1 John 2:7-11 By Rob Nicholson

1 John chapter 2 and we'll read from verse 7 to 11. 1 John 2 to 7.
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.
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. He who says he is in the light
and hates his brother is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light
and there is no cause for stumbling in him but he who hates his brother is in darkness
and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
So we continue on with our exposition and we'll be looking at verses 7 to 11
but we'll just review what we touched upon last week in verses 3 to 6. Remember last week we saw
that the test John was out laying in verse 3 where he said,
Now by this we know that we know him if we keep his commands. John was laying out before these
believers a test of obedience of true faith and genuine Christian discipleship demonstrated
in this keeping the commandments and what we explained by keeping the commandments was
that it was not doing the commandments in the sense of having to keep the law for salvation,
not at all. A man is justified by faith the scripture says without the deeds of the law
rather where it says here this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments.
The word keep means to watch, to guard, to treasure, to give approval and acceptance
of the goodness of the law from the heart even as it may oppose instincts and even fleshly desires
and we saw this keeping was the expression of true faith and piety even as expressed in the
old testament in the psalm where it says, Thy word O Lord is very pure therefore thy servant
loveth it and when John writes here of keeping the commandments he is speaking of loving the
commandments and loving God and demonstrating that love of God in obedience to God's revealed will.
The second thing that he outlined we saw in verse four was he who says I know him and does not keep
his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him but whoever keeps his word and there we saw
that word keep again and the word was of course in reference to the truth and the gospel generally
of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Whoever keeps that is treasures and guards the word of
God gives a willing and unqualified subjection to the whole revealed will of God in every facet of
his life whoever keeps that word in that sense has the evidence and the test of being a true
believer. It does not have to do with perfect practice but sincere intention. We turned over
to Revelation where we saw the true saints described against the background of the apostasy
of that hour where it spoke of them as being those who keep the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ
and hold to the faith that two-fold aspect in Revelation 12 and in Revelation 14. Now John goes
on in this section by laying out and as I have said before this epistle doesn't lend itself to
the kind of technical verse by verse exposition that the writings of the Apostle Paul may do
but John as he touches on different subjects allows their relations to run in between and
interconnect and if you pick out one portion you inevitably have to look through the whole
of the epistle to see how one piece connects with another and he deals here in verses
seven to eleven with what he considers in the context of the whole epistle to be
another major test or evidence of authentic Christian discipleship. If you turn to chapter
three and look at verses 13 to 19 where he writes there and says do not marvel my brethren if the
world hates you we know that we have passed from death to life why because we love the brethren
you see that here is a mark here is a test of genuine and authentic Christian discipleship
we know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren whoever hates his
brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him
by this he says we know love because he laid down his life for us and we also ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren whoever has this world's good and sees his brother in need and shuts up
his heart from him how does the love of God abide in him my little children let us not love in word
or in tongue but in deed and in truth and he says again and by this we know that we are of the truth
and shall assure our hearts before him chapter four he uses these same things verses 12 and 13
no one has seen God at any time if we love one another God abides in us and his love has been
perfected in us by this we know that we abide in him and he in us because he has given us of his
spirit there's that phrase again by this we know or we may be assured that we have his spirit
in verses 20 and 21 of chapter 4 i don't wish to weary you but i wish to show you that in this
epistle this is one of these major marks of tests and grounding of the test of the obedience
of true discipleship if someone says i love God and hates his brother he is a liar for he who does
not love his brother whom he has seen how can he love God whom he has not seen and this commandment
we have from him that he who loves God must love his brother also so here you see or begin perhaps
to get a grasp of just how vital and central love is in the believer's life indeed from this
viewpoint of scripture we can say who he who does not love is not of God and that's exactly how John
lays it out in those verses anyone who says i love God and hates his brother is a liar
