 First John chapter five, I'll read verses one through five and We'll get into our study first John chapter five beginning at verse one reading to verse five Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and Everyone who loves him who begot also loves him who has 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 burdensome 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 now last time we were together obviously we closed in chapter 4 verses 20 and 21 and in those verses John was giving us at least Three reasons when you combine it with verse one at least three reasons for loving people in verse 20 He had said love for God isn't possible if you don't love people How can you love that which is invisible in other words if you don't love that which is visible It's easier to love someone you've seen than to love someone that you haven't seen and so he's saying how can you say you love God who you haven't seen you know face-to-face and and yet you hate you hate your brother or your sister whom you do see And so one he was saying there are reasons to love God and to love people and it's a mark of a believer To love those whom God loves you can't love the invisible if you don't love the visible and in verse 21 He said that God had commanded us to love him as well as loving other people God has commanded us to love him as well as other people verse 21 chapter 4 this commandment We have from him that he who loves God Must love his brother also. It's a commandment Now I want to remind you of something On one occasion it's recorded in the Gospel of Matthew a lawyer An expert in Jewish ritual or religious law a lawyer Had approached Jesus Christ with a question. It's found in Matthew 22 36 through 40 The question was this teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind This is the first in great commandment and the second is like it You shall love your neighbor as yourself on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets You shall love the Lord thy God with everything within you But because God is invisible one of the ways that you demonstrate that you love him is When you love your neighbor as yourself, so love is very practical There are those who philosophically like to say how they love God They're lovers of God, but they can't stand people Well loving God is the origin of love for others and as a matter of fact John would say Identifies us as his children remember in John chapter 13 verse 35. Jesus said it like this By this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another Now love I want to develop this because as we've been going through first John I've read so many times that he's spoken about love right and I Made an assumption we all know what love is and I think to some degree of course. That's true We do but I still remember We had a young teenager who was babysitting our children and I was giving her a ride home after she had Had been taking care of the kids and as we're driving home I might have mentioned this recently. I've been thinking about it often Especially in light of the fact that John keeps commanding us a love on another and I asked her a question And we lived about 20 25 minutes away from where she lived in and I gave her all the time She needed I said can you do me a favor and she said yes, and we're driving and he said can you tell me what love is? Can you? She says well, yeah, of course I can I said please do For about 20 25 minutes she said well, it's kind of like it is it's sort of she had no clue She had no clue So I was thinking about that the other day and I thought you know, I I use Christian ease a lot here They use words that I'm assuming we all know we all know the content of we know what it means and all of that So I thought I'm gonna share a little bit about that for a moment as an introduction Because love is more than emotion and love is more than a sentiment Love is something that actually demands an action in Romans 13 verse 10 Paul said love does no harm to a neighbor Therefore he said love is the fulfillment of the law In Galatians 5 13 through 16 brother and you've been called the Liberty Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another For all the law is fulfilled in one word even in this you shall love your neighbor as yourself But if you bite and devour one another take heed that you are not consumed one of another This I say then walk in the spirit. You shall not fulfill the loss of the flesh Love one another love God love others on this hang all of the law and the prophets Love for God is demonstrated by a concern for other people It's something that requires sacrifice and It's something that requires a heart of a servant Those are the two things that are attributed to Jesus Christ when it's spoken of him as being our example So love one another he said even as I have loved you Love one another in a sacrificial way. He washed their feet He said if I then being your Lord and master of wash your feet you ought to be washing the feet of one another I have done this. He said as an example to you and So in the New Testament there are two basic scriptures that refer to Jesus as an example One is of servanthood and one is of sacrifice So Jesus Christ is God in the flesh God is love Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. He's love incarnated and those who follow him are to love one another And so that's what he's commanded of us and that's what we do And so as we're looking at this he's speaking concerning these things now in verse 1 notice what it says it says Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and everyone who loves him who begot also loves him Who has begotten of him? now Love for God and love for our brother or our sister in the Lord is Inseparable it is found in the very nature of a family relationship You see the leavers love one another why well obviously