THE SECRET OF OVERCOMING: POSSESSING THE FAITH OF JESUS

The Secret of Overcoming: Possessing the Faith of Jesus

Revelation 14 contains a fascinating description of the final generation: “They are without fault before the throne of God.”  “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”  (See Revelation 14:5 and 12.)  The last generation is unique because, of all the generations that have lived they are described as being “without fault” and this is because they keep both the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

“To keep” means more than to possess.  It also means to guard and to preserve.  The final generation is without fault before God because they have kept, guarded and preserved the faith of Jesus.  This, the faith of Jesus, is what has enabled them to keep the divine law and be found without fault.

There is a lot of confusion over precisely what is the “faith of Jesus”.  Some have wondered if it is faith in Jesus.  The truth is, there are two: faith IN Jesus and the faith OF Jesus.  Both are necessary for salvation.

Compounding the confusion for many is a misunderstanding over what, precisely, is faith itself!  Many people assume that, unless they have some flight of good feelings, they lack faith.  They bemoan this lack, recalling times they felt full of faith and they try to drum up good feelings, only to end up feeling like failures when their feelings do not change.  This is a tragic mistake.  Faith is not feeling!  Faith is merely an agreement of the mind that what someone else has said is true.  That is all.

The dictionary defines faith as:

Belief; the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another, resting on his authority and veracity, without other evidence; the judgment that what another states or testifies is the truth . . . The assent of the mind to the truth of a proposition advanced by another...1  

faith This is the pure faith of Jesus.  This is what He exercised in His Father while on earth.  While Jesus always knew that He was the Son of God, when He incarnated He was not born with the benefit of accumulated recollections of His relationship with the Father.  Instead, He had to develop a growing relationship with His Father through daily communion and fellowship.  If the Son had been born with a total recall of His past experiences with His Father when He was in Heaven, then He would have had an advantage over us; thus, He would not be able to be a real example to us.  Jesus, however, is a very real example; praise His Name!  He could be tempted and He was tempted.  This was very real, but it was part of God’s plan to save sinners.  “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”  (Hebrews 2:10, KJV2)

As the Captain of our salvation, Jesus perfected faith in God.  This is seen in His life on earth.  Scripture records in detail the times of Jesus’ greatest trials of faith: the Wilderness of Temptation and the crucifixion.  At both times of greatest conflict, Jesus overcame by exercising faith in His Father.  To put it in other words, Jesus chose to ignore His feelings and trust His Father’s promises.

The Saviour exercised no powers that it is not our privilege to also exercise in the same way He did: through faith in God.  The fact that Jesus overcame through faith in His Father is revealed in what He said during these times of greatest temptation: He quoted Scripture.  Even when hanging upon the cross, His cry of agony, “My El, My El, why have You forsaken Me?” was a direct quote from Psalm 22:1.  This reveals that, while suffering the keenest agony and overwhelmed with Satan’s temptations to doubt His Father’s goodness, Jesus’s mind was clinging to the promises of God.

Psalm 22 was a prophecy of the crucifixion!  Verses 14 to 16 are a physical description of what happens to the body when suspended by crucifixion.  Verse 18 foretold precisely what the Roman soldiers did with Jesus’ clothes: “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.”  The mockery of the priests as recorded in Matthew 27:41-43 was a word-for-word fulfillment of Psalm 22:7 and 8: All those who see Me ridicule Me; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, "He trusted in God, let Him rescue Him; let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!"

By filling His mind with Scripture, Jesus exercised faith in God: He chose to ignore His feelings of abandonment and instead chose to trust in His Father’s love, previously revealed.  The same psalm that so perfectly foretold Jesus' trial on the cross, also contained the faith-inspiring words: “Thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.  Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.  They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.”  (Psalm 22:3-5)

Satan with his fierce temptations wrung the heart of Jesus.  The Saviour could not see through the portals of the tomb.  Hope did not present to Him His coming forth from the grave a conqueror, or tell him of the father’s acceptance of the sacrifice.  He feared that sin was so offensive to the Lord that Their separation was to be eternal.  Christ felt the anguish which the sinner will feel when mercy shall no longer plead for the guilty race.  It was the sense of sin, bringing the Father’s wrath upon Him as man’s substitute, that made the cup He drank so bitter, and broke the heart of the Son of God.  . . . Suddenly the gloom lifted from the cross and in clear, trumpet like tones, that seemed to resound throughout creation, Jesus cried, “It is finished.”  “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.”  A light encircled the cross, and the face of the Saviour shone with a glory like the sun.  He then bowed His head upon His breast, and died.

