Spiritual growth in the Christian life is presented as a progression from elementary knowledge to mature understanding, mirroring the stages of childhood, young manhood, and fatherhood. The sermon begins by emphasizing the foundational assurance of sins forgiven, illustrated by the example of a man wearing a "Forgiven" sign and Martin Luther's confrontation with the devil. It then moves to the strength of young men who overcome the wicked one through abiding in God's Word and feeding on Christ, not just facts. Finally, it describes fathers who possess a deep, personal knowledge of God, gained through constant association, highlighting that true spiritual maturity comes from an intimate relationship with Him, not just accumulating information.
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your Bibles to the second chapter of first John this morning first John chapter two there's a section which begins at verse twelve it has to do with our progress in spiritual things the pattern of the New Testament epistle seems to be to Tell us all that God has done for us, and then tell us what He expects from us. In response to that, a good example of that is the book of Ephesians.
The first three chapters tell us about our spiritual blessings in the heavens, while the last three chapters tell us how we ought to behave ourselves because we do belong to the Lord and because we are raised and seated with him in the heavenly. I heard Mr. C.F. Hogg give a series of addresses on the book of Ephesians, and he said, Ephesians begins in the heavenlies and ends in the kitchen, where you can really put these things to work. So the epistle of John tells us what a wonderful thing it is to be brought into the fellowship of his sons.
What a wonderful thing it is to know God as our Father. How wonderful it is to have brothers and sisters in the Lord, have fellowship together as Christians. Then he says, I'd like to see a little progress. I'd like to see you grow. I'd like to see you become strong in the Lord. There's nothing any sadder than a child that never develops. I saw a sight when I was back in Iowa in the jewelry business, which I will never forget, I'm sure.
I called it a home, and I saw a baby lying in a crib. The baby needed a shave. His head was the size of any ordinary man. He was forty years of age. His body was sort of old and brown and wrinkled looking, but still the size of a baby, six months of age. His body never developed.
His mind never had developed. He'd been cared for like a baby for forty years, one of the saddest sights I ever saw. And that poor, worn-looking mother could see how she suffered every time she looked at that undeveloped child. I wonder what we'd look like. We could see each other the way we really are spiritually. Now, development in spiritual things has many facets. There are many things to be considered.
There are many aspects of Christian life. But I'm going to take up just one this morning, as developed here in the second chapter of John. We begin to read it, verse twelve. I write unto you, little children, or dear children, remember that the diminutive form is the affectionate form. My dear children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. This we call elementary knowledge. If you don't have this, you haven't started. if you don't know that your sins are forgiven you've never become a child of God there's a great deal more than knowing the forgiveness of sins and I think that most of the difficulties with our Armenian brethren I mean by that those who are connected with the various denominations which do not believe in eternal security which place a great deal of emphasis on human responsibility and very little on the sovereignty
of God, I think their problem is that they see very little more than forgiveness of sins. They don't understand justification. I preached among groups of them, various parts of the country, and I never antagonize them by preaching on eternal security. I preach on justification by grace. And they can see that and accept it, and when they do, they automatically believe in eternal security. Because if you see what God has done for us by grace in justifying us, giving us a right standing with God, you'll see that there's a great deal more than God simply forgiving the past.
But... The forgiveness of sins is elementary knowledge. This is the way we begin with God. The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. If that hasn't happened to you, I feel sorry for you. I'd hate to face God unforgiven. I'd hate to be facing the judge. I'd hate to be thinking about a day when I had to stand before God for my sins. It's an awful accumulation. How thankful I am they're forgiven.
When I lived in Denver, Colorado, we moved to Colorado Springs twenty years ago, saw a new work started there, or a work that was already started, developed. When I lived in Denver, we had an eccentric old gentleman in our fellowship. I enjoyed visiting with him, but he was an oddball, if ever there was one. He, there's nobody else like him, and maybe that's a good thing. He used to get on the streetcar, wearing a sign on his hat. There was a track put out a good many years ago, you may have seen it, and in inch-high letters the title of the track was written across the top, Forgiven.
So he took one of those tracks and folded it and put it in the hat band of his hat. And then he folded another one and put it in the back. And that old patriarch could get on the streetcar and everybody would look at him, you know, Each high letters, forgiven. And they'd watch him go by, and when he got past, they'd read it again. He'd hear him coming and going. Forgiven. Well, nobody ever asked you what it meant, but I'm sure a good many of you knew anyway. Could that be written on your hat this morning? On your heart. Forgiven.
I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. Martin Luther was tormented by the devil, more than most men. And I don't doubt at all, but that it was pretty real. The devil knew what Martin Luther was doing, even the rest of them didn't. He said that one day the devil came to him in a dream or however I don't know. and unrolled a scroll. Said Martin Luther, are those your sins? Yes. And he unrolled another scroll. Are those your sins?
