Let me ask you to take your Bibles and turn to 1 John, the 5th chapter. 1 John, the 5th chapter, starting in verse 1. 1 John, chapter 5, verse 1. The world we live in today, no one really likes to have anything that's uncertain. We like things to be absolutely sure, even if they're not really absolutely sure. I remember reading about, it's been a number of years ago, about a man in a department store up in the New England area who was working in the department store. It was his first day on the job. And he was talking with a customer, and the manager overheard him talking with that customer. And he heard the conversation that he was having with the lady, and he said to the lady, well, you know, we haven't had any of that for a while, and I'm not so sure that we'll be getting any anytime soon. The manager came over and pushed the young man away and he says, ma'am, I'm sorry, this guy's new here on the job. And I want you to know that whatever it is that he said we're out of, we will have it here tomorrow afternoon. If you'll come back tomorrow, we'll definitely have it too. I can guarantee it. I'll stake my reputation on it. We'll have it tomorrow. She looked at him kind of bewildered, and she walked away. And the manager turned to the young man, and he said, now, in this store, you need to understand that we are never out of anything. And if we're out of anything, we will have it tomorrow. We never tell a customer that we don't have it. We never tell a customer that we can't get it. We can always get it. We're here to sell things. Do you understand that? And he said, yes, I understand that, sir. And he said, now, what was it that the lady was asking about? And he said, well, she was just asking if we've had any snow in a while. And I said, no, we haven't had any while. We don't think we'll be getting any for a while either. So you have to be sure that when you're talking about something which is an absolute certainty, that it really is something that you can absolutely be sure about. When we're looking at 1 John, the letter that we've been studying in 1 John is about assurance. It's about how to be absolutely sure, especially about your salvation. In fact, we've noticed as we've gone through 1 John, there are three basic reasons why John has written this letter. Let me just review those for you as we take a look at this, because John is concerned that every believer have assurance, every believer have confidence, every believer be able to have boldness at the day of Christ's coming. And so he wants us to have that assurance and he wants us to have that confidence. But there are three reasons why he says, I've written this letter to you. Let's go back and take a look at them real quickly. Look in chapter one in verse four. Chapter one, verse four, he says this, and these things I write to you so that your joy may be full. In other words, the first reason he's writing this letter to believers is so that they might have the fullness of joy in their lives. He's not writing to them so that they might be saved, but he's writing to them so that they might know how to have the joy of their salvation, so they can rejoice together in what God has done for them. The second reason he's writing is found in chapter 2, verse 1. My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. In other words, he's concerned about their obedience. He's concerned that they live an obedient lifestyle, one that honors Christ. But he doesn't stop there. Look what else he says. I write these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. And we've talked about this plenty in this short letter here, but one of the things that John wants them to know, first of all, that as a believer you don't have to go through a lifestyle of sin. That's not required of you. Even though we do sin, you don't have to sin. And I'm writing these things to you so that you won't continue in that kind of a pattern. But he says, if you do sin, I want you to know that you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. In other words, your salvation is not dependent upon whether or not you sin or you don't sin. It's not based upon your obedience to Christ. It's based upon what Jesus Christ has done on the cross. And so even if you do sin, he says, you know that you have Jesus Christ. He's the righteous one and he's the advocate for you. So we have assurance even in the times when we may sin. And then chapter five, and we're going to get to this verse next week. Take a look at chapter five, verse 13. This is what most people say, and I think they're correct, is the primary purpose for his writing. In chapter five, verse 13, he says this. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you might know you have eternal life and that you might continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. Now, what John is saying here is, I'm writing this to those of you who already believe. The gospel of John was written to those who were not believers, and he says, I'm writing these things so that you might believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, the gospel was focused on leading people to faith in Christ. The epistle is a follow-up, and the epistle was written to those who already believe. And look at what he says here, these things I've written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God for a reason, so that you might know you have eternal life. In other words, it's possible to be a believer and to not be absolutely sure about your salvation. Now, there are some reasons why people are not sure about their salvation. We'll take a look at some of those things in coming weeks. But there are a number of reasons why that we're going to take a look at here in this passage we're going to look at. There's one other place where he mentions the reason he writes. It's not one of the primary purposes, but if you notice in chapter 2, in verse 26, John says this, These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. In other words, throughout 1 John, he is writing about a group of people who are trying to deceive those who are truly believers and to draw them away from the assurance, the confidence, and the boldness that they ought to have in Christ Jesus. In other words, some of the Gnostics were spreading some things about Christ, and they were spreading some things about salvation that were causing some of those who were believers in Christ to question whether or not they were really saved. They were spreading some things about Christ. They were saying Jesus really never became flesh and blood. I'm sorry, Jesus was flesh and blood, but Christ never became flesh and blood. That Jesus came upon the Christ at His baptism, and He left Him before the baptism, and Jesus died on the cross, but the Christ did not die. And John is writing very specifically here to say, listen, you must know what you believe about Jesus. Did he really come in the flesh? And did he really die on the cross? That's essential for Christianity. But there were also some of the Gnostics that were saying, listen, if you don't have another experience beyond knowing Jesus Christ, then you're not a Christian. In fact, the word Gnosticism comes from the Greek word gnosis, which means knowledge. In other words, they had this secret kind of knowledge that not everybody had. Oh, you know Jesus Christ. That's good. But what you really need is this special anointing that will give you special knowledge. And they promised that there was something missing in your life. They promised you could get it if you were a part of their group and experienced their gnosis. And so they were saying, you might think you're a Christian, but it's not until you