A Theology of Victory - The Church That Jesus Detests Part 5 - Revelation 3: 21

1:30Hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and will dine with him and he with me. There's a vivid picture here of the goodness of God that we looked at in verse 20. You see, your Creator's goodness. He is the beginning of the creation of God, and we can see our Creator's goodness in where he stands. He stands at the door, he doesn't bill it, he doesn't push himself into the human heart. He stands, he's wanting in.

2:04That's what he's doing. He's knocking. He's got a generous invitation, and he desires fellowship. He desires us to come in. He desires to come in and share our lives with him, to dine with him and he with me. His goodness is seen there. But in our verse this morning, it is also seen. Our Creator's goodness is also seen in his goal for our lives. What is his goal for our lives? Well, in one word, victory. His goal for his people is victory. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with me on my father's throne as I overcame and sat down with my father on his throne.

2:53You know, we need to think about victory the same way God thinks about victory. So this. This morning is really a practical theology of victory. What is victory? We really need to understand what victory is and what victorious living is all about. What is victory and how do we obtain it? It's really the question I just want to answer this morning by the principles that come out of this verse. But we definitely need a biblical theology of victory so that we will see His goodness in the challenges we face every day. We face all kinds of challenges, and if you don't have a biblical view of victory, you will not understand your circumstances. You will not be able to be victorious. You will not see God's goodness in the challenges that you face each day. But they're there. Challenges are there so that victory can be won.

4:07So, this morning I want to look at three elements of a biblical theology of victory. Three elements. Develop a theology of victory. First, first is that you need to understand what victory is. You need a definition of victory before. You can experience victory, you need to know what victory is. Notice the first word in verse 21. It's really one word, really, he who overcomes. One key word. It's the word Nike, the word victory. The one, if you can take the word Nike and turn it, or take the word victory and turn it into a verb, it would be victor-ing.

5:02The one victoring. Translated the one who is overcoming. It's present. It's a verb, ongoing action. The one who is overcoming. What is victory? Well, in general, it's not hard to think about victory as overcoming obstacles. You think about someone who is victorious. A person who is victorious is overcoming the obstacles in the way of a goal, whatever that desired goal may be. So, in general, we can understand victory pretty simply. It's overcoming obstacles, overcoming those barriers, whatever those obstacles may be. Sometimes they are outward, like adversaries or competitors. Sometimes they can be inward hindrances. Inward impediments, inward limitations, inward discouragements. There's all kinds of obstacles that keep somebody from meeting their goal.

6:13You think about an Olympic champion. I know we have a lot of runners in here. Just think if you're going to be an Olympic champion in running, guess what? You're going to have to overcome all kinds of obstacles. You're going to have to overcome the obstacles external, that is your competitors, those who would rather have the gold medal than you. You're going to have to overcome them. But you're also going to have to overcome all those inward limitations and discouragements. In fact, you're going to have to strengthen your body. That's why we exercise, so that the limitation isn't a limitation anymore. You press the bounds of your limitations to where you are in champion mode. It's why people train to get better.

7:04Well, if you think about the one who is victorious, they overcome all the barriers in the way of the goal. And it involves a skill. Think of victory, it involves a skill in overcoming obstacles. In other words, before you can become the one who overcame, you have to be the one. One who is overcoming. You must be the one who is overcoming all obstacles before you can be the one who overcame all obstacles. And so, part of victorious living or living in victory is you have to grow in this skill of overcoming. It is a skill you must develop. Overcoming, being an overcoming one is something, it's a practice. You have a practice of engineering, a practice of medicine, a practice of you name it, musical instrument. There is a practice of overcoming, a skill that needs to be developed.

