“Victory In Jesus”

Scripture: Zephaniah 3:14-17; 1 Corinthians 15:51-57; 1 John 5:1-5

What is there about sports victories that everyone gets so excited over? When our favorite team wins the Super Bowl, or the World Series, or the Stanley Cup, or any Championship for that matter, what’s in it for us? Do we get a share of the winning team’s prize money? Do we get a Super Bowl ring or World Series ring? Do we get a parade in our honor, or a visit to the White House to be congratulated by the President?

None of this – we get nothing of worth, and probably only get bragging rights over our friends who routed for the other team, and since bragging is closely related to pride, we shouldn’t be bragging, either! So the victory that others achieve in this world hold no benefit whatsoever to us. (And don’t anyone tell me that you won money betting on those games either – we don’t even want to go there!)

There is only one victory that any of us should ever rejoice over, and that is the victory over sin and death that comes to us by faith in Jesus Christ. He took on the hatred that reigned throughout the world, he took on the sin that holds everyone in its death grip, and he took the finality of physical death and changed it into a step toward eternal life. There is nothing that can ever defeat the person who believes in the “way, truth and life” of Christ, and claims the way to salvation that only exists through faith and trust in Jesus.

Today, our Lenten hymn is “Victory in Jesus”.

Read Zephaniah 3:14-17

The prophet is trying his hardest to awaken the people from their spiritual slumber. And rightly so – I believe that the only thing worse than our sin of denial is our sin of complacency. I know people who hold some very strange ideas of what sin is, and why forgiveness isn’t really needed. Many believe that on the Day of Judgment, the Lord Judge is going to give complete forgiveness to the entire world, since the beginning of time, regardless of whether they have any relationship with Christ Jesus or not. I’m not sure where they read that in scripture, but I’ve only found the direct opposite to be true. (Mark 1:4-8; Acts 10:43; Acts 26:15-18; etc.)

In these divergent beliefs, as well as in all the rest of them, the Lord’s victory loses all of its power and all of its glory. Jesus went to Calvary to suffer, to bleed, and to die to free us from the power that sin holds in our life, and he rose again to new life, in a divine victory over the sentence of death – a death penalty that we all absolutely deserve.

And the prophet tells us that because of the victory God brings to us, we should be singing at the top of our lungs, that we should be celebrating with our entire being, no longer allowing our hands to hang limp by our side, but raising them in praise for the freedom that Jesus has gained on our behalf. But to deny that Jesus’ victory holds any significance or importance for us only says that we denounce his sacrifice as ridiculous and insignificant.
The truth is that he has taken away all fear of rejection; he has given us a path to avoid condemnation for our failure to follow his way; he has filled our lives with joyful reverence; and God Himself will sing songs of joy when we surrender our dependency on our own worldly abilities and accept the hope that only comes to those who have given themselves in faith to the one and only Son of God.

And if that isn’t cause to rejoice and lift our hands in celebration, I don’t know what is!

“I heard an old, old story, how a Savior came from glory,
How he gave his life on Calvary to save a wretch like me;
I heard about his groaning, of his precious blood’s atoning,
Then I repented of my sins and won the victory”

It’s the only way.

Read 1 Corinthians 15:51-57

Eternity requires a complete change in our lives. The problem is that we have been immersed in the ways of earth for too many years, and we have been contaminated by not only the world’s failure to proclaim Godly righteousness, but also in our acceptance of the overt lie that whatever life we choose to live is perfectly acceptable.

Paul is telling the church in Corinth that we are perishable beings, and that if we don’t find a way to become imperishable, we will succumb to the judgment of condemnation. But what can we do to achieve that change? It can never be through living the best life that we can – because no matter what we do, we can never be good enough! It can never be through the faith that our family and friends have – because our individual sinfulness must be changed through personal faith, not by observed faith.

We need to receive worthiness if we wish to be cleansed and healed from our condemnation. We are subject to our own mortality, and when we claim the immortality of Jesus Christ, when we look to his divine way instead of the world’s easy way, it is then, and only then, that we will be released from the hopeless authority that earth binds us with.

The power that sin holds is contained in our inadequate and feeble attempts to live a good life – our goodness will always fall far short of the righteousness that Jesus offers to all who have faith in him.

“I heard about his healing, of his cleansing power revealing,
How he made the lame to walk again and caused the blind to see;
And then I cried “Dear Jesus, come and heal my broken spirit,
And somehow Jesus came and brought to me the victory.”

Read 1 John 5:1-5

There’s an old saying that when we arrive at the gates of heaven, we’ll be surprised at who we see there, and even more surprised over those who we don’t see!
And John’s letter tells us that we are called to love them all – not just the ones who we expect to greet on the “other side”, not just the ones who have similar beliefs to ours – we must love them all. Have you ever tried to love someone who doesn’t want anything to do with your love? It’s nearly impossible to make them accept it, but then, we aren’t told that we have to make them appreciate our efforts to treat them in a Godly way! We are only to love them - never repaying arrogance with conceit, or hatred with disgust, or persecution with retribution, or anything else that mimics the attitudes that they are showing toward us. Just love them, right where they are.

And how about loving the Lord? Verse 3 tells us that we are to love God, too! And how do we do that? By obedience to his commands, and his teaching, and his example. But that is even more difficult than loving the unlovable! And in the extent of Godly ways, it is nearly impossible. But that doesn’t give us permission to quit trying – if we freely and intentionally accept the Lord’s love on a daily basis, if we strive every day to see the new ways that his love is working for our good, if we seek an understanding of how and why we are loved so perfectly, we will begin to discover an appreciation for Godly love, and will begin to understand how to show it to both the Lord and to the people of this world.

Love your neighbor, and love the Lord your God, both with the same purpose and intensity and commitment. (Luke 10:25-37) And this is the way, the only way, that the ways of earth can be overcome - by loving in the way that our God has first loved us – and them. And when the world is overcome, the only thing left for us is the highest heaven.

“I heard about a mansion he has built for me in glory,
And I heard about the streets of gold beyond the crystal sea;
About the angels singing and the old redemption story,
And some sweet day I’ll sing up there the song of victory."

And that song will be one of glory and praise, forever and ever!

“Victory in Jesus, my Savior forever!
He sought me and bought me with his redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew him, and all my love is due him’
He plunged me to victory beneath [his] cleansing flood.”


Are you ready for his love?
Are you ready to share that love?
Are you ready to sing your joy-felt praises for all that the Lord has done for you?
Have you received his burning desire that all should be saved through his glorious and mighty victory?

The time is now!