I please Almighty God to bless
us together this morning as we meditate in His Word. Let us
turn to the book of the Revelation, chapter 21, and we'll read verse
7. The book of the Revelation, chapter
21, and reading verse 7. He that overcometh shall inherit
all things. and I will be his God and he
shall be my son. The Apostle John was commanded
to write, as we read here in the fifth verse, and he said
unto me, write, for these words are true and faithful. And how good and important it
is that when we read the word of God, when we think about it,
to realize that those things that we read are true and faithful. Because sometimes it would appear
that we seem to be able to just ignore the word of God, ignore
the truth of God. and carry on in our own way to
please ourselves. And yet here we have this statement,
therefore, write for these words are true and faithful. And the next verse tells us,
it is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end, I will give. unto him that is athirst of the
fountain of the water of life freely. Well, I'm sure we understand
a little bit what that means. We've spoken recently in the
fourth chapter of John about the woman of Samaria, and there
the Lord spoke about the water of life. And that of course is
not just a natural water, it's a spiritual water, it's a gift
of the Holy Spirit to receive the wonderful blessing of life
within our souls. And so I will give unto him that
is a thirst of the fountain of water of life freely. And again,
that's really quite a question, isn't it? To have the evidence
in our own hearts that we are thirsty after spiritual blessings. Naturally, you and I will not
be thirsty after spiritual blessings. Naturally, we will just carry
on in the things of this world and very content with them. And we may perhaps read the Bible,
we may worship, we may come and worship, but there may not be
any true thirst after the things of God. So it is a really, a
very testing consideration in our lives to know whether we
are here thirsting, a thirst for this water of life. Because
the Lord wonderfully says, if so, he says, I will give. I will
give, you see, it's the wonderful gospel, isn't it? It's a wonderful
grace of God who gives this water of life freely. There's no charge. We don't have to pay anything.
No, it's given freely. If we had to pay, we wouldn't
be able to because the price would be too high. But God freely
gives us this wonderful gift of this water of life freely. And then he goes on to this verse
which we read this morning. He that overcometh, he that overcometh
shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall
be my son. It is really an amazing, amazingly
positive consideration, isn't it? The Lord says, he that overcometh
shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall
be my son. So it is surely a very encouraging
statement to those who are blessed with this thirst, heavenly thirst,
after truly spiritual blessings, heavenly thirst to be a partaker
of the things of God, and therefore to come and to rejoice in them. And so the great question is,
of course, spelled out here, he that overcometh. What that means is that all of
us, all of us need to be overcomers. What is it to overcome when it's
really to conquer, to gain the victory and to conquer Satan
and gain the victory over Satan? And you might rightly say, well,
how can I do that? You know, I fail. I'm a sinner. And As Paul very eloquently said,
in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, and therefore
how can I conquer? And yet, how important it is
that we do overcome. Well, We're told very beautifully
and very wonderfully how that occurs, and that is spelt out
in the 12th chapter of the Revelation. And in the 12th chapter and the
11th verse, it's very clear. This is what it says. And they overcame. Overcame him,
that means overcame the devil. How? By the blood of the lamb. and by the word of their testimony,
and they loved not their own lives unto death. So that means that we can only
overcome and we are only those who are overcomers through what
the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us when he died. upon that
cross at Calvary so many, many years ago. And therefore, the
conclusion is quite obvious that every one of us needs to have
the evidence that the Lord Jesus Christ has died for us, that
he shed his precious blood, that we are redeemed. This is fundamental. Because without being overcomers,
we shall not inherit the great and glorious gift of eternal
life. And we shall not be one of God's children. And we shall
not be, therefore, one of his sons or daughters. So it is important
that the Holy Spirit comes and, as the Apostle says, that uses
that word quickening, made spiritually alive. All of us need to have
the wonderful evidence of that. Now just moving on, because there
is then the alternative. And the apostle spells out again
the alternative to those who are not overcomers, who will
not inherit, and God will not be theirs, and they will not
be his sons and daughters. And he tells us who they are.
