No. 43 - HOW TO FIGHT BACK TO OVERCOME By: John J. Blanchard Tuesday, April 06, 2004 First Day of Unleavened Bread, P.M. Service This is the first Day of Unleavened Bread, year 2004. There have been approximately 3500 Unleavened Bread holy day seasons since the original one. What if each of those seasons was represented by just so much sand in an hour glass. Each of those 3500 years just represented so much time that slipped through God’s fingers, so to speak, through the hour glass of time until we come to this very point in history. In thinking that way, what should this day mean to us? We know that it is the day after our renewal of our baptism. It is the renewal of our covenant with God. We feel fresh. We feel clean. We, indeed, feel renewed. The filth of another year has been washed away. Prior to this year’s Passover we examined ourselves and we found that sin had, indeed, overtaken us since the last Passover. We realized increasingly as the day approached that we need this Passover. We needed divine help in our lives, in our struggle against sin. We were, indeed, humbled by the circumstance we found ourselves in once again. It was another Passover that we needed desperately to get ourselves right with God. Now we really want this year to be different don’t we? We tell ourselves that every year. Hope springs eternal, so they say. We know that if we live our lives like we did after the last Passover, we will feel just as wretched next year. We do not want to be in the same place the next Passover that we were in the one we just had. We want to see improvement. We want to see fruits in our lives. We want to see a difference, a real difference! We do not want to go and suffer the same mistakes over and over again. Into the mix of the emotions that we have just experienced as Passover was approaching and, indeed, through the service itself, we realized that Christ is imminent in His return. There is pressure on us. There is pressure that builds every year. We understand some day we are going to be out of time. Christ will be here! There will be no time to bear fruit. In our minds echoes God’s word: I will return when you least expect it. I will come as a thief in the night. Christ will suddenly come to His temple. Those words reverberate in our mind knowing that every year we are that much closer. That much more sand has gone through the hour glass, and we cannot see how much is left. There is more and more pressure. This is no time for complacency. This is not a time to be smug in our Christian life. With an open ear we want to hear what the Spirit tells the Churches during the holy days. What is the Spirit of God telling us, you and me, at this point in our lives? As we understand the pressure grows ever greater, we know that we should be paying ever greater attention and working harder to bear fruit for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In the past it had been referred to as the gun lap. Since we first heard those words, the gun lap, we know 20 to 25 years have gone by. In a space of God’s time, that is just a blink of an eye! For you and I it was a long wait, but we are not going to wait forever. The Lord is not slack in His coming. It can happen when we least expect it and, indeed, will. THE SANDS OF TIME I have with me here today an hour glass. It is quite a large hour glass. When I flip it over, as I am doing right now, the sand begins to run. The sand begins to go and nothing can stop its flow. It is going to keep going until there is no more. With God’s hour glass, the very end is shrouded in mist. We cannot tell when we approach the finish line. We cannot tell when there are just a few grains left. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to act as if we are almost out of time each and every day. The sands of time continue to run. That is how it really is spiritually except for one thing. Tell me when it runs out. Tell me when we have a few minutes, a day or an hour. We cannot. No one can but the Father. Therefore, let us pay attention to what the Spirit tells the Church in His word. This is a time for great prudence and care for it is a very difficult time to be a Christian. “Take heed lest you fall” we are told in the scriptures. Let us turn to I Corinthians 10. Read verses 1-13. We have a responsibility, brethren. We have not been tempted and will not be tempted with anything that mankind has not faced before. God will help us, but we must determine to do something about it. The example is that in ancient Israel an entire generation, save two people, perished for the same sins that we can also do today! But we have much more at stake. Therefore, the purpose of Unleavened Bread is to undo the habits of the past while there is time to do so. Plug the chinks and the holes in our armor and develop good character (good habits). There is an old Spanish proverb that goes like this: “Habits are first cobwebs then they are cables.” If you think about it, you realize our first sin of any type is easy to stop. It is like cigarette smoking. With that first cigarette it is easy to quit after we have had it. But after thousands of cigarettes, we are, indeed, hooked. It is very difficult to quit. This is the way it is with bad habits and sin. A SEVEN-DAY GIFT FROM GOD We now have seven days that have been given to us from God when the guilt of the past has been lifted off of us. Our sins have been wiped away and the slate is clean. We have physical reminders now that we will be partaking of. That is unleavened bread and we will consume that for seven days. At that