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00:39 Amen. Glory to God. Welcome to the cafe.
00:45 Welcome to the program. Pastor Clark Covington here with another episode of KJV Cafe. I’m so glad you’ve joined me.
00:53 If you haven’t already check us out on Facebook, facebook.com/KJVcafe and check out our website kjvcafe.com. We’ve got some other episodes on there. We’ve got links to our YouTube channel and some other good stuff. Even a couple links from our little church.
01:04 So check us out. Thank you for listening. We’re in a series on overcoming and how important is that in this world to overcome.
01:12 Do you want to overcome this world? Yeah, I bet you do. If you’re Christian you know you do. You want to overcome this world.
01:18 Here’s a problem. What are we overcoming? I’ve heard songs about being an overcomer. I’ve heard messages about overcoming.
01:25 I’ve seen movies and so forth about being an overcomer. But what does that mean? I mean what in fact are we overcoming? And the Bible has a ton to say on this and I believe there’s many layers to this.
01:40 But as I’ve studied the Word and as I’ve been preaching here, one way that we’re overcoming or one of the main ways or the main way that we overcome in this life is by facing temptations that the devil puts forward and resisting those temptations by the working of the Holy Spirit within us and overcoming the lusts of the flesh.
02:02 That’s essentially essentially what we’re doing here. What we are to do. And you want to look at a backslid Christian typically they face a temptation and say yeah I like this.
02:13 Keep bringing this to me. I’m good with this temptation. You wanna see someone on fire for God? They’re saying as hard as this gets, as bitter of a pill as this is, I’m going to take it.
02:25 I’m going to take this lashing on the back. I’m gonna take this getting getting chewed out by my boss because I didn’t work on Sunday and I went to church. I’m gonna take this that my kids don’t like me because I tell them to get off the internet.
02:44 Tell them to get delete the social networks. I’m gonna take it that my friends think I’m boring because I canceled Netflix and Disney Plus and all these wicked things. I’m gonna take it that I can no longer go to the bar and drink and I can’t do these things.
02:59 I’m gonna take it on the chin and everyone’s gonna say I’m no fun. I don’t go into these places anymore. This this company blasphemed my God and I decided I’m not gonna go into this company anymore because they blaspheme my God.
03:05 Everyone’s gonna say you Bible thumper, you hypocrite and so forth. That’s the overcomer. That’s the overcomer.
03:09 And overcoming in this world as we’ll see as we get to the conclusion of this message on another day but we’ll get there eventually. Overcoming in this world means great reward in heaven. Amen.
03:22 There’s great reward for the overcomer. Our text verse 1 John 5:4 for whatsoever is born of God over cometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith. So to have victory in this world is to live an overcoming life.
03:38 To live an overcoming life is to be born of God. To be born of God means to be born again. That means being saved.
03:43 Amen. And to be saved we must accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior which means we must recognize our need for a Savior. You think of the word Savior.
03:57 You fall into a well and you can’t get out and someone walks by with a rope and they throw that rope down in there and you hold on and they pull you up.
04:03 You’ve been saved and someone says what have you been saved from and you would say that clearly that well I was in that well and I’m out here in the wilderness no one would have found me.
04:15 I could have died and I was saved by the person that pulled me out of the well.
04:25 Well when we say we’re we say we’re saved by Jesus what how do we explain that? What are we saved from? Sin in the world. Well what is sin? It’s all that’s in this world. Sin is anything that goes against God.
04:32 Amen. Paul writes that to depart from sin would be to depart from the world and I told my kids that today and they told me well where would we go dad?
04:41 We can’t go to outer space and I said exactly it’s hard to depart sin in this world you can’t do it really fully but what you can do is be saved from the consequences of sin or the wages of sin
04:54 and the Bible says the wages of sin is death so to be able to be saved from the wages of sin to be able to saved from hell in the grave and there’s a real literal hell with burning hellfire and it’s meant for the devil and his fallen angels but people that reject God’s free gift of salvation that’s where they go for an eternity to burn and suffer and be a far off from God
05:14 and the burning and suffering the gnashing of teeth is awful but the worst part is distance from God I believe in hell and in heaven we will truly realize our 100% need for God and you’d say well don’t we realize that on earth not necessarily many people don’t think they need God they don’t fear God they’re not living for God so clearly there’s a problem there
05:32 but after this life comes the judgment and at the judgment I believe we’ll realize oh we need God for everything for every breath for everything and at that point it’s too late to say oh now I accept you
05:46 because that’s not an act of faith is it now you can see God so this is the age of grace this is the church age this is the time to make our call and election sure this is the time to work out our salvation with fear and trembling this is the time to accept Christ as Savior and when people say what are you saved from you’re able to say I’m saved from sin
06:05 and they say how are you saved from sin I’m saved from sin because Jesus who was spotless and sinless died on the cross for my sins and when he died on the cross for my sins
06:15 and he was buried three days and he was gloriously resurrected from the grave he’s now Christ he’s now eternally God amen
06:23 he’s in his resurrected body not that he wasn’t God before but now he’s in his resurrected body he’s he walked the earth 40 days and 40 nights he’d appear in this room he’d walk down this road he was now of a supernatural level
06:34 and he ascended up to be with the Father after 40 days and 40 nights at which time he was seen had been seen by over 500 from his resurrection point now we’re saved by what Christ did on the cross
06:46 we’re saved by that free gift of salvation all we have to do is accept it we say okay we believe that Christ did that for us him being sinless he him being sinless he took on my sinful garment and he gave me his pure garment
06:59 so when God looks at me he just sees Jesus and when God looks at Jesus he sees one that paid the price the sacrifice will see those nail scars in his hand the sacrifice the perfect sinless spotless lamb for all mankind that had sinned and those that accept the free gift are the only ones that can appropriate that sacrifice
