The Abiding Life and Victory

Well, it's good to be back with you. Thanks for the opportunity to take the missions team to Skyview.

! We had a great time together and enjoyed some long days of labor in some areas that, you know, painting.

Who enjoys painting? You got some people that actually enjoy painting, sanding, scraping.

Oh, man. Sign me up for a job that I hate the most. That was perfect. It was just...

It was tremendous. But I'll tell you, the team did an outstanding job.

Their attitude throughout the week was refreshing to me.

And the experience that we had of just being able to see God help us complete some pretty significant projects,

but also be able to just enjoy one another's fellowship through the week, it was a real blessing.

We will hope to prepare and kind of give you a recap of that week in a couple of Wednesdays from now.

I'll send out an email tomorrow or Tuesday to parents.

August 29th, I think it is. It's a Wednesday.

It's when we hope to share with you a little bit more about that experience.

So mark your calendars and teens, I'll be sending out an email to you about that.

It was also really refreshing to be able to get away last week with our family.

And thank you for the privilege of being able to do that.

I joked with my kids throughout the week.

I had to have my first and second nap of the day.

You know, the 10 o'clock nap and the 2 o'clock nap, it was kind of a must.

And it was just really, it was kind of, that was the hallmark of the week.

It was just really refreshing.

Lots of rest.

I needed it after long days of working on various projects, but it was just a joy.

And it's nice to be able to entrust the ministry to capable people.

I'll tell you, this is such a unique church.

What a joy to be part of Maranatha.

To have so many gifted individuals who can lead in so many different areas.

And to be able to entrust the preaching of the word to Pastor David, who did an outstanding job.

And it makes going away so much easier, because I don't have to worry about what's happening here.

I know it's going to be in very good hands.

Looking forward to a couple of weeks from now.

Ben and Ashley, they are just like pumped to come.

They cannot wait.

I know that there's an announcement maybe going out sometime this week.

They're looking for some help with painting, no less.

So those of you who raised your hands, ha ha, I gotcha.

No.

You're free to paint.

I'm sure they would love to have your help.

More than just the work itself, just the fellowship of the experience and helping brother and sister as they're preparing to come.

It is so exciting to think that they'll be here in just a matter of weeks.

And they're excited about the experience as well.

So, we are in a series through 1 John.

And as John mentioned earlier in our service, the theme of this morning is overcoming.

We serve an overcoming God.

I don't know if you can really appreciate the immensity of that statement.

We have an overcoming God.

And this truth so shaped the apostle's heart through the experience of the upper room discourse.

You remember that 1 John is really an exposition of the upper room.

So instrumental and so inspiring, so convicting were the truths of the upper room.

The moments before the cross that John is gripped by this and he understands the significance of the message here.

And he wants to communicate it again to the church of Ephesus.

Because if they're going to be an abiding church, they need to understand there are certain truths that must be representative of their lives.

Because they serve an overcoming God, they must also experience an overcoming nature.

They must also tap into the supply of the power of the Holy Spirit that allows them to experience victory and triumph day by day.

That is the experience of the believer.

The true believer as we'll see in our message today.

Here's what Jesus has to say in John chapter 16.

John 16 · chapter mention

These were the words, I think, that are sticking out in John's mind.

Just listen as I read them to you.

Jesus says this, right before they leave that upper room and begin making their way to the garden.

Jesus says,

I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace.

In the world you will have tribulation.

But take heart.

I have overcome the world.

We serve an overcoming God.

Who gives to his people an overcoming quality.

An overcoming power.

It's not a power that is representative in ourselves alone.

But it is a power that we can enjoy and experience because of the indwelling, powerful, alive Holy Spirit.

Spirit.

And overcoming power.

So why don't we enjoy this overcoming nature?

What gets in the way?

I think the thing that gets in the way the most and what we'll look at throughout the morning is that this abiding relationship that we've been talking about for the last couple of months now

is what stands in the way really of you being able to really enjoy and experience a consistent overcoming quality.

What stands in my way is I hold God at arm's length.

He's welcoming in me and calling me to enjoy intimacy with him.

