11.3 Victory Over

© 2015 Christ Revealed Bible Institute

Overcome, the Greek word, nike, translated “overcome, conquer, and victory,” corresponding to the Hebrew word for “subdue,” is the action verb of the Great Story of God, the action verb of the Bible, the action verb of the universe.

The place and meaning of “overcome” in our lives and in this course must grow, step by step. We will not really know its deepest meanings until we get to Session 15: One Day in Gethsemane. But we cannot know Gethsemane without Session 12: One Day in the Garden. How we overcome we will investigate in Session 13: Overcome and Subdue. In this lesson we want to know the what. What is it, exactly, that we overcome?

The Flesh
Nowhere in the Bible does God ever tell us to overcome, to get the victory over, or to subdue the flesh. “Sin in the flesh” is a false flag waved by the accuser to get Christians running out of breath entirely in the wrong direction.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. – God manifest in the flesh. – That the life of Jesus also might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

The flesh is the context of the Victory, the place in which God requires that the Word prove Himself true. The accuser wants you to think of your flesh as the enemy in order to bring you entirely under the power of his accusation.

Brer Rabbit
Story is simply the only way to understand “overcome.” Brer Rabbit was free of the Tar Baby. But Fox persuaded Brer Rabbit that he needed to bring the Tar Baby under submission. So Brer Rabbit whacked “the flesh” to bring it into obedience. Instantly he was stuck to the flesh. So he kicked it, trying to get it under his foot. What happened? Every attempt of Brer Rabbit to subdue the Tar Baby was the exaltation of the flesh, binding himself more tightly to it. Brer Rabbit was completely unattached to the flesh at the start. If he had paid no attention to Fox, to the accuser, he would have leaped into the “briar patch,” into the glorious reality of Christ his only life, the only thing we do with “the flesh.”

Overcome the World
The New Covenant places before us four things to overcome. The first and primary thing is to defeat the accuser, to cast accusation out of our minds and hearts, to see the original liar under our feet, to know that he comes and finds nothing in us. Following the defeat of the accuser, then, comes three more specific victories.

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith (1 John 5:4).

And I saw . . . those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name (Revelation 15:2).

Overcome the Curse
Death is swallowed up in victory – thanks be to God, who gives us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:54b & 57).

We overcome the accuser, the spirit of anti-Christ. We overcome the world, the inter-relationships among humans and demons in this present age. We overcome the beast, human political government, people abusing people, and the false testimony that calls all the abuse “God’s will.” And we overcome death. These three things beyond the accuser, the world, the beast, and death, are the primary elements of the curse.

Removing the Threat
Do you see the victory of the accuser over the church? By waving the false flag of our human weakness, claiming that our humanity, instead of being fashioned in the very likeness of God, is, in fact, the thing that “gets us in trouble with God,” the accuser fills the hearts and minds of Christians with his own words against Jesus, endless accusation. You fall short of God (Jesus does NOT sustain you).

Then, by busily “defeating” the weakness God made us to be, trying to transform ourselves, we effectively turn our backs on Christ revealed in all glory in and through our hearts of flesh. And thus we no longer pose any threat towards defeating the accuser, or towards defeating the world and death.

The World
Defeating death and casting all shadow of the curse off of human experience on this planet we will explore in the ninth most important verse in the Bible, setting creation free. Here we must consider briefly the world.

So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world (Revelation 12:9).

The world . . . hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil (John 7:7).

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15).

The World Lies
This is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil (John 5:19).

The world is lying to you. Every popular notion in this world concerning history, government, medicine, science, and society is lying, based on lies and filled with lies. There is a bit of truth in all these things, tied tightly into the lies, yes, that’s what makes the lies so effective. The government says that its secrecy is to protect you. Jesus said their secrecy is to cover their crimes, the actions of wicked men and women protecting themselves from you.

No Sidetracks
It is very easy to get side-tracked exploring all the many ways the world is lying to us.  We should be aware of these things, yes, but always keeping the victory of Jesus through us as the purpose of everything. The only purpose of the world is to provide the backdrop, the setting, the context of the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ proven through us.

But we cannot defeat the world if the world has already defeated us. We cannot defeat the world if we love the world. We cannot defeat the world if we believe its lies.

Defining the World
What is the world? The world is NOT this earth or human life upon it. The world is NOT individual people, any individual person.

