We are on page 151. 151, study number 22. Know what that means? We are getting close to the end of this study. Study number 22, letter B, victory. The greatest single need in the personal lives of the majority of Christians is that of victory. Not simply a victory here and there, but the but the experiencing of consistent daily victorious Christian life. Sadly, so many believers are living defeated lives. You have been saved for some time now. You have been working through these lessons for many weeks. Ask yourself this question. Am I living victoriously? Please be honest with yourself before God. If you are defeated, And if your life consists of a rollercoaster path of spiritual ups and downs, this lesson will be of immense value to you. Amen? But studying, it will not be enough. It must be applied. You got pre-workout there? Okay. It's like, oh no! He's gonna jump up in the middle of the... It's like, move over, pastor, I'm preaching now. All right, does God want his children to have victory? Yes, amen. All right, letter A here, John 10, 10. Oh, our memory verse. We have 1 Corinthians 10, 13. There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted. Above that you are able, but will, with the temptation, make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. Kind of a long verse, but you can get it. It is an important verse. That's a verse that you can quote when you're in the midst of temptation and you're concerned about being able to make it. You're like, well, God said that he will make a way to escape. And so it gives you the opportunity there in the midst of temptation to be able to escape or to know that he's going to make a way of escape so you can trust in him to do so. as we apply his word to our lives, we escape the temptation and flee from sin. So John 10.10 says, the thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. So here we see that the Lord wants us to have an abundant life. Psalm 16, verse number 11 says, Now will I'm sorry that will show me the path of life and thy presence of his fullness of joy at thy right hand our pleasures forevermore So the Lord intends for us to experience Fullness of joy very good according to John 8 31 32 which we'll read real quick here says Then said Jesus to those Jews, which believed on him, if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. So we see here that the Lord intends. The truth or his word, not only to make us his disciples or give us salvation, but also to. Make us free, make me free. This freedom does not mean the absence of sin, but as Romans 6, 14 declares, freedom from the power of sin. Romans 6, 14 says, for sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're not under the law, but under grace. Then it says, does God want me to experience a life of victory? Yes, amen. So, let's talk about the steps to victory. in our lives. We may get a good way through this, but we may not. We'll see. To enable you to enjoy the victorious life, the following steps shown by the diagram here need to be understood. And these steps are identify your enemy, understand your enemy, realize God's provision for victory, and then translate victory into your own experience. So those four steps You're going to find that as we begin to identify the enemy, we're going to find that we go through each of those four steps to overcome and have victory for each of the three enemies. So the Bible teaches that there are three enemies that you will face as a child of God, each seeking to rob you of the joy of the Lord. These three enemies are the world, the flesh and the devil. We will now take each of these enemies and apply the four steps of victory so we'll we'll begin with the world and see if we see if we Have enough time for dealing with the flesh. So first how to have victory over the world so letter a here is identify your enemy and So what is the world? When the Bible speaks of the word of the world in the context of opposition to you, it is not referring to God's creation. It's not referring to the thing you're standing on, you know, outside. When you walk outside, you stand on the earth. It's not talking about the earth. It's not talking about this creation around us, but rather the world system, which is organized on selfish principles, improper motives, ungodly standards, and is opposed to the things of God. That's the world system or the worldly system or as we, um, well, we're, we're gonna, I don't want to get ahead of myself here. So Jesus said his kingdom is not of this world. So there is a kingdom of this world and that kingdom, uh, Is is the you know when it's speaking of the world that kingdom is part of that world that he's speaking of so in John 18 verse 36 jesus said my kingdom is not of this world if my kingdom were of this world then when my servants fight That I should not be delivered to the jews, but now is my kingdom not from hence This he says look, you know, my kingdom's not not from here And this this world is not uh where his kingdom is at this time. So, number two here, John 15, 18 says, if the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. So, Jesus said that the world system would hate the Christian as it did him. Number three, Jesus also said the believer is not of the world, right? John 15, 19. It says, ye are, I'm sorry, if ye were of the world, the world would love his own. But because you're not of the world, but I've chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hated you. So it says, this does not mean that we are to shut ourselves away from any worldly contact. We are in the world, but not of the world. Make sense? So according to James 4.4, for the Christian to be worldly only brings enmity with God. It says there, the adulterers and adulterers know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. All right. Number five, in the light of these things, Do you think that there is any common ground between God and the world, upon which the believer may safely stand? Well, let's look at this verse here. Matthew chapter six, verse 24. No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. So what's the answer to that question? No. No, there is no common ground. between God and the world, upon which a believer may safely stand. You have to choose you this day whom you'll serve, whether it be God or the idols, or the world in this case. So 2 Timothy 4, verse 10 says, for Damascus, for Damascus, for demons hath forsaken me, having loved this present world and is departed unto Thessalonica, Cretans to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia, So what happens to a Christian when he or she is defeated by the world? Nobody knows. What happens to a Christian when he or she is defeated by the world? For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica, Cretans to Galatia Titus unto Dalmatia I Summarized it in they forsake God's work They forsake God's work You see Demas forsook Paul Because he loved this present world and he departed from Paul departed from what? What Paul was doing what the Lord was doing with Paul and so now he departed the vessel and I can those other two Guys departed to other places, but Demas there, he's mentioned as having loved this present world. He forsook and departed. So, let's understand our enemy. We identified the world. Now we will seek to understand, at least to the extent that we need to, to have victory. So how does the world attack the Christian? The answer here is it entices the Christian away from the Lord. So 1 John chapter 2 verses 15 through 17 says, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life is not of the father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. So We have some questions here, or some fill in the blanks. Says, according to verse 16, what are three ways the world will tempt or will attempt to entice you? Letter A, the lust of the flesh. Letter B, the lust of the eyes. And letter C, the pride of life. Correct. According to verse 15, what is it that the world seeks to gain from you? It seeks to gain your, your love. Let me double check that though. Yeah, love, not the world, even the things that are in the world. If anybody loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. So yeah, it seeks to gain your love. And he said, you said another word that fits in there. I'm like, oh, man, it's not. I'm like, wait a minute. Did I miss that? So, yes, the correct answer is it seeks to gain your love and by gaining your love, it takes your life. Realize God's provision for victory. So this is step number three on this particular enemy, we need to realize God's Provision for victory. So John 16 33. He says these things have I spoken unto you that you might have peace In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world so actually quotes it here be of Good cheer I have Overcome the world So the Lord Jesus said he has won the victory for you So now the next step is to translate Christ's victory into our own experience. So it is all very well to see the Lord Jesus won the victory over the world, but you and I need to appropriate this victory into our own lives so that we too can be overcomers. And here's how. So we're gonna acknowledge that we are on the victory side or the winning side 1 John 5, 5, who is he that overcometh the world? He that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. Are you a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ? That should be an easy answer. Yes, it's either yes or no. Claim your victory by faith. 1 John 5, 4, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. So what is faith? Faith is simply believing what God says in his word and acting upon it. Total reliance upon God. So number three here, point three, do the will of God always. So 1 John 2, 17 says, The world passeth away, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Very good. The world passeth away, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Then number four here, set your affections on heavenly things. If you think about worldly things, wrong things, et cetera, you will be easily enticed. Colossians 3 1 says seek those things which are Above And then Colossians 3 2 says set your Affections on things above and then Matthew chapter 6 verse 21 says for where your treasure is there will your heart be also so that You kind of get the idea here is you're setting your affections, you're putting your heart in the right place, you're seeking the things which are above and having your treasure or having your heart toward heaven. So it says list eight things given in Philippians 4a that should be the focus of the believer's mind. It says whatsoever things are true, honest, just, here. Lovely. I'm going sideways. Of good report. Virtue. Praise. Yes. There be any virtue, there be any praise. Think on these things, right? So, these are the things that we're to