THE KING’S BUSINESS 161 The Christian Life—Overcoming By WILLIAM P. NICHOLSON [Mr. Nicholson is a young Irishman whom God has greatly used in evangelistic work in Great Britain, in Australia, and in this land. He was associated with Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman in his great simultaneous cam paigns in several of our large cities.—:E bitors .] I HAVE been speaking to you these afternoons on how sinful it is for a Christian to live an empty
power is their estimation of the pow er of God manifested in your life and mine. As they see the overcoming power of God in the lives of profess ing Christians, so they are led to be lieve in it. It therefore makes a great difference to God as to whether you overcome or not. Jesus, before He left this world, said, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” How can people know the world was overcome, if you and I are be ing overcome day by day by it ? It is as you and I are living overcoming lives by the power of the Overcomer that they see that God is greater than sin and greater than our weakness. And then, dear friends, it makes a great difference to others whether we are being overcome or not, because if we are overcoming, it inspires oth ers. You know the effect that a strong, robust, sanctified Christian life has upon you. My, how it spurs you on and how it inspires you on to greater things. I have been greatly impressed with the fact that the per son who is weakest in himself and has the most to fight against and contend with, is the person who knows the most about overcoming. The man of strong will and determined char acter is often the weakest man. The man that knows little or nothing about moral strength and puts all his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ leads a life of continual victory. If it is a matter of trust, then there is no need that we should be over come. If we are going to bring into, tins fight our environment, our natural
life; how in the eyes of the world a life may be filled to overflowing and yet in the eyes of God it is an empty life. And then we saw that the Lord intended our lives to be emptied, and from Philippians 2 we learned that Christ emptied Himself of all the things that the world loves. We also learned that our lives were not to re main empty, but were to be filled with all the blessed fulness of God, and we saw from God’s Word the con tents of that fulness. Now, today I want to speak of the Christian life—overcoming. In Ro mans, chapter 12 and verse 21, we are instructed to be not overcome, but overcome. The words are: “Be not overcome, but overcome.” We must either overcome or be overcome. We cannot take any neutral ground in this matter. If I am not living an over coming life, then I am being over come day by day in my Christian life. If I am not an overcomer, then I am being overcome by the enemies that assail every human soul. There are those who imagine that it does not make much difference whether they overcome or whether they do not. My friends, it makes all the difference in the world whether you are an over comer or whether you are being over come. First of all, it makes all the difference to God. The honor of God is at stake. The world only knows God as they know God in your life and mine. Their estimation of God’s
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