December 1, 2025 • 44 mins
What if Christmas isn’t about cozy sentiment but a royal invasion that shatters winter? Pastor Daniel Justice opens with 1 John 3:8 to claim something fierce and freeing: the Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil. From there, we trace how that victory moves from doctrine to daily life through the simple, demanding habit Scripture calls abiding.
We start with identity. The enemy keeps us stuck in who we were; the Gospel names who we are now—children of God, not yet what we will be, but already rescued and being remade. We unpack the “already and not yet” of salvation and use the D‑Day analogy to show why battles remain even though the war is won. That shift loosens shame and builds confidence rooted in Christ, not in performance.
Then we talk honestly about sin. Scripture calls it lawlessness—mutiny against a holy God—not quirks to manage. Jesus didn’t come to negotiate with sin but to take it away. Abiding in Christ breaks the cycle of habitual sin by reshaping desires and habits through the word, prayer, confession, and community. Victory isn’t swagger; it’s a new birth. Born of God, we receive new power and new behaviors as the Spirit conforms us to the Son.
To make this walkable, Pastor Daniel shares four guardrails: mastery (what controls you), eternity (what holds your gaze), unity (who you’re united with), and ownership (who you belong to). These anchors help us stop giving ground to a defeated enemy and start living like the King has returned. The result is practical freedom: less hiding, more holiness; less defeat, more joy; less winter, more spring.
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SPEAKER_00 (00:03):
Good morning.
Let me also say I hope you had awonderful Thanksgiving holiday
and I hope you can stay awakethis morning.
Hope that turkey is not stillhaving long-term effects and
that you are gonna be with usthis morning and eager to jump
into God's word.
I'm excited to get to open it upwith you this morning.
(00:27):
But before we get there, um ifyou've if you've been around me
much at all, you may know that Ihave like this great love for
the Chronicles of Narnia.
Okay, I don't know if you knowthat series of books by C.S.
Lewis.
I happen to love those.
And and I've wondered why do Ilike those so much?
I think it has something to dowith the fact that I was
(00:47):
homeschooled, and it wasn't justhomeschooled, like we were like
the most homeschool family uhgrowing up.
Like, and if you werehomeschooled, you know what I'm
talking about.
You know those people.
Um, that was us.
And I think what it was, theChronicles of Narnia may have
been like the coolest thing Iwas allowed to do uh was to read
those books.
And so I think I just it beganjust this great love for those.
(01:11):
And now I'm really thankful forit because I think they are
pretty amazing.
Uh, but in the Chronicles ofNarnia, in the first book, in
The Lion, the Witch in theWardrobe, we find out when we
get into that book that Narniais under the spell of the white
witch.
And here's what she has done: she has made it always winter (01:29):
undefined
and never Christmas.
So there is just this cold,dark, oppressive winter in
Narnia.
But as the book opens, it saysthat Aslan, the true king of
Narnia, has stepped into Narniaagain.
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And what it tells us is that theminute Aslan enters the country,
before he ever confronts thewhite witch, before they ever go
to battle and he destroys her,the moment he steps back into
the country, it says her powersbegin to crumble.
The snow melts, the rivers thatare covered in the ice begin to
(02:11):
crack open, flowers start topush through the snow and the
always winter and neverChristmas, that stronghold is
broken and it begins to unravelsimply because the true king of
Narnia has stepped back into thecountry.
(02:33):
Now, hopefully you can see theties to the gospel.
You can see that Jesus is the isthe is Aslan.
Aslan is the Christ figure inthese books.
And I honestly would not besurprised if C.S.
Lewis did not have our passageof scripture in mind this
morning when he wrote thatscene.
(02:55):
In 1 John chapter 3, verse 8 iswhere we are going to continue
in our series on why he came.
And today, the reason that weare going to see scripture tell
us why Jesus came is for thispurpose right here.
1 John 3, verse 8 says, thereason the Son of God appeared
(03:17):
was to destroy the works of thedevil.
Amen.
And I want you to let thatthought sink into your mind
today.
You can remember that, right?
Short statement.
The reason the Son of Godappeared.
Why?
Was to destroy the works of thedevil.
(03:39):
Now, think about that for amoment.
That means that Christmas is notGod sending warm thoughts and
holiday greetings.
That means that when Christmas,when we celebrate Christmas,
when we celebrate the reasonJesus came, it is we are
celebrating that God sent awarrior to destroy the works of
(04:02):
the devil.
He came to declare war on sin.
And in the coming of Jesus, thelong winter of sin begins to
thaw.
Darkness starts melting at hisarrival.
Now that sounds good, doesn'tit?
(04:23):
You may say, but but but Pastor,like point of point of
contention here for just amoment, I read the news, I turn
on the TV, I open up X and Iscroll.
It looks like the devil's worksare well and good, and he is
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thriving in this world.
It doesn't look like Jesus hasdestroyed the works of the
devil.
I see them.
Right?
I mean, we could say, what aboutthe Christians who were being
slaughtered in Nigeria?
What about the senseless acts ofviolence that we just see
anytime we open the news?
(05:08):
Is this could this is this true?
Has Jesus really destroyed theworks of the devil when they
seem to be flourishing?
But we don't even have to gothat far, do we?
You could say, but a lot closerto home.
Like people that I work with,people in my neighborhood, I can
(05:29):
see that the devil is alive andwell.
He is working.
I can see the effects of sin inthe lives of people around me.
I don't even have to go thatfar.
I can see the effects and theworks of the devil and sin at
work in my own marriage.
I can see the effects of sin andthe work of the devil in my own
(05:50):
kids and the choices they'remaking.
But I don't even have to go thatfar.
I can see that the devil attimes is working overtime in my
own life.
Is this passage of Scripturereally true?
The reason the Son of Godappeared was to destroy the
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works of the devil.
And if it was, was hesuccessful?
This morning, we're gonna lookat that this morning.
Because it begs us to ask thequestion if Christ has destroyed
the works of the devil, why dowe continue to give ground to a
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defeated enemy?
So if you have a Bible, I wantyou to open it up to 1 John.
We're gonna pick up in the lasttwo verses of chapter 2 before
we dive in to chapter 3.
And so if you don't have aBible, there's one in the pew
back there in front of you, notonly for you to use today, but
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it's for you to take if youdon't own a Bible.
We want you to have a copy ofGod's word, and we want you to
be able to read it andunderstand it and apply it to
your life.
So let that be a gift from us toyou.
But as you are turning to 1 Johnchapter 2, let me go ahead and
read for you verses 28 and 29 aswe get going this morning.
(07:16):
Listen to what John says here.
In verse 28, he says, And now,little children, abide in me.
If you have a copy, if this isyour copy of God's word, circle
that.
Abide in me.
This is the bridge that is goingto carry us into everything we
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talk about today.
The bridge between right beliefand right practice is this
statement.
John is setting up where he isgoing when he says, Little
children, followers of Jesus,abide in him.
So that when he appears, we mayhave confidence and not shrink
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from him in shame at his coming.
If you know that he isrighteous, you may be sure that
everyone who practicesrighteousness has been born of
him.
I want you just to quickly, aswe look at that text, I just
want you to see somethingbecause this is gonna be the
foundation that we buildeverything on today.
