The Sin War

Do you know why you struggle with sin?

Because you’re fighting a war that is over.

Do you know why you can’t win?

Because its already won.

Did you know that the very reason Christ came to this earth was to destroy sin, the work of the devil who sinneth from the beginning? (1 John 3:8)

Did you know that the saved, the remnant, will have the testimony of Christ, that being "I will not fail nor be discouraged," and "I do always those things that please my Father?" (Isaiah 42:4, John 8:29, Revelation 12:17)

The word for "Gospel" in Greek is euagellion, it means literally "Good News," or a good message, as received from a messenger.

Historically, messengers were called into service after wars to deliver the good news of victory, or the bad news of defeat to various military commanders and overseers. Heaven had been in a war with Satan for souls in sin for 4,000 years before Christ came. When He did, and died on the cross, His last words were "It is finished," sealing the plan of redemption, and the victory over Satan for all time.

The Gospel is the Good News of this victory, the victory that Christ has won. As a King, He won not this victory for Himself alone, but for His people, and those in His Kingdom. All in His Kingdom rejoice at the victory He has won, shouting "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Yahshua Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:57)

This is why the Gospel is to be carried to all ends of the Earth before the end comes; because the war is over. Most of the Christian world is fighting a battle that has been over for 2000 years. Why are they failing? Well, what else can be expected? If a country defeats another in war, but some of the soldiers stay and continue fighting on their own, will they not fall eventually? Will they not begin to run out of support when they realize their kingdom has already won and withdrawn, that they are on their own?

Christ has already defeated the kingdom of Satan, and yet the entire Christian world is trying to fight the battle on their own. They are soldiers who stayed after the war has ended, who refused to accept the victory that was won, and continue on their own. And on their own they fight. Christ has already won the victory, Satan is a defeated foe. What more can He do? What more can be done for this world of rogue soldiers, who refuse to return under the banners of Christ's Kingdom?

Sin has been defeated, it is a vanquished foe, a broken enemy. Christ came to this earth, and after living a life free of its taint, sin was destroyed forever at the Cross. Its hold over humanity was broken, Christ restored the fallen race, and the prince of this world was cast out.

However, Satan is stronger than humanity. Weaker than Christ, and defeated by him, he stands as the dethroned ruler of this world. But what about those rogue soldiers who refuse to claim the victory of Christ, and chase Satan to fight him on his own ground? They have no King to champion them, and they perish.

Christ, when He cried "It is finished!" referred to the plan of redemption, the sacrifices in the temple which were shadows of His own, and the war between Heaven and Satan. He has defeated the foe and is alive evermore, behold, He has the keys of hell and death! (Revelation 1:18).

By His blood He bought back our race, he paid the price we should have paid and He freed us from bondage to sin and to Satan. (1 Cor. 6:20) Nominal Christians teach this, but they do not teach just what it means to be free from bondage, and they contradict Scripture in their man-made definitions. They say that, to be in bondage to sin is merely to have to suffer the consequences of it! To be free from sin means merely to be free of it’s consequence! But what does the One who freed us say?

"Yahshua answered them, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.'" (John 8:34)

In chasing Satan to his dwelling place, by trying to fight him with the power of self, humanity fails. They go into the wilderness to be tempted, not at the Spirit's leading but of themselves...They fall to sin, and they become the servants of sin, “for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.” (2 Peter 2:19) But whose servants are we to be? We cannot serve two masters, Christ tells us this plainly Himself. So, if we cannot serve two masters, yet to sin is to be the servant thereof, what can, nay, what must we conclude?

We cannot sin if we serve Righteousness.

