20. 1 Jn2_7-11 Practical Assurance Pt2

Practical Assurance Pt 2 Walking the Light

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.

Last month we saw in verse 3-6 there were three positive and one negative identifier by which we can be assured that we are in Christ. That we are believers who have been marked with a new heart that has been circumcised by Christ, saved by the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior and has caused us to be born again to a living hope. There have been times when we have lacked assurance. Why would we lack assurance? Because our new relationship with sin. As a result of the Spirit’s work we understand the nature of sin and the Lord’s hatred of it. In fact, the Christian hates it as well but we still struggle with the power of remaining sin. And so we mourn in the commission of it and wonder how can I be a Christian. John addresses the issue of assurance in these texts. In verses 3-6 the points were: 1) We can be assured we know God when we keep His commandments 2) We can be assured we don’t know God when we don’t keep His commandments 3) We can be assured we love God when we keep His Word and 4) We can be assured we are in Him when we walk as He walked.

Notice that John moves from the plural ‘commands’ in verses 3-6 to the singular ‘command’ in verses 7-11. We are to keep His commands but now John is focusing on one. May God help us to understand and apply this text for His honor and glory and for our mutual edification in the faith. You will also notice in this text the contrast between light and darkness. It should seem familiar to you because it is the same contrast of light and darkness we see in 1:5-7.

1Jn 1:5-7  This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.  (6)  If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  (7)  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

The first point this morning is:

I. The foundation of Assurance.

It is found in two words, beloved and brothers. For now we well only address Beloved. Now, if you are reading the King James or the New King James verse 7 begins with the word brethren. This is a variation in the Greek texts used in translating the ESV and the NKJV. Does it fundamentally change the meaning of the text? No. Whether it is to the ‘beloved’ or to the ‘brethren’ it is still addressing the same group of people. The KJV and the NKJV use of brethren fits within the immediate context concerning brothers. But the ESV and NASB are consistent with the context of the letter where John is addressing the congregations. It is also interesting to note that the NKJV and KJV also use ‘beloved’ in every verse but 2:7

ESV

(1Jn 2:7) 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.

(1Jn 3:2) Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

(1Jn 3:21) Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;

(1Jn 4:1) Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

(1Jn 4:7) Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

(1Jn 4:11) Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

NKJV 1Jn 3:2, 1Jn 3:21, 1Jn 4:1, 1Jn 4:7, 1Jn 4:11

‘Beloved” is the apostle John’s favorite term in addressing the church. He uses it 6x in this letter and 4x in 3 John. It isn’t only John’s favorite way but if we really believe that every word of Scripture is inspired by God then it is also one of His. How is this significant? In the New Testament “beloved” used exclusively of Divine and Christian love, an affection begotten in the community of the new spiritual life in Christ, e.g. “beloved in the Lord” (Rom_16:8). The beauty, unity, endearment of this love is historically unique, being peculiarly Christian. “Brethren” in Christ are “beloved” (1Th_1:4; 1Co_15:58; Jas_1:16; Jas_2:5). Many individuals are specified by name: Timothy (2Ti_1:2); Philemon (Phm_1:1); Amplias, Urbane, Stachys, Persis (Rom_16:8, Rom_16:9, Rom_16:12), etc. Paul terms “God's elect” “holy and beloved” (Col_3:12).

The term rises to still Diviner significance as it is used of Christ, whom Paul, grateful for His “freely bestowed” grace, terms “the Beloved.” This is the word used repeatedly to express God the Father's infinite affection for Jesus His “beloved Son” (Mat_3:17; Mat_12:18; Mat_17:5; Mar_1:11; Mar_9:7; Luk_3:22; Luk_20:13).

How are we now addressed as beloved?

Gal 4:4-7  But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,  (5)  to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.  (6)  And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”  (7)  So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

In this text we see there is a formal legal adoption – receive adoption as sons, but it also relational in the familial love of the Father to the Son and Son to the Father is given by the Spirit sent into our hearts by which we cry Abba, Father. The Scripture is one long love letter from God to His people where He details the kind intention of His will in saving us from our sin, justifying us in the Beloved, and bringing us into the household of God. From the covenant of Grace stated in Gen 3:15 and every covenant that comes after to the messages and visions given to the prophets concerning the grace to be revealed in the sufferings and glory of Christ. Even the Scripture testifying of the agreement made in the Godhead which the gospel of John references over and over again. Jesus repeatedly speaks of the work that the Father gave him to do, the glorious reward that he was promised, and the sending of the Spirit to apply the benefits of his redemption and bring about in fact the promised reward of a redeemed people, that was merited by the Son's unerring obedience to the Father (see John 5:17-31, 36-37, 43; 6:37-40, 57; 7:28-29, 38-39; 8:16-19, 26-29, 38, 42, 49-54; 9:4; 10:14-18, 25-30, 36-38; 12:23-28, 44-50; 13:3, 20, 31-32; 14:9-14, 16-20, 24-26; 15:8-15, 24-27; 16:7-16, 27-28; 17).

