Assurance to Spiritual Young Men (1 John 2:13b, 14a)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/22/2024 9:27 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  “Assurance to Spiritual Young Men”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference: 1 John 2:13b, 14a

 

            Message of the verses:  “I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one….I have written to you, young men because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. (2:13b, 14b).

 

            In this SD for this evening we are talking about the second stage of spiritual growth which takes believers from an emphasis on the basic relationship to an emphasis on biblical revelation.  Now in contrast to spiritual children, who are primarily focused on devotion to God, the spiritual young men have advanced to be concerned with clarity of doctrine.

 

            The truth is that spiritual young men are marked by an understanding of Scripture truth, and now I will give some verse references to show this.  (cf. Pss 1:2; 119:11, 16, 97, 103, 105, 148; Acts 17:11; 20:32; 2 Tim. 3:15).  These young men have outgrown the childish self-absorption with feelings and then moved beyond the elementary struggles often that are associated with new Christians.  They now have a biblical worldview, their theology is largely in place, and they have a mature love for the truth and also a desire to proclaim and defend it (cf. Eph. 6:17; 2 Tim. 2:15: Heb. 4:12).

 

            MacArthur concludes “Because the word of God abides in those at this stage, they are strong in doctrinal truth (Eph. 4:13-16; 1 Tim. 4:6; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; Titus 2:1; cf. Ps. 119:99).  As a result, they have already overcome the evil one.  After all, Satan’s primary emphasis is not on tempting individuals to sin (cf. James 1:14), but on working through manifold false religious systems to deceive the word and lead most to damnation (2 Cor. 10:3-5; 11:13-15; Eph. 6:11-12; cf. 1 Tim. 4:1-2; 1 John 3:1,3).  The spiritual young men at this stage of maturity, however, are equipped through their understanding of Scripture to stand firm against his deceptive schemes (Eph. 6:11).  Armed with the sound doctrine they have been taught, they are able to refute error and guard the truth.”

 

            With that we end this section, and I realize that there are many verses that are in this section to look at, which will make this section easier to understand.

 

10/22/2024 9:46 PM