same time we will be putting the spiritual leaven out of our lives. We have a week that is a gift from God in which we have had a wiping of our slate clean, a holy day with wholesome food and messages for us to utilize, and seven days of reminders when we must consume unleavened bread. We will work on putting the spiritual leaven out of our lives. By the time the Last Day of Unleavened Bread comes and we get that last message to take off for another year, we should be in a good place to have better habits this year than we had last year. A better place from which to jump off to conquer and overcome sin and put it out of our lives. We need to use this week wisely, and indeed the entire upcoming year, in order to bear fruit for God. Unleavened Bread 2004 marks the start of another year of struggle. We have all been around the Church long enough to understand that Passover feels great and it is wonderful, but it starts another year of struggle. It is a struggle against sin. If we are close to God and striving, we are going to get help, but there is a lot of work that we have to do, too. We need to face up to that fact. This year let’s determine to do it differently and let’s fight back against Satan. Let us fight back against sin, and do something about it so that we can use the gifts of God to accomplish something for Him in this next year. HOW TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST SIN Today we are going to talk about how to fight back and why it is important. We will talk about why we must do this, or once again the same sins will overtake us that overtook us last year and the year before. We have to recognize how to fight back and then do something with the tools once we understand. There is a danger if we are complacent. Turn, if you would, to II Peter 2:18. “For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error.” We are talking about people getting lured back into the ways of the world and lured back into sin. Sin that they had escaped from just like we did this Passover. OVERCOME OR BE OVERCOME Verse 19: “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption, for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.” By whom we are overcome is important. Is it Christ or is it the enemy? Verse 20: “For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.” We can fall if we are complacent, too smug, not counting the time and using it wisely. We can fall in such a way, if we are not careful, to be worse off than we were before we were called. That is what we all want to avoid. Indeed at this time, it is very difficult to be a Christian. Sin is ever before our eyes. Temptation is ever there. In the modern materialistic world, sin is a click away! It is a very difficult time to be a Christian, but God knew it would be so. He said we would not be tempted beyond what we are able, but are we drawing on the power and the strength to overcome? Are we working at it along with God? Turn, if you would, to Revelation chapter 13, which speaks of our time. Starting in verse 6: “Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.” Once the saints are overcome, the entire world is in the possession of Satan! It says here, without a doubt, the Church would be overcome in the last days. Continuing in verse 8: “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.” This is a time for endurance. It is a time for faith. It is a time for patience. It is also a time to fight back and do something. We have all gone down and been overcome at different points in our lives. Indeed especially in the last number of years, I think the entire Church has been afflicted. This is not overcome by an enemy of the earth or by a national beast power that overcomes God’s Church. For it is not bullets or bombs that we fear. It is sin that we fear! It is sin that can overcome us! Turn, if you would, back to Revelation chapter 3:19. These are words from Christ for us. “‘As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. 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.’” Once again He says: “‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches.’” God knew it would be tough to live at this time. The reward for overcoming is very great. To sit on the throne with God is not a shabby reward. It is a wonderful reward, but we have a lot of work to do to overcome. He will wipe us clean as we repent. He will send us Passovers, but eventually time will run out. We must have done something to be profitable and useful to God. It is time we look at this word and examine what it means to overcome. In most instances in the New Testament it comes from the word “nikao”. It is number 3528 in your Strong’s Concordance. You will find that that means to subdue literally or figuratively, to conquer, to overcome, to get the victory. This word comes from nike, just like Nike tennis shoes. That is the way it is spelled. It means conquest in the abstract or figurative sense. Do you know why? We are not afraid of being conquered by nations, brethren. We should fear being conquered in the abstract or spiritual sense by Satan who can destroy our eternal lives if we are not careful. We may think we stand when, indeed, we are ready to fall. That was the warning that we read. It is the case of overcome or being overcome. That is what it is all about. The same Greek word is used in both Revelation 13 where the Church is overcome and Revelation 3 where Christ said “if you overcome, you will reign with Me on My throne.” It is the same word. The concept is will we overcome sin, or will we be overcome by