Hallelujah to that. Praise be to God. Let me invite you to open your Bibles, please, to the book of 1 John, chapter 2. 1 John, chapter 2, please. Let's join our hearts together in prayer. Father, thank You Thank you for a complete payment. Nothing was left out. Jesus paid every ounce of the weight for our sin that we might, instead of deservingly receiving your wrath, As believers in Jesus Christ, we have received the righteousness of Christ, and we stand complete in Jesus. Help us to rejoice in Him this morning. Help us to leave here rejoicing in Him still. May we go and tell the nations that they also may know that Jesus is the way, that Jesus is the truth, and that Jesus is the life, and that no man comes to the Father but through Jesus. We draw our attention to You, to Your Son. Illuminate us by Your Spirit as we consider and worship You in Your Word. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. At the risk of using an old article, a CNN article, from 2002, it perfectly illustrates what we need. From the CNN Money Report from July 22nd, 2012, I quote the first two paragraphs. Indeed, after rallying following September 11th, the markets topped out in March and have been careening downward ever since. The Dow is down 25% since then, the S&P 500 is down 27%, and the NASDAQ is down 32%. And the continuation of selling on Monday followed the seventh worst point loss in Dow history is doing little to reassure investors that the worst is over. People worry that with $7.7 trillion knocked off of U.S. market capitalization since March 2002. By the way, $750 billion the past week alone. Remember, we're in 2002 in this article. The selling will bleed into the economy, not just snuffing the recovery, but sending the country into a deflationary episode like the one Japan labors under, or like the United States strained under in the 1930s. There was a little bulleted section on the side entitled, Bear Market Bummers. I thought that was kind of an apt title to this little graphic. And they use this illustration, and I thought it would be apt for us. They take a techie stock. It's called JDSU. It's just a tech stock. Don't worry about what it is. And they do a little comparison. In March 2000, 500 shares of JDSU would have bought you a Porsche 911 Carrera. Today, now this is as of 2002, Those 500 stocks will buy you a 1990 Dodge Omni hatchback with 100,000 miles and no AC. Now, I did a little current research for us. If you had 500 shares of JDSU today and sold it, you'd be able to buy my motorcycle. If you're interested, you can see me later. The concept, the trend of the article, the trend of the editorial is this, downward. a downtrend. Many people lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in that economic downturn. Now at that point, in 2002, I hadn't made in my life hundreds of thousands of dollars. That was kind of like, kind of a curious thing to think, well I have, you know, I've been working for a few years now and let's see, I think I made $20,000 one year. I can't imagine someone losing hundreds of thousands of dollars from their retirement accounts. They did, and people lost all kinds of money. And sometimes it feels like these types of hits just keep coming. In the midst of that economic downturn, some of these same people who lost hundreds of thousands of dollars also lost family members. Some of them also lost their marriage. Some of them lost wayward teenagers. Some lost their jobs. Some lost their homes. It's discouraging to lose battles. Particularly when it's one loss after another loss, after another loss, it can be very, very discouraging. Do you ever feel like you're fighting a losing battle? One hit after the other, it can just really overwhelm us. You know, friends, God has won the biggest battles on behalf of his people. This morning, we want to look at three battles that God has won on behalf of His people. Three battles that God has won on behalf of His people. We're going to read the passage, and I want to talk about a few introductory thoughts before we dive in, and then we're going to dive in. So, there's my introduction. Verse 12 of 1 John 2. I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who was from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who was from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong and the Word of God abides in you and you have overcome the wicked one. This is the text that we have before us this morning. It's our privilege to worship God as we consider it. Before we dive in, we need to answer two questions, or at least think through two questions. Here's the first question I want you to think through before we dive in. Is this passage referencing stages of spiritual growth? Is this passage referencing stages of spiritual growth? You have little children, fathers, young men. Little children, fathers, young men. And if you think so, I would ask you the counter question, why does he have it out of order then? Have you ever read through this and thought, why does he say little children, fathers, young men, and then just come right around again and say it again? What's the point? And in essence, he almost says the same thing, maybe with a little fuller unpacking the second time through. Is it about spiritual growth? A second question I would ask about that first question. The first one was, if you think it's about spiritual growth, why is it out of order? The second question about that is, why is it only one of these categories doing something? Why only one of these categories is doing something? The first one, your sins have been forgiven. The fathers, they know. The one who's from