11First John 2:12-14 Little Childen, Young Men, Fathers
1 John 2:12-14 · Bob Eckel · Apr 24, 2022
Letters of John (2022)
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926192645458

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

I'm not going to read a lot of precursor verses here today, only because we're into a new section of First John chapter two. And really, I kind of like the title that Schofield's given this because it continues through the end of the chapter, and it's called Little Children and Their Enemies. But for today's lesson, which Roger has entitled Little Children, Young Men and Fathers is really a very appropriate for the three verses we're going to be studying today.

So let's begin. Let's summarize what Andrew covered last week. Andrew, thank you for the handout. It's always very educational, and I found it uplifting, despite the fact that I wasn't with you at the time you presented it. So the summary of 1 John 9-11, I think I simplistically have boiled that down to light and darkness are contrasted.

We kind of know what that is in physical principles today, you know, sunlight and sunset and day and night and the whole circadian rhythm scenario in terms of the clock genes. I mean, it's a very fascinating area. Science is studied for not only sunlight and sun down, but also studied at every cellular level. In fact, I'll just brag about my second daughter, Kristen, who this is her science. She studies the how these genes that relate to lightness and darkness are controlled. And every cell of the body has its own circadian rhythm. Isn't that amazing the way we're created? I mean, it's so fascinating.

But anyway, back to scripture. Light and darkness, we think of scripturally very clear what that represents. Okay. Secondly, it relates to how light and darkness controls our fellowship with our Lord and Savior and also the brothers in the Lord around us. So I think that was nicely summarized and dealt with last week. And finally, the concept of abiding. If First John has a theme, it's really one of abiding. It's one of fellowship. It's one of a relationship. And it's abiding in the vine, light, rather than self, which is darkness.

And I think, you know, the old man is still there. And all of us, we all have a sin nature that's still there. We know that well, don't we? And even though we're to reckon or consider it dead, indeed, it shows up all the time. So anyway, the light is the Lord Jesus Christ. He provides all the light we need and the darkness never ends, but yet we need to live in light and not darkness.

So that's an attempt to summarize a nice lesson last week from Andrew. All right, so what I've done today is done things a little differently. And rather than cover verse by verse, I've decided to look at the whole section because it really has a theme, these three verses. And then we're going to look at the three people here. So let's read the scripture together.

I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his namesake. And I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. And I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. And I write to you little children, because you have known the father, I have written to you fathers. And because you have known him who is from the beginning, I've written to you young men, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you. And if you have overcome the wicked one.

So ultimately we've got descriptions of these various types of individuals that John brings us attention to. So we've got three categories of believers here. who will be the focus of our study today. So let's start with the first one mentioned here. Kasimov concludes that it seems best to conclude that John used these three stages of life to describe qualities typical of each age group that ought to characterize all believers. I think age group relates to spiritual growth, not the chronological age, and I think we need to up front understand that.

So little children, there are two different Greek terms that are used here for little children. Let's deal with the first one. is technion. And what I've done is I've become phonetically inclined today. Technion, technion, a little child or born one, sons or daughters, and at times is a term of kind address by teachers to their disciples.

And here's an example. In John 13, 33, the Lord says, little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. and you will seek me. And as I said to the Jews, where I'm going, you can't come. So now I say unto you, and then scripture continues. So here, the Lord Jesus Christ uses Technion to ultimately describe his disciples. So it doesn't always apply to young children. Maybe the disciples could be considered young children in terms of their spiritual maturity, right? So that's an interesting thing to think about.

And it's important to note that seven of the nine usages of neon are in 1 John. And I think there's only one outside the gospel of John or in 1 John. I think Paul uses it once, but we don't need to look at that. But anyway, just of interest. Now, let's look at the way John addresses them.

Because your sins are forgiven for his namesake. Why in this manner? Why is John addressing the readers of this epistle in this manner? Because your sins are forgiven for his namesake. Isn't that the start of the Christian life? That's the beginning. The ABCs, right?

Absence of sins in terms that are ultimately being dealt with entirely. So yeah, it's kind of the simple first step, isn't it, for children? Well, it's the basic. You know, and how many times Bob and I've talked about this, how many times Bob and I've talked about this, that, you know, you don't have to have any growth to be a believer, to be saved. which is you don't have the fellowship with fellow believers or with the Lord, but being saved is basic. It's just believing. So that is the absolute beginning. And it is fairly mature, is it not? Oh, absolutely. It's not. It's basically 1 Corinthians 15 gospel, isn't it? We all know that text well.

