Source Of Overcoming Power (Rev. 2:7)

Introduction: Review of Christ's Message to Ephesus

0:01 to the second chapter of the book of the revelation as we continue our studies in the message of christ to the church at ephesus a message given to an actual church in the first century of the history of the christian church but in the light of the entreaty toward the close a message given to all of the churches in all ages for the spirit says he that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith not just to the church at ephesus but to the churches and wherever there exists the body of god's confessing people to them this letter

0:45 has significance instruction warning and i trust encouragement and hope as well i shall read the message to that church beginning with verse one and concluding with verse seven well spend a few minutes in review and then cover the area of truth that i trust will be the lord's word to our hearts this morning to the angel of the church in ephesus right these things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand he that walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks i know thy works and thy toil and patience and that thou canst not bear evil men

1:29 and it's try them that call themselves apostles and are not and it's find them false and thou hast patience and it's bare for my name's sake but i have this against thee that thou didst leave thy first love remember therefore whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works or else i come to thee and will move thy candlestick and i will move thy candlestick and i will move thy candlestick out of its place except thou repent but this thou hast that thou hatest the works of

2:10 the nicolaitans which i also hate he that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith to the churches to him that overcometh to him will i give to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of god we have worked our way through this letter in a careful study because i am convinced and i trust all of us are convinced by now that perhaps one of the most vital aspects of the entire christian life is this matter of the measure of our attachment to

2:53 the person of jesus christ in love and in devotion the most sensitive plant in the whole garden of grace which god cultivates in the heart of a true believer is the plant of personal intimate devotion to jesus christ the lord long before any other plant begins to wither or turn brown this plant will be well nigh to dying and it was this plant that began to wither and shrivel there at ephesus and so our lord writes to them first of all commending them for the plants that are still vigorous and virile

3:38 and he commends them for their purity of doctrine for their exercise of church discipline for their exposure of heresy and so their heads are straight in truth and their hands are busy in the work of god but then he issues his complaint saying i have this against thee thou hast abandoned thou hast left thy first love the love that you had to me at the first speaking not primarily of the emotional heat and the romantic climate that may be involved in the day of our first espousals to christ but he's speaking of that principle of true devotion in which christ was supreme in which

4:21 anything that rivaled his love no matter how innocent in itself was looked upon as a mortal enemy and treated accordingly he complains that they have left their first love and then he commands them directing them how that love may be returned remember repent and then he commands them to do and then he threatens them says this is a serious issue if you do not repent i will unchurch you it's only a matter of time before a given body of people who confess the name of christ if they lose their first love it's only a matter of time before they will begin to relinquish truth

4:59 in the mind and service in the hands once there is coldness in the heart it is the heart burning and beating with devotion to christ that will keep the head clear and will keep the hands busy and so he threatens them and then after he threatens them he comes with an encouragement this thou hast that thou hatest the deeds of the nicolaitans and the presence of holy hatred is encouragement that the fires of holy love may yet be once again raised to a white hot pitch and then he entreats them he that hath an ear to hear let him hear and then he concludes this message with the verse that has been the focus of our

The Nature and Necessity of Overcoming

5:43 study for several weeks now this gracious word of promise to him that overcometh to him will i give to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of god last week we first of all sought to understand what our lord meant when he said to him that overcometh if the promise is given to the overcomer then it's essential to know what an overcomer is to know if the promise applies to me to him that overcometh will i give such and such and we defined overcoming in its scriptural concept

6:23 as meaning to be a conqueror to be a victor in the midst of true combat and our lord promises then peculiar blessings to those who are victors in the midst of true combat and our lord promises then peculiar blessings to those who are victors in the midst of true combat and our lord promises then peculiar blessings to those who are victors in the of true combat. And the context tells us what that combat is. In the combat against a cold heart, in the combat against evil, in the combat against uncleanness and sin, in the battle against false teaching and false living, in the context of the real live enemies which assault the people

7:01 of God, God says to him who is the victor, to him who overcomes, will I grant specific blessings. Then we looked in the second place at the necessity of overcoming. The blessings promised to the overcomer are not optionals. It's not the difference between riding in fords or in Cadillacs down the golden streets. No, no. He says to him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the tree

