Alba 9-22-2024
FAITH IS THE VICTORY
I John 5:1-5
Faith is the victory! But if faith is the victory, does that mean that we can avoid all pain and trouble? Jeff Strite, minister with the Church of Christ at Logansport, Indiana said that he once heard a radio call-in program on a Christian radio station. The host had a soft gentle – grandfatherly voice. He was so reassuring and comforting. One of his callers that night was a woman. She explained that she was blind. And some of the people she went to church with said that if she had enough faith, God would heal her of her blindness. She was confused and a bit hurt by their comments. Was the problem really that she didn't have enough faith?
The radio host comforted her and then asked if she had one of those white sticks the blind use to find their way around. She said she did. He said, “Well, next time someone says to you that if you had enough faith that God would heal you of your blindness… you take that white stick, and you rap them up side of the head. Then you tell them: ‘You know, that wouldn’t have hurt if you’d had enough faith.’
Some think faith is a tool for you to use get what you want. And if the tool doesn’t work, it was YOUR fault. Because you obviously didn’t have enough faith. That is not true! Real faith is not a tool to manipulate God. It is a means for God to do amazing things that only He can do when you trust Him.
When Jesus was facing the cross, He knew how painful that would be. But He prayed “not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42). Some preachers teach that true faith is handing God a sheet of paper that has all your requests written on it. And then you believe (actually - you expect) God to do what YOU want. That’s not Biblical Faith. Biblical Faith is when you hand God a blank sheet of paper. And then you tell God, “Not my will, but YOURS be done. Here’s a blank piece of paper. I trust you to fill it in with things You want done in my life.”
Actually, it is in times of trouble that we discover true faith. True faith gives a calm assurance that all will be well, no matter what the circumstances of the moment. True faith will translate into a peace that the world cannot understand. And that is a faith which gives the victory that overcomes the world.
The text for this morning's message comes from I John 5:1-5. And verse four says, this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. So faith IS the victory. But faith in what? Will any faith do? James May, a minister in Louisiana, speaking of victims and victors after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 said this:
“What I have seen is that there are a lot of victims of the disaster. It’s not hard to find them because of the way they act. Victors are harder to find, and when you do, inevitably those who are victors, know the Lord Jesus Christ and have faith in God.” He said, “It isn’t surprising to me that this is true because the real victory can only be found through knowing and following Jesus Christ.” That agrees with verse five of our text that says the one “who overcomes the world” is “he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
You may have heard it said, “It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you believe.” Or maybe you have heard it said, “We are all heading to the same place, we are just on different paths.” But, what you believe does matter! What you believe is very important. It's not enough to just believe. Faith is not a nebulous thing. It is very important in whom you believe. If you want a faith that is victorious...
1. It must be a specific faith: Faith In Jesus as the Christ
In Matthew 16:13-16 it says, When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” That is the Good Confession.
In Matthew 10:32-33 Jesus said, “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.”
Faith in Jesus means believing that He is the Son of God. The Person of Christ. The Almighty God. The Great I AM! A victorious faith is a day by day, moment by moment, trust in the enabling power of Jesus. To believe in Jesus as “the Christ” means to trust in Him as the Messiah, the unique Anointed One. It means believing that Jesus of Nazareth was God’s one and only Son, and that He was anointed by God’s Spirit to preach the gospel, heal the sick, raise the dead, then die on the cross for our sins and rise from the dead, becoming our Savior.
Because of what Jesus did, we are given victory! Jesus defeated death for us! When we come to Jesus in obedient faith, we become a part of God’s family. We are new creations in Christ!
Verse one says, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” And Galatians 3:26 - 27 (NASB) says, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” We, who in faith have put on Christ, are born of God and have overcome, because as God's children we share in the victory that that Jesus won for us. But faith won’t save anyone if that faith is not in the right place, or should I say, if not in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because faith in our own ability to overcome is a misplaced faith. Faith in government, faith in finances or in anything besides Jesus is a faith built on a foundation that will surely fall.
Jesus is the Ultimate Overcomer! There is a day to come when the armies of Satan will have a final battle against Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus will win that battle. But I want you to notice who will be with Him in that final battle.
Revelation 17:14 says, "They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of Lord’s and King of Kings, and with him will be his called, chosen, and faithful followers." (NIV)
1 Corinthians 15:57 shouts the glad message: “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The heartbeat of God’s love for us is the sacrifice that He gave by sending His only Son to die on the cross for you and me. It was on the cross that Jesus cried, “It is finished!” He completed what only He could do to win for us the victory. We are overcomers because Jesus is The Overcomer.
