1 John 2:12-14

As I introduce this passage, I want to make a few comments.

First, in these verses, John writes to three different groups of people: Dear children, fathers, young men.

Second, ten times in the book of 1 John, John uses this term “I write to you…” or, “I am writing to you…”

In verses 7 and 8 this shows up two times. 7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. (1 John 2:7, 8, NIV).

The word “write” shows up six of the ten times in these two verses. Everything in these two verses are complimentary and positive. Why did John do this?

I will now move into the realm of eisegesis, of making guesses as to why John did this, though the text does not tell us.

John had a brother named James. When Jesus called them to be his disciples, he gave them a name. This name was given because of something Jesus saw about them. For example, we know people who were called “Shorty” because they were short. Or we have had people call “Einstein” because they were smart…or they were not. In our sports world we like assigning nicknames to people. This was more prevalent in the 50’s and 60’s but still goes on today. For example, “Tiger” is not Tiger Woods first name. Tubby Smith is a division 1 basketball coach. He got his name because as a young boy he liked sitting in the galvanized tub his parents used to bath him and his brothers.

Jesus gave James and John a special nickname. I bet you didn’t know that Jesus did that, but he did. 16 These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder); (Mark 3:16, 17, NIV).

Why would you call anyone “the sons of thunder”? Was their father a loud man? Were James and John people who create sparks wherever they went?

We are not sure, but if you read 1 John as I do, this is a strong book. John exists in a black and white world. You either walk in darkness or in the light. No shadows for him. You are either in fellowship or out of fellowship. No half-way measures here. I don’t know about you, but I can hear the thunder roll out of John’s mouth here.

Yet, what is he talking about? The son of thunder is talking about the need to love your brother. So what we see here is an abrupt change of direct challenges to our faith, to a loving recognition that someone was doing it right!

Balance is so important if we are going to follow God. How many times have we heard someone say, “You never do this or that.” Or we hear, “You always are late.” These statements are not true. They are exaggerations because sometimes people do it right.

We hear it in church life. We sound like Elijah the prophet who said to God, 10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” (1 Kings 19:10, NIV). However, Obadiah had hidden one hundred prophets from the eyes of Ahab.

We often feel we are the only ones left. I have seen people say at some event, “No one showed up…” when there were seven people at the event and all heard the words. No one said to the seven, “We recognize you are here.” The person who headed the event expected fourteen and only got seven so they said, “No one showed up.”

In this passage, we see that the preacher gets the message. John is thundering away and now he stops. He does not address the false teachers. He does not address those who are trying to make a decision to go with the false teachers or stay. He speaks to those who are staying. As he does so, he connects them with what he has previously said to them. And in so doing, he practices the love that he preaches.

Three groups of people are mentioned here. Children, young men and fathers. Each one of the groups are mentioned twice. The children are mentioned twice, the young men twice and the fathers twice.

12 I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. 13 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father. 14 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one. (1 John 2:12-14, NIV).

Lets look at three things with each one. We will look at the positive message of the statement, the previous verses that relate to what is said and then at the present application for our own lives.

12 I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.

What a wonderful thing for John to see the people in these various churches to which he is writing and see them as forgiven people through Jesus. What a blessing to have your sins forgiven. What a blessing to know that your sins are forgiven through the death of Jesus on the cross. None of us deserve this kind of treatment at the hands of God. But God loves us and is merciful to us. You can know that your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. This is the positive message.

The previous verses that come into play are earlier in the book.

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. 1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. (1 John 1:7-2:1, NIV).

When he says that their sins are forgiven he sees the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purifying the young children. He sees them confess sin and receive forgiveness from it. He sees that they don’t want to sin, but when they do, Jesus Christ speaks to the Father in their defense.

The present application is clear. Many of you are trusting that the blood of Jesus shed on the cross has cleansed you. Many of you believe that Jesus has forgiven your sins and that you are right with God because of Jesus. We praise God for every believer. We all come to Jesus the same way. We come to the foot of the cross asking God’s mercy on us. When we meet at coffee time or are rubbing shoulders at the work day or meeting during one of our fellowship times, we hear these stories. We are thankful for all who believe.

13 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning.

The positive message is given here. The older believers have known Jesus who is from the beginning. I don’t know if this means that they had met him or if this means that in the conflict between John and the false teachers, they chose to believe in the Jesus that John had seen. But these older Christians were a rock to the church.

The previous verses tell us why John could say this.

4 The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. (1 John 2:4-6, NIV).

These older believers walked in obedience. They older believers obeyed God’s word. These older believers loved Christians. These older believers walked as Jesus did.

The result is that John can say with all the human certainty that one can have that these older Christians knew Jesus. When he inspected the fruit, he knew that they were rooted in Jesus. Their claim to know him was valid.

The present application is clear.

We have older believers in this church that know God. How can we say that? These men and women seek to obey God. These older men and women respect the Bible and seek to live by it. These older Christians care for other Christians and are involved with them on a spiritual level. They walk as Jesus walked in obedience to his Father and in love.

I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.

Here in verse 13 he gives a positive message to the young men.

The evil one is Satan. The Bible teaches that as real as the physical world is around us, there is also a spiritual world that is just as real. Satan is the leader of the evil in the spiritual world.

Because God is light and never does anything wrong, there is a tremendous spiritual battle taking place in the spiritual world. We are engaged in that battle because we are not only physical, with flesh and bones, but we are also spiritual. We are able to talk with God and we are able to do evil.

These young men had overcome the evil one. When temptation had come their way to do evil, they resisted. When the false teachers promoted and encouraged them to disobey God, they refused. They were overcomers.

Why are young men placed into this category? People of all ages sin, but the young adults are in the most vulnerable position. When people are young and strong and can think quickly and can move fast, the opportunity for good is unlimited, but the opportunity for evil is just as bad. What ages are most of our street gangs? Older criminals usually start young.

When the world of opportunity, of immorality, of drunkenness, of sin opened up to these young men, they overcame the evil one and lived for the Lord.

We will not find much in the previous verses except to say that when we follow Satan’s path, we walk in darkness. If so, John is pointing to the young men and saying, “I know you are part of the team. You are living right.”

6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. (1 John 1:6, NIV). The claim of the young men to be in fellowship was true. They resisted temptation.

The present application is clear. Look around you at the young men and women we have in this church. They face the same temptations that all the other young people do in our world. We have young people who have been tempted to be immoral and have resisted. We have young people who have been tempted with drugs or alcohol who have resisted. We have young people who have fallen, who have come to Jesus and received his forgiveness and are now walking in victory over the evil one.

How does someone do it?

14 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

Most of verse 14 repeats what was said earlier. But this goes back to the young men and tells us how they were able to overcome the evil one.

The young men were strong. . How did they become strong? They became strong when the word of God lives in them.

So many parents are concerned about the future of their children. The number one thing you can do is to get the word of God into them. Have family devotions. Work with our Sunday school and youth groups to encourage personal devotions. Let your children attend Christian camps, read Christian book, attend Christian events. When Paul Munro was here, the pastor from Owls Head who invited me to the Dominican Republic, he said that he took his children on mission trips. Now his children are taking his grandchildren on mission trips.

What will be the result? They will be strong and they will overcome the evil one.

It’s good when the preacher gets the message. These people who were beat up in the conflict and were staying close to God needed to be encouraged.

We have a need for growth in this church. But as we work on that, let’s admit, identify and encourage anyone who believes right, lives right, who is overcoming the evil one.