Book of 1 John - Ch. 2, Vs. 11-15 (11/28/1999)

I believe we're in 1 John chapter 2

and I think I was told I was supposed to repreach verse 11

but I'm not sure I think you covered verse 11

but that we better go back over it.

Okay.

Yeah but I'm up here now it's my turn.

Okay.

Well let's pray about this Lord thank you for our time together already today and for the good fellowship

we had over lunch and we thank you for bringing brother Lawrence here and

and the fact that he sees your love in our congregation and we pray that you'll continue to

guide he and Cora into the light into the truth.

And we thank you that he's seeking and thank you for the different people you have in this

congregation that have been kind to him and spoken the truth to him and can help him to

grow and help work in Cora's life as well.

And Lord we just prayed you'll work in our lives during this study study time this afternoon amen

as great testimony Lawrence told me on his way out a while ago he's searching you know

he's he's trying some different churches and and Cora grew up in a

strict Church of Christ very religious almost cultish type

situation so she just kind of threw it all away and she's searching even studying other religions

right now.

And but Lawrence walked out.

He said well we were talking a little bit brother Roger was talking about some things he had gone through in his

previous church where the missionary Baptist

regional bigwigs came in to grill him and doctrinally to ask him

questions and they eventually proclaimed him to be a heretic and anyone that liked him

was a heretic.

And so then they would send people in during their church services from all different cities around

Texas.

They would come in and just sit there to be watching and they'd hit him with questions right in the middle of the sermon

he was telling me what a miracle it was that his brother and this other friend he's got that's about six five and he's a black

belt that they didn't just throw the people out and around here.

That's what I do want you to do by the way if that happens.

But Lawrence was listening to all that you know and he said that's the very thing you know that has made

me leave each of the different churches I've tried he said but and then I walked him out

to his car.

He said you know he said the thing that's different about this church is I really do sense God's love in this church

and so that's a blessing.

Well I'm stalling because I don't know what verse to start on

1st John chapter 2 verse 11.

Just to get the context we'll go ahead and read that one.

But he that hateth his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness.

It kind of relates by the way brother Roger this verse does to what we were talking about walketh in

darkness and knoweth not whether he goeth because the darkness hath blinded his eyes.

I write unto you little children because your sins are forgiven you for his namesake.

I write unto you fathers because you have known him.

That is from the beginning.

Sounds like bad grammar doesn't it.

But it's not.

I write unto you young men because you have overcome the wicked one.

I write unto you little children because you have known the father.

I have written unto you fathers because you have known him.

That is from the beginning.

I've written to you young men because you are strong and the Word of God abideth in you and you

have overcome the wicked one.

And then this famous passage from 15 to 17 love not the world neither the things that are in

the world.

If any man loved 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 in the lust thereof.

But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

That is an interesting passage that I'm going to study with you today.

I mean that's there's enough here for several weeks.

Let's just put it that way.

But I'm trying to get through here a little bit because if I don't I will be accused of

going too slowly.

All right.

But let's just take as much of this as we can get into today.

Verse verse 11.

Really the main thing I would get from that verse is that not everybody who claims to be a Christian

who dresses like one who tries to talk like one is one.

Not everybody that claims to be a Christian that goes to church and so forth is a Christian.

And that's so obvious here because he that hateth his brother is in darkness and

he is not saved.

And it's interesting that it says the very darkness has blinded his eyes.

When it says that he walketh in darkness it's in the indicative mood which means it's

a simple statement of fact he is lost.

Period.

We don't need to question that.

I've said this a lot in the last year where there's smoke there's fire.

And the reason I say that a lot is because I didn't learn that probably till I turned at least 40

most of my life I always would give people the benefit of the doubt about everything

and I would see little symptoms of things that were wrong and I would say well yeah but you know

they'll get the thing together and it surely it's not what it appears to be.

Surely this is a good person and I've just finally learned that where there's smoke there's

fire.

And I guess brother Jesse Wallace and I were the two that stuck around the longest

under our founding pastor before before everybody else pretty much left and

I'm glad we stayed look because we're here today.

But if we had been and known what we know now brother Jesse we would have been gone too wouldn't we.

But God kept us here.

And I saw some things first many years before that event

took place in that person's life that were not right biblically but I just said well surely it's not what it

seems to be and that's just one out of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of examples.

And what this verse is telling us is look when you see a brother who claims to be a brother that doesn't

mean he's a brother.