Does this mean we are saved by the law? Not by any means. If we love Him who freed us, we will keep His commandments. If we accept the victory He has won, He gives us the spoils of war that Satan stole from us and that Christ retrieved, proceeding to polish them even more beautiful than they were before with his own, personal touch. We are given the spiritually unfallen nature, not the nature of unfallen Adam even, but the divine nature, that of Christ Himself. (2 Peter 1:4)

We are given not the unfallen mind of Adam, but the mind of Christ himself! (1 Corinthians 2:16)

We are given the Spirit of Christ, the Savior Himself, to live within us. Not to walk with us... But to live within us, to be a part of us, and to keep us from ever falling, to present us faultless before the throne of God. (Luke 11:13, Jude 24)

Yet what of those rogue soldiers, those professed Christians who either know not that the war is won, or refuse to accept that it is? They look to their past experience! They say, "We have not seen victory so far, so how can we say we have had it all along? We have fallen to the enemy all the while, we can’t stop now, it is impossible! We are weak, our natures are not strong enough, how can we withstand? We will wait until the King comes to rescue us."

And thus they refuse to prepare for the Kingdom. The Kingdom of Christ cannot be laid down while there are battles going still - it cannot be laid among chaos. There are still soldiers who have not yet heard the Good News of the victory, and these must be sealed, given the entrance mark to the kingdom, for Christ the King loves his loyal servants, and is "longsuffering us-ward, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)

They are mixed, however, with those who have - or by the end will have - heard the Good News of Victory, and rejected it. In doing so they claim sin as their master, and the wilderness as their domain in place of the Kingdom of Glory. These are they who look at their current natures and claim that it is evidence against being given a new one. They look to their past failures but refuse to look to the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. They look to the power of the enemy, and the depths of their own weakness, and claim it as humility to say that their weakness is greater than God's strength. They trust their eyes over the King's word.

They cannot be rescued.

Satan will not be in the new Kingdom. Therefore there will be no tempter from the outside to induce us to commit transgression. And what of our weakness? Well, popular Christianity teaches that we are strengthened in the new kingdom, our natures are created new so that we no longer sin.

Does Yah not have this power now?

What then? If He has the power now, why would He not exercise it? Is it because of Lucifer's presence? Is the presence of Satan a rebuke to the Almighty God? Can Yahweh not make us able to withstand, without the enemy being destroyed and hiding us away from his power? Blasphemy! Infidelity! Faithlessness! What is this doctrine that makes the defeated devil a greater power than the Almighty who defeated him?

Nay, he has the power now. And He has promised it to all those who will only accept it. He has won the victory, but the gospel has not been preached. The Good News has not yet reached the ears of all those rogue soldiers, many of whom fight because they know not that the King has cast out the enemy, trusting the words of their pastoral sergeants. We will be tempted still, for the end of temptation is what truly occurs at glorification. But we will never, ever, fall to it.

The Gospel, The Good News of Victory, will be preached to all nations, peoples and tongues, and then the end will come. Christ will then return for His loyal people, and establish His Kingdom on the planet He has purchased with His blood. We are His messengers, who have claimed rest in Christ, who with Him have suffered in the flesh, having ceased to sin in His power. (1 Peter 4:1) We have the testimony of Christ, we are witnesses to the victory He has won for us and for all mankind. If any man reject our witness he rejects the witness of Christ, for we have His testimony, that we speak not of ourselves, but what the Father teacheth us to speak, that we speak. (John 8:28).

This is the gospel that is being preached to you now.

This is your note that the battle is over. This is the Good News. Are you tired of the battle, weary of fighting Satan but falling in the end? This is your rest. Rest in the King who has conquered the enemy forever. Its time to get ready to go home.

It’s time to let Christ wash you of the taint of the dirt you have been cast down into, and to never fall to the ground again. Its time to cease fighting, and begin spreading the message to your fellow soldiers. Stop fighting. It’s won. You’re going home. Make the word of God your foundation, not the experiences of the past. Do not look to your old or even recent failures, look to Christ's redeeming power to forgive you, and to keep you from ever failing again. The gospel is the Good News of Victory, through the promise of Christ Yahshua our King.

"The word of the Lord endureth for ever, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." (1 Peter 1:25)