Victorious Warrior

Psalm 98

1 O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.
2 The LORD hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.
3 He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
4 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.
5 Sing unto the LORD with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm.
6 With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the LORD, the King.
7 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
8 Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together
9 Before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.

Isaiah 25:8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.

Matthew 12:20 A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.

1 Corinthians 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

In searching the word Victory for this study, I found most verses in connection with final judgment and victory over death.

I found that to be curiously odd.

I expected to find much more.

In my soul, I wanted to find more.

My desire was to be told we are victorious in life.

Failing to find that, I sought the truth.

My desire was colored by my emotions.

Emotions are tied to the carnal mind.

As we studied in last weeks teaching,

We know that the carnal mind is at odds with the spirit.

If we are to follow the spirit

Then we must not be led by our emotions.

We as loving God fearing people

Watch pain and suffering every day.

We can be overwhelmed by it.

Our senses can be overloaded by it.

We can be so numbed by the enormity of it, that we fall victim to it.

Despair sets in because we don't see things as we would like them to be.

Essentially we come under attack by our own emotions.

We all come under attack.

We can be victims or overcomers,

Tonight's teaching is about being an overcomer.

Exodus 14:14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

Exodus 17

8 Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

9 And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with

Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of

God in mine hand.

10 So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and

Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

11 And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

12 But Moses hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

13 And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

14 And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the

remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.

15 And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi:

Jehovah-nissi = "Jehovah is my banner"

Nissi 05251 nec {nace}

something lifted up, standard, signal, signal pole, ensign, banner, sign, sail

Envision Moses on that hilltop.

The Staff of God held high.

Arron and Hur on each side.

Can you see Calvary?

Three on a hill, Christ in the middle?

Victory assured as long as the rod of God is upheld.

No strength of our own.

Two holding up that standard.

One to the left, one to the right.

The Old Testament

The New Testament.

Both pointing to the work of the Cross of Christ.

For that wooden shepherd’s staff which Moses held aloft

Has been transformed into the mightiest tool of God

The Cross of Christ.

Exodus 21

5 And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:

6 Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.

Do not be surprised to see the ear nailed to the door.

Give ear only to the Lord your God.

Do not listen to the lies of the enemy.

Do not give in to your emotions for they are born of the flesh, the carnal mind.

1 John 5

4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

Joshua 9

3 And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai,
4 They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up;
5 And old shoes and clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and mouldy.
6 And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the men of Israel, We be come from a far country: now therefore make ye a league with us.
Wilily: 06195 `ormah {or-maw'} from 06193; TWOT - 1698b; n f AV - guile 1, wilily 1, subtilty 1, wisdom 1, prudence 1; 5 1) shrewdness, craftiness, prudence

2 Corinthians 2: 11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

One of those devices is our own emotions.

As with the Gibeonites, who sued for peace, because they saw the power of God in the land

Our emotions sue for peace with the spirit,

"We will come under subjection to you."

"We will do as you instruct us."

Just as with Joshua, it sounds good, and seems right

But to hold righteous judgement, emotions cannot be part of it

For they are of the carnal mind, subtle and crafty to deceive you.

When a friend attacks you, your emotions respond with righteous indignation.

But you have no righteousness, remember

Isaiah 64:6. But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Pride has taken us away from the Cross of Christ once again.

When the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, it is to cleanse us of that sin.

Nailing us again to the Cross of Christ.

The carnal mind, will sue for peace and say, "This is wrong, I shall not do it again."

But the truth is…

Matthew 5

34. But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:

35. Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.

36. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.

37. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

Draw a line in the sand and you become aware of it.

Say you will not cross that line

And the only way to not cross that line is to watch it and remain focused on it.

Keep your eye on that line and you are no longer keeping your eyes on Jesus

Who leads you in all righteousness

We could not keep the whole Law of Moses.

Allowing your emotions to make new laws within ourselves invites failure.

For as soon as you draw that line in the sand, the flesh pushes you towards it.

And keeps pushing until you step across it.

We have no strength of our own to resist.

Quoting from Arthur W. Pink's book, The Doctrine of Man's Impotence;

It is of the utmost importance that people should clearly understand and be made thoroughly aware of their spiritual impotence,

for thus alone is a foundation laid for bringing them to see and feel their imperative need of divine grace for salvation.

So long as sinners think they have it in their own power to deliver themselves from their death in trespasses and sins,

they will never come to Christ that they might have life, for "the whole need not a physician, but they that are sick."

So long as people imagine they labor under no insuperable inability to comply with the call of the gospel,

they never will be conscious of their entire dependence on Him alone who is able to work in them "all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power" (2 Thess. 1:11).

So long as the creature is puffed up with a sense of his own ability to respond to God’s requirements, he will never become a suppliant at the footstool of divine mercy.

End quote

"So long as people imagine" the workings of the carnal mind, through emotions, they hide the truth.

You might ask, and rightfully so; "How am I to know what to do and what to pray for if I can no long trust my own emotions?"

I turn to John chapter 5 for the answer to that question.

2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.
3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.
4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.

In verse 3 we see a stirring of the spirit.

Verse 7 points to our responsibilities as bondservants of Christ to help those who are afflicted, to lift up Jesus, just as Aaron and Hur helped Moses lift up Jesus.

We know when and how to respond to the afflictions of the masses by our sensitivity to the stirrings of the Holy Spirit.

Our emotions will cause us to lift up people when there is no stirring of the spirit.

No stirring of the spirit, no healing.

No healing, disappointment.

Disappointment, doubt.

Doubt, unbelief

Unbelief, sin

Sin, despair

And the cycle of being tossed to and fro by our emotions continues.

This cyclic emotional upheaval is what James describes as the double mind man.

James 1

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

Asking in faith must be preceded by our observance of a movement of the Holy Spirit, a stirring of the waters.

Once again, you might ask; "But what of my daily walk?"

Exodus 14:14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

God fights, you hold your peace.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Let that peace rule your every thought and deed.

2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Colossians 3

12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Amen

My Home Page

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws