Turn tonight once again to 1
John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2, and tonight I
want us to look at verses 12 through 19. But as we begin, I think it would
be good for us to remember that this is a letter. It was a letter
written by the Apostle John in our Bibles, and it's called a
general letter. It's not important that we do
not know to whom, either an individual or a group of Christians who
received this letter first. I think we may imagine a group
of believers gathered in a house to worship the Lord, and they
find out that they've received this letter from the Apostle
John. It wasn't divided into chapters,
of course, or verses. It was a letter, paragraphs. Maybe someone in this first group
who received the letter would copy it, maybe make several copies
and then pass those copies on to others and maybe the original
even on to others. But the point I want to make
is that when this letter came and they joined together, what
thanksgiving they would have to receive a letter from the
Apostle John. You and I, we've been blessed
so greatly that we live in God's providence. We live in a time
when we have all of the word of God, all of the written word
of God. Every one of us tonight here,
I suppose, we have our Bibles. What a blessing when you think
about those early first century Christians, how that they would
receive a letter or an epistle or a book of the Bible, and then
they would read it. Someone would read it in their
group, in their church. Most of their churches, they
didn't have temples or buildings like we have tonight and like
we are accustomed to. Most of them probably met in
someone's home. You know, Paul addressed his
letter of Philemon and mentioned the fact that that letter was
also to him and to the church, him and his wife and to the church
that was in his house. It's so, such a blessing that
you and I, that we have God's word. We have our own copy, our
very, very own copy of the word of God. What a blessing that
is. You know, we take these blessings for granted because we've always
had a Bible. Most of us, we've always lived
in a place where there's scriptures. What a blessing. But you know,
thinking about that, The Word of God does say, and it does
teach, that to whom much is given, much is required. So with the
blessing also comes the tremendous responsibility. Let's read these
verses, verses 12 through 19. I write unto you, little children,
because your sins have forgiven you for his name's sake. I write
unto you, fathers, because you have known him, that is, from
the beginning, 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 have
written unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the
word of God abideth in you, and you have overcome the wicked
one. Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world, If any man love 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, and the lust thereof. But he that doeth the
will of God abideth forever. Little children, it is the last
time. And as you have heard, that Antichrist
shall come, Even now are there many antichrists, whereby we
know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they
were not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that
they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. Dividing these verses tonight
into three parts, I want us to consider first about spiritual
growth, spiritual growth, and then second, about spiritual
danger, and then third, about these antichrists. But first,
spiritual growth in verses 12 through 14. And this is one of
the major passages of scripture, it certainly is not the only
one, that teach us that when a person is born of the Spirit
of God, the new birth, that that person may and should grow spiritually. Now John recognizes believers,
he's writing to believers, but he recognizes them as children,
as young men, and as fathers. And these terms have nothing
to do with age. They have nothing to do with
the physical age of any of these people. One, in other words,
one who calls a father might be a very young man, might be
a very young man. And one he calls a young man
might be a very old man. This is not talking about physical
age, but degree of spirituality, degree of growth in spiritual
maturity. And I have three things for us
to especially consider about spiritual maturity or growth. The first thing is this. Notice
that John first said that he was writing unto the children,
little children. But what he says here about little
children is true of all three of these groups. What he says,
first of all, notice in verse 12, I write unto you little children
because your sins are forgiven you for his namesake. Your sins are forgiven you for
his namesake. One of the blessings of the new
covenant, their sins and their iniquities will I remember no
more. That is forgiveness of sins. And John tells us here, he's
writing unto these believers that their sins are forgiven
for his namesake. And it's only for Christ's sake
that anyone ever has their sins forgiven. What a blessing it
is. What a blessing. I mentioned
how blessed we are in having the Word of God, but how blessed
to have our sins forgiven. And everyone who has their sins
forgiven, have them forgiven for Christ's sake. In other words,
because of Christ, the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not by anything the person forgiven
has done. It's not by our works of righteousness,
whatever that might be, but it is rather by His perfect work,
