Means By Which We Overcome (Rev. 2:7)

The Context: Ephesus's Lost First Love and the Call to Overcome

0:01 chapter of the book of the revelation revelation chapter 2 i will ask you to follow as i read verses 1 through 7 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 and it's try them that call themselves apostles and they are not and it's find them false and thou hast patience and it's bare for my name's sake and has not grown weary but i have this against thee that thou didst leave thy first love you remember therefore whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works or else i come to thee and will move thy candlestick out of his place except thou repent but this thou hast that thou hatest the works of 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

1:30 tree of life which is in the paradise of God. Will you try to imagine with me a countryside, one that is the very picture of fertility and fruitfulness? And as you draw near to discover the secret of the fertility and fruitfulness of that particular countryside, you notice that the land is fed by a hundred little rivulets which, making their way through various parts of that countryside, keep it moist and fertile and fruitful even in times of drought when other places are parched and unfruitful. As you check the source of those little rivulets, you see that they all have a common source in one river. Now, if for some diabolical reason you wanted to turn that countryside into a desert, into an unproductive piece of land, there are two ways you could do it.

2:32 You could go to the beginning of each of the little rivulets and block off the stream at that point, but that would be a long and tedious task. A more simple and sure way would be to block off the flow of the main river upstream of the place where it branched out into its many twig-like rivulets across the land. What is true in this area of human experience is true in the realm of the soul and its relationship to God. Of all the hundreds of rivulets, there is only one river that is rich and fertile. Of the hundred rivulets of graces which cause a Christian to be fruitful and fertile, one stream feeds them all. And that stream, from the human standpoint, is the individual believer's devotion and attachment to the person of Jesus Christ. And here at Ephesus, there had begun to be a damning of the stream of attachment and devotion to the person of Jesus Christ. And here at Ephesus, there had begun to be a damning of the stream of attachment and devotion to the person of Jesus Christ.

3:35 And here at Ephesus, there had begun to be a damning of the stream of attachment and devotion to the person of Jesus Christ. Out there, the rivulets of correct doctrine, of strict discipline, of fervent service, were still watering the countryside. So our Lord begins his message to this church by a word of commendation. He says, I know your works, your toil and your patience and these other virtues.

4:00 Those streams are not yet dry. But he says, I know that that which supplies them has begun to be dammed up. You have left your first love. And so after issuing his complaint, he commands them to remember from whence they were fallen, to repent and to do the first works. And in this context, we have been studying for some nine weeks this message of our Lord to this particular church in which he reminds them of the necessity of maintaining fervent devotion to his person. It's not enough for the head to be straight in doctrine, for the hands to be busy in service, if the heart is declining in affection for his person. And there is perhaps no more telling question to any person than this. What is Jesus Christ to you this very hour? Do you want to know

5:01 where you stand spiritually? That's the question you should face. And face it with judgment, day honesty. What is Jesus Christ to you in this very moment? If you're a true Christian, you can say he is something to you in this present moment. And you can say he has been something to me and point back to that time when God in grace showed you your sin and revealed to you through the scriptures that Jesus Christ is the only answer to the problem of human sin. And you were led to repent and to believe in him as your only hope of mercy. But my question is not what was Jesus Christ to you in the past, but what is he to you in this present moment?

5:58 To phrase the question a little bit differently, what difference would life hold for you this afternoon if this morning as you sit in that pew, I was able to cut out of your heart the and your mind all semblance of the knowledge of and attachment to and devotion to the person of Jesus Christ? Would there be any radical difference or would life go on as normal? You get the question? And I say an honest confrontation of that question is perhaps the most revealing thing concerning the present state of your soul. What is Jesus Christ to you right now? Right there where you sit. If that question were asked of these Ephesian Christians, for the majority of them they would have to say he is not to me now what he once was. And that's

The Promise to Overcomers and the Source of Power

6:59 why our Lord says I have somewhat against thee. Thou hast left thy first love and he calls them to repentance. Well in that call to repentance our Lord encourages them with a promise and it's that promise that we've been studying for two Lord's Day mornings. This is the third the promise which is found at the end of verse seven in which he says to him that overcometh to him will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God. And in our study of this text as we have with the rest of the message we've gone through very carefully word by word seeking to understand what our Lord said to them and through that is saying to us. What does it mean to overcome? We saw that to overcome is to overcome. We saw that to overcome is to overcome.