sin? Christ, as our Passover Lamb, does cleanse us. But the time for the first fruits is going to quickly draw to an end. We must have done something profitable or we could find ourselves thinking we stand and not standing at all. Each Passover renews us, and from Passover to Passover it is our responsibility to grow and not be falling into the same entanglements over and over again. We need to grow and overcome them and get away from the sin that enslaves us. This is how we bear fruit. As we bear fruit, we will have the joy and the peace of Jesus Christ, and we will have a reward sure when He returns. VICTORY OVER GOD’S PEOPLE The word nikao or nike is the prefix for a number of words if you were to look up that section in your Strong’s Concordance. There are a number of words there. One of them that you will read about in Revelation 2:6 and 15, which we will look at in a minute, is the Nicolaitans. It means adherent of Nicholaus or adherent of heresy. One who adheres to heresy. Also combined with the prefix, of course, that we read, victory over the people. So if we are not careful one of the ways Satan can gain victory over God’s people is with heresies, division and schisms within the body. If you would, turn to the Nicolaitans in Revelation 2. Let’s take a look. There are two Church eras that are mentioned as having a problem. Actually one hates it and the other embraces. Let us look in Revelation 2:1, the Ephesus era. “‘To the angel of the Church of Ephesus write, “These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: ‘I know your words, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars…’”’” He says I know your works. I know what you have done. I know how hard you have striven for Me. He says I know you have checked out doctrines that were brought to you as if from apostles and you saw that they were not. They did not square with My word so you found that they were liars. Continuing in verse 3: “‘…and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.’” You kept plodding on without giving up. Verse 4: “‘Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place - unless you repent. But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.’” This is God speaking. He hates the deeds of the Nicolaitans. Verse 7: “‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.’” God wants us to resist the deeds of the Nicolaitans. He wants us to resist those powers and forces that want to gain victory over God’s people, of which we are a part. Continuing in Revelation 2:12 we see the admonitions to the Pergamos Church. “‘And to the angel of the Church in Pergamos write, “These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword: ‘I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.’”’” Obviously this Church era has Satan in their midst. Some of them were doing well and others were not. Continuing in verse 14: “‘But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.’” Sometime when you have time you can go back and study Balaam and the curses that Balak wanted to put on Israel. It says here you have among you those who hold those doctrines that are a curse on Israel. Verse 15 of Revelation 2: “‘Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.’” He says you have among you those who have gotten victory over some of My people with false doctrines and with immoralities. He said I hate that. Verse 16: “‘Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. 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.’” If we work hard and overcome, fight false doctrine and stand for the truth and fight sin, there is a reward. But overcoming means enduring. Overcoming means patience. Overcoming means work and effort. This is how we show God that we love Him. We do not want to have among us Satan’s doctrines, stumbling blocks or perpetual sin that we are not dealing with in our lives. We do not want that. We want it out. We have been given Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread to do just that. We need to put the leaven out of our lives. A side point I am going to mention right here is that the name Nicholas means heretic. Anyone hearing this sermon should rethink the concept of “Christmas” and worshipping St. Nick. It is not Biblical. I would ask that anyone who does adhere to those doctrines and believes they are a Christian, that they would take the time to look up the origins of St. Nick, St. Nicholas and Christmas. I am sure you will find, in short order, that they are all pagan in origin. They are false, and they will turn an individual away from the truth and cause them to stumble, bringing false doctrines into the Church. In other words, the doctrines of the Nicolaitans. We must be strong and keep that out of the body of Christ and help others see there is a better way. There is the way of the truth, the way of Jesus Christ. That is another subject that we will deal with in more depth at another time, but it is worth looking into. VICTORY AMONG THE PEOPLE There is another derivative of the term nikao. It is a name that you are familiar with. It is Nicodemus. Nicodemus is interesting because it is right in the same section of your Strong’s. You will find that it means victory among his people. Nicodemus gained victory among his people. Not over the entire tribe of Judah. That would be false. He was a Pharisee for Christ. He gained victory over the doctrines and over the opinions of the Pharisees who were against Christ. He was also one who was turning against sin, following Christ and bearing fruit for God. Turn, if you would, to John chapter 3. We are going to