Overcome the World

Overcoming the World in 1 John 5:4-5

Let's turn in your Bibles to 1 John, chapter 5, verses 1 -5. This is God's holy and infallible word. 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.

By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep 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 He who overcomes the world but He who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? Let's pray with me now. Oh Lord, we rejoice in the victory that is ours in Christ.

I pray what has been declared by Your decree and by precept that we are overcomers would be an ever-present reality for us. That we would, like Your Son, overcome the world. Oh Lord, we thank You for this victory and we pray that we would walk in Your righteousness.

And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Please be seated. Today our focus will be on verses 4 and 5 of chapter 5. I mentioned last week that that section could have been a longer sermon, and I opted to do two shorter sermons in light of that length.

And so today we focus on verses 4 and 5. The title of the message is Overcoming the World. Overcoming the World. And in our text it says overcomes at least three times, and the same word root is found in the word victory, so it's very much the dominant theme of this very little section in verses 4 and 5.

For those of you who need to take notes, the first point I will consider is the victory in Christ by faith. That will concern chiefly verse 4. Then second, the remainder of the time will be given to the title of the message as the point Overcoming the World.

Our time in 1 John is drawing close to an end, and so let's give extra attention to these last remaining weeks in our study in this epistle. We learned last week that whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.

And there is really a beautiful rhetorical argument that John makes, and it seems somewhat repetitive, but he gives fuller information to us as the text progresses. We also learned that those born of God love the children of God, which has been a dominant theme, and there was something else added from earlier in the book, and we keep his commandments.

And his commandments are not burdensome to us. So the Christian has a different relationship with God and his word and his commands. He loves God, he loves God's people, and he loves his word. He loves his law.

He delights in it. If there be any deficiency in your love, repent and love his law again. Keep his commandments. Today we learn about the victory that is ours by faith in Christ. Last week, our emphasis was on our duty and those obligations that are incumbent upon those who are born of God.

Today we learn about the victory that Christ has for his people. Like him, you too overcome the world. The unbeliever and the world system in opposition to God lies under the sway of the wicked one. That terminology, that language is found in our chapter in verse 19.

The unbeliever is swallowed up by the world. The Christian overcomes the world. The unbeliever is conquered by the world. The Christian has the victory over the world. I have three questions I hope to answer today.

What does overcoming the world mean? How do I overcome the world? How do I walk in the victory that Christ has secured for me? Let's consider our text and begin to exegete it and put it into practice for ourselves.

Whatever is born of God, verse 4, overcomes the world. The Christian, as has already been mentioned, has victory over the world. Do you believe that? Do you walk in that? Do you live according to that truth?

That is the reality in Christ. Christ has overcome the world. You're united to the overcomer. You too must overcome the world. And here is where our understanding about this truth may be lacking. We believe that we are in Christ and positionally overcomers of the world.

But there may be a weakness in your understanding. You may not believe in the reality of the victory, the conquering we are able to experience practically. Every person here, without exception, has felt the tug and the pull of the world and its ways.

And we attributed it to our sin nature that we are drawn and enticed by our own desires, certainly, but also the effects of the world. It's really hard to break loose of the shackles. There's almost a tractor beam that pulls us in.

But our text today says that we are able practically, as the Puritans might say, experimentally, actually, freedom and victory to overcome the world. Jesus is the victor, the overcomer. And by virtue of your faith, you are united to him so that you too have the victory.

So when the temptations come, you say, I'm baptized into the glorious name of God. I belong to Christ. I have faith in Christ. I'm a Christian. The promises of God are true for me. And I can say no to all of those temptations.

You and I must become much more regularly acquainted with the exercise of faith that accompanies victorious living. And so often victorious living is talked about in the prosperity churches. But to live victoriously is to overcome the world.

That's what we are to be about. To have the victory over the world and its ways. A little refresher, that language of being born of God has come up a few times here in 1 John. Your salvation is certainly a new birth.

And you have been born of God for his purposes and glory. And also you've been born of God that you may grow to full maturity and bear much fruit. As we learned in Sunday school, we're not born to remain infants.

But we are born of God to grow to full maturity, to put childish ways behind us. A mature Christian person should not be falling sway to the ways of the enemy or the ways of the world. But maybe the biggest question that arises from this text is what does it mean to overcome?

It means to conquer, to prevail. Some of you are acquainted with the fashion fitness brand Nike. That is the Greek word. That is the root of conquering and victory and overcoming. You can imagine how they use it.

You're going to conquer your opponent in the sport. You are victorious. You prevail. You subdue. Christ carries off literally the victory. Christ is victorious over all of his foes. But it's used of believers in a particular way that's striking.

And I'd like you to see it in the book of Revelation in chapter 3. Please turn there with me just a couple pages to the right in Revelation chapter 3. I'll just go ahead and begin reading in verse 1. Children, I want you to listen out and see with your own eyes the word overcome in this section.

