The Anglican Orthodox Communion
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Sermon by Bishop James Parker Dees, founding Bishop of the Anglican Orthodox Communion - 1963.
“Whatsoever Is Born of God Overcometh the world.”
In the First Epistle of St. John, the 5th chapter, “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 Jesus is the Son of God? This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ: .... And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is Truth. ... He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
“And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”
“Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world:
And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”
These words bring to us great and powerful and wonderful truth and comfort. This tremendous statement is made by one of the disciples of our Lord by St. John, who saw in the events of our Lord’s life and death and resurrection from Eternal religious truth. This Scripture is the result of the revealing of Divine Truth to the heart of one of the faithful followers of God’s Son.
Last Sunday we celebrated the great day of the Church year, Easter Sunday. On Easter Sunday we experience again something of the impact of our Lord’s Resurrection, his rising up, from the dead, from the tomb. Easter Sunday has been called the brightest day of the year, and I suspect that we will all agree that this is true. Easter Sunday is the most joyful day that we have, of all days, because on Easter Sunday our Lord, by his coming forth from the grave, declared for all time that He was the chosen one of God, the true Messiah, the conqueror of sin and death, our Saviour.
This morning I would like for us to look for a while at this great event, the Resurrection to study for awhile the significance that our Lord’s Resurrection has for us. Most of the people in our land will concede that Christ rose from the dead three days after the crucifixion and ascended into heaven forty days later. But do we think about what are the consequences of his Resurrection, and what does it matter to me and to his followers that He did? That he did rise from the dead? In doing this, let us look at the Resurrection from the negative side. Let us consider, what if Jesus had not risen from the dead? What if He had not risen from the dead? What if there had been no empty tomb when the women went looking for Him that first Easter Day?
If our Lord had not risen from the dead, his life and death would have shown him to have been simply another good man, like so many other good men who have been killed for what they stood for, men like John the Baptist, Isaiah, St. Stephen, and many others. And, if He had not risen from the dead, then his mission would have ended really in failure and in defeat. The disciples knew our Lord during his life time; they followed Him as He walked the hills and vales of Galilee performing his wondrous works of mercy, healing the sick, raising the dead, giving sight to the blind, casting out devils, healing the maimed, the deaf, the dumb, the blind, feeding the hungry. They heard Him forgiving sinners, and telling them the good news of the reconciliation between God and man. And all of these things had their place among the works of the Kingdom. But these good works and good news were not enough to convince men that He was the divine Messiah, God Himself, or to convert them to the way of the cross; and to holiness. His earthly ministry was not enough to save men nor to establish the rule of God in their hearts. The Son of God had to suffer and die. And yet His death on the cross was not enough to accomplish it finally, for the crucifixion by itself is evidence of defeat, frustration, despair, the end. The disciples of Jesus witnessed the cross, they saw Him nailed to it, they saw it raised up, they stood at its foot, they watched Him die, and then they went away disappointed, disheartened, crushed, defeated, and full of fear for their own lives. They went and assembled all together in a room somewhere and closed the doors because they were afraid of those Jews who had put to death their Lord. This man, they thought, who was to redeem Israel, was finished, dead. His movement was finished. What He had stood for was finished, and the disciples walking the Emmaus road lamented, “....we hoped that it was he who should redeem Israel.”
But when Jesus arose from the tomb, his resurrection gave them a different picture of things. The Resurrection gave them a new view, a new outlook, a completely different outlook. The Resurrection gives our Lord’s life and teaching and His Crucifixion new dimensions, new meaning. The Resurrection proclaimed to the disciples, as it proclaims to all true believers, that Jesus had really been the divine Son of God who had walked with them, teaching them, helping them, and that it really had been the Son of God who had “offered his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair,” who “hid not his face from shame and spitting,” and who finally had suffered himself to be put to death of excruciating pain in order that they and you and I might have eternal life, who had shed his blood on the cross in atonement for the sins of the world, for our sins, to redeem us from evil and to reconcile us to our Father in heaven, “by whose stripes we are healed.” The Resurrection proclaimed, and still proclaims, that God in Christ is greater than Death, and that He is able to raise up those who die in Him. We know that this is so, for, as St. John says, “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.”
