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For thy love of God's grace, Lord.
And.
We can be straight from God.
'S dream life, children.
Home.
Oh my God.
The slave storm.
Frustrated.
Now on the beginning of God.
When you dream, bring it in your dream.
When we see our hands, greatest place.
No, we need to know.
The painting.
In the soul of ours, so most great joy.
And it's broader and I can't wait. Anything to change.
You shall.
Hear.
Welcome to boys.
It is joy.
To Lord.
And.
Sailing.
Light brown.
To say the hurts of life every time. And I love her smile on the floor.
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Oh, I stranded.
On the rainbow.
Grace swells. It's like.
Matthew.
4.
Matthew 418 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, For they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me.
I was thinking of Peter. Follow me early in Peter's career.
Now John 21. John 21.
At the end of Peter's career.
Verse 19.
The end of the verse.
When he has spoken this, he saith unto him, Peter, follow me.
21 Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, Lord, And what shall this man do? Jesus said unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, What is that to thee? Follow me. That's right, are not under our Father.
We delight to think of having fellowship with the thief on the cross.
Who repented? We don't know his name, but we believe he's a born again Christian.
We thank you that we will fellowship with Bartimaeus, at one time a blind man. We will fellowship with Mary.
Just like all the rest of us believers, a St.
And we will fellowship with her. We thank the Father for that wonderful privilege of calling the Father. And if there's one here in our presence this afternoon who might just be hearing the encouragement, follow me. We pray that they would begin that journey. It's nothing special.
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At the end of our life, either.
It is again to follow me. We pray for encouragement as we open Thy word again our God. We give thanks for our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, and in His name we pray. Amen.
First John chapter 2, verse one.
My little children, these things right I write unto you that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby do we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him and keepeth not His commandments as a liar, and the truth is not in Him.
But whoso keepeth his word, in him, verily is the love of God perfectly.
Hereby know we that we are in Him. He that saith He abideth in Him, ought Himself also so to walk, even as He walked. Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which He had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in Him and in you.
Because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.
He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother is in darkness, even until now.
He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him, but he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whether he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his namesake. I write unto you, fathers, because you have known him, that is, from the beginning.
I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one.
I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you Father's.
Because ye have known him, that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him, For all that is in the world the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
Is not of the Father, but is of the world, and the world passeth away in the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Little children, it is the last time, and as you have heard, that Antichrist shall come. Even now are there many antichrists, whereby we know that the IT is the last time they went out from us, but they were not of us.
For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out, that they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us. But you have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written unto you, because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth, Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus.
Is the Christ, He is Antichrist, but denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father, but He acknowledges the Son hath the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the sun.
And in the Father, and this is the promise that he hath promised us even eternal life.
These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which you have received of Him abideth in you. And you need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is the truth, and is no lie. And even as it hath taught you, you shall abide in Him. And now little children, abide in Him that.
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When he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
If ye know that he is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of Him.
There's one starts with little children, my little children.
You look at the new translation. I think it's helpful to see how.
The diminutive occurs in this chapter. Just like to point out that in a new translation verse one is just children.
It's repeated in verse 12, I write unto you, children. And it's repeated again in verse 28. And now children abide in Him.
It's addressing the whole family of God without distinction of growth. But when you come down to verse 13, then you have the different measures of growth in the family of godfathers, young men, and there it is properly little children and those are repeated twice the second time.
The little children are addressed is in verse 18 and there it is properly little children. So it's helpful to see that. So just to clarify, verse one, verse 12 and verse 28.
Are children addressing the whole family of God? Then in the other verses we have the Father.
Father's young men.
And little children properly used as to the different measures of growth in the family of God.
And what is most interesting to me, Brother Bob, is that the Spirit of God has the least to say to the fathers and the most to say to the little children or new believers. Very, very instructive force. And so there is instruction here for those that are fathers. There is instruction for those that are young men or young women to young people, and there's instruction for those that are new believers.
Of course, a new believer doesn't necessarily mean someone that's very young in age.
Belief can occur. We thank God at any age, and sometimes a new believer can be old as far as years are concerned, but the Lord through his Spirit has a lot to say to those new believers. So that's very, very helpful for us to see and very helpful to see to how that the Spirit of God centers out young people and speaks directly to you about the very things that you are facing in the world.
And the very things you have to be on guard about.
Verse one says children.
My children, these things I write unto you, that ye sin not.
Sin is not characteristic of a believer.
Do we sin? At the end of the last chapter, it's very clear that we can't ever say we've met, we haven't sinned, we can't say that, but it's not characteristic of a believer. And so he says that you sin not.
Then he immediately goes on to say, if any man sin.
And so when it does happen, what about them? We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Isn't that wonderful, brethren, that you read in the Book of Revelation, that Satan is the accuser of the brethren? He accuses them day and night.
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Lord help us, brethren, that we're not.
Helping Satan's minions to accuse God's people if there is a fault amongst them, let's pray, but not accuse. But we have an advocate with the Father. Isn't that wonderful to realize that when sometimes when we do?
Sin. Satan takes that flaw and he flies into the presence of God to accuse us.
This person that says he's a Christian, look how he's acting.
And it's true.
But there at God's right hand is one who is our advocate. And he stands up with those pierced hands and he says, yes, it's true. But Satan, you cannot touch him. He belongs to me. I will take his case into hand.
He's our advocate. It's interesting that it is the same word as you have in John 14 in relation to the.
Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Advocate, the one who takes our case, and.
Represents us before God.
You know that is also our great high priest. He is our great high priest to help us to not sin, but when we do sin, then he is our advocate to restore us to fellowship.
