I would like to ask you to turn to Revelation 12:11. This is a verse that should be familiar to us by now. It is the conference theme verse.
And they overcame him by reason of the blood of the Lamb,
and by reason of the word of their testimony;
and they loved not their life even unto death.
Let us pray.
Lord, we thank You for Your Word. We know, once again, Your words are spirit and life.
And we say again, like Peter said on that day when so many walked away offended:
To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.
So, Lord, once again we come to You and ask You to be with us during this time of ministry. Just as You have been with us this morning, open Your Word to us in a real and living way.
Unless You speak and make known what is on Your heart, we are convinced our time is of no benefit. But if You speak, if You arrest us with Your Word, if You open to us what the Spirit says to the churches, then we are more than helped.
So we ask You, Lord, to quicken Your Word as we come to You. We ask You to be exalted as we gather this morning in Your precious name.
Well, we have a whole group of people standing in the back. You are welcome. You all can come and have a seat. You do not have to stand; you may get weary.
Well, I have been asked to give a short word. I will emphasize that. I know some of you think that will be the first miracle of the day.
I emphasize a short word. The more the brothers talked to me, the shorter it got. First it was thirty minutes, and then it was twenty minutes, and then they shared something. But, you know, first things are always important to me. So we will see what the Lord has.
As we are preparing for next week, for the family conference, I wanted to share something that I believe is part of the burden the Lord laid upon my heart.
Now, there is a danger in that, because some of you will not be coming to the family conference. You may think that this word has nothing to do with you and may be convinced this is nap time. Well, it is not.
I believe, in fact, that this burden the Lord has given us for the family conference is bigger than the family conference. It is for all of us. As we are before Him, we pray that He will make known to us what is in His heart.
Now, the impression that we had—part of this is historical; I am going to go into the germination of the burden and the generation of the burden—so perhaps understanding how the Lord laid this upon our heart may be helpful in preparing us.
As we were before the Lord last year, as to whether the Lord would have a family conference or not, this issue of spiritual reality came upon our heart. The more we sought the Lord, the more we were impressed with this thought of spiritual reality.
More than that, we began to sense a phrase as we prayed and were before the Lord: spiritual reality, our urgent need.
So that is the burden. If the Lord would enable me to bring to you today the thing that is concerning the family conference, it is this: as we prayed and gathered last fall with those who helped sponsor the conference, this burden was further reinforced.
The sense of the burden is that we would not just be those who hear great things, but that we would be those who enter into the spiritual reality of those things. It is easy to hear things, but that is not enough. That is not sufficient.
Our burden was that we would be those who have spiritual reality. In fact, the impression that we had was that this was our great and urgent need.
From this, as we continued to pray, the overall burden for the conference came, and the title is: They Overcame.
You see, in the end, spiritual reality is those who enter into the Spirit of the Lord’s life in such a way that there are results. They do not just know things. In the end, they overcome. In the end, they know something in their life that is a living witness. That is what He is looking for in His people.
So this burden of spiritual reality—our urgent need—is the initial impression that was laid on our heart.
I was asked to put together an introduction for the conference. I do not know how many of you have gone to the website for the Christian Family Conference and skipped all the initial part, went on and registered for the conference, and hoped to get a good room.
Well, I hope you did not do that. I hope you read the introduction, because we tried to put together a thought that made this impression real. Hopefully, as we laid it before the brethren, it would become an issue of prayer.
So let me read to you this theme, titled They Overcame. It says this:
We have been privileged to gather these many years to hear about the eternal purpose of God. Over and over, our focus has been this single important theme that we can also describe as the testimony of Jesus or the whole counsel of God.
We believe that many have been helped by the Word of the Lord through various vessels, and by our times of prayer and fellowship during these gatherings. As a result, many adults, young people, and children have been touched by the Lord.
This year, as we gather, we are impressed with an urgent need. It is the sense that to just know about these things is not sufficient in itself, but we must be brought into the reality of it. Our lives must be captured by it, and as a result, that purpose must be expressed in the lives of God’s people as ones who overcome and have the testimony of Jesus.
Therefore, as we prepare to come together this year, we are impressed with the word of the apostle John in Revelation 12:11:
And they overcame him by reason of the blood of the Lamb,
and by reason of the word of their testimony;
and they loved not their life even unto death.
Only in this way will lives not only be touched and things understood, but lives will be changed, and we will enter into the reality of it.
So this is the way we tried to set forth the burden. We are so thankful that many have been helped. But in the end, we want those who really lay hold of what we have been laid hold of.
