Hallelujah. We ought to be rejoicing. We are going to talk about overcoming instead of being overcome, and I think that is marvelous. The reason that we can even talk about overcoming is because we know the great Overcomer. We have the great Overcomer in our life and in our spirit—God’s great gift to us, the great Overcomer.
Let us begin with a word of prayer.
Lord, we are so grateful this morning that we have finally discovered a new life. We have discovered a new way of life. We have discovered the One who offers us the kingdom, the One who will reign as King.
Lord, You had to pay a great price for us to come into that place: that great redeeming price of the blood of Jesus, the broken body which we just celebrated. Lord, we celebrate it because it is indeed our freedom. It is our beginning in a new life.
Oh, Lord, You are just getting us ready for that eternity that lies ahead of us. Lord, we worship You this morning. We pray that You will anoint this time, that we can both speak and be able to hear—not just with our ears, but deep in our hearts and spirits—as we come before You this morning.
I only ask, Lord, that You touch each one of us as it is needed this morning, that we might go away with the life of Christ more real in our lives. I pray in Jesus’ name.
Well, last time, as I shared, I spoke on the importance of the overcomer in God’s plan for eternity and for the future—for the coming King and the kingdom. Overcomers are critical to what the Lord is wanting to do, and we are all called to be overcomers, to overcome.
The principle in the New Testament of what we call the overcomer is the same principle we see in the Old Testament when it refers to the remnant. It seems like in the Old Testament, when the nation of Israel was failing, He always had a remnant. He had a few who would stand with Him for what He wanted and for His purpose.
I remember the nation of Israel turned away from God, and God, in order to discipline them—not to punish, but to discipline them—allowed them to go into captivity for seventy years.
During that time, the Persians, who had captured them—who are now the nation of Iran; what a change there has been—did not try to enslave the Jewish people. They tried to incorporate them into their way of life. The Jews were allowed to have businesses and to work and to do things, and they actually prospered in captivity.
But they also realized they were God’s people, and they wanted in some way to try to serve God in that condition. Well, they came up with the idea of synagogues. It was man’s idea; it was not God’s. It seemed to have the right thought behind it, the right motive, but the problem was that they could really only appease their own conscience.
The reason was that God was very explicit: to take care of their sins, that annual sacrifice had to be made in the temple in Jerusalem—no other place. Therefore, though they were able to come and talk about God and read some of the Old Testament books, they were not able to offer up that sacrifice for their sin.
They were not able to have the temple that would please God’s heart. Their conscience was appeased, but God was not satisfied. The temple is the foreshadowing of Christ. We need to remember that. The temple in God’s heart was a foreshadowing of Christ. It spoke of Christ.
When Christ came, brothers and sisters, He came as the temple of God. He was the temple of God. So today, when people say, “What ought the church be? What ought the church look like?” it should be Christ.
The sacrifices, of course, foreshadowed Jesus’ own sacrifice on Calvary’s cross for our sins: that He offered before God in heaven His own blood, and that forever satisfied God and delivered those under sin. Praise the Lord. That was God’s heart.
But in captivity, they could not do that. Yet God, in His mercy, at the end of seventy years, raised up Cyrus the king. I am pretty sure that through the admonition of Daniel, who was one of his captives, Cyrus saw from the Scriptures that God had raised him up, and he accepted that.
He allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem and made provision that they might go back and build the temple of God and set up the sacrifices. God’s heart. God moved. God allowed it.
As I have shared before on this, only about four percent of the total population returned. Forty thousand returned to do this, to follow God’s heart. Now, they returned at great risk. They returned to a hard life. It was not easy, because it was just rubble there.
Not only did they have to think about rebuilding and laying the foundation of the temple, but they had to be concerned about taking care of their own families at the same time. Does that sound familiar?
We are called to build the house of God, and we live in a very busy world. It is not easy to take care of the family and all the matters that we are involved in in today’s life—which are much greater than even in those days—and build God’s house. But that is God’s heart, and that should be the main thing on our heart.
That four percent was the remnant that returned. The principle of the remnant. Today, we would call them the overcomers. They overcame all obstacles, all the oppression of the enemy.
