I just want to make another announcement.
Happy anniversary of the general.
that they have anniversaries.
Well…
A short while ago, we had a major event occur. Does anybody know what that event was?
Anybody? Nobody?
What was that about?
Honey. Nobody?
Daylight savings time. I'm still confused. I always have that concern during daylight saving time if my milk is going to go bad.
That's an old joke, but it still has some mileage on it.
But I wanted to take a look today at 1 John and just continue in 1 John. I have this PowerPoint here, and I just wanted to review what we talked about last time. You recall last time I was speaking, I spoke on the first chapter of 1 John, but let's open up with a word of prayer before we begin.
Our Father, we come before you in Jesus's name and we're grateful. We're a thankful people. The bulletin says that we're commanded to be thankful because of all that you've done for us.
And we thank you, Lord, for the Word of God, which guides us in our lives as we progress
Slowly and surely.
in this plan that you have, which is conformity to your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We give you thanks.
And prays for so many things in our lives, Lord. Open the word to us.
We thank you for every nugget of truth that we've learned by the power of the Holy Spirit, illuminating the word to us. And we just give you thanks today.
In Jesus's name amen
So last time I spoke on 1 John chapter 1,
And as I mentioned, I'm using the New King James in his prologue, which is the first four verses of 1 John.
John has some things to say about his encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. He saw the Lord Jesus Christ. He observed him. He was real and deeply, deeply impacted their lives.
And as I mentioned in the New King James Version, what John wants to say, the subject and the verb occur in verse 3, and that
is this, we, the subject, proclaim, we apostles, or John
Apostle, the last living apostle at this point.
When the book was written, proclaim to you
Number one, which was from the beginning. Number two, what we have heard, verse 1, 1 John chapter 1.
Number three, what we have seen
And what we have looked at and touched, remember I mentioned in verse 4, it's not just that they saw Jesus, they gazed upon him. This means a sustained gaze.
Watching him, looking at how he lived his life.
And it deeply, deeply influenced them. Then number two, this all emphasizes that this word was real.
He was in the flesh and it was an obvious reference to Jesus. If we could just advance the slide one more.
We mentioned that John is writing this book
And in the background is heresy. That heresy is Gnosticism. And it's a significant heresy. He's writing this at the end of the first century. It becomes very strong.
In the second and third centuries, and it was leading people astray. And so he makes in chapter one several claims that they were saying and he contradicts them. The first claim in verse 6, chapter 1 is that if we say we have fellowship with him.
and walk in darkness.
This is John's conclusion. You're a liar. We lie and do not practice the truth. He's very strong in his language. He is an old man and he's going to tell it like it is.
If you could advance the slide.
The second claim found in verse 8, 1 John chapter 1, if we say we have no sin, this is the denial of the sin nature.
The conclusion is we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
If you could advance final claim that he makes 1 John chapter 1, if we say we have not sinned.
we make him a liar and his word is not innocent. A great application of that is if we're reading the word of God, it points something out to us and we just deny it. We refuse to deal with it.
We're making him a liar because he's saying that and we're saying no.
I won't do that. Advance the slide if you could.
In chapter 2, verse 1,
John has a solution for sinners, and that is A, that we have an advocate with the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ, the righteous, that's what he is
1 John 2, verse 1. And then finally, if you get to advance the slide one more time.
mentioning this about Jesus, he himself jesus is the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation is that
a large word that means
the turning away of the wrath of God. So very much John was a Jew. He was thinking about the Old Testament where sacrifices were offered, sin is committed. The scriptures
make a prescription as to what to do. You offer a sacrifice and you're cleansed.
But that sacrificial system did nothing to cleanse the conscience. It was a temporary, a shadow, an unspoken prophecy of what is to come, and that is Jesus Christ offering that perfect sacrifice and turning the wrath of God away, propitiating it so that a relationship can begin.
And what he's talking about is it's not just, hey, I forgive you, but I don't want a relationship with you. This is the full scope of what Jesus does. I forgive you. I want a relationship with you, and there is a way to do this.