We do not want to just be well taught. In the end, we want to be well caught. We do not want to just have more knowledge of eternal things and be able to talk about the eternal purpose of God in all of its dimensions. In the end, we want the eternal purpose of God to get into us and change us from the inside out.
You know, it is common to become religious as a Christian. We see it all the time. You can accumulate some activity and some teaching, and you try to do some things. But brothers and sisters, in the days we are coming into, that is not enough.
What we need is a living relationship, a life of union, and a life of communion. We can have an imitation life. That is not enough. What we need is an intimate life. That will suffice.
We can be outwardly fashioned rather than inwardly conformed to the image of the Son of God. There can be something in us that looks right, but deep inside of us, we are not changed at all.
So that is the impression as we come to the conference. I hope it seems just a little bit sobering. It is.
Those of us who have been privileged to hear so much, those of us who have been privileged to hear great things from our dear brother, are now being pressed more deeply with a challenge: Will we enter into those things? Will, in the end, God be able to say about us those two simple words: They overcame?
So that is the essence of the burden.
Now, I think this burden has been reinforced by the messages on spiritual exercise. Many have been helped. I think it is the same thought. That is why I am convinced this is not just a conference theme.
Our brother Stephen has shared these burdens with us on spiritual exercise, and in refreshing simplicity, many of us just discovered that the thing which seems so impossible—the Christian life—is possible because of Christ Jesus. That is spiritual reality. That is our urgent need.
We have also been convicted here in Richmond lately about this word to the church in Ephesus, in Revelation 2:4-5.
You know, we have heard many words about leaving our first love. But when our brother Stephen returned from the trip to the Far East and shared about lessons learned, and refused to just give a testimony, we were convicted. We were convinced that this word applies to us.
We had, in fact, in many ways, had some form but left our first love. That very testimony of Jesus that we so loved was in jeopardy. The candlestick was not taken, but we were being called, convicted, and convinced to return to first things and first works.
Those of you who have been around here know we have spent quite a season with the brothers praying, and with the brothers and sisters on Wednesday night, about this matter.
Now, one thing I want to share with us this morning is the last word to the churches. If you turn to Revelation 2 and 3, you will begin to see that in the Lord’s last word to His church—the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3—there is a single word and a single call. Because of that, we ought to pay attention to it.
I will not go into all of them, but I will just read a few. If you look at Revelation 2:7, for Ephesus, it says:
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. To him that overcometh…
That was the word—a single word.
Then, when you look at all the other seven churches, you look at Smyrna in Revelation 2:11, the suffering ones. You look at Pergamum in Revelation 2:17. It says they dwell where the throne of Satan is. Can you imagine?
Can you imagine if our bulletin board, if we had one out front like so many have, said, “We dwell where the throne of Satan is”? I cannot imagine any visitors showing up. But that was their condition.
And there was a last word to them:
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. He that overcometh…
You can read on and on. You can read about Thyatira, who knew the depths of Satan. That is amazing to me. This is the church.
You can read about Sardis. It says they have a name that they live, but are dead. In Revelation 3:5-6, the same word is given:
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
Or you can read about Philadelphia in Revelation 3:12-13. They have a little power—not great power. In that same word, the Spirit of God speaks.
Do you think it is a word for us? It must be a word for us.
Or you can read about Laodicea, the lukewarm church, in Revelation 3:21-22. That same word.
Now, brothers and sisters, this is what encourages me about this word. Given the condition of the church, you would think the Lord would just give up and say, “What is the use?”
You dwell where Satan dwells. You are lukewarm. You have left your first love. You have a name that you are living, but you are dead. You would think the Lord would say, “What is the use?” But He did not.
In His loving rebuke, in His trimming of the candlestick, in His trimming of the wick, He was looking for spiritual reality in the midst of His church. It was their urgent need.
He looked into that church for something that looked like Himself. That was a testimony of Jesus—of Himself. He looked there, He called for it, and then He said those words:
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. He that overcometh…
Now, when I hear this word about overcoming, I do not know about you, but I sort of think of others and not myself.
You know, I have said it before: “Well, there is an overcomer. Here is an overcomer.” But I am not an overcomer. I have been called overbearing—I mean, can you imagine? I have even been called overweight. That was before the new me.
What will He say of you? Will He say of you, indeed, “You overcame”?
Will you be one of those who hears what the Spirit says to the churches and responds? Will you hear the call: “He who overcomes”?
Will it make any difference in your life? The Lord is calling, looking in His church, looking for spiritual reality, impressing us with this need—that we are to enter into it and that every resource has been made available.
