The Victory That Overcomes
The sermon emphasizes the power of faith in overcoming the world's temptations and trials, as exemplified by Jesus' faultless victory.
William M. Clow preaches about the victory that faith brings in overcoming the world's temptations and trials. He explains how the world, as described by John, represents the earthly order filled with greed, darkness, and rebellion against goodness. Clow emphasizes that those who have a vision of God and receive His Holy Spirit will be able to face and conquer the challenges of the world. He highlights the importance of faith in achieving victory, referencing the great believers who have moved mountains through their unwavering belief. Clow ultimately points to Jesus as the ultimate example of faith, who triumphed over the world through His sacrifice on the Cross.
Text
"This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith"
(1 John 5:4).
There lies the noblest victory of the men who believe. To John and to his generation, and to all men who have had the vision of God, the world is the blinding, seducing, terrifying reality. By the world, John does not mean the realm of earth and sea and sky, or the things which God hath made beautiful in their season. He does not mean the world of men and women, with their joys and sorrows, their hopes and fears. That is the world God loves. By the world John meant that merely earthly order and fashion and mode of life, with its hates, greeds, foul habits, and dark mutinies against goodness and truth. It was that pagan world in which he lived, sometimes lovely in its forms of passion, often alluring in its fascination, but always deadly to the purities and simplicities of the soul. It was that world which Demas loved, and for whose indulgences he became a deserter. That world we face when we go down to our businesses, enter into our pleasures, suffer our trials and losses, meet our scornings and our disappointments.
The man who has had his moment of vision, who receives in every hour the energy of God's Holy Spirit, will face its temptations, endure its trials, and he will overcome. We may feel ourselves far from the attainment of this victory. We conquer it in proportion as we believe. We might say, as the great believers have said, to the mountain which seems to hinder the coming of the kingdom of God and to blot out the very light of heaven, "Be thou removed," and it would be removed. All the splendid achievements and all the victory over the wrong, and the tyranny, and the cruelty of the past, however strongly these have been entrenched, have been gained by men of faith. Nothing has been impossible to them. But only One has gotten Him the faultless victory. That One is Jesus, the beginner and the consummator of faith, who endured the Cross, and despised its shame, and is now set down, in the victor's place, at the right hand of God.
Sermon Outline
- I. The Victory Over the World
- A. Defined as faith in 1 John 5:4
- B. The world as a reality that blinds and seduces
- C. The world as a pagan order that is deadly to the soul
- II. The Power of Faith
- A. Faith gives us the energy to face temptations and endure trials
- B. Faith conquers the world in proportion to our belief
- III. The Example of Jesus
- A. Jesus is the beginner and consummator of faith
- B. Jesus endured the Cross and despised its shame
- C. Jesus is now set down in the victor's place at the right hand of God
Key Quotes
“This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” — William M. Clow
“We might say, as the great believers have said, to the mountain which seems to hinder the coming of the kingdom of God and to blot out the very light of heaven, 'Be thou removed,' and it would be removed.” — William M. Clow
“That One is Jesus, the beginner and the consummator of faith, who endured the Cross, and despised its shame, and is now set down, in the victor's place, at the right hand of God.” — William M. Clow
Application Points
- We must believe in our faith to conquer the world's temptations and trials.
- We can face the world's challenges with confidence when we receive the energy of God's Holy Spirit.
- Jesus' example of enduring the Cross and despising its shame is a model for our own faith and perseverance.