How to Live in Victory

There are three key words to remember if we want to live in victory.

Here's Adrian Rogers. Now, there are three basic words that I want you to see today in God's Word, and if you'll get these three words down in your heart, you're going to learn how to walk in victory. So don't miss it.

Are you ready? Know, reckon, yield. Now, if you will get these three words in your heart, in your mind, you're going to learn the secret of living in victory.

Welcome to Love Worth Finding. The grace of God enables us to live godly lives in Christ Jesus and empowers us to live in victory. Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers explains, when Jesus came out of the grave, we came out with Him, and we've been raised to walk in a new life. Romans chapter 6 reveals how to live in victory beginning with three simple words, know, reckon, and yield.

If you have your Bible, turn there now as Adrian Rogers shows us how to live in victory. We are saved by grace. That means there's absolutely nothing that we do in order to earn our salvation. As a matter of fact, we are saved by the sheer grace of God.

But let me say this, folks. Because salvation is a gift, and it roots not in the merit of man but in the mercy of God, not in the goodness of man but in the grace of God, does that mean therefore it doesn't make any difference how we live? Well, Paul puts the death to that lie. Look in chapter 6 verse 1.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? And then Paul says, God forbid. That is, any Christian who is saved by grace, who continues to live a life of sin is a disgrace to grace. Now, we are saved by the grace of God, but after we're saved by the grace of God, we need to learn to live in victory.

And so the grace of God is an inducement to live a godly life, and it also supplies the power to live a godly life. Now, we're talking to you today about victory, constant victory, conscious victory, conspicuous victory. Are you ready for it? Now, there are three basic words that I want you to see today in God's Word in the passage that we have before us. And if you'll get these three words down in your heart, you're going to learn how to walk in victory. So don't miss it.

Are you ready? Look, if you will, in chapter 6 verse 6, knowing this. Underscore the phrase knowing. I have a circle drawn around it in my Bible, and I also have it highlighted in yellow, knowing this.

And then skip on down to verse 11. Likewise, reckon also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God. Underscore the word reckon. First of all, the word knowing. Secondly, the word reckon. And then finally, I want you to look on over to verse 13, if you will, and underscore the word yield.

Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God. Know, reckon, yield. Now, just write that on your heart. Get that in your mind.

Don't check me out. Don't say, that doesn't make sense to me. Well, it may not now, but now you listen. Know, reckon, yield. Know, reckon, yield. Now, if you will get these three words in your heart in your mind, you're going to learn the secret of living in victory. And as grace abounds, righteousness will also abound. And that imputed righteousness will become imparted and practical righteousness in your life. And you will live day by day, week by week, year by year in victory, the kind of life that you really want to live and perhaps have not yet found the secret to living. Now, I was pastoring a church before I discovered this truth. To be very honest, I love the Lord, and I wasn't living what you would call a bad life, but I had not really learned how to walk in victory. So I want to share these three words. Now, let's take the first one.

Are you ready for it? Look at the word know. Now, that word know deals with your identification with Jesus who gave himself for you. Because you see, when Jesus came to this earth, suffered, bled, and died, we suffered, bled, and died with him because Jesus died for us. Now, you've got to know that. And so what's the first thing? Knowing.

Knowing that our old man is crucified with him, that we were buried with him, we were raised with him. That is an F-A-C-T fact. Now, you've got to know that. You've got to know that.

That's the first thing. That's not victory yet. But first of all, you know this. You know it. I hope you know it now.

I hope you believe it. It is the precious doctrine of identification that Jesus Christ gave himself for us, and his death had our name on it. His burial had our name on it. His resurrection had our name on it. When he died, we died with him. When he was buried, we were buried with him.

When he rose, we rose with him. That is the doctrine of identification. The second word is reckon. Let's look at that second word now. And if knowing deals with our identification with Jesus, reckon deals with our appropriation of Jesus.

