God's Word to the Family of God — Stephen Kaung

1 John 2 and the Word Abiding in Believers

First Epistle of John, Chapter 2. We'll read from verse 12 through verse 28. 1 John, Chapter 2, verse 12. I write to you children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. I write to you fathers, because you have known Him that is from the beginning.

I write to you young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you little children, because you have known the Father. I have written to you fathers, because you have known Him that 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. Love not the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Because 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 is passing, and is lost, but He that does the will of God abides for eternity.

Little children, it is the last hour. And according as you have heard, that Antichrist comes. Even now there have come many Antichrists. Whence we know that it is the last hour. They went out from among us, but they were not of us.

For if they had been of us, they would have surely remained with us, but that they might be made manifest that none are of us. And ye have the unction, that is the anointing, from the Holy One, and ye know all things.

I have not written to you because ye do not know the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar? But he who denies that Jesus is the Christ. He is the Antichrist, who denies the Father and the Son.

Whoever denies the Son has not the Father either. He who confesses the Son has the Father also. As for you, let that which ye have heard from the beginning abide in you. If what ye have heard from the beginning abides in you, ye also shall abide in the Son and in the Father.

And this is a promise that he has promised us, life eternal. These things have I written to you concerning those who lead you astray. And yourselves, the unction, the anointing, which ye have received from him, abides in you.

And ye have not need that anyone should teach you, but as the same unction teaches you as to all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, ye shall abide in him. And now, children, abide in him, that if he be manifested, we may have boldness and not be put to shame from before him at his coming.

Prayer for the Word to Transform the Heart

Let's have a word of prayer. Lord, we want to thank thee again for loving us so much as to give thy blood, thy very life to us. Lord, if it's not because of thee, where will we be? So with grateful hearts, we come again to thank thee.

Lord, as we continue in thy presence, we look to thee to speak through thy word to our hearts. We do thank thee that thou art not silent to us. We thank thee because thou dost want us to know thy heart, that we may follow thee.

So we commit this time into thy loving hand and trust thy Holy Spirit to open thy word and open our heart that thy word may really register within us, transform us, and conform us to thy own image, to the glory of God.

We ask in thy precious name. We thank God for gathering us together this morning. I would like to ask a question. When we come together this morning, does it ever come to your mind what is the nature of our gathering together?

The Church as the Family of God

Why are we here? What kind of gathering is this? Of course we know this is not a social gathering, but maybe we think it is a religious gathering. Now what really do we come for? Now according to the word of God, we find that such gathering is the gathering of the family of God.

It is a family gathering. We gather together unto our Father and unto our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank God because God wants a family. Now God really does not need anybody, does not need anything, because he is always full.

But it pleases him to have a family. He wants a family. And because he wants a family, he sends his beloved son, our Lord Jesus, into this world to create his family. Why? Because all the family members must have his life.

All the family members must have his resemblance. There is a family resemblance, but we, human beings, we're dead. In sins and transgressions. Therefore he sends his beloved son, our Lord Jesus, into this world.

We thank our Lord Jesus for going to the cross on our behalf. He shed his precious blood to cleanse us from our sins, to deliver us from death. He gave his life to us that we may have God's life. Think of that!

We are born from above and we, as his family, have the privilege of gathering together as much as possible to remember him and to glorify him. So this is the reason why we are here. You know, among the apostles, the apostle John received this special revelation of the family, the household of God.

He is a family man. You remember even when our Lord Jesus was dying on the cross. Our Lord committed his earthly mother to John. John is an apostle of love because love is the law of the family. And then you find in this 1st John, he mentioned about writing a letter to the family.

In other words, it is God our Father. It is Lord Jesus, our elder brother, who is writing to the family. And that's what we have just read. Not only write once, but write twice. He said, I have written, I write.

So he shows the love of our Lord Jesus because he loves us. He writes to us. He wants to communicate his heart, his mind, to us. He wants to help us, educate us, that we may grow in him. So this morning we would like to share together on the letter that our Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus have written to us.