7:46 We saw that to overcome is to overcome. We saw that to overcome is to overcome. We saw that to overcome means to be a victor in the midst of combat. So our Lord says to him who is a victor to him who conquers I will give such and such blessings. Then we looked at the necessity of overcoming. It's not enough that we be found in the combat with sin the world the flesh and the devil. But our Lord says it is necessary that we overcome or we shall never have a title to life. Only the one who overcomes will eat of the tree of life. Only the one who overcomes will not be hurt of the second death.

8:23 Revelation 2 11. And then we looked at the promise to overcomers. Promises that only God can give. Promises that only a Christian counts a joyous thing. Come to the average person and this is another thing to test where you stand this morning. Suppose I were to come up to you today and say I have a wonderful promise for you. If you will do such and such I will deposit ten thousand dollars to you. I will give you a promise. I will give you a promise. I will give you a promise. I will give you a good promise. I will give you a good promise. I will give you a promise. I will give you a promise.

8:47 Would you consider that a good promise? Well I think if you have your sanity you would. Now if you knew how much money I had you wouldn't. But supposing that I had ten thousand dollars you'd consider that a good promise. Yeah that's something that answers to a conscious desire on your part namely to have more wealth more substance. Suppose I were to come to you and give a certain promise and say if you do such and such you will have the privilege of looking upon the face of Jesus.

9:19 Would that disappoint you? Well, you see, to the true Christian, that's what he longs for. And these promises that are given to the overcomer are promises so phrased that only a true believer can delight in them. And then last week, having considered the meaning of overcoming, the necessity of overcoming, the promise to overcomers, we looked at this issue, the source of overcoming power.

9:44 How does a man overcome sin, the world, the flesh, and the devil? And we saw, according to 1 John 5, 4 and 1 John 4, 4, that no one can be an overcomer in the biblical sense who is a stranger to the new birth. For the scripture says, Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world.

The Means of Overcoming: Faith in Jesus as the Son of God

10:10 And in this divine beginning, in the experience of the new birth, what Jesus called the new birth, we are liberated from the binding power of our sins and we are furnished with everything necessary to be overcomers. Now this morning, we come to address ourselves to the question, what are the means by which we overcome? If the source of overcoming power is the divine life imparted in God's regenerating grace, what is the means by which that power becomes operative in our lives? The source of the light that shines in this building this morning, the artificial light, not the natural light, the source of that is the sun, but the source of the light that comes from these two spotlights, that comes from the light behind me, the source of the light that comes from the indirect fluorescent lighting is a power plant somewhere, I don't know where. I don't know whether it's upper New York State or where, but somewhere there's a power plant. There's probably a dam and a river, and these dynamos are turned and electricity is generated. So the ultimate source of the light of these particular lights is that power plant.

11:28 But the means by which that light comes to us immediately is, in the fluorescent case, the gas, and there the filaments in these incandescent lights. You have the source somewhere in a power plant, the means, the filament, or the gas. So the source of overcoming power is the divine begetting, but the means by which that power is operative and actually touches the battle of life is something else. And the answer to that question is found in 1 John chapter 5, the end of verse 4 and verse 5.

12:10 The same John who writes, to him that overcometh answers the question by what means do we overcome? 1 John 5, verses 4 and 5. For whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world?

12:35 But he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. Now will you notice closely that there are three inseparable units of thought in the passage of 1 John 5. 1 John 5, verses 4 and 5. 1 John 5, verses 4 and 5.

12:48 The first unit of thought is this. It is this divine begetting which issues in overcoming power. Notice verse 4. Whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh the world.

13:06 Without this divine begetting, if we are strangers to the new birth, and we're not talking of reincarnation, we're speaking of that spiritual birth that Jesus talked about to Nicodemus when he said you must be born again. If we are strangers to that, we cannot overcome sin, the world, the flesh, and the devil. And if we do not overcome them, we shall ultimately perish. So the first unit of thought is the divine begetting ensures the overcoming.

13:38 Without that divine begetting, we cannot overcome. But blessed be God, if we are born of him, we shall overcome for whatsoever is begotten of God. God does indeed overcome. Second unit of thought, that by which the divine begetting assures our overcoming is by making us men and women of faith.

14:00 Notice. And this is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith. How does the divine begetting make us overcomers? By making us men and women of faith.

14:14 Then the third unit of thought is this. That which makes us men and women of faith. That which makes us men and women of faith. This faith in our overcoming virtue is not faith, but its glorious object.

