Prayer

Holy and gracious Father, we know that this letter that John wrote was not something that he in his own wisdom constructed, but this is a letter inspired by and immersed in your Spirit. Lord, you taught John, you inspired him, you guided him so that he could feed the people in his day with divine truth, with spiritual meat and drink for their souls, and Lord, we are beneficiaries of your divine work in that day for our own day, our own church, and our own lives. We look now and depend on your Spirit to guide the preacher and we the listeners that good in our lives and glory for your kingdom might come about. We pray in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.

Sermon

Let me remind your that church tradition informs us that the apostle John was a pastor in the early church, probably in Ephesus, and he wrote this letter out of a deep concern for the spiritual well-being and strengthening of those fellow believers. John himself was a man of deep spiritual insight and by the revelation of the Holy Spirit he penned this letter to these believers.

Notice the assumption from where John begins, “…by this we know that we have come to know him” (v. 3). He is writing to people whom he also considers himself to be in union with them. We have all come to know him, that is, the Lord Jesus.

You remember that the immediate context of this passage is that it follows 1 John 2:1-2, where John has just said that “..if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

So, John is writing to Christian people who have been washed in Jesus’ blood but who still sin. John’s letter is infused with reality. It does not white-wash the Christian life to present it as a lifestyle of sinless perfection but as a lifestyle in which people are sold-out in dedication and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ, but yet who still stumble in sin because of the weakness of their flesh, that is, their sinful human nature, but they are in the process of growing and becoming more like the character and mindset of the Lord Jesus. The Christian life is a relationship with a person, with the person of the Son of God himself, the Lord Jesus. It is not following a set of rules, but it is living in fellowship and submission to the king of glory, the risen and ascended Lord Jesus Christ.

So, from the very beginning here in this passage John is addressing them as fellow believers, fellow Christ-followers. This is, in fact, the tone of the whole letter. John is writing to Christian believers. He is a pastor, a shepherd of God’s people. He is wanting to help them in their Christian lives. He wants to strengthen them in their Christian faith and lives. Yet as we read this letter, we see that John does not soft-pedal sin; he calls it what it is, he doesn’t sugar coat it. Sin is dark and dangerous and must be forsaken, repented of, and fled from. Sin and the Christian life do not mix; they are opposites. Sin is not only improper for a Chrisitan, but it is anathema - it is a curse, it is wicked, it is evil. It comes from the evil one, Satan, it is an affront and offense to God, and it does not go unnoticed by him.

In fact, human sin is so evil, that there was no other way to deal with it, except to send his Son from heaven to rescue his people from the captivity of their sins and bring them out of that darkness into the marvelous light of his kingdom.

And so, the blood of Jesus is continually cleansing God’s people of their sin as “they walk in the light as he is in the light.” What a marvelous reality, a marvelous blessing!

But even a baby Christian, a person who has only been recently converted, is radically different from before he became a Christian because he now has the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit within is life. The very presence of God has come to abide in his heart and begin his great transforming work. From the moment of their conversion, believers are already radically different in a positive spiritual way because of the work of the Spirit. And there is no reversal; there is no turning back. As Paul wrote in Philippians 1:6, “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” The Apostle Peter said that Christians are people “who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter. 1:5

John’s letter here is in perfect alignment with Paul and Peter in their common doctrine of the security of the believer in Christ but of the ongoing wrestling with sin that persists throughout the Christian life.

So, John is saying that when the Christian sins he has an advocate, a defense lawyer, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who is the propitiation for his sins, that is, one who turns aside, who averts the wrath of God from falling on the believer.

So, in the assurance and joy of knowing that our sins are removed by the work of the Lord Jesus, John immediately begins to write about in 1 John 2:3, as to how we can know that we have come to know him. So even in our struggle with the sin and imperfections in our lives we can still be assured that we know him, that we belong to him.

What does it mean “to know him”? It doesn’t mean we just recognize that Jesus of Nazareth was a historical person, that we realize he existed 2,000 years ago, but it means that we know him in an intimate, personal way, as we would know a close family member or a friend. To know “him,” and the “him” here is a reference specifically to the Lord Jesus, means to know his character, the way he responds to people, the way he submits to and communicates with his heavenly Father – to know what kind of person he is, how he thinks and speaks and acts. It means to get close to the Lord Jesus - as much as a human being can do, a human with God almighty, a creature with the Creator. But we can do this because God became a man in Jesus Christ so we can know him and see him and hear him and draw near to him in fellowship by the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Now this is question that every Christian needs to be able to understand, “how do we know that we have come to know him?” How do we know that we belong to him? How do we know he has saved us from our sins?