read a few scriptures about this particular individual because he is mentioned at least three times in the Bible. John 3, starting in verse 1. “There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” Here Christ is teaching the truth to a Pharisee in the night when no one else could see. This was a Pharisee who knew he had stumbled on to some truth. Continue reading John 3:4-16. Many of us have that scripture memorized. Many Christian denominations around the world know that scripture, but do you realize He was talking to a Pharisee, Nicodemus? He was teaching some very valuable lessons to Nicodemus about receiving God’s Spirit, about repenting and bearing fruit as you will see. Verse 17: “‘For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.’” We know that through Christ, the Holy Spirit and baptism the condemnation can be lifted. But the world, until it has that condemnation lifted, is doomed. That is what Christ is saying. Verse 19: “‘And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.’” He says turn away from the darkness, Nicodemus. Turn to the light, the light that the Son of Man, the Son of God, is bringing to this earth. He is giving this man a powerful one-on-one witness on what to do in his life. Nicodemus took Him up on that. Turn, if you would, to John chapter 7, starting in verse 32. “The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him…” (that is Christ) “…and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me. You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come.’ Then the Jews said among themselves, ‘Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him? Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?’” These people were so carnal in their understanding, even though they were of the Pharisees and taught well in the Old Testament scriptures, that they said what is He going to do? Is He going to run away and go hide among the Greeks? Verse 36: “‘What is this thing that He said, “You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come?” On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.’” Jesus had not risen from the dead and had not been “born again” as yet. But He held the promise out for the Holy Spirit to come. Continuing in John 7, verse 40: “Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, ‘Truly this is the Prophet.’ Others said, ‘This is the Christ.’ But some said, ‘Will the Christ come out of Galilee?’” They knew their scriptures. Many of them had studied their scriptures finding out where the Messiah would come from. Verse 42: “‘Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?’ So there was a division among the people because of Him. Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him. Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, ‘Why have you not brought Him?’” The men who were sent by the Pharisees came back empty handed because there was all of this consternation as to what to do with this Man, Christ. Verse 46: “The officers answered, ‘No man ever spoke like this Man!’” So the witnesses said no one has ever taught people like this Man teaches. Verse 47: “Then the Pharisees answered them, ‘Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him?’” They are saying have any of us believed? None of us believe in this Man, Jesus, and we are sound in the scriptures and learned! If we do not believe in Him, why should you troops, soldiers and workmen believe otherwise? They are saying, follow our example. Verse 49: “‘But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.’ Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them)…” Nicodemus is among this crowd and just standing there quietly at this point. But then he decides to say to them in verse 51: “‘Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?’ They answered and said to him, ‘Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.’ And everyone went to his own house.” So Nicodemus stood up for Christ at a very difficult time. When the Pharisees all around him wanted to kill Christ, he stood up for Christ and said we are unfairly judging Him. Our law does not allow this. He was accused of being a follower, so to speak, which he was. Turn to John 19. Nicodemus was in a very difficult position. Indeed, he ended up taking his life into his own hands to do a great service that is recorded in the scriptures. John 19, starting in verse 38: “After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus…” This was after He had been crucified. “…and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took the body of Jesus. And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby.” This is the holy day period that we are in right now. This man, Nicodemus, risked his life to go help Joseph pull the body off the cross and give it a proper burial because he was a believer. He was a believer who stood strong against the Pharisees and hence he has the name given to him in advance by God “victory among his people”. I am sure God worked the circumstances out. You will notice he had to do something. He had to take risks. He had to do acts of service. He had to prove that he loved Christ and was a follower. We can do no less. He was at great risk because those who saw him and knew him could tell he was a follower of the Man that they hated. He was building for himself righteous garments, as we have studied. I want to take a minute and go back to chapter 7. I want to read John 7:39-44 again. The Pharisees were afraid of the population for the general population honored Jesus Christ. But those who knew their scriptures the best, supposedly, were