If you reverence the Word of
God, please open the scripture to Matthew chapter 1. I do hope that the many things
that we hear from day to day from the religious world, that
we are examining those things in the light of the Word of God. There are so many, many things
that we hear that if you just take the Word of God and begin
to read, you immediately see the error of the way. There are so many in error in
our day and time. God help us. If we know anything
at all, it's because of his illuminating grace. We certainly don't want
to ever indicate that we have a corner on the truth that is
not being revealed to others. We believe that God is revealing
his truth. But truth is truth, and truth
is narrow. And truth is not new, truth is
old. And some of the things we hear
today is astounding to me. And I'll not get into that, that's
not the message. I want you to turn here to chapter
1 of Matthew, and I want you to look if you will, in verse
21. And she, that is Mary, shall
bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. And then in verse 25, And knew
her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son, And
he called his name Jesus. Many, many times I've thought
upon this 21st verse of scripture here in Matthew chapter 1. And
I joy in this scripture. I think that there needs to be
some things said which I trust the Spirit of God would enable
us to lay hold of. One of the things that we would
like to say about this verse of Scripture is that it sets
forth the fact that the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is prophetic. It tells us what the name means.
His name means Savior. His name means that He is going
to be the divine Savior of men. Those whom God has been pleased
to call and has chosen to save, the Lord Jesus Christ, will be
their Savior. I wonder this morning if Jesus
Christ means Savior to you. Does He mean Savior to you? Now,
we know that there will be a lot of people that will celebrate,
try, attempt to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ tomorrow
and in this season. But we wonder how many people,
and we know that some of them will do it sober, and some of
them will do it drunk. But we wonder, drunk or sober,
do you really know who this is that you are attempting to celebrate
with your traditions? Do you really know who this is?
And another thing is, I wonder If it would be at all advantageous
for men and women, boys and girls, to celebrate in the way that
they can and the way they want to the birth of Christ, if they
have no saving interest in the efficacy of the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ, if they have no interest in his saving power,
his saving grace, then Is it any advantage for an individual
to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ? Now, the Bible doesn't
tell us when Jesus was born. Most likely, it is supposed that
he was probably born in April. The most unlikely time for him
to have been born is December. Most unlikely. But the Lord Jesus
Christ was born. this day there shall be born
a Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord. But he is Christ, he is the anointed
one of God, he was anointed for a purpose, and that was to save
his people from their sin. Now, to me this is a very revealing
statement. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. Immediately,
I wonder, and I think to myself, is he able to do this? Here's
this babe being born in a manger, being called Jesus, Savior, but
is he able to save his people from their sins? Or will he make
an effort to save men? Maybe he will be a failure. Maybe he possibly will succeed
in some generations to save more than maybe in other generations.
But will he be successful in saving his people from their
sin? The scripture says that he shall save his people from
their sins because his name is Jesus. He shall save his people
from their sins. Now, the Word of God is full
of scriptures that encourages my heart to believe that the
Lord Jesus Christ is an effectual Savior, that the Lord Jesus Christ
will indeed save his people from their sins, that he will not
fail nor be discouraged. The Bible says in Hebrews 7,
verse 25, that he is able to save to the uttermost all that
come unto God by him, seeing that he ever liveth to make intercession
for them. The Lord Jesus Christ is an able
Savior. I like the old song that we find
in most of our hymnals. The title of it is, He is able
to deliver thee. Is he able to save? His name
shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their
sins. And this old hymn says, "'Tis
the grandest theme through the ages rung, "'Tis the grandest
theme for a mortal tongue, "'Tis the grandest theme that the world
e'er sung, Our God is able to deliver thee." "'Tis the grandest
theme in the earth remain, "'Tis the grandest theme for a mortal
strain, "'Tis the grandest theme, tell the world again, "'Our God
is able to deliver thee. "'Tis the grandest theme, let
the tidings roll, "'To the guilty heart, to the sinful soul, "'Look
to God in faith, and He will make thee whole. "'Our God is
able to deliver thee.'" He is able to deliver. He is able,
he will accomplish that which he was sent by God the Father
into this world. He will save his people from
their sins. In Psalm 62, verse 11, the psalmist
said, God hath spoken once. Twice have I heard this, that
power belongeth unto God. Ableness and power belongeth
unto God. It belongs to Him. He has the
power to save His people. Psalm 89 and 13, again the psalmist
said, Thou hast a mighty arm, strong is thy hand, and high
is thy right hand. Thou hast a mighty arm. I like
that, because I know it is going to take some power, it is going
to take some doing for the Lord Jesus Christ to save his people
from their sins. But he has all power in heaven
and on earth, and he can save his people. Isaiah 59, verse
1 says, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot
save, neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear. The Lord's
hand is not shortened. It's not shortened. It's able
to reach everyone whom the Lord Jesus will save. And we're told that the people
he's going to save are his people, those that were chosen of God
the Father and given to the Son in the eternal covenant of grace.
