SNT 1127 The Victoriously Living Christ
The Victoriously Living Christ
June 20, 1982
SNT 1127
Format: audio-transcript-ePub-Mobi
Publication Date: 06-20-1982
Victor Paul Wierwille was a Bible scholar and teacher for over four decades.
By means of Dr. Wierwille's dynamic teaching of the accuracy and integrity of God's Word, foundational class and advanced class graduates of Power for Abundant Living have learned that the one great requirement for every student of the Bible is to rightly divide the Word of Truth. Thus, his presentation of the Word of God was designed for students who desire the in-depth-accuracy of God’s Word.
In his many years of research, Dr. Wierwille studied with such men as Karl Barth, E. Stanley Jones, Glenn Clark, Bishop K.C. Pillai, and George M. Lamsa. His formal training included Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Theology degrees from Mission House (Lakeland) College and Seminary. He studied at the University of Chicago and at Princeton Theological Seminary from which he received a Master of Theology degree in Practical Theology. Later he completed his work for the Doctor of Theology degree.
Dr. Wierwille taught the first class on Power for Abundant Living in 1953.
Books by Dr. Wierwille include: Are the Dead Alive Now? published in 1971; Receiving the Holy Spirit Today published in 1972; five volumes of Studies in Abundant Living— The Bible Tells Me So (1971), The New, Dynamic Church (1971), The Word's Way (1971), God's Magnified Word (1977), Order My Steps in Thy Word (1985); Jesus Christ Is Not God (1975); Jesus Christ Our Passover (1980); and Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed (1982).
Dr. Wierwille researched God's Word, taught, wrote, and traveled worldwide, holding forth the accuracy of God's "wonderful, matchless" Word.
Poem - Victorious Living
Rev 21:27; Gen 5:1; Mat 1:1; Rom 8:9; Isa 55:8-13; Act 18:26: Jud 11
Gen 6:5, 12; Job 21:27; Pro 15:26;
Mar 7:21-23; 2Co 10:5; Heb 4:12; Joh 3:3-7, 15-19; 4:24; 16:6-13
Calvary Covered It All - Dave Demars
Heb 2:9-11; 11:1-7; Gal 3:23
Gen 6:9, 14, 15, 19, 22; 7:16; Heb 11:8-13, 16, 17, 20, 22-25, 27-35
Heb 11:36-40; 12:1-4
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“The Victoriously Living Christ”
Victor Paul Wierwille
June 20, 1982
– Sunday Night Teaching 1127 Transcript –
Living Victoriously
New Knoxville, Ohio
There is a time for all things, but there is one thing for all times, and that is The Victoriously Living Christ.
Living victoriously is victorious living, it is radiant living.
There are three words which enable us to see the greatness of The Victoriously Living Christ. The first word is “believing”; believing is the genus of Christianity. The second word is “love”; love is the badge of Christianity. And the third is the word “Word”; it is God’s Word, the Scriptures, which is the foundation of Christianity.
One of our wonderful young ladies from Sioux Falls, South Dakota wrote the following poem this week: Victorious Living is living so fine, Living God’s Word and making it mine. Loving the Father for sending His son, And running the race which is already won. Living the Mystery is Christ in me, I believe God’s Word and then I did see. Just have to tell it and let be known, What God did for all from His heavenly throne. Yes, Victorious Living is living so fine, Living God’s Word and making it mine.
It’s that a beautiful little poem?
Have you really ever considered the dignity you have because of God’s spirit that is in you? How fortunate, blessed and honored you are that you have your name written and recorded in the lamb’s Book of Life. As it says in the Book of Revelation:
Revelation 21:27:
...but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
It is interesting to note that there are two books of generations in the Bible.
Genesis 5:1:
This is the book of the generations [plural] of Adam....
This is the first of the two; it is the book of the generations of Adam. Now let’s look at the Gospel of Matthew.
Matthew 1:1:
The book of the generation [singular] of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
We have the book of the generations of Adam but we have the book of the generation of Jesus Christ.
