How to Live the Triumphant Life #06 in Time of Harvest Series Presented by Jamal Sankey
We have been looking in the Bible at the Triumphant Life and we’ve seen
that not only is it possible—but it is necessary. Not only is it necessary, but we
have shown that it is a difficult road. Not only is a difficult road, but here we are
going to show how we can follow that road—how we can indeed have the
Triumphant Life.
I invite you to turn with me to the book of Romans 8; and we’re looking at
how do we do it? What are the steps? The Triumphant Life; coming to Christ;
being in Christ; is not as hard as many make it out to be as far as how to do it is
concerned. The strength of our self and the strength and draw of sin because we
are not dead to self is what makes the life hard. Other than that, Jesus has made
it very clear for us. First I want to show you something in Colossians 2:6.
• Colossians 2:6 “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in
him:”
In other words the way you receive Christ, is the way that you walk in
Christ. There’s no different formula. You see, sometimes we think that the way
we come to God through repentance and confession and faith—the way that we
come to Christ is one thing, but the way that we stay in Christ is quite another.
That’s how we think.
But God is saying ‘No, as ye therefore received Him, so walk ye in Him’. In
other words, the way you come to Him is the way you stay in Him. So let’s look at
this Triumphant Life:
• Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ
Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”
Being ‘in Christ’, being in Him, is the key of the Triumphant Life. The key
of living a holy, blameless, unblemished life is being in Christ. It says it so in 2
Corinthians 5:17.
• 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old
things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
Now when you are in Christ, what’s the condition? You are new; totally,
completely transformed. So as a barometer, as a way to gauge your Christian
walk, if you look at your thoughts, you think about your thoughts and your
feelings, your conversation, or your lifestyle and you begin to look at these things
and you see that they are not quite on the level—that lets you know that you are
not in Christ.
But if you are in Christ and the hereditary and cultivated tendencies have
been changed; the thoughts are changed; the actions are changed; the things
you think about and talk about are changed; you have an understanding of how
you stand in the Triumphant Life.
So the key is being ‘in Christ’. Now how do you get ‘in Christ’? I am a very
simple man so when I read these things I was really scratching my head and
saying, “Well, Lord, how do I get in You? I don’t understand it. First of all, I
physically can’t see You in order to get in. So how do I become ‘in Christ’?”
Notice what it says in the book of 1 John 3:5. The Bible explains itself, it
gives us all the steps, and we need not be perplexed on certain things.
• 1 John 3:5 “And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him
is no sin.”
You can’t be in Christ and sin! It is kind of like the Sanctuary of old, if
anyone committed sin in the sanctuary, what would happen? They’d be cut off,
they’d die. History or folklore tells us that they even would have a rope around
the priest; we know that there were bells on their garments and the people would
hear these bells as he was moving about, but if the bells got quiet, they’d wait
and try to hear, and if there was no sound, they’d give a little tug on that rope. If
the rope tugged back, everything was OK, but if it didn’t, they knew they were
drawing out a corpse. If someone sinned in the sanctuary, you died.
Now the sanctuary, everything about it, represents Christ. And therefore it
says that ‘in Him’ can be no sin. If we are in Christ and we sin, you are placed
outside of Christ and you have to go through the process of coming back in to
Christ.
Some people teach and think that sin does not cut you off from God.
Some people believe, and I have heard many ministers teach, that even David,
and they use David as an example, they say that David when he sinned was not
cut off from Jesus. They say that even the Bible says that he was a man after
God’s own heart. So they say that even in sin David was still in Christ—No!
When you read clearly what we are told, that when he was in sin, he was
not a man after God’s own heart and that’s why he went through the process of
repentance. His example of repentance is our example.
When you go through Psalm 51, and it just lays the point down, David was
clear when he was begging saying, ‘Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.’ David
understood that sin separates. So ‘in Christ’ the Bible says is no sin.
