"Love Overcomes Everything!"
Sermon Series: Walk in Faith (part 9 of 10)
First Baptist Church Family Life Center
New Castle, Indiana
Pastor Jerry Ingalls
March 14, 2010
We are continuing in our sermon series "Walk in Faith". We are in our 9th teaching time on First John. Please open your Bibles, pull out your sermon notes, and grab a pen. Let's dive in!
1 John 5:1-12 (NIV)
1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. 6This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7For there are three that testify: 8the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. 9We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. 10Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Last Sunday, we learned that love is the reality of who God is and when we come into a relationship with this God, then love changes everything. Our study this morning is framed around this thought: as a Child of God nothing can overcome us because the God who is love lives inside of us and He is greater than the world! Love overcomes everything!
Let's now look at our Scripture lesson and see how the love of God overcomes…LOVE OVERCOMES THROUGH...OUR RELATIONSHIPS!
John teaches us of our true identities and the implications of this reality in the first two verses. In the first half of verse 1 John states: "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God…"
This is a summary statement of so much of what we have learned. In 1 John 3:1, John declared that we are children of God because of the great gift of God's love. We are given the right to become children of God through our faith in Jesus Christ (John 1:12), who is the great gift that God lavished upon us!
It is when we believe that the historical figure of Jesus of Nazareth, born of Mary through the Holy Spirit over 2000 years ago, IS the Christ (the Messiah) – God's anointed Savior for the world—that we become Children of God. This transformation happens through faith that God sent His only begotten Son into the world so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life!
We have learned through the Apostle John that when we receive Jesus as the Christ, then we are born by the Holy Spirit and the God who was our paternal Father becomes our intimate Father who we can grow in relationship with through a personal relationship with His Son Jesus Christ. We are born again into God's family!
The Apostle John in the second half of verse 1 into verse 2 reinforces the true mark of God's children, "… and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands."
This is the main point of what John is teaching the church: if you love the parent, then you will love his/her child. John is referencing the natural order where this is a general rule that does have exceptions, but in God's economy (the spiritual reality of this world) there are no exceptions! If you love God, then you will love his children! The Kingdom of God is a relational kingdom!
Friends, we must study this text in its context. Listen to the previous 2 verses in chapter 4: "If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother."
How do we know that we are the children of God? It is by the way we live our lives in obedience (righteousness!) manifested in our love for God (faith!) and our love for brothers and sisters in Christ (love!).
Jesus stated in the Gospel of John 14:21, "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."
We know we are God's children by our vertical love lived out in our horizontal relationships!
In the Gospel of Mark 12:30-31, Jesus teaches us the two greatest commandments of God for His children, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
This is what John is teaching us: How do we know we love God? By the way we love His children! Inversely, how do we know we love the children of God? "By loving God and carrying out his commands."
Let me share with you an image that I made up that helps me understand this teaching: Our love for God is the thermostat and our love for our neighbor is the thermometer.
If you want to see how hot someone is for God then you must look at their horizontal relationships (their love for their neighbor and fellow Christians!). If these relationships are luke-warm and the thermometer is measuring low in this earthly visible love then the only way to increase the temperature is to adjust the thermostat on the vertical relationship with the God who is love! You can't just will yourself to love more; you have to be filled with more love from God!
How can you say you are passionate for God when your thermometer is measuring low on earth!?! It's impossible! You say you love God, then show me it in the way you love people in your relationships!
If you saw your neighbor on fire, would you not race up to them and put the fire out. Of course you would! How much more, should we then share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with our community! If we care for our neighbors' earthly bodies and well being (as we should!), how much more should we ensure they will not be in Hell for an eternity because we did not invite them to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
But, I know that you may not feel comfortable sharing the Gospel yourself so we've made a way for you. We are providing invitations for you to give to your neighbors, coworkers, friends and family. I am asking that each of you invite three people to our Holy Week Services. We are working hard on three Holy Week services, each of which the good news of Jesus Christ will be presented in a special setting: Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday (explain), and Easter Sunday. In your sermon notes, there is a place for you to write down three names.