The reason “generations” is in the plural in Genesis is because genetically the families got all mixed up. But when it comes to Jesus Christ, nobody can get mixed up because there is only one seed of Christ in every born-again believer. That is why it is “generation” in the singular.
Let us look at Romans chapter 8. Bless your heart.
Romans 8:9:
...Now if any man [“man” is an inclusive noun and means “anyone,” man or woman] have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
He would be of the generations of Adam but not of the generation of Jesus Christ. If any man has not the spirit of Christ he is not of God; he is not of us; he has not got Christ in him, the hope of glory.
There is a tremendous difference between religion and Christianity. Religion is based on human reason, human philosophy. Christianity is based on God’s divine revelation.
Isaiah 55:8:
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
Religion is based on human reasoning, human ways, human philosophy. God says His thoughts are not those kinds of thoughts; neither are God’s ways the ways of men. Verses 9-11:
Isaiah 55:9-11:
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my [God’s] ways higher than your [man’s] ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth [fruit] and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void [it will produce fruit], but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
These are not man’s word, not a philosophical doctrine, not a theologian’s word; but, they are God’s Word. God says, “My Word.” Verse 12:
Isaiah 55:12:
For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills [it’s a beautiful figure] shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field [are going to applaud you] shall clap their hands.
This is for our learning, but in application it would apply like I taught you from the principles of handling the Word.
Isaiah 55:13:
Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
Christianity is the way of a Father with His family. God is our Father; we are His children. Religion is the ways of men. Christianity is what God wrought in Christ Jesus, and what He does in and for all believers. Religion is what men do to men. Things in this world are made to be used; people are made to be loved. You never use another individual. You can use things but not people; people are to be loved. Christianity is love; religion is selfishness.
In Genesis, chapters 1 and 2, we have the record of how God formed, made and created man. Then in Genesis, chapter 3, we have the record of the fall of man. In Genesis, chapter 4, the way back to God is revealed. Abel followed God’s way, but Cain followed man’s way. There are only two ways: it is either the way of God or it is the way of Cain.
Acts 18:26:
And he [Apollos] began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.
That is one of the two ways, the way of God. The other is the way of Cain.
Jude 11:
Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain,...
There are only two ways: one is the way of God, the other is the way of Cain. The way of God is the true way and that is expressed in the words of the hymn: “Nothing in my hands I bring.” The way of Cain is the false way and it could be expressed in the words, “Something in my hands I bring.”
Every religion maintains, as does the amount of religion that has crept into Christianity, that man must do something; he must be something; he must feel something in order to merit God’s love and God’s salvation. Yet, the Word of God declares that God finds every imagination, every reasoning, every thought of man’s heart evil continually.
Genesis 6:5, 12:
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his [God’s] way upon the earth.
In the book of Job, chapter 21, God says:
Job 21:27:
Behold, I [God] know your thoughts, and the devices [the ideas] which ye wrongfully imagine against me.
God knows man’s thoughts, his devices, which he wrongfully imagines and puts up against God. (There are many; I just picked out a few for you.)
Proverbs 15:26:
The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD: but the words of the pure are pleasant words.
Mark 7:21-23:
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness [lust], an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
II Corinthians 10:5:
Casting down imaginations[sense-knowledge reasonings], and every high [false] thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
You have to cast down all the false things, all the sense-knowledge reasonings, which are against the knowledge of God, and you bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. You bring your own mind into control to the greatness of the knowledge of God’s Word, “every thought to the obedience of Christ.”
Man has always thought himself a critic of the Bible; but, the Word of God says that it is the Word of God that is the critic of men.
