Seeking for the help of the Lord
I direct your prayerful attention to our second reading 1 John
chapter 5 and reading for our text verses 4 and 5 verses 4
and 5 For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world? But he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. 1 John chapter 5 and verses 4
and 5. There are three times in the
words of our text that we read this phrase, that overcometh
the world, or overcometh the world. The verse 4 begins, Whatsoever
is born of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory,
that overcometh the world, even our faith. And in verse 5, who
is he that overcometh the world? But he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. Three times, overcometh the world. What is it that is meant by the
world? And why is it mentioned these
three times, the necessity to overcome the world? It's set
forth as an adversary, as something that is against the people of
God, that wars against them, that threatens them, that they
need to overcome and it's three times mentioned here and three
times there's an answer given, a way in which the world is overcome
but we have these questions then, what is it, why is the world
such an adversary and we must go right back to the fall, we
go back and remember that God created all things perfect and
that one aspect of that creation that God created in placing man
upon the earth was to have fellowship and communion with his creation. The Lord walked with Adam and
Eve in the cool of the day, they had uninterrupted communion and
fellowship, man had been made in the image of God and created
in His image, and it was created to have that fellowship with
Him. And this is the one aspect of
what happened during the Fall, that God gave to man all that
was in the Garden of Eden, but a command that He did not touch
the tree of the knowledge of good and of evil, and that in
the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. And it
was in the desire to go against God's command and to take up
with Satan's suggestion that man in his innocency created
perfect, but with a free will, and with that free will, he then
listened, and through the woman, listened to Satan, the serpent
coming, Satan coming in the form of a serpent, that said, you
shall not surely die, The woman had said, you shall not eat of
it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. But Satan, he says,
you shall not surely die. And then he, as it were, speaks
against God, as if God had some ulterior motive as to why that
he wouldn't allow eating of that fruit. For God doth know that
in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and
ye shall be as God's known good. and evil. We read then that when
the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant
to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she
took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her
husband with her, and he did eat. Then their eyes were opened,
they knew that they were naked, they had fallen, the sentence
of God came to be upon them. And in our reading, when we first
began to read in the second chapter, in the first of John, 1 John
chapter 2, and in verse 15, we have this most solemn charge,
that the people of God love not the world, neither the things
that are in the world. If any man love the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. Then we are told in verse
16, what is actually in the world, for all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh, and we bring that as a direct reference
back to Genesis chapter 3 and verse 6, the woman saw that the
tree was good for food, the lust of the flesh, the flesh wanted
that tree, that fruit of the tree for food. And then we have,
and the lust of the eyes, not only lusted after with her flesh,
she saw it and so we read there that we said and that it was
pleasant to the eyes that is how it is described in Genesis
and that is how in John we have it put before us as well the
lust of the eyes and the pride of life what pride it is when
she says that it was to be desired to make one wise wise, what,
wise above God's counsel wise above what God had said in the
day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die no says
Eve no says Satan and Eve says I'll believe Satan rather than
God it won't be so I'm wiser than God I will obey Satan I'll
take up with that temptation and rebel against God and so
that is what she does and so The description that we have
as to what Eve viewed in that temptation and in the fall is
now the characteristic right through the world. In the world
there is that which our flesh lusts after. There is that which
the eyes will see and see as beautiful for our flesh in opposing
to what God has said is good for us. And then we have the
pride of life. We will not have this man to
reign over us. We are as kings. We know better. We know better than the Word
of God, than God Himself. And man is a rebel. Man is a
rebel against God. And the world is rebelling against
God. The world, it has the language
of that which is so characterized with our Lord upon Calvary's
