THE VICTORY THAT OVERCOMETH THE WORLD
[p. 179] THE VICTORY THAT OVERCOMETH THE WORLD
There is one word used in this scripture which expresses what I want to speak about this evening, and that is the word victory. I would like to show how God affords victory to His people, and how they come into it. John speaks much of it; he speaks of overcoming and of victory. Paul also speaks of it; in writing to the Corinthians, having enlarged on the subject of resurrection, he finishes by saying, “Thanks to God, who gives us the victory by our Lord Jesus Christ”. God gives it to us; that is, to Christians and in writing to the Romans also, he says, “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly”, (Romans 16:20) an assurance that victory would be theirs, although for the moment they might be suffering. He tells them “God ... ... shall bruise Satan under your feet”, and it is well that saints should have that in mind, especially those who are in any way storm-tossed by the enemy’s power. The Lord Jesus Christ is spoken of prophetically in Genesis 3 as bruising Satan’s head; Satan would bruise His heel, but He would bruise Satan’s head; that was foretold of Christ and it has come to pass. I want to dwell on this, and I mention it here in connection with Paul’s allusion to Satan being bruised under the feet of the people of God. “Under your feet”; it is a most ignominious kind of subjugation, reminding one of the conquest of Canaan, when Joshua said to the captains of the men of war, “Put your feet upon the necks of these kings”. (Joshua 10:24)
When the people came out of Egypt they celebrated their deliverance, and I would remark here that it is very important to celebrate what God achieves for us. I do not know if we are much accustomed [p. 180] to celebration; the world goes in for it, and we should be ready to celebrate divine intervention for us; so, as I was saying, when the people of Israel came out of Egypt, they celebrated their deliverance not indeed that it is exactly attributed to them “Then sang Moses”, it is said, “and the children of Israel” (Exodus 15:1). The element of faith which had begun when they started to march across the Red Sea was seen with them (Hebrews 11:29), and having crossed they celebrated their deliverance. “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea ... ... The Lord is a man of war”, (verses 1 - 3) and so on. They are carried on in their song of celebration to Canaan, “Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance”; (verse 17) they see nothing but victory right on to the end; that is, they are in faith for the moment, and it is only in faith that we recognise the victory and celebrate it. This, however, is the only celebration we get recorded, save that of Numbers 21, where they sing unto the well. The next act of faith coming before us, as referred to in Hebrews 11, is that of Rahab. She comes into view as hiding the spies which Joshua sent to Jericho, and speaks of what Jehovah did at the Red Sea. She had heard about it by the hearing of faith, we may say; she had heard of what Jehovah did at the Red Sea, and of what the people did to Sihon and Og. She was in the light of victory belonging to these people, in the light typically of what God did in Christ in raising Him from the dead, and in the light of the Spirit acting in the people of God.
Now to refer again to the conquest of Canaan; when Joshua directed that the feet of the captains of Israel should be placed on the necks of the kings of the Canaanites (Joshua 10:24), I have no doubt [p. 181] that this is what the apostle alludes to when he says, “God ... ... shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly”. I mention it, as I said, because of any who may be storm-tossed owing to the enemy’s power. Satan, we are told, goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. It becomes a question of who his victim may be, he knows those whom he can devour, he has learned this by experience. He came to the Lord, and found that he could not touch Him. “The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me”,(John 14:30) the Lord said. Satan could not touch Him in this way, so here, “he that is begotten of God keeps himself and the wicked one does not touch him”. Satan knows that, but he is looking for some one whom he can devour, and the exercise is, Am I that one? Am I exposed? The apostle goes on to say, “whom resist, stedfast in the faith”. I wish to speak of faith, and to emphasise it, because without faith it is impossible to please God; it is impossible to get the victory without faith; it is impossible to resist the enemy without faith; indeed, without faith it is defeat at every step of the way. The dispensation in which we are is a dispensation of faith (1 Timothy 1:4); hence the great importance of having faith in our souls.