• 1 John 3:6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen
him, neither known him. 7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth
righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8 He that committeth sin is of the
devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was
manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whosoever is born of
God [Born Again] doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he
cannot sin, because he is born of God.”
Spiritual barometer—are you Born Again? Are you Born of God? If you are
Born of God the Bible says, you do not commit sin. And then it tells you why.
• 3:9 “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him:
and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”
Notice that in order to live a sinless life you have to be in Christ; if you sin
you are out of Christ it’s very clear. But the way that you don’t sin, is that the
Seed of God remains in you. So if you are in Christ, the seed is in you.
• 10 “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil:
whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his
brother.”
The Bible shows that to be ‘in Christ’ is to have the ‘seed in you’. So
something must be in you, in order for you to be in God. Now what is the ‘seed’?
Notice what the Bible says in the book of 1 Peter 1:23. What is the ‘Seed’?
Because if you are born of God the seed remains in you. How do you become
born of God? What’s the ‘Seed’?
• 1 Peter 1:23 “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the
word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”
The way that you remain in Christ or the way you come into Christ is to
have the ‘Seed’ the ‘Word’ in you. And it’s not talking about memorization, some
people think that, “If I can just memorize the Bible then I am OK”. It’s not about
memorization, the Jews were able to memorize whole chapters of the Bible—did
that keep them in Christ? No it didn’t. Memorization is a beautiful and a good
thing and if the Word is hidden in your heart, you won’t sin against God, it’s a
beautiful promise. But it is not just about putting scripture to memory.
The Word of God is a living force; it’s a living entity. The very same power
that created the world and all the things in the world, and all the unfallen worlds,
and all the unfallen angels and even the fallen angels—everything was created
by the Word. And the same power that created the heavens and the earth is
contained in the pages of the Bible. But when we read the Word of God, we
need to understand that, in order to receive its power.
When God says, “Be ye therefore perfect”, that’s creative power to those
that accept it as such; because when God says, “Be”, it is. So when He tells you
to “Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect”, it is creative
power—only for those who allow the Word to remain in them.
It is an interesting thing—everybody knows about the Atom, the little
particles that make up everything in the world. The Atom is a very interesting
thing and I found something on the internet about the Atom that they just
discovered. Science wanted to find the smallest minutest matter and they found
the Atom. Then they were able to break down the Atom and they found protons
and electrons; and they were able to break those down and find neutrons. Then
they were able to break those down and they found what’s called Quarks. Then
they broke down the Quark and do you know what it is? It is sound waves.
Think about it—He created by speaking. In the basis of every living thing
is an Atom, but the basis of every Atom is sound waves. Scientists are proving
the God of Creation. And that same power again is contained in every page of
the Word.
The Bible says that we are to be born again, when we are born of God,
the Seed remains in us and we cannot sin because we are born of God. To be
born of God means to be created new; to be different; to be changed. The Bible
tells us in Ephesians 3 we talked about how the only way we can be born again
is to have the Seed in us and we know that the Seed is the Word of God, and to
be particular—Christ in us, because Christ is the Word.
So how do you become ‘in Christ’? Christ is in you—so if you read in the
Bible and it says “If any man be in Christ”; it is really saying Christ is in you. If
Christ is in you, you can’t sin. If Christ is in you, you’re changed. If Christ is in
you, you are born again. If Christ is in you, you live the Triumphant Life. Those
who are on the path to righteousness, Christ is formed within.
The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit—you know the verses. Yes, and
there are ways that we can pass that away from us, there are ways where we
can defile the temple. There are things we can do that would make God not want
to dwell there.
We’re not going to talk necessarily about those things here, but one of the
questions was about diet—the Bible says if any man defile the temple of God,
him shall God destroy. Now how can we defile our temple? Daniel understood it.
The Bible says in Daniel 1, that he purposed in his heart that he would not defile
himself by eating the king’s meat, eating the kings food—the rich, luxurious
dainties, the meat strewn on the tables, the things offered to idols—he would not
eat it because it would defile him.
