Prerequisites for Overcoming the World

Introduction

Turn with me in your Bibles to 1 John 5. We are going to move our attention away from the topic of love to the ability in Christ to overcome the world. That is the premise for verses 1-12. I am going to start reading in verse 1…Our focus is going to be in verses 1-3 with what I have titled this sermon as “Prerequisites for Overcoming the World.”

Now you know what a prerequisite is. It is “a thing that is required as a prior condition for something else to happen or exist” (Oxford Dictionary). We have seen this occur with a job interview. In most cases, some kind of job interview is held before an employee is hired, drug testing and a background check are sometimes required as well before employment. In order to get a drivers license, you must first get a permit and drive for so many hours and satisfy the requirements.

This is also true in church life. We see it with the evaluation of overseers in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. There are certain requirements that a man must meet before being considered for the ministry. The Church Plants in the Bible Fellowship Church must have at least 3 elders and 30 committed participants before they can be brought forth for a vote as a particular church.

It is found in our lives as a Christian. Before coming to Christ, we have had a deep conviction of sin and have experienced a desperate need that must be fulfilled. It is then that we run to Christ for the forgiveness of our sins and the relinquishing of that burden. In the same way in our text this morning, we see prerequisites that must occur before being ready to overcome the world. Now, don’t let overcoming the world get to your head. I must say this at the beginning, you do not have any power to overcome the world in your own strength. We will make plain that this is all about God and the wonderful work that He does. With this let us being with our first point.

1. You Must be Born Again (v.1)

We begin our time together in verse 1. This verse is going to serve as the bedrock or the foundation, not only for our salvation, but for overcoming the world. Hence this verse being a prerequisite for overcoming the world and the title of our first point which can be summarized as, “You Must be Born Again.” We see at the outset that this is written to those who believe. In verses 1-12, John uses the word ‘believe’ 5 times directly (vv.1, 5, and 3 times in verse 9) and once indirectly as a means of us having faith in verse 4, 6 times in total. This is a major point of emphasis as we will consider overcoming the world in the next few times together in 1 John 5. This is quite the shift from chapter 4 which had a heavy emphasis on the subject of love. Now, we also see that chapter 5 piggy backs on chapter 4. Not because it comes afterward, but that belief is rooted in love. Specifically, the love that God has for us. In the same way that God loves us first before we can love, God is the One who makes Himself known to us first, that we may believe in Him. In other words, just as love is authored by God, so is belief in Him as well.

Those who are born again, believe that Jesus is the Christ. In our culture, the words Jesus Christ are used as a name, as a curse word. But what does it mean that Jesus is the Christ? What is the difference? And why is this an important distinction to make? Let me work backward on the subject.

Why is this so important? We can answer that by answering another question. What does it mean for Jesus to be the Christ? This is a little different than believing in Jesus Christ.

The title ‘Christ’ has very specific Old Testament implications to it. Christ means “Messiah” or “Anointed One” (Psalm 2:2, Acts 4:25-26). In addition, it means that Jesus fulfills the Old Testament titles of “prophet” (Psalm 105:15, John 6:14, 7:40-42), “priest” (Leviticus 4:3, 5, 16, 6:22, Hebrews 9:11), and “king” (2 Samuel 22:51, Revelation 19:16). I want to read some of the supporting texts, from both Old and New Testament, in hopes that you will see Christ fulfill every one of these to the letter.

Do you see the obvious nature of how Christ fulfills every single verse that I read to you? Think about this in a secular sense. Would you take the name of someone you love dearly and respect very much as a curse word aimed at someone else? Of course you would not! Now, if you would not do that for a loved one or someone you admire, how much more should it be abstained from our mouths! We are not talking about a mere human being here. We are talking about Jesus, the Christ who is prophet, priest, and king. He is far greater than David who was hand-picked by Yahweh to be king unlike Saul who was chosen out of Israel’s complaining of wanting a king (1 Samuel 16:12-13), greater than Moses who is described in the conclusion of the book of Exodus (34:10-12) as “there having not yet risen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom Yahweh knew face to face, in regard to all the signs and wonders which Yahweh sent him to do in the land of Egypt against Pharoah, all his servants, and all his land, and in regard to all the mighty power and in regard to all the great terror which Moses did in the sight of all Israel”, and greater than Aaron the chosen High Priest of Israel by God Himself in the days of Moses (Exodus 28:1).