Spiritual Childhood and the Forgiveness of Sins

Now he begins with, I write to you children because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. Now this word, children, patna, is a word that expresses parental affection. It has nothing to do with growth.

In other words, all who believe in the Lord Jesus, all who have their sins being forgiven, our Lord Jesus, these are all children of God. We are all God's children. How come? Because we have known that our sins have been forgiven for his name's sake.

In other words, because of our Lord Jesus. His name is Jesus, the Savior of the world. His name is Jesus, cleanses our sins with his own blood. We all know that. And because we all have experienced it, therefore we are children of God.

You remember in John chapter 1 verse 12 it says, whosoever receive him, that is, receive our Lord Jesus, that believes in his name, they have the right to become the children of God. They are born, not of blood, not of flesh, not of man's will, but of God.

So dear brothers and sisters, we are thankful that by believing in the Lord Jesus, we know the cleansing of our sins by his precious blood. We are born from above. We are born of God. We are now all children.

And here you'll find this word, children. A word that expresses parental affection. No matter how long you have believed in the Lord Jesus, whether you have believed in the Lord Jesus for 50 years, or you have believed in the Lord Jesus for 5 days, we are all children.

There is no discrimination. Thank God for that. But you know in the family, you have people of different groups. A family is not composed of all fathers. That will be an old folks' home. A family is not composed of young people.

That will be a battlefield. A family is not composed of all little children. That will be a nursery. The beauty of the family is it has all kinds of growth. You have fathers, fully grown, matured. You have young people, strong, vigorous.

And you have little children that chatter. So brothers and sisters in the family of God, we have all kinds of growth. Some are fathers, fully grown, more mature, and some are young people, and some are little children.

But remember, this is not according to our natural age. You may be 70, but if you just believe in the Lord Jesus yesterday, you are little children in Christ. And if you have believed in the Lord maybe three, two, three years, young people.

And if you have believed in the Lord and really grow in the Lord, now you can believe and not growing. You can believe in the Lord for 50 years, and yet your spiritual year is only five days. You are still little children.

But if you are really growing in the Lord, then you will be fathers, mature. So this is according to spiritual age, not according to your natural age. And then to each and everyone, our God, our Father, has a word for you.

Our Lord Jesus has a word for you. And this is what we want to fellowship together this morning. Now according to the order, you'll find in 1 John, God first write to the fathers. Then he write to the young people.

Then he write to the little children. Why? Because God's purpose for each and every one of us who believe in him, who have sins forgiven, God's purpose for everyone is that we grow into sonship, to maturity.

So that's the reason why you'll find the biblical order is first to the father, then to the young people, and then to the little children. Because God's desire is no one will remain forever as little children.

That everyone will grow up from little children to young men, from young men to fathers. But according to our experience, now it's just the reverse. We begin as little children. You don't begin as fathers.

And then, by the grace of God, if you grow, you will become young men and eventually fathers. So for the sake of our understanding, we will reverse the order. We will begin with little children. So here you'll find our Heavenly Father, our Lord Jesus, wrote to the little children.

Knowing the Father as God's Children

And he writes to the little children. Not just one letter, two letters. You know, in verse 12 of chapter 2 and verse 28 of chapter 2, the children there is tachnia. It means it has no respect to grow.

It is just an expression of parental affection. But when you come to verse 13 and verse 18, you'll find that the word little children is a little bit different. Because in Greek it's a different word.

It's a patio. Now this word is related to growth. And little children is in contrast to young men and fathers. So here you'll find we who believe in the Lord Jesus, we all begin as babes. As babes in Christ.

As little children. And what is the characteristic of little children? Now it says here in verse 13, I write to you little children because ye have known the Father. Little children have very little knowledge of any kind.

But there is one knowledge every little child has. He knows his Father. You remember in Romans chapter 8? It says, ye have not received the spirit of slavery. But we have received the spirit of adoption, of sonship.

Therefore we cry out, Abba, Father. The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. So brothers and sisters, the first thing that happened to you after you believe in the Lord Jesus, you begin to call God Father.

Abba. You know if you have never believed in the Lord Jesus, with your heart, but you are brought up in Christian family, you are told that there is a God. And the God is your Father. But is He really your Father?

