Love the Brethren (1 John 2:7-11)

Kootenai Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

Good morning, it's good to be in the house of the Lord. I can tell you that.

00:07

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.

00:19

Let's go to the word or the Lord with the word of prayer before we get going, we'll get cracking. Father, we love you and praise you.

00:25

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.

00:34

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.

00:53

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.

01:06

All right, we're gonna start, we're gonna read chapter two. We're gonna read from verse three down to 11 in 1

01:13

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, all right.

01:32

Chapter three of 1 John, chapter two, or verse three of chapter two of 1

01:38

John. By this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. The one who says

01:43

I have come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.

01:52

But whoever keeps his word in him, the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in him.

02:00

The one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked.

02:08

Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning.

02:17

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.

02:35

The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.

02:42

The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

02:49

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.

03:00

John said in verse three of chapter one, he says, what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also so that you too may have fellowship with us.

03:12

He proclaimed Christ because he wanted his readers to have that bond of fellowship with John and all around him.

03:23

It is Christ in the midst of our lives that brings this deepest level of fellowship possible.

03:31

It's Christ in us. Chapter one, verse seven 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 son cleanses us from all sin.

03:47

When we were unbelievers, fellowship wasn't a word we probably used a whole lot.

03:54

I know, I don't even remember using that before I was saved.

04:00

Fellowship is something that we might not have had an idea of what it meant or how we even were to live that.

04:06

But when Christ drew us to himself, eventually became saved, the blinders come off.

04:15

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.

04:30

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.

04:37

We get together and we fellowship amongst one another but Christ brings us into fellowship with himself and with the brethren, doesn't he?

04:49

That's the beauty of it all. Before that, I mean my life was shipwrecked,

04:54

I didn't have any fellowship with any believers obviously because there was no need for me to do that.

05:01

I never even read a book before I became a Christian because my life was a train wreck and I was living for myself.

05:09

But you know what I do now? It's all I do is read, that's all I care about. I wanna know his word,

05:17

I wanna read it, I wanna study it, I wanna be about his business and it's nice to come into a place like this and have fellowship with the saints and that's what

05:27

John's talking about. The change we all need comes from a relationship with Christ. That's the change we need but when we have the spirit living inside of us, all things are possible.

05:39

The spirit inside of us allows us to do that but that's not true for the unbelievers and those that have rejected

05:48

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.

06:00

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?

06:11

Any thoughts? Right, their relationship and commitment to the

06:24

Lord that we have just isn't in them. 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.

06:36

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.

06:48

You may have remembered but there's basically four tests, three that we've already talked about.

06:54

Chapter one, verse seven, first test of the faith, whether you're actually walking in it. He says, but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.

07:05

And the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. 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

07:17

Christ if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light.

07:22

The second test was in chapter two, verse three. By this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments.

07:30

We talked about the commandments. 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.

07:41

If we keep his commandments, if we walk with him, then we can be assured that those are believers in Christ.

07:49

The third test, he says in, I believe it's verse five. Let's see, the one that said, yeah, verse six.

07:57

But whoever keeps his word, verse six of chapter two, that is, but whoever keeps his word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected.

08:05

By this we know that we are in him. So whoever keeps his word is a true believer.

08:12

And then our test for today is found in verse 10. The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

08:25

That's the fourth test. You can see it right there. If we love the brethren. The test is, do they love the brethren?

08:35

He says that if you do that, then you're in the light. I love that, right? You're in the light.

08:41

If not, then you're in darkness. So this verse is all about, these verses are gonna be about today.

08:48

John spoke a ton about love in his gospels, didn't he? Seems like all throughout the gospel of John and through first, second, third

08:55

John, I mean, love is just so characterized in everything that he does and he talks about it so much.

09:03

And it's been said that John has been called the apostle of love for that very reason.

09:10

Jerome's commentary on Galatians 6 .10, I don't know if you know this or not, but Jerome translated the

09:17

Old and New Testaments into Latin. And that was the Bible for about a thousand years up until the

09:24

Reformation period. And Jerome said that John wasn't able to preach anymore when he was at the church in Ephesus.

09:32

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 and he would say to the congregation, love one another, love one another.

09:51

And when they would ask him about it, why he would say that, he would say, because it's the

09:56

Lord's commandment. And if you do this, it's everything. And I think that's true.

10:03

If you love the Lord and if you love his people, then it manifests your true spirit of love within you.

10:13

So the body of our message today is gonna be found in chapter two, verses seven through 11.