Might be good to turn to that passage you refer to in Revelation chapter 12.
It's chapter 12 and verse 10 Revelation.
Just at the end now is salvation and strength. Now it's come salvation and strength and the Kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And so we not only have an advocate, we have a great high priest on high interceding for us in our weakness. And if we sin, you and I have a life and a nature that cannot sin, and it will never sin.
And so, as you say, our character.
Our moral character and our what we should express to this world and to one another is the fact that we cannot sin, we don't sin, that nature doesn't sin, that life does not sin. But if we step out of character and we allow the flesh to act, then we sin. And if we step out of character, then God has made the provision that we would be restored.
We might just say that this word fellowship is mentioned 16 times in the New Testament and only the apostle Paul and John mention it that use it in the Scriptures. And so it's the same word communion and fellowship, and it's used interchangeably in the King James. So his desire is that we would be maintained in communion and if something comes in, nothing changed on God's part. But if something comes in on our part.
His desires that we would be restored. And so the work begins with Him. He advocates and so we're restored because of His advocacy. And our sin is brought before us and He's made full provision for us as a result.
Maybe we can be a bit practical with this because it's one of those cases in translating from one language to another where we have no English word that in one word corresponds. And I'm no Greek scholar, don't get the wrong idea, but anybody can look this up. There is no one English word that completely encompasses the Greek word, which is Paraclete.
For this word comforter or advocate, I noticed the Darby translation uses patron, which is about as close as you can get. But the thought is one who takes charge of and looks after all of your affairs. Isn't that beautiful? And as has been mentioned, we have the high priesthood of Christ if we use him as our high priest and go to that throne of grace.
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To keep us from sin.
But sometimes we don't do that. I speak for my own heart, but do I need to go? As I would go to a lawyer down here and say I'm in trouble and I need your services. I need some help. You know, when I get away from the Lord and I sin, I'm not in the right state of soul to go and ask for help. Sometimes I think I'm doing OK. Sometimes I don't really realize how bad I've acted. Sometimes I don't realize where I am in my estrangement.
Maybe that's not a good word, but getting away from the Lord.
What happens? What does the Lord do? He goes to work for me.
Without my having to ask them. And he starts working in order that I might be restored. Now, sometimes that may take a while, but the Lord goes to work for me as one who is taking charge of and looking after all of my affairs. It's a little bit as if I were running a business and I wasn't paying attention to the finances. And then all of a sudden it starts to worry me. Well, I think I'm overspending, or I think things aren't going too well.
And eventually I have to go and this time it doesn't suit. But I go to my accountant and I say how are things going? I'm a little worried.
Oh, he says. Bill. They're a lot worse than you realize. They're a lot worse than you realize. But don't worry. I saw it coming. I saw it coming.
And I've already taken steps so that we can put things back together now. It's not going to be easy.
But we can do it. And he goes to bat for me, as we've had, you know. Would you agree with that, brother Bob? Is that the right thought?
We have an example of it in the new patrol in Luke's Gospel, chapter 22. It's Luke 22, verse 31.
And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as weak. But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. And so the advocacy of Christ was before.
Peter's confession was before Peter even really realized that he was on this course of departure. And so the Lord.
Interceded. He was before the Father, and he prayed for Peter.
That his faith would not fail. And so conversion here. In this sense, Peter was already a believer, but he needed to have his heart turned back towards the Lord. He was thinking of himself and how good of a disciple he was. He needed to be turned back to the Lord.
So the Lord was looking after Peters affairs, you might say, before Peter even knew that there was a failure. And brethren, none of us would ever be restored to the Lord except for the advocacy of Christ. First we sin. If we sin, none of us would return to the Lord except Christ was advocating and bringing scriptures to bear upon our consciences as we.
Have sometimes noticed brethren will bring a passage of Scripture or speak to us. He may bring something into our lives.
Governmentally to exercise us but it's the work begins with Christ are so blessed this passage of Scripture.
Just is so blessed to our souls that should comfort our hearts to think that doesn't matter what happens in our lives in connection with sin, Christ always advocates for us. Interesting there Robert in verse 31. Notice the Lord said to Simon.
Said Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you. That's plural. He wanted all those disciples, he asked to have them, to sift them. But it says, But I have prayed for thee. That is singular because he knew how Peter would fail. And I think that's wonderful. I've often given another illustration. Perhaps it helps the young people to understand the difference between the high priestly service.
To help us not to fail and the advocates advocacy that helps us when we have failed and supposing there's a very muddy St. out in front of this building and there's an old man take making his way across that muddy street just barely making it just about to fall into the mud and just before he falls a young man comes alongside and.
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Gets a hold of his arm and helps him across. That's the Lord Jesus in his high priestly service to supply our needs so that we don't fall. That's why our Christian is more responsible when he falls than an unbeliever. But supposing before that young man gets them, he's down in the mud. Oh dear. What are you going to do now? Leave him there? No, he needs more help than ever.
The young man gets there and he helps to get him up and helps to take him across and clean up again. That's Christ in his advocacy. Once we have failed in both senses, He is interceding for us and I think that is so amazing. The wonderful. Remember when Joshua, when the children of Israel came out of Egypt, Joshua was told by Moses to go down and to fight with Amalek, which is a figure of the flesh in the believer.
And Moses would lift up his hands, and as he lifted up his hands, Joshua prevailed in the plains below in his fight with Amalek. But when his hands got tired and he came down, why Amalek started winning the battle. And so there were two men.
Her and Aaron that stood on either side of Moses to hold his hands up.
So that the Joshua could win the war.
