Revelation 2:7, says, "To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God." Who is it who will get to eat of the tree of life? It is the one who overcomes. Then look at Verse 11: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death." Who is it that is not going to be hurt by the second death? It is the one who overcomes.

Then look at Verse 17: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it." What is the hidden manna? What is that spiritual food? What is the new name?

Well, I cannot tell you what your new name will be because it says that nobody will know except the one who receives it. In the Bible what does your name signify? Your character. Gods name signifies His character as you read in Exodus 34.

Then look at the promise that is given in Revelation 2:26-28. It says, "And he who overcomes, and keeps my works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations--He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potters vessel-- as I also have received from my Father; and I will give him the morning star."

You know, friends, the time is coming when the righteous are going to be in total control of the earth. It is going to happen before Jesus comes, too. It is going to happen at the pouring out of the seven vials. We have this promise here in Revelation 2:28. The time is coming when the righteous will be in control of the earth.

Now the wicked are in control of the earth right now. They have been in control for about six thousand years, but the time is coming when the righteous are going to be in control of the earth. That is a promise to those who overcome.

Then look at the promise in Revelation 3:5. It says, "He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before my Father and before His angels." Who is it who is going to have their name retained in the Book of Life? It is the one who overcomes.

Now let us just refresh our minds on this for a moment. How important is it to have your name in the Book of Life? Turn over to Revelation 20:15. It says, "And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire." What is that? It says in verse 14 that this is the second death. That is when you die and you never wake up.

If you are going to have eternal life, your name must be written in the Book of Life. Who is it whose name is going to be retained in the Book of Life? The one who overcomes. That is what it says in Revelation 3:5. Jesus says, "I will clothe that person in white raiment." What does white raiment represent? Revelation 19:7, 8 will tell you. What does it say in Revelation 19:8? It says, "To her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen clean and bright for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints."

So the white raiment is a righteous character and Jesus will work that out in your life if you are determined to overcome. It is only the 'overcomer' who will be clothed in white raiment and whose name will be retained in the Book of Life. If I do not overcome and I go on, I may profess to be a Christian, may go to church every week, I may be very religious but if I do not overcome, if I go on sinning, here is what will happen.

Look in Exodus 32:33. This is the Lord talking to Moses. Exodus 32:33. It says, "And the Lord said to Moses, 'Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book." If I do not overcome sin in my life and I go on living a sinful life--Oh, someone says, I cannot. Now it is true that you cannot in your own strength, but what does Jesus say? He says, You can do nothing without Me, but the one who abides in Me, he bears much fruit. "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you." John 15:7

Paul said, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. And if you put your trust in Jesus, He will give you the power to overcome. Many, many Christians today have asked the question, Why is it that the Bible says over and over and over again that few will be saved? You will find this over and over again in the Bible. You will find it in Matthew 24. You will find it in Luke 13. You will find it in Revelation 1.

It says in Revelation 1 that all the tribes of the earth are going to mourn when Jesus comes. Why are they going to mourn? Because they are not ready. And Jesus referred to His followers as the "little flock" in Luke. Look over here in Luke 13. Jesus was asked this very question; if there would be few saved. Luke 13:22-30 and it says, "He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. Then one said to Him, Lord, are there few who are saved? And He said to them, Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open for us, and he will answer and say to you, I do not know you, where you are from, then you will begin to say, We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets. But He will say, I tell you I do not know you, whence you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last."

So, Revelation 3:11 says, Take heed that nobody takes your crown. If I do not overcome, if I continue to work iniquity, if I continue to practice lawlessness as it says in Matthew 7:23, I will be lost. My name will be blotted out of the Book of Life. The one who keeps sinning against Me, the Lord says, his name will be blotted out of My book. It is the one who overcomes whose name will be retained in the Book of Life.

It is the one who quits sinning whose name will be retained in the Book of Life. You can do it through the power that Jesus will provide to you! If you choose to follow Him and ask for His help, He will give you the power that you need to overcome every sin in your life. That is the promise of the gospel.

By the way, if there could be one person in the day of judgment of all the people who have ever lived in the world that could come to the Lord and say, Lord, I surrendered my life totally to You. I chose to follow You. I was determined to do exactly what You wanted me to do and I chose to follow You and to obey You, and I studied the Bible and I determined to obey it and now I am lost. If there could be one person who could say that, that would prove that God was a liar.

But that will not happen. Now, there will be multitudes, there will be millions and millions of professed Christians who will be lost. The vast majority. But there will not be one person who will be able to come to the Lord and say, Lord, I put my total trust in Jesus. I chose to follow Him. I chose to do His will, I read my Bible and I decided to obey it and follow it. There will not be a single person who can say that and say that he was lost, because the Lord will provide to you the power to overcome.

