Faith Defined (Hebrews 11:1) | Adult Sunday School

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October 24, 2021

Description: The author provides a definition of Biblical faith by showing what faith does for the believer. An exposition of Hebrews 11:1.

00:43: In time, the light dawned at York, began to move mountains with your hands, breathe life into a man, who made it all and saw that it was good.
02:05: Your spirit gave the law, in kindness to us all, though we never kept you were true.
02:16: You have saved lawbreakers from the grave, by your son our guilt has been removed.
02:36: Shines through your son, there is no... The mystery of the cross
03:48: I cannot comprehend. The agonies of Calvary.
04:00: You the perfect holy one, crushed your son, who drank the bitter cup reserved for me.
04:13: Your blood has washed away my sin, Jesus thank you.
04:21: The father's wrath completely satisfied, Jesus thank you.
04:28: Once your enemy, now seated at your table,
04:34: Jesus thank you. Washed away my sin,
05:25: Jesus thank you. At least
05:30: I, Jesus thank you. My soul,
06:04: I want to live for you.
06:12: Love my soul,
06:17: I want to live for you.
07:51: Now seated at your table, Jesus thank you.
08:30: The saviour is at hand, and the king that's made right, he is his mercy
10:47: God. And with mercy and with joy, his love is through.
14:27: As morning dawns and day awakes, to you
14:33: I break my... Oh gracious God, my source of strength, in you
14:44: I let... Each hour is yours by wisdom fed.
14:53: Each deed empowered by sovereign hands...
15:02: Good morning everybody. If you could find your seats and come in from the foyer, we'll get cracking this morning.
15:27: Good morning. It's good to be in the house of the Lord, I can tell you that.
15:33: It's been a long week, and yeah, it's nice to come and get refreshed here at the church, and hear the word of God, and get in his word, and I appreciate that.
15:45: Let's go to the Lord with a word of prayer before we get going, we'll get cracking. Father we love you and praise you, thank you for all you do in our lives, and for Christ on the cross, and what it means to be saved, and be called a brother and a sister in Christ.
16:00: Thank you for the perfect example that you give us, and how to live our lives, and that we can look into your word, and be strengthened and encouraged each and every day, and that we can have that personal relationship with you, and the one that transforms our lives, and just thank you for all that you do.
16:19: Just go before us as we teach, and just pray that the words would be true, and that everything would glorify you, and just commit it all to you now in Jesus name, amen.
16:30: Alright, we're going to start, we're going to read chapter 2, we're going to read from verse 3 down to 11 in 1st
16:39: John. So if you grab your copy of God's word, and flip over there, we'll just start with that reading of his word, alright.
16:58: Chapter 3 of 1st John, or verse 3 of chapter 2 of 1st
17:04: John. By this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. The one who says
17:09: I have come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
17:18: But whoever keeps his word in him, the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in him.
17:26: The one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked.
17:34: Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment, which you have had from the beginning.
17:43: The old commandment is the word which you have heard. On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.
18:01: The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.
18:08: The one who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
18:15: But the one who 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.
18:27: John said in verse 3 of chapter 1, he says, What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us.
18:38: He proclaimed Christ because he wanted his readers to have that bond of fellowship with John and all around him.
18:48: It is Christ in the midst of our lives that brings this deepest level of fellowship possible.
18:57: It's Christ in us. Chapter 1 verse 7 says this, But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his
19:10: Son cleanses us from all sin. When we were unbelievers, fellowship wasn't a word.
19:18: We probably used the whole lot. I know, I don't even remember using that before I was saved.
19:26: Fellowship is something that we might not have had an idea of what it meant or how we even were to live that.
19:32: But when Christ drew us to himself, you know, eventually became saved, you know, the blinders come off.
19:41: And now all of a sudden that word fellowship meant a little bit more to me personally because the church that I was in, we spent a lot of time together and it was that close intimate relationship with the brothers and sisters in Christ.
19:56: We were there Sunday, we were there Wednesday night. We spent a lot of time together. We had outings just like we do in this church here.
20:04: We get together and we fellowship amongst one another. But Christ brings us into fellowship with himself and with the brethren, doesn't he?
20:15: That's the beauty of it all. Before that, I mean, my life was shipwrecked.
20:20: I didn't have any fellowship with any believers, obviously, because there was no need for me to do that.
20:27: I never even read a book before I became a Christian because my life was a train wreck and I was living for myself.
20:35: But you know what I do now? That's all I do is read. That's all I care about. I want to know his word.
20:43: I want to read it. I want to study it. I want to be about his business. And it's nice to come into a place like this and have fellowship with the saints.
20:52: And that's what John's talking about. The change we all need comes from a relationship with Christ. That's the change we need.
21:00: But when we have the Spirit living inside of us, all things are possible. The Spirit inside of us allows us to do that.