he's a liar you see and so this is a major test of the authentication of discipleship and we need
to pay very close attention to what John says here in verses 7 through 11 and we have to begin first
of all because it's of great importance that we understand exactly what love is what does he mean
by this word love what is love it's a word that is used in in many ways and in many different
contexts and we have to come and ground ourselves in scripture to understand what love is and we
might begin by contrasting what love is not what what isn't love well love is not in the first place
what the unbelieving world would define it as the unbelieving world defines love as feelings
and emotions of benevolence or kindness they talk about that sense of love as a feeling as
an emotion as a kind of a bodily passion that you experience or the world also defines love
as an excitement of romantic desire and in that sense romantic desire is not necessarily
sinful it is only when romantic desire becomes lust or inordinate desire that it becomes sinful
but the world defines love as romantic desire you know hollywood's confused conception of falling in
love there you see jimmy stewart and ivan both of them married in the context of the story
and in their adulterous lust they fall into one another's arms and say oh how i love you
you see that sense of the world's conception of the excitement of inordinate romantic desire
is truly lust and that is not love bodily passion is not love and if you make that confusion what
you were doing is if you ground your definition of love in feelings in passions and in emotions
you are confusing an effective love with love itself you are saying that feelings and emotions
and things that are so changeable in that context are love let me give you a good definition of how
the world has taken this up and abandoned the true scriptural conception of love which i'll explain
in a minute now lust itself means being overpowered and dominated by a desire for
self-gratification and the world has identified love in this sense of selfishness and
self-gratification some years ago a friend of mine got married and he was married by one of
those civil celibates you know a civil celibate nice nice nice phrase anyway you know the old
traditional christian vows where the vows are made to each individual and the traditional vows run
uh do you promise to have and to hold to love and to cherish in sickness and in death until death do
you pass that's the traditional vow well the vow that was given out this day by this civil
celibate ran like this do you promise to have and to hold to love and to cherish in sickness
and in health as long as love shall last now why that substitution
normally it should run until death do part but he said as long as love shall last
why did he say that well for the simple reason that their definition of what love is is a feeling
is an emotion and in their own experience feelings and emotions are not constant things
they change so as long as you supply my self-centered needs and my self-gratification
my love towards you which is transactional so it shall continue you see their definition of love
is utterly false it's something that is not and cannot be true in this context because why the
background of this command to love is beloved if god so loved us we ought also to love one another
well you see god loved us when we were unlovely god loved us when we were enemies that doesn't
mean that god felt good towards us it tells us that he loved us in this sense and gave himself
as christ did gave himself for the church or for us now here is this most important contrast you
see if salvation dependent as long as feeling shall last then one is going to find himself
in a lot of trouble with his assurance but john is not talking about feeling he is talking about
love and if we are to gain an understanding of what love is we have to gain it from scripture
and not from the world which tells us it's feeling emotion and passion and lust love
by the definition of scripture is first and here it is it's first not a feeling not a passion not
an emotion but it's a principle it's an activity it is an attitude that is described in scripture
by its attributes what is love it's not described by its feelings and emotions that may be or may
not be associated with it at any one time i use this example i was having a discussion last night
with my leading theologian my four-year-old daughter my leading theologian and we were
talking about love and in the context of the conversations he said to me
oh daddy but you don't love us when you are when we are naughty and i said now that's not true
you see she's got the wrong definition of love you see and i said that's not true i love you
even when you are naughty i don't love it that you are naughty you see that in that sense of
fitting but i do love you when you are naughty that's why i i discipline you that way you see
love must be described by its attributes and not by its feelings now where do you go for a
description of love in scripture itself well the obvious place is 1 corinthians 13 and when you
turn there do you find that love is described as passion or feeling or emotion no it describes
by its attributes and let's just run through a few so we get the background picture of what
john means when he speaks of loving one another 1 corinthians 13 starts off in verse 4 and its
definition of love and says love suffers long what does that mean well literally it means