Let us read one more promise to the 'overcomer' and then we will look at the principles in the Word of God about how this can happen in your life and my life. Revelation 3:21, it says, "To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne." Now, this is an offer that is incomprehensible. What throne does the Father in heaven occupy? Well, friend, He has absolute power. He governs the entire universe. He says, If you overcome, you are going to sit down with Me on My throne. I want to be an 'overcomer', do you?

By the way, do you know that the day is coming that every single person alive in the world will wish he were an 'overcomer'? But it will be too late, because the plan of salvation is not going to go on forever. We do not have an infinite amount of time to overcome.

Look what it says in Revelation 22:11, 12. It says, "He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; He who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still. And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his work." Now, when that pronouncement is made, friend, either you will have overcome already or you are never going to overcome at all because the plan of salvation is over with when that pronouncement goes out.

How can you overcome? How can you be an 'overcomer'? How can I be an 'overcomer'? There is enough grace for every single person, no matter if you are the weakest person in the world. There is enough grace for you because the Lord told Paul, My grace is sufficient for you. II Corinthians 12:9, 10. There is sufficient grace, but how do you get hold of this grace and this power that God has for you so that you can overcome?

0. K. here is principle number one. Look in Psalm 119:11. It says, "Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You." What did David do so that he could overcome sin? He memorized the Word of God. He hid it in his heart. How much of the Word of God do you have memorized tonight?

The Word of God is spoken of as a spiritual sword. Paul calls it in Ephesians 6:17, the sword of the Spirit. It is a weapon and when the devil attacked Jesus and they were in combat--you read about this in Matthew 4-- it says, The devil came and tempted Him. He tempted Jesus three times and every time the devil tempted Jesus, what did Jesus do? Do you remember? He quoted a Scripture.

He quoted the Scripture. That was His defense. On the first temptation, when the devil said, If you are the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. "But He answered and said, It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4.

That was the way Jesus lived. Jesus said, A man is to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. He quoted that Scripture. How did He know that Scripture? Because He had memorized it. We should be memorizing the Scriptures every day. Just think, friend, if you memorize just one verse of Scripture a day, in a year you would know over three hundred verses.

In fact, if you only memorized one verse a week, in a year you would know over fifty verses. Now if you memorize one verse a week and you did that for twenty years, how many verses would that be? Over eleven hundred.

I wish I had had the privilege of meeting this young lady, I never met her, but Marshall told me about her. He met her about, Ido not know, in 1990 or 1991 and he was really inspired by this young lady. In fact, he mentioned how we should be memorizing the Bible in his last sermon. You listen to it, and you will hear how we should memorize large amounts of Scripture. We should try to memorize the whole New Testament and maybe even the whole Bible.

This young girl told Marshall that she and her brother were memorizing the whole New Testament. in fact, they just about had it memorized. They were working on it approximately two hours a day. If you want to be an 'overcomer', you want to memorize Scripture.

Well, you say, I do not have time to memorize the whole New Testament. Could you maybe memorize one chapter? Or could you maybe memorize a small book. If you memorize one verse a day or two or three verses a week, you could memorize one of the shorter books of the Bible in a relatively small amount of time. That would be a spiritual power in your life.

Let me tell you a true story that happened to a friend of mine. He was a pastor. A young lady came to him who had gone through a terrible experience. The terrible experience that many people are going through these days. She was a Christian, but she had just gone through a divorce.

This young lady said to the pastor, I am in a terrible dilemma. I have these sexual drives and urges and I have no outlet for it and how do I control my thoughts? What am I going to do? He said to her, I want you to memorize a chapter of the Bible and memorize it so thoroughly that you can just say it backward and forward, word perfect. Every time you are tempted, I want you to start quoting this chapter. In fact, he recommended a chapter for her to memorize. He recommended that she memorize the book of Jude, which is twenty-five verses. So, she said she would try.

She memorized the book of Jude and a few weeks later she came back to the pastors office and she said, It works! The devil cannot stay around you and tempt you when you are quoting the Word of God. The Word of God is a spiritual weapon. Your mind cannot think about two or three things at one time. If you have the Word of God memorized, you have in your possession a spiritual weapon every time you are tempted. When Jesus was tempted, he quoted the Scriptures.

There was a Protestant pastor, not a Seventh-day Adventist, who lived in the country of Bulgaria. In 1947 he was arrested and interrogated and tried and tortured for his faith. He was in various prisons, torture chambers, and concentration camps when he wrote a book about his experience. It was a terrible experience that he went through, being tortured for his faith.

He writes in his book that when he was in these places without enough food, without enough clothing, beatings and torture, he said the worst thing in the whole experience was the emptiness of soul. Because he never got to read the Bible. He never got to hear the Word of God preached. He never got to hear a spiritual or religious song. He said the emptiness of soul that he felt in those places was the most awful thing.

