Sermon Tone Analysis

Victory in Jesus

Illustration: Longhorns Basketball.

Everyone loves to win; everyone loves a victory!

As children of God we are overcomers, we are victors, and we are winners!

The problem is we don’t always feel victorious do we?

As individuals sometimes we feel more like losers than winners…

Depressed, Down, Discouraged, and Dismayed characterizes a lot of our lives.

We deal with heart aches that seem too much, we deal with discouragements that we never expected to encounter.

Often times the picture perfect idea we had in our mind doesn’t come to reality…

Even as the church we sure seem to be dealing with lots of defeat…

But despite our circumstances or our feelings we are proclaimed time and time again as winners.

We have been looking on Sunday nights at being an overcomer: Today I want to summarize where we have been and I want us to complete the idea of being an overcomer.

“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.

And his commandments are not burdensome.

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.

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

Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:1–5)

You will notice the word “overcome” appears in the text before us.

The word here for overcomer means to conquer, it means to win, it means to defeat, it means to gain victory.

The word is used by our Lord Jesus Himself in John 16:33, “In this world you shall have tribulation, be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

I have won out in conflict with the world.

I have defeated the world.

I have conquered the world.

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

“We’re super-conquerors.

We are the ultimate conquerors.”

We have through faith in Christ entered the condition of being unconquerable.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

(Romans 8:37–39)

There is nothing that can conquer us, not tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword.

We are super-conquerors.

We are the unconquerable.

Kase why is this important, Some of us are walking around like losers when we are really winners!

Some of us are so caught up on the day to day plays of life that we are neglecting the fact that the victory has already been won!

STOP LIVING IN DEFEAT!

We are called to “overcome” the world.

“For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.”

(1 John 5:4)

Three times it says we overcome the world.

What does it mean to overcome the world?

It means that we are victorious over each and everything that tries to drag us away from spiritual victory!

We are victorious over sin, we are victorious over the attacks of satan, we are victorious over a life of defeat.

John Wesley: “Anything that cools my love for Christ is the world.”

Worldliness is an expression of the heart that does not include God.

Worldliness is independencefrom God.

I want to live my life on my own terms.

It is the convenient use of God which is ultimately the exclusion of God.

There are far too many of us who have come up with a false religion that syncretizes Christianity and worldliness.

True Christianity cannot be merged or assimilated into the paganistic, greedy, self-worshiping worldly views around us because the two are polar opposites.

As Christian we understand 1 John 2:16”

“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not from the Father but is from the world and the world is passing away and all its lusts, but the one who does the will of God abides forever.”

And because we understand this we will strive with all of our might to be victorious over the world!

How do we overcome the world?

1. Overcomers Have: Faith

“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.”

(1 John 5:1)

(noun) “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.

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

(1 John 5:4)

(verb) “Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believesthat Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:5)

So step one in being an overcomer is: FAITH

overcomers are those who believe in Jesus Christ as God, Messiah, Savior.

You may look at your life from time to time and you may see some failures…

You may say, “Well I don’t see the love I should see at this point, I don’t see the obedience I should see.”

Prior to all of the ‘works’ we have to ask ourselves the question: Do I believe?

But not only do I believe, but understand that what you believe is of the utmost importance!

Jesus is the Christ.

He is the Messiah.

He is the One who is the object of our faith.

John has made it very clear that what we believe matters:

“Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ?

This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.” (1 John 2:22)

Everybody believes in God, but what exactly do you believe in Jesus?

“Well, you know, these people are going to get to heaven even though they have a different view.”

NO, they’re not going to get to heaven because Jesus is the one and only way to heaven.

There will be NO victory in your life apart from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ!

Money, Wealth, Relationships, and success will not lead you to a life of victory.

I know people who have lots of money and they have lots of things but they are living a life of misery.

It is only through the blood of Jesus Christ that we will find ultimate, sustaining, fulfilling victory!

It is antichristto deny that Jesus is the Christ.

Everyone wants to believe in God, but you better understand that Jesus is God in the flesh.

What you believe matters!

“You believe that God is one; you do well.

Even the demons believe—and shudder!”(James 2:19)

The demons believe, and there is a fear… but it’s not a belief that leads to any type of change or repentance do you understand?

“Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.

But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.”

(John 2:23–25)

In this context there is a belief, and it seems like this belief is in simply what Jesus can offer the people.

They want a ‘Santa Claus’ that will give them what they want, they do not want a “Lord.”

So what does the text say?

It says that they believed but Jesus did not entrust himself to them.”

They believed but Jesus didn’t believe in their belief.

That’s an amazing verse to think about.

It is not just a mere intellectual knowledge but a full-heart acceptance of all that Jesus Christ is.

It is to believe that the man Jesus is God, the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Savior, the Redeemer, the final sacrifice for sin and to commit one’s life to Him as sovereign Lord and Savior.

It is to recognize that there is no other Redeemer, there is no other Savior.

Anybody who believes this way belongs to God and will be victorious!