The world is the system of relationships among humans and demons whereby the spirit of this age provides the connections between people. The world is every method by which humans interface with humans, always through demons, in their affairs together in this age. The harlot is Christians relating together in any other way than by the upwelling of Rivers of Spirit from within each one.

Face
The world is the “face” of other people towards you. Let me define “face.” Face is not other people. Face is what I think other people think about me. Face is the driving whip of the story humans tell themselves about themselves. Much of our experiences with “church” can be called “a dance of faces,” the wearing of masks to make everyone else believe that we, in fact, “look like Christ ought to look like.” It is the world.
The most powerful elements of the world in our lives today, however, are the countries in which we live. And the most powerful symbols of evil are the battle flags of those countries.
 
To Bring to Nothing
There is a simple reason why we do not love the world, especially its countries and their flags.

God has chosen the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence (1 Corinthians 1:28b-29). – For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:21).

Now . . . the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren . . . has been cast down.

Everything of this world, all of its institutions and connections, vanish in the presence of the kingdom of God flowing out of our hearts.

Replace the World
Those who maintain any connection to any cause in this world, WILL wage war against the Lamb to protect their little corner of “the world.” They will protect their treasure.

We are not in this world to win the world or to make the world a better place. We are in this world to break the world and to cast its awfulness off of this earth and off of the experience of humans upon it. We live in the world freely and without fear or concern, doing those things necessary to live peaceably with all men. But God placed us in this world to replace the world with something brand new, the new creation, the kingdom of God, life flowing out of our bellies.

The Cross
I boast . . . in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Galatians 6:14).

The cross – already finished, already made complete in my present moment. The cross means that I have zero connection to this world and this world has zero connection to me. The cross means that the world is already no more; those who cling to the world cling to something that does not exist. The victory of Christ is all. To call those things that be not as though they are – to bring to nothing those things that are.

Refuse Accusation
Casting down the accuser and defeating the world are two sides of the same thing. It is not our task to deal with the demons in the world; that is the task of Michael and his angels. Our task is to cast down the voice of the accuser, the lie, in our own hearts and minds.

But – Michael and his angels do what God gave them to do ONLY in conjunction with our Victory. As we refuse to hear the voice of accusation, when the prince of this world comes to us and finds nothing in us responding to his words, then kingdoms of darkness are falling into ruin.

The Lights Are Turning On
Why is the world becoming more evil right now? It is not. Oh – if I could but persuade you, the world is NOT becoming more evil. The world has always been evil. The evil is becoming visible entirely against its will. Evil loves darkness – the lights are turning on.

As you and I cast every voice of accusation out of our hearts and minds, out of our heavens, as we refuse to speak any word except Christ our only life, we are turning the lights on. You and I are causing all the difficulty being seen now upon this earth. We are casting the accuser down.

Where It Counts
Let’s bring all of this back into where it counts, inside of us. We cannot ever “make accusation stop speaking.” Do NOT “fight against” accusation. We eliminate accusation by one means ONLY. We speak Christ our only life.

BUT! Here is the contest God has set. We speak Christ our only life in the face of the accuser. If we do not hear lies speaking against us, screaming that we are false, screaming, “Look at yourself, loser. You know you are a joke,” then we cannot be the proof of God. It is the sight of our eyes and the judgment of our self that we refuse.

By Faith and Not Sight
Always the accuser, coming through your own judgment of self, coming through the statements of other believers in Jesus, will attempt to persuade you that outward appearance is the only thing that counts. That accusation is attempting to get you to turn away from the good speaking of Christ always sustaining you, your substance and your only reality, and get you to see outward appearance as that which “God” hates, as the only thing you are.

For we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).

Christ in our hearts by faith is the only substance we know.

Jesus My Only Life
I refused to regard all accusation; he has nothing in me. My refusal to give the voice of the accuser any heed, knowing that it is NOT me, knowing that it is NOT God, knowing that it is LYING, my refusal to hear the accusation inflicts the accusing demons with blinding pain and confusion.  Because I refuse them by regarding Jesus alone, everything they unleash against me comes back upon them as Solomon said. Whoever digs a pit will fall into it.

This is how I cast down the accuser and have done so since the moment I KNEW that Jesus IS the only life I am. I speak Jesus my only life until the darkness passes.

And kingdoms of darkness are crashing into ruin.

Next Session: 12. One Day in the Garden