And so often I find myself distracted or I find myself saying,

there's something else I'd rather do at this point.

There's something else that's on my agenda.

There are too many things going on in my calendar.

I can't really participate in this abiding because abiding takes time.

But God beckons us to this intimacy.

We've been talking about that all year, really.

It began in our study in Isaiah chapter 30, 15.

Isaiah 30 · chapter mention

When God is speaking through the prophet Isaiah and he says,

Thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,

In repentance and rest is your salvation.

In quietness and in trust is your strength.

Do you want to know the saving quality of God?

Then your life must be marked by an abiding in him.

A resting in him.

A trusting in him.

A waiting for him to answer and to help and to deliver.

And to show up in your life to help you in the times where you're most desperate.

I think what stands in our way is we don't really savor this relationship that is made available to us.

So this morning as we open up the word of God,

and before we open up the word of God,

one of the most powerful ways for us to be encouraged

by the power of God in his ability to do a mighty work is by hearing a testimony.

So I want to just introduce you to this individual,

and we can hear the power of God working in his life

to transform him and to help him overcome sin

through an abiding relationship with Christ.

My birth mother abandoned me in a motel room when I was three years old.

One of the earliest indicators that something wasn't right

was as soon as I was adopted,

one of the first things that I did was threaten my sisters with a blunt pocket knife.

I graduated from high school and joined the Army.

In terms of my life as a soldier, things were going well,

but my heart wasn't changed.

I was involved in drug use and began to sell drugs

and eventually was charged by the military 16 felony counts.

And so I went AWOL and purchased a plane ticket to Los Angeles, California,

met some men there who were doing robberies.

We began to rob places from Los Angeles, California,

state by state all the way to Texas, where I was arrested.

And I was sentenced to 17 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

The first weekend that I was in prison, there was a riot.

I was a riot.

I'm looking and seeing that guys are getting stabbed.

I found myself living in a world in which you have to take sides.

I didn't have the hope of the gospel.

And so I was beginning to become more and more self-consciously racist.

I saw no other option available to me.

And that was eventually what led me into a white supremacist prison gang.

Every tattoo that I have, it has some sort of connection to the gang.

This is actually a swastika made out of sickles.

This is what remains of a Ku Klux Klansman and a burning cross.

I've been having these removed, but that's what remains of them at this point.

So I was transferred then to a maximum security prison.

It was what was called a gladiator farm.

When I arrived on that unit, there was already a war going on between blacks and whites.

My next door neighbor yelled at me, I know you have a shank.

I didn't have a shank.

I didn't have anything at that point, but I thought I better get one.

And so I did.

There came a point when the door to my cell and his cell were opened at the same time.

It wasn't supposed to happen, but it did.

I came at him with a shank.

And thankfully, a guard was able to step in between us just in time.

But I was put in solitary confinement as a result of that.

I was confirmed as a gang member.

What that means is they have the evidence of my tattoos, for one thing.

They have the evidence of what I've done.

And so they're able then to confine me essentially indefinitely.

One night I was scanning the radio dial, and the Lord used a radio program called Here Comes the Light to shine the light of the gospel into my heart.

And the thing that he dealt with in my heart, first and foremost, was the issue of racism.

There was a moment of total despair when I said, I can't do this.

And in that moment of despair, I realized I'm going to hell.

And suddenly something changed within me.

The Lord did it.

And I simply fell on my knees before him.

And I said, Lord, change my heart.

Take this away and help me to follow you.

What I'd later find out, of course, was that the only group in prison that doesn't segregate according to race were the Christians.

I was still in solitary confinement, which is where I needed to be.

And the Lord used it to mature me and grow me so that when I did get out of solitary confinement and go back to general population, I was prepared for the hardships that would come.

I spent 10 years in solitary confinement, but I used the time to read, to study.

The Lord was growing me in my fellowship with him.

It wasn't wasted time.

I simply began to read the Bible for myself.

And I started listening to the radio, so I listened to Christian programs on the radio, and I wanted to understand the Bible better.

And that's, of course, where I came across a program called Renewing Your Mind.

Though I was in that cell, the Lord was there with me.

