HE THAT OVERCOMETH
There are many promises in the Bible that are addressed specifically to "him that overcometh." They include:
· To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7).
· He that overcometh shall not be hurt
of the second death [lake of fire and
brimstone]. (Revelation 2:11).
· To him that overcometh will I give
to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a
new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. (Revelation 2:17).
· And he that overcometh, and keepeth
My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations [to rule and reign with Christ in
the Kingdom of God]. (Revelation
2:26).
· He that overcometh, the same shall
be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book
of life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His
angels. (Revelation 3:5).
· Him that overcometh will I make a
pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write
upon him the name of My God. (Revelation 3:12).
· To him that overcometh will I grant
to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My
Father in His throne. (Revelation 3:21).
· He that overcometh shall inherit all
things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son. (Revelation 21:7).
Clearly, God has called His people to be overcomers and to
obtain all that He has called them to be.
To overcome means to conquer, to prevail,
and to get the victory,
but it also means to win one’s
case, or maintain one’s cause when going to law. We understand the battles that the believer
faces and the need to prevail against all those things that would defeat
us. Carnal weapons will do us no good,
however, in this spiritual fight that we face day by day. Knives, swords, guns, fists, and angry words
avail us nothing. It requires faith in
the finished work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to win this fight. Yes, it is
a fight; but it is a fight of faith. "For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even
our faith. Who is he that
overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?"
(1 John 5:4, 5). Our strength alone
is not sufficient to meet the challenges of the Christian walk; but, thanks be
to God, His strength is perfected in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).
We must be attuned to what the
Spirit of God is speaking to us in order to be an overcomer. We must also respond to what we hear
Him saying, and do the things that we are instructed to do. There are many Christians who are hearers of
God's Word only, but not doers. Hearing
is certainly important and necessary.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. After each of the promises to overcomers cited
above, we are told, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith unto the churches." With
all of the contradictory voices in the world today, we must learn to hear the
Spirit of Truth, and discern it from the spirit of error. The goal of the overcomer, though, is to perform
what God has instructed him to do.
Scripture tells us, “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of
liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer,
but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” (James
1:25). Jesus said, “If ye
continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know
the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31, 32).
Just who or what are we to overcome
then? It is that great red dragon of
Revelations 12. It is the tempter, the
father of lies, the prince of the power of the air, the god of this world, and
the lion that walks about seeking whom he may devour. It is he who comes to kill, steal, and
destroy. It is the spirit that works in
the children of disobedience. It is the
devil, Satan, Beelzebub, and Lucifer.
Though he may be a formidable foe, yet he has already been defeated by
the Son of God. He knows his time is
limited, so he is intent on deceiving as many as he can in order to drag them
down to hell with him before the end.
Jesus said of Satan, "When a strong man armed keepeth his
palace, his goods are in peace: but when a stronger than he shall come upon
him, and overcome him, He taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted,
and divideth his spoils." (Luke
11:21, 22). The strong man in this case
is Satan, but the stronger man is Christ. Jesus has overcome Satan, taken his armor
from him, and spoiled his goods. Now, if
we are in Christ, then we are entered into this victory by the power of His Holy
Spirit. "Ye are of God,
little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you,
than he that is in the world."
(1 John 4:4). Now through
Christ Jesus our Lord, we have defeated the enemy who had enslaved us all our
lives!
St. John wrote in Revelations 12:11,
"And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word
of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." We are given three very effective tools
by which we can defeat the enemy of our souls, and become overcomers. We no longer have to be defeated,
discouraged, and tossed about by every whim of the accuser of our soul. We no longer have to be slaves to sin, driven
by our lusts, and worshipping at the altar of our own ego. We truly can
be more than conquerors through Him Who loves us and gave Himself for us. Let's examine these three powerful keys to
victory:
The Blood of the Lamb
Blood is a powerful force to
God. He told the Israelites repeatedly
that they were not to drink the blood of the animals that they slaughtered
because, “the life is in the blood.” We see this illustrated in the story of Adam
and Eve. When they had eaten of
the forbidden fruit, their eyes were opened, and they suddenly realized that
they were naked. They were ashamed by
this and understood they must cover up.
Scripture tells us that God fashioned skins for them to replace the
leaves that they were trying to cloth themselves with. Where did the skins come from? An innocent animal had to die to provide man
with the covering that he required. This
is the first account of anything dying in God's creation. Blood had to be spilled to cover man's sin –
a life for a life. Later, when Cain and
Abel brought their offerings to God, Cain's was rejected because there was no
blood. Without blood there is no
remission of sin. Sin produces death;
but life is in the blood. Make no
mistake, when we commit sin, there is a price to be paid. Somehow, somewhere, there is death and
suffering that results from it. God
wanted us to understand that blood was the only answer for sin. All of the sacrifices that Israel offered to
atone for their sins only pointed forward to the Lamb of God Who would take
away the sins of the world by His one sacrifice.
Jesus’ blood is a much more powerful
agent to cleanse away sin than the blood of bulls, goats, and sheep that the
Israelites offered to God. Those
sacrifices had to be repeated continually because the worshippers kept sinning,
and had to offer more blood. The blood
of the Lamb of God, however, is the answer for all of our sins: past, present,
and future. "For if the blood of
bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean,
sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how
much more shall the blood of Christ, Who through the eternal Spirit offered
Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God?" (Hebrews
9:13, 14).
