THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
The Overcomers
Message Five—The Success of the Overcomers
Scripture Reading: Rev. 3:1-2; Col. 1:28; Psa. 126:5; Rev. 12:11; 1 John 1:9; Matt. 28:19; Eph. 5:16; 4:12
I. The overcomers are the successful people in God’s economy, and we want to see what their success is—cf. Rev. 3:1-2; Col. 1:28; Psa. 126:5; Rev. 12:11:
A. To be vital—Living versus the deadness of Sardis and active versus the lukewarmness of Laodicea—cf. Rev. 3:1-2.
B. A proper Christian should be vital; to be vital means to be living and active; since I am a man, I must believe into Christ; if I am a Christian, I must be in the recovery; if I am in the recovery, I must be vital—Col. 1:28; Psa. 126:5; Rev. 12:11:
1. First, we must be vital in saving sinners that they may become the members of Christ—Col. 1:28:
a. If you are overcoming, you must firstly overcome your barrenness; at least you should bear one or two new ones as fruit yearly—John 15:16.
b. Even if you do not gain someone within one year, you will eventually gain someone through your consistent and faithful labor to contact people; the extent of your labor determines the extent of your result—Psa. 126:5.
2. Once we contact sinners and make them the members of Christ, they become young babes in Christ; we have to feed these newborn believers in Christ—1 Thes. 2:7.
3. Our feeding the babes will cause them to grow; then they will become the saints who need the perfecting—1 Pet. 2:2; Eph. 4:12.
4. Eventually, we have to help these perfected saints learn how to prophesy—1 Cor. 14:1, 4b:
a. Prophesying in the church meetings builds up the churches for the building up of the Body of Christ.
b. The more speakers there are in the church meetings, the better it is; this kind of speaking edifies the saints locally and builds up the Body of Christ universally.
C. To overcome is not just to overcome all the obstacles and frustrations to carry out the practices of the God-ordained way; we still need to overcome the degradation of today’s church—Rev. 12:11:
1. Today the Lord has moved through the Adamic race, through the Abrahamic race, and through the church; eventually they failed the Lord, but He would not give up.
2. In the book of Revelation, He calls for the overcomers to carry out His move on the earth for the accomplishment of His eternal economy; the Bible reveals that the overcomers are a success for the Lord—v. 11; 14:1, 4; 15:2:
a. First, in Revelation 12 there are the dead overcomers signified by the man-child born of the universal bright woman; all of those in that corporate man-child overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and by not loving their soul-life unto death—v. 11.
b. Second, there are the living overcomers, the 144,000 raptured to the third heaven to stand with the Lord on Mount Zion; they follow Christ wherever He goes; they are the overcomers living up to the time before the tribulation—14:1, 4.
c. Besides these two groups of overcomers, there is another group who will overcome Antichrist, his idol, and the idolatrous number of his name; these overcomers all will be martyred, but they will overcome Antichrist—15:2.
d. The book of Revelation shows that the Lord has a way to accomplish His economy through His overcomers.
3. Being in the local churches makes it easier for us to be overcomers, but this does not mean that as long as we are in the local churches, we are the overcomers; we should not remain there in a routine way; we have to be vital:
a. First, we must have a time to contact the Lord; then we will be enlightened by Him to see all our defects, mistakes, wrongdoings, shortcomings, trespasses, and transgressions; we should make a thorough confession to the Lord to have a thorough forgiveness and a thorough clearance of all these negative things before Him—1 John 1:9.
b. Then you should ask the Lord to give you a companion with whom you can labor in the gospel; you should not say that you do not have the time; you have to redeem and budget your time; you should reserve two hours every week for contacting sinners by many ways; then you can get some saved and baptized to be your spiritual babes; you have to feed them, perfect them, and build them up to prophesy—Matt. 28:19; Eph. 5:16; 4:12.
c. You must pay the price to take the biblical way, the God-ordained way in the New Testament, not depending on the elders or co-workers but on yourself—2 Cor. 12:15.
d. Then you will be a vital person in your local church to produce and build up a vital group; the Lord will then gain some overcomers in your locality, and there will be a way for the Lord to accomplish His eternal economy.
4. God will reward the overcomers with the full enjoyment of Christ in the kingdom—Matt. 25:
a. The full enjoyment of Christ includes being Christ’s co-kings in His glory—2 Tim. 2:12a; Rev. 20:4, 6.
b. The glory of Christ and the joy of Christ are the two main items of God’s reward to the overcoming saints; the reigning is in His glory and the joy is in His kingdom—Matth 25:21, 23.
c. Another aspect of the reward for the overcomers is the salvation of the soul; if you have overcome, the Lord will save you from losing Christ in the age of righteousness:
(1) The overcomers will be saved from being cast out into outer darkness in the age of discipline—Matt. 25:30.
(2) To be saved from being cut off from the full enjoyment of Christ in His glory.
