May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

...everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. This is the one who came by water and blood--Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. (1 John 5:4-10)

In Christ's name and to his glory, dear friends: As you can see on the card, today our central thought is THE STRONGEST THING IN THE WORLD. What is it? Do you know? Some might say the strongest thing in the world is a substance like diamonds or steel or money. Others might claim the strongest thing is something intangible like knowledge or learning as if our strength lay in our universities and cutting edge technology. Still others might say the strongest thing is raw power such as nuclear fission/fusion. God would say that a person could have all these in abundance and still be pitifully weak. The strange thing about the true strongest thing in the world is that the very weak can possess it. There is no outward show of strength in it yet it has often times proved stronger than death. Today John speaks of the strongest thing in the world. You and I must have it if we are not to be overcome but, instead, overcome. Do you know what the strongest thing in the world is yet? Listen. This is the strongest thing in the world...

The faith of him who is born of God. John speaks of a battle, a war, raging with the world. The world is synonymous with all that is evil, anti God, in league with the devil, sin and all who sin, everything that will be burned up or spend eternity in hell. Sometime the Bible speaks of the world as being alluring and seductive. Sometimes it speaks of the world as it does here--aggressive, attacking, a roaring lion on the prowl. The world must not be tamed; it must be eliminated. No treaties will hold it at bay. It must be overcome, or it will overcome. What will be strong enough to overcome it?

John says by inspiration: everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Focus in on the words "born of God" first of all. Victory over the world has a source. It is God. Those born "of God", those who find their victory in God and from God, will overcome the world. Pastor Luther put it this way: The Old Evil Foe now means deadly woe. Deep guile and great might are his dread arms in fight. On earth is not his equal. With might of our can naught be done; Soon were our loss effected... Don't look in the world for the strongest thing in the world. Anything we find in the world, including our own determined strength, is part of the problem, is the enemy that must be overcome. Look to the Lord. What is the strongest thing in the world?--The faith of him who is born of God.

The faith in the Son of God. Faith has a source; it also must have an object. Faith is not a mere feeling inside of man. John says that faith is the strongest thing in the world and speaks of that faith as what we believe. That something is someone-Jesus Christ the Son of God. This is what he says: Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. We are weak. Satan is strong. But One stronger than Satan has come. He is God the Son. With his incarnation he joined the battle. With his baptism he assumed responsibility for the battle. I will wage this war for you, he says at Jordan. He, the Strong One, overcame the world. Not with sword, gun and army but with holiness, obedience and suffering. A victory that he, the Strong one, gives to all who believe.

Friends, this is why faith is the strongest thing in the world and overcomes the world-faith unites us with Jesus, God the Son. It is not the intensity of our faith that is our victory, but the object of our faith-Jesus God's Son and our Savior. Everything depends on what we believe. Pastor Luther again: But for us fights the Valiant One who God himself elected. You ask who this is? Jesus Christ it is, the almighty...Though devils all the world should fill all eager to devour us; we tremble not; we fear no ill. They shall not overpower us. What is the strongest thing in the world?--The faith in the Son of God.

The faith resting on the testimony of God. God has a way of conceiving faith in us. It is by his testimony that God sparks faith in us. John writes: This is the one who came by water and blood--Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. John has in mind a particular false teacher and his particular false teaching. The man was Cerinthus. He taught that Jesus was not really God, but a mere man possessed by Christ for a while. Christ went into Jesus, Cerinthus taught, at his Baptism but left Jesus before the passion. Cerinthus taught that only a man died at Calvary, not God the Son. John, by inspiration, tells his readers that God testifies that Jesus is his Son and our Savior at his Baptism and at the shedding of his blood, plus in the Holy Scriptures in general. As Jesus once said: You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me.

Friends, sometimes people call faith "blind." In one way it is. Faith is believing what we do not see. (Hebrews 11). But in another way faith is never blind. True faith is not merely believing something, whatever you want or dream up. True faith is believing what God tells us, his testimony. Faith is believing God's testimony-no more than that and no less. And his testimony is not weak or lacking. Since God knows we are slow to believe he has repeated often, again and again that Jesus is his Son and our Savior. When the world rages, to the testimony of God! What is the strongest thing in the world?--The faith resting on the testimony of God.