Well, today, you’re getting a double portion of Max. Mac will open; Mac will speak here, so…
Let’s start by turning to 2 Corinthians 11, looking at verses 2 and 3.
For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy: for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.
But I am afraid lest, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.
Now turn over to Revelation 3, to the end of the letter to the church of Laodicea: Revelation 3:21-22.
We know that in each of these seven letters there is a call to overcome. This is the concluding one in Laodicea.
He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Finally, turn to Revelation 12, verses 10 and 11.
And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ have come; for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night.
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.
Let’s pray.
Lord, we are thankful, again, as we do every Lord’s Day, for that great privilege of remembering You at Your table. Lord, it does set within our hearts a foundation for life. It sets within our hearts a hope, Lord, of Your return. It refocuses us on, Lord, what is the issue of life?
And Lord, as we continue, we thank You that in the days we are living in, You are a God who still speaks to us. We come, Lord, as those who desire to hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Lord, we are not looking just for knowledge, but we are looking to hear words of life.
And as we offer ourselves to You, Lord, we pray that You would use this time together to prepare us, to equip us for the days that we find ourselves living in. Because it is only by Your grace and Your mercy, and we are thankful for that. In Jesus’ name, amen.
As we read and hear more and more of our Lord’s imminent return, we also hear more and more of the call to overcome. Why is there this call to overcome growing louder in these days?
It is because, simply, the church in general is in a weakened condition. We know, as we look back at the birth of the church on earth in the book of Acts, how it had a healthy birth. It had a bright testimony of what it was about and who it was for. They came to be known as Christians because they were ones standing for Christ. There was a clarity.
Also, in that early church, there was a simplicity of message. They were declaring that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is your Savior; He is your Lord.
But as we have gone through the ages, and as we come to the current time, we see the church is really in a weakened condition. We are not where we should be as God’s people. Even though outwardly we have many forms of godliness, there is great religious activity and many forms of very godly works going on, inwardly there is a lack of the reality of the life of Christ in His people.
That is what we are jealous for in this hour. Because we find ourselves living in these abnormal times, the Spirit cries out for us to overcome.
What has been upon my heart lately, as I have been considering this matter, is that the Lord has been impressing upon me this matter of overcoming. I just want to share a few thoughts, because I have a desire to experience it more.
It is interesting: as you start to think about overcoming, it can be overwhelming. I mentioned to a couple of people this week that I had been sharing on overcoming, and they said, “Whoa.” There is almost a mystery, a mystique, something that puts it in another category from the normal Christian life.
When we sang that hymn, “I Dare Not Be Defeated,” how did that impact you? I will confess: when I first heard that hymn many years ago at a conference, I was intimidated to death. I said, “I’ll never be an overcomer.”
We hear this hymn: “I dare not be defeated. Make me an overcomer.” The tragedy with so many believers is that we say, “Okay, I am going to do that. I am not going to be defeated. I am going to be an overcomer.” That is the wrong answer.
The better answer is, “Well, I cannot be an overcomer.” But tragically, that is only half of the proper answer. We have to see that we cannot be an overcomer in ourselves, but because we have the One who has overcome living within us, we can overcome.
The hymn says, “Make me an overcomer.” It says, “I dare not be defeated,” but it does not stop there. It is with Calvary in view. That little chorus is not looking upon us. It says, “A victor, a victor”—because of Calvary. That is it. It is because of Calvary.
“Make me an overcomer, a conqueror, a conqueror, Lord”—but it does not stop there—“a conqueror, Lord, in Thee.” Not in ourselves. As we are in Him and He is in us, there is an overcoming life that is desiring to burst forth.
The tragedy is that many of us—and we have probably all been through these cycles in our lives—try too hard. Then we finally come to the place of seeing, “I can’t do it.” We remember that for a while, but then we start trying again. Then we see we cannot. It is the same way with overcoming.
My desire today—and really, the Lord has been speaking to me—is that we would see overcoming as an aspect of the normal Christian life, to see it from His perspective. That is why I read that verse about returning to the simplicity that is in Christ.
Last time I shared, I spoke on teaching us to number our days, in the spirit of being prepared. We have even made being prepared—being ready—complicated. We have gotten away from the simplicity of living each day unto the Lord and making each day count by His grace.
We saw in the Lord’s parables concerning His second coming that they were commended simply for being good and faithful servants. They were not commended for all their biblical knowledge, great knowledge of prophecy, eloquent sermons, or being at every meeting or conference.