by Him satisfying God's justice on our behalf and paying the
sin debt. The sin debt must be paid for
God to forgive a sinner. Look in Ephesians chapter one,
just a moment. What a blessed passage of scripture
Ephesians 1 is to God's children. It's hard just to read one verse,
but I'm calling our attention tonight to just verse 7. Ephesians 1 in verse 7. In whom
we have redemption through his blood. the forgiveness of sins
according to the riches of His grace. Sins forgiven for Christ's
sake, for His blood which was shed, and the riches of His grace. God's justice was satisfied that
God might be just and justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. So that's the first thing I point
out to us. I write unto you, little children,
fathers, and young men. This is true of each and every
one of these categories. Your sins are forgiven you for
Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. Second. Notice that by using these terms,
John testifies to the truth that believers do grow spiritually. And he's not the only one. He's
not the only apostle who deals with this subject of spiritual
maturity, of growing. Look with me in 2 Peter. Look
back in 2 Peter. In chapter 3, in the very last
verse of this epistle, Peter says, but grow in grace and in
the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The only
way that you or myself, any of us will ever grow in grace is
to grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because all
grace is in him. and of His grace have we received. Grace for grace, the Apostle
John tells us in the first chapter of John. But this is an exhortation. It's not like this is something
you can take or leave. Not for every child of God, this
is an exhortation or a command. Grow, grow in grace and knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a responsibility to grow. But like I said, John was not
the only one who dealt with this. John is not the only one. And
I say this in the prayers of the Apostle Paul. Let me point
this out in a couple of his prayers. In Ephesians chapter one, back
again in Ephesians chapter one, If you want to be blessed sometimes
and you don't know what to study, study the prayers of the Apostle
Paul. Just look up the various prayers
in the letters that he wrote and what a blessing to see. And
how different, how different were the prayers of the Apostle
from the prayers that I pray and probably you pray and prayers
that we hear prayed today. how different they are. But here in Ephesians 1, beginning
in verse 15, he said, Wherefore, I also, after I heard of your
faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints, here it
is, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you
in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom. In other words, you
may grow, give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and
the knowledge of Him, the knowledge of Christ. And also look at this
one in Philippians chapter one. Philippians chapter one. And
verse nine, this prayer begins, and this I pray, that your love
may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment. Now this verse 10, it's very
important that if you have a marginal reading that you look at the
alternative reading. That you may approve, try things
that are different. It says, excellent, that you
may approve things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without
offense to the day of Christ. Now, I chose this prayer because
the apostle prays that they might grow so that they could discern
between things that differ. One thing about children. Nothing
wrong with this. It's just part of being a child.
They may be easily deceived. Something may shine. They may
give up something that's very shiny. And what they're giving
up may be much more valuable than what they give up. We all
know that about children. And so as believers, as we grow,
we're able to discern between things that differ. Things sometimes sound good.
Sometimes they sound good. And if we don't have the spiritual
maturity that we need, if we are not growing and have not
grown, then we may be deceived. In the message Sunday morning,
I pointed this out that our Lord, the very first thing he said,
and this is recorded in all three of the Synoptic Gospels, When
he was asked about when the destruction of that temple would be, the
very first thing he said, let no man deceive you. And look
over here back in Ephesians chapter four. Let's see if I can find
this. Ephesians four. Yes. Beginning with verse 11. And he, that is Christ, gave
some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some
pastors and teachers. What for? Why did he give us
pastors? For the perfecting of the saints. In other words, for the maturing,
the growing, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying.
That means building up, doesn't it? Edifying the body of Christ. till we all come in the unity
of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect
man, mature man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness
of Christ. That we henceforth be no more
children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind
of doctrine, and notice this, by the slight of man. Every time I read that, I think
of something we've all seen where they have those three shells
and they put a pea under one and they start turning them around
and before long, you can't tell which shell that pea is under. You know what I'm talking about?
