Overcome

Opener

There is a tv show called Alone. Some of you have seen it I know. They take 10 contestants to survive ALONE with very limited gear for an indefinite amount of time. The last person out there gets 1 Million Dollars. Here is the catch you do not know how the other people are doing or when they leave nor how many are left.

The guys who typically win have this in common. They plan to be out there a REALLY long time. And when they win they go “oh that's it? I was just getting started.” You see others tormenting themselves after about 30 days wondering how many are left how much longer they have to be out there. When they start talking like that you know they don’t have much time left.

Why do I tell you this. Today we are wrapping up our series on Revelation and letters to the Seven Churches and there is one phrase and calling Christ has said again and again. In fact He has said it seven times. That phrase is “to him who overcomes”. Christ does not set the Christian up to fail. He sets Him up to succeed but perhaps most importantly He tells the Christian the cost of being a disciple so when times get hard they are prepared for the battle ahead.

Jesus Overcame for Us

Revelation 3:21 NASB95

21 ‘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.

It is fitting that with the last church we are reminded it all starts with Christ and what He did.

To be an overcomer isn’t to overcome one thing. But it is to come out on top over every obstacle.

In the NFL you are not an overcomer if you beat the vikings, the bears, or the redskins.... anyone can do that. You must make it to the play off and then overcome every team you face.

Severn Churches Had to Overcome

The churches in revelation had to overcome: lovelessness, persecution, immorality, false teaching, spiritual apathy, more persecution, and love of this present world. Furthermore it wasn’t just a battle in the natural but the spiritual. They had to overcome Satan who is mentioned in connection to persecution, false teachings at 4 out 7 of the churches. This battle while manifesting in the natural with real world consequences is ultimately spiritual. And the battle ground is ultimately not in the city, the jail cell, or the gallows. It is in the hearts of men.

The one who overcomes must quite simply hold fast to THE ONE who has already overcame!

We in turn can be overcomers as well. But ONLY in Him. This is where we must be precise and clear.

The Spiritual Victory At The Cross (Outside us)

In Revelation 1:5 it is said of Jesus, “ To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood—”.

This hits to the core of the Gospel. It is why Paul when He distills down the Gospel to three points (His death, burial, and resurrection) he says that which is of first importance that Jesus, “Died for our sins.”

He didn’t just die to show us how much he loved us. Though he certainly does that.

He didn’t just die to show us what a truly righteous life looks like contrast to utter darkness. Though he does do that.

He didn’t just die to defeat the devil and transfer us outside his control. As important as that is.

He didn’t just die to defeat death and victoriously delivery us life. As important as that is.

He does all those things and MORE. But at the heart of the Gospel. Jesus died “for our sins” or as it says in Revelation 1 to release us “from our sins.” What does this mean?

It means our sins our atoned for. Jesus is the sacrificial Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. This gives us peace with God.

Colossians 1:20 NASB95

20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Peace with who? Peace with God. You see the chief thing the cross does for those who believe is this: It makes peace with God. God as Holy, Righteous, and True is not at peace with sinful mankind. When He kicked the human race out of the garden of Eden their was a shift in relationship with God due to sin entering the world through one man’s disobedience. There wasn’t peace.

In His integrity and righteousness he does not ignore sin. He is holy. He made us to be holy and setup apart for his purposes but when we went our own way we violated that. That is hard for us to understand that sometimes. But let me give you two examples:

Righteousness. Charles Ponzi whom the term “Ponzi Scheme” comes from defrauding thousands of people out of 15 million dollars in 6 months. For which he served six to seven years and then more. Then when he got out he defrauded people again and went back to jail ultimately to die penniless one day.I tell you this story for two reasons:

His crime which took him mere months to commit garnered him a lifetime of consequences. Sometimes people ponder why do i deserve to spend eternity in hell separated from God for all eternity for doing temporary or momentary crimes. Well we know the problem isn’t how long it took you to do the crime as much as it is about the person whom you wronged. And all have sinned against God ultimately. David after sinning with Bathsheba and against Uriah could rightfully say to God, “against you and you alone have I sinned.” You see while Ponzi may have sinned quickly he had defrauded some individuals of their life savings. So it was the magnitude of the sin vs the length that was the problem. You can kill someone in seconds and that is one of the worst sins you can commit. But all sin is against a God of perfect holiness. A God who is Holy, Righteous, and True. And you see we have all sinned. And while not all sin is the same there is not such thing as a small sinner because we have not sinned against a small god, but a God of infinite worth.