7:29 of life. And in the light of our lesson, he says to him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the tree of life. In the light of our lesson this morning, the symbolism is clear. It's only the overcomer who has the title to eternal life. It's only the overcomer, according to verse 11 of this

7:41 same chapter, that will not be hurt of the second death. Overcoming is an essential part of our salvation. It is not optional. To him that overcometh, Revelation 21, 7, that person will inherit all things. And then thirdly, we looked at the rewards of overcoming. Rewards,

8:02 which only God can give. He alone can give title to the tree of life. He alone can cause us to escape the second death to inherit all things and all of the other blessings that are promised to overcomers. And they are blessings such as which only the true believer counts a reward. Come to

8:21 the average man walking down Bloomfield Avenue and say, do you know if you overcome, you'll have a title to the tree of life? He'll say, I couldn't care less. If you tell me I got a title to the 3,000 in the National Zurich and Essex Bank, you'll interest me. But don't talk about tree of life, shmee of life. I couldn't care less. And so these very promises, if we do not find our

The Source of Overcoming Power: Divine Begetting and Indwelling

8:44 hearts leaping at the prospect of what they contain, it's an indication that our hearts are devoid of grace. For these rewards are such that a gracious man, one who is the object of God's saving grace, is the one who will rejoice in them. So much for our review. Now we come this morning to consider what is absolutely pivotal in a study of our Lord's words here in verse 7, namely, what is the source of this overcoming power? We've defined the

9:17 overcomer as the one who is a victor in the midst of combat. We have seen that it's absolutely necessary for us to overcome if we would inherit life. We have seen that those rewards will only come to the overcomer. Now the great question is, how do we overcome? We have seen that the

9:33 overcomer is one that can overcome, but we have seen the power to make a man the overcomer? And the real question is, where does the power come from to make a man an overcomer? What is the source of overcoming power? That will be the focus of our study this morning. God willing, next

9:45 week, we shall look at the channels by which that overcoming power is actually operative, but the source of overcoming power. And will you look please at three texts from the pen of John, the same The same John who by the direction of the Spirit wrote these letters uses this concept of overcoming many times. As we saw last week, it's almost an exclusively Joannine concept. There's one use in the Gospel of Luke and all the other usages in the New Testament, several dozen of them are in the writings of John.

10:24 First of all, 1 John chapter 5 and verse 4, just the first part of the verse. 1 John 5, 4a, what is the source of overcoming power?

10:44 1 John 5, 4a, for whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh the world. Now back to chapter 4 and verse 4. Ye are of God, my little children, and have overcome them because. Ye have overcome them because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.

11:18 And now to Revelation chapter 17 and verse 14.

11:26 Revelation 17, 14. These shall war against the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings. And they also shall overcome that are with him called and chosen and faithful. According then to these statements of John, what is the source of overcoming power?

11:58 1 John 5, 4a says it is the divine begetting and 1 John 4, 4 the divine indwelling. 1 John 4, 4a says it is the divine begetting and 1 John 4, 4 the divine indwelling. Notice John's statement in 1 John 5, 4a. For whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh.

12:21 Indicating that as John contemplates those believers there in that section of Asia where he preached and ministered, if any of them were found truly overcoming the world, it was because they had experienced the divine begetting. For whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh. And John is not thinking of that begetting of God in creation. There is a sense in which everything that is, is begotten of God by creation.

12:58 This is why Paul could say in his sermon on Mars Hill that we are his offspring. He hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell upon the face of the earth. But this term begotten is a peculiar term never used to speak of the work of natural creation of which all things and all people are partakers. And in that sense everything is the offspring of God or the expression of his own creative power.

13:29 But this word begotten is that peculiar term used to describe that supernatural gracious work of God, by which he imparts spiritual life to dead sinners. It's called in John chapter 3, being born anew or born from above, where Jesus said to Nicodemus, except a man be born again, born from above, born anew, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. It's the word used in John 1.13, speaking of those who've received him and have been given title,

14:10 to sons of God, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. It's that thing called in Ephesians 2, a divine quickening. You hath he made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins. It's called in Titus 3.5, the washing of regeneration.