14:24 Notice. Who is he that overcometh the world? But he that believeth, not anything or just something, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. Now, tie those three thoughts together.

14:41 They're an integral unit of thought.

14:44 To overcome, there must be divine begetting. Now, what is there in this? This new birth that makes me an overcomer? This is the victory, even our faith.

14:54 And what makes faith an overcoming virtue? Its object. Who is he that overcometh, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? So, to think our way through this matter this morning, consider with me in the first place the primacy of faith as an overcoming grace.

The Primacy of Faith as an Overcoming Grace

15:12 Secondly, the necessity of a right object for our faith. And then, thirdly, the manner in which faith in Jesus enables us to overcome. Notice, first of all, the primacy of faith as an overcoming grace. If our enemies in the battle of life are the world, the flesh, and the devil, and if the things to be overcome are the very things dealt with in Revelation 2 and 3, coldness of heart, false teaching, lukewarmness, indifference, indifference to sin, all of these real problems, then it's obvious that we need every legitimate weapon in the arsenal of God employed with all of our might to fight these enemies. As the hymn writer has said, take every virtue, every grace, and fortify the whole. But though God has given us many weapons, there is a primacy, a supremacy given to faith as the grace above all, which enables us to overcome so that when John says, this is the victory that overcomes the world, he focuses upon one grace, the grace of faith, even our faith. So we may say at the very outset,

16:39 if you are a stranger to faith, to biblical faith, you cannot possibly be an overcomer. And this is what staggers flesh and blood, and causes people to stumble. Luther stumbled for years because he tried to overcome the problem of sin by a way that seemed too simple to him. You remember the history of Luther, the biography of Luther, that with this tremendous sense of guilt, he knew enough of the scripture to know that God was holy, and I trust you do, and that as a holy God, he hated sin.

17:18 He knew enough of his own heart, in the light of scripture, and I trust you do, to know that he was a sinner to the core, that he did bad things because he was bad, and that he had a heart that was deceitful, as scripture says, above all things, and desperately wicked. So here was his problem. If God is holy, and he is, and I am sinful, and I am, if God is just, and he is, and he must punish sin, then there's only one thing for me. I must receive the brunt of the wrath of God.

17:55 Now his problem was this. I don't want to receive the wrath of God, and I hope you don't. Nobody in his right mind, who has just even a smattering of a knowledge of the greatness of God, and the heinousness of his sin, ever trips around singing a little ditty, I'd like wrath, I'd like...

18:15 A man's a fool if he does that. But Luther's problem was, how can that holy God overlook my sin? And the way of faith was not revealed to him. He was told by his church that you must do penance, that you must do this, you must do that, and so Luther fasted.

18:36 Luther prayed for hours. Luther made pilgrimages. But every night when he'd pillow his head, he was still tormented with the awful thought, I may wake up in hell.

18:47 Until as he was preparing his lectures for the seminary students, teaching from the Psalms and the Book of Romans, the Holy Spirit began to open his eyes, and he saw that he must come into an acquaintance with the way of faith. That the way of acceptance before God is not the way of penance, the way of works, the way of self-effort, but the way of faith. Some of us have been reading George Whitefield's biography on this 300th anniversary of the death of Whitefield. Yes, of the death of Whitefield.

19:20 And Whitefield went through this, same thing. There was a period in his life when he was fasting two or three days a week,

19:29 hoping by his fasting and his prayers, which he said for hours, he would come into acceptance with God. But the Lord had to use some other people to show him from Scripture that that was not the way of peace and acceptance, it was the way of faith. And all the promises of God are held forth to the hand of faith. Jesus said, He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life.

19:55 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. By grace are ye saved through faith. Ah, yes, I know, not a faith ever divorced from repentance, never a faith divorced from the whole man. Faith is not just the nodding of the head, but the going out of the whole person in repose upon Christ.

20:16 Never a faith that is dead and unproductive. I'm aware of all that. But nonetheless, John says, this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. So if you're a stranger to biblical faith, you're a stranger to overcoming power.

20:34 It's just that simple. And whether you know it or not, if you don't know what biblical faith is, experimentally, this morning, so that you can rightly be called a true believer, my friend, you're not overcoming sin, the world, the flesh, and the devil. You are still in bondage to the devil, to sin, to the world. And if that bondage is not broken, making you from a captive to an overcomer, you will never inherit eternal life.