the beginning, a reference to Jesus Christ. Then the young men, they've overcome the wicked one, they're doing something. And then you go back to the little children, they know the Father. And then you go to the fathers, and they know Him who's from the beginning. And then you go back to the young men, the Word of God abides, they're strong. and they overcome the wicked one. Why is it that only one of these categories is doing something? If the mature ones are the fathers, and that's the spiritual growth. You've got little children, young men, fathers. Why are the fathers not doing anything, but the young men are? I think it should cause us to question whether these are actually stages of spiritual growth, or he's just kind of giving some thoughts. Some young men, maybe chronologically, Older men and men in the midst of their life, maybe yes, maybe no. A second question I think that ought to be answered is this, is this section only referring to men? Is it only referencing men? You got little children, that's kind of generic, right? But then it's fathers, that's gender specific. And young men, that's also gender specific. Was it a generic reference to gender or was it a specific reference to gender? I think it's an important question. Who is he writing to? A church. Is this a church that's filled with only men? Or is it a church that has both men and women in it? Is he talking to all of them? I believe he is. I think it's just a general reference to gender as opposed to a specific gender reference. Now, what we want to talk about this morning with those precursory thoughts behind us. They're not resolved, I suppose, in maybe some of your minds. That's okay. Keep studying, keep thinking, and allow the text to help you with these concepts. Three battles that God has won on behalf of his people. The first battle is the battle over sin. And the way that we want to frame this, because this epistle, as we've seen, is about fellowship. This epistle is about fellowship, and he just keeps on talking about fellowship from the beginning, and he just keeps on proceeding with it. He's not talking to a mixed assembly. He's talking to believers. Very specific from this text, he says, I wrote to you, or I'm writing to you, I'm writing to you, I'm writing to you, I have written to you, I have written to you, I have written to you, and he's talking to people that know Jesus Christ as their Savior. Their sins have been forgiven, they know the Father, they know the Son, and they have overcome the wicked one. A group of people that know God, that know Jesus Christ, they're believers. And so, this concept of fellowship pervades the whole letter. So the way we want to frame these is in regard to fellowship. The first battle that God has won is over sin, but the way we'll phrase it is this way. Fellowship with God means overcoming sin. Fellowship with God means overcoming sin, and I want you to think about this for a moment We're going to develop it as we go along Look again at verse 12. I write to you little children because your sins are Forgiven you for his namesake your sins are Forgiven you for his namesake He's already told us in chapter 1 and verse 7 that the one who has fellowship with God, the blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleanses us, continually cleanses us from all sin. These people, these little children, their sins have been forgiven, they will continue to be forgiven, and they are forever removed. Jesus paid it all. Their sins have been removed. Let's consider this for a moment. We're going to come back to 1 John, but it'll be a little while, so turn over to Romans 5 for a few moments. Romans 5. Fellowship with God means overcoming sin. Why is it so important that sin is overcome? Well, we'll see that right now. Paul, in developing His theology of sin and salvation. He unveils that in the first few chapters of the book of Romans. All men are guilty. He establishes that right from the start. Romans 1, 2, and 3. And then he starts to unveil God's salvation plan. The fact that, okay, we're all guilty, but what about what God has done on our behalf? That's called salvation. God has come to redeem us through Jesus Christ. He unveils that in chapters 4 and 5. In chapter 5, I want you to pay attention please to verse 12. Romans 5.12, Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death spread to all men, because all sinned. Through one man. Who are we talking about? Adam. Adam. Because there's another Adam that has come, and he didn't bring sin. He dealt with sin. Verse 19 now, please. For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. You could change the term many to all. Would that be a correct thing? We could change it to all. I'm not suggesting we're changing God's Word. I'm just telling you conceptually, Through one man's disobedience, all have become sinners. Verse 18 now. Therefore, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men. Will you say the next three words with me? Resulting in condemnation. This is a little problem. Condemnation. What is that? Eternal? Everlasting? Damnation? Or judgment? Sin requires judgment. Look at Romans 6 and verse 23. Romans 6, 23. For the wages of sin is death. Is he talking about a temporal physical death or is he talking about something else? Eternal? Temporal? Physical? What is it? How do you know that he's talking about eternal death there and not just physical, temporal death? The rest of the verse says, but, the other side of the coin, sin results in death, God's gift results in what? eternal life. So we've got eternal life over against eternal death. We have sin over against the gift of