1 John chapter 2 verse 7. Brethren, I write no new commandment
unto you, but an old commandment, which you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word
which you've heard from the beginning at the very start. What I'm telling
you, John says, is nothing new. Listen real carefully. If it's
new, it's not true. If it's something novel, something
no one's ever said before, a new take on things, it's not true. He said, I'm writing you no new
commandment. But that what you've heard from
the beginning. Some think that this is a reference
to verses five on down in chapter one. This then is the message
which we've heard of him and declare unto you. This is the
message that we've preached from the beginning. The message we've
heard of him and declare unto you that God is light. And in him is no darkness. at all. Now God is light is a reference
to the holiness of God. He's light. In him, there is
no darkness at all. Somebody said, I preach the holiness
of God. and the need of the sacrifice
of Christ. And in doing that, I'm preaching
the gospel. You're not preaching the holiness
of God if you say that. You're not preaching the holiness
of God if you don't speak of the holy sovereignty of God.
And the holy election of grace before time began. and the holy
perfect redemption of Christ Jesus for the elect, and the
holy irresistible grace of God the Holy Spirit, and of the holy
perseverance of the saints. To speak of God's holiness without
preaching the gospel is not to speak of God's holiness at all.
It's just a man-made view of God's holiness. No, God's holiness
surrounds every attribute, His holy sovereignty. His holy immutability,
His holy independence, His holy justice, His holy love. God is light. In Him is no darkness
at all. Verse 6, if we say that we have
fellowship with Him, a lot of people make that claim. I pray
to God and he hears me, he speaks to me, I have fellowship with
him. I walk with him, he walks with me. I love him, he loves
me, I'm his servant. I serve God, I have fellowship
with God. Now to make that claim and walk in darkness, And understand,
the darkness he's speaking of is, he's not talking about, well,
you make a claim that you sin in the dark and you try to hide
up the unclean things in your life, but you just make this
claim. Well, believe me, that's not good to sin in the dark and
to hide things, but that's not what he's talking about. He's
talking about the darkness of salvation by works. That's exactly
what he's talking about. The darkness of salvation by
works. Now, I know I refer to this a
lot, but I love this story. When the Lord said, I'm the light
of the world, in John chapter eight, verse 12, he said that
directly after he said to that woman, taken in adultery, caught
in the very act, there was no doubt about her guilt. He said, I don't condemn you. Now Christ is the light as to
how that can be. You know the story. The woman
taken in adultery in the very act, and they bring her up before
the Lord, and they say, this woman was taken in adultery in
the very act. There's no doubt about her guilt. Now Moses said
in the law that such should be stoned. But what sayest thou? And you know why they said this.
They said this because they thought they might catch him in his words.
They could expose him. If he says, stoner, we can say,
where's your mercy that you talk about? You say you're the friend
of sinners. Where's your mercy? If he says, let her go, we can
say, where's your respect for God's law? You know what he did? He stooped
down and wrote on the ground as though he heard them not. I love that. Are you listening
to us? No. No. And they kept pressing, kept
pressing, and he rose up again. And he made this statement. He
that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone.
And then he stooped back down and wrote. And the scripture says that they
being convicted by their own conscience, beginning at the
oldest, began to walk away. And he looked at that woman who
was taken in the very act. And he said, woman, where are
those thine accusers? Has no man condemned thee? She
said, no man, Lord. He said, neither do I condemn
thee. Go and sin no more. I am the light of the world.
I am the light as to how you can be guilty and yet have nothing
to be condemned for. That's the gospel. He's the light
that's seen in those two stoops. The first stoop, Christ's incarnation. He was made flesh. The second
stoop, when He was made sin. And now He's speaking to that
woman on resurrection ground. And He says, I do not condemn
thee. I am the light as to how that
can be. Christ can look at me. And I'm
conscious of so many sins. And there are many sins that
I've committed that I don't even know anything about. But He can
say, I do not condemn you because you're not guilty. Because of
what He did. Now that's God is light. And
in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship
with Him and walk in darkness, not understanding what I just
talked about. The darkness of salvation by
works What does he say? We lie and do not the truth. If we walk in the light, the
light of how God saves sinners by Christ. the light of justification,
how he can take a guilty sinner and make him to where he is not
guilty, perfectly righteous through his work on the cross. If we
walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another. We have fellowship with God and
we have fellowship with one another, don't we? Through the gospel.