21:09: But that's not true for the unbelievers and those that have rejected Christ, is it? Anyone outside the faith, it's not possible for them to have that true, that deep, abiding fellowship with the saints that a true believer can have.
21:26: It's just not possible. Why is that? Why is it not possible for them to have that deep relationship with the saints that you and I do?
21:37: Any thoughts? Right.
21:46: Their relationship and commitment to the Lord that we have just isn't in them.
21:53: They don't have the Spirit living inside of them, so it's not possible for them to have that deep fellowship that we do.
22:02: Today's message is titled, Love the Brethren. Love the Brethren. The reason for that is because John is about to address another test of those who are in the faith.
22:14: You may have remembered, but there's basically four tests. Three that we've already talked about.
22:20: Chapter 1, verse 7, first test of the faith, whether you're actually walking in it. He says, So the first test is, if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we can be assured that we love
22:43: Christ. If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light.
22:48: The second test was in chapter 2, verse 3. We talked about the commandments.
22:57: If we keep his commandments, if we obey and do the things that he's asking us to do, not out of a works -based salvation, but out of a love for him.
23:07: If we keep his commandments, if we walk with him, then we can be assured that those are believers in Christ.
23:15: The third test, he says in, I believe it's verse 5. Let's see, yeah, verse 6.
23:34: So whoever keeps his word is a true believer. And then our test for today is found in verse 10.
23:51: That's the fourth test. You can see it right there. If we love the brethren. The test is, do they love the brethren?
24:01: He says that if you do that, then you're in the light. I love that, right? You're in the light.
24:07: If not, then you're in darkness. That's what this verse is all about.
24:12: These verses are going to be about today. John spoke a ton about love in his gospels, didn't he? It seems like all throughout the gospel of John and through 1st, 2nd, 3rd
24:21: John, love is just so characterized in everything that he does.
24:27: And he talks about it so much. It's been said that John has been called the apostle of love for that very reason.
24:36: Jerome's commentary on Galatians 6 .10, I don't know if you know this or not, but Jerome translated the
24:43: Old and New Testaments into Latin. And that was the Bible for about a thousand years up until the
24:50: Reformation period. And Jerome said that John wasn't able to preach anymore when he was at the church in Ephesus.
24:58: He was up in years. He was 90 plus years old. And because of his age, they said that they would carry him in on a chair.
25:11: And he would say to the congregation, love one another, love one another.
25:17: And when they would ask him about it, why he would say that, he would say, because it's the
25:22: Lord's commandment. And if you do this, it's everything. And I think that's true.
25:29: If you love the Lord and if you love his people, then it manifests your true spirit of love within you.
25:39: So the body of our message today is gonna be found in chapter two, verses seven through 11.
25:48: We're gonna start there. Verse seven says this, beloved, I'm not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment, which you have had from the beginning.
25:59: The old commandment is the word which you have heard. So he says, beloved.
26:05: When you hear that word, beloved, what comes to your mind? It's not a common word we would use, right?
26:11: I don't use it in my emails to anybody, beloved. What does that mean?
26:19: When you think about that, what should it bring to our minds? I mean, any thoughts?
26:29: Love for the brothers and sisters. Yeah, it's definitely a love for the brothers and sisters in Christ, for sure.
26:35: What else? Say that again.
26:45: A warmth. Yeah. Yeah, it's a warmth. It's a sincere, you know, love that we have for our brothers and sisters in Christ, for sure.
26:54: I mean, it's just, you know, he uses this term a little bit, or just the idea of it.
27:02: You know, when he says, you know, fellow believers, my little children, he said in chapter two, verse one.
27:08: I mean, it's definitely a term of love and, you know, it's that deeper meaning of it all.
27:15: When you look at the saints, there's a different perspective that we have, right? Yeah.
27:25: There's relationships with them. Exactly. How close his relationship is to the individual speaks a lot to that, because we have that connection with one another, don't we, through the fellowship of the
27:37: Spirit, and that connection we have is deeper. So when he says, beloved, it's that kind of a meaning.
27:43: He says, I'm not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment. What the heck does that mean?
27:50: He's not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment.
27:55: The attention is drawn to the contrast of the old and the new commandments.
28:01: It's not new, he says, but in fact, old, and I want to remind you of this, he says.
28:07: I want to remind you of this. What was the old commandment? Well, we can get an idea of it if you look down at verse 10, which we read already, but verse 10 gives you an idea of what the old commandment is.
28:21: The one who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
28:27: So the one who loves his brother, that's what he's talking about. And we also see this in 2
28:34: John 5. 2 John 5, it says this. Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, and then here it is, that we love one another.
28:50: That's that new commandment. Old commandment, love one another.
28:57: I love that. The old commandment to love one another is something that they all would have been familiar with, wouldn't they?
29:06: The fact is, it's an old commandment, you know, that they love the brethren.
