21. 1 Jn2_7-11 Practical Assurance Pt3

Practical Assurance: How to be assured you are not a Christian

For the last several months we have been looking at John’s instruction on practical assurance. We saw in verses 3-5 that we can be assured that we are in Christ if we keep His commands. The word ‘keep’ meaning more than obedience but also to guard in our hearts and minds, to hold dear as one’s convictions. We also saw in verses 6-8 we can have assurance that we are in Christ when we sacrificially love the brethren as He did. Joh 13:34-35  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  (35)  By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." In verse 9-11 he begins a contrast to the previous verses. But he is still keeping within the theme of practical assurance. Let us now read the word of God.

1Jn 2:1-11 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (2) He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (3) And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. (4) Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, (5) but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: (6) whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. (7) Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. (8) At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. (9) Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. (10) Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. (11) But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

There are 3 points this morning: 1) Blind to his spiritual condition 2) Blind to his spiritual path 3) Blind to his spiritual destination.

Introduction:

In the text we have read you will have noticed that John uses the phrase “Whoever says” 3x. In chapter 1 he uses the phrase “If anyone says” 3x. In chapter one he uses this phrase to point out that if anyone said it as a matter of a confession then the corresponding reply applied to them.

1Jn 1:6  If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

1Jn 1:8  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

1Jn 1:10  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

John uses all inclusive language in those verses lumping himself in as well.

In verses 4, 6, and 9 John is focusing on the practical outworking of faith. A confession or profession of faith must and I do mean must have the corresponding practical outworking of growing in obedience to His commands, growing in the imitation of Christ’s life, and growing in the love of the brethren. Full maturity in these things is not a requirement but growing in sanctification certainly is.

In verse 8 we see a transition. John goes on to say that the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. This could be in reference to the waning power of remaining sin. We see that the light holds such power as to reduce the power of sin in the believer’s life. The question naturally arises. Who then is in the light?

I. Blind to his/her spiritual condition.

Whoever literally means anyone without exception. Anyone who draws breath falls into this category. The verb says indicates that it isn’t a simple statement. It would literally be rendered the one saying, meaning that the person repeats it is a profession. We live in the Bible belt where it is not too much of a stretch to say that there is practically a church on every corner. In Yazoo City with a population of about 12 thousand there are at least 30 churches. When we ask someone the answer we get is ‘I am a Christian’. But when you start asking questions regarding their profession the answers may reflect something else altogether.

To say that he/she is in the light is a reference to place. John uses the proposition ‘in’ 6x in these three verses. Within the context of these verses, we can equate light to love, but back in chapter 1 verse 5 when we looked at God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. We saw that light in reference to God was holiness, truth, revelation, and illumination. John states explicitly later in His letter that God is love. Therefore, to say we are in the light means that we have made our abode in all things this light, spiritual light describes. Remember light is not self emanating. It always has a source. The source of this light is God and it is in Him that it finds its fullest, purest expression. Light is the absence of darkness. To say that we are in the light means we affirm all that spiritual light implies regarding holiness, truth, revelation, illumination and love. What shines the light on the truth of that profession is ‘and hates his brother.’

We in this age have used the word hate so much that it has lost as much meaning to us as the word love. We use the word love to describe our enjoyment of certain foods. I love ice cream. The same is equally true with the word hate. The word has diminished in its strength due to its overuse. It is a strong aversion to or intense dislike. And we may be thinking in our own minds that to hate someone is really not that bad. But then whose standard of holiness are we living by? Our own or the Lord’s?

Who or what is the object of this hatred? His brother. John is not speaking about a brother by familial relation of blood but the relation of one who is a brother or sister spiritually. It is a person who God had ordained and called for salvation, one for Whom Christ shed His own blood, and one for whom the Holy Spirit renewed and regenerated and granted new life. That person is the object of hatred. Jesus in His sermon on the mounts said this:

Mat 5:43-48  “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  (44)  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  (45)  so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  (46)  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  (47)  And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?  (48)  You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Here is John saying that the one who hates his brother has not even reached the level of the person who loves those who are like him.