Despite all the wickedness of my heart and all the evil things that I had done, all the people that I had hurt, especially my own family, he set me free.

My name is Lowell Ivey.

I was set free in prison by God's grace.

Did you hear that?

Two things stand out to me about that video.

First is that he experienced fellowship in solitary confinement.

What an oxymoron.

And then, that he was set free while he was in prison.

That's what God wants to do for everyone in this sanctuary today.

He wants you to experience freedom and deliverance and victory and triumph in the Christian life.

But it only happens as we are going to look this morning at 1 John chapter 5.

1 John 5 · chapter mention

So if you would please, turn with me to 1 John chapter 5, beginning in verse 1.

1 John 5 · chapter mention

We'll go verses 1 to 5.

And this section of Scripture really is kind of a summary of so many of the things that John has been talking about,

especially at the end part of chapter 3, moving on through chapter 4,

and now settling in on this key aspect of what the abiding life does here in chapter 5.

Helping to bring all of the pieces together and summarizing them for us,

kind of consolidating them all down to these steps of how do we experience the overcoming life as a Christian.

If you're a guest with us, you can find 1 John chapter 5 on page 1023.

1 John 5 · chapter mention

Let me read for us, beginning at verse 1.

1 John chapter 5,

1 John 5 · chapter mention

So that's where we're going to, towards the end of this message.

We're moving towards verses 3 and 4 to understand the significance,

or at least 4 and 5, the significance of an overcoming life.

An overcoming life that happens because of faith in Jesus Christ.

We find in this passage this amazing cycle that's taking place,

beginning with faith and ending with faith.

Not the same faith by the time you get to the end of the process,

because it is a refined faith, it is an improved faith, it is a growing faith.

And so when you start the process again,

now you're learning new things about who God is.

You're experiencing new things about Him.

You're loving in new ways.

You're obeying in greater depth.

And then you're growing again to become a better victorious individual.

And then learning deeper faith, which then begins this process all again until Jesus comes.

This process that we find through this first part of the chapter

that helps us identify and understand the significance of the steps of an overcoming life.

You can be an overcomer too.

Why?

Because you serve in overcoming God.

You have an overcoming force, a power, a being indwelling you, the Holy Spirit,

if you are a child of God.

You can experience and know and enjoy an overcoming life

because you serve an overcoming God.

It's amazing to imagine that we can have such a privilege.

But that is only possible for those who are walking in the flow

of what we're going to read and study this morning.

Only those who follow these steps will be able to experience

the true wonder of this overcoming life.

Now, we're going to be able to take this in two parts.

I know you have all the steps there in your outline this morning.

But this may take a couple of weeks.

And I have a couple of weeks because next week we're going to actually finish verses 6 to 12,

which kind of provides a little fuller picture.

So don't get too nervous if we only get through the first couple of points,

which is my tendency, I know.

And then I have to scramble through the last three.

But I don't want you to miss the significance of the first parts of this.

And don't get concerned.

I'll try to stick to the time.

And then we'll pick up what we miss next week.

Okay?

All right.

We're in good shape.

First, I want you to see that an overcoming life begins with a correct faith.

An overcoming life begins with a correct faith.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.

Now, this is an amazing statement.

It is both an inclusive statement and an exclusive statement.

It is inclusive in that anyone can participate.

The door is open.

There's accessibility.

There is an opportunity for participation.

Everyone who believes can enter in.

And if you're a part of the everyone,

then you can enjoy the wonder of an overcoming life.

There is this accessibility that comes to us

who participate in this promise.

Everyone who believes.

But it is also exclusive.

In that it is conditioned upon true faith.

It's conditioned upon believing the right things.

It's not open to believe whatever you want to believe.

It is conditioned upon believing the right things about who Jesus is.

Now, we saw the introduction to that in chapter 4, verse 2.

Where it says this.

It says,

By this you know the Spirit of God.

Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.

And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.

That's really kind of the introduction to now this summary statement here in chapter 5.

And a couple of weeks ago, we looked at what does this faith really entail.

And if you remember, the statement that kind of carried us through the message and through the passage

was,

You are what you believe.

You are what you believe.

And how we describe that, we describe that in these terms.

