Today, our subject is overcoming
faith. And I'm reading one verse here
in First John, chapter five and verse four. For whatsoever is born of God. Overcometh the world. And this
is the victory. That overcometh the world. Even. our faith. We do understand,
as we mentioned last Sunday, that faith is the gift of God. It is not just some mustered-up
confidence in the flesh. It is not some pumped-up feel-good
something because pretty quick something else will happen that
will drain you. See, faith is a living thing. It's the gift of God. And it
don't just live in the head, it lives in the heart. Hebrews 11.1 says that faith
is the very substance of things hoped for. And it's the evidence
or it's the conviction of things not seen. Not things non-existent,
but things not seen. Big difference. So I want to
begin in looking at this one verse with six observations about
it. First, the subjects referred
to whatsoever or whomsoever is born of God. The unregenerate. Those not born
of God have no faith to overcome. And then secondly, there's the
struggle that's indicated here, the word overcometh. It implies
a struggle within the hearts of those born of God to either
overcome or be overcome. And then thirdly, there's the
shameful world that's acknowledged here. Whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world. Brother Don Fortner said, the
greatest danger we face in this world is the world itself. The attractions of it. the magnetism of it, the bright
lights of it. Revelation 12, 9, the great dragon,
that old serpent called the devil and Satan deceiveth the whole
world. God's people are in the world,
not of the world. And that verse in Revelation
said the whole world, not part of it, but the whole ungodly,
unbelieving world is deceived by Satan. Verse John 2, 16, for
all that is in the world, not part of what's in the world,
but all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the
lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, all of it, is not of
the Father, but is of the world. It is all marked for destruction. The next verse, 1 John 2, 17,
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof. The shameful
world. A fourth thing in this verse,
the struggle ongoing. This word overcometh here is
in the Aorist tense, the E-T-H on the end. It's not just a one
time overcoming, but it's an ongoing battle in which faith
continues to overcome day by day as we live. The struggle
ongoing. The fifth thing, the source.
of this victory, this overcoming the world. He says here, it is
even our faith. It's not our works. It's not
our profession. It's not our performance. It's
not our reputation. It's even our faith. That's the victory that overcometh
the world. And the sixth thing would be
the Savior, our great example in overcoming, and our exhorter
to be overcomers. John 16, 33, in the world you
shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. And God's people overcome, not
because we're any better than the world. are stronger than
the world, no, but because we are governed by, ruled by, motivated
by this God-given gift of faith, the power that overcomes, that
gives the victory. A.W. Pink said four things concerning
this verse of scripture, and I want to give these four things
He said faith overcomes the world in our hearts by accepting God's
verdict concerning the world. Now that's a great statement.
Is there something in you that believes and accepts and does
not question God's verdict? What he said concerning the world. What has he said? God has said
that the wisdom of this world is foolishness. Do we believe that? Do we really
believe that? Do we believe God's right about
that? He said the morality of this
world is filth. What the world says is okay is
not okay. Do we accept God's verdict on
that? Any so-called cleanness, culture,
character, so-called that is not anchored in Christ our Redeemer
is no morality at all. It's filth. Filth. The religion
of this world is corrupt. Hypocrisy. It's utter blasphemy that would
back God in a corner and blackmail Him by our own good works. And yes, that's the way the majority
of religion operates. It's rotten to the core. This
whole world is deceived by Satan, religious world included. It
is our enemy. So Mr. Pink said first, faith
overcomes the world by persuading our hearts to accept God's verdict
concerning the world. He was right about it. God's
right about it. And secondly, faith overcomes
the world by moving God's children to obey His divine commands concerning
the world. Romans 12, 2, and be not conformed
to this world. Don't try to go along. Don't
worry about fitting in to the extent that this world
will melt you down and pour you into their mold. Don't just give in and throw
away what God has done. in your heart and in your life.
