We pray for a sermon. Lord, we do thank you for your word. Ever, always, we thank you. And we do ask that it would have at least a portion of its intended purpose and just a fraction of the power we know contained in it unleashed for us here today. There is too much here, even in three verses for me to handle. and too much that I'm feeling for me to handle it well, and so we just ask that you would speak and move through 1 John now. We ask this in Jesus' name and for his glory, amen. This is my last sermon here. That's in the notes, that's how I start. Which is sad, for me it is. I'm sad that I don't get to finish preaching 1 John, That means there are some texts that I won't get to wrestle with. And there were texts that I was planning to have some late night wrestling matches with in 1 John, and I don't get to have those. It's also why I sort of cheated last week and kind of did like an overview of the whole book. And coming to this sermon in particular, I was kind of worried that it would feel very, very random to just preach a text and stop. I mean, we didn't pick this for this day. I made the sermon divisions long before I even knew about Hawaii. Paul made the schedule long before we knew what our last Sunday would be. So it just kind of feels like a random stopping point. I mean, I almost decided to completely abandon this sermon. I wasn't even gonna tell Paul. I was just gonna completely abandon this sermon and preach something entirely different. But then I found, God's kind providence that this text ends up being very fitting for my final sermon. But this will be my final sermon, by which I mean this isn't going to be a usual sermon, and it's not going to be my usual sermon. If you're a visitor, if this is your first time visiting, fair warning, I apologize, this is not the usual fare from the pulpit. I'm gonna be a bit more personal than I usually am, probably share more of my feelings than I usually do, maybe even as appropriate to do. We're still gonna exposit 1 John. We're still in 1 John 2, verses 12 through 14. But with a decidedly timely form for a goodbye. This is probably not the type of sermon that would get a good grade in preaching class, but there's absolutely nothing you can do. What are you gonna do, fire me? So I invite you to turn with me, one last time, to 1 John. We'll be in chapter 2, verses 12 through 14. And I'll read the text in its entirety while you turn there, and you guys will leave your Bibles open and we'll dive right in. John says, I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven, for His name's sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Now the first step of our exposition today is telling you what I don't know. Because there are a lot of, I was talking to Tim before the sermon started, there are a lot of things about this text that I just don't know. I don't know why it's structured the way it is. I'm not sure anybody does. I do not know why John repeats himself the way he does, because there's no pattern. There's no definitive pattern to the repetitions. There's some verbatim repetition you can see, but then there's partial repetition, and there's unique lines, and I don't know why he switches verb tenses, and I don't know why he went with the structure of address, children, fathers, young men. That's not even in the order you would think of like ascending, oh, children, young men, fathers, or fathers, it's not even in an order that you would expect. Maybe, I don't know, I don't know what he's doing. Except just poetic, just being John. I mean, there is so much about the shape of this short, poignant expression of John's will that is confusing. And it's not only confusing to me, but it's, I just take comfort in the fact that it's confusing to generations of scholars and pastors who meditate on this portion of this letter. Many, many people basically open their commentaries with the same line. I just don't know what John is doing here. So the most I can say is because of what I don't know, I would be on shaky ground if I tried to make some sort of point based on the particular structure here. If anything, the repetition and the freeness of the repetition without any clear pattern on why some things are repeated exactly, some things aren't, is a clue, maybe, that John does not mean us to read these words as exactingly addressing only, like, oh, this is to children, this is to fathers, this is to young men. And in fact, each of these things that he says to these groups, he does say, he addresses to the entire church. And in fact, John addresses the entire church as little children. He calls the entire church, at a number of points in the letter, little children. So I don't think John is saying here, look here, I have some words to you children, and here's some words to you fathers, and here's some words to you young men. Everything he says applies to all the groups. And if nothing else, maybe it's particularly encouraging for that age group. But I'm not even sure if I would go that far in my assessment. Everything he says here applies to the whole