Who Is It That Overcomes The World?
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
Sir Leonard Wood once visited the King of France and the King was so pleased with him he was invited for dinner the next day.
Sir Leonard went to the palace and the King meeting him in one of the halls, said,
“Why, Sir Leonard, I did not expect to see you.
How is it that you are here?”
“Did not your majesty invite me to dine with you?”
Said the astonished guest.
“Yes,” replied the King,
“But you did not answer my invitation.”
.......
Then it was that Sir Leonard Wood uttered one of the choicest sentences of his life.
He replied,
“A king’s invitation is never to be answered, but to be obeyed.”
.......
So, please turn your Bibles to 1 John.
We will be conducting our study in Chapter 5 and focusing on verses 1 through 5.
Our message this morning is called, “Who Is It That Overcomes The World?”
.......
As you are finding your place in God’s Word, I want to share that from this passage...
We will be looking at three areas...
Three areas that describe the ones who are true overcomers..
.......
For overcomers always display...
Love..
Not just any love but true godly love...
.......
And they display...
Obedience...
Not just any obedience but true obedience to God...
.......
And all overcomers find their victory in...
Faith...
Not just any faith in anything but true saving faith in the one true God of all creation...
........
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider our text, please join me in prayer...
.......
Let’s turn to our text for today:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
So, let’s look at our first point...
1) Love: For God & The Body
1) Love: For God & The Body
Verse 1: Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
Do you see that, Church?
.......
Everyone who believes was first born of God...
So, regeneration always occurs before faith...
Further putting an explanation mark on the fact that we are saved by God’s mercy and grace...
And He gives us faith as a gift...
Meaning we have nothing to brag about but to boast in Jesus and the cruel cross He died on...
Meaning God loved us first and in response we now love Him back.
.......
Remember Beloved...
This is contently reaffirmed all throughout Scripture...
In John’s Gospel, in John 1:12–13, he writes:
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
The Bible couldn’t be an more clearer...
If your Soteriology...
That is the doctrine of salvation...
If it puts you or someone else in the equation of salvation...
If your doctrine says you play a factor...
That you contribute something...
Then I will ask you to reread your Bible!
Because...
From Old Testament to New Testament...
From the Law to the Prophets to the Gospels all the way through the Epistles...
From Genesis to Revelation...
God is without question the capital “A” Author of salvation...
And He does not allow for any other authors.
If you are born from above then that means it was God and God alone who did that...
So, thank Him every day...
Thank Him this every hour...
Thank Him this every second...
For you can’t thank Him enough.
.......
So, that grace that He poured out on you...
Melts the obstacles to your faith...
It leads to having true and genuine saving faith...
Please note this fact highlighted in the MacArthur Study Bible to better understand what is being talked about here:
“The term ‘believes’ conveys the idea of continuing faith, making the point that the mark of genuine believers is that they continue in faith throughout their life.
Saving belief is not simply intellectual acceptance, but whole-hearted dedication to Jesus Christ that is permanent.”
.......
So, when God saves you...
He is not just opening your mind to facts about Him...
He presents Himself in a way that one falls in love with Christ...
And experiences a total whole-hearted devotion to their new Lord and Savior.
.......
So, their genuine faith...
Their genuine belief...
Will be seen by their actions just like it says in Romans 9:8:
8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
And the most distinguishing mark of a genuine true believer...
Will be in the way they love their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
.......
Jesus said in John 13:34–35:
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Many people claim to be “Christians” but their actions make it clear they hate other believers.
New Age and Progressive Christians act all loving and inclusive...
That is until you quote the Word of God and then their tune changes...
The attack the faithful followers of Jesus Christ.
.......
Cult leaders and false teachers act so loving to their congregation...
As long as they keep funding their own selfish “ministries”...
But when they are rebuked from the Scriptures in an act of love...
They tear down anyone in their way.
.......
John dealt with these kinds of antichrists in his day...
In fact, if you have been following and paying attention to our study on 1 John then you know that one of Johns main points is to respond to these pre-gnostic heretics.