You believe something.

And the way you live is an expression of what you truly believe.

The kind of faith and the kind of confession that John is aiming at

and the kind of believing that God, through his son Jesus, communicated to the world,

wasn't just this intellectual assent.

Jesus constantly confronted the Pharisees.

And perhaps the greatest example of this is in John chapter 8.

John 8 · chapter mention

Where many in the crowd, the Pharisees in particular, were listening to Jesus.

And as a result of his teaching, they kind of applauded him and said,

Yes, we believe.

And John writes those words.

And those who listened believe.

But then you begin to understand, as the chapter continues to unfold in John chapter 8,

John 8 · chapter mention

that their believing was just an intellectual belief.

It wasn't the kind of belief that actually changed their heart.

So that Jesus, when he goes on, says,

You are of your father, the devil.

If you were to really believe, you would know that I am from the father.

You would know my true origin, my true nature.

Your faith is incomplete.

Your faith is inadequate.

Your faith is corrupted.

And so, as John continues to carry this anthem through this letter to the church of Ephesus,

he wants them to understand what he means by believing is a belief that runs into action.

The kind of belief that leads to activity in your life.

Because you are what you believe.

So as you take an inventory of your life,

and you see the things that are broken,

you recognize if you take an honest evaluation of where you are,

and you assess the anxieties that you feel,

you take an inventory of the way that you've treated various people in your path,

whether they be your coworkers,

or whether they be your family members,

or whether they be your neighbors,

the people who God kind of creates intersection points with,

and you look back on those things,

and you say,

Oh, whoop, I didn't really respond the way I should have responded.

The reason you didn't respond the way you should have responded

is not because you messed up necessarily,

but the core reason is that you believe something defective about God.

Either that he really wasn't watching,

or that he didn't really care,

or that he didn't really have the power to help you respond that way,

or that it didn't even really matter in the first place.

Something is faulty about your faith.

And what we truly believe about God will show up in the way we live.

The starting point is to know Jesus who has come in the flesh.

And what we saw,

and this will flow now into our passage this morning,

is the real significance of Jesus Christ coming in the flesh

certainly has something to do with his humanity,

but more importantly,

has everything to do with what Jesus gave up to become a man,

and what that expressed in terms of his posture towards humanity.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

That's what Jesus came to show.

That's what Jesus came to do.

He came to show the love of God for humanity.

And that's why John could say a couple of verses later,

is those who confess that Jesus is Lord,

or that has come in the flesh,

you can believe them,

but the others don't believe.

We're of the group that says that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.

You can trust us,

and the natural question is,

well, what's the evidence?

The evidence is found in verses 7 through 18.

That's what Pastor David talked about.

The evidence is a person whose life has been characterized by love.

That's how John distinguishes himself,

as being somebody who really has the right confession,

because he is not only somebody that talks about

the person of Christ and his humanity,

but he is somebody who bears that testimony out in his life.

He is somebody who has embraced the nature of Christ,

the purpose that Christ has for the world,

and who emulates or seeks to emulate that in his life.

Here we find in chapter 5, verse 1,

the next step in the process is not only do they believe

that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh,

but here they believe that Jesus is the Christ.

Jesus is the Christ.

You have a correct faith about who Jesus is.

That Jesus Christ has come in the flesh,

and that Jesus is the Christ.

Now, when John is talking about this statement,

Jesus as the Christ, what does he mean?

We found in several places throughout this little letter of John

that John comes back to the significance of Jesus as Christ,

and I want to briefly just point out some of those things to you

because we'll come back to it again next week,

but I want them to just be there for your benefit

as we move to the next phase in this passage.

When he says that Jesus is the Christ,

first he means that Jesus is one with the Father.

Jesus is one with the Father.

It speaks of his origin.

It speaks of his identity.

In 1 John 2, verse 22,

1 John 2:22

John says,

who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ.

He denies the Father and the Son.

That Jesus' connection with the Father is so intimate

that they are inseparable.

You can't have one without the other.

So first we recognize that Jesus as the Christ

means that Jesus is one with the Father.

