Somebody's car going off out
there. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed. People talk about being
blessed a lot, don't they? Unbelievers talk about being
blessed. And I fear that when most folks talk about being blessed,
that what they're referring to as blessings are really going
to end up being judgments. The word blessed means happy.
And unbelievers find their happiness in their favorable circumstances. and they come to the conclusion
that because they're experiencing a favorable circumstance that
therefore they have favor with God. And then they talk about
being blessed. That's not what it is to be blessed.
You see, for the child of God, everything is a blessing. Everything. Good or bad, indifferent. It's
all sent by a loving Heavenly Father for our good. Here's the greatest blessing
of all, isn't it? Blessed is the man whose sin. Transgression is forgiven, sin
is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no guile. How we hope the Lord will be pleased to bless us this
morning with his presence. What a blessing it is to be here.
Let's stand together. Tom's going to come lead us in
the hymn on the back of your bulletin, okay? Great God, thy glory and thy
love, our humble songs employ. In mercy from thy throne above,
look down and aid our joy. Thy presence and thy glory, Lord,
fill all the realms of space. O let thy presence, by thy word,
divinely fill this place. This hymn begins the solemn sound
of holy worship here. May every saint with joy abound
and reverential fear. Eternal Spirit, heavenly dove,
descend and fill this place. Reveal the Savior's matchless
love, the wonders of His grace. Please be seated. Would you turn with me, please,
in God's word to Isaiah 40. This is a verse, this verse is
here, that most of us are familiar with. But I was reading this,
and I thought, you know, the Lord has not left it up to our
decision or our discretion what we're to be doing right here
this morning. This is his call to worship, and he tells us this
is what we're to do. And I wish to God it was done
in more places this very morning. The Lord's speaking to Isaiah,
the gospel preacher. In verse one he says, Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem, that's the church, and cry unto her. And here's
Isaiah, here's what you're to tell her. This is what I want
you to tell the church. that her warfare is accomplished,
that her iniquity is pardoned, for your church hath received
of the Lord's hand double for all her sins." Tell them there's no battle for
them to fight. The Lord Jesus Christ has won
the battle. And for us to try to do something
is a denial that He's won that battle. And we have received
not only forgiveness of sin, but as Augustus' top lady said,
we've received the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what you're to tell these people. And if God enables our brother
and the gospel preacher anywhere to preach that, his people will,
they'll be comforted. The voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord, make straight
in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted
and every mountain and hill shall be made low and the crooked shall
be made straight and the rough places plain. You know, I was
reading that, I think Greg, you mentioned one time, Brother Henry
says, we don't need to go exposing all the lies in religion, just
lay the ruler down and you'll see the lies. And the glory of
the Lord, that's why we're here, shall be revealed. And all flesh
shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken
it. And the voice said, Isaiah, what am I to do? Cry. And he
said, what shall I cry? The Lord tells him, tell them
this, that all flesh is grass, and that the goodliness thereof
is as a flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth, because the spirit of the lord bloweth upon it surely
the people that's us we're nothing but grass and the grass withereth
the flower fadeth but the word of our god shall stand forever
i was thinking that wouldn't it be never been but i wonder
how many of our so-called seminaries or cemeteries will declare teach
classes this what you need to do tell their warfare is accomplished
tell them their sins been forgiven god's receipt not only forgiven
their sins but he's given the righteous in the christ we put
a big sign out there says all flesh is grass that's not going
to draw a crowd that's not what they're going to tell me that's
what the lord has commanded I want to close with a I'm not, like
I said, I'm not a very bright man, but I like things simple. And I remember Brother Charles
Pennington said there's three things he's never been able to
do when he preached. He said, I've never been able
to preach Christ too high. We tried to exalt him, but our
words, they just seem to fail, don't they? The second thing
he said, I've never been able to preach man too low. Whatever
we hear about ourselves today, I guarantee you, we're worse
than that. And the last, oh, it stirs my
heart to even say it. He said, I've never been able
to preach grace too free. God's grace is free to his people.
