In this powerful sermon, Joel Martin calls the church to partner with King Jesus to be overcomers, not in word only, but in deed; not on rare occassions, but as a lifestyle, faithful to death.
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Transcription:
Good morning. God bless you. Thank you for those songs, Brother Nathan and Brother Lynwood. The second to last verse we sang in that final song says, “Thy saints in all this glorious war shall conquer though they die. They see the triumph from afar and seize it with their eye.”
The church that overcomes Satan.
We’ve been singing, but I’d like to invite you to stand one more time and we’re going to sing one more chorus as we begin. Let’s go ahead and stand. Let’s sing together that chorus: “We’ve got the power in the name of Jesus.”
We’ve got the power in the name of Jesus.
We’ve got the power in the name of the Lord.
Though Satan rages, we will not be defeated;
We’ve got the power in the name of the Lord.For many years now, Satan’s tried to stop us,
But the Church of Jesus is still alive!
Like a mighty army, we keep marching onward,
Winning every battle with the Lord by our side.So come now, let’s agree together
That all our enemies are under our feet.
And whatever we bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
And at the name of Jesus, Satan has to flee.We’ve got the power in the name of Jesus.
We’ve got the power in the name of the Lord.
Though Satan rages, we will not be defeated;
We’ve got the power in the name of the Lord.
You may have noticed five months ago, that a name originally appeared beside the title to this message, and then disappeared. One year and seven days ago, my second youngest brother was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident. Throughout the past year, intense challenges, setbacks, difficulties, spiritual warfare, was so much part of my journey, and it actually still is, that I wasn’t sure. I asked the team, “Can you find someone else to preach this message?” They consented to that, and they looked for another brother. They knew what I was going through. When that brother declined, the team came back and said, “Would you reconsider?”
Here we are, by the grace of God today.
The Church that Overcomes Satan.
Open your Bibles with me to Revelation 12:7-12.
7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
I would like to call your attention, first of all, to the second word in this verse. It says, “they.” Our key verse here is Revelation 12:11. This text says, “They overcame him.”
Who is the “they” that this text is referring to? It’s the saints. Those who have a sworn enemy, the accuser of the brethren. Oftentimes, we read the passages for a text too quickly. I want us just to pause and think about that plural pronoun for a minute. “They” overcame. Together, they overcame him.
It’s no secret in both the spiritual realms of light and of darkness that “united we will stand,” but also the opposite is absolutely true as well: “divided we will fall.” They overcame him. You can have a coal burning on a fire in the hearth, and you take that coal and set it out. It doesn’t matter how hot that coal was initially; if it is not with the rest of those embers, it will quickly be extinguished. They overcame him. Collectively, together.
The Scripture says, “Two are better than one” (Ecclesiastes 4:9). (I’m quoting from a different version now) “Though one may be overpowered . . ., two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12 NKJV). They together overcame him.
Let’s look at the next word: “overcame.”
This word is nikao in the Greek. It means, “to win, to have victory over, to defeat.” It’s a battle word. It appears 28 times in the New Testament. In the KJV, it’s most often translated as “overcome” or “conquer,” but also as “prevail” and “to get the victory.” They overcame.
Another passage where this same Greek word is found, is in Revelation 3. It says, “To him that overcomes (nikao) will I grant to sit with me in My throne, even as I also overcame and have sat down with My Father in His throne” (Revelation 3:21 JUB)
Again, Romans 12:21 “Be not overcome (same word) of evil, but overcome evil with good.” And finally, 1 John 5:5 “Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
The repetition of this word, brothers and sisters, in multiple contexts reminds us that the Christian, while living in this present fallen world, is in a battle. “They overcame.”
The next word in this phrase is “him.” “They overcame him.”
I want to pause just a minute and consider who it was that they overcame. The accuser, the devil, the one who was come down with great wrath because he knows he has but a little time. The dragon who made war in heaven is now come down. And this text says, “Woe unto you, you inhabiters of the earth.” But it also says, “They overcame him.”
What do we know about the dominion and power of the enemy from the passages of Scripture that we could look out this morning, and we could glean many things? I want to just look at two more passages. We get a brief glimpse into what happens sometimes in the heavenlies.
