I'm going to read in your hearing now the first 14 verses of John's first letter, chapter number two. We've considered up until the end of verse number 11 and verses 12, 13, and 14 really are expanded on the same theme. And so those will be the verses I consider after I read this portion of the second chapter. First John chapter two. 1 to 14. My little children, these things right I unto you that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with a father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He that saith I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar. And the truth is not in him. But who so keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abide in him out himself also so to walk even as he walked. Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment, which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning again. A new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness is past and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whither he goeth because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His namesake. I write unto you, fathers, because you have known Him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because you have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because you have known Him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and you have overcome the wicked one. May God bless again. this portion of his word that has been read. Although it could be easily shown that the Bible is to be preached in all the world and to all people in the world, as seen by the command of the Lord Jesus Christ after his glorious death defeating resurrection, declaring to his apostles to go in all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That's a reality, a truth. But it can also easily be shown that what are called the New Testament letters, of which 1 John is but one, are specifically written to the believing church of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is, to believers throughout time, regardless of gender, male or female, Something I would not have had to clearly say even a few years ago. John is writing to true believers regardless of their gender, ethnicity, or social position. If you are true, confessing believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you know by faith that the Bible was written for you and to you. The problem is not that the Bible is not the living and active word of God. The problem, apart from the grace and mercy of God, is that men's hearts are dead in trespasses and sins. And so if you're a true believer, the Bible speaks to you like no other book can or ever will, being the unique written word of the living true and only God. And in the verses that I've reached in 1 John 2, John, and ultimately God the Holy Spirit, wants true believers in Christ to know not only that they're being specifically addressed, affectionately addressed, And the one who saved you from your many sins wants you to know truths that can and should fill you with joy and thanksgiving for what you have in and because of Christ Jesus alone. Because in verses 12 to 14, the Apostle John not only addresses believers specifically in a variety of ways, but he wants you to know why he is writing to you. Now, why do I say specifically? Because all the terms of address that John uses in these three verses are in what is called the vocative voice. When you use the vocative voice, you are speaking directly to a specific person or specific people. Example. Larry, tell me the verses you hope to put up on our sign later, although you won't have to do that as things work down to the providence of the Lord. But if I was to tell Larry, tell me the verses you hope to put up on our sign next week. I'm speaking to Larry in the vocative voice. I'm specifically asking Larry a question. I'm specifically addressing him. Now, John uses different words to describe the believers he is writing to, but he is specifically writing to believers. He's not writing to the world that believers are saved out of as seen by how he writes to them. Little children, fathers, young men. John uses these terms not only to express his love and affection for believers in Christ, but also to acknowledge that there are different levels of maturity in Christians. Because a new believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is no less a redeemed child of God than one who has been saved for years. Although the depth of understanding of the faith once delivered to the saints of God will hopefully be deeper in the older saint than the younger. But sometimes this is not always the case, as seen by the rebuke Paul had to give to the believers in Corinth because of the number of those who were walking according to the flesh and not according to the spirit. 1 Corinthians 3, 1, and I, brethren, could not speak unto you as spiritual, but as unto carnally, as unto babes in Christ. But John is not using the term little children as a rebuke, as Paul does, but to acknowledge the different spiritual ages or levels of true saints. Something not clearly seen in the King James Version. For the translators of the received text used the same English words, little children, in verse 12 and verse 13 to translate two different Greek words. Where John may be trying to bring out two different truths by the use of these different words that can both refer to a young person. One being that of a believer young in the faith, verse 13, where the word that is used is used in the gospels to refer to a young child. Whereas the word translated young child in verse 12 is not used. And this is interesting, friends. Don't lose. Don't miss this truth. Don't miss this truth. The word translated young child in verse 12 is not used in the Gospels until the Lord uses it in the upper room to refer to believers after Judas has left to betray him. John 13, starting to read in verse 31. Therefore, when he, that is Judas, was gone out, Jesus said, now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. Verse 32, if God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him. Verse 33 of John 13, the first time in the Gospels, on the lips of Jesus, that Jesus refers to his disciples as little children. Judas was not a little child of the Lord Jesus Christ. He had just left to betray the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a unique term to refer to believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Little children, get a little while I'm with you, you shall seek me. And as I said unto the Jews, whether I go, you cannot come. So now I say unto you and the only other times this word is used is by Paul once referring to believers. and by John in his letters to believers. Galatians 419, my little children of whom I travail in birth and again until Christ be formed in you. 1 John 2, 1, My little children, these things I write unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. Verse 12, I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His namesake. Verse 28 of 1 John 2, And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him in His coming. Excuse me, 1 John 3, 7, little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. Verse 18, 1 John 3, my little children, let us not love the world, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. 