Alright, let's turn to 1 John
chapter 5. John declared to us the certainty
of God's love making His child love our brethren. He said it's
the love of God. It's God's own love for His people. That's the love that God He puts
in His people. He produces His own love in His
people. It's the love of God He puts
in His people. And when He does that, He makes
His commandments to not be grievous to us. He makes us to keep His
commandments. To believe on the Lord Jesus
and to love one another. Let's read the first few verses. We'll get down to our text. He
says in verse 1, Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born
of God. And everyone that loveth him
that begat loveth him also that 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. This is God's love and what it
accomplishes that we keep His commandments. and it makes it
so His commandments are not grievous. And here's our text. 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? And the only ones who overcome
the world, the only ones Out of all this sea of humanity,
the only ones who overcome the world are those who are born
of God, given faith as a gift from God, so that we believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and trust Him alone to save us. These
are the only ones that overcome this world. Born of God, given
faith by God, And we believe. We believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God. We believe the record God's given
of His Son. And we trust Him alone. We rely
upon Him alone. I've subtitled this, The Overcomers. That's what every true believer
is. We're overcomers. We overcome the world. And what
does the Spirit of God mean here when He says the world? What does he mean here? The world
means different things in different places. But right here, the world
means all depraved sinners except those that God makes overcome. It means all depraved sinners
except those God makes overcome. The Lord Jesus spoke of the world
hating Him. And He spoke of the world hating
His people. only depraved men and women hate
Christ and hate His people. He's talking about depraved sinners. He said, if the world hates you,
you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of
the world, the world would love His own. Men and women hate and
they love. He said, if you were of the world,
the world would love you. He said, but because you're not
of the world, but I've chosen you out of the world, Therefore
the world hateth you. The world are depraved sinners. That's what he's talking about.
God, listen to this description that God gives of the world.
He calls the world the wicked. He calls the world the proud. He calls the world the terrible.
Listen to this in Isaiah 13 11. I will punish the world for their
evil. See, he's talking about people.
He says the world. He's talking about people. I'll
punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity
and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease and I will
lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. He calls the world. In that one verse he calls them
the wicked, he calls them the proud, and he calls them the
terrible. Now this is the world that the Spirit of God is using
John to say that His people overcome. This is the world that we are
made to overcome. The world of wicked, depraved
sinners. Let's look at the condition that
we are made to overcome. This is the condition we have
overcome, He says. Revelation 12, 9 says, the great
dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and
Satan which deceiveth the whole world. That's what we overcome. We were deceived. We were with
the world and part of the world and were deceived with the whole
world. The whole world is deceived by the devil. Everybody that
you know, everybody that I know that does not believe on Christ
in spirit and in truth is deceived by the devil. That's why The
world is in the shape it's in. It's why the world is doing what
it's doing now. It's deception. Everything the
world does is sin. Everything is against God. And
everything is by the deception of the devil. The world knows
not God. That's what the Lord Jesus said.
He prayed and said, O righteous Father, the world hath not known
thee. He's talking about men and women.
The world hath not known thee. This is because of this deception.
The sin we fell into and the deception of the devil. And the
Lord said the world by its wisdom cannot know God. This was after
the wisdom of God. He said, Paul said 1 Corinthians
1.21 After that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew
not God. The world is ignorant of God
and the world is spiritually ignorant so that it cannot by
its own wisdom know the true and living God. This is a description
of the world. And so the religion of the world,
go to Colossians 2. Here's a description of the religion
of the world. Because this is the case, this
is the religion of the whole world right here. Outside of
organized religion, it's just philosophy. And inside organized religion,
it's called in Scripture, vain deceit. And what it is, is it's
vain deceit because it's exalting man. It's deceptive, it's exalting
man in his vanity. Listen to this, Colossians 2.8,
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. I'm sorry, Colossians 2.8. Beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit. That right there just summed
up the whole world's religion. You have the Greeks, which they
think all religion is foolishness. Their religion is philosophy.