love is long spirited it's patient it endures all the foibles and the faults and the failures
and in the context in which we bring that word love from 1 corinthians 13 and implanted here in
1 john because it's the same word love that he speaks of is this to love a brother means to be
long spirited it means to be patient and to endure all the foibles and faults and failings
of that particular brother 1 corinthians also says love is kind what does the word kind mean
we have this general euphemistic sense what is kindness well the word kindness in scripture
there means this it's not defined as feelings it doesn't mean to feel kind it means to act that is
to do consistently and constantly in the best interests of the highest good of an individual
you see that always to act consistently and constantly in the best interest and for the
highest good well there you have what is it to love if love is kind that is towards your brothers
to act consistently always in their best interests and always for their highest good love is not
envious what does that mean well love doesn't covet it doesn't treasure jealous and vicious
attitudes against the brother love is not envious love vorteth not itself says 1 corinthians what
does that mean well it doesn't brag and it doesn't boast of how loving it is towards
a brother it doesn't draw attention to itself in that way it does it acts it doesn't feel
first but it acts out these things doesn't draw attention to itself love is not cuffed up
well what does that mean well it's not proud love isn't proud it isn't conceited it's not inflated
with itself against a brother as though i am more loving in this in this particular situation than
that other brother isn't he's being unloving love wouldn't even mention such a thing
love does not behave itself unseen what does that mean act unbecomingly love never acts with
immodesty towards a brother with either rudeness or an indifferent conceit or a self-centered
inconsiderate behavior you take this definition and apply it to something practical we all know
what a sensitive issue women's clothing is in the church all hot potatoes don't touch women's
clothing but you see from the point of view and i'll deal with them as well
but from the point of view of the woman you see if a woman is concentrating on girding herself
and making herself attractive she may lose this sense of not vaunting herself because of a lack
of modesty towards a brother women of course are unaware of the kind of temptations that men face
towards the way when women expose themselves or attract attention to themselves in dress well
uh what's the right attitude no christian brother would do anything or christian sister would do
anything that would cause his brother to stumble so uh the exhortation for a woman to dress
modestly in christian association is grounded in love because love does not behave itself
unseemly and it's not merely in its opinion but towards a brother you see it is not self-centered
and inconsiderate behavior it's the same with men like uh you know i saw some clown last week on
the idiot box you know something i don't know what he was but some unspeakable monster called
the pastor anyway he had it you know the chest was open and all oh the fluff was hanging out
a big gold fluff was there you know not vaunting itself in that sense love doesn't do that it
always acts becomingly and modestly with consideration towards the faults and the failings
and the weaknesses of others you see women say well i can dress according to my rights
scripture doesn't call you to dress according to your rights it calls you to consider the weaker
brother the the young man who has difficulties with these things and consequently you behave
modestly it's the same with men goes on in 1 Corinthians 13 and says seeks not
our own love doesn't demand and insist on a prominent place love doesn't elevate itself
to the position where it becomes the primary thing in all contexts and applications and distort itself
and become not love at all remember the apostle paul said and he was answering in that context
distortions and mis-emphasises and divisions in the corinthian congregation to do with spiritual
gifts and stripes and jealousy and how does it end up at the end of first corinthians he says
these three abide faith hope and love these three abide love does not seek its own or demand the
prominent place then it would cease to be love love is not easily provoked it's not touchy it's
not fretful love is not paranoid it's it doesn't have that sense of being easily provoked it thinks
no evil doesn't keep a record of any wrong suffer rejoiceth not an iniquity and here's something
that's important you know you're the other world says there's a fine line between love and hate
well there's not a fine line love and hate are merely two sides of one spiritual affection
love rejoices not in iniquity what are you telling me apostle paul love hates yes love hates love
hates injustice unrighteousness and evil and anything that is contrary to sound doctrine
but rather it rejoices in the truth it happily endorses and joyfully pursues the holy and the
true with theirs believes and hopes endures and it never fails there you have what scripture
defines as the content and the context of what love is when he writes here and i can't take all
that freight and throw it in here phrase by phrase but i hope you begin to see love is not defined as