“You attended this many conferences; therefore, you are an overcomer.” No. They were commended because there was a life of Christ that they saw and responded to. That is what we are really looking for.
Now, I want to be clear. When I say they were not commended for great biblical knowledge, prophecy, meeting attendance, conferences, and all that, I do not want to be misunderstood. Those things come forth from the normal Christian life.
In the normal Christian life, we will seek to know the Word in a greater way. In the normal Christian life, we will seek to know about our Lord’s return. In the normal Christian life, the fruit of that will be a desire to gather with brethren.
In the normal Christian life, we will desire to be together when ones gather at a conference or at other times. In the normal Christian life, where we can serve, we are going to seek those opportunities. But those outward things, in and of themselves, do not make us spiritual. It is the life within, and then we see that life manifest among His people.
Tragically, that is why I mentioned earlier how in Christianity today there is so much outward form. There is an outward form of godliness, many activities—but where is the life? Where is the life?
We have shared before about our Lord’s first coming. At that temple there were all sorts of glorious religious activities going on. There was so much glitz and glamour and everything, but what was missing was the glory of the Lord. There was no glory of the Lord in that temple.
That is what He is after: for His life to be seen and manifested in His people. As we live and walk daily in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the love of the Father, and in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, He is able to do that work. That is how Paul finished 2 Corinthians. He is calling us simply to walk in this.
In that spirit of being prepared, in that spirit of returning to simplicity, what is an overcomer?
The word overcomer comes from the Greek word nikeō. If we had Luke here, I would call upon him. Luke is the expert in speaking Greek. But it is nikeō. And, as you see in the Greek, it is Nike—N-I-K-E.
Nike got its name from the Greek goddess of victory. Nike simply means victory, or to conquer, to win. Whenever you see words such as conquering, victorious, or overcoming, it is the same root word, carrying the meaning of victory.
Actually, the swoosh—I like to think of it as a V. It is actually the wing of the goddess, but we will not go there. When you see that swoosh, think of a V for victory in Christ. That is why I only wear Nike. I am hoping that if I put the outward on, maybe it could work inwardly too.
But when we think of this word victory, who wins the victory? Who has won that victory? That is Christ. He has already won it for us, as we read in Revelation 3:21. He has won the victory, and He is the Overcomer.
He has overcome the world. He has overcome sin. He has overcome the flesh. He has overcome the devil. Because He has overcome, and we are believing in Him, we have that overcoming life living within us. It is desiring to burst forth.
Each and every one of us has that overcoming life—that all-victorious, all-sufficient life—living within us. How did He overcome? How did our Lord overcome?
To me, this is a beautiful picture, because sometimes it can help take away the intimidation of this thought of overcoming. We know in Revelation that we see our Lord as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Did He overcome as the Lion of the tribe of Judah? No. He overcame as the Lamb of God.
He humbled Himself to the point of death, even death on the cross. That is how He overcame.
How did these ones in Revelation 12 overcome? Was it in some great manifestation of power? It says they overcame because of the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and because they loved not their lives unto death.
That is what we see worked out in Christ for us. These are three very simple, straightforward things. It is not a PhD. It is not that they did all these great works. They did not overcome because of all their biblical knowledge, their prophetic history, their place of service, or because they were apostles, teachers, elders, responsible brothers, Sunday school teachers, or serving in music.
That was not why they overcame. They overcame because they had allowed the life of Christ within them to hold them and keep them. It is not the outward; it is His life.
That is why there is a call to each and every one of us—not just some few. There is that call: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
The enemy has done a great job in distorting this whole thought of overcoming. But these ones overcame because they had a daily life. They had a living relationship with the Lord, and they entered into that. It was not far off; it was within them. There was an inwardness to the relationship and life they had with the Lord.
When we think about this overcoming, it is interesting that everybody is unanimous on the fact that this is not an elite group. This is not a special group of Christians. This is not somehow ones who are better than the other brethren.
Brother Sparks was asked by some young people, “What is an overcomer?” I am going to read this so that I can get the quote right. He said:
An overcomer is not someone who is perfect, elite, or a superman. An overcomer is simply someone who is in the will of God at the end of their earthly life—someone who is in the will of God at the end of the race. No matter how many times they have fallen or gotten off course, in the end, because of the blood of the Lamb, they got back up and got in the race. That is the overcomer.