And then you have organized religion. No matter what it goes by, most
of Christianity is vain deceit. Now watch this. It's after the
tradition of men. This is man's tradition. It's
after the rudiments of the world. Beware, he says, because in Christ
dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you're complete
in Him. Now look down at verse 20. Wherefore,
if you be dead with Christ, from the rudiments of the world, saved
from the elements of the world, why as though, you've heard me
talk about the as though, there it is, why as though living in
the world, why as though you're, why as though you act like your
life's in this world, or that you have life by something you
do in this world. He says, why then are you subject
to ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle not, which are all
to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines
of men? Let's read it again without the
parentheses. If you be dead with Christ from
the rudiments of the world, why as though living in the world
are you subject to ordinances after the commandments and doctrines
of men? Why would you let a man bring
you under his commandments and his doctrines which things have
indeed a show of wisdom. It's a vain show. In what? In will worship. It's the worship
of man's will. That's why it's vain deceit.
And false humility and a neglecting of the body. You know. not eating
certain things and not dressing certain ways and all the touch
not, taste not, handle not. It's a show of wisdom. But he
says there's no honor in that to the satisfying of the flesh.
There's no honor in that that's really going to mortify the flesh.
It's not going to happen. That actually is what the flesh
wants. That's inflaming the flesh. So
that's all the world's religion, philosophy and vain deceit, will
worship. And then the world's depraved
heart. Go to 1 John 2. Here's the depraved
heart of the world. It's described in 1 John 2. And
let's look at verse 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. Now watch this. All that is in the world. This
is the sum total right here of what's in the world. If you go
after the world, here it is. The lust of the flesh that's
living for the senses. What sounds good, what looks
good, what smells good, what tastes good, what feels good.
Lust of the flesh. Lust of the eyes to be seen of
men. How much do we do to be seen
of men? That's all the worldly man does. Everything he's doing is to be
seen of men and regarded by men. Look, and the pride of life,
that's self-exaltation, trying to exalt self. And all of this,
he says, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the
world passeth away, and the lust thereof. but he that doeth the
will of God abideth forever." This is the worldliness of the
depraved heart. It's the lust of the heart. This
is what's wrong with the whole world. It's not of the Father,
it's of the world. Apostle Paul said, many walk
of whom I've told you often and now I tell you even weeping,
they're the enemies of the cross of Christ. This is a description
right here of a worldly man. Listen. This is a depraved sinner
whether he is religious or not. Listen to this. Whose end is
destruction. Whose God is their belly. Lust of the flesh. Living for
the senses. Living for the flesh. Whose glory is in their shame. Who mind earthly things. Have the mindset on what they
can see and feel and touch. It's all earthly because they
got no spirit. It's not spiritual. It's earthly
and they mind earthly things. Timothy said, these last days
perilous times will come. Men will be lovers of their own
selves. That's what John's talking about.
Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. And here's what's
sad, having a form of godliness. There's more people religious
in the world today than ever has been. They have a form of
godliness, but they deny the power thereof. Christ is the
power of God. They deny Christ, the power of
God. From such, he said, turn away. Turn away. Now, we're in a constant
warfare. God's child is in a constant
warfare with the world. You know, now it's becoming popular. You know what's the new thing?
They're talking a lot about us and them. Well, God's been talking
about us and them for a long time. And this is what we talk
about, us and them. But it's a different us and them.
We talk about us, we talk about God's people, those born of God. But here's what we're up against.
The world would try to seduce you into practicing their traditions
and practicing their customs and living by their principles.
And if they can't get you to do that, they want to try to
talk you into compromise. Compromise with us. You know,
you need to compromise in politics, but you can't compromise in the
gospel. If you compromise the gospel,
you don't have a gospel anymore. Can't do that. The world would
make us look out of fashion. They try to make you look like
the Word of God is out of date. Make you look like you're bigoted.
Make you look like you're a hater because you stand for what the
Word of God teaches. The world would make you think
they agree with you. And they're so subtle in this.