Now, you have to know your identification before you can make that appropriation. This follows one, two, three. Now, look, if you will, at the scripture here, and he says this in verse 11. Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God. Now, the word reckon here is a bookkeeping term. What it literally means is that you count on it, not because you feel it, not because you guess about it, not because you desire it or because you imagine it. You reckon on it because it is true. This word reckon means count on it. This word reckon means calculate upon it. Reckoning is not just closing your eyes and pretending it to be true. It is acting by faith, acting on what you know to be true. It is appropriating what you know to be true. Now, if you have some money in the bank and you get your bank statement and it says you have X number of dollars in the bank, then it doesn't matter if you feel you have more or if you don't think you have anything.

You just look at the bank statement and you reckon on that. Not a matter of feeling. You know, so many of us want to say, well, whether I feel victorious or not. Hey, folks, your feelings are the shallowest part of your nature. Salvation is the deepest work of God. He doesn't do the deepest work and the shallowest part. He doesn't say feel it. He says calculate it. Reckon it to be true.

Remember now, this is a bookkeeping term and your feelings don't matter. A woman woke up one morning, the alarm clock went off, and it seemed like she had just gone to sleep. Have you ever had one of those nights that just passes just like that and you're sleeping, especially sound, and it seems like you close your eyes and the alarm clock goes off. She says it could not be six o'clock in the morning. But she looked at the alarm clock. It said six. She turned on the radio. The six o'clock programs were playing.

She opened the window and looked out and the sun was coming up. No, the radio said it was six. The clocks said it was six.

The sun in the east said it was six o'clock in the morning. Now, folks, I submit to you it really didn't matter how she felt. All of these facts were something she just had to reckon on.

It's a fact no matter how you feel about it. Now, we need to get our salvation out of the realm of fickle emotions and begin to reckon and to count on God's facts. You see, the fact of the matter is you have been dead for 2,000 years.

Don't you think it's time you had your funeral? Now, look, if you will, in verse 6. Look at it, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him. Now, that, and I don't want to get too technical, but that is in the Greek tense, the aorist tense. What does that mean? Well, it means it is done. It is once for all, never to be repeated. That happened. That is a fact. That is done.

It is finished. But now notice as we continue to read here, reckon, the word reckon is in the present tense. Now, what does that mean? Well, that means that day by day you count on what happened 2,000 years ago. Day by day, every morning, you wake up and you say, hey, I am dead to sin. I'm alive in Christ.

I know it is a fact. He died for me. Now I reckon it, not only by my identification with Christ, but now just by my appropriation of the Lord Jesus Christ who not only gave himself for me, but Jesus now has given himself to me and the life I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God. Now, I must count on the life of Christ in me daily. Are you with me so far? Now, let's move on to the third word, because here is where the rubber meets the road. This is where most of us fail.

Most of us get two-thirds of the way there, and we never, ever live in victory. The first word is knowing, and that deals with our identification with Christ who gave himself for us. The second word is the word reckon. That deals with our appropriation of Christ who gave himself to us. You see, he gave himself for us that he might give himself to us.

He lives in us now. We are alive in him, and he in us. Now, the third word is yield, and that word deals with our emancipation through Christ who lives his life in us. He gave himself for us that he might give himself to us, that he might live his life through us. Now, how does this become real in our hearts? Because you say, Pastor Rogers, if I am dead, if I've been crucified with Christ and I have been buried with him, how come that old man won't lie down? I mean, how come the old Adrian or the old Billy or the old Susie or the old Bob, the old Jim, how come he keeps coming up?

I thought he was dead. Why am I having so much difficulty? I know it as a fact that I died with Christ. I reckon it to be true, but why is it that I do not have victory day by day?

It is because you've not learned to yield and be emancipated. When you yield, then your imputed righteousness becomes imparted righteousness. Now, the victorious life is this. It is God's work. You cannot do it without him.

He will not do it without you. Country preacher prayed one time, Lord, help me to cooperate with you so you won't have to operate on me. Now, you need to learn to cooperate with God. You do this by yielding.

Now, how do you yield? Well, let me mention three things. First of all, there is the dethronement of sin. Look, if you will, in verses 12 and 13 now of this same chapter. Let not sin, therefore reign in your mortal body. Look at the first two words, let not.

Do you see that? Let not sin, therefore reign in your mortal body. That is, you don't have to. You don't have to.

