Gregory Dickow - Living from Victory: Anxious for Nothing
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Living from victory, anxious for nothing, and as we continue on our journey in our walk with God, it's really vital that we understand we don't need to defeat the devil. Now, the devil is real, and his impact in this world is real. From Adam and Eve all the way down to the people that are living today, the devil's impact is real. But Jesus has diminished the devil's power and he has rendered death, sin and the grave powerless. Only we render it powerful by the choices that we make. Jesus, though, has rendered sin powerless. It doesn't have to control you. Jesus has rendered death powerless. It doesn't have to stop you. We can live forever. And Jesus has rendered the devil powerless. He doesn't have to have any authority control over you.
Now, you can either live in that victory and live from that victory, or you can try to battle the devil at a lower level in life where you already have the victory, but you don't believe it. And so you're trying, striving and struggling to get saved, struggling to stay saved, struggling to get healed, struggling to have peace, struggling to have joy and happiness when all of those things were purchased for you at the cross. So I want you to live from victory, not live for victory, we're not trying to get it. We're trying to discover that we already got it. Say I got it. So I already got it. All right.
Now, let me show you what I mean by this, because the battle is already won. It is finished in John, chapter 19, verse 30. Jesus, last three words on the cross were these three words. After he received the sour wine, he received the sour so that you can receive the sweet. He received the bitter so that you can receive forgiveness. He received the bad wine so that you can receive the good wine. He received the old covenant wine so that you can receive the new covenant wine. He received the curse so you could receive the blessing. He received sin in his body so that you could receive righteousness. He received sickness by his stripes so that you can receive healing. He received poverty and lack sense.
You can receive abundance. He received shame so that you could receive shamelessness. He received all of the pain and the suffering of mankind in one fell swoop on the cross so that you could receive victory from now on for the rest of eternity. All the days of your life, you were created to walk into victory and to live from that place. And when he received the sour wine, he said it is finished. I've rarely been able to share with you the in depth, the depth of this meaning of these words, it is finished is actually in Aramaic word and in Greek word. And the word for it is finished is a one word declaration that Jesus used. And it was a very famous word, was a very popular word. And it was understood on three levels when he used it, when he said it is finished, he uttered the word Tetelestai, Tetelestai.
So if you translated these three words, "it is finished" back to the original language. In Greek it is Tetelestai, Tetelestai. And you say, "well, what significance does it have for me"? And it's important that we understand its significance so that we realize how powerful this declaration, and what Jesus did on the cross really is and what it means to us. Because I want to talk to you about the last words Jesus spoke before his death, and the first words, he spoke after his resurrection. And so when he says it is finished, Jesus understood Tetelestai had significant meaning to the people that he was being crucified in front of, because they were under the Rome's rule, they were under the Roman Empire, and the Roman soldiers were the ones that crucified him. And the Jewish people in that day were living in under the Roman rule, even though it was in Israel that it happened. The world was conquered by Rome by that time.
And so when they used the word Tetelestai in the Greek language, and by the Romans, when they used this word, it meant something to them. The first thing it meant was it was a business term. And what it meant was when you paid fully for the business you received for the transaction that you're making, it meant fully paid. So when Jesus said: it just finished, the first thing he meant was "your sins are fully paid". And it was, people understood what he meant, that it was fully paid when he used those words. And in criminal court cases, it meant, "Your time of imprisonment has been fully served". So when Jesus dies on the cross and says it is finished, he meant the time of bondage. The time where you are to be imprisoned for your sins has been fully served by me dying on the cross. Your sins have been completely paid, and your sentence has been completely served. It is fully paid for and fully served for.
And the third thing that he spoke when he said this, or the third thing he meant when he spoke this, when he said Tetelestai, it had the meaning of a military term and it was what a commander of an army would declare as he was riding through the conquered city, that he had just defeated, and he would declare Tetelestai, which meant the battle has been fully won, the battle has been fully won. So people understood what he meant when he said it is finished, Tetelestai debt, the debt is fully paid, the sentence is fully served and the battle has been fully won. And when he said those things, he was he was declaring what his blood had just paid for, so that you can live for the rest of your life knowing that your sins have been fully paid. You can live your life fully and live your life freely and live your life confidently knowing that the sentence, the condemnation, the guilt, the time served has been fully served by Jesus as your substitute. He is fully served your time of bondage.
You don't have to be enslaved to anything anymore. You don't have to be in bondage to your addiction, bondage to a habit. You don't have to be in bondage to any sin. You're going to be in bondage to any fear. That sentence has been fully served. And then when he and he wants you to get this and live from this place, the commander, the general would ride on his chariot through the city, through the conquered city, saying Tantalus die. And they'd be they'd be cheering and applauding and celebrating. And he would go and enforce his victory over that city and over that nation with all of his soldiers with him. And he would declare it is finished, Tetelestai. The battle has been won. This is our city now.