So many are doing that in this hour. 1 John 2.15, here's what else he
said, Love not the world. Only overcoming faith can keep
you from it. I promise you that. James 4.4,
Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a
friend of the world is the enemy of God. That's plain. Number three, Mr. Pink said faith
overcomes the world by occupying our souls and minds with higher
thoughts than this world can afford. There's something better. than watching cartoons and all
the rest of it. There's something better than
being rich and famous. Higher thoughts than this world
can afford. Thoughts of the purity of our
Savior. Thoughts of the promise that
we'll someday be like Him. Thoughts of His presence that
will be with Him forever. Thoughts of loved ones, the saints
who have gone on, that will join them in praising Him forever. Higher thoughts. Higher thoughts. The world does not have and cannot
have any such precious thoughts. And fourthly, Mr. Pink said faith
overcomes the world by drawing the hearts of his people to feed
on Christ continually. Psalm 34, 8, Oh, taste and see
that the Lord is good. And by drawing our hearts to
lean on him in sorrow, Psalm 34, 18, the Lord is nigh unto
them that are of a broken heart. and saveth such as be of a contrite
spirit. He's gracious and merciful and
kind. And to trust His strength in
our weakness. Psalm 27, verse 1, The Lord is
my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? If you fear
the Lord, you don't have to fear anybody else. If you don't fear the Lord, you
better fear everybody else. That's how it works. The Lord
is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? It is this faith which overcomes
the world while we live day by day, trusting our God with everything. You say, well, you talk like
you don't have any problems. I have plenty. I have plenty,
but I'm trusting God. Now, of the many examples in
Scripture of this overcoming faith in the life of an individual,
there is one familiar story I'd like to remind us of for a few
minutes this morning, the story of Joseph. It begins in Genesis
37. Turn back with me to Genesis
37. You say, oh, I've read that story.
Good, good. It's a story that should be read
often and read prayerfully and read meditating upon it and read
with personal consideration of it. in our own lives. It is very encouraging, convincing,
and assuring that God really is God, the thing which many
people doubt nowadays. He really is God at all times
and in all things. It does not come natural to believe
that. Oh, no. It's the gift of God. This overcoming
faith certainly believes it. Now when you believe, as I do,
that God alone is the author and the initiator of all good, there is no good thing or no
good one apart from Him. How blessed to believe that.
that all good is from God. In our lives it's so. We'd be
no better than the worst you know, but for God. I don't know all of you's background.
I know some of you. I know Bobby Capser. I grew up
way up on Rock Creek. for the grace of God. Had not
God took the initiative and God hold his heart and changed his
life, he'd have been just like the rest of the riffraff up there.
You know? But he's not. He's not. He's God's child. And you, and
you, and you. It's God. And see, when you believe
this, We see that it shines forth brightly in the history of Joseph
and will begin in a measure, at least, to shine forth in your
life. Not that you've done everything
right, of course not, but God has. God has. Who among us this
morning cannot say with the psalmist, if it had not been the Lord who
was on our side. When men rose up against us,
then they had swallowed us up quick. I want to just mention
ten things in Joseph's life wherein faith overcame. And let's see, if I take ten
minutes on each of these, That'll only be an hour and 40 minutes,
is that right? I'm not going to do it. I can't
do that. But 10 things, so I'll try to
give you these hurriedly. Consider God's great gift of
overcoming faith in Joseph's life and in our lives. Number one, faith overcame in
persecution. You know the beginning of the
story, Genesis 37, 4, when his brethren saw that their father
loved him, that is, Joseph, more than all his brethren, they hated
him and could not speak peaceably unto him. Verse 5, Joseph dreamed
a dream. In the latter part of the verse,
they hated him yet the more. Verse 8, latter part of the verse,
they hated him yet the more. It keeps getting worse. Verse
11, his brethren envied him. Verse 18, the end of the verse,
they conspired against him to slay him. Verse 20, come now
therefore and let us slay him and cast him into some pit. Joseph was persecuted. He was really persecuted, despised,
and hated. Now somebody here today may have
experienced, I hope you haven't, but you may have experienced
someone literally despised you. They'd do everything in their
power to destroy you. Well, see, this overcoming faith
we're talking about will teach you, as does the story of Joseph,
that fighting back, destroying them, is not the answer. Believing God is the answer.
