Text: Rev 3:21-22
Summary: Jesus won! Now it’s our turn. Live to win by holding on to Jesus and resolving that you will never let go of Him.
Happy Easter, everybody. Okay, let’s start with a word of prayer.
Father, at this time we come to you and we remember your victory. We remember how you overcame sin and death and Satan and the world. And now you’re inviting us to also overcome in you. Thank You, Lord. We pray that you would speak a word that will encourage us in times like this. We know that you have more to speak to the church during this lockdown. So Lord, we avail ourselves to you. Speak to us, even in this moment. In Jesus Name we pray, Amen
I want to read from Revelation 3:21
Revelation 3
21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
I wanted to give this message to you in person. And I was hoping that the Lord will lift up the lockdown orders by this time, but it appears that even the most optimistic among us believe that it’ll be maybe another three weeks.
So, all that I can conclude is that the Lord is not done speaking to His church, and there’s more that God wants to communicate to His church during this time. And so we’ve been about three weeks in, and possibly if things open up in the best case scenario in early May, then we have another three weeks. And so you could consider that this is your midterm. So how have you been doing in the three weeks with the Lord?
Hebrew 5:12 This is one passage that came to mind as I was thinking about Easter.
Hebrews 5
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
Hebrews 6
1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
And there are many Easter messages that are being preached around the world. And there are Easter messages that I have preached, and it goes something like this and let me know if it sounds familiar to you. Jesus paid the price of sin. He overcame death. So put your hope in Him. That kind of a simplistic message, according to the author of Hebrews is something that we should move past.
And the kind of Easter message that I’m accustomed to is very feel good in the moment, but by tomorrow, by next week, by next month, we’re struggling again with the same issues. We’re still in fear. We’re still in idolatry. We’re still in sin. And so that message of Jesus paid for your sin and He overcame death, now put your hope in Him, to me, according to the author of Hebrews is an elementary teaching.
It’s a teaching that’s appropriate if most of your audience are nonbelievers. That’s the gospel message. And there are many churches that like to use that tag of “I am gospel-centered” and these always include the gospel kind of summary statement at some point, at the end of a message. And I’d say if most of the congregation are nonbelievers, then that is an approach that is an appropriate message.
But if most of us, and I’m thinking of just our context and those who have tuned in here. If most of us have been walking with the Lord for a number of years, or a number of decades, then we need to progress past this elementary doctrine of Christ, and move further into teaching that will actually lead to our maturity.
And as I was reading over the kinds of teachings that this author of Hebrews would describe as more mature, I was so encouraged last night and this morning as I read about the instruction about washings in Hebrews 5. And that’s the teaching that the Lord just showed us during Peter and Bekah’s wedding and then the Sunday after.
That there is a first washing that came at baptism, and that was part of God gifting us with a good conscience, instead of an evil conscience. And so we can approach God even in the midst of our sins and our addictions, as a nonbeliever coming to faith in Christ. We are washed, as we go through our baptism ceremony.
And then in John 13, we are washed by Jesus’s word that says we are clean, and that’s before the cross, that’s before Peter denied Jesus. That’s a washing of Jesus saying you’ve been bathed and now, on occasion I will wash your feet.
And then there’s a third washing, the most comprehensive washing of His blood. And I was so encouraged that the list of teachings that are reserved for the mature, God is now starting to educate us and to give us teaching that will lead to our further progressing toward perfection.
And so when I thought about what the simplistic, elementary doctrine of Christ is, what is missing that a mature believer should be adding to that message? The message of Jesus paid for the price of sin. He overcame death. What is missing there? There’s something very critical that’s missing.
And we can read that in John 16:33.
John 16
33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.
So Jesus not only paid for our sin. Not only did He overcome death. He also overcame the world. And when Jesus is talking about overcoming the world, is He talking simply about the Jews and the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees, the chief priests and the scribes? Is He talking about the Romans, Pontus Pilot, Herod, Caesar? Is He just talking about the crowds and the people of His day? Yes, they are part of the world. But I think when Jesus is talking about overcoming this world, He is mainly thinking about one shadowy figure, and it is Satan.