It is interesting: in Babylon, the enemy did not care. But once they got back to the temple, remember all the trouble the neighboring tribes gave them, ready to destroy them. They had to actually build, it says, with a sword in one hand and, I guess today, a trowel in the other. They had their tools in one hand and their weapon in the other.
It was not an easy time. But they overcame. The foundation was laid, and eventually the temple was rebuilt, and the wall under Nehemiah. They overcame. Praise the Lord.
You know, last time when I shared on this matter of overcoming, I spoke of Gideon and the selection of overcomers. Interestingly enough, once again in the book of Judges, you find that God’s people had gone away from God. Their hearts were not quite there, and they were basically under captivity in the land under the Midianites. They could not even have weapons.
Gideon was found, you know, sifting the wheat, kind of hiding in a spot where nobody could see him, because as soon as the Midianites saw somebody had grain, they would come and take it. They were living in poverty—crushed.
God raised up Gideon as an overcomer for that nation. Gideon sent out the call to the whole nation to come and help him overthrow the Midianites. Thirty thousand, praise the Lord, responded.
But when they came, the Lord put these thirty thousand to the test. Their hearts were in the right place, but in the first test He said, “Look, anybody that is fearful, they just need to go home.” Twenty thousand left out of the thirty. They were fearful.
Let us put it in more practical terms: the bottom line is they were not ready to lay down their lives. They were not ready to lay down their lives for the nation, for God’s purpose. Their hearts were stirred. They wanted to, but they just were not ready to do that.
Then the Lord put them to a unique test. He said, “Go tell them all to have a drink down by the river.” So, you know, they all went down. There were ten thousand left. They went down to the river and started drinking.
Some just stuck their heads in the water and, you know, satisfied their thirst. Others would cup the water with their hands and drink, and be watchful. It was three hundred, and the Lord chose them.
Only three hundred were truly watchful, prepared, and ready. The Lord chose that three hundred, and through that three hundred—the remnant—they ended up overthrowing, I think it was, I cannot remember the exact number, I believe it was three hundred thousand Midianites in the end.
The principle of overcoming, the point I want to make, is this: this is God’s plan. God wanted all of the nation of Israel to be able to respond, to be able to be in that battle, and to be an overcomer. He was not trying to select an elite group. He wanted all of them to be there.
But only three hundred could He use as overcomers. Praise the Lord, the nation was temporarily delivered through these three hundred.
I just want to leave you, in thinking of last time, with this basic thought: when it comes to the overcomer, it is God’s intention that every child of His be an overcomer. It is not His heart just to select a few. His heart is that all might become overcomers.
In the book of Revelation, in Chapters 2 and 3—we will get to some Scriptures in a minute—we see the seven churches. The Lord, as the High Priest in Chapters 2 and 3, is looking at the churches. He is in the midst of the seven churches. He is really the standard of the seven churches. He is looking for Himself there.
As He begins to observe, He finds some issues that He wants to point out—where they are failing, where they have come short.
In Ephesus, it was first love. In Smyrna, it was a matter of suffering: were they willing to suffer for Christ’s sake? In Pergamum, there was an issue with mixture. They were trying to have one foot in the world and one foot in the church. They were trying to live in both worlds, and the result was that they were bringing worldly ways into the church.
In Thyatira, the special issue seemed to be idol worship and a special priesthood. Idol worship. Brothers and sisters, in those days they worshiped wooden idols, golden idols, silver idols made with hands.
Today, I want to tell you that an idol is not just a wooden object or an object that men worship. For us, an idol is anything that replaces God in your life. Sin will separate you from the Lord, but an idol will replace the Lord in your life. That is the seriousness of idols. That is why God is so deadly against idol worship.
That was Thyatira. And Sardis: they had the Word of God. They loved the Word of God. The problem was that they lacked the life and reality that the Word was supposed to give.
We were talking yesterday at that little breakfast some brothers had about young people. They will read the Bible, and they may learn some Scriptures, but when they read it, are they really looking to discover the Lord as they read? Are they really looking to find out what the Lord wants to say to them personally as they read?
I could ask the same question of us adults, who are mostly here. When you read the Bible, are you just reading, or are you really looking? As you take up a psalm and meditate on it, do you allow the Lord to speak to your heart? Living reality—that is what the Lord is after.
We spoke of Philadelphia. The very name Philadelphia means brotherly love, and He was saying to them, “You need to maintain that brotherly love.”