29:13: The word you have had from the beginning is the old commandment. That's what he's saying.
29:18: There is something you already know because you have heard it. It's been taught throughout the history of Israel and down through the
29:25: New Testament from what they had, that you are to love God and to love your neighbor. That's the commandment.
29:31: That's been taught from way back when. I mean, Joshua said it in chapter 22, verse 5.
29:37: He said, only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law which Moses, a servant of the
29:42: Lord, commanded you to love the Lord your God and walk in all his ways and keep his commandments and hold fast to him and serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.
29:55: You can see that throughout the Old Testament and it's filled with these kinds of references.
30:03: And you see it also in Leviticus 19, 18. It says, you shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
30:17: I am the Lord. So, you know, the saints would have known it, you know, from the teaching of old.
30:25: They've heard it before. So in this sense is what he's talking about.
30:31: Our verse, the old commandment is to love the brothers. John said that the old commandment is from the beginning, from the beginning.
30:40: Well, we heard about the beginning in chapter one, the first chapter, when
30:48: John says about Christ, what was from the beginning, excuse me, about the gospel, what we have heard from the beginning, what we, excuse me, what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands concerning the word of life.
31:06: He uses that word, the beginning. The beginning of what? We talked about that way back when we talked about that verse.
31:15: He says, what was from the beginning, what we have heard, and he uses it again here in chapter two, verse seven.
31:24: Beloved, I'm not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment, which you have had from the beginning. The beginning of what?
31:38: So it could refer back to creation. You know, that's what John chapter one, verse one talks about.
31:47: Could refer to that. What other thoughts could it be? Yeah, it's the beginning of the gospel, the beginning of their relationship that they had with the
32:03: Lord. That's what I believe this is referring back to here is that we have heard this reference before.
32:11: What is from the beginning? Witnessing, you know, think about what John did. I mean, he witnessed
32:17: Christ. He walked with Christ. That's what was from the beginning is what he had witnessed and proclaimed to everyone that this is the message.
32:34: I think he's talking more to probably Gentiles scattered throughout Asia Minor.
32:46: Yeah, I mean, you could get the idea that because we're talking old commandment, new commandment, that it could be preaching to Jews here, but I think it was primarily to Gentiles scattered throughout
32:57: Asia Minor. So I think the idea here for me is sometimes that we just need to be reminded to get back to the word of God.
33:06: We need to be reminded to put our focus back on the right things.
33:11: I don't know about you, but we, you know, I've drifted from time to time in my walk with the
33:17: Lord. And it's nice to have a reminder, you know, to get back to the commandments of Christ.
33:23: You know, 1 John 2, 5 says, but whoever keeps his word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected.
33:32: The word which we have heard, the old commandment, was to love one another.
33:39: Remember that John was around 90 years old when he wrote this. So, I mean, he had a lot of experience.
33:47: You know, when you're reminded, when you live, you know, a long life, you know, sometimes, you know, he's calling us back to the remembrance of it all.
33:57: Remember, you know, to focus your love on Christ and on the brethren. He's bringing that back into clarity for us.
34:06: The beginning of Christ and what you've learned from the Old Testament and New Testament, he's saying, and put into practice those thoughts and ideas, you know, to love the brethren, to love
34:16: God. That's what he's doing, is he's bringing it back into our perspective. When I was young in my faith,
34:22: I heard to love the brethren all the time. But when
34:28: I was a babe in Christ, I didn't really understand the full perspective of that. I didn't understand the full meaning of what it meant to love the brethren.
34:37: But now, older in years, well, you can kind of tell, right? Gray hair.
34:43: You know, in studying and being around it more, you know, I understand what it means more.
34:49: But I also need to be reminded on a consistent basis to actually do those things instead of just, oh yeah,
34:57: I know it. But living the faith and doing it are two different things, isn't it?
35:03: It's hard to just give of yourself sometimes. So we need to be reminded to get back to that, put love into practice, how to live our faith.
35:14: So you, verse seven is kind of a, you know, Old Commandment, New Commandment. One commentator
35:20: I read kind of summed up the verse this way and I thought it made sense to me, so I'll share it.
35:26: He says, divinely loved ones, no commandment new in quality am I writing to you, but a commandment, an old one, which you have had constantly from the beginning.
35:38: The commandment, the old one, is the word which you have heard. It helps me to kind of put that into perspective.
35:46: Then John shifts gears a bit in verse eight when he says this.
35:53: On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in him and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
36:05: So John now says, oh, wait a minute. I guess I am writing a new commandment to you, right?
36:12: Didn't he just say that he wasn't writing a new commandment? But now he is? What's going on here?
36:18: I want to draw this to your attention. I just thought about this this week when
36:24: I was studying this passage, but he used commandment here just in the singular. If you look back to chapter two, verse three, he uses commandments in the plural.
