To Overcome Or Be Overcome!

All believers have two choices, and only two – to overcome or be overcome. In other words, we are either overcomers or undergoers. If we are overcomers we will stand victorious in Christ, and if not we will be deceived by the New Age movement with even knowing it! Seeing that we are living in the last of the last days we must make this decision now!

A Call to be like Jesus

All believers are expected by God the Father to be more and more like His Son Jesus Christ as they journey through their Christian walk. Jesus was and is the ultimate overcomer. He has overcome the world!

Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world (John 16:33).

If we want to be like Him we must learn to be overcomers.

Paul said, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).

Paul was writing to the Roman Christians. It is obvious that if Christians do not overcome evil, evil will overcome them!

The Christian life is never easy. Why? There are many reasons, but the primary reason is that many Christians are confused believers. We often fail to understand the purpose of our salvation and the purpose of our destination after we are saved. It is not easy to answer questions like – Why am I here? What I am doing? Why I am doing it? Where I am going and why I am going there and so on?

Beware of confusing "Biblical" Teaching

In order to be overcomers we must know the Scripture and seek to understand what God is teaching us through His Word. Do not accept every teaching from the pulpit without confirmation from His Word. Beware of preachers who preach from books or other people’s material without the revelation from the Holy Spirit. Even if their teachings sound logical and Biblical you are likely to be confused by wrong emphasis on spiritual things derived from questionable theological doctrines! Nowadays believers are looking for credentials. Highly qualified theologians are more welcome than Spirit filled and Spirit led preachers without credentials. Many believers are under a curse because they trust in man’s teaching rather than trusting the Lord (Jeremiah 17:5 – 8).

The following are some common areas of confusion:

1. Holiness and Righteousness

Holiness is not the same as righteousness. The clearest answer is simply this – Holiness is what God is, righteousness is what God does. Therefore, Holiness is what we become, righteousness is what we do.

Peter said, “But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15, 16, NKJV).

Christians are to be holy because God is holy. But, many do not know the principles of holiness and righteousness.

What causes a lot of pain, a lot of suffering, a lot of discouragement and a lot of frustration in the lives of God’s people is that they try to be righteousness without first being holy. Therefore an important spiritual principle is, “We must be, before we do”!

That is why when Jesus began to train His disciples He started in the areas of Beatitudes (Matthew 5). He taught His disciples on the quality of being. And then out of the quality of being he instructed them in the area of doing.

Concerning the coming of the day of the Lord Peter said, “Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat” (2 Peter 3:11, 12, NKJV, emphasis added)?

In other words, first of all God wants you to be someone who has holy conduct and godliness. Then God wants you to do – looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God. Basically what God wants believers to do is to do the work of an overcomer to preach and share the Gospel – to fulfill the Great Commission. This is the only way to hasten the Second Coming of Jesus Christ (Matt. 24:14).

2. Salvation and Destination

Do not try to understand the teaching of men – even renowned men. If you do, you will be confused! Try to understand fully the teachings of John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, “Reformed view” and the Arminian view you will know what I mean. Theologians, Bible Scholars are still very much divided over the doctrine of predestination and the doctrine of freewill! They are divided because they are confused. The truth is both the Calvinist and the Arminian views are correct. God uses both predestination and freewill!

The right thing to do is to be simple – go back to the Scripture and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you how to understand the Bible View!

One of the most important spiritual principles is:

God has not called us to be saved. He has saved us that He might call us.

In other words, salvation is not our calling but our beginning (2 Tim. 1:8, 9). Our calling is our destination – to where we are going. Where are we going? We are going to the conformity to the image of Jesus Christ. We are called to His kingdom and glory, we are called to virtue and maturity, we are called to inherit son-ship (to be the true sons of God), we are called to perfection – that is the destination of individual believers and the destination of the Church of Jesus Christ!

Concerning Christian perfection Paul said, “…till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; ….” (Eph. 4:13, emphasis added).

3. “Many are called, but few chosen”

Jesus said, “So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen” (Matthew 20:16).