What this means here is he's a person who's coming to church and he's part of the

congregations just because he's physically present and he would call himself a brother.

If you see one like that who hates the other brothers or any one of the other brothers you just need to know that

guy's walking in darkness.

He is not a saved person and the very darkness has blinded his

eyes.

Now the next verse verse 12 I write unto you little children because

your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.

The phrase in the Greek language little children really means born ones as if to say born -again

ones.

I write unto you born ones.

Now you see the contrast in verse 12 and between that verse 11.

Verse 11 we have somebody that's a Christian Christian you know a brother

in verse 12 we've got born ones and that's the true Christians.

And there is a contrast that will always be there.

And if the the verse 11 type Christians come into your church you're going to have contention

and it's not that you want to have it because we don't want it do we.

That's the last thing we want in this church.

But I'll promise you if one of those comes in and sticks around for a while then

either you're gonna think the pastors in a fight or I'm gonna think one of you are in a fight because they because one of us are not gonna

be right with that person it just didn't go to work.

And because light and darkness do not exist in the presence of one another.

And so this is talking about true born

ones and it says your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.

Let me remind you about the Greek word for forgiveness.

The Bible term for forgiveness is very different than human forgiveness.

This word for forgiveness really comes from two little Greek words oppo which means away

and hey me which means to send.

So it means to send away.

So when it says your sins are forgiven you it means your sins have been sent away

from you in that beautiful that's what that's the only kind of forgiveness God knows about because he can't do the

humankind where you just say well I know you did that to me but I'm gonna let it pass.

God can't do that he will never let sin.

Just okay.

We'll just you know I favor you over all others so it's okay.

We'll just let it go.

I don't want you to have to go to hell.

So we'll just let that one go.

We'll play like it didn't happen.

Now do go and do better.

God will not do that.

And to say that God would do that is to blaspheme the Lord Jesus Christ.

And really to count his crucifixion is nothing because God did

not forgive in the human way at all.

And he will not.

But what he did do was all of the wrath and righteous indignation against sin was

poured out upon his son as he hung suspended on that cross because your sins and mine

were in his body and the wrath of God came upon him and he

was separated both physically and spiritually from the father at that time.

And that's why he said oh my god my god why has thou forsaken me.

That was a spiritual forsaking.

The father turned his back on his son because our sins were imputed to him

and the father looked upon him as if he had done the sin and he cannot be in the presence of sin will not be.

And he was totally separated now just as true as that is.

It is also true that God now looks at you if you're his today and only

sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

When he looked at Jesus on that cross he only saw your sins and he killed him

and he separated himself from him which is true death.

But when he looks at you now he only sees his righteousness in that beautiful.

That's why your sins are removed away from you for his namesake.

Do you notice that God didn't say that he took your sins away so you can avoid hell.

Come let us show you how to stay out of hell.

I've shown a lot of people that in my early years as a Christian before I'd studied the Bible very much.

But now I see that people are saved for Jesus's namesake because he's the one that hung

on the cross and died for his own.

And that's why they are saved.

And primarily I mean it we certainly do benefit from it though.

Don't we.

I mean that we don't have to go to hell.

But that wasn't the purpose of it.

Now this is kind of interesting.

You see there where it says your sins are forgiven you for his names

sake.

The Greek word for name is oh no ma.

But it comes from a base Greek word good nose go which means to know.

And so the primary meaning of the word comes from the word to know or to take knowledge of

someone.

And when it says that we are saved for his namesake in the

Greek it doesn't read exactly that way.

It just says we are saved.

And then it says well let me see if I can read it like it says I write unto you little children because your

sins are forgiven you for namesake.

Now that's interesting isn't it.

So I really do believe it primarily means for Jesus's namesake.

But one thing you have to go back to if I brought my notes up here I might have brought

them.

But when you go back to the sermon this morning do you remember when it

kept saying where Moses was talking to God and he kept saying I

have you said God that I found grace in your eyes and that you my name.

Well that's a fascinating phrase.

Why would it say that the father knew his name.

Because it goes back to before the foundation of the world that the father knew him.

It means more than that he just knew Moses his name because God knows everybody's name.

Obviously.

But it specifically mean you are one of mine.

I have known your name forever.

And do you know do you remember what it is that Jesus says to the goats

when he puts them on the left hand he said I never knew your name.

Now how can he say that God knows everything doesn't necessarily mean he didn't know their name.

What it means is you weren't mine.

I never chose you you

you have no part in me depart from me.

