Victory is Ours!

"Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love?

Does it mean he no longer loves us

if we have trouble or calamity,

or are persecuted, 

or hungry,

or destitute,

or in danger,

or threatened with death?

No, despite all these things, 

overwhelming victory is ours through Christ,

who loved us."

Romans 8: 35, 37 NLT

Death is all around me.  The collapse of a 20+ year marriage.  The ruin of a young person's faith in God.  The passing away of respect for elders.  The turning of a believer away from the Truth.  The loss of hope once grasped so firm.y but which now seems so feeble.  All of these deaths overwhelm me.  Thankfully, there is a reason for optimism.

Victory is already mine through the astounding plan of salvation carried out through Jesus' death on the cross.  God has already fought all these battles and won, but I am failing to claim the victory!  As Oswald Chambers said, "The Cross is the point where God and sinful man merge with a crash and the way to life is opened--but the crash is on the heart of God."  He paid the awful price, making possible what was once impossible: Living life to the full.

Through Christ's death, I can now claim victory.

Separation

As an Army wife, I know a little something about living apart from the one I love.  When my husband was on active duty, he would spend months at a time deployed to some far off, dangerous place while I stayed at home taking care of the family.  

The first time he left when our marriage was only months old, I thought I would not survive!  It was as if a part of me was ripped away and I was expected to continue living as if nothing was missing.  My heart yearned for him!  I was bleeding from the wound.

This is how it is with me and God.  I need Him.  I was made for Him. I am incomplete without Him.  As the psalmist sang, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God." (Psalm 42:1)  


The problem is, no matter how much I want to be close to Him, I am separated from Him by a vast chasm created by my sin.  I cannot get to My Love!


God, in His infinite foresight and mercy, made a way for me to traverse the canyon of sin and get to my God.  That bridge was erected when Jesus, being God in the flesh and as such carried no sin of His own, took my transgressions upon Himself, bearing the punishment that was meant for me, the offender.  


God's just nature requires the punishment of death and separation from His holiness for my failure to perfectly adhere to His law.  But His grace was manifested in the sacrifice of His Only Son on the cross, repairing my relationship to the Father and making a way for me to live eternally.  


Through Christ's death, I can now claim victory from the separation between me and God.  

Condemnation

Disapproval comes so naturally to me as a human.  I can easily see the faults of others. In the interest of fairness, though, I must point out that I am not alone in this proclivity.  Consequently, it is not surprising that I often fall victim to the criticism of others. It is human nature for each one of us to put ourselves in the position of judge and jury.


Radio talk show host and Bible teacher Steve Brown puts it this way: "It's worth noting that Jesus didn't condemn bad people.  He condemned "stiff" people.  We condemn the bad ones and affirm the stiff ones."  I am stiff when I fail to see my own sin and only notice others' failings.


Jesus Christ set us free from condemnation of any kind, either that which is dished out or that which is received. But more importantly, He saved us from the right and just condemnation of God. The Apostle Paul teaches in Romans 8:1-3 the following: 


 "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering." 


The blame I deserve for failing to perfectly adhere to God's law no longer falls upon my shoulders, resulting in my death.  Instead, I can enjoy life free from the weight of the penalty my sins deserve through faith in Jesus Christ.


Since I am so freely forgiven, how can I then turn and condemn others as wrong?  Jesus did not condemn.  If I truly accept the forgiveness He offers me for my transgressions, then I can put the sins of others into His hands as well.


Jesus said it best when He proclaimed, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."  (John 3:16-17)


Through Christ's death, I am saved and can now claim victory over condemnation of any kind.

Death

One of the most moving moments of the crucifixion was when Jesus uttered the words, "It is finished."    (John 19:30)  The terrible price had been paid.  His blood had been shed.   Our salvation from the penalty of death had been secured. 

I need not fear the death of my physical body anymore because that is not the end of my existence.  Death now becomes a transition from one reality to another;  from earth to heaven, from physical to spiritual, from momentary to eternal.  

Nineteenth Century Evangelist D.L. Moody is known to have said, "Some day you will read in the papers that D.L Moody of East Northfield is dead.  Don't you believe a word of it!  At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now; I shall have gone up higher, that is all, out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal--a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint; a body fashioned like unto His glorious body." 

As one who has been saved by the grace of God that is found in Jesus Christ, I can celebrate that, "Death has been swallowed up in victory. . . The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God!  He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:54, 56-57)

Through Christ's death, I can now claim victory over death!

The death of Jesus Christ secured victory over my separation from a holy God that sin requires, the condemnation that my sin deserves and I so easily dish out, and the worry of the inevitable; death.  Through faith in Jesus, I can live as a conqueror!

As I begin this day it is my prayer that I can remember all that Jesus' death accomplished. 

How do I live as though I'm not forgiven?

When do I keep God at a distance even though Jesus' death made it possible for me to draw near to Him?