Peter said, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

But we know that not all will come to repentance and be saved. Why? Not because God does not want them to. But because some choose to reject, choose to tread underfoot what is offered to them! So then we see that predestination has a lot to do with our destination and not with our salvation. After we have exercised our freewill and chosen (made the right choice) to be saved we are called to maturity and perfection. But not all will arrive! Few will have the determination and the commitment. Therefore Jesus said, “Many are called, but few, chosen”. Notice that the word “chosen” refers to our freewill to choose!

The Benefits of the Overcomers

John heard a loud voice from heaven during his exile on the island of Patmos:

“(V. 7) He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. (V. 8) But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:7, 8, NKJV, emphasis added).

The following conclusions can be drawn from the above two verses of Scripture:

1. The description of verse 7 is in direct contract with the description of verse 8.

2. The overcomer belongs to God – he a true son of God! He shall not face the second death. Being a son he shall inherit all things. Whatever belongs to God belongs to him! This is a wonderful promise of God!

3. A person who fits one or more descriptions listed in verse 8 does not qualify to be an overcomer. He does not belong to God and so he is not a son of God. He inherits nothing except the Second death. His destiny is “in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone”!

4. The phrase “All liars” in verse 8 means all categories of liars; there is no exception. God intentionally includes liars of every conceivable description. A person who willfully rejects the Truth of God’s Word is a liar. A person who claims to be an imitator of Christ but fails to be a doer of the Word is a liar. A self-proclaimed prophet whose prophecies are found to be false is a liar. A preacher or Pastor who compromises God Word is both a liar and a deceiver. A good example is the preacher of the New Age doctrines. Any true Christian who constantly upholds the truth of God’s Word will not be deceived by the New Age doctrine. Therefore everyone, either he is a preacher, Pastor, or a member of the New Age church, is not qualified to be an overcomer! Anyone who is involved in the New Age movement cannot be an overcomer! Anyone who is deceived by false doctrines cannot be an overcomer!

The Overcomers in the Seven Churches

The first thing we notice about the Seven Churches described in Chapters 2 and 3 in the Book of Revelation is that there are overcomers in all these Churches, including the two Churches (Church in Smyrna and Church in Philadelphia) which receive no rebuke from the Lord. This means that all Churches need overcomers.

We are overcomers because there are things for us to overcome – there are obstacles or oppositions for us to overcome. We need to overcome the devil, our adversary:

Peter said, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world” (1 Peter 5:8, 9).

We also need to overcome persecution:

Paul said, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12)

The following are some observations concerning the overcomers:

1. The overcomer is someone who “has the ear to hear what the spirit says to the Churches”. This phrase appears in the description of all the Seven Churches. In other words, all overcomers are sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit and consequently receive the counsel and revelation of the Lord even in the Local Churches.

2. The overcomer will “eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God” (Rev. 2:7).

3. The overcomer will be given “some of the hidden manna to eat. The Lord will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receivers it” (Rev. 2:17).

4. The overcomer “shall not be hurt by the second death” (Rev. 2:11).

Notice that this is consistent with Revelation 21:8.

5. The overcomer who keeps the Lord’s works until the end will be given “power over the nations” (Rev. 2:26) and the Lord will give him “the morning star” (Rev. 2:28).

6. The overcomer “shall be clothed in white garments, and the Lord will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but the Lord will confess his name before God the Father and before His angels” (Rev. 3:5).

7. The overcomer will be made “a pillar in the temple of God and he shall go out no more. The Lord will write on him the name of God and the name of the city of God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from God. The Lord will write on him His new name” (Rev. 3:12).

8. The overcomer will be granted “to sit with the Lord on His throne, as He also overcame and sat down with God the Father on His throne” (Rev. 3:21),

Notice that the reason why Jesus sat down with God the Father on His throne is because Jesus overcame everything while doing the Father’s Work when He was with His disciples. This means the only qualification for a believer to sit with the Lord on His throne is to be an overcomer!

Conclusion

John said, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5:4, 5, NKJV)?

Only born again believers are able to be overcomers. He who fails to become an overcomer lacks the faith to believe that Jesus is the Son of God! Therefore, his born again experience is questionable!