But 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2, we're going to look at verses 12 through 14 this evening. That's 1 John chapter 2, but I will begin reading at verse 3 to set the context a little bit for us. 1 John chapter 2, begin reading at verse 3.

Scripture Reading

Now by this we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He who says, I know him, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him.

He who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked. Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment, which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now. But he who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for His name's sake.

I write to you, fathers, because

Knowing Him from the Beginning

you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. And I have written to you, little children, because you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is 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. Amen. Well, let us go to our God in prayer.

Opening Prayer

O Lord God Almighty, we know the many difficult things we face in this life as we live in this age still, O God. We thank you for Christ who came, lived, died, and rose again, that those who are saved have the Holy Spirit. We live with foretaste in the down payment of the life to come. We thank you for the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places.

We thank you, O God, for the true spiritual state of your people, how we truly now have forgiveness, how we truly know the Father, how we truly know the One who is from the beginning, and how we have overcome the evil one. Father God, these are truths, these are realities for God's people. And may these things give us comfort and hope and assurance of the truth, assurance of eternal life. Yet, O God, sometimes we are quick to forget these things.

There are many trials that come into our life, many difficulties that we face, O God, and yet we forget these things. But help us, O God, to be reminded of these things this evening, that they might give us comfort, they might give us hope, they might give us courage, O God. For these things are true, whether we feel like it or not. These things are assured because of Christ, who has come.

Father God, may this give us assurance and hope. May you comfort us and strengthen us in the difficult times that we face, O God. We thank you for the hope that we have in the Lord Christ. We pray that you would dwell with us now by your Holy Spirit, that we might be reminded of these things, O God, that we might be encouraged by these things, and that we might rest assured of the things found in your Word.

And Father God, we pray that you give us eyes to see and ears to hear these things that are true of us now, even though it is difficult for us to see these things. We thank you that they are revealed in your Word, and you are pleased to illumine our hearts and minds by the Holy Spirit. And Father God, we pray for those that do not know Christ, they would realize that their sins are not forgiven, that they do not know Him who is from the beginning, and that they have not overcome the evil one. show them their sin, show them their need for the Lord, that they might come to saving knowledge and believe on the Lord Christ and have these benefits, have these privileges. And we thank you that it's all based on Christ, who is our advocate, who is the propitiation for our sins, who is that great high priest we learned about today, O God, that we can boldly approach the throne of grace for Christ, who is of the order of Melchizedek, that perpetual priesthood.

We thank you for these things, O God. We thank you for him, O God. We pray that you'd help us now by your spirit to understand these things. We pray ultimately that you would be glorified in the name of Christ.

Amen. Well,

Introduction

John, in 1 John, again, is writing to assure his hearers that they have eternal life. He's writing to them that they might know that they have eternal life, those who have believed on the Son of God. And then John fleshes this out in two ways, in two points of a sermon, if you will. in 1 John 1.5 to 2.29, and then 1 John 3.1 to 5.13, with an intro and a conclusion at the beginning and end of his book. So, in a lot of ways, it's structured like a sermon.

If you remember last time, it was some time back, we looked at how do we know that we know Him. In verses 3 through 6, we saw what is required of God's people, that is, a way to live that pleases God in response to His salvation. And in verses 7 through 11, we saw the commandment of love. This old commandment, yet a new commandment, because it's patterned after our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

And then we come to verses 12 through 14. I think it's a fitting three verses for us to return to, because we haven't been in 1 John in a very long time. And 1 John 2, 12 through 14 is a recap of things that are said before, and even further assures the people, John's hearers, that they are children of God. It assures them of their spiritual state before the Lord God Almighty.

And if you remember, the overarching problem is that there were some men who claimed to be children of God. And then here he's further highlighting what it actually means to be a children of God, what benefits one has to be a child of God. These men denied that they are sinful. Therefore, they deny that they have they say they have fellowship, but they don't.

These men claim to know God, but they deny the gospel. And thus they are not children of God. God. And thus they don't have these benefits.

