a hot item, it brought the fire department to her nursing home after the candles on her cake set off the alarm. It was unbelievable, said the battalion chief. I've been here over 33 years and that's the first time I've ever seen anything like that. Now, we do have some elders that are in danger of tripping that off, but I think Ron's okay for a while. No, no, I didn't say it. No. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, First Corinthians 15. You do have a Bible, I trust. But if you don't today, if for some reason you don't look over on someone's Bible next to you. And if that's difficult, tap the person in front of you and say, pass your Bible back. Alright, we want everyone to see a Bible. The word of God, first. Corinthians 15:51. Lo, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable. And we shall be changed. You see, there's the hope, beloved, it's not just for Jesus. For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable and this mortal nature must put on immortality. For when the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Hallelujah. This is the word of God for us today as we come to celebrate the Easter victory. But as I speak to you this morning, now it's past the Easter celebration in Europe and so on, but yet our brethren on the west coast and then those over on the other side of the international date line, they've already had their celebration, right? Aren't we a day behind like South Korea and so on. All around the world people are celebrating. And yet all around the world today, beloved, there's conflict. There are people today who are facing violence and war and conflict. Nearly a thousand people will die somewhere in the deserts of Africa today of starvation. What we know is that Iraq and Iran are going to continue to kill each other until one of those nations is obliterated. We know that Nicaragua and El Salvador and Central America, all of Central America is going to continue to ferment in conflict. We know that all around us, thousands of our military people, personnel are on duty today, on guard today with lest this same conflict be escalated to the point where all of us are on the verge of annihilation. And if international violence isn't enough, we just need to read the papers to see all that's happening just around us. Walking out after worship and being mugged in the parking lot. The kind of thing that we just, we just get caught up in ourselves. How can this be happening? All the world's in conflict. Why is it you ask yourself that that's the case? Why with all of our sophistication and all of our improvements and our knowledge and the fact that we're just growing in leaps and bounds in our understanding of life, why do we still have all this conflict? Why is it that Reagan and Gorbachev will never eliminate the missiles until we send them at each other? Why is it that there's still going to be takeovers and put downs and confrontations of the network to save the Mon Valley and the Church? Why is all this going to happen, beloved? Well, the reason is that in the unseen realm, in the spiritual, which you cannot see with your eyes but is just as real as what you can touch, there has been conflict raging ever since man first fell from fellowship with God. There has been conflict, there has been tension in the universe ever since man broke fellowship with the living God. And you don't need to look any further than your own heart to see that that's true. Am I right? In your own heart, you know that there's tension today. You know, if you're at peace, if your life is flowing according to the order and provision of God. You know, it's interesting, some people say, well, this unseen business and spiritual business, don't give me that. I picked up this copy of Discover magazine which has a picture of Albert Einstein sticking his tongue out on the COVID Kind of interesting. Anyhow, I think what he's making a statement is something to all the people who think he's so wonderful. You know, he was just a man and they've got his brain in pickle juice and that kind of thing trying to figure out why he was so smart. Well, God created him that way, that's the simple answer. But nonetheless, the COVID of this magazine says what can be seen of the universe. Listen to this. Is like foam on the surface of the ocean. Think of that. Is like the snow on the mountaintops. Beyond lies the shadow universe, invisible, unknown, imaginably immense. It goes on to say, whatever that is out there, it may be 99% of everything there is. I just thought that was fascinating, a scientific journal saying that what's out there, what we don't see, may be 99% of all that there is. So don't say that. Well, this thing about the unseen, I don't know what that is and I don't believe in that. It's real. You see what's out there that we don't see in the Spirit is real. And it's that conflict that wages within us that creates the tension that we all experience. Now, if you're here today and your life is perfectly at peace and everything that you're dealing with is in order, if you're on top of everything and you have no concerns and no tension and no conflict, then God bless