'Defeat or Victory?'

 

*Psalms 22:30, "A seed shall serve him;

it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation."

"Jesus Christos" Anointed

*II Samuel 22:2-4, "And David said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence. I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies."

Victory or defeat this is the question that all of us face at some point in our lives. Are we victorious over that which ensues us or are we defeated by the snares of every day life. Have we achieved our goal only to find we have fallen short of our expectations. Have we caught the brass ring only to find that it is worthless. Have we sounded the gong only to find that it was premature.

Defeat is a word that none of us like. The word defeat means failure in any language. It means we have no where to go and no where to hide. It means that everyone who sees us, everyone who looks at us sees a 'looser'. Oh the shame, oh the disgrace of it all. It's like saying, 'it's over and I can't go on'. 'It's finished and there is nothing more I can do.' 'I have tried and tried but have failed.' 'What's the use it's never going to change anyway.' Or worse yet, "help I've fallen and I can't get up!"

What was that word, "help"? That's one thing we all have a hard time admitting. After all we are totally self-sufficient. We can do it if we try. We are the people who 'can be all that we want to be.' Women have problems with that word in department stores. They walk in and a clerk says, "May I help you?" "No, I'm just looking." Yet they look in every department and in disgust either give up and walk out saying they don't have it or in remorse seek a clerk to help them. Now men, on the other hand, will never admit they need to ask anyone's help especially when it comes to directions. They have never been lost so they don't really need directions, or so they think.

When the first man Adam failed his first reaction was to hide. When approached with his failure he pointed the finger and said, "she made me do it." From the first man men have always tried to cover up their shortcomings. Never wanting to admit that he failed. Never wanting to come to the ultimate conclusion that he is inferior and cannot do it on his own. With the absence of the presence of God man thinks he has a chance to 'get it right.' Unfortunately man has been trying for seven-thousand years to get it right without God and hasn't managed to do it yet.

Noah was one man crying out to the lost for one-hundred years but no one heard, no one listened except his family. Yet, when the clouds darkened and the torrents of rain began to fall and the fountains of the seas opened up what do you think was the people's response to Noah's cries? But because of Noah's response God chose to save a handful of people from the earth to begin life anew. Noah spent one-hundred years of his life on one project, building an ark. That ark came to rest on Mount Ararat where he spent the remainder of his life.

During Abraham's life he must have journeyed over one-thousand miles. Over one-thousand miles on foot from the Euphrates to Egypt and back again. The call of God and His promises kept Abraham strong and moving in the direction that God wanted Him to go. Because of Abraham's faithfulness we all have been given the chance to begin life anew with a relationship with God our Father. Yet Abraham never had a place to call his own. He never owned a home, only purchased a field where he could be buried when he died.

Joseph's life probably started out quite ordinary until he reached the age of seventeen and his brothers sold him into slavery. For thirteen years he remained imprisoned in Egypt until Pharaoh had a dream and Joseph interpreted it. One year can seem like an eternity to a teenager but thirteen years? God extended His favor to Joseph not because of who he was but because of whose he was. He was a child of Abraham, a friend of God. Yet Joseph never returned alive to the home of his father Jacob. He remained in Egypt until his death.

When the children of Israel had been in bondage for four-hundred years God sent a deliverer to them by the name of Moses. He stood before Pharaoh and by the hand of God caused all the plagues of Egypt to come upon Pharaoh and the nation of Egypt. He stood at the Red Sea and the waters parted. He spent forty days on the mount of Sinai in the presence of the Lord God Almighty. Yet when they finally came to the promised land after forty-years Moses set not one foot on the precious soil. He was only allowed to see the land but not to enter into the promise.

The children of Israel have a history totally unique and diverse from all the other nations that have come out the the sons of Noah. They were chosen by God to be a peculiar people, a holy nation. Chosen to receive His covenants, His promises, His holy oracles, and to reveal His righteousness to the world. As long as Israel served God and followed His commandments He protected them. He provided for their every need. He sheltered them from every adversity. Yet because they chose to backslide and followed other gods, the gods of the nations that He rejected, He sent them into captivity. Not because He no longer loved them but because He loved them. *Proverbs 3:11-12, "My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth." Israel, in effect, needed a little 'time out'.

From Samuel to Malachi God sent his servants the prophets to the kings of Israel. Even after they returned from captivity He continued to send His servants until Israel murdered every one of them. It was neither profitable nor safe to be a servant of God yet each prophet continued to prophesy all that the Lord spoke to their hearts. "Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay," (*Jeremiah 20:9).

For four-hundred years God remained silent to the nation of Israel. Because they rejected His warnings and closed their ears to His words and their eyes to the truth He did not send one prophet to the nation of Israel. For their transgressions He shut them up in darkness putting them into a deep sleep. "For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered," (*Isaiah 29:10).

The seasons of our lives can be like that at times. We seem to live in total silence and defeat. Unable to understand the circumstance that we are going through. Asking questions that seem to have no answer. We shake our heads and say, "Where did I go wrong?" "At what point in time did I loose control?" "Where are you God when I need you the most?" "O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!" (*Habakkuk 1:2).

V

One little spark can inflame a whole city. One little cloud can billow into mass destruction. One little tremor can fell the tallest buildings. What happened on that day in 33 A.D. caused the foundations of the earth to shake. It's creator had breathed His last breath and died. Suffering the total rejection of mankind.

