1st John 2:12-17
“I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven
you for his name’s sake. I
write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that
is from the beginning. I
write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the
wicked one, I write unto you, little children, because
ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I
have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong,
and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome
the wicked one. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of
the Father is not in him. For all that is in
the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of
the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust
thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for
ever” (1 John 2:12-17).
“Let’s
open in our Bible’s to 1st John chapter
2. Welcome if
this is your first-time visiting with us. If
you’re a father, I hope you grabbed a cookie when you
came in. But that’s for the Dad’s (and
I’m sure, probably for the Mom’s, that chocolate
thing ladies have, you know). Ooops. You
know, as you’re turning to 1st John, imagine
with me just for a moment, sitting here in the sanctuary,
and walls are painted, and wonderful carpet on the ground,
the sound doesn’t sound hollow anymore, it’s
got that nice full sound, we have this stained glass, beautiful
dove in the back, those windows in the back, the top here
is finished, the cross and dove here with some brick. Imagine
it being like that and bringing your family and friends on
Father’s Day. I don’t know about you, but for
awhile it’s been like that, I bring visitors and people
to the church, and I’ve got to tell them, well, ‘We’re
in the process of doing this…’ and apologize
for this over here, you know, I kind of go through this whole
thing. It’s just really been on my heart,
I pass it on to you, you know as we’ve been reading
through 2 Chronicles and the life of Solomon, Solomon and
his life. And
I guess it encouraged me. His
life was just a big building construction project. That’s
basically what it says, he went from one construction project
to another. But
yet he was faithful in doing it, and it says he was very
orderly in what he did. And if you remember, too, the Queen of
Sheba comes to Solomon, and she had heard certain things
and she didn’t believe it was true. And
she came to check him out, and when she met with him and
heard all his wisdom, but also it says when she saw the order
of everything and the excellence of everything, she said, “I
know what they said is true, in fact, it’s even more
so than what I heard.” It’s been on my heart, I even heard
a story of somebody who was here on our building dedication
night, I remember Mike McIntosh mentioning, ‘Hey, he’s
going to buy carpet for a church’, which he did, Horizon
San Diego gave us money for carpet. But
then this person came later, a long time later, it’s
been awhile, and saw that the carpet wasn’t here, and
they’re not a born-again believer, and they began to
just question, and there was a sense there, they were wondering
about our integrity, maybe Mike McIntosh’s integrity. And
there is a statement that we make, and I’m not trying
to put a trip on you or anything, but as a brother and a
pastor, I just want to encourage you that we need to be faithful
in all that we do. And
our lives are full, and I know what that means, and you need
to do what you need to do in your life, that’s for
sure, I couldn’t tell you. But I just pray that as we look at our
schedule over the summer, we would kind of think together ‘How
can we represent the Lord in the way he wants to be represented?’—and
that’s in excellence. And we really don’t have far to
go at all, to be honest with you. Some
of you are a little skittish after last April and May when
you lived here for two months, set up your tents you know. But
we’re not looking [at doing] that again, we’re
just looking at moving along and getting things done. So,
just a thought to consider.
We
are in 1st John chapter 2. We
are going to pick up with verse 12 where we left off last
week. I mentioned a Scripture last week and
I’ll mention it again, and we’ll look at this
as we continue here. But Jesus declared in Matthew chapter
24, verse 12, he said in the latter days, lawlessness will
abound. And as a result, and maybe also as the
cause of that lawlessness abounding, he said the love of many will grow cold. That is, a love for God and a love for
other people. I
think of an individual, of course I could give all sorts
of stories, I know a number of individuals. But I think of one man whom I’ve
known in the past who was at one time very zealous for the
things of the Lord, it was so clear. He
had a real beautiful heart for God, a wonderful hunger in
his heart and passion to serve the Lord in any way he could. And
it was clear, as you look at this man’s life, he was
just laying his life down for God. But then for some reason, I’m not
sure why, but he started to get wrapped up into his appearance,
the way he looked. And with that, and that certainly seemed
like an innocent thing at first, something that was harmless,
something that was fine, but as I watched his life, it started
to consume him, he started to invest a lot of his energies
and time and his means to just work on his appearance. And
then I remember when this individual started to hang out
with some of the old gang, some of the old friends, friends
from before Christ. And
then even hearing him tell stories of how on the weekend
he’d been at a nightclub or whatever. I
remember hearing these things, and I began to warn him, I
began to tell him, ‘It seems you’re getting on
a dangerous path here. Your
heart seems to be getting distracted. You seem to be drifting.’ Of course, he had excuses, he had his
reasons, didn’t see anything wrong in what he was doing. Of course there’s freedom in Christ. But then the course continued on, and
he really started to change, and in an interesting way, he
started to become and appear like he used to before he was
in Christ. Eventually
his life appeared in a way that there seemed to be very little
hunger for the things of God, very little dedication to the
Lord. And rather, he was all wrapped up into
the things of the world. And
I’m not sure how he is today, but I watched that. And
the last I knew him, that’s where he was. Of
