Tonight we return to our consideration of 1st John, considering as our text 1st John chapter 2 verses 12 to 14. Before we consider that text together, let's read together Colossians 1 verses 3 through 14. Colossians 1, 3 through 14. Not that this Colossians passage necessarily has a direct connection to the text in 1 John, but I'd like us to read this as an example of the encouragement that Paul seems to give his readers in many of his epistles, talking about their faith and their demonstration of faith. And there are some things that he says there in Colossians chapter 1 which do correspond with what John says to the believers. He addresses in our text tonight. Colossians 1, verses 3-14, as we hear now the Word of God. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for You, because we have heard of Your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love You have for all the saints. The faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for You in heaven and that you have already heard about in the Word of Truth the Gospel that has come to you. All over the world, this Gospel is bearing fruit and growing just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace and all its truth. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf and who also told us of your love in the Spirit. For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience and joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Turning over to our text tonight, 1 John 2, verses 12-14, just to remind you what we've considered so far. Some of the statements John has made previously, for example, in chapter 1, these contrasting statements, verse 6 of chapter 1, If we claim to have fellowship with Him, yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. You recall, John is rather matter-of-fact, rather absolute. And then in chapter 2, verse 4, The man who says, I know him, but does not do what he commands, is a liar. And the truth is not in him. Verse 6, there also, whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. Verse 9, anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. And in the words of our text, verses 12-14, I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of His name. I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong and the Word of God lives in you. And you have overcome the evil one. beloved of the lord so far in our consideration in our study of the first epistle of john we've seen that john really is teaching what we might say is common sense stuff this is practical spirituality plain and simple if you have true fellowship with god you can't and you don't walk in the darkness of sin. It's impossible. If you claim to be in the light of God's truth, yet you hate your brother, you're a liar. End of story. If you claim to live in Christ, you must walk as Jesus walked. That's the only way. Opposites attract, as the saying goes, but with this stuff, opposites don't mix. This is common sense business. Kind of like the fact that you don't run the heater of your car as you drive through a hot desert and where I come from, you don't run your air conditioner in January when it's 20 degrees below zero. It's common sense. You can't love God and your brother and at the same time love the world. What John has been saying and the way he says it naturally leads one to examine their life and to think about this and determine on which side they stand. Light or dark, love or hate, obedience or disobedience. Again, you cannot have one foot in each side. It's either or. Now John is preparing in verses 15 through 17 to talk about that which would destroy fellowship with the Father and as well fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ, namely the love of the world. That would destroy that fellowship. But first, in the text he points out the blessings believers enjoy which ought to give them strength to forsake the world. In this text, John, just like Paul in Colossians and in Ephesians, as we read this morning, maybe you caught that, John recognizes their standing in the body of Christ, and in doing this, he preaches of the encouraging incentive for persevering in the light. Now, as we consider this Word of God together tonight, notice, first of all, the blessed recipients of encouragement. Secondly, the gracious content of encouragement. and then finally the intended result of encouragement. Now this is really an interesting couple of verses and I've struggled to understand why John says what he says and why he says it here. The Inductive Bible Study considered 1 John last year in our study and as I recall we also spent a little bit of time considering these very same verses. Now as you can tell from the text, John addresses three different groups and he describes the benefits they enjoy in Christ and then he repeats what he says and in some cases adding more benefit information. It seems to me that what we have here is an interlude of encouragement for those whom John believes, whom John has confidence, just as Paul in Colossians 1, whom John has confidence, walk in the light and have fellowship with God. And therefore, the blessed recipients of encouragement are, first of all, believers, generally speaking. Believers. Now, you might say, well, we already assumed that. So what's the big deal? Well, I believe this is an important consideration because up until this point, John has been making these contrasts, as we know, again, between those walking in the light versus those who walk in the darkness, between those who know God versus those who don't know God, versus those in whom God's Word abides versus those in whom the Word of God has absolutely no place in their lives, between those who love versus those who hate, and between those who walk as Jesus walked versus those who don't walk as Jesus walked. And now in the midst of all of those contrasts, John encourages his