Children of God are distinguished by their likeness to their Heavenly Father, which is evidenced by their practice of righteousness and their love for fellow believers. This likeness is further demonstrated by their victory over the world, as stated in 1 John 5:4-5, where faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God is the means of overcoming worldly antagonism. The sermon emphasizes that this victory is not through personal strength but through faith in Christ, who has already overcome the world. Believers are called to live out this victorious life, reflecting their divine parentage and distinguishing themselves from the world which remains opposed to God.
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Beloved radio, friends, we greet you in the ever-precious and the worthy name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We welcome you to the continued study on the subject of God the Father and his family. We have been recently considering some of the family characteristics that should be exhibited by the children of God. showing that by their characteristic features in life they bear certain traits that certainly reveals they belong to God the Father. How we need to remember we have been given a direct nature, a new nature from God, his own life, and it is to be expected that there should be moral similarity to the Father and that will distinguish us as his beloved children.
May I briefly enumerate three special facts that we have covered. First, we have noted that the children of God do not practice or make a practice of sinning. Whosoever has been born of God does not practice sin because God's seed abides in him and he cannot sin because he has been begotten of God. We have been well reminded from the Word of God that the child of God, though he or she may fail, yet should not make a practice of sin and seek to be like the Father in this particular respect.
Then we have noted also from that negative aspect a positive one. We practice right living. For if you know that God is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is begotten of him. To prove that we are the born-again children of God, the life must indicate it by practicing right living, for the child should be like him of whom he has been born. We also noted in the third chapter of first John, that the third characteristic feature we should be wearing for our God and Father, we love our brethren.
The Father loves every one of his children, and likewise, the circle of our love, we who are the children of God, should be no narrower than the circle of the Father's love. May God teach us how to thus love our brethren, and to do it in such a manner as the Scripture says, we shall be willing to lay down our lives for them. We come to a closing consideration, though many others could be considered, but we come to one with which we close this theme. A likeness that we can certainly say should be manifested by God's children.
It is this fact we overcome the world. We read in First John chapter five, verses four and five. 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? Now may we make a statement before going further that we should realize, if we are the children of God, the Father to whom we belong, and the world in which we are.
They are always opposed to each other. James in his epistle chapter four in verse four is declared, the friendship of this world is enmity to God. May we state very emphatically, the Father, God our Father and the world in its present state and control under Satan and sin, they can never be reconciled. The world has displayed its antagonism and permanently demonstrated by its rejection and crucifixion of the Father's Son what it thinks of the Father as well as the Son of God.
Now how can we, who are his children, love that which is in antagonism to the Father Himself. For the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ has become an insuperable barrier between the world and the children of God. Galatians six and verse fourteen, Paul said, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which or by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. The words of the Lord Jesus in John fifteen, verses eighteen and nineteen, should ever be remembered, when the Saviour declared, The world has hated me, and the world will hate you.
But we do rejoice. The Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour, overcame the world. We think of his words in John sixteen and verse thirty-three. When he declared in the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. May we not point out, the Savior's victory over the world is ours. Therefore, as we have read in first John five and verse four, whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world. And this is the victory that overcometh the world. John goes on to state, what is it?
Even our faith. My fellow believer, you and I have placed our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We have believed upon him. And as John writes in verse five, Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? Your faith and my faith, my beloved believer, declares that Jesus, whom the world has rejected, is the Son of God. And our faith in him, in who he is, and what he has done, is our victory over the world.
For John reveals that victory over the world belongs to those who are born of God. John reveals that the victory over the world belongs to those that believe Jesus is the Son of God. Please let me re-emphasize those two facts. For we have them in verse four, and in verse five of this scripture of John in his first epistle, chapter five. He reveals in verse four that those who were born of God have victory over the world. That victory belongs to those who have been born of God.
Then John reveals in verse five, that victory over the world belongs to those who have been born of God because they have believed that Jesus is the Son of God. Now overcoming the world is one of the features of being a child of God and belonging to the children of God, the children of the Father. Now if the children fail to overcome the world, It can only be because they are not living in the proper exercise of faith through the power of the Holy Spirit.
May I present this truth in another special way. Now listen carefully. Every child of God, through his or through her faith in the Son of God, possesses the victorious life. In other words, my beloved Christian friend, you and I possess the victor. Our faith to overcome the world is not in ourselves, but it is only in him whom we have accepted as the Son of God, even Jesus, our Savior.
Now may we raise the question, do we profess to be the children of God? We have noted if we are the children of God, we should bear the resemblance in conduct and character of our Father in heaven. First, in respect that we hate sin and do not practice sinning as once we did before. Second, we have noted we practice right living, and beloved without question of doubt, living right. living to the glory of God, living to the honor of the Lord, living righteously in practical righteousness in this scene is an evidence and a proof as well as a feature that we belong to the Father above.
We are his child. Then we noted third, we love the brethren. There is an affection for every child of God. And our love for the children of God is the evidence that we are the children of God through faith in Christ Jesus, and we belong to all of God's children in the family. And thus our love for them is the evidence that we are in the family of God belonging to him. But then we have noted today that the victory that we have over the world is also a feature of the Father's children when they truly belong to him.
We would repeat again, the world is an enemy of God. They will never be reconciled, not until the Lord Jesus comes again and subjugates the world, all the nations of the world, to his legal authority and to his great power. And when he comes, he will indeed bring the nations under his dominion, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. But until he comes, the child of God should ever remember, the world is an antagonist. Yet, and I quote the words of Romans eight, thirty-seven, that are so precious, we are more than conquerors, through him that loveth us.
the Lord Jesus himself. We ask the question, my beloved fellow believer, are you and am I overcoming the world, or may it be possible, the world is overcoming us. Please remember the difference, but may God help us to show by character and conduct to whom we belong. We are the children of our Heavenly Father above. Father, we pray, will thou not reveal, by thy power and thy spirit within thy children, the likeness of the Father in us, more and more, in Jesus' name for his glory.