In this passage today, 1 John2:3-11, the Apostle John gives three ways we can know that we know him, and that he knows us, and we are in a saving relationship with him

Those three ways are:

I. We keep his commandments - v.3-5

II. We walk in the same way he walked -v .5-6

III. We love the brothers in the church - v. 7-11

I. We keep his commandments - v.3-5

Notice that verse 3 has a big “if” in it. Our coming to know Christ is not something that is bestowed on us with no resulting effects. To come to know personally, the Creator of the universe in the salvation offered in his Son, will have indeed great effect and great results. If an atomic bomb is exploded, will it not have great effect?

If a drop of red food coloring is dropped into a glass of water, will it not immediately change the color of the water? If three teaspoons of sugar are stirred into a cup of coffee, will it now immediately become very sweet?

And if the Holy Spirit is sent into the heart of a sinful human being, will he not transform that person’s life from the inside out? When God arrives in the scene of a human life, the landscape is changed forever. The dry, windswept desert is transformed into lush green vegetation.

Verse 4 says, 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

What John is talking about here is inconsistency of profession and behavior, that is, the misalignment of words and actions. That is, a person says he does one thing, but he really does the opposite.

For example, if someone says, “I am a loyal citizen of the US” but then sells military secrets to enemy foreign governments, he is a liar. He professes to be a patriot but in reality he is a traitor.

Or a man who says he “loves his wife” but continually commits adultery against her…Does he really love her, or does he love his own sins of the flesh more? This is not to say that adultery may happen in a marriage and there can still be forgiveness, reconciliation, and restoration – that is the Christian hope.

So a person who claims that they know God, but yet they totally ignore and disobey the commands, the words of God, does not really know God – they do now know him in a personally committed and loving relationship, in submission to the authority of God and his Word.

A citizen of a king of a country who swears loyalty to the king yet is at the same time rebelling against him and trying to overthrow him is a liar and a traitor.

But verse 5 says, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. 

I think that “keeping his commandments” and keeping “his word” are talking about the same thing – it is submission to the authority of God’s commands given in and through his Word, the written Word of the Old and New Testaments.

How does a person prove that they love God? Words are not enough, the person must keep his Word, that is, obey his Word, obey his will, submit to his authority, bow before his Lordship.

If we have two people who say they love God, how do we know if each one does or does not love God? Their actions, their lifestyle, will manifest whether they love God or not. Those who ignore God, who make up their own rules and laws do not love God. They love themselves and are trying to please themselves, not God and his will.

The Lord Jesus demonstrated where the motivation of his life rested. It was not just in eating physical food, for example, but, as John 4:34 records Jesus as saying to his disciples, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.”

You see, love is demonstrated by action. Words are easy to say, but actions, deeds back up a person’s profession of words. “

John Calvin

Since anyone can claim to know Christ, you can check his or her authenticity by seeing whether or not he or she obeys God’s Word. John used tough language to convey the truth. Someone who claims to know God, but does not obey his commandments, is a liar.

As David Jackman says, “perfected” here at the end of v. 5, as says, “… refers to a continuing state of growing and maturing—not a final destination. This growing and maturing process reaches fulfillment, however, as the believers learn and practice obedience to God’s Word.” (David Jackman, The Message of John’s Letters. InterVarsity Press, 1988 – Logos).

Faith and obedience are bound up in the same bundle. He that obeys God, trusts God; and he that trusts God, obeys God. So says Charles Spurgeon.

So, the first way we know that we have come to know him is that…

I. We keep his commandments v.3-5

The second way that we know that we have come to know him is that…

II. We walk in the same way he walked v .5-6

By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

After Jesus washed his disciples’ feet in the upper room the night before his death, he said this to them, 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. (John 13:15)

1 Pet. 2:21 - For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

Heb. 12 - let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 

[quoted by James Boice]: “Earlier,” as Calvin said, “he [John] had set the light of God before us as an example. Now he calls us also to Christ, to imitate him. Yet he does not simply exhort us to the imitation of Christ, but, from the union we have with him, proves we should be like him.”

So, the fact that believers are in union with Christ, united to him by the Holy Spirit, is the secret of being able to follow his example, to imitate him.

How can we, as weak sinners, have the power and ability to follow Christ’s example? John 15:4-5 helps us here: 4 (A)Abide (B)in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; (C)you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that (D)bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

We have to rest in Christ, we have to be as a branch connected to the main vine of the wine plant, connected and resting in the main vine, so we can receive nourishment and growth from him.

How do we know that we know him?

I.We keep his commandments - v.3-5

II. We walk in the same way he walked -v .5-6

And thirdly,

III. We love the brothers in the church - v. 7-11

Verse 7 says, 7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.