And so Jesus rides through your life and says the battle has been won. It is finished. You don't have to fight anymore. You don't have to struggle for the rest of your life to get the victory. I have won it for you all you have all that's left for you to do is to rejoice and to thank God and to live from a place of confidence. You see, this is what Jesus meant when he said in Ephesians chapter two, verse six through the apostle Paul, he said, and he raised us up with him and seeded us with him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus. He raised us up with him and he has seeded us with him in heavenly places.
Now, there's something about being seated in heavenly places. You know, we're seated with him. I like that. He doesn't say we're standing with him trying to be seated. He doesn't say we're fighting with him, trying to get the victory. He said we're seated with him because you don't sit until you have the victory. You don't take your seat into the seat has been cleared. You don't take your seat until the battle has been won, till the time has been served, till the debt has been paid. You know what? If you still got to pay the debt, don't sit down, get up and pay it. But Jesus paid for it so you can be seated. Jesus served the sentence so you can be seated. Jesus won the victory so you can be seated. And we are seated with him because sitting is a place of rest. Sitting is a place of ruling and reigning with him from our seat.
We're not standing. We're not fighting. We're not running in the battle trying to get the victory. We are seated with him in heavenly places. And this is what the devil has been fighting the body of Christ for four years to try to get Christians fooled, tricked, deceived, lied to by preachers. That will tell you, you better fight harder. You better praise louder. You better shout louder because without a shout, God's not going to hear you. What is he deaf? Jesus need a hearing aid? He's not. You don't have to shout, he hears your whisper, he sees your heart, man looks on the outward, but God looks at the heart. Are you kidding me? You got to shout to get God's attention? You got to shout to show your faith? The Bible says if you had a mustard seed of faith, the smallest of all seeds because the work is done. That's why the faith doesn't need to be more than small, it doesn't need to be a big act of faith. It's a mustard seed because the work has been done. The debt has been paid, the sentence has been served. The battle has been won. So all we need is a little mustard seed that says "I except. I believe it".
You see, it doesn't take a lot to believe it's not us mustering up enough faith, energy, it's already been done. We're resting in our faith. We're seeded with him in heavenly places. You see, you've had a change of address. You've moved from loser lane to the state of grace. You've moved from come on, you've you've moved you've been moved from struggling avenue to glory roads and glory streets and and and victory lane. Come on. Can anybody say amen to that? You know, I'll tell you what, this whole idea of being seated with him, there's something implied there that we're seated with Christ in Ephesians two, verse six. We're seated with him. We're seated now. So why aren't we experiencing it? Because we don't understand it. We don't live from that seat. We don't live from that place of victory. We're still trying to get something we already have.
We need to stop praying and whining and asking God for the victory. Instead, we need to pray with Thanksgiving that we have the victory. It's not Lord, give it to me, it's Lord, thank you that I got it because you gave it to me. Instead of asking God for a victory, renew your mind to what he said. That you are to what he said that you already have. We don't have to beg and struggle and cry to get God to do what he said, we must believe it's already done, we're already in him. Our life of struggle, of ups and downs, hardly ever feeling like we're happy or pleasing to God. We need to give that struggle up and take our seat. We need to make a declaration today. We need to declare today that I am moving from my address. I'm changing my address from the state of fear to the state of victory. I am moving I'm changing my address.
Why don't you say that with me, say I'm changing my address from the state of fear, unhappiness, condemnation and despair. My address has changed. The enemy won't find me there anymore. I have moved from unhappiness avenue, condemnation court and loser Lane. I have moved to the state of victory. God has moved me. He's my mover. He's my moving company, and he already moved me. I just took my seat in the truck and then in the seat of victory, I'm seated with Christ in heavenly places. I no longer answer to the names that the enemy has given me to the labels I've been given. Not anymore. I'm a victor, not a victim. I answer to my new name, Victor or Victoria. That's my new name. I am more than a conquer a world dominator. I am reigning in life in Jesus name. There you go. That's how you live. That's how you walk. That's how you live every day of your life from the place of victory, not from a place of trying to obtain it.
Now, if I could just get this across to you, go over with me to John 20, John 20. So we hear the last words that Jesus said before he died, but what were the first words he said after he rose? We find it in John 27, John 19. We have his last words. And in John 20, we have his first words after his resurrection. And what are those words. Verse 19, it says when therefore it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut, where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and noticed what the first thing he said to them was. Peace be with you. Peace be with you. Well, there's something about experiencing this peace. He said, look. I told you, the last thing I said to you was the debt is paid. The sentence has been served and the battle has been won. Therefore, the first thing I'm going to say to you as a result of those victories, the first thing I have to say to you is peace be with you.
