Well, please turn in your Bibles to the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 2. Here we are in the midst of our study of the words of Jesus Christ to the churches. They were written right at the end of the first century, but they still have amazing relevance to us living here at the beginning of the 21st century. because the Lord Jesus Christ has not changed, and we are still living in the same dispensation, the same era of God's dealing with us in the church. And what is God looking for? What does the Lord Jesus Christ commend in the church? and what does he correct in the church. So we must listen carefully to Revelation 2 and 3 to find out whether or not we are doing the things that are pleasing in our Lord's sight and truly functioning as a Christian church according to his definition. Now last week we looked into one particular verse in Revelation chapter 3 and that is Revelation 3 10 where you have that promise Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to try those who dwell on the earth. And the study that we did in that verse last week was a very in-depth, technical study. And sadly, it's a study that is often divisive among Christians because there are such strong and different opinions on the timing of the event known as the rapture. Well, this week we are going to continue on the same theme of hope, but we're going to be taking a very different angle on the hope that we have. Instead of an in-depth technical study that has many different opinions and, sadly, division in the church, we're going to be taking a look at hope in general. And what is the hope that we have as Christians that all of us who believe the Bible, who believe the Scriptures, do agree on? And this is the probably more important study out of these two weeks. I enjoy getting into the details and things like the pre-tribulational rapture, but I think I enjoy more a study like we have today, where we're going to be looking at the promises of the Lord Jesus Christ to the overcomer. Notice in chapter 2, verse 7, Each letter that we have here, beginning with Ephesus in chapter two, verses one through seven, each letter has a very similar structure. And the letters end with the call to hear, as we have in verse seven, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. That's repeated in each letter. And then also, each letter contains a promise to the one who conquers, the overcomer. And the first one in chapter 2 verse 6 reads thus, And so each letter ends with this, a call to hear and the promise to the one who conquers, or as it is translated in the New American Standard Bible, the overcomer. So who is the overcomer? Who is the one who conquers that Jesus is speaking to and giving these special promises to? We're going to look at all seven of those promises, but before we do that, I want to address that question of who is the one who conquers? Who is the overcomer? So just continuing our study of the seven churches, Revelation 2 and 3, as I said, looking at faith, hope, and love in the churches. focusing in these last few weeks on the hope in the churches. And today, these promises form a big part of the hope that Jesus Christ is holding out and encouraging us as Christians in his church to hold on to. So the promises to the overcomer, that's our subject for today. The first question is, who is the overcomer? Who is the one who conquers? Well, the word here, overcomer, it comes from a Greek word, as the New Testament is written in Greek, from which we get the word Nike. You know that Nike is a famous brand, and they've taken their name from this word, going back to the Greek, which means victory. And because you're a sports brand, you're trying to have victory. Well, that's the idea here. Victory in combat, victory in sports, victory in life, the way that Jesus Christ defines victory. The Bible doesn't define victory the same way the world does. Let's look at how the Bible describes the one who overcomes, the one who is victorious, the one who conquers. The contrast of this word is very helpful. We have another group of people described in the book of Revelation who would be the opposite of the one who conquers, and they are called the earth dwellers. That is, those who dwell upon the earth. As we just read moments ago in chapter three, verse 10, I'll remind you, the promise there is that because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to try who? Those who dwell on the earth. And so throughout the book of Revelation, you've got a contrast between those who dwell on the earth and those who conquer, those who overcome, the victorious ones. The earth dwellers are those who set their minds on earthly things. Their citizenship is earthly. The ones who conquer are those who set their minds on heavenly things, whose citizenship is in heaven, who are waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven for that future kingdom that he has promised us. And those who conquer, those who overcome, are those who have their hope fixed. on the grace that is to be brought to us at the coming of Jesus Christ. Now, he speaks his letters to everyone who is in the churches, but as you read through the promises to the