8:14And so, victory is a skill. It's not just, I'd like to think of it not just as a single event somewhere or a past event, though it certainly includes that. But victory, certainly, as laid out here, it's a skill. It is a disposition. It's a characteristic of a person, somebody who is growing in their ability to overcome. That is the pathway of somebody who is victorious. Well, you think about in Laodicea, there's some obstacles that they were facing. This is that lukewarm church. Jesus is about to spit them out. But the The one here in Laodicea, the one who is overcoming in Laodicea, or that Christ is calling to overcome in Laodicea, has to overcome several things.

9:16They have to have a good defense, that is, they have to overcome and resist the bad things, but they also have to have a good offense. That is, they have to be active in doing the good. Without a good defense and a good offense, well, things don't really work out in a lot of areas, especially in overcoming. So, the one who is growing in Laodicea is going to have to be overcoming all of the material interests and earthly pursuits of the church that got caught up in its richness and wealth and pursuits. So, in Laodicea, the one who is overcoming is the one who is growing in resistance to the material interests, material and earthly pursuits. Because what they were doing is they were reducing the spiritual zest for Christ to lukewarm indifference. And earthly pursuits can do that. God may have you doing. Lots of things. But when that pursuit takes place of Christ, to where your zeal for Christ gets reduced to lukewarmness, it has to go.

10:44And that's what was happening in Laodicea. But positively, positively, the one who is overcoming in Laodicea is taking Christ up on his council to buy gold, to buy white garments, to put the eye salve on. These are the ones who are zealously repenting. These are the ones who are opening the door to Christ. These are the people with the good offense. They're welcoming Christ into their lives, into the inner parts, to that table fellowship. And they're inviting him in and welcoming him in for who he is. He is Savior. He is Lord. He is King. He is Shepherd. He is Master. He is priest. You can't just let Him in and say, okay, you know, Christ, you can wear your Savior hat in here, but you keep that Lord hat out of here. That's not welcoming Christ in at all. He comes in as who he is. And the one who is going to be overcoming is the one who lets Christ in into growing fellowship with him. For who he is, and it's not just Lord, I want you in here so that we will fellowship, so that you'll hear what I have to say and some of the gripes I have. Well, he's interested in that, for sure. He says, I will come in and I will dine with him. But there's also another component of verse 20, and he will dine with me.

12:31Greater fellowship. It's not just, Lord, hear me, but it's also you get to that point where it's like, Lord, what's on your mind? What's going on in your world? What do you want? Let's hear from you. What does he want? What does Christ want? What's on his mind as it pertains to you? He wants your victory. That's what he wants. So, what is victory? I would say it like this: Victory is overcoming all the obstacles to unhindered fellowship with Christ. Victory is overcoming all the obstacles to unhindered fellowship with Christ. What is God's goal? Unhindered fellowship with Christ. What are some obstacles? Anything that hinders fellowship with Christ.

13:31You and I need to be developing the skill of overcoming everything that hinders fellowship with Christ in any kind of degree. We need to reorient ourselves to what victory really is. Victory is about fellowshipping with Christ in this world and in things to come. See, victory isn't about getting a clean bill of health. Victory isn't about entrance into the right program. That may be something to celebrate, but that's not what victory is. You can get into the right program and you can have absolutely no fellowship with Christ at all, and you're a loser.

14:24You can accumulate great wealth, but victory isn't about accumulating great wealth. Good if you have, if God has given that to you. But the victorious one is who has fellowship with Christ. It's not being successful in a worldly way. Victory is about uninterrupted dining with Christ, no matter what life throws you. Good things or bad, successes or failure. Life is about. Uninterrupted fellowship with Christ. That is victorious living. And there's an ultimate sense when victory, you think about overcoming the obstacles, there is an ultimate day of victory that's ahead. When the last obstacle to fellowship with Christ is removed, that very last obstacle, death itself, cast away forever.

15:35Having put on a glorified body, this isn't accomplished on our own. There will be those who are future, who will be victorious in the future, who will put on this eternal state. But the one who is going to, in the future, put on victory is the one who is presently, currently growing and overcoming the obstacles to fellowship with Jesus. So as he knocks there on verse 20, what is on his mind? Your victory. He wants to share the life of God with you. That's what he wants. That's why he came.