audience with the truth about them. Their sins are forgiven. They know the Father. They have overcome the evil one. The Word of God does abide in them. The blessed recipients of encouragement are those who know firsthand the mercy and the saving grace of God. Yet, then what about the three different groups? Well, as you can imagine, there are a number of different ideas with regard to what John is saying here. Some say that John is talking about all believers in three different ways. First, he talks about all believers as dear children, then all believers as fathers, and then all believers as young men. Some say he is making a strict age division, dividing them up into three categories so that indeed some are children, and some are fathers, and some are young men. Some say that he is speaking to the entire congregation when he addresses them as dear children because he often addresses his readers as dear children. We see that in other places, chapter 2, verse 1, verse 18, verse 28, chapter 3, verse 7, 4, verse 4, 5, 21. That seems to be his term of endearment for his readers. And then after, of course, after he addresses the whole congregation as dear children, then he splits the rest, he splits them up into two groups, fathers and young men. Still others say that John is speaking again to literal children, young men and fathers. John Calvin leans toward that and makes the claim that John here addresses different ages because the old think that they are past the age of learning, the young think that they are too young to learn, and the middle age are too busy with other things to even worry about learning. Of course, it's hard to tell exactly what John means by these three different groups. I tend to believe that John is dividing believers up into age groups based on spiritual maturity. We know that there are what we call, sometimes call, infants or children in the faith. Also, there are those who are well-grounded and mature in the faith, who are father figures in the faith, and these can include even our godly mothers and grandmothers. And there are those who are in between. The truth is Christians are at different stages in their spiritual growth and godly walk. Not all are at the same place in their spiritual life. Now sometimes, especially within the covenant families that make up the church, spiritual maturity may very well correspond with physical age. You recall those of you who were here on Thursday night as Dr. Jones made very clear that many of us do not remember when the Lord worked mysteriously in our heart. and there's not a day in my life that I don't recall knowing and believing that Jesus Christ died for my sins. In some cases, physical age may very well correspond with spiritual age, but that's not always the case. There are younger folk who are very mature in the faith, as well there are adults who are infantile in the faith. Yet, all of God's people, all of those in the family of God, regardless of their maturity in the faith, are all children of God and all have something in common. All share a common call to obedience. A common call to mutual love for each other. A common call to not love the world. All share a common call, young believers as well as old believers, to walk as Jesus walked. As well as to sit together under the preaching of the Word and to enjoy fellowship with God but also with each other. Now I believe that we can also take something else from John's use of these three groups and that is that there must be spiritual growth and development in the lives of each of God's people. Each and every one. As someone has said, in life there is development as in death there is decay. That seems natural. We can understand that. Congregation, if our children are not growing up and developing as they should physically, what do we do? We take them to the doctor. We might even take them to a specialist. Do we take our and our children's and our grandchildren's spiritual growth and development as seriously? Do we? You see, we must. Because either it's growth or it's decay. No one, not even the youngest believer, can remain, can be spiritually stagnant. Christians begin as spiritual infants with regeneration and grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit through that operation that we all know as sanctification. John sees this with his readers as he then talks about the gracious content of this encouragement. Now here again, the benefits that he lists with each group, I believe, support the idea of levels of spiritual maturity. To the dear children, those I believe to be young in the faith, John says he writes to them, because your sins have been forgiven on account of His name, and then he adds the second time around, and because you have known the Father. Now first, we need to understand that John addresses this group using two different Greek terms that can be translated in the same way as they are here, dear children. The first Greek word in verse 12 carries with it the idea of a parent-child relationship. In other words, kinship. Relationship. And the second in verse 13 points to the idea of minority and the need of oversight. And this can be understood as either young in age or young in the faith. But from these two words, there is a definite idea of those who are childlike. Those who are dependent on one who is older. Those who have a relationship with one who is older. Who is there to guard and guide and direct them and to oversee them. Now these are children, first of all, because they have been forgiven. Please understand. Those who are not forgiven are not children of God. They are children first of all because they are forgiven. And the idea here is that their sins have been forgiven in the past and those sins remain forgiven forever. We know what Scripture says as far as the east is from the west. So far has He removed our transgressions from