For The Church At War – Part 1
1 John 2:12-14 (12)
February 13, 2022
This morning we come to a very unique and wonderful text.
It is a text in which John explains his bold and direct writing.
I’ve entitled it “For The Church At War”
First of all because that is TRUE IN JOHN’S DAY
Just as it is TRUE IN EVERY DAY.
Ephesians 6:10-13 “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”
The church is always in a spiritual struggle against Satan
And his deceptive lies.
And every soldier in the middle of a battle
Needs encouragement to keep fighting.
And every soldier needs a clear understanding of their role in the battle.
Perhaps you have wondered why John has been SO DIRECT.
Perhaps you have wondered why John has been so black and white.
We’re only about 20 verses into this epistle
And already John has made several eyebrow raising statements.
FOR EXAMPLE:
John very early reminded us that: GOD IS LIGHT
By reminding us that God is Light John was also able to remind us that
• No one who walks in darkness is in fellowship with God.
• No one who denies his sin nature is in fellowship with God.
• No one who says they don’t sin is in fellowship with God.
• Only those who confess their sins are in fellowship with God
• Because Jesus is the propitiation
• For all those who confess their sins
• And seek forgiveness through Him.
John was also very clear as he reminded us that: OBEDIENCE MATTERS
John was clear that anyone who claims to know Christ but doesn’t obey Him is a liar.
• Believers are marked by obedience
• Because obedience proves love for God and genuine transformation.
It is a bold and direct statement to say the least.
And finally, last week, John reminded us that: LOVE IS PROOF
Specifically John spoke of love for your neighbor.
• And John made the very direct point that it is impossible for someone to claim Christianity if they hate their brother in Christ.
• Love is so central to the expectation of Christ that you can actually evaluate salvation by the presence or absence of love.
BUT IT HAS BEEN CLEARN THAT JOHN HAS GOTTEN TO THE POINT.
• John has talked about people lying or being a liar.
• John has talked about people deceiving themselves.
• John has talked about people making God a liar.
• John has talked about people saying things that simply isn’t true.
He has been on a mission to separate truth from error.
He has been on a mission to help us see who is with us and who is not.
And I think you will agree that John has been about as direct
As any New Testament writer that we have read.
And that alone prompts the question:
WHY ARE YOU WRITING THIS LETTER JOHN?
• Why so direct?
• Why so black and white?
WHY ARE YOU TELLING US THIS?
And though that question is not specifically stated in the text,
The text itself proves that this is the question John is answering.
We are studying 3 verses
And yet, 6 TIMES in these verses John makes the statement,
“I am writing to you…because” or “I have written to you…because”
John here will help us understand why
He has written such a direct and really polarizing letter.
There are three reasons given here by John as to why he is writing.
(Honestly, I got hung up on the first two so it’ll take us two weeks to get through this text)
#1 CORPORATE ASSURANCE
1 John 2:12a
One of the reasons that John has been so clear and so direct
Is because he wants the us to understand without any confusion Whether or not we are forgiven.
He wants those who walk in darkness,
• Or who do not obey Christ,
• Or who hate their brother
• To know they HAVE NOT BEEN FORGIVEN.
And he wants those who walk in light,
• And who confess their sin,
• And who obey Christ,
• And who love their brother
• To know that THEY HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN.
We already discussed this a couple of weeks ago,
But you should understand that it is definitely GOD’S WILL
That His children have ASSURANCE.
• It is not the objective of God to keep you in the dark regarding your salvation.
• He does not wish to use uncertainty to try and keep you in line.
• God has determined that the saved, then you should know they are saved.
It is definitely God’s will that you would enjoy your salvation.
It is definitely God’s will that you would have assurance.
And that is what you see here in the first part of verse 12.
“I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you…”
NOW FIRST let me make you aware of one thing that you need to see.
When John speaks of “little children” here, he is not addressing the same group that he refers to as “children” in verse 13.
They are two different groups.
They are even two different Greek words.
“little children” is TEKNION
And it does mean a little child, but it is specifically a word used to speak of those who are disciples of their teacher.
Jesus used it:
John 13:33 “Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’”
“children” down in verse 13 is the word PAIDION (pie-dee-on)
And it is a word that speaks of infants or little children.
It is the word used to speak of the baby Jesus.
And the reason it is important that you make that distinction
Is because you need to understand that
While John will distinguish among different believers in verses 13 and 14,
In verse 12 John is referring TO ALL BELIEVERS.
