I want to give you a gift this morning. It’s nothing you can put into your pocket or purse; it’s something you can take to heart. A gift is special when it’s appropriate. This gift is appropriate — that is, if you feel that your life is often a battle. The gift that I want to give to you is a statement that Jesus made. This Sunday morning message will be a process of unwrapping this gift for each of us.

Jesus’ statement is certainly appropriate as we conclude our six-part series, “It’s a War Zone Out There — and in Me, Too!” Here’s Jesus’ statement: “In the world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) Jesus’ statement should give us irrepressible confidence in facing life’s battles.

GOD ULTIMATELY WINS
By very definition God is in control; that’s why we call Him God. If God isn’t ultimately in control, who is? God is in charge of the whole universe. He made it, He keeps it running, and His purposes for it are unfolding. God has many characteristics; the one we’re describing here is His sovereignty. A.W. Tozer, in his classic little book The Knowledge of the Holy, wrote, “God’s sovereignty is the attribute by which He rules His entire creation.” (p.115) Tozer went on, “No one can dissuade Him from His purposes; nothing turn Him aside from His plans.” (p.119)

It may not seem so most of the time, but God’s purposes are slowly and most certainly unfolding. In the book of Revelation, which is the last book in the Bible, the apostle John wrote about rulers who will be against God and His Son Jesus (who’s here referred to as the Lamb): “They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings — and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.” (Revelation 17:14) God is in control; in the end, God wins!

How do you explain everything that’s so wrong with this world? If God is truly in control, why do we experience such disappointment, misery, and pain?

An illustration that helps me understand more clearly is a luxury cruise ship. The captain’s in charge, but the people on the cruise ship have a great deal of freedom. They can go to lunch or sun on the deck; they can play shuffleboard or take a nap. They can deepen relationships — for instance, a couple on their honeymoon — or a couple can decide to end a relationship. All the while the captain is taking the ship to a predetermined port. Though everyone has a great deal of freedom, the fact remains that the ship is heading toward a chosen port.

We’re given a great deal of freedom in this world, including the freedom to make mistakes, turn from God, or hurt each other. Satan also has much free reign and is raising havoc. However, God’s ultimate purposes are still being fulfilled.

Jesus’ death on the cross is the best example of how something very bad can happen, yet something very good can come of it. Jesus was executed on a cross. It’s clear that Satan did his best to get rid of the incarnated Son of God: God on earth in human form. He had Jesus killed on a criminal’s cross. God put His Son in human form, and Satan countered that by having Him killed.

It’s amazing that even before His crucifixion, Jesus didn’t see it as a failure or a victory for Satan. Jesus said of His crucifixion, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be . . . .” (John 8:28) The term “lifted up” is usually used when someone is exalted! Jesus didn’t see His being raised onto a cross as a humiliation; He considered it an exaltation, because it was on the cross that He conquered sin.

The decisive battle over evil was won on the cross. The biggest battle is over, and the right side won! When Jesus declared on the cross, “It is finished,” He could just as easily have said “We won!” — because that’s what happened.

God will ultimately win; everything is moving toward that grand conclusion. When we seek to be God’s people, we find ourselves on the winning side!

COUNT ON GOD THREE WAYS
There are three characteristics of God that, when looked at together, can give us great comfort during life’s battles: God is all-wise, all-loving, and all-powerful. Let’s examine these characteristics.

First, God is all-wise: He knows how things should be. The psalmist declared, “How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; . . .” (Psalm 104:24) Nothing confuses God or catches Him by surprise. He keeps track of everything, from the spinning of each electron around each atom in the universe to the farthest galaxies 13 billion light years away. He knows everything, and He knows every detail about your life — including what’s going to happen in the future.

Second, God is all-loving. He has our best interests at heart. The apostle John wrote, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us . . . .” (1 John 4:10) His intentions are always ultimately good for us!

Third, God is all-powerful. There’s nothing too hard for Him; after all, He made the entire universe! I saw a small display of God’s power a couple of weeks ago. Lightning struck a tree on our neighbor’s property across the road. Huge pieces of wood were blown out of the tree, which was an oak tree: one of the hardest woods. Two beams nearly a foot thick and ten feet long were blasted from the trunk of the tree — by just one lightning bolt! The psalmist declared, “The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning.” (Psalm 29:7)

I take great comfort in these three characteristics of God. What if He only had two of the three? What if He had all love and power but wasn’t all-wise? He’d try to do the loving thing and have the power to do it, but without wisdom He wouldn’t always do the most loving thing.

What if He had wisdom and power but wasn’t loving? He’d have a plan that He wanted to carry out and the power to do it, but He’d be a tyrant.

What if He was wise and loving but not powerful? He’d be like a benevolent great-grandfather who loves His great-grandchildren and knows and wants to do what’s best for them, but being bedfast He’d be unable to do anything. If God’s power is limited, His wisdom and love wouldn’t count for much.

However, God has all three characteristics! He knows what’s best for us (He’s all-wise), He wants to do what’s best for us (He’s all-loving), and He can do what’s best for us (He’s all-powerful)!

ALIGN YOURSELF WITH HIM
We live in a fallen world, but when we have a God who’s all-wise, all-loving, and all-powerful, we can be sure that things will ultimately turn out for the best. This is why it’s so important that we align ourselves with God. The apostle John wrote, “for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” (1 John 5:4-5)

What are you battling in your life? Are you willing to yield control of your life to God? He’s too wise and loving to give us solutions that are exactly what we want, but He’s also powerful enough to give us what we need. The real question is whether we can trust Him with everything. Are you willing to turn your entire life over to Him? That will mean giving up your own agenda of how things should go. It means aligning yourself with His great, grand purposes — which are largely unknown and a great mystery.

It’s a war zone out there — and in us, too! We need a commander-in-chief, but not a five-star general; we need the multiple-trillion-star general who created and maintains all the stars of the cosmos. He’s the Lord Jesus Christ!

ADOPT THE WINNING PERSPECTIVE
When we seek to be the Lord’s people, allowing Him to be our Lord and Savior, we can have a new perspective on everything that happens to us. We can be sure that somehow, some way, God is unfolding His great plan through us. That knowledge allows us to face our challenges and problems in a far better way.

Imagine that your favorite team is playing their biggest game of the season. It’s on TV, and you really want to see it and want your team to win. You can’t see the game for some reason, so you tape it. You don’t want to know the outcome; you don’t want a friend to tell you, and you aren’t going to listen to any sports report.
You’re going to go home and watched the taped game. However, someone tells you that your team won and that it was the closest, most exciting game they ever saw.

You sit down to watch the tape of the game. In a strange way you can relax a little, knowing that your team won. Now you can enjoy the game without the fear of your team losing. Your team is behind at one point, then ahead, then behind again. You wonder how they’re going to win, because you know that they will win.

This is how it is when you turn your life over to Christ and truly seek to live for Him. No matter what’s going on, no matter what bad thing happens, you know that good will come of it and it will be a winning situation. As we’ve been saying, “It’s a War Zone Out There — and in Me, Too!” In the final analysis, when we’re with
God we can be sure that we’re going to be winners. Jesus promised us that!

I hope that we’ve unwrapped Jesus’ gift for us today; here it is: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Enjoy the gift of Jesus’ fresh perspective for you on this fallen world!