So I would add that not only did Jesus pay the price for our sins and He overcame death. But He also overcame the world including Satan. If you read about the seven churches in Revelation, not a single one of these churches was unaffected by the attacks of Satan. That’s one way to read because Jesus is the judge in Revelation 1, but when you look at chapters two and three about the seven churches, one theme that emerges is that Satan is so active in attacking God’s Church.
Another verse that came to mind is 1 Peter 5:8.
1 Peter 5
8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
And if you look at the seven churches, Satan is looking to devour every single one of them. And in some of the churches, like Ephesus, he is devouring the entire church. I don’t know if that’s how you would read about this church in Ephesus, but the whole church is being devoured. And so we know that this is a top down problem, starting with the pastor who, if you read Acts, the leadership of the church at Ephesus include people like Apollos, Priscilla and Aquila, but now the entire church from top to bottom is being attacked by Satan.
And one of Satan’s chief schemes when he wants to bind an entire church is to make them all about working. And this entire church has fallen for that scheme of the enemy, and they are so busy working that they stopped loving Jesus. And Jesus says that is so significant that if you do not repent of this, I will remove this church. That’s some serious judgment. And so this attack is on the entire church, and God’s judgment is on the entire church, from the pastor all the way down to the members.
The same thing we see at Laodicea, the last church mentioned in Revelation. The entire church is being deceived. Because they are rich, because they have prospered, because they’re comfortable, because everything is going well, and there’s nothing wrong with money in itself because money is something that’s neutral. The problem is when you begin to love money.
Because many times, there is a spiritual component. There’s a spiritual effect that money has on people. And we begin to love money and so that is the root of all evil. And so this church, starting from the pastor, because he must be preaching a prosperity gospel, he must be preaching that God is blessing us with all these riches and we should ask for more. And we’re so comfortable. We’re so blessed by the Lord. And the pastor must be preaching this, the same way that the pastor at Ephesus must have been preaching that we should just work hard for the kingdom. In these two churches, the entire church is being devoured by the evil one. And God’s judgment is on the entire church.
You look at Pergamum, Thyatira and Sardis, you will see that there is a mixture in these churches. Some in these churches have fallen. Others are still holding on. And so the judgment is not on the entire church but only on a portion, or the segment that needs to repent.
One of the biggest deceptions of Satan in our modern context, especially in the Western world, is that Satan has managed to deceive us that he is not real. He is depicted in Hollywood movies with a red suit and a pitchfork, and so we just dismiss him.
We read about evil in the Bible, we read about Satan, the accuser of the brethren. But when it comes to daily life, we actually do not believe that Satan is real. And no wonder so many people are being devoured by him. Because you do not even know the world in which you’re living in, you do not know and recognize that Jesus had to overcome this world’s system controlled by an evil one.
I think many people, even in the church, look at this world through rose-colored glasses. That there’s nothing wrong in this world really, and we should pursue it. And so parents teach their kids to be worldly and to pursue the world and there’s nothing wrong. That you can be successful. You can be famous and you can be praised by everybody. And there’s no spiritual effect on you and you can go to church and things will be taken care of and God will bless you and God will take care of you.
I do not see this world in the same way. I do not see this world through rose-colored glasses and it affects the way that I parent my boys. If I just wanted the boys to be successful, then I would just enroll them into all the after school programs, take all the tests, build up their resume and have an impressive application, and that would be how I would be pushing them.
But for my mindset, if you knew that by the time your child is 18 years old, that there would be a World War III and they’re going to be drafted into the army and somehow you knew the future, and you knew that this was going to happen, then your mindset even from day one would be different and how you would raise your child, specifically, your son.
For me, I know my boys have been born into a warzone. I know they’ve been born behind enemy lines. I know there’s a spiritual battle that began at birth. That if I just let the boys go through the system without having their eyes open to what they’re stepping out into, likely the outcome of a person who just goes through the system is that you will come out the other end an unbeliever, and you will end up in hell.
