Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. I'd like to welcome you to our
program. I'm glad you could join us. And if you'd like to follow
along in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching from 1 John 2. 1 John 2. This is the first epistle of
John, written as he was inspired by the Spirit. And the title
of the message today is A New Commandment. A New Commandment. Now last week, I've dealt with
the first two verses of 1 John 2. And I was making the point
about how Christ is the savior of his people. That salvation
comes under many facets of his work. as the surety, the substitute,
the redeemer, the life giver, the preserver of his people,
all of that. Everything that a person has
who is saved, every benefit, every blessing of salvation comes
to us by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ. All of it was
conditioned on him and him alone. You see, the gospel of grace
is not salvation conditioned on you or me. And a lot of people
think that it is, you know, because they have this idea that God's
trying to save everybody, Christ died for everybody, now it's
up to you. But that's not what the Bible
teaches. The Bible teaches that God has
a people whom he intends to save and they will be saved. And people
say, well, if he didn't intend to save me, there's nothing I
can do. That's not what the Bible teaches either. The Bible teaches
you and me, commands me and you to seek the Lord. And if you
do, you have nothing to brag about. You don't separate yourself
out of the mass of humanity. God does that. Before there is,
you know, when we look at how salvation comes about, Christ
died for his sheep. He said, my sheep hear my voice.
And my question to you is this, are you hearing his voice? Not
just the preacher, but the word of God. And that's why I tell
people, listen, you test me by the word of God. That's what
tests the preachers, tests the spirits. Well, I was making this
point, this is 1 John 2 too, let me just go back just a bit.
Christ is the propitiation for our sins. Now who's the our there?
My little children that he mentioned back up in verse one. Those who
walk in the light, believers. And they are the elect of God.
That's what the Bible teaches. Christ is my advocate, verse
one says. He's my surety, my substitute,
my redeemer. So much so that my sins cannot
be charged to me. Romans 8, 34, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? Or Romans 8, 33, rather. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that
justifies, and verse 34, who is he that condemns, can condemn
us? It's Christ that died, yea, rather
is risen again, seated at the right hand of the Father, making,
ever living to make intercession for us. So that's what, and then
verse two says, he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours
only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And the whole
world there, look over at first John five, the whole world there
is not everybody without exception, it's the whole world of God's
sheep, Christ's sheep. Jew and Gentile. And that's the
point of talking about the world there. When it talks about God
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. It's not
talking about God loving. The Bible says that God hates
people. I know you don't like to hear
that, but that's what the Bible teaches. But his hatred is not
a sinful hatred. It's not like our hatred. We're
commanded to love all mankind as ourselves. Love God perfectly
and love your neighbor as yourself. But we're sinners. Now God's
hatred is his justice exacted toward those to whom sin is imputed. And that's why that passage in
Romans 8, 33, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It's God that justifies. But look over at 1 John 5 and
verse 19. Let me show you a passage where I believe you will agree
with me. This is not talking about every individual without
exception. It says, and we know that we are of God. Who's of
God? Believers. How did they come
to faith in Christ? By the gift of God, for by grace
are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. So
we know that we are of God. And the whole world lieth in
wickedness, or in the wicked one. Now the whole world there
doesn't speak of everybody without exception because he'd already
said we, the children of God, believers, we're of God. But
those who don't believe, they're in the wicked one. But look at
verse 20. He says, and we know that the
Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding Now what
understanding that we may know Him that is true, and we are
in Him that is true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ, this is
the true God and eternal life. Now my question, has God given
you that understanding? Do you want that understanding? I remember before I was converted,
I had a desire for the understanding of this scripture, of this God
and this Christ, and I didn't know until God gave me that understanding
by the power of the Spirit in the new birth, where He raised
me from the dead spiritually and taught me, the Bible says
in John chapter six, taught of God through the Word, and it
was by the means of a preacher who preached the gospel to me.
So now let's go back to 1 John chapter two. Look at verse three.
