Let me ask you something – when you get up in the morning and look at your face in the mirror – what do you see? A winner, or a loser? Interesting question. And when God looks at you – what do you think He sees – a winner, or a loser?

Winner or Loser?

Let me begin today by asking you a question. When you look in the mirror, what do you see – a winner or a loser? Or maybe someone who’s neither, in that grey mass in the middle there, with most other people – neither winning or losing; neither succeeding at life or failing? Are you someone who has been conquered by the circumstances of your life or are you someone who’s turned the tables and rather than being conquered by them, you have in fact conquered those circumstances?

Interesting question! Because the way we see ourselves has a powerful impact on the life that we are going to live. The athlete who settles down in the starting blocks of a race, waiting for the starter’s gun to fire, let me ask you, if that athlete, in his heart of hearts, see himself as a loser, do you think for one moment, he’s going to win that race? Do you think for one moment, that he’s going to throw his heart and every other part of himself into drawing ahead of the rest of the field and winning the prize? It’s not likely!

So why do we imagine that our lives would be any different? Why do we imagine that if we see ourselves as being a failure, we would make a success out of our lives? Let me ask you again, when you look in the mirror, what do you see? I’m not sure if you ever thought much about that, but many a person is living their lives out as someone who’s been defeated. And so many others hover in that grey no-man’s-land between being conquered and having victory – never really living out their lives to the full.

I’m really excited today on the programme because we are kicking off a new four week series. It’s called “More than Conquerors”, because here’s the thing: it doesn’t matter what you or I see when we look in the mirror. What really matters is what God sees when you and I look in the mirror and what He sees when He looks at our reflection – is someone who’s not a loser; someone who isn’t in that large grey mass in the middle, who don’t have a clue whether they’re winners or losers – what He sees in us isn’t even someone who’s a conqueror. What God sees in you and in me is someone who’s more that a conqueror!

How do I come to that conclusion? Well, the victory that God wants you and me to have in our lives is plastered all over the Old Testament and the New Testament. And when I opened my eyes to it, it truly blew me away. It’s a whole different perspective, if you’ll pardon the pun, God’s perspective on who we are when we place our faith in Jesus Christ and what life He wants us to have; a life of victory; a life where circumstances don’t conquer us but where we conquer them.

See, being more that a conqueror isn’t just about not being defeated, it’s about living life out so fully, so completely in the victory that Jesus Christ purchased for you and me on the cross, that His glory and His power and His love and His grace overflow out of our lives into the lives of other people. See, a conqueror sits back and surveys the battlefield and gloats in his or her victory, but someone who’s more that a conqueror, takes that victory and shares it round.

My friend, listen to me. God wants for you and for me to be more than a conqueror. What I don’t mean by this is that we set some selfish agenda for ourselves and then we trample all over all and sundry to get where we want to go. What I don’t mean is that what we are meant to have is lots of money, live in a big house and be wealthy. There are plenty of people who will tell you that, and I’m not one of them. You want to hear that sort of thing – go listen to them!

What I mean is that come what may; whatever life hurls at us; whatever trials and wildernesses we have to walk through, that there will be something inside us – a joy, a quiet assurance, a peace; a peace that doesn’t make sense, that’s what I mean: joy, peace, quiet assurance that our King, God Himself, is still on the throne, that our Redeemer lives, that come what may, one day, you and I will be with Him in all His glory – come what may.

See this idea of being more than a conqueror; it’s not my idea, it comes from God’s Word – specifically the Apostle Paul. Now Paul poured his life out to tell people about Jesus, and yet, he faced the most awful trials. Have a listen – he was writing to the church in Corinth and he is sharing some of the things that he and his helpers had been through. He says, “look, we’ve been through great afflictions and hardships and calamities and beatings and imprisonments and riots and labours and sleepless nights and hunger and yet, we’ve survived.” This comes from Second Corinthians chapter 6, verses 5 to 10. He says

We are treated as imposters and yet are true; as unknown and yet are well known; as dying and see – we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

See where he’s going with this? “The circumstances, buddy, are not going to get the better of me,” – that’s what Paul’s saying. Paul’s had a tough gig out there, living his life for Jesus. In Second Corinthians chapter 4, verses 8 to 10 – he says:

We are inflicted in every way but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.

And when he’s writing to the Roman church, he picks up on this reality in his life again. And listen to the words of confidence and assurance in the face of the toughest of circumstances. Romans chapter 8, verses 35 to 39. He says:

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered”. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I don’t know about you, but Paul has something here that I want. My point today is this: let me come back to it – when you look in the mirror, what do you see – a winner or a loser? Because there’s nothing about living our lives as losers in the Bible; there’s nothing in God’s will that wants us wallowing around in self-pity or fear or grief all our lives. He promises us that we will have pressures; that we will travel through persecutions and trials and losses and all of those things, but in those things, His will is for us not to be defeated. Not just for us to have victory but for us to have the sort of victory where we have more than enough to share around with others in need; the sort of victory where we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.

The question is are we ready for that sort of life? Are we ready to be more than conquerors? Well, are we?

Life in a War Zone

If you’ve seen that movie “Forest Gump”, you’ll know that great line from the movie where Forest says, “My Momma says, ‘Life is like a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re gonna get.’”  And it’s true! Sometimes ours lives feel like a war zone; like everything’s going wrong. It’s tough when someone you love is really sick, or when you lose someone who you love; or when we’re sick; it’s tough when there’s not enough money to put food on the table; it’s tough when people lose their homes and their livelihoods; it’s tough when we set out to do the right thing, to live our lives for God, to honour Him and yet people misunderstand us – they turn against us… you get the drift!

And you know something? Even sometimes when it feels as though life is going along pretty well, there’s still a war raging. We get lulled into this false sense of security and we start to drift along in comfort, but get this – this is the reality: life is a war zone, 24 x 7; we are living on a battlefield because our enemy the devil is roaming around like a lion, looking for someone to devour.

Now I’m blessed – I live in a safe country; a safe part of the world, by any standard. The city where I live is affluent. Yeah, there are some bad things that happen but by and large it’s safe, it’s free, there’s enough to go around and so in my neck of the woods it’s so easy to be lulled into a false sense of security. This idea that, ah, it’s all ok, but you see, tomorrow I could be diagnosed with cancer; tomorrow I could find myself in some sort of trouble. Listen to me – that’s life and I know, doing what I do, that my enemy the devil, is roaming around looking for someone to devour. Me!

The Apostle Paul wanted you and me to understand that we live in a battlefield; in a war zone. Have a listen: Ephesians chapter 6, beginning at verse 10. He says:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His power. Put on the whole armour of God so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

For our struggle is not against enemies of flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

And see then, just to make the point, he talks about the armour of God, using the picture; the metaphor of the armour worn by the Roman soldier of the day. He says:

Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.