I COMMIT TO INVESTING IN MY RELATIONSHIPS BY INVITING THREE PEOPLE TO OUR HOLY WEEK SERVICES:
Take a moment and think about who you are going to invite, then we are going to commit together to pray for these names and give them an invitation this week. [take a moment then prayer]
Next week, I will be asking you if you have completed your mission to love your neighbor. You can pick up your tickets on the way out of service this morning. Only take the number of tickets you are going to use. Remember, these are not for you; they are for your neighbor, your coworker, or your fellow student who needs Jesus Christ.
John continues in verses 3-4, "This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world."
Love is only exemplified in obedience! We have a duty to love. This is the primary mandate of God that must be first on our minds in every situation of every day! We are called to love and this command to Love is not burdensome; it is freedom!
Unlike the religious leaders of Jesus' day, the Apostle John did not, nor do I as your pastor today, want to put unnecessary burdens on you that make it impossible to have a relationship with God!
In the Gospel of Matthew 23:4, Jesus said of the religious leaders of his day, "They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them."
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free so let us stand firm, then, and do not be burdened again by a yoke of slavery! Jesus did not come to burden us with religious laws and customs. Jesus came to save us from works-based religion so that we can know God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ! That is why John says that everyone who is born of God through Jesus Christ overcomes the world; because that person is free in Christ to love God and to love their neighbor.
In the Gospel of Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus promised, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
I want to share with you an old story: A person met a young boy going to school who was carrying a smaller boy on his back. The smaller boy was physically disabled and unable to walk and so he had to be carried. The stranger said to this young boy, "Do you carry him to school every day?" "Yes," said the young boy. "That's a heavy burden for you to carry," said the stranger. "He's not a burden," said the young boy, "He's my brother."
Love turned the burden into no burden at all. The commandments of Christ are not a burden, they are a privilege; they are an opportunity to show our love for the Father by loving his children-our brothers and sisters in Christ! Love overcomes through our relationships because the Kingdom of God is a relational kingdom!
LOVE OVERCOMES THROUGH...FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST!
John continues in the second half of verse 4 into verse 5, "This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God."
John is referencing the foundational truth of Christianity that we are redeemed by our faith in what Jesus did for us and not by our good works. The love of God overcomes everything that this world (seen and unseen) can throw at us through our faith in Jesus Christ! Jesus has won the Victory for us!
In the Gospel of John 16:33, Jesus declares to His followers, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
In 1 Corinthians 15:56-57, Paul declares of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ: "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
We overcome this world through our faith in who Jesus Christ is and what He did for us! John is emphasizing faith because evil in this life appears to be unchecked and temptation appears unharnessed! John is declaring for those in Christ that Jesus has won the victory and we must stand firm in what we know is true through faith!
John takes the next 7 verses (6-12) to teach about this faith that allows us to overcome the evil and temptation in this world. Then in our last point we will see how it even allows us to defeat our own mortality (the sting of death!).
Verse 6 teaches, "This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth."
What does it mean that Jesus Christ is the one who came by water and blood and that the Spirit is the one who testifies?
Honestly, there are theologians and scholars much smarter than me who argue and debate about this, so after reading through some of them I searched the Scriptures to come to this humble conclusion: John is pointing to two key events in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ that testify to the victory that allows us to overcome the world, each of which were empowered and proclaimed by the Holy Spirit.
The first event, symbolized by the water, was Jesus' baptism when he began His formal ministry of teaching and miracles. From the Gospel of Matthew 3:16-17, "As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.'"
This is the event that marked Jesus as the Christ—the anointed One of Israel declared by the Father to be the Son indwelt with the living presence of God through the Holy Spirit. The historical Jesus of Nazareth lived and walked, was baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit who empowered the ministry of the Christ to teach the Truth with authority, heal the lame, give sight to the blind, raise the dead, and set free the captives; to declare the year of Jubilee! That began on the day of His baptism and the Victory was won on the Cross of Calvary.
The second event, symbolized by the blood, was the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Paul wrote in Colossians 1:19-20, "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross."
