5 things needed to be an overcomer

Turn please to the book of Revelation chapter 3. Revelation in chapter 3. Trust this little thought. We'll try tie these two thoughts together this morning of our unchangeable God in the day and age in which we live. We really believe that the coming of the Lord is so near then we find out where we are a little in the program of God.

But we're going to find out who we are from the scriptures. For if the Lord comes in our generation, then that would make us then the church of Laodicea. Revelation in chapter 3, verse 14.

And unto the angel of the church of Laodiceans write, these things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot.

So then, because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth, because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing. And knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed.

And that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my father in his throne.

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. Lord, bless to us the reading of his word. This, my motive is not to beat the Christians down today, but rather to encourage us to be overcomers.

Likely as what you've listened to already in the first part of this conference, we've been reminded of the I am that can never change. We're reminded of the program of God which is entirely and always in his control according to his purpose, according to his timeline, and that nothing takes him by surprise. But how do we make it fit practically? How do we take what we've learned and we put it into shoe leather and to put it practically? Do we go home and do we hide in our basements and and wait for the Lord to come? Not hardly.

Not hardly. But it needs to change us. It needs to motivate us.

It needs to refocus us. What really is important to God? What is it that is really of a high standard to God that we've let go, that we've let slip, that that would put us in this in this categorization of being a lukewarm? What is it that we've taken for granted? Have we taken inventory? Have we taken a self-assessment of what we are in these days? I'd like to suggest five things this morning that are very important to God. If we won't take time to read them, it would probably be better if we did.

But five things that God holds of highest importance that that Christians have let slip. We come to Exodus and chapter 20 and the link here will be things that that are vain in the eyes of men or vain things, things of God's importance that we have that we have made vain. When you come to Exodus chapter 20 and one of the commandments it says, thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

Now, I know you understand that what is speaking of there is not people taking it as an explicative, but it's rather that they would take the Lord's name in an oath and they would swear by God or they would swear by Jehovah and they would take that name. An example might be Jephthah in Judges chapter 11. And he would make an oath to God that he would not break and he could not break that the first thing that come out of his house he would offer to the Lord and it was his daughter.

And do you remember the horrific story that still confuses us how this all works and what it all means? But there was a man and he made an oath and he could not return on his oath. He could not renege on his on his oath because he had taken the Lord's name. The Lord takes his name of utmost importance in 2023.

And I wouldn't suppose there's any of us here that would be making oaths in the Lord's name. For we're instructed not to do so in the Word of God. But the Lord takes his name very personal and he takes it very serious.

We've been reminded that is the name that every knee shall bow and every tongue that shall confess. We know from the book of Acts that neither is there salvation in any other for there's none of their name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. It is that very name that we approach the throne of God by and through our Lord Jesus Christ.

It's his name. It is the very name that we gather to in assembly testimony capacity. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

So then if I'm going to be lukewarm concerning the name Lord Jesus Christ, what is that going to look like? What is that going to look like? Oh, I may take the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. And not acknowledge him as Lord. The order is divine in Romans.

He is first our Lord and then our Savior. Lord and Savior. I always wondered how could he be my Lord if he's not my Savior? Just what we've been reminded every knee will bow.

And the first time likely you ever acknowledged him as Lord is when you agreed with him with what he said about you and your sin. Lord, you're right about my sin. And Lord, you're right about me.

And until we've felt our sin and seen our guiltiness before God, that salvation can't come. And Lord, you are right to take his name and to be lukewarm. Take his name and to love the world.

For whosoever loves the world is an enemy of God. It's lukewarm. To say that I am a believer, to say that I am a Christian, and yet I love the world.

It can't be, can it? It can't be. We take his name. We make little of his name.

We take value from that name. I belong to Christ, but I live for me. I belong for Christ, but I live for time and sense.

I am a Christian. If you've taken the name of Christian, you've taken his name. Have we taken the name in vain? Have we made it to the eyes of the world a worthless thing, an unimportant thing, or even a weak thing? He hasn't changed.

His name, to take the name means to bear it up, means to lift it up. Now shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. The second thing on my little list here of things that men make vain, you'll find it in Matthew chapter 15 or in Mark chapter 7. And there in the context there are men that have made the Word of God of none effect by their tradition.

And in that context we read this, that because they have done that, the worship of God is in vain. Worship. The Word of God is of utmost priority.

And those men there, they were accusing the Lord and his disciples for they ate without washing their hands. And why do you transgress the tradition of the elders by not washing your hands? And they were all taken up with the physical, but the spiritual meant nothing. And those imaginations that men had came up with, and they made them law.

And they further brought their people under further and heavier bondage to keep the law of these physical things of time and sense. And they made the Word of God of no effect, to have a Word of God with no power. To say that we live by the Word of God, and we have no power.

We're lukewarm. And the Lord Jesus says, why do you make the Word of God of none effect by your tradition? And their whole focus then of worship was to do that which the elders had said over that which God had said. And they were disobeying the Word of God that they might keep the frivolous things of the traditions of men.

And their worship was empty. The Lord Jesus says in vain, do you worship me? What would make our worship vain? You brethren, you come with your thoughts on Sunday mornings. You present them in an orderly fashion.