overcomer, you get the idea that not everyone that is a part of these churches is included in that group of the overcomer. But only those who hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches, only those who lead a victorious Christian life and keep the deeds of Christ until the end are the ones who are a part of the conquerors in the congregation. You see, just being here does not make you a conqueror. Just having your name on the church roll does not make you a conqueror. A conqueror is defined in the New Testament. Let's take a look at it. Look at chapter two, verse 26. As I said, there are seven letters. And so the middle of the seven letters is the fourth letter. And in the fourth letter, we get a description, a fuller detail of who the promise goes to. Look at Revelation chapter two, verse 26. This gives us somewhat of a definition of the conqueror, the victorious one, the overcomer. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end. To him, I will give authority over the nations. So who's the conqueror? Who's the victorious Christian? The one who keeps Christ's works until the end. The one who lives like the Lord Jesus Christ. Not the one who professes faith, not the one who merely attends the church, but the one who lives life the way that Jesus Christ would live life if he were in your situation. If he was in your marriage, if he was in your job, if he was in your house, if he was in your body, how would the Lord Jesus Christ live life? The person who lives that way, who keeps his deeds until the end, not just for a little while, not just for a year or two, but who perseveres in the Christian life, that's the overcomer. Now, John has also given us definitions of the overcomer in other places in Scripture. So you see, we've told you who the overcomer is not, and that is the earth dwellers, those whose mindset is earthly, those whose citizenship is earthly. That's not the overcomer. The hour of trial is coming upon them. And it's not everyone who's sitting in the churches. But it is rather defined in Revelation 2.26, and also I want you to see 1 John 5, verses 4 and 5. Turn back to the book of 1 John. Right before Revelation you've got Jude, and right before that you've got the letters of John, 1, 2, and 3 John. The same author, I believe, who wrote 1 John is the one who is the apostle John writing the book of Revelation. And in 1 John 5, he also speaks about the overcomer, the victorious one, the one who conquers. And he says there, Who is it that overcomes the world? Except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. So, You don't have to be left wondering, who is Jesus talking to? Who's the overcomer? Revelation 2.26, 1 John 5, 4 and 5. The Word of God clearly defines for us who the overcomer is. That if you've been born again, then Jesus Christ keeps you in his hand and no one can take you out. And anyone who does end up falling away, apostatizing from the Christian faith, well the book of John, 1 John, also tells us that they are just demonstrating that they were not born again. that anyone who is truly born again continues in the faith. Saving faith perseveres because God is at work and we are confident that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. So the overcomer is the one whom God has begun a good work in and God is going to keep and he's going to make persevere in the faith, keeping the deeds of Jesus until the very end of our life. We're going all the way with Jesus. That's the sign of the victor, the overcomer. The word Christian has become very watered down in our age. Maybe we should talk more about being an overcomer, being a victorious Christian. Even the word believer has become very watered down in our age. And here I think is a great word to describe the true Christian. Someone who leads the victorious Christian life. And of course, Jesus himself is the ultimate overcomer. We see this in Revelation 3, verse 21. Back in Revelation 3, look at verse 21. The last of the promises to the overcomer, written to the church that was in Laodicea, Jesus says this, See, Jesus is the great forerunner. He's the one who is the author and perfecter of faith. And so he is the one who sets the pattern. The conqueror, the victor, is the one who keeps the deeds of Christ. And so Christ, who is the ultimate victor, he's the one who's laid out the pattern, he's the one who's pioneered the way, and we follow in his footsteps. We have his life in us. And that makes us conquer and overcome just the same way that he conquered and overcame. And he told his disciples, Don't be troubled. In the world, you're gonna have tribulation. But be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world. He's the victorious one. He's the one who loved not his life unto death, but did the will of God fearlessly. He's the one who lived his life to please the Father and not to promote himself in this time, in this age, like most earth dwellers do. And so the conqueror, the victor, he's the one who lives with that mindset, that heart. Christ is in you unless indeed you fail the test. Christ is in you, the overcomer, the conqueror, so that you also can conquer and be victorious. That's the big idea here