Series: 1 John
Title: The Overcomers
Text: 1 John 5: 4-5
Date: February 28, 2019
Place: SGBC, NJ
John declared the certainty of God’s love making his
child love our brethren. He said it is
the love of God—God’s own love for his people which God puts in his
people. It is the love that God produces
in us in the new birth.
Also, John declared that the love of God makes us keep
his commandments and makes his commandments to not be grievous. The love of God makes us believe on God’s Son
and by faith in Christ we love those born of God.
1 John 5: 1: Whosoever believeth that Jesus is
the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him
also that is begotten of him. 2: By this we know that we love the
children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. 3:
For this is the love OF God, that we keep his commandments: and his
commandments are not grievous.
Next, we have our text.
1 John 5: 4: For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even
our faith. 5: Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that
Jesus is the Son of God?
Proposition: The only ones who overcome the world are those born of
God, given faith by God, so that we believe and trust Christ to save us.
Subject: The Overcomers
THE WORLD
What does the Holy Spirit mean by “the world?” Here “the world” means all depraved sinners
except those God makes overcome.
The Lord Jesus spoke of “the world hating” him and his people. Only depraved men and women hate Christ and
his people. He is speaking of men and
women.
John 15: 18: If the world hate you, ye know
that it hated me before it hated you. 19: If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but
because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore
the world hateth you.
God calls the “the world”:
“the wicked”, “the proud” and “the terrible.”
This is the world that our text says the believer has overcome.
Isaiah 13: 11: And I
will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I
will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the
haughtiness of the terrible.
Now, let’s see what
condition we have overcome. This is the condition of the infidel. These are the conditions of all natural,
unregenerate sinners. This was our
condition as we are born into this world.
One, the world is
under the deception of the devil.
Revelations 12: 9: And
the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which
deceiveth the whole world:
Every person that you
and I know that does not believe on Christ in spirit and in truth is deceived
by the devil.
Two, the world knows
not God. The Lord Jesus said,
John 17:25: O
righteous Father, the world hath not known thee:…
Three, by its own
wisdom, the world cannot know God.
1 Corinthians 1: 21:
For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God,…
Four, because these
other things are so, the religion of the world is anything except Christ: outside
of organized religion is philosophy and within organized religion is the exaltation
of man (vain deceit), will-worship.
Colossians 2:8: Beware
lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition
of men, after the rudiments of the world, 9: For in him dwelleth all the fulness
of the Godhead bodily. 10 And ye are
complete in him... 20: Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments
of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
21: (Touch not; taste not;
handle not; 22: Which all are to
perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? 23: Which things have indeed a shew of
wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any
honour to the satisfying of the flesh.
The world’s depraved
heart is described in 1 John 2.
1 John 2: 15: Love not the world, neither the things
that are in the world. If any man
love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16:
For all that is in the world, [this is the sum of all] the lust of the
flesh, [living for the senses] and the lust of the eyes, [to be seen of men] and
the pride of life, [self-exaltation] is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17: And the world passeth away,
and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
This is the worldliness
of the depraved heart. This is what is wrong with the whole world. All this “is
not of the Father, but is of the world
Philippians 3: 18:
(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping,
that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19: Whose end is destruction,
whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
2 Timothy 3: 1: This
know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2: For men shall be lovers of their own
selves,…lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5: Having a form of
godliness, but denying the power thereof: [Christ the Power of God] from such
turn away….
God’s child is in a
constant warfare against all these temptations of the world. These are the methods the world uses. The world would have us practice their
traditions and go after their lusts. The
world would have you compromise with them.
If those things will not work then the world would make us look out of
fashion and bigoted. Or the world would
make you think they agree with you. So
those who overcome overcome the devil, we overcome our own spiritual ignorance,
we overcome the world’s will-works religion and philosophy, and we overcome the
lusts of the world and the lusts of our own depraved hearts.
BORN OF GOD
The only way any sinner overcomes the world is by being
born of God—1 John 4: For whatsoever is
born of God overcometh the world…
No sinner has anything to do with the new birth—to be “born
of God” is to be “born of God alone!” We are sinners with no ability to rebirth
ourselves.
Titus 3: 3: For we ourselves also were
sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures,
living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. 4: But after that the kindness and love
of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 5:
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he
saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6: Which he shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7:
That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the
hope of eternal life.
Every sinner that God
regenerates, comes into the world loving the world and hating God like every
other sinner. God alone makes the
difference.
Ephesians 2: 2: Wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of
the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3: Among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of
the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath even as
others. 4: But God, who is rich
in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5: Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with
Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Look again at 1 John 2, the Holy Spirit declares that the
reason we love not the world is by God the Father putting his love in us—"If any man love the world, the love of the
Father is not in him” (1 Jn 2:15). That
means if we love not the world, the love of the Father is in us. When we are born of God, we are given a new
spirit “the love of God is shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Rom 5:5). And it is in this new spirit the Spirit
of God teaches us the truth.
