Be Confident in God’s Promise of Victory

Preached July 14, 2024

Are you confident in God’s promise of victory? On this spiritual battlefield, confidence in the Lord is required to have victory. Join Pastor McCrary as he shares a powerful message about the victory of fully trusing in God’s prophetic word.

Introduction

Do you believe that you can and will win on this battlefield?  We must have confidence on this battlefield and we have reason to be confident.  In this week’s sermon, let’s focus on the reason for our confidence on this battlefield.  Victory, we must understand, has been assured to us by the Lord and we must trust in Him.

God’s Prophetic Word of Victory

Do you believe that you will win on this battlefield?  Are you confident in God’s promise of victory?  One must be confident in the Lord if they want to win on this battlefield.  Should you lack confidence, then your soul is doomed to be defeated.

To give us confidence, Peter wrote about the prophetic word that we have received.  In my key verse, Peter wrote that the prophetic word is a confirmed word that we would do well to heed.  Why would we do well to heed the prophetic word?  Well, let’s consider what a prophetic word is.

A prophetic word is a word that comes from God and relayed to man.  For example, the prophets of the Old Testament would receive a word from God and relay them to the people.  Since those words came from God, they should have been heeded as the truth, right?  Yet, we know that the Old Testament prophets were largely doubted or flat out ignored by the children of Israel.

What’s tragic about Israel’s doubting or ignoring of the prophetic word was what was promised.  Moses prophesied about “the Prophet” who would come and should be heard lest one desired to lose their soul (Deut. 18:15-19).  Isaiah later prophesied about the coming of “the Prophet” who would be wounded for man’s transgression but by them man would be healed (Is. 53:5).  

So, the prophetic word was of a Savior who would bring victory over sin.  To confirm this word to those that doubted, God gave His only begotten Son.  Upon His arrival, Jesus promised the day would come when those of sincere faith will not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).  

Jesus promised that those who sincerely believe in Him will overcome the world and have victory (John 16:33).  To pave the path to victory, what did Jesus do?  He gave His life in order to reconcile mankind’s relationship with the Lord. 

So, we have a prophetic word of victory that has been confirmed to us through the blood of Jesus.  We have a blessed assurance from God that we can and will win on this battlefield!  But again, the question has to be asked and answered – do you believe?  Are you confident that you can and will win this battle?

Doubting Gods’ Promise of Victory

Though some of us are confident and know that victory is ours, many of today’s generation are repeating the history of doubting or ignoring the prophetic word.  As we know, there are warnings throughout scripture about not heeding God’s word.

To Moses, the Lord promised to deliver the children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt to the land of promise (Ex. 3:8).  God promised that He would go before the people and deliver the inhabitants of the land into the hands of Israel (Ex. 23:31).  Sadly, a generation of Israel didn’t get to take part in God’s promise of victory because they didn’t heed His word.  Rather than believe in God’s promise and move by faith, they chose to believe the fearful words of man (Num. 14:1-10).

Throughout the Book of Judges, the children of Israel repeatedly lived in oppression because of how often they forsook the Lord.  Then, during the kingdom years, people like Ahab and Jezebel led the way in ignoring God’s prophetic word.  The ignoring of God’s word led to the fall of both the northern and the southern kingdom of Israel and Judah.

Let’s understand that those generations fell because they chose to follow the path Satan paved.  What was the path Satan paved?  God told Satan that his fall was because his heart was lifted up because of his beauty (pride) (Ezek. 28:17).  Satan’s splendor (pride) corrupted his wisdom which caused him to defile his sanctuaries (spirit) (Ezek. 28:18).  Satan believed his way was better than God’s way and he fell from heaven (Is. 14:12-13).

This is history we should be learning from rather than repeating!  As I learned growing up, you don’t want history to repeat itself.  Do you think the outcome will be any different for those that ignore God’s prophetic word today?  Do you believe you can win the battle for your soul by ignoring God’s battle plan?  If so, I advise you to think long and hard and don’t ignore history.  

God’s Putting You Into Winning Position

There is a lack of belief in God’s battle plan as many don’t believe God is putting them in a position to succeed.  As the children of Israel were journeying to the Promised Land there were many that thought God led them to the wilderness to die.  Such a mindset is why many of today’s generation won’t inherit the kingdom of heaven.  

We must understand that God is putting us into a position to win on this battlefield.

First step to winning

To understand that God is putting us into a winning position, I want to take a look at a couple of great leaders that once graced the spiritual battlefield.  Let’s start out by taking a look at King David, the man that had the courage to take down Goliath when nobody else would step up.  

After he became king of Israel, the Philistines sought to reignite their war against David and Israel (2 Sam. 5:17-18).  The Philistines, the people of Goliath, you should know, was once Israel’s great enemy.  They sought to wage war against David because at one point in time, they permitted David to take refuge in their land when he fled from Saul (1 Sam. 21:10-15).

As they tried to reignite war in the land, we will see the first thing David did was inquire of the Lord (2 Sam. 5:19).  David asked the Lord if he should fight the Philistines, and if he did fight them, would the Lord deliver them into his hand?  Let’s understand that David was not going to do anything without God’s permission and promise of victory!

The Lord responded to David, “Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hands (2 Sam. 5:19).”  So God not only commanded David to move but He promised him victory.  So, David moved with confidence in God’s promise of victory and he defeated the Philistines (2 Sam. 5:20).

After their defeat, the Philistines eventually returned again to wage war against David (2 Sam. 5:22).  That’s how life works when you think you have defeated something but then it makes a return!  Once again, scripture tells us the first thing David did was not to immediately move to meet them.  We are told that David inquired of the Lord about what he should do (2 Sam. 5:23).  