So, in Isaiah 45 and verse 18, he says, I am the Lord, And there
is none else. I am the Lord, and there is none
else. And in the 22nd verse of that
chapter, he says, Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends
of the earth. For I am God, and there is none
else. I am the Savior. I am God. You
look to me. Let the world look to me. I am
the Savior. I am the Redeemer. And I can
save my people from their sins. My glory, Isaiah said, will I
not give to another. I will not give it to another.
I will have all the glory. I will save from A to Z my people. I will deliver my people. I will
bring them out of their sin and bondage. I will bring them in
to the light and liberty of the gospel. I will bring them in
to everlasting life. I will bring them out and bring
them in. The Lord Jesus Christ is God.
And in Isaiah 53 and 11 he says, He shall see of the travail of
his soul, and shall be satisfied. And by the knowledge of him shall
my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquities. For he shall bear their iniquities. And in John 17 and 2, as thou
hast given him power over all flesh, that he might give eternal
life to all that the Father gives to him. Well, I wonder if these
verses help to convince us. of the saving ability and power
of our Lord Jesus Christ? Are we not in some way or another
encouraged? If you were sitting here this
morning and you were outside of Christ, and I have no doubt
that there are some here just like that, would you not be encouraged
to believe that this God who sent his Son and called him Jesus
and said and prophesied that he would save his people from
their sins, are you not encouraged to believe he can do it? that
he can accomplish it? I wonder sometimes about the
root of your unbelief. I wonder if it's not rooted in
your feelings that this God is not able to save you, that he's
not able to deliver you, that he's not able to meet the need
of your life, the desperate need of your life and soul. But he
is. He's able to do that. And these
verses that we've read and quoted to you this morning are verses
that help us to believe that God is able to do it. He can
save his people from their sins. Well, you say, well, how will
he do that? How is he going to do that? I want you to turn with
me, if you will, to John chapter 3. John chapter 3. Brother Tim quoted a verse out
of this chapter this morning, and I want you to turn there
with me, and let's talk a little bit how he's planning, how does
he save his people from their sins? Something must happen in
the life of a man, in the life of a woman, or boy or girl, in
order that that individual experience and know the salvation of the
Lord. And in John chapter 3 here, very
simple portion of scripture, yet very profound. Look beginning
with verse 8. The wind bloweth where it listeth.
Now we remember that our Lord has been talking about the new
birth. He has told them, ye must be
born again. Ye must be born again. And he
says, The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest
the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and
whither it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit. Now, we believe that the Holy
Spirit of God is the agent in the new birth. that the Holy
Spirit of God must be present any time anyone is delivered
out of darkness into light, any time anyone is brought out of
sin into the hope of Christ and the hope of the gospel, any time
an individual has revealed to him the glorious work of Christ,
his finished work, The Holy Spirit must be present. The Holy Spirit
must bring them into the knowledge of the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus. And so he says the wind, this
new birth, is kind of like the wind that blows. He says we know
when the wind blows because we can hear the sound of it. We
can hear the sound of it. We can see the effects of it
by watching what happens when the wind blows. We can see the
trees as they bend under the wind. We can see the grass blow. And we can see the dust blow
and the smoke. And all of this convinces us
that the wind is blowing. It's evidence that the wind is
blowing. Now, beloved, spiritually, when
the wind blows, there are some things that happen, and we're
able to look at these things and think upon these things,
and they make known to us that the wind of the Spirit of God
has come down and blown on our souls. We can be convinced that
the wind is blowing. Now, my friend, there is no way
that anyone can be saved apart from the wind of the Spirit blowing
upon their soul. It is a spiritual birth, and
you must experience that. And I realize that it is extremely
difficult for someone to explain this. But I understand that when
the Spirit of God blows upon your soul, you will understand
it. You will know it when God is
pleased to make this Spirit of his, come upon you. All flesh
is his grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of the grass.