Her is of the royal tribe. He's the picture of the Lord Jesus as our advocate. And of course, Aaron was a picture of the Lord Jesus is our great high priest. Thank God we're going to get through it, but all the way we get through it sometimes is pretty, pretty hard. Lord help us that we can go on.
Young people, listen to me, you can get through it. Don't give in to the sin. People think that oh, I was just weak and the temptation was so strong and I just had to give in. Whatever happened to the Lord Jesus and his intercession? Wasn't that enough for you? Oh brethren, may the Lord help us to go on.
I would just add this in connection with the advocacy.
If I get a speeding ticket.
Might go to my lawyer and just say please take care of it We mustn't think that the advocacy of Christ works like that We don't invoke it we don't invoke him as a lawyer as it were to say please take care of it No, it's a work that he accomplishes with us and a little bit further in that chapter where you read there in Luke, you know the.
In verse 61, we're beginning. In verse 60, Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest.
Immediately why he gets fake. The crew. And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him before the **** crow, Thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. That's an example of the advocacy of Christ working in our lives.
It it it, it brings us to self judgment. It affects us. Another example could be given is John 13 which is the foot washing chapter.
So often in Christendom this chapters presented, this chapter is teaching humility and people always look shocked when I say no, this chapter is not preteaching humility. Peter understood exactly what humility meant and he knew what the Lord was doing and how humiliating it was. He knew that, but he what he didn't recognize was what the Lord was actually doing. And it's really an example of advocacy. It begins with Jesus knowing that his hours come, that he should depart.
Out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own, which were in the world, He loved them unto the end. And then He gives this example of His advocacy. And as has already been expressed, the Lord may use others in our lives to do that foot washing, to bring before us those necessary scriptures to convict us, to do that work in our hearts.
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And I just add, this advocacy is in connection with the Father is to restore us back into the good of that relationship. John speaks of the family of God.
So it says at the end of verse one, Jesus Christ the righteous. In other words, just because he's going to advocate doesn't mean that he accepts our sinful problems. No, he is Jesus Christ the righteous. And then verse two comes in right on the heels of that to explain how is he righteous in taking up our case when we have sinned?
He is the propitiation for our sins.
And not for ours only, but also for the whole world. In other words, He is the propitiation. He has dealt with God. As to the question of sin. Sin had called into question God's holy character.
These creatures, they're sinners and you created them. But when the Lord Jesus went to the cross, he normally not only answered for our sins to God, he answered to God's glory that was tainted by that sin. He vindicated God's holy character as to the whole question of sin. I think that is so amazingly wonderful to see that part of the work of Christ.
He is the propitiation for the whole world.
It never says that he is the substitution for the whole world.
No, He is the substitution, for He is the substitute for our sins. He paid for our sins, for the sins of many, it says, because God would not be righteous if he put somebody into the lake of fire, if Christ had paid for his sins. And that is a thing that is not distinguished in Christian circles many times.
They say Christ died for the sins of the whole world.
Not as a substitute.
Whereas for appreciation, yes, for the sins of the whole world, but As for a substitute for the sins of many, how would that be righteous? If Christ had paid for the the sin of an unbeliever and then God puts him into the lake of fire, that wouldn't be righteous. And so it's important to see the distinction between propitiation and substitution. Let me just put the illustration that we have in Leviticus 16. In the great day of Atonement, there were two goats taken.
The first goat was for the Lord. The second goat was the scapegoat. First goat was slain and his blood was caught and taken into the holiest of all, and that blood was sprinkled on the holy place. That's propitiation. God's holy character was vindicated completely as to the sins of the whole world. But when it comes to substitution, Aaron came out and he takes that second goat, this scapegoat.
And puts his hands on the head of that goat and confesses the sins of the children of Israel in that goat. And then a man takes that out into the wilderness and lets it go. That's Christ as our substitute. So it's important to see the distinction between those two parts of the work of Christ. Very important. I hope somebody else can enlarge on that, because it's very important.
Might be good just to read in the first Peter chapter 2 of substitution there verse 24. We don't learn of substitution really until we're saved. We don't find out about it really. If properly the gospel. If the gospel is properly preached, it's Christ is preached as the Savior for sinners, and propitiation is brought before the Sinner he made.
Propitiation, Christ.
Died for our sins, but he died so that the world would be savable. All every individual in the world could come and have their sins forgiven. That's propitiation. But when it's substitution, it's individual. And it's in first Peter chapter 2 verse 24, who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sins, should live under righteousness, by whose stripes he were healed.
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So we learn after we're saved. He died for me, He took my place. And so we become worshippers as a result.
You'll notice in the King James translation, Brother Bob quoted it this way in verse two at the end, but also and you'll see the sins of and you just put brackets around it. It really shouldn't be in there. It should say that he died. It says but also for the whole world that that is propitiation is made so that the whole world, the gospel can be presented to the whole world because the work of Christ.
Is sufficient to cleanse the sins of any who will come. And so this is not the truth that for the sins of the whole world, he didn't die to that for all of the sins of the world, he died for the sins of those who would receive him. And those Old Testament Saints that were of faith, they didn't know how their sins would be dealt with, but they their sins have been dealt with at the cross as well.
So we don't preach just to those who are elect, do we? The Lord Jesus is very specific when he sent out his disciples. Go into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. The propitiation is for the whole world. And so we are to go to the whole world to preach the gospel. Wonderful.
Is the province 8. Speaking of the efficacy of Christ, the Romans 833 and 34.
Who shall lay anything with the charge of God's elections? God that justifies Lewis heathen, nevertheless Christ that died. Is this referring to the high priestly advocacy work of Christ more?