Nothing special there. We have heard Brother Kong share on several occasions that the overcomer is simply one who is living the normal Christian life—not some supernormal life above other believers, but a normal Christian life.
This looks strange to us because many of us live a subnormal life. We are not laying hold of the fullness of the possessions, the fullness of the inheritance, that we have in Christ. We become content. We settle down. We become overwhelmed, and we say, “I can’t do this. It is too hard and too difficult.”
We love this world and the desires of life. We get distracted by so many things. Because of the grace of God and the days we are living in, there is not, within our circles in general, a great pressure to push into God.
In other countries—in China, Cuba, and many other countries where there is persecution—there is outward pressure, and you are going to be pushed into God. But the Lord simply shows us His table. He puts His table before us every Sunday to display the love of Christ: “I have died for you.”
What is your response? What are you doing for Me? He simply wants us to respond by giving ourselves to Him.
Brother Lance said that an overcomer simply means to come over—to come over whatever the obstacle is in our life, by the life of the Overcomer within, by His grace, allowing that overcoming life to carry us through.
I was reading some things on the overcomer, and it is interesting how many people say, “Oh, well, overcoming is all of works. It is not of grace. God is all of grace, but when you get into overcoming, it is of works. It is what you are doing.”
So I went to a brother who was a great advocate of grace. I do not know how many of you remember Brother Floyd Pollett, but if there was ever a brother who would advocate grace to the extreme—in a very balanced and full way—he would. He was also very blunt.
I am warning you up front: he was very blunt on this matter of it being works and not grace. Brother Floyd Pollett said:
It is idiotic to say it is contrary to the doctrine of grace. These are ones who actually know more of His grace in their daily lives than the rest of us.
He is saying that the overcomers are not all works. They know more of the grace of God that has been made available to each and every one of us than the rest of us. They have laid hold of something.
This is what the Lord is calling us to: to lay hold of that for which we have been laid hold of. There is an abundant provision that He has made for us in Christ, and He is simply wanting us to really come into that.
When we stop and think about this matter of the overcomer, we see one of the tactics that the enemy uses against God’s people to discredit Christ and His Word.
Remember how Eve was led astray. How was she led astray? The enemy challenged and undermined the Lord and His authority by saying, “Has God said?” She took the bait. She was deceived, and eventually she was led away from that place of simplicity in Christ.
It was a beautiful place of peace and life, simple life with the Lord, enjoying the riches in that garden. But she gave in to the enemy. This shows us how the enemy can attack in this hour, particularly concerning God’s Word, Christ, and His authority.
On the one hand, he will try to take something away from what Christ has done. He tries to take something away from Christ, His work, and the Word of God. We see today how many say that salvation is in many ways, that you cannot rely on the Bible, or that you should not worry about sin.
So many foundational truths are being eroded, attacked, and made as if they are nothing. There is so much deception, and many fall into that trap. “Has God said?” The Word of God is challenged today.
If we do not know that Word, and somebody says, “Has God said?” it can breed that seed of doubt within us, and we can be led astray. That is the taking away from Christ.
On the other hand, the enemy can work by making it Christ plus something. “Oh, it is good that you love Christ, but if you want to be a better Christian, you also have to do this.” He is trying to add something to Christ instead of it just being the grace of the Lord alone.
That is what the ones in Colossae fell into: Christ plus some distorted form of Gnosticism that would lead them into a higher teaching. We saw the Judaizers in the book of Acts: it was Christ plus circumcision. It was always Christ plus.
The enemy has come in among many believers and tried to make overcoming something special. “If you want to be one of those, you have to do this and this and this. Not every Christian can be an overcomer. That is the special group. That is the elite group.”
Sometimes when we hear this word overcoming, we turn it off. “I can never get there. I can never do that.” The enemy has so deceived Christianity in this day, and because of this time of declension, we have gotten away from what this call to overcome really is.
It is vital that we learn to live that normal Christian life, to live that overcoming life, so that we can be the testimony God has called us to be. But because we have had this false concept of overcoming—that it is just a small elite group—we do not even pursue what God is after.
Look again at Revelation 12:10-11. We see the activity of the enemy there:
Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ have come; for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night.
You see the intensity of the battle: day and night, the enemy is accusing. I love how it says there that he is the accuser of not just “the brethren,” but “our brethren.” We are connected.
There is the enemy accusing all of us. So often, it is not just that we are accused ourselves; we accuse one another. The accusations start flying around in the air. But there is a battle that every one of us is born into.