Secondly, it would have been wrong for the state to let Ponzi have scot free. No matter how sincere and honest his repentance was. He committed a crime that demanded punishment. It wouldn’t even have been enough for him to pay it back (restorative justice) his crimes were such that they demanded punishment. Can you imagine the government letting Ponzi walk with no punishment? Are we not outraged as a society when a crime is committed and the government even delays justice let alone neglects it! However bad we think others are we are a million times more before a holy God.

Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon use to say, "If any man thinks ill of you, do not be angry with him, for you are worse than he thinks you to be.””

Oswald Chambers said this:

“We trample the blood of the Son of God if we think we are forgiven because we are sorry for our sins. The only explanation for the forgiveness of God and for the unfathomable depth of His forgetting is the death of Jesus Christ. Our repentance is merely the outcome of our personal realization of the atonement which He has worked out for us. It does not matter who or what we are; there is absolute reinstatement into God by the death of Jesus Christ and by no other way, not because Jesus Christ pleads, but because He died.” - Oswald Chambers

Whose Team Are you ON?

Why do I tell you all this? Because of first importance in regards to being an overcomer is not about who you are but about whose team you are on! You can not even embark on the long hard journey of being an overcomer unless first you are found in the one who overcame!

One Thing Christ did we don’t

Let me put it another way. Jesus conquered sin, death, and the devil to name a few. The Christian will in this life still face these things, but in Christ overcome them. But there is one thing that Christ faced that the Christian never has to face. That is drinking the cup of the wrath of God against sin. And it is that act that secures us in Him so we too can be overcomers in all those other things. Make sense?

Practically Speaking

Practically speaking for the one who is in Christ though it means we continually keep are eyes on Jesus remembering that at the cross Christ has already overcame and we are secure in Him and nothing, not “ tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword” (Rom 8:35) can separate us from the love of God.

So an overcomer is one who is anchored in the cross!

Jesus Overcomes with us

Revelation 1:10–13 NASB95

10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, 11 saying, “Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” 12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; 13 and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash.

Revelation is called “the testimony of Jesus Christ.” The first title among the many given to Him is “faithful witness.” Jesus is tried and true. He has accomplished and finished a work. He has nothing to prove. In fact in the book of Revelation He can be called Worthy!

Molded

We as Christian’s, when we are born again, we cut from the same cloth. We are not only called to walk in His footsteps but God begins to make us and mold us into the image of His Son. He begins to mold us into being overcomers.

Do you know how you get molded into an overcomer? You overcome things. You face resistance. You do hard things!

Muscles needed resistance to get stronger and your faith does to! Your character does as well!

Not Absent but with us. Ministering to us.

Not only that but Jesus is ministering to His Church. He is “in the middle” of the lampstands as the text says. He isn’t absent. He is tending the flames of the lamp stand. He is rebuking, correcting, encouraging, charging. He is strengthening. As part of each churches growth He was going to lead them through hard times.

Think about it all 7 churches in revelation had things to overcome even the two who were doing things right! There was no church who was not called to overcome in real tangible ways. Friends Jesus doesn’t mince words here:

Scriptures on the call to hard things

John 15:20 NASB95

20 “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.

AND

John 16:33 NASB95

33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

The Christian life isn’t easy. If someone sold you that I am sorry it is not. But it is victorious.

One of the chief character qualities the Christian must have then is that of perseverance. Steadfastness.

James 1:3 says, “The testing of your faith produces endurance!”

1 Peter 1:6–7 NASB95

6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

Refined by fire

By FIRE! Similar to the invitation from Jesus to the Laodiceans to buy from Him gold refined by FIRE!

