For a long time I tried to gain the victory over sin, but I failed. I have since learned the reason. Instead of doing the part which God expects me to do, and which I can do, I was trying to do God’s part, which He does not expect me to do, and which I cannot do. Primarily, my part is not to win the victory, but to receive the victory which has already been won for me by Jesus Christ.
“But,” you will ask, “does not the Bible speak about soldiers, and a warfare, and a fight?” Yes, it certainly does. “Are we not told that we must strive to enter in?” We surely are. “Well, what then?” Only this, that we should be sure for what we are fighting, and for what we are to strive.
Christ as a man fought the battle of life, and conquered. As my personal representative He won this victory for me, and so His word to me is “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” I can therefore say with deep gratitude, “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” My difficulty was due to this: that I did not give heed to the fact that victory is a gift, already won, and ready to be bestowed upon all who are willing to receive it. I assumed the responsibility of trying to win what He had already won for me. This led me into failure.
This victory is inseparable from Christ Himself, and when I learned how to receive Christ as my victory through union with Him, I entered upon a new experience. I do not mean to say that I have not had any conflicts, and that I have not made any mistakes. Far from it. But my conflicts have been when influences were brought to bear upon me to induce me to lose my confidence in Christ as my personal Saviour, and to separate from Him. My mistakes have been made when I have allowed something to come in between me and Him to prevent me from looking into His blessed face with the look of faith. When I fix my eyes upon the enemy, or upon the difficulties, or upon myself and my past failures, I lose heart, and fail to receive the victory. Therefore, “Looking unto Jesus,” is my motto.
The fight which I am to fight is “the good fight of faith,” but the weapons of this warfare are not of the flesh. I do not believe in myself, and therefore I have no confidence in my own power to overcome evil. I hear Him saying to me, “My power is made perfect in weakness,” and so I surrender my whole being to be under His control, allowing Him to work in me “both to will and to work,” and when I act upon the faith that He will do this in the way of victory, He does not disappoint me. By living His life of victory in me, He gives me the victory. This means that I offer my body a living sacrifice; that I must not willfully choose the way of disobedience; and that I will not consent to any known sin. Such a course, which is the life of faith, makes it possible for Him to impart to me the victory which He has won for me. His victory is my victory. Have you taken Him as your victory?
“O glorious victory, that overcomes the world.”