Jesus Christ is eternally greater than each of these men who held only one of these positions at a time. Jesus holds all three positions or also known as offices continually! Think about that for a moment. Jesus never gives up His place as prophet, priest, and king. How great is Jesus? Turn with me to Hebrews 1. We are going to read verses 1-4…do you see the greatness of Jesus Christ in these verses? It is plain for us to see! None of the men that we just looked at who held the role of prophet, priest, or king are the “radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His (the Father) nature” (Hebrews 1:3).

Turn back with me to 1 John 5. Now, why have we looked at Christ at length? Notice what comes after “believing that Jesus is the Christ.” John says, such a one “has been born of God.” In other words, the one who has confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, has been born of God. The believer is born again, not of the flesh, but of the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-21).

Verse 1 tells us that we are born again. This is something that happens in every believer. The one who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. In other words, the enslavement to the flesh is gone and freedom in Christ has appeared. But why do we need to be born again? Follow along with me. This all works together. This is where our belief of being in sin under Adam (or what is known as the doctrine of "Original Sin") comes into play. I must ask this question, Am I born unto God at human conception? The answer would be no, and we know this to be true, because every man is a sinner separated from God upon birth (Psalm 14:3). This implies that, in order to have saved by God, I must be reconciled to Him (John 3:3). And how am I reconciled to God? It is through the work of Christ and being born again in Him. Romans 10:9 says that Jesus Christ as Lord must be confessed. If I was born of God, I would have long ago been confessing the name of Jesus as the Son of God since the very beginning. But I did not until I was born again or regenerated. Titus 3:5 confirms the need to be saved, washed, and renewed. And who is the initiator of these things? Titus 3:6 says that Jesus Christ our Savior is the one whom all these things are done.

So, you and I must be born again in order to overcome the world because if we are not, we are still slaves to the world who follow the desires of the flesh (1 John 2:16). It is a prerequisite that must be met. If you have not yet trusted in Christ, He extends to you forgiveness of your sins today by the shedding of blood on the cross. Turn from your sins today and put your trust in Jesus Christ.

2. We Love God and do His Commandments (v.2)

Let us turn our attention to verse 2 where we see the second prerequisite that is “We Love God and do His Commandments.” We have seen at length the believing aspect of Christianity, now we move to more of the doing part of Christianity. Continuing the theme in this epistle where theology meets practicality, we see this once again in verse 2.

There is a bridge that brings verses 1 and 2 together. At the end of verse 1 and the beginning of verse 2, you will see that they both speak of having love for the brothers. Remember that? Here, we find that once again. Now, I am not going to speak at length about that, because we dealt with that at length in chapter 4. Thus, I want most of our focus to be on the latter half of verse 2 dealing with loving God and doing His commandments.

Notice with me that love for God precedes doing His commandments. I ask you this, how can you do tasks or command for someone that you do not love, nor respect? We have all seen this either at work or in the home. When there is a lack of love or respect, commands and tasks are not completed, or they are done so begrudgingly. Have you had a child or grandchild not listen to something that you have told him or her to do? Of course you have. Why is that? It is because in that moment they are not giving you love or respect. I can remember a specific time in my days as a heathen that I did exactly this. There was a station on the radio that I used to listen to that my mother did not approve of. She came out to my car once and said, “Boy, I have told you before that I do not want to here that music coming from you car.” You already know what my response was, “yes, mother” in such a loving and kind tone. Yeah right! I didn’t care what she had to say. Of course, I obliged in that moment so that she wouldn’t take my car, but as soon as she walked away I turned right back to that station and went on my way. I am sure we could spend much time story telling of incidents where we acted in a similar way.