16:33He wants to share the life of God with you. He knows what the life of God is like. He is in union with the life of God, and this is what moved him to leave heaven and come down to earth. And anything that gets in the way of this goal must be overcome because he wants you to share the life of God. And we overcome together with Christ. Overcoming is part of that, dining with him. Dining with Christ is about sharing his victories and our victories, victories in him. But here's the point: Jesus wants you to overcome all obstacles to unhindered fellowship with him. Why?

17:22Because he wants you to reign with him. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him and him with me. He who overcomes, I will grant to sit down with me on my throne. He takes us from table fellowship to throne fellowship. That's what's on his mind. He wants you to learn how to reign with him now. He wants you to learn how to reign with him in this life. He wants you to learn how to reign with him in death. And he wants you to learn how to reign with him. For eternity. That's what's on his mind.

18:06Welcome to the Christian life. This is what it is. Where God's goal is perfect fellowship with him. That's his goal. And we're not there yet, of course. But this is the direction that the Spirit of God is taking us. This is what He is doing. And we are to apply ourselves in this occupation or employ ourselves in this occupation of growing in the skill of overcoming all obstacles that impede our relationship with Christ. So, what is victory? Overcoming the obstacles to fellowship with Christ. Then, how? How do we go about doing it? So, the first part element of a theology of victory is you need to understand what victory is. Second, and the second and two, two and three, really answer the question: how do we overcome it? How do we overcome it? But just looking at the second element of a biblical theology of victory is the reward for victory. You see, you need to understand God's reward for victory so that you can look forward to it. It so that you can desire it. Look back at verse 21. He who overcomes or is overcoming, I will grant to him to sit down with me on my throne.

19:49Remarkable. Let this just stop. Let this set in. What does he want to give? A place on his throne. The word for sit down is cathedral. It was a noun. So you can take a noun and turn it into a verb. I would like the one, I will grant for him to cathedral with me. That's a picture. To sit down. So the reward is a grant to cathedral with Jesus on his throne, to sit down to fellowship with him on his throne. Now, this raises three questions.

20:34What is the nature of Jesus' throne? Second, what does it mean to sit down with him on his throne? And third, what does this say about him? So as we get into our throne theology, we need to understand this. What is the nature of Jesus' throne? Well, if you just look at it, there's a couple of distinctions that are made. Number one, there is the throne is he distinguishes his throne from his father's throne. There's two thrones. There's not one throne here. Notice my throne, as also I overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. There's two. There's not one throne here. There are two thrones here. Now they are shared, but they are distinct. Something common, but something distinct.

21:27And in fact, in Revelation 22:1, it says there's this picture of the water of the life coming out, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Shared, but a distinction. But there's also a distinction to be made between heavenly and versus earthly throne. The Bible clearly makes a distinction between them. Jesus is clearly now seated on his heavenly throne with his father. But someday he will sit on an earthly throne judging the nations. Listen to what he says in Matthew 25, 31.

22:09But when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep. From the goats. So there's a throne in glory where the nations, it's a throne of judgment, glorious throne. But it should be self-evident that this throne has a temporary function, judgment. Eventually, the temporal, earthly is going to give way to the eternal state. So the distinction, important to recognize. But there's something common about these two thrones. Both thrones are seats of authority. They're seats of governance.