in Revelation 2 and 3. That's why Jesus Christ uses this terminology and why he makes these special promises to the church. One other verse that I want to keep in view, you could write down Hebrews 12, that's a great one, but I want to also look at Romans 8, verse 37. Keep your marker there in Revelation, and I'm going to read Romans 8, verse 37. You can jot it down if you're taking notes, or you can turn there and see it in its context. This is a wonderful passage, Romans chapter 8, one of the best chapters in the Bible, and that's saying a lot because there's a lot of good chapters in the Bible. And Romans 8, 37 is a key verse here about being a conqueror, being victorious in the Christian life, and it's in the context of persecution and suffering. That's talking about tribulation and distress and persecution and famine and danger and sword, all of that in verse 35. And in verse 36 it quotes from the Old Testament talking about how we are killed all the day long and regarded as sheep to be slaughtered because of our identification with Christ, with God. And then he says in verse 37, In all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I'm sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Wow, that's awesome. So we are the conquerors, even in the midst of suffering, even as Jesus was crucified, even as he was put to death, tribulation, distress, persecution, sword, he conquered. And so we also conquer through those things. We can be fearless in the face of all the persecution that the world throws at us. And that's been a key element of our study of Revelation 2 and 3, is the churches that stood firm against persecution. who did not conform to the world by the societal pressures, the social pressures, the economic pressures, the political pressures, but who continued to keep the deeds of Christ, who did not soil their garments the way that the world did, who were faithful to Him, they are the overcomers. And that fearlessness comes through hope. It's only through hope that Jesus Christ conquered, that he knew that he would rise again, that he knew that God would exalt him to his own right hand, that he knew that he would be victorious, and so that hope that was laid out before him carried him through his trials. And that's why hope is so important for us in the Christian life. It's going to carry us through whatever trials God has in store for us individually and as a group. So, let's take a look then at what is wrong with our hope. Before we get into the promises, I want to talk a little bit about the lack of hope that exists in the American church. I think this is a real problem. And that's why here in the beginning of this study, after we've talked about the overcomer, It's good for us to identify something has gone wrong, something is not quite right with our mindset in this area, in the evangelical church in the West. So, I think one of the major problems with our hope is that it's uninformed. Hope is something that grows the more you know about something. Like for example, the Super Bowl is coming up. I don't know anything about who's won their games this year. They've maybe even rearranged the conferences since I used to watch a lot of football. I don't know who the big names are. I don't know much about what's going on. So I'm not about the Super Bowl this year the way that I was 20 years ago when I actually watched some of the games and I actually read the newspaper about what was going on in the NFL. The more you know about something, the more you get excited about it. And a lot of Christians just don't know much about what God has in store for us in the future. The preachers haven't preached on it. They haven't been reading their Bibles to find out about it. Their friends aren't talking about it. And so we're just like, well, I think it's gonna be good, but I really don't know anything about it. That's hard to get excited. It's hard to be filled with hope when you're uninformed. And our hope is uninformed because we often overlook it. And that's really sad. Why do we overlook our hope? Well, when it comes to the great three, faith, hope, and love in 1 Corinthians 13, you see that the greatest of these is love. And so hope is not the greatest. And so we tend to overlook it. We can talk a lot about love, we can talk a lot about faith, and faith is the cry of the Reformation. I mean, the church was built on Sola Fide coming out of the Reformation, but what about hope? Hope seems to kind of get short shrift. We just don't talk about it, we just don't focus on it. It doesn't seem to be the strength. We've overlooked hope as one of the great elements of our Christian life. Another thing that's wrong with our hope is we have so much disagreement in the church about things like pre-tribulational rapture, post-tribulational rapture, mid-tribulational rapture. No, it's premillennialism. No, it's amillennialism. And we disagree and it's like, well, let's not talk about this because it just causes fights. And so we're not even going to focus on it. And that's why a lot of preachers don't preach on it because of the disagreement. So Satan has done a good job of dividing us up and getting us to not talk about our