If you would, to 1 John, chapter
5. The name of the message is overcoming
the world. Overcoming the world. Now go into a Christian bookstore,
a supposed Christian bookstore, and you will find that there
are all kinds of books written about overcoming the world or
how to be a better Christian. Always. There's always these
self-help books, they call them. And the books are usually all
about what you have to do. Always about what you have to
do. Now, natural religious men, they eat this stuff up. Men and
women, they eat this stuff up. They just eat it up. I used to
eat it up. I did. They eat it up. And they try
to apply the things in the book which are told them to do which are usually nothing but
chains in religion. Nothing but chains. And they
weigh the religious professor down. They weigh him down with
burdens which cannot be borne. And causing the reader of those
books to despair even more. I usually felt worse after I
read those because I knew I didn't measure up. And they set standards to which
you can't live up to because we're sinners. Every one of us. Everything we do is tainted with
sin. We know that. We know that. And beloved God,
we do not overcome the world by anything we do. You know that? We don't overcome the world by
anything we do. Now, Brother John, we've had good talks about
how when a person is saved, we should say, hello, look out,
you're in for a ride now. Because that happens. You're
in for a ride that you never even thought about before. You're
in for warfare now. But we know that we don't overcome
that warfare on our own strength. We know as believers, and we
do battle though, don't we? But we hold the shield of faith.
Who's the shield of faith represent? Who's the object of our faith,
beloved? It's Christ. We have the sword of the spirit
that's able to cut to the dividing bone in the center, and that's
the word of God. It's all about Christ. We have
the helmet of salvation on, which our salvation's in Christ and
him alone. We have the breastplate of righteousness.
We certainly would never approach God in our own righteousness,
would we? No. We can only approach God with
a perfect righteousness. And that's the imputed righteousness
of Christ, beloved, and the belt of truth. Who's the way, the
truth, and life? It's Christ. And our feet shod
with the preparation of the gospel. The gospel's all about Christ
and what he's done. All about him. So we stand. We're
to stand. We're not to go backwards. We're
to stand. Stand in what we believe. Stand firm. But we do not overcome the world
by anything we do. No, it's Christ Jesus, our Lord,
who has overcome the world. He's overcome the world. And
by faith, we look to Him. We look to Him. And we see this
tonight, that Christ and Christ alone, He's the object of our
faith. We know that. We know that. He's the object
of our faith, true saving faith, true God-given saving faith,
looks away from self and looks to Christ alone. We look right
to Him. Right to Him. He is the object
of our faith and we believe what God says. He's the Son of God. He's God incarnate in the flesh.
And that God-given faith that's been given to us, by that, we
believe the truth of the Scriptures. We believe the truth of the Scriptures.
We believe, again, by God-given faith, the testimony that God
has given us in the Scripture. Look at verses 11 and 12 in this
chapter. And this is the record. This is the record, that God
hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
Nowhere else. Notice that? Nowhere else. Not
in Buddha, not in Mohammed, not in any religion. It's in Christ
Jesus. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. Everything else is Antichrist.
False Christ. That's what the scriptures declare.
Folks don't like to hear that, but that's what the scriptures
declare. Anything that's not of Christ is Antichrist. Mary
worship is Antichrist. Plain and simple. plain and simple. And this is the record that God
has given to us eternal life, and that's eternal life because
it comes from God who's eternal. Can't lose it. It's eternal.
It's not based on us. It's eternal. It's in Christ.
And this life is where? Is in His Son. That's where it
is. Eternal life is nowhere outside
of Christ. Outside of Christ, no one has eternal life. But
in Christ, the believer has eternal life. Look what it says here.
He that hath the Son, hath life. Pretty plain, isn't it? Right? Very clear. See, it's very plainly
spoken here. And he that hath not the Son
of God, hath not life. So these people that say anyone
outside of Christ, well, they're gone to a better place. No, they're
not. No, they're not. They're not gone to a better
place. We're only safe in Christ. We're only safe from the wrath
of God in Christ. Outside of Christ, the wrath
of God falls. Just like we have such a clear
picture with the ark. All who were inside the ark,
not a drop of God's wrath, being the rain, fell upon them. Not
a drop. It was pitched from within and
without what's pictured, the blood of Christ. And they were sealed
in there. But outside that ark, everybody
and everything perished. The wrath of God fell upon them. Fell upon them. Now last week
in our study, we looked at verses one to three of 1 John 5 here. We saw the results or effects
of regeneration. We looked at how our love for
God and for the brethren are fruit of being born again. It's
fruit of the Spirit. We saw that very clearly in Galatians.
