To Him That Overcomes

This transcript was generated automatically. Its accuracy may vary

Short Summary
The discourse emphasizes the theme of advocacy as presented in Revelations 3:21, where Jesus Christ serves as an advocate for believers, encouraging them to overcome worldly challenges to attain eternal rewards, including the promise of sitting with Him on His throne. The speaker elaborates on the nature of God’s goodness and the importance of faithfulness in overcoming the world, the flesh, and the devil, while highlighting the eternal purpose God has for humanity to achieve unity in the heavenly realm. Ultimately, the message calls for believers to remain diligent and faithful in their spiritual journey, assuring them of the unimaginable blessings that await those who persevere.

Long Summary
### Detailed Summary of the Discourse

Introduction to Theme:
– The discourse centers on Revelation 3:21, a cherished scripture for the audience.
– Begins with 1 John 2:1, emphasizing that Jesus Christ is our advocate.

Understanding the Advocate:
– An “advocate” is defined as one who supports or recommends a cause.
– The Greek term “parakletus” (number 3875) means one who intercedes on behalf of another, highlighting Jesus’ role in supporting believers.

Concept of Advocacy:
– Jesus is portrayed as walking alongside believers, helping them navigate life’s challenges.
– Emphasis on God’s justification of believers through Jesus’ merit.

Revelation 3:21 – Core Message:
– Jesus advocates for obedience to God, promising unimaginable blessings for those who overcome.
– The verse states, “To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me in my throne,” linking Jesus’ victory to the promise of shared authority.

Mysteries of the Scriptures:
– Many biblical truths are mysteries to the world, particularly regarding God’s character and promises.
– There’s a distinction made between general acknowledgment of God’s goodness and the deeper understanding of His nature as inherently good and merciful.

Misconceptions of God:
– The world often views God as having a dual nature, good at times but also possessing a dark side, which is contrasted with the belief that God is consistently good.

God’s Perfect Nature:
– Psalm 18:30 affirms God’s perfection and completeness, emphasizing that God needs nothing and possesses infinite love and mercy.

Examples of Perfection in Scripture:
– Genesis 2:16-17 is cited as a clear command with direct consequences, illustrating God’s straightforward communication.
– 1 Corinthians 15:22 and Revelation 2:10 are also highlighted for their succinct portrayal of God’s salvation plan.

The Symbolism of Thrones:
– The throne represents authority and immortality, with Jesus having been granted this authority after overcoming challenges.
– Believers are promised the same glory and authority if they remain faithful.

God’s Eternal Purpose:
– Ephesians 3:11 speaks to God’s eternal purpose in Christ, emphasizing unity in heaven and earth.
– The discourse connects this purpose to God’s desire for a heavenly family, akin to the growth from one generation to the next in human families.

Preparation for the Kingdom:
– The importance of preparation and vigilance is stressed, using the parable of the wise and foolish virgins as an example.
– Emphasis on the necessity of gathering spiritual resources and knowledge.

The Call to Overcome:
– Paul’s teachings frame overcoming as a necessary goal, encompassing the world, flesh, and the devil.
– The definition of “overcome” is expanded to include the idea of conquering and achieving victory.

The Path to Faithfulness:
– Faithfulness requires dedication to one’s vow to God, to overcome worldly temptations and personal weaknesses.
– Cited scriptures emphasize the need to be called, chosen, and faithful to attain God’s promises.

Conclusion:
– The discourse concludes with encouragement to embrace the opportunity to follow Christ, with the promise of sharing in His glory and authority in God’s Kingdom.
– Encouragement to remain diligent and faithful, with the promise of immortality and eternal life for those who overcome.

### Key Bible Verses Mentioned:
1 John 2:1: “We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
Revelation 3:21: “To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me in my throne.”
Colossians 1:27: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Psalm 18:30: “As for God, his way is perfect.”
Genesis 2:16-17: Warning against eating from the tree of knowledge.
1 Corinthians 15:22: “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
Revelation 2:10: “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”
Romans 6:5: “If we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.”
Ephesians 3:11: “According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Ephesians 1:10: “That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ.”
Romans 8:37: “We are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”

Transcript

Our theme, Revelations 3. 21. As Brother Brian suggested and stated, it’s a dear scripture to all of us and we’re going to read it in a moment. But what I wanted to do was start out by reading a different verse to get our minds in a proper thought, and that verse comes from the first book of John, Chapter two, verse one.