Laodicea—what is the issue there? Well, Laodicea basically means the opinion of men. Men’s opinions, the brothers’ opinions, the sisters’ opinions, were taking the place of the mind of Christ in their midst. It was almost more like a democracy instead of a theocracy—opinions of men.
Why did this begin to replace the headship of Christ? It was because they were lukewarm. They were lukewarm toward the Lord in their hearts. There was a lack of passion for the Lord, because when we have a passion for the Lord, we only want to know what He has to say.
Now, there is nothing against fellowship and brothers and sisters sharing their hearts and their thoughts about the Lord Jesus Christ. But if you are depending on others to make this decision for you or to give you full understanding—the Lord may use others to do that—but it is from the Head and not from men.
So lukewarmness—what a danger that is. In all seven of those churches, God’s call was to overcome. Even in Philadelphia, where there was no issue mentioned other than that they had brotherly love and needed to maintain it, the Lord called for overcomers.
Brothers and sisters, I do not know how you feel, but are you in first love? Are you willing to lay your life down for the sake of the saints and the Lord? Are you trying to live a double life—one in the world and one in fellowship with brothers and sisters? Are there idols in our lives?
We read the Bible, but is there any life there? Do we truly love the brothers and sisters? Are we really making Christ Head of our lives?
All of these were issues, and the Lord challenged them. He says, “Overcome. I am calling for those that will overcome and stand for the rest.”
It is not that they just said, “Lord, I lack in first love, and I want to be in first love. Lord, return me to first love. Lord, show me Your love, and then I will return to love.”
No, it was not just that. It was, “Lord, yes, I need to return. Lord, I need to return to first love, but I want all my brothers and sisters to return to first love.” That is what an overcomer does.
What the Lord is after is a clear testimony of Himself in the life of each brother and sister, as well as in the church corporately. The life of Christ manifested, the character of Christ manifested—that is what we see in these first seven churches. It is through these ones that God achieves His purpose.
As we go on in the book of Revelation, the Lord begins to open the seals. In Revelation 7, we see a great multitude. These multitudes of overcomers appear at the beginning of tribulation, just before tribulation.
First, we have the seven churches and the call for overcomers. Then, as we get close to the beginning of tribulation, close to the beginning of the Lord’s starting to return, the Lord brings forth a picture of the overcomer in Revelation 7. These are the ones who have maintained the testimony of Jesus through the church age.
In other words, it is the overcomers that we see from probably about the first century, when the seven churches were in the first century, until the last days, which we are in. God calls overcomers.
Last week, our brother Max shared on the matter of the Lord’s table and the spiritual history of how God kept the Lord’s table forefront and alive. Brothers and sisters, it was kept alive through overcomers.
The living reality of the Lord’s table was kept alive through overcomers, not the general church. In general, the church turned it into a sacrament. They turned it into a tradition, and it even became a perversion in the Catholic Church.
But it was maintained. Our brother mentioned some names. It was maintained by many of the martyrs who were killed: the Waldensians, the Huguenots. This is Huguenot Road. The Huguenots were greatly persecuted because of their love for the Lord and their love of the table.
Zinzendorf—you remember, that whole community began as he went around and encouraged one another to come and join, all these different peoples from all different lands, to come to this table and celebrate the Lord together. Zinzendorf and they became the Moravians, well known for their love for the Lord.
Many of the Reformers during the Reformation also maintained the reality of the Lord’s table. But even then, its significance began to wane in the church. When the Lord raised up the Brethren, it was that table that was central to them.
Now, when I say the table is central, it is the same thing as saying Christ is central. I want you to be clear on that—not just the practice of taking the table.
In Revelation 12, we see the man child. Here we are at the beginning of the Lord’s return, His Parousia. He is on the throne, and He is preparing to come down to the cloud. But first there is this man child that comes forth out of the woman, the church.
The man child is raptured to the throne. They are brought into view as the Lord begins to make His move from the throne to the cloud.
These are the ones that overcame, it says, by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death.
In Revelation 14, there are one hundred forty-four thousand, which is not a literal number but a spiritual number standing for fullness—the fullness of overcomers standing with the Lord on Mount Zion. The man child has been raptured to the throne, and now they are there.
