Jesus is Our Victorious King

A good coach has to do a number of things to be successful. He has to prepare his team. He needs to make sure he knows who his players are, how to get the most out of them, how to put them in the right position, how to have the right strategy. This takes practice. It takes wisdom and strategy. But one of the most important moments of a coach's career to be successful is that pre-game speech. And a good coach will avoid something in the pre-game speech. He's not going to give the players any new information. He's not going to tell them something new. He's going to remind them, we've trained, this is the game plan. He's going to put into their minds, this is what we've planned, this is what we've practiced. If we execute, we're going to win. He wants to bring in them the confidence and the courage to play well, to fight hard, so they can win. This morning, and it's much more than a game we're discussing here. This morning, Jesus is ending the final discourse. It's actually more likened to a general who's giving the last marching orders out to his troops. You've trained well. This is what you're armed with. Go out and win the battle. You will face great difficulty, but you have the tools and the weapons to win. Jesus giving the final discourse, it's an important instruction for us as a church to remember, because he he's telling us the things that we must know. He's giving his disciples the instructions that we're going to focus on his death, which will be the most troubling thing they have to see. His resurrection, his ascension to the Father, ascending down to the Holy Spirit. He calls them to bear fruit, to call, it's a call to love one another, a call to a warning. that they will be hated by the world. Jesus says, I'm going to die. I'm going to rise again. I'm going to ascend to the Father. I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit. And something that we see sprinkled in this teaching throughout, and there's so many parts to this, there's little drops of teaching on prayer. The power of the church in prayer. He's reinforcing them. You can go to the Father. You can ask whatever in my name, the risen Savior. He's preparing the church for what lies ahead. He's wanting to instill in them the confidence they can have in him and that his death has forgiven their sins. He's wanting to instill in them the confidence they should have in him that his resurrection has given them victory. They need to be confident in their identity and they need to be courageous in their battle. This morning, as we look at the very last section of this farewell discourse, before we go to the prayer of Jesus, we're going to see two things. We as a church are called to pray with confidence in the Father's love. We are called to pray with confidence in the Father's love. And secondly, we're called to be courageous. because Christ is victorious. Be courageous because Christ is victorious. We're in chapter 16. We're using, if you're using a pew Bible and if you didn't have a Bible and you would like that, please take it. Let it be our gift to you. It contains the words of life you need. If you're using it, the passage we'll be studying this morning together is on page 903. John 16, we're ending the final discourse before Jesus is going to his death. Beginning in verse 25. I have said these things to you in figures of speech, the hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the father. In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf. For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father." His disciples said, Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figure to speech. Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you. This is why I believe that you came from God. Jesus answered them, Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming. Indeed, it has come when you will be scattered each to his own home and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace in the world. You will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world." And that is what we've been singing of this morning in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The first passage I want to focus on is the call to pray with confidence in the Father's love. Jesus said, I have said these things. He's referring specifically to the final discourse. He's been saying these things all along, but he's narrowing in and declaring to them what they must be focused upon to get through the trial of his death that they will realize. Now, he says figures of speech. Jesus here is saying more than just, he's not saying I've been using fables and metaphors. The word has more to it that it means he's speaking with some obscurity. And the reason we need to make this clear is that in Mark 4, Jesus speaks with parables to the crowds, and they can't discern them, but then he speaks clearly to the disciples so they can understand. So what he's not saying here is that I've been speaking with parables that you can't understand. No, Mark 4 tells us Jesus speaks very plainly to the disciples. There's no fables or figures of speech in the final discourse. A better way of thinking about this is that Jesus has been speaking very abstractly. He's saying things that are above their intellectual capacity. He's saying things that they will not understand until three days later, four days later, when they see Him risen. And even 50 days later, when they have the Holy Spirit come down. He's saying, you're hearing things now that you cannot comprehend. You have a veil that keeps you from understanding. The redemptive history hasn't progressed enough for you to really understand what's happening. But soon, after the resurrection, after the spirit of truth comes, you will know I am from the Father. What he's doing here is the same thing we do with our children. We teach our children songs like Jesus Loves Me. We teach them to memorize passages like John 3, 16. For God so loved the world that he sent his only Son. Children, they can memorize that, but they can't comprehend the depth of that. It's not until they grow older and realize I'm a sinner in need of a Savior and all my father has loved me enough to send his son to die for me. We expect our children to grow into these truths just as Jesus Christ is expecting his disciples to eventually get them. What Jesus said the Spirit of Truth will remind them of, John 14, 26. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all these things and bring to remembrance all that I have said to you." Now, they have to know Jesus isn't just from God. Jesus is a son who's been sent from the Father. His identity is that he's the divine son come to save them. And they will not get this until after the death, after the resurrection. We know this because they're going to be scattered. The shepherd will be killed and the sheep are going to scatter. The king will be murdered and the people are going to flee. But after the resurrection, they're going to see the cross, which is normally a place of shame to die. Oh, it was glorious because God died for them. You see, friends, we live on the other side of this. We live in a place where we have the spirit. We know Christ died. We know he rose again and we know he's the son of the father. Look at verse 26. In that day, you will ask in my name and I do not say to you that I will ask the father on your behalf. Now, what we see here is another teaching on prayer. As I said before, we we've had these little snippets of teaching on prayer throughout the final discourse, and lastly, we brought three of them together and they all have this very some some common features. Now, I'm going to read them to you, but I want you to listen to these coming features. You pray to the Father in the name of the Son, asking whatever. That's the model of prayer we see throughout Scripture, especially here in John's final discourse. Pray to the Father in the name of the Son, asking whatever. John 14, 13. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. John 15, 16, You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you. John 16, 23, In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name, ask and you'll receive that your joy may be full. Now look at John 16, 26. In that day, you will ask in my name and I do not say to you that I will ask the father on your behalf. It's clear in our passage, you're asking, you're asking the father in the name of the son. And this isn't just a magic formula. Father in the name of the son, as if you get whatever you want. It isn't just a magic formula. We're going to a specific Father who has a specific plan, His own glory. We go to the Father who sent His Son, and we now have the privilege of asking in the name of that Son whatever we want. But we have to realize that it's asking a specific Father in the name of the Son. His name is not made up of magical syllables. Asking His name is appealing to His identity and His action of salvation. He's a son of God who saves. Now, this is an instructive and inviting asking for prayer. It's instructive and inviting. Come pray to God. You ask the father in the name of the son for whatever. John 14 added the very clear focus that whatever it is that the God will be glorified. John 15 added that whatever you're asking, it would be from your fruitful life. John 16 added that whatever you're asking, it would be for your joy. Our joy is based upon our fruitful life that glorifies God. This is what prayer is focused upon. It's praying to the father in the name of the son that we would be glorifying God with our fruitful lives. And that is our joy. We see a great theology of prayer developing, and Jesus adds one more element to this. He adds one more element to this. Verse 27. Let me read this in context, beginning with verse 26. In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf, for the Father himself loves you. Now, think about that for a second. Jesus is saying, Go to the Father. Ask in my name. Because God the Father loves you. Has there ever been a better motivation to pray? Go to God in my name. Call Him Father. Because He loves you. What an invitation. What a confidence we should have in prayer. Go to him because he loves you. He wants to hear from you. He wants you to be talking to him. And you have that authority in my name to go to him, father. With absolute confidence that when we speak to him. He loves us. Be assured of his love. That's where your confidence in prayer comes from, your assurance of his love. And let me make this very clear. He does not love you because you're lovely. God's love is not based upon or built upon your gaining His approval and your gaining His love. We're not the proper recipients of God's love. We're the proper recipients of God's wrath. See, we're sinners. We've been fighting against God. We've been rebelling against God. We've hated Him and His glory with our lives. By nature, we're children of wrath. God should hate us. Because we've despised His glory. We've despised His goodness. But instead, He loves us. Well, why? Because God simply chose to love us. You see, it's out of His power to love. It's out of His motivation to love. It's out of His desire to set His affections on us. Before the foundation of the world, he declared, I will love these people. The Bible has a very fancy word for this, it's election. This is the most simple, basic definition of election. God proactively placed his love on those who do not deserve it. In order to really get the love of God, you have to first