14:36 All of these terms are biblical terms to describe the work of God. All of these terms are biblical terms to describe the work of God. They describe this divine begetting, which John says is a necessary prerequisite to being an overcomer. And so his statement is both exclusive and inclusive.

14:55 He says, whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh, indicating that if a man is not begotten of God, he will not be an overcomer. None are overcomers but those who are begotten of God, but it's inclusive. Whatsoever is begotten of God does overcome. None can overcome unless they are born of God, but all who are born of God do overcome. And we must not weaken the sense of

15:26 John's words in any way, both in their exclusiveness or their inclusiveness. If a man or woman is not born of God, there's not one true sense in which he overcomes one sin. He may subdue it. He may sublimate it. He may refine it, but he never overcomes it. It's only that which is born of God

15:50 that overcomes the world. But there is no one who is born of God who does not overcome, for whatsoever is born of God does indeed overcome. Exclusive, inclusive. And that divine begetting is God's.

16:05 is that which always results in what John describes in chapter 4 as the divine indwelling. And this, he says, is the source of overcoming power. Ye have overcome them, speaking in this context of evil teachers, false teachers, who have brought false doctrine. And with their false doctrine, they would seek to warp the minds of confessed disciples in order to twist their lives.

16:35 And that's always the pattern. Wrong thinking about God will always result in wrong living. God's hatred for false teaching is not so much that God is in just a battle of ideas. He's in the battle for men's lives.

16:51 And to think wrongly is to live wrongly. False teaching leads to false living. And yet John says, these disciples overcame these clever false teachers. Why? Because they had greater minds?

17:03 Because they had greater mental power? They had greater powers of debate and analytical abilities? No, no. He says, you have overcome them for one reason.

17:15 Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. It's the spirit of the devil working in the false teachers. But you people there who are true believers have a divine indwelling, and the God who dwells in you is greater than the devil who works in them. Therefore, you have overcome.

17:35 Because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. The result of this beginning work of the spirit is that God himself comes to live in the believer by the spirit so that Paul can say to the Corinthians in chapter 6 and verse 19, What know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost which ye have of God? Galatians 4, 6, Because ye are sons, you've been adopted. He hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

18:15 Therefore, we conclude from these two texts and our brief exegesis of them that John is clearly stating that the source of overcoming power was this one who dwells in us. And this, again, is both inclusive and exclusive. Because he indwells you, you have overcome. If he didn't indwell you, you wouldn't overcome.

18:40 And he speaks in chapter 2 of some who didn't overcome. False teachers came into the assembly, and he says certain ones went out and followed them. But why did they do it? He tells us, they went out from us that it might be made manifest that they were not of us.

18:55 They had no divine indwelling. And so when the devil began to work through false teachers, greater was the devil in the false teachers. And the devil was greater in nature than mere natural wisdom and power in the unconverted church members. So John says they left us.

19:11 But he says you people didn't. Because of this inclusive aspect, if he indwells you, he is greater. And you will overcome. Only those who are indwelt will.

Application: Are You Born Again?

19:25 So whatever else we may say this morning, it is clear that the source of overcoming power is the divine begetting, and the divine indwelling. So may I say by way of application, if you are a stranger to this mighty work of the Spirit in the new birth, if you know nothing of receiving the spirit of adoption, you cannot be an overcomer, though you must be if you are to inherit eternal life.

19:57 Though the ways of the Spirit in imparting this divine life are mysterious and inscrutable, that is you cannot trace them out. Jesus said, the ways of the Spirit are like the wind. You can't tell whence it comes, whither it goes. They are nonetheless necessary, real, and powerful, just as the wind is real and powerful.

20:22 I ask you this morning a simple, simple question, the kind of question that many times we associate with some wild-eyed fanatic with a big button on his lapel saying, I love Jesus, going down the street a little bit shabby in his clothes and a little bit raggedy around the ears and grabbing somebody and pushing his nose up under his and pulling out a track and saying, Are you born again? But I'm not a wild-eyed fanatic with a big Jesus-only button on my shirt asking you this morning. I'm Christ's servant, taking seriously the statements of John. You must be an overcomer.

21:05 But the only source is the divine begetting and the divine indwelling. And so I ask you this morning, have you been born again?