Any other thoughts about this? Why in this manner would he approach the young children this way? Keep in mind, these are a little child or born ones. It's interesting. We're going to get into the second definition in more detail in a second because it's in the second verse. So Bob, just to kind of play off that, a little, little children could be a 50 year old man or woman.

So, and we have to be careful that we don't say, well, only, you know, age-wise, spiritual. That's why I gave, Right, I think that's so important because that's why time when I defined this I said at times it's a term of kind addressed by teachers to their disciples. So I gave the example of our Lord to his disciples calling them tech neon right little children, little children because he knew ultimately what would happen to them. But at this time, they really were really immature.

All right, so the verb here is in the perfect active indicative tense and voice, etc., which speaks of a past completed action with present and often permanent results. So important that verb tense that sometimes gets mentioned because, you know, your sins are forgiven. It's a done deal.

But that continues even to the sins that we're about these days. And isn't it interesting in the first chapter, the beginning of the second chapter, we talk about approaching the Lord with our sins and ultimately we're forgiven and we restore the fellowship that we've lost by the manifestations of the flesh. And again, we've mentioned this, doesn't this reflect immaturity? And I think it really does.

But having your sins forgiven is the ticket to a eternal presence for the Lord. And, you know, the question comes up is to, you know, the people who are called down the aisle multiple times, you know, they are, you know, there's got to be a little bit of security here, I hope that you know your sins are forgiven. I mean, you can't be doubtful. So Bob, that's that's actually in, you know, some denominations there. People repeatedly do that, unfortunately. And they're not unsure that they're saved. And that's kind of a sad situation that they don't have that understanding. That's bad teaching. It is, absolutely. Bad teaching. Absolutely.

Or the rededication of your life by walking the aisle again. I can't be judgmental here, but many people are there recommitting their flesh to live more of a Christian life. I mean, only the Lord does the answer to this. But anyway, I think we're talking about someone who's early in the faith here. when we're talking about little children.

Hey Bob? Right, go ahead. Yeah, just a thought here that this is a passive voice as well. You touched on that, that the sins are forgiven for you, you don't do it yourself. Well, that's right. And the forgiveness is that, but knowing it, I think is what's present. Perfect act of vindictive. Yes. Thanks. Okay. To go on, just to document that Romans 3, 23, for all of sin, then fall short of the glory of God, right?

1 John 2, 1, my little children, same Greek term. These things are right to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. So, I mean, this concept of being able to maintain this relationship despite the fact that we do fall short. And in the 28th verse of 1 John 2, it says, and now little children abide in him, that when he appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him of his coming. So this, I think, represents what the calling ultimately is.

And by the way, verse 28 kind of begins a new part of 1 John that goes beyond simply the little children and their walk to follow. Although it is somewhat conclusive in saying, abide in him. So abide in him is not related to the forgiveness of their sins. Abide in him carries them to a new plateau.

And remember, I've said multiple times, and I'll say it again, to interpret 1 John correctly. I think you have to be well-founded in Paul and his teachings. Any thoughts about that? Why does John need to go on to add for his namesake? Well, doesn't that glorify him? Doesn't that bring glory to him?

Right. And what other mechanism is there, right? I mean, we could think of maybe traditions in some faiths where, in fact, just meeting with the priest regularly ultimately can give people some security of the fact that God still loves them. But, you know, Hebrews states very clearly we have one high priest who's done it all. So I think to modify this text just reinforces the fact that our sins are forgiven passively, as Roy has mentioned, by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay. And it has the idea he's put away for you permanently because of his name, because of his reputation, the quality of who he is. A necessity, right Roy? Yeah, right.

So, John goes on to state in verse 13, I write to you little children, now a different Greek word, paid, paidion, paidion, where the emphasis is, because you have known Gnosko again, the father. Okay, so now he describes a different type of individual based on the Greek term and that individual is basically a literally an infant. So little children, or pedion, is really a small child recently born. Now, I guess the question comes up, why would he do this?

