1 John 2:6-11

Introduction

Last week we saw two marks of the a believer

we desire to keep his commandments and please him

we will keep his word

This morning we will look at verses 6-14

Verse 6

He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

The word abide here means to dwell or to remain.

In 1st John, John doesn’t seem to pull any punches, he tells the churches if you say you live in Christ and he lives in you, you should walk as he walked.

John 15:4 “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.”

If we want to produce fruit we have to abide in the right vine.

Jesus ought to be the standard for:

our thoughts

Philippians 2:5 “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:”

our deeds

1 Peter 2:21 “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:”

our love

John 13:35 “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

And here in verse 6 Christ is the standard for our life.

Too often our actions don’t reflect our words, here John calls them to walk the way they talk. We need this reminder as well don’t we? Our walk should match our talk.

Graham Scroggie said this “ Christ is the sphere of the Christian’s life, that is, we are not encircled in Christ, but “ensphered”. A circle would surround us only on one plane, whereas a sphere wraps us in all directions.”

Verse 7

Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning.

He starts by addressing them as brothers. We will see numerous ways that John addresses the recipients of this letter, but he starts with some camaraderie by using the term brethren.

He then tells them that he isn’t writing anything new, but rather reiterating a commandment they have had from the beginning of time.

1 John 3:11 “For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.”

Henry Morris said this “The commandment to love one another is not a new revelation, for Jesus had repeatedly taught this in his earthly ministry”

This was something taught through Adam and Eve, demonstrating marital love through God’s command to multiply in Gen 1:28.

The commandment to love one’s neighbor was foundational to the Mosaic law

Romans 13:8–10 “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

Christ was the greatest picture of the sacrifice love requires

John 15:12–14 “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”

John ends verse 7 by reiterating that this commandment is from the beginning.

John Phillips said this “Such was an old commandment, and such was a great commandment ——Love God supremely, love all men sincerely. All the other laws are expositions of these two rudimentary and revolutionary principles. If everyone loved God and other people like that, we would not need the countless laws that tie us up in knots to this day”

Verse 8

Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you:

John 13:34 “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”

John 15:12 “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”

In the last part of verse 8 John tells us why and when this command becomes new

Because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.

Because the darkness has been dispelled by the light who is Jesus, we have a new command and that command is to love one another.

Romans 13:12 “The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.”

Like we said earlier the command to love one another is nor new, in so far as knowledge and awareness are concerned. It becomes new when made part of life, when the old spiritual darkness is banished by the true light shining in ones soul.

2 Corinthians 4:6 “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Because of the light that Jesus brings into our life, he dispels the darkness of hatred and replaces it with the light of love.

Verse 9

He that saith he is in the light and, hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.

1 Corinthians 13:2 “And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.”

We cannot claim to be in the light if we hate our brother, because we are full of darkness. Jesus tells us that we should be known for our love.

Jesus never calls us to hate anybody, he teaches us through his actions while here on earth to hate the sin and love the sinner.

I think this is one of the hardest thing for believers because we are scared to be called names like compromiser and such.

The only way we do this is the same way Jesus did, the Bible tells us in John 1 that Jesus was full of grace and truth.

Verse 10

He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

Another mark of a true believer is our love for others.

As Christians we should be the most loving people there are.

When we abide in the light we are literally abiding in Christ as he is the light.

I think its fair to say that it is hard to love everybody

Sometimes its because of their personality and sometime we don’t know why we don’t like them, but we just don’t .

John spent 3.5 years with Jesus, and never did he see Jesus not like someone.

one commentary put it this way “The Lord did not allow preference or prejudice to make a difference in his heart, never allowing human feelings to motivate him to the extent that he attracted this one, and repelled that one. He love Pilate as much as he loved Peter and would’ve saved Caiaphas as gladly as he saved Nicodemus.”

How are unbelievers supposed to know what the Lord is really like unless we show them the love that he showed us.

John here is telling us to show people who Jesus really is, and we do that by showing them love!

Verse 11

But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

Have you ever been filled with so much hatred that you were blinded by the anger?

This is what John here is describing.

The classical biblical example is King Saul, who was jealous of David. The dark chapters of Saul's life began when David won the applause of the nation for going into the valley of death to destroy Goliath, the Philistine giant from Gath.

For a while Saul seems to have struggled with his malice and ill will. But it grew until it dominated his whole life, until he forgot everything else, even allowing the administration of the kingdom to fall into ruins.

He hated those who loved and supported David, even his own son Jonathan, whom he tried to kill in a fit of rage. He focused on his dislike, ignoring the growing Philistine threat to his kingdom, his life degenerating into a mad crusade to hunt David down.

He made at least two dozen separate attempts on David's life and massacred an entire colony of priests out of suspicion that they had sided with David and helped him to escape. On two occasions when David had Saul in his power and let him go, Saul owned his wrongdoing but was soon back at his old tricks again, planning crusades and campaigns to corner, capture, and kill David.

He went from one dark episode to another, blind to everything else un at last, jealousy, fear, rage, and malice took over his entire existence. He ended up in total darkness, consulting a witch and dying as a suicide on his own sword.

Hatred will blind you and because of it you walk in darkness

Conclusion

We can know that we are christians by our walk and by our love for others.

Are we walking like Jesus?

Do we love others?