Every letter they received was monitored, but his wife sent him a picture. She had escaped to a free country. She sent him a picture of herself. She knew that if she sent him anything religious that he would not get it. So she had a picture taken of her in front of a church building. Right up on top of it above her head on the building, it said "Have faith in God." So he got this picture and he knew what message she was trying to send to him.

"Have faith in God." He clung to his faith and he was wishing he could have a Bible to read. After a time a Bible was smuggled to him. Now, when the Bible was smuggled to him, he knew that it would just be a matter of time and the guards would find that Bible and they would take it away. So he knew that when that happened, the only Bible he would have left was whatever Bible he had memorized.

So, he started memorizing the Scriptures every spare moment he had. When the guards were not looking, he could memorize the Scriptures. He only had that Bible about six weeks. The guards found it and took it away. But, he said, During those six weeks I memorized forty-seven chapters, and they could not take away my forty-seven chapters.

Well, friend, if your Bible were taken away, how many chapters would you have that they could not take away? If you want to be an 'overcomer', you need to memorize the Scriptures. Memorize the great chapters in the Scriptures like the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5,6 and 7 which specifies what kind of people will inherit the kingdom of heaven. Jesus spelled it right out. You cannot make a mistake. A little child could figure out who is going to heaven and who is going to hell by reading the Sermon on the Mount. It is just spelled right out, plain.

Or 1 Corinthians 13. What is love really like? That chapter spells it out. Or I John 3 spells out again who is going to the kingdom of heaven and who is really a child of God and who is not. Or Exodus 20:3-17. That is the Ten Commandments. That is so important that God wrote that out with His own finger on tables of stone so that the whole world would know what His law was. James 2 says we will be judged according to that law on the Day of Judgment.

Or Revelation 14, especially verses 1-12. Wonderful promises. I knew a lady who was taking a trip and she wanted to memorize something in the Scripture that would be uplifting and she decided to memorize Revelation 21. While she was on that trip, she memorized Revelation 21. That is a wonderful, wonderful chapter.

There are so many wonderful chapters in the book of Ephesians, I do not know which one to recommend to you. Ephesians is the book that I have said before, if you are ever discouraged and start reading and studying the book of Ephesians, it will just lift you right off this world, right into the skies. A very encouraging book.

Then, how about Psalm 15? If you would like to memorize just a little tiny chapter, some of you could probably memorize Psalm 15 tonight. It only has about five verses. It specifies who is going to be saved. It lists eleven specifications of who is going to be saved. Psalm 15.

Or Psalm 1 contains six verses. Some of the most wonderful chapters in the Bible that I could specify that are very comforting to the saints and that many people have memorized, such as Psalms 27,46,91,23,24 and 25. Wonderful, wonderful chapters that will bring great encouragement to your soul.

So, a first principle, if you want to be an 'overcomer', you need to be studying the Bible and memorizing it. David said, Thy Word I had hid in my heart that I may not sin against Thee. The Scripture is a spiritual weapon that will give you fortitude and stamina to resist temptation and overcome sin.

Let me read to you about the Waldenses. This is in the Book The Great Controversy, 68. I want to read this to you because I want you to see how much of the Bible the Waldensian youth memorized. Now the Waldenses were the descendants from the Apostolic Church that maintained the faith of God in its purity throughout the Dark Ages. It says, "From their pastors the youth received instruction. While attention was given to branches of general learning, the Bible was made the chief study. The gospels of Matthew and John were committed to memory, with many of the epistles."

Is that not interesting? The Waldensian young people learned the gospel of Matthew, that is twenty-eight chapters. They learned the gospel of John, those are longer chapters but less of them, twenty-one of them, and many of the epistles. We do not know how many, but evidently more than two. You cannot say many if it were just two. So, they learned three or more epistles. They knew the Scriptures!

Oh, friend, I want to encourage you. By the way, the Waldenses encouraged people to memorize the Scripture and when somebody was having a hard time memorizing, they would say, Look, just memorize a word a day and in a year you will have three hundred words. Just keep at it, keep at it. Do not worry about the fact that you do not have very much memorized a day and somebody has memorized a lot. If somebody else has eaten a pickup load more food than you did last year, you cannot do anything about that now. You just have to start eating day by day what you can.

So, if you want to be an 'overcomer', if you want to be in the kingdom of heaven, memorize the word. Do what David did. Do what the Waldenses did. Do what that Protestant pastor did in Bulgaria. One time there was a man, a merchantman, who lived in Southern France. This happened in about the twelfth century. This was before the age of printing and this wealthy businessman got hold of a copy of the Bible. Before printing Bibles were very expensive. Only the wealthy could afford a Bible.

But this man was a wealthy businessman and he had a copy of the Bible and when he read it, it was so precious to him that he started memorizing it, and he memorized the entire New Testament. By the way, there have been people in modem times that have memorized the New Testament.