10:22

We're gonna start there. Verse seven says this, beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment, which you have had from the beginning.

10:33

The old commandment is the word which you have heard. So he says, beloved.

10:39

When you hear that word beloved, what comes to your mind? It's not a common word we would use, right?

10:45

I don't use it in my emails to anybody. Beloved, what does that mean?

10:53

When you think about that, what should it bring to our minds? I mean, any thoughts?

11:03

Love for the brothers and sisters. Yeah, it's definitely a love for the brothers and sisters in Christ, for sure.

11:09

What else? Say that again.

11:19

A warmth. Yeah. Yeah, it's a warmth. It's a sincere love that we have for our brothers and sisters in Christ, for sure.

11:29

I mean, it's just, he uses this term a little bit, or just the idea of it.

11:36

When he says, fellow believers, my little children, he said in chapter two, verse one.

11:42

I mean, it's definitely a term of love and it's that deeper meaning of it all.

11:49

When you look at the saints, there's a different perspective that we have, right? Yeah.

11:59

His relationship is to the individual. 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

12:11

Spirit. And that connection we have is deeper. So when he says, beloved, it's that kind of a meaning.

12:17

He says, I'm not writing a new commandment to you but an old commandment. What the heck does that mean?

12:23

He's not writing a new commandment to you but an old commandment.

12:29

You know, the attention is drawn to the contrast of the old and the new commandments.

12:35

It's not new, he says, but in fact, old. And I want to remind you of this, he says.

12:41

I wanna 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.

12:51

But verse 10 gives you an idea of what the old commandment is. The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

13:01

So the one who loves his brother, that's what he's talking about. And we also see this in 2

13:08

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.

13:24

That's that new commandment, old commandment, love one another.

13:31

I love that. The old commandment to love one another is something that they all would have been familiar with, wouldn't they?

13:40

The fact is, it's an old commandment, you know, that they love the brethren.

13:47

The word you have had from the beginning is the old commandment. That's what he's saying.

13:52

There is something you already know because you have heard it. It's been taught throughout the history of Israel and down through the

13:59

New Testament from what they had, that you are to love God and to love your neighbor. That's the commandment.

14:05

That's been taught from way back when. I mean, Joshua said it in chapter 22, verse five.

14:11

He said, only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law which Moses, a servant of the

14:16

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.

14:29

You can see that throughout the Old Testament and it's filled with these kinds of references.

14:37

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.

14:51

I am the Lord. So, you know, the saints would have known it, you know, from the teaching of old.

14:59

They've heard it before. So in this sense is what he's talking about.

15:05

Our verse, the old commandment is to love the brothers. John said that the old commandment is from the beginning, from the beginning.

15:14

Well, we heard about the beginning in chapter one, the first chapter when

15:22

John says about Christ, what was from the beginning, excuse me, about the gospel.

15:28

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.

15:40

He uses that word, the beginning. The beginning of what? We talked about that way back when, when we talked about that verse.

15:49

He says, what was from the beginning, what we have heard, and he uses it again here in chapter two, verse seven.

15:58

Beloved, I'm not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment, which you have had from the beginning. Beginning of what?

16:12

So it could refer back to creation. You know, that's what John chapter one, verse one talks about, could refer to that.

16:23

What other thoughts could it be? Yeah, it's the beginning of the gospel, the beginning of their relationship that they had with the

16:37

Lord. That's what I believe this is referring back to here is that we have heard this reference before.

16:44

What is from the beginning? Witnessing, you know, think about what John did. He witnessed

16:51

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.

17:08

I think he's talking more to probably Gentiles scattered throughout Asia Minor. 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

17:31

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.

17:40

We need to be reminded to put our focus back on the right things.

17:45

I don't know about you, but we, you know, I've drifted from time to time in my walk with the

17:51

Lord, and it's nice to have a reminder, you know, to get back to the commandments of Christ.

17:58

I mean, 1 John 2, 5 says, but whoever keeps his word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected.

18:06

The word which we have heard, the old commandment, was to love one another.

18:13

Remember that John was around 90 years old when he wrote this. So, I mean, he had a lot of experience.

18:21

You know, when you're reminded, when you live, you know, a long life, sometimes, you know, he's calling us back to the remembrance of it all.