They don't have the true spiritual state of God's people. And so perhaps we can ask ourselves this question as we go.

Three Points Introduced

What is the true spiritual state of God's children? And that's the thing we're going to seek to answer as we go through. Perhaps you can ask yourself, what is the reality if you're a believer? If you know the Lord, what is true of you are the very things that John highlights here for his readers, regardless of how we feel concerning those things.

Those things remain true whether we feel like it or not. In the difficulties, in the tough times, we see here what it is is actually fixed and firm because of Christ our Lord. So what is this true spiritual state of God's children? Well, those are our three points.

The forgiveness of sins is the first point. The knowledge of the gospel is the second point. And then lastly, we have the strength over the evil one. So forgiveness, knowledge, and strength.

Forgiveness of Sins

Let us first look at the forgiveness of sins. As I said many times throughout 1 John, 1 John is a difficult book to structure. But I think as we look at

Structure of the Two Triads

the structure of the two verses, there are two triads, two sets of three. And we see the same formula in all three. John says, I write to you. Then he has an address of who he's speaking to, little children, fathers, or young men.

And then he gives the reason for why he is writing, highlighting for them their spiritual state. And the verbs here are all in the same form, which is significant, which I'll draw out in just a moment. But it is the same. I write to you.

I write to you. I write to you. And I think I could go with the ESV with respect to the proper translation. It should then say again, I have written to you, I have written to you, I have written to you.

Two sets of three, two triads. The repeated phrase, I write to you, and then I have written to you. And what's kind of interesting here is some have speculated, why does John change the tense? The reality is he does that because he's a man.

He does it for stylistic reasons. Sometimes it gets boring to write, I write you, six times. So he changes it up a little bit, but he uses, even though it's one's present, one's past, it's still highlighting the same thing. For the past is still being used like a present in this instance.

So he's doing that because he's a man. You see, when the men recorded scripture, it wasn't like they were robots. It wasn't as though that they just all of a sudden had this moment and then they wrote kind of whatever. God worked by the Spirit.

Certainly every word we see in Scripture is inspired, but it is because the Holy Spirit works, but also He works through men who have different backgrounds, different training, and different styles. And so we see that here as well, and we'll draw this out in a moment, with little children. But he says, I write to you, because he is a man. He is not a robot.

We shouldn't make a big deal out of it more than we should. And so that's what's going on. That's part of the structure. And it's structured around these, I write to you's.

And this phrase, I write to you, is found often in John. We've seen it already in 1, 4. And these things, we write to you that your joy might be full. And then in 2.1, He further highlights why he's writing to his hearers.

And notice the first addressee in verse 12. I write to you little children. Notice he says little children in 12 and then also in 13. I write to you little children.

That is, even though they're actually different words, but they're highlighting the same thing. Again, he doesn't want to be repetitive. He uses several phrases to highlight who his people are, to highlight the spiritual community using a term of endearment for his people. He highlights beloved.

He says little children. He says little children in several different ways because he loves his hearers. He loves his people and is writing to them that they might, in this instance, know their true spiritual state. And again, there's some debate on how we need to structure children, fathers, and young men.

I take the view that little children refers to the whole community, because he uses that in other parts of his epistle for the whole community. And then he goes on with fathers and young men to deal with different people or different spiritual states, if you will. So little children with the subset of fathers and young men. So he addresses these children using a term of spiritual endearment, focusing on that spiritual connection.

But in all these sayings, we see the reasons for him writing. I write to you, little children, because... You see, as we've gone through in 1 John, a lot of ways, there are a lot of hypotheticals, aren't they? If we say this, if we don't say that, if we say we have sin, then we make him out to be a liar.

But if we say we don't have sin, we make him out to be a liar. But if we say that we have sin, he is faithful and just. A lot of hypotheticals. What's he doing here in verses 12 through 14?

He's driving the point home. Children. I write to you because your sins are forgiven. And he's going to draw that out as we go through as well with fathers and young men, little children.