The Resurrection of Jesus shows to us that He was indeed the Christ, the Anointed One, the holy Lamb of God, for whom the prophets had looked to come to see his people free, free from sin and free from death; that He was the Son of God indeed who came to open for us the gates of everlasting life, “Who by His death hath destroyed death.” Believing this, we say with St. Paul,
“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Knowing these things we sing the hymn,
“The grave itself a garden is Where loveliest flowers abound;
Since Christ our never-fading life, Sprang from that holy ground.”
And St. Peter says in his First Epistle, we all can say, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” said Jesus. “And no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” By Him, and by way of Him only, is the way to everlasting life and joy and peace in the presence of God the Father; and He freely gives everlasting life and joy and peace to those who give themselves to Him, and who dwell in Him through faith, in his ways and in his Spirit, worshipping Him. Those who are ruled by Jesus are those who let themselves be ruled by Jesus, because they love Him, and those who follow Him as their Lord and Saviour, know that life does not end with the grave. They know that they are born of God. And the Holy Spirit of God in their own hearts makes them to know that they are, here and now.
“For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world,” says the Scripture. “Whoever is born into the Kingdom of God’s Holy Spirit overcomes the world.” Whoever is born into the Kingdom of God’s Holy Spirit overcomes sin and death, overcomes human frailty, and sin and selfishness, doubt and uncertainty, the devil’s works, overcomes worry, fear, doubt and uncertainty, the devil’s works, overcomes worry, fear, anxiety, and overcomes finally the grave, death itself, because he lives in, and is sustained by, God, through his faith in His Son. St. John tells us, “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” Who is he that overcomes sin and death, Satan, human frailty and selfishness, doubt and uncertainty, bad habits, a lustful eye, and fear of the grave, and death, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Christ?
It is our faith, our true belief, in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Saviour of the World that admits us into that holy assembly known as the communion of saints who wash their robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb. We are saved by God’s free grace, which we appropriate through our Faith, and we are freely admitted thereby into His Presence and into the company of the blessed saints. Through our faith in Jesus Christ, our souls are lifted up, transformed, by the power of God that operated in us from beyond this worldly, material existence that we live in, and that passes away; and we behold the Eternal Truths of God. It is through our Faith in Jesus Christ, that we give ourselves to Him, and He gives Himself to us; and we live through faith in Him, and we live IN HIM through FAITH. We are given the gift of eternal life as we behold something of the beauty and the majesty and the Glory of the Divine Being in Christ our Lord.
“This is the record,” says St. John: “That God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son, He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”
This is the record.
At this point, it is fitting, O so fitting, for us to ask ourselves, “Do we have life in Him? Do I live in Jesus? Have I the Son, the Christ?”
St. John gives us the clues to the answers to these questions in several places. He says, “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” – whosoever believeth. Our sonship, first, is based on faith. Do we believe? Yes, we believe. Our sonship is based on faith.
And secondly he says: “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. HE THAT LOVETH NOT HIS BROTHER,” he says, ABIDETH IN DEATH.” The Scriptures tell us that the children of God have forgiveness in their hearts for the brethren. We hold no grudges against them. We must forgive, and we must love the brethren. We must have love in our hearts from God himself, for him and for one another. How does this come about? “We love Him because He first loved us and gave his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” St. John continues, “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.”
Our sonship is based also on love.
Our love for one another is evidence of our new life in Christ. –
“God is love,” says St. John, “and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in Him.”
“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?”
And this is the record, That God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”
This is the record!
Do we have Him? Do we have life in Him?
If we believe in Him, and trust in Him, and commit our lives into his hands, we do.
The Bible tells us so, and OUR HEARTS tell us so, ....
And we Praise Him!
We Praise Him!
Alleluia!