you. But I believe that there are some people here today who knows what it means to be in conflict, to feel things unresolved in life. And I know from being with many of you that there are many in this church today that don't have answers for everything that's happening to them. To be part of three different passings on into glory. Three deaths in the last few weeks. To be beside one whose husband was nearly taken in an automobile accident, a violent accident. To be with those who are still battling with very serious diseases. You see, there's conflict, but there's conflict of even, perhaps not so profound in nature. Maybe you're here as one that lost their job. Maybe you're here as one whose children are not communicating and talking at all. Maybe you're here as one, in fact, whose home is the real place of conflict. Anybody have a conflict in the bathroom this morning? Why is it that when you really need to be in there, something isn't right? You know, I mean, when you just got to have that hot water, how many of you had this time on a Sunday morning like this when it didn't matter what you were celebrating, you were down and out? I know if I really pressed it, I'd see hands going up. Today's that day for me. Well, conflict is just part of the way we are. Except that this beloved, we are beginning now to hear a word of the Lord in this church. A word that God is speaking to this people. And it's a word that stands in the face of the doubt and discouragement and fear that this kind of conflict can bring. And the word is church. My children, accept nothing less than victory. Hallelujah. Say that with me. Nothing less than victory. That's what God wants for his church. I find that there is about a theory that God wants us to win sometimes and to lose sometimes. And there are those that think that, well, the goal in life is to hang on until it's all over. And in the sweet, by and by, God will make it all right again. And today I want to share with you what I believe is a strong word from the Lord for this assembly that God is saying to us. Accept nothing less than victory today. Now that victory is founded in three truths that I want to share with you. Three truths. Number one. Victory is established in the person of God. This is exciting. Remember how when you were a little one, like one of these little four year olds or five year olds here, and you'd have a little buddy and you thought to yourself, my dad can whoop your dad. Remember that? How it didn't matter what the scene was, you always pictured in your mind, if it really got tough, your dad would be right there beside you and he'd whip your buddies dead. No matter what, I'm always just when I need a little bit of ego inflation. Jonathan says, daddy, show me your muscle. So I just pump this thing up. It might climb an inch or so there, but to him it looks like Mount Everest. And we couldn't imagine our dad losing the neighborhood battle. And I'm here to share with you on this Easter beloved, that our Heavenly Father will never lose a battle. Our Heavenly Father will never be defeated. We're never going to see the report. Come in off the field. God 3, his enemies 2. They're not going to win 1. God is victorious. We sang it this morning. He's our victorious king. He is the one who is victory in his very own nature. It's who he is to be victorious. There is today quite a move to discredit God. And sometimes it comes very blatantly, like something you might read in the Satanic Bible. Let me read this to you. According to the Satanic Bible, the crucifixion symbolizes. Listen to this. Pallid incompetence hanging on a tree. And the companion volume, the Satanic Ritual, says Christ is the lasting foulness of Bethlehem. The cursed Nazarene, the impotent king, the fugitive and mute God, the vile and abhorred pretender for the majesty of Satan. It's Satan, Lucifer, who rules the earth, who will send the Christian minions staggering to their doom with Christ's angels and cherubim and seraphim cowering and trembling with fear, prostrating themselves before his satanic glory. Now, beloved, probably not one of us here today would say I believe anything like that. But how far is it from believing something that obviously Antichrist in its origin to the mindset that says God is the impotent one in my affairs, I don't need to consult God for my business or for my relationships or for my decisions. How far are we from the defiance that says vile powerlessness hanging on that tree to the one who says, God can have this part of my life, but I'll rule in this part. And so we call God into discredit. We say he's not going to be victorious in the things that concern me. And the church, by and large, beloved is bought this. Why are we so passive? In a little bit today, Amy Sapple is going to share about the Crisis Pregnancy Center. But why did the church stand passive for just about 10 years before we woke up and realized that we'd forfeited our prophetic role in stopping this carnage? Why is it that we're seeing very little of the truth of God expressed over the media? How many of you watched some of the TV specials this week about Easter? Got a few