These individuals who once called themselves “believers” only later to abandon the faith...
And by abandon John clarifies that they where never true believers from the get go.
And one of their main marks of being false was seen in how they hated true believers.
Please recall with me what it says in 1 John 3:14–17 in which we covered some time ago in this study:
14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.
15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?
It is the genuine followers of Christ that must sacrificially give of themselves for the Body of Christ.
For as our main passage says “everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.”
For the true believer...
The love of others is a by-product of God’s infinite love showered on us.
.......
We have another sign of a true believer...
In addition to our love for God and those born-again...
Another sign of a true Christian is seen in the act of obedience...
And that takes us to our second point.
2) Obedience: The Proof of Love
2) Obedience: The Proof of Love
Verses 2-3: By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
Beloved, consider this...
Volume 12 of the Expositor’s Bible Commentary says:
“The connection between love for God and obedience is meant as a protection against thinking of love for God as “emotional feelings” about God.
True love (agapē) requires action.
.......
In respect to humankind,...
It means willingness to lay down one’s life.
.......
In respect to God,...
It means a life of willing obedience,...
A relation of sonship with God...
And service on behalf of God.
.......
It requires laying down one’s life as being one’s own possession and taking up a new life in response to a Lord and Master.”
.......
In addition to this...
The word “keep” in our passage communicates the idea of constant obedience to God’s commands.
So, it is an ongoing action.
.......
All who are born-again make a practice...
Make a habit of obedience.
That is why our precious Lord and Savior said in John 15:14:
14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.
.......
Are you a friend of Christ?
Do you have a relationship with Jesus?
Anyone can say yes...
But the proof is in the obedience.
.......
To disobey God and disregard His commands if proof one knows nothing of fellowship with God.
To clarify...
Just because you have memorized God’s commands and know them all by heart does not prove one is born again.
Satan knows the Bible in and out more that you will ever.
He has had a lot more time to study it and he has even been a witness to much of it.
Knowing the commands of God is essential but it is not the only thing you have to do.
You also have to keep those commands.
See that is where Satan fails...
He knows God’s Word but look at them as nothing...
Many in the world follow this destructive mentality.
I have meet many who know God’s Word very well but all that knowledge will not do them any good unless they repent and believe...
And only then...
Equipped with the Holy Spirit...
Can one obey the Word of God.
For as Jesus said in John 14:21:
21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
Remember...
We are not greater than our Master...
Jesus Himself lived a life of obedience to our Heavenly Father...
And as His followers we must do the same...
We must recall the truth found in John 15:10 that says:
10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
The love of God...
And obedience to God...
Are two points that cannot ever be separated.
.......
Likewise...
The disobedience to God...
Goes hand in hand with hatred to God.
.......
This is something we have already discussed at length earlier in our study of 1 John...
Remember what the Beloved Apostle said in 1 John 3:9:
9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.
What is it that you are making a practice of?
Do you make a practice of sinning?
Or do you make a practice of righteousness?
Are you finding yourself making a practice of disobedience to God?
Or are you making a practice of obedience to God?
.......
So which is it?
Because based on the authority of God’s Word...
You can’t have it both ways?
This is not “Burger King”...
You can’t “Have it Your Way”...
You can't have your cake and eat it too!
.......
You are either on Team God...
Or Team World...
And Spoiler Alert...
God wins in the end so choose your team wisely!
.......
I know...
Some may say but it is too much work to obey God...
It seems very depressing to always strive to do the right thing...
It is funner to just do whatever one wants...
As the world says:
“You only live once, so make the most out of it.”
or
“Don't knock it till you try it.”
.......
Please...
Don’t be fooled by this nonsense...
For as Christ says in Matthew 11:30:
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
You see...
When discussing this manner of Christ’s commands not being a burden...
The Reformation Study Bible has a wonderful and helpful note:
“Because Christians have been born of God and given new power, they are able to keep God’s commandments joyfully, since they have the ability to keep those commandments, whereas the unbeliever has no such ability.”
.......
So, keeping Christ’s commands brings a relief, rest, peace, and overall freedom to the believer rather than any kind of burden.