No doubt He is your God. Because He is your Creator. But is He really your Father? Is there a life relationship between you and God? And because you are brought up in Christian family, you are told. And probably you also pray.

Our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Have you prayed that way? You may. But is it real? I remember a story. I have a fellow worker in China. After he was married, the first time he went with his wife to his wife's parents' home.

And when you enter into your father-in-law's home, how do you address your father-in-law? Do you say father-in-law? No. You say father. So he tried to call his father-in-law father. But he found it very difficult.

Because it doesn't sound right. You know, if you really do not know God as your father, and you try to call God as your father, it sounds like you are calling him father-in-law. Do you have that kind of experience before?

I did. But the day when you really believe in the Lord Jesus, and you have your sins forgiven, and you are born from above, brothers and sisters, something happens. You know your father. When you pray, father is so real.

That's the one thing little children all have. Now, do you have it? If you haven't had it yet, go to the Lord. Ask Him to forgive your sins. Trust Him as your personal Savior. And you will be born from above.

And then when you pray again, it's supernaturally, very natural. More natural than natural. Have you found that? I did. And I do. Praise the Lord. But the little children have problem. Because children do not know much.

And therefore they can easily be deceived. They do not have knowledge. So whatever you say to them, they will just listen and take it. They are so pure that they believe everything. Everything that you tell them.

You know, I remember, I was told when a little child was told by somebody jokingly, this is not your father. And he believed it. And he was so disturbed. Because he can easily be led astray. You know, children live by intuition.

Grown-ups live by knowledge. We accumulate lots of knowledge. So we live by knowledge. We judge by knowledge. By the knowledge that we have gathered. But little children do not have that much knowledge.

They live by intuition. But you know, intuition, even natural intuition, is a gift of God. Children will naturally shy away from some people. They will naturally go to some people. Somehow, intuitively, they can sense something.

But of course it is not perfect. But still you find little children live by intuition. Now in a family of God, remember, it is the same principle. Because you do not have much knowledge yet. You are just beginning to read the Bible.

You do not know much about the truth. Now how are you going to live then? Is there any provision for you? Or is it that you must be deceived? Thank God! You know, here you find in this letter to the little children.

He says, I have written to you. I have already told you. Even though you do not have all kinds of knowledge, but you still can live a Christian life. You still can live in the Lord. Now how are you going to live?

The Holy Spirit's Anointing and Inner Guidance

By intuition. But that intuition is not the natural intuition of the soul. That intuition is related to the Holy Spirit who dwells in you. The anointing. The anointing. So he says, you have the anointing with you.

And the anointing will teach you in all things. If you listen to the teaching of the anointing, you abide in Christ. You are safe. You will not be deceived. Thank God for that. Now brothers and sisters, oftentimes after we believe in the Lord Jesus, we think all that we have received is our sins forgiven.

Or all we have received is a new life. But that new life is still in its infant stage in you. But that is not all. God so loves us. Our Father has made provision for every young child. That even if you just believe in the Lord today, He has provided for you a way to live according to His will.

Think of that. You do not need to be a mature Christian to know the will of God. Or to walk in the will of God. Even after you are newly born, immediately God has put within you His own Spirit, the Holy Spirit.

You know, He not only brings your dead spirit into life, makes it a new life, new spirit in you. You know, God is Spirit. The only way you can communicate with God is by your spirit. But our spirit were dead in sins and transgressions.

So when you believe in the Lord Jesus, your dead spirit is quickened into new life. It becomes a new spirit. And then the Holy Spirit, God the Spirit, He Himself, He will come into your new spirit and live there.

And He will never leave you nor forsake you. Think of that. So brothers and sisters, when you believe in the Lord Jesus, what do you receive? You receive forgiveness of sin. Thank God for that. Our conscience is at peace.

You receive a new life, the life of Christ, the life of God, born from above. You receive a new spirit. Your dead spirit is quickened into a new spirit. So you can communicate with God. And then God's Spirit comes and makes its dwelling in your new spirit.