I would suggest that it is referred to here, although not developed enrollments.
It's referred to here merely by that word at the end of verse 34, who also maketh intercession for us. But this particular truth of priesthood and intercession, Romans, is, if we can say it, basic in its outlook and in its description of the gospel. And so it's mainly, I believe, presenting us here with the full results of the finished work of Christ.
Yes, intercession is necessary and it's alluded to, but the full development of it may we get of course in in other scriptures such as our chapter.
In verse 33, he's Speaking of the elect, isn't he? So who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Once we believe the Lord Jesus, we accept the Lord Jesus as our Savior. We know that we're elect. We know that we were those that were chosen among those that were chosen. This word election has to do with individuals, and it's the same word in the Greek. I'm not a Greek scholar, but it's the same word as chosen.
So chosen or elect and God chooses individuals. There was a time in the past eternity that God chose you for himself. And you didn't know when you were born into this world. You didn't know for some time that you were one of those. But after you receive Christ as your Savior and He began to communicate with you, He communicated that to you that you were one of those that He chose for Himself.
And so this passage in Romans brings before us the fact that he has.
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His high Priestly work, his intercession in verse 34, is on behalf of those that have been chosen.
But intercession, I think, includes both those aspects in the high priestly and the advocacy, both high priestly to keep us from sinning, the advocacy to restore us when we have sinned, both our intercession.
Well, verse three, I believe really brings before us something extremely important.
And hereby we do know that we know Him. If we keep His commandments, we might find that language rather difficult to understand, but the sense of it is not hard. The conscious enjoyment of the relationship that you and I have with Christ is on the basis of obedience.
An old brother long since with the Lord that you have to be in my age bracket to remember.
Used to emphasize to us obedience and happiness go together. And he used to say, not very often, but he used to say, suppose I get to the judgment seat of Christ. Do you think that the Lord is going to say to me now you were far too careful in walking according to my word. You were far too careful in being obedient.
You should have sidestepped it a little and you could have been far more used to me. You could have reached more souls, you could have done more work for me as the Lord. Ever going to say that? Absolutely not. No. And so here it's the conscious enjoyment. It's what our brother was bringing before us last night.
In the talk after the signing, are we really enjoying that eternal life which God has given us? If we want to enjoy it, we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not in the same class as the law in the Old Testament. It doesn't mean a set of do's and don'ts. It's rather observing what God has told us as believers in His Word.
Will please him.
Those things that will please him.
I remember your brother AC Brown saying, think of the commandments of the Old Testament and the commandments of the New Testament in this way.
Commandments of the Old Testament were Do this and you shall live.
The commandments of the New Testament are live and you will do this. That has been a big help to me to understand. First, in the New Testament He gives us life, Then He gives us the commandments as the guidelines to the new life that we have. And so the New Testament is full of commandments.
Rejoice evermore, Brother Bill, do you keep that commandment?
But it's a commandment, isn't it?
I think it is beautiful to see it and it's something that our new nature wants to do. It's natural for it to do. That's his commandments.
There's another word here that's used in verse.
Five, that I think is interesting. Whoso keepeth his word, in him, verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him.
It's the difference between keeping his commandments and keeping his word.
Brother Phil, what would you tell me about that?
His word would be that would be unspoken, but because we know that it's hard as well, we.
Word is not so much a definite do this or don't do this. It's more of an expression of his thoughts, isn't it? And it's keeping that that is.
Especially commended sometimes think of perhaps a father has two boys. One is always obedient when his father commands him to do something, but he's not very close to his father. Not communing with his father, the other boy.
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Likes to be with his father. He likes to talk things over with his father. He knows how his father thinks about different things. Which of those two boys are going to have more confidence to ask their father for something? You know, it's that second one. Because he not only keeps his commandments, he keeps his word. And oh brethren, it is the reading the Word of God and understanding the thoughts.
In the heart of our God.
And to live in the enjoyment of it, not only merely doing what we should do as believers, but it's cultivating that fellowship that we were talking about this morning.
Verse three is also evidence that we do have divine life, isn't it? It says, hereby do we? We do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. So obedience to the Word of God, obedience to the will of God as we know it to be, is evidence of divine life.
As mentioned earlier that John and the Apostle Paul in various of his epistles to has to address this rising novelty known as Gnosticism. It was also mentioned this morning that that word Gnosticism derives from the Greek word to no. And John uses that Greek word to know, I think around 20 times in this epistle. And so these Gnostics were saying, well, if you follow us, we have secret knowledge that you know no one else knows and we love that sort of thing.
Esoteric knowledge, it really draws away our hearts, our intellect, and I'm afraid brethren, even got waylaid by this certain.
Not to go into details of it, but Raven is and so on got waylaid by by this sort of thinking. But both the apostle Paul and the apostle John, as it were, he uses the words of Gnosticism right back to them. And and Paul uses the word fullness, which was a a word that the Gnostics use in a particular sense. And so Apostle Paul uses that word right back at them and says.
In.
Maybe help me build a Colossians thank you in hymns relative all the fullness of the Godhead bodily uses that word right back to them and John in this epistle the same thing. He uses that word no right back to them and he says if you really want to know, it's not going to be by some secret knowledge or something that's going to draw you away in your fancies and puff you up in your intellect is going to be by keeping his commandments.
That's not the sort of thing we like to hear.
And another word that we'll find a little later in this chapter that's repeated over and over again. And John loves this wood. It's the word abide and remain and continue. And he wants us to continue in the things that we have heard and not be swept away by some novelty. And this hasn't didn't end in John's era. It continues to this day. Satan wants to seduce us with this teaching, that teaching, whatever our weakness might be.