The Necessity of a Right Object for Faith

21:04 Having looked then at the primacy of faith as an overcoming grace, now consider in the second place the necessity of a right object of faith. John goes right on to say, having declared this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith, that it's not just faith in anything or anybody, or in ourselves. He says, who is he that overcometh, but he that believeth a specific thing, that Jesus is the Son of God. Just as clearly as the scripture sets out faith as the primary grace in overcoming, so it reveals that that true overcoming faith has a proper object. Now we live in a day when faith is made a savior. Have you ever heard the little ditty sung by Roy Rogers and his wife, I think? Have faith, hope, and charity.

21:59 That's the way to live successfully. And then it ends with a phrase that ought to be canceled out. The whole thing ought to be junked, but at least the last phrase. How do I know?

22:09 The Bible tells me so. Well, where in the world does the Bible ever say, just have faith? Faith in anything, anybody, anything, and that'll make you live successfully. Where does the Bible ever say that?

22:19 The Bible says there's a certain kind of faith that'll send you straight down. Straight to hell. Yes. In 2 Thessalonians, it says that they all might be damned because they believed a lie.

22:34 No, no. The great principle in the Bible's teaching on faith is that it's the object of faith that is all important. And so we consider in the second place this morning the necessity of a right object for our faith if we would be overcomers. And what is that object?

22:54 Look at John's words. 1 Thessalonians 2.3. It says, He that overcometh but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God.

23:05 And bound up in that little phrase, Jesus is the Son of God, John is saying nothing less than this. The object of saving faith is the totality of God's saving revelation in the person and work of Jesus Christ our Lord. And you say, now, wait a minute. How do you get all that out of those few words?

23:31 I believe Jesus is the Son of God. Oh, but wait a minute now. Just wait a minute. Do you?

23:37 He that overcomes, he says, is the man who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Let's break that down for a moment. Jesus. What's the significance of his using the word Jesus?

23:51 Well, he's telling us that the object of true overcoming faith is the important thing. He's telling us that the object of true overcoming faith is the important thing. He's telling us that the object of true overcoming faith is the important thing. It's the object of true overcoming faith.

23:59 It's the object of true overcoming faith. It's the object of true overcoming faith. It's the object of true overcoming faith. The object of true overcoming faith is the Christ the Son of God, the Incarnate Son of God, the one who was given that name, Jesus, at his conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary.

24:06 You remember, when the angel came to Mary, as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 1? He said these words, Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And all the way through the Gospel records, the name that is used predominantly of the incarnate Son of God is the name Jesus. Oh yes, He is called Lord, called Master.

24:35 Peter says, Thou art the Son of the living God. But again and again the Gospel writers say, And Jesus went into the wilderness. Jesus went here. Jesus went there.

24:47 It is predominantly that name which brings into focus all that Scripture reveals about the incarnate Son of God, the One who came to us by way of the virgin's womb, the One who proved His identity by His miracles, the One who laid down His life in weakness, the One who came out of the tomb, the One who stood before His disciples and that other crowd and was seen to rise in their very midst and go back to the right hand of the Father. He says, Now, would you overcome the world? You must believe that Jesus, you must embrace the totality of the revelation made concerning the incarnate Son of God who became the man, Christ Jesus. And He says, You must believe that Jesus, that man, now notice, not was, but is the Son of God. Now, wait a minute. Jesus went off the scene when He died.

25:55 That's what the average Jew in that day felt. He didn't say that Jesus, He didn't say that Jesus, Jesus was, Jesus is. John writes his letter about 70 years after the death of Christ, or 60 years. And he says the overcoming faith is a faith that believes that the same person who was the carpenter of Nazareth, the prophet that caused a stir, who died in weakness, is this very moment the eternal Son of God.

26:30 He is co-eternal, co-equal with the Father. As God, He has totality of right and claim over us. As God, He lives dispensing blessings and mercies in grace and in power. As the writer to the Hebrews says in Hebrews 1, the God who spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us in Hebrews 1.

27:00 His Son. And so if we are to have the faith that overcomes, it must be faith in Jesus that He is the Son of God. And when you do believe that that person who grew up in obscurity in a carpenter's shop, who died in weakness upon a cross, was exalted to the right hand of the Father, is the Son of God, you know what that does?

27:30 Believing that means, that you absolutely resign yourself to Him. Your mind becomes subject to whatever He says about life in any facet of life, heaven, hell, sin, duty, ethics, morals. If He is the Son of God, then everything He says is true. My mind becomes subject to Him.