have this same experience that we've had that you really are a Christian. And so there were some that were questioning whether or not they were really believers. And that's why John's writing this epistle. He's writing it because these Gnostics were stealing away their joy. These Gnostics were telling them that sin didn't matter anymore. And John says, yes, sin does matter. We do sin, but sin does matter. And then they were saying that you can't know for sure you have eternal life unless you've had this other experience. And John's saying, no, you can know for sure you have eternal life. And John says, I'm writing these things to you because there are people who are trying to deceive you. And they want you to not understand the fullness of the salvation that Jesus Christ has purchased for you. So this is a letter about assurance. This is a letter about certainty. This is a letter about having confidence in the day of the Lord because of one reason, because of Jesus Christ, the righteous one. Now, I want to give you a quick overview of chapter 5 before we take a look at these first five verses, because chapter 5 really is all about victory. It's all about assurance. And in the first five verses of chapter 5, we're going to see about the issue of faith in victory. And when you have the right, when you have biblical faith, it leads to victory in your life. The second thing you're going to see is in verses 6 through 13. You're going to see that assurance of salvation leads to victory in your life. And we'll talk some more about that next week. But a person who doesn't have confidence about their own spiritual condition doesn't have victory on a regular basis in their lives. And then in verses 14 through 17, we're going to see that answered prayer affects our ability to walk in victory. So prayer brings victory in our lives. And when we are asking the things that are according to God's will and we're seeing God answer in those ways, it brings victory in our lives and it brings assurance in our lives. And then last of all, in verses 18 through 21, we're going to talk some more about obedience. When we're walking in ways that please God, it brings victory in our lives and brings assurance to our hearts. Now, let's go back to 1 John 5, verses 1-5, and let's talk about the issue of the victorious life, because that's what chapter 5 is all about. It's about living in victory. How is it that you live a victorious life? What does it mean to have victory even over the world? What does it mean for us to be overcomers? And that's what John is talking about here in chapter 5. Look at verses 1-5. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And everyone who loves him who begot also loves him who is begotten by 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, that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Who is he that overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? Now, we're going to see three things from this passage here that I hope will help you to see what it means to have a victorious life. And it's interesting, as you go through this, I want you to see that every single person who does these things is an overcomer. The question is, who really is an overcomer? The word overcomer really is the same word as victory. And so the victorious life is connected to being an overcomer. In fact, the word overcomer is one who is super victorious or over victorious is the way the Greek word could probably literally translate it here. So victory and overcoming go hand in hand together. They're one in the same. Well, who is the person that actually is the overcomer? There are three things we'll learn from here. First of all, we'll learn that every single person that's born of God overcomes the world. Everyone. I don't know if you noticed how many times he says that in here, but it's interesting. He says, everyone that is born of God overcomes the world. It's not a special category of Christian. It's not a super Christian that overcomes the world, but every single person that's born of God overcomes the world. The second thing that we'll see is that everyone who is living in love overcomes the world. That's one of the things that he's talked about all throughout this letter that we've seen. That those who are living in love have victory over the world. And then the third thing that we'll see is those who are walking by faith are those who overcome the world. Everyone who walks by faith overcomes the world. Now, it's interesting that in every one of these areas, there's also an issue of assurance that's being raised. First of all, in terms of everyone that is born of God overcomes the world, the issue that's being raised here is the question of assurance of salvation. You see, if you're not absolutely sure about salvation, then you are not in the process of having a day-by-day victory over the world. You feel defeated by the world time and time again. But if you're confident that you're in Christ and that He is in you and that His salvation is all that you need, then you have victory. Everyone that is born of God overcomes the world. And what tends to happen is whenever you get back to the place where you start adding anything else to Jesus Christ, then you lose the assurance of your salvation. And notice, I didn't say you lose your salvation. You lose the assurance of your salvation. Because whenever you go back to saying, well, I know I believed on Jesus, but I'm not really sure that my life is living up to those things, so maybe I'm not a Christian, you lose the assurance of your salvation. Your salvation is based upon one thing, being born of God. The assurance of your salvation is based upon whether or not you are trusting in Christ alone. And whenever you start trying to evaluate whether or not you're a Christian based upon the things in your life, you're going to have an up and down type of Christian experience. Because you cannot have assurance if it's based upon you. Because you fluctuate in terms of your righteousness. You fluctuate in terms of your good deeds. You fluctuate in terms of the fruitfulness of your life. Now, we ought to all be continually growing, but that's not the normal way that we live our Christian lives, is it? And so, if your assurance is based upon how are you doing right now, your assurance is going to fluctuate. And so, the issue at hand is the issue of salvation. And when we don't put our faith and trust in Christ alone for salvation, whenever we add anything else to that, then there's a tendency to lose the assurance of salvation. Second thing that we'll see when we're not living in love, when we're not living a lifestyle of love, then we tend to go back to a legalistic type of lifestyle. Notice in verse 3 here, it says, for love is of God, for this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. What tends to happen in the Christian life is when we get back to saying, okay, I've just got to buckle down and obey God, we move away from the love of God. In other words, we're not obeying because of His love, we're obeying because, okay, I better do it or else. And anytime you move back to a legalistic basis for God's loving you, remember we've talked about His perfect love? He loved us even before we loved Him. Whenever you move away from His perfect love being the center of your life, to your love for Him being the center of your life, then you're going to lose your assurance. And you're going to move back toward legalism. The third thing that we see is walking by faith. And we lose our assurance whenever we go back to walking by sight instead of walking by faith. Now, we're going to talk about what it means to walk by faith, but in simple