us. And the Lord says in Isaiah 43, I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more. You see, that is the beginning of every born-again life. To know how great are My sins and misery and how I am delivered from My sins and misery. And that means that the basis or foundation of all of our knowledge as children of God is that our sins are forgiven. It begins there. You see, beloved, without forgiveness, there is no foundation for building a Christian life. Without forgiveness for the sake of Jesus, there is no foundation for fighting the good fight of faith. And without forgiveness, there is no foundation for confidence in the Heavenly Father. Apart from having our sins forgiven, there is no foundation for any of this. But this also reminds us that the newest Christian or the newest disciple of Christ who truly believes is pardoned for all of his or her sins. Not just a few. Not even most. But all. It doesn't matter at what age one is born again. It doesn't matter how many actual sins that one has committed in the past. It doesn't matter how serious those sins were. to that one the word of God is clear believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved while some may be forgiven for more at least in our estimation while some may be forgiven for more than others because indeed we know that some commit more heinous crimes of sin than others yet not one is more forgiven than anyone else. Do you understand what I'm saying? God's forgiveness is complete and perfect. All of my sins. All of your sins. Every last bit. And this is indeed good news, beloved, and nothing can bring greater joy than the knowledge of this truth. And there is no other cause for our forgiveness than the name of Jesus. So many find ways, at least they think, Or they invent ways to pacify or satisfy God's wrath. But John points to the one and only way. He says, your sins have been forgiven on account of His name. The name of Christ here, of course, means everything about Him. Simply put, everything about Christ, all that He is and all that He has done. As well, Paul makes this clear that it's only in His name when he says, there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we might be saved. The name of Jesus. And also we know that John said already in verse 2 of chapter 2, He alone is the atoning sacrifice for our sins. And again, it's only because of forgiveness for Jesus' sake that we are children of God in the first place and can then also know the Father, as John says of these children in verse 13. That's what he adds there in Romans 8. Paul talks about the Holy Spirit who lives in those who are in Christ Jesus, and he says, for you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Beloved, there is a special bond between children and parents and only those who know the Father are those whose sins have been forgiven, but then they also know, They are conscious of the fact that their sins are forgiven and therefore desire then to forsake the world and walk as Jesus walked. Remember what John said earlier. The test of truly knowing God is obedience to His commands. And therefore John is saying here that these children are obedient to God. They know in Him they have the forgiveness of sins. And they are obedient to Him. But John applies this knowledge even more, this knowledge of God even more to those he calls fathers. These are what we might call the seniors in the faith, those whose faith has matured by the grace of God. These also are indeed obedient to Him. These have fought and they continue to fight the good faith. These have wrestled with, and even at times given in to the temptations of the devil. And these also understand the restoring grace of God over and over and over again. These, we might say, have been around the block in their Christian life. And we expect a Christian father in the faith to possess spiritual wisdom, which is gained both by experience, but first of all through the Word of God. John says that these fathers have known Him who is from the beginning. Fathers in the faith understand that the triune God is eternal from everlasting to everlasting. They understand in an even deeper sense than the children that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were before this world was made. And they, by the grace of God, will forsake this world for Him who was before this world. They have that deep-rooted assurance as Paul says that no created thing shall separate them from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In a sense, by speaking to the fathers, John is teaching us that we are never too old to be preached to. We are never too old to be taught. We are never too old to learn. We are never too old to hear that old, old story again and again and again and again and again. Until the day we die, the cross of Jesus is to always be before our eyes. But boys and girls, John is also teaching us that we must know Him. We must know Jesus Christ by faith. You see, you can be the greatest mathematician in the world. You can be the greatest president or astronaut or athlete or the greatest anything in the world's eyes. you can be a celebrity in the world's eyes and everyone can know you everyone can look up to you your name can be a household name throughout America but if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ by true faith all the rest doesn't matter a bit even all the good that you may have done for mankind doesn't do you any good if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ by faith if you don't know Him one day He will say to you depart from me for I never knew you. Instead, may we all be able to say with Paul as he says in Philippians 3, verses 7-11. We read that Thursday night. By whatever was to my profit, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead. And of course we know from this morning that believers already have the