church. But John does say it. I mean, even if we don't understand what's going on with the details, he does say it in a way that very clearly conveys familiarity, affection, love. It's clear, the tone is pastoral, the tone is familial, the tone is affectionate. And incidentally, this makes it a perfect final sermon text for me. Because that's how I feel about all of you. I have definite desires and feelings about this church and what I want to happen to this church. So I'm gonna join John in expressing my affection to encourage you for what comes next. Because I don't get to see that part. Unrelated, sort of related. You know, Jesus, in Matthew 11, regarding John the Baptist, he said, truly I say to you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. One of my professors once asked, in what way are Christians In what way are the least of the kingdom of heaven greater than John the Baptist? In what way are we greater than John the Baptist? And one of the answers that he gave, it's not the whole answer, but just one of the answers that he gave was that John the Baptist died in chapter 14. He didn't make it to chapter 15. He certainly didn't make it to chapter 27. He never got to see the cross in his earthly life. He didn't get to see and know what every single person in this building, from the three-year-olds who are just putting sentences together to the most elder statement of us, he didn't get to know what all of us know. Jesus died and he rose again. And so part of the answer of how we are greater than John is we're just privileged in our times. I mean, the disciples in Matthew, they just got to last a little bit longer than him. And the thing is, relative to Grace Covenant Baptist Church, this is where Lexi and I, and Hadassah, Ketze, Mordecai, Shadrach, and Cyrus get off. This is our chapter 14. We're not being beheaded. And I hope we don't die, but you don't know. But one way or the other, we don't get to see the next part. So today, I want to encourage you for the next part. And I'm going to encourage you with what I do know. The only things I really know, at least the most important things I really know, are right here in verses 12 through 14. So listen up, Linda, Dulce, Debbie, David, Agnes, Mary, Julian, Tim, Sumara, Greg. I want you to know, David, I want you to know, The forgiveness of our sins is based on the value of Christ's person. Because that's what John says. He says, I'm writing to you little children, because your sins are forgiven for His name's sake. You consider the context for John saying this, right? John just got done giving us criteria. Criteria for recognizing yourself as a true believer. And as we talked about last week, sometimes criteria can send us on a tailspin because we know the depth of our sin and the imperfection of our love and especially the imperfection of our love for each other and for God. And so we are terrified by our sin. And John knows that. He knows that that will happen. So John sticks this right here as a comfort. He says, don't misunderstand my exhortations. Don't misunderstand my challenges. I am writing this whole book because your sins are forgiven. And grammar nerds are the people who like and can answer Paul's grammatical questions on Wednesdays. It's probably Mary, Kaylee, maybe Paul Tamris. When John says your sins are forgiven, It's a Greek perfect. It is a tense that conveys that this is a present reality. This is, for those of you whose heads spin when Paul asks grammatical questions on Wednesdays, and I won't name anyone here, all you need to know is that the way John says this here makes it clear this is not a hypothetical. This is not future. Your sins are forgiven now, today, done deal. Not once you start loving each other better, not once you get more sacrificial, not once you figure out how to overcome all your worst besetting sins, not once you rid yourself of all your human frailty that you're embarrassed about. Your sins are forgiven now. Edgar, Myra. Richard, Carrie, Tim, Braden, Jackson, Ariane, Jason, your sins are forgiven today. I know that because John knows that, and here's how John knows that. He says, your sins are forgiven for his namesake. meaning on account of his name, because of his name. Because of Jesus's name, your sins are forgiven. What on earth does that mean? What does it mean that our sins are forgiven? A done deal, forgiven, it's a done deal. What does it mean that they're forgiven because of Jesus's name? Well, what's a name? What's in a name? Jesus' name is His reputation. Jesus' name is His character. Jesus' name is His nature. Jesus' name is His person. It's who He is, as He is in Himself, as this is clearly displayed to the entire world. And we are forgiven, you are forgiven, on the basis of who He is. We are forgiven on the basis of His reputation. So, my theology nerds, my Camillos, my Johns, Jim back there, Julia and Jose, this is the imputation of Christ's righteousness. Right? The imputation of Christ's righteousness is not just a Pauline doctrine, although it would still be biblical if only Paul articulated