The Way of Overcoming — Stephen Kaung

The Armor of God and the Victory of Christ

Will you please turn to the letter to the Ephesians. Ephesians chapter six. We'll read from verse 10 through verse 18. Ephesians chapter six, verse 10. For the rest, brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the might of his strength.

Put on the pedigree of God that ye may be able to stand against the artifices of the devil because our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against principalities, against authorities, against the universal laws of this darkness, against spiritual power of wickedness in the heavenlies.

For this reason, take to you the pedigree of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and having accomplished all things to stand. Stand therefore, having good about your loins with truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and shod your feet with the preparation of the glad tidings of peace.

Besides all these, having taken the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the inflamed dots of the wicked one. Have also the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is God's word.

Praying at all seasons with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching unto this very thing with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. And please turn to the book of Romans.

Romans chapter eight. We read from verse 21 through verse 39. Romans chapter eight, verse 21. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who against us? He who he has not spared his own son, but deliver him up for us all.

How shall he not also with him grant us all things? Who shall bring an accusation against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ who has died, but rather has been also raised up.

Who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword, according as it is written, for thy sake, we are put to death all the day long.

We have been reckoned as sheep for slaughter. But in all these things, more than conquer, through him that has loved us. For I'm persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor power, nor height, nor depth, not any of the creatures shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.

Let's have a word of prayer. Dear Lord, we do want to thank thee for being with us throughout these days. Thou has been good, merciful, gracious, faithful to us. We thank thee for bringing us to this last full day.

Oh, dear Lord, thou has never done anything half done, but wherever thou doest, it is completed, perfect. So Lord, we do commit ourselves to thee for this time. We pray that whatever is still left to be done, may thy Holy Spirit finish thy good work in us.

Oh, dear Lord, make us thy corporate vessel to prepare for thy imminent return. How we long to see thee face to face, but Lord, enable us to be of some value, some use in bringing back the king. We ask in thy precious name, amen.

Preparing the Way of the Lord

Dear brothers and sisters, the Lord has gathered us for these days, and it is just for one purpose, to prepare the way of the Lord. I think, brothers and sisters, we all realize that the coming of the Lord is almost here, even though we sometimes wonder why is it he who has promised us to come back and return to receive us to himself, and yet we have to wait for 20 centuries.

We are now already in the 21st century. Why is it that he should delay to come? I believe the answer is not in him. The answer is here with us. It is we who has delayed his return because the vessel is not yet ready.

The bride has not made herself ready, and the bridegroom has to wait patiently for the bride to be completed. So Lord, we do have, so dear brothers and sisters, we do have a most serious responsibility.

The Lord has trusted us so much, and we need to be faithful to him. So this is the reason why we gather together at this time, to prepare the way of the Lord. I believe, brothers and sisters, when we come to this point, we all realize that the only way to prepare for the return of the Lord is by the way of the Lord himself.

He is the way. We have to come into not only more understanding, but even more appropriation of our Lord Jesus in our lives. He said, I will build my church on this rock. And in these days, he has been building his church.

He is building his church to be his counterpart, his life companion, to be his like. As long as we are not his like, we cannot be joined to him as one. So these 20 centuries, the Holy Spirit is diligently working throughout all these 20 centuries just for this reason.

He is preparing us to be the like of our Lord Jesus. And that is to say that we need to be delivered from every and anything that is in us, which is not his like, does not like him, contradictory to him, enemies of him.

And all these things has to be getting rid of that he may fill us with his own self. So when the church come to his statue, the statue of the fullness of Christ, then the marriage day has come. So dear brothers and sisters, the Lord has been preparing his church, building his church for over 20 centuries already.

And we are now at the very verge of the completion of that preparation. On the one hand, it is a great privilege. On the other hand, it is a serious responsibility. So that's the reason as our brother mentioned, we have to surrender our whole being absolutely, totally to Christ that he may be able to finish his blessed work.

The Remnant and the Overcomers

As you look at the church around you today, what will be your estimation? Sometimes I feel the more I look at the church today, the more I look at myself today, the more I feel hopeless. But thank God, he is the God of hope.