And the result or effect of our regeneration is that we believe
what God says in His book. We believe it. We believe that
report right there in verses 11 and 12. We believe that. By
God-given faith, we believe that. And we love the Lord Jesus Christ,
and we love God, the Father, and we love the brethren, we
love God's Word, we love the Gospel, we love the commands
and scriptures, they're not grievous to us, as verse 3 says. They're
not grievous to the saint of God, not at all. Now the Greek word there, grievous,
look at verse 3 there, it says, for this is the love of God,
that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not
grievous. The Greek word there means burdensome. Burdensome. Heavy burdens. So the commandments of God for
the born-again believer are not heavy burdens. No. No, they come from our great
God. So this Word comes from our God. And we love His Word. And we believe it. We won't come
to a full understanding of it. We won't come to, but the little
bit that we know, we rejoice in and we marvel. Brother Tim
James, I listened to a sermon by him this week on sovereignty.
If you get a chance, download it, it's phenomenal. It's called
sovereignty, one word, sovereignty. And he said about learning who
God is, that we don't, I'm gonna mess it up, but basically he
was saying, for the little bit that we learn about God is like
taking a teaspoon and trying to empty the Atlantic with a
teaspoon, trying to know who God is. One teaspoon at a time. He's so vast, beloved. He's so
immense. He's so incredible. His ways
are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts. He so transcends
us so much. He's God, and that's our God,
beloved. That's our God. Now, so in the
Greek word there, grievous means burdensome, heavy burden. So
the word of God, the commandments of God, they're not heavy for
us, right? Turn, if you would, to Matthew
chapter 23. Matthew 23. Matthew 23. Matthew 23. Let's read verses
one to four. Look at this. Then spake Jesus
to the multitude and to his disciples, saying, the scribes and the Pharisees
sit in Moses' seat. So they've got the high place,
right? All therefore whatsoever they
bid you observe, thou observe and do. Do not ye after their
works, for they say and do not. So they're telling people to
do things and they're not doing them themselves. Now look what
the scripture says here, in light of that word grievous being burdensome
and heavy burdens. For they bind heavy burdens and
grievous to be borne and lay on man's shoulders, but they
themselves will not move them with one of their fingers, look
at that, for they bind heavy burdens, they put heavy, religious
people put heavy burdens upon the people who follow them. Heavy
burdens. They're grievous. In the Greek
there means they're burdensome, they're heavy. And they are. I've experienced it, they're
heavy. Oh my, you go into church and you feel worse coming out.
You feel worse coming out. And lay them on man's shoulders,
they put them on man's shoulders, right? But look at that, but
they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. That's what false preachers do.
They lay all these burdens on lawmongers, they lay all these
burdens on people, and they don't even do them themselves. So in light of that, grievous
meaning burdensome and heavy burden, now, now, turn over to
Matthew chapter 11. Look at this, look at this. Those
were our Master's words there in Matthew 23. But look, look
in light of, okay, they're not grievous, right? The commandments
of God are not grievous to God's people. Which again means they're
not burdensome, they're not heavy burdens. Now in light of this
and what the Lord said in Matthew 23, we've read this many times,
but in light of what we just read there, look at this, look
at this. Matthew 11, look at this. Verses 28 to 30. Come unto me. The words of the
masters, come unto me. All ye that labor and are what?
Heavy laden. Are you bore down by religion?
Have people put chains and yoked you all about? That's what does. That's what religion does. Come
unto me, all ye that labor in our heavenly land, and I will
give you rest. Rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly. He came from heaven all the way
down to earth. What condescension. Meek and
lowly, beloved. I was talking to Drew this week. We can't even imagine what heaven
is like. We can't even imagine what the
worship of God is like, what he left to come to this sin-cursed
world. He can't even enter our minds. And he left that. He's making
lowly, isn't he? He's making lowly, and he came
here to save his people from their sins, right? He goes on. Take my yoke upon you and learn
to be, when we're taught of God, for I am meek and lowly in heart,
and ye shall find rest unto your souls. You'll find rest from
the burden of religious works, and you'll find rest for your
souls. Peace, peace, beloved. For my yoke is easy, it's not
grievous, remember? First John, it's not grievous.