Breathing out confession, breathing in, I'm sorry, breathing out confession, breathing in forgiveness. This is continually walking with him as we make
our path walking with him eventually
eventually to ultimately spend an eternity with him. If you could advance the slide one more.
One of the great points, application points from last time, is don't mess with things.
that can get you into trouble. He says, these things are right to you that you may not send, but if we sin, we have an advocate with the Father who has propitiated the sin, not just for us, but for the whole world. It's available for everyone.
Place your faith in Christ.
And you can be saved. Believe in that finished work. So now we come into the second portion of what I'd like to look at today. And if you want to just advance it to the cover of the splash screen in the beginning.
And we can look at our beautiful
building here.
The beautiful shot. I wanted to take a look at the passage for today, which is 1 John 2, verses 3 through 11, and let's just read those verses together.
1 John 2, verses 3 through 11, I have the New King James.
It says this.
Now, by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments.
He says, I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. Verse 5, but whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him.
Verse 6, he abides in him on himself also to walk just as he walked.
First seven years, this term of endearment, brethren.
I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning.
The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning.
Verse 8, again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in him?
And in you, because the darkness is passing away.
And the true light ish already shining.
First time, he says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now.
Verse 10, he loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
But he who hates his brothers in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going.
Because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
It's an interesting thing. Every time I attend the Lord's Supper, I'm going to speak then. I always wait to see if someone mentions something on the portion I'm going to speak on. And sure enough, Dave Brock got up.
And he shared something on 1 John 2, verse 1 beautifully. Christ is our advocate in our propitiation.
kind of a little indicator that maybe I'm on the right track here.
So if we take a look at our portion for today, John tells us why he wrote this epistle. Number one, that we might have fullness of joy, chapter 1, verse 4.
And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.
He wants us to have fullness of joy, the life that is real in the heart of the believer, and that brings fullness of joy. He writes about that we might not sin.
But if we have sinned, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus, the righteous. And John says he's our propitiation, our atoning sacrifice. So he writes this letter that we may have fullness of joy, that you do not sin, and that you be not deceived.
Look at me at chapter 2, verse 26. He says this.
These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you.
So we need to be careful that we're not deceived doctrinally or theologically and that we are not led astray by false
falsehood or false teachers.
Many of these things could really have an effect on our lives without reason number four, why did John write this letter? That you may know that you have eternal life.
Let's go to 1 John 5, verse 13. It says this, these things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know you have eternal life.
And that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
John wants us to have a shirts. The more that I walk with the Lord, the more I talk with people and such, the more that I realize that believers need assurance.
This is how we progress. We need to know that what he says is true
And to base our lives upon it.
Some things are hard, some things are a little bit easier, but we need that assurance.
We need assurance, and this will bring you fullness of joy, freedom from sin, and it helps you not to be led astray. And you can have that assurance when you die.
that you will go to heaven. John wants us to know that.
Why? Because there were false teachers that came into the church. He's writing this from Ephesus.
They were known as Gnostics. This is the beginning stages I mentioned. The word Gnostic comes from the Greek word ginosko, which means to know.
These are a group of elitists who taught that they had superior knowledge
And that salvation was through knowledge or information.
So John wanted to write against this heretical teaching known as Gnosticism.
Gnostics were false teachers.
Notice…
what they had to say implied by what John says here. Let's look at 1 John 2, verse 4. Notice what John says.
Hughes says, I know him
So this is the first false profession. They, the Gnostics, would say with their lips an emphasis here is on the word say. They would say, I know him, the Lord Jesus.
But John goes on to say in verse 4 that if you don't keep Jesus's commands, then you are a liar and the truth is not in you. So he's attacking these false beliefs here. It's a false profession when you say, you know him, but in reality, you don't keep
His commandments, this is the habitual practice of just not obeying what he says. This isn't just the believer that backslides.
a believer that has a besetting sin or whatever this is
people whose lives show that there is no life whatsoever.
