Winning a neighborhood race in your childhood may stand out as a tremendous victory in your life. All the kids standing around cheering you for your great win. A few standing to the side, disappointed at their loss. Yet as you grow older, the impact of that victory diminishes as you realize there are bigger, more important races to be run. Summer league teams, high-school and college teams, the Olympics, and professional sports all provide progressively more challenging races to be run and victories to be won. World-Class Victory (part 1)
Were you to desire a "world-class" victory, it would be one that would overcome the competition from around the world. Many businesses strive to be "world-class" companies who overcome competition, not just from down the street, but from around the world. The global community is upon us and the stakes have increased personally and professionally.
In our Scripture passage, John writes of a "world-class" victory which can be won by every believer. It is victory over the influences of an ungodly world. It is victory over all the forces of darkness. It is victory achieved by faith in our LORD Jesus Christ. You can win a great victory over sin in your life, but only through faith in One who is strong enough to overcome all the forces that work against you. That One, of course, is Jesus Christ our LORD.
Scripture Passage: 1 John 5:1-21
Main Thought:
The victory over the influence of the world in your life comes only by faith in the LORD Jesus Christ.Outline:
By faith in Jesus Christ:
Part 1:
- You are able to love and obey God.
Part 2:- You receive the testimony of Jesus' life and the witness of the Holy Spirit to confirm that you have received eternal life.
- You ask and receive from God through prayer that is according to His will.
- You rest secure in Christ, protected from the world and all the forces of darkness.
And this is the victory that has overcome the world -- our faith.
(1 John 5:4b, NKJV)1. By faith in Jesus Christ, you are able to love and obey God.
Imagine for a moment that wrestling was real (yes, I know there are many who claim that it IS real). So you have a person like Hulk Hogan who destroys any opponent who enters the ring. They are unable to withstand his strength and strategy. What would it take to change a person like Hulk Hogan into a kind and loving person? What would it take to keep such a person kind and loving? It would take someone or something with much greater power and love to change such a person forever.This is what must take place for you and I to be changed into one who is kind and loving. The Bible reveals the human heart is "deceitful above all things, and desparately wicked" (Jer. 17:9, NKJV). In your natural state prior to receiving Christ, "the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor. 2:14, NKJV). How can such a person love, much less obey, God?
Our old sin nature must be rendered powerless and we must gain a new nature full of love. This is what God has done for us through Jesus Christ.
Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. (1 John 5:1, NKJV)
The interesting twist in this verse is the message it reveals about faith. The verb tense in the Greek is very specific here: whoever "believes" (present tense meaning ongoing action) "is born of God" (perfect tense meaning a completed activity with lasting results). So ongoing faith -- believing -- is a consequence of being born of God -- salvation. John is not saying that your belief proves you are born of God but that because you are born of God you continue to believe that Jesus is the Christ.The new birth provides you with ongoing, active faith. What does this faith accomplish? John writes that it enables you to love God (v1), love His children (v1), keep His commandments (vv2-3), and overcome the world (vv4-5).
Love God (v1): Loving God the Father is an assumption in this verse. It is impossible to believe in Jesus Christ and not love God the Father. "Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also" (1 John 2:23, NKJV). Our love for God the Father is rooted in His love for us demonstrated through sending His Son into the world to die for our sins (1 John 4:9). In fact, we love God the Father because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). So love for God is assumed because it is just an expression of who you are in Christ -- a child of God. Human fathers may lovable or they may sin greatly. It is hard to love your human father sometimes. But who could not love a perfect and perfectly loving Heavenly Father? By faith in Jesus Christ, you will exercise your love toward God the Father.
Love His Children (v1): In verse 1, the phrasing is a little awkward in the NKJV for this verse. Basically, it means that if you love the Father, you will love his children also. Anyone who is born again of the Heavenly Father will love His children, your brothers and sisters in Christ. Just think -- no matter where you may go in the world, you can always find love if you find a child of God. Jesus Christ provides the common bond for believers around the world. You may not look the same or even be able to communicate with one another very well. But because, as the Bible says:
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one LORD, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all" (Eph. 4:4-6, NKJV).
