I write unto you, my little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.
I write unto you, fathers, because ye know Him Who is from the beginning.
I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the evil one.
I have written unto you, little children, because ye know the Father.
I have written unto you, fathers, because ye know Him Who is from the beginning.
I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the evil one.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the vainglory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
Little children, it is the last hour: and as ye heard that antichrist cometh, even now have there arisen many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last hour.
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they all are not of us.
And ye have an anointing from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
Who is the liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, even he that denieth the Father and the Son.
Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that confesseth the Son hath the Father also.
As for you, let that abide in you which ye heard from the beginning. If that which ye heard from the beginning abide in you, ye also shall abide in the Son, and in the Father.
And this is the promise which He promised us, even the life eternal.
These things have I written unto you concerning them that would lead you astray.
And as for you, the anointing which ye received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any one teach you; but as His anointing teacheth you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, ye abide in Him.
And now, my little children, abide in Him; that, if He shall be manifested, we may have boldness, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee again for loving us so much as to give Thy blood, Thy very life, to us. Lord, if it were not because of Thee, where would we be? So, with grateful hearts, we come again to thank Thee.
Lord, as we continue in Thy presence, we look to Thee to speak through Thy Word to our hearts. We thank Thee that Thou art not silent to us. We thank Thee because Thou dost want us to know Thy heart, that we may follow Thee.
So we commit this time into Thy loving hand and trust Thy Holy Spirit to open Thy Word and open our hearts, that Thy Word may really register within us, transform us, and conform us to Thine own image, to the glory of God. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
We thank God for gathering us together this morning.
I would like to ask a question. When we come together this morning, does it ever come to your mind: what is the nature of our gathering together? Why are we here? What kind of gathering is this?
Of course, we know this is not a social gathering. But maybe we think it is a religious gathering. Now, what really do we come for?
According to the Word of God, we find that such a gathering is the gathering of the family of God. It is a family gathering. We gather together unto our Father and unto our Lord Jesus Christ.
We thank God because God wants a family. God really does not need anybody; He does not need anything, because He is always full. But it pleases Him to have a family. He wants a family, and because He wants a family, He sent His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus, into this world to create His family.
Why? Because all the family members must have His life. All the family members must have His resemblance. There is a family resemblance.
But we human beings were dead in sins and transgressions. Therefore, He sent His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus, into this world.
We thank our Lord Jesus for going to the cross on our behalf. He shed His precious blood to cleanse us from our sins, to deliver us from death. He gave His life to us, that we may have God’s life. Think of that: we are born from above.
And we, as His family, have the privilege of gathering together as much as possible to remember Him and to glorify Him. So this is the reason why we are here.
You know, among the apostles, the apostle John received this special revelation of the family—the household of God. He is a family man.
You remember, even when our Lord Jesus was dying on the cross, our Lord committed His earthly mother to John. John is the apostle of love, because love is the law of the family.
Then you find in this First Epistle of John that he writes a letter to the family. In other words, it is God our Father, and it is the Lord Jesus, our elder Brother, Who is writing to the family.
That is what we have just read. He does not only write once, but writes twice. He says, “I have written”; “I write.” So it shows the love of our Lord Jesus. Because He loves us, He writes to us. He wants to communicate His heart and His mind to us. He wants to help us, educate us, that we may grow in Him.
So this morning, we would like to share together on the letter that our heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus have written.
Now, it begins with, “I write unto you, my little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.”
This word children, teknia, is a word that expresses parental affection. It has nothing to do with growth. All who believe in the Lord Jesus, all who have their sins forgiven by our Lord Jesus, are children of God.
Why have we become children of God? Because we know that our sins have been forgiven for His name’s sake. In other words, because of our Lord Jesus. His name is Jesus, the Saviour of the world. His name is Jesus, Who cleanses our sins with His own blood.
We all know that, and because we have all experienced it, therefore we are children of God. You remember John 1:12. It says:
But as many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on His name.
They are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. So, dear brothers and sisters, we are thankful. By believing in the Lord Jesus, we know the cleansing of our sins by His precious blood. We are born from above. We are born of God. We are now His children.