The enemy knows the value of daily life, and he is very consistent. Commend him for his consistency. He is more consistent in his battle than we are in ours. We have been equipped with everything, and yet we get sluggish at times. We shrink back. We become content. The enemy is never content; he is always seeking just that little bit more.
We need to be awakened in this hour. As we consider not only the battle we have been brought into, but also the victory we have been brought into, we are thankful for these ones testified of in Revelation 12.
Now, when I am talking about overcoming today, we are not going to get into prophetic events or times. We are looking particularly at this thought of overcoming.
These basic elements we have read are simply the essentials for walking in victory, for overcoming. I am thankful for the simplicity here. They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb.
Praise God, they did not overcome because of some great work or merit that they did. It was all because of His finished work. That is the solid and sure foundation we have.
That is what He wants us to see, and that is the privilege we have every Lord’s Day in taking the table: seeing the great work that the blood of the Lamb has wrought.
What does the blood of the Lamb speak of? We could do a whole sermon on that, but we will try to encapsulate it this morning. The blood of the Lamb speaks of our so-great salvation. We have been redeemed from the world, from the flesh and sin, and from the enemy, and have been brought into the great salvation we have in Him and the fullness of that provision.
The blood of the Lamb also speaks of our daily cleansing: He who is faithful and just to cleanse us of all our sins and unrighteousness. The blood of the Lamb is also our shield, defender, and protector.
May we get it settled in our hearts: the fullness of the provision, the completeness of the provision, the all-sufficiency of the provision that we have in Christ.
How can we overcome? Because He overcame. We can go through the day, whatever circumstances we find ourselves in, in a victorious way because He has overcome. We are covered by the blood of the Lamb.
When we go out into this world, when we go to work, when we go to school, praise God, the blood of the Lamb is over us. We are in Christ, and we have a place of protection. May we become more and more aware of that.
I love that little chorus: “No weapon formed against us can stand; we are under the blood of the Lamb.” Praise God, that is more than just a cute little chorus. That is a great truth.
So often, when we see things, we shrink back, and we can forget. But would the Holy Spirit bring it to mind when we find ourselves intimidated or caught off guard? “Oh, thank You, Lord, for the blood of the Lamb. Thank You for that victory. I can stand in that.” That is the sure and solid foundation we have.
The enemy is out there accusing us day and night. When he is accusing us, he is relentless. There are many false things that he accuses us of, but because of our sins and faults, there are also many true things that he accuses us of—things we have done.
But praise God, whether they are false or whether they are true, the answer is the blood of the Lamb. That settles it right there.
There is a wonderful story in history about Martin Luther. He did not write it himself; he told somebody, and if you Google it, you get many different interpretations and variations. I will try to keep it simple.
Luther said that one time he had a dream. In that dream, the enemy came to him, and on a piece of paper he was writing all the sins of Martin Luther. He had a huge, exhaustive list.
One variation of the story says Luther said, “Is that all? Can’t you think of more?” So the enemy went back to writing and wrote a few more. Then Luther said, “Have you finished?” The enemy said, “Yes.”
Luther said, “Okay, now write this across that: the blood of the Lamb.” The blood of the Lamb answers every accusation.
This is something we can know in our minds, but every one of us wrestles with it at times because of the validity of the accusation. When the enemy accuses us, we say, “That’s right.” It is okay to say, “That’s right,” but do not stop there.
“That’s right, but the blood of the Lamb cleanses me from all those sins and all those accusations.” Praise God for that.
I mentioned 1 John 1:9 a minute ago:
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Praise God. That is another verse that we can say and know, but is it registering in our hearts? When these things come up, do we know the reality of it?
Also, Romans 8:33 says, “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect?” Who is out there that can bring a charge? No one can. If God is for us, who can stand against us? There is nothing that separates us from the love of Christ.
Praise God, because of the blood of the Lamb, it provides us with a solid and sure foundation for this normal Christian life, for this life that we have been called unto. All of our victories—what we call our victories—are simply standing by faith in His victory.
As we respond to the blood of the Lamb, and we have a clear conscience and a clear heart before Him, that allows us to have a clear testimony also.
If we do not have that solid foundation, if we are not clear on what God has done for us and that all our sins have been forgiven, there is no way we can have a good testimony.
That second point is the word of their testimony. They are able to have the word of their testimony because they know the blood of the Lamb and all that it has done. They can stand on that.
