The Heavenly Victory Is Yours! You Must Recognize It Now!

Reverend Leo H. McCrary II

Your race of faith is not for nothing. Your victory has been promised and assured, and has given you the power to endure and overcome.

Introduction

We have come a long way in this series of sermons where I have focused on the winning spirit, what it looks like, and maintaining it while running the race of faith.  This week’s sermon will be the last in this series, and I desire to preach with it in mind the victory we celebrate today in Christ’s resurrection.  As I said in last week’s message, Christ has covered us by His love, which gives us a great deal of power.  In that power, we should be shouting and proclaiming today – Victory is mine!  

Death, Where Is Your Victory

I want to share with all of you what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:54-58.  He stated, “So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

Paul then asked Death a question, quoting the Lord when he spoke through the prophet Hosea, “O Death, where is your sting?  O Hades (Death), where is your victory?”

Paul then gave thanks to God, saying, “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  He then implored believers, saying, “My beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

Be Bold in Your Race

We aren’t running this race for nothing, are we?  No, there is an assurance of the prize before us made in the shed blood of the Lamb of God.

As I focus on power and authority in today’s message, I want you to take note of Paul’s tone when he spoke to Death itself.  Paul didn’t stammer and he didn’t stutter.  Paul did not speak as a coward or as if he feared Death.  Paul spoke with great boldness!

Something that Paul understood that we must understand today is that the grave didn’t have power over him.  Because of this understanding, he didn’t live in fear of the grave.  Paul knew the grave couldn’t hold him down because his faith was in the one who overcame the grave.

So, he looked beyond the grave, training his eyes on the eternal reward that is ahead.  When he ran the race, he ran it steadfastly, being immovable, always abounding in the good work.  You see, when one can look beyond the grave, knowing that the grave is not an endpoint, but a go-point, that is true power and authority.  What is it that could possibly knock them off course?

Shouldn’t we, the children of God, also run our race in same manner of boldness?  Today, I believe we ought to be running, proclaiming, ‘Victory is mine!’  Will you proclaim that victory is yours today?

“I am Tired”

There’s an admission that I must make to all of you today about how I am feeling, and why this series of sermons means so much to me.

I want to admit to all of you that I am tired.  Now, when I say to you that I am tired, I want you to understand that I am neither tired physically, mentally, emotionally, and I’m certainly not tired spiritually.  You see, there is a fire that burns in me today, and I desire to run this race even harder, yet I have grown tired.

When I say that I am tired, I want you to know that I am tired of this world.  I am tired of the workers of wickedness further spreading their wickedness, hurting and harming the innocent and the good-hearted.

I am tired of false religion putting its lies onto the name of Christ, moving out of anger and hate, which is pushing people away from Christ.  I am tired of the blasphemy of false religion that is working against God’s will, shutting the gates to His kingdom from those who have a desire to enter!

I am tired of dwelling amongst dead spirits who are dead in faith, dead in their worship, and dead in their service of worship. God has given His only begotten Son, who has awakened us in our spirit, yet many of us are hanging our heads, moping, and dragging our feet today.  The Lord has made us alive but we won’t call on Him, go to Him, or give Him the time of day, and it makes me tired.

God has given us a victory, and again I say that we should be proudly proclaiming it, but many of us act as if we are ashamed to proclaim it.  Many of us move about trying to keep our worship on the hush, on the down low.  I am tired of believers living in shame, denying their faith as Peter did.

You’re More Powerful Than You Realize

Why are we dead in our faith?  Has the world beaten the joy out of you?  Have the wicked robbed you of your joy?  Why are we living in such fear?

In Psalm 27:1, David sang, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?”  May I suggest to you that this should also be your song?  All of us believers ought to be moving through life asking the same question – Whom shall I fear and of whom shall I be afraid?

The same boldness that both Paul and David had, you also should have if you are a child of God.  I do my best to strive to share in the same boldness of those mighty me of faith myself.  

You see, something we should all know is that we are far stronger and far more powerful than anything or anyone that will stand against you.  You are stronger than all of your trials and tribulations – don’t let them shake you.  You are more powerful than any disease that will come upon you – don’t let them cause you to worry.  You are even more powerful than Satan and his army – don’t you be afraid!

In Luke 10, the scripture tells of a time when Jesus sent out seventy of His followers into every city and place where He was about to go.  He sent them out without their money, carry bags, or extra sandals, similar to how He sent out the twelve on their first assignment (Luke 9:1-6).  Jesus sent out the seventy to also heal the sick and to preach the coming of the kingdom of God, just as He did with the twelve.