Amid the awful darkness, apparently forsaken of God, Jesus had drained the last dregs in the cup of human woe.  In those dreadful hours He had relied upon the evidence of His Father’s acceptance heretofore given Him.  He was acquainted with the character of His Father; He understood His justice, His mercy, and His great love.  By faith He rested in Him whom it had ever been His joy to obey.  And as in submission He committed Himself to God, the sense of loss of His Father’s favor was withdrawn.  By faith, Jesus was victor.3

Jesus worked out salvation for us that we, through faith in Him, may accept His victories on our behalf by faith.  This is the faith the 144,000 will have that allows them to stand before God without fault.  They have learned the secret of salvation: to choose to believe in the promises of God, regardless of their feelings, and trust in Him, though the Heavens fall.



Doubt in the word of God is the biggest obstacle to overcome in the fight against sin and self.  Ever since Eve believed the word of the serpent (“Ye shall not surely die!” Genesis 3:4) instead of the word of God (“For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”  Genesis 2:17) every son and daughter of Adam has doubted the word of God.

This is where faith in Jesus comes in.  And, as with everything else, it is a gift.  God has given to every man a certain measure of faith.  “God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”  (See Romans 12:3.)  This measure of faith is enough so that, when a person prays and asks to be given the faith of Jesus, the faith He perfected through His sufferings, he has enough faith in Yahushua to believe that he does receive the faith of Jesus when he asks for it.  “God has made every provision that sinful man might overcome through faith in the promised Saviour.”4

Too often people exercise faith at the beginning of their Christian journey, but then become confused and think that they must do some part of the work of overcoming for themselves.  All such efforts end in failure.  They exercise faith to believe that God has forgiven them for sins past, but then they fail when they do not continue to exercise faith in Jesus to give them His faith to overcome current temptations.

Victorious Christian living, obedience that allows you to stand before God without fault, is found only by Christ Jesus living in you.  This is “the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is the Anointed in you, the hope of glory.”  (See Colossians 1:26 and 27.)

This means that you choose to believe that Christ has overcome in every area in which you are tempted.  You choose to believe He has given you that victory He won on your behalf.  You choose to believe this because His word says it is true, and you need no other “proof” to believe it.  His word is sufficient because of who He is: pure Love, total Knowledge, complete Justice and absolute Power.

While faith is a gift, there is something for you to do: you must choose to believe.  Choose to trust on a daily basis.  Study God’s character of love (1 John 4:8).  Trust that He delights in loving kindness and justice (Jeremiah 9:23 and 24).  Faith that is nurtured will grow quickly.  Make it a habit to trust, regardless of your feelings.  If you have the blessing of good feelings, you are not exercising faith.  Faith is exercised when you do not feel the warm fuzzies, but you choose to trust anyway, despite your feelings.  “Faith is the substance of things hoped for,  the evidence of things not seen.”  (Hebrews 11:1)

Make it a habit to express gratitude for everything.  “Rejoice evermore.  Pray without ceasing.  In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Jesus the Anointed concerning you.”  (See 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.)  This is a positive command.  If you do it, you will be abundantly blessed.  When trials arise, as they will in this life, choose to trust.  Look for something in every situation for which to thank your Heavenly Father.

Expressing gratitude to God for His many blessings is key to developing faith.  Recognition of God’s gifts draws forth gratitude from the heart.  Gratitude awakens love which, in turn, develops faith that what He has promised He will do.  Study the character of God.  Observe His loving kindness in His dealings with others.  He is safe to trust!

Today, accept by faith that Heaven has provided everything necessary for your eternal salvation: forgiveness for sins past and victory for current temptations.  “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus were baptized into His death?  Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as the Anointed was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”  (See Romans 6:3, 4.)

Accept the gift of God and live a brand new life by accepting Heaven’s gift: the faith of Jesus.
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1 Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828.

2 All Scripture references taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

3 E. G. White, Desire of Ages, pp. 753 and 756, emphasis supplied.

4 E. G. White, Manuscripts, Vol. 6, p. 147.