So to go back to the question of meat eating at the end of time, we can’t
afford to defile our self—we need to live the Triumphant Life.
We’re talking about how Christ dwells within you, how does Christ come
in? How does the Word of God remain in us?
• Ephesians 3:14 “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, 15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 That he
would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might
by his Spirit in the inner man;
The Holy Spirit comes within and when the Holy Spirit is in:
• 3:17 “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and
grounded in love,”
The only way Christ can come in, is if the Spirit is in, and if the Spirit is in,
then Christ is in—but it is by faith through the Word. It’s my faith. Those who walk
the triumphant walk, who live the Triumphant Life, do it by faith. That is the key—
faith means Christ is within. Faith means the Holy Spirit dwells within. Faith
means the Word abides within. Faith is how you are in Christ.
How do we live the Triumphant Life? By Faith—the just shall live by Faith.
• Eph 3:16 “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be
strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17 That Christ may dwell in
your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to
comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be
filled with all the fulness of God.”
What does that mean? What does it mean to be filled with all the fullness
of God? Notice the book of Colossians. What does it mean that God wants to fill
you with all His fullness?
• Colossians 2:9 “For in him [Christ] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:”
In Christ dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead. If Christ has all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and we are complete in Christ, and Christ is within us—
then what does that mean for us? That we would have all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily.
Let me explain something—that doesn’t make you God and that very
thought should keep you humble. But if Christ is formed within you, we read the
statement about when our will is connected with His will, it becomes
omnipotent—all powerful, but Christ must be in.
That is the key of the Triumphant Life, in order to be Triumphant, you must
be like Jesus. In order to be like Jesus, you must be full with all the fullness of
God. You must be complete in Him. The Word must be formed within and not just
formed, but stuck there—it must remain. You must be born again, and the born-
again experience is being complete in Christ.
This thing is more powerful and deeper than we really think. We think it is
just about being obedient. We think that if we are just obedient we can do it. That
is the faith of the rich, young, ruler. He was looking for something that he could
obey; that he could do. God had to show him that he lacked one thing, and the
lack wasn’t the fact that he wasn’t really obedient, but that Christ wasn’t in;
because if Christ was within, he would have given everything he had to the poor
and he would have followed Christ like he was instructed to do.
“Lord, show me something that I can do that will give me eternal life. I
want to do something right so I can be saved.”
“Ok, give everything to the poor” But he didn’t want to follow instructions
really. To live the Triumphant Life is not just about obedience, it is about a whole
change of nature. It is about a whole lifestyle. It is about a whole mental aspect
and attitude.
The Bible says that when you are in Christ, the fullness of the Godhead is
in you because He is in you. The Bible says you’d be strengthened with might by
His Spirit in the inner man, and what would be the result? You’d be able to
comprehend the truth. The reason why sometimes things are so hard for us is
not because they are not taught well—because it is not the man who teaches—
it’s the Holy Spirit. So it is not the teacher, it’s us.
We can’t comprehend because we’ve cut off the Spirit, and we’re waiting
for man to lay it out to us in such an eloquent way so that we can comprehend
and we’re looking at the man instead of at God. Brethren; to have Jesus formed
within is much more than we really comprehend, but yet that’s the Triumphant
Life.
Let’s keep going ahead in the Triumphant Life, notice what it says in 1
John 5:4, because the Holy Spirit and Christ dwell in our hearts by faith, and the
Bible says:
• 1 John 5:4 “For whatsoever is born of God [born again] overcometh the world: and
this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” [not our obedience]
To live triumphantly is to be an overcomer. The promises are to the
overcomers. How do the overcomers overcome? By faith—and when you live by
faith and Christ is within—you’re born of God. It’s a whole transaction that takes
place. 2 Corinthians 3:17. Looking at faith; looking at how we can be changed
and we’re talking about the Spirit of God, because if the Spirit of God dwells in us
Christ dwells in us and that by faith.