That means that there is a way for you. Let not sin, therefore reign in your mortal body. Why can't sin reign?

Because when you died, your old master lost all control over you and you have to dethrone sin. You must choose against your old master. You have to say, Satan, no longer will these eyes be your tools. No longer will these ears be your instruments. No longer will these hands do your bidding.

I am not going to let you have your way in me. Now, Satan doesn't want you to learn what I'm teaching today. And Satan will say, you know, all that's just preacher talk. You don't have to pay attention to that.

Rogers is just going through the book of Romans and this is all just religious gobbledygook. Now you listen to me. You don't have to let Satan have his way in your life. Now, before Calvary, before your identification with the Lord Jesus, and before your appropriation of the Lord Jesus, there's no possible way that you could live the victorious life even if you wanted to.

Now, you don't have to let sin rule in your body. You just don't have to. You have within you.

All it takes, it is there. But you're going to have to use your power of authority. You're going to have to know it and you're going to have to reckon it and you're going to have to yield to it. Satan will come into your life and you'll say, Satan, I don't have to obey you.

He'll say, oh, yes you do. You know who you are. You know how weak you are. You know my power over you. You know my control over you. You've invited me into your life.

You and I have been friends for a long time. You know what we've done in the past and I'm not moving. You say, Satan, please be gone. He says, no, I'm not going to go. I'm not going to... Listen, folks.

You take the power of attorney. You take the word of God. You say, here is something that I know to be true. Then you say, here is something that I reckon. I count upon what I know.

I calculate upon what I know. I know my identification with Christ. I reckon my appropriation with Christ and so now I'd be thrown sin in my life. Satan, I don't have to let you rule my life.

I just don't have to do it and you are not going to stay and ruin my life. Not only the dethronement of sin, but there's the enthronement of the Savior. Look now, if you will, in verse 13. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Now, it's not just enough to say Satan be gone. Not only do you dethrone sin, you enthrone the Savior. You say, Lord Jesus, right now, this moment, I enthrone you.

I put you upon the throne of my life. Now, this word yield is an interesting word. As a matter of fact, over in Romans chapter 12 verse 1 that we'll get to later, present your bodies unto God a living sacrifice.

The word present there in Romans 12, 1 and the word yield here in Romans 6 is the same word. You just come to the Lord and you say, Lord, here I am. I just present myself to you. Satan, I will not obey you. I don't have to obey you. The world, I don't have to obey you.

The flesh, I don't have to obey you. I am dead. Your hold on me has been gone. I was crucified with Christ. Your old servant is dead and buried and all the charges against me are gone because Jesus died for my sins and I died with him and the law cannot bring me into double jeopardy. And it is done and I don't have to obey you. And now, Lord Jesus, I present myself to you.

I yield myself to you. Now, here's the third thing. First of all, the dethronement of sin. Number two, the enthronement of the Savior. And number three, the enslavement.

Now, listen carefully. The enslavement of the saint. The enslavement of the saint.

Now, look if you will in verses 17 and 18 of this same chapter. But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin. And the word servant there means bond slave of sin. But ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered unto you, being then made free from sin, ye became the slaves of righteousness.

Now, there's the dethronement of sin, the enthronement of the Savior, and the enslavement of the saint. You become Jesus' slave. You say, well, Pastor, I don't think I want to be a slave. Well, you're going to be a slave of Jesus or a slave of Satan. Everybody's a slave to something.

Everybody is either in Adam or in Christ. But when you say Lord Jesus, I yield myself to you. I become your bond slave. You have a right to tell me what to do. You have a right to tell me when to wake up, when to go to bed, what to eat, what not to eat, what to wear, what not to wear.

You have a right to tell me anything you want. You have a right to all of my possessions. I am a bond slave. Remember Paul began this epistle by calling himself a bond slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, it is that enslavement, listen carefully, that brings perfect liberty. Now, what do you get when you enslave yourself to the Lord Jesus? Well, you get a new freedom because look in verse 18, being then made free from sin. Sin doesn't have any more dominion over you.