First John 5.3, it's not grievous. My yoke is easy, and my burden
is light. It just changes the words, doesn't
it? It brings it to light for us. It's not grievous. God's Word is not grievous to
God's people. We love it. We don't understand
it all, but as He gives us light, we rejoice in what we learn,
don't we? Oh, the Lord sets us free, beloved. Now, with that in our minds,
let's go back to 1 John 5 here, and we'll read verses 1 to 8.
1 to 8. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God, regenerated, and everyone that
loveth him that begot loveth him also that is begotten of
him. So all who are born again love those who are born again.
That's what that's saying. By this we know that we love
the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments.
We love his word. We love what he said to us. We
love his word. For this is the love of God,
that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not
grievous. They're not heavy, just as we saw. He told us that.
He said, my burdens light. If you're heavy laden with works,
come to me, sir. Oh my, it's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. For this is the love of God,
that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not
grievous. Look at this, this is our verses four and five will
be our text tonight. For whatsoever is born of God,
that's regenerated, overcometh the world. And this is the victory
that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world? But he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. And then this will be part of
next week's sermon where we'll look at the witness and the testimony.
Look at this. This is he that came by water
and blood, even Jesus Christ, not by water only, but by water
and blood, And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because
the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear
record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost,
and these three are one. And there are three that beareth
witness in the earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood,
and these three agree in one. So tonight we'll look at verses
four and five. Look at this. We'll be looking
at what it means to overcome the world, and who overcomes
the world, and how do those who overcome the world overcome the
world. Let's read verses 1 to 5 again.
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God,
regenerated, and every one that loveth him that begot loveth
him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we
love the children of God when we keep his commandments, for
this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and
his commandments are not grievous, not at all. For whatsoever is
born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God.
Very plain spoken, isn't it? This is what I love about John.
He just plainly speaks. He's a fisherman. who the Lord
saved by grace. We see in these verses that John
continues again to bring forth the result, that result of regeneration
of being born again. And we know that regeneration
comes first, then faith, which works by love, we know that.
And all those who love the Father, love Christ, love God's gospel,
and love his people. We know that from what we've
read and what we've studied. And we see then that this faith,
which is a gift of God, is described here in these verses as overcoming
the world. Overcoming the world. Now this
overcoming has nothing to do with human power. Contrary to what religion will
tell you. It has nothing to do with human power. It has nothing
to do with the power of your will or my will. And those who
came out of religion will testify that this is true. It's by grace
and mercy of God that we can overcome the world. That's the
only way we can overcome the world. We cannot overcome our
own sin, can we? Can we overcome our own sin?
No. How are we to overcome the world
then? If we can't overcome our own sin, how can we overcome
the world? The world tells us to pull your
bootstraps up. Remember hearing that? I remember
hearing that as a kid. Pull your bootstraps up. Just
put your mind to it. You can do it. Listen to this statement that
I pulled down from a Christian book website. You know, nothing's
changed since I used to go into them stores. Listen to this statement. When your body tells you that
you can't do it, don't listen to it. It will tell you that you should
quit. But tell your body that your mind is in charge today.
And then listen to this. Now notice here, they won't say
Christ. They say God because they make it inclusive. They
can wrap up anybody they want in that statement. But listen
to how this goes on. Give God your best. Give God your best. Victory or defeat listen to this
victory or defeat happens in your head first think like a
winner That's on a that's on a frame that you can buy and
hang up in your house That's ridiculous That's utterly
ridiculous The statement give God your best
victory or defeat happens in your head first think like a
winner It's all about man Notice that? No Christ. God, so they
can be inclusive. No Christ. That's what's being
peddled out there, beloved. That's what's being peddled out
there. It's all about man. It's all about what you have
to do. And basically, you overcome the world according to religion
by your own strength. God's just up there hoping you're
going to do OK. My gosh, brother. I'm so thankful
for a God who's in absolute control. I'm so thankful for a God who
keeps me because I'd fall a thousand times a day if it wasn't me.