See, Paul’s saying here to his friends in Ephesus and God’s saying here to you and me through this letter in the New Testament, that we need to live our lives on a war footing. We are in a battle and you know something, it’s not just the circumstances of life on their own, as if those some days aren’t bad enough, but the devil is a reality – there’s a war going on in the spiritual dimension, which is as real and as powerful as anything we can see or touch or smell or taste or feel, here in the physical dimension.

Listen to it again – Ephesians chapter 6, verse 12:

Our struggle is not against enemies of flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

But the point of this battle that we live in is that we are meant to have victory. We already have victory if we put our faith in Jesus Christ and now God… God wants us to live that victory out in reality. Can I tell you something? We all have days when we feel like we are defeated – I do, you do. And so often they sneak in under your guard after some great victory. You know, something goes really well and you think, ‘God, You are so good, thank You for that,’ and the very next day, you feel so low and you wonder, ‘What’s it all about and why am I living my life anyway?’

The tragedy is – many people live their whole lives like that. Some people walk around like zombies; the living dead – physically they’re alive but spiritually and emotionally they are dead inside. There’s a reason for that: because we live on a spiritual battlefield that is so real and so powerful that, that through Paul, God is telling us that actually, that’s what it’s all about – that’s where the action really is and we ignore that at our peril.

But even when we feel defeated, even when victory is the furthest thing from our minds, God wants us to know that victory is already ours; that we don’t have to live our lives in defeat and misery and self pity – God’s perspective is so different to ours. Let me share with you what the Apostle John has to say on this whole victory thing – it’s a powerful passage. I believe it’s something God wants to write on your heart today. It comes from 1 John chapter 5, verses 1 to 5:

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey His commandments.

And His commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

In other words, it doesn’t matter what the world wants to throw at you and me. If that’s all we have, then you know something? It doesn’t seem that much in the face of cancer or loss or grief or temptation or whatever else may befall us on this battlefield called “life” but it turns out that in God’s eyes, it’s everything.

The Roaring Lion

In my younger years, I spent ten years in the Australian Army – four years in the officer training academy and then six years as a junior officer. One of the things that really struck me about the way the Army trained was not only that it trained specifically for war, I mean, that’s obvious for an army, but in all of that training we trained against a notional enemy. Funny thing that! They had full blown manuals – hundreds of pages – describing the capabilities and tactics of this notional enemy. Whenever we went out on an exercise, they would have an enemy that we fought against who behaved exactly like the enemy described in those manuals.

And when you think about it, that makes sense. To prepare a soldier and a platoon and a battalion and a brigade for battle, you need to train them to engage with, fight with and defeat the enemy. And that intensive training made our Army one of the finest fighting forces in the world. I can’t image what a sloppy outfit we’d have been if we hadn’t got a handle on who the enemy is and what he’s like and how he behaved and how to defeat him. In fact, when you sit back and think about it, as a citizen of any country, wouldn’t that be exactly what you would expect your Army to be able to do, in order to defend us and protect us? To defeat the enemy.

So far today on the programme we’ve been talking around a theme, using the words of the Apostle Paul to describe it – that we are more than conquerors. And as well as just the circumstances of our lives, there’s something else that can rob us of victory that Jesus has planned here for us on earth – or should I say “someone else”? C.S. Lewis, that great children’s author who wrote “Narnia”, was also a great theologian. He once had this to say about our spiritual enemy, the devil.

He said, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils: one is to disbelieve in their existence, the other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail the materialist or the magician with the same delight.”

In other words, ignore the fact that the devil is real and alive and has an impact on us, is as dangerous as partnering with him in his evil plans and desires. So easy for us to live our lives with our eyes closed, pretending that there isn’t a spiritual dimension; pretending that there isn’t a battle going on for our souls in the heavenly places.

As we saw earlier, God’s Word clearly… clearly tells us that there is in fact, such a battle raging. Ephesians chapter 6, verse 12:

Our struggle is not against enemies of flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Why am I bringing this up again? Well, here it is: because we have victory over the devil. Jesus said that this thief, the devil, comes only to steal, kill and destroy, to rob us of life but that He, Jesus, came so that we could have live in all of its abundance. There’s a clear choice there – which one do you want? We are going to spend our whole lives being plundered by the devil or have the victory over him that Jesus came to give us.

Well? But like any army, we have to understand our enemy and learn to fight against him and for us it’s much easier because Jesus has already defeated him through His death and His resurrection. Colossians chapter 2, verse 15 says that Jesus disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it. The battle’s been won – we have victory! We are more than conquerors and to live that out, two things have to happen – just two.

The first one is we need to be alert; we need to be aware and have our eyes open to the reality that the enemy, the devil, wants to bring us down. First Peter chapter 5, verse 8:

Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.

Just like any army, get a grip on the enemy, be prepared, be alert, understand the reality.

And the second… the second is to train against him, so that we actually live out that victory. James chapter 4, verse 7:

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

See, some people try and take the devil on, head on; to fight him at his own game, but he’s been at this game much longer than you and I have. He has strengths and powers that we ourselves can’t match. And the answer is not – let me say that again – ‘not’ in fighting him.

The answer, instead, is living in God’s camp; the answer is in having an intimate, close relationship with Jesus and just day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, living out the love we have for Him and the tremendous love He has for us. That’s what it means to submit ourselves to God. It’s a positive act, whereas trying to grapple with the enemy is a negative one. And here’s what happens when we do that: when we submit ourselves to God and the devil comes along, we just say, ‘No thanks’, we resist him. And there… there is the victory!

First, submit yourselves to God then, resist the devil and he will flee from you. This is not rocket science! The enemy is a reality – he’s here, prowling around looking for someone to devour, you and me, but we already have victory over him; he has already been defeated. His bravado and his powers are a sham; they were disarmed at the cross; made a spectacle of – Jesus won!

That’s why we have victory here and now. One of the most encouraging things that Jesus ever said to His disciples, just before the authorities arrested Him and took Him away to be crucified, this miracle-working Jesus – the disciples lived with Him for three and a half years. They put all their hope and faith in Him and saw the amazing things that He did. They heard the amazing things that He said and He’s about to be snatched from them, nailed to a cross and He says to them – John 16, verse 33:

I have said all these things to you, so that in me you may have peace. For in this world, you will face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!

My friend, Jesus has won and when we put our faith in this Jesus, we have that same victory; the very same victory that Jesus won for us over sin and death on the cross and through the empty tomb.

That victory, you and I have, here and now. We are more than conquerors.