But the fearful and unbelieving. You see, we sometimes tend to
settle down in the truth that what I'm a fearful person and
of course, and I don't and I really find it very hard to to believe
these great truths. Well, that may be so. But, you
know, you and I should really be concerned that God will come
and give us that wonderful evidence that we are his children. So whatever comes upon us, this
earth we are able to say it is well it is well and this word
of believing you know it's very easy to settle
down and say well of course I don't believe well Remember there was
that wonderful example in the Word of God of that man who was
asked about whether he believed. And he was able to spell it out
like this. He said, Lord, I do believe. And that was so positive, wasn't
it? And then he said, help thou mine unbelief. That means he
didn't want to be found in a condition of unbelief. Because the condition
of unbelief is to doubt the truth of God's Word. Perhaps deny the
truth of God's Word. It's very sad, isn't it, when
people seem content to live in, well Bunyan describes it very
ably by a description, he calls it doubting castle. a place of
doubt. You know, if you and I doubt
all the way through life, we will never get to heaven. Never
get to heaven. There's no strength in doubting. You and I need, therefore, to
be blessed with the wonderful favor of believing. Because,
as I've just said, We're told here about the fearful and unbelieving,
and he joins it with this list also, which I'm sure we can understand. No different. And the abominable
and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and
all liars should have their part in the lake which burneth with
fire. and Brimstone, which is the second death. So fearful
and unbelieving are categorised along with abominable and murderous,
etc. It's a very solemn thought, isn't
it? And I'm sure very often people
don't align the two situations together. But there it is here
before us in the Word of God. Well then, coming back to this
seventh verse. He that overcometh shall inherit
all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my Son. Well, may we therefore desire
to have that wonderful proof in our souls which does not deny
the work of God, does not deny His grace, does not deny His
favour, but acknowledges that our hope is in what Christ has
done. And we are dependent upon His
grace, His free and merited favour toward us. We can never rely
upon our own ability. We can never rely on what we
think or say, but we can rely upon what God has done, and we
can rely upon his promises. Let us remember, the devil, our
great adversary, wants us. to deny the truth of God. The devil wants us to doubt the
truth of God. He wants us to remain there all
our life and to fall into hell at last. But may we be very concerned
to have the wonderful evidence that God has loved us because
of his work Because of that which is done in us, which we didn't
do, you may say, well, what was that work? Well, the beginning
of that work is not very pleasant, because the beginning of God's
work is to convince us that we are a sinner, and that we deserve
eternal punishment, and we cannot think that anything in our life
justifies our own position, justifies us in being found in glory at
last. There is nothing in ourselves. It is all of His grace. It is all of His mercy. And because that is so, the result
is that God receives the honour and God receives the glory. And that will be so in our lives. We will desire to honor and glorify
our God. The devil says, well, that doesn't
matter. You needn't worry about that.
Many people, of course, are doubting. Very few people have any firm
assurance of their standing. Well, don't worry about what
other people say. You think of what the Word of
God tells us. And we have some wonderful illustrations. And no less than the Apostle
Paul himself, who was able to say, I know whom I have believed. There was no doubt in the Apostle's
mind. He knew who he had believed. And my friends, when God blesses
you and me with this evidence that we're able to say, yes,
by the grace of God, I know that Jesus has died to take away my
sins. That produces and that brings
us peace with God. And we're so thankful. so thankful
for his goodness and mercy toward us. We go on our way rejoicing
and our lives on this earth is to show forth the praise of God. My friends, showing forth the
praise of God does not emanate from a doubting condition, does
not emanate from people who doubt the work of God, doubt the grace
of God, I think sometimes we just need to take very great
care and consideration and to examine ourselves. We're encouraged
to do that. And in this way, to come as it
were and stand before God and to answer that question, well,
have you any hope? Have you any evidence? that God
has shown mercy to you. What are you going to say? What are you going to say? You're
going to say, well, I've got nothing. I've got nothing, no
evidence of God's mercy, no evidence of God's love, no evidence of
God's grace. Is that where you are this morning? with nothing or on the other
side. Can you say, well, there was
an occasion when I did realise that I was
a sinner, that God did show me that I needed salvation. that God did direct me to the
Lord Jesus Christ as my all-sufficient Saviour. Well, can you deny that? Dare you deny that? If you deny that, can you expect
God to honour you? If you're denying what God has
done for you, And you say, well, I don't think
