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Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661
Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org
OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”
Nobleton Community Church
Date May 4, 2025
Text Text: I John 2: 12-17
Pastor Paul Lehmann
When John addresses the church in this letter, he uses the term, “God’s children. He describes them as “little children” –that is born-
again ones,” which are new Christians. They are the ones whose sins
have been forgiven, so they all have the privilege of fellowship in the
family, irrespective of growth or maturity. In verses 13 and 14, those
who develop spiritually and enjoy the full privilege of fellowship are
described in these verses from the most mature to the babies. The
mature, that is “fathers,” are characterized by a seasoned knowledge
of Christ (verse 14)—“him that is from the beginning” (mentioned in
John 1:1, also). This experiential knowledge results from intimate
fellowship with the Father and the Son. The “young men,” those
growing in maturity, are commended because they emphatically
overcome the wicked one (Satan), the outcome of being strong
spiritually and of having “the word of God abiding in them.” The
immature, “little children” that are infants in the faith” are spiritually
undeveloped and are to be distinguished from the “dear sons” of
verse 12. Although some are immature, all believers are in the family
of God and know Him as Father and Christ as the Forgiver of their
sins. The need is for all to grow up and enter the full privileges of
fellowship.
This is the result of preaching the gospel. This is the essential
message of the gospel. In Luke 24:47, they were sent out to preach
repentance and forgiveness of sins.
To be forgiven is to be at peace with God, at home with God, in
fellowship and friendship with God, and that is precisely the gift that
Jesus brought to men. John uses the phrase “through (or on account
of) His name.” (verse 12) Forgiveness comes through the name of
Christ Jesus. Acts 4:12 –“Salvation is found in no one else, for there
is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be
saved.” When the Jews used this phrase, “the name,” it stood for the
whole character and nature of a person, not simply the name by
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which a person is called. This use is very common in the book of
Psalms (9:10). They who know your name will put their trust in you.
Those who know God’s nature, God’s character, who He is, and what
He is in so far as it has been revealed to men, will be ready and
eager to put their trust in Him because they know what He is like (Ps.
20:7). Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will trust (or
remember) the name of the Lord. Some people put their trust in
earthly help; (for us, like the government, ) but we will trust God
because we know His name, His nature, His love, and His mercy
So then, John means that we are assured of forgiveness because we
know the nature and the character of Jesus Christ. We know that
Jesus is the express image of God, that in Him we see God. We see
in Jesus’ sacrificial love and patient mercy; therefore we know that
God is like that; and therefore, we can be sure that there is
forgiveness for us.
Then there is the gift of increasing knowledge of God.
To know God was not merely to know Him as the philosopher knows
Him, it was to know Him as we would know a close friend and a friend
knows us. In Hebrew “to know” meant intimacy. (In old English it
means this also.) John doesn’t mean here, that the Christian will just
learn more and more knowledge about Christ, but that they will
become more intimate with God as a friend, and become more and
more like Him.
There was a false teaching at this time called “Gnosticism.”
It’s name came from the Greek word for knowledge, (gnosis.) The
Gnostics believed that knowledge was the way to salvation. For this
reason, Gnosticism was condemned as false and heretical by several
writers of the New Testament. The Gnostics accepted the Greek idea
of a radical dualism between God (spirit) and the world (which was
matter.) According to their worldview, the created order was evil,
inferior, and opposed to the good. God may have created the first
order, but each successive order was the work of antigods, archons,
or a demiurge (a subordinate deity).
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The Gnostics also taught that every human being is composed of
body, soul, and spirit. Since the body and the soul are part of
people’s earthly existence, they are evil. Enclosed in the soul,
however, is the spirit, the only divine part of this triad. This “spirit” is
asleep and ignorant; it needs to be awakened and liberated by
KNOWLEDGE, so the inner person can be released from the earthly
dungeon and return to the realm of light where the soul becomes
reunited with God. As the soul ascends, however, it needs to
penetrate the cosmic spheres that separate it from its heavenly
destiny. This, too, is accomplished by the knowledge they taught.
One must understand certain formulas that are revealed only to the
initiated.
Ethical behavior among the Gnostics varied considerably. Some
sought to separate themselves from all evil matter in order to avoid
contamination.
Paul might have had these people in mind when he wrote to
Timothy in Tim. 4:1-5. “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some
will abandon their faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught
by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose
consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people
to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God
created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and
who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing
is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is
consecrated by the word of God and prayer.”
For some Gnostics, since they had received divine “knowledge” and
were supposed “truly informed”, they reasoned that it didn’t matter
how they lived. This of course is a huge misunderstanding of the
gospel.
Since we have been forgiven, and we have the possibility of
knowing the truth from God’s Word, led by His Spirit;
We have the gift of victorious strength,
A strength that comes from the Holy Spirit and allows us, or
helps us to live holy lives.
