The Church, the Overcomer

After we have been together before the table of the Lord, worshipping our God and our Lord, we have reached the climax of this time together. And anything that is done or said afterwards, to me at least, I feel it's a little bit too much. So I will not trouble you with a long message.

I will be very brief. I do desire that we may go away with just one thought, the Lord. Not only in our thought, but in our heart.

We have a very beautiful picture at the very last, Revelation chapter 21. Revelation chapter 21, we'll read from verse 1. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away, and the sea is no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with man, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his peoples, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God, and he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more. The first things are passed away.

And he that sitted on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said, Write, for these words are faithful and true. And he said unto me, They are come to pass.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

Chapter twenty-two, verse one. And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the midst of the streets thereof, and on this side of the river, and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve manners of fruits, yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no curse any more, and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein, and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads, and there shall be night no more, and they need no light of lamp, neither light of sun, for the Lord God shall give them light, and they shall reign forever and ever.

A new heaven and a new earth, and the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. This is the picture of the church in eternity. We remember that way back in the beginning, when God created man, he created man with a very definite purpose.

He wanted that man to be an overcomer, to subdue the earth, and to bring the earth back to God. And this man is not just an individual person. This man from the very beginning is a corporate being, male and female.

Out of the side of this man, Adam, Eve was built. And together they are supposed to be overcomers for God. But we all know the history.

The woman was deceived. And the man loved the woman so much that he deliberately rebelled against the word of God. But finally God has found his man, the second man, our Lord Jesus Christ.

So we find that our Lord Jesus Christ, he is the overcomer. He is the man of God's own heart. He has overcome.

And throughout the ages we find that out of his side he is building his woman, the church, his counterpart. Now even though throughout the century the woman is again and again being deceived. This is the history of the church.

How we are deceived again and again. But during the whole time our Lord is calling for overcomers. The overcomers of the church.

And these overcomers, as we say, are like the first fruits. They are to maintain the testimony of Jesus on behalf of the whole church. But thank God, here you'll find in Revelation chapter 21 and chapter 22, you'll find this woman is finally completely delivered and redeemed.

No more deception. No more failures. But here you'll find this holy city, the wife of the Lamb, is made ready and adorned for her husband.

Men may fail, but God never. We may fail, but God's purpose must be realized. And here you'll find this holy city, the new Jerusalem, is the counterpart of the Lamb.

The church is the counterpart of Christ. Here you'll find this holy city is full of the glory of God. It takes eternity to investigate, to examine, and to understand this holy city.

So we do not need to spend much time on it. We'll leave it for eternity to do the exploration. But anyway, you'll find here as you read the two last chapters of the book of Revelation, you'll find this holy city, the new Jerusalem, is the picture of an overcomer.

In the very beginning you'll find there was deception. The woman was deceived, and the men rebelled against God. But here you'll find all things are passed away.

The cause and effect, the consequence of fall, of sin, have all passed away. God has made all things new. Everything and anything that is negative, disappears.

And everything that is positive, in God, has been broken. This is the new Jerusalem. The Garden of Eden did not have a wall.

It was not protected in a sense. And a serpent got into it. But here you'll find the new Jerusalem is a wall city.

And the shining of the wall is the shining of the glory of God. Wall for protection. Gates for entrance, and also for protection.

And yet you'll find there are twelve gates. But these gates are never closed. That is the picture of final, perfect victory.

If the enemy is not completely defeated, you have to close the gate. At least in the night. But there is no night.

The gates are never closed. You'll find a picture of complete and perfect victory. The city itself is an overcomer.

In other words, it is not just a few in the church are reckoned as overcomers. But in the finality, we find the whole church is an overcomer. In perfect union.

I am struck especially with these two verses in chapter 21. Verse 6 and verse 7. In the second part of verse 6 it says, I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. Here you'll find the promise of giving the fountain of the water of life freely.

Free gift of God. Whosoever will shall have it. And then the following verse said, he that overcometh shall inherit these things.

And I will be his God and he shall be my son. Give freely. He that overcometh.

We have said a lot about these overcomers. How they must come out of great tribulation. How they must have shed tears.

Gone through difficulties. How they must have suffered. How they must lay down their life for the Lord.

As if all these things will make them overcomers. But dear brothers and sisters, these are things that we see in the process. When the process is going on, we do see these things.

Tribulation, suffering, the cross, tears, and so on and so forth. But when you reach the end, at the very end, you'll find everything has come back to the simplicity that is in Christ. It is very simple.

God gives freely. And we who have received are made overcomers. In other words, it is all his doing and not our working.

Will you please turn to 1 John chapter 5, verse 4. For whatsoever is begotten of God, overcometh the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. And who is he that overcometh the world? But he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God.

Whoever is begotten of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. Our faith in the Lord Jesus.

He that overcomes the world is he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Again in chapter 4, verse 4. Ye are of God, my little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Who are those inhabitants of the holy city? They are not only those who make up the holy city, but they are the inhabitants of the holy city.

Now, who are they? They are those who have drunk the fountain of the water of life, freely given by God. In other words, you'll find here, those are people who have received the gift, even Christ's gift. Those who have Christ in them.

He that is in you is greater than he that is in the world. In finality, in final analysis, is not what you have done. Is not what you have gone through.

It is not all these things that make you an overcomer. In the final analysis, we have to humble ourselves before God and say, it is thy free gift. It is Christ in us who has done it.

We overcome the world because he is in us. It is Christ who overcomes. He is the only overcomer.

And here you'll find these people are in such union with Christ, therefore his victory is their victory. They are those who overcome and they are those who can inherit all these wonderful things. So dear brothers and sisters, we would like to close just with this statement.

Christ is the overcomer and the church in union with Christ also overcomes. Shall we pray? Our Heavenly Father, we know that it is thy will that we should not be distracted into anything, however good it may be, but it is thy will that we should look oft unto thy Son, our Lord Jesus. Oh, we do pray that thy Son, our Lord Jesus, may be ever set before us, not only at this time of gathering together before thee as we go to different places, lonely places, as we will be facing many problems and difficulties.

We will be enticed, tempted, tested to the very limit. We may be pressed beyond our measure, but we pray that thou will keep thy Son, our Lord Jesus, ever before us, thee great conqueror, thee great overcomer, even our Lord Jesus Christ. And we do pray that in union with him we may experience that he that is in us is greater than he that is in the world.

Oh, make this very real, very true in our life, and we do look forward to that day when that new Jerusalem, the holy city, shall come down from heaven to manifest publicly the glory of Christ. We ask in the precious name of our Lord Jesus.