tree. The multitude, they were saying,
away with him, away with him, crucify him. Why? Because he
said that he was the son of God. They rebelled against God. Whoso receiveth you, receiveth
me. He that receiveth me, receiveth
my father. And he that rejecteth me, rejecteth
my father. The Lord said to him, he said
to the multitude, you say that Abraham is your father? But now
you go about to kill me. This did not Abraham. Abraham
was called the friend of God. Abraham saw my day and rejoiced
at it. They were not following in Abraham's
steps. Abraham, he could see by faith
the coming of the Lord, but those who were on the earth, when our
Lord came, they rose up against him they cast him out of the
vineyard as it were they cast him from this world they would
not receive his words they would not receive his counsel his ministry
and this is the the world the apostle says I am crucified unto
the world and the world is crucified unto me in other words we're
a people of God they do not want the world which has the God of
this world which is Satan which is over this world in whom those
are blinded that follow after him as Eve with open eyes but
man now in fallen state he goes after Satan and so the James
he says of one mark of godliness is that we are to visit the widows
in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world. And then he says, Know ye not
that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever
will be a friend of the world is an enemy of God. And what
he's meaning is not meaning that we should look upon God's creation
and look upon the things that he has made or one another as
enemies but the world as characterized as rebelling, hating, despising,
turning away from the Lord, as a world that is under Satan's
influence and Satan's power, and as a world that doesn't hold
anything attractive to a new man of grace, to a believer,
but has everything attracted to our old nature, to the flesh,
to the desires of the flesh, and that which is corrupt and
vile. And the world is set forth in
this state and condition, and we know what the Lord has said,
that the fashion of this world, it passeth away. Heaven and earth
shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. Already
we have the illustration in Noah's day, when the Lord saw the world
was filled with violence and wickedness, And He destroyed
that world, and He preserved Noah alive in the ark. And though
He has promised never again to destroy the world with a flood,
yet He has said that the world shall be destroyed, the Lord
shall come again Himself, and the heavens shall be rolled up
as a scroll, shall melt with fervent heat, and all shall be
destroyed, and the Lord shall make a new heavens and a new
earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. But this world is characterized
as being haters of God and rebelling against God. And yet God in great
mercy is plucking individuals that are born into this world,
born in sin, shaven in iniquity, and He's plucking them from this
world and from Satan's grasp and bringing them again to be
reconciled with himself to walk with him and to love him and
to be strangers to the world and to seek that world which
is to come to believe God rather than to believe man and to trust
in what the Lord has said rather than to trust in the wisdom of
man whose days are but as a shadow soon to pass away and soon will
never ever be again, the place that knoweth him now shall knoweth
him no more for ever. And poor man, a creature of the
day, he raises up his fist against almighty God, rebels against
him, that he liveth for ever and ever, the eternal and everlasting
God. What is man that thou art mindful
of him, says the psalmist, or that the son of man, that thou
visitest him? Why, just as the flower of the
field, the grass, how soon he passeth away. But the world is
set forth then as a place that is under Satan's rule and he
has blinded the hearts of men who would rather listen to him
than listen to their Creator and their God. But the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the coming of the Lord, is to bring a people
to be reconciled to Himself, to bring about the means that
that should be so, the means of mercy, that He should come,
that He should pay their debt, that He should then make a way
through the Gospel that men and women, beginning once alienated
from God and haters from God through wicked works, are brought
to be reconciled and brought to have fellowship with Him,
love Him, serve Him, walk with Him, and in so doing find that
this world is not a friend to them, not a friend to God, nor
to godliness, nor to holiness or uprightness. but his enmity
and hatred, the Lord said, I have given them thy word, and the
world hath hated them. The word of God is very, very
clear concerning the world and the God of this world and what
the world is to the people of God. And you know, when the Lord
works in our hearts, we will feel this. We will know that
this world is no friend to our peace and walk with God. Snares on every hand, temptations
in every place, Satan taking every opportunity he can to trip
