This is the sixth in a series of verse-by-verse expositions of the book of 1 John. This message was delivered at Hillcrest Baptist Church on the evening of February 9, 2014. This message deals with how a Christian can overcome Satan. This post contains an audio recording of my message, along with my sermon notes. Please note that the sermon notes are not a full transcript.
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SERMON NOTES:
1 John 2:12-14
v.12:
John was writing to believers of all ages. The “children” had experienced forgiveness through Jesus.
It’s good to encourage other believers, especially those who are new in the faith.
Here, he offers them the most basic and universal words of assurance, the forgiveness of sins.
Notice that it says their sins ARE forgiven, not were forgiven.
The saving work of Christ is not a past event, but is always a present event.
That means that once your sins are forgiven, they are always forgiven.
They are forgiven for His name’s sake. He is our atonement and our advocate.
His name represents both His person, and His saving work.
Acts 4:12
vv.13-14:
“Fathers” speaks to those who are mature in the faith.
Those who were “mature in the faith” had a long-standing relationship with Christ.
The “young in the faith” are somewhere in between the children and the fathers.
They had battled with Satan’s temptations and had won.
Each stage of life in the Christian pilgrimage builds upon the other.
As children learn about Christ, they grow in their ability to win battles with temptation.
As young adults move from victory to victory, they grow in their relationship with Christ.
Older adults, having known Christ for years, have developed the wisdom needed to teach young people and start the cycle all over again.
These verses speak of overcoming the wicked one, who is Satan.
Thankfully, God has not left us defenseless, the Bible tells us a number of ways which we can overcome Satan.
In fact, one of the first things that a believer needs to understand, is that God allows temptation to teach endurance. This is taught to us in James chapter 1.
The Bible also instructs us to yield ourselves to God, which is an important defense.
Romans 6:13
We are to clothe ourselves with the armor of God.
Ephesians 6:13
We are simply to give no place to the devil.
Ephesians 4:26-27
We should not let others entice us
Proverbs 1:10
Thus not even entering the path of the wicked.
Proverbs 4:14
Knowing God’s word is very important to implementing these defenses.
The Word of God was the very defense that Jesus Himself used to resist Satan, and it will work for us, as well.
Satan is not to be taken lightly, as he can be a real threat. We should constantly be on guard.
1 Peter 5:8
Peter gave this warning to Christians in all stages of life, and we should heed it as well.
In fact, it seems that Satan’s greatest victories are won when he can cause the fall of a Christian leader.
By doing so, he not only destroys that leaders testimony and influence, he gives an opportunity for God’s enemies to blaspheme.
2 Samuel 12:14
Satan may take shots at us, but we don’t have to provide him the ammo to shoot with.
We need to remember that the devil may be a roaring lion, but that is not how he will appear.
He deceives the whole world, and will appear as an angel of light.
Revelation 12:9
2 Corinthians 11:14
We can be thankful that Jesus has already defeated Satan, so the safest place to be is near Him.
James 4:7–8
In Defense: The Blog 
Posted on February 21, 2014
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