The Promise of Jesus
Teachers
Lesson Summary
Richard Sutton opened the class by sharing the excitement of the season and a humorous anecdote about a preacher who used a sensational title to attract a crowd. He then explained that this evening’s lesson would focus on “total victory” in Christ, contrasting the tempting allure of eye‑catching titles with the deeper, scriptural truth of the triumph God provides. After reviewing the Christmas story and the purpose of Jesus’ coming, Sutton highlighted 1 Corinthians 15:57‑58, emphasizing Paul’s gratitude for the victory granted through the Lord’s resurrection, and he warned against common misconceptions of what victory means. The class moved to Romans 8:31‑39, read aloud by the participants, and Sutton unpacked the passage’s assurance that no power, circumstance, or creation can separate believers from the love of God in Christ. He identified five things victory is not and then offered three practical ways to live in that victory—trusting God’s provision, relying on Christ’s intercession, and maintaining steadfast, immovable faith. The message concluded that the resurrection and ongoing work of the Holy Spirit secure an overwhelming, total victory for every follower of Jesus.
Key Scriptures
Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Be ye therefore steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? Who will bring charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is he who died, yes, rather, was raised, who sat at the right hand of God, and who also intercedes for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, for thy sake we are being put to death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. But in all things we are overwhelmingly conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor debt, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.