hope because of these reasons. A second thing that's wrong with our hope is not only is it uninformed, but it's misinformed. The information we do have about the future in God's plans is often from the world and is tainted by our own fleshly ideas. What do I mean by that? You may have heard people say things like, I want to go to heaven, but not tonight. It's good to go to heaven after you die, because it's better than the alternative, but heaven's kind of boring. You know, you've all seen the cartoons, you sit on a cloud, you're giving your harp, it's an eternal church service, most people are asleep, no fun going on. Eh, you know, okay, but it's not exciting. So Satan has deliberately misinformed us about what the future holds as if heaven is boring, eternal rest. That doesn't sound very exciting. And so you talk to people at work and they'll be like, you know, you Christians say you're gonna inherit the earth. What are you gonna do with it? They'll just try to poo-poo the idea that our future hope is something that's worth pursuing, something that is actually exciting. And this is sad. And even in the church, you tend to get, among Christians, a cloudy, hazy, unimaginative, or trite view of heaven. We have hymns that talk about things like, we shall see his lovely face. Now, seeing the face of God, seeing the glory of God, is a wonderful thing to have to look forward to. But the way that's phrased, we shall see his lovely face, I mean, how many of us guys sit around thinking about, man, I wish I could just look at a man's lovely face. That's what gets me going. I love looking at men's lovely faces. It's just, it's lacking something. And so we need to get back to the Bible. We need to get back to scripture and get our hope informed and get rid of the misinformation that comes from the world. Get rid of the misinformation that comes from our own fleshly nature and our lack of faith and really be built up in hope so that we have this power to be able to persevere through everything in the Christian life and keep the deeds of Christ until the end. And then finally, not only is our hope uninformed and misinformed, but this leads to it being unaffected. And unaffected, it means that it's not emotional, it's not stirring, it's not exciting. And so it's kind of heartless. And we kind of think, well, this is good, it's our last resort, but it's not really what drives my life. It's not really what is getting me up in the morning and getting me going. Our hope is too technical. We just talk about charts and timing and all of that, and we don't focus on all the scripture that really focuses on the heart of it, and it's often just our final resort. I'm glad I get to go to heaven when I die, but right now I just want to live my life here because life is good, I've got a good career, I've got a great house, I've got a great family, got great food, got great vacations, everything's good. So I don't really need to go to heaven because life is good. I don't want to go to something I don't know and don't understand when I do understand something that I have now that's good. So there's a lot of things that have really affected the hope of our churches and that we need to break out of and we need to learn how to fix our hope completely on the grace that is to be brought to us. What is hope? What is hope? Another problem with hope is that we use the word in the way that the world does as if it's kind of a maybe kind of hope. You know, I hope that my team's gonna make the playoffs. I hope that my kids are gonna start behaving better. I hope, it's just a desire that you have, but you don't really expect it to happen, or you just wish, wishful thinking. But that's not hope in the biblical sense. I looked up some definitions for hope, and the ones that I like that fit the Bible definition the most is this one. To cherish a desire with expectation of fulfillment. Expectation. Anticipation. That's what is supposed to be at the core of our hope. We're expecting Christ to come back. We anticipate the kingdom of God being established on the earth. We long for it and we know it's going to happen. The hope that God has poured into our heart does not disappoint. So many hopes that people have in the world are disappointing. It doesn't happen the way that you hoped it was going to happen. Well, if you put your hope in Jesus Christ and what he's going to do at his second coming, you will not be disappointed. There will be nothing disappointing about the kingdom of God. In fact, you have no idea how good it's going to be, and I'm gonna do my best today to explain to you a little bit about how good it's going to be, but I'm gonna do a terrible job because no one can explain to you how amazing and how awesome it's going to be, and you should be getting pumped up about the coming of Jesus Christ. Hope is like waiting for the birth of your first child or for your wedding day. Hope is like waiting as a child for the last day of school and the start of summer vacation. Hope is like when you're on the baseball team and you finally get a chance to back cleanup and you can't wait to step in and hit that ball. Hope is one of the best words in the English language. And