II. “God’s move on the earth through the overcomers is to consummate, to complete, the building of the New Jerusalem for the fulfillment of God’s desire. Today we are in the age of the overcomers. In the church life, we must be vital to overcome everything of today’s degradation among the Christians.” (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
Ministry Excerpts:
THE OVERCOMERS’ SUCCESS
The overcomers are the successful people in God’s economy, and we want to see what their success is.
To Be Vital-Living versus the Deadness of Sardis and Active
versus the Lukewarmness of Laodicea
A proper Christian should be vital. To be vital means to be living and active. Since I am a man, I must believe into Christ. If I am a Christian, I must be in the recovery. If I am in the recovery, I must be vital. If we are not vital, we may be in the church, but we are not among the overcomers. An overcomer is a vital person.
In the seven epistles in Revelation, the Lord condemned the church in Sardis for its deadness. The Lord said that in Sardis nothing was living; everything was dying (3:1-2). It is possible to be attending all the church meetings regularly, yet still be dying, not vital. The church in Laodicea was lukewarm. Those who are lukewarm are not active. They do not take any action. To be vital is to overcome both the deadness of Sardis and the lukewarmness of Laodicea. Maybe the entire church where we are is like Sardis, but this does not mean that we need to leave it. We may say that our church is too dead and that we want to have a living church. But on the entire earth, there is not one church which is completely living. The church may be dying, but we need to stay in the church to overcome the deadness.
In Saving Sinners That They May Become the Members of Christ
We have to be vital in four things. First, we must be vital in saving sinners that they may become the members of Christ. If we do not bear fruit and are barren, we are defeated and are not overcoming. If you are overcoming, you must firstly overcome your barrenness. At least you should bear one or two new ones as fruit yearly.
Some told me that they tried going out to knock on doors for three weeks or three months and that they realized it did not work. But we need to try for three years before we say that contacting people for the gospel does not work. We need to go out once a week for two hours, fifty-two times a year, to contact sinners. Sometimes you do not need to go out directly. You can contact people by writing to them or by calling them on the telephone. Do you believe that by doing this continually for fifty-two times a year, you will not gain one person? Surely you will gain someone. Even if you do not gain someone within one year, you will eventually gain someone through your consistent and faithful labor to contact people. Of course, if you do not go out and do not contact people, nothing will happen. The extent of your labor determines the extent of your result.
According to Matthew 25, the Lord has given each one of us at least one talent of money for us to deposit with the money changers so that we can make some interest (v. 27). The money changers are the sinners and the young ones whom we perfect to grow in Christ. We have to use our talent from the Lord on them. Then through them we will gain the interest. We have to do business until the Lord comes (Luke 19:13). Whether or not we get persons, we still must be busy to do our business. No doing means no gaining.
Matthew 25 tells us that the Lord will come back and ask us to give Him an account (v. 19). We do not want to be the evil and slothful slaves who are rebuked by the Lord. The Lord will cast the evil and slothful slaves into outer darkness for discipline (v. 30), and that age of discipline will last for one thousand years. We should not consider that we are okay and be self-contented. Sooner or later we all will see Him to give Him an account.
In Feeding the Newborn Believers in Christ
Once we contact sinners and make them the members of Christ, they become young babes in Christ. We have to feed these newborn believers in Christ.
In Perfecting the Saints
Our feeding the babes will cause them to grow. Then they will become the saints who need the perfecting.
In Building Up the Churches for the Building Up of the Body
by Prophesying—Speaking for God
Eventually, we have to help these perfected saints learn how to prophesy, how to speak for God. Prophesying in the church meetings builds up the churches for the building up of the Body of Christ. If only a few speak in the meetings of the church, the Body of Christ cannot be built up.
We must try our best to perfect and to build up all the saints to prophesy, to speak for the Lord. The more speakers there are in the church meetings, the better it is. This kind of speaking edifies the saints locally and builds up the Body of Christ universally. First, we need to exercise ourselves to speak for the Lord. If we will speak for the Lord every week, we will build ourselves up and we will grow. Then we will become living members not only of one local church but also of the universal Body of Christ.
To Overcome the Degradation of the Church
With all the four steps of the God-ordained way mentioned above, we need to pay the price. However, to overcome is not just to overcome all the obstacles and frustrations to carry out the practices of the God-ordained way. We still need to overcome the degradation of today’s church.
Today the Lord has moved through the Adamic race, through the Abrahamic race, and through the church. Eventually they failed the Lord, but He would not give up. In the book of Revelation, He calls for the overcomers to carry out His move on the earth for the accomplishment of His eternal economy. The Bible reveals that the overcomers are a success for the Lord.
First, in Revelation 12 there are the dead overcomers signified by the man-child born of the universal bright woman. All of those in that corporate man-child overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and by not loving their soul-life unto death (v. 11). Second, there are the living overcomers, the 144,000 raptured to the third heaven to stand with the Lord on Mount Zion (Rev. 14:1). They follow Christ wherever He goes (v. 4). They are the overcomers living up to the time before the tribulation. Besides these two groups of overcomers, there is another group who will overcome Antichrist, his idol, and the idolatrous number of his name (Rev. 15:2). These overcomers all will be martyred, but they will overcome Antichrist. The book of Revelation shows that the Lord has a way to accomplish His economy through His overcomers.
