Alba 5-30-2024
CELEBRATE THE VICTORY
I John 2:12-14
This week our country will once again celebrate our independence from other countries. It took a war to free us from British dominance. But then, a new country, a free country, an exceptional country was formed.
There are those who say we shouldn't refer to the United States with the phrase “American Exceptionalism”. But we are an exceptional country. Our founders worked to complete a Constitution that is different than those of other countries. We have three separate branches of government: the executive, the legislative and the judicial. It is based upon the belief that a just, fair, and functional government requires that power be divided between the various branches.
To ensure that no single person or entity had a monopoly on power, the Founding Fathers designed and instituted a system of checks and balances. So we have three separate and distinct branches of government, each with a different function. The framers of the Constitution did not want to return to the totalitarian system of governance imposed on colonial America by the British government. That is something to celebrate!
But as good and wonderful as it is to live under such a Constitution, it requires more to make it work as it should. It was George Washington who understood that. In his farewell address he said this: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.” There he also said, “And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.”
In other words, our first President knew that for the Constitution, for our country, to be successful, we need to be a moral and religious people. The American Heritage Education Foundation web site has an article entitled “The Bible-Inspired Influences on the U. S. Constitution and Bill of Rights” that states the founders, “recognized a Creator of the universe, with a moral law for fallible mankind, and they applied this perspective to shape their political theories.”
But things have changed since then, so it is no wonder that we see some things eroding around us today as too many in our country, even of our leaders, have forgotten God.
So can we still celebrate? Yes we can. Over the years God has blessed this nation. That is something to celebrate! And we have even more to celebrate when we know Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.
Almost 250 years ago brave patriots fought the War of Independence and they won. And two thousand years ago, Jesus fought the devil. And He won! He had the victory! And, praise God, He shares that victory with us. That really is something to celebrate!
The apostle John in I John 2:12-14 becomes poetic and repetitive as he reminds us of the things that we can celebrate as Christians. Here's what he writes:
“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 is 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 is 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.”
He writes to “little children”, “young men”, and “fathers”. That covers every age span so none of us is excluded. And if the ladies think that they are not mentioned, all believers are among the children of God. All of us have the blessings that come from knowing Jesus, believing in Jesus and being a follower of Jesus. The first blessing mentioned is:
1. Your Sins Are Forgiven
And what a blessing that is! That is something to celebrate! In Jesus Christ we have victory over the sin that separated us from a holy God. I'm thankful for that, aren't you? Verse twelve says that we are forgiven “for His name's sake”.
Ephesians 1:7-8 says, “In him (that is, in Jesus) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.” (NIV)
Our punishment was taken by the Son of God when He went to the cross. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.” (2 Corinthians 5:19)
God forgives sins on the basis of his Son’s atoning death on Calvary’s cross. The cross, on which our Savior and Lord was nailed, is where we can leave our burdens, pain, hurts, and sins. It is the only place we can find the real forgiveness that we need. There is no doubt, we are sinners. But we can find redemption and forgiveness for our sins in Jesus. Still, there is one problem for some people: Forgiveness draws attention to our sinfulness. Our culture allows so many things that common sense says are wrong. But it is not a popular notion for people today to think of themselves as sinful.
In fact, we are nearing the point where it may be illegal to call sinful behavior, sinful behavior. But sin it is! And without forgiveness, we will pay the penalty. Sadly those who are unwilling to admit their need for forgiveness will never seek it and find it. How comforting to know that all those who come to Jesus Christ in obedient faith will have their sins forgiven. That is something to celebrate.
God's Word brings us a message of hope, restoration and healing. Remember that John has already said in the first chapter verses eight and nine, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (But...) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The children of God are covered by the blood that was shed on Calvary. Celebrate the victory! The second blessing mentioned in these verses in I John 2:12-14 is:
2. You Know the Lord
Verses 13 and 14 both say, “You have known Him who is from the beginning.” And verse 13 makes it personal by adding, “Because you have known the Father.”
The personal relationship we have with our Savior, Jesus Christ and the Heavenly Father is more than special. Think about the people who bow down and worship idols. The person gives a lot of himself to that thing made with hands, but there is no word of comfort or encouragement received in return. There is no two way relationship there.
But we who have our sins forgiven by Jesus Christ can truly know the One who gave Himself for us. We have the words He spoke. We know the actions He took, the life He lived and the sacrifice He made for us. There is victory in that relationship. And it is something that we can celebrate.
It is our Lord's desire that we would know Him not in a superficial way, nor in an academic sense only, but with a supernatural intimacy, made possible only by lifetime of obedience to Him and His Word. It’s like the boy who came up to his dad and said, “I want to grow up to be as big as you are. How can I do that?” The dad certainly wouldn’t say, “Well, try real hard to grow up. Think about it. Work at it. Strain and stretch and you’ll get there in a week.”
No. The dad would tell his son to eat and exercise and sleep, and then he can’t help but grow. In a similar way, when we spend time in the Bible, spend time in fellowship with other Christians, spend time in coming together to worship the Lord as we do here, we will grow in Christian maturity and knowledge of our Savior.