And if we had time this morning,

I would take you to John chapter 5,

John 5 · chapter mention

and I would show you all of the verses from verse 19

all the way to verse 36,

where Jesus emphasizes the significance of this truth.

And as a result of Jesus' connection with the Father,

we find that they're one in power in verse 19,

they're one in purpose in verse 20,

they're one in glory in verse 23,

they're one in quality in verse 26,

they're one in authority in verse 30,

and they're one in greatness in verse 36.

We could go also to John chapter 8,

John 8 · chapter mention

and we could go to John chapter 6,

John 6 · chapter mention

and we could go to John chapter 14.

John 14 · chapter mention

Over and over and over,

Jesus wants to communicate this message

that he is one with the Father.

So that when Jesus is telling his disciples

in the upper room,

he says, I'm going to the Father,

I'm going to prepare a place for you,

and Philip says, well, show us the Father,

and it is enough.

And Jesus says, oh, Philip,

have I been with you this long,

and you still don't get it?

You still don't understand, Philip.

Believe in me that I am in the Father,

and the Father is in me.

There is this inseparable connection.

Second, we understand this statement

to mean that Jesus is the fulfillment

of Old Testament promise.

Jesus is the fulfillment

of Old Testament promise.

All the things that the nation of Israel

was anticipating and looking forward to

sometime in the future

about this land and inheritance

and blessing.

This seed of Abraham

was encapsulated and fulfilled

in the person of Christ.

He is the promised one

who will vanquish the nations

and establish a people.

He is the hope of Israel,

the future hope of security,

a future lasting inheritance,

a land that would never again

be in jeopardy.

He is the promised seed of Abraham.

Those who were of true Israel

would be joined to him.

He is the promised king of David,

the sovereign one,

the absolute sovereign king

who will exercise dominance

over the world.

He is the final fulfillment of the law.

The law of Christ is the final law,

the law of love,

the law that we now follow.

He is the high priest.

As we find in 1 John 2, verse 1,

1 John 2:1

He is the advocate with the Father.

He is also the Lamb of God.

We find in 1 John 1, 7,

the blood of Jesus Christ

cleanses us from all sin.

Jesus is the absolute

and final fulfillment

of all of the promises

that Israel was putting their hope in.

Third, Jesus is the only way of salvation,

the only means of deliverance

and cleansing for those who believe.

We see that here in chapter 5, verse 1.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ

has been born of God.

Salvation and deliverance

only comes through Him

and by no other means.

He is the true, enduring righteousness

that has been granted.

He is our acceptance.

He paid our debt.

He received the sentence

that was due to us.

The inheritance with God

is sealed in Jesus

because of His work on the cross.

Jesus is the only way of salvation.

Fourth, Jesus as Christ

means that He is sovereign

and He is Lord of all.

Now this is a difficult concept for us

to really get our minds around

in 21st century culture

where everything about us

is about individuality.

Everything about us

is about justice

and speaking our mind.

Whereas in the 1st century culture,

the King was sovereign

and what He said,

whether you agreed with it or not,

was gospel,

for lack of a better word.

His subjects would follow His orders

and His commands without question.

We don't really understand

what that's all about.

But when the scripture uses the word

Jesus Christ

and He talks about the lordship of God,

it is referring to

the work of God

in terms of us

surrendering and yielding

our entire allegiance to Him.

Is there full surrender

in your life to Christ?

Is there slavery to Him?

A giving up of your own priorities,

your own purposes,

your own dreams,

and adopting the priorities

and purposes

that God has for your life?

Those are the four things

I think John is referring to

when he speaks of Jesus

as the Christ.

Is Jesus Christ

the King for you this morning?

Is He the fulfillment

of all of that is good

for you?

Can you say

this morning,

as with the psalmist,

in Psalm 73,

he says,

there is nothing

that I desire

in heaven

but you.

Let me read this.

Psalm 73.

Psalm 73.

Whom have I in heaven

but you?

There is nothing

on earth

that I desire

besides you.

My flesh

and my heart

may fail,

but God

is the strength

of my heart

and my portion

forever.

Is that the expression

of your heart

this morning?

That Jesus Christ

as King

is Jesus

is the object

of my complete affection.

