Untitled Sermon (6)

Green Mountain Bible Church

Sermon Sunday Night 10/10/21

1 John 5:1-5

Your Victory is in Christ

**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?

In the American revolution there were very dark days for General Washington and his troops. There was a massive retreat from New York to NJ as the British chased Washington down into Pennsylvania. But the army continued to fight, winning small battles, losing some but always continuing to persevere until eventually there was complete victory.

John’s letter here in Chapter 5 starts out in a military theme. Our lives are constantly in one battle against sin or another. We are in the moment and in the battle.

Ed Welch writes in his book “A Banquet in the Grave, “Addictions only live in the moment, without the future in view. The Gospel teaches us to see the future in a way that radically transforms the moment” Ed is speaking of those enslaved to addiction of any substance, drugs, alcohol, anger, lust, whatever idol we hold above Christ. This is true of you and I when we are in the battles we face every day, the battle of our sin, the battle of our flesh and demonic battles. When we battle, do we see the gospel? Is our moment in the battle radically transformed because we see Jesus more beautiful, more holy than any sin we are battling? Isaiah saw the holiness of God, Isaiah 6:1-3
**6 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: **

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“**Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; **

** the whole earth is full of his glory!” **

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We must see Jesus as more than a meek and mild Jesus, we have to see Him as the transforming King of kings! Strong and mighty, victorious!

When we battle in the culture, we battle in the world knowing that we are exiles, people whose home is not in this world. But always we battle in Christ. Loving Jesus, and Knowing Jesus results in our victory. Without Christ we can never defeat the world and the battles we endure. It is Christ-

Christ against Culture

Christ above culture

Christ transforming culture

All of these require us to do battle, not with swords, guns or knives, but with the Word of the Lord our sword and our armor. John understands this because his church is being attacked.

In our text for tonight there is an understanding by John of the battles we face every day, and John brings military imaging to bear upon his flock. There is a call by the Apostle to see who the real brothers are v.1. There is a proclamation of who the enemy is, the world v. 4-5. John’s letter is directed to his congregation in the midst of an enemy invasion. An invasion that believes that Jesus was not God and Man. The enemy seeks to undermine the great foundations of the true Gospel. So, we have in our text tonight an order of battle:

Knowing the Battleground v. 1 and 2

Commandments to Follow v. 3

Final Victory v. 4 -5

Knowing the Battleground v. 1 and 2

**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. **

Our first order of battle is observing the battleground, is it insurmountable? Does it have deep ravines that can trap us? Are Mountains blocking our advances? Here in our text John presents to his congregation the lay of the land. V.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. **

John is telling his people who the enemy is and who the enemy is not. Faith here is the key to seeing the real Christians from the phony ones.

2 Cor 5:17

1**7 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.**

Love of the Father comes from being transformed, going from death to life, being reborn as new creations. The battleground has been defined for us and this battleground has obstacles, but these obstacles are done away with not through us, but through who we love- Christ Jesus. Our fellow soldiers are those whom the father loves, and love the Father, these are our co-battlers.

So we have come to know the ground where we will battle, and in doing so we also have some marching orders here. Not only can we now see the battleground, but we see our fellow soldiers and in verse 2 we go forth into battle obeying God and His commandments.

**2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. **

There is a connection here that we can’t miss, it is that if we do not love God, we can not love the children of God. Certainly we have to connect the power of obedience here. Only through obedience can we truly love, only when we are obedient to God do we find the moment of the battle looking forward to the future, not stuck in the moment of pain and despair. It’s in that moment(s) that we have been given the power through a rebirth of not seeing with blinders on. We should be seeing in the midst of the battle the love that the Father has for us, that when we were in the abyss of our sin, God loves us so much that he sent His Son to save us, to reconcile us, to redeem us and bring us into His House.

The battleground is now understood, it has been looked over and the Apostle John brings us to the second order of battle:

Commandments to follow:

**3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. **

Just as soldiers must follow orders to prevent the collapse of the Army, John is bringing out our second order of battle, following commandments, not suggestions, but commandments. Orders are difficult to follow, but we are following them each and every day. We listen to those above us in the workplace, we adhere, hopefully, to stop at stop signs, and we pay our taxes. We don’t like to do these things but we are commanded by God to “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s. (Matthew 22:21) But what happens when we don’t follow the commandments of God? How does the world enter into our lives when we fail? All of us fail every day, we don’t measure up to God’s standards, we are still in the midst of sanctification, the process of ridding ourselves of all the various things that keep us separated from God. These things, these sins, are present in all of us, even though our hearts have been changed and we are radically transformed, reborn in a new life. When we fail, as we do, the failure is a result of not seeing the commandments as what they are, joyful, loving and caring. When we desire something, when our pride is threatened or whenever we sin, it is because we don’t see the commandments as what they truly are. When a child wants something, but the parent knows it would not be good the child cries and stamps his or her feet until the parent gives in or until they tire out. There is no difference in the commandments of God. Loving Jesus drives us to love His commandments. When Christ is no longer our King we replace him with our own desires. Again, the quote from Dr. Welch is helping us , “Addictions only live in the moment, without the future in view. The Gospel teaches us to see the future in a way that radically transforms the moment” Love brings us to a new understanding of God’s commandments, it allows us to see deeper into the love of Jesus for us. Lets look at 1 Peter1:3-9 for a moment, the Apostle brings this understanding of the great love of Jesus for us

**3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. **

Peter knows the love of Jesus so intimately he understands his betrayal of Jesus and understands his forgiveness in Christ.