And the grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.
But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And the Spirit of God
takes that word and takes it home to the heart. And the flesh
wilts, and man sees himself and understands what his condition
is. And then he is able to look up
to the Lord Jesus Christ, this Jesus, this Savior, and there
be saved. We have learned that these things,
when we see the wind blow, are the effects of the wind, and
we accept them as evidences that the wind is blowing. Now, God's
Word tells us that certain things are effects and evidences of
the new birth. The birth of the Spirit. And
if these evidences are in our lives, we may be sure that we
have had the Spirit of God blow upon us. The mighty power of
God has come upon us. Now, there are five things that
I would just like to mention to you this morning. And if we
are able to find these things to be true about us, then we
can have some assurance that we are born from above. Now,
these things are miracles. These things, you cannot counterfeit
them. They are miracles, and they must
take place. This wind of the Spirit has got
to come upon us. It must blow upon us. And I will
give you these five things and talk a little bit about them,
but not keep you too long. First of all, I'd like to say
that those upon whom the wind of the Spirit of God blows, that
they must understand that according to the Word of God, they're deaf
to God's Word. Man by nature is deaf to the
Word of God. Isaiah said, Hear ye deaf, and
see ye blind. Hear ye deaf, and see ye blind. You say, well now, how in the
world could a deaf man hear and a blind man see. How can they
do that? Well, I told you it was a miracle
when the Lord Jesus Christ reveals himself and when he makes himself
known. And when the Word of God, when an individual is able to
hear God's Word, it is a miracle. Now, one of the things that separates
a lost man from a saved man is that a lost man can hear the
Word of God with his outer ear But he doesn't hear it with his
inner ear. He's not able to hear it. He's
deaf to it. And the message goes over his
head. It's not received in the heart. He's deaf to the Word
of God. And it takes the power of God
to bring that message home right to his heart, where that he's
able to hear that message in his very soul's souls. The scripture says that God has
made both the hearing ear and the seeing eye. And how true
that is. It's true naturally, and it's
true spiritually. But you're never going to hear
the Word of God until the Spirit of God blows upon you. until
the wind of the Spirit. You say, now I'm as intelligent
preacher as anybody else I know. Well, you may be, but until the
wind of the Spirit of God blows upon you, you're not going to
hear the Word. Jesus says that my sheep hear
my voice, and they follow me. My sheep hear my voice, and they
follow me. Why haven't you followed the
Lord? You say, I can hear as well as anyone else. Why haven't
you followed Christ? Why haven't you obeyed Him? Why
aren't you living for His glory and for His honor? Why do you
not embrace Him as your Savior, if you are hearing as well as
anybody else? The Spirit of God must blow upon
your soul, or you will not hear God's Word. Now, a believer recognizes
the authority of God to speak. and their own duty to listen
to what God says. Do you feel that way about the
Bible? Do you feel that way about the Word of God? Do you recognize
God's right to speak to you? You are one of his creatures,
and God has a right to say something to you. Do you recognize his
right to do that? Do you reverence him for that
and submit yourself? Are you seeking to know what
it is that God would say to your heart? And I believe that God
speaks through his Word. He speaks through his Word. That's
the way the Lord is going to talk to you. And if you're not
hearing, if your ears are deaf, then, my friend, God's message
is not getting through to your heart. But when God sends it
home to your heart, you will hear it. You will hear it. The
message of the Lord will come with power to your soul. And
you need to hear the Word of God in power, not as the Word
of man, but as it is indeed in truth the Word of God. Now, that's
one of the evidences that the wind has blown, that somebody
starts hearing something. And they've been in the service
for years, but they haven't been hearing anything. But then all
of a sudden they begin to hear. And it begins to arouse their
heart and their soul. And they begin to take it seriously.
They begin to repent. They begin to acknowledge the
sinfulness of their ways. And begin to look toward the
Lord. So that's one of the evidences.
