More than Conquerors - Part 5

By Faith and By Faithfulness

In the studies for the last four weeks, we've been looking at:

Romans 8v37
... we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Here is a fourth aspect of actually living like a conqueror. Living as a conqueror is achieved:

By faith and by faithfulness

Revelation 12v10-11
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

This speaks firstly of the doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints - we overcome by His blood. Our overcoming, our salvation, our perseverance, our survival, are founded on His sacrifice, not on ourselves. But it also teaches that we the way Christians cope with their trials day-by-day is by faith and by faithfulness.

We overcome - even to the point of death - by:

• The blood of Jesus - by believing in the efficacy of Christ's atoning sacrifice for us
• Our own testimony - our continuing to own and proclaim the gospel of Christ - speaking out even when under trial - turning up at church even when depressed - singing His praises even when things are difficult at home or at work

1 John 5v3-5
This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

Overcoming is through faith and is demonstrated in obedience to God.