Sometimes the Lord said there was coming a time, and I think
we see some of that now, where He said if it was possible, they
would deceive the very elect. That's subtle. That's subtle. So those who overcome, here's
what we overcome. In all this, we see what we overcome.
We've overcome the devil. We've overcome our own spiritual
ignorance. We didn't know God and by our
wisdom we couldn't know God. We've overcome the world's will
works religion and its philosophy. We've overcome the lusts of the
world and our own sinful depraved lusts of our heart. This is what
we've overcome. But the only way any sinner overcomes
the world, the only way is to be born of God. We have to be
born again. We have to be born of God. We
have to have a spiritual birth, a new birth that is of God. Now when the Scripture tells
us, look back at our text, 1 John 5 verse 4, it says, Whatsoever
is born of God overcometh the world. Now this is true. Whoever you are, whoever is born
of God overcometh the world. But now when it says born of
God, that means only born of God. We didn't contribute. We
didn't do anything to help out. We're born of God, that means
we're born of God. Just like Scripture says salvation
is of the Lord, that means salvation is of the Lord. You don't contribute.
And when it says born of God, we're born of God. We didn't
do anything to contribute. Go over to Titus 3. I was going
to read Ephesians, but since I already read it, go to Titus
3. And this is familiar, but I want our young people to see
this. Titus 3. You see, there wasn't any difference
in us and the world by nature. We all came into this world sinners.
There's no difference in us. So look what he says here in
Titus 3. Verse 1, put them in mind to be subject to principalities
and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, that is, with the
tongue, but not with the fist either, but with the tongue.
Be gentle, show all meekness unto all men. Why? Because we
ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived,
serving different lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful
and hating one another. There's the heart, there's the
depravity of the heart, that's the description of the world
right there. But after that, the kindness and love of God. We've been talking about the
love of God and what it makes you do, what He produces in you.
The kindness and love of God toward man appeared. Not by works of righteousness
which we've done. But according to His mercy, He
saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
He did it. He did it. And He shed it on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior because He had justified us by
His blood. And so we should be made heirs.
We should be born of God and be children of God and be made
heirs of God according to the hope of eternal life. It was
a must that we should because He justified us. But you see
all this was of God. It was not of us. We didn't contribute.
You can learn a lot by looking at your first birth. We didn't
contribute in it. It was a miracle. The birth is
conception is a miracle. Well, this is a greater miracle.
All those things brother Adam just read. The deaf received
their hearing and the blind their sight and the lame leap and all
these different things. That all was a really incredible
miracle physically. But the greater miracle was that
he did this spiritually for us. Us lame, blind, deaf, just dead
sinners. He gave life and made us to see
and made us to hear and made us to walk and to rejoice in
Christ. We never could do that. And we
didn't contribute to this whatsoever. We didn't do anything. We were,
as Ephesians 2 said, we were walking according to the course
of what? This world. We were walking according
to the course of this world. I feel for I feel for all men, all sinners
in this condition, especially our young people, when you're
walking according to the course of the world and you think that
You will be ridiculed and embarrassed and rejected and all these different
things and your love for being seen of men and your love for
living for the senses and your pride for being exalted is so
great in that dead sinful state that you won't let it go. No
man will. We have to be born of God. And look back at 1 John 2 and
look at verse 15. In the second part there, he
says, If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not
in him. But we saw the opposite of that. If the love of the Father is
in us, that will make us not love the world. That's what's
going to make a man part with the world when the love of the
Father is in you. And He's put that love in our
heart when we've been born of Him. And He puts that love in
our hearts. Scripture says, when we're born
of God we're given a new spirit and the love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us. We're going
to have to be brought to have some affection for God by Him
putting His love in our hearts. His love for Christ so that we
see Christ and behold Him in a different light than we do
by nature. By nature we hate Him. And it's in that new spirit
that He teaches us the truth. He said in 1 Corinthians 2.12,
we've not received the spirit of the world. We had that. We didn't need the spirit of
the world. We had the spirit of the world. But we've received
the spirit which is of God. That we might know the things
that are freely given to us of God. This is what happens in
that new birth. It gives you a new spirit so
that now you can hear the things that are freely given of God. And the scripture says, as the
good news is preached, the Lord Jesus, who's our prophet, He's
the real preacher. He plants this word in the heart.