so. As I've sometimes reminded you,
it's not the great quantity of experiences. It's just a little
which God has done in our hearts. My friends, if God has done anything
in our hearts to show us ourselves and show us our need of salvation,
and lead us to the Saviour. There's our hope. And it's a
good hope. And it's a solid hope. And we
can therefore believe this truth that we are therefore overcomers. Overcomers. How are we overcomers? And they overcame him by the
blood of the Lamb. We find we're looking not to
ourselves. We're not looking to man. We're
looking to that great and wonderful and finished work of the Saviour,
completed on that cross at Calvary. Surely this morning, that's reason
to praise and to bless God. Now then, let me just move on
to this. In the earlier chapters, in the
second chapter, the third chapter in Revelation. The apostle was
directed to speak to the seven churches and he was told
to speak to them all and to direct them And therefore in the second
and third chapter we have the words that he was to write to
the seven churches, but each church was to take notice of
what was written to the other churches. And as you read through
these wonderful words, you will find that this is written. he that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Now the blessing
is if God has therefore given you and me an ear to hear the
truth of God. I hope this morning you're here
listening, your ears not shut, The devil wants to shut your
ear, he wants to plug it up, so you don't hear anything. Well,
here is the gracious, blessed Word of God. He that hath an
ear, we have ears, may there be open ears to hear what the
Spirit saith unto the churches. And the Apostle goes on with
these words. To him that overcometh, To him that overcometh will I
give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the
paradise of God. And you can read this again and
again as you read through those words to the seven churches. And of course, it was written
for their need, and it's written for the church of God's need
down through the ages. And my friends, it's written
for our needs today. So may we be blessed with a hearing
ear to hear what God says, and to acknowledge he that hath an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. It's not the words of a man. It's words by the Holy Spirit. How relevant How important that
is to think that God, the Holy Spirit, is speaking to us today
with these words. He that overcometh. Well, what
a mercy then if we have the evidence that we are overcomers not because
of what you and I have done, Not because of our ability, but
because of what Christ has done. What does that do? I'll tell
you what it does. It exalts the Lord Jesus Christ
as our great and glorious savior. And you will want to praise him
and you'll want to honor him that he in his great love towards
you has looked down from heaven, has come to you, to your very
soul, and has opened your ears to hear the good news of the
gospel, so that you stand before God, a convicted sinner, and your hope is in that finished
work of the Saviour, there is your trust that you are an overcomer. And the promise is to all those
who are overcomers, to no one else, it is essential that by
the grace of God we are overcomers. He that overcometh shall inherit
shall inherit all things His great and glorious gift of eternal
life as I often refer to the glorious words of the Apostle
Peter in the first chapter of the first epistle and he tells
us to an inheritance an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled,
reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God
through grace under salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
times. You see, this is the inheritance
which God has reserved for the whole Church of God. Isn't that
wonderful? Isn't that glorious? Think upon
it. You and I, are passing through
time. We're rapidly passing through
time. And yet time, in comparison with eternity, is virtually nothing. Nothing. You and I will still
be out of time into eternity. Where will we be? Where will
we be? We don't want to find when we
come to that day when the Lord will call us from this earth
to find that we were numbered amongst the unbelievers. We don't want to find we were
numbered amongst those who did not believe the truth of God. We heard the word of God and
yet we passed it by. and we've been left an unbeliever. He that hath an ear to hear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. What a mercy it is that you and
I today are blessed with the privilege
of reading the Word of God, blessed with the privilege of hearing
the Word of God preached, It's a wonderful blessing. How we
underestimate it so often. And we're often critical of it. How often we complain. And yet here we have the great
and glorious truths. And here we have set before us
in the Word of God the way of salvation. The way of salvation
is only through this way. And they overcame him by the
blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And
they loved not their lives unto the death. Well, God knows whether
you and I love our life more than acknowledging what God has
done. We're more concerned to just
carry on in our little life on this earth and not to acknowledge
what God has done for our souls. You see, we pander to the temptations
of the devil. We ignore the great truth of
God. And we settle down in a spirit
of unbelief. And we're satisfied with it.