honest people. How about A.D. how many watched A.D. there we go. How many watched Peter and Paul, the greatest story ever told? You know, I rejoice that the media gives us. Christmas and Easter coverage, don't you? I just respect that. It's interesting. The Wall Street Journal had an article about. I didn't bring it down here, but had an interesting article where one of their commentators said, I don't understand what's happened to religion on tv. Speaking about the fact that in all of the TV that we watch, there is a moral vacuum. I mean, the average 8 to 11 show on TV during the week, prime time and weekends has nothing to do with God at all. Every decision, every. It's all godless. We just make it based on how we're doing. I'm waiting for the day that there's a Jesus special on in September, when the ratings come out. Then we're going to know. Then we're going to know that we're influencing, that the church is cutting into society and making a difference because God is always victorious. Now there's some who would say, well, what about Calvary? Let's talk about Calvary. How can you say that? That placid incompetence hanging on a tree was a victory? If you'll bear with me for the next few minutes, I want to share with you ten steps to victory. That Calvary was. I'm just going to run through them. I didn't have time to do an outline, but maybe you want to jot them down. This is how we know Calvary is a victory. Number one, Jesus was sent by the Father to redeem man who had willfully rebelled against God's love and denied him. Adam fell. You read about it in Genesis, the third chapter. So God sent number two, his sinless and perfect son, free from the sin nature. That's why Jesus was born of a virgin beloved, so he didn't have the stain of the fallen nature of man on him. And Jesus Christ lived this life sharing perfect fellowship with God for 33 years from the time of his birth. Remember what happened right after he was born? What did Herod try to do, kill him? Who do you think inspired Herod to do that? You see, God knew that for Jesus to have victory over sin, he needed to come to the point in life where he could make the choice to stand in the face of sin. So for 33 years, number three. Satan sought to break fellowship, to have God break fellowship with Jesus. And the wilderness tells us, you know that temptation. Bow down and worship me and I'll give you all this. Remember the Garden of Gethsemane. The agony that Jesus experienced, all of it was designed by the enemy to have Jesus say, father, I can't do it anymore. And there was a conflict that raged in his own being that Satan tried to bring down that fellowship. Number four. Satan brought it to the point where he became sin for our sakes. I don't know. I was just meditating on this on Good Friday. Do you know what it meant for Jesus Christ in that garden to say, my soul is very heavy even unto death? Why was that? It was because, not because he was going to die on the cross, but because he saw that all the sin of humankind was going to be laid right on him. He saw every violent act, every abusive word, every deceptive, slanderous comment, every piercing sword right in his own body. And he said, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. He became sin for our sakes. Number five. Satan then killed him through the Jewish leaders of the day. And yet we killed him. Don't ever make the mistake of blaming the Jews. And culminated in the most intense conflict the world has ever seen. Listen, if there ever is an atomic war, it won't be the most intense conflict the world's ever seen. It was on that day. You see, the Bible tells us that the world became dark for three hours. It was on that day that such violence was taking place in the unseen that the earth quaked. There was such a conflict raging that the Bible says that a Roman atheist guard said, truly this was the son of God. Satan had him killed. But that wasn't the end of what Jesus suffered, you see, because when Satan had him killed unknowingly, he had sealed his own doom. You see, up until that time, death brought on by disobedience was the legal right of Satan. He had the right to bring death. But from this point on, you see, he had killed one that he had no right to kill. He had no right to take the life of Christ. So number six tells us Jesus died on Calvary, the final battle, never denying God's ordained purpose in his life. And Satan did everything he could. He thought he'd won the battle. He thought, it's over now. And Jesus, number seven, descended into hell. The Bible says, never stop at Calvary, beloved. Remember, the Apostles Creed says that he descended into hell. And we don't know the torment, we don't know the agony of being cut off. And by the grace of God today you'll pass from death to life, if you haven't already. Jesus suffered death, separation from God. And I just, in my own mind, I just picture the scene in hell. Michelangelo did a beautiful painting about this, that Jesus was under the torment of demons of hell, railing and raging and gleefully dancing over his body, thinking, we've done it. And number seven, is it number eight now? Number eight. The