Here, you find this word children, a word that expresses parental affection. No matter how long you have believed in the Lord Jesus—whether you have believed in the Lord Jesus for fifty years or for five days—we are all children. There is no discrimination. Thank God for that.
But you know, in a family you have people of different groups. A family is not composed of all fathers; that would be an old folks’ home. A family is not composed of all young people; that would be a battlefield. A family is not composed of all little children; that would be a nursery.
The beauty of the family is that it has all kinds of growth. You have fathers, fully grown and mature. You have young people, strong and vigorous. And you have little children—the chatter.
So, brothers and sisters, in the family of God we have all kinds of groups. Some are fathers, fully grown and more mature; some are young people; and some are little children.
But remember, this is not according to our natural age. You may be seventy, but if you just believed in the Lord Jesus yesterday, you are a little child in Christ.
And if you have believed in the Lord maybe two or three years, you may be a young person. If you have believed in the Lord and really grown in the Lord, then you may be a father. Now, you can believe and not grow. You can believe in the Lord for fifty years, and yet your spiritual age is only five days. You are still a little child.
But if you are really growing in the Lord, then you will be a father. So this is according to spiritual age, not according to your natural age.
For each and every one, God our Father has a word for you. Our Lord Jesus has a word for you. This is what we want to fellowship together this morning.
According to the order you find in 1 John, God first writes to the fathers, then He writes to the young people, and then He writes to the little children. Why? Because God’s purpose for each and every one of us who believe in Him, who have sins forgiven, is that we grow into sonship, into maturity.
That is the reason why you find the biblical order: first to the fathers, then to the young people, and then to the little children. God’s desire is that no one will remain forever as little children, but that everyone will grow up from little children to young men, and from young men to fathers.
But according to our experience, it is just the reverse. We begin as little children; we do not begin as fathers. Then, by the grace of God, if we grow, we become young men and eventually fathers. So, for the sake of our understanding, we will reverse the order. We will begin with little children.
Here you find that our heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus wrote to the little children. He writes not just one letter, but two letters.
In verse 12 of chapter 2 and verse 28 of chapter 2, the word children is teknia. It has no respect to growth; it is simply an expression of parental affection.
But when you come to verse 13 and verse 18, you find that the words little children are a little different, because in Greek it is a different word: paidia. This word is related to growth, and little children are in contrast to young men and fathers.
So here you find that we who believe in the Lord Jesus all begin as babes in Christ, as little children. What is the characteristic of little children? It says here in verse 13, “I write unto you, little children, because ye know the Father.”
Little children have very little knowledge of any kind. But there is one knowledge every little child has: he knows his father.
You remember Romans 8. It says that we have not received the spirit of bondage again unto fear, but we have received the Spirit of adoption, of sonship. Therefore, we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
So, brothers and sisters, the first thing that happens to you after you believe in the Lord Jesus is that you begin to call God, “Papa, Father.”
If you have never believed in the Lord Jesus with your heart, but you were brought up in a Christian family, you are told that there is a God and that God is your Father. But is He really your Father? No doubt He is your God, because He is your Creator. But is He really your Father? Is there a life relationship between you and God?
Because you were brought up in a Christian family, you are told, and probably you also pray, “Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.” You may pray that way, but is it real?
I remember a story. I had a fellow worker in China. After he was married, the first time he went with his wife to his wife’s parents’ home, he had to address his father-in-law. Do you say, “Father-in-law”? No, you say, “Father.”
So he tried to call his father-in-law “Father,” but he found it very difficult because it did not sound right. You know, if you really do not know God as your Father, and you try to call God your Father, it sounds as if you are calling Him “Father-in-law.” Do you have that kind of experience before? I did.
But the day when you really believe in the Lord Jesus, and you have your sins forgiven, and you are born from above, brothers and sisters, something happens. You know your Father. When you pray, “Father,” it is so real.
That is the one thing all little children have. Now, do we have it? If you have not had it yet, go to the Lord. Ask Him to forgive your sins. Trust Him as your personal Saviour, and you will be born from above.
