in 1 John chapter 2 this morning. As we've seen in previous lessons
that we've looked at in the book of 1 John, that he's speaking
about love of God and love of the brethren, and this is brought
about because of what God has done for His people. If He indeed
has lifted the darkness, the spiritual darkness from the heart,
and there's light, that there should be, we will see that that
has been done, both in things that God's people believe and
what they are like. We are not like what we will
be, but we're not like what we used to be. God only can work in His people. And as Paul has said, we're not
perfect. We're far from that. And we do
those things we desire not to and don't do those things we
desire to do. And he says, who can save us from this body of
this death? And I said, I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord is the only is the only hope and standing
we have, and not in any capabilities of changing that nature that
we are born with in the flesh. But in the Spirit, we are in
Him and stand in Him. And so this morning, we're going
to be looking at 1 John 2, verses 12 through 14. I'd like to read those verses
to start with. It says, I write unto you, little
children, because your sins are forgiven you for His namesake. I write unto you, fathers, because
ye have known Him that is from the beginning. I write unto you,
young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto
you, little children, because ye 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 ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you,
and ye have overcome the wicked one." And I'd like to call this,
or to title this today, My Little Children. My Little Children. He writes to little children,
and the things that we're going to look at, little children young
men and fathers. And those are commonly looked
at as different ages in... physical ages and ages in the faith. And I think some divide those
up and make them to be separate entities or separate times. And
we're going to look and see that... we'll look and see what the Scripture
had to say about that. But he writes to little children,
and these are things that he's going to be writing that are
common to all believers or saints of God. There's two words that are used
for children in these few verses here. One of them, and I'm not
a Greek scholar, but I have a book that Greek scholars have put
together, that in verse 12 here, where it starts out and says,
little children, is a word that is technion is how it phonetically
puts it so I can pronounce it. It speaks of darlings or little
children, loved ones. And there's the other word that's
used in verse 13, padeion, or half-grown child, or immature
Christians or children." And both words are used there. My
Little Children is used quite a number of times as it starts
out here in 1 January and other ones, speaking of the brethren,
the beloved ones of the brethren. And it's not It's not as necessarily
an old man speaking to little children and as we would speak
down to little children in that regard or that way. But these
are a term used for the beloved of the Lord, of his little children
in that way, and not as immature babies type thought, but darlings
or beloved ones. different ages in Christ addressed to those, to the grace
governed to each to build up the brethren. Each category or
each, as it looks as ages here, each are not only have this complete
salvation in the Lord, No matter if a person is, as we call them,
a new believer or one that's been around a long time in the
Lord, the same standing they have in the Lord, they are complete
in Him. And there's nothing lacking for
our faith. No, there's no spiritual lacking. There's understanding that is
far different from person to person, that God has given some
people real insights as we see it into spiritual things, and
that we can read their thoughts on it, and comparing what the
Scripture says really You just say, boy, that is really something
and really a thought. And as God gives grace to all
as he will, the understanding is at the level or at the amount
that he gives to each people. We're going to see that. Common
to all believers whom the Holy Spirit has lifted the veil from
their eyes. have the dark, walking according
to light, as he said earlier in this, and is gonna say again
yet in 1 John, if the darkness is gone, the light is there.
And that is, there's gonna be the spiritual light is there. And the spiritual light is what
we have and who he is and who the Lord is. All that implies,
in verse 12 he says, I write to you, little children, because
your sins are forgiven for His namesake. That is not different
for any believer. That is the truth and the fact
of all believers. our sins are forgiven for His
namesake. And we're going to look at that
a little bit. That has nothing to do with a person, whether
the Lord had just revealed Himself to them, or He did that fifty
years ago. the same, your sins are forgiven
for His namesake. That's the only reason. There's
nothing that's added to that over time. We don't add anything
to that by how long we have believed. or how much we have understood
or seen, that has nothing to do with how we stand in Him. Our sins are forgiven for His
namesake. We're not adding anything to
that before or after He reveals Himself to us. He gives us more
grace as far as understanding who He is and what we have gained
in Him, what He has done for us. We see those things more
fully. We haven't we don't change our status or our standing because
of any of anything that we understand or don't understand We as it
says here under you because your sins are
forgiven for His namesake." And to tie that, we have to tie that
to what he's been speaking about and what he will speak about.