It's a gift of God. Nothing we can do to earn it,
but plead with him. And he gives it freely. because
he's done all the work. It's his to give. And I pray
the Lord will bless us this next hour. Please join me as we try
to pray. Lord, we confess that unless
you enable us, we can't even pray. We can't worship you. We can't glorify you. We are totally dependent, Lord,
on your spirit upon us to enable us to do that. But it is our
heart's desire, a desire that you put there. Oh, how we pray
for our brother and your gospel preachers, wherever they might
be in front of your people this morning, that you put your spirit
upon him and that you speak through our brother Greg and give him
the ability to declare Christ and his victory in salvation. And as your people to see that
we are but grass and that we all our salvation is in Christ
and he is our hope. And pray that you would crush
any hope that we might have outside of Christ. And that we would
be enabled us to give you all all of the glory. We ask that
Christ would take this prayer and that he, he alone would make
it acceptable to our God, the Father, in his name, amen. Let's stand together again. We'll
sing hymn number 229 from the Hardback Tymbal, 229. Tell me the old, old story of
unfeigned things above, of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His
love. Tell me the story simply as to
a little child For I am weak and weary and helpless and defiled
Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and his love. Tell me the story slowly that
I may take it in, that wonderful redemption, God's remedy for
sin. Tell me the story often, for
I forget so soon. The early dawn of morning has
passed away at noon. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and His Lord. Tell me the story softly with
earnest tones and grave. Remember I'm the sinner that
Jesus came to save. Tell me the story always, if
you would really be In any time of trouble, a comforter to me
Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and His love. Tell me the same old story When
you have cause to fear That this world's empty glory Is costing
me too dear Yes, and when that world's glory is dawning on my
soul, tell me the old, old story, Christ Jesus makes the whole. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and His love. Please be seated. Breathe. Be still, my soul. The Lord is on thy side. Bear patiently the cross of grief
or pain. Leave to thy God to order and
provide. In every change, be faithful,
remain. Be still, my soul, thy best,
thy only friend. through thorny way leads to a
joyful end. Be still, my soul, thy God doth
undertake to guard the future as he has
the past. Thy hope, thy confidence, let
nothing shake. All now mysterious shall be bright
at last. Be still, my soul, the waves
and winds still know. His voice to rule them while
He dwelt below. Be still, my soul. The hour is hastened long, when we shall be forever with
the Lord. When disappointment, grief, and
fear are gone. Sorrow forgot, love's purest
joys restored. Be still, my soul, when change
and tears have passed. All safe and blessed we shall
meet at last. Thank you, Bree. Can't listen
to that without crying in my heart. Lord, help
thy mine unbelief. We get so disquieted over our
circumstances, don't we? We savourish the things of men
rather than the things of God, that the Lord would enable us
in this hour to rest in the Lord Jesus Christ, to
believe on Him. Will you open your Bibles with
me to the book of Revelation chapter 2, please? I guess this is somewhat of a
continuation of the message last week on what is it to be an overcomer. Seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3, the Lord
uses to symbolize each and every church and all churches of every
age And we see ourselves in each one of these, whether he's affirming
them for things that they've been faithful for or whether
he is correcting them for things that they've been unfaithful
for. The seven churches of Asia Minor, each one of them is a
great, great message of hope for every church. And I hope
it will be for us. I want to look at all seven churches
this morning because there's something that's consistent with
all seven churches. And that is that the Lord says
to all seven churches, let him who has an ear hear what the
Spirit sayeth unto the churches. Now we know that the seeing eye
and the hearing ear are both from the Lord. And the only way
that we're going to have an ear to hear is if he gives us one. And so he says, let him who has
an ear to hear, hear, hear. If I have a ear to hear, if God's
given me an ear to hear, I'll hear what the Lord is saying
to the seven churches. In each one of these churches,
he not only says, let him who has an ear to hear, hear, but
then he goes on to say, and he that overcometh. Each one of the seven churches,
he that overcometh. And then he pronounces a blessing,
a promise for those in each church who are overcomers. Now we know that all the promises
of God are yea and amen in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord said,
in this world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. And we saw last Sunday, turn
with me if you will back just a couple of pages to 1 John chapter
5. I remind you of this passage,
1 John chapter 5 verse 4, for whatsoever is born of God overcometh
the world. and this is the victory I don't
like giving you words from the original language because I never
want you to think you've got to know Greek in order to understand
the Bible but the word overcomer and the word victory is the same
word in this verse and it's the word Nike Nike N-I-K-E Nike that's
where that word comes from so it means victory How am I going
to have the victory over sin? How am I going to have any hope
that the promises that God gave to the churches are for me? Well,