we've been commanded to but We love one another because we're the family of God Earlier he had said that believers aren't like Cain a man who murdered his own brother and So one of the ways that we can know that we're saved is the love we have for our faith family You see faith and love working together produces what you call spiritual assurance Yet said in chapter 3 verse 14 of 1st John We know that we have passed from death to life Because we love the brethren he who does not love his brother abides in death So one of the ways I can have an assurance of my salvation is if I care about you if I care about Church of the believers It's easy to love those who are like me. It's easy to love those who get along with me It's easy to love those who agree with me But it's not so easy to love those who may not care for me or agree with me Those people have a tendency of pushing off of bridges. No, I'm just kidding loving each other the mark of a Christian and Again the mark of the movement that I got saved in but it's been the mark of the movement since Jesus Christ initiated Christianity It isn't something that just came to be in in in the Jesus movement It is something that has always been that if you love God, you're gonna love others and so Faith and love work together and as I said that that creates what you call the spiritual assurance to us a confidence Now how did we become family verse 1? By by he says by believing that Jesus is the Christ Now in chapter 4 verse 3 he had written every spirit that doesn't confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God and This is the spirit of the Antichrist which he says you have heard was coming and is now already in the world Now remember as we've been going through first John some of you have been with us through this through this book You'll remember in our introduction I was pointing to a Philosophic group that had become had begun to infiltrate the church of the time of John and they were referred to as the Gnostics I mentioned to you that the word Gnostic is actually a derivative of a Greek word gnosis and Gnosis is a word that speaks of knowledge So they referred to themselves as Gnostics or those with knowledge and the Gnostics had begun to infiltrate the church I mentioned to you that the Gospel of John really was written as an apology Apologetic against the Gnostic influence as well as his epistles especially first John and so the Gnostics were contending that That Jesus Christ could not be God in the flesh They didn't believe that he was God's son and They're not alone in that by the way Even to this day those who belong to the Jewish faith don't believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God We know that But neither do Muslims Muslims don't believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God in their in their religious book the Koran It says in a section called Surah Surah. It's Surah 23 91 It reads from the Koran. No son did Allah beget Nor is there any God along with him in Surah 112 3 he beget it not nor is he begotten So that's a direct Challenge to the Christian faith. So it didn't just occur 2000 years ago with the Gnostics. It's continued to this day So Christians are begotten We're brought into the family of God and the way that happens is we have a shared faith in Jesus Christ When you trust it in Christ as your savior, you were born into his family. There are quite a number of people who mistakenly Believe them sounds to be Christians Because they've gone through religious rituals, you know that and I know that many of you in this room would say yeah, I understand that I Believe that I was a Christian through Christian ritual When when you had asked me what are you I would have said and I did say I'm a Christian I didn't use the word Christian. I used my religious denomination for me. It was Catholic. So I'd say well I'm a Catholic. Are you a Christian? No I'm a Catholic. That's just how I would respond because that's how I was trained You know, I was trained to do that. I was trained if you go to a non-Catholic church The priest taught us this if you go to a non-Catholic church, don't believe a word they say when you're in that church I was taught that I wonder if some of you might have been taught a similar thing. I was taught that That's a a literal teaching I received Yes, you can go to other churches, but don't believe anything they say So from the very beginning in my religious life I uh I thought myself to be a Christian, but it was only because of religious rituals And many of us understand that many of us went around that and went around believing that same thing Well, the fact is the bible doesn't teach that we're saved through the ritual Trusting in jesus christ is what saves us. We know that i'm giving you basic things You know that and by trusting jesus were brought into his family in john 3 verse 3 jesus replied Truly truly I tell you no one can see the kingdom of god unless he's born again I can still remember people when I was in the military I would share my faith as as new as I was in it. I was taught to share it and I shared what I knew And I can still remember People saying this and it went past my time in the service and continued on after I'd gotten out But I would say well, you know, I'm a christian and I had this happen more than once where they would say Well, you're a born againer and I said, do you know how one becomes a christian? Well, no, not really. I said, do you know that that we didn't invent the term born again? Because a lot of times people say that you you invented that no no this came out of jesus unless you're born again That came from christ. I didn't make that up He said unless you're born again, you will not see neither will you enter into the kingdom of god And so we entered into the body of christ not because my mom baptized me at