If you want a faith that is victorious, it must be a faith in Jesus. And also...
2. It Must be a Faith that Loves God
This is a constant theme of the apostle John. In verse one he assumes that the people to whom he writes love God, and if they do they must love Jesus as well. It says, “everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.” In other words, “everyone who loves the father loves his child as well” (NIV). John is the one who gives us real insight on how to love God. In his gospel, he speaks of the love of God. He’s the one who tells us how much God loves us. He shared that all-important verse that we know by heart: John 3:16.
And remember, our love for God is the consequence of His great, unconditional love for us. 1 John 4:19 says, "We love Him because He first loved us.” Now I know that newer translations translate that verse as “We love because He first loved us.” That is true, because God, Who is love, has enabled us to love as well. But isn't also true that our love for God is a response to His love for us?
Our love for God gives us faith that leads to victory. We can love God even during the difficult times in life. Loving God gives us a faith that says, “I will trust the Lord.” There are many who cannot love God when things are not going right for them. They want to blame God. But victory is not a life without problems. Victory is a life that faces problems trusting God's promises.
Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-38 that we are to, “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment.” So how do we do that? Well, God is not impressed with our rituals. He doesn't get excited about our buildings, budgets, or membership rolls. He wants our hearts.
The problem we face is that there are those who profess to love the Lord, but demonstrate an aversion to bow their knee before His throne and yield to His authority. That is the same problem that God saw happening in Isaiah's day. God spoke then as He speaks to us today and said, “The Lord says: 'These people worship me with their mouths, and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is based on nothing but human rules.'” (Isaiah 29:13 New Century Version)
The Lord is saying, "These people talk about Me, but they don't do what I say." Remember what Samuel said to King Saul, “To obey is better than sacrifice” (I Samuel 15:22). Obedience is the sign of our love for God. Jesus made this truth very clear when in John 14:15 He said to His disciples, “If you love me, keep my commandments”.
Our love for God is expressed through obedience. To love God is more than mere emotion or words. It is demonstrated by our submission to the will of God. So to have a victorious faith...
3. It Must be a Faith that Obeys God
We cannot separate obedience and love, they go hand in hand. If children are defiant and refuse to obey reasonable commands of their parents, they do not really love their parents. If we do not want to obey God, we do not love Him as we should.
I John 5:2-3 says, “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.”
Burdensome means that something is, heavy, oppressive, or difficult to do. Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:30 “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Our faith gives us the ability and desire to keep God’s commandments.
The story is told of a lady who went to the Post Office to mail a gift to a friend. The clerk looked at the package and said, “Is there anything breakable in here?” The woman immediately responded, “Yes, there is a Bible with all its commands in that box.”
Now, it is certainly true that none of us is perfect. Not one of us. But if we know that we are making a decision in some area of our lives to be disobedient to God, we know that we are not loving God as we should. Oh, we can say all day that we love God. We can wear our cross necklaces, and put fish symbols on the back of our cars.
We can plaster Christian sayings all over our bumpers. We can come to church every Sunday. We can read the Bible and pray. We can give half our income to the church. We can do all of these things, but if we do not do what God says, we don’t really love Him.
Many people like the idea of living by faith, but this obedience business is something else. But we can’t make our own rules when it comes to God. We must come to God on His terms or not at all. If we truly love God, we will want to please Him, in our thoughts, in our words, and in our actions.
Everybody wants to be an overcomer, to rise above the cares and troubles of this world and stand atop the platform of victory. And faith is the victory!
When we put our faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, when we truly love God for all that He has done, when we are obedient to God out of our response to His love for us, we will be living a victorious life of faith.
CLOSE:
Sir Leonard Wood once visited the King of France and the King was so pleased with him, he was invited for dinner the next day. Sir Leonard went to the palace, and the King meeting him in one of the halls, said, “Why, Sir Leonard, I did not expect to see you. How is it that you are here?”
“Did not your majesty invite me to dine with you?” said the astonished guest. “Yes,” replied the King, “but you did not answer my invitation.”
Then it was that Sir Leonard Wood uttered one of the choicest sentences of his life. He replied, “A king’s invitation is never to be answered, but to be obeyed.”
What a great thought! God has offered an invitation to all. His desire is that we come as He has called. There are many things that God has told us to do, and we don’t need to question them. We just need to obey them.
On the Day of Pentecost when people came under conviction that they were responsible for putting Jesus on the cross, the apostle Peter gave this command, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
We need to believe in Jesus, love God and obey His commands.