I often try to imagine what it must have been like when the guns fell silent at the end of World War II. Seventy-two million dead … and then, all of a sudden … peace. It must have been surreal. It must have taken some … coming to grips with. Peace always does.

The Guns Fell Silent

World War II was the deadliest war in all of history. The estimates are that some 72 million people were killed. Just stop and take that in. 72 million! My parents lived through World War II in Europe. They’ve never spoken much about it, but just piecing bits and pieces together – the war footage I’ve seen on TV, the snippets from my family, the cold hard statistics – I just can’t imagine it. It must have been horrific. It must have been just unbelievable.

The destruction, the fear. Can you imagine? But the thing that I try most to imagine – and I just can’t imagine it – is what it must have been like the day the guns fell silent. Not the celebrations in the streets that followed, but in that instant, in that moment when the clock ticked over in May 1945 and the killing stopped. Peace! Victory! What did it feel like?

I gained a unique perspective from a Jewish woman now well in her 80’s, who was there. She, her mother and her sister had been shipped off to Auschwitz. When they arrived, she was separated into a different queue to her family … she never saw them again.

She was young and strong and ended up working as a seamstress in Germany making uniforms for the soldiers. In the weeks leading up toward the end of the war, she told us about the rumours. The young women there would whisper secretly about what was going on, but none of them really knew …

Until the day … the day when the allied forces marched into the city where she had been imprisoned and set her free. I shall never forget the look in her eyes when she shared that moment with me.

Victory! Finally! After all this – victory! How sweet must the taste have been? How sweet? When the guns fell silent, when VE Day was declared on May 8th 1945. Victory! Peace! It’s all over! Can you imagine?

God’s heart is for us to have victory in life. For us to have peace in life. For us to be more than conquerors as the Apostle Paul wrote:

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39)

It doesn’t matter what we’re fighting against, struggling against, God wants us to have peace. But here’s the problem, amongst the ranks of those who bear the name of Christ – the armies of Christian soldiers, amongst those ranks, in many units, in many places – all they know of peace, is rumours.

They’ve heard that peace is coming, but don’t know that it’s actually here. That it’s arrived. Peace has broken out. The guns have fallen silent. Hostilities have ceased. The one who has placed his or her faith in Jesus Christ, the Saviour has peace, can live in peace. This one has victory, can live in victory.

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we now stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. (Romans 5:1-2)

When we put our faith in Jesus we are made right with God – justified. And so we have peace with God through Jesus. This is the grace in which we now stand. That peace, that victory over death, is something that each believer possesses here and now and what’s more, we’re meant to live in it! We’re meant to experience the sweet taste of victory. Here and now.

You know what I find scary? World wide there are billions of people who one way or another believe in Jesus. Billions. But so many in the midst of God’s kingdom haven’t woken up to the fact that victory is ours. The guns have fallen silent. Peace has broken out. It’s time to taste the sweet taste of victory.

Now you might say to me, “Berni how can that be so? Look at what’s going on in my life. Look at the battles that I am fighting on so many fronts. How can you say that peace has broken out? How can you say to me, taste the sweet taste of victory when I don’t even know if I’m going to make it through today, let alone tomorrow?”

And my answer to you is this, by faith:

For whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith.Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:4-5)

You go back and listen to the Apostle Paul’s words about being a conqueror – that great list of afflictions he sets out – and what you realise is that he wasn’t talking necessarily about victory over his circumstances. He was talking about victory amidst his circumstances!

The victory that Jesus bought for you and for me on that Cross is a victory that is meant to make us strong in the middle of all that we’re going through. My friend, we can have peace – in fact we’re meant to have peace – right now. Here. Today.

The moment we believe in Jesus – and what He did for us – in that very instant the clock ticks over, the guns cease to fire and there is peace, blessed peace between God and us.

And His victory: the victory over death that Jesus purchased on the Cross when he paid for my sin and yours; the victory of a new life that’s there to be lived now. You know what I ache for? You know how I shared that look in the eyes of that elderly Jewish woman as she told me about that day she was set free. I ache to see that look in the eyes of every man and woman and child who believes in Jesus. I ache to see that freedom, that peace, that victory become the dominant reality in the life of each one who’s put their faith in Jesus.

Why? Because when we live our lives in that truth, in that reality we become more than conquerors. The things that once shot fear into our hearts no longer have an impact. The trials and the encounter in the wildernesses that we walk through become opportunities to discover a mysterious God instead of ordeals of dread. My friend, Jesus came to set us free. He came to give us victory.

And He came to make us more than conquerors. After all the destruction and mayhem and mess in our lives, why wouldn’t we want to live out that freedom, conqueror the enemy and taste the sweet, sweet taste of His victory. I tell you, that’s how I’ve decided to live my life.

I’ve decided to take Jesus at His Word and simply believe that He means me not to be some angry, stunted, bitter little person … but instead to taste that sweet taste of God’s victory.

The Humble Conqueror

Victory! … Victory is a word that Christians love to bandy around. Paul the Apostle writes:

… Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ… (1 Corinthians 15:57)

But what does that actually mean? What is victory? I mean, victory’s nice. But on the other hand victory can be ugly too. We don’t have to look too far back in history to see how victory in a war has come at a terrible price. A victory of one group of people has brought terrible pain and oppression to other groups of people. Surely if God tells us that those who believe in Jesus are more than conquerors it has to be a different kind of victory. The picture of a conquering army may conjure up images of victory but what about the death and destruction that it took to get there, to become a conqueror in the first place.

No. If God is talking about some sort of victory in our lives when we put our faith in His Son Jesus, then it has to be a different kind of victory; a pure victory, a sweet victory, a good and wholesome and wonderful victory. Because if it’s not that sort of a victory then surely it can’t be from God.

Question is, when God talks about victory, what sort of victory is He talking about? What does He mean when He speaks the word “victory” into our lives. What exactly is His plan when it comes to making us more than conquerors?

In the world’s eyes, victory is about winning and winning is everything. It’s a winner takes all model. There’s no glory in coming second in this world. In fact a lot of what victory’s about is beating the other guy. It’s about me thumping my chest and telling myself how great I am because I beat you.

But when God through His Word through the Apostle Paul talks about us being more than conquerors, (Romans 8:35-39) it’s not the world’s kind of victory that He has in mind. God has a completely different notion of what victory means. Have a look to this beautiful Psalm. We don’t know who wrote it, but clearly, this is a Psalm of Praise after God gave His people, Israel, a great victory. If you have a Bible, look it up:

Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the faithful. Let Israel be glad in its Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King. Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.

