p. 170 | OVERCOMING by Joseph Clarke

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 28, 1878

OVERCOMING

By Joseph Clarke

“For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.” 1 John 5:4. In the same connection, the apostle gives us the clue as to the way the world is to be overcome, in these words: “And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” He continues thus: “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” Esdras says: “Be not afraid, neither doubt; for God is your guide; and the God of them who keep my commandments and precepts, saith the Lord God. Let not your sins weigh you down, and let not your iniquities lift up themselves. Wo be unto them that are bound with their sins, and covered with their iniquities, like as a field is covered over with bushes, and the path thereof covered with thorns, that no man may travel through! It is left undressed, and is cast into the fire to be consumed therewith.” 2 Esdras 16:75–78.

To overcome, we need all the aid of the Holy Spirit’s influence. Some sins become like a fever, intermittent; and we are as incapable of overcoming them as of avoiding bodily disease, in and of ourselves; hence the indispensable quality, or grace, of faith; hence, too, the necessity of prayer, and continued watchfulness, a faith that will not relax its hold upon God, and a spirit of prayer and watchfulness as habitual as the beating of the pulse.

All is at stake. Shall we overcome? In our own strength we cannot, but in God we may overcome. JOSEPH CLARKE.