The reason I'm writing these things to you is to assure you this is your actual spiritual state. Again, all these were hypotheticals, all these were potentials, all these were maybes, even though we drew out the application. But here in his epistle, he's further driving home the point. And there's a lot of connections.

Notice he says,

Forgiveness and the New Covenant

because your sins are forgiven. Doesn't this hearken back to 1 John 1 verses 5-10? And even specifically in 1 John 9. In that whole section, he's talking about sin.

Those who denied sin, those who did away with sin, thought that they never sinned. And then in verse 9 he says, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Why? Verse 12, because your sins are forgiven.

What does that even mean to have our sins forgiven, brothers and sisters? I like how one commentator wrote it, to release from legal or moral obligation. That is, we owe God something. We owe God a debt, a great debt, an eternal debt, something that is required for eternity.

Yet God, in His mercy, with respect to forgiveness, releases us from that reality. God has forgiven us. God has forgiven us of our sins. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us, because our sins are forgiven.

And so the reality is we must acknowledge that there's the present reality of sin, and to deny this takes away our need and makes the gospel nothing. Why do we need the gospel if we don't have sin? We need forgiveness of sins from Christ our Lord. And notice he says, because your sins are forgiven.

You see, all these words, all these verbs, and all the verbs used here with the connection with the because, highlight the reality and focus on state. This is the state that we are in. This is the true reality now, that we actually have forgiveness of sins. That's hard sometimes to wrap our heads around, isn't it?

Because we still sin. We still have remaining corruption. But that doesn't change the reality that right now, if we know the Lord Christ, our sins are forgiven. So when we go to Christ confessing our sins, it's more for us. than for our standing before God.

Because we are right before God, because Christ has died for His people and taken away, or bore the sins upon Him, that we might be released from that punishment. That blessed language of surety comes back again here that we talked about this morning. That's creditor-debtor language. Christ not only pays the debt, but takes on the punishment.

That's what surety refers to. That's what surety means. And so the forgiveness of sins is the reality now. And all the verbs in this section highlight that.

And that's good. Sometimes when you're reading, sometimes you don't need to make a big deal out of verbs, but in this case, it's okay to do that because they're not used often, especially with this form. here. So he's highlighting that. It's an ongoing state for God's people.

And I think this harkens back to the Old Testament. Several passages that describe the new covenant realities. Jeremiah 31, 31 through 34. Jeremiah 31, 31 through 34, especially verse 34.

He says, Notice verse 33. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall know me from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord. For what? I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.

I will remember no more. That's true now of you if you know the Lord Christ. Well, what about Ezekiel 36? You know, if there are some good Old Testament passages to remember, Ezekiel 36 and Jeremiah 31, 31-34 are great texts to do that because they highlight the reality of the New Covenant.

And if you want to cheat a little bit, Jeremiah 31-34 is repeated in the New Testament. So you get a bigger bang for your buck when you remember verses in the Bible. So that's a good way of doing that as well. But notice Ezekiel 36, verse 27.

I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgment and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. You shall be my people, and I will be your God. Again, talking about old or new covenant realities.

And I think it also is found in Psalm 25 verse 11, which is what Pastor Cam read for us at the outset of worship, describing deliverance and forgiveness. describing the deliverance from our sins, describing the mercies of our God, especially verse six. Remember, O Lord, your tender mercies and your loving kindness, for they are from old. Do not remember the sins of my youth nor my transgressions. According to your mercy, remember me.

For your goodness' sake, O Lord. And then even notice in 11. For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. And brethren, our iniquity is pardoned in the Lord Christ.

And so the comfort is,

Forgiveness Grounded in Christ's Name

notice further, your sins are forgiven for His name's sake. This, no doubt, refers to the Lord Christ. And this is evident in 3.24 and 5.13. Sorry, 3.23.

And this is His commandment, 1 John 3.23. And this is His commandment that we should believe on what? The name of His Son, Jesus Christ. And then 5.13.

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God. Notice even the connection between belief, assurance, and eternal life. That you may know that you have eternal life. So we have this forgiveness through Christ's name.