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Look at the result of abiding inChrist.
Look at what John says it does.
Number one, it gives usconfidence in our walk with him.
Second, it removes shame.
It says at his appearing, whenChrist returns, if we are
abiding in him, it says we haveno reason to say, oh no, he's
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back.
It's yes, he's back.
It removes shame from our lives.
But then the third thing thatabiding does, he says it
produces righteousness.
Do you see that?
When he says everyone whopractices righteousness has been
born of him, he couches that inthis idea of abiding in him.
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Now, when you look at those twoverses there, what you should
see is just a completereorientation of the life of a
believer.
When we go from darkness tolight, when we go from dead in
our sins to alive in JesusChrist, and we are abiding in
him, we our lives are completelytransformed.
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And that is John's point.
That is what a relationship withJesus Christ does.
Abiding, then, is the key tovictory.
It is the key to how weexperience the victory that
Christ has won in his coming.
This victory he's won indefeating and destroying the
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works of the devil.
The secret to it is abiding inJesus Christ.
And that and in 1 John chapter3, John is going to expose the
works of the devil for us.
And as he does, he is going toshow us how the gospel, the
finished work of Jesus, destroysthe work of the devil and allows
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us to experience victory evenwhile we live in this earth.
So go ahead and look now inchapter three, where we will
find in the first few verses thefirst aspect of the work of the
devil.
Now, John, when he wrote hisgospel, in John chapter 10,
verse 10, he gives us a summarystatement about our enemy.
(10:35):
He says, here is why the here'swhat the enemy does.
The enemy seeks to kill, steal,and destroy.
John 10, verse 10.
Write that in the margin thereof your Bible by 1 John chapter
3, because that is the devil'swork, to steal, kill, and
destroy.
But that manifests itself in alot of different ways, doesn't
(10:56):
it?
Those are big categories, butthere's a lot of room for the
devil to operate within thosethree things, aren't there?
One of the ways the devil lovesto work is to keep us trapped in
our old identity.
And John starts with this inverses one through three by
showing us what our identity isnow in Jesus Christ, so that it
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exposes the work of the deviland trying to keep us trapped in
an old identity.
So look at this, verses onethrough three.
He says, See what kind of lovethe Father has given to us, that
we should be called children ofGod.
And so we are.
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Listen, child of God, in yournew identity, you don't fit in
here.
Let that set you free.
I think we spend way too muchtime trying to fit in here.
The press that John is makinghere is do you care more about
blending into this world thanyou do about being holy and
living like a citizen of heavenand living like a child of God?
(13:53):
Let this set you free today.
As a follower of Jesus Christ,you are not like this world.
You will never be.
But here's another truth aboutyour identity.
You are also not yet what youwill be.
Amen.
Let that set you free too.
Because I bet every single oneof us say, man, there are times
(14:14):
I blow it in my walk withChrist.
Well, guess what?
You are not yet what you willbe.
There is such a foundationalprinciple of the gospel in verse
true.
It is called the already, butthe not yet of the gospel.
And here's what that means: there are aspects of the gospel (14:31):
undefined
that we have now, that we haverealized now, that are ours in
Jesus Christ.
But there are still things yetfor us to experience, and some
of those we will only realize inhis return when we are with him
(14:52):
forever.
All you have to do is just thinkabout the truth of what our
salvation means, that we havebeen justified.
That means our sin, we had ithas been declared paid in full.
That is the already of oursalvation.
Our sin has already been paidfor.
We have already been declaredrighteous, not because of us,
(15:15):
but because of Jesus.
But we are also, as believers,we are not just justified, we
are being sanctified.
That means we are becoming morelike him through his spirit that
indwells us as we abide inChrist.
(15:41):
Right?
There's coming a day when wewill see him face to face, when
we will be with him forever,right?
That is still yet to come, thebeauty when we will be glorified
with our Heavenly Father and seeour Savior face to face.
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So there's an already, but a notyet.
And so where are we right now?
We're in this fourth part of ouridentity that John points out,
that we are becoming more likehim.
And this is what he presses intoin our text today.
The fact that we are becomingmore like him, where it says,
hey, those who abide in him willbecome pure as he is pure.
(16:32):
And this is what we're pressinginto today.
The fact that Christ's victoryover the works of the devil is
how it starts to become part ofour daily transformation, our
daily becoming more like Jesus.
It's already part of ouridentity.
(16:53):
But now, for us as believers, wewant to start to look more like
who we are, to let that truthbecome part of our reality.
A great example of this comesfrom history.
June 6, 1944.
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The Allies invade the beaches ofNormandy on D-Day.
On this, at this battle, WorldWar II in Europe is effectively
won.
From this point forward, Hitleris a defeated enemy.
This was the decisive victorythat secured victory in the war.
(17:40):
But you know what?
Even though that was true, therewere still battles being fought.
Right?
The people of Europe had tostart to understand we have been
liberated.
Hitler is no longer the power tobe feared, but now he is the
enemy who has been defeated andis shrinking back, and his power
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is crumbling.
So even though the battlesraged, people were technically
liberated, but they had to learnto live that way.
A point could be made that issimilar to what we experience
now.
Christ's victory has decisivelybroken the power of sin.
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But many of us keep walkingaround in our old identity as if
we're still under an old regime.
The war won, but we struggle toinhabit the freedom that is our
that is already ours.
Church, the reason Jesus camewas to destroy the work of the
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devil that wants to keep youtrapped in your old identity.
But he doesn't stop there.
There's other ways he works.
Look as we keep going here,verses four through six help us
see another aspect of the waythe devil works.
He also wants to keep youenslaved to sin.
(19:11):
Look at verses four throughseven.
Everyone who makes a practice ofsinning also practices
lawlessness.
Sin is lawlessness.
You know that he appeared inorder to take away sin, and in
him there is no sin.
No one who abides in him keepson sinning.
No one who keeps on sinning haseither seen him or known him.
(19:33):
Little children, let no onedeceive you.
Whoever practices righteousnessis righteous, as he is
righteous.
In order for us to break freefrom being slaves to sin, we
have got to see the reality ofsin and the reality of the work
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of Jesus in the gospel.
So let's start with how Johnpoints out the reality of sin in
these verses here.
What does he say about sin?
He says it is lawlessness.
He doesn't sanitize sin, doeshe?
He calls it out.
And this is one of those textsthat sometimes we want to avoid,
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right?
Because we like to, we like toact like sin isn't that big a
deal because we struggle withit.
And we don't really want to dealwith those things that we
struggle with.
So we want to act like, oh,God's grace, it's just gonna
cover that.
I don't really have to actuallywork on that or try to get rid
of that in my life.
No, listen to what he says aboutsin.
(20:38):
Sin is lawlessness, it's notjust small mistakes, it's not
just personality quirks, right?
No, sin is rebellion against theholy God.
Sin is mutiny against him.
As followers of Jesus, right?
We should want no part of sin inour lives.
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So, why do we try to sanitizeit?
But look at the reality of thegospel.
If the reality of sin is it islawlessness and it is an affront
to a holy God, what does he sayabout the work of Jesus?
The reality of the gospel isthat Jesus came to take away
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sin.
Look at verse 5.
You know that he appeared inorder to take away sin.