And to the angel of the church in Sardis write. These things says he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your works that you have a name that you are alive but you are dead. Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die.

For I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember, therefore, how you have received and heard. Hold fast and repent. Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.

You have a few names, even in Sardis, who have not defiled their garments. And they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy. Children, pay attention. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments.

And I will not blot out his name from the book of life, but I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write.

These things says he who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David. He who opens and no one shuts and shuts and no one opens. I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door. No one can shut it.

For you have a little strength, have kept my word and have not denied my name. Indeed, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not, but lie. Indeed, I will make them come and worship before your feet and to know that I have loved you because you have kept my command to persevere.

I will also keep you from the hour of trial, which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on earth. Behold, I am coming quickly. Hold fast what you have that no one may take your crown.

Listen again, children. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. You shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from heaven from my God.

I will write on him my new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. Now skip down to verse 19. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him and he with me. To him who overcomes. I will grant to sit with me on my throne as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. This overcoming is critical. It's essential. Let's turn back to First John. Chapter five. The one who overcomes has the victory of Christians, those that hold fast their faith even unto death against the power of their foes and their temptations and persecutions.

To overcome the world is to deprive it of power to harm, to subvert its influence. The Christian walking in righteousness defuses the bomb of the world. The Christian walking in faith in Christ depraved, deprives it of the power to harm.

It subverts its influence. We need more subversion in the church. Subversion of the world and its ways. It's used of one of those who, by Christian constancy and courage, keeps himself unharmed and spotless from his adversary's devices, solicitations and assaults.

It's already been used in First John. The believer, it is said, overcomes the devil. First John 2 .13. The believer overcomes false teachers. First John 4 .4. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

The locus classicus text of overcoming. John 16 .33. Jesus says, These things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.

The overcoming, the victory presupposes a hard battle. Do you recognize that you're in a hard battle? Jesus said we're going to have tribulation in this world. The victory presupposes a fierce battle.

And in fact, it's a war on three fronts, which we've already considered in First John. It's a war with the world. It's a war with the flesh. And it's a war with the devil. And in fact, the devil has conspired with the world to incite the flesh.

We have the victory in Christ positionally, but we must walk in that victory practically and cede no ground. Look again at our text, the last half of verse four, and it says, This is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith.

Now, we often link faith and belief together, but faith is a bit more robust language. Burkoff said of faith, it is the divine response wrought in man by God. There is a human believing, but faith is always a work of God.

So if we be in Christ, you have to understand that there's been a work of God in you. If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, God has worked to make faith possible and a reality in you. The Greek word is pistis.

It's a very common word in the Christian life, but it's important to be refreshed on its meaning. It's belief, it's faith, but it's also trust with different level, isn't it? It's a confidence, it's a fidelity, a faithfulness.

Faith for the Christian is God's divine persuasion. The Lord continually births faith in the yielded believer. One who is born of God not only has a new birth conversion experience. In fact, the Christian experiences an ongoing in birthing of God by which he bestows faith to us.

He does it, it seems, more prominently in the yielded believer so that they might know what he prefers, which is the persuasion of his will. In the scriptures, faith is God's warranty. Certifying that the revelation he has in birth will come to pass.

The root of this word is to persuade, to be persuaded. Are you persuaded that you have overcome the world? This is something we should be persuaded of and we should act upon. It guarantees the fulfillment of the revelation that he births within that receptive believer.

We must be persuaded. Faith is always received from God and never generated by us. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, 1 John 5, 4. Our text, whoever is born of God conquers the world. This is the conquest that he has conquered the world, our faith.

Faith, then, is the response to divine revelation. This is really a brilliant argument by John. If you believe that Jesus is the Christ, you're born of God. Because you've been born of God, you are persuaded to his will.

Therefore, you love his people, you keep his commandments, you overcome the world. That's what John is teaching us here. Martin Lloyd-Jones said that if you want to be a man of faith, it will always be the result of becoming a certain type of person.

A person who is persuaded. A person who believes. A person who walks in the victory of Christ. Calvin said, we hold faith to be the knowledge of God's will toward us. God's will is revealed to us. It is appropriated.

The instrumental cause is faith. Faith itself is a gift of God. How great is your faith today? Do you really trust all that you are and all that you have and all the people that you love to Christ? If you do, you have the victory.

You have the overcoming. But it makes me question again if we remember what the world is. Look again at verse 4. The world is the ungodly multitude. And I want to appeal to the teenagers again. The ungodly multitude.

It is true for everyone here today. The ungodly multitude. The whole mass of men alienated from God and hostile to the cause of Christ. They bid you to come and sup with them. And we let them in our doors.

We let them in on our phones. And we let them in in every medium. The world in opposition to our God and to our Christ. It's coming for us. The aggregate of the ungodly and wicked men. It referred to in the Septuagint, the old times, the world.