And so when we begin to see that happen, we know the Spirit of
God has been in our midst. He's been in the congregation.
Now, the next thing that shows us that the Spirit of God has
been in our midst, and when people begin to become believers in
God's Son, when they begin to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, now everybody believes
in Jesus, preacher. That's what's wrong with us in
our day and time. We believe that everybody is
a believer, and it's not true. Nobody can become a believer
until the wind of the Spirit of God blows upon them. There
are people here that can testify. They've been in both camps. And
they can testify and tell you that there was a time when they
thought they believed, but they didn't believe. And then there
came a time when they did believe. And that was because the wind
of the Spirit blew upon them and gave them the faith of the
Son of God. In 1 John 5, verse 1, there's
a verse of scripture that I'd like to show you, if you can
turn there in your Bibles. 1 John 5, verse 1, it says, Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Now, that birth there
is the same birth that is spoken of in John 3, when the Lord Jesus
said, ìMarvel not, I say unto you, that ye must be born again.î
So the Lord says, ìWhosoever believeth that Jesus is that
Christ, that was born of the Virgin Mary, is born of God.î
Now, a better translation of that is that We believe because
we have been born of God. We are not born of God because
we believe. We believe because we have been
born of God. Now, there is a difference in
that. We know that most of the people in the religious world
believe that man has the ability left to himself to believe. All
you've got to do is talk him into it. Just talk him into it. If you're slick enough and you
can handle words rightly, you'll be able to talk them into believing,
and then they'll be born again. But the Word of God doesn't teach
that. The Word of God teaches that a man, the Spirit of God
blows upon him, he's able to believe, the gospel because he
is born again. And after everybody that is born
again believes on the Son of God. Do you believe that? Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ, the reason he believes it is
because he is born of God. And so when people start believing,
and you know there is a whole lot said in John chapter 3 if
you want to turn back there. And I want you to just see how
simple this is, but how profound it is. And I told you a few moments
ago that these are miracles that take place. When a man hears
the Word of God, when a man believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, this
is a miracle. It is a miracle. It is not something
that anybody can do apart from God purposing it and bringing
it to pass, God visiting our souls. Here in John 3, in verse 14, he said, ìAnd Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up.î That is lifted up on the cross. that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. Now, you look at that verse of
scripture, and most people in the world look at it, and they
say, that's just, all you've got to do is just do it. Just
believe. And I say to you this morning,
that it's whosoever will, they say whosoever will, I say that
it is whosoever will. Whosoever will, will you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, it appears that if you
believe that story that we read out of Matthew 1, and you're
trying to celebrate in your own little way the birth of this
man Jesus, why don't you just believe on him? Why don't you
believe on him? Whosoever believeth in him, they'll
not perish, but have everlasting life. But you see, no man can
do that left to himself. He won't. Jesus said, no man
will come to me, no man can come to me, except the Father draw
him. The power that raised and brought
Jesus up from the dead, is the power that must bring you and
draw you to the Lord Jesus Christ that you might be able to believe
on Him. And we're saved by the faith of Christ. The faith of
Christ. And that faith must be given
as a gift to our hearts. I challenge anyone to work it
up on their own. It's a gift of God. The wind
of the Spirit, whenever you get somebody who says, I believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and we've heard them say it in these
meetings in times past, people that would say, I believe. And
when they say that, they meant to tell us that the
wind of the Spirit had blown upon their souls, and that they
had heard something from God, and heard from God, that God
was in their hearts, the Spirit of the Lord was upon them, and
they heard. And then verse 16, for God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever,
there's that word again, believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. If it's something you can do,
then why will you perish? Why would you not have everlasting
life? Why would you be so contrary
and ornery that you'd go on in your indifference, blind as a
bat and dead as a sinner, and not look to Christ and believe
on Him? My soul, I challenge you this
morning, in the name of Jesus Christ, to believe the gospel
if you can. Believe it if you can. Believe
it. And if God is pleased to give
you his faith, then you'll believe it. You'll believe it. For by
grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it's
a gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. Faith is
a gift of God. Peter talks about the elect having
received like precious faith. It is precious. It is very precious. It's not something that everybody
can do left to themselves. I realize that's a hard statement
and that people will say, well, I just think I'm as capable as
anybody else. Prove it. Prove it. You don't
