In order to be complete overcomers living in the period of Laodicea, we need to see what we should overcome. In asking this question to youth groups around the world, I often hear the same answers: we need to overcome sin, we need to overcome the devil, we need to overcome bad habits and so on. And while these things are all technically true, we will never overcome them if we avoid the greatest enemy we have.

“Self is our greatest enemy, and day by day each must strive for the victory.”1

We have been studying these wonderful messages. But as we really examine our own heart, in which condition do we find ourselves? “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). But how can this be? I read the previous articles and understand my condition, my need for spiritual gold, eyesalve, white raiment, and repentance. And I hear the voice of the Lord calling me. So what is preventing me from reaching the condition of an overcomer?

As amazing as it may seem, only one letter or word separates me from the victory of the overcomer: that letter is “I.” “Sanctification is not the work of a moment, an hour, a day, but of a lifetime. It is not gained by a happy flight of feeling, but is the result of constantly dying to sin, and constantly living for Christ.”2

The greatest delusion in which we can fall is to accept the present truth but not fully submit ourselves to Christ. “Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth” (2 Peter 1:12).

“The message to the Laodicean church is applicable to all who have had great light and many opportunities, and yet have not appreciated them.”3

The world is divided into only two groups, the children of God and the wicked: “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19).

The reason for the general condition of wickedness in this world is expressed in these words: “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew HIM not” (1 John 3:1).

Then an escape from the Laodicean condition, and a precursor to becoming an overcomer, is to know “Him”; to know Christ. But we cannot have an experience with Christ while engaging in a courtship with this world. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4).

We find these steps of decay clearly in the experience of Balaam (Numbers 22). As a prophet, Balaam knew the truth. When confronted with temptation (verses 6, 7), he should have immediately sent away those who brought it. But instead he tried to compromise with error (verse 8). His own selfish desires prevented him from resisting temptation and having a complete experience with the Lord.

“There are some who seem to be always seeking for the heavenly pearl. But they do not make an entire surrender of their wrong habits. They do not die to self that Christ may live in them. . . . They have not overcome unholy ambition and their love for worldly attractions. They do not take up the cross and follow Christ in the path of self-denial and sacrifice. Almost Christians, yet not fully Christians, they seem near the kingdom of heaven, but they cannot enter there. Almost but not wholly saved, means to be not almost but wholly lost.”4

Even before the Calvary experience Christ told His disciples that if they wanted to be overcomers they had to have an experience with the cross. “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). What does it mean to take up your cross?

In the time of Christ the cross had only one purpose, to punish the transgressor with a humiliating death. To daily take up the cross is to die to self each day. “I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31).

This experience leads us to the point where we can put ourselves aside and let Christ take the lead. “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

“When we submit ourselves to Christ, the heart is united with His heart, the will is merged in His will, the mind becomes one with His mind, the thoughts are brought into captivity to Him; we live His life.”5

We cannot become overcomers by ourselves. “It is impossible for us, of ourselves, to escape from the pit of sin in which we are sunken. Our hearts are evil, and we cannot change them. ‘Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.’ ‘The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be’ (Job 14:4; Romans 8:7). Education, culture, the exercise of the will, human effort, all have their proper sphere, but here they are powerless. They may produce an outward correctness of behavior, but they cannot change the heart; they cannot purify the springs of life. There must be a power working from within, a new life from above, before men can be changed from sin to holiness. That power is Christ. His grace alone can quicken the lifeless faculties of the soul, and attract it to God, to holiness.”6

When you truly submit to Christ you will have a real experience in the things of God. Religion ceases to be a function of activity and becomes instead an experience with the Saviour. Until now we have not been ready to experience the joy of the promise to the overcomer in the period of Laodicea. “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (Revelation 3:21).

The ability to overcome temptation is made real when we have this complete submission to Christ. “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

“These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful” (Revelation 17:14).

“Our life must be hid with Christ in God. We must know Christ personally. Then only can we rightly represent Him to the world. Let the prayer constantly ascend: ‘Lord, teach me how to do as Jesus would do were He in my place.’ Wherever we are we must let our light shine forth to the glory of God in good works. This is the great, important interest of our life.”7

“It is only by knowing Christ that we can know God. The Sent of God calls upon all to listen to these words. They are the words of God, and all should give heed to them; for by them they will be judged. To know Christ savingly is to be vitalized by spiritual knowledge, to practice His words. Without this, all else is valueless.

“Christ came to this world to reveal the Father. What patience, what pitying tenderness, what divine compassion, what strength of purpose, He manifested! He did not fail nor become discouraged. He was the embodiment of purity, and His love was without a parallel. At every step He practiced self-denial and self-sacrifice. In His death He was the revelation of the reconciliation between God and man. By taking our nature, He bound Himself to us through eternal ages. He is our representative and head. He represents our race before God, still and forever bearing the humanity of the race. He pleads before the Father the perfect righteousness of all who accept Him.