I believe this is the urgent call.
Now, that theme verse in Revelation 12:11—let me say just a few things about this.
I always think of overcoming as someone else in some other place. As I meditated on this single verse in Revelation 12:11, I was so helped by it.
You see, this is the mistake I make: I tend to think of overcoming as the super-saints, these superhuman beings. They are the overcomers, and the rest of us, well, we are just overcome.
But the more I read it, the more I discovered it was quite different. These are only those who respond to the call.
You know, it is amazing to me that this thing does not start, “They overcame by their mighty power.” That would seem appropriate, would you not think? But it says they overcame by the blood of the Lamb.
I think that tells me one thing: they are not perfect. We would think the reason we do not overcome is because we do not have enough power.
Brothers and sisters, this is the true story: God is not looking for the perfect. He is looking for those who would simply respond to His call, those who would give themselves to Him, and those in whom He could do this work.
What encourages me first of all is what is said about these ones: they overcame by the blood of the Lamb. They knew the precious power of the blood of the Lamb.
When I begin to meditate on that, I think the Bible is full of imperfect people who bore the testimony of God. Think of it.
We have been thinking about Abraham. Well, Abraham—he was not perfect. Twice he said, “She is my sister.” Yet God used that man, and he became the father of faith, the father of a multitude. We are all children of Abraham.
You could go on and on. Think of Jacob. I know that is one of Lance’s favorite themes. What a swindler. Do you think for a moment that Jacob was perfect? He was not perfect at all. As a matter of fact, he might be the Old Testament definition of imperfection.
But yet, in the end, God got hold of him. This is encouragement. In the end, God got hold of him.
This one became known—He says, “You are no longer Jacob; you are Israel.” He became the name of God’s people. In the end, when we look at Hebrews, we see Jacob worshiping, blessing his sons, and leaning upon his staff. What a changed man—an imperfect changed man who yielded to the call.
In him, God brought about spiritual reality.
Oh, you think of David. Does anyone think David was perfect? He numbered the people. Not only did he number the people; he set up the murder of Uriah the Hittite just so he could have his wife.
Not perfect, but a man after God’s own heart. When you read the book of Acts, the most extraordinary thing is said about David. His whole legacy, to me, is summed up in one verse: he served the purpose of God in his generation.
They overcame by the blood of the Lamb. Do not think for a moment this excludes you. Do not think for a moment that you are excluded just because you are not one of great power, as you consider what an overcomer should be. Their secret was that they overcame by the blood of the Lamb.
Then it says, “And by reason of the word of their testimony.”
You know, when I was saved years ago—some of you children were not even around—in 1972, when I was saved, we used to have big testimony meetings. Sometimes we would try to get different ones, and we would outdo each other with our testimony on how awful we had been and how great the salvation of the Lord was.
My testimony, pretty soon, would start to sound like the testimony was all about you.
Well, these ones—their secret of overcoming is not their testimony. The word of their testimony is that phrase contained in the book of Revelation four or five times: the testimony of Jesus. That was their secret.
Brothers and sisters, if we for a moment think we are the secret, we are lost from the beginning. But it seems to me that the testimony that we need is just like these. This is how they overcame. This is their secret. It is by the word of their testimony.
Jesus is everything—this was the word of their testimony. The Lord Jesus is everything. Praise God, He saved me for what I am. Praise God, He gave me life. Praise God, He did that. But Jesus is the substance and the source of everything.
These imperfect vessels discovered that secret, and that is the secret, it seems to me, of overcoming.
I will never forget when I was first saved and began to read the Word of God. I just kept reading the Word of God. One day I discovered Philippians 1:21—Paul’s testimony—and that word struck me. I remember the impact it had.
It is the one Bible verse I have up now in my foyer:
For to me to live is Christ.
That is their testimony. It is not like Christ. It is not imitation Christ. It is not trying to do what He says. Paul’s secret, his only secret, and the testimony of his overcoming was: “For to me to live is Christ.”
I remember when I met Brother Jerry, and I did not know anything about Watchman Nee at that time. We shared the book The Normal Christian Life. I did not know anything about the normal Christian life.
I remember opening the front cover of that book and seeing written in that book:
For to me to live is Christ.
That is the overcoming life. That is the Christian life. That was their secret, and that needs to be our secret.
Paul told the same thing to the Galatian believers:
I have been crucified with Christ;
nevertheless I live;
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.
So many people are expending so much energy trying to live the Christian life. One of the most encouraging things to me about this whole series on spiritual exercise was that we cannot live the Christian life. There is only One who can live the Christian life.