it. But it's not just a Pauline doctrine. And it's not just a Lutheran doctrine. It's not just a Calvinistic doctrine. This is Bible all the way through. And this line in verse 12 is John's way of communicating the great doctrine of imputation. Our right standing with God comes not on the basis of any good works we have done, but it absolutely comes on the basis of good works. It's on the basis of Jesus' work, His reputation, His name. Right? You know, in movies and TV shows. I feel like no one talks like this in real life. But in movies and TV, when one character meets another for the first time and they say, your reputation precedes you, what are they saying? They're saying, I've heard of you. You're famous. I've heard your name before. Jesus' reputation precedes him. Jesus isn't just the most famous man who ever lived. He is. But he is the most famous being in the entire cosmos. Every angel, cherubim, seraphim, every unnamed spirit knows who he is. And they know about all the explosive, uncontainable goodness of His character. And they know every good deed that He did while on earth. And they know all the ones we know. They know all the ones we don't know. They were all spectators to His sacrificial death and His resurrection and ascension. And everywhere Jesus goes in the heavenly places, the quality of His person, and His character, and His nature, and His work is known, and it is appreciated, and it is adored. And most of all, His name is known and loved by God the Father. Jesus has a name above every name. So listen, Chris, Sue, Nathan, Gwen. Olivia, Jeremiah, Jake, Michaela. When you get to heaven and you feel naked and ashamed to be in such an awesome place and be such a small and sinful person, you don't have to walk up to those gates alone, you won't. Jesus is gonna be standing there on the outside right next to you and every single angelic being and member of the heavenly host has heard of him. They know his name and at his name they bow and they shudder and as they lower their faces to make way for him, Jesus will say, Matt's with me. Yvette's with me. Ezekiel's with me. Odeth is with me. Nothing about your past failures will matter because you are with Jesus, and everyone knows His name, and they know its worth. Your sins are forgiven on account of Jesus' name. Okay, now what else do I know? Well, I know something that you know, and I know that you know it because John says that you know it. John tells me, John says, John, Noah, Grace, Alex, Haley, Liz, Ken, John tells me that you know, you know Him who is from the beginning, you know the Father. And when John says you know Him, again, Perfect tense. This isn't a command. He's not saying, know him. He's saying, you do. Not, you will know him. You do. Done deal. You know him. This is a present reality. This is a done deal. And John isn't talking about some sort of academic knowledge. You've hit a certain amount of Bible training. He's talking about personal knowledge. Know in the sense of, I know this person. I know them as a friend, as a companion, as someone whom I love. John says, you know Him who is from the beginning. You know the Father. You know Jesus. Brad, Lori, you know God. I mean, John said it at the beginning of the letter. This is one of the results of the gospel. Not just that your sins are forgiven, that's great, but not just that your sins are forgiven, but that you're brought into fellowship with God, friendship, relationship. John said at the beginning, he said, I share the good news about Jesus so that you too may have fellowship with us, and indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. Not just forgiveness. Mike, Victoria, you're downstairs, you can't hear me, but this is for you too. Not just forgiveness. Jesus gives us access to personal knowledge of God, right? That's the point. The point of His coming, and His work, and His death, and His resurrection, and His ascension. That's what it means for Jesus to be our Savior. Not just saved out of punishment, but saved into love. He gets us into personal fellowship with God. And he says as much just at the end of the book. In 1 John 5, 20, he says, we know. We know that the Son of God has come and given us understanding so that, purpose statement, so that we may know Him who is true. And we are in Him who is true, in His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. We get to know God, you know God. And here in our verses, John emphasizes, he says it twice, that this One, this One whom you know, whom you know personally, is from the beginning. You know Him who is from the beginning. Why does he say that? Why does he say it twice? Because John wants you to marvel at a reality so shocking that not a single person, myself included, in this room will leave here appropriately in awe. I just don't have the rhetorical verbal powers to do it justice. The English language might be deficient. All the languages of the world might fail me if I knew them. You know the one who is from the beginning. How can we capture the truth that God is from the beginning? The