THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
The Overcomers
Message Four
The Producing of the Overcomers (2)
Scriptures Reading: 1 John 2:15; 3:8; Matt. 16:24; Gal. 1:4; 5:16; Rev. 2:1-17; 20:1-6; Rom. 12:11
I. Through the degradation of the church nearly all the believers in Christ became defeated, lost the enjoyment of the processed Triune God (cf. 2 Cor. 13:14), and were corrupted by Satan through sin, self, the world, and their flesh—1 John 3:8; Matt. 16:24; 2 John 2:15; Gal. 1:4; 5:16. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations”, msg. 3)
II. In His seven epistles to the degraded churches, Christ calls the defeated believers to be His overcomers by Himself as the sevenfold intensified Spirit for their experience of His organic salvation in His sevenfold intensification—Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26-28; 3:5, 12, 20-21. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations”, msg. 3)
III. As the sevenfold intensified Spirit Christ produces the overcomers by saving them from the things related to the degradation of the church—2:7: (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, The Secret of God’s Organic Salvation—“The Spirit Himself with Our Spirit”, msg. 6)
A. Christ as the sevenfold intensified Spirit worked to save the believers in the church in Ephesus from the formal church life, which has lost the first love to the Lord, the shining capacity of the lampstand, and the enjoyment of Christ as life—vv. 1-7; Rom. 12:11: (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “The Divine and Mystical Realm”, msg. 5)
1. In the church life we need reality rather than formality; to be real is to be in the sprit and to do everything in the spirit—Eph. 4:15; Rom. 8:4. (1997 TGC, msg. 3)
2. We must recover the loss of the first love and give Christ the preeminence in everything so that Christ might be everything in our life—Col. 1:18b. (1997 TGC, msg. 3)
3. We must also maintain the eating of Christ as the tree of life—Rev. 2:7. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 4, “The Overcomers”, msg. 6)
4. This will cause us to shine forth the divine light as the lampstand corporately rather than individualistically in the dark night of the church age, to be the testimony of Jesus in our locality, and to hate the works of the Nicolaitans—vv. 5-6. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 4, “The Overcomers”, msg. 6)
B. Christ as the sevenfold intensified Spirit worked to strengthen the suffering believers in the church in Smyrna to overcome the persecution by being martyred so that they will be rewarded not to taste the second death during the kingdom age—vv. 8-11: (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “The Divine and Mystical Realm”, msg. 5)
1. Christ’s love of affection constrains us to live and to die for Him—2 Cor. 5:14-15; Rom. 14:7-9. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 4, “The Overcomers”, msg. 2)
2. Christ’s love makes the believers martyrs for Him—Rev. 2:10; 12:11; Rom. 8:35-37. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 4, “The Overcomers”, msg. 2)
3. The Spirit of glory and of God rests upon the suffering believers—1 Pet. 4:14. (2007 WT, msg. 8)
4. The more we are persecuted for the Lord and become poor, the richer we will be in Christ—Rev. 2:9; 2 Cor. 6:10. (1997 TGC, msg. 3)
5. Those who are faithful unto death will gain the crown of life—the overcoming strength that is the power of the resurrection life—Rev. 2:10; Phil. 3:10. (2012 ST, msg. 6)
C. Christ as the sevenfold intensified Spirit worked to sanctify the believers in the church in Pergamos from the union with the world and from the teachings of Balaam and the Nicolaitans to be the overcomers so that they may be rewarded to eat the hidden manna and to have a white stone upon which a new name will be written in the kingdom age—Rev. 2:12-17: (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “The Divine and Mystical Realm”, msg. 5)
1. While the church goes the way of the world, the overcomers come forward to abide in the presence of God in the Holy of Holies, where they enjoy the hidden Christ as a special portion for their daily supply—v. 17a; John 6:57. (1999 ST, msg. 8)
2. If we do not follow the worldly church but enjoy the Lord in the proper church life, we will be transformed into stones for God’s building—v. 17b; 2 Cor. 3:18. (1999 ST, msg. 8)
D. Christ as the sevenfold intensified Spirit works to rescue the believers in the church in Thyatira from idol worship, fornication, demonic teachings, and the deep things of Satan to be the overcomers so that they may be rewarded with the authority over the nations in the kingdom age—Rev. 2:18-19. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “The Divine and Mystical Realm”, msg. 5)
E. Christ as the sevenfold intensified Spirit is to revive the believers in the church in Sardis from their dead and dying condition to be the overcomers so that they may be rewarded with walking with the Lord in white and with not having their names erased from the book of life but confessed by the Lord before the Father and His angels in the kingdom age—vv. 3:1-6. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “The Divine and Mystical Realm”, msg. 5)