By the way, John, later on in chapter 4 tells us that professing that Jesus did not come in the flesh
is not keeping his commandments. Why? Because the very basis of our salvation
centers on Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection. If he didn't come in the flesh, none of that can work.
And the Gnostics were saying, well, he was just a phantom, a spirit, and you can do anything you want in the body because
spiritual knowledge about information, it's all in the mind. But in fact, what John is saying is that, no, Christ came in the flesh.
And what you do in the body matters a great deal.
Let's jump down to chapter 2, verse 6. In verse 6, John tells us that he who says he abides in him also ought also to walk just as he walked.
So profession number two, which states, I know I'm is judged by the professing party's walk with God.
Okay, let me watch your behavior, watch your walk with God. Let me see how you live your life. You ought to walk as Jesus walked. And again, he's
focused on these false teachers.
examining them
Verse 9, he says, he who says he's in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now.
So you see, I know him, I abide in him. You say, I'm walking in the light. Those are all things you say, but your life speaks otherwise.
what we believe should determine how we behave and our character should influence our conduct.
So what we do is an indication of who we really are in our essence.
Now, these two tests we are going to look at this morning, the verses will cover first the moral test.
Do you really know him? Are you a child of God?
Are you walking in fellowship with them? Are you obedient to them? It's the moral test of obedience and it's based on the fact
that John says God is light.
Remember, he says in this epistle, God is light.
as to his very nature, God is holy, so his people are going to walk in holiness. So that's test number one.
Test number two is the social test that is love. Do you love your brother? Do you love your neighbor? Do you have God's love flowing through you?
God is light. You walk in holiness. God is love. You walk in love.
So if God is light, his people are light.
If God is love, his people walk in love.
And then there is a third test.
Which we can cover another time, and that is the doctrinal test. God is life.
So God is love, God is light, God is life.
1 John 5, 12 says this, he who as the Son is life, he who does not have the Son, does not have life.
And also in John, the Gospel of John 3.36, but the wrath of God abides on him.
So let's look at our verses for today. We begin with the moral test we spoke about.
1 John 2, verses 3 through 6.
And it starts out by saying this, now by this we know
Recall that John is writing this epistle to counter Gnostic professions and heresies. They have this so-called superior knowledge.
But John actually uses the word ginosco right here, as he says, by this we may know.
Same word. As he continues, he says, that we know him if we keep his commandments. So here in verse 4, we find the first false profession made by the Gnostics.
He who says, I know him, verse 4, and does not keep his commands as a liar.
And the truth is not in him. Verse 5, but whoever keeps his word
Now, John moves from commandments to word
truly for the child of God, the love of God is perfected in him.
By this, we know that we are in him. Verse 6, he who says he abides in him, this is the same idea.
You say you know him, you say you're in fellowship with them.
You say, abide with him, then that person ought himself to walk just as he walked.
Now remember, as I said, John is coming against a false teaching known as Gnosticism. The result of this false teaching is that it led to a belief that it didn't matter how you lived.
that God doesn't care what you did to the body.
Gnosticism concerned itself with intellectual attainment only.
Of course, this is contrasted with Christianity's requirement of moral conduct.
Gnostics falsely claim that the knowledge of God freed them from obligations or moral law and responsibility. Of course, Christian doctrine says that we're saved by grace through faith. It's unearned and it's undeserved.
We are saved because Jesus Christ paid our sin debts past, present, and future. Can I get an amen? All right.
Michael Heiser, an Old Testament scholar, likes to say, what cannot be earned through merit
cannot be lost through unmerit.
Salvation is a free gift of God.
Furthermore, adding up the facts of Jesus's work on the cross, what the Bible says about how one gets saved is not a work. It's just adding up the facts and believing.
The old hymn writer wrote this, simply to the cross, I'm sorry, nothing to the cross I bring simply to your cross I cling.