And so when we look here at verse 12 it

means that we're saved our sins are removed from us for Jesus's namesake.

But it also brings in the idea of this knowledge that he knew us as well he knew

our names as well.

Now verse 13 says I write unto you fathers.

Now notice that in the next in these little passages it kind of some of it sounds redundant because he

start he continues to talk about fathers and then he talks about young men and then he talks

about little born ones.

And so this is not just meant in the physical sense it is carrying the

connotation of different levels of maturity of Christians in a group.

In a church group for instance he says here I write unto you

fathers because you have known him.

That is from the beginning.

When he says fathers it's like he's talking about the church fathers the older men

perhaps the ones that you would call the elders of the church.

And he says I write unto you because you have known him that is from the beginning.

And he's saying that you have a personal knowledge of God that some of these younger

Christians don't have yet because they haven't walked with him as long.

And you have a deeper understanding of the person of God.

That's why I like this church.

I like going to this church because the people that teach in this church teach about God rather than man.

If you want to learn how to be successful from Bible principles watch TV they'll preach on

success.

But if you want to learn about God the person come here.

Because what we've learned in the past few years is if we'll study God together that's what theology really

means.

If we will study to know God that's the richest thing there is.

There is nothing else nothing else even the rest is like milk and you just get

tired of it.

It just doesn't do anything for you.

But when you start learning about the Father and about the Lord Jesus that's

deep and that's what will carry you through.

Well what he's saying about these fathers is he says you have known him and it's not emphasizing the fact

that they just know who he is.

It's emphasizing the fact they have built a relationship with the one who is from the beginning now notice

it says you go back to the beginning.

God is already there.

He is from the beginning now this this phrase where it says you have known him

it's in the let me see where are we here because you have known

him.

It's in the past perfect tense.

And in the Greek language the perfect tense means that it's an

action that is viewed as having been completed in the past once and for

all not needing to be repeated now once you have

truly known him you don't get saved again now we know that in our church.

But there are a lot of churches that don't know that.

Because if because they'll say you know you can you can lose your salvation.

And then you come back and you try to get it again.

Somehow the only way I can figure you could do that according to Hebrew 6 is to re -crucify Jesus which is blasphemous

but that's taught in many many quarters.

But these people it says I write unto you fathers because you have known him once

and for all is what the grammar leads you to interpret that you have known him that

is from the beginning once and for all there is no doubt in your minds.

You elder people that have been studying the Bible and you know the father.

There's no doubt in your mind about your relationship with him.

And then he goes on and says I write to you young men

he says because you have overcome the wicked one.

And I want you to focus in on this phrase or this word overcome.

In the Greek language it can be interpreted you are conquerors.

And literally that is a better rendering so you could read it this way.

I write unto you young men because you have conquered the wicked one now isn't that an unusual phrase

because we're talking about the devil here.

And in Romans chapter 8 verse 37

it says nay in all things you are more than conquerors.

That's the same great Greek word you are more than conquerors.

The same word that's translated overcome here through him that loved us or

you could say in him that loved us.

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life.

And I'm just going to summarize the next two verses or anything in God's creation.

Nothing is able to separate you from the love of God.

Therefore you are more than conquerors.

That is what he's telling these young men.

I'm writing it to you young men because you have conquered the wicked one.

And in a moment we're going to come back he's going to give us a little bit more light on how that was accomplished.

But let's look at this next.

It says I write unto you little ones which remember this means born ones.

I write unto you little new Christians because you have known the father.

Now notice that he uses the same phrase practically that he said about the older people

in the church the fathers.

You have known the one who is from the beginning.

And he says about the little baby Christians he says the same thing you have known the father.

So growing in as a Christian as we know

does not make you more saved.

The brand -new baby Christian is saved just like the one who's been in the word for 50

years.

They're both saved the same way by this relationship of knowing the father and being known by the

father.

Now he goes in and he starts this little trilogy again.

He talks about the fathers the young man and the baby Christians again.

In verse 14 I have written unto you fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning.

Now he just says the same thing.

Now what that tells me is this that you can look at a

lot of studies on what you ought to do to grow.

You can think about and talk about a lot of things that you can do.

But what the Holy Spirit keeps bringing up about these mature older Christians in the church is one thing you have

known the father.

The same relationship we talked about this morning sermon and last week's sermon relationships are more important than

anything in the world.

All he could say to commend the fathers was what's commendable about you is you've taken your life

to know God.