first of all, we have to be born of God. And the Lord said, Whatsoever
is born of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory
that overcometh the world, even our faith. Faith is the gift
that God gives in the new birth to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he makes that clear in the
next verse. Who is he that overcometh the world? But he that believeth
that Jesus is the Son of God. They are the ones who overcome
the world. If you're like me, I know sometimes you feel like
you're being overcome by the world. But if you believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, if you believe that He is the
Christ, the Son of the living God, that as the Christ, He came
in the full power of the Spirit of God and accomplished the salvation
of His people? You believe that He ascended
back into glory and took with Him the names of those for whom
He lived and died, you resting all the hope of your salvation
on His accomplished work of redemption? You believe that He satisfied
all the demands of God's holy law? You believe that by the
shedding of His blood, He covered all the sins of all of His people
once and for all? by the sacrifice. That's what
it means to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Anyone
that confesses that, believes that, has not been overcome by
the world. The world doesn't believe that. Oh, they'll say Jesus is God,
they'll say Jesus is the Christ, and then they'll turn right around
in defining Him, deny the very essence of what that means. So
here's what the Lord says. Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh
the world. And this is the victory, even
our faith. Who is he that overcometh the
world? He that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. We have the victory in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he will keep us. He will
keep us. As we saw in the first hour,
a just man falleth seven times, but he will be recovered a seven
times one. The Lord will not allow his people
to fall away from him. John put it like this in another
place. He said, they went out from us, John chapter two, because
they were not of us, for had they been of us, they would have
remained. So, just like Peter, just like
Peter, we're just like him, aren't we? We hear the voice of God,
we believe. Thou art the Christ, the son
of the living God. And then we turn right around
and savoreth the voice of man. And when we're savoring the voice
of man, we think, oh Lord, I've overcome, I'm being overcome
by the world. And then the Lord is gracious
and merciful to rebuke us and to bring us back. And He turns
us. The prophet said, turn me, O
God, and I shall be turned. A child of God cannot be overcome
by the world. Cannot be. He will be faithful
to keep them from falling and present them thoughtless before
the throne of God. Now, here's The promise. Here's the promise. Turn with
me to John chapter 8. I want us to look at this passage
of scripture. John chapter 8. How do I know? How do I know that I've been
born of God? John chapter 8. Verse 37, the Pharisees were saying, we
be the seed of Abraham. We're the children of God. We're
the people of God. And they were looking at their
birthright for that position. And the Lord said to them, I
know that you're Abraham's seed, but you seek to kill me because
my word hath no place in you. My word. have no place in you. I speak that which I have seen
with my father and you do that which you have seen of your father." And they answered and said to
him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said unto them, if you
were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham.
Abraham believed God. He believed God. Here, the Lord
Jesus Christ, as the son of God, is speaking to those who claim
to be the children of Abraham, and they're not believing God.
They're not believing God. But now you seek to kill me,
a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of
God. This did not Abraham. You do
the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be
not born of fornication. We have one father, even God.
So they're claiming to be the people of God and they're not
listening to God and they're not believing God. And Jesus
said to them, if God were your father, you would love me. For
I proceeded forth and came from God. Neither came I of myself,
but he sent me. Why do you not understand my
speech? Even because you cannot hear
my word. You are of your father the devil
and the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from
the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no
truth in him. When he speaketh, he speaketh
a lie. He speaketh of his own for he
is a liar and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth,
you believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of
sin?" What did the Lord, what was the
truth that the Lord was telling them? That He is God. That He is God. Why do you not believe me? Verse
47. Here's how you can evaluate for
yourself, how I can evaluate for myself whether we be the
children of God. He that is of God heareth God's
word, you therefore hear them not because you are not of God. whosoever is born of God is an overcomer, a victor, victor. We're looking, hoping, resting
all the hope of our salvation in the glorious person and finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, believing that he came for the
purpose of saving his people and he accomplished what he came
to do. He that hath an ear, do you have
an ear? God giving you an ear for his
word, do you believe him? He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. You see the Spirit
of God is only speaking to the church. The Spirit of God is
not speaking to the world. Natural man cannot receive the
things of the Spirit. They're spiritually discerned.
He cannot know them. He cannot believe them. Why?
