Love, Blindness, and Light

Love

1. “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. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” —John 13:34

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

3. “And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another.” —2 John 1:5

Supernatural, unified, genuine, and public love for one another is the commandment for the church.

Spiritual Blindness

“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

2. “So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.” —John 12:35

3. “And this is the judgement: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works are evil.” —John 3:19

Apart from Christ we all walk in total spiritual blindness. Our love for the darkness blinds our eyes from seeing the truth of Christ. Darkness is anything that is evil, and walking in darkness is living a sinfully dominated lifestyle.

John Newton: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see.”

The Gnostic Heretics

This book was written with a two-fold purpose: 1. Strengthen the faith of true believers, and help them see the heresy of the day.

John was likely in Ephesus at this point in the ministry, and this letter was intended to circulate through multiple churches in the area, who were experiencing false teachings creeping in the church.

The Gnostics, and really all heretics, were denying the historical person of Christ, and that he came in the flesh. (1 John 4:2, “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.”)

Denying that Christ was the only way to salvation: (1 John 2:33, “No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.”)

These were the heresies that were being taught, and that John is teaching against.

Heresies such as these resurface throughout church history: (The Apocrophyn of John, claimed to be secret knowledge of God and creation. Dark, hidden knowledge only revealed to few. These are demonic attempts to confuse and cloud the thinking of Christians. The Gospel of Thomas, was filled with heretical teachings. And you must be careful what you read today, because there are many books that may seem so Christian, but in fact they are darkness in disguise.)

2 Corinthians 11:14, “And no wonder, for even Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond with their deeds.”

The Divine Light

“The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” —John 1:9

“Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” —John 11:9-10

“I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.” —John 12:46

The only way that we can truly see, is through the Divine Light, Jesus Christ. We see nothing properly apart from Him. “Repentance is not merely a change of mind, but a change of the mind itself.” —C.H. Spurgeon. We change our mind about everything!

C.S. Lewis, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

We believe in Christ, not because we have seen Him, but by Him we see everything else as it really is.

1 John 2:7-11

“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. 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. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 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.”

V.7a: “Beloved”

6 times John uses this phrase to address his readers.

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

3:2, “Beloved, we are God’s children now” 3:21, “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God.” 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 into the world.” 4:7, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” 4:11, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

We see the tone of the book becoming clear. There is this wonderful balance of love, and truth. A wonderful marriage of love and truth.

Love and truth are never meant to be separated. John in this letter, doesn’t sacrifice love on the altar of truth, or truth on the altar of love.

V.7-8: The Commandment of Love

The juxtaposition of the old and new commandment: It is not a new commandment, it is the old commandment rediscovered as if it is new.

“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. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

3. “an old commandment that you had from the beginning.” When they first heard the gospel, the commandment of love was included. So it isn’t a new commandment in the sense that they have never heard it before, but in the sense that he wants them to go back to the basics of love in their congregation.

4. Love and the gospel go hand-in-hand. They are not to be separated. In the gospel there is a supernatural love initiated by God, then love in us for God, and that love expressed for the people of God.

5. “For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, “that we should love one another.”

V.8b: It’s True in Him and In You

The life of love was expressed, and lived by Christ. It should be expressed and lived by us as well

When we love others, we are reflecting Him.

Biblical love is a truthful love. Biblical love is a love that flows from truth. Love is never to sacrificed on the altar of truth, nor is truth to be sacrificed on the author of love.

“Your best friend is the one who tells you the most truth.”

The most loving, Christ-like thing you can do is tell the truth.

V.8c: Because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining

Darkness: Darkness is used 7 times in this letter: 1:5, 1:6, 2:8, 2:9, 2:11X2) All of which are referring to the dominating nature of sin.

When a person repents and believes, the dominating nature of sin begins to pass away, and continues to pass away. And not only is the dominating darkness passing away, the true light begins to shine, and continues to shine.

In conversion, the light of Christ fills a person for the first time, and they see the reality of their sin. They may have thought they were a good person their entire life, but when the light is shined, they see their sinfulness, and the consequences of it. It is like a beam of light coming through a window, and you look into the beam and you see the dust particles filling the air. Air that you may have believed was pure until you saw the light.

Or it’s as if a detective is looking over a crime scene. He cannot seem to find any evidence at all. He combs through the entire scene for hours and finds nothing. It isn’t until his partner comes with a specific type of light, and they shine the light on the crime scene their is evidence everywhere. The same is true in our heart. We need the Divine Light shone in our heart to see the reality of our sin, and we need the Divine Light to light the path to the cross!

Charles Spurgeon approached this verse by saying this, “Children of light may for a time walk in the darkness of sorrow; but from the darkness of untruthfulness, ignorance, sin, and unbelief they have been delivered. In these respects the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. Moral darkness is contrary to their new-born nature: they cannot endure it.

The Darkness of Sorrow

After my conversion one of my favorite things to do was see the sunrise. I loved to see the darkness sweep the land. You could see nothing but the stars in the sky. But as it got closer to dawn, you begin to see the beautiful colors dancing across the sky. Dark colors of purple turning to pink. Red turning to orange. The beauty that God displays even in the darkest of the morning. Then if you sit and watch long enough you see the dawn break, and the sun begin to shine. You can see everything around you. So it is with suffering. It may seem dark, and it may seem like the night will never end, but wait on the Lord, and He will take the darkest night, and turn it into the most glorious morning.

When all is said and done, and the darkness has passed completely away, everything will be alright. It may seem dark in our world today, but Christ wins, we rise, and we live forevermore.

V.9: Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness

John is going from a more broad approach for themselves to test their faith, to a more specific sin, and that’s hatred toward Christians.

To hate Christians, and say your Christian is such a contradiction to the point where those things are so opposed it is like light and darkness.

This is intended for the reader to look in themselves specifically and see where their heart is in regard to other believers.

Let’s broaden out for a moment: There are many movements that sweep our land. How can we know if we can embrace a movement that sweeps the land? Well the the principle in this text should be applied. Whatever movement says that they are in the light, but yet is opposed to the church, opposed to orthodox doctrine, and in reality hates the church, they are not from God. When a movement claims to be in the light, but the rioters run up in churches, disrupt churches, embrace homosexuality, transgenderism, and are opposed to the traditional Christian home they are not from God! I don’t care if the name of the organization seems to be the most righteous name ever, if they do not love Christians they are not of the Kingdom of Light, but they are of the kingdom of darkness.

2 Corinthians 11:14, “And no wonder, for even Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond with their deeds.”

V.10-11: Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 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

A loving of the fellowship of the saints is an evidence that you are walking in the light. No cause for stumbling means that what would cause you to fall totally away from the faith, namely the dark, dominating power of sin is removed. And other saints are ordained in your life to help you on your pilgrimage. We’ve all lost people this year. It has been difficult, and without one another we would stumble, with one another we’re here to pick one another up.

On the flip side of this, if you have a hatred for the church, hidden within you, or even public, you are blind. Totally blind. You do not see the purpose, person, or work of Jesus Christ in this world.

Here’s something I want to address, if you have embraced some of these evil movements, and it has caused division between you and the church, you need to repent immediately. These anti-Christian movements are not of God, and need to be renounced. Test them and see whether or not they line up with orthodox Christian values, and doctrine, what you will find is that not only are they not Christian, they are directly opposed to Christians.