I continue exploring with Charles G Trumbull.
Victory is a great word in the NT but there are many dedica-
ted Christians who are, nevertheless, deceived day by day by
counterfeit victory when God wants them to know the real
thing.
Jesus said, "Every one that commit sin is the bondservant
of sin...If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall
be free indeed." John 8:34-36
The Holy Spirit spoke through Paul and said:
"Sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not
underlaw, but under grace" Romans 6:14
"You are not under law"--which says DO--, "but under grace"--
which says DONE, and that is the reason sin shall not have
dominion over you.
"To me to live is Christ" Phil 1:21
"Thanks be to God who GIVETH us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ." 1Cor 15:57
He GIVES the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. That is
grace. That is the test of the real or the counterfeit victory.
Just remember this: any victory over the power of any sin
whatsoever in your life that you have to get by working for,
is counterfeit. Any victory that you have to get by trying for,
it is counterfeit. If you have to work for your victory, it is
not the real thing; it is not the thing that God offers you.
A woman said to me, "I am trying to live the victorious
Christian life..." I said to her and others listening, "If any
of you are making the mistake of trying to live the victorious
life, you are cheating yourself out of it, for the victory you
get by trying is counterfeit. You must substitute another word:
not TRY, but TRUST. You cannot try and trust at the same
time. Trying is what we do, and trusting is what the Lord
does.
The tragedy of it it that the Christians of our land have not
been taught the truth in this matter. Our ministers are not
able to teach this truth because they have not been taught
the truth.
A well, known preacher recently said this in a sermon: "We
all of us need to do weeding, rooting up the bad weeks in the
garden of our lives. The thing to do is to give your attention
to some weed, some sin that has taken root, and with prayer
and effort dig it up. It may take you a long time, but keep at
it day after day, week after week, till you have weeded that
sin to. Then go on to another sin.
Dear friends, you do not find anything of this sort in God's
Word. A victory gained in that way, by a gradual conquest
of evil, is counterfeit. A thief who comes to Christ does not
say that this week he will cut stealing by 25%, then next
week by 50% and in a month he will stop stealing! No, he
just quits!
The victorious life, the life of freedom from the power of sin,
is not a gradual gift, and victory is a gift. It is not a growth.
"Thanks be to God who GIVETH us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ." How long does it take for you to
grow into your Christmas presents? It is yours as soon as
you pick it up from under the tree.
Victory is not fighting down your wrong desires.
Victory is not concealing your wrong feelings.
One dear Quaker lady was always unruffled under the
most trying circumstances, and who was approached
one day and was asked how she was always so sweet
even when most people would boil over. She said, "Per-
haps I don't boil over my dear, but thee does not know
what boiling is going on inside." This is not victory!
Charles G Trumbull
Reader, there is so much in this blog, so many things
that I believed throughout most of my Christian life. We
may have read the above scriptures many times but how
many sermons have you heard about what we have IN
Christ? Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount:
"Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the
Prophets; I did not come to abolish, BUT TO FULFILL."
(Matt 5:17) Jesus took the whole law into Himself on the
cross along with all of our sins when He died. May God
give us a new revelation of what Christ has given to us
through His death and His resurrection!
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