Yes. And you say that you're going to heaven? And Martin Luther said to the devil, take a pen and dip it in red ink and write across the face of both those scrolls, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleansed us from all sin. And for emphasis, he picked up an ink bottle and hurled it at the devil. And if you visit the place where he was, they'll show you the ink spot on the wall, right where the ink well hit. Yes, sir, he had something to say that the devil couldn't answer. He says, when I... When I said that to him, he disappeared in a cloud of sulfur smoke. I'm sure he would.
The devil himself has got nothing to say when we tell him we have been forgiven. But at the end of verse thirteen, he says, I write unto you little children, because ye have known the Father. Now this is also elementary knowledge. I've had the joy of being present at the conversion of a number of souls. I always like to be the last link in the chain, the chill.
We're only links in the chain. I don't know if I ever let anybody to the Lord all by myself. I doubt very much if I ever did. I remember leading a heathen to the Lord one time, and he was a heathen. I never saw a worse fellow. He had his back broken, and he was in the poor ward. When I was still working in the jewelry business, I used to visit our city hospital three nights a week and shave them in in the poor ward. And the poor fellows couldn't go anyplace, and you get their face covered with leather, and they got to listen to you preach. And I used to have a wonderful time preaching to those fellows, and I met this heathen in there.
He was an ungodly rascal. I saw him saved. The night he got saved, he was lying on his back He was holding his fingers like this. And I thought maybe he was slipping away, or his mind was not clear or something. And I said, what's the matter? Or he said, I was just lying here thinking, I went to Sunday school once. The only time my dad ever let me go to Sunday school. He said, I was just a little boy, and I'd forgotten all about it, but he said, My teacher gave me a little card.
He was just like he was holding it. My teacher gave me a little card and it had a picture of Jesus on the cross. He ignored everything I'd been telling him. And as he was in his memory, looking at that little picture again, he said, if Jesus loved me enough to do that, I sure ought to trust him. And he did. and some discouraged Sunday school teacher is sure going to get a surprise when she gets to heaven. I got credit for it. I had his funeral. Everybody thought I did something wonderful, leading that heathen to the Lord. But I know, and God knows, that some Sunday school teacher planted the good seed in his heart.
I doubt if I ever led anybody to the Lord completely by myself, even not considering the work of the Spirit of God. But I love to be there. I love to be in on the kill. I love to be there at the last one, you know, that gets to hear him say, well, I see it. I'll take the Lord Jesus for my Savior right now. And whenever that happens, I usually try to get them on their knees and get them to thank the Lord for it right away. And you know, I've never told one of them yet to call God His Father, and I've never heard one fail to do it.
That's strange. No matter what their background, they might have a pastor who always prays, Oh, mighty God. But this babe in Christ automatically says, Father. And he doesn't say very much else. I saw a fellow saved in Colorado Springs while back. He had been brought up in the Romish church. He knew almost nothing at all. In fact, he said he had never seen the inside of a Bible until just a week before. And when he accepted the Lord for his Savior, I said, would you like to thank the Lord for it?
Well, yes, he says, sure I would. So we got down on our knees, and he got down, and he put his hands like this. And he was all ready, and I prayed, and then I waited, and he was sitting there swallowing, swallowing, and pretty soon he looked over at me, and he says, I can't think of any prayer that seems to fit, but he says, I'll just make one up. So he shut his eyes, and he says, Father, I'm sure glad you forgive me. Amen. I'll tell you, a lot of prayers that take twenty minutes wouldn't match up to that one.
You've heard a lot of prayers that just were, might as well grind them out. But that came from the heart of a newborn babe. Who told him, say, Father? I didn't. Spirit of God did. The eighth of Romans says, we have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Abba is the Jewish baby's word for daddy, papa. All of the children's words for their parents, you know, can be spoken without teeth. Then as we get older, we can say Father.
Well, if you can't say anything but, Abba, go ahead and say that, because the Spirit of God in our hearts leads us to this elementary knowledge of God as our Father. Well, now that's all very sweet of the babe. Well, in the children's home, we received a girl Quite some years ago now, who was the spastic? The condition had affected only her speech centers, or at least that's what we thought at the time.
She didn't seem to have any difficulty in the control of her muscles, but her speech centers were sadly affected. She simply couldn't learn to enunciate certain words. And she couldn't string them together accurately in the sentence. They'd come out all scrambled up, and you'd have to take the sentence and rearrange it mentally in order to know just what she meant. She just couldn't seem to get the words out in sequence. And she writes the same way, incidentally. We still hear from her regularly, although she's now a grown woman. When Nancy came to us, she talked just like a...
about a two-year-old baby. I mean, as far as her pronunciation of words is concerned. Now, I have a grandchild about that age, and I'll tell you about her if you've got a couple hours. She's a very cute little girl, and I love to hear her lisp out the words. But you know, we weren't at all happy about hearing Nancy talk like that. Because Nancy was tan when she came to us, and she should have been over that. She should have been out of the baby talk stage. Now Nancy's a grown woman, and she still doesn't.