resurrection of the dead because as the body we are with our head. in heaven already. John says, as we said a moment ago, that the children have also come to know the Father, but fathers in the faith have come to know Him in a deeper and a fuller sense to be able to confess without a doubt, great is Thy faithfulness, Thy mercies are new every morning. And we often see this in mature Christians. Maybe we think of a dear grandparent, as I do. And it's often demonstrated in a more faithful demonstration of the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, self-control. How many of us can think of those who maybe have gone before? We just have a memory. And we see, we recognize that we would never call ourselves saints, as Paul calls us, but we would call them saints because of their maturity in the faith. Because of their patience and love and self-control in the faith. As well, we look to these fathers to teach us who are younger. One commentator said, the Christian community looks to the spiritual fathers for leadership and they in turn must care for their spiritual children. They are responsible to hand the torch of the Gospel light to the next generation, namely the young men in the church. You see, when it comes to work in the church, whether as office bearers, or teaching or leading studies like coffee break or gyms or young peoples. We here, and maybe some of you here have said in the past, I've done my time. I've paid my dues. It's time for those who are younger, the younger men and women of the church, to handle these things. May we who are younger never tire of gleaning the wisdom of those who are older and have so much to teach. And may we who are older never tire of sharing our wisdom and teaching those who are younger and desire to be taught. But then as if John has dealt with the bookends, the children and the fathers, now he seems to go to the middle as he addresses the young men, those we might say who are still learning how to handle the fruit of the Spirit. These indeed were children at one time. But they no longer need to be under the oversight of their parents. They are young adults, we might say. They are full of strength and zeal and they are engaged in the heat of the spiritual battle in a different way than children who are protected by their parents and differently than mature spiritual fathers who have learned to be content in any and every situation of life, as Paul says. And with regard to these, John repeats in verse 14 what he says about them in verse 13. Notice verse 14, the second half, I write to you, young men, because you are strong and the Word of God lives in you. And this is what he repeats, and you have overcome the evil one. The young men receive the most attention as John speaks of their overcoming the evil one, of their strength and of the Word of God abiding in them. And of course, these things, what encouragement, huh? What encouragement for believers at any stage in their spiritual walk to have these things said about you. All believers are soldiers in the army of the Lord. That's why it's so fitting that we sang Onward Christian Soldiers. But these young adult Christians who are engaged in the heat of the battle, possessed by God's grace, the strength of the Spirit, and a sound sense, and they are able to discern between good and evil, and they have been taught well, and they are able to hold their ground and handle their armor and vanquish the evil one. And of course, we can say this about the fathers too, but it's as if it's a newfound thing in these young men. Now, the idea of being in the army of the Lord, I think, is a good analogy. It's not perfect. Please understand. But I think it's a good one. Fathers are like the captains and the generals. They've been there already. And now they guard and they guide and they direct the troops under their care. They lead them. They share with them strategy. The young men are those, we might say, who are on the front lines, those who are actively engaged in combat, hand-to-hand combat. The children, of course, are those who are behind the scenes. They're not allowed in as much as possible to face the heat of the battle, but they are the support staff. Now again, it's not a perfect analogy because every one of us, even young in the faith, we are on the front lines in a sense. We all face the devil face-to-face. But I think it's a helpful analogy. But these young men understand that in Christ, not only do they have the forgiveness of sins as the children are rejoicing in for the very first time, but they also stand victorious against the enemy. You see, what comfort when the Holy Spirit brings us to that point, when we have the confidence that we stand in the army of Christ. With Satan overthrown. You see, it's that knowledge and assurance that not even Satan can snatch us out of the Father's hand that gives us the confidence to stand up for Jesus. The confidence to uphold His name when those around us are taking it in vain. The confidence to desire to be used of God to advance His kingdom on earth, even in public. It's that knowledge and assurance that the Holy Spirit of God uses to help us live in a way that doesn't compromise our faith, but live always only for the King and to stand firm in the face of temptation. For example, young people, when some try to get you to break the law by drinking alcohol or using drugs or when you're tempted to engage in sexual activity that you have absolutely no business participating in or cheating on a test or on an assignment that you say with Joseph, how could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God? And the same is true with us as adults when we are tempted to fudge the books of our business or our personal income taxes or to engage in gossip without going to find out the truth or to not confront each other when we are at odds with one another. We