For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with victory. Let the faithful exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their couches. (Psalm 149:1-5)

God’s given them some great victory over an enemy that’s threatened them. And instead of beating their chests and slapping one another on the back and telling each other how utterly amazing they were in that battle and how they whopped the enemy and ‘good on me’ and ‘good on you’ … what do they do?

They sing praises to God and give thanks to Him and give Him the glory. All the glory. And in that passage this one verse leaps out at me:

For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with victory. (Psalm 149:4)

God gives victory not to those who are full of themselves, but to the humble. There’s an amazing scene at the end of WW ll when General Dwight D Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander of Europe addresses the British Parliament following victory in Europe. He said:

Humility must be the measure of a man whose success was bought with the blood of his subordinates and paid for with the lives of his friends.

You know something? That bit about success bought with the blood of subordinates and paid for with the lives of friends, that rings so true when I look at the victory I have in my life.

It’s a victory purchased for me through the blood and the life of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God who came to this earth, suffered incredibly, was nailed – brutally nailed – to a cross and died a gruesome death for one reason and one reason alone: to pay the price of my rebellion and yours; to pay the price of our failures and losses and defeats and, (let me call it what it is) to pay the price of my sin and yours.

That’s where our victory was purchased. None of our good works, none of our virtues, none of our hard work, it was all done for us so that we might have life eternal. Paul writes:

When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your 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. (1 Corinthians 15:54-57)

God is looking to make us more than conquerors but in a humble sort of a way. When you and I defeat sin in our lives, when we overcome this obstacle and climb over that mountain and by faith cast that other mountains into the sea, none of that is done in our power or our strength, none of that is through our abilities. It’s all about the power and the mercy and the grace of God. And this God is looking for humble conquerors.

For the Lord takes pleasure in his people;, he adorns the humble with victory. (Psalm 149:4)

But he gives all the more grace; therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. (James 4:6)

My friend, when we taste the victories in life that God brings, they are so incredibly sweet. I know … I know that there are those amongst us today who are facing absolutely impossible odds. I know that there are those caring for the mother with Alzheimer’s Disease; there are those struggling to put food on the table; there are those in other parts of the world where this program is heard who are fleeing for their lives. But as the Apostle Paul writes:

In all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come Nor power nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37-39)

Things Are Not What They Seem

Have you ever notice that things aren’t always what they seem. What this world holds out to be victory is not always what God holds out to be victory.

In fact the world’s victory is the complete opposite end of the scale to what God calls victory. That’s why the things that Jesus says – in fact many of the things that God says throughout the Bible – seem so topsy turvy; upside down; wrong way round. If we look at them through the world’s eyes, they appear wrong. They’re foolishness through the world’s eyes.

Take for instance one of the most famous of all Jesus’ sermons, the Sermon on the Mount. Nowhere is this stark contrast between God’s victory and the world’s victory more evident. If you have a Bible, grab it.

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.

Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:1-12)

Just have a think about this. Doesn’t that feel completely upside down? Blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are those who mourn; blessed are the meek … For goodness sake! What’s Jesus thinking! It definitely doesn’t fit with the world’s formula. It certainly doesn’t fit with the victory we are often hungry for and ask God for. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

The world tells us that blessed are the rich and the happy and the proud and those who are full and those who have enough. But look at the crunch bit at the end. Look at the reward, the prize of this upside down, topsy turvy victory that Jesus is proclaiming to His disciples:

Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:1-12)

I don’t know about you, but when people revile me and they persecute me and they utter kinds of evil against me falsely because I believe in Jesus, I don’t feel particularly blessed in those moments. Right, we don’t because it’s hard. But Jesus is saying just hang on a minute, get the big picture. Get the big picture of God’s victory in our lives. Rejoice, be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.

My friend, if the one is different from the other – if the world’s victory is different to God’s victory, so entirely different – let me ask you. Which one is the impostor and which one is the truth? Well, which one? The one that offers pay today and nothing for eternity or the one that involves goodness and sacrifice and honour and grace today and an eternity in the presence of God?

That’s something that each one of us has to decide for ourselves. I can’t shove this down your throat. That’s not my job. You may be surprised to know I happen to lean to one much more than I lean to the other. To me it seems pretty straightforward, it seems pretty obvious. But that’s just me.

Things aren’t always what they seem. All that glitters isn’t gold.

Let me encourage you to put your faith not in the world but in the one Who’s trustworthy, in the one Who’s worthy of our trust. Let me encourage you with the reality that anyone who puts their faith in Jesus the Christ is more than a conqueror, more than a victor with an abundant, victorious life now and forever. That’s the promise Jesus gives us when we lay hold of the victory that He has planned for us. God’s victory, not the world’s.

If you ask someone whether they want to be a winner or a loser at life – well, it’s a bit of a no-brainer isn’t it? The problem is though, in order to win, you need courage. And courage is a funny thing, it’s something we all want to have, but very few want to actually have to use. Because courage, well, it’s something you only ever need, it’s something you only ever deploy, when you’re afraid.

Take Courage

Courage is a funny thing! It’s something we all want to have but never want to use. I mean think about it. Do you want to be a courageous person; someone with the resolve and strength to make it through the difficult times; those dark and stormy days? Of course you do, so do I, we all do. It’s just that we never ever want to travel through those difficult times. We want our lives to be pleasant and comfortable and happy.

We want everyone around us to be like us and to be kind to us … And of course, life just isn’t like that – those dark and stormy days do come. In fact, sometimes they’re like seasons, they linger on; the winter that just doesn’t seem to want to end. And the longer this darkness goes on, the harder it gets; the more prone we are to feeling defeated; the more we become victims of our circumstances.

No, courage is definitely something we want to have, but we never want to have to use it. Problem is, the only place where we develop our courage, where we grow our courage, where we test our courage, is in those dark and difficult places. And that, my friend, is the truth of it. That’s what we are going to be unpacking today on the programme – courage.

As I look back on my life, the last decade and a half that I have been walking with Jesus, instead of away from Him, there have been so many times when circumstances have wanted to overwhelm me.

Do you remember the story of the disciple Peter who saw Jesus walking towards his boat out on the Sea of Galilee? Great big storm happening and the disciples were in the boat and they thought they were going to drown. And Jesus comes out, walking on the water and they thought they had seen a ghost.

Peter jumps out of the boat, starts walking towards Jesus. I mean, it was a gutsy move. This great storm blowing; he got out of the boat in the middle of the storm. What a mighty step of faith! But listen to what happened to him along the way while he is walking on the water towards Jesus. Matthew chapter 14 and verse 30:

When Peter noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”

To tell you the truth, that has happened to me so many times. You get out there, you’re doing what you think God’s called you to do, – whether in ministry or, previously I had my own business or in family or with friends – you’re believing that God is good. He’s with me, He’ll help me to do the things that He wants me to do for His glory. And then, all of a sudden, your eyes come off Him and you focus on the reality of your circumstances, like Peter and you get that sinking feeling.