18:31

Remember, you know, to focus your love on Christ and on the brethren. He's bringing that back into clarity for us, the beginning of Christ, and what you've learned from the

18:42

Old Testament and New Testament, he's saying, and put into practice those thoughts and ideas, you know, to love the brethren, to love

18:50

God. That's what he's doing, is he's bringing it back into our perspective. When I was young in my faith,

18:56

I heard to love the brethren all the time, but when

19:02

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, but now, older in years, well, you can kind of tell, right, gray hair, you know, in studying and being around it more, you know,

19:21

I understand what it means more. But I also need to be reminded on a consistent basis to actually do those things instead of just, oh, yeah,

19:31

I know it, but living the faith and doing it are two different things, isn't it?

19:37

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.

19:48

So verse seven is kind of a, you know, Old Commandment, New Commandment. One commentator

19:54

I read kind of summed up the verse this way and I thought it made sense to me, so I'll share it.

20:00

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.

20:12

The commandment, the old one, is the word which you have heard. It helps me to kind of put that into perspective.

20:20

Then John shifts gears a bit in verse eight when he says this.

20:27

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.

20:39

So John now says, oh, wait a minute. I guess I am writing a new commandment to you, right?

20:46

Didn't he just say that he wasn't writing a new commandment? But now he is? What's going on here?

20:52

And I like, I want to draw this to your attention. I just thought about this this week when

20:58

I was studying this passage, but he used commandment here just in the singular. And if you look back to chapter three, or chapter two, verse three, he uses commandments in the plural.

21:10

And it kind of reminded me of, well, why plural there and commandment here?

21:17

And I think it's singular in this context because love is the greatest commandment.

21:26

Love is the greatest commandment. Matthew says this, teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?

21:32

And 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.

21:39

And he said in verse 39, just past that, the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

21:47

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.

21:59

The first fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, it says is love. That's the fruit of the

22:05

Spirit, that love that we have. Without love, can we really have true kindness?

22:12

Without that love, can we really have that true compassion for people? Without love, can we have joy in serving?

22:22

That deep joy that comes from loving the brethren? I mean,

22:27

I think about this. I mean, can those without the Spirit exhibit these kinds of acts? Sure, right?

22:35

Unbelievers can exhibit kindness and a level of compassion as well. But I think with the

22:43

Spirit of God, it's different because it's to the brethren. This is what this verse is talking about.

22:48

It's to the brethren. And an unbeliever can't exhibit those characteristics to us.

22:55

That's the difference. John said that this new commandment is true in him and in you.

23:03

It's true in him and in you. The old commandment was to love our neighbors. But what's this new commandment?

23:11

And is it new? There are a couple of definitions for the word new that John uses here.

23:18

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.

23:30

And when something came into existence is what he's talking about. John is saying that this commandment is not chronologically new.

23:39

It's not chronologically new. It didn't just come about right now. It's already been in existence.

23:47

This is not new teaching, brothers and sisters. I'm not writing anything you haven't already heard is the idea.

23:54

It's not new in time. And then the other word he uses is kairos. And it means being of a greater quality.

24:06

This commandment is of a greater quality. The substance of the commandment has its meaning at a deeper level.

24:12

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.

24:22

You see the quality of the house and you understand that it's still the house, but it's new now.

24:28

It's freshened up with this new paint on it. Revelation 21 .1

24:35

gives the idea of this word new. Then I saw a new heaven.

24:42

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's no longer any sea.

24:53

See that new heaven, new earth, the quality of it and the substance of it and the freshness of it has changed.

25:00

It's better now. It's refreshed. Same as he says in Revelation 3 .12.

25:07

Anymore and I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my

25:12

God, the new Kairos, Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my

25:19

God and my new Kairos name. The quality of the new Jerusalem is changing.

25:27

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?

25:40

How is this new commandment old and yet new? How is it new or old and yet new?

25:51

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?

26:00

Let's read verse eight again. On the other hand, in verse eight, 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.

26:15

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.

26:27

In who? It's new in Christ, isn't it?

26:34

He came into the world and he gave us an example of how to really love that we didn't have before.

26:43

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.

26:53

It's true in him because he is the perfect manifestation of love. He demonstrates it, doesn't he?

27:00

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.

27:10

He provides us this example. First John 4 .10, if you just wanted to look there.

27:17

First John 4 .10, let's flip over a couple pages, says this, and this is love, not that we have loved

27:29

God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.

27:36

So he made that sacrifice for our sins, right? I mean, is that not greater love? That's a good example of love.

27:46

And also in John 10 .14 to 15, he says this, I am the good shepherd and I know my own, my own know me, even as the father knows me and I know the father and he says this, and I lay down my life for the sheep.