He gives you the word in the heart. And that's the incorruptible
seed that makes you be born again. Go to John 17. I want you to
see this. And I remind you of this too.
When John was hearing our Savior pray this high priestly prayer,
he heard it. And a lot of what John said,
he got from this, right here. When he talked about us being
one with God and the love of God being put in our heart. Now
look what he says right here concerning the truth of the gospel.
Verse 9, he tells us who he's praying for. I pray for them,
I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given
me, for they are thine. That's who He's interceding for.
He's not praying for the world. He's praying for those God chose
and gave to Him. Look at verse 14. I have given
them thy word. This is how He did this for His
apostles, His disciples. This is how He's going to make
everybody believe Him. This is that incorruptible seed.
I've given them thy word. And the world hath hated them,
because they're not of the world, even as I'm not of the world.
I pray not that thou should take them out of the world, but that
thou should keep them from the evil. They're not of the world
even as I'm not of the world. Sanctify them, that is separate
them, keep them separated from the world through thy truth. Thy word is truth. And what is
that word? What is that truth? Look down
at verse 19. For their sakes I sanctify myself that they also
might be sanctified through the truth. Christ is the truth. What
does he mean when he says I sanctify myself? He didn't need to be
sanctified. What's he talking about? He means
he came forth separate from this world and he fulfilled the will
of God that he himself might be the truth. That he might be
the truth, the word. And He gives it in our hearts.
And this is the incorruptible seed by which we're born of God.
Born again. It's through Him. Look at verse
20. He says, and this includes you
and me right here. Not just His disciples then.
He said, neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which
shall believe on me through their word. That's me and you. He's
interceding for us. And He does the same thing for
us. He gives us the Word and this is how we're born again.
So we can't boast. This new birth we're talking
about is of God. It's of God alone. It's by the
Spirit of God alone. It's by the Word of God alone.
It's by Christ who's our prophet who himself is the truth. So
this is all of God. Now thirdly, I want you to see
this. The victory, he says here, that overcomes the world is our
faith. Look there in verse 4. 1 John
5, 4. This is the victory. that overcometh the world, even
our faith. That word overcometh right there,
the Greek word right there is Nike. The same word as the shoe. But the shoe's named after the
Greek goddess. Her name was Nike. But it means
victory. That's what it means. But this
is the Greek word for overcome, for victory. This is the victory
that overcometh the world, even our faith. Now, the victory is
not faith in our faith. When I was in college, I had
a friend and his mother told me one time, she said, I've told
my son, it doesn't matter what you believe, just believe something
because faith is the victory. No. You can have faith in a stump,
that's not going to save you. And you can have faith in your
faith. That's what that is, basically. Just thinking, if I have faith,
that's the victory. Well, no. No. As soon as John spoke of faith
being the victory, he talked about the object of our faith. And there's where the victory
is. Look what he said in the second part, verse 5. Who is
he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. Now we... See, that's what makes
faith to be victorious, the object of our faith. Not faith... What
does it mean to believe Jesus is the Son of God? What does
that mean? is to believe the record God's
given of His Son. Look down at verse 11. This is
the record that God has given to us eternal life. It's free. He gave it. And this life is
in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. I know that some
sitting here now, you think, well, I have life. You don't
have life. You don't even know what life
is. You really don't. If you have Christ, you have
life. If you don't have Christ, you don't have life. Spiritually
dead. And it's just going to get worse.
One of these days, those senses are going to start breaking down. And you're not going to be able
to enjoy them. And it's just going to keep getting worse until
it ends in destruction. But the end of this life is not
the end. The end comes the judgment. And then comes what's called
the second death. Being cast out of God's presence and from
the presence of His glory. That is what the person has got
to look forward to that thinks he has life in this world. This
life is passing away and everything in it is going to pass away.