Faith in God, to know all, to see all, to handle it all, that's
the answer. It is this God-given faith that
overcomes. Number two, faith overcomes in
spite of God's providence. Now you talk about something
that makes me sick. It's this religious world that
talks like they're just tickled to death with everything God
does. No, I'm not happy with a great many things. A lot of times on election day,
I'm not happy with what God does. And a whole lot, just about every
day, I'm not happy with some things God does. And if you'd
be honest, you'd say the same. But no, there's this smiley religion
running around that everything is lovely. No, God's providence
doesn't always suit us. You know the story, Joseph's
brothers were successful. They thought in their efforts
to get rid of him, God didn't stop them. They sold him into
slavery. And Joseph didn't spend the rest
of his life wringing his hands saying, how could God let this
happen? How could God let this happen?
So many, many through the years, have asked me that in their time
of trouble and hurt. How could God let this happen
to me? How could God let this happen in my life? Well, it happens. He lets it happen. Joseph is now a slave. It's not
a fun picture. He had been free. He had been
the beloved of his father. Now everything has changed. He's
a slave in a foreign land. A lot of ignorant religion now
even says, well, surely God didn't mean for that to happen, you
know. No. This overcoming faith says
God is still God. Whatever happens, in his providence. Number three, faith overcomes
slavery. Chapter 39, verse 1, and Joseph
was brought down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh,
captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the
Ishmaelites, which had brought him down thither. And the Lord
was with Joseph. Don't miss that statement. And
the Lord was with Joseph. And he was a prosperous man. And he was in the house of his
master, the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord
was with him and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper
in his hand. And Joseph found grace in his
sight and he served him. And he made him overseer over
his house and all that he had he put into his hand. came to
pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house,
and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptians'
house for Joseph's sake. And the blessing of the Lord
was upon all that he had in the house and in the field." There's
much emphasis in these verses that Joseph is not alone. He's
not there on his own. He's not left to luck or happenstance
or coincidence. Oh no. Verse 2, the Lord was
with Joseph. Verse 3, he found grace in the
sight of Potiphar and he served him. Made him overseer of his
house. all that he had, he put his hand.
He's undone from the bottom, the lowest slave to the top slave. Verse 5, it was evident the Lord blessed
the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake. The blessing of the Lord
was upon him. So Joseph as a slave, jumped
in there and did his job, realizing, knowing that nobody
could do anything to him apart from God's Word. Joseph didn't pout and whine
about how unfair life is. No, he had a good attitude. And
I can imagine he said, I don't know what you're doing, but you
do." I've had to say that a lot of times. And number four, faith
overcomes temptation. The next few verses of chapter
39, verses 7 to 20, his master's wife, Potiphar's wife, was determined
to have Joseph for her own pleasure, and Joseph said, Do this great
wickedness and sin against God. No doubt she said to him, nobody
will know, it will just be our secret. But Joseph said, no,
God knows. And his love for the Lord and
this overcoming faith that lived in his heart caused him to flee
and run out of the house without his clothes. Faith overcame intemptation. And number five, faith overcomes
all circumstances. His master's wife gets Joseph
thrown in prison. He's never been in prison. He's
never done anything worthy of being in prison, but he's there. Circumstances are not always
fair. Life is not always fair. You want to shy away from anybody
who's hooked on this bitterness of life being unfair. It is unfair. But God is more than fair. Joseph don't give up. He don't
rebel. He don't lose heart in prison. Faith overcomes circumstances
in prison. Years ago, that old preacher,
Lester Roloff in Texas, he was preaching about Joseph here.
He said they put him in that prison. He didn't belong there.