And it tells us that we have an advocate, and that advocate is the Son of God, our master, Jesus Christ. What does an advocate do? Well, by definition, the advocate is someone who openly supports and recommends a particular cause or a policy, and our Lord, in His writings, in the writings of the Bible, does just that.

The Greek word for advocate comes to us. It’s number 3875 in the Greek dictionary, and it means, I’m going to try to pronounce it parakletus. Parakletus, and it means one who intervenes or intercedes on your behalf.

And that means to step in and help, and our Lord definitely does that. Now, the word paracletus may or may not be familiar to you, but part of it should be the beginning of that word. Para is a word that we’ve adopted in from the Greek language into our English language, and we use it a lot.

It’s a very common word. Parallel bars, parachute. The word parallel itself. It means to be alongside, and I appreciate that very much in that definition, because our Lord intercedes and helps out.

He’s alongside of us. We’re walking this narrow way with his help constantly. I also like to think that it implies or it signifies the justification that God views on our lives through his merit. It’s with us always. The reason I brought this up advocacy is because when I read this verse, that flavor of an advocate speaking sang out to me.

You can hear it in his manners. Because this is a quote from our Master that John is giving us in Revelations 3. He’s advocating a particular cause that’s to follow in his footsteps and to be obedient to the Heavenly Father, and he’s telling us how gracious and beyond gracious our Heavenly Father is, is that all we have to do is be obedient and overcome, and the blessings that he’s going to give in lieu of that are unimaginable.

He’s communicating our Father’s will and his desire.

This is a familiar verse to all of us. This is one that we cherish, we hold dear. We hang it around our neck as we walk through life. It’s become very dear because of the bounty of God’s grace that he has promised to us for that obedience that we offer to him now. In fact, it’s one of those scriptures that we base our very consecration on.

We don’t understand, and we can’t understand the magnitude of what God has promised to those who are faithful and obedient and overcome now the glory that will be realized in the kingdom in heaven if we make that, can’t fathom it, but yet our hope is based on it, and that same thought is actually reiterated in Colossians 1, chapter 1, verses 27. Christ in you, the hope of glory. So I’d like to read that verse now, but I wanted our ears to be attuned to that advocacy and see if you hear it. Revelations 3, verse 21.

To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne. Can you hear that advocate, Advocate speaking. He’s promoting that cause. He’s promoting that cause. But he’s also giving us a personal testimony as he relates this mystery of the Heavenly Father to the church, to the bride.

You know, there are many scriptures that name mysteries in the Scriptures, and we understand that mysteries is in reference to the. Some of the deeper things of the Heavenly Father’s plan. They are indeed a mystery to the world. In fact, I’ve come to the conclusion, and I don’t mean this in a negative way, and I’m not prejudging, but through my life and my interaction with the world and the peoples that I’ve come to know, I realize that when we bring up the subject of the Scriptures, most of the Scriptures are a mystery to the peoples that I’ve talked to, and, and that’s nothing negative against them.

It’s nothing negative against them. There are many mysteries. In fact, I think most of God’s Word is a mystery to the world, for instance, and I, and I most recently had another witness effort, a witness opportunity, I should say, with some Christian friends in the world, and we were discussing the Heavenly Father and we both agreed on one point.

And that point was that God is good. But that in itself is a mystery to them too. Because you and I, by the privilege of God’s grace and his Holy Spirit, understand that God is good all the time. He doesn’t just have moments of goodness. The world perceives our Heavenly Father as somebody that’s good.

They acknowledge his goodness. Welcome to Centrax. But by the perversions of Satan and his influences, they feel that he has a very dark side, very angry. You don’t ever want to come across that. In fact, we can categorize not just Christian, but all the religions of the world fall into that category.