So we come, we trust him, but once we've done that, the evidence that we're born again is a changed life.
That change comes quicker for some, slower to others.
But the inevitable power for salvation leads us to conformity to Christ.
In short, there has to be some evidence of life.
One of those indications is a growing love of God's
commands of being enlawed to Christ.
Lawlessness and law. Lawless means you're refusing to submit to his laws.
commands. NLOD means you're willingly subjecting yourself to what he has to say.
As we grow, we begin to see God's things God's way, and we want to follow his commandments, his word.
One wants to obey and to do his will, even at substantial cost at times.
I have a friend who works for a very, very large company. He's a real estate agent.
He signed a pretty lucrative contract to work and
He has a Twitter following, a large one, and he made his views known on the LBGT community and they called him in.
And HR had a talk with him and said, you can't do that.
And then he witnessed to a person at work, that person complained, and HR called him again and said, you can't do this.
And continue to witness when it was appropriate. And now they've told them we're not renewing your contract in August.
So substantial costs. And he said, I've got to do what I got to do.
You know, very interesting.
So.
one wants to obey, do his will even at substantial cost. If you say you're a Christian and you don't read your Bible or obey it or keep his commands.
you have a question to ask yourself.
You have to ask yourself.
or submit yourself to the test, am I really a child of God?
We're not talking about sinless perfection, but the question is, am I serious about following the Lord?
So as John is saying here, being a Christian means that we live and walk as Jesus walked. John says that, no, you're not
free from God's commands and loving obedience is the only way of proving that we really know God.
John is stating that nothing can take the place of obedience to him.
So not ever increasing lawlessness, not legalism, not rules, but loving the person of Jesus and taking up our cross
daily in submission to him.
It's a very interesting passage in 1 John 15. Maybe you are familiar with it probably. This is where Saul is anointed king
And one of the first tests early on in his kingship
He's put to the test. And so 1 Samuel 15, verse 1, it says this.
Samuel, who was the prophet at the time, he's a judge, but then they transition from judge to king. Saul is the first king. Samuel said to Saul, the Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people.
over Israel. Now therefore heed the voice of the words of the Lord.
Verse 2, thus says the Lord of hosts, I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel.
How he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack
Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have done and do not spare them.
kill both man and woman infin a nursing child.
oxen sheet, camel and donkey.
As Saul goes about attacking the Amalekites, the Bible says that he was successful in conquering them, yet verse 9,
makes mention of this. Verse 9.
1 Samuel 15, it says this, but Saul and the people spared the Amalekite king
Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them.
But everything despised and worthless they utterly destroyed.
Therefore, Saul did not follow all that God through the prophet Samuel tells him to do, and Saul interferes with God's intent to completely punish the Amalekites for their wickedness.
In verse 13 it says, then Samuel went to Saul and Saul said to him.
Blessed are you of the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.
Verse 14, Samuel said.
baloney you did. Now that's my paraphrase, but he says, baloney, what then is the bleeding of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
Samuel goes on to say this, verse 18, now the Lord sent you on a mission and said, go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.
Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil and do evil in the sight of the Lord?
Samuel then rebukes Saul by saying, here is my point. Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices?
As in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed or to listen
than the fat of rams. Here's God's point. You can't try to do what you think are good things to make up for what I wanted you to do.
Which is to obey God wants obedience.
All parents want kids to have loving obedience.
Boy, do we wish that would be the case.
Especially obedience without grumbling.
You want the obedience to be immediate, heartfelt obedience. God wants the same from his children.
Ask yourself, do I pass the test? Am I obedient to his word?
Notice in chapter two, verse 3, the mark of the believer is that he keeps his commands.
He moves from fellowship to knowing Christ.
And then to the concept of walking with him in the light while keeping his commands and keeping
his commandments.
So the knowledge John writes about in verse 3 and 4 is not a theoretical knowledge, it's not speculative. It's an experiential knowledge through experience.
Again, that Greek word ginosko.
It means to dome from experience.