He never gives up, day and night without ceasing. The Holy Spirit is still working today, double time even this day, because the bride has to be ready. Maybe I think a word should be put in here. If we expect to see the whole church matured, probably we await eternally.

According to the strategy of God, whenever the whole fail, the Lord will raise up a remnant as representative of the whole. Just like you find in the history of Israel. When Israel failed, both the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom were in captivity.

God raised up a remnant who returned to Jerusalem, a barren land surrounded by enemies, destroyed, in devastation, nothing. But thank God he raised up a remnant who were willing to leave everything behind and go back just for one purpose, to rebuild the house of God, that God may have a name upon the earth.

And when the remnant returned, they built an altar, but they built an altar with 12 stones, representing the whole tribe of Israel. And this remnant principle is carried over to the New Testament in the overcomers principle.

So in other words, God will raise up a minority who are faithful to him, who are willing to surrender their whole being to him and allowed him to work to the fullest in their lives. And they are the first fruits.

And whenever you find in the field, there is first fruit. Then it is a guarantee. It assured us there will be a harvest. So thank God he is fulfilling this matter of the first fruit. He is fulfilling the numbers of the overcomers.

So one day when the overcomers has reached into the statue of Christ, representatively, the Lord will return. So dear brothers and sisters, what we are hoping here for is not for death. Century after century has gone by.

Many who love the Lord, who are waiting for the Lord's return have passed away. Their waiting for the Lord in their time is not wrong because the Lord can return at any time. And in a sense, according to his heart, he will return the first century because he's anxious for his bride, but because we are unready.

He waited and waited and waited until today. Brothers and sisters, we are the generation that has the hope of receiving the Lord back alive. We are not waiting for death. We are waiting to be raptured to the throne of God as the welcoming party to our Lord Jesus' second return.

So you see how important is this hour. In a sense, it's very thrilling. Brothers and sisters, are you waiting to see him face to face in your lifetime? And if you are waiting, what is the way to wait for him?

The only way to wait for him is to allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, getting rid of anything that is not of the Lord and add it into us, all that is in Christ. So this is how urgent and how important this conference is.

The Reality of Spiritual Warfare

But as we have mentioned before, the enemy has the knowledge. He knows that he cannot touch God directly. The only way he's able to touch God is through God's people, is through us. And that's the reason why our Lord Jesus said, I will build my church upon this rock and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

That shows us that the enemy will turn all his wrath, will use all his tricks, all his threatenings, all his power, trying to swallow up God's vessel. And if he can succeed in this, he's able to prolong his own day.

So that's the reason, brothers and sisters, as soon as we turn to Christ, we belong to Christ, we become his target. So in our Christian life, do not expect an easy, smooth sailing. You will find that there will be tribulation.

So our Lord Jesus said, in the world you will have tribulation. But do not be afraid for I have overcome the world. So brothers and sisters, that is the reason why our Christian life is not an easy one.

If we try to live our Christian lives by ourselves, sooner or later we discover it is impossible. There is only one person who can live a Christian life, and that is Christ himself. So unless he lives in us, unless it is he who lives in us, we are not able to overcome the enemy.

We are not able to overcome the world. We are not able to overcome sin. We are not even able to overcome ourselves. So this morning, we would like to consider together the way of overcoming. How can we overcome the enemy and all the enemy's allies?

What It Means to Overcome

I think, brothers and sisters, by now we should realize that by overcoming, it means two things. Number one, it means that we are able to endure all the assaults, temptations from the enemy. We outlast his work.

He is trying to pile upon us with all his tricks and tactics. Sometimes he persuades, he cheats. Other times he threatens, he persecutes. He will use all kinds of devices to swallow us. But brothers and sisters, by the grace of God, we are able to endure, outlast all his attacks and all his temptations because God wants to use us as his instrument to defeat the enemy.

But there is another positive reason. Of overcoming. By overcoming, it means we are able to carry through and execute the purpose of God to which we are called. So there is a negative one of overcoming and a positive one of overcoming.