Think of even the church at Ephesus that was founded by Paul and that had Apollos, Priscilla and Aquila as their leaders. They did so much good that the whole city of Ephesus, the pagan industry of silversmiths that was making shrines to pagan gods, the effect of this church in the city of Ephesus was so monumental that this pagan business was running out of money. That’s how much the gospel had spread through the witness of these Christians, and to this church in Ephesus.
Jesus is judging them decades later, saying, you’re in danger of me taking away the lampstand. You think it’s about working hard, and many churches have been deceived thinking, I just have to work hard, and they do not know that everything is about loving Jesus.
Because I know that the world that my boys have been born into is much more difficult than the world that I was born into, I have a picture in mind of my boys becoming spiritual warriors, endtime warriors. I have a picture in my mind. I’ve been asked by God to do difficult things. And I’ve complained. I bargain with God, I’ve been slow at obeying, but I am trying to train my boys to not complain, even in a small task that’s not actually that hard, that only takes a short amount of time.
And I want to see, can they obey their earthly father with absolute obedience, without complaint. Because I know that in the future, the Heavenly Father is going to ask them to do much more difficult things, and they will be living in a much more difficult world, and I want to train them from a young age to obey me so that later on they will obey their Heavenly Father. And the kind of faith that we have in our generation, I think in the next generation, it may not be enough. Because the war is being intensified. And Satan is looking to devour in ways that I just never imagined that he could.
And so if you are preparing your children, and now I’m speaking to the parents. If you are a parent preparing your children to fight in a war, in a military world war III, think of how differently you would train them. You would not be babying them. As I was talking last night with my boys, when you think about Jesus, He is tough.
Jesus is so tough. Imagine Mary, Jesus’s mother, when Jesus was little, that every time that Jesus fell, Mary was swooping in and babying him, and that was the motherly approach. Do you think Jesus if he was babied by Mary would become somebody who can endure such suffering at 33 and a half years old? Jesus was so tough. Jesus was so fearless. Jesus was the kind of person, no wonder he was a carpenter, he is used to lifting heavy things.
He is tough. He is not a mama’s boy. And so I want my boys to be tough. I want them to be fully obedient, I don’t want them to complain. I want them to to obey every mission and assignment from the Lord. And I want them to stand against Satan and his schemes most of all. Because Satan is coming after every one of us.
If you are a nonbeliever, he doesn’t have to come after you because you’re already is. You’re already in his world’s system. You’re already blind and you’re already deceived and everything that we have learned from a young kid is manipulated and controlled by an evil one, by Satan himself. And his goal is that if you go through this system, you will not believe in God. That is his goal.
And so we get surprised as Christian parents when my kid goes off to college why did they lose their faith. I took them to church but why did they lose their faith? It is because the parents didn’t tell them that there’s a world system that is deceiving us.
So if you’re in the world and you don’t realize that part of salvation is coming out of the world’s system, that you’re in this world but you’re no longer of the world and you’re no longer chasing after the world or trying to be worldly, that is just kindergarten Christianity. That is the first thing we learn as a new believer, that we’ve come out. And if you’re in this world or you’re chasing after this world, Satan doesn’t have to come after you because you’re already his.
But if you are coming out of this world, and you’re trying to live for Jesus, believe me, Satan is after you. And at first he will attack the pastor. If he can successfully compromise the pastor, the whole church falls. That’s how it works spiritually, if the teacher becomes false and everything he preaches is false, like if the church at Ephesus is teaching that Christian life is all about toiling and laboring and enduring and just working hard, then the whole church falls.
If the pastor is compromised and he is comfortable and teaching a prosperity gospel, like the church at Laodicea, the whole church falls. That’s how it works spiritually. If you cannot get at the pastor, if he can’t come at the top, he’s going to look to come in through the back door. And that’s what he does.