If I say I know I'm not about him, but actually know him, that I'm going to keep his commandments. These are the teachings of Christ and of God in general. God has changed our hearts and it's a delight to do his will.
Jesus delighted to do the Father's will.
Here is Philippians. It says this, Philippians 3.10, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection.
and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death.
Knowing him means we are shaped and molded into his image. And the question is.
How do we know that we know him?
We know him by keeping his commandments. Note that the Greek word is present tense. It means ongoingly, continually, habitually, willingly, voluntarily to keep his commands.
And it means submission and conformity to his will found in his word.
both our outward conduct and inward disposition.
It's interesting, Jade Nicholson in the series that we're doing on Wednesday.
You know, he was talking about
grieving the Holy Spirit. And a lot of times it's the attitudes that we bring to him.
I'd have to examine that in my own life. Are we dwelling on attitudes that are not pleasing to the spirit?
And this is something that we have to put our tests to, put ourselves to the test in light of the word of God.
So verses 4 and 5, the application of this test, for Istia, you have the claim in verse 4, he who says I know him.
If this is your claim, then here's a test keeping his commandments. And I know this is repetitive, but this is how John does it, repeating these things.
And the verse goes on to say that the person who claims this but does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth's not in him.
Again, this is the beloved disciple, the apostle of love saying this.
And because he loves us, he tells us the truth.
blatantly and openly, you are a liar.
This kind of preaching isn't going to fill a church. You're liable to empty it if you keep on this kind of preaching. It's the opposite of what people want to hear. Usually it's, I'm okay, you're okay.
or it kind of amounts sometimes to just
a giant
I guess kind of a, I don't know, social or
kind of a surface level encouragement and stuff, but Bill McDonald
Always set about good preaching, it should result in the listener saying, I must do something.
That's what preaching is supposed to do. So John says, the one claiming to know Jesus but habitually not keeping his commands is a liar.
Someone could say, I didn't come to Wabatasa Bible Chapel to hear this stuff.
But I would say that John said this, blame him, okay? This is God's word. Anyone can say, I know him, but if you really know him, you know him by obedience. So verse 5.
Some, of course, pass this test, thankfully, but whoever keeps his word, he says in verse 5,
These are those who are keeping his word in a general sense. They're walking with him in fellowship. Truly the love of God is perfected in him.
So by keeping his word, the believers brought to maturity.
What does maturity, making discerning choices based on the handling of the word of God. Hebrews 5 says this, as we get to know the Word of God, we're able to make more and more discerning decisions.
And this is how we know them. We are habitually keeping his word or practicing the truth.
God's love is perfected in our hearts.
Notice once again at the end of 1 John 2, verse 5, this is how we know him, and this is what brings assurance. We're brought back to that idea of assurance.
It's like a Krishna who starts to sin, just practices sin, and you know what? The devil shows up at your door
And says, do you're not a Christian, you're not saved, you're not a believer. Christians can't fall in this kind of sin. The result is someone can start to doubt their salvation upon examining themselves.
Even though there's no condemnation in Christ Jesus, kind of thinking can happen.
This can push away from Christ, but there's conviction for sin that pushes us to Christ as we examine these things.
The conviction serves to push you to Christ, to confess and restore fellowship.
If you're feeling condemned because of sin today, like I can't pray, I can't read my Bible, then this must be countered by confession and repentance.
Let his Holy Spirit convict you to confess your sin and restore fellowship and let the Holy Spirit draw you back to Christ.
Remember, we looked at this last time, 1 John 1, verse 9 says, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Be ready and willing to turn back.
So if we're truly walking as he walked, we're going to walk in holiness. We're going to walk in the light, verse 7.
We're going to walk in forgiveness.
Ephesians 4.32 says, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as Christ, as God in Christ forgave you.
So I'm going to walk as he walked. I'm going to walk like Jesus did, and I'm going to walk in forgiveness.
But then you say, how does this happen?
It happens not by impersonation, but impartation by Christ living in you.