beginning. The. Not a beginning. The beginning. What beginning? The beginning. God was always there. He was always there. That should just stun all of us. God was there before there was a there. There was no space yet. There were no dimensions. There was no up and down, backwards and forwards. There were no locations yet, because there was no here, there was no there, but God was still there. There was no there, but God was there. And in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. There was a Word before there were any words. There weren't any languages yet, but there was a Word. Jesus is life. He's life before there was life. There were no plants. There were no animals. There were no people. There was nothing breathing. Because there was no air and there was no oxygen. Because there were no molecules. Because there was no chemistry. Because there were no atoms. But Jesus was there and he was alive. Jesus was light before there was light. There were no lamps, there were no light bulbs, there were no fires, there was no sun, there were no stars, there were no photons, but there were, because there was no waves and there was no energy, but he was there. Jesus was there. There were no photons, but there was light. The source and foundation of all reality as we know it. The one from the beginning, the source of space and time, light and life and language, the beginning of it all, Jim, Alicia, Tom, Mindy, Mark, Brian. You know Him personally. You know Him personally. You know Him, as John says here, not just as the one from the beginning, but as Father. There's so much. There's an infinite amount of what we don't know, what you don't know about God, but you know Him. You know Him. I mean, how did any of us get here? It's insane. John, Tim, Carrie, Greg, you go to work every day, and maybe you juggle football season and refs, or you sit still for hours in a truck, or you bend over 50 times a day lugging boxes, or you're sitting in front of a computer staring at software and numbers, and life might not seem glamorous or important, and there is probably a lot you feel at a loss to know about life and the universe. And you might not be able to ponder the impossibility of physical infinities or articulate the cosmological argument or disambiguate between an A theory and a B theory of time. You might not understand the math behind chemistry and quantum physics. Lord knows I don't. But you personally know God. You know infinity personally. You know the source of time intimately. He's your friend. You know the one who was from the beginning as a father. Okay, the last thing, the last thing I know, I know, I know that all of you, that all of you are strong and that the word of God abides in you and that you have overcome the evil one. Let's start with that last one. You have overcome the evil one. John says it twice. And once again, present reality. You have. Done deal. Complete. It's over. You have overcome the evil one. Not you will someday overcome the evil one. It's today. It's done. It's already done. Today. The match is over. You are the victor. Right? What does that mean? What does it mean, Jake, Kimberly? What does it mean, Noah, Grace? What does it mean that you have overcome the evil one today when it seems like he's still at work in your life and the world? What John means is not just that Satan's future defeat and being tossed into the lake of fire at the end of the world is a guarantee. That's true, right? So there is a future sense where we say, yes, Satan will be defeated and that's a guarantee. But that's not what John means. John does not mean It's coming in the future, but it's guaranteed. No, John is talking about a present reality, an actual reality today. If you are in Christ today, you have overcome the evil one. Paul, Tamris, Arthur. If you are in Christ today, you have overcome the evil one. It's fine, it's fine to speak in the future tense and talk about Satan's defeat being guaranteed. The Bible does that, right? Satan is active in a way, and he will be defeated, and that is guaranteed. But to say that you have already overcome Satan is to put a slightly different spin on it. So I'll give you an analogy, and I apologize if it's confusing. It's the best I could do. I like games. And in game theory, there are what you call solved games. A solved game is a game where, assuming both players play correctly, you can perfectly predict the outcome, every time, from any position, because there's really only one way for it to go. In real life, people make mistakes, they have imperfect knowledge, but when a game has been solved, theoretically, it shouldn't be fun anymore. The classic example of this is tic-tac-toe. Tic-tac-toe is so trivially, it doesn't even deserve to be called a game. But it is a solved game. So simple it barely deserves the title. If no one makes a mistake, tic-tac-toe is always a draw. Tic-tac-toe is always a draw. And you can know whether it will be a draw or a victory after the second move because there's only one mistake you can make and you can only make it on the second move. So