The secret to overcoming is not you living, but Christ living in you. That is overcoming. That is spiritual reality.
Finally, it says of them, “And they loved not their life even unto death.” This is the third secret.
Sounds a bit archaic, does it not? “They loved not their lives even unto death.” Brothers and sisters, this is a real secret.
I think a big part of the reason we do not overcome is that we love ourselves so much. There is a whole new teaching that began probably after 1974. The emphasis was that, as Christians, we need to love ourselves.
I do not think there is any such teaching in the Word of God. I am sorry if that offends some of you who so embrace that teaching.
They take Matthew 22:37, when the Pharisees came and challenged the Lord Jesus. They said, “Good Teacher, what is the greatest of the commandments?” And He said:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind.
This is the great and first commandment.
And He said:
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
On these two commandments the whole law hangeth, and the prophets.
Now, somehow we have made a third commandment: “Love ourselves.” Actually, the Bible teaches us that love of self is assumed. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. It does not command us to love ourselves.
So many Christians make themselves the center of the universe. Everything that God does is for me and about me, and everything in my life revolves around what I get out of things.
I will never forget—I have told this story so many times. If Linda hears it again, she will throw a hymnbook at me. But I will suffer the injury.
I remember riding on Huguenot Road one day and seeing on the back of a car a bumper sticker that said, “I am the center of the universe.” I could not believe it.
I might think it. I might act like it. Everyone believes it is true of me. But never would I put such a bumper sticker on my car.
Somehow, we have made ourselves the center.
It says of these dear, simple, imperfect ones that they had a secret: they loved not their lives even unto death.
I know there are those sitting in this room who think the message of the cross is heavy. But let me say this to you: live under the tyranny of the self-life just a little bit longer, and you will long for the message of the cross.
The message of the cross is not heavy at all. The message of the cross is where God made a way that I no longer need to live. It is a message that liberates me, that sets me free, that I am not the center of the universe.
We can be like these dear ones that overcame and loved not their lives even unto death.
It says in 2 Timothy 3:2 that a mark of the last days would be that men would be lovers of self rather than lovers of God.
The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 10:38-39:
And he that doth not take his cross and follow after me, is not worthy of me.
He that findeth his life shall lose it:
and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
This was their secret. They lost their life in the Lord Jesus. They did not love their lives even unto death. It does not mean they all went out and were martyred. It means simply that the Lord Jesus was everything.
I think we would be a far stronger people if we knew that principle. This was their secret.
Let me close with this. Everybody has heard the story of D. L. Moody and heard the part that he was so convicted of.
You know, D. L. Moody was a pretty ordinary guy. You may be a great fan of his and be offended that I would say such a thing, but he was a farm boy and a shoe salesman. Now, no offense if you are a shoe salesman, by the way—just that little qualifier.
Then God got hold of him.
There is a story that he went to London to meet with George Müller. When he was at a prayer meeting, this fellow, unknown to most of us, Henry Varley, said a word.
Most of us know the end of that word, but I am not sure we know all of it. When we talk about overcoming, we can see how this ordinary man was transformed to become an extraordinary overcomer, and maybe the greatest evangelist that ever lived.
Varley was speaking at this prayer meeting, and he said this: “We try hard.” That is what we think overcoming is, do we not? We try hard. We fail. We have some success. Then we fail again, and we try harder.
It was sort of like that car-rental place: “We try harder.” That is overcoming.
And if we succeed, it is only a half-success, half of what it would be if it had been through God.
Then came this famous quote that many of us have heard:
The world has yet to see what God can do with one who is wholly committed to Him.
That word rang in Moody’s heart. He left that prayer meeting, and he was never the same. He heard the call.
He discovered what Varley had earlier said: We try and we fail, and the only real success is one who gives themselves wholly to God.
You may think that is impossible, but it is not. This is the secret of those that overcame.
May the Lord help us as we go to the conference. May the Lord breathe life into this. I am afraid we have been to so many conferences, and we come away with themes and no reality.
But I believe this year there is a different spirit. May the Lord help us.
Lord, we commit to You Your Word. Our burden is that You will help us to really enter into spiritual reality.
Oh, we are so thankful You are not looking for the perfect, that we are included. We are so thankful there is a secret with those that fear the Lord, and we want to know that secret.
So we offer ourselves to You. We commit ourselves to You. Lord, we say we cannot, but You can.
We say, Lord, sometimes we are not even willing, but today we want to say we are willing. We want to be those that You can say of in the end: They overcame.
For we ask it in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.