As we stand more and more in what Christ has done, we can have a clear, simple, precious testimony. What is the word of our testimony? Who is the word of our testimony? Jesus Christ is Lord.
It is not some huge doctrinal statement. Jesus Christ is Lord. That is the word of our testimony.
All through Scripture, if you go into Bible software and type in this little phrase, “that they might know that I am the Lord,” you will see that this is God’s desire. From Exodus, as He dealt with His people, He said that His people would know that He is the Lord, and that the world and Pharaoh would know that He is the Lord.
Throughout the kings, there is this desire that they will know that He is the Lord. You come to the prophet Ezekiel, and over fifty times in that book there is this simple little phrase: that both the people of God and the world would know that He is the Lord.
That is all He desires today: that our lives would reflect the testimony. This is not just a testimony with our mouths. This is an inward reality in life—that He is our Lord, that He is the One.
The more sure our foundation is, the clearer and bolder our testimony will be. Why at times do we not have a clear testimony? Why do we not have a bold testimony? It is because our foundation is shaken.
But praise God, as we know the blood of the Lamb, we can have that clear testimony declaring that Jesus Christ is Lord, allowing Him to truly be exalted within our lives—not just saying it with our lips, but allowing it to be shown forth in life.
Those who are captured by Him testify of Him. That was Paul’s testimony. He was constrained by the love of Christ, that he would no longer live for himself, but live for the One who died and rose again. Praise God for that.
I was thinking about this matter of testimony and how vital it is in this day and time. I was drawn back to the Old Testament, to the story in 1 Samuel concerning Ebenezer.
There was a stone that was planted. May we plant the stone of our testimony—the stone of testimony that says, “Hitherto,” or “thus far,” “has the Lord helped me.” That is a public testimony. That stone was placed in view for everyone to see.
It was publicly known: “This is how the Lord has helped me.” Do our lives reflect that? Is His life coming forth in such a way that the Lord is my Lord, and He has helped me thus far, and He will continue to keep me all the way through?
Praise God, would there be that testimony, because it is so needed in the midst of these evil, dark days. We had that time over New Year’s concerning the gospel going forth. There needs to be that public testimony of life among the world, that many would be drawn to Him.
There also needs to be that public testimony in life among the people of God. Tragically, today, as the church is in a weakened condition, many have gotten away from the Lord. They have become discouraged and discontented.
We heard Johnny share the other Sunday about the lost sheep. Tragically, there are many lost sheep who are His, but because of many varied reasons, they have drifted away.
Would there be a bright light? Would there be that living testimony—“Jesus is Lord”—that would draw them and woo them back to Christ? Not just in word, but in deed and in life, in the love of Christ that has captured us.
As ones have the blood of the Lamb as their secure foundation, and as we allow the Lord to become that testimony in life to us, we enter into that third aspect. The normal, natural response is loving not our lives unto death. We will lay our lives down.
It does not start there. If we do not know the blood of the Lamb and His great love for us, if we do not know the solidness of our testimony and the power of the testimony that Jesus Christ is Lord, there is no way we can lay our lives down.
But once we are captured by that, once we are captured by His love, we will be those willingly laying our lives down. Yes, sometimes that might mean a physical martyr’s death. But for most of us, it means loving not our self-life, going the way of the cross.
It means not loving our self-life unto death, but allowing the Lord in a great way to work within us. Many have shared over the years that the greatest hindrance in our own personal life, and the greatest hindrance in our life together, is self.
Self-love is the greatest hindrance to the testimony of Jesus being strengthened in this hour and throughout history. Self-love is what we battle with the most in our own lives.
The more we can see the victory we have in Him, captured by His love, then we will lay our lives down. We will be those willing to allow His life to come forth in a fuller and greater way.
When you look back at Revelation 2 and 3, where He called each one of those churches to overcome, He knew each one of them. He knew exactly what was going on.
When the call went out to everybody to overcome—“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says”—it was not a call to wait for things to get better. It was not a call to leave and go somewhere else. It was a call to overcome right in the midst of where you are.
Right in the midst of the circumstances. Are you in a place where the brethren have left their first love? Overcome, because He has overcome. Are you in a place that is compromised with the world? Overcome.
Are you in a place that has false teaching, such as Jezebel? Overcome there. Allow His life to come forth through us, to be that bright light in the midst of the darkness.
