“Faith That Overcomes” Conclusion
Broadcast #1614
September 10, 2023
Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 1614 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text
Phil: You know, God will put us in situations where we don’t know how it’s coming out. And we’re gonna have to make the right choice anyway. So many examples are given in here, but one of them is the three Hebrew children. How many times have we pointed this one out? God arranged the circumstance. Do you think this was an accident?
In the first place they were, they had been carried off as captives from Israel into a heathen land to serve a heathen emperor. And the heathen emperor, being the heathen that he was, had all kinds of idols and gods. And so, he built this great image, and everybody was supposed to bow down. God allowed him to do all of that, like God is allowing the devil to do what he’s doing.
And there he had some children of Abraham, descendants of Abraham. You know who the real descendants of Abraham are? They’re not the children of the flesh, they’re the children of Abraham’s faith, they’re the descendants of his faith. And these three men were descendants of his faith.
And so there they were. Here are your two options. Door number one, bow to this idol. Swear allegiance to it. Door number two, burn. How would you like to be faced with that choice? You think some of us might actually reach a point like that? We’re gonna need the Lord, aren’t we? We’re gonna need something we don’t have in ourselves. You think He’s gonna be enough? Praise God! Okay?
And when they made that choice to say, I will not bow, we will not bow, they didn’t know the outcome that we know about. So, we can read that and say, Yeah, I know how that came out. That’s great. They didn’t know that.
And we’re gonna be in situations where we do not know how it’s going to turn out, and God’s gonna say, You have a choice. The devil is going to be allowed to do whatever he’s gonna be allowed to do. And we’re gonna have to make a choice and say, I am not gonna go your way. I don’t care. I’m gonna serve my God. And that was the choice they made.
And God gave them, in that instance God’s purpose, Satan’s purpose was to exalt this heathen emperor to destroy all faith and anybody else to suppress it, bring them all under his control. God had a greater purpose to give such a powerful demonstration of Who He was that the word of the message of that went to the ends of that great empire.
We got a God Who can do what He wants. And I’ll tell you, whatever purpose He has in this, in the end of this age, is gonna be fulfilled. And sometimes it may be something great and miraculous. And in this case it was. They threw them in there.
We know the story, and how there was a fourth man in that fire. Praise God! You know that fourth man is with us in whatever fire He calls us to walk in. That fourth man is our Lord Jesus who said, I will never leave you. Never will I forsake you. Praise God!
Well, He didn’t forsake them then did He? And they came outta that fire. Couldn’t even smell it. And you read throughout this whole passage there’s so many things that we could read we’ve heard so many times.
But just for, just for today I think let’s go down to verse 32. ‘Cause he’s talked about Abraham, he’s talked about Moses, and he’s, you know, talked about Rahab. I mean, talk about Rahab. Maybe there’s somebody here that just feels like you know, this isn’t me he’s talking about. Who am I, you know, who am I, that God cares about somebody like me? I’m weak, I’m nothing. How can I face the end of the age? Well yeah, the truth is every one of us is in that category.
But you look at a woman like Rahab, who was a prostitute in a heathen city. But there was a conviction God had implanted on her heart as to where her true loyalty needed to be. And she hid the spies when they sent them into Jericho. And God not only brought her out and saved her, she was actually way down, she was an ancestor of our Lord Jesus Christ, as far as the flesh is concerned. God can take the most unlikely, weakest person and make them a part of His kingdom that matters.
(congregation chattering)
There’s no excuse. I don’t care who you are and how weak you are and how bad your past is. Whatever you think stands against you, Jesus Christ conquered it all. For those who are willing to humble themselves and put their trust in Him and give Him their hearts, He is more than enough. Praise God! Okay?
And what more shall I say? Verse 32 of Hebrews 11, I do not have time to tell you about Gideon, Barak, Sampson, Jephthae, about David, and Samuel, and the prophets. He lists all these characters that we know. And so many of these won great military victories. Oh, it was powerful what the Lord did. They conquered through faith, conquered kingdoms.
Isn’t that interesting? Through faith. In other words, they didn’t muster any kind of human resource to do what they did. In every case, God told them to do something, or gave them a confidence. This is what you need to do, and I’ll be with you. And they did it and God was with them. It’s real complicated! I’m glad the Lord made it simple. I need Him to be simple with me, praise God! Okay?