John is talking about a love of the brethren, love to God
and love of the brethren, because your sins have been forgiven
for His namesake. That's going to be an outworking,
and that's going to be one of the things that God instills
in His people for one another, is that love of the brethren.
because we have a lot in common now. We may have very little
in common ethnically or background-wise or experience-wise. We may have
very little in common that way, but if we are believers in that
He has changed us and put life in us, We have that in common,
and that is more than any other type of commonality we can have.
We're closer that way with people than we are with, often and most
of the time, with family. I have family that I'm not real
close to that I get along with and I enjoy, but we don't have
that in common. We don't have life given from
above in common. And that's a big gap. That's a big difference. But
the brethren have that in common, that things we have in common, because our sins are forgiven
for His namesake. Let's turn to a couple of places
that address that. Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians 4, starting with, let's
see, starting with verse 4. It says, There is one body and
one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling.
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who
is above all, and through all, and in you all. And unto every
one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of
Christ. Wherefore, he saith, when he
ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto
men. Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended
first into the lower parts of the earth. He that descended
is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that
he might fill all things." And He gave some apostles and some
prophets, some evangelists and some pastors and teachers, for
the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of 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, unto the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ." here, these things that he speaks
about here, one body, one spirit, one hope of your calling, one
Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who
is above all and through all and in you all. And then he goes
on and says, according to the grace given in the measure of
Christ by God, that God and Father of all, above all, through all,
and in you all, common to all ages, that we see in those few
verses in 1 John, regardless of physical age or regardless
of time in the faith, those things. We still have this in common.
We don't gain these things over a period of time. We surely gain
the understanding of these things over a period of time. We don't
fully understand what we have. I don't think in this life we
ever will fully understand what we what we have gained in Him,
what we have, our standing in Him until we
see Him. 2 Peter, turn to the book of
2 Peter. 2 Peter chapter 1, starting with the first verse
of 2 Peter 1, Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through
the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Grace
and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of
God and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given
unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through
the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue."
A couple of things here, a couple of thoughts from here. Writing
to the brethren, writing to the ones that 1 John, that John is
writing to there, little ones, beloved ones. Here it says, to
them that have obtained like precious faith with us through
the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. A couple
of things. Not just that we have a common
religion or common words that we say about these things, that,
yeah, we are believers or that we believe in God. But here it
says that, "...them that have obtained like precious faith
with us through the righteousness of God our Savior Jesus Christ."
That's the standing that we have. It's not just, yeah, I'm a believer. Well, the standing we have here,
that like precious faith, is that faith that He has given,
not one that we have come around to, or studied to get to, or
those type of things. This is given to all of God's
people, and it says, Grace and peace be multiplied to you through
the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine
power hath given unto us all things that pertain to life and
godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to
glory and virtue. and has given to all his people
all things that it says here that pertain to a life in godliness,
all the necessities of spiritual life he has given to his people,
whether they be babes, as the word means immature or very young
in the faith, or those of old age, the same standing, the same
things that have been given to them, and by virtue of time in
service, as it were, counts nothing towards those standings, counts
nothing towards that. It counts a lot to us that He
reveals Himself more to us, reveals more about what we are like and
what He is like, and what we have gained through Him according
to the everlasting covenant. We see those things that we never
in early days maybe just barely got a glimpse of when you see
those fuller as time goes by, but that doesn't put us in better
standing with God or more standing because of that. It may put us
in better standing in some ways or thoughts in others because
the older people should have a little bit more grounding,
a little bit fuller understanding of some things, but they have
not gotten more They don't get more of the Lord over time. They
don't get more of His righteousness over time. The sanctification,
we are sanctified and as righteous as we ever will be in Him. And
that does not change with time. We can't put, and I've seen people
literally put their thumbs in their vests because of their
time in service, as it were, that they have a right to feel
a little bit more of themselves than maybe they do. And I think
that that is showing if people feel that way, that shows, I
think, some of where they are, that by age or time, we do not
have a better standing than other people do. We may have a better
understanding of some things, but that is humbling to God's
people and not boastful. in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Let's see what it says here a
little bit. Let's see. We're going to start
at verse 9 of chapter 6 of 1 Corinthians. It says, "'Know ye not that the
unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?' Be not deceived,
neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of
God. And such were some of you. But ye are washed, but ye are
sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus,
and by the Spirit of our God." And here, actually a couple more
verses, verse 12, And all things are lawful unto me, but all things
are not expedient. All things are lawful for me,
but I will not be brought under the power of any. Meats for the
belly, and the belly for meats, but God shall destroy both it