Church, we cannot celebrate aSavior coming at Christmas and
still protect the sin in ourlife that we want to hold on to.
He came to get rid of that inyou, to get rid of that in me.
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John confronts it honestlybecause we must honestly be
serious about letting the HolySpirit do his work of destroying
the sin in our own lives.
I bet you can think of areasright now where you sit in your
life.
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Areas where you've given just alittle corner to sin.
And how time over time that justgrows.
And these little things that yousaid, oh, it's just a little
thing, it's not that much.
It's nothing to worry about.
God will overlook that one.
It just grows and it gets afoothold.
Right?
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And then that foothold becomes astronghold, and then that
stronghold starts to become astranglehold in your life.
Church, can I tell you thereason the Son of God came was
to destroy that thing that iskeeping you from experiencing
the fullness and the richness oflife in Jesus Christ?
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How is he gonna do it?
If the reality of the gospel isthat's what he wants to do, and
that's what he came to do,what's the reality of the
process?
Back to verses 28 and 29 ofchapter 2, but he also points it
out here in this section betweenverses 4 and 7.
He says it's abiding.
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Abiding in Christ kills thecycle of sin.
Now he's not talking aboutsinless perfection, where he
says, no one who abides in himkeeps on sinning.
That's not to say that as achild of God, you are not going
to sin.
That's not what he's sayinghere.
He's saying you will not make ahabit of continuing to sin.
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That as a follower of Jesus, ifyou are abiding in Jesus Christ,
you will sin less and less.
That you will find victory overthose things the more you are
pursuing Jesus and spending timewith him in his word and in
prayer and in community withother believers.
That is what he's talking abouthere.
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That abiding in him kills thosepatterns of sin in our life.
It reshapes our habits, itreshapes our desires, and it
sets us on a new direction as weabide in him.
Church, it's why he came.
He came so that you would nothave to be a slave to sin.
(24:20):
That through the Spirit ofChrist that dwells in you, you
could be set free to livedifferently, to experience life
abundantly, that sin wants totake from you and rob you from
experiencing.
But there's a third aspect tothe works of the devil that I
want us to see here.
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The third way today that I wantus to just consider for a moment
of how the devil loves to workand how the gospel, in the
coming of Jesus, he hasdestroyed this.
Is the devil wants to keep youin a defeated mindset.
And in the coming of Jesus, weare not defeated, but we are
(25:08):
victorious.
Because he is victorious.
I bet in this room today, moreof us than really want to admit,
if we were honest, would say waytoo many days of my Christian
life, I go around livingdefeated.
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I have a defeated mentality.
I'm just trying to get by till Iget to heaven.
Right?
I'm just struggling through,right?
I'm just gonna keep my head downand hope I can make it.
Hope one of these days, right,I'll get to that pearly gate and
Saint Peter will let me in.
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Maybe one of these days, right?
If, right, if if God's in a goodmood, you know, I'll get there,
right?
I'm just a work in progress.
Don't judge me too harshly.
Church, that characterizes theAmerican church, and it is
appalling to the gospel.
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We are not defeated.
We are victorious.
It's not a future thing, it's apresent thing.
He has defeated the work of thedevil, but he the devil wants
you to believe the lie that youare defeated, and victory is
still something that is future.
No, victory can be experiencednow.
(26:31):
Look at what he says in verse 8.
Whoever makes a practice ofsinning is of the devil, for the
devil has been sinning from thebeginning.
And now our passage, our thecore of our text today, the
reason the Son of God appearedwas to destroy the works of the
devil.
No one born of God makes apractice of sinning.
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There's that same languageagain, this habitual pattern of
sinning in your life.
He says, Hey, if you're born ofGod, that's not you.
For God's seed abides in him,and he cannot keep on sinning
because he's been born of God.
By this it is evident who arethe children of God and who are
the children of the devil.
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Whoever does not practicerighteousness is not of God, nor
is the one who does not love hisbrother.
Why do we not have to believethe lie that we are defeated?
How has the coming of Jesus setus free from a defeated mindset?
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First, Christ came to destroysin.
He didn't come to tolerate it ornegotiate with it or manage it.
No, he came to destroy it.
And church, can I tell you somegood news today?
That he finished what he came todo.
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When he went to that cross afterliving a perfect, sinless life,
and his blood was shed, andhanging on that cross, he cried
out, it is finished.
And then three days later, hegot up out of a grave to prove
that not only had he defeatedthe penalty of sin in our lives,
(28:20):
not only had he stamped ourticket to heaven so that we
could live with him forever.
No, he also destroyed the powerof sin for us.
He has destroyed it.
Positionally, sin's power hasbeen crushed.
There is no more that Christmust do to destroy the works of
(28:43):
the devil.
He has done everything throughhis finished work on the cross.
But practically, for you and I,we still live in a battlefield.
Until Christ returns, until hereturns, the war is won.
Make no mistake.
(29:03):
But our defeated enemy stillwants to lob shots every chance
he gets.
He wants to throw punches.
But guess what?
You're not a defeated foe.
You are victorious in JesusChrist because he has destroyed
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the works of the devil.
But what is that?
How does that manifest itselffor us practically in the real
life?
John tells us here.
He talks about it, he talksabout it as new birth.
Verse 9, no one born of God.
So think with me for a moment.
Christ appearing to destroy theworks of the devil.
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When we think through that,right, what does that result in
for you and I?
Scripture would call it newbirth.
That we have been born again.
When we place our faith in Jesusand His finished work, that He
Accomplished for us on thecross.
The Bible says we are bornagain.
Amen.
Guess what?
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New birth means new behaviors.
You are not what you once were.
You are now something new.
You have a new identity.
You are no longer dead in yoursins.
You are now alive in JesusChrist.
So this new birth that He cameto give you, it destroys sin as
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you allow the Holy Spirit towork in you.
That's where that abiding,remember I said this frames
everything that we're going totalk about?
As you abide in Him, what He isasking of you, the reason you're
a de, the enemy is defeated andyou are not defeated, is not
because you have the ability inyour own strength to be
(30:51):
self-righteous and somehowachieve perfection.
No, you do not.
I do not.
But the simple reality is as weabide in him, and we will allow
him to do what he wants to do,which is to destroy the work of
the devil in us, to remove thosesins that want to keep us
(31:14):
enslaved, as we will submit andyield to that in our lives, as
we abide in him, we will beginto look more like our Father.
It's his work, he willaccomplish it.
The way we participate is inabiding.
But you know, the devil loves tokeep you believing the lie that
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you were defeated, even thoughyou have a new identity, even
though you are no longer a slaveto sin.
He wants you to live like youare.
You know, I was reading a storythis week of a guy named Sean
who at 16 years old went intoprison and he spent the next 16
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years of his life in prison.
And as I read the story, it saidwhile he was there, he struggled
at first, like he would, youknow, get in trouble more and
more.
But eventually, like a switchflipped, and it says he started
to go to school while in prison,and he got his bachelor's degree
and he got two master's degreeswhile in prison.
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And then he got out.
But you know what happened whenhe got out?
He couldn't ever flip the switchthat he was no longer a
prisoner.
He kept feeling less than.
Even though he's more educatedthan the majority of people,
right?
