The faith that overcomes the world is that Jesus is The Son of God
-1 John 5:1-5
I want to talk to you about how the faith that overcomes the world is the confession, “Jesus is the Son of God” and how this is the essential doctrine of our faith.
The life of Christ is imparted to us when we become a Christian by hearing the gospel, believing the gospel, repenting of our sins, and confessing through sincere belief that Jesus is the Christ, and then by being baptized. The new life of Christ that makes us Christians and born of God, brings with it a new desire to do His will. Jesus gives us the power to act on our new desire to obey Him.
This desire is to please God because we are now God’s children and the power Christ gives us to keep God’s commands causes us to overcome the world. We can now overcome, and have victory over everything in the world that is opposed to God and the Gospel of Christ.
“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world”
Why does John say, ‘whatever or what-so-ever is born of God’?
John is not emphasizing the faithful as being prominent, but that the power to overcome the world lies in the power of being born of God. It is not the man or the woman who overcomes the world but his or her birth from God that conquers.
Why do we need to overcome the world?
The world is described in 1st John 2:15-17
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. 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. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
The world is described in a negative light here. Why is the world bad?
Let’s read all the other times ‘the world’ is mentioned in this letter:
1st John 2:2, He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.
1st John 3:1, See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
1st John 3:13, Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you.
1st John 3:17, But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?
1st John 4:3, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.
1st John 4 verse 4 and 5, You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them.
1st John 4 verse 9, By this the love of God was revealed in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.
1st John 4 verse 14, We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
1st John4 verse 17, because as He is, so also are we in this world.
1st John chapter 5 verses 4 and 5, For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
And lastly, 1st John 5:19 reads, We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
Worldliness, which is an opposition to God, and a rejection of Christ, is something that is in people’s hearts, like an operating system of affections and attitudes characterized by selfishness. Or worldliness can also be described as something we call “keeping up with the Jones”: Materialism where we love things or status over God and people.
Worldliness is not about things but our focus or concentration on things. Worldliness is to have our hearts or affections set on things in a self-centered lifestyle or operating system, and yet the antidote for worldliness is not living in austerity such as taking a vow of poverty to promote spirituality or holiness.
That’s not the way, because first John 5:4 says: For whatever is born of God overcomes the world;
The world may be openly hostile to us, as it was with Christ and we should not be surprised by this. Jesus’ last words to the disciples in the upper room, after the last supper, were these:
In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
Tribulation means suffering, trouble, distress, or persecution.
Tribulation means intense pressure.
Tribulation is something very difficult.
In the world you will have tribulation. This implies opposition from unbelievers.
But Jesus’ victory over the world in the cross gives us peace to overcome the world.
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. (First John 5:4)
The tribulation of the world upon us is overcome by Christ’s victory over the world
By our faith in Jesus as the Son of God, we become so united with Him that His victory becomes ours.
We conquer or overcome the world by His power.
1st John 5:4 and 5: For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world —our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?How do we overcome the world? Through our faith.
Our faith conquers the world by clinging to eternal realities.
Our faith is what the writer of Hebrews in chapter 11 and verse 1 calls “the proof of things not seen”.
And Paul wrote in 2nd Corinthians 4:8 that “we look by faith at things which we can not see that are eternal things”.
And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
What is ‘the victory that overcomes’?
Our faith.The victory has been won once and for all.
The victory is a permanent victory.
Simply put, we overcome the world in the faith which has won the decisive victory.
The stronger the roots of the faith in our hearts, the weaker the world’s influence on us.
The world has already been overcome by Christ, and when we are born of God, we overcome the world through our faith.
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. (1st John 5:4)
Victory means ‘decisive conquest’: the Greek word here is “Nike”, which holds the idea of triumph and success.
The victory that is our faith in Christ is not some future hope but a present reality. The first century church faced persecution and opposition and these words were first meant for them.