You say, are there people in this world that set out to deceive
God's children? Absolutely. Absolutely. There are people that lie in
wait to deceive God's children. The slight of men and cunning
craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking
the truth in love may grow up, this is what we're talking about,
may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. And then the writer of Hebrews,
most of us believe that was probably Paul, but you know this passage
here in Hebrews 5. And what I'm just pointing out
to us that John recognizes that there is maturity, there's growth
and grace, and so do these other writers. But here in Hebrews
5, verses 12 and 13, for when for the time you ought to be
teachers, He's writing to some people that they should, they've
had time, they should have grown. For the time you ought to be
teachers, you have need that one teach you again, which be
the first principles of the oracles of God. And overcome such as
have need of milk. Who needs milk? Babies need milk. Young children need milk. You
have need of milk. and not of strong meat. For everyone
that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness,
for he is a babe. Now I want to say this before
I mention something else we see here. Spiritual growth is not
to be confused with what men call progressive sanctification. Know that. Growing in grace and
knowledge of the Lord is one thing, but this idea of getting
more holy or more sanctified, Christ is our sanctification. He is our holiness. And when
the scripture says, without holiness shall no man see the Lord, that's
Christ. Without Christ and His righteousness,
His holiness. No man shall see the Lord. It's
very deceiving, I believe, to teach that we somehow grow more
holy. Only one time in the King James
translation of the scripture do you have that word, holier. And when you say it, it's someone
that God hates. Those who are so self-righteous
that they say unto others, stand by yourself. I'm holier than
you. No, Christ is our holiness. He's our everything. Everything. Christ is all in all. All right, something else here.
I want us to notice some parallels between spiritual growth and
physical growth. I'll just mention two, but a
good environment. A good environment is necessary
to grow physically, to be healthy and to grow. If you live in a
marsh area where there's filth and just a bad area and the air
is no good, I mean, you're not going to grow. And the second
thing is our diet. If you have a poor diet, you're
not going to grow. And when I think about that and
I think about spiritual growing, the environment, the environment
is the local church. Who do you fellowship with? Who
do you spend most of your time with? Are they believers? Are they God's children that
you love to be with? What a, what an environment that
we have here, right? When we come together and, and
worship together, this is a good environment to grow in. And then
the diet. What do we feed on? The word
of God. I want you to look back to Psalm
with me just a moment. Psalm 37. I have a Bible program on the
computer that I've used, the same one, for many, many years,
and it has a couple of daily devotionals. It has Spurgeon's
Morning and Evening, and it has another one that I don't always
read, but sometimes I do read it. It's always good, but the
man uses a different translation from the King James. And I was
reading it the other day, and he used verse three here, Psalm
37 and verse three, to make his point And it says here in the
King James, trust in the Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell
in the land, and too, verily, thou shalt be fed. His translation of the one he
used, it reads, feed on his faithfulness. And when I read that, it just
really grabbed my attention. Feed on his faithfulness. And I thought, wow, that's certainly
true. Of course, I looked it up in
John Gill, and he eventually said it could be translated like
this, feed on his faithfulness. Feed on his faithfulness. And
that's what we should be doing if we want to grow. Feed on the
word of God, the word of truth, but the faithfulness of God.
The faithfulness of his prophecies. We see from In the Word of God,
as we study the Word of God, we see a prophecy given, and
then we see it come to pass. We see another prophecy, and
we see it come to pass. What are we seeing? We're seeing
that our God is faithful. We're seeing that the Word of
God may be trusted, may be believed, to give us assurance and have
a solid foundation. Or we read a promise in the Word
of God, and here we see that God is faithful to fulfill the
promise. We see that in various lives
that are recorded in the Word of God. So that's the first thing
tonight, spiritual maturity. Now second, I'll be very brief.
Consider the danger, the danger of this world. What is the danger? Well, notice back here in our
text, It begins with, this part of
the scripture rather, begins with love not the world. Well,
there are things in this world that we are to love. We are to love the gospel. We are to love Christ. We are
to love his church. Husbands are to love their wives.
