Victory in Jesus
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Introduction - Recap FEAR!
Compare these verses with a merry go round, which is Christ and the kingdom of God. Get on anywhere and you get the same ride - getting on and off when ever you want. All the while the world is trying to beat us down and force us to do the things of the world.
1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments.
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.
4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
The world is doing its best to tear us down and to keep us down. The evil one wants to keep us all trapped, so that we remain dead in our trespasses.
Transitional Sentence: However, we can have victory over the world and the evil one through Christ Jesus our Lord thru FAITH!
So, where does this merry go round begin? It begins with believe. That’s where we get on.
1. Believe:
a. Who does this include? (Whoever)
b. Believes - To believe is to think that something is true, correct or real. In this case we believe the gospel message is true, The Way, Christianity is the correct way to live, most of all we must believe that Jesus is real and who the gospel says He is. (Tell story about Thursday afternoon)
by Faith Heb 11:6
6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
Wow - He is a rewarder of those who believe. What’s the prize?
c. Born of God - Being Born of God provides a wonderful number of Spiritual gifts and advantages. Two of them are that we receive the Holy Spirit and the other is that we become new creatures.
An Old testament version of this truth is that we get a:
New Spirit and a new heart - Old Testament- Ezek 11:19-20
19 “And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,
20 that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God.
Explain it!
A New Testament promise of this is that we become a: New Creature - 2 Cor 5:17
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
You see - the merry go round is Christ and being in Christ - we are on the merry go round. That never changes - whether we get on or off the merry go round. Once we are made new we won’t go back to the old self - we may fall back into a son pattern but we won’t be the same old dead person we were.
2. So once we are on this merry go round what are we called to do? According to verse two we should Love God, love God’s children and keep His commandments. How do we do that? How do we love God?
a. Love God by putting nothing before Him. Which means you are keeping His commands! Specifically number one of the big Ten. Deut 5:7
7 ‘You shall have no other gods before Me.
Pretty simple right. Don’t think that - there are a lot of people who put all kinds of stuff before God. In our conversation with the young man the other day we got the feeling that he was putting himself before God because he was deciding what was morally right and wrong. It isn’t hard to do, that’s been the big issue since the beginning. We want to be our own god.
And then we are supposed to love God’s Children.
b. Love the Children by: Being in fellowship with them, putting them and their needs before your own, acts of random kindness, we love each other all the time just by present in their lives.
And then we are supposed to observe His commandments.
c. Observe His Commandments - Begin complying with - do. (Head)
In the beginning of a life in Jesus it may be hard to begin complying with His commandments. 1. Don’t know them… Have issues letting go of the things of this world… 3. Sin patterns that are hard to get rid of…
Talk about the guy getting on and off… Talk about the guy with one leg hanging off… Talk about the guy who is fulling on and staying put…
The Commandments seem to be a burden - they are hard to keep. Have to mentality!
And then verse three tells us the love of God is to keep His Commandments - Keep complying with. (There may be times when we don’t do a good job of it) NOT BURDENSOME! - if we rely on the Holy Spirit. (Heart) Becomes a get to mentality.
As a part of this get to mentality we can see what Paul told the Corinthians 2 Co 5:9
9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
So now if you keep the idea of a merry go round in your head we are swinging back around to the point where we got on. You’ve gone full circle. which brings us to the point of this passage.
3. The Victory And who does this victory apply to? Well...
a. Whoever is Born of God - We are swinging back around to the beginning of the ride on the merry go round. We are back to whoever… So whoever has the victory. And what does whoever win?
b. Overcomes the world (sin & death & issues) Overcome means succeed in dealing with (a problem or difficulty) Some other ways to say it could be: defeat, conquer, master, surmount, subdue, best, overwhelm, surpass But the big question is - Did we really do it or did someone do it for us?
Why can we say these things?
33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
Talk about the guy getting on and off… Talk about the guy with one leg hanging off… Talk about the guy who is fulling on and staying put… They all have the victory - if they accept it and stay on the merry go round.
The last thing verse four tells us is what that thing is that overcomes the the world. It’s our faith!!
c. Faith is the victory (we have faith when we believe) Back to the beginning of the merry go round ride.
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Those things not seen include eternal life. Those things not seen are the overcoming of fears that cause us to hide in the shadows or to shrink back. Those things not seen are the Holy Spirit dwelling in us because whoever includes you and me as we believe and are born of God. Have faith that you have overcome the world because our Lord and Savior overcame the world.
Exit: Tell them what I told them. In Jesus we have victory over the world, victory over sin and death. Reiterate faith in Jesus brings victory - not faith in anything else.