It varies with us individually, doesn't it?
I'd like to share a thought that's been helpful to me on this word, Keith.
It's a very common word. You use it all the time. We keep things all the time. We're all by nature. We're great keepers. We're collectors. We keep things in our pockets, in our glove compartments and on our shelves, in our closets and keep things.
But we keep things in differently.
And when we read scripture, we need to keep in mind not to interpret the word of God based on our experience, but remember that God chose these words and God does not keep anything indifferently.
So I like to use when I come across the word keep in scripture. I find it helpful to substitute the word treasure.
God keeps us.
He's he's totally involved in that and that's how we are to keep his commandments.
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That's also a sign of divine light, isn't it in verse five that whoso keepeth His word or treasures his word?
In him, verily, is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him. And so it's a sign, it's evidence of divine life. If we have the word of God and we treasure it, and a word from himself. So obedience and the word, we treasure that word.
And there seems to be.
An added.
Added reward to keeping His Word says in Him, verily, is the love of God perfected. He's watching us, brethren. He knows your heart. And if it's not merely doing what the Lord tells us to do in His Word, but keeping His word, seeking to be in fellowship with Him about it, there's a special place for that. It's in John 14 as well. I just want to point it out briefly.
You turn back there to John 14 and verse 21 it says.
He that hath my commandments, there's that first word, and keepeth them. He it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved to my Father, and I will love him, will manifest myself to him. But notice verse 23. Now Jesus answered and said unto him, This is Judas, not a scariot. If a man loved me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him.
And we will come unto Him and make our abode with Him. There's a special reward for not only keeping His commandments, but keeping His word. I find that special.
In the fourth chapter of First John, we have perfect love mentioned again.
Just turn over to the 4th chapter in verse 817.
Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment.
Because as he is, so are we. In this world. There is No Fear in love.
But perfect love casts out fear, because fear hath torment.
He that fears is not made perfect in love and I've enjoyed this because.
What is it so often that keeps us from keeping the commandments of the Lord?
Or keeping His word in our life.
So often it's fear. Fear of what other people may think. Fear that it's going to cost me something. Something I struggle with a lot.
But what we often fail to understand is that sin which is to do what I want, versus keeping his commandments, which is to do what God wants.
Has to do with the fact that he knows perfectly what is best for me because he loves me. I'm his child and you know I don't. I'm a father and I have children and I don't just give them everything they want all the time because I know that if I did, I would destroy their life. Sometimes things are held back. Sometimes there's things that you put in place as a father because you know what's best. Sometimes they don't keep those things because they may doubt.
My motives or why do those things? But we have a father who loves us, and his commandments are because he loves us and he knows what's best.
And we're afraid of that sometimes. And I think what happens, this little expression is so beautiful, to be made perfect in love.
Is that we come into the conscious realization of how much we are loved.
When we keep His commandments, there may be a cost, but we learn over our life there's nothing to fear. He loves me, He loves me, that's why He asked me to do it. And His love is perfected in US, and I've enjoyed In first Corinthians 13 it says when that which is perfect is common, that which is in part shall be done away. We have an imperfect understanding down here because there's sin in this world.
But there is coming a day when we'll know.
As we perhaps cannot know in this world just now.
01:00:08
When it comes to keeping his commandments, isn't it reasonable to say that you should start with the top commandments when you think about what his commandments are that you should?
Start with the top commandments.
A lot of times for this one, you know, thinking of commandments, as Bob said, do this, don't do that or.
But really, his top commandment.
Was that she loved one another.
And even in the Old Testament, the top commandment was love you, the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your souls, all your mind, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. And everything hangs on that.
Do I do it? I'm not going to answer that. Neither do I.
But how do you do that?
It's right there.
We love him because he first loved us. Everybody that's had a little baby in their family, I haven't had that privilege. Spiritual babies did not.
Physical behavior. I hear what they say. I hear what Daddy's saying when they hold that little baby in their arms. How they never knew they could love like that.
But how does that baby learn love? Little babies come into this world. They're most hateful, despicable, angry little creatures that ever came. And if they were big, they'd wreak havoc on the earth. That's why God brings them in small. But how do they learn to love?
That sweet little mother and father that kisses that face and wraps them in their arms and puts her on her bosom and does that. That child absorbs that and learns to love. I had somebody ask you once, well, how do I love God more? Because I look at that and love God with all my heart runs. I don't do that. I don't know anybody that does. Do they seek after that? Do you do that? How do you do that? You look at His love for you. You focus on that. You learn that you dealt the depths of it and the love that grows in your heart.
Comes automatic. It can't be any other way. Then when you hear that he says do this. There is no rule keeping in mind at all.
Brother Phil likes to remind us of this a lot. It's not rule keeping. It's not the principle of rule keeping. I'm going to tell you a story some of you have heard from me before.
When I started dating my wife, who was working at BTP before I stole her away, I knew what do you do when you're interested in a girl? You bring in flowers, right? Supposed to do that. So I brought her red roses. She liked them. But one day I was falling in love with this girl.
At first, she said when she knew that I liked her, she said no way, farm boy. But that changed.
I loved her. Lord was building that in me and he was changing her too. But one day I heard this, she was talking to somebody else and she said my favorite color of roses are Peach colored.
What do you think I did next time I bought roses that I think I was keeping a new rule? Did she give me a rule? I want Peach colored roses. No, I heard that this please this person that I loved.
And it was easy to go by the road.