Even though he had so much nowto offer, it says even in
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prison, he was mentoring people.
Like his life had completelychanged, but he got out and he
still lived with this defeatedmindset.
But the article goes on to saythat it wasn't until he started
this organization that mentoredpeople in prison to help them
get their education.
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And he started and he built thiscompany to help do that.
And it says, in that, in findingthis new purpose and this new
identity, is when the switchfinally flipped for him and he
started to realize I am not whoI once was.
Now that's a secular story.
But church, as followers ofJesus Christ, shouldn't that be
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much more so for you and I whenwe know the truth of the gospel?
The truth of our new identity?
But I think we live so manytimes like Sean did when he got
out of prison.
Going around like, well, we'vegot nothing to offer.
Alright, we're we can't we can'tget by, right?
All we can do is get by.
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We can't overcome.
All right?
We just got to manage it.
But that is not true.
Christ came to destroy the workof the devil.
So let's restate the questionthat we asked at the beginning.
Instead of if Christ hasdestroyed, since Christ has
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destroyed the work of the devil.
We can keep from giving groundto a defeated enemy.
Amen?
So how do we do it?
How do we experience thatvictory?
I want to give you a few thingsquickly here as we close to
maybe help us think through howwe start to live this truth out.
(34:32):
To live with a new identity, tolive as those who were no longer
slaves to sin, and to liveinstead of defeated, victorious
children of God in this life.
What are some principles thatcan help us not give ground to a
defeated enemy?
Because how sad is that?
(34:52):
Right?
That what characterizes us waytoo many times is that we give
ground to a defeated enemy.
So what can help us not do that?
First of all, first principle,first guardrail principle is
mastery.
In other words, what controlsyou?
Take time this week to evaluate,to say, are there things in my
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life that control me?
Are there things I've given waytoo much time and attention to
in my life?
Even good things can becomesinful things when they become
God things in our lives.
Amen.
Even good things when theybecome too big of a priority can
become things that control youand get way too much of your
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time.
It can be your job.
It can be your hobbies, it caneven be your kids.
Right?
When we put way too much of ourattention on something other
than God, when something takesthe place of God in our life, it
has mastery over us.
Right?
And that is giving ground to adefeated enemy.
(36:03):
So what is something in yourlife that you have allowed to
have way too much control overyou?
Second guardrail principle,eternity.
In other words, what has yourgaze?
The more you fix your eyes oneternity, the less sin will
(36:27):
dazzle you.
Now, hear me clearly, there'snothing wrong with enjoying this
life.
In fact, Scripture says we areto enjoy it, that we're to live
every day as if it's a gift fromGod, and we're to make the most
(36:50):
of us, right?
Make the most of it, and we arewe are to enjoy every bit of it
because it is a gift from Him.
But enjoying it and living likethis is all there is are two
totally different things.
Amen.
And so to keep that guardrail upin our lives that says, are my
(37:11):
eyes fixed on Jesus?
Or have I set my gaze on earthlythings alone?
Right?
When we set our eyes on thisearth alone, we are giving
ground to a defeated enemybecause as believers, this life
is not all there is.
This is not our home.
(37:32):
We are passing through.
Our citizenship is in heaven.
Third guardrail unity.
Who are you united with?
Remembering who you're unitedwith.
See, in salvation, the Biblesays we are united with Christ.
(37:53):
And so this is an importantguardrail for us because here's
what that means.
As someone who's united withChrist, when we walk into sin,
we are taking Christ with us.
And that ought to be appallingto us, right?
I mean, when we just think aboutit, you say, oh my goodness, I
(38:14):
would never want Jesus to walkinto my sin with me.
Well, remember who you are.
You are united with Christ.
It should feel unthinkable to usto drag Christ into our sin.
That's why we must allow Him todestroy that sin in our lives.
(38:34):
And then the final guardrail,ownership.
Who do you belong to?
Remember who you belong to.
You have been bought with theprecious blood of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
And blood-bought people livelike blood-bought people.
(38:57):
Your time is not your time.
Your talents aren't yourtalents.
Your families are not yourfamilies.
Everything you have andeverything that you are belong
to him.
It's a gift from him that he hasgiven you to use for his glory.
(39:24):
Church, that belonging issecure.
Amen?
In Jesus Christ.
That guardrail in our life helpsus not give ground to a defeated
enemy.
You remember the illustration atthe beginning?
(39:45):
The White Witch and Narnia andWinter.
You know, at the beginning ofthe book, that winter looked
really permanent, unbreakable.
But you know, it melted themoment Aslan returned.
And here is how C.S.
Lewis states that.
It was a prophecy that had beentold, and they they were holding
on to that one day maybe thiswill happen, but in when he
(40:08):
returns, it does happen.
Wrong will be right when Aslancomes in sight.
All at the sound of his roar,sorrows will be no more.
When he bears his teeth, wintermeets its death.
And when he shakes his mane, weshall have spring again.
(40:28):
Churches, our worship teamcomes, we're gonna spend some
time.
And here's what I want you todo.
I'm gonna ask you to think abouthow you personally have given
way too much ground to adefeated enemy in your life.
(40:48):
And I want you to hang on to thetruth that the reason Jesus came
was to destroy the work of thedevil.
Because here's what I know to betrue for us sin sometimes feels
just like winter did in Narnia.
(41:08):
It feels cold, it feels heavy,it feels immovable, that it may
never change for you.
You may just be destined to livea half-life as a child of God.
But I want to be the one to giveyou good news this morning.
(41:30):
It doesn't have to be that way.
Christ has come, and in hiscoming, sin has been defeated.
The devil's works have beendestroyed.
You don't have to live defeated.
(41:55):
Victory over sin is why he came.
But what's keeping you fromexperiencing that victory?
And as we sing, we're gonna singtwo songs, and I want to
encourage you, stay where youare.
Stay in this moment, stay inthis room.
Because I want to ask you tojust get quiet and still before
(42:20):
the Lord.
And just say, Lord, have I beenabiding in you?
Right?
Or have I been giving ground toa defeated enemy in my life?
What's something I need to doright now so that I am reminded
that he has been defeated in mylife and I can live
victoriously?
(42:41):
Maybe you need to come to thisaltar and lay something down
that the Holy Spirit hasrevealed to you is that thing
that is causing you to livedefeated rather than victorious.
Maybe you need to come and praywith someone.
We're gonna have ministers downhere at the front that would
love to pray with you.
Maybe you would say the reasonI'm living defeated is because
I've never actually given mylife to Jesus Christ.
(43:04):
I don't have that new identity.
I am still a slave to sin.
I am still defeated, but today Iwant that to change.
I want a new identity, I want tobe set free.
Today would be a great day foryou to place your faith in
Jesus.
And those of us down here at thefront will be more than happy to
(43:25):
walk you through how you coulddo that today.
Maybe you need to take one ofthose notepads in front of you
and just write some things down.
This next week, I've got to getinto God's word because I can't
abide in him if I'm not in hisword.
Maybe I need a mentor in my lifethat will walk with me and help
me know the word of God.
I don't know how God is speakingto you, but I know on the
(43:46):
authority of his word that heis.
And so as we sing, this is yourtime to respond to him in faith.
So would you stand with me as wepray and then we're gonna sing.