Notice that the victory is for everyone born of God. We are in a faith community and a family of faith. Being a Christian has never been something we do alone. The faith is called “our faith”. We find strength together in a shared faith. Christ’s victory is comprehensive, enabling believers to live according to God’s will in and through all suffering or tribulations.
Our faith is what our victory is wrapped up in. It is not ‘faith in faith’, or something like a pat on the back and saying ‘keep the faith’, like our victory is in something we do. Our faith that is our victory from which we overcome the world, is faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the only Savior of the world.
This faith that saves, and saved us, is a gift from God, by the favor of God, and is nothing we can take credit for. Faith is not just what we believe, but active trust in God that enables us to live in the world while overcoming what the world throws at us.
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
We can overcome the world because He has overcome the world. He triumphed over sin, death, and Satan through His death and resurrection. We can and will go through trials and tribulations overcoming the world, not defeated but victorious through Christ.
Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
We obtain victory over the world, the world that hates God and opposes the gospel, by being born of God, through hearing the Gospel, believing in Christ, then being baptized. Then we are living a new life in Christ, living in the faith and living by faith; and that faith is alive and nurtures us from within. Our second life made alive by God, is a life of faith. We live in and by faith in Jesus Christ who has overcome the world.
We can share the victory, overcoming the world, by living in Christ. We live and walk in Christ by trusting Him, by living in loving contact with Him. That means that in every trial, temptation, or tribulation that we find ourselves in, we share it with Him. If we ever somehow get away from Jesus, we need to run back to Him, and share our burden with Him and let Him shepherd us.
We can overcome the world through trusting in Christ. Wherever we are and whatever we are facing, our faith in Him will take us through. And our overcoming the world and sharing the victory through faith is done in our weakness. We don’t overcome the world by ourselves, in our own strength, by our knowledge, or by our own power; it’s in our weakness He is strong.
After the Israelite’s crossed the Red Sea, and were delivered from the Egyptian army, in Exodus 15:2, they sang:
"The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation."
David wrote this in Psalm 28:7
The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him.
And Paul wrote this is 2nd Corinthians 12:9
And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”
There is a parallel passage to 1st John chapter 5 about the faith that conquers, from Paul in Romans 8 verses 35 to 37 that says,
Who will separate us from the love of Christ?Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written,
“For Your sake we are being put to death all day long;
We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
Our faith overcomes and conquers the world by attaching itself to the eternal Son of God: God’s eternal Word made flesh, who was crucified for our sins and rose on the third day and ascended to the right hand of God (Mk. 16:19, Eph. 1:20, Col. 3:1) and is reigning now over everything (Eph. 1:21-22, Col. 1:13).
Every day we who are born of God have to fight a world that denies the Lord and His Christ (Acts 4:26). But this earthly world is God’s world, the object of God’s love, and God wants to save all the people of the world.
Because we are born of God, we are now children of God and servants of the King who is Christ. God raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at his right hand in heaven, and He is ruling over everything from now through eternity. And God has made Christ as head over all things to the church, Paul wrote this in Ephesians 1:22.
This means that the church is joined with Christ in His dominion over all things. He is head of His body, the church. Christ is also King and ruler over all. Jesus said,
“all authority is given to me, in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:18-20)
We are never promised that we will not have tribulation. We are not promised that we will be taken out of tribulation. But we are promised this:
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
We overcome the tribulation in the world the same way all the saints have before us and that is through Christ.
And John writes that this is the victory that has overcome. This is saying that triumph is assured.
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
We don’t overcome the world, but what is birthed within us does. Believing and getting baptized does not make that person automatically an overcomer. But the results of that new birth that are proven in the trials we walk through with Christ make us overcomers.
The victory that has overcome the world is that same victory that overcame the world, which is the good news about Christ.
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
All who are born of God overcome the world; because He has already overcome the world. And we overcome the world, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. (1 Jn. 4:4)
He has overcome the world (Jn. 16:33) and it is written that we have overcome because He is in us.
Overcoming the world for the Christian is founded in and empowered by Jesus.