and them. Now, the body is not for fornication,
but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And here particularly,
It speaks about those things, and a whole list of sinful characteristics
and things. And as it says here in verse
11, And such were some of you, but you are washed, you are sanctified,
you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the
Spirit of our God. And I don't believe that we can
look through that list and say, well, I'm not in that list, I'm pretty good to start with,
and I think the idea is that such were some of you, some of
these things were all of you, I think. And by, you know, we
each know what we are like by nature, and I don't think it's
a list that's all-inclusive of every little thing. The thing
is, these are things that describe the nature of man, and what we
are like, and have been like, and what we tend to like, but
for God. And here, as it says, But ye
are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. This is another
point or thought or verse here that shows the things that all
believers have in common. All God's people are washed,
are sanctified, are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
and by the Spirit of our God. These are not characteristics
of old-timers. or young men, as we're going
to look down the rest of these verses as time here in a minute,
or old-timers or babes in the Lord as people judge them. These
are things that all have in common. It's not over gained over time.
If we are His, we stand in that. And he's saying that these things
shouldn't be, but here's where... You've all been this. You've
all been in this category up here, but that's not where you
are. You have been washed. You've
been cleansed. You have been redeemed indeed
by the Savior. And then in 2 Corinthians... No, pardon me, in 1 Corinthians
12. That's where I want to go. And in the books of 1 and 2 Corinthians,
I used to think I had them kind of thumbnailed on what they had
in there, that this was problems the church had, and Paul is straightening
them out and taking them to task on a few things, which he indeed
does. But he doesn't just take them
to task, he points them to the Lord Himself. That always brings
them back to, that's not the issue, here's the issue. Here's
how you are cleansed, and here's how you are washed. Here's where
you stand. These things should be taken
care of, and we pray that they be taken care of, but here's
where you stand, and not in those things that you can do or can't
do, but here's how you stand. But in 1 Corinthians 12, I'd like to start with verse
1 of chapter 12. It says, Now concerning spiritual
gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. you know that
ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as
ye were led. Wherefore I give you to understand
that no man speaking by the Spirit of God called Jesus accursed,
and that no man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy
Ghost." Now, there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
And there are differences of administrations, but the same
Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the
same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of
the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to
one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the
word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the
same Spirit, to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit,
to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another
discerning of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues, to
another the interpretation of tongues, But these all worketh
that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man, severally
as he will. For as the body is one, and hath
many members, and all the members of that one body, being many
are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all
baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether
we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into that
one Spirit. For the body is not one member,
but many." And here, speaking to gifts, and people look at
these lists of gifts, but these are, the point being here, all
the situation that we have as far as understanding, as far
as the knowledge that He gives to us, the spiritual maturity
that He gives to His own, is that He will do that, and as
He does that. And it says here, all the parts
work together worketh that one and selfsame
spirit, dividing every man as he will. For as the body is one
and hath many members, all the members that one body, being
many, are one body, so also is Christ." And I think it applies
to what we're looking at in 1 John, that all believers are part of
the body. There's none that are head and
shoulders above the others. There's one head that we have,
and it's not us. It's the Lord Himself is the
head of the body, and all the other parts as He will give and
as He does. And I think it speaks out to 1 John
over there, where he's talking to the different ages as we look
at, both physically and spiritually, but primarily spiritually, that
all are part of the same body. There's no, when any part starts
thinking it's the important part of the body, then we have a problem. And I think all parts of the
body will understand where their strength part comes in from,
because of the Lord. And I read one, a part of a commentary
speaking about this, about the children and the young men and
the fathers, speaking to older ones. or like leaves on a tree. All those leaves get the same
amount of energy and sustenance and life comes from the root,
from the tree, not from the leaf. The leaves are part and parcel
of that tree, but as each leaf contributes its part And it has
that that is given to it, but the life comes from the root
and from the tree itself. And so that the body of Christ
is made up of all of his members. They don't contribute and make
the whole greater, but he, as them, is where the life comes
from. And I think that that is brought out as he
deals with his people, that they will understand that. All children
of God stand clean and forgiven of our sins because of the grace
and mercy to us by the blood of Christ. His sacrifice that
paid the price and placed His righteousness on us, He did indeed
satisfy the demands of the law." And I put a note here, Isaiah
53. Isaiah 53 goes into great detail
of what He did and what that sacrifice and not only what physically speaks
of it, but what it meant and what it did. It satisfied the
Father. It satisfied that holiness that
had to be satisfied. And Isaiah 53 just speaks so
much to that. Again, for His namesake, His alone, no merit of our works,
as we've seen, we have been fully pardoned by that who He is and
that which He has done. That's our standing. That's our
plea, our only standing that we have. The love of God to us,
as shown in His grace and mercy and tenderness to us, will cause
a love of the brethren to be in us. And I don't think that has to
be hard. I don't think that's something that's hard work for.