us up, to ensnare us, to blacken the name of the Lord, to turn
us away from His Word. And the men and women of this
world, really looking upon the people of God as well, It was
good if this world didn't have them to be around us, pricking
our consciences. But little did they realise that
this world only exists for the people of God. The Lord made
it for himself, for his honour and for his glory. But this world
does not show forth his glory, but his people, they do show
forth his glory. He says, this people have I formed
for myself, they shall show forth my praise, but we will know and
feel what it is to really wrestle against the world because it
is not just around us, we have it in our hearts, those things
that we read, the lust of the flesh, the desires of the eyes,
we have that old nature, we have the world within, and it does
see these things and it loves them, and our heart lusts and
it goes after them, And we may feel at times, at least I do,
that who shall deliver me from this body of death? That is what
the Apostle said. And to feel how fallen, how wretched,
how far off we are from God and the thought of being separated
from God in this time state, let alone for eternity, forever
banished from Him. And that is what hell is, to
be forever separated and banished from God and under the wrath
of God and the thought of this, how can we? How can we persevere? How can we be delivered? How
can we overcome? We have in our text here these
three overcomes and may it be as we have looked at this verse
and these verses that your heart, that mine have gone out and be
set. That is what I want. I want to
be an overcomer of the world. I want to be one that is delivered
from this world, that it does not prove my ruin and destruction
in all the things that it goes after, that is not of God, but
is of the world. Our Lord so clearly said He cannot
serve God and mammon. Ye cannot serve the Lord and
cannot serve this world. Her heart will either be after
one or after the other, will either be reconciled to God or
will be joined with the world and enmity with God. It cannot have the friendship
of the world and the friendship of God in that sense Yes, we
value friends, loved ones that we have in this world. We are
not to hide ourselves from our own flesh. We are not to have
a wrong spirit towards the persons of this world. But as far as
they go, as alienated away from God, we can say we cannot walk
with you in fellowship, in communion, and we cannot be friendship in
a close way at all with those that are haters of God and rebelling
against God Well I want to look with the Lord's help at the three
overcomers of the world the three overcomers of the world that
are set before us in these two verses and the three of them
are this firstly It is, whatsoever is born of God, and I'm taking
them in the order that it comes in these verses, but there is
the first one, whatsoever is born of God, we read in verse
four, for whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. The second one I'll bring before
you is what comes thirdly in our text, but it is a believer
in Jesus. In verse 5, who is he that overcometh
the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? And then thirdly, it is our faith. And this, in the middle of verse
4, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our
faith. Three, overcome us. Firstly then it is whosoever
or whatsoever is born of God Notice the difference between
verse 1 and verse 4 In verse 1 we have whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God And in our text it is,
for whatsoever is born of God. And we would think, well, what
is the difference? It's very obvious that in the
first case it is speaking of a person. Who? A believer. But then, why change? That it be, whatsoever is born
of God. really we put it in this way,
whatsoever comes or originates from God, that overcomes the
world. The world cannot overcome itself. Our Lord spoke of this concerning
Satan, He said that Satan cannot rise up against himself. They
accused him that by Beelzebub he cast out devils. He said,
but devils, the devil can't cast out the devil, and the world
can't cast out the world, and our old flesh, our natural flesh,
cannot cast out our old nature. We need that which is from God,
and that is what is impressed here, upon us here. in that which overcomes the world
you won't find it comes from the world it won't come from
ourselves but must come from God and then it leads to God
and that is what is so vital here whatsoever is born or originates
or comes from God overcometh the world now what is it that
comes from God? Well the first thing is this
with a believer, one that is given the new birth, they are
born of God and they are born of the Spirit and that which
is wrought in them is a new creature in Paul's second epistle to the
Corinthians, he says in verse 17, that, Wherefore, if any man
be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new, and all things are of God, who hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. and hath given to us