John brings us back here at the end of our 2 order of Battle and adds that the commandments of God are not burdensome. This word is the greek here signifies a heaviness generally or something that is unbearable. Loving Jesus, knowing Jesus allows us to see his commandments as light, easy and very bearable. But often in our lives this is not the case, we struggle with the commandments, we rail against God, and we are utterly undone sometimes from what this world brings us to bear. In these times there is an absence of knowing Jesus, suddenly we have lost our anchor and guide and nothing else matters but our own desires. Back to our military theme for this piece of John’s letter, it is as if your squad is suddenly ambushed by a much larger force of the enemy. Bullets are flying around men are dying and you are lost in the moment of fear. But, the military has taught a response to the ambush, and it is to face outward and face the enemy and this results in an effective tactic for the ambush. As Christians when we are faced with an ambush type attack what do we do? Do we run from the field of battle? Do we cower in fear? John knows the answer here, he tells us that the commandments of God are not heavy, not weighty because we love Jesus. This is the practical theology here, we need to see Jesus as our battler, against all cosmic powers.

Eph. 6:12

**12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places**

Following God’s commandments are the essence of all our victories, seeing the grace of God revealed through His loving commandments provides a secure base for us to advance into enemy territory. Without this base we are going to be lost in the territory of the enemy and all the enemy wishes to do is to kill and destroy. But what is the result of all these battles? Is the outcome assured? This is where we move into tonight examine the results of our battle plan, The Final Victory

Final Victory:

** 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? **

Looking at theses verses we see something very interesting. John tells us that everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. Overcome is the verb but victory is the noun. We strive to overcome the evil this world hands out and we have the final victory. But what is the victory? The victory is our faith, not in ourselves but in Christ Jesus. John is telling us that even when we are in the battle we will have ultimate victory. The outcome is assured for all of us, victory resides in our faith.

Sometimes our faith is weak and the battle seems unsurmountable.

Sometimes we suffer a severe challenge to our faith and this comes when a traumatic moment ambushes us. An example of this is when young people die or children succumb to disease. We pray, we weep and the hope that we had dies and we find it hard to hope again for God’s intervention.

Mark 9:21-24

**21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”**

The father here in Mark had struggling faith, he opened his hands and pleaded with the Lord to do something so Jesus strengthened his faith.

Dwight Moody spoke about this referring to three different types of faith:

There is struggling faith like a man in deep water desperately swimming, then there is clinging faith, like a man hanging on the side of a boat, finally there is resting faith with a man safety in the boat reaching out and helping others.”

1 John 5:4 (1, 2, 3 John): Or, to express it more in the language of John, God has already given us the victory through Christ. When we are born again, at that moment we are given the victory. It is our faith that gives us the victory! As if we didn’t get it the first time, John repeats this truth, “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” For as long as I can remember, these statements have been some of the most awe-inspiring statements I know. Think of it! Our faith can and has overcome the world! All of Satan’s dominion—the world—is under the power of him for whom we have dedicated our lives.

Our victory as blood bought reborn believers is assured, it may not feel like it, it may not seem like it, but our victory is assured, God’s promises never fail. So going into the battle we must have the confidence that Christ will win the battle for us, He cannot lose, He will not lose. Christ is victorious, Christ is our champion, and Christ will destroy our enemies. The battle should never be in doubt, the outcome is a sure thing.

The victory is assured but the struggle is real, the verb overcome means some type of action -a work that we do in our sanctification walk. We overcome.

**5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? **

Looking at the word overcome here it’s important we see the meaning in the original language.

νικἀω, -ῶ (< νίκη), in LXX

to conquer, prevail: absol., of Christ, class; C. inf., class; of Christians, class; before ἐκ class; before ἐκ (RV, come victorious from), class; as law-term (cl.), class; with accusative of person(s), class ([WH], R, mg., om.); of Christ, class (τ. κόσμον), class; of Christians, class; τ. πονηρόν, class; αὐτόν (ref. to ὁ κατήγωρ, class), class; with accusative of thing(s), τὸν κόσμον, class; τὸ κακόν, class; pass., μὴ νικῶ ὑπὸ τ. κακοῦ, ib. (cf. ὑπερ-νικάω).†

**Rms 12:21**

**21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. **

**John 16:33**

**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.” **

-The world-. This has a wide meaning here, for it includes whatever is against God’s Spirit; thus, the corruption of our nature is a part of the world—all lusts, all Satan’s crafts—in short, whatever leads us away from God

We are victorious even before the battle. God promises never fail.

**The horse is prepared for the day of battle,**

**But victory belongs to the Lord.**

**— Proverbs 21:31**

Overcoming this world is only possible through faith in Christ Alone. We hear the Apostle again bringing it to our attention here in our final verse. Overcoming the world, or put in a simpler way, prevailing and conquering this world can only be done if Christ is our Commander in Chief, our Holy King, our one and only true God. John tells us that it is faith that brings this about, whether it is struggling faith, clinging faith or resting faith. Faith alone in Jesus gives us the hope we need to reject the advances of sin in this world, faith gives us peace in the storm, faith restores what the world has destroyed. Final victory is yours through your faith in Christ, rest in Him. Listen to Apostle Paul

as he speaks to the church in Corinth

2Cor 1:8-10

8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.

9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.

- 2 Corinthians 1:8-10

My friends, He has delivered us from death to life, we feel the struggle we feel our strength being drained but we set our hope on Him, and Him alone.

So we have seen the order of battle that John prescribes for us, an overlook of our battlefield, and who our fellow soldiers are. John has given us the path of obedience through loving Jesus. Finally through the inspired words the Apostle has shown us that we are victorious, the battle may scar us, but we have already won the victory through our faith in Christ. He is our hope, He is our King and He will lead us through to victory!