36:37: It kind of reminded me of why plural there and commandment here?
36:42: I think it's singular in this context because love is the greatest commandment.
36:52: Love is the greatest commandment. Matthew says this. Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?
36:58: He said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
37:05: He said in verse 39, just past that, the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
37:13: To love God and others, I think, is the supreme commandment. The supreme love that we have for all is the greatest of all because that really demonstrates our true love.
37:25: The first fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, it says is love. That's the fruit of the
37:31: Spirit, that love that we have. Without love, can we really have true kindness?
37:38: Without that love, can we really have that true compassion for people? Without love, can we have joy in serving?
37:48: That deep joy that comes from loving the brethren? I mean,
37:53: I think about this. Can those without the Spirit exhibit these kinds of acts? Sure, right?
38:00: They can. Unbelievers can exhibit kindness and a level of compassion as well, but I think with the
38:09: Spirit of God, it's different because it's to the brethren. This is what this verse is talking about.
38:14: It's to the brethren, and an unbeliever can't exhibit those characteristics to us.
38:21: That's the difference. John said that this new commandment is true in him and in you.
38:29: It's true in him and in you. The old commandment was to love our neighbors.
38:35: But what's this new commandment, and is it new? There are a couple of definitions for the word new that John uses here.
38:44: When he says that this is a new command, he is using the Greek word kairos, which carries its meaning around the concept of time, around the concept of time, and when something came into existence is what he's talking about.
39:00: John is saying that this commandment is not chronologically new. It's not chronologically new.
39:06: It didn't just come about right now. It's already been in existence, okay?
39:13: This is not new teaching, brothers and sisters. I'm not writing anything you haven't already heard, is the idea.
39:20: It's not new in time. And then the other word he uses is kairos, kairos, and it means being of a greater quality.
39:32: This commandment is of a greater quality. The substance of the commandment has its meaning at a deeper level.
39:38: It's almost like you could say it's fresh. It's new. It's like an old house getting a fresh paint job in a way.
39:48: You see the quality of the house and you understand that it's still the house, but it's new now.
39:54: It's freshened up with this new paint on it. Revelation 21 .1
40:01: gives the idea of this word new. Then I saw a new heaven, so this is kairos, a new heaven and a new earth, that's kairos, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away and there is no longer any sea.
40:19: See that? New heaven, new earth. The quality of it and the substance of it and the freshness of it has changed.
40:26: It's better now. It's refreshed. Same as he says in Revelation 3 .12.
40:33: Anymore and I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my
40:38: God, the new Kairos, Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my
40:45: God and my new Kairos name. The quality of the new Jerusalem is changing.
40:53: The commandment takes on a slightly different idea now because of how it is being applied is the idea. It's a new commandment, but yet it's just been refreshed because of what reason?
41:06: How is this new commandment old and yet new? How is it old and yet new?
41:17: Any thoughts? How is it old and yet new? What makes it new and fresh? It seems like a contradiction at first glance, doesn't it?
41:26: Let's read verse 8 again. On the other hand, in verse 8 he says, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in him and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
41:41: He says, it's in him. It's in him. The old commandment was to love your neighbor as yourself, but now the new commandment is true in him.
41:53: In who? It's new in Christ, isn't it?
42:00: He came into the world and he gave us an example of how to really love that we didn't have before.
42:09: We didn't have that same kind of example before. Our example of love can find no greater example than that which is in Christ.
42:19: It's true in him because he is the perfect manifestation of love. He demonstrates it, doesn't he?
42:26: The idea is clearly seen in the Old Testament, but now we have the supreme example of Christ to show us how to really love.
42:36: He provides us this example. 1 John 4 .10, if you just wanted to look there, 1
42:43: John 4 .10, let's flip over a couple pages, says this,
42:52: And this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his
42:58: Son to be the propitiation for our sins. So he made that sacrifice for our sins, right?
43:05: I mean, is that not greater love? That's a good example of love. And also in John 10 .14
43:14: -15, he says this, I am the good shepherd, and I know my own, and my own know me, even as the
43:21: Father knows me, and I know the Father, and he says this, and I lay down my life for the sheep.
43:29: I mean, love is displayed in how he took all of our sin for us.
43:38: I mean, it's wiped away. I mean, as far as the
43:43: East is from the West. I mean, what an example of love. I mean,
43:49: I don't know about you, but I'm motivated to love the brethren because of that kind of love that the
43:58: Savior gave for me and for you. That's amazing to me. There is no new theology here to discuss.
44:07: Christ has loved us with an everlasting love at the cross. He's changed it.
44:15: He's given us a focal point. He is our example of how to love others.
44:21: In John chapter 13, it says this, He girded himself. Then he poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded.
