3 Stages of Growth (1 John 2:12-14)

Reformation Day and the Gospel of [justification by faith alone](#keyword)

Grab your seats, we'll get rolling. Happy Reformation Day. Yes, justification by faith alone.

Love it.

Beautiful sunny day out there, a little cold. Glad to be here, though, in the house of the Lord. Thankful for the word of God, being able to look into it. Thankful for this church. Thankful for a strong leadership, biblical teaching.

I mean, it's what my soul needs every Sunday. So before we get started, we'll just go to the Lord for a word of prayer, and we'll get going. Father, we love you and praise you. Just thank you for all you do in our lives, and the fact that you've given us the scriptures, and just the way to live our lives is amazing.

And thank you for the cross. Just what an amazing, just to be able to look back on it and see how you came and sacrificed yourself to save us. Lord, thank you for that. Just ask that you go before us in this teaching.

Father, give us your wisdom that these words would be true and right before you, that everything that we say and do would glorify you, that you would open our hearts, Lord, to the truth of your word, that it would impact our lives, and that we would begin or continue to conform into your image, Lord.

We just give you all the glory and all the praise now, in Jesus' name, amen. All right. So we're definitely in the book of 1 John still. It's been, it's a very practical book. There's a lot of things that we deal with, you know, today in our own lives.

I mean, you can think of, you know, that John is addressing the false teachers right from the beginning, dealing with the Gnostic teaching and addressing that in the person of Jesus Christ. You know, it's good to see that we start with Christ as we're addressing any false teaching.

Who is Christ is who we're going to be focusing on, but he's also addressing and helping us to understand who the false believers are. Remember, we talked about that quite a bit, who the false believers are.

If you say that you walk in the light, but yet you're walking in the darkness, he says that you're a liar and the truth is not in you. So it's helping us as a church and a body to see and identify false believers in the congregation and as a whole in the body of Christ, but also the true believers, right?

We know that if we come to know him, we keep his commandments, we keep his word, you know, we can see that someone's in the faith. It's proven out by, you know, our walk in Christ. So that's nice. And then in chapter one, verse nine, it's brothers keep a short list of their sins.

We confess our sins and he is faithful and true to forgive us our sins. And we can see that. So John is focusing on some very practical things for us. And we're into chapter two now. We're gonna be looking at verses 12 through 14 today.

And our scripture reading is gonna be, I'm gonna read 12 to 17, just to give us a perspective there. But we're starting a new section now. So if you turn in your copy of God's word to 1 John chapter two, verse 12, we'll just read the passage here.

1 John chapter two, verse 12. I'm writing to you little children because your sins have been forgiven you for his namesake. I'm writing to you fathers because you know him who has been from the beginning.

I'm writing to you young men because you have overcome the evil one. I've written to you children because you know the father. I've written to you young fathers, or excuse me, I've written to you fathers because you know him who has been from the beginning.

I've written to you young men because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one. Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves 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 boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but it is from the world. The world is passing away and also its lusts, but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

Three Stages of Spiritual Growth in 1 John 2:12-14

So we are starting a new section here today and it doesn't necessarily really go with the beginning or the prior passages, and it doesn't necessarily go with the ones after. It's kind of a, I don't know, it's like something in the middle there that is a different kind of a content, if you will.

And we're gonna be looking at that today. We're gonna be looking at some observations first before we dive into the passage. So one of the observations that I had is how do we interpret this passage? How do we interpret it?

Because we're looking at three groups of people here. We're looking at children, we're looking at young men, and we're looking at fathers is what the text says. And if you remember in chapter two, verse one, John addresses and he uses the language, my little children, I am writing these things to you.

And he's using that in the context of the entire body that he's writing to. So he's using the little children in that context. But here in this section, it's a little bit different. And so I wanted to take a look at that right off the top.

But he says in verse 12, right there, I am writing to you little children because your sins have been forgiven. That word technia is used really for an infant. It's used for an infant. And the second usage of the word children there in verse 13, 13C, I call it, I've written to you children.