rejecting Him. We may find that repeating itself here in the last days. Often times the learned get caught up in their scholarship, and it is the little people who recognize Jesus Christ and how much they need Him. FILTHY GARMENTS Turn, if you would now, to Revelation chapter 3. We want to talk about garments for a moment. I mentioned garments as acts of service and the things that we do to bear fruit. Much could be studied on this, but we will look at a few scriptures today. This is written to the Sardis Church. Read Revelation 3:1-6. We defile our garments by the things we think, say and do and the doctrines we hold. If we turn away from the truth and constantly sin and will not repent, in God’s eyes we have filthy garments. Turn to Revelation chapter 16:15. “‘Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.’” We are warned to not walk naked but to have garments. As we have studied in the past, garments are acts of service. These are the things that we do in love and the truths that we hold dear. They form the spiritual garment that we walk in, in God’s sight. If it is a filthy tattered garment, it is because we have many unrepented sins. We are not working to overcome. We are not being cleansed. We are holding false teachings and teaching others the false ways. This gives us filthy garments in God’s eyes. Now I want to turn back to Revelation chapter 3 where God talks to the Laodicean era. It is the time in which we find ourselves alive in. I want to read everything Christ addressed to the Laodicean era. We just read a touch of it about overcoming a few minutes ago. Let us start in verse 14. Read Revelation 3:14-17. There is nothing to cover our shame in this day and age if we are not working with God to put righteous garments on. Read verses 18-19. It is a matter of repentance. If we want this eye salve to be able to see our real condition spiritually, we need to repent and overcome. It is a matter of repentance. Read verses 20-22. Christ washes our garments at Passover, but are we to walk out the door and immediately put on filthy garments again or run naked with no garments at all? This is what we are warned about. It is a spiritual warning, brethren. We can have lovely clothes on and in God’s sight be filthy, dirty, or naked. This is why we must ask Him for the eye salve to put on our eyes so that we can see what we truly look like to Him and then do something about it. We need to do something while we have time. MOTH-EATEN GARMENTS Since we are talking about washing our garments and putting on clean clothes, I want to take a moment and give you the lesson of the moth. Because as we can see we are talking about spiritual garments. We know a moth, if not attended to in our house, will eat our clothes. A moth will destroy clothes made of linen and wool. We also know that a moth will come to a light in the dark. If you put a light on in the darkness outside, the moths will gather around that light. When we receive the Holy Spirit of God, we receive the light of God. Satan will send his spiritual moths. As we put clothes on and bear fruit, those moths are there to eat and destroy. He wants to get us to go back to our old ways. Every Passover when we have our clean garments they are right there to get us to go back to our old ways and make our garments filthy and tattered, ugly and useless. This is what we must fight. With that I would like to turn back to Luke 12. Christ Himself spoke of moths, and His word mentions it in several places. We would be wise to listen and to try to understand what He is trying to say. Luke 12, verse 22: “Then He said to His disciples, ‘Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.’” He says do not worry about your physical food and your clothes. Continue reading Luke 12, verses 23-34. We need clothes that God takes care of for us. Our acts of service (our acts of love) and how we spin our lives God will store for us if we are actually making good, clean spiritual garments. We need to be working with Him as we repent and grow so we will find ourselves with garments in heaven that no moth can get at or destroy. Turn back now to Matthew 6. Read verses 19-21. We are told again to store up in heaven. The things we do on earth here are measured and marked in heaven for us. A reward will be given. It is safe there. Turn, if you would, to Isaiah 51. It is where Christ is drawing this analogy. He inspired the Old Testament as well. If you turn to Isaiah chapter 51 we will read verses 7 and 8 because a moth is mentioned here. “‘Listen to Me, you who know righteousness…’” Of course, the Church understands what righteousness is. “‘…you people in whose heart is My law: do not fear the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their insults. For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool…’” Let’s not be afraid of what people think of us. Nicodemus wasn’t and he was given the name victorious among his people. We want to be called overcomers. We want to be victorious over Satan. Never be afraid of what we look like seeking righteousness in good deeds and doing what is right in God’s sight. For those who persecute us simply are putting on garments that moths will destroy. The worms will eat. There will be nothing. We must continue in the path we know: doing good things, loving our fellow man, providing acts of service and kindness and being an example both in truth (good doctrine) and an example for the world. Unleavened time is the time to start sewing our new garments. Each year we need to be adding to our storehouse in heaven the