Christians all the world over want to know how to overcome sin in their life. It is one of the great interests for any Christian. It is hard to live a worry free Christian life when sin is constantly harassing you. God has the formula folded into His very word.
Revelation 12:11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.“
There are things in our life that we want to gain victory over like all of the New Years resolutions that we have. Those kind of things are things that we WANT to over come. But there are things that we MUST overcome as well. Fear is one of those things. There are times when we must gain control over our fears. We must overcome.
Eleanor Roosevelt: “Fear is the most devastating emotion on earth. I fought it and conquered it by helping people who were worse off than I was. I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do, provided the keeps doing them until he gets a record of successful experience behind him.”
A young woman was waiting for a bus in a crime-ridden area one evening when a rookie policeman approached her. “Want me to wait with you?” he asked. “That’s not necessary, I’m not afraid,” she replied. “Well, I am,” he grinned. “Would you mind waiting with me?”
We experience all kind of fear. Fear of failure, fear of abandonment, fear of being used, etc. But the greatest fear of all should be fear of the Lord. This embodies a fear of sin and sinful living; a fear of not pleasing God; and a fear of going to hell.
George W Truett, one of the great preachers during the first half of the twentieth century, said that his experience with people led him to preach on the theme of fear again and again. On one occasion, he was asked to speak at a highly respected college. When Truett inquired about what topic to address, he was told that the vast majority of the student body had signed a statement that read, “Let the visiting minister tell us how we may conquer fear.”
The Devil is a great cause of fear for us. He wants to tear us apart from God and from each other. He stands in the way of progress for the Lord. He wants Christians to be stagnant and ineffective. He wants people to go to hell. He wants us to have no fear of hell or of God. How does a Christian overcome the Devil? How does a Christian deal with that fear?
Well the revelation Saints did it a particular way and we too can follow their example recorded in the Bible.
They first overcame fear through the Blood of the Lamb. The precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ has power that none other has. All life of the flesh is in the blood[1] and all life of spirit is in the perfect blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. To overcome the Devil and his influences, the first thing we need is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. His blood:
- Brings us close to God.[2]
- Makes peace between us and God.[3]
- Purges us from dead works.[4]
- Allows access to the holiest.[5]
- Cleanses us from all sin.[6]
- Makes our eternal robes white.[7]
- Overcomes the Devil.[8]
In his book The Great Boer War, Sir Arthur Conan Doyl recounts the story of a small detachment of British troops who were surprised by an overwhelming enemy force. The British fell back under heavy fire. Their wounded lay in a perilous position where they faced certain death. One of them, a corporal in the Ceylon Mounted Infantry, later told that they all realized they had to come immediately under the protection of a Red Cross flag if they wanted to survive. All they had was a piece of white cloth but no red paint. SO they used the blood from their wounds to make a large cross on that white cloth. Their attackers respected that grim flag as it was held aloft, and the wounded British were brought to safety. Similarly there is safety in the blood of Christ.
They secondly overcame fear through the word of their testimony. Your testimony is your active verbal witness of what you know to be first hand. It is what you have seen and what you know. One way to overcome the Devil is to tell people about Jesus. When you do, you have the Devil on the run in your life. If you don’t testify for the Lord:
- You get weaker and the Devil gets stronger.
- You live under the guilt of knowing that you are not doing what the Lord commanded.
- Less people hear the gospel and broader becomes the way of destruction.
A train plunged into a river over an opened drawbridge, and eighteen people died. The bridge engineer said he put up the red flag, warning the train in sufficient time to stop. The train engineer said the flag was white, and therefore he felt the bridge was there and it was safe to cross. The flag was examined, and it was red, but it had faded. Thus at a distance it appeared white.
Our faded testimony can misdirect others to cause them to sin.
Finally, they loved not their lives unto death. It takes a great love to care about others more than you do about your very life itself. An overcomer of the Devil needs to put the Lord before everything else. Then he needs to put the lives of others second, with himself being last. This cuts against the grain of the Devil. He elevates self first and encourages putting others last.
- We must put off the old man that the Devil loves for the one that the Lord loves.[9]
- We must live by the new man and not by the deeds of the old man.[10]
- We must reckon the old man crucified with Christ to live victoriously for Him.[11]
On January 7, 1945, a Lancaster bomber flown by Royal Canadian Air Force Flight Officer Marshall Smith was attacked while approaching Soissons, France. Thoroughly blasted by a German night fighter, the mortally wounded aircraft began a slow spiral right at US army troops on the ground. Smith fought for control to allow his crew time to bail out. Just short of an Army hospital, Smith, now alone, slammed all four throttles wide open. The injured bird clawed for altitude, cleared the troops, the hospital and the town of Leon, France, and then plunged to the earth in a giant fireball.
No one knows exactly how many soldiers and civilians lived because, rather than bail out and save himself, Flight Officer Marshall Smith thought of others rather than himself.
[1] Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
[2] Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
[3] Colossians 1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
[4] Hebrews 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
[5] Hebrews 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldnessb to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
[6] 1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
[7] Revelation 7:14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
[8] Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
[9] Ephesians 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
[10] Colossians 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
[11] Romans 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.