the ministry of reconciliation." This is this bringing back to
God. This is the opposite to the world
saying, depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
It comes from God and it gives to a poor sinner a new creature,
a new nature, a new desire after God to learn of Him, to seek
after Him, to listen, to the Lord mine ear hath he opened
it is said everyone shall receive of my words my sheep they hear
my voice they follow me and this comes from above it comes it's
not just turning over a new leaf it's not just learning a new
doctrine following a new denomination it is actually that which comes
from God that changes the heart and renews the will and turns
the feet to Zion's hill it turns the feet to the Lord's way and
that comes from God and that is what is so important here
whatsoever is born of God and yes we can join that then with
verse 1 whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of
God, it is speaking of the new birth, that does come from God. Not just a taking up with religion,
but the importance is, does it come from God? He which hath
begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus
Christ. But if God has not begun that
work, that is the solemn thing. Man's work will not stand. where
God has begun the work, then he would try that work, he would
test that work. And one way, of course, that
is tested is that we have the world that is all around it. It's tested day by day. And in
effect, we might say this, if that which is wrought in us is
not of God, if it doesn't come from God, then we shall surely
fall When we see the case of Judas Iscariot, we see the case
of Gahazi, Elisha's servant, and Demas, all of them, they
went after the love of money, which is the root of all evil. And though they had the Lord
about them, the blessing of the Lord, they went after those things. And it is only as the Lord is
pleased to work in a poor sinner that he would deliver from that
and save from that the work of God will stand the fire and so
the other thing that is from God whatsoever is born of God
what comes from God is the love of God You know, when Peter had
denied his Lord and Master those three times, the Lord met with
him after he'd risen from the dead, and he said to Peter, lovest
thou me? Three times. Lord, he said, thou
knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee. Why was that
so important? Because John, in his epistles
here, he says we love him because he first loved us. The love that
a poor sinner feels to God first comes from God, and it is put
in His heart, shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost,
and that love that is wrought that way, that overcomes the
world. Why? Because we read this, that
the love of God constraineth us, and that if we love God,
we'll keep His commandments. It is that a mark of the love
of God is that we desire to be with Him, to hear Him, to follow
Him. It is a spring for all that we
do in crucifying of the flesh, of the world, of desiring to
walk with the Lord. The love of God is that motivating
factor that we're not just loving doctrines, we're not loving formal
ceremonies, or anything, a prayer book, a hymn book, a tune book,
or whatever it is, but we're loving the Lord Jesus Christ. It is His person that we truly
love and reconcile to Him and desire to be with Him. You know,
the Lord says of His people, I pray that they might be with
me where I am, that they may behold my glory. And the people
of God said, yes, we want to be. where the Lord is. If you
and I want to be where the Lord is in eternity in heaven, we'll
want to be where He is here below. We'll want to be in His company,
with His people, in His house. Sadly we cannot meet, but we
can meet around the world at this time. There my best friends,
my kindred dwell. There God my Saviour reigns. We read in the Psalms that in
His temple everyone shall speak of His glory. and that love of
God that comes from God, shed abroad in the heart by the Holy
Ghost. We have the Beatitudes in the
Gospel according to Matthew and chapter 5 and we have there a
list of those things that come from God. Whatsoever is born of God, they're
not a springing forth from the old nature. There is no seed
of any good in us whatsoever that just needs a little bit
of persuasion, a little bit of helps to bring forth something
good. There is none good, no not one. All have sinned and come short
to the glory of God. The fall is a complete fall from the image of God and
really taking up with the image of Satan we are become as devils
hating God and loving evil but what comes from God and the Lord
speaks these things when he speaks to the multitudes he opens his
mouth he pronounces a blessing He says, blessed are the poor
in spirit. Where did that poorness of spirit
come? He said, theirs is the kingdom
of God. It is a blessing from above that they have been made
poor in spirit. Blessed are they that mourn.
They're mourning over their sins. They shall be comforted. Blessed
are the meek. By nature we are full of pride
and hatred to God. There's not a meekness at all.
