Overcoming the World - 1 John 5:1-5
Notes
Transcript
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
John has been speaking much about the love of God and the power of that love in our lives. But we have to live out that love in a totally hostile environment - the world.
He turns now to emphasise the truth that, though we are in the world, we are not part of it. Christians are different and we must never be ashamed of that difference.
Slide
1. Everyone Who Believes v1-2
1. Everyone Who Believes v1-2
Slide
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.
Slide
a. Faith v1
a. Faith v1
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.
Anyone who sincerely puts his faith in Jesus is a child of God. Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W.
He knows that Jesus is the Christ because the believer has been born of God. Faith in Jesus Christ is inseparably bound to love for God’s children. Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W.
Slide
b. Love v2
b. Love v2
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.
The second part of verse 1 links faith and love. The one cannot exist without the other, and together they demonstrate the vibrant spiritual life of the child of God. Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W
Slide
John Calvin observes, “Since God regenerates us by faith, he must necessarily be loved by us as a Father; and this love embraces all his children.”
3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.
23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.
Slide
c. Obedience v2
c. Obedience v2
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.
John states that love for God’s children must be coupled with love for God to be genuine. And love for God can be true only if we obey his laws. Notice that John gives the reader a statement that consists of three parts: love for the children of God; love for God; and obedience to his commands. If any part of the statement is to be valid, it has to be linked to the other two parts. Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W.
Slide
2. Overcome the World v3-4
2. Overcome the World v3-4
Slide
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.
Slide
a. Love for God v3
a. Love for God v3
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
Love for God does not consist of spoken words, even if they are well-intentioned, but of determined action that demonstrates obedience to God’s commands. Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953–2001). Exposition of James and the Epistles of John (Vol. 14, p. 349). Baker Book House.
5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
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.
Slide
b. His Commands are Not Burdensome v3
b. His Commands are Not Burdensome v3
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
Slide
28 Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
The Pharisees and scribes placed unnecessary demands upon the Jewish people of the first century. They added to the Decalogue hundreds of manmade rules that were burdensome to the people (see Matt. 23:4; Luke 11:46). Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W.
Slide
For the person who refuses to acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God, the commands are a threat to man’s self-proclaimed freedom. They are a hindrance to his lifestyle and a constant source of irritation. Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W.
11 “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.
Slide
c. Everyone Born of God v4
c. Everyone Born of God v4
4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
“Everyone born of God.” The Greek says, “all that is born of God.” John wants to place the emphasis not on the individual person but, in general, on all people who have experienced spiritual birth. Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W.
Slide
d. The Victory Our Faith v4
d. The Victory Our Faith v4
4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
Note that John does not say, “This is the victor.” He writes “the victory” to show that the concept itself is significant. Victory and faith are synonymous. John tells his readers that their faith has overcome the world. Their faith, of course, is in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. When believers place their faith in Jesus, then nothing can separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:37–39; 1 Cor. 15:57). No evil forces in this world are able to overpower the person who trusts in Jesus. Instead, the believer is victorious over the world because of his faith in the Son of God. Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W.
Slide
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Slide
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.
Slide
3. Overcoming the World v5
3. Overcoming the World v5
Slide
5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Slide
9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
Slide
13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
Slide
22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
649 words in the prayer, 306 in these verses = 47%
Conclusion
2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
