23-0213P_AN OVERCOMER

Rev 3:14  And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 

Rev 3:15  I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 

Rev 3:16  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 

Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 

Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 

Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 

Rev 3:20  Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 

Rev 3:21  To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. 

Rev 3:22  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. 

3-0825M - How Can I Overcome? Rev. William Marrion Branham

And I want to take my subject, this morning, of this: How Can I Overcome? Now, I chose this because that I think that it’s a time that we should never let the Spirit of revival die. We’ve got to keep in revival, constantly revived, every day. Paul said he had to “die daily, that Christ could live.” And we must never let that revival die, within us.

Now, Revelation, the 3rd chapter, and beginning with the 21st verse, we read this.

To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I…overcome, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

35 Now, as we study this, my purpose of this is just not to come here to—to fellowship with you people. Which, I love to do that. But if—if I had a chance to do that, I would come to your home, and shake your hand and talk with you, and set down, eat dinner with you; and set down, under the shade tree, and talk and fellowship a while.

But when we come here, we are here for one specific purpose. This is the house of correction. This is the throne. This is the throne of God, and judgment goes forth from the house of God. And here is where we come together, gather in love, with one another, as only Christians can love. But, in here, we are—we are under a—a—a—a leadership of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Ghost is among us. And we’re here to be…to take reckoning among us, to see where our short places are, our shortcoming, and how can we catch from where we should be, over to where we ought to be now; where we are, and where we ought to be. And that’s what we study. Ministers study those places, for their people. When they see the people, the lack, then they begin on that.

36 Now, soon, I think that the church maybe should be taking just a little step higher at this time. I don’t plan on doing it this morning, of showing these things. But I—I think, shortly, the Lord willing, before we preach on those Trumpets, I want to—to—to bring the Church just something that—that you should know, I believe, now.

37 And now we’re speaking on this, “overcoming.” The word overcome, of course, you know what it means. You’ve got to have something to overcome. And this church age that the Holy Spirit was speaking about here, at the Laodicea Church Age, as we have just been through it, needed a rebuking. Laodicea had to be rebuked, because of its—its different towards Christ. It had put Christ outside, in—in their age. And Christ was on the outside, trying to get back on the inside. That’s love. After He had been put out of His Own house, was trying to come back in, and said, “He that’ll open the door, I’ll come in to him.” See? The church, itself, in whole, had put Him out.

38 But now notice. His call here is not to just the church. “He that overcometh.” See? Not the church; that would be she, see, the church body. But it’s “he that overcometh,” the individual that will overcome, now.

39 And Laodicea had it coming to her. Now we see, then, knowing that this is the Laodicea Age, and knowing that this age needs a sharp rebuke from God. It needs a sharp rebuke. And when our clergy gets so soft and doty, like some aged grandfather to his grandchildren, ever what they do is perfect. And they’re…

40 It’s been said so much, that God is such a good God, until they try to make God just a big doty grandfather. You see? But He is not. He is a Father, and a Father of righteousness, of correction. And love is always corrective. See? Love corrects. No matter how bad it hurts, it still corrects.

A real mother will correct her children. A real dad will correct. See? If you just get soft and doty, and let it…

41 I was crossing an old log the other day, down a—a wash, or what is called a hollow. And I jumped up on this log. On the outside, it looked good, looked like a big old beech log. But when I jumped on it, oh, a great chunk of it fell off. It was real rotten and doty. I said, “That’s the way the Christians are becoming.” They been dead in sin and trespasses, so long, till become doty. They can hold no weight, at all. They—they don’t know what the overcoming means. And I begin to think of this text, then. Overcome, keep Life in you. When life went out, that’s what brought that log to that condition. See? And it made it worse than ever when it laid in the branch where the water was.

42 And then, there, you take a Christian, that’s supposed to be a Christian, let the Life of God go from him, and the experience, the joy of serving Christ; and, living in a church where such is going on, he rottens twice as quick, right, living right under.

43 So, if we are trying to follow the Message of the hour, or at least this part of the Message, we should live constantly in the Life of Christ. See? Cause, if it don’t, you lay around, and know that these things that you’re supposed to do, and don’t do it, the Bible said, “He that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it’s sin.” Then you become doty, rotten, when you’re separated from the Life of God. So, strive with all that’s in you, to stay in the Life of Christ, that you would be fruit-bearing.