Do you know that in Luke 10:17, the seventy came back to Jesus, not shaken or defeated?  But He sent them out without money!  How were they successful?  He sent them out without the best pair of shoes!  How were they successful?

In Luke 10:17, the seventy returned with joy, saying to Him, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.”  Moving in the name of Jesus was their joy, their success, and their victory!  I want you to notice that they had faced demons when Jesus sent them out, but those demons fell subject to them in the name of Jesus!

That same power and authority dwells in all of God’s children today.  If you are unaware of how that same power and authority dwells in you, then let me remind you.  Through the confession of faith in your heart, you have received that power through the dwelling of the Holy Spirit–the third person of God.  God dwells with and in you!

Stop Ceding Your Power

So, let me repeat this for all of you today:  You are stronger and more powerful than all that will stand against you.  The only way that anything or anyone can overcome you is if you permit that to happen.

Too many of us are ceding our power and authority to that which doesn’t have any power or authority over us.  Don’t you see it today, how we continue to give power to our demons?  We continue to cede power to our lusts and temptations,  and to our fears and our doubts.  We give our power over to powerless people.  We will even cede power over to the devil and his demons, under the belief that they are equal, if not more powerful than the Lord.

We cede our power for two different reasons.  First:  We don’t recognize or cherish the power we have, and therefore, we give it away.  Second reason:  We underestimate our power, believing others are more powerful, fearing that they can hurt, harm, and even destroy us, we cede our power. These trains of thought must be corrected.

In Isaiah 54:17, the Lord said through the prophet, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment, you shall condemn.  This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me.”

The power within God’s children is “enduring power” – the power of perseverance!  How many of you truly believe that no weapon formed against you will prosper?  If you say that, then move in that victory–move boldly not timidly!  That which you fear cannot hurt, harm, or destroy you!  

Who Has Authority Over You

For anything or anyone to be able to destroy you, that would mean that they have authority over you.  So, who has authority over you that they can actually destroy you?

Yes, Satan can hurt and harm us physically.  Satan’s army of demons can hurt and harm us physically.  Sure, people can also hurt and harm us physically.  However, when you are a child of God, nothing and nobody can destroy your soul – your true being.

In Ezekiel 18:4, the Lord said through the prophet, “Behold, all souls are Mine.”  Through Isaiah, the Lord said, He is the one who created the heavens and stretched them out, and spread forth the earth, giving breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it (Is. 42:5).  

Christ said it Himself, “And I give [My sheep] eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.  My Father who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand (John 10:28-29).”

As I said in my sermon last week, in reference to Job’s story, as the Lord put a hedge around Job, He has done the same for you!  And because the Lord has put a hedge of protection around you, that means you are His–you belong to Him.  The hedge that God has put around you can’t be entered by any man, demon, or the devil himself.  No man, demon, or the devil himself can climb over God’s hedge of protection, nor can they tear it down!

God Has Determined

I feel that these things need to be said today because so many of us are walking around here defeated.  Has God given us a defeated spirit?  Has God given us a spirit of fear?  God has given us a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind!  God has given to us a winning spirit.

I want you to know today that God has determined for you today.  What has He determined?  After the death of Lazarus, Jesus spoke with Lazarus’s sister, Martha.  To Martha, He said, “I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in Me, though he may die (physically), he shall live.  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die (John 11:25-26).”

If you believe in Him, God has determined for you to make it–to overcome.  The Lord determined that for you when He gave the world His only begotten Son.  The Lord determined that for all of us when He made that promise to the serpent in the garden (Gen. 3:14-15).  I repeat to you:  the Lord has proclaimed that you have already won.

What Will You Determine?

The question that you must answer is this:  what will you determine for yourself?  Nothing and nobody has the power to take away God’s promise, and I will remind you that God is faithful to what He has promised.

I implore all of you today to stop ceding your power to powerless people and to powerless beings.  Stop ceding your power to your trials, tribulations, afflictions, and infirmities.  Stop ceding your power to sickness and disease.  Stop ceding your power to the wicked and evil.

As Paul encouraged, I also encourage you through the Holy Spirit to go forth boldly.  I encourage you to be steadfast, immovable, and stand in victory, running the race of faith!  When we do this, at that last day, when we are raised with Him, it will be said, “O Death, where is your victory?”  For victory is with us!