CONTINUOUS VICTORY

Psa 98:1

Morning Meditations 1/24/16

Is it possible for the believer to experience continuous victory? Let's examine the truth of victory: "O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory."

The word for "victory" (yasha') means "to save, be saved, be delivered." It is in what is called in the Hebrew the hiphil perfect. The hiphil is causitive. God is the cause of the victory. The perfect represents a completed action. This then is a victory already obtained by the Lord. The words "his right hand, and his holy arm" represent the power of that victory. The words "for he hath done" (asah) is translated by more than 17 different words in our King James Bible. It means "to make or to fashion. The words "marvelous things" (pala) mean "to be marvellous, be wonderful, be surpassing, be extraordinary, separate by distinguishing action." God's actions cannot be compared to man's actions. Man builds a boat or a bridge to cross the water and it takes a lot of money and time. God just parts the waters in a moment of time and His people walk across on dry ground. This word is reflexive (niphal) and means the LORD himself hath done marvelous things. Every way that you examine the structure of this verse the victory is the LORD'S.

The Psalm says, O SING unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory." The word "hath gotten him the victory" means that the Psalmist is saying the LORD is delivered. Does the LORD need deliverance? Why didn't the Psalmist say, "hath gotten us the victory." He is actually talking about the victories that Israel had witnessed and had been a part of. 1 Samuel 17:47: "And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD'S, and he will give you into our hands." This is what David said to Goliath when he went against him in the day of battle. We need to know what David knew. Was it David against Goliath or God against Goliath? You say "It was both." And that is true. David was involved in the battle. But the victory came from God. And the way the victory came, no one would deny it.

Then the Psalmist says, "O SING unto the LORD a new song." What is the new song? It is new because it is for the particular occasion. The song comes out of the experience. Like the song of Miriam after the crossing of the Red Sea.

I was in at Camp Zion in Myrtle, MS when I first met and heard Charles F. Weigle. He was in his 80's or 90's at the time. Dr. Weigle was a singing evangelist. His wife did not support him in his calling. She finally left him broken hearted. Dr. Weigle did everything he knew to do to reconcile his marriage. As he suffered under the weight of grief he tells about how he sat down at the piano and this song came: "I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus. Since I found in Him a friend so strong and true; I would tell you how He changed my life completely, He did something that no other friend could do. No one ever cared for me like Jesus, There's no other friend so kind as He; No one else could take the sin and darkness from me, O how much He cared for me." That's just the first stanza of No One Cared For Me Like Jesus. That song was born in a heart of a man that had been crushed by human abandonment and had been comforted by the Living God. It was a new song that had come out of a special touch from Jesus in the midst of life's circumstances.

Then the Psalmist said, "O SING unto the LORD." It is not a song to man. Man may hear it. But this is a song by man to the Lord. And a lot of times you don't have to write a new song yourself. You can find a Psalm or a song someone else has written that came out of your similar circumstances. Have you ever sung to the LORD? I have. You say, "I can't sing." I can't either. But God made the bird that sings beautifully and He also made the crow. He loves them both and is blessed by their songs. I have wept with joy and gratitude more as I have sung in the silence of the morning hour when there was no one to hear but God and His holy angels than I ever have in Church. The Holy Spirit has moved me to tears of joy as I sung to the LORD.

This is Psalm 98:1. Now lets make a few applications. Can we walk in continuous victory? Just remember that the victory is the Lords because the battle is the Lord's. 1 John 5:4 says, "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." The words "is born" translate a perfect passive participle. The perfect tense is completed action in the past, that completed action having present results. This means that the one who has been born again in the past with the result that he remains a born child of God, overcometh the world." The word "overcometh" is a present active indicative verb. That means that he continues to overcome (have victory - same root word) in the present tense. The new birth does not just prepare us for victory in the future from the point of time of the new birth but the victory over the world is obtained at the time of the new birth. John says, "And this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith." Every victory that we obtain in daily experience is a victory already obtained at the point of salvation. We are working from victory not to victory. It is our faith in Christ's finished work including everything from salvation to glorification.

Victory over circumstances. Romans 8:28: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." God makes every bad circumstance of life work together for our good and His glory. We can sing our way through all the bad circumstances when we realize that we are experiencing victory through them. It may now come out until the Judgment Seat of Christ but we have God's word on it. God does not lie. So we are complete safe to rejoice in the victory when the circumstances say otherwise.

Victory over self. This is recorded in Romans chapter 6 which I will not go into. It is stated in Galatians 2:20: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." My adamic self died with Christ. My new life is the Christ-life. My victory over self is through death and resurrection. When I lose the victory it is always because I dig the old man out of the grave and try to make him perform. I'm not the issue.. Christ is the issue. It is His life. That is the victory over self.

Victory over death. 1 Cor 15:57: "But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." The word "giveth" is a present active participle. The present tense means that we experience continuous victory in the present over death in the future through our Lord Jesus Christ. The words "through our Lord Jesus Christ" look to the victory He obtained in the past over death. When we were saved we entered into His victory over death.

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts. Yes, we can have continuous victory as we take His victory for us as our victory in Him.

In Christ

Earl White