That's a different word. It's palladia, it's a young child. So we have two types of children here. So is he really writing to the literal groups, age groups of children? I don't think it can be given this context because infants obviously can't come to know the Lord.

Their sins can't be forgiven at that very young age. You have to obviously be born again into the body of Christ to have that happen. So I don't think we're talking about specific age groups here. I think we're talking about levels of spiritual growth.

I think everything that I've read and understood about this passage, it's talking about levels of spiritual growth. So the children are the new believers. They're the new believers in Christ. So we see them.

And the young men are the middle ground there. Their faith is not young anymore. They've matured on a little ways. And then the fathers would be the ones that are the mature examples in the faith. So that's kind of the way I see that.

We're talking about these groups and not literal age groups, if that makes sense for us today.

Okay.

The other thing I wanna observe is just in the language. In verse 12, it says, I am writing to you. Verse 13, it says, I am writing to you. And then in 14, it says, I have written to you. I have written to you.

Is there any significance in that? You know, it's scholars I've read have gone back and forth on this. And I think what it seems to me is that it doesn't really make a difference. It's kind of a stylistic writing.

You know, it's just a way to communicate the truth. And it doesn't necessarily change this passage at all. It's just, I wanted to call it to your attention because I just don't think it changes the dynamic here.

I am writing, I have written. It's just a way to communicate this truth to you.

But the groups,.

These groups that I'm gonna talk about today, we're gonna go over. I'm in the business world pretty much every day. And these groups remind me of the cycle of a business. That's what it reminds me of.

It's a cycle of a business. You know, you get a startup company, what are they doing? They're building a foundation. A startup company is doing that. They're trying to understand, you know, their marketing message.

They're trying to understand their products and kind of how they go about the market. You know, they're trying to figure it all out. They have a lot of enthusiasm, you know. I've been in some of these companies over the years and it's an exciting time because you're trying to, you know, grow this thing and figure it all out, you know.

So that's a startup company. But then eventually, you know, that startup, you know, gains some traction. You go into the growth stage and really the foundation is already built. You know, you've got some traction now.

And we're moving along. The processes that you have are already in place. You know, your finances are dialed in a little bit better. Your messaging is better. You know, you have a lot of things going for you now that are just stronger than when you first started up.

But then it moves on to the momentum phase, I call it. The momentum phase where, you know, you're able to kind of get the growth easier now. You've built the foundation.

You've grown.

You know, you've probably gotten partners and referrals are coming in because, I mean, who doesn't want to do business with a great company, right? That way you get people referring your business. You get partners that want to do business with you.

And you're maturing to the point where you're able to look out into the horizon there and be able to strategize much better because you're not worried about all these little foundational things that you did at the beginning.

Now you're reading industry magazines and you're strategizing. You see the market much more clearly now and you're able to divide it and see where you fit within that market, okay? That's how I look at these groups.

They're wiser now. They're spending their time more strategically than they would at the beginning because they have a handle on it now. So this first group that we're gonna be looking at is the little children.

These are the new believers in Christ. So if you look at verse 12, he says, I'm writing to you little children because your sins have been forgiven, you for his namesake. And then if you pop down to the next verse, right at the end of verse 13, there is the second part of it.

I have written to you children because you know the Father. So these verses are almost identical. He says, because you have been forgiven for his namesake. And then the only difference in the second one is because you know the Father.

So I think about this. Children, the word technia is born ones. Born ones. And it's not just, you know, in the spiritual sense, it's not just, hey, it's the little infants, it's born ones. It's applicable for the entire church.

The entire church, the entire body of believers. We can learn from this. We can learn from this stage. And I'm looking at the characteristics and qualities of a new believer. You might think of these when you were saved, right?

What are some of the characteristics when you got saved? They have a great deal of enthusiasm, don't they?

They should.

I mean, I just came out of the world, I'm excited. I remember going to tell my mom, I said, it doesn't matter what happens to me. I could get hit by a bus right now and I'm going to heaven. She's like, calm down, son.

Are you in some kind of a cult? That's the first thing she said.

