Sunday, May 9, 2021

Overcoming the World: by Andrew Murray

 

Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. 1 John 5:5

Christ spoke strongly about the world hating Him. His kingdom and the kingdom of this world were in deadly hostility. John summed it up: “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19); “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” (1 John 2:15).

John also taught us what the real nature and power of the world is: “the lust of the flesh [with its self‑pleasing], and the lust of the eyes [which sees and seeks the glory of the world], and the pride of life [with its self‑exaltation]” (verse 16). Eve, in Paradise, had these three marks of the world. She “saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise” (Genesis 3:6). Through her body, eyes, and pride, the world acquired mastery over her and over us.

The world still exerts a terrible influence over the Christian who does not know that, in Christ, he has been crucified to the world. (See Galatians 6:14.) The power of this world proves itself in the pleasure of eating and drinking, in the enjoyment of what is to be seen of its glory, and in all that constitutes the pride of life. Most Christians are either utterly ignorant of the danger of a worldly spirit, or they feel themselves utterly powerless to conquer it.

Christ left us with a far‑reaching promise: “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). As the child of God abides in Christ and seeks to live life in the power of the Holy Spirit, he may confidently depend on the power given him to overcome the world. “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” This is the secret of daily, hourly victory over the world and all its secret, subtle temptations: “I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). But it needs a heart and a life entirely possessed by the faith of Jesus Christ to maintain the victor’s attitude at all times. My fellow believer, take time to ask whether you believe with your whole heart in the victory that faith gives over the world. Put your trust in the mighty power of God, in the abiding presence of Jesus, as the only pledge of certain, continual victory.

“Believest thou this?…Yea, Lord: I believe” (John 11:26–27).

 

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