That lesson for me was that if I am absorbed, invested, totally taken up with His love for me, and I focus on that, and my love for Him grows out of that, then when I hear the faintest whisper of what He wants from me, there is no rule keeping. I jump to do it. I run to do it. If we're in that state of soul, the Christian life is as easy as falling off the wall.
Because the motivation is all in that love. We love Him because He first loved us. Want to learn to love Him more? Focus, study, look at, enjoy. Dig into everything that it says about His love for us. Every time we do that, when we do it, when we remember the Lord and the verses that are read, if you're paying attention, you start, you get astonished, you get tears in your eyes sometimes because it is an amazing thing.
01:05:25
That the creator of the universe didn't just love this world. The end of Galatians 220, says The Son of God who loved me.
And gave himself for me. That's you, that's individual, that's personal. That tells me that if you or me were the only person on this planet, he would have come for you. He loved you.
Individually. Now, is that amazing? What does that bring out of your heart when you think about that? That this God?
Love me individually and came for me and said his son for me. How can you not get tears in your eyes sometimes? How can you not just sing? Overwhelmed with that love you get into that mindset.
There is no problem with rule keeping and all this list I got to do. Does your wife put a list on the refrigerator? All the rules she demands. If you love her, it might happen. But no, when I bought those roses for my wife, she said, oh, these are my favorite. Yeah, I found out because I was listening. Well, we should have our lives be like that all the time.
That we are so filled and occupied with His love for us. That is easy. The loving back greater and more every day.
It's good to remember that these buses are characteristic. I think we got to always keep that in mind, and it really does fit with what Sam was just saying. It's not saying here we should be keeping his commandments so his love is perfected in us, but rather it is what's characteristic of the believer. You know, whoso keepeth his word. Sorry, I said commandment just now, but whoso keepeth his word.
Broader as we've been talking then commandment is in him. Verily is the love of God perfected. It's what characterizes the believer. It was what is characteristic of the new nature. I didn't mean to imply when I spoke earlier on that word know that we get to know him by keeping his commandments, but it's hereby hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandment again, his characteristic of that life that we have within us. Now it's Paul Apostle John is not giving us here a recipe to achieve something.
Rather, he's giving those things that's characteristic of the believer and should be manifest in the life of the believer.
Verse six is another characteristic of a believer. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked or Jesus is our example and so we look to him. I think that is so important to to just see that that is characteristic. You're going to see what is characteristic of the Lord Jesus reflected in the life of the believer. And then verses 7 and eight, brethren like to touch these before we get to the end of our time here.
We have in verse 7 the old commandment.
Verse 8A new commandment and I found it very helpful.
Notice in John's Gospel chapter 12.
And the last verse of chapter 12.
Verse 50 I know that his commandment is life everlasting, your life eternal, whatsoever I speak. Therefore even as the Father said unto me, so I speak His commandment is life eternal. Been talking about this eternal life in our meetings. So in verse seven he says, I write no new commandment unto you.
But an old commandment which she had from the beginning, there is that expression from the beginning that refers us right back to the first verse of the Epistle.
The old commandment is the word which she have heard from the beginning.
01:10:07
Somebody has said this old commandment is eternal life in the person of the Lord Jesus that you get in John's Gospel. Now there's a new commandment in verse eight again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him, that same eternal life that was in him.
And in you now that life eternal is in us, because the darkness is should be passing every time a new believer comes in.
The darkness is passing and the true light now shineth, and so this is what we have in First John is eternal life in the believer. I found that so helpful to see that.
The old commandment is that eternal life in the Lord Jesus, because he was that eternal life that was manifested from the beginning. And then we have the new commandment, that same eternal life in the believer in the Lord Jesus.
A lot of Christians think that while we get to live forever, that's what it's talking about. No, it's not. It's his life. It's the very life of Christ himself.
And we've been brought into that. It's not that we get to live forever. That's, that's just an idea. No, we have something and we possess it now.
But it will last forever, brother, of course.
But that's a different idea when a Christian gets ahold of that.
They get astonished, and it's a happy thing to learn.
And it's a wonderful thing to realize in the light of that word there where it says, because the darkness is passing.
Does it look as if the darkness is passing today if we lookout on the world?
No, it doesn't. It looks as if the darkness is winning.
It's not going to win, is it? No, the darkness is passing as Bob has brought out every new believer that comes to Christ.
Eliminate some of that darkness, and God, as we know, is working mightily in this world today. That's why we're still here.
I still remember my late father-in-law, Albert Hayhoe, who many here will remember, and I still remember his writing The Date the Year We Were married, 1970, and shaking his head.
Said I can't believe it. I can't believe it that we're still here. I don't know what he'd say today. But the point is, God is not willing that any should perish.
And despite the fact that it looks as if the darkness is overtaking this world, in one sense it is because we know that eventually, when every true believer is called away, that darkness will be terrible. But nevertheless.
The light is going to wind, and eventually that darkness will be passed completely when the Lord takes care of everything. Yes, it'll have to come through judgment, but that darkness will be passed completely. And so I know that's not perhaps the primary meaning here, but at the same time, it's good to be able to look ahead and say we know where it's all going to end. We look around us today. We see what's happening in the world. We see what's going on in the Ukraine.
We see the world frightened that somehow some nuclear war is going to start and so on.
The darkness is still passing and the true light now shining.
2nd Corinthians chapter Second Corinthians 4 verse six, it says for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And then if you turn to Matthew, Matthew chapter 5.
Matthew 5 verse 14 Ye are the light of the world, the city that's sound and heal cannot be had #16 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. I believe like you said, the darkness is going darker but.
01:15:11
I believe there's not been a time like this ever before when we can sign bright the darkness.
