Abounding Grace

Guest (Male): Moving from defeat to victory over your struggles. Today on Abounding Grace.

Pastor Ed Taylor: It's so common and so heavy for some of you that you've started to take on that identity of living in defeat your whole life. And that's all you talk about. How hard it is, how difficult it is, how much defeat is in your life, how you're struggling.

And living in defeat puts you closer to the edge of sin. Living in defeat puts you closer to the edge of discouragement. Living in defeat most certainly plunges you into a place and into a position, into a posture of not enjoying your relationship with Jesus. And today I want to help you with that.

Guest (Male): Are you living in a perpetual state of defeat and struggle? Many Christians are. Today on Abounding Grace, Pastor Ed Taylor points the way to victory. The good news is, you don't have to live a life full of struggle. You can walk in victory thanks to Christ. Let's turn to Galatians chapter two and see how.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Open your Bibles. Let's start in 2nd Corinthians chapter five. 2nd Corinthians chapter five, but we will be looking at a lot of verses today. If you're taking notes or you're a note-taker, this is your day. We're going to be looking at a lot of truths throughout the scriptures and the title and the topic of my message today is victory over your struggles. Victory over your struggles.

I know the room is filled with battles. And I know the room today is filled with wrestlings. I know that the room is filled with defeats, but I also know the room is filled with victory. There is victory among us even though there's also struggle. And as a pastor, I hear it a lot. I've heard it more and more over the last six, nine, 12 months. "Hey, how you doing, brother? How you doing, sister?" "I'm really struggling." And their whole demeanor changes and their shoulders go down and their hands hang down and their knees are weak.

It's just like what Paul wrote to the Hebrews, remember? He said when you see those with arms hanging down, go and strengthen them. Lift up their arms. Or you see people with weak knees. It's not unusual, but I do see a lot of it because life is hard. It is very difficult. Jesus put it this way: In this world you will have tribulation.

Most believers stop right there, like that's the only thing Jesus said. "Oh yes, brother, I know tribulation. Woe is me. It's so hard." But Jesus didn't stop there even in that thought. "In this world you'll have tribulation, but what does he say? Be of good cheer. Why? Because I have overcome the world."

It's so common and so heavy for some of you that you've started to take on that identity of living in defeat your whole life. And that's all you talk about. How hard it is, how difficult it is, how much defeat is in your life, how you're struggling. And living in defeat puts you closer to the edge of sin.

Living in defeat puts you closer to the edge of discouragement. Living in defeat most certainly plunges you into a place and into a position, into a posture of not enjoying your relationship with Jesus. And today I want to help you with that.

Before we get there, I do believe it's important to say I'm sorry that you're in a battle in your life right now. It's hard. It can be hard. We certainly have our days and our weeks and our months for sure. But your identity is not in your struggle. Can I say that again? That was an amen moment. I'm going to prepare you again. Ready? Your identity is not in your struggle. That is not who you are. Your identity is in the victory of Jesus Christ. It is yours by faith.

Jesus Christ defeated sin and death and made a mockery of the demonic realm. I'm watching today again. I've been in ministry long enough where I see these false things come in and out of the church and something is back again where instead of taking ownership for your life and walking in the victory of your life, there is a whole new movement saying, "Oh no, no. Here's your problem. You need to be delivered. A demon has come into your life and you're controlled by demons."

Nonsense. You are a believer in Jesus Christ. You are filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus made a mockery of the demonic realm. You don't need to be delivered from demons. You need to believe what God says about your life. Once you begin to believe that, you'll begin to walk in the victory that's yours.

Surely the demonic realm is real and it harasses and messes around believers, but don't you think for a minute that the devil made you do anything. The devil doesn't make you do anything. You choose to live the way that you live. Do you know it's possible for you to have a real hard situation in your life and still be filled with the joy of the Lord? To still enjoy Him? To have hope in your heart that you will see Him one day? In Jesus you are safe. And in Jesus you are secure.

