Notice the emphasis on works in the above verse!

He who overcomes is the Christian who is living in the center of God's will. Through the Spirit of God he has fought successfully against Satan, the pull of the world, the lusts of his flesh, and his self-will and personal ambition.

The Christian discipleship is a race, a fight. Only those who call on the Lord frequently have any chance of staying in the center of God's will.

The fact is, however, that any believer can choose to stay in God's will. There is no power that can take us out of God's will if this is where we are determined to be.

Another point of confusion in our day is the need for overcoming, for living victoriously in the Lord. The overcomers are not super Christians. They are the true Christians. Those who are leading careless lives, not being careful to gain the victory over the world, sin, and self-will are not Christians at all. They are church attenders but not Christians, not disciples of the Lord.

We have millions of believers in America who are not genuine Christians although they regard themselves as such. They think when they die they will find themselves in the new Jerusalem. They won't. They will find themselves in some level of the spirit realm with others like themselves. Whether or not they will be saved into the new heaven and earth reign of Christ remains to be seen. They will be judged carefully according to their works.

The true Christians are those who each day are gaining the upper hand over sin. This every Christian can do through the Virtue of Christ. It is not God's will that we lose the fight. The rewards go to the conquerors.

God will work patiently with the weak. God loves His disabled children just as earthly parents do and helps them endlessly.

But the unwillingness or inability of American Christians to get serious with Christ is not chiefly due to emotional weakness (such as a woman who was molested as a child), or spiritual ignorance (we had no opportunity to read the Bible), or even spiritual immaturity (we had no time to grow in Christ). Our problem is neglect of Christ and fascination with material things. We are permitting materialism to destroy our spiritual life.

American Christians often are smug, self-satisfied, rejecting any suggestion that they are not perfectly saved through grace and on their way toward endless bliss in Heaven. They are mistaken. They don't know the Lord and He doesn't know them.

It is a time for national repentance! We are profoundly messed up.

The overcomers, as we have said, are not super Christians. They merely are Christians.

Please note: The promises to the overcomer are not the promises to the professed Christian. They are for the overcomer alone, not for the professing believer who claims to be "saved by grace."

The mixed multitudes in the Christian churches have been promised they will "rule and reign" (sic) with Christ. They are not fit to rule with Christ and will not rule with Christ. It is cruel to lead the blind into the ditch.

They can't govern their own personality today and they are to govern nations in the future? Whatever happened to common sense?

To be continued.