For three and one-half years Jesus' followers had believed in Him. Had called Him the Son of God, the Messiah, Master, and Rabbi. They traveled from one end of Galilee to the next and back again. They watched Him change water into wine, walk on water, multiply loaves and fishes, still the storms of the sea, heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out demons. But when they watched in horror as He was bound and taken away for execution they scattered. When His lifeless body was removed from the cross, placed and sealed in a tomb everything was over. Everything that He did, everything that He said ended in total defeat. There was nothing left for them to do but to hide in fear and find comfort in the words of the scriptures.

Every son of man from Adam to the last man stands condemned at the foot of the cross. Their fathers, their mothers, their father's father, and their mother's mother. It is the stumbling stone and the rock of offense that has been placed in full view of us all. We all, every last one of us, are guilty of the blood of Jesus Christ. He died condemned in innocence and we all stand guilty of death. There was no guilt found in Him yet He suffered the death of a cursed man for, "cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree," (*Galatians 3:13).

What shall we say then, that God is unjust to have allowed this to happen? No, but this occurred, "in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith," (*Galatians 3:14). This promise is not only for the Gentiles, "For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and thus all Israel will be saved;.." (*Romans 11:25-26).

In the garden sat a young woman crying and a man approached her and asked, "Woman, why are you crying? Who are you searching for?" Thinking she was speaking to the gardener she responded, "Sir, if you have taken my master's body tell me where it is." In the darkest hour, the hour of defeat Jesus came to her in the garden speaking her name, "Mary." He was not dead, but alive. Jesus is Alive, Alive Forever More! God has raised Him from the dead and He is Alive!

Victory has come through the sacrifice, the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. Because He chose to become a man and to suffer and die upon the cross God has forgiven you. From the cross Jesus, Immanuel, God with us, cried, "Father forgive them because they do not know what they are doing." Why? Because, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you," (*John 15:13-15).

Because God so loved the world that He sent His only Son into the world that through Him we all shall be saved. Saved from a life of defeat. In the darkest hour, in the bleakness of your soul God has given you a victory greater than you can imagine. He has given you access to the very throne of God. He has gone to prepare a place for you. He has given you the keys to the kingdom of God. He has given you authority over the devil. He has given you the power to overcome the sins that beset you. He has given you a way of escape through every trial you encounter. He has given you riches in heaven that neither moth nor rust can corrupt, nor can thieves break in to steal.

For those who know Jesus Christ and accept Him as their Lord and Savior we no longer have to wait for the promises of Abraham. We have that promise within us. Daily we live and move and have our being in Him Who gave the promises to Abraham. We are no longer foreigners or aliens but we are children of God together in Christ Jesus. We have been given a new name and are accounted as heirs together with Jesus Christ. At the right time Jesus died for you and because God accepted His sacrifice He raised Him from the dead so that you might receive the gift of eternal life.

The victory for Abraham was not in the land that he never possessed but in the God who he knew and worshipped. The God who called him 'friend' Who provided for his every need while he sojourned in the land. Joseph became imprisoned so that his family could find food and shelter in the time of famine. His victory was not in his release but in realizing that the dreams that God had given him as a young boy had a purpose. Not to glorify him but the provision for his family to the glory of God.

Every man from Noah to Moses had a promise and a purpose for what they endeavored to achieve. The victory was not in what they saw but in what they had been promised by the mouth of Almighty God. What they saw in their own lifetime fell short of what they hoped for because what they hoped for was a future for those who would come after them. For their children and for their children's children.

Often what looks like defeat can be deceiving. We never know what the ultimate outcome will be. When Cain killed Abel in the garden God asked him where his brother was. Cain's only response was, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Yet this is a question that all of us need to answer, "Who are we responsible for?" When it comes to the responsibility for the lives of others do we shrink back or do we stand and deliver? When we neglect to care and to share what we have with others we have truly defeated our purpose for living. One hand reaching out to another will save one man from drowning in the cesspool of life through the love of God. That one person may be your brother, your sister, your mother, your father, your son, your daughter, or your grandchild.

There have been people living in the meekest of places who have reached out their hand to one person and received a greater reward than one living in a palace. There have been people on their death bed who have reached out to one person and changed the direction of that person's life to a life of victory in Jesus Christ. There have been people consumed with sickness and disease who have reached out to one person and given them a touch of healing far beyond what any physician can know.

Defeat is a word a Christian doesn't use because the victory that they have is not in this world in which we live but in knowing their God. In knowing Who He is and what He is capable of doing for their good. In allowing His glory to be revealed in their life. Being a Christian is a life of sacrifice, a life of self-sacrifice. We can admit that we are not self-sufficient, that we can not do it on our own. We cannot be all that we want to be without the Spirit of Christ within us. Help is a four-letter word we constantly live by because without God we can do nothing. Because greater is He that is in us than he who is in the world. Our direction is not ordered by our selfish desires but our footsteps are ordered by the Lord. All we have is our faith and we walk by faith not by sight.

Victory comes not through reaching for the brass ring but through reaching for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord and our Savior. He is our ever present help in time of trouble. He is the Rock upon which we stand. He is our shelter from the storm and our deliverer from all who oppress us. Put your hand in the one Who can change your life of defeat to a life of Victory, Jesus Christ our Savior, our Friend Who sticks closer than a brother.

P Solomon was without a doubt the wisest king that ever lived. As the Preacher, i.e. Ecclesiastes, he concluded, "Vanities of vanities, all is vanity. All is vanity and vexation of spirit. For in much wisdom is much grief. For he who increases in knowledge increases in sorrow."

*March 4, 2006