Ray Giannini is dead. He died the moment he believed in Christ. He was crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless, it's not me, but Christ living in me.
And he's living through me to help me walk in holiness, to help me walk in submission.
Tell me in my walk in love.
As I mentioned earlier, Jesus always did those things that pleased the Father.
Is the passion of your life that which pleases him to be submitted to him?
Is your attitude toward the Word of God something that would please God? Do you pass the test?
Now, as our time is running out here.
Because of all the great singing, I have enjoyed that. Nathan, you're doing a great job up there organizing music. Thank you all you amazed folks. That song.
wow, you're going to have to…
record that song and record that song
and have more and more people listening. It's fantastic.
So the second test is a social test. Love, God is light as children walk in light, and holiness, God is love, his children walk in love.
Let's read verses 7 through 11 here.
Brethren, I write no new commandment to you but an old commandment which you have heard from the beginning.
The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in him and in you because the darkness is passing away.
And the true light is already shining.
Verse 9, he who says, there it is again, a claim made, he who says he's in the light.
This light being synonymous with fellowship, keeping his commandments.
Just like the previous claim, I know him. He says he's in the light and hates his brothers in darkness until now, and John says, then you're a liar.
John is saying that person is in darkness.
And then notice verse 10.
He loves his brother, abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
And he hates his brothers in darkness and walks in darkness.
and does not know where he's going.
Why does he not know where he's going?
Because the darkness has blinded his eyes. He's blind because of darkness.
So John singles out a particular command for special attention. The command is to love.
Why does he use the Tour Commandment? As we discussed, God is not only light, but he is love. If we are the children of God, then we're going to walk in love.
But again, John is thinking of these false teachers, the Gnostics, these arrogant exclusiveness was the
the epitome of an unloving attitude. Later on in 1 John, he says they
went out from us because they didn't know us.
They didn't want fellowship. They didn't want that intimacy with Christ Jesus.
They denied that Christ existed or came in the flesh.
they were unloving toward others. And again, if ever there was a birthmark of the Christian, it's love.
That's not a bumper sticker that says coexist. It's not a what would Jesus do bracelet, although they're very helpful. It's not a Christian haircut, whatever that is.
It's love, for God is love. Jesus said…
By this you will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.
So we see love's oldness
You could say, well, what do you mean by love's oldness?
To love one another is not a new command.
John writes, brethren, I write to you no new command. It's old. It's been around a long time.
It's what is called the Shema.
in the Jewish religion, right? Hero, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Deuteronomy 6.4. And then 5 says, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, and your strength.
So the Shema is considered the most fundamental Jewish prayer representing the core beliefs of oneness with God.
It talks about, it mentions a complete devotion to God with every aspect of one's being.
Well, they asked Jesus who his neighbor was, and in the peril of the Good Samaritan, we find out that
Our neighbor is anyone that has need.
That's what it all boils down to. In fact, in the Jewish tradition of teaching, he says.
what is your, when he's confronted with, well, who is my neighbor? He says, what is your reading of it?
And it turns out it's anyone that has need, that's love.
We know this is hard, but that's what Jesus wants.
It doesn't depend on your neighbor's religious affiliation or any other distinction. Jesus included everyone.
Now the Jews interpretation was they were only to love fellow Jews, not Gentiles, but Jesus made his point clear. It is anyone, even if they don't look or act or live like us.
So this is the old commandment.
But Jesus said, this is also a new commandment to love others. And he adds, as I have loved you.
So it's old, but it is new.
1 John 2, verse 8. Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in him.
that is in Christ and in you. That is the believer. Why?
Because the darkness is passing away.
In other words, you were unregenerate, you were unsaved, now you're born again.
Now you are a child of God. Now you're living in the light and the true light is already shining.
So in verse 7, we have the oldness of the law of love. Verse 8, we have the newness of the law of love.
Jesus gave the law of love a new dimension, a new depth.
The word new there in this verse, 8, is not new in time, but newness in quality or type.