21:17 Have you been begotten again by a mighty operation of the Spirit bringing you out of death into life? Are you indwelt by the Holy Spirit? That's the great issue, for that's the only source of overcoming. Whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh.

The Manner of Overcoming: Liberation from Bondage

21:42 Ye have overcome because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. Well, having looked at the clear statement in Scripture, now consider with me in the second place the manner in which these two things relate to our overcoming. How does the divine begetting and the divine indwelling, or how do these two things relate to our overcoming? John says, the only source of overcoming are these two things.

22:13 Now, just how do they work out? Well, to think our way through that question, you've got to ask a lesser question. What must we overcome? And the answer is, all the influences arrayed against us seeking to draw us from Christ, from love to Him, from His Word, from His will, in the context of Revelation 2, it's this specific issue of the loss of first love.

22:43 In the context of the other seven letters where this same promise is given to the overcomer, it's the problem of false teaching, sinful tolerance of evil, lukewarmness, and all the other sins that are exposed there in those seven letters. So in answer to the question, what must we overcome? In short, we may say it is sin. In all of its forms, coming to the believer, through the world, the flesh, and the devil.

23:15 Now think what we are by nature with relationship to these three things. With relationship to the world, 1 John 5, 19 says, the whole world lieth in the wicked one. It's the picture of a Samson asleep on the lap of a Delilah. And John says, the whole world is a mighty Samson, crippled, shorn of strength, and it lies in the lap of its Delilah, the devil.

23:45 That's what we are by nature with reference to the world. So Paul says in Ephesians 2, 2, the whole course of life was framed according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who worketh. And the same word is used there as is used in Philippians 2. God worketh in you.

24:07 There is a direct, and powerful operation of God in the believer. Paul says, before we came to this divine begetting and divine indwelling, there was a direct and powerful work of the devil working, he says, working according to the spirit that worketh, where? In the sons of disobedience. What was our relationship to the flesh?

24:31 John 3, 6, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. We partook of the nature and character, of flesh, that is, depraved human nature. And the essence of depraved human nature, according to Romans 8, 7, is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be.

Illustration: The Man in the Iron Cage

24:51 And what is our relationship directly to the devil? 2 Corinthians 4, 4, the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not. Now, you children, you listen carefully as I describe something that I think will register with you. I want you to picture with me this morning a man who's in bad shape, bad, bad shape.

25:12 He's been conquered by three giants, well-armed, powerful men, and they've got this poor fellow lying half dead in the bottom of an iron cage, and the three giants around the cage, swords, spears, knives, well-armed, and you look inside that cage and you see the fellow's lying there kind of groaning. He's half dead. They've got him bound from the shoulders right down to his feet with half-inch nylon cords. And to make sure the knots wouldn't get untied, they've actually melted the end of the nylon.

25:52 You'll see them do that sometimes to keep it from unraveling on nylon rope, and they fused it together. There he is, bound, lying prostrate, behind the iron bars, the three men around him. You look a little closer and you see that his eyes are completely covered over, taped shut so that he can't see. And as you get closer and listen, you find the poor fellow is babbling.

26:17 He's out of his mind. He can't think straight. And the more you listen to him, you say the poor fellow really is out of his mind because he's saying words that seem to indicate that he likes his present circumstance. And he's saying something about this is really living.

26:32 Boy, I'm really having a great time. Now picture that fellow. Three giants, well-armed, standing around him. He's inside a cage.

26:44 He's bound from his shoulders to his feet. He's blindfolded. He's half dead, and his mind is so twisted that he thinks that's living. Now what would you think if I came within about 50 yards of that thing and I lifted up my voice and said, Hey, man in the cage, I've got a wonderful promise for you.

27:07 If you'll get up and overcome your enemies, you can be back with your wife, your kitties, go on a four-week vacation, and I give him all kinds of wonderful promises. What would you say of me if I did something to that man like that and held out all these wonderful promises and said they're all yours if you overcome? What would you think of me? I'd be kind of cruel, wouldn't I?

27:34 To tantalize him with a possibility that lies utterly beyond his ability. If that man is ever to know the blessings that I promise to him if he overcomes, what's going to have to happen? Well, the first thing that's going to have to happen is this. Somebody more powerful than the three giants is going to have to enter that situation and subdue them, number one.