The basis for our forgiveness is Christ's work, which is what has already been talked about in 1 John. Again, he's recapping all the things we've talked about. 1 John 2, verses 1 and 2. My little children, these things I write to you so that you might not sin, but if anyone sins, we have an advocate. with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And notice how we can have forgiveness of sins, and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins.

Not for ours only, but also for the whole world. That is, He takes away our sin with His sacrificial work. We talked about that high priest this morning. We learned further about the high priest of Christ who makes sacrifice for sins, taking away our sins, and thus sits down at the right hand of the majesty on high and lives to make intercession as an advocate for his people. in difficult times, when we are struggling, when we are mourning, when we are facing difficulties in this life, when we have physical ailments.

God is with His people, and Christ prays for us as our advocate. You see, they are heavenly realities that we participate in now. And it's the basis is on Christ and Christ alone. Forgiveness is found on Him and Him alone.

It is not based on anything you and I would do. And our assurance is not based on our works, but our assurance is based on Christ's work. Notice, listen to John Calvin. Without this assurance, religion would not be otherwise than fading and shadowy.

Nay, they who pass by the free remission of sins and dwell on other things build without a foundation. We do have a firm foundation, ye saints of the Lord, and that is our Christ Almighty. So he says, I write these things to you little children, in verse 12, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. But notice in verse 13, at the end, I write to you, or I have written to you, little children, because you have known the Father.

I think sometimes, again, we treat, we're very much visual beings, aren't we? Pastor Cam highlighted that out this morning with the Hebrews. They wanted to go back to what is tangible, what is seen, the sacrifice that that could bring to the altar. It's true of us today as well.

We prefer motion pictures over books in a lot of ways. We prefer things that go quickly past our faces rather than actually sitting down and reading a book. And so the reality is we're very much visual beings. We want that.

You look at a lot of history. You look at Pentecostalism, how it arose. It's because it's a response to the Enlightenment. Seeing, thinking, feeling, all tangible things.

So when Pentecostalism arises, what's it a response to? They want something they see. They want something they touch. They want something that's visible to the mind and quick to understand.

But that's not necessarily our greatest comfort. Our greatest comforts are in the heavenly realities found in the Word of God. But that's difficult for us, isn't it? That doesn't change the fact that it is true.

But brothers and sisters, when you read the Apostle Paul, he's speaking that way. You know, it's like predestination. When you're learning about predestination, you're reading it, you see it everywhere. This stuff about understanding the heavenly realities that we participate in part now, I see it everywhere and it's everywhere.

I'm seeing it everywhere in Scripture, brothers and sisters. It's everywhere. It really is. I know I've talked about it a lot, it's a broken record sometimes, but it is there and it is true.

Ephesians. The spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. And this is John's way of highlighting the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. Forgiveness of sins and knowing the Father.

Access to the Father. You know, Calvin is right. He says we were like orphans until we attained the grace of adoption by the Gospel. This is what John's highlighting.

We are adopted as sons, as daughters, that we might have access to the God of heaven and earth through Jesus Christ, that we might boldly approach that throne of grace. And this ties back to what is said in 1 John 1.5. This is the message which we have heard from him and declared to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. What's going on in 1 John 1.5?

How can we dwell with this God who is inaccessible light? We need forgiveness of sins. So there's a connection between forgiveness of sins and knowing the Father. That's why I put these two together.

That is, how do we know the Father? It's because our sins have been forgiven. That's what he's highlighting. That's what he's focusing on.

And he's highlighting for us this present reality, that our sins are forgiven now. Remember what Gil said. I quoted Gil when I looked at 1 John 1, 5 through 10. Remember, Gil said, go to God seeking forgiveness as a poor, sensible sinner, not as though there is no forgiveness.

Whether we feel there is forgiveness or not, that does not change the reality there is. We have forgiveness now in the heavenly places, if you know Christ the Lord. But the reality is, if you do not know Christ the Lord, the converse is true of you. You do not have forgiveness of sins, and you must pay that debt in full, which is an eternal debt that is owed to God.