Is in deep contrast to the the light is a deep contrast to the dark right now. So it's a you can be bright and shiny testimony for the Lord, especially now.
I believe in our first series really Speaking of Christianity itself and the teaching of Christ as the light of the world. If we looked at Second Timothy chapter one, we find there what Paul speaks of as the.
Light that's coming in verse chapter one of Second Timothy.
Verse nine. Who has saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to the his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but now is made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who had abolished death or an old death, and have brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
And so the darkness of hedonism.
The darkness even of the lack of knowledge and Judaism, all those things.
Are have been dispelled to a large degree by the teaching of Christ and the commandments that he speaks of. The new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing, and the true light now shineth, and so God has given a perfect revelation of the light.
Of Christianity, of his Son, and it has been a great, the greatest light that has ever shone in this world.
Person of Christ and so they sought to extinguish the light as soon as it shone, but God has seen to it as has already been said, every believer that's added to the church. The light is growing as it were said. The light of the darkness is dispelled because there's another believer might just turn back to verse six. I don't want to go backward, but it says he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked. Now how did he walk?
He didn't please himself.
Who pleased not himself, He pleased his Father. And so if we abide in him, it's the end of the paragraph, really in chapter 2, verse six of our chapter, and it's in a sense a conclusion.
That testimony, if we live for the Lord's evidence of our love for Him, evidence of divine life, obedience, and keeping of His word, then we'll walk to please Him. We'll walk to please our Father. We won't walk to please ourselves. And the light will shine.
In Matthew chapter 4.
We have that verse. The people which sat in darkness saw a great light, and to them which sat in the region in shadow of death, light is sprung up. That's us Gentiles. Most of us here in this room are probably Gentiles. Aren't you glad that this light sprung up and someone brought it to the land of our ancestors?
Mine in Scotland and Czechoslovakia and it came there, then came over here to America.
And someone preached the gospel in the ears.
Our parents and maybe then us about this great light. It's still shining and as our brother said, the darkness keeps is encroaching all around, but that light hasn't been put out.
Darkness is the absence of light, and darkness cannot overcome light. You can't put out light by trying to add darkness, that just doesn't work. But light dispels darkness.
My son told me that in complete darkness, when there is complete darkness, just one kitchen match, if you light it, it could be seen 50 miles away.
01:20:00
Just one match 50 miles away in complete darkness. So the darker it gets, the brighter the smallest act of faith, which is what obedience to God is. It's acting in faith.
The smallest act of faith will shine very brightly the darker that the world gets.
He takes up profession in verse 9, doesn't he? There are those that say they have light and those that were Gnostics that they said they had.
Light.
A new light, whatever it was, but he that saith he is in the light.
And hateth his brother is in darkness, even until now he that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. So it's evidence. By their fruits you shall know them. And so there's evidence when someone says they walk in the light, they say that they are Christian.
And maybe you've had that experience before, but you asked someone, you get talking with them and then something doesn't quite ring right. And you say, well, what's your ecclesiastical connection? And sometimes they'll say, well, I'm Jehovah's Witness or something like that. And you know that there is a different Christ there. There's a difference. And I have often said to those that I've run into of that.
Order of things that they are not Christian. They claim to be Christian, but that's not Christian. They're not a part of Christianity. They profess Christ, they profess to be a part of Christianity, but really they're not. And so here they're he that saith. He is in the light, and hateth his brother. There's evidence, there ought to be evidence that I am in the light.
Is in darkness even until now.
And there is a practical side to this, isn't there? As we've had brought out, our brother Nick brought it out very well that John most of the time writes in the abstract. That means he views things as being either black or white because he writes about what is characteristic. And so he doesn't always deal with, as we might say, the if ands butts or maybes.
He simply says what is characteristic, but if.
This is characteristic of the believer in verse 10. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling it.
I may well ask myself.
Am I really acting up to what the position is into which I have been brought? Very searching sometimes, isn't it? Because very all too frequently. And I appreciate what Brother Robert said about meeting those who claim to be believers and who on careful examination, prove themselves to have a different Christ and a different salvation.
And a different way of thinking that isn't according to the word of God, but how sad it is I speak to my own heart when perhaps I am a true Christian and I know the Lord, and yet my testimony is not in accordance with it. And of course, there's a little more of that as we get on down further in the chapter where it brings in perhaps some of the more practical things about not loving the world and so on.
But it's very searching, isn't it? I knew of at least two individuals in my lifetime.
And there were those out in the world who actually said, well, if that man is a believer, if that man's a Christian, I don't want to be one. What an awful testimony. And sad to say, there was. I knew both of those individuals quite well. And I knew very well that there was a very good reason for the world to talk that way. And so it's very searching, isn't it? And for each one of us at any age.
To remember that that, as was brought out earlier, John often speaks of testimony.
In his gospel and in his epistles and speaks of our what we appear like to the world.
It's very searching for us to think about, isn't it?
These are some of the tests. Chapter one we were noticing in verse six if we say verse eight, if we say verse 10, if we say here in chapter 2, Now in verse four, he that said it's easy to talk.
01:25:13
Verse nine, he that saith, Yeah, that's what they're saying.
But he hates his brother. He's in darkness. Until now.
Pretty solemn to think about and then verse 10 the contrast he that loves his brother abideth in the light and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. I think that's beautiful.
There's a verse in Psalm 119 I like to refer to in this connection.
Verse 165 It says, Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them.
I hear sometimes people say I got offended, that's why I don't go to meetings anymore.
How do you?
See that in relation to this verse.
Oh, brethren, love that we're talking about.
Is divine love Is that love that loves not because of the object, but because of the source?
