I was born in 1978, grew up enjoying sports, watching many sports. A number of years before I was born in 1961, ABC's wide world of sports began televising, bringing many sporting events, if you will, into the living room of many Americans. whether it was basketball, hockey, tennis, golf, it would often begin that sporting event with the host, Jim McKay or another co-host, uttering these words, spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport, the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat. The human drama of athletic competition. This is ABC's wide world of sports. This is one aspect, certainly, of sport. The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat. There's victors, there's the defeated. There's conquerors, there's the conquered. I think it's one of the reasons the Apostle Paul uses the image in more than one place, a metaphor of athletics, to speak about the Christian race. He says in 1 Corinthians 9, don't you know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize. So run in such a way that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises control, discipline in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. The Christian is called to run the race of faith, at the end of which is this unfading, imperishable crown of victory and glory. Of course, it's not just in sport that people experience victory or defeat. It's really in all of life, and it's certainly in the life of faith. Experiences of victory or defeat in relationships in marriage, in the home, in a child coming to faith, or a child abandoning the faith in which they were raised. Victory or defeat in the life of obedience or fall into sin. Victory or defeat that the church experiences through the culture wars, And here, as we continue in the letter of 1 John, written by the apostle John in the latter part of the first century, John tells us how to be victorious in this world, and that in fact, the believer has overcome the world. So it's 1 John 5, as we enter into this last chapter of this letter, 1 John 1-5, listen to God's word. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? As we enter this last chapter of the letter, how important it is to step back just momentarily to remember that a central backdrop to this letter is the reality and the prevalence of conflict. Conflict. Early church fathers, first and second century, like Polycarp, who was a disciple of the Apostle John, wrote that John likely fled the city of Jerusalem around 67 AD to escape the coming destruction of Jerusalem, the city, and the temple by the Romans. That he most likely resumed his ministry in that idolatrous city of Ephesus. A city teeming with practices of sorcery and magic and the occult. So John's very environment, as he writes, spells conflict. Very true in the Apostle Paul's case, in a number of instances, how easy it is to read Paul's letters, forgetting that a number of them were penned from prison. A very picture of the conflict between our faith and this world. And the kind of threat our faith may have on society and those in power. We profess as Christians an allegiance to a king. He's the king of kings. To him alone we bow down and we worship. And when John writes in verse 4, for everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world. John is waking up his original hearers and us to the fact that in this world we face enemies amidst a massive conflict. To speak of overcoming the world, to speak of victory is instructive. It suggests that we have enemies, things that are to be overcome or things that have already been overcome. the familiar words of Paul in Ephesians 6, when he says, put on the whole armor of God, for we don't battle against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces of evil. He's giving us a picture of one of the aspects of what it is to be a follower of Christ, what it is to live the Christian faith, that we are soldiers in the army of God. When John speaks here about being born of God, which he has mentioned several times through the letter, it's another way of saying that when the Christian is regenerated and comes to faith in Christ, he's been enlisted into the army of God. Our hymns teach us this. A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing. Our Helper, He amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing. For still our ancient foe does seek to work us woe. His craft and power are great. Armed with cruel hate, on earth is not his equal. There is a force of evil much more powerful than you or I. We sang earlier, soldiers of Christ arise. Our closing hymn is going to be for all the saints. O may thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold, fight as the saints who nobly fought of old, and win with them the victor's crown of gold." Paul said to Timothy, fight the good fight of the faith. The Christian is in a fight. And sometimes we may underestimate the power of our enemy. I read recently, actually, that in 1861, when the Civil War broke out, Lincoln's Secretary of State, William Seward, predicted the war would be over in 90 days. Young men by the thousands gave of themselves, volunteered to conquer the South. Four years later, about a half a million lives had been lost. For some, they underestimated the strength of their opposition. Well, we have an enemy. We have more than one enemy. We have more than two enemies. We have three main enemies that we face. Our flesh is one. That old, sinful man waging war with the Spirit within us. As Paul said in Romans 7, For I find that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand." We also have the evil one who opposes us. The apostle Peter says he prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking to devour. And Paul says this one schemes. He is scheming and working, seeking to use hardship to discourage you. In your sin and struggle, He will seek to convince you to despair and give up hope. In relational strife, to be filled with anger or resentment or bitterness. And then you have a third enemy, what John has identified already as the world. The world. We have seen that at times the use of that word world refers to people. For God so loved the world that He gave His Son But here, in the use of world, as he is referred to back in chapter 2, it's referring not to people, but it's really referring to anything that opposes or takes the place of the kingdom of our Lord. Chapter 2, don't love the world or anything in the world. Sin is a part of that term, the world. Idolatry. That is, good things even, that become ruling things in our lives, end up being pseudo-gods. Remember how John ends this letter. The last words, little children, keep yourselves from idols. That's part of the world and the flesh. Political systems that are void of any godliness or Christian virtue. Cultural practices that promote greed and covetousness. All a part of the world. We face great enemies. The flesh, the devil, the world. And as one begins the Christian life, they may be quite unaware just how powerful are the enemies that he will be facing. They may have entered the Christian life thinking this may be the life of greater ease, in fact. the smoother life, but the reality is he is birthed into a conflict. Yet it is a good thing. Before this, the conflict did not really occur. He was ruled by the evil one. He's mastered by the sin nature. But now he has been purchased by God. He's not only redeemed from sin, but John says he has victory over the world. Not only is there victory over the world, and not only is that victory now, as he says, this is the victory that has overcome the world. But perhaps surprising is what it is that has overcome the world. Our faith. Our faith. Three times in this passage of five verses, we hear that word faith or believe. Same Greek word translated believe. belief or faith. The bookends of this passage both contain the word. Verse 1, everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ. And then verse 5, who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes Jesus is the Son of God. In both of those verses, Believing, or faith, is tied directly to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then you've got verse 4. This is our victory over the world, our faith. How is it that faith overcomes the world? It's not because of itself, but because it is inextricably linked to Jesus Christ. Christ is the victor over the evil one. over death through His resurrection, over sin in His obedience, over the world as He reigns with supreme power in the heavens above. As John has already said, He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. confession defines faith as a saving grace whereby we receive and rest upon Christ alone for our salvation. It is a saving grace. Faith does not save us from hardships in this world, as we know very well, or from pain and suffering, from various ailments or relational strife, from loss of life, from the painful realities that we might experience in this broken, fallen world. It does not save us from those things, but it saves us through them. It saves us through them. Because faith is about reaching beyond this earthly life, taking hold of Christ, Christ taking hold of us, and resting in Him who rules. Who rules all of creation. who rules all of history. In the great chapter on faith in Hebrews 11, after the author offers example after example of Old Testament saint, who by faith we're told again and again, trusted in the Lord, it says, these all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar. They desired a better country, a heavenly one. That's what faith does. Faith reaches out, reaches beyond. And it is indeed by the gift and grace of God. So when faith is living and true, it reaches beyond suffering, beyond trials, beyond even sin, beyond death. And it unites us to Him who is the living and sovereign Lord. This faith is not only a union with Jesus Christ, it's an unbreakable union. Inextricable. It cannot be broken. I don't know if you can see this, but if you can, you know what it is. This is a carabiner. Mark might know something a little bit about this. It's basically a metal loop with a spring action Can you hear that? It's got a spring-loaded gate, so you can quickly connect and disconnect from one rope to another. Very strong. This one, I think, feels like it's from five below, so I'm not sure how strong this one is. Very useful, very strong, but you can still connect and disconnect. Saving faith, you can't disconnect. You cannot disconnect from God, even when we feel it. If you're in Jesus Christ, you're not disconnected. He has you. You're united to him. Saving faith is stronger than that. There's another picture, a little bit more fragile. This is a Chinese finger trap, but I thought helpful picture. This is one of those where you put your finger in and then you try and pull and it actually gets tighter. Actually, it could be a problem. It's okay. The grip increases. Sometimes the suffering is so great, the circumstances so hard, the flesh so strong, we seek to pull away from the Lord, but the Lord's grip gets stronger. That's what saving faith does. That's what our Lord does through faith. Nothing can separate us from the love of Jesus Christ. Yet when we hear those words, this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith, there's a final image I want us to think about. It's the image of an anchor. A ship's anchor. And it's an anchor in the temple of God. the Holy of Holies. Now why would an anchor be in the temple? Think about that picture. What do you hang on to? What has a grip on you when you are at a loss? When you see little to no hope? Edward Mote, a 19th century English pastor, in the 1830s, was visiting his friend's wife as she was staring death in the face. And there at her bedside, he pulled out a scrap piece of paper, and he began to sing into her ears a hymn that he had been working on. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. When darkness veils his lovely face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil. It may not be physical death. It may be the death or the feeling of defeat in sin, defeat in a relationship, in marriage, defeat in career, defeat in suffering. In all of those things, darkness veils Christ's lovely face. We can be tossed about like a ship in a dark storm. What do you need in that time? Not someone simply yelling, row harder. You need an anchor tied to an immovable hope and an anchor tied around us. Really, we need what the author of Hebrews says in the sixth chapter. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters in the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf. What a beautiful image, but unique. Christ as our anchor. Christ, an anchor within the holy of holies. Year after year in the temple, the high priest representing the people of God would enter into the temple, into the most holy place behind the curtain. Only he would go there. The very place of God's dwelling with the Ark of the Covenant on top of which was the mercy seat, the dwelling of God. And there, animal sacrifice, blood sacrifice would be sprinkled and poured out. for the atonement of the sins of God's people year after year because it was not sufficient in itself once and for all to atone for the sin of God's people. Until Christ came, who bears our flesh, flesh of our flesh, bone of our bone, a spotless Lamb, offered Himself on the cross, tearing into the veil, the curtain, Really representing heaven and earth. Tearing in two the division between heaven and earth. Ascended at the right hand of God. And there He is as an anchor for our soul. A bloody anchor of our soul. Where we are inextricably linked. Christ our priest anchored Himself in heaven's most holy place. And because we are joined to Him, we are anchored there as well. In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil. Nothing, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, because nothing can remove the anchor of our soul. We'll struggle, we'll fall, but the anchor holds. And yet, if we desire to experience the victory that is ours in Christ, there's a path God gives to us. It is the path of obedience. This is what John says. This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. We can hear of Christ as the anchor of our soul. But to live in light of it is to walk the path of His commands. To love Him and His Word. To sow to the Spirit that we might reap the fruit of the Spirit. Love and joy, peace, patience, kindness. To forgive others as we have been forgiven. To serve in the use of our gifts. To bless as we've been blessed. to seek after holiness. That is not burdensome. That is life. That is life. That's the opening image that we're given in the book of Psalms. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. His delight is in the law of the Lord. On his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water. yielding its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all he does, he prospers." Over the course of this weekend, as some of you know, a number of children and youth, middle and high schoolers, including some from our own church, my own kids, have been participating in plays called Backyard Shakespeare, King Richard III and Midsummer Night's Dream. And we went on Thursday. We'll be going again this afternoon. But just sitting there, knowing a number of the families and the children participating, you could see on the faces of the parents as their children would go out and take the stage and begin speaking forth their lines and playing their part, just a delight. It's a delight for parents to see their own children kind of shine, putting in all of this work. and seeing the rewards of it. So it is with our Lord. We have been called to the stage of God's kingdom as God's children, called to live out the script that he's written for us, which certainly includes his commands to live in loving obedience to our God. He delights in us, his children. As we began this morning with the call to worship, perhaps fitting to end with those words, Whom have I in heaven but you? There is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may feel, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Let's pray. O Lord, how we thank You for that firm and sure foundation, the anchor of our soul, the Lord Jesus Christ in His death, in His resurrection, and His being seated at Your right hand with all power and authority. O Lord, how we thank You that we are united to Him. Just as Your Word says, since we have been raised with Christ, that we would set our hearts and minds on things above where Christ is seated and where we are united to him. Lord, we pray that you would fill us with the assurance of our salvation through what you have accomplished for us, that your grace and your wonderful love would motivate our hearts to live after you, that it would be a blessing to the church of Jesus Christ and bring glory to your name. For this we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.