So that's the reality, the spiritual state of God's people. We have forgiveness. And so then

Knowledge of the Gospel

let's move to the second benefit, or the second, how do we know our spiritual state? The second thing draws out, namely, the knowledge of the gospel. Notice what he says in verse 13. The addressee changes.

I write to you, fathers. Now this again refers to not so much age, but spiritual maturity. Now certainly age is involved, certainly we need to proceed with respect of our older brothers and sisters, but here he's speaking with respect to maturity. And perhaps the reason he is highlighting this here is because, notice because, he's giving us another reason, you have known him who is from the beginning.

And again, perhaps the reason is because there are false teachers that were teaching that they had secret knowledge. What's John saying? I don't need secret knowledge. You know Him who is from the beginning.

You know the gospel. You have union with the Lord Jesus Christ. You know Him as He's found in His Word. You have forgiveness, but you also have union with the Christ.

You know Him who is from the beginning. So this benefit very much highlights that you know this one already. Now I should say, because we live in the age that we do, fathers and young men refers to both genders. It refers to both men and women.

And even we can take what we say about fathers and young men and apply them to all Christians, but he's highlighting certain men or certain categories, if you will, in the Christian life for certain reasons. I write to you fathers because you have known him who is from the beginning. So he's writing to remind them of the true knowledge. But perhaps he's also reminding as well that perhaps sometimes we measure wisdom in years, which can cause pride.

And that's probably what he's highlighting. You don't need wisdom based on years. You need wisdom based on the Lord Jesus Christ. So he says, you have known him.

And this language again is the language that's repeated throughout John's epistle, combating those false men who taught false things, who taught that they had special knowledge. But he's saying, you have known him who is from the beginning. I think in this instance it's referring to a person, him who is from the beginning, namely the Lord Jesus Christ. He's then bringing us into the Christological focus, focusing on who our Lord is, the one who is found in the gospel, that one that they had heard from the beginning, according to 1 John 1-4, the one they heard, the one they saw, the one that they touched, who actually came in the flesh.

They have known Him who is from the beginning. They know Christ who is from the beginning. Why seek knowledge elsewhere? Why go any place else to find knowledge, to find the secrets of the universe, to find the way of salvation?

It's found in Christ and Christ alone. Christ is from the beginning, according to John 1.1. Christ is the firstborn of creation, according to Colossians chapter 1. Christ is the image of God, according to Hebrews chapter 1.

And He is the one in whom these ones have known from the beginning. And so perhaps even when we think about this idea of wisdom, as we think about its place, you see wisdom is based on truth, not age. As Calvin says, it will be of no avail, however long it may have existed, if it derives its origin from error. There are many people in this life who don't profess to be Christ, who claim to be wise.

Perhaps many different religious leaders or moral men claim to have wisdom. Unless you know the Lord Christ, you don't have any wisdom. You don't have true wisdom, the wisdom found in Christ. And even combating these false men who taught this secret knowledge, they were teaching wisdom came through special knowledge instead of secret knowledge, instead of revealed And so the reality is, as Calvin says, if antiquity delights you, ye have Christ who is superior to all antiquity.

Therefore his disciples ought not to be ashamed of him who includes all ages in himself. You think you have wisdom? Look to the Lord Christ. You think age is the way of wisdom?

Look to the Savior of heaven and earth, the one from everlasting to everlasting. I should say, when I say these things, I'm not saying, children, that you shouldn't respect your elders. You most certainly should do that. But the point is, we usually measure wisdom in years, but we should measure it by Christ.

What does Proverbs 1 say? What is it talking about with respect to wisdom? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Not the age of years, but the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

And so he's saying, you know Christ, you know the one from everlasting. This is the one you've known from the beginning. Why seek any knowledge somewhere else? And that is true of those who know Christ as well.

You have known that state, that same use of that word. You have known Him who is from the beginning. The same is true of you if you know Christ the Lord. You know this one, who came, lived, died, and rose again.