F. Christ as the sevenfold intensified Spirit works to encourage the believers in the church in Philadelphia to hold fast what they have that no one take their crown to be the overcomers so that they may be rewarded to be a pillar in the temple of God with the name of God and the name of the New Jerusalem and the new name of the Lord written upon them in the kingdom age—vv. 7-13. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “The Divine and Mystical Realm”, msg. 5)
G. Christ as the sevenfold intensified Spirit works to awaken the believers in the church in Laodicea from their lukewarm and Christless condition and exhorts them to pay the price for the refined gold, white garments, and eyesalve and to open their door to the knocking Lord to be the overcomers so that they may be rewarded to sit on the throne of the Lord in the kingdom age—vv. 14-22. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “The Divine and Mystical Realm”, msg. 5)
IV. The means by which the believers are saved from degradation are the speaking of the pneumatic Christ and the participation of the overcoming saints—2:1, 7-8, 29; 3:1, 6-7, 22; 1:10; 4:2: (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, The Secret of God’s Organic Salvation—“The Spirit Himself with Our Spirit”, msg. 6)
A. In Revelation 2 and 3 the speaking of the unlimited life-releasing sevenfold intensified pneumatic Christ to the seven churches at the beginning of each epistle respectively becomes the speaking of the sevenfold intensified, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit to all the seven churches at the end of each epistle universally—2:1, 7, 8, 11, 12, 17, 18, 29; 3:1, 6, 7, 13, 14, 22: (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, The Secret of God’s Organic Salvation—“The Spirit Himself with Our Spirit”, msg. 6)
1. At the beginning of each of the seven epistles, it is Christ who is speaking, but at the end of each epistle it is the Spirit who is speaking; from this we see that Christ’s speaking and the Spirit’s speaking are one speaking—vv. 1, 7, 8, 11-12, 17-18. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, The Secret of God’s Organic Salvation—“The Spirit Himself with Our Spirit”, msg. 6)
2. Christ speaks to a particular local church, and the Spirit speaks to the universal Body; by this speaking, Christ saves us from the degradation of today’s church—vv. 1, 7, 8, 11-12, 17-18, 29. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, The Secret of God’s Organic Salvation—“The Spirit Himself with Our Spirit”, msg. 6)
B. Christ saves the believers also by the participation of the overcoming saints who are living in their spirit drawn by the Lamb; Christ and the Spirit speak, and the overcoming saints respond and say yes to the Lord; the believers who respond in this way will be saved—1:10; 4:2. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, The Secret of God’s Organic Salvation—“The Spirit Himself with Our Spirit”, msg. 6)
V. We need to see the goal of the intensified work of God’s organic salvation—2:7; 19:7-9; 20:1-6: (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, The Secret of God’s Organic Salvation—“The Spirit Himself with Our Spirit”, msg. 6)
A. This salvation is for producing the overcomers to build up the Body of Christ for the initial consummation of the New Jerusalem in the kingdom age and the full consummation of the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth—2:7; 21:2. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, The Secret of God’s Organic Salvation—“The Spirit Himself with Our Spirit”, msg. 6)
B. The intensified work of God’s organic salvation is also for the complete preparation of the bride of Christ so that the Bridegroom may have His triumphant wedding in the millennium for His satisfaction according to His good pleasure—19:7-9. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, The Secret of God’s Organic Salvation—“The Spirit Himself with Our Spirit”, msg. 6)
C. Next, Christ’s intensified work is for the formation of the bridal army for Christ to defeat and destroy His top enemies in humanity, the Antichrist and his false prophet—vv. 11-21; 17:14. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, The Secret of God’s Organic Salvation—“The Spirit Himself with Our Spirit”, msg. 6)
D. Furthermore, Christ’s intensified work is for the binding of Satan and the casting of him into the abyss for one thousand years—20:1-3. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, The Secret of God’s Organic Salvation—“The Spirit Himself with Our Spirit”, msg. 6)
E. Finally, Christ’s intensified work is for the bringing in of the kingdom of Christ and of God, which will be the millennium—vv. 4-6. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, The Secret of God’s Organic Salvation—“The Spirit Himself with Our Spirit”, msg. 6)
VI. The final outcome of Christ’s intensified work will be that the ultimately consummated Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God becomes the Bridegroom, and the aggregate of the overcoming saints becomes the bride of the universal romance between the redeeming God and His redeemed man as the conclusion of the entire Scriptures—22:17. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, The Secret of God’s Organic Salvation—“The Spirit Himself with Our Spirit”, msg. 6)