You don't have to live a life of struggle. That seems to be the answer that keeps coming up in my ministry to so many where they're beginning to talk about their struggles and struggles and I just look them in the eye and go, "You know, you don't need to struggle. You can walk in victory if you'd like." "No, you don't understand, Pastor." No, I don't understand. I don't know exactly what you're trying to describe, but I'm telling you right now, you can walk in victory and not live your life struggling the rest of your life. You don't have to be identified by all the problems in your life.

Now, before we move forward in our study, I think it's important to define struggle for a second just so we understand. There are primarily two types of struggle. One good, one not so good. So let me clarify what I'm saying so that you don't misunderstand me. Let's start with the good struggle. Let me define for you in simple terms what I think is a good use of the word struggling. If you mean this when you say struggle, then we can understand that you're in a good place.

Number one, struggle can mean that you're fighting the good fight of faith and you're pressing in wanting to move forward in your walk with the Lord. That's the good struggle. You get hit, you fall down, you stumble, and you say, "No, I'm struggling with this but I'm walking in victory, Pastor. I'm fighting the good fight of faith." That's good struggle.

But most of the time, that's actually not how the word is being used. It's being used in number two, the negative side of struggle. The negative side of struggle you can define as this: you're battling an ongoing sin that you won't forsake and you call that struggle.

"Well, you know, Pastor, I'm just struggling with this addiction." I know, but God's given you the victory. "No, you don't understand. I'm struggling with it." But God's given you the victory. You already have victory. All you need to do is believe God and forsake sin.

It's interesting because as I'm ministering, I really look back 25 years here. I was eight years in the church that I came from. I was in ministry there probably seven of those eight years. To this day, I haven't had anyone come up after a service, call the radio program or anything where someone would come up and say, "Hey, Pastor, I just want you to know, I'm struggling." "Well, really, bro, what are you struggling with?" "Well, you know, I'm just struggling with robbing a bank."

"I robbed one yesterday and I'm just so nervous and I saw there's a bank next door and I'm just going to head over there because I'm struggling with robbing a bank." Nobody struggles with robbing a bank. Or I also hear, "I'm struggling, Pastor. I just struggle with punching people in the jaw." Okay, let me step back three steps. What do you mean you're struggling with punching people in the jaw? Nobody really struggles with that. They struggle with things that they like. And they choose. And they call that a struggle. That's not a struggle, friend. That's not struggling.

Remember, you are engaged in a spiritual battle and most of the time it's a battle for the mind, for what you believe. You can be sure that what you believe will always 100% determine your behavior. Which helps me as a pastor minister to you because I don't know your heart. I'll never know your heart. But I can watch your behavior and I can work backwards from your behavior and I can tell you what you believe. You'll say, "No, Pastor, you can't do that." No, I really can.

For example, if right now in this moment the lights started flashing from the fire alarms, the noise started beeping through the room, and you saw smoke coming from that side of the building and you did not get up and leave and exit the room, I can tell you, you don't believe there's a real fire. You don't believe it. You can see it, but you don't really believe it. You go, "Keep teaching, Pastor. We'll make it through. Don't worry, there's no real fire." But I'm looking at it and I can see the flames and I believe and I say, "Let's go, everybody out." I can tell that I believe that alarm, that it says what it means and means what it says.

The evidence of fire almost 99.9% of the time means there's a fire. And when you value safety, you're going to run out. I can see that in you. And if your life is described as one long struggle, you're always struggling with the same sin, always struggling, I can work backwards from that behavior and I can come to the conclusion pretty close and accurate that you're choosing to live in a way where you identify yourself by your failure and you've chosen not to forsake your sin.

Which is a dangerous place to be. You will never experience victory over your struggles until you learn to have a godly sorrow over your sin. Please, church, don't call choosing sin your struggle. It's not. It's a lack of faith. It's living in defeat. It's living your life in unbelief. The battle is for your mind, what you believe. There is something about your life that you have not believed God. You are not believing God for the victory that's yours.