Promote an eternal torment or a hellfire, or if they limit the blessings to whom God is going to give or their Creator is going to give, they feel that way for some reason, and I don’t know why this stuck in my head, but when my children, and they’re all adults now, when my children were growing up, there was a verse, a book that I remember reading to them, and it just really stuck in my head, and I. I can quote it verbatim, at least the portion that I think is applicable and has nothing to do with the Heavenly Father, has nothing to do with God. But the sentiment behind the character of this individual that it expresses is exactly to the point of how the world has been conditioned to believe whom God is and his character.

And some of you may know it, some of you may not, but I’ll go, here it goes. There was a little girl that had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead, and when she was good, she was very, very good. But when she was bad, she was horrid, and that’s the unfortunate truth about how the world believes God is.

They think he’s good, they acknowledge he’s good, but they think he has a very bad and dark side, which he doesn’t. In fact, the blessings and the privileges of having God’s Holy Spirit. We understand that God is good all the time. We understand that God is mighty, he is wise, he is gracious beyond concept, he is merciful. He is willing to give beyond what, what is ever earned in any of our lives.

And he bases all these principles on love.

Psalms 18, verse 30 tells us that he has all these in the highest capacity there is, and David explains to us that he is perfect in all ways. Everything about God is perfect, even his written word, and the word perfect, if you look it up in the dictionary, it’s very simply understood. It means complete.

God needs nothing. He needs nothing to live. He needs nothing to survive, and he has nothing but time to give to others because his love. Satan has attempted to perverse that written word of God over the years, and he’s had a lot of success. But you ever notice that God, with all his wisdom and power, never allowed Satan to change the original wording of the Bible, only the interpretations and translations.

But God’s word is perfect too, and, and the Scripture that we have, our theme text, is perfect in the same sense, and I’m going to Explain that. I’m going to show you by some examples of the perfection in God’s Word, completeness in God’s Word. For example, in the Book of Genesis, chapter 2, verses 16 and 17, the context is that Father Adam was alone in the garden before Mother Eve was taken from him.

And God had told him, of all the trees in this garden you can eat freely of, but of that one tree of the knowledge of good and evil you cannot touch, for the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. That is straightforward and to the point. It’s complete. It needs nothing else to get that point across. Very simple.

Now, if you look at it in the English terms or grammatically, it has a command, it has an action, and then it has a consequence, followed by a consequence or a result.

It’s a familiar verse and we know it, and it’s very short. Now I’m going to give you another one, and this is we may want to call this one of those Bible student verses. This is one we all quote, and it’s on the top of our minds all the time, and that comes from APostle Paul in First Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 22.

And that states, as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. Has an action and it has a result or a consequence. But think about that, brethren. Just those two short verses, those two little sentences, is the backbone of God’s plan for mankind.

The consequence of eating of that fruit of that tree, death entered into the world by the sin of that one man, Adam. But then in Corinthians, it tells us the consequential plan of salvation God has for mankind to bring them back out of the depths of despair and bring them back into harmony, and there’s two short verses. I’m going to add one more to round this out, and it’s another familiar scripture, that’s Revelations 2:10, and I’m only going to quote the last portion.

Be thou faithful unto death, and God will give you a crown of life. So in those three short verses, that couple of sentences that we just spoke from the word of God, that perfect word of God, you have the entire plan of God. You have the consequent fall from grace and man’s falling into sin and death. You have God’s plan of salvation for mankind, and you have the second salvation mentioned, the race for the high calling. Our verse that we’re looking at today is perfect in that sense.

It has an action and it has a consequence or result. Now, I wanted to look at that in those terms of the action and the result in its perfect concept. I want to look at it in a little bit of a reverse order. I’d like to look at it first as the result. We call it the reward.

And our Lord tells us our master is being quoted by John and he says, I will grant for you to sit with me in my throne, and then he adds to that, he says, even as I overcame and was granted to sit in my father’s throne, why did he add that comparison? Paracletus. That’s that intercession he’s doing. He’s advocating this cause, this policy, but he’s telling us, as a big brother, hey, I’ve gone through this and I can guarantee you that the heavenly Father blessed me with this to sit in his throne, and he will do the same for you.

He’s intervening on our behalf, brother. He’s intervening on our behalf. We can’t concept. We have no concept of what the heavens are like. We have scriptures, but we can’t truly imagine the grandness of God’s heavenly realm, but our Lord can.

