Open your Bibles with me to the fifth chapter of I John as we return to our text for Undeniable part 2. We'll pick up where we left off last time, since we ran out of time. If you remember, in first five verses we are being introduced to a concept that is very rich, its glorious really for those of us who belong to Christ. And, that is the concept of being an overcomer. We are overcomers.
We often talk about Christianity as being the true faith, and that is certainly true, but here we’re not talking about a subjective faith. We’re talking about an objective body of truth. That is believing in the revealed faith, believing that Jesus is the Christ. That is our faith in the true faith, the faith that makes us overcomers.
Jude 3:4 says "the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints."
We are eternally secure. As we noted last time, using Paul's language, we are super-conquerors. Once a person has become a believer in Jesus Christ, once they are regenerated, once they have been born again once they are justified and adopted into the family of God, they have been delivered from sin and death and hell. That's why Christians are overcomers, conquerors in the ultimate sense. Beloved, our faith, our salvation are literally indestructible.
Those who depart only manifest the reality that they never were really of us in the first place. I John 2:19 teaches us "They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us."
True believers remain. And nothing can remove us from our Savior’s grasp. Paul says in Romans chapter 8, "But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
I sometimes become a little long winded when studying the Word of God, one passage just pulls you right into another and then another. So before I become too carried away, allow me invite you to follow along with me, as I read you again the opening five verses of this great, great epistle. I John 5:1-5.
"Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?"
Your faith, the faith by which you were saved is indestructible faith. By its very nature, it is an unconquerable faith. No matter what may come our way. There is never going to be anything that will come against us that can defeat us. Though we sin; though we fail; though we struggle, we will ultimately never ever lose any battle with the world or with Satan. It is a permanent, indestructible, unconquerable faith given to us by God. And what will truly make all the difference in your life is whether or not you see it for yourselves in the Word of God.
Verse 3, "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome."
Loving God is not a matter of sentimentality. Loving God is not just external obedience, it means that you desire to obey with your whole heart. Loving God is a matter of desiring to honor and to please Him. That what we do when we love someone, you have a heart to do good for them, to honor them, to show respect and to provide all that they need, you seek to please them. Therefore, those who love God are consumed with pursuing what honors the one they love.
David says in Psalm 40:8 "I delight to do Your will, O my God."
And in Psalm 119:35 says "Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in it."
Loving God means admiring, valuing and treasuring with such authenticity that His will is your delight and is not burdensome. Keeping the commandments of God then, is an expression of loving Him. They also love those whom He loves, which are the children of God. If they don't hunger for spiritual fellowship with those who are God’s, there’s no life in them. We know we love God when we love those He loves. If you do not, then that’s a pretty good indication that no matter what you may think, you don’t love God.
I John 4:20 tells us "If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen."
The way that we express that we love God is by loving others, especially other believers. We're talking about a love that sees a need and does what they can to meet it, a love that is sacrificial. A love that is eager to make whatever sacrifice is necessary for the good of another. So then the sign that you love God is that you love others, especially other believers. When the world loses its attraction because of the new birth, obeying God becomes attractive. Not burdensome.
Our society doesn’t love the Word of God. Or any representation of the Word of God, such as the Ten Commandments. Society hates God's Law, from the ACLU all the way up to the Federal Courts, they want to get rid of it. It's offensive to them. So, they refuse to bear publicly. It goes against their nature. God's Laws are our song. We have delight in obeying it, because we love Him.
I have rules in my home, but I've never heard my sons singing in their rooms, "O how I love to obey my dad. I love that he makes me clean my room and take out the trash. O' how we love to wash dishes because we love to please him. His rules are joyful to us." But isn't that what the Psalms are? Songs? Because we love God and we seek to please Him, its not burdensome, it's not oppressive, its a delight, its a joyful duty to obey Him. By the way, He never gives us laws that are not for our benefit. God’s commandments are not burdensome because we have a new nature that has the power and the desire to obey them.
Verse 4, "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith."
In the world, there are forces that work to make us not love God and not love each other. Because we are born of God, we have the ability to love God and love others because in our new birth, we have conquered the world. When we love the world, rather than loving God, we love stuff. And when we do have stuff, we love to talk about it incessantly.We love to tell everyone what we have. Our society love to shows the gift, and not gratitude to the giver.
I John 2 says "For
all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the
eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from
the world." That is the forces we're talking about here.
Our new birth severs the ties of those cravings for the world. The worlds power over us is broken. "And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith." Our new life loves and values God, it loves and values Jesus over all else. Our faith has opened our eyes to see His truth, His beauty and His worth. Loving others is then, the fruit of our faith. Our faith overcomes the obstacles to loving God and loving others. The victory that overcomes the world is—our faith.
Verse 5, "Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?"
Notice the word "overcome" is in the past and present tense, meaning that the victory has already been won. And indicating ongoing, repeated victories over worldly powers and influences. Jesus said in John 16:33 "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."
In faith, there is always going to be battles involved, we are in an unseen battle in whatever we are doing. The Christian life is not easy. Many Christians today overwhelmed, rather than overcoming. The only way to overcome the battles we face is by trusting in the victory that Jesus has already won.
It is so important that you understand your identity as one who is born one of God and exercise your faith to overcome the world. We must remain vigilant against the world, the flesh and the devil. We don’t have to work for victory; we already have the victory. Faith is not the means to the goal of victory; our faith is the victory. Because our faith is centered in Jesus Christ, who is the Victor. He has already overcome the world.
The Christian life is one of overcoming. The emphasis here is not on our faith, but on the object of our faith, Jesus Christ. Through that faith, God imparts to us a life of consistent victory over the evil forces of this world. Those who are born of God will consistently and progressively overcome the forces of the world.
In Closing..
We would like to think that the churches today are filled with overcomers, but there are those that call themselves Christians and it might well be a small percentage of people who are really Christians, who are really overcomers.
If we take a look at the first church which was the church at Ephesus in the book of Revelation, chapter 2, there was a serious issue, a major problem. They had left their first love. There were people in that church who were not true Christians, but some were. Notice in verse 7, He says "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." —And the ones who have sustained faith, manifest love and obedience.—"To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God." The paradise of God symbolizes heaven. This is the promise that all overcomers have, we will live forever eating the Tree of Life in the paradise of God.
When we get to heaven there’s going to be Tree of Life. Now, I don’t claim know exactly what that means. But I do know it will be beyond amazing, the eternal enjoyment of God’s presence in the paradise called heaven.
May it be so..
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen