The Symphony of Victory

It is once again a privilege to share the Word of God with the church. I am excited about the opportunities for ministry and outreach that we have coming down the road and for the active role our committees are taking in advancing the work of the church. Having been here for just over a year, I am more excited today than I was when I got here. This church is very special to me and I want to once again say thank you for the recognition during our reception last week.

If you’ve sat down and talked with me recently, you have probably heard me began to rant on the detrimental impacts of technology on our world. With a child coming to our family very soon, I have been thinking about this more and more. I’ve been talking to my wife about setting limits to our screen time and modeling living without being a slave to the screen. There are still many strides I have to take in this effort, but the goal is to make the use of technology an extension of worship of God, rather than worshiping the screen itself. This might sound weird, you might not think that we worship screens, but when I was Florida a time ago, I heard a pastor describe our phones as our pocket Gods. We go to our phones for advice, we constantly refresh the feed to see the newest revelation. One pastor went as far as to say that if aliens were to observe humanity from a completely outside perspective, they would assume that we worship our phones. They are the first things we pick up in the morning, we carry them on us at all times, and they are the last things we look at at night before rolling over into bed.

We aren’t going to dwell on this topic of phone use for much longer, but I seriously implore you, especially those of you who have grown up fixated on technology, to evaluate the impact and really the hold it has on your life. Most of us could use a “Less is more” approach to Technology. That is what I am trying to do in my own life.

But one of the problems with divorcing your life from constant screen engagement is finding better things to fill your time with. Amongst other things, I have decided to really try to learn piano. It is something I can do that is productive, I can hopefully one day then teach my own child, as well as eventually learn to play songs of worship and praise. Instead of spending my time diving through the muck of low value, online entertainment. I can do something that will allow me to learn a skill to aid in glorifying the Lord! What an exchange!

I am in awe every week when I hear Miss Shirley play for the church. It will be long time, if ever, when I’ll be able to reach such abilities. However, as I was beginning my practice this week a very interesting analogy came to me. When it comes to piano, everything begins with and comes back to middle C. Middle C, the middle key on the piano or keyboard, is where everything start and where everything builds off of. Now, as I progress in learning the piano, I will learn to read and play notes all over the keyboard. But all of that growth stems from an understanding of middle C.

Why do I bring this up? If you’ll remember, the primary purpose of the book of 1 John, the book we have been studying for eleven weeks now, is to show believer that they can KNOW that they are saved. There is assurance in Salvation. John has continually stressed the ideas of truth, love, and obedience, as doctrinal tests of belief. Today we will see in our section of Scripture that these ideas, notes, if you would, combine together in the life of the believe to produce a symphony of victory that no one can take away.

Let’s begin looking at our Scripture and throughout the message we will expand upon this metaphor: The Symphony of Victory

To start I want to actually look at the bookends of these five verses, the first part of verse 1 and then verse 5.

1 John 5:1a (ESV)

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God,

1 John 5:5 ESV

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

We will look at how we overcome the world a bit later, on but in these two verses we find the “Middle C” of Christian life.

Centered on the Truth of Christ

The Christian life is centered on the truth of Christ. We read two complimentary statements that are the integral to salvation. Jesus is the Christ and Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is the Christ and Jesus is the Son of God.

I said once before in this sermon series that what you believe about Jesus is the core of everything else that you believe. The truth of the Christ is the center of the Christian belief. It is not the only doctrine we have, but it is the root of all the other things that we believer. We can go scaling up the metaphorical keyboard and talk about all sorts of things like eschatology and the end times, or we can hit the bass notes and talk about evangelism and our missional efforts, but everything comes back to and is centered around the truth of Jesus Christ being the Christ and the Son of God.

