Abide in Him to Overcome Sin

The Word of the Lord: “I know your works, 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; and you have persevered and have patience and have labored for My Name’s sake and have not become weary.” [1]

The Lord says, “Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust, and does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.” [2]

The Ephesian Christians trusted in the Lord. When false apostles tried to steal their trust in Christ, the Ephesians tested them and found them to be liars. Praise the Lord!

“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.” [3]

“Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; let such as love Your salvation say continually, ‘The Lord be magnified!’” [4]

Discernment between right and wrong, and between true and false is a wonderful gift that Christ provides for His messengers. Praise the Lord! But let us remember to love the Lord and magnify Him, rejoice and be glad in Him, lest after we have exposed false apostles, we begin to desire, as they did, to be the first love of people. Jesus told Satan, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.’” [5]

“But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 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.” [6]

Nicolaitan, literally translated, means overcomer of people. These people wanted to outdo others rather than help them. The Good Shepherd wants to guide us to the tree of life in paradise. He hates the activities of Nicolaitans because they seek to be superior over others rather than humbly serve them that they might be saved.

“The perverse person is an abomination to the Lord, but His secret counsel is with the upright. The curse of the Lord is on the house of the wicked, but He blesses the home of the just. Surely, He scorns the scornful but gives grace to the humble. The wise shall inherit glory, but shame shall be the legacy of fools.” [7]

Jesus Christ described a fool as a person who stores up things for himself but is not rich towards God. He said, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself? This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” [8]

“I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich); and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” [9]

The devil imprisoned some of the Christians in Smyrna.

Jesus told us, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” David wrote, “I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth—Praise to our God; many will see it and fear and will trust in the Lord.” [10]

In due season, divine deliverance will come from the Lord in one form or another, and your mouth will have a new song to sing.

“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.” [11]

In some places, where Satan is reigning, the demonic repercussions are immediate and deadly against those who stand for Christ. Antipas was executed for daring to speak for Christ in Pergamos.

King David loved the Lord. He would have been executed for his love for God had not God answered his prayers and preserved him. He prayed, “Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O Lord; let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me. For innumerable evils have surrounded me. My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of my head; therefore, my heart fails me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me! Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion who seek to destroy my life; let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor who wish me evil. Let them be confounded because of their shame, who say to me, ‘Aha, aha!’” [12]

“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. Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.” [13]

God blessed the people Pergamos with Antipas, His faithful martyr, but even so, some of them were indulging in food sacrificed to idols and indulging in sexual sins. Still others were joining with the people overcomers, those who love superheroes, or superior people, which Jesus hates. Jesus commanded them to repent, or He would come against them.

David wrote, “Blessed is he who considers the poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive, and he will be blessed on the earth; You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness; You will sustain him on his sickbed.” “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” [14]

The poorest of the poor are those who fail to see the value of Christ. Rather than over-indulging in our blessings from God like the man who stored up things for himself, but was not rich towards God, we should consider the lost souls who need the Lord and use our overflowing blessings to help them. The Lord promises to deliver, preserve and heal from illnesses the one who considers the poor. The Lord calls us to quench the thirst of souls who need Him... of the soul who wants to appear before God and be with God forever.

The Lord set the following example for us. He said, “Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book, it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your Law is within my heart. I have proclaimed the Good News of righteousness in the great assembly; indeed, I do not restrain my lips, O Lord, You Yourself know. I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great assembly.” Jesus wanted to enrich others by surrendering His will to God’s will, and by not restraining Himself from speaking to many people about God. [15]

“I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first.” [16]

Perhaps, the people in Thyatira did not want to know Christians or to know their works, but Jesus did and He told them so. David could sense the Lord was thinking about him as well. He wrote, “I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks upon me.” [17]

“Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.” [18]

The Lord loved His followers in Thyatira so just as His prophets old did, He warned those among them who were doing evil to turn back to God. The evildoers among them were allowing a false prophetess to teach and seduce God’s servants to indulge in idolatry and sexual sin. Jesus warned that faction that He was going to cast Jezebel into a bed of sickness and she and her followers into great tribulation. He was about to kill her children with death so that all the churches would know that He does not turn a blind eye to evil among them.

The Lord says to us today, “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction; for whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.” [19]

“Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. But hold fast what you have till I come. And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations.” [20]

Stay with the Lord! He knows the pressure against you to compromise your loyalty to God is great but He will reward you. Remain faithful to Christ and to the preaching and teaching of Christ alone for salvation. We win over sin as we abide in Him!

“Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.” [21]

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones. Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.” [22]

“Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.” [23]

Ask the Lord for prayer partners if you do not have them. The Lord Jesus taught us that two or more people praying together yields great responses from God. “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” “Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a three-fold cord is not quickly broken.” “When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the Word of God with boldness.” [24]

[1] Revelation 2:2-3
[2] Psalm 40:4
[3] Revelation 2:4-5
[4] Psalm 40:16
[5] Luke 4:8
[6] Revelation 2:6-7
[7] Proverbs 3:32-35
[8] Luke 12:20-21
[9] Revelation 2:9-10
[10] John 16:33; Psalm 40:1-3
[11] Revelation 2:13
[12] Psalm 40:11-15
[13] Revelation 2:14-16
[14] Psalm 41:1-3; Psalm 42:1-2
[15] Psalm 40:7-10
[16] Revelation 2:19
[17] Psalm 40:17
[18] Revelation 2:20-23
[19] Proverbs 3:11-12
[20] Revelation 2:24-26
[21] Psalm 42:5
[22] Proverbs 3:5-10
[23] Proverbs 3:26
[24] Matthew 18:20; Ecclesiastes 4:12; Acts 4:31