Satan has no power against the blood
of Jesus. He can lie to us, and seek to
deceive us into thinking that we cannot be forgiven for our sin, but the blood
of Jesus has purged our conscience once and for all so that the accuser's lies
become powerless and impotent. Every
drop of the Savior’s blood that flowed from His wounds was to cleanse us from
our transgressions. The blood of the
Lamb delivers us from the guilt of our sin that would weigh us down and steal
the sweet victory that is ours in Christ.
Jesus’ blood was also shed for our healing. With every bloody stripe of the Roman lash we
are healed! (See Isaiah 53:5).
Of Jesus’ death on the cross, the
Apostle Paul writes, “But this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for
sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth
expecting till His enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering He hath perfected for
ever them that are sanctified.” (Hebrews 10:12-14). Because Jesus has overcome the world, the
flesh, and the devil by laying down His life for us on the cross, we, too, can
now be overcomers in Him!
The Word of Their Testimony
Once we accept the gift of God's
grace, and the redemption that is in the blood of Jesus, we experience the
forgiveness and love of the Father, and enter into a very intimate and real
relationship with God, and with His Son.
This new life that we have in Christ is something that we just must
testify about. It is good news indeed,
and we want to share it with anyone who will listen. A testimony is an eyewitness account of an
event. When we accept Christ's gift, we
become eyewitnesses of His grace and salvation, having experienced it
first-hand. John felt this same need to
testify when he wrote, "That which was from the beginning, which
we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and
our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (for the life was manifested, and
we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which
was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) that which we have seen and
heard declare we unto you." (1 John 1:1-3). This life has been manifested to us as well
if we have accepted Christ and believed on His Word. God has said, “Ye are My witnesses.” We,
therefore, have something powerful to share with the world!
Writing to the Roman church, Paul
said, “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart:
that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised
Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:8-10). Notice the two-fold work going on in these
verses. We must not only believe in our
hearts, but we must also confess with our mouth. Our faith and our confession go
hand-in-hand. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man will talk about good things
because his heart is full of good, but an evil man will talk of evil because
that is what fills his heart (see Luke 6:45).
The testimony of our lips is a mighty weapon against the devil. What Christ has done in our lives, Satan
cannot deny; but he will lie to us to try and convince us that God’s promises
do not apply to us. When Jesus was
tempted by Satan in the wilderness He overcame him by affirming what He knew in
His heart was true. He said, “It is written…” and would quote the
Word of God to the devil. Satan could
not tempt Jesus anymore in that area and would try something else. Each time, Jesus’ faith and confession set
the enemy on his heels. We must be
mindful of the power of our confession also!
Jesus said, “For verily I say
unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be
thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe
that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever
he saith.” (Mark 11:23). There is
great authority in the name of Jesus when we learn to operate in the Spirit and
not in the flesh. Under the Lord’s
direction even the mountains have to obey!
Such faith starts with hearing
the word that God speaks to our hearts, embracing that word, and speaking, or
confessing it. As Paul says, “We
having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed,
and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak.”
(2 Corinthians 4:13). If we know that
God has spoken to us, we must be firm in our faith and in our confession. This
kind of confession gives us power to become overcomers.
They Loved Not Their Lives Unto
Death
Jesus said, "If any man will
come after Me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will
lose his life for My sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the
whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?" (Luke 9:23-25). We cannot claim to be Jesus’ disciples if we
cannot learn to deny ourselves. The more
we let go of our life, the less hold Satan can have over us. When we say yes to God in any area of our
life and present our bodies as a living sacrifice to Him, we remove any power
that the enemy had in that area to tempt us.
You cannot tempt a dead man. By
dying to self, we give Christ power to infill us with more of Himself. The more we empty ourselves, the more He
fills us! As John the Baptist put it, "He
[Christ] must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:3).
The Jewish priests and Levites in
the Old Testament are a good example of losing one’s life to gain Christ. Every tribe of Israel was given their own
portion of the Promised Land to make their own except for the tribe of
Levi. Their reward for being faithful to
God was to serve in the tabernacle of God and minister to the other tribes. God told them that He was their inheritance, and He
was their lot (see Deut. 10:8, 9; Num. 18:20; Josh. 13:32, 33). In return, the Levites and the priests were
given a portion of the offerings that were brought to the House of God, and
they enjoyed the glory of His presence as they ministered about His House.
Salvation comes when men see
Jesus. How important it is, then, that
the life of Jesus be seen in us! The
more our life fades, the more Jesus can be truly manifested in us. The more we seek our life, the more obscured
Jesus becomes in us. Jesus spoke of a
kernel of wheat being buried in the ground and dying so that the germ of life
contained inside that kernel could begin to grow and, eventually, bear
fruit. Our life is that kernel. As long as it remains on the shelf, it is
useless. When it is buried in death,
however, the real life can
emerge. The world teaches us to be self
confident, but God instructs us to be confident in the Lord only. We are taught to save our lives, but we must
learn to lose them if we want eternal life.
If we would be overcomers in this
life, and if we would inherit all of the promises that God has made to them who
love Him, we must learn to do battle with that great red dragon. We can overcome him by the blood
of the Lamb, and the word of our testimony, and by not loving our lives unto
the death. Satan's greatest weapon is
his lies. Become established in the
truth of God's Word so that you will recognize his lies when he tries to
whisper them to you. God loves you, and
has provided you with every tool you need to become a powerful, victorious,
overcoming child of God! Trust in Him
with all your heart, and don’t rely on your own understanding or in what the
world promotes. As the heavens are high
above the earth, so also are God’s ways far above ours. Amen!
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