I think that that love of the brethren comes because of what
he has done for us. And something that's been said
many times, those that have been shown grace will be gracious
to others. And I think that is there. And
I think that is something that is, by nature, we may not have
that. But by God's grace to us, I think
that will be shown to His people. It speaks in verse 13 there in
1 John. 2.13, it says, I write unto you, fathers,
because you have known him that is from the beginning. As he wrote to little children
because their sins were forgiven, and therefore the love of God
will be shown through us to the brethren and to him, so I write
to you, fathers, because you have known him that is from the
beginning. And this, depending on how you read this and who you
read that has made comment on this, what this is speaking of.
But I think that where it speaks that have known Him from the
beginning. We're going to look at a couple of things that speak
to that. Those of It says, and I wrote some thoughts
here, it says, those only of old age in the church may still
only be babes or immature in the gospel. And it's here that
speaking of not only of old age, physical age, but those who judge
all things according to scriptures, by some experience or by revelation
from God, those things. And I'd like to read a couple
of verses that speak to knowing Him that is from the beginning,
what it speaks to. Let's turn to chapter one of
1 John. reacquaint us with a few verses
that it speaks here. It says, "...that which was from
the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with
our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled
of the word of life. For the life was manifested,
and we have seen it and bear witness, and show unto you that
eternal life which was with the Father." and was manifested unto
us. That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with
us. And truly our fellowship was with the Father, and with
His Son, Jesus Christ. And these things we write unto
you, that your joy may be full. He started out speaking about
here that which they have seen and looked upon and handled of
the Word of life, and the word there is properly capitalized,
speaking of the Lord Himself, the true Word of life. And it
says, we bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which
was with the Father and manifested unto us. And the ancient speaks
of, we're going to look at the ancient of days, the I Am, Christ
the Word, in the book of John in the first little bit. Turn to the gospel of John, much the same thought or reference to who it's speaking
about. It says here in John 1, verse
1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was
life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth
in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was
a man There was a man sent from God
whose name was John. The same came for a witness to
bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe.
He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that
light. That was the true light that lighteth which lighteth
every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and
the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came
unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received
Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on His name, which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God. And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Here
it speaks, and we have a couple other places we're going to look
at, but it speaks about who the Lord Himself was. It was not
a Johnny come lately that people see Him as late on the scene,
and now things have kind of changed. He was the Ancient of Days. He
was the Creator. He is the Creator. It says, all
things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything
made that was made. He was in the beginning with
God and was God. And I think this shows that it's
not God the Father, God the Son, and Holy Spirit that are three
separate entities. They are one. It's hard for us
to... and people have tried to explain that different ways.
The Trinity I think that's one of those things that we can ponder
and never comprehend. We know what it says about it.