Father, would you take yourword?
Thank you that you have come todestroy the works of the devil.
(44:07):
God, may we not leave here todaycontinuing to live defeated.
But may we walk out of thisplace today confident with a
plan, with a purpose of how weare going to live victoriously
because you are victorious.
So would you have your way andwould you do the work that you
long to do in our hearts as wesing?
(44:30):
God, may you have freedom tomove in this place in Jesus'
name.
Good morning.
Let me also say I hope you had awonderful Thanksgiving holiday
and I hope you can stay awakethis morning.
Hope that turkey is not stillhaving long-term effects and
that you are gonna be with usthis morning and eager to jump
into God's word.
I'm excited to get to open it upwith you this morning.
(00:27):
But before we get there, um ifyou've if you've been around me
much at all, you may know that Ihave like this great love for
the Chronicles of Narnia.
Okay, I don't know if you knowthat series of books by C.S.
Lewis.
I happen to love those.
And and I've wondered why do Ilike those so much?
I think it has something to dowith the fact that I was
(00:47):
homeschooled, and it wasn't justhomeschooled, like we were like
the most homeschool family uhgrowing up.
Like, and if you werehomeschooled, you know what I'm
talking about.
You know those people.
Um, that was us.
And I think what it was, theChronicles of Narnia may have
been like the coolest thing Iwas allowed to do uh was to read
those books.
And so I think I just it beganjust this great love for those.
(01:11):
And now I'm really thankful forit because I think they are
pretty amazing.
Uh, but in the Chronicles ofNarnia, in the first book, in
The Lion, the Witch in theWardrobe, we find out when we
get into that book that Narniais under the spell of the white
witch.
And here's what she has done: she has made it always winter (01:29):
undefined
and never Christmas.
So there is just this cold,dark, oppressive winter in
Narnia.
But as the book opens, it saysthat Aslan, the true king of
Narnia, has stepped into Narniaagain.
(01:49):
And what it tells us is that theminute Aslan enters the country,
before he ever confronts thewhite witch, before they ever go
to battle and he destroys her,the moment he steps back into
the country, it says her powersbegin to crumble.
The snow melts, the rivers thatare covered in the ice begin to
(02:11):
crack open, flowers start topush through the snow and the
always winter and neverChristmas, that stronghold is
broken and it begins to unravelsimply because the true king of
Narnia has stepped back into thecountry.
(02:33):
Now, hopefully you can see theties to the gospel.
You can see that Jesus is the isthe is Aslan.
Aslan is the Christ figure inthese books.
And I honestly would not besurprised if C.S.
Lewis did not have our passageof scripture in mind this
morning when he wrote thatscene.
(02:55):
In 1 John chapter 3, verse 8 iswhere we are going to continue
in our series on why he came.
And today, the reason that weare going to see scripture tell
us why Jesus came is for thispurpose right here.
1 John 3, verse 8 says, thereason the Son of God appeared
(03:17):
was to destroy the works of thedevil.
Amen.
And I want you to let thatthought sink into your mind
today.
You can remember that, right?
Short statement.
The reason the Son of Godappeared.
Why?
Was to destroy the works of thedevil.
(03:39):
Now, think about that for amoment.
That means that Christmas is notGod sending warm thoughts and
holiday greetings.
That means that when Christmas,when we celebrate Christmas,
when we celebrate the reasonJesus came, it is we are
celebrating that God sent awarrior to destroy the works of
(04:02):
the devil.
He came to declare war on sin.
And in the coming of Jesus, thelong winter of sin begins to
thaw.
Darkness starts melting at hisarrival.
Now that sounds good, doesn'tit?
(04:23):
You may say, but but but Pastor,like point of point of
contention here for just amoment, I read the news, I turn
on the TV, I open up X and Iscroll.
It looks like the devil's worksare well and good, and he is
(04:44):
thriving in this world.
It doesn't look like Jesus hasdestroyed the works of the
devil.
I see them.
Right?
I mean, we could say, what aboutthe Christians who were being
slaughtered in Nigeria?
What about the senseless acts ofviolence that we just see
anytime we open the news?
(05:08):
Is this could this is this true?
Has Jesus really destroyed theworks of the devil when they
seem to be flourishing?
But we don't even have to gothat far, do we?
You could say, but a lot closerto home.
Like people that I work with,people in my neighborhood, I can
(05:29):
see that the devil is alive andwell.
He is working.
I can see the effects of sin inthe lives of people around me.
I don't even have to go thatfar.
I can see the effects and theworks of the devil and sin at
work in my own marriage.
I can see the effects of sin andthe work of the devil in my own
(05:50):
kids and the choices they'remaking.
But I don't even have to go thatfar.
I can see that the devil attimes is working overtime in my
own life.
Is this passage of Scripturereally true?
The reason the Son of Godappeared was to destroy the
(06:11):
works of the devil.
And if it was, was hesuccessful?
This morning, we're gonna lookat that this morning.
Because it begs us to ask thequestion if Christ has destroyed
the works of the devil, why dowe continue to give ground to a
(06:33):
defeated enemy?
So if you have a Bible, I wantyou to open it up to 1 John.
We're gonna pick up in the lasttwo verses of chapter 2 before
we dive in to chapter 3.
And so if you don't have aBible, there's one in the pew
back there in front of you, notonly for you to use today, but
(06:54):
it's for you to take if youdon't own a Bible.
We want you to have a copy ofGod's word, and we want you to
be able to read it andunderstand it and apply it to
your life.
So let that be a gift from us toyou.
But as you are turning to 1 Johnchapter 2, let me go ahead and
read for you verses 28 and 29 aswe get going this morning.
(07:16):
Listen to what John says here.
In verse 28, he says, And now,little children, abide in me.
If you have a copy, if this isyour copy of God's word, circle
that.
Abide in me.
This is the bridge that is goingto carry us into everything we
(07:36):
talk about today.
The bridge between right beliefand right practice is this
statement.
John is setting up where he isgoing when he says, Little
children, followers of Jesus,abide in him.
So that when he appears, we mayhave confidence and not shrink
(07:57):
from him in shame at his coming.
If you know that he isrighteous, you may be sure that
everyone who practicesrighteousness has been born of
him.
I want you just to quickly, aswe look at that text, I just
want you to see somethingbecause this is gonna be the
foundation that we buildeverything on today.
(08:17):
Look at the result of abiding inChrist.
Look at what John says it does.
Number one, it gives usconfidence in our walk with him.
Second, it removes shame.
It says at his appearing, whenChrist returns, if we are
abiding in him, it says we haveno reason to say, oh no, he's
(08:40):
back.
It's yes, he's back.
It removes shame from our lives.
But then the third thing thatabiding does, he says it
produces righteousness.
Do you see that?
When he says everyone whopractices righteousness has been
born of him, he couches that inthis idea of abiding in him.
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Now, when you look at those twoverses there, what you should
see is just a completereorientation of the life of a
believer.
When we go from darkness tolight, when we go from dead in
our sins to alive in JesusChrist, and we are abiding in
him, we our lives are completelytransformed.
(09:27):
And that is John's point.
That is what a relationship withJesus Christ does.
Abiding, then, is the key tovictory.
It is the key to how weexperience the victory that
Christ has won in his coming.