Now, what is the cause for our love for God? Look back at chapter 4 verse 19, “we love, because He first loved us.” To put the bridge of verse 1 and verse 2 into context, we love one another as an outpouring of our love for God because He loved us first. This is very similar to what we saw in the final two sermons in chapter 4.

To overcome the world, we must love God and therefore love one another. This has further meaning and implication than what we saw in chapter 4. If this epistle has not given enough unction for you to love your brother, I don’t know what will! It is so painstakingly obvious that having love for one another must occur.

John also wants us to know that it doing the commandments of God is very important, in fact it is conjoined by the word ‘and’ in our text. The love God is acted out in this life. In other words, you and I must act out our salvation and the greatest way that we can do that is by doing the commandments of God. The doing of God’s commandments works together with the verbal testimony of our faith in Jesus Christ. Might I ask this question. How much credibility would you give someone’s profession of faith if you NEVER see any fruit that is bore? Exactly, you would question the credibility, maybe even doubt that the profession of faith is genuine.

What does it mean “to do?” Now this is going to be a little more technical than usual, but I hope that this will help us clarify verse 2 with “doing” God’s commandments and verse 3 with “keeping” God’s commandments. The word for “to do” in the Greek is Poieo and it is used in this way…I am of the Father; therefore, I worship, live, or any active verb as found in (Matthew 7:24, Matthew 12:12, Mark 3:35, Mark 5:19, Luke 6:22-23). Luke 6:23 shows this verb in action. In response to persecution, Jesus said, “Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven.” See, we are glad and rejoice, because our reward in heaven is great. In 1 John 5:2, we can say, “because you and I love God, we do His commandments.”

And these commands that we do to show our love for God are a blessing to one another. We see that in so many ways. We can serve brunches to show our appreciation to God for the time spent together in harmony as we bless one another with food, Lord willing, we do Christmas carols this year, we sing to those who are shut-ins or live alone. We do so out of love for God that He sent His Son to this earth and in turn we bless each other, those whom we love with deep affection. Do you see that there are things that you and I are already doing to love God and love one another?

Doing commandments going beyond what is commonly called the “thou shalt” commandments. I hope that you see that in loving one another and loving God, the “thou shalt” commandments are done out of a love for God primarily and in a secondary sense, they are done for the people of God. The way that the secular world looks at commandment doing is in a restrictive sense. John does not promote this as restricting, but as freedom under God’s sovereignty. You and I love one another as a means of loving God. And we love God and do His commandments, not out of being whipped into restrictive measures, but as a means of appreciation for the great love that God has for us.

Our commandment doing does not have to be extravagant; it just has to be present. This is another means in which you and I are equipped to overcome the world, we love God and do His commandments. May we do so with a heart of love toward God!

3. We Pledge Allegiance to God (v.3)

Thirdly, we are prepared for overcoming the world by Our Allegiance that we Pledge to God. And we find that in verse 3. To summarize verse 3, we are shown how to love God and that is by keeping His commandments. Now, if you were to read this in the English alone, you may ask what is the difference between “doing” God’s commandments and “keeping” them? They sound very similar in the English language. This is where I hope that the technical aspect of ‘doing’ and ‘keeping’ is helpful for you. I found it very helpful for me.

If you were to ask what is the love of God, I don’t think that you would expect the answer that John gives in this verse. You may think that it is more salvific. Although that is true, John does not emphasize that here. What then does John emphasize? This is where another Greek term is helpful to answer the question.

Tereo meaning to keep or observe as seen in verse 3, is used in this way…I am worshipping, living, or any active verb because I am of the Father (Matthew 28:20, John 15:10, James 2:10, 1 John 3:24, Revelation 1:3). The word Tereo also means to conform to or to have allegiance.