We have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit doing those
things as were their own part of it, but as one. But here it
shows that He was with the Father in the beginning. He is truly
the Ancient of Days. In the book of Revelation, the
book of Revelation. And it seems like anymore if
you mention the book of Revelation you can get a crowd just because
of what they expect is coming. But in the book of Revelation, starting with the first verse
of the first chapter the revelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which
must shortly come to pass." come to pass, and he sent and
signify it by his angel unto his servant John, who bear record
of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and
of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and
they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things
which are written therein. For the time is at hand, John,
to the seven churches which are in Asia. Grace be unto you, and
peace from him which is, and which was, and which is to come,
and from the seven spirits which are before his throne, and from
Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness,
and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings
of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed
us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests
unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever
and ever. Amen. And, behold, he cometh
with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which
pierce him. And all kindreds of the earth shall wail because
of him. Even so, Amen." Verse 8, I am
Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord,
which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. Here it says in the beginning,
the revelation, of Jesus Christ. And it goes on, and the book
is a wonderful comfort to God's people. It's a comfort. It's not a book of terrors and
of, we don't know what's coming, the bad stuff is coming, and
we don't know what's going to happen. This is a revelation
of our Lord, the Messiah, the Son, the Almighty God, and His
victory over all those things that were required to redeem
His people, and not one thing is left undone. There's not one
thing that's left as a mystery of how this is going to turn
out. He is indeed the one that has redeemed His people, and
this is a book of revelation of Him, showing of Him to His
people. In the book of Hebrews, the book
of Hebrews, Hebrews 1, just another thought, and we're
going to make it a little bit farther, and we're going to continue
this next time. But in Hebrews 1, Starting with verse 1, it says, who, being the brightness of
his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding
all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high." And verse 4, "...being made so
much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained
a more excellent name than they." But here, it being the brightness
of His glory, the express image of His person, and upholding
all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty
on high." And a couple of things here. He was the, it says, the
express image, God in the flesh, had all His attributes as God
in the flesh, God with us in the flesh. And when He had by
Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the
Majesty on high." It shows His being the Lamb slain before the
foundation of the world, being slain, that sacrifice, that blood
acceptable to God for the purchase of the people. And that by himself
did that, the Lord did that, and sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high. It is finished. He was sent,
brought back to, ascended back to the Father, and there intercedes
for his people, it says. But this, the standing that the
fathers have is this way. speaking about the Father's knowing
Him that is from the beginning, and Him, seeing who He is. And all of God's people have
this vision of Him. And in closing today, turn to
the book of Isaiah. And I think that you wonder what
we have in common with the prophets sometimes, or different ones,
and what they say, how it speaks to us, and where we stand. But
I think we have everything in common with them. And Isaiah
chapter 6, You probably know where I'm headed
with this, but I'd like to read just the first five verses of
Isaiah 6. It says here, In the year that
King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, also the Lord, sitting upon a
throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.
Above it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings, with
twain he covered his face, with twain he covered his feet, and
with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and
said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth
is full of his glory. And the post of the door moved
at the voice of him that cried in. The house was filled with
smoke. Then said I, Woe is me, for I
am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell
in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen
the king, the Lord of hosts. And here, when it says there,
the fathers have known Him from the beginning. And I think that
not only the fathers have seen Him in this position, but all
of God's people have. And there was a day when He reveals
to all of His people that He is high and lifted up. He is
the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and there is none beside
Him. And it's not just a thought or
a nice thing it's speaking about, but God Almighty. And that part
is revealed by God to His people of all time. And by these things,
He is a comfort to the church. God's people will be a comfort
to the church, recounting His grace and knowing the eternal
God and the everlasting covenant, that we were of old His children,
that from the beginning the Lamb was slain for His own as the
mediator. Those of old knew Christ in His
office and work as a Redeemer through His righteousness and
blood and sacrifice. By faith given to them and to
us, the Father's is given through this the commandment of love,
as we're going to see in the rest of the book here. Because
of knowing who God is, and because of His grace and mercy, His love
to His people, that is the reason, the appeal that John is having
to the fathers. of the ones that appear to be
older of age and in the faith or physically also, is that because
of this, love should be there and it will be there in a godly
love, not just as we see it. We're going to pick up next time
with the young men and yet the little children again in 1 John. And we're going to Stop here
now with thoughts on the fathers and join us again next time. And until then, be free. Thank
you.