And I love what the last part of verse seven says, the blood
of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanseth us. And there is in the present
active tense, because I presently actively need it right now. The
blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Others think he's referring to
1 John 3. Look in verse 11. For this is the message that
you heard from the beginning. And remember he was saying, this
is, I'm not speaking to you something new, something you've heard from
the beginning. This is the message that you
heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. And
instead of defining love at first, he says, not as Cain. Here's
what I mean. Not as Cain, who was of that
wicked one and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because
his own works were evil and his brothers righteous. Turn over
to Genesis chapter four. There's not a more important
story in the Bible. First story after the fall. And
Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bear Cain.
and said, I've gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bear
his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep,
but Cain was a tiller of the ground. Abel was a shepherd,
Cain was a farmer. And in process of time, it came
to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering
unto the Lord. Now, he brought that which God
never commanded. I don't have any doubt that he
thought, well, I'm a farmer. I'm not a shepherd. I'm going
to bring my best. This is my best. I can't bring
lambs. That's what Abel does. I'm bringing
my best. And I don't have any doubt that
he selected the best of his fruits to offer up to God. Verse four, and Abel, he also
brought up the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.
And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering, but
unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. God was pleased with Abel's offering.
He actually had respect to the person of Abel and to his offering. Well, it's something that God
respects you, isn't it? To thinking for having the respect of God.
Hebrews 11 verse 4 says, By faith Abel offered unto God a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain, by the which he obtained witness
that he was righteous. God testifying of his gifts.
And he being dead yet speaketh. He's speaking to us right now.
There's one way to come into God's presence. Only one. The
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the only thing God
has respect to. That's the only thing He'll accept. To Cain,
God had no respect to him or his offering. It represents him
coming with his best. And my dear friends, our best
is not good enough. How good do you gotta be for
God to accept you? You gotta be as good as God.
And the only way that can be done is through the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Cain was very wroth. And his countenance fell. He
thought, this is not fair. Why is it that God would accept
and regard Abel and not me? I've done my best. This is not
fair. And the Lord said unto Cain,
Why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen?
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? If you bring
the right sacrifice, you'll be accepted. If you come only through
the blood, you'll be accepted. And if thou doest not well, If
you come with the wrong sacrifice, sin lieth at the door. It's only a sinful reason that
causes that. And unto thee shall his desire
be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him if you bring the
right sacrifice. And Cain talked or argued with
Abel, his brother. He was listening to his brother
saying, Cain, don't you understand we're sinners? And the only way
we can come into God's presence is through the blood of the coming
Lamb of God? is not this blood that God accepts,
it's the coming lamb of the Son of God. And that's the only way
we can come. Cain gets mad. Blood, I'll show
you blood. And he murdered him. He murdered him. Now, that's
the love. We're to have a love not like
Cain. Some think this is a reference
to John 13. Would you turn with me there? Verse 34. A new commandment I give you. That you love one another as
I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall
all men know you're my disciples, if you have love one to another. Now, this is the same command,
not a different one. He says, I'm calling on you to
love each other the way I've loved you. And I'm thinking,
how does Christ love his bride? First, it's with a saving love.
A saving love. Everybody he loves, he saves. There will be nobody in hell
that Christ loved. It's a saving love. Secondly,
it's a never-ceasing love. It's a love that knows no end.
And thirdly, it's a forgiving love. Oh, how He forgives. And it's a covering love. covers a transgression, and oh,
how His love covers our transgressions. And it's a sacrificial love,
greater love hath no man than this, that a man layeth down
his life for his friends. And one other view is found in
1 John chapter 3 as to what John was talking about when he said,
I'm not giving you some new commandment, but the old commandment which
you've heard from the beginning. Verse 23, and this is his commandment,
that we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another as he gave us commandment. Now, this is
the commandment we're called upon to keep, to believe that
the name of Jesus Christ is all that is needed to make me perfect
before God. You're commanded. I'm commanded
to believe that. And to love one another as he
gave his commandments. Now everything I could find,
those are the four things that people gave as to what he meant
by this old commandment, nothing new, but I was thinking it's
all of them. It's all of them. That's all the command of the
gospel. And back to our text in 1 John
chapter two, Verse 8, again, a new commandment I write unto
you. Now, the old commandment is new. It's as old as God, and it's always new. You know,
the gospel comes as news. News for today. Faith is always
in the present. Faith is not looking to yesterday's
experience. We don't even know if it was
real. Faith is not looking to something we're going to do tomorrow.