That Jesus

is the one

to whom I give

all my allegiance.

That Jesus

is the one

who commands

my future

and my destiny.

That my life

is meant

to be lived

in conformity

with His commands.

Pursuing

His priorities

and activities

for my life.

So not only

do we need

to have

the correct

faith

but the correct

faith leads

to

a Christ

exalting

love.

This will be

the last one

we get to

this morning

and we'll pick

the others up

next week.

A Christ

exalting love.

But what I want

to do for you

just in a moment

before we get

to this Christ

exalting love

I want you

to see

this

unbreakable

chain

that one

attitude

one action

leads to

the next.

It's inseparable.

It leads you

from start

to finish.

Notice this.

Everyone who

believes

that Jesus

is the Christ

has been born

of God.

You have

the correct

faith.

But then

notice what

it yields.

And everyone

who loves

the Father

loves

whomever

has been

born of Him.

and

now

that is not

what we

should be

seeing next.

That's not

what we

would expect

to see

next.

He begins

with faith

but then

he drops

in a new

word

in the

second part

of that

sentence.

Everyone

who believes

that Jesus

is Christ

and then

he begins

to equate

belief

with something

else

in the

second half

of this

verse.

Notice

what it

says.

And

everyone

who

loves

the Father

loves

whomever

has been

loved

by Him.

Begotten

of Him.

Those

who have

the right

faith

also have

Christ

exalting

love.

We've

spoken

about

what

the

quality

of this

love

looks like.

We'll

get more

to that

in just

a moment.

But then

he moves

on.

Christ

exalting

love

now leads

to verse

2.

By

this

we

know

we

love

the

children

of

God

when

we

love

God

and

obey

His

commandments.

What is

happening

here?

Now

he

begins

to

replace

love

loving

and

obedience.

So

we move

from

Christ

exalting

love

now

to

consistent

obedience.

And

as we

move

through

verse

2

and

move

on to

verse

3

we

see

another

correlation.

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.

Keeping

the

commandments

of God

because

of a

posture

of love

leads

us

to

an

overcoming

life.

There

is

certain

victory

for you

as a

believer.

Certain

victory.

There

are

no

ifs

ands

or

buts

about

it.

Everyone

who

has

been

born

of

God

and

notice

again

this

correlation

back

to the

beginning

everyone

who

believes

that

Jesus

is

Christ

has

been

born

of

God

the

same

phrase

we

can

continue

to

extend

this

correlation

down

those

also

who

have

been

born

of

God

overcome

the

world.

It

is

a

certainty

in the

Christian

life

for

those

who

believe

the

right

things

about

Jesus.

The

second

part

of

verse

four

and

this

is

the

victory

that

has

overcome

the

world

what

is

it?

What

do

you

see?

Our

faith.

Now

we're

right

back

to

the

beginning

and

the

cycle

begins

all

over

again.

There

we

find

continuing

faith

faith

that

continues

to

grow

and

I

can't

wait

to

tell

you

about

it.

Somehow

this

time

went

by

so

fast.

I

need

to

get

back

in

the

flow

of

pacing

myself

a little

bit

better.

Let me

close

with

an

illustration.

one of

the

things

that I

have

begun

to

appreciate

is

the

defectiveness

of my

obedience.

It's

easy for

us

who have

grown up

in the

church

to go

through

the

motions

of

coming

at the

right

time

serving

in the

right

way

singing

the

right

songs

praying

the

right

prayers

saying

the

right

things

knowing

the

right

truths

embracing

the

right

principles

to

think

that

we're

doing

everything

just

the

right

way.