Then, when you pray again, it is supernaturally natural—very natural, more natural than natural. Have you found that? I did, and I do. Praise the Lord.
But little children have problems, because children do not know much. Therefore, they can easily be deceived. They do not have knowledge, so whatever you say to them, they will just listen and take it. They are so pure that they believe everything—everything that you tell them.
I remember being told of a little child who was told jokingly by somebody, “This is not your father.” He believed it, and he was so disturbed because he could easily be led astray.
You know, children live by intuition. Grown-ups live by knowledge. We accumulate a lot of knowledge, so we live by knowledge. We judge by the knowledge that we have gathered. But little children do not have that much knowledge; they live by intuition.
But intuition, even natural intuition, is a gift of God. Children will naturally shy away from some people, and they will naturally go to other people. Somehow, instinctively, they can sense something. Of course, it is not perfect, but still you find that little children live by intuition.
Now, in the family of God, remember, it is the same principle. Because you do not have much knowledge yet, you are just beginning to read the Bible. You do not know much about the truth. How are you going to live then? Is there any provision for you, or must you be deceived?
Thank God. Here you find in this letter to the little children, He says, “I have written to you.” I have already told you: even though you do not have all kinds of knowledge, you still can live a Christian life. You still can live in the Lord.
Now, how are you going to live? By intuition. But that intuition is not the natural intuition of the soul. That intuition is related to the Holy Spirit Who dwells in you—the anointing, the unction.
He says, “You have the unction.” The unction will teach you in all things. If you listen to the teaching of the unction, the anointing, you abide in Christ. You are safe. You will not be deceived. Thank God for that.
Now, brothers and sisters, oftentimes after we believe in the Lord Jesus, we think all that we have received is forgiveness of sins, or that all we have received is a new life. But that new life is still in its infant stage in you. Yet that is not all.
God so loves us. Our Father has made provision for every young child, that even if you just believed in the Lord today, He has provided for you a way to live according to His will.
Think of that. You do not need to be a mature Christian to know the will of God or to walk in the will of God. Even after you are newly born, immediately God has put within you His own Spirit, the Holy Spirit.
He not only brings your dead spirit into life and makes it a new life, a new spirit in you. God is Spirit. The only way you can communicate with God is by your spirit. But our spirit was dead in sins and transgressions.
So when you believe in the Lord Jesus, your dead spirit is quickened into new life. It becomes a new spirit. Then the Holy Spirit—God the Spirit—Himself comes into your new spirit and lives there. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Think of that.
So, brothers and sisters, when you believe in the Lord Jesus, what do you receive? You receive forgiveness of sin. Thank God for that. Your conscience is at peace. You receive a new life—the life of Christ, the life of God—born from above.
You receive a new spirit. Your dead spirit is quickened into a new spirit, so you can communicate with God. Then God’s Spirit comes and makes His dwelling in your new spirit. So what do you have? You have God in you. You have the Holy Spirit in you, and He is in you and will never leave.
Think of what you have. Think of what the heavenly Father has provided for you. There are many Christians, unfortunately, who have no knowledge of this. They think that when they believe in the Lord Jesus, the only thing they receive is that one day, when they die, they go to heaven. That is it.
No. You not only receive eternal life—an eternal life that begins today—but you receive the Holy Spirit, God Himself, to come and live in your spirit. For what? For teaching.
He is your resident Teacher. He is the anointing. The Bible uses the word anointing because it is like an ointment. When you have a wound and apply an ointment to it, it soothes; it makes it comfortable.
That is the way the Holy Spirit will speak to you. He will speak to you within the depths of your being, in a still, small voice. When He speaks to you, it is not like a hurricane. When God speaks to you in your spirit, it is a still, small voice. It is like ointment put upon you—so soothing, so good, so peaceful.
Brothers and sisters, from the day you are born from above, you are privileged to hear your Father’s voice.
Some people say to me, “I have never heard God speak to me. Why is it that I hear some people say, ‘God spoke to me,’ but God never did?” Well, if a child has never heard his father’s voice, something is very wrong.