You've spent much time in your life for the very purpose of seeking to know God better.

And there's nothing better that could have been said about this group.

I've written unto you fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning.

Now look at the young man again and it's interesting you take the young man.

I think he keeps stressing this overcoming because there really

are more temptations for younger people.

You you teenagers are going into the time of your life where you'll be faced with all the temptations

there are in the world.

I mean you're gonna battle against the false philosophies of the world system.

You're gonna battle against your own flesh that you live in and you're gonna battle against Satan himself.

And therefore take heart when you read this as this is addressed to you young people it says I have written unto you

young men and it would include the young young women as well because you are strong.

Now look at this and the Word of God dwells in you

or remains in you.

That indicates and implies a daily study of the word because it stays in you.

And that won't happen by the way just from memory you have to stay in the word but the Word of

God abides in you and you have overcome the wicked one.

Now notice every time it mentions the young people it says you have overcome the wicked one.

Let me skip forward here and cover a verse we'll get to later in chapter 4 of 1st John.

In verse 4 it says you are of God little children

little born ones and have overcome them meaning the world

because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.

And so there's the great key it has to do with this abiding relationship that you have with

Jesus or that you don't have now why is it that brother Russell is always saying

how many quiet times did you have this week.

And he asked our young people that probably maybe not every week but a lot of weeks I walk in.

I'll hear him asking you that is it the religious idea of coming to

this place and getting here and doing this thing every day that he's focusing on.

You may think that he just wants me to just all right my 10 minutes to change the world.

There's a book written call that for 10 minutes it'll change the world.

Tell me how you know you can develop such a relationship 10 minutes with God you could change the actually I'm sorry the

book was an hour an hour they had the hour broken down into 10 minute segments.

And if you do all those things every day it would change the world doesn't work that way.

But what it is talking about is that relationship that you do need to have every day through being in the Word of

God which is stressed in this book in this particular phrase where it says the Word of God abides in you

and through spending time with him now in that way it says you will overcome the wicked

one.

Well you know we've talked a lot about in Sunday school especially

about Satan seed in God's children and how God did

ordain that man would fall into sin.

And all of these were part of his plan.

Obviously.

And it might lead you to ask the question well you know

why why are they here.

And one obvious answer is is that one of God's purposes in our lives

starting from the young people all the way up to to us is to form within us the

characteristic of an overcomer.

And the only way that that can happen is if we go up against all kinds of odds.

And when you consider who our enemy is it really would make us shudder if we thought about it very much.

This evil one has worked man from the beginning.

He does not need new tricks.

He just needs new generations.

And he does the same old things.

That's why Paul was able to say I am NOT ignorant of his devices.

Satan doesn't come up with new things really he just does the same old stuff because he knows human

nature.

He knows our flesh and he takes it even more to the individual weaknesses that you and I have

because we're all different.

We have some areas wouldn't bother me and they might bother you and other areas don't bother you.

Never think of it.

It bothers me.

Satan knows all of that and such a formidable foe.

And yet the Lord says to the young people here today that you are overcomers.

You have overcome him because of your relationship with the one that's greater than he is

does not mean you're going to be perfect and not fall into grievous sin of different types depending on

what your weaknesses are.

That may very well happen but you still overcome because God is with you even through

that.

Now I'll say what brother Otis said in Sunday school you should never take the attitude well let's sin so that

grace may abound.

You don't have to go out looking for it.

But I'm just saying in your walk in life Satan is such a formidable foe and

your flesh is so weak.

And we get in the flesh more than what any of us would ever want to admit.

Our study on the love of God revealed that to me and to you too I'm sure.

And the world system is so powerful with what it throws out there of what a teenager ought to be for example

or what we as adults ought to strive for.

It's just an incredible force against us.

And yet this relationship that we can have with God fathers I write unto you because you

have known him that is from the beginning.

That relationship is so powerful it blows the enemy away.

You become more than conquerors.

It's not so that it would say I write unto you young

men because you have overcome the wicked one as it is to say I write unto you young people because you have conquered him

in Christ in Christ when he was crucified

Satan thought he had won the battle and he doesn't.

He didn't realize it at the time and maybe he will not admit it even till today.

But he was defeated that day and your sins were in Christ the day that Satan was

defeated.

And because of that you are overcomers and victorious in this battle.

Well verse 15 through 17

talks about the last little part here about being overcomers.

We have the relationship we have the word of God.

And now we have this part in verses 15 through 17 this teaching on

avoiding being like the world.

