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The word "overcomer" is a very specific word. It means the same thing as "conqueror" and was common in John's day in the Roman and Grecian athletic contests and gladiators. It refers to the victor, the one who was faced with a great opponent and a great task and yet lived up to the task and "overcame it." It refers to someone who despite great odds and trials, finished the race. The overcomer was the one rather than letting their enemy destroy them, conquered their enemy and came out on top.

That God would use such a word in reference to the church and living for Him, tells us much. To make it in living for God, you will have to become an "overcomer" because there will be some things that will fight against you. Things will never be perfect for you to live for God -- if you are waiting on things to become the perfect climate and the perfect setting, then you will never make it! Life isn't perfect. Life isn't fair. People aren't always nice. Nobody is born into the world just "having everything made." Everybody has a story to tell. Everybody has a unique situation that causes constant pain. Everyone has a cross to bear. Everyone has regrets and fears. Everyone who ever gets to heaven -- including the One on the throne -- will have scars from past wounds. If you are waiting on perfectness to be happy, then you will never be happy in this life. If you are waiting on all the planets to line up and to be rich and famous before you smile, chances are that you will never smile again! We are imperfect human beings living in an imperfect world, and so if you are going to make it you will have to overcome some things that life throws at you!

In our text in Romans, Paul wrote to the church and said:

Of those who make the decision to live for God, there will eventually only be two categories: those who made it and those who did not. And the difference between the two is found in this verse. Those that make it will be those who overcame evil. Those who did not make it will have been "overcome" by evil. Simply put, you will either overcome and conquer your situation or your situation will conquer you! You will either best your past, or your past will best you. There are no ties in life, but somebody will win. It's you versus your issues, and one side will eventually win.

Not only do you have situations and trials to overcome, but you've also got a very definite enemy that is fighting against you. The devil hates your guts and wants to see you sin and lose out on the favor of God. The devil wants nothing better than to see you fall by the wayside. He doesn't care if you start serving God, as long as you don't finish serving God. And so he will do his best to overcome you.

The devil fights directly, but his most effective tool is to pile on the issues already coming against you and to make them seem heavier. One of the greatest weapons of Satan is to get you convinced that nobody has ever had it quite as bad as you. He puts that little voice of pity in your mind that "nobody has ever had to face it quite like this before." He wants you to feel special. He wants you to feel overwhelmed. He wants you to start thinking that there has never been anyone able to live for God with such a load as I'm facing.

But you need to be like Jesus and quote scripture to the devil, the next time that you begin to hear that voice. And really mess his brain up and quote an Old Testament scripture:

Whatever you face, there is nothing new under the sun, and there will be someone in heaven that overcame that obstacle to get to heaven! The devil works on the "poor is me" card to get you to quit! But you need to understand that if you are facing something, it's hard and I understand that it's very real, but it is also not the first time that a human being has had to overcome that particular situation in living for God! Hear this preacher: no matter how bad it gets, if you will overcome it and keep serving God, then you will find one day a multitude -- many -- standing in heaven that overcame the same obstacle and made it with you! And if you give up and allow your circumstances to overcome you and do not make it, then in judgment you will see that same multitude of people standing there who did overcome it and you will realize that you believed a lie from the "father of lies" that said your case was special. Paul wrote:

There is something about looking at a seemingly impossible obstacle that changes once you see someone go beyond it. When Roger Maris set the baseball homerun record of 61 homers in a season, it looked like an unbreakable mark and was not even approached for almost four decades. People were convinced that it was undoable and they were not even trying for it. But when Mark McGuire broke the record, that same season, Sammy Sosa also surpassed it. And then just a few seasons later Barry Bonds shattered both of their records by hitting an unthinkable 70 homers! Something that was untouchable for forty years, was surpassed three times in a matter of a few! Because people realized that it can be done by seeing someone overcome it.

It's the same in life. If the devil can get you convinced that you are the only one that has ever had to face the situation and that nobody has ever overcame it to live for God, then you are done in because you've allowed a lie to get into your head that living for God is hard and for you nigh unto impossible. If you have listened to that voice telling you that "living for God is hard and almost impossible and those who make it do so because they are born into favorable circumstances" then I want to scream at you that "you are believing a lie! There is nothing new under the sun and whatever you are facing is just that which is "common to man!" Not only have other people faced what you are facing, but there will be many who faced it and overcame! You can do it! You can overcome it! No matter what "it" is!

