The Epistle of 1 John Chapter 2

well since you're standing let's go ahead and read a lesson text tonight from first john chapter 2 and we'll read it again in a few moments but just in honor to the word first john chapter 2 and verse 1 my little children and that's going to be a key phrase tonight little children my little children these things right eye unto you that you sin not and if any man any person sin we have an advocate and we were singing about it in that first song the mercy the salvation the grace of the lord if any man sin we have an advocate with the father jesus christ the righteous thank god for his death on calvary we heard about it sunday in a very impacting message thank god for that great truth that this church still believes and that we are hearing thank god for calvary and thank god that we can apply it and the lord opened wide the door and the veil was rent in two so that grace could come out and we could get in the lord has blessed us i know we've done it already but there's another praise right there on the verge and

lord we give it to you tonight we thank you o lord we thank you for it jesus we thank you for your truth and your word and your grace and your goodness lord and that you are our advocate god bless you and you may be seated

and the simple title of this lesson is first john chapter 2 and we're not going to go to all the verses and if you would like to receive a lesson sheet tonight you will have to prepare your own and take notes the ushers got a little nervous right there so i wish i was faster on these devices than i am my phone and my tablet and all but any of you are and of course there's still some of us that use paper so i i encourage some note taking tonight just so that you can further receive what the lord has for us from his word isn't his word wonderful his word is is wonderful and it is rich in this first epistle of john in several places and a lot here in chapter two god and john address different groups of maturity

you'll read that phrase little children i think nine different times in this one epistle and then you'll read phrases like young men and he's referring to the whole population of youth younger people and then he mentions fathers referring to the more experienced and the elders now from scholars there are varying opinions as to whether this applies to physical age and maturity and i just want to say on that about physical age and maturity i get the common uh remark and comment from guest i got it during the 40th anniversary celebration the wonderful mix of age that we have here at apc i'm glad that the spirit of the lord a relationship with god fits every age category that's why children are back in the service back there that's why youth are having service back there and they have wonderful moving of the spirit of the lord and of course we're here in the adult bible study it's for every physical age and physical maturity the church then and now is made up of every generation and on that note just recently we went through our membership roster and did a survey and did a listing of the group age groupings here at apc and the percentage makeup of each group i had linda prepare a slide today that shows that grouping and so from birth until age 12 that's 13 of our church congregation from 13 through 17 that's 5 of our church population from 18 to 29 that 16 of us from 30 to 49 is 20 percent of us from 50 to 64 is 21 and 65 and plus 25 you know i've noticed a tendency in comments that sometimes and just leave that there if you would brother eric just a moment sometimes whatever age group we're in we tend to think there's more of the other guys you know an elder can feel like well this church is filled with young people and young people can say oh it feels like it's all elders and and then vice versa but that's just taking every member that we have and we have on our roster that's the makeup of apc there's several things that says to us it that makes me want to do better in the ages 13 through 29 and then also it says to me in a positive way thank god for the faithfulness of that 46 percent of 50 and over i guess you could call those elders and some of you don't mind that and others of you on that note let me tell you a little story i was to change the subject see what it did there to the graveside service of brother mark maclean's father who was a wonderful man by the way on this past saturday and um from and of course the roots of that family brother mark mclean's grandfather was elder walter gwen i took a picture of the epitaph on his tombstone the other day because we were right there near and the epitaph on brother gwen who was a great bible teacher is you must be born again so even in death he yet preaches and yet speaks anybody that walks by that gets the message of of the new birth in in that summary statement well we were my dad and i attended and were there and of course i was there from birth was born into that church my mom and dad had attended there that's where they got saved and then so from up through age 10 i was in that church and i was known to many of those folks as stevie so i got called that saturday various times that was a little new experience i hadn't been called that in a while even when my wife gets upset at me she doesn't call me stevie um so and then sister christy gwen uh the present pastor's wife and she's not going anymore she's ellis but when her dad she told me again the story when her dad uh just before his death they were planning his funeral and so um they were talking she was planning it out with him and she said now daddy and he had exited the upci some years earlier she said but you spent so many years we need a upci minister to at least say something and represent the organization you were a part of so they went through a litany of names and brother eddie gwen is laying on the bed and he just kind of reminded me of a mafia type of some sort you know he liked to drive a cadillac and like to dress nice and just different things and he was a ball of fun they say back in the day but he's laying there and christy said all of a sudden he just hollered out he said hey what about little stevie she said you were serving as superintendent at that night time and he's calling you little stevie so no matter what age you are sometimes uh some folks still classify you as another age category and and don't we all have a tendency to do that when it comes to physical age we continue to think of folks maybe when we first met them or when we knew them as they were younger so there's varying opinions as to whether the apostle was referring to physical age here or whether it was spiritual maturity talking about little children infants or newborn believers and little children being taught and guided along and then young believers having a good degree of spiritual experience or father seasoned believers when you read that term fathers you could take that to mean the seasoned more experienced individuals in the church here's the reality whichever way that you choose to look at it the spiritual instructions that are going to be given apply either way whether it's age application or whether it's spiritual maturity application if it was given to the various age levels or the different levels of spiritual maturity

