Other believers in Christ do not make the effort necessary for spiritual survival. They flirt with spiritual death continually. They cannot make up their mind to flee from demons and to serve the Lord Jesus with singleness of heart.

They love money and the present world system. They do not pray, study the Scriptures, give, or serve with enough fervency. They do not diligently assemble with dedicated saints when they have the opportunity. They do not overcome the pressures and deceptions that attack them continually. Rather, they are overcome by the evil that is in the world.

The above verse speaks of believers who do not overcome but who are overcome by the pollutions of the world. At one time they had escaped the world through the knowledge of Christ. Now they are not continuing in the Lord's grace as they should. They are being overcome.

Again we state, if a believer does not overcome the pollutions of the world, he is not meeting the standard set the Church, the Wife of the Lamb, the royal priesthood. Rather, it is possible for him to finish in worse spiritual condition than when he came to Christ in the first place.

The overcomer is the normal Christian.

Let us think for a moment about the concept of imputation (righteousness ascribed to a believer because of his trust in the Lord Jesus apart from any change of behavior on his part).

When a sinner comes to Christ, believes in Him, repents of his sins, is baptized in water, God imputes to him the righteousness of Christ. This is to say, the righteousness of Christ is assigned to the sinner. Because of his faith in Christ, God forgives his sins and receives him into the Divine fellowship.

This is where imputation (assigned righteousness) ceases. God does not continue to disregard the believer's behavior after the initial forgiveness, counting him as righteous even though his behavior is ungodly. The new saint must set out to follow the Lord each day. As long as he obeys Christ's will for him that day, the blood of Jesus continues to make an atonement for him in the sight of God. To obey the will of Christ one day at a time is perfectly possible for each and every believer. It is Satan, not Jesus, who is the hard taskmaster.

The rewards to the overcomer are not given to us on the basis of imputed righteousness but on the basis of our works. If this is not true, the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation make no sense at all. If the members of the seven Christian churches in Asia all are righteous because of imputed righteousness, what sense does the text make?

Consider:

And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. (Revelation 2:23)

If righteousness keeps on being imputed (ascribed) to us after we are Christians, no matter how we behave, why should Christ search our minds and hearts? Why should He say, "I will give unto every one of you according to your works"? If righteousness is being imputed to us apart from our godly behavior, why does Christ say this?

To be continued.