27:51 If Jesus is the Son of God, and He says the reason I came was to save sinners, why then, you just say, Lord, then I'm one of those sinners. Lord, you saved me. I look to you and to you alone is my hope of salvation. I don't look to the preacher, priest, church, my duties, my morale.

28:08 Lord Jesus, you said, I came to save that which is lost. I'm lost. You're the Savior. You are the Son of God.

28:16 I give myself to you. It means not only that my mind becomes subject to His Word, it means that He becomes my only hope of mercy, and it means something else. If I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, He's the one who said, if any man come after me, let him take up his cross and follow me. Let him put me in a place of supreme affection above father, mother, brother, sister, and his own life.

28:40 If I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, it means not only that my mind is subject to His Word, my sins committed to His sacrifice, but the totality of my will submissive to His authority.

28:55 So then Christ becomes, and some of you have already read behind my words, He becomes my great prophet to teach me, my... my priest to forgive me, my king to rule over me, and nothing less than that is overcoming faith.

True Faith is Overcoming Faith

29:11 Who is He that overcometh? He that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. So we are warranted to conclude from this statement of John, if you sit here this morning and you are unacquainted with the facts about Jesus, the Son of God, you don't have a basic knowledge of who Jesus is, and what He said and what He did. My friend, listen to me as kindly as I can say it, but conscious that I shall give an account of my stewardship of this hour this morning.

29:44 Listen. I care not what you may profess in the way of religious life or experience. If you are unacquainted with the biblical facts about Jesus, the Son of God, you are a stranger to overcoming power. You are yet in the bondage of your sins under the wrath of God.

30:04 Lost and undone. For there is no overcoming apart from faith and there is no biblical faith apart from faith in Jesus, the Son of the living God. Biblical faith is always connected with the content of the message. That's why St. Paul says in Romans 10, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But he says, How can they call on one of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? For faith cometh by hearing, hearing and hearing by the word of God.

30:39 Let me go on to state further. You may have an acquaintance with the facts about Jesus, but listen. Has your acquaintance and professed belief of those facts made you an overcomer? You say, Oh, I believe all that about Jesus.

30:53 I believe virgin. He was conceived in the womb of the virgin. I believe he lived a perfect life. I believe he performed miracles.

30:58 I believe he died. I believe he rose. I believe he is the Son of God. Oh, yes.

31:02 I believe what John says. Jesus is the Son of God. Let me ask you. Has that faith in Jesus as the Son of God made you an overcomer?

31:11 Has it caused you to put the world beneath your feet? Has it caused you to know liberation from the power of sin? Has it caused you to know triumph over the forces of darkness and hell? If not, it's not biblical faith.

31:25 For John says, This is the victory that overcomes even our faith. And if it's true faith, it's overcoming faith.

31:34 So, my friend, you may have a notional faith this morning. You may have a, Yes, Christ is the Son of God, Jesus, and all of that. But, oh, dear one, listen. If it hasn't made you an overcomer, then it's not true faith.

31:48 For John says, This is the victory that overcomes even our faith. And who is he that overcometh? But he that believeth. None but those who believe can overcome.

32:00 But all who do believe do overcome. Exclusive, inclusive. You find it in the development of John's thought all the way through. And if that's true of you this morning, that you've got a lot of notions, but you're not an overcomer, if you sit here this morning and you're not acquainted with the facts about Jesus, and you say, I can see from the scriptures you've quoted this morning that I must, I must, I must be acquainted with those facts, my friend, you start taking this book seriously as of today.

32:34 You start searching its pages. You start in the Gospel of John and start reading and say, Oh, God, teach me about your Son. For I'm convinced in the light of what the preacher said this morning from your word that unless I know about Jesus, the Son of God, I'll never make it.

How Faith Overcomes the Devil's Deception About Sin

32:53 Having considered the primacy of faith as an overcoming grace, the necessity of a right object of faith if we're to overcome, now consider with me briefly the manner in which faith in Jesus operates in overcoming. And I think time will only permit us to do one aspect of this. I would like to say I'd like to take three aspects to see how faith operates in overcoming the devil, overcoming the world, overcoming the flesh, but let's just look at this matter of overcoming the devil. Now, what are some of the ways that the devil seeks to defeat the people of God, seeks to hold sinners in captivity and in bondage?