This victory he's won indefeating and destroying the
(09:48):
works of the devil.
The secret to it is abiding inJesus Christ.
And that and in 1 John chapter3, John is going to expose the
works of the devil for us.
And as he does, he is going toshow us how the gospel, the
finished work of Jesus, destroysthe work of the devil and allows
(10:12):
us to experience victory evenwhile we live in this earth.
So go ahead and look now inchapter three, where we will
find in the first few verses thefirst aspect of the work of the
devil.
Now, John, when he wrote hisgospel, in John chapter 10,
verse 10, he gives us a summarystatement about our enemy.
(10:35):
He says, here is why the here'swhat the enemy does.
The enemy seeks to kill, steal,and destroy.
John 10, verse 10.
Write that in the margin thereof your Bible by 1 John chapter
3, because that is the devil'swork, to steal, kill, and
destroy.
But that manifests itself in alot of different ways, doesn't
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it?
Those are big categories, butthere's a lot of room for the
devil to operate within thosethree things, aren't there?
One of the ways the devil lovesto work is to keep us trapped in
our old identity.
And John starts with this inverses one through three by
showing us what our identity isnow in Jesus Christ, so that it
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exposes the work of the deviland trying to keep us trapped in
an old identity.
So look at this, verses onethrough three.
He says, See what kind of lovethe Father has given to us, that
we should be called children ofGod.
And so we are.
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Listen, child of God, in yournew identity, you don't fit in
here.
Let that set you free.
I think we spend way too muchtime trying to fit in here.
The press that John is makinghere is do you care more about
blending into this world thanyou do about being holy and
living like a citizen of heavenand living like a child of God?
(13:53):
Let this set you free today.
As a follower of Jesus Christ,you are not like this world.
You will never be.
But here's another truth aboutyour identity.
You are also not yet what youwill be.
Amen.
Let that set you free too.
Because I bet every single oneof us say, man, there are times
(14:14):
I blow it in my walk withChrist.
Well, guess what?
You are not yet what you willbe.
There is such a foundationalprinciple of the gospel in verse
true.
It is called the already, butthe not yet of the gospel.
And here's what that means: there are aspects of the gospel (14:31):
undefined
that we have now, that we haverealized now, that are ours in
Jesus Christ.
But there are still things yetfor us to experience, and some
of those we will only realize inhis return when we are with him
(14:52):
forever.
All you have to do is just thinkabout the truth of what our
salvation means, that we havebeen justified.
That means our sin, we had ithas been declared paid in full.
That is the already of oursalvation.
Our sin has already been paidfor.
We have already been declaredrighteous, not because of us,
(15:15):
but because of Jesus.
But we are also, as believers,we are not just justified, we
are being sanctified.
That means we are becoming morelike him through his spirit that
indwells us as we abide inChrist.
(15:41):
Right?
There's coming a day when wewill see him face to face, when
we will be with him forever,right?
That is still yet to come, thebeauty when we will be glorified
with our Heavenly Father and seeour Savior face to face.
(16:06):
So there's an already, but a notyet.
And so where are we right now?
We're in this fourth part of ouridentity that John points out,
that we are becoming more likehim.
And this is what he presses intoin our text today.
The fact that we are becomingmore like him, where it says,
hey, those who abide in him willbecome pure as he is pure.
(16:32):
And this is what we're pressinginto today.
The fact that Christ's victoryover the works of the devil is
how it starts to become part ofour daily transformation, our
daily becoming more like Jesus.
It's already part of ouridentity.
(16:53):
But now, for us as believers, wewant to start to look more like
who we are, to let that truthbecome part of our reality.
A great example of this comesfrom history.
June 6, 1944.
(17:14):
The Allies invade the beaches ofNormandy on D-Day.
On this, at this battle, WorldWar II in Europe is effectively
won.
From this point forward, Hitleris a defeated enemy.
This was the decisive victorythat secured victory in the war.
(17:40):
But you know what?
Even though that was true, therewere still battles being fought.
Right?
The people of Europe had tostart to understand we have been
liberated.
Hitler is no longer the power tobe feared, but now he is the
enemy who has been defeated andis shrinking back, and his power
(18:02):
is crumbling.
So even though the battlesraged, people were technically
liberated, but they had to learnto live that way.
A point could be made that issimilar to what we experience
now.
Christ's victory has decisivelybroken the power of sin.
(18:23):
But many of us keep walkingaround in our old identity as if
we're still under an old regime.
The war won, but we struggle toinhabit the freedom that is our
that is already ours.
Church, the reason Jesus camewas to destroy the work of the
(18:48):
devil that wants to keep youtrapped in your old identity.
But he doesn't stop there.
There's other ways he works.
Look as we keep going here,verses four through six help us
see another aspect of the waythe devil works.
He also wants to keep youenslaved to sin.
(19:11):
Look at verses four throughseven.
Everyone who makes a practice ofsinning also practices
lawlessness.
Sin is lawlessness.
You know that he appeared inorder to take away sin, and in
him there is no sin.
No one who abides in him keepson sinning.
No one who keeps on sinning haseither seen him or known him.
(19:33):
Little children, let no onedeceive you.
Whoever practices righteousnessis righteous, as he is
righteous.
In order for us to break freefrom being slaves to sin, we
have got to see the reality ofsin and the reality of the work
(19:57):
of Jesus in the gospel.
So let's start with how Johnpoints out the reality of sin in
these verses here.
What does he say about sin?
He says it is lawlessness.
He doesn't sanitize sin, doeshe?
He calls it out.
And this is one of those textsthat sometimes we want to avoid,
(20:17):
right?
Because we like to, we like toact like sin isn't that big a
deal because we struggle withit.
And we don't really want to dealwith those things that we
struggle with.
So we want to act like, oh,God's grace, it's just gonna
cover that.
I don't really have to actuallywork on that or try to get rid
of that in my life.
No, listen to what he says aboutsin.
(20:38):
Sin is lawlessness, it's notjust small mistakes, it's not
just personality quirks, right?
No, sin is rebellion against theholy God.
Sin is mutiny against him.
As followers of Jesus, right?
We should want no part of sin inour lives.
(21:04):
So, why do we try to sanitizeit?
But look at the reality of thegospel.
If the reality of sin is it islawlessness and it is an affront
to a holy God, what does he sayabout the work of Jesus?
The reality of the gospel isthat Jesus came to take away
(21:24):
sin.
Look at verse 5.
You know that he appeared inorder to take away sin.
Church, we cannot celebrate aSavior coming at Christmas and
still protect the sin in ourlife that we want to hold on to.
He came to get rid of that inyou, to get rid of that in me.
(21:47):
John confronts it honestlybecause we must honestly be
serious about letting the HolySpirit do his work of destroying
the sin in our own lives.
I bet you can think of areasright now where you sit in your
life.
(22:07):
Areas where you've given just alittle corner to sin.
And how time over time that justgrows.
And these little things that yousaid, oh, it's just a little
thing, it's not that much.
It's nothing to worry about.
God will overlook that one.
It just grows and it gets afoothold.
Right?
(22:27):
And then that foothold becomes astronghold, and then that
stronghold starts to become astranglehold in your life.