Overcome the enemy and accomplish God's mission. That is overcoming. Now this is a spiritual battle. In other words, our enemy is unseen. What we've seen of flesh and blood, he may use flesh and blood, but actually flesh and blood is not our enemy.

It is the enemy who hides behind the flesh and blood. He's using flesh and blood. He's using the world. He's using sin. He's using everything. But our true enemy is principalities, authorities, power of darkness, ruler of wickedness.

That's the real enemy. So brothers and sisters, in this fight, you cannot fight by sight. If you try to fight by sight, you are misled by the enemy. You miss your target. So this is a fight of faith. As you'll find in 1 Timothy chapter six, it says a good fight of faith.

Now, what do you mean by faith? If it is faith, then it is not sight. That is to say, it is not something that you can see and you'll fight that which you see. Faith is the unseen thing. Faith is not something in you and by your own strength.

That is not faith. That is work, labor of yourself. So in this spiritual battle, it is a fight of faith. We can only do it by faith, not by sight. Faith is like an anchor. And that anchor, you have to throw it out of the ship and let it sink into the bottom, the unseen, and hold the ship there, firm.

Faith in the Finished Work of Christ

So the anchor of faith is our Lord Jesus. We believe what he has already done on Calvary's cross. It happened 2 ,000 more years ago. And yet we believe this is the truth. What our Lord Jesus had done on Calvary's cross is eternal truth, eternal fact, finished work of Christ.

He has finished the work of the devil. He has put out the devil of the world. He has crushed the serpent's head. He has made a decisive victory over all the evil forces. He has brought all his enemies into captivity and make a show of them by the cross.

So in other words, the battle was already won. The decisive battle was already fought. And it was fought between Christ and the devil. And the devil was already defeated. That's the fact upon which our faith rests.

But faith, as we find in Hebrews chapter 11, verse one, what really is faith? Now in Hebrews chapter 11, verse one, it says faith is the substantiation. Substantiation, this is the Abbage translation.

Now faith is the substantiating of things hopeful, the conviction of things not seen. In other words, faith is the power of bringing something which you're hopeful, something which you do not see and enable you to see it and to get it.

To use an illustration, suppose we have a beautiful picture here and a blind man comes in and we tell that blind man, look at this picture, how beautiful it is. He will say, I see nothing. Not because he cannot see, therefore the picture does not exist.

Now this is what we all have been doing. People say there is no God because we don't see him. But that's nonsense. It is not the fault of the picture. It is your fault because you don't have the eyesight, the ability to absorb what is outside of you and bring into you to be your experience.

So you can see the picture, enjoy the beauty of it. It becomes something within you instead of just something outside of you. Now that is faith. So faith is the power of substantiating. There is a substance here, but the substance is outside of you.

It is not your experience. You are not combined together into one. So if that's the case, it is as if it doesn't exist. But faith has the power to substantiate what the Lord has done on Calvary's cross and make it your own.

You see it within yourself. So oftentimes when you read the scripture, you see all the letters. You see what Christ has done for you, but it doesn't seem to have any power, operation in your life because the word is word and you are you.

What Christ has done is done, but in you it's empty, it's nothing. But one day when the Holy Spirit enlightens you and suddenly your inner eyes are open and you begin to see what is written, it is no longer letter.

It becomes spirit to you. It becomes real to you and it operates in your life. It works. Now that is faith. So brothers and sisters, in the conflict, the only way to fight the battle is by faith, not by sight.

We cannot do it. We do not have the wisdom and the power to overcome our enemy. He's too tricky for us. He's too wise for us. He's too strong for us. So do not try to fight against him by yourself. But thank God, our Lord Jesus has already overcome and he has given us his overcoming power only if we appropriate it.

We make it and that is by faith. So that's the reason why you find this battle is to be fought by faith. And by faith, it simply means you are not fighting it on your own. You are fighting it by Christ in you.

David and Goliath: Fighting by Faith

Now I think the best illustration probably you can find is in the Old Testament where you'll find when Goliath, the Philistine, challenged the nation of Israel because he represents the nation of Philistia.

And he said, I am the nation of Philistia. I challenge you to bring anyone out and fight with me. If you can kill me, the whole nation of Philistines will be yours. But if I overcome you, then your whole country become ours.