That works. Faith is looking to Christ right
now, hearing the gospel as good news. And it's always new, and
it's always fresh. Good news. Now look what it goes
on to say in verse 8. Again in Ucamamot I write unto
you which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness
is past and the true light now shineth. Now, in him and in you,
this is true. The true light. The true light. The Lord Jesus Christ. You know,
I love that scripture. I was thinking about it today.
For God who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness.
And I just thought of this thick darkness and light with God's
command. God who commanded the light to
shine out of the darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Now, where the true light is
shining, darkness leaves. You know you can't believe in
grace and works at the same time. Works are darkness. Salvation
depended upon you doing something? That's darkness. I was talking
to a man, and he was talking about going to this church here
in town. And he was living with a woman. He said, I know that's
wrong. I know that's sinful. I'll not do that. Amen. It's
base. It shouldn't be done. But he
came to the preacher and said, I want to change this and I want
to get married. And the preacher said, well,
we can't do that until you get this fixed. You need to move
out, stay away from her, and after so much time, then get
married. Now that is the false gospel.
Get yourself fixed. Do better, straighten your life
out, and then God will save you. Then God will forgive you of
your sins. That is darkness. And that's all it is, is darkness. Now where the true light shines,
Christ the light, the darkness flees. Now look at verse nine. He that saith he's in the light,
I believe the gospel. I believe the gospel of grace.
I don't believe works. I believe the gospel of grace.
I believe that God elected a people and Christ died for the elect
and God the Holy Spirit calls them. I believe the Bible teaches
that. I give assent to that being the teaching of scripture. I
am in the light. He that saith he's in the light
and hates his brother is in darkness. even until now, you see, you
can't be in the light and hate your brother. Grace is not, faith is not giving
assent to the truthfulness of certain proposition in the scripture.
If you hate your brother, you're not in the light. Even if you
have some accurate doctrine, you're not in the light. If I
hate my brother, I don't know the first thing about grace.
And understand this, hatred does not only mean looking upon someone
as your bitter enemy. And when you hate him, you can't
stand him. You can't stand when they walk in the room. You don't
like him. You don't like what they do to you. It's not just
talking about that. Look in Luke chapter 14 for a
moment. Luke 14. Verse 25, and there went great
multitudes with him, and he turned and said unto them, if any man
come to me, and hate not. his father, and mother, and wife,
and children, and brothers, and sisters, yea, in his own life
also, he cannot be my disciple. Now the Lord's not telling us
to have a positive hatred for our mother, and our father, and
our children, to where you want to do them evil, and want to
see them perish, or see them hurt. He's not saying that at
all, but he's saying this. In comparison to me, they're
of no regard to you. You love me more than you love
your wife, your husband, your children, your own life. So it's hatred is not only just
a bitter wishing ill on somebody. It's a disregard. It's a neglect. It's a just hands off. That is to hate somebody. Now
he's talking about hatred toward his brother. It can be a comparative
hatred of indifference. Now what about this love he's
speaking of? Back to our text. Verse nine, he could say it is
in the light. And he that hateth his brother
is in darkness even till now. He that loveth his brother abideth
in the light. And there's none occasion of
stumbling in him. If he loves you, you're not going to stumble
at him. Now what is this love that he's speaking of? I want
to know. Because there are loves that are real, but they're not
the loves he's speaking of. He's not talking about parental
love. I'm thankful for parental love, aren't you? He's not talking
about the love between a man and a woman. I'm thankful for
that love. But that's not what he's talking about. You can have
all kinds of that love and miss Christ altogether. He's not talking
about a patriotic love where you love your country and you
love the members of your country and the citizens. He's not talking
about any kind of fleshly love like that. Listen to these scriptures. First Corinthians chapter 12.