So the value of Bible study and learning is that as you learn new truths, your life and your behavior changes. That's why wrong doctrine and false teaching destroys lives. What you need to do is respond in faith. The Bible says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. It builds your faith, strengthens you, adds to your life. So that when you believe God, you act on it.

And your behavior follows your beliefs. I want you to consider a couple things. It is impossible to struggle and rest at the same time. It's impossible. And remember, Jesus' invitation was to come unto Him, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you struggle. No, that's not His promise. His promise is rest.

And rest comes through abiding in Him, drawing from Jesus, from His resources and His strength. Not by might, not by our own power, but by His Spirit, says the Lord. That's where strength lies. You can't struggle and rest at the same time. So some of your struggles, they exist because you don't believe God that He'll give you the rest that you're looking for.

Number two, it's impossible, and I know this is simple, but I need to say it out loud. It's impossible to believe and not believe at the same time. You have to choose one. You either choose rest or you choose struggle. You either choose believe what God says about you and live that way, or you choose unbelief. But you can't have both at the same time.

Consider thirdly, it's impossible to walk in the Spirit, that's the strength of the Lord, and to walk in the flesh, that's the strength of yourself, at the same time. You can't do both. You and I must choose moment by moment. This is a big issue for the frustrations you live with as a believer.

You're so frustrated with your life, you're so frustrated with your experience as a Christian. This is one of the roots right here. You are attempting to live in two worlds. When you're trying to live in both worlds, you're not living in either. You're living in a life of unbelief. The truth is that we have been identified with Christ's life by faith.

You are one with Christ in unity with Him. That has already happened as a born-again believer. It happened the millisecond that you were saved. You immediately identify with the power and the presence and the person of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit immersed us in Jesus and now the life of Jesus Christ is my life.

Listen to this. Romans chapter six, verse five. It says: For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this, this is an important phrase, Romans six, five and six: That the old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.

That's a truth that you can live with right now. You are no longer a slave to sin. None of you in Christ are slaves to sin. But I love this phrase, "the old man." The old man. That means something changed when you were born again. Something changed that all of a sudden now you have an old man or old woman, and a new man or new woman. Old not in age, but old as in past.

That's the word here. Not age, past. I have the fortune that none of you with the exception of Marie, maybe Henry and Marie, ever knew the old Ed. None of you met him. You're never going to meet him. You don't want to know him because he's dead. The old Ed is dead. You'll never meet him.

Even if you got glimpses of weakness in my life or failure in my life, you will neither have you ever met the old Ed. And by the way, you might be happy about that, but I'm happy I didn't meet you either as the old man and the old woman. We were bad. Bad in rebellion against God.

Because of that, we need to learn to live in the newness of life. Using really simple terms here, if the old Ed was bad, the new Ed is good. If the old Ed was very bad, then the new Ed in Christ is very good. And I can believe that by faith. It's the work of God in me, not my own efforts, not my own energy.

In Colossians chapter three and verses one through four, it says: If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things of earth. For you died. Now obviously you're alive physically here. So this is not a physical death. This is a spiritual death. You died.

Some of you, you need to accept that by faith and have a memorial service for your old person and just say goodbye to them. They have no control over you anymore. You are not limited to your own resources, your own personality, the way you were raised, all your bad habits.

You are a new creation in Christ as we'll see in a moment. You are a new person. You died. And now the life that you live, Colossians says, is hidden with Christ in God. So that when Christ our life appears, you also appear with Him in glory. Say this with great force and great fullness. Do you believe that Jesus Christ is coming again? Yes. Do you believe you're a new creation in Christ? Yes. Sometimes you do and sometimes you don't. But I want you to have that same confidence.

Just as much as you believe in the second coming of Jesus Christ, that truth is equal to the truth that you're a new creation in Christ. Today I want to help you see that. Turn over to 2nd Corinthians chapter five with me. 2nd Corinthians chapter five. Four things I want to share with you today that will help you see the victory is already yours.