In other words, we conform or pledge our allegiance to the commandments of God because He loves us. We would do this in an earthly sense. For those whom we love and trust, we listen to them and do what they say and as we will see shortly, we do not listen in a reluctant way. Matthew 28:20 is a helpful verse to see this as well. Jesus says, “teaching them to keep (or conform to) all that I have commanded you” and then notice what Jesus says, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Now this promise, is to the disciples, but Jesus is also with us. He didn’t stop being with His people after He ascended. He continues to mediate to the Father on our behalf. We have seen that He is with us as He gives to believers the Holy Spirit as a sign of being sealed in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:21-22).

The meaning of commandment keeping is a submissive term. As I said, as we keep the commandments, we conform to or pledge our allegiance to God. This tells us in the affirmative that the keeping of God's commandments assures us that we are living in conformity to God and not to the flesh. On the other hand, if we are not keeping the commandments of God, questions must be asked. What is the reason? What is keeping me from conforming to God? That is the root issue. It goes beyond keeping a law, rule, or statute. It has everything to do with my allegiance to God. The love of God resides in us when we give our allegiance to Him, and we show that by keeping His commandments. In other words, I walk out the faith that I profess to believe.

Now, you might be thinking, boy it is quite a lot to conform to God. You mean I have to be submissive? Do I really have to conform? Christian, be not discouraged. Pledging our allegiance to God is not arbitrary, it is not without cause, but for believers in Jesus it is freeing. If I were to ask, to whom would you rather pledge your allegiance? Or better said, to whom would you rather be enslaved? To sin or to Jesus Christ? Christian, you have already answered this question, but you, O unbeliever, there is time to be free. Listen, this may sound hypocritical, but it is true. There is freedom in being a slave of Jesus Christ. This may be difficult to hear. But this is what it means to observe the commandments of God without burden. God's commandments are not a millstone that hangs from our necks! They are not a heavy hand upon us. In fact, they are the opposite, light as a feather. This does not mean that it will be easy to follow them, but in comparison to the heavy weight of being enslaved to sin, it is incomparable.

Christian, if at any time, the commands of God feel burdensome, it is not because of God, it is because of you. There is a disconnect between you and God. It is not because God has lost His hold of us. Remember John 6:37 and 39? "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never cast out...Now this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day." Clearly, God has His gracious and persevering hand upon us. All of this being said, it brings the ball back into our court. In other words, it you and I who distance ourselves from God.

Remember, we pledge allegiance to God because of His love for us. I implore you this day to heed the Lord’s commands and to keep them diligently, for He has earned our praise and worship because of His great love for us.

Conclusion

What do these prerequisites say about you? I want to leave you with a few thoughts to consider.

1. Are you saved? Verse 1 demands that we ask that question. This is the first prerequisite in order to overcome the world. You must be saved! None of what we will look at over the next few weeks will apply to you, even Easter, if you are not saved. This is another call to examine where you are at regarding the things of the Lord. Do you love God? Your salvation will clearly show itself legitimate with your love for the Lord. It will be visible. People will see the difference. This is the very foundation of overcoming the world.
2. Are you one who does the commandments of God? It is not enough to just merely believe. Now, this is not to say that you must be perfect without sin (for that is impossible), but there must be a striving after God, and this includes doing His commandments. We have seen previously in this epistle that commandment doing is a very important reality in the Christian life. For John, to be able to overcome the world, the doing of God’s commandments must be present. Is this said of you?
3. Does the love of God reside within you? Are you in allegiance with the One true God? You are not just a commandment doer, but you are a commandment keeper. You adhere to God’s commandments as He has given His grace to you to carry them out. Have you been conformed to God? If you have been, the love of God resides in you. That is a promise! Go, therefore, as a cheerful follower of Christ that the world would see and know your love that you have for Him.