Over the last few weeks and again this week on the programme, we are working our way through a series called, “More Than Conquerors.” These are the Apostle Paul’s words when he wrote to the Roman church in the New Testament. Romans chapter 8, verses 35-39:

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

See, the issue is not that every time we’re in trouble, God will come along and wave a magic wand and make it all perfect again. He doesn’t work that way. Often He lets us go through those dark seasons and they linger on and He lets us walk through the wildernesses of life.

The issue is that, while we’re in those dark places – as Paul had been many a time, as he wrote this passage we’ve just read – that the circumstances won’t crush us; that we won’t be torn apart and cast asunder by the difficulties of life. And today on the programme we are going to explore probably the most important ingredient in being a conqueror and that … that is courage.

In the Old Testament, the first time it talks about having courage is when a man called Joshua is in an incredibly difficult place. The twelve tribes of Israel were captive in Egypt. God brought Moses and leads them through the Red Sea and they spend forty years on the exodus in the wilderness. And they are about to cross over into the Promised Land; cross the Jordan which they would have to take after fighting battle after battle after battle with the nations that occupied the Promised Land. And their trusted and proven leader of forty years, Moses, dies.

God appoints his second in charge, Joshua, to take over at this critical, scary time. I mean, couldn’t God have done this earlier? Or couldn’t Moses have lasted just a bit longer to lead them through at least a couple of the battles in the Promised Land until they got their confidence up? No! Right at this point … right on the threshold of all the battles; just before they cross over the Jordan into the Promised Land, at the least most convenient time, God takes Moses, puts Joshua in charge. Notice God’s timing. So often it’s scary.

Joshua chapter 1, verses 1-9 is a powerful passage where God commissions Joshua for the onerous task of leadership ahead. I’m going to read just three verses to you. Have a listen:

Be strong and courageous; for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them. (Joshua 1:6)

Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go. (Joshua 1:7)

I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9)

Three times God commands Joshua to be strong and courageous! Three times! Do you think that God thought it was important for Joshua to be courageous … to have courage? Do you think?

Let’s get a grip here! We want to have courage but so often when things happen at the most inconvenient possible time; when things all of a sudden turn scary in our lives, we want to go under a rock somewhere and hide. That’s a natural reaction really. We all have that reaction sometimes – I certainly do because courage is counter intuitive. Courage is stepping out and doing it anyway, even though there is risk and danger and we are afraid.

Let me tell you something: there can be no victory in those places unless we take courage; unless we decide to listen to God’s command to get out there and do it anyway, even when we’re afraid, because we know that the Lord our God is with us wherever we go.

My friend, you and I, we live on a battlefield and if we want to win the battle we need to get on a war footing; we need to take courage and be courageous. We are going to be exploring that some more later because it’s easier said than done.

But let me say this: God wants you and me to be more than conquerors; He wants us to experience His victory in every part of our lives BUT – and here’s the “But” with a capital “B” – if we are to lay hold of that victory, we need to obey His command:

“I hereby command you,” says the Lord our God, “be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Stand Firm

Today on the programme we are looking at living in victory. Earlier we saw that we need to have courage, but courage to do what? Let’s take a look. For ten years, between 1977 and 1987, I served in the Australian Army. One of the things that they taught us while I was at the Officer Training Academy at Duntroon was the role of every corps in the Army. We had to memorise these roles, word for word, and I can tell you that the role of the Infantry Corps is to seek out and close with the enemy; to kill or capture him; to seize and hold ground; to repel attack by day or by night, regardless of season, weather or terrain.

At the end of the day, fighting the battle is about seizing a piece of ground, capturing it and holding onto it. You win if you beat the other force that you are fighting against, take the ground and hang onto it, even when they counter attack.

That’s what winning is in war and strangely enough, that’s exactly what victory is when we are fighting the battles of life. When the devil comes after us with a pick axe; when the circumstances of life counterattack and threaten to throw us off our game, it’s about taking the ground that God’s given us; the parcel that He’s allotted to us in life – whatever that is – taking it, hanging onto it, through thick and thin. God wants us to be victorious! He wants us to be more than conquerors.

And on the programme today we are going to discover how! Have a listen to what the Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 6, beginning at verse 10:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against rulers, against authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

See, the devil comes to attack. Paul’s telling us to be strong in the strength of God’s power, not in our own strength, “so that we may be able to withstand on that evil day and having done everything, to stand firm.” It’s exactly what we talked about just before.

Now please, when I talk about being victorious and grabbing onto what God’s given us in life and hanging onto it, I’m not talking about some selfish, “blab it and grab” it kind of faith where it’s all about “me” – where it’s about having a bigger house and a nicer car and finer clothes, all those things. Well, they’re nice but in the scheme of things, they’re rubbish compared to the real thing.

Here’s what God has planned for us: His peace, His joy, His power to live our lives in obedience to Him, His love that we can share with a lost and a hurting world. God has such riches planned for you and me but they are not the riches of this world, in fact, they’re the exact opposite. Jesus put it this way. Matthew chapter 13, verse 44. He said:

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then is his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Jesus is saying God’s riches are so good that we would trade everything we have for God’s riches – the Kingdom of God. And I have to tell you, for me, that’s so true. I have a joy and a peace and a quiet confidence in God today that I wouldn’t give up for all the tea in China – no way!! The world … the world wants to rob us of those things; the devil wants to rob us of all those things.

He (the devil) doesn’t want us to have peace and joy and so in the circumstances of life, along comes someone who’s nasty and unfair and talks behind our backs and threatens our jobs and our security. Happens, doesn’t it? So many things and people and devils are out there that want to rob us of that which Jesus purchased for you and me at the price of His own life on that cross at Calvary.

We live on a battlefield and in a battle you can’t have a victory without courage. Courage is about standing and fighting when every fibre in your being is screaming at you to run and hide. See, it takes courage to stand secure when someone is being nasty and undermining us and threatening us. It takes courage to love them and turn the other cheek when what we really want to do is run and hide in our old sinful ways, where we give them back the same rubbish that they are dishing up to us.

So the question is: how? I want to share with you a single passage – just two short verses from the Bible – it’s so powerful, I believe this passage is going to breathe a mighty courage into your spirit. Are you ready? If you have a Bible, open it up at First Corinthians chapter 16, verses 13 and 14. It says:

Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.