Some of you may have heard of a Seventh-day Adventist minister, he is dead now, but his name was Elder Washburn. Elder Washburn memorized the entire New Testament. After he got through with memorizing the entire New Testament, he decided he would memorize something else. So then he memorized the book of Isaiah, too. That is sixty-six chapters in addition to the New Testament.

Martin Luther said one time that he thought that he knew the entire Bible. By the way, many people who have learned large amounts of Scripture like this have studied it in more than one language. Someway that affects your mind so that it helps it to stick. Martin Luther read the Bible first in Latin. He had learned Latin and that was the first Bible that he read. Then he learned Hebrew and read it in Hebrew. Then he read the New Testament in Greek.

Then he translated it all into German. So, when you go over and over it in several different languages like that and translate it, it helps it to stick. When I was in Germany a few weeks ago, I was interested to see that the German people are still using Martin Luthers Bible. They think that in German it is the most wonderful Bible that has ever been translated.

Well, I am afraid that I am not going to live long enough in this world so that I will ever be able to say that I know the entire Bible. But I want to know as much as I can. How about you? And the way that you will know as much as you can is to be studying it and to be memorizing a little bit every day.

That is the first principle for overcoming, and if you are not memorizing the Scripture, you will never be an 'overcomer'. That is the way Jesus overcame-- through the power of the Scriptures. So we must memorize Scripture if we are going to overcome. That is the first principle for overcoming.

Here is the second one. Look in your Bible at Matthew 17:19-21. This was the time when there was the boy possessed with a devil, he was brought to the disciples, and the disciples could not cast the devil out. Then Jesus came and cast the devil out as you see in verse 17. Notice what it says, "Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, Why could we not cast it out? So Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say unto you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."

What you are going to have to do is overcome? You are going to have to learn how to pray. Jesus said, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed. That is a lot of faith! It takes more faith for a grain of mustard seed than for any other plant. Because a grain of mustard seed is the smallest seed and it is going to have to grow to be the largest plant. So it takes more faith for a grain of mustard seed to accomplish its mission in life than any other seed.

But Jesus said, If you have faith like that, you will be able to say to this mountain, You just depart and it will depart--no matter what mountain of difficulty is facing you. I wonder if there is anybody in this room who has any mountains of difficulty in your life? Now, do not nod your heads. You do not need to. I already know. I have been around enough to know that everybody has some difficulties in their life.

Different people have different difficulties. We do not all have the same. For some people the difficulty is in their home. Maybe there is somebody in their family who is not a Christian and that brings a mountain of difficulty in their life. How do I relate to this person? I want them to be saved. What do I do? A mountain of difficulty.

For other people their mountain of difficulty is financial. Maybe there is trouble in their job or they do not have a job. They say, I do not have any income. So what am I to do? So there is this mountain of difficulty, financial difficulty in their life.

Some people have difficulty with health in their life. They do not have health. So that brings great difficulties in their life. Some people have mental difficulties. Have you ever known somebody who was afflicted by a pathological depression? I want to tell you that can be a mountain of difficulty!

Some people, because of the home they grew up in, have never learned how to get along with other people. They try and they fail. It is a terrible trial in their life. Some people have a temptation or a sin in their life and they cannot overcome it. That is a terrible mountain of difficulty.

Jesus said, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will be able to say to these mountains, Depart! And it will move. But, Jesus said, That kind of faith does not happen without prayer and fasting. Do you know how to pray? And that is a big enough subject to spend a whole prayer meeting just by itself. How to pray.

By the way, there are a lot of people who are Christians today and they simply feel like their prayers do not do any good and it is true. Do you know why that is? It says in Proverbs 28:9, "One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer is an abomination." And it says in Psalm 66:18: "If I regard iniquity in my heart," in other words, if I am living in sin, if I am breaking Gods law and I will not quit, I am regarding iniquity in my heart, God will not hear me.

So there are really people who pray and their prayers do not do any good because, if you have not decided to quit sinning and you have not decided to follow the Lord, there is no promise that your prayers will be answered. In fact, it is written that they will not be. But if you have decided to follow Jesus, if you have decided to do His will and you want to overcome sin, Jesus says, "Men ought always to pray and not to faint."

What does that mean? When you pray and you do not see the answer to your prayer right then, what should you do? You should keep praying. Did Jesus do that? Let me read you a verse that I was working on memorizing today. This is an interesting verse. Hebrews 5:7: "Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him Who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.

Did Jesus pray? Oh, it says, He offered up prayers with vehement crying and tears. Was Jesus in earnest when He prayed? He was in earnest. He was like Jacob. When Jacob prayed he said, Lord, I cannot let you go unless you bless me. And he kept praying. That prayer was on his heart all night long. Jesus sometimes prayed all night long.

When you get in earnest and say, Lord, I have to overcome this temptation in my life. Here is this sin in my life and I have to overcome it and I have to have help or I will not make it. And you keep praying. I want to tell you, when you get in earnest, the Lord is going to hear. When you want to overcome sin and you ask the Lord for power to overcome sin, the Lord is going to hear and you are going to get help.

