Joseph Prince - The Key To Victorious Living (Excerpt)
This excerpt is from: The Key To Victorious Living (Watch FULL-length message)
My friend, listen. The devil has convinced us that you are what you feel, you are what you experience but our Christian life is we walk by faith and not by sight. "Sight" there represents experience, just like it represents all the five senses. So we say: "Unless I see it or unless I touch it, I will not believe it". Just like Thomas. "Unless I touch Him, I will not believe". And Jesus says: "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe". Why? Because we limit ourselves to a world of the five senses. It's very limited and we think that we have the truth because we can see it or touch it. No, it could just be a temporary reality. Our world is so small because we are depending on our five senses but my friend, faith is not saying: "Oh the thing is not there but if you have faith, it will become real, it will be so. It will then exist". No, faith is saying, like the word "imputation". The word "reckon" is the word "logizomai" in Greek. It means to count it so because it is so.
Now, watch this. I'm going to give you this verse right now. In Romans 6:9, "knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead dies no more" How many can say amen? "Having been raised from the dead, He dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him for the death that He died", watch this now, "for the death that He died, He died to sin once for all but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise". What is likewise? "Likewise" means "in the same manner. You also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord". And yet, we are teaching that you're supposed to reckon yourself dead to sin progressively every day. But my friend, this is not a progressive death to sin. This is once and for all! Why? "In the same manner, reckon yourself to be dead indeed and to sin". The same manner as what? As the way our Lord Jesus died to sin. "For the death that He died", in verse 10, it says: "He died to sin once and for all".
In other words, you have died to sin once for all. When was that? At the cross! You and I, we died to sin once and for all. Sin has nothing to say to us even though it's talking to us all the time. Amen. And we have nothing to say to sin. We are dead! We are dead to sin! We are on the other side of death in Christ risen. Amen. And where is our death and judgment? Behind us, not in front of us. For the believer, death and judgment is not in front of you. It's behind you. For the people of the world, death and judgment is in front of them. It's a matter of your hazon vision, your perspective. Amen. What is God showing you? Are you seeing what God is showing you? Are you seeing what the devil is projecting onto you? The devil wants you to see the enemies alive and well, that all your sinful tendencies are alive and well.
"But Pastor Prince, they are there. They literally are there"! I know they are there but they are, you know, just like a mirage. I know you feel them but you can't depend on feelings. We walk by faith and not by sight. "But Pastor, the feelings are so real". Well, then we go back to Romans 6:11. "Jesus died to sin once and for all at the cross". Amen. "Likewise in the same manner, reckon yourself" What? "dead indeed to sin"! So the word "logizomai" is here in verse 11. "Reckon yourself to be dead indeed to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord". So in other words, if I see Jesus as my real self, I see Him on the other side of the grave. He is risen! Amen. So the death and judgment that He experienced is all in the past, at the cross. It is all behind Him and I'm in Him! It's all behind me. I see all my enemies. But how do you deal with those things when they stir up? I just say: "It's a lie. It's a lie! It's a lie. This temptation of lust comes up". Amen.
Lustful stirrings or angry feelings or anger or depression, feelings of self-pity, all these are sins. They come up inside you and they want you to be self-occupied. Feelings of jealousy, feelings of pride. When they come up, they look real. I mean they feel real, right? But they are dead! God's Word is truth! You cannot remove God's truth. God says: "They are dead". God says: "You are dead to them! They are finished off at the cross"! You are not looking at all your sinful enemies and all these stirrings and outworkings of the flesh screaming at you: "Indulge me! Indulge me! Yield to me"! They appear so real, they appear so alive and you feel them, you feel their power but you know what? You got to stop and say: "No they are dead! I'm dead to them! I'm not trying to be dead. I am dead to them"! You are not dead in your feelings, you are not dead in your experiences. God never said so. You are dead in faith! And faith is based on facts. "Logizomai". Reckon yourself dead to sin. Thayer says it like this.
He illustrates: "If I have 25 dollars in the bank and I 'logizomai' that I have, I reckon that I have 25 dollars in the bank, it is because I have 25 dollars"! Thayer the Greek scholar says that "logizomai" or "reckoning", a picture of faith, right? Reckoning is not based on suppositions. It is based on facts. The reason I reckon that I have 25 dollars in the bank is because I have 25 dollars in the bank! So reckon yourself dead indeed to sin but alive unto God in Christ Jesus because it is so! Amen. Where are your eyes today? "Pastor, when the feeling comes, temptation, I feel anger and all that". You got to stop. And I'm telling you this. Rejoice! Rejoice because you're not bowed to the lie that you are this sin, and God sees you in that sin. No, God separates you from that sin. I said God separates you from that sin!
Look at this verse in the earlier part of Romans 6. "Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin". So our old nature, that man from Adam, that man in whom dwells no good thing, that man that loves to sin, Alright? That "our old man has been crucified with Him that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin". Now, watch this. "For he who has died has been freed from sin. He who has died has been" What? "freed from sin". However this word "freed" in the Greek is the word "dikaioo" which is the same word used in Romans 5:1. "Now then, being justified by faith".
Romans 5:1. It is the same word, alright? "Dikaioo". Same word used. "So then we being justified by faith". So the word should be justified. In fact, in the ASV, American Standard Version: "For he that has died is justified from sin". From is the word "apo" in Greek alright? From or "apo" is "separation". "He that is died is justified from sin". So even though, listen, my friend. What does it mean? It means that even if the stirring comes up, God looks at you justified from that stirring, from that sin. God does not count that sin on you. Amen.
Now you may say: "Well, then can I indulge in it"? No true child of God who is truly born again wants to indulge. Many people who have fallen into sin, who are truly born again are people who felt the power of it because they are living in a mistaken identity. They are not reckoning that they have died with Christ. You see, how do I reckon that my sinful man is still alive? It is when you watch over it. Even though you watch over it so that you will not indulge in it, by watching over it, you are actually saying it's alive. By praying against it, you are saying it is alive. By giving it importance in your life. you are saying it's alive. You are negating what God is saying and what Christ has done at the cross. You have died with Christ! Just ignore it. Leave it alone. Amen. And when it stirs up, don't act on it. Amen. It's a lie. That feeling is a lie!
"That's not me. That's not me. No, this is not me. I am the righteousness of God in Christ. I'm in Christ risen. Christ is my real identity". That's where God wants us all to be. That's where God wants our eyes to be. That's where God wants our vision to be. Hi, I hope you were blessed and encouraged by this video. If you were impacted by this message, let us know by liking it and leaving a comment below. Lastly, feel free to subscribe to get more inspirational content every week. See you again real soon! God bless you.