Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the significance of Revelation chapters 21 and 22, illustrating God's ultimate goal of creating a new heaven and a new earth, where believers are transformed into overcomers through the work of the Holy Spirit. He explains that being an overcomer involves a process of revelation, reconstitution, and reigning, where believers must surrender their lives to God and allow the Holy Spirit to work within them. The sermon highlights that true overcoming is not achieved through personal strength but through the life of Christ being expressed in us. Beach encourages the congregation to seek a deeper relationship with God, recognizing that their identity as overcomers is rooted in Christ's victory over sin, death, and the world. Ultimately, he calls for a commitment to live in harmony with God's will, as this is essential for inheriting the promises of God.

Revelation chapter 21, verse number 3, and this is the particular scripture. Actually, we'll begin in verse number 1 of Revelation chapter 21. These are very significant portions of Scripture, particularly Revelation chapter 21 and 22, because in them we see what the Lord is working towards. We see the end, and it's so important to see the end, because it helps us to keep perspective. Knowing the end enables us to understand what the Lord is seeking to do in our lives now. He's seeking to bring us into conformity to the end. When the end here is finally revealed in time, it's going to be the revealing of that which the Lord had wrought during our time here as earthly pilgrims seeking a heavenly city, a heavenly man, a heavenly nature, a heavenly glory, a heavenly Holy Spirit. So it's very important to keep in mind these last couple of chapters in the book of Revelation, and read them often, and glean from them, and we'll be encouraged when we do so in the times when the Lord does severe dealing in our life. We'll be encouraged. But beginning in Revelation chapter 21, going down to verse number 3, these are very rich verses. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. So you can automatically begin to just look at key words, and the Holy Spirit can teach you the Lord's heart and the Lord's thought by understanding key words. You notice in verse number 1 of chapter 21, it's a new heaven and a new earth. The Lord is doing something new, you see, new. Everything is new. The Lord doesn't want to take the old and renovate it. The Lord is after something new. The Scripture says in 2nd Corinthians 517, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. All things pass away, behold, all things become new. So the Lord is after a new heaven, a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away. Oh, what a wonderful thought here to ponder and allow the Holy Spirit to teach us. It's so good to know that Christianity is God making us altogether new, altogether new. The Lord doesn't want the old. The Lord doesn't want us to carry over the old into our Christian life. The Lord wants the old to be reckoned by us, set aside, as done, as in God's heart, unfit. He's after that which is new, and that's an emphatic, an emphatic statement here. God is after that which is new. In chapter 2 of verse 20, chapter 2 of chapter 21, and I, John, saw the holy city. Now see, not only is the Lord after making things new, but He's after something holy. You see, John didn't just see a city. He saw a holy city. Now, beloved, a holy city is a city that is set apart. The word holy means to set apart. It means to sanctify. It means to dedicate something exclusively and wholly to a particular person. As we illustrate, as we have illustrated before, you can make a tape recorder holy. The way you do it is you take the tape recorder and you dedicate it and say, from this day forward, this tape recorder will not play any tapes except Bible tapes. And in doing so, you have made it holy. You have consecrated the tape recorder. Well, the city that John saw was a holy city. It was a set-aside city. It was a consecrated city. It was a city that was exclusively for God, by God, in God, through God, and to God's glory. You see, so when the Holy Spirit deals with us in our life and begins to shine the light in the different departments of our life that are our departments, that are our areas of our life that we want lordship in, that we want preeminence in, we shouldn't be surprised. Because the Holy Spirit, according to Revelation chapter 21, verse number 2, John saw a holy city. So God's end product, God's final completed product, is going to be a city that is holy. You see, it's going to be a set-apart city. Everything in that city will be by God and for God and in God and to the glory of God. Now, we can't expect that that's going to be realized in our life if the Holy Spirit and the Word of God is not effectually working in our lives on a daily basis, bringing this crisis of the need to offer everything and everything the Holy Spirit puts his finger on to God. We have to take our hands off and be free from the possessiveness of our own lives. The Holy Spirit says, you are bought with a price. You are not your own. And all these words need to go very deeply in this whole idea of not being our own possession. Belonging to God is connected with a holy city. We're not our own. God has bought us. Therefore, we, in cooperation with the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, have to consecrate ourselves to God. We have to offer ourselves to God. We have to give the Lord all of our life and all the departments of our life. Now, this can get real practical, can't it? Sure it can. We have to give the Lord our time. Our time is not our own. We can't decide that we're just going to do this and that. We have to be prayerful. We have to say, Lord, is it your thought for me to do this now? Is it your thought for me to do this now? We have to give everything to the Lord so that we can be a holy people. You see, I don't believe that the holy city is going to be made up of unholy people. And I don't believe that we can be holy the way the Lord wants us to be, simply in a positional way, simply in a judicial way. But I believe that this holiness, this being set apart for God, must be practically wrought in us on a daily basis. And I, John, saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, there's that word new again, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. Now, beloved, this holy city, this new Jerusalem, the scripture says, comes down from God out of heaven. All that the Lord is doing, as far as the new creation is concerned, is coming down from Himself out of heaven. It is not originating from earth. It is not originating from man. It is not originating from the mind of man, from the works of man, from the heart of man. It is not originating from earth. It is not something of an earthly thing. It's not tainted with man's energies, or man's wisdom, or man's reasonings. But the scripture says that this new Jerusalem comes down from God out of heaven. Oh, how wonderful it is to know that the Lord's work is a heavenly work. How wonderful to know that His work in us is a work that comes from His own very hand. This is a very important point. There's so much earthliness in our own lives. There's so much earthliness in the realm of Christianity today. There's so much that is originating from man. Even if it's His religious nature, if it's coming from man, it's not acceptable to God. How we need to pray over these things and ask the Holy Spirit to so make known to us the realities of these truths. How wonderful it is to be apprehended by this and to pray, Oh God, Oh God, may Your work continue in my life that comes from You, that is out of heaven, Lord. God, I need to know the work of Your Spirit that comes out of heaven. I need to know the work of Your Spirit that comes from Your hand. God, I need to know that heavenly stamp upon my life. This heavenly work, this heavenly Jerusalem is prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Well, my, we can just go on and on here, which we don't want to do, because we can get quite involved in this, but prepared as a bride. Well, you can ask the Holy Spirit to teach you in the Scriptures, what are the features that characterize a bride? What are those features? Can it be that those features are not developed in our life, or should I say, are not being developed in our life? And then we have a hope to be part of this heavenly bride? How can we have a hope of being part of a heavenly bride that's going to be revealed someday as one that comes out from heaven, from God, and yet at the present time there's no real dealings in our life, there's no real evidence that the features that characterize a bride are beginning to be expressed in our life. Oh, how we should pray, Lord God, Lord God, could it be, Lord, that you would begin to work in my life so wonderfully and so firmly, but yet lovingly, but firmly, to where the features of a bride can begin to come forth. What are some of the features of a bride? Oh my, utter love for her husband, utter devotedness, yes, purity, some features for the bride. How we need the Holy Spirit to begin to teach us along these lines. Do you see these features coming forth in your life? A devotedness to the heavenly bridegroom, a love for the heavenly bridegroom, a zealous desire to want to only offer yourself to Him and to nothing else, a singleness of heart, the absence of having a roving eye, that is an eye that is after other lovers other than the Lord Himself. What about a heart that is, a life that is so open that we give everything to Him, that we do nothing of ourself, that everything about our life, all the facets of our life are open before our heavenly bridegroom, and now we're seeking His counsel, now we're asking Him to be the one who is leading us and guiding us. Oh, all of these features are what the Lord is going to realize in glorious manifestation in this lovely bride. So these are the things that we should be praying that the Lord makes real in our lives now, you see. Now verse number three, and this goes along with what Virginia wanted to sing about, I surrender all. Verse number three is the picture of the ultimate expression of that song, I surrender all, all to Thee Lord Jesus I freely give. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them and be their God. Behold the tabernacle, that word tabernacle means a habitation. The habitation of God is with man. Do you know what that implies? The habitation of God is with man, that implies that God has found a place to live. God has found a place to live where He is completely honored as Sovereign Lord. When I read this scripture, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, in my heart I began to see that this implies that men and God are in perfect harmony. Now God never rebelled against man, it was man who rebelled against God. So the presence of the tabernacle of God with men implies the absence of rebellion in the heart of men, the absence of rivalry in the heart of man against God, the absence of self-will in the heart of man asserting itself against God's will. Can you see it, beloved? The tabernacle of God is with men. The implication is that there is finally a humankind, the new creation man. God has finally done it. He has gotten a man, a corporate man. The head is Christ, the body are those who are joined to Christ. He's finally gotten a man in whom He is perfectly and entirely at home in, that is, a place where His rights are honored, where His Lordship is honored, where there's the absence of any enmity against Him. Oh, what a glorious end! What a glorious end God is after here, beloved. Now when we read these things, we mustn't place the fulfillment of these things exclusively in the future somewhere in the by-and-by and say, oh what a day that will be when God can be with man and man is in harmony with Him. No, beloved, we should be realizing that Paul teaches in Corinthians, what? Know you not that ye are the temple of God and that God dwells in you by the Holy Spirit? What? Know you not that you are the members of Christ? Now the truth of this scripture ought to so grip our hearts in so much that we would begin to pray earnestly, oh dear Holy Spirit of God, would you please begin to bring in my life and in my heart such a submission to you so that the absence of rebellion is present, the absence of rivalry against you is present. Oh how we should pray, Lord subdue me, conquer me, overcome me through the glorious life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Can you see it? Behold the tabernacle of God is with men. What that implies, what that means, and how that should touch our lives very deeply, oh may