realize you don't deserve it. So we talk about election. He elected, he chose to love the unlovely. Now, this is good news for this reason. We don't have to worry about losing his love. We don't have to worry about doing something that's going to cause him to stop loving us. He loved us while we're still sinners. He's not going to stop loving us when we continue to sin. He loves us. While we were still sinners, he sent his son to die for us. His love for us is found within himself and given to us. There's no greater assurance and foundation for love. He loved us while we were sinners. He's going to continue to love us while we are sinners. God's love is also based upon the fact that he sent his son to die for us. He chose to love us, and he also must be a just God. He couldn't love us while our sin was still against us and counted against us, because as a just God, he has to punish every sin. So he sent his son to become like us in every way, so that when his son died as a perfect human and his wrath poured out upon his son, his son died in our place, taking the wrath we deserve for the sins we committed. Now God is just. and the justifier, because God is just and punishing our sin on his own son. And he declares to us, you are counted as my righteous one. Now I love you. It's a perfect love completed in the sun. Look at verse 28. I came from the father, Jesus says, and I've come into the world and now I'm leaving the world and going back to the father. He came down to the rebellion to save us from the rebellion. Now he'll go back to the father and lead us home. To be loved by God means we believe in Jesus. We believe he's from God. We love Jesus. Look at verse 27. For the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I have come from God. Our love and belief in Jesus Christ is the fruit and the evidence that God has loved us. We do not earn God's love. But it is born, it bears fruit that we love him and believe him. There's two important statements here we have to realize. He ties together belief and love. We can't separate these two. We can't say we believe God and not love God. We can't say we affirm that that Jesus Christ is from God and yet have no affection or adoration for him. We cannot believe without love. We cannot love without belief. You cannot profess Christ with your lips. and continue to hate him with your life and your desires. If you truly believe in Jesus Christ, your heart's going to turn to worshiping him and loving him. As we see this passage, one of the things we need to realize, our prayer life demonstrates the love we have for God. How much, how clearly, how focused your prayers are, are a demonstration of how much you love God. Kind of makes sense. You spend time with who you love. So I ask, how much time are you spending with the Father who loves you? Enough to send down His Son to die for you. It's important to think about. We can get wrapped up in many busy things. We can have numerous Bible studies. We can have numerous things. We can have craft time. We can have Wednesday nights. We can we can do numerous things. But prayer is where the power is. Prayer is where we come and we say, Father, you've loved me. I now want to speak to you and hear from you. Acts 2. The disciples are committed to the apostles teaching prayer and fellowship. Now we can't say one of these is more important than the other, but we can certainly say these are the three things we're supposed to be doing together. I ask you a hard question here. When you hear that the church is gathering to just pray on Wednesday night, do you say, I'm not going. They're just praying. Is prayer not worth going to and coming together as the family comes to say, Father, we want to come to you together as a body, together as brothers and sisters, and talk to you, our Father, in the name of Jesus Christ. Do we take a priority over things above prayer? Prayer has to be as important as anything else we do. Now, prayer is hard. Prayer is hard. See, Bible study is great because your mind grows a lot quicker than your heart. We can grow more intellectually very easily. We can get new concepts and the mind can be developed and changed and transformed much quicker than the heart because the heart requires desires to be changed. See, prayer is hard because it goes right to the desires. Prayer is when our minds are being transformed, our hearts are being transformed all the more. That spiritual growth is so much harder. Prayer is so easy to be distracted from. Now, if prayer is boring to you, let me give a possible diagnosis. Prayer is only boring when it consists of our long wish list. That's a boring prayer. When all I do is bring to God what I want. Yeah, prayer is going to get old. Prayer is going to get boring because that's not real Christian prayer. But when you're praying to God, Father, who's loved me, who's loved me by sending a son down for me. In the name of Jesus Christ, Father, I come. Let me see your glory. Let me see your purpose. Let me see your voice. Let me see my sins so I can repent. That's not a boring prayer. That's a prayer life that will continue to grow and grow and change you. Prayer is not boring. It should be the most exciting thing you do. I ask, are you overwhelmed with the Father's love in your prayers? We just celebrated the Lord's Supper last week, and the Lord's Supper is extremely helpful because you can't take the Lord's Supper with sin against two brothers or sisters. It's a reminder of the gospel and how it has to live out among us. Prayer should always be a reminder that God loves you. You don't just go to the father and say, father, in the name of Jesus Christ, I need this, this and this today. No, when you go to God and you call him father, it's a constant reminder of the gospel. The father sent his son to die for me. To call him father, we have to remember, this is a unique privilege we have. To call God father means we've been adopted into his family through his son, through his son's death and his son's resurrection. There are angels that have been in the immediate presence of God since the beginning of creation and will remain there throughout all eternity now. There have been angels that are in the immediate presence of God, and they've done nothing but sing His praise and rejoice in Him. And they sing songs. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. But there's one thing they don't get to call God. His Father. The angels that have been existing since the beginning of creation, they wish, they would long for the benefit and the privilege we have as adopted children to call God Father. Those angels who praise Him as the Creator, as Almighty, as the Lord, they don't get to call Him Father. That's our unique, privileged position. One of the most dangerous lies that Christian liberalism gave was that there's a universal fatherhood of God. No, there's a universal lordship of God. But he's father only to those who believe in Jesus and love Jesus. There's a warning. Do not pray to the father in the name of the son flippantly for fleshly things. That'd be like asking your parents. Hey, mom, dad. Can I go ahead and have your inheritance? Because what you would give me is actually way more important than who you are or what you do for me. I want the money. I don't really care about your love or you. I just want the gift. Would you just give me the inheritance so that I can go waste it on my luxury and my vices? When we go to the Father, in the name of Jesus, and we make it our long wish list, that's idolatry. That's saying, God, I really prefer what you give me rather than you being the gracious, godly giver. Why do we pray for our hearts to be changed? Are you praying to the Father, trusting his love? Children, let me encourage you specifically. If you ask your parents for something good, Would they ever deny it? So try this. Say, Mom, Dad, could you pass me more broccoli? Mom, Dad, could you give me some more time reading the Bible to me? Could we sing a little longer? Can we pray? If you ask for good things, there's no way your parents are saying no. Parents have never cut children off from broccoli. Christian parents have never said too much Bible, too much prayer, too much singing. Your parents do that because they love you. They will not refuse a good thing. God, the father, loves you more than all the parents in all the world have ever loved any child. He will not refuse you good things. Trust him in your prayers. What hinders our prayers? James 4 tells us that it's asking with sinful intent. When we ask with the wrong motivation, we ask God, give us your good gift so we can use it for our own sinful pleasure. That's what hinders our prayers. We ask God, change my heart so that my heart will be aligned with your purpose, so that I always use your good gift to glorify you, the giver. One of the best ways to do this is to pray from scripture. Larry just modeled for us how to pray from scripture. This is an important discipline because you think about it. It brings together the word and prayer. You really can't pray the wrong way when you're praying to God, the father in the name of the son, and you're asking for what scripture prescribes you to ask for. Let us know the height and the depth of your love. Let us know the victory we can have in the sun. Ask somebody to teach you how to pray through scripture. That's going to be our new fall Wednesday night series. We're going to look at prayers and scripture and how we are called to model our prayers based upon them. Our second main section. We're to be confident in praying to the Father because he loves us. We're to be courageous in the fight. because Christ is victorious. Notice the disciple's response here. Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figure of speech. Did Jesus change the way he was talking? No. They think they get more than they really get, which is very dangerous. Now we know that you know all things. We don't need anyone to question you. This is why we believe that you came from God. We have to remember the disciples constantly put their foot in their mouth. They haven't really gotten over that yet. Ah, now you're speaking. No, he's not. He's still saying more than you can comprehend. He's still speaking above your pay grade disciples. Jesus answers them and listen it it really should that Jesus rebuked them Do you now believe? Now you believe I Raised Lazarus from the dead. I turned water into wine. I walked on water I fed thousands from just a couple pieces of bread now you believe Saying no, you still don't get it and it's demonstrated the fact that you're going to leave me. I You don't know who I am, he's saying, because you have to see that I'm dying on the cross for your sins. I'm rising again. The death of Christ frightens them. And they flee. The hour is coming, he says. Indeed, it has come when you'll be scattered each to his own home and will leave me alone. The shepherd will be struck. The sheep will not have guidance or leadership. They will be scattered. The king will be killed. They will run away in fear. Jesus will be left alone. Now, there's actually something really encouraging here for us. These men failed in faith. That should be encouraging to you. These men, the foundation of the church, the first assembly, the primary leaders, the apostles. They were weak. in their commitment to Christ. They fell asleep while praying to deny Him. They doubted His resurrection. These men are discredited in every way, and yet God uses them to be the