33:34 Well, first of all, he promotes deception about the nature of sin. Secondly, he tries to promote doubt regarding the world. And thirdly, he tries to foster despair regarding the consequences of sin. And let's see how faith overcomes the devil in each case, faith that Jesus is the Son of God.

33:56 Look at this matter of deception about the nature of sin. John 8, 44 says, Ye are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and a liar, for he is the father of lies. The devil sought to deceive our first parents about the nature of sin.

34:18 He told them it wasn't such a bad thing. It wouldn't result in death and it wouldn't result in punishment. You remember he came to Eve and said, Hath God said? He said, Ye shall not surely die.

34:31 You can sin and get away with it. God says if you sin, there'll be drastic consequences. In the day you eat, you'll die. Sin is not quite that terrible a thing.

34:41 God has sort of overstated the case to keep you from falling just like parents sometimes who are well-meaning will overstate the case to keep a child out of trouble. They say, Don't go out of the yard. If you do, the lions might get you. Well, they only say that because they love their children.

34:56 Oh, sure, there's no real lions there, but they do. And that's the devil's argument. You know, God's just sort of overstating the case. No, he wasn't.

35:05 And his work today is precisely what it was then to deceive about the nature of sin. It's not as bad as God says it is. It won't result in death. It doesn't necessitate punishment.

35:16 Ah, but listen. If I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, I overcome that lie of the devil. Why? Well, dear ones, the only reason there was a Jesus is because sin is such a serious business.

35:31 If you were to stand there that day, and I've tried to do this in my mind's eye on some occasions, something similar to this. You try to be a fly on the wall. The day a little 16, probably 17-year-old, virgin, is in her humble home, and all of a sudden the room blazes with light.

35:53 That's the day before spotlights and incandescent and fluorescent and all the rest.

36:00 She's startled and she turns and there's an angelic form. She's scared to death. That's why the first words of the angel were what? Fear not.

36:10 Fear not. And then he begins to talk to her. And he says, you're going to conceive in your womb and that which is conceived, conceived in you shall be the Son of God. And to the devout Jew that Mary was, she knew what that meant.

36:26 Nothing less than that God is going to come to my womb.

36:36 What a mystery.

36:39 Boundless, eternal, limitless God, deity, encased in the dark dampness of a little virgin's womb. And you say, God, what is this? Why this necessity of such humiliation? The Son of God, the second person of the Godhead, leaving all the unbounded glory and freedom of heaven to be encased in a virgin's womb.

37:11 You stay there on the wall and listen.

37:15 The angel says, all this must come to pass, Mary, that there might be a Jesus to save a people from their what? Not their psychological hang-ups, not their frustrations, not their anxieties, but to save them from what? Their sin.

37:37 And if you were that fly on the wall, you'd say, wait a minute, I don't know what the word sin means, but one thing I know, it must be a pretty serious business if it means that God comes from heaven to a womb.

37:50 And my friend, if you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, you overcome the devil's lie that sin is a light thing. A light thing that demands the enfleshment of God? Unthinkable. And then you follow him and you watch him living that sinless life, growing up a perfect son, never disobedient, never grumbling, never sassing mom and dad, never fighting with brothers and sisters, but a true man, true boy.

38:23 You see him come to manhood. You follow him in his life and you watch him that awful day when he who did nothing but good, healed the sick, raised the dead, forgave the unforgivable of society, is taken out and hung upon a cross, and you watch during those awful hours when the heavens are shrouded in blackness. And the scripture says from the third hour to the ninth hour, high noon to three o'clock in the afternoon, the heavens were shrouded in blackness. And as you stand and watch, you hear something that you thought human ears would never hear.

38:59 This one of whom the Father had spoken saying at his baptism, this is my beloved Son, hear him, who spoke again from the mountain and said, this is my beloved, Son, hear him. Suddenly this very one, in agony, cries out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why hast thou abandoned me? And if the Father ever answered, the answer would have been, my Son, I abandoned you because human sin is being put to your account.

39:31 I'm judging you for the sins of men. You say, sin a pretty light thing? The devil comes and says, ah, you know, sin, everybody sins, you know, there's big sins, little sins, white lies, black lies. My friend, you want to overcome the devil?

39:47 You believe that Jesus is the Son of God and you'll overcome the devil's lie. Sin is a little thing, a little thing that demands the enfleshment of God in a virgin's womb, a little thing that demands the Father turning his face from his own dear Son, a little thing,

40:08 little lies, little dishonesties, little lusts, little pride, little selfishness, little causes Jesus, the Son of God, to cry, why hast thou forsaken me?