the Holy Spirit do it. Is the habitation of God with you today? Does God dwell in you? If He does, may I ask a second question? How much of the Lord is honored in your life? How much of His rights are being given in your life? God dwells in me, says the Christian who was born again, and rightfully so. That is a true testimony, isn't it? But how much of God dwells in you has full say in your life? Is there harmony in your life with God? That is, is God's will the will that you earnestly desire? Is God's will the will that you passionately long for? Is God's heart the heart that you passionately long to know? You see, when the tabernacle of God dwells with men, it implies that man is no longer self-centered. Man is no longer self-sufficient. Man is no longer revolving around his own life, fulfilling the desires of his own heart. But the tabernacle of God with man implies that a great deliverance has occurred, a great emancipation has occurred, and now man is God-ward instead of man-ward. Now man is God-centered and Christ-centered instead of self-centered and ego-centered. There's a great change that occurs deep within our hearts, deep within our very beings, when the tabernacle of God is dwelling with us. We are emancipated and liberated from being servants and slaves to sin and self and Satan and the world and the pleasures of this world, and we become creatures, heavenly creatures, creatures of His own begotten, creatures of His own hand, who now revolve around Him, who now focus their heart's attentions around Him, who now long for Him to have His place of preeminence in their life. Oh, how this can deeply touch us. He will dwell with them and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them and be their God. So, beloved, this is the Lord's end. This is what the Lord is after. And what we want to look at tonight, by the help of God's grace, is this question. If we've seen through Revelation 21, 1 through 3, what God's end is, then the question is this. How in the world is He going to get us there? How is God going to get us there? What is the process by which the Lord implements, through which we can come into this more and more, so that the truths of this particular portion of Scripture are actually beginning to be expressed in our life in ever-increasing measure? That's what we need to get after tonight. And, of course, what that means is simply this. Lord, how am I to be an overcomer? Because, truly, Revelation chapter 21, verses 1 through 3, all the way down to verses number 5 and 6, truly they speak of a people that have come into the full meaning of what it is to be an overcomer. Do you want to be an overcomer tonight? Do you want to overcome? Revelation chapter 21, verse number 7. He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my Son. So, the Scripture here speaks of an overcomer as being one or those who shall inherit all things. So, there's much at stake here, isn't there? The overcomer comes into some incredible blessings from the Lord, being able to inherit all things. Now, let's just look at a few Scriptures here that refer to this life of being an overcomer and the connection with the overcomer of inheriting all things. You see, Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8, beginning in verse number 31. What shall we then say to these things, if God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? So, there's that phrase again, freely give us all things. That coincides with the phrase in Revelation, he that overcomes shall inherit all things. Now, how about Ephesians chapter 1, verse number 3. Ephesians chapter 1, verse number 3. Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. So, there we find again that word, all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. So, you see, this thought of the overcomer, inheriting all things, is something that runs throughout the Scriptures, and it's a very, very dear thought in the Lord's heart, and he wants to instill within us a passion to set our hearts and our eyes steadfastly upon him that he can secure this work in us. Now, first of all, I want to just look at the word overcome. What does the word overcome mean? The Scripture speaks of overcomers in various different places, but before we look at them, what does it mean? Well, the Scripture, when it speaks of the word overcome, that word means to subdue, to conquer, to prevail, to obtain the victory. So, an overcomer is one who has subdued, or one who has conquered, one who has prevailed, one who has obtained the victory. So, take for example in Revelation, the promise is made to the overcomer seven different times in the book of Revelation, in the various different churches there. So, if the Lord is mentioning the overcomer so many times in the book of Revelation, chapters 2 and 3, then the Lord is really after an overcomer. His heart is really set toward realizing in a people the qualities that characterize an overcomer. So, when the Scripture says, he that overcomes, he that overcomes, seven times in the book of Revelation, what it's really saying is, he that subdues, he that conquers, he that obtains the victory, to him that prevails against. So, the Scripture is speaking here of somebody who is in the place of victory, in the place of victory. So, automatically we have to connect the thought of being an overcomer with the thought of being victorious, being a conqueror, being one that obtains and is obtaining the victory. So, it brings us into the thought of a battle, doesn't it? The very word itself, overcomer, implies a battle. Let's look at a few places in 1st John where the word overcome is used. 1st John chapter 5, 1st John chapter 5, verse number 4, For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world? But he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. So, that's the references in 1st John where the word overcome and overcometh is used. And you'll notice that the overcomer here is directly connected to the one born of God, the one that believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the one that is able to possess a living faith. Now, in Revelation chapters 2 and 3, we won't go into it at this time. We know that there's promises made to the overcomers, and these promises are very sure and very certain, and they're only made to the overcomers. So, the thought that we want to look at tonight, with the help of God's grace... Before we do this, I thought it was interesting too that the first mention in the New Testament of the word overcome is found in Luke chapter 11, verse number 22. We'll look at that, and then we'll look at the second mention, because you can learn a lot about words and particular phrases when you look at their first mention in the Bible and their last mention in the Bible. You learn a lot about it. And remarkably, in Luke chapter 11, verse number 22, the first mention of overcome is in a story that Jesus told about Beelzebub and his kingdom and the kingdom of God. And in verse number 22, it says... Well, let's begin here in verse number 17, alright? Jesus was casting out devils, and the people were accusing Jesus of casting out devils by the power of Satan. And this is what Jesus' response was, verse number 17. And he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falleth. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? Because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. But if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore shall they be your judges. But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. When a strong man armed keeps his palace, his goods are in peace. Now, that strong man refers to Satan, and his palace refers to his kingdom and those in his kingdom. His goods are men who are bound. But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, here it is, and overcome him. There's the first use of the word overcome in the New Testament. And you know, when the Scripture speaks in verse 22, But when a stronger than he shall come and conquer him, he taketh away from him all his armor wherein he trusted, and divided his spoils. When the Scripture speaks of that stronger one, it refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is that stronger one who comes upon the strong man and spoils his goods, and he leads and overcomes him. So, whenever the word of overcomer is mentioned, we have to be very careful that we understand the word and the meaning of the word, and the good of the word, as it directly relates to the life and person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the overcomer. Now, in John chapter 16 verse 33, this is the next place that the word overcome is used. 16 verse 33, These things have I spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Now, see, in Luke, Jesus refers to himself as the one who overcomes the strong man. So, Jesus has overcome Satan. Now, Jesus refers to himself as the one who has overcome the world. Okay? So, what we're seeing is all of these wonderful truths that relate to the overcomer, being a conqueror, being one that overcomes, being one that gets the victory, are directly connected to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. This is vital for us, beloved. This is vital for us, if we are to truly know the overcoming life in our daily practical life. We have to realize that Christ is the overcomer, and Christ is the source of all the power to overcome. So, now that we see that Jesus Christ has overcome the devil, let's go to Colossians and see another scripture that supports that. It's so very important for us to have this foundation in our lives, beloved, because there's much talk today about being overcomers. But, unfortunately, very few believers equate being an overcomer with the Lord Jesus Christ and the fullness of his life being expressed in them. Too often, the call to be an overcomer stirs into action and fans into flame the strength of the believer to want to try and overcome by his own power and his own might, and that's going to lead down a dead-end street. We're not going to succeed in overcoming that way. We can't overcome by pulling up our own bootstraps. The way to overcome, and this is what we're going to get into a little later, is to be overcome. The way to conquer is to be conquered. The way to be triumphant is to be triumphed over. You see? And that's what the Lord is after. So in Colossians, verse number 13, chapter 2, and you, being dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, that is Christ, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross, and having spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly, triumphing, that is overcoming, over them." Overcoming them in it. Triumphing over them in it. So here the Lord Jesus is shown to be the one who has overcome principalities and powers. You see? Now, 1 Peter, what we're doing now is we're using the Scriptures and showing how everything is connected to and fulfilled in Christ Jesus. He is the overcomer, and we're seeing that quite vividly, are we not? 1 Peter, chapter 2, beginning in verse number 21. For even hereunto were ye called, that is, to suffer, because Christ offered you or suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps, who did not sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. There you go. So here the Scriptures teach that Christ Jesus overcame what? He overcame sin. So he is the overcomer against sin. He's the overcomer of the devil. He's the overcomer of the world, according to 1 Peter. John chapter 16, verse number 33. Now let's go to the book of Hebrews, chapter 7, verse number 25. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto him by God, seeing that he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. So beloved, Christ has overcome all things. He overcame sin. He overcame any kind of defilement. He overcame any kind of evil. He overcame anything that would be unholy or polluted. So Christ becomes the absolute fulfillment and picture of an overcomer. He is the overcomer. Now, let's go to Matthew. Not only has Christ overcome all of these things, but in chapter 1, verse 28, verse 1 of the book of Matthew, it says, In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. And behold, there was a great earthquake. For the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him, the keepers did shake and became as dead men. Listen to what the angel said. The angel answered and said unto him, said unto the woman, Fear ye not, for I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified. He is not here, listen, for he is risen as he said. So not only has Jesus conquered and overcome sin, he's overcome the world, he's overcome the devil, he's overcome all the things that are not acceptable to God. But here the