When you refine gold by fire you heat it up and remove the impurities. Then guess what you do? You do it again… and again… and again… and each one of us is being taken from degree of glory to the next. The Christian faith is not easy friends but you better believe He is refining all those who are is!

So when we face hard things we must remember we were born (again) for adversity. We must not waiver in our faith.

Trials can look like all kinds of things:

It can look like internal struggles in your own heart. The Ephesians had 100% an internal struggle. The loveless church. Let me just say this. Your relationship with those in your own local church is a key indicator on whether or not you are an overcomer! Will you let personal matters, offense, grudges, opinions separate you from the body. I have seen and heard of many Christians who neglect the calling and work God has for them to do over petty things. The devil loves to sew discord. You think the devil is going to waste an opportunity with the coronavirus. Absolutely not.

It can look like persecution like at Smyrna and Philadelphia.

It can look like hard external circumstances. He says to the the Christians in Smyrna “I know your poverty”. There were already those who had been faithful unto death, like Antipas.

It can look like false teaching. Immorality. and Compromise.

It can look like anything.

The attitude of an overcomer is one of:

humility. Putting others first.

Forgiveness. to both brother and enemy.

confidence. that nothing can separate them from the love of God.

boldness. to run false teachers out of their lives. and approach the throne of grace.

patience. to wait on the lord and help others who are struggling.

Friends are you an overcomer? If you lack in one of these areas ask God to help you. Ask Him to deepen you. And keep those eyes open for opportunity to trust Him and do what is right will come. Adversity will come. And you buy his grace will walk through it and better yet GROW through it.

The Overcomer is Coming

Revelation 19:11–16 NASB95

11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

The Book of Revelation ends like it starts. Centered on Jesus. The descriptions are parallel. He is the author and finisher of our faith!

The call to overcome is a call to remain vigilant in our faith as we wait upon the Lord Jesus to return. To put it another way is we are to persevere to the end, whether it be His return or death.

Endure to the END

This was always the call of Christ for the Christian:

Luke 9:23 NASB95

23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

Mark 13:13 NASB95

13 “You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.

2 Timothy 2:11-12 says “if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; If we endure, we will also reign with Him”

Hebrews 3:14 NASB95

14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,

AND

Hebrews 10:23 NASB95

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;

And of course in Revelation

He tells the church in Smyrna, “Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life.”

144,000

But perhaps my favorite picture of overcoming in the book of revelation is the 144,000. Much has been made of them by both those with good and bad intentions. But don’t miss the big picture of what is going on there.

Please turn with me to revelation chapter 7. In verses 1 and 2 it talks about the judgment that God is bringing upon the earth and then it says this:

Revelation 7:3–8 NASB95

3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.” 4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: 5 From the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand, 6 from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand, 7 from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand, 8 from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were sealed.

Of course the tribe of Dan is omitted. What is going on here. According to New Testament Scholar Craig Keener this is a military senses like seen in the Old Testament. God is counting his army. This symbolizes the people of God as a whole an army of the Lord’s.

Bill Mounce says The number 144,000 is 12 both squared and multiplied by a thousand showing completeness.

Furthermore this naming of the 12 tribes and the number are used in the New Jerusalem that comes out of Heaven in Revelation 21. The New Jerusalem is literally called the “bride” of Christ… AKA the Church.

Revelation 21:2 NASB95

2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.

It has 12 gates named after the 12 tribes (already mentioned). It has 12 foundation stones named which are the 12 apostles. and its walls are (and you will miss this in the english text) the length width and height of the city are 12,000 stadia (its a cube). 1 Stadia is about 600 roman feet. So we are talking something like 1,500 miles. That is the distance from the top of north dakota past corpus christie texas. and the walls are 144 cubits wide (a cubit is the length of an average man’s forearm). So about 76 yards. See Revelation 21:17.

Obviously these dimensions are obsurd. this is a cube imagine. Imagine it being as tall as it is wide. The point is completeness. and its the same basic numbers used for both symbolic images. 12, to multiples of 12 (144) and 12,000.