He should be able to distinguish what is the voice of his father and what is the voice of a stranger. As our Lord Jesus said, “My sheep know My voice. They will not follow a foreign, strange voice, but they will follow My voice.”
Brothers and sisters, God is speaking to you inwardly, every day, all the time. Have you heard Him?
Unfortunately, Christianity today is so wrong. Christianity today has become an external thing. But believing in the Lord Jesus is an inward experience. Remember, you as little children have the right to hear your Father’s voice, and your Father has put His Spirit in you to teach you in all things.
Not only in big things, but even in small things. Sometimes we have the mistaken idea that when we are faced with a big problem, we pray and seek our Father for help. But in daily life, in small things, we do it ourselves. We think we know what to do. Now, that is the problem.
You are a child of God now. You are no longer what you were before. So how are you going to behave as a child of God? Hear your Father’s voice. Listen.
But if you want to listen, you have to quiet down in order to hear it. Do not tell me that after you believe in the Lord Jesus and become a child of God, you have never heard His voice, that He has never spoken to you.
Well, if He has never spoken to you, you are a bastard, not a son. I believe, and I know for sure, that if you believe in the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit is in you, invariably He has spoken. But unfortunately, you are not listening.
Does it happen to you? Probably, before you believed in the Lord Jesus, you had the habit of exaggeration. When there were only five people, you said there were ten people. But there was nothing wrong with that to you.
But after you believe in the Lord Jesus, when you are talking and begin to say, “Well, there were one hundred people there,” actually maybe there were only seventy, suddenly you find within you a little voice: “Are you telling the truth? Is it true?”
Do you have this experience? Or perhaps you had the habit of telling lies. That was nothing; if you could cheat people, you felt proud of it. But after you believe in the Lord Jesus, suddenly you tell a lie, and someone within touches you: “That is a lie. A child of God should not say that.”
Instead of feeling proud, you feel that you have to confess it before the Lord. Then you have peace.
Or perhaps you are very talkative. When you talk and talk and talk, and begin to talk beyond what you need to say, suddenly there is a check within: “That is enough. Stop.” Have you had such an experience? I do.
Brothers and sisters, our problem is that we are not listening. We live an awkward life. Remember, the Christian life is an inward life. God our Father is teaching us by His indwelling Holy Spirit every day, that we may walk in His will.
So here you find, for the little children, God has made provision for you to live as a Christian from the very beginning. Learn to listen to your inner voice and obey it. If you do, you abide in Christ.
Thank God for that. Our problem is that we are not listening; we are listening outwardly, and thus we are deceived. So thank God for His provision. But, brothers and sisters, we need to know about it, and we need to learn that lesson: listen to the voice of your resident Teacher in big things and in small things. Obey, and you live Christ. Thank God for that.
Now, young people: because you listen to the voice of the indwelling Spirit, you grow. What is Christian growth? Christian growth is growing in the will of God, in the life of Christ. He begins to build up. That is Christian growth.
What is the characteristic of the young man? Here you find in verse 13, “I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the evil one.”
Then again, in verse 14: “I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the evil one.”
Young men have grown in the Lord. Young men are naturally strong; they are fighters. But as young men in Christ, you are strong, and you fight a different fight. Your fight is against the wicked one.
There is an unseen world, and there is a wicked one—Satan, the adversary of God, the enemy of God, the deceiver, the murderer, the killer, the destroyer.
As young men in Christ, you are strong. You fight a good fight. But you do not only fight; you overcome. Thank God for that. You are not supposed to be defeated, because God has made provision for you to overcome. You have overcome the wicked one.
Not just overcome once and be defeated twice, but overcome all the way. You have overcome; continue to overcome the wicked one. You may say, “Have I ever fought that fight? I do not know I am fighting it.” But you are.
What is that fight? You are fighting the unseen world. Where can you hit him?
Now remember this: God created us according to His own image. He created all things for us.
You remember, God created Adam and put Adam in the Garden of Eden, a garden of pleasure. He planted all kinds of fruit trees for man to enjoy.
