Title: The Last Victor / Matthew 17:1-8
Everyone wants to win. From little children to adults, no one likes to lose. When I was young, I played marbles with the local children. One day, I lost all the marbles I had and was very upset. I remember going to my brother and begging him to find me again because I lost him. I still vividly remember that I went back to visit with my brother. The marble is nothing, so why do I remember it so vividly until now? This is because the pain of defeat and the joy of victory are remembered until now.
Everyone wants to win even when playing sports, they want to win even when they play Go, and at the very least, they want to win even in a snowball fight. Everyone wants to win.
But does the victorious life go on in your heart? Sometimes you start a business with a good plan for the future. However, there are times when you feel lost and defeated when you are struggling with an unwanted recession. I want to raise my children well. Parents feel that they want to support them without wearing nice clothes or eating delicious food, but their children feel it as a burden and they leave their parents' side and run away from home. Thinking about my children, I can't get enough of it, and I sometimes feel a sense of defeat. The business goes well and the children grow up properly, so everything goes smoothly. The person who boasted that I was a happy person suddenly came through an illness, felt the emptiness of life, felt that all material things were useless, and suffered heartache.
In this way, everyone wants victory, but how often do you feel failure and defeat depending on various situations? This is not just our business. Many people in history who were proud of their victories lived this kind of life. Caesar, known in the Bible as Caesar, was a famous Roman general. He conquered many lands and created a Julian calendar after him, just as there is a solar calendar. General Caesar shouted [I came, I saw, I have conquered], but he was also assassinated by Brutus in the House of Representatives and failed. As he died, he died leaving behind the words, "Burtus, even you to me."
It is difficult to win like this, but how can we become victors? The most important thing is mental strength. Mental strength brings victory. At the time of the Vietnam War, Vietnam had a superior weapon system to Vietnam thanks to the enormous support of the United States, and had a much superiority in external military power, but eventually fell behind in mental power. Israel, which was inferior in terms of visible national power and military power such as population, territory, military force and firepower, compared to neighboring countries in the Middle East, fought with the fighting spirit that [there was no place to go if we retreat from here], All won before. Mental strength brings victory.
The battles of the people of Israel with various nations are often mentioned. But when the people depended on God, they were victorious, but when they fought only with their own skills, they were defeated. The strength that arises when we depend on God is mental power. When you rely only on your own skills, you become weak.
You know the story of David and Goliath. When all the Israelites saw Goliath, they were terrified and fled before him, trembling. David took five slingshots and went out to fight Goliath. David cried out to the Philistines, "You come to me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have insulted." In the end, he defeats the Philistine general. What he had was the skill of throwing stones well, but above all else, he had the mental power to depend on God.
Where does this mental power come from? When we depend on God, we become strong and bold. Trusting in God is what triumphs. The text says, "For everyone who is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith."
So, specifically, what should we believe? "Be convinced that I am a child of God. Confess by faith that I am a child of God." No matter what difficult circumstances you may be in, be sure that you are a child of God. Don't doubt it, believe it.
Look at the text of the text. When Jesus was baptized to begin his public ministry, he heard a voice saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; listen to him." When Jesus began the great work to save all mankind, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son; he who delights in me, listen to him."
When Jesus came to the end of his public life, he called his disciples together and foretold the death and resurrection of Jesus. Then Peter gives a loyal answer to Jesus. This could never happen to Jesus. Jesus said to Peter, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."
They thought that following Jesus would open the way to victory, but while following Jesus, the disciples heard the news of defeat that Jesus would be crucified and die. Peter, who has an urgent personality, strongly tells Jesus that this must never happen. Then Jesus took Peter, John, and James to the Mount of Transfiguration. There Jesus' face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. Then a clear voice comes from heaven. He hears a voice saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; listen to him."
It is God's voice to Jesus and his disciples who are in the crisis of defeat. ?쏷his is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.??Right now, it seems like he is going to die by being crucified, but because he is my beloved son, we can find the assurance of God that he will make him the final victor.
When the disciples were drenched in a sense of defeat, God gave them a clear voice. ?쏷his is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.??When the disciples were drenched in a sense of defeat and trembling in fear, he heard the voice of conviction that this is my beloved son.
What are you drenched in feeling of defeat right now? Even if we are immersed in any sense of defeat, I believe that God will be my father and that he will give us the assurance of the ultimate victor because of the belief that I am a child of God.
What does it mean to be my father's child? I am the object to be loved, the object to be helped, and the object to be encouraged. look at the children Who is helping the child? Parents help. To say that I am a child of God means to live with the help and love of God. When a child attends Yeongseo Elementary School, when Yeongseo Elementary School and Dongseo Elementary School play a soccer game, the parents are supposed to support Yeongseo Elementary School. There is only one reason. Because my beloved child goes to that school.
As Paul writes in Romans, "As it is written, For your sake we are killed all day long, and we are accounted for as sheep for the slaughter. But in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." ." The strength we have to overcome this world is the conviction that God loves and helps us because we have become children of God. With this belief, we are to overcome this world
Before he was crucified, Jesus said to his disciples: "Behold, the hour is coming, when each of you is scattered to his own place, and when you leave me alone, the hour has come; but I am not alone, but the Father is with me. I have given this name to you so that you may find peace in me. You will have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world.??Being sentenced to death and being crucified to death is a complete symbol of defeat. It is the image of Jesus, the loser, who is left alone and the disciples who followed him are scattered. But I am not alone; the Father is with me. I have conquered the world. Heavenly Father's love ultimately brought victory.
Think of Napoleon, who lived confidently in victory with great military power. Listen to one of the words of Napoleon, who confidently said, "There is no word impossible in my dictionary" while he was sent to the island of [St. Herena] after losing the war. "O Galilean! You have won. I tried to conquer the world by force, but I was defeated. You who conquered the world with love have won." The Galilean here refers to Jesus Christ.
Who am I? are children of God I am an object to be loved by God, an object to be helped by God, and God gives us courage. gives us boldness I hope there is a confession that the one who does not break a bruised reed or put out a smoldering lamp is my Father.
Our being the beloved children of God does not mean that we are chosen to be children of God because we are worthy or worth more than others. Rather, because God loved us, and because we became His children, we became valuable people. Herein lies the driving force for victory. We may be worthless people in the world, and we may be people in the despair of being defeated in the world. However, because we are children of God, I have been transformed into a person of value and into a person receiving God's help. It is this belief that gives us victory.
Jesus said, "Even though you are evil, if you know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him." Faith that God will give good things to His children, this assurance, gives confidence, courage, strength, and courage to our hearts. This is the power of the spirit and the power to overcome this world.
I am a victor It is not that I am more capable than others, nor that I have learned more than others. Because I am a child of God, believe that God loves me, helps me now, and gives me courage.
"Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."