There’s a mysterious glimpse in the book of Job in chapter 1. I want to read two verses there. We’re familiar with this context. Job 1:6-7 “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”
1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.” Our adversary the devil.
In these passages, he’s called “a great dragon,” he’s called, “the old serpent,” and he’s called, “a roaring lion.” But the keys, prophetically given by revelation of God to John for us, are given in this passage (in Revelation 12) how we can overcome also. Those of us upon whom the ends of the world are come. Those of us to whom this text says, “Woe unto you.” So, how did they overcome?
Key #1. “They overcame him” (say it with me) “by the blood of the Lamb!”
Praise God! Friends, this morning, there’s power! “There’s wonder-working power in the blood of the Lamb.” Never let anyone cause you to doubt that. “Would you be free from your burden of sin? There’s power in the blood! Would you o’er evil a victory win, there’s wonderful power in the blood.” Praise God! Hallelujah this morning for the blood of Jesus!
The Scripture tells us that we are redeemed by the blood; we are cleansed by the blood, and we are justified by the blood. 1 Peter 1:18-19 says, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold . . ., but with the precious blood of Christ.” Redeemed!
1 John 1:7 says, “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.”
Romans 5:9 “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”
There are many places we could go in Scripture to think about the power of the blood – many texts we could consider. But I want to challenge us this morning to recognize that though there are many who believe – take our Muslim friends, for example (I sat with a Muslim young man about two years ago and had this very discussion) that God is merciful, and He can choose to pardon us if He so desires – though there be many who may believe that, the Scripture says, “The wages of sin” (the payment or punishment for sin) “is death.” God told Adam and Eve, “In the day that you eat thereof” (speaking of the forbidden fruit) “you shall surely die.” And, we know, according to the Scriptures that death reigned from Adam to Moses to John the Baptist, the last prophet of the Old Testament – both physically and spiritually, separation from God. We saw that initially in the Garden. They no longer could have access in the same way to the very presence of a holy God. I believe that even the Old Testament saints, brothers and sisters, could not enter into heaven, but through the blood of Jesus Christ.
“By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh” (Hebrews 10:20). The Scriptures tell us, “There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Hebrews 10:4 says, “It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.” Hebrews 11 goes on to say of the heroes of faith, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises” (Hebrews 11:13).
1 Peter 1:9-10,12. The prophets enquired and searched diligently.
9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you . . .
12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.
“The prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you.” So then, consider with me. Before the death of Christ, where were the souls of the departed who died in faith? Those who died, “not having received the promises”?
Jesus tells us the story in Luke 16 that gives us maybe just a small glimpse into this reality, pre-cross. There was a story about a man who died and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. Another man who died and was buried, lifted up his eyes in hell, in Hades, and saw Abraham and Lazarus across this great gulf that was fixed between them, and said, “Father Abraham, . . . send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”
1 Peter 4:6 says,
For, for this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
Ephesians 4:8-9 unwraps this mystery just a little further, saying, “When he [Jesus] ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?” The lower parts of the earth – what is this talking about? And who were the captives who were held there? I believe these Scriptures are speaking of the abode of the dead pre-cross. Before the cross and the resurrection, before the New Testament offering of the blood of Jesus Christ and the rending of the veil. Both the temple and tabernacle were only a shadow of the heavenly.
But now, Hebrews says, “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us” (Hebrews 9:24). Hebrews 10:12 says, “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.”
Hebrews 2:14 (Brother Ken quoted this verse this morning.) “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” Satan had (past tense). Satan had a rightful hold on all who were ever born, from Adam and Eve until the second Adam Jesus Christ, the One because of whom the apostle Paul could say, “O death where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57). The Scriptures tell us, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).
“The Little Boy from the Carpenter’s Shop”
Born in a stable, His mother a virgin,
Raised in a carpenter shop.
His parents were poor, His people were slaves,
His friends a lowly lot.
His chances in life are very slim,
He’s expected to be a slave.
But people in darkness saw light in Him,
And hope of freedom He gave.All of the powers of heaven and earth,
God had invested in Him.