At Pergamum, there are some who are holding on to the faith, so I have to give the pastor of Pergamum a pass. He must have been preaching the right teaching. But the fact that some people have been deceived, that means Satan came through the backdoor. And it mentions Balaam and Balak. And you can read that on your own in Numbers 22-25. Balaam is a prophet of God. And Balak, the king of Moab, saw the strength of the Israelites and he was fearful for his people. He was fearful of what Israel might do to his people.
And so Balak summons Balaam, this prophet of God to curse God’s people. And he brings a big financial offering to Balaam. What does Balaam do? He prays to God, and God obviously gives him an answer that He’s not going to sanction the cursing of His own people. And so he tells Balaam to tell Balak, no, I am not permitted to curse God’s people.
But does Satan give up? Does Satan give up the first time that you resist him? No, he comes a second time and this time, it’s a greater amount of offering. And what does Balaam do? He should have said, God already told me no. I don’t know why you’re here. And he should have shut the door. But what does he do? He says, let me check in with God. Maybe God will change His mind. Because he’s looking at the loot. He’s looking at the money. And he’s being tempted by it. So he says, just wait right here. Just stay with me. Let me pray a second time.
And God allows him to go, but He actually never allows him to curse. But we read in Numbers 25, that the people of God are starting to be seduced by pagan religions and pagan practices, and they’re moving into sexual immorality. And we read in other places in Scripture, including Revelation, that it’s Balaam’s idea to tempt the people of God through these pagan women, pagan religions and sexual immorality.
It was Balaam’s idea, even though it doesn’t say it explicitly in Number 25, it says in Revelation 2 and elsewhere that it was Balaam’s greed that taught Balak to put a stumbling block before Israel. Balaam’s greed was the opening. It was the opening for Satan to come in. Because we wonder, how did Satan slip into these churches that are strong, even when the preaching is right?
It’s because there’s a vulnerability. And in the case of Pergamum, what was the vulnerability? It was Balaam’s greed, and so there were people at that church that just the temptation of a little bit more money was all that it took to turn them.
And we might think, what does this have to do with me? Then Revelation 2 talks about the Nicolaitans. Some scholars believe and I tend to agree with them that this is talking about Nicolaus in Acts 6:5. And it’s interesting, he is one of the Spirit-filled deacons who was called to minister to God’s church and Stephen is one of them, the first martyr of the church.
And there’s an interesting detail. It doesn’t mention the city of origin of any of these deacons but for Nicolaus, it says he’s a proselyte from Antioch. There’s an extra detail as if there’s an underline by the Spirit to pay attention to Nicolaus because this is not the last time you’re going to hear about him.
And it’s possible that Nicolaus, who once started as a spiritual deacon, a leader of God’s Church, that he branched off. He veered off because he was devoured. And he led a group called Nicolaitans who are involved in these love feasts, where they participated in these pagan rituals. Because they don’t just give you the food sacrificed to idols. You actually have to participate in the rituals, and at the end of the ritual, you get the food. That’s how it works in the ancient times.
And you might say, why am I going into such detail about Balaam and Balak and their sexual immorality and food sacrificed to idols and the Nicolaitans? I’m giving you these details to tell you that it’s still happening to this day. You may not know about it. But this type of stuff is still happening to this day, if you have the eyes to see it.
There are still people in the elite who are satan worshippers, who are sacrificing food and meat and I won’t even tell you what kind of meat it is, but they’re sacrificing food to Satan himself. And part of that pagan ritual is a lot of debauchery. It is a love feast. I believed that Satan was real because I read about him. But it wasn’t until 2012 or 2013 somewhere thereabouts when I saw him with my own eyes. That’s when you start believing that this warning that Satan is a roaring lion, he’s looking to devour, that’s when it really hits home.
And then five years ago, I started doing more research and I actually saw so much of satanic activity that was going on right under my nose, and I hadn’t seen it before. It started with our first encounter with Satan and his minions. And then, now I see it everywhere, the satanic activity among the elite is so prevalent. And part of us overcoming this world is that you need to know who your enemy is. You need to know that there is an evil one. You need to know that somebody has been coming after you since your birth.