The Apostle Paul, at the end of a pretty stern letter to his friends in the church in Corinth, is writing these words. Now, I want to unpack them, just briefly, because there is such power in them. The Bible is, after all, God’s Word and God’s Word, when the Spirit takes it and writes it on our hearts, is the power to change.

“Keep alert”! Open your eyes. You see, we expect life to be rosy, peaches and cream, comfortable and warm and pleasant. It’s not like that all the time. Tough things happen. And Paul’s saying just keep alert; keep your eyes open; expect them to happen; be ready for them. This is powerful stuff because instead of being surprised when something bad happens, we’re ready. One of the greatest weapons of any enemy is the element of surprise. He attacks when we least expect him to but if we’re ready and alert, it has far less impact on us.

And then Paul says, “Stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong.” See, that’s what having courage means. That’s where courage comes from – not from self-confidence or self-reliance or relying on our bank balance or our position or status or experience but in trusting God. In standing firm when the devil comes after us with a meat cleaver; when the circumstances we face in life are so profoundly overwhelming; stand firm, believing in God. He hasn’t fallen off His twig, you know. He’s not surprised, He’s not shocked, He’s not frightened – stand firm and believe in Him. Joshua chapter 1, verse 9 – we looked at it earlier:

I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

That’s why we can stand firm because God is in that place with us, no matter what anyone hurls at us. And finally, he says there in First Corinthians chapter 16, verse 14:

Let all that you do be done in love.

See, this is the important bit. We’re not fighting battles and winning victories for our own selfish ends; we are winning the victory of faith knowing that we can overcome; knowing that when we’re walking through the fire, God is in that furnace with us. First John chapter 5, verse 4:

For whatever is born of God, conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith.

See, the thing that wins, isn’t us; it’s not our selfishness but whatever is born of God is what conquers the world. All that is born of God is born in love, in self-sacrifice, in putting others before us – that’s what victory is all about. We conquer the world through our faith in this loving God. I want to encourage you today, God means for us to be more than conquerors – much more. He means for us to have victory; His victory in life.

And I don’t care what it is that you are facing right now; what affliction, what toil, what rejection, what fear, what loss, what insecurity, whatever it is, God’s plan – right smack bang in the middle of that calamity – is for you and for me to be more that conquerors in Him who loves us. That’s the plan; that’s the victory; that’s the power. So here it is:

Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.

Victory – for me and for you

For many, many people, this notion that we can have victory – actually live in the victory that God purchased for us at the cross – is a huge shift. I know a man, a godly man, a minister of the Gospel who has a well developed theology of defeat. For him failure is a sign that he is living out God’s call on his life. I’m not sure what that’s all about.

At the beginning of the programme, I shared with you that powerful passage from the Apostle Paul. Romans chapter 8, 35-39. I’m toying with the idea – nah, I’m not toying – we’re going to do it. I’m going to read it again because, buried in this beautiful passage is the crux of what God means by ‘victory’; because what I’m talking about living out, isn’t the world’s notion of victory, but God’s. Come on, let’s dive in and have another look. Let’s dig deeper to discover the treasure that God has buried here in His Word for us today. Romans chapter 8, verses 35 to 39. This is what Paul writes:

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor present things, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Remember how over the last few weeks we’ve seen how Paul travels through some incredibly difficult spots; life threatening on many occasions. There were afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labours, sleepless nights, hunger and it would have been so easy for him to wallow in the injustice of it all; to complain, to whinge, to give up: “God, You called me to this and now look at the rubbish that’s happening to me!” See, that’s where defeat lies – not in our circumstances but in how we respond to our circumstances.

You know something? Difficult circumstances are going to come and go. Some people have more than others – I can’t explain that. They’re as much a part of our lives as the air that we breathe. There are seasons in our lives that come and go and the world wants us to believe that victory … victory is in removing the source of pain; victory is having the cancer healed every time; victory is God magically coming up with the cash when we are broke.

Now, God actually does do those things from time to time. I have seen more miracles of His provision and grace in the last decade and a half than I ever could have dreamed up for myself. But the real victory comes when, in the midst of those tough circumstances, we don’t give up our hope in Him; when we don’t give up the call He’s placed on our lives; when we stand firm, no matter what the world throws at us. But Paul lists out all his adversities and then proclaims this over them. He says:

But in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loves us.

Why? Because he honestly, with every fibre of his being, believes that none of these things – nothing that he can experience, nothing he can imagine, nothing that the world throw at him – can separate him from the love of God in Christ Jesus. And that’s why he can proclaim victory over his adversity, that’s why he can say, “I am more than a conqueror.”

And that’s exactly the kind of victory that Jesus purchased for us on the cross. That is exactly the kind of victory He calls us to live out, right here and right now, in the middle of the rubbish that people are going through. That means having courage.

You know, I often pray for courage. I often ask the Lord to give me the courage that I need in my heart to stand firm today, when through the gates of Hades the devil throws everything in his armoury at me. I don’t have the courage. I have enough courage, maybe, to do little things but you know, some days, there is a spiritual battle going on and I don’t have the courage … the courage comes from God.

Lord, give me courage. I believe in the victory that You have purchased for me on the cross. I believe that the day of jubilee is coming. I believe that Your love and Your grace and Your Holy Spirit are all that I need to stand firm; to persevere; to endure until the day that I stand before You.

Are you with me? See, the world wants us to believe that it’s ending our difficult circumstances that equal victory, but God tells us, “No!” Victory is something that we can have right here, in the middle of the worst thing that we could ever imagine.

Take courage, stand firm!

Sometimes people will say to me – my life is such a mess, I can’t imagine that there can even be a God. But as it turns out – when life’s a mess, there’s something that God wants you to have. Something He wants you to experience more than anything else. His comfort. And that comfort, the comfort of God, is just one of the mightiest blessings He will ever pour out on you.

God’s Consolation

I wonder have you ever been in a place in your life where you feel like … like you are so utterly and unbearably crushed; that life, as you know it, is going to come to an end? You know, when the darkness is so dark; when the pain is so bad, when nothing that anybody says or does to help makes even the slightest bit of difference.

I often receive emails from people who have listened to one of these programmes and they say to me, “Berni, how can you tell me that God is good? How can you believe that God wants me to be more than a conqueror – He wants me to have victory?” And that’s because people have been living in defeat for so long, they can’t even begin to imagine what victory looks like.

And that’s not always their fault. I spoke with a woman who’s been caring for her mother who’s had dementia for years now and it’s become utterly unbearable for her. She is suffering so much; physically, mentally and spiritually that she’s completely lost sight of God.