And those are the three areas that this passage gives when it talks about being overcomers.

Love not the world neither the things that are in the world.

If any man loved the world the love of the father is not in him.

Now don't confuse this because there are scriptures that say that God's people are allowed

to use this world but not to abuse it.

I believe that even though we have lost people all around us and many of the most

wonderful inventions that we have in the world might have been invented by lost people who never were saved and

and many of them and from generation past are in hell right now.

And yet you may be benefiting from something they invented such as penicillin

or polio vaccine was invented by a Jew more than likely never came

to receive the Lord Jesus Christ.

He may very well be in hell today.

And yet you don't have to have polio.

And so the way the Lord has worked this out is the lost people don't even know what they're doing but they're

fulfilling his will.

They're bringing things into this world for God's children.

And so everything you see that's good in this world doesn't matter whether a lost

person came up with the idea or who did God put it there for you to use to do his will in your

life.

But he says don't abuse it.

So we have to be a little careful not to pervert.

What this means about love not the world doesn't mean you shouldn't be glad that you're in this world

doesn't mean that you should look at a place like Yosemite and say I hate this it's

ugly.

Or you drive to Tennessee next time you go to Tennessee and say oh look at all that ugly old katsu I hate this world.

There's some beautiful wonderful things about this world.

But what this is talking about is not loving Satan's world system of philosophy.

It has more to do with philosophy than anything else.

It has more to do with attitude and philosophy.

And you look at how the world says things should be.

You can just bank on the fact that that's right.

That's the opposite from the way God wants it.

If you look at how a university is set up you can be sure God would not set one up that way.

If you look at how government is set up and how it's run and who it's run by won't be that way when

Jesus comes during the Millennial period.

If you look at the way public schools are set up it's part of the world system.

If you look at the economy you look at holidays like Christmas

anything the world has set up it's different than the way God would set it up in the Millennial period

or even before sin in the garden.

So that's the part we're not supposed to love love not the world neither the things that are in the world the

worldly things.

If any man loved the world the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is

not of the Father but is of the world.

And the world passes away in the lust thereof.

But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

And I think people get caught up in verses 15 through 17 so much that they don't catch the last

phrase in verse 17 which is the summation of the entire concept.

But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

Well what is the will of God.

Talked about it.

Sunday school I told y 'all to be quiet.

You were preaching my afternoon sermon.

What is the will of God.

What works must we work.

That we do the will of God that we

believe on him whom he hath sent.

That's the only work we can do.

And that is the will of God.

And those who do the will of God abide forever.

That's right.

Well we can but only as he gives us faith.

And so you can't overcome through a set of religious rules.

The greatest proof of that I guess would be the Roman Catholics.

I mean there's been so many stories that have been written in the newspapers in the last ten years

about Roman Catholic priests having problems that we won't talk about here.

But why do they have those problems.

Because they make rules and they say they can't be married.

God never said that God never said a pastor can't be married.

But they make the rule up anywhere where you add rules and put law on man that God didn't put on man.

You're gonna create more sin than you tried to avoid.

So it's not by rules it's by relationship.

Mm -hmm.

It includes what we call the apocrypha.

So it does have more books.

It has the same books ours has.

Plus the apocrypha which the apocrypha was cast out of the canon within

300 years of Jesus time.

The church of that day said this does not belong in the Bible.

These are not considered to be inspired books.

But the Catholics came back about 500 years later and added them back.

There are stories that are not historically accurate.

And that's how we know they're not inspired.

You won't find anything in the in the true word of God even though it's not per se a book of history it's

always historically accurate.

And even though it's not a book of science it's always scientifically accurate.

Well there are some areas in the apocryphal books that either have been proven to be unhistorical or unscientific.

So we know they're not inspired.

But they're just stories based perhaps on history historical fact but fiction

based on fact.

You know they do some movies and books like that nowadays.

So base it on the way it could have been based on the facts.

But it's not really history.

So that's what they are.

But anyway you can put all the rules out there you want to.

It won't make kids live right.

Won't make adults live right.

The only thing that will is where he comes back.

And he says I write into you fathers because you have known him.

That is and that is a relationship.

And that's the only thing that will make you young people overcomers.

The only thing because your enemies more powerful than you can imagine and you

live in one enemy that's your flesh.

And there's no way to win that war in the flesh but through your relationship with him

every day you are in fact overcomers.

And that's because you're his.

So let's stand and pray together.