Because he's not of God. He's not of God. Now, the Lord has given us seven
precious promises to those who are of God, those who are overcomers
in Christ, those who believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of the living God, and what precious promises they are. Look
what the first one is to the church at Ephesus in Revelation
chapter 2. Interested in verse 6 that the
Lord rebukes the church at Ephesus because they had in their church
those Who believed in the doctrine of the Nicolaitans? Now the name
Nicholas means conqueror Conqueror and what was being practiced
in the church of Ephesus Ephesus is what's being practiced in
a lot of churches in most religious organizations today. Men who
believe themselves to be conquerors of the people. That's what it
means, conquerors of the people. It's the clergy laity scenario that everybody loves. The laity love it because it
puts all the responsibility for their salvation on the clergy.
The clergy love it because it gives them power over the laity.
And God says, I hate it. I hate it. They're not looking
to my son as the victor. They're not looking to my son
for their being conquerors. They're looking to a man. They've
set up a conqueror over the people. He that hath an ear, verse seven,
Let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him
that overcometh will I give to eat the tree of life which is
in the midst of the paradise of God. Now turn with me to Genesis
chapter two. We're gonna have to move quickly
through some of these and I can tell right now we're probably
not gonna get through all seven of these promises. But Genesis
chapter two, verse nine. Genesis chapter 2 verse 9, and
out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is
pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also
in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil. Now the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil is the tree of free will. The tree of life
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And so in the midst of the garden
amongst all these Beautiful trees, there are two trees, the tree
of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God said, don't
eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Remember when
Satan said, did God say you should not eat the tree? No, God didn't
say we should not eat the trees. We're free to eat of any of the
trees except for that one, except for that one. And that's the
one Eve took from. Look at verse 10. And a river
went out of Eden to water the garden and from thence it was
parted and became into four heads. So here we have the tree of life,
planted by a river in the garden. Now turn with me to Exodus, Genesis
chapter three. Genesis chapter three, verse 22. And the Lord God said,
behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil. And now lest he put forth his
hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever
Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden
to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out
the man and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims
and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of
the tree of life. So this tree of life was eternal
life. Eating of this tree was a picture
of of being found in Christ and
living forever. And the Lord said, if we allow
man in his fallen state to partake of the tree of life now, he's
going to live forever as a sinner. And so God mercifully put him
out of the garden and guarded the east gate of the garden with
cherubims and a flaming sword, lest the man be able to come
back into the garden and eat of the tree of life and live
forever separated from God. Now, what's God saying to me
and you? Death is a mercy. It's a mercy for the child of
God. Our temporal lives in this world, you see, if we were able
to live forever, we'd live in this state in which we're in.
Who wants that? Who wants that? Michael and I
were talking this morning. He was telling me he had a grandmother
that was 104, something like that. She died, and she was telling
Michael at the end of her life, she said, you know, the sad thing
about being as old as I am is that I've watched, I've buried
my children, my grandchildren, and who'd want to live forever? The Lord put Adam out of the
garden so that he could physically die, and in dying physically,
turned with me to Revelation chapter 22. Revelation chapter 22. Look at verse 1. And He showed
me a pure river of water of life. That's the same river that we
found in the garden. This is a pure river. of the
water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne
of God and of the Lamb. And in the midst of the street
of it and on each side of the river was there the tree of life,
which bare 12 manners of fruits and yielded her fruit every month.
And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."
Oh, we're going to... You have fruit trees? You have
to wait all year to get one crop, don't you? And then you got more
than you can handle with, you know, all at one time. This tree
of life has a different fruit on it every month, all year round. Never get tired. The leaves of
this fruit are for the healing of the nations. This is the tree
of eternal life. This is a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You and I have to die physically
in order for us to be overcomers. I will Let him who has an ear
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He that overcometh
I will give to eat of the tree of life." The tree of life. We eat symbolically now. Spiritually
we eat. The Lord said if you eat not
of my flesh and drink not of my blood it's because there's
no life in you. We symbolize that in the Lord's table when
we take the bread and the wine. Spiritually we're We're trusting
in His body and His life lived in His body for the hope of our
righteousness. We're trusting in His shed blood
for the hope of our justification before God for the covering of
our sin. But all that's spiritual, all
that's just, we're looking through a glass dimly now, aren't we?