the things we're going to read tonight from these verses when he talks about little children young people our fathers it really applies to either way and really really any of those instruction could really apply to any age and any strata of life so he says in verse 1 he starts with little children my little children these things right i unto you that you send not and if any man sin we have an advocate with the father jesus christ the righteous so in in this epistle there are two different words that john uses that are both translated as children in the english language and one of those is a newborn infant reference and then it refers to an older child that we might say is 5 6 7 8 9 10 maybe even all the way up to 12 years of age here this phrase my little children is used and it's more for the new barn or the infant and but the way he's using it here is a term of personal affection these are my little ones jesus talked about the little flock and he didn't mean that in the size of the discipleship group but he he meant that in terms of his personal care and tenderness and of course john was an eyewitness to the way jesus handled his disciples and followers with love and care and so he was using that as his template for his feelings toward those that he was leading and pastoring so john with a tenderness and i believe not only to those that were directly under his care in that time in that period of history but also to us i think when we read this we we can read tenderness and affection both from god and from the apostle himself god never puts anything in his word to shoot us down or to harm us or to hurt us it's with a my little children concept it's with my little children care and compassion and so when he writes that he first of all says now my little children because he's he's setting it up he wants them to feel the love care and uh the compassion that he has because he's going to issue a warning but he wants them to know this warning isn't just to scare you this warning isn't to condemn you and here's the warning that he gives that you sin not now the reason he uses that statement or that warning right there back up into chapter 1 he's just written to them about sin and how they can find forgiveness of sin and he has said in chapter 1 there's sin in everybody he said if anybody says they don't have sin he said they're not telling the truth so he's letting us know that sin not only abounds everywhere but we we have an inbred nature toward sin and of course in chapter 1 and then again here in chapter 2 he's going to go on to say we can find forgiveness of that sin through the blood of jesus christ god and john saw two possible pitfalls of that teaching if it was taken wrong you know people can be misled by resting the scriptures or twisting it and not allowing it to say what god meant for it or intended for it to say so he gives this warning considering two possible pitfalls one since god has said sins in us sins with us that's the way it is we're human we have sin the mindset could be well if if there's sin we might as well just give up why don't we just give up and yield to that sin what's the use it's part of our human nature now that may sound strange to some of us who have a further awareness of what god can do in the change but there are actually there is actually a mindset that that says well i've got that in my nature have you ever heard the term that's just me that's a give up attitude that just gives up to those natural bents that are in us that are not like god and not like holiness so he's warning that he said now don't go ahead don't give up don't throw in the towel just because sin is all around us and in us