terms, walking by faith means this. It means that we hear what God says in his word and we say, OK, God, I'll live according to that. It may not be what the world tells me I'm going to do. It may not seem like the right choice as I face this choice. But this is what you've said I must do. Lord, I'll obey and do what you've said. That's a walk of faith. You see, we walk by faith by hearing and obeying. Or we might say, according to the song that we've just sung, by trusting and obeying. God, I don't know what's going to happen, but I'll trust you in this situation and I'll live a life of obedience. You see, that's what walking by faith is all about. And we lose our assurance whenever we go back to walking by sight and we say, I know this is what your word says, God, but you don't understand the situation I'm in. That's walking by sight instead of walking by faith. Faith trusts the Word of God. Faith trusts that what God says is true no matter what the world says, no matter what our circumstances are. And so we have assurance when we learn to walk by faith. We say, Lord, This is what you've said. I'll believe it, and I'll live according to it. Now, let's look at each of these three pretty quickly together. First of all, everyone that is born of God overcomes the world. That's quite a tremendous statement. Look again at verse 1 and at verse 5. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Who's born of God? Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ. You see, the foundation of our faith is rooted and grounded in trusting Jesus Christ. Trusting who He is and trusting what He did. Now, it's not simply a matter of an intellectual knowledge of saying, yeah, I know Jesus is God. I know he came in the flesh. I know he died on the cross. But whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, what does it mean to believe Jesus is the Christ? The Christ is the word for Messiah. It means the anointed one. It means the one who would be sent by God as a payment for sins, one who would give his life as a sacrifice for sins. It is God come in the flesh. And the one that believes that Jesus is the one who came and did that is born of God. What do you need to do to become a born-again Christian? You need to believe that Jesus is the Christ. You need to say, Lord, I understand who you are, I understand why you came, I understand what you did, and I will put my faith and my trust in you. Everyone that believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Does this mean you have to have right theology? Does this mean you have to get your life together and change your life? No. The one that believes Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Now, John says the same thing in a little bit different way in verse five. Listen to what he says about overcoming. He says, he who who is he who overcomes the world? Who is this person that overcomes the world? But he that believes that Jesus is the son of God. Who is the person that is the overcomer? Who is the person who is the victorious one? It's the person who's put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. I think it's interesting that in this section, he starts off by telling us the simple foundational truth of faith in Jesus Christ, and he ends up by telling us the simple foundational truth of faith in Jesus Christ. You see, overcoming begins and continues and continues forever on one basis, on the fact that we believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. It depends upon whether or not we've been born of God, and everyone that believes that Jesus is the Christ is indeed born of God. Now, what's the issue here? The issue here that we're facing is the question of our assurance. You cannot live the victorious life unless you understand that you're born of God. unless you understand that the reason that you're a Christian is because of something that God has done in you, not something that you did for God, not something that you plan to do for God, but something that He has done in you. He has made you a child of God by the new birth. And everyone that believes in Jesus Christ has been born of God. There's no question about that. And so this is what he's saying. The issue of assurance is absolutely crucial for someone to have victory in their lives. You can't live the victorious life. unless you have confidence about the fact that your salvation has come from Jesus Christ. He has provided it for you, and you've been born again because you've been born of God. Now, stop and think about how important assurance is in other areas of your life. Can you imagine being in a job situation? If you're in a job situation where you don't know day in and day out whether or not you're going to keep that job, how's that going to affect your life? Are you going to be full of joy? Are you going to be comfortable whenever you do fail at the job situation? Are you going to be certain that you're going to be around for that job much longer? You see, when you don't know for sure that that job situation is settled, it gives you all kinds of uncomfortable feelings, doesn't it? Those are the same issues that John has addressed here already in 1 John. You know, he says, I'm writing these things to you that you might have joy. You see, you won't have joy in your job situation if you're scared to death about losing your job if you do something wrong all the time. He says, I'm writing these things to you that you might not sin. But if you do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Christ Jesus, the righteous one. And so what is he saying here? He's saying that, you know, it's just like in a job situation. If you're worried about every single thing you do wrong that you're going to lose your job, you're not going to enjoy that job. And if you're worried about every single sin you commit causing you to lose your salvation, you're not going to enjoy that salvation either. You see, our assurance of salvation forms the foundation for a victorious life. And you have victory in Christ when you understand Jesus has paid it all. There's nothing left for you to pay. And you are an overcomer for one reason, because you are born of God. And everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Not everyone that lives a holy life, not everybody that has fruitfulness in their life, but everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. You see, our assurance is based upon what Jesus Christ has done, not upon what we do. So, the second thing I want you to see is the reason for that assurance. The reason is simply because of our birth, because we've been born of God. It's not because of what we've done, it's because of what Jesus Christ has done. And when God puts His Spirit in us and causes us to be born again, then we've become overcomers. And the reason you're an overcomer is because Jesus Christ lives in you. Back in the Gospel of John, in chapter 16, verse 33, Jesus was addressing his disciples just before he went to the cross. In the upper room conversation, one of the things he told his disciples is this. He said, in the world, you will have tribulation. In fact, he spelled out some of that tribulation. It's going to be difficult. People are going to drag you before courts for my name's sake. They're going to persecute you. They're going to hate you, just like they've hated me. And so he tells his disciples before he dies, he says, listen, in this world, you're going to have tribulation. It's not going to be easy. It's going to be hard. And then he says, but be of good cheer. Now, wait a minute, that that doesn't sound like in this world you're going to have tribulation, but be of good cheer. And then he goes on to tell him why he says, because I have overcome the world. You see, the reason why, even in the midst of difficult times, even in this world, we're able to have good, great cheer is because Jesus Christ has overcome the world, not because we have overcome the world, but because he has overcome the world. You see, the focus is not on us, the focus is on Him. And as we talk about faith, it says in verse 4, this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. But what is faith? Faith is simply us putting our trust in someone else. That's what faith is. And when it comes to the victory that overcomes the world, it's saying, OK, I'm going to trust Jesus Christ. He has already won the victory for me. And Jesus said, be of good cheer, because I have overcome the world. You see, in 1 John 4, verse 4, remember what it says? Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. The reason why we can have victory in the world is for one reason, because Jesus Christ lives in us and He has conquered the world. He's defeated sin and He's defeated death and the world has no claim on Him whatsoever anymore. Why can we be victorious over the world? Only for one reason, because Jesus Christ lives in us. But then He also tells us about the basis. of that victory. The basis of that victory comes because of what Jesus Christ has done. Repeatedly, we're going to keep referring to Revelation, chapter 12, verse 11. So it's worth memorizing if you haven't memorized it, but you might write it down or you may even put your finger there because we'll keep coming back to chapter 12, verse 11 in this message. So it's a very clear statement of what it really means to overcome. There we are told in Revelation, chapter 12, verse 11, that speaking about Satan, talking about Satan being the accuser of the brethren and accusing them day and night before the throne. And then in verse 11, it says this, but they overcame him. How did they do it? By the blood of the lamb, by the word of their testimony, and that they love not their lives, even unto death. How did they overcome this great enemy? How did they overcome Satan? It's not by their good deeds. It's not by their own righteousness, but by three things, by the blood of the lamb, by the word of their testimony, and that they love not their lives, even unto death." Well, the first thing he says, they overcame him by what? By the blood of the Lamb. That's foundational. Every single person who believes on Jesus is born of God, and every single person born of God overcomes the world. Why? Because of the blood of Jesus Christ. How is it that we defeat Satan? It's not in our own strength, but it's because of the blood of the Lamb. Satan is frequently referred to as the accuser of the brethren. Because what is it that Satan loves to do? He can't take away the salvation that we've been given, but he can make you feel defeated and frustrated instead of confident and bold, like we've been talking about. And the way he does that is by often bringing up the things where we've failed the Lord and causing us to question whether or not we really are believers. And you say, how do you how do you fight off something like that when you know for sure that you've committed the very sin that he brings up? And you know, you've not done it once, but you've done it many times. How do you how do you fight against something like that? You don't do it by saying, well, I'll do better next time, because you might not. But you do it by the blood of the lamb. You say, I know I did that and I'm a sinner, and that's why I'm saved only by grace. It's only the blood of the lamb. You see, Satan hates the blood of the lamb because it pays our price in full. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. And that's the basis for the victory that we have, is what Jesus Christ has already done for us. It's interesting, the word overcomer is used frequently in the book of Revelation. Seven times, for example, in the seven letters to the churches of Revelation, the word overcomer is used. And I think there are a couple of places where it's not totally clear, but in every single one of these situations, every description of an overcomer is that of a believer. Take a look in chapter 2 of Revelation. Look at verse seven. Chapter two, listen to the description of the one who overcomes, and you'll see as we go through here, almost every single thing he mentions is related to someone who is a believer. Verse seven, he who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give him to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Now, who is going to be able to eat from the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God when you come to Revelation chapter 21 and 22? Who's going to do that? All believers, right? Who are they that overcome? Those who are believers. Then you take a look in chapter 2, verse 11. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death. Will there be any believers that are hurt by the second death? No, every single believer is spared from the second death. And yet some people will, as they go through the book of Revelation, will interpret it this way. Well, there's another group of Christians, they're called overcomers. Everybody gets into heaven, but some of them are going to have some special blessings. Well, you can't do that in Revelation. Because you see, then you have believers being hurt by the second death. You have believers who can't eat from the tree of life because they were not quote-unquote overcomers in this world. But I want you to see that John's use of the term overcomer all the time refers to somebody who is an overcomer because Christ is overcome for them. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. We see the same thing if you take a look at verse 17 of chapter 2 of Revelation. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and a stone with a new name written on it, which no one knows except him who receives it. Now that's a little question in terms of what each of those three things might mean, but they all have indication of a new life that takes place. There's something new that's being given to this person when they are overcomers. When do we become overcomers? Whoever believes in the name of the Son of God has become an overcomer. Take a look at chapter two, verse twenty six. And he who overcomes and keeps my works in the end, I will give him the power to rule over nations. Who has that authority? Where Paul tells us in first Corinthians, chapter six, it will even judge the angels. Chapter three, verse five. He who overcomes will be clothed in white garments and I will not blot his name out of the book of life But I will confess his name before my father and before the angels now again if overcomers are a special class of Christians and some Christians are gonna have their name blotted out of the book of life and Some Christians are not going to have their name confessed before the father in heaven I think you run into some real interpretation problems and we could go on if you look at chapter 3 verse 12 and He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will go out no more, and I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down from heaven, and I will write on him my new name. Do you bear the name of Christ? Has he written on you his new name? And then chapter 3, verse 21. To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. All the passages we have in the book of Revelation that talk about overcoming are in the context of the idea of these are believers. And every situation where Jesus mentions there in Revelation about things that he's going to give the believers, they're things that are given to all