1 John 4, 5. for four year of God, little children, and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. That's only true believers. 1 John 5, 21, little children, keep yourselves from idols. Oh man, John is using the words little children to affectionately refer to believers, not non-believers. Yet how many will dangerously use the term, we're all children of God. We're all children of God to deny this crucial difference. All people have God as their sovereign creator and final judge, but all people are not children of God as John affectionately refers to believers that he is writing to in this letter. And this can be seen by the various reasons that he gives for writing to the believers he is writing to, whether he's using a term like little children to display his affection and love for all true believers in Christ, or he uses a term to refer to the different spiritual ages of those he is affectionately writing to. Why do I say this? Well, what is the first reason? What is the first reason he gives for writing to believers in this section? Verse 12, I write unto you little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his namesake. Who are the only ones who have had their sins forgiven them by God? True believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Outside of Christ, the wrath of God still abides on the non-believer because they've not believed on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation from sin that is found only in Him and through Him. And friends, John clearly shows this by the voice and the tense of the word translated forgiven that he has been infallibly guided by the Holy Spirit to use in verse 12. Because your sins are forgiven. Perfect tense, passive voice. Perfect tense, passive voice. Friends, remember when John was inspired by the Holy Spirit to use the word forgiven, the Holy Spirit not only infallibly guided John to use the word forgiven, but the tense and voice of that word as well. Verbal, the words. Plenary, all the words. Inspiration, all inspired by God. And friends, this inspiration includes the grammatical structure of the words chosen as well. This is why dynamic equivalence will always be a false, dangerous, and heretical way of translating the Scriptures. Because when God moved John to write, He moved him to write the exact words in the exact grammatical form that He wrote them. And so when people come along and say, well, we can have dynamic equivalence and just try and capture the thought and all that, that's a denial! the infallible, inerrant inspiration of God the Holy Spirit on his wonderful word. When God inspired his word, he didn't just say, well, you can decide for yourself whether it's for present tense or past tense or future tense or whatever. He inspired it right down to the very grammatical structure. Passive voice. That's not something you do, but something that is done for you. God forgave you, believer, of your many sins through the finished work of Christ, believer, and only because of his finished work, salvation is of the Lord and is solely of him. Due to his perfect and finished work, but not only. Passive voice, perfect tense. Perfect tense. An action finished in pastime, the benefits of the effects of which proceed forward in time. And with respect to this, friends, it proceeds into eternity. The benefits of Christ's finished work proceed into eternity for those for whom he died. You have everlasting forgiveness in Christ, believer. because of what he alone could have accomplished and did accomplish on his unique cross. John 19.30, it is finished, another perfect tense. Finished action, past time, the benefits that go forward in time, even into eternity for those for whom Christ died. Because your sins are forgiven for you, because your sins are forgiven you for his namesake. Thou will give him the name, what? Jesus. Why? Because he will save his people from their sins. And friends, as popular as the false teaching of a universal atonement is in too much of the false teaching church, in this one verse, You have another verse that displays the error and yes, the heresy of this popular teaching. Because what does John say about those Christ died for? Those he calls little children, that their sins have been forgiven for his namesake. passive voice, perfect tense, something done by someone else in the past, the effects of this action done by another proceed forward in time for those for whom it is done. So if Christ died for all men without exception on the cross, then the benefits of his finished work continue forward in time for all men without exception, unless you're gonna blaspheme the finished work of Christ by saying it's not effective for those for whom he died. Friends, if you hold to a universal atonement, the only logical but unbiblical conclusion that can be drawn from this false teaching is universalism. Because Jesus saved all his people from their sins when he died upon his cross. So to preach a universal atonement but not universalism is to deny and dishonor the perfect work of Christ. Something, friends, the term little children will not allow because little children in the scriptures only refers to believers in Christ. Friends, When are those who hold to their Christ dishonoring teaching of a universal atonement going to face the truth that it dishonors him and his glorious finished work and repent and believe the saving gospel of Christ? Your sins are forgiven you for his namesake. He will save his people from their sins. But John does not simply declare this glorious truth. He goes on to declare other reasons why he has written so affectionately to believers in Christ. The first part of verse 13, I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. Or you have known the from beginning one. Trying to describe the greatness and majesty of God's eternality. And the two knowns in this verse and the third in verse 14, here, another perfect