Trying to live in this world makes you feel like Abraham felt. He was called out of Ur of the Chaldees. He underwent a change in heart. His faith caused him to go into a country to the west, a no-man’s land filled with you name it. He heard it was a rough area. Until the end of his life he never had a place that he put a tent down and stayed, but he was always in the perimeter of the land God promised him. We don’t really belong here either. Our kingdom is not of this world. How do we face it? Being in the world is a complex problem, but the solution is simple. John gives it to us.
I John 5:4For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 5Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
This is the victory. The answer seems simple, but don’t take the word of God just by reading it and setting it aside. Study it. For sure nothing else works. Case in point: when trying to deal with the world many tend to try every new thing that comes along to overcome. Only one thing works—faith. The realization is that we don’t have the capacity to overcome on our own. It is he who overcame all things that makes it possible. Jesus told the disciples “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” We can overcome through our faith in Jesus.
We live in a dangerous environment, but the most dangerous thing we face every day is supernatural from the devil, disguised in ordinary forms. He’s geared toward our defeat and destruction. Jesus spoke of the devil as a thief that is come to steal and to kill. He certainly works on us. He pulls our attention when we try to pray or study. He wants to destroy our spiritual life. He hits us broadside and sometimes throws us for a loop. How do we survive yet alone overcome?
When John wrote this, he was an old man. He’d been through a lot for the Lord. It was the turn of the First Century. He was the only apostle still alive. Even though he’d been through it, in Second John he wrote “that your joy might be full.” We have to remember the facts. We don’t have to fall; we don’t have to fail; we don’t have to surrender. We have the advantage. Even at the worst possible time when the devil seems to have full advantage, we already have it! Don’t be disturbed by events. The devil would have us think the true church is on a downward spiral of a losing team. It’s not! We overcome the way verse 5 explains it. “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” We don’t have to contend, fight, or flee. The world system is our foe. We can’t put our complete trust in man, social systems, politics, or anything else of this world. In fact, James says a friend of the world is not a friend of God. Don’t target people. The target is evil and sin. Target it. Face it. We don’t have to carry signs; our life should be our testimony. We’ll never overcome by arguing or debating the Word and the gospel of Christ. Live in faith to Jesus Christ. Walk in faith. Ignore the trends, ways, and fashions of the world. Your faith in Jesus overcomes the world! Love God. Follow him. Be the person you were born again to be. John says that’s the weapon that overcomes the world.
The Lord did a wonderful thing for us. We were born again of the Holy Spirit. The power of those fruits makes us strong. They are poison to the devil. Darkness runs from them. We overcome evil with good. That’s how the Bible puts it. Romans 12:21 says “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”
What John is telling us worked yesterday. It works today. It will work tomorrow. We fight with our faith not our fists. Paul said our weapons aren’t carnal; they are spiritual. Jesus is the victory! He is our food, our clothing, our finances, our healer, our soul lifter. He melts away sin. You can’t lose by coming to Jesus. We have a new light in our heart. We have a new nature that can overcome the world. We can say no to temptation. Being a Christian is now considered by this world as the “alternate lifestyle.” We’re citizens of another country, the Kingdom of Heaven. Above all contradicting orders, we obey the Lord.
Jesus’ own mother said it exactly right. At the wedding in Cana, she told the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do. When they did, the impossible happened. Let’s believe Jesus. Let’s follow his orders and instructions. Let’s believe we can do it through him. It is he who overcame the world, and John says if we believe in him we can overcome also. This is the victory.
Behold the conflict. It’s there. Behold the triumph. We’re bound to win. We have to believe. Behold the weapons. We have all we need in our faith. To be a believer is to be a conqueror!
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 