28:03

I mean, that's, love is displayed in how he took all of our sin for us.

28:12

I mean, it's wiped away. I mean, as far as the east is from the west.

28:19

I mean, what an example of love. I mean, I don't know about you but I'm motivated to love the brethren because of that kind of love that the

28:32

Savior gave for me and for you. That's amazing to me. There is no new theology here to discuss.

28:41

Christ has loved us with an everlasting love at the cross. He's changed it, given us a focal point.

28:51

He is our example of how to love others. 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.

29:09

I mean, is there any greater example besides the cross? I mean, here's the Savior of the world,

29:15

I mean, bending down to wash the disciples' feet. I mean, that example of love to me is like, how can

29:26

I do that? I need to do it. When John says this is the new command, it is because the illustration is found in Christ.

29:36

We have it in Christ. He's our model of it all. For the

29:43

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.

29:54

It's in you. John says that the example of loving our brothers and sisters is new because he's our model.

30:05

And it's new in us. How is it new in us? How is it new in us?

30:12

It's new in us because of salvation. It's new in us because of the

30:18

Spirit of God that resides in us. 1 John chapter one, 1

30:24

John 4, 9, you're right there, you might still be there. 1 John 4, 9, by this, the love of God was manifested.

30:35

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 son into the world so that we might live through him.

30:49

Okay, how do we live through him? How do we live through Christ?

30:56

How do we do it? We live through Christ by his example, by how he walked, absolutely.

31:07

What else? It's probably the greatest one, right?

31:15

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.

31:25

Because he is in us, we manifest that love to the world. By that case, we live through him.

31:33

And we are in him. All right, so why is he writing a new command?

31:44

Why does he say he's writing a new command? Because in verse eight there, he says, excuse me, seven, eight, let's see, oh,

31:56

I'm in the wrong chapter, sorry. Verse eight, he says, on the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in him and in you.

32:04

And then he tells us why he's writing it. He tells us why he's writing it, right?

32:11

Because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

32:19

What does it mean to walk? What does it mean that the darkness is passing away? I mean, what is he talking about?

32:26

And the true light is already shining. The metaphor of light and darkness is something we've already talked about.

32:32

In chapter one, verse five, it says this about God, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.

32:42

No darkness at all. He is morally pure. He's perfect in every sense. But now we see it in a different context slightly.

32:49

In this passage, darkness is associated with the kingdom of Satan and Christ rules the light.

32:57

He owns the light. So John says that the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

33:03

The darkness isn't passing away, though. Do you see that? I look out and I see darkness increasing.

33:12

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.

33:19

It's coming in. But we're talking spiritually here, right? I don't see that the darkness is passing away.

33:28

I see it's increasing. Do you see that? I do.

33:35

I see it all over the place. It seems to be getting worse. So how can the darkness be passing away then?

33:45

How can the darkness be passing away? Because what?

33:52

Because the world is passing away. It's progressing along a path.

34:00

And that's true. I mean, it is like a dark world that is completely black.

34:09

And then you picture Christ coming into that world and that light started that process, right?

34:17

That light came into the world. And now you and I, believer by believer, right?

34:23

We're shining our light all over the place the best that we can.

34:29

And we're walking that way. And in that sense, sure, the light is increasing, but our lights are never gonna put the darkness away, is it?

34:41

When is that gonna happen? Great White Throne Judgment, yeah, at the end times when

34:53

Christ returns in his glory, 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

35:10

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 and because we won't need any other light but Christ himself.

35:31

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.

35:40

That's exciting. For now though, our part is to be like a torch blazing out there, that's our responsibility, to be in the darkness, shining the light of the truth.

35:53

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.

36:03

That's what we're supposed to be doing. For those out here that don't have that love of Christ, you know, you can come to him.

36:13

You can come to Christ. Those that truly seek him will be found. Turn to him if you don't already know him.

36:21

Fall on your knees and repent. Turn away from your sins and desire the true light.

36:28

There's no other source of truth in this broken down world. There's just no other source that you can find.

36:36

There's no other way into the city of God. But through the gate, that is

36:41

Christ. No other way. Our sins have piled up, they're piled up to the stars and nobody can save themselves, can they?

36:49

It's not possible. Nobody can save themselves. Come to him. Because in that city, there's not gonna be any imposters.

36:57

There's not gonna 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

37:08

Lord. Because there is no other way. John says in verse nine of our text today, chapter two, the one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.

37:26

These are, okay.

37:36

So chapter two, verse nine, the one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.

