Overcoming (Part Four)
1 John 2:10-16
1 John 2:10-17
10.Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.
11.But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.
12.I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
(The phrase “from the beginning” is not the same as “In the beginning” stated in John 1:1).
13.I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father.
14.I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
15.Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16.For everything in the world-the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-comes not from the Father but from the world.
17.The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
NIV
Philippians 3:8
8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ NIV
Those who know him that was from the beginning, before this world was made, may well be induced thereby to relinquish this world. Then,
3. To the middle age of Christians, to those who are in their bloom and flower: I write unto you, young men, v. 13, 14. There is the adult in Christ Jesus, those that have arrived at the strength of spirit and sound sense and can discern between good and evil. The apostle applies to them upon these accounts: —
(1.) Upon the account of their martial exploits. Dexterous soldiers they are in the camp of Christ: Because you have overcome the wicked one, v. 13.
There is a wicked one that is continually warring against souls, and particularly against the disciples: but those that are well taught in Christ's school can handle their arms and vanquish the evil one; and those that can vanquish him may be called to vanquish the world too, which is so great an instrument for the devil.
(2.) Upon the account of their strength, discovered in this their achievement: Because you are strong, and you have overcome the wicked one, v. 14. Young men are wont to glory in their strength; it will be the glory of youthful persons to be strong in Christ and in his grace; it will be. their glory, and it will try their strength, to overcome the devil; if they be
not too hard for the devil, he will be too hard for them. Let vigorous Christians show their strength in conquering the world; and the same strength must be exerted in overcoming the world as is employed in overcoming the devil.
(3.) Because of their acquaintance with the word of God: And the word of God abideth in you, v. 14. The word of God must abide in the adult disciples; it is the nutriment and supply of strength to them; it is the weapon by which they overcome the wicked one; the sword of the Spirit, whereby they quench his fiery darts: and those in whom the word of God dwells are well furnished for the conquest of the world.
II. We have the dehortation or dissuasion thus prefaced and introduced, a caution fundamental to vital practical religion: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, v. 15. Be crucified to the world, be mortified to the things, to the affairs and enticements, of it.” The several degrees of Christians should unite in this, in being dead to the world. Were they thus united, they would soon unite upon other accounts: their love
should be reserved for God; throw it not away upon the world. Now here we see the reasons of this dissuasion and caution. They are several, and had need to be so; it is hard to dispute or dissuade disciples themselves from the love of the world. These reasons are taken,
1. From the inconsistency of this love with the love of God: If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him, v. 15. The heart of man is narrow, and cannot contain both loves. The world draws down the heart from God; and so the more the love of the world prevails the more the love of God dwindles and decays.
2. From the prohibition of worldly love or lust; it is not ordained of God: It is not of the Father, but is of the world, v. 16. This love or lust is not appointed of God (he calls us from it), but it intrudes itself from the world; the world is a usurper of our affection. Now here we have the due consideration and notion of the world, according to which it is to be
crucified and renounced. The world, physically considered, is good, and is to be admired as the work of God and a glass in which his perfections shine; but it is to be considered in its relation to us now in our corrupted state, and as it works upon our weakness and instigates and inflames our
vile affections. There is great affinity and alliance between this world and. the flesh, and this world intrudes and encroaches upon the flesh, and thereby makes a party against God. The things of the world therefore are distinguished into three classes, according to the three predominant inclinations of depraved nature; as,
(1.) There is the lust of the flesh. The flesh here, being distinguished from the eyes and the life, imports the body. The lust of the flesh is, subjectively, the humour and appetite of indulging fleshly pleasures; and, objectively, all those things that excite and inflame the pleasures of the flesh. This lust is usually called luxury.
(2.) There is the lust of the eyes. The eyes are delighted with treasures; an extravagant eye craves riches and rich possessions; this is the lust of covetousness.
3. There is the pride of life. A vain mind craves all the grandeur, equipage, and pomp of a vainglorious life; this is ambition, and thirst after honour and applause. This is, in part, the disease of the ear; it must be flattered with admiration and praise. The objects of these appetites must be abandoned and renounced; as they engage and engross the affection and desire, they are not of the Father, but of the world, v. 16. The Father disallows them, and the world should keep them to itself. The lust or appetite to these things must be mortified and subdued; and so the indulging of it is not appointed by the Father, but is insinuated by the ensnaring world.
3. From the vain and vanishing state of earthly things and the enjoyment of them. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, v. 17.
The things of the world are fading and dying apace. The lust itself and the pleasure of
it wither and decay; desire itself will ere long fail and cease, Ecclesiastes 12:5. And what has become of all the pomp and pleasure of all those who now lie mouldering in the grave?
4. From the immortality of the divine lover, the lover of God: But he that doeth the will of God, which must be the character of the lover of God, in opposition to this lover of the world, abideth for ever, v. 17. The object of his love in opposition to the world that passeth away, abideth for ever; his sacred passion or affection, in opposition to the lust that passeth away, abideth for ever; love shall never fail; and he himself is an heir of
immortality and endless life, and shall in time be translated thither. From the whole of these verses we should observe the purity and spirituality of the apostolical doctrine. The animal life must be subjected to the divine; the body with its affections should be swayed by religion, or the victorious love of God.