course I could think of others just like that, people I have
known. I had
a list of stories, and I had to just cut them down so we
could get through this study. But I’m sure we all could think
of stories, people who at one time seemed to have a real
sweet love for the Lord, some even being greatly used by
God, maybe being used by God in our own lives. But now instead they’re consumed
with the worries and the ways of the world. Of
course, this is something that isn’t unique to this
time period, in this modern day. It’s
been something that’s been occurring since the start
of the Church, even Paul in his epistles and letters, he
mentions people that he knew where the same thing occurred. There’s this man, Demos, that Paul
mentions. Evidently
this man served with Paul. And
when Paul was there under house arrest in Rome, he mentions
Demos, he sends along greetings from Demos to Philemon when
he writes the Epistle, the letter to Philemon. And then when he writes the church in
Colossi, he sends along greeting from Demos, and we assume
that Demos was with him while he was suffering, while Paul
was suffering and going through such a hard time. He
was a man, evidently comforting him and serving him, a man
that clearly loved the Lord, to be set apart with Paul at
that time. But
then when Paul writes his final words that he contributes
to the Bible, his 2nd letter to Timothy, just
a little bit before Paul’s death, he says to Timothy,
he says, “Be diligent to come to me quickly…” And
why? He says, “for
Demos has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and
has departed for Thessalonica.” This
man was with him through some hard times. This
man seemed to have a zeal for the Lord. But
then there’s this note, one of the last things Paul
even notes, that we have in the Bible, is this man Demos
seems to have turned his heart from the Lord, and is now
seeking after the world. This
man’s love was stifled somehow by the love of the things
for the world. We think, too, of the church
at Ephesus, the entire church, you know, Jesus later admonishes
this precious church [the very church the apostle John made
his headquarters at, as the last living apostle]. He
admonishes them in Revelation chapter 2, verse 4, he says “I
have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember
therefore from where you have fallen and repent and do the
first works, or else I’ll come to you quickly and remove
your lampstand from its place unless you repent.” And
of course these things are sad to see, though it certainly
does happen. And
so it is when the light and the fire that is in a believer’s
heart is then stifled, as they are lured back into seeking
after the things of the world. And
so, in the Scriptures, we have the repeated warnings to ourselves
about not allowing this to happen to us. And
I can say to you this morning that, you know, I look at my
life, and I desire very much, I tell the Lord, “I want
to be faithful to the end, I don’t want to be one of
these statistics, Lord.” And
I know, just because I’m a pastor today that doesn’t
mean that there isn’t the potential in me to become
one of these statistics, one of these folks that like a Demos,
that is like in one place and then later is kind of back
to where they were before. I don’t want to be one of these
statistics, but I can also say to you this morning, and I’m
sure we would all agree, there is a great battle going on
all around us. So
many things seeking to distract our attention. So many things seeking to allure us away
from following God and doing what is right. In
fact, I wonder at times, in this present hour, in this present
age, if there’s not more instruments and tools in the
hands of the enemy, resources that he has available to seek
to distract me and allure me from the ways of the Lord. Weapons
and tools to deceive and draw people and their hearts, Christians
from the ways of the Lord. Our TV’s are screaming at us, our
radios are blaring, our computers are flashing their images
and their messages. We walk the streets, we go to work, we
drive to the store, and there’s the billboards and
the magazines and the advertisements calling out to us. Even
the people around us, their conversations, their actions
so often seem to battle against our understanding and our
desire to follow after God. But this is what Jesus said, he said “in
the last days lawlessness will abound…” and
it’s either as a result or maybe it’s part of
the cause, “but the love of many will grow cold”,
the love of many. I
think that’s a statement about the condition of the
Church. The love
of many, in the other translation, says “shall wax
cold”, you know, when it’s like liquid, when
it starts to solidify, when there isn’t that heat anymore. I guess the heat and the fire going out
of a heart, it starts to wax cold. Well
with that, what are we to do? What
can we do, what can we learn that will help us not become
part of these statistics? What will enable us to run the Christian
race faithful to the end? I
started it that way, because I think John has some things
to say here, some things that will give us insight today,
and some encouragement that will help us in this matter. So let’s say a word of prayer and
we’ll begin with verse 12. ‘Lord,
as we look at these Scriptures together it is a true statement
that you say, in fact, Jesus you say in another time that
when you return to the earth, ‘Will the Son of Man
find any faith?’, referring just to the state of that
time, that men will grow worse and worse. There’s
another Scripture, and men, rather than loving others, will
love themselves, and love pleasure, and love the things of
the world. But
yet, Lord, as Christians, in our heart we want to be faithful,
we want to love you, we don’t want to be distracted,
want to faithfully serve you, have passionate hearts for
you. But at the
same time, there’s such a battle. So
many things, even that have moved into our own homes, our
workplace, all around us, seeking to grab our attention,
seeking to knock us off course. But Lord, as we have this time in the
Word, we ask even now you’d give us just eyes to see,
help us understand. I pray that we would grow in faith at
the of hearing and studying your Word. That
when we depart this place today, we would be better equipped
for the battle, and we’d run and press on all the more
in our faith. And we ask this Lord, in Jesus name. Amen.’
