1 Corinthians 15:55-57 The Mirror Bible, “‘O death where is your sting?  O grave where is your victory?’  The sting of death is sin, the strength of sin is the law.  Your victory is not a maybe, because of the magnanimous doing of Jesus Christ, it’s a given.”  Magnanimous means very generous in forgiving, especially towards someone less powerful.

Your victory is not a maybe. God wants you to be victorious.  He has made you victorious.  He has set you up for victory. If you are experiencing anything less than victory, it’s not God’s fault. Too many people blame God for their misery not realising that He has set us up for abundant life, but we need to choose it.  “Your victory is not a maybe because of the magnanimous doing of Jesus Christ  it’s a given!”   The Message says, ‘but now in a single victorious stroke of life, all three – sin, death, guilt are gone!   The Gift of our Master, Jesus Christ, thank God!”  Verse 58 (Mirror) says “for this reason, you can afford to absolutely to be settled and rock solid in faith persuasion and always ready to go beyond where you have gone before.  Your doing is now inspired by your knowing that you are in Him.  If His resurrection is yours, then His victory over sin and death is equally yours.” If we died with Him, and Romans 6 to 8 talks about that, it shows us how His resurrection is ours – His victory over sin and death is equally yours!   Your victory is not just a maybe, but because of what Jesus has done for you, your victory is secured!  Your victory is definite, not maybe! It’s not definitely maybe.  It is definitely!!   Amen!

Let’s look at Deuteronomy 28, an exciting passage which a lot of people butcher. “ If thou shall harken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God,  to observe and to do all His commandments,  which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God shall set thee high above all the nations of the earth.”  How many of you want to be set like that? Set above all the nations of the earth? Scripture says that “all these blessings shall come upon thee and overtake thee.” Isn’t that awesome! Imagine blessing overtaking you, but what do most Christians in our circles do?  They try and overtake the blessing! They are trying to take over the blessing!  That’s simply because they don’t believe that they are blessed! God’s will is that all these blessings come upon you and overtake you.  Then it says, “IF thou shalt harken thy voice unto the Lord thy God.”  ‘If you will listen to the voice of the Lord your God’ – there is a condition. And now this is where people go pear-shaped.  They start telling you what you need to do in order to be blessed by God: “How to live a blessed life”,   No. 1:  Tithe.  2: Fulfill all the law.  3: Make sure you don’t do anything on the Sabbath except  Sabbath and go to church… And they just keep listing it…  “Don’t smoke or drink. Don’t eat pork. Live holy” The truth is that you cannot do anything to attract God’s favour and blessing. Nothing you do will qualify you to be worthy to receive anything from Him. We’ll look at this a bit more in a moment.

Remember where this passage (Deuteronomy 28) is.  It’s in the first part of the Bible.  Everything we read in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, needs to be interpreted through the greatest event of all time – the death and resurrection of Jesus. That event changed everything, forever. Sadly most believers live and act as if Jesus changed nothing.