How We Become Overcomers?

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Hi J____,

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, so I won’t  bear any bad news. The good news is that it means that we have been counted worthy of suffering both physically and mentally. When God sent Ananias to pray for Saul of Tarsus, look at what he told Ananias about what Paul had to look forward to:

Act 9:15 But the Lord said unto him [ Ananias], Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
Act 9:16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake

To simply list all the physical calamities that befell Paul and to then tell anyone that this is what you have to look forward to as a true believer, would be enough to discourage anyone. But not everyone must be martyred to be in the first resurrection. According to all accounts, the apostle John died a natural death. Nevertheless, all one has to do to see the spirit in today’s church, and to also understand that John, too, ‘suffered for Christ’s name sake,’ is to read the epistles of John. John, too, was rejected by those who “loved to have the preeminence:”

3Jn 1:9 I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.

If you speak with your mouth the truths of God’s Word today, you too, will find that the the spirit of Diotrephes is alive and well in all the churches of orthodox Christianity. They “will not receive us” if we are faithful to God’s Word.

Paul was once stoned and left for dead. So you and I may or may not be asked of God to endure extreme physical suffering. We will definitely be asked to endure rejection from “those that love the preeminence in the church.“

The ‘falling away’ in Heb 6 has only to do with verses 4-6. Yes, yes, yes, ‘Falling away” has only to do with those who refuse to “go on to maturity.” According to 1Co 3:1-4, Gal 3:1- 4:1, Heb 5:12-Heb.6:6; and according to the first three chapters of Revelation, all Christians “are yet carnal” even after they “are sanctified in Christ Jesus [ and] called to be saints” (1Co 1:2). In other words, the ‘prodigal son IS THE ELECT, and the older son is the called. Don’t accuse me of encouraging Christians to sin. I did not give that parable of the prodigal son. It was Christ who gave that parable, and it was Christ who inspired 1 Corinthians, Galatians and Hebrews. All babes in Christ will struggle to stop filling their spiritual diaper and wetting their spiritual bed. It will take time. Most will never mature past their spiritual diapers. That is why all three of these books deal with “babes in Christ,” who “for the time [ considering all the time that you have known Christ] ye ought to be teachers, [ instead you] have need of milk and not of strong meat.”

Heb 5:12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Heb 5:13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Heb 5:14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

The ‘older son’ has never “by reason of use, had his senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” All of God’s elect will either: “leave their first love; [ listen to the] Nicolaitans; [ allow] that woman Jezabel to seduce them; etc., but just as the prodigal son, they will”come to themselves,” and “repent [ before] their candle stick is removed.”

‘Babylon’ is the ‘slop trough’ in which the prodigal son finally sees his own reflection.” It is only then that we truly repent, are truly baptized in Christ and are truly circumcised. Not in the Red Sea, immediately after we initially leave Egypt, but after years of wandering around in a carnal, immature, rebellious, childish, Christian state; ” even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

The struggle with the flesh to which you refer is never to be taken lightly, but it is a routine for all who would strive for “the mark of the prize of the high calling of God, in Christ Jesus.”

Phip 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind [ prodigal days in Babylon], and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Php 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

The elect are called “overcomers.” If they had never known sin, then they are not “overcomers.”

Speaking to those who made up the ‘elder son,’ the called but not chosen, the church of His day, Christ gave us these words:

Mat 9:13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

The ‘elder son” does not see how offensive his attitude toward his redeemed brother is in the eyes of his Father. He considers himself to be the righteous one of the two. He is jealous instead of grateful. He is exactly what we see in the orthodox Christian churches whenever we mention the scriptural fact that God does not intend to lose one single soul, but will seek and find and save “that which was lost.”

1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
1Ti 4:10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

It is only those who finally come to see that they are hopelessly lost; that see that they cannot of themselves overcome the pulls of the flesh, that finally, after “falling seven times,” meaning complete failure, who will be brought to the faith of being able to say with Paul and all who have been there:

Php 4:13 I can do all thing s through Christ which strengtheneth me.

You say this:

The answer to this question is that what is working in you is a work of God. Regardless of how hopelessly weak you may feel at this time, God will bring you to see clearly that YOU can do nothing of your self. You cannot “rid yourself” of these sins.” Once you come to recognize this down to the marrow of your bones, only then will Christ give you the strength to ‘overcome’ sin in your life.

Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

You have a great attitude when you say:

Salvation is a process that takes time and experience. It requires the experience of failure “seven times.” This means complete, total, undeniable, hopeless, crushed to powder failure. Maturity is a work of God. If you haven’t yet done so, be sure to read the letter entitled ‘The Seven Steps To Salvation.” It rehearses the example of Israel as a type of us.

1Co 10:6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
1Co 10:7 Neither be ye idolaters, as [ were] some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
1Co 10:8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
1Co 10:9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
1Co 10:10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

The words ‘examples’ and ensamples’ are the same in the Greek. They are translated from the Greek word ‘tupos.’ Israel’s history and experiences are ‘types of us.’ Salvation is not something we received in the past because of something Christ did for us. This is the strong delusion for orthodoxy. While salvation certainly was secured for all men through the finished work of Christ while He was on the cross, what that ‘finished’ work accomplished is that now, in spirit, Christ can live His life in us. We can now “fill up in our flesh that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ.” It is Christ living His life of rejection and suffering in us that matures us. That was never possible before the work of Christ was “finished.”

Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

This is the ‘finished’ work of Christ, to fill up in our flesh that which is behind of His sufferings, for His bodies sake, which is the church.” When Christ “ascended up into a cloud,” He didn’t go to some other geographical location. He is now “in” us. That is where Christ went. Have I sent you Where And What Is Heaven? Let me know.

I will close with some very encouraging words from Paul, that I have no doubt are as applicable to you and me as they were to the Phillipians

Php 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Being vigilant has nothing in common with being fearful. A vigilant man is very confident that he can handle his enemy. Neither does vigilance conflict with the sovereignty of God, because we know that grace is a work of God, and “grace…chastens us to forsake ungodliness…” (Tit 2:10-12). That is why Paul was so confident that God would finish the work He had started. This is the very meaning of “where sin abounds [ chastening] grace doth much more abound.”

Rom 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
Rom 5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

I hope you find these words encouraging.

Mike

Other related posts