Well, Wiest has a view of this. Compare technia, little children, which emphasizes the idea of kinship, while this world, pedion, emphasizes the idea of subordination and consequent discipline. Hence, it is more appropriate, it's a more appropriate word when spoken from the standpoint of authority than of affection. What do you make of that?

Children under instruction. Okay, so now we have a small child who's immature in the faith, but now this padeon represents someone who's given to authority and supervision in terms of their growth. So, you could question why do we need both, both verbs and I think we'll get to that here in a second. So again this is Gnoska and it's perfect active indicative a strong statement about these little children so there, there, I think is, it's, again, The fact that I write to you little children because you have known the father. Okay, so knowing the father, this is not iaido, this is not a factual kind of interpretation of the Greek word no. This is a experiential knowledge of the father. So presumably, This other description of little children now are people who are beginning to grow with some direction and some authority.

And we're all doing that here, aren't we? I mean, Roger and Mike are in position now to be our teachers and our leaders, but we grow from one another. It's not like we're thinking of some sort of a platform of authoritarianism where in fact at the top, everything filters down. Some of that happens, but the idea is we're all brothers and sisters in the Lord. and we really uplift one another. That's why fellowship, I think, is so critically important. So I think I went on to now address a question.

Do you think this implies that these are children or babes in Christ who are growing in grace and truth rather than still drinking milk? What do you think in terms of this use of padeia? It would seem like that does indicate that. Padeia is used other places for child instruction. Okay, we have little children now who are immature, but some of these little children, presumably, I'm just, you know, speculating. Some of these children, in fact, are no longer, as 1 Peter says, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby. There's milk to start with.

That knows your sins are forgiven for his namesake. But now the growth requires, I think, some authority, some supervision, some counseling, some direction. And I think that's why we all come here. Any thoughts about little children? We have two descriptions of little children. One of new birth understood that their sins are forgiven. And the second description is one who is now being taught, I think, that is starting to, you know, maybe leaving milk to some extent and going on to meat. Maybe that's an over-interpretation, but at least they appear to be being taught.

All right, let's go ahead to the second group. Fathers, pater. It's interesting the order in which these are mentioned. Little children first, then the fathers, then back to the young men. I have no idea why that was done, but maybe there's a good reason. Maybe it's because the fathers are the one teaching the little children. Somebody's not muted, I think.

All right, pater, or actually better yet, pater. Okay, it's Petar, I guess is where the, you know, the emphasis on the second syllable. It's best interpreted here as Christians who through Christ have been exalted to a close and intimate relationship with God and no longer fear him as a severe judge, but revere him as a reconciled and loving father. Pretty good definition, I think.

Let's drill down on that one a little bit. I think it's exemplified by verses 13 and 14, where in verse 13, it says, I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. We'll come back to that in a second. And in verse 14, I have written to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. Now, do those verses look very different to you?

Let's deal with the beginning. The beginning of what? We dealt with this at the very beginning of our study of 1 John's epistle. What beginning are we talking about here, do you think? Well, there are two possible answers here. One is the very beginning. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. That could be the beginning.

Or the beginning could be the time of conversion. to being dead in trespasses and sins to be, you know, ultimately born again and understand that your sins have been forgiven. Well, I think most commentators, I'm not going to go into describe these in detail, but they feel that First John 1-1 speaks to ultimately the beginning of everything. So that which was from the beginning, which we've heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled concerning the word of life. Now, I think if I look at this, I might say what they're seeing is what's the impact of the new life in Christ Jesus, of sins being forgiven and the body surrounding them.

But I think it could go either way. Do people have an opinion what they think about this? We're coming back to that. I thought we'd deal with the simple part first, the beginning. Which beginning is this? Is this the beginning of the church? Or is this the beginning from time eternal past? I think it's the beginning of the church. Okay. And we dealt with that when we began this study, right? Right. I think it's that beginning.

Is it important? I don't know that it is, but what makes me think that is I think going back to the very beginning would be very complicated when what he's trying to communicate here is really how they've matured after they became believers. And I think going all the way back to the very beginning would sort of throw a monkey wrench for the time being. I mean, I think later on, that's okay to go back, but I think right now, Well, yes, Roy.

I'm just a thought here that the gospel of John deals with his eternity, who he is as God. And here, John is relating a family relationship more than a deity relationship. a personal fellowship. Well, and I think to go along with that, Roy, it follows what Margaret said.