He’s to die on the cross, descend into hell,
Meet the devil and take the keys from him.
He yielded Himself to the death on the cross,
Cried, “It’s finished!” then slumped to die.
In the regions of hell the devil celebrated,
“We’ve destroyed the King!” he cried.In the midst of the celebration, footsteps were heard;
Walking the corridors of hell.
Then the shouting stopped, and a voice rang out,
A voice that rang like a bell.
Satan trembled as he recognized Him,
Who had come to deliver His own;
“Shut and lock the gate!” he cried,
“Don’t let Him ascend to His throne!”So the gate swung shut in the face of the King,
To prove God’s salvation untrue.
But He shook hell’s gates, and He cried,
“Lift up your head, the King is coming through!”
Then out of the devil’s prison house came;
A procession led by the King,
Shouting, “Now, O grave where is thy victory,
And death where is thy sting?”Who is the King of glory?
The Lord God, mighty in battle is He.
Who is the King of glory?
The Master and Host of heaven supreme;
Who is the King of glory?
The one that not even death could stop,
He is the King of glory,
That little boy from the carpenter shop.Brothers and sisters, in Revelation 7, John heard this question: (Revelation 7:13-14).
And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, “What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?”
(this multitude, innumerable, before the throne)
And I said unto him, “Sir, thou knowest.” And he said to me, “These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb.
Key #2. Secondly, this text (Revelation 12:11 tells us that they overcame him (say it with me) “by the word of their testimony.” (Say it again.) “By the word of their testimony.”
Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” We are created in the image of God. And as image bearers, we have creative potential in the words that we speak – both death and life are in the power of the tongue.
It says in the book of Romans,
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
Romans 10:9
We could talk about the confession that takes place at baptism. We sometimes think of testimony in a more traditional sense, and I want to talk about that, but for just a minute, consider the power of spoken words. At your confession at baptism or the ordinance of marriage, when you speak – many of you have had this privilege.) I stood before the altar one day and the pastor asked me (it was Kelsey’s father) “Joel, will you take this woman by your side to be your wedded wife? Will you love and cherish her, and keep yourself only unto her as long as you both shall live?” “I will.” The creative potential and power of those words.
I don’t know what questions were asked you at your baptism. “Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?” “I do.” “Upon this confession of your faith, I baptize you.” The power of the spoken word.
Martyrs at their death were very well known to continue testifying right up to the end. They continued praising and thanking God with supernatural grace and power, talking of their commitment to Jesus Christ. At times, we know their persecutors became so enraged at this testimony that they attempted to silence them by cutting out their tongues or screwing their tongues to the roof of their mouths. They continued praising and thanking God.
In the Gospel of Luke, this is Jesus speaking. He says,
They shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
Luke 21:12-15
Starting with Stephen in the book of Acts, we see the promise fulfilled that Jesus had spoken to the disciples just a few years earlier. As Stephen spoke, they could not resist the wisdom or the authority. (Acts 6:10.) The Holy Spirit was on him and as he spoke, he quoted Scripture, and he cut to the heart with the word that the Lord had given him, instantaneously, in fulfilment of this promise.
Jesus also, when standing before the Sanhedrin, as they provoked Him to speak, finally, before the high priest, He quoted Daniel 7, which speaks of the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and authority. (See Matthew 26:64.)
Jesus and Stephen both stood before the councils, and they spoke with authority. Not only that, but they spoke the Word of God. Think about that for a minute. They spoke the Word of God.
The martyrs were known to quote Scripture. They knew the Word of God. They knew the written Word of God. Jesus also overcame, as we know, the devil in the wilderness. Three times He said, “It is written . . .” “It is written . . .” “It is written . . .” How could He do that? He had the Word of God written on His heart. A challenge I’d to leave with us here this morning as we think about the Word of our testimony – yes, let’s rely on the power of the Holy Spirit. Let’s also continue to commit the Scripture to memory.
That’s one of the things I appreciate about Kingdom Fellowship Weekend. This year we were memorizing Psalm 127. As I was meditating on that, I saw that there’s a verse here that directly relates to this particular section of this topic. Speaking of how that our children will be like arrows in the hand of a mighty man, the psalmist says, “They shall speak.” “They shall speak with the enemies in the gate.” Our children will speak. “They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.”