28:00 Secondly, somebody's going to have to have power enough to open that cage, number two. Number three, somebody's got to have power to snap his bands, pull off the blinders from his eyes. Number four, somebody's got to have power to heal his mind so that he understands the squalor and filth and misery of his present condition. Number five, somebody's got to lead him out of the place of bondage.

28:28 And if he's ever to be commissioned to go fight those three men and overcome them, somebody's got to equip him with the strength and the armor to go back and face them and put the giants beneath his feet. May I say that this is exactly what God has done in the divine begetting and the divine indwelling. My friends, that picture I painted is but a faint portrayal of what every one of us is in when the grace of God comes to us. We are in a situation where we are bound

29:12 by these three great giants. The world, the flesh, and the devil have mastered us. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. The world is one giant.

29:32 The devil is the other giant, for the Scripture says we lie in the lap of the wicked one. And the flesh is that other giant. They that are in the flesh cannot please God. The flesh is enmity against God.

29:46 And there we lie bound by the power of our own sin. For Jesus said, Whosoever commits sin is the slave of sin. Proverbs 5 says, The wicked shall take the iniquity of the wicked. He shall be held by the cords of his own iniquity.

30:04 That's the phrase I want from Proverbs 5. The wicked shall be held by the cords of his own sin. And tragedy of tragedy, we are so demented in our understanding that we think, that's what life is all about. Ephesians 4.18,

30:21 their understanding is darkened. Now does God come to us in that condition and say, To him that overcometh will I give the tree of life. He shall not be heard of the second death. No, no, no, no.

God's Work of Liberation and Furnishing for Battle

30:37 He first of all subdues those enemies, liberates the captive, and then furnishes him with every necessary grace to accomplish, the victory. Now let me spell that out so you know this is just not fanciful. And I think we can do all of those things under those two main headings. The work of liberation.

31:01 The man's got to be brought out of that cage. And then the work of furnishing for the battle. Now what does the Lord do when he liberates us in that divine begetting and divine indwelling? Let's quickly go through a few verses.

31:15 The blinding power of the devil is overcome. 2 Corinthians 4, 6. God who commanded light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Acts 26, 18.

31:34 To open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light. But not only is the blinding power of the devil overcome, his bands are broken. The binding power of the devil is broken. 1 John 3, 8.

31:50 For this purpose the Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. Acts 26, 18 again. To open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God. And then the dominating power of sin is overcome.

32:10 Romans 6, 18. Ye were the servants of sin, ye have been made the servants of God. God be thanked. The ye who were the servants of sin have been made free from sin.

32:24 And that term free from sin is used again and again in Romans 6. Not to speak of a sinless perfection, but of the breaking of the dominion of sin. So the blinding power of the devil is overcome. The binding power of the devil is broken.

32:43 The dominating power of sin is overcome. The captivating power of the flesh is subdued. Galatians 5, 25. They that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof.

32:58 And the deluding power of the world is mastered. Galatians 6, 14. God forbid that I should glory save in the cross by which the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. So when a man is born of God, he is liberated.

33:17 He's no longer half dead. Dead on the floor of his captors. Dead, bound and tied. The bands are broken.

33:26 His eyes are given sight. And by now you all ought to be thinking of a wonderful verse of Wesley's hymn. Are you thinking of it? Long my imprisoned spirit lay.

33:38 What? Fast by sin and nature's night thine eye diffused a quickening ray. I won't. The dungeon flamed with light.

33:55 My chains I broke off. No, no. My chains what? Fell.

34:02 My chains fell off. My heart was free. I rose. Went forth and followed.

34:18 That's Wesley's testimony and that's the testimony of everyone who will be an overcomer. There is first of all, the liberating work of God in the divine begetting and the divine indwelling. But that's not all. If that man's just brought out of the cage and turned around as it were naked to face his enemies, he'd be brought into captivity.

God's Work of Furnishing for Battle: Principle, Power, Panoply

34:41 He needs to be made strong with a strength equal to the giants. He needs to be furnished for the battle. And that's the second great thing that God does in the divine begetting and the divine indwelling. He not only liberates us, but he furnishes us for the battle.