Yes.

Yeah. Right, could he be using children in the sense of knowing the Lord and you're getting to know him? I certainly think that some of it, because he's talking about beloved. You know, he's talking about being in the faith.

And I think that's certainly a possibility. You know, you think about new believers have a hunger for the Lord, don't they? I mean, they should be desiring to grow. I mean, it's all new to them, isn't it?

They don't really know all the details of their faith, but there's a hunger there. They don't have it all figured out, do they? Like searching around. And I think one of the things I know I struggled with was just the language.

I mean, the church I was in was, you know, they weren't a King James only, but there was a lot of King James, you know, language about that. You know, whithersoever thou goest. I mean, to a new believer, I mean,.

I don't know what that means.

I was struggling with that. So a new believer is struggling to get the lingo down and just understand what it's all about. You know, they're definitely not doctrinally savvy. That's for sure. Because they're just trying to figure it out, you know?

I mean, I think about that. And you probably have too when you're new like that. You just, what are these terms? What do these things mean? How do I progress? And they face a lot of decisions, don't they, in their young lives?

I mean, I don't know about you, but I lost every friend I had. I had to make decisions of who I was going to hang out with because the old style and the old life really didn't work for me anymore. So I lost a lot of friends.

You know, I changed jobs. You know, there's just a lot of decisions for a new believer to consider and to understand. Now, I remember, you know, I was telling you about the business side of it. And one of the things that I wanted to just kind of do today is attack it from a different perspective maybe, but I'm familiar with business.

And so one of the things in business that we do is, you know, a business plan. You know, there's marketing, there's a financial plan, there's understanding, you know, your competition and all that. But one of the things a business plan has, a key core component of is a thing called a SWOT analysis.

Anybody know what that is? A few people in here know what a SWOT analysis is? Yeah, it's a way that you evaluate your own company, your own individual company to be able to be real with yourself. So the S is strengths.

What are your strengths as a company? You know, and the W, what are your weaknesses? What areas are we weak in and do we need to shore up? The O is opportunities. What opportunities do we have before us here?

And the T is for threats. And I wanna do that with each of these groups, okay? So the new believer, you know, we're looking at evaluating their strengths, their weaknesses, their opportunities, and their threats.

That's what I wanted to just focus on a little bit today and just see where we go with it. So a new believer, what are their strengths? From the text, it says, because your sins have been forgiven. Because your sins have been forgiven.

I love that. And he says, because you know the Father. I'd say that's a strength, right? Your sins have been forgiven. It's a strength in the faith. 1 Corinthians 9 says this, but I discipline my body and make it my slave so that after I preach to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

They have a balance in their lives, right? They know the Father. They have a balance between body and spirit.

And let's see.

You know what? I just was on the wrong section. Yeah, yeah, I was on the wrong section. My apologies. Their sins have been forgiven. That's really a big strength, I think. No need to even write unless you're part of the family of God.

I think that's true in 1 John. I mean, if you're not part of the family of God, that's not a strength. You have to be forgiven to have that happen. Their sins have been forgiven. They know Christ. They know the Father.

What other strengths do they have? I love that. They haven't been corrupted by false teachers already. They don't have a preconceived idea necessarily of what the faith means. I think about that for new salespeople I've hired in the past.

It's like sometimes you have to unlearn everything that they learned and focus on what you want them to know. So that is very true. What else? What other strengths does a new believer come with? Any thoughts?

Enthusiasm, absolutely. They're definitely excited about their faith and they wanna learn. I think that's a key component of it. But the forgiveness side of it, it starts there, doesn't it? Coming to know the Lord puts you in the family of God and that is such a strength.

I mean, you consider everything that our world is about, everything that is opposed to our faith, just the fact that we can be forgiven. What a privilege. What a strength that is for us to have this and an ability to leave this, the sin that we know and pursue godly characteristics that one day we're gonna be with Christ.

We're gonna be with Him. And just to have the opportunity because of the cross to be able to be forgiven. I mean, that's such a huge strength. It starts the process of maturity. I mean, sure, they have enthusiasm, they have all these things, but without that, I mean, it's such an excitement.