Now, coming to this passage in the epistle of John, we have, first of all, “whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world”. We have been dwelling in our seasons together on the manner in which the Lord Jesus brought about a state of faith in the disciples. This could not have been accomplished apart from the work of God in them; the Father had wrought in them all except Judas. There had been the work of God in them as the Lord intimated in John 3; new birth, which was of God, had become a fact in them, that element was there. But there was another element in them, the deceptiveness of which as yet they did not know, it was the [p. 182] flesh. The work of God was there, and what He does remains; that in itself is a victory over the world, but then there is the flesh to be reckoned with. Peter was truly a subject of the work of God, and yet he had not discerned what flesh was; so, while what was born of God triumphed in him in result, he was moved to do most disgraceful things in the presence of the enemy. And why? Because he had never judged the flesh. “Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world”, but what is born of flesh is flesh, even in a Peter, even in a Paul! It is flesh, and unless discerned, judged, and disallowed in the power of the Spirit, it will one day bring about, as it did in Peter a shameful defeat in the presence of the enemy. So the Lord on the resurrection morning had to encounter in Peter and in the others a state of unwarrantable unbelief, unwarrantable in view of all that they had witnessed in His ministry, and yet alongside of that, thank God! there was that work in them which was indestructible, that which ultimately triumphed and enabled them to become vessels of that system which is called “God’s dispensation, which is in faith”.
This leads to the next statement: “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith”. I would, on the one hand, lay stress on that which is born of God, “whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world”; it has to be taken account of in the abstract, alas! with most of us, but nevertheless it is there. I look at the saints, and myself amongst them; I am entitled to look at them in the light of the wonderful fact that they are born of God, “begotten of him”. I am entitled to look at them in the light of this truth, that what is begotten of God is, as I might say, unovercomable in this world. In this light the saints are bound to triumph. That is one side, but on the other hand there is in the disciples the sad spectacle of men who had the most wonderful [p. 183] opportunities and yet, who, through not discerning flesh in its nature as inherently opposed to God, and not subject to the law of God, became unbelievers in connection with that wonderful and glorious truth, the resurrection of Christ, and this notwithstanding the fact that it was borne witness to by persons whom they had no reason to doubt. Let us beware of flesh, lest we be found unbelieving in regard to that which is most precious, and which too would minister to our deepest enjoyment!
“This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith”. I want to dwell on this. We accept the Lord Jesus as our Saviour, we recognise the Holy Spirit, and are brought into that which is in itself a victory. It is called a victory, “our faith”, and hence what the Lord proposed on the morning of resurrection was the bringing about in those disciples that had seen His wonderful works a state of faith. This the Lord accomplished; and not only did He bring about in them a state of faith, but He brought about in them a state of spirituality. We get an instance of this in Acts 1, where Peter, standing up in the midst of the hundred and twenty brethren, describes the fall of Judas, and then goes on to say in effect, the Holy Spirit enjoins that another should be appointed to take his place, and one of the qualifications for the position, the chief qualification, is that the successor must be an assembly man; “of these men which have companied [p. 184] with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us ... ... must one be ordained”. This was a spiritual statement, and thus we see that the disciples came not only to believe in resurrection, but to see what was befitting to the new order of things that was established. Peter as spiritual says, as it were, The man who is to be our companion in apostleship must be an assembly man. I wonder if we are all assembly men in that sense! Note, it says, “companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us”.
Then in the next chapter, they were all together in one place; together as we might say in assembly: not in the temple now, as is stated in Luke 24:53, but simply “in one place”. Previously this “place” was the “upper room”, and undoubtedly this would be the same: the upper room suggests a spiritual idea. A large conspicuous place under man’s eye would not be spiritually suitable. The principle of Christianity is to be out of sight, simply nothing in men’s eyes as a “little flock”. So those who saw the Lord taken up to heaven returned to the upper room, where were staying both Peter, and James, and John, and all the apostles with them; they were in spiritual surroundings, we may say, in an out-of-the-world state of things. That is spirituality. It is not heaven yet, but a place in which they were withdrawn from the world; there they were together in the recognition of the authority of Christ as set forth in the apostles, and in the enjoyment of mutual bonds of affection.