When things are that brutal and dark and lonely like that, we get to thinking and imagining that there’s no way out; that there’s no solution; no way. Today on the programme I want to share something with you from God’s Word that tells us the complete opposite. And my prayer is that as you receive God’s Word, His Spirit will breathe a courage into your heart, that you never thought possible. God means for us to live in victory and there are some amazing rewards that come with that victory.

The first of those is the comfort of God. Let me share with you something that comes from the Apostle Paul. Now it’s easy to get the idea that because he’s got the title “Apostle” with a capital “A” that this guy was somehow super-human. That somehow because God had him write almost half the books of the New Testament and plant most of the churches in the known world in the first century AD, that somehow Paul was immune from the trials and tribulations that you and I face. So let me read to you a short passage from the beginning of the second letter to the church in Corinth; it comes from Second Corinthians chapter 1, verses 8-11:

We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death so that we would rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on him we have set our hope that he will rescue us again, as you also join in helping us by your prayers, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

It’s pretty grim stuff! He says, “We were utterly, unbearably crushed.” The picture there in the original Greek words that Paul uses, is of like grapes being crushed in a wine press, having the life; the juice squeezed completely out of them. That’s what he’s talking about here. And a little bit later in the same letter he goes on to explain a bit more of what was going on and how they felt when they had to go through these trials. Picking up in Second Corinthians chapter 4, verses 8 to 10. He said:

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be visible in our bodies.

Now if you have ever been in such a dark and difficult place you will surely relate to what Paul is saying here – I certainly do! As I hear his words and close my eyes, I can remember the pain of some of the darkest days of my life. And in those dark days there were times when I despaired for life itself. There were times when I wondered whether I should end it all. There were times when I couldn’t possibly see how I could make it through until tomorrow. The darkness was so dark I had forgotten completely what light was like except for a small candlelight that shone in my heart. Second Corinthians chapter 4, verse 6:

For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

But in this letter to his friends in Corinth, Paul explains the source of his power. Paul explains why it is that he hasn’t been crushed; why it is that he hasn’t been driven to despair; why it is that he hasn’t been forsaken or destroyed. And here is the nub of what I want to share with you right now; is the most beautiful and wondrous thing. Listen! Second Corinthians chapter 1, verse 3:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves were consoled by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ.

Paul’s talking here about the fact that God consoles him in his affliction. Other translations talk about God bringing comfort. And so, what I did is I went back to look at the original Greek meaning of this word that’s been variously translated as ‘comfort’ and ‘console’ here in these few short verses and blow me down, if it isn’t the very same word that Jesus uses for the Holy Spirit in John chapter 14, verses 16-18. He says:

I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, to be with you. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. I will not leave you orphaned; for I am coming to you.

Now, bring these two passages together, what Paul says in Second Corinthians chapter 1, verses 3-5 and what Jesus is saying in John chapter 14, verses 16-18 and this is what God is saying to us through His Word today. When we are so utterly and unbearably crushed that we despair of life itself, then our place of comfort is God Himself. The Spirit of God who is a Comforter, just like Jesus, who dwells in us.

That’s the light that shines in the darkness; that’s the peace and the joy; that’s the place that our courage comes from and where our hope comes from. God pours His Spirit in our hearts and He brings hope in the middle of despair. That’s why elsewhere; in Romans chapter 5, verses 3-5, Paul writes this:

… that we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

My friend, listen to me – no matter how dark it gets; no matter how difficult it gets amidst the very affliction that would seem to squeeze all the life out of us; unbearable and impossible though it may seem, God’s Word says that right in the middle of that, we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us. Do you get it? The One who loves us, is right here in our darkness with us and if we will only get still before Him and stop and listen and look with the eyes of our soul, we will see that the light shines in the darkness. We will experience this Comforter, just like Jesus, the Holy Spirit; God Himself who dwells in us – the One who will encourage us; comfort us and build us up.

And do you know what happens when we rely on Him, above all others in our darkest afflictions? We discover that indeed we are more than conquerors; we can overcome anything and everything through Him who loves us; through Him who dwells in us; through Him who will never leave us or forsake us. This is the promise of God Himself, for just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us so also our consolation is abundant through Christ.

Double for Your Trouble

Have you ever lost something that you’ve worked hard for? It happens a lot; more than we would think. Person who’s worked hard at their career, sacrificed so much for their employer, finds themselves retrenched in an economic slump. A couple that saved for their retirement, sees their savings evaporate when the stock market crashes. The house you have turned into a home – lovely memories, happy times and sad – consumed by fire or destroyed by flood. In fact, it happens a whole bunch more often than we would imagine.

Take a look around the world – twenty five to thirty thousand children dying every day from poverty, that’s, gee, that’s a hundred or two hundred since we started talking together today. They may have mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters who’ve lost a child. So many lose so much in this world and when we value what we have lost – a loved one, a career, a home – when the value is high because we have invested so much of ourselves into that thing which is now lost, it is devastating.

And that devastation can leave us reeling. The loss of one whom we’ve loved; the loss of that for which we have worked so hard for. The greater the investment, the greater the value and the greater the value, the greater the loss. And somehow we want to mourn that loss, over and over and over again.

You may have heard me say this before but there are so many people who allow the past to spoil their present and rob them of their future. And even when we’re still right in the middle of losing whatever it is that we’ve lost, yet it feels as though nothing can ever replace it. That’s an untruth that many, many people hang on to. It’s a lie that the devil uses to suck the life out of many a person, even a person who believes in Jesus with all their hearts.

Today we are looking at the rewards of victory that Jesus promised. And one of the greatest rewards of all is the way in which God restores things to us. In fact, God has an amazing track record of giving us much better and much more than we had to start with. He is after all, a God of grace and mercy and love. First step though, is letting go of the past. If it’s lost, it’s lost – you can’t change that, you can’t undo that, you can’t fix anything that you may have done or failed to do which led to or contributed to the loss. The past is the past, we can’t change it.

That’s why God said to His people Israel who deserted Him and so He punished them by having the Babylonians take them into captivity for seventy years. He says in Isaiah chapter 43, verse 18:

Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old.

He tells them this right when He is about to restore their fortunes and take them out of their slavery and exile and return them back to the Promised Land. He can’t do that if they’re still wallowing around in the past. Now I know it can be difficult to imagine, when you have lost a loved one – a wife or a husband – when you have lost a job, when you’ve lost everything; possessions, family, wealth, children, everything – it can be difficult to imagine that it can ever get better. And you keep asking God, “Why? I haven’t done anything wrong.”

There’s a great, powerful story about this in the Book of Job, in the Old Testament. God takes away everything that Job has, but after all the calamity and the loss and the pain, have a listen to what God does. Job chapter 42, verse 10. He says:

And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.

