Walking in Victory

Encounter Lesson

Pastor Keith Hassell

I.       It is one thing to receive freedom and deliverance.  It is another thing to walk in victory.

A.      Don’t be unprepared for Satan’s counterattack.  You will face opposition and temptations when you leave here.  Satan’s goal is to retake the ground he lost.

B.      You must determine to make decisions before you leave that will enable you to maintain the victory you gained this weekend.

1.       Genesis 4:7  “You will be accepted if you respond in the right way.  But if you refuse to respond correctly, then watch out!  Sin is waiting to attack and destroy you, and you must subdue it.”

C.      The same God who has given you victory over sin this weekend will now will help you to walk in victory over sin when you leave.

II.      The Blood and the Cross

          A.      The blood of Jesus deals with our sin.

          B.      The cross of Jesus deals with the sinner.

C.      Illustration:  If we simply try to eliminate alcoholism by eliminating all of the beer, wine, and whiskey on the store shelves we will not succeed.  We have to close down the brewery that makes it. 

D.      In the same way, the blood of Jesus covers the sin we have already committed.  But it takes the cross to stop the production of sin in our lives.

E.      The “sin” is the product.  The “sinner” is the sin factory.

F.      We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners.

G.      That is why we must understand the power of the cross in dealing with the sin nature.

III.    The Reality of Being “IN CHRIST”

A.      Galatians 2:20  “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”

B.      Romans 6:3-4  “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized INTO CHRIST JESUS were baptized into His death?  Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

C.      When Jesus died on the cross, WE DIED WITH HIM.

D.      Illustration 1:  If your grandparents had died when they were three years old, you would not exist today.  You would have DIED WITH THEM.  In the same way, we died with Christ on the cross.

E.      Illustration 2:  Take a small piece to represent a person.  Place it in your Bible which represents Christ.  Everywhere the Bible goes, the piece of paper goes also.  In the same way God has placed us IN CHRIST by faith in Him.  Our old sin nature died with Him and rose with Him.

F.      Spiritual Reality:  We (our sin factory) died with Christ.  This truth is a spiritual reality that has to become revelation in order for us to experience its power.  If you think you are still a slave, you will obey the lust of the flesh as if you are still a slave.  If you know that you are free, then you can think like a free man and refuse to obey any longer the slave master of sin.

IV.     Four Steps toward Walking in Victory

A.      The first step in walking in victory over sin is KNOWING

1.       Romans 6:6  “KNOWING that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of death may be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”

2.       We must know

                   a.       That we died with Christ

          b.       That we are no longer a slave to sin

B.      The second step in walking in victory over sin is RECKONING

1.       Once we KNOW that we died with Christ and are no longer a slave to sin, we must RECKON IT TO BE TRUE

2.       Reckoning means to reconcile.  In order to reconcile your checkbook, you have to make the information in your checkbook agree with the bank statement.

3.       God’s declaration that we are now IN CHRIST is the God’s bank statement of truth. We need to reconcile our thinking to agree with what we are in Christ in order to get free from bondage thinking.

4.       Romans 6:11  “Likewise you also, RECKON YOURSELVES to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD.”

5.       We must line up our thoughts to these two realities in Christ:

          a.       We are dead to sin

          b.       We are alive to God

C.      The third step in walking in victory over sin is YIELDING

1.       Romans 6:13  “And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”

2.       As one who has died, our members are now unemployed.

3.       As one who has been made alive with Christ, yield your body members as instruments of righteousness to God

4.       “Yielding” is a matter of our WILL.  We  must CHOOSE to allow Christ to live through us.

D.      The fourth step in walking in victory over sin is WALKING IN THE SPIRIT

1.       Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in us

a.       1 Corinthians 6:19  “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and you are not your own?  For you were bought at a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

2.       Walking in the Spirit is yielding ourselves to a PERSON---the Holy Spirit

          a.       The cross secures victory for us (salvation)

          b.       The Spirit enables victory in us (holiness)

3.       Why do some live victorious over sin and some do not?

a.       Some KNOW that the Holy Spirit indwells them while others do not (Spirit consciousness)

b.       Some recognize divine ownership while others do not (Lordship consciousness)

c.       Christianity is not a “changed” life but an “exchanged” life (Our life is over and Christ now lives in us)

4.       “In Christ” we cease being “owners” and become “stewards”

5.       The issue is not right vs. wrong, but flesh vs. Spirit

          a.       Flesh:  Yielding to the carnal nature

          b.       Spirit:  Yielding to the Holy Spirit

6.       Galatians 5:16-17  “I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.  For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another; so that you do not do the things you wish.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

7.       Satan’s temptations are an attempt to get us to act out of ourselves rather than out of the Holy Spirit.

8.       Romans 8:1-2  The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death.

V.      How do we experience victory over temptation?

A.      KNOW that you have been crucified with Christ.  You NO LONGER HAVE TO OBEY your fleshly cravings.

B.      RECKON yourself as dead to the POWER of that temptation but alive to God

C.      YIELD the members of your body as instruments of righteousness to God

D.      WALK in obedience to the Holy Spirit.  Look to the Holy Spirit for His strength and response rather than depending upon yourself.  Remember:  It is not about us being strong---it is about Christ living HIS LIFE through us.

VI.     Give each person a POCKET CROSS as a reminder that IN CHRIST they are a “DEAD MAN” to sin and alive unto God