• 2 Corinthians 3:17 “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty.”
If the Son of man shall set you free—ye shall be free indeed. The only way
we can be free is if the Spirit is within, because wherever the Spirit is, there is
liberty. No longer are we holden in the cords of our own sins. No longer do habits
rack us and we can’t overcome. Because if the Spirit is there–there is liberty.
There’s no fighting. There’s no Romans seven experience, of that which I
want to do—I don’t do and that which I don’t want to do—I do, the law in my
members fighting against the law that’s in my mind—the Spirit and the flesh—
there’s no more fighting when the Spirit is within. Total victory! Total and
complete victory is promised to us—Amen!
We are missing opportunities to say, “Yes, Lord, I agree. I don’t have the
experience, but I want it—total and complete victory!”
• 18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are
changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
When the Holy Spirit is within you, when you are studying God’s Word,
when you are learning and comprehending the height and the depth and the
breadth of the love of God—you are changed into the same image, from glory to
glory.
It is not a duplicated experience; it’s not a carbon copy; it’s the exact same
image, and when the Father looks upon you He sees His Son—because you and
I can never make it up there. Look at your life. Just go back not even a year—go
back this week—could you be there? Are you a candidate for heaven? Just think
of today—and the battles and the things that went through our thoughts—our
words—our actions. Are we a candidate? God the Father can’t look on any of us
and say, “Yes, he’s ready.”
But you might say that God looked upon Job. When God looked upon Job
it wasn’t Job—He was seeing what His Son would be. When He looked upon
Abraham; When He looked upon Noah; when He looked upon Daniel; and when
He looked at all these individuals that the Bible says were perfect, He saw His
Son.
And when the 144,000 are mentioned in the Bible, the character they have
that’s written in their forehead—is God’s character. It’s not them—it’s not brother
so and so from here and sister so and so from there, God the Father sees Jesus
and only Jesus can do the work that the 144,000 will do. Only Jesus can go
through what the 144,000 will have to go through—only Jesus.
I want to show you a story in the Old Testament: 2 Chronicles 14: the
story of King Asa of Judah. You see, victory is achieved only through the
indwelling of the Spirit of God. Victory is only achieved if Christ or the Holy Spirit
is within. That’s the only way.
Now there was this battle that was going to transpire, the Ethiopians had
this great army, and they were coming against Judah. And Asa prayed a prayer:
• 2 Chronicles 14:11 “And Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is
nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power:”
“Lord, You can do anything, we could have the biggest army in the world,
but still it’s You, Lord. And then if we don’t have anything—You can still do it.
• “help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this
multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee.”
Asa prayed this prayer and this was a victorious Triumphant Life prayer.
“Lord, You can do anything—we can’t really do it, even if we have numbers. We
can’t do it. So we rest in You—we put our faith in You. Our help comes from
you.”
• 12 “So the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the
Ethiopians fled.”
What if Asa came to God and said, “Lord, look how great my army is.
Lord, look what I’ve put together—I’ve trained them the best for the battle. We
got the best material. Look at our chariots compared to theirs. Look at our
swords—look at the craftsmanship on the weapons that we have.” They would
have lost! But because Asa humbled himself and said, “Lord, we can’t do
anything”. The battle was won.
The Triumphant Life is won on your knees. As a matter of fact the
Christian Life is just one long prayer. That’s it—the Christian Life is one
continuous long prayer. When we are told to pray without ceasing—that means
to pray without ceasing. The connection between us and God is unbroken; the
Christian Life—the Triumphant Life—just one long prayer.
Look at another prayer in chapter 20:12; we’re going to read about
Jehoshaphat:
• 2 Chronicles 20:12 “O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might
against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but
our eyes are upon thee.”