You have communion, you have union with God. And He's drawn this out several times in 1 John. 1 John 2, by this we know that we are in Him. 1 John 2.8, again, a new commandment. I write to you which thing is true in him and in you. We are united to this Lord.

We are united to this Christ. We are united to this King. And this is where our wisdom comes from. We know the way of salvation, and that is only found in Christ the Lord, Christ the King.

And again, it applies to people of all stages. This is where our wisdom is derived from. It is from Christ the King. And the converse is true again of those who don't know Christ.

If it's true that believers know Christ, the converse is unbelievers do not know the Christ. They do not know Him who is from the beginning. They do not know where true wisdom actually lies, found in Christ the Lord. And if you wish to have forgiveness of sins, You have to know Him who is from the beginning.

But the reality is this is a present reality for us now. Christ is seated at the right hand of God the Father. Christ is locally at the right hand of God the Father. And we know Him now.

And He's revealed Himself to us in His Word, and He sent us His Spirit as a down payment for those heavenly realities. He is that firstfruits that we might know more concerning this One who is the agent of new creation. So this is the reality of knowing the gospel. We know the Christ.

We know the God of heaven and earth. We know Him who is from everlasting to everlasting. So we have forgiveness of sins. We know the gospel.

We know Christ.

Strength Over the Evil One

And then lastly, and third and finally, the strength over the evil one. This is my third point. Notice the addressees here. Young men.

If fathers refer to those who are spiritually mature, this refers to those who are a bit younger with respect to their spiritual maturity. He says it in verse 13 and 14. He says, I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. Notice that's one of the benefits for us, brethren.

Think about that for a moment. We have overcome the evil one. And that most assuredly refers to the devil. You see, he repeats it.

I write to you that you have overcome the evil one. And he says it again in verse 14. I have written to you, young man, and you at the end, and you have overcome the evil one. This most assuredly refers to the devil.

Notice in 1 John 3, verse 8. He who sins is of the devil. For the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for his seed remains in him. And he cannot sin because he has been born of God. But notice especially verse 8. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

What Old Testament text does John have in mind in 1 John 3.8? Genesis 3.15, where the seed of the woman would come and crush the head of the seed of the serpent. And the same thing is here. Christ was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.

You see, brothers and sisters, we hold to penal substitutionary atonement. Christ died vicariously, that is, on behalf of his people. It's objective towards God. But that doesn't change the fact that when Christ came, lived, died, and rose again, He is a mighty warrior going on a conquest for His people, destroying the devil, destroying those things, which is what Genesis 3.15 and 1 John 3.8 highlight for us.

Notice the reason you and I can overcome the world is because Christ has overcome the world. John highlights this for us in the Gospel of John, from the words of our Lord Christ. John 12.31. He talks about the ruler of this world, and he says in 12.31, now is the judgment of this world.

Now the ruler of the world will be cast out. And then also in John 14.30. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me. But as the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandments, so I do.

Arise, let us go from here." You see, Christ is that one. who crushed the head of the seed of the serpent. So the reason you and I have overcome the devil, overcome the evil one, is because Christ has overcome the evil one. And thus, as John goes to further, I guess, amplify in verse 14. Notice he says, I write to you young men, and he adds things to this instance.

I didn't highlight how with respect to the fathers knowing him who was from the beginning, he didn't really amplify a whole lot there, it's the same. But here in verse 14, he says, I write to you young men,

Strength in Christ Alone

because you are strong. Sometimes I feel very weak. Sometimes I feel very down. Sometimes there are difficult things in life and I don't know sometimes if we can pick ourselves up.

Christ is the one who makes us strong, but we are spiritually strong even when we are weak, and we are weak because he is strong. And that's what he's highlighting for us again. I write to you, young men, because you are strong. even though sometimes it doesn't always feel that way. We are strong spiritually because we have Christ our Lord.