Father's love breathed life into him again. Oh, what a beautiful thing this is. Revelation 1:5 says that Jesus Christ is the firstborn of the dead. He was born again, made alive in spirit again. He was brought forth. And I can just see him lifting up. And there's some beautiful songs out. The victor is one of them that describe Jesus coming up, rising up, shedding off the demons around him, and all of hell, shuddering what's happening, and seeking to do everything in their power to bring him back down. But Peter says in Acts 2:24, death could not hold him. It was not possible for death to hold him. And so up he rose and he took the keys of death and hell in his own hands, and he burst forth, number nine, defeating Satan. Colossians 2:15 tells us, and you're right, I'm excited about this. Because this, you see, beloved, for me and for you, is the only hope that we have. And apart from Christ, there is no life. And God raised him up and seated him, number 10, at the right hand of the Father, where he rules to this day, having disarmed the principalities and powers of darkness and exposing him to public shame. Colossians 2:15 says, that's the God that we serve. That's how Calvary, which seemed to defeat, was the greatest victory of all time. And I think we ought to give God a hallelujah for that. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Now, beloved, I was just saying, Lord, this victory, oh, we only know the surface of it. You know that one day when we're in glory, we're going to look at each other and say, if I only knew this when I was down there. And I said, lord, how is your name? How is your name revealed, this victory? Remember we've been talking in our times of prayer about the names of God, revealing his character. I want to share this with you and it just blessed me. I hope it blesses you. I looked up the word for victory in Hebrew and that is the word yasha. Alright, number one, to save or deliver or to give victory. That's the root word in the Hebrew, one of the derivatives. In fact the second derivative of the Hebrew word is Yeshua, which means salvation. Yeshua is the Hebrew way of saying Jesus. So do you see that when we say Jesus we are literally saying in Hebrew victory, Victory. And I began to see what God was saying was when I gave him the name above every name, I was giving him the name victory for my people. I just began to meditate on that and realize that every time I speak that name, I'm speaking victory. Give victory. That means Yeshua. Remember on Thursday night at the Seder, Ruth Harris told us Yeshua Hamashiach. That's the Hebrew way of saying Jesus the Messiah. So Yeshua is the derivative word of Yeshua to give victory or deliverance. Isn't that exciting? God wants you to be reminded every time you say the name of Jesus that you're speaking victory. Now why am I sharing all this with you today, beloved? It's because I want you to know that the word of the Lord to the church is never accept anything less. And victory, he can do it all. Now victory comes in the nature of God, but it also is expressed in the promises of God. That's number two on your outline. Victory is expressed in the promises of God. You know, God knows how hard headed we are. Isn't that great? I appreciate his love for me that not only did he tell me about his own nature, but he gave me his word. And I want to just share a couple promises so that when I doubt, when I don't feel that God's with me in his victorious glory, I can read it in the Word and I turn to First Corinthians 15:57 and I say thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Or I flip over to 2nd Corinthians 2, verse 14. Thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in triumph and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. These are the promises of God. He gives us his word as an assurance. Now you say, well wait A minute. Now, you're saying always leads us in triumph. You're saying, I was watching TV the other day and I saw Paul getting hit by real stones. I saw Peter crucified upside down. How's that victory? How's that triumph? I saw the Christians being run out of town here and there and persecuted. How can you say, that's victory or bring it down to our life? You say, I just lost my job this week. How can you say that's a victory? Jay, I haven't talked to my wife in six weeks. How can you say that's a victory? All these things may be brewing in you. And if you're really honest, you say, look at me. How can you say I'm a believer? How can you say, look at me and look at victory? That's the third point I want to make today. Victory is experienced through the presence of God. Let me explain this to you. It isn't just that just Jesus Christ is victory in nature. It isn't just that he's given us his word. But, beloved, on this Easter Sunday, the victory of God is experienced in life through the presence of God. You see, God never promised us that we'd be free from conflict. Jesus said, in the world you shall have what, tribulation, affliction. That word is pressure, conflict. But be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world that he says his promise to us is that no matter what happens to us, he will never leave us. He will never separate himself from us. Victory is to be one with God in Christ. That's what it means to have victory. Turn to Romans 8. Would you please turn to Romans 8 and just share this with me. I read this passage at the conclusion of most all the wedding ceremonies that I do. And there is a reason for that. Because that lovely bride and that handsome groom are there thinking that it's always going to be like this. Everyone just sort of there, ooey and ahhing at us, and me so in love with you, and you being so beautiful and you're so handsome. And they're going, and I read this to them because I know it's coming six months and two years down the road. And I say, no more. Amens. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ. Shall ring around the collar or burned rolls or tribulation or distress. It doesn't say, the first persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword. You see, Paul is. He's groping for metaphors. He is trying to depict the worst thing that could happen. No, as it is written for thy sake. We were being killed all the day long Christians were dying, regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. And Paul says this, no. In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all God's creation shall ever be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's the victory Church. That will never be separated from God. Never. Not in death, not in persecution, not in famine. That is the victory. Now you say, well, what about my circumstances? Are they ever going to change? And may I just share this with you as we prepare here to conclude. As you focus on that oneness with God in Christ, as you give yourself to communing with God, you begin to move in faith victoriously over your circumstance. Why was it that Jesus could say to the fig tree, wither and it wither? How could Jesus look at the waters that were raging in the storm as he was in the boat and say, peace be still? Why was it that every circumstance that happened to him he could control? Because out of perfect communion, perfect oneness with the Father, perfect faith issued forth and he could do whatever he wanted. It's possible, let me say this. It's possible for nothing to happen to you. That isn't righteousness, peace or joy. And it comes out of perfect faith. Perfect faith comes from unity with him. How many of you are experiencing a growth in your prayer life as a result of our teaching? I've been getting reports back and people saying I'm finding my day is going more smoothly and there's more to draw on. Well, that's because you're touching God. And out of that communion comes faith. And out of that faith comes rule over our circumstances. God can do things that we just don't even imagine. I remember when we lived at our former home. One day, I think I backed our car out over one of the old little, those little three wheel things, you know, that kids ride these days. Yeah, Hot wheel or whatever they're called. And this was a little tiny one. The wheels were like that big. I backed over the axle and I looked at that thing and I was upset about, gee, why did they leave it out there and all that. And I went to one of the kids, I can't remember if it was Jonathan or David, and I said, this is ruined, look at this. And he said, well, you can fix it, Daddy. And I said, I Can't fix it. I said nobody could fix it. He looked up and said, jesus can fix it. Jesus can do anything. And you know that's the truth of God. And that little one, from perfect faith, all things are possible. And so beloved, the only real defeat in life, listen to this. Is being separated from God. Why is hell defined in theological dictionaries as separation from God? Because the truth is that in God there is life and victory. Apart from God there is only death and loss. We don't see today the fullness of what God is going to do in victory. But beloved, wherever you are, through these three steps, if you put this up again, please gals, the three steps. See that victory is already in the person of Jesus. He is our Yeshua, our victory. That he's promised you that you will overcome in all things. And finally that as you draw near to him in faith, you will experience the power to rule. In your circumstance you will know victory. It's the promise of God to us today. I began by saying you might be here as one who doesn't need this kind of life, but I have a sense that many of us do. We want to know victory. And this is the word of the Church. Accept nothing less than victory. Today let's bow our heads and pray. Lord God, the empty tomb stands today to remind us that because of what you've done, we needn't walk in defeat. We needn't walk with our head down. We needn't be drooped over and weighted down by discouragement and doubt and fear. But that you who rose victoriously from that grave did so to say to us forever and ever that yours was the victory that overcomes this world. And now we just share in that, Lord. And we would accept nothing less then that same victory in our own lives. In Jesus name, amen. Let's receive this ministry and song. Love crucified arose.