TV 1742 | Those Who Overcome Conclusion

As the Holy Spirit says, today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. That's the question. How many of you know that there's no way that you and I can be saved unless we answer when He calls? This is not just something where there's a formula to make it happen and you can just kind of pull out a card and do it any old time. There is a confrontation. Now, confrontation sounds ominous, but it's an encounter. It's an encounter where He comes and reveals to our hearts if we're willing, if we'll listen, He shows us our need. He shows us what He's done, that finished work that He talks about. He says, you have a need I have taken care of, but here's what it costs. Didn't Jesus say count the cost? Here's what it costs. This life to which you are so attached and you think that's where it's all at, you need to give me that. As far as you're concerned, you are dying. You are handing that over. You're as good as dead as far as this world is concerned and its issues. Now I get that you're going to be learning all about this throughout your life. There is a process involved, but I'll tell you, if you don't have this in your heart you can try to the process all you want. You're not going to be one of those that Revelation 12, 11 talks about, but I'll tell you, everyone who comes to this place where they surrender, whatever the issue is at the time, they hear His voice and instead of that resistance coming up, they say, yes, Lord, I surrender. I believe, I'm confessing Jesus is my Lord. I believe my entire ... I am banking everything. All of my eggs are in one basket. That's Jesus and what He did at the cross for me and what He did coming out of that tomb.

Everything depends upon that. I am absolutely banking on what you have promised and I'm not going to let anything turn me aside from banking on that. I'm trusting in you. Now it doesn't have to be that complicated. It could be real simple, but that's the essence of what's happening there. If that heart surrenders and Jesus literally comes in and seals them in scriptural language by His Spirit, that means that's one of mine, then there is a work that is started that is going to result in that kind of a testimony. Anything short of that will miss it and miss it forever. Does that sound serious? We had a message, oh, more than a year ago now, I guess, examine yourselves. It sounds scary because the devil will sit there and say, yeah, but you're going to make all the weak believers scared and so they're going to lose it. I'll tell you, when God starts a work, He finishes it. If there's a heart that ever truly surrenders to Him, they may go through times like what I went through in college and many others have gone through much worse, but there's going to be something in here that holds. Now we just sang the song, He Will Hold Me Fast. Man, I need His power, I need His saving power every single moment of every single day. He's going to be putting His finger on issues. There may be an issue in my ... there will be issues in my life that I didn't even know about when He saved me. I'm going to have to face them and make choices, but there's going to be something on the inside that will help me to make the right choice. That's the difference. That's why the greatest number of people that supposedly are Christians in the world have never experienced this. God's heart reaches out. Obviously, we think of young people, but it's not just young people.

The question is, have you ever been born again? Has Christ ever come in as Lord? Have you ever truly let go and handed your life over to Him? You know, John uses the language, I think it's in John chapter 1, 3, somewhere in there. Those who have passed from death to life. That's an event, too. That's not something where you're, okay, I'm on the road and I'm hoping to get there one day. This is somebody who has literally gone through a door and they're now on the inside. Now you do have processes that work out, but there's a certainty about it, just like the language ... of Romans 8 that we talk about so many times, about all things are working, that's a process together for good to those who love Him. He talks about the fact that the purpose of that is to conform us to His image. But then it talks about those that He foreknew, those He predestined, He did what? He called. That call comes to those that He has foreknown. That mean He looked down and found something good in me? No. That is absolutely a heart that reaches out to the worst of the worst. That's not me. Well, He can call me whatever He wants to because I'm a sinner, apart from Him there's no good thing in me. Not one single thing that would commend me to Him. But He called and He gave me the grace to answer. Those He called, He also justified. That means He made them righteous in God's eyes. He did what it took to clean, to wipe out my guilt, to clean me up so that I could stand before a holy God. And that's past tense.

That's that aorist tense against. Again, these are things that He did. And what's the other thing that He did that's past tense? It says, those He justified, He also glorified. Wow, do we serve an awesome God who can call things that haven't even happened yet on our timescale and declare them as having happened? Man, you put yourself in His hands. You invite Him in to come and reside and give you that new life and change you and you're willing to let go of the other one. Man, you're signing on for something that is eternal. This world doesn't understand it. You know, one of the excuses, one of the things the devil looks at is to, or uses to work on people is to say, well, what about them? They're supposed to be a Christian. Look at them. Well, in the first place, there are plenty of people around you who genuinely have been born again and God's still working on them and there are needs. That's why we're called to put up with each other. Now that doesn't justify that because they are works in progress. We're supposed to be pressing on, okay? How many of you think that everybody that you could point to that's in the church, unquote, and they're supposed to be a Christian really is? Maybe they're in the same boat and they're in the condition they're in because they have never really surrendered and been born. Have you ever passed through that door? Does this matter? Because only those who have passed through this door will stand there received on that day. And so the issue, the question becomes, what do you do when he calls? Well he says today.