23:05They're places of regal dignity. Both thrones are places of royal honor, which, by the way, gives us a segue. You want to know a segue verse into the next two chapters? It's this one: thrones. What are we going to see in chapter four? The throne of God. Chapter five, the throne of God and the Lamb. The Creator. I'll just give you a preview. 4, verse 2. I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and one sitting on the throne. And he who was sitting on it was like a jasper stone and a sardis in appearance. And there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. John's just going to describe. This throne as beautifully as he can with all the earthly metaphors and descriptions that he possibly can use. Verse 4, and the throne, around the throne were 24 thrones, and upon the thrones I saw 24 elders sitting, clothed with white garments and golden crowns on their head. And he goes on to describe this throne and the beauty of it. Then in verse 11, he says, Worthy are you, O Lord, and our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and because of your will, they existed and were created. Notice there's God's throne, Creator God's throne. Glory and honor and power are due to him. And then when you get to chapter five, there's another throne. You can see thrones, and you're going to see one brought to the throne who can open the seals. And this is the Lamb. And then he says in verse 11, Then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them were myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And every created thing which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all things in them I heard saying to him who sits on the throne. And to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.

25:39And the four living creatures kept saying, Amen. The elders fell down and worshiped. See, it's these thrones, this worship scene. But both thrones, chapter 4 and chapter 5 speak of glory, honor, power, blessing, honor, glory, dominion. And in a sense, he shares those with us. So that is the nature of these thrones. But then the next question: what does it mean to sit down with him on his throne? It's not to be sent, thought of in a physical manner. This isn't just one big stone throne where we're all going to kind of just wiggle our way and find room and sit on this large throne and just sit there and twiddle our thumbs. No, that's beyond what's even attempting to be described here.

26:40No, it's and it's also not a place of worship. He's not going to share worship. Christ shares that worship as being part and sharing his father's throne. We're not going to be worshipped. So then we What does it mean to sit down with him on his throne? Well, the metaphor depicts proximity, certainly proximity to Christ in body, in spirit, in mind, and in purpose. So there's certainly a proximity to Christ. There is certainly, it depicts an authority of Christ, a freedom to choose, a freedom to decide. And certainly there's an earthly context involved here. In fact, this kingdom, it's long been written about, long been expected. Daniel 7:27, after speaking about the coming of the Babylonians, the Medes, the Persians, and the Grecian Empire and the Roman Empire, then he says, then he sees another king.

27:54Verse 27, then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints, of the highest one. Kingdom is given to the people of the saints, of the highest one. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey him. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:3 that we will judge angels. But it depicts governance. Depicts authority, a sharing of service. In fact, as I read in Luke chapter 22 a little earlier, there was a dispute about the greatness. Who's the greatest in the kingdom? And Jesus told his disciples, Luke 22, verse 26, the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant. For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. You are those who have stood by me in my trials. And just as my Father has granted me a kingdom, I grant you that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. A promise, a function, a purpose, a co-reigning.

29:36He promised his disciples that they would sit on thrones in a period of judgment, and they will judge. But it's not just, then you get this picture where then immediately Simon has to be sifted. He has to fall flat on his face. So that, and then Jesus says, but I have prayed for you that. Your faith may not fail, and that you, when you have turned again, will strengthen your brothers. It's almost like this place of governance is a place of service. And it takes those who've been humbled to the ground to be elevated, to share, to be able to be the kind of people that Christ will share his throne with.

30:29But all this, what does it mean to sit down with his throne? Certainly, proximity, authority, a sharing, active service of governance. It depicts care, servants, a desire to carry out his will with diligence and joy. All this is involved in sharing his throne. But you know what? The purpose God created us was to image God. And guess what? In order to image God, we're going to have to have dominion. Not dominion over God. Nope, that's the way of evil. Let's learn the path of good and evil. No, we don't have dominion over God.

31:18But we are to have dominion with Him. And only then can we truly image God. This is what God is doing in your life. Elevating you to a place of overcoming every hindrance, every obstacle that's in the way of fellowship with Christ. Third question: What does this say about him? What does this say about him? See the nature of his throne. He allows us to share that throne with him. What does this say about him? He shares his glory. Here we get a window into the heart of your creator.

32:16He wants to give you his regal dignity. He wants his royal honor shared with you. He wants it with those who welcome them into their lives. This is what he does. He wants to share this regal dignity with those who welcome him into their lives now, who dine with them now. Have you welcomed him in? Do you continue to dine and want to give him more and more? Well, this past week we had election day, didn't we?