foundation of the church. You see, our position in the church has nothing to do with our virtue, our quality, our character, It has nothing to do with how good we are, what we bring to the table. Our position in the church as members of the body has everything to do with the grace of God. That Jesus Christ died for us and brought us in and gifted us so that we can then be useful. This is the beauty of the church. Our belonging has nothing to do with how good we are. It has everything to do with what Christ has done for us. Belonging to the church is based on Christ and what He's done. We call it membership. Belonging to a local body, that's membership. Now, some people think, well, is that because you're a club? Oh, no, we're not a club. However, if we were a club, we'd be the most elite club in all the world. Because everyone who's part of that club was purchased by the precious blood of God. Nobody can afford that. It's the most elite club in that you have to be purchased by the blood of God to join. But it's not a club. We call it membership because we're all members of the one body under his headship. We're all members joined together, working together for the common purpose of glorifying Christ, committing to his word and to follow it. We're not a church because we all have it figured out. If not, I need to step down because I'm the one who doesn't have it figured out. We're a church because Jesus Christ died for us and united us. Verse 32, second half of verse 32. Yet I am not alone. The Father is with me now. The Father forsakes Jesus Christ on the cross. We have to make sure that we're keeping these two truths together. He says the Father is with me, but then we know the Father will forsake him when he's on the cross. I don't believe John is denying this. What John is recording here from Jesus is that Jesus is contrasting how fickle the disciples are and how faithful God the Father is. See, Jesus knows not to entrust himself. You can go back to John 2 to look at that. Verse 33, I have said these things, which things the final discourse. I've said these things to you that in me you have peace in the world you will have tribulation. Now, he's preparing them for the most important 50 days in the history of the world. These are the most important 50 days in the history of the world. God dies on a cross. God rises again. God ascends. God the Son ascends to the Father and the Holy Spirit comes down. The most important 50 days in all of history. Everything changes. Creation is turned upside down from being originally turned upside down in Genesis 3. Now, two truths for the disciples. In the world, you will have tribulation. In Jesus, you have peace. The world hates you. Jesus loves you. The world will cast you out. Jesus claims you as his friend. If you're a Christian, this is the reality. These two aspects, these two truths put together. Notice that it's peace that Jesus promises. He doesn't say that you get everything you want. He doesn't say that life will be without problems. He actually promises there will be tribulation. He promises peace. Peace in the midst of the tribulation, that you know that Christ is the victor. Since we all have tribulation, we must be watchful for the rebellion all around us, the rebellion that's within us. Must be worshiping. Focus your attention on God, the Father, in his glory. Must be waiting. for the return of Christ. Now for this very important last verse. In the world you have tribulation, but take heart. I have overcome the world. Now, many of us, actually I think all of you, you know the Greek word behind overcome. It's Nike. The shoe with the swoosh. It's Nike. The word means conquer. I have conquered. I have overcome. It's very militant language. You would expect it on a military leader's tongue. Like Alexander the Great, when he was able to rule the East and the West, conquering the Persian Empire, having a kingdom and an empire that spread almost across from the rising to the setting of the sun. You expect it on Julius Caesar's lips. Having conquered the known world with his army, you expect it from Napoleon Bonaparte who reshaped Europe. But here you have a craftsman, Jesus Christ. He's saying, I've conquered the world. He doesn't have an army. He's got a band of 12. One of them has already sold them off for silver. The rest of them are going to deny him. And he's saying, I'm going to conquer the world. I've conquered the world when his people are going to scatter when he's arrested. He's going to be hung on a cross, the most shameful death. And here he's saying, I've conquered the world. How could this be? How could he possibly claim that he's conquered anything when everybody denies him, everybody forsakes him, and he died a shameful death on the cross? Well, it's what we know by the word. World. World refers to a spiritual entity. He's fighting a different kind of enemy. He's fighting sin, death, our rebellion, our hatred of God. We can look for a simple definition of the world in 1 John 2.15. The world consists of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life. John has been using the word world to refer to that universal rebellion of man against God. Creatures shaking their fist at God saying, we hate your glory. We want to live for our own. The world loves the darkness and their sinful desires rather than his righteousness. See, it's a pattern of rebellion against God. We have to recognize the world is our identity apart from the grace of Christ. Jesus Christ conquers the world through his death. First, we can see the first way Jesus conquers the world is not just through his death. The first way Jesus conquers the world is by refusing to join his rebellion. See, Jesus came as a new Adam. Where Adam failed and began the