You know, do you ever feel ashamed? Do you ever feel quiet? Even the apostle Paul, in the book of Ephesians, when he’s sitting in Rome, bound in chains, he says,
Pray also for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Ephesians 6:19-20
If even the apostle Paul needed to ask for prayer that he could be bold for the Gospel, how much more do we!
I know, unfortunately, what it feels like to be ashamed and to be quiet. I also know, by God’s grace, what it feels like to speak and to testify with boldness. May God help us to be ready, to be prepared.
In the book of Acts, after the apostles were beaten, what do they do? Go back and pull together in a circle and pray for God’s protection? No, they prayed for boldness that they could speak the Word of God. And “the place was shaken where they were assembled” (Acts 4:31), and they were filled again with the Holy Ghost, and they went out everywhere proclaiming boldly the Word of God. They overcame him! Though the enemy was trying to silence them, they overcame him by the word of their testimony.
So, number 1. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. Number 2, by the word of their testimony, and number 3, it says in this text, “They loved not their lives unto the death” (Revelation 12:11).
Key #3. “They loved not their lives unto the death.”
The most powerful and the most dangerous people on the planet are those who are living for a cause for which they are not afraid to die. Whether it’s a Jihadist or a Christian martyr, the most powerful and the most dangerous people on the planet are those who are living for a cause for which they are not afraid to die.
Hebrews 11 speaks of these kinds of people. It says, “They quenched the violence of the fire” (Hebrews 11:34). Remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They said to the king: Our God is able to deliver us. But if He doesn’t choose to deliver us, be it known to you, O king, we will not bow down nor worship the golden image which you have set up. (Daniel 3:17-18.) And God did choose in that case to deliver them. They “quenched the violence of fire.”
This text goes on to say, “They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth” (Hebrews 11:37-38). These all died. These all died in faith. They loved not their lives, brothers and sisters, unto the death. And now they are recorded for us as examples. Now we are, as it says in Hebrews 12, encouraged to look at their example, as a great cloud of witnesses, as we continue running the race that’s set before us.
I used to wonder what it would feel like to be a martyr. And I honestly had this fear in my heart that if I should be called to give my life to burn at the stake or to be sawn asunder as Isaiah was, the intensity of that pain and suffering – Lord, I don’t know how I could do that.
I don’t want to draw attention to myself here, but I earlier felt led to tell you a story. When I was 18 years old, I was working on scaffolding at a job, and I remember the scaffolding starting to fall, and I remember jumping. I was about 25 feet in the air. The last thing I remember before I woke up lying flat on my back looking up at the sky, I instantly knew that I had severely injured myself. I figured I had probably broken my back, (which actually was the case.) I remember verbally crying out to Jesus right there lying on the ground, just stunned. And the peace, the tranquility, the tangible grace that washed over me in that time, was palpable. I’ve never since that time wondered if God can give us the grace in those great and intense times of affliction and suffering, as He has been faithful to give the martyrs in times past. I actually remember praying and telling the Lord, (and I meant it), “God, if you want me to be in a wheelchair the rest of my life, that’s really ok.” God’s great grace in times of great and intense suffering is real.
“Climb up your golden height, champion of the band
Of holy souls alight who followed Christ’s command.”
We sing this song. It’s in the back of the Christian Hymnary. I looked up the history to this song in preparing for this message. It was written by the author of the Martyrs Mirror, Tieleman van Braght. (Brother Nathan can probably say his name with the German pronunciation.) It was translated into English first in 1886, and was then recast in the edition we sing today by the late John J. Overholt. According to Hymnary.org (and I confirmed this with Brother Nathan) this recasting was done in 1975, which marked the 450-year anniversary of the radical Reformation. I wanted to see if this was actually true, so I emailed Brother Nathan. (Brother Nathan, are you in here this morning? How old were you in 1975? Nine years old.) Nathan responded to me, “Yes, Joel, I can remember traveling around the United States with my family. My dad would preach, and we would sing that song in 1975.” Praise God.
