People are pressed down by this old world system. The world’s economies are skidding down into a gigantic depression. People are under extreme pressure, some even going crazy, killing their families and themselves. They are losing their jobs, their homes, cars, their lives as they know it.
In lieu of all this, Christ’s words ring with the crystal clarity of truth: “In the world, you shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
But here is a newsflash: We shall overcome also! But how do we overcome the world and all of its tribulation, trouble, and anguish?
The First Overcoming
The first overcoming, which leads to all of the overcomings, or victories in Christ, is the victory over sin in our lives. It is a direct victory of the power of the devil in our lives, for “he that commits sin is of the devil.” But to get rid of sin in our lives was the “purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (I John 3: 8).
How is this done? “They overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony” (Rev. 12: 11). Our victory over the evil comes through these two things.
Many talk a good Christian ballgame, but few deliver through the lives that they lead. Many claim to follow Christ, yet they still do secret sins, which emanate from the dark recesses of an unregenerated heart–a heart that is old and carnal–a heart that has not climbed Calvary’s hill to submit to the death of the cross along with Christ.
By the Blood of Christ the Sacrificial Lamb
He is the sin sacrifice–the “Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” He takes away the sin of the world. When He gets through, we don’t have it anymore. But we must identify our old sinful heart with Him that day of the Lamb’s death some 2,000 years ago. This is how the Lamb’s blood cleanses us. When it drained out of Him, the life and energy and power of sin died out. When His blood was all spilled out, then the lifeforce of sin in us drained out as well. This is how we overcame the devil. It is from this cleansing of sin through the death of our old nature, of our old spirit, of our old heart.
Yet, sadly, chances are very slim that you will hear this in today’s church houses and Sunday schools. It is “too strong, too harsh.” It is not politically correct and is a sure fire way for the hired preacher to lose his pastorship. But the old preachers of past centuries taught these very things I have shared here. John Wesley taught it, yet you won’t hear this in a modern Methodist church. Martin Luther taught it, but today’s Lutherans won’t hear it in church. Spurgeon taught it, but most Baptists won’t hear this stark message in their churches.
But this is how we repent from sin. The very first apostles’ doctrine was “repentance from dead works.” Sin, the breaking of the 10 Commandments, is a “dead work,” for it leads to death. And getting rid of sin in our lives is the very cornerstone in the sure foundation Christ talked about. Without this start in Christ, the foundation is shaky, and the house will fall when the devil winds blow. Kenneth Wayne Hancock
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Immortality Road 