And he’s telling us that. He’s giving us his personal testimony as a big brother would, as a lovingly big brother would, and saying, listen, it’s worth it. I’ve gone through this already and I’m here to help you. Now he speaks of a throne, and he was granted to sit in the throne, God’s throne, and it will be granted for us to sit in his throne.

So what do you picture, what comes to mind when you think of the word throne? Well, I can tell you my experience, and that is probably from all the books and the movies that I’ve seen in my lifetime. A throne is a great big ornate chair, has a high back on, at least in my mind, has a high back on it. It’s extremely wide, it’s upholstered and looks extremely comfortable, and most likely it’s gilded with gold and some jewels.

That’s what comes to my mind. But we know that God didn’t grant our Lord a comfortable chair to sit in. It’s not always talking about. We realize it’s symbolic. So what does the throne represent that he’s talking about?

Well, who sits in a throne? Kings sit in the throne. Royalty sits on his throne. So it’s reasonable to think that our master was granted to sit on a throne, that he became royalty, that God made him royalty. God made him a king.

And it’s reasonable to assume that God has that same reward in mind for those who follow after his son, and are found faithful.

Of course, the literal thrones that we are familiar with, whether it be history or movies or books, whatever, it’s a ceremonial seat and it represents something, and each time in history that I’ve come across this, they reinforce this particular aspect of a throne over and over again. The throne is the highest seat of authority in any kingdom, and in reference to that or in support of that, typically, where the thrones were in a kingdom, they were always put in a palace or a castle that was the highest in the land, close to the top of a hillside or a mountain as high as they could build to reinforce that it is the highest seat of authority in all the land.

So it’s reasonable to assume that God made our Lord a king. He made him into royalty to sit on that throne. But it says that he gave it to Him. So therefore our Lord never possessed this before. So what was it that God possessed by Himself that He gave to His Son and made him into royalty?

Well, we realized that he gave our Lord glory. Glory is the highest of renown, the highest honor. We realize that. But what else did God have alone that he gave to His Son? And he has promised to those who are faithful Also, there are many evidences in the Scriptures, but I use the text from First Timothy, chapter 6, verse 16, and it states, he alone is immortal.

God had immortality by himself. He alone had it, and now he has given it to His Son, and his Son, our Master, is now immortal, which makes him a king, because it is the highest form of life there is. There is nothing higher.

And with that form of life where life, you, you have authority and power over death and life, death cannot prevail, and you can create life on that plane of existence which makes him a king, made him into royalty. So we can see, I think simply that the throne represents immortality and the glory that goes with it. That’s reaffirmed in Revelations 2:10, a scripture we mentioned earlier. What is it that God promised to give to those who are faithful unto death?

A crown of life, a reference to royalty, and we know that he gave our Lord immortality, and the Scriptures abound. One of those references is in Revelations 1:18, where it says that Jesus lives forevermore. That’s a reference to his immortality.

He cannot die. Or what about those who follow? What about you and I who are attempting to run this race? Are there any promises in the Scriptures for us? They abound too.

Romans 6:5 says, if we are planted in the likeness of his death, we will also be raised in the likeness of his resurrection. Immortality Brother, like I said, I can’t conceptualize it. But I know it’s there. I know God has promised it. What a blessing that is.

I want to digest that for a moment. Let’s just think about this for one moment. We know that there is no higher form of life. Immortality where you cannot die. Immortality where you can create life.

We know that God had this all to Himself. He alone was immortal for eons of time, however long before he created the Logos and the creation started. We don’t know, we can’t conceptualize that either. But he alone was immortal.

But yet he has offered that and given it to His Son, and he has promised that to those who are faithful to share that same level of life that he had by Himself and He enjoyed for millenniums. My human mind asks a question. What would possess God to give that high of a reward, that high of a gift to anybody? Why wouldn’t he want to just keep it for Himself?

But that’s the answer to my own question. My human mind. God doesn’t think like us. He is not burdened with or yoked by the current fallen condition that we exist under.

We are driven by selfishness in this world. Says we are born in sin and we are shapened in iniquity, and it’s Satan’s input that iniquity, that lie that we should take care of ourselves before we take care of anybody else. Selfishness is against everything that God says. You see, once we consecrate, we try to get out of that line of thought.