Think back to when you were saved. I mean, weren't you just excited at the prospect of knowing Christ? I mean, I know I was. Romans says this, blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered, Romans 4, 7.

I mean, happy, blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven. That starts that process. First John 1, 9 says if we confess our sins, he's faithful and he's just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

I read this verse when I got saved, John 5, 24. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment but is passed out of death into life.

I just imagine that, is passed out of death into life. Yeah, that was enough for me, you know, just to know that. Those are some of the strengths. Is there any other strengths that you can think of? Evangelistic zeal, yes, that is very true.

That is a good point that I hadn't thought of, but you think about that. Yeah, you wanna do that, don't you? You wanna tell everybody because you're excited about it, excited about the fact that God saved you.

So yeah, I think that's very true, I love that. Anything else? All right, let's move on to weaknesses. What are the weaknesses of a newborn child in Christ? What are the weaknesses? I can tell one, limited knowledge.

Their limited knowledge, they just don't have that. They don't know the fundamentals of the faith pretty much, right? They definitely don't understand systematic theology or anything like that, do they?

Yeah, yeah, definitely if, especially new in the faith like that, you do need encouragement and you do need brothers around you and sisters around you to be able to help you along the way. And if you don't have that, it can definitely be a detriment because it can wander away.

I mean, sometimes I think they have, you can have a foot in the faith and in the world. You know, think about it. Conversion definitely starts the process, but it's hard sometimes to give up those old things and you have a foot in each camp.

You know, so I think that can be a weakness that you're not sold out 100 for the Lord and you're not focusing on the things that you need to. And it could be a weakness. 1 Corinthians 3, one through three says this, and I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ.

I gave you milk to drink and not solid food for you were not able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not able, for you are still fleshly. See, I think there's that immaturity still in the faith, but there's some opportunities, isn't there?

There's definitely some opportunities for new believers. I mean, you can weed out sin. You begin to weed out sin. I mean, think about that. It's a process. I mean, I don't know about you, but I didn't just quit doing all the bad things day one.

I mean, quit drinking, quit smoking, quit doing drugs, all these things, it took me time to fade out of these things. I remember when I was baptized, I said, that's it. I'm quitting smoking that day. When I came up out of that water, it was newness of life.

And I'm not gonna do those things anymore. So it's a weeding of sin. And I think new believers have that process. And it comes, I think, from John 16, 13. But when he, the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.

He will guide you into all truth. We're to focus on building our knowledge in the Bible. We're to find a good church. There's a lot of opportunities for a new believer to get grounded. But there's also some threats.

They're unable to discern as well as they need to. Isn't that true? If you don't, like Nathael said, if you don't have somebody around you to guide you, you can be led into false teaching. You have to have that ability to get around people that know what the truth is.

Otherwise, you could get led into different churches that could lead you astray, different belief systems that would not be good. So there's definitely some threats there. And there's always a temptation to go back into the world, isn't there?

Temptation to just go, yeah, I mean, I got this God thing, but I'm still here, I'm still there. Maybe there's that temptation to stay in it.

What's that?

Oh yeah, way more accepted in the world, yeah. Yeah, until you become a believer and you follow after Christ and then they hate you. So 1 John 4, one says this, "'Beloved, do not believe every spirit, "'but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, "'because many false prophets have gone out into the world.'".

This is where a new believer's at. But now we move on to the young men. The young men. It says in verse 12, or verse 13b, if you look there, "'I am writing to you, young men, "'because you have overcome the evil one.'".

You've overcome the evil one. And then down to 14b, if you look at that passage, "'I have written to you, young men, "'because you are strong and the word of God abides in you "'and you have overcome the evil one.'".

So he's writing to the young men now. They've, the characteristics and qualities of someone that's young in the faith is they're not trying to struggle to build that foundation. They're moved along now.

They have moved beyond the basics of the faith. They're grounded now. They're not new converts anymore. And they have some strength there. Their doctrine's a little more defined. Usually when you have that, you know, move on a little bit, you've learned some things now.