In other words the new jerusalem is picture of Christ’s Church and the 144,000 military men set apart in souly in the service of Christ are as well.

But this is where it gets interesting. How do these men wage war?

Revelation 13:7–10 NASB95

7 It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. 9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear. 10 If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.

AND Then in verse 15 it says

Revelation 13:15 NASB95

15 And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

They were killed. The 144,000 are then imediatelty brought back up in the book of Revelation. They represent Christ’s uncompromising Church!

Revelation 14:1–5 NASB95

1 Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. 3 And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth. 4 These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. 5 And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.

Again this is symbolic language here. These are an actual number of 144,000 male, Jewish virgins. This is a picture of men set apart for the Lord fully devoted to his service. This is Christ’s church.

But here is where things get interesting. The beast begins to mark those who are his and persecute those who do not recieve his mark and it says this:

Revelation 14:12–13 NASB95

12 Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. 13 And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’ ” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”

Of course this exact idea was already mentioned in

Revelation 12:11 NASB95

11 “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.

In other words how do they overcome this battle? By doing the exact same thing Jesus did at the cross. They are faithful unto death! We are called to be faithful unto death. We know the scope of the mission. We as believers need to set our minds their now.

A Character Trait

Let me just say this in the practical. Faithfulness and perseverance is a character trait. If you can love your enemy. If you can’t be slow to speak and quick to listen. If you can bear others burdens. If you can’t confess sin one to another. If you can’t consider others more important than yourself. If you can’t forgive as Christ has forgiven you… If you can’t exercise personal devotion to The Lord. If you can’t pray when no one is watching and spend time with God. in other words if you can abide with Christ and bear with the body of Christ what makes you think you will be steadfast to Christ and his body when the heat gets turned up.

That’s like being a sailor who unwilling the swab the deck, raise the sale, or steer the ship but trust me when pirates board you can count on me! Can I?

All the character traits of a persevere can be exercised now even if we are not in Armageddon.

When you get to end of the book of revelation there is this kind of strange verse about those who get thrown into the lake of fire:

Revelation 21:7–8 NASB95

7 “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. 8 “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

It’s like I get why the abominable, murders, immoral, sorcerers, and idolaters get chucked in and why He is talking about them, but why put the cowardly, unbelieving and liars in with them?

But when you remember the call to the church this entire time was to be an overcomer it makes sense. Are we the type of people saved by grace and growing in grace that will not shrink back. Will not fear the beast and take his mark. Will not lie and denounce the truth that is in Jesus. That will keep the faith!

CLOSING OVERCOME

Laundry list from Rev or 2 and 3 for those who overcome!

“To him who overcomes....”

Revelation 2:7 (Ephesus) “I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.”

Revelation 2:11 (Smyrna) “will not be hurt by the second death.”

Revelation 2:17 (Pergamum) “I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.” In other words eternal life and vindication.

Revelation 2:26-27 (Thyatira), “I will give authority over the nations....”

Revelation 3:5 (Sardis), “will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”

Revelation 3:12 (Philadelphia), “I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.”

Revelation 3:21 (Laodicea), “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.”

The way the Christian has victory is by holding fast to Jesus. He is the author of our faith and finisher. We stay faithful to Him and in Him and He shows up in the end to right every wrong, and to establish us eternally in his presence.

The Return of The Lord Purges our minds of things that are futile in our life

The book of revelation reminds us to not live for this present world. I didn’t say not live in. We are here in very practical ways. But not live for. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken when the Lord Jesus returns. He will destroy and restore the earth with fire! So we can ask ourselves now are the things I am living for things that will last? Things that will not be shaken when Jesus returns. Things that will endure into the next life, into eternal life. Or I am giving myself to temporary things and have I become blind or short sighted of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus writes het book of revelation to shake up his church so they can shake off all the the things that hinder now so they can be ready for Him when He returns and shakes heaven and earth!

The return of the Lord is sobering stuff to set your mind on as a Christian and to double down on the things that matter.

Amen!