We try to become more Christlike, more like the mind of God himself and put those things down and get rid of this iniquitous sin and lies that we’ve been shaping in throughout our lives. God is far above human logic and human reason. He doesn’t think like man. His ways are far superior, far above. Isaiah 55, 8, 9 tells us that he’s perfect in all ways.

He’s not tethered by the limits of sin as we are in mankind. Okay, so we’ve established that God being the omnipotent, being immortal, needing nothing from anybody else, he can do what he wants. There’s no reason that he can’t give immortality. But that doesn’t give us the motivation. There has to be something that motivated our Heavenly Father to offer that in the first place.

And the Scriptures relate that to us.

So we’re going to look at a few Scriptures now, brethren, on that very subject. We’re going to start in Ephesians, chapter 3, verse 11.

And it says, according to the eternal purpose which he proposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God has a purpose. Apostle Paul’s telling us God has a purpose and it’s eternal. Eternal means forever. So it’s been here forever, and it will be forever. What is that purpose?

Go back a couple chapters. Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 10, and it says that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ. Now, I’m going to stop reading that verse there for a moment. God has a plan to gather all things in one into Christ.

And you say, well, Brother George, of course we know that God has a plan, that he’s going to bring man back into harmony, into unity with God in the kingdom. But the verse stops. I stopped reading it. But the verse continues, and it says where he’s going to bring that unity.

And it’s not only in the earth, but it says both, which are in the heavens and which are on the earth, even in Him. God has a purpose, and it’s to bring into unity not only the world, mankind, but the heavens, where God exists, where his throne is, where he’s lived it forever, and it’s perfect. Everything about God is perfect. We’ve read that.

And if it’s perfect, that means it has to be in balance and in unity with God.

So aren’t the heavens already in unity with God?

There’s another scripture we want to read. That’s first. Colossians, chapter 1, verse, or Colossians 1, I should say chapter 1, verse 16, and it says, for by him were all things created that are in the heaven and that are in the earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by him and for Him.

So all things were created by God and for God. But you know what that scripture we can actually apply to our Lord the Master. Because first John tells us that all things were created by him too. So God we could take that Scripture to mean that they were created for God, but they could also be taken, that they were created for His Son, our Master. So we need a little clarity on that.

So let’s look at Revelations, chapter 4, verse 11.

And that reads, thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they all were created. I think that clarifies that this is God. So God has a purpose to bring unity to the heavens and to the earth through Christ, and everything was created for his pleasure. We need one more Scripture I think it’ll bring it all to life.

And that’s Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 22.

And this is talking about the thrones that the Lord has mentioned and were created, in whom ye also are builded together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. A habitation of God to dwell in those thrones with the people, to have the same mindset, to have the same heart desire, to have the same level of life, and I think, brethren, it becomes apparent God’s eternal purpose is to have a heavenly family the same as he is on the same plane of existence. That’s a beautiful thought. The Lord’s giving it to us.

I want to put this in perspective and how I did it in my mind. It made this so much more clear and I hope it sheds a little light for you. God has blessed many of us who are listening. He’s blessed us with that privilege of bringing children into this world. Procreation.

What an exciting time. I can remember when my children were born and we first found out about, especially the first one. That was an exciting time. You’re nervous, trying to get things ready at home, but everybody around you, it’s like a beehive of activity. All your family members and the neighbors.

It’s just a very exciting time, and then the time comes and the baby’s born. Go probably to the hospital, like many of us, and the baby’s born and you see that baby for the first time and you fall in love. Consequently, we bring that baby home and we realize we are in charge of this human life.

We have the responsibility of the protection and the upbringing of this child and its safety. But we know after a short time it comes with a great response, responsibility. Doesn’t it? Yeah. Those 2:00 and 3:00 feedings and diaper changes.

Then you realize this is no easy task. But a short time passes and those children, those infants grow up to be little children. They become little people. They just impress themselves on your hearts even more. But all while you’re still responsible for their protection, their safety and their upbringing.

Oh, and a little more time passes and it’s been said that they become like aliens and they become that teenage years where they don’t. Nothing makes sense. But we’ve all gone through that. We made it through, and our children do too.