If you’re being deceived by this world, he doesn’t have to attack you any further. If you’re in God’s church, and they’re preaching the right message, then he may attack your pastor. And if the pastor falls, if you’ve submitted yourself under that person’s teaching, likely you, too, will fall. If the pastor will not fall, then Satan will look for a weaker person in the flock, and he will look to devour that person, to spread his disease and deception through that person. That’s how it works.
Satan is so frustrated that he lost at Calvary, that now all of his fury is being directed toward God’s church, you and me. There’s not a day that goes by that Satan is not looking for an opening to devour you and me. He’s looking for that and so part of us overcoming this world and being victorious, is to know that there’s an enemy and we’ve been born into a war, and we need to start fighting as if we’re in a war. We’re not strolling through the park. We’re walking and there are landmines at every turn, there’s shrapnel flying around and there are grenades and artillery. That’s my picture of a Christian walking in this world. We are in a war zone.
If Satan cannot get at you, do you think he will stop? You look at the church at Smyrna, you look at the church at Philadelphia. If Satan cannot get you through deception, or through some vulnerability, through your greed, through the desires of the flesh, you read 1 John 2, and all the temptations. It’s the desires of the flesh, which is pleasure. Desires of the eyes, which is praise of man. And the desires of life, the pride of life which is possessions. The three Ps.
You will see it if you look with that lens that Satan is coming after me through pleasure, through praise, through possessions. You will see it. In Revelation 2 and 3, it’s all over the place. If you understand Satan’s schemes, you will see it all over the place. If Satan cannot successfully devour you through pleasure, praise, or possessions, do you think he will stop?
No, he will give you the final test. And God in His sovereignty will allow some to go through this final test. And Smyrna and Philadelphia are the churches that are commended by God. And what happens to them? They do not fall, but they are tested to the very end through persecution.
And Jesus says no servant is greater than his master. Jesus was persecuted. You look at the final days of Jesus and all the persecution. And if we fast forward to the final days of this age of humanity, of human history, it will be just like the first century, it will be like Jesus’ final days.
And I want to get myself and my boys ready, that if we are asked and we are privileged by God, that we are the final generation and we have to endure the persecution which comes through the hatred of this world, and we know that the hatred of this world is really the hatred of Satan against God and His people, I want to get my boys ready, that they will be so tough, that it doesn’t matter what Satan throws at them. Ten days of tribulation, dying, what’s the worst that Satan can do? He can kill you.
But I want to be the kind of person, and I want my boys to be the kind of people, that they will endure everything, even persecution unto death. Because we are in a war. I have no rose-colored glasses. I see clearly what kind of world that the boys are walking into. And I want them to have a warrior mentality. I want the boys to be tough, the way Jesus is tough.
Jesus overcame the world. If He was a mama’s boy, if He was soft, if He was like Herod, if He only lived in palaces, unlike John the Baptist who wore camel skin, if Jesus wore fine linen and silk shirts and Jesus had comfortable, puffy pillows to lay down His head, instead of a rock as a pillow. If Jesus wasn’t tough, do you think He could endure such persecution to save you and me? No way. Jesus was so tough.
And He is inviting us to be tough. How do you and I get tough? How do you and I get so strong that we can endure everything that Satan throws at us? There’s a parallel text. And this is something that Pastor Brian taught me. As Satan is prowling around like a roaring lion, he is inspecting every believer and looking for a weakness. He’s inspecting every church, looking for a backdoor entry point.
1 Peter 5
8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
If Satan is doing this 24/7, what do you think God is doing? The parallel text to 1 Peter 5:8 is 2 Chronicles 16:9.
2 Chronicles 16
9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.
Let me read that again.
2 Chronicles 16
9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.
And the word here for blameless is perfect, loyal, wholehearted, fully committed, fully devoted, wholly devoted. And when I read verses like this, I get so frustrated because this translation is so poor. It’s like, I want to throw away all my Bibles and get the King James version because this verse is not translated properly. It should be translated:
2 Chronicles 16
9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.