Let me read a statement to you from Ellen White when she was preaching one time. This is what she said. John pointed the people to the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." John 1:29. There is a great deal in that 'takes away. The question is, shall we keep on sinning as though it was impossible for us to overcome? How are we to overcome? As Christ overcame. He prayed to His Heavenly Father. We can do the same and that is the only way. Then we are to overcome something, for it is stated that those who shall see Him in His beauty shall be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Now, if there is a spot or wrinkle in your character, is it not now time for you to begin to understand what that defilement is that you may trust in the blood of Christ to wash it away?"

There is going to be a people, friends, predicted in Ephesians 5 that God is going to have a people in the world when Jesus comes and their character will be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. They are going to be holy. You cannot make yourself holy, and I cannot make myself holy, but I want to tell you to pray. Are you praying? Ask the Lord everyday, say, Lord, I want to have a character that is without spot or wrinkle or any such thing and I am depending on the blood of Jesus and the Holy Spirit to cause that miracle to happen in my life.

If you get in earnest with God, God will be in earnest with you. The problem is, friends, God does not play games. God cannot stand pretense or people who are pretending and are not sincere. But if you really want the experience, and if you will ask for it and keep praying for it, God will see that you have it.

Do you not think it would be wonderful if we would all be praying every day to the Lord and say, Lord, it is written here in Ephesians 5 that Your children, Your church is going to be without spot or blemish or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy. Lord, I want to be one of these people when Jesus comes. Do you suppose the Lord would hear that prayer? He would. God is looking for people who want that experience. If you will pray and get serious with God, God will be serious with you and answer your prayer. So, a second principle for overcoming is to learn how to pray. Jesus said, With prayer and fasting.

By the way, what is fasting? Fasting is when a person has something that is so important to pray about that he says I have to lay aside all my daily cares and my business and I am going to have to devote this day for prayer. Daniel fasted for three weeks. Now, some people when they fast do not eat. Some people just eat sparingly. Daniel ate, but he ate sparingly. But he devoted that time for prayer and shut everything else out.

In Communist countries and in places where Gods people have been persecuted, Gods people have given days for fasting and prayer. It is an interesting thing to see what happens when Gods people pray and fast. Miracles start happening.

Friends, if you are in trouble, if you have trouble in your home or in your job or wherever it is, something that you cannot overcome, get in earnest with God and say, Lord, I am going to spend a day in fasting and prayer. I have to have an answer in my life. I have to have victory in my life. When people get in earnest with God, God gets in earnest with them. But God is not interested in playing games. The second principle of overcoming is to learn how to pray.

Here is the third principle in overcoming. Look in I

Corinthians 9. Now, this is a very sobering chapter to me because this is the place in the New Testament where the Apostle Paul says it was possible for him to be lost. Now, he was a preacher and he was spending all of his time in evangelism and preaching, and yet the Apostle Paul says it would be possible for me to be lost.

I thought to myself many times, well, if it is possible for the Apostle Paul to be lost, it is possible for me to be lost. Now, what did the Apostle Paul say he had to do so he would not be rejected? This is I Corinthians 9:24-27: "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things."

Do you know what that word temperate means? It means that they have self control. "Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified."

Now that is quite a statement. Paul says, lam bringing my body into subjection because otherwise if I preach to others and I do not have control of myself, I will be disqualified. Well, if the Apostle Paul could be disqualified, if he could be lost if he did not have self-control, how about me? How about you? A third principle for overcoming is that we must practice self-control in regard to the body.

Let me read you something that Ellen White said about this--she wrote this in several places--in Counsels on Diet and Foods, Counsels on Health, lam reading from Testimonies for the Church, volume 3, 491. "As our first parents lost Eden through"--through what? How did Adam and Eve lose Eden? By indulging their appetite. They ate something God said not to eat.

By the way, is eating important? Very important. Is it possible for somebody to lose eternal life because they choose to eat something that God said not to eat? Is that possible? It certainly is, friend. Look what it says in Isaiah 66:15-17: "For behold the Lord will come with fire And with His chariots, like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword the Lord will judge all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many (He is talking about the last days.) Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves, To go to the gardens Alter an idol in the midst, Eating swines flesh and the abomination and the mouse, Shall be consumed together says the Lord."

Can you lose your soul because you eat something that the Lord says not to eat? You certainly can. I Corinthians 10:31. What does it say? "Therefore, whatsoever you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God." Can I eat and drink to Gods glory or to dishonor Him? Is it possible to do it either way? Paul says we should eat and drink to the glory of God

Adam and Eve lost Eden through what? Indulgence of appetite. Does appetite have anything to do with overcoming? Oh, it has a lot to do with overcoming. When the devil tried to tempt Jesus, what was the very first temptation? You know, when you are trying to overcome somebody, the first thing to do is just give him your strongest punch.

