What is victory? In the Bible, victory is first mentioned in 1 Samuel 15:29 (ASV margin), where it says that Victory will not lie nor repent. Indeed, victory is a person. A thing is not a person, and a matter is not a person, but the Victory of Israel is a person. Victory is not a thing or an experience. It is not a matter; it is a person. We all know who this person is; He is Christ! In a previous message I told you that victory is not something from us. It is not our experience; it is a person! Victory is not a matter of what we are, but a matter of Christ living on our behalf. This is why the victory we have will not lie nor repent. Thank and praise the Lord that victory is a living person!
In this message, we will go on to consider what victory is. We need to consider the characteristics of the overcoming life. The Bible shows us many characteristics of the overcoming life. We cannot enumerate all of them in this message. We will instead mention only five of them.
Brothers and sisters, victory has to do with an exchanged life, not a changed life. Victory does not mean that one is changed, but rather that one is exchanged. We are very familiar with Galatians 2:20, which says, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith in the Son of God.” What does this verse mean? It means that our life is exchanged. Our life is no longer in the realm of “I”; it has nothing to do with us anymore. It is not an evil “I” being changed into a good “I,” or a filthy “I” being changed into a clean “I.” It is to be “no longer I.” The greatest mistake we make today is to think that victory involves progress and that defeat involves the absence of progress. This is why we think that everything will be well if we do not lose our temper or if we have an intimate fellowship with God. We think that if we have these things, we will overcome. But we have to remember that victory has nothing to do with us. We play no part in this victory.
One brother once said to me in tears, “I cannot overcome.” I answered, “Brother, indeed you cannot overcome.” He continued, “I cannot overcome, and there is nothing that I can do.” I said, “God has no intention for you to overcome in yourself. It is not His intention that your evil temper be changed to a good temper or that your stubbornness be changed to meekness. God has no intention to change sorrow to joy. His way is to make an exchange of your life. It has nothing to do with you.”
One sister said, “It is easy for others to overcome. But it is very difficult for me to overcome. My temper is worse than anyone else’s, my thoughts are more unclean than others’, and I am more ill- natured than others are. I cannot control myself.” I answered, “You are right. Not only is it difficult for you to overcome; it is impossible for you to overcome.” Do you think that if a man is a little more honest, well-tempered, and simple, it is easier for him to overcome? Never! On the one hand, even if a person becomes gentler, holier, and more perfect, he still has to go, and Christ still must move in before he can overcome. On the other hand, even if he is viler, more evil, and more imperfect than anyone else, he will still overcome if he lets go of himself and allows Christ to move in. A man who has a bad temper and is morally corrupt needs to believe in the Lord Jesus. A man who has a good temper and is very moral also needs to believe in the Lord Jesus. In the same way, it is not just ill-tempered and immoral ones who need victory; well-tempered and moral ones also need victory. Thank and praise the Lord that victory is Christ; it has nothing to do with us.
I met a sister once. I have never seen another person who found it as difficult to overcome as she did. She spent two hours telling me about all of her failures from the time she was a youth to the time she was fifty years old. She could not overcome her pride and temper. She was defeated again and again. No one was as eager to overcome as she was. Yet no one found it as impossible to overcome as she did. She told me that if there ever was a person who wanted to overcome, she must be one of them. Yet if there ever was a person who could not overcome, she must be one of them as well. She grieved over her failures and even attempted suicide once because of her failures. She was hopeless. While she was telling me all this, I smiled and said, “The Lord Jesus has another ideal patient for Himself today. There is business for His clinic again!” She was filled with her own sins, her own pride, and her own temper. If you did not know the way to overcome, you might have been infected by her barrage of words. If you did not know what it is to overcome, you may have concluded that she was hopeless. But thank and praise the Lord! Here is a glad tiding: You cannot change, but all you need is an exchange! Thank and praise the Lord! The overcoming life is not a change but an exchange. If it were up to you, you could not make it. But if it is up to Christ, He can make it. The question is whether it is you or Christ who overcomes. If Christ overcomes, it would not matter even if you were ten times worse than you are now.
Brothers and sisters, what is victory? Victory is not you overcoming by yourself. It is Christ overcoming for you. The kind of victory in the Bible is seen in Galatians 2:20: “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” When Fukienese argue, they often use a colloquial expression, si-bu-bien, which means that there cannot be any change until one dies. When I was in Peking, I told the brothers that every one of us has to tell ourselves that we are si-bu-bien. Thank and praise Him that we are not changed but exchanged!
A sister once asked me about the difference between a change and an exchange. I illustrated it with an old Bible. If we want the Bible to change, we have to give it another cover and add glue to the spine. Perhaps we can put new gold foil on the cover. If letters are missing from the pages, we have to make them up. If places have become blurred, we have to trace in the original words. After so much work and so many days, we still cannot be sure whether we have changed it the right way. But if we exchange it for a new one, we can do it within a second. All you have to do is give the bad one to me, and I will give a good one to you. Then everything is done. God has given us His Son. There is no need for us to strive for anything. Once we make the exchange, everything is done!
Let me give another illustration. A few years ago, I bought a watch. The company that sold the watch put a two-year warranty on the watch. But the days that the watch was in the shop were more than the days it was in my home. Every few days the watch would break down, and I had to send it back to the shop for repair. This happened repeatedly. I went to the shop once, twice, even ten or more times. Eventually, I was exhausted. The watch was repaired over and over again, but it was never quite fixed. I asked the company if I could exchange it for another watch. The company said that it could not offer an exchange; it could only repair the watch, but it was never fixed. I became so exhausted that eventually I said, “You can have the watch. I do not want it anymore.” The human way is the way of constant repair. During the two years that I owned the watch, it was constantly under repair. With the human way, there is no exchange; there is only the way of repair.
Even in the Old Testament, we see that God’s way was not to repair or to change, but to replace. Isaiah 61:3 says, “To grant to those who mourn in Zion, / To give to them a headdress instead of ashes, / The oil of gladness instead of mourning, / The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of heaviness; / That they may be called the terebinths of righteousness, / The planting of Jehovah, that He may be glorified.” God’s way is the way of replacement. God does not change the ashes. Rather, He replaces the ashes with a headdress. He does not change the mourning. Rather, He replaces the mourning with gladness. God’s way is never to change, but to exchange.
Thank and praise the Lord. We have not been able to change ourselves for all these years. Now God is making an exchange. This is the meaning of holiness. This is the meaning of perfection. This is the meaning of victory. This is the life of the Son of God! Hallelujah! From now on Christ’s meekness becomes my meekness. His holiness becomes my holiness. From now on His prayer life becomes my prayer life. His fellowship with God becomes my fellowship with God. From now on there is no sin too great for me to overcome. There is no temptation too great for me to withstand. Victory is Christ; it is no longer I! Is there any sin too great for Christ to overcome? Is there any temptation too great for Christ to surmount? Thank and praise the Lord! I am not afraid anymore! From now on, it is no longer I but Christ.