But

what

chapter

5

verses

1

through

5

confront

us

with

is

that

a

true

confession

of

God

that

leads

to

the

right

kind

of

love

then

leads

to

the

right

kind

of

action

and

you

can't

reverse

the

two

you

can't

ask

for

the

right

action

and

expect

that

it's

going

to

be

commendable

to

God

because

the

right

action

that

is not

driven

or

motivated

by the

right

heart

is not

only

inadequate

it is

absolutely

corrupt

so that

Jesus

or God

tells

the

children

of

Israel

in

Isaiah

Isaiah 1 · chapter mention

chapter

1

we

saw

this

too

he

says

I

hate

your

sacrifices

I

hate

your

religious

ceremony

it

is

despicable

to me

I

want

a

clean

heart

come

to

me

demonstrate

the

sincerity

of

your

love

to

me

and

then

we

can

begin

to

talk

about

the

right

kind

of

obedience

and

then

we

can

begin

to

see

God

shape

us

to

have

the

right

kind

of

victory

day

by

day

but

you

can't

have

the

right

love

unless

you

have

the

right

confession

the

right

faith

in

who

Jesus

is

if

we

really

understood

that

Jesus

is

not

willing

to

to

see

the

hypocrisy

of life

and say

okay

well

you're

going

through

the

right

motion

so

you

must

be

okay

we

believe

that

Jesus

is

able

to

see

the

heart

we

believe

that

he

is

omniscient

do

you

believe

that

of

course

you

do

so

how

do

you

think

and

how

do

I

think

we

can

play

games

with

God

you

see

that's

where

our

faith

becomes

defective

because

on

one

hand

we

say

yes

I

believe

in

a

God

who

is

omniscient

and

then

we

go

about

doing

our

little

sins

as

if

he

didn't

take

notice

we

conceal

those

parts

of

our

heart

and

we

say

yes

he

is

sovereign

and

lord

of

all

but

but

but

but

I'm

going

to

be

the

lord

of

this

area

of

my

life

so

our

expression

of

who

God

is

our

theology

is

completely

out of

step

with

our

life

you

understand

because

you

are

what

you

believe

and

when

we

truly

believe

the

right

things

about

Jesus

it

will

lead

us

into

this

deep

intimate

abiding

relationship

with

him

we

will

be

inseparable

which

will

lead

to

consistent

obedience

and

triumph

triumph

not

by

doing

disciplining

yourself

more

to do

better

tomorrow

that

has

very

little

if

anything

to do

with

it

it

is

more

about

surrender

to

him

than

it

is

about

disciplining

yourself

not

that

that

is

unimportant

don't

get me

wrong

but

I

think

we

have

the

discipline

part

down

what

we

don't

have

down

is

the

abiding

relationship

part

at

least

that's

true

for

me

but

those

who

believe

those

who

are

born

of

him

will

overcome

that's

what

it

says

so

if

you

want

to

be

an

overcomer

today

it

starts

with

the

right

faith

it

leads

to

the

right

love

it

carries

us

to

consistent

obedience

that

by

the

way

John

says

and

Jesus

as

well

that

it

is

not

burdensome

so if

you are

here

this

morning

and you

say

I

can't

keep

all

the

rules

it's

just

way

too

hard

then

you

don't

get

it

you

don't

understand

because

it

becomes

natural

and it

becomes

easy

in a

way

because

of the

empowering

work

of the

Holy

Spirit

in your

life

when

you're

truly

surrendering

to

his

power

and

enjoying

faith

the way

he has

designed

it to

be

I

want

to

know

that

kind

of

triumph

I

trust

you

want

to

know

that

kind

of

triumph

too

so

!

I'm

going to

close

this

in

prayer

and

I'm

going

to

invite

when

we

sing

this

next

song

I'm

going

to

invite

anyone

to

come

who

does

not

know

that

kind

of

overcoming

power

so

that

we

can

either

introduce

you

to

Jesus

or

so

that

we

can

pray

!

He

would

forgive

you

of

your

sin

and

you

could

move

in

the

right

direction

let

it

begin

today

don't

allow

pride

to

get

in

the

way

of

an

abiding

relationship

with

Him

and

overcoming

life

be

willing

to be

transparent

with the

people

in this

room

who

love

you

and

want

to

help

you

in

this

process

so

I'm

going

to

pray

for

us

I'm

going

to

invite

the

team

to

come

I'm

going

to

encourage

anyone

this

morning

who

wants

to

either

get

on

the

road

for

the

first

time

or

stay

on

the

road

from

this

point

on

to

come

so

we

can

pray

for

you

pray

with

you

and

then

you'll

be

dismissed

!

Let me

pray!

five