This is toward the end of the great tribulation, just before the judgment seat of Christ. They are ready to descend to the cloud. To me, as you read through that—and we will read a little bit in a minute, I hope I have time this morning—they have a special song, a special song in their heart for the Lord that expresses the deep love and union with the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Revelation 19, we see an army of overcomers following the Lord, who is on a white horse. This is His second coming. He is coming now from the cloud to the earth, and once again we see this army of overcomers.
God recognizes them this way: He calls them the called, the chosen, and the faithful—the called, the chosen, and the faithful.
Now, I know there are different interpretations. Many great men of God and scholars have whole different interpretations on this matter of the Lord’s return and on the rapture.
One such interpretation is that once you get past Revelation 2 and 3, when John is called to “Come up hither,” he is brought up to the throne—the raptured taken to the throne. Many say that what that means is that at that point the church is raptured. The reason they say that is that you do not see the church again until near the very end.
In Revelation 21, I think it is, we see the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven. In a sense, they are right if you just look at it in that way. But once you begin to see this matter of the overcomer, you see that the church is involved in every stage of the Lord’s return—in the world, going through the great tribulation that will come upon this world.
The overcomers are always there, and because He sees the overcomers, He has His church. What I am trying to say is, in every case, what you see is these overcomers reigning and ruling with Christ, even during the Lord’s coming back. They will reign and rule with Him during the kingdom age.
So, in God’s eyes, the church is always in view, regardless of what your interpretation may be.
I do need to say very quickly that overcomers are not super Christians. They are only Christians as the Lord wanted us to be in the beginning: simply trusting, obeying, loving the Lord, following Him in faithfulness, laying down our lives for Him, for His sake, and for the church’s sake.
That is what we are all called to. The Lord sees that as a normal life for a Christian. The problem is that we have become a subculture instead of the culture of the Christian that the Lord called for.
In no way am I trying to say this morning that we need an elite group, like special forces or the Navy SEALs. No, we need the whole group to become overcomers.
The normal Christian—the overcomer—is simply one who is willing to respond to God’s grace, because He makes all the provision to overcome. They have learned that they really do not have the ability to overcome. That is one of the great lessons that we have to learn.
But they have learned to experience Christ in their life as the Overcomer. They have gone through certain situations in their lives and said, “Lord, I am like Paul. I am pressed out of measure. Lord, I am almost knocked out here. I cannot handle this, Lord. This is crushing me.”
“But, Lord, You are the Overcomer in my life.” That is what makes the difference. He is the Overcomer. In other words, the Lord is the active Overcomer in their lives.
Now, what I would like to do—we have, to a certain extent, seen something of the importance of overcoming and how God uses the overcomer in His great plan—is consider some of the characteristics of the overcomer.
I mentioned in Revelation 2 and 3 these overcomers from the first century. God called them to overcome. Thank the Lord, some repented and some responded. They saw they were not in first love, and they repented and responded. There were some that did this.
I think the great thing we need to see from Revelation 2 and 3 and the call to the overcomers is that some did. The Lord was able to touch some hearts. They realized that they were not what the Lord wanted them to be, and they repented. They responded to the Lord’s grace in their lives.
“Lord, I see I have fallen short. Lord, my love is not first love. I recognize that, Lord. I do not want it to be that way anymore, Lord.”
You remember the maiden in the Song of Solomon:
Draw me, and we will run after thee.
Brothers and sisters, you cannot work up first love. It has to come from the Lord. But you can ask the Lord to show Himself to you, to show His love to you. Then you will run after Him. Then you will see your love rising in your heart.
I do not know any other way to generate love in man’s heart until they see the Lord Jesus Christ, because He is love. They become living sacrifices for the Lord, and God chooses them.
Let us look at Revelation 7:9-11.
After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of every nation and of all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, and palms in their hands;
and they cry with a great voice, saying, Salvation unto our God who sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb.
And all the angels were standing round about the throne, and about the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God.
This multitude represents the overcomers from the first century until the last days in which we are living. There are two characteristics that we need to point out concerning these overcomers.
First, they wear robes of righteousness. I mentioned this before, but it is important for us as Christians to understand this. When we accept the Lord Jesus Christ, we are given His righteousness. Oh, hallelujah.