God. It's very obvious he's talking about eternal death. The wages of sin is eternal death or he has called it condemnation in Romans 5.18. Take a look with me at Colossians 3 for a moment. Colossians 3. I'm going to continue to survey Paul's view of salvation, or doctrine of salvation. And when I say Paul's, I mean God's, because Paul didn't come up with this on his own. You've heard of the term inspiration. We use the term very loosely. I was inspired, so I did such and such. I was inspired and I wrote this thing. Well, let's just recognize that real inspiration is God-breathed. The term in the New Testament Greek is theopneustos, God-breathed, God-moving. So when we talk about inspiration, we're talking about God doing something, not, I was inspired to give you a call. That's a misuse of the fullest understanding of the term inspiration. Colossians 3.6 where Paul is inspired by the Spirit to write this, Because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Well, who are the sons of disobedience? Everyone born. If your mother was a woman, the wrath of God has been abiding on you at one point. Consider a little further, Jesus' words or the words of the apostle John in connection with Jesus. In John 3.36, the Bible says this, he who believes in the Son has everlasting life. And he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God continually abides on him. The one who does not believe and embrace Jesus Christ, the one who does not call upon the name of the Lord and is saved, that one has the wrath of God abiding on him. This is a problem. This is a real problem. To have God's wrath abiding on you. God's wrath always hits its target. So to have God's wrath abiding on you, it's like you're playing this game where one of these days, you're going to experience the fullness of that wrath. The situation is, or was, depending on where you are spiritually, dire indeed. Which is why what's going on in 1 John 2 is so important. Remember what he said? My little children, Your sins have been forgiven, or your sins are forgiven you. This is a beautiful statement. This wrath of God, because of our sin, has been overcome. You ever feel like you're losing? Well, I want to tell you some way in which you can have victory, a victory won by another. Not a victory won by you, not a victory won by me, a victory won by a perfect one, Jesus Christ. We're in Colossians, take a look at chapter 2. Ryan started our service off with some of these verses, or actually these verses and a couple more. We're just going to focus our attention on verses 13 and 14 of Colossians 2, where Paul writes, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh He has made alive together with Him, forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us, and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Think about the glory of what Paul is saying here. God has removed your sin. He's paid for your sin. It's been nailed to the cross. It's been taken away forever. All your sin. having been removed. This is the glory of the Gospel. Fellowship with God means overcoming sin. Fellowship with God can't take place unless your sin has been overcome in its entirety. Which is why we, if we're going to try to attempt to deal with this, we're going to fail. We'll have an uphill climb that we'll never get to the top of. And I want to remind you of where you've come from. Remember when you were trying to climb that hill? Remember how helpless you felt? There are countless people still in that condemnation, trying of their own accord to do something that will please God, to do something that will will set them free. Something that will gain them entrance. Something that will be just enough so that when they breathe their last breath, hopefully, maybe, they might make it. That is not the Gospel. That is not the Scriptures. The Scriptures tell us our sin condemns us. We have a condemnation. Jesus came. Jesus died. Jesus bore the wrath of God against our sin that we might have life if we will call out to Him for salvation. What has happened in the life of the believer is that we've been taken from the wrath of God abiding on us to no condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. The sin that once plagued us. The sin that once defeated us and dominated us and had set us on a course for hell forever. That sin. has been overcome by the blood of the Lamb. You feel defeated? Let me tell you about a victory. A victory that Jesus has won. A battle that we could never win. A battle that only He could win. This is the glory of the Scriptures. This is the glory of the Gospel. And listen friends, this is the glory of the Church. Because not one of us are here by our own deeds. Not one of us are here by our own intellect. Not one of us is here because we are special. We're here because of God and His goodness. What produced this? Something good on our behalf? Something we have done? Some great knowledge we have attained? No, it's not about knowledge. No, it's not about good. Back in 1 John it says, your sins are forgiven you, listen carefully, for His names sake. It's about Him. It's the sake of the name. It's always, always, always about God and His glory. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 1, and it is a glorious passage, Paul writes this, For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. And the base things of the world, and the things which are despised, God has chosen. And the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, listen, that no flesh should glory, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, who became for us righteousness from God, who became for us sanctification from God, who became for us redemption from God, that as it is written, He who glories, let Him glory in the Lord. Friends, you cannot attain the victory if you try to keep going on and you try to live this life of your own accord and your own authority and try to get it done. You are going to continually feel like you are swimming upstream and you're going to make no progress. But know this, Jesus has won the ultimate victories in this life. And the first one that we note from 1 John 2 is that he has won the victory over sin. The victory over sin. But that leads us to a second area, a second battle that he's won back in 1 John 2, if you'll turn there please. The second battle that Jesus has won for us is a victory over enmity. Enmity. What is enmity? Contention. fighting, being an enemy. Well, this is closely related to the first one, isn't it? The way that we'll phrase it, for the sake of our discussion, is fellowship with God means overcoming enmity. Fellowship with God means overcoming enmity. Take a look back in chapter 2 of 1 John, in verse 13. I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who was from the beginning. Look now at the end of verse 13. I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father. Verse 14. I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who was from the beginning. Now, the little phrase, Him who was from the beginning, he used at the beginning of the epistle, remember? In verse 1. He's talking about Jesus. So, the fathers have known Jesus. The little children have known the Father. Well, is there a big difference between those two things? Well, there's a difference between the beings. The Father is different than the Son, though they're of the same essence. They're part of the Godhead, but they're separate beings, aren't they? This is one of the glories of the Trinity, is that they're of the same essence. There's one God. There's a union between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. It's an inseparable union, but they are distinct. beings, which is why at the baptism of Jesus Christ, you see the dove ascending, you see Jesus arising, and hear the voice of God the Father. We know that they're three distinct. Now, is it different to know the Father than to know the Son? Well, I'd say yes and no. Do you remember what Jesus said to Philip? If you've known Me, you've known the Father. Remember when Jesus was praying His high priestly prayer for His people in John 17? Listen to what He said. He said, And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. He's tying them together. He's tying the concepts of God the Father and God the Son together. I and the Father are one, Jesus said in John 10. We're familiar with these concepts. As we look at this concept of knowing, what is he talking about? Remember Paul stated his goal in Philippians 3.10, that I may know him in the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. To know God is not this abstract information. Okay, we've got this chart. God the Father is this, and God the Son is this, and God the Spirit is this. And we've got all this information. We can write them all out. We know all the scripture passages. We know all this information about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. Is this the knowledge he's talking about? Didactic, scholarly information? You know, there are people that can write all that stuff down that do not know Jesus Christ as their Savior. He's talking about intimate relationship. Intimate relationship. Well, why is this important? Because God has transferred believers from being enemies to being sons. He's overcome the enmity that was created by us being born in sin and confirming that fact time and time again. Go back with me to the book of Romans, chapter 5 for a moment. Romans 5. God has transferred believers from being enemies to being sons. In Romans 5, this glorious passage, it fills our souls with joy to recognize the matchless love of an infinite God. Look at what it says, beginning in verse 6 of Romans 5. For when we were still without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more, then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. Listen carefully to verse 10. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received the reconciliation. Now, I wanted to give you There's a paragraph there for your consideration because it's so rich. But I want your attention to be at the beginning of v. 10. While we were enemies. I love babies. You can tell we have four of them. Babies are cute. They seem innocent. But they're not. They're born in sin. In sin, my mother conceived me. Think about a child. You don't think, oh, look at this precious little enemy of God. But sin creates a problem. while they're infantile and toddlers and those young years, they will not be held accountable eternally for their sin because God recognizes that they don't understand that Jesus paid it all and stood in their place. One day they transfer from that period of being safe to now the sin that was there is most assuredly attributable to their account and they're accountable for it. Enemies, that's what we are naturally. Look at Galatians 4 for a moment. Galatians 4. Now we look at Galatians 4, it's incarnation season, it's Christmas time, and we think, well isn't this sweet? Yes, it is. It is sweet, but it's more than sweet. It's more than just like the thing you want to put on the Christmas card. In Galatians 4 and verse 4, God's word says this, But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, Why? Why did He send Him? To redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts crying out, Abba, Father! Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Think about the difference in Romans 5 and verse 10. Enemies. In Galatians chapter 4, a son. Now, we don't... This doesn't work in our brains this way. Think of it like this. You've got these two best friends. They're Sally and Jackie. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. They work together in an office. And they are tasked to work on this project. Jackie does most of the work. Somehow, these best friends, Sally decides to take most of the credit. Sally gets the promotion. We have a problem. We have a problem between Jackie and Sally. Their relationship, they used to be best friends and now they're like this. After three months goes by, Sally says, Jackie, I don't know what came over me. I don't know why I did that. I'm so sorry. Will you please forgive me? Jackie kindly agrees to forgive. Later that day, Jackie talks to her husband and tells about the relationship. Her husband's talking to her and she says, yeah, I've forgiven Sally for what she's done, but we'll never be best friends. This is earthly forgiveness. This is the way we, tend to forgive. And it distorts our understanding of real forgiveness. Because when you look at the wonder of God's plan, is God takes those who are completely opposed to Him, embraces them and makes them completely His own, into sweet, real, everlasting fellowship. Think about this. I want to draw your attention to the very end. You'll picture this. because you've read it many times in the Scriptures. In Revelation 21, as the end draws near, this glorious statement from a holy God. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people." God Himself will be with them and be their God, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. We see a group of people that have been redeemed from the earth. A people that were opponents of God, enemies of God, that God calls to Himself, that God redeems for Himself through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. And when He talks about these people, He doesn't say, well, this group is over there because they're only partially like My people. And this group, I like them a little bit more than those people. But this, this people over here, These are dear unto my heart." This is how we envision things. And how God envisions things is this way. When a person transcends that time from being an enemy because of their own way, to being a son because of Jesus Christ, there is no difference. Glory be to God. Listen, I don't know where you're at in your life and I don't know what battles you're facing and I don't know how many uphill battles you're facing and how you feel beat down and worn out. I want to tell you about some victories that God has won. A victory over sin. Incredible. Removed forever, eternally. A victory over enmity because I once was opposed to God, and now I'm one of His sons, forever His, forever to reign with Him. Forever. Nothing will change the status when I've trusted Christ as my Savior. A victory that Jesus has won. There's a third battle that Jesus has won. back in 1 John 2. We can only touch on it for a few moments here. We will complete our thoughts on this next week. The third battle is over Satan. The third victory that Jesus wins is a victory over Satan. And the way that we'll phrase this for the sake of our conversation is, fellowship with God results in overcoming Satan. Fellowship with God results in overcoming Satan. Look at chapter 2 in verse 13. Right in the middle of verse 13, I write to you young men because you have overcome the wicked one. Then at the end of verse 14, I have written to you young men because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the wicked one. Well, I'll ask this question for our consideration. Why are they strong? Why are they strong? You are strong and the Word of God abides in you. I think there's a relation between those two statements. You are strong because the Word of God abides in you. Now, I'm going to put two verses on the board behind me, the screen behind me, okay? At the same time, and I want you to look it over. I'll read them both and I want you to see the similarities and the slight differences between the two verses. Colossians 3.16 says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Ephesians 5.18 and 19 says, And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. You see the similarities. I underlined them. I don't know if you can see the underlining or not. You see the similarities? The results of both of these former things are the same. You see that? What are the former things? Let the Word of Christ dwell in you. The term richly means abundantly. In rich supply. And that is parallel to Ephesians 5.18 be filled with the Spirit. These two concepts, the word dwelling and the Spirit filling, are parallel. It's not the same concept, but they're parallel concepts. When Paul told Timothy to be prepared for the battle, He started it off by saying, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The term grace means divine enablement, divine power. The source of that divine power is the Word and the Spirit. The Word and the Spirit enable the believer. So we have this strength because of the Word abiding in us, if the Word, in fact, abides in us. We have this strength if the Spirit is filling us. If, in fact, the Spirit is filling us. Where is the source of this strength? Is it us? Oh, young men, you strong ones. Well, it says you're strong. Remember what Paul said in 2 Corinthians? When I am weak, then I'm strong. We need to spend a lot more time being weak, friends. We need to stop relying