and the second pitfall that he is warning about is okay if there's sin all around us and then we do have this advocate and if we confess he said in chapter one we do have forgiveness he sees the possibility of easy or what you could call permissive forgiveness it creates a mindset of well let's go ahead and sin and then let's just cash in on easy forgiveness in other words let's not just uh let's just give up on a relationship of holiness and a relationship with the lord and let's go ahead and sin and if we do if we do we know that we can cash in on forgiveness and some folks actually have a mindset that uses that as a license to sin well if i do this i know it's against the word of god but he said he would forgive me that's missing the mark our mark and our target is to be like the lord to reflect his holiness and to live in a lifestyle that reflects his holiness which is a freedom from sin a relationship with a lifestyle and a behavior that reflects his characteristics that's what he wants so there's why he gives the warning to sin not now in the latter part of that verse one you see him come back there and you see him in farm us and there it is he said if you do sin we have an advocate with the father jesus christ the righteous now it's an interesting phrase if anyone sinned there when you look it up in the original he's referring to an act of sin if anyone commit an act of sin versus a lifestyle of habitual continuing sin it would be possible for some minds to read this well if anybody sins in other words if i just keep on sinning god's gonna say well it's okay i'm your advocate here he's talking about a single action of sin the holy ghost filled believer's life should not be one of continual sinning but of continual holiness and reflection of the lord now sin is a curse it's a hindrance to the blessings of god it's an obstacle that adds to and often causes the difficulties of life but rather than subscribing to the belief that well i just can't help it except that we can help it and we can have help and that is through our advocate here's the deal whether or not we sin is based on a daily conscience decision that act of sin is a deliberate decision to take that action or to violate that commandment of the lord and it's possible to live a virtually sin free life if we focus on the word and practice the presence of god but there's going to be times when all of us will miss the mark the temptation to sin doesn't magically disappear when we're born again and wouldn't that be wonderful but it's not the case the temptation to sin does not mean we are a sinner it's the yielding to the sin that makes it a sin so when we're born again that temptation does not magically disappear believers in all of those spiritual categories little children fathers younger all of those still have to be all of us here still have to deal with the temptations of the enemy and then we have to make a choice but you and i have authority over the devil and when we are born again we do have the responsibility to uphold the word of god in our life it's not a give in and say well there's sin all around us he said there's sin in us and and maybe i can get go ahead and get forgiveness later on but there's a responsibility to uphold and to obey the word of god and when we do we prove that his word and his salvation and the promises of god are true and that we can defeat the enemy there may be infrequent times of sin and when those occur when those times of sin occur we have an advocate with jesus christ the righteous we have an advocate

i think it's proper to say when instead of if it occurs because we are human and we're not giving ourselves license to sin but we are still in this flesh and so there is the possibility of those hopefully infrequent times of sin and giving into the flesh when we do thank god for the message that john writes to us we have an advocate and these are some legal court terms that john pulls out of the legal system of his day the word advocate literally translated means one who is called to the side of in other words an attorney coming to our side and the advocate this advocate jesus christ he does not plead and say we're innocent or he does not plead on our behalf and blame others for our sin that's not the kind of advocate that we have he doesn't blame other circumstances for our sin but our advocate along with us acknowledges i am guilty and then instead of presenting an excuse for us our advocate presents himself as the lamb slain and the blood shed that will cover for our sins there is there is a great deal of explaining away sin in our day explaining away in our lives explaining it away in culture explaining it away even for loved ones playing it down dumbing it down and giving all kinds of excuses that's not what a true advocate does our advocate jesus christ the righteous one is not saying when he pleads on our behalf as an advocate that we are not guilty but it is saying when we sin i'm willing to show grace and mercy and i will forgive you so anyone here tonight anyone watching online needs to receive the message as john puts it little children he it's a term of affection he's wanting you to know i haven't come to condemn you but god has come to let you know you can be forgiven you can accept and own the fact that you sin but he has owned those sins he carried them himself and said i am willing to show grace and mercy and forgive i just want to offer to you tonight and we'll all battle with this at one time or another where we will beat ourself up and condemn ourselves about our wrong or our sin allow jesus christ to stand as your advocate how many times just think about it yourself how many times have you and i been held back because of guilt and shame that we carry too far and too long yes there should be a conviction there should be what paul talked about as a godly sorrow but that will not lead us into a pit of despair but godly sorrow he said will lead us to repentance we will see our wrong we will see our error we will admit our guilt and say god i can't do anything on my own but it's your blood that can wash away all of this stain plead your case by repenting by applying his blood god wants to forgive somebody tonight and if you will accept his advocacy if you will allow call for him to come alongside as the word literally states he has suffered for your forgiveness and for your freedom from sin and you can apply his blood by repenting by being baptized in his name if you have not already been baptized and of course he will fill you and change you by the power of the holy ghost his work at calvary and again we heard this in a powerful message sunday morning his work at calvary is still powerful and effective hebrews chapter 2 turn there with me in scripture when you if you have your bibles

hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14. far as much then as the children you and i he's talking about the human race are partakers of flesh and blood in other words we're we're humanity he also jesus also took part of the same he became flesh and blood here's the purpose he came for here's the reason he took part of the same here's the reason he became flesh and blood that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the devil he came to destroy that power now we know the devil is not completely obliterated or destroyed we know that he is not powerless that's not what the writer of hebrews is referring to here but we can say his dominance his control is ineffective in other words it is destroyed if we will believe and apply the work of jesus christ in other words we don't have to sin nobody has to sin a little bit every day just because they're flesh and blood calvary came he came for that death on calvary look at that folks so that he can destroy him the devil is weak underneath the power of the cross he may sound big and brash he may sound like goliath bellowing across the valley who do you think you are i know what you did i know what you've committed others remember what you have committed that is just a bunch of noise now it is noise but he said god said it's ineffective it cannot dominate your life if we will not allow his voice to dominate but if we will allow the voice of the word of god that says we have victory and we can overcome because of the blood of jesus christ and because we have that advocate and he came to destroy him that had the power of death the devil and verse 15 and not only did calvary work on the devil but it worked on us and for us and to deliver them who through fear of death people that had to fear the death that sin would cause and so it created a lifetime subject to bondage but he came to deliver from that you don't have to live the rest of your life dreading going to hell you don't even have to live the rest of your life thinking i am going to be in bondage to this sin this action but there is power in his love and mercy and grace to forgive any and every sin if you will commit it to him and repent of that sin he is faithful and just to forgive and verse 2 of 1st john 2 goes to say and he is the propitiation for our sins the covering he stands in our place and not for hours only watch this but also for the sins of the whole world every age strata fathers younger little children every nation every race this is saying to us god will forgive anyone and will forgive everyone any and every one can be forgiven by the power of jesus christ down in verse 12 of chapter 2 he again writes about little children and here's what the apostle writes he says little children because i write to you because or i want you to know that your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake he encourages these you could call them newborns of the new birth i tend to think that he is talking about spiritual maturity levels with these different phrases he is addressing and saying to them newborns of the new birth i want you to know you're fresh out of your sinful lifestyle but if you have asked his forgiveness you are forgiven when we freshly come into the church or we freshly ask forgiveness immediately after that of course those sins are still very much in our mind we can remember them because it wasn't all that long ago that we committed those but he says to these newborn christians and if you are a new convert you can know that god has said when i forgave you i truly forgave you your sin john must have since there were some there were many people there especially those new into the church that needed the encouragement you are forgiven if god forgave you it is done it is over he has said i receive that i'm sorry and i think