believers. So the one that overcomes is not some special category of Christian, but the one that overcomes is everyone who is born of God overcomes the world. That's what John says. Who is He that overcomes the world? But He that believes that Jesus is the Son of God. So, living the victorious life comes back down to one thing. It comes back down to the assurance of our salvation. It comes back down to saying, it's what Jesus Christ has done that makes me accepted before God. Nothing else does. Not what I have done, not what I will do, but only what Jesus Christ has done for me makes me victorious in this life. That's the foundation. And that's why the assurance of salvation is so important here in first John, because he wants them to know. He says, I want you who believe in the name of the son of God to know for sure that you have eternal life because it affects the way that you live your life. The second thing that we see, not only that everyone who is born of God overcomes the world, the second thing we see is that everyone that lives a life of love is overcoming the world. So there's an ongoing process also. As we live out the life that Christ has given to us, we see victory in our lives when we love one another. Take a look at verses 1 through 3 of chapter 5. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and everyone who loves him who begot also loves him who 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 that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome. Now the issue involved here in these verses is the issue of obedience. The question of whether or not we will keep his commands. And the reason we lose assurance is whenever we move away from obedience based upon loving God and loving one another to going back to a legalistic sense of obedience where we have some kind of a checklist that we see whether or not we're living up to those standards or not. Whenever we have legalistic obedience, we lose assurance of salvation. Whenever our obedience is centered and rooted in the love of God, then we have assurance of salvation. Now, so the issue here is obedience, and especially the obedience in one area. The main area that John has been talking about in this epistle is the area of loving one another. And he's been saying this over and over again, that children of God love the children of God. You know, anybody who is a child of God ought to love his brother. And he said this repeatedly to us throughout this book. And he said this over in chapter 4 when we were talking about loving one another and the reason we ought to love one another. Remember in chapter 4 and verses 7 and 8, we ought to love one another because that's God's nature. And if God lives in you, you ought to be loving one another. And we ought to be loving one another because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. He laid his life down for us. In 1 John 3, 16, he says, so we ought also to lay our lives down for one another. And over and over again, he keeps pointing us back to why should we love? Only one reason, it's because He first loved us. Not because if we don't love, we're in big trouble. But we love because of what He has already done for us. We love because He first loved us. And in chapter 5, verse 1, notice what he says there. Everyone who loves Him who begot also loves Him who has begotten of Him. Now, that's a little confusing in the King James. But basically, what John is saying is simply this. Listen, if God has loved you and He has other children that He's loved also, you ought to love the children that God has also brought into this world for one reason. Because they're part of the same family. They have been brought the same way that you've been brought, and you ought to love those who are brothers and sisters in Christ, because they're part of the same family. You love the one who gave you birth. You ought to be loving the ones that He gave birth to also. And so he encourages us to love one another. What's the reason for this? The reason is found in our testimony in Revelation, chapter 12, verse 11, that I've mentioned to you. Remember the three things that he says they overcame Satan by the blood of the lamb? That's our salvation. Secondly, by the word of their testimony. What is the word of our testimony? Well, I think it involves more than what we'll talk about this morning, but it at least includes this. One of the greatest testimonies of believers in the first century was simply this. They would talk about all the things that the believers were wrong about. They would talk about the fact they were involved in cannibalism and all sorts of other things that they misunderstood about first century believers. But they would always end up, the pagan philosophers would always say this, but my how they love one another. You see, the one thing that stood out in their testimony was the fact that they loved one another. It was an undeniable testimony. They gave testimony frequently about the things, the truths from scripture. But the one thing the ancient world could not deny was the way they treated each other. They loved each other with an unbelievable love. In fact, our love for one another is critical to our testimony. In John chapter 13, verses 34 and 35, Jesus told his disciples this. He said, by this will all men know you are my disciples. How? If you will have love for one another. You see, the way that the world knows that we are disciples of Jesus Christ is by the way we treat one another. If we love one another, then our testimony has effect upon the people that we share it with. That doesn't mean we can't share the gospel apart from that, but it means that when we share the gospel and we're not loving one another, it hurts the testimony of the gospel. Let me just show you two practical examples of this in the early church. Look in the book of Acts. Book of Acts, the sixth chapter. Acts chapter six, there was a problem in the early church. And that problem in the early church, when it was resolved in a loving way, has a tremendous impact upon the testimony of the disciples. Look in Acts chapter six, starting in verse one. Now, in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And then the twelve some of the multitude of disciples and said, it's not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And the saying, please, the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith in the Holy Spirit and Philip and Precarius and Nicorin. Timon, Parmenios and Nicholas, a proselyte from Antioch, whom they set before the apostles. And when they had prayed, they laid hands on them. And look at verse seven, especially then the word of God spread and a number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. I want you to notice what happens as a result of them loving one another in a tangible way. In other words, the problem or the complaint arose at the beginning of the chapter because the Jewish widows were being taken care of and the Greek widows were not being taken care of. And there was a conflict that took place in the church. Well, the way they resolved that conflict was by setting aside six men, seven men that would go ahead and take the responsibility for caring for these widows. And when they did that, you know what happened? The word of God spread. And you know what happened? Many more became obedient to the faith, including a number of the priests. In other words, the acts of love that they displayed to one another, not that they displayed to people outside the congregation, but the way they loved each other had such an impact upon the rest of the people of Jerusalem that many people came to the faith, including many of the priests. You