And we seek with our lips to tell the father of the beauties of the Lord Jesus that we've appreciated in some small way. And then we disobey the Word of God. What do you suppose is the greatest act of worship a person could commit? What is the greatest thing that you can offer, male or female here, brother and sister, to God? Is it the fruit of our lips? Is it what we lay aside for the offering every Lord's Day? Could I just suggest as I look at the Lord Jesus and we go to the cross of Calvary and there we see the greatest act of worship to the Father ever.

What did he do? In humble, willing obedience, he offered himself without reserve to God. The greatest act of worship that will ever be seen is the Lord Jesus Christ giving himself entirely to the will of God and perfect humble obedience to his divine will. So if I'm lukewarm in my worship, I will come with great swelling words of worship on Sunday morning.

The fruit of the lips and yet be disobedient to the Word of God. You remember when Samuel came to Saul after Saul won the first battle and Saul had taken the best of the of the flocks for the nation, but that was not what God told him to do. God told him to destroy everything, to take nothing back, to keep nothing of the battle, to keep to take no spoil, and he in his own mind justified it for his own for his own reasons.

And Samuel comes and he says to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams. And that rebellion is as a sin of witchcraft. And what did they do with witches? They were stoned.

And they were destroyed. And it's interesting where does Saul find himself at the end of life. He finds himself taking counsel from the witch.

Coincidence? No. No. And so we've got the Word of God and its obedience, and we've got the worship of God.

Romans 12 and 1, to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service. And if we're going to be overcomers, there's going to be repentance needed. And I'm only speaking to me.

It's almost like there's a wall here, and it bounces right back to me first. This is something for me if it's not for you. And we know we'll be tested on it.

If we're going to be an overcomer, we're going to realize fresh the value of the name, and we're going to honor that name which we have taken. If we're going to be an overcomer, we're going to delight in the Word of God. We're going to revel in the Word of God.

We're going to search the Word of God. And the worship is going to flow from obedience to devoted hearts to be an overcomer. What about the work of Christ? Galatians 2, 20, 21.

If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead and vain. I wouldn't suppose there's anyone here that is trying to fulfill the law for righteousness, for the forgiveness of sins. But the work of Christ.

The cross of Christ. Through wisdom of words, we in the gospel, we make the cross of Christ of none effect. And whether we water down the gospel to the hearer, or maybe we're so high and elevated above the understanding that it'd be great food for the Christians.

But for those in their sins, they miss it. And we revel not in the person of work of Christ. What is that to God? It's absolutely everything to Him.

Absolutely everything. It is in the cross of Christ, of the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He is found eternal and supreme and full satisfaction. Are you satisfied today? Now, you'll only be satisfied when you're satisfied where God is satisfied.

In the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's true for believers today. And that's true for sinners today.

And that work of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is absolutely lovely and absolutely perfect and satisfying. We either try to add to it, or we try to take away from it. And we're lukewarm.

When we find our satisfaction in something other than the cross of Christ, we're lukewarm. We profess now, remember, that we're satisfied in Him. We profess now that the Word of God is indeed, in fact, the Word of God.

We profess now that we worship Him, but we worship not in spirit and in truth. It's lukewarm. And what about the grace of God? Paul writes to the Corinthians that they receive not the grace of God in vain.

What is the grace of God to you? God's undeserved kindness to you in every way. Anybody here think that they deserve anything? We are living in the entitlement generations, you know. The grace of God that bring us salvation has appeared to all men.

It's for by grace that we are saved, not of works lest any man should boast. We know that His grace is sufficient for us in all of our trial and all of our weakness and all of our trouble. We stand in that grace.

And Paul writes that just after chapter 5 in 2nd Corinthians, where he said, He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And there we see God's grace on display, where the Lord Jesus Christ was made sin for us, the one who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And here we stand, positionally in Christ, forgiven once and for all and forever, enjoying the salvation and enjoying the redemption that we have, taking it for vain.

There's nothing more than the grace of God that we're going to get. There's nothing more than that that we need, lukewarm toward the grace of God. You see, Laodicea was rich and increased with goods, and they had need of nothing.

And they were materialistic in their culture. They were materialistic in their lives. And instead of relying entirely upon the grace of God, they were relying upon their riches.

And they were using their own financial independence, if you could call it. That's what the American investor man will tell you to strive for, is financial independence. And now then, by relying upon their own independence, they've taken the grace of God in vain.

But yet He giveth more grace. Why does He give more grace? Because we need more grace. Oh, no, we don't.

We've got this over here, and we've got this over there, and we've got everything we need, right? Now He says to the church of Laodicea, you know not what you are. I am poor and miserable and wretched and naked and blind. But what was His counsel? Buy of Him gold tried in the fire.

An overcomer will buy of Him gold tried in the fire. An overcomer will appreciate that name, the I Am. An overcomer will honor that name.

An overcomer will recognize what they are, considering the time-space where we stand in terms of future events. An overcomer will repent. He must, or he's not an overcomer.

Five things that God takes and elevates Him above all. His name, His Word, the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, the worship that is His, and His grace. Dear brothers and sisters, His grace is sufficient for us.

Lord, help us to get back to our first love, to repent and glorify Him.