It's like when you buy a product and it says new and improved.
But it's sometimes not new and improved. The price is new and improved. Usually it's higher, but you still can't get that catch-up stain on your pants with this new improved product. That's not what he's saying here. He says a new commandment I give you, a new commandment.
He qualified the commandment this way, as I have loved you.
So new quality to it. God wants us to love as Christ has loved us
What we can say then is doctrinal Christianity is always old.
the doctrines never change.
experiential Christianity is always new.
The doctrine doesn't change. The doctrine we preach in this pulpit better match what the Bible says. Same gospel message that Paul and Peter preached, and as others have laid down.
It's not preaching something new.
that no one has ever heard before or that which satisfies itching ears.
Charles Spurgeon put it this way.
I cannot agree with those who say they have new truth to teach.
The two words seem to me to contradict each other. That which is new is not true.
It is the old that is true, for truth is as old as God himself.
or somebody else has said, if it's new, it's not true. If it's true, it's not new.
The gospel message is old and the gospel message will never change. But guess what?
His mercies are new every morning, aren't they?
Our experiences of him
are new. I'm 59 years old. I've seen at least 20,000 days on this planet. I never get tired of seeing the sun. How many of you get tired of seeing the sun? How many of you would ban the sun? Now, there were certain statements that were made in the election. I didn't hear that one, though. He's going to ban the sun if he gets elected. We've got to take it right out.
hide it somewhere. No, everybody likes the sun no one
signs up for a cruise and says, you know, give me the cruise of the most gloomiest days and black dark clouds. And if I see one, if I see the sun, even one day, I want a full refund. Nobody does that.
We want sunny days. We want the sun to shine on us.
How about a sunrise or a sunset?
They're new each time, right? But it's the same old sun.
I used to fly in business a lot more than I do now, and a lot of times you take off, it's a gloomy day. As soon as you get above the clouds and that sun comes out, everybody starts to just perk up.
Even those little bags of peanuts are easier to open. You ever know how to say you're just going…
And the same people. But the point of the matter is that
The sun, everybody likes that. It breaks into the cabin of the plane. Everybody's feeling good.
This is how God's mercy is to the child of God each morning and never grows old.
In Roman, Romans, Paul writes of the love of God that has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit has been given to us.
So that can be a new and powerful experience. So it's newness in this era.
Notice the test as we conclude here verses 9 through 11.
He says this in verse 9 in these verses, John makes clear that one's response to the command to love reveals a person's essential character. Those who habitually break the command of love show that he belongs to darkness.
Verse 9 says, he who says he's in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now.
This purse is in the present tense. Once again, it says he is in darkness until now.
He has been in darkness. He is in darkness, and he'll continue on in darkness because he hates his brother.
He's living in darkness. The contrast is verses 10 and 11. The contrast is with the lovers, verse 10, and the haters, verse 11. Verse 10 says, he who loves his brother abides in the light.
And there is no cause for stumbling in him.
So several things. Number one, if you love your brother, you're in the light. If you're a child of God walking in fellowship with God, you don't stumble. Hear the word stumble is a Greek word scandalon. It's where we get the word scandalous.
The origin of the word is a trip stick, so the fowler, we don't use that word anymore, the bird hunter.
would set a trap, put a stick in a box or something tied to a string, and then the bird would come in, get to try to get the bait, you would pull the string, the box would come down, you would catch it, or in some other manner, scandalon.
The fowler is a hunter, you see that word in Psalms and Proverbs.
Sometimes as a kid, we tried to do that, you know, put a stick up on a box
Try to catch this bird and then you hide around the corner and they yank the stick and the box would come out. I don't know what you would do with a bird if you caught it. But anyway, sometimes you try to do that with a ground squirrel.
And then you look, you tell your mom and dad, I caught a ground squirrel, and you open up the body and the
There's nothing there. And of course you pray, I'd say, well, a ground squirrel burrows in the ground. Why would you
But anyway, we learned something.