But that blessing comes from above. Blessed are they that
hunger and thirst after righteousness, those who feel they have no righteousness
of their own, no goodness of their own, but they long for
that, a holiness, a perfectness, an upright walk, and yet feel
so contrary themselves. And the Lord pronounces a blessing
in their very hungering and thirsting after that. That is what comes
from above. And so then also, the blessed
are the merciful, they shall attain mercy. Blessed are the
pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers. Thou only hath wrought all our
works in us. It is the Lord that is blessed
with grace, the people of God. And dear friends, don't be surprised
if you really feel so devoid of anything good or any grace
at all but may you see all the grace and all the goodness and
the fullness in Christ it hath pleased the Father that in him
should all fullness dwell and so that which overcomes the world
in our text 1 John 5 verses 4 and 5 whatsoever is born of God overcometh
the world whatsoever. The new creature, the new birth,
the love of God, the graces, the blessings, God's spirit that
comes from God, these things that originate from God, that
overcomes the world. We think of the solemn case of
Aaron's sons where they offered strange fire The fire that was
to be offered was that which was kindled from above, the same
as what kindled the main altar in the wilderness, the same fire
that kindled the fire upon Mount Moriah in David's day and Abraham's
day, the same fire that upon Mount Carmel came in answer to
Elijah's prayer, that which comes from above, the same fire that
kindled the altar when Solomon dedicated the temple, that which
comes from above, the same fire, the same power, the Lord said
to the disciples, tarry at Jerusalem until ye be endued with power
from on Haim, and Aaron's sons, they died before the Lord. It
did not come from the Lord. If you think of the solemn case
of those that tried to imitate the apostles in casting out devils,
and those devils and the people with whom they were in, they
jumped upon them, they had the mastery over them. They said,
Paul, we know. Jesus, we know. But who are you? They had the mastery over them,
they had not power over them, and we'll find that it is only
that which comes from God that will overcome this world. And
I say to you, dear friends, I say to myself, we're struggling with
the world and the things of it. Look for no help here, but look
for it from God. Pray to God for it. Seek him
for it. Lord, help me. Lord, save me
from this present world, this bewitching world that has to
death 10,000 hurls. Grant me those blessings from
above that lead above and that help me, that cause that I shall
be a victory over this world. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh
the world. In my soul I don't have much.
I have but little grace and little blessings. I struggle to see
much it says whatsoever and the man that was born blind he said
one thing I know whereas I was blind now I see the Lord says
concerning faith and we'll come to that in a moment he said if
you had faith the grain of a mustard seed you should say to this mountain
be removed and cast in the depth of the sea and it would obey
you it is not the quantity It's a quality, and where it comes
from, where God is the author of it, he sets a seal upon that
poor sinner, I bestowed upon that sinner riches of grace and
blessings of grace that will be more than a match for this
world and the things of it. Remember that, dear friends.
We need that which is from above. Afraid we look either too much
within Too much relying on self, too much resolutions, too much
looking to a strength of ourselves instead of crying unto the Lord. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble. Again and again it is through
Psalm 107. The Lord delivered them out of
their distresses. The help comes from above. The psalmist says, my help. cometh
from the law that made heaven and earth and that is the message,
the first overcomer of the world that our attention is drawn to
here. We mentioned faith but before
we come to that I want to look at the believer in Jesus. 5 Who is he that overcometh the
world, that he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? We are clearly told in verse
1 that whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of
God. It is very obviously not enough
just to believe in Jesus, it's what we believe of Him. Some
will say they believe in Him, but that He is just a created
being or created angel, but that He is not, as He claimed that
He was, equal with God. And that is why the Jews rose
up against Him, because that Thou being a man, makest Thyself
God, when in truth the whole incarnation is that Jesus Christ
as the eternal son of God made himself a man that God comes
first and then as a true man and John especially in these
epistles he is very insistent of this well in the gospel according
to John His whole theme is that you may believe that Jesus is
the Son of God. That is the theme. I think it's
85 times in that Gospel, and there's nothing like that in
any of the other Gospels, but 85 times he is testifying that
Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God. And so when he writes
in the second epistle concerning the Lord, he says that, Whosoever
transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath
not God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. The Lord said, If
ye have seen me, ye have seen the Father also. I am my Father,
are one. And then, if any come unto you
and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house,
neither bid him God's speed. He that biddeth him God's speed
is but a taker of his evil deeds, evil deeds, that he should depart
from the doctrine of Christ as the eternal Son of God. How vital
it is! If ye believe not that I am he,
ye shall perish in your sins. The Lord said, he testified,
that there was none other name given among men whereby we must
be saved. If we turn away from Him, there's
no other Savior, there's no other way of escape from the wrath
to come. So the overcomer of this world
is cleaving to the Saviour, Jesus, for He shall save His people
from their sins, cleaving to His eternal Godhead, cleaving
to the reality that He was made flesh and dwelt among us, that
He took not on Him the nature of angels, which is spirit only,
but the seed of Abraham, which is soul and body, that He came
to redeem us, soul and body, and to deliver us from this present
evil world. When we think of our Lord, He
says, How long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer
you? He says, He has been sent into the world. I came from the
Father. I go unto the Father. He speaks
of His people. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of this world. A clear distinction He endured
the contradiction of sinners against himself. And we are to
realize and know this. The Lord said, if they have done
these things in a green tree, all what they did, the Lord of
life and glory, what shall be done in the dry? What shall be
done to believers in me, followers in me? If they have persecuted
me, they will persecute you also. But whoso overcometh the world.