33:00That's really not election day anymore, is it? It's become election week or month. But let me ask you: does a president fill his cabinet with his political adversaries or his political defectors or those who are ashamed of him and his policies? You know, I noticed after Biden got elected, he didn't offer Trump to be on his cabinet. He just didn't. He didn't. Everyone, and maybe just think: if Trump gets re-elected, do you think that he's going to offer Hillary Clinton a seat on his cabinet? Probably not.

33:47I'd wager you on that one, even though I'm not a gambling man. Why not? Of course he wouldn't. Why? Because a president appoints those close to him. We understand this principle. The president isn't going to put his adversaries or defectors or those who are ashamed of him on his cabinet. We understand that. Likewise, Christ is not going to share his kingdom with those who hate him or those who are ashamed of him. He's going to give his kingdom to those who want him.

34:21He's doing something positive in the earth, and he's going to stop at the door. And if you want to have no part of it, he won't give you any part of it. But he's doing something positive in the earth. He hasn't come to judge. He wants to share the life of God with you. There is something glorious, something great. But he does more. So he wants to share it with those who want to welcome him in now.

34:51But he does more. He wants to share his glory with his people. It's not just that he, yeah, I want you to be part of this kingdom, part of the cabinet, part of the wind beneath my wings. No, he's like, I want to elevate you. I want you to share the life of God as I have known the life of God. You think about this. He consents, he condescends from infinite heights to profound depths. Now, think about this in the context of Laodicea.

35:32Just a few verses before, he's at the point of spitting them out of his mouth, and yet he still wants to elevate them to the glory of his throne. Think about that. A few verses, he's ready to spit them out. Do you see the goodness of your God here? And yet he wants to elevate these same people who he's about to spit out of his mouth. He doesn't want to spit them out, he wants to elevate them. And share his glory.

36:06Look, I can identify with those who are about to be spit out. You know, I'm tempted sometimes to spit myself out. It's just kind of hard to do. How do you do that? You know, first the feet, I don't know how it would work, but I get it. I can identify. Here I am after 55 years. I can say this about myself. I have not mastered sin as I ought to have. Surely by now I should have mastered it. I still am very much aware of my sin. I am very much aware of my limitations and more so. I am even more aware of my dullness.

36:51And so sometimes I get so down on myself that I just want to spit myself out. Probably would if I could. You know what I'm talking about? I think we can identify this. That's what I know about myself. But let me tell you what I know about Christ. And then I see in this picture of Jesus standing there at the door, wanting in, wanting to dine with those he's about to spit out. I can identify with those who he's about to spit out. But then I see this picture of him wanting to come in and dine with those. Aha.

37:29It's Like he's saying, I want in. Let me in, and you will share my throne with me. He will cause us to be growing in overcoming. That's why he wants to dine with us. As you get to know him and dine with him and fellowship with him, and as you are growing in victory, of overcoming these obstacles, he will be elevating you, sharing his victory, fellowshipping with you. What's interesting in this context is this rebuke, the rebuke in this letter is part of his promise or part of his desire to elevate the people at Laodicea to their victory.

38:34He has their victory on his mind. And by application, we know he has our victory on his mind. But just, what a lowering of self. What goodness. Ever seen anyone like this? What boundless love, what fathomless grace. We just sung about it. Behold our God seated on his throne. Let us adore him. Think about the song. Pat was like, He was born to raise the sons of earth. Think about that. He came, great condescension to great depths. Why? To raise the sons of earth. But look at where he wants to raise them.

39:46Infinite heights. Have you ever seen anything like this? What depths he descended, what height he raises us to. This is pure goodness. Behold your God. He emptied himself with the mind of raising us up with him to the heights of his throne. He wants to share the life of God with you. Let him in. Purpose in your heart to overcome every hindrance. Be quick about it. The reward for victory. Is more fellowship from the table to the throne.