When I was new, a friend of mine said, "'Yeah,' I said, "'what's the Old Testament about?'. He's like, "'You don't really need to know that right now.'". And I'm like, "'What?'. At that point, I mean, I didn't know what to say.

I didn't know what to do. And he said, "'Focus on the New Testament first.'". And yeah, there may be some truth to that, but I think we need to know comprehensively the whole Bible, Old and New Testament.

So these young men have gotten a grasp on that, right? They're stronger in their faith and they're connected probably to a local church now. They've got some strength. They've got some brothers and sisters around them and they're focusing on that.

They have some Christian friends now. I mean, can you imagine coming out of the world and losing all your friends and then having zero friends? Where do you find them now? You find them in the church.

You find them amongst other brothers and sisters here that we can fellowship with. I mean, I love to go to church. I mean, I've spent so much time there when I was new. I mean, I drove like an hour or so and just, it didn't matter.

But there's some strengths that these young people have, isn't it? I mean, I think about, I said this before, but it's body and spirit. I mean, young men, you think about youth, you think about strength, you think about power, but mostly people think about external.

Like, oh, I mean, I'm lifting weights, I'm strong, I'm active, I hike, I do all these things. But that's not a bad thing to be fit, right? It's not bad to wanna take care of your body and do the things that are right, as long as it doesn't get out of whack.

You know, we gotta have a balance there because there's spiritual and there's the physical body. We have to have a balance. And that's what I read earlier, 1 Corinthians 9, 27. But I discipline my body and I make it my slave so that I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

That's Paul saying, you know, I'm disciplining my own body, you know, physically, you know, but spiritually, we need to have that balance, don't we? These are, he said, strong. He said, I am writing to you, young men, because you're strong.

That's the key.

These are valiant, mighty warriors for the Lord. They're focusing on the things of the Lord. You know, it's like Psalm 21, 13. He says, be exalted, O Lord, in your strength. We sing and praise your name, not our strength.

It's but his strength. That's how we can be strong in the Lord. And I think that comes from the language he uses in here. If, you know, they abide in him, they remain in Christ, isn't really that's where our strength comes from?

Because on my own in the world, we don't have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. We can't possibly live out our faith when we don't even have Christ living inside of us, but we're strong in him now.

These young men have figured that out. They're stronger in him. Ephesians 4, 14 says, as a result, we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming.

They're no longer children. They're not prone to being swayed all over the place by every wind of doctrine. That's the strength of the young men that are founded, their strength in the Lord. What other strengths do the young have?

That middle ground. They're not fully on the mature side. They're not on the lower end. What other strengths do they have? You can work and serve. Yeah, you can be involved in the body of Christ. You can lead a Bible study.

You can do all kinds of things. Anything else? What else? From the text, it says that they have overcome the evil one. That's a strength. They've overcome the evil one. How do you overcome the evil one?

How do you do that? By leaning on Christ. What else? Is that, we lean on Christ for sure. That helps us in the day to day, but isn't it from the very beginning, he's already, Christ has overcome Satan and the domain of darkness at the cross, didn't he?

I mean, that's the forgiveness part. They've overcome the evil one because they are now in Christ. He has won that victory for them. That's the beauty of that. And our example there is Christ himself.

If you think about the Ephesians 6 and the armor of God, what's the only offensive weapon he uses? What is it? Yeah, the sword of the spirit. He said, which is the word of God. Isn't that what Christ did when he confronted Satan?

He didn't battle with them. He just quoted scripture and he crushed them. Our job isn't to fight Satan. It's not to go out there and battle them day to day. It's one of these where we still have influence from him.

Satan and the demonic realm can still influence and be involved in things, but the young believer is involved in the word of God and is able to overcome that because of Christ in him. So what are the weaknesses of a young believer?

Weaknesses, I mean, I still think you could have entanglements with the world because as you're building up, you know, you're doing work, you're doing family, you're doing all kinds of things and there still could be entanglements in the world.