And the language, this word of strength and strong here, is found in Mark 1.8. John the Baptist is preaching concerning the coming Christ, whose sandals I am not able to suit. The one who comes is mightier than I. That language of mighty is the same word that's found here.

And it's highlighting how Christ is the divine warrior. I really love that motif. I don't know why. It's just very cool.

Christ comes, crushes the head of the serpent. Christ comes and crushes his enemies. Christ is the one who is mighty. And the language of overcoming in verse 14 and verse 13, with respect to us overcoming the wicked one, also carries that idea of conquering. that conquest idea?

Because Christ has conquered. Christ has come on his conquest, destroying, that we might be considered strong. Christ is mighty. I cannot stand it, not saying I watch these things, but I cannot stand it when you hear about images of Christ, or movies about Christ, and they paint him out to be this feminine-looking character with flowing locks.

That is just false for it's a violation of the first and the second commandment. But even further, Christ is a mighty warrior after the judges who are types of Christ, after David who crushed his enemies. And the same is true with our Lord Christ. And notice what he goes on to say, because you are strong and

The Word Abiding in Believers

the word of God abides in you. What has He said concerning these false teachers? When they lie, when they say they have no sin, the Word is not in them. What is true of believers?

The Word is in us and it remains in us. The word here can either refer to Christ or the gospel. I think it's both. Again, it refers to our union with Christ.

The reason that we are strong is because Christ is strong. But not only that, we see the true power of the gospel in the reality that we have overcome. The evil one. That's what he's highlighting for us here.

They're intimately connected. This is the reality for God's people. We are forgiven now. We know Christ now, and we have overcome the evil one now.

That's what he's highlighting for us right now. Again, it's difficult for us to understand. In the language of the Apostle Paul, he speaks of this in Ephesians chapter 1, we live in the tension of this age and the age to come. This present evil age refers to the present reality of sin, but yet as believers we participate in part of the age to come, as it's come in Christ, as it's come with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and even further with the down payment of the Holy Spirit, which is the language Paul uses, down payment, first fruits, and other languages as well, is talking about that very reality.

Now, but that's hard, again, hard for us to wrap our heads around. Now we have these things. And so even as we think of our daily battles, our daily struggles, we still have sin. And so the reality is that because we have overcome the devil, that should spur us on to fight.

In Ephesians 6.10, when he speaks of the armor of God, how does he start before he goes into the discussion of the armor of God? Verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, having above all taken the shield of faith, which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints, And for me, that utterance may be given to me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel." And he goes on to further highlight how he is an ambassador.

But notice, it's spurring us on to fight. You see, as one writer says, this position of victory over the devil must be maintained daily with a firm faith in Christ and resolute striving against the devil and his temptations. Do you see the logic, brothers and sisters? It's not, as James says, resist the devil in order that you might overcome.

You have overcome the devil, therefore resist the devil, and he will flee from you. This is a present reality, a true reality. That's what this writer is highlighting. And that's what John is highlighting for his people as well.

Then he goes on to say, do not love the world or the things in the world. Remain in God. He speaks of those things. And in other places, Jesus talks about overcoming the world.

I think in 1 John, he'll draw back to this idea as well. It's the present reality that we have overcome this evil one now in Christ our Lord. And when we think of, perhaps as we think through all these benefits, forgiveness, knowing Christ, and this reality of overcoming the devil, they are based and found in Christ our Lord, aren't they? Forgiveness, knowing Christ, and this overcoming.

We have an advocate. We have this God in flesh one, according to verses one through four. We have the destroyer of the devil. We have Christ, our Lord, our might, our power, our strength.

Now, when we have difficulties, and they're going to be difficulties, when we have tough moments and temptations and trials and struggles that we go through, we have Christ our might and Christ our Lord. You notice in Ephesians 6, he says, put on those things with prayer. I think as Luther said, perhaps we are very much a busy culture, aren't we? We always say we're very busy.

As Luther said, the busier we get, the more we should pray. That is the truth, brothers and sisters. We must pray in the battle room before we engage in the battle. That's what he's highlighting here for us.