want to perish, do you? You don't want to go to hell,
do you? Well, you want everlasting life? Then believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. I command you in the name of
the Lord to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe. Well, look at verse 18. He that believeth
on him is not condemned. Now we're talking about something
that's happened here that takes a man off a death row and puts
him out into a state of liberty. He's taken off a death row. He that believeth on him is not
condemned. You believe on this Jesus that saves his people from
their sin, you're not condemned. No longer condemned. Now, why
wouldn't a person just say, well, praise God. If that is the case,
then I'm going to do everything in my power to believe. Well,
that's a good start. You may find that you're going
to have to have this power that we talked about, this spirit
blowing upon your soul before you're capable of doing this. But he that believeth not He's
still on death row. Still on death row. His soul
is still dead. His soul is in a state of darkness. No life in him. No spiritual
life in him. Lost for eternity if God doesn't
intervene. Still on death row. And that's
because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of God. He hath not believed. Scripture
says in one place that there's some believed and
then some believe not. All this you have, that's what
separates men and women, boys and girls in this world. Some
believe, some don't. They don't believe. Say, what's
the difference? The difference is the wind of
the Spirit. Those who are unable to believe, they believe because,
and it's like we mentioned what Isaiah said, my glory will I
not give to another. I'm not going to give my glory
to another. Salvation's in my hands. And you learn that. This Jesus is the one that saves
his people from their sin. It's in his hands. It's not in
the sinner's hands. It's out of his hands. Eternal
life is in the hands of the Son of God. It's not in the hands
of the sinner. You get it from Him. He's the
one that's got it. Eternal life. Well, because he
had not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God,
then look down to the 36th verse. He that believeth on the Son.
This is that Son that was born of Mary in Bethlehem's manger. He that believeth on the Son.
You say, well, we believe on Him. We're going to celebrate
His birthday tomorrow. Well, what advantage will that
be if you know nothing about those things we're talking about
this morning? What advantage will there be to that? Will there
be any advantage? Well, I don't think so. He that
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. Oh, my soul, I would to
God that you weren't able to believe this morning, but the
wind of the Spirit must blow. upon your poor soul. I beg God,
I beg God this week that the Holy Spirit would speak to hearts,
that the Holy Spirit would come. We had some brothers that prayed
week before last, sisters that prayed this last week, took a
day each day of the week and prayed to God that the Holy Spirit
would blow upon your soul this morning when you came in here
and that you would live, that you would live that you would
have everlasting life. Listen to it. He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life. If you believe on the Son, you
got it right now. I remember Isaiah said, he said, Lord, who hath believed
our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? Who hath believed our report?
Well, the report is that according to 1 John, that he that hath
a son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath
not life. These things have been written unto you, that ye might
believe on the name of the Son of God, and that by believing
ye might have life through his name. The report has went forth. Now, to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? Well, the arm of the Lord must
be revealed. And we told you his hand was not short that he
could not save, or his ear heavy that he could not hear. Okay? And he that believeth not
the Son shall not see life. Not going to see life. No eternal
life. You're going to die in the same
darkness you're in right now. And you will perish forever. Shall not see life. shall not
see life. I'm praying that the Holy Spirit
will take these words and plant them in your soul. You will not
see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. What is it that
Jesus is going to save his people from? save their sin from their
sin. He's going to save them from
the wrath to come. The wrath to come. The wrath
to come. The wrath to come. There's coming
His wrath upon this world. Upon sinners that die outside
of Him. The wrath is coming. Well, the
wrath of God abideth on Him. Now, we read back there, verse
18, that he that believeth not is condemned already, that he's
not on probation, that he's already condemned, he stands condemned
before God. He's not on probation. You're
already condemned and you're under the wrath of God this morning.
It abides on you. It's on you now. You go out of
this building, unbeliever, the wrath of God abides on you. If
you get killed out here on an automobile or in an automobile
accident, some other way, taken out of this world, the wrath
of God is on you, my friend, and the black angels of hell
will come and bare your soul off to that god-awful place created
for the devil and his angels. He that believeth not is condemned
already. Already the wrath of God abideth
on him. Oh, may the wind of the Spirit
of God blow. And then I've got to hurry now. The third thing that we know
when this happens, that the wind of the Spirit is blowed, is that
there's a love for Jesus Christ. There's a love for Jesus Christ.