Hebrews 4:12:
For the word of God is quick [living], and powerful [energetic], and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner [“discerner” in the text is “critic”] of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The Word of God is the critic. Man is not the critic of the Word; the Word of God is the critic of men. The Word of God is the critic of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
John 3:3:
...Verily, verily, I [Jesus] say unto thee [Nicodemus], Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
I sometimes think that it should have said, “except a man be born again he cannot see” and stopped there. He is in darkness because if a man does not have the spirit of God in Christ in him he is none of His; he does not have eternal life. Verses 4 and 5:
John 3:4, 5:
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
Jesus answered, Verily, verily [“verily, verily” can also be translated “amen and amen”], I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water [natural birth, the breaking of the embryonic sac] and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
You must be born the first time in order to be born again, the second time, of the spirit. Verse 6:
John 3:6:
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
The natural man of body and soul is flesh, but when that man, who is body and soul, confesses the Lord Jesus Christ and believes in his heart that God has raised him, Jesus Christ, from the dead then he is born again. He becomes “born of the Spirit.” That which is born of the Spirit is eternal; that which is born of the flesh is temporal. Verses 7 and 15:
John 3:7, 15:
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
That whosoever believeth in him [Jesus Christ] should not perish, but have eternal life.
“That whosoever believeth in him should have eternal life,” is the original text. Whosoever means whosoever; it has nothing to do with your background or any other natural qualification, it only has to do with do you believe in him for, “whosoever believeth in him” shall have eternal life. Verse 16:
John 3:16:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
If I had been God, I would not have done it. But praise God He did it. God so loved the world that He gave. The reason it is everlasting life is because you did not have it from the beginning which would have been eternal. You have it from the time of the new birth and from that moment onwards it is everlasting. That is the difference between everlasting and eternal. Verses 17-19:
John 3:17-19:
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
John 4:24:
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must [absolutely] worship him in spirit and in truth [truthfully via the spirit].
God is Spirit. Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, lived here upon earth and was a man of body and soul in whom the spirit dwelt; but, God is Spirit. Spirit does not have a form or comeliness.
God is Spirit and they that worship Him must absolutely worship Him in spirit and in truth, or truthfully via the spirit. There is no other way that God can be worshipped other than by the spirit. You cannot bring God any money in heaven, it is impossible, for God is Spirit. The Word of God is so simple and it is so easy.
John 16:6-11:
But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I [Jesus Christ] go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter [pneuma hagion] will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
And when he is come, he will reprove [“reprove” is “convict”] the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
Of sin, because they believe not on me;
Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;
Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
We ought to believe that with all our heart, soul, mind and strength for it is the Word of God. The prince of this world is already judged, it has already happened. He—the one who if he had known what the revelation of the Mystery was, would never have crucified the lord of glory—has already been judged. That is the Word of God. Verses 12 and 13:
John 16:12, 13:
I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he [that spirit of truth, which we now know is Christ in you, the hope of glory] will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will [even by revelation] shew you things to come.
This is what Jesus Christ did for us. Jesus Christ came and he gave his life; he laid down his life for us. He, who knew no sin, became sin so that you and I could become the righteousness of God in him. Ladies and gentlemen, oh The Victoriously Living Christ today because of what he did at calvary!
Jesus Christ lived and he walked in the realm of the miraculous. Jesus Christ made miracles commonplace. His conception was a miracle. His life was one miracle after another. His death was a miracle. His resurrection was a miracle. His post-resurrection appearances were miracles. His ascension was a miracle. Pentecost was a miracle. The new birth in you is a miracle. And, the return of the Lord Jesus Christ will be a miracle. You and I are brothers and sisters of the miracle worker.
Hebrews 2:9-11:
...that he [Jesus Christ] by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through [“experiences” is the text] sufferings.
For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one [of Christ]: for which cause he [Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son] is not ashamed to call them brethren,
If God and Jesus Christ are not ashamed of you, not ashamed to call you Christ’s brother or sister, what are you ashamed of? That is the greatness of The Victoriously Living Christ, in you; that is radiant living. He is not ashamed!
By sense-knowledge reasonings, by the ways of Cain, it seems to be a mark of recognition, even of scholarship, of piety and fantastic brains to deny God, the Scriptures and the miraculous. But, when you take the supernatural out of Christianity all you have left is religion.