40:27 Does God really mean what he says? That you go on in your sins and those sins are not forgiven and cleansed, that you'll perish in hell? Does God really mean that or is he overstating the case? The devil says, ah, a good God wouldn't do that.

40:40 That's just the bugaboo of medieval theology, this business of hell and judgment. You go back to the cross. Did God spare his own Son?

40:50 He made him taste hell. And my friend, if his own Son, who had no sin of his own, tasted hell, what will God do to you if you go to the judgment with your sins still on your record? If the spotless Son of God had them put to his record and the Father didn't spare him, what will happen to you if you go to the judgment and your sins are still on your record? Would you overcome the devil in his work of deception about the nature of sin?

How Faith Overcomes the Devil's Doubt Regarding God's Word

41:18 Here's the way. Believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Believe that revelation that is made in him and you overcome the devil by believing that Jesus is the Son of God. Then there's the devil's work of doubt regarding the truth of the Word of God.

41:37 He came to our first parents injecting that venom of doubt. Yea, hath God really said?

41:46 You say, well, how does faith that Jesus is the Son of God cause us to overcome doubt? Well, you look at Jesus reading the Gospels. How did he look upon the Word of God? His first encounter with the devil.

41:59 He said, it is written all through his life. He says, what saith the Scriptures?

42:06 How do you read what is written? Jesus said the Scriptures cannot be broken. John 10.35 Heaven and earth will pass away.

42:14 My word will never pass away. Thy word is truth. John 17.17 Jesus, the Son of God, is infinite knowledge.

42:23 All the knowledge of the Godhead. Scripture says in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He knows everything about creation. Something no scientist, no biologist, no geneticist knows.

42:36 They weren't there when it was done. Jesus was there. By him the worlds were created. And he looks at the record that God gave through Moses that God created the heaven and earth by a direct act of God.

42:50 By a direct act of God. By a direct act of power. Not just employing natural processes. And he puts his imprimatur upon that account of creation.

42:59 Upon the account of the fall. Upon every facet of truth. And so when the devil would inject doubt about the word of God, what overcomes his work of doubt? Believing that Jesus is the Son of God.

43:13 And as the Son of God, he embraced all that God had revealed. And if I believe he is the Son of God, the truth incarnate, why then my doubts fade. Jesus, thou art the Son of God. And you come to us with absolute confidence in the word of your Father written.

43:33 Then I shall have absolute confidence in the word of the Father written. Do you see this? Do you get the connection? I can say to the praise of God and I've often thanked him.

43:44 God's given me the kind of mind that likes to penetrate into things. I don't think I'm a surface thinker. I like to penetrate. Into things.

43:52 Find out why, how. But I bless God that I've never had one serious doubt about the absolute authority of the word of God. And you know why?

44:05 One of the great factors has been this. I just go back again and again and see how my Savior, Jesus, the Son of God regarded this book. And believing that he is the Son of God and as the Son of God had implicit trust, I find no doubt can gain any root in my heart while I believe in him. I'm believing Jesus is the Son of God.

How Faith Overcomes the Devil's Despair Regarding Sin's Consequences

44:28 And then thirdly, the work of the devil is the work of bringing despair regarding the consequences of our sin. He's called in scripture the accuser of the brethren who accuse at them before God and he spares a little time to accuse us before the bar of our own conscience.

44:47 You once take God's holiness seriously and something of the enormity of your sin seriously and my friend, you're in trouble. Deep trouble. You can go flitting through life careless about God's holiness. Making a God in your own image.

45:03 Making a God who's the doting, nearsighted grandfather who flips your quarter when you come and visit him every six months. And you can be pretty comfortable.

45:14 You make yourself after your own image and rationalize when conscience stings you about that dishonesty, about that area of impurity, about that matter of a wrong attitude and you begin to rationalize and rationalize. Well, you can make it pretty well. But you begin to take seriously what the Bible says about God where it says, Thou art of purer eyes than to look upon iniquity. Thou wilt by no means clear the guilty.

45:37 You begin to take seriously what the Bible says about yourself and my friend, you're in trouble. Serious trouble.

45:44 And you say with Luther, how can that God do anything but damn me? And then you hear the gospel. And that's the good news of the gospel. That though he is holy and we are sinful and he is just and we are condemned, this God who could condemn us has come forth in the person of Jesus, the Son of God.