It was in those days before they had received the Spirit that Peter rose up to speak, and spoke “as oracles of God”. He was spiritual. I adduce it now to testify to the wonderful service rendered by the Lord to the apostles and others during the forty days of His resurrection, when He undertook to bring about in them a state of faith and spirituality. To such a company the Holy Spirit came in Acts 2. There was developed through the apostles a wonderful system of truth. They took, in this way, the place of Moses. Of those who believed it was said that “they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers”. Those who had faith forsook that which stood for the system of Moses (we read that the scribes sat in Moses’ seat) for the authority vested in those twelve men who were taught of Christ.
[p. 185] The Holy Spirit brought in a system of truth which they developed, and it was in faith; it was that which in the Scripture before us is called our faith; “this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith”.
What a wonderful triumph has been brought about! That which Christ taught, and the apostles spoke of, became living in souls, so that those who believed were subdued, and “continued in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers”. There was a living system of faith set up in the souls of the apostles, and their teaching appealed to the people, as we see when Peter stood up with the eleven. In Acts 1 we are told he stood up in the midst of the brethren, but in chapter 2 he stood up with “the eleven”, indicating the official position he occupied on this latter occasion. He stands up and addresses the people, and his preaching is such that it brings conviction to the consciences of his hearers; they were “pricked in their heart”, we are told; the word appealed to their hearts as well as to their consciences. Such was the testimony at the beginning! Peter as I said presented the word in such wise as to bring conviction to the hearts of those whom he addressed, and their inquiry was, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” There was no question as to the authority of the truth presented. I would commend to you, the power that was in the testimony presented by Peter, and in it for this reason, that it was in faith and in the power of the Holy Spirit. The convicted ones inquired, What shall we do? And Peter, it may be remarked, was not slow to say what they should do.
We should always have in view the element of responsibility attaching to those who hear. We are sometimes disposed to say, All has been done for you; but Peter did not say all had been done. As regards the atonement, it is all done, thank God!
[p. 186] but Peter told them what to do, and they were to act as he prescribed; “Repent, and be baptised each one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”. As receiving the Spirit they would be brought into victory; so the passage goes on to say, “they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers”. They were connected with that living system of things set up in faith, which was in itself a victory over the world.
None of the efforts of the enemy has succeeded in the least degree in overthrowing this: it remains. It is not a question of the Thirty-nine Articles, nor even of the Scriptures, though the Scriptures give us the doctrine; but it is “our faith”; for that is how the truth is held in our dispensation. Moses lays things down in writing, but in Christianity things are preserved in the souls of God’s people. “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith”. (Romans 10:8) Christianity is not exactly laid down in writings; the latter come in to confirm and preserve in accurate terms and in divine authority what already existed. The victory was there already, and it remains for you and for me to be in it, and I would repeat that this can only be on the principle of faith. It is all very well to come into fellowship, but where are you as regards faith? That is what counts, and nothing else. “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?”