All the great Old Testament leaders of God, starting with Abraham, are recorded as miracle workers. In Hebrews chapter 11, I’m going to give you the accuracy from both the Aramaic and Greek texts. In verse 1, “Faith” is believing because according to Galatians 3:23, it said, “…before faith came,…” So this, about Abraham, is before it was available on the Day of Pentecost. Therefore this word pistis in verse 1 is believing.
Hebrews 11:1:
Now faith [believing] is the substance [title-deed] of [to] things hoped for [prayed for], the evidence of things not seen [the evidence that they are yours before they are seen].
A literal translation according to usage of verse 1 is: “Now believing is the title-deed to things prayed for, the evidence that they are yours before they are seen.”
Verse 2:
Hebrews 11:2:
For by it [believing] the elders obtained a good report [the text says, “were made witnesses”].
“For by believing the elders were made witnesses.” We have already covered that the word protestant meant “pro,” meaning “for”, and testes, meaning “witness.” Believers witness for God, as the elders mentioned in verse 2 were made witnesses.
Verse 3:
Hebrews 11:3:
Through faith [believing] we understand that the worlds [ages] were framed [prepared] by the word of God, so [to the end] that things which are seen were not made [came not into being] of things which do appear [by things which are seen].
The ages were prepared by the Word of God for God said it and it came into being.
A literal translation according to usage of verse 3 is: “Through believing we understand that the ages were prepared by the Word of God to the end that things which are seen came not into being by things which are seen.”
Verse 4:
Hebrews 11:4:
By faith [believing] Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he [Abel] obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he [Abel] being dead yet speaketh.
Even though Abel is dead, he is still speaking by what his witness was here upon earth while he was living.
Verse 5:
Hebrews 11:5:
By faith [believing] Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him:...
By believing Enoch was translated. The word “translated” can be translated either “transported” or “transferred.” It simply means that God took him from one place upon earth and put him in another place. I can understand that; He did that to Philip once in the Book of Acts and I think He could do it now if you needed to be some place, if you were the only one that could handle the situation, God could get you there without an airline. He is still the same God today.
It is interesting also that this word “translated” is the one which the theologians and the sense-knowledge men have all talked about as if to say, “You know, he is dead now and we hear voices coming back from the dead places.”
This word “translated” is also used in both the Anglican Church and in the Roman Catholic Church whenever a bishop is given a bishop’s seat. He may be the Bishop of New Orleans and live in London, England. It would simply say in the text of the transfer of his responsibility that he was translated to New Orleans.
They could not find Enoch because God took him from one place over to another place, because God had transferred him. They went looking for him and they could not find him. God hid him, and when God hides something, you cannot find it.
Hebrews 11:5 continued:
...for before his translation he had this testimony [he bore witness], that he pleased God.
A literal translation according to usage of the latter part of verse 5 is: “For before his translation he bore witness that he pleased God.”
Before he was translated he had never seen death. He did not see it then; he just died. When God took him from one place to another place, he had never seen death. He had this witness, that he pleased God. Verses 6 and 7:
Hebrews 11:6, 7:
But without faith [believing] it is impossible to please him [God]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he [God] is, and that he is [became] a rewarder of them that [who] diligently seek him.
By faith [believing] Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear [reverence, respect, awe], prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith [believing].
The greatness of these men is almost unbelievable. Do you know that Noah did not have a blueprint on how to build a ship? No one had ever built one. But, God said, “Build one!” Noah said, “Okay, what is the plan?” And God told him, Genesis 6:14-16:
Genesis 6:14, 15a:
Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
And this is the fashion [the scheme] which thou shalt make it of:...
God is giving Noah the blueprint on how He wanted it all built.
Genesis 6:14, 15b:
...The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.
Never had anyone ever built one before, there was not even a blueprint for it! (The length of it was 526 feet and 6 inches; the breath was 98 feet and 6 inches; the height was 56 feet and 3 inches. It had 3 million, 750 cubic feet of space—the same as freight cars would have if they were lined up one after the other for 13 ½ miles.)