I mean, we could just go on and on. There are things in this
world that we are to love. So we know when John says, love
not the world, we've got to understand the, the system of this world. Love not the world. This world is a world that crucified
our savior. And it hasn't changed. It hasn't
changed. And we are to love things that
are in this world in person. We love God. We're to love our
neighbor even as ourself. The only thing is we're to love
Christ above everything else. In fact, he said, he that loveth
father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he that
love his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
So there are things in this world that we are to love, but Christ
first and foremost. But there are also things in
this world that we are not to love and things that we must
be aware of because they're dangerous in the sense that we too recognize
that we still have an old nature that may be may be enticed and
tempted to these things that he mentions. First of all, he
mentions the lust of the flesh. And this speaks of all those
things which excite, excite and inflame the pleasures of the
flesh. It may be food, it may be wine,
maybe all the sexual immoralities that we see and are confronted
with, the lust of the flesh. And then he talks about the lust
of the eyes. And this is usually associated
with the wealth of this world, covetousness, riches, craving,
the treasures and the riches of this world. You know, the
wealthiest man who's ever lived to date, His body's buried somewhere
in this world. And if it could be exhumed, and
the poorest man who's ever lived, if his body could be exhumed,
you couldn't tell the difference. I mean, they're just dust. That's
it. That's it. When it's all said
and done. And yet, we know that these things
that we see, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes,
they can get a hold of us because we still have this principle
called flesh with us. And then the pride of life. That
speaks of the fame and the applause of this world. And don't we know,
haven't we seen, how easily a person can be applauded one day and
be despised the next day by this world. I mean, it happens. We see it all the time. And notice what he concluded
here with this section. But he that doeth the will of
God abideth forever. And I used to visit the ruins
in Mexico, the Mayan ruins. This verse always came to my
mind, because you see those pyramids and other buildings there that
the jungle had actually just taken over. And I think in about
1920-something, someone Kind of discovered them again
and started clearing back the jungle and made them tourist
attractions. But they were such great societies
at one time. Thousands of people lived there
and carried on their business there. But they were all gone. All gone. This world. passeth away, John said. The
world passeth away in the lust thereof, but he that doeth the
will of God abideth forever. And what is the will of God?
Look in the next chapter, chapter three, and verse 23. And this
is his commandment, here it is, this is the will of God, that
we should believe on the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and
love one another, as he gave us commandment. Now just a few
words on the third section. The many antichrists, he said
in verses 18 and 19. Little children, it is the last
time, and as you have heard, that antichrist shall come, even
now are there many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the
last time. Now the last time here, when
he says we know it is the last time, Some believe the last time
of the apostles, John was the last one living and he would
soon pass off the same. There would be no more apostles.
Some believe this was before Jerusalem was destroyed and the
last time was very near when it was going to be destroyed. But they had heard, notice John
said, you have heard, you have heard that Antichrist shall come. Now, most people believe that
this refers to what Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.
2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and beginning
with verse 7. For the mystery of iniquity doth
already work. Only he who now letteth will
let until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that
wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit
of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.
Even him whose cunning is after the working of Satan with all
power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that perish. because they receive
not the love of the truth that they might be saved. Many believe
that, in fact, most believe that this passage here in John, when
he says, you have heard that antichrist, as you have heard
that antichrist shall come, he's talking about that antichrist
that Paul writes about there in 2 Thessalonians. But John
says there are many already Antichrist. To be an Antichrist is just to
be against Christ. And John says there are many. And then he goes on to say that
these Antichrists were part of them. They had been part of their
professed believers. They had been part of professed
Christians. They had been, they went out
from us, these Antichrists. And what it is, they either denied,
at first they professed to believe that Jesus is the son of God,
that he is God come in the flesh. But then, because they were not
true believers, because the truth had never been sealed to their
heart. You know, it's one thing we use this terminology about
head knowledge and heart knowledge. We all know what we're talking
about. But I know the knowledge comes from the head, first of
all. You've got to hear of Christ.
You've got to know of Christ. But if light produces warmth
also, doesn't it? And a lot of people have the
light, the knowledge, but they have no love. They have no love
for Christ. They have no love for the things
of God. They profess to believe that Christ is the Son of God,
evidently, but then they began to deny this, either that he
was God or that he was man. And there were some who denied
one or the other. There are many Antichrists. There
are many Antichrists today. Many people. And you know where
they're at? They're in churches. They're behind pulpits. And they're
all over this world that deny Christ. They deny that He's the
Son of God. They'll say He's a good man,
you know. He's more than a good man if
He's our Savior. If He's just a good man, He could
not be our Savior. He's God, man. Amen? Amen. Well, let's sing a hymn
and we'll be