The Overcoming Life, and Other SermonsMoody, Dwight Lyman
Religion
The Overcoming Life, and Other Sermons
Moody, Dwight Lyman
Evangelistic sermons; Evangelistic work; Sermons, American
Now many a young believer is discouraged and disheartened when he
realizes this warfare. He begins to think that God has forsaken him,
that Christianity is not all that it professes to be. But he should
rather regard it as an encouraging sign. No sooner has a soul escaped
from his snare than the great Adversary takes steps to ensnare it
again. He puts forth all his power to recapture his lost prey. The
fiercest attacks are made on the strongest forts, and the fiercer the
battle the young believer is called on to wage, the surer evidence it
is of the work of the Holy Spirit in his heart. God will not desert
him in his time of need, any more than He deserted His people of old
when they were hard pressed by their foes.
The Only Complete Victor.
This brings me to the fourth verse of the fourth chapter of the same
epistle: "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them:
because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world."
The only man that ever conquered this world--was complete victor--was
Jesus Christ. When He shouted on the cross, "It is finished!" it was
the shout of a conqueror. He had overcome every enemy. He had met sin
and death. He had met every foe that you and I have got to meet, and
had come off victor. Now if I have got the spirit of Christ, if I have
got that same life in me, then it is that I have got a power that is
greater than any power in the world, and with that same power I
overcome the world.
Notice that everything human in this world fails. Every man, the
moment he takes his eye off God, has failed. Every man has been a
failure at some period of his life. Abraham failed. Moses failed.
Elijah failed. Take the men that have become so famous and that were
so mighty--the moment they got their eye off God, they were weak like
other men; and it is a very singular thing that those men failed on
the strongest point in their character. I suppose it was because they
were not on the watch. Abraham was noted for his faith, and he failed
right there--he denied his wife. Moses was noted for his meekness and
humility, and he failed right there--he got angry. God kept him out of
the promised land because he lost his temper. I know he was called
"the servant of God," and that he was a mighty man, and had power with
God, but humanly speaking, he failed, and was kept out of the promised
land. Elijah was noted for his power in prayer and for his courage,
yet he became a coward. He was the boldest man of his day, and stood
before Ahab, and the royal court, and all the prophets of Baal; yet
when he heard that Jezebel had threatened his life, he ran away to the
desert, and under a juniper tree prayed that he might die. Peter was
noted for his boldness, and a little maid scared him nearly out of his
wits. As soon as she spoke to him, he began to tremble, and he swore
that he didn't know Christ. I have often said to myself that I'd like
to have been there on the day of Pentecost alongside of that maid when
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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