see, our testimony is wrapped up in whether or not we love one another. Take a look at a negative example over in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. In 1 Corinthians chapter 6, Paul is addressing the problem of believers taking other believers to court. Now, he says it's a shame when we do that, when we take other believers to court. Look at what he says in chapter 6, in verse 5. He says, I say this to your shame. Is it so that there's not a wise man among you or even one who will be able to judge between his brethren? But a brother goes to court against a brother and that before unbelievers. In other words, he said, it's bad enough that you guys aren't getting along, but you're taking your dirty laundry and you're going to the court system and you're standing before non-believers and letting them make decisions. What kind of testimony does this have? It destroys the witness and the testimony of the church when brothers and sisters in Christ cannot get along with one another. You see, our testimony is on the line when we do not love one another. Look at what he says there in verse 7. Now, therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you have gone to law against another. Would you not rather be wronged? And would you not rather let yourselves be cheated? In other words, isn't the testimony of Christ more important than a little bit of money here or there? In fact, it's interesting, the Greek translation in verse 7, he says, Now, therefore, you have already been defeated. In other words, when you go to court, you've already lost. Doesn't matter whether you win the case or not, you lose. Why? Because the testimony of Christ before the world has been destroyed by the fact that you're going to get your money from this brother one way or another. Shouldn't you love one another? And shouldn't you be willing to, if your brother asks for your coat, if he asks for it, shouldn't you give him your coat also? If he asks for your cloak, shouldn't you give him your coat also? If you ask you to go one mile, should you go two miles with him? You see, we ought to love one another in such a way that our testimony for Christ is increased rather than being destroyed by the way that we treat one another. You see, that's why he says in Revelation 12, 11, that we overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony and that they loved their lives even in the death. The basis for our obedience is found back in first John, chapter five. Let's take a look at that. In verse 3 of chapter 5, he says this, for this is the love of God that we keep as commandments. Now, what's he saying here? He's saying, how do you love God? Well, you love God when you obey God. If you don't, when do you disobey God? It's when you're not loving God with all of your heart. But look at what he goes on to say, and his commandments are not burdensome. Literally, his commandments are not heavyweights. In fact, it's interesting, Jesus uses that exact same word that John uses in Matthew 23 when he talks about the Pharisees. And he says that they tie heavy weights around people by the commandments that they give. In other words, their laws are legalistic and they require all of these things and the end result is it's just a heavy weight around their neck. But in Matthew chapter 11, when Jesus calls disciples to come unto him, he says, come unto me for I am lowly and meek and my burden is light. You see, it's different. It's not that it's not a burden. He's not saying that following Christ is easy. In fact, he says, take my yoke upon you. You see, it's not that it's easy to follow Christ, but it's not a burden to follow Christ. Do you see the distinction in that? It's not a heavy weight to follow Christ. He's not saying that we don't obey. We do obey. Why do we obey, though? Not because we have a legalistic list of rules, but we obey because of the love of God, the perfect love that we were talking about in chapter 4. When we are made perfect in love, it not only casts out fear, but it motivates us to want to obey God and it motivates us to want to love those that God has put in our life. And you see, that's what he's talking about, this perfect love. It changes our lives. When we understand the way He loves us, we ought to understand the way we should love one another also. And what's the difference between the kind of righteousness that the Pharisees had and the kind of righteousness the disciples had? It's a difference between what I would call a legalistic obedience and a loving obedience. There's a big difference between those two. It can look the same on the outside, but the person who's obeying out of a legalism doesn't have any joy in their obedience. All they have is a burden. They know they've got to do this or else. And you see, when we come back to we've been saved by the blood of the Lamb, our works don't make us right before God. So we are now freed to obey him out of love, not out of obligation. We obey out of love. And it changes the whole way that we operate. I think a good illustration of this is the man who hired a lady to be a maid in his house. And for a number of years, she's cleaning the house every week. She's cooking many of the meals, and she's taking care of things around the house. But eventually, he gets to know this lady after a number of years and gets to the place where they start spending some time together. And he eventually asked the lady to marry him, and she marries him. Beforehand, she had a list of things that she had to do, and she had to turn in this list showing that she had completed those tasks at the end of the week so that she could get her paycheck from him. She did everything because she was required to do it. And I'm sure many days it seemed to be a burden that she had to get up and go to work that day and clean the guy's house. But you see, once she gets married to the guy, it changes the motivation. And no longer is it done out of a burden, but it's done out of a sense of love. No longer is it done because she has to check off the list and at the end of the week be able to say, now you owe me a certain amount of money. But everything done in that relationship is now done out of a relationship of love. That's the difference between a legal obedience and a loving obedience. And you see, before we came to Christ, we were under this legal obedience. But now, once we know Christ, it's been paid for and we have been joined together with Christ. And it's now a loving obedience, not a living obedience. Not a legal obedience. William Barclay put it this way. He said, for love, no duty is too hard and no task is too great. I mean, we're celebrating Mother's Day today and we're remembering the mothers around us. But how many of you mothers, you would say the same thing too, right? You wouldn't do some of the things you do for anybody else's kids, would you? Right? I'm sure that every mother here has thought that. You know, if these weren't my kids, there's no way I'd be doing what I'm doing right now. But you see, we do things for love that we would never do for another stranger. Barclay goes on to say this, that which we would not do for a stranger, we gladly do for a friend. And that which we would not think about giving to a stranger, we will sacrificially give for a loved one. You see, the difference is the relationship that we have. And we do not obey Christ because of a legal obedience. We obey Him because of a loving obedience. And he says every single one that's living this lifestyle of love is an overcomer. You overcome the world because you act out differently than everybody else in the world. They do it because of illegal obedience. If I don't do this, they