this little catholic church By alvera street as every mexican kid in california was When I was four months old, I still have my baptismal certificate Now I I wasn't saved because of that I was saved because I received christ as lord and savior I was born again and and because we sincerely believe in him The bible speaks of us as being regenerated and not only are we regenerated given you life, but we are also transformed And so loving one another in christ Is an evidence of salvation Now he says in verse two by this we know that we love the children of god How can I know? Well, we love god and keep his commandments. This is the love of god That we keep his commandments And his commandments are not burdensome And so how can I be sure that that I love people? Well, my love for god and obedience to his commands Reveals that again through service and sacrifice You see the the fruit of loving god and keeping his commands Is going to be love for those whom he loves And so he says in verse three This is the love of god that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not burdensome So a life of obedience to the things of god demonstrates that you love him John 14 verse 15 If you love me Keep my commandments. That's what jesus said Luke 6 46. Why do you call me lord lord and do not the things that I say? How can you say that I'm your lord because at that time the word lord meant that there was a rulership over me The one who was my lord the one that was lording over me or the one who was lord over me Was to be obeyed You didn't have attitudes with those who lord were the lord over you in that that society So how can you say you love me jesus said? If you don't keep my commandments How can you say you have relationship with me when it doesn't matter to you what I say? How can you say that? You know if I was dating a young lady and and I said these things are important to me and she didn't care If I said these things mattered to me But she didn't even bother to figure out why or ask questions or even On occasion to do that what she knew would make me happy I would have to begin to wonder does she really love me Because she doesn't do the things that I ask of her. It's very simple. It's very basic But we can tell the lord. Oh, I love you so much. I'd go anywhere. I'd do anything But the fact is sometimes we just don't do anything. He wants us to do and he says that So one of the ways for us to know that we're in love with him is when we love others So he said the command to love one another is not a burden It's a joy. It isn't a burden It's not a burden for me to love my wife It's not a burden for me to love my children It's not a burden for me to love my grandchildren It's not a burden for me to love my friends. That's not a burden. It's not hard. It's not difficult You see obedience to that command creates a community And a community that god is pleased with Now again, I mentioned this a moment ago. We often speak of love, but sometimes we need to define it What is love? I mentioned that a moment ago that some people really can't give you a definition Now i'm not going to give you a thorough study. I'm just going to touch on a few things And if you take notes as found in 1 Corinthians 13 verse 4 through 8 The first portion he begins to describe Paul does what love is this is what he says. I'm just going to read through this In 1st Corinthians 13 verse 4 to verse 8 He said love Is long suffering In other words love resists becoming impatient even when it's wrong Love is kind that word Kind means thoughtful or considerate it speaks of doing things in the kindest of ways That's what by the way for me. I when I first got saved I was speaking to somebody I was just saved I was speaking to somebody and I said this is something I'm asking god to make me and this is when I was 20 years old He's been working on me for 52 years in this one thing because I asked him for this I said lord, I want to be known as when he was kind Kind I I'm very very attracted to those who are kind It's a thoughtful person a considerate person someone who does something in a very kind way He says love doesn't envy We've been looking at that envy is the sin that That god jesus crucified Envy is harboring evil towards others because of their success Love doesn't parade itself Love doesn't seek to win the applause of others That's one of those things in ministry That you want to as as as believers in christ You ought to you ought to and I don't mean this in the most In the way that it could appear but I I think you ought to Use that as a measuring rod for people like me who are pastors You know, um, do I seek the applause of man? If I do that's wrong If I'm asking for people to pay attention to me or regard me or or applaud for me or There's something wrong with that There's something wrong with that and I have to say this quickly but it's true in our Churches today sometimes a pastor becomes the hero That's not a good thing. There's only one hero. That's jesus christ and the pastor should be submitted to him Heatfully so love doesn't parade itself. It doesn't seek the applause of man Someone once said they seek the applause of heaven He says, uh Love love isn't puffed up Puffed up it speaks of having an inflated estimation of your own importance Don't you know who I am that kind of thing love doesn't have that attitude an inflated estimation Love isn't rude We know what rudeness is love doesn't treat people wrongly Love doesn't seek its own meaning Seeking what it means is we seek to to to care for others because we we refuse to seek to have things done our own way Love isn't provoked. It isn't easily irritated angrily flaring up when pushed today. I was pulling into a parking space to get a cup of coffee this morning Yep, and somebody opened up their door as I pulled in Their windows were tinted so darkly. I