Herein lies the blindness of the person’s spiritual condition. The text in the ESV says he is still in darkness. The word ‘still’ emphasizes there has been no movement to a different condition, that condition being one who is in the light. This points back to what John said in

1Jn 1:8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

We are deceived thinking we are something we are not. And the simplicity of it all is astounding. We are not measured by our profession, we are measure by our practice. We may hold advanced degrees in theology. We may be able to quote chapter and verse from the 1689 and revere it, yet to have all that knowledge and hate your brother or sister for whom Christ died and shed His own blood declares that you are still in spiritual darkness.

Mat 6:22-23  “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,  (23)  but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

The NASB has a slightly different translation of the Greek and I think more accurate. It reads ‘is in the darkness until now.’ It still shows us the unconverted condition of the one who hates but the phrase “until now” leaves the door open for repentance. In this case it is the more literal translation.

We must all ask ourselves this question. Is there a brother or sister whom we hate? What does that hate look like? It does not have to be the radical hatred that Hitler had for the Jews. It could be cold indifference. It could be seeing the brother or sister in need and not respond to it in Christian charity. Connie and I were having a conversation about this yesterday. In studying this passage, I wondered if I was guilty of hating a brother. There was a pastor in Yazoo with whom I have a lot of trouble. He knows that I have had issues with some of his actions because I have gone to him before. But in mulling it over it came down to this one question. If I saw him broken down on the side of the road, would I stop and help him? I had to admit that I would stop even though I could drive by and pretend not to see him. I am not sure my conscience is completely clear on the matter, but time will tell.

II. Blind to his/her spiritual path v10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.

The implication is that the one who hates his brother or sister abides in darkness and there is cause for stumbling.

Darkness is the absence of light. In the early morning before the dawn I wake up and make coffee. It is still dark but there is enough ambient light coming in from the windows that my eyes adjust and I can move around the room without waking Connie. When there is no source of even the dimmest light it is a darkness your eyes cannot adjust to. There is only darkness. Light illuminates our path. It allows us to avoid the obstacles in our home. I have on more than one occasion run into something or stumbled in the dark. It is amazing how your little toe seems to find the corner of heavy furniture in the dead of night or worse step on the lego left in the middle of the floor.

But to stumble continually in spiritual darkness is to eventually forfeit you soul.

Without abiding in the light there is no hope for navigating the evil that is in the world. The only light is that from a conscience seared and dead in trespasses in sins who compass is aligned with self rather than on the Lord of Glory. Which justifies hatred because of a wrong perceived or real suffered. Unless it is a heart that has been circumcised with the circumcision of Christ it will reject the light because it exposes the evil that is in it.

That one who abides in the light wants nothing more than for it is shine in the darkest recesses of our heart to have all revealed. It is the light that is found in God’s word that grants to us wisdom and discernment in this present evil age. Read Psalm 119 and see the beauty and benefits of the Word of God to His people. The Psalmist writes verse 105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

John uses another “in” preposition. There is no cause of stumbling ‘in him’. This indicates that is isn’t a matter of following a set of rules. It is an inward change of the heart that results in the appropriate response. I alluded to this text earlier. Paul says in

Col 2:9-14  For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,  (10)  and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.  (11)  In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,  (12)  having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.  (13)  And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,  (14)  by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

This is what has to happen to not be stumbling through life in spiritual darkness.

III. Blind to his spiritual destination v11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

We see the contrast between the one abiding in the light and the one in darkness. He or she is in the darkness. It is their present state with ongoing consequences. The verb walk implies purpose and destination. When we read this text it stirs in us pity. Consider the absolute lost state of this individual. It is the blind walking about in all futility reaching out in the darkness trying to find their way. They think they are on the road to heaven when they are on the road to hell. Eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord forever.

Mat 7:12-14  “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.  (13)  “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.  (14)  For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Why does hating your brother or sister mean so much. Why is it indicative of being in the faith? Why is does it determine our eternal destiny? John lays out an important principle of love.

1Jn 4:20  If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

Mat 25:41-46  “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  (42)  For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,  (43)  I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’  (44)  Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’  (45)  Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’  (46)  And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”