You don't need to work for it, no energy or effort. It's already yours by faith. I want to teach you that you have much more victory in your life than you've ever experienced and the way to get it and to enjoy it is by faith. Born-again believer, you have been given the gift of victory.

It is a gift to be received, not something to work for or to earn. Just as grace is a gift, so is victory. And you can walk in the newness of life in His power, no longer in your own strength. It's so glorious. Listen to what John says in 1st John five. He says this in verse four: Whatever is born of God overcomes the world. Are you born of God today, church? Then you can overcome. It's already happened. You overcome all that comes your way. How? It says: This is the victory that's overcome the world, even our faith.

What you believe is very important. Who you believe in is very, very important that you and I would know the Lord personally. Number one, you are a new creation. 2nd Corinthians chapter five, notice verse 17. This is truth being read over you right now. You can receive it. It is yours. This scripture is true for every man, woman, and child that is born again. Verse 17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, are you in Christ? Then you are a new creation. Old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new.

You know what the problem is? There are many problems we'll address in our Bible study today, but many believers are living like they're not saved. Like your born-again experience didn't mean anything. That it was just something that you went through kind of religiously but it conveyed nothing to you in changing your life.

That's not what the Bible teaches. The work of Jesus Christ in our lives is so glorious. You are literally right now in the moment I'm speaking a new creation, a new person. Old things have passed away. All things have become new.

This is the work of Jesus in you. What no program could do for you, what no psychotherapist could do for you, what no self-help book or television show or YouTube channel could do, what no false religion, what no effort and energy of humanity could ever do for you, God did for you by sending His son Jesus Christ to the earth to live, die, and rise again for the forgiveness of your sins.

What man couldn't do, God did. Where there was no way, God made a way. You're a new creation. You could never do this for yourself. Never. I'm very familiar with all of these self-help books because before I got saved, I knew something was wrong with me and I just figured, hey, these guys are successful, they're going to tell me. I'd read all these books and I'd do everything they said.

Put your Post-it notes around the house and put it right there on the mirror, "You're a good person" and put it over here, "Be kind" and all of these and none of it worked. It had no power. You want to know why? Because self-help books have one fundamental flaw. Are you ready? You can't help yourself. It's impossible.

The biggest problem with self-help books is the word "self." If you ever want to have the kind of help and gain the kind of help that you really need, you need to die to yourself and live to Christ. What these things could never do for you, God has done for you and is doing for you as you live by faith.

Guest (Male): Helping us see the victory that is already ours in Christ. That's Pastor Ed Taylor on Abounding Grace. Today's message, Victory Over Your Struggles, can be heard again at aboundinggraceradio.com.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Hey, this is Pastor Ed and I'd like to tell you about my newest book. It's titled Letting Go of Your Past. God has been using this book. It's only been out for a few months and already so many are being set free and moving forward and gaining new insight on how it is to deal with the resentment in their life, or the anger, or the unforgiveness, or what it is to heal from deep traumatic hurts. This little book is filled with wisdom of the Lord to help you move forward. Letting Go of Your Past is the title and you can get it right now wherever you get books or at calvarystore.com. Calvarystore.com. If you need any help, you can always call us. The number here is 877-30-GRACE.

Guest (Male): We'll send you a copy when you support Abounding Grace with a gift of $25 or more. Our number, 877-30-GRACE. That's 877-30-GRACE. Abounding Grace is made possible through the generous support of our listeners. And as we continue delivering God's word one verse at a time, we're looking to our listeners for help. Together we can reach people with the love and truth of Christ and make a difference in these last days. To make a secure donation, drop by aboundinggraceradio.com or call 877-30-GRACE. Pastor Ed will share more about the victory that is already ours next time on Abounding Grace. Abounding Grace is brought to you by Calvary Church Colorado, here in Aurora.