And it was mentioned here just in this meeting we love because he first loved us.
When the Lord Jesus was mistreated, when they spit in his face, when they crowned him to with thorns, when they nailed him to that cross, did he say this is too much? I'm not going to stand it any longer, Never, ever. That's not the characteristic of the love of God, love of God.
Continues to love because of who he is. God is love, and that's that same love that we have if we are real with God.
Oh how important that is. He that loves his brother abides in the light. There is none occasion of stumbling in him.
You know, sometimes it might seem pretty easy to love a nice.
Congenial brother.
But I remember, I think it was.
John R Gill, wasn't it, Brother Bill? Maybe you remember what he said. The amount of divine love that is. You remember that quote?
The amount of divine, I can't say it like Rustin Gill, he had a unique way of talking, but.
He said The degree of divine love operative it within your soul and mind is evidenced by the love that I bear to the most cantankerous and objectionable brother within the sphere of my acquaintance.
Wow.
There was a lot of talk about divine love in a conference meeting like this, and then he lowered the boom on us and it was very effective.
Well, I think Bob, though, you're right, because it's easy to talk and it's easy to be a Christian when we're here at a conference like this. But I can still, I don't want to tell too many stories, but I remember again, my late father-in-law telling me how that he was visiting in an assembly and I have no idea which one it was. And he was to have lunch with a certain brother and he was to meet him at his office and then go out to a local restaurant for lunch.
And when he got there, his secretary, that is the brother secretary, said, well, he's busy with a client in his office and so just have a seat. He'll be out in 5 or 10 minutes.
Well, the office wasn't very soundproof, and he could hear the interchange between that brother and this business. I don't know what business they were up to or what it was all about, but anyway, there were evidently some.
Pretty high words on both sides. And then the brother came out and realized that Albert had heard the whole exchange and was mightily embarrassed and finally covered up the whole thing by saying, well brother, you know, Christianity is one thing, but business is business, isn't it?
Ouch.
No, we love. As Brother Bob has pointed out, the hymn shouldn't be there. We have the capacity for divine love. Now, does that mean we don't reach someone's conscience? Yes. No, it doesn't. We do if necessary. But reaching someone's conscience and being very difficult or they're two different things, aren't they?
01:30:16
Somebody think might wonder what this word darkness is really referring to. And often times when we speak of light, that speaks of holiness. God is holy, He's perfect in light. But darkness often times when it's spoken of in John's ministry here, I believe refers to ignorance of God.
So if we walk in, he that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother is in darkness. Or you might just substitute his brother, John Kaiser was saying, with another word. Word and treasure.
He is in ignorance of God even until now, and so the world walks in ignorance of God and His principles, His Word. But you and I walk in the light of the truth of the revelation of God.
In the person of his son, it's a real privilege to walk in the light.
Talking about loving people that are hard to love.
Doesn't say you have to like them.
Ask any parent if they always like their children.
They'll say no.
But they love it.
There are things about people and conduct and that are hard.
And that you don't want. Maybe it's something that isn't very likable.
But that doesn't get you off the hook for loving.
And that may be hard to do.
That when the scripture tells us that the love of God is shed abroad in our heart.
All you're doing is blocking up the floor. Let it flow.
Does Christ find it hard to love the unlovable?
No.
That's part of it is our will gets in the way, is love flowing through us. It's how we love people that aren't that are hard to love.
So I'd like to ask the question then why does the Spirit of God bring that in here?
Right at the end of all these exhortations and talk about divine love and about eternal life and what's.
Characteristic and so on. Why does he end up And as Bob Tony has already pointed out, the word there is children, not little children. It encompasses all the family of God.
Why does he bring it in here about our sins being forgiven all of a sudden? That that's pretty fundamental, isn't it? Don't we know that already?
Why does he suddenly bring that in at the end of all this that we've had before us?
Have you got? No, that's a question. I asked the question.
He says, I write unto you little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his namesake. It's on that basis that he can address them as children, on that basis that he writes to them.
Because it embraces the whole family of Godfather's young men and children. I notice in Mr. Darby's translation it's a separate paragraph. I I just suggest that I don't know for sure. Right? So I'll be there.
Could it be because it's for his namesake?
In John 13 and verse, Well, you know. You know that by quoting you'll know a new commandment. I give unto you that you love one another. By this shall all men know.
That you are my disciples.
By this if you have love for one another, so I wonder if it's for his namesake.
If that's the connection.
To what we've been reading.
But I believe that that's all very true and I thank you for that. I like the verse too that my brother Thomas read over here because when it talks about our sins being forgiven us for his namesake, and when the Lord said rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. I just add a thought to that very briefly.
What have the disciples done in that particular chapter? They had gone out of the Lord's command. They had done directly what He told them to do. They had done it with His power, and they had been very successful. That was, if we could say it in modern language, that was all good, but what was the danger that they would start thinking about themselves? I did something right. Look at that and our natural.
01:35:28
Old sinful self wants to take some credit. Well, I did every. I did some things and I did it right and.
Worked, and there was blessing.
What about our names being written in heaven? What about our sins being forgiven? What part did you and I have in that? Nothing. I can't take any credit for that, can I? I can't start feeling proud about that.
The more my heart goes back to Calvary's cross, the more I realize that it makes nothing of man, everything of Christ.
If we sing the last three verses of 209.
Our time, sorry.
And I have dreams of the entrepreneurs.
And everybody's prayers. I've been hearing the nearest.
Hey, Cortana.
No more time.
And please spread the question.
Bearing.
For us to start.
Outstanding.
The way.
I'm glad we're.
Glad.