This song was originally written as a tribute to a martyr named Gerardus, “who for the testimony of Jesus Christ went singing before his companions, five other men, two women, and a girl, on the way to burning at the stake.” They loved not their lives.
Climb up your golden height, champion of the band
Of holy souls alight who followed Christ’s command.
This hero went before them. He did fight his way
Through the straight gate to heaven through Christ’s living way.
Can you see him, singing as he marches before his companions, to burning?
God’s banner red in blood, oppression, misery
Where smoke and vapor stood, burnt sacrificially
The sacrificial fire ascending to the skies
Of dreadful human offerings who there won the prize.
Nor makes them ashamed to bear the name of Christ
Until they are consumed and meet the Lord they prized!
Lord, our thanks for blood of martyrs and for prophets slain;
This, Thy heritage still offers Christ’s eternal gain!
In the famous words of Jim Elliot, “He is no fool,” brothers and sisters, “who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
“This light affliction,” said the apostle Paul, and he knew what affliction was about. We read of him being beaten many times with rods, shipwrecked, left for dead, and yet he said, “this light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17). Hallelujah!
Jesus, through His death, conquered the enemy and destroyed him that had the power of death, and thereby He left us an example that we should follow in His steps. “Take up your cross.” Are you a soldier? Am I a soldier of the cross? The Calvary road, the way of the cross, through the straight gate to heaven – this is Christ’s living way!
Philippians says, “He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also,” (that wasn’t the end) “God also has highly exalted Him, and given him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow” (Philippians 2:8-10). What a landslide victory was won at the cross!
Corinthians tells us, “Had the princes of this world known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:8). The power, the wisdom, the mystery of the cross.
They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
Revelation 12:11
In conclusion, I want to challenge us to recognize this morning that after we have done all within our power, we’re still, humanly speaking, no match for the enemy. But Romans 8 says, “If God!” “If God be for us, then who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).
“Were not the right man on our side . . .” (Hallelujah!)
The Scripture says it’s “not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit” (Zechariah 4:6).
Psalm 46. I was speaking earlier this weekend to Brother Micaiah about this psalm, and he reminded me that in the context of this famous word that we often see framed in pretty mottos on the wall, “Be still in know that I am God,” it’s a battle context. “He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.” The waters were roaring, (verse 3), the heathen were raging (verse 6). “Be still, and know that I am God.”
Brothers and sisters, there is a battle; it’s real. But the Scripture tells us, “There are more with us than with them” (2 Chronicles 32:7, 2 Kings 6:16).
“Greater is he that is in [us,] than he that is in the world.” Keep that connection to Him. Guard it above all else.
In heavenly armor we’ll enter the land;
The battle belongs to the Lord.
No weapon that’s fashioned against us can stand;
The battle belongs to the Lord.When the power of darkness comes in like a flood,
The battle belongs to the Lord. (Let’s not forget that. The battle belongs to the Lord.)
He’s raised up a standard, the power of His blood;
The battle belongs to the Lord.So we can sing, “Glory! Honor! Power and strength to the Lord!”
“Glory, honor, power, and strength to the Lord!”
Though the accuser of the brethren stands ready to accuse us, according to this text we read, before the throne day and night (Revelation 12:10), “we have an advocate with the Father,” a Mediator, “Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).
Romans 8 goes on to say, “Who shall lay any thing . . .?” (So there’s an accuser.) But the Scripture says, “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yes rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us” (Romans 8:33-34). Praise God!
And finally, thinking of overcoming through our willingness to love not our lives unto death, the Scripture says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. No! In all these things we are more than conquerors!” (Romans 8:35-37).
Through these things “we are more than conquerors,” (overcomers) “through Him that loved us.” “We are more than conquerors through him that loved us!” Praise God!
Jesus said, “In the world, you will have tribulation.” (Aren’t you thankful He didn’t stop there?) “But be of good cheer” (John 16:33). We can sing, “Joyful, joyful, I adore Thee.” “For the joy of the Lord is our strength.” “Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.”
And again, Jesus said, “I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).
Brothers and sisters, we will overcome. The Scripture says, “They overcame him.”
How? Let’s say it together:
By the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death.
Thanks be to God!