I have spoken with missionaries who confirm this fact of faith. And I have experienced it myself in different settings. The Spirit of God gives us fellowship with one another in Christ.So a word of exhortation is in order here: be sure you are loving all of God's children. Because of a failure to love all of God's children, the church can be one of the most segregated groups in the world, not just by skin color or nationality but by cultural differences, monetary differences, political differences...the list just goes on. 1 John 5:1 teaches us to be open with our love for others, in particular the children of God. This is a result of our being born of God, the One who "has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth" (Acts 17:26, NKJV).
Keep His commandments (vv2-3): It seems a little odd that John would explain that you love God and His children when you "keep His commandments" (1 John 5:2, NKJV). Yet how can you love someone in authority over you without abiding by their commands? An old cartoon shows a man who had called in sick to work so that he could go fishing instead. Someone knocked on the front door. So the man, dressed in all his fishing gear, opened the front door to see his boss who needed a key to an office cabinet. There was not much love for his boss demonstrated by his laziness and deceit. By faith you love God and by faith you keep His commands.
Even Jesus said to His disciples the night before He went to the cross: "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love" (John 15:10, NKJV). Obeying the One you love is the example of Christ and the way of God's children.
Further, obedience to God's commands demonstrates your love for His children. You set a good example for them. You inspire them to love God in the same way. You are an example to your brothers and sisters in Christ -- whether you want to be or not, whether you are a good example, a bad example, or a lukewarm example. You can measure your love for your brothers and sisters in Christ by your obedience to your mutual Heavenly Father. Lest we think this too hard to do, John reminds us that God's "commandments are not burdensome" (1 John 5:3, NKJV). The yoke of Jesus Christ is "easy," a burden that is "light" (Matthew 11:30, NKJV). His commands are not a burden because you are yoked together with Him, to walk along the way with you, and to empower you with His power.
Overcome the world (vv4-5): When you first make a life-decision to entrust your life to Jesus Christ, you experience the new birth, salvation, the transformation of your soul to a new creation in Christ. This is the most important victory for you to gain. The victory was already won on the cross at Calvary when Jesus cried out, "It is finished" (John 19:30, NKJV). The penalty for all sin for all time had been paid by our LORD Jesus Christ. The debt owed to God for the offense of sin had been satisfied. The invitation to you and people all over the world is to step into the winner's circle and receive the victor's crown of eternal life. Jesus won the victory for you. When you commit your life to Jesus Christ, you have overcome the world which would lead you away from God (1 John 5:4b).
This is why John writes in the first part of this verse: "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world" (1 John 5:4a, NKJV). The word "overcomes" is in the present tense (ongoing activity). You continue to defeat the worldly influence in your life because you have been born of God. Praise the LORD that He continues the good work He started when He gave you new life in Christ (Philippians 1:6)!
Yet it is by faith that you continue in this manner. John writes further, "Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" (1 John 5:5, NKJV). You continue to say "no" to evil and wickedness because you have been born of God. Because you have been born of God you continue to walk by faith in His Son. This agrees with the point he made earlier in verse 1 -- ongoing faith is a result of the new birth.
So achieving "world-class victory" in life happens as a result of your salvation in Christ. This new birth gives you victory over the penalty of sin which otherwise separates you from God forever. It also gives you ongoing faith which grows each day "in the grace and knowledge of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18, NKJV). Consider the cycle that is presented in these five verses:
=> Believing correctly in Jesus Christ as LORD and Savior
=> Born of God
<= Because of correct belief you demonstrate you have been born of God.=> Love the Father and His children
<= Overcome the world by correct belief=> Keep His commandments
<= Able to keep His commandments because you overcome the world
What a beautiful cycle of faith is presented by the Apostle John here! What a beautiful victory over a world which resists the love and message of Christ! Oh, what a Savior!
Our Creator God loves you and wants you to know Him! If you would like to contact this ministry for further information or questions, please send your e-mail to:
Email: ministryrequest1@WordTruth.Com
Web Site: WordTruth.ComCopyright 1/30/2000, Randy Lariscy.
