Romans 8:35 says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?” Verse 37 says, “But in all these things we more than conquer through Him who loved us.” Oh, our Lord who loves us has more than conquered all these things! This should be the Christian experience. But in our case, we do not need tribulation or swords to come upon us; as soon as someone gives us a bad look, we lose the love of Christ. However, Paul said that he more than conquered in all these things. This should be the common experience of all Christians. Victory is the normal experience of a Christian; defeat should be the abnormal experience. According to God’s ordination, every Christian should more than conquer. Whether we encounter tribulation, anguish, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword, we should not only conquer it but more than conquer it! It does not matter whether there are difficulties. Outsiders may think that we Christians have gone mad. Hallelujah, others can say that we are mad. We are not concerned about these things any longer, and we have more than conquered them because of the love of Christ. Thank and praise the Lord, this should be the experience of a Christian; it is the experience that God has ordained for us. But what is our actual experience? The Bible has not kept these experiences from us, but we often do not find the way to enter such a life. Before tribulation even comes in abundance, we are already shouting, “I need patience! I am suffering!” If we find the way to this life, we will more than conquer in all these things.
Second Corinthians 2:14 says, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ and manifests the savor of the knowledge of Him through us in every place.” Brothers and sisters, a Christian life is not one that overcomes sometimes and is defeated at other times. It is not one that overcomes in the morning and is defeated in the afternoon. A Christian life is one that overcomes all the time. If you encounter a temptation today and you overcome it, you should not be so happy about it that you can hardly sleep at night. Only the experience of not overcoming should be uncommon. Overcoming should be common and frequent.
Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand in order that we would walk in them.” Brothers and sisters, remember that Ephesians 2:10 comes after verses 8 and 9. In the preceding verses, it says that we are saved by grace. Here it says that we are His masterpiece, created for good works which God has prepared beforehand for us to walk in. This is not a special experience for some Christians; rather, it should be the common experience of every saved Christian. God saves us in order that we may do good. Brothers and sisters, are our good works according to God’s ordination, or are we always complaining while we are doing good? Suppose you are mopping the floor. While you are mopping, you may complain that only one or two people are helping and that others are not helping. This will either result in boasting or murmuring. This is not doing good. Every good work of a Christian should be accompanied by an overflow of joy; we should not be stingy, boastful, or selfish, but generous and ready to give to others. It would be a pity if only the best Christians could do good. God’s ordination is that doing good should be the common experience of every Christian.
John 8:12 says, “Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall by no means walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” This is the life that God has ordained for a Christian. Those who can stay away from darkness and who can walk in the light of life are not special Christians. Every Christian who follows Christ should not walk in darkness and should have the light of life. A Christian who is full of light is nothing more than a normal Christian, while a Christian who does not have the light is an abnormal Christian.
First Thessalonians 5:23 says, “And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is the apostle Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonian believers. Since he said “sanctify you wholly,” there must be the possibility of being sanctified wholly. It is possible to find no fault in a Christian. God will sanctify us wholly, and He will preserve us complete and without blame.
We are speaking of the Lord’s provision for a Christian. The Lord’s salvation has given every Christian the power to fully overcome sin, to be fully delivered from the bondage of sin, to trample sin underfoot, and to have unhindered fellowship with God. This is the life that the Lord has ordained for us. This is not merely a theory but a fact, because this is the Lord’s provision.
Brothers and sisters, what is your experience? If your experience is different from the Bible, you have not received full salvation yet. It is a fact that you are saved, but you have not received full salvation yet. Today I will announce a tiding to you: The Lord’s accomplishment on the cross has not only delivered you from the judgment of sin but also freed you from the pain of sin. He has prepared a full salvation so that you do not have to remain in your initial salvation but can daily experience victory while living on earth.
What is victory? Victory is the making up of what is lacking in our salvation experience. It is true that many are saved, but they lacked something at the time of their salvation. God has saved us and graced us. He has no intention that we live a wandering life on earth. He wants us to experience a full deliverance. We need a make-up lesson today because we were not properly saved when we believed. We need the overcoming experience to make up for what was lacking in the past.
Brothers and sisters, has God saved us only to find us repeatedly sinning and regretting? Since God’s Son has died for us, should we still sin? Before we were saved, we were bound to sin. Now that we are saved, are we still bound to sin? Before we were saved, sin reigned. Now that we are saved, should sin still reign? Sin is diametrically opposed to God. We should not allow a trace of sin to remain in us. Will God do something contrary to Himself? Certainly not! How evil sin is! A sin is a sin, whether it is a dispositional sin, a sin of weakness, a sin in the body, or a sin in the mind.
Let us say to the Lord, “Thank and praise You; Your accomplishment on the cross has not only delivered me from the punishment of sin but also saved me from the power of sin.” May the Lord show us that our experience of salvation was not complete at the time we believed. May the Lord show us the need to overcome. Brothers and sisters, if our experience does not match the Scripture, it means that we need to overcome. May He shine on us and expose us. We should not deceive ourselves by saying that it is inevitable for a Christian to sin. No word will hurt the Lord’s heart more deeply than this. Brothers and sisters, do we know what the cross has done? Do we think that the Lord went to the cross just for the sake of leaving us the way we are? We should not lie. We should not boast that we can suppress or control ourselves. Suppressing and controlling ourselves is not victory. The Lord’s victory completely crushes sin. Hallelujah! Sin is under the Lord’s feet! All of us who have not experienced a continual fellowship with the Lord and who have not experienced the sin-crushing power need to overcome. May the Lord grace us with His blessings.