its opposite, despair, is probably one of the worst things that could be true of any person. So, with that in mind, let's take a look then at the promises to the overcomers, starting with everlasting life. Back in Revelation 2, verse 7. Revelation 2, 7 says this. We're gonna start with the promise to the overcomer in the second half of the verse. Let's take a look at this. Let's meditate on this together. Think it through. What is this promise? What do we have to hope for about eating from the tree of life which is in the paradise of God? Well, the tree of life, as you may know, first appears in the book of Genesis. It's mentioned three times in the book of Genesis. Chapter 2, verse 9, and then chapter 3, verse 22. And then the tree of life is also mentioned three times in the last book of the Bible, and nowhere in between. It's in the first book, it's in the last book. And so, what we have here is a return to paradise. Paradise was lost and paradise is regained by those who overcome and who are victorious over sin and Satan and the world. And once we have overcome, then Christ gives us the right to eat from the tree of life. What is the tree of life? What does it mean to eat from the tree of life? Well, the tree of life, as we learn from the book of Genesis, is a tree that if you eat from that fruit, You live forever, physically. If Adam had eaten from the tree of life after he had sinned, he'd still be with us today. Because the tree of life has this power, this potency, that it makes you live forever. And this was a literal tree that was on this earth a few thousand years ago. It hasn't been around for quite a while, but God's bringing it back. And he's gonna say, well, you get to eat from that tree. You see, just eating fruit from a tree doesn't sound real exciting, but this is no ordinary fruit. This is unique in the greatest possible way. Look at Revelation chapter 22 with me. Revelation 22, verses one and two. Now what you want to know about these seven promises to the overcomer is that each one corresponds to something that Christ says at the end of the book. Revelation 2 and 3 ties in with Revelation 19 through 22, so that after this hour of testing that's described in chapters 6 through 18, then in 19 through 22 you've got the coming kingdom and the glory, the new heaven and the new earth, the paradise of God, and so it connects with the end of the book. We're getting a preview of the end of the book here at the beginning. So that's why we're coming to Revelation 22 in order to understand this promise of the tree of life. Notice what Revelation 22 says. The angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. Also on either side of the river, the tree of life, so it's not just one tree, but it's a kind of tree, And it's lining this river of life that is coming from the throne of God. And the tree of life with 12 kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nation. So the leaves have medicinal power. and we're going to be there, you're going to be in that city, you're going to be able to see the river of life that comes from the throne of God in the new heavens and the new earth, and you're going to be able to pick fruit off of that tree of life, and you are going to live forever. This is apparently part of how God continues to grant that eternal life in a physical way to the resurrection body that he gives to us. It is through eating from the tree of life. Notice back in Revelation chapter two, verse seven, that it's in the paradise of God. Paradise is a word for garden. Kings back then would have their special gardens they would call a paradise, comes from a Persian word. Well, think about God's garden. You might have been to some impressive gardens in your life. One of the most impressive gardens I've been to is Huntington Library and Garden. And there they've got amazing gardens from all around the world and just a perfect climate to grow them in and so much time and wisdom is put into making that an amazing place. Well, God has prepared a city that has a garden and in God's garden grows the tree of life and that's your destination. That's your future. It's as sure as the fact that you're sitting here. Hope doesn't disappoint. The promises of God are amen. And it's not just for a one week vacation, but it is your home into the ages of the ages. Now, people say, why do you want to live forever, everlasting life? That doesn't sound very great. I mean, life gets old, life gets boring, you have your own problems. People say, I'm tired of living, I don't want to live forever. When people say they're tired of living, they don't mean they're tired of living. What they really mean is they're tired of dying. Because we live in a world where the harbingers of death are all around us. the corruption that is in the world, the sin that is in the world, the spiritual death, the mental death, the death of relationships. This is something that starts to fill life more and more, it seems like, as many people go on. And we get weary of it. The sorrow, the restlessness, the meaninglessness. These are not inherent in life. These are the aromas of death. There's nothing bad about life, and so to live forever