He says, and hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his
commandments. Now think about that. Keeping
his commandments. Does that mean that we can only
say we know him, know him savingly, know Christ, know God savingly,
if we keep the 10 commandments? Because I'm gonna tell you something,
I don't care who you are, and I don't care how good you seem
to men, you don't keep the Ten Commandments. You say, well,
I'm trying to keep the Ten Commandments. Well, let's read it again. If
that's what it means, does it say, and hereby do we know him,
that we know him, if we try to keep his commandments? It doesn't
say that. Now listen to me. The Bible is clear. In order
for me or you or any sinner to say that we keep His commandments,
if we're talking about the law, if we're talking about the Ten
Commandments, as people say, we have to keep them all, perfectly,
without any blemish. That's what the Bible says. What does the law say? The book
of Galatians, chapter three talks about it. Those who desire to
be under the law, what does it say? Keep it all. Be a doer of the law. You say,
I admire the law. Well, that's okay. But do you
do the law? Do you keep it perfectly? No,
we don't keep it perfectly. And verse three here, 1 John
2, hereby we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. Well, what are the commandments
of Christ? Well, think about it. When Christ spoke to his disciples
and spoke to the multitude, there was one time when a group of
people said, what should we do? What do we do to work the works
of God? What were his commandments? Well,
his commandments were, well, if you keep the Ten Commandments,
you'll be okay. Did Christ say that? No. In fact, in the Sermon on the
Mount, he made it clear that no sinner could be saved by keeping
the commandments, by keeping the Ten Commandments, keeping
the law. He spoke of the Pharisees who were trying to encourage
people. These Pharisees, they claimed
to be keepers of the law and they tried to encourage people
to keep the law in order to get right with God. Christ came along
and he said in Matthew 5 20, he said, accept your righteousness,
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you
shall in no case or in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. Try to keep the Ten Commandments,
try to keep the law. Are you gonna make it? And then
in verse 21 of Matthew chapter five, he began to show them what
the law required. That the law required not only
outward action and obedience, but it requires obedience, perfection
in thought, in motive. and go. He said, you've heard
it said by them of, oh, thou shalt not kill. But here's what
I'm telling you. Here's what the law says. To
even have the thought of murder makes us sinners who do not keep
the law. You've heard it said of them
and oh, thou shalt not commit adultery. To even have the thought
of lust is adultery. And he concluded it all, and
we could talk about this, he concluded all, he said, seek
ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, not your own. Now, should we try to be obedient
people and follow the commands of Christ? Of course, but that's
not our salvation, that's not our righteousness. What is our
salvation and our righteousness? We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for
our sins. Christ is my righteousness. His
righteousness has been legally charged, imputed to my account
in the eyes of the just judge, God the Father. And He's my only
righteousness. But how do I know? if that's
true of me. And that's where we come to verse
three in the following verses. Hereby do we know that we know
Him. How do I know that I know Christ?
If we keep His commandments. And what are His commandments?
I'll tell you exactly what they are. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Believe in Him. Rest in Him. Recognize that you're a sinner
who cannot be saved by your works. Recognize that Christ alone is
the righteous one and I stand before God in his righteousness.
I plead his righteousness and I repent. He commanded us to
repent. Repent of thinking that salvation
was ever conditioned on me or my works. Believe and repent
and follow Christ. Rest in the light. Walk in the
light. And that if there, verse three,
if hereby do we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments,
again, you've gotta look at these if clauses, these if passages
in light of the gospel, not in light of the law. If you look
at the if passages in the scripture in light of the law, they are
conditions that you must meet in order to attain and secure
the blessing. And you'll fail. Under the law,
Israel failed. and we all fail. But under the
gospel, these if clauses, these if passages, are not conditions
that we must meet in order to attain and secure the blessing.