Words of encouragement
Verses 12-14, “I write to you little
children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s
sake. I write to you fathers, because you have
known him who was from the beginning. I
write to you young men, because you have overcome the wicked
one. I write to you, little children, because
you have known the Father. I
have written to you, fathers, because you have known him
whose from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because
you are strong and the word of God abides in you, and you
have overcome the wicked one.” Now
John does not want his audience, that includes you and
I today, to become discouraged in this battle that’s
around us. So
now he seeks to encourage us by reminding us of certain
realities that will help us press on in this race. You
remember, he already told us about having a true relationship
with God. And
that relationship with the Lord will be proved through
obedience to God’s commands, and that includes love,
of course a sincere love for God, that command to love,
and also a love for others. At
the same time, John understands, man the struggles we face
as believers in a dark world. So
before he continues, before he continues with those very
strong points he has been making, he now stops and gives
some words of encouragement, some things that will help
us, get us up, maybe if we’re discouraged. The first thing he reminds us of is (1)
true grace. That
is, as believers in Jesus Christ, we can be confident that
our sins are forgiven. You know, as we note here in verses 12
to 14, he addresses three groups of people in the Church,
that is the little children, the fathers, and the young
men. Now at
the beginning of that verse 12 he mentions “little
children.” What does he mean by “little children”? Is he talking to the little kids downstairs? The word literally means “born ones”. And commentators take it either to mean “the
young believers in the Church”, or maybe “all
of the believers in the Church”, you know, all the “born
ones”. As
you look at commentators, they go back and forth. But
either way you take it, whether you take it as young believers
or all believers, you can still apply it to all believers. And that is because all believers were
once young believers. And
the truth is, John has already shown us, as born again
Christians [or Messianic believers] we have an advocate,
verse 2 of chapter 2, with the Father. We have an advocate when we sin, Jesus
Christ the righteous, who is also the propitiation for
our sins, and therefore we are forgiven, forgiven of our
sins. So John,
he’s been exhorting us, and possibly he knows, possibly
as he’s making some of these strong statements, maybe
some have become heavy hearted, some have become discouraged,
just due to the battle that’s raging around them
in the many things that they struggle with. They
want to obey, they want to love, but they find themselves
being lured so often, being distracted so often, find themselves
in places they don’t want to be. But
if so, before John continues, he wants to remind us of
God’s grace. I
tell you, that can bring wind back into the sails of our
boats, you know it can get us going again. There’s
a story of Robert Robinson, the author of the hymn “Come
Thou Fountain of Every Blessing”. This man lost the happy communion of the
Saviour which he once enjoyed. And
in his declining yeas he wandered into the byways of sin. As a result he became deeply troubled
in spirit. Hoping
to relieve his mind, he decided to travel. And
of course, in his journeys, as he became acquainted with
a young woman on spiritual matters, she asked him of what
he thought of a hymn she had just read. To his astonishment he found it to be
none other than his own composition. He
tried to evade her question, but she continued to just
press him, she wanted some insight, she wanted some answers. Well
suddenly he began to weep. With
tears streaming down his cheeks he said “I am the
man who wrote that hymn many years ago. I’d
give anything to experience that joy I knew then.” Although
greatly surprised, she then reassured him that the streams
of mercy mentioned in his song still flowed. Mr.