And eventually they come to that point where they can stand on their own. They finished their education, they’re still safe under your care, but they’re able to. To take their safety into their own hands. Now you’ve taught them enough and they’re ready to leave the house, and they do.

They get their jobs, most likely, and sometimes, most times, they find a mate of their own and they marry that mate, and quite possibly they produce children just as we did. But now they’re our grandchildren. What a joy that is to see that again, huh?

But now they’ve experienced the same things as we have. They are on the same level as you are, and one of the greatest pleasures I have now in my life at this age is I can sit or I can be on the phone with my adult children and I can have an adult conversation with them. This is what the Heavenly Father wants. He started with his Son, his only begotten Son.

And after that severe testing that he allowed him to go through to prove his obedience and his dedication, God granted him to sit in that throne, to be immortal. The same is he. In Revelations, chapter 16, God has promised that very same blessing to 144,000 other individuals to sit in individual thrones as well, to be part of that heavenly family, to be in the very same form in his likeness and specifically brother, to have the same mind and the same heart where he can be in that habitation with you.

That’s powerful.

This is what our Master is advocating. He’s advocating this very cause in our theme. This is the desire of the Heavenly Father, and in God’s great wisdom, he is invited for as many who will answer that call to forfeit this life now on earth and in the future, forever, and if faithful, take up an existence the same as he has in the heavens forever. Brethren, that is the epitome of grace.

Every dictionary, every encyclopedia should have that example for grace. There’s nothing more gracious than that. But we know that this reward comes with the highest of contingencies, and it comes with a term limit. From the time you dedicate your life till the time you draw your last breath as a man or a woman faithful unto death.

And what is it that God asked us in our theme text? What is it that we have to do? He simply says overcome. What does God want us to overcome? Well, I think Apostle Paul condenses it very nicely in Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 2 and 3.

And he says, it’s the world, it’s the flesh, and it’s the devil himself, and we all have to endure that because we come from this world. Even our Master, even though he was perfect, after our master symbolized his consecration and his baptism at the river Jordan and the Spirit descended on him, he went off into the wilderness and for 40 days he didn’t eat, he didn’t drink, and he contemplated the will of God with that now ability to understand what he had learned and what he had read, and he was very weak and tired, and Satan came to him.

Satan came to him and he tempted him not once, not twice, but three different times in each of those same categories. The world, the flesh and the devil.

But our Lord, so full of the spirit and so strong, was able to repel anything that Satan put in front of him, and he put him down. But that was only a short period of time. Revelations 2, 10 applied to our Lord too. Be faithful unto death.

Did the Satan completely stop trying to tempt the heavenly. I’m sorry, tempt the Lord. Absolutely not. He went about it in a different way, and he began to tempt him through the servants and the peoples that surrounded him.

And we have evidence of that. Near the end of our Lord’s ministry, he had told them that he had to die. It was the will of God for him to die. Remember Peter’s reaction. Peter grabbed him by the arm.

He said, not so, Lord. That’ll never happen. What was our Master’s reaction to that? He said, get thee behind me, Satan, and thanks to our heavenly Father and our wonderful Master that he was so strong and so dedicated that through the remaining three and a half years of his life, even when they nailed him to that tree, he remained faithful and repelled all temptations and became that perfect example for you and I.

First book of John, chapter 2, 15, 17. John condenses those three categories even further and he calls them the lusts of the flesh. That’s the desires of the flesh through the insights and the lies of Satan. Satan wants us to believe that we should take care of ourselves first before we help anybody else, and that we should do more for ourselves than anybody else, and those are the lusts of the flesh.

Those lusts of the flesh, the desires of the flesh, are very strong. Satan knows that. That’s how he attacks us. He wants to come after you. He wants to prey on those desires that you have through his lies that he has perpetuated.

The revelations, chapter 17, verse 14 says that those very items are at war with the Lamb, our master, and it includes those who follow after the Lamb, you and I. Anyone who has given their heart to God and is walking this Narrow Way.