Those who speak in accordance with the world's character and mode of thinking. Parents and children. The reason children we are correcting you about your language is we hear the world's mode of thinking.

We hear the world's character coming out of your mouth. And we are worried because that means the world has come in. It refers to the affairs, the whole circle of earthly goods. Endowments and riches which take up a lot of our interest, don't they?

Advantages, pleasures. Which although they be hollow and frail and fleeting. They stir desire and seduce us from God. And themselves they become obstacles to the cause of Christ. And maybe best in terms of its structure and grammar.

The best definition of the world in relation to 1 John chapter 5. The world is those incentives to sin. That are obstacles to God's cause. Those who are born of God overcome all of that. This is the victory Christ has won.

He has overcome all of the obstacles to God's cause. So the question is, why would we put up the obstacles again? And why would we not climb over them? Why would we not overcome the obstacles that are given?

To hinder us in our pursuit of faithfulness to God. People gathered here today as ascension. Whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this tells me this victory is so powerful and so comprehensive.

That if there be any sin in your life today. Any cherished sin, any habitual sin. Any besetting sin. That you in Christ and the power of His Spirit. Have the ability in Him to put it to death. I urge you to repent of every known sin today.

I urge you to repent of that inclination. To allow yourself to be drawn in by the world and its ways. Everything that pulls us. The earthly goods, the endowments, the riches, the advantages, the pleasures.

They're hollow and frail and fleeting. And they are barriers and impediments to our communion with God and one another. Christ has overcome the world. I think about the temptation of Christ. I almost think about the Christian life is like the temptation of Christ in the wilderness.

We're not Jesus. We're not sinless. We're not perfect. But we are in the wilderness of the world. And we are being tempted on many fronts. And yet in Christ we have the capacity. The affinity. Now the ability.

Because of the Spirit who works mightily in us to say no to all of the temptations. We are not unwise concerning the enemy's wiles and devices.

We're wise.

We become discerning.

We can see through the error. We can see through the temptation. And we see the skeletal remains of life there. We see the wickedness of Satan there. We see our old man, our old flesh there. And we see the world in opposition to God there.

And we say no. We're not going to do that. Because we have the victory in Christ. Verse 5 asks the question that we must answer. Who is he who overcomes and has the victory? He who believes that Jesus is the Son of God and lives accordingly.

A couple of words of application here and then we'll conclude. Christ has become victorious over all of his foes. And those who are united to Christ are also victorious over the foes. Christians that hold fast their faith even unto death against the power of all of those enemies, their temptations and persecutions, they conquer and free themselves.

Righteous living deprives the world and its ways and Satan of his power to harm. We subvert its influence over us. We must exhibit that Christian constancy of character that is courageous to keep ourselves unharmed and spotless from the adversary's devices, solicitations and assaults.

I think we should say in our mind that's the way of the world. That's an appeal to my flesh. That is of satanic origin. Our discernment, our ability, our wisdom should be heightened. We should see it for what it is.

So how do we overcome? We discern the wiles of the devil. Look out there. Turn over to 1 John 5 .19 really quickly. We know that we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

We should look around us and we should say the whole world is under the sway of the wicked one and the distance between me and those under the sway needs to increase. I shouldn't be like them. I shouldn't sound like them.

I shouldn't look like them. I shouldn't talk like them. Don't be under the sway of the enemy. Isn't that a repugnant thought to you that you would be under the sway of the enemy? Be filled with the Spirit.

Walk in the light. Do not be deceived. Exercise your faith in Christ. Be in close communion with other believers. Read and meditate upon the scriptures. And even most importantly, trust and believe the promises of God set forth here in His Word.

Christ has overcome the world and we who have faith in the Son of God, we overcome in Him. We have to live there. We have to believe it. We have to trust it. We have to walk in it. May the Lord grant to us not only the lofty position of being overcomers, but may He give us an experimental knowledge of that overcoming practically that we might see that we too, like Christ, have overcome the world.

Amen?

Prayer for Faith, Holiness, and Victory Over Sin

Let's pray together. Oh Lord, I thank You for Your Word and I thank You for the victory that is ours through faith. Oh Lord, help us to plumb the depths of faith and to see that it's more than a shallow belief.

It's an entire and comprehensive trust in Christ. Help us to see the worldliness around us and help us to see the worldliness in our own hearts. Oh Lord, convince us again, in birth in us, faith again, that we would see the ways of Christ are far better.

Oh Lord, help us, Your people, to have victory over sin, to put it to death, to walk in new and fresh righteousness. Oh Lord, set us free from the guilt and shame of unbelief and disobedience and show us what it's like to walk in Your ways.

We ask for Your blessing and reward. We no longer want Your chastening. We want Your good gifts and we thank You that You've supplied them to us in Christ and it's in His name that we pray.

Amen.