Word of Salvation – Vol. 13 No.22 – May 1967

 

World Conquest

 

Sermon by Rev. P. H. Pellicaan on 1John 5:4

Scripture Reading: 1John 5:1-15

Psalter Hymnal: 204; 123:2; 134:1; 394:5; 462; 27:4,5,6; 398:1

 

Brothers and Sisters,

Have you ever thought of world-conquest?  To overcome the world?  That is what this text is speaking about.  We have to find out of course first of all what John meant by “the world”.

It’s a very simple statement, and it contains a glorious truth.  There are only three words we have to consider, and if we understand the meaning of these three words, the whole message will be clear.

We have to see:       – what the world is,
– what victory is and
– what faith is.

Let us then first try to find out what the world is that is overcome.  It goes without saying that this world is not the world as God created it.  Neither is it the world of nations.  In history we have seen people who tried to establish world-dominion: Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Hitler.  They never succeeded.  Only antichrist in the last of days will reach this goal.  The world in connection of our text means in Scripture: every power that exalts itself against God.  The apostle John warns in this same epistle: Love not the world, neither the things in the world.  If any man – he then goes on – love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  In the world is – John goes on – the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.  And so we are faced here with the world as the domain of darkness where we find the lust of the flesh, pride, mammon, pain and suffering.  It is the world of misery in which we live, a world of fear, of distrust, of enmity, of selfishness, of loneliness.  A world full of misery and pain, where man is a wolf to his neighbour.

What are we to do with this world?

Many cautious people said: avoid it at all costs!  Have nothing to do with it!  Stay away from it like the priest and the Levite ignored that man who had fallen among thieves and was lying by the roadside, half dead.  And tell your children: touch not, taste not, handle not!  These people would like to live in kind of ghetto, with a wall around it, separated from the world and from all worldly temptations.  Some even went so far as to live in convents behind high walls with the gates securely locked.

Is that the Christian attitude?  Would that lead to a conquest of the world?  Have you ever heard of a soccer-team that won a game by staying at home?  Did Joshua conquer Canaan by staying in his tent?  If that would be your attitude, then you could try to avoid a fight, but you would certainly never gain victory!

If you are to overcome the world, you will have to meet it!  You’ll have to go out and fight it!  It’s the only way to gain the victory.  So we are to fight the world.  And if that is the case, it is important to know as much about the enemy as possible.  What are his weapons?  Where is he most dangerous?  What are his tactics?  Where is the frontier where we have to meet him?

Well, it’s easy to know this enemy, isn’t it?  We meet the world in a picture theatre where sexy films are shown, and where hardly any film is shown which does not, glorify materialism.  The picture of happiness on films and TV is: to have a beautiful body and to wallow in riches.  You find the world in magazines that poison the minds of many teenagers.  We find the world in business and in politics, in juvenile delinquency.  Isn’t it shocking to read about it!  What is the world coming to?  I agree with all that.  But it’s not sufficient.  We have to know more about the world in order to be able to fight it.

Have you ever searched your own heart?  And what did you find?  Have you never been shocked by your dreams, including your day-dreams?  Have you never known that sharp pang of jealousy when looking at your neighbour’s car, or house, or job?  Have you never felt sorry for yourself when you realized that as a Christian you could not join in the fun unbelievers seemed to have?  Are you not troubled by the lust of your eyes, and the pride of life?  Are you such a saintly person?  It’s hard to believe!

You know what we often do?  We just pretend that we are not affected by it.  We put some fences up around our life, our family, our church.  We adopt certain rules of behaviour and we think that as long as we keep within these limits, we are safe.  We warn our children to do the same, and never pass these fences.  Inside we reckon we are safe, whereas outside we find the world and its temptations.

In other words, we still build a sort of ghetto, safely enclosed within the walls of convention, of tradition, and of conviction.  There is one thing however about ghetto’s we are apt to overlook.  You will remember the story of the Jews in Warsaw during the last war.  They were put in a ghetto by the Germans.  But there was still traffic to and fro between the city and the ghetto: through the sewers!  On the surface there was a sharp dividing line, but underneath in the sewers the Jews could go in and out, and so could the enemy.  That is the same with our “Christian ghetto”.  There is still the connection with the world in the sewers of our existence, deep underneath.  There, in the refuse and the dirt of our old nature, we have contact with the world.  And here we find the most dangerous frontier in the war against the world.  We have to realize that the enemy is not only outside – that is bad enough – but the enemy is also inside, and that is the worst part of it.  And we have to recognize him, deep down in our soul.

Don’t you recognize the picture John has drawn for us when he spoke about the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life?  In these words he revealed the dirt in the sewers of your soul!  I don’t have to say more about it.  You know what I’m talking about don’t you?

You will agree with me: it’s a hopeless job to block these sewers effectively.  You may have been very busy at it, but all the time through the holes you have overlooked, the dirt comes up to flood your mind again.  That is what is poisoning us, and it is very disappointing and discouraging.  That is what makes it so difficult to deny yourself, to confess your Saviour, and to walk a godly life.  Isn’t it difficult to pardon your brother’s sins, not just once or twice, not a hundred times, but always!  Isn’t it difficult to bow your head and be the least of the brethren, to esteem the other better than yourself?  Wouldn’t it be horrible if you had to forsake everything – your wife, your children, your home, your life?  If you could not do that, you are not worthy to be a disciple of Jesus!

We do fight on this frontier.  But what is the outcome?  We have to agree with Paul: even if I want to do good, evil is with me!  Here we find the real enemy, inside undermining our existence, flooding us with bitterness, with despair, with loneliness and utter hopelessness.