Robinson was deeply touched, turning his wondering heart
to the Lord, he was restored to full fellowship to Jesus
Christ. Amazing,
huh? I mean,
we sing that song, you know, in churches. Beautiful
song, what a place he was in when he wrote that song, but
later, in the midst of sin, living in the world. But then, the grace of God is really what
got him going, the grace of God. I’m
sure he’d gotten discouraged living the way he was,
but it was the grace of God, that was a reminder, there
was still streams of mercy to you, man. And maybe you’re here today. John’s been speaking to you as we’ve
been going through, and you’re discouraged and heavy
hearted. You maybe remember better days, where
you walked with the Lord. But
this morning, understand the grace of God, and the truth
is again, as we’ve been told each week, if you confess
your sin right now to the Lord and repent of your sin,
you sure can, he’ll forgive you and cleanse you and
heal you, and he’ll bring that sweetness, flood that
love right back into your heart again. It is true. It
is true. Well
if you can relate to Robert Robertson’s story, then
I pray John’s word here, “Little children,
I write to you because your sins are forgiven you.” Interesting, he says, “for his name’s
sake.” I
like that part. He’s just saying it’s all
about Jesus, Jesus is everything. My
forgiveness isn’t dependant on how I feel right now,
forgiveness is dependant upon Jesus and his name sake,
it’s dependant upon the work that he’s already
accomplished on the cross. It’s
a done deal. So that’s the basis of my assurance
and confidence that I’m forgiven. Well,
the next group that John addresses in verse 13 is the fathers.
The fathers
That Greek word
that he uses implies an older person, we would assume somebody
mature in the faith. John reminds them of how they have “known
him”, that is Jesus, who is from the beginning. So
this is a statement about true relationship. We have true grace and we have true relationship
that John writes about to encourage. These mature believers over the years
have grown in their knowledge, their experiential knowledge
of their Lord. Their walk with Jesus has grown tighter
and more intimate. They
have learned that there’s no greater or more exciting
thing than knowing Jesus Christ intimately. That’s
what he’s saying,
“You’ve known him from the beginning.” You’ve
known him, not just about him, you’ve known he’s God, he’s
existed forever, you know him in his awesomeness and his goodness. They know, these fathers, they know there
is nothing in the world that comes close to comparing with Jesus, that he indeed
is more precious than silver, more costly than gold, and more beautiful than
diamonds, as we sing in that little praise song. You know, it being Father’s Day,
this is the text we end up in. I
take the opportunity here just to exhort the dads for a moment, and my own
self. God is saying to us, just in his timing
here on Father’s Day, that there’s nothing more in life. There’s nothing more in life. There’s nothing better in life than
knowing God, knowing Jesus Christ intimately and walking closely with him. And truly, today on Father’s Day
growth in my relationship with the Lord, that’s where it’s at,
if I’m going to ensure that I’m going to be a good dad, a good
husband. That’s where it’s
at, man, a walk with Jesus Christ, an intimate walk with him. That
is what ensures victory. So, to the dad’s, the question,
is growing in intimacy with the Lord your greatest desire? Is
it your greatest desire? Is that
how your wife, is that how your children will highlight your life, I mean,
there on your tombstone they’ll say “This man loved Jesus Christ.” Will they note the golf? Will they note your hobbies? Will they
note your cars, your collections? [Speaking
of that reminds me of this large tombstone, built like a display case, with
a glass front on it, and on display is a model sailboat, and all this guy’s
sailing trophies. It is in a roadside graveyard on the right, in
Kittery Maine as you drive down Route 103 towards Kittery Point.] Or will they say “This dad of mine,
man, he loved Jesus, and what an effect it had upon my life…” You know, it’s Father’s Day,
and God says to the dads, “you know him, as born-again believers, you
know him.” But man, may we grow in that knowledge
of Jesus Christ. Sure there’s
a lot of distractions, but we also have choices we can make. That is for sure. Having a true relationship though with
Jesus Christ obviously isn’t just limited to older people, older in the
Lord, more mature believers. So
as you see there, John also says in verse 13, “I
write to you little children, because ye have known the Father.” I mean, they have a relationship too. All
these things can be applied to any believer. Certainly
they know God. So John is just
giving this gentle reminder that there is nothing else that is needed, we have
all that we need. We have grace, and we’ve got God,
we’ve got a relationship. The
word for “little children” in verse 13 is not the same Greek word
that he uses in verse 12, however, it’s the patia in
