p. 6 | POWER TO OVERCOME

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 16, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 42.

POWER TO OVERCOME

THE great need of Christianity to-day is power—power to overcome sin, power to live an honest life, a pure life, a true life, a godly life. There is no question but that multitudes long for this power. They want to be Christians; many of them profess to be; but they do not live Christian lives. They are tempted, and fall; they mourn and repent, and are tempted, and fall; and so the endless round is repeated till oftentimes the heart loses hope, the conscience ceases to respond, and the soul drifts a derelict into the engulfing maelstroms of the world.

Yet, there is power in Christ to save; and that power is the same power which He possessed,—which enabled Him to build the holy character of all characters of earth. What was that power?—“The ‘power of an endless life.’” “As the Father hath life ‘in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life ‘in Himself.’” It was the power of the endless, mighty life of the Creator of the universe, making constant, living connection with the great Fountain.

The natural man has life, but it is a perverted life, ending in death, unless its possessor shall “lay hold of eternal life.” It is granted him of God that he may by submission and faith receive the life eternal. He can not possess the life eternal while in transgression against God. God’s life can not flow through perverted law and give life. Its only channel is through unperverted media. Even such was Jesus Christ. In Him the law is “the law of the ‘Spirit of life.’” From Him, and only from Him, may every soul receive it by faith. Hence “he that ‘believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he ‘that believeth not the Son shall not see life.’” Hence, also, Jesus sadly tells the unbelieving: “And ‘ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.’”

But is this life real?—Yea, it is real, actual, power-giving, sin-cleansing, body-healing, character-building life. It is in Christ Jesus. It ever flows from Him, the Fountain, to us. With Him it is absolute. The Fountain wells and flows eternally, whether we receive or not. If we let true faith form the channel, the life will flow in. And that life is just as actual as is the life of Christ. We may lose it; unbelief and disobedience may break the connection; but as long as true faith abides, the true, actual life abides. Its actuality is inherent in the life; and if received at all, it is actually eternal life. Whether it is absolute depends on one condition.

The point of this article is, that only in eternal life have we hope; and that we may have it now if we will. “These things have I written unto you, that ye ‘may know that ye have eternal life, even unto you ‘that believe on the name of the Son of God.’” 1 John 5:13, R.V. Then, brother, believe it. Dear soul, whoever you are, believe in God, and obtain it. Know the power of the endless life, rejoice in its healing efficacy, and go forward to everlasting victory.