David's Sermons - The Battle is the Lord's

The Battle is the Lord's

1 John 5 v1-13

Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
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 grievous.
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.
He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

v1-3 - Love
All Christians are born of God. If we love God we will love Christ as well. John doesn't represent love as some emotion, but as action. We show our love by keeping his commandments.
John says that God's commandments are not grievous. How can this be? Surely the law of God is impossible to follow. Failure is inevitable and weighs us down. In Matthew 11v28-30 Jesus says we should come to him to relieve ourselves of our burdens. We should come to Jesus as often as possible, to confess our sins and lighten our loads. Remember 1 John 2v1 says if we sin we have an advocate in heaven.
Have you ever seen people out picking grapes. What they do is carry a basket along with them, filling it as they go. The basket gets heavier and heavier until they take it to the cart and pour out the grapes. The cart can take much more than they can, and they are now unburdened to work more effectively. It's the same with you and me. The more often we unburden our cares on Christ, the more effective we can be as Christians.

v6-13 - Witness
v6 - Water speaks of the Holy Spirit, while blood speaks of humanity. Jesus wasn't just born of the Spirit, but also of a woman. When he died, blood and water poured out of him. Some people have said Jesus was only the Christ between his baptism and just before being crucified. This isn't true. He was both God and man from his birth to his death. If it was just a man that had died on the cross, we could not be saved. It had to be God that died, no matter how hard this is for us to understand.
v7 is the most explicit verse in the bible supporting the idea of the trinity, though we can see it's presence throughout scripture. The Jehova's Witnesses don't believe in the trinity, believing Jesus is something less than God and the Holy Spirit doesn't exist as a person at all, but just represents the power of God. Interestingly, this verse has been removed from some of the more modern translations.
v8 - God said "ye are my witnesses". His witness on earth is through us: through the Holy Spirit working in our lives and through the two services we are commanded to keep: baptism and the Lord's supper.
The Jehova's Witnesses also seem to believe that the way to God is through a keener understanding of him. They interpret the phrase "to know God" as meaning to have detailed, clear knowledge of him. The word doesn't mean this, though. It is the same concept as when the bible talks of a man knowing his wife: a deep, personal relationship. v12 says he that hath the Son hath life, not he that knows about the Son hath life. Christ is a possession, not an interest. This verse proclaims the message of salvation clearly: if you have Christ, you have eternal life. If you don't, you don't.

v4-5 - Victory
This section talks about victory and overcoming the world. How can we do this? What happens when we do? The bible often talks about the Christian life as a battle and gives us lots of instruction on how to approach it.

Preparation - image being a soldier, going into a battle. What are the important things to do before going? Before the battle you'll be given a briefing - told about the enemy, their weapons, how they're likely to attack. You'll get your kit ready and check it's all in working order: your battledress, your gun, your radio and so on. You'll have been trained in using all these things. There is also one thing which will have been drummed into you since you joined the army. You must obey orders. That doesn't mean there's no room for initiative, but when it comes right down to it, you must do exactly as you are told, or you'll be endangering your own and others' safety.
These things apply in the Christian life as well:
- Know Your Enemy
  We have three enemies: the devil, the world and the flesh. We need to be aware of how the attack is likely to come and what form it will take. The devil attacks us on three sides: body, soul and spirit. See Genesis 3v6 for instance. Eve saw the fruit was good to eat (the body), it was pleasing to the eye (the soul, emotions), and would bring wisdom (the spirit, mind). When Jesus was tempted by the devil he used the same three attacks. He offered bread for the body, possessions to please the soul and an ego-boost to tempt the spirit. 1 John 2v16 warns us of the three same areas: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life.
  We must be aware of the ways we will be attacked and be prepared for them. We must clothe ourselves with Christ (Romans 13v14), realise our soul can never be satisfied by earthly things (Proverbs 27v20) and practise humility.
- Wear the Armour
  Ephesians 6 tells us about the armour of God. We must pay attention to what we have on and what condition it's in. If our shield of faith is falling apart, we should do something to strengthen it. If our sword is rusty through lack of use, we must practise with it. If our prayer life is inadequate, the rest is affected.
- Surrender
  Strange as it may seem, our chances of success depend on how willing we are to surrender; not to the enemy, but to God. A line of a song says "we can surrender without a prayer, but never really pray without surrender". We must be willing to go into the battle thinking nothing of ourselves, but giving all over to God.
Reward - there are rewards to those that overcome. revelation lists them:
- 2v7 - they shall eat from the tree of life
- 2v11 - they shall not be hurt from the second death
- 2v17 - they shall eat hidden manna and be given a white stone with a new name on it.
- 2v26 - if they also keep his works (John 6v29 - keep believing to the end) they will be given the power to rule over the nations, and be given the morning star (Jesus calls himself the morning star).
- 3v5 - they wil be clothed in white and their name will be in the book of life.
- 3v12 - they will be pillars in God's temple, with his name written on them.
- 3v21 - they will sit with Christ on his throne.
Winning - how do we win the battle? How can we overcome? John says those who believe, who are the sons of God, overcome the world. In John 16v33 Jesus tells us not to worry about tribulation, he has already overcome the world. 1 John 4v4 says "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." The key is that the battle is not on our strength but on the Lord's, and he is already victorious, having defeated death and the world. All we have to do is realise this and start living it. We often live defeated lives because we don't realise that the battle is already won. We think that we have to achieve something to be victorious. Christ has already achieved all that is needed. We can walk into battle confident, not in our own ability, but in the Lord.