feeling not emotion feeling and emotion are effects they're not the things love is the
principle it's the activity that comes from the heart that has been born again at the spirit of
god as we shall see so when john says here 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
you heard from the beginning again a new commandment i write to you which thing is
true in him what does he mean true in him well we read and john is using the same kinds of word
construction it's the same john that wrote the gospel same john that reported those words that
we read in john chapter 13 which thing is true in him what is true well this this this love you see
is true in him of which christ gave that practical demonstration as we saw of girding himself and
serving and there in that act of christ you see all those acts of love long suffering with the
foibles and the stupidities and the faults and the failings of peter kindness the acting of
consistently and constantly in the best interests of the disciples and always for their highest
even when they misunderstood what he was doing he was never envious towards them in his acts
he or he never coveted and treasured malicious desires and attitudes against
their misunderstanding he bared he believed he hoped he endured and he never failed you see
there you have the typical pattern of love and john says here which thing is true in him that
is in christ and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining
he who says he's in the light etc hates his brothers in darkness until now but he who loves
there's the word bring all that freight doesn't mean feel good no doesn't mean feel passion towards
no it means to act in that manner as we have described in first corinthians how can i put it
very simply let me give you a statement and i'll repeat it twice for the benefit of the tape
because there's no way i can shorten it but let me give it to you all in one sentence and i'm
going to put the emphasis on one word because it is probably the best word that conveyed the issue
listen to this the commandment to love is not an order to have good feelings
and tender sentiments about your brother but rather to bless him with all the means that
god has given you in your power and from all the holy affection in the spirit of god himself
you see that it is not good feelings and tender sentiments about your brother in the first place
but rather the commandment is the order to bless him you see that that's the it's a good practical
word bless it's not something that is indistinct you see you can't sit here feeling good about your
brother and blessing you blessing is something that you must do it expresses itself in practical
action chapter 3 verse 17 whoever has this world's good and sees his brother in need and shuts up his
heart from him how does the love of god dwell in him no love has a desire to bless and that's what
it does you see chapter 4 verse thing verse 13 tells us whence and you might ask yourself for a
while i just don't have this in me you know this just isn't a part of me i mean it's all right for
you mr preacher to get up there and talk about christ in his perfection with his almighty power
as god manifests in the flesh suffering long kind yes i can see all those things
but i have such difficulties in distinguishing my feelings and my passions and my principles
well chapter 4 verse 13 where it says by this we know that we abide in him and he in us because
what he has given us of his spirit now we know as the scripture teaches that the christian has
become a partaker of the divine nature but he is indwelled by the spirit of god and because he is
involved by the spirit of god he has the capacity and he has the desire to respond to the commands
of god because he has this new nature and he desires to follow out in the path of obedience
this method of blessing through love and it's a most important point that we consider the
foundations of true love as laid out for us you remember in john 13 verse 34 christ laid them out
he says a new commandment i give to you that you love one another as i have loved you now how could
you do that unless you were a partaker of that spirit unless you were indwelt by that spirit of
god that spirit of the lord jesus christ you couldn't even begin to grasp and act out you see
so when the gospel the scripture commands us to love it is because we have the spirit because we
have this new nature that we can do it and we can respond in obedience and remember it's not feeling
but it's an act and you might say well i don't feel loving towards that brother well that's
irrelevant it's got nothing to do with the point you are commanded to act in love towards that
person but then the feelings will change you see the foundations of true love spring according to
scripture from a determined and a dedicated response of god's love towards you beloved
john writes if god so loved us put it in the personal beloved if god so loved you
we also you also ought to love one another there's the foundation you see this is love not that we
love god you see that's not love it's not a conditional thing you see it's not saying listen
and this is what these vows these modern vows say they say if you love me i'll love you but the only
condition on which i'll give you my love is if you continue to love me and if you cease to give me
your love then i don't have to love you anymore you see it's conditioned but that's not the case