“Lord, we have no power—we don’t know which way to go, but we are
watching for you. Our eyes are stayed—fixed upon Jesus.”
Noticed what transpired in verse 17. Here Jahaziel is speaking for the
Lord and he says:
• 2 Chronicles 20:17 “Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye
still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not,
nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.
18 And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and
the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the LORD. 19 And
the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites,
stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on high. 20 And they
rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they
went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of
Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his
prophets, so shall ye prosper. 21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the
army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever.
He appointed singers to praise and that may have a different meaning to
some of us; the singing and praising they were doing is not what you are used to
in the churches today,—it was not that type of praise—but when they began to
Praise God and to sing the hymns of Zion—you see what the result was!
• 22 And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against
the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah;
and they were smitten. 23 For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against
the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had
made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.
You don’t need to fight the battle—you pray, “Lord, I have no strength. I
can’t do anything, there is no power within me, and so my eyes are going to wait
to see the salvation of God.” The Bible says when you begin to praise and to
sing to God—and the prayers were praises of thanks because, “Lord, the battle is
already won”.
They prayed and thanked God that the battle was already won and the
battle hadn’t even been fought yet. It is the same thing with Joshua. Notice the
book of Joshua 6: You remember Jericho:
• Joshua 6:16 “And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with
the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the LORD hath given you the
city.”
Before they went through all the steps, before they shouted, before they
did what God told them to do, he said “Shout and praise God because the battle
is already won!”
These individuals, these stories and histories lay down for us steps of the
Triumphant Life. Brethren; you don’t have to fight the battle, you have to struggle
through it and endure—but you have no power to overcome the enemy on your
own. You have no power to overcome principalities and powers and spiritual
wickedness in high places. Who are you? Eve, an unfallen being couldn’t do it—
and we’re fallen. Six thousand years of degeneracy—what makes us think that
we can do it on our own?
Quit trying to obey; quit trying to do it on your own because you can’t. But
obedience comes from the dwelling of the Holy Spirit from within. He gives you
the power—it’s a covenant promise—notice the book of Romans 11:25. God has
made a covenant with you that He would rid you of your sin; that He would take
away all the filthiness of your flesh. God promised to do it because we can’t do it!
• Romans 11:25 “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this
mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is
happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 26 And so all Israel
shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall
turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I
shall take away their sins.”
This New Covenant promise is found in the book of Ezekiel 36:22.
• Ezekiel 36:22 “Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I
do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which
ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. 23 And I will sanctify my
great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the
midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord
GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. 24 For I will take you
from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into
your own land.
• 25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your
filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 26 A new heart also will I
give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart
out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit
within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments,
and do them. 28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye
shall be my people, and I will be your God.
The old covenant, we need to let go of—many of us are still under the old
covenant—‘All that the Lord has spoken WE will do’. I will do all and be obedient.
That’s the old covenant—you can’t do it. The old covenant is not what you can do
because, obviously, you’ve broken it already.
But the New Covenant is what He does in us. It’s what He does in us
when we allow Him to. God does not force the will. He doesn’t force; He doesn’t
kick in the door. You have to choose to be a Christian. Choice is so very
important to us as individuals. We need to understand the Power of Choice. I am
going to read a statement from Steps to Christ, page 47, and some of you are
familiar with this–but really take it home tonight.
“Many are inquiring, “How am I to make the surrender of myself
to God?” You desire to give yourself to Him, but you are weak in moral
power, in slavery to doubt, and controlled by the habits of your life of sin.
Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. You cannot control
your thoughts, your impulses, your affections. The knowledge of your
broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in your
own sincerity,”
How many of us have come to the point where when we pray and ask the
Lord to forgive us and in the back of our mind it’s like “Lord, am I even sincere? I
said it yesterday—but I do it again” this is the condition.
