Yes, I recently preached a video sermon on Revelation 21:7 “He who OVERCOMES shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” Overcomers get to inherit all things. The next verse shows clearly what happens to those who don’t repent, don’t turn around and change, but stay the way they are: they burn up in the lake of fire, the second death.
I gave the sermon because I realized I hadn’t been hearing any sermons lately in the Church of God congregations on overcoming, and identifying what it is we are to overcome, HOW we are to successfully overcome, and WHY the topic is so important. I found that even I myself had not given a full sermon focused on overcoming in recent years.
Plus, when I took a good hard look at my own life, I realized there was too much that I had compromised on over the years; areas of my life that could not be fully pleasing to God, that I was allowing myself to live with. This must not be. But as I spoke with a few others, I realized many, many brethren were also living with areas in their lives that should have been overcome! Gossips were still gossips. Lustful men were still lustful men. Impatient souls were still impatient.
And most people reacted very nonchalantly to this topic. It didn’t excite them. Examine your own heart on this topic. It doesn’t grab your attention much, does it? I wonder how many will even read this blog. They’d rather have a sermon on who the Beast power is or on some other point of prophecy. And prophecy is vital too, so don’t get me wrong. I preach on prophecy too. But that proves to me that most brethren don’t really understand what overcoming is and why it is so vitally important for our eternity.
Those mentioned as being with Christ when He returns are those “called, chosen and faithful” (Rev. 17:14). Faithful. Chosen. Fully committed to Christ and the Way. Fully. That means people who let Christ be their life now and are overcoming every point that doesn’t measure up to the fullness of the stature of Christ. We’re saved by faith through grace. But once we receive that salvation, we must be walking as Christ walked (1 John 2:3-6) and letting Him be our guide and even our new life as Col. 3:3-4 says. We can’t remain in old sinful ways. Too many ARE remaining unchanged, though.
If you missed really studying the sermon, I implore you not to risk missing the inheritance of “all things” God wants to give you -- because of you not overcoming. In the sermon, learn how the word “overcome” means to gain the victory over temptations and sin that results if we don’t defeat all temptations.
Even Jesus himself, remember, was tempted in ALL points, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). In my sermon I explain several points that apparently more than a few hadn’t realized before:
** Like realizing Jesus himself also had to overcome. Even ministers sometimes answer “no” when I asked, “Did Jesus also have to overcome?” But in fact Jesus was an overcomer. I’ll show you the scripture where Jesus speaks and says he had to overcome and that we must overcome like HE did. WHAT did he have to overcome? WHY?
** We discuss the nonstop intensity of the temptations Jesus faced. I promise you, he went through so much more temptation in all points far more than any of us ever realized. If he failed to overcome even just one of the hundreds of temptations he went through, and ended up sinning, we would not have a Savior! This needs to be understood deeply so we appreciate Yeshua so much more than we ever have before. This sermon will give you that. I hope you study the sermon. And it will help you realize how much Jesus understands what it’s like to be tempted and so he can fully understand you too.
** Many sermons too often don’t fully cover two basic questions: HOW do we accomplish the sermon’s goal? And WHY do we have to? But this sermon does address the HOW and the WHY of this subject. You’ll find the scriptural ways given by God on how to defeat all temptations and even how to find yourself facing less temptations in the first place.
** Can overcoming – or not overcoming – play a part in what severe times we may face ahead, like the Great Tribulation? Find out.
** We like to think we’re “converted” – which means “changed.” But in the sermon I cover that being converted is not just about giving up our old beliefs and now we keep Sabbath instead of Sunday, and we keep God’s holy days instead of pagan holidays. No, overcoming and being converted are far, far deeper than those things. Have you really changed the way you ARE, and not just the day you go to church? Are you vastly different from the kind of person you were a few years ago in all aspects of your life?
** Paul tells us in Romans 12:1-3 that we must be transformed in our mind and thinking, and what we are, as much as a caterpillar over time is transformed from a leaf-chewing caterpillar into a gorgeous butterfly. The word “transformed” has a similar root to what a caterpillar goes through. The changing that should be going on in our lives should be just as dramatic. Is that what’s happening in your life? If not, study the sermon again. Without complete transformation into a new creation, can we even call ourselves truly “converted”?
** How do you feel when you’ve failed to obey God and find yourself in sin? We should feel like David did in Psalm 51, and feel terrible for going against God and not pleasing Him.
** Have you come to HATE sin, all sin, or do you find some sins still frankly give you some pleasure of sin for the moment, though it won’t last long? See what it says about Moses in Hebrews 11:24-26. If we still find pleasure in sin, or some sins, we are a long way from overcoming sin. Some sins do tend to release a sinful sense of pleasure while doing them – like many sex sins, like gossiping, like misusing alcohol, like refusing to forgive someone as we want them to experience their “just desserts.” Study the sermon and learn about coming to truly hate sin. Without hating sin, we won’t fully overcome.
** I also cover also the crucial role Jesus Christ plays in each of our lives to help us eradicate and overcome all sins in our lives, all bad habits we still have that can lead us to sin if not overcome. Do we keep falling into some of the same sins over and over? I mean sins like lust, like gossip, like being too casual on God’s sabbath, or like not watching our tongue better than we do. Maybe some of you need to overcome visiting ungodly sites on the internet. Or becoming a more loving husband, or a more patient person – rather than staying the same way. These are areas we need to be overcoming as well. Remember even Paul says three times in Romans 7, “that which I hate, I still do” at times. But at least he hated those times and those sins.
So the point of this blog is simple: don’t be nonchalant about overcoming. Study that sermon on “He who overcomes…”
Here’s the link, to make it easy for you, for this sermon given in November 2025. Some few have told me they came to realize they had to hear it a few times. Praise God. And let’s see each other in the kingdom of God.
https://www.lightontherock.org/index.php/sermons/message/he-who-overcomes-revelation-21-7