And the enemy the devil? He's a defeated foe. He's destined to lose. Don't listen to him, you can make it and overcome him. Listen to what John wrote later on in Revelation:

They overcame the devil by three things: the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and by selling out and being totally committed to God's will. If you've had your sins forgiven at repentance and washed away by the waters of baptism, then you've had the blood of the Lamb applied to your life. You are not worthy, but the blood makes you worthy! You are not holy, but the blood makes you holy. You are a victim, but the blood makes you a victor! You need to trust the power of the blood of the Lamb to help you overcome! When people are beating up on themselves for what they've done wrong or how that they are not "worthy" I want to scream at them "you are trusting in yourself for salvation and that's your problem." If you are trusting in God for your salvation, then it doesn't matter what you've done, it matters what He has done! It doesn't matter the blood you've shed, but rather the blood that He has shed! It matters not about your worthiness but about His price paid to cover your sin! If you will trust in Him and keep relying on His blood, then you can be an overcomer no matter what you have to overcome!

They overcame by the word of their testimony. Never let the devil cause you to forget where God brought you from. When the devil comes reminding you of your past, agree with him and say "you are right, and look how God delivered me from all of that!" Your testimony of how God has changed you is the biggest burr under the devil's saddle! It's the biggest pea under his mattress. Remind him of what God is done often, and you'll find out that he'll come around a lot less! Don't be like Adam and just listen to the serpent, but talk back!

They also overcame by not loving their lives to the death. They lived their life for God's will and not for their own. If you want to live your life your own way and doing what you see as right, then you will not overcome the obstacles and you will not be a victor. That's a guarantee. But if you will choose to live for God and do things according to His Word and live according to His will for your life all of the way to death, then you will make it! And no matter what you must face, you will find that through His will, His blood, and your testimony of His power, you can overcome the devil and any other enemy that fights against you! You can make it!

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For our other texts, we read excerpts from instruction that God gave John for seven specific churches in Asia at that time. We won't go here into a study of all the unique situations and bad circumstances and problems that each church was facing, but suffice it to say that all of them had obstacles and enemies and problems and all of them were extremely different. In trying to live for God, all of them found themselves having to overcome some extremely difficult enemies. And so as John receives the Word from God for them, God's directions follow a similar pattern in each case. First, Jesus reveals some characteristic about Himself, then He identifies their situation and the areas that they have done right in, then He identifies their faults and shortcomings, then He states what they need to do to make it, and then finally in each case He makes a statement like "he who has ears to hear let him hear what the Spirit sayeth to the churches" and then tells them what will be given to those who in this church overcome their situation and are faithful to Him!

In our seemingly skipping around in the reading of our text, it was these promises of the inheritance that will be given to the one who overcomes that we read. And so I want to do a little study of them, just to remind you that you are living for God for more than just the satisfaction of knowing that the devil didn't win. But no matter what your circumstances, and no matter what others do, there is a promise to you that if you will overcome, you will inherit some very specific and great blessings from God Almighty! Let's talk about what the inheritance of the overcomer will be according to the words of Jesus here in Revelation:

He that overcometh will be able to eat of the tree of life! The "tree of life" is found in the first book of the Bible and the last -- Genesis and Revelation. There were two special trees in the Garden of Eden, the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the Tree of Life. It was eating the fruit of the Tree of Life that allowed Adam and Eve to live for forever! It was this tree that gave man immortality. And when they sinned and ate the forbidden, they were driven from the garden and from access to the Tree of Life, and eventually died a physical death. That Garden paradise and the tree was destroyed in the Flood of Noah's day.

But look at what Jesus says here in the last book of the Bible! "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." Not which "was in the midst" but "is in the midst." The Garden of Eden is gone, but there is another paradise that God has created for us and within it is the Tree of Life and the overcomer will not only be able to live forever one day, but will be able to do so in paradise -- in a perfect, beautiful place that goes beyond your wildest imaginations!

Get this lesson through your head and never forget it: the fountain of youth is not in Florida, it's not in DNA, it's not in stem-cell research, it's not in botox, and it's not in grape juice or vitamins. If you really want to live for forever, it's in being an overcomer. An overcomer of what? Whatever you are facing that is trying to overcome you. If you will instead overcome it and keep living for God, you will be able to eat of the Tree of Life and live for forever!