couldn't see somebody in the car And I wasn't speeding in I always go in slowly but as I was pulling in She opened her door and creased You know hit my hit the right front end of my of my car And I was talking to me and I was saying, you know, I was just I told her a little while ago. I said, you know, I said I was having such a good day, you know I was feeling like hey, you know, Lord kind of like snoopy with my nose in the air swinging my hands You know, but you know what? Um those things happen, right those things happen And and so, you know, I flattened her tires, but Love isn't provoked It isn't easily irritated Love thinks no evil. It's interesting when you read the words thinks no What that means is it doesn't catalog sin It doesn't keep a scorecard It's not somebody who writes things down This guy was telling me how his wife whenever they have an argument She gets historical And I said you mean hysterical and he said no Historical she reminds me of everything I've ever done wrong, you know, so love doesn't keep a scorecard Love doesn't rejoice in iniquity. Love doesn't take pleasure when someone fails Love rejoices in truth Meaning love is blessed by other people's virtues Love bears all things That means that you endure insults and trials difficulties and you don't complain Love believes all things because we trust God's promises And We hope the best in people Love hopes all things Even after others have stopped hoping we rest in hope Love endures all things We remain steadfast even in the midst of suffering Love, he said never fails because love endures forever. It never ends So the command to love Isn't a burden The word burden when he speaks about it being burdensome it it simply means something that's heavy and weight It speaks of something severe Or stern something cruel something unsparing God's commands are not burdensome because Love for God lightens his commands now Why are they not burdensome well one because they've been given to us as a benefit To benefit our lives in Deuteronomy 5 29 Oh that their hearts would be inclined to fear me to keep all my commands always So that it might go well with them and their children forever God's commands were intended to bless to restrict evil behavior But to put us in the position where he could pour out his blessings Oh that they would be inclined to fear me he said In Deuteronomy 10 12 and 13 Israel what does the lord your god require of you? But to fear the lord your god to walk in all his ways and to love him And to serve the lord your god with all your heart with all your soul To keep the commandments of the lord in his statutes, which I command you this day for your good Why are his commands not burdensome guys because they're for our good Every parent in here knows that the majority of the orders you've given to your children Have not been to restrict them from enjoying life But as to protect them from harm that can come by making bad decisions It's not because you're mad at them that you give them orders It's because you love them Because you know that if you put them in a position of doing that which is right Their life will be going well. They'll be blessed And sometimes they don't do what is right and then You have to spank them like when my son David was very young and probably Six or seven he knew he knew what was right and what was wrong and He had done something wrong and I said to him son, you know right now I I really ought to uh to spank you I said because um What you did really deserves me Chastising you, but I'm going to teach you a lesson son He's around seven. I'm going to teach you a lesson son I'm going to teach you what grace is Grace is me given to you something you don't deserve right now. You deserve Being chastised You deserve a spanking But I'm going to resist spanking you So that you can see what grace is. Oh, thank you dad. Thank you. Oh great one. I said, yeah No problem Then he did it again a couple days later And I went in and I said, you know, I told you not to do that You know what he started doing? He started yelling grace Grace dad grace. I said no law. Wow, you know You gave him orders commands So that their life would be blessed and so they're not burdensome god gives us Commands because he wants to bless us secondly It gives us directions on how to please him He tells us what he requires of us in Psalm 119 104 105 I gain understanding from your precepts. Therefore. I hate every wrong path Your word is a lap to my feet a light for my path. They give us direction third He supplies us with the power to perform what he commands God never gives to you a command that he doesn't also supply the power to obey He gives you a command and the power You shall receive power after that. The holy spirit has come upon you He shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, unto the uttermost parts of the earth. You shall receive power So he has given us the power to obey those things he commands In Galatians in chapter three verses three and four, Paul said it like this Are you so foolish? Having begun by the spirit. Are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain if indeed it was in vain? Are you going to fulfill the things God called you to do by the energies of your fleshly nature? Or are you going to walk in the power of the holy spirit? I was Pastor Chuck was my pastor for many years Chuck Smith from Calvary Coast to Mesa I was part of a board with him and remain on similar board to this day And we would meet with pastor Chuck for planning retreats and things and And every time we would meet there would be a number of us from all over the united states I can still remember we'd be seated at a table Several tables actually linked together and we'd be talking amongst ourselves many of us knew each other for a long time We'd be visiting catching up When Chuck would walk