For God to show Himself to be strong on behalf of those who are loyal, of those who are wholehearted and absolutely committed to Him. Who are the victors? Who are the overcomers? Who are the ones that Satan cannot defeat? Who are the ones who will be robed in white? Who are members of churches like Smyrna and Philadelphia?
And it doesn’t matter even if Satan can throw you into prison and can threaten your life and maybe you will get martyred. To the end, you will hold on. You read about how these churches held on, you will see what they are holding on to. Who are they holding on to? They are holding on to Jesus. And what Satan wants is for you to let go of Jesus.
What did Judas do at the end? He was holding on to Jesus, there was an opening through his greed, Satan came into him, was starting to tempt him through his greed and what did he do when he decided at the very end, I am going to follow through and betray Jesus? What did he do? He let go. In that moment, Satan came in, he was possessed, he was at the point of no return. There was no more repentance for him. The door was shut. He made his decision. He abandoned Christ forever.
That is what Satan wants. He wants you to let go of Jesus. He will do that through deception, he will do that through false teaching that says you have Jesus, and you don’t really have to hold on to Him because you have Him. You gave your life to Jesus 30 years ago, you have Him so don’t worry about it. What about Nicolaus in Acts 6, didn’t he have Jesus? How did he lead a group of Nicolaitans to tempt God’s Church?
You read in Revelation that you can actually have your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life and God can blot you out because you let go of Jesus. That is Satan’s number one agenda, that is all that he cares about. He has many tools in his toolbox, his number one agenda is for you and me to let go of Jesus.
But to the person who holds on to Jesus, God will show Himself to be strong. See, that translation is so critical. It’s not that we are so strong in ourselves. It’s not like we got filled up at the gas station and now I’m going to just drive off in strength. That is not the translation. That’s how many people if they don’t translate it properly can come up with a wrong theology and get all the glory for themselves because they say I am so gifted. I am so strong. I’m so filled up. Now let me do everything for the Lord, and I will do it in my strength, and when things happen, I will get all the glory.
That’s not how it is. The one who is loyal to Jesus, the one who holds on to Jesus, the one who says, I will never let go of Jesus, I am resolving I’m never going to let go no matter what happens to me or to my family. I am resolved, I will never let go of Jesus. To that person, God is looking at the whole earth. He’s looking 24/7. While Satan is looking 24/7 to devour somebody, God is looking upon the whole earth, looking for even one person who will hold on to Jesus to the end.
That is what it means to be wholly devoted, wholly committed. And how does that person have the strength to endure all that Satan throws at him? Because to that person, God sees the holding on to Jesus, God sees the devotion to Jesus, God sees the commitment to Jesus and God shows Himself to be strong in that believer’s life. And when that believer endures, is it because of that believer’s strength?
It is because of God’s strength that has been revealed to that believer and is now manifested in that believer’s life. So that at the end, when we endure to the end because we held on to Jesus, we can give God all the glory, because His strength got me through. It’s His strength, not our strength.
Satan has many strategies. The number one strategy in the Western world is to make him a figment of our imagination. He is just a Hollywood imaginary CGI effect and he’s not real. Therefore, just go into this world, and you’ll be fine. Satan rules this world’s system. If you go through this world with rose-colored glasses, you will be deceived. If you do not know that you’re an enemy and you’ve been born behind enemy lines, likely you’re going to step on a landmine.
Jesus has been on a rescue mission, taking us believers out of this world’s system. He’s opening up our eyes to satanic activity and his manipulation, and satanic control that has been happening since the dawn of time, and to this day is still happening. Satanic rituals are still happening in the upper echelons of every industry, every sector of our societies.
And Satan is looking, especially at the churches of God. He’s looking for a weakness. He’s going to start with the pastor. If there’s no weakness there, he’s going to go to the pastor’s wife. He’s going to go to the pastor’s kids, he’s going to go to the elders, the deacons, and he’s going to look for the weakest link and he’s going to find the entry point and through that brother or that sister, he will try to spread deception.
I would feel so fearful before God if I had a church of 10,000, or even 1000 that God entrusted to me and says, make sure all of these people make it to the finish line. I would feel so stressed and so burdened by that assignment if God were to give it to me.
