Overcoming The World

Overcoming the World

1 John 5:4-5

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iY0xWf7KuQ

In the desert we’re not accustomed to creeping vines, but over the years we’ve seen our share. I remember living in Las Vegas that had a shaded part in the front yard next to the house, that had not only bushes, but the previous owner also planted some Ivy. Well, it wasn’t long before the Ivy literally took over the whole front planter section, choking out the bushes, and attaching itself to the front walls of the house.

After a couple of years and with most of the front planter and house covered in Ivy, I pulled as much of it as I could out from the roots, and I cut the main stems that were growing up the sides of the house. Now, it looked as if I didn’t really do anything, but the Ivy was either dead or dying, which became evident in the weeks following as the “creepers,” began to fall away from the house and from what was left of the bushes.

Seeing this, what I was reminded of is how sin grows and gets a strangle hold on our lives. Yet, it doesn’t need to remain that way. What we see in our passage is that at Jesus’s death, the power of sin had been cut. Yes, the “creepers” of sin still cling to us, and have some effect, but sin’s power has been severed by Jesus Christ, and its grip dries up and falls away like that Ivy on the side of the house.

In other words, the conflict between the spirit of the world and the Spirit of God is not yet over, but the outcome has already been settled at the cross and the empty tomb.

And so, I’d like to look at these two verses, and the topic of how we overcome the world.

“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5 NKJV)

Now, there’s a whole lot that is present leading up to and after these verses, but I’d like to keep on point, and what we see in these two verses is the theme of our study today, and that is overcoming the world, and what is it that overcomes the world.

And if we want to be overcomers, and overcome the world, we need to determine just what is the world. The world that John is talking about isn’t the physical world, rather it is the attitude, or better yet, it is the spirit of the world, and thus who it is that is in control of the world that must be overcome.

The ruler of this world, the personage who is over this present world system in which we live, is none other than Satan, whom the Apostle Paul refers to as the “god of this age.” (2 Corinthians 4:4)

This fact Jesus never disputed even as Satan tempted Him in the wilderness showing Jesus all the kingdoms of the world saying, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” (Luke 4:6-7 NKJV)

But how did this happen? Well, when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, dominion of the earth was passed to Satan, and so, the world that we can and must overcome is ruled and controlled by Satan.

Earlier, John talks about this world and the things thereof. He said, “For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world.” (1 John 2:16 NKJV)

As for the “lust of the flesh, the Apostle Paul identifies it as sexual immorality and anger in all of their various forms, along with idolatry, sorcery, and that which deals with self. Then John talks about the “lust of the eyes,” he’s talking about that those things that we see and desire, like possessions, power and the like. And then “the pride of life,” is anything that leads to arrogance, boasting, or selfishness.

Roughly, what John is describing is that the world is nothing less than all those things that allure or trap the human heart. They are those things and concerns we get caught up in.

Today, these would entail the world of entertainment and amusement, the world of finance and possessions, or the world of politics or what exerts power over others. And while we can touch and feel them, there is an invisible system that is behind them, one that we cannot see, but it is there. It is what Paul describes as the powers of darkness and the spiritual forces of evil.