He said, it's something we've heard and we've seen with our eyes. Right. They weren't there to witness the creation. Yes, Patty. I sort of take it that this is John's perspective of him coming to know God personally in his lifetime that he handled, he touched him, listened to him. That kind of a beginning is what he's relating. Okay, thanks for it. Patty has a comment. To me, it almost looks like the beginning is modifying him.

Him who, it's talking about God, who is from the beginning. Well, that's another. Him who is from the beginning, and the other one says same, him. Well, you know, if you look at the details of the birth, you know, they've heard about God as being the creator.

They've seen with their eyes what he's accomplished, not only in the world around them, but in the lives of the believers that they have been brought. into attention with, and we've actually looked upon them with our hands handled. But anyway, it doesn't make any difference. I think it doesn't change the importance of this interpretation. It's relevant, I think, but it really, whether it's the beginning of a church and what's being witnessed, as Roy and Margaret have suggested, or whether it's from the beginning of time.

I mean, again, if we know Paul's writings before John's, we would think then maybe about a bigger interpretation. But anyway, so let's go ahead. Why does John repeat this? Back to you, Sue. Why does John repeat this nearly identical text in adjacent verses? It must be important.

So what's the difference? I write to you, which suggests the current present active form of writing, but then apparently he's written to you before. And when, you know, when we go to commentators, we simply get 15 opinions about what the, but actually there's one opinion I think is possible is this, it's if the letter had begun and was interrupted in some way, and ultimately, Okay.

Sorry. It's interrupted in some way. And now he's, you know, oh, by the way, what I've written you, but that would imply that they've already received part of the, part of the test. I don't know. I, I think it relates to the importance, but the, the verses really say the same thing, except one is present. And the other is, is error is tense. So it's a good question. Sue, I had the same one took me about a half hour, not to resolve it. Okay.

So the overall impression here is that these were older men experienced in truth and in their faith. And ultimately, let's compare the fathers to little children and young men, which we're going to cover here shortly. And I've got a long text here, but I thought Darby really did a great job with this. So let me read this, if you will. So this is the result of all Christian experience. The flesh is judged, discerned, wherever it has mixed itself with Christ and our feelings. It's recognized experimentally as having no value. As a result of experience, Christ stands alone, free from all alloy.

They have learned to distinguish that which has only the appearance of good. Isn't that an important thing for us if we're thinking that we're at the level of the Father? They're not occupied with experience. That would be being occupied with yourself, with your own heart, with your one's own heart. I mean, that's profound, I think. All that has passed away and Christ alone remains as our portion unmingled with ought besides, even as he gave himself to us.

Moreover, he is much better known. They have experienced what he is in so many details. whether of joy and communion with him, on the consciousness of weakness or in the realization of his faithfulness, of the riches of his grace, of his adaptation to our need, of his love, and in the revelation of his own fullness. All of this results in the following, so that they are able now to say, I know whom I have believed. Isn't that great?

And I've highlighted, I think, the key points. This is a result of all Christian experience. They have learned to distinguish that which is only the appearance, only has the appearance of good. And they are not occupied with experience that would be really occupied with yourself. I mean, I think that's profound. And they have experienced what he is in so many details. I think Darby really hit the nail on the head with these fathers. These are mature believers. By the way, when we say young men and fathers, it's not about men and women both. This can be generalized to not one sex, but ultimately to both, in the current terminology, genders, right?

Anyway, we're going to leave that one aside. All right, and I think just one verse, you could pick thousands of verses to represent this. I picked one, Colossians 1, 11. Strengthen with all might according to his glorious power for all patients and long suffering with joy. How about that for just kind of a single verse that really what Paul has stated it means to be a believer and a mature believer. All right, how are we doing time-wise? All right, the third of the three categories of believers is the following.

Young men. Neoniscos. I did pretty well though. So, you know, this is a youth and one definition described as somebody under 40. Now, where they got that, I have no idea. Or a young man. I think that's the general interpretation of the Greek word. As I've gotten older, the young men, the age has increased. Yeah, young men are in their 60s now, right? Maybe even in their 70s for some of us.

Anyway, we'll leave that one on the shelf right now. All right, here's an example of the mindset of a young man. And this is in Matthew 19, 20, and 22. This shows that this would be used, I think, generically. Now, a young man may be in his 30s or early 40s. I mean, I don't think we should die for this. This is Christ himself saying, the young man, and I should have corrected this. It should be 20 to 22. I forgot to take that comma because I added verse 21.

