God's Promises for Those Who Overcome
God promises those who overcome that they will have Eternal Life, a New Name, Authority, Become Holy and Blameless, Be in His Presence Forever, and sit on His Throne.
These promises are found in the Book of Revelation, where you read about the seven churches. Most of the time when you hear a sermon on the seven churches, you hear about the bad things the churches were doing, and not much about the promises. Today we want to emphasize the promises and how you can receive them.
Let's turn to Revelation Chapter 2 and start with the church at Ephesus.
Rev. 2:7 Church at Ephesus
'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him
who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the
Paradise of God.'
Promise-ETERNAL LIFE
Genesis 3:22-24
Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"-- therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim, and the flaming sword which turned every direction, to guard the way to the tree of life.
Some may think God was unfair because He did not let them have eternal life. In reality God was more than fair. His love for Adam and Eve and mankind is overwhelming. If He had let them live forever, they would have lived as sinners forever. By allowing them to die, mankind has the ability to have eternal life as holy, righteous people through Jesus.
Rev. 2:11 Church at Smyrna
'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.'
Promise-ETERNAL LIFE
Rev. 20:6
Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
The second death is when God destroys the wicked. As an overcomer, we will not be destroyed but will reign with Jesus.
Rev. 2:17 Church at Pergamos
'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.'
Promise-NEW NAME
Many of us have been called names. Sometimes they have been unfair, like dumb,
stupid, ugly. But many times the names we have been called have been true of
what we have become. Thief, drug addict, rapist, murderer, liar, sinner. The
Bible about this.
1 Cor. 6:9-11
Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, [10] nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God. [11] And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.
Notice it says such were some of you. Past tense.
This verse is not talking about someone who at times struggles with one of these
sins. It is talking about a person whose lifestyle, character, habits is to be a
fornicator, idolater, drunkard, etc. I want to be very clear on this. It does
not matter how many times you come to the church service, read your Bible, pray,
jump up and down and shout Hallelujah, if you willfully, knowingly, without
repentance live the life of an alcoholic, you will not go to heaven. Jesus isn't
your Lord. The alcohol is your Lord.
At the same time, if you struggle with alcohol, getting help to have the victory, making right choices to stay away from drinking, and crying out to God for help, and have truly asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, then you can have eternal life. You would not be considered a drunkard, you are one who struggles with alcohol. Instead of calling you a drunkard, God calls you a saint because of the Blood of Jesus. You have a new name.
Rev. 2:26 Church at Thyatira
'And he who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the NATIONS;
Promise-AUTHORITY
Matthew 10:1
And having summoned His twelve disciples, He gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.
Even though the disciples did not have the Holy Spirit living within them they had authority over demons, disease, and sickness. How much more authority will we have if we have authority over nations? Talk about power! People will abuse, rob, steal, or kill to get power. Why, when all we have to do is submit our lives to Jesus and He will give us power. Power over wickedness, not power to be wicked.
Matthew 18:18
"Truly I say to you, whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
We can bind
the deeds of darkness.
In fact, right now I bind every evil plan the devil has in this institution. In the Name of Jesus I bind lying spirits that are telling inmates that their lives are hopeless.
Rev. 3:5 Church at Sardis
'He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels.
Promise-HOLY, BLAMELES, ETERNAL LIFE
Ephes. 1:4
...He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.
We can live a life of holiness by the grace of God. By the grace of God, not our own works. Grace is the power to have victory over sin. And God promises to us that our name will not be removed out of the book of life. That means your name can be removed from the book of life.
Rev. 3:12 Church at Philadelphia
'He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.
Promise-PILLAR, NEW NAME
Pillar-God desires to have us as a part of His kingdom and we are promised we will always be in His presence.
New Name-What is so important about a name?
In our
culture, a surname does not mean much. At one time names were very important. A
name could represent power. Even though names don't mean much to us nowadays,
there is a name today that represents power.
Philip. 2:10
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven,
and on earth, and under the earth,
There is no person powerful enough to overcome Jesus name. Just the mention of
Jesus' name will cause men to bow before God.
Acts 4:29-30
"And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Thy bond-servants
may speak Thy word with all confidence, [30] while Thou dost extend Thy hand to
heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Thy holy servant
Jesus."
At the Name of Jesus miracles can occur.
Rev. 3:21 Church at Laodicia
'He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne,
as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
Promise-AUTHORITY/THRONE
As Americans we have no concept of what it means to sit at the throne of God. In a monarchy, the king shares his throne with no one except the Queen. And she has no power while the king is alive. The king for sure would never share His throne with his subjects. Yet God Almighty and Jesus, the King of Kings says He will share His throne with us-now that is amazing.
The throne represents ownership of a kingdom. God owns the entire universe and in Heaven He will share His kingdom with us. He will share His kingdom with those of us who have sinned, been in rebellion to Him at times, and have done wicked things. But if we have repent, we are forgiven and He relates to us as heirs of His kingdom. Did you hear me, heirs of His kingdom?
Overcoming
I have a question for you. How do we overcome?
We overcome by the power of the Holy Spirit
1 John 4:4
You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
Here is a powerful verse:
Romans 8:11
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.
If time, focus on this verse.
We overcome by the word of God-the Bible
1 John 2:14
I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the
beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the
word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
We overcome by faith-which comes from God
1 John 5:4
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that
has overcome the world-- our faith.
Here is one more verse that lets us know how we overcome.
Rev. 12:11
"And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the
word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death.
We overcome by the blood of the lamb-Jesus death and resurrection gives us
the power to overcome.
We overcome by our testimony-we remind the devil of who we are in Christ instead of listening to the lies of the enemy.
We overcome by realizing that life on this earth is only temporary and eternity with God has much more to offer us than anything in this world.
We overcome by God's strength, not our own.
Closing
So where are you in your walk with God?
Are you an overcomer? Do you want to experience the promises of God? The very first step is to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Notice I said, Lord and Savior. Not just Savior. If he is not your Lord, He is not your Savior.
If you have never made Jesus your Lord and Savior, you can do it right now.
(Say a prayer for those who say they want Christ in their heart).
Matthew 10:33
"But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who
is in heaven.
Before accepting Christ you may have had no problem flaunting your sin. Now it
is time to "flaunt" your acceptance of Jesus to the devil and his demons. The
devil cannot read your mind, so now is a chance to let the devil know you no
longer belong to him. I realize some of you may be shy in personality, so we
don't want to force anyone to do something that will cause shame.
Then urge them to publicly acknowledge that they have accepted Jesus Christ as the Lord.
Then pray for those who have not lived a victorious life as a Christian. Pray for them to have victory and strength to be an overcomer.
Pray for those that are overcomers to continue to walk in victory.
Pray for the lost that they experience conviction in their heart to repent of their evil ways.