Oh, praise God. What a glorious Savior we have.
What a glorious Savior. We cannot overcome the world
by an exertion of human willpower. It's just not possible. Again,
we can't even overcome our own sin. Overcoming the world here is
a matter of faith we see here, right? Look at this. Look at this. For whosoever is
born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
Look at verse four again. Now this verse is often misapplied
by religious folks. And it has a strong appeal to
the carnal religious mind. Because they suppose that it
is because of them, or how strong their faith is, that they overcome
the world. But let's read this verse again.
We've read it in context, now let's read it again. For whatsoever
is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory
that overcometh the world, even our faith. Again, this verse
is misapplied. It invokes a standing on some
podium, receiving some trophy, and relishing the applause of
the crowd for your accomplishments. And
this is what most of religion attributes to faith, nothing
more than delusions of grandeur, that they've cooked up in their
minds. And I know because I was there. Oh, you do this, you're
going to be rewarded. Christ is my reward, hallelujah. And I didn't do anything for
Christ to become my reward. He blessed me, and I know he
blessed you too, by his mercy and his grace. That's all, that's
all. That's the only way that we are
blessed is in Christ, in Christ alone. And men have cooked up things
about God, who they think He is, and it's not even close to
who He is in the Bible. The victory of faith spoken of
here in our text has zero to do with personal recognition. That's a blow to self-righteousness,
isn't it? But see, the believer in Christ, the one who's been
shown the grace and mercy of God, we know that salvation's
of the Lord. We know we can't keep ourselves,
don't we? We know that. Just watch how fast our mind
just wanders off. Spurgeon used to say, he said,
the worst thoughts enter my head when I'm praying. Oh, my. Oh, we're such sinners, beloved.
We're such sinners. So the victory of faith spoken
of here in our text has zero to do with personal recognition.
In fact, true saving faith scorns any such notion, doesn't it?
Paul said, I don't want to be found in my own righteousness.
I want to be found in Christ. So true saving faith, true God-given
saving faith scorns any notion of personal recognition or personal
ability to overcome the world. True saving faith, what we practice
goes unnoticed. Because we give Christ all the
glory. He's the one who keeps us. He's the one who overcomes
the world. And we're in Him, beloved. He's
already overcome the world. The victory's already been accomplished. It's already been accomplished
in Christ. And God's born-again people, blood-washed people,
we don't seek the glory for anything we do. No, we seek to give God
all the glory, don't we? He's the only one who's worthy.
Are you worthy of any glory? Am I worthy of any? No! We can't
boast in our gifts. We can't boast in anything we
do. But we can boast in Christ, can't we? We can boast in Him,
and we do. We do! What a wonderful, merciful
Savior is Jesus Christ, my Lord. He's wonderful. And we've been
taught, we've been taught by the Holy Spirit of God, the truth
of our master's words. In John 15, when he says, without
me, you can do what? Nothing, nothing, nothing. And we believe that. See, the
problem is folks don't believe that. They think they can do
something. Well, those in Christ say, I
can't do anything without him. Can grapes grow without the vine? No, they can't, can they? Can
the apples on the tree, can they grow without being attached to
the trunk and getting all the nutrients? No, they won't even
come, will they? The whole reason that bud opens
up is because it's got nutrients from the trunk going all the
way up. But if I break one of them branches off those apple
trees and I put it on the ground, even if it's got blossoms, it'll
just die. Without me, you can do nothing.
It's wonderful. It's wonderful. It puts God in
his rightful place, and it humbles the pride of man. It humbles
the pride of man. It absolutely does. Look at verse
four again, and take note of what's brought forth here. For
whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory
that will overcome the world, even our faith. Now, those Johns
writing to it, we know from our study, is the born-again, blood-washed
people of God. And think of this. We had nothing
to do with our first birth, did we? Did we have anything to do with
our first birth? Well, the answer is no. What
makes people think they have anything to do with the second
birth? It's God. And it's clear in that
verse right there, for whatsoever is born of God overcometh the
world. You must be born again. The people of God are born again
by the Holy Spirit of God. It's his almighty power that's
regenerated us. And then look, it says, for whatsoever
is born of God overcometh the world. So we see those who are
the born-again, blood-washed believers, now they overcome
the world. And the word world there has a wide meaning. Think
of this. It includes whatever is contrary
to the spirit of God. Whatever's contrary to the spirit
of God. The corruption of our nature is part of the world.