tic-tac-toe is totally solved. When a game is solved, you don't really have any choices. Your best move will always result in the same outcome. And in this case, Satan's best moves always result in a losing outcome. the game has been solved against him. Which means not just that one day he will be stopped from being active, that's true, but that he has been stopped now, today, relative to you, individually, relative to you as a church, relative to you, Jason and Arianne, relative to you, Tom, relative to you, Brad, relative to you, Samuel and Sarah, he has been stopped. Because in Jesus, God took away Satan's only move. He took away his only move. Satan's only move is to derail you, to accuse you before God. His only move to derail you is to accuse you before God in order to see you condemned. Satan can bring your past sins up against you. But as we've already seen, our forgiveness is on account of Jesus's name. And John spells this out even more explicitly in the letter on how this kind of all works. And he says it particularly with this key word. We all know this key word. But back in chapter 2, he said, my little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins. He'll say it again in chapter 4. in this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And just in case we need a reminder, what this key word, propitiation, means is something that completely absorbs the wrath of God. It doesn't do away with God's justice, it doesn't sweep God's justice under the rug, but it perfectly absorbs the wrath that is deserved for our sins by God's justice. To say that Jesus is a propitiation is to say that Jesus is a wrath absorber. Jesus himself drank the cup of God's wrath, which means the cup is now empty. for his people. There is nothing left to pour out on God's people. God's wrath was spent on Jesus. It's all gone. Linda, Dulce, Satan can accuse you all he wants, but there's nothing left to aim at you in response to those accusations. Because Jesus, on your behalf, took all the wrath. So his move is vain now. It's empty. Satan's only play Matt, Yvette, Nathan, Ezekiel, Myra, Satan's only play is to try and get God to aim his executioner's rifle at you. And Jesus already took the bullet. It's empty. This propitiation, this wrath-absorbing work has been done on behalf of all those who believe in Jesus, who confess that they need a Savior and that Jesus is the Savior. John will repeat this overcoming language in chapter 5 and he links it explicitly to our faith. He says, everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. This is how you're connected to this victory. You believe. So if you have faith in Jesus Christ, Satan has no useful moves against you. That's the truth. That's true today. But how does that then work out? And I know. I know Ciamarra. I know Michaela. I know Donnie. Jeremiah, Don, I know there are questions. I know you wonder, what does that look like in day-to-day life? How does this happen tomorrow or Wednesday? I think John helps explain this. I think that's what he's doing here when he fleshes this out, right? Because the first time, John says, you've overcome the evil one. But the second time he says, you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. So I think what John is doing is telling us how this works out in practice. Satan has been overcome, present tense, by you. That's a present reality. But how that works out in your present tense life is you are strong. Again, he's not saying here be strong, he's saying you are strong. And you are strong because the word of God abides in you. Your strength is always ever keyed, your strength that matters, your spiritual strength, your strength for the world to come. The only strength that matters is always ever keyed to the word of God abiding in you. And this is all glass half full. If it's only this much, then John's focus is, look how strong you are, so much bigger than this. This is all glass half full. But yes, we recognize the more the word of God abides, the greater the strength grows. But here, the focus is just look at the strength, look at the strength that comes. You're strong because the word of God abides in you, and it does abide in you if you are a believer to one degree or another, but I know it abides in you to a greater degree in this church. Agnes, Mary, Julian, I know, I know. Your strength is on display. Your strength has been on display. For 11 years, I've been here and seen your strength on display. God's word abiding. what Satan's defeat looks like in real time. It's your strength on display, and the strength that is on display is the strength that comes from God's word abiding in you. And your victorious faith is victorious precisely because it makes you strong, and it makes you strong because it comes from God's word. God's word is truth. So in practice, be very specific, in practice, Satan's losing move looks like you alone trying to pray, or maybe too afraid to pray, Feeling like you can't go to church, you don't want to see anyone, some sin troubling you, can't bring yourself to take communion, and