in And when pastor Chuck walked in a lot of people I think misunderstand our relationship with them some think that That we worshiped him and there's nothing further than the truth. We loved him. We knew he was a man He made his mistakes and all of that we expected that he would But he also was a man of God that we respected very much and he was our pastor and he was my pastor for a long time But when he would walk in it was also it was really funny because none of us were young men You know, we're all older and all He'd walk in and we'd get real quiet like daddy just walked in the room It was really kind of interesting and funny and he would come in and he would sit down. He always sat in the same place He gets quiet And the very first thing that he would be asked Every meeting when we gathered like this was this pastor chuck. What are you concerned with? What are you concerned with what is on your heart? What are you concerned with pastor? Have we begun in the spirit? And shall we be completed by the flesh? He said that every time he was asked what is your great concern That the churches the calvary ministries Will begin to try and attract people through fleshly means And no longer rely on the power of the spirit and the power of the word of god And that's a lesson I learned from my own pastor, but that's something you find in scripture Have we begun in the spirit only to be made complete by the flesh? No if we began in the spirit We continue in that way and he supplies the power for us to do so now notice verse 4 Whatever is born of god overcomes the world Overcomes speaks of conquering it speaks of carrying off the victory A commentator said this speaks of christians who hold fast to their faith Even unto death against the power of their enemies temptations and persecutions So here's something that we need to be aware of We today I believe really need to take this to heart. We need to realize that though we are people of peace We are in a spiritual war. We just went through Ephesians chapter 6 recently We have spiritual war Christians are actually and this may be something people don't Maybe don't feel good about what me saying, but it's true. I think most of you will don't we're warriors. That's what we are We're called by god to be warriors We don't get participation trophies You know Everybody's a winner. We no no you're in you're in battle. Aren't you you're in spiritual warfare every day You can't even get a cup of coffee You but you are You have to put the helmet on you have to have the shield you have to have the sword You have to be ready and prepared and I think the church is asleep at the wheel We really need to understand what's going on is demonic. It is spiritually demonic It's not just a political thing It's a demonic thing when you take a little boy and tell him he can be a little girl if he just wants to be You've got something demonic going on and here we are listening to psycho babble when the fact is god created male and female It's so basic and yet we're in an argument today and it's true So we're in a war and the war is not necessarily though it is but not necessarily for my old soul You're old I'm going after your grandchildren I'm going after the babies I'm going after the kids. I'm going to have a drag queen reading stories at a public library and you can do nothing about it You can't do anything about it because it's a right thing for them to do They need to be without discrimination the word discrimination means the ability to discern or make a judgment No, they have to have discernment. They have to have discrimination. They have to be aware What is right? What is wrong? What is black? What is white? What is sweet? What is sour? They need to know those things. Where are they going to learn that? They learn it at home. They learn it through their parents. They learn it in their churches if they go. They should be You need and I need to know and and I'm I'm aware of this and I hope we all are I hope I'm speaking to myself right now You're in a war You know it and I know it And there is a constant where you see Satan doesn't Go on vacation He is after you 24 7 He wants to destroy you But when he doesn't go after as the back slider because the back slider does him a lot of good Because people say if that's a christian then I don't need it No, he's after the warriors. That's who he goes after the hardest target. That's what he does We learned that in the military go after the hard target Go after the hard one and that's what the enemy does. He goes after us So we're in a battle Not only on behalf of ourselves, but also for others And the christian life is a life that encounters adversity as well as resistance So because of that we remain firm in our faith in god and his word In the book of hebrus chapter 10 verse 23 the writer said this he said let us hold fast The profession of our faith without wavering For he is faithful that promise when he says let us hold fast that word hold fast that those words Speaks of being unyielding Without wavering firmly Someone pointed out that these words could be used in a nautical sense It meant to hold fast Fight through the storm Holding fast to our faith Means that you stand upon your faith And you're unwavering It means that we're not intimidated that we're not convinced that we're not brainwashed by outside forces I hope we're all this way because you know, I I spent a long time in secular college and More than one of my professors was intent On brainwashing us with their political or their psychological or their philosophic beliefs They wanted to convert us to their way of thinking it's worse now than it was when I was in school Much worse because it starts earlier Starts in preschool now Goes all the way up And so we need to stand firm. We need to know what we believe and we need to not be intimidated I remember