And you'll find how he challenged the nation of Israel day after day. And when Saul and the people saw him and heard him, oh, they were in trembling and in fear because Goliath was a giant. Not only a giant, but he was trained as a soldier from his youth.

And here come David, a youngster, a shepherd. He could not bear to see this scene. How can the enemy of God boast against God's nation? That's blasphemy. And he said, I will go and fight against him. And we all are familiar with the story.

When we are children, we are told in Sunday school, Goliath was fully armed with spears, with sword, with shield. And David, a shepherd. So David said, you come with spear and sword, but I come in the name of the Lord.

And we all know the story, how David used just his sling and one stomp, and he hit the only spot in the armor, in the helmet, because the two eyes has to be uncovered. And in between the two eyes, there's stone hitting and Goliath fell.

Brothers and sisters, this is the way to fight the fight of faith. Never try to expose yourself and try to rely upon yourself to resist the enemy, to overcome the enemy. Because the more you try, the more you fail.

We cannot do it. But thank God, there's one who has already overcome. And by faith, by believing in him, we are well able to overcome all our enemies. So this is the secret of the spiritual battle. Here you'll find in the book of Ephesians chapter six, the Paul, Apostle Paul is trying to tell us how to fight that fight.

Standing in Christ

Now that battle actually is more defensive than offensive. And that's the reason why you'll find in verse 10. It says, for the rest, brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the might of his strength. And then in verse 11, put on the panoply of God that ye may be able to stand against the artifices of the devil.

Now in this spiritual battle, in this conflict, we say it is more defensive than offensive. Even though there is a part of the offensive part, but mainly it is a defensive battle. And in a defensive battle, you have to stand on higher ground because that is the privileged ground.

So here you find stand, where do you stand? You stand on the ground of Christ. You never try to stand on any other ground. You cannot try to stand on other people's ground. You cannot try to stand on your own ground because these are lower grounds.

The only higher ground is to stand in Christ Jesus. So that's the reason why in verse 10, be strong in the Lord and in the might of his strength. That is our stand. As long as we stand on Christ, the enemy is not able to dislocate us.

What do you mean by stand? In Christ. To put it another way, it simply means abide in Christ. You remember in John chapter 15, how the Lord Jesus said, I am the vine and ye are the branches. I in you and you in me.

This is our spiritual position. But then the Lord said, abide in me and I in you and ye shall bear fruit. You will be my true disciples. Abide in me. There is a right ground and the right ground upon which we stand is Christ.

And we need to continue to stand on Christ. That's abiding. Abiding simply means make your home there. You know, the tactic of the enemy is try to remove us from that ground. As long as, as soon as he can remove us from the ground of Christ, then he can swallow us up.

But if we continue to stand on the ground of Christ, we continue to abide in Christ, live in Christ, make our home there and do not try to travel out. Then you find the enemy cannot dislocate us. He cannot overcome us because Christ is our victory.

Is it not true? That in our experience, the enemy is always trying to remove us from the ground of Christ. He will try to distract our attention, sometimes to other people, sometimes to other situations, sometimes to our friends, sometimes to our family members, sometimes to the world.

And he's trying all these things just to distract us, distract our attention, remove the target. And then how we are fooled by the enemy. We begin to make people as our enemy. We begin to make situations as our enemy.

We begin to make other people, even our family members as our target. As long as he's able to remove us from the ground of Christ, he is successful. In your following the Lord, when you find your friends, try to show their sympathy to you and tell you that this is something too much.

Don't be too narrow. Don't be too strict. You don't need to do that. The enemy is behind them. Try to remove you from seeing Christ to see your friends. So this is the way that you will find throughout our Christian life.

I believe every one of us has this experience. You want to follow the Lord, but probably your family think that you are too narrow. Look at all the other Christians. They can do this, they can do that.

Now why is it you cannot? And brothers and sisters, how easily we are persuaded. We have to bear the cross and follow the Lord. So the enemy is trying every means to remove us from our stand. But if we keep abiding in Christ, then Christ is the victory.