• Some may in fact, in their spiritual walk be “fathers”,
• Some may be “young men”,
• Some may be “children” as we think of different levels of spiritual maturity.
• But there is also a sense in which every one of us is also “little children”
Verse 12 is speaking to all of us.
And the corporate message to every believer is this:
“I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you…”
John’s people faced Gnosticism.
And you’ll remember from chapter 1 that part of the problem was
• There was this underlying heresy that people didn’t have a sin nature
• And that they were not sinners.
Remember they said the spirit was good but the flesh was corrupted
And everything in the flesh didn’t matter.
Their quest wasn’t for righteousness it was for enlightenment;
Namely because they didn’t believe themselves to be sinful.
THAT IS NOT THE GOSPEL.
The gospel doesn’t teach men that their sin doesn’t exist.
The gospel teaches men that their sin is horrific,
And the gospel teaches that through Christ it can be forgiven.
John reminds the church of that here.
• You may not have the “enlightenment” they claim…
• You may not have the “knowledge” they say they have…
• SO WHAT!
Here’s WHAT YOU HAVE that they do not have.
“I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you…”
There was a war and the soldiers needed to be clear on the truth.
Any time the gospel is distorted (as it was in John’s day)
There are always casualties.
Certainly one casualty would be THE LOST.
If the lost never hear the true gospel then salvation will not occur.
• They cannot call on Him of whom they have not believed
• And they cannot believe in Him of whom they have not heard,
• And they cannot hear without someone preaching the true gospel to them.
The lost certainly suffer when the gospel is distorted.
But they are not the only ones who suffer when the gospel is distorted,
Another casualty is THE CHURCH.
(they don’t lose salvation, but they do lose assurance)
THE YOUTH have been learning about those Judaizers
Who were preaching a false gospel of legalism to the GALATIANS.
• The result was a lack of assurance – since it now depends on continued faithfulness
• The result was a lack of freedom – since legalism is bondage
• The result was a lack of worship – since Christ no longer did it all
And the church in John’s day was facing similar distortion.
THE TRUE GOSPEL PURSUES righteousness through Christ.
THE GNOSTICS PURSUED enlightenment through knowledge.
How puzzling that must have been to the believers in John’s church.
Any distortion of the gospel harms the church.
There must have been some who were thrown into utter confusion
Regarding Jesus, forgiveness, and salvation itself.
The church needs the true gospel at all times.
• That’s why I showed you that video, it’s a great reminder.
• We need the true gospel daily.
• We need the Lord’s Supper often.
There is assurance in continually focusing on what Christ did for us.
And that is why John writes so dogmatically.
YOU NEED TO KNOW IT.
“your sins have been forgiven you”
STOP AND PONDER THAT!
Psalms 32:1-2 “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit!”
• Is there anything greater than to know that every wicked thing I have done has been forgiven in Christ?
• Is there anything greater than to know that every wicked thing I will still do has also been forgiven in Christ?
And church you need to know that.
• If you are born again.
• If you are one of those who obeys Christ.
• If you are one of those who loves his brother.
YOU HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN
There is no more any condemnation on you.
• Jesus paid it all.
• Wrath is removed.
• God is propitiated.
Let’s read it again:
1 John 2:1-2 “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”
Jesus has appeased the Father’s wrath.
You are now forgiven of your sin because
Jesus has taken your punishment and carried your sin away.
“forgiven” translates APHIEMI
It is that word which means “to send away”
It brings back that mental image in our mind of the Day of Atonement and that scapegoat where Aaron confessed the sins of God’s people and then sent it away.
It is beautifully illustrated in the Old Testament:
Psalms 103:12 “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
Isaiah 38:17 “Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; It is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.”
Micah 7:19 “He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins Into the depths of the sea.”
Those are all pictures of our sin and the condemnation that comes with it
Being separated from us.
This is what Jesus accomplished on our behalf.
On the cross our sin was removed from us and imputed to Christ.
• He bore the wrath.
• He suffered the judgment.
• It was separated from us and attributed to Him.
HE received condemnation WE received forgiveness.
And that forgiveness is total forgiveness.
It was only a couple of months ago that we studied Psalms 32
And we talked about this marvelous reality.
But many people have trouble understanding forgiveness.
They can see how Christ forgave us the moment we are saved.
That seems easy.
But it’s the forgiveness of sins after salvation that seems difficult.