on one occasion I was asked to speak At a high school graduation when I arrived The person in charge It was a baccalaureate the person in charge said to me now you have to realize that You know, this is a public school. You can't speak about Jesus And I said really? Yeah, you have to keep your words neutral. I said really? And she said yes So I went up And I said, you know, I want to congratulate you seniors, you know, this is a celebration of your graduation You've spent many years in going through school from kindergarten here to the senior year And you've jumped through all the hoops. You've completed the courses you've You're you're on the brink of graduating. You've gained a lot of knowledge But the most important knowledge is this the knowledge of jesus christ The knowledge that he died on a cross for you. He died for you to give your life purpose I was never invited back again But you're not intimidated You don't hide your your light under a basket You don't you don't look for a fight. We're not to be belligerent and pugnacious We're not to be picking fights with people That's a very that's not a good thing either You just need to be prepared with an answer to give it at any moment that god gives you opportunity That's what you do and you don't hold back I I did that quite often. I did in in different college classes You know, I would speak about jesus christ. I had people mock me. Yeah, of course, of course, they're going to But you know what? if somebody's listening If somebody's gonna hear that matters And and and I I found that a long time ago that that sometimes people are just seated They're waiting for somebody to say what they'd like to be said I remember two ladies in one class and they they pretty much took over the class and I was kind of tired of it And finally, you know, they did it every week and then finally I finally asked the professor a question. I still remember saying to him something about it was a marriage and family class and I said to him Is it is it true that that it is more It's more beneficial to a young child if there's a father and mother in the home Doesn't that help him in the future? Just it's a basic question. I wanted him to speak about that One of the ladies Turned and said to him Well, she said to the professor and then she turned and looked at me, but she said can I answer that question And I said listen if I was wanting your opinion, I'd asked you I want to hear his not yours. She didn't like that and the other one jumped in. There were two of them tag team And so I I talked to her too and afterwards People walked up to me saying thank you Thank you Because you know what? There are many people who want to hear truth And here we are being told be quiet. You can't say that No No, I don't believe and I'm not teaching you to go out and pick fights I'm not what I'm saying is just be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks And when god gives you opportunity take the opportunity Sometimes it's just a short burst Sometimes they may ask questions, but be ready We aren't we aren't concerned. We hold fast and we're not going to be brainwashed by the world He's already spoken concerning the world's influence in chapter two It said love not the world neither the things in the world But we need to understand we have an adversary In first peter chapter five verses eight and nine it says be sober be vigilant Because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour Resist him steadfast in the faith knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world So what do we what do we do? Well, james 121 says lay aside all filthiness Overflow of wickedness receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls There is no promise or guarantee for us to live a trouble free affliction free life We know that on the contrary the battle's real and injuries are suffered But we remain firm In revelation 2 verse 10 jesus speaking to the church of smirna said this He said do not fear what you're about to suffer Behold the devil is about to throw some of you into prison That you may be tested for 10 days you will have tribulation But be faithful into death And i will give you the crown of life In matthew 16 18 jesus simply said the gates of hell will not prevail You see ultimately we desire To say what paul said in 2 Timothy 4 7 he said i have fought the good fight i have finished the race I have kept the faith And that's only possible through christ and his power the power he makes available to you We stand firm and hold fast to what god has said In 1 Corinthians 15 57 paul said thanks be to god He gives us the victory through our lord jesus christ And though we have internal and external pressures, we are still overcomers What is it that gives us the the ability to overcome verse 4? This is the victory that has overcome the world even our faith Victory comes through faith and christ finished work on the cross We're not saved by naive or blind optimism our faith rests on the victory that's been gained by jesus's work Remember one of his final words on the cross was It is finished Verse 5 who is he who overcomes the world? But he who believes that jesus is the son of god The overcomer knows that jesus supplies power to overcome And so romans 8 31 and 32 what shall we then say to these things? If god be for us Who can be against us? He who spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all How shall he not with him? Also freely give us all things In jesus we partake in his victory over the world And one last thing you need to remember The one who overcame the world Dwells in us Never forget that verse 4 chapter 4 You are of god little children and have overcome them Because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world He dwells in us and in him we overcome never forget that Our father we just give you blessings