world, the human rebellion against God, Jesus Christ came as a new Adam to begin a new race made up of every kind of people group. And instead of failing in the midst of temptation, Jesus resisted. See, this is part of purchasing a people for himself. He lived that perfectly righteous life we could not, so that we believe in him. His righteousness is counted towards us. He suffered the greatest temptation the world has ever known, and yet he remained faithful so that his faithful obedience would be counted towards us. God sees us as faithful, obedient. By being the new Adam, by being the faithful, obedient one, he applies his righteous life to us. By being the faithful, obedient one, Jesus is able to sympathize with us in our tribulations. By being the faithful, obedient one, we now have a new pattern for how to live. This is what it means to participate in his victory. The second way Jesus conquers the world by his death and resurrection. One of the words we always apply or use when we talk about his death and resurrection is the word redemption. That's a very important historical context. Redemption is what we would say happened to Israel when God stretched out His mighty right arm to save Israel out of the enslavement of Egypt. They were powerless. They were helpless. God had to take them out of that place where they were enslaved and beaten and abused and put them in a new land. This is applied to the gospel of Jesus Christ, because Jesus came to free us from being slaves to the pattern of the world. He came to break that pattern of our flesh. When we choose sin, it is our master. He had to die on the cross to break its power over us. We're now new citizens of heaven. We've been transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of God's son on the death of On the cross, Jesus takes away our guilt that separates us from God. Isaiah 53, he was crushed for our iniquities. Colossians 2, he canceled our debt, nailing it to the cross. And he's risen to show that he's conquered it. The cross, it breaks the pattern of our sinful desires. It takes away our guilt and destroys the power of sin. In order to remove the curse, In order to remove that fallen nature that made us children of wrath, following the pattern of the evil one, Jesus came to be cursed for us. Jesus died to set us free when we had no hope and we were simply slaves to sin that would take us down to hell with it. My question for you, Christian, do you give yourself back over to that slavery by choosing sin? He's conquered the world. He's conquered your sin. Listen to Romans six, beginning of verse 12, let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness, for sin will have no dominion over you. Since you are not under the law, but under grace. Sin is going to bark all kinds of orders at you. Sin is going to tell you you feel compelled to obey it. But it has no dominion over you. Christ has freed you. He's given you the Holy Spirit to seal you. You have a new heart. Do not choose to be slaves to sin again. Live in the victory of Jesus Christ. Walk in His way and walk by His Spirit. You really have two options. You either walk by His Spirit or you walk by the flesh. Or you could say it this way. You're either quenching the Spirit or you're killing the flesh. We have to walk according to His new way. The third way Jesus conquers the world is that He will return again to put all things under submission. All of creation will recognize and see his light when he comes back. We as Christians must long for this day. We must long for this day because we continue to suffer under the consequences of the fall. If you're physically suffering. If you're physically suffering and this is a tribulation that hinders you in your worship, remember, know that you will receive a body that will not have a blemish. You have eyes that no longer fail to see and you will get to see His glory. You have arms and hands and legs and feet that no longer ache, but move with ease in the service of God. You have ears that continually hear the praise of God crisply and clearly. You have tongues that speak and declare the praise of God Almighty. Most importantly, you have a mind that's sharp. You know the glory and love of God. You have a heart. that no longer has corrupt desires. As we continue to think about the victory that Jesus has, I want to point you to two verses to think about later today and talk about amongst friends and believers. 1 John 5, 5. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? Now, John's writing that epistle already knowing that that's what Jesus said in the final discourse. Jesus has overcome the world. Now we are told we can overcome the world. His victory is ours. Then 1 John 4, 4. Little children, you are from God and have overcome the world for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. Your victory is sure because your champion is Almighty God, the Creator. Your victory is sure because He is risen to demonstrate His power over your sin and death. Church, have confidence in your prayer to God that He loves you. This is where you will have the power to have courage to fight the battle. Jesus Christ is risen. He's given you his name to pray to the father. Be courageous, be confident to glorify him. We pray with me. Father, we praise you and we thank you that you are the good and almighty God. And we know you love us because you sent your son down to die in our place. You've given us your Holy Spirit. Lord, stir within us a greater love for you, a greater clarity in who we can be in you. We praise you, Father, for the victory we have in Jesus Christ. Help us, Lord, not just to hear this and walk away and forget, but help us, Lord, to live in this victory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.