What is the “old commandment” that they had heard? It was, basically, the commandments of Yahweh given to his people in the Old Testament, the Old Covenant. We read earlier in the service from Deut. 10:12-13, 12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?

So, this was the relationship that the Israelites were to have with Yahweh – a personal, devoted relationship with him, serving him, loving him with all their being.

And then, they were also to love their neighbors. This command is seen in Lev. 19:34, 34 You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Jesus repeated these commands as we also read earlier in Mark 12:29-31, 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

So, these were the two basic commands of in the OT that Jesus repeated and confirmed in the NT, adding loving God with all our minds also.

But then in John 13, after washing the disciples’ feet, Jesus told them in John 13:34, 4 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

So, how were the disciples to love one another? The way Jesus demonstrated, by washing their feet. Not lording over one another, or jockeying for higher positions, but serving one another.

And then when Jesus went to the cross and he bore the sins of his people and suffered and bore the wrath of God in their place, this was the supreme example of unselfish, sacrificial love.

Verse 8 says, 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because[a] the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. 

So there are the old commandments, to love God supremely, and love our neighbor as ourself, but then added to these is Jesus’ command, for us to love one another the way he did, in sacrificial, loving service.

I love the last half of this verse, the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. It points back to chapter 1 of John’s gospel:

4 In him was life,[a] and the life was the light of men.5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

When the light of the world, Jesus Christ, appeared, the darkness of this world, its sin and evil, began to be confronted and dissipated. The evil could not overcome the light. That’s what happens when you walk into a dark room and turn on the light. The darkness is chased away. As long as the light has electricity, the darkness cannot overcome it.

And Jesus’ life and power by the Holy Spirit will never run out, it remains strong and everlasting – Jesus has come and the darkness is fading away.

But what’s happened in the world is also happening in our lives. The Light has come and the darkness is passing away. In many ways, this is actually the theme of 1 John. He is writing to believers and instructing them and assuring them that the Light of Jesus has shone in their lives and the darkness of sin is fading away – not completely gone, but it is on its way out!

Rom. 13:12 - 12 (A)The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us (B)cast off (C)the works of darkness and (D)put on the armor of light.

We read verses 9-11,

9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him[b] there is no cause for stumbling.11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Now John brings in this whole issue of hatred. And it’s not just hatred for those cruel, barbaric people who try to conquer other nations, but its brothers in the church.

John is a realist here, and he is not ignorant or overlooking the fact that there was some hatred in the hearts of some of the brothers and sisters towards one another. We know that hatred is a characteristic mark of an unbeliever, but it should not remain in the heart of a Christ-follower.

How can hate arise in the heart of a Christian? In the history of the church after the persecutions of the roman emperors some had denied the faith; others had not denied the faith and suffered torture. But when the persecutions ceased, there was a big controversy about whether to receive back into fellowship those who had denied the faith and succumbed to the pressure of persecution. We can imagine that there might have been some of those who had held true to the faith that might have harbored hatred to those who had yielded to the pressure.

Or there is the situation of Corrie Ten Boon….

But verse nine is quite plain: Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. We cannot, we must not hate any other brother or sister in the church. Christ has forgiven us of our sins; who are we not to forgive others of their sins?

1 John reveals at least two basic attributes of God: he is light and he is love. This means we need to live in God’s light, in his righteousness, following his Word and commands, and dwell in love, love for God and love for our brothers and sisters in the church.

Verse 10 states, 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him[b] there is no cause for stumbling. It is a good thing, a wonderful thing to dwell in Christian love; it helps us avoid sinning against our brother and sister. It keeps us close to Jesus.

Verse 11 is another rather sobering verse: 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Later in this book we’ll read more about hatred and it’s conseaquences – as when it led to Cain killing his brother Abel.

How do we know that we know God in a saving relationship? There are certain marks that must characterize our lives:

I. We keep his commandments - v.3-5

II. We walk in the same way he walked -v .5-6

III. We love the brothers in the church - v. 7-11

    Fidelity to God’s Commands/Word

and

   Affection for his people.

The person who knows God will keep his Commandments/Word and love the brothers.

May the Lord help us to do this more and more.

Let us pray:

Gracious God, you are so kind to work your merciful grace in our lives so that you remove more and more our disobedience to your commands, you remove more and more any hatred from our lives, and your build more and more love in our hearts for you and for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

You are so kind to deliver us from the penalty, as well as the power and dominance, the slavery of our sins. You are making us more and more like the Lord Jesus himself. How wonderful you are. What great things you do for the children of men, even for us, for your church. Thank you, O Lord, for such deliverance, such light, and such love, In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.