But then, but then we'll see Him face to face. The Lord says,
He that hath an ear to hear, Let him hear what the Spirit
sayeth. You lost that tree in the garden. There's still a seraphim set
over that garden. We can't see the fullness of
his glory yet. But he that overcometh, he that's
born of God, he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God,
all one day paradise is going to be opened. and the tree of
life is going to be there in all of his glory, in all of his
splendor, and you'll never tire of him. Never tire of him. What a precious promise. He that
overcometh, I will give to eat of the tree of life. Turn back with me to Revelation
chapter 2. There's only two of the seven churches that the Lord
had nothing to say negative to. And that's why we only name cities,
Smyrna, some of you live in New Smyrna, and Philadelphia. And we have friends from Philadelphia.
And those in the second church, you don't hear people naming
their cities after these other churches. You've never known
of a Laodicea, have you? Sardis? No, no. Look at Revelation
chapter 2, this is to Smyrna, verse 11. He that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Oh Lord,
I want to have an ear to hear. I want to be an overcomer. I want to hear. Lord, speak to
my heart. He that overcometh, shall not
be hurt of the second death. And most folks are worried about
the first death. And I guess in our flesh we, you know, we
do. We are concerned about the pain
of death, the uncertainty of death, the experience of death,
what's going to happen. Oh, but brethren and friends,
that's not what we need to be concerned about. It's the second
death. First death's nothing. First
death's nothing. It's the second death. He that overcometh shall not
be hurt. of the second death. Listen to
Revelation chapter 20 verse 6. Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection for the second death shall not
hurt him. Blessed is he that hath part
in the first resurrection Now the scripture teaches that we're
going to be raised and given a new body and this corruptible
is going to become incorruptible and this mortal is going to become
immortal. We're not going to be spirits
in the sky somewhere. We're going to see him and touch
him and sup with him in a perfect resurrected body just like his
body. So that's the second resurrection. What's the first resurrection?
The Lord Jesus Christ is called the firstborn among many brethren,
isn't he? That's the first resurrection. The first resurrection happened
2,000 years ago when the Lord Jesus Christ came forth victoriously,
overcoming the grave, overcoming the world. Be of good cheer.
I have overcome the world. And if you're in me, what did
Paul say? Oh, that I might know him and
the power of his resurrection. The fellowship of his suffering.
When Christ died on the cross, Lord, I need to know that I was
in you, that I died in you, that when you were raised from the
dead that I was raised in you. How can I know that? I'm resting
all my hope on him. I've got no place else to go.
I've got no place else to go. The crucifixion of the Lord Jesus
Christ is all the hope of my justification before God. The
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is all the hope of my
being an overcomer. And Paul said that I might know
him, the power of his resurrection. And he that hath part in the
first resurrection, the second death shall not hurt him. When
God separates the sheep from the goats and casts all unbelievers
with Satan into the lake of fire, that's the second death. We don't
have to worry about the second death if we have part in the
first resurrection. And the Lord said, He that hath
an ear to hear, hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He that overcometh shall not
be hurt of the second death. May God be pleased to cause us
to be more concerned about the second death than the first. The third one is the Church of
Pergamos. And they too had the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.
They too had men in their church that pretended to have power
over the people, pretended to be more holy. They had the holier
than thou group. That's what clergy do, isn't
it? They don't preach. as a sinner. They put men under
their authority and under the law. Here's the church at Pergamos. Look at verse 17. He that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
To him that overcometh will I give to eat the hidden manna, and
will give him a white stone And in the stone, a new name written. Now, you know all this is symbolic
language. It's symbolic language. Man, what did the Israelites
say when they had to eat manna for breakfast and manna for lunch
and manna for dinner? Every day, manna, manna, manna
for 40 years. What'd they say? We loathe this
light bread. Give us something else. And the
Lord sent them enough meat to make them vomit. They weren't
satisfied with the manna. Are you? That manna is Christ. Moses gave you not that bread
in the wilderness. My Father gave that unto you.
I am the bread of life. That sweet like honey, that white
holiness, that abundance for your daily sustenance, give us
this day our daily bread. They that overcometh, I will
give to eat of the hidden manna. This manna is not seen by the
world. It's not believed on by the world. They're not hoping
in Christ for their salvation. They're not feeding on him. They're
feeding on the dead carcasses of the flesh and
drinking from the broken cisterns of polluted waters. They don't
know anything about the river that's crystal clear. They that overcometh, I will
give to eat of the hidden manna. Now I know we drink, we eat.
You get food poisoning, it's not a good experience, is it? You ever get food poisoning spiritually?