It is a golden robe. If you read in the Psalms, you will find that this is a golden robe because it is the pure character and nature of God—righteousness. It is a golden robe, and we receive that.
What that allows you and me to do is approach God the Father. You would not be able to approach Him without that robe. You could never approach Him. The great thing about this robe of righteousness is that it can never be spoiled. It can never be stained in any way.
Even our own personal unrighteousness cannot stain the righteousness of Christ. You need to understand that this righteousness is real, and God accepts it. When He looks at you, that is what He is seeing. Therefore, He can accept you into His presence because of this robe of righteousness.
But here is a white linen robe that these saints have. Clothing always speaks of righteousness, and it speaks of our life before the Lord—our walk before the Lord. They walk in righteousness.
In other words, the righteousness of the golden robe becomes righteousness in their practical life. The righteousness of Christ becomes practical, and it begins to become a white linen robe.
So, thank the Lord, when we appear before God, there should be two things: the golden robe of righteousness, and then the righteousness that has come out by accepting the righteousness of Christ.
Second, they had palm branches. If you read the history, you will find out that palm branches represented victory. They were victory. They waved the palms—it was victory. It signifies victory.
To me, that means these overcomers had finally learned that there was no victory in themselves, but they could find victory in Christ. He was their Victor, and He was their victory in their lives. They had discovered this.
Let us look at Revelation 12:1, 2, 5, and 11.
And there was seen another sign in heaven: and behold, a woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars;
and she was with child; and she crieth out, travailing in birth, and in pain to be delivered.
And she was delivered of a son, a man child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and unto His throne.
And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death.
Brothers and sisters, as I mentioned, if you read this chapter, you see that the dragon, our enemy, Satan, did not pay much attention to the woman, the church in general. Her testimony was so weak, it did not matter. But he was very concerned about this man child.
This man child is the overcomer—the overcomers coming out of the woman. He is very intent and ready to destroy the man child as soon as the man child is manifested. But they are raptured to the throne—not to the cloud, but to the throne—to reign and rule with Him.
But, brothers and sisters, it talks about overcoming. These are ones that overcame by the blood. They overcame by the blood. That tells you something: it tells you they were not perfect and totally sinless, because they needed the blood.
They needed that blood in their lives because they did sin. It is not that they were controlled by sin, but they did fall. Yet they were able to keep current with the Lord. They would repent and go back to the Lord and say, “Lord, forgive me.”
The Lord says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins.” I do not know how many of you really believe that, but He is. They are current.
The blood allows them to have fellowship with Christ. You want to come before the Lord Jesus Christ? It will always be on the basis of His shed blood, brothers and sisters.
You have been given a golden robe of righteousness, but first Christ shed His blood for your sins. You will never be able to approach the Lord based on your own righteousness or how you value yourself as a Christian. You always need the blood.
One dear saint said, “Even our tears of repentance need the blood of Christ.” They were able to fellowship. They understood the value of the blood, and when they came, it was under the blood of Christ.
But there is more. Who did they overcome? It says they overcame the accuser of the brethren by the blood.
I want to speak to this for just a few minutes, because I think many of us live under the power of the accusation of the enemy. You come to worship, and you cannot open your mouth because he is constantly accusing you. “How can you say anything, you who have fallen? You have fallen short this week. How could you possibly come to this table? How could you open your mouth? How can you testify of God’s love?”
He is always accusing—the accuser of the brethren. His purpose is to keep you under bondage. Brothers and sisters, you need to know that.
If you come and want to worship the Lord, but find you cannot, do you sense that as a reprimand from the Lord, or do you sense that as a bondage that you are in and cannot break through? I would say to you, it is most likely bondage. It is the enemy. It is his whisperings in your ear.
Brothers and sisters, the accuser of the brethren wants to shut your mouth. He wants to limit your life and your testimony of God in your life. That is what he is constantly doing. Not only does he accuse you personally in your conscience; he accuses you before God.
The interesting thing about the accusations of the enemy is that they can sometimes be right. His accusations are usually based on something that is right, but they can also be absolutely wrong. He does not care, just so he can stop you and the testimony of Christ in your life.
He will come to you and say, “You really have no value, do you? You do not really have anything to offer.” But God has said everyone has been given a gift. Everyone has been given a talent. Everyone has the grace of God to express the testimony of Christ in their life, brothers and sisters. That is what the Word says.