And he said instead of whining and pouting and cussing like
the rest of them did, Joseph said, hey, and he asked the guards,
How about a bucket and some water and a mop and some soap? Let's
clean this place up. And Joseph went to taking action. Went to doing, going at things
positively. He didn't wake up like some of
us do. Oh Lord, it's morning already. Get at it. Get at it. Go to bed
at a decent hour. Hello? I want to tell you, right now
in this time of year, the way the times change, I know I'm
rambling, but hold on. The way the times change, you're
burning some precious daylight if you don't get up and get at
it. I know it's cold and I'm sorry you don't have a coat,
but I love it. I love it at daylight. But faith
overcame the circumstances. Chapter 39. verses 21 to 23, but the Lord
was with Joseph. This is in the prison now. I
know a lot of folks' religion. If a fella gets put in jail,
he's done. You know? I guess they wouldn't have nothing
to do with the Apostle Paul, would they? He's in jail every time
he turned around. But Joseph sent to prison, and
the Lord's with Joseph. Showed him mercy. Gave him favor
in the sight. of the keeper of the prison. And the keeping of the prison
committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in prison. And whatsoever they did there,
he was the doer of it. The keeper of the prison turned
to Joseph, one of the prisoners, and said, You just kind of handle
things here. You just run things here. I'd
say that was the Lord, wouldn't you? The keeper of the prison looked
not to anything that was under his hand, because the Lord was
with him, with Joseph, and that which he did, the Lord made it
to prosper. Faith overcame in bitter circumstances. Number six, faith overcomes disappointment. I'm glad for that. I tell you,
when I get disappointed, I'm in an awful shape. When I get
discouraged, I'm in an awful shape. But the entirety of chapter
40 is about two men that were in prison with Joseph, the king's
butler and the king's baker. And they were put there for some
reason. They'd done something to offend the king. And they
both dreamed a dream, the Bible says. And they asked Joseph to
interpret their dreams. And Joseph did. He told them,
he said, within three days, things are going to change. He told
the butler, you'll be restored to your position in the king's
palace within three days. And he told the baker, He said,
you're history. You're going to be dead within
three days. They're going to kill you. And guess what? That's exactly how it happened.
But Joseph had asked the butler when he told him you're going
to be restored, please put in a good word for me. Explain to
the king and the officials that I don't belong here. Put in a
good word. Get me out of here. That was a little ray of hope,
I suppose. But look at the last verse in
chapter 40, verse 23. Yet did not the chief butler
remember Joseph, but forget him. He said, I'm out of here. That's
all that matters to me. I don't even want to think about that
prison anymore, let alone try to help anybody there. He forgot
about him. Disappointment. Is it time to
give up? Overcoming faith can't give up. Two full years passed. Many dark,
dreary days. Joseph is in prison. But faith lives on. Faith lives
on. See, this is just one lick after
another. There may have been so many negative
experiences in your life. So you think maybe this is the
time to just give it up. And your chief advisor, the devil,
will say, yeah, this is about the end of the road for you,
bud. Give it up. But he's not our chief advisor. The Lord is. And faith don't give up. Two
full years passed. And then we have a seventh thing.
Faith overcomes in prosperity. The king, the pharaoh, he dreams
a dream. And he demands an interpretation. But there's nobody in the palace
can do it. And his butler remembers. And he says, the King, you know,
when I was in prison, the baker and I, we both had a dream. And that was a fellow there who
interpreted our dreams. And it happened exactly as he
said, with both of us. And Pharaoh said, Who is it?
