Marked For Victory
1 John - Walk In The Light • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Text: 1 John 5:1-5
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?
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
What we believe matters. How we believe matters.
What we love matters. How we love matters.
What we DO matters. How we do it matters.
All of this is turned completely right-side up when we are “born of God”.
It’s very popular today to say, “we’re all God’s children”. But the Scripture paints a different story.
The Bible says in Genesis 1:27
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
The Bible clearly teaches that mankind was created in the image of God.
But just as clearly it reveals that mankind sinned and thereby incurred a death sentence - not only physical death, but also spiritual death - which is separation from God.
So although we are all created in God’s image (to a degree), we are not all God’s children.
There is a path laid out for us to become children of God.
From our sinful state - in rebellion to God, humans can be saved only by the grace of God, through faith in Jesus Christ as Savior, on the basis of His death and resurrection.
For all who receive the Jesus Christ as Savior are born of the Holy Spirit, adopted as children of God, and kept eternally secure.
While John has already taught us much of what it means to LOVE and LIVE in the light. I believe this passage tonight will help us walk in the light with even greater passion!
We’re going to notice - it’s all connected: what we BELIEVE, what we LOVE, what we DO! Christ wants it all!
Let’s DIVE IN
WHEN WE ARE BORN INTO GOD’S FAMILY, WE’RE MARKED BY A NEW BELIEF…
1 John 5:1 (ESV)
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.
1. WE BELIEVE JESUS!
1. WE BELIEVE JESUS!
Many well-meaning people aren’t all to concerned with “doctrine” or “specifics” about faith.
As long as you believe in something good.
As long as you go to a church - doesn’t matter where.
As long as you’re sincere.
As long as you believe…
(Pause) As long as you believe in Jesus…
BUT NOTICE THE POINT DOESN’T SAY, “WE BELIEVE IN GOD…or IN JESUS!”
The Bible says that even demons believe in God and have a visible, passionate reponse:
19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
Notice that there is someONE to believe ON and someTHING to believe ABOUT HIM
EVERYONE regardless of age/stage/ethnicity/exposure/environment/socio-economic standing
WHO BELIEVES (“pis-tev-oh”) it’s the same word used in John 3:16. to think to be true, have faith upon, entrust, regard as trustworthy
THAT - SOMETHING SPECIFIC IS COMING
Everyone who believes that. The word “that” underscores that saving faith has a particular content. It is not a vague religious commitment but a wholehearted trust in the saving work of Christ. Everyone who believes has been born of God. Regeneration precedes faith (cf. 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; note on Eph. 2:5).
JESUS IS THE CHRIST!
The Christ = The Anointed One
He is a part of the trinity, co-equal with the Father, co-equal with the Spirit
He is the one Micah prophesied about some 400 years before His robed Himself in flesh and rested in a cradle in Bethlehem
He is the same one that Isaiah spoke of 700 years before His star in the East was seen…the very one called WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, MIGHTY GOD, PRINCE OF PEACE, EVERLASTING FATHER - one in the same!
Jesus is the Christ - the Anointed One - the Messiah…
the one John the Baptist saw and declared
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
Jesus would say of Himself…with an authority unlike the religious leaders of the day…with a voice that would calm the troubled waters and still the winds…
I am the bread of life. (6:35)
I am the light of the world. (8:12)
I am the gate. (10:9)
I am the good shepherd. (10:11)
I am the resurrection and life. (11:25)
I am the way, the truth and the life. (14:6)
I am the true vine. (15:1)
Once you have come to realize that you are a rebel sinner that is helplessly in need of a Savior.
Though your sins be as scarlet, once you have been born again and been washed white as snow…
YOU ARE MARKED AS SOMEONE WHO BELIEVES JESUS!
WE BELIEVE RIGHTLY ABOUT JESUS!
WHICH MEANS WE BELIEVE RIGHTLY ABOUT THE WORD OF GOD!
We believe the Scriptures of the sixty-six canonical books of the Old and New Testament as being verbally inspired by God and inerrant and infallible in the original writings, and that they are of supreme and final authority.
WITHOUT THE SCRIPTURES, WE DON’T KNOW WHO JESUS IS OR WHAT HE DID.
WITHOUT THE SCRIPTURES, WE DON’T KNOW WHO THE HOLY SPIRIT IS OR WHAT HE DOES.
WITHOUT THE SCRIPTURES, WE DON’T KNOW WHO THE FATHER IS OR HOW HE LOVES.
One of the marks (birthmarks) that we are truly children of God, is that we BELIEVE JESUS - we long to TAKE JESUS SERIOUSLY…
The next mark shows up right here in this same verse:
1 John 5:1–2 (ESV)
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.
2. WE LOVE GOD & HIS CHILDREN!
2. WE LOVE GOD & HIS CHILDREN!
As God’s children, John points out a couple of distinctive birthmarks: What We Believe and HOW WE LOVE!
You can all the doctrines down with excellence, a bold faith, evangelistic fervor, and generosity are all good things. However, they are not what matters most to God. The one thing that He desires more than anything else is that we love Him.
Without love for God, even the good things we do have no value in His eyes.
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
We love God!
(flip back a page in your Bible)
8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
19 We love because he first loved us.
On this Father’s Day…I know it can be complicated at times with our earthly fathers.
But this love that we have for our Heavenly Father is a love that is unlike any other.
He will never fail us.
He will never leave us.
He will never forsake us.
He will always have our best interest in his actions
He will love us perfectly, completely, and eternally!
🎼 I love you Lord And I lift my voice
To worship you Oh my soul rejoice
Take Joy my King In what you hear
May it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.
11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”
We can only LOVE the LORD if we are being transformed BY the LORD into something brand new.
1 cor 2.14
14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
Christ Himself ENABLES US to
30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
WE ARE MARKED BY OUR BELIEF
WE ARE MARKED BY OUR LOVE - FOR GOD AND FOR HIS BRIDE
The text clearly says “we love the children of God” - remember that John has just defined.
WE NOT ONLY LOVE THE FATHER because Jesus enables us to do that,
we also love the family the Father is building.
We will love one another.
One writer notes that this can seem out of order at first…
He says we can “know that we love God’s children when we love God and obey His commands.” But is it out of order? Shouldn’t he be saying that we know we love God because we love His children? I don’t think so.
John’s point may actually be grounded in Jesus’ teaching on THE GREAT COMMANDMENT (Matt 22:36–40) - THAT THEY GO TOGETHER!
Our love for others is the supernatural companion to our “first love” for God.
When I love God, I will keep His commands. And keeping His commands involves loving others, His daughters and sons in particular.
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.”
TRANSITION:
Let’s look back at our text:
verses 2 and 3 point us to obedience.
1 John 5:2–3 (ESV)
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.
Because we are marked as BELIEVERS and LOVERS as children of God, we see that obeying will not be burdensome.
It will be a joy and a delight because the new birth makes this SUPERNATURAL FRUIT a very natural thing to do.
And our love for the Father inspires and motivates us to love those He loves and to love them as He loves us.
3. WE WALK IN OBEDIENCE
3. WE WALK IN OBEDIENCE
WHAT WE BELIEVE MATTERS…RIGHTLY ABOUT JESUS - The Messiah, Truly God/Man
WHO WE LOVE MATTERS…GOD FIRST, HIS FAMILY SECOND, OTHERS, OURSELVES
WHAT WE DO MATTERS…AND HOW WE DO IT
How do you show your love for God?
Do what he says!
The highest credentials of our love for God are to be found in obedience!
Obedience is the proof of your love.
God used an example of Saul’s PARTIAL OBEDIENCE (which was actually disobedience) in the Old Testament to teach us, “To obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22).
Listen, OBEYING GOD IS BETTER!
OBEDIENCE IS BETTER THAN:
preaching about obeying God.
singing about obeying God.
having a Bible study lesson taught about obeying God.
bringing an offering to church.
To obey God is to do what God says.
Ask yourself a simple question:
Am I doing what God says?
Are his commands really too hard to keep?
Sometimes we are tempted to think that the commands of the Bible are too difficult and burdensome.
But ask yourself this question: Why do I keep the commandments, anyway?
Your answer there will tell you quite a lot about how your spiritual maturity (…or lack of).
Is your Christian life more of a duty you have to force yourself to fulfill?
Do you feel that if you don’t keep God’s commandments you are afraid of what he might do if you don’t?
- OR -
Do you genuinely desire to obey God’s commandments?
When the Bible says, God’s “commandments are not burdensome,” he is contrasting us with HOW THE WORLD VIEWS GOD’S COMMANDS!
But real Christians, born again believers…lovers of GOD don’t think that way.
WE OBEY BECAUSE WE LOVE JESUS, WE LOVE THE FATHER! HE’S THE LOVER OF OUR SOULS…AND WE LONG TO DO MORE THAN TALK OR SING ABOUT LIVING - WE ACTUALLY DESIRE TO LIVE IN A WAY THAT CONVEYS THAT!
Of course God gives us more than we can bear.
Of course it’s difficult to obey!
Of course it’s not EASY to live for God!
—-BUT GOD NEVER GIVES A COMMAND WITHOUT THE STRENGTH AND RESOURCES TO FULFILL IT!
Vance Havner said, “EVERYTHING THAT WE OUGHT TO DO, WE CAN DO…by the power of the Holy Spirit in us.”
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
3 Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received!
His power has MARKED US…
MARKED BY OUR BELIEF!
MARKED BY OUR LOVE!
MARKED BY OUR OBEDIENCE!
Look at the final verses:
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?
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
We walk in the Spirit because we are children of God!
We walk in the Spirit because we are children of God!
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
We walk by faith because we are the children of God!
We walk by faith because we are the children of God!
6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight.
20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
We walk in victory because we are the children of God!
We walk in victory because we are the children of God!
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
God’s people do not fight for victory but from victory!
bio.warrenwiersbe
We are marked for victory…Faith from and in Jesus is the key.
Believe. Love. Life.
Think. Feel. Do.
Know, Love, and Obey Jesus TOGETHER!
SAVED: Are you convicted this morning because you’ve been trying to out-sing, out-give, out-church, out-pray your disobedience!
I would consider getting on my face, in an altar, and repenting.
LOST: Have you been born again?
You may believe something. Love well by other’s standards, and live a clean life…but you cannot do any of that the way you were made to by GOD until you become HIS CHILD!
Jesus paid the price to welcome you into the family of God!
Come today!
Let the Goodness of Jesus call you home!