And it's pitiful. Some of you are still talking baby talk, aren't you? A.N. O'Brien was telling me about preaching in a certain neighborhood in southern Missouri many years ago, and he led a man to the Lord. And this fellow was so happy to know that the Lord had died for him, and the verse that seemed to help him was, when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Well, at the close of the meetings, Mr. O'Brien was telling him goodbye.
And he said, well, how is it with your soul now? Oh, he said, everything is wonderful. When I was yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. So Mr. O'Brien patted him on the back and said, now go on for the Lord. He didn't get back to that city for about ten years. When he got back, he met this man again. And he shook hands with him warmly and said to him, well, how is it with your soul? Oh, he said, fine, when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Well, Mr. O'Brien said you knew that much ten years ago.
Have you learned anything since? Is there anything more to be learned? Oh, yes. I should say there is. Let's go on to step to step number two. I'm picking these up because I want them in this order. The middle of verse thirteen says, I write unto you young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. The proverb says, the glory of a young man is his strength. Boys appreciate physical strength.
Young men are those who are developing spiritually. They have physical strength. No, not necessarily. They have spiritual strength. They are spiritually strong. They're able to overcome the wicked one. See what else he says about them in verse fourteen, the middle of the verse. 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 ones. This is what made them strong. They were eating some good meat.
There are several different kinds of food for Christians. There's the manna. There's the old corn of the land. There's milk of the word, but there's also strong meat. The Corinthians and the Hebrews were both rebuked because they were not able to take strong meat. They were still living on milk. God would like to have young men learning something more besides John three, sixteen, John five, twenty-four. I know the first question that comes to your mind, well, what method of Bible study?
Well, you might as well ask, what's the best way to feed yourself? In our society, of course, you have to use a fork and a knife. In America, you just turn your fork over and use it like a shovel. In the British Isles, you turn it upside down to us, and you rake things onto it with a knife, and then you're all set to go. Well, who cares? It's only a matter of society. A fifth of the world never use anything, or the fingers. Three-fifths of the world use chopsticks. Try that sometime. There isn't any wrong way to feed yourself. The main thing is get that food.
There isn't any wrong way to study the Bible. I've used all kinds of methods. That isn't the answer to all. The answer is, do you have an appetite for God's things, and are you willing to go in for it? You've got to go in for these things. You can't just be fed at a conference. A lady said to me one time, you know, I just nearly starved between conferences. Well, I said, I should think you would. She only got to one a year. Who wouldn't? Do you know how to feed yourself? Read the sixth chapter of John sometimes. and think it through, pray it through, and learn how to feed on Christ. Not feed on facts.
Christ is the bread of life. You feed on Christ. You appropriate Christ. You enjoy Christ. You take Him to yourself. And as you feed on Him, you'll find yourself overcoming the wicked one. You'll find yourself strong in the Lord. But now there's the third class. Verse thirteen, I write unto you fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning. This is the person who was introduced to us in the very first chapter, the Lord Jesus Christ from the beginning. Now you've known him, that's why your fathers.
Verse fourteen, I have written unto you fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning. Now, as he writes to the children twice, there's an advance. As he writes to the young men twice, and of course it's not a matter of gender here, it's a matter of all young, virile, strong believers. As he writes to them, there's an advance. But as he writes to fathers, he says the same thing the second time that he says the first. Why? Because there is no advance on knowing him. Sometimes read the first chapter of Colossians and notice the three ways in which we acquire knowledge in Colossians one.
First of all, we come to know the grace of God in truth. That's what all children know. Secondly, we grow in the knowledge of his will. That's what young men know. And lastly, we come to know him. There's no knowledge beyond that. I'd like to say further that you never lose any knowledge which you get of the Lord. Well, this is not a knowledge of facts. This is knowledge of a person. If you really know the Lord, you'll never lose that. Anything that you've come to know of Him. And we learn to know Him by constant association with Him.
Now, somebody asked me if I know you. I... I would say, yes, I met you at Yosemite. But there are some other people, if they asked me if I know them, I'd say, do I know them? Do I know them? Why, that's my brother. Well, we grew up in the same home. Or that, why, that man, I preached with him for years. Why, do I know that brother? Well, I should say, I've worked with him. For years, of course I know him. I've associated with him. You know why we don't know God any better? We don't have time to spend with him.
The God of heaven, the Creator of the universe, has time to spend with you, and you don't have time to spend with him. I'd be ashamed of myself.