In fact, this isn’t the only time that someone gets double for their trouble. Again, this promise from God comes to God’s people after a whole big calamity on them – Zechariah chapter 9, verse 12:

Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.

And the same thing again through the prophet Isaiah – Isaiah chapter 61, verse 7:

“Because their shame was double,” (this is God’s people) “Because their shame was double, and dishonour was proclaimed as their lot, therefore they shall possess (wait for it!) a double portion; everlasting joy shall be theirs.”

My friend, God is a God of great blessing and sometimes even double isn’t enough to describe what He has in store for us when we lose something we love, or we lose something that we valued highly. We can live the rest of our lives in defeat, but in Christ we are more that conquerors. And I want to encourage you, if you’ve lost someone you love or something you valued highly, it’s time to let go of the past and set your hope on the future – the goodness that God will bring.

Well, it may be entirely different to what you have lost; it may not be what you would have chosen for yourself but here are some words from the late, great eighteenth century preacher S.D. Gordon. He said:

If God were to say to me, “I want to give you something; a special love gift, as an extra because I love you, what would you like to have?” Do you know what I thought I would have said to God? “Dear God, You choose. I choose what You choose.”

He is thinking about me, He knows what I am thinking of and what I would most enjoy and He is such a lover God, that He would choose something a bit finer than I would think. I might think of a dollar but He’s likely thinking of double. I thinking of blackberries; big, juicy blackberries but really I don’t know what blackberries are beside the sort He knows and He would choose for me.

That is our God!

Let me encourage you. No matter what you may have lost, you have lost nothing at all because in Christ you have it all. You and I, we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.

Our Reward in Heaven

You know something? In the heat of battle it’s so easy to lose sight of the victory that God has planned for us. I mean with everything that’s going on we can become so distracted with just dealing with the day to day that we completely lose sight of the fact that victory is possible and what victory might look like.

Over these last few weeks on the programme we have been trying to get a handle on the fact that according to God we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us – not just conquerors but more than conquerors. That means we don’t just somehow scrape by with a victory but we have an abundance of victory and joy and peace in our lives to share around with people who don’t have enough. An overflow of victorious blessing, if you like.

And yet we ourselves – those who should be living in victory; those who should be overcoming and winning in the struggles of life – if someone came up to us and said, “You know, I’ve been reading the Bible, this thing that you believe in, and I’ve noticed it talks a lot about having victory. I want you to tell me something – what is that victory like in your life? What does it look like? I wouldn’t know, because well, I want to decide if that’s the life that I want for me.” Um! If someone came and asked you that sort of question, what would you tell them?

I don’t know if you have been able to join me on some or even all of the programmes over these last few weeks in this series called, “More than Conquerors”, but we have been looking a lot at the fact that in God’s eyes no matter what’s going on in our lives, He wants us to have more than enough victory in our lives to share around. You can pick up again on Romans chapter 8, verses 35-39. Paul writes:

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.”

And notice that conquering is not necessarily about changing the negative circumstances. We’ve seen on the programme today the Apostle Paul had more than his fair share of negative circumstances. In fact, Paul doesn’t talk about changing circumstances – conquering for him, is having faith in this amazing God, knowing that whatever happens; whatever the world throws at us; whatever the devil throws at us, at the end of the day, his reward is in God; his reward is in heaven.

Most of what we have talked about on the programme over these last few weeks has been about the rewards we receive here on earth and we take courage and put our trust in God. Let me say those rewards are numerous; they are about having peace and joy and confidence amidst the worst of the worst that can ever happen to us. They are about walking quietly and confidently through every wilderness and every trial and every temptation. They are about God blessing us in new ways and abundant ways when we’ve lost someone we love or lost something we treasure.

When we lay a hold of the truth that we are meant to victory here on earth, then we are more than conquerors here on earth. The rewards are indeed abundant, but whatever reward we may have here on earth in this life, it is nothing … nothing compared to the rewards that we will have; the prize that we will win for all eternity, if we just keep trusting in Jesus.

Here’s why! This passage comes from the New Testament; from the Book of Hebrews – it’s called that because it was written to the Hebrew community in the first century AD. Have a listen to what the writer says – he’s talking about the life to come. This comes from Hebrews chapter 10, beginning at verse 31:

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

But recall those earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and persecution, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. Do not, therefore, abandon that confidence of yours; it brings a great reward. For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.

For yet in a very little while, the one who is coming will come and will not delay; but my righteous one will live by faith.

The writer here is writing to people who have been persecuted; people who have been persecuted and abused for their faith. People who had their possessions plundered because they were Christians. Real stuff, yet he talks about the fact that they accepted all of these things cheerfully. That’s the sort of topsy turvy victory that God talks about here on earth, because they knew that they themselves possessed something much better and more lasting.

You know what? Truly, that’s what victory looks like in my life. Things come and go. Once upon a time I was a consultant in the I.T. industry and earned much more money than I am earning now. I could buy whatever I wanted, pretty much. Today I am a minister of the Gospel; I don’t have quite the same buying power with my salary. But truly, it is no loss at all. I’m much happier, I’m much more fulfilled in what I’m doing now, in what I have now which is a dynamic, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, than I ever could have been back then, earning all that I earned.

There’s simply no comparison! And it’s not just that I have it now – that’s a shadow of what’s to come. Let me tell you, one day you and I will stand before God and be judged and as the writer of Hebrews said there, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” But …”The righteous shall live by faith.” What that means is that when we stand before God; before the judgement seat of God, on that great and terrible day, well, I am simply going to plead this: ‘Lord God, I have sinned against You. I did rebel against You, I deserve eternal separation from You – that thing that You call hell but when Jesus came to me and spoke to me and called me, I put my trust in Him.”

I believe that I have life eternal through faith in Him and my reward will be in heaven. It doesn’t matter what trials I’ve gone through; it doesn’t matter that I’ve made some blunders along the way, the great reward is the eternal reward; being with Jesus for all eternity, to serve Him and to worship Him and to delight in Him.

That’s the reward, my friend, and it’s an eternal reward. Listen to Revelations chapter 21 – the second last chapter in the Bible:

The home of God will be among mortals.
He will dwell with us as our God.
We will be his peoples and God himself will be with us;
he will wipe every tear from our eyes.
Death will be no more:
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for those first things have passed away.

Sometimes we don’t get all the rewards here on earth that, somehow, we think we are entitled to. Sometimes we don’t get to see the fruit of the things that we have laboured for in God’s name. Sometimes things aren’t completely resolved; aren’t completely healed; aren’t completely set right on this earth in our lifetime, but this one thing … this one thing I know, that no matter what happens here, if we persevere and keep believing in Jesus, our reward in heaven will indeed be great.

Nothing can separate us from His love. We are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.