David could have easily done what many of us do today and presumed victory was already promised since God did it before.  Rather than presuming, David chose to consult God and the Lord gave him a different set of instructions to follow the second time around.  David was instructed to circle behind the enemy and attack them at a designated location (2 Sam. 5:24).  

David immediately moved with confidence in God’s plan, and again, he enjoyed another victory against the Philistines (2 Sam. 5:25).  David was unstoppable on the battlefield because he knew that God was his help – God was his confidence!  God’s battle plans and promise of victory was so important to David that he would constantly consult the Lord before doing anything!  

So, David would tell today’s generation that it needs to put its trust in the Lord.  David would tell today’s generation to “taste and see that the Lord is good (Ps. 34:8).”   David’s confidence in God was built up in the trust of tasting and seeing what God would do for him when he asked.  

Step out on faith

This leads us to a very important thought about prayer and why we must always consult the Lord.  Are you seeking God’s word before you step out on faith?  

Some of us will “step out on faith” before we ever consult the Lord and I must warn against this.  Let’s not confuse stepping out on faith with stepping out presumptionsly.  We often talk about what God has “laid on our hearts” when in actuality it’s what we laid on our heart.  Many believers are stepping out on presumption rather than stepping out on faith – there is a difference!

Scripture tells us that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11:1).  So, when you move by faith, you’re moving by what you believe is true according to the evidence.  For we who believe in Christ, Peter stated that he and the other disciples were eyewitnesses to His majesty (2 Pet. 1:16).  Not only do we have their witness, but we who are of sincere faith, are able to perceive God’s work through the Spirit.  

Presumptions are quite different.  When you move by what you presume you aren’t moving by any evidence, assurances, or facts.  Therefore, those who move by their presumptions are often irrational in their way.  As we have seen, those who move irrationally often end up erroring and falling into great trouble.  What bothers me today is that many believers move confidently by what they presume to be right without ever consulting the Lord.  

You see, the believer that presumes what God will do, and moves in such a manner fails to see the sin of such a way.  In scripture, King Saul made such an error and that sin saw him lose his kingdom to David.  So, even though you may be fully confident in what God will do, I want you to understand that you must go the route of David.  You must constantly consult the Lord before you do anything!

You don’t want to presume what God will do and move ahead of Him on this battlefield (Ps. 19:13).  The reason why I say this is because no battle is always fought the same way even though we may face the same enemy.  Our enemy is always changing, always adapting, and if you try to fight him as you once did, you will be defeated.  So, as we have seen here, David fought and defeated the Philistines in multiple ways thanks to God.

With God You Will Win

What I want you to come to understand today is that God is putting you into winning position.  You must learn to trust that God is putting you into a position to succeed.  Give the Lord a try and grow in your trust and confidence in the Lord.  

I often like our relationship with the Lord as a parent to a child or a child to a parent.  God is like a loving parent or even like a coach.  The majority of parents, hopefully, are doing their very best to put their children in a position to succeed.  Coaches, hopefully, do their best to come up with a plan to put their team into a winning position.  However, the one difference is that there is no doubt that God is putting you into a winning position!

Winning is contingent on you

So, winning on this battlefield is contingent on your trusting in God’s plan of attack and confidently executing the plan.  Therefore, this requires you to eliminate all of your doubts while trying to do your own thing to win!

So, I want to consider another winner that came before us on this battlefield and the example we should follow in him.  When Joshua stood to take possession of the Promised Land, God promised him that no man would be able to stand before him all the days of his life (Josh. 1:5).  God promised to put the Promised Land into his hands and all Joshua had to do was grab hold of victory. 

Example:  when Joshua stood before Jericho, God promised to deliver Jericho into his hands and gave him battle plans (Josh. 6:2).  Did Joshua doubt the plan?  Did Joshua do his own thing?  The fortified city of Jericho fell into the hands of Joshua and his army just as God had promised because he followed God’s plan of attack.

Joshua was a man that enjoyed great success on the battlefield with his one lost being because of the sin of another (Josh. 7:1-12).  God was faithful to Joshua and Joshua was faithful to Him.  By the end of his days, Joshua could confidently speak to the people about how he and his house served the Lord (Josh. 24:14-15).  

God has made it very clear to us that His desires towards us are of peace and to give us a future and hope (Jer. 29:11).  God has done nothing but worked to earn our trust as He blesses us on a daily basis.  

Do you believe that God is putting you in a position to win?  Are you confident that you can win on this battlefield?  Yes, there will be times when the Lord commands you to move immediately – don’t doubt Him.  There will also be times when God tells you not to move at all – do as He says.  There will be times when God tells you to shift positions – trust in Him! 

God is putting you into a winning position but again whether you win or not is contingent on you trusting and executing His plan.   As David did, we should do the same in constantly seeking God’s assurance of victory.  As both David and Joshua did, we should do the same in trusting God’s plan of attack.  As those men enjoyed success on the battlefield, we will also enjoy great success by trusting God’s plan.

Peter wrote that the ultimate victory of an entrance into the everlasting kingdom will be supplied abundantly should we diligently make our election sure.  How do we make our election sure?  By being faithful and growing in our faith.

When we add virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, and love to our faith, there’s nothing that can keep you from victory.  God has put victory into your hand, you have to grab a hold of it.  God has put salvation into your hand, you have to take a hold of it!  This is the great reward of God’s promise!  I encourage you to live in full confidence of God’s promise of victory.