Rather than being like that man who I quoted, Lord, I do believe. Help thou mine unbelief. He did
want to believe. He did not want to not believe. May that be our real concern.
real concern to believe the truth of God and be really concerned
that we are a believer the devil will always endeavor to put us
aside and say well don't worry there's many people who doubt
their salvation well they're all right well don't make the
assumption they are religion true religion is based upon the
positive evidences of the work of grace in our heart. My friends, a negative religion
will never get you to heaven. The devil wants to convince you
it will. It never will. You need to have the evidence
that the blessed Saviour shed his precious blood to redeem
your souls. To be able to come and say, as
I mentioned with the Apostle Paul, I know whom I have believed. It's a God honouring statement. And don't forget those words,
those that honour me, I will honour. And those that despise
me will be like this thing. What happens is this. People
despise God's work. I think they're going to have
some wonderful, wonderful revelation. We're not promised some wonderful
revelation. My friends, if God gives us the
gift of faith to believe, the gift of faith, what a blessing
that is. And my friends, it's God's gift.
You won't be able to say, well, of course, I've got this faith.
You have to praise God for it. Thank God for it. If he looked
upon you, he saw you, as the hymn writer says, ruined in the
fall, and yet loved you, notwithstanding all. That's amazing, isn't it? But God should have ever looked
upon us and we will stand amazed and we will praise God for his
great favour and love toward us you know what? that love is an
everlasting love we were loved in eternity past we are loved
now and we are loved eternally It's a blessing, isn't it, really,
beyond our natural comprehension. But it is true. This is the greatness
of our God. Let us never belittle God. Let us never drag Christ down.
That's what people do, by their unbelief. Let us raise Christ
up. and be able to confess, yes,
there is my hope. It's not in me. It's in what
Christ has done. It's in his glorious work for
such a sinner. The Apostle Paul, when he wrote
to the Corinthians in the 15th chapter, it's a beautiful chapter,
we read it recently, and he says this in the Panosma verse, but
thanks be unto God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Yes, that's where the victory
was. Not in himself, but thanks be unto God who giveth us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, may it be so today. Oh,
may we praise God May we be able to praise God. And again, it's
a good thing, as I've said, to examine ourselves carefully and don't despise the
day of small things. Because if God's done something,
it's a great thing. Don't despise. Don't think, well,
I've only got this little thing. Praise God for it. Bless God
for it. Rejoice in your heart. Oh what a mercy it is to know
that we have such a God. He that overcometh shall inherit. You see, eternal life is ours,
but only to those who have overcome, and only those who have overcome
through the blood of the Lamb. It must be that way because God
is a holy God and God is a jealous God and God will have all the
honour and all the glory, but he will have the honour and glory. My friends, he will have the
honour and glory in our lives. It may be costly to our pride. It may be costly to ourselves
as we confess what he has done. My friends, never be ashamed
of confessing of his work. I'm sure none of us want Christ.
to be ashamed of us, do we? When we perhaps stand before
that judgment seat, remember the beautiful lines in that hymn
427, which is a familiar hymn. And he tells us, he says, ashamed
of Jesus, that dear friend. Well, is Christ to you today
a friend? or an enemy? What do you think
to that? Is he a friend or is he an enemy?
A shame to Jesus, that dear friend on whom my hopes of heaven depend. No, when I blush, be this my
shame, that I no more revere his name. A shame to Jesus. Yes, I may, when I have no guilt
to wash away. But we have got guilt. No tear
to wipe, no good to crave, no fears to quell, no soul to
save. Till then, nor is my boasting
vain. Till then, I boast a Saviour
slain. And oh, may this my glory be,
that Christ is not ashamed of me. He that overcometh. Well, my
friends, may we be concerned today to be an overcomer and
the evidence that we are overcomers to the glory of God. To therefore
know that we shall inherit all things. And I will be his God. This God is our God. we shall
be his sons and daughters of the Most High God and therefore
be brought to that place of glory to sing his praises forever and
ever and not to be cast away as a cumber of the ground of
no value. Amen.