How did the Lord? overcome the world, but through
the cross, going to the cross, going to judgment, bearing the
sin of his people to judgment, to Calvary, shedding his precious
blood, laying down his life to take it again, to put away sin
by the sacrifice of himself, upholding the justice of God,
the holiness of God. Sin must be punished. It must
be put away. Mercy cannot be shown. without
justice and holiness. And it is a most blessed thing
if the Scriptures are fulfilled in us, that if I be lifted up
from the earth will draw all men unto me, that we are drawn
to Christ, to believe on Him. We are told, under you which
believe, He is precious. Christ is precious. To whom else,
says Peter, can we go? for Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and assure that Thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God, and it is our believer in Him, in His
Godhead, in all that the Scriptures set forth of the Lord that overcomes
this world. Bless God if He's made you to
believe in His name, to love His name, to desire to walk in
His ways, to hear His voice and to follow Him, to believe what
He has done at Calvary and how He suffered there to put away
your sin. The Holy Spirit that is given
to the people of God reveals Christ. He doesn't speak of Himself,
but that which He hears, He speaks of, He reveals a precious Christ. And where that Dear Lord Jesus
is seen and believed, then we are able to tread down this world. When we think of what the world
did to Him, away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him. The Lord
says of His people, they also to take up their cross and follow
Him. The Apostle Paul, he said, be
ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ Jesus. So our Lord Jesus Christ, who
is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God? This was the testimony of the
eunuch. I believe that Jesus is the Son
of God. Well, the last overcomer of the
world is our faith. In Hebrews, the Lord Jesus is
set forth as the author and finisher of our faith, and faith is that
which is not seen, but that which we perceive, that which is unseen. We have a definition of that
in Hebrews 11. Our faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, for by it
the elders obtained a good report. And also this, but without faith
it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him. And so we read this in the middle
of verse four, the latter part of verse four, and this is the
victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. At the new birth,
at the beginning of a work of God's grace in a poor sinner's
heart, he gives faith. Paul says to the Ephesians, By
grace ye are saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves. It
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And it is then that that faith
that is given, it conveys the grace, it conveys the blessings,
of God. Really our lives, if they are
regulated by faith, they would be regulated by the Word of God. Remember with our first parents,
the fall, was God had given them His Word, His command. But Satan
comes, a man would rather believe Satan than he would believe God. And that is the same now. The
Lord says in John 17, I have given them thy word, and the
world hath hated them. And the faith of God's elect
people and the word of God go hand in hand. Faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God. If God has given you
and I faith, it will be that we will testify to this world
We would rather believe in the Word of God, the Holy Bible,
from Genesis to Revelation, and in all what it sets forth as
the absolute truth of God, than in all the theories and ways
and thoughts of this poor dying world. It is to the law and to
the testimony. If it does not speak according
to these things, it is because there is no life in them, and
no truth in them at all. And so, When the Lord gives us
faith, he gives us faith then to believe and to trust in the
Word of God. And we think of how many directions
are given in the Word of God for a poor sinner seeking to
overcome the world. And of course, when we mentioned
under our heading concerning the Lord, in all that the Lord
accomplished at Calvary, But in this last point, as to our
walk and our conduct, you know, Paul, when he writes to the Galatians,
he says, this I say then, walk in the spirit, and you shall
not fulfil the lusts of the flesh. And that is God's advice, God's
word to the people of God, instead of, as it were, fighting against
the devil, against evil, We turn our backs upon that and say,
no, I'm going to walk after the things of God. I'm going to walk
after the Spirit. And Paul, he takes this up in