So what do you have? You have God in you. You have the Holy Spirit in you. And He is in you. And He will never... Think of what you have. Think of what the Heavenly Father has provided for you. You know, there are lots of Christians, unfortunately, they have no knowledge of this.

They think that they believe in the Lord Jesus. The only thing they receive is, one day, when they die, they go to heaven. That's it. No. You not only receive an eternal life. An eternal life begins today.

But you receive the Holy Spirit. God, Himself, come and live in your spirit. For what? To teach you. He is your resident boss. He is your resident personal. He is the anointing. Now, the Bible used the word anointing.

Why? Because it is like an ointment. You know, when you have a wound and you apply an ointment in it, it soothes it. It makes it so comfortable. That is the way that the Holy Spirit would talk to you.

He will speak to you within the depths of your being, in a still, small voice. When He speaks to you, it is not like a whirling, not like a hurricane. When God speaks to you in your spirit, it is still, small.

It is like an ointment putting upon you. So soothing. So good. So peaceful. And, brothers and sisters, from the day you are born from above, you are privileged to hear your Father's voice. Some people say to me, I have never heard God speak to me.

Why is it I hear some people say, God spoke to me, but God never did? Well, if a child has never heard his Father's voice, something is very wrong. He should be able to distinguish what is the voice of his Father, what is the voice of a stranger.

As our Lord Jesus said, My lamb, my sheep knows my voice. They will not follow foreign strange voice, but they will follow my voice. And, brothers and sisters, God is speaking to you, inwardly, every day, all the time.

Have you heard Him? Unfortunately, Christianity today is so wrong. Christianity today becomes an external thing. But, believing in our Lord Jesus is an inward experience. Remember, you as little children, you have the right to hear your Father's voice.

And your Father has put His Spirit in you to teach you in all things. Not only in big things, but even in small things. You know, sometimes we have that mistaken idea. When we are faced with a big problem, we pray.

We have to seek our Father for help. But, daily life, small things, we do it ourselves. We know what to do. Now, that's the problem. You are a child of God now. You are no longer what you were before.

So, how are you going to behave as a child of God? Hear your Father's voice. Listen. But, if you want to listen, you have to be quiet down in order to hear it. Do not tell me that after you believe in the Lord Jesus, you become a child of God.

You have never heard His voice. He has never spoken to you. Well, if He has never spoken to you, you are a bastard, not a son. I believe, and I know for sure, if you believe in the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is in you, invariably, He has spoken.

But, unfortunately, you are not listening. Does it happen to you? Probably, before you believe in the Lord Jesus, you have the habit of exaggeration. When there are only five people, you say ten people.

But, that's nothing. But, after you believe in the Lord Jesus, when you are talking, and you begin to say, well, there are hundred people there. Actually, maybe only seventy there. Suddenly, you find within you a little voice.

Are you telling the truth? Is it true? Do you have this experience? Or, you have the habit of telling lies. And, it's nothing. If you can cheat people, you'll feel proud of it. But, after you believe in the Lord Jesus, suddenly, you tell a lie.

And, when you tell a lie, what happens? Suddenly, someone is touching you, and says, that's a lie. A child of God shouldn't say that. Have you had this experience? Instead of feeling proud, you feel uneasy.

You have to confess it before the Lord. Then, you have peace. You are very talkative. And, when you talk and talk and talk, and you begin to talk beyond what you need to say, and suddenly, there's a check within you, that's enough, stop.

Have you had such experience? I do. Brothers and sisters, our problem is, we are not listening. We live an awkward life. Remember, Christian life is an inward. God, our Father, is teaching us by His enduring Holy Spirit, every day, that we may walk in His way.

So, here you'll find, to the little children, God has made provision for you to live as a Christian. From the very beginning, learn to listen to your inner voice, and obey it. And if you do, you abide in Christ.

Thank God for that. Our problem is, we are not listening inwardly. We are listening outwardly. And thus, we are deceived. So, thank God for His provision. But brothers and sisters, we need to know about it, and we need to learn that we must listen to the voice of your resident teacher, in big things, and in small things.