we can be the voice of god for others now we can't forgive them but we can certainly encourage brothers and sisters new converts to let them know your past is not still in that closet god has cleaned out the closet there is not god does not search out those skeletons of the closet many times it's you and i that may do that in other words you are forgiven and really again this applies to whether it's new convert experienced people or elders of the faith we can all know we can take this truth your sins are forgiven perhaps there's somebody that's thought about some mistake or some error some sin that you have committed whether it's in the past or very recent but the word of god to you tonight is you are forgiven for his name's sake that term that phrase you are forgiven is written such in in the verbiage that it means something that was done or happened in the past in other words there was forgiveness in the past but it's still effective today and it is a permanent forgive god loves us unconditionally and loves us permanently and that love will not change your past sins i want to just teach to all of us right now our past sins that have been repented of are forgiven today and they will be forgiven tomorrow and sometimes it tries to come back to us but what has been forgiven today what was forgiven in the past is forgiven tomorrow if we have put it underneath the blood and it will be forgiven into your future whenever satan or your own mind all the time it's not satan when our own mind begins to bring back to us oh yeah remember what you did and now look at you up there trying to lift your hands and trying to act like you're so pious and faithful when the enemy does that or your own mind does that just remind him my sins are forgiven past present and into the future because of the power of the blood here's the deal the effects of calvary do not wear out there's no expiration date back there in september when we had what we thought was a cold turned into covet we just went searching and uh i was taking some capsules that were from 218. they were expired i was desperate and i talked to lisa she said dad that's probably not doing you one bit of good but calvary's effects don't wear off there is no expiration date whoo hallelujah hallelujah you won't get old enough to outgrow the forgiveness of god and whatever you have been forgiven of in your past was forgiven then is forgiven today we have often sung the song the blood will never lose its power the blood will never lose its power whether it is for our healing or it is for our salvation and when it is far and i feel it tonight for forgiveness the lord has never lost his power and the efficacy of his blood and so i resist the voice of the enemy right now i rebuke the enemy and i rebuke the voice of the enemy by the authority of the holy ghost and by the authority of the word of god

and i want to read it in your presence in the presence of any tempter or accuser my little children these things right i unto you that you sin not and if any man sin we have an advocate with the father jesus christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins and not ours only but everybody you're praying for everybody in your field every family member for not for our sins only but also for the sins of this whole world pray for every continent pray for every neighbor pray for every soul would you stand together right now and i want us to pray for souls right now lord i thank you for your forgiveness son and i know you already love them i don't have to ask you to love them i don't ask have to ask you or beg you to forgive them but i do pray that they will see their need of you and that they will sense your power lord hallelujah hallelujah i pray your forgiveness to someone that is watching online oh god let there be an acceptance you want to pour it out you want to give it lord you want to forgive you are willing and you are just to forgive hallelujah hallelujah throw in there right now and thank the lord for forgiving you oh yes i thank you for every time that your forgiveness has touched my life i thank you for every time you accepted my repentance even on repeated failures and repeated sins god i thank you oh i thank you o lord i thank you i thank you o lord i thank you jesus hallelujah somebody thank him that is going to save your loved one right now yes hallelujah i know you're able god i know you love them lord there's no question about that there's no question where you want them between heaven and hell there's no question about that there's no question the degree of their sin your blood is more potent and powerful oh yes it is yes it is thank you for your concern for us lord thank you jesus hallelujah hallelujah if you have your bible with your your device i'm going to ask you either to highlight or underline in verse 12. that phrase your sins are forgiven or you may just want to rewrite it somewhere your sins and you could even put in the term my sins are forgiven and i said a number of times tonight i referred to the end of it you know one of our greatest enemies is our own mind our own thinking our own self-condemnation

but there's a scriptural answer for that there is therefore now romans 8 1 there is therefore now no condemnation those who are in christ jesus and who walk not after the flesh there is condemnation there but who walk after following the will and the wishes of the spirit thank god for the power of his forgiveness and the power of his blood and folks this is a message that needs to be shared with them that he forgives that you've you've talked to people who they actually literally feel like they are beyond the forgiveness of god that they have committed either too great of a sin or committed to many sins but the message is your sins are forgiven when you seek him and use him as that advocate we can't do it on our own but we can do it through the lord jesus christ

i want you just to bow your head for just a moment i want you to just think and be sensitive and you someone may come to your mind someone that you can share john's message with them the theme of the scripture god wants to wreck the bible says he's given to us the ministry of reconciliation the word of reconciliation so god would you help us to be sensitive and help us to look for not force but look for opportunities to share the message of your mercy and grace and forgiveness and i pray that you would lead us lord by even prompting names and thoughts to us right now and if not now throughout the next period of hours and days that we would be sensitive and be able to shed and share this great message of your forgiveness and for this we are so very privileged and thankful praise god boy doesn't the world need to know that jesus will forgive and that he loves them