Bible says that Jesus overcame death itself. So he is the overcomer and he has overcome all things. Hebrews, turn there back again and we'll find another scripture to help us see this truth. This can never be exhausted. We can never talk too much about Jesus. Alright, Hebrews chapter 2, verse number 9. But we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, and he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. So here Jesus tasted death for every man so that ultimately the overcomers can also overcome death itself. So the scriptures are teaching us that God has made wonderful promises to the overcomers who shall inherit all things. But the overcomers and all of those promises being fulfilled in the overcomers are directly related to and connected with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the only realization that we can know of coming into the good of these promises and overcoming death, overcoming sin, overcoming the world, overcoming the flesh, is through the overcomer himself gaining more and more and more a place in our life. I want you to turn to Romans chapter 8. It is vitally important for us to see that the church's power to overcome is wholly related to her ability to live on the basis of his life and by the power of the Holy Spirit deny and disown their old life. And whenever we get off the basis and off the mindset and get astray from seeing everything that God wants us to be as connected to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit making good in us the life of Jesus Christ onto some kind of a movement where we're trying to obtain the things God wants us to be by our own strength and our own effort, we are immediately cutting ourselves off from the head and trying to grasp for something that is not attainable by our own power and by our own might. That's why it's essential that we see these things. All right, Romans chapter 7 verse number 17. Now then it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. So here the Bible clearly says that in my flesh dwells no good thing. Verse 24, O wretched man that I am. Have you seen the reality of that yet, O wretched man that I am? I tell you, beloved, the passion to be an overcomer and the ability to begin to live an overcoming life really accelerates or I think it really truly begins to happen. It not only begins but it accelerates when we come to the realization of what Paul saw in Romans chapter 7. These two truths are vital for us to come to know before we can really begin to know the good of living in that life of being an overcomer. And that is number one, for in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. And number two, O wretched man that I am. Those two truths are vital if we are to know what it is to be an overcomer. Those who have not seen that in their flesh dwells no good thing and O wretched man that I am, those who have not seen those truths are not really able to be overcomers. Because the very fact of not seeing those truths presupposes confidence yet in oneself, reliance in oneself, dependence in oneself and self-ability and self-strength and wisdom and knowledge that comes out of our own natural minds as opposed to an utter dependence upon and reliance in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ and the life of Jesus Christ being transmitted to us, communicated to us by an ever-present Holy Spirit and an ever-continuous infilling of the Holy Spirit of God. That is what we need in our lives. An ever-present filling of the Holy Spirit of God communicating to us the life of Jesus Christ which is the only life that will enable us to overcome. So, we see that an overcomer, what it means, the various places that the word overcome, overcomer, are used in the New Testament and how all of these things are connected to the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ and His glorified life right now and that life being communicated to us by the Holy Spirit of God. Romans chapter 8 is the follow-through after the revelation of Romans 7. I want to do good. The Holy Spirit is working in me the desire to do good, but I do not find the power to perform it. What is wrong? Oh, wretched man that I am! Who can deliver me? Verse number 1, chapter 8, Therefore now there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. Notice, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free, has loosed me, has exempted me from the law of sin and death. So here the Bible clearly teaches that the way to victory over the law of sin and death which works in my nature, which works in my natural mind, which works in my natural body, which is the law of sin and death. There is a law of sin working in me, but the overcomer, according to the Bible, is the one who subdues and conquers and prevails and obtains the victory over. So how is it that I'm going to overcome and get the victory over this terrible dreadful law of sin and death? By coming to realize there is no good thing that dwells in our flesh and that I am, in fact, in myself, in my flesh, a wretched man. Oh, wretched man that I am! Who can deliver me from this body of death? Who shall deliver me from this dying corpse? Who shall deliver me? The Scripture says the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free. Beloved, let it be known clearly tonight, let it be known clearly tonight, that the way of freedom from the law of sin, the way of freedom from the bondage in the flesh, the way of freedom from the voluptuous powers in the world, the way of freedom from all of these things is found wholly and exclusively in the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. It is not a theology in and of itself. It is not an end-time teaching in and of itself. It is in, it is the law of Spirit of life in Christ Jesus that makes me free from the law of sin and death. So right here, verse 2, chapter 8, we see the way of Overcomer. We see the secret power of the Overcomer. So might we ask, who is it that overcomes? Who is it that comes into this life of being able to overcome these dreadful things in the world and these dreadful things in the flesh? It is that person that discovers the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus and by a living, active faith is enabled to live in the good of that life and disown and deny the life that is according to the law of sin and death, which is the flesh. So here