44:35: I mean, is there any greater example besides the cross? I mean, here's the Savior of the world,
44:41: I mean, bending down to wash the disciples' feet. I mean, that example of love to me is like, how can
44:52: I do that? I need to do it. When John says this is a new command, it is because the illustration is found in Christ.
45:02: We have it in Christ. He's our model of it all. For the
45:09: God of all creation to get down and do that is just mind -blowing to me. But he said the new commandment is manifest in Christ, but he says it's also manifested in you.
45:20: It's in you. John says that the example of loving our brothers and sisters is new because he's our model.
45:31: And it's new in us. How is it new in us? How is it new in us?
45:38: It's new in us because of salvation. It's new in us because of the
45:44: Spirit of God that resides in us. 1 John 4 .9, you're right there.
45:52: You might still be there. 1 John 4 .9, by this, the love of God was manifested.
46:01: How was the love of God manifested? It says it's in us. The love of God was manifested in us that God has sent his only begotten
46:12: Son into the world so that we might live through him. Okay, how do we live through him?
46:19: How do we live through Christ? How do we do it? We live through Christ by his example?
46:30: By how he walked? Absolutely. What else? It's probably the greatest one, right?
46:41: I don't know if you can get any greater than that. We live through his example. But we are an extension of him to the world.
46:51: Because he is in us, we manifest that love to the world. By that case, we live through him.
46:59: And we are in him. All right, so why is he writing a new command?
47:10: Why does he say he's writing a new command? Because in verse 8 there, he says, excuse me, 7, 8.
47:22: Oh, I'm in the wrong chapter, sorry. Verse 8, he says, on the other hand,
47:27: I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in him and in you. And then he tells us why he's writing it.
47:33: He tells us why he's writing it, right? Because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
47:45: What does it mean to walk? What does it mean that the darkness is passing away? I mean, what is he talking about?
47:52: And the true light is already shining. The metaphor of light and darkness is something we've already talked about.
47:58: In chapter 1, verse 5, it says this about God, that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.
48:08: No darkness at all. He is morally pure. He's perfect in every sense. But now we see it in a different context slightly in this passage.
48:17: Darkness is associated with the kingdom of Satan and Christ rules the light.
48:23: He owns the light. So John says that the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
48:30: The darkness isn't passing away though. Do you see that? I look out and I see darkness increasing.
48:38: And I don't mean, well, yeah, I guess I could say that now because it's fall, right? I mean, the physical darkness is fading away.
48:45: It's coming in. But we're talking spiritually here. Right? I don't see that the darkness is passing away.
48:54: I see it's increasing. Do you see that? I do.
49:01: I see it all over the place. It seems to be getting worse. So how can the darkness be passing away then?
49:11: How can the darkness be passing away? Because what?
49:18: Because the world is passing away. It's progressing along a path.
49:26: And that's true. I mean, it is like a dark world that is completely black.
49:35: And then you picture Christ coming into that world and that light starts, started that process, right?
49:43: That light came into the world and now you and I, believer by believer, right, we're shining our light all over the place the best that we can.
49:55: And we're walking that way. And in that sense, sure, the light is increasing, but our lights are never going to put the darkness away, is it?
50:07: When is that going to happen? Great White Throne Judgment?
50:15: Yeah, at the end times? When Christ returns in his glory?
50:21: Exactly. In Revelation 22, it says, they will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads and there will no longer be any night and they will not have need of light, of a lamp, nor the light of the sun because the
50:36: Lord God will illumine them and they will reign forever and ever. That light, now it's slowly, you know, the darkness is slowly fading away, but in that time, that's when it'll be gone because we won't need any other light but Christ himself.
50:57: The darkness is now passing away and each day we're getting closer, we're getting closer to that day that John describes here in Revelation.
51:06: That's exciting. For now, though, our part is to be like a torch blazing out there.
51:13: That's our responsibility, to be in the darkness, shining the light of the truth.
51:19: That's our responsibility. He's put that within us. We are to be flames of truth, shining brilliantly into the darkness of the world.
51:29: That's what we're supposed to be doing. For those out here that don't have a love, have that love of Christ, you know, you can come to him.
51:39: You can come to Christ. Those that truly seek him will be found. Turn to him if you don't already know him.
51:47: Fall on your knees and repent. Turn away from your sins and desire the true light.
51:54: There's no other source of truth in this broken down world. There's just no other source that you can find.
52:02: There's no other way into the city of God but through the gate that is
52:07: Christ. No other way. Our sins are piled up. They're piled up to the stars and nobody can save themselves.
52:15: It's not possible. Nobody can save themselves. Come to him. Because in that city, there's not going to be any imposters.
52:23: There's not going to be any counterfeits in that city. I would just urge anyone listening online or here to fall on your knees and say you're the
52:34: Lord because there is no other way. John says in verse 9 of our text today.
52:44: Chapter 2. The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.
52:52: These are... Okay.