What was the first punch? When the devil tried to overcome Jesus, what was the very first temptation? It was a temptation on appetite. The Bible says that Jesus had fasted for forty days and after He had fasted for forty days, it says, He was hungry. The devil came to Him with a temptation and said, Look, if you are the Son of God, make these stones bread.

There were a bunch of round stones there that looked like loaves of bread. The devil said to Him, If you are really the Son of God, make these stones bread. Was that a temptation? It was an overwhelming temptation. But Jesus would not do it. He gained the victory over appetite. The very first thing that Jesus did in redeeming the human race was to gain a perfect victory over appetite and not yield to His own appetite until the will of God, His Father, revealed to Him that it was all right to eat. He would not satisfy the devils curiosity or obey the devil--even to save His life.

Now, it would not have been wrong to eat, but it would have been wrong to obey the devil. Jesus endured the temptation on appetite first. He gained the victory on that first. It says, "As our first parents lost Eden through the indulgence of appetite, our only hope of regaining Eden is through the firm denial of appetite and passion. The controlling power of appetite will prove the ruin of thousands, when if they had conquered on this point, then they would have had the moral power to gain the victory over every other temptation of Satan. But those who are slaves to appetite will fail in perfecting Christian character. As we near the close to time, Satans temptation to indulge appetite will be more powerful and more difficult to overcome.

I want to tell you, friends, we are living right in that time. People are tempted constantly to be eating all hours of the day and night. When I was in Georgia this past weekend, the motel where I was staying was right next to a McDonalds. I have noticed this time after time when I have been traveling, that people are out eating at nine, ten, eleven oclock at night and they are eating big. The principles of health reform are one of the great blessings that God has given to His people to relieve suffering.

Health reform relieves suffering. But in addition to that it helps people so they can control their mind, their thoughts, and their speech. If we want to overcome, the first place we have to overcome is in our physical habits. We have to be in control. Jesus was in control of His physical habits. He had perfect control. His followers will have that same control.

When He comes again, those who are ready to meet Him, it says in I John 3:2 that "we will be like Him." We will be like Him. Do you want to be like Him? Jesus was in perfect control over His appetite and passions. So a third principle if you want to be an 'overcomer' is to practice the health message that God has revealed in His Word.

Fourth principle: This one is very important. In fact, if you do not know this one, I can guarantee you will fail. And it is simple but you have to know it and you have to practice it every day if you are going to be an 'overcomer'. You have to fight sin and temptation. You have to resist it and decide that you are not going to give in to it.

When you were a child, did you ever get into a fistfight or wrestling match with anybody? Now what if two boys are wrestling and one of them quits and the other one keeps on? What happens then? The one that quits loses. That is the way that it is. We are in a situation in this world where the devil is trying to overcome you and he is trying to overcome me. If you quit the warfare, the devil will win. Let us read what the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 6:11-13, it says, "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the ruler of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."

You will be able to withstand. You will be able to resist. Look at what James said about it. This is a wonderful promise. James 4:7. It says, "Therefore submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you." Resist him. He will flee from you.

Look at Hebrews 12. It talks about Jesus resisting. Hebrews 12:3, 4. It says, "For consider Him Who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin." Did Jesus resist unto blood? Yes, He did.

It says in Luke 22 that when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane, His perspiration was like great clots of blood dropping on the earth. He resisted unto blood. We are to resist, to fight. And when you decide to resist, you are going to have divine power come to your aid. But if you do not fight, if you do not do anything, God is not going to fight the battle and win it for you.

You have to cooperate with the Holy Spirit. The Bible says, Resist. Fight. And you will overcome. Ellen White wrote an appeal to mothers and here is what she said: "Even many professed Christians seem to have no earnest desire for this heavenly knowledge and remain in willing ignorance of this divine grace which it is their privilege to obtain. The only safety for the youth is to seek this precious wisdom which will assuredly destroy all desire for corrupt knowledge and when they have acquired a relish for the pure, calm, satisfying joys of faith and holiness, every feeling of their being will rise in abhorrence to corrupting pleasures. All can choose life if they will. They can resist sin, take pleasure in the ways of righteousness and true holiness and be rewarded with eternal life in Gods everlasting kingdom. If they choose to corrupt their ways before the Lord, defile their own bodies and commit self-murder, they can do so. But they should remember the judgment is to set and the books are to be opened and they are to be judged out of those things which are written in the books according to their works."

So, you can resist. And if you choose to resist, the Lord will help you. But you have to be willing to fight. God has never promised to take anybody to heaven or to help anybody overcome who just sits down and relaxes and says, I am just going to wait until the Lord does it. It never happens.