When's the day of salvation? It's today. It's when he calls. You know, I thought about something in the last few days that came back to me. When I was in college, we actually played records when we went to listen to music. That's all there was. Any of you young folks even know what that is? But there were some albums that I had from a Christian couple who had been opera singers. And it was an operatic tenor and a soprano and incredible singers. And some of the songs I sang were awesome and wonderful and uplifting, but there was one that was extremely sobering. I have looked and looked and I cannot find the lyrics to it. I can only remember the last line, but it was as though some man were giving a testimony. The tenor sang this by himself. And he describes times in his life when the Lord would come to him and convict him of his need of salvation. And he'd sort of say, yeah, okay, I will, but later. And over and over again at different stages of his life, that would be the response. Yeah, I believe in you, I agree and all that, but not now. The last line of the song comes from a point in the man's life when, in fact, the last line says this, his spirit is striving no longer. That's the name of the song, as a matter of fact. I was able to find it, I couldn't. What a sobering word to realize that God doesn't talk to people forever. That's why He says today. Who are we? Think about what Jesus paid. Who are we to say, there's something in my life in this world that's so important that this is more important than that? Oh, God help every one of us. There's nothing. It's worth everything to be born again. Until we come to that conviction, we're just part of the world. And God's concern is anybody here

that really hasn't come to that place. And I just, I don't know what else to say. And let me just read a little bit of this. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. And then he looks back to the time when their ancestors rebelled in the wilderness and they, and God just said, you're not, you're not going in when it comes to the promise I've given you of this land, you're not going in. Verse 12, see to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. Now, what does that, what does a sinful, unbelieving heart mean? That means in here, their heart is still attached to something here. What is the world? It's the lust of the flesh, desires of this body, the lust of the eyes, stuff that I can call mine, and the pride of life, something that makes me feel that I matter. I'm important in my own eyes and the eyes of other people. Whatever promotes those values is what I want. This is what it's about. Well, somebody who misses out on this has their heart attached somewhere. Somewhere there's something where that's more important than listening. Or if I could just, if I could have Him in that too, I'd be okay. But it's a radical, radical choice that God calls us to. Because what you're trying to do is hang on to sin and bring that into the kingdom of God. That ain't happening. God's going to be going to work to change us and help us to learn how to live that new life. So see to it that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart. This is the heart that doesn't really, really believe the message. That's not quite how it is. I'm not that bad, whatever, however you want to frame it. There is an unbelief in the message itself and in the promise of what God will do, the promise of the consequences, the promise of my need and my condition. Something is not truly believed at the heart level. And that causes someone to turn away from the living God, but encourage one another daily as long as it is called today. That won't be forever, will it? So that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. Now, here's an interesting scripture right here. We have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end and so forth. Now, this answers the question, are there people that get it and then lose it? I mean, can you be really born again and somehow lose it? How can somebody who has been born of God's life die? Can God die? See, the ticket ... well, the ticket is the wrong word. The entrance to the kingdom is more a matter of what kind of a person I am because of the life that I have. It's not a ticket I stick in my back

pocket and might lose. But the interesting thing is how He frames this. Who are those who make it all the way to the end and hold that conviction to the end? It says, we have come. That's looking back at something that's happened. You want to know the evidence of what it is that brings somebody to the place He describes in Revelation 12? That's evidence that I really was born again. Boy, it goes back to that, doesn't it? What else is more important than being certain that we're born of His Spirit? You know, one of the things we said last week and emphasized at the end when we were talking about the Israel of God was where that title came from, where that name came from, and that was when Jacob wrestled with the angel. And he had reached a point where there was nothing in the world that mattered except, God, I need You. You've promised me some things and I am not letting You go until I get what You have promised. And the Lord was not angry with him. That's what He was looking for. That's what He's looking for from people here. If there's someone who Here he was not sure. You don't have that rest on the inside, because that's what he describes it as, entering his rest. It's not there. I would tell you today, do you call upon God from the depths of your being, if that's what it takes. Everybody's experience is different. But until you encounter him and there is a genuine surrender of your heart and your life, your future, everything about your life in this world, don't you stop until you hear from him. If you start and stop, you're saying, well, I guess he doesn't care, or I just believe more in this world. You're listening to the wrong voice. God's the one who calls people to seek him. You will seek him and find him when? You search for him with all your heart. So say, everybody's experience is different. The Lord might just come quietly and say, you need to surrender.

