Tag: Victory

I am seated next to the exalted Lord Jesus Christ

“5 Even when we were dead in trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:5-6

Before we became believers in Jesus, the Bible describes our spiritual condition as being “dead [separated from God] in trespasses and sins,” controlled by “the course of this world,” under the authority of “the prince of the power of the air,” and driven by “the lusts of our flesh” (2:1-3). Today let’s focus on being under the authority of Satan and his world system.

Before Jesus Christ, we were under the power of the devil. He directed our thoughts and our lives through the voices of unsaved family, friends, the media, the government, the educational system, the economy, and the laws of the land. When we listen to these voices of Satan they will draw us in a direction that will destroy us. Voices that say, “It’s just pictures on a computer or a magazine. It doesn’t hurt anybody.” Or “You can’t be complete or fulfilled if you don’t have a man or woman.” Satan’s voice says, “Whatever it takes to get what you want, you do it.” This voice says, “You can’t forgive that. What he or she did to you is too terrible to possibly forgive.” And we could go on and on. These voices lead us down a path that results in defeat and destruction. So before we were saved, we were dead in our sins and under the power of the devil. But when we come to Christ, we are now under a new Power and Authority.

The first two words of verse 4 are the most powerful words in all the book of Ephesians: “But God…” Would you circle those two words? Since we were dead in our sins, separated from the Lord, God breaks in to help! We need to be reminded of “God, who is rich in mercy” and “love” (2:4). “My life is spinning out of control”… BUT GOD. “I feel like I have to do drugs or have sex in order to be liked”… BUT GOD. “My parents cannot get along”…BUT GOD. “I have no hope” …BUT GOD.

God’s grace has made all the difference in our lives when we come to Christ. I once was dead in my sins, but God “made us alive together with Christ” (2:5a). Why? Because “by grace you have been saved” (2:5b). Grace which I could never deserve or earn has made me alive with Christ. According to verse 6, where are you seated? “And raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (2:6). We are now seated next to Christ in the heavenly places. When God the Father looks to His right and sees His Son seated in a place of power, He sees you sitting there with Him.

What happened to Jesus 2,000 years ago happened to you when you believed in Christ for salvation. And where is Jesus seated in relation to the devil according to Ephes. 1:20-21? God the Father “raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion,” including the devil. So Jesus is seated “far above” Satan. So if you are seated with Jesus, guess where you sit today in relation to the devil? Far above him. In God’s eyes, you are now seated in a position of power and victory over all the opponents of God.

Satan cannot really get to us unless we let him. There is safety and power in the heavenly places. We need to go up high where God is located so the Enemy cannot get to us. We do this through prayer and abiding in the truth of God’s Word. God wants you to know that in Christ, you are a winner, not a loser.

Whenever you change your position you change your perspective. When you look at your life while seated next to Jesus in the heavenly places, things that looked chaotic and confusing down here on earth, suddenly take an orderly shape, like the way fields and houses do when you are looking at them from a mountaintop. This is one reason why I love to hike in the mountains. God gives me a new perspective up there. The Lord is saying that if we want to experience victory over sin and Satan, we need to start living life from our new vantage point.

I am reminded of a joke about a thief who had been watching a family for several days in a residential area. He observed each evening that this family failed to lock their back sliding glass door at night. So one night, after the family went to bed and turned off their lights, this thief sneaks up to the back sliding glass door. With a flashlight in one hand, the thief slowly opens the back door with the other hand and starts shining his flashlight in the kitchen. Suddenly he hears a strange voice say, “Jesus is watching.” The thief is spooked and drops his flashlight on the kitchen floor. As he scrambles to pick up his flashlight, again he hears this strange voice say, “Jesus is watching.” Finally the thief picks up his flashlight and shines it in the direction of the voice and sees a parrot in a cage. With a sigh of relief he says, “Oh, it’s just a talking bird.” The parrot then looks down to another corner of the kitchen and says, “Jesus is watching.” The thief then shines his flashlight towards that corner of the room and sees a huge, ferocious Rottweiler dog. Immediately, the parrot commands the dog, “Attack him, Jesus!”