God told Noah in verse 19 and following what he was to put in the ark, two of every kind (He did not say species, He said kind, genus); and then it says in verse 22:
Genesis 6:22:
Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
Noah believed God. He walked the Word; he talked the Word; he obeyed it. He was a wonderful man.”
Genesis 7:16:
And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.
I like that, the Lord shut the door! He shut the door for two reasons. Number one, so that the unbelievers could not pry it open and crawl in. Number two, so that Noah would not open it for them. Had Noah closed the door then when those unbelievers came along he might have been tempted to open it.
You see, when the water first came up to their knees, they said, “That is not too bad.” When it got up to their waist, they said, “Well, it still is not too bad, we can still walk around.” But, by the time it got over their heads, they would have had to swim. And you know, after a period of time, you get tired of swimming. And about that time, whom do you think was trying to get inside that boat?
“Oh! Noah, we love you. We are sorry for all the time before, but look, Noah, we will never do it again. Noah, we will stand with you, we will back you up. Noah, we will; we promise. We will absolutely do anything if you would please open the door.”
Noah said, “God, I cannot open the door!” God said, “I closed it shut, Noah.”
What would you have done? I know what I would have done, if I could open the door I would open the door. Hardly anybody ever sees that great scripture is in there, but it is the truth. It says, “and the Lord shut him in.” I want to tell you, when the Lord shuts the door nobody opens it.
No more so than on the morning of the resurrection when, it says, the angel had rolled away the stone from the door. It just does not mean he pushed it off the top, although that is all that would have been needed to get Jesus Christ up and out. But, when God does something, He does it right. It was rolled well out of the way and the angel was seated on top of it and said “Now, come on boys. Who is going to move me?”And for fear of him the keepers did shake and those soldiers dropped like dead men, because God had moved.
That Noah, wasn’t he a wonderful man? At times we think that we have believing. Noah built something that had never been done before, and that was quite a boat that he built! All by believing God at His Word.
Let’s go back to Hebrews. Now we get to Abraham in verse 8.
Hebrews 11:8:
By faith [believing] Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive [lambanō] for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
Abraham obeyed—for him the Word of God was the will of God. God said it; He meant it; Abraham believed it and walked on it. Verses 9-11:
Hebrews 11:9-11:
By faith [believing] he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Through faith [believing] also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed [she was ninety and Abraham was ninety-nine], and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged [she considered] him [God] faithful who had promised.
The Word of God was the will of God. He had promised, and He was “faithful who had promised.”
Verses 12 and 13:
Hebrews 11:12, 13:
Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
These all died in faith [believing], not having received the promises,...
They all died not having received the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. They saw that city; they believed what God said, but they never got the fulfillment of Christ’s coming. We did, we have Christ in us, the hope of glory. We have got it, but they did not have it. Look what they did by believing in the first coming. We have Christ in us; we ought to believe in the second coming, the return.
Hebrews 11:13, 16:
...but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
God is not ashamed to be called their God, because they believed Him. Even though all of them died never having received the promises, God was not ashamed of them because they did one thing: they believed God.That is why He prepared for them a city.
The record of the believing of the elders continues. Verses 17, 20-24:
Hebrews 11:17, 20-24:
By faith [believing] Abraham,...
By faith [believing] Isaac...
By faith [believing] Jacob,...
By faith [believing] Joseph,...
By faith [believing] Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents,...
By faith [believing] Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter;
He could have had the whole kingdom but he refused it.
Verses 25-31:
Hebrews 11:25-31:
Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt:...
By faith [believing] he forsook Egypt,...
Through [by] faith [believing] he kept the Passover,...
By faith [believing] they passed through the Red sea as by dry land:...
By faith [believing] the walls of Jericho fell down,...
By faith [believing] the harlot [the word “harlot” is “innkeeper”] Rahab perished not...
And then verse 32 says: I just have not got the time to tell you about Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthae and David and Samuel and the prophets.
Hebrews 11:33-35:
Who through faith [believing] subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance [They could have had it but they did not accept it.], that they might obtain a better resurrection.