Are we in a place that has a name but is dead? Overcome; bring life into that. Are we in a place like Laodicea that says, “We are rich and have need of nothing”? How tragic that is. Overcome right there, right in the midst.
That is saying no to self. Self manifests itself: “I want this. I want that. I like this. I don’t like that.” We can create so many excuses.
Praise God, when our Lord Jesus was upon this earth, He overcame the religious system that He encountered by laying His life down. He overcame as the Lamb.
He overcame the condition in the world under the cruel Roman Empire. He was not intimidated. He did not allow the Roman Empire to overcome Him. He did not allow Judaism to overcome Him. He overcame as He laid His life down.
Whatever situation we find ourselves in, whatever assembly life we are in, that is how we overcome. That is where it really gets worked out.
So often we feel misunderstood. We get offended. We are not appreciated. We are neglected. They do not like that we are having spaghetti from Joe’s Inn today, so that is going to offend some people. They do not like Joe’s Inn; they like somewhere else. Some people like Domino’s pizza. Some people like Pizza Hut.
There are so many opportunities to offend one another, but we have got to get over it—not in ourselves, but in Him, allowing His life to come through that way.
Again, I am using this as an example of a life responding. Oftentimes, you can talk with ones and say, “Well, you were not at that meeting.” They say, “Well, I do not like that meeting. It does not go like I want it to go, so I am not going.”
Or, “That person is there. I am not going to go to that meeting.” Somehow we think spiritual life is something different, but no. Spiritual life is laying yourself down. Spiritual life is laying your life down and going to be with brethren that you do not enjoy at times.
Don’t smile, Roger. Yeah, you have to put up with me sometimes, Roger.
But we see how it is within our own hearts. Is it a great, wonderful time? Am I thrilled to get up every Wednesday night and come to prayer meeting? No. I mean, ugh. It is a wrestle there. I would love to sit home and just kick back for a minute.
To get up and go to work, to go to a sisters’ meeting, to be here on time—whatever it is—there are so many literal opportunities for the overcoming life to be manifested.
Again, I am not focusing on the outward. I am looking at the origin and source of what is impacting our activities. What are we living for? This overcoming life simply wants us to live for Him and enter into that.
Until we have it settled, until we know the power of the blood of the Lamb, we are going to continue serving two masters. We are going to serve ourselves and continue living in bondage. We are going to try to serve the Lord, but we are not going to do that very well. It will be half-hearted and double-minded.
The Lord has to settle it within our hearts: whom are we serving? That is why I appreciate the call in Laodicea, where they were lukewarm. He said, “Either be hot or cold.”
If you do not want to follow the Lord, do not follow Him. Do not try to put up a charade. Do not try to go through religious activities or ceremonies. If you do not want to follow Him, go your own way, but be honest with Him.
He knows you. He loves you. He is not going to turn His back on you because you say, “I do not want You, Lord.” He did not save us because we wanted Him. He saved us because He wanted us.
If we say, “Well, I want to go my own way,” okay—be honest with Him. But if you want to have this heart of truly being set free from self, surrender yourself to Him. Allow Him, in a fuller and greater way, to make you one who loves not your life unto death—a self-life given for Him.
Loving not our lives unto death is not just mentally knowing about it. We can give a great sermon. If you look at many of the doctrines in Christianity, it is pretty easy to put together a sermon on doctrines. But when you start living it, that is when the reality hits us.
We need to be living in a greater way in the reality of all that we have heard.
A couple of things need to be clarified about overcoming. It is not related in any way to how old you are. Amen. I will get to the old ones in a minute, Shirley.
If you are a young believer—maybe you have only known the Lord for a week, a month, or a year—you may say, “Oh, well, that is for the older ones. That is for the more mature ones.” No, it is not.
This overcoming life is for each and every one of us. Young believers might not have as much biblical knowledge or a lot of experience, but if you are faithful to the light that God has shown you, if you are faithful to what you know of Him—“He is my Savior”—that is overcoming.
Maybe all you know is, “I was blind, but now I see.” If you are faithful to that, if you are faithful to what He has put in your hands, that is overcoming.
Let’s bring it back down to see the normality and simplicity of this overcoming life. It is simply being faithful to what God has put in our hands and walking in that, knowing who He is: “I was blind, and now I see. I know Him.” Praise God.
If He returns and we are taken, that is overcoming.
And for some of us older ones, sometimes an older one will say, “Well, it is too late for me. I have really messed my life up. I have wasted my life.” No, it is never too late.