Church, can I tell you thereason the Son of God came was
to destroy that thing that iskeeping you from experiencing
the fullness and the richness oflife in Jesus Christ?
(22:50):
How is he gonna do it?
If the reality of the gospel isthat's what he wants to do, and
that's what he came to do,what's the reality of the
process?
Back to verses 28 and 29 ofchapter 2, but he also points it
out here in this section betweenverses 4 and 7.
He says it's abiding.
(23:10):
Abiding in Christ kills thecycle of sin.
Now he's not talking aboutsinless perfection, where he
says, no one who abides in himkeeps on sinning.
That's not to say that as achild of God, you are not going
to sin.
That's not what he's sayinghere.
He's saying you will not make ahabit of continuing to sin.
(23:34):
That as a follower of Jesus, ifyou are abiding in Jesus Christ,
you will sin less and less.
That you will find victory overthose things the more you are
pursuing Jesus and spending timewith him in his word and in
prayer and in community withother believers.
That is what he's talking abouthere.
(23:55):
That abiding in him kills thosepatterns of sin in our life.
It reshapes our habits, itreshapes our desires, and it
sets us on a new direction as weabide in him.
Church, it's why he came.
He came so that you would nothave to be a slave to sin.
(24:20):
That through the Spirit ofChrist that dwells in you, you
could be set free to livedifferently, to experience life
abundantly, that sin wants totake from you and rob you from
experiencing.
But there's a third aspect tothe works of the devil that I
want us to see here.
(24:42):
The third way today that I wantus to just consider for a moment
of how the devil loves to workand how the gospel, in the
coming of Jesus, he hasdestroyed this.
Is the devil wants to keep youin a defeated mindset.
And in the coming of Jesus, weare not defeated, but we are
(25:08):
victorious.
Because he is victorious.
I bet in this room today, moreof us than really want to admit,
if we were honest, would say waytoo many days of my Christian
life, I go around livingdefeated.
(25:29):
I have a defeated mentality.
I'm just trying to get by till Iget to heaven.
Right?
I'm just struggling through,right?
I'm just gonna keep my head downand hope I can make it.
Hope one of these days, right,I'll get to that pearly gate and
Saint Peter will let me in.
(25:49):
Maybe one of these days, right?
If, right, if if God's in a goodmood, you know, I'll get there,
right?
I'm just a work in progress.
Don't judge me too harshly.
Church, that characterizes theAmerican church, and it is
appalling to the gospel.
(26:10):
We are not defeated.
We are victorious.
It's not a future thing, it's apresent thing.
He has defeated the work of thedevil, but he the devil wants
you to believe the lie that youare defeated, and victory is
still something that is future.
No, victory can be experiencednow.
(26:31):
Look at what he says in verse 8.
Whoever makes a practice ofsinning is of the devil, for the
devil has been sinning from thebeginning.
And now our passage, our thecore of our text today, the
reason the Son of God appearedwas to destroy the works of the
devil.
No one born of God makes apractice of sinning.
(26:53):
There's that same languageagain, this habitual pattern of
sinning in your life.
He says, Hey, if you're born ofGod, that's not you.
For God's seed abides in him,and he cannot keep on sinning
because he's been born of God.
By this it is evident who arethe children of God and who are
the children of the devil.
(27:14):
Whoever does not practicerighteousness is not of God, nor
is the one who does not love hisbrother.
Why do we not have to believethe lie that we are defeated?
How has the coming of Jesus setus free from a defeated mindset?
(27:37):
First, Christ came to destroysin.
He didn't come to tolerate it ornegotiate with it or manage it.
No, he came to destroy it.
And church, can I tell you somegood news today?
That he finished what he came todo.
(27:59):
When he went to that cross afterliving a perfect, sinless life,
and his blood was shed, andhanging on that cross, he cried
out, it is finished.
And then three days later, hegot up out of a grave to prove
that not only had he defeatedthe penalty of sin in our lives,
(28:20):
not only had he stamped ourticket to heaven so that we
could live with him forever.
No, he also destroyed the powerof sin for us.
He has destroyed it.
Positionally, sin's power hasbeen crushed.
There is no more that Christmust do to destroy the works of
(28:43):
the devil.
He has done everything throughhis finished work on the cross.
But practically, for you and I,we still live in a battlefield.
Until Christ returns, until hereturns, the war is won.
Make no mistake.
(29:03):
But our defeated enemy stillwants to lob shots every chance
he gets.
He wants to throw punches.
But guess what?
You're not a defeated foe.
You are victorious in JesusChrist because he has destroyed
(29:24):
the works of the devil.
But what is that?
How does that manifest itselffor us practically in the real
life?
John tells us here.
He talks about it, he talksabout it as new birth.
Verse 9, no one born of God.
So think with me for a moment.
Christ appearing to destroy theworks of the devil.
(29:47):
When we think through that,right, what does that result in
for you and I?
Scripture would call it newbirth.
That we have been born again.
When we place our faith in Jesusand His finished work, that He
Accomplished for us on thecross.
The Bible says we are bornagain.
Amen.
Guess what?
(30:07):
New birth means new behaviors.
You are not what you once were.
You are now something new.
You have a new identity.
You are no longer dead in yoursins.
You are now alive in JesusChrist.
So this new birth that He cameto give you, it destroys sin as
(30:29):
you allow the Holy Spirit towork in you.
That's where that abiding,remember I said this frames
everything that we're going totalk about?
As you abide in Him, what He isasking of you, the reason you're
a de, the enemy is defeated andyou are not defeated, is not
because you have the ability inyour own strength to be
(30:51):
self-righteous and somehowachieve perfection.
No, you do not.
I do not.
But the simple reality is as weabide in him, and we will allow
him to do what he wants to do,which is to destroy the work of
the devil in us, to remove thosesins that want to keep us
(31:14):
enslaved, as we will submit andyield to that in our lives, as
we abide in him, we will beginto look more like our Father.
It's his work, he willaccomplish it.
The way we participate is inabiding.
But you know, the devil loves tokeep you believing the lie that
(31:39):
you were defeated, even thoughyou have a new identity, even
though you are no longer a slaveto sin.
He wants you to live like youare.
You know, I was reading a storythis week of a guy named Sean
who at 16 years old went intoprison and he spent the next 16
(31:59):
years of his life in prison.
And as I read the story, it saidwhile he was there, he struggled
at first, like he would, youknow, get in trouble more and
more.
But eventually, like a switchflipped, and it says he started
to go to school while in prison,and he got his bachelor's degree
and he got two master's degreeswhile in prison.
(32:20):
And then he got out.
But you know what happened whenhe got out?
He couldn't ever flip the switchthat he was no longer a
prisoner.
He kept feeling less than.
Even though he's more educatedthan the majority of people,
right?
Even though he had so much nowto offer, it says even in
(32:42):
prison, he was mentoring people.
Like his life had completelychanged, but he got out and he
still lived with this defeatedmindset.
But the article goes on to saythat it wasn't until he started
this organization that mentoredpeople in prison to help them
get their education.
(33:03):
And he started and he built thiscompany to help do that.
And it says, in that, in findingthis new purpose and this new
identity, is when the switchfinally flipped for him and he
started to realize I am not whoI once was.
Now that's a secular story.