Do you believe the whispering of the enemy, or do you believe what God has said?
Doubt—oh, that is his great weapon. That is the one he used on Eve. Remember his words to Eve?
Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden?
Eve said, “No, you cannot even touch it.” God never said that. But you see, he was putting doubt into her mind as to God’s motive in her life, as to God’s care for them.
He said, “You eat of it. Do not listen to God; listen to me. If you eat of it, you will become like God yourself.” What a great thing.
Eve, unfortunately, fell. Doubt took her. She fell before the accusation of the enemy.
Brothers and sisters, how great is the precious blood of Christ. When you sense the enemy is coming at you with his accusations, you need to say, “No. I have the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ has cleansed me from all sin. I can approach God because I have His blood. I can open my mouth in testimony because of the blood of Christ. I depend on the blood of Christ.”
You know, during the days of Darby and some other Brethren, there was a man called F. W. Newman who fellowshipped with Darby and the others. Apparently, he was a very intelligent man, and for a number of years he really followed the Lord. Then all of a sudden, his heart turned.
He was a college professor, and he actually ended up teaching against Christ. He just turned. What is the word I am looking for? Apostasy—thank you. He became apostate.
If you read the Word of God in Hebrews, boy, there is a fiery trial awaiting an apostate person. They are not going to lose their salvation, but there is a fiery trial. Anyway, I do not want to go into that. What I want you to see is that this man really became an apostate. There are not that many apostates, but he became one.
But praise the Lord, at the very end of his life, the Lord was able to touch his heart, and he changed. He asked for this to be put on his tombstone:
I died trusting in the blood of Christ.
Oh, how powerful is the blood. It shuts up the accuser of the brethren, not only in your own conscience but before God. Hallelujah.
How much God has to put up with because we just do not take the blood of Christ as we should.
Now, I do need to say that the Holy Spirit does touch our conscience as well. But the purpose of the Holy Spirit is not to put us in bondage and keep us from praising God; it is to release us, to deliver us from that thing that is separating us.
The whole purpose of the Holy Spirit when He comes is not to condemn you, but to convict you. There is a difference. If you are sensing these things in your life—and most of us do—there is a great difference between conviction and condemnation. I think in your spirit you can tell.
Then it says, “The word of their testimony.” They overcame by the blood, and there is one more after that: the word of their testimony.
Basically, the testimony of the Christian encompasses everything, and that is this: Jesus is Lord.
Now, that needs to be backed up with reality in our lives. That is the reality of the overcomer: they have made Jesus Lord of their life, and He is Lord. Once again, I did not say they were perfect, but He is Lord.
The main thing in their life is the lordship of Jesus Christ. Everything else is secondary. Jesus is Lord. Their life backs up this testimony, so when they are able to say, “Jesus is Lord,” it carries weight in the spiritual realm.
Thirdly, it says they loved not their lives unto death. They are willing to lay aside their own soul life for the sake of Christ.
They are not drawn by the desires of the world upon their life. You know, our soul desires so many things, and the world has much to offer it: pleasure, fame, power, recognition. I think that is what most of our politicians are after. I should add money to that. I am sorry, I should not have said that.
We are just as guilty. We desire these things. Often, this matter of pleasure, I think particularly with the younger generations, is a real serious challenge. The world offers it, and there is pleasure in sin for a season. But then there is the payment. You have to pay for it.
These are ones whose souls are not overtaken by the pull of the world. They are able to lay aside its pleasures, reject its fame, reject its power and recognition, and stay true to the Lord.
The Lord says, “Deny yourself, take up the cross, and follow Me.” It goes deeper than just the draw of the world. It affects our souls deeply. The cross does that as you experience the cross in your life.
The real challenge is: Who is Lord? Who is Lord of your soul? Who have you given your soul to, or are you trying to run it yourself?
It affects our relationships with others. Instead of us being in control, often we find we allow others to control our lives. Our soul longs for love, it longs for appreciation, and it longs for acceptance. We strive for it. We will perform for it.
Actually, that is the way we bring up our children, is it not, so often? We reward them for good performance, and unfortunately that carries over into their life with Christ. They continue trying to do the right things instead of having a relationship with the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, as parents and grandparents—and maybe great-grandparents—we need to be encouraging children: “Yes, read your Bible. Yes, take some time. Be before the Lord. Meditate before the Lord.”
