Overcoming

It's Sunday morning August 15th. It's hot inside the church house, even with the air-conditioning running full blast. It's 95 outside but 120 in the building. It's getting hotter by the moment! You don't have a handkerchief. Who would have thought you would have needed one? So you wiped your brow with your arm, only to sweat again. 

The lights above feel like heat lamps. Someone is interrogating you. You look up and the high intensity is pointing right at you. You think, I wish the preacher would get through with the sermon. How dare him! You are guilty of doing those things. Your anger flares but you cannot escape. No one knows it, it is you to whom he is preaching. That is conviction. You don't want to admit it, but you have sinned, and sin often. In fact, what he was preaching about was your stronghold - your favorite and habitual sin, even an addiction. 

You want free from that particular sin. It owns you! Nearly all your actions are a result of thinking on that sin. It's as if you're a slave, and the jail has invisible bars but they're real. You finally came to realize that you can't change on your own. Perhaps, you think, I can with the Lord's help. On the other hand, another thought tells you that you are too weak. Two thoughts against each other in your mind; you want to change but yet you look back at the sin, and still desire it. Your anger is kindled even more as the preacher continues to pound at you just as if he knows your heart!

God doesn't give up. As you wipe another gallon of sweat from your face, your heart begins to change from anger to guilt. I know he knows my sin, you agonize. This time, you're not thinking of the preacher. You worry about God, and guilt sets in. 

God just convinced you that you are a criminal. That is conviction. But as of that moment, you have failed to deal with it. You know that you should but your thoughts keep wrestling. Finally, if and when you can't stand it any more, you relent. Okay God, I'm a sinner. You can't stand the uncomfortable feelings of guilt. You feel so sick inside that you must do something. One thought inside tells you to hang onto the pew in front of you for dear life. After all, that's what those pews must be for, because that's what everyone seems to do!

The other thought says, it's time I deal with this. I can't stand the guilt any more. One voice says, quit feeling guilty. In answer, the other Voice says, you are guilty! "Guilt" comes from God as a result of conviction. You should thank God for it! Satan says, "Quit feeling guilty. Your sin is not that bad, and everyone does it." In your heart you know that this deception will kill you - forever. You will go to Hell unless you turn to God.

Satan gives his thoughts again: You don't need Jesus. You can save yourself. Most people are satisfied with that argument. They are content with doing their own will, and posing as their own god. They will soon leave the church service laughing it off. Not you! The thought occurs to you: I can't save myself but Jesus can! Unknown to you, you have just had the same thoughts the Hebrew people had back in the wilderness - when poisonous vipers were killing them. Moses lifted up the bronze serpent as symbolic of Christ, and rather than looking at the poisonous vipers, they lifted their eyes to Jesus.

You quit depending on your own dance through the den of sins, and finally look up to Jesus for deliverance. You feel relief. There is a way out of burning in Hell. With that enlightenment, you run to the altar and "pray through". It is a long journey forward, because sin is on your back. It's memory weighs you down but somehow, in meekness, you are made strong. You go forward and pray your "sinner's prayer". It's not a particular prayer but goes somewhat like this:

Psalm 51:1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest... 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. 9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

Tell God those things. If it's heart-felt, God will honor your prayer. Those words, said with sincerity, is repentance. And guess what? 

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

We must confess our sins to Jesus. He is the only way to salvation (John 14:6).  You just experienced Christ, now you must know him. He is God who gave His own life in your place. 

Rom 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God...

Hopefully, when you marched forward to meet Jesus, you know his way. Salvation can only be obtained by the shedding of blood (Ephes 1:7). You see, there are many things which we must do in order to be saved. One cannot be saved unless they know Jesus! By the Word of God, this knowledge is revealed. Philip had to explain to the eunuch the Scripture which he read (Acts 8). God calls but you must respond. 

As you "pray through" seeking God's forgiveness, you know of Jesus's death instead of yours, and trust that Jesus's sacrifice can save. After you have repented of all those past sins, then you're safe - Jesus told Nicodemus that is "born-again":

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

When you are called, you are convicted, feel remorseful, repent, seek redemption, trust Jesus for redemption, and are born-again. Are you saved? That is what Satan wants us to believe. However, like Job, we are protected by God from the evil one. (Read Job 1). Those who are made righteous by the second birth are safe. God protects us from Satan. Our past sins are covered under the blood  (Rom 3:23 above). 

Now let's look back at David. Before he was callously sinned, David was a man after God's own heart (1 Sam 13:14). God provided safety for David even in his youth. David, later, tempted by Satan, fell into grievous sin. He lusted, fornicated, and murdered in an attempt to cover his own sin. Through Nathan the prophet, David saw his own sin, and was remorseful. Psalm 51 was his sorrow and repentance. It was his plea for mercy: "restore unto me the joy of thy salvation" (Psalm 51:12). "Salvation" is yesha` - safety.

One cannot be "unsaved" because salvation is saved from eternal destruction. When does destruction occur? In the end. Since repentance can't be done in death, we are either saved or doomed at death. As such, the new birth is living under God's protection, within a hedge of safety.

David overcame. He prayed the sinner's prayer because he freely chose not to be unsafe with sin (Psalm 51). We must hang onto that prayer. It is not only the "sinners' prayer but the prayer of the saints as they seek God's help in overcoming Satan. When we're born-again, Satan only tries harder. We must trust God until the end to overcome the evil one! Today's key verse follows:

Rev 2:11 He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death...

What is "the second death"? It is perishing in eternal hell. Those who "overcome" shall not die the second death but live forever. That is salvation!  Overcoming is trusting Jesus for safety. The gift of faith was that first time when you came forward in deference to Jesus (Ephes 2:8). That faith is yours to lose or retain. Those who overcome "keep the faith":

Rev 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

It seems that by keeping the commandments of God that is a demonstration of steadfast faith. Satan tempts to abort command-keeping. Those who are faithful and love God will demonstrate their faith by obedience:

John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. 

The notion of overcoming is quite divisive. I have no hidden agenda. We must all keep the faith until the end. Use Psalm 51 as often as we sin, and trust Jesus that we shall be saved as we "near the day of our salvation" (Rom 12:11), thus having "the hope of salvation" (1 Thes 5:8). 

It's necessary to be transparent. Most people were raised to some degree in Calvinistic doctrine. They would take issue with the necessity for "overcoming" because that seems to give the power to defeat death on the person, and take the power away from Christ. That seems to be reasonable, but is wrong! Obedience is not doing the law, it is the willingness to obey God. Born-again is sacrificing our own will to God. That is a choice we must all make.

Those who went forward as described at the start, are half-way "home". You will be tempted, and you will sin. Overcoming is remaining faithful until the end. Perhaps someday, you will be persecuted to the death. Will you deny Jesus for a few more days of life? If you are willing to die for your faith - trusting Jesus to save you, then you will have overcome death. Obedience is only a mild form of that terrible test which we may face. If we can't obey God willingly, will we trust Him in the face of physical death?

I was born-again out of fear of that "great and terrible day of the Lord" (Joel 2:31). That's when we come to the day of salvation - or not. I feared God. He is both great and terrible. For those who overcome, God is great. For those who don't overcome (the law of sin), it will be terrible. We aren't alone, however, Jesus's "Ghost" - the Comforter, is with us to the end!

Most Baptists, if they read this through, are angry by now. They consider this as non-doctrinal. I am a Baptist but one who laid aside my early learning, and sought truth. My belief is that it is not a perversion of the truth. My desire is to know truth. Someone is wrong, and someone is right. Because of grace, Jesus allows those with both views through the pearly gates. However, not working to overcome may endanger those who differ with overcoming.