is a wonderful blessing. What are we gonna do when we live forever? Well, everything. It's gonna be amazing. You know, as a young person, we're tempted sometimes to think, well, I'm only young for a little while. I gotta get everything done. I've gotta do this and see this and accomplish that and make the most of life. And then necessity hits, you can't do everything you wanted to do, and you miss out on a lot of things, and you end up with this long bucket list that you didn't get everything done, and you're like, oh, okay, I guess that's it. Well, for the Christian, you don't need a bucket list because you're never going to kick the bucket. You've got eternal life. And when you get to see the Lord Jesus Christ, you get a new body that's not old, that's not tired, that's not weak, like the body that you have now in your old age, You're gonna get to do everything. You're gonna get to do everything, you haven't missed out on anything. You live your life for Jesus Christ, you suffer for him, you die for him, he's gonna give you everything. That's the promise, but you have to believe it. And that hope that you have in it has to carry you through to do the deeds of Jesus Christ to the end, even when it's hard. I had a friend, at one church I was at for a year, who was an interesting person. Every 10 years in his life, he would change careers. So he had his PhD in geology. He worked in the field as a geologist for 10 years after he got his doctorate. And then he switched jobs completely and was a hospital administrator for 10 years. This guy has a lot of talent. Go from being a geologist to being a hospital administrator. And then when I met him, he was living in Wyoming, and he called that his vacation career. He was running a small lodge in the Star Valley in Wyoming, in the mountains. And so running a lodge is a lot less stressful than running a hospital. So that was a vacation career for him, and then 10 years later, he'd do something else. Every 10 years, he'd switch careers. Well, I may not be talented enough to do that, but in the resurrection, I can do those things. You know, sometimes I'll tell Jamie, if I had another life, I'd want to do this, or I'd want to study this, or I'd want to do that. Well, I am going to have all the time I need to do everything. You don't have to say, well, I made my choices, I lived my life, and now that's all I got. Well, if you make the right choice, it's not all you get. You get everything. That eternal life is what he promises us. And you know, it certainly beats the alternative. Look at Revelation chapter two, verse 11. Revelation 2.11 says, the one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death. What is the second death? That's an important question. If you're gonna understand the promise, well again, you have to go to the end of the book to discover the meaning of the promise in Revelation chapter 20, Pick it up in verse 11. Revelation 20, verse 11. I saw a great white throne, and him who was seated on it. From his presence, earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. and the sea gave up the dead who were in it, death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Two destinies. There's eternal life and there's the second death. And the lake of fire is a place of torment where the fire is never extinguished. As Jesus said, the worm never dies. And as the book of Revelation says, the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. The lake of fire is the most terrifying thing that I can think of. And so this promise that is given to me is very precious. That if I overcome, if I keep the deeds of Jesus until the end, I will never, ever be harmed by the lake of fire. The second death. Any fear that I have of that future judgment is removed by this amazing promise. I told you that hope is probably the sweetest word in the English language, and despair may be the most bitter. Dante wrote a book about hell called The Inferno, and this is how he writes about the gate going into hell. Through me, you pass into the city of woe, Through me, you pass into eternal pain. Through me, among the people lost forever. Before me, things created were none, save things eternal, and eternal I endure. All hope abandoned, ye who enter here. And so the scripture says that the hope of the godless will perish. And when you are going through the gate into the lake of fire and the second death after the judgment of the great white throne, you have to abandon hope, which may be the worst torment of all. As long as there's some hope, people can endure a lot. But if you're going to a place where hope itself dies, where after an age, you have not even begun to work off your sentence, where after ages and ages pass to what seems like eternity, and it's not even a sand in the hourglass. Eternity. Who can bear the weight of that word? Turn with me to Revelation 22 verse seven. Jesus says, behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. He says in verse 12, I'm coming soon, bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for what he has done. And he says then in verse 17, the spirit and the bride say come. And let the one who hears say, come. And