Man needs food; the body needs food. So God created trees and fruit, vegetables and all kinds of provision, that man may live—and not only live, but live for God, do His work, live for the glory of God, enjoy things, and thank God. So He is the Giver.
We have not only physical needs; we have soulish, psychological needs. We need love, affection, and family. God created all these things. We need our eyes to see, so He created all things beautiful.
Even after this world was corrupted, it is still beautiful. Look at the sunset. It is for us to enjoy, but not just to enjoy. We are to thank God and be grateful.
Everything in this world was created by God for our enjoyment, but more than that, that we may live for God, do His work, and glorify Him. That is God’s purpose.
But the wicked one—see how wicked he is?—came in and took hold of what God created. He reorganised these things into a system, a cosmos. He uses this system to oppose God, to be anti-God, so that man will fall into his trap, rebel against God, and go to destruction with him.
Now, that is the wicked one. Remember, you are fighting against the world system. Satan is at the back of it. No, he hides himself at the back; you never see him.
He organises all the things in this world—whether they are for the eyes, for the flesh, or for life—into a system. He uses the system to draw out lust.
What is lust? We are created with inborn instincts. Our body needs food. Our eyes need to see. Our flesh needs love, family, and affection. God made all these things for us. We should receive them with thankfulness.
Because He has made such provision for us, we know we are not supposed to live for ourselves. He sustains us that we may live for Him, for His glory. That is what ought to be.
But instead of that, the enemy, the wicked one, pushes the world as a system toward us and uses it to entice us: “Forget about God. Think about your own self. You can be god. You do not need God.”
Remember, in the Garden of Eden, how the serpent tempted Eve. Adam and Eve should have been together, but unfortunately somehow they were separated. Eve wandered about, and she wandered into the midst of the garden.
Instead of seeing the tree of life, she looked at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, of which God said, “Of all the trees you may freely eat, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You should not eat of it, because in the day you eat, you shall die.”
Why was that? Because God knows that knowledge without life is death. It was a test to see if man would obey God or not.
But she was standing by that tree, admiring it. “Look at it. Good for food; pleasant to look at.” The enemy used that ground to come in and say, “Did God say, ‘You cannot eat of any of the trees’?”
Of course, it was a lie. But behind that lie was a thought: God is cruel. God is not love. God is jealous.
Desire was created by God, but lust is inordinate desire. We have human desires. That is legitimate; it is from God. God made provision to fulfil all these desires for the glory of God.
But when desire becomes illegitimate, or when that which is lawful becomes unlawful, then there is the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.
Is that not the world? That is the world that entices people. That is the world that deceives people. That is the world that leads people away from God. That is the world that makes man self-centred: self-love, self-sufficiency, self-glory. “We do not need God. We are god.”
It is the world that the enemy uses to bring about that battle. Young men, you are all battling the world. But you should overcome.
Because if you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. It is either the Father or the world. Whom do you love?
Young men, you need to know this. This is the battle you have to fight. Look at the young men today, how they forget the Father and are drawn into the world. They make the things of the world the meaning of their life, the pursuit of their life.
But the world and the things in the world are passing away. Only he that does the will of God abides for ever.
So, young men, you are in the fight. But how are you going to overcome the world? How do you know this is the world? How do you know this is the trick of the devil?
Here you find the secret. Thank God for His provision. The provision is this: you are strong, and the Word of God abides in you.
Thank God for His Word. We have God’s Word. This is God-breathed. Every word comes from God. It is for our instruction, for our teaching, for our consolation, for our correction, that the man of God may be perfect, fully equipped to do God’s will.
So, young men, how are you to fight this battle? By the Word of God. But the Word of God has to abide, not just outside of you.
You are young. Your eyesight is good—not like me; that is why I use such a big one. Your memory is good. You can memorise—not like us older ones; our memory is fading. And you have the time. You are quick.
Read the Word of God. Meditate on the Word of God. Memorise the Word of God. Let the Word of God abide in you richly, and you have the weapon to fight.