But church, as followers ofJesus Christ, shouldn't that be
(33:25):
much more so for you and I whenwe know the truth of the gospel?
The truth of our new identity?
But I think we live so manytimes like Sean did when he got
out of prison.
Going around like, well, we'vegot nothing to offer.
Alright, we're we can't we can'tget by, right?
All we can do is get by.
(33:46):
We can't overcome.
All right?
We just got to manage it.
But that is not true.
Christ came to destroy the workof the devil.
So let's restate the questionthat we asked at the beginning.
Instead of if Christ hasdestroyed, since Christ has
(34:07):
destroyed the work of the devil.
We can keep from giving groundto a defeated enemy.
Amen?
So how do we do it?
How do we experience thatvictory?
I want to give you a few thingsquickly here as we close to
maybe help us think through howwe start to live this truth out.
(34:32):
To live with a new identity, tolive as those who were no longer
slaves to sin, and to liveinstead of defeated, victorious
children of God in this life.
What are some principles thatcan help us not give ground to a
defeated enemy?
Because how sad is that?
(34:52):
Right?
That what characterizes us waytoo many times is that we give
ground to a defeated enemy.
So what can help us not do that?
First of all, first principle,first guardrail principle is
mastery.
In other words, what controlsyou?
Take time this week to evaluate,to say, are there things in my
(35:16):
life that control me?
Are there things I've given waytoo much time and attention to
in my life?
Even good things can becomesinful things when they become
God things in our lives.
Amen.
Even good things when theybecome too big of a priority can
become things that control youand get way too much of your
(35:39):
time.
It can be your job.
It can be your hobbies, it caneven be your kids.
Right?
When we put way too much of ourattention on something other
than God, when something takesthe place of God in our life, it
has mastery over us.
Right?
And that is giving ground to adefeated enemy.
(36:03):
So what is something in yourlife that you have allowed to
have way too much control overyou?
Second guardrail principle,eternity.
In other words, what has yourgaze?
The more you fix your eyes oneternity, the less sin will
(36:27):
dazzle you.
Now, hear me clearly, there'snothing wrong with enjoying this
life.
In fact, Scripture says we areto enjoy it, that we're to live
every day as if it's a gift fromGod, and we're to make the most
(36:50):
of us, right?
Make the most of it, and we arewe are to enjoy every bit of it
because it is a gift from Him.
But enjoying it and living likethis is all there is are two
totally different things.
Amen.
And so to keep that guardrail upin our lives that says, are my
(37:11):
eyes fixed on Jesus?
Or have I set my gaze on earthlythings alone?
Right?
When we set our eyes on thisearth alone, we are giving
ground to a defeated enemybecause as believers, this life
is not all there is.
This is not our home.
(37:32):
We are passing through.
Our citizenship is in heaven.
Third guardrail unity.
Who are you united with?
Remembering who you're unitedwith.
See, in salvation, the Biblesays we are united with Christ.
(37:53):
And so this is an importantguardrail for us because here's
what that means.
As someone who's united withChrist, when we walk into sin,
we are taking Christ with us.
And that ought to be appallingto us, right?
I mean, when we just think aboutit, you say, oh my goodness, I
(38:14):
would never want Jesus to walkinto my sin with me.
Well, remember who you are.
You are united with Christ.
It should feel unthinkable to usto drag Christ into our sin.
That's why we must allow Him todestroy that sin in our lives.
(38:34):
And then the final guardrail,ownership.
Who do you belong to?
Remember who you belong to.
You have been bought with theprecious blood of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
And blood-bought people livelike blood-bought people.
(38:57):
Your time is not your time.
Your talents aren't yourtalents.
Your families are not yourfamilies.
Everything you have andeverything that you are belong
to him.
It's a gift from him that he hasgiven you to use for his glory.
(39:24):
Church, that belonging issecure.
Amen?
In Jesus Christ.
That guardrail in our life helpsus not give ground to a defeated
enemy.
You remember the illustration atthe beginning?
(39:45):
The White Witch and Narnia andWinter.
You know, at the beginning ofthe book, that winter looked
really permanent, unbreakable.
But you know, it melted themoment Aslan returned.
And here is how C.S.
Lewis states that.
It was a prophecy that had beentold, and they they were holding
on to that one day maybe thiswill happen, but in when he
(40:08):
returns, it does happen.
Wrong will be right when Aslancomes in sight.
All at the sound of his roar,sorrows will be no more.
When he bears his teeth, wintermeets its death.
And when he shakes his mane, weshall have spring again.
(40:28):
Churches, our worship teamcomes, we're gonna spend some
time.
And here's what I want you todo.
I'm gonna ask you to think abouthow you personally have given
way too much ground to adefeated enemy in your life.
(40:48):
And I want you to hang on to thetruth that the reason Jesus came
was to destroy the work of thedevil.
Because here's what I know to betrue for us sin sometimes feels
just like winter did in Narnia.
(41:08):
It feels cold, it feels heavy,it feels immovable, that it may
never change for you.
You may just be destined to livea half-life as a child of God.
But I want to be the one to giveyou good news this morning.
(41:30):
It doesn't have to be that way.
Christ has come, and in hiscoming, sin has been defeated.
The devil's works have beendestroyed.
You don't have to live defeated.
(41:55):
Victory over sin is why he came.
But what's keeping you fromexperiencing that victory?
And as we sing, we're gonna singtwo songs, and I want to
encourage you, stay where youare.
Stay in this moment, stay inthis room.
Because I want to ask you tojust get quiet and still before
(42:20):
the Lord.
And just say, Lord, have I beenabiding in you?
Right?
Or have I been giving ground toa defeated enemy in my life?
What's something I need to doright now so that I am reminded
that he has been defeated in mylife and I can live
victoriously?
(42:41):
Maybe you need to come to thisaltar and lay something down
that the Holy Spirit hasrevealed to you is that thing
that is causing you to livedefeated rather than victorious.
Maybe you need to come and praywith someone.
We're gonna have ministers downhere at the front that would
love to pray with you.
Maybe you would say the reasonI'm living defeated is because
I've never actually given mylife to Jesus Christ.
(43:04):
I don't have that new identity.
I am still a slave to sin.
I am still defeated, but today Iwant that to change.
I want a new identity, I want tobe set free.
Today would be a great day foryou to place your faith in
Jesus.
And those of us down here at thefront will be more than happy to
(43:25):
walk you through how you coulddo that today.
Maybe you need to take one ofthose notepads in front of you
and just write some things down.
This next week, I've got to getinto God's word because I can't
abide in him if I'm not in hisword.
Maybe I need a mentor in my lifethat will walk with me and help
me know the word of God.
I don't know how God is speakingto you, but I know on the
(43:46):
authority of his word that heis.
And so as we sing, this is yourtime to respond to him in faith.
So would you stand with me as wepray and then we're gonna sing.
Father, would you take yourword?
Thank you that you have come todestroy the works of the devil.
(44:07):
God, may we not leave here todaycontinuing to live defeated.
But may we walk out of thisplace today confident with a
plan, with a purpose of how weare going to live victoriously
because you are victorious.
So would you have your way andwould you do the work that you
long to do in our hearts as wesing?
(44:30):
God, may you have freedom tomove in this place in Jesus'
name.
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