.......
Consider this too from the New American Commentary on the letters of John:
“John adds that God’s commands are not ‘burdensome.’
This does not mean that God’s laws are not exacting or demanding.
Rather, it means that God’s laws are not oppressive or crushing.
They are not a terrible weight we cannot bear.
God’s moral standards are high, but God gives the Christian grace to be able to live up to that standard.
.......
‘Love-prompted obedience is not a crushing burden that exhausts the believer’s strength and destroys his sense of freedom in Christ.’
In Matthew, Jesus rebukes the Pharisees because they ‘tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders’.
Jesus does not weigh down his people with meaningless laws that do not affect the heart.
He gives commands that reveal to us the heart of God and direct our hearts to God.”
.......
So, we have yet another sign of a true believer...
In addition to our love for God and those born-again...
In addition to our making a practice of obedience to God’s commands...
Another sign of a true Christian is seen in the act of faith...
And that takes us to our third and final point.
3) Faith: Victory That Overcomes
3) Faith: Victory That Overcomes
Verses 4-5: For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Let’s start this portion of our study but defining a few words...
.......
The word “overcome” in ancient Greek is “nikao.”
This word can be rendered as:
Conquer, overcome, prevail, to be victorious over, vanquish, outstrip, excel, to win, to triumph, and to gain victory.
Additionally, the word “overcomes” in the Greek conveys the idea that genuine believers have continual and ongoing decisive victory over the world in such a manner that all can see it.
.......
Another term we need to look at is “born of God” as rendered in our English translations...
This phrase is better understood in the Greek...
Again, the MacArthur Study Bible can be very helpful when it brings to our attention the fact that:
“The tense of the Greek verb indicates that ongoing faith is the result of the new birth and, therefore, the evidence of the new birth.
The sons of God will manifest the reality that they have been born again by continuing to believe in God’s Son, the Savior.
The new birth brings us into a permanent faith relationship with God and Christ.”
So, for those who know the Lord...
Never forget you are overcomers too through the victory Christ made for us...
For He was the first to be victorious...
He was the first to be an overcomer...
And we can only over come know because of Him.
John 16:33 says:
33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Do not be discouraged by the tribulations you face in this world...
Saints!
Beloved!
Church!
We are conquerors!
We are the victors!
We are the overcomers!
Not by our own abilities but by Christ!
As Galatians 3:26 says:
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
What does our passage say?
“And this is the victory that has overcome the world...
Our faith!”
Our victory is through our faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
Yes, we are conquerors!
.......
In fact...
Let me say that we are more than conquerors!
As Romans 8:37 puts it:
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Remember my brothers and sisters in Christ...
Remember who lives in you...
Remember the truth we covered recently in 1 John 4:4:
4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
So, do not be overwhelmed by the wicked world!
Do not fear the evil you see that has become rampade!
Do not engage in the evils of this world!
Instead overcome evil with all that is good!
As Paul says in Romans 12:21:
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
.......
Now John not only wrote a Gospel account and his three epistles...
But he also wrote Revealtion...
And in this apocolyptic book...
John records these wonderful promises God gives to the ones who conquer:
7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’
11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’
17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’
26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations,
5 The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
12 The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
Wow...
Just wow!
The promises of God are a sure thing and something believers can always look onto for encouragement.
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
As this message comes to a close, I want to share this:
Sometime ago at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (my alma mater)...
A poll was taken among the students to discover the most popular hymns.
.......
“Victory in Jesus” was first...
And “Amazing Grace” was second.
.......
This is an interesting combination.
.......
Amid our turbulent times Christians long for assurance of victory over evil forces that plague us.
We find that assurance in Jesus—His victory and ours through Him.
God’s amazing grace made those victories a reality for all those who believe in Him.
.......
So, Beloved...
Who Is It That Overcomes The World?
.......
We are...
The followers of Christ...
For we are overcomers through the Chief Overcommer!
........
To God be all the glory.
Amen.
.......
Please join us for one more song from the Praise Band.