34:56 How? Three ways. One, by giving a principle which powerfully inclines us to the path of holiness and obedience. By giving us a principle which powerfully inclines us to the path of holiness and obedience.

35:18 While we're in that cage, we are inclined to the very bondage in which we lie. That which is born of the flesh, flesh is flesh. But, Jesus went on to say, that which is born of the spirit is spirit. It partakes of the nature of the spirit, and the nature of the spirit is holiness.

35:38 So if I've had the divine begetting and the divine indwelling, there is within a powerful principle inclining me in the direction of holiness and obedience. So that Paul can say as he does in Galatians 5, 17, the flesh warreth against the spirit, ah yes, there is the remains of corruption, but the spirit warreth against the flesh, and according to Romans 8, in no believer does the spirit ever suffer final and ultimate defeat.

36:17 There may be individual skirmishes where the flesh gains ascendancy, but according to Romans chapter 8, in the whole tenor of Holy Scripture, when the spirit indwells me, Paul says Romans 8, 9, ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit dwell in you. The dominating characteristic of every true Christian is spirit, not flesh. And where the spirit is present, he is present as a powerful principle inclining me to holiness, and obedience. That's why John can say in 1 John 3, 9,

37:01 whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin. He does not live in the realm of sin. Why? His seed abideth in him, that principle of divine life, and he, a word of ability, because he is born of God.

37:25 What happened in that divine begetting makes it impossible for him to be at home, in the realm of his sin. It's an Old Testament truth as well as a New Testament truth. Listen to the words of Jeremiah the prophet in chapter 32, where he says of the new covenant that God will make with his people, Jeremiah 32 and verse 40, And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from following them to do them good. Now notice, And I will put my fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me.

38:09 He says, I'll do something that will secure their adherence to my ways. Ezekiel said the same thing in chapter 36. He says, I will put my laws within their hearts, and I will cause them to keep my statutes. How does God furnish us for the battle after he liberates us?

38:32 By giving this principle which powerfully inclines us to holiness and obedience. And I say this morning, dear friends, if you're not conscious that God has infused into your very being a powerful principle inclining you to holiness and obedience, if all you know is immersing in the demands of corrupt flesh, if all you know is wallowing in your flesh, I entreat you to consider, could it be that you've never been born of God? Secondly, he furnishes us not only by giving a principle

39:16 which powerfully inclines to holiness and obedience, but by imparting a power which graciously enables us to do battle. So we're not only powerfully inclined to what is right, we are graciously enabled to do what is right. 1 John 4, 4. That's what he says.

39:37 Ye have overcome. Why? Because there's a power in you greater than the power operative in the world. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.

39:48 Philippians 4, 13. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me from within would be a literal rendering of the word Paul uses. That power is nothing less than Christ himself dwelling in our hearts by faith, by whom we are strengthened to fight. That's why Paul says in Ephesians 6, 10, Be strong not in your resolutions, not in your vows, not in your efforts, but be strong where?

40:19 In the Lord, and in the strength of his might. Philippians 2, the text that's so often used in this connection, but it bears all the weight that's put upon it. Work out your own strength in salvation with fear and trembling for it's God who worketh in you not just to incline, but listen, both to will and to do, to perform. There needs to be not only inclination but there needs to be power.

40:49 And blessed be God, he furnishes us with both. Inclination and power. And then thirdly, not only by this imparting of a power, but by providing a panoply which adequately equips us to fight. It's one thing to have an inclination to fight, another thing to have strength, but I need some weapons.

41:14 And the Lord does that too. And it's interesting, when I got looking up the word panoply, it's one of those words that's transliterated from the Greek. You know, where instead of making a translation, you take a word in a language and you just find the English equivalent for every letter, and it's taken right from Scripture. That's the word used in Ephesians, where he says, take unto you the whole armor of God.

41:38 That's one Greek word. It's a combination. The word for all and the word armor. So a panoply is an adequate array of armor.

41:49 Panoply means all armor, a complete suit of armor. And this is exactly what God has provided. Not only the inclination and the power, but the necessary panoply. So he says, take unto you the whole armor of God.