Putting on the Complete Armor of God

So in this battle, stand is very important. That's the preparation for the fight. And then you find, put on the panoply of God, the complete armor of God. Now this word, panoply, or the complete armor is used only two times in the New Testament.

This is the one time, Ephesians chapter six, but the other time is in Luke chapter 11, verse 22. And in that Luke 11, 22, the Lord said, how can you go into a strong man's house and take the things in the house?

Unless you disarm him first. Your enemy is fully armed. And as long as he is fully armed, you have no way to get into his house because he's well able to protect. So the first thing you have to disarm, the armory of the enemy.

And when the enemy is disarmed, then the whole house is wide open. And all the things in the house will be your trophy. So that is one place in Luke 11. And then there's another place is here in Ephesians chapter 12, 11.

Do you know that our enemy has already been disarmed? Probably in our own understanding, we think the enemy is fully armed, but thank God our Lord Jesus on Calvary's cross has disarmed him. So he is now naked.

Fully exposed. But we have the privilege of being fully armed. But what will be an armory if you do not put it on yourself? If you leave it at home and you do not put it upon yourself, it doesn't help.

So in a sense, from the experiential side, stand means put on Christ as your armory. You put on Christ, all the different aspects of Christ, and these will protect you from any and every assault of the enemy.

So do not forget to put on the arms, put on Christ. And that is the same thing as standing on Christ. And as long as you put on Christ, the enemy may try every tricks he has, but he will fail. And now, of course, it says in verse 14, 13.

For this reason, take to you the penalty of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having accomplished all, to stand. Now, here you'll find this double meaning. If you put on Christ as your armory, then you're well protected.

You're able to withstand in the evil day. We today are in the evil day, but with putting Christ on us, we are well able to withstand all the assaults, all the temptations, distractions of the enemy. Then, having accomplished all things, to stand.

This is positive. Accomplish all things simply means we can carry through and put into execution the purpose of God that we are called and complete the task. So that's why we say overcoming is twofold.

Not only to overcome the enemy, but to execute the purpose of God, to make it. And by that, we are able to withstand and to stand. Now, if you like to go into some details of the armory, you will find there are sevenfold.

Truth and Righteousness as Spiritual Protection

Number one, verse 14. Stand, therefore, having girt about your loins with truth. That is the first part of the armory. Girt about your loins with truth. That is to be ready for the fight. You know, people in the old days, they wear long gowns.

And whenever you are going to work, you have to gird them up with a girdle so that it will not interfere with your work. And here in this spiritual battle, the first one of the armory is the girdle. In other words, that will prepare you for the fight.

And we girdle ourselves with truth. Now, our brother has already explained to us what is truth. Truth is not just something. What Christ has accomplished on Calvary's cross, it is. But truth is also something that Christ has accomplished on the cross becomes something that you walk by and you walk in.

So, you know, in 2 John, the elder John said, I'm pleased to see that your children are walking in truth. Whatever we know of Christ, do we not only believe, but we walk in it. If we really walk in it, walk in the truth, whatever the Lord has revealed to us, we are faithful to it.

Then we are girdled. We are ready for the fight. Why? Because if we are not believing the truth, number one, we cannot fight. Number two, even if we believe, if we have not been obedient to the truth, walking it, then there is falsehold there.

And the enemy will find that loophole to attack us. So brothers and sisters, it is very, very important that in this spiritual battle, we have to begin with a conscience void of offense. All that we know of Christ, all that has been revealed to us in the Bible, we have been obedient.

And if we are in that kind of situation, then we are in a position for the battle. Because if we have anything untrue in us, as the apostle Paul said, we are like a ship. It will be shipwrecked. There's a hole there and the water will come in and the ship will sink.

We will lose our faith. So that is the preparation for the fight. And then the second thing mentioned there is having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Now breastplate is to protect your heart, your breast.

And in your heart, there is. In other words, Christ is your righteousness. Not only Christ is your righteousness, but by the grace of God, you're practicing righteousness. You know, when the prodigal son came back, he will be closed with a best robe.

So that's the reason why we say Christ is our righteousness. We are closed with Christ so that we can face our heavenly father. But not only that, that is the objective side. There is the subjective side.