Does Jesus go and suffer again?
That’s what Catholicism teaches.
• You go and confess your sins to the priest and at the Mass he calls Jesus down to suffer again for your sins.
Is that what happens? No
Hebrews 10:14 “For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.”
What that means is that in the omniscience of God,
God imputed all the sin of all the elect for all time to Christ.
ON THE CROSS, BY THE PERFECT KNOWLEDGE OF GOD,
Jesus paid for sin that I haven’t even committed yet.
Certainly at the time of His death He paid for sin that I hadn’t committed yet,
For I wasn’t even born.
That is really mind blowing to ponder.
But the beauty is this: I AM FORGIVEN OF ALL MY SIN (past, present, future)
The forgiveness of Jesus never expires.
Everyone who believes in Him is forgiven of all their sin.
DON’T LET THAT BECOME ROUTINE TO YOU.
Don’t let that become some secondary thing.
The things you’ve done which have so offended God
That He would cast you into hell for all eternity,
Christ has removed from you.
That is absolutely remarkable!
“Your blood has washed away my sin, Jesus thank You. The Father’s wrath completely satisfied, Jesus thank You. Once Your enemy, now seated at Your table, Jesus thank You!”
“I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you”
And look, it doesn’t matter if
• You are one of those spiritually mature fathers,
• One of those young men who is overcoming Satan
• Or just one of those children who is a babe in Christ.
ONE THING EVERY BELIEVER HAS IN COMMON,
Regardless of their level of maturity,
Is that they are all forgiven of all their sin.
It is done – It is finished – It is paid in full.
Don’t let some Gnostic (like in John’s day) or any other deceiver come in and rob you of the glory of the gospel and the message of forgiveness.
Forgiveness belongs fully to everyone who has been redeemed.
There is a 2nd reason why John is do direct
#2 CLARIFIED WORSHIP
1 John 2:12b
“because your sins have been forgiven you FOR HIS NAME’S SAKE.”
The lost and the church are not the only casualties of a distorted gospel,
SO IS CHRIST.
When the true gospel is distorted then Christ loses glory.
The glory shifts from Christ to man and that is also a horrific thing.
So you see again why John writes his straightforward letter.
It is “for His name’s sake.”
By exposing what is false and reinforcing what is true,
• John is rescuing the true gospel,
• He is making sure the lost hear it,
• He is making sure the genuinely saved know the benefit of it,
• And he is assigning the glory of it where it rightly belongs.
For John is very clear to say that “your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake.”
Isn’t that interesting.
He DOESN’T SAY that forgiveness is for your sake,
Though we certainly enjoy the benefit of it.
John says it is “for His name’s sake”
Christ forgave sinners for His glory.
God forgives sinners for His glory.
Isaiah 43:25 “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.”
God wasn’t doing it for the sake of Israel, He was doing it for His own sake.
Isaiah 48:9-11 “For the sake of My name I delay My wrath, And for My praise I restrain it for you, In order not to cut you off. “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. “For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another.”
And I really want to make sure you see this this morning.
There are so many aspects of this that we can’t cover them all to their fullest extent,
But I want you to see some of them.
You are likely familiar with Romans 3:
Romans 3:21-26 “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
Paul reminded us there that GOD SEEMED OVER A BARREL.
Paul says that God had “passed over the sins previously committed”.
• This was actually every Old Testament saint before the time of Christ.
• Abraham had sinned but God didn’t send him to hell.
• Moses had sinned but God didn’t send him to hell.
• David had sinned…
• Daniel had sinned…
You get the idea.
God had just “passed over” those sins.
Well while I’m sure they were grateful, there is A PROBLEM.
• Such a decision by God forsakes holiness.
• A holy God must judge sinners…all sinners.
But God had “passed over” their sins.
And while God might be worshiped for His mercy,
You cannot worship a God who ignores sin as being holy.
So what was God’s decision?
To pay the price Himself.
• He sent His Son to be the propitiation.
• He sent Christ to pay the penalty.
• God offered forgiveness through the atonement of Christ.
And Paul says it was “so that He would be just and the justifier”
It’s so that God could maintain His holiness and His mercy.
And what is the result of all of this?
Paul says it in the very next verse.
Romans 3:27a “Where then is boasting? It is excluded.”
The forgiveness of God was offered “for His name’s sake.”
The forgiveness of God was done so that He would be glorified.