“Who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised, who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword, whose weakness was turned to strength.” Anybody need that this morning? Yeah.
“And who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back there dead, raised to life again.” Over and over again.
Now, here’s one thing that, I felt like the Lord wanted to emphasize about this today. We have our own idea as to what constitutes victory and overcoming, do we not? Is it not easy for us to think in terms of God turning around a situation and bringing forth some great earthly result. as a fruit of our faith? That is, if I have real faith, then such and such is gonna happen. This is gonna be the result. Is that necessarily true? Is that what overcoming is about? Let’s see.
There were others. All right, let’s see what the others, where they fit into this. “There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released, so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning. They were sawed in two, they were killed by the sword.”
Did they overcome? See, we need to understand what overcoming is about. Now you think about the reference to sawing asunder, or sawing in two. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I think Jewish history outside of the Bible records that this referred to Isaiah. You think of this amazing prophet, 66 chapters worth of amazing prophecies, things that are still unfolding in our day. The powerful creative words that came through that man’s lips that have set things in motion that we’re part of today, and they reach right on into eternity.
And this amazing, powerful man of God, that stood for God through the reign of four kings. And then when Hezekiah passed off the scene, Manasseh came on board, the most wicked king in all the history of Judah, the Southern kingdom. He was the one, it was under his reign that the die was cast.
Anybody think that the die isn’t pretty well cast with them for America? Anything we see right now is gonna be delayed at best. That’s the reality folks. If you just got your head in the sand, this is the time to get it out and say, Lord, we are gonna need You. We need You, Lord. We need You to help us. We need You to strengthen us. We need You to correct our thinking. Praise God!
But anyway, think of this man. And I can just sort of imagine, this is not in the Bible, but I can imagine Manasseh being well aware of this prophet, that I’ll make you a deal. You tell me what I wanna hear, and you can live. If you don’t... And so what happened? He made a choice to trust God and to believe Him, to stand in faith. And his reward for his life was to be stretched out, tied down, and sawed in half. Sometimes that’s what overcoming is about.
How do they overcome him in Revelation 12? The blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony. That’s where the conviction comes out your mouth. The thing that’s really in your heart comes out. I will not bend, I will not serve your God. I’m gonna serve my God.
“And they loved not their lives so much as to shrink from death.” You know, we rightly talk about that as though, I mean the context of living a life where we’re willing to die to our old nature and live out the new nature of Christ, and that’s certainly true. But how many people throughout history, how many people right today, literally today, will be killed because they are Christians in this world? Is that defeat?
Jesus said, Don’t be afraid of those who can kill the body. When they’ve done that, that’s all they can do. And He says, I’ll tell you who you should fear. The one who can not only kill the body, but kill the soul. Folks, that’s where we’re at.
I pray if there’s somebody who hears this, and you’re not really sure what’s going on here, you need to reach out to God. You can’t work up faith. You’re gonna have to say, God, you’re gonna have to help me. Look at verse, I mean, just for now, let’s flip back to verse 6, well known verse, “Without faith it is impossible to please God. Because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists, and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”
Folks, God doesn’t despise an uncertain heart if it’s an honest uncertainty. You have every right to go to God from the depths of your soul and say, God, I don’t know, but show me. But when you do that, you better have, the conviction of your heart better be, whatever You show me, I’m gonna say, yes, and agree to, because of Who you are. I am not expecting You to lay your cards on the table, we’ve said before, and then let me decide.
You are God, and I just need you to show me what’s truth, because this world is filled with deception of every kind. If I listen to the voices of my worldly friends, might be somebody that sits down the road from you that doesn’t really know the Lord, but you’re listening to their wisdom. Folks, we need to go to the source of all wisdom.
Jesus said, I am the way, the truth. If it doesn’t come from the heart of Jesus, revealed to human beings who are willing to listen and agree and obey, then it is a lie from the pit of hell designed to destroy. It’s that clear cut. That’s the waters into which we are sailing.
And I’ll tell you, God’s gonna be with His people. When God inspired this account, and He talks about all these people, He included them just as much as in the heroes of faith as those who did great things that everybody could see.
But I’ll tell you, the ultimate victory is to lay down one’s life, because I’m gonna serve Him. I don’t care what it costs. It’s worth everything to be born again, to serve Him. Is it?
(congregation)
Is He worthy of our lives? He who laid down his life so that we could have life. There are times, many times throughout history and right now in other parts of the world, where people are being asked to lay down their lives.
