They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 12:11)

There are so many of the Lord's people today over whom Satan is lording it; lording it along the line of accusation, bringing them under a sense of condemnation and judgment, robbing them of their peace, of their assurance, rest, hope; and you will find these people are everlastingly talking about their own short-comings, their sinfulness; they are forever circling round themselves, all that they are that they would not be, all that they are not that they would be. Their deliverance from Satan is that they should have a fresh apprehension of the absolute satisfaction of the Father in His Son on their behalf, and that they find their standing before the Father in acceptance. That is the way of deliverance, the way of the Adversary's casting out. This is the way of overcoming him as the Accuser. Yes, the ground of the Blood is sufficient for this full-orbed, many-sided, all-round victory. "They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb," and the first and supreme factor in the virtue of that Blood in all these directions, is its untainted sinlessness, the nature of the Lord Jesus. There has never been another who was such.

Oh, I am so glad that it was God that came in Christ, GOD that came in Christ. Can you charge God with sin? Can you lay sin to God's charge, to God's account? It was God in Christ, the absolutely and altogether holy One in whom there was no sin, who came in incarnation; and in virtue of that Divine nature in its perfection Satan in his authority is defeated - on that ground. Blessed be God! We receive by faith the virtue of that precious Blood; that is, the perfection of the Lord Jesus can be put to our account. That is grace - the wonder of the Gospel. If we were to begin to analyze ourselves and take stock of ourselves, that would be a terrible business, a wretched business, and it would be endless - think of it, beloved, with all that we know of ourselves, all that God knows about us - "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart. I try the reins...." Though all that be a fact, you and I can stand now in the presence of God as sinlessly perfect, not in ourselves, but in Christ, as having absolute sinless perfection put to our account by God.


By T. Austin-Sparks from: "Because of the Blood of the Lamb"

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Mike

Amen Mike!!! This is such a missing message in the Church. We either have on the one hand Christians living any way they please or on the other hand we have people who consider themselves "vile worms." The "vile worms," are often harder to deal with because unlike their counterparts who live any way they want, they appear to and often do live very "Godly," lives. They berate themselves and consider all the ails of the world is because they are vile and need to repent constantly. When you listen to them there is no victory, no joy, no peace. And the worse aspect of it is that if they come in contact with someone who has joy in the Lord they immediately go about trying to rob them of it, not always consciously knowing they are doing it, but because they have lived in the shadows for years they try and draw children from the light into the grey and then the darkness. It can be particularly prevalent in some quarters of those who seek revival. If it were 400 years ago they would be flagellants, very sad.............bro Frank

Amen Frank!

I was thinking about this the other day that many Christians believe that they are being humble by saying the much often repeated phrase that "I am just an old sinner saved by grace." I want to say to them, but if this is what you really are then you need to get saved, for doesn't the Word of God say that "He that knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ." Because of the blood of the Lamb, we should no longer have a sin consciousness, but a righteousness consciousness knowing that Christ is our righteousness,and we are a new creation in Him, and our sins have been forgiven and forgotten by God.

The other side of the coin is those that believe
that there is no need to repent because they are judging their standing before God on what they do, and are filled with pride.

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Mike

Amen Mike and of course, the truth always lies somewhere between the two extremes. I think it was Fee who said that he wanted to walk down the radical center of God. Both extremes always look radical but they are actually quite predictable. Those in the radical center are those who run hard after the Lord and do not get caught up in believing themselves to be "merely sinners saved by grace," or "vile worms," or feel there " is no need for repentance." These are all landmines and we all have to navigate these fields which can be full of them. Our journey may take us through all three of those situations as we mature in the Lord. It is like the necessity, I believe, of having to journey through Romans chapter 7 to get to Romans chapter 8. Some get stuck along the way and can only cry out "Oh wretched man that I am." They take a strange kind of comfort in that chapter and even turn it into a virtue, never knowing the joy of "there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." Yes I know the end of that sentence and I believe we have to walk in the Spirit, but it is like a two edged sword, we cannot walk in the Spirit and we are not walking in the Spirit when we are indulging in self condemnation, the seeds of which do not come from God but from the devil himself.............bro Frank