There are men who live this life and what they have in this world
is all they ever have. And when this life is over, they
leave it behind. They leave it behind. But when
you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, then you believe
God's Word. That God's salvation is the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then you believe that It's
in Christ. Salvation is in Christ. We don't
just believe the doctrine of election for the sake of believing
the doctrine of election. We believe the doctrine of election
because God first chose His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He said
that in Isaiah 42. He said, Behold My servant whom
I have chosen, Mine elect and whom My soul delighteth. And
He chose the people in Christ Jesus. That's the glory of election,
the Lord Jesus Christ. If God just chose us, that's
one thing, but to know He chose us in Christ. There's where the
victory is. And then, Righteousness. Where's righteousness? Where's
holiness? Where's our redemption? Where's
our wisdom? It's in Christ Jesus the Lord. Our Lord Jesus Christ, even though
we were enemies in our minds by wicked works, even though
we hated God, even though we were by nature children of wrath
even as others, because God had chosen us and put us in Christ,
the Son of God came forth and took flesh and He walked this
earth and laid down His life as the head of His people so
that what He did in Him, we did it. We did it. And in Him we
are made the righteousness of God by His obedience, not by
ours, by His. And the Spirit of God, when we
speak of the Spirit of God and the work the Spirit of God does
is because the witness that the Spirit of God bears is of Christ
the Lord. It's of God that He makes Christ
unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
That's when a man will start glorying in himself and walking
in the pride of life and he'll be humbled and abased and he'll
start glorying in the Lord alone. When you see He's all the salvation
that God has provided for His people. Faith is the victory
because God-given faith lays hold of Christ. Faith is the
victory because God-given faith rests all in the hands of Christ
and trusts Him alone to save me. That's why faith is the victory. Thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one in
whom we have the victory. Paul said, 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'm crucified unto the
world. By Christ, by what He did for
me at the cross, I'm dead to this world. This world has no
regard for me whatsoever. As soon as I could be talking
with somebody and we get along fine, you let me start talking
about my hope and my Savior and it's over. I'm dead to this world. But because of this cross right
here and because of what my Savior accomplished on it, this world
considers me just a dead man. No, that means you're dead to
me. I don't want to have anything
to do with you. Well, guess what? By that same cross, this world's
dead to me. I'm not living for the world
and I don't care what I accomplish in this world. That doesn't matter
to me anymore. What matters to me now is I want
to be found in Christ. That's it. That's it. If I have
Him, I have everything. That's all I'm worried about.
My ambition, my goal, is to be found in Christ and not have
a righteousness of my own, but to have His alone. That's my
ambition. That's what I'm going after.
That's where I want to be found. Now, you've heard me preach this
over and over and over and I'm going to say it again, what I
say every time when I come to this point. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Believe on Him and you will overcome
this world. Our Lord Jesus said, in the world
you're going to have tribulation. He said, but I'm saying this
to you that in me you might have peace. Because He said, I've
overcome the world. You believe on Christ and you
will overcome the world. And here's what I'm praying as
I say this. As I preach this message and
as I say something like that, what I'm praying is, is Christ
will do what He said, I've given them thy word. And that's what
I'm praying is that as I say it and the words come out of
my mouth, Christ will actually give you this Word and plant
it in your heart and you'll be born of the incorruptible seed
and you're going to start believing on Him. That's my prayer. Now let's look now at God's promises
to them that overcome through faith in our Lord Jesus. Go to
Revelation and let's look and see what are we going to receive
when we overcome? We are talking about those who
continue in faith to the end, trusting Christ alone. Revelation
2. First of all, He says, and let
me say this too before I forget it. There are seven things here.
Seven is the number of perfection. There are seven things, He says
here, that He is going to give His people that overcome. Revelation
2, 7. He says, He that hath an ear,
that is, you that have been born of God, that is what He is talking
about. 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. That means I'm going
to give you eternal life. Eternal life. Look at Revelation
2, look at verse 11. No condemnation. 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. Why are we not going to suffer
any condemnation? Why are we not going to be cast
out and suffer that second death? Christ already died that death
for His people. He suffered that death for His
people and bore that condemnation for His people, and His people
will never have to die that death. You know the second death. You
know what I'm talking about? The second death, you die physically
the first death. The second death is when you
come into judgment and God casts you out. That's the second death.