Did Stephen lose? Was he a loser when they stoned him to death? Now, God used him to give a great testimony when he did, but I mean I’m sure there were people who died in utter obscurity.
You know, I’m so glad that when God arranges such circumstances, let’s suppose that He’s put you and me in a circumstance like that, and to all intents and purposes, it looked like we’re shut away somewhere, suffering maybe, facing death. And they march us out, and they take our life one way or another. And it’s like nobody knows about it. It was just obscure, just something that happened. Well, Satan must have won that one. Did he?
[Congregation] No.
Did he? No, I think you know the answer. Satan cannot win. There’s nothing he can do to separate the one we’re talking about from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.
(congregation chattering)
The end of my story has been written. That’s part of the conviction, that’s part of the faith. I didn’t come up with that. I didn’t reason that out. God put it here. I can stand and believe Him and know that regardless of how my story plays out, whether I’m to be part of some great demonstration of His power, or whether I am to die in utter obscurity, I’m a winner if I put my faith in Him, and I’d die in faith.
That’s what being a winner is. Where I recognize that my life here has no more no value in terms of eternity. And if His purpose is that I lay it down and to walk away and say, I believe you enough to lay down my life, I don’t care if they say, if they say, Curse God, and you can live, or you’re gonna die. Reject Jesus or you’re gonna die, which will you choose?
We’re gonna need divine strength. You think He’s gonna give it to us? You think that same faith is going to be able to say, Lord, I need your help right now. Do you think He’s gonna despise that? I’ll tell you, He is going to be right there with every single one. If His purpose for you and me is to do something great, He’ll give us the faith to do that. If His purpose for us is to lay down our lives in obscurity, He will be right there walking through that gate with us. Whether I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you’re with me, praise God!
I’m so thankful my story has already been written. Is that the conviction of your heart? But do you kinda see where we’re headed, and what it is that’s gonna carry us through? My strength won’t get it. And I don’t need to be so distracted by what the world stands for that I forget what’s really going on. My loyalty needs to be the same.
You remember the story behind that song, “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus”? That village in, I think it was northern India, but it was in India anyway, long ago, where the village decided to crack down on a believer and his family. And they demanded that he deny Jesus, and one by one they killed his children and then his wife in front of him.
Is Jesus worth it? If something like that were the course that He set us on, is He worth it? Will He give the strength and the grace to stand? You know, I think many times we read a passage like this and we think of the heroes in terms of, again, what they’ve done, that everybody can see the great miracles.
But I wonder if the greatest honors will be given to those at the end of this passage who endured the hatred of this world, who suffered the loss of their reputation their possessions, their life, their comfort, whatever it may be, and they were willing to stand there and say, I believe. I don’t care what it is, I believe in Jesus. My hope is in Him. I’m not living for this world anyway. You take my life if you want, but I have one you can’t touch.
The same Lord who came out of that tomb, victorious over Satan, over death, over hell, He’s got the keys. There’s no grave that can hold me. My hope is not in this world. Folks, you see where the — you got two worlds going on here, two kingdoms. I want my heart to be so in tune, so loyal to the kingdom that will stand, that whatever He sets up for me, for my course and for my place in this particular hour in history, He will give me the grace and the strength to stand and say, I will not deny my Lord.
He is worthy. He is who He says He is. He’s gonna do what He says He’s gonna do. My hope is not built on anything less but Jesus’ blood and righteousness. He who called me, He who gave me His righteousness is also in Romans 8:30 is it? He has glorified me. In God’s mind, it’s as good as if it has already happened. That’s the conviction of my heart. It will carry me through whatever the Lord allows the devil to do, and God is gonna get the ultimate glory.
And I believe with all my heart, some of these obscure people they don’t even name in this part of the passage are gonna be lifted up. This is what it meant. These people honored me with their lives. And while you didn’t hear about them on earth, I’m letting you know right now. Here they are. These people were willing to stand for me when nobody else around them was standing.
And we’re gonna be the ones standing there, not because of anything we’ve ever done, but because of Jesus. And we’re gonna be honoring Him and casting any crowns down before Him. If we’re one that has died, and He’s given us a crown because we were willing to lay down our lives, we’re gonna say, Here it is, Lord. I’m only here because you laid your life down for me. You’re the one who deserves the praise. To Him be the glory. Praise God!