And if you obey, you live. Thank God for that. Now, young people, because you listen to the voice of the indwelling Spirit, you grow. What is Christian growth? Christian growth is growing in the will of God.

It is the life of Christ begins to build up within you. That is Christian growth. So, here you find a young man. Now, what is the characteristic of the young man? Now, here you find, in verse 13, I write to you, young man, because you have overcome the wicked one.

And then, again, in verse 14, I have written to you, young man, because you are strong, and the will of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one. Love not the world, nor the things of the world.

Young Believers Overcoming the World

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Young man, you have grown in the Lord. Young men are naturally strong, or fighters. But as young men in Christ, you are strong. But you fight a different fight.

You fight against the wicked one. There in the atmosphere is the unseen world. And in the unseen world there is the wicked one, Satan, the adversary of God, the enemy of God, the deceiver, the murderer, the killer, the destroyer, and as young men in Christ, you are strong.

You fight. That's a good fight. But it is fighting, and only fight, but overcome. Thank God for that. You are not supposed to be defeated, because God has made provision for you to overcome. You have overcome the wicked one.

Not just overcome once and defeated twice, but overcome all the way. You have overcome. Continue to overcome the wicked one. My, you say, have I ever fought that fight? I do not know I'm fighting it, but you are.

What is that fight? You are fighting the unseen world. Where can you hit him? Now, here remember this. God created us. He created the universe. He created us according to His own image. He created all the things for us.

You remember after He created Adam, He put Adam in a garden of Eden, a garden of pleasure. He planted all the fruit trees of all kinds for man to enjoy. You know the man He created needs food. The body needs food.

So God created the trees, the fruits, to be food for man. Vegetables, to be food for man. That man may live, and not only live, but live for God, to do His work, and live for the glory of God, and enjoying things, thanking God, for He is the giver.

We have not only physical needs, we have soulical needs, that is psychological, soul needs. We need love, affection, family, and God created Adam and Eve. The need of the flesh. God created our eyes to see.

So He created all things beautiful. Even after this world was corrupted, it is still beautiful. Look at the sunset. For us to enjoy, but not just to enjoy, to thank God, to be grateful. Everything in this world created by God for our need, enjoyment.

But more than that, that we may live for God, we may do His work, we may glorify Him. That is the wicked one. See how wicked he is? He came in. He took hold of God's created things. He reorganized them into a system, a cosmos.

And he used that system to oppose God. He used that system to entice man so that man will fall into his trap and rebel against God and go to destruction with Him. Now that's the wicked one. So remember, you are not fighting against something unseen.

Yes, you are. But you are fighting against the world, the system. Satan is at the back of it. No, he hides himself at the back. You never see him. He organized all the things in this world, whether it is for the eyes, whether it is for the flesh, whether it is for life, he organized all the things in the world into a system.

And he used that system to draw out lust. What is lust? You know, we are created with an inborn instinct, inborn needs. Our body needs food, our eyes need to see, our flesh needs love, family, and God has provided all things for us.

We should receive them with thankfulness. And because He has made such provision for us, we know we are not supposed to live for ourselves. He sustained us that we may live for Him, for His glory. That's what we ought to do.

But instead of that, the enemy, the wicked one, pushed the world as a system and used that to entice us. Forget about God. Think about your own self. You can be God. You don't need God. Remember, in the Garden of Eden, how the serpent, Eve...

You know, Adam and Eve should be together. But unfortunately, somehow they are separated. And Eve wandered around, and he wandered to the midst of the garden. Instead of seeing the tree of life, she looked at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God said, of all the trees you can freely eat, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

You shouldn't eat. Because on the day you eat, you shall die. Now, why is it? Because God knows. Knowledge without life is death. It's a test to see if man obeys God or not. But Eve, standing by that tree, admiring it, look at it.

It's good for food. Pleasant to eat. And the enemy used that to come in. Did God say, you cannot eat any of the trees? Of course it's a lie. But behind that lie is a thought. God is cruel. God is not love.

God is jealous. And Eve said, lust, desire, created by God, but lust is inordinate. We have human desires. That's legitimate from God. And God made provision to fulfill all these desires for the glory of God.