So what do those things mean? What does it mean to say that Jesus is the Christ. Christ means Messiah, Deliverer, Savior. It literally means the Anointed One. Now in our day and age, we don’t see a lot of anointings. But an anointing, pouring the head with oil, would signite someone being set apart and consecrated to a duty. When we say that Jesus is the Anointed One, the Christ, we are saying that He was anointed as Prophet, Priest, and King of the Church. Spurgeon provided an extensive list of questions to test if you truly believe that Jesus is the Christ:

Ask yourself “Do I this day believe that Jesus is the great Prophet anointed of God to reveal to me the way of salvation? Do I accept Him as Teacher and admit that He has the Words of eternal life?… Do I accept Him to be, from now on, the Revealer of God to my soul, the Messenger of the Covenant, the Anointed Prophet of the Most High?…Do I firmly believe that Jesus was ordained to offer His one sacrifice for the sins of mankind, by the offering of which sacrifice, once and for all, He has finished atonement and made complete expiation?…Is Jesus, who is now exalted in Heaven, who once bled on the cross, is He king to me? Is His law my law? Do I desire entirely to submit myself to His government?”

He then said, “My dear Friend, if you can heartily and earnestly say, “I accept Jesus Christ of Nazareth to be Prophet, Priest, and King to me because God has anointed Him to exercise those three offices…then, dear Friend, you have the faith of God’s elect, for it is written, ‘He that believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.’”

We must believe that Jesus is the Prophet, Priest, and King who proclaims truth, sacrificed for us, and now governs our life. And that understanding of Jesus as Christ pairs with the understanding of what it says in verse 5, Jesus is the Son of God. No mere man could the Prophet, Priest, King, that Christ is. We see people fulfilling some of those roles all throughout Scripture, but never complete enough to provide eternal atonement. No mere man was capable, but the God man, Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, did what mere could not.

We are truly saved, born again, when we truly understand and believe that Jesus is the Christ and Jesus is the Son of God.

We cannot think Christ is “less than” anything that He is.

Matthew 16:13–17 ESV

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

Were those who said Jesus was just John the Baptist right? Nope. What about one of the prophets? Nope. But when Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of the living of God, Jesus says right on! You get it! And it wasn’t by your own understanding that you understood this, but by the Father. Jesus would go on to say that this confession is the foundation of the church. True believers are united in the truthful confession of Jesus as the Christ and Son of God. Just like we see in our text from 1 John.

Before we move on to the next verses I want to go back to the first part of verse one.

1 John 5:1a (ESV)

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God,

There is a subtle truth in this statement that we could look over, but as I was reading through commentaries, one of them pointed out the tense of the verbs and it shines a bright spotlight on the security of our salvation. The verb “believes” Is in an ongoing, present tense. The verb “has been born” is in the perfect sense. This shows us that continuing belief is the mark of someone who has already been born again. You cannot be unborn. I know its Halloween and people there’s a bunch of movies about the undead, but that's all a bunch of hogwash. The one who is born cannot be unborn. Our continual persistant belief in Jesus as the Christ is evidence that we have been born again.

“Adrian Rogers said it well: “The assurance of my salvation comes not from the fact that I did trust Christ but that I am trusting Christ for my salvation” (Adrianisms, 186). And what must we believe? We must believe “that Jesus is the Messiah.””

Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God. This is the central truth to being being born again. It is the “middle C” the life of the Christian is built upon.

Let’s look at the rest of verse 1.

1 John 5:1 ESV

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.

When Christ is central point of your life and you have been born again, love gives the rest of life harmony.

Harmony in Love

Last week, we placed gave a long look at the Love of God. We saw that believers love because Christ first loved us. In my men’s discipleship group we have been working on memorizing the third chapter of Colossians 3.

Colossians 3:14 ESV

And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Love binds the whole of the Christian life together in perfect harmony.

1 John 5:1 ESV

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.

When we have been born of God we love Him, and we love all those who have also been born of Him.

Having a child is heavy on my mind. I can’t wait for that boy to get here and I tell my wife that all the time. We recently had a baby shower in my wife’s hometown and we asked all of the attendees to write down what they thought the baby would inherit from both Cassidy and I. We got a few cute answers like Mommy’s smile and daddy’s heart. We got one response that said, I think Aiden-Rey will get mommy’s feet and daddy’s elbows.