1 Corinthians chapter 12. Now the
Corinthian church had asked Paul about gifts. And he said in verse
1, now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you
ignorant. But look at the way, now he goes
on and talks about these spiritual gifts. And then he says, beginning
in verse 28, of chapter 12, and God has said
some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly
teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps,
governments, diversities of tongues. Now, before I go on reading,
somebody's saying, I don't see these things. Well, they're not
in operation today. It's that simple. In Acts chapter
8, it says when they saw that by the laying on of the apostles'
hands these gifts were given. Now during the days of the apostles,
they would lay their hands on people and they would receive
these gifts. They'd start speaking in tongues. They'd start healing
the sick. But when the apostles died out,
nobody else had the ability to transfer these gifts. So they're
not in operation today. And anyone who claims to have
these gifts are phonies and broads. It really is that simple. There's
no reality to it. Now he says in verse 29, are
all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, are all workers
of miracles? No. Have all the gifts of healing?
No. Do all speak with tongues? No. Do all interpret? No. But
covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet show unto you a more
excellent way, something that is better than any gift. Now, this love that he's getting
ready to speak of is a supernatural gift that's given in the new
birth. It's called agape love. No natural
man has this love. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. This is a supernatural love that
no natural man has. And it's the evidence of salvation
and evidence of salvation because John said, we know that we pass
from death to life because we love the brethren. This is real. We love the brethren. He that loveth not knoweth not
God. God is love. Everyone that loveth
is born of God and knoweth God. Now this love we're speaking
of, it works like this. You know where the Lord said,
if you don't forgive, you won't be forgiven? What do you mean? Just what he
said. If you don't forgive, you've never been forgiven. If you don't
show mercy, you've never experienced mercy. Someone that's a merciless
person, that is not merciful, has never known the mercy of
God. And if you don't love, the love he's speaking of here, you've
never been loved by God. If you die that way, you've never
been loved by God. You're gonna be one of those
people where he says, depart from me ye that work iniquity.
I never knew you. And this is how important this
love is. And here Paul defines to us the love that John is talking
about. And this is one of the most beautiful
chapters in all the Word of God. He says in chapter 13, verse
1, first he talks about what we
say. What we say. Though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as a
sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And then he talks about what
we have. And though I have the gift of
prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though
I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not
charity, This agape love, and Paul here calls it charity. I
am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,
now here he's telling what he does. Though I do all these things,
I give everything to the poor. I give my body to be burned as
a martyr for the cause of God and truth. And have not charity,
it didn't benefit me anything. It wasn't even real. Now, one
of the things I love about this chapter is every place you see
charity, you put Christ's name in. And what a beautiful description
this is of the Lord Jesus Christ. Though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels and have not Christ, I'm become as a sounding
brass. Though I have the gift of prophecy
and so on and have not Christ, I'm nothing. Though I bestow
all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to
be burned and have it not Christ, it profited me not a thing. Christ
suffers long and is kind. Christ envieth not. Christ vaunteth
not himself. He's not a bribe. He's not puffed
up with pride. He doesn't behave himself unseemly
or rudely. He seeks not his own. He's not
easily provoked. He thinks no evil. He rejoices
not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. He bears all things. He believes all things. He hopes
all things. He endures all things. Christ never fails. What a beautiful
description of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. But let's
consider what Paul says about this thing of charity. And this
is what John's talking about, that if a man doesn't have, even
though he makes all kinds of claims to soundness, he's still
in the dark. This is what I want. I want to be a good preacher.
I want to be effective witness. I want to honor the Lord in my
life. I want all those things. You
do too. But notice how Paul says in chapter
14, pursue after charity. This is the greatest thing. This
is what you and I should want more than anything else. Now
look at this description. Verse four, charity. And this
is the supernatural gift of God's grace given in the new birth.
Charity suffers long. It's patient. You know, if you
love somebody, you'd be patient with them. Long suffering. Not easily angered. Persevering. And then he says
charity is kind. It's not mean-spirited. It's
gracious. Grace makes a man or a woman
gracious, doesn't it? Charity's kind, not mean. Kind. If I am not a kind individual,
I'm a stranger to grace. Amen? And then he says, charity envieth
not. You can't envy, you can't have
an unhappy feeling about this prosperity and blessing of others
if you love them. Listen, if the Lord prospers
you, I'm happy. You know, if the Lord honors
my daughter, am I going to be envious of her? Of course not,
I love her. And charity, true God-given grace,
the gift of love, it doesn't envy. Then charity, it says next,
vaunteth not itself. It's not a bribe. Always trying
to get you to be impressed with himself. Always wanting people
to know how great you are and what all you do. Not trying to
love them, but trying to get them to love you. A braggart
does. Vaunting himself. Well, it's
tedious to be around people like that, isn't it? A braggart. Always
one to let you know what all they do. Charity's not like that. Charity is not puffed up, he
says in verse four. That's the last thing he says.