“I do not want you just to read one chapter a night. I want you to read just this one verse for me and think about it before the Lord.” Get them used to interchanging with the Lord through the Holy Spirit. That is what they need to learn.
Because often they will do it just to get your acceptance and your approval. “Yeah, I will read it.” Now, we have rebellious ones too who will not do it just because you have asked them to. That has to be dealt with as well, in love and discipline.
The point I want to make is that this longing that we have, even as adults, the enemy uses to control your life and keep you from giving it fully to the Lord.
But one day the cross works in your life, and we find that our true acceptance and true love is found in Jesus Christ. Then you are set free. Then you can really be free to serve others, because there is a deep work done in your soul.
What has happened is that Christ has come in in a living way. He is your Christ, and you can say, “I love not my life, even unto death.” It is a deep work. A deep work has to take place in our soul.
There is so much that we love besides Christ, brothers and sisters. I can only say that this work of the cross goes to the deepest levels of our being. If we are willing to allow the Lord to do that, then we can be an overcomer.
Let us read Revelation 14:1 and 3.
And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on the mount Zion, and with Him a hundred and forty and four thousand, having His name, and the name of His Father, written on their foreheads.
And they sing as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders: and no man could learn the song save the hundred and forty and four thousand, even they that had been purchased out of the earth.
These are they that were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they that follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.
Once again, we see the overcomers right near the end of the great tribulation, getting ready to descend to the cloud. When He does that, there will be the judgment seat of Christ for Christians.
I think what impressed me so much about God’s revelation of these overcomers on Mount Zion was this song. It was a new song, and nobody else could understand it or sing it.
You know, sometimes we sing songs. We can sing them, and our voice is heard, but our heart is not in it. You know what I mean by that. There are other times when our hearts are so full, we can hardly sing it.
It is a new song. It is a song that has come out of deep experiences with the Lord. They have experienced the Lord in deep ways in their lives. It has come out of many experiences, not just one.
It is a song with which they can worship and praise the Lord—a song that those who have not experienced those deep experiences could not possibly sing, because they have no experience. This love song is based on experience with the Lord, and they have it. Praise the Lord.
Let us go to Revelation 19. We will see the army. Revelation 19:11, 13, and 14.
And I saw the heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He that sat thereon, called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He doth judge and make war.
And He is arrayed in a garment sprinkled with blood: and His name is called The Word of God.
And the armies which are in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and pure.
Now let us go back to Revelation 17:14, because this is the same army.
These shall war against the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they also shall overcome that are with Him, called and chosen and faithful.
The nations will make war with the Lamb, but the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings. Listen to this: those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.
We see the Lord on a white horse. He is called the Faithful and True One. This is the overcomers at the end of tribulation. The Lord has left the cloud and come down to the earth, and the last battle of Armageddon is underway.
In Revelation 19, it says they are on white horses. In other words, they are reigning and ruling with Christ. They are ones who have made Christ their King, and they are the ones who fully submit to the authority of their King in their lives.
They understand the kingship and authority of our Lord Jesus and submit to it. Therefore, they are allowed to reign and rule with Him as kings and priests—not only priests serving and worshiping God, but kings in authority, ruling with Him. They are on white horses.
They also have pure linen garments, which are mentioned again: the practical righteousnesses of the saints. Then in Revelation 17, God calls them the called, the chosen, and the faithful.
We know the Word of God says many are called, but few are chosen. Why? Many are called. We are all called to be overcomers. We are called by the grace of God.
Our problem is that we do not live by the grace of God. We have not yet learned to live in the grace of God in our lives, and we need to depend on Him—God’s grace—to do things that we just cannot do, or maybe to do things that we can do, but it is much better if He does it.
They learn to live by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they are faithful. They are faithful to the Lord.
Now, brothers and sisters, I think faithfulness is the rarest quality that we tend to find in our society today. Faithful ones—that is a quality highly esteemed. Faithfulness.
I remember a couple of weeks ago, I was at Chick-fil-A, and I think on Tuesday mornings there are about forty junior high girls who come in from all the schools in the area. They have a little Bible study there.