as we remember with us the love of god was manifested towards us that were his enemies
because he sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him
and this is love it's not that we loved god but that he loved us salvation doesn't begin with us
it begins with god and that's the foundation and the sense of the benefit and benevolence that
comes in true christian brotherhood so it comes from the spring of a determined and dedicated
response of affection not emotion but affection towards god's love for you uh let me give you a
parallel let me give you an illustration to make it easy you've probably seen all those western
movies you know where good indian meets good white man and they slit their wrists and they
hold it together and they say oh now we're blood brothers the same blood that forces ugly in my
veins now of course is in your veins and we're as close we are of one blood all right fair enough
where does that idea come from well it comes from the sense of immediate family associations
there's this idea that is constant in the human race as a result of relations by blood
that we talk about blood being thicker than water isn't that right there's this
a sense that somebody who is your brother who is from the same womb and carries the same blood
type as it were you you have a blood brotherhood with him he's the closest physical connection to
you upon the face of this earth as an actual brother well i want to tell you this that
according to this teaching of scripture that is outlined here and i'll put it as simply as
possible that christianity is the perfect blood brotherhood not as natural brothers it's not the
blood that flows in our veins but it's the blood that flowed from the veins of the lord jesus that
is the bond you see that it is a blood brotherhood it's the blood of the lord jesus christ it is the
bond how does the lord god conquer evil well he conquers it with good how does the lord jesus
subdue his people does he subdue him with law and with judgment no he subdues them with love
and he woos them towards himself bearing believing hoping enduring and never failing
and so you see here as john comes along and he says these things he who hates his brother is in
darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded
his eyes he says this because those who hate the brotherhood those who despise a brother
for whom christ died one who stands in a closer relation than ever a natural brother could because
the blood of jesus christ as an eternal sacrifice and an eternal work to god is an enduring theme
not like the mere human blood that you may have with your earthly relatives no it's that blood
that flows from his veins that becomes the means in god's grace that blessing is brought towards
you you know how it's so easy in the christian life to fall into this sense of law once again
and time and again through scripture we're reminded that love is the fulfillment of the
law always acting consistently and constantly in the best interest and for the highest good
so you're grounded you're grounded in god's love for you you see don't bother
beginning with uh thinking about the brother the scripture commands you to think about yourself in
this sense if god so loved us if god so loved us what does that mean well it means this well
christ is very long spirited with you he's patient he endures all your fibles and your faults and
your faith christ is kind towards you he never allows and never permits anything that would
act against your best interests and for your highest good ever to come across the path
he never covets he never treasures jealous or vicious attitudes towards you even when you
were disobedient even when you're proud conceited and arrogant he never responds in that way you
know how somebody's probably when somebody's proud inflate your own pride because of your
sense of self-centeredness but christ doesn't act that way and he bears and believes and hopes and
endures and he never fails in that sense so you see here is john saying to these people
consistently by this we know how do we know well whether we act in this outworking of
these principles of love how may you know if the spirit of god dwells in you well it's
it's simple enough i suppose you may judge it yourself whether you act consistently out these
principles we're not talking about perfection but we're talking about the capacity that god
puts within the believer to love another believer by all the god-given means that are in your power
yes from all the holy affection in the spirit of god himself as john teaches here now i have not
set up some impossible stand i have not told you that you must consequently go out and experience
feelings and emotions and passions and in many ways because of our continuing association with
the body we are in a very real sense till slaves still slaves of how our bodies react i mean i can
give myself a sense of bodily euphoria by having a cup of new guinea gold coffee and i can feel
exposed and loving and generous but come and see me 25 minutes later when the effect wears off
and i'll probably be in emotional and spiritual retreat and not feel terribly loving towards anyone
you see we are affected by our bodies and it's our it is by our faith it is by our application
by our acting out on principles and in many cases ignoring what you may feel and acting in obedience
you see you're not a hypocrite if you do something loving towards someone though you might feel