this scripture clearly shows us that the Overcomer is the Lord Jesus Christ and the believer's power to overcome is directly linked to the believer by the power of the Holy Spirit living in the good of the life of Jesus Christ. That is why the Holy Spirit comes to live with us. He does not come essentially to make us happy. He does not come essentially to give us gifts, to reveal in earthen vessels the overcoming life of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is why the Holy Spirit comes. The reason why we are saved is so God can reveal the beauty of His Son, Jesus Christ, innocent through us. God has a plan. It is His Son. It is the revelation of His Son in the earth. When we are saved it is not because God has a certain private agenda for us necessarily. No, we are saved to understand God's purpose. He has a Son. Everything about our salvation relates to the Lord Jesus Christ. So beloved, it is so essential that we come to realize that only as we come more and more to where the Holy Spirit of God is having a place of preeminence in our life that we can know the overcoming life of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit when given His place in our life gives Christ His place in our life. When we give the Holy Spirit place, the Holy Spirit gives Christ place. When we give the Holy Spirit the place of being sovereign Lord in our life, then the Holy Spirit gives Christ His place as the life of our life, as the holiness of our life, as the righteousness of our life. Now, how does the Holy Spirit bring about this glorious overcoming life in us? Not the beginnings of it, but how does the Holy Spirit get it to where we are coming into adulthood and we are on the road of the process of coming into completion because the Holy Spirit's burden in Paul's writings is not so much getting people saved as it is getting them saved and then having the Lord get His place of all in all in their life. Paul's burden for the Corinthians was that they might come into adulthood. Paul's burden for the Colossians was that he might present them perfect in Christ Jesus. Paul's burden in the book of Ephesians was what? That we might come to the full manhood, the full stature of the Lord Jesus Christ. God's burden in Philippians was what? That we would all be of one heart, one mind, striving together for the furtherance of the gospel, that we might win the prize, be found in Christ. So all of the burdens that are expressed in the epistles are not so much getting people saved as they are the saved coming into maturity to where Christ is all in all. How does the Lord do this? Well, if we look at the life of Joseph, we see three distinct stages that the Holy Spirit brought Joseph through which speak to us today as a pattern that the Holy Spirit will use to bring us into the things that the Lord wants us to come into. And we're not going to go into this extensively, but just mention them briefly and then we can ponder these things, go into the scriptures ourselves and look at them more deeply. But if you turn your Bibles to Genesis chapter 37, that begins the life of Joseph and it opens up with the fact that Joseph had a dream. That's Genesis chapter 37. Before we look at this, I just want to give you the three points because it's very important. If you get these three points, you'll see these things working in your own life. The first point is revelation. The second point is reconstitution. And the third point is reigning. The first three points, these are the different spiritual dynamics, processes that the Lord brings us through. Revelation, reconstitution, and reigning. We see in the life of Joseph, first of all, Joseph had a dream. He had a revelation. He saw something. Now, if we look into it, we see that Joseph had a dream and it says in verse number five, and Joseph dreamed a dream and he told it to his brethren and they hated him. And he said to them, here I pray you this dream, for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field and lo, my sheep arose and also stood upright and behold, your sheep stood around about and made obscenes. I think that's right. And bowed down to my sheep. And his brethren said to him, shall thou indeed reign over us or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more. And he dreamed yet another dream. Check it out. And his brethren said, behold, I've dreamed the dream and behold, the sun and the moon and the 11 stars bowed down to me. And he told it to his father and to his brethren and his father rebuked him and said unto him, what is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? And his brethren envied him, but his father observed the same. So that's quite, quite a series of dreams, but beloved, may the Lord help us to see that within these stories, there's something far more than just a young boy dreaming dreams about his family, having to bow down to him. Though that really happened, didn't it? When Joseph was second to the throne in Egypt, his brothers came and they bowed down to him. So this indeed came to pass in a literal way. But within this story is a type. The Bible says that the Old Testament and the stories therein are types and shadows pointing toward the spiritual realities that are found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And Joseph's dream simply indicates this. He saw, he had revelation. That's the first stage along this process of coming into spiritual revelation. He saw what? He saw the absolute lordship and preeminence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone's going to have to bow down before the Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone is going to have to pay homage to him. He saw that the Lord Jesus Christ was king and that as king, everything has to be subject to him. Now we can make that a general statement, or if we let the Holy Spirit have his way, that can become a very personal, very devastating revelation. We must come to see that the Lord Jesus Christ has been made the head over the church. We must come to see that the Lord Jesus Christ has been made head over our lives and that he must be the one that we bow down to in all things. Now this is essential. The process of becoming an overcomer, the process of coming into the spiritual realities that make up the overcomers who will inherit all things begins with a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Number one, his headship. God has made him head over the church. That's found in Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter one verse 18. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the first born from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. So not only is Christ the head of the church, but in all things he must have the preeminence. We must come to see this in a living way. It can't be just a doctrine that we profess. It must become a revelation that touches every area of our life. That's what Joseph saw. We can't emphasize this enough. The scriptures speak over and over again in the Old and New Testament that God must have a people who see his rights over their life and absolutely honor him as head, Lord, and King, and God. That's what the dreams of Joseph spiritually mean to you and I. Joseph is a picture of an overcomer, and this is where it begins. Ephesians chapter one. Paul prays this very thing. Verse number 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, that the eyes of your understanding be enlightened that you might know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and so on and so forth. So Paul here is praying that the church would come to know, come to see, come to understand the significance of Christ, the meaning of Joseph's dream. Everything must bow down before him, and that must begin in his household. That must begin in his church. That must begin within the place that is called by his name. So we see that that's the first step in the work of the Lord in Joseph's life to get him to be an overcomer. The second step, reconstitution. Once Joseph came to see the place of the Lord Jesus Christ, and once Joseph came to see the fact that actually this is the practical application of it. Once Joseph came to see that his brothers were going to bow down before him, and his family was going to bow down before him, he needed to go into the next process, and that process is called reconstitution. Joseph had to go through a process where the Lord secured in Joseph the character and the heavenly features that were like the Lord Jesus Christ. Because once we see the place of the Lord Jesus Christ and see that as overcomers, we too shall rule the nations with the rod of iron, the Bible says. We too shall sit upon the throne with Christ and shall have power over the nations. We too will be in that position of reigning with Christ and people will come and bow down before those who are overcomers. The Scriptures clearly teach it. But before that can happen, we have to realize that the Lord has to secure in us the right kind of life and the right kind of character. Because only that which corresponds to the nature and character that is in the Lord Jesus is worthy of the place of rulership and honor and glory. So this process of reconstitution consists of being transformed through trial, through adversity, through misunderstandings, through having our hopes dashed, through perplexities, pressures, trials, discomforts, and by these things the Lord is transforming us and enabling us to come more and more into a life of dependence upon Him and the Holy Spirit, thereby giving the Holy Spirit opportunity to secure more and more of that heavenly character of Christ in our life. Now we see this fulfilled in Joseph's life. Once he saw the vision and declared it, what happened? His brothers despised him and sold him into slavery. And that started a process in Joseph's life where he was devastated. He was taken from his natural family. He was sold into slavery. He was taken from his family and was hired by Potiphar to watch over his household. Then Potiphar's wife lied against Joseph and accused him of trying to make a move on her. And Potiphar believed his wife and threw Joseph into prison. But all during this time, Joseph, the man Joseph, is being subjected to unbearable pressures and perplexities and tribulations beyond measure. But at the same time, he is crying out to God, he is depending upon God, and he's being changed, he's being transformed. Because in each of these various different places, the Bible says, and God gave Joseph favor. God gave Joseph favor with Potiphar. Then when Joseph was thrown into the prison, the Bible says, and God gave Joseph favor with the prison guards. And then we know that the butler and the butcher were thrown down into prison, and they had dreams, and Joseph interpreted the dreams. The baker, too. Oh, okay, it was the baker and who? Okay, yeah, the cupbearer and the baker, not the butcher. Thank you, Norman. I don't know who, was there a butcher anywhere? All right, but anyway, we know the story. We're just going quickly through this. The Holy Spirit has to stir your hearts to get into the stories and search them out yourself. If we went into detail, this would take a year, and we'd just be done with the introduction. So the baker and the cupbearer are thrown into prison, and Joseph tells the dream, and well, the baker's dream wasn't so good. He was the one that was going to be killed in three days, but the cupbearer was real good. God was going to raise him up out of prison, and he was going to be Pharaoh's cupbearer again. So what happened is Joseph said to the cupbearer, oh, please promise me that when you get out of prison, tell Pharaoh I was thrown here unjustly, and I shouldn't be here. I don't deserve to be here. Tell him to remember me, and he said, I surely will, and then what happened? He forgot Joseph. So there, Joseph's dreams were dashed. His hopes were dashed. Why? Why? Because the Bible teaches that unless we know the sufferings of Christ, we cannot know the next and final step, the reigning of Christ. It is essential that once God calls us to see Christ and his significance and the promises made to the believers in Christ, he must change us on the inside, because none of the promises to the overcomers are for the church after the flesh. They're not for me after my flesh. They're not for me and what I am in my own nature, but they're only for me as I come into conformity to the image and likeness of Christ. And the Lord can only use adversity and pressures and perplexities, and this is why the Scriptures teach in the New Testament that Paul in Philippians chapter 3 wanted to know Christ and his sufferings, conformity to his sufferings, and being made conformable to his death. It also says