They are evidences that we know Christ, who by his obedience
unto death as our surety, substitute and redeemer, he secured and
obtained the blessings for us. The Bible says in Ephesians one
and verse three, It says, blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Salvation is not secured by me
meeting any condition, not even believing. But salvation is evidenced
by the gift of faith that brings me to believe in Christ. Well,
look at verse four of 1 John 2. He says, he that saith, I
know him, I know Christ, and keepeth not his commandments
is a liar, and the truth is not in him. Now again, if that's
talking about me keeping the law, then I'm a liar, and you're
a liar too, because we don't. But what he's saying here is,
he that saith I know Christ, I believe in him, I rest in him,
and has not come to faith in him, pleading his blood, his
righteousness, and repentance of dead works. Paul wrote about
that in Philippians chapter three, I count all things but loss,
I count them but dung that I may win Christ. All my works, all
my religious experiences, they don't save me, Christ did. And
if you don't believe that and have not repented, and faith
and repentance both are the gifts of God, and you claim to know
Christ, then you're a liar, and the truth is not in you. Verse
five, but whoso keepeth his word, his word of faith, his word of
the gospel, believe and repent, in him verily is the love of
God perfected. Now, what does that mean? Does
that mean that I love perfectly now, without any taint of sin
or self-love? No. It means that if I have been
brought by God to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works,
and I follow Him and rest in Him, God's love toward me has
reached its goal. It's been completed. because
it is the love of God that brings a sinner to believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Here in His love, not that we
loved Him, but that He loved us and gave His Son to be the
propitiation for our sins. And it says in verse five, hereby
know we that we are in Him. That's how I know that I'm in
Him. God-given faith, the gift of
God. We don't have that naturally.
That doesn't come because of our goodness or our, as they
say, free will decision. Yes, we make decisions every
day, but until God the Holy Spirit gives us spiritual life from
Christ and brings us to a saving knowledge of who Christ is, the
light, walking in the light. Until that happens, we'll not
believe. God gives us faith. Repentance is a gift of God.
All of that. Look at verse six. He that saith
he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked.
I want to follow Christ. John said, I'm writing these
things to you that you sin not. We who are saved by grace, we
want to follow Christ. We want to obey Christ, not in
order to be saved, not in order to be righteous in God's sight,
but because we're already saved by his grace through the righteousness
of Christ. And so verse seven, now here's
the crux of today's message. Brethren, I write no new commandment
unto you, but an old commandment, which you had from the beginning.
And the old commandment is the word which you have heard from
the beginning. Now what he's talking about is
the commandment of love. He says, I don't write no new
commandment to you. In essence, the commandment of
love is not new, it's from the beginning. It didn't begin at
Sinai with Moses, it was before that. Love God perfectly, love
your neighbor as yourself. But look at verse eight. He says,
again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true
in Christ and in you, because the darkness is past and the
true light now shineth. Now, does that sound contradictory?
Christ says, I'm not writing anything new to you, but now
I'm writing you a new commandment. What he's doing, he's showing
the special love that God has shed abroad in the hearts of
God's people that causes them to love God as their heavenly
father and love each other in the family of God. This is the
special love of brethren in Christ. Now the commandment of love is
no new commandment. Love God perfectly, love your
neighbor as yourself. And that's under the law. Now,
if we're trying to be saved by the law, if we're trying to be
saved by our loving God perfectly, loving our neighbors, we're condemned
because none of us do that. But the new commandment, What
is it? It's the commandment of the gospel.
Back over in John chapter 13, he spoke of this in verse 34.
Listen to what he says. This is John 13, 34. A new commandment
I give unto you, that you love one another, as I have loved
you, that you also love one another. And he says in verse 35, by this
shall all men know that you're my disciples if you have love
one another. What's he talking about? That
special love that only exists between brethren. That's what
he's talking about. Go back to first John two. Look
at verse nine. He that saith he is in the light,
Now, this is the love that only exists among brethren who walk
in the light, sinners saved by grace. You see, I'm commanded
to love everybody without exception as I love myself under the law. But see, in the light of the
gospel, I have a special love for my brethren that I don't
have for the world. And it's a love that first and
foremost glorifies God in Christ. It's that love that causes brethren
to stick together in the gospel, in the truth. It doesn't mean
that we as brethren in the truth are always gonna get along and
not have any disagreements, and sometimes not even, not treat
each other the way we should. But it brings, it's that love
that binds sinners saved by grace together. That's the new commandment.