It was on the Cross, that the historical Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, the 2nd person of the Trinity, the God-man, the Christ, the One who was without sin or blemish as our perfect Passover lamb took on all of the sins of humanity so that we can be found sinless in the eyes of God and have victory through faith! God did this through the Christ in a double imputation (unpack…).
To fully understand John's reference to the Spirit who is the truth let's continue with the next three verses (7-9), "For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son."
Matthew 18:16 quotes the 5th book of Moses, Deuteronomy 19:15, stating, "every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses."
John states this legal precedence for human affairs to demonstrate the triumphant witnesses of God which declare that Jesus is the Christ and through Him, and only Him, can we have right standing with God!
God works through Jesus' baptism, his death on the Cross, and thirdly, through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, who is the third person of the Trinity, the perfect presence of God who is our Sustainer and Comforter was sent to testify of Jesus Christ. He is the testimony of God who is greater than any human testimony!
Jesus promised before His crucifixion, "When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me."
This promise is fulfilled 50 days after Easter Sunday on Pentecost Sunday when the Church of Jesus Christ received the Holy Spirit and ushered in the age of the Church!
We live in that age today (last days), and we overcome as the body of Christ through our faith in Jesus Christ and through our relationships with one another. Both of which are empowered by the Holy Spirit who continues to testify of the Truth of God through us and in our lives! The Holy Spirit is God's instrument of revelation to the world!
Our faith finds it completion not in this life, but the next! That moves us to our last teaching point:
LOVE OVERCOMES THROUGH…GOD'S GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE!
John continues to teach about our faith in Jesus Christ, stating in verse 10, "Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son."
Through the Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus Christ and delivered upon the church throughout every generation one person at a time through faith, the God of the universe comes and lives in and through us and testifies about His Son; and we have this testimony in our hearts!
Through faith we receive the Holy Spirit who seals us for the day of redemption; that is the Judgment Day to come! We no longer need to fear because love has overcome death through God's gift of eternal life. This is the fulfillment of the Victory of the Christ!
Why would someone not believe this multitude of witnesses? If presented to you, why would you not want to grab a hold of this wonderful gift that God has so richly bestowed upon each of us that we would be called, and are, the Children of God?
In 1 Corinthians 1:18, Paul states, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."
This testimony is yours to grab a hold of today. You have 2 choices and no in betweens: you can either reject this message as foolishness or accept it as the power of God.
I stand up today as one who has experienced God and I give witness through the testimony of God's Spirit living in me that I once was lost, but now I am found! What an amazing grace that saved a wretch like me from my own self-reliance and addiction to sin!!
And no matter who you are and what you have done, this same amazing grace is available to you today. This is the gift of God for all the world!
John concludes with verses 11-12, "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."
This gift of eternal life is not about you being good enough; this gift of eternal life is about the Son whose name is the name above all names—the name of Jesus Christ!
This is a free gift that cost the Son of God His life, but gained back to God the entire world! The Victory is in the blood of the final atoning sacrifice that appeased the wrath of God caused by our rebellion against the ancient covenant between God and humanity. Because we were unable to restore ourselves to right standing with God, God sent the One who could redeem us and place His righteousness (right standing with God) on us!
The Gospel of John 3:35-36 declares, "The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."
I declare to you today brother and sisters in Christ that the witness of Christ's victory on the Cross continues because as a believer in God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ you and I will never experience the sting of death. Though this tent (yours and my own body) will fail each of us one day, the Spirit of God who lives in us overcomes death through God's gift of eternal life!
In the Gospel of John 14:6, Jesus stated without flinching and without compromise the truth of the testimony of God through the Holy Spirit, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
Do you believe this testimony by God?
God has given you the way to overcome, but first you must overcome the great chasm between your head and your heart. The greatest obstacle that stands in your way can be overcome in a blink of an eye if you ask God to help. It all starts with a simple prayer of faith and I now invite you to pray with me.
No matter what stands between you and eternity, I pray that you know today that the love of God overcomes everything!
RESPONSE TIME: Pastor Ken and his team are now going to lead us in a time of response.
Let's pray together. [Pray]
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