upon our knowledge. We need to stop relying upon our experience. We need to stop relying upon the past, because the past can help understand things, but the past is not going to get you through anything. When we rely firmly, solely, only upon God and his word and his spirit, then we're strong. Now it says here in both 13 and 14, and you have overcome the wicked one. You have overcome the wicked one. It's in the perfect tense. Now you guys love when I talk about tenses. You know the present tense, it just keeps on going and going and going. The arist tense, the past tense, it's a one-time event. Okay, this thing happened. The perfect tense is when something in the past happens, is a completed action in the past, but it has a continual result. You have overcome the wicked one. You have overcome the wicked one. I want to ask you a question. Now the wicked one is clearly a reference to Satan. We'll talk about that more next week. I want to ask you when you defeated the wicked one. I'll ask this a step further. When did these young men defeat the wicked one? Without some clarification, we're going to misunderstand what's going on. These are not mighty Christian men that have figured it all out and they dominated Satan. A contest between you and I, the most spiritual, let's say it that way, the most spiritual believer, the contest between that person and Satan, if there's a literal contest, believer loses every time. But we're not talking about a victory that some believer some time won. We're talking about a victory that was won through the greatest victor ever. Jesus Christ is the one who came to crush the head of the serpent. Jesus Christ is the one who did in fact crush the head of Satan. This victory that was won before that has continuing results is a victory that was only won by Jesus Christ. Not a victory won by these young men. Don't misunderstand this passage. It's not like the haves, the kind of have it a little bit more, and then the really haves. This is how we view things. We're very quick to start looking at, well, I've been saved for 17 years, and so of course. I've been saved for 47 years, so of course. I've been saved for 57 years, and so of course. Please, get over yourself. And you can say the same to me. Get over yourself, because it's not about you. See, these victories over sin, victory over enmity, this victory over Satan, it is not of us. It's of the glorious Savior, who before the foundation of the earth was the slain lamb. This is awesome. This is our God. You feel defeated today? Listen, if you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, you should not leave here feeling defeated. You should leave here on cloud nine because Jesus has won the ultimate victories for his people. Thomas Johnson wrote this. Overcome is in the perfect tense, we already covered that, implying a past reality with continuing consequences. It is Christ's past victory by his death and resurrection over the powers of evil and darkness, which gives the believers the victory today. They have conquered the evil one because Christ has done so and they are in Him. In Him. Believers are in Him. Who gives the victory over sin? Jesus. Who gives the victory over enmity that establishes an eternal relationship with God? Jesus. Who has defeated Satan? Jesus. You're a good Sunday school class. The third grade Sunday school class where every answer is Jesus. It's the answer today, too, for us. You don't have to get all high and mighty and think every answer must be theologically superb and worded just so. The answer is Jesus. That's the fact. Why and what do we have to glory in? We don't have anything to glory in and of ourselves, but we do have someone to glory in, don't we? The Bible tells us, we already read this, but it's on the screen again. No flesh shall glory in His presence, because it's not about us. We don't glory in us, we glory in Him. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. That, will you say the rest of this with me? That as it is written, He who glories, let him glory in the Lord. I want to ask you a question. Are you glorying in the Lord today? Why? He's won the ultimate victory for us. Now, maybe you have not experienced this victory. And for that, I would appeal to you. That victory can be won today. That victory can be won today. Because Jesus already did the work. This chasm, enmity with God, to being a son, that victory has been won. It just needs to be completed in your life. And we can show you at the end of our time together this morning, how you can have that relationship, how the sin can be moved out of the way, how that relationship with God can be pure and holy and eternal, and how you too, because of what Christ has done, can have victory over Satan, who is constantly trying to beat us down, and we allow him. This victory can be yours today. If you want to know, at the end of the last song, when everyone's kind of milling about, ready to leave, come to the front, we'll look at the Word of God together so you can have assurance that this victory has been won on your account. Let's pray together. Father, you're good. And that that word good doesn't quite doesn't quite get it enough. You are awesome. We are in awe of who you are. We are in awe of what you've done and what you've accomplished through your son, Jesus Christ. Draw our attention to you. May we leave here glorying in you and in your son by the power of your spirit. And may we shout from the rooftops the glory that is the gospel of Jesus Christ, that others too may know the freedom and the relationship that they can have through Jesus Christ. We pray this in his name. Amen.