“The knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges
weakens your confidence in your own sincerity, and causes you to feel
that God cannot accept you; but you need not despair. What you need to
understand is the true force of the will. This is the governing power in the
nature of man, the power of decision, or of choice. Everything depends on
the right action of the will. The power of choice God has given to men; it
is theirs to exercise. You cannot change your heart, you cannot of yourself
give to God its affections; but you can choose to serve Him. You can give
Him your will; He will then work in you to will and to do according to His
good pleasure. Thus your whole nature will be brought under the control
of the Spirit of Christ; your affections will be centered upon Him, your
thoughts will be in harmony with Him.
“Desires for goodness and holiness are right as far as they go; but
if you stop here, they will avail nothing. Many will be lost while hoping
and desiring to be Christians. They do not come to the point of yielding
the will to God. They do not now choose to be Christians.” SC 47.
If you come and say, “Lord I desire to be holy and pure”, and you stop
there—it doesn’t mean anything to God. Desires, as far as they go, are good—
but if you don’t follow through—it means nothing. Many will be lost at the point
where they could have surrendered the will and chosen to be Christians; but they
lose there because they desire it but never CHOOSE to be a Christian.
Many of us will come to that day saying, “Lord, I always wanted You—I
always wanted You in my heart; I always wanted to understand Your Word; I
went to the meetings; I was obedient and did what You wanted me to do; but
why, why wasn’t I changed?”
God will say “because you never CHOSE to be a Christian, you only
desired to be one.” Desires don’t change a thing—it’s the CHOICE that you
make—whether you are going to be on the broad road or the strait and narrow. It
is a CHOICE!
“Through the right exercise of the will, an entire change may be
made in your life. By yielding up your will to Christ, you ally yourself
with the power that is above all principalities and powers. You will have
strength from above to hold you steadfast, and thus through constant
surrender to God you will be enabled to live the new life, even the life of
faith.” {SC 48.1}
Choose now, choose Jesus! Don’t want Him and desire Him—CHOOSE
Him. That’s where the power is—it is in your choices. Choose God.
The Bible says in Mark 14:29; Jesus had just spoken to His disciples and
He had just laid out before all of them that He was going to be crucified. He told
them, “Tonight all of you will leave me.” And then, big-mouth Peter spoke up and
Peter came to the point where he felt that he had enough gumption and strength
within himself to remain. Jesus just told him, every one of you will leave me, but
he didn’t trust the Word of God and he says:
• Mark 14:29 “But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I.
30 And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this
night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. 31 But he spake the
more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise.
Likewise also said they all.
He got loud with Jesus; Jesus just told him what he was going to do and
Peter got loud with Jesus—‘If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any
wise’; but we know what happened. Why did it happen? Peter trusted in his own
power.
Many of us—Jesus is laying out before us the way, but we’re saying, “No,
I can do it on my own”. We’re like Eve, we recognize we are on the road to
destruction; the angels have told us, Jesus has told us, to stay by your
husband—stay by Christ. Christ is the husband—you stay by Christ. And she
wandered and by the time she realized where she was, a thought entered her
mind; “I have sufficient power to deal with this on my own.” And she lost the
prize.
Brethren, do not trust your self. Self needs to die. The only way self can
die is if you let it die; you have to let it happen. The Bible says in Philippians 2:12,
13; and here is the key again to the Triumphant Life
• Philippians 2:12 “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my
presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling. 13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to
do of his good pleasure.”
The key of living the surrendered life is to work out what God works in. As
He’s teaching you the steps, work them out; act them out; put them into practice.
As He is teaching you and showing you things to do, work it out—because if He
is showing you the steps—He’s giving you the power.
God does not tell you or show you anything in His Word and not give you
the power to do it. The Ten Commandments—can you keep them? You can if
Christ is within. Christ didn’t give you these things so that you can do it; the Bible
says that He will work in you to will and to do of His good pleasure. His desire is
that you be surrendered, that you be whole; that you be sinless; that you be
justified and sanctified, that’s His desire, that’s His will and if He is in you by faith,
He will work out His will in you!