And remember, verse three says, “By this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.” But verse four warns, “He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” We can't act like the world and claim to have citizenship in heaven. But then verse five says, “But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.”
The message that the apostle Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost was to “let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” (Acts 2:36)
The blessing for a Christian is to truly know Jesus as Lord and Christ, the promised Messiah. Three thousand on that day believed the message and were baptized. They came to know Jesus. That is something to celebrate! There is victory in Jesus! The third blessing mentioned in our text for today is:
3. You Have Overcome
Verse thirteen says that young men have overcome the wicked one. Can believers really overcome Satan? In view of Satan’s cunning and power, we are not able to overcome him on our own. We can overcome only because Jesus has already won the victory! Jesus won the victory over the powers of evil and darkness by his death and resurrection, and that gives us the victory today.
Jesus told us in John 16:33. “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” It is in the Lord that the believer finds strength to overcome the devil. I Corinthians 15:57 rejoices with the words, “thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
All believers are engaged in a spiritual war against, “principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12) The believer who remains faithful, even unto death, is promised a crown of life (Revelation 2:10). It is God's will for us to be overcomers!
Verse fourteen says that the young men are strong and overcome the wicked one because “the word of God abides” in them. The way any of can be overcomers is by having God's Word abide or remain in us. That can only happen if we put it there.
Psalm 119:9 asks, “How can a young man keep his way pure?” And then it give the answer, “By living according to your word.” And verse 11 of that chapter is where it says, “Your word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you.” If you want victory, you need the help of scripture in your heart and mind.
The word “abides” is a present tense verb that means it “continually abides.” Actually the word really means “to settle down and make its home in you.” Now you see, it’s one thing to be at home in the Bible, it’s another thing for the Bible to be at home in you. It’s wonderful for you to possess your Bible, but it’s even more wonderful for your Bible to possess you. That's where the victory is.
Armed with the sound doctrine that you learn from God's Word, you will be able to refute error and guard the truth. And by continuing to allow the word of God to remain/live in you, you will find strength to overcome the evil one. Being an overcomer means that you don't back down from the devil. It means that you are staying in there being strengthened by God through prayer and His Word.
These verses in First John chapter two encourage us by reminding us that we have a victory to celebrate. We need to be reminded that our sins are forgiven on account of His name. We need to be reminded that we have known him who is from the beginning. And we need to know that we are strong when the Word of God lives in us and enables us to overcome the evil one.
So from these verses we see that no matter what stage of the Christian life we find ourselves in today, we can be encouraged. For newer Christians, and all of us, we are encouraged that our sins have been forgiven, and we are in a relationship of love with the Heavenly Father that we don’t deserve, but has been given to us through Jesus.
And if we are growing in our Christian walk, we can be encouraged by the fact that the Lord has brought us to the place of overcoming the evil one many times and strengthening us through our abiding in His Word.
And if we have been Christians for a long time, we can be encouraged by the abiding relationship we have with God the Father and Jesus His Son, and the victorious blessing that it is.
There is victory in Jesus. Celebrate the victory!
CLOSE:
Opal Stout, of Cottageville, West Virginia wrote, "When the fireworks display began on the Fourth of July, my six-year-old nephew became so frightened I had to take him home. As we drove away, he said, "I bet God is mad at those people shooting at him!" (Christian Reader, "Kids of the Kingdom”)
There are those who do try to “shoot down” the things of God. French philosopher and atheist Voltaire (1694-1778) is said to have predicted in 1776, “One hundred years from my day, there will not be a Bible on earth except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity-seeker.”
He even wrote and published a large two volume work in French called “The Bible Fully Explained”. It was Voltaire’s commentary on the whole Bible. It was written in a satirical and scoffing manner. He viciously was mockingly critical and skeptical of practically every book and verse in the Bible.
Voltaire delusionally believed as a result of his books he had struck a death blow to the Bible’s believability. However, instead of the Bible becoming irrelevant and no longer believed, the Inspired Volume continues to increase in circulation. Only fifty eight years after his death, in an ironic twist of Providence, the very house in which Voltaire once lived and wrote was used by the Evangelical Society of Geneva as a storehouse for Bibles and Gospel tracts. And the printing press that was used to print his irreverent anti-Christian works was used to print Bibles.
The story of Voltaire serves as an example and a reminder that the foolish predictions and efforts of man to extinguish the Bible will come to nothing. No skeptic’s scoffing hammer has ever made a dent in the Eternal Anvil of God’s Word. To those who attempt to do so, Jesus emphatically declares, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).
There may be those who shoot their arrows at God, but He will not be harmed. The ultimate victory is His. And our victory is in Him. Celebrate the victory!
(Edited from a Christian apologetics blog on the CrossExamined.org website entitled: “Voltaire’s Prediction, Home, and the Bible Society: Truth or Myth? Further Evidence of Verification.”)