Second Timothy 2 .4 says this, no soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. That's our goal is to not be entangled with it.

But I think as you're young and new, you're still trying to find that balance. They still don't have it all figured out yet at the young age. I mean, I've gone through cycles of growth. Maybe you have too in your faith where you don't have it all figured out.

My biblical knowledge is, you know, still developing, still trying to figure things out myself, but in the doctrinal side is evolving for young people. You know, they don't have that total strength yet.

You know, it takes time. I think David entangled himself with the world, didn't he? He said, the scriptures say, when kings are supposed to be going out to war, where was David? He was back in the palace, you know, walking on the rooftop and we all know what happened.

He was entangled with the world. And that can happen if we don't keep our focus on Christ. That's why we have to stay close to him and abide in him. There's opportunities though for these young believers, isn't it?

They can be an example to others. You know, I love to see young pastors preaching the word of God. I love to see their passion and strength and, you know, that next generation coming up through the ranks.

I love to see that. And there's a few of them out there that are really good. You know, and you can learn so much from them. They have so much strength and ability to divide the word of God. It's just amazing.

And I think of King Josiah in 2 Kings 22. You know, he was eight years old when he began to reign. And here's what it says about him. And he did right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the ways of his father, David.

He didn't turn aside to the right or to the left. You know, he had his sole focus on the Lord at a young age. And I think that's a testimony to young people in the Lord is that it doesn't matter how young you are.

You focus on the Lord and let God work through you. Let him work through you. When he was 18 years old, he had a fundraiser to make money for repairs for the temple. You know, that's something an 18-year-old doesn't typically do, you know, raise money for repairs in the temple.

You know, but Josiah did. And he mourned when Hilkiah found the book of the law. He mourned and it was read before the people and he called for national repentance because of it. Now that's strength. That's that value, body, spirit.

Did both things. So a lot of good things there. A lot of opportunities for young people. What are the threats though for a young person? What are they? I think distractions could be one of them. Distractions, I mean, you got families.

If you have families, you have work. There's just a lot of things. Everybody's busy now. Everyone's busy. You look around, but that could be. Family, work life could be out of balance. You know, there's that and a focus.

Social media can play into it. And there's a lot of that around. I mean, you think about, if I was to ask anybody, you know, how much time do you spend on social media? How much time do you spend in the Word?

Where is that? Where was the balance there? You know, and I think that could be a weakness. Self-reliance, a lot of times when I, you know, I'm strong, I can do it myself. I don't need it, you know. There's that self-reliance, just what I can do.

That's a danger. It's what Christ can do through me. It's not, I'm just a conduit. That's all, just a conduit. And I think compromise could be a threat. Compromise, sometimes people come into the faith, they learn, and then they move back into the world.

They've learned more, and now they're questioning their own faith. All right, so let's move on to the fathers. The fathers are, in my view, the mature. They're more mature. That's the example that this is giving us.

They've lived their time in the faith. They've seen a lot of different things. Their faith is definitely on the more strengthened side. You know, they evaluate change by the word of God now. They evaluate change by the word.

They make tough decisions between the faith and the flesh. They've been battle-tested, if you will. You know, that's the nice part about having the maturity. You know, they avoid sin and its destructiveness.

But the strengths of the fathers, it says that they have come to know him. We've talked about come to know him before. And I don't know if you remember that word or not, but it's gnosko, it's come to know by experience.

You think about someone that's mature in the faith, they've lived the early years, they've lived the middle years, and now they've moved on to maturity. They are battle-hardened. They've gone through the tests that have caused their faith to just be strengthened.

They've seen God work in the midst of their lives. There is no doubt that he is on their side and they're focused on him. That's the kind of people we need. They confess their sin. Their life's balanced.

They have a good perspective. It's like that company that is mature and balanced and can look out into the sea of different theology and go, okay, I understand where this fits in the whole scheme of things.

So, it says they knew God from the beginning. You know, they knew God from the beginning. John 1 .1, in the beginning was the word and the word is with God. And then in verse 14, and the word became manifest.