think on. This is how we appropriate. Now, this is a very, really, really, a very, very simple lesson on, on having victory over the When it comes down to practical, he's giving us all the right answers. But you have to ask yourself, how am I going to apply this to my life when I'm tempted in a specific area, when I'm tempted by the world with the lust of the flesh? What am I going to do? Well, of course, I know that Christ has overcome the world. Of course, I know that he has, that he's given the victory already. So how do I translate that victory into my life? Well, you set your affection in the right place so that the lust of the flesh doesn't affect you or tear you down, drag you down. And then you keep your mind in the right place and you think on the things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, the things that are of good report, the things that have virtue and praise rather than the things that will draw you away and tear you down. So hopefully that can help and you can apply that principle. This is more or less just the principles that you can apply. You ask yourself any temptation, of course you have the flesh we're going to talk about. I think we'll probably wait until next week to talk about the flesh just because I want to spend a little more time on that even if we just deal with the flesh and the devil next week. I want to spend a little more time than five minutes on it. That's about all we have left is about seven minutes. But but I do want to kind of elaborate on this. If we when we're tempted by the world and all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. Now, the lust of the flesh we're going to deal with, like I said, next week, because the flesh is one of our other enemies. We have the world, the flesh and the devil. But part of the world's Tactics of tearing us down the when I say the world. I don't just mean like people out there I just mean the system of the world is that selfish? mentality that mentality of Or that that system organized on selfish principles improper motives ungodly standards and Things that are opposed to God so that lust of the flesh is going to try to elevate you above What God wants you where God wants you to be? That's going to try to take you. And I'm not saying obviously God does not have a problem with people being blessed. He doesn't have a problem with excelling in life. However, when that becomes the goal over what God wants, that's when the world's tearing us down. Now, God blesses when we're faithful to him. Praise the Lord for that. But that's not the goal. The goal is to be faithful to God. and then the blessings come as a byproduct. And then, you know, the lust of the eyes is, again, a lot of these things can have to do with what the flesh wants. The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes can have to do with prosperity. It can have to do with physical satisfaction. Um, it can have to do with, uh, as the last thing, the pride of life. That's how does everybody else look at me? What's everybody else's view of me? Well, the world wants you. The world system is set up to try to make you be to cause you to be concerned about what everybody else thinks and about what everybody else's is, uh, is concerned about. And It tries to get you to try to put your standards in a place that God wouldn't have you to have your standards, your standards of living, your standard, your, the way that you present yourself, the, the way, the attitude that you have, all of those things, the, the world has their way of doing things, but the way that God would have us to do things, he would have us to be humble of mind and, uh, and meek in spirit. And then as we, uh, as we follow after the Lord, and we have true thoughts and honest thoughts and just thoughts and pure thoughts and lovely thoughts and things that will cause us to have a good report, things that will show virtue. When others look at you and they say, that's a virtuous person, that person follows the Lord, and what they do shines the light of God into the world by the testimony of their life. And see, those are things that make for praise to God. Those are the kind of things that we want to have our minds set on and our hearts set on, not so worried. Now, of course, yes, we do care about what the world thinks, but we don't care about what they think based on their standards. We care about what they think based on God's standards. When the world looks at us, do they see the Lord Jesus Christ? Do they see holiness, purity? Now, in some cases, they're going to misinterpret that as something else. But our concern is that when they look at us, they see it's as though they're looking through a glass to see the word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that's where our victory is We know that we have the victory when it comes to the world, when the world recognizes us just like they would recognize Jesus if he were here in the flesh. Amen. Any questions or comments on this? I know we're kind of ending early, but I don't want to get into this next section. They are. Propagates at all. Yeah Yeah Absolutely, and and that's I I really think that we'll probably we may actually finish this next week but Lord willing we'll we'll see how far we get but yeah, they are all interrelated for sure It's almost like a trinity of evil the world, the flesh, and the devil. So, amen. Any other comments or questions?