Remember, when our Lord Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, what weapon did He use to destroy the temptation? The Word of God.
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Thou shalt not make trial of the Lord thy God.
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.
Our Lord Jesus had the Word of God abiding in Him. When temptation came, the Word of God discerned: “This is temptation. Do not hear it. Overcome it by the Word.”
So, young brothers and sisters, spend time reading the Word. I thank God: when I was saved at fifteen, immediately I spent time before the Lord reading His Word.
Every morning I got up before the family. I went into a room, shut myself in, knelt on the floor, reading the Word of God and praying. This has never left me.
Amen. You are strong, and the Word of God abides in you. Love not the world, nor the things of the world. Thank God: God has made provision, but you have to use it.
Now, the fathers. What is the characteristic of the fathers? Here He says, “I write unto you, fathers, because ye know Him Who is from the beginning.”
What does it mean? You do not need to go too far to discover the meaning, because right in this letter, 1 John 1:1, you find the answer.
That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life—
and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare unto you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us.
In other words, what makes you mature? It is the living knowledge of Christ Jesus, the Son of God: knowing Christ in the eternal purpose of God, knowing what place Christ has in the eternal purpose of God—the fullness of Christ. That is what it is.
Our Lord Jesus is that which was from the beginning. He was with God, and He was God. That which we have heard: the prophets in the Old Testament prophesied about Him. So, when you read the Old Testament, you hear about Him.
That which we have seen with our eyes: two thousand years ago, He came into this world. He was seen by people.
That which we have contemplated: people may see Him, but they only see His outward appearance. Only those who contemplate Him have their inner eyes opened, and they see His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father.
They see Him as the Son of God, as the Christ, the Anointed One, sent by God to accomplish the work of redemption.
That which our hands handled: our Lord Jesus went to the cross and died. He was buried. On the third day, He was raised from the dead. You remember Thomas, His disciple, would not believe it. He said, “Unless I put my finger into His hands and my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
The Lord appeared and said, “Touch Me.” We have seen; we have touched. This is the Word of life. This is the eternal life. This is what we have heard and what has been reported to us.
Brothers and sisters, this full knowledge of Christ in the eternal purpose of God is what makes us mature.
If you read verse 14: “I have written unto you, fathers, because ye know Him Who is from the beginning.” The same thing, as if there is nothing new.
But remember, this full knowledge of Christ is infinite. The riches of Christ, the place of Christ in God’s eternal purpose, are without end. You grow into that knowledge. You grow in knowing Christ, and you grow and grow. Even in eternity, you will continue growing in the knowledge of Christ. God is without end. No wonder.
What is the problem with a father? The problem with the father is that he may think he knows enough. He may think he has arrived. He has not.
For the father, the danger is to slow down, to stop. Everything may slow down. But spiritually, you cannot slow down. On the contrary, you should speed up.
Look at Paul. In the letter to the Philippians, Paul the aged—Paul who had known the Lord so much—counted all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus.
But he said, “Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect.” “I forget the things which are behind, and stretch forward to the things which are before. I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
The word of the Spirit to the church in Philadelphia was, “Hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy crown.” You have won the crown, but it can be taken away. That is the danger.
So, for those who are grown up in the Lord, remember: in spiritual pursuit, you cannot slow down. Your outer man may decay day by day, but your inner man must be renewed all the time.
May the Lord help us that we do not lose the pressure of spiritual pursuit.
Finally, the conclusion is in verse 28. Again, our heavenly Father speaks to us as one family. Whether you are fathers, young people, or little children, we are all children.
The final word is: “And now, little children, abide in Him.” The word of our Father to each and every one of us is: abide in Christ.
Make your home in Christ. Do not wander away from Christ. Live daily, abiding in Him. He provides.
If you are doing that, then when He is manifested, when Christ shall come back, you have nothing to be ashamed of.
That is the word: children of God, make up this.
Dear heavenly Father, dear Lord Jesus, we thank Thee for Thy love to us. Thou hast not only brought us to birth into Thy family, but Thou hast provided for each and every one of us, that we may all grow into sonship, into the fullness of Christ.