Faith is the Key

1Jn 5:4-5 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. (5) Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

We are reminded here once more that victory over the enemy of our souls – Satan and his world kingdom – is faith. Faith in Christ. Believing that Jesus is indeed the Son of God. BUT, note that this faith only comes to us when we have been born of God. You must be born again. Examine yourself carefully and honestly. There are myriads of people who claim to be Christians, who simply assume that they are and that therefore all is well between them and God. But few are really saved. Jesus said so. The gate is narrow that leads to life and few are they who find it.

The faith which the Lord gives His people as a gift by His grace, is a key. It is the very thing by which we overcome the world and enjoy victory. Faith in Christ. Faith in His promises. It is that shield of faith by which we extinguish all the lies and other assaults thrown at us by the world, the flesh, and the devil. Believing the Lord’s Word. Believing His truth and His promises.

Those of you who have read The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan will recall that Christian and Hopeful, through a moment’s carelessness, got off the Way and ended up in the Giant Despair’s dungeon. His assaults and those of his wife (Diffidence) so worked on their minds that they almost gave up hope and Christian in particular entertained the idea of suicide – planted in his thinking by the Giant.

And then, just when things were darkest, Christian realized he had been quite foolish. Why? Because he remembered that all along he had a key. The key that would open up all the doors of the prison and lead to freedom. Sure enough, he used that key and out they went.

The key was faith. Faith in the Word and Promises of the Lord. Faith, as John says, is the victory by which we overcome the world. The issue, you see, is not even so much the particular evils assaulting us, but whether or not we have this key (whether we are really born again or not), and if we have it, will we remember and use it? Is God’s Word to us true? Are His promises certain and reliable? The enemy whispers, “no.”

Faith answers with YES!