And as you saw in those passages from Isaiah,
THIS IS A CONSTANT BIBLICAL THEME.
TURN TO: DEUTERONOMY 9
(READ 1-6)
Now that is a good reminder.
Don’t get the big head because of your deliverance.
• Don’t assume that salvation and deliverance was all about you.
• You know that God just couldn’t bear it without you.
What God is doing is about His glory, not your worth.
Now if you keep reading, which we won’t, you’ll find a long reminder from Moses all about the unworthiness of Israel, just to make sure they get the point.
• Moses will talk about all the times Israel provoked God in the wilderness.
• Moses will talk about the golden calf incident.
• Moses will talk about how they wouldn’t enter the Promised Land.
• And Moses will talk about the numerous times he had to intercede on their behalf just to keep God from killing them.
Ultimately Moses reminds the people why God continually spared them.
(READ 10:15-22)
And the answer is that God’s choosing you and sparing you and delivering you was not a testimony to your goodness.
It was a testimony to His goodness.
God didn’t spare Israel for their sake, He spared them for His sake.
Let me show you another one.
TURN TO: EZEKIEL 36
Ezekiel 36 is all about God’s jealousy.
Perhaps you’ve heard the verse which says “For the LORD your God is a jealous God.”
I don’t know if that has ever confused you.
But we read in the New Testament how jealousy is a sin
And yet we read that God is jealous.
• The reason God is holy in His jealousy is because God is jealous for what is rightly His.
• The jealousy we are condemned for is when we covet or desire what is not rightly ours. That is sinful jealousy.
God is right to be jealous when He does not receive what is rightly His.
Well Ezekiel 36 is all about God’s jealousy.
• He is angry at the nations which entered His land
• And ultimately removed Israel
• And now have camped on His land as though it was their own.
God’s people certainly deserved their punishment.
It was by God’s design that Israel be removed from her land.
But God never said that those foreign nations
Could just move in and take the land for themselves.
You see this incidentally in verse 5
“therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Surely in the fire of My jealousy I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who appropriated My land for themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and with scorn of soul, to drive it out for a prey.”
And so in God’s jealousy God decreed that
He would bring Israel back to this land.
He wasn’t about to let the Edomites have it.
So God determined to forgive Israel and bring them back.
But notice what God says:
(READ 22-32)
DID YOU CATCH THAT?
• It is not for your sake, it is for My sake.
• I’m doing this for My glory.
And this wasn’t just after the exile,
This was the reason why God brought them out of Egypt in the first place.
Ezekiel 20:9 “But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they lived, in whose sight I made Myself known to them by bringing them out of the land of Egypt.”
Ezekiel 20:14 “But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, before whose sight I had brought them out.”
Ezekiel 20:22 “But I withdrew My hand and acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.”
So you understand that this has always been the motive.
Salvation and forgiveness are “for His name’s sake.”
Salvation and forgiveness are for His glory.
THE CULMINATION of this is seen in the book of the Revelation.
TURN TO: REVELATION 5
• Remember the story of John weeping because no one can take the scroll or open it?
• And then one of the elders tells John to cheer up because the Lamb has overcome and can open the scroll.
And when the Lamb takes the scroll notice what happens:
(READ 7-14)
It is total worship in heaven because of the Lamb who was slain.
People aren’t running around in heaven
Patting each other on the back
Bragging about how they were all worthy to be there.
There is only One who receives any glory in heaven and it is Christ.
We are not the primary object here, Christ is!
All of this is done for “His name’s sake”
• It’s all about His glory.
• It’s all about His satisfaction.
• It’s all about His worship.
And that is another reason John is writing so dogmatically.
HE IS NOT ABOUT TO STAND BY
WHILE CHRIST IS ROBBED OF THE GLORY OF SALVATION.
• The Lost need to hear about it.
• The Saved need to enjoy it.
• And Christ must be worshiped for it!
And that makes this a very fitting time to partake in the Lord’s Supper.
We celebrate our forgiveness and we do so for Christ’s glory.
• We gather around this table to rest in the fact that we are forgiven.
• We gather around this table to glorify Jesus who purchased it.
• We gather around this table to glorify God who orchestrated it.
This table is not a testimony of our great value,
It is a testimony of His great glory; that He has forgiven even me.
I want to close with one more passage.
1 Timothy 1:12-17 “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”
As always we will now have a Time of Preparation
And then we will partake of the table of the Lord.