It's not puffed up. It's not inflated. It doesn't
have a swollen self-image. It's humble. It's lowly. The Lord Jesus Christ said of
Himself, I am meek and lowly in heart. Charity is always humble. Verse 5, it doesn't behave itself
unseemly. It's not rude. It doesn't treat others with
dishonor and disrespect. Next it says, charity seeketh
not her own. What that means more than anything
else is charity is not unbending. I have to have my way. My way or the highway. It's not selfish. It's not self-seeking. And then it says next, it's not
easily provoked. It's not touchy. You don't have
to walk on eggshells around somebody that loves you, do you? It's
not touchy. It's not easily irritated and
resentful, easily taking offense, easily angered. And then it says
in verse five, it thinketh no evil. And you know what that
means? It doesn't keep records of wrongs. It doesn't keep records
of wrongs. If you love somebody, you're
not going to keep records of their wrongdoing. It doesn't
hold a grudge is what that means. It doesn't hold a grudge. It gives people the benefit of
the doubt. It's not suspicious. Verse six, it rejoices not in
iniquity and the falls of somebody else, but it rejoices in the
truth. Verse 7, it bears all things,
and what that word means is it covers with silence all things. Love covereth the transgression. Now when I come to you and tell
you about what somebody did, all I'm saying is I don't really
love that person. And I'm trying to make them look
a little darker in order to make me look a little lighter. That's
all that is. Love covers a transgression. Aren't you thankful for the Lord's
love that covers? Love covers. He believes all things, he says
next. What I can't see, I believe it
to be there if I love somebody. They're just having a bad day,
but they're better than that. That's your attitude towards
somebody you love, no matter what you're seeing. And it hopes
all things. What it can't see, it hopes for. It endures all things. It puts up with everything. If
you love somebody, you can put up with them. You're going to
persevere with them. You're not going to give up on them. Not
if you love them. Verse eight, charity never fails. It's never brought to inactivity. You never say I'm done with them.
I'm finished. I'm not having anything to do
with them anymore. Not if you love them. Not if you love them. Charity
never fails. Whether they be prophecies, they
shall fail. Whether they be tongues, they shall cease. Whether they
be knowledge, it shall vanish away, for we know in part and
we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect
is come, and I believe that's talking about the full canon
of the scriptures, then that which is in part, all these gifts
that we need to use, shall be done away with. When I was a
child, I spake as a child. I understood as a child and I
thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish
things. For now, we see through a glass
darkly, but we know the truth. We see through glass so darkly
because we're seeing out of these eyes. But then face to face,
now I know in part, I know that it's partial. But then shall
I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope,
and charity, these three. But the greatest of these is
charity because you know when I'm in heaven, my hope will be
turned to experience. It'll be gone. My faith will
be turned to sight. I believe on Him now, but I'll
be looking on Him then. The greatest of these, because
it's all that's going to last, is charity. Isn't charity beautiful? Now go back to our text in 1
John. Verse 9. He that saith he is
in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even
till now. He that loveth his brother abides
in the light, and there's none occasion of stumbling in him.
You're not gonna stumble at somebody who loves you. You're just not
gonna do it. Verse 10, but he that hateth his brother is in
darkness, and walks in darkness, and knows not whether he goes,
because that the darkness has blinded his eyes. Now, here is the new commandment
and the old commandment. Here's the old commandment. Believe the gospel. Believe on the name of Christ and love
one another. That's the old commandment. It's
always been that way. Here's the new commandment. Believe
on the name of Christ and love one another, the old and the
new. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name that you would give each one
of us the grace to believe on the name of thy son and believe
that we're saved wholly for his sake. And give us the grace to love
one another as you've described love according to your commandment. Bless this message for your glory
and our good. In Christ's name we pray, amen.