The young man said to him, all these things I've kept. What do I still lack? And Jesus said to him, if you want to be perfect or if you will complete, go sell what you have and give it to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven and come follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went soulfully away, for he had great possessions.

So this isn't the young man that John's talking about here, but this is the generic use of the term young man. I thought I'd put that in perspective. It doesn't relate only to the body, but it could relate to the age of the individual in other places in scripture.

So this is prophetic when we read now about the young men in 1 John 13 and 14. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I've written to you, young men, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the wicked or pernicious one. Now, let's think about this a little bit in terms of the transition from being a little child that is saved because your sins are forgiven And let's think about the Padilla, now the maybe a little bit older child being instructed in the faith.

And we've seen the fathers who are mature in the faith. And, you know, as Darby described them, lots going on that really relates to position, becoming condition. And now we're looking at the young men, some sort of an intermediate thing. And look what's accomplished here. It doesn't describe the maturity of the fathers, does it? But it describes things that have happened at this stage of spiritual development that give some victory over the old man.

So let's drill down on that. The verb begins in the perfect tense. And as Robertson says, a permanent victory after conflict. So this is a sense of permanence. And Wiest, I think, deals with this to some extent. They fought their fight to a finish and were enjoying the fruits of victory. A life lived in the power of the spirit where their victory over Satan was a consistent one.

The wicked one is ton poneron, the pernicious one. The Greek has two words for the idea of wickedness, kakos, which is evil in the abstract, and poneros, which is, again, relates to Satan, evil in active opposition to the good. So they've come to a point in their understanding of scripture and of the Lord Jesus Christ to see that ultimately they see themselves crucified. I'm paraphrasing this, but I think to get to this stage of being a young man or young woman in the faith, you've got to see yourself crucified, buried with him in baptism and death and risen with him in newness of life, accept the position or truth.

And that's how the position affects our condition. So they've overcome the wicked one. It doesn't say they've overcome the flesh because we didn't know we all fall short. And that's why John introduced this text to say if you fall short, confess and move on because your fellowship is restored. You know, overcoming evil through death. Overcoming evil through death. You want to further that thought? Well, just. We got to find out about the self life. You know, and we try to straighten Satan out and we have to come to the end of us.

So just to further that thought with you, what are the three, you know, enemies, if you will, of the Christian? Well, he's got amnesia. I'm not sure I followed that tangent. I don't know his position or possessions yet, but he's been given everything in Christ.

Okay, but what are the powers that go against us living the Christian life? There are three. The world system around us. The scripture in John here doesn't deal with the world system. I mean, but in fact, it's implied in everything that's being said here. Let's talk about the world. Okay.

So what are the other two? The flesh, we have a sin nature that remember, we're crucified with a buried in baptism under death, risen with him and newness of life, we need to consider that true. It doesn't take away the sin picture. Okay, what's the third?

Satan. Okay. So here, this young man or young woman or someone younger in the faith has grown to the extent they understand that they have power over, if you will, all three things. I mean, but I think really Satan is what's being described in detail. And let's go back to the one slide here just a second. And notice the last sentence that we share. The Greek has two words for the idea of wickedness, kakos, which is evil in the abstract. In other words, we know kind of evil when we see it. And poros, which is really evil and active opposition to the good.

Is that not the world system to some extent these days? And is it not Satan himself for sure? But our flesh can act that way sometimes. But in a sense, as believers, we can go to Romans 7 and see how Paul struggled with the law in terms of its impact on the old man. But this is someone who recognizes Satan as the wicked one. and ultimately the source of all evil, who in fact is opposing to do good. So yes, would you say maybe that the young man recognizes what Satan? how much power Satan has, but probably doesn't understand the world system, or that Satan's totally in control of that, or even that his own flesh is evil too. I mean, is it possible that this young man doesn't recognize, but Satan is somebody you can always blame for everything. Yes, but what's the mechanism by which this individual or this, you know, group of individuals ultimately have accomplished what they have in terms of their growth and grace? Yeah, well, Bob, I believe what aren't you going to cover the last part of 14?