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But there is also a peril that we are warned of: In verse 15 this
warning is couched in a two-fold command:
“DO NOT LOVE THE WORLD.” (the kosmos), the world system
under which Satan has organized fallen mankind upon his God-
opposing principles of pride, selfishness and ambition. We see this in
Matthew 4: 8 and 9, where Satan takes Jesus to a high mountain and
showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this
I will give you,” he said, “If you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus
said to him, “Away from me, (K.J.V.- get behind me Satan!) For it is
written: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”
Also Eph. 2:1 and 2; “ As for you, you were dead in your
transgressions and sins, In which you used to live when you followed
the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the
spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” Then in
chapter 6 verse 12; “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood,
but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of
this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly
realms.” “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day
of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground….
In I John 4:4 John says; “You dear children”—there he says it again;
are from God and have overcome them (the false prophets and
teachers mentioned in the first 3 verses)—because the one who is in
you is greater than the one who is in the world.
In I John 5:3, John says that the love of God is to obey His
commands, “And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone
born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has
overcome the world, even our faith.
The second command given in the last part of the sentence is:
“…OR ANYTHING IN THE WORLD.”
Such as it’s wealth, pleasure or honors. It is useless to claim we do
not love the world yet love what it offers. Why would we have such a
warning? Does this mean that there isn’t anything good in the world?
You say Pastor Paul, I thought God created everything, and when He
was finished He said; “It is GOOD.” This is true, and we just read that
also in I Timothy, but don’t forget what happened after that. Adam
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and Eve disobeyed and sin entered into the world, and into their lives,
and what was good became distorted. When Satan was put out of
heaven he was given the liberty to control the kingdom of the air.
(Luke 10:18) When Jesus received the 72 disciples that he sent out
to minister, and they were so happy and said “even the demons
submitted to us in your name.” Then Jesus said; “ I saw Satan fall like
lighting from heaven.” This is what Isaiah is talking about in Isaiah
14:12; “ How you have fallen from heaven, o morning star, son of the
dawn You have been cast down to the earth…you said in your
heart…I will make myself like the Most High.” Jesus went on to tell
the disciples; “ I have given you authority to trample on snakes and
scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will
harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but
rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
We read in Eph. 2: one and two, that also Satan is at work in the
spirits of those who are disobedient.
Augustine wrote in his commentary about this passage:
“Loving the created world is not wrong as longas our loving God is
not diminished. To love the world and fail to love God would be like a
bride, who, being given a ring by her bridegroom, loves the ring more
than the groom who gave it. Of course, she should love what the
groom gave her, but to love the ring and despise him who gave it is to
reject the very meaning of the ring as a token of his love. Likewise,
men who love creation and not the creator are rejecting the whole
meaning of creation. We ought to appreciate the creation and love
the creator because of it.”
So what’s the reason for the warning?
First: The love for the world excludes love for God.
Verse 15 goes on to say; “If anyone loves the world, the love of the
Father is not in him.” Now there is much beauty in the world that God
created. I just love to look at large bodies of water, mountains, hills,
streams, valleys and gorges etc. But what we are talking about here
is not the physical creation of the world, but man’s system of living, a
society that has gotten more and more away from God in the last 50-
75 years, and some today would like to remove any influence of Him
from society.
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So contrary is the evil world to all that God is, both cannot be loved at
the same time. “The world” embraces “the lust of the flesh,” the keen
desire of the unregenerate man centered upon self and opposed to
God. In Romans 7:18, the apostle Paul says; “I know that nothing
good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to
do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the
good I want to do; no the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on
doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it,
but it is sin living in me that does it. …What a wretched man I am!
Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—-
through Jesus Christ our Lord!
“The lust of the eyes” is the strong appetites which master our body,
soul and spirit through the eye gate. The “ride of life,” is the vain
display of godless living. Thus the evil world is completely at variance
with our indefinitely holy God.
Secondly: The world is fleeting and isn’t permanent.
It is even now passing by, in a state of transition a parade and it will
soon be gone, as well as “its lusts.” By contrast, the doer of God’s will
is destined for permanence. We see this in verse 17 –“but he who
continually does God’s will remains forever,” even as God abides
forever, for he is linked eternally with God in Christ and in present
unbroken fellowship.
No matter who they are, their sins have been forgiven; no matter who
they are, they know Him who is from the beginning; no matter who
they are, they have the strength which can face and over come the
Evil One. The best defense of the Christian against sin is to
remember who and what we are, and what God has done for us in
Jesus Christ.
Bill and Gloria Gaither have written a tremendous song that declares
who we are:
“ If you could go with me, back to where I started from,
then I know you would see, a miracle of love that took
me in its sweet embrace, and made me what I am today,
just an old sinner saved by grace.”
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“How could I boast of anything I’ve ever seen or done?
How could I dare to claim as mine the victories God has
won? Where would I be had God not brought me gently
to this place? I’m here to say I’m nothing but a sinner
saved by grace. I’m just a sinner saved by grace, When
I stood condemned to death He took my place, Now I
live and breathe in freedom with each breath of life I
take, Loved and forgiven, Back with the living, I’m just a
sinner saved by grace.
The song poses the question; “how could I boast of
anything I’ve seen or done?”
We can’t! That is the pride of life, that John is
talking about, when we somehow think that we
can be good enough to inherit eternal life. It is
only Jesus that is good enough to take our sins
upon Him.