How strong he is, and what effective weapons he has to separate us from the love of Christ.  In our best moments we are prepared to fight him and we promise our Lord and ourselves: from now on things will change and I will lead a blameless life.  And what is the outcome of these good intentions?  Failure, and abject misery!  It may lead us to dark despair and we may doubt whether our faith is genuine.  Do I really love the Master?  And the church cannot help you here.  A home-visit won’t do you any good.  We are helpless.  The question is: how can I overcome the world, my sin, my old nature?  The answer is: I can’t!  It’s absolutely impossible.  And I mean that.  It is not a play of words, but stark reality.

Let’s now listen to our text again:
This is the victory that overcomes the world!

We have seen what the world is, let’s now see what the victory is.  That victory is here.  It is within our grasp.  Not at the end of a hopeless struggle, but as a gift!  And there are no strings attached.  Victory is here, as a reality.

When John wrote these joyful words, he must have remembered a word of our Lord.  Just one hour before Gethsemane our Saviour said: I have overcome the world!  Where could we see that victory in His life?  He had not made much of it, according to the usual standards, had he?  He lived the life of a poor man without any worldly possessions.  He had no fame, no success, no influence.  In the prime of His life He was about to be murdered.  And yet He says: I have beaten it all, here I stand, a Victor!

At this occasion John and the other disciples learned the real meaning of the words victory and defeat, failure and success.  In the world people feel victorious when they have succeeded, even if they had to scramble over their fellows, to get ahead, and become the boss.  Or: to start a big business and make it pay!  That is success!  But the Bible teaches us that you may do all these things, and even gain the whole world, and still be the loser!  On the surface you may look very strong, but inside, through the sewers, the enemy crept up and conquered your soul…!

Isn’t it true that there are very few people who have acquired a lot of money who are not enslaved by it?  They can’t live without it anymore.  There is that old story of a man who said to his commanding officer: I have taken a prisoner!  The officer said: Bring him along!  The man replied: I can’t.  Well, the officer said, come along yourself then.  The man answered: I can’t for he won’t let me…

Aren’t we often utterly beaten and enslaved by the very things we fancy to have mastered and conquered?  This notion of victory is worldly, sinful, deceptive.  But following the footsteps of Jesus, a poor man, a beaten man, an unsuccessful man can say: I have overcome the world!  That means: that you can put your hand upon the world and all the things that are connected with it, and force them to help you get nearer to Him, to become more like Him, to think more often of Him, to do His will more gladly.  You have to make the world a ladder to lift you up to God.  Whenever the world comes between you and God as an obscuring screen, then the world has conquered you.  If you conquer it you get it under your feet and stand on it, to reach up thereby to God.  The beggar Lazarus conquered the world and the rich man, at whose gate he was lying, was beaten by it.

Be therefore not deceived by outer appearances.  Lord, open my eyes that I may see reality as it really is!

Finally: How do I share in that victory.  That is explained in the third word in our text:

Faith is the invincible weapon whereby I conquer the world.

Isn’t that ridiculous?  Isn’t faith worthless as a weapon?  What is faith after all?  It is a stretched out hand whereby we accept God’s gifts.  And even the will and the power to stretch out that hand have to be given to us.  You could say: faith is a hole in the heart.  Our heart had to be broken by God, and through that hole the gospel of Jesus Christ entered.  Remember that beautiful word about Lydia the seller of purple, beautiful because it is so simple: the Holy Spirit had opened her heart so that she gave heed to what was said of Paul.  And how could we then with empty hands and a broken heart, fight against the world and overcome it?  And the answer is: we can’t it is impossible!

We conquer the world by realizing and admitting that we can’t conquer it!  Let me repeat that, for here we find the real gospel: We can only conquer the world by starting with the admission: we can’t.  I cannot possibly block the sewers under my existence.  I can’t defeat the overpowering temptations that assail me.  Good intentions just won’t do.  You cannot defend yourself with a pocketknife against an atom bomb…!

And yet, this is the way to overcome the world: by my empty hands and by my heart with a hole in it.  It means that I bring my failures, my weaknesses, my sinfulness, my misery and my doubts to my Saviour and say: Look, Lord, here it all is.  I tried to overcome it all, but I failed.  I am called to be free, but I am a slave.  I am supposed to serve Thee, but I have always obstructed Thee.  I should be an example of Christian joy, but I am very often bad- tempered and as a result people laugh at my faith and my conviction.  I made a mess of it.  Here it all is, please take it.  If Thou canst do something with my life, please do it for I can’t.

And by doing just that – we overcome!

We should be aware however of what our text does not say.  It does not say: here is the victor, who overcometh the world: the Christian.  No, a thousand times: NO!  That is not the gospel.  I have not conquered and I will never conquer.  HE DID!  He went to the battlefield, alone, forsaken by all His followers.  He had to bear the brunt of the furious onslaught, and He was crushed by it.  Yet He overcame.  That is the gospel.  And His victory will pass – as with electric power – into my life, if only I trust Him.  And that is all there is to it.  And satan, the world, sin and darkness will flee, will panic, will admit defeat, if I hide in Christ.  If I take refuge in His work and His victory.

Since the glorious victory of our Lord satan still tries to deceive us by telling us, it’s not that easy!  You first have to do this and that and the other thing.  If we would believe that lie, we would start the fight again in our own power.  And it would make us very sad and hopeless.  But it is not true.  Is it not a matter of what YOU do, but thank God: it is a matter of what HE DID!

Who then overcome the world?

Nobody but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God, who also is called the Saviour!

Amen.