I would refer now to the gospel of John to show in a brief way how this great fact comes out. You will recall how Peter had a revelation made to him in regard of Christ. The Father revealed to Peter “the Christ, the Son of the living God”, but I do not dwell on that, for that is something by itself, which speaks of the Father’s sovereign right in laying [p. 187] the foundation of the assembly, followed by Christ building on it. What I want to refer to is in John’s gospel, to show how this truth of which we have been speaking came to light, and how a soul comes into it. In chapter 9 the Lord propounds this question to the man who had been blind, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” It is a great question, and I connect it with the statement at the end of chapter 20; “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name”. This is spoken of as the result of the signs recorded in this gospel; it is not a question of the revelation of the Father. The signs are intended to establish our souls in faith, so that believing on Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, we have life in His name. If we have life down here in the name of the Son there can be no question as to its security. Now, to go back to show how the truth of the Lord’s sonship comes to light. The man in John 9 is brought face to face with the Son of God, and the question is put to him, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” He replies, “Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?” and the Lord announces Himself as none other than He, whereupon the man rejoins, “Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him”. Wonderful goal for him to reach! The Lord, in taking up that man from the beggar’s seat, blind as he was, had in view that in his heart there should be this wonderful light of the knowledge of the Son of God. Is that light in all our hearts? “We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life”, (1 John 5:20). The Lord had that in His mind when He took this [p. 188] man as He passed and opened his eyes, that He might conduct him to this point; and that man had victory over the world. The world had cast him out, it had the victory to that extent; but now he can look back and in the light of the knowledge of the Son of God can say, ‘I am victorious, the world has no claim, moral or otherwise, on me now’; with the knowledge of the Son of God in his soul the man was independent of the world and superior to it. This was victory.
So too, a Christian can look back on the world as having overcome it. It is not only that it has been overcome by Christ, but it is overcome by the Christian who is in the light of the Son of God. From passage to passage in the gospel of John the Holy Spirit opens up to us what the Son can do. He is “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead”; it is not His own resurrection that is alluded to, but that of others. So the Lord says to Martha at the grave of Lazarus, “If thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God”, and this glory was seen in the bringing of a man by name uttered by the lips of the Son, out of his sepulchre. The glory of God shone there, and all was manifested in the presence of the disciples. Then in chapter 12 the Lord is troubled as He contemplates death and the awfulness of it. He says, “Now is my soul troubled”. The Greeks had come up and desired to see Jesus and now all the blessed results of His death come before Him: “The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified”. With what definiteness, with what intelligence He speaks! I believe the Lord would bring home to our souls the sense of victory which these chapters impress upon us.
John wept in Revelation 5 because no one was found worthy to open the book, and one of the elders said to him, “Weep not: behold, the Lion of the [p. 189] tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof”. He brings in the light of victory to the weeping prophet, and the Lord would do that for us, dear brethren, for we cannot really suffer with Christ except as in the light of the victory He gives. God could prevent the suffering; it is in His power to alter things, but it is a question of His will, and if we are to know suffering with Christ, we can only take it up as victors, as those who know victory with Christ. So the Lord says, “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me”. There is nothing to hinder Christ from gathering His people, unless, it may be, the working of the flesh in us; that hinders; the flesh linking us with the world hinders, but as regards any power exercised against Christ, nothing can stop Him. The victory is complete. “This he said, signifying what death he should die”. He would go into death, but even in that which might be regarded as an expression of weakness publicly, for He was “crucified through weakness”, even in being lifted up on the cross He is victorious, for it becomes the means, as He says, of drawing all unto Him.
In chapter 14 the wicked one comes and the Lord says, he “hath nothing in me”. There was nothing in Christ that the enemy could touch: in virtue of what He was, He was absolutely immune from satanic influence; so the enemy has to go, and it says here, leading us on to that very thing, “he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not”. I would urge upon you the importance of connecting yourself, in your soul’s apprehension, with that which is of God in you. Flesh is incorrigible; do not trust it; but do trust what God has effected, for that is unassailable [p. 190] by the wicked one, and the Holy Spirit would maintain you as under the influence of the Son of God, immune from the influences of Satan. Believing on Him, you have the victory, as it says, “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?”
I would commend to you again, before closing, the thought of victory. There will be victory at the end literally, but Christianity is victory at the beginning, and that is what lends all the power to it. Victory is accorded to us at the beginning, so that we might go out into the world only for the will of God. If we go into it for anything else we are sure to be damaged. The Lord said in John 17, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil”. Actually, we are in the world, but we are to be out of it in sanctification. May we go through it victoriously! I have had in my mind the constant occurrence in John of the thought of overcoming. It is intimated that there would be overcomers, and what remains for us, is to see that we are overcomers in these days.
Pages 191 - 249-”Spiritual Increase”, Devon, 1920 (Volume 47).