Chapter 17, verse 14 in the Revelations, finishes by saying to those whom are called, to those who have heard that call, to answer it, and then chosen, chosen by the Heavenly Father, given his guiding Spirit, anointing, Spirit sanctified through his Word, and including justified by God through the merit of our Master, and the third one, it depends on us to be faithful. Faithful to death. All three standards have to be met, called chosen and faithful.

Can’t have one, can’t have two, must be all three. But I must reiterate, as we all know this, being faithful isn’t just faithful to God. That is a majority of it. But we have to remember we have taken a vow, and therefore, brethren, we have to be faithful to that vow as well.

And what is that vow? That vow is to give up everything that this earth has to offer now and forever, including those three categories, the world, the flesh, and the devil, to be transformed from this character that we have and the character we’ve developed in this fallen human condition to our master’s character. The Oxford Dictionary defines overcome to mean to succeed in dealing with, to defeat and prevail, and that’s good. But I think the Greek word is really.

The understanding of the Greek word really magnifies the thought here.

And it says basically the same. To succeed in dealing with, to defeat, prevail. But it gives us a synonym, another word that means the same thing. I think this really adds depth to our thought. To conquer, to get the victory.

What is it? When you conquer something, you stand atop of it, you put your foot on it, and you put it down forever. The world, the flesh and the devil. That’s what God wants us to overcome forever.

Be thou faithful unto death, not just for one moment, but for the remainder of our consecrated lives.

The apostle in Romans gives us that same synonym and uses it in a text referring to this walk in a narrow way, and the end result more than conquers. By adding that one word more, he really magnifies the thought to not only conquer, but turn, be decisive, to remove all doubt, not in just our minds, but the heavenly Father’s mind.

I’m running out of time, brethren. I’m going to have to speed up here just to get through. We know that being of this household of faith, that we walk this narrow way, that there are many pitfalls and one of them is not being prepared, and that’s an example that was given to us in Matthew 25th chapter, the wise and the foolish virgins, and we don’t have time, we’re going to have to pass over that.

But it’s important. It’s important to remember that we could fail even though we have this opportunity. We could fall, we could stumble, and the biggest lesson that comes from that is preparation. The wise virgins had their oil ready.

The foolish virgins did not. Holy Spirit. That’s what the oil represents for the lamps, a light unto my feet. That’s what they burned for fuel. We take every opportunity, dear brother, every opportunity that God has given us to gather that spirit, to understand more of his precious words, but more so apply those lessons in our lives so that we can repel the world, the flesh and the devil.

The foolish virgins, Romans 8:37 doesn’t apply to them. They are not more than overcomers. They fell short. Nor does Revelations 3:21. He that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne.

But by the grace of God, he will give them an opportunity to have their robes washed white because they were soiled from not letting go of the world. We don’t want that to happen, brother. We don’t want that to happen to any of us.

Revelation 7:16 says that they will. This, this great multitude that’s given to us in Revelation 7:9 will not receive the opportunity to sit on the thrones, but they will stand before the thrones and serve God day and night. Brethren, I’m going to wrap this up in conclusion. I need not tell you, but I’m going to tell you anyhow. We have the greatest opportunity that ever was and ever will be in this whole universe to pick up our cross, to follow in our Master’s footsteps, to answer that call to be sanctified.

And it remains up to us to be faithful and to be overcomers, and the glories that lie beyond we cannot imagine, but we know they’re there because our Lord has given us his personal testimony that it is there, and it will happen.

And if we do fought, brethren, we will become part of that eternal purpose to make be in the Heavenly Father’s presence, to see him daily, to be part of that family on the same level of existence as he is. Matthew 25:31. We don’t have time to read it, but that’s a scripture that relates exactly of the opportunity that’s given to us to sit in those thrones and receive the glory as our Master. Brethren, it’s a road filled with many pitfalls, many hardships, many stumbling stones. But we must be diligent to be more than overcomers.

And we have the knowledge that the world will be blessed someday. But we have the exciting knowledge of the Holy Spirit that if we are faithful and we complete that faith and that walk faithfully, and if we overcome, God will grant us the highest position there is in this universe and sit on that throne and assist our Lord in bringing man back out of this depths of despair and this Adamic curse and bring him back into the condition as Adam was that God had created him, perfect and complete, and we will sit on those thrones immortal and share in his glory forever. Amen.

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