There are people who have been praying and studying their Bible and they have been waiting for the Lord to work it all out in their life. They have been waiting for years. They will still be waiting when the Lord comes, and they will be lost, too. The Bible says that you and I have to actually do something. We have to resist the devil. We have to withstand. We have to fight the fight of faith.

That is what Paul talked to Timothy about. He said, Fight the fight of faith. We have to do something, and when we do our part, God never fails to do His part. You and I cannot resist sin successfully for one moment without Jesus. But Jesus does not do the work without us. The secret of success is a union of divine power and human effort. There are a lot of people waiting for God to do it all, and they do nothing. It does not happen.

So, a fourth principle is that we have to fight. There is a difference there.

Look at Revelation 12. It is about overcoming. It is worthy of study. This is principle number five. This is Revelation 12:11. It talks about the devil accusing Gods people day and night in verse 10. It says in verse 11: "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death." The first thing they overcame the devil with was the blood of the Lamb. What does the blood of the Lamb do for you?

Oh, is there anybody here that the devil may be tempting and saying to you, You are a terrible sinner. All the things that you have done, you will never make it. Have you ever had that temptation? But listen, friends, Jesus died on the cross so that His blood could take away all your guilt. His blood takes away your guilt, and you can say right back to the devil, I know that I am a terrible sinner, but I put my trust in Jesus and the Bible says that the blood of Jesus will cleanse me from every sin.

They overcame him first by the blood of the Lamb and the second thing was, through the word of their testimony. Now, if you are going to give a testimony, you need to know the Word and you need to be testifying for Jesus.

The sixth principle. Now this is one that many people would never guess is a principle of overcoming, but it is a very important one and it is one that Jesus used. The only way to overcome, Ellen White says, is the way Jesus overcame. This is a principle that Jesus used over and over again. There are several places in the Bible we can read about it. Let us look in James 1:2-4. It says, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."

Now that seems incongruous to many people. The Bible says, Here you are falling into temptations. You are in trials, and you are in trouble. Now what do you do? The Bible says, Decide to be joyful! Count it joy! Oh, somebody says, that does not make any sense at all. But that is what the Bible says to do. Let me read you another text that people think is almost as incongruous as that one. Look in Ephesians 5:19, 20. It says, "Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Can you do that? Oh, somebody says, Pastor John, you just do not know how bad things are for me. I have things so bad that I cannot give thanks for them. Well, I did not say this. What does it say in verse 20? I just read that to you out of the Bible. I did not make that up. What does it say? It says, "Giving thanks always in all things." Do you know what will happen in your home when you give thanks unto God always for all things? The devil cannot stand it! He cannot stand it.

Nehemiah said, "The joy of the Lord is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10. The devil cannot stand people that are praising the Lord and rejoicing and giving thanks to the Lord. He just cannot stand it. Jesus used this principle over and over again. He sang religious songs and was thankful, and it banished the presence of evil angels. It is a divine principle we all need to know some spiritual songs that we can sing when there is trouble.

Let me read to you from The Desire of Ages, 73 what Jesus used to do. This is principle number six. "Jesus carried into His labor cheerfulness and tact. It requires much patience and spirituality to bring Bible religion into the home life and into the workshop, to bear the strain of worldly business, and yet keep the eye single to the glory of God. This is where Christ was a Helper. He was never so full of worldly care as to have no time or thought for heavenly things. Often He expressed the gladness of His heart by singing Psalms and heavenly songs. Often the dwellers in Nazareth heard His voice raised in praise and thanksgiving to God. He held communion with heaven in song; and as His companions complained of weariness from labor, they were cheered by the sweet melody from His lips. His praise seemed to banish the evil angels, and like incense, fill the place with fragrance. The minds of His hearers were carried away from their earthly exile, to the heavenly home."

You can do that. If you memorize some spiritual songs and sing and give thanks to the Lord always, you will be lifted into a higher and holier atmosphere.

Now, I call this next principle number seven. Actually it is related very closely to principle number five we just looked at about the word of their testimony, Revelation 5:11. If you want to overcome, you must be witnessing for Jesus. It says, They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. In other words, they were bearing testimony for Jesus.

If we do not witness to anybody about Jesus, the day is coming when we are going to lose our religious experience. Did you know that? It will happen. Let me read to you from The Desire of Ages, 825. "It is in doing Christs work that the church has the promise of His presence. Go teach all nations, He said. Matthew 28:18-20. To take His yoke is one of the first conditions of receiving His power. The very life of the church depends on her faithfulness in fulfilling the Lords commission. To neglect this work is surely to invite spiritual feebleness and decay. Where there is no active labor for others, love wanes and faith grows dim."

What will happen if there is no active labor for others? Love wanes and faith grows dim. Have you ever met a Christian who was really on fire for the Lord. Who said, I am going to do what the Lord wants me to do. He wants to be saved and is really on fire to do the Lords will. You meet him a few months later and something has changed. He is lukewarm; his religious experience has become lackadaisical. His light is about to go out and there is no enthusiasm, no fervor in his service for Christ at all?