42:09 It's an armor that he provides in his gracious provision for his people. So he not only liberates us, but then he furnishes us for the battle, and then he holds out the promise to him that overcomes. And it's a promise not of cruelty as it would be to the man still in the cage, blind, bound with the three giants surrounding him. Oh no.

42:35 Nor is it a promise only to a man whose blinds have been removed, whose bands have been broken, and who stands as it were naked and weak before these three great giants. No, no. It's the promise made to the one who's been liberated and then furnished with this principle inclining him to holiness, who's been indwelt with a power graciously enabling him to do battle, and who stands clothed with armor. And now the Lord says to him, now the Lord says to him that overcometh, will I give?

Exhortation to Unbelievers: You Must Become an Overcomer

43:08 And then he mentions the blessing. So then the promise held out to him who overcomes is not to one who shall be able to overcome in his own strength and break his own bands. It is spoken to those who've experienced the divine begetting and the divine indwelling, and they and they alone are equipped to fight. Now as I conclude, our study this morning, may I bring first of all a word of exhortation to some of you who are strangers to this divine begetting and this divine indwelling?

43:44 Will you take seriously the fact that all the promises are made to overcomers? You must become an overcomer if you're ever to go to heaven. The only other alternative to overcoming is to be swallowed up by the second death, which is the lake of fire, eternal separation from God. It's to him that overcometh that our Lord says he shall not be hurt at the second death.

44:11 My friend, listen, you must become an overcomer. The world that now masters you, the flesh that now subdues you, the devil that now controls you, those enemies must be destroyed. And you must rise up and fight them and put them beneath your feet. Oh, my friend, you cannot, you cannot, until you experience the divine begetting and the divine indwelling.

Self-Examination for All: Do You Know the Effects?

44:40 You must be born again. And you say, how can I know if I've been born again? The Lord says it's like the operations of the wind. You can't penetrate the mystery of how the wind works, but you see certain effects and then you trace those effects back to their cause and you know the wind's been doing its work.

45:02 And so is everyone born of the Spirit. And I do not set before you a detailed outline of twenty steps through which you must be brought to know you are born of the Spirit. This is an error which has no foundation in Scripture. To say you must have three months of law work in which you see your sins and groan and moan and weep thirty buckets of tears and then there must be six weeks of earnestly seeking the Lord and then four weeks of closing.

45:31 No, no. Some have fallen into this terrible error where they've tried to trace out every little wisp of the wind of the Spirit in his dealings with men and that only brings bondage. No, no. I don't ask you to look to some deep, mysterious operations of the Spirit.

45:49 You know if you've been born of the Spirit in terms of reasoning from effect back to cause. You hear the sound. You say, I hear something going through the trees and I see the trees moving. In the light of this effect, I reason back to a cause.

46:04 The wind is blowing. So is everyone born of the Spirit. I ask you this morning, do you have the effects of the divine begetting and the divine indwelling? Do you know that God has taken the blinders from your eyes?

46:21 Can you now look upon your former life of ignorance, Paul calls it, as a life of foolish enslavement to sin, thinking that life was really being lived as you were subject to those three giants of bondage, the Word, the flesh. Can you look back upon the time when God opened your eyes and you saw what a fool I've been? Can you? Can you?

46:55 Do you know when God opened the prison gate and brought you out? You rose, went forth to follow Him. Sin's bondage was broken. Your slavish adherence to the world, its standards, its dictates, its goals, its ambitions was broken.

47:14 The world is behind your back. Do you know that this morning? Do you know that? By personal, inward experience.

47:26 That's not something you take by faith. I'm asking, do you know that? Do you know that? That effect of liberation that is always attendant upon the divine begetting.

47:38 Sin's bondage broken. Sin not eradicated, but its bondage broken. Do you know that? Christ made precious to the eye of the soul.

47:54 His blood made precious to the heart. Do you know that? I'm not asking if you made a decision 20 years ago. I'm asking, do you know these things that I'm talking about?

48:08 The work of liberation. Then let me ask you, do you know anything of the furnishing of God? Do you know what it is to have been furnished with a powerful principle inclining you to good where all your life you maybe read your Bible occasionally because people said you should? Now you've found an inclination to this book.