46:04 And in him he has made a way whereby he may still be holy and just and yet wonder of wonders forgive guilty sinners by pouring out his wrath upon the Son that we might be free. And you hear that message and you say that's too good to be true. That's too good to be true. And yet you say it is true.

46:24 It's the message of the Bible. And you would, as it were, faintly hold of that and then comes that accuser saying, wait a minute. God forgive you? You?

46:34 And then suddenly he's interested in making our conscience very alive. See, all our lives he's done his work to get us to soothe conscience. To throw out those little troublings of conviction. But once we get a good dose of Holy Ghost conviction, then the devil says, all right, I couldn't keep you from taking your sins seriously.

46:50 You know what I'll do? I'll drive you to despair.

46:54 Then he reminds you of those sins. Bring them to light. Son of God, you mean all that done just by believing in him? What he did?

47:04 Too simple. Too simple. Too simple. Too simple.

47:07 Child of God will feel this accusation. When we've fallen, when we sense, how can I come to God again? I've come dozens, hundreds of times to these areas of my need. And there's that terrible accusation.

47:20 Ah, my friend, listen. Listen, that which overcomes the devil in his work of accusation is faith in Jesus. As the Son of God. He's the one who said to the woman taken in adultery, go, sin no more, neither do I condemn thee.

47:38 He's the one who said, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. His forgiveness is to be measured not by human forgiveness that has its top and its bottom. His is an infinite ocean for it's the forgiveness of God who is infinite as well as eternal and unchangeable. This is why, and I, I close with this text this morning.

48:01 And this was a new revelation to me in preparation. The Lord does speak to me, I hope, as I prepare to speak to you. In Ephesians chapter 6, where Paul has laid out all the different facets of the armor of the Christian. And he says, after you've put on all these other facets of the armor, notice his terminology in verse 16.

48:25 Above all, or in connection with all, taking up, the shield of faith. And I always thought that meant, take up the shield of your faith, that is your subjective trust. But in the original, there's an article in there, it should be translated this way. Taking up the shield of the faith, wherewith you should be able to quench all the fiery darts of the enemy.

48:53 They had these type of arrows that had a wad of cotton like on the end and they were soaked in pitch and they'd set them on fire and they'd shoot them. He said, there is one shield that can extinguish all those fiery arrows of the devil and make you an overcomer. He says, it's the shield, not of your faith, but of the faith. He says, take up the shield of the faith.

49:16 And what is the faith? The sum and substance of the faith is Jesus, the Son of God. He says, Christian, when a fiery arrow comes, lay hold afresh of who Jesus is, what he says, done as the Son of God. Would the devil come with that fiery dart of deception about sin? You're being tempted. And the only way the devil can get you into sin is first of all lower the consequences of that sin. Tell you the sin's not too bad. It won't result in death. How are you going to overcome? Take up the shield of the faith. Jesus is the Son of God. He's the Son of God. He's revealed sin is a terrible thing. It meant he had to be enfleshed in the womb, had to die in agony, had to pour out his life unto death, and taking the shield of faith, you quench that fiery dart of the devil. When he comes with his doubt, you take the shield of the faith. When he comes seeking to create despair, oh may God help us as his people to see that we can be more than overcomers through him that loved us.

Call to Self-Examination and Trust in Jesus

50:30 And as the source of that overcoming power is the divine begetting, so the means is faith. This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith, who is he that overcometh, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. The Lord willing, in our next study, we'll see how faith in Jesus is the Son of God enables us to overcome the world and the flesh. But I would close this morning with a prayer.

50:59 I would close this morning by asking each of you who sits here, do you know experimentally that faith which makes you an overcomer? Can you say with the hymn writer, I may my fierce accuser face and tell him, thou hast died. As you take your sin seriously this morning, and you take God's holiness seriously, can you still overcome and leave with a conscience rejoicing in God's salvation?

51:28 If not, I plead with you. You who may be visiting amongst us, I don't know what your background is. You may have heard things this morning you've never heard before. Let me earnestly and lovingly entreat you, take seriously what this book says about Jesus, the Son of God. Forget there ever was a Trinity Baptist church.

51:50 Forget there ever was a preacher named Pastor Martin. Forget all of this. But don't you forget what the Bible teaches about Jesus, the Son of God. Your eternal destiny depends on it.

52:01 It depends upon what it reveals about him. May God grant that you shall come to love him, to trust him, to serve him. Let us pray.