When Satan comes knocking at the your door of your heart, you can say to the Lord Jesus Christ, “Attack him, Jesus!” and then slam the door in Satan’s face. Why? Because in Christ, you are seated next to the most Powerful Person in the universe! In Christ, you are a winner, not a loser. Before you were saved, you looked up to Satan in fear, but now, seated next to Jesus, you are able to look down at the devil with confidence knowing that you are on the winning side. Take a moment and look in a mirror and say to yourself, “In Christ, I am a winner, not a loser.” The more you see yourself as a winner in Christ, the more you will act like a winner for Him and ignore the voices of the devil.

Prayer: O Lord God, thank You for being rich in mercy and love towards me even when I was dead in my sins and living in rebellion against You. Thank You for making me alive in Christ the moment I believed in Him for the gift of salvation. Thank You for showering me with Your grace when You seated me in the heavenly places next to the exalted Lord Jesus Christ far above all Your enemies, including the devil and his demonic armies. Although I used to look up to Satan in fear, I can now look down on him with confidence knowing that I am seated in a position of authority and power next to Jesus far above the devil and all his armies. I pray Your Holy Spirit will apply this amazing truth to my life so that I will see myself as a winner in Christ and ignore the lies of the devil. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

How can I experience victory in my Christian life?

“For if by one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness wil reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:17

As Paul transitions from his section about justification before God by faith alone in Christ alone (1:16-5:11) to his section on sanctification or growing in the Christian life (6:1-8:39), he contrasts two Adams (5:12-21). See the above chart for more contrasts. The First Adam brought sin and death into the world through his one act of disobedience in the Garden (5:12, 15, 17-19), whereas the Last Adam, Jesus Christ, brought justification and life (to all who believe in Him) through His one act of obedience on the Cross (5:18). Through the Last Adam, what once reigned over us – sin and death (5:12-14, 17a, 21a) – is now reigned over by grace in life through Jesus Christ (5:17b, 21b). 

Grace is much more than a doctrine or theology. Grace is a Person. Grace came to us through the Person of Jesus Christ (John 1:14, 17) and He now lives inside every believer (Galatians 2:20). When we believed in the Person of Jesus Christ, He gave us eternal life and His righteousness as a gift, and seated us next to Him at the right of God the Father in the heavenly places (John 3:16; Romans 5:17; Ephesians 2:5-6). He saved us from the penalty of sin so we can now reign over sin and death through His righteousness to eternal life which indwells us (Romans 5:21). 

We might compare this to the game of checkers. When playing checkers, if you make the right moves which get you to the other side of the board, you get crowned as a king. But if you don’t make the right moves, you will be removed from the board and experience defeat. What Romans 5:12-21 is telling us is if we make the right moves in our Christian lives, we will reign over what once reigned over us – sin and death! This is possible now because the One who conquered sin and death now lives in us. His righteousness has been given to us as a gift the moment we believed in Him. And as we understand and believe this, and act upon it, Christ will empower us to make the right moves so we will rule over sin and death and experience victory in our Christian lives! But if we don’t make the right moves in our Christian lives, we will experience defeat.

Someone may say, “Why do I still keep making the wrong moves in my Christian life?” One reason is because Satan has deceived you into thinking that sin and death still reigns over you. That nothing has changed in your life since you believed in Jesus for His gift of eternal life. But nothing could be farther from the truth! The truth is Jesus Christ now lives inside of you! The truth is Jesus Christ has already won the victory for you! He now wants you to live from victory, not for victory! 

In Romans 13:14 Paul writes, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provisions for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” Every day, we have a choice to put on Jesus Christ Who fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Law or to put on our old sinful self. When we put on the Lord Jesus Christ, we become more sensitive to sin. For example, when you put on a beautiful new white shirt, you become more sensitive about getting it dirty. You will tend to avoid dirty places and things because you want to preserve the whiteness of that new shirt. But if you put on blue jeans and an old worn out shirt, you are not so sensitive about getting them dirty. 

What God is telling us in the book of Romans is that if we will put on the Lord Jesus Christ every morning, we will become more sensitive to sin. Instead of letting sin and death reign over us, we will begin to reign over them as we put on the Lord Jesus Christ Whose grace empowers us to live victoriously for Him. Putting on the Lord Jesus is a mindset that God wants us to have (Romans 8:5-7). We can put on our old sinful self or we can put on the Lord Jesus Christ. One leads to sin and death and the other to life and victory.