let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the water of life without price. God is offering the water of life without price. He offers it to each one of you, to everyone that you know, everyone in your family, all the kids at Norris, all the families around us, God extends his hand and says, come. You don't want to go to the lake of fire? Drink the water of life. I paid for it. Now you can have it free. Jesus Christ's blood paid for it. I was hanging a poster at the homestead over here for the upcoming evangelism event and was talking with the owner who was there. And I said, yeah, we've got this amazing event coming up at Norris. It's gonna have a free concert, and then there's gonna be a powerful message, a life-changing message. All of you teenagers, this is your chance. God has paid for the eternal life that he's offering to everyone. And now we just tell people, come, come. Get eternal life. Listen to this life-changing message. You know, if you're a teenager and you're looking, how do I invite a friend to the Todd Becker event? You go up to him and you say, what are you doing Wednesday, December 6th? If you don't have any plans in the evening, you gotta come with me. We're doing something at Norris, the high school that evening, that is gonna be amazing, it's gonna be powerful, and I think you need to be there. It's gonna be a free concert, it's gonna be a message that is brought, It's the most important message you'll ever hear. Tell that to your friends, invite them. God has paid for eternal life. This church has paid for the event. Now all we gotta do is say, come, come. This is your chance to keep people from eternal death. So the gift of God is eternal life. He promises it to the overcomer. You're going to be eating from the tree of life. You won't be hurt by the second death. You can spend a lot of time meditating on these promises. And the more time you spend meditating on them, the more of a victor and an overcomer you will be in the Christian life. There's power in the promises of God. Then secondly, we want to look at the everlasting reign that is promised to us as believers, starting in Revelation chapter two, verses 26 and 27. So back into Revelation two. Let's look at another one of the promises here. This one to the church in Thyatira. Again, this is the fourth of the letters, the middle one. It defines what a overcomer is, and it also says this. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earth and pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father, and I will give him the morning star. So we'll talk about the morning star here in a minute in verse 28, but let's talk about this authority over the nations as he promises in verses 26 and 27. This authority over the nations that he promises, this is tied into a key verse about Christ in the Old Testament. Come with me to the book of Psalms, Psalm 2. About the middle of your Bible, you have 150 psalms, and the second psalm is one of my favorites in the book. I've preached on it three or four times here. It's all about the coming reign, the rule of God's Christ, his Messiah. Look at the language in Psalm 2, verses eight and nine. The whole Psalm is very important, but for time's sake, we'll just focus in on verse eight and nine, where you have a promise from God the Father to God the Son. The Son says, I will tell of the decree the Lord said to me. So here's what the Father told the Son. You are my Son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. So here's the promise of God to Jesus. And now Jesus comes to us, his followers, and says, if you overcome, then I will give you authority over the nations. Just as I've been given authority from my Father, I'm gonna give you authority. Just as I've been given authority to violently rule over the nations, so you also will have that kind of authority and power. It's a pretty violent image, you know, to be honest with you. It's something that a lot of Christians would probably not preach on. But the picture of smashing clay pots with a rod of iron, that's pretty violent. Especially when you apply it to nations of people. Violence is not a first resort. God has been very patient with the nations. But there's coming a day where God's patience is going to wear out and he is going to violently oppose those who continue to be his enemies. Those who killed his son, those who continue to persecute his people, God is going to put an end to them. And the way that you put an end to someone is through violence. The second coming of Christ is a violent event. There's blood. that is so deep it goes up high on a horse. There's a slaughter that is coming. You don't need political power in this age. Christians often think, you know, if we could just get the right votes, if we could get the right people in, get the right laws, we could really do something with the right power, political power. Christ has all political power. He's gonna use it at the right time in the right way. He's got his own military. It's his own mouth. His own mouth he can destroy all the armies of the nations. They are nothing compared to his power. And God says, you who are suffering now, yes, all the cards are stacked against you. Yes, the laws are lined up against you. The courts are lined up against you. The powers that be don't love Christians. Don't worry about it. Christ is coming back. He is our hope. He is the one who is going to break them with a rod of iron. He's going to dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. And what's our place right now here is to warn them. Just like it says there in verse 10. Senators, congressmen, presidents, generals, be wise. Don't oppose the Lord Jesus Christ. He will get angry. He will destroy you. Don't be a fool. He raised himself from the dead. You think you can stop him? He created the world. You think you can oppose him? You have no chance. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He is almighty and he's coming. And for all those who put their faith in him, who take refuge in him, he says, I will give you authority over the nations. That's an amazing promise. Some people say, well, I don't want authority over the nations. I'm just happy to be a humble servant. Great, that's fine. But don't you wish that people who loved God and knew right from wrong were in charge, wouldn't that be wonderful? It's coming. It's coming. He says in chapter three, verse 21, a very similar promise. Let's take a look at that one. Revelation 321 says, 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. So the father says, son, sit on my throne with me. I'm well pleased with you, well done. Yours is the earth and everything in it, all of my creation. And now the son comes to you and says, if you overcome, sit down on my throne. Here's my throne, well done, I'm pleased with you. Let's reign together. This is almost an unbelievable promise. I mean, for those who were making up a religion and thinking about what kind of rewards God would give, this seems like it's going too far. I mean, do you really want creatures sitting on the throne of God? Doesn't seem like that's appropriate. This is a little extravagant. Well, I didn't write it. This is the words of Jesus. He said, I'm gonna let you sit on my throne. Now, of course, you know, whether I were literally sitting on the throne is not the point. The point is, is that the authority of the throne is shared with us. that we are ruling and reigning as if we're sitting on the throne because of our union with Jesus Christ. Union with Jesus Christ is just mind-boggling. I mean, I can understand God saving sinners, I can understand God forgiving sinners, but to unite us with Christ and to seat us with Him in the heavenly places, that's extravagant. That's a little bit farther than I would think that God would do for sinners like us. These promises are really quite difficult to wrap your mind around. We do have more to talk about here with the morning star and then also getting into the everlasting joy that is ahead of us. So I don't wanna rush this. I think this is important. And I wanna just dwell on this for another week and come back together with you and get into more of the promises because some of these really are quite amazing and they take some time to explain. But let's wrap up this morning's message by coming to Revelation chapter 21. Revelation chapter 21, verses one through eight. As I said, Revelation two and three and the promises to the conqueror are all describing things that we find in Revelation 19 through 22. And here, in Revelation 21, verses one through eight, you've got the great contrast. The two destinies that are awaiting each and every one of us. It says this. I saw a new heaven and a new earth. for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, behold, I am making all things new. And he said, write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. And he said to me, it is done. I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, to the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. Two ways, two destinies. You follow the way of Jesus, you overcome, and you are the child of God. You follow the way of the world, and you will be in the lake of fire, burning, tormented, forever and ever. It's done. These words are faithful and true. Sobering thoughts. The word of God is heavy, it's weighty, May it do its work in us who believe. Bow your heads with me. Father, we feel very insufficient to first be able to grasp these truths or to be able to communicate them or to be able to live them. And that's why, Lord, we come to you and we ask you to do a mighty work within us. unite the hearing of your word with faith. And may these truths that many of us who are older have heard many times come home to our hearts with a fresh impact. May the weight of these words bury themselves into our deepest heart and there send down roots and send up fruit of love for neighbor to warn the nations about the coming wrath of God. to encourage each other to continue on in the deeds of Jesus Christ until the end, to allow nothing to dissuade us from doing your will from the heart through faith. And Lord God, may we be encouraged by the precious and magnificent promises that are in fact overwhelming May that energize us and encourage us to persevere in the Christian life and to gain the victory the way that you did. For our good and for your glory, amen.