weekly sermon

2-3-08

Already There!

If you really want to know what it is that makes you know right from wrong, or hear that little voice that seems to give you advice that sounds something close to right, then we really have a word for you. Turn with me if you will to 1 John 5:1-4, "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. (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 grievous. (4)For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, [even] our faith."

All of us have a little voice that talks to us all the time. The voice that lets us know we are doing wrong, that there is danger, or that things are going to be ok. We call this voice our conscience. Let us look closer at each verse and really see what it has to say about those little voices or what they are trying to tell us.

If we look at the first verse, we see that it talks about the simplicity of salvation. If you believe, and it is talking about a TOTAL belief from your heart, that Jesus is the Messiah, came from God, and the begotten love Him and man, that is salvation in a nutshell, if you know Him.

How do you know you know Him? This verse refers back to 1 John 2:3, "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." There are simple ways to know that we know Him. First is by the first thing it is says in this verse, by keeping His commandments. But then there should be personal fellowship (1 John 1:3-7; 2:13), fullness of joy in your heart (1:4), walking as Jesus walked (2:6), love of the brethren (2:9-11; 3:10-19; 4:7-21; 5:1), overcoming the world and satan (2:13-14; 5:4,18), hatred of the world (2:15-17), being one with Christians (2:19), Holy Spirit anointing (2:20-27), knowing that truth sets you free (2:21; John 8:32-36), acknowledging God and Christ (2:22-25), doing righteousness (2:29, 3:7-10), purifying ourselves (3:3), being born again (2:29; 3:9; 5:1-18), cleansing from sin (1:7-9; 3:5-10), freedom from condemnation (3:20-34), the indwelling spirit (3:24; 4:4,13), faith (2:23; 5:1,10), confessing Christ (4:14-15), receiving Christ (5:10-13; John 1:12), answered prayer 3:21-22; 5:14-15). I want you to notice something here. Notice the amount of references given for each item individually. Most of the references are about the same with the exception of three. These are love, salvation, and faith. There are more references on these three because these mean more to God, I believe. Note that all the references in the parenthesis are from 1 John except the two from John.

Verse two shows that if we love God and keep His commandments, that is proof we love the brethren. This flows into verse three. You can see, as I was saying, that the love part is the greatest above all. 1 Corinthians 13:13, "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these [is] charity." The word charity here means love.

Finally the last verse that we quoted here. "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, [even] our faith." This verse here is the whole core of this message. When I read this verse, I read it several times, it said several things to me. Let us really break the verse down.

I first seen, in the verse, that we have the power to defeat satan. This verse says that if we are born of God then we can overcome the world. The world is ruled by satan and is full of sin. If we are able to overcome this, then that means total defeat of the one that will cause us eternal death. Next I seen that we have victory. We do not have to worry about what lies ahead of us, because we have victory. I seen that we have a weapon that is greater than anything that comes at us. This weapon is faith. It says that we will overcome the world and be victorious, by our faith.

Notice a few things I said here that are very important to the point of this message. Everything I just talked about was in the present. Nothing was or is past tense. We overcome, we are victorious, we have the greatest tool, being faith. The Bible states it this way for a reason. God is already in you. Let me say that again, God is already in you. I say this twice because it is important for you to understand, you do NOT have to do anything at all to find God or the saving grace of Jesus Christ. If you are looking, then stop, He is already there. God was inside you at birth. He created you and dwells in you, so if you want to look, then look deep within your own self. Leave the world out of this, forget any and everything man says about how things are suppose to be. Look deep within your own self and you will find God, and He will be the little voice we talked about, and He will let you know how things are suppose be.

I have talked to many that think, because of either what they have been taught or what they have just heard in passing, that this is the way you are to act or to believe or to find Christ, for your salvation. No one really understands that it is so much more simple than you can imagine. He is already there, waiting on you to look in your own self. Listen once to that little voice within yourself and you will find your weapon, faith, and be able to overcome the world of sin, and be victorious in Christ.

If you have just looked within and found Christ sitting there, then to receive the gift of salvation that He has for you, please say a simple prayer with me.

Dear Lord, take over my life and forgive me of my sins, and give me the gift of everlasting life. Amen.

If you have said this simple prayer, then we believe that you have received salvation. We would love to rejoice with you, so please drop us a note, in our link, to let us know and confess Jesus before man, so that we may send you a few things that we hope will help you in your new Christian walk.
 

With Love in Christ,

Pastor Stone