37:44

Living a Christian life comes with a responsibility, doesn't it? It comes with a responsibility.

37:50

When you and I say that we love Christ and follow him, it means something to us. It means something to us.

37:56

It means that we serve him and we want to please him. Right? I mean, that's the idea.

38:03

The unbeliever, the counterfeit, doesn't have the same kind of love. 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?

38:13

For us, though, it's different. It's impossible to love God without obeying him.

38:20

We have to obey Christ. Perfect love obeys. That's what the scripture teaches. You can't give

38:26

God a hug, so the way that we show love is to obey him. That's what John 14 says.

38:31

If you love me, you will obey me. And that's how we demonstrate it. Counterfeits who say, oh yes,

38:38

I have Christ, but then they don't care anything about loving the saints, you know, they're not our brothers and sisters.

38:48

They're not our brothers and sisters in Christ. John would get called out,

38:53

I think, by the cancel culture of today by using the language that he used here. I mean, think about it.

39:00

I mean, hates his brother? All right.

39:08

So yeah, he would get called out, definitely. I mean, you can't say these kinds of words today.

39:15

You can't tell somebody that, you know, they hate their brothers and sisters. That's just not possible in our world because you get canceled.

39:22

They'd call John the hater and the intolerant one. But the truth is what we have to convey to people because honestly, without that, they can't change.

39:33

People can't change without being confronted with the truth of the word of God. And so that's what we try to do.

39:45

Let's see, I'm gonna skip down a couple of things. Let me skip down to verse 10.

39:50

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.

39:57

What does abiding mean? Remain. Yeah, if you abide in Christ, you remain in him.

40:05

You are attending communion, you're worshiping, you're reading your Bibles, you're praying, you're doing all those things.

40:13

Certainly, those that are counterfeit can do those things too. But we do them out of that love for the

40:21

Lord because he's in us. The goal as we live our faith is to do so in a manner worthy of God.

40:28

We are Christ's ambassadors to a watching world and to God we love, we obey, we honor him.

40:35

Whether we are at the grocery store or eating at a restaurant, we're manifesting his character to the world.

40:43

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.

40:52

We don't want others to stumble. And the word for stumble there is like a trap. This is causing other people to stumble, like essentially setting a trap for them.

41:04

We don't want our lives and how we live our lives to cause the brethren and other people to stumble.

41:11

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.

41:29

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.

41:37

Our lives should be lived out in a way that shows a way to live that isn't gonna cause anybody damage or harm.

41:46

And that's a good way to think about it is that just live it accordingly to the scriptures.

41:55

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?

42:05

There's definitely ways that we, old ways, they were talking about the relation of food sacrifice to idols.

42:15

Scripture says, but take care that this liberty of yours is not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.

42:22

We're talking about food sacrifice to idols. But what are some modern day examples of how we can cause other people to stumble?

42:33

They see us as a hypocrite. Yeah, I think everybody would probably, that as an unbeliever would look at a

42:39

Christian and say we're a hypocrite. That's one way. What else?

42:50

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.

42:58

Sure. What about the acceptance of sin? If we condone sin?

43:08

I mean, you see that a lot in the church today, right? Homosexuality, role of women in the church, pastors.

43:15

I mean, we condone those things. We can cause brothers and sisters in Christ to stumble.

43:22

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.

43:31

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.

43:37

There's no where he's going. One of my family members one time was, we were in Minnesota and we were deer hunting.

43:44

And the swamps in Minnesota, you go in them and everything looks the same. 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.

44:00

Path, the trails dry up, whatever. And my family member got lost.

44:08

And it became dark. And they were wandering around and they had no light.

44:14

They had no flashlight or no headlamp or anything like that. And they were just wandering around in the darkness.

44:20

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.

44:28

And that's what John's talking about. He's talking about people wandering around in darkness because they don't have the light.

44:35

And that's the person that hates his brother, he says, is in this kind of darkness.

44:41

And they walk around, they don't know where they're going. They don't have the Bible. They don't have a preacher.

44:47

They don't have the ability to see where they are going. Like my family member in that swamp, they don't have that.

44:54

They're just wandering around aimlessly in that. So I would say, wrap up here, is application -wise, three things.

45:05

Look for ways to show God's love to others. Look for ways to show God's love to others.

45:12

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.

45:20

You gotta be thinking about it, thinking about that. 1 Peter 1 .13, therefore prepare your minds for action.

45:28

Would 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.

45:39

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.

45:50

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.

45:58

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.