And this is from Macaulay. I listened to Macaulay last night. This kind of you are strong and the word of God. Yes, that's where I'm going. Okay. Well, but it's the word of God abiding in them that really is the source. of their truth and their growth. Yeah, exactly, Roger.

I don't mean to dismiss your comment. And strong is, let me try this. Iskaros relates to one who has strength of the soul to sustain the assaults of Satan and perhaps of the world system. And what makes the young men strong? It's exactly that. It's ultimately the word of God abides in them. And as the word of God abides in them, we are able to better discern evil from good.

We're not discerning it the way the world does because it's all law driven, but we're discerning it based on who we are in Christ Jesus. Yes, Roy. Just a thought here that we springs out very close to what you just mentioned, a amplification of the evil of Satan. in that he convinces men to be content to perish in their own corruption. And also that they be content to not only be deceased in their own corruption, but to lead other men into the same state of being content in their own corruption. That's the second word here. That's Satan. He isn't just content to perish in his own evil. He wants to drag us all down.

Oh, that's right. Well, right. You know, that's that's why it was described also as an active attempt. Right. He's active. Satan's active. And I think, you know, it relates to kind of a rabbit trail for a second. But I think Satan's greatest work probably occurs within bodies of Christ. I mean, yeah, I think it's very possible that's true. And I think that's why those who teach false doctrine find great joy in doing it. Yes.

And ultimately, these young men have come to understand this. So this goes beyond being a little child, either one who is not supervised to growth or one who is. Now they've reached the point of having Satan put in his place. The verb overcome here is nikeio, or again, in the perfect tense, you know, again, something that's happened that will continue to occur. And again, as Robertson says, a permanent victory after conflict.

Kind of like Logos Bible, which I'm not sure what the sources of here, but I have a lot of things like we all do, we teach a lot of things to look at. The wicked one who is prince of this world and falls the world, especially the young. Christ came to destroy this prince of the world.

By the way, Hebrews 2.14, positionally Satan's been taken care of. We don't realize that, but he does. And ultimately, you know, we're studying Revelation and Mike Stusky say, Wayne, you're part of that. And so are you, Dave. I mean, I think ultimately we're getting to the point of looking at the tribulation, how this is all going to play out.

But believers achieve the first grand conquest over them when they pass from darkness to light, the theme of First John. But afterwards, they need to maintain a continual keeping of themselves from his assaults, looking to God by whom alone they are kept safe. Bengel thinks John refers especially to the remarkable constancy exhibited by Buce and Domitian's persecution. And remember Domitian, he was one of Caesar's, what's the best term, underlings, if you will, who from like AD 50 through 70 was very involved in persecuting the church along with Nero.

So anyway, that's just what Virgo's Bible says. But I thought the mission made me reflect back on that period of history. And John was alive then. Keep in mind, John wrote the Revelation in AD, what, 90 or something like that. And John now is writing this epistle late in life, too. So he potentially was seeing all this impact of a Satan imprint on the world system.

First John 3.8. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil is sin from the beginning. For this purpose, the son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.

And again, Hebrews 2.14 states it clearly that the cross was the definitive view of God in terms of where Satan ultimately will be cast down to the lake of fire.

Ephesians 6, we're thinking of as we walk in God's word abides in us, we got a lot of armor to put on. And I think we need to constantly go back to Ephesians 6, thinking about this armor. So finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord. Again, the term strong is used in this verse, the one we're studying today. And in the power of his might, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Notice it's not the world system. or not the flesh. We're operating in a kingdom that belongs to someone other than God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, our citizenship is not here. It's in heavenly places. So I'm going to end today for each of us to think about this text and how it relates to us individually. Are you a little child? Whichever definition you want to use there. I don't think we have any technions here, but nevertheless, it's not me to make that decision. Are you a young man or young woman? or you're a father or a mother or senior woman in terms of this relationship to God.

All right, we'll close that. Roy, could you close us in prayer, please? Heavenly Father, we thank you for the privilege of opening your word and becoming acquainted with things that you want us to know about you and about our own Christian walk with you, whether we be just born, whether we be under authority, whether we be young men or whether we be fathers, in all of the aspects of the Christian walk with you, you're in charge. How thankful we are that you put down the deceptiveness, heavenly father of Satan, so that our real joy is only in you and the focus in you. Thank you for that in Christ's name. Amen.