The next part of the inheritance of the overcomer is that they will not have to worry about the second death. You see the first death, the physical death of this body, is not the one that you need to be concerned about. It's the second death that you want to avoid at all cost. What's the "second death?" The answer is found at the end of the book of Revelation:

Eternal torment in a lake of fire: that's the second death. But if despite your obstacles and situations, you will stay faithful to God and do His Will, and let His Spirit freely work within you, then you will go in the first resurrection, the Rapture of the Church and the Bible promises:

The secret to missing out on fiery torment for forever all summed up nice and easy? Be an overcomer! Don't believe the lie that your circumstances have to dictate to you who you are or what you should do, but overcome those things in the power of Jesus Christ!

Okay, now we get to the fun stuff. "Hidden manna?" "A white stone?" What does that mean? We miss the many meanings here because we live today and not back then when the book of Revelation was written. Let's let a little understanding come into this passage.

Manna was the bread or "honey wafers" that God caused to fall from heaven every morning in the wilderness to feed the people of Israel in the time of Moses. Manhu is Hebrew for "what is it?" which is the first thing the people said when they saw it. Manna represents the provision of God taking care of your basic needs.

The manna stopped falling when the children of Israel entered the Promise Land, but there was a pot of it stored within the ark of the covenant within the Temple of God. Jewish legend has it that when the Babylonians came to destroy Jerusalem, that somebody -- either the prophet Jeremiah, the king, or the priests -- hid some of the stuff from the temple so that the Babylonians couldn't find it and that when the Messiah comes to rule an reign, that He would find and restore all of this stuff. Right now the manna is hidden, but to those who overcome, the hidden manna will be given.

Stay with me. The white stone has many meanings, most of which are probably implied here. For one thing, in those days, a jury would give a verdict of innocent or guilty by throwing stones at the feet of the accused. A white stone meant innocent, a black stone meant guilty, but we'll come back to that.

There were other common practices with white stones among the Romans of the day. In their athletic contests the winner, or conqueror, was given as his prize a white stone with their name on it. This signified two things. First, it was his invitation to get into the festivities later on thrown by the government. Second, it represented that for the rest of his life, he would be forever taken care of -- shelter, food, horses, everything would be provided for him free by the ruler!

In similar fashion, the Roman Emperors would often during a parade or a visit, throw out white stones into the crowd which had a specific word written on them like "gold," "silver," "jewels," "banquet," "horses," "slaves," or "houses." If a person caught the stone, then they could go redeem it and receive free whatever was written on the stone! It was the New Testament equivalent to winning the Reader's Digest Sweepstakes.

And finally, the white stone was used another way. If two families or individuals made a pact to be friends, then they would take a white stone, and write their names on each end of it, and then break the stone in half and each keeping the end with the other's name on it. Then if that person was ever in trouble or needed shelter or needed a meal, or was traveling and needed a place to stay, they could produce the stone and the other would minister unto their needs. The stones, once exchanges were in effect for forever, so that even if it were the great-grandchildren of the ones who made the covenant, the families would still honor them!

And so that Jesus promised the overcomer a white stone with Jesus' name on it indicates just like the hidden pot of manna, that God will forever take care of the needs of the overcomer! Like the champion of old, the overcomer is invited to a banquet feast at the marriage supper of the Lamb and then given a promise to be taken care of forever! Like the stones received from the emperors, the overcomer is given a stone with the name of God written on it, therefore you can cash it in and He'll be whatever you need Him to be! Like the exchange of stones, all you have to do in dire straits for eternity is take your stone to Jesus and He'll take you in and protect you and fight for you! These are great promises but only to those who overcome. If you quit, then you will miss out! If you give up, then you will not receive this. But if you overcome your situation to stay faithful to His Word and His Will, you will receive the hidden manna and a white stone!

You want power? Then become an overcomer because God will make the overcomers to be the kings and priests that will rule the new earth! And God said I will make you such a powerful ruler that I will "give him the morning star." A reference to Venus which is the brightest star in the sky. In other words God is saying "and I won't give you some cheesy problem filled nation like the ones that kings on earth now rule and reign over, but not only will you be king, but your reign will be brighter and better than all others! Better than David's; better than Cyrus'; better than Solomon's! Your kingdom will be something worth being over!