You need to hand your life, and they might just do it. And other people, it might be a crying out and a struggling. But I'll tell you, God wants everyone here who is not sure. This eternity is at stake here. Because if you have not experienced what Jesus was talking about, about being born again, you're going to miss out on everything. Because this life is all you wind up having. God wants to lift a people. He is lifting a people out. But every one of them has to come to this thing of what it costs. It costs me my life, my heart, my will, my all. I lay it at his feet. Not in the expectation that now I've got to hang on till I get there and hang on till somehow or I'll lose it. But I am placing myself in your hands because you are a willing and able Savior. And there is nothing that is more important than knowing you and having this salvation. I get that there's going to be a lot of twists and turns in the road. There are going to be a lot of challenges. You told me about that. He said, in the world you will have trouble. But cheer up. I've overcome the world. That word overcoming is kind of critical. I want to serve somebody who has overcome the world. You know, I remember, I think I've quoted this before too. There was a hymn that we sang when I was growing up and it had to do with overcoming. But one of ... it talks about Jesus has overcome the world and all of that. One of the lines that really stands out, he who overcame at Calvary overcomes again in you and me. Hallelujah, Jesus gives the victory.

That's a powerful line, isn't it? Did he overcome at Calvary? Yeah. Well, if I have the one who overcame at Calvary living in me because I've given him my heart and my life. He's my Lord. He's my Savior. I put my whole future and everything in his hands. Is he able to bring me through? He is able to do more than I can ask or imagine because of the power that is at work within me. Everything depends upon this though. Who are those who are able to ... of whom it is able to be said, they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony and they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Who are they? These are the people who have been born of his spirit. Everyone who's born of his spirit. You're going to be tried. You're going to be tested in a gazillion ways, but if God's put his spirit in your heart, there's a faith there that's going to say, I don't care, devil. The bottom line, the bottom line when all is said and done is I believe God and I'm trusting in him and you can't ... he's not going to throw me out and you can't convince me to say no. There may be a whole lot of battles to getting to that point, but that's what it's about. Fight the good fight of the faith. Lay hold. There's that sense in everyone that God is looking for. I'm fighting for this. This is worth fighting for.

This is worth everything. To know him, to be born again, to live out the life that he gives. The challenge today and I'm just ... a lot of folks give altar calls. I've done it in the past and I'm not against it, but I don't want to get to a point where the danger is that we begin to focus on how many people can we get to come to the front. That's the danger about that. As though, oh, look at all the success. Look at all the people who came. Well, I would rather ... I'd rather have one person who has a genuine encounter with Jesus and surrenders and he comes in to live. I'd rather have one person who does that quietly out in the meadow somewhere than a hundred people who come down here and cry and bawl and then never really enter in. Now, it'd be all right if it happened both ways, but that's the challenge I'm going to throw out. If you're not sure, you cry out to him and you say, Lord, I want to be sure. Do whatever it takes to bring me to that point. It's not a question of you measuring up to anything. He came from the worst of the worst, so if he could save Paul, he can save you. Praise God. But you cry out until you come to that place of rest. And he will hear and he will answer you and you will have something that will enable you to stand whatever comes. Talked about recently about what would you do if they held a gun to you and say, denounce Christ or die. It's going to take something on the inside to be able to say, praise God, Jesus reigns. Jesus is Lord and nothing's going to separate my heart from him. I'm entirely in his kingdom under him. I am trusting in him. It's his power that's going to bring me through.

And that's the end of it, devil. I don't care what you do, I'm with him. Those are the ones who overcome. They don't love their own lives in this world and whatever the attachments that they could be formed. They don't love that until even to the point where if they die, I want that to be said of me one day. And it certainly is not going to be to any of my credit. All the glory is going to go to him. All the glory is going to go to what he did. It's all based on that. What a foundation has been laid, but are you on that foundation? Have you actually been born of that spirit that brought him out of the grave? That's the message that's available and God is planting his life in people. That life will grow up and it will live forever and will be with him and it's real. Oh, this sounds like foolishness to the world, but if you ever have that encounter with him in here, you'll know it. I'm not talking about a feeling or an experience or anybody having exactly the same encounter with him, but there's going to be something that's real. Something that'll hold you when you don't have the emotions. When the facts on the ground look contrary, something needs to hold. That's what he puts in there. He will hold me fast, thank God. So I guess those who overcome might be as good a title as any because that was the question that was answered. What separates these people in Revelation 12, 11, looking back at their testimony? What is it that makes them different from everybody else? That's it. Those who are born of God overcome the world and, of course, the implication is those who don't or those who aren't don't.

Everything depends on that. I just put it out there and say, Lord, you save them. You convict people who need convicting. Encourage and strengthen the brothers and sisters who are in a weak place. This is not about trying to say, oh, I've got to feel something or I've got to measure up or else. I'll tell you, if there's something in here, it'll hold you, even in those times, but you better have this. You better have him here as Lord and Savior, resident Lord and Savior. He's able to hold you all the way to the very end. Praise God. Praise the Lord. We invite you to join us again next week at the same time, and may God richly bless you until then.