You get a new faithfulness. Look, if you will, in verse 19. He says, even so now yield your members' servants to righteousness unto holiness. You have a new fruitfulness. Look in verse 21. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now, being made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness. So, when you become a slave to the Lord, you get a new freedom, you get a new faithfulness, you get a new fruitfulness.

Now, three words. You know it. That is your identification with Christ who gave himself for you. Number two, you reckon it. That is your appropriation of Christ who gave himself for you. And then number three, you yield. That is your emancipation through Christ who lives his life in you. Do you know what I do a lot of mornings when I wake up?

I kind of feel silly telling you this, but I've told enough folks now I just let the cat out of the bag. Let me tell you something to do in the mornings, and it deals with these three words. When you wake up in the morning, I mean when you get out of bed, on your way into the bathroom or wherever, just lift your hands to God and praise Him. I mean, first thing, just praise Him and say, Lord, I praise you that you gave yourself for me.

Okay? That's knowing. And then take those same hands and turn them up and say, Lord, not only did you give yourself for me, but you gave yourself to me. Lord, this morning I receive of your fullness.

Oh, there is a few, God. I just receive your fullness. You see, identification is, Lord, I praise you, you gave yourself for me.

But appropriation is, Lord, you gave yourself to me. And, Lord, what I know now, I reckon I just receive, Lord, of your fullness. Thank you, Lord, that you're pouring your life into me. And then do this.

Then put your hands up like somebody put a gun on you. Bow your head and surrender and say, now, Lord, I yield to you. Live your life through me.

See, He gave Himself for you that He might give Himself to you, that He might live His life through you. I'm yours. I am your slave. Live your life through me today. And when you've done that, just spread out your hands and say, it's going to be a great day.

It's going to be a great day. There is something to know. There is something to reckon. And then you must yield to what you know. You must dethrone sin. You must say, Satan, I'm not going to let you do that. You have no right.

You're trespassing on my Father's property. And in the name of Jesus and the authority of the Word of God, leave me alone. And then you say, Lord Jesus, I put you on the throne of my life today. And, Lord, I am your slave. I'm here to do your will. And you're going to find out, friend, that God will begin to live, bless His name, He'll begin to live His life in you in ways that you never dreamt of.

And it will be supernatural all the way. He didn't save you and say, now go out there and do the best you can. There is something to know, identification. There is something to reckon, appropriation. There is something to yield, emancipation. God help you to understand this. Would you say, Lord, teach me these lessons? Lord, help me to understand my identification with you and your death, burial, and resurrection. Lord, help me to hone it.

Help me to know that it goes far beyond my feelings, that I can reckon it to be true no matter how I feel. And now, Lord, help me to yield to what I know, to dethrone sin, enthrone the Savior, and enslave myself. I am now your slave, Lord Jesus, ready to do your will.

Would you do that? Father, I pray in the name of Jesus that you'll make this real in our lives, in your name. Amen. And click the tab at the top that says, discover Jesus. Welcome to God's forever family.

We can't wait to hear from you today. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message, you can call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD and mention the title, How to Live in Victory. This message is also part of the insightful series, Foundations for Our Faith, volume two.

For that complete collection, all 27 powerful messages, call 877-LOVEGOD, or you can order online at lwf.org slash radio or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee, 38183. Do you know that you identify with Jesus in his death, burial, and resurrection? Have you reckoned your life to what you believe?

Have you yielded to him? We hope you'll join us next time for more profound truth, simply stated by Adrian Rogers, right here on Love Worth Finding. Want to share a message we received recently from one of our listeners. I did not find Pastor Rogers until the last year of his life here with us, but I knew he was truly a shining man of God.

His messages are still so poignant, such a blessing for humankind. Thank you for sharing how these messages have inspired and equipped you in your walk with Christ. This month, when you donate to the ministry, we want to send you a hard copy of our new resource, Good Morning, Lord. Acting as an accessory to your daily quiet time, this book provides beautifully crafted devotions from trusted pastor, author, and teacher, Adrian Rogers. Request the book when you call with a gift at 1-877-LOVEGOD, 1-877-568-3463, or you can give online at lwf.org. And again, ask for Good Morning, Lord. And thank you for your support of Love Worth Finding.