You do, don't you? Drink something that's defiled,
eat something that's defiled, and it just makes you sick, doesn't
it? You go back to that manna, don't
you? You flee to the manna. for your satisfaction and for
your hope and for your peace, for your salvation. Now give
him white stone. And on that stone, a name will
be written. And what would the name, what is the name? Jehovah
said, can you, the Lord our righteousness. That's what the Lord said. And
she shall be called the Lord our righteousness. He's gonna
put his name on a stone and give it to us. We're gonna have his name written
on our foreheads and on our hands. It's what the scripture says.
What is that symbolic of? All of our thoughts are gonna
be of him and all of our works will be to his glory. What a
day that'll be. He that overcometh, I will give
to eat of the hidden manna and I will give him a white stone
with a new name written on it that no one knows but he himself. Fourth church, are these precious
promises? Can you hope in these promises? The Lord doesn't give us any
promises relating to what our circumstances are going to be
in this life. We just don't know. We don't know what he's ordained
for us. We know that whatever he does is right. We know it's
good. But here's some promises that
we can hang the hopes of our immortal soul on these promises
and believe God. That's what faith is, just believing
God. It's believing God. Lord, I don't have any place
to go but just to believe what you've promised. And the promises aren't going
to be realized until that day when He takes us home. the church at Thyatira in Revelation
2, verse 26, and he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the
end, to him will I give power over the nations. Now, turn with
me to 1 Corinthians 6, please, 1 Corinthians 6. You know, one of the ways you
can tell if you're an overcomer, you believe these promises. You
just believe them. As a matter of fact, it's the
only hope you have. Lord, I can't, I can't rest in
anything else. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, now the
church at Corinth had some problems and there were some cases where
believer was taking believer to court to settle disputes and
the Lord rebukes them for it and says it ought not to be.
Why would you as a believer go to an unbeliever for the resolution
of a problem with another believer? Bring some other believers in.
The wisdom of God will give you discernment on how to deal with
that. Look at what he says in chapter 6 verse 1, dare any of
you having a matter against another go to law before the unjust and
not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints
shall judge the world and if the world shall be judged by
you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know you
not that we shall judge angels? How much more of the things that
pertain to this life? Now that's what the Lord is saying
to the church at Thyatira in verse 26 of our text in Revelation
chapter 2. He that overcometh and keepeth
my works unto him will I give power over the nations. Now we
could look at several passages where the Lord says you're going
to be sitting on my throne. And by virtue of your union with
me, you are going to be passing judgment against the world. Now, what's the hope? That I'm
going to be sitting on the throne of Christ participating in that
judgment or whether I'm going to be on the other side being
judged. What discerns the difference between those two groups of people?
Well, the scripture tells us right here, he that overcometh
and keepeth my works. Keepeth my works. Oh, His work is perfect. His
ways are true. We're hoping in His work for
all our righteousness before God, aren't we? We're not looking
to our works. We're looking to His works. Who
shall stand in His presence? He that hath clean hands. How am I going to have clean
hands? Only by the work that he performed, we'll keep his
work. When we look to the work of redemption
that he accomplished on Calvary's cross, when we look to the work
of righteousness, which he did when he made the law of God honorable,
we're keeping his works in our hearts. God says, they shall
overcome. And they're going to sit with
me on the throne and judge the world. Revelation chapter 3, church
number 5, the church at Sardis. And verse 5, he that overcometh,
the same shall be clothed in white raiment. Who are these, John said, that
have white raiment? And the Lord said, you know who
they are. They are the ones that have overcome the world. What
is that white raiment? It's the righteousness of Christ.
The Lord makes that perfectly clear. That's the white raiment.
They're going to be dressed with it. And when the king at the
feast surveys the guests that are there at the feast and he
sees a man who's not in a wedding garment, he doesn't have a white
raiment on. Why? Well, just think about it.
Now, a king puts on a wedding feast for his son. And every
person that comes to his home, he gives them a coat to wear.