Who is it? Where is he? And the butler said, He's a young
man, a Hebrew. He was Potiphar's servant, and
he's in prison. So Pharaoh sent for him, and
Joseph interpreted his dream. And you know the story. There's
to be seven years of plenty, prosperity, overflowing crops
in the land, and then that seven good years is to be followed
by seven years of famine. All this is in the story in Genesis. And Pharaoh believed it, and
he said, I've got to prepare for this. I've got to take action
now. I've got to start planning for
this. I've got to put somebody in charge
of the food supply to Build it up now to ration, to do whatever
has to be done to prepare for those seven years. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, look
at chapter 41 verse 39. Pharaoh said to Joseph,
for as much as God has showed thee all this, you've interpreted
my dreams. There is none so discreet and
wise as thou art. Thou shalt be over my house,
and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled. Only
in the throne will I be greater than thou." He's in prison a
few minutes ago, and a few minutes later he's second in command
in all the land of Egypt. It don't take God long to do
what he's going to do. Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See,
I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. He did it. Now's his chance. He's a free
man. It's his chance to escape Egypt. Get out of this place. Kill a
few on his way out if he has to. But no, he graciously accepts
this assignment of the king. Not from the king, but from God. And with the wisdom of God in
his heart, and this overcoming faith in his heart. He stores
up grain for the seven years of plenty. He's well prepared for the seven
years of famine. And when the time comes, there's
enough corn, grain, food, not just to feed Egypt, but to feed
any who come to him for help. Faith overcame. He took the circumstance, the
situation, the appointment, he took it as from God and went
at it positively. He never said, well, I don't
like this, I want to do something else. No. Take it from God. Number eight,
faith overcame the world. Jacob's world was not his position
in Egypt. Understand that. Understand that. Now, most of our politicians
today, their world is their position in Washington or Raleigh. That's their world. But I want
to say to you, Joseph's world was not his position in Egypt. Joseph's world was the love of
his father, the God of his father's, the
heritage of his homeland. In God's providence, his world
was taken from him. But in God's time, it's given
back to him. Faith overcomes the world. Jacob and the entire family come
down to Egypt to live. And all the painful years before, Joseph never bowed. But in the end, faith overcame. God gave Joseph his world back. They all came and bowed to him. Number nine, faith overcame bitterness. After Joseph bestowed kindness
upon his family, gave them places to live in the choice part of
Egypt, the land of Goshen. They had it so good. These brothers
could not believe Joseph had actually forgiven them. They could not enjoy the good
life. Wow, it's after 12. They could
not enjoy the good life he gave them. in the land of Goshen for
fear that someday he'd get even. They did not know Joseph's heart
that faith had overcome. There was no bitterness. Some
of you this morning cannot rest in Christ for fear that he intends
to get even. But there's no bitterness toward
his children, just love. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. And that little word, no, means
not one little bit. No condemnation. Number ten,
faith overcame the glory of royalty. Being what he was in Egypt, Joseph
was practically worshipped by all the people. But that's not what was in his
heart. In his heart was the God of his fathers. The God of Abraham,
his great-grandfather. The God of Isaac, his grandfather.
The God of Jacob, his father. And the glory of Egypt and the
glory of all this world is nothing compared with the glory of being
chosen in Christ and being part of his family. Well, when his
father Jacob died, and you read this in the last few chapters,
49, 50, when Jacob died at Jacob's request, It was the longest,
most luxurious funeral procession in the history of the world before
that time or since. You ought to study about this.
It's tremendous. We read about it in the 50th
chapter. And history says it must have
stretched out for more than a mile. All the family, Egypt's royalty,
servants of Pharaoh, chariots, horses. You talk about a funeral
procession. They took Jacob's body, at his
request, up to Canaan, to the old family cemetery where Abraham
and Sarah were buried, where Isaac and Rebekah was buried, and where Leah, Joseph's stepmother,
was buried. And this revives something in
Joseph's heart. Well, when his time came, he
was 110 years old. And most, if not all, of his
brothers were already gone. But the Bible said that he saw
Joseph live to see his sons' sons even to the third generation. And one day he said to them,
boys, you know I could be buried in royalty. I could be buried among
the pharaohs and all the royalty of Egypt, but that's not who
I am. That's who they think I am, but
that's not who I am. Someday, when you leave this
land, I don't want you to leave my bones here. I want you to carry my coffin,
carry me up hence, carry me back with you to Canaan. I don't care
to be identified with Egyptian royalty. I want to be buried
with my fathers. It was God-given, vibrant faith
in his heart. that overcame the glory afforded
by Egyptian royalty. For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. It's that that lives in
here that says, get up and go. Keep going. Keep on going. Stick. Stay. Go. Live. Faith. Overcoming faith. Thank you. Stand with us.