Being in the local churches makes it easier for us to be overcomers, but this does not mean that as long as we are in the local churches, we are the overcomers. No church is an overcoming church. But we have to remain in this non-overcoming church to be the overcomers. We should not expect the local church to be an overcoming church. Of course, we all like to see that the church is going on well and improving, but not all the members of a family are the strong ones. Still, in every family there should be a number of strong ones. Not all the citizens of the United States can be soldiers who go to war, but the stronger ones can. We should not excuse ourselves by saying that others in the church are not overcoming. This is wrong. We still have to be overcoming.
In Revelation 2 and 3 the Lord rebuked the churches. He even told those in Laodicea that He would spew them out of His mouth (3:16). Still the Lord says to them, “He who overcomes, to him I will give to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat with My Father on His throne” (v. 21). Regardless of the condition of a local church, as long as it is set up on the proper ground of oneness, it is still the church. The ground of the church is the deciding factor as to whether that is a local church or not. If it is, we have to remain there, but we should not remain there in a routine way. We have to be vital.
Now we need to consider how we can be vital. First, we must have a time to contact the Lord. Then we will be enlightened by Him to see all our defects, mistakes, wrongdoings, shortcomings, trespasses, and transgressions. We should make a thorough confession to the Lord to have a thorough forgiveness and a thorough clearance of all these negative things before Him.
Then you should ask the Lord to give you a companion with whom you can labor in the gospel. You should not say that you do not have the time. Everybody is busy. You have to redeem and budget your time. You should reserve two hours every week for contacting sinners by many ways. Then you can get some saved and baptized to be your spiritual babes. You have to feed them, perfect them, and build them up to prophesy. You must pay the price to take the biblical way, the God-ordained way in the New Testament, not depending on the elders or co-workers but on yourself.
Perhaps many in your locality are merely living a routine church life. All of these routine church life people are defeated ones. They are not overcoming. But you have to rise up to pick up the way to be vital. Then you will be a vital person in your local church to produce and build up a vital group. The Lord will then gain some overcomers in your locality, and there will be a way for the Lord to accomplish His eternal economy.
GOD’S JUDGMENT
The overcomers will succeed, but the majority of the saints will be defeated. Eventually, God’s judgment will be applied to all the believers at the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10).
The Reward of the Full Enjoyment of Christ in the Kingdom
God will reward the overcomers with the full enjoyment of Christ in the kingdom. Today if you are overcoming, you are enjoying Christ, but not in full. The full enjoyment of Christ will be in the next age. To participate in the full enjoyment of Christ in the millennial kingdom will be a reward to you.
To Reign with Christ in His Glory
The full enjoyment of Christ includes being Christ’s co-kings in His glory (2 Tim. 2:12a; Rev. 20:4, 6).
To Partake of the Joy of Christ in His Kingdom
The glory of Christ and the joy of Christ are the two main items of God’s reward to the overcoming saints. The reigning is in His glory and the joy is in His kingdom. Matthew 25:21 and 23 reveal that the overcomers will partake of the joy of Christ in His kingdom.
The Salvation of the Soul from Losing Christ in the Age of Righteousness
Another aspect of the reward for the overcomers is the salvation of the soul. If you have overcome, the Lord will save you from losing Christ in the age of righteousness.
To Be Saved from Being Cast Out into Darkness in the Age of Discipline
The overcomers will be saved from being cast out into outer darkness in the age of discipline (Matt. 25:30). Those who do not overcome in this age will lose Christ in the age of righteousness, the age of the kingdom, the age of discipline.
To Be Saved from Being Cut Off from the Full Enjoyment of Christ in His Glory
Matthew 24:51a says that the defeated ones will be cut asunder. That means they will be cut off from Christ. When we were saved, we were joined to Christ as one. This union with Christ is for our enjoyment of Christ. But if we are defeated in this age, at the coming back of the Lord, He will cut us asunder, cut us off, from the enjoyment of Christ.
Even today if we are defeated, we are in darkness and are cut off from the enjoyment of Christ. John 15 says that the branches which do not bear fruit are cut off by the Father (vv. 2a, 6). To cut them off does not mean that they will perish but that they will be cut asunder from the enjoyment of Christ even today. If we are such defeated ones, surely at the Lord’s coming back, we will be cast out into outer darkness and cut asunder from the very enjoyable Christ in the millennium.
TO CONSUMMATE THE NEW JERUSALEM
FOR THE FULFILLMENT OF GOD’S DESIRE
God’s move on the earth through the overcomers is to consummate, to complete, the building of the New Jerusalem for the fulfillment of God’s desire. Today we are in the age of the overcomers. In the church life, we must be vital to overcome everything of today’s degradation among the Christians. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)