The better resurrection is the resurrection of the just. There will be two resurrections, one of the just and the other of the unjust, and the resurrection of the just is the better of the two.
Hebrews 11:36-12:1:
And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
And these all, having obtained a good report through […one thing:…]faith [believing], received not the promise [of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ]:
God having provided some better thing for us, [which is God in Christ in you, the hope of glory.] that they without us should not be made perfect.
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,...
Those of whom we have just read are the witnesses. They are dead, but while they were living what they believed—what they accomplished for God; witnessed for God; stood for God—is the witness even today.
Hebrews 12:1b-4:
...let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
That’s living victoriously with The Victoriously Living Christ! Just believing in his coming; you and I aren’t believing in his first coming. We have him as eternal life in us—Christ in us the hope of glory! We can’t lose it. We’re heaven bound and all hell can’t stop us from going! That’s The Victoriously Living Christ!
I told you that all the great Old Testament leaders starting with Abraham whose records are recorded in the Word of God were all miracle workers. Joseph went from prison to being the second in command in the greatest nation of the history of the world at that time. That had to be a miracle. The crossing of the Red Sea was a miracle. Imagine two and a half million people, or more, surviving for forty years in a wilderness. That had to be a miracle. The capturing of the city of Jericho was a miracle. All the prophets and all the kings of Israel who believed God did miracles. Israel returned from the Babylonian captivity by four great miracles. Jesus began his public ministry with a miracle. Every outreach of God’s Word since the day of Pentecost has reverenced and has honoured the name of the man from Galilee; and every outreach has been set forth by miracles.
The greatest of all theologians, preachers, philosophers are never going to rescue religion from its sterility. It is going to take humble men and women of God who have a knowledge and a love of The Victoriously Living Christ in them to carry the ministry of reconciliation, for they carry the Word of reconciliation and the power of Christ in them, who is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Man was created by a miracle-working God. And man, really, in his heart, in the innermost part of his being, yearns for the miraculous, for the supernatural. He yearns to live in the atmosphere of men and women who are moving in the category of the miraculous and the supernatural. The miracle realm is man’s genuine realm; it is his perfect realm for he is—by creation, by the miracle of the new birth—the son of the miracle-working God.
It is sin that makes believers into believer-workers without the miraculous. Sin dethrones the spirit and it enthrones and crowns the intellect. God’s grace, God’s mercy, God’s peace, God’s love and God’s power enable believers to live in the realm of the miraculous.
Believing is not a fighting struggle. A believer should be as unconscious of having exercised believing as he is when he writes a check knowing that he has got the money in the bank.
The Victoriously Living Christ in you is the power of God, it is His personal guarantee of the record in John, chapter 14.
John 14:12:
Verily, verily...
“Verily, verily” is a double “amen” in the text, “amen and amen.” The word amen means “so be it”; “so is it surely and absolutely.”
John 14:12 continued:
...I [Jesus Christ] say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he [that believer] do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
Because he went to the Father and is seated at the right hand of God, he sent “forth this which you now see and hear” on the day of Pentecost. It is the Christ in us and Jesus himself said that the works that he did we shall do also. The reason we have not done them is because we have been talked out of them. Tradition has nullified the truth of the greatness of God’s Word for us and so we have felt incapacitated, unworthy, and so on.
We can see the greatness of verse 12 coming to pass in our day and in our time, because Jesus Christ paid the price. He is the one who said, “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do and greater works than these shall he do.”
That is The Victoriously Living Christ within us. We ought to walk with the greatness of the power of God.
Thank you Father, oh LORD, how I thank you for your wonderful living Christ within us. How I thank you for your son, Jesus Christ; and for the wonderful power of the holy spirit within us. Father, thank you for your Word living in our day and time and among your people. Thank you and thank you, for allowing me to be with your people in this wonderful living abundantly and victoriously living class, to share the greatness of the Word to the best of my ability. In the wonderful name of Jesus Christ, I thank you. Amen.