53:41: So chapter 2 verse 9. The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.
53:49: Living a Christian life comes with a responsibility. Comes with a responsibility.
53:55: When you and I say that we love Christ and follow him, it means something to us.
54:00: It means something to us. It means that we serve him and we want to please him. Right?
54:06: I mean that's the idea. The unbeliever, the counterfeit doesn't have the same kind of love.
54:12: It says the one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother. How is that possible that you have the love of Christ in him?
54:18: For us though, it's different. It's impossible to love God without obeying him.
54:25: We have to obey Christ. Perfect love obeys. That's what the scripture teaches. You can't give
54:31: God a hug so the way that we show love is to obey him. That's what John 14 says.
54:37: If you love me, you will obey me. And that's how we demonstrate it. Counterfeits who say, oh yes
54:43: I have Christ but then they don't care anything about loving the saints.
54:49: You know, they're not our brothers and sisters. They're not our brothers and sisters in Christ.
54:56: John would get called out I think by the cancel culture of today by using the language that he used here.
55:03: I mean, think about it. I mean, hates his brother? Thank you.
55:36: Alright. So yeah, he would get called out definitely.
55:42: I mean, you can't say these kinds of words today. You can't tell somebody that they hate their brothers and sisters.
55:51: It's just not possible in our world because you get canceled. They'd call John the hater and the intolerant one.
55:57: But the truth is what we have to convey to people because honestly without that they can't change.
56:05: People can't change without being confronted with the truth of the word of God. And so that's what we try to do.
56:17: Let's see. I'm gonna skip down a couple things. Let me skip down to verse 10.
56:22: The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. We talked about abiding last week if you remember.
56:29: What does abiding mean? Remain. Yeah, if you abide in Christ you remain in him.
56:36: You are attending communion. You're worshiping. You're reading your Bibles.
56:42: You're praying. You're doing all those things. I mean, certainly those that are counterfeit can do those things too.
56:48: But we do them out of that love for the Lord because he's in us.
56:55: The goal as we live our faith is to do so in a manner worthy of God. We are
57:00: Christ's ambassadors to a watching world and to God we love, we obey, we honor him.
57:07: Whether we are at the grocery store or eating at a restaurant, we're manifesting his character to the world.
57:15: John says that the reason why we do that is because we don't want others to stumble. That's what it says in verse 10 there.
57:24: We don't want others to stumble. And the word for stumble there is like a trap. This is causing other people to stumble.
57:33: Like essentially setting a trap for them. We don't want our lives and how we live our lives to cause the brethren and other people to stumble.
57:43: It's like a mousetrap. This is the idea. You put the bait on there, cheese or peanut butter or whatever it is and you get the string over or the metal piece over there and hook it up and it's just caught on there.
58:01: And that's the idea. You don't want our brother to come along and stick his hand or his foot in there and get caught in that trap.
58:09: Our lives should be lived out in a way that shows a way to live that isn't gonna cause anybody damage or harm.
58:18: And that's a good way to think about it is that just live it accordingly to the scriptures.
58:27: Let's see here. I'm gonna skip down a couple things. What are some of the modern examples of ways that we can cause other people to stumble in their faith?
58:37: There's definitely ways that we, old ways they were talking about the relation of food sacrifice to idols.
58:47: Scripture says, but take care that this liberty of yours is not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.
58:54: We're talking about food sacrifice to idols. But what are some modern day examples of how we can cause other people to stumble?
59:05: They see us as a hypocrite. Yeah, I think everybody would probably, that is an unbeliever would look at a
59:11: Christian and say, we're a hypocrite. That's one way. What else?
59:22: Yeah, I mean, drinking alcohol in front of somebody if they really struggle with it, and you don't wanna cause them problems and issues.
59:30: Sure. What about the acceptance of sin? I mean, if we condone sin,
59:40: I mean, you see that a lot in the church today, right? Homosexuality, role of women in the church, pastors.
59:47: I mean, we condone those things, we can cause brothers and sisters in Christ to stumble.
59:54: And we're not supposed to do that. So our faith's important. We have to glorify God. We have to stay close to him.
01:00:03: And really the last thing in verse 11 says, but the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, does not know where he's going.
01:00:11: One of my family members one time was, we were in Minnesota and we were deer hunting. And the swamps in Minnesota, you go in them and everything looks the same.
01:00:22: So you can follow that monster buck in there on this main path and main trail and think that I'm gonna come out on that path, but it never works that way.
01:00:32: The trails dry up, whatever. And my family member got lost and it became dark and they were wandering around and they had no light.
01:00:46: They had no flashlight or no headlamp or anything like that. And they were just wandering around in the darkness.
01:00:52: They had no idea where they were going because the light wasn't there to provide a direction for them and an ability to see.
01:01:00: And that's what John's talking about. He's talking about people wandering around in darkness because they don't have the light.