Romans 8, verse 13 as well. And he says, if ye through the
Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. It is
in through that way that the deeds of the body and the flesh
want to go the world's way. But the Spirit, the mind of the
people of God, it seeks the things of the Lord. the Apostle again
in the end of Romans 7, who shall deliver me from the body of this
death. I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord. So with the flesh
I serve the law of sin, but with the spirit, with the mind, the
law of God. And so there is a clear difference
of those that are walking by faith They seek to walk after
the things of God. If ye continue in my word, ye
shall be my disciples indeed. The psalmist, in Psalm 119, he
asked this question of a young man. Wherewithal shall a young
man cleanse his way? A young man that this world has
such a pull to and attraction to, he says, by taking heed thereto
according to thy word. And it is faith that says, my
whole being, it goes another way, it goes Satan's way, it's
fallen nature. But faith, it says, no, believe
God, believe his word and follow in that word. The apostle, when
he writes to the Corinthians, he gives this advice, flee fornication. And you see right through the
scriptures, the works of the flesh, it's all of the fornication
and lust and the desire of the flesh. But the direction of the
Word of God is to flare it. And dear Job, he says, I made
a covenant with mine eyes. Why then should I think upon
a maid? Mindful of that first fall, mindful
of what we have here in what is said to be in the world, the
lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Mindful of that and
following the directions in the Word of God by faith. The Apostle
in Hebrews 12, when he sets forth, the Lord is the author of it.
He says, let us run the race that is set before us, looking
unto Jesus. Jesus is not seen with the natural
eyes. He is ascended up into heaven.
But by faith, we believe he is there. We've received blessings
from there, grace from there, help from there. And we have
there one that speaks on our behalf. appear in the presence
of God for us. The Holy Spirit is given at Pentecost
as a very clear evidence of the Lord in heaven. I pray the Father
he shall give you another comforter. He is the power of God and these
gifts are given from above and we run the race not looking on
earth but where Christ sitteth on the right hand of the throne
of God on high. Paul when he writes to thee Philippians,
he gives those directions as to the things that we are to
think upon, that our minds should be upon. Our minds often go hither
and thither, but by grace, where faith is in exercise of a point
to the Word of God, and the direction given, and be careful for nothing,
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make your
requests known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth
all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus. And he says, finally, brethren,
whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever
things are just, whatsoever things are pure, Whatsoever things are
lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any
virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. Those
things that are good according to the Word of God. The fallen
nature of man will call evil good, and good evil. But if the
Lord has put faith in our hearts, and He has given us to view the
Word of God, that is the standard of what we understand what is
right and what is wrong, what is good and what is evil. And
this is that which shall then overcome the world. Instead of
having the world in our hearts, we have the Word of God in our
hearts. And when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of
the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. And that standard
is the Word of God and is that which shall triumph over death
and overcome the world. And so we have then in our text
these three, three overcomers of the world. For who whatsoever
is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory
that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world? But he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. Dear friends, if we have these
blessings, then we shall be more than conquerors through him that
loved us. We shall be delivered from this
world. We shall get safely through.
The world and the devil and our old flesh, our old nature, shall
not have the mastery over us. For the apostle says, Greater
is he that is in you than that is in the world. And it is a
blessed thing to have Christ in you, form the hope of glory,
May the Lord bless this world and bless us with being overcomers. Amen.