Of course, they eat their little breakfast, and then they all get around these tables. They push the tables together, and they go through a little Bible study. Each group of about ten has an adult supervising them and doing their little study.
What I noticed after seeing them a number of times was that it was always about three of those girls. When everything was over and all the girls were leaving—and I tell you what, girls can chatter. That is one thing I found out. They can really chatter, just like little chattering all over the place. They are always excited. I see these young girls just full of life.
But anyway, they all start going out to the cars. Three of the girls—about three of them—will stay behind and help reset those chairs and tables.
That, to me, is the testimony I see. There are three of them. I know that has been affected. Three of them, I know, have seen something of needing to be responsible and faithful, and they do that each time. Faithfulness—a rare quality.
I think of David. Remember David’s story? He failed greatly, brothers and sisters. He did. But he was a man after God’s heart. He was not perfect, but he was faithful.
All of his life, his heart was on one thing: to build a house for God. It never left him, day and night. He said he could not even sleep at times because it was so much on his heart. He prepared and prepared all the things that would be necessary to build the house of God. Finally, in the end, his son was able to build it.
He was faithful.
I hate to say it, but I believe excuses are the order of the day. Our whole society is just bound up with giving excuses about everything. Then people say, “Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, that is right. It was your circumstances. It was this. It was that. Sure, you are not able to do this because of that.”
We accept them. I really like the Marines. There are no excuses. You know, I really like that. There are no excuses. “No excuse, sir.” Faithfulness—a rare quality.
These are some of the characteristics of the overcomers. We have to confess that we have fallen short. We are called to overcome.
Brothers and sisters, we are not elitists. Rather, we should be greatly humbled that we even have a place in God’s plan and in God’s heart. The real dealings come from the Lord to transform us into His image.
One of the major characteristics of our Lord is humility. So overcomers are not the elite group; they are the humble group.
Our Lord Jesus overcame as a Lamb, brothers and sisters, not as the King of kings. His way of life was the cross. He got to the throne, but He had to go through the cross. How humbling.
The reward of overcomers is, of course, being able to reign and rule with Christ.
I hope we have seen something this morning of how critical overcomers are in the plan of God, in bringing the conclusion to this age, and in bringing in the fulfillment of His kingdom and the New Jerusalem, which we see coming down out of heaven.
That New Jerusalem expresses the full character of Christ. You need to know that. That is what it is all about: an expression of the full character of Christ.
There is no spot or wrinkle there. A spot means there is no defilement in that New Jerusalem. There is no wrinkle; in other words, there is no oldness there. Everything is fresh. Everything is alive. Everything is full of life.
God created man in His own image. But, brothers and sisters, we marred that image through our disobedience, and man fell. But Christ died so that man could be restored, so that His image could be restored.
He represented you and me on the cross. Not only did He die for your sins, but He represented you and me on the cross to do away with the old man and bring in the new man—Christ in you. He arose, and we arose a new man in Him. We are a new creation in Christ.
That image has been restored in you and me. We carry the image of Christ, but how well do we carry it? The overcomers carry that image.
Our life is in transition. It is in process. The church itself is in transition and process to be matured, but she has failed, no doubt.
Brothers and sisters, God’s plan will not be thwarted. God is calling overcomers. You have that choice. I have that choice. We can only become that by His grace.
Brothers and sisters, I want to say this to you: everyone in this room is, I believe, a Christian. If you are not, may the Lord touch your heart today. But we have been called. The call is very clear.
Are you going to be chosen? I think it will depend on faithfulness: called, chosen, faithful. Called, chosen, faithful.
So, what are the characteristics that we have looked at? There was a lot:
Revelation 3:21 says:
He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with Me in My throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with My Father in His throne.
Lord, we just come to You this morning. I thank You for Your Word, Lord. I thank You for Your desire to get us all ready for Your soon return, and, Lord, that You are willing to speak to us and to share Your heart with us. Lord, that is a great thing.
Lord, we just want to have a response by Your grace. We look to Your grace, Lord, that we might respond. Lord, I pray that our eyes will be turned back on Jesus. When we see You, Lord, then we are drawn back to the place we should be.
Lord, we just pray now that You will bless the Word, Lord, that You will make real to each of our hearts what is needed. Lord, may You gain fruit. We pray, Lord, that You will gain overcomers. In Jesus’ name, amen.