So this little trip stick used to prop up the box was a scandalon, and it comes into the language. It means something that stumbles a person. I'm going to go just slightly over today.
The application is as we stumble, we offend others as well as ourselves. You know, there's nothing more unloving than to live a life of sin. Why?
Because you stumble other people.
If I sin, I can stumble others, family members, church members, etc.
Loving others did not involve stumbling them. We want to act in a way to avoid that. We don't want to stumble in darkness or hatred.
or so as to stumble others. Maybe you're struggling with that now.
verse 11, but he hates his brothers in darkness and walks in darkness. Notice they are in darkness, their existence. They are walking in darkness by their actions.
And then verse 11 says, and they do not know
He does not know where he is going.
It's like walking in a dark room trying to find your bed. Do you ever do that?
get in a dark room trying to find your bed, you're walking around
The main thing is you don't want to stub your toe. You ever do that? Especially the pinky toe. The pain involved with it, I mean, my, I've stubbed…
And wow.
But the point of the matter, sometimes it takes you 10 minutes to find a bed because you're just, you know, whatever. But we don't want to stub our toes. We don't want to stumble. And why?
They are stumbling others because they have hatred. Hatred leads to darkness and darkness leads to blindness.
I was struck by this progression.
We do not always put it in this order, but
Heat, darkness, blindness.
Sometimes we say he's blind because he hates. If you want to be blind and you want to live in darkness, allow hate to control your life.
It's like this, I won't forgive that person. They hurt me. They wronged me. I won't love them.
and you allow yourself to be filled with hatred and your hatred puts you in darkness and the darkness blinds your eyes.
So you can't see, and you're going through life like this. Groping for things to feel your way around to find where you're going.
Some say if you shut your eyes for a long time, they can atrophy and not work anymore.
If you lived in utter darkness, you're going to go blind.
Hatred leads to darkness, darkness to blindness.
So here are my closing questions here.
Do you keep his commandments?
Do you love your brothers and your sisters as others and others?
Do you pass the test? Do you pass the moral test? Do you keep his commandments? Do you pass the social test? Do you love your brothers and sisters?
If you are a child of God and you walk in the light, you confess your sin, you obey his commands, you love your brother.
If you're not a child of God, you walk in darkness, you deny your sinfulness, you deny his commands.
And you hate your brothers and sisters.
Most people hate tests in school.
They do all they can to avoid them. Sometimes you have that dream that you
are about to take a major test, but you're completely unprepared. Did you ever have that dream?
Whoever makes dreams, I mean, the Lord probably, it almost seems like there's a kind of a book of recurring dreams. The other one is you're way on top of a high tower and you're afraid of heights. Somehow you get there. I don't know how someone gets, I mean, why would, but anyway, this one.
People can hate tests. They tried everything they do to avoid it.
But the Bible is telling us to test ourselves.
Do I want to know God, what God says in his word?
How am I to behave to be a worker as a church member to the outside world? Do I eagerly wait for him to speak?
to me, do I say your servant is listening?
or when he does speak in the word do I say, I know what it says, but I'm not going to do it.
And my walking light as he's in the light? We must all put ourselves to the test.
With regard to false teachers, our way to discern false claims is by knowing the real thing. So we go back to the prologue, John chapter 1, verses 1 through 4.
We proclaim to you that which we saw and heard and gazed upon. Jesus freely.
the truth, the life, and the way.
It is he that we need to draw resources from in the Christian life, our advocate and propitiation, our life.
Let's pray.
Father, once again, we just thank you for the Word of God. It's penetrating. Sometimes it's uncomfortable.
Well, we thank you for it. We thank you that we have this great provision to confess our sins.
and to receive forgiveness. We thank you for this fellowship we have with you.
We're grateful for everybody that's here, Lord.
We pray, Lord, that we would keep our eyes firmly and focused on you this upcoming week.
Thank you for providing for us, and we thank you in Jesus's name. Amen.
Thank you.