All lust and all the crafts of Satan, all evil, are of the world. They're not of God. So how do we overcome the world?
How do we do that? Well, and again, I'll read what
our Master said. In John 15, verse 5, he said,
I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me, ye
can do nothing. John 15, 5. That's so clear,
isn't it? Without me, you can do nothing.
So does that mean that we can't overcome the world without Christ? Absolutely, that's what it means.
Does that mean that we can't save ourselves? Christ has to
save us? Absolutely. That's what that
means. Does that mean that the Holy
Spirit must be the one who regenerates? Absolutely. Because we have nothing to do
with our first birth. We have nothing to do with our second. It's the
power of God. Christ saved. We can't save ourselves,
can we? Without me, Christ says, you can do nothing. He's the
one who saves us. He's the one who keeps us. And
the reason we overcome the world, we see, is because of Christ.
And Christ alone. Look at verse, the latter part
of this verse. And this is the victory to overcome
of the world, even our faith. Now we are exposed to the things
of this world, aren't we? We live in this world and we're
exposed to the things of the world, yet the Holy Spirit of
God reveals to us through the writing of the Apostle John here
that we're already victorious, and we know who we're already
victorious in. In Christ. He's the only one we're victorious
in. Do you see how this goes against the grain of religion?
That tells you what you must do? Do you see how when Paul
wrote, stand fast in the liberty that had made you free? Do you
see how free we are as believers? Isn't it wonderful? It's wonderful. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ has made you free. Stand fast. We're already victorious
in Christ. In Christ alone the enemy has
been defeated. Our enemies. What were our enemies? Sin. Our sins. He's put them
all away. The law and justice of God, they
hit a rightful claim against us. He's satisfied. How have we overcome the world?
Only in Christ. Only in Christ. Nowhere else.
Nowhere else. In Christ we are what? More than
conquerors. more than conquerors. Outside
of Christ, we're hopeless and helpless and have no ability
to do anything. Oh, it flips what I believe now
totally flips what I used to believe. It's upside down because
I believed a lie before. And God's given me faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. And that salvation,
just as the scripture says, salvation is of the Lord, period. The only
way I and you as a believer can overcome this world is in and
through Christ Jesus our Lord. Period. There ain't no other
way. No other way. No other way at all. Look at
verse 4 again. For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith. So we see then that faith, which
we know is given to us by God, right? It's a gift of God, not
of works, lest any man should boast. What and who is our faith
centered upon? Christ. Christ, and that's it,
Christ. It's centered upon him. So the
victory of faith is this, God-given faith attributes the victory
to someone else. God-given faith attributes the
victory spoken of here to someone else, and it's not us. It's not
any other sinner. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. We
only have victory in Christ. Only in Him alone. There ain't nowhere else. Nowhere
else at all. So how are we victorious? How
do we overcome the world? In our own strength or by how
much faith we have? No, beloved, we are again only
victorious through Christ, who is the object of our faith. The
object of our faith. Again, we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us. And remember, he loved us before
we even loved him. We love Him because He first
loved us. Again, I keep saying this, it's true. I was talking
with Drew about that. It just keeps going like this,
right around the circle, right back to Christ, doesn't it? Right
back to Him. He gets all the glory, He gets
all the honor, and He gets all the praise. It brings man right
to the dust. Brother Tim said, we're like
maggots. We get put right in the ground.
when we see the sovereignty of our great God. He is almighty. And oh, that He would have mercy
on us. That He would have mercy on us
and grace upon us. Oh, it's incredible. It's absolutely incredible. Turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians
chapter 15, verse 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse
10 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse
10 Who gets all the glory? By the
grace of God I am what I am By the grace of God I am what
I am And His grace which was bestowed
upon me, we didn't ask for it, we didn't seek it, it was given
to us, it was bestowed upon us, a gift. Which was bestowed upon
me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all.
Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Look at that. He labored by the grace of God
within him. Oh, it's wonderful. Again, it
full circles back to Christ. It full circles back to Christ.