We indeed are the objects of God’s infinite, unquenchable, love that knows no height, depth, or breadth and that according to Paul in Rom 8:38-39  that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,  (39)  nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It is in Christ Jesus who knew no sin but was made sin and was made a curse on our behalf having been nailed to the cross with the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. John is able to call us beloved because the new commandment he was writing to them was true in Him (Christ) and in you. This was John’s objective observation of those to whom he was writing.

II. The Old Command - I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.

What stands out about this verse and the one following is that John does not reference what that command is. There is no text in quotations that you often see from the other writers quoting from the OT writers. Yet we know that John draws heavily from the words he heard from Jesus during His earthly ministry. From the context of the verses that John is speaking of the command of love. Jesus when asked by the lawyer what the greatest command was answered:

Mat 22:37-40  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.  (38)  This is the great and first commandment.  (39)  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  (40)  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Jesus quotes from two OT texts: Duet 6:5 and Lev 19:18. Considering that even at the time of this writing the primary text was probably the OT. They would be familiar with the command to love your neighbor as yourself. Even the OT was clear that the purpose of the Law was to teach us how to love God and love one another. Laws 5-10 was the purest expression of loving one’s neighbor. Remember, what ever the negative command explicitly states the implied positive is also true. When it says you shall steal. Obedience is not only keeping the negative but the positive protecting of your neighbor’s property. This is made clear.

Deu 22:1-3  “You shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep going astray and ignore them. You shall take them back to your brother.  (2)  And if he does not live near you and you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall stay with you until your brother seeks it. Then you shall restore it to him.  (3)  And you shall do the same with his donkey or with his garment, or with any lost thing of your brother's, which he loses and you find; you may not ignore it.

III. The New Commandment v8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you.

This seems a contradiction doesn’t it. He just wrote that he wasn’t writing a new commandment but now he says it is a new commandment. What does John mean?

The word ‘new’ is used twice. The Greek has two words for new. One is new in time, the other is new in kind. John uses the second, new in kind. Essentially, He is saying you know the old commandment to love your neighbor as yourself but now I am expanding and explaining that command. Was John issuing a new doctrine of his own accord? No. Jesus said:

Joh 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

Joh 15:12-13  “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  (13)  Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

Are still to love our neighbor – absolutely, but we are to love each other sacrificially.

IV. Living in the True Light - which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

Remember the contrast we saw of light and darkness in chapter 1. Here we see light is being defined as God’s command to love one another.

We have the objective proof of Christ Jesus sacrificial love for us told to us in the Scripture. He laid His glory aside and clothed Himself in flesh, born of a woman, under the law to redeem us from the curse of the Law. In the Trinity hymnal #731 The first stanza reads.

And can it be that I should gain An int'rest in the Savior's blood? Died He for me, who caused His pain? For me, who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! how can it be That Thou, my God, should die for me?

Refrain: Amazing love! how can it be That Thou, my God, should die for me!

Amazing love indeed.

This is true not only of Him but also of you. What a proclamation! You remember that John didn’t have to tell them the command he was referring to because they were already working this out practically among themselves. In John 13 Jesus says after His issuing the new command to love another, by this all men you will know that you are my disciples by your love for one another. And this has been the hallmark of the church. We see this played out in Acts.

Act 2:42-47  And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.  (43)  And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.  (44)  And all who believed were together and had all things in common.  (45)  And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.  (46)  And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,  (47)  praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Act 4:32-35  Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.  (33)  And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.  (34)  There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold  (35)  and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

John goes on to say that the darkness is passing away. This could be in reference to one of two things. Either the shadows and types of the OC, but more likely a reference to the waning power of remaining sin. In other words, progressing in sanctification. Not that we will ever be completely free of its power on this side of heaven but by the grace of God, in the mighty working of the Spirit of God and being washed in the Word we will grow in holiness. Growing in holiness means also growing in love. I don’t believe there is one without the other.

It is not enough to know the command. If we want to have practical assurance, we must also do the command. Do you love the brethren? How do you love the brethren? Do you love them as yourself? If we are following Jesus’ example that isn’t enough, we must love sacrificially. A new commandment I give to you, they you love one another even as I have loved you so you also love one another. By this all men will know you are My disciples by your love for one another. The world will know not by the purity of our doctrine, though that is important, not by our ability to defend the faith though that too is important. Not by the size of our church buildings or the number of members we have or the types of programs the church offer.

An interesting note in closing. Chapter 1:5 says God is light. We have seen in the context of these verses the relation of light and the Law and the primacy of the law of love. Chapter 4:8 John states “God is love”.