“Christ calls upon us to hear His words, that we may know Him. ‘He that hath ears to hear, let him hear’ (Luke 14:35). We are not to hear as did those of whom the apostles said, ‘The Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it’ (Hebrews 4:2). Those who hear savingly are those who hear in faith, and who give earnest heed to the things which they have heard, lest at any time they should let them slip.”8

“Holiness is within the reach of all who reach for it by faith, not because of their good works, but because of Christ’s merits. Divine power is provided for every soul struggling for the victory over sin and Satan.”9

“The one who stands nearest to Christ will be he who has drunk most deeply of His spirit of self-sacrificing love - love that ‘vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, . . . seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil’ (1 Corinthians 13:4, 5) - love that moves the disciple, as it moved our Lord, to give all, to live and labor and sacrifice even unto death, for the saving of humanity.”10

The rewards of the “chosen and faithful” overcomer can be divided into two categories: 1) the immediate rewards, and 2) the future rewards.

As soon as you decide to submit to Christ, He will begin to bestow His special gifts upon you. The apostle Paul summarizes the rewards of the faithful in his epistle to the Romans:

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope” (Romans 5:1-4).

The first reward is peace, the lack of which in our modern language is referred to as stress. Connection with Christ will bring you the peace. By faith you will have access to His grace. The second gift we receive immediately is patience to deal with the tribulations of the enemy. This will give us a positive experience. And finally we will then be able to experience a little glimmer today of the hope we have for the future.

“We want a personal, individual experience today. Today, we want Christ abiding with us. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of man has been lifted up, that we might look and live. There is but one plan of salvation. There is but one process by which the soul may be healed of its wounds. Look to the Man of Calvary.”11

You can have this reward today! You can be an overcomer today! There is no need to wait for the future to experience the joys of salvation. You can begin experiencing these things today. The things of this world will loose their tempting allurement the closer we come to having this wonderful experience of submission to Christ.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . . Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Romans 8:35, 37).

“For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

“The Bible, and the Bible alone, is to be the rule of our faith. It is a leaf from the tree of life, and by eating it, by receiving it into our minds, we shall grow strong to do the will of God. By our Christlike characters we shall show that we believe the word, that we cleave to the Bible as the only guide to heaven. So shall we be living epistles, known and read of all men, bearing a living testimony to the power of true religion.

“If we do not receive the religion of Christ by feeding upon the word of God, we shall not be entitled to an entrance into the city of God. Having lived on earthly food, having educated our tastes to love worldly things, we would not be fitted for the heavenly courts; we could not appreciate the pure, heavenly current that circulates in heaven. The voices of the angels and the music of their harps would not satisfy us. The science of heaven would be as an enigma to our minds. We need to hunger and thirst for the righteousness of Christ; we need to be molded and fashioned by the transforming influence of His grace, that we may be fitted for the society of heavenly angels.

“Of ourselves, we can neither obtain nor practice the religion of Christ; for our hearts are deceitful above all things; but Jesus Christ, the great physician of souls, who, with unerring skill, can read the heart of man better than he himself can, has shown us how we may be cleansed from sin.”12

Don’t wait to have an experience with Christ in heaven. It will be too late. Have that experience today and begin receiving your rewards immediately.

Having experienced peace, joy, and hope on this earth, you will be prepared to receive all the rewards to the overcomer. As an overcomer in the period of Laodicea you have the right to six great rewards:

1. To be spared from the seven last plagues which will come upon the earth (Revelation 3:10).

2. To receive a new name when Christ comes (Revelation 2:17).

3. To eat directly from the tree of life (Revelation 2:7).

4. To have power over the nations (Revelation 2:26).

5. To have access to the temple in heaven (Revelation 3:12).

6. To spend eternity with Christ (Revelation 3:21).

“In the Bible the inheritance of the saved is called ‘a country.’ Hebrews 11:14-16. There the heavenly Shepherd leads His flock to fountains of living waters. The tree of life yields its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree are for the service of the nations. There are everflowing streams, clear as crystal, and beside them waving trees cast their shadows upon the paths prepared for the ransomed of the Lord. There the wide-spreading plains swell into hills of beauty, and the mountains of God rear their lofty summits. On those peaceful plains, beside those living streams, God’s people, so long pilgrims and wanderers, shall find a home.”13

“There the redeemed shall know, even as also they are known. The loves and sympathies which God Himself has planted in the soul shall there find truest and sweetest exercise. The pure communion with holy beings, the harmonious social life with the blessed angels and with the faithful ones of all ages who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, the sacred ties that bind together ‘the whole family in heaven and earth’ (Ephesians 3:15) - these help to constitute the happiness of the redeemed.”14

“And the years of eternity, as they roll, will bring richer and still more glorious revelations of God and of Christ. As knowledge is progressive, so will love, reverence, and happiness increase. The more men learn of God, the greater will be their admiration of His character. As Jesus opens before them the riches of redemption and the amazing achievements in the great controversy with Satan, the hearts of the ransomed thrill with more fervent devotion, and with more rapturous joy they sweep the harps of gold; and ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of voices unite to swell the mighty chorus of praise.”15

“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4).