44 We see this age that we’re living in. It’s one of the grandest ages of all ages. This Laodicea Church Age is the grandest of all the church ages, because it’s the ending of time and the blending of Eternity. And, then, it’s the greatest sinful age. It’s more sin in this age than there’s ever been. And the powers of Satan is—is many times harder to fight against than it was in any age. See?

45 Here, back there in early ages, a Christian could, for his profession of being a church…of belonging to Christ, could be beheaded for it. He could be killed, and put out of his misery, and go to meet God, quickly.

But now the enemy has come in, in the name of the church, and it’s so deceiving. This is the great age of deception. When, Christ said so, “The two spirits would be so close in the last days till it would deceive the very Elected if it was possible.” See? See? See? Remember, Christ spoke of an elected people for the last day. See? “It would deceive the very Elected if it were possible.” So close! The people so live, people can live a clean, holy life; not be sinful, adulterers, and drinkers, and liars, gamblers. They can live above that, and still not with It.

46 This is the—the age of Life, personal Life of Christ, where, the—the chemical of His Body, what was in Him.

First, under justification, the water baptism. Second, under the new Birth, of Wesley, sanctification, which cleanses. And thirdly, under the baptism of the Holy Spirit, putting that sanctified vessel into service. See? The word sanctify means, it’s a compound Greek word which means “cleaned and set aside for service,” set aside for service. Now the Holy Spirit puts it in service. See?

47 And we’ll notice, “When the unclean spirit is gone from a man, he walks in dry places.” That’s exactly what the church has done, Baptists, Methodists, those who believed in sanctification. “Then,” Jesus said, “the unclean spirit that went out, returns back to this church body and finds the house garnished, swept clean, living pure, clean lives.” All right. “But then if that house isn’t filled, occupied, then he comes in with seven other evil demons worse than he was, and the last stage of this place is seven times worse than it was at the first place.” They had been better to stay Lutheran, than it would to be to receive that Light and fail to follow It. So will the Pentecostals, see, you know what I mean, the house is garnished.

48 As I was talking to someone, the other day, said, “They’re very careful, even many of the holiness groups, not to call the Holy Ghost, ‘Holy Ghost,’ ’cause they identify themselves with Pentecostals when they do that. They say, ‘Holy Spirit,’ see, keep from saying, ‘Holy Ghost.’” Because, the Pentecostal, common people, just call It what the Bible says, “Holy Ghost.” Which, Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost is the same thing. But they’re very careful about it. They don’t want to be identified with them tongues-speaking people; and that’s the Holy Spirit, Itself. See?

What happened then? When the enemy, that went out under sanctification, that was washed out, returned back and found the house not filled with the Holy Spirit, now the state of the church is joined with the—with the league of churches, with the World Council of Churches. And it’s a state now that connects it with Roman Catholicism and all the rest of it, and now it’s seven times worse than it was when it come out of Lutheranism. That’s where man takes it.

49 And then look at the Laodicea Church Age after has received the Holy Ghost, and with the knowledge and the Spirit of God within It, and then the works of God is denied by it, and call It “an evil work.” Then what about that? There is where Christ is put out of His Own church. See? He…It never showed Him in the church until it come to Laodicea; and when He got to Laodicea, He had been put out of His church, trying to get back in.

50 Now, see, justification never put Him in. Sanctification just cleaned the place for Him. But when the baptism of the Holy Spirit come, it put Him in the people. And now they turned Him out, when He begin to show Hisself, that He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. They turned Him out because they have denominated, and the—the Spirit of the Lord don’t agree with their denomination. You understand now? That, they put Him out. “We don’t want nothing to do with this telepathy. It’s—it’s of the devil. It’s fortune-telling. Or…” See?

They don’t understand. “Eyes, and can’t see; ears, and can’t hear.” See? God only opens eyes as He will. “He hardens who He hardens, He wishes to, and—and—and gives Life to those who He desires to.” That’s what the Scripture said.

51 Now, we see these hours that we’re in, this stage, and we see what it was. And the Holy Ghost is rebuking the age that put Him out. But, in all that, did you notice, “To him that overcometh”? Even in that worldly, wicked church age, “Him that overcometh.”

52 We find here that God has always had overcomers. He’s had overcomers in every age. There’s always, every time, in every age that there’s been on the earth, God has always had somebody He could put His hands on, as a witness in the earth. He’s never been without a witness, though sometimes just one. But somebody overcome, now, like the saints of old.

63-0825M - How Can I Overcome? Rev. William Marrion Branham