Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

Let’s start this morning by turning with me in your Bibles to Hebrews Chapter 12.

Remember, we said that there were two basic motives for John to write this epistle.

The first was to warn against and expose false teaching and the second was to give assurance to believers.

In this section of the epistle; John is giving us assurance, assurance of something we desperately need.

Assurance that our struggle with sin is not futile and assurance that this struggle has a predetermined outcome that was decided long before any of us were ever even born.

Christians go by many names in the Bible.

What are some of the names for Christians?

Christians – Acts 11:26

Saints – Romans 1:7

Brethren – Matthew 28:10

Sheep – John 10:1

Children of God – Philippians 2:15

Children of Light – Ephesians 5:8

Witnesses – Hebrews 12:1

Stewards – 1 Peter 4:10

Ambassadors of Christ – 2 Corinthians 5:20

Heirs – Galatians 3:29

Well one of the most revealing names we have appears in 1 John 5:4; we are called “overcomers”.

I say this is revealing because it identifies us with our Lord and Savior.

It reveals who we are in Him.

We are all those other names, but “overcomer” has a special connotation because it applies to us right now and to our relationship to sin and this world system we live in.

This morning we are going to look at what John means by “overcomer”, and how it applies to believers.

Sometimes we fall short, sometimes we do not live up to who we are in Christ.

Has anyone here ever struggled with sin and temptation?

Of course you have; we all have.

Has anyone here ever fallen short of God’s perfection?

Of course you have; we all have.

Let’s face it, if we see failure and defeat on a regular basis, it’s easy to lose sight of who we are and give-in easier and more readily to the enemy.

But if we have a firm understanding; an unshakable belief in the final outcome, we can finish the race despite apparent losses because of the assurance of who we really are.

The writer of Hebrews says:

Hebrews 12:1

The context here, is the writer of Hebrews had just finished chapter 11, the Hall of Faith, and gave us all those wonderful examples of those saints that suffered and died for their faith and all the miraculous things that were accomplished because of their faith.

Now in chapter 12 he is encouraging the Jews who were waffling between committing to Christ and returning to Judaism, to move on to Christ.

The message here for modern believers, is one of persevering in faith despite the obstacles.

The word picture the writer uses is that of an athlete running in a race.

We are exhorted to lay aside every sin “which so easily ensnares us”.

The idea here is that the runner not only laying aside the encumbrances that would be an obstacle; but even stripping off his very clothes, which would cling around him and slow him down.

The idea is removing anything and everything that could possibly hinder us in our race; committing fully to running our absolute fastest.

Everyone here is familiar with the athletic shoes called “Nike”.

This company makes sports wear and endorses some of the world’s biggest athletes.

Their slogan is “Just Do It”.

Meaning: forget the obstacles, forget the excuses, just perform.

Just do it.

I think we can take that same attitude in our Christian walk, we can forget the excuses and forget the obstacles and be like Christ.

The word “Nike” is the name for the Greek goddess of victory.

The word itself means to subdue, to gain victory, to prevail.

And it is the same word that John uses in 1 John 5:4 to describe Christians; there it is translated “overcomer”.

But how do we do that?

How do come up with the strength to lay aside every sin.

Our flesh is in a constant war with our spirit.

Paul described the same struggle in Romans 7, when he said:

Romans 7:15

He then goes on to resolve the conflict theologically, but 1 John 5:1-5 is going to give us a tool to resolve the conflict practically.

That tool is knowledge.

It is said; “knowledge is power”.

Our goal this morning is to see what the Holy Spirit is saying to us through 1 John 5:1-5, and how that applies to our struggle with sin and temptation.

What we are going to discover is:

Overcoming the world and sin isn’t something we do, it’s something we realize.

Let me explain what I mean: we have to understand, there is no need for us to overcome anything… because Jesus Christ already overcame it and when we accept Christ as our Savior and are placed IN Christ, we are ‘overcomers-after-the-fact’.

Sin has already been overcome.

We just have to realize it and live in the truth of it.

It’s like a dog that is trained with one of those invisible fences.

Do you know what that is?

A cable is buried underground around the perimeter of a yard and the dog wears a shock collar.

And every time he gets close to where the cable is buried he receives a shock.

So the dog learns to stay away from the yard perimeter and stays within his own yard.

After a while you can remove the collar and the dog will still stay in the yard because he doesn’t realize the collar caused the shock and it is no longer on him.

We are like that dog and the invisible fence is sin and temptation.

We have gone to the edge and tried to walk past it so many times and fallen or gotten shocked so we back off.

And now we no longer test to see if we can be as holy as God demands.

What we don’t realize is that Christ removed that collar, that fence cannot hurt us any more we CAN walk past the fence and live holy, because Jesus overcame that fence and in Him we have overcome it also.

Once we truly realize the fact that Jesus has defeated sin and in Him we have also, we can win the daily battles with temptation and our old sinful habits much easier.

We don’t have to give in or surrender, we are free to be like Christ.

In the flesh the battles are massacres.

Not only are we fighting on the enemy’s territory, against overwhelming forces but our own bodies are fighting against us also!

How can we possibly win?

In the flesh we can’t.

But IN Christ we can, in fact, the Bible is says we have already won.

This is because, IN Christ we are overcomers.

So out quest this morning is to see what an overcomer is.

In our text this morning; John gives us three attributes of an overcomer:

The three attributes are:

Faith in the Christ

Love for the Father, and

Obedience to the Word

These three, John assures us, marks us as overcomers.

So let’s look at the text and examine these three attributes one at a time and see how they help us overcome sin in our lives.

(1) 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.

(2) By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.

(3) For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.

And His commandments are not burdensome.

(4) For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.

And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith.

(5) Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

The first point is:

1. FAITH IN THE CHRIST

Look down at verse 1:

“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, …”

A. What does it mean to believe that Jesus is the Christ?