07:20 some churches teach that anyone that’s born is saved well no not anyone that’s born anyone that’s born again is saved because they have accepted the free gift of salvation but God wants us to accept it amen and so all this to say that when we’re saved and when we’re born again
07:38 and again I’ve given you a gospel account and so if you haven’t been saved make today the day that you accept Jesus Christ as Lord maybe you just need clarity on it and you can email me our emails on the website kjvcafe.com or go to Facebook send me a message
07:52 I’m happy to give you more clarity on this but if you need clarity please get it today seek understanding of what it means to be saved to be sure that you are saved because once you’re saved then you’re gonna enter into this spiritual battle you often hear people talking about spiritual warfare amen and that spiritual battle is between the enemy of God right and those that are born again
08:15 those that are God’s children and so the enemy of God cannot attack God because God is sovereign and in all control so he’s who’s gonna attack he’s gonna attack God’s own God’s elect those have been born again and the enemy of God will do that the devil will do that through temptation the devil is the great accuser the devil wants nothing more than to get you sidetracked and then go up there to heaven and say haha God look at your servant over here cheating on his wife look at your servant over here drunk as a skunk over there at the bar
08:47 look at your servant over here corrupted in power look at your servant over here lifting his name up over yours that’s what the devil wants to do
08:55 and we don’t want to give the devil an occasion to do that and that all starts with our own lusts right so the devil knows what kind of bait to cast
09:06 and I could tell you story after story I’m telling you what the more I serve the Lord the more the devil will throw out every kind of temptation known to man right and try to get me off a track and ask any preacher any Bible believing preacher and they deal with it every single day the temptation and we see that blessed is the man that endureth temptation
09:26 endure that suffers through it and doesn’t give in for when he has tried he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him that’s James 1 verse 12
09:35 and we see that God is not the one that’s tempting verse 13 let no man say when he is tempted I’m tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempted he any man but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed
09:48 then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death do not err my beloved brethren and so we see here that everyone is tempted it is not a sin to be tempted because God is not the one tempting you the devil is
10:06 it is only sin when that lust is given into when that temptation is given into and we see a biblical example in Matthew 4 as we spoke about last episode how Jesus Christ himself was tempted by the devil in the wilderness
10:19 and if you read that scripture closely look at Matthew 4:1 then was Jesus led up of the Spirit capital S into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil I mean think about that in Matthew 4 chapter or Matthew 4:1 in my King James Bible it tells me that Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit
10:37 by so God himself of the second part of the Trinity God the Son was led by the Spirit the third part of the Trinity into the wilderness to be tempted.
10:46 Why on earth would the Holy Spirit lead him into the wilderness to be tempted if not to teach us how to respond amen
10:53 and so God does not God does not do the tempting but God allows the tempting right
11:00 so God knew God knew what was gonna happen with Christ being tempted in the wilderness God knows what’s gonna happen with you he knows the future he knows what the devil is gonna tempt you with and God is I believe urging us to get into his word and be equipped to handle this temptation
11:14 and with Jesus he was fully equipped he was tempted of his lusts he had been fasting 40 days and 40 nights he was hungry you know you say oh Jesus didn’t lust well I don’t know but I know that if you don’t eat for 40 days and you’re human you’re probably hungry and so he was hungry
11:31 he was tempted of food he was tempted to have angels bring him down from the temple pride fame and status we all want that as humans he was tempted to be king over all the kingdoms of the world and that would be a temptation of power
11:44 and Jesus defeated all of these temptations by quoting scripture back to the devil when he was quoted when he’s tempted of the food he quoted
11:51 back in Matthew 4:4 but he answered and said it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God Job writes that he esteemed God’s Word more than his daily food amen
12:05 we see here at Hebrews that everything that Christ went through is for our learning so that he can understand us for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin
12:22 so Hebrews 4:15 helps us understand two or three principles here that Christ was tempted again did Christ lust after these things I don’t know but when you let’s say you were fasting the devil was tempting you and you were desiring to eat right then Christ would be able to relate with to you on that matter because he had gone through the same thing
12:43 so I don’t know if lust is the right word for the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ but I know that he was tempted it says here he was tempted in all points as we are and yet without sin amen
12:53 so it’s not a sin to be tempted because if it was a sin to be tempted then he couldn’t then Hebrews 4:15 couldn’t tell us that Jesus was tempted and didn’t sin so it’s not a sin to be tempted we learned that and we learned that Christ can relate to our temptations and then we learned that Christ gave us the example to overcome those temptations by getting into the word quoting back scripture to the devil
13:14 being strong in the word amen so what does this all mean well I wish I had more time here today to dive deeper into being an overcomer but clearly this means that we are in a battle between the flesh and the little g god of this world
13:34 and the Spirit the Holy Spirit God himself living within us when we’re born again and we live in this battle in this season of time until we’re called to be with the Lord for eternity in heaven amen
13:45 either through the rapture or through our home going but either way we’re in this world here today and we need to overcome the flesh in this world by seeking God fervently
14:02 and being aware of our surroundings being aware of what’s got what God’s doing in our life and what the devil’s trying to do to get us off track and just that awareness and spending time in God’s Word will greatly help us to overcome in this life
14:11 thank you for listening take care God bless and amen