01-10-2021 God’s People are Overcomers

January 10, 2021

1John 5:1-5

God’s People are Overcomers…

1John 5:1-5
"Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves the child born of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and follow His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For whoever has been born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith. 5 Who is the one who overcomes the world, but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? "

Read 1John 5:1-3a
""Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves the child born of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and follow His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. "

Being a Christian, born-again, a child of God, a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, are all synonymous with having repented of sin and trusted in God’s Son to eternally forgive and save you. If that describes you, you will desire to express God’s love toward your brothers and sisters in Christ.

God commands us to love other believers (cf. 1John 4:21); obeying God and loving those who belong to God is the same thing (John 13:35),

John 13:35
“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

Because biblical love is not a feeling, you don’t have to necessarily like someone in order to love them. It can be hard enough, at times, to love someone you like, let alone those who offend you, or those who, for whatever reason, you just don’t like!

Thankfully, we are never commanded in God’s Word to “like” our neighbor, or our Christian brother or sister; but we are clearly commanded to love them.

God’s love is supernatural, it is not dependent upon our emotions, i.e., we don’t have to “feel” like loving someone, but we are to love them regardless, for love is a willful, intentional act of obedience.

As we submit to the authority of God’s Word and the control of God’s Spirit, we will be able to obey God’s commands; we will love one another, and we may even find out that we actually like one another, imagine that.

Read 1John 5:3b-5
"3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For whoever has been born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith. 5 Who is the one who overcomes the world, but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? ""

True believers are fully equipped and quite capable of loving other Christians; for you see, God never commands us to do something that we are not able to accomplish.

The Greek verb here in 1John 5:4-5, translated overcomes, is nikao, and it means to conquer, to win, to defeat, to be victorious, to overcome. The noun form of this word is spelled nikē but it is pronounced nee-kay. The Greeks had a goddess Nikē; she was the goddess of victory, conquest, success.

God never commands us to do something that we are not equipped to do.

Through Christ, we are able to have victory over, to conquer, the corruption of sin, the cravings of the flesh, and the deception of the devil. This is possible because Christ conquered sin, death, and judgment forever, and those who belong to Him, those who are in Christ, have also overcome these things.

Romans 8:37-39
“But in all these things (verse 35, tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword) 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.”

Jesus said,

(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.”

2Peter 1:2-4
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”
God equips and exhorts us to love our neighbor, to love one another, even to love our enemies, for in doing so, we express our obedience to, and our love for, God.

Christians are born of God.

Every person who has confessed Christ as Lord, believing in Him for salvation, is born of God (cf. John 1:12-13), to all who received Jesus Christ, “even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” [born from above, born of God’s Spirit], i.e., every true believer and follower of Christ, is able to overcome the self-centered human preoccupation with the flesh, because we have the Holy Spirit living is us.

John 1:12-13
"12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God."

In Matthew 1:20
an angel came to Joseph and told him, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”

And in Luke 1:31
the angel came to Mary and told her, “you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.”

Mary responded to the angel,

(Luke 34-35)
“How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.”

Jesus was born not of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God [born from above, born of God’s Spirit], isn’t that awesome!

God’s people (those born-again, born from above), are to devote themselves to knowing, applying, and proclaiming God’s Word through every aspect of their lives, just as Jesus did!

God’s people are to devote themselves to God.

Colossians 3:17
“Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”

According to 1John 2:15-17, unbelievers, during the 1st century A.D. (like those of the 21st century A.D.), devoted themselves to serving the flesh and the godless world. John describes the love of the world as “the lust of the flesh” and “the lust of the eyes,” and “the boastful pride of life.”

1John 2:15-17
"15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 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. 17 The world is passing away and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God continues to live forever."

How we respond to what we see, hear, touch, and taste, will either reflect the control by,

God’s Spirit in our life or the control of the flesh.

1Corinthians 6:19-20
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”

We aren’t to live like unbelievers, we are overcomers; unbelievers are losers, in fact, every person on this planet is born a loser, an enemy of God, dead in their sins, until they come to trust Jesus Christ to forgive them.

Ephesians 2:1-3
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”

What do the following verses have in common?

Joel 2:32
“And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord Will be delivered.”

Acts 2:21
“And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Romans 10:13
for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Unbelievers are enslaved in a world system that is dominated by Satan, and the spirit of the antichrist; they are unable to overcome the lusts and cravings of this godless world because,

(2Corinthians 4:4)
“the god of this world [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

Christians overcome the world system.

Christians are able to overcome the flesh and the devil, and the world system that promotes them both. How is this possible? There is only one way.

John 14:6
Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

As we believe, trust, obey, and serve Jesus Christ, the Son of God, we give evidence to the fact that we are overcomers.

John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

We overcome eternal death in Christ, Who died, was buried, then came out of the tomb alive on the third day. Before His arrest and subsequent crucifixion

(John 11:25-26)
Jesus told Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life; the one who believes in Me will live, even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.”

Moments later Jesus went to the tomb where Lazarus had laid dead for four days.

John 11:43-44
“[Jesus] cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ Out came [Lazarus] who had died, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to [those who were there], ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’”

John 3:18
“He who believes in [God’s Son] is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

Through Jesus Christ the Lord we have overcome judgment.

John 3:36
“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

We overcome God’s wrath by believing in and obeying the Son of God.

John 5:39-40
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.”

We are overcomers because we are in Christ.

John 6:28-29
“‘What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?’ [I.E., What does God require, that we might be made acceptable to Him who is Holy? How can we justified, i.e., how can we be without sin]. Jesus said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.’”

Believe what about Him?

John 8:23-24
“[Jesus said] to them, ‘You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He [God’s Son, the Messiah], you will die in your sins.’

John 8:25-28
“They were saying to Him, ‘Who are You?’ Jesus said to them, ‘What have I been saying to you from the beginning? I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world.’ They did not realize that He had been speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said, ‘When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.’”

John 8:38
“I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father.”

John 8:44-47
“You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.”

John 10:24-26
“The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, ‘How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.’ Jesus answered them, ‘I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep.

John 10: 27-33
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.’ The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. Jesus [said to] them, ‘I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?’ The Jews answered Him, ‘For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.’”

Wow! To believe in Jesus, God’s Son, is to believe that He is God in the flesh, Immanuel [God with us].

Saving faith is not based upon something you do, or acquire, or something you intellectually agree with, i.e., salvation doesn’t occur in your head, but in your heart [your soul]; and therefore, genuine salvation is expressed in your life after you confess your sins and trust in Christ alone to save you.

Romans 10:12-15
“For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for ‘Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without [someone telling them]? How will they [go to the them] unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!”

Romans 10:17
“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

Overcomers proclaim the message of Christ, so that others might be saved.

1John 5:5
“Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God!”

Saving faith is expressed in and through your life, as you love others on God’s behalf, and by this, you testify that you genuinely believe and have been saved through Jesus Christ: crucified, resurrected, and coming again. You have overcome the world, the devil, and his opposition to God, God’s Word, and God’s Son; in Christ; you have overcome sin, death, and judgement!

God’s people are overcomers, and we are to live out and proclaim the message of Christ, so that others might be saved out of this corrupt generation.

Romans 10:9-11
“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. For the Scripture

(cf. Isaiah 28:16) says,
‘Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed’”

1John 5:11-13
“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

Do you know for sure that you have received forgiveness for sin and eternal life? If you are not sure, settle it right now; I beg you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.

Pastor Mike

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