48:26 Because here you heard the voice of the God who'd liberated you. You not only took your conscience as your guide and felt miserable if you did things wrong because of the light of conscience, but you found yourself panting after holiness, hungering to walk in the ways of God. Do you know anything of being furnished with that principle powerfully inclining you to holiness and obedience? What God says, putting his law in the heart, causing us to keep his statutes?

48:58 Do you know anything about that? Do you? Do you? In your heart of hearts, do you know that?

49:03 My friend, don't treat my questions lightly. God always furnishes those whom he begets. Do you know anything not only of that powerful principle but of that impartation of ability? Have you seen sins that by the grace of God once had you under their foot?

49:26 Now they're under your feet by the grace of God. Do you? Not all. I didn't say all.

49:33 But there's some, bless God, you can look at some giants that once sneered with their stubbly beards and flashing swords. And you say, by the grace of God, they're beneath my feet. As long as I walk in fellowship with him and use the means he's given, they shall stay slain at my feet. Do you know anything of that?

49:53 Are you still mastered by the things that mastered you 20 years ago? Are you? Temper? Pride?

50:01 Lust? Envy? Irritability? Do they still hold the same power over you?

50:08 My friend, if they do, you have little, little grounds to claim you've ever experienced the divine begetting. For he furnishes us not only with inclination but with power. And then he equips us to fight. And are you becoming increasingly familiar with your armor?

50:29 That trusty Jerusalem sword? As it's called in Pilgrim's Progress? And you find it effective for the slaying of Apollyon? Or do you just have a parade sword that sits up in your den for visitors to come in and look at and admire?

50:49 God's weapons aren't parade weapons, my friend. They're life-death battle weapons. And I tell you, when the child of God has got them, they're bloodied. Do you know anything of bloodied weapons in the battle?

Conclusion: Grace, Grace, All of Grace

51:04 But blessed be God, effective weapons, the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit, the breastplate of righteousness, feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. To him that overcometh, what promises are given to the overcomer? But, my dear friend, you'll never be an overcomer until you know the divine begetting. And then I close because of that white-faced man with the black hands who gives me so much trouble with that text in Revelation 7, 14.

51:26 And this is the first I'm going to read. And I'm going to read from Revelation 7, 14. And then I close because of that white-faced man with the black hands who gives me so much trouble with that text in Revelation 7, 14. And this is the first I'm going to read from Revelation 7, 14.

51:42 And this is my parting word of exhortation to you who have been able to answer some of these questions this morning in the affirmative. And you say, Yes, yes, thank God I know what it is to have been loosed, to have been furnished, and to see areas of triumph and conquest and victory. And you say, Well, why is it that God loosed me when so many of my friends are still back there in the cage? Where shall I lay the crown of my gratitude?

52:08 You notice Revelation 7, 14. Revelation 7, 14. I had all my wits about me when I read that at the beginning of the service. Listen to what it says.

52:18 Speaking of our blessed Lord, they shall war against him, but he shall overcome them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings. And they also shall overcome that are with him. Who are they? The called, the chosen, and the faithful.

52:36 You see what he does? As he contemplates those who share in his overcoming trials, he says those are the ones who have been effectually called by God. They are part of the army of a triumphant Lord, not by their choice to be conscripted into his army. No, no.

52:51 But because he called them. And why did he call them? Because in eternity he chose them. Ah, you say you take any old sermon and end up with election.

52:58 My friend, you can't separate the truth of God. You see, the truth of God is so wide that it is impossible to separate the truth of God from the truth of God. You see, the truth of God is so one that the reason men are liberated and furnished is because of the divine indwelling and the divine begetting. That's a part of their calling.

53:25 And their calling is but the coming to light in time of God's eternal choice in election. And what does it result in? Their being faithful even unto death. And so may we who by God's grace can say, yes, I am no stranger to the divine begetting.

53:46 May we be found prostrate on our faces this morning crying from the depths of our being grace, grace, all of grace and crying to this same Lord for all the necessary grace to win the day and to be found overcomers when we stand in His presence. To Him that overcometh. God willing, next week, we'll look at the last part of verse 4 of chapter 5 of 1 John. And this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith and trust by God's grace to see the significance of the grace of faith

54:30 as the leading grace which is the fruit of the divine begetting and how it operates to the overcoming in the life of the child of God. Let us unite our hearts