01:01:07: And that's the person that hates his brother, he says, is in this kind of darkness.
01:01:13: And they walk around, they don't know where they're going. They don't have the Bible. They don't have a preacher.
01:01:19: They don't have the ability to see where they are going. Like my family member in that swamp, they don't have that.
01:01:26: They're just wandering around aimlessly in that. So I would say, wrap up here, is application -wise, three things.
01:01:37: Look for ways to show God's love to others. Look for ways to show God's love to others.
01:01:44: As you live your life daily, look for those opportunities where you can actually put it into action. Second would be to prepare your minds for action.
01:01:52: You gotta be thinking about it, thinking about that. 1 Peter 1 .13, therefore prepare your minds for action.
01:02:00: Be thinking about your mind. And the last would be to walk with purpose. Sacrificially give of your time and resources to demonstrate the way that Christ walked.
01:02:11: Ephesians 5 .2 says this, and walk in love, just as Christ also loved and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
01:02:22: That's how we're to walk. So those three things, if you can think about that as you live, you'll manifest the love of Christ to the brethren and to everyone that is watching.
01:02:31: Let's pray. Father, you alone are worthy. Thank you for the day. Thank you for your love for us and the example of what true love for the brethren actually is, that you lay down your life for us, that you give us salvation and hope.
01:02:46: Thank you so much for that. And we just commit our day to you. Go before us in Jesus' name, amen.
01:05:52: Hey, Jim. Is my mic, where is it? Oh, I got it. Check, one, two, check, two.
01:06:11: Test, one, two, checking, one, two, three. Testing, one, two, one, two. We're good here on the monitors, Dave.
01:06:20: Checking, checking, one, two, two, two, two. Test, test, test, test, test. Good, keep going.
01:06:25: Testing, one, two, test, test, one, two, test. drives me still, hiking to your command.
01:07:30: Let every animal That's it, Dave. We're going to do a guitar check, too. We're going to do a guitar check.
01:07:49: Is the acoustic muted? Okay. The bass.
01:08:48: And then what about the house? Test, Arrested, arrested, arrested, arrested, arrested, arrested, arrested, arrested, arrested, arrested.
01:10:28: Your spirit had awakened our lifeless hearts to see the king in brilliant glory revealed in majesty.
01:10:42: We were ruined in your presence and tearing at the seams.
01:10:50: Our eyes had gazed upon the king of kings. Scripture, too marvelous for words, too wonderful for comprehension.
01:11:33: Like nothing ever seen or heard.
01:11:41: Who can grasp your infinite wisdom?
01:11:48: Who can fathom the depths of your love?
01:11:55: You are beautiful beyond description. Majesty enthroned above.
01:12:08: I stand, I stand in awe. I stand,
01:12:17: I stand in awe of you. Holy God to whom all praises due.
01:12:28: I stand in awe of you. Beyond description.
01:12:52: Yet God crushed you for my sin. In agony and deep affliction.
01:13:05: Cut off that I might enter in. Who can grasp such tender compassion?
01:13:18: Who can found mercy so free?
01:13:28: Description. I stand in awe.
01:14:04: I stand, I stand in awe of you.
01:14:40: I stand, I stand in awe.
01:15:42: Stricken, slitten, and afflicted.
01:15:48: See him dying on the tree. Tears of Christ I have rejected.
01:15:58: As my soul is he diseased. Tears of all expected profit.
01:16:07: David's son and David's Lord. My son,
01:16:15: God has spoken. Tis the true and faithful word.
01:16:49: Distress managed to save.
01:17:01: But the deepest tip.
01:17:07: Was the stroke that justice gave.
01:17:20: We who think of sin but blindly. Not suppose its nature rightly.
01:17:34: Hear its guilt plain. See correctly.
01:17:49: Tis the word of God. Son of man and son of God.
01:18:07: Here we have a firm foundation. Hear the red.
01:18:18: Christ the rock of our salvation. Is the name of.
01:18:27: We boast it. Sacrifice to cancel guilt.
01:18:39: None shall ever. None shall ever be confound.
01:18:54: Shadows are done.
01:19:30: We shall see our Savior. Shining like the sun.
01:19:41: Every tear he will. Every shadow will flee.
01:19:53: All those in Christ Jesus. Will be made.
01:20:05: Will be. Lord Jesus.
01:20:17: Listen to creation. Lord Jesus. Come and take your people home.
01:20:45: We'll praise him. Every knee.
01:20:55: When we see our Savior. Lord Jesus.
01:21:20: Listen to creation. Lord Jesus. Come and take your people home.
01:21:49: See in part. Then we'll see in full.
01:21:59: Jesus. Will satisfy our soul.
01:22:12: See in part. Then we'll see in full.
01:22:23: Jesus. Will satisfy our soul.