1 Corinthians 2:12: Now
we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God;
that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
As the good news is preached, the Lord Jesus our Prophet gives
us the word of God—the incorruptible seed—making us be born again. By the new birth, he separates us out from
the world by the truth of the gospel. And our great Intercessor continually prays
for us so that our faith fails not.
John 17: 9: I pray
for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they
are thine…14: I have given them
thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. 15: I
pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou
shouldest keep them from the evil. 16:
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17: Sanctify them
through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Christ is, himself, the Truth by whom we are sanctified. He kept himself separated from this world,
that he might lay down his life and make us holy and righteous so that he is
the Truth we preach. He is the Truth who
made his people holy and righteous and by whom we are born of God and his
righteousness and holiness is applied to us.
John 17: 19: And for
their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the
truth. [this includes you and I who believe] 20: Neither pray I for these
alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; (Joh
17:14-16)
So we cannot boast.
The new birth is of God alone, by the Spirit of God, by the word of God,
by Christ who is our Prophet, who himself is the Truth.
THE VICTORY
The victory is our faith through which we trust Christ to
save us—1 John 5: 4…and this is the
victory that overcometh [nike] the
world, even our faith. 5: Who is he
that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
The victory is not faith in our faith. When I was in college, my friends’ mother
told me, “I told my son, I don’t care what you believe just as long as you
believe something because faith is the victory.” Faith is not our savior. Faith in a stump will not save.
As soon as John spoke of our faith, he spoke of the
object of our faith. Christ is our
Savior. He alone saves his people—"Who is he that overcometh the world,
but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” What does it mean to believe that Jesus is
the Son of God? It is to believe the
record that God has given concerning his Son.
1 John 5: 11: And
this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in
his Son. 12: He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of
God hath not life.
When you believe Jesus is the Son of God then you believe
God’s word that God’s salvation is the Lord Jesus. We believe salvation is only in the Lord
Jesus. God’s sovereign electing grace is
in Christ—amongst this sea of fallen humanity there are some that God chose in Christ
before the world was made. The righteousness
of God is in Christ—though we were enemies in our minds, the Son of God came
and took flesh and represented his people as our Head and by his obedience we
are made the righteousness of God in him—Christ gives us the victory by his
righteousness because he has overcome the world and his people in him—he said, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in
me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good
cheer; I have overcome the world” (Jn 16: 33).
The Spirit of God bears witness that salvation is in Christ alone—who
of God is made unto us Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption so
that we glory in him alone! (1 Cor 1: 30).
Faith is the victory because God-given faith trusts Christ who gives us
the victory through his blood and righteousness accomplished on the cross!
1 Corinthians 15:57: But
thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Galatians 6:14: But
God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
Oh, sinner, believe on Christ now! May the Holy Spirit give you faith to believe
on Christ now and you shall overcome the world! How I pray that God might plant
that incorruptible seed in your heart this hour and give you spiritual life to
believe on Christ, that you might overcome this world!
THE PROMISE OF GOD
God has made precious promises to them that overcome the
world through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Concerning:
·
Eternal life—Revelation 2: 7: He that hath an ear, let him hear what
the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat
of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. (Re 2:7)
·
No condemnation—Revelation 2: 11: He that hath an ear, let him hear what
the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the
second death. (Re 2:11)
·
Christ himself and
his name—Revelation 2: 17: He
that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him
that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a
white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving
he that receiveth it. (Re 2:17)
·
Power with Christ to
judge the world—Revelation 2: 26:
And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give
power over the nations: 27: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the
vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my
Father. 28: And I will give him the morning star [Christ]. (Re 2:26)
·
Christ will be our Righteousness
and our Advocate in the day of judgment—Revelation 3:5 He
that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not
blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before
my Father, and before his angels.
·
Christ makes us His church and
city—Revelation 3:12 Him that
overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no
more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the
city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my
God: and I will write upon him my new name.
·
Glory with Christ—Revelation 3:21: To him that overcometh will I grant to
sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my
Father in his throne.
·
Eternal inheritance, joint-heirs
with Christ as sons of God—Revelations
21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit
all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
Brethren, guard your
hearts! Do not let this world be a rival
to Christ and his gospel because “the
friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend
of the world is the enemy of God” (Ja 4:4).
Romans 12: 1: I beseech you therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2: And be not conformed to this world:
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is
that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
We are only pilgrims
passing through this bad neighborhood on our way to a glorious end! As the
apostle Paul said, “Our conversation
[citizenship] is in heaven; from when also we look for the Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like
unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to
subdue all things unto himself.” (Co. 3: 20-21)
Amen!