verse 13, and in verse 12 it’s the word technia. The Greek word technia indicates more than anything, birth, being part of a family
by virtue of birth. But the word patia simply stresses immaturity. So as commentators go through, and I’ve
seen them reverse it, one will take it as meaning the young in the Church,
spiritually, those that are new in the Lord, and the other one they’ll
take to applying to all the Church,
like verse 1 of chapter 2 where John says “My little children”,
he’s talking to everybody. Or
they reverse it the other way, and patia itself,
that word can mean a term of endearment, just like technia can
for the young and old. So they
both can go both ways. Well, the
last group in these verses that John writes to is “the young men.” The Greek word here indicates those who
are in their prime, vigor, the vigor of manhood to age 40 or so. And if you are well beyond that, I don’t
mean to say you’re old, that’s just what the Greek word means. [laughter] But,
I guess 37 years of age sort of like me, and of course he just refers to the
males here, I mean, this applies the ladies too, the gals. His reminder to them is that they have
overcome the wicked one. Man, that’s
a great reminder. Interesting,
in these verses, he starts with “I write…I write” and then
a little later he says “I have written…I have written.” He
repeats himself. When the Bible
repeats itself, it’s because there’s something important for us
to learn, there’s an emphasis upon it. And
of course, any good teacher also repeats himself. So
John repeats himself, and he knows this is vital encouragement that the audience
needs. So he twice says to the young men, “you
have overcome.” And why have
they overcome, well, he gives the reason, this point of overcoming, true strength,
true grace, true relationship, and true strength, and those are all real encouragements
to us today. He’s saying
to them that they have the resources which have made them strong, and that
isn’t physical strength, that’s strong in integrity, strong in
character. And because of that, they have been enabled
to overcome the wicked one, Satan. What
does he specifically mention as the source of their strength? He says in verse 14, “You are strong and the word of God abides in you”,
and it’s because of the Word of God abiding in them that they are strong. These are men that have grown, these are
women that have grown, they’ve gone down a distance in their Christian
faith, they’re chewing on the Word of God. And
they have been growing strong spiritually and seeing victory in their life. Of
course, just knowing the Word, just knowing the Word and quoting the Word,
that doesn’t give me victory. It’s that point of abiding in the
Word. I’ve known plenty of men, even women,
that can just quote the Scriptures. You
know them, maybe extended family, or neighbors, coworkers, man they just rattle
it off. But there’s absolutely
no godliness in their lives. It’s
not just knowing it in your head, man, it’s abiding in the Word. It’s
rather saying “I abide by the Word, therefore I will not do these things
that are contrary to the Word of God.” [Go
back to the previous three sermon transcripts to see what that means.] That’s
what he says, “you abide in the word” and therefore you don’t
do these other things. Therefore you have the strength to overcome. We
have a clear picture of this in Jesus when he was tempted. Jesus
as a man, not eating for forty days or drinking for forty days, incredible
weakness. Satan knows it, Satan
comes to tempt him. But it isn’t
just that Jesus quotes the Scripture, Jesus lives by the Scripture. So as Satan seeks to deceive him and to
allure him he comes back and says “No way, man. No
way. I obey the Word of God, and
here’s a Scripture, this, what you’re telling me to do, I would
violate this. I abide in these
things, so therefore Satan I won’t do those things.” Twenty
three years ago on my fourteenth birthday, 1980, February 9th, my
grandfather gave me a Bible, and in the Bible, in the cover as I opened it
up it said “To ……… from Herbert,” my grandfather,
in fact I was going to get that name Herbert, but I got my name instead, my
mom couldn’t say the name Herbert, she’s French, so she couldn’t
say it, so I got my name… But underneath that there was the date,
and it said “Reading this book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep
you from reading this book.” My
grandfather wanted me to know then, you know, twenty three years ago, that
as a young man I can overcome Satan by the Word of God, having the Word of
God in me. Abiding by it, growing. That encourages me, because there is a
battle out there. Sometimes I’m
saying, ‘Man, it’s such a battle. I’m
so weak. What do I do?’ And God says “Get in the Word. Chew on the Word. Let it become part of you, the way you
think, the way you reason, the things you do. You’ll
find the strength to overcome.” So
John encourages us by reminding us that we have true grace, true relationship,
true strength. And now he continues. He
continues to help us in this battle by declaring a few things about the love
of the world.
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