40:40So, how do we get there? Well, third element, our path to victory. Theology of victory. You need to understand what victory is. You need to see the reward for victory, but then you must walk in the path to victory. Developing a theology of victory, you've got to have a definition of victory, you've got to see the reward for victory, and you've got to know the path to victory. Look back at verse 24. I'm sorry, 21. That's what happens when I don't have my glasses. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. Jesus is the model for overcoming, as I also overcame, and I sat down with my father on his throne. So, how do we grow in our overcoming ability? Well, the same way he did.

41:40By orienting ourselves to God's plan. I mean, God's purpose, God's plan, and God's power. The same way Jesus had to. Jesus had to orient himself to God's purpose, to God's plan, and God's, and rely on God's power. So let's just look at this. Where does the path of victory begin with? Well, it begins by accepting God's purpose for your life. The same was true for Jesus. Jesus had to accept God's purpose for his life. And Scripture makes it very plain that Jesus saw and understood who he was from Scripture.

42:24He understood. He had to grow in his humanity. And he came to understand who he was. Yes, I know there's a connection there that's mysterious, but yet in his humanity he grew. But God's purpose for Jesus was to be his true and faithful witness by being the Lamb of God. This is all about witness. Jesus is God's true and faithful witness, and he was that by being the Lamb of God. And he will reign with him as such. We already saw that in Revelation 5. He shares the throne with God almighty as the Lamb. For us, we're not called to be the Lamb of God, but we are called to be followers of the Lamb. Or I might even take it even a little bit more in context and use the word fellowshippers.

43:30We are called to be fellowshippers with the Lamb of God. Remember in Hebrews 12:2, that great cloud of witnesses. We are to be followers of the Lamb, fellowshippers with the Lamb. And we are, in verse 2, to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. So, our purpose is to be a true and faithful witness by being a follower of the Lamb.

44:21So, the way to victory begins with accepting God's purpose for your life. Whatever else you've got going on in your life, this I'm sure Scripture calls you to be a follower and fellowshipper with the Lamb. Second, you need to be follows. The way to victory follows the way of the cross, follows the way of the cross. For him, how did he overcome? By following the way of the cross. In fact, in Colossians 2, it speaks about how the enemies of Christ wanted to make a spectacle out of him by nailing him to the cross. And yet it was he, verse 15, when he had disarmed the rulers and authority, he made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through him. You see, his enemies wanted to make a public spectacle of him. But ultimately, it was he who made a public spectacle out of them.

45:29And so, at first, what seemed like a great defeat was in reality the greatest victory ever won. The cross. And for us, it's going to be the same, the way of the cross. Luke 14, 27, whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciples. And then you look in Revelation 12 and verse 11, there are these individuals who overcome the great dragon, the devil, Satan, every name thrown. They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. You see, the path of victory follows the way of the cross. So don't be afraid if we're called to suffer because there Will be victory as well.

46:34You see, the one who is growing in his or her overcoming ability is also the one who is growing in his or her dying ability. The two are connected. And once you are accustomed to dying daily, you will grow accustomed to overcoming daily. Just some practical advice. Frequent your funeral. Frequent your funeral. What I mean by that, we need to learn how to practically die. Frequent your funeral. Let me tell you about Tom Baber. Let me tell you about Tom Baber, the would-be adulterer. Let me tell you about Tom Baber, the would-be adulterer. Instead of looking upon an unclean image, you know what he did? He gouged out his eyes. And then he subsequently got in his car and got in a head-on collision over here in Highway 30 with a semi. Boom. It's tragic. Life over.

47:49Let me tell you about Tom Baber, the would-be speaker of evil. Let me tell you what happened to him. Giving my eulogy here. He bit his tongue. He wouldn't tell the lie. He wouldn't speak evil. He wouldn't slander. So he bit his tongue. He didn't want to make a scene. He accidentally swallowed it, choked to death. It's over. Tragic. Tragic event. Let me tell you about Tom Baber, the would-be glutton. Let me tell you what happened to him. He had this great big old pie at the table, and there was, after eating that first piece of pie, you know what he did? He took that pie tin and he threw it. It ricocheted off the refrigerator.