01:22:35: Lord Jesus. Listen to creation.
01:22:42: Lord Jesus. Come and take your people.
01:23:02: Come and take your people. Grace and peace.
01:23:31: Oh, how can this be? Lawbreakers and thieves.
01:23:38: For the worthless, the least. You have said.
01:23:46: That our judgment is dead. For all eternity.
01:23:54: Without hope. Without. Amazing mystery.
01:24:05: What an amazing mystery. That your grace has come to me.
01:24:27: Grace and peace. Oh, how can this be?
01:24:34: The matchless king of all. Paid the blood price for me.
01:24:43: Slaughtered lamb. What atonement you break.
01:24:50: The vilest sinner's heart. Can be cleansed, can be free.
01:25:01: Amazing mystery. What an amazing mystery.
01:25:07: That your grace has come to me. What can this be?
01:25:49: The songs of gratefulness. Ever rise, never cease.
01:26:01: Called as a saint. My heart is satisfied.
01:26:09: In the riches of Christ. Amazing mystery.
01:26:21: Amazing mystery. That your grace has come to me.
01:26:33: Grace has come to me. Come to me.
01:27:08: That your grace has come to me. Only would
01:28:20: I leave behind. Welcome to Kootenai Church.
01:31:16: Would you please stand this morning as we sing the song we learned last week. Christ our glory. Christ our glory.
01:32:05: Christ our hope. Christ our king forevermore.
01:32:15: Be still and remember. The worst that can come.
01:32:22: Love shortens our journey. And hastens us home.
01:32:29: No hour should be wasted.
01:32:36: On seeking our joy. And placing our hope.
01:32:42: In what will be destroyed. We look for a city.
01:32:48: That has had no grace. We look for a country.
01:32:55: That sin has not saved. Christ our glory.
01:33:04: Christ our hope. Christ our king forevermore.
01:33:13: We look for a city. That has had no grace.
01:33:20: We look for a country. That sin has not saved.
01:33:38: Though trouble and anguish. Increase all the more.
01:33:46: They cannot compare. To the glory in store.
01:33:52: Come joy or come sorrow. Whatever befalls.
01:33:59: The light of the savior. Will outshine them all.
01:34:09: Christ our glory. Christ our hope.
01:34:14: Christ our king forevermore.
01:34:21: Christ our glory. Christ our hope.
01:34:27: Christ our king forevermore.
01:34:34: Christ our glory. Christ our hope. Christ our king forevermore.
01:34:47: Come joy or come sorrow. Whatever befalls.
01:34:54: The light of the savior. Will outshine them all.
01:35:24: Jesus your mercy. Is all my plea. I have no defense.
01:35:31: My guilt runs too deep. The best of my works. Clears your hands and your feet.
01:35:40: Jesus your mercy. Is all my plea.
01:35:53: Jesus your mercy. Is all my boast. Goodness I claim.
01:36:00: The grounds of my hope. Whatever I lack. Is still what
01:36:05: I need most. Jesus your mercy. Is all my boast.
01:36:16: Praise the king who bore my sin. Took my place where I stood condemned.
01:36:26: Oh how good you've always been to me.
01:36:31: I will sing of your mercy. Jesus your mercy.
01:36:46: Is all my rest. Fears weigh me down. And enemies pressed.
01:36:53: The comfort I cling to in life and in death.
01:36:59: Jesus your mercy. Is all my rest. Praise the king who bore my sin.
01:37:12: Took my place where I stood condemned. Oh how good you've always been to me.
01:37:22: I will sing of your mercy. Jesus your mercy.
01:37:46: Is all my joy. Forever I'll lift my heart and my voice.
01:37:53: To sing of a treasure no power can destroy. Jesus your mercy.
01:38:01: Is all my joy. Praise the king who bore my sin.
01:38:12: Took my place where I stood condemned. Oh how good you've always been to me.
01:38:22: I will sing. Praise the king who bore my sin.
01:38:30: Took my place where I stood condemned. Oh how good you've always been to me.
01:38:40: I will sing of your mercy. More than conquerors we are more than conquerors we are more than it is to lend us hope.
01:40:09: There's no things present, nor things to come, nor death, nor anything in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ.
01:41:10: The strength of God's power for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but the rulers, and the powers, and the darkness, and the evil of this world.
01:41:38: Therefore take up the full armor of God, all to stand and stand.
01:42:02: Now stand, stand, stand.
01:42:12: Now stand. Through Christ who left us we are more than conquerors.
01:42:54: Through Christ who left us we are more than conquerors.
01:43:05: We are more than conquerors Turn your
01:43:34: Bibles, please, to Psalm 27. Just a couple of announcements while you're finding your place there.
01:43:47: There is a Reformation night this coming Saturday night here at the church. It's a family night intended to be games and fun and events for you and your kids and so we welcome you to come.