too must say that with Joseph that we can't possibly do these things and act in this way because that only pleases the devil. it is sin against God. We have overcome the devil in Christ Jesus. But don't misunderstand. This doesn't mean, it is not a promise that believers are removed from the heat and danger of the battle and the battlefield in this life. But it does mean that in Christ, as believers, we are able to fully commit ourselves to the conflict without fear. Why? Because we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. And as Jesus, our comfort is in Christ, who said, In this world you will have trouble, but take heart. I have overcome the world. In overcoming the evil one, these young men have discovered that they have strength. Now, young men like to glory in their strength. And one of the ways they do this is through weight lifting. They like to compare notes. Young men, you know that's true. I see the smiles. I can pump this much iron. I can bench press this much weight. And I remember my college days that this was especially true with certain young college men that made their way day by day to the weight room to see how beefy and bulky they could become. I tried it. I found out soon I wasn't meant to be beefy and bulky. And I'm thankful that I'm past that stage because I have a backache just waking up in the morning. But our glory, beloved, as Paul says in Ephesians 6, is to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power by His grace. And may our strength not be measured in terms of physical strength, but in spiritual strength and strength of faith and hope and love. and of course this strength flows from the fountain of the Word of God from which we learn that the joy of the Lord is my strength the joy of the Lord is my strength to stand firm in the face of temptation when my friends are trying to get me to do something I shouldn't do the joy of the Lord is my strength to stand firm when I hear others taking the Lord's name in vain and I want to chicken out and not say anything flows from the fountain of the Word of God. John says here with regard to these young men, the Word of God lives in you. You see, this is the true source of all true knowledge and power. 1 Timothy 3, verse 15 speaks of the Holy Scriptures that are able to make one wise unto salvation. The Word of God is the nutrition and the supply which gives the believer strength. It is the sword of the Spirit by which believers overcome the evil one. Those in whom the Word of God dwells, abides, takes up permanent residency. That's what the word means. Those in whom the Word of God takes up residency are well equipped and furnished to conquer the world by the grace of God. And this is why we take and why we must take our preaching of the Word of God and our personal Bible reading and study as well as our church education so seriously. Because only the Word of God is true which reveals Christ. and his victory. And as Jesus himself said, only the truth shall set you free. Beloved, what powerful encouragement for believers of all ages. And now finally, very briefly, very briefly, there's also the intended result of this encouragement. John has already made this clear in what we considered in chapters 1 and 2 up to this point, and he will continue to drive this home at what comes after. I simply want to summarize what we've said tonight with what we've considered up to this point. Very briefly. The assurance of forgiven sins. The comfort of knowing the Father. The joy of being strong in the Lord and having overcome the wicked one. And the beauty of the Word of God that lives in the believer is to be our motivation and incentive to walk in the light of the truth in fellowship with God. It is to give us the desire to be obedient to the One who loved us enough to rescue us from death and from hell's door. It is to lead us in walking as Jesus walked and living in love for all that is of God and hate for all that is against Him. As spiritual children, may we live with our ears open, ready to learn from our Lord and Master. As spiritual young men, may we be engaged zealously for the good fight, using our strength for God's kingdom and not against God's kingdom. And as spiritual fathers, may we live in the contentment and confidence of the Heavenly Father, leading those under our care by our example. Beloved, these blessed benefits listed in this text belong only to those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Only to them. But, they belong to everyone who believes. Everyone who turns to Him in repentance and faith. Not one would be turned away. How vast the benefits divine which we in Christ possess. And may we never desire to trade these blessed benefits for the world's counterfeit riches. Instead, may we cherish these benefits and use them to give back to God the glory and the praise due to His holy name. Amen, shall we pray. Father, we thank You and praise You for the most wonderful encouragement that You give to Your people. Indeed, Lord, we must know how great our sins and misery are and how we are delivered from our sin and misery. But Father, we also need to be encouraged. We also need to hear about Your love for Your people and the assurance that You give to Your people, those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ by grace through faith and the blessed benefits that we enjoy in Jesus Christ our Lord. And Father, may each one of us tonight be encouraged toward greater zeal and strengthened faith and a renewed desire to live always only for our King throughout our daily life, hour by hour. Lord God, as we look forward to returning to our field of labor tomorrow, whatever that may be, May we take this, Your Word, with us. Apply it to our hearts and lives. Give us the strength of Your Spirit. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray all of these things. Amen.