Satan is accusing you. And you're in your room and he's saying, unworthy, unworthy, unworthy, look, look, unworthy. but then you're able to reply with the gospel, and you're able to reply with God's word, and you're able to reply specifically, and you're able to reply in a way that does not minimize your sin, or God's holiness or justice, but still ends with you triumphant, right? Maybe you remember Zechariah 3. And you remember the scene in Zechariah 3. It's a heavenly vision. And in the heavenly vision, there's the priest of God's people, Joshua the priest. And he's representing God's people in the heavenly throne room. And he's covered in dirty rags. And sometimes we're too quick to put ourselves in that position. But you remember, who made the priest's clothes? Who supplies the priest's clothes? The people, the people supply the priest's clothes. So if he's in there looking horrible, dressed like that, it's because that's what he's wearing from the people. And so he's there in the throne room in just these garbage clothes, and Satan is accusing him. And he says, not worthy. Look at this. Look at this. Look at the type of people he's representing. Look at what he's wearing. And God takes away the dirty clothes, and he puts on pure vestments. He puts on beautiful, appropriate clothes. And I don't know if I'm on. God says shut up. He says shut up to Satan. Stop talking. Look. Look at how he's dressed. Look at how this priest is dressed. So that counts now for the people. The people have dressed their priest appropriately. Even though they didn't actually. They couldn't afford to. They didn't want to. But now it counts for them. Jesus could have, all we have are filthy rags to close Jesus with, that's it. And he didn't have to wear them, he could have looked at our filthy rags and said, I'm not wearing that in the presence of God. But he didn't. He didn't reject us. He took our filthy rags, he took it upon himself, he walked into God's throne room, unfit by dress. And yet those rags were traded, traded for something fit and good, provided for by God himself, and then God rebuked Satan. And so now you're able to reply, because you know that, and you understand Exodus, and you understand what the priest did, and who made the priest clothes, and you understand Zechariah, and you're able to say, I know, Satan, that this accusation is accurate, as far as it goes. I know that all I have to clothe my high priest are filthy garments, so that when Jesus stands on my behalf, in the presence of God, I know I am not worthy. And I know that he could have refused to put on such clothes and represent me, but he did. He wore the clothes that I made, and God swapped them out for beautiful clothes. So now when the Father looks at Jesus representing me in heaven, it's as if I clothe Jesus in pure vestments. And now for you to bring this up only results in a rebuke against you. Be quiet. You don't know what you're talking about. So when you cry, not worthy, God looks at Jesus and says, He looks worthy to me. Silence. I know. I know Debbie, Greg, Barb. I know that you are strong when the Word of God abides in you. I know it doesn't always feel like it, and again, it is. It is keyed to the amount and the degree the Word of God is abiding in you, but it always comes with strength. To the degree that it does, it comes with strength, and it will increase. David, it will increase. As the Word of God continues to increase, the strength increases, and I know it abides in you. Jim, Alicia, I know it abides in you. You have overcome Satan. Not just one day in the future, Satan's gonna be defeated. Now, today, he is crushed. In the present, he is already defeated because the accusing move that he has, the only move that he has, is never gonna go anywhere with you. It's never gonna go anywhere. And this will become clearer to you and your strength will be more obvious as the word of God abides in you and as it increases. As the content of Zechariah and Obadiah and Romans and Ephesians is written on your heart, you will be strong. And it will become more and more obvious to you that you have already, today, overcome the evil one. Carissa, new baby, you have overcome the evil one today. So, Grace Covenant Baptist Church. I don't know what's in store for you for the next 11 years. I don't know what's gonna happen. We're not gonna get to see it. But I do know that whatever else happens, your sins are forgiven on account of Jesus's name. You know Him who is from the beginning and you have overcome the evil one. So I am not worried. And if nothing else, I will see you in glory. Let's pray. Lord, you are better, always ever better than we deserve. And so I pray that your words to us from John, these things that John wrote to his church and that have now been given to us, that you would just help us, help these to be real to us, the forgiveness of our sins on account of Jesus's name, our personal relationship with you, our present tense victory, make them real to us and make us respond in kind. We pray this all in Jesus's name and for his glory, amen.