And they all look the same. A white robe to put over everything
else he's got. And this proud man walks into
the king's castle, and he looks at everybody with these white
robes on. And he looks at his own clothes, and he's spent a
lot of money on them. I mean, these are impressive
garments he's got on. And he says, no, thank you. I
don't want to look like everybody. I just wear what I've got. I'm
pretty impressed with what I've got. And the king finds that
man who doesn't have, he casts him out into utter darkness where
there's weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Isn't that,
you see those who don't overcome are looking to their own garments,
they're looking to their own works, they're looking to what
they've bought and paid for. They're looking for their righteousness
for the hope of being able to enter in. And the king says,
no, no your clothes are like those filthy rags that blind
Bartimaeus dropped on the side of the road when he came running
naked to the Lord Jesus Christ. You've got to have a white robe.
And he that overcometh, I'm going to give him a white robe. And
I'm not going to blot his name out of the book of life. Oh no,
he's going to have eternal life. And I will confess him before
my father. Father, he's one of mine. I died
for him. Oh, he that hath an ear to hear,
let him hear. The sixth church is the church
at Philadelphia. This one's glorious. All of them
are, but I love the imagery here for the church at Philadelphia.
The Lord gives, well, let's read it first, Philadelphia, is chapter
3 verse 12. He 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 and the name of
the city of my God which is New Jerusalem which cometh down out
of heaven from my God and I will write upon him my new name. Now in Judges chapter 16 you
remember when Samson the strong man who's a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ, having been blinded by the Philistines, was strapped
to the two pillars that were holding up the house that 3,000
people were in. And he prayed to God in his dying
moments that the Lord would restore his strength and enable him to
pull these pillars down. He did. And the scripture says
he killed more Philistines in his death than he did in his
life. The whole house came tumbling down on all those people. And then In 1 Kings chapter 7,
when Solomon builds the temple, he holds up the front porch of
the temple with two massive brass pillars. They're 18 cubits tall,
and the one on the right, he puts a name on the pillar, Jachin,
and on the one on the left, he puts a name on the pillar, Boaz. Now, that's what the reference
here is. And the word Jachin translated means established
and the word Boaz translated means strength. And the picture
here is that the Lord Jesus Christ has established the salvation
of His people as a brass pillar in the temple of God by His strength. You shall not be moved nor ever
taken away. And then in Hebrews chapter 12,
God says, that which can be shaken will be shaken, in order that
that which cannot be shaken will stand forever. You see, the pillars
of the Philistines can be shaken and they will be shaken. The
pillars of God, I will make Him to be. He that hath an ear to
hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. For
he that overcometh, I will make a pillar in the temple of God.
Jacob established Boaz, strength and he shall not be moved. That
temple can't be shaken. Now the Babylonians came in in
the fifth century BC and destroyed Solomon's temple and then the
Romans came in 70 AD and destroyed Herod's temple. Those were physical
temples. This temple cannot be shaken. It is a temple not built with
the hands of men. It is built by God in the heavens. And the Lord says, I'm going
to put you in that temple. You're going to be a brass pillar because
of my strength and what I've established. And the final church is the church
at Laodicea. Look at verse 21. Oh, what a
sad church Laodicea was. You say that you're rich and
increased with goods and in need of nothing. No, it's you're not.
That you're poor and miserable and blind and naked. Come and
buy me. Verse 21, to him that overcometh
will I grant to sit with me in my throne. even as I also overcame, and am sit down with my Father
in His throne." Who are they that overcome? They which believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God and believe on Him till their dying
breath. they get the victory and all
the promises of God and all the blessings of God are in the heavenlies
in Christ right now. What hope? What hope? The promises of this world don't amount to much, do they? Our God cannot lie. Rest all the hope of your salvation,
Overcomer, on His promises. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we ask that Your Holy Spirit
would speak these words to our hearts in such a way as to we're
made to believe them. We pray it in Christ's name.
168. Let's stand together. 168. Lord, I hear of showers of blessing. Thou art scattering, full and
free. Showers the thirsty land refreshing. Let some drops now fall on me. Even me, even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Pass me not, O tender Saviour,
let me love and cling to Thee. I am longing for Thy favour whilst
Thou art calling, O call me. Even me, even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Pass me not, O mighty Spirit,
thou canst make the blind to see. Witnesser of Jesus' merit,
speak the word of power to me. Even me, even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Love of God so pure and changeless,
blood of Christ so rich and free. Grace of God so strong and boundless,
magnify them all in me. Even me, even me, let Thy blessing
fall on me. Love of Thy lost one bringing, bind my
heart, O Lord, to Thee. While the streams of life are
springing, Blessing others, O bless me. Even me, even me, Let Thy
blessing fall on me. Thank you.