A world-conquering grace, a world-overcoming grace – Thomas Brooks
“For whoever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory which overcomes the world, even our faith.” John 5:4
True faith is a world-conquering grace, it is a world-overcoming grace. Faith overcomes the frowning world, the fawning world, the tempting world, and the persecuting world.
Faith overcomes the world, by outbidding sights. Faith outbids the world, and so makes the soul victorious. The world set honors, pleasures, etc., before Moses but his faith outbid the world. Faith presents the recompense of reward, it brings down all the glory, pleasures, and treasures of heaven, of the eternal world, and sets them before the soul; and so it overtops and overcomes the world by outbidding it.
Faith overcomes the world, by telling the soul that all things are its own. Says faith This God is your God, this Christ is your Christ, this righteousness is your righteousness, this promise is your promise, this crown is your crown, this glory is your glory, these treasures are your treasures, these pleasures are your pleasures. All things are yours,” says the apostle, “things present are yours, and things to come are yours,” 1 Cor. 3:22. Thus the faith of the martyrs acted, and so made them victorious over a tempting and a persecuting world, Heb. 11:35.
Faith overcomes the world, by valuing the things of this world as they are. Most men over-value them, they put too great a price upon them; they make the world an idol, and then they cry, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” Oh but faith now gives all things their correct value; faith presents all worldly things as impotent, as mixed, as mutable, as momentary in comparison with the soul, and so makes the soul victorious. Faith makes a man to see the prickles which are on every rose, the thorns which are in every crown, the scabs which are under every royal robe, the poison which is in the golden cup, the snare which is in the delicious dish, the spot which is in the shining pearl and so makes a Christian count and call all these things, as indeed they are, “vanity of vanities!” And so the believing soul slights the world, and tramples upon it as dirt and dross.
Faith overcomes the world, by presenting Jesus Christ to the soul as a most excellent, glorious, and comprehensive good, as such a good which comprehends all good. Christ is that one good which comprehends all good; that one excellency which comprehends all excellencies. All the beauties, all the rarities, all the excellencies, all the riches, all the glories of all created creatures are comprehended in Christ. As the worth and value of many pieces of copper are less than one precious jewel; so all the whole volume of perfections which is spread through heaven and earth, is epitomized in Christ; and the sight and sense of this makes the soul to triumph over the world. Faith presents more excellencies and better excellencies in Christ, than can be lost for Christ, and so it makes the soul a conqueror.