To overcome means to To conquer, be victorious, prevail, subdue.
Our faith and our hope are in Jesus Christ’s victory over sin, death and all of the corruption and evil in the world.
And Paul says in Romans 8:37, that Christians are ‘more than conquerors’. And more than conquerors means an overwhelming victory, an abundant, surpassing victory that we share in and through him who loved us.
Our victory is rooted in Christ and not in our personal strength or achievement. We are weak, but He is strong. We experience Christ’s victory over the world by focusing our hearts on Christ 24-7.
Our victory over the world is not determined by external circumstances or metrics. You can not always measure or see the victory in the world around us because the victory is spiritual and in our hearts. And how do we overcome or experience Christ’s victory in our hearts? By abiding in Him.
In John 15:5, Jesus said this: I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
Branches simply cannot produce fruit unless they are abiding in the vine, and we cannot have victory over the world outside of abiding in Christ. Being a Christian is 24-7.
A Christian who is overcoming the world is not someone who has no trials and tribulations, but someone who endures and walks through trials in faith, and by faith in Christ.
Jesus said these words at the end of Matthew 11, verse 28 and following:
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, 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.”
Overcoming the world is not done in our strength, but through Christ in us. Overcoming the world is not automatic if you are a Christian. We must take action. James wrote that faith without works is dead faith. Living faith is an action based on a belief. Dead faith is dormant faith; unproductive.
Faith is always made real or put into operation by an action. Paul wrote this in Philippians 2:12 and 13:
work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
We are saved only through Christ, but we work out the salvation that God has put to work in us.
Paul told Timothy in 1st Timothy 4:16, “Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.”
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
This is a promise that we can have faith in, that we can overcome the world. But for our faith to be real, active, and alive; it has to be acted upon by us. We must take action for faith to be a living faith.
To be an overcomer, we must faithfully keep being faithful which means to abide in Christ, to trust and obey him in all circumstances. And we are not called to live perfectly, but to live in Christ in our brokenness. The Christian’s life walk will have stumbles and failures.
In the book of Revelation, John records messages from Jesus to seven churches. And each of these letters from Jesus contains a promise to the believers who overcome. The phrase ‘He who overcomes’ refers to all Christians. All Christians are eligible to be overcomers and only believers in Christ can overcome the world, but not every believer in Christ does overcome the world. And sadly all Christians are not overcomers because not all Christians are faithful.
These are the promises to overcomers from the letters to the seven churches in the book of Revelation, beginning with:
Revelation 2:7, To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.’
Revelation 2:11, He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’
2:17, To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.’
2:26, He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations;
Revelation 3:5, He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.
3:12, He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God,
3:21, He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
And in Revelation chapter 12 verse 11 John teaches us also that we overcome the accuser of our brethren, who is Satan in this way:
And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.
We overcome the accuser of the brethren through the Gospel that tells us that Jesus blood was shed for our sin.
We overcome the accuser of the brethren through proclaiming our faith: “by simply saying to others, “let me tell you what the Lord has done for me.” Our testimony is also demonstrated through how we live. Through our testimony we declare the victory of Jesus and our allegiance to Him.
We overcome the accuser of the brethren through not fearing death. Jesus said that if anyone would come after Him that they must take up their cross daily (Matthew 16:24). Death is something we should not fear.
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 1st John 5:4-5
The life of Christ is imparted to us when we become a Christian by hearing the gospel, believing the gospel, repenting of our sins, and confessing through sincere belief that Jesus is the Christ, and then by being baptized.
The new life of Christ that makes us Christians and born of God, brings with it a new desire to do His will. Jesus gives us the power to act on our new desire to obey Him.
This desire is to please God because we are now God’s children and the power Christ gives us to keep God’s commands causes us to overcome the world. We can now overcome, and have victory over everything in the world that is opposed to God and the Gospel of Christ.
The faith that overcomes the world is the confession, “Jesus is the Son of God”. This is the essential doctrine of our faith.
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