Not for God's people. Now, for God's people, you trust
Christ to the end, no second death, then we're going to have
Christ Himself and His name. Look at verse 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. That's
Christ, the bread from heaven. I'll give you to eat of Him.
I'll give you a white stone and in that stone a new name written,
which no man knoweth, saving he that receive it." This is
Christ's name. He's going to give us Christ
Himself and give us His name. And then this is what He gives
us. He gives us power with Christ to judge this world. You know
the saints are going to judge the world. We're judging the
world right now through the gospel we preach. And we're going to
judge this world in the end. Look at Revelation 2.26. And he that overcometh, and keepeth
my works unto the end, that is, believe on Christ and love your
brethren to the end, to him will I give power over the nations. 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, and I will give
him the morning star. That's Christ. That rod of iron, that's this
gospel we preach. This rod that is salvation to
you and rejoicing to you is going to be like a rod breaking a potter's
vessel into a thousand pieces to the worldly man. It's going
to condemn him. And we're going to be the judge
with Christ. Look here, Christ is going to be our righteousness
and He will be our advocate in the day of judgment. You don't
get any more sure than that. He's your righteousness and your
advocate. Look here, Revelation 3 verse
5. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment."
There's Christ's righteousness. 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 is going to make us His
church and His city. We already are. This is what
He's done for His people. That word overcometh, that means
you have overcome, you are overcoming, and you shall overcome. It's
a continual thing. Look here, 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. Remember how John saw that
city coming down, adorned like a bride prepared for her husband?
That's his people, that's us. that overcome through faith in
Christ. And He's going to give us glory with Christ. Look at
Revelation 3, verse 21. Listen to this now. To him that
overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne even as
I also overcame and am sat down with my Father in His throne.
That's what He's going to give us. You would think we have to
do something for this. No. That's what the world don't
understand. You have to do nothing. That's
what the world can't do. The world can do anything you
tell them to do, but you tell them to stop doing. Oh, we can't
do that. And then He's going to give us
eternal inheritance. This is the seventh thing. Revelation
21 and look at verse 7. He that overcometh shall inherit
all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my Son. He is going to give us all things
and an eternal inheritance, joint heirs with Christ as sons of
God, children of God. So brethren, this all gives us
This gives us reason here to guard your heart. Don't let yourself
get... Don't let anything vie for your
affection. There's nothing in this world
with Christ. Scripture says to be the friend
of this world is to be the enemy of God. So Paul said, I beseech
you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present
your bodies a living sacrifice. Holy, acceptable unto God which
is your reasonable service. and be not conformed to this
world. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. He's transformed
us. This is a crude illustration,
but you know what little children's toys transformers are. He's transformed
us into children of God. We're not conformed to this world
anymore. We've been transformed by the renewing of our mind into
children of God. And he said, prove what's that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We've been reading
about it in John, is to believe on Christ. That's the perfect
will of God. You trust my Son. You rest in
my Son. And look at this, Colossians
3. I want to end with this. Remember this. We're not at home. We just sang it. Our first song
we sang. We're not home. This is like
when you're driving and you get off in the interstate somewhere
and you don't know where you're at. And you get off and it looks
rough. It looks bad. You don't want
to dare get out because you think, well, something's going to happen
to me here if I get out. Well, that's what this world
is. We're just passing through a bad neighborhood. But we're
on our way. to a great city, a great place. And look at what he says here,
Colossians 3.20. That's not right, Colossians 3.20. Philippians,
that's where I want to go. Our conduct is in heaven. Our conversation, that word means
citizenship. Our citizenship is in heaven. From whence 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 to subdue all things to
Himself. We're just passing through, brethren.
We're not citizens here. We're just passing through. Don't
forget that. Don't forget that. Amen.