won't like me. They won't love me. They won't care about me. But we do it. Why? Because we have seen the perfect love of God. We have seen how he has first loved us and he's changed our lives. And so we are overcomers because we live a lifestyle of love and his commandments. We keep his commandments, not because there's a legal requirement. But his commandments are not burdensome because this is the love of God that we keep his commandments, not the law of God, but the love of God. Well, not only is everyone born of God an overcomer and everyone that lives the life of love is an overcomer, but also everyone that walks by faith is an overcomer. Notice what he says in verse four. He says, for whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that it has overcome the world, our faith. You see, the issue here that he's talking about is our walk with Christ. He's talking about that day in and day out achieving of victory in our lives. See, the Christian life is a life of faith. It's a life of faith from the beginning to the end. You come to Christ by faith, and you continue to live by faith. So many people teach this, that you come to Christ by faith, but after that, there are certain things you must do to stay a Christian. We see the Christian life is a life of faith from beginning to end. In Colossians, chapter two, verse six, Paul says, just as you receive Christ, so continue to walk in him. In other words, you receive Christ. How? By faith. You walk in him. How? By faith. And there's a tendency sometimes to move away from a life of faith and go back to a life of sight and to go back to a life where we're no longer walking, trusting Christ for everything in our lives. The song that we sang earlier, Trust and Obey, was written by a man who came to faith in Christ during the crusade back in the 19th century. And when he came to faith in Christ, someone had asked him a question. He said, now that you've come to faith in Christ, what are you going to do? And he said, well, I don't know. I guess I'll just have to trust and obey. He said, I didn't know exactly what I would do with my life, but I knew one thing, that I was going to start listening to whatever God said and whatever God said, I was going to believe it and I was going to obey it. And notice in the chorus what he says there, trust and obey, trust and obey, for there is no other way to be, what, happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. What's John writing this letter about? He's writing about joy, isn't he? And how in the world are you going to have the kind of joy that overcomes every situation you find yourself in the world? You do it by one thing. You learn to trust and obey. You learn to say, Lord, this is what you have said, and I'm not going to trust walking by sight, but I'm going to trust what you've said and I'm going to live by faith and not live by sight. Your word is what I'm going to put my faith and trust in. Then there's a reason why we do that in Revelation 12, verse 11. He says they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony and that they love not their lives, even unto death. How are they able to do that? They got to the place where they were willing to say, Lord, my life doesn't matter. What matters is my trusting you. You see, that's what causes us to be victorious over every situation. Look back in the book of Hebrews, chapter 11. One of the reasons we misunderstand Christian victory is because we have a wrong definition of what victory is. We often think of victory as success. Well, God thinks of victory as faithfulness. We are victorious whenever we remain true to him, no matter what the outcome. We are victorious whenever we say, Lord, this is what your word says, and I'll live by it no matter what the outcome. So many times I hear taught in Christian circles today that we believe certain things, and if we believe them, then we'll have success. The scripture never teaches us that. Jesus said, if you're my followers, remember the world hated me, it's going to hate you also. You see, we're not guaranteed success. Sometimes there is. But the measure of victory isn't in the success. The measure of victory is in our faithfulness to follow God. Look at Hebrews chapter 11. It's interesting that in Hebrews chapter 11, there are two groups of people that are included in the hall of faith. Look at verse 30. For by faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish along with those who did not believe when she received the spies with peace. And what more shall I say, for time will fail me to talk of Gideon and Baruch and Samson and Jephthah, of David and Samuel and of the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained the promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to fight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead back to life again. Stop there. In every one of those cases, the world would say, yeah, yeah, right, that's victory. You know, women receive their dead back to life again. Wow, that's victory. They shut the mouths of lions. Yeah, that's victory. They didn't get eaten by the lions. But he doesn't stop there. In fact, I stopped you right in the middle of the verse on purpose, because the victory is not in the outcome. The victory is in the faithfulness, no matter what the outcome. Look at verse 35 again. Women receive their dead back to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had the trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. These were victorious. Those who were cut in two, Those who were stoned, those who had all the worldly possessions taken away from them and all they could do was wander about in sheepskins and goatskins and live in the caves because nobody would give them anything because of their faith in Christ. They had the victory. You see, victory isn't related to the outcome. Victories related to faithfulness. Look at what he says at the end there, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in the deserts and the mountains and the dens and the caves of the earth. And all of these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise. God, having provided something better for us, that we should not be made perfect apart from the nation, not be made perfect apart from us. Notice what he says. They received a good testimony. Why? Not because of the outcome, but they received a good testimony because they were willing to say, I'm not going to walk by sight. I'm going to walk by faith. I'm going to trust that, God, what you've said about this situation, I'm going to stand firm on what you have said. And even if it means I lose my life, I'm going to stand firm on what you've said. Some were delivered. Some received their dead back alive again. Some shut the mouths of lions. Others were sawn in two. Others were stoned, others were destitute, but they were all victorious. Because victory means trusting God and obeying him. The basis of that trust is our faith. It's saying, notice what he says in 1 John, come back to 1 John, he says 1 John 5, verse 4, and whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. That's interesting. It almost seems like he's shifting all the focus of first John has been on Jesus, on Jesus, on Jesus, on God and his love and his perfect love toward us. And then he says this and whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world. Our faith. Sounds like he's shifting it back to us, doesn't it? And yet he's really not. In fact, it's interesting. He doesn't say in verse four, whoever. Is is born of God overcomes the world, but whatever. In other words, he's talking about this faith that we have that overcomes the world. It's something that we have. It's not ourselves. He's putting the focus not on us again, but he's putting the focus on Christ again. In fact, the truth is faith doesn't have anything in and of itself. Faith attaches itself to something else. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. It's not something tangible, but faith is something which grabs on to something else and holds on for dear life. You see, when you have faith in anything, you're trusting that object. And the reason our faith overcomes the world is because our faith isn't in ourselves. Our faith isn't in our own ideas. Our faith isn't in our own righteousness. Our faith is in Jesus Christ. And that's why he says whatever in this case, rather than whoever, because it's our faith that overcomes the world. It's not something in us. It's what we attach ourselves to. And when we say, I'm going to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and put my faith and trust in him, I'm going to trust in what God has said in his word, even though it looks like everything, if I believe his word and I follow, it looks like life will be a mess for me. I'm still going to follow God. And you see, our faith overcomes the world and gives us a victory. Why would he choose faith? One person put it this way, and I think it's very accurate, Christ honors faith the most because faith honors Christ the most. But think about that. Christ honors faith the most because faith honors Christ the most. Nothing honors Christ more than for you to say, Lord, I don't know what's going to happen, but I know this. I'm going to trust in you. I'm going to trust what you've said is true, even though everybody else says it's not. I'll put my faith and my trust in you. You see, that honors Christ because it says, Lord, I think you're worthy of me putting my faith and my trust in you. And that's why John says in verse five, he says, whoever who is he that overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus Christ is the son of God. You see, walking by faith is a matter of saying, OK, God, this is what you've said. No matter what the outcome, I'm going to obey you and I'm going to follow you. And whenever anybody does that, it doesn't matter what the world does to them. They can threaten even to take our lives away. And we can say, OK, if that's what it takes, God, if they're going to take my life, that's fine. I'm going to trust you. And that's why in Revelation, John says this way, And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. That's foundational. By the word of their testimony. That's day in and day out. And that they loved not their lives, even unto death. They were willing to say, I will trust you, God, whatever happens. And I'll follow you, whatever happens. And everyone that believes that Jesus is the Christ overcomes the world. Who is this person? He's a person that believes in Jesus Christ. Thomas Chalmers was a pastor back in the 18th century, a Scottish pastor. He once went to visit a lady in his congregation who was having a great deal of concern about her salvation. She just could not understand how she could trust Christ alone. She was always worried about good deeds and trying to do enough to make herself worthy of God. And she was always frustrated and she would go through these ups and downs. She'd go through these periods of great Vigor to try and do things in the church and she'd have all these good deeds and and and then eventually she'd take her off again And he'd go to visit and find out why she wasn't coming to church and it was just because she had this great frustration She thought there was something missing in her life, and she wasn't living up and maybe she wasn't even a Christian And he tried to explain to her He took her through the Word of God to talk to her about the assurance of salvation that comes through the blood of Jesus Christ and how Jesus blood pays for everything and and how Christians aren't perfect, they do sin. And he tried over and over again to say what you need to do is you just need to trust in Christ. In fact, the old Scottish way of putting it was you need to lean on Jesus Christ to put your whole trust in Him. And that's pretty much pretty similar to the Greek word for faith or belief. It means to lean on or to trust Him. She couldn't understand it. He tried everything possible to help her to understand the importance of resting in Christ alone. And so when he had word of prayer with her and then he left and he started walking across the back of her house toward a creek that went across a bridge on his way back home. And when he got to the small bridge, it was a footbridge, and when he got there he stopped and he put his hand on it and shook the bridge a little bit. And he stood there for a while and she was watching him from her back door and he started to step on the bridge and he stepped back again and shook the bridge again. And she kept watching what he was doing. And after he'd done this three or four times, she yelled out to him. She said, Pastor, you can go across the bridge. You can lean on it, meaning it'll hold you. You can trust it. And he turned back to the lady with a smile on his face. He said, I and you can lean on Jesus, too. And in that moment, he said she finally understood what it really meant to have faith in Christ. that he was worth being able to lean upon. No matter how difficult the situation, no matter how hard the situation, leaning on Jesus Christ is what faith is all about, and faith is the victory that overcomes the world. I want you to ask yourself a question this morning. Can you say that you have overcome the world because you believe on Jesus Christ? You see, have you come to that place? Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Have you come to that place where you've put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone? Have you come to the place where it's not a matter of what you believe about Jesus, but you've said, I will trust Jesus and him alone for my salvation? You see, if you haven't done that, then you're not born of God. But a person who is born of God, someone who simply puts their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, is born of God. And they overcome the world, not because of what they do, but because of what Christ has done. And if you have already put your faith in Jesus Christ, are you resting in that assurance? Are you going back to your own good deeds and are you going back to your own fruitfulness as an assurance for your own salvation? Are you saying, no, I'm going to go back to Christ and what he did for me is enough for me to trust him for eternal life. You see, this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. Let's pray again. Father, we want to give You thanks for the victory that Jesus Christ has purchased for everyone who believes in Him. We thank You, Lord, that no one is excluded, that any person who comes and puts their faith and trust in Christ will have eternal life, and they will have the victory. We thank You that You have won that victory by Your death on the cross, and we pray this morning that You, through Your Spirit, might draw some who don't know Christ to come to see that Jesus Christ is enough for eternal life. Lord, would You do that? We pray this in Jesus' name. Let's stand together as we sing. Faith is the victory. We will overcome. We will overcome. There's a heart of man and a word of God. He has overcome He has overcome He has overcome The strong man is found, and the vict'ry is won. He has the word. We will overcome, by the blood of the Lamb, by the blood of the Lord. We will overcome. Oh, we will overcome. He is the victory, He is the victory, O glorious victory, and overcomes the world.