Jesus said in John 8, 42, that if God was your Father, you would
love Me. Now, when people start loving the Lord Jesus Christ,
now it's one thing to say, I love the Lord Jesus. And it's
another thing to really love the Lord Jesus. It's one thing to say, well,
I'm sure with my love for Him, we're going to have a big meal
tomorrow. And we're going to open some
gifts. And you may think that's love for Christ. But my friend,
real love for the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what it'll do?
The scripture says that if you love Him, That you'll keep His
commandments. That you'll listen to His word
and you'll obey His word. You'll do what He tells you to
do. You'll honor Him with your life. You'll follow Him. You'll
walk with Him if you love the Lord Jesus Christ. And now let
me tell you what Paul said. Paul said that if any man loved
not our Lord Jesus Christ. Now why would Paul say that?
If any man loved not. Why wouldn't everybody love the
Lord Jesus Christ? Wasn't he the babe that was born
in the manger? Wasn't he the Savior, the only
Savior? Why would men not love him? Paul
said if any man loved not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him come
under the judgment of God when he comes. Let him perish in hell
when Christ comes back. A man that doesn't love the Lord
Jesus Christ is on the brink of eternal damnation and hellfire. if you don't love the Lord Jesus
Christ. But it's a miracle if anybody does. Love Jesus, the
Christ? Hate sin and love Christ? Who
love righteousness? Love Him? Well, may God speak
to your heart. I told you it'd be a miracle
if anyone went out of here loving the Lord Jesus Christ this morning. And then, quickly, The love of
the brethren loves God's people is the fourth thing. Scripture
says we know we pass from death to life because we love the brethren.
We love the people of God. We gather here week in and week
out. And it's a joy always to meet
dear folks here that love the Lord Jesus and we love to meet
with them. But we have a love in our hearts.
The scripture says we don't love in word and deed. We love in
truth. Must love in truth. Truly love
one another. Jesus said, by this shall all
men know that you're my disciples, that you have love one toward
another. This is the way that men are going to know that you've
got some love in your heart for the Lord's people. He that says
that he loves his brother He loves God and hates his brother
is a liar. He doesn't love God if he hates
his brother. And this is a miracle. You say, I don't. There's some
people here I couldn't care anything about, wouldn't be anywhere I
could care about them. If the Spirit of God blows upon your
soul and the love of God is shed abroad in your heart by the Holy
Spirit, you will love the brethren and the sisters in the Lord.
You'll have it. You'll have it. I said it's a
miracle. But that's one of the ways we'll tell when the Spirit
of God is blowing. Brotherly love. Let it continue,
brethren. Alright, and the last thing is
that they'll be overcomers of the world. They overcome the
world. This is what happens. You say,
well, I've been pretty well overcome myself by the world and by the
things of the world. Remember in 1 John where the
scripture says, Love not the world, neither the things that
are in the world. For if any man love the world,
the love of the Father is not in him. For those things are
of the world, they're not of the Father, but they're of the
world. And the world is passing away,
but they that do the will of God shall abide forever. Overcome. Overcome. This is the victory
that overcomes the world, even our faith. Faith is the victory
that overcomes the world. You say, well, I'm struggling
with this thing about the world and the hold that the world has
on me. The only way you can overcome
the world is to get into Jesus Christ, who has already overcome
the world. He's the overcomer, and you overcome
in Him. You cannot overcome on your own.
You're not going to renounce the world and the things of the
world on your own. The Spirit of God must blow upon
your soul and give you an overcoming spirit, the same spirit that
our Lord had in Him when He said, I've overcome the world. Overcoming
the world is by the Spirit and power of God. Only one spirit
that's able to handle the spirit of this world, and that's the
Holy Spirit. If that be not in you, then my
friend, you're not an overcomer. But you must overcome. Believers
all overcome in Christ. They must overcome. How can they
be followers of Him who has overcome if they be not overcomers themselves?
we overcome through him and in him. May the Lord be pleased
to bless these things to your heart.