That's what Paul is highlighting in Ephesians 6. That's the point because of our Lord Jesus Christ. As one writer says, The true believers who belong to John's congregation have thus been recalled in verses 12-14 to the assured character of their spiritual inheritance, the knowledge of God and His forgiveness, an abiding relationship with Christ, and spiritual strength to conquer the evil one in day-to-day living. It's all based and found in the Lord God Almighty, who comforts, strengthens, and helps us in the battles.

Application

So in conclusion, what is the spiritual state of God's children? The things we've just talked about. all three of those things that John is highlighting in this very beautiful text, the way he structures it, the way it's written, and the way he addresses it, driving the point home for his people, that they might be assured of these present realities in the midst of trials, in the midst of false teachers going out of them teaching false things. They have forgiveness, they have knowledge, they have strength. Now, unbelievers who are outside of Christ, the converse on all three of these things is true.

Your sins are not forgiven. You do not know the Lord Christ, and you do not have strength, or you have not overcome the evil one. You must believe on this Christ. You must believe on what John says, the one who came, lived, died, and rose again, that you may have everlasting life.

The reason he writes his gospel is so that people might read concerning Christ and that they might be spurred on to faith. The gospel is about spurring people on to faith. 1 John is about assuring his hearers that they have faith, that they are believers. So you must look to the Lord and believe on Him, and you shall have these heavenly realities, these spiritual realities, and you shall partake in these things. When you believe on Christ, these things shall be yours.

Look to the Lord Christ and live. Believe on Him, and you shall be saved. And believers, may this be a comfort to us of our current spiritual state amidst the difficulties that we face. Well, let us go to our God in prayer.

Closing Prayer

O Lord God Almighty, You really are gracious to us. You sustain us, You protect us, You help us in the difficult times and in the moments when we are weak. And God, we are weak often. But thank You, O Lord, that we are strong in Christ.

We thank You, O Lord, that these realities are ours. May we think and think about heavenly things, eternal things, spiritual things often. May we set our mind on the things that are above, where Christ is at the right hand of God. May you give us wisdom and discernment in how to operate in this world as we live in the tension of these two ages.

We thank you, O God, that Christ has come. We thank you for the foretastes that we see, O God. We thank you for that you are pleased to be with your people, that you dwell with your people. You are with us corporately, but you are with us individually as well, O God.

You help and strengthen us in difficult times. Help us to know that we have the forgiveness of sins. Help us to know that we have known the Father. Help us to know, O God, that we know Christ, who is at the right hand.

Help us to know, O God, that we have overcome the world, that we are strong, and that the Word of God remains in us. May this assure us, may this give us hope, may you comfort us by your Spirit, O God, through this blessed truth found in your Word. And Father God, we pray for those that do not know the Lord. We pray that you would save them.

We pray that you would call them. We pray that you would show them their delusion. Show them that they are in sin, that they have this great debt that they must pay, O God, for you are an eternal God. You are a God who is holy and just. and may you work in them by your spirit and please to bring them to saving knowledge in this one who is from the beginning, in this one whom the apostles saw, who they touched, who they held, and that the gospel that we proclaim to others as well, that the apostles proclaim, that we proclaim, the same Christ and him crucified, that they might have everlasting life.

Father God, again, we pray that all these would be to your glory, that we would sing your praises. We would sing your praises to you, O God, for your great work and salvation. And we pray that you'd be glorified now in the name of Christ. Amen.

Well, we will finish by singing the doxology, and we will stand and sing the doxology. If you need the words, they're on Roman numeral XVI.

Scripture References

• Genesis 3:15
• Psalm 25:6; 25:11
• Proverbs 1
• Jeremiah 31:31-34
• Ezekiel 36:27
• Mark 1:8
• John 1:1; 12:31; 14:30
• Ephesians 1; 6:10
• Colossians 1
• Hebrews 1
• 1 John 1:4; 1:5-10; 2:1-2; 2:3-6; 2:7-11; 2:12-14; 3:8; 3:23; 5:13