This is another allusion that we miss because we live now and not then. If a Jewish priest was accused of willful sin, then he was brought before the Great Council of Israel, and they heard his case. If they pronounced him guilty, then he was clothed and draped with black clothing, and his name was removed from the sacerdotal list and they were denied access to the temple of God and were not allowed to serve before God. If the priest were innocent, then they would clothe him in white clothing and his name would remain in the book, allowing his "ministry and calling of God to live."

The phrase "confess his name before my Father" refers to the common practice of Israel of registering citizens of the country who were in correct standing and thus able to enter into the Tabernacle. If a person was found to not be a citizen of the country or when they died, their name was blotted out from the "book of life." That Jesus said He would "confess His name before my Father" means that He will vouch for the overcomer that he is a legal citizen of heaven and someone who should be included in the register of those who will make heaven their country! In other words, despite their sin, if you serve God and allow His blood to wash you clean and live for Him, then despite your wrong doing, God will forgive you of those wrong doings and you will be forgiven, pronounced innocent, and given a citizenship in heaven! But these things do not come to those who quit, but who refuse to be overcome by their circumstances! These are for the overcomer!

There were two pillars in Solomon's temple and they were named "Jachin" and "Boaz" which means "stability" and "strength," respectively. The overcomer will be made into pillars of strength and stability in the presence of God and "shall go no more out." In other words, there will be no more days striving to make it living for God. No more fear or danger or losing out with God. No more possibilities of falling from Grace, but the overcomer will have made it and will become for eternity a permanent fixture in the presence of Almighty God! The concept of "write upon him my new name" indicates to us possession for to the Hebrews to "write your name upon something" meant to take ownership of it. God is saying that He will personally take possession of the overcomer and make sure that they never fall nor leave His blessings throughout eternity!

We have not reached this level of salvation yet. We are "saved from our past sins" but we have yet to be saved from the future effect of sin, and that day will only come when we cross the threshold of this life and cross into eternity. But just remember as you struggle to overcome whatever is facing you that your struggle will eventually end! It's not for forever! But if you will overcome, you will have an eternity where you will be strong and stable and where you will be forever God's and thus forever safe! But only if you will overcome!

This is a powerful promise and almost too wonderful to think about. There is only one throne in heaven (Revelation 4:2) and the throne that Jesus has sat down in is none other than the throne of God Almighty. Catch this, the glorified body of Jesus Christ does not sit beside another throne where another spiritual "person" sits but rather the glorified body of Jesus Christ sits upon the throne of the Father! We, of course, better than most understand how this is possible. Because Jesus Christ is the invisible Spirit of God -- the Father -- in flesh.

But the wonderful point of this passage is this: "to him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne." Once the mother of John and James came to Jesus and asked that her sons be allowed to one day sit on the right and the left of Him in the places of honor. But this is greater than that request because the overcomer will not just sit beside Jesus and His throne, but will sit with Jesus upon His throne -- we will not just be able to be in the presence of God Almighty, but we will rule and reign in the power and authority of God Almighty! It is almost too wonderful to imagine, and there are many questions that we do not have answers to because it almost seems to fantastic to be true.

Those who mistakenly think that we become angels when we die are insulting our future in God. We will not be as the angels who merely have access into the throne room of God, but we will sit with Him and reign with Him from the throne! Sounds like something that is beyond your wildest imaginations and our mind breaks down trying to comprehend, but understand that one thing we can comprehend: this great promise and whatever great glory it entails is available not to those who quit, but to those who persevere, and endure, and who are overcomers of what they had to face!

The final promise is that the overcomer shall inherit all things and will forever be in the exalted position of a son of God! God came in flesh to live among us to provide a way that we might be like unto Him! And through that inherit every blessing and power that He has available! It goes beyond our comprehension. It goes beyond our imagination. And I can't even begin to answer some of the questions about what such great promises mean that are forming right now in your mind. But it's safe to say that the inheritance of the overcomer will more than outweigh the effort of the overcomer. Let me say that again. It's obvious that the reward of the overcomer will more than make up for any struggles or hardships that you had to face in order to be an overcomer!

Quitters don't receive this. Those who would believe the lie from the pits of hell don't receive all of this. But those who overcome "shall inherit all things!" What a promise! What a future! Don't give up. Don't throw in the towel. Don't believe the lies of Satan that you cannot make it. You can. And if you do it will be worth it! Because eye has not seen, nor ear heard, what God has prepared in the inheritance of the overcomer! Don't let evil overcome you, but overcome evil!