profound displeasure towards that individual you know i might uh my neighbor might get a brick and
throw it through my window well that doesn't mean i have to feel good about it i don't have to sit
there like now i'm just going to sit here and i'm just going to love you i'm so loving i don't know
i might not feel very good about that at all but in spite of my feelings i act in a loving manner
what do i do i act consistently and constantly in his best interest what are his best interests
spiritual interests internal interests i act in that way that is love by the right definition of
scripture it is by its attributes by what he does that love is defined not by something that
a man feels within his body you know if we accepted the world's definition of what love is
then god could not love man so identifies love as bodily passion feeling and emotion
that he projects those very feelings of inordinate desire upon the person of god himself
leads into idolatry you see because god does not have a body he is without body parts or passions
passions are a result of a spirit and a body being joined together god doesn't have a passions but he
has affection and he has desires and he loves in that sense you see and whenever a man projects
love now how the apostates love to get up and that you can be assured that in a million apostate
churches across this earth this morning they're reading 1 Corinthians 13 for the umpteenth
millionth time and you see the little idols over in the corner why because of their definition of
love because they identify love as connected necessarily with earthly desires and appetites
and bodily passions well they have to have an idol and they cannot identify something that is a pure
spirit that has no such things as bodily passions with love with which they can identify you see this
love is a spiritual thing it's something that springs for the very nature of the being itself
it's something that in spite of what is done to it never fails never ceases believing always bears
hopes and endures no matter what he's done to it in spite of all that he's done to him so you see
he who hates his brothers in darkness walks in darkness and does not know where he is going
because the darkness has blinded his eyes and you see this is an essential element in
understanding christian assurance of salvation if you wish to cultivate a loving attitude towards
your brethren if in those times when you find your emotional and passionate resources are
running low and there's nothing wrong with feeling nothing wrong with passion what's
wrong is when they become the dominant thing when you identify love and passion as the same thing
they are not the same romantic desire is not illegitimate between a married couple or a courting
couple romantic desire is a very good thing it is that sense of fellowship that god gives between
two people who are one flesh nothing sinful about romantic desire but it becomes sinful when it's
defined as love because it is not love and if you build a marriage on romantic desire you're
building a marriage on disaster because romantic desire is something that comes and goes it's
something associated with being in a body and there are many times when you have out of body
experiences when you're a married person i can assure you of that when you feel that you are not
quite yourself when you get two sinners living under one roof or more than two sinners so you
see it's important that we get this conception right love is a principle love is an attitude
love is an act it is defined by its attributes and feelings and emotions and passions are
consequences they're effects but they're not causes and if you build your your life on effects
and not causes then you are heading for disaster and here is how you act and build and grow in the
grace and knowledge of our lord jesus christ see in many ways i am powerless over my feelings even
a christ as a christian because i am still in this sinful body and i have great trouble with
it i i find i'm like the apostle paul always desires in this sense of the flesh to excite
attention towards itself but you've got the work and it's hard work and i can't do i can't deal
with feelings and emotions but i can deal with what i do i can deal with how i act and i can
respond in obedience to something that is commanded because as the scripture says the
spirit of god has been given to us and because that same affection is there i act according to
what i know and not according to what i may feel at the time let us pray oh lord we ask that we may
know by observing and not by feeling by watching and by obeying and not merely by emotion and
passion that we may know ourselves to be true believers in this sense of following out that
same pattern that the lord jesus christ demonstrated for us who was the lord of glory
girded himself with a towel put aside his clothes and washed the feet of his disciples
lord we know that we should love one another as you have loved us and help us lord to know
that this thing is a spiritual affection and let this affection dwell in our homes in wife towards
husband in child towards parent and parent towards child that you are lord as the scripture says
that men may know that we are your disciples because we love one another and lord with that
same love with which you loved us help us lord this day as we go our separate lives
for christ glory sake we ask these things amen this recording is brought to you by the christianlibrary.org.au