fibers that God needs to bring us the garment that will be ours for eternity! We need to produce new habits learning and using the truth of God wisely so that we are a light to the world. Yes, the moths will come, but if our garments are stored in heaven we need not be afraid. If we are telling the truth, living the truth and loving our fellow man, we have nothing to fear. Our garments are safely stored away in heaven. The fibers are there for God to make us the clothes that will cloth us with His righteousness when He returns. OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD This is a time to begin overcoming, and there is no time better than the Days of Unleavened Bread. We have just been washed clean with Passover. We have seven days of building good habits, eating unleavened bread and putting the leaven out of our lives. Of course, there is the Last Day of Unleavened Bread to receive more food and go into the world. We will struggle for another year, but this time fight back. Let’s overcome those habits that have ensnared us and entangled us year after year in the past. Turn, if you would, to Romans chapter 12. We are going to read this starting at the end first, but we will end up reading the entire chapter. It is all summed up in one verse. Romans 12, verse 21: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Remember that one scripture everyday for this upcoming year. Now let’s start in verse 1 and get the background here. Romans 12, verse 1: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” We have just been renewed in our mind by Jesus Christ with this Passover. We want to be a good and worthy sacrifice this year. This is what we are being told. It concludes with, “overcome evil with good.” Continuing in verse 3: “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” Let’s not think we are better than we are. Let’s not try to make ourselves out to be something we really are not lest we fall. Verse 4: “For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.” We could go on and on. He who cares, care deeply. He who encourages daily with the other brethren, do so often. He who wants to be an example for Christ, let your light shine. Let nothing diminish it. Verse 9: “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.” Abhor evil, and stay away from every form of evil this year that you possibly can. Cling to what is good. Continue reading in verses 10-20. That may not be vengeance there. He may repent and receive the Holy Spirit, the fire of truth. Then it concludes with verse 21: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” OPPOSE SATAN We need loving acts of service in abundance in the Church. Wash one another’s feet throughout this upcoming year, forgiving one another in everything. Learn to hold on to the truth, never giving up. “Fight the good fight” as Paul said. Oppose Satan at every turn. When Satan accuses, we must excuse. When Satan condemns, we must forgive. When Satan hates, we must love. Satan is harsh, but we must be gentle. He is arrogant, but we must be humble. He is selfish, but we must be kind. He is violent, but we must be peaceful. He is greedy, but we must be generous. He is a liar. We must be truthful. He divides, but we must unite. He destroys and we must build. He seeks power and we seek to serve. He is God’s adversary. We are God’s allies and co-workers. He hates mankind. We are to love the family of man. Repent daily and strive to overcome each and everyday. Ask God for the armor that will help you succeed. Do all of this while we still have time, putting the fibers in God’s hands that He can sew into a garment that will be beautiful. We will not have to be naked when He returns but have a nice, clean garment. The hour glass has only so much sand in it and then Christ will come. We cannot tell exactly when. What kind of garment will you and I have on when Christ returns, which He will have given us to wear at His return? ACTS OF SERVICE Turn to Matthew 5. These are the beatitudes which we have read many times, but let us read them again today, the First Day of Unleavened Bread. Read Matthew 5:1-16. Yes, we are the light of the world and the moths will come to the light. They will try to eat our garments. They will try to get us to sin like we have in the past, but if we are putting our treasures in heaven where no moth can get them, we are untouchable. But we need to be doing acts of service of love and kindness and bearing fruit for God. Our garments are untouchable. Some day Christ is going to have to make some decisions and it will come on us suddenly. Let us read of that day. Turn to Matthew 25 and read verses 31-34. We just read in Matthew 5 who will inherit the world. Read Matthew 5:35-46. This day draws ever nearer, brethren. We are to be performing acts of service and love and hanging on to the truth right up until the end. The only thing is it requires God. The only thing is it requires time to bear fruit for God. When these people were standing before Christ, they were out of time. They could not say let me go back and redo some things. No, it is what we do in the here and now that counts. Let us work on these things and remember, by going back to Revelation 3 one more time, words written for our generation in the Church. Revelation 3, starting in verse 20: “‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. 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. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” In conclusion, brethren, the sand still runs through the hour glass of time, but there is not much left.