As you'll find in 1 John 2, we need to walk in righteousness, practical righteousness. As long as, as far as we know, what the Holy Spirit has revealed to us, what is right in his sight, what is wrong in his sight, we have obeyed.

And that will protect. In 1 Thessalonians 5, verse eight, we find it is the breastplate of faith and love. In other words, if we have the breastplate of righteousness, then we will also subjectively enter into the breastplate of faith and love.

Because having that righteousness, your faith will be strengthened and love will begin to flow out. The love of God will fill your heart. So that's the breastplate. And then it shored your feet with the preparation of the glad tidings of peace.

Confessing Christ and Sharing the Gospel

In the battle, you have to have the right shoe so it will not be slippery. You can stand firm. And what is our shoes? It is the preparation or the readiness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. To put it another way, this means that we confess our Lord Jesus before the world.

The Lord Jesus in Matthew chapter 10 said, if you confess me before man, I will confess you before the Father. If you do not confess me before the man, that you will not be confessed by the Lord before the Father.

Peter tells us that we must always be ready. Whenever we are asked, we will give them the reason of our hope. With humility and meekness. So dear brothers and sisters, we need to confess our Lord Jesus, ready to confess him at any time.

Do not be afraid, even denying him, but ready to do that, that we're able to stand on firm ground. And after that, we have taken the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the inflamed dots of the wicked ones.

The Shield of Faith and the Battle of the Mind

You know, the enemy tried to throw fiery dots into our mind, sudden thoughts, accusations, false thinking. Oftentimes, we find the enemy is trying to throw all these things into our mind. And if we are not careful, and think that these are our own thinking, we are.

I remember at one time of our Christian life, I really want to follow the Lord, obey him in all things. And you know, I even go to the extent to find from the school book, Discipline. Try to see if I have violated any of the rules.

The enemy tried to throw everything into my mind. Things that I do not want to think. And I accept these things as if it is mine. And they trouble me to the uttermost. I try every means to throw away those thoughts, but I couldn't do it.

Until finally, I was told, you cannot forbid the bird to fly over your head, but you can forbid him to make his rest on your head. You know, the enemy trying to attack our brain, our mind. Oh, how much I suffered because of that.

And finally, I realized these thoughts are not mine. These thoughts are not of God. So they are not mine. Why should I accept it as if it is mine? I was deceived. And the battle of the mind is a very real battle in our Christian life.

I believe brothers and sisters, you may have experienced it already, or you're going to experience it. But thank God, we have the helmet of salvation. And then you have the sword of the spirit, which is God's word.

The Word of God as the Sword of the Spirit

Now this is the only, or one of the two armory that is both offensive and defensive. Thank God we have the word of God. But I'm afraid we always make a mistake. We think of the word of God as our sword, and we try to wield that sword against ourselves and against other people.

Now that's a big mistake, because the word of God is the sword of the spirit. It is not our sword. We are not experienced in using the word of God. Because when we use the word of God, we will cut people down.

And sometimes we cut ourselves, unnecessary. It is the sword of the spirit. The Holy Spirit is the only one who knows how to wield the sword. And when he's using the word of God, it is living and operative.

It will penetrate, it will divide the soul and the spirit, and he will bring everything naked. Our thoughts, our intents before God. Thank God we have the word of God in us. And when the Holy Spirit is using the word, how it divides us, how it penetrates us, how it delivers us.

And of course, when the Holy Spirit is using the word against the enemy, the enemy is routed. That's the reason why you find in a temptation of our Lord Jesus in the wilderness. Every time the enemy try to remove him from the right ground, try to remove him from the ground of the Son of Man, to be the Son of God.

Because when he was on earth, he came as the Son of Man, even though he's still the Son of God. But he act, he live as the Son of Man, as one of us. So the enemy tried to tempt him away from that ground, and tried to tempt him away from being the Son of Man, to be the Son of God.

But every time our Lord Jesus used the word of God to defeat him. That's the way to use the word of God. And finally, prayer is also an armory. Prayer will protect us. And prayer will also clear the way for the will of God and defeat all the devices of the enemy.