tense, but they're all active verbs. This is something believers know and they will know it forever. Because of the finished work of Christ for believers, there are things you come into a new knowledge of, believer. You come into a new knowledge of God that is going to continue forever, even into eternity. What is that new and everlasting knowledge, believer? The knowledge of the one who has been from the beginning. But who is the only one who has been from the beginning? Who's the only one who's been from the beginning? The living, true and only God of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When Christ died upon the cross for those given to him to die for in the covenant of redemption, he enabled the Holy Spirit to apply the truth of his finished work to those he died for, which results in that person Christ died for coming into a true and saving knowledge of the living, true, and only God that will last forever. Now, will he grow and mature? Absolutely. But one aspect of growth in Christ is coming to the greater and greater realization that the only way you can know God is through the Lord Jesus Christ. John 17 3, and this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. The one he sent to die on that cross that you could be delivered from your idolatrous and false views of God. Truth that John obviously does not want mature saints to forget because he repeats it in verse 14 using the aorist tense. I have written unto you fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning. Now aorist tense means finished action past time. Why does John tell believers he wrote the truth about their everlasting knowledge about God in the present tense in verse 13, but in the aorist tense here? Because friends, this truth is never going to change. This truth is never going to change. Anyone who says that they or you can know the living, true and living God, the true God, the only God in some way other than through the Lord Jesus Christ is clearly showing that they're not listening to the listening to John and they do not know God. Because the only way anyone can know God is through the Lord Jesus Christ. I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life, and no man cometh unto the Father except through me. You will know him today, you will know him forever, and that truth will never change. You know him today because of his finished work for you on his cross. So as I said, anyone who says that they or you can know the living God, the true God, the only God in some other way than through the Lord Jesus Christ is clearly showing they do not know God. And yet, friends, listen to this. Listen to this. This is a statistic I received in my email just this week. This statistic says that 66% of people who consider themselves Christian believe there are multiple paths to heaven. But friends, who is known and worshipped in heaven perfectly? The living, true and only God, who can only be known and is only known through the Lord Jesus Christ. Friends, how many heretics are preaching in churches in America today in order to get this number of pseudo-Christians denying what John is clearly writing about, true believers in God. Because what does John write about even young believers at the end of verse 13? I write unto you little children, because ye have known the Father. Known, perfect tense, active voice again. When you are given new life in Christ, believer, you know from the beginning of your true Christian life that the only reason and the only way you can call God Father is because of what Christ alone could have done for you when he died upon the cross. God made you his adopted child, believer, through the once shed blood of his only begotten son. But what does this new and saving knowledge of God enable a true believer to do? To fight the good fight of the faith that was once delivered to the saints. The middle part of verse 13, I write unto you young men because you have overcome the wicked one. The end of verse 14, I've written unto you young men because you are strong and the word of God abideth in you and you have overcome the wicked one. It requires strength like the strength of a young man, that a young man has for believers to withstand the constant assaults of the devil against the truth of the saving gospel of Christ. When a true believer comes to see by the amazing mercy and grace of God, that not only his beloved son. And his finished work on his cross of penal substitution made them right with God. But they cannot and they will not go back to embracing all the false and demonically fueled ways to God. Friends, that's heresy. And so 66% of people in the churches in America are believing heresy. To believe that there are multiple ways to heaven is heresy. It's heresy of the deepest dye because it denies the finished work of Christ. Believers overcome the wicked one. Verse 13, perfect tense, active voice. And you've overcome the wicked one. Verse 14, perfect tense, active voice. You abide in my word and you are my disciples indeed and you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free and protect you from all the lies of the evil one promoted and pushed by his ecumenical movement. The ecumenical movement, friends, is a work of the devil because the ecumenical movement denies that Christ is the only way to know God. And the word of God abideth in you, present indicative active. How does a believer overcome the wicked one and all the false teachings? By abiding in and coming back to God's word of truth. You see, Let the whole world listen to the devil. Let the whole world listen to the antichrists who deny John 14, 6 and Acts 4, 12. And teach that everyone can know God without Christ Jesus. But those who are true believers in God will overcome them. By the word of their testimony. Because all true believers in God know whom they have believed and are persuaded that he is able to keep what they have committed to him against that day. Do you know him? You are praising him alone. If you do, let us pray. Oh Lord, the clarity of your word takes our breath away. You want us to know clearly who your son died for. And you want us to know clearly what it means to know you and how we can know you. So we thank you for its clarity in a very dark time, especially when Sixty six percent of those who claim to be believers in your beloved son deny him by saying there are multiple ways to know you. Oh, Lord, have mercy upon your church. It's no wonder the church, the world is so idolatrous because idolatry is controlling so much of the church. May it never happen here, by your grace and for your glory. Amen.