You see, that's the law, that's the old commandment. And it's
still important, love God and love your neighbors yourself.
But he says a new commandment that is true in Christ because
the darkness is past and the true light now shineth. In verse
nine, he that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother,
rejects his brother, his brother in Christ is in darkness even
until now. It's inconsistent to say you
love Christ and not love the brethren. You see, Christ is
the head of the church. And it's inconsistent to say,
well, I love Christ, but I'm not gonna have fellowship with
these believers. Not love them. Verse 10, he that
loveth his brother abideth in the light. You see there? This
is that special love of those who are abiding in the light.
That person who is my brother or sister in Christ. Now, I may not like their personality. They may not like my personality.
I may not treat them as I really should treat them, but I tell
you this much, I recognize that if they know Christ, if they
walk in the light of this truth, that's my brother, that's my
sister in Christ, and I'm gonna stick with them in the gospel.
Now we can talk about other areas where this love should be expressed,
but this is the new commandment, that you love one another as
Christ loves the church. And it says in verse 10 again,
he that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none
occasion of stumbling in him. In other words, if I don't receive
a brother or sister in Christ, I'm not causing them to stumble.
That is, not about bringing their conscience into subjection to
something bad. And it says in verse 11, but
he that hateth his brother is in darkness. Those who reject
brothers and sisters in Christ. Now that's not talking about
everybody who calls themselves a Christian. You see, when somebody
comes to me and says, well, now I'm a Christian, and wants me
to receive them as a brother in Christ, The first thing I
have to know is, well, what do you believe? What is your gospel? Now, that's what John says in
2 John chapter nine. He that transgresses and abides
not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. But he that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ hath both the Father and the Son.
You see, there are a lot of people who claim to be Christians who
do not believe the doctrines of grace. The doctrine of grace. They don't believe the true gospel.
They have a false gospel. The greatest deception that Satan
brings about in the last days is false Christianity. So this
is not talking about, well, we're to receive all denominations.
There are denominations that deny the Christ of this book.
I'm telling you. It may startle you, but it shouldn't
because the Bible teaches that, that in the last days, they'll
come saying, here's Jesus, there's Jesus, don't follow them. Test
the spirits. There'll be false Christ, false
gospels, abounding up until the last days when he comes again.
So we have to be selective, not in some elitist way, not in some
prideful way, that you gotta join my club, but do you know
the true Christ of the Bible? And if that person claims to
know the Christ of this book and believe the gospel that this
book teaches, salvation conditioned on Christ alone by whose work
on the cross he fulfilled all conditions to ensure the salvation
of his people, if you reject that person, hateth his brother
is in darkness, and it says here, walks in darkness, and knoweth
not whether he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his
eyes. And so, he says in verse 12,
I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven
for his name's sake. This is walking in the light.
This is the fellowship of faith, the new commandment. Believe
the gospel. Yes, the old commandment said,
love God perfectly, love your neighbors yourself. We should
strive to do that, but we do fail. I'm not making excuses. We do fail. Christ taught that
when he met that rich young ruler who said that he kept the commandments
from his youth up. And Christ exposed him for what
he is, and he walked away sorrowful. He proved that he didn't love
his neighbors himself. But the new commandment, believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ, repent of dead works, follow Him, love
your brethren. That's the new commandment. The
brethren of God, the children of God, those who by their profession,
give evidence of being a brother or sister in Christ who know
the truth of the gospel wherein the righteousness of God is revealed
from faith to faith. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.