They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 12:11)
There are so many of the Lord's people today
over whom Satan is lording it; lording it along the line of accusation, bringing
them under a sense of condemnation and judgment, robbing them of their peace, of
their assurance, rest, hope; and you will find these people are everlastingly
talking about their own short-comings, their sinfulness; they are for ever
circling round themselves, all that they are that they would not be, all that
they are not that they would be. Their deliverance from Satan is that they
should have a fresh apprehension of the absolute satisfaction of the Father in
His Son on their behalf, and that they find their standing before the Father in
acceptance. That is the way of deliverance, the way of the Adversary's casting
out. This is the way of overcoming him as the Accuser. Yes, the ground of the
Blood is sufficient for this full-orbed, many-sided, all-round victory. "They
overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb," and the first and supreme factor
in the virtue of that Blood in all these directions, is its untainted
sinlessness, the nature of the Lord Jesus. There has never been another who was
such.
Oh, I am so glad that it was God that came in
Christ, GOD that came in Christ. Can you charge God with sin? Can you lay sin to
God's charge, to God's account? It was God in Christ, the absolutely and
altogether holy One in whom there was no sin, who came in incarnation; and in
virtue of that Divine nature in its perfection Satan in his authority is
defeated - on that ground. Blessed be God! We receive by faith the virtue of
that precious Blood; that is, the perfection of the Lord Jesus can be put to our
account. That is grace - the wonder of the Gospel. If we were to begin to
analyze ourselves and take stock of ourselves, that would be a terrible
business, a wretched business, and it would be endless - think of it, beloved,
with all that we know of ourselves, all that God knows about us - "The heart is
deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord
search the heart. I try the reins...." Though all that be a fact, you and I can
stand now in the presence of God as sinlessly perfect, not in ourselves, but in
Christ, as having absolute sinless perfection put to our account by God.