The Bible also promises that if He has begun the work—He will finish the
work. The Triumphant Life is assured to those who yield by faith.
Now some practical things, I will read a statement from Counsels to
Teachers page 454.
“What a God is our God! He rules over His kingdom with
diligence and care, and He has built a hedge—the Ten Commandments—
about His subjects to preserve them from the results of transgression. In
requiring obedience to the laws of His kingdom, God gives His people
health and happiness, peace and joy. He teaches them that the perfection
of character He requires can be attained only by becoming familiar with
His word.” {CT 454.1}
The strength and perfection of character that He requires can be attained
only by becoming familiar with the Word. The Triumphant Life, yes it is built on
faith, but faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. As you study
the Bible, as you have devotion, as you study, as you pray—and I emphasize
study—because we’ve never been told to read it, we’ve been told to study the
Bible. To study—those who study the Bible it says, are approved of God.
As we study and become familiar with His Word it shows us the character
needed; where the power comes from to obtain it; and the steps to live it. As I
said before, the Christian Life is one long life of prayer.
Diligent Bible Study is necessary, not a little few minutes spent with one
hand on the door knob as it were. A serious study of the Word is necessary in
order to live the Triumphant Life. If a man has a life so busy to where you can’t
study the Word—then you need to re-evaluate your life. You need to re-evaluate
things, if you say, “Well, I have no time.” Twenty-four hours has been given to
every man, and every second of that twenty-four hours is going to be required of
you in the judgment—every one—that’s what we are told. That’s one of the
talents—time; and it’s one that we fail on so much.
If our life is so cumbered in and blocked in because, “Well, I have to be
here at a certain time—so God I can’t have You here. And then it takes me these
long hours to get back home and by the time I get there I’m so tired and so I just
want to sit down and do this.” And God is blocked in into such a little box and you
have no time for Him.
You need to re-evaluate your life. That is something that has to be done
through prayer, between you and God. I can’t tell you what to do or how to do it.
Re-evaluate your life to see whether God would have you to be where you are.
• Matthew 17:14 “And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a
certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, 15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for
he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the
water. 16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. 17 Then
Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be
with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.”
This father brought this boy to the disciples, they followers of Jesus, they
had been in Jesus’ presence, they had listened to Jesus’ teachings, so this boy
was brought to them. Christ had given them power previous to this to go out and
to heal and to cast out demons and to teach the Word. But they couldn’t heal this
boy.
Jesus comes and He says, “Faithless and perverse generation”, that was
their problem—faith.
• 18 “And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was
cured from that very hour. 19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why
could not we cast him out?”
Why couldn’t we win the battle? Why did the devil get the victory over us?
Why didn’t we overcome?
• 20 “And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you,
If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove
hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto
you. 21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”
Prayer is so important in our life because prayer is the key in the hand of
faith to unlock all the omnipotent resources of Heaven. The Christian Life is a life
of prayer—one long prayer. If we pray in faith, everything is possible unto you—
everything.
Jesus has been telling us, “Yes, son, daughter, you must live the
Triumphant Life. Yes, it’s difficult. Yes, there are hiccups in the way, there are
problems, the road might get rough, it might get rocky, but if you by Faith walk
with Me; if by Faith you study My Word; by Faith you pray; if by Faith you yield;
you will be victorious! It’s a Promise.”
God has made a covenant with you and that covenant is that He would
put His Law in your heart; that He would put His Spirit within you; that He would
take away your sins; that He would give you power; that He would do the things
that are impossible and you cannot do.
What happens if you break the covenant? If you break the covenant, you
are cut off. Do you think He’s going to break His own covenant? Do you think
God is going to break His promise to you? The Bible says that He is not a man
that He should lie. He’s saying that if you would just come—you can have a
victorious life—but you have to choose. Jesus Christ has promised power to
those who choose.