Once our boy gets here, we’ll get to see what he has inherited from each of us. But know this, if you have been born of God, it is a Scriptural fact that you inherit the Love of God. You are enabled to love God and love others. We love because Christ first loved us and gave His life for us. We love Him by the grace He has shown and He has enabled us to truly love others. Love binds everything that we do together in perfect harmony.

But what exactly is love harmonizing in the life of the believer? John gets more specific in the next verses of our text:

1 John 5:2–3 ESV

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.

Love binds the truth of Jesus as Son of God, Prophet, Priest, and King with Obedience to His commandments in perfect harmony.

Obedience Harmonizes with Truth through Love

Obedience Harmonizes with Truth through Love.

John says that we know we love God’s children when we love Him and keep His commandments. Loving God and being obedient to His Word IS loving others!

Loving God IS keeping His commandments!

Jerry Bridges wrote, “Love provides the motive for obeying the commands of the law, but the law provides specific direction for exercising love.”

If you know and believe the truth of Jesus as Christ, then you have the love of God and you express that Love for obedience. Church, we cannot let the world dictate to us what love is when God has shown us that love is obedience to His Word. We must never apologize for loving other through adherence to the Word of God.

I mentioned earlier the verse from Colossians 3 that tell us that love binds all these in perfect love. Look at what comes before that.

Colossians 3:12–14 ESV

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Love leads to obedience to God Word, expressed though compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, bearing with one another, forgiving one another. These are virtues are not natural to sinful flesh, but they are supernaturally given through the miraculous work of Jesus Christ that lead to us being born again into the family of God as His chosen ones!

Following the Lord, obeying His commands is the joyful privilege of the believer. It’s not a burden! Look back at our verse from 1 John.

1 John 5:2–3 ESV

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.

This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, but then John give us the reminder that we forget as we battle the flesh: The commandments of God are not burdensome.

John Piper said, “What you desire to do with your whole heart is not burdensome to do.”

So the question that we must be asking ourselves right now is two-fold.

First, do I desire to obey the commands of God with my whole heart? And if not, do I really love the Lord?

Notice how that question is laid out. I did not ask if you perfectly obey the commands of God at all time. I asked if you DESIRE to obey the commands of the God with your whole heart.

We see all throughout Romans 7 that we will struggle with the sins of the flesh. Until glory comes, we are going to fall short. But the Christian’s life is most definitely and biblically maked by a desire to obey the commands of the Lord.

As a pastor, there are many decisions that I have to make around the church. In the coming months I want to share the goals I have set for our church. I am sure that I have and that I am going to make a wrong decision. I am sure that I have inadvertanly hurt people. I am sure that I have sinned against God. But at the same time I can tell you that when a situation comes along, a decision is to be made, an action is to be taken, that it is my desire to do what it is inline with the commandments of God.

What is your desire?

When we look all throughout the Psalms we see the psalmist had a desire for the commandments of God.

Psalm 1:1–2 ESV

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

Psalm 35:27 ESV

Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, “Great is the Lord, who delights in the welfare of his servant!”

Psalm 37:4 ESV

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 112:1 ESV

Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments!

Psalm 119:14 ESV

In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.

This is not an exhaustive list of all the times someone cries out to God in delight of His commands.

A desire to obey the commands of God is the mark of those who have been born of Him.

Church, your salvation is rooted in Jesus as the Christ and Son of God and as your go along in your faith, you will produce fruit. You will see those things I listed from Colossians 3, compassion, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness.

Spurgeon wrote, “Though the fruit is not the root of the tree, yet a well-rooted tree will bring forth fruits in season So, though the keeping of the commandments does not make me a child of God, yet, being a child of God, I shall be obedient to my heavenly Father. But I cannot be this unless I love God.”