What has happened? Very often what has happened is he has not been doing anything to witness for Jesus. If you are not doing anything to witness for Jesus, if you are not in any active labor for somebody else, what will happen? Your love will wane--that is, it will decrease--and your faith will become dim. So, if you want to overcome, you must be involved in some kind of witnessing for others.

Now different people can do different things. But we all can do something, can we not? It has been a marvel to me when I have read about what some people have done for the Lord even though they apparently had few talents. What can a person do who is a shut-in, that is, they cannot get out of their house because they are crippled or they are laid up. Maybe they are bedfast. What can a person like that do for the Lord?

I read about a fellow in just that kind of condition. He witnessed on the telephone. He still could use a hand and he could talk on the telephone. So he called people on the telephone and he witnessed for the Lord on the telephone. I have heard of some others who witnessed for the Lord by writing missionary letters. Can that be a witness? Oh, yes, you can do a lot writing missionary letters.

So everybody can do something. Some people can go and visit people in the hospital, or visit people who are lonely, or who are discouraged or are in some kind of trouble. But everybody can do something. And if we do not do something, we will not overcome. Our love and faith will grow dim. We will become cold.

One last principle that you want to remember if you want to be an 'overcomer'. Principle number eight: Do not be presumptuous. Do not go and put yourself in the way of temptation. Remember, the devil put Jesus on the pinnacle of the temple and he said, Now cast Yourself down, because it is written that He will give His angels charge concerning You. Of course, if Jesus had done that all the Jews all over the country would have said, Say, let us go and see that fellow. This guy jumped off the temple and He did not even get hurt.

It would have been a great fanfare. It really would have produced some striking advertising for Jesus. But Jesus would not do it because it would be presumptuous. Do not put yourself in the way of temptation. For instance, if your besetting temptation is drinking alcohol, you should not be going to witness to people in the bar. That would be presumptuous. If that is your temptation, you should not be found in a place like that because it is going to be temptation.

Now, when I was in college, I had a problem eating doughnuts. I decided after a while that the easiest thing to do is just not eat a doughnut. it is easier not to eat any than to just eat one. So you have to decide what your besetting temptation is. If your besetting temptation is gambling, there are certain places and certain cities in this world that it would be better for you not to visit. You should do your business some place else because it would be a temptation there.

If your besetting temptation is to lose your temper, you should be on guard for situations that will touch that off. You want to avoid situations where you get under a lot of time pressure. It will be a temptation if you are quick tempered. You should be on the watch and be praying, Lord, help me not to walk into temptation. There are a lot of stories about that, but you understand the principle.

Let us read a Bible text about that. The Bible is very clear on that point. In fact the Lords Prayer says, Lead us not into temptation. Look what it says in the very first Psalm. It says, "Blessed in the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly." Do you know any ungodly people?

Ungodly people always give a lot of counsel it seems like, when somebody decides to be a Christian. Have you ever noticed that? It always happens. "Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful." He must not walk in the way of temptation.

Well, do not invite temptation. That is presumptuous. Now, do you know what, friend? If you practice these principles that Jesus practiced, there is no chance that you will not overcome. The Lord will help. I want to read this last text that will be a great encouragement to you.

II Corinthians 12 Paul was praying to the Lord for something to be done for him. It says in verse 9: where the Lord answered Paul, "He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirm ties, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses for Christs sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Is there enough grace for you? What did the Lord say to Paul? My grace is sufficient. Whatever problem or trouble there might be in your life, if you will follow the principles of the Word of God that we just reviewed this evening, you will overcome. And one of these days when Jesus comes, only 'overcomers' are going to heaven. We just read that in Revelation 2, 3 at the beginning. Only the 'overcomers' will have their names retained in the Book of Life and will eat of the Tree of Life.

Everybody else in the world that has ever lived who has been an 'overcomer' will be saved and you will be able to associate with those people for eternal ages. Will that not be exciting? Heaven is a wonderful place. There will be wonderful people there and you want to be there, and I want to be there. We all can be there if we choose to overcome.

The reason there will be comparatively few people saved is because most people want to have a profession of religion without overcoming sin. That is impossible. There will not be any rehabilitation program up in heaven for sinners. Did you know that? There are no rehabilitation programs up there. You are rehabilitated down here spiritually. Then we get a new body up there.

Do you want to go? You can go. There is enough grace for you if you are the weakest person in this room. If you are the weakest person in this town, the Lord says, My grace is sufficient for you--if you choose to follow Me. If you choose to follow these principles, you will overcome and you can be saved.

Would it not be wonderful if we got together and prayed for each other that the Lord will give each one of us the grace we need to overcome? We need to pray for each other, do we not?

* overcomer(s) is a Bibical term not in current use, thus it is put in ' '