But when the desire becomes illegal, overgrown, above what is lawful, it becomes lust. The lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life. Isn't it that's the world? Isn't it that's the world that entices people?

That's the world that deceives people? That's the world that leads people away from God? That's the world that makes man self-centered, self-love, self-pride, self-sufficient, self-glory? We don't need God.

We are God. It is the world that the enemy used to bring our dog. That's where the battle is. Young man, you are battling the world, but you are strong. You should overcome. Because if you love the world, the love of the Father, either the Father or the world, whom do you love?

Young man, needs fight. And this is the battle you have to win. Look at the young man today. How they forget the Father and drown in the world. They make the things of the world the meaning of their life, the pursuit of their life.

But the world and the things in the world, only the word of God is eternal. So young man, you are in the fight, but how are you going to overcome the world? How do you know this is the world? How do you know this is the trick of the devil?

The Word of God as the Weapon Against Temptation

And here you'll find, thank God for his provision. And the provision is, you are strong, and the word of God abides in you. In other words, the word of God. Thank God for his word. We have God's word.

This is God breathed. Every word comes from God. It is for our instruction. It is for our teaching, for our consolation, for our correction, that a man of God may be perfect to do God's will. So young man, how are you going to fight this battle?

By the word of God. But the word of God has to abide in you, not just outside of you. You are young. Your eyesight are good. Not like me. That's why I use such a big one. Your memory is good. You can memorize.

Not like we, older ones, our memory is fading, and you have the time. You are quick. Read the word of God. Meditate on the word of God. Memorize the word of God. Let the word of God abide in you richly.

You have the weapon to fight. Remember, when our Lord Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, what weapon did He use to destroy the temptation? The word of God. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

You shall not tempt the Lord your God. You shall worship the Lord and serve Him alone. All these are from Deuteronomy. Our Lord Jesus had the word of God abide in Him. And when temptation comes, the word of God discerns, this is from the enemy.

This is temptation. Do not yield to it. Overcome it by the word of God. So young brothers and sisters, spend time reading the word of God. I thank God when I was 15, immediately I spent time before the Lord, reading His word.

Every morning I got up before the family, I went into the room, shut myself in, I knelt on the floor, reading the word of God and praying. This has never left me. Young man, you are strong. And the word of God abides in you.

Love not the word, nor the things of the world, for the love, thank God, God has made provision. But you have to use it. Now the Fathers. What is the characteristic of the Fathers? Now here it says, I write to you, Fathers, because you have known Him, that is, from the beginning.

Spiritual Maturity and Knowing Christ

Now what does it mean? You do not need to go too far to discover the meaning. Because right in that letter, 1 John 1, verse 1, you'll find the answer. That which was from the beginning. That which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that we have contemplated and our hands handled concerning the Word of Life.

And the Word and the Life has been manifested and we have seen and bear witness and report to you the eternal life which was with the Father and has been manifested to us. In other words, what makes you mature?

It is the living knowledge of Christ Jesus. Knowing Christ in the eternal purpose of God. What place Christ has in the eternal purpose. The fullness of Christ. That is what it is. Because our Lord Jesus is that which was from the beginning.

He was with God. He was God. And that which we have heard, the prophets in the Old Testament have prophesied about Him. So when you read the Old Testament, you heard about Him. That which we have seen with our eyes, because two thousand years ago He came into this world.

He was seen by people. That which we have contemplated, people may see Him, but they only see His outward. But only those who contemplated, their inner eyes were open and they see the glory, as the glory of the only begotten.

They see Him as the Son of God. As the Christ, the anointed, the sent one by God to accomplish the work of redemption. That which our hands, our Lord Jesus went to the cross and died. He was buried. On the third day, He was risen from the dead.

And you remember, Thomas, his disciple, would not believe Him. He said, unless I put my finger into His eye, my finger into His hand, I won't believe Him. And the Lord appeared to him. We have seen Him.

We have touched Him. This is the Word of Life. This is the eternal life. This is what we have heard and reported to us. Brothers and sisters, this full knowledge of Christ in the eternal purpose of God, that makes us one.