Love is practical and actionable. We show love sin what we do. If we say we have love but show no obedience that’s a pretense. Spurgeon also said, “True love shows itself by seeking to please the one who is loved.”

So Christian, let’s put the cards on the table? Who do you love?

If it’s God, you show that through joyful obedience. If it is not God, repent today.

Love binds obedience and truth and all of the Christian’s life together in perfect harmony.

John tells us at the end of verse 3 that obedience is not burdensome. It’s not a burden to do what is your heart’s desire.

Through out this message we have used the metaphor of a piano to explain that Christ is the “Middle C”, the root of all belief and practice in the Christian life. Obedience comes from knowing truth it compliments the main note of Christ and is bonded in harmony by love.

In the last two verses, of our Scripture today, we see the Symphony of Victory there is in knowing Jesus, the Son of God, as Savior, Christ, Messiah.

1 John 5:4–5 ESV

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?

When you have been born of God you overcome the world. John says this is the victory that has over come the world—our faith. We have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. In so we are born of God and overcomers of the world!

What a magnificent message! What a joyful truth! I can look you in the eyes this morning and say that if you know Jesus as Savior, you are a victor!

That’s something we can shout an AMEN to! But you say, Brad I love the Lord, I desire to follow His commands, but things are going really bad for me right now. I don’t really feel like much of a victor with the when the whole world is coming down on me.

Let me tell you this, even through trial and persecution you are stilll a victor.

In 2 Corinthians Paul shares some of the things he had gone through in his pursuits of serving the Lord.

2 Corinthians 11:23–27 ESV

Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

Paul continues on later in the letter to talk about the physical afflictions he has and then Paul wrote this:

2 Corinthians 12:9–10 ESV

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

If you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, then you have been given eternal perspective and hope. When we go through rough patches we remember that God uses even those times for our good. When our eyes our on Christ, our first love, then we are reminded of the victory He obtained for us on the cross. The victory that we share in right now and forever.

1 John 5:4–5 ESV

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?

When you come to Christ you no longer live in fear. You no longer live by the drudgery seen in the systems of the world.

Romans 8:15–17 ESV

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

If you know Christ, you are an heir with Christ, there may be suffering but glory is coming.

Troy, put verses 4-5 back up:

1 John 5:4–5 ESV

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?

Here’s another little thing I don’t want us to pass over. I titled this message the Symphony of Victory. When you know Jesus as Christ and Son of God you are eternal secure, saved, and victorious. But look at the second word there in verse 4. You are also not alone. Church, those of us who know the Lord share in the bond of love. We Love God together, we love one another. We serve the Lord, we serve each other, we serve the Lost. We follow the commands together. We hold each other accountable. We correct in Love and pursue our eendeavors in truth. We share in the same victory.

A symphony is a full orchestra. Multiple instruments playing together. When we have been saved, we play the tune of our lives in worship to God, together, in perfect harmony, bonded in love.

But before we close, know this. When John says, “For everyone who” that means that there are those who haven’t. There are those who do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God. There are those who go through the motions of church, but have no loving desire to obey the Lord. Those are unbelievers.

As I close this morning I want to share the inscription on the Lubeck Cathedral that’s been around since the 1200’s.

Ye call Me Master and obey Me not,

Ye call Me Light and see Me not,

Ye call Me Way and walk Me not,

Ye call Me Life and desire Me not,

Ye call Me Wise and follow Me not,

Ye call Me Fair and love Me not,

Ye call Me Rich and ask Me not,

Ye call Me Eternal and seek Me not,

Ye call Me Gracious and trust Me not,

Ye call Me Noble and serve Me not,

Ye call Me Mighty and honor Me not,

Ye call Me Just and fear Me not,

If I condemn you, blame Me not.

If that is you in that inscription, it is not too late. During this hymn of response, come forward, repent of your sin, believe that Jesus is Christ and Son of God, be born of God. Come today.

Let’s pray.