Now, go over to Galatians, if you would. Go over to Galatians. Galatians chapter 2. Galatians
chapter 2. Look what Paul penned here. And
we know that Paul penned this. He penned this by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, just as the last verse we looked at, too.
Look at this in Galatians chapter 2. Verses 20 and 21. Paul writes, I am crucified with
Christ. We were in him when he died on
Calvary's ground. So I'm crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life which I now live,
in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me.
and gave himself for me. His love is from eternity. I
do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come
by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Bye. Now turn to Hebrews chapter 11,
if you will. Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. True faith
believes what God says. True God-given faith believes
what God says. Abraham believed God and what?
It was counted to him for righteousness. Therefore, true God-given faith
centers on Christ and gives him all the glory. It hears God's
call, right? We're regenerated by the Holy
Spirit of God. We hear the call of the shepherd and the preaching
of the gospel. It obeys God's commands, right? They're not
grievous to us. We noticed that. We saw that
in 1 John 5, 3. They're not grievous to us. It
obeys God's command. It trusts God's providence, true
faith, true saving faith. Trusts God's providence. We might
not always understand it. And most of the time we don't.
But we trust Him. We trust God's providence. And
do you know what it does? It inherits the promise. It inherits
the promise. Look at this in Hebrews chapter
11. verses 8 to 10. By faith Abraham when he was
called to go out into a place which he stood or which he should
after received for an inheritance obeyed. And he went out not knowing
whether he went. He believed what God said. Out
he went. God told him come out of the
Ur-Chaldees. He's an idol worshiper. By faith he sojourned in the
land of promise. as in a strange country, dwelling
in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, and heirs with him of
the same promise. For he looked for a city which
hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. He looked to
heaven to go home, to be with the Lord, to inherit the promise. To inherit the promise, beloved. So, who overcomes the world? Let's go back in our chapter
and look at verse 5 now. It's made very clear right here.
Verse 5, 1 John 5, 5. Who is he that overcometh the
world? But he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. So this truth is again pressed
home. This truth is again pressed home. Who overcomes the world?
Well, he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God. And we see in verse four that
those who are born again of God, regenerated, overcome the world.
And those who are regenerated, we see here in verse five, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. They believe what God says about
his son. They believe the testimony. They
believe the record, as we saw at the beginning of the message.
They believe the record. There was a time when we didn't
believe the record. We didn't believe the testimony, but now
we do, praise God. by God-given faith. And we see here plainly, look
at this too, that regeneration precedes faith. Because look
at verse, look at verse, I gotta go back to John, 1 John, look
at verse four. For whatsoever is born of God,
that's regeneration, overcometh the world, and this is the victory
that overcometh the world, even our faith, we know that's a gift
from God, Who is he that overcometh the world? But he that believeth
that Jesus is the Son of God. So those who have been granted
faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, those who have
been regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit, they believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's plainly brought forth
here that regeneration precedes faith. Plainly. But this can
only be understood by those who are born again. By those who
are born again. Therefore, again, what happens? Our God receives all the glory.
All the glory. Let us never forget that we overcome
the world in and through Christ by believing on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and it is Him, and by His power that we overcome the
world. Not by any effort of our own, and we can just say no merit,
no merit, no merit. We don't gain any merit with
God. The only merit we have with God
is in and through Christ and Him alone. That's it. That's
it. Now, do we walk by faith? Absolutely. Do we loathe sin? Absolutely. But the only way we overcome
anything is through Christ. We are victorious in Christ,
and that's it. See, again, it's the total opposite
of what religion... I read you that quote. That's
all about man. But the scripture brings forth
that it's all about Christ. This book is all about redemption
story. This book is written to God's
people. It's not written to the world. It's written to God's
born again people. And the only way we understand
this book is by the regenerating power
of the Holy Spirit and he gives us an understanding. of what's
put here in this book. Because I can tell you, I did
not understand this book before the Lord saved me. I read parts of it. It was just
paper and ink. But oh my, praise be to God,
it's a whole new book now. It's a whole new book. And it's
wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. So let us never forget that we
overcome the world in Christ. And the faith spoken of here
is given to all of God's elect. It's a gift. We didn't seek it. It was given to us. And it's
all by His grace. It's all by His grace. And true
God-given faith believes on the Lord Jesus Christ in Him alone.