There is always that opportunity to repent, come back to Him, surrender to Him, and, whatever days we have left upon this earth, walk with Him and serve Him. That is the overcoming life.
It is being faithful with who He is to us, what He has put in our hands, and walking in that—not elevating it to some special thing.
Overcoming life does not mean that we will live a sinless, perfect life. If we lived a sinless, perfect life, we would have no need of the blood of the Lamb.
But because we are going to sin, we know the preciousness of that blood. Our sins do not hinder us from pressing on. We confess them. We repent. If forgiveness is needed, we take care of that, and we go on. We continue on.
We learn more and more the power of the blood to get back up and continue on. The accuser of the brethren is always there. As soon as we sin, he says, “See, you are not an overcomer. You can never do this. You can never do that.”
The blood of the Lamb answers that accusation. This thought of overcoming is simply living that normal Christian life, living who He has called us to be.
At the beginning, we shared the call to each one concerning this matter of overcoming. What was upon my heart was that we see how the enemy has so greatly distorted it.
We just finished reading in Deuteronomy about how, when the people had the law, Moses reminded them that even the law of God was not far off. At the end of Deuteronomy, he says it is in your heart.
This overcoming is not a far-off thing. It is in our hearts. It is a life we have, if we can allow Him to truly come forth in the way He desires.
May we stop and consider more and more His desire for us to overcome, and each one to know what I would call the simplicity of overcoming. Hopefully, by the end here, we are seeing a little more of the simplicity of it.
I told Herbert the other night that I was going to share on the simplicity of overcoming, and he laughed in my face—because he is my brother. But there is a simplicity, and the enemy has so distorted that. May the Lord bring us back to that place.
Brother Christian Chen described an overcomer as one who has been overcome by the love of Christ—one who has been overcome by the love of Christ and now lives and serves to please Him.
What does that sound like? It sounds like a bondservant. In the Old Testament, that bondservant was one who loved his master and his house, one who was not going to live for himself anymore but was simply going to live for his master.
Maybe if the term overcoming intimidates us, we could just say bondservant. They are very similar terms. The overcoming ones are simply ones who are prepared. They know the reality of the blood of the Lamb, their testimony is clear, and they love not their lives unto death.
To encourage us, I would like us to end in Romans 8, because the word overcomer is used there in the Greek. If you look at Romans 8:35, it says:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Praise God, the blood of the Lamb has overcome all of that.
Then verse 36 says:
Even as it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long;
We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
There is that laying down of life unto death. But look at verse 37. This is the encouraging verse that the Lord desires to be reality within each and every one of our lives. It is not far off; it is within us. It is available to us.
Nay, in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him that loved us.
That phrase, “overwhelmingly conquer,” has the root word Nike. It is overwhelmingly overcoming. There is a prefix on it that makes it either more than or overwhelming, but the root word is the same word for overcoming, for victory. It is that word, Nike.
I love how it says, “But in all these things.” Because we cannot be separated from the love of Christ, because of the blood of the Lamb, because of all He has done, we can be those who overwhelmingly overcome—not just overcome a little bit.
Each and every one of us, because of this place of security we have in Christ’s love, can overcome. This is not our love for Him. This is the love of Christ, His love for us, and the love of the Father.
We can overwhelmingly overcome through Him who loved us.
It continues:
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
That love is now in us, desiring to burst forth in a fuller and greater way.
May the Lord touch our hearts in this day, as we consider the Lord’s imminent return, as we hear this call that goes out to all: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says.”
As our brother Kong has shared in the past, the last call to the church is that call to overcome. May it not intimidate us. May we not think it is mysterious. May we see it in the simplicity that there is in Christ, and in the availability of it that we have for each and every one of us to enter into.
Because by His grace, we can. Let’s pray.
Lord, we are so thankful for this marvelous and wonderful provision that we have in You. Lord, we are thankful for all of Your precious and magnificent promises.
Lord, we are thankful for the blood of the Lamb. We are thankful for the word of our testimony: Jesus Christ is Lord. And we do have that desired response to love not our lives unto death.
Lord, we pray that as we stop and rethink this whole matter of overcoming, You would make it clearer within all of our hearts. Remove the lies of the enemy from us. Remove the subtle ways the enemy makes it complicated, and allow us to return to the simplicity of living that normal Christian life.
Make us those who are prepared for Your return. In Thy name we pray. Amen.