You see, you can't have peace when you're still trying to obtain the victory. You can only have peace when you know you already have it. So Jesus says to them, peace be with you. The first gift he bestowed upon them after his resurrection was he said, look, what I did for you is done now. Walk in this peace now, live in this peace. You don't have to be anxious anymore. Where does peace come from? It comes from a stream of thoughts about what Jesus has done for us, what he has said to us and what he has promised he will do for us. Listen to what I'm saying here today. Peace comes from a stream of thinking, from a stream of thinking, because you could be a Christian, be born again and on your way to heaven, but have no peace. Why? Because of what you're thinking, because of what you're meditating on, because of what you're dwelling on, what you're focusing on, what's going through, you know, in between your ears, what's going on in your head, in between your ears.
Listen, this is why so many Christians fail, is because they're trying to obtain and struggling for a victory that Jesus has already given, peace comes through a stream of thoughts about what Jesus did for us, what he says about us and what he's promised that he would do for us. You see, if, for example, if you think about one of the things he promised he would do for you is it says, my God shall supply all you need according to his riches and glory. If your mind is constantly on the fact that God will supply, you will have peace. So you could have all the money you need and not have peace. But you could you could have an empty bank account and have peace because you believe the promise that he will supply, you see, the peace doesn't come from the money in your account.
The peace comes from your thought and your mind focused on what God said he would do and your confidence that he will do it because he's done everything else that he said he would do. This is how to live. This is why so many people are anxious and depressed and unhappy. You see anxiety, depression and unhappiness. They all come from a sense of powerlessness. They all come from a sense of powerlessness. So when you're powerless, you feel anxious. When you're powerless, you feel depressed. When you're powerless, you feel unhappy.
So the the idea that that you're powerless over your debts, powerless over the sentence, powerless over the battle, that somehow it's up to you to try to make it happen. That will bring you sadness. It will bring you anxiety. It will bring you. So we only get anxious about something because we're not certain about what the outcome is going to be. Why would you be anxious about something you're sure about? You know, when you rooting for your favorite team, when it's live and it's happening and there and the game is really close and it's down to the last minute you get anxious about it. It's just an example that that just shows how our emotions operate. Obviously, there are bigger issues in life than your sports team winning or losing. But you understand the emotion. You understand the anxiety. When you win, it's close to the edge because you're not sure.
But let me ask you something. If you already know and if you're watching it, some of you, you know, staunch Chicago Bears fans, you've got to go back to 1985. Come on to the last time the Bears won the Super Bowl, and if you if you were watching if you went back and watched that, you would absolutely have no anxiety. If your favorite team is the better, you would have no anxiety because you already know the outcome. They smash the New England Patriots. Forty something to something, right? See, you have no fear and no anxiety when you know the outcome. Well, the outcome of whatever your need is, is, my God shall supply it.
So when you know the outcome, anxiety leaves you. That's why peace comes from a stream of thinking. About what Jesus has done for us, what he says about us and what he's promised to us. And he thought. That tells you Christ's obedience wasn't enough. Those are the thoughts you need to take captive the thought this is what Jesus did for you, it's not enough. Wait, I'll take that thought captive to the obedience of Christ because his obedience is enough for me to have the victory. My obedience is not enough, but his obedience is when you remember what he has done, it makes you thankful. That's how you take thoughts captive.
When you focus on what you've done or haven't done, it makes you condemned. And that's how those thoughts begin to multiply and lead you to a life of defeat when you already have the victory. You are seated with Christ in Philippians, chapter four of her six, it says, be anxious for nothing. Why? Because when you already have the victory, Jesus said, the first thing Jesus said is, peace be with you after you rose from the dead, because the last thing he said, it was finished. And the only thing that the only thing that's going to give you true peace is when you know Jesus is giving you the full victory. So now he says be anxious for nothing.
So how do we live a life where we're anxious for nothing? He says, because by prayer and supplication. So that's one prayer and supplication. With Thanksgiving, that's two, he says, let your requests be made known to God, so we're still on number two, but we'll get to number three in a moment. But here he's saying the way to be anxious for nothing is achieved by going up to prayer and supplication. And the word supplication is the word petition. It means make a petition to God. One translation calls it a petition to God. And what is a petition? A petition is a list of names. And so what you do is when you go to God in prayer, we don't pray for the victory.
We pray from the victory by saying, Lord, your word says that I'm healed by your stripes. Your word says that you took my sicknesses and carried away my diseases. Your word says you healed them all. What are you doing? You're making a list. It's a petition. You are supplying God here. It's the supplication. You are supplying God with the promises that he has supplied you with. So we're not praying, we're praying different, we're not praying like we used to, oh, God, give me the victory of God, heal me. We're saying, Lord, your word says petition number one. Lord, your word says in second. Peter, petition number two. Larger word says in some one, two, three. Petition number three, lord, your words. And you keep bombarding the your mind with these petitions and you're also talking to God about it. He said, put me in remembrance of my promise to you.