Don't look nowhere else. In Him alone do we have the victory.
Let's read verses 4 and 5 again. For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the
world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
So who has this confidence and assurance? Who has this eternal
life and deliverance? Beloved of God, no one but the
person who believes in, receives and trusts in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's very clearly brought forth here. Very clearly brought
forth. We have faith in Christ, and
in Christ we obtain the victory. And we have no trust or confidence
in ourselves. None at all. None at all. And we don't even exalt our faith,
because that's given to us by God. It's God who saved me. And through Christ and Him alone.
And the faith which I have in Christ was given to me. Praise God. I know it's so for
you too who believe. Let's go back to chapter one.
We're almost finished. Let's go back to chapter one and note
what the beloved apostle John wrote over in the first chapter
of this book. Remember, he was an eyewitness
of Christ and he was an earwitness of Christ. And note how quickly
at the beginning of this book, note how quickly at the beginning
of this book that our dear brother John brings before us the object
of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. Note how quickly he does
this. Look at verses one to four. That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes. So they
heard him, they were earwitnesses, and they were eyewitnesses, which
we have looked upon and our hands have handled in the word of life.
He's in the word of life. For the life was manifest, and
we have seen it. They've seen it. They've seen
it like we see one another, beloved. And bear witness and show unto
you that eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifest
unto us. For that which we have seen and
heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with
us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his
Son, Jesus Christ. Bam. Gets right to the point,
doesn't he? And these things, right we, unto you that your
joy may be full. This book's written so that we
can know that we know the Lord Jesus Christ and that our joy
might be full. Oh, it's wonderful. So what joy
can flood the believer's soul knowing that despite our daily
failures, and we fail daily, and not one of us don't fail
daily, and despite our daily struggles each and every day,
That we have victory over the world in Christ. It makes me
praise His name. I have victory in Christ. In
Him alone. It is seeing the Son in the glory,
fullness, and suitability of His person, office, and grace.
And we go to Him each day, don't we? Trusting Him. And living upon Him. We feast
upon our Savior, don't we? He's the bread of life. He's
the bread of life. And we've been taught in the
scriptures that victory over the world is not owing to the
faith itself, but He who is the object of our faith. It's not
owing to faith itself, it's owing to He who is the object of our
faith. Because Christ is the one who has overcome the world,
and He's made us more than conquerors in Him. It always comes back to Him,
again, always. So we've seen tonight that the
strength of the church, the strength of God's elect lies in Christ
alone. It is in Christ alone that she finds the victory, that
the church finds the victory, only in Christ, only in Christ. And it's Christ who is the great
object of the faith of God's people. The God-given faith that's
given to us, Christ is the object of that, in Christ alone. And he that is born of God sees
themselves as a needy, lost, and helpless sinner, and we behold
Christ We behold Christ and we see a fullness of salvation in
Him. A fullness of salvation in Him.
We're given eyes to look to Him. We're given eyes to look to Him.
We're given faith to believe on Him. And we see that only
in Christ can we be saved. And when we're born again, we
hunger and thirst after Christ, don't we? We hunger and thirst
after our Savior. We do. After righteousness. And He's the Lord of righteousness.
We hunger and thirst after Him. We find Him to be our all in
all. We find Him to be our wisdom. We find Him to be our righteousness.
We find Him to be our sanctification. We find Him to be our redemption.
And only in Christ, again, only in Christ and Him alone do we
overcome the world. Only in Christ. And it's He who
we trust our eternal souls to. We rest in His finished work
of salvation for us, don't we? We rest in Him. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ,
and he is the Son of God. Glory to his name. Glory to his
name. Heavenly Father, again, we thank
you for allowing us to come together and look into thy word. And oh,
Lord. We know that we cannot overcome
even our own sin, we cannot overcome anything in this world, but we
are more and conquerors in you, Lord. You've already won the
victory. You've already overcome the world.
And indeed, we overcome the world. and You've given us faith to
look upon Thee, who is the only one we can overcome the world
by, only by You, Lord. Glory to Your name. May we think
upon these things as we go to our homes, and this week, may
we think about how we only have victory in You, Lord. We only
can overcome our sin in You, Lord, because You've done it
all for us. Glory to Your name, in Jesus'
name, amen.