Because in my mind, whoever hears my voice, I want every single person who hears me to reach the finish line. It doesn’t matter how many people, but whoever hears my voice, I want you to live to win. Jesus won. I want you and me to live to win. It’s our turn to win. Jesus won and that is the message of Easter. Now I want all of us. It’s our turn to live to win.
And so I want everyone who hears my voice, 100%, that’s what I’m after. I’m after 100% salvation for everyone who hears my voice. That is what I want. So if it’s 20 of us, I want all 20 of us in the end to make it to the finish line. I want 100%. And if God will allow it, I want 100% of people that I know that I’m preaching to, I want 100% to be saved.
So I’m thankful God has given me a small church, because I want all of us to be saved, 100%, that is God’s heart. He wants 100% of His church to be saved. You look at Revelation. It seems that such a small percentage are going to be saved to the end. It doesn’t matter if you’re saved in the beginning, I care, and God cares, are you saved on the last day of your life? Jesus overcame this world. He overcame sin, death, this world, Satan, Satan’s system, Satan’s deception.
Jesus overcame this world. And now, in the book of Revelation, He’s inviting us. It’s our turn to be overcomers. Jesus won. Now live in such a way to win the prize that God has marked out for you. Okay, let’s pray.
Father, thank you for giving a message that may not be a typical Easter message. But Lord, we’re not nonbelievers. We’re not baby Christians. Some of us, we’ve been walking with the Lord for decades. So Lord, you’re giving a message for the mature today. I pray that all those who have ears to hear will hear the words that you have for the mature. Jesus, you came to pay for our sins. You came to overcome death.
But Lord, it doesn’t stop there. You also overcame this world, this world’s system, you overcame Satan himself at Calvary, and now it’s our turn. I pray that all of us who are listening today, who are hearing the Word of God, I pray that all of us would live to win. We don’t want to live for today. We don’t want to just win for today, or just for this next week, or this next year, but we want to win for eternity.
That no matter how Satan is trying to discourage us, or to devour us, or to intimidate us, or manipulate us, or to cause us to be fearful so that at any moment of testing we will let go of Jesus, but we want to be people who resolve to the end, I am going to hold onto Jesus, and I will never let go. I pray that all of us listening today will make that commitment for you, that yes, we committed to you years ago, but today we want to freshly recommit our life to you to hold on to Jesus and never let go.
Satan is looking 24/7/365 for a weak brother or sister to devour. But Father, we see in your word 2 Chronicles 6:9 that at the same time, the Father is looking 24/7/365. You’re looking to and fro for even one person who is all about Your Son, one person who is fully committed to Jesus, one person who is wholly devoted to Jesus, one person who will hold on to Jesus, no matter what happens in life, and they have resolved, they will hold on to Jesus.
And to that person, there is such a gift that Lord, you will show yourself to be strong on that person’s behalf. What a gift. I pray that during these weeks of shut-in, we can get alone with you. And we would be that one person even when everyone else in the world is doing other things. We can be that one person that is praised by our Heavenly Father. That Father, you see a loyalty to Your Son, a commitment to Your Son, and you are so proud of us that You reveal your strength to that believer.
I pray that can be said of all of us who are listening to this message that we can be strengthened by you, so that when we cross over to glory and receive final salvation at the end, and the crown of life, and the reward that comes for those who have been martyred. I pray that in that moment, we will give you all the glory. We take off all the crowns in your presence. We give you all the glory.
And it’s not because we were so strong that we passed every test. No, it’s because you proved yourself, you revealed your strength to us. All we did was hold on. That’s all we did. It was such a small thing we did. All we did was to hold on and you showed yourself. You revealed yourself. You manifested your strength to us. That’s what we want. We want to hear at the end of our life, well done, good and faithful servant. You held on. You made it.
Thank you, Lord. We love you. We recommit ourselves to Jesus on this day, on this Easter. Thank you. We want to overcome the world like you did, Lord Jesus. In your precious name we pray, Amen.
