they have crossed the threshold to victory by knowing that Christ is
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Sanctify them in the truth: thy word is truth. (John 17.17)
Before proceeding further in our discussion, let us review what we have already covered. We have seen that our experience is continuous defeat, but the life God has ordained for Christians is far superior to our experience. For the God-given life that wins is Christ. Our own ways of suppression, struggle, prayers and so forth are totally ineffective. We have also seen that of the five characteristics of the nature of this victorious life the most basic one is exchange, not change. The way to enter into this life is quite simple: yielding, which is letting go; and believing. God declares His grace is sufficient for us; therefore, it is sufficient. God declares that Christ is our life; and so, He is our life. God declares that Christ is our holiness; accordingly, He is our holiness. Then we explained more fully the meaning of letting go. We also mentioned that believing is but to substantiate that which God has already accomplished. Such faith, however, must go through testing.
Now we will deal with this matter of growth in connection with victory. How do we really grow? Perhaps after receiving the above messages, we might conclude that, having crossed the threshold to victory, our life surely has reached its summit to which nothing more can be added. It is because of this faulty conclusion that we should discuss what we must daily do if we have indeed entered into victory.
1. Overcome the Sin That Entangles Us. Many Christians after they have crossed the threshold to victory by knowing that Christ is their victory, do not know how to maintain it; thus they fall back again. First and foremost after a Christian has obtained the victory, he must expect and see God deliver him from that particular sin which always entangles and hinders him (see Heb. 12.1).
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No one who has crossed the threshold may carry on with his special sin. The Lord has already delivered you. He is your life that wins. You may therefore pray, "O God, I thank and praise You, the victory of Christ is my victory. The holiness of Christ is my holiness." For it is Christ who lives in you. If you have a hot temper, your hot temper is gone. If you are troubled by unbelief or talkativeness or any of the eight kinds of sin we mentioned before, you can expect God to eliminate it. As soon as you enter into victory, you should say to the Lord, "O Lord, I expect You to overcome that special sin."
Of course, there are many sins which need to be dealt with. If, for example, you have sinned against someone or your brother, you should go to him and apologize. Formerly you did not have the courage to apologize, now you have the strength to do so. Or you might be bound by a certain thing in the past, but now because Christ lives in you, you shall be set free. Hence every brother or sister must expect God to rid him or her of his or her special sin—the entangling sin of the past—soon after he or she obtains the life that wins. In the event you allow that special sin to remain in your life, not only brothers and sisters cannot believe you have overcome, even you yourself will doubt it. Before you receive the life that wins, you have no strength to fight; but now possessing that life, you have the strength to overcome. Now you have faith to win.
In Chefoo, some missionaries asked me this: would there be no fighting upon once having entered into victory? My answer was: Do you fight to victory or fight from victory? If you fight to victory, you will never succeed. But if you fight from victory, you are on the right track.
Many are always striving with much effort for victory, but they usually end up in defeat. For victory is not attained through men's own effort; victory is dependent wholly on Christ and is wholly given by God. You have believed that the Lord is your holiness,
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perfection and victory. Consequently, all these sins must go away— "Every plant which my heavenly Father planted not, shall be rooted up" (Matt. 15.13).
In my speaking with a brother about this matter I used an example: Suppose you bought a piece of land, and the seller gave you the deed which specified the length and width of the property. When you went to assume ownership of the land, you learned that some rogues had insisted upon building a hut on your property to dwell there. What will you now do? You will drive out these rogues on the basis of what was written in the deed. Just so is our fight with sin. We do not fight by our own power; we fight by the authority which God has given us. True, the Bible says we ought to fight, but it says we fight with faith. When the Bible says we must overcome the enemy, it means we overcome by faith. We resist the devil with "the shield of faith" (Eph. 6.16a).
Let me ask you, is your hot temper included in the life of Christ? Your unbelief, talkativeness or whatever the special sin that entangles you—does it belong to the life of Christ? You and I know these do not belong to Him. Since they are not Christ's, you can command them to be removed. If you think of resisting to the point of victory, you will invariably fail. If you use your own strength to fight to victory, you will also fail. But if you resist and fight because you have the victory already, you will always prevail. Hence the allimportant question is this—do you fight to victory or fight from victory? In the event that you fight from victory, you will pray, "O God, I thank and praise You because Christ has already overcome! Since He has overcome, all these sins will be driven out." Every Christian once crossing the threshold to victory should declare that the special sin must leave because Christ is his life. The sin which entangles you is put out with the little push of faith—and this is called victory.