48:38It's tragic. Let me tell you about Thomas Baber, the would-be thief. Instead of letting his hands steal or be an instrument of evil, he cut them off. This was during COVID, and so when he got to the ER, he couldn't get the mask on his face and bled to death right outside. Tragic. Tragic. I think you get the point. Nothing says we can't have fun while we're dying. I mean, we can have a sense of humor, right? Write your eulogy. Frequent your funeral. We need to get good at dying.

49:20Just die. Just die. And I don't want to minimize the difficulty of dying to self because that is profoundly what we don't want to do. But let me tell you, just as I've gone through life, I've realized that sometimes dying to self is easier than living for self. In fact, for instance, I think it's certainly less complicated. I think sometimes it's a lot easier to forgive people than it is to force them into an apology or to force them to pay restitution or to make sure they never hurt you again.

49:58That's hard. That takes time, consternation, thought, combat, maintenance, and all that. It's easier just to forgive, just die. I find that it's easier to die than it is to force my circumstances into conformity with my will. That's a lot of work. Sometimes it's easier just to die. It's easier to trust God. There's many things in life you're just going to have to step out of and just die and just give it over to God and trust God. Trusting God is a form of dying.

50:37But forgive me if we go a little bit longer, but I want to. It's easier to forgive me than force me to stop. But third, we need to follow. Not only do we need to follow the way of the cross, but we need to be relying. Upon God's power for victory. The path of victory begins with accepting God's purpose for your life. It follows the way of the cross, but it relies upon God's power. This was true about Jesus Christ. Life in resurrection power, resurrection glory, and reign with his Father was through the cross, relying upon God to raise him from the dead. That's what Ephesians 1 is about. Paul is saying, I want your eyes to be opened so that you will know the power of his resurrection, the power of God's supply to his people. He raised Christ from the dead. And for us, that's the way we are to. We are to rely on his resurrection power. There is life on the other side of the cross. Of every time you have a funeral service for yourself, guess what? There is life on the other side. You are to frequent your funeral, but also remember your resurrection. The Bible tells us that we have been crucified with Christ, and we have been raised with Christ. Those are realities if you are in Christ. So frequent your funeral, but remember your resurrection. Let me tell you about Tom Baber, who gouged out his eyes and died over there. God raised him from the dead, gave him new eyes.

52:30And let me tell you what wonderful things God has shown him through those eyes. He can read his Bible now. He uses those to let light into his soul. And these eyes have become the lamp to his whole body. His eyes have seen wonderful things. Let me tell you about, and I can go on. Let me tell you about how God has raised him from the dead, given him new hands, new feet. My feet have gone to the places, has stood in the places where Christ has stood.

53:04He has given us new life. He's given me a new mouth, not to speak evil, but to speak of the excellencies of him. Resurrection power. Oh, I'm not there yet. Don't hear me say that. But I can say this: I'm growing in my ability to overcome every hindrance that would interrupt fellowship with my Savior and my King and my God. Resurrection power. He is the Lamb. We are His witnesses. We are to fellowship with Him. What a purpose. What a purpose. Well, what is victory?

53:58And how do we obtain it? Victory is over. Overcoming all the obstacles to an unhindered fellowship with Christ. How do we overcome? How do we obtain victory? By looking forward to God's reward and by following His model for victory. He who has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for these truths, how you've raised us who are in you. And Father, the invitation to come to you for all those who do not know you. Help us now by your Spirit to be a people who are continually opening up greater places, fellowship within our hearts to you. Father, help us to not hold anything back. Help us, give us that, energize our faith to see these truths and to come to you with boldness. And thank you. What condescension? What love. Thank you in Jesus' name.