in 1 Peter chapter 4 that we should arm ourselves with the same mind, that just as Christ suffered, we too must suffer according to the flesh. And various other different places in the New Testament speak of our suffering, and the suffering that God wants to bring about in our life is that suffering which produces in us a transformation, a change by the power of the Holy Spirit. You know what happens when we suffer. You know what happens when we get to wit's end. If the Holy Spirit has his way, we cry out to God. We feel our need for him, and that's just what the Lord wants. You see, Romans chapter 8 is a beautiful Scripture that I think of now before we go to our last point and close. This is the perspective that we must remember. Chapter 8 verse number 15, For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. Listen to this, For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. So the glory that is to be revealed in us is directly connected to the sufferings that we go through. So we see number one, revelation. Number two, reconstitution. And lastly, we see reigning. And that's found in Genesis chapter 41 verse 37, And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants. And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this, is a man in whom the Spirit of God is? Now there's so much there, beloved. It's not just a man in whom the Spirit of God is. It's a man in whom the Spirit of God is, a man in whom the Spirit of God has transformed the person, a man in whom the Spirit of God has revealed something of the heaviness of Christ. It's a man who has endured affliction, who has endured tribulation, who has suffered patiently and who has come through as gold tried in the fire. And it's that man and that man alone, that man who comes through the persecution and adversity and has been enabled to secure in himself the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, the character of the Lord Jesus Christ being expressed by the power of the Holy Spirit. It's to that man that the Bible addresses in verse 39, And Pharaoh said to Joseph, For as much as God has shown me all this, there is not no discreet and wise as thou. Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled. Only in the throne will I be greater than thou. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck. He made him to ride in the second chariot which he made, and they cried before him, Bow the knee. And he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. Now there's the picture of the reigning life of the Lord Jesus Christ and those who will reign with Him. In Revelation 2, 7, 11, 17, and 26. Revelation 3, 5, 12, and 21. And Revelation 21, verse 7. All of those verses refer to the overcomers who are promised great things. But beloved, we can be assured tonight that these overcomers are where they're at simply because the Lord has secured in their lives a place of all and all. They are overcomers simply by virtue of the fact that they came to where they saw the Lord Jesus Christ. They went through the process of reconstitution. They lost their earthliness. They got detached from this earth. They came to an ever-increasing love, awareness, and submission to the Lord Jesus Christ, and God secured in them the lamb nature, the likeness of the Son of God, the image of the blessed Son of Man in heaven. They became as He. And because He got the place of preeminence in their life, by virtue of Him getting that place, they in this life spiritually and in the age to come literally experienced the reigning life over sin, over the world, over the devil, over the flesh, and ultimately over death itself. And that's what this is a picture of. But it's wholly connected with a people seeing the Lord Jesus Christ being changed into His image and then reigning by and through Him. And that's a little picture of a look at Joseph and how he teaches us many things about the overcomers and how the Holy Spirit is working these things in the earth today in those who have an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church. So in closing, let us read the verse in chapter 21 of Revelation one more time as this is an appropriate verse. You know that the first time the word overcomer is used, we read in Luke, and now the last time, this is the last time it's used in the Bible, Revelation 21 7, He that overcometh shall inherit all things. Now you know that Christ inherited all things, that to Him belongs the inheritance. He is the firstborn. But God is so kind and gracious and the Lord Jesus is so loving and wonderful that He will have a company of believers who will overcome even as He overcame. And Christ will share the whole inheritance that He Himself inherited with these overcomers. Why? They will be worthy. Why will they be worthy? I thought the Lord is the only worthy one. He is. But they will be worthy because they've lost their life in death. Not necessarily physical death, but they've lost their soul life and they've gained Christ's life. They've gained the stature of Christ. And it's that life that makes them worthy. It's not a worthiness of their own. It's not a worthiness that they can boast of as having produced by their own power. No. But it's a worthiness that they have that comes from the worthy one Himself who alone will be worshipped. So, He that overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be His God and He shall be my Son. That word Son there implies mature. It doesn't say my child. There's different words in the New Testament. It doesn't say and He shall be my infant or my babe. No. My Son. Something of a mature man filled with the qualities and characters of the Son of God. So there you go beloved. Just a thimble full. Just the tip of the iceberg of something on the Lord's heart about being an overcomer. And I trust tonight that the Holy Spirit of God will do His work and that is to make these things real to us and to stir